MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[John Gleich]

Would love to be there to see Elmhurst beat Augie, but I have a previous engagement in Naperville. 

Did anyone else have EC over AC last night or was I all alone? LOL.
Not that such early in the conference season games usually fall into the category, but I think, that in the battle for conference superiority, last night's game was more of a must win game for EC than it was for AC. A large part of my thinking is based on the fact, that with the possible exception of IUW, no team gets a bigger boost from its home crowd than does Augie. That's why EC had to take advantage of the home cookin' last night. Odds will favor AC when the teams meet in RI.

It was on the National Pick-em and GS picked it correctly. Not sure about anyone else.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Would love to be there to see Elmhurst beat Augie, but I have a previous engagement in Naperville. 

Did anyone else have EC over AC last night or was I all alone? LOL.
Not that such early in the conference season games usually fall into the category, but I think, that in the battle for conference superiority, last night's game was more of a must win game for EC than it was for AC. A large part of my thinking is based on the fact, that with the possible exception of IUW, no team gets a bigger boost from its home crowd than does Augie. That's why EC had to take advantage of the home cookin' last night. Odds will favor AC when the teams meet in RI.

It was on the National Pick-em and GS picked it correctly. Not sure about anyone else.

I responded to Greg, noting I actually thought Elmhurst would win, but picked Augie since they're my team in the unbeaten contest.

[Gregory Sager]

Would love to be there to see Elmhurst beat Augie, but I have a previous engagement in Naperville. 

Did anyone else have EC over AC last night or was I all alone? LOL.
Not that such early in the conference season games usually fall into the category, but I think, that in the battle for conference superiority, last night's game was more of a must win game for EC than it was for AC. A large part of my thinking is based on the fact, that with the possible exception of IUW, no team gets a bigger boost from its home crowd than does Augie. That's why EC had to take advantage of the home cookin' last night. Odds will favor AC when the teams meet in RI.

It was on the National Pick-em and GS picked it correctly. Not sure about anyone else.

I responded to Greg, noting I actually thought Elmhurst would win, but picked Augie since they're my team in the unbeaten contest.

I actually went against my own preference, since I wanted North Park to play an Augustana team on Saturday that was both #1 and undefeated. But I had a strong suspicion that EC would win, and went with it in the national pick'em.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst 69
Augustana 69

Will Nixon tipped in the buzzer-beating game winner -- apparently.

Madhouse at Faganel -- temporarily.

Video review at the table by the refs -- overturned.

Extra session between #1 and #5.

Video review? We have this in the CCIW?
WHO in the CCIW has this?

Good question. This whole issue is going to come to a head pretty quickly.

Video review is allowed.   D3 guys don't get the TV time like Ted Valentine so they rarely use it.  I don't think I've ever seen a Hope game with video review and Hope is on actual TV twice a year.

You're correct that it's allowed by the NCAA. But it would be more accurate to say that the NCAA hasn't made a legislative mandate one way or the other towards it in regard to D3, mostly because courtside technical facilities and the resources needed to make them available vary so widely in our division. Keep in mind that there's a large number of D3 schools that don't even have webstreaming or live stats, let alone the capacity to review plays at the table via video. Not everybody in our division is up to par with the CCIW in terms of technical capacity. Ask Hopefan what it's like as a SLIAC fan trying to track what's going on around that league on a game night.

Yep, they had a monitor on the live stream at the table and just scrolled it back and paused a couple times. Actually fairly low tech. Very manageable in D-III. Glad they used it because it really was close.

I'd like to hope that you're right about it being manageable in D3, Pat, because there are a lot of low-budget D3 athletic departments that host basketball games on a wing and a prayer. Remember what a brouhaha it was to get the backboard-lights requirement passed?

Since the NCAA hasn't ruled one way or the other on D3 video review, it's left up to the conferences. As far as CCIW policy is concerned, there was an informal agreement made among the coaches at their last off-season meeting not to use video review, since all eight tables aren't set up for it. That agreement obviously went by the wayside last night, prompting a flurry of e-mail traffic among the CCIW braintrust today. I think that Chris Martin is going to have to come out and say something about this, because after last night the CCIW is in no-man's-land as far as video review is concerned.

[Gregory Sager]

GoPerry-  Augie has always had a good turnout at Elmhurst, I can attest for FB and BB.  IMO, probably because historically they have always recruited the Chicago suburbs hard.  With Elmhurst not too far of a commute,  many mom/pop/sibling/friend etc.  come to watch (X player) locally.  I would guess NC/WC/NPU would be the same?

