MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I've compared Raymond to Korey Coon (IWU '00) several times.  Here is Korey's senior year stat line...

22.0 ppg
164-371 FG (.442)
65-166 3-pt (.392)
157-163 FT (.963)
2.9 rpg
2.1 apg

Pretty similar to what Raymond is doing this year, as a sophomore.

Raymond is really his own type of player, neither a Drew Carstens clone nor a Korey Coon clone. He can penetrate like Carstens and thrives off contact the way that Carstens did -- because, like Carstens, Raymond is apparently a weight-room fanatic who is built so solidly that he can't be knocked off-balance when he gets hit in the act of shooting, so his shot stays true, and he can take the game-long pounding that a constant penetrator suffers in this league -- and he is golden at the FT line and a terrific ballhandler and trey shooter, just like Coon.

I've been racking my brains trying to think of the former CCIW player who best correlates to Raymond, and the one that I come up with is Robert Brown, the 1990 MOP from North Central. But I think Raymond's going to be an even better player than Brown when it's all said and done.

I'm confused... Raymond is a sophomore by eligibility apparently, but a junior by class right?  Will he actually be around a 5th year at Wheaton to play his 4th year of ball?

That's the $64,000 question. It's up to Raymond. Coming back for a fifth year of college at a place like Wheaton is an expensive decision and therefore not something to be done lightly, especially if it's not academically necessary. Joel Kolmodin was in the same position, and he elected to graduate on time and thus not use his final year of eligibility.

[Pat Coleman]

That's the $64,000 question. It's up to Raymond. Coming back for a fifth year of college at a place like Wheaton is an expensive decision ...

In a decade or so it will literally be a $64,000 question.

[diehardfan]

Q - I'm surprised you haven't thrown this stat out yet:
Raymond is now 31/31 from the free throw line in his Shirk Center career. Must be something about that green backdrop.

Wichita State sure could use him.

Ahh!!! It's Brian! Brian, You are very much missed! Seriously, you need to give the current Wheaton broadcasters some pointers.... PLEASE!!!! All Wheaton alum everywhere beg you to give the ole WETN a call and or a tutorial...

On a lighter note.... How is your broadcasting career going?

[Late nite]

Dansand---Just one man's opinion---In the games that I have seen, I expect more consistency and a better defender for a player that is supposedly one of the top 10 players in the league---I agree that Shaun may be a stretch, but the toughness and consistency that he brings to the Vikes is invaluable---I stand by my Delp comment

[cardinalpride]

I've been racking my brains trying to think of the former CCIW player who best correlates to Raymond, and the one that I come up with is Robert Brown, the 1990 MOP from North Central. But I think Raymond's going to be an even better player than Brown when it's all said and done.

Greg, that's a pretty fair comparison.  Brown was a big body guard who was deceptively quick, similar to Raymond. Brown was also strong, similar to Raymond.  Also, Brown knew how to use his body.  Thats right, similar to Raymond. One of the few differences is Robert played on better teams.  The 1990 North Central team had 3 all conference players in Andrew Hunter and 1992 MOP Alonzo Alexander.  Ah, the good ole days!!

[Gregory Sager]

I've been racking my brains trying to think of the former CCIW player who best correlates to Raymond, and the one that I come up with is Robert Brown, the 1990 MOP from North Central. But I think Raymond's going to be an even better player than Brown when it's all said and done.

Greg, that's a pretty fair comparison.  Brown was a big body guard who was deceptively quick. Similar to Raymond. Brown was also strong. Similar to Raymond.  Also, Brown knew how to use his body.  Thats right! Similar to Raymond. One of the few differences is Robert played on better teams.  The 1990 North Central team had 3 all conference players in Andrew Hunter and 1992 MOP Alonzo Alexander.  Ah, the good ole days!!

Brown could also stroke it, similar to Raymond. The former Cardinals great is still the CCIW's all-time career leader in trey %, with a .488 mark. It's probably the one area where Raymond still lags behind Brown.

[diehardfan]

That's the $64,000 question. It's up to Raymond. Coming back for a fifth year of college at a place like Wheaton is an expensive decision and therefore not something to be done lightly, especially if it's not academically necessary. Joel Kolmodin was in the same position, and he elected to graduate on time and thus not use his final year of eligibility.

Ahh, the fifth year at Wheaton... not that I know anything about how much that costs.  It's okay, my 6mo experience in Africa was totally worth it. And it's not even Wheaton basketball!

