MBB: Midwest Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

That headline really irritates me. It's as if D2 and D3 don't even exist.

I know. Me too. But big ESPN only cares about D1. That's the headline but in the article it specifies D1 record. They could've easily said, "The all-divisions record is held by..." But, they don't care.

[augie77]

There was a reference to it being a Division 1 record in Paragraph 2--but isn't this fairly standard reporting, in which a D-1 record is simply referred to as an "all time NCAA record"?  No less irritating, but I've become numb to it.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/26327479/wofford-magee-breaks-ncaa-career-3s-record

Grotberg - 526
Clement - 516

Anyone else? Maybe from D2?

The D2 record is 451, so just the two Grinnell guys ahead of him.  He's got one more game, so he'll probably catch Clement, I'm thinking - but unless they win another game (or Aston Francis finds an extra year of eligibility in his couch cushions), I think Dr. John Grotberg, MD is secure in his record.

Also, this will be Magee's 134th career game today.  Grotberg got his in just 96.  That's essentially three division 1 seasons.

[WW]

Anybody else hear that SNC is leaving the MWC?

[Greek Tragedy]

Anybody else hear that SNC is leaving the MWC?

Where would they go?

[WW]

Anybody else hear that SNC is leaving the MWC?

Where would they go?

It's official. Going to the NACC for 2020-2021 academic year.

[gbpuckfan]

St. Norbert Athletics to Join Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, April 3, 2019 |
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College's intercollegiate athletics program will join the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, the conference announced today. The Green Knights will compete in the NACC beginning in the 2020-21 school year.

"Extensive study of our athletic department and the quality of academic experience for our student-athletes led us to explore Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference membership," St. Norbert College President Brian Bruess said. "Our student-athletes will be spending significantly less time away from campus allowing for a more integrated student experience."

"St. Norbert College is a fine academic institution with a strong record of athletic success and a deep commitment to student achievement," said Dr. Scott Flanagan, Edgewood College president and President of the NACC's Executive Committee. "Those reasons, along with their location near our current geographical area, make St. Norbert an exceptional fit for the NACC. We are excited to welcome St. Norbert to the conference."

The NACC, of which St. Norbert was already an affiliate member for men’s volleyball, consists of 13 schools in Wisconsin and Illinois. Wisconsin members include Alverno College, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Wisconsin Lutheran College (all of Milwaukee), Concordia University Wisconsin (Mequon), Edgewood College (Madison), Lakeland University (Plymouth) and Marian University (Fond du Lac). Illinois members include Concordia University Chicago and Dominican University (both of River Forest), Aurora University (Aurora), Benedictine University (Lisle), Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago) and Rockford University (Rockford). St. Norbert is already partners in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association with MSOE, Concordia Wisconsin, Marian and Aurora.

"We are very pleased to have St. Norbert College join the NACC as our 14th full-time member," said NACC Commissioner Dr. G. Steven Larson. "St. Norbert brings a commitment to both academics and athletics that mirrors the core values of the NACC. They will be a strong partner as we continue to grow into our expanded geographic footprint."

"A vibrant and competitive program will enhance our student-athletes' overall experience," St. Norbert athletics director Tim Bald said. "With significantly less travel, our student-athletes will have more occasions to engage with our faculty and the community of St. Norbert College."

The move to the NACC will end membership in the Midwest Conference, which has nine other members located in Wisconsin (Lawrence University, Ripon College and Beloit College), Illinois (Lake Forest College, Knox College, Monmouth College and Illinois College) and Iowa (Cornell College and Grinnell College). The Green Knights won 121 Midwest Conference championships in 14 different sports while appearing in 66 NCAA Division III Tournaments after joining the league full-time in 1983. St. Norbert also won 19 Midwest Conference All-Sports Trophies - 15 for women and four for men - despite not fielding men’s and women’s swimming until 2018-19.

"We will miss our many rivalries and relationships built over nearly four decades as a Midwest Conference member and aim to maintain many as non-conference competition in the future," Bruess said. "We are looking forward to growing our existing relationships with NACC members."

"Our reduced travel in a smaller geographic footprint will be less strenuous on our student-athletes, coaching staff and support staff," Bald said. "We are still aligned with institutions of similar academic excellence and missions, while easing demands on schedules and budgets."

St. Norbert will reacquaint itself with long-running series against NACC schools dating prior to World War II. The Green Knights began men’s basketball series with Concordia Wisconsin in 1924-25, with Lakeland in 1932-33 and with MSOE in 1933-34.

St. Norbert has a 23-sport athletics program, with 19 of those competing in every championship the NACC sponsors. Men's NACC champions are sponsored in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball. Women's NACC champions are sponsored in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

[gbpuckfan]

And now, my personal reaction.

This sucks.

I get it. No more drives to Monmouth, Knox, IC, Cornell, or Grinnell. Getting more Milwaukee and Chicago schools, which is where the school recruits all students from.

But I don't like losing the rivalries with Lawrence and Ripon. At the risk of offending the new competition, it seems like a step down. Maybe I'm wrong - I can't say I follow the NACC at all in terms of how it does in the postseason. But I don't get the sense at-large bids are ever an option (not that they are common for the MWC).

Don't move my cheese. And get off my lawn.

