MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[tjcummingsfan]

Illinois Wesleyan 87
North Park 81

Rico Powell: 23 pts
Davante Robinson: 12 pts
Taijon Barry: 12 pts
Lance Nelson: 4:0 a:to

Harrison Wilmsen: 17 pts, 7 rebs
Nick Roper: 12 pts
Mason Funk: 10 pts
Josh Fridman: 10 pts

The Vikings continue their reeling. They did make a late comeback attempt that fell short, but they dug themselves too deep a hole to climb back out of it against a good team.

This collapse has been epic. Tonight's loss makes it a five-game skid for NPU, and at the worst time of the year. And now the Vikings have to shake all that off and get themselves in a positive frame of mind for Tuesday's quarterfinal.

The encouraging thing for me, watching the game, was that Rico Powell looked like the player we saw in the first half of the conference season (at least in the second half of this game).  For the past few games (the 5 straight losses), he's looked off.  If he plays the way he did last night in the conference tournament, I will be a lot more optimistic about the outcome.

[Stertorous Thunder]

2024-2025 CCIW All-Conference Teams

I will admit that I don't watch enough CCIW games to accurately assess defensive contributions, so my selections are undoubtedly weighted toward offensively gifted players.  There's still some conference basketball to be played, but if I had a ballot here's how I might fill it out:

First Team:
Nick Roper, Illinois Wesleyan
Ryan Johnson, Carthage
Soren Richardson, Wheaton
Tyler Knuth, Augustana
AJ Johnson, Carthage
Hakim Williams, Illinois Wesleyan
Tagen Pearson, Elmhurst
Terrance Moncrief, North Central

I predict that Roper, Ryan Johnson, Sorensen, and Knuth will be unanimous selections when the real voting occurs.

Second Team:
Lance Nelson, North Park
Ethan Helwig, North Central
Riley Brooks, Carthage
Rico Powell, North Park
Dominic Trelenberg, Elmhurst
Harrison Wilmsen, Illinois Wesleyan
Lane Thomann, Millikin
Aaron Wafford, Carroll

Carroll doesn't have a standout star, but you could make a case to rank their starters in just about any order for value and production.  I think voters will give a spot to Wafford, but the Carroll starting five is surprisingly well balanced.

Others Receiving Votes:
Mason Funk, Illinois Wesleyan
JT Welch, Millikin
Tyler Swierczek, North Central
Erik Victorson / Jacob Naber / Eckahelo Simpson / Kobe Simpson, Carroll

Discuss...

[bopol]

Griffin Daun is an underrated cog in the Carthage team and could be 2nd Team all-CCIW. 

10.6 ppg (23rd)
6.1 rpg (6th)
.567 FG% (3rd)
1.9 asg (16th)
0.8 bpg (7th)
1.3 spg (10th)

He's the guy that really lets the team play small because he plays bigger than his size but has guard skills and is a very good complement to bombers like Riley and AJ Johnson because he'd rather slam insides and bounce off of the big men.

I personally really like Jacob Nabor for 2nd team.  He is a monster on the boards.

[GusD]

Griffin Daun is an underrated cog in the Carthage team and could be 2nd Team all-CCIW. 

10.6 ppg (23rd)
6.1 rpg (6th)
.567 FG% (3rd)
1.9 asg (16th)
0.8 bpg (7th)
1.3 spg (10th)

He's the guy that really lets the team play small because he plays bigger than his size but has guard skills and is a very good complement to bombers like Riley and AJ Johnson because he'd rather slam insides and bounce off of the big men.

I personally really like Jacob Nabor for 2nd team.  He is a monster on the boards.

1. Are you using the overall stats or the conference only stats? In selecting the all conference teams, only the conference only stats count.
2. If you put Daun on, who are you going to remove??
3. I think you are right about Naber. Carroll is only going to get one spot. He should be 2nd team instead of Wafford.