Let's not forget that with Joel, he was playing on knees that he almost shouldn't have even been walking on. There was pretty good physical incentive for him to give up his career early. Plus, he was on his way to Med School.... and that takes forever to get through. Even longer than the d3 basketball off season.

Tell me about it. My old stomping grounds north of Syracuse has been hit with 100+ inches of snow over the past week. A friend of mine e-mailed me to say that the snow is up to the gutters on his parents' roof. And he said that he looked out to the street while he was shoveling the driveway of his own house today and saw a herd of wooly mammoth pass by.

I don't think he's buying into that whole global warming thing.

Rar, that's cause the correct term is global climate change. And the most important feature is that it's characterized by SEVERE weather. I think 100+ ins of snow in one week counts as severe, even for upstate NY. But uh, this is just one of those things I shouldn't be allowed to talk about on this website... 

10-12 inches of snow headed for B-N.  Pitchers and catchers may be reporting this week, but spring seems a long way away!!

Is this the part where where I mention that it's been in the 70s this week in SoCal? It always feels like baseball weather here!

[Mr. Ypsi]

10-12 inches of snow headed for B-N.  Pitchers and catchers may be reporting this week, but spring seems a long way away!!

Is this the part where where I mention that it's been in the 70s this week in SoCal? It always feels like baseball weather here!

Aaaaarrrgh!  Until spring has safely arrived here on the tundra, I want 20 volunteers standing by to simultaneously smite her the next time April talks about SoCal weather!

I wonder if 20 simultaneous smites could set off the San Andreas fault?  

[diehardfan]

10-12 inches of snow headed for B-N.  Pitchers and catchers may be reporting this week, but spring seems a long way away!!

Is this the part where where I mention that it's been in the 70s this week in SoCal? It always feels like baseball weather here!

Aaaaarrrgh!  Until spring has safely arrived here on the tundra, I want 20 volunteers standing by to simultaneously smite her the next time April talks about SoCal weather!

I wonder if 20 simultaneous smites could set off the San Andreas fault?  

Hey now, I get smited every time I post on the CCIW board... that's not enough? 

[AndOne]

Raymond is a great, great shooter. However, he doesn't offer a whole lot more.

Boy do I disagree with that.  I think Raymond is one of the most complete offensive players in Division III.  Heck, in his last game he scored 20 points at the FT line because of his ability to penetrate. 

Raymond is turning into Drew Carstens...with a pure jump shot.  I said on the air Saturday that I think he'd start for half of the Missouri Valley Conference teams, and I really believe that is true.

Q--------

Although your printed response initially gives the pretext of apparent disagreement, I sense that your subconscious silently agrees with my analysis. 

By a great shooter, I naturally meant from both the field & the line. I don't believe you can be "'great" if you are severly lacking in either.

Raymond IS definately great---thats why I predicted (a no-brainer I know) that he'd be 1st team all conference.  We all know he is the best pure shooter around. On top of that, he is strong and can take a hit when driving the lane. Additionally, he is smart enough that when he doesn't feel contact, he initiates it by putting his shoulder down and driving into the chest of the opponent. And once he gets to the line---money in the bank.

Despite his shooting and offensive prowess----and I prob should have said he is a great offensive player instead of a great shooter as I was equating only shooting with offense----my problem with his overall play is that I don't feel he is great shakes in some of the other phases of the game. He doesn't get player of the week awards for his passing, rebounding or defense.

As far as subconsciously agreeing with me you stated "I think Raymond is one of the most complete offensive players.........................." Isn't offense, and more specifically shooting, either from the field or line, the first thing you think of when you think of Raymond?   

[Gregory Sager]

Let's not forget that with Joel, he was playing on knees that he almost shouldn't have even been walking on. There was pretty good physical incentive for him to give up his career early. Plus, he was on his way to Med School.... and that takes forever to get through. Even longer than the d3 basketball off season.

Every situation is different. I was not implying that Raymond's decision would parallel Kolmodin's. For that matter, any other player who has an opportunity to use a fourth year of eligibility by enrolling for a fifth year of school (e.g., NPU's Glenn Woodside, who was medically redshirted last season) has to make his decision based solely upon his own circumstances.

Rar, that's cause the correct term is global climate change.

I know that. I was quoting my friend back in suburban Syracuse.

And the most important feature is that it's characterized by SEVERE weather. I think 100+ ins of snow in one week counts as severe, even for upstate NY.

