MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

They are a conference that doesn't get an AQ, so they are thrown into the Pool B equation.  If they don't get one of the Pool B slots, they get thrown into the Pool C equation, I believe. 

With only two teams above .500 in their region, it doesn't look good.  But, didn't a team get in as a Pool B with a barely .500 record a couple of years ago (Colorado College?)?

[The Way]

The Way I See It,

Old School,

Did you mean corn or corn fed women? Cause there is an abundance of both!!

[Greek Tragedy]

Relax Mr. Sager. I didn't mean anything against you. I was just pointing out that you had said FANS (plural) in an earlier post. It was a shot at the Lakeland fan support. I mean you have a conference game with the two best teams that will decide the regular season champion and LC doesn't even have a fan bus or anything going down. I blame the A/D (who happens to be an assistant for the women's team) but this is not the place to get me started on that topic.

In all honestly, I thought your comment about "fans" was a little tongue in cheek.  I understood that!    I'm sure Greg is getting a little restless lately since the boys in the MWC have been getting on his nerves!

As for Lakeland's AD, yeah, she's totally useless, IMO, not that I want you to get started on that topic.  That's neither here or there. 

Fans or even just students have a hard time just getting off campus because some don't have cars and some are just too lazy to leave the friendly confines of the cornfields.  You really think they want to hop in a car and drive an hour to Milwaukee? 

I just wish Lakeland would promote their sports in Sheboygan.  All of their fields and such are on campus and if you know anything about Lakeland, it is NOT located in Sheboygan.

[The Way]

The Way I See It,

I couldn't agree with you more Old School. I am probably 95% sure that the reason Lakeland never sets anything up as far as fan buses is because of the AD. Because as i mentioned earlier, the AD is an assistant for the women's team. So if the men get a bus to go to a big game, then the women want the same thing. And let's face it, who in their right mind is going to load a bus for a trip to watch a women's LMC tilt? I don't apologize if i offended anyone with that comment because it is the downright truth.

I also know of many alumni that do not like the current AD for many reasons, which may be another reason why alumni only show up for the annual alumni game. And i know she didn't make any friends from the football team this fall by not showing up at the school's first playoff game since joining D3 because of a women's basketball game. Where are the priorities? It paralyzes efforts to promote the team when people don't get along with the AD.

[Muskie Fan South]

How Lakeland recruits players...
 1. Gary does a great job,first he is up front and honest and just doesn't tell you what you want to hear. After a couple of meetings with him both my wife and I were sold on Lakeland. As far as Jeff,Josh,Scott and Coach J to this day they make us feel like part of the family and we enjoy talking with them. For us it's a 3 hour drive to see the home games and I'll tell you it's worth the drive. Other schools that recruited our son were alot closer and you know what we are glad he made the final call.
To the people who went to the MSOE game their coach was a real jerk, very little class and no respect for the refs,I guess it was the refs who missed the shots or hitting the boards or even called the plays. On the East Coast we call people like that " J bags". Coach G. you have our respect and support .........

[muskieallumi]

I will agree with all the responses on the AD at Lakeland, from what i have noticed while i was at Lakeland our mens teams didn't get all the perks, from the Girls Basketball team traveling to the Bahamas, over seas, California but the guys team ohh the anual trip to iowa or this year it was Michigan... Ohhhhh then when they can do all there fundraising in the gym but if another sport wants to use it for a fundraiser they get charged.  Well that is my take on the subject.. I am out

[Gregory Sager]

In all honestly, I thought your comment about "fans" was a little tongue in cheek.  I understood that!    I'm sure Greg is getting a little restless lately since the boys in the MWC have been getting on his nerves!

No, it just looked as though I was being called out, and I couldn't understand why.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, and as far as Lakeland fan support is concerned I'm not sure that the one Muskie game I saw (Lakeland @ Dominican) is indicative of anything. It was on a Tuesday night in a Chicago suburb, and it would've been a little much to expect fan support from a team an hour north of Milwaukee under those circumstances. I could've counted all of the people in the stands cheering for the Muskies on two hands and had fingers left over, but I didn't take that as a sign that Lakeland had no fan base. For what it's worth, Dominican didn't have more than forty or so fans present, either.

Are you sure that it's the AD's responsibility to procure fan buses at Lakeland? I can only speak from the experience of my own school in this regard, but at North Park the responsibility of calling the bus company, renting the bus(es), on-campus promotion of the road game and the bus trip, and paying for the bus(es) has nothing to do with the athletic department. It's handled by the NPU Student Association. In other words, the responsibility rests with the students, not the administration.

[muskieallumi]

I totaly agree that yes it rest in some parts of the students, Lakeland now has a coordinator that deals with the entertanment on campus, because being in the corn field never does help students that arn't 21 and can travel the 10 min. into shevegas.. But when they can go out of there way to get buses for the girls bball team why not through a bone when the guys are having by far the best season at lakeland sence the 70's and give the students something to do.. That is where i was going...

