MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

Just updating the CCIW recruit list originally compiled by TitanQ

Augustana
* Jake Asquini, 6-2 SG (St. Charles East H.S.)
* Jordan Bradshaw, 5-10 PG (Hinsdale Central H.S.)
* AJ Dollmeyer, 6-8/240 C (Sauk Valley CC, Polo H.S. '14)
* Nolan Ebel, 6-0 PG (Regis Jesuit H.S., Aurora, CO)
* James Fox, 6-2 PG/SG (Edgerton H.S., Wisconsin)
* Joe Kellen, 6-1 PG/SG (Rockford Lutheran H.S.)
* Jake Nowak, 6-3 G/F (Plainfield North H.S.)
* Sean O'Neil, 6-6 PF (South Eugene H.S., Oregon)
* Chrishawn Orange, 6-2 PG (Jacobs H.S.)
* Pierson Wofford, 6-4 G/F (Springfield Lutheran H.S.)

Carthage
* Matt Acevedo, 6-3 SG (Maine West H.S.)
* Mike Canady, 5-10 PG (Jacobs H.S.)
* Chris Dolce, 6-2 SG (Conant H.S.)
* Jordon Kedrowski, 6-2 PG/SG (Downers Grove North H.S.)

Elmhurst
* Adam Braxton, 6-3 G/F (Leyden Township H.S.)
* Aaron Twist, 6-11 C (West Frankfort H.S.)

Illinois Wesleyan
* Danny Baker, 6-5 SF/PF (Vianney H.S., Missouri)
* Colin Bonnett, 6-3 SG (Benet Academy, Lisle)
* Nick Coleman, 6-2 PG (St. Patrick H.S., Chicago)
* Mark Falotico, 6-1 PG (St. Viator H.S., Chicago)
* Jason Gregoire, 6-4 SG (Cary-Grove H.S.)
* Chasen Peez, 6-7 F/C (Batavia H.S.)
* Ben Sestak, 6-5 SF (Sacred Heart-Griffin H.S., Springfield)

Millikin
* Matt Kruse, 6-9 PF (NCAA D2 McKendree/Monticello H.S. '13)
* Nathaniel Lackey, 6-8 F/C (Fairfield Community H.S.)
* Nathan Lovekamp, 6-3 SG (Cerro Gordo H.S.)
* Tyler Pygon, 5-11 PG (Providence Catholic H.S.)
* Jack Simpson, 5-11 PG/SG (Kickapoo H.S., Springfield, Mo)
* Thomas Williams, 6-2 SG (Byron Nelson H.S., Trophy Club, TX '14...formerly Kaneland H.S.)

North Central
* Jagger Anderson, 6-0 PG (Transfer from Lincoln College, Springfield Southeast H.S.) Jr.
* Jack Bronec, 6-8 C (St. Charles East H.S.)
* Aiden Chang, 6-2 SG/PG (Aquin H.S., Freeport)
* Tanner Gardon, 6-7 SF/PF (Elgin Larkin H.S.)
* Logan Ivy, 6-6 F/C (Plainfield Central H.S.)
* Josh Jandron, 5-10 PG/SG (Woodstock North H.S.)
* Chris Jenkins, 6-0 PG/SG, (Luther North H.S.) NEW
* Tommy Koth, 6-3 SF (West Aurora H.S.)
* Jaquan Phipps, 6-3 SG/PG/SF (Lyons H.S., LaGrange) NEW
* Connor Raridon, 6-5 Wing/SG (Neuqua Valley H.S., Naperville)
* Alex Sorenson, 6-8 PF/C (Transfer from D2 Northern Michigan/Dunlap, IL HS '14) So. NEW

North Park
* Darius Brown, 6-3 G (Belevidere HS/Rock Valley CC) NEW
* C.J. Dukes, 6-4  SF (Chicago Steinmetz HS) NEW
* John Lorenz, 6-2 G (Elk Grove HS/Harper CC 2012-13) NEW
* Matt Perhats, 6-1 PG (Prairie Ridge H.S. '14, Crystal Lake)
* Vance Rockford, 6-1 SG (Lane Tech)
* Adam Sonneras, 6-4 SF (Kungsbacka, Sweden) NEW
* Jayson Stone, 6-2 G (Danville, IN) NEW
* Tim Townsell, 6-1 G (Seton H.S., South Holland) NEW

