MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Very glad Raymond is not playing Saturday!  Not all that many teams have won at The Shirk, so would be interesting to look back at those games to see who really had big games vs. the Titans in those home losses, for the members of the opponents All-Shirk team over the past 20 years.  I bet some games with Carthage of the Garnes and Wiertel era? And Bosko's son?  Or Wesley Pitts, Knuppel or Kolmodin?   How about the big dude who played for Chicago a few years back?  Can't recall the name.  "Pre-mature senility," you know.  None of us are getting any younger these days. 

Jeffries was a great player -- almost a DI guy, body type playing DIII.  He could easily be on the All-Shirk opponents list. 

Keep dream'in, keep speculating.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Juwan Henry of North Park University =  CCIW Newcomer of the Year, perhaps unanimously.  Any other contenders?

IWU70

[unanimous22]

Very glad Raymond is not playing Saturday!  Not all that many teams have won at The Shirk, so would be interesting to look back at those games to see who really had big games vs. the Titans in those home losses, for the members of the opponents All-Shirk team over the past 20 years.  I bet some games with Carthage of the Garnes and Wiertel era? And Bosko's son?  Or Wesley Pitts, Knuppel or Kolmodin?  How about the big dude who played for Chicago a few years back?  Can't recall the name. "Pre-mature senility," you know.  None of us are getting any younger these days. 

Jeffries was a great player -- almost a DI guy, body type playing DIII.  He could easily be on the All-Shirk opponents list. 

Keep dream'in, keep speculating.

IWU70

Derek Reich

[WUPHF]

Washington University Assistant Basketball Coach Aaron Thompson is 2-0 at the Shirk averaging 20 along with 6 rebounds, with a 31 point effort in his senior season, but the best performance by a Washington University player would have to be for the other CCIW thread, but I'll mention it here:

Jaimie McFarlin led Washington University to a national title at the Shirk with a 19 point, 14 rebound effort against Amherst in the semifinal and a 14 point, 15 rebound effort against Hope in the title game.

[WUPHF]

As far as University of Chicago players are concerned, Matt Johnson might be worthy of mention on the all-Shirk list.

[Titan Q]

My all-Shirk Opposing CCIW Player Team (1994-95 through 2013-14)... 

M.O.S.O.P. = Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09

1st Team
PG – Steve Djurickovic, Carthage '11
G – Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09
G – Drew Carstens, Augustana '04
F – Jason Wiertel, Carthage '02
C – Joel Kolmodin, Wheaton '04

2nd Team
PG – Antoine McDaniel, Carthage '03
G – Ryan Knuppel, Elmhurst '01
F – Chris Martin, Elmhurst '06
F – Tim McCrary, Wheaton '12
C – Landon Gamble, North Central '14

3rd Team
PG – Tyler Peters, Wheaton '14
G – Wesley Pitts, Wheaton '97
F – Rob Hamann, Wheaton '99
F – Rob Garnes, Carthage '03
C – Luke Moo, Wheaton '00

4th Team
PG – Matt Nadlehoffer, Wheaton '97
G – Malcom Kelly, Carthage '14
G – Rick Harrigan, Augustana '06
F – Derek Raridon, North Central '13
C – Brent Ruch, Elmhurst '09

5th Team
PG – Drew Wessels, Augustana '07
G – Ben Panner, Wheaton '10
G - Rick Alspach, North Park '00
F – Daniel Walton, North Central '07
C – Eric Smith, Millikin '97



Totals by school:

Wheaton = 9
Carthage = 5
Augustana = 3
Elmhurst = 3
North Central = 3
Millikin = 1
North Park = 1

[izzy stradlin]

My all-Shirk Opposing CCIW Player Team (1994-95 through 2013-14)... 

