The buzz was back in 2009-10. After several good but not great seasons, the 2010 Carthage College men's basketball team showed brought the new Tarble Arena to life with a 24-6 season that put the Red Men back into the national spotlight.
Carthage won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title with a 12-2 mark and earned the right to play host to the CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. The Red Men, making their first-ever appearance in the event, won the conference tournament with a 70-67 win over Illinois Wesleyan University after defeating Augustana College (Ill.), 55-52, in a semifinal game.
With the league's automatic qualifier, Carthage played host to first and second-round games in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship. The Red Men defeated Aurora University, 84-70, in a first-round contest before winning over Anderson University, 76-58, in the second round. Carthage advanced to a sectional championship at Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Quandt Fieldhouse but lost to Illinois Wesleyan, 77-72, in the sectional semifinals. Carthage wound up playing Illinois Wesleyan four times last season.
“That one is on me more than anyone else,” said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic after the NCAA loss to the Titans. “We didn't make the adjustments we needed to make in the second half, and they were able to get easier shots. If you look back at our season, there have been very few times when anyone has shot 70 percent against us in the second half. Obviously, my design to stop them wasn't right. If you play somebody four times, there are no secrets. Ron Rose and I both agreed before the game that we'd both rather have played somebody else. I thought we dominated the first half, but we were only up by four points. We had a chance to separate ourselves late in the first half, but we got a little unlucky. There were very few fouls called, and that kind of physical game doesn't really help us, since we're more of a finesse-type team.”
Carthage got off to a good start in non-conference play, going 8-3 with losses to nationally-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater on Nov. 20 at the Carthage Classic, Calvin College on Dec. 4 at the CCIW/MIAA Classic and to Wilkes College on Jan. 2 at the “Wilkes-Barre Classic.” The Red Men moved to the top of the CCIW standings in fairly short order, going 6-1 in the first half with only a 79-69 loss at Illinois Wesleyan on Jan. 9. Carthage lost only one other conference game, a 70-59 decision, at home, to Augustana (Ill.) on Feb. 6.
In their second season at the beautiful new Tarble Arena, the Red Men wound up with a 12-2 mark and led the CCIW in home attendance (1.451 per game). The all-new facility, on the site of the former Carthage Physical Education Center, features a parquet floor, arena seating for 2,385 fans with all red seats and theatre-style chairs on one side, a giant video board and state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment. The video board and the ability to darken the house during pre-game introductions added a level of excitement unique to NCAA Division III arenas.
Carthage College was ranked fifth in 2009-10 NCAA Division III men's basketball home attendance. Hope College was first, drawing an average of 2.836 fans per game at its DeVos Fieldhouse. Calvin College and its new Van Noord Arena was second with a 2,136, followed by Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Quandt Fieldhouse third at 1,628, the College of Wooster and the Timken Gymnasium fourth at 1,529 and Carthage and its new Tarble Arena fifth with a 1,426 mark.
For the third year in a row, the star of the highlight tape was guard Steve Djurickovic (Sr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford). Djurickovic, the son of head coach Bosko Djurickovic, was named “D3hoops.com Player of the Year,” D3hoops,com” first-team All-America and Midwest Region “Player of the Year,”, along with the National Association of Basketball Coaches first-team All-America and NABC Midwest Region “Player of the Year.” He was also named CCIW/Fred Young “Player of the Year” and first-team All-CCIW for the third-straight season. Djurickovic led the CCIW in scoring (24.4 points per game), assists (7.27 per game), free-throw percentage (.877) and minutes played (37.10 per game), while ranked seventh in three-point field-goal percentage (.410), ninth in field-goal percentage (.525) and tied for 18th in rebounding (4.5 per game).
Djurickovic was ranked third among 2010 NCAA Division III scoring leaders (24.4 points per game) and fourth in assists (7.27 per game). In scoring , Djurickovic trailed only Green Mountain College's Rui Carmo at 25.0 points per game and Carroll University's John Hoch at 24.8. As a team, the Red Men were ranked third nationally in fewest turnovers per game (10.2 per game) and sixth in field-goal percentage (.495).
Djurickovic is Carthage's fourth conference “player of the year.” Johnie Butler won the award in 1971, Jason Wiertel in 2000 (co-winner) and Antoine McDaniel in 2002. He was also named 2010 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)/ESPN the Magazine College Division third-team Academic All-America®.
