BB: Central Region Rankings

[Gregory Sager]

The Wheaton factor that the Central Region needs to watch most is former McMurry head coach Lee Driggers, who is in his second season at Wheaton.

Wheaton has "never" had anything in baseball, but I predict that Coach Driggers will turn that around to make Wheaton a perennial contender.

Aren't we just a little impartial to McMurry.  JK

Definitely should have a chance to change the program around.  Plenty of talent around the Chicagoland area.   Specifically in Dupage county.

Wheaton doesn't recruit locally, TurtleHead. It recruits nationally, as you can tell by the roster. The few local kids on the roster are student-athletes who match Wheaton's student profile, not baseball players who were recruited simply because of geographical proximity.

[TurtleHead]

The Wheaton factor that the Central Region needs to watch most is former McMurry head coach Lee Driggers, who is in his second season at Wheaton.

Wheaton has "never" had anything in baseball, but I predict that Coach Driggers will turn that around to make Wheaton a perennial contender.

Aren't we just a little impartial to McMurry.  JK

Definitely should have a chance to change the program around.  Plenty of talent around the Chicagoland area.   Specifically in Dupage county.

Wheaton doesn't recruit locally, TurtleHead. It recruits nationally, as you can tell by the roster. The few local kids on the roster are student-athletes who match Wheaton's student profile, not baseball players who were recruited simply because of geographical proximity.

Perhaps that is part of the reason why they have not traditionally had a very successful baseball program.   Considering that the Chicago area has the highest number of kids that are drafted or go d1 in all of the midwest.  As far as being able to find talent in the area that fit the academic profile.  The Stevenson Showcase is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention that.  The Chicago areas top players are invited to attend right after their Junior Year.   Stats, times and academic info such as ACT and SAT scores are provided.  They also put on 2 exhibition games to show fielding and hitting.

Carthage, IWU and Augustana don't seem to mind recruiting from the area.  Seems to be serving them pretty well. 

Not trying to be rude but all I meant by the original post was that with a new coach coming to the area setting up ties with local coaches and the talent in the area would be the way to go.

[BigPoppa]

Sorry, BP - would it be better if I only talked about Matt Aronson and his 0.45 ERA?

That actually hurts me a little bit more. IWU has had some fantastic individual players in the past. Kulavic could be the next if he returns to form this season.

[norfrank]

Wheaton recruit?  Hogwash. I can't think of anyone that the coaching staff actually initiated contact to recruit them to the school. This may change under Driggers. Most of the student athletes came there because of the academics, the campus atmosphere or because their family went there. Bobby Elder did nothing to recruit the players. He was fortunate to have an attractive academic school that did the recruiting for him.

[Captain Morgan]

Up and In- do you realize that messing with Big Poppa is like messing with the Godfather himself? Every year, people jump on him and he usually turns out to be right. You have called down the thunder from God.

[Gregory Sager]

The Wheaton factor that the Central Region needs to watch most is former McMurry head coach Lee Driggers, who is in his second season at Wheaton.

Wheaton has "never" had anything in baseball, but I predict that Coach Driggers will turn that around to make Wheaton a perennial contender.

Aren't we just a little impartial to McMurry.  JK

Definitely should have a chance to change the program around.  Plenty of talent around the Chicagoland area.   Specifically in Dupage county.

Wheaton doesn't recruit locally, TurtleHead. It recruits nationally, as you can tell by the roster. The few local kids on the roster are student-athletes who match Wheaton's student profile, not baseball players who were recruited simply because of geographical proximity.

Perhaps that is part of the reason why they have not traditionally had a very successful baseball program.   Considering that the Chicago area has the highest number of kids that are drafted or go d1 in all of the midwest.  As far as being able to find talent in the area that fit the academic profile.  The Stevenson Showcase is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention that.  The Chicago areas top players are invited to attend right after their Junior Year.   Stats, times and academic info such as ACT and SAT scores are provided.  They also put on 2 exhibition games to show fielding and hitting.

Carthage, IWU and Augustana don't seem to mind recruiting from the area.  Seems to be serving them pretty well. 

Not trying to be rude but all I meant by the original post was that with a new coach coming to the area setting up ties with local coaches and the talent in the area would be the way to go.

Why would I think you're being rude? I'm not a Wheaton fan, so I'm therefore not offended when someone opines that Wheaton is going about something the wrong way. I'm a North Park fan, which is pretty much another way of saying that I want Wheaton to lose at everything. At NPU we don't tend to have fond thoughts about that orange-colored school in DuPage County.