It's not just student-athletes from the Chicago suburbs that get recruited hard by Augie. The Augustana student body as a whole has a very sizeable Chicagoland 'burbs contingent, particularly from the western suburbs. It's been that way for a very, very long time at Augie.

Regardless, that was an extremely impressive turnout at Faganel last night, especially since Augie is still on break and Elmhurst is in J-term. Last night, as several of us huddled around a laptop in the crackerbox and watched the conclusion of the game, I remarked that I don't ever remember seeing so many people in Faganel before -- and I was there for some pretty big games during the Knuppel era, including a D3 tourney game against Wash U in '01.

Great game last night with Elmhurst and Augie... I thought it mirrored the Kansas-Oklahoma thriller that D1 fans got this week as well. Lotta guys hitting big shots at big times.

However, someone has to ask the question and it mine as well be me:
Is Hunter Hill anything more than an average PG?! I really don't see him as a 1st team All CCIW selection, let alone an All American...
Am I the only one who feels this way?

I think you would be in a very small group - of maybe one!  CCIW teams will double Hill or assign someone to be in his grill and not leave him - no matter what.  He can be a streak shooter at times.  When he is "on" nothing is going to stop him. At the end of the game, you want the ball in his hands - only if you are Augie.

Hunter Hill is an outstanding D3 point guard. (Am I really going to say anything different two nights before the Park plays Augie? ) As far as his All-CCIW first team and/or All-American status is concerned ... well, let's wait until we get deeper into the CCIW sked before we tackle those issues, given the understanding that nobody gets a freebie slot on those respective honor teams based upon having gotten them in past seasons. I think that iwumich is absolutely right about the way that opposing teams try to handle Hill. I can pretty much guarantee that every opposing coach designs his defensive game plan (and his pre-Augie practice time) around stopping Hill. I'd also agree with iwumich that Hill is very streaky offensively, and that when he's "on" it's beyond the capacity of most teams to thwart him.

I can think of other players that I'd rather have take the final shot -- for instance, I'm very comfortable with the assurance that Juwan Henry will have the ball in hero time as far as my alma mater's team is concerned -- but, last night's crunch-time performance by Hill notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure that Grey Giovanine absolutely loves the fact that he has Hill to quarterback his team when the game is on the line.

Nice to see Darius Brown make a solid contribution - allows the team to go deeper into the bench.

Darius was a good addition to this year's NPU squad. He shares the same genetic affliction of most of his teammates -- not enough size for his position -- but he's a very smart and coachable player who does the right things, and now it's starting to pay off for him and, therefore, for his team. Not to rain on his parade, though, but it should be noted that Carthage's front line consists of a bunch of 6'4, 200 guys, so it's not as though Brown was forced to play tree surgeon, the way that he will against teams such as Elmhurst and Illinois Wesleyan that are stocked with the doorway-ducking types more stereotypical of basketball big men.

As good a night as Darius Brown had, though, the most encouraging item from last night's win (aside from winning the rebounding battle by five) was this line score:

Tony Pierce: 3-9 FG, 1-6 trey, 0-1 FT, 1 reb, 4 PFs, 7 points, 0:2 a:to, 0 blks, 0 stls in 33 minutes

That wasn't just a matter of Pierce being in a funk last night, either. Here's Bosko's postgame comments:

"We wanted them to take difficult shots," said Carthage head coach Bosko Djurickovic, "but that wasn't the case. Give North Park credit, and not just Juwan Henry and Jordan Robinson.  That whole team plays with wonderful confidence, and we're not quite there yet.  North Park took advantage of our lack of rebounding, and their defensive rhythm bothered us. It wasn't easy for Tony Pierce to get good looks tonight, and give North Park credit for that, too. We were also way too reliant on Jordon Kedrowski. We just didn't play well enough to win this game."

(emphasis added)

This NPU team doesn't play very good defense, as can been seen in the 78.9 ppg and .455 FG% it gives up to opponents. But bad defense can always get better as the season goes along, and I'm hopeful that this will be the case for the Vikings. (Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have a T.J. Cobbs that you can put on a stud like Pierce.)

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Elmhurst 69
Augustana 69

Will Nixon tipped in the buzzer-beating game winner -- apparently.

Madhouse at Faganel -- temporarily.

Video review at the table by the refs -- overturned.

Extra session between #1 and #5.

Video review? We have this in the CCIW?
WHO in the CCIW has this?

Good question. This whole issue is going to come to a head pretty quickly.

