MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Stertorous Thunder]

Greg, I'm with you now on Mason Funk being a first-team All-CCIW selection.  I had him second team along with Colak.  Cleveland still first team and likely MOP for the regular season. 

First team:  Vanlandingham, Cleveland, Richardson, Ryan Johnson, Mason Funk . . . and ?

'70

And Trelenberg, Brooks, and Thomann.

I enjoy this time of year, debating the all-CCIW awards.

My first team:
Cleveland, IWU, MOP
Vanlandingham, NPU
Richardson, Whe
R. Johnson, CC
Trelenberg, Elm
McNabb, Mil
Brooks, CC

I predict unanimous selections for the first six on the list, especially the first four.  Brooks, Funk, Vuckovich, and AJ Johnson are all great players who deserve first team consideration, but they have teammates who get more attention and there aren't enough places for all of them so I think that three will fall to the second team.

I'm very confident of my top 11 players, but I haven't paid as much attention to CCIW basketball this year, so I could be way off on the final 5 spots.  I look forward to hearing other opinions.

My second team:
Funk, IWU
Vuckovich, NPU
AJ Johnson, CC
Thomann, Mil
Adjahoungbeta, Elm
Colak, IWU
VanderWoude, Whe
Smith, CU

Honorable mention:
Straughter, Mil
McNabb, CU
Bullock, NCC
Diaz, NCC

To me, Augie didn't have a single star who stood out above his teammates, so they could be lacking an all-conference representative.  Bullock and Diaz are great, but last place teams don't usually get honors unless they have an obvious first teamer.

[Gregory Sager]

All good points on All-CCIW, Greg.  I don't know the other teams well enough to really fill it all out.

I respect that, Mark.

I enjoy this time of year, debating the all-CCIW awards.

My first team:
Cleveland, IWU, MOP
Vanlandingham, NPU
Richardson, Whe
R. Johnson, CC
Trelenberg, Elm
McNabb, Mil
Brooks, CC

Why did you only list seven?

To me, Augie didn't have a single star who stood out above his teammates, so they could be lacking an all-conference representative.

I think they'll give Augie a second-team slot, just for form's sake, since Delp's boys will at worst go 5-11. I think it'll probably be Klaver.

[Stertorous Thunder]

Why did you only list seven?

I think they'll give Augie a second-team slot, just for form's sake, since Delp's boys will at worst go 5-11. I think it'll probably be Klaver.

I guess I'm running on fumes at the end of a crazy week at work.  I would pick Vuckovich as my final first teamer, but the voters will probably give it to Funk.  Since there's one more open spot that I hadn't counted, your prediction of a Quad Cities Viking on the second team makes sense.

Vuckovich's season was just fantastic. I wouldn't have thought a player could improve that much from one season to the next.  A worthy winner of the fictional most-improved CCIW player award.

But as for real awards, is Carson Grier from Wheaton the First Year Student-Athlete of the Year? Or did I miss someone else who was more worthy?

[Gregory Sager]

Why did you only list seven?

I think they'll give Augie a second-team slot, just for form's sake, since Delp's boys will at worst go 5-11. I think it'll probably be Klaver.

I guess I'm running on fumes at the end of a crazy week at work.  I would pick Vuckovich as my final first teamer, but the voters will probably give it to Funk.  Since there's one more open spot that I hadn't counted, your prediction of a Quad Cities Viking on the second team makes sense.

Vuckovich's season was just fantastic. I wouldn't have thought a player could improve that much from one season to the next.  A worthy winner of the fictional most-improved CCIW player award.

But as for real awards, is Carson Grier from Wheaton the First Year Student-Athlete of the Year? Or did I miss someone else who was more worthy?

I'll gladly take your cue, as I don't think I've pushed my pet project enough recently , but, yeah, I've stumped for a long time now for the CCIW to adopt a Most Improved Player award and a Defensive Player of the Year award. This season it'd be pretty open-and-shut in both cases: Mike Vuckovic has upped his game from 2024-25 to 2025-26 about as dramatically as I've seen anyone in this league do in many, many years. And Mason Funk leads the league in both blocks and steals, so he'd be a no-brainer for the mythical DPOY award.

First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year (man, I hate how the league renamed the awards) is an interesting question, because changing it to "First-Year" instead of "Freshman" or "Newcomer" makes it less specific. Does it literally mean "first year as a student-athlete" or is "student-athlete" just the CCIW's "Look how focused we are on academics, everybody!" euphemism for someone who plays the sport in question? If it's just a show-offy term for a player, then Noah Cleveland is going to win that award going away, because this is his first season as a basketball player even though he's an academic sophomore. But if we take the "student" part of "student-athlete" literally, then it has to be someone who is in his first year of college. And the interesting thing is that the class of '29 has thus far produced a really good crop of contributing freshmen for the league: Carson Grier, Peyton McKenna, Luke Smith, and Marquis Vance would all be worthy candidates in any year, and this season the league has four guys of that caliber. In a pinch I'd probably give the award to Grier, but all four of them are worthy.

