MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Jim Matson]

Except that Luther is Norwegian...

[oldreporter]

I'm not a D3 athlete. I just want to know if any of the CCIW kids in the central Illinois area play summer league basketball, and if so, where.

I was aware, back in 2002, of players having played in summer 2001 up in the chicago area. Talk to the players at your school.

[petemcb]

There is the league out of Prairie Lakes Park District in Des Plaines (northwest suburbs of Chicago) that runs through the summer.  In the last few summers, I have seen teams from Carthage (including a few distinguished alumni), Augie, Elmhurst, Concordia RF, Benedictine, University of St. Francis Joliet (NAIA), among others.  I believe, but am not sure, that they play on Tuesday nights. 

There is another league that plays out of the Armory on the city's north (?) side where I think North Park and others play.  Greg could probably clue us in better on that one.

[Warren Thompson]

Except that Luther is Norwegian...

Norwegian Lutheran men and women running around nekkid at midnight? Sounds like a Viking fertility rite fueled by unseemly quantities of the modern-day equivalent of mead.

[Warren Thompson]

Except that Luther is Norwegian...

Norwegian Lutheran men and women running around nekkid at midnight? Sounds like a Viking fertility rite fueled by unseemly quantities of the modern-day equivalent of mead.

The ELCA's second presiding Bishop, H. George Anderson, came to the Higgins Road headquarters directly from a 17-year stint as Luther College president.  Unlike his predecessor or current successor, H. George enjoyed eating lunch with the plebian masses in the staff lunchroom on the sixth floor, far removed from the national and international stresses of being presiding bishop of the largest Lutheran churchbody in the US in his 11th floor office.

H. George and I both enjoyed long stays on college campuses and we both loved to travel to see historic sites in the US, so he and I frequently had lunch together on the rare occasions when he was in town.  Fascinating and earthy conversationalist, but somehow the 'hot' topic of the midnight Homecoming nude soccer match never made it into our conversation.

MW

Is it possible that said worthy prelate is a Luther graduate and thus might also himself have done a little birthday-suit cavorting his senior year? 

[emeritusprof]

Warren!  You don't mean a man of the cloth...

[diehardfan]

I go away for the weekend and all the guys on CCIW chat are talking about nakedness? And old guy nakedness no less

Anyhow, I'm back, it's time to behave now boys.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I just had the wierdest experience here.  I was cycling back through the last two pages to see what the conversation has been this weekend.  There was this post from April about going to a dance club on her birthday, which then disappeared when I scrolled back up the page.  Am I going insane or was that like an old post that reappeared to make me laugh?  The boards are too mysterious for me to understand.


Anyway, I'm all for the new nude NPU President.  We need a more casual atmosphere on our college campuses.

Dennis, truly a sad tale, especially for a school that has such a tradition.

[markerickson]

Anonymous sources can be right.   If the source has correct information, is it still considered "rumor" before public disclosure?

[Gregory Sager]

Not only did I not see Drew play, I also saw no conference games last year.  Sounds like there will be some interesting guys left for me to watch next year, even though most of the guys I know will be graduated. 

Is this your sly way of hinting that you're actually going to grace a CCIW gym or two with your presence next year, April? While of course I look forward to sitting with you and analyzing a game or two, I especially like the way that you're going to fly across the country from southern California to attend CCIW games and thus make Chuck look bad. 

[Gregory Sager]

My source tells me North Park's next president graduated from Gordon-Cromwell Seminary and has a wife who attended Gordon.

As Dennis said, David Parkyn isn't the next NPU president yet. He still has to be approved two months from now by the Covenant Annual Meeting, a body that does not have a reputation for rubber-stamping senior appointments -- especially when the candidate comes from outside the Covenant (or, as former North Park President Karl Olsson used to say, when the candidate is someone "who knew not Joseph").

Dennis, as someone who has never met Parkyn and who prides himself on not prejudging people, I will try not to hold it against him that he was recommended by the Weasel.