[GusD]

2024-2025 CCIW All-Conference Teams

I will admit that I don't watch enough CCIW games to accurately assess defensive contributions, so my selections are undoubtedly weighted toward offensively gifted players.  There's still some conference basketball to be played, but if I had a ballot here's how I might fill it out:

First Team:
Nick Roper, Illinois Wesleyan
Ryan Johnson, Carthage
Soren Richardson, Wheaton
Tyler Knuth, Augustana
AJ Johnson, Carthage
Hakim Williams, Illinois Wesleyan
Tagen Pearson, Elmhurst
Terrance Moncrief, North Central

I predict that Roper, Ryan Johnson, Sorensen, and Knuth will be unanimous selections when the real voting occurs.

Second Team:
Lance Nelson, North Park
Ethan Helwig, North Central
Riley Brooks, Carthage
Rico Powell, North Park
Dominic Trelenberg, Elmhurst
Harrison Wilmsen, Illinois Wesleyan
Lane Thomann, Millikin
Aaron Wafford, Carroll

Carroll doesn't have a standout star, but you could make a case to rank their starters in just about any order for value and production.  I think voters will give a spot to Wafford, but the Carroll starting five is surprisingly well balanced.

Others Receiving Votes:
Mason Funk, Illinois Wesleyan
JT Welch, Millikin
Tyler Swierczek, North Central
Erik Victorson / Jacob Naber / Eckahelo Simpson / Kobe Simpson, Carroll

Discuss...

I think the 3rd place team is going to get a guy on 1st team so move Powell up, and Pearson down to 2nd team.

* RE Rico Powell—— Its not an official statistic but I've never seen a D3 guy that can cover more ground without dribbling ⛹🏽 than Mr. Powell. If he has a full head of steam up, takes a pass at the FT line, and dribbles immediately only once, he can somehow get all the rest of the way to the rim without having traveling called despite not dribbling since the FT line. The refs just so often seem oblivious to obvious traveling. Many players run with the ball instead of dribbling it. Powell is just the worst. Or is it the best? 

[bopol]

Griffin Daun is an underrated cog in the Carthage team and could be 2nd Team all-CCIW. 

10.6 ppg (23rd)
6.1 rpg (6th)
.567 FG% (3rd)
1.9 asg (16th)
0.8 bpg (7th)
1.3 spg (10th)

He's the guy that really lets the team play small because he plays bigger than his size but has guard skills and is a very good complement to bombers like Riley and AJ Johnson because he'd rather slam insides and bounce off of the big men.

I personally really like Jacob Nabor for 2nd team.  He is a monster on the boards.

1. Are you using the overall stats or the conference only stats? In selecting the all conference teams, only the conference only stats count.
2. If you put Daun on, who are you going to remove??
3. I think you are right about Naber. Carroll is only going to get one spot. He should be 2nd team instead of Wafford.

1. That was overall; Griffin's conference only are better comparable to his peers.
2. ? I don't know.  I don't follow everything enough to accurately comment on most of what is there.  Most choices on the face seem reasonable, but I do think Daun is underrated.
3. I definitely can see Naber as all CCIW.

[mwunder]

Griffin Daun is an underrated cog in the Carthage team and could be 2nd Team all-CCIW. 

10.6 ppg (23rd)
6.1 rpg (6th)
.567 FG% (3rd)
1.9 asg (16th)
0.8 bpg (7th)
1.3 spg (10th)

He's the guy that really lets the team play small because he plays bigger than his size but has guard skills and is a very good complement to bombers like Riley and AJ Johnson because he'd rather slam insides and bounce off of the big men.

I personally really like Jacob Nabor for 2nd team.  He is a monster on the boards.

Agree 100% here...I don't think he bumps anyone mentioned on the second team, but IF there was a most improved player award, I wouldn't hesitate to nominate Daun. I was not happy about the injury to Nesbitt and moving GD into the starting lineup at the beginning of the year, but like both of my published predictions this year, I was wrong and have no problem admitting it.  He can defend, rebound, harass, and is a selfless offensive player, only looking to score close to the basket.

