MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU plays its first of two scrimmages today.  The Titans will host NAIA St. Francis at the Shirk Center at 3:00pm. 

From what I have gathered, at this extremely early stage there are four favorites to start...

G Travis Rosenkranz, 6-0 So
G Sean Johnson, 6-1 So
G/F ?
F Duncan Lawson, 6-7 So
F Doug Sexauer, 6-7 So


Duncan Lawson appears to be the benefeciary of Brett Chamernik's injury so far, but I don't think much can be read into that at this point...it's too early. 

As I see it, Ron Rose's biggest decision is going to be what to do with that third perimeter spot.  6-0 Rosenkranz and 6-1 Johnson are locks to start for the Titans...and they should be.  Last year 5-10 Sean Dwyer started alongside these two during the conference season, giving the Titans a 3-guard look.  Dwyer is a terrific perimeter defender and he brings a lot of important intangibles to the floor, including leadership.  On the negative side, starting 5-10. 6-0, and 6-1 creates a tiny perimeter trio.  Seems that the decision will come down to starting Dwyer again or picking one of the top three traditional wings - 6-4 sophomore Matt Schick, 6-5 freshman Jordan Zimmer, or 6-6 freshman John Koschnitzky.   

[petemcb]

IWU plays its first of two scrimmages today.  The Titans will host NAIA St. Francis at the Shirk Center at 3:00pm. 

From what I have gathered, at this extremely early stage there are four favorites to start...

G Travis Rosenkranz, 6-0 So
G Sean Johnson, 6-1 So
G/F ?
F Duncan Lawson, 6-7 So
F Doug Sexauer, 6-7 So


Duncan Lawson appears to be the benefeciary of Brett Chamernik's injury so far, but I don't think much can be read into that at this point...it's too early. 

As I see it, Ron Rose's biggest decision is going to be what to do with that third perimeter spot.  6-0 Rosenkranz and 6-1 Johnson are locks to start for the Titans...and they should be.  Last year 5-10 Sean Dwyer started alongside these two during the conference season, giving the Titans a 3-guard look.  Dwyer is a terrific perimeter defender and he brings a lot of important intangibles to the floor, including leadership.  On the negative side, starting 5-10. 6-0, and 6-1 creates a tiny perimeter trio.  Seems that the decision will come down to starting Dwyer again or picking one of the top three traditional wings - 6-4 sophomore Matt Schick, 6-5 freshman Jordan Zimmer, or 6-6 freshman John Koschnitzky.   

Q, Dwyer's leadership qualities were very evident during his high school career at Hersey as well.  Is there another leader on the floor when he's not out there, and who would that be?  With that young a lineup, I would think Dwyer's leadership might hold more value than additional inches.  Who is the next leader on the floor when Dwyer isn't in there?  Is it Rosenkranz?

[Titan Q]

IWU plays its first of two scrimmages today.  The Titans will host NAIA St. Francis at the Shirk Center at 3:00pm. 

From what I have gathered, at this extremely early stage there are four favorites to start...

G Travis Rosenkranz, 6-0 So
G Sean Johnson, 6-1 So
G/F ?
F Duncan Lawson, 6-7 So
F Doug Sexauer, 6-7 So


Duncan Lawson appears to be the benefeciary of Brett Chamernik's injury so far, but I don't think much can be read into that at this point...it's too early. 

As I see it, Ron Rose's biggest decision is going to be what to do with that third perimeter spot.  6-0 Rosenkranz and 6-1 Johnson are locks to start for the Titans...and they should be.  Last year 5-10 Sean Dwyer started alongside these two during the conference season, giving the Titans a 3-guard look.  Dwyer is a terrific perimeter defender and he brings a lot of important intangibles to the floor, including leadership.  On the negative side, starting 5-10. 6-0, and 6-1 creates a tiny perimeter trio.  Seems that the decision will come down to starting Dwyer again or picking one of the top three traditional wings - 6-4 sophomore Matt Schick, 6-5 freshman Jordan Zimmer, or 6-6 freshman John Koschnitzky.   