Wheaton
* Tyrel Derrick, 6-0 PG (Lakeland H.S., Rathdrum, ID)
* Kobe Eichelberger, 6-4 SG (Trinity Prep, Maitland, FL)
* Trevor Gunter, 6-6 PF (Grace Community School, Flint, TX)
* Reagan Jones, 6-6 PF (Lake Braddock H.S., Burke, VA)
* Trae Masten, 6-7 SF (South Side H.S., Fort Wayne, IN)
* Troy Morrison, 5-11 PG (Phillips Exeter Academy, NH/Greater Atlanta Christian School '14, GA)
* Luke Peters, 6-3 G/F (Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Stow, OH)
* Michael Winowiecki, 6-3 SG (Indiana Wesleyan/Saugatuck H.S. '14, MI)

[markerickson]

At one time Ashford University was 100% online.  Then it purchased Mt. St. Clare College in eastern Iowa to create a traditional campus.  The experiment did not go well, and Ashford's parent company has decided to close the campus.  Ashford actually has an athletics program:   http://www.ashford.edu/athletics.htm  (I've never heard of A.I.I.)  The Chronicle for Higher Education has a story today about the reasons for closure, and it contains this info.  "Enrollment did not drop because of a lack of investment or effort, Mr. Pattenaude said. In 2012 as many as three-quarters of the students at the physical campus received scholarships covering most or all of the tuition, which was priced at about $16,000 at the time. The full price of tuition is now a little more than $17,000." 

I don't know if the AII permits the awarding of money based on athletic ability, but if it does not, then Ashford has the highest tuition discount rate in the nation!

[Gregory Sager]

At one time Ashford University was 100% online.  Then it purchased Mt. St. Clare College in eastern Iowa to create a traditional campus.  The experiment did not go well, and Ashford's parent company has decided to close the campus.  Ashford actually has an athletics program:   http://www.ashford.edu/athletics.htm  (I've never heard of A.I.I.)  The Chronicle for Higher Education has a story today about the reasons for closure, and it contains this info.  "Enrollment did not drop because of a lack of investment or effort, Mr. Pattenaude said. In 2012 as many as three-quarters of the students at the physical campus received scholarships covering most or all of the tuition, which was priced at about $16,000 at the time. The full price of tuition is now a little more than $17,000." 

I don't know if the AII permits the awarding of money based on athletic ability, but if it does not, then Ashford has the highest tuition discount rate in the nation!

The existence of Ashford's athletic department isn't news around here. At least one CCIW player -- NPU point guard Cameron Burnett -- transferred in from Ashford. I think that he played there during fall semester of the 2012-13 season. IIRC, there may be one other CCIW player past or present who transferred in from Ashford as well.

[Just Bill]

To put some (hypothetical) numbers behind this, let's say these two employees cost a total of $300,000 for salaries and benefits.  I have no idea if that is high, low, or exact, but it works for example purposes.

I'll help you out. That's HIGH! 

[hopefan]

At one time Ashford University was 100% online.  Then it purchased Mt. St. Clare College in eastern Iowa to create a traditional campus.  The experiment did not go well, and Ashford's parent company has decided to close the campus.  Ashford actually has an athletics program:   http://www.ashford.edu/athletics.htm  (I've never heard of A.I.I.)  The Chronicle for Higher Education has a story today about the reasons for closure, and it contains this info.  "Enrollment did not drop because of a lack of investment or effort, Mr. Pattenaude said. In 2012 as many as three-quarters of the students at the physical campus received scholarships covering most or all of the tuition, which was priced at about $16,000 at the time. The full price of tuition is now a little more than $17,000." 

I don't know if the AII permits the awarding of money based on athletic ability, but if it does not, then Ashford has the highest tuition discount rate in the nation!

I've been collecting 2015-2016 D3 schedules.... Ashford is on the schedules of at least  UW Stout and UW Eau Claire... they'll be looking for late replacements

[veterancciwfan]