Video review is allowed.   D3 guys don't get the TV time like Ted Valentine so they rarely use it.  I don't think I've ever seen a Hope game with video review and Hope is on actual TV twice a year.

You're correct that it's allowed by the NCAA. But it would be more accurate to say that the NCAA hasn't made a legislative mandate one way or the other towards it in regard to D3, mostly because courtside technical facilities and the resources needed to make them available vary so widely in our division. Keep in mind that there's a large number of D3 schools that don't even have webstreaming or live stats, let alone the capacity to review plays at the table via video. Not everybody in our division is up to par with the CCIW in terms of technical capacity. Ask Hopefan what it's like as a SLIAC fan trying to track what's going on around that league on a game night.

Yep, they had a monitor on the live stream at the table and just scrolled it back and paused a couple times. Actually fairly low tech. Very manageable in D-III. Glad they used it because it really was close.

I'd like to hope that you're right about it being manageable in D3, Pat, because there are a lot of low-budget D3 athletic departments that host basketball games on a wing and a prayer. Remember what a brouhaha it was to get the backboard-lights requirement passed?

Since the NCAA hasn't ruled one way or the other on D3 video review, it's left up to the conferences. As far as CCIW policy is concerned, there was an informal agreement made among the coaches at their last off-season meeting not to use video review, since all eight tables aren't set up for it. That agreement obviously went by the wayside last night, prompting a flurry of e-mail traffic among the CCIW braintrust today. I think that Chris Martin is going to have to come out and say something about this, because after last night the CCIW is in no-man's-land as far as video review is concerned.

Greg - as one who has overseen the video production at a school where video replay is available for the officials at the scorer's table... you need to trust that schools are further up to speed than you realize.

First off... the rules and legislation is simple: if you have the capabilities to provide video review you are welcome to use them. If you don't, so be it.

The fact the coaches actually had a conversation and ruled AGAINST having replay available even if at a small number of schools is disappointing. Sure, it isn't all eight schools and it might not be for a very long time - if ever. But do we really want the chance at the technology being tabled because it can't be used universally? I can't wait until a CCIW team is the national championship game and replay is used maybe to their benefit to win a title and they return to a conference which has its head in the sand. What is next? Will CCIW teams tell their opponents including at D1 exhibition (or real) games that replay can't be used because the conference doesn't allow it for conference games and thus they don't want to "taint" the season with a video review in a non-conference game? Better not come to the Hoopsville Classic!

Could you imagine a non-conference game against a Top 10 team where plenty of ramifications will be on the line come at-large, hosting, etc. time in the NCAA tournament and the CCIW team doesn't provide replay because the conference doesn't allow it even though they could easily do it. Or they are at another school which has replay and a call works for or against them impacting their postseason but not their counterparts in the conference?

Is this stuff I am bringing up ridiculous? Yes. Just as it is ridiculous that coaches decided that because not all of them have replay that for some reason the technology shouldn't be used when it is available.

The school I have overseen replay at is in a conference where all the schools don't have it either. But they aren't mandating against it's use. Heck, almost every single coach who walks into that gym has asked an officials at least once in a game to review something (whether right or wrong the ability review). They don't have it at their place, but they appreciate the fact it can be used when it is available.

Conferences shouldn't rule for or against it right now. Let the schools provide it if it is available. Others will eventually do it themselves so they can keep up with the Joneses or not do it at all. The world will continue to rotate and ultimately we will continue playing basketball. Discontinuing use based on a conference decision, influenced by coaches who sometimes don't think with their heads but with their emotions, isn't smart. Mandating their use at this time isn't smart either. Just let the schools determine it for themselves.

Ideal? No. But the unique thing about Division III is we don't have a Division I mentality with money on the line. If replay is available to use to improve the game or solve a mistake, we welcome that opportunity. If it isn't? We play the game and the officials call the game no different. Eventually, technology will be come easier and easier to attain or at the very least schools will realize how they can make replay available from what they are already doing.

Again, I consult and oversee these items and see all sides of the situation... and I hope the CCIW lets schools know if they want to provide replay to go ahead, but make sure certain standards are being followed (another discussion), and for those not interested to at least look into it in the future out of respect for everyone else.

In the meantime, coaches, ADs, and even conference commissioners are welcome to reach out to me for my expect opinion and knowledge to help in anyway they need... I am very serious about that (I'll be at the NCAA Convention if they want to get a cup of coffee or a drink ... even a meal if so inclined).

