MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Great post.

One thing to keep in mind is that most of these players transfered after their sophomore season...some even after their junior season.  I think we would all agree, based on history, that transfers have about a pretty significant basketball transition process to go through when they get to their Division III school.  It seems like that first year is always a little inconsistent and then the next year we see the player we expected.

I think back to Jon Litwiller who started for Illinois State as a freshman before transfering to IWU after his sophomore year at ISU.  Jon had a good junior year (the season IWU made the Elite 8 and lost at home to Steve Alford's Manchester team), but not a great one.  He was much better, and looked so much more comfortable, as a senior.  I could say that about a lot of the guys above.

A player like Keaton Frye, who is coming in as a sophomore (maybe even a freshman based on the medical redshirt ruling), has more time to settle as a CCIW player and may end up being a better player as a senior because of it.  Just a thought. 

Good point, Bob.

Was the good point his actual point, or the fact that he thought you made a great post.

Both. Either. Whatever.

[advoice]

Athletic Trainers are the people who collect documentation on injuries. SA's sign off on this issue when arriving on a campus. Medical hardship papers are filed by an institution on behalf on a SA. AD's must sign along with FAR's.  Yes, the conference office people are the first ones to look at the papers, however they are instructed to forward anything questionable to the next level.

The Sneed Deedrick situation intrigues me. If true, it must be a DIII rule that I am not aware of. Again, if true, this would mean that a SA that has applied for a medical hardship year at DI or DII and been denied because they played in one game more than allowed could get an entire extra year of eligibility by transferrring to DIII. Doesn't make sense.

[diehardfan]

Alright, this is an old, old, old CCIW chat joke, but do you guys remember how people were always mixing up Drew Carstens of Augie's last name with Luke Kasten of IWU's? So you'd get odd combinations from all sorts of posters like "Drew Kastens"? Well, as turns out, the NCAA is confused too.

Final Four MVP team from 2001 as per the Media guide for the 2007 Final Four:

"Luke Casten, Illinois Wesleyan."

I noticed this last year in the guide that the fans could buy down in Salem, but it's funnier to see it in the media guide a year later after so many IWU fans must have bought that guide and browsed it for IWU info... I can't believe that someone hasn't told them to fix it some time in the last six years! 

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, the conference office people are the first ones to look at the papers, however they are instructed to forward anything questionable to the next level.

No such instructions are indicated in the bylaws of any of the NCAA's three divisions. On the contrary, all three sets of bylaws explicitly state that the conference in question is the decision-making body in hardship waiver cases, and that the CSAR is there strictly for appeals purposes.

The Sneed Deedrick situation intrigues me. If true, it must be a DIII rule that I am not aware of. Again, if true, this would mean that a SA that has applied for a medical hardship year at DI or DII and been denied because they played in one game more than allowed could get an entire extra year of eligibility by transferrring to DIII. Doesn't make sense.

The Deaderick case is as I related. He applied for the medical redshirt a year after he'd first enrolled at NPU, not when he was at DePaul.

[knarocky22]

All-Region teams are up on d3hoops.com.  For the second year in a row, a CCIW player was named Midwest Region Player of the year.  That player is Wheaton's sophomore guard, Kent Raymond.  Zach Freeman also on the first team, with Daniel Walton on the 2nd team and Drew Wessels and Brent Ruch on the 3rd team.  Congrats to all of those guys for making the all-region teams.

[oldtimer]

Greg,  I learned a long time ago that you never question Joe Hakes.  Hub did transfer to NP from SIU not SIU-Edwardsville.  Tracy Nicholson transferred to NP from SIU-Edwardsville.  As Joe would attest, Hub transferring to NP was "the better plan".

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Greg,  I learned a long time ago that you never question Joe Hakes.  Hub did transfer to NP from SIU not SIU-Edwardsville.  Tracy Nicholson transferred to NP from SIU-Edwardsville.  As Joe would attest, Hub transferring to NP was "the better plan".

Well....

who'd a thought - a CCIW coach actually reading this blog - thanks .....

MW 70:3

[joehakes]

The "better plan" reference will be lost on most people.  In '85, ESPN did a delayed broadcast of the championship game from Calvin.  North Park defeated Potsdam State in a really good basketball game to win the title.

After the game the ESPN crew interviewed Bosko (who was holding my then 5 year old daughter in his arms) and then Hubbard.  Hubbard was the MVP of the Final Four as Bosko had predicted on the way up to Michigan.  The interviewer asked Hubbard to comment on Roosevelt Bullock who was Potsdam's All-American and the guy that Hubbard had really shut down during the game.  Hub looks confused as he tried to remember who this Bullock guy was.  He knew that he had heard the name before but since Hub didn't remember all the names of the guys on his own team, it was unlikely that he would know who Bullock was.  "He could shoot, he couldn't shoot, he didn't want to shoot when the pressure was on," was his reponse.  Somehow Hub had covered all the bases on whoever the heck this Bullock guy was.  The interviewer's eyes crossed and he was trying to think of another question.

He asked Hubbard about transferring to North Park from SIU, and Hub said, "I was playing much there, and Justyne who has been my friend all my life, said he needed some help up here and that was the better plan."

