MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augiedad]

The Augie/NCC contest Saturday is a pivotal game in the league race.  A win by North Central puts the Cards in great position at 4-1 w/ road games @ IWU and Augie out of the way.  A win by Augustana, in my opinion, is necessary just to hold serve.  The Vikings need to get to 6-0 as they still have to go to IWU, NCC, and Elmhurst, not to mention Wheaton and Millikin.

Even though Augie is 5-0 right now, I do not think the Vikings have done anymore than just win the games they should win.  We will know more about the Vikes after these next two - vs North Central, @ IWU.

[Jim Matson]

You're right a-dad.  Augie still has to prove (in a way) that they are for real.  North Central has certainly done that at this point in the season.  Augie really does need this one to prove to themselves that they are a competitor for the league title. 

For the Wheaton/Elmhurst game this Saturday, I won't be holding my breath.  The Thunder did some serious playing last night - but can a young team duplicate that effort against just as good a team as Wesleyan?

[carthageking]

I'm really glad the all mighty Sager is staying out of this one.  Bosko embarassed himself last night and I'm glad for once someone agrees with me.  Do not tell me Carthage does not have the talent to win.  Take a look at their roster and the accomplishments numerous players on the team have.  Two players that were D-2 transfers once thought to be better players than D-3.  A D-1 transfer.  Their are also numerous all-area players and so on and so forth.  So don't talk about talent, it is more than there.  I posted once earlier that the sign of a good coach is taking a team with good talent and making them great.  I think a perfect sign of this is what the Elmhurst coach is doing.  He has one legit star with a couple other players that are pretty good but no where near as much talent,on paper, as IWU or Augie or even Carthage for that matter.  They are having a hell of a year.  Don't tell me that this season isn't on Bosko, his lack of effort and refusal to move on from the past is holding this team back.  The past is the past and with how Bosko is acting he must have had absolute superstars to win because God knows he couldn't have done it with just good talent.

[iwumichigander]

My observation of Carthage goes beyond basketball. For some reason, Bosko has not recruited enough good players in the last 4-5 years. Some in Kenosha blame the College itself. Five years ago, Carthage was struggling from an admissions standpoint. They choose to use athletics to boost enrollment. They had soccer teams of 60 kids. - advoice


Carthage is sitting in WIAC country.  It is pretty darn tough to compete on a recruiting basis with a State of Wisconsin program like the WIAC and the other Wisconsin colleges and universities have.  Also, as I understand it, Wisconsin schools extend "in state tuition rates" to out of state recruited athletes on scholarship.  That's just tough to compete against as a Div III school.   Beyond that, it has to be awfully tough to compete against the rest of the Chicago area colleges.  And, I do not think Carthage gets too many recruits from Lake Michigan!

Maybe I'm being dense, but what does having transfers "tell you."  All it tells me is that Bosko sees alot of potential CCIW talent in transfers. tjcummingsfan  Tells me what I wrote above - it's tough to recruit in Wisconsin; you don't see may kids from Michigan in the CCIW (it's a hard drive from here to there and lots of D3 choices in Michigan)
All the talk of getting him out might be a little premature, but he did mail it in last night.  cardinal20

Even coaches are entitled to a 'bad' night.  One thing I agree with - more the a little premature to speculate about Bosko.  He is a talented coach, the right guy for the entire Carthage outlook; Carthage College & its fans and the entire CCIW are really lucky to have him in that situation.

[advoice]

IWU michigander,

I agree that D3 in Wisconsin is tough. I question one, is the school helping Carthage basketball and other sports/students financially as they were 8 years ago and two, is Bosko working very hard anymore?

He would not be the first CCIW coach that had success and then did not work as hard for whatever reason. Steve Yount at Augie had a great first couple of years. The guy could really coach. Then he stopped recruiting and was average.

I totally respect Bosko's past and think that somewhere in there is a very good coach...but not right now.

[rpknupp]

Good win for the EC Bluejays last night. Look forward to seeing them on the 4th of Feb.

Sager: Good to see you still thinkin' about that corn in Manito!!

[ScrappyMcTavish]

I am sad to see that everyone is jumping on Bosko... I guess none of you have ever had a bad day at work. The only difference is that thousands of people show up to watch Bosko work every night. I am guessing that we have all made mistakes at our jobs and we still got to keep it, right?

One thing that really irks me is when people cowardly belittle another person on a website and do not sign their name to it. I know my name is not on this, but I am NOT putting a coach down on here. Big Difference!

[tjcummingsfan]

CK, stop being dumb.  When you can find another coach who loses the guys Bosko lost before the start of the season, and give IWU, and Augie such a good run, let me know. 

