MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, it sounds like you have been aggressively "working the phones" here in the early going...that's a lot of inside info to have pre-November 1!

Like the U.S. Cavalry's Indian scouts, I have learned how to read the bent blades of grass and I keep my ear to the ground to hear the distant horses. 

The question is how did Carthage lose at home to Elmhurst in its CCIW opener. 

Carthage seemed to have a problem with sleeping through New Year's wakeup calls back during the program's glory years at the start of this decade. That 2002 CCIW home-opener loss to Elmhurst was bad, but the Bluejays did manage to finish in a second-place tie with Augie that season at 9-5, so in retrospect the Carthage loss was only a mild head-scratcher. The bigger mystery was how Bosko's boys managed to lose their CCIW home opener two years previous, the season in which the Redmen won their first conference title in 36 years. The team that beat them in Kenosha that evening in early January 2000 was North Central -- and the Cards went on to finish in a three-way tie for last place with Augie and Elmhurst at 4-10.  That may stand as the biggest CCIW upset of the last ten years. As I remember, there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not some sort of Y2K bug was involved. 

My guess is that senior Mike Harrigan (Brother Rice H.S.) is the favorite right now...he really shot the 3 well...Andrew Freeman looked better than anyone yesterday.  He hit 5 3's in 6 or 7 attempts. 

Q,
Sounds like the Titans might have some trouble defending the three-point line this year.

Using quotes that way, I could write political ads. 

LOL! Good one, Dan! And quite timely!

NPU's first scrimmage is next Saturday; it's the Vikings' annual warmup against UW-Whitewater, which this year will be held up north of the Cheddar Curtain. I won't be there, so I'm going to try to enlist some of the Warhawks faithful to post about the scrimmage in the WIAC room. This is always an uphill battle for the Park, but I'm hopeful that with the loss of UWW's two double-digit scorers from last season (Jeremy Manchester and Melvin Williams) and the upgrade in talent at NPU the Vikings might give a better accounting of themselves than they usually do against the Warhawks. Of course, UWW will be loaded as usual; word is that they've brought in a couple more D1 transfers.

NPU's second and final scrimmage will be a week from Saturday in the crackerbox against Dominican.

Any other info about upcoming CCIW scrimmages people would care to share?

[titan2000]

I kid because I care.......

[cardinalpride]

NPU's first scrimmage is next Saturday; it's the Vikings' annual warmup against UW-Whitewater, which this year will be held up north of the Cheddar Curtain. I won't be there, so I'm going to try to enlist some of the Warhawks faithful to post about the scrimmage in the WIAC room. This is always an uphill battle for the Park, but I'm hopeful that with the loss of UWW's two double-digit scorers from last season (Jeremy Manchester and Melvin Williams) and the upgrade in talent at NPU the Vikings might give a better accounting of themselves than they usually do against the Warhawks. Of course, UWW will be loaded as usual; word is that they've brought in a couple more D1 transfers.

NPU's second and final scrimmage will be a week from Saturday in the crackerbox against Dominican.

Any other info about upcoming CCIW scrimmages people would care to share?

Greg, NCC scrimmages U Of C on Friday in Naperville.  I believe it's scheduled for a 7pm start.  This will be the 1st time NCC has scrimmaged U Of C since All World forward Derek Reich was in uniform.

[Titan Q]

An anonymous donor has given $75 million to Westmont, the second largest gift ever for a national liberal arts college. Westmont Chancellor David K. Winter announced the gift on Friday, Oct. 27.

"This is momentous news," Winter said. "It will enable us to move to an entirely new level of effectiveness in accomplishing our mission as a liberal arts college deeply rooted in the historic Christian faith. By providing the support needed for our strong and distinctive academic program, this gift allows us to build and endow the facilities that will enable us to secure our place among the finest liberal arts schools in the nation."


http://cgi2.westmont.edu/blogs/public_affairs/2006/10/27/westmont-receives-75-million-gift/print/



Suddenly the check I am writing to dear ole IWU for my annual gift - with State Farm match - doesn't seem all that significant.

[Jim Matson]

Hopefully some of that gift will help the Westmont AD and Wheaton grad Dave Wolf.  More scholarship money for basketball and soccer?  Nice but probably not.

[martin]

Cardinal -

I realize your focus will be on NCC but try to include a report on UofC freshman Jake Pancratz. 

Note to Pat - you should do a feature story on Pancratz, specifically why did he go D3.  He may have been the best informed recruit at any level last year.  His father,  Andy, was the recruit that led to DePaul's revival.  Joey Meyer worked hard to get him.  He was a 6-8 forward out of Hersey (1972).  Two years earlier, Meyer had been the captain of a DePaul team that went 7-20 (or something like that).  Dave Corzine (also from Hersey) followed Pancratz to Depaul in 1974.  The Blue Demons had a nice run in the 1976 tournament.  After that, they got Mark Agguire, Terry Cummings, etc.  Pancratz has remained close to Meyer ever since. 

Brother Mark graduated from UW-Milwaukee this past May.  His career at UWM was limited by injuries.  Brother Zach is a junior at Northern Illinois.  He has averaged about 18-20 minutes a game his first two years.  Started quite a few games. His teammate at Schaumburg, Craig Reichel, left NIU for D2 Rollins.

I heard that Jake had some mid-major offers.  He surely had a very good idea of his talent and how he would fit in at different levels.  He also had very good and accurate advice.  It would be interesting to hear from him.

[cardinalpride]

Cardinal -

I realize your focus will be on NCC but try to include a report on UofC freshman Jake Pancratz. 

