FB: Northwest Conference

[olddog]

It must be raining up there and nothing to do....

BTW the game time is noon, posted on UR site now

[wildcat11]

BTW the game time is noon, posted on UR site now

Sep 19th 2015    Redlands    (Noon)   

[bleedpurple]

A quick question for you guys about Linfield.  Obviously, the school is committed to sports and capable of drawing high quality athletes and building great sports programs (football and baseball).  Why is Linfield so horrible in basketball?  I know they are really young this year and their coach is in their second year. But they have been horrible to bad to mediocre for over a decade. I'm asking here because I don't see a lot of you Linfield guys posting on the basketball board.

[OldCatProf]

A quick question for you guys about Linfield.  Obviously, the school is committed to sports and capable of drawing high quality athletes and building great sports programs (football and baseball).  Why is Linfield so horrible in basketball?  I know they are really young this year and their coach is in their second year. But they have been horrible to bad to mediocre for over a decade. I'm asking here because I don't see a lot of you Linfield guys posting on the basketball board.

You raise a painful question for many Linfield faithful. Many of us remember a time long long ago (and seemingly far far away) when Linfield ruled the NWC Roost in basketball too. Frankly, the reasons are not much different from those that typically explain why any program has struggled over many years. One additional reason might be that a school as small as Linfield (about 1700 students) simply may not be able to afford to support nationally recognized (or even highly competitive) programs in very many sports. Still we remain proud of our football, baseball and softball national championships in recent years...along with a bunch of near-misses.

GO CATS!

[bluenote]

.... not sure.... a basketball team needs like 7 players to be good. It's a mystery. We have one of the best facilities in the league.

[bleedpurple]

Interesting, because facilities was one of the things I was going to ask about.  If those are among the highest caliber in the league it would seem feasible to turn that program around.  Top 5 football and baseball teams (and softball, too, apparently) would tell me that there is enough success to establish that type of culture and expectation for basketball as well. 

I know one of the things that began happening a number of years ago at UW-W was the head coaches of those three programs began meeting for coffee or lunch on an intentional and regular basis.  As the relationships formed, it became natural to learn from one another, challenge one another, and help one another.  I don't want to overplay it like they are best friends or anything, but there truly does seem to be a strong unity across the entire athletic department right now. One of the things you hear more and more out of UW-W is "Twenty Sports, One Team".  Not at all saying they don't have that at Linfield, I was just trying to think of the dynamics at UW-W that have a feel of success of one sport rubbing off on another.

Hopefully, the current coach is a good recruiter and can get those seven kids to build the team around. Actually, just two or three studs and four or five solid additional players can take you pretty far.

[catjumper]

Regarding Linfield's basketball struggles ...

I've wondered whether the "winter block" academic schedule plays into it at all. For those unfamiliar with it, Linfield's fall semester goes from early September to mid-December, and spring semester goes from the second week of February to the end of May. In between is a five-week "winter block" from the first week of January through the first week of February - it's designed for travel-abroad study opportunities and intensive classes (think a half-day class, five days a week, for five weeks - great for lab-type courses).

When I was in school in the early '80s, only about one-quarter to one-third of the students took winter block; you could pretty easily earn enough credits to graduate in four years without attending one. But there was extra cost involved in attending winter block, and it made for some sparse basketball crowds - which may still be the case. Of course, Riley Gym was small enough for a couple hundred people to feel like a throng. Feed 'em some pre-game Blitz Weinhard, and it could make for a great atmosphere.

But that's not the case in the new gym, which could make for a tough selling point. And I don't know if the schedule entails extra costs for basketball players to be there an extra five weeks each year. Not sure if all that is what's happening, but like I said - I wonder.

I do believe freshmen will be required to attend winter block starting next year or the year after, so maybe that has some affect.

[d-train]

I don't know, PLU has a similar January 'block'...I think a few other NWC schools do as well. Then again PLU hasn't exactly been a hardwood powerhouse.

[catjumper]

First off: ** effect **

If that's the case, I'd be interested in knowing the attendance requirement / level at the other NWC schools.

[Pat Coleman]

Lots of schools have J terms. It only seems to affect crowds for January home games.

[catjumper]

Thanks. Back in the day, I recall a lot of other schools seemed to start Spring Semester in early January and wrap up in early May - perhaps times have changed.

[Andy Jamison - Walla Walla Wildcat]

Bleedpurple... There seem to be a number of issues that have been a challenge to building a successful program. If you talk with ex-basketball players they will explain that they were treated by everyone in the athletic department as second or third class citizens. Football and baseball athletes were the priority for the training staff. The head coach had multiple responsibilities unrelated to basketball such as being a full time professor and having duties in the athletic complex. There was most likely internal friction between the two AD's who ran the department during the 27 year tenure that contributed to the lack of success. Recruiting of top tier athletes (for D3) seemed to drop off over the last several years. It seems difficult to recruit, coach, develop players AND teach and manage part of the facility. The energy and time required for a single person to do all of that year in and year out must have gotten to be too much. Add to that the struggles inherent in recruiting plus admissions plus the cost plus internal politics you get a situation where things are just not fun for the man in charge.  That then feeds on itself... 5 years ago it was time to go in a new direction but the change wasn't made until two seasons ago.

The new coach has the team playing hard and competing but the talent is simply not good enough at this time.  The bulk of the team was freshmen and sophomores with a concentration on post players. My expectation over the next several seasons is rapid growth in terms of wins and a corresponding increase in league finishes. We play for championships at Linfield, both conference and at the national level, and the basketball program will get there. We have a great facility, athletes can get into the school, it is cost competitive, and the expectation is to win. The potential is there for something great but it is going to take a coach who understands the importance of football to the school and works with and around that fact to build something. He can't compete with it for resources at this time but needs to be creative in bringing in $$$$ and support.

At least that is my opinion and I've followed both hoops and FB since 1990.

[D O.C.]

LINFIELD  seems to have had a drop-off in football/basketball players too. Last one I can remember was OJ Mayo.

[d-train]

LINFIELD seems to have had a drop-off in football/basketball players too. Last one I can remember was OJ Mayo.

Speaking of OJ, the infamous white Bronco low speed police chase was nearly matched by yesterday's llow speed Llama Drama in Sun City.

LLAMA 1: We're escaping this afternoon.

LLAMA 2: Alpaca bag.

[D O.C.]

Boo!