[GusD]

With regard to First-Year Student-Athlete Of The Year, is there much doubt that the intent of this award was to honor the Freshman Student-Athlete of the year?
If such is the case, the CCIW Administration should rename the award to Freshman S-A Of The Year. If the intent is to honor the most outstanding player, such as Mr. Cleveland, playing his first year in the conference no matter his academic standing, they should issue a memo so stating.  As things currently stand, no one really knows what this award is for.

[GusD]

First team:  Vanlandingham, Cleveland, Richardson, Ryan Johnson, Mason Funk . . . and ?

And Trelenberg, Brooks, and Thomann.

McNabb. You don't keep the second-leading scorer in the league -- a guy who's averaging 21.5 ppg in CCIW play -- off of the first team. I can guarantee that every coach in this league who isn't named Taylor Jannsen game-plans around trying to stop Michael McNabb when Carroll is the next opponent on the docket.

You could also make a case for Mike Vuckovic or Lamar Smith, or, yes, Mason Funk as well. But McNabb has to be at the top of that list. However, it wouldn't shock me if Funk got in due to the time-honored spoils system that a lot of coaches live by. I think it's unlikely that some coaches would slot a second Carthage or North Park or Carroll player on the first team while only putting one player from the top-seeded team on their ballots.

Greg,
I strongly considered McNabb for first team rather than Thomann. Reading your post I thought you certainly made a valid point, and after further consideration I agree McNabb should get the nod with Thomann also worthy of All Conference status albeit as a second teamer.
I never considered Funk to be an anything other than a first teamer if for no other reason than it's a certainty that as conference champs IWU assuredly will land at least 2 players on the first team.

[GusD]

I enjoy this time of year, debating the all-CCIW awards.

My first team:
Cleveland, IWU, MOP
Vanlandingham, NPU
Richardson, Whe
R. Johnson, CC
Trelenberg, Elm
McNabb, Mil
Brooks, CC

I predict unanimous selections for the first six on the list, especially the first four.  Brooks, Funk, Vuckovich, and AJ Johnson are all great players who deserve first team consideration, but they have teammates who get more attention and there aren't enough places for all of them so I think that three will fall to the second team.

I'm very confident of my top 11 players, but I haven't paid as much attention to CCIW basketball this year, so I could be way off on the final 5 spots.  I look forward to hearing other opinions.

My second team:
Funk, IWU
Vuckovich, NPU
AJ Johnson, CC
Thomann, Mil
Adjahoungbeta, Elm
Colak, IWU
VanderWoude, Whe
Smith, CU

Honorable mention:
Straughter, Mil
McNabb, CU[/b]
Bullock, NCC
Diaz, NCC

To me, Augie didn't have a single star who stood out above his teammates, so they could be lacking an all-conference representative.  Bullock and Diaz are great, but last place teams don't usually get honors unless they have an obvious first teamer.

Thunder,
No big deal for sure, but you need to make some minor adjustments to your picks. Millikin would love to have Mr. McNabb, but he plays for a school a little further north. Also, although multi-talented, I don't believe the same young man can be first team and honorable mention at the same time 😉.
Please submit another list of your first and second team picks with 8 players on each team. I'd be interested in seeing what you think. Thanks!

[Stertorous Thunder]

Thunder,
No big deal for sure, but you need to make some minor adjustments to your picks. Millikin would love to have Mr. McNabb, but he plays for a school a little further north. Also, although multi-talented, I don't believe the same young man can be first team and honorable mention at the same time 😉.
Please submit another list of your first and second team picks with 8 players on each team. I'd be interested in seeing what you think. Thanks!

As I mentioned, I think sleep deprivation is taking its toll.

Let's go with this amended ballot:

1st:
Cleveland, IWU, MOP
Vanlandingham, NPU
Richardson, Whe
R. Johnson, CC
Trelenberg, Elm
McNabb, CU
Thomann, Mil
Funk, IWU

2nd
Brooks, CC
Vuckovich, NPU
AJ Johnson, CC
Smith, CU
Adjahoungbeta, Elm
Straughter, Mil
Klaver, Aug
Colak, IWU

Honorable mention:
VanderWoude, Whe
Bullock, NCC
Diaz, NCC

I've attempted to make the lists in an overall ranked order.  Brooks, Vuckovich, and AJ Johnson feel like locks to me, but the rest of the spots on the second team are up for grabs.

[Stertorous Thunder]

First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year (man, I hate how the league renamed the awards) is an interesting question, because changing it to "First-Year" instead of "Freshman" or "Newcomer" makes it less specific. Does it literally mean "first year as a student-athlete" or is "student-athlete" just the CCIW's "Look how focused we are on academics, everybody!" euphemism for someone who plays the sport in question? If it's just a show-offy term for a player, then Noah Cleveland is going to win that award going away, because this is his first season as a basketball player even though he's an academic sophomore.

As I've mentioned before, IWU has a unique ability to bring starter-quality players up from the end of the bench, but being able to pull a league MVP from your freshman core classes is just not fair.