Greg: Thanks for the 1987 memories. The shorts are just as short as they were for Sikma's senior year at IWU 10 years before. It looked like a great crowd, no doubt mainly NPC (at that time) fans. Les Grobstein was a very good play-by-play guy. I have Mike Barach on IWU"s all-time opponent team (based on the teams I have seen play IWU since the mid 60s). I only saw him play 5 games vs IWU, with NPC winning 3 of the 5. The 86/87 IWU team featured Eric Bridges and 6'8" Keith Luechtefeld as senior co-captains, a very good team. NPC beat IWU at NP by 5 in the 2nd round of the D3 tourney. Great game.
Just thinking about the attendance dropoff in D3 and IWU's 2014/15 avg. home figure of 1,300+. I tried to find the same figure for IWU's 86/87 team but could not do so. Even though IWU played at Fred Young Fieldhouse, which at capacity and with fans sitting on the south wall was officially listed at 2,500 (actual figure was probably less), in 86/87, I'm sure that avg. home attendance was at least 1,600 + in 86/87. One other fact about the 86/87 season: The pre-season D3 rankings by Basketball Weekly (not a definitive source) showed NPC as #1 and IWU as #9. At least give Chuck Mitkovich (sp?) credit for tabbing NPC as #1. Also, a big thank you to Dennis Prikkel, whose official title was CCIW Publicity Director for the 86/87 academic year.
One last comment: IWU's 86/87 roster consisted of 10 players, including Ron Rose, who didn't learn his hoarding technique (especially his penchant for guards)  from Bridges.

Mark: I know about Ashland College in the Ohio town of the same name but never heard of Ashford College. And now it's too late to notice or care! 

[AndOne]

Mark also left out our newest recruit from his list. He must not be aware of the 6'8 D2 transfer that committed this week.

If you're talking about the 6'8" D2 transfer that was a 2014 IBCA Special Mention All-State player, and was on full scholarship and started 64% of his D2 team's games last year while averaging 23 minutes per game, 8.1 PPG, and 4.5 RPG, I AM aware. 
However, I am also aware that the young gentleman in question has yet neither deposited nor registered. Accordingly, both protocol and common sense preclude me from formal identification until at least one of the aforementioned processes has been consummated. 

NCC TRANSFER

North Central is happy to announce that 6'8" 235 lb Alex Sorenson has completed his paperwork and has officially transferred to NCC where he will be a member of the 2015-2016 Cardinal basketball squad.
Last season as a true freshman at D2 Northern Michigan, Alex started 18 of NMU's 28 games and averaged 8.1 PPG, and 4.5 PRG in an average of 23 minutes per game.

http://www.nmuwildcats.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/sorenson_alex_gelh

[Gregory Sager]

Greg: Thanks for the 1987 memories. The shorts are just as short as they were for Sikma's senior year at IWU 10 years before. It looked like a great crowd, no doubt mainly NPC (at that time) fans.

It was at least half North Park fans, which was quite an accomplishment for a school that only had about 800 students at the time. Clark and TGHIJGSTO!!! Richard Stockton, being East Coast schools, had very little presence in Grand Rapids, and Wittenberg -- which, led by All-American Steve Iannarino, gave NPC quite a scare in the semifinal -- was on spring break. The Tigers had virtually no fans there at all. I remember seeing some lonely guy dressed in red sprint around the Calvin gym carrying the red "Gothic W" Wittenberg flag on a pole and thinking to myself, "That's the saddest, most pathetic thing I've ever seen at a sports event."

The rest of the fans were probably Calvinites and curious locals ... although, if you look again at the early part of the video, at the open end of the gym (opposite the NPC student section), there's a guy who looks suspiciously like Dennis Bridges sitting in a courtside folding chair who is disinterestedly studying the game program while the national championship game takes place practically right in his lap.

Les Grobstein was a very good play-by-play guy.

The Grobber! A Chicago sports institution: butt of a thousand radio shock-jock jokes, the hardest-working sports journalist in town, and Chicago's answer to Oscar Madison of The Odd Couple, all rolled up into one. He grew up a stone's throw from the North Park campus and graduated from next-door Von Steuben. He's still doing the overnight shift on sports-talk WSCR.

The Grobber, who probably sleeps with his tape recorder, was the man who captured on tape Lee Elia's immortal profanity-laced clubhouse tirade about Cubs fans in 1983. (Warning: That link is NSFW, and NSF anybody who is more easily offended than, oh, your average bouncer, construction worker, or stand-up comedian.) That alone should put Les Grobstein in some sort of Sports Journalist Hall of Fame.

I have Mike Barach on IWU"s all-time opponent team (based on the teams I have seen play IWU since the mid 60s). I only saw him play 5 games vs IWU, with NPC winning 3 of the 5. The 86/87 IWU team featured Eric Bridges and 6'8" Keith Luechtefeld as senior co-captains, a very good team. NPC beat IWU at NP by 5 in the 2nd round of the D3 tourney. Great game.

