MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[markerickson]

North Park announced its transfer class on X. Former Carthage big man Julian Campbell; Jerome Smith (LA Tech); Jalen Houston (IU NW); Tyvin Garrison (Lincoln U); Lazario Cornish (Spoon River CC); Rasmus Westerlund (Calumet CC); Katrell Weekley (Roosevelt U); Raz Orbach (College of Canyons); Joe Kone (John Melvin U); and Matt Neal (Kennedy King CC).  Five are listed between 6'5" and 6'8".  Is Mr. Campbell really 6'8"?

I searched only one player's history - Orbach. Born in Israel, then to CA where he averaged 10ppg as a 6'3" guard who shot under 25% and under 50% from beyond the arc and within, respectively.  First team AC last year as a sophomore.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park announced its transfer class on X. Former Carthage big man Julian Campbell; Jerome Smith (LA Tech); Jalen Houston (IU NW); Tyvin Garrison (Lincoln U); Lazario Cornish (Spoon River CC); Rasmus Westerlund (Calumet CC); Katrell Weekley (Roosevelt U); Raz Orbach (College of Canyons); Joe Kone (John Melvin U); and Matt Neal (Kennedy King CC).  Five are listed between 6'5" and 6'8".  Is Mr. Campbell really 6'8"?

Yes, he is. I'd be surprised if you haven't seen him already, since you're a fixture at North Park Gym for men's games and Campbell played twice against NPU for Carthage, in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He led the Firebirds in scoring in the January 11, 2023 game with 23 points on 10-15 FG shooting, and he scored 8 points in the January 3, 2024 game.

He was hard to miss, because he was certainly a big fella. I think that Carthage had him listed at 6'8", 270, but, honestly, he looked much closer to three bills during his Firebirds playing days than he did to 270. I'm curious as to what he looks like now, a year and a half after he suited up for his last Carthage game.

[markerickson]

I've seen a whole lotta Julian, but not one who is 6'8".

[petemcb]

North Park announced its transfer class on X. Former Carthage big man Julian Campbell; Jerome Smith (LA Tech); Jalen Houston (IU NW); Tyvin Garrison (Lincoln U); Lazario Cornish (Spoon River CC); Rasmus Westerlund (Calumet CC); Katrell Weekley (Roosevelt U); Raz Orbach (College of Canyons); Joe Kone (John Melvin U); and Matt Neal (Kennedy King CC).  Five are listed between 6'5" and 6'8".  Is Mr. Campbell really 6'8"?

Yes, he is. I'd be surprised if you haven't seen him already, since you're a fixture at North Park Gym for men's games and Campbell played twice against NPU for Carthage, in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He led the Firebirds in scoring in the January 11, 2023 game with 23 points on 10-15 FG shooting, and he scored 8 points in the January 3, 2024 game.

He was hard to miss, because he was certainly a big fella. I think that Carthage had him listed at 6'8", 270, but, honestly, he looked much closer to three bills during his Firebirds playing days than he did to 270. I'm curious as to what he looks like now, a year and a half after he suited up for his last Carthage game.

Greg, are those regularly-scheduled scrimmages or just random gatherings? I'm ready for a fix.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park announced its transfer class on X. Former Carthage big man Julian Campbell; Jerome Smith (LA Tech); Jalen Houston (IU NW); Tyvin Garrison (Lincoln U); Lazario Cornish (Spoon River CC); Rasmus Westerlund (Calumet CC); Katrell Weekley (Roosevelt U); Raz Orbach (College of Canyons); Joe Kone (John Melvin U); and Matt Neal (Kennedy King CC).  Five are listed between 6'5" and 6'8".  Is Mr. Campbell really 6'8"?

Yes, he is. I'd be surprised if you haven't seen him already, since you're a fixture at North Park Gym for men's games and Campbell played twice against NPU for Carthage, in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He led the Firebirds in scoring in the January 11, 2023 game with 23 points on 10-15 FG shooting, and he scored 8 points in the January 3, 2024 game.

He was hard to miss, because he was certainly a big fella. I think that Carthage had him listed at 6'8", 270, but, honestly, he looked much closer to three bills during his Firebirds playing days than he did to 270. I'm curious as to what he looks like now, a year and a half after he suited up for his last Carthage game.

Greg, are those regularly-scheduled scrimmages or just random gatherings? I'm ready for a fix.

No scrimmages scheduled, as far as I know. Practices won't even start for another six weeks.

I've seen a whole lotta Julian, but not one who is 6'8".

He's 6'8".

[Titan Q]

Chris Ford posted this on X today...

"After 18 incredible years of broadcasting Augustana College basketball, Dan and I are stepping down. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to Associate Athletic Director
@WrathDave for believing in us and giving us this opportunity, even with no prior experience."


