WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Started by wheatonc, March 03, 2005, 06:18:19 PM

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Gregory Sager

North Park added another 5'8 multi-position player, as Lauren Lee from Glenbard North is enrolling at NPU.

http://basketball.dailyherald.com/article/20161117/sports/161118954/

She'll be reunited with her former Panthers teammate Zakiya Newsome as a Viking.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Congrats to Maggie McCloskey-Bax! Her time serving with Coach Bernero should enable her to "hit the ground running."
My guess is that no one from the 2017-18 Cardinals roster has a guaranteed spot for '18-'19. Hardly any of the potential returnees were consistently productive. Lyndsay Brennan may be the most reliable returning player. Who else comes to mind, lmitzel?
Many players have potential for some improvement. Interesting newcomers are expected, as well.

lmitzel

Quote from: RogK on July 16, 2018, 11:34:03 PM
Congrats to Maggie McCloskey-Bax! Her time serving with Coach Bernero should enable her to "hit the ground running."
My guess is that no one from the 2017-18 Cardinals roster has a guaranteed spot for '18-'19. Hardly any of the potential returnees were consistently productive. Lyndsay Brennan may be the most reliable returning player. Who else comes to mind, lmitzel?
Many players have potential for some improvement. Interesting newcomers are expected, as well.

Last year was a bummer but it was a very young team. I'd think that the freshmen and sophomores are only going to get better. I'd agree that Lyndsay Brennan might be the best returning player, though I'd put Maya Walls and Siarra O'Neill right there too along with Natali Dimitrova if you're just looking at upperclassmen. Haydn Braun will probably get more run at the point with Mayson Whipple graduated, Bekah Foley should be healthy after missing a chunk of last year, and they get 2017 recruit Kylie Modaff back from her knee injury that kept her out all last year.

And take this for what it's worth, but before she left Michelle Roof told me she thought this recruiting class was the best one she had. Whether her departure changed anything or not I don't know, but there's a lot of talent coming in. And this will be a young team again: I think there will only be two seniors on this year's roster barring something weird happening.
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iwu70

On IWU, of course, we're still very far out, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Titans ranked #1 in pre-season CCIW again, given what they have coming back.  We are in the post-Ehresman, McGraw era now, and those are two all-time greats at IWU, lost to graduation, but the TITANS have such talent and experience coming back -- perhaps some good new faces too.  But, seems the experienced returning Titans will take up most, if not all of the minutes, with pine-sitters, freshmen waiting their turn.

These eight will constitute the Titan rotation in the coming season, likely -- Merritt/Brovelli, Hughes, Shanks, Anderson, Schneider, Sosa and potential PG Munroe.   I'm very positive about the upcoming season.  Any one or two of these experienced players could have a big, break out season in 18-19.  My bet is on Hughes and Anderson.  We'll see.  Merritt and Brovelli will anchor the paint. 

First, football.

IWU70




AndOne

Quote from: lmitzel on July 17, 2018, 10:16:52 AM
Quote from: RogK on July 16, 2018, 11:34:03 PM
Congrats to Maggie McCloskey-Bax! Her time serving with Coach Bernero should enable her to "hit the ground running."
My guess is that no one from the 2017-18 Cardinals roster has a guaranteed spot for '18-'19. Hardly any of the potential returnees were consistently productive. Lyndsay Brennan may be the most reliable returning player. Who else comes to mind, lmitzel?
Many players have potential for some improvement. Interesting newcomers are expected, as well.

Last year was a bummer but it was a very young team. I'd think that the freshmen and sophomores are only going to get better. I'd agree that Lyndsay Brennan might be the best returning player, though I'd put Maya Walls and Siarra O'Neill right there too along with Natali Dimitrova if you're just looking at upperclassmen. Haydn Braun will probably get more run at the point with Mayson Whipple graduated, Bekah Foley should be healthy after missing a chunk of last year, and they get 2017 recruit Kylie Modaff back from her knee injury that kept her out all last year.

And take this for what it's worth, but before she left Michelle Roof told me she thought this recruiting class was the best one she had. Whether her departure changed anything or not I don't know, but there's a lot of talent coming in. And this will be a young team again: I think there will only be two seniors on this year's roster barring something weird happening.

Hopefully the new coach will be able to convince all of the recruits to follow through on their decisions to attend NCC. Another task that needs to be addressed is the hiring of a top, and possibly a 2nd, assistant coach in order to fully ignite the 2019-2020 recruiting efforts.

lmitzel

Quote from: AndOne on July 21, 2018, 04:17:52 PM
Quote from: lmitzel on July 17, 2018, 10:16:52 AM
Quote from: RogK on July 16, 2018, 11:34:03 PM
Congrats to Maggie McCloskey-Bax! Her time serving with Coach Bernero should enable her to "hit the ground running."
My guess is that no one from the 2017-18 Cardinals roster has a guaranteed spot for '18-'19. Hardly any of the potential returnees were consistently productive. Lyndsay Brennan may be the most reliable returning player. Who else comes to mind, lmitzel?
Many players have potential for some improvement. Interesting newcomers are expected, as well.

Last year was a bummer but it was a very young team. I'd think that the freshmen and sophomores are only going to get better. I'd agree that Lyndsay Brennan might be the best returning player, though I'd put Maya Walls and Siarra O'Neill right there too along with Natali Dimitrova if you're just looking at upperclassmen. Haydn Braun will probably get more run at the point with Mayson Whipple graduated, Bekah Foley should be healthy after missing a chunk of last year, and they get 2017 recruit Kylie Modaff back from her knee injury that kept her out all last year.

