Quote from: Naperick on February 25, 2015, 02:07:35 PM
It's time to restart an old debate.  Would the CCIW be better off without a conference tourney this year?
If Augustana wins the tourney, NCC, IWU, & EC will all get one more loss and that extra loss could
be a 'killer' this year.  In the latest central region rankings, IWU is 6th, EC 7th, & NCC 8th.  Not
much breathing room for those 3 squads.

By the way, Augustana is #1 in the central region.  They will make the D3 tourney.  It would be nice if
they would just lie down to help the other 3 get into the D3 tourney.   

I've said before that the conference should give the regular season winner "the choice" of whether they want to compete in the conference tournament or not. It would then be the schools decision to decide where they think they stand for a pool "C" bid - and act accordingly.  This year would be an good example as Augustana is sitting atop the final regional rankings and could opt out with more to lose than gain by playing in the conference tourney.  This would allow North Park to fill the 4th spot and guarantee that at least 2 CCIW schools would get in the tournament.  I'm sure there are pros/cons each way but it certainly could add some intrique after the regular season ends. 

     Augustana's victory last night at Wheaton was impressive.  The Vikings finished 35-61 from the field for 57% while recording 21 assists. On the defensive side of things, Augie held the Thunder to 33% on 19 of 57 shooting. Hunter Hill keyed the hot start for the Vikings and finished with 18, and Brandon Motzel and Tayvian Johnson seemed to contest the majority of shots in the paint.
     Congratulations to the Vikings on winning the CCIW Conference title!

Congratulations to the Augustana Vikings on securing a share of the CCIW crown - more importantly, earning the right to host this years CCIW tourney!  Augustana still the only school to be in every CCIW tournament since it's inception in the 2005-06 season. 

Quote from: augiefan on February 12, 2015, 03:38:46 PM
Augie's last night was certainly a pleasant surprise for a minority of us in this discussion group. I have become accepting of Augie  losing virtually every year to IWU in Bloomington, so the margin of victory was a stunner.

However, given the topsy turvy way this season has played out so far I am not ready to bet the CCIW tournament will be in RI this year. Millikin and Wheaton both pushed Augie to the limit in their earlier games. Augie has been pretty inconsistent this year, so hopefully they will not be too full of themselves over the win over the Titans come Saturday night. The season final at Wheaton is even scarier. Another venue where Augie has suffered some big losses. 

Of course, IWU and Elmhurst both have even tougher matchups with much more at stake, so the league champ(s) may well have 4 losses. Crazy times. I cannot remember a year when every team in the league was a threat to beat any other team on a given night. Can anyway else?

A true "Augie Fan" would know that the Vikings have won 6 of their last 11 games at the Shirk against IWU

Quote from: AndOne on January 15, 2015, 11:14:35 PM

Quote from: Hardwood on January 15, 2015, 09:42:16 PM

Quote from: AndOne on January 12, 2015, 12:32:45 AM
WWIII looks set for 7:00 Wednesday evening when the 13-1 North Central Cardinals entertain the likewise 13-1 Augustana Vikings at "The Hangar" in beautiful downtown Naperville.

Augie was the Coaches Poll pick to capture the CCIW conference championship, while the Cardinals were picked to finish in a  4th place tie with Elmhurst.

With Wash U losing yesterday afternoon, the Cards will likely be welcoming the nation's new #1 team to town. Helmets and shoulder pads optional. 

silence?

Yes, Hardwood. Silence is what I had in mind. But not for the reason your scarcastic inquiry obviously assumed.
Just FYI, my silence resulted from the fact that I spent the time during the game puking my guts out as a result of stomach flu. Not only was I not able to attend the game, I wasn't able to catch more than about 10 minutes of it on the computer as a result of being indisposed during the majority of the game. Aren't you glad you asked? 

From what I did see, and what I've read, NCC fell far short of its usual defensive intensity, wasn't able to ever get its inside game on track, and let itself get outrebounded. Certainly not a championship effort. Still, I'm proud of what the Cardinals have achieved so far this season and feel they have both the resolve and talent to have a very successful year.
I hope that sufficiently answers your question. 

Missing a game just seems out of character for you - while recovering could I suggest to you the book by Jay Bilas on "toughness".

I hope he's okay too - just strange not to hear his side of things.

Quote from: AndOne on January 12, 2015, 12:32:45 AM
WWIII looks set for 7:00 Wednesday evening when the 13-1 North Central Cardinals entertain the likewise 13-1 Augustana Vikings at "The Hangar" in beautiful downtown Naperville.

