MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

titan missile · March 01, 2006, 03:08:32 PM

Quote from: mactitan on March 01, 2006, 02:00:26 PM
Congratulations to Keelan Amelianovich, the 2006 Academic All-American of the Year. While this may not be as prestigious as the Jostens Award, this is a nice honor.

From the IWU website:
"Senior Keelan Amelianovich was named to the first team of the ESPN The Magazine College Division Academic All-American team and was chosen as the College Division "Academic All-American of the Year." Amelianovich has a 3.82 grade-point average as an accounting major and was a second team selection last year. West Virginia's Johannes Herber earned the honor in the University Division. It marks the fifth time an IWU student-athlete has earned the top national distinction for their respective sport - Korey Coon won in 1999 and 2000 for men's basketball, Lon Erickson in football in 1996 and James Rinne for baseball in 1998.

Here is a link to the whole story:

http://www2.iwu.edu/menssports/basketball/030106aaa.shtml

I know all the teams in the CCIW boast a large number of Academic All-Americans. As a former voter for this award, I know that in some sports Academic All-America is harder to get then others, but this one is a big deal. I am probably more proud of IWU's many Academic All-Americans than the CCIW trophies.

Congrats to Keelan....this is quite an honor for any college athlete!

79jaybird · March 01, 2006, 03:28:54 PM

Lawrence has "sold out" tickets. Hmm, I guess that means there will be more people to witness the upset when NC beats Lawrence.

( hopefully)

albcard · March 01, 2006, 03:52:26 PM

QuoteLawrence has "sold out" tickets. Hmm, I guess that means there will be more people to witness the upset when NC beats Lawrence. ( hopefully)

Well put. I hope you are right, but we need to win tomorrow night to have a shot at giving the second 1st ranked team in the nation their 1st loss of the season.

(Looking back, I think that's when IWU season started going south. It doesn't matter any more now, and I really wish IW the best in the tournament)

Titan Q · March 01, 2006, 06:15:06 PM

To be named "Academic All-American of the Year" is an enormous honor. Keelan Amelianovich represents everything that is great about Division III athletics. This Illinois Wesleyan alum is very proud of him.

Johnny Augie · March 01, 2006, 07:45:59 PM

Congrats to Keelan, what a great honor.

Greek Tragedy · March 01, 2006, 08:17:22 PM

Quote from: JUSTINTYEM on March 01, 2006, 02:52:10 PM
Lawrence has "SOLD OUT" of tickets for Saturdays game against the winner of NORTHCENTRAL/St.Thomas.The Winner of that game gets 350 Tickets.WOW

I wouldn't think that would be too hard to do. According to the boxscore of the Carroll/Larry U tournament final, the place holds less than 1400 (1380). I would think that would be the capacity since, if they couldn't sellout that, what could the sellout? Checking out the season boxscore, it looks like that's the capacity, at least that's what is listed...and 350 is 1/4 of 1400.

Because of the excitement around Appleton, I'm sure they could sellout Alex two-fold. Congrats on their successful regular season.

Gregory Sager · March 01, 2006, 08:34:05 PM

Quote from: augiedad on March 01, 2006, 08:03:51 AMI know your alma mater used to build with transfers back when competitive Gregory (just as Bosko continues to try to do at Carthage), but I think there is something a little extra special about the 4-year CCIW player that deserves mention.

I freely admit that my North Park experiences have sensitized me to the situation of transfer students, since (like most urban institutions of higher learning) NPU has always had a high percentage of transfers within the student body. It's not just something that's an aspect of the men's basketball program, it's a schoolwide thing. And, philosophically speaking, welcoming transfers is something that the Park has always embraced, in part because those who run the institution are always mindful of the fact that it was a junior college until the late 1950s.

Others can certainly laud the dedication and persistence of those who put in four years for a single program. I respect that, and I applaud the same thing in NPU's two graduating seniors, Brett Mathisen and Bjorn Berg (although Bjorn did take a little detour through Wisconsin between his enrollment at NPU as a freshman and his graduation this spring). I'm just tired of seeing a stigma attached to transfers -- and not just because of my North Park bias. That stigma is unfair, it makes unwarranted blanket assumptions, and it lumps people together into stereotypes rather than acknowledging them as individuals whose college paths follow sets of circumstances that are unique to each student.

