MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

The team wears "Cardinal Red" as per the wishes of NCC basketball legend Bill Warden. However, most if not all other sports affiliated with the college wear just plain red and white.

It's nice that NCC is perpetuating kiko's "Sons of Warden" ethos.

In the late '80s and early '90s North Park's men's basketball teams wore powder blue, because Bosko was the one who ordered the uniforms and he's always been a big Dean Smith and North Carolina fan. It used to tick off a lot of NPC alumni, because powder blue was not a school color. (It's royal blue.)

Of course, over the past half-dozen years several NPU teams have opted to wear black, which is also not a North Park school color. (Those of you who are eager to point out that black isn't a color at all, but rather it's the absence of color, please note that you have to get up pretty early in the morning to out-pedant me. ) It's not because of the NPU coaches, though; it's because college athletes these days all want to be like the cool kids by wearing black, and coaches are more willing to indulge them. (Who knew that so many student-athletes want to be in touch with their inner Goth?) This is the second straight year that the men's basketball Vikings are wearing mostly-black road unis.

Speaking of which, Chicago's video footage of that phenomenal finish to last Tuesday's NPU @ UC game at Ratner is now viewable here.

I'm now seeing more of a trend towards using gray as an alternative color. Several North Central teams are using gray, and North Park's women's basketball team is wearing road gray for the second straight year. I also saw a couple of visiting soccer sides don gray unis this year in matches at NPU.

I'm trying to restrain my criticism of uniform color choices, because I realize that it makes me sound as though I have a serious case of Get Off My Lawn Syndrome. I'd rather pick my spots when it comes to being a curmudgeonly old fart. My only tangible complaint is when uniform colors make numbers hard to read and, therefore, hard to spot for broadcasters, P.A. announcers, and live-stats operators. But that's more of an issue for football and soccer than it is for basketball. (Fortunately, the CCIW just passed a new rule that gives SIDs veto power over uniform styles, which means that NPU's game staff will no longer have to contend with the headache of trying to discern royal blue numbers on black Vikings jerseys from all the way up in the Holmgren Athletic Complex press box.)

The NCC women's basketball team got a black road alternate for use this year. Whether they're wearing it tonight or not I don't know. But I do like them. Throw me in with the "cool kids" or whatever, I guess.

As an announcer as well, I agree on the making sure that colors don't make it difficult to read. A good light/dark balance helps with that, and those aforementioned black jerseys have red lettering with white trim, so they're easy to read. Like you said, the smaller confines of a basketball court compared to a view from a stadium press box also help.

I do like the new maroon duds NCC wore last night. The script font on the front makes it seem like a bit of a throwback, and if they came out on the road in actual red as opposed to the maroon I'd probably freak out just because I'm so used to the Bill Warden edict-issued jerseys.

[D3_Commenter]

This is cardinal red (PMS 200):



This is maroon (PMS 202). See the difference?



If you don't see the difference, you're probably a guy:



Here comes the science!

At the turn of the last century an Irish-American men's organization on the South Side called the Morgan Athletic Club started a football team. The team played its games at Normal Park (Racine & 61st), and was thus called the Normals. The club's founder, Chris O'Brien (the South Side's answer to George Halas), bought the University of Chicago's old uniforms in 1901 when Amos Alonzo Stagg was able to persuade the school to acquire new unis for his team. However, constant use and washing had faded the maroon uniforms, causing O'Brien to exclaim when he got them, "That's not maroon! That's cardinal red!" (Maybe his wife was on hand and made the distinction for him. ) At any rate, the team's nickname was changed from the Normals to the Cardinals, and, renaming themselves after the street on which they played, the Morgan AC Normals thus became the Racine Cardinals.

A couple of years after O'Brien, Halas, and several other budding football magnates formed the American Professional Football Association (now the NFL) in 1920, O'Brien moved his team to Comiskey Park and, since the Wisconsin city of Racine now had a franchise in the league, he renamed his team yet again to the Chicago Cardinals. Two moves later, they still exist as the Arizona Cardinals.

Some questions to consider:

1. Was faux Craig Sager being passive aggressive with that answer?
2. Is he set out to be the D3 Craig Sager?
3. Does being a North Park fan limit his impact on this board?