Q, Dwyer's leadership qualities were very evident during his high school career at Hersey as well.  Is there another leader on the floor when he's not out there, and who would that be?  With that young a lineup, I would think Dwyer's leadership might hold more value than additional inches.  Who is the next leader on the floor when Dwyer isn't in there?  Is it Rosenkranz?

I'm a huge Sean Dwyer fan - I think everyone associated with the Titans is.  He is simply a quality young man in every regard.  Again, the challenge in starting him is that it pushes 6-1 Sean Johnson to the 3 and that creates a tough matchup when facing a big wing, like 6-4 Ryan Burks or 6-5 Nick Williams.

From my travels to the Final Four, I can tell you that most of the teams that get to Salem (not all) have size at the 3.  Finding that big, talented wing seems to be one of the things that separates the good D3 teams from the great ones.  For example, here are the small forwards from the 4 teams in Salem last year:

Wash U - Tyler Nading, 6-7
Hope - Jesse Reimenk, 6-4/230
Amherst - Brandon Jones, 6-7
Ursinus - John Noonan, 6-5

And from the last 5 national champions:

Wash U ('08) - Tyler Nading, 6-7
Amherst ('07) - Brian Baskauskas, 6-6
VA Wesleyan ('06) - Ton Ton Balenga, 6-2*
UW-Stevens Point ('04, '05) - Nick Bennett, 6-5

(VA Wesleyan did start 3 traditional "guards"...and defeated the IWU team with 6-6 Amelianovich at the 3.)

IWU's small forward spot on its 4 Final Four teams:

2006 - Keelan Amelianovich, 6-6
2001 - John Camardella, 6-4
1996 & 97 - Bryan Crabtree, 6-7


I am certainly not saying a team can't be very good with a 3 guard starting lineup, but when the tallest of those 3 guards is 6-1, that is a really big challenge.  And it does seem to me that most of the great D3 teams I have seen have had a talented, big small forward.

As far as other leadership, Sean Johnson and Travis Rosenkranz are both strong leaders and will continue to develop in that role this season.  It's safe to say Johnson, Rosenkranz, and Dwyer will all be on the floor a lot for the Titans this season.

[Titan Q]

When did Elmhurst sneak 6-8 Shaun Ratay on the roster??  Ratay is a very good CCIW recruit.  Last year IWU was on him but he chose to walk-on at D1 Northern Illinois as a football player (QB).  I know Coach Rose was pretty high on him as a solid big guy recruit.  I had not heard Ratay's name associated with Elmhurst until I just pulled up the Bluejay's roster for this crazy little exercise.

Elmhurst does a great job finding quality CCIW players.

Forgot that Ratay started the current school year on the football roster at Illinois State (after transferring from NIU)...

http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011508aaa.html

http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/ratay_shaun00.html


This is a big for Elmhurst.

[dansand]

At Augie, Pelton had a nice season. However, I was a little surprised to see him named all-conference. With Delp's return, along with Washington and Wessels, will he even play much this season??

Pelton led Augie in minutes played last year and his playing time won't decrease because of Delp's return. Delp, Wessels and Washington all play off the ball while Pelton plays the point. His minutes could decrease slightly, I suppose, depending on how well Croegaert and/or DeSimone progress.

When did Elmhurst sneak 6-8 Shaun Ratay on the roster??  Ratay is a very good CCIW recruit.  Last year IWU was on him but he chose to walk-on at D1 Northern Illinois as a football player (QB).  I know Coach Rose was pretty high on him as a solid big guy recruit.  I had not heard Ratay's name associated with Elmhurst until I just pulled up the Bluejay's roster for this crazy little exercise.

Elmhurst does a great job finding quality CCIW players.

Forgot that Ratay started the current school year on the football roster at Illinois State (after transferring from NIU)...

http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011508aaa.html

http://goredbirds.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/ratay_shaun00.html


This is a big for Elmhurst.

