MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augiefan]

Any word on how Augie's ticket sales went for Friday's first game? I see 500 tickets were available. Hopefully, a decent group will be going North from the QC.

[Brick]

I wouldn't count on that the Admin. did not want to get a fan bus so many of us students are stuck here in the QC...what a shame...it's not every year your team gets to the sweet sixteen!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Kansas City DID put on quite a tourney!  IWU was there my senior year (1970), but had the misfortune of being matched against Kentucky State in the first round.  6'6" Fred Evans actually out-rebounded (1972 1st round NBA pick) 7'1" Elmore Smith (who averaged nearly 20 rpg in his career); we held (1971 1st round NBA pick) Travis Grant (who averaged nearly 35 ppg in his career) to his lowest point total ever (9, I think it was); and got beat by a guy none of us fans had ever heard of - Bill Graham.  Kentucky State was at least arguably the best non-scholarship team EVER - they won it all not only in 1970, but in 1971 and 1972.  (And, yes, I'm including Pete Carrill's Princeton teams - did they have 2 first-round NBA selections?) 

Dennis Bridges (then coach, still AD), in his book "A Dunk Only Counts Two Points", obviously enjoyed the final result better (in the d3 tourney) in 1996, 1997, and 2001, but clearly had VERY fond memories of KC.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, those trips to KC were great.  I can remember staying in churches, showering in very strange places, groups driving in car-pool style down there for 3-4 days (of course, ignoring school work!).  Also remember how folks used to bring cases of a certain brew back to Bloomington -- trunks full of it.  It's amazing to me more of us weren't killed on the roads.  Those Fred Evans, Tommy Gramkow, Sheldon Thompson teams were really great to follow, watch and support.   Several days of that tournament format were really a festival of basketball with fans from all over the place supporting their teams and enjoying the games throughout the day and into the night.

[correctingtitan]

Mr. Ypsi--Are you sure Kentucky State was a non-scholarship program?  Many of the teams in the NAIA had scholarships b
ack then--before the NAIA went to a 2-division setup.
   
   One of my memories of KC was the large crowds that Eau Claire brought.

Did anyone see The Sporting News spread on the NAIA?  One of the strange aspects was the failure to list Jack Sikma among the top NAIA products  who had great careers in the NBA.  Maybe they were limiting it to guys from schools still in the NAIA.   Jack played there 3 years.         

[dansand]

I see the LU program prtojects Jordan Delp as a starting guard for Augie. It doesn't look like the LU staff did much research beyond reading last weeks box scores, unless, of course, Drew Wessels is still on the mend. Is there any word on Drew's health. Since UPS is a pressing team, I really think Augie needs Drew back running the point on friday night.

Unfortunately, augiefan, it looks like the Larry staff was prescient regarding Wessels. Word in the paper this morning is that he has pneumonia and is out for the weekend. Tough break for the Vikes, but they've battled through injuries and illness all season. Tougher break for Wessels, but hopefully he'll be playing at 100% by Final Four weekend .

[Johnny Augie]

I heard that Wessels is still out as of right now, but might still give it a chance.  At least Delp has really stepped up when asked in the last couple of games.

[titan2000]

The NAIA D1 tournament field was released yesterday...

http://naia.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030806aab.html

16 "Pool A's" and 16 "Pool C's."  2 of those 16 at-large  bids went to teams IWU faced and defeated soundly - Olivet Nazarene and St. Xavier (Robert Morris won the CCAC tourney).  Lawrence defeated at-large team Vanguard 64-59 on a holiday trip.  Vanguard plays in the GSAC, which is probably the best league in NAIA I (Azusa Pacific, Concordia, Westmont, The Masters, Biola, etc).

The bracket gets released at 5:00pm...

http://naia.collegesports.com/

All 32 teams go to Kansas City, Mo. March 15-21.  That's gotta be a great format a fun tournament to attend.

LU beat Vanguard on the holiday trip to Cali.