I guess I can just answer the last one... Nooooooo of course not he is the all seeing all knowing warden in the CCIW realm 

[AndOne]

The "cool kids wear black" look is actually now pervasive in high school. I suspect at least part of college kids fondness for black attire is carryover from their HS days.
A perfect example is my old HS, Glenbard West in Glen Ellyn. Their official colors are Forest Green and White. When I played there, a hundred years ago, we wore all white home unis with green numbers on the jerseys and helmets, and green stripes down the sides of the pants. Actually looked just like Michigan State at the time.
Now, both the football AND basketball wear black home uniforms. The only concession to the official colors is the football helmets are some kind of iridescent shade of green, and the numbers on both the football and basketball jerseys is dark green. Talk about a broadcasters nightmare---trying to read dark green numbers on a black background!
The bottom line is tradition is out the window. White has basically completely disappeared, and green is an afterthought.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Per colors of uniforms, there are actually rules that the NCAA has about what the uniforms should look like - though many coaches have strayed badly away from these rules. There is now an effort starting in Division III and spreading in the entire NCAA to get uniforms back to standards that allow for easy identification. It can be brutal for sports information individuals (or others doing stats) along with broadcasters to get information correct when uniform numbers are impossible to see. It also affects officials in calling the right numbers and for fans trying to enjoy the game. Don't be surprised if current rules are strengthened in the near future which already include technical fouls and other punishments for illegal uniforms.

[kiko]

Those candy-cane striped cross country jerseys are not going away any time soon.  There was an article in the alumni rag a while back about the team.  I'm sure I will get some of the details wrong, but IIRC, they had a former All-American from back in the day come in and personally hand out/present these to the current team members.  My sense is that they were the originals and not this year's model of the design, but I don't know if that is actually true.

Net/net, these are a very important and visible conduit for how the tradition of that program is handed down.

[robertgoulet]

This is cardinal red (PMS 200):



This is maroon (PMS 202). See the difference?



If you don't see the difference, you're probably a guy:



Here comes the science!

At the turn of the last century an Irish-American men's organization on the South Side called the Morgan Athletic Club started a football team. The team played its games at Normal Park (Racine & 61st), and was thus called the Normals. The club's founder, Chris O'Brien (the South Side's answer to George Halas), bought the University of Chicago's old uniforms in 1901 when Amos Alonzo Stagg was able to persuade the school to acquire new unis for his team. However, constant use and washing had faded the maroon uniforms, causing O'Brien to exclaim when he got them, "That's not maroon! That's cardinal red!" (Maybe his wife was on hand and made the distinction for him. ) At any rate, the team's nickname was changed from the Normals to the Cardinals, and, renaming themselves after the street on which they played, the Morgan AC Normals thus became the Racine Cardinals.

A couple of years after O'Brien, Halas, and several other budding football magnates formed the American Professional Football Association (now the NFL) in 1920, O'Brien moved his team to Comiskey Park and, since the Wisconsin city of Racine now had a franchise in the league, he renamed his team yet again to the Chicago Cardinals. Two moves later, they still exist as the Arizona Cardinals.

This year's jerseys are more maroon than cardinal red, imo. I remember getting our practice jerseys in 00 and being surprised that they were maroon, considering the jerseys from the previous year were brighter red.

[AndOne]

Because of all the discussion about "Cardinal" Red.........

First of all, one must understand that most of the major athletic apparel manufacturers don't produce a shade of red they call Cardinal.
For instance, Adidas produces Power Red which is what many refer to as fire engine or "regular" red. They also make Maroon and Burgundy basketball uniforms, but not Cardinal.

Such is the case with some of the other athletic gear producers as well. Next time you're in your head coach's office discussing basketball or whatever, peruse whatever athletic company catalogue is now gathering dust on the corner of the desk. If might be hard to locate a true Cardinal.

This year's new NCC road unis are made by Nike which actually does make a color they call Cardinal (#612 on their color scale). They produce this color in what they refer to as their "Stock" line which is their base line of clothing as opposed to the much more costly Jordan, Disruption, or Hyperlite lines. The problem is that what Nike calls Cardinal is actually closer to a true Maroon. So, while the team exits the locker room attired in what their apparel company calls Cardinal, most people correctly perceive the color they're wearing as being closer to Maroon. It really doesn't matter because the players love both the color, and how the new threads feel. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

About time that Stanford steps up to solve this issue.  After all, the Stanford Cardinal is named for the color, not the bird.

And Nike should be ashamed!

[AndOne]

Raridon is like Jim Harbaugh with all the whining, pained facial expressions, and solid coaching ability.  I don't think the whining gets you calls in the long run.

Well, with now 477 wins, Todd Raridon must have gotten at least a few calls. Perhaps "all" the whining has actually been just about the right amount. And, if his level of whining has been a negative, think of all the great coaching he must have done to offset that too high of a level of whining. 

Additionally, any good coach will tell you that whining is part of a winning formula. Don't complain when you get screwed, and the refs will think they have it right. But complain about one call, and the next one might just go your way.

When you get too long of a honey-do list that causes you to miss the tip-off or kick-off, you better do at least a little complaining or the next list will be even longer. 

[kiko]

It's nice that NCC is perpetuating kiko's "Sons of Warden" ethos.

