BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Just Bill]

Whitewater looked very good but seemed to have some advantages, playing at home and with the ideal game times didn't hurt their chances any. Curious how they pegged the west team with the early time slot of 10am Ct which of course is 8am PT. With bp before game and other pre-game functions it meant a very early start of the day for those players. Why wouldn't they give the west coast team a later start?  Talk to anybody outside of Appleton and they would all sense the tilt towards Whitewater and the snub for some other teams. Linfield team didn't even get full introductions like the opposing team in the same game! Pretty low blow by those running the tourney! Watched multiple games and the field prep for the late whitewater games were stepped up compared to earlier games, not as much water on the field made for a few rough games and the errors should that! Some crazy hops in some Emory games and same with Cortland. This tourney was down compared to previous years, I think it's time for a change. Previous years had more festivities, more pictures and souvenirs! Great teams playing in a poorly ran, home team favored tourney! I hope to watch from a different venue next year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0&feature=kp

[badgerwarhawk]

The teams arrive several days before their first game and have plenty of time to adjust to the time zone change.  That's simply the most absurd excuse I've heard.  The schedule of games was set by the NCAA last year before they had any idea which teams would be participating.  Suggesting that it was somehow rigged to favor WHITEWATER is another absurd excuse.  Nothing is ever perfect but overall I thought tournament management did, as the pretty much always have, an very good job running the tournament.

Have to second Bleed regarding the head coach of Emory and the player who participated in the post game interview.  Class all the way. 

Strike, you're going to be disappointed because Appleton will be the tournament venue through the 2016 season. 

[ShineTime]

The world series couldve been in japan this year and whitewater wouldve won the title they left no doubt they were the best and really there wasnt a close 2nd.

[jackson5]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

[Spence]

Hasp going out west for a 10am game would be 12 ct so not a factor, west going out and playing 10 am ct is brutal, one would think it those teams would get at least an afternoon game. Once you lose it is what it is but game one should consider the time difference for sure. Getting there a day early isn't much help.

I do think there's a point to be made here. Is this determined by blind draw or what?

[Spence]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

The phrase "Born on third base, think they hit a triple" comes to mind. Really is amazing that they or some other public giant doesn't win it every year in a no-athletic-scholarships environment.

And of course they're so humble about it too.

[Spence]

Whitewater looked very good but seemed to have some advantages, playing at home and with the ideal game times didn't hurt their chances any. Curious how they pegged the west team with the early time slot of 10am Ct which of course is 8am PT. With bp before game and other pre-game functions it meant a very early start of the day for those players. Why wouldn't they give the west coast team a later start?  Talk to anybody outside of Appleton and they would all sense the tilt towards Whitewater and the snub for some other teams. Linfield team didn't even get full introductions like the opposing team in the same game! Pretty low blow by those running the tourney! Watched multiple games and the field prep for the late whitewater games were stepped up compared to earlier games, not as much water on the field made for a few rough games and the errors should that! Some crazy hops in some Emory games and same with Cortland. This tourney was down compared to previous years, I think it's time for a change. Previous years had more festivities, more pictures and souvenirs! Great teams playing in a poorly ran, home team favored tourney! I hope to watch from a different venue next year!

The main problem it seemed from watching the games is Linfield didn't really try until there were about 4 innings left in the final game. Looks like they followed the fans and phoned in the second championship. If it really was because of an early start then they should be ashamed of themselves for not having enough discipline to get enough sleep.

There have been teams in Appleton for whom this was an issue, but I seriously doubt Linfield coached by Scott Brosius was one of them. I also seriously doubt they phoned in the second championship.

It's just hard to repeat. You'll find out next year, most likely.

[108 Stitches]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but when is winning a D3 CWS title in 10 years dominating?

Congrats to UW-WW on a job well done. They are National Champs for the next year and we will see what happens next year. Repeating is very difficult to do as Linfield found out with essentially the same roster as last year.

PS: No one really cares about D3 football anyway, it is so far from the D1 level it is not funny. It is much easier to transition a baseball program up or down but to transition a whole school is a monumental undertaking. The top ranked D3 baseball programs (across the country) can compete with D1 teams, but a D3 football program would not last a quarter vs a D1, just apples and oranges.

[Spence]

I never had a doubt whitewater would win it all after what they did to point.   I knew they wouldnt face a pitching staff like that again.  I would bet my house on whitewater next year too may even pull triple crown again.

Where's your house and what's it worth?