NPC won, 82-77. After the game I hosted a party in my apartment that Vikings center Dan Mulkerin attended. I remarked to him that I got a big kick out of the stunt that IWU center Kevin King had tried to pull before the ball had been inbounded in a dead-ball situation. King had grabbed Mulkerin by the shirt and then fell backwards to make it look to the refs as though Mulkerin had run him over. Rather than get mad about it, I thought that it was the basketball equivalent of baseball's hidden-ball trick, and, since it hadn't worked for King, I made a joke about it. Mulkerin scowled and pulled down his sleeves. It looked as though he'd gotten into a fight with a half-dozen feral cats; his arms were covered in scratches that were just starting to scab over. King apparently must've sharpened his nails and continually raked Mulkerin with them when they were tangled up in the low post throughout the game. He didn't think the inbounds trick was funny, either. But it's all part of the game, I guess.

Just thinking about the attendance dropoff in D3 and IWU's 2014/15 avg. home figure of 1,300+. I tried to find the same figure for IWU's 86/87 team but could not do so. Even though IWU played at Fred Young Fieldhouse, which at capacity and with fans sitting on the south wall was officially listed at 2,500 (actual figure was probably less), in 86/87, I'm sure that avg. home attendance was at least 1,600 + in 86/87.

North Park's seating capacity was considerably larger in 1986-87 than it is now. Not only did the old wooden bleachers hold a lot more people than the current metal ones, but those were the days that the school also put portable bleachers on both endlines. That's where I used to sit. NPC could (and did) legitimately squeeze 1,500 fans in the crackerbox in those days. Now you'd be pushing it to get 1,200 in there. But the listed attendance for each of the two IWU @ NPC games in 1986-87 (both the regular season game and the D3 tourney game) was 1,900, and I have no idea where that number came from.

One other fact about the 86/87 season: The pre-season D3 rankings by Basketball Weekly (not a definitive source) showed NPC as #1 and IWU as #9. At least give Chuck Mitkovich (sp?) credit for tabbing NPC as #1. Also, a big thank you to Dennis Prikkel, whose official title was CCIW Publicity Director for the 86/87 academic year.

Chuck Mistovich, the ageless wonder of small-college basketball journalism and the man who was Pat Coleman before Pat Coleman was Pat Coleman.

Speaking of ageless wonders of small-college basketball journalism, congratulations to recent retiree Steve Marovich upon his well-deserved upcoming induction to the Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame. I'm just a little sad that his fellow 2015 inductee, former North Park and Carthage head football coach Tim Rucks, didn't live long enough to enjoy the honor.

[veterancciwfan]

One last comment about the 86/87 CCIW season. It was the debut of a very successful CCIW coach. Scott Trost became the 2nd assistant coach for Bridges along with Dennis Martel in that season. Speaking of Bridges, his AD job ends at the end of July. He wisely stayed at IWU even though he had low level D1 coaching offers.
Greg: Did Dan McCarrell ever express regrets about leaving NPC for a D2 job in MN?

Since this is summer and news is slow, a little history lesson on the NAIA. All IL schools (except the U. of IL, Bradley, Loyola, DePaul & Northwestern) were in District 20 of the NAIA with the district champion headed to the national 32 team NAIA tournament in KC, MO. The Dist. 20 playoffs involved a minimum of 4 teams and sometimes 6. But to show how strong the NAIA was prior to 1963, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Southern Illinois were typically the District 20 team in the national tournament in KC. So the CCIW schools were competing against some stiff competition. That changed after the 1962/63 season as the Illinois state schools left the NAIA and joined the College Division of the NCAA, which Wheaton won in either 1956 or 1957.

[Gregory Sager]

One last comment about the 86/87 CCIW season. It was the debut of a very successful CCIW coach. Scott Trost became the 2nd assistant coach for Bridges along with Dennis Martel in that season. Speaking of Bridges, his AD job ends at the end of July. He wisely stayed at IWU even though he had low level D1 coaching offers.

Bosko had at least one low-level D1 head coaching offer that I know of during that era as well. Ironically, the coach he would've replaced if he had taken that job was a former CCIW head coach.

Greg: Did Dan McCarrell ever express regrets about leaving NPC for a D2 job in MN?