[Greek Tragedy]

Athletically, I was wondering if moving from the MWC to the NACC was a step up , down or lateral move.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The latest trends I've heard is that winning athletic programs help overall recruitment more than level of competition (which is usually limited to athletes).  Unless it's a huge disparity, which it isn't in this case, it's likely a huge benefit to the school for all the reasons already stated.

Even if it is a step down, very, very few people will ever know that.  Certainly not most prospective students.

[WW]

From an all-sports perspective, I think it's a step up if not necessarily a huge one. MWC just has too many have-nots. And Knox, Monmouth et al are a long way from home.

[gbpuckfan]

As was pointed out to me (and I had admitted) I don't know the NACC well.

From someone contending this isn't a step down, pointing out the NACC's successes:

The NACC had two baseball teams in the NCAA Tournament last year, Concordia-Chicago and Aurora. Concordia has gone to the World Series twice, as has Aurora I believe. Also, Benedictine played in the men's basketball national championship game in 2016 and Dominican men's soccer has reached the Final Four. Wisconsin Lutheran women's basketball won an NCAA Tournament game this year. Aurora beat WashU in the men's basketball tournament last year.

[Gregory Sager]

As was pointed out to me (and I had admitted) I don't know the NACC well.

From someone contending this isn't a step down, pointing out the NACC's successes:

The NACC had two baseball teams in the NCAA Tournament last year, Concordia-Chicago and Aurora. Concordia has gone to the World Series twice, as has Aurora I believe. Also, Benedictine played in the men's basketball national championship game in 2016 and Dominican men's soccer has reached the Final Four. Wisconsin Lutheran women's basketball won an NCAA Tournament game this year. Aurora beat WashU in the men's basketball tournament last year.

I was just about to post these very facts. The NACC is a slight step up from the MWC, because it does have some isolated programs here and there (Concordia IL in baseball is the most consistent and noteworthy example) that have achieved national success. The MWC just doesn't have that. For example, only three times in 45 years has a MWC team made it out of the first weekend of the tournament in this sport, and the only MWC team to ever reach the Elite Eight was the 2004 Braier Lawrence team ... and that achievement is now a decade and a half in the rear-view mirror.

Don't get me wrong; there's still plenty of dross, competition-wise, in the NACC. But it's telling that the most consistently solid athletic department in the MWC is St. Norbert itself. This move will make the NACC a lot more competitive, and it will drag down the MWC significantly in terms of its competition level.

[hickory_cornhusker]

As was pointed out to me (and I had admitted) I don't know the NACC well.

From someone contending this isn't a step down, pointing out the NACC's successes:

The NACC had two baseball teams in the NCAA Tournament last year, Concordia-Chicago and Aurora. Concordia has gone to the World Series twice, as has Aurora I believe. Also, Benedictine played in the men's basketball national championship game in 2016 and Dominican men's soccer has reached the Final Four. Wisconsin Lutheran women's basketball won an NCAA Tournament game this year. Aurora beat WashU in the men's basketball tournament last year.

I was just about to post these very facts. The NACC is a slight step up from the MWC, because it does have some isolated programs here and there (Concordia IL in baseball is the most consistent and noteworthy example) that have achieved national success. The MWC just doesn't have that. For example, only three times in 45 years has a MWC team made it out of the first weekend of the tournament in this sport, and the only MWC team to ever reach the Elite Eight was the 2004 Braier Lawrence team ... and that achievement is now a decade and a half in the rear-view mirror.

Don't get me wrong; there's still plenty of dross, competition-wise, in the NACC. But it's telling that the most consistently solid athletic department in the MWC is St. Norbert itself. This move will make the NACC a lot more competitive, and it will drag down the MWC significantly in terms of its competition level.

I would say the only sport where the top end of the MWC was better than the NACC was football (as in the best team in the best of years might get out of the first round of the playoffs). Most of that was Ffrom SNC themselves so it might be a lateral move in that regard.

[WW]

As was pointed out to me (and I had admitted) I don't know the NACC well.

From someone contending this isn't a step down, pointing out the NACC's successes:

The NACC had two baseball teams in the NCAA Tournament last year, Concordia-Chicago and Aurora. Concordia has gone to the World Series twice, as has Aurora I believe. Also, Benedictine played in the men's basketball national championship game in 2016 and Dominican men's soccer has reached the Final Four. Wisconsin Lutheran women's basketball won an NCAA Tournament game this year. Aurora beat WashU in the men's basketball tournament last year.

I was just about to post these very facts. The NACC is a slight step up from the MWC, because it does have some isolated programs here and there (Concordia IL in baseball is the most consistent and noteworthy example) that have achieved national success. The MWC just doesn't have that. For example, only three times in 45 years has a MWC team made it out of the first weekend of the tournament in this sport, and the only MWC team to ever reach the Elite Eight was the 2004 Braier Lawrence team ... and that achievement is now a decade and a half in the rear-view mirror.

Don't get me wrong; there's still plenty of dross, competition-wise, in the NACC. But it's telling that the most consistently solid athletic department in the MWC is St. Norbert itself. This move will make the NACC a lot more competitive, and it will drag down the MWC significantly in terms of its competition level.

I would say the only sport where the top end of the MWC was better than the NACC was football (as in the best team in the best of years might get out of the first round of the playoffs). Most of that was Ffrom SNC themselves so it might be a lateral move in that regard.

I'd say Monmouth was certainly an equal contributor to top-heaviness of MWC football. In fact, recently they're the only MWC team that has played a non-conference schedule worthy of Pool C consideration should they not win the conference