MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[RFMichigan]

An addition like Johnson to Benedictine could change the "power structure" of the NAC in the next few years, if . . .

[BadgerFan42]

The rumors are true, Luke Johnson is enrolled at BU, no word on eligibility though.  Assume he will play the second half of the season.  Reportedly was unhappy at Carthage and comes with the label of being a "bad teammate".  Either way should be interesting for BU, that would give them two legit 6'8 Forwards that could start (I see McGinty getting pushed out of the lineup with Johnsons arrival.)

Aurora v Lakeland in a couple of weeks is going to be interesting, might be a final of 125-120 in regulation.  I'm giving the Spartans the upper hand in that one.  They have a deep athletic team and they play hard at both ends of the floor. 

[Captain_Joe08]

I agree it will be interesting to see how Benedictine fares with Johnson (if he is eligible). Right now the Eagles have the work cut out for them being 1-6 in the conference 2.5 games out of fourth and 3-13 overall.

[Titan Q]

I don't think there are questions about Luke Johnson's eligibility are there?  He played for BU yesterday...

http://athletics.ben.edu/custompages/MEN'S%20BASKETBALL/2012-13/benumb16.htm

[AndOne]

The rumors are true, Luke Johnson is enrolled at BU, no word on eligibility though.  Assume he will play the second half of the season.  Reportedly was unhappy at Carthage and comes with the label of being a "bad teammate".  Either way should be interesting for BU, that would give them two legit 6'8 Forwards that could start (I see McGinty getting pushed out of the lineup with Johnsons arrival.)

Aurora v Lakeland in a couple of weeks is going to be interesting, might be a final of 125-120 in regulation.  I'm giving the Spartans the upper hand in that one.  They have a deep athletic team and they play hard at both ends of the floor

I agree it will be interesting to see how Benedictine fares with Johnson (if he is eligible). Right now the Eagles have the work cut out for them being 1-6 in the conference 2.5 games out of fourth and 3-13 overall.

I don't think there are questions about Luke Johnson's eligibility are there?  He played for BU yesterday...

An addition like Johnson to Benedictine could change the "power structure" of the NAC in the next few years, if . . .

* As TQ indicates, Johnson played yesterday, so any questions regarding any possible eligibility problems, are off the table.

* I have not heard anything from Carthage concerning Johnson being a "bad teammate." At 6'9" he does have a fondness for hoisting up shots from beyond the arc. This could potentially foster some questions/problems with members of the CC or BU guard corps.

* According to information emanating from the CC head coach, Johnson left Carthage basically because he feels he is too good for D3, and pictures himself both as a D1 level player currently, and a future NBA player.
Given this, its very curious how and why Johnson ended up at Benedictine. It was widely thought he would initially be transferring to at small D1 at the minimum, and even to a mid-major.

* Rather than Johnson changing the "power structure" of the NAC in the near future, the real question that appears more appropriate to ask is, "Just how long will Johnson" be at Benedictine?" BU has great facilities. And, AD Mark McHorney and coaches Bunkenburg and Janczak provide nice leadership and are good guys. But it seems unrealistic to think a guy who pictures himself as a current D1 and future NBA player, will spend more than the rest of this season at BU. If that is his intent, he would have been better served to stay at Carthage where he would face stronger competition to better prepare him for his journey to the NBA. 

[Titan Q]

* According to information emanating from the CC head coach, Johnson left Carthage basically because he feels he is too good for D3, and pictures himself both as a D1 level player currently, and a future NBA player.
Given this, its very curious how and why Johnson ended up at Benedictine. It was widely thought he would initially be transferring to at small D1 at the minimum, and even to a mid-major.

* Rather than Johnson changing the "power structure" of the NAC in the near future, the real question that appears more appropriate to ask is, "Just how long will Johnson" be at Benedictine?" BU has great facilities. And, AD Mark McHorney and coaches Bunkenburg and Janczak provide nice leadership and are good guys. But it seems unrealistic to think a guy who pictures himself as a current D1 and future NBA player, will spend more than the rest of this season at BU. If that is his intent, he would have been better served to stay at Carthage where he would face stronger competition to better prepare him for his journey to the NBA. 

