MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

NPU added a picture with the roster.  It also looks like at least 1 name has been dropped off - Brandon Swann from IMG.  I didn't look that closely to see if there are others since the roster was first posted a while back....but I think there are more removed.

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

They're not "dropped off" or "removed" at all in the sense of their no longer being on the team. A lot of guys simply aren't listed. Only the players suiting up for varsity home games are listed. (And that list of 23 will undoubtedly be pared down further for road games, since I doubt that Sean has the budget to accommodate that many mouths to feed in a traveling party.) Thus, a number of players -- including Swann, Caleb Newman, LC, etc. -- aren't on there. They'll be listed if they get promoted, or perhaps Sean will submit a separate JV roster for the website, similar to how Hope and Calvin used to list their rosters.

Most of those JV guys are in the picture, however, wearing warmup gear. And some of the guys listed on the varsity roster -- such as the Vuckovic brothers -- aren't in the picture at all. (It's hard to get thirty-plus guys all together without schedule conflicts interfering, aside from 4 pm practice time.)

I'm at most practices in Helwig, and I can attest that it's a mob scene. They use both McCarrell and Djurickovic courts, and for much of the practices the coaches have them divided into four teams that each have multiple subs. And I can also tell you that there are some very, very good players at those practices in Helwig that may see little or no time in varsity games this season. This team isn't simply deep in terms of numbers; it's deep in terms of talent.

[Gotberg]

NPU added a picture with the roster.  It also looks like at least 1 name has been dropped off - Brandon Swann from IMG.  I didn't look that closely to see if there are others since the roster was first posted a while back....but I think there are more removed.

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

They're not "dropped off" or "removed" at all in the sense of their no longer being on the team. A lot of guys simply aren't listed. Only the players suiting up for varsity home games are listed. (And that list of 23 will undoubtedly be pared down further for road games, since I doubt that Sean has the budget to accommodate that many mouths to feed in a traveling party.) Thus, a number of players -- including Swann, Caleb Newman, LC, etc. -- aren't on there. They'll be listed if they get promoted, or perhaps Sean will submit a separate JV roster for the website, similar to how Hope and Calvin used to list their rosters.

Most of those JV guys are in the picture, however, wearing warmup gear. And some of the guys listed on the varsity roster -- such as the Vuckovic brothers -- aren't in the picture at all. (It's hard to get thirty-plus guys all together without schedule conflicts interfering, aside from 4 pm practice time.)

I'm at most practices in Helwig, and I can attest that it's a mob scene. They use both McCarrell and Djurickovic courts, and for much of the practices the coaches have them divided into four teams that each have multiple subs. And I can also tell you that there are some very, very good players at those practices in Helwig that may see little or no time in varsity games this season. This team isn't simply deep in terms of numbers; it's deep in terms of talent.

Interesting,  I did not know it was a varsity only roster.

[Gregory Sager]

Here's the JV team:

https://athletics.northpark.edu/roster.aspx?path=jvmbb&roster=1237

[mwunder]

Carthage roster is posted.

https://athletics.carthage.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2023-24

[Gregory Sager]

North Park's season preview

[mr_b]

North Park's season preview

It's a nice write up and it gives North Park fans (and announcers!) a lot to look forward to this season.

[Stertorous Thunder]

Carthage roster is posted.

https://athletics.carthage.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2023-24

With only a core of AJ Johnson, Antuan Nesbitt, and Julian Campbell, Carthage would have been a strong CCIW contender this 2023-2024 season.  But with Fillip Bulatovic returning, I think Carthage is probably going to be a regionally ranked team with NCAA tournament aspirations.  They should be fun to watch (again).

A few years ago I met a man through a project at work and discovered that he had recently graduated and been a member of the Carthage basketball team. One thing we talked about was what a shame it was that Bulatovic didn't have a supporting cast as deep as some of his CCIW star counterparts (e.g., Matt Leritz or Nyameye Adom).  Since then, Steve D and his assistants have certainly done their job on the recruiting trail to give Bulatovic some help.

By the way, I won't share the names of some of the players he hated, but when I told the guy that I followed Wheaton, he said that Nyameye Adom was the opponent he respected the most because he didn't trash talk him.  If he put on a good move, Adom would give him a small nod of acknowledgment and then when Adom inevitably got him back later with an even better move, Adom would give him a quick look with a subtle smile, as if to make sure that they both knew who the better player was.

[Stertorous Thunder]

North Park's season preview

It's a nice write up and it gives North Park fans (and announcers!) a lot to look forward to this season.

