MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gotberg]

Zevi Samet of Yeshiva one of the best players I've seen in all of D3 in many years.   He had another strong game today as Yeshiva beat Webster in the consolation game at The Shirk.  I wonder if he's on the Israeli national team?   Light on his feet and such a pure stroke from anywhere.

'70

He isn't from Israel. He's from Monsey, NY, a village in the Hudson Valley heavily populated by Hasidic Jews; over 40% of Monsey's population of 27,000 speak Yiddish as their first language.

Samet is only a sophomore. This is his first season playing for the Maccabees, and already after three games against pretty good competition he's averaging 26 ppg while hitting 20-43 (.465) from long range, with many of those shots apparently being from ridiculous distances or the sort of stepback fadeaway corner treys we got used to seeing from #1 in orange, navy blue, and white for three years at the end of the last decade.

Perhaps in a few years, when it's all said and done, we'll be referring to Aston Francis as the Christian Zevi Samet.

Even if he isn't from Israel, I'm sure they could still call him up just by giving him a passport or something?

[lmitzel]

Could be a tough year for Bob Quillman.   

I know he was in Bloomington over the weekend, saw a bunch of pictures from the Shirk.

I'm not gonna write the Titans off yet, let's see how things go over the next couple weeks, especially when we hit the first round of conference play.

[Gregory Sager]

Zevi Samet of Yeshiva one of the best players I've seen in all of D3 in many years.   He had another strong game today as Yeshiva beat Webster in the consolation game at The Shirk.  I wonder if he's on the Israeli national team?   Light on his feet and such a pure stroke from anywhere.

'70

He isn't from Israel. He's from Monsey, NY, a village in the Hudson Valley heavily populated by Hasidic Jews; over 40% of Monsey's population of 27,000 speak Yiddish as their first language.

Samet is only a sophomore. This is his first season playing for the Maccabees, and already after three games against pretty good competition he's averaging 26 ppg while hitting 20-43 (.465) from long range, with many of those shots apparently being from ridiculous distances or the sort of stepback fadeaway corner treys we got used to seeing from #1 in orange, navy blue, and white for three years at the end of the last decade.

Perhaps in a few years, when it's all said and done, we'll be referring to Aston Francis as the Christian Zevi Samet.

Even if he isn't from Israel, I'm sure they could still call him up just by giving him a passport or something?

They certainly could if they wanted to, and if he agreed to it, since the Israeli Law of Return gives any Jew who does not practice another religion the right to automatically become an Israeli citizen, even without entering Israeli territory (a law created in 1971 to accommodate Soviet Jews who could not acquire exit visas from the former Soviet Union). But the Eurobasket website does not list Samet as ever having been a member of Israel's U22 team, its U20/21 team, its U18/19 team, or its U16/17 team. (Israel competes in European play in terms of international basketball.)

One thing that should be noted, which is why I mentioned that he is from Monsey, NY (where ultra-Orthodox Jewish people, known as Haredim in Hebrew, are common), is that some of the Haredi sects disapprove of Israel entirely, because it is a secular nation whose government and laws are not organized on a scriptural basis. IOW, it's entirely possible that Samet might not have wanted Israeli citizenship even if Israeli basketball authorities had tried to recruit him to play for Israel by accepting citizenship as a non-resident.

[Next Man Up]

Could be a tough year for Bob Quillman.   

I know he was in Bloomington over the weekend, saw a bunch of pictures from the Shirk.

I'm not gonna write the Titans off yet, let's see how things go over the next couple weeks, especially when we hit the first round of conference play.

Even if you're not the biggest Illinois Western  fan you're being shortsighted at best if you don't understand the Titans will be a very strong team throughout the season. This is evident even though we fortunately are no longer being pounded with this fact on a daily basis.

[Gregory Sager]

Could be a tough year for Bob Quillman.   

I know he was in Bloomington over the weekend, saw a bunch of pictures from the Shirk.

I'm not gonna write the Titans off yet, let's see how things go over the next couple weeks, especially when we hit the first round of conference play.

Even if you're not the biggest Illinois Western  fan you're being shortsighted at best if you don't understand the Titans will be a very strong team throughout the season. This is evident even though we fortunately are no longer being pounded with this fact on a daily basis.

Mark, if you'd been in this movie, you definitely would've said it three times:

[WUPHF]

They certainly could if they wanted to, and if he agreed to it, since the Israeli Law of Return gives any Jew who does not practice another religion the right to automatically become an Israeli citizen, even without entering Israeli territory (a law created in 1971 to accommodate Soviet Jews who could not acquire exit visas from the former Soviet Union).

Does that apply to those who convert to Judaism?

[Greek Tragedy]

Whitman beat Carroll 72-55. Not much to say. Looks like another long year coming for the Pios unfortunately. They were never in the game. 