[Gregory Sager]

2024-2025 Fred Young CCIW Most Outstanding Student-Athlete

It's not a runaway race this year, but I still predict a unanimous vote.  I think the voters are going to hold off on anointing Soren Richardson the best player in the conference and will reward Nick Roper in his senior year. As the top scorer and leader on nationally ranked Illinois Wesleyan, Roper was the preseason favorite for the award and never failed to back up his case for the honor.


2024-2025 CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year

The easiest way to determine the best first-year player is to compare any freshmen on the conference leader board in total minutes. I believe that Devin Martin of Wheaton is the only member of the Top 25 and as of today he is tied for the conference lead in assists. If one was tempted to claim that playing alongside Soren Richardson boosted his assist numbers, the other side of the coin is that Martin's scoring numbers would have been higher if he wasn't feeding teammates. Freshman teammate Kyan VanderWoude made great strides throughout the season and is arguably a greater team contributor today, but Devin Martin was in the starting lineup from Game 1 and quickly looked ready for the college game.

Discuss...

Before I respond, a word about the league changing the name of the award (and other awards as well) from "Most Outstanding Player" to "Most Outstanding Student-Athlete" a couple of years ago. It was a marketing decision, and from a strictly basketball point of view it was a dumb change. Academics have nothing to do with this award (i.e., the "student" half of that hyphenated noun is irrelevant), and "athlete" is a quasi-insult in basketball parlance; it's a euphemism for someone who is quick and has a great vertical but who doesn't shoot well or possess a high basketball IQ. At best the term essentially refers to raw physical talent, so if it's ever used as a compliment it comes with necessary qualifiers: "He's an athlete who can really shoot it," or, "Very athletic, but also works hard on defense," or, "not just athletic, but a guy who makes his teammates better." We have a word that fits those types of compound descriptions. That word is player.

The award goes to the CCIW's best player (or it's supposed to go to the best player), so changing the name just obfuscates the award

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage also talks about being regular season champions of the CCIW. I thought that wasn't a thing -- that they were CCIW champions if they finished first at the end of conference play.

That's still the case, Pat. In the CCIW, "conference champion" refers to the team that won the regular season title. That's what Carthage's brand-new trophy says on it: 2024-25 CCIW Champions. If you're wondering why Carthage's sports information department is stating otherwise, refer back to these comments from our senior Carthage-fan poster:

Odd question. Where is Carthage getting the idea that they are ranked #17? It's all over their website, but they are not ranked on the nation's premier source of D3 basketball information and I don't see anything on the NCAA site outside of regional rankings.

Just found it odd.

They are likely referring to their ranking in NPI, the metric that is used for NCAA Tournament selection and seeding. They were #17 earlier this week but rank #15 through games played 2/19/25: https://d3datacast.com/npi/

Ahhh, I can't get to that site so I was unaware. I like the team, I like the coach, I really, really don't like the SID and whoever thought this was a good idea. Karma is real.

Perhaps the league needs to intervene by creating a rule that every newly-hired CCIW sports information director has to attend a mandatory orientation session run either by the league office or by the other eight CCIW SIDs.

[Gregory Sager]

* RE Rico Powell—— Its not an official statistic but I've never seen a D3 guy that can cover more ground without dribbling ⛹🏽 than Mr. Powell. If he has a full head of steam up, takes a pass at the FT line, and dribbles immediately only once, he can somehow get all the rest of the way to the rim without having traveling called despite not dribbling since the FT line. The refs just so often seem oblivious to obvious traveling. Many players run with the ball instead of dribbling it. Powell is just the worst. Or is it the best? 

Speaking of awards, the 2024-25 Rob Berki Award for the player who most often faces public accusation of traveling, even when he really isn't traveling, goes to Rico Powell of North Park.

