MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WUPHF]

Incidentally, WUPHF, I think that we've done this board a solid by steering the conversation away from the gossip and contumely surrounding North Central administrators that had been the previous hot topic.

Agreed.  I do love these conversations but I think we can call it a day on this one and then let the next #whyd3 conversation begin.  Guard hoarding or the Augustana Medical School or what have you...

[WUPHF]

In many ways we are talking about apples and lugnuts here.  MIT is more successful across the board for many reasons, but one is that they never had to dig out of a 0-for-several decades hole.  MIT's current coaches (across sports) may not have started their gig on third base in the absolute, but they certainly did relative to where a Caltech coach starts.  If Caltech had plateaued at a level slightly above their previous futility, that would be one conversation, but they've gone from one win to four to five to nine and last year twelve.  I'm not putting them on Pool C watch anytime soon, but that's impressive and speaks to both a coach who has proven he can build a program and to a story not completely written.

I thought that was the end of my conversation, but I just wanted to say that this point cannot be overstated.

[Next Man Up]

Incidentally, WUPHF, I think that we've done this board a solid by steering the conversation away from the gossip and contumely surrounding North Central administrators that had been the previous hot topic.

Airing dirty laundry is one thing; rubbing our faces in somebody else's dirty laundry for days at a time is quite another.

Well, you'd be surprised how much dirty laundry had accumulated over the year.
And remember, as my wife often reminds me, the laundry isn't done until it's been folded and put away. 

[sac]

DYK,  Cal Tech's 3 consecutive double digit winning seasons (18-19. 19-20, 21-22) now give them 5 total double digit winning seasons in their history and 2019 was their first since 1954.

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, I think that the bottom line here is that we all agree that Caltech's Oliver Eslinger is one heckuva coach, with the absolute value implied in the adjective "heckuva" being a YMMV interpretation. While I didn't want to pick on the poster who calls himself northcentral, I hope that he will re-evaluate his opinion of Eslinger based upon this conversation. And, while I didn't want to pick on Todd Kelly, either (whom I still hope will apply for and get the Benedictine job), I think that we've reinforced kiko's point that Todd was wrong to slam Augustana for including Eslinger as one of its finalists to replace Grey Giovanine a couple of years ago.

[USee]

Wheaton's incoming players were announced yesterday. 3 transfers and 4 freshmen among the group:

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2022/5/12/mens-basketball-the-thunder-mens-basketball-program-announces-seven-newcomers-for-the-2022-23-season.aspx

Transfers:

TJ Askew, 6-7 graduate transfer from Claremont McKenna, 2 year captain, all SCIAC averaged 15 and 5 last year
Connor Braun, 6-9 grad transfer from Northeaster. Didn't play much there (missed much of his senior year with an injury) but was a double double guy in HS
Micah Schnyders, 6-4 G from Eastern Illinois. Will be a Junior next year. Started a couple games last year for Eastern Ill. played in 33 games in two seasons at Eastern.

Freshmen:
Michael Dienes, 6-7 F, Scottsdale Ariz. Regional player of the year in 2A, 1st team all state, his schools all time leader in 3pt shooting
Kyle Neibch, 6-3 G, Fort Mill, South Carol. Player of the year in his region, 1st team all state, league MVP 2x, 16 ppg
Cole Reid, 6-8, PF, Waco Texas. 4 year starter, Team MVP
Noah Reimer, 6-7 F, Tulsa Ok, averaged 17 and 9, 2x First Team selection finalist for Tulsa area MVP

5 of these 7 newcomers are 6-7 or taller. Has to be the most size Schauer has had in a long time. Lots of talent here to be excited about. I really think several of these guys have a chance to make an immediate impact for the Thunder and in the league.

[petemcb]

Carthage's schedule is out. 
https://athletics.carthage.edu/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

[petemcb]

I know, I know, I make one of my increasingly infrequent appearances on the board yesterday and I'm back so soon?! I guess I'm just trying to do my part to fill the Q void. Now that we've (presumably) wrung every drop out of the NCC hiring situation and the Cal Tech admissions process, how about a different topic? Years ago, there was a pretty solid D2/D3/NAIA summer league that played out of Des Plaines just outside of Chicago. It died off and then resurrected out at Joy of the Game in Deerfield. That died off too, pre-Covid. Has anyone heard any talk of a similar type of league in the works for this summer? I could use a fix.

