MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[tjcummingsfan]

North Park has a late addition to the roster: 5'10 rising junior Julian Gatewood out of Homewood-Flossmoor. As a starter in the Aurora backcourt last season he averaged 9.4 ppg for the Spartans, but it was his shooting line that was particularly impressive: .449/.393/.903, as he led Aurora in treys made as well as trey percentage. With Jonah Ogunsanya sitting out the upcoming season due to injury, it's likely that Gatewood will compete with Davante Robinson for the role of designated sharpshooter off the bench.

You know I'm excited about an HF alum!

[Gregory Sager]

I figured that that would get your fingers dancing on the keyboard, EH!

[GoPerry]

This note could probably be added to any of the boards, since Greg is a great contributor with all of them.  But I know Greg's passion for NPU sports probably started with basketball.

Congratulations to Greg Sager for receiving the call to the NPU Viking Hall of Fame with his induction scheduled for December 2nd.

Can't let this go without adding my own Congrats Gregory!  What an honor.

[Gregory Sager]

Two more last-minute commits to North Park, both rising junior transfers:

* C.J. Nwosu, a 6'3 guard who was on scholarship at D2 Missouri S&T but missed most of last year to an ACL tear. It must not have been a full tear, because my understanding is that he's healed up and is expected to play this season. His mom is a North Park alumna, and he prepped at next-door Von Steuben, so he'll fit right in. From what I'm told, he could contribute.

* Kyren Gardner, a 6'2" guard from Morton College who prepped at Oak Park River Forest. He spent his freshman year at a West Coast juco and then decided to transfer close to home in the near western suburbs for his sophomore year. He averaged 11.5 ppg for the Panthers with a .500/.333/.672 shooting line. His highlight video from last season at Morton is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq7DckFM0BY

This guy looks like he could make an impact this coming season.

[markerickson]

I hope Coach Smith does not form a habit of drinking much from the JUCO well.

[washingtonwiz99]

I hope Coach Smith does not form a habit of drinking much from the JUCO well.

And why not???

[Gregory Sager]

Get good players wherever you can find 'em, Mark.

Gardner and Nwosu were both up for academic awards last year, so they can obviously cut it in the classroom. A lack of academic chops seems to be the stigma attached, fairly or unfairly, to juco student-athletes, but that clearly does not apply here.

I can see objecting to the recruitment of juco players in light of the fact that you're only getting two years' worth of service out of a player rather than four (or three years in the case of the Vuckovic brothers), but it's not as though Sean Smith and his staff have neglected to recruit high-school seniors. All indications are that NPU will have a pretty potent incoming freshman class in 2023-24.

[WUPHF]

Liberal arts colleges are often great for community college transfers, regardless of whether or not the play sports ball.

[Gregory Sager]

Liberal arts colleges are often great for community college transfers, regardless of whether or not the play sports ball.

Serving transfer students from junior colleges is also sort of an unwritten element of North Park's mission statement. Part of that is because it's a higher-education route frequently taken by urban or inner-ring-suburban young people from working-class homes, which is part of NPU's constituency (and of Loyola's, DePaul's, St. Xavier's, UIC's, Northeastern Illinois's, Chicago State's, Roosevelt's, etc.). The other part is that North Park itself was a junior college for generations before transitioning to a four-year baccalaureate institution in the late 1950s, so it's an institutional-memory sort of thing for NPU.

[Gregory Sager]

Surprised that none of the Illinois Wesleyan fans have posted this yet, and dreading a bit the fact that this is opening up an opportunity for the eight-thousandth retelling of the 1969 chicken story on CCIW Chat, but Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State are renewing their city-limits rivalry with a women's/men's exhibition doubleheader on October 29.

[WUPHF]

Serving transfer students from junior colleges is also sort of an unwritten element of North Park's mission statement. Part of that is because it's a higher-education route frequently taken by urban or inner-ring-suburban young people from working-class homes, which is part of NPU's constituency (and of Loyola's, DePaul's, St. Xavier's, UIC's, Northeastern Illinois's, Chicago State's, Roosevelt's, etc.). The other part is that North Park itself was a junior college for generations before transitioning to a four-year baccalaureate institution in the late 1950s, so it's an institutional-memory sort of thing for NPU.

That makes sense!

[iwu70]

Greg, I told it on the women's page . . . 

Looking forward to the renewal of the rivalry -- if only an exhibition:   IWU vs. ISU on October 29th at ISU -- but not in Horton.

Should be interesting . . . 

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, I told it on the women's page . . . 

Of course you did. Right where it belongs.

[iwu70]

Greg, it was 1970 -- get it right! 

Students these days just don't have much creativity when in comes to pranks and rivalries.  I'm not even that sure many of the current ISU or IWU students will attend these two exhibition games.  And, for a good cause, too.   

We do still know where the ISU "Victory Bell" is stored too . . . 

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, it was 1970 -- get it right! 

Students these days just don't have much creativity when in comes to pranks and rivalries.  I'm not even that sure many of the current ISU or IWU students will attend these two exhibition games.  And, for a good cause, too.

Mark, I'm -- pardon the expression -- no spring chicken, either. And yet I know that this is never a good look when addressing the current generation of college students:



Let me be the first to give your post the proper retort it deserves: