The Midwest Conference will deviate from its traditional North-South Division format for the 1998-99 season and will play a modified round-robin schedule with 16 league games. The top four teams will advance to the MWC tournament, hosted this year by the top-ranked North Division school. RIPON defeated LAWRENCE, the defending champion, to win its first men’s league crown since 1992 and swept through a perfect 13-0 conference schedule. The Red Hawks are the coaches’ preseason favorite again this year with several key players returning. Lawrence will likely challenge among the North schools and 1998 tourney teams MONMOUTH and LAKE FOREST should be the best of the southern schools. CARROLL, which finished third in the North a year ago, returns a talented and experienced group of veterans and could contend for a tournament spot. KNOX suffered major graduation losses and will need to find production from younger players, as will GRINNELL, the last South Division school to win a league championship (1996).

BELOIT (1-20, 1-12; away January 29th)....1997-98 Score: Monmouth 109-85....Beloit leads all-time series 45-39 but Monmouth has won the last two meetings....Bucs fell on hard times last year, winning only one game.... Beloit won the MWC crown 4 times in the 1980s and last captured the title in 1995....Monmouth topped the century mark against Beloit last season, one of two games the Scots scored 100 or more points....Bucs return league’s leading rebounder and free-throw shooter in senior Darren Rothermel, a Second Team All-MWC selection
CARROLL (13-9, 7-6; home January 22nd, away January 30th)....1997-98 Score: Monmouth 89-80...Carroll has won 6 of the 9 games between the two schools....Monmouth won last year on the road in Waukesha....Pioneers will feature one of the most experienced lineups in the conference with four seniors among their potential starting five...Senior guard Mike Zuelsdorf was a Second Team All-Conference pick in 1997...This year’s schedule pits the Scots and Carroll against each other twice in the span of eight days
GRINNELL (10-12, 5-8; home January 8th, away February 10th)....1997-98 Scores: Monmouth 109-107, Grinnell 104-73....Monmouth holds a 67-33 all-time series edge on the Pioneers after last season's split....The Scots won on Grinnell’s floor and the Pioneers returned the favor late in the season at Monmouth....The Pioneers won their first MWC crown in 1996, defeating Ripon in the title game, and returned to the tournament in 1997... Grinnell has led the NCAA in scoring average the past four seasons, averaging well over 100 points...These two teams have hooked up in several wild high-scoring games in recent seasons, including a 151-112 contest in Grinnell in 1997 and a 107-105 game last year which saw MC’s Kent Froebe record the first triple-double by a Scot player in several seasons...Senior guard Jeff Clement returns as the league’s top scorer (33.8 per game) and hold s the NCAA Division III record for three-point shots in a game (18)...The Scots' 134 points in a 1995 win was the second-highest point total in team history and their 84 second-half points set a new team mark
ILLINOIS (6-16, 2-11; away January 26th, home February 17th)....1997-98 Scores: Monmouth 77-73, Monmouth 90-75...Monmouth has dominated the all-time series (46-8) and has won 27 of the last 28 games against IC, losing only at home in 1997 during that span....The Scots swept both games again last year....Illinois won only 2 conference games last year with several underclassmen in their starting lineup...Blueboys return sophomore Second Team All-Conference guard Justin Six
KNOX (11-11, 6-7; home December 5th, away February 20th)....1997-98 Scores: Monmouth 78-71, Knox 106-84....The Scots have played 175 basketball games against Knox, the most with any team in school history.... The Fighting Scots hold the all-time series edge at 98-77....The two teams have split their season series the past four years....The last season sweep was by Monmouth in the 1993-94 season...Monmouth’s last overtime game was a 95-92 victory at Glennie Gym in the 1996 season finale.....The Prairie Fire advanced to the MWC title game in 1997, losing to Lawrence 90-79....Fire must replace three All-Conference selections from last year but will still start several experienced seniors
LAKE FOREST (11-12, 7-6; away December 2nd, home January 9th)...1997-98 Scores: Monmouth 75-65, Monmouth 85-67.....MC and Lake Forest have met 40 times in men’s basketball with the Foresters leading the all-time series 24-16.... LFC finished second in the South Division last year and advanced to the MWC tournament for the first time in team history....Monmouth won by ten on the Foresters’ home court and then blew out LFC at Glennie Gym.....LFC lost All-Conference forward Mike Ansani
LAWRENCE (16-8, 10-3; home January 23rd)...1997-98 Scores: Lawrence 92-77, Monmouth 79-68 (MWC Tournament).. Monmouth leads the series 59-17....The Vikings swept both games last year, including an 11-point decision in the MWC tournament semifinals on the Scots’ home court....Lawrence won the league championship in 1997 and was runner-up in 1998, losing to Ripon in the title game last February....LU returns two seniors on the frontline but will likely start two sophomores at guard with the graduation of All-Conference guard JoJo DePagter
RIPON (23-2, 13-0; away January 15th, home February 5th)...1997-98 Score: Ripon 77-69, Ripon 95-59....The Fighting Scots hold a 46-43 series lead but lost twice last year to Ripon....The Red Hawks won in their own tip-off tournament and then blasted Monmouth at Glennie Gym later in the season....Ripon was a perfect 13-0 in league games and won its first MWC men’s title since 1992, defeating Lawrence for the championship....The Hawks are the only league school to appear in every postseason tournament in the 1990s and have won 3 titles and finished second 5 times....Ripon returns North Division MVP guard Adam Zakos and fellow All-Conference performers Bret Van Dyken (forward) and Matt Becker (guard)
ST. NORBERT (11-11, 5-8; away January 16th, home February 5th)...1997-98 Score: Monmouth 78-58....With last year’s 20-point victory at home, Monmouth took a 5-4 lead in the brief all-time series....The last SNC win came in 1994...The Green Knights return First Team All-Conference guard Mike Heun and the league’s assist leader in guard Aaron Andres