MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[fcnews]

Yea re-read a 2001 article and ignore any current coverage. The Kindred article was nicely written, what has he wrote in the past six years. I've spoke to two other local assistant coaches who were suprised that the game got front page coverage. I'm not sure what time the game was completed Saturday night. Mr. Burwell did get back to the Post and beat the deadline with his story. Question the content and not the effort. 

I for one am schocked at the comments here. But, I'm through with it. The journalist that read this site could only hope the obtain his national reputation. Let's just all go back to reading campus newspapers and an occasional small town article, that few outside of that immediate town will ever see.

By the looks of my Karma, it doen't pay to be on the otherside of a conversation on here. If you try to explain a different view you get bashed.

Everybody have a safe trip to Salem.

[Gregory Sager]

OK.  Enough about the St. Louis article already.  I've already given two thumbs up to the Dave Kindred article.  Anyone agree?  Why don't we all just reread that one and feel better?

Kindred's column was a much better piece of writing -- no surprise there, since Kindred's a better writer than Burwell (I've read numerous columns by both sportswriters over the years) -- but Kindred wasn't particularly original, either. That whole "everything's smaller on the D3 level" angle had moss growing on it long before Kindred got ahold of it in 2001. I can remember the Sports Illustrated piece about one of North Park's championship runs back in the late '70s, and that article spent more time talking about the tiny school, tiny gym, tiny crowds, lack of TV coverage, etc., than it did anything else. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that some sportswriter in Memphis wrote the ur-version of this piece back in March, 1975 when LeMoyne-Owen brought home the very first D3 men's basketball championship trophy to the banks of the Mississippi.

There are any number of inside-the-game or human interest angles that a sportswriter can take if he wants to write about a Final Four team -- any Final Four team, on any level. Wash U certainly has its share of them: The Jostens Award winner; the star point guard who blew out his knee at the start of the season and has transformed himself into a coach/cheerleader for a team that has persevered in his absence; the difficulty of assembling a good basketball team at a school with such high admissions standards and rigorous classroom demands; the drama of a return to the Final Four in the wake of a crushing loss to the team's archrival on the final day of the season that cost it a conference crown; etc. Instead, Burwell offered up what usee accurately described as "lazy man's boilerplate". He took the obvious and cranked out a shallow puff piece, rather than doing serious reporting by asking the questions of the Wash U players and coaches that would've revealed the real stories there, the kinds of stories that might've provided some actual insight into the team.

[petemcb]

But, I'm through with it.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.  C'mon, Greg.  Get on board.  The train's leavin' the station, headed for Salem.

[petemcb]

Wouldn't it be cool if an enterprising, local D3 school (Chicago-type local for my purposes) could pick up the feed or find some way to broadcast the games this weekend in their gym on a big screen, sell some tickets for $5 each, open up the concession stand, and try get a crowd?

[Gregory Sager]

All-Region teams are out. Kent Raymond and Brent Ruch made first team, with Raymond also being named Midwest Region POY, while Steve Djurickovic and Andy Wiele were named to the second team. Djurickovic was also named Midwest Region ROY. Congrats to the four of them!

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Yea re-read a 2001 article and ignore any current coverage. The Kindred article was nicely written, what has he wrote in the past six years. I've spoke to two other local assistant coaches who were suprised that the game got front page coverage. I'm not sure what time the game was completed Saturday night. Mr. Burwell did get back to the Post and beat the deadline with his story. Question the content and not the effort. 

I for one am schocked at the comments here. But, I'm through with it. The journalist that read this site could only hope the obtain his national reputation. Let's just all go back to reading campus newspapers and an occasional small town article, that few outside of that immediate town will ever see.

By the looks of my Karma, it doen't pay to be on the otherside of a conversation on here. If you try to explain a different view you get bashed.

Everybody have a safe trip to Salem.

K+ for you

you should know that there is an alarm that goes off in the Hall of Fame "Bat Cave" whenever one of their members is getting flambed.

They are the brotherhood - and you have messed with the primal forces of D3Hoops.com.

Having said all that (and I won't read the article by Burwell) - I can tell all of you that as a former SID at a small school in a major metropolitan area - almost any coverage at any time was welcome.

At North Park, we not only fought the pro teams, horse racing, Big Ten, DePaul, Loyola and Notre Dame, but in the Chicago area high school sports is huge and way up the scale in priority over the small colleges.

DoS

[Dennis_Prikkel]

But, I'm through with it.

Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.  C'mon, Greg.  Get on board.  The train's leavin' the station, headed for Salem.

Now I haven't, and won't read the Burwell story, but I do have a logistics question about it.

Was he covering the sectional championship game and then wrote the story?

If so - that game was late - and he was under deadline and space constraints - the paper was probably holding a specific space for him - waiting to get to press.  Often whats comes out of the writer's laptop is editted on site to fit the prevailing space as well.

Just asking?

DoS

[petemcb]

Good points and questions. 

[Pat Coleman]

It was a 7 p.m. game that ended before 9. Don't know when he filed but most deadlines are well after that, even if you honor the NCAA's cooling-off period.

In print it was left about a half-inch short -- white space at the bottom.

[Naperick]

All-Region teams are out. Kent Raymond and Brent Ruch made first team, with Raymond also being named Midwest Region POY, while Steve Djurickovic and Andy Wiele were named to the second team. Djurickovic was also named Midwest Region ROY. Congrats to the four of them!

Congrats to all 4!  All are deserving.

[Gregory Sager]

Pat, the pop machine in the Hall of Fame Batcave is out of Pepsi. Please ask Alfred to refill it.

Thanks!

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Pat, the pop machine in the Hall of Fame Batcave is out of Pepsi. Please ask Alfred to refill it.

Thanks!

Thanks Pat - I own stock in Pepsi.   

DoS

Only one negative karma point - the HoF mob is slipping.

[sac]

Only one negative karma point - the HoF mob is slipping.

Or your paranoia is unfounded.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Only one negative karma point - the HoF mob is slipping.

Or your paranoia is unfounded.

Not paranoia - just past experiences.   

If it walks like a duck....

DoS

Just think of all the frustrated posters you've driven away with your 'gang up to save our buddies' tactics.

You may not think you're doing it - but you are - enough people have said it publicly on these boards and in private to me.

It's a 'good ol boys' club - and that's okay.

Please just don't insult our intelligence by denying it.

DoS

[petemcb]

Only one negative karma point - the HoF mob is slipping.

Or your paranoia is unfounded.

Not paranoia - just past experiences.   

If it walks like a duck....

DoS

....it could be a duck, or a Canada goose, or a swan, or a turkey..........