[Pat Coleman]

Pat, I'm a little surprised that Mikole Pierce wouldn't be included in the list of players to watch at the World Series.  Aside from being both the conference's co-player of the year and the region's player of the year his numbers (.446 BA, 79 H, 58 RBI, 8 2B, 7 3B, 9 HR, 16-18 SB) are better than many of the others.  I realize you can't include everyone and Dylan Friend is also notable but so is Pierce.

So just for the record, this isn't the place to reach me for these sorts of things and for those of you who don't follow baseball unless you're in the playoffs Jim Dixon is the D3baseball.com guy. I just pitch in come playoff time because I love baseball and the D3WS is "nearby."

[MasterJedi]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

An act of the state legislature would be needed to allow UWW to move up, so will never happen anyways.

[badgerwarhawk]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

Two things:
1. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
2. State of Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, Board of Regents

[Spence]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

Two things:
1. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
2. State of Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, Board of Regents

How does Parkside do it then?

[NWBaseballFan10]

Whitewater looked very good but seemed to have some advantages, playing at home and with the ideal game times didn't hurt their chances any. Curious how they pegged the west team with the early time slot of 10am Ct which of course is 8am PT. With bp before game and other pre-game functions it meant a very early start of the day for those players. Why wouldn't they give the west coast team a later start?  Talk to anybody outside of Appleton and they would all sense the tilt towards Whitewater and the snub for some other teams. Linfield team didn't even get full introductions like the opposing team in the same game! Pretty low blow by those running the tourney! Watched multiple games and the field prep for the late whitewater games were stepped up compared to earlier games, not as much water on the field made for a few rough games and the errors should that! Some crazy hops in some Emory games and same with Cortland. This tourney was down compared to previous years, I think it's time for a change. Previous years had more festivities, more pictures and souvenirs! Great teams playing in a poorly ran, home team favored tourney! I hope to watch from a different venue next year!

As a Linfield follower, even I cannot agree with these thoughts. I'm sure it was a difficult adjustment for the players (probably the earliest games they have ever had to play if you go by pacific time), but that certainly can't be an excuse for their WS performance. Bottom line is they played their worst 2 games all year at the wrong time and Whitewater looked flawless. Because of this, there is a new team at the top of D3 baseball. Congrats to Whitewater.

[Just Bill]

So is Wisconsin-Whitewater ready to admit that they don't belong in D3 yet or do they still want to pretend that D3 was designed for Public universities with 5 figure enrollments?

And so it begins......

You guys had a winning streak that was over 40 games in football, have won 4 of the last 5 national championships in football. Have won 10 national championships overall since 2005. You have the student body and the facilities for it. The excuse was always that you couldn't move up in football because you'd have to move up in all sports. You're dominating in basketball and baseball to now so what's holding you guys back?

Two things:
1. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
2. State of Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, Board of Regents

How does Parkside do it then?

Boring history lesson to follow...

The UW System was created in 1971 and the current three division NCAA structure in 1973-74. The UW System was a merger of the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin State University System. All of the former UW System schools (Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Parkside) were giving out athletic scholarships. The Wisconsin State University colleges (aka the WSUC and now the WIAC) were not. So every school in the new UW System needed to figure out where they belonged. Being athletic scholarship schools already, the four UW System schools fell naturally into D-I and D-II. The Wisconsin State schools were not, so they fell naturally into D-III. Madison was obviously going to be D-I. Milwaukee, Green Bay and Parkside felt they had the support to play Division II so they went there. The rest of the UW schools wanted to be Division III.

So the State Legislature wrote into the charter of the UW System schools that only Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Parkside could offer athletic scholarships. Since then Milwaukee and Green Bay have elevated to D-I because they had sufficient support to do so. Parkside has stayed pretty much the same over the years.

So for any of the non-scholarship schools to move to D-I or D-II they would need the State Legislature to agree to change the charter of the UW System. I'm no expert if legislative matters, but I'm certain that it wouldn't be easy in the budget-conscious world of state politics.

So to answer Spence's question as to how UW-Parkside managed to move to D-II, the answer is they didn't. They just started there.

I think there is WAY more possibility that at some point Parkside comes back to D-III and joins the WIAC. They haven't thrived in Division II and at some point a UW Board of Regents member is going to look at a budget sheet and wonder why they are spending so much money to send teams to Rolla, Mo. and other scenic locals when they could play 90% of their games withing a 3-hour drive in D-III. Not to mention the savings of not paying out athletics scholarships. Plus making that move wouldn't require a change to the UW System charter.

Still, I don't think a Parkside move to D-III is imminent either, although I've never understood what D-II gains them.