[GusD]

Thunder,
No big deal for sure, but you need to make some minor adjustments to your picks. Millikin would love to have Mr. McNabb, but he plays for a school a little further north. Also, although multi-talented, I don't believe the same young man can be first team and honorable mention at the same time 😉.
Please submit another list of your first and second team picks with 8 players on each team. I'd be interested in seeing what you think. Thanks!

As I mentioned, I think sleep deprivation is taking its toll.

Let's go with this amended ballot:

1st:
Cleveland, IWU, MOP
Vanlandingham, NPU
Richardson, Whe
R. Johnson, CC
Trelenberg, Elm
McNabb, CU
Thomann, Mil
Funk, IWU

2nd
Brooks, CC
Vuckovich, NPU
AJ Johnson, CC
Smith, CU
Adjahoungbeta, Elm
Straughter, Mil
Klaver, Aug
Colak, IWU

Honorable mention:
VanderWoude, Whe
Bullock, NCC
Diaz, NCC

I've attempted to make the lists in an overall ranked order.  Brooks, Vuckovich, and AJ Johnson feel like locks to me, but the rest of the spots on the second team are up for grabs.

Thanks, Thunder.
Here are the changes I'd make;
1. Brooks to 1st team, Thomann to 2nd.
2. VanderWoude is on my 2nd team. Drop Klaver.
3. I won't be surprised if Augie and NCC are shutout. Especially since a good case can be made for all the other players listed and their teams finished higher.

[Gregory Sager]

AJ Johnson is playing for Carthage today.

[iwu70]

Congrats to Ron Rose, all the staff and all the Titans on the outright CCIW regular season championship, wrapping it up with a win over Augie in Rock Island, 75-56.

For Augie:
Rhoden 11
Willems 11 and 8
Anderson 10

For IWU:
Another awesome game for Funk, 29 and 8 with 5 blocks and 2 steals
Lawrence 14
Colak 8
Niego 8

Titans finish the regular season 21-4, 13-3, and will hosts the CCIW tournament at The Shirk, Friday and Saturday.

March basketball is coming . . .

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 81
Elmhurst 79

Mike Vuckovic: 20 pts, 7 rebs
Kolden Vanlandingham: 19 pts (8-12 FG)
Julian Campbell: 15 pts (7-11 FG), 6 rebs

Aidyn Boone: 21 pts (7-11 FG), 7 rebs, 3 stls
Dominic Trelenberg: 15 pts, 7 rebs
Vinnie Adjahoungbeta: 14 pts, 13 rebs
Luke Smith: 13 pts, 4:0 a:to

Vikings pull out the win in a crazy finish in Faganel. Up a bucket, NPU missed three straight free throws in the final half-minute -- two misses on an EU flagrant foul, then a miss on the front end of a one-and-one after inbounding the ball subsequent to the two flagrant misses -- giving the 'jays the opportunity to tie or go ahead. Vinnie Adjahoungbeta was fouled going to the basket with 11 seconds left and made them both, tying the game. After crossing halfcourt and calling timeout to set up the final play, the Vikings messed up that play, with Kolden Vanlandingham driving right into the back of teammate Julian Campbell. With the play broken down and overtime imminent, Mike Vuckovic heaved up a falling-backwards 30-footer -- and was clearly fouled across the arm by Sebastian Blachut in doing so. After looking at the scorer's table laptop (the officiating crew did more reviews today than Siskel and Ebert), the refs put three-tenths of a second on the clock and sent Vuckovic to the line for three attempts. He made the first and the third, Dom Trelenberg's baseball heave inbounds was knocked down in the paint at the far end by Vanlandingham, and the Vikings walked off the floor having spoiled EU's Senior Day.

Very hard-fought and generally well-played game by both teams. North Park led for all but a couple of minutes, but could never push that lead out to more than eight points.

Now the Vikings will watch the Wheaton game to find out who they'll be playing on Tuesday, and whether or not they'll be home or away to play it.

[Gregory Sager]

Aided by a controversial foul call in the waning seconds, Carthage comes out on top of a back-and-forth affair (11 lead changes) over Carroll at Van Male, 71-67. The Firebirds got very balanced scoring from Riley Brooks (16), Ryan Johnson (15 and 13, with four blocks and three steals), Antuan Nesbitt (12), and AJ Johnson (11), with Griffin Daun contributing a 4:1 floor game. Carroll was led by Michael McNabb with 14 pts, 12 of them in the second half, and Peyton McKenna with 11. Jacob Naber pulled down 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

The loss drops Carroll (7-9) to the #6 seed; the Pios will visit #3 Elmhurst on Tuesday. North Park will play Wheaton, it's just a question of where at this point. If the Schauerites hold off visiting Millikin this evening, the game will be at King Arena. If the Big Blue play spoiler, Tuesday's quarterfinal game will be in the crackerbox.

[GusD]

So NPU hands Elmhurst its 8th loss of the season today. It would seem they have to win the conference tournament to go to the national tournament. Carthage has 7 losses. Unless someone other than IWU wins the conference tournament will the CCIW be a one bid conference or will Carthage also make it if they lose the conference tournament final?