And take this for what it's worth, but before she left Michelle Roof told me she thought this recruiting class was the best one she had. Whether her departure changed anything or not I don't know, but there's a lot of talent coming in. And this will be a young team again: I think there will only be two seniors on this year's roster barring something weird happening.

Hopefully the new coach will be able to convince all of the recruits to follow through on their decisions to attend NCC. Another task that needs to be addressed is the hiring of a top, and possibly a 2nd, assistant coach in order to fully ignite the 2019-2020 recruiting efforts.

That hiring process looks to be underway, since the opening is up on North Central's website. And they've only had two assistants (one a GA) for the past two seasons, though an extra voice on the bench can't hurt.
Official D-III Championship BeltTM Cartographer
2022 CCIW Football Pick 'Em Co-Champion
#THREEEEEEEEE

lmitzel

Article from the Naperville Sun on the hiring of Maggie McCloskey-Bax. Also touches a bit on the departure of Michelle Roof, who is off in law enforcement now (which I knew but didn't feel it was my place to say when I first heard she was leaving).
Official D-III Championship BeltTM Cartographer
2022 CCIW Football Pick 'Em Co-Champion
#THREEEEEEEEE

Gregory Sager

The article contains an error. Bob Bonn wasn't recently hired as Carthage's AD; he recently retired from being Carthage's AD.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

RogK

Thanks for providing that link, lmitzel.
Had no idea Michelle Roof would opt for a career away from athletics.
It will be interesting to see how Millikin and North Central develop with new head coaches.
Off the side (or top) of my head, I'd expect Carthage, IWU and Wheaton to do well next season. The rest of the league is a little more iffy. Hopefully, we don't have any teams that will stink and be painful to watch.

iwu70

Agree with RogK, assume WC, IWU and CC will be the strongest of the lot next season, though perhaps others will surprise.  Should be interesting to see how Olivia Lett does down in Decatur.  IWU has a lot of offensive talent coming back, but needs a reliable and good PG to stir the mix.  Maybe Munroe, maybe Sosa, maybe Shanks -- not sure.  Hard to replace the ever-reliable and consistent Rebekah Ehresman.  I expect great improvements, upside from Hughes and Brovelli.  It will be interesting to see what Mia Smith puts together with the obvious strength and talent she has coming back. 

IWU'70

Enginerd

It will be interesting to see what IWU looks like this season. The team I saw in November REALLY benefited FROM Ehresman's and McGraw's athleticism in their press - Ehresman alone would be a huge loss but losing the kind of combined athleticism those two brought will be impossible to replace unless IWU has gotten some D-I transfers...because that's what they had in those two...a couple low Division I-caliber athletes playing Division III basketball . Offensively, those two had a singular (for their team) ability to go by their defender off the dribble and rise up over everyone and make mid-range jump shots - especially late in the shot clock. McGraw in particular might be one of the better off-the-dribble mid-range shooters I've EVER seen, male or female.
I am by no means giving up on IWU - I hope they do well and they are extremely well-coached and do have some talented Sophomores whom gained valuable minutes last season - but Wheaton is the team to beat in the CCIW - by far.

iwu70

Enginerd, I surely agree with your assessment of the skills and value of Ehresman and McGraw to the IWU program.  They will be very difficult to replace.  Don't think IWU has any newbies of that talent level coming in.  But, they do have strong returnees and depth.  No doubt WC will again be very strong, and perhaps CC too.  Time will tell.  My thought is that Hughes and Sosa actually have potential to match Ehresman and McGraw longer term.  Of course, we'll have to see what summer work they put in, what improvements are coming.  I have no doubt that Anderson and Schneider will again be top-flight CCIW players. And IWU has a two time all CCIW player in Merritt, with Brovelli coming in just behind, with size and rebounding that IWU always needs, given the "run and jump" and fast break style that Mia Smith favors.  Of course, it will all have to come together and will need a kind of PG that can be TO-averse and stir the overall offense.  I think IWU has a good possibility there in Munroe, with great foot speed and ball-handling abilities.  Of course, very hard to replace Ehresman's rock solid dependability, though she's now on the coaching staff, tutoring the several upcoming potential PGs.  Shanks is battled tested, coming back from injury, and key to the "run and jump" pressure that IWU loves to bring.  We'll see.  I'm pretty confident IWU will again contend for the CCIW crown and for post-season games.

What's your assessment of WC at this point?

IWU'70

RogK

iwu70, remember that Raven Hughes had the major knee injury late in the season, so we should not expect her to regain her agility and quickness until maybe February of 2019.

iwu70

Yes, RogK, we'll see how fast she comes back.  Shanks was out with injury too.  But, should be OK as the season is still 3+ months away.  Lots of miles on Anderson and Merritt's legs and feet too, so I'm sure all these players need off-season time for rest and recouping, as well as some off-season lifting and workouts.  Hughes is such a hard-worker, so I expect her to be full-strength early on.  Ehresman and McGraw were remarkably durable, consistent during their long careers at IWU. 

What does WC look like coming into the season?

IWU'70

RogK

On a scale of 1 to 10, they should be pretty good!