MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[John Gleich]

Titan Q,

I wasn't trying to say that I didn't like Cory's game... I thought he would be very tough to guard, simply because of his relentlessness.  It just seemed to me that, after all the hard work was done (beating his man on a good post move) his moves just weren't finished off as strongly as I thought they could be.  This is coming from the eyes of a former post player... so perhaps I'm just being over-critical! 

I really wish I could make it to the game tonight.  I think the Toellner/Freeman match-up will be as good as the Manchester/Dauksas.  Heck, even the Williams/Amelianovich match-up will be great, too.  This has all the makings of a tremendous game, and I think it will go right down to the wire.

[Gregory Sager]

Wow, that's a bold statement.  I have yet to see Augie play, but I thought I read that some important part of Augie's team has just come back from injury, yet they only lost by 4.  I wasn't at the game, so maybe if BlueDevilBob or Stoutguy checks the CCIW page, they can give us a little more insight.  Not to say that Stout isn't good, but you claim that Augie needs a [Michael] Jordan-type performance from one of their players, that's saying a lot!

I meant that Wessels needed to make a Jordan-type appearance, not a Jordan-type performance. In Augustana's system, the point guard shoots only if the shot clock is winding down. Augustana coach Grey Giovanine wants a classic distribute-the-ball, direct-traffic, shut-down-the-other-PG type of ballplayer to play that position, and that is what Wessels has become. Wessels isn't going to score 38 points (which is what the ailing Michael Jordan had in that NBA Finals game) in four games' worth of action, let alone one.

I don't think that anyone doubts that UW-Stout is a step up in both talent and experience from Buena Vista. I still think that the Doggies need Wessels to win this game.

Bob's right with his idea that Wesleyan needs this game to be in the 70s or higher - and regardless on how well Whitewater plays, if the Titans step it up as well, this game may be out of reach.

I think you're overstating it and underestimating the Warhawks, Jim. UWW is an awfully talented team in its own right, and they're playing at home. Like PS, I see this one going right down to the wire.

Anyone read today's Chicago Tribune? Check out the second story in the Around The Nation column:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-0603040172mar04,1,7199628.story?coll=chi-sportscollege-hed

They actually got the result right (with Augie winning) in the agate, along with three other D3 tourney games. It's not unusual for the Trib and the Sun-Times to screw up D3 scores and flip-flop the results (including those of local D3 games, such as CCIW contests), and of course both papers often leave D3 games out of the agate entirely, which is what the Sun-Times did today for all D3 tourney games and the Trib did for most of them. But this is the first time that I've ever seen an actual game story get the result wrong. This is just egregiously bad journalism by a paper that's supposed to have one of the best reputations in the American press.

[augiefan]

If I hadn't listened to the game, I would have accepted the Trib story as correct. Hopefully, Augie can gut one out tonight and earn a retraction. I'll agree with Sager that Augie will not win tonight without a reasonably healthy Wessels at the point. He is critical to the Viking defense, as well as being a quality point guard.

[markerickson]

I'm not certain if the Tribune's "reputation."  Are you referring to the Trib that lists Twins at Tigers as a "late game" in the morning paper?  Or the Trib that rarely enters college hockey scores, but never has an article?  Or how about the Trib that hasn't endorsed a democrat for president in over 40+ years?

Congrats to IWU and Augie. 

[Gregory Sager]

I'm not certain if the Tribune's "reputation."  Are you referring to the Trib that lists Twins at Tigers as a "late game" in the morning paper?  Or the Trib that rarely enters college hockey scores, but never has an article?  Or how about the Trib that hasn't endorsed a democrat for president in over 40+ years?

The Trib does have a reputation for journalistic excellence, whether you and I agree with it or not. Ask anyone within the industry, if the boatloads of Pulitzers the paper wins on an annual basis don't convince you. The Trib screws up constantly in everything from getting late scores to getting the facts right to copy editing -- but so does just about every other paper in America, and mistakes increase in number with the size and scope of a paper and its coverage area.

