MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

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Next Man Up

Quote from: Titan Q on September 27, 2021, 07:22:02 PM
Got confirmation today Elmhurst returns all seniors who played last year:

* Jake Rhode (All American), Jay Millitello, Dominic Genco, Lavon Thomas, Ebrahim Jobe

They also return all key JR, SO, and FR.

This is almost all of the nucleus that went to the Sweet 16 in '20 before the shutdown (with a home game vs Pomona-Pitzer to get to the Elite 8).

With Illinois Wesleyan, Wheaton, and Elmhurst probably leading the way, the CCIW is loaded.

Everyone is aware of Lavon Thomas' ability to be effective in take no prisoners situations. When the going gets rough down low as it often does in the CCIW, he is definitely a guy you want on your side. Conversely, most people look at Jay Millitello as more of an effective stats guy as he finished 10th in scoring and 7th in rebounding last year. However, looking beyond the stats will reveal that Mr. Millitello is no slouch in the toughness area either. Last year he often pushed a lot of similar size/weight guys around, often with fairly relative ease. Combined with Thomas, they present a formidable low and midrange defensive shield that can force many opponents outside their range of optimum effectiveness.
So young hero, ask yourself............................Do you want to go to college, get a good education, and play (basketball)(football), or do you want to go to college, get a good education, and watch (basketball)(football)? 🤔 😏

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Wildcat

 Just a small correction, Elmhurst loses two very good guys. Derek Dottlich andNick Perry we're instrumental in getting the Bluejays to the tournament. The Jays will be tough to beat while battling the Titans and Thunder among others in the CCIW.

Titan Q

My conversation today with Ron Rose, on practice eve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmwQKO1cFA

0:00 Practice eve!
3:48 Fitness fanatics
6:15 Looking back at 2020-21
8:18 Recruiting class
10:23 Losing 4 key seniors
12:37 Matt Leritz, 6-7 F (All-American)
14:33 Pete Lambesis, 6-4 G/F
18:10 Luke Yoder, 6-1 PG
20:21 Cory Noe, 6-3 SG
22:04 Keondre Schumacher, 5-11 SG
23:58 Candidates for the open starting F spot
26:00 Ryan Sroka, 6-6 G
27:34 Crazy schedule/Yeshiva game
30:50 5th year players
32:53 Other elite Division III programs (Hope, Calvin, St. John's, Oshkosh)
35:00 Preseason rankings, expectations
38:55 Heading into practice #1
40:38 Final thoughts heading into the 2021-22 journey

Greenguy


Gregory Sager

The preseason poll is out. Illinois Wesleyan is #4, Wheaton is #6, and Elmhurst is #10. North Central is in the middle of the ORV pack with 18 points.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

iwu70

Glad to see the poll.  Seems to me Elmhurst is under-rated in this poll.  Perhaps North Central too?

Looking forward to the season.  Gonna be wild in the CCIW.

IWU'70

iwu70

Nice work, Q!  Greatly enjoyed the Coach Rose interview.  Thank you.

Also, greatly looking forward to the Titan season . . . and the incredible schedule of games, esp. at home. 

All best -- keep going.

iwu'70

WUPHF

Quote from: Titan Q on October 14, 2021, 05:02:36 PM
My conversation today with Ron Rose, on practice eve.

Thanks for bringing these back and keep them coming.

Greek Tragedy

Quote from: iwu70 on October 15, 2021, 12:46:30 PM
Glad to see the poll.  Seems to me Elmhurst is under-rated in this poll.  Perhaps North Central too?

Looking forward to the season.  Gonna be wild in the CCIW.

IWU'70

So the CCIW has 3 of the Top 10 teams in the nation and that's not good enough? Ouch. There are other teams outside the CCIW that are pretty good too.
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TGHIJGSTO!!!

lmitzel

Quote from: iwu70 on October 15, 2021, 12:46:30 PM
Glad to see the poll.  Seems to me Elmhurst is under-rated in this poll.  Perhaps North Central too?

I think the Jays at 10 is fair. You could maybe talk me into NCC being underrated, but I think their poll position is pretty fair too. I think they're a tier below that Wheaton/Wesleyan/Elmhurst triumvirate, but should be pretty competitive still.
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iwu70

Greek, I'm well aware there are many other good teams all over the country outside the CCIW.  I was only saying that Elmhurst, which brings everyone back, adding Rhode, a team that was in the Sweet 16, likely Elite 8 when things were called off, surely is higher than #10.  If they put it all back together again, with the good coaching they have, a case could be made that they should be ranked above IWU and Wheaton . . .  With IWU's schedule and the amazing Jack Sikma Invitational at The Shirk, we're going to find out very early if IWU's #4 is actually legit or not . . . at least at that stage in the season.  IWU has a most incredibly tough schedules, likely playing 7-8 teams in the top 25 and several of them twice . . . Anyway, play the best to be the best . . . sounds like Mia Smith's philosophy, more than Ron Rose's. 

Gonna be a great season and CCIW is loaded, pretty clearly.