What I think you're missing here is that Wheaton has an entirely different mission as a school than does Augie, Illinois Wesleyan, or Carthage, and it thus operates with a completely different set of priorities than those schools when it comes to recruitment, be it athletes or students at large. Wheaton is an evangelical Christian school that requires all of its students to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and to sign a "covenant" governing their public behavior on and off campus. That, plus the school's stringent academic requirements, means that a Wheaton coach can't just show up at an event like the Stevenson Showcase and expect to make prospect contacts. It's just not a good use of his time. Nor is establishing contacts with local high school coaches, unless it's with the coach of a school like Wheaton Academy, Aurora Christian, Timothy Christian, Illiana Christian, etc.

The other part of the equation is that Wheaton has a very high national profile, especially in evangelical circles. (Among other things, it's Billy Graham's alma mater.) There are churches all over the country that steer their kids towards Wheaton, and Wheaton's alumni constituency -- which is as nationally-based as the current student body and the baseball roster -- actively plays a role in recruiting kids for the school. That's why Wheaton is going to keep bringing in as many players from places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, California, etc., as it does from Illinois, whether Coach Driggers is actively recruiting them or not.

Wheaton recruit?  Hogwash. I can't think of anyone that the coaching staff actually initiated contact to recruit them to the school. This may change under Driggers. Most of the student athletes came there because of the academics, the campus atmosphere or because their family went there. Bobby Elder did nothing to recruit the players. He was fortunate to have an attractive academic school that did the recruiting for him.

This is why other Wheaton sports in the past (e.g., men's basketball) remained mired in mediocrity -- the refusal to hit the recruiting trail hard and to assume that the school's high national profile would simply bring in the players all by itself. When Bill Harris was hired as the school's head basketball coach in the early '90s, he changed that mentality by using Wheaton's generous recruiting budget to hop on planes and woo the prospects that popped up on Wheaton's radar from coast to coast. It obviously worked, and I would imagine that Driggers is going to have to follow the example set by Harris if he expects to turn around Wheaton baseball over the long haul.

His Texas connections really ought to help in that regard; since Texas is a heavily-populated warm-weather state with a lot of evangelical kids in it, it would seem to be a likely source of Wheaton prospects.

[BigPoppa]

His Texas connections really ought to help in that regard; since Texas is a heavily-populated warm-weather state with a lot of evangelical kids in it, it would seem to be a likely source of Wheaton prospects.

Well said. As a former head college coach, I can tell you that recruiting kids to match the goals of your school is very tough. I coached at a small, private school in Southern California and though I had tons of kids that wanted to be a part of our program, our academic and religion requirements drove many of them away. It is a much better use of your time to work closely with high schools that can feed kids into your programs because they are based on the same values your college is built upon. Even many junior college coaches are very helpful once you let them know exactly what your program requirements are, and it helps their own programs as they show that they can move kids to the four-year programs after playing JC ball.

[General Public]

Wheaton recruit?  Hogwash. I can't think of anyone that the coaching staff actually initiated contact to recruit them to the school. This may change under Driggers. Most of the student athletes came there because of the academics, the campus atmosphere or because their family went there. Bobby Elder did nothing to recruit the players. He was fortunate to have an attractive academic school that did the recruiting for him.

Very true statement about Elder.  He benefited from having not only an academic school but a Christian school that is known across the country.  I would venture to say that all players currently at Wheaton, and over the past 7 years, contacted Wheaton first, instead of being contacted by Bobby.
From what I have heard, this is changing drastically as Lee Driggers and Kent Madsen have assumed a much more active role in recruiting.

[BigPoppa]

Does anyone want/have the time to crunch numbers to see how the four Central Region conferences have fared head-to-head over the last few seasons. Not just post-season, but the entire seasons? It would be interesting to see how they have fared against one another.

[BigPoppa]

ONLY 8 days until the Central Region kicks off!!
Feb 20 Simpson at Ozarks (DH)
Feb 21 Simpson at Ozarks
Feb. 25 Augustana (Ill.) vs. Grove City

Feb. 26 North Park at Atlanta Christian,

Feb. 27 Augustana (Ill.) vs. Farmingdale

Feb. 28 North Park at the University of the South

[Gregory Sager]

Does anyone want/have the time to crunch numbers to see how the four Central Region conferences have fared head-to-head over the last few seasons. Not just post-season, but the entire seasons? It would be interesting to see how they have fared against one another.

