[NU Sports] Basketball (fwd)

[johnadeg at comcast.net]

If the Ryans aren't embarrasses by what goes on in a facility with their names on it, who is really going to care.

John DeGroat
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Dennis W. Brandt" <tbng at comcast.net>
> > 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. 
> 
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