Quillin Dixon has been an under-the-radar contributor, so it was nice to see him getting called out by Coach Smith: "When we look at our plus-minus stats, all of our best lineups have QD on them. Whether he comes off the bench or starts, our level stays the same. I love coaching him."  If CCIW guards think they can get a breather because Pumphrey or Vanlandingham are on the bench, Dixon will prove them very wrong.  If your backcourt isn't healthy and well-conditioned when you play NPU, you're in for an exhausting and terrible second half.

[Stertorous Thunder]

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Three disappointing missing names from the Wheaton roster: Micah Schnyders, Jacob Schauer and Cole Reid

The loss of Schnyders will hurt the most, but it appears that he was able to get back to D1 with a spot on the Eastern Michigan roster.

In what looks like it will be a rebuilding season, Jacob Schauer probably would have been rewarded with a decent amount of playing time for his years spent as a program player. It's a shame that he didn't participate in the Senior Night festivities, but he certainly has plenty of other opportunities to hear compliments from Mike Schauer and I have it on good authority that the highly accomplished young Schauer was offered a dream job.

Cole Reid's minutes decreased a little throughout last season, but he was viewed as a potential future all-conference big man. His absence is concerning because of the makeup of the rest of the roster. I don't know what kind of scheme Wheaton is going to run this season but the roster has only two non-guards listed. Connor Braun is a solid 6' 9" starter, but the only other player listed as a forward has a collegiate stat line of 1 shot attempted and 1 foul in 1 minute over 2 years.  If I'm an opposing coach, I'm going to run the first three or four possessions through Braun to put him on the bench with foul trouble, and then watch my forwards back down all of the 6' Wheaton guards and score a lot of buckets in the paint.  The Thunder better have personnel that can rain threes from everywhere if they're going to counterbalance their size deficit.

[crusader_nation]

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Three disappointing missing names from the Wheaton roster: Micah Schnyders, Jacob Schauer and Cole Reid

The loss of Schnyders will hurt the most, but it appears that he was able to get back to D1 with a spot on the Eastern Michigan roster.

In what looks like it will be a rebuilding season, Jacob Schauer probably would have been rewarded with a decent amount of playing time for his years spent as a program player. It's a shame that he didn't participate in the Senior Night festivities, but he certainly has plenty of other opportunities to hear compliments from Mike Schauer and I have it on good authority that the highly accomplished young Schauer was offered a dream job.

Cole Reid's minutes decreased a little throughout last season, but he was viewed as a potential future all-conference big man. His absence is concerning because of the makeup of the rest of the roster. I don't know what kind of scheme Wheaton is going to run this season but the roster has only two non-guards listed. Connor Braun is a solid 6' 9" starter, but the only other player listed as a forward has a collegiate stat line of 1 shot attempted and 1 foul in 1 minute over 2 years.  If I'm an opposing coach, I'm going to run the first three or four possessions through Braun to put him on the bench with foul trouble, and then watch my forwards back down all of the 6' Wheaton guards and score a lot of buckets in the paint.  The Thunder better have personnel that can rain threes from everywhere if they're going to counterbalance their size deficit.

Wheaton had been fortunate to have a lot of experience on their squad in recent years, going back to their Final Four appearance, and even before. But this year, there's not much experience, at all.

Losing Schnyders does hurt, but he never seemed to live up to his billing last year. Didn't seem to find his groove at Wheaton.

And Jacob Schauer is making a great decision to move on to the next chapter in his life. While he would've seen some playing time this year, his efforts are better spent pursuing a career,

Cole Reid is an enigma, as he never even suited up after mid-December. My suspicion is that he ran into some academic difficulties that kept him off the court. Too bad, because he had great size and a nice touch, from what we saw from his limited play last season. The search for the next Nate Frank continues at Wheaton.

In terms of what a starting 5 looks like for Wheaton, my guess would be Schiavello, Sock, Braun, and maybe RJ Veiliz — the grad transfer from Western Oregon, along with ?.

The most experience outside of the names above are Daniel Garza, who is coming back for another season of eligibility, and Billy Durkin. Outside of that, I don't think any other player on the team has logged more than 20 minutes of playing time in a Wheaton uniform in their entire careers.

They also added Noah Hedrick, who transferred in from Hope, where he came off the bench.

Freshmen recruits include Ty Ferguson from Columbus, IN; Soren Richardson from Northfield, MN; and Eli Will from Ashburn, VA.

