MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Let's hope the season starts soon so we can actually talk basketball here.

And, Greg, how many times have you told Charcoal Delights stories . . . that are, I may say, also totally irrelevant to D3 hoops.  I finally went there to see what it was all about and had some pretty lousy food.   Just say'n.

I share Ypsi's hope that an ISU-IWU basketball game re-emerges at some point soon.  Perhaps it could be an exhibition for the Titans, pre-season game, as we've had with Illinois and other D1 schools . . . and with D2 programs too, in recent years -- as in the exhibition upcoming with Bradley, on November 2nd.  It will be an interesting test for the TITANS before the Sikma Tournament with Yeshiva, Webster, and Stevens Point, starting November 12th. 

Let the season begin  . . .  mit chickens or sans chickens.  I care not.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Let's hope the season starts soon so we can actually talk basketball here.

And, Greg, how many times have you told Charcoal Delights stories . . . that are, I may say, also totally irrelevant to D3 hoops.

Story, not stories. And the answer is once ... yesterday, when I told the story about the water bottle on the CCIW football page.

You could argue that I've mentioned several times that bit about what Tim Bernero tells his team when they travel to Chicago, but: a) it's not really a story, it's just a quote; b) I've recited that quote on three different boards, so it's not as though I'm subjecting the same audience to the same quote over and over again; c) it's relevant to CCIW hoops; and d) it's the Carthage coach saying something to his Firebirds, so it's about Carthage and not NPU.

  I finally went there to see what it was all about and had some pretty lousy food.   Just say'n.

Oooh! Edgy!

[Gregory Sager]

I watched North Park's intrasquad scrimmage today. I didn't expect too much, since it's just one week into practice for a team that's mostly made up of newbies, with everybody trying to learn a new way to play this game. Given those low expectations, I was modestly pleased ... but maybe that was just the endorphin rush of seeing basketball played in the crackerbox again. I think that Sean Smith is zeroing in on who his top ten will be, with players #11, #12, and #13 (if he wants to go that deep against any opponent other than Grinnell) still to be figured out.

He has brought in some CCIW-level talent, but whether he's brought in enough of it to play his uptempo game properly, and whether that talent can both gel with the holdovers (the Boyd brothers, Karl Polk, and Adam Bulwa) and master the uptempo game remains to be seen. One thing's for sure -- win or lose, nobody's going to get bored watching the Vikings this season.

[Gregory Sager]

One thing that will take some getting used to is NPU's new road uniforms. The Vikings who were designated as the home team in the scrimmage wore the same home unis the Vikings have used over the past few seasons, the white with royal blue and gold trim and numbers. But the road team wore a new look that contains no school colors on it at all -- and, no, I'm not talking about the black unis that various Vikings teams have sported over the last dozen or so years since black unis for schools that don't have black as a school color became sort of the "in" thing.

The new road unis are the colors of the Chicago flag (light blue, red, and white) and sport the quartet of red six-pointed stars that are in the middle of the city's flag. It's all part of North Park's ongoing Chicago-oriented branding, in keeping with the Chicago skyline motif painted onto the crackerbox floor last year and the four six-pointed stars (albeit in Vikings gold rather than Chicago red) painted on the endlines. I'm not knocking it, actually; I fully agree with the school's efforts to more closely identify with the city that it's called home ever since it left Minneapolis 128 years ago. It's just going to take some getting used to seeing the color red on a North Park uniform. And the red put together with the light blue made me think at times that I was watching North Park play St. John's.

Bottom line, it's just a uniform. As long as the team wearing it wins, I can live with it.

[kiko]

Let's hope the season starts soon so we can actually talk basketball here.

And, Greg, how many times have you told Charcoal Delights stories . . . that are, I may say, also totally irrelevant to D3 hoops.

[CHILDSVOICE]
Grandpa 70, can you tell us the one about the opera again?
[/CHILDSVOICE]

[WUPHF]

I know I have said this thousands of times but I love the CCIW thread.

[iwu70]

I love all you childish youngsters, too. 

Kiko, I charge you with the micro-aggression of ageism!   

Please please let the actual basketball start soon . . .  or should I start telling stories about the great pizza at Tobin's or Lucca's in Bloomington???  We can go there after the opera!

'70

[iwu70]

On the basketball front -- what a novelty:

Seems to me the Titans are going to be a totally new creation this year.  Success will depend greatly on how the PG situation is handled, after Yoder's departure.  Likely Lucas Heflen, though others may play a substantial part.   As I mentioned before, starting five looks like
Heflen, Sroka, Roper, Mitchell and Wilmsen . . . making this one of the bigger starting line-ups Ron Rose has put on the floor in some years.   This is a very experienced group, save for Wilmsen.  All the others have started or played major roles in the past season . . .  so a pretty seasoned group, even with the departures of Yoder, Lambesis, Noe and Leritz.   If this groups shoots the trey well and takes on a very strong character on defense, I think very good things can happen for the Titans this year.   We'll see, of course. . . .

Pre-season CCIW coaches poll should be out soon, right?

The Shirk is ready, all gussied up for the new season.   

Grandpa '70, singing an aria like the Titan fight song . . .

