MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwumichigander]

That's quite a schedule for IWU.  This incoming class had better be ready to contribute right away.

With that proposed schedule, they will have to.  That Albion tournament could be really tough as well. 

I like this schedule if for no other reason Mr. Ypsi and I will be able to see our Titans without driving six hours with an ovenight stay.  Albion less than 75 miles away.
This is a good non-conference schedule for the Titans.  It certainly is not the toughest non-conference schedule IWU has played.  It is a challenging one that a team needs to prepare for the CCIW.

[hopefan]

Titan Q  -  will look forward to hosting you down here in St Louis next season!!!!

[robertgoulet]

Not recruiting news, but I feel it's relevant...

Former North Central head coach Benjy Taylor has been chosen to take the head coach position at Chicago State.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2840606


Not really sure what to think about the hire, to be honest.

Not recruiting news, Robert. OLD news.   
And-----relevant to what?   
What to think about the hire---who knows---or cares?   

As several of his former players have said he could talk the talk, but couldn't walk the walk. He was & prob still is a great recruiter. He has a gift for gab with just enough BS mixed in. However, he spent more time screaming and stomping his foot than coaching. His substitutions of 2,3, or 4 players every 3 or 4 minutes prevented the development of a cohesive unit. I still remember a game in which a player had just hit 3 threes in a row only to be pulled by Benjy.
And, not that many of the CCIW referees are anything to shout about, but there wasn't much doubt that while he was at NCC, Benjy was the most hated coach by the vast majority of the refs.

Well, first off I apologize for not reading back far enough to see that this had already been discussed. I can't be on top of everything, it is the CCIW basketball offseason for me too, you know? :-)

Secondly, I played for him at NCC, so I know from experience what you speak of when you say he talked the talk but couldn't walk the walk. I feel that he will be a heck of a recruiter, but I really don't see that translating into W's at a program like Chicago State's. He was a good motivator, but his knowledge of X's and O's left a lot to be desired.

[diehardfan]

It certainly is not the toughest non-conference schedule IWU has played.  It is a challenging one that a team needs to prepare for the CCIW.

I agree... this is a great schedule. The Titans had a pretty good schedule for the Baby Titan year, and definitely benefited from it during the season. Since this year the team will probably basically be Baby Titan II, I'm sure this schedule will help them. Wash U is my landslide favorite to win it all this year so it will be a fantastic test.

In terms of the SCIAC games, Oxy and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps are generally definitely two of the better to play.

However, Oxy loses a whole bunch this year and will be quite young too. Connor Whitman is quite good and returns for his senior season, but if anyone needs any indication of how Oxy plays without their star big guy Sam Betty (who really should have been an AA IMHO), well, all you need to do is look to the first round of the playoffs this year where they got blown out by Mississippi College.  I think it will be a good bar for both programs (unless they both play badly, lol).

CMS wasn't bad this year, but they suffered a lot from the loss of their SCIAC POY, more than people were expecting. The won the conference in 05-06 but fell to 5th this year going just 7-7 in conference. This year they return everyone but one of their starters from the entire team and should have a shot at winning the title but they're extremely one dimensional (unless they get the best guard ever as a recruit or someone comes out of the woodwork) so I'd imagine that they don't have the inside track to the title.

I'm really not sure what will happen with the SCIAC this year, but it's nice that there is little chance that these teams will be bottom dwellers, if not the best competition in the entire world. The regionality of these games and the fact that they'll undoubtedly be worth a lot of QOWI points makes these definitely the very smart picks that I wish more people in this administrative would take advantage of (if not only for the fact that I would get to see good teams in this area )

One very nice thing about this trip to CA is that these four schools, like Wash U and Chicago, are several notches up the US News & World Report ratings from IWU... I can imagine that it would help a college, in some vague way, to be frequently associated with some of the best colleges in the nation as a "get your name out there" sorta exercise. I can't imagine that it was entirely intentional, but it's interesting in the same way that it's interesting that Wheaton travels to various areas of the country for basketball which helps the college stay in touch with alumni.

[hopefan]

Lee, I would also like to host you in St Louis for the big Matchup next season between IWU and Wash U -  Titan Q also invited....

[devildog29]

April, since I will be moving back to LA next month, I will be sure to have a nice, new Titan t-shirt for you to wear to the IWU-Oxy game.

[sac]

Albion didn't have a tournament at home last year, but 2 years ago it included UM-Dearborn (NAIA), DePauw and Ohio Northern.

If I had to guess you'll see an NAIA opponent for Albion with IWU takeing on a D3 from Indiana for potential in-region game purposes.   Such as Manchester, Wabash, DePauw.  etc.

[diehardfan]

April, since I will be moving back to LA next month, I will be sure to have a nice, new Titan t-shirt for you to wear to the IWU-Oxy game.

I guess I will have to try to be in Virginia again like the last time the Titans came to Cali.

Seriously though, speaking of IWU people coming to Cali.... If anyone would like some tour guide advice, I'd be happy to oblige when the time comes. And if a certain IWU couple from Michigan comes down to my area to do some wine tasting without telling me, I will be very miffed.