[Greek Tragedy]

First off, I wasn't recruited at all to go to Lakeland.  I had my reasons already (transferred from UWSP).  I enjoyed my time there.  The AD is a headcase.  She doesn't care about anything except herself and HER interests (i.e. women's basketball, and used to be softball until the coach and her got into a big spat).  It's amazing that she's able to hire any new coaches there.  No wonder it seems like every coach goes there for two-five years, using Lakeland as a stepping stone, and then bolts on the next horse and wagon out of the cornfields.    When I went there to play soccer, we basically had NO equipment because she was too cheap to buy anything.  We had to supply our own soccer balls!  And this is a varsity sport at a college!  What a joke.  She also "claimed" we started practice early one year and banned us from practice and that resulted in us moving our alumni game into She-Vegas.  She rarely ever showed up to support other sports that she wasn't involved in.  She's the AD, shouldn't she be involved in all the sports to some capacity?

Anyway, sorry about the rant.  She will forever annoy me! 
I guess the point is, part of the reason Lakeland sports aren't promoted in She-Vegas or aren't supported more is because of her lack of interest and dedication to those sports.

To the people who went to the MSOE game their coach was a real jerk, very little class and no respect for the refs,I guess it was the refs who missed the shots or hitting the boards or even called the plays. On the East Coast we call people like that " J bags". Coach G. you have our respect and support .........

He used to be the Lakeland coach. 

[bodhi5]

They are a conference that doesn't get an AQ, so they are thrown into the Pool B equation. If they don't get one of the Pool B slots, they get thrown into the Pool C equation, I believe.

With only two teams above .500 in their region, it doesn't look good. But, didn't a team get in as a Pool B with a barely .500 record a couple of years ago (Colorado College?)?

I believe it was Colorado College who made the 2004 NCAA tourney over Aurora University, who lost the AQ in the NIIC tourney championship to Benedictine University.  AU had a record of 19-8 and got left out.  Colorado College got embarassed in the first round.

[Muskie Fan South]

FINAL SCORE OUT OF LISLE...
    BENEDICTINE 83
    LAKELAND      74

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm not quite sure what to think of the loss to Benedictine.  I mean it doesn't help when one of their players goes off for 45 points or whatever.  But, what does this say about the strength of the LMC and Lakeland more specifically. 

Sure, we've all been raving about them, and they deserve it.  Not to take anything away from the Bens or even Rockford for that matter, but the NIIC is hardly a power conference and Lakeland has managed to lose to both of them.  On one hand, they beat Point (admittedly having a "down" year, though they are still 8-3 in the WIAC) and played Hope as tough as they could.  But, losing to these teams that hardly have stellar records doesn't help the LMC or Lakeland in the eyes of the other leagues, teams, fans, voters etc. 

Maybe I'm blowing this loss out of proportion or maybe I don't realize how good Benedictine or Rockford are, but I would have thought Lakeland would've been able to beat at least one of them.  Does this mean that the LMC is still that far down the conference totem pole?  Hopefully whomever represents the LMC in the NCAAs will win a game or at least come close!   

Even with the loss, Lakeland still looks like the team that has the best chance to do just that.

[The Way]

The Way I See It,

The LMC this year as a whole is not that strong. A prime example is the pile up after the first 2 places. An outsider could look and say that this means there is parity in the conference....but that isn't the case. The teams just aren't that good. This Edgewood team is by far the worst since i have been associated with the LMC and they are sitting in 3rd. I would take any one of the teams led by Luke Sadowski over this year's team. MSOE is good,,,but are they really that better than the team they were a few years ago with Adam Lewis (a team that finished in the bottom 3 spots every year)? And plus Coach Good was 10 times better than Brian Miller is. Maranatha is just plain brutal. I'm sorry, but if a team loses to Maranatha this year...you should start playing high school JV teams.
And Busty, I think you would agree with me that you would much rather have a team with Paul Nelson and John Urbanek than you would with a Hagel and a Spaeth. I can't comment on Dominican because i have never seen them play. Marian is just beyond me. And Concordia would much rather have a Ryan Weitor or a Derek Berger than a Matt Peets.

And that leaves me with Lakeland. They are definitely the cream of the crop this year in the LMC. But I wouldn't rest at that if i were them. That alone is not an accomplishment this year. That would be like saying each of them was able to beat their kid brother 14 times in one on one matchups. Earlier in the year, they had the tendency to play to the level of their competition, whether good or bad. That is why i knew this Benedictine game was going to be a question mark. The good thing about Lakeland's team this year is that they are deep and solid 1-9. But the problem is,,,,who is going to be the guy down the stretch that gets them through a close game and pulls them out of a tough spot? I think that is their achillies heel right now.

[showtimeSmyHero]

Since i have only seen Lakeland one time, i may not be correct in assuming this, but i will anyways. I noticed that when Lakeland whooped MSOE, they were packing it in the paint when Mikos and Floyd had the ball... forcing them to shoot outside which of course both of them would rather slash and dish.  That kid from Benedictine was hitting everything and it looks like Lakeland couldnt hit anything.  MSOE beat both of those teams easy so i dont know what to think either.  Its a game of matchups and Lakeland matchs up good with MSOE since they are deep and MSOE's lack of shooting(and all around offense) and defense from 1-5.

When lakeland plays MSOE next week, i would do the same thing and take away the dribble pen. and make em shoot... cause MSOE doesnt have anyone who is going to go 8-12 from 3point range and im sure saiberlich will not disappear.

[Gregory Sager]

FINAL SCORE OUT OF LISLE...
    BENEDICTINE 83
    LAKELAND      74

Whoops.