Speaking of which:

http://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2016/11/21/mens-basketball-cardinals-open-with-win-over-sixth-ranked-eagles.aspx?path=mbball

Unless I am mistaken, the pic at the top of this article is a family portrait in which the Sons of Warden and the family patriarch are posing after last night's win (in which the Cards won the, um, little non-brass ball, or something...)

Based on his past scoring exploits, it wouldn't surprise me if the guy front-row-right could chuck off his pullover and drop 20 on the defense...

[markerickson]

I do not see a video link at the website of tonight's NPU opponent, the U of Dubuque, though I did learn that UD offers a doctorate in ministry.  UD was a very good team last year when I saw them beat NPU in Chicago.

AndOne, I think you missed my praise of Coach Raridon when you replied to my post.

[augie77]

Augustana won easily over Fontbonne as expected, 106-66.  I feel for poor Roman Youngblut.  The Vikings were a perfect 27 of 27 at the free throw line before the freshman missed a meaningless attempt late in the game.  The Vikings finished the game 30-31 at the stripe.  How will Roman ever get out of Coach G's dog house?

Has any team ever gone 31-31 for a game?

[WUPHF]

About time that Stanford steps up to solve this issue.  After all, the Stanford Cardinal is named for the color, not the bird.

The St. Louis Cardinals baseball team is named after the color rather than the bird.  They have cardinal in their uniforms. 

The University of Wisconsin colors are cardinal and white.  They have cardinal in their uniforms.  Lots of other college teams use cardinal as an official color. 

North Central needs to ink a deal with Under Armor.

[AndOne]

Some thoughts on NCC/BU last night............

* One thing I was worried about was that it was the Cardinals 1st game while it was #3 for BU which meant that they had a chance to work some of the kinks out.

* Both teams ran hot and cold. Each went for stretches in which they played pretty well, and each went through stretches that made you hold your nose. 

* The players weren't the only ones who weren't in mid-season form (or maybe they were). Several times the refs appeared to be performing like they were officiating the scrimmage in the practice gym next door rather than in a varsity game involving two highly ranked teams. I know Ben U fans would disagree, but I honestly feel the Cardinals got screwed more than the Eagles. The 5th foul that Connor Raridon was called for was actually committed by Aiden Chang.

* Twice during the game, NCC had it's foot on BU's throat, but failed to push down. They let up with leads of 41-29 and 54-41. Bad, very bad!

* As GS mentioned previously, it was Alex Sorenson night in Lisle. He throughly demonstrated why he was named to the pre-season All-American first team with 32 points, 12 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. If Alex learns how to hold onto the ball, he might be really dangerous. 

* The most noteworthy facet of Alex's game last evening came with the score standing at 54-46 in favor of the visitors. From that point on, the Cards tallied a total of 18 points. Remarkably, the first sixteen of those in a row were scored by Alex. Twice during the span, at both 5:16 and 2:35, BU had cut the lead to a single point when Alex stepped out and calmly drilled a three from almost back in Naperville.

* While the Cardinals interior defense was too often soft, perimeter D limited BU to 7 of 25 (28%) including 2 of 12 in the 2nd half.
Much of the interior difficulties were caused by BU's Adam Reynolds who had a very strong game with 18 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists.

* When you cut the head off the dragon, its ability to breathe fire is severely limited. In BU's case the head is Tahron Harvey who came in averaging 22.5 ppg. Initially accepting the challenge was Connor Raridon who was the primary defender on Mr. Harvey. When Connor was resting or relegated to the bench by foul trouble, and after he was errornously hit with a 5th foul, Jagger Anderson took over. Through their combined efforts, Harvey was held to a 6 for 16 night, including 0 for 3 on threes, and was forced into committing 4 TOs while Anderson dissected the BU defense by dishing out 9 assists to go with his 10 points. He was the only other Cardinal besides Sorenson to hit for double figures.

* With 10 seconds left, BU had a chance to tie with a three. Brayden Olson, BU's 6'5" 165 pound 3rd guard who had hit 3 of 4 from distance previously, and who fancies himself as something of a tough hombre, must have hiked up his tights a little too far during the timeout.
When play resumed it was widely felt the ball would be in his hands. However, NCC's 2G, Aiden Chang stuck to Olson like glue, followed him to the far right corner and batted his last second attempt harmlessly away.

** Kudos to NCC's 6'7" freshman Sam Fehrle who had a very nice start to his collegiate career. Sam scored 6 points down low early. Then, with only 10 seconds remaining and NCC clinging to a one point lead, Sam stepped to the line and calmly drilled the first two FTs of his career.

[WUPHF]

Has any team ever gone 31-31 for a game?

Because you asked about any team...

Rochester once shot 29-31 from the line, but what makes that game interesting is that John Di Bartolomeo went 19-19.