[79jaybird]

Ah the 2001 Wash U vs. Elmhurst game.  Greg, that was one of my greatest memories at EC.  I was the mascot (of all things) and under the basket when Knup hit the GW 3-pointer.  Needless to say that was a memorable night on campus.

I think overall athletics are being better attended at Elmhurst, because more focus on (successful) athletics teams/facilities/coaches etc.  has been the norm the last 10 years or so at Elmhurst.   I can remember being a freshman in 1998 and many events were ghost towns.  Many on campus had no clues about game times,  who's playing who, rosters, etc.   Other than our volleyball team, many of the teams were not doing all that great.    With the recent upgrades in all aspects of the campus, I think Elmhurst is finally getting up to speed with/where some of the other CCIW schools have been.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg - as one who has overseen the video production at a school where video replay is available for the officials at the scorer's table... you need to trust that schools are further up to speed than you realize.

They really aren't, Dave. As far as I can tell, three out of the eight CCIW schools have in-game video replay capability for their webstreaming: Carthage, Elmhurst, and Wheaton. (If any of the other five schools has video replay, it's never used it in a live webcast as far as I can tell. And I watch a pretty fair amount of CCIW games online.) Elmhurst obviously had that replay capability immediately available at the table for the use of the officials; I can't vouch for whether or not Carthage and/or Wheaton could do it, or do it as quickly and efficiently as EC did on Wednesday, because every table and every video setup is different. So, at best, we're talking about three schools out of eight that can do what the EC table did on Wednesday night. (And did well, too, I might add; thumbs-up to Elmhurst SID and game manager Kevin Juday for that.) And I'm willing to bet that the CCIW is ahead of the curve in terms of D3 as a whole on this, simply because this league tends to be near the forefront of D3 when it comes to the bells-and-whistles aspects of athletics. Again, let me cite the SLIAC as a counter-example. Try to imagine having this conversation among those schools!

First off... the rules and legislation is simple: if you have the capabilities to provide video review you are welcome to use them. If you don't, so be it.

Right, as I said yesterday. And when there's a game-management issue that isn't settled by the NCAA as a whole, it tends to be adjudicated on the league level, at least as far as the CCIW is concerned. This one wasn't, at least not in a formal sense. That's why the eight head coaches stepped in and made their own handshake agreement. And now there's a muddle, because the agreement under which they thought they were operating no longer exists.

The fact the coaches actually had a conversation and ruled AGAINST having replay available even if at a small number of schools is disappointing. Sure, it isn't all eight schools and it might not be for a very long time - if ever. But do we really want the chance at the technology being tabled because it can't be used universally?

Please understand that I see both sides to this issue, and that, for the sake of argument, I'm presenting the side of the coaches.

Their concern is one of fairness. If you can get a call overturned via video at Tarble, Faganel, or King, but you can't get one overturned via video at Carver, Shirk, Griswold, Gregory, or the crackerbox, then that creates an imbalance that skews possible league outcomes. Say Augustana had won Wednesday's game in overtime at Faganel, which it would have accomplished only because the video review made it possible by overturning Will Nixon's tip-in. North Central then loses the game a week from tomorrow at Shirk in which Alex Sorenson tips in a shot at the buzzer that would've given NCC the win over IWU, but it gets waved off by the refs. Todd Raridon is howling mad later on after viewing the scout DVD (aka "the tape"), which appears to show that the refs blew the call in Bloomington. (And, of course, we get a heavy dose of postgame ire in that vein here on CCIW Chat from AndOne. ) Augustana wins the league by a game over North Central, giving Augie hosting rights for the CCIW tourney. But if Augie had lost the game @ EC, or if North Central had won the game @ IWU, the situation would've been reversed, and it would've been the Cardinals who were the champs and the tourney hosts.

An unlikely scenario? Not really. Close games are a stock-in-trade of the CCIW, and buzzer-beaters are certainly not unusual. I can definitely foresee an outcome to the CCIW season in which there's another situation like Wednesday night's in Elmhurst that would affect things. That's why the coaches felt that there had to be at the very least an understanding on their part about how to handle this league-wide, so that everybody was on an equal footing regarding this very important new aspect of game management.

I can't wait until a CCIW team is the national championship game and replay is used maybe to their benefit to win a title and they return to a conference which has its head in the sand. What is next? Will CCIW teams tell their opponents including at D1 exhibition (or real) games that replay can't be used because the conference doesn't allow it for conference games and thus they don't want to "taint" the season with a video review in a non-conference game? Better not come to the Hoopsville Classic!

