MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Green Beer]

https://x.com/i/status/2036503295729000557

Noah Cleveland in the portal. His bro just earned CPOTY in the CUSA. Unfortunately, Zach is a senior, so he can't go play with him.

Just read that. What a back-breaker.

[Green Beer]

Maybe he'll be like Yoder: try DI for a year and then come back, but that's wishful thinking.

[GusD]

https://x.com/i/status/2036503295729000557

Noah Cleveland in the portal. His bro just earned CPOTY in the CUSA. Unfortunately, Zach is a senior, so he can't go play with him.

Just read that. What a back-breaker.

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
There go 21.9% of IWU's points, and 25.1% of their rebounds 🤗.

[Gregory Sager]

https://x.com/i/status/2036503295729000557

Noah Cleveland in the portal. His bro just earned CPOTY in the CUSA. Unfortunately, Zach is a senior, so he can't go play with him.

Just read that. What a back-breaker.

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
There go 21.9% of IWU's points, and 25.1% of their rebounds 🤗.

"Shouldn't come as much of a surprise"? That's the understatement of the month, Mark. Heck, the only surprise is that he waited an entire day after Pat posted the All-American list.

This was well-nigh near inevitable. It's blindingly obvious that Cleveland's size and ability are suited for D1, and that D3 really offers no personal challenge for him. Watching him play D3 basketball this season was like watching the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer takes a karate class with nine-year-olds. Cleveland has siblings who went D1, so there's that motivation to portal as well. (I think I read somewhere that even his mom was a D1 athlete.) And it's my understanding that he's not a legacy, so it isn't as though there's some deep family tie binding him to Illinois Wesleyan.

After two or three games back in November we could've started a pool on this board to bet on how many days would pass between IWU's final game and Cleveland going portal.

It's 2026. This is the world we live in now as college sports fans. NIL money and the portal have changed everything.

[nescac1]

As a non CCIW guy I'm curious to hear how IWU managed to snag him in the first place. Was it that he made a massive leap during his redshirt year?  Because given his family pedigree and size/athleticism combo and how dominant he was from day one, it seems weird that D1s wouldn't be all over him while still in high school. 

[blue_jays]

As a non CCIW guy I'm curious to hear how IWU managed to snag him in the first place. Was it that he made a massive leap during his redshirt year?  Because given his family pedigree and size/athleticism combo and how dominant he was from day one, it seems weird that D1s wouldn't be all over him while still in high school. 

With the sheer amount of basketball players nationally, talent falls through the cracks constantly. The coaches are now so focused on the transfer portal that incoming freshmen become more neglected. That mindset is moving basketball towards the realm of college tennis: the D1s in college tennis are so focused on international recruits, the U.S.-based players get forgotten.

[Gregory Sager]

As a non CCIW guy I'm curious to hear how IWU managed to snag him in the first place. Was it that he made a massive leap during his redshirt year?  Because given his family pedigree and size/athleticism combo and how dominant he was from day one, it seems weird that D1s wouldn't be all over him while still in high school. 

I'm not clear on that, either, but Cleveland's a downstater, and I admit that I don't pay a whole lot of attention to downstate high schools. My focus is upon Chicagoland boys basketball, because that's where North Park (and most of the CCIW) does the bulk of its MBB recruiting.

[blue_jays]

I mean, who would have thought Aston Francis would go from JUCO bench warmer to one of the most prolific scorers in D3 history (2,406 points in 3 seasons). Ya never know when the unicorns will pop up.

[Green Beer]

Cleveland is a local kid who was quite familiar with IWU both playing at Shirk and b.b. camps. I'm sure Coach Rose worked his magic. But ISU, the local DI school, actively courted him too. I'm sure they're very interested he's in the portal.

[Gregory Sager]

I mean, who would have thought Aston Francis would go from JUCO bench warmer to one of the most prolific scorers in D3 history (2,406 points in 3 seasons). Ya never know when the unicorns will pop up.

The question is whether or not Cleveland ever was a unicorn to begin with, a la such CCIW-dominating All-American late bloomers as Michael Harper, Mike Barach, or Aston Francis. If, as Green Beer said, Cleveland's hometown D1 was recruiting him while he was still attending Normal Community HS, his unicorn status was most certainly in doubt. The question then becomes whether or not ISU made him a scholie offer or recruited him to be a PWO.

[Gregory Sager]

Based upon nescac1's posts on the "Transfers/Seniors with Remaining Eligibility" board, here are the other CCIW players besides Noah Cleveland who've journeyed into the Land of Portal since the season ended for their teams:

Noah Brumfield, Wheaton -- two years remaining
Staishaun Kelley, Augustana -- one year remaining
Andre Klaver, Augustana -- three years remaining
Jake Willems, Augustana -- two years remaining

Boy, this could be a rough off-season for Augie.

Noah Brumfield: I'm honestly not sure why he's even bothering to portal. He got into a grand total of two games for Wheaton this past season, and for just three minutes in those two stints. Interestingly, he's a nursing major; nursing is a notoriously difficult major with regard to transferring, although, as a sophomore, it's possible that he's only listed nursing on his Wheaton athletic profile as his intended preference. If Wheaton's nursing program is anything like North Park's, he has to actually be accepted into the nursing major at the end of his sophomore year by the nursing faculty, contingent upon his underclassman grades (especially in science classes), so it's possible that he still has some flexibility there.