IWU'70

Gregory Sager

Quote from: Wildcat on October 14, 2021, 10:11:32 AM
Just a small correction, Elmhurst loses two very good guys. Derek Dottlich andNick Perry we're instrumental in getting the Bluejays to the tournament. The Jays will be tough to beat while battling the Titans and Thunder among others in the CCIW.

Derek Dotlich was a senior in 2019-20. He was listed on the roster as a senior that season, and a quick perusal of his bio (or Elmhurst's archived stats, or the CCIW site's archived stats) indicate that the 2019-20 season was his fourth and final season as a Bluejay. In other words, "loses," which is present tense, doesn't accurately describe Dotlich's departure, which is definitely past tense.

Nick Perry was a senior last season and was listed as such on the roster, but he didn't play a single minute in that truncated, COVIDified mess we called a season last January and February. So, unlike Dotlich, Perry does still have a season of eligibility in hand. And, while he may have graduated last spring (I don't know if he did or not), he could've still enrolled as a grad student at EU this school year and finished out his career that way. That sort of thing has become commonplace at those CCIW schools that have grad programs, which include Elmhurst.

Thing is, though, Q was specifically talking about Elmhurst bringing back all of its active seniors from last season:

Quote from: Titan Q on September 27, 2021, 07:22:02 PM
Got confirmation today Elmhurst returns all seniors who played last year:

* Jake Rhode (All American), Jay Millitello, Dominic Genco, Lavon Thomas, Ebrahim Jobe

He is correct, because Nick Perry didn't play last year ("year" in this sense meaning "season") and Derek Dotlich faded into the history books a year and a half ago.

(Rhode actually didn't play last season, but we'll let that one slide, Bob. ;))

Now, iwu70 is another story entirely:

Quote from: iwu70 on October 15, 2021, 11:28:30 PM
Greek, I'm well aware there are many other good teams all over the country outside the CCIW.  I was only saying that Elmhurst, which brings everyone back, adding Rhode, a team that was in the Sweet 16, likely Elite 8 when things were called off, surely is higher than #10.

As usual, I'm not sure what's going on him. :D On the one hand, he correctly notes that this year's team is adding Jake Rhode, who was not on the team last season but who was Elmhurst's leading scorer and undisputed leader on the Sweet Sixteen team the year before. But when he talks about how EU "brings everyone back," unlike Q he seems to be talking not about the shortened half-season we saw this past January and February but the actual 2019-20 season in which Elmhurst got to the Sweet Sixteen before the COVID pandemic shut down the tournament -- because he's clearly saying that this coming season's team and that Sweet Sixteen team are identical (at least in terms of key players, since we can all agree that the word "everyone" as he used it is a perfectly acceptable rhetorical flourish). And, of course, they're not identical at all. The 2021-22 Bluejays will not have the services of an All-CCIW player who averaged 15.8 ppg for that 2019-20 Sweet Sixteen team (Dotlich) and a pretty solid role player from that team (Perry).

No offense meant to Rhode, Millitello, Genco, Lavon Thomas, and Jobe, but an Elmhurst team that had Derek Dotlich and Nick Perry on it is nevertheless a different team than one that doesn't.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

kiko

Meh, I don't really begrudge anyone who views the 2019-20 campaign as "last season".  Yes, there were games; yes, there was a conference schedule with all-conference recognition and whatnot; and yes, I'm sure there weren't many athletes on the court who were phoning things in.  But 2020-21 was essentially a "do what you can to have some semblance of a season" construct, and it is reasonable to frame this mentally as something other than a full-fledged campaign.

I don't view North Central as underrated in the context of the d3hoops.com poll.  Todd Raridon's track record is certainly strong, but the Sons of Warden have a lot of questions to answer given the deep well of talent that has moved on from both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 rosters.  I didn't pay much attention last year given the broader environment, but it will be very strange to not see a Raridon-the-younger manning the small forward position.

Titan Q

#54433
Quote from: iwu70 on October 15, 2021, 11:28:30 PM
Greek, I'm well aware there are many other good teams all over the country outside the CCIW.  I was only saying that Elmhurst, which brings everyone back, adding Rhode, a team that was in the Sweet 16, likely Elite 8 when things were called off, surely is higher than #10. 

Derek Dotlich (15.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 92% FT) was an enormous part of Elmhurs's 2019-20 Sweet 16 team.  In addition to being the second leading scorer, I thought he was the glue guy.

He is not on the 2021-22 roster.  Nick Perry is also gone.  It's not accurate to say Elmhurst "brings everyone back" from the 2019-20 team.

Titan Q

Regarding Elmhurst, also important to consider that 2019-20 All-American Jake Rhode is returning from a very serious injury that caused him to miss the 2020-21 season.  Will he be the same player?  Who knows.  But fair to at least take a bit of a wait and see on Rhode.

I had Elmhurst #19 on my preseason ballot.  That felt like about the right place to me all things considered.  I think #10 is too high for the preseason poll.