MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[Gregory Sager]

There was a lot of talk of how well Dominican's guys played in the summer leagues this year.  Any insight as to how this has translated into their preparation for the upcoming season?

Dominican lost only one game in their division in the very-tough Deerfield summer league this year, tying North Park for the league title. Among Dominican's victims was Elmhurst, which finished second in the CCIW last season and comes into this season picked second in the CCIW coaches preseason poll and ranked 18th in the d3hoops.com national preseason poll. Most of the good D3 teams from Illinois and Wisconsin (WIAC teams excepted) participate in the Deerfield league, and there's a fair number of D2 players sprinkled among various teams as well (Lewis fielded a team, f'rinstance). It's definitely the best summer league in the region as far as I know among leagues that are frequented by D3 teams.

I'm getting my first look at Dominican tomorrow as the Stars host a scrimmage against North Park. I'll also get a chance to see Benedictine next week as Keith Bunkenburg's crew visits North Park for NPU's second scrimmage. It's hard to speculate based upon limited evidence, but I think that any of you NAthCon types who don't have Dominican in your preseason top three are shortchanging the Stars.

[ausid]

Aurora lost at Northern Illinois 87-70 this evening in the exhibition game.

[cardinalfanrochelle]

First half Aurora had up to a 4 point lead, I thought they could pull it off. There were two really awesome dunks by L.W. 2nd half different story, I don't know how to say this without sounding hard on AU but guys you had them and let it slip away. After watching you guys last year don't know what to say. I posted my picks for conference and All-Conference but left off ROY after tonight  Skyler Ormsbee looks like a good canidate.

[MarsBlackmon]

WLC had their first scrimmage of the year today against UW-Oshkosh.  Would've attended, but was out of town for the weekend.  When I get some details I'll let everyone know how that went.

[AndOne]

A note on DOMINICAN from a regular poster in the CCIW room:

Saw Dominican play in the Deerfield summer league tonight. Great athleticism, speed, and especially jumping ability. They have several guys who can really sky. Additionally,  they appear to be very good shooters. I don't know how well they shot last year, but I bet they improve their FG% this season, no matter what they shot last year. They must have hit 75 % of their shots in the 1st half tonight. Fell off some in the 2nd half, but still impressive overall. Many of their shots fell due to great ball movement. They often passed up a good shot for a better shot. They wound up losing to North central by one on a last second shot. The loss was due mostly to getting away from the ball movement and softer defense in the 2nd half. Also, North Central probably doubled its FG% in the 2nd half.

As far as NAC conference play this year-----if your team doesn't get back on defense, or can't rebound, you are gonna be in trouble. This is a team that will run fast, jump high, and pass well. If they continue to hit their shots, and tighten up their defense, particularly on the perimeter, they could very well be in the hunt for the conference championship.

There was a lot of talk of how well Dominican's guys played in the summer leagues this year.  Any insight as to how this has translated into their preparation for the upcoming season?

Dominican lost only one game in their division in the very-tough Deerfield summer league this year, tying North Park for the league title. Among Dominican's victims was Elmhurst, which finished second in the CCIW last season and comes into this season picked second in the CCIW coaches preseason poll and ranked 18th in the d3hoops.com national preseason poll. Most of the good D3 teams from Illinois and Wisconsin (WIAC teams excepted) participate in the Deerfield league, and there's a fair number of D2 players sprinkled among various teams as well (Lewis fielded a team, f'rinstance). It's definitely the best summer league in the region as far as I know among leagues that are frequented by D3 teams.

I'm getting my first look at Dominican tomorrow as the Stars host a scrimmage against North Park. I'll also get a chance to see Benedictine next week as Keith Bunkenburg's crew visits North Park for NPU's second scrimmage. It's hard to speculate based upon limited evidence, but I think that any of you NAthCon types who don't have Dominican in your preseason top three are shortchanging the Stars.

Aurora seems to be the odds on favorite to win the league title this season, However, based on seeing the Aurora vs Northern Illinois scrimmage at NIU Fri night, I'd say that if Dominican can play tight perimeter defense on Trudo and Magee, they have a very good chance to claim the championship. Welton is probably going to get his on most nights. However, a key to beating Aurora is to play tight in your face perimeter defense and contest the boatload of threes that will be launched by Trudo, Magee, and also Lambert.

