MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Also, if Raridon isn't good--then how in the heck did he take a bunch of kids mainly from small towns out in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska and mold them into such consistently good teams over such an extended period. Don't forget, in all his 15 years at Nebraska Wesleyan, he never had a losing season despite being the only school in a NAIA conference. This meant he was the only conference coach whose team couldn't/didn't give scholarships. While he was at NWU, they finished 3rd in the nation 3 times and 2nd once.   8)

AndOne, I'm a big Raridon fan -- I think he's a great coach.  But let's not suggest he took a bunch of kids off the farm and taught them the game of basketball.  As someone in the stands at the 1997 national championship game and several other IWU/Nebraska Wesleyan games over the years, I can tell you he had a lot of superstar players in Lincoln (Mitch Mosser, Kip Kissinger, Chad Ideus, etc, etc).  He always had a great low post player and great guards at Nebraska Wesleyan.  Raridon did it at NWU with the same basic formula every great coach uses -- all starting with recruiting.

Let's not forget the fact that Raridon was building upon an already-great Nebraska Wesleyan tradition established by his predecessor, Jerry Schmutte. Raridon was the assistant coach for Schmutte teams at NWU that went to the D3 Final Four in three seasons out of a four-season stretch back in the mid-'80s (1985, 1986, and 1988).

I'm not taking anything at all away from Raridon, but Nebraska Wesleyan was a known commodity in small-college basketball circles out there on the plains before he took over the program.

[AndOne]

I think when it's all said and done, the 2007 M.O.P. will come down to:

Zach Freeman (IWU) - 21.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg

Kent Raymond (Wheaton) - 21.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.8 apg

Daniel Walton (NCC) - 18.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg


In my opinion, these are the 3 best players in the CCIW.  (I'd take Walton over Simmons any day.)

Q-----

I agree with your choices exactly. Of course there are a few others anyone would love to have on their team also, Simmons, Burks, Schlemm, & Gensler among them.
However, I still believe you would be hard pressed to find a better ALL AROUND player than Walton.

Though Gensler killed EC last season in his first CCIW game, I struggle to include him as an elite player in this conference.  He is an elite scorer, but besides that, I don't really see much.  For a player to be elite, but only really excel in one dimension of the game, they have to be lights out (aka Rick Harrigan type offense, and don't infer that as harrigan being one-dimensional) in that category.

Even if Gensler is only an elite scorer, I still think he is one of the conference's best, and I'll take him on my team any day. Was Harrigan a multi dimensional player---I think not! And, he had a lot of help from a good team surrounding him. Gensler has a much weaker supporting cast. Also, he was only a freshman last season, not a seasoned veteran like Harrigan (and I am NOT puting Harrigan down). I sense the vast majority of people would include Gensler on a list of the best 5-10 (max) players in the league.

[AndOne]

Let's not forget the fact that Raridon was building upon an already-great Nebraska Wesleyan tradition established by his predecessor, Jerry Schmutte. Raridon was the assistant coach for Schmutte teams at NWU that went to the D3 Final Four in three seasons out of a four-season stretch back in the mid-'80s (1985, 1986, and 1988).

I'm not taking anything at all away from Raridon, but Nebraska Wesleyan was a known commodity in small-college basketball circles out there on the plains before he took over the program.
[/quote]

Greg----

I'm a NWU alum and former player, so I'm a little familiar with the history. When you say you are not taking anything away from Raridon, but in the same breath say he built on what Schmutte started, it just strikes me as taking something away from what Raridon did. Maybe its just me. To carry it one step further, you could say Schmutte carried on what Irv Peterson (420 victories) started. However, I think that would be "taking something away" from what Jerry Schmutte (who was at Wesleyan when I was there) did.   

[Titan Q]

IWU beat Albion by 14 today...led by as much as 26 in the 2nd half.  IWU was 36-50 from the field in the game (72%).

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2007/iwumbb11.htm

[Jim Matson]

Wheaton over Rivier College 60-44 to take the championship of the College of Staten Island Tourney.

To 7-3 go the Thunder with one more game out East before the real season begins.

Johnnie Standard won the Tourney MVP - he had 14 points and 11 rebounds today.  Raymond sat out again due to an injury.  My guess is that he sits it out til the CCIW season gets underway.  Panner and Fiddler also had good performances today.

[rknuppel]

Elmhurst beat Beloit tonight 70-55.  This game was tied at halftime then the Jays pretty much dominated the 2H.

Bacon led the way with 16.  Followed by Michael (13), Lee (12) and Burks (10).

Wasn't the best game Elmhurst has played all year - but a win is a win.  The Bluejays finish off their non-conference at 10-1 and should be ready to compete near the top of the conference.