He's also on Elmhurst's football roster (at least I'm assuming it's the same guy, although his name is spelled "Rattay"). He's listed as a quarteback, but has apparently moved to end because he has 10 receptions on the year. Also, he's listed as a junior on the football roster and a freshman on the basketball roster...This guy's as mysterious as Moe Berg.

[Titan Q]

At Augie, Pelton had a nice season. However, I was a little surprised to see him named all-conference. With Delp's return, along with Washington and Wessels, will he even play much this season??

Pelton led Augie in minutes played last year and his playing time won't decrease because of Delp's return. Delp, Wessels and Washington all play off the ball while Pelton plays the point. His minutes could decrease slightly, I suppose, depending on how well Croegaert and/or DeSimone progress.

Augie's rotation late in the season last year was something along the lines of:

1 - Matt Pelton (So.), 30 min.
2 - Alex Washington (Jr.), 25 min
3 - Brett Wessels (Jr.), 30 min
4 - Chandor Collins (Jr.), 25 min
5 - Dain Swetalla (Sr.), 25 min

Bench:

1 - Drew Croegaert (So.), 10 min.
2/3 - Brian Larson (So.), 15 min., 15 Mike Avallone (Fr.), 10 min,
4/5 - Jeff Becker (Jr.), 8 min., Dan Rukavina (Sr.) 8 min, Justin Bertrand (Jr.) 8 min, Oliver Rorer (Sr.), 6

(Graduated players in red.)

That should add up to 40 minutes per spot...I hope. 

Unless Coach G plans to play Delp at the point some (where I think he would be totally out of position), I don't see how his return will impact Matt Pelton at all.  And with Brian DeSimone in the mix now, I gotta believe they'll get him in PG rotation this year.

Delp's '08-09 minutes will have to come from some combination of those that were going to Alex Washington, Brett Wessels, Brian Larson, and Mike Avallone (the 2/3 rotation).  If Delp is going to be a starter, I assume Alex Washington is the odd man out of the starting 5.

By the way, what is the plan at the other post spot (Swetalla's minutes)?  Will Justin Bertrand start?  And who will the new post reserves be?

[AndOne]

I know Ratay attended NIU last year and was part of their football program. I think he was a walk on who redshirted. He played QB at Geneva, and was getting some DI looks for football, but suffered a knee injury early in his senior year. This caused some of the major DIs to back off him. When basketball started that year, he was wearing a fairly substantial brace on his knee (left, I believe) and was very noticeably a good step slower and less mobile, especially side to side, than he had been his junior year. He was still getting lots of looks by DIII teams for basketball at the beginning of his senior year, but I think a lot of DIII basketball coaches backed off him as the season progressed and he didn't show as much as he had junior year. Also, word came out that he was probably going to concentrate on football in college if his knee recovered sufficiently.

Evidently, he went to NIU to pay FB last year, then began this year at ISU, and transferred to Elmhurst after this year began. If thats correct, EC is then his 3rd school in less than 1 1/2 yrs. Apparently, his knee has recovered enough to allow him to play football at EC. As far as basketball, I don't think he has played since HS. He was very good in basketball as a HS junior, and a lot of teams had him high on their recruiting list for senior year. Apparently EC stayed on him during his time at NIU and/or ISU. Guess we'll see to what level he has returned. I seem to remember his being listed at 6'8" when he was at Geneva. Maybe he shrunk an inch--old age, I guess.   

[Titan Q]

I know Ratay attended NIU last year and was part of their football program. I think he was a walk on who redshirted. He played QB at Geneva, and was getting some DI looks for football, but suffered a knee injury early in his senior year. This caused some of the major DIs to back off him. When basketball started that year, he was wearing a fairly substantial brace on his knee (left, I believe) and was very noticeably a good step slower and less mobile, especially side to side, than he had been his junior year. He was still getting lots of looks by DIII teams for basketball at the beginning of his senior year, but I think a lot of DIII basketball coaches backed off him as the season progressed and he didn't show as much as he had junior year. Also, word came out that he was probably going to concentrate on football in college if his knee recovered sufficiently.

