MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WUPHF]

I only watched 15-20 minutes or so, but Millikin just looked like a team that could only be described by all the usual basketball cliches (firing on all cylinders, etc). 

This is not the 1-12 team from a season ago.  A more mature DeMarcus Bond.  JT Welch and Noah Livingston.  Not to mention the upperclassmen.  I think this Millikin team has more upsets in them.

[Next Man Up]

I only watched 15-20 minutes or so, but Millikin just looked like a team that could only be described by all the usual basketball cliches (firing on all cylinders, etc). 

This is not the 1-12 team from a season ago.  A more mature DeMarcus Bond.  JT Welch and Noah Livingston.  Not to mention the upperclassmen.  I think this Millikin team has more upsets in them.

Perish the thought. 

[WUPHF]

I don't take predictions of Millikin upsets lightly even if they are not going to play WUSTL again this season, lol.

[kiko]

In fairness, having to go to Decatur would make me upset... 

[Gregory Sager]

When I was a North Park student, my buddies on the NPC cross-country team would joke that the best thing about the annual meet at Millikin would be seeing the "Welcome to Decatur" sign in the van's rear-view mirror on the ride home.

[SpartyBlue]

Good luck to the Titans tonight in Chicago @ North Park University!   

I'll be at The Shirk watching the big women's game --
IWU'70

In all good humor, IWU70, are you on someone's list, or are you an employee? IE: how are you getting into Shirk?

Here's one for you IWU fans...The HOIC/McLean County high school tournament, currently being played in the Shirk Center, has no fan limit restrictions.  Go figure on that one.

[WUPHF]

Call me crazy, but I like Decatur.

I rather live in Wheaton or Naperville, but still...

[HAMBO]

When I was a North Park student, my buddies on the NPC cross-country team would joke that the best thing about the annual meet at Millikin would be seeing the "Welcome to Decatur" sign in the van's rear-view mirror on the ride home.

I used to live in Decatur and we loved it.  Decatur is a city of parks built around a beautiful lake.  Of course the Millikin campus is gorgeous.  What is missing from Decatur is an exotic night life, skyscrapers, and heavy traffic.  Some people enjoy a rural lifestyle.  I would prefer that CCIW fans state positive comments about all of the communities of this great conference.  Each institution adds its own amenities to the total value of the conference.

[Titan Q]

I used to live in Decatur and we loved it.  Decatur is a city of parks built around a beautiful lake.  Of course the Millikin campus is gorgeous.  What is missing from Decatur is an exotic night life, skyscrapers, and heavy traffic.  Some people enjoy a rural lifestyle.  I would prefer that CCIW fans state positive comments about all of the communities of this great conference.  Each institution adds its own amenities to the total value of the conference.

I have a lot of friends in Decatur and have had a lot of great times there.  It's a nice place -- even if I tease my Decatur friends from more of a Bloomington vs Decatur kinda thing in good fun.

Even though I grew up in Chicago, I've loved living in Bloomington-Normal, IL, Columbia, MO, and Lincoln, NE over the last 30 years.  All great places.

I agree with your desire for things to be more positive here.  I think, overall, the reason this board has been dying is that it tends to get really snarky and contentious. 

[HAMBO]

I used to live in Decatur and we loved it.  Decatur is a city of parks built around a beautiful lake.  Of course the Millikin campus is gorgeous.  What is missing from Decatur is an exotic night life, skyscrapers, and heavy traffic.  Some people enjoy a rural lifestyle.  I would prefer that CCIW fans state positive comments about all of the communities of this great conference.  Each institution adds its own amenities to the total value of the conference.

I have a lot of friends in Decatur and have had a lot of great times there.  It's a nice place -- even if I tease my Decatur friends from more of a Bloomington vs Decatur kinda thing in good fun.

Even though I grew up in Chicago, I've loved living in Bloomington-Normal, IL, Columbia, MO, and Lincoln, NE over the last 30 years.  All great places.

I agree with your desire for things to be more positive here.  I think, overall, the reason this board has been dying is that it tends to get really snarky and contentious.

