[NU Sports] Basketball (fwd)

[Dennis W. Brandt]

> Personally, I believe they already make reasonable concessions, but the
> kind of guy who pulls a 0.0 GPA for a full semester at well-know Texas
> school doesn't belong in a Northwestern uniform, regardless of how high
> he finishes in the Heisman voting.

RUBBISH!  It is a long way from enrolling "a few academically marginal 
players who have the native skill to learn but who may have not attended the 
best high schools" and "the kind of guy who pulls a 0.0 GPA for a full 
semester."  Don't be putting words under my fingertips.

If we want NU to be a purely academic institution like the Ivy League, then 
make the move.  But get the hell out of the Big 10.  If we want the benefits 
of the Big 10, the Northwestern administration has to stop adopting a 
standard of mediocrity it would never accept in academics.  Our major sports 
teams have to start acting like an honest-to-God member of the conference. 
There is NO excuse for our endless futility in basketball.  If Duke can be 
among the best basketball programs year after year and still graduate around 
100%, why can we not do the same thing?  Does Duke make "unreasonable 
concessions" to its basketball players?  One problem is that our facilities 
are no better than small college caliber.  It is no accident that Barnett's 
improvement of facilities increased the level of play on the football field. 
Now, it's time to take it to the next level, and that starts with a new 
field house and football stadium on campus.  There is no excuse for the top 
100 football players never giving Northwestern consideration, much less 
enrolling.  Don't tell me all those top players are bad students.  You can't 
catch the big fish with an unbaited hook.

I'll be happy to write a million-dollar check, Mr. Nolan, but it would 
bounce like a superball.  I will, however, put in my share if there is a 
specific effort.  The Fund is not that venue.  There are lots of people out 
there who can and would write big checks if the university announced a 
concerted effort to raise the level of the money sports, which in turn 
support the other sports.  I do recall the university raising something in 
the neighborhood of $1.5 billion recently, so it's possible.  As long as we 
are chained about the neck with the old oh-we-can't-do-that elitist 
mentality, then expect mediocrity.  In basketball, expect nothing.  Either 
way, we will always get what we expect.