Djurickovic enters his senior season ranked second on the Carthage career scoring list (2,002 points) and needs just 112 points to pass Jason Wiertel (2,113 points, 1969-2002) and move into first place. Djurickovic is seventh in field goals (627), seventh in field-goal attempts (1,257), first in made free throws (653), first in free-throw attempts (781) and first in assists (484). He also enters the 2010-11 season as just the 15th CCIW men's basketball player to score 2,000 or more points. Djurickovic needs 634 points to overtake Millikin University's Leon Gobczynski's conference-record 2,635 points (1971-75).
Center Tyler Pierce (So., Westmont, Ill.) and forward Mitch Thompson (So., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) were both named third-team All-CCIW. Pierce was 14th in league scoring (12.5 points per game), third in field-goal percentage (.575) and 16th in rebounding (4.8 per game). Thompson averaged 6.1 points per game and 4.9 rebounds, while leading the league in blocked shots at 2.14 per game.
“We played four freshman almost all year,” pointed out coach Djurickovic, “and most people thought we were a year away from this type of competition. When you're nine points ahead in the second half of a “sweet 16” game, you have every right to get greedy. We're going to really good again next year, but the whole CCIW is going to be beyond good next year.”
Head coach Bosko Djurickovic (241-124 in 14 years at Carthage/437-203, 24 years overall) returns 10-of-15 letterwinners and four-of-five starters from last year's 24-6 CCIW championship and NCAA “sweet 16” team. Lost to graduation are guard Cody Hilton (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East, played in 29 games and made 18 starts, 3.6 points per game), forward Adam Tolo (Mackay, Queensland, Australia/South Suburban College, played in 22 games, 2.2 points, 1.5 rebounds), center Richard Williams (Poplar Grove, Ill./North Boone, played in 22 games, 1.1 points per game), guard Eric Moore (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley, played in 14 games) and guard Steve Ideran (Batavia, Ill., played in 12 games).
In addition to Steve Djurickovic and fellow All-CCIW players Tyler Pierce and Mitch Thompson, Carthage returns guard Max Cary (Jr., Geneva, Ill., played in 25-of-30 games and made 21 starts, 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.92 steals), who might have been an all-conference selection had he not missed five league games with mononucleosis.
The Red Men also return forward Raul Guzman (So., Lyons, Ill./Berwyn-Morton West, 28th in CCIW scoring at 7.5 points per game, 10th in three-point field-goal percentage at .391 and tied for 18th in rebounding at 4.5 per game), guard Malcom Kelly (So., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther, 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and ninth in CCIW three-point field-goal percentage at .398), guard Jon Cieski (Sr., Lemont, Ill., played in 21 games) and guard Pace Bennett (Jr., Moline, Ill./Alleman, played in 20 games).
Leading newcomers include 6-7 center Nick Bauch (Fr., Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association honorable mention all-state and first-team All-Northern Illinois Conference), guard Nick Kladis (Fr., Burr Ridge, Ill./Hinsdale-Central, Daily Herald all-area), guard Marlon Senior (Fr., Skokie, Ill./Niles North, All-Central Suburban League) and guard Scott Suchy (Fr., Kingston, Ill./Genoa-Kingston, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association third-team all-state).
“We return a good and experienced roster with another good recruiting class,” points out coach Djurickovic. “Because of the experience level, I don't expect us to have as many lulls during games as we had last year. Every night we hit the floor this year, we'll have a legitimate chance to win, and you can't ask for much more than that. We'll be a better defensive team this year and a better rebounding team. This will also be a team that can take practice to a more-elite level, and I think that will help us over the course of the season.”
“I don't think I would trade this roster for any roster in the nation,” concludes Djurickovic. “The real challenge this year might well be within our own league. The CCIW is going to make the jump this season from being pretty good to being incredibly good. You have three other teams in the conference who think they are every bit as good as we think we are. Furthermore, the other four teams all have solid returning players and are all going to be very tough. From top to bottom, the CCIW may be as good this year as any year that I can remember.”
“Carthage opens the season versus Calumet College of St. Joseph on Nov. 16, and the Red Men play host to the Carthage Classic on Nov. 19-20. Following a two-game trip to Honolulu, Hawaii over Thanksgiving, Carthage returns home to play host to the seventh annual CCIW/MIAA Classic on Dec. 3-4. Other non-conference opponents include Albion College, Cardinal Stritch University, Silver Lake College and Transylvania University.
