[NU Sports] Basketball

[hakirsch at aol.com]

I can't imagine the whims of the ncaa selection committee passing us by if we ever got near the bubble.  Having a Chicago based team with a first time ever appearance would both be desirable traits for the tournament.  (Not to mention the story of NU finally making the dance after hosting the first finals)
However I think if we don't make the dance in 2010 we should at least expect .500 in conference. If we can't achieve that, could we or should we ever consider dropping out of the conference in hoops ?  I assume its legal as ND essentially does it 
Harry------Original Message------From: Michael VanceSender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.comTo: nwu-sports at tssi.comSent: Feb 22, 2009 6:43 PMSubject: Re: [NU Sports] Basketball
Don't look now, everyone, but it's a (ever so slightly) positive note from Dennis about basketball!  :-)
But I actually agree in principle, Dennis.  I'm a little hesitant to make anything non-negotiable, especially where the whims of the NCAA selection committee may come into play.  But things like an over-.500 conference record, defending the home court (no home losses to lower-ranked teams, no more than 2-3 home losses total), another good recruiting class, and a showing in post-season play that exceeds whatever we do this year (whether that be an appearance in The Dance, or a deep run in the NIT) are terms that I would be pleased with.  At a higher level, I would put it as "significant improvement" on all or most key measurements of program-level success.
On a different note, Tom Hamilton and Steve Smith briefly discussed the overall excellence of the sophomore class in the Big Ten this year..  Is there another conference that can match this sophomore class?
Thompson (NU)Lucas, Summers, Allen (MSU)Hummel, Moore (Purdue)Davis, McCamey, Tisdale (Illinois)Battle (PSU)Diebler, Lauderdale, Turner (OSU)Harris (Michigan)
That's not everyone, just the ones who really jump out.  If I dug into every stat and found all of the sophomores that lead their team in some key stat, I'm sure there'd be more.  I'm not nearly as familiar with the other conferences.  Are there any others that come close?
-Michael
Dennis W. Brandt wrote:> The Wildcats are looking up a bit.  Coble never looked better than against O-my-we-lostSU.  Even Rowley had a brief flash of glory, something he has not shown all season.  My vote at this point is for Carmody to get one more year at the helm with the non-negotiable expectation that we will be in the NCAAs next season.  If not, it's adios amigo.  Moral victories be damned.  They still add one to the L column.  EXPECT VICTORY!  (I just made that up.  Honest.)>> Closing out the season will be rough sailing.  Four of the last five regular-season games are on the road.  If they win three of those, they'll have the league saying, "Watch out!"  Could be an interesting tournament.> _______________________________________________> nwu-sports site list> nwu-sports at tssi.com> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports>>   
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