But I really don't see an end-of-the-bench guy like Brumfield departing for any school that's going to give him a basketball scholie, unless it's one of those $100-a-semester partials that some NAIAs hand out like candy, which are really nothing more than incentives to lure high school seniors who are seeking the bragging rights of claiming a genuine "college basketball scholarship" offer. IMHO, he's better off riding the pines for Mike Schauer and getting a high-quality education and a useful diploma from Wheaton than going elsewhere, unless his heart is so set on playing time that he's willing to overlook those other matters ... in which case his best bet would be a Maranatha Baptist or a Judson or some other Christian school that doesn't play a high level of ball and where he could get the chance to shine.

Staishaun Kelley: He was listed as a senior on Augustana's roster, but it appears that he's only played three years of college ball, including this past season -- one at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, TN, and then two at Augie. He was one of the best assets of the Rock Islanders in 2024-25, averaging 10.5 ppg in about 24 minutes per game, but for some reason (injury? ineligibility? discipline?) he started four games for Augie and then vanished completely after Thanksgiving for the bulk of the season before finally returning in Augie's season finale against Illinois Wesleyan for a two-minute cameo. That participation profile leads me to believe that his lengthy absence was injury- or illness-related.

Kelley's an interesting ballplayer. At 5'11", 170 he's not particularly big, but he's undeniably quick. He's moderately successful as a driver, but he's a terrible shooter (as both his trey and FT numbers indicate) and he's not a distributor, either (barely averaging one assist per game). Where he excels is on the defensive side of the ball, where he was one of the best ballhawks in the CCIW in 2024-25; he led the league in overall steals and in both overall steals per game and conference steals per game. Somebody could find a use for him, I'm sure -- but that somebody would likely be a school that isn't giving him a tuition ride to play basketball.

Andre Klaver: One of the best freshmen in the league last season, Klaver led Augie in scoring and in steals despite only starting nine games and averaging a little over 21 minutes of court time. He's a good-sized guard at 6'2", 200 who isn't dominant in any one phase of the game but is very much up to par within the CCIW by starter standards. If his heart is set on getting a scholie somewhere, he'd be very useful in the higher NAIA ranks -- and it wouldn't shock me if some D2 took a flier on him, seeing as how he has three years of eligibility remaining.

Jake Willems: Had a breakout sophomore season for Augustana in 2025-26, finishing second on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg) and leading them in rebounds (5.7 rpg). He's an outstanding shooter and a decent athlete with good small-college-wing size (6'5", 190). I can definitely see him getting a D2 scholie somewhere, because he's struck me as somebody who would be on the short list of possible All-CCIW candidates in 2026-27.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

https://x.com/i/status/2036503295729000557

Noah Cleveland in the portal. His bro just earned CPOTY in the CUSA. Unfortunately, Zach is a senior, so he can't go play with him.

Just read that. What a back-breaker.

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
There go 21.9% of IWU's points, and 25.1% of their rebounds 🤗.

"Shouldn't come as much of a surprise"? That's the understatement of the month, Mark. Heck, the only surprise is that he waited an entire day after Pat posted the All-American list.

(my edit to shorten the post)

It's 2026. This is the world we live in now as college sports fans. NIL money and the portal have changed everything.

Times are absolutely totally different.  In this years D3Hoops AA teams, there are a total of 25 players (5 teams of 5) of those 25, there are 8 with eligibility remaining.  4 of them (Overway, Cleveland, Grieger, and Yarbrough) are in the portal.  Robinson (UMW) could be another addition, but his season is still in progress. 

[Greek Tragedy]

As a non CCIW guy I'm curious to hear how IWU managed to snag him in the first place. Was it that he made a massive leap during his redshirt year?  Because given his family pedigree and size/athleticism combo and how dominant he was from day one, it seems weird that D1s wouldn't be all over him while still in high school. 

With the sheer amount of basketball players nationally, talent falls through the cracks constantly. The coaches are now so focused on the transfer portal that incoming freshmen become more neglected. That mindset is moving basketball towards the realm of college tennis: the D1s in college tennis are so focused on international recruits, the U.S.-based players get forgotten.

As mentioned, his brother was POTY in CUSA. I doubt Noah "fell through the cracks."

And my apologies, I thought he played JV.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As a non CCIW guy I'm curious to hear how IWU managed to snag him in the first place. Was it that he made a massive leap during his redshirt year?  Because given his family pedigree and size/athleticism combo and how dominant he was from day one, it seems weird that D1s wouldn't be all over him while still in high school. 

Noah's talked about it a little.  He definitely had D1 offers, including from Illinois State, I believe, in Bloomington-Normal.  He wasn't sure he wanted to play basketball in college, so he picked IWU for other reasons.  Through the course of his first year, he decided he did, indeed, want to play college basketball, so here we are.  Now he'll decide if he wants to keep playing at IWU or move on to a d1 somewhere.