P.S.  By the way, thanks to all of you regular posters for your commitment to this board. It is one of my go-to's, in and out of season and I appreciate the level of discussion and depth of information and commitment.....and zeal. 

[Gregory Sager]

I know, I know, I make one of my increasingly infrequent appearances on the board yesterday and I'm back so soon?! I guess I'm just trying to do my part to fill the Q void.

Well, you did include a link in your post, which is a promising first step to achieving quasi-Q status.

Now that we've (presumably) wrung every drop out of the NCC hiring situation and the Cal Tech admissions process, how about a different topic? Years ago, there was a pretty solid D2/D3/NAIA summer league that played out of Des Plaines just outside of Chicago. It died off and then resurrected out at Joy of the Game in Deerfield. That died off too, pre-Covid. Has anyone heard any talk of a similar type of league in the works for this summer? I could use a fix.

That's a great question. I also forgot to ask John Hodel last season if his Broadway Armory summer league is still around. Whenever North Park has fielded a summer-league team, the Broadway Armory league has been its typical venue.

P.S.  By the way, thanks to all of you regular posters for your commitment to this board. It is one of my go-to's, in and out of season and I appreciate the level of discussion and depth of information and commitment.....and zeal. 

Thank you. I'm here all week. Try the zeal!

[kiko]

Now that we've (presumably) wrung every drop out of the NCC hiring situation and the Cal Tech admissions process

C'mon, you're not new here... we are turning the page on these but you know that we only waded into the kiddie pool on these versus what we are capable of. 

[WUPHF]

Now that we've (presumably) wrung every drop out of the NCC hiring situation and the Cal Tech admissions process, how about a different topic?

Greg and I could have gone on for weeks to be honest.

[Wildcat]

Whoever made out North Parks and Wheatons basketball schedule. They didn't talk to each other. They both have Elmhurst scheduled for December 10. That should be interesting.

[Gregory Sager]

Whoever made out North Parks and Wheatons basketball schedule. They didn't talk to each other. They both have Elmhurst scheduled for December 10. That should be interesting.

It's not a matter of "talking to each other." All league games are assigned by the CCIW's schedulemaker, via the league office.

Unfortunately, the CCIW website has yet to post a composite schedule for 2022-23.

[Gotberg]

NPU coaching news:  https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/edwind-mcghee/849

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, I've been sitting on that one for a few days. I'm pretty excited about it.

Edwind McGhee, North Park's new full-time assistant coach (who holds the title of associate head coach), just finished his first season as the head coach at downstate Lincoln College, where he had been an assistant for the previous two seasons as Lincoln transitioned into the NAIA and the CCAC. In his 2021-22 debut as the man in charge, McGhee's Lynx were an ordinary-looking 13-14, 12-10 in the regular season. But that 12-10 CCAC record was good enough to get them the sixth seed in the six-team league tourney ... and they went on the road and beat third-seed Indiana-Northwest (which was receiving votes in the NAIA national poll) and second-seed Indiana-South Bend (ranked #19 in the NAIA poll) before falling five points short of the regular-season champ and #1 seed, eleventh-ranked Olivet Nazarene, in the CCAC tourney championship game on the home floor of the Tigers in Bourbonnais. That championship-game loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for McGhee's Lynx, who finished the season 15-15.

Unfortunately for McGhee and his Lynx, Lincoln College was forced to close its doors for good last week. The one-two punch of the coronavirus pandemic and a ransomware attack on the school's computer system by Iranian-based hackers, which disabled the school's administrative functions for three months last winter, spelled doom for the college. It's a bad loss for Illinois higher education; although not an HBCU, Lincoln had a majority-black student population and was dominated by students who were the first generation in their families to attend college. The school just didn't have enough financial resources to deal with the double blow.

Prior to coming onto the Lincoln staff as an assistant coach, McGhee was the head coach at a prep school in Florida for two years. Before that, he served as a GA on the DePaul men's basketball coaching staff, where he earned his master's degree. That came immediately after he had ended his playing career for the Blue Demons; he came to DePaul as a walk-on and earned a basketball scholarship by his junior year, which is the kind of thing that always impresses me. He graduated from DePaul with a double major. One of them was Broadcast Journalism, so I'm sure that I'm going to get great interviews out of him.

His background leads me to believe that he should be an invaluable right-hand man for Sean Smith, as Sean himself makes his debut as a head coach in 2022-23.