[Gregory Sager]

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Three disappointing missing names from the Wheaton roster: Micah Schnyders, Jacob Schauer and Cole Reid

The loss of Schnyders will hurt the most, but it appears that he was able to get back to D1 with a spot on the Eastern Michigan roster.

He was considering North Park for awhile, but it appears as though getting back to D1 was his true desire. (Honestly, he'd be fighting just to get on the court at all for NPU this season.) Given that he didn't start last season at the D3 level and averaged less than four points per game and less than 15 minutes per game for Wheaton in 2022-23, I'm pretty sure that he's at EMU as a walk-on. Best of luck to him. I always root for the D3 guys who transfer to D1, because I figure that their success in D1 makes D3 look better in the eyes of the general basketball public. After all, that general public is pretty skeptical (to say the least) of the quality of ball played at this level.

In what looks like it will be a rebuilding season, Jacob Schauer probably would have been rewarded with a decent amount of playing time for his years spent as a program player. It's a shame that he didn't participate in the Senior Night festivities, but he certainly has plenty of other opportunities to hear compliments from Mike Schauer and I have it on good authority that the highly accomplished young Schauer was offered a dream job.

Cole Reid's minutes decreased a little throughout last season, but he was viewed as a potential future all-conference big man. His absence is concerning because of the makeup of the rest of the roster. I don't know what kind of scheme Wheaton is going to run this season but the roster has only two non-guards listed. Connor Braun is a solid 6' 9" starter, but the only other player listed as a forward has a collegiate stat line of 1 shot attempted and 1 foul in 1 minute over 2 years.  If I'm an opposing coach, I'm going to run the first three or four possessions through Braun to put him on the bench with foul trouble, and then watch my forwards back down all of the 6' Wheaton guards and score a lot of buckets in the paint.  The Thunder better have personnel that can rain threes from everywhere if they're going to counterbalance their size deficit.

It doesn't appear that Mike Schauer added much. He's got the grad student from D2 Western Oregon, R.J. Veiliz (WOU spelled it "Veliz", but I'll put my money on the Wheaton spelling), but he was a bench player there whose minutes, scoring, and shooting line were notably modest. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he is a guard and T.J. Askew was a forward, he doesn't look primed to provide the kind of impact for Wheaton that Askew's arrival did last season. Could be wrong about that, though. But there are no other new transfers indicated on the Wheaton roster, aside from 6'4" Noah Hedrick, who was a steady but unremarkable bench player for Hope two years ago. What's more, Wheaton brought in just three freshmen, two of whom are legacies, -- and legacies always make me wonder if the coaches pursued them or if the kid was already planning to go there (and thus may not have been a recruiting priority for the coaching staff). Still, one of the legacies is the son of former Wheaton assistant coach Paul Ferguson, who (like Mike Schauer) logged a number of years sitting second chair for Bill Harris, and Ferg has already blessed Wheaton with one of his Columbus (IN) North standouts in Nick Schiavello. If Ferg's kid turns out to be in the same ballpark as Schiavello as a player, then Ferg's done his former employer yet another solid.

All told, this looks like a really down year for Wheaton. I hesitate to say that, because Wheaton always plays hard and smart, is always well-conditioned, and because Mike Schauer always seems to have a trick or two up his sleeve. But I'm not really sure where all of the CCIW-level talent is beyond Schiavello and Sock and maybe Veiliz and Hedrick, unless Mike's got four or five guys who've made monster strides in ability while jumping from last season's JV to this season's varsity, and I mean monster strides. (And Braun would really need to make monster strides as well, because he was a negligible factor off of the bench for Wheaton last season.)

[Gregory Sager]

Peyton Wyatt's been promoted to associate head coach at Elmhurst, and former Bluejay Reece Taylor has joined the staff at his alma mater. Also of note is that EU women's golf coach Melissa Schwab, who assisted former Bluejays women's basketball head coach Tethnie Carillo for several years, is likewise joining the men's basketball staff. She is, according to Elmhurst's press release (and I have no reason to doubt it), the first woman to ever serve on a CCIW men's basketball coaching staff.

[Gregory Sager]

Preseason poll is out:

1. North Park (3)	55
2. Carthage (3)	54
3. Elmhurst (3)	53
4. Illinois Wesleyan	51
5. Wheaton	35
6. Millikin	27
7. North Central	23
8t. Augustana	13
8t. Carroll	13

That's as narrow a first-division as I can remember seeing in a CCIW preseason poll.