[Titan Q]

Titan Q  -  will look forward to hosting you down here in St Louis next season!!!!

Thanks, hopefan.

It seems like everytime IWU plays a regular season game at Wash U, the programs are in complete opposite positions.  Either IWU is loaded and highly ranked while the Bears are very young, or vice versa...

2005-06
http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2006/miwu6.htm

2003-04
http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/mbb2004/Miwu05.htm

[Titan Q]

Congratulations to former Titan Mark Aubry ('95) on his upcoming election into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame...

http://mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=296067

Mark was a heck of a high school athlete.  In the fall of 1990, he led his Seneca team to the Class 2A state title and a perfect 14-0 season as the quarterback.  In the winter, he averaged 27.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 5.5 apg, and 4.5 spg as a point-guard and led Seneca to the Class A state championship game, where they fell to Pittsfield.  Mark accepted a scholarship to Division I Montana State and then transferred to IWU midway through his sophomore year.

Making the Hall of Fame in such a tradition-rich state like Illinois is quite an honor.

[pylorus]

Also being honored at the IBCA banquet is Mark Aubry's high school basketball coach, Doug Evans. He also coached former Millikin standout Adam Provance and current Millikin player Robert Rexroade. 

[AndOne]

North Central has received commitments from 2 All Area Honorable Mention players:

1. Brian Evans--6'2"--PG--Glenbard North HS
2. Brett Hulett--6'2"--SG--Glenbard North HS

Evans directed the Panthers offense while averaging 10 ppg (3rd on the team). He has great court awareness and goes full out 100% of the time. He is both one of the best rebounding guards and one of the best on the ball defenders in the suburban area. He was also strongly considering Augustana.

Hulett led his team in scoring at 14 ppg. He can heat up quickly and score points in bunches, carrying his team at times. He shoots well both in spot up situations and off the dribble. His shooting would likely have been even better, but he played a good portion of the season with a sprained thumb on his shooting (R) hand which required a brace,  and also having a pin inserted in the little finger of his left hand which had to be taped to his 4th finger. He was also considering IWU & possibly a couple of schools in Wis.

Brian & Brett will make fine additions to the NC program.

[Titan Q]

Hulett led his team in scoring at 14 ppg. He can heat up quickly and score points in bunches, carrying his team at times. He shoots well both in spot up situations and off the dribble. His shooting would likely have been even better, but he played a good portion of the season with a sprained thumb on his shooting (R) hand which required a brace,  and also having a pin inserted in the little finger of his left hand which had to be taped to his 4th finger. He was also considering IWU & possibly a couple of schools in Wis.

AndOne, are you saying Hulett was considering attending IWU just as a student, or that IWU was recruiting him as a basketball player?

I've very familiar with the kids IWU has been recruiting this year and the complete list of 2-guards is:

Sean Johnson (Washington) - committed to IWU
Chris Stamas (Glenbrook North) - ??
Steve Luptak (Munster, IN) - accepted scholarship to D1 American U.

[AndOne]

I just heard he was "considering Wesleyan". It may have been just as a student, but that seems doubtful as I believe he did not consider not playing basketball. Perhaps he, at one point in the season, just wanted to see if IW had any interest in him. I'm not really sure--just reporting what I was told.
I did see him play 3-4 times this season including a game in which he scored 25, and another game in which his team defeated Duncan Lawson's team where he played well. So, I know he can contribute in the CCIW. There was discussion here recently about how well Avallone will contrbute in the conference. Having seen both play, I would say Hulett shoots at least as well if not better than Avallone.

Also, do you feel any of the incoming Titan freshmen guards will displace any of the returning guards either as a starter or a significant minutes player? What is Dwyer's status as far as rehab/recovery from his injury?

[Titan Q]

In terms of the incoming guards, I think Travis Rosenkranz will be a 4-year starter.  I am a huge Sean Dwyer fan - he is a good player and most importantly, a leader - and think he will be a big part of the next 3 IWU seasons, but Rosenkranz has a chance to be a "special player" as we say. 

Sean, actually, is still not healed from the first broken foot (the one suffered opening weekend at Whitewater).  He's had all kinds of trouble getting healthy and had to have another operation last week -- a bone graft where they took bone from his hip and put it in his foot.  I think the second broken foot is good.  I believe everyone expects Sean to be 100% and ready to go by the time practice starts.  He will certainly give Rosenkranz a run for his money.  Whoever loses that battle will be a terrific backup point-guard.

Assuming he recovers as expected from the pattelar tendonectomy on both knees, I think 6-3 Andrew Gilmore will start at the 2 for the Titans.  I think Gilmore is going to be a very good player if healthy. That was a serious condition though and a significant surgery.  An update I posted back on April 4...

http://iwuhoops.blogspot.com/2007/04/andrew-gilmore-on-mend.html 

Everything considered, here in late April my guess is that IWU's starting backcourt in 2007-08 will be:

PG Travis Rosenkranz (5-11 FR)
SG Andrew Gilmore (6-3 JR)