M.O.S.O.P. = Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09

1st Team
PG – Steve Djurickovic, Carthage '11
G – Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09
G – Drew Carstens, Augustana '04
F – Jason Wiertel, Carthage '02
C – Joel Kolmodin, Wheaton '04

2nd Team
PG – Antoine McDaniel, Carthage '03
G – Ryan Knuppel, Elmhurst '01
F – Chris Martin, Elmhurst '06
F – Tim McCrary, Wheaton '12
C – Landon Gamble, North Central '14

3rd Team
PG – Tyler Peters, Wheaton '14
G – Wesley Pitts, Wheaton '97
F – Rob Hamann, Wheaton '99
F – Rob Garnes, Carthage '03
C – Luke Moo, Wheaton '00

4th Team
PG – Matt Nadlehoffer, Wheaton '97
G – Malcom Kelly, Carthage '14
G – Rick Harrigan, Augustana '06
F – Derek Raridon, North Central '13
C – Brent Ruch, Elmhurst '09

5th Team
PG – Drew Wessels, Augustana '07
G – Ben Panner, Wheaton '10
G - Rick Alspach, North Park '00
F – Daniel Walton, North Central '07
C – Eric Smith, Millikin '97



Totals by school:

Wheaton = 9
Carthage = 5
Augustana = 3
Elmhurst = 3
North Central = 3
Millikin = 1
North Park = 1

Great work, Q.       

[Gregory Sager]

For the time being, it's all mute

If only.

[Gregory Sager]

I also agree with the officiating in the league being just terrible...  they need younger blood, new blood.  somebody inform ken marchiarka.

Ken Maziarka. And he's not only the CCIW's coordinator of men's basketball officials, he's also one of the older refs that you're trying to cast off on an ice floe.

Hopefully the officiating crew on Sat at King Arena will not include Mr "Don't Mind I wasn't in the right position to make that call" Falkner

The wonderful things that botanists are doing nowadays ... now they've developed a huckleberry that smells like sour grapes.

hats off to Kenny Faulkner who truly was the star of tonight's festivities. All the Gregory Arena renovations looked great and really provided Kenny with a grand stage. Sure was mighty convenient of the Thunder and Cardinals to show up and provide a little side entertainment to accompany the main show.

I say this not at all because Wheaton lost (they certainly deserved to) but because this game got away from the officials early and was over their heads from the beginning. Wheaton-North Central is always a dogfight and it was instead called at times like a ballet recital and at other times like a cage match. Much of the game was hard to figure out what was and what wasn't a foul. With a terrific basketball game going on, we had to see Landon Gamble, Jack Burchett, Brandon Williams, Nate Haynes, Tyler Peters, and more miss significant minutes in both halves due to foul trouble.

Hopefully the officiating crew on Sat at King Arena will not include Mr "Don't Mind I wasn't in the right position to make that call" Falkner

Singling out Kenny Faulkner as the focal point for the ills that plague officiating within the conference is short sided at best. There are several more refs besides Mr. Faulkner who regularly display deficiencies in hustle, positioning, interpretation, decisiveness, consistency, poise, and communication. Many of these problems are a function of both age and habit. Several of the refs lack the physical agility and quickness to keep up with the game, and many have been in the habit of calling a game a certain way for multitude of years and not only won't, but can't change the manner in which they view and interpret game action.

I understand that Ken Faulkner draws attention to himself because he's a pretty domineering figure on the floor. But I haven't observed this season that he or any of the other long-in-the-tooth refs in this league are really the problem. The refs that I've seen call games poorly have tended to be the younger refs. And by "poorly" I'm not simply referring to getting calls wrong, because every official out there gets calls wrong. It comes with the job. I'm referring mostly to their in-game inconsistency in making calls. As I've said time and time again, all I ask from an official is that: a) he or she understands even the most esoteric rules of the game, and enforces them properly; b) he or she gets into position to make the calls, and doesn't try to make calls when he or she is out of position to get an unobstructed view of the incident; and c) he or she calls the games the same way for both teams and for all forty minutes. And the younger guys, more often than not, are especially bad at c) with regard to the forty-minutes-of-consistent-calls clause.