Evidently, he went to NIU to pay FB last year, then began this year at ISU, and transferred to Elmhurst after this year began. If thats correct, EC is then his 3rd school in less than 1 1/2 yrs. Apparently, his knee has recovered enough to allow him to play football at EC. As far as basketball, I don't think he has played since HS. He was very good in basketball as a HS junior, and a lot of teams had him high on their recruiting list for senior year. Apparently EC stayed on him during his time at NIU and/or ISU. Guess we'll see to what level he has returned. I seem to remember his being listed at 6'8" when he was at Geneva. Maybe he shrunk an inch--old age, I guess.   

He is listed at 6-8/230 on the basketball roster.

http://athletics.elmhurst.edu/mbasketball/roster

[AndOne]

Might we see Collins effectively manning the 5 spot, and Bertrand taking over at the 4 this year for Augie?

[AndOne]

I know Ratay attended NIU last year and was part of their football program. I think he was a walk on who redshirted. He played QB at Geneva, and was getting some DI looks for football, but suffered a knee injury early in his senior year. This caused some of the major DIs to back off him. When basketball started that year, he was wearing a fairly substantial brace on his knee (left, I believe) and was very noticeably a good step slower and less mobile, especially side to side, than he had been his junior year. He was still getting lots of looks by DIII teams for basketball at the beginning of his senior year, but I think a lot of DIII basketball coaches backed off him as the season progressed and he didn't show as much as he had junior year. Also, word came out that he was probably going to concentrate on football in college if his knee recovered sufficiently.

Evidently, he went to NIU to pay FB last year, then began this year at ISU, and transferred to Elmhurst after this year began. If thats correct, EC is then his 3rd school in less than 1 1/2 yrs. Apparently, his knee has recovered enough to allow him to play football at EC. As far as basketball, I don't think he has played since HS. He was very good in basketball as a HS junior, and a lot of teams had him high on their recruiting list for senior year. Apparently EC stayed on him during his time at NIU and/or ISU. Guess we'll see to what level he has returned. I seem to remember his being listed at 6'8" when he was at Geneva. Maybe he shrunk an inch--old age, I guess.   

He is listed at 6-8/230 on the basketball roster.

http://athletics.elmhurst.edu/mbasketball/roster

And at "only" 6'7" on the football roster!   

[Titan Q]

Might we see Collins effectively manning the 5 spot, and Bertrand taking over at the 4 this year for Augie?

Seems that is probable.  Collins and Bertrand might be the most athletic 4/5 combo in NCAA Division III this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I know Ratay attended NIU last year and was part of their football program. I think he was a walk on who redshirted. He played QB at Geneva, and was getting some DI looks for football, but suffered a knee injury early in his senior year. This caused some of the major DIs to back off him. When basketball started that year, he was wearing a fairly substantial brace on his knee (left, I believe) and was very noticeably a good step slower and less mobile, especially side to side, than he had been his junior year. He was still getting lots of looks by DIII teams for basketball at the beginning of his senior year, but I think a lot of DIII basketball coaches backed off him as the season progressed and he didn't show as much as he had junior year. Also, word came out that he was probably going to concentrate on football in college if his knee recovered sufficiently.

Evidently, he went to NIU to pay FB last year, then began this year at ISU, and transferred to Elmhurst after this year began. If thats correct, EC is then his 3rd school in less than 1 1/2 yrs. Apparently, his knee has recovered enough to allow him to play football at EC. As far as basketball, I don't think he has played since HS. He was very good in basketball as a HS junior, and a lot of teams had him high on their recruiting list for senior year. Apparently EC stayed on him during his time at NIU and/or ISU. Guess we'll see to what level he has returned. I seem to remember his being listed at 6'8" when he was at Geneva. Maybe he shrunk an inch--old age, I guess.   

He is listed at 6-8/230 on the basketball roster.

http://athletics.elmhurst.edu/mbasketball/roster

And at "only" 6'7" on the football roster!   

Perhaps the helmet and shoulder pads compress his spine?!

[John Gleich]

...
I am certainly not saying a team can't be very good with a 3 guard starting lineup, but when the tallest of those 3 guards is 6-1, that is a really big challenge.  And it does seem to me that most of the great D3 teams I have seen have had a talented, big small forward.

