Top JUCO's IN midwest

quote:

Originally posted by goingdeep:
Is DI or DII matter

Hunh??

What i meant to say was does it matter

For a juco

Going deep - My own son is at Lincoln Trail in Robinson, IL. It's a DI. Coach is very experienced in several different areas. I can promise you that there's not a program anywhere that expects more of it's players athletically, physically and academically. The head coach is soft spoken and you really don't get a true feel for his intensity until you're a player and on his field. They have two assistants with one living in the housing area, and the other one's focus is on pitching. They do have a large roster which can be a drawback. The boys have actually had mandatory study tables for 4 nights/ week. Academic advisor has been wonderful and accessible for players. The housing is probably the best set up of any school we visited - including NCAA, JUCO, NAIA. They have a successful history as a program as well. Please feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions on this particular program.

GoingDeep

D1: Can offer full tuition and housing scholarships
D2: Can only offer tuition scholarships
D3: Can NOT offer either

D1 can offer everything, D2's can only offer tuition AND books, D3's are NON scholarship.

Does that make Triton D1 and South Sub D2?

To throw out some names (in case someone else stumbles into this discussion looking for some names)

What divisions are COD, Elgin, Parkland, and Lincoln?

COD is DIII and Parkland is DII. I'm not sure of Elgin and Lincoln.

Looks like Triton and South Sub are both D1. Check here for the others. Choose the mens sports tab at the top and take it from there:

http://www.njcaa.org/index.cfm

I believe Triton recently changed or is in a transition state from a DI to a DIII program. South Suburban is a DI as well as Kishwaukee and Olive Harvey in Region IV (Northern IL, roughly north of I80). COD is indeed a DIII (Region IV). Parkland and Lincoln Land are DII's from Region XXIV. Elgin Community College is a DII from Region IV. Both Parkland and Elgin made it to the NJCAA DII World Series last season.

And Parkland finished second to Grand Rapids.

So Parkland has a good baseball program for a DII?

goingdeep,

I would say both Parkland and Elgin have very good baseball programs. Parkland finished 2nd and Elgin finished 3rd in this year's NJCAA DII World Series.

The interesting thing about Parkland will be how their 'new' coach does. Coach Rosenthal's first year was actually last year, so this is his second year coaching Parkland; however, the previous head coach, Dave Seifert, stayed on last year as pitching coach. He also did a lot of the recruiting. Coach Seifert has now moved to Evansville, so Coach Rosenthal has the team along with a couple of new assistants. Time will tell how he does. He certainly got off to a good start last year. How much of it was due to prior recruiting? Well, with junior colleges you find that out in a hurry with complete turnover every two years.

It will be interesting. Parkland has gone to the World Series four out of the last five years, finishing first in 2002.

The coach and coaching staff at Lincoln Trail is first class as well is their program. They make sure guys are doing the right things on and off the field which is rare for most JUCOs. Olney Central is another good program in IL that has a first class coach.

Come on guys, these JuCo's can't compete with the one's from Tennessee. Almost all of them have solid programs in their conference.

Sports - I'm very familiar with several JUCOs in TN and yes, they do have very good talent as well. Most could definately compete with the JUCOs that have been mentioned. The question was for JUCO's in the midwest however.

Elgin travelled to Tennessee for their spring trip in 2004 and competed very well. Wallace State was the only team to dominate with a DH sweep over ECC. ECC swept Motlow State and lost a one run decision to Volunteer State in the last inning. I thought they competed very nicely for such a young team. ECC's spring trip in 2005 featured competition in Arizona where a sophomore laden team competed very well losing only to Ft. Scott CC in the bottom of the 9th and to Chandler Gilbert.

From what I understand is that TN JuCo's start their conference in early Febuary. Therefore these teams(ECC) would not be facing their most talented squad(Motlow or Vol State). Tennessee is still considered to alot of people to be in the midwest and part of the south.

Sports - I think most of the TN JUCOs start around the middle of February - the same as most of the Illinois ones. The difference is there's a good chance the weather might not cooperate when you're more northern.

My son actually signed with and initially planned on attending a JUCO in TN. He participated in intra-squads there in the middle of January last year in mid 50's weather. (We had been to Northern KY area the day before and toured a school in the snow!) I sat in the stands in TN without a coat. It was beautiful! Weather is obviously a plus for playing further south!! However, I've never thought of TN as being anything other than Southeastern US. If you consider them mid-west, I would absolutely include them for the poster to investigate.

sportsbuff30,

Perhaps the same could be said for ECC playing double headers almost daily but, to me, a loss is a loss, no excuses. I think most teams face this same dilemna in their season schedules and pitching depth is essential. There are no astericks next to games lost stating your #5 was facing the other teams #1, so don't schedule the game if you don't want the loss.

Also, as a native Tennessean, I have never heard of TN being included in the "Midwest".

Having seen JUCO teams in action from Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, Connecticut, Michigan, Iowa, Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey has led me to believe ECC can compete with these programs.

Maple Woods in Kansas City has won the Regional title for the past 5 of 6 years and will win it again this year.

Maple Woods CC (Kansas City)
Forest Park CC (St. Louis)
Meremac CC (St. Louis)
Crowder College (Ozarks)
Jefferson College (Hillsboro)

These are some of the better JUCO programs in Missouri.

Does anyone have any insight into the baseball program at The College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL?

John A. Logan JC in Carterville IL. We have had around 10 guys go there the past few years eventhough some had D1 offers. They have been to the WS a few times and are a D1 juco. Coach Jerry Halstead and Tim Williams have been there for some time now.