As AndOne said, that stuff about D1 and the NBA all comes from this quote...

Here is an interesting side article from the Kenosha News today:

Luke Johnson leaves Carthage

Published: 1/5 11:10 p.m.
Updated: 1/5 11:11 p.m.

BY ANDREW HORSCHAK
ahorschak@kenoshanews.com

Luke Johnson, Carthage's leading scorer and rebounder, has left school and is no longer on the team.

The 6-foot-9 sophomore center, who missed three games recently due to back trouble, averaged 13.0 points and 6.6 rebounds in nine games.

As a freshman, Johnson averaged 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 24 games (22 starts). The Naperville, Ill., native also had a single-season school record 64 blocked shots.

"Luke Johnson is a talented basketball player like so many kids of today who lives in a different world," Djurickovic said. "Luke Johnson sees himself as an NBA player. He sees himself as a Division I player. He thinks this is his best way to achieve those goals."

To be fair to Luke Johnson, we don't really know if the kid thinks that way or not.  And based on how this has played out, I think we have reason to question the quote from coach Djurickovic, or wonder if he didn't quite mean it literally.  I mean, does a Division III player who thinks he's too good for Division III really transfer to another Division III school?

I think it would be unfair to pin that quote on Johnson.

[John Gleich]

Benedictine... the small D-I of D-III?   

[Titan Q]

"Benedictine -- the gateway to the NBA"

[BadgerFan42]

Being a teammate of a guy who thinks he is too good to be there sounds like a problem, not hard to believe him being a bad teammate after reading those quotes

[Titan Q]

Being a teammate of a guy who thinks he is too good to be there sounds like a problem, not hard to believe him being a bad teammate after reading those quotes

But I guess my point is that we don't know if he really thinks that (that he's too good to be there).   I don't think it's fair to the kid to take Bosko Djurickovic's quote as gospel and to assume that Johnson, 1) thinks he better than D3, and 2) is a bad teammate.

I think that's for people around Benedictine and the NathCon to sort out now that he's there.  In the absence of more information, I think the kid deserves a clean start.

[BadgerFan42]

Heard the rumblings of 'division' on that Carthage team after last season when Malcolm Kelly was playing.  Now that he's not there anymore it still comes back to Luke, I'm sure it's not coincidence, but Titan Q you are right, they're just rumors.  It'll be interesting to see if he can help BU turn it around this season, the 2-4 seeds in the south will be wide open.

[ExBBaller40]

Any word on Cashton Craig from Edgewood with an injury or something?...just saw the BenU box score and he didn't play in the game.

Speaks to how poorly my Eagles are playing that they can't beat a mediocre team on our home floor minus the other team's best player.

[BadgerFan42]

Craig has missed Edgewoods last three games...not good for Edgewood who is still in the race for the top 4 in the North

[AndOne]

I listened to the 1st half of the BU-EC game before having to leave for our gym at NCC, and the announcers said Craig was injured. The didn't elaborate on the nature of the alleged injury.

With regard to the talk about luke Johnson---There was a considerable buzz throughout the scouting/recruiting ranks during the season 2 years ago when Johnson was being recruited that D3 coaches were probably wasting their time looking at Johnson because of the high likelihood that he was going to a low to mid D1 or at least to a D2. Additionally, a [portion of that buzz did indeed include the fact that it was widely thought that Johnson considered D3 to be beneath his talent level. One of the schools I remember hearing about being interested was Nebraska. So, schools on that level  were considered the most likely landing spot. Thats why, when it was announced that he was going to Carthage there was a great deal of surprise and shock. Not only because it is a D3, but also, it was widely thought that if Johnson did pass up any/all of the D1 or D2 offers he was likely to get at least a few of, and attend a D3, that it would almost certainly be Wheaton, given his prepping at Wheaton Academy whose head coach is former Wheaton assistant Paul Ferguson. 

[Captain_Joe08]

"Benedictine -- the gateway to the NBA"

Every time I see this I always think about that Deadspin article that was about Benedictine's athletic video.