And Scrappy, I am completely with you, I think everyone is entitled a bad day at work every once in a while, even guys with 5 rings on their hands. 

This is just absurd, I'm getting so mad about this, and I have absolutely no attachment to Carthage.  I can't imagine how I'd feel if I went there, or had some other attachment, and people were bashing my coach like this. 

[Elmhurst_Mom]

oh my gosh tj...i couldn't agree more....sheesh....let's remember why we're on this website and appreciate all of the talent and successes that the players AND the coaches in the CCIW have enjoyed.  This has been such a fun and interesting season cuz none of us knows exactly what to expect.  Sit back and enjoy the show!  By the way...there's a nice article about elmhurst in the Chicago Suntimes today....that was fun!

[iwumichigander]

It's not easy being green....

now it's not easy being red in Wisconsin.

Maybe it's a Red Men thing.

Me thinks the 'natives' are restless.

MW

and my name is on ALL my Emails.

Me thinks you are correct!  What was Bosko supposed to do -- go out and recruit two more freshmen or transfers who could be immediate starters just in case he lost a starting point guard, a player with academic ineligibility problems or a player with personal reasons? Give the guy a break and give some credit to the Redmen team whom could have just packed it all in but did not.  Beyond the credit though - the coach can't play the game on the court.  It is up to the team on the court to execute and to find a way to win.

To another poster who asked by Kyle Jefferies -- Could he be an All-American?  Yes, with a little better supporting cast.  More on point could Kyle be All CCIW?  Yes, even with the current surrounding cast.  Kyle seems to be playing this yeara to the potential I thought he had when I saw him last year.

[Titan Q]

Here is that piece on Elmhurst from the Chicago Sun-Times...

http://www.suntimes.com/output/campus/cst-spt-small19.html

The Thursday Small College Notes in the Sun-Times this year has really been a nice thing.  The CCIW gets a lot of pub. out of it.  It's the most coverage of small colleges I can recall in my years of following the Chicago papers.

[Titan Q]

9 years of Bosko at Carthage

Overall Record: 163-72 (.694)
CCIW Record: 82-44 (.651)
CCIW titles: 3
CCIW top half finishes: 6
Tournament app: 3
Final Fours: 1

9 years pre-Bosko at Carthage

Overall Record: 80-148 (.351)
CCIW Record: 34-102 (.250)
CCIW titles: 0
CCIW top half finishes: 1
Tournament app: 0
Final Fours: 0



Be careful what you wish for, Carthage fans.

[martin]

Q - great post.  You got right to the heart of the subject.

I thought silly season in CCIW chat started sometime after baseball opening day.  Looks like some wanted to get an early start.

[Knightstalker]

A few years ago there were some rumblings in the NJAC room that Coach Brown might have lost it a little at NJCU and maybe he should step down.  He had a couple of off seasons (for his teams) where the Knights were just over .500.  He then goes out and wins the NJAC after his team was picked to finish in fifth place.  He takes the team to the NCAA's two years in a row and all of sudden he knows how to coach again.

[Gregory Sager]

Sager,

With all due respect to Bosko when he was at North Park, he has not done a very good job in the last couple of years. I don't know if he should be "driven out of town" but he needs to change something.

Did you not read what I wrote this morning, Advoice? I said that I'm staying out of the contretemps over Bosko. Go find someone else to argue with over whether or not he's phoning in games right now or is falling short in his recruiting. Just because you're upset by Bosko's analogies to his NPU days is no reason to direct your comments at me.

To repeat: If the Carthage people want Bosko gone, that's their problem. And as for finding a focus for your anti-Bosko rants, take note of the fact that two of his former Carthage centers from a few seasons ago came onto this board and defended him today. Aim your ire at them, not me. They're the ones who bleed red. I'm the one who bleeds royal blue and gold, and it's bizarre that I even have to say that here.

I'm not worried about my old friend Bosko at all. If your school runs him out on a rail, he'll get another coaching job about five minutes later. Think other schools wouldn't want a coach with his resume? Besides, I'm certain that you'd by doing my school a favor by getting rid of him. When North Park president David Horner had his toadying lackey athletic director Jerry Chaplin fire Bosko in the spring of '94, Illinois Wesleyan coach Dennis Bridges immediately called Horner and said, "David, I want to thank you for making my job easier." I never thought I'd see things through Bridges' eyes, but that's pretty much the way that I feel right now.

Go ahead and drive Bosko out of town. I won't defend him here. I'll be the guy standing right behind you, clapping.