MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

i would say that he is better than alot of the D1 guard recuits at his size

Dwyer's listed at 5'11", so there aren't a lot of D1 recruits that are his size.

I'd bet there are quite a few 5-11 (or shorter) point-guards in D1, Greg.  5-10 Dan Ruffin (Bradley) was a starter for a D1 Sweet 16 team.  I know the Robinson kid from Hales Franciscan H.S. in Chicago (now at Eastern Illinois) is under 6 feet tall.  And I know Illinois State U. is aggressively pursuing a little 5-10 JUCO point-guard that Bobby Knight also wants.

There are a lot of D1 schools out there and even at the biggies, the average point-guard is, what, 6-2?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

an FT

Curiosity has gotten the best of me.  Is this a typo or did you mean to type "an" here?

Obviously that would imply a pronounciation of the letter "FT" as in "eff tee" which would be appropriate with the "an" in this situation.  I'm curious as to how people read that in their heads?  I have never heard anyone use the term "eff tee" to describe free throws, even if its abbreviated.  I would say "are bee eye" for RBI because that's the standard term for it.

I guess I'm just wondering about the grammatical implications of this.  I never would have used "an" in that instance; have I been doing it wrong all along?  Do you switch articles for the abbreviation or the standard pronounciation?

[Jim Matson]

I thought about that.  It would normally be "a free throw" but saying "FT" means that you are sounding like "eff-tee", which would demand the use of "an" versus "a".

It is a case of being exact to the ear.  Like when the Wheaton radio guys sometimes say "Wheaton are moving the ball well..."  It is always "Wheaton IS moving the ball well..."

Call me crazy.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I was just wondering what other people do, because if I'm reading that sentence out loud, I say "Free Throw" not "eff tee."  I'm just wondering if that's grammatically correct or not.

[emeritusprof]

To quote Winston Churchill, "that is something up with which I will not put."

[joehakes]

The Prike has re-entered the room!!!!

[Knightstalker]

The Prike has re-entered the room!!!!

Double entendre always get +K

[Titan Q]

For anyone who did not see the ESPN piece on Illinois Wesleyan and Lincoln (Pa), here is a link from iwu.edu with just the IWU parts...

http://europa.iwu.edu:8080/ramgen/news/IWU_on_ESPN.rm

[Gregory Sager]

i would say that he is better than alot of the D1 guard recuits at his size

Dwyer's listed at 5'11", so there aren't a lot of D1 recruits that are his size.

I'd bet there are quite a few 5-11 (or shorter) point-guards in D1, Greg.  5-10 Dan Ruffin (Bradley) was a starter for a D1 Sweet 16 team.  I know the Robinson kid from Hales Franciscan H.S. in Chicago (now at Eastern Illinois) is under 6 feet tall.  And I know Illinois State U. is aggressively pursuing a little 5-10 JUCO point-guard that Bobby Knight also wants.

There are a lot of D1 schools out there and even at the biggies, the average point-guard is, what, 6-2?

There aren't as many as you think, Bob. On the rosters of the twelve D1 schools in the state of Illinois, there's only fifteen players under six feet tall out of a total of 163 players -- and most of those twelve D1 schools, of course, are members of D1's lesser leagues. And who knows how many of those fifteen diminutive guards are scholarship players and how many are walk-ons? Take away the anomalously small NIU Huskies (three players under 6'0") and UIC Flames (four players under 6'0"), and there's only eight players spread out among the other ten teams that're Dwyer's height or shorter.

[Mr. Ypsi]

At least debating "what the meaning of 'quite a few' is" beats the hell out of spending millions of dollars on "what the meaning of 'is' is"!

Greg, as you know, my favorite player is 5'5" Earl Boykins (except MAYBE for Kevin Pittnogle - who can resist that name!), so don't go bad-mouthin' BIG guys like Dwyer!