Thanks Titan Q for your positive response.  I have lived in both Decatur and Bloomington.  In fact we lived on Kelsey Street right where the Shirk Center is now.

[iwu70]

I, too, have and have had many friends from Decatur.  The MU campus is very nice . . .  the town not so much.  Yes, middle-sized university towns are really great places to live in the US . . . esp. with little traffic, sometimes a good or lower cost-of-living and surely lots of university activities to enjoy -- theatre, music, talks and conferences, and sports . . . hoping the pandemic will wane so many more of these activities can return fully, in person.  Surely good places for retirees . . . and now the economy doing extremely well in the B/N area, with Rivian and other new employers coming on strongly.

Yes, Shirk does have lots of events there, from outside and community groups -- masks required and social distancing requested. However, the compliance, fan density, and enforcement leave a lot to be desired.   Surely revenue is a factor . . .

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

When I was a North Park student, my buddies on the NPC cross-country team would joke that the best thing about the annual meet at Millikin would be seeing the "Welcome to Decatur" sign in the van's rear-view mirror on the ride home.

I used to live in Decatur and we loved it.  Decatur is a city of parks built around a beautiful lake.  Of course the Millikin campus is gorgeous.  What is missing from Decatur is an exotic night life, skyscrapers, and heavy traffic.  Some people enjoy a rural lifestyle.  I would prefer that CCIW fans state positive comments about all of the communities of this great conference.  Each institution adds its own amenities to the total value of the conference.

I've been to Decatur four or five times. In each case it was to call either a football game or a basketball game. In other words, I've seen nothing of Decatur other than the Millikin campus and whatever was on the streets that the charter bus took to and from the campus. And I know nothing about what it's like to live there. All I know about Decatur, apart from Millikin-related stuff, is: a) it's named after a famous U.S. admiral who fought the Barbary pirates in the early nineteenth century; b) it's the original home of the Chicago Bears; and c) it feels as though it takes forever to get there, or to get back from there, if you live in Chicago.

I suspect that, for my friends on the cross-country team, the story was the same. Hence, the word "joke" in my previous post, as in, "Don't take this seriously."

People joke about Chicago all the time. That's fine with me. I've joked about Naperville in this room from time to time, too. I don't recall NCC folks getting worked up about it. And Wheaton (the village, that is) has certainly taken its fair share of gibes, too, especially over in the football room. Even the Wheaton College fans joined in there, with a whole series of jokes about "north side of Roosevelt Road versus south side of Roosevelt Road" lifestyles.

Of course, sometimes you have to be sensitive to current situations. For instance, I wouldn't joke about Kenosha right now -- not because I'm worried that Carthage people are going to take it personally, but because that city has recently gone through a pretty painful and traumatizing year, year and a half. But, for the most part, I suggest that you take these comments in the spirit in which they were intended.

I don't think that either kiko or I were being "snarky or contentious." They're just jokes, people.

[kiko]

I don't think that either kiko or I were being "snarky or contentious." They're just jokes, people.

Ding ding ding ding.  Note the emoji next to my comment.

More positive comments would be great and welcomed as they would enhance the conversation.  Hambo, you've got a post count of 36 in the five years you've been registered on the boards.  There's a great opportunity there for you to lead by example.

[Gregory Sager]

And I know that Hambo is a Millikin fan, and this is certainly a great time to be adding your voice to the conversation if you're a Millikin fan. The early returns on Kramer Soderberg are that he's doing a great job of changing the culture and raising the bar for a Big Blue men's basketball program that really hasn't had much to cheer about over the past couple of decades.

[jaybird44]

Kramer Soderberg is a winner and has been since his high school playing days at St. Charles (MO) West HS, of which I broadcast several of his games.  His father Brad was the HC at Saint Louis U. for several years and is an assistant at the U. of Virginia.  So, when I found out that Kramer became the head coach at Millikin, I knew it wouldn't take long for that program to see significant improvement.  He had his Big Blue ready for battle at WashU, and it took a buzzer-beating 3 from Jack Nolan to put that game in the W column for the Bears.

The question is, how long can Millikin hold onto Kramer...