Your story of the music major who never darkened the doors of the crackerbox doesn't surprise me. I knew more than a few music majors during my student era back during the glory days of Vikings basketball who never went to games, either. Mark could probably name a few from his class as well. Of course, they all knew about the Park's success on the hardwood -- it was as unavoidable as below-zero wind chills and aldermanic indictments -- but in their eyes it was at best something to be ignored, at worst a painful ongoing reminder that the jockocracy that dominates campus life at the vast majority of schools was present at theirs as well. Jocks have been making life hell for music majors since the days of raccoon coats and straw boaters, and I don't see that fact of collegiate sociology ending anytime soon.

As far as various staffers and faculty at NPU getting their undergarments knotted up over the fact that the Board of Trustees' presidential recommendation appeared on CCIW Chat before they got wind of it (this room seems to be getting more scoops than the Drudge Report), you and I both know that the corner of Foster and Kedzie houses a Grade A hotbed of conspiracy-mongering. Sinister plots to undermine the morale and character of the institution, or the job security of various individuals (it's often one and the same thing in the minds of those who work there), abound around every corner. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in Old Main had Oliver Stone on speed dial.

The fact that North Park is such a rumor mill is actually one of the reasons why I love the place so much. It's an indelible part of the school's personality. People gossip because they care.

[Warren Thompson]

... this room seems to be getting more scoops than the Drudge Report ....

Hmmmm. Unfortunately, as concerns truth and accuracy, a "scoop" on the Drudge Report is often full of nothing but air. 

[markerickson]

My cousin's oldest child will graduate from NPU this spring.  He never attended a home men's basketball contest in four years.

[Gregory Sager]

I can understand why you may be so high on Strzemp as he was the one shinning star in the game at North Park.  It was in that game that he dropped 15-8 in what was his most impressive performance of the season, but he disappeared for the second half of the CCIW season.
It was reported that he also was suffering some nagging leg injuries throughout the season and that may have contributed to his inconsistency.  Strzemp has a great future with the team and could play some of the "3" (though its not his best position) with Ruch and Michael likely clogging up 30 plus minutes a game.  His game is a mixture of Adam Abdul-Haaq and the early Rueben (had a better freshman year than Chris Martin) Slock, he just needs to gain Scherer's confidence (a la Brian Lee) and then he'll likely shine, but i'm betting that happens his junior year.

I saw a half-dozen Elmhurst games last season, ecdubb, and the EC @ NPU game wasn't one of them. I had a commitment that night that forced me to miss that game. So it is not the basis for my evaluation of Strzemp.

Don't look at the Ruch/Michael combo as "clogging up 30-plus minutes a game" at the PF and C spots. Michael averaged less than 29 minutes a game last season, and in his five starts Ruch averaged about 32 and a half. Figure a three-man rotation at the two big spots, and you're still looking at about 20 minutes a game for Strzemp at power forward.

I don't see Strzemp as being like either Abdul-Haqq or Slock at all. He doesn't have Abdul-Haqq's quickness or Slock's shooting ability. What he does have that neither of them had is great touch around the basket and strong interior skills (rebounding, physicality, defense in the paint). The player of whom Strzemp reminds me the most, and this is going back a ways to the early nineties, is former Elmhurst star forward Charles Woods. He, too, was a slightly undersized PF who was an extraordinarily effective interior scorer and rebounder. Of course, Strzemp has a long way to go before he's worthy of such company -- Charles Woods was a great CCIW player for the 'jays.

[Gregory Sager]

... this room seems to be getting more scoops than the Drudge Report ....

Hmmmm. Unfortunately, as concerns truth and accuracy, a "scoop" on the Drudge Report is often full of nothing but air. 

Absolutely, but the website does manage to nab a surprising number of scoops that do pan out to be true. Like CCIW Chat's anonymous sources, one simply has to be judicious in terms of quoting the Drudge Report when it comes to breaking news. As for the "nothing but air" part, CCIW Chat often manages to capture that aspect of the rumormongering game as well.