Augie was the Coaches Poll pick to capture the CCIW conference championship, while the Cardinals were picked to finish in a  4th place tie with Elmhurst.

With Wash U losing yesterday afternoon, the Cards will likely be welcoming the nation's new #1 team to town. Helmets and shoulder pads optional. 

silence?

Quote from: Augie6 on January 12, 2015, 01:58:20 PM

Quote from: Hardwood on January 11, 2015, 12:12:08 PM
Augie6,

I'm not giving all the credit to the current president on the things I listed, just trying to show that because the football program has suffered some tough times doesn't mean the whole athletic program is faltering.  I realize football does have the potential to draw in lots of students and I believe coach Cushman brought in a large class last year - so from a purely numbers perspective football is still getting that accomplished.
What would be your top suggestions to the administration to turn the program around?

HW,

I would say how they handled this coaching hire vs what transpired 4 years ago is a HUGE step in the right direction.  My opinion was covered on this board when the Barnes/Cushman transition occurred, so I'm not going to re-hash that.  Suffice it to say (and as Usee points out), the way that situation transpired was a big mistake and it certainly showed little to no commitment from the administration at even attempting to ensure the right person was hired to run the largest athletic team (in terms of #'s) at the school.  Coach Bell seems like a good hire, but only time will tell with that.  What I'm happy about, is that it was a thoughtful process that identified 3 very solid final candidates for a job that has lost some of it's luster over the past few seasons.  If they had 150+ applicants for the job after 4 seasons with Cushman running the program into the ground, can you imagine the interest there would have been from very good candidates when Coach Barnes was forced out.

I would like to see the administration (and incoming coaching staff) reach out to former alumni to help with the recruiting process.  I think there would be a lot of former players willing to do that.  I don't think those same players would have been willing to recommend kids going to Augie to play football after the whole Barnes/Cushman transition and the ensuing decline of the program.  Don't get me wrong, Augie is a great school and I would always recommend it from an educational standpoint.  But if a kid wanted to play football while they are getting their education, I wouldn't have recommended Augie over the past few years. 

I'm hopeful that this administration is waking up to the fact that intercollegiate athletics can and does play an important role in the education process.  As I've said many times, I have applied skills that I learned on athletic fields as often as skills I learned in the classroom, during my career.  And, if it's recognized that athletics can play an important role in the educational process, then it's important to have a commitment to excellence for athletics, much like a school would for academics.  We'll see where it goes from here.

Augie6,

Fair statement - let's see what happens.  My only suggestion would be for you to be proactive and email the recruiting coordinator and help get things rolling!

Augie6,

I'm not giving all the credit to the current president on the things I listed, just trying to show that because the football program has suffered some tough times doesn't mean the whole athletic program is faltering.  I realize football does have the potential to draw in lots of students and I believe coach Cushman brought in a large class last year - so from a purely numbers perspective football is still getting that accomplished.
What would be your top suggestions to the administration to turn the program around?

Quote from: Augie6 on January 10, 2015, 02:18:34 PM

Quote from: Dr. Acula on January 10, 2015, 08:06:16 AM
I don't know the ins and outs of Augie, but IMO if you have three things present you can always win with a good coach:

1)  Proximity to HS talent
2)  Quality facilities
3)  A pro-athletics administration that supports sports as an institutional priority

From the sounds of the discussion it seems like Augie is a program located near the western suburbs with very nice facilities who competes in a very good conference.  If their administration supports sports (which nice facilities usually signals) then that sounds like a really good job.  Good luck to Coach Bell.

Number 3 is the big question.  The feeling is the current president isn't very supportive of sports and that's why we have seen Augie fall to the depths that they have.   As far as the  recent investments in the football stadium, I think that can be attributed more to the efforts of former Augie and Cincinnati Bengal QB, Ken Anderson, than it can be to President Bahls.  I'm still not sure this administration really "gets it" when it comes to the impact the sports can play on the educational process.

I don't agree with Augie6 on this one.  Whose "feeling" is it that the current president isn't very supportive of sports?  Is the football program the only measuring stick for deciding whether the president is supportive of athletics?  The men's basketball and track programs have had sustained success on the national level for many years running.  The baseball and wrestling programs were CCIW champs in 2014, Women's CC were CCIW champs in 2013 just to name a few successes.
The president's tenure has included the remodel of the Carver PE center, Swanson/Bruner Field for baseball, and the addition of men's and women's Lacrosse, along with the aforementioned football remodel.
I, like you, am frustrated with the recent struggles within the football program but choose to look at the bigger picture of Augustana sports - not just football.