It's severe, but not extremely unusual. People who have never lived there really have no idea just how much lake-effect snow gets dumped upon the central New York snowbelt between Syracuse and Watertown. Buffalo gets all the hype as Snowtown U.S.A., but Rochester, Syracuse, and Watertown tend to have much bigger annual snowfalls, because Lake Erie is so shallow that it usually freezes over by mid-winter and thus ceases to crank out lake-effect snow upon the Niagara Frontier. Syracuse annually wins the "Golden Snowball Award", given by the National Weather Service to the city in New York that receives the most snow. It's a $100 check that goes to that city's annual coat-and-mitten drive for the poor.

Extended blizzards such as the current one that's burying Oswego, Jefferson, and Onondaga counties in the white stuff really have nothing to do with macroglobal climate shifts, either. The explanation is much more prosaic: When the prevailing winds travel straight down the length of Lake Ontario in winter, a humungous amount of moisture from the lake gets picked up and then dumped upon the good folks at the eastern end of the lake in the form of lake-effect snow -- especially since there's high hills and a low mountain range to the east of the I-81 corridor (the Tug Hill Plateau and the Adirondack Mountains) that further help bring down the snow.

But uh, this is just one of those things I shouldn't be allowed to talk about on this website... 

Why? You can just blame it on Bob. He's the one who started the weather conversation.

[AndOne]

Hey now, I get smited every time I post on the CCIW board... that's not enough? 

April----

I welcome the vast majority of your informative and insightful posts with nary a thought of any smiting. However-----we all have limits-----------

Q and the other fans down south have 10-12 inches of snow headed their way and up here in the Wheaton, Naperville, and Elmhurst area we're expecting 6-8.

Soooooooo------don't push it!   

[Gregory Sager]

Additionally, he is smart enough that when he doesn't feel contact, he initiates it by putting his shoulder down and driving into the chest of the opponent.

And in that respect he's definitely a Drew Carstens clone. I've never seen a player do the shoulder-to-sternum bullrush more frequently or more successfully than Carstens. You wanna talk about a player who always got the benefit of the whistle ...

Despite his shooting and offensive prowess----and I prob should have said he is a great offensive player instead of a great shooter as I was equating only shooting with offense----my problem with his overall play is that I don't feel he is great shakes in some of the other phases of the game. He doesn't get player of the week awards for his passing, rebounding or defense.

I think Raymond's a fantastic passer. He's fifth in the league in assists, and the four guys ahead of him are all distribution-minded point guards. He has a real knack for finding the open man and delivering the ball to him quickly and accurately. He's not a bad rebounder, either; he's 20th in the league in rebounding, but there's almost no other guards besides him on the list. Of course, these are both counting stats that are aided by the fact that Raymond plays more minutes than any other guard in the league.

His defense is open to debate. I've seen games where he's played superb D, and games where he's been repeatedly burned. I have a feeling that this is one of two areas in which his calf injury has hampered him the most, the lift he gets on his jumpshot being the other.

April----

I welcome the vast majority of your informative and insightful posts with nary a thought of any smiting. However-----we all have limits-----------

Q and the other fans down south have 10-12 inches of snow headed their way and up here in the Wheaton, Naperville, and Elmhurst area we're expecting 6-8.

Soooooooo------don't push it!   

My dad retired two weeks ago, and my parents have just moved to the Gulf Coast of Florida while those of us here in the north are suffering through the nastiest deep freeze we've had in years. Believe me, if I could smite my parents' karma for every wisecrack they've made about the weather ...

[diehardfan]

I actually miss snow, ya know... especially when it is so cold that you can see each individual snowflake. I actually went somewhere colder and snowier on purpose. All the colleges that I looked at and applied to were in or north of Va including the famous upstate NY town of Rochester where my mom grew up and where I almost went to school (dont need an upstate NY lesson Greg, trust me).

I especially miss real trees out here. I try to pretend that seeing Sequoias every six months is equal to seeing lots of smaller trees more times, but that doesn't really fly. Little known fact: almost every species of palm in so cal is invasive. That's one of many reasons I call it overzealous grass...

Anyhow, you guys also have CCIW basketball. I would commit great criminal acts to not have to drop 600+ dollars to see two great nights of basketball like the cciw tourney. There is some justice in the world... trust me...

[AndOne]

Ahhhhhhhh-------But for you rich California women--------> Money is no object!!!!!