And in other news, the 2024-25 Lanny "Veteran CCIW Fan" Lobdell Memorial Award for the fan who gripes the most online about an opposing player's supposed traveling goes to Mark "GusD" Anderson of the North Central fan contingent.

I'm pleased to report that this year the Berki Award and Lobdell Award winners each required only one protest to qualify. This is not a topic that consumes as much of this board's scrolling space as it did back in the day. Peace to the memory of the late Lanny, but, boy, he used to yap on and on here on CCIW Chat about non-Titans who in his estimation got away with traveling too much.

[Gregory Sager]

The encouraging thing for me, watching the game, was that Rico Powell looked like the player we saw in the first half of the conference season (at least in the second half of this game).  For the past few games (the 5 straight losses), he's looked off.  If he plays the way he did last night in the conference tournament, I will be a lot more optimistic about the outcome.

Rico has been really banged up, and it shows. Every time he goes to the rim it seems like he takes a hard hit and plummets to the floor like a meteor. I'm not accusing anyone in the league of head-hunting; rather, I think it's an artifact of his speed and his willingness to take a straight line from Point A to Point B -- and suffer the consequences -- rather than aim his body off to the side of the rim and try a wraparound or a drive-by. He's been wearing a mask because he broke either his cheekbone or his nose one of the times that he hit the floor hard after a layup attempt, but it appears to me that his back and his legs have been taking a beating as well.

The end-of-regular-season bye North Park takes tomorrow courtesy of the CCIW schedulemaker is perfectly timed for Rico (and for his teammates as well, for lesser reasons), particularly in light of the fact that NPU's second-round-robin slump necessitates that the Vikings play next Tuesday rather than resting up until next Friday.

[kenoshamark]

I had a chance to see Carthage play Elmhurst in person this week.  First live game for me.  I was very impressed with the team.  Really nice job on the boards for not the biggest lineup.  They don't rely on one or two players to rebound, they are all around the hoop.  Also, very good defensively.  AJ Williams has some sneaky quick hands and Daun was making nice stops and taking on different players. 

I agree with Bopol and Michael, Daun is really a difference maker.  A nice fourth option who can take someone off the dribble.  He had 15 points and 11 boards, all around great game.  I can see why Steve said he is a glue guy...can fill the stat sheet and just plays really smart. 

All five starters in double figures (between 14 to 17 points).  They don't go very deep, but I didn't see anyone wearing down during the game. Really nice roles for all of them and they play a nice team game.  I think they can make some noise this year. One of their better teams I have seen since the Wiertel, Garnes and McDaniel years.

I would think Ryan Johnson will be the player of the year.  Three time player of the week (Roper only once).  They won the league so he should be rewarded.  His brother should be first team too. 

[iwu70]

Thunder, I like your list for All-Conference.

I think a player from Carthage wins the MOP award.  Greg makes many good points about the origins and definition of this award.  I also think the name change is stupid.

I have tremendous respect for Hakim Williams as a "player" who makes contributions to IWU's success in so many ways on many levels, not always appearing in the stat sheet.  He had an incredible block near the end of the recent IWU-NPU game at The Shirk the other night.  Awesome.  He's a great guy, community-minded . . . and will be missed next year following his graduation.

I'd have Mason Funk over Wilmsen for a spot on the second team from the Titans.

Fridman will have his day with All-Conference plaudits in future years.

Looks to me like IWU and Carthage get a third game Saturday next and I'm hoping it's always difficult to beat a team a third time in the CCIW final showdown for the AQ. 

IWU'70

[kenoshamark]

Forgot to mention, I was sitting up in the back row behind the Elmhurst bench and with a few minutes to go in the game I heard someone start barking at the refs from the upper deck behind me.  I'm like, I know that voice.  It was Bosko.   

Good to see him there to celebrate the conference championship with Steve.

[Greek Tragedy]

I know there has been an argument in the past that if you are "CCIW champions" you won the conference tournament championship and got the automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.