[Gregory Sager]

Sean's got his starting lineup worked out in his head, so I'm just guessing at it. But, based upon the limited amount I saw of the Vikings on Saturday morning (and the limited amount I saw of a couple of the newbies last season when they were playing for other D3 schools), I'm thinking that he might be going with:

PG: Shamar Pumphrey (5'11 JR -- transfer from Aurora)
SG: Marquise Jackson (6'0 SR -- transfer from D2 Lewis)
SG: Kolden VanLandingham (6'1 SO -- transfer from Earlham)
PF: Jalen Boyd (6'4 SR)
C: Jordan Boyd (6'7 SR)

backed by:

PG: Davante Robinson (6'2 SO -- transfer from D1 Stetson)
SG: Quillin Dixon (6'2 JR -- transfer from NAIA Lincoln)
SF: Kenton Lei (6'4 JR -- transfer from NJCAA Porterville)
PF: Adam Bulwa (6'5 SR)
C: Karl Polk, Jr. (6'6 SR)

... as his rotational ten.

A lot of these guys are positionally interchangeable -- especially Jordan Boyd, Karl Polk, and Adam Bulwa -- and some of this is my guesswork in terms of positions. It appeared to me that Marquise Jackson plays more off the ball and that Davante Robinson is more of a bring-the-ball-up-the-floor type. Shamar Pumphrey is a classic scoring PG; from the limited amount that I saw of Aurora last season he appeared to be the best all-around player on a pretty lousy Spartans team.

Marquise Jackson is a stud who made the All-GLVC Defensive Team not once but twice for Lewis, and Kolden VanLandingham was All-HCAC as a freshman last season, averaging 17.4 ppg and leading the Quakers in three-pointers and rebounds. They will be two of NPU's most prominent players this coming season, and Pumphrey will be a big factor in North Park's success (or lack thereof) as well. But the player who intrigues me the most at first glance is Kenton Lei, who showed a pretty interesting package of size, speed, and shooting touch on Saturday. He's on my radar coming into this season.

There are also some frosh who might start to pan out into something special within the next year or two. Lance Nelson from suburban Madison looks like a genuine CCIW point guard in the making, once he gets used to a frenetic style of play that's 180 degrees opposite from all of those 42-37 games he played in as a Wisconsin high-schooler. I'm actually pretty surprised that Sean was able to land a high-school senior as talented as Nelson despite being hired to run the NPU program so near the end of the recruiting cycle. There's also a 6'5, 210 kid from Sweden named Victor Ekman who showed an unexpected amount of polish. Of course, having only seen part of one intrasquad scrimmage, there's every chance that one of the other freshman and/or one of the new sophomores might emerge as a CCIW player and I just happened to first see him on a day that he didn't really stick out.

[Next Man Up]

NCC vs Concordia(WI) scrimmage Wed in Naperville @ 7:00
NCC @ Lake Forest scrimmage Wed 11/2. Time?

[USee]

Wheaton is going to be good this year. They have the longest team in recent memory with 5 players between 6-6 and 6-9 and another 5 either 6-4 or 6-5. The two big transfers are going to be huge contributors and they have a 6-8 freshmen that some Wheaton insiders believe to be the next Nate Frank.

They lose a bunch but return Cruickshank, Shiavello, Considine and Eddie Scott, which represent almost half their starts.

The Thunder should be solidly in the top 25 early this year

[USee]

The conference race is as wide open as I can remember. I think NCC, Wheaton, IWU are all pretty close with a case to be made for any of these as the pre season #1. Elmhurst, Millikin and Augie are all going to contend. I don't think there is a lot of separation between these 6.

[shepherd]

Wheaton is going to be good this year. They have the longest team in recent memory with 5 players between 6-6 and 6-9 and another 5 either 6-4 or 6-5. The two big transfers are going to be huge contributors and they have a 6-8 freshmen that some Wheaton insiders believe to be the next Nate Frank.

They lose a bunch but return Cruickshank, Shiavello, Considine and Eddie Scott, which represent almost half their starts.

The Thunder should be solidly in the top 25 early this year

Am I the only person who when they go to your teams basketball playoff game and all the former players show up, you feel like you somehow shrunk a foot in height?

[Next Man Up]

Wheaton is going to be good this year. They have the longest team in recent memory with 5 players between 6-6 and 6-9 and another 5 either 6-4 or 6-5. The two big transfers are going to be huge contributors and they have a 6-8 freshmen that some Wheaton insiders believe to be the next Nate Frank.

They lose a bunch but return Cruickshank, Shiavello, Considine and Eddie Scott, which represent almost half their starts.

The Thunder should be solidly in the top 25 early this year

Am I the only person who when they go to your teams basketball playoff game and all the former players show up, you feel like you somehow shrunk a foot in height?

Welcome to the club Go Thunder. I think your perceived shrinkage is felt by many of us.

[Next Man Up]

Pre-season CCIW Coaches Poll due soon—perhaps by end of this week. While it means nothing as far as how things will shake out in late February, its always interesting to learn what the early impressions are.

I can't see anyone but Illinois Western getting the top spot.

I initially thought the second spot would be a 50/50 tossup between Wheaton and Elmhurst with Elmhurst finishing slightly ahead based primarily on their late season success last year. But now having learned more about Wheaton's experienced transfers, I think they should notch the 2nd spot.

For the same reason I thought Elmhurst would finish second, I think the residual effects will propel them to 3rd. EU remains a good team, but they lost a ton of talent while North Central has a likely All-American back as well as a second player as good as anything EU returns. NCC should be the third choice.