NCC looked crisp in the first game. Matt Helwig was everything I had heard about and more.

Ah, I forgot about you and assumed you were down there at the games. I was at the Dubuque game Saturday. Looks like a long year, as you said.

[iwu70]

Samet is a smooth, rare talent.  Yes, Judaism and Zionism -- both in Israel and in upstate NY are very complicated.  And, who knows, perhaps we'll see a Palestinian Israeli on the national team some day . . . 

I have faith that my Titans will bounce back and have a strong season.  It's an entirely new group (save for Mitchell) . . . and I'm sure some of their weaknesses on display in those last 7 minutes vs. UWSP will be addressed.   UWSP's highly mobile guards were very good.   

IWU'70

[iwu70]

By the way, Q is just fine, was just fine this entire weekend . . . with all the good friends and Titans there for the Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational, including the 16 IWU All-Americans and Big Jack himself, passing out the awards and trophies.   It was a good event and four excellent teams starting out their seasons.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

See what I mean, Mark? Right on cue.

[Gregory Sager]

They certainly could if they wanted to, and if he agreed to it, since the Israeli Law of Return gives any Jew who does not practice another religion the right to automatically become an Israeli citizen, even without entering Israeli territory (a law created in 1971 to accommodate Soviet Jews who could not acquire exit visas from the former Soviet Union).

Does that apply to those who convert to Judaism?

I don't see why not. Then again, I am not a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel ... nor do I play one on TV.

[Next Man Up]

See what I mean, Mark? Right on cue.

Unfortunately, right on cue. 

[CarrollBooster]

https://gopios.com/news/2022/11/14/mens-basketball-carroll-athletics-announces-a-change-of-leadership-in-mens-basketball-program.aspx

[lmitzel]

https://gopios.com/news/2022/11/14/mens-basketball-carroll-athletics-announces-a-change-of-leadership-in-mens-basketball-program.aspx

I liked Paul Combs. He got a lot out of his Pio teams when they first came back to the CCIW, and was pretty cordial with the table staff (he asked my son, then just shy of 3 who was sitting on my lap right before tip one time they were in town, if he was going to say good things about the Pios).

I'm gonna miss making jokes about Towelgate though.

[Gregory Sager]

https://gopios.com/news/2022/11/14/mens-basketball-carroll-athletics-announces-a-change-of-leadership-in-mens-basketball-program.aspx

The usual "did he jump or was he pushed" questions apply here. No doubt the Pioneers are likely contemplating the possibility of a 20-loss season in store for them in 2022-23, but plenty of coaches know going into a season that it's going to be fifty miles of bad road ahead -- and most of them don't resign just one week into the regular season. That's why I'm uncertain that he was forced out, rather than leaving for his own reasons that might have nothing to do with the team's fortunes. Of course, I'm completely out of the loop, Carroll-wise, as I suspect we all are (aside from CarrollBooster), so it's all just empty speculation.

Paul Combs knows how to maximize what he has. He was a success at Lakeland and a success at UW-Platteville (the latter despite the fact that he was only four years removed from the tenure there of the most successful coach in D3 men's basketball history). His teams are always disciplined, run sound offenses, and rarely beat themselves. The problem, as I see it, is what he has. He just hasn't recruited well at all during his tenure in Waukesha, at least during the period since Carroll stepped up a level in competition from MWC to CCIW.

A lot of people think that this is because Carroll is in a bad recruiting situation, what with being a thoroughly Wisconsin school (as opposed to a barely-across-the-border Wisconsin school, a la Carthage) that has to compete with the WIAC schools for the top D3-caliber talent in l'etat de fromage. But the plan when Carroll switched leagues, which was to start working the Chicagoland suburbs harder because CCIW membership would make Carroll a viable option for student-athletes in the 'burbs, has actually worked to some extent. Carroll's firmly a middle-of-the-road program in the CCIW in football, soccer, and baseball, and in each of those sports a fair portion of the roster -- including some of the best players on each of those teams -- consists of FIBs, particularly suburban Chicagolander FIBs. And I've got to think that the other side of the equation -- Wisconsin kids that don't go WIAC -- is working in Carroll's favor as well, since most Wisconsin kids would seem likely to prefer CCIW competition to NACC or MWC competition. But basketball is obviously the sticking point among men's team sports. (In terms of women's sports, Carroll is actually quite successful in the CCIW in women's basketball and softball, but recruiting for women's sports is an altogether different proposition.) The Pioneers coaching staff just isn't bringing in the necessary talent from either side of the border to compete in the CCIW. I'd love to hear CarrollBooster, or anybody else connected to our northernmost CCIW outpost, give their two cents as to why that's the case.