[Titan Q]

If Drew Wessells really is out, that would be a big, big blow to Augustana in facing Puget Sound.

[Greek Tragedy]

Lawrence defeated at-large team Vanguard 64-59 on a holiday trip. 

LU beat Vanguard on the holiday trip to Cali.

Thanks for the clarification, T2K! lol.    I was really wondering where that holiday trip was! 

[Jim Matson]

I thought I was one of the older guys on this board, but thankfully, with all the talk about the NAIA Tournies in the 70, I can rest assured that I was wrong.

[Gregory Sager]

I thought I was one of the older guys on this board, but thankfully, with all the talk about the NAIA Tournies in the 70, I can rest assured that I was wrong.

It's too bad that you and I aren't Wesleyan fans, Jim. We could qualify to be a couple of Korey's Kids. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm sure it was great back in the day, but now the NAIA is a joke.  Their best teams probably wouldn't even contend in d3 (as evidenced by all the scores).  I live pretty close to a couple NAIA schools and their athletic programs are huge embarassments.  Shoot, if the NAIA had any sort fo investigation as to compliance issues, grades, payment to players, recruiting violations, etc. they wouldn't have many teams left to compete.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm sure it was great back in the day, but now the NAIA is a joke.  Their best teams probably wouldn't even contend in d3 (as evidenced by all the scores).

Not true. As Rhodes Scholar has chronicled in the D3 vs. NAIA/NCCAA/USCAA room over the past few years, NAIA-1 teams actually beat D3 teams more often than not. Back in 1999-2000 when Calvin won the D3 national title, the only two losses that the Knights suffered that season were to a couple of NAIA-1 powerhouses, Azusa Pacific and Biola. This season, NAIA-1 #3 Robert Morris-Chicago beat a couple of pretty good D3 teams, Washington (MO) and UW-Platteville, on back-to-back nights in Platteville. A week later they beat two other decent D3 teams, Hanover and Ohio Wesleyan, on back-to-back nights in Hanover. And then they capped it off by whomping NIIC champ Clarke by 28 points on the home floor of the Crusaders.

And as Rhodes has also chronicled, NAIA-2 as a whole generally performs pretty close to .500 against D3.

The very best NAIA-1 teams -- say the top ten or so -- are generally right up there with anyone in D3. They're more comparable to D2 teams than they are to D3 teams. Any team in NAIA-1's top 25 is generally very good by D3 standards. And the very top of the NAIA-2 rankings has teams that are quite comparable to D3's top 25 as well.

I live pretty close to a couple NAIA schools and their athletic programs are huge embarassments. Shoot, if the NAIA had any sort fo investigation as to compliance issues, grades, payment to players, recruiting violations, etc. they wouldn't have many teams left to compete.

The NAIA tends to be more laissez-faire about enforcement and compliance issues than is the NCAA, and the fact that the NAIA doesn't have any minimum-sports-offered requirements IMO tends to skew the athletic departments and philosophies of many of their members. But they fill a definite niche in collegiate sports. All in all, I'm happy that the NAIA's around. But the organization is certainly only a shadow of what it once was.

[iwu70]

Hiker and Sager, yes, you guys are Kory's kids, to be sure.  Ypsi and I are of the same vintage and I can assure you it comes with gray hair or no hair.  We have very very fond memories of those runs to KC to follow our Titans and we are the ones that still remember the Fred Evans rebounding prowess, Sheldon Thompson's sky hook and sky jump shot, and, of course, the stop-on-the-dime, full court dash that Tommy Gramkow made to hit the winning shot in "the game," the final game between ISU and IWU.  A great (though long-ago, almost forgotten) era in Titan basketball.   This was all pre-Shirk, pre-Sikma -- games in the hot house of the old Fred Young Field House when fans sat on top the ticket booth to watch games sold out and packed in ways that would probably not be permitted by any reasonable fire marshall today.