MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

IWU MBB Team Store for anyone interested in gear...

https://www.bsnteamsports.com/shop/NnMSPvEDdx

[Gregory Sager]

NPU hosts Millikin this evening in North Park's one and only scrimmage. Three halves, full dress rehearsal for game staff as well as the Vikings themselves -- which means that I'm back behind the mic for the first time since I called a Vikings men's volleyball match last March 11. For the first time in several seasons I'll have a colorman. It'll be NPU graduate assistant Scot Gladstone, who was a student broadcaster at D3 Colorado College.

To say that I am pumped would be putting it mildly!

[Titan Q]

NPU hosts Millikin this evening in North Park's one and only scrimmage. Three halves, full dress rehearsal for game staff as well as the Vikings themselves -- which means that I'm back behind the mic for the first time since I called a Vikings men's volleyball match last March 11. For the first time in several seasons I'll have a colorman. It'll be NPU graduate assistant Scot Gladstone, who was a student broadcaster at D3 Colorado College.

To say that I am pumped would be putting it mildly!

Great to hear!

[Titan Q]

https://twitter.com/nathanval3ntine/status/1351993256792502283?s=20

@nathanval3ntine
Excited to announce my commitment to Illinois Wesleyan University! Thanks to my family, friends, and all the coaches who helped me along the way.

Ron Rose and the Titans have landed 5-11 PG Nathan Valentine of Geneva HS.  Strong floor general type PG that can also really shoot it/score.

https://www.darkhorserecruits.com/dark-horse-spotlight-2021-511-pg-nathan-valentine/

[Titan Q]

The CCIW Council of Presidents made the decision to not allow media at CCIW MBB/WBB games.  Several media outlets have tweeted about it (after hearing from various CCIW SIDs).

https://twitter.com/Pg_Benson/status/1351989403590266886?s=20

https://twitter.com/hoijim/status/1352004336054894592?s=20

https://twitter.com/MattRandazzo/status/1352009540452151301?s=20


I guess the question is, what constitutes "media"?  Is Greg Sager broadcasting the NPU game media?  IWU's broadcast team (Eric Stock, Joel Swanson) is no longer with a local radio station, but rather hired directly by IWU, with the stream via IWU's platform.  Are they media?  Chris and Dan at Augie?  Millikin's local radio broadcast team?

I'm not sure.

[Pat Coleman]

I would assume the in-house game day broadcast is not considered outside media.

[Titan Q]

I would assume the in-house game day broadcast is not considered outside media.

I assume the same.

But I wonder about the schools that use outside media as the broadcast team for the stream (local radio station team)?  Seems like they would be "media." 

I guess we will know soon enough.

[Wildcat]

 With Covid-19 running rampant, a shortened season, the possibility of no post season , and at least no fans allowed at the games early on. What's the point of playing this season? What were the presidents thinking?

[petemcb]

With Covid-19 running rampant, a shortened season, the possibility of no post season , and at least no fans allowed at the games early on. What's the point of playing this season? What were the presidents thinking?

If I take your factors in order, I'd say:

1) At least in Illinois, Pritzker seems to be loosening controls as infection numbers continue to fall and vaccinations continue to rise
2) A shortened season is better than no season - particularly when the NCAA has announced that it won't count against athletes' eligibility
3) The possibility of no post-season means there IS a possibility of a post-season
4) No fans allowed in person, at least early on, but no limit on fans watching games online and that's what a lot of fans are limited to anyway

I suspect all those factors led the Presidents to take a shot at salvaging the season and enhancing the extracurricular life on each campus.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Keeping their athletes engaged and not having them walk out of the schools (enrollment and retention) are some of the reasons presidents try and have games played.

[Titan Q]

With Covid-19 running rampant, a shortened season, the possibility of no post season , and at least no fans allowed at the games early on. What's the point of playing this season? What were the presidents thinking?

They are giving their student-athletes a chance to do what they love to do.

[Gregory Sager]

enhancing the extracurricular life on each campus.

Keeping their athletes engaged and not having them walk out of the schools (enrollment and retention) are some of the reasons presidents try and have games played.

This is all a very big part of it. Tonight after the scrimmage I had a chance to talk to the student contingent of the North Park game staff over post-game pizza, all of whom are NPU student-athletes (baseball and softball players, to be specific). It was the first chance I've had to speak to college students since the curtain went down on D3 sports last March. I asked them all, point blank, "What has this year been like for you?" Wow, was I overwhelmed by the angry frowns, harsh responses, and bad vibes. I invited them to vent, and boy, did they vent. And I'm certain that this reaction would've been the same if I was asking students at any college or university.

It made me stop and think. I know full well that other people have had it worse than me during the pandemic. I don't personally know anybody who has died of Covid-19, but 400,000 deaths means a lot of surviving Americans suffering heartache over the loss of loved ones. Tens of millions have either lost their jobs or had their incomes slashed. And some people hurt worse simply because, through no fault of their own, they just aren't wired to handle the stress caused by months of isolation. The sorting of physical, mental, emotional, and economic victims of this disease requires just as much triage as does the administration of the vaccines.

But after tonight, I've given new consideration to just how much it sucks to be a college student right now. This is a time in one's life that only comes once, and it goes by all too fast. Having a big chunk of it upended by masks, social-distance protocols, a regimen of constant testing and contact tracing, online-only classes, no real social gatherings of any kind (especially once it's no longer feasible to be outdoors) -- this is a truly terrible time to be 18-21 years old and enrolled in college. They feel cheated by life's circumstances, and I don't blame them.

So ... yeah, it's really important that D3 schools do whatever they can (within reason and with prudent caution) to, as Bob said, give student-athletes the chance to do what they love to do. And I'm glad that some are now finally starting to get their chance to suit up and compete again. It makes me wonder, though ... what about the theater students, and the music students, and the students who organize and participate in dances or guest-speaker symposia or Homecoming or religious activities or student government? Again, it's a case of some students getting hurt worse by the pandemic than others.

But my heart goes out to all college students right now.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU and Millikin tied the first half, Millikin won the second half by ten, and the Vikings won the third half by sixteen.

The Vikings have a lot of work to do, and practically no time left to do it before Saturday afternoon's opening tipoff in the airplane hangar.

[Gregory Sager]

On the upside, I had a ton of fun scraping off the rust and calling the scrimmage. I've really missed it. Really looking forward now to doing it for a public online audience again, starting with Saturday's women's game at the crackerbox.

The next four months are going to be very strange, bouncing back and forth between all nine sports that I call that are normally spaced out over an entire school year.

[WUPHF]

But my heart goes out to all college students right now.

Amen!