It was one of the funniest interviews in the history of televised sports, but only if you knew Hubbard.  He was absolutely in the dark about the guy that the ESPN people had really featured throughout the game.  The interviewer wrapped it up after that and they went back to crowd shots of the NP fans in their blue and gold face paintings.  I believe that Greg Sager was somewhere on that broadcast.  I was sitting behind the bench with a clipboard and it is amazing how dark my hair used to be.

We still have that tape (yes, tape!) and pull it out to view every once in a while.  That 5 year old daughter is now a 27 year old mother of a 2 year old, so time does march on.

[79jaybird]

The NCAA Tournament games continue, and this is definitely one of my favorite sporting events.  Hopefully we see many upsets and "no-name" schools pull off the David vs. Goliath.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all this weekend.  Erin Go Braugh  (which is probably all the Irish I know) 

[titan2000]

The CCIW is thinking about muscling up and merging with the MWC to make it a power conference.

I think this makes sense, with Grinnell going to the Iowa Conference and Beloit going to the conference with MSOE and Lakeland.

[markerickson]

Tape, you have a stinkin' tape!?  Assistant coach Mark Pytel gave me a tape of the championship game, my senior year, the year in which I lived across the hall from roommates Monegain and Hubbard.  When Hub learned well into the spring term that I had the tape, he asked if he could have it.  How could I resist, especially when he had a recruit with him.  (Hub had a VHS player in his room and I did not)

As my 20 yr reunion approached, I asked the NCAA if I could obtain and reproduce the championship game to distribute to alum - even if I didn't make a profit.  I got snubbed.

I love 1985 for many reasons.  Hub had hops.  He and I and a couple others are throwing the frisbee in the park that now holds the NPU soccer and track facilities.  I throw one high to Hub...he's standing...and his verticality goes so so high that the neighborhood kids ask me to recreate the throw and catch.  We do this several times.

Back to the championship.  I've got a most excellent photo of Mongain cutting down the net, smiling at a raised Hub, with Laz and Ron's "brother", Johnny K, looking at the Proviso bros.

[markerickson]

The reference to Tracy Nicholson, who had one heckuva windmill dunk going across the lane from left to right, reminded me that I did not see a single dunk by a NPU player in the 4-5 games I attended this year.  If someone from the program is reading this post, Jay Alexander has to get closer to the basket in 07-08.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, I always try to learn something new every day ... but I guess that today I learned something old. I'd always thought that Hubs was a refugee from SIUE, but I guess that we can now add him to the list of D1 transfers who made the All-CCIW team -- and he joins Fred Evans and Bill Braksick on the D1-to-All-CCIW-first-teamer list as well.

For that matter, I didn't know that Tracy Nicholson was a transfer from SIUE. I had thought that he came to NPC from Kankakee Community College.

I suppose that tomorrow someone will inform me that St. Patrick wasn't actually an Irishman, but was rather a Romanized Briton instead.

It was one of the funniest interviews in the history of televised sports, but only if you knew Hubbard.  He was absolutely in the dark about the guy that the ESPN people had really featured throughout the game.  The interviewer wrapped it up after that and they went back to crowd shots of the NP fans in their blue and gold face paintings.  I believe that Greg Sager was somewhere on that broadcast.  I was sitting behind the bench with a clipboard and it is amazing how dark my hair used to be.

I used to have a tape of the '85 championship game broadcast as well, and Hubbard's interview, including his fractured take on Pony Bullock and his "better plan" reference, was one of the highlights. It was absolutely hilarious. Hubs was one of the most gregarious and likeable Vikings I've ever known, but as Joe indicated he had a sievelike memory when it came to names. He used to call me "Yell Guy", which was probably because it was a heckuva lot easier for him than trying to remember my actual name.

He played for years on the traveling Marathon Oil squad that used to scrimmage various college teams, and about seven or eight years after the '85 championship season he played with them against North Park when Marathon Oil visited the crackerbox for a preseason scrimmage. I could tell by the big smile on his face when I went up to him afterwards to shake his hand that he remembered me -- but I knew better than to expect him to remember my name.

Incidentally, while I was visible in the '85 ESPN championship game telecast -- you can spot me several times in the crowd shots on the infamous '87 Grobstein and Bradburd championship game tape as well -- I wasn't one of the face-painters that Joe mentioned. I've never quite understood the appeal of face paint. However, my younger brother, who was an NPC senior in 1985, was one of the guys who could be seen on the telecast with his mug decked out in blue and gold.

[robberki]

I like the 1980 broadcast with a young Dickie V doing the call and interviews after the game....cool beans.

[Jim Matson]

CCIW Watcher, that would be a certain #4 named Ryan Knuppel and that particular 3 point shot to win the game, is one of my single-most memorable moments at Elmhurst.

Hiker Jim and I were at that 2001 Elmhurst tourney game against Wash U, and I would imagine that each of us celebrated more when Ryan hit that shot than we have ever celebrated for a CCIW team other than our respective alma maters. All the more so because that Bears team led by Chris Jeffries and Chris Alexander was pretty darn good.

One of the few clear memories I have of an event at the Elmhurst College campus.  And probably the most interesting Tourney year for me.  Greg, remember watching the Chicago game with the President of Sports Illustrated?  And who can forget Pistol Pete?