Not as far as I know, although I'm sure that he had plenty of mixed feelings about leaving his alma mater. North Park was not only where he had gone to school and then worked for over twenty years, it was also close to home. He grew up in Oak Park, and he'd always been a Chicagolander. (His seven siblings all went to Wheaton, while he went to North Park; on a campus that's always filled with people whose urge to beat Wheaton burns white-hot, nobody ever wanted to beat Wheaton more than Dan McCarrell did.) Mankato, MN and D2 in general were alien territory for him. But Mankato State (now Minnesota State) gave him a lot more money, a bigger budget with more assistants, and access to a private plane for recruiting -- and, unlike North Park, Mankato State made good on its promise to him to build a new gym (NPC kept telling him that the school would expand the crackerbox, but it never did ... and it still hasn't), even though McCarrell had to wait until his final season (2000-01) before the Mavericks finally moved into the 4,800-seat Taylor Center.

He had a decent career coaching the Mavericks -- 284-189 (.600) over 17 seasons -- but he never got anywhere near the heights that he achieved at North Park. He was perennially frustrated in his attempts to win the old Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which Minnesota-Duluth and Northern State absolutely locked down during the '80s and '90s; McCarrell's teams finished 3rd in the NSIC six times and 4th four times.

Nobody should ever feel sorry for the Chief, though. There aren't a lot of head coaches throughout college basketball history who can lay claim to three national championships.

Since this is summer and news is slow, a little history lesson on the NAIA. All IL schools (except the U. of IL, Bradley, Loyola, DePaul & Northwestern) were in District 20 of the NAIA with the district champion headed to the national 32 team NAIA tournament in KC, MO. The Dist. 20 playoffs involved a minimum of 4 teams and sometimes 6. But to show how strong the NAIA was prior to 1963, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Southern Illinois were typically the District 20 team in the national tournament in KC. So the CCIW schools were competing against some stiff competition. That changed after the 1962/63 season as the Illinois state schools left the NAIA and joined the College Division of the NCAA, which Wheaton won in either 1956 or 1957.

Wheaton won it in 1957 after having finished fourth in the NAIA tourney in '56. Wheaton then went on to finish fourth in the NCAA College Division in '58. Also, not all of the schools in Illinois played in the NAIA in the late '50s and early '60s. Several were in the NCAA College Division. Aside from those great Wheaton teams, Augustana, for example, made it to the College Division tourney in 1959 (along with Wheaton), 1960, and 1963.

[sac]

At one time it was mentioned Wheaton's Lee Pfund Classic was still searching for a 4th team. 

The Wabash schedule shows  Wheaton, Defiance, George Fox and Wabash
http://sports.wabash.edu/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

...Wheaton is showing Chicago as one of its 4 opponents.   

[Gregory Sager]

Perhaps your post prompted Wheaton SID Brett Marhanka to change it, because the online Wheaton schedule now reads Defiance, George Fox, Wabash, and Wheaton as the Pfund's participants. (Well, Brett doesn't believe in the Oxford comma, but I've taken the liberty of including it for him. )

The interesting thing is that the Wabash site shows Wabash playing Defiance in the opener, while Wheaton doesn't list any pairings at all. Neither Defiance nor George Fox have posted their schedules yet.

[AndOne]

Maybe the Wa-bashers want Defiance for some particular reason, and they are doing a bit of wishful thinking by naming them as their opening opponent. We've seen this manner of proactive wishful thinking occur before.
Or, perhaps the visitors from Indiana just fear possibly having to open against the crusading Thunder.   

[sac]

My guess is given the difficulty of NWC teams getting actual in-region games to reach 75% George Fox probably wouldn't come to Wheaton without the guaranteed in-region game with the Thunder.....thus Defiance plays Wabash.

[omaha]

Since this is summer and news is slow, a little history lesson on the NAIA. All IL schools (except the U. of IL, Bradley, Loyola, DePaul & Northwestern) were in District 20 of the NAIA with the district champion headed to the national 32 team NAIA tournament in KC, MO. The Dist. 20 playoffs involved a minimum of 4 teams and sometimes 6. But to show how strong the NAIA was prior to 1963, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Southern Illinois were typically the District 20 team in the national tournament in KC. So the CCIW schools were competing against some stiff competition. That changed after the 1962/63 season as the Illinois state schools left the NAIA and joined the College Division of the NCAA, which Wheaton won in either 1956 or 1957.

Wheaton won the first NCAA College Division Tournament in 1957. 

Illinois was not unique. Prior to the formation of the College Division many colleges across the country were members of the NAIA. After the College Division was formed many schools held dual membership in both the NAIA and NCAA College Division, including some schools in the CCIW.  When North Park won the CCIW championship in 1968-69 they were invited to both the NCAA College Division and NAIA tournaments.