Quote from: augiefan on December 30, 2014, 08:26:14 PM
Augie 71 Coe 66 Final. 21 for Hunter Hill and 20 for Ben Ryan. All in all a pretty uninspired effort by Augie. Sorry to say, but in way are they the #2 team in D III. Probably not even the #2 team in the CCIW.

Coe also played Wash U in St. Louis and lost by 10 after trailing by only 4 at the half - Good teams find ways to win even when they look "Uninspired".  The box score indicated that three Augie players scored 21, 20, and 13.  The team shot 50% from the floor - I hope this "Uninspired" play continues!

IWU loses at Benedictine 61-60. 

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 26, 2014, 09:59:33 PM

Quote from: veterancciwfan on March 24, 2014, 09:47:45 PM
Conversation on the home page about the D3 title game being played at the D1 Final 4 site in the future. My comment: Stupid and idiotic. D3 is about the real STUDENT/athlete and ending the season in the middle of March rather than on April Fool's day so the players can get back to concentrating on academics.

Everyone agrees that the student-athlete comes first in D3, Lanny. And that's precisely the reason why moving the D3 title game to align with the D1 Final Four weekend is not stupid and idiotic. Tom's comment:

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on March 24, 2014, 10:43:39 PMI think every player, coach and fan who participated in last year's Final will disagree with you. I read it was a great and unforgettable experience.

... seems to reflect the consensus among the student-athletes who took part in last year's championship game. And, since it's all about them and not about us as fans, their opinion ought to count more than ours.

Quote from: veterancciwfan on March 24, 2014, 09:47:45 PMSalem does a fantastic job hosting the Final 4.  Totally useless trivia: Florida State was playing Georgetown in the the NIT tonight. To show how big the NAIA tournament was until he NCAA figured out that it could make a ton of money on their 64/68 team format, FSU was one of the 32 teams in the 1955 NAIA tournament (as an at large entrant). For the 95% of posters who never witnessed an NAIA tournament, you missed a unique format which basketball crazy fans loved (8 games at one site on Monday through Wednesday to get the field down to 8-the winner had to win 5 games in either 5 or 6 days).

They put fluoride in the drinking water and force automobile drivers to wear seatbelts nowadays, too, Lanny -- and they also gave the vote to 18-year-olds. Time marches on.

Quote from: iwu70 on March 25, 2014, 11:23:31 PM
Let the news of recruitment and new CCIW players begin . . .

All I've got in the for-sure category thus far is 6'1, 170 guard Nick Novak from Plainfield East going to Augie. Not sure if that's just a verbal or if he's put in a deposit.

Check your source - Novak is going to Millikin

Quote from: veterancciwfan on February 27, 2014, 07:26:27 PM
Maybe Mr. O'Boye needs to ref all the games he can get to help pay the IWU tuition. Enough of this unending controversy. This  discussion of which team will get to host Rounds 3 and 4 (the 2nd weekend of the tournament on Mar. 14 & 15) is futuristic. It's not a given that IWU and Wash. U. will win 2 games on the first weekend (on Mar. 7 & 8). Look at Wash. U's recent record in St. Louis in Rounds 1 and 2. Of course, Wash. U. probably has a better chance to win this year in St. Louis on the first weekend because IWU will be playing in Bloomington.  I don't know much about the relative quality of UAA teams, but if Chicago can go 8-5 in the UAA (their record to date), my opinion is that the CCIW must be a superior league. That, of course, means absolutely nothing to the Midwest Region Committee and shouldn't. However, Wash. U's superior SOS must be based on the conclusion that the UAA does have a lot of quality teams. Is my logic wrong? My guess is that the Midwest Region Committee wants to keep Wash. U. #1 in the final rankings and that is one of the reasons Chicago was ranked at the bottom (#8) of the next to last rankings released earlier this week. Who is the Chairman of the Midwest Region Committee?

You almost had the subject changed but then you brought up "relative" quality

Quote from: Titan Q on February 27, 2014, 06:55:39 PM

Quote from: kiko on February 27, 2014, 06:40:08 PM
Based on his actions at the game, the official is not blameless in this, Ypsi.  He has an obligation to put on a face of impartiality while at the game site.  From all accounts, he clearly did not do this, and that is an egregious breach of his professional responsibilities from my perspective.

Because he hugged his daughter?

If he was really partial to IWU, wouldn't he have made calls for IWU and against Wheaton (something, through all of this chatter, that no one has said he came close to doing)?  By all accounts and observations, that game was officiated very fairly.

This is exactly why O'Boye should have recused himself in the first place.