Apples and oranges, Dave. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm willing to bet that the informal rule applied to league games only, because the aspect of fairness that motivated the decision applied to the league's overall internal competition rather than external. There has always been a vast difference in the CCIW regarding internal competition as opposed to external competition ... and I'm not just talking about the prerogatives that concern scheduling, either.

Could you imagine a non-conference game against a Top 10 team where plenty of ramifications will be on the line come at-large, hosting, etc. time in the NCAA tournament and the CCIW team doesn't provide replay because the conference doesn't allow it even though they could easily do it. Or they are at another school which has replay and a call works for or against them impacting their postseason but not their counterparts in the conference?

Again, apples and oranges regarding internal vs. external competition. And why would your first scenario be such a crisis, since CCIW teams have never before had replay capacity, anyway?

Is this stuff I am bringing up ridiculous? Yes.

No. These are fair questions that you're asking, and this is a good place for them to be hashed out ... even though we fans have no say in the matter.

Just as it is ridiculous that coaches decided that because not all of them have replay that for some reason the technology shouldn't be used when it is available.

I don't think it's ridiculous at all. As I said, I can see both sides to this issue.

The school I have overseen replay at is in a conference where all the schools don't have it either. But they aren't mandating against it's use. Heck, almost every single coach who walks into that gym has asked an officials at least once in a game to review something (whether right or wrong the ability review). They don't have it at their place, but they appreciate the fact it can be used when it is available.

This is D3, the one-size-doesn't-fit-all division of the NCAA. What works for the UAA doesn't necessarily work for the SUNYAC; what the WIAC believes is appropriate might be anathema to the MWC ... and what the Landmark is comfortable using may not be what the CCIW feels is in its best interest, either.

Conferences shouldn't rule for or against it right now. Let the schools provide it if it is available.

I'm not comfortable unilaterally declaring what the CCIW should or should not be allowed to do regarding its own contests.

Others will eventually do it themselves so they can keep up with the Joneses or not do it at all.

... at which point the issue becomes moot, and we can go back to arguing about your Top 25 ballot.

The world will continue to rotate and ultimately we will continue playing basketball. Discontinuing use based on a conference decision, influenced by coaches who sometimes don't think with their heads but with their emotions, isn't smart.

You're being unfair to the CCIW coaches, Dave. There's a perfectly reasonable, non-emotion-based, rationale behind their pre-season decision. Just because you think it was the wrong decision does not mean that it was irrationally made.

Mandating their use at this time isn't smart either. Just let the schools determine it for themselves.

Here's where we get into the nuts and bolts of competitive adjudication, i.e., whether game management should follow universal guidelines within a league or be decided on a school-by-school basis by each of the member institutions. And, while I applaud the new technology and its capability to aid the refs in making the right call in a game-deciding situation, I also respect the league's right to standardize game management. In the larger sense, that's what a league is for: to standardize game play and thus put all eight competitors on an equal footing when it comes to the rules.

Ideal? No. But the unique thing about Division III is we don't have a Division I mentality with money on the line. If replay is available to use to improve the game or solve a mistake, we welcome that opportunity. If it isn't? We play the game and the officials call the game no different. Eventually, technology will be come easier and easier to attain or at the very least schools will realize how they can make replay available from what they are already doing.

Right. But we aren't at that point yet, and the issue has to be confronted while we're in that nebulous neither-here-nor-there stage of technology acquisition vis-a-vis our respective athletic departments.

[iwumichigander]

Whew!  I am exhausted just reading through all if this!  So other thoughts - some advantages to NCAA, as well as conference membership is a common set of guidelines, rules and regulations including allowable or permissible exceptions, versus letting every school "do their own thing" because they can (or can not) afford it. 

So aside from the other discussion items, who is going to certifying the officials, the camera operators, the officials table and the equipment including the number, type and placement if cameras?  Let alone, what is the cost versus the benefit?

Heck, we are not to the place where the graphics are universal (and it really grinds my *** that time and shot clock are not in the graphics - hint, hint).  We still get camera shots of fans heads; trouble with video and audio sync and enough server size and speed to handle a large viewing audience.

Let us give Chris Martin, his staff, with the coaches, AD's and Presidents a little time to figure this out.

[Gregory Sager]

Heck, we are not to the place where the graphics are universal (and it really grinds my *** that time and shot clock are not in the graphics - hint, hint).

The silver lining to that particular cloud is that NPU's lack of score and time graphics made me even more conscious about constantly updating them on the air when I first started doing PBP. Legendary Detroit Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell used to say that he always flipped over a three-minute egg timer in the booth during broadcasts every time that he gave the score and inning.