I have loved listening to Chris and Dan for all these years.  Really passionate about the Vikings...funny...knowledgable...prepared.

Big loss for the CCIW.

Thanks for everything, Chris and Dan.  You will really be missed.

[Gregory Sager]

The retirement of the Chris-and-Dan team is a real loss to D3 men's basketball broadcasting in general, but a huge loss to CCIW hoops fans. I've said for years here on CCIW Chat that those two guys were the gold standard; they know the game, they know the league like the backs of their hands, and they do their homework -- and doing homework, incidentally, is something that a fair number of D3 broadcasters who sound technically polished don't seem to do (probably because they're thinking, "I only get 50 or so viewers, so why should I put in all that effort to do research on my own time?").

The best part of listening to Chris and Dan was that their teamwork was impeccable. There are lots of great broadcasters, but being half of a great on-air team is a different animal entirely. It was evident whenever Chris and Dan got behind their mics that they had a lot of fun working together. Banter is the secret sauce to a great two-man team; even good two-man teams can sound a little stiff if they don't joke around every now and then, because humor engages the listener if it's kept low-key and used judiciously. It never hurts to be reminded, however subtly, that if life is a department store, then sports is the toy section. Chris and Dan had just a smidgen of Abbott and Costello in them that was sort of the cherry on top of their broadcasts.

That top-notch banter that Chris and Dan had was  something you could appreciate even if, like me, you weren't an Augustana fan. It's not always easy to entertain non-fans; a lot of D3 broadcasters (especially student broadcasters) get too insider-y with their banter, talking about campus life or arcane school traditions or name-dropping people at the school who aren't known to the general public and have nothing to do with the game they're calling. With Chris and Dan you always knew that they were Augie guys calling an Augie game, but you never felt as though you were eavesdropping on a for-Augie-fans-only affair. The ability of Chris and Dan to make it fun for themselves while also managing to keep it professional made them fun to listen to as well as informative.

Getting into the weeds of how sports broadcasting works, what I liked from a professional standpoint about how Chris and Dan operated is that they always did such a textbook job of making the unspoken baton handoff between Chris calling the game and Dan interjecting his thoughts without stepping on each other. This was true even when they crossed over and Dan would casually mention an action happening on the floor while he was explaining something, or Chris would put on the colorman's hat and offer a quick counter-analysis or an embellishing agreement in response to something Dan had analyzed.

There's a real trick to that part of it, because inevitably a colorman is going to have to acknowledge what's happening on the floor or on the field even as he's providing analysis if what's happening in real time is important enough, and because a play-by-play announcer sounds detached and mechanical if he doesn't on occasion provide at least a little why with his what. In other words, Chris's job was to call the game and Dan's job was to explain the game, but they weaved back and forth between the two tasks as necessary in as seamless and professional a manner as a viewer could ask for.

Speaking as someone who's done mostly solo work but has also had plenty of broadcast partners in my decade and a half as the Voice of the Vikings, what I'm describing is not easy for a two-man crew to do. It's an art form crafted by years of working together, solid professionalism, self-critique, and also by a good rapport between the two broadcasters. Chris Ford and Dan Sand did it better than anybody else in D3, and there's any number of D1 or professional-sports teams that could've benefitted by stealing them from Augie.

[GusD]

Not that my opinion means as much, but Bob and Gregory are right about Ford and Sand. I liked listening to their broadcasts because while they obviously favored the western Vikings, they did so with minimal "homerism," therein remaining objective in their description of the action.

[Gregory Sager]

That's a good point, and I probably should've added it. Homerism is pretty much to be expected of school-produced broadcasts. I am a homer when I call North Park games, and everyone knows it by the tone of my voice. The key is to confine as much as possible your enthusiasm for your team's successes to your vocal delivery (volume, pitch, cadence), while striving to keep the actual content of your call as fair and objective as possible. That means noting both the good performances of the opposition and -- this can be tricky -- noting when your team's players have performed poorly, made a mistake, or are simply not as good as their opponent, and not being afraid to say why.

Every good broadcaster I've ever seen work a D3 game has done these things. Chris and Dan were no exception. They always called the game straight down the middle, even though it was obvious that they wanted to see Augustana win. There was never any question about their calls and analyses being objective and even-handed. They never wore navy-blue-and-gold glasses when they were on the air, and I appreciated that.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park's 2025-26 roster is going to go up on the NPU website shortly. There will be 32 players listed: 5 seniors, 8 juniors, 6 sophomores, and 13 freshmen. No doubt many of the freshmen will be listed separately as JV players.

It's the largest roster I can ever remember seeing for the Park. Sorting out all of these guys, most of whom are newcomers, is going to be interesting. Looking forward to seeing some open gyms before practice starts.