[keith45]

Keep in mind that AU played without a starting post player (Mike Leonard, out till 2nd semester) and another big transfer (6-7 KeJuan McGraw) who is playing football now..and the fact that the transfer PG Starwood had a bad shooting night..AU will be more than just a 3 point shooting team, they'll have a bit of balance and still play hawking aggressive defense....I pick Edgewood above Dominican in the battle for #2, as Dominican tries to play AU's game and can't do it agains them..Edgewood plays their own style which was able to be successsfull 1 out of 3 times last year.

[Gregory Sager]

Why is Mike Leonard out until second semester?

[MarsBlackmon]

I saw the box score for the edgewood-wisconsin game. looks like demarco and averkamp did a good job of getting some shots.  didn't shoot very well, but still takes talent to get that many shots against that good of competition.  I also saw that averkamp played 30 minutes. that means he's probably in pretty good shape this year, which has been a bit of a concern throughout his career. saw a pic from the game on their website and it looks like he has slimmed down a bit.

Also i said i would have some info on the wlc oshkosh scrimmage. apparently they played 6 sessions, not sure how long each one was.  wlc was close in every one, losing one on a last second shot.  one of my sources told me they were a bit slow in their rotation on defense which costed them, but that will come as the year progresses. I also heard that marcus zondag looked very good in the scrimmage.  He should make a huge impact for the warriors this year.

again with both of these posts, i was not present at either of them so my opinion is based only on what i have heard.

[Just Bill]

2007-08 Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll

1. Aurora University (10), 141
2. Edgewood College (2), 130
3. Dominican University, 115
4. MSOE, 95
5. Lakeland College, 87
    Wisconsin Lutheran College, 87
7. Benedictine University, 78
8. Marian College, 71
9. Concordia University Wisconsin, 57
10. Concordia University Chicago, 38
11. Rockford College, 24
12. Maranatha Baptist Bible College, 13

[cardinalfanrochelle]

I had the chance to watch Rockford play North Central last night, and for the Regents it could be a long season. They lack height to start with but they don't quit. It seems their rising star is a sophomore from Stillman Valley #25 Davis. He runs the floor well and is a good all around player. #'s 10,21,14 need to learn about team work and defense, not that they are bad players but need more time together to build chemistry or trust. You could see frustration at times and it affected their play with turnovers like traveling , need to play smarter.

[diego]

I had a chance to see Rockford play as well.  It looks as if they need more time to gel together.  This is a team returning 1 starter so they may start slow, but should get better later on.  They obviously are not at the point they were a few years ago.  They will always be a scrappy team though. 

[cardinalpride]

I had the chance to watch Rockford play North Central last night, and for the Regents it could be a long season. They lack height to start with but they don't quit. It seems their rising star is a sophomore from Stillman Valley #25 Davis. He runs the floor well and is a good all around player. #'s 10,21,14 need to learn about team work and defense, not that they are bad players but need more time together to build chemistry or trust. You could see frustration at times and it affected their play with turnovers like traveling , need to play smarter.

I had a chance to see Rockford play as well.  It looks as if they need more time to gel together.  This is a team returning 1 starter so they may start slow, but should get better later on.  They obviously are not at the point they were a few years ago.  They will always be a scrappy team though. 

Did Rockford appear to be better than they were a year ago?

[cardinalfanrochelle]

cardinalpride,
                       I only saw 2 games last year and they were against Lakeland the first was @ Rockford  score was Lakeland108 - Rockford 64 and the coach seemed to have his his face in his hands alot and they were physical then got dirty, then second game it was a little better Lakeland 90- Rockford 57. What I saw last week against North Central seemed like a whole different team they had 1 return player from last year. Really they played better than last year but they need a little work you could tell that from the Rockford bench

[diego]

I dont think Rockford will be any better in the first half of the season but I think the second half they might compete with teams.  It definitely is a rebuilding period going on at Rockford College.

[from downtown]

MSOE by 5 over North Park. Post more later.