The Roop · March 01, 2006, 09:13:05 PM

Nobody ever complains about non-athletes transferring, yet it is automatically assumed when an athlete transfers that the school in question is bringing in "ringers". I'll never understand that. Not at the DIII level anyway.

iwu70 · March 01, 2006, 09:43:28 PM

Congrats to Keelan on his Academic All-American of the Year Honor! Great job on and off the court.

correctingtitan · March 01, 2006, 10:14:45 PM

I don't have access to the updated listings but a few years ago only UCLA had more first team basketball Academic All-Americans than Ill. Wesleyan. I know that Korey Coon making it broke a tie for 2nd with Indiana. But I'm not sure whether it was when he made it the first time in 1999 or in 2000. IWU has now had 13 first-team selections, 3 of them going to now Dr. Bob Spear (1975, '76 and '77). Jack Sikma ('76, '77) is also in the AAA Hall of Fame)--Ed Alsene, former IWU SID.

Titan32 · March 01, 2006, 10:31:10 PM

This is my first post in several years, although I've continued enjoying the posting up feature of the website.

Before and after attending the IWU-UofI exhibition in Chambana, I have to admit I had great expectations. In March, a lot of questions remain to be answered and the Titans now have the opportunity to answer all of them.

I've seen a few CCIW games this season and I still think in terms of skill and athleticism the Titans are above the rest. HOWEVER, this set of Titans has never seemingly dominated at a time when it mattered most. Some may be eager to compare this postseason run to 2001 (the last time we saw the beautiful Bridges game). The 2005-06 Titans have much more athleticism than that team and much better individual players. Remains to be seen...that team didn't come together until the tournament. Hopefully that will be true for this team, too.

Either way, this set of Titans have been incredible to watch over the last 4 years and going into Friday I can confidently say they have the ability to make it Salem.

Titan32 · March 01, 2006, 11:05:03 PM

Quote from: Titan32 on March 01, 2006, 10:31:10 PM
This is my first post in several years, although I've continued enjoying the posting up feature of the website.

Before and after attending the IWU-UofI exhibition in Chambana, I have to admit I had great expectations. In March, a lot of questions remain to be answered and the Titans now have the opportunity to answer all of them.

I've seen a few CCIW games this season and I still think in terms of skill and athleticism the Titans are above the rest. HOWEVER, this set of Titans has never seemingly dominated at a time when it mattered most. Some may be eager to compare this postseason run to 2001 (the last time we saw the beautiful Bridges game). The 2005-06 Titans have much more athleticism than that team and much better individual players. Remains to be seen...that team didn't come together until the tournament. Hopefully that will be true for this team, too.

Either way, this set of Titans have been incredible to watch over the last 4 years and going into Friday I can confidently say they have the ability to make it Salem.

IWU returned to Salem for the third time in six years in 2001. In a storybook finish to Dennie Bridges' career as head of his alma mater, the Titans won their final 4 CCIW games just to get on the NCAA selection bubble. They were given an at-large bid to the field of 48, and then defeated Grinnell and Wartburg to advance to the Sectionals. At the University of Chicago, IWU defeated CCIW champion Elmhurst on Friday night, and then the #1 team in the nation - the host Maroons. The Titans lost to William Paterson in the national semifinal game, but came back to defeat Ohio Northern in Bridges' final game as head coach.

Jim Matson · March 01, 2006, 11:11:17 PM

Party like it is 2001...

Gregory Sager · March 01, 2006, 11:15:17 PM

Quote from: Hiker Jim on March 01, 2006, 11:11:17 PM
Party like it is 2001...

Please open the pod bay doors, Hal.

Mr. Ypsi · March 01, 2006, 11:38:06 PM

Greg, I've always thought it was only Hal that kept the Titans from winning in 2001 (Horace who?).

I have high hopes that the Titans will recall why they were unanimously #1 earlier this season, and finish the way many of us thought they would. The post-mortems on how they could have lost six games would be SO much easier to take if they have the walnut-and-bronze beside them!

I'm by no means certain they can even beat Carroll in round one (in the PP, they tied for 12th), but that is my hope.