Also, even though NPU now has score graphics, I always make sure that my camera operator points the camera at the big scoreboard during timeouts and halftime/quarter breaks.

We still get camera shots of fans heads;

I wonder if Mr. Light Blue Shirt from Wednesday night has sat down yet?

Wheaton's webcasts used to be especially bad regarding fans obstructing camera shots, but that hasn't been a problem over the past few seasons.

trouble with video and audio sync and enough server size and speed to handle a large viewing audience.

In two close NPU games thus far this year (women at the end of double OT vs. Trine in the Anderson tourney championship game, men vs. Albion in the final three minutes of the championship game of the Defiance tourney), the video has gone out -- and live stats crashed at the same time. Honestly, both times I almost threw the #*&@^%+ computer out the door.

Nothing grates on my nerves more than seeing that spinning circle come up on a now-frozen screen at a crucial point in a ballgame.

Let us give Chris Martin, his staff, with the coaches, AD's and Presidents a little time to figure this out.

Yep.

[iwumichigander]

Let us give Chris Martin, his staff, with the coaches, AD's and Presidents a little time to figure this out.

1) I would encourage Commissioner Martin to issue an interim guideline before Saturday's games
2) Consider we have Carroll coming back into the conference.  At a minimum, Carroll should be brought up to speed on the issue and given a chance to give feedback, if not a vote.

[Gregory Sager]

2) Consider we have Carroll coming back into the conference.  At a minimum, Carroll should be brought up to speed on the issue and given a chance to give feedback, if not a vote.

I say, let's not tell Carroll. Let's just pretend that we like them while we laugh and point at them behind their back.

[Gregory Sager]

Current Massey:

    2. Augustana
    4. Elmhurst
  11. North Central
  23. North Park
  61. Illinois Wesleyan
146. Carthage
153. Wheaton
173. Millikin

(Benedictine is now #1. I can't wait to hear D-Mac's thoughts on that. )

Massey predictions for tomorrow:

Augustana 81, @ North Park 71 (AC 82% favorite)
@ Illinois Wesleyan 81, Carthage 71 (IWU 83% favorite)
Elmhurst 81, @ Millikin 67 (EC 90% favorite)
North Central 72, @ Wheaton 62 (NCC 81% favorite)

[Gotberg]

NPU has 3 new players on the roster:  http://athletics.northpark.edu/roster.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

1 - Ray Rubio, Guard 6'0''  - Transfer from Loras?

30 - Dyron Woods - 6'6'' - Lincoln Park High School

45 - Devontae Gines - 6'6'' - Cahokia - was on the incoming list over the summer.

No idea if any will make a contribution for the 2nd half of the season

[Gregory Sager]

Well, the cat's out of the bag. Guess I have to talk about this now that the roster moves have finally been posted:

NPU has 3 new players on the roster:  http://athletics.northpark.edu/roster.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

1 - Ray Rubio, Guard 6'0''  - Transfer from Loras?

Yes. He's a Catholic League product (Brother Rice), which is something that NPU always looks for in basketball, and I know that there were several other D3 schools on him in HS aside from Loras and NPU, including Augie and DePauw. Looks like he'd kinda lost his way at Loras this season, playing rotation minutes early and then dropping out of sight before making a final cameo appearance against Keene State on December 30. I know that Tom Slyder is looking forward to having him on the squad for much-needed rotation depth.

30 - Dyron Woods - 6'6'' - Lincoln Park High School

Like Rubio, Woods is an academic sophomore; he played one year of juco ball at Wright, but he may have gotten a med red for it due to a foot injury he suffered while playing basketball there. Tom Slyder is very high on his back-to-the-basket skills and his potential. NPU has not had a bona-fide low post presence since Emanuel Crosby and Mike Gabriel (i.e., before the Slyder era), and the hope is that Dyron Woods will be the guy who can bring that element to the Vikings. Problem is, he's not in game condition. At 270 pounds, he's going to have trouble getting up and down the floor. I'm thinking that he could be more of a contributor next year, provided he gets his weight down and his conditioning improved, but we'll wait and see.

45 - Devontae Gines - 6'6'' - Cahokia - was on the incoming list over the summer.

He's only now actually in school and on the team. He's been out of high school for a couple of years, so he's older than the typical freshman. He's long and athletic; whether he can contribute to the varsity this season or will be strictly JV material remains to be seen as well.

No idea if any will make a contribution for the 2nd half of the season

Well, I don't expect any of them to make contributions tomorrow night, at any rate.