The way that the new points of emphasis have shaken out this year is much the way that I predicted they'd go: Many of the old warhorses flirted with calling the games the new way at first before reverting to calling them the way that they've always called them. A few of the older refs (Dennis Bracco, John Hodel, and Fritz Larson come to mind) have been sticklers for calling the games the way that the NCAA has instructed them to do so, and their games have tended to be the whistle-happy ones that seem to have a lot of fans up in arms. (My broadcast partner Rob Berki's one of the people who isn't thrilled by letter-of-the-law enforcement of the new points of emphasis; his on-air mantra this year has been a sarcastic, "Do ya like fouls, Greg?"  ) But, by and large, those older guys call their games consistently, while some of the younger guys don't. I can deal with 50 fouls in a game, as long as they're called fairly and consistently so that every player on the floor knows what he can or cannot get away with.

(I do have some issues with the demeanor of certain refs in this league, but those issues don't necessarily have anything to do with the in-game competence of those refs.)

[Naperick]

My all-Shirk Opposing CCIW Player Team (1994-95 through 2013-14)... 

M.O.S.O.P. = Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09

1st Team
PG – Steve Djurickovic, Carthage '11
G – Kent Raymond, Wheaton '09
G – Drew Carstens, Augustana '04
F – Jason Wiertel, Carthage '02
C – Joel Kolmodin, Wheaton '04

2nd Team
PG – Antoine McDaniel, Carthage '03
G – Ryan Knuppel, Elmhurst '01
F – Chris Martin, Elmhurst '06
F – Tim McCrary, Wheaton '12
C – Landon Gamble, North Central '14

3rd Team
PG – Tyler Peters, Wheaton '14
G – Wesley Pitts, Wheaton '97
F – Rob Hamann, Wheaton '99
F – Rob Garnes, Carthage '03
C – Luke Moo, Wheaton '00

4th Team
PG – Matt Nadlehoffer, Wheaton '97
G – Malcom Kelly, Carthage '14
G – Rick Harrigan, Augustana '06
F – Derek Raridon, North Central '13
C – Brent Ruch, Elmhurst '09

5th Team
PG – Drew Wessels, Augustana '07
G – Ben Panner, Wheaton '10
G - Rick Alspach, North Park '00
F – Daniel Walton, North Central '07
C – Eric Smith, Millikin '97



Totals by school:

Wheaton = 9
Carthage = 5
Augustana = 3
Elmhurst = 3
North Central = 3
Millikin = 1
North Park = 1

Quite a list and it brings back a lot of great memories!  So many great players in the CCIW over the past 2 decades!

[Naperick]

My Bluejays 3 entries on Q's list seem right.  The only other player I could make a case for would be Ryan Burks.  But when you make a list, some quality players will be left off.

[Gregory Sager]

It would appear that even though Henry will likely win the scoring title, it would be a stretch for a freshman player which such deficiencies in the emotional and mental aspects of his game (slamming balls down and shoving opposing players and getting ejected) to be awarded first team all-conference status, or even second team for that mater. I think 3rd team all-conference would be the highest possible level he might be able to achieve, and even that is no guarantee.

You say that as though you have firsthand knowledge of what criteria each of the coaches uses when selecting players for the All-CCIW team. Perhaps Todd Raridon has shared his thoughts with you on that score, but I don't think that he represents all of his peers in that regard.

Henry is good, plays hard and wants to win.  I shudder to think what he might do with some more talent around him.  I think he'll be 3rd team all-CCIW.

Even though he'll win the scoring title, and he is a really good player and a future stud,

Fixed it for you.

I can't see Juwan Henry finishing higher than any of the 12 players below in the all-conference voting...

