[NU Sports] Those other sports

[Dennis W. Brandt]

<But most baffling here is how NU can attract top-shelf
talent in almost every other sport (football, soccer,
swimming, wrestling, softball, golf, tennis, lacrosse)
and not in hoops (men's or women's).

Would that it were so that we attract "top-shelf talent" to the football 
team.  How many five-star recruits have we ever signed?  We have one 
four-star in this recruiting class, which gives us a grand total of two on 
the team.  That's why beating Michigan and Ohio State are such rare 
occurrences that someone inevitably makes teeshirts honoring those moments. 
It appears we did better this recruiting year but only because the 
percentage of three-star recruits is greater.  Check Ohio State's, USC's, 
and Michigan's ratings, to name but three, and prepare yourself for a Carl 
Sagan moment.

The above-mentioned sports (minus football) all pale in comparison to the 
major sports.  Moreover, in swimming, tennis, and golf, your success does 
not rely on the quality of others on the team.  Break the world record for 
the 400 meter freestyle at the University of Bug Tussle at East Fleeb, and 
you're still in line for the Olympics.  Being a great quarterback who 
consistently lies prone under 600 lbs of defensive tackles, on the other 
hand, will not get you noticed.  Only soccer among the above-listed team 
sports (minus football) provides a viable vocational path but not much of 
one in the United States.  (Beckham and his atrocious contract is an 
aberration.  He's as much an image as soccer star.  Someone is going to take 
a big financial hit for doing that.)  Ergo, it is much less important where 
these athletes attend college, which puts Northwestern in a better 
recruiting position.