Here's the head-to-head results of the four Central Region leagues over the past four seasons, including both regular-season and post-season results (the numbers listed here are wins, not runs):

2009: CCIW 6, IIAC 3
2008: CCIW 2, IIAC 1
2007: CCIW 5, IIAC 2
2006: IIAC 8, CCIW 7
TOTAL: CCIW 20, IIAC 14

2009: CCIW 4, MWC 3
2008: CCIW 10, MWC 1
2007: CCIW 8, MWC 1
2006: CCIW 6, MWC 0
TOTAL: CCIW 28, MWC 5

2009: CCIW 8, SLIAC 3
2008: SLIAC 4, CCIW 3
2007: SLIAC 12, CCIW 7
2006: CCIW 9, SLIAC 3
TOTAL: CCIW 27, SLIAC 22

2009: MWC 7, IIAC 5
2008: IIAC 8, MWC 3
2007: IIAC 3, MWC 0
2006: IIAC 11, MWC 6
TOTAL: IIAC 27, MWC 16

2009: IIAC 5, SLIAC 4
2008: IIAC 6, SLIAC 1
2007: IIAC 7, SLIAC 4
2006: IIAC 6, SLIAC 1
TOTAL: IIAC 24, SLIAC 10

2009: MWC 4, SLIAC 2
2008: MWC 3, SLIAC 1
2007: MWC 10, SLIAC 1
2006: MWC 8, SLIAC 2
TOTAL: MWC 25, SLIAC 6

Central Region standings, 2006-09

league	W	L	PCT
CCIW	75	41	.647
IIAC	65	46	.586
MWC	46	61	.430
SLIAC	38	76	.333

[upandin]

Does anyone want/have the time to crunch numbers to see how the four Central Region conferences have fared head-to-head over the last few seasons. Not just post-season, but the entire seasons? It would be interesting to see how they have fared against one another.

Here's the head-to-head results of the four Central Region leagues over the past four seasons, including both regular-season and post-season results (the numbers listed here are wins, not runs):

2009: CCIW 6, IIAC 3
2008: CCIW 2, IIAC 1
2007: CCIW 5, IIAC 2
2006: IIAC 8, CCIW 7
TOTAL: CCIW 20, IIAC 14

2009: CCIW 4, MWC 3
2008: CCIW 10, MWC 1
2007: CCIW 8, MWC 1
2006: CCIW 6, MWC 0
TOTAL: CCIW 28, MWC 5

2009: CCIW 8, SLIAC 3
2008: SLIAC 4, CCIW 3
2007: SLIAC 12, CCIW 7
2006: CCIW 9, SLIAC 3
TOTAL: CCIW 27, SLIAC 22

2009: MWC 7, IIAC 5
2008: IIAC 8, MWC 3
2007: IIAC 3, MWC 0
2006: IIAC 11, MWC 6
TOTAL: IIAC 27, MWC 16

2009: IIAC 5, SLIAC 4
2008: IIAC 6, SLIAC 1
2007: IIAC 7, SLIAC 4
2006: IIAC 6, SLIAC 1
TOTAL: IIAC 24, SLIAC 10

2009: MWC 4, SLIAC 2
2008: MWC 3, SLIAC 1
2007: MWC 10, SLIAC 1
2006: MWC 8, SLIAC 2
TOTAL: MWC 25, SLIAC 6

Central Region standings, 2006-09

league	W	L	PCT
CCIW	75	41	.647
IIAC	65	46	.586
MWC	46	61	.430
SLIAC	38	76	.333

Nice work Gregory this is good stuff. 

[BigPoppa]

Wartburg vs. Macalester Friday night at 9:45 pm in a DH. Live stats available at the link below.

http://info.wartburg.edu/theorange/Home/SportsLiveBlog/tabid/280/Default

[BigPoppa]

UpandIn- Have you had a chance to put together your Central Region rankings yet? I am curious to see the differences that you and I have as far as what we each see for the 2010 season.

I had originally intended to update my Central rankings this week, but only a handful of teams have actually started at this point. It looks like the week of March 6th will be a big week for teams to get started down south (excluding those few IIAC teams who are getting games in the Metrodome this week). Another week or two and I can start updating the region on a weekly basis. I have not been this excited for the start of the season in quite a while... it's been a long, long winter.

[BigPoppa]

As of Monday morning, March 1st:

CCIW: 5-0
MWC: 2-0
IIAC: 5-7
SLIAC: 1-5