* Victor Davis (IWU)
* Landon Gamble (NCC)
* Nathan Haynes (Wheaton)
* Hunter Hill (Augustana)
* Malcom Kelly (Carthage)
* Vince Kmiec (NCC)
* Dylan Overstreet (IWU)
* Tyler Peters (Wheaton)
* Nick Sanford (Elmhurst)
* Marlon Senior (Carthage)
* Brayden Tuescher (Wheaton)
* Andrew Ziemnik (IWU)

I think those 12 will make up the 1st and 2nd teams and 2 guys into the 3rd team.  I see Henry landing on the 3rd Team.

Juwan Henry currently leads the CCIW in scoring by 1.2 ppg over Malcom Kelly. Just so that we have this in historical perspective, here's where the last baker's dozen CCIW scoring percentage leaders have placed on the All-CCIW squad:

yr	player	ppg over 2nd pl.	All-CCIW
'13	Tyler Peters, WC	2.1 ppg	1st team*
'12	Malcom Kelly, CC	0.5 ppg	1st team
'11	Steve Djurickovic, CC	4.9 ppg	1st team**
'10	Steve Djurickovic, CC	3.4 ppg	1st team**
'09	Steve Djurickovic, CC	0.9 ppg	1st team*
'08	Steve Djurickovic, CC	1.0 ppg	1st team*
'07	Zach Freeman, IWU	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'06	Rick Harrigan, AC#	0.3 ppg	1st team**
'05	Chris Martin, EC	0.2 ppg	1st team*
'04	Joel Kolmodin, WC	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'03	Joel Kolmodin, WC	3.6 ppg	1st team**
'02	Luke Kasten, IWU	0.4 ppg	1st team
'01	Yulander Wells, NCC	1.3 ppg	2nd team

* Unanimous first-team selection
** CCIW Most Outstanding Player
# In 2006 Kyle Jeffery of Carthage actually outscored Rick Harrigan, 296-278. But Harrigan outpaced Jeffery, 21.4 to 21.1, as Harrigan only played in 13 CCIW games that season. Jeffery made All-CCIW second team.

This is a pretty revealing chart. Not only have the last dozen scoring champs been placed on the All-CCIW first team, but ten of the last eleven have been unanimous first-team choices. The last scoring champ who didn't make the first team was Yulie Wells, all the way back in the 2000-01 season -- and Wells played for last-place North Central, a salient fact when analyzing Juwan Henry's chances. (Zach Freeman won the scoring title for Illinois Wesleyan when the Titans finished next-to-last, and, as you can see, he was unanimously named to the first team.)

Henry is not just the scoring leader by a wide margin with two games left to play. He's also on the conference leaderboard in five other categories, the most remarkable of which is his current status of fifth in the league in assists per game. Given NPU's multitudinous woes on offense, he truly is drawing blood from a stone by ranking so high in that category.

Hey, I fully admit that this statement:

Henry's 39 points tonight probably guarantees him the CCIW scoring title, and now the only question is whether or not the other seven coaches in the league will put a freshman who played for the last-place team on the All-CCIW first team or if he'll be relegated to second-team status.

... was a case of my gaming the CCIW braintrust -- or those of them who read this board, anyway (i.e., not Bosko). I realize that there are no guarantees that he'll make either first team or second team. And I also recognize that there is a very strong contingent of sports coaches and fans who feel that individual awards must be reflective of team accomplishments as a whole; I remember very well the heated debate back in '87 over whether or not Andre Dawson ought to have won the National League MVP in a year in which the Cubs finished last in their division. If having your team finish last is an automatic disqualifier in the minds of some of the coaches for first-team consideration, then Juwan doesn't stand a chance. But when Yulie Wells won the CCIW scoring title while playing for the last-place Cardinals, he was at least named to the second team. And Zach Freeman was a unanimous All-CCIW first-teamer in a year in which his Titans finished 4-10 and in seventh place and he squeaked out the scoring title by only a half-point over Kent Raymond. (Freeman was the CCIW's leading rebounder that year as well, which obviously helped his cause.)