This is really a great point.  Having size at the 3 gives a team a few dimensions that not having size doesn't.  First off, bigger 3's can get shots off with smaller defenders more in their face.  Nick Bennett hit two 3's in 04 that a smaller guard wouldn't have been able to hit... one with 9 seconds to go to force OT against Lawrence, and one with about 2 mins to go against Williams in the championship.  Those two were do-or-die shots and just two in a season full of huge shots he made, but had he not been a few inches taller, not only may he not have gotten THOSE shots, there are plenty along the way that he may not have been comfortable to take either.

Even more than offensively, though, getting extra rebounding from the 3 spot due to his extra size and having extra length defensively (even, potentially, at the expense of a little speed) certainly has credence.  One of my favorite quotes was made after our championship in 05, when Mike Neer from Rochester described our zone as the "Pterodactyl arms" zone because we had 4 guys out on the floor who were 6'5" or taller and LONG.

By the way Q, I like the pick of Platteville as tops in the WIAC.  Though lots of teams have lots back, the Pioneers may have all the tools to make the farthest run in the NCAA tournament.  After seeing them wipe the floor with UWSP in the last regular season game of the year, I was worried going into the WIAC tourney, but they caught the bad end of the upset bug... got nipped by UWEC, and they'd lost to EC and Superior during the regular season too.  If they can avoid the upset, I think they'll be in a good spot come the NCAA tournament.

... but that's a LONG way away, and it's fairly certain that the top 8 preseason teams won't be the top 8 after the regular season is over.  The CCIW and WIAC teams have a number of games with other top 25 teams in their own conferences, plus tough non-con games too.  Wash U has a tough non-con sched with Augie and IWU, plus the grueling UAA sched.  And there always seems to be a team from the East or Northeast who rises to the top... perhaps due to the fact that they're playing teams that aren't great, or perhaps because they're that good...  It'll be interesting to see if anyone who isn't ranked from the upper midwest shines through...  It'll be tough, because 12 out of the top 25 teams are from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota, with another two NWC teams, two MIAC teams, and one IIAC team rec'ing votes.

St. Thomas and Buena Vista look to have the easiest schedules of the top ranked teams... but that doesn't mean that they'll be easy, just not as tough as the others.

I've moved back to the Chicagoland area... can't wait to see some CCIW games this year!

[Titan Q]

Talked to someone who attended the IWU/St. Francis scrimmage today in Bloomington.  Sounds like it was fairly sloppy and that the Titans did not look real sharp.  IWU won the 1st 20 and USF won the 2nd (both close I believe) - keep in mind, St. Francis is not a very good NAIA team.  The Titans played 15 guys in the two 20-minute "varsity" periods and used a bunch of different combinations.  The guys expected to be the "regulars" played maybe 20 minutes total.  Leading scorers were Sean Johnson (14), Edmond O'Callaghan (10), Jordan Zimmer (9), Travis Rosenkranz (9), and Doug Sexauer, 8. 

IWU had 6 total practices coming into today, so I wasn't expecting it to be pretty...and sounds like it wasn't.

I'm not sure when and where the next scrimmage is - will post before that happens for anyone interested.  (MacMurray rings a bell...I know they came up to IWU last year after the Titans went to St. Francis.)

[Titan Q]

I should also add, not much could be made of the starting lineups for the two varsity periods - two different combinations thrown out there to look at various things.  (For example, the game starters were: Rosenkranz, Morris, Zimmer, Lawson, O'Callaghan...I know that is not the "first 5" at this point.)

The JV starters were:

G Eliud Gonzalez, 5-9/159 Fr.
G Steve Rudnicki, 6-3/160 Fr.
F Josh Sutton, 6-5/215 So.
F Dexter Walker, 6-5/220 Fr.
C Ryan Connolly, 6-9/290 Fr.

Seems like that could be IWU's real JV starting lineup when the season starts.  We'll see.

Some good size in the JV frontcourt!