[Late nite]

Vikes let one slip away today, but there were some positives---Augie played some very strong D after a 10 day layoff, but Point is a great shooting team with no conscience---They also hit some prayers in the second half---The Vikes played with confidence and poise in a very difficult environment (full house)---Unfortunately, they failed to take full advantage of a team who was not very good at defending in the lane---Rose and Collins played well but Dane had a tough night---The absence of Rorer and Rukavina (injuries) on the front line was the determining factor in the game---No way that Point could have handled that depth on the inside---What was once a 10/11 man rotation was basically an 8 man rotation today because of the injuries---A gutty effort against a quality opponent and a great tuneup for the tough CCIW---Close, but not quite good enough

[Titan Q]

Simmons absence is a big blow to my beloved NCC. 

It's also a big blow to my fantasy team.  Wow, my #1 pick out half the year.   

... and your #7 pick, Rob Strzemp, is questionable to suit up at all this season. The CCIW season hasn't even started and you're already flying on a wing and a prayer, Ryan.

(Of course, given the way that CCIW fantasy basketball usually works out, you'll probably win the league and I'll come in last as a karma payback for pointing out your team's troubles. )

Here is how the fantasy draft ended up...

http://wheatonhoops.googlepages.com/draft

My squad is ready to roll:

Daniel Walton (NCC)
Andrew Freeman (IWU)
Andrew Gilmore (IWU)
Reid Barringer (NCC)
Chris Drennan (NCC)

Bench: Nate Swetella (Augie), Jason Bloom (IWU)

[mwunder]

Carthage took one on the chin last night losing 78-60 to Scott Trost's Lewis University Flyers.  Carthage got to within 4 at the start of the second half, but no closer than 12 the second half.  They shot just 39 percent for the game while Lewis shot 54 percent.  Milos, Fendley, Thompson, and Bowens all scored in double digits for the Red Men.  Carthage had 19 turnovers to 12 assists.

Carthage did not scored until the 12:45 mark of the 1st half and were down 15-3 by then.  Lewis then went on a 17-0 run in the early second half to stretch the lead to 21.  Carthage did not score for almost 5 minutes during that run.

[Titan Q]

The Carthage/Lewis boxscore:

http://lewisflyers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2006-2007/12cc.html

[Titan Q]

North Central beat Judson 58-49 yesterday...

http://www.judson-il.edu/about/athletics/index.aspx?id=2391


That is a surprisingly small margin of victory, with or without Simmons.  IWU beat Judson 90-52 and North Park beat 'em 74-57.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Son Tim and I enjoyed "Rolling Meadows Night" at last night's Elmhurst-Beloit game - sitting with Matt Dunttemann's parents and Rolling Meadows HS senior guard Reed Larson's father and older brother, Bryce, who is a senior at Ohio Wesleyan.

Elmhurst looked disinterested in the first half - and the Jays definitely had no one who could should the ball further than five feet in the first half.  Ryan Burks played horrifically on defense and his long range shots were something out of the brick-layers union.  The big tall center Michael missed more bunnies than he made and showed an amazing inability to hook the ball, even with a four and five inch height advantage over the Beloit center who played him physical all night long.

Elmhurst won the game in the first ten minutes of the 2nd half when they got physical on defense (five fouls in 3 minutes to boot for the Jays) and started controlling the boards.  Bacon was the only one who looked like he wanted to score on the offensive end.  Hrzinga (#52) for Elmhurst did a nice job off the bench inside and certainly was more of a factor than Ruchs (#42).

The other guard position for the Jays was a whole pot pourri of guys who hustled, but couldn't shoot - and the Jays rotation went so deep in the first half that no one played with the same four other guys for longer than 30 seconds.

Give credit to Beloit for playing tough until the final 30 seconds, but in the end all those baseline jump shots that they showed a great propensity for and couldn't hit just turned into a litany of fastbreaks for Elmhurst in the 2nd half.

MW

[79jaybird]

Dennis makes some good points.

Dennis says distracted, I was saying they looked "out of sync" for 3/4 of the game.  Shots were off, physical play was down, and they let a Beloit team with 1 win and no reason to even be in the game, have a chance.
Hinschke (#52) was a big boost off the bench and was the rally starter to get the team going.  He was so excited to dunk the ball on a fast break that he double-dribbled!    He went ahead and dunked it anyway, which may have sparked the Jays who were hibernating the first half.
Couple concerns I see:
1) Foul Trouble.  Both halfs Beloit penetrated and was able to get the Jays into foul trouble early.
2) Big Bear or Care Bear?  The EC big guys were too passive and didn't use their muscle to control the play.  If Beloit could have shot a little better I think Elmhurst would have been in serious trouble.
3) If they play Augie the way they did the 1st half tonight, I think Augie is going to run away with it Sat. 
I think Saturday's tilt is going to be a very good game, as most CCIW matches are.

[Titan Q]

A piece on IWU head coach Ron Rose from the Pantagraph's "10 to watch in 2007" series...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/12/26/news/doc4591a6be7b610487026280.txt

[Late nite]

I have seen most of the Augie non-conference games and I would like to predict that Wash U, Wartburg and Stevens Point will be tourney teams in March---Anyone else wish to predict who may qualify for the tournament from your favorite team's non-conference schedule?