[deepthroat]

https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Three disappointing missing names from the Wheaton roster: Micah Schnyders, Jacob Schauer and Cole Reid

The loss of Schnyders will hurt the most, but it appears that he was able to get back to D1 with a spot on the Eastern Michigan roster.

He was considering North Park for awhile, but it appears as though getting back to D1 was his true desire. (Honestly, he'd be fighting just to get on the court at all for NPU this season.) Given that he didn't start last season at the D3 level and averaged less than four points per game and less than 15 minutes per game for Wheaton in 2022-23, I'm pretty sure that he's at EMU as a walk-on. Best of luck to him. I always root for the D3 guys who transfer to D1, because I figure that their success in D1 makes D3 look better in the eyes of the general basketball public. After all, that general public is pretty skeptical (to say the least) of the quality of ball played at this level.

In what looks like it will be a rebuilding season, Jacob Schauer probably would have been rewarded with a decent amount of playing time for his years spent as a program player. It's a shame that he didn't participate in the Senior Night festivities, but he certainly has plenty of other opportunities to hear compliments from Mike Schauer and I have it on good authority that the highly accomplished young Schauer was offered a dream job.

Cole Reid's minutes decreased a little throughout last season, but he was viewed as a potential future all-conference big man. His absence is concerning because of the makeup of the rest of the roster. I don't know what kind of scheme Wheaton is going to run this season but the roster has only two non-guards listed. Connor Braun is a solid 6' 9" starter, but the only other player listed as a forward has a collegiate stat line of 1 shot attempted and 1 foul in 1 minute over 2 years.  If I'm an opposing coach, I'm going to run the first three or four possessions through Braun to put him on the bench with foul trouble, and then watch my forwards back down all of the 6' Wheaton guards and score a lot of buckets in the paint.  The Thunder better have personnel that can rain threes from everywhere if they're going to counterbalance their size deficit.

It doesn't appear that Mike Schauer added much. He's got the grad student from D2 Western Oregon, R.J. Veiliz (WOU spelled it "Veliz", but I'll put my money on the Wheaton spelling), but he was a bench player there whose minutes, scoring, and shooting line were notably modest. Setting aside for a moment the fact that he is a guard and T.J. Askew was a forward, he doesn't look primed to provide the kind of impact for Wheaton that Askew's arrival did last season. Could be wrong about that, though. But there are no other new transfers indicated on the Wheaton roster, aside from 6'4" Noah Hedrick, who was a steady but unremarkable bench player for Hope two years ago. What's more, Wheaton brought in just three freshmen, two of whom are legacies, -- and legacies always make me wonder if the coaches pursued them or if the kid was already planning to go there (and thus may not have been a recruiting priority for the coaching staff). Still, one of the legacies is the son of former Wheaton assistant coach Paul Ferguson, who (like Mike Schauer) logged a number of years sitting second chair for Bill Harris, and Ferg has already blessed Wheaton with one of his Columbus (IN) North standouts in Nick Schiavello. If Ferg's kid turns out to be in the same ballpark as Schiavello as a player, then Ferg's done his former employer yet another solid.

All told, this looks like a really down year for Wheaton. I hesitate to say that, because Wheaton always plays hard and smart, is always well-conditioned, and because Mike Schauer always seems to have a trick or two up his sleeve. But I'm not really sure where all of the CCIW-level talent is beyond Schiavello and Sock and maybe Veiliz and Hedrick, unless Mike's got four or five guys who've made monster strides in ability while jumping from last season's JV to this season's varsity, and I mean monster strides. (And Braun would really need to make monster strides as well, because he was a negligible factor off of the bench for Wheaton last season.)

How does someone transfer up to Division 1 without playing much at a lower division? I'm sort of at a loss on that one.

[iwu70]

IWU plays its exhibition at ISU this Sunday -- the women's game will be at 1 p.m. -- men's game following.  It's $20 for the two games, going to good charity causes in B/N and at the two institutions for mental health services.   Lots of tickets being sold.

My understanding is that Tommy Gramkow, Sheldon Thompson and Fred Evans, from the Titan team that beat ISU in "the last game," will be in the house on Sunday. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this year's edition of the Titans looks . . .  with so many uncertainties about the starting line-up and the rotation. I posted my guesses earlier.  IWU plays Northern Illinois U in another exhibition a few days later. 

Here comes the season.

Yes, a very tight ranking in the top grouping of the CCIW for this year, in the pre-season poll.   

IWU '70