I realize that every season is different. But the past thirteen years is a pretty extensive slice of league history. And the precedent set over that past thirteen years is for the conference scoring champion to be afforded a lot more respect than a mere third-team selection.

[iwu70]

Q, great list.  For those of us who have been around a long time, and I mean a long long time, that list really brought back some great memories.  Of course Ypsi and I have all the memories from the old pre-Shirk Center, Fred Young Fieldhouse, playing at Horton era days, too, back in the dark ages, in medieval times.  Yes, even before Jack Sikma.  Our era was the Tommy Gramkow, Fred Evans, Sheldon Thompson era -- some really great teams.  Dennie Bridges was a new, young Coach then.  Guess Ypsi and I could do an all Fred Young team, and an all Fred Young opponents team.  Didn't Dennie Bridges play in the old "Women's Gym," Memorial Gym, now Hansen Student Center?

Derek Reich -- yes, that's the U Chicago guy.  He was a tough, good player.  Thanks 22.

Sure wish I could be at King on Saturday.  Go TITANS. 

IWU70

[sac]

yr	player	ppg over 2nd pl.	All-CCIW
'13	Tyler Peters, WC	2.1 ppg	1st team*
'12	Malcom Kelly, CC	0.5 ppg	1st team
'11	Steve Djurickovic, CC	4.9 ppg	1st team**
'10	Steve Djurickovic, CC	3.4 ppg	1st team**
'09	Steve Djurickovic, CC	0.9 ppg	1st team*
'08	Steve Djurickovic, CC	1.0 ppg	1st team*
'07	Zach Freeman, IWU	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'06	Rick Harrigan, AC#	0.3 ppg	1st team**
'05	Chris Martin, EC	0.2 ppg	1st team*
'04	Joel Kolmodin, WC	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'03	Joel Kolmodin, WC	3.6 ppg	1st team**
'02	Luke Kasten, IWU	0.4 ppg	1st team
'01	Yulander Wells, NCC	1.3 ppg	2nd team

* Unanimous first-team selection
** CCIW Most Outstanding Player
# In 2006 Kyle Jeffery of Carthage actually outscored Rick Harrigan, 296-278. But Harrigan outpaced Jeffery, 21.4 to 21.1, as Harrigan only played in 13 CCIW games that season. Jeffery made All-CCIW second team.

Interesting that Kent Raymond never led the CCIW in scoring.

[Gregory Sager]

yr	player	ppg over 2nd pl.	All-CCIW
'13	Tyler Peters, WC	2.1 ppg	1st team*
'12	Malcom Kelly, CC	0.5 ppg	1st team
'11	Steve Djurickovic, CC	4.9 ppg	1st team**
'10	Steve Djurickovic, CC	3.4 ppg	1st team**
'09	Steve Djurickovic, CC	0.9 ppg	1st team*
'08	Steve Djurickovic, CC	1.0 ppg	1st team*
'07	Zach Freeman, IWU	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'06	Rick Harrigan, AC#	0.3 ppg	1st team**
'05	Chris Martin, EC	0.2 ppg	1st team*
'04	Joel Kolmodin, WC	0.5 ppg	1st team*
'03	Joel Kolmodin, WC	3.6 ppg	1st team**
'02	Luke Kasten, IWU	0.4 ppg	1st team
'01	Yulander Wells, NCC	1.3 ppg	2nd team

* Unanimous first-team selection
** CCIW Most Outstanding Player
# In 2006 Kyle Jeffery of Carthage actually outscored Rick Harrigan, 296-278. But Harrigan outpaced Jeffery, 21.4 to 21.1, as Harrigan only played in 13 CCIW games that season. Jeffery made All-CCIW second team.

Interesting that Kent Raymond never led the CCIW in scoring.

He finished in second place all four years that he played (2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09), which is pretty remarkable in and of itself.