[Hoosier Titan]

Greg, as you know, my favorite player is 5'5" Earl Boykins (except MAYBE for Kevin Pittnogle - who can resist that name!), so don't go bad-mouthin' BIG guys like Dwyer!

You left out the "s" in Pittsnogle, Ypsi.  We were just pondering the possibilities if he married the daughter of announcer Jim Spinarkle:  "this is my wife, Alexandra Spinarkle-Pittsnogle."  Great names!   

The D1 hoops have been pretty interesting.  The Gonzaga loss to UCLA was a heartbreaker.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, as you know, my favorite player is 5'5" Earl Boykins (except MAYBE for Kevin Pittnogle - who can resist that name!), so don't go bad-mouthin' BIG guys like Dwyer!

You left out the "s" in Pittsnogle, Ypsi.  We were just pondering the possibilities if he married the daughter of announcer Jim Spinarkle:  "this is my wife, Alexandra Spinarkle-Pittsnogle."  Great names!   

The D1 hoops have been pretty interesting.  The Gonzaga loss to UCLA was a heartbreaker.

LOL - that WOULD be quite a name!  (I plead guilty to the missing 's'.)

I had a leg up on my pool, but took it one step too far - I was the only one to have Bradley winning even their first game, but I had them them beating Memphis.  Oh well, as the good book (almost) says - live by the upset, die by the (non)upset!

In terms of games completed, I'm in first place, but since my final was OSU over Iowa, I suspect I'm dead-meat!

[veterancciwfan]

Ralph Turner: Regarding Texas Wesleyan U. and it's "ping pong" program:

1) First, it's table tennis, not ping pong. If you use the latter term to a real afficianado, you are likely to get hit over the head with a "table tennis" paddle.

2) Very interesting story in the Tempo section of the Chicago Tribune today about the dimunitive Serb, Biljana (Biba for short) Golic, who is referred to as the "Anna Kournikova of table tennis" by Sports Illustrated. She received a full scholarship to play ping pong (your term Ralph) at Texas Wesleyan. But it was way too hot for her in Ft. Worth so she moved to Chicago.

3) Ralph:  If you are in the neighborhood, the national college tournament (I assume NAIA) is in Ft. Worth on April 8-10 and Biba, now a student at Harold Washington College in Chicago, is expected to win the title. You can stop by and get an autographed picture and share it with us on this site.

4) As anyone can tell, I'm suffering from a severe case of D3 b'ball withdrawal and just waiting for the doubleheader in Wrigley Field in August when Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are the announced (but don't count on it) starters.

[Pat Coleman]

A tournament like that is more likely to be sanctioned by the sport's governing body than any of the various college athletic associations.

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph Turner: Regarding Texas Wesleyan U. and it's "ping pong" program:

1) First, it's table tennis, not ping pong. If you use the latter term to a real afficianado, you are likely to get hit over the head with a "table tennis" paddle.

2) Very interesting story in the Tempo section of the Chicago Tribune today about the dimunitive Serb, Biljana (Biba for short) Golic, who is referred to as the "Anna Kournikova of table tennis" by Sports Illustrated. She received a full scholarship to play ping pong (your term Ralph) at Texas Wesleyan. But it was way too hot for her in Ft. Worth so she moved to Chicago.

3) Ralph:  If you are in the neighborhood, the national college tournament (I assume NAIA) is in Ft. Worth on April 8-10 and Biba, now a student at Harold Washington College in Chicago, is expected to win the title. You can stop by and get an autographed picture and share it with us on this site.

4) As anyone can tell, I'm suffering from a severe case of D3 b'ball withdrawal and just waiting for the doubleheader in Wrigley Field in August when Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are the announced (but don't count on it) starters.

Thanks for reminding me of the distinction. 

I will keep that in mind that weekend.  My main focus that weekend will be to visit McMurry as we memorialize a baseball teammate of my late  father.

Judge Howard Green had a wonderful career in the power circles of baseball.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=94

Also, Texas Wesleyan won the NAIA-1 Basketball Championship.