Note to Pat - you should do a feature story on Pancratz, specifically why did he go D3.  He may have been the best informed recruit at any level last year.  His father,  Andy, was the recruit that led to DePaul's revival.  Joey Meyer worked hard to get him.  He was a 6-8 forward out of Hersey (1972).  Two years earlier, Meyer had been the captain of a DePaul team that went 7-20 (or something like that).  Dave Corzine (also from Hersey) followed Pancratz to Depaul in 1974.  The Blue Demons had a nice run in the 1976 tournament.  After that, they got Mark Agguire, Terry Cummings, etc.  Pancratz has remained close to Meyer ever since. 

Brother Mark graduated from UW-Milwaukee this past May.  His career at UWM was limited by injuries.  Brother Zach is a junior at Northern Illinois.  He has averaged about 18-20 minutes a game his first two years.  Started quite a few games. His teammate at Schaumburg, Craig Reichel, left NIU for D2 Rollins.

I heard that Jake had some mid-major offers.  He surely had a very good idea of his talent and how he would fit in at different levels.  He also had very good and accurate advice.  It would be interesting to hear from him.

No problem Martin.

[Gregory Sager]

Cardinal -

I realize your focus will be on NCC but try to include a report on UofC freshman Jake Pancratz. 

Note to Pat - you should do a feature story on Pancratz, specifically why did he go D3.

Pat, be sure to mention in the story which CCIW teams were also recruiting Pancratz, and put the names of those schools in bold type. And then make sure that they also get mentioned in the tease for the Pancratz story that you're (of course) going to leave on the front page of d3hoops.com for three or four weeks. The MWC guys would absolutely love it if you did this. Trust me. 

An anonymous donor has given $75 million to Westmont, the second largest gift ever for a national liberal arts college. Westmont Chancellor David K. Winter announced the gift on Friday, Oct. 27.

“This is momentous news,” Winter said. “It will enable us to move to an entirely new level of effectiveness in accomplishing our mission as a liberal arts college deeply rooted in the historic Christian faith. By providing the support needed for our strong and distinctive academic program, this gift allows us to build and endow the facilities that will enable us to secure our place among the finest liberal arts schools in the nation.”


http://cgi2.westmont.edu/blogs/public_affairs/2006/10/27/westmont-receives-75-million-gift/print/

Westmont's current endowment is somewhere south of $60m. The school itself isn't even seven decades old yet. In institutional terms, this is like the kid in the mailroom winning the state lottery.

My mission is to uncover the identity of Westmont's anonymous zillionaire benefactor, and then start bombarding him with NPU promotional literature. 

[matblake]

An anonymous donor has given $75 million to Westmont, the second largest gift ever for a national liberal arts college. Westmont Chancellor David K. Winter announced the gift on Friday, Oct. 27.

That's 45 million Frostys and 30 million chicken sandwiches......

[BigPoppa]

An anonymous donor has given $75 million to Westmont, the second largest gift ever for a national liberal arts college. Westmont Chancellor David K. Winter announced the gift on Friday, Oct. 27.

That's 45 million Frostys and 30 million chicken sandwiches......

...before taxes....

[True Basketball Fan]

I believe the preseason Top 25 poll is getting released tomorrow.  It will be interesting to see where IWU falls, if they fall in the Top 25 at all, also, to see if NCC gets a little early recognition.  I think those are the only two teams that have a shot.  Does anybody know the last time there wasn't at least one CCIW school ranked in the preseason Top 25?  It may happen tomorrow.

Anybody know of more early scrimmages from the Chicagoland schools, I'd like to go catch a few if possible?

[Titan Q]

North Central, based on their returning frontline, deserves to be ranked.  But NCC was one of just a few "top 25 prospects" that did not respond to his request for information (detailed information on returning/new players, etc.), so they were not listed on Pat's preseason spreadsheet for the voters.  This will cost NCC significant votes -- I wouldn't expect voters from other parts of the country to know what NCC has back if NCC isn't willing to help the voters.  (And the preseason CCIW Coaches Poll - which will surely have NCC as the favorite - was not out when ballots were due.)

[Titan Q]

This will be my 8th season as one of Pat's Top 25 voters.  I think I am one of 2 or 3 that's been with him from the beginning of the poll. 

The preseason ballot is extremely difficult.  I know we all put a lot of work into every week's ballot, but trying to gauge things at this stage is just really tough.

My ballot, as submitted last night, is:

1 Virginia Wesleyan
2 Wooster
3 Mississippi College
4 North Central
5 Baldwin-Wallace
6 St. Thomas
7 William Paterson
8 UW-Oshkosh
9 Calvin
10 Christopher Newport
11 Maryville (Tenn.)
12 UW-La Crosse
13 Carroll
14 Lawrence
15 UW-Whitewater
16 Augustana
17 Occidental
18 Hampden-Sydney
19 Hope
20 Wittenberg
21 Lincoln
22 Ohio Northern
23 Washington U.
24 Tufts
25 Randolph-Macon

[Titan Q]

Just went back and looked at my ballot from one year ago (2005-06 preseason poll)...still not sure what the heck happened to Oshkosh...

(2005-06 preseason ballot)
1 Illinois Wesleyan
2 UW-Oshkosh
3 Puget Sound
4 Hope
5 Virginia Wesleyan

[sac]

Just went back and looked at my ballot from one year ago (2005-06 preseason poll)...still not sure what the heck happened to Oshkosh...

2 UW-Oshkosh

They got WI-ACked !