I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill with regard to the Trib bollixing the Augie/BV game, but I think that it is symptomatic of a decreasing amount of editorial quality control within not just the Trib, but within dailies at large. Pat might object to my saying this, but I think that newpaper journalism in America is in a serious state of decline in terms of quality ... and not just because of competition from television and the Internet.

As for presidential endorsements, it's been at least forty years since the New York Times endorsed a Republican for president. It's as irrelevant to gauging the worth of the Gray Lady as the persistent GOP presidential endorsements of the Colonel's Rag are irrelevant to gauging its journalistic bona-fides. The leanings of op-ed political endorsements have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of journalism practiced by a newspaper on a daily basis.

[dansand]

Or how about the Trib that hasn't endorsed a democrat for president in over 40+ years?

Congrats to IWU and Augie. 

That's OK 'cause dead folks can't read, so they're still voting Democratic in Cook County.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Pat might object to my saying this, but I think that newpaper journalism in America is in a serious state of decline in terms of quality ... and not just because of competition from television and the Internet.

IMO, far more serious than competition from TV or the internet is corporate ownership.  The great papers of the past were owned by families who actually cared about journalism.  These days it is all the bottom line (axing reporters saves money!) - it is rare these days to find a 'publisher' (or even managing editor) with a background in journalism rather than an MBA.  Publishing press releases is a lot more cost-efficient than actually doing investigative reporting.  And, of course, a 'bottom-line' mentality means that you sure as hell don't want to risk offending your advertisers!  (Never forget that your subscription goes to pay the paper carrier - MOST revenue comes from advertisers!)

One of the most amazing successes of conservatives is to convince so many people about 'the liberal media'.  A moment's thought should indicate that that is nonsense.  Whether an editorial page's trend is Democrat or Republican, 'socially' liberal or conservative, the overall underlying bias is guaranteed to be pro-corporate.  The media (whether print or broadcast) are, afterall, mostly themselves rather large corporations, and nearly all their revenue is from advertising by corporations.

[Hoosier Titan]

Yeah, I realize the IWU crowd is a little more older than some crowds and obvoiusly the Carroll fan section (students).  Aren't there any students that go to IWU?    To be honest, Point's reserved section, the retired/older folk are a lot more vocal than our student section...I guess that could be a rip on the students at Point!  But yeah, of course they aren't going to be louder than the Carroll student section, but even after that monster dunk by Freeman, it was pretty quiet down there.  They didn't get on their feet until they knew they had the game won.  

Maybe it's your fault for building up the traveling support of the IWU faithful! lol.

Well, you saw about 15 IWU students on the floor last night.  There was a small student cheering contingent across from the IWU bench which was unusually quiet for reasons unknown to me.  During the "TIT-ANS" cheer the students usually outyell us old folks, but that didn't happen last night.  Of course, it is more than a bit further for IWU people to travel--my trip odometer read 185 miles--so the fact that the numbers of fans were about equal seems pretty impressive to me.  How far is it from Waukesha to Whitewater?

I don't know where you were sitting, but a lot of us right behind the bench were up and down all through the game.  I don't mean to make a big deal of this, but to imply that IWU fans only cheer when they know the game is won just isn't fair or even true.

[Johnny Augie]

I heard that Wessels is out for tonights game.

Not good for the Vikings.

[Johnny Augie]

I should just write this down after each time I ask, but does anybody know where I can find the webcast for Augie's game tonight?

[iwu70]

Q, thanks for the kind menton on the JBC broadcast.  You guys are coming through loud and clear in Hong Kong this Sunday morning.  Hope the Titans can keep up the on-fire pace. 

[devildog29]

Great night for the CCIW.  Congrats to the Titans and to Augie.  Dauksas must have been reading Old School's earlier post about not knowing who the Titan all-Americans were after watching last night's game.

[devildog29]

Not too shabby a game for Keelan w/ 20 as well.

[Titan32]

Titans shoot 60% from the field; 31 pts for Dauksas, 20 for Keelan, 11 for Z. Freeman; and win big despite 24 turnovers.

[The Roop]

Based on the score of the Whitewater/DePauw game I think IWU will roll tomorrow.

You're just bitter because Carroll lost! lol. 

No, I was just calling the shot.