[NU Sports] future of basketball at NU? Grim,

Tue Mar 13 10:24:22 CDT 2012

I do know this about Duke:

A few years back it was reported in the press (somewhere) that they had established a 3
year, Sports Marketing and Management program specifically geared towards the basketball
team.

It was structured so that top players at Duke could not only compete for the team, but
graduate in 3 years, allowing them to go pro with a degree, or stick around and take
higher level courses for their 4th years. 

I have no idea whether this program was ever used, or if it still exists, but if you work
with college kids long enough, you know that kids with borderline scores can be helped
through college, especially if they are really smarter than their ACT or SAT scores
indicate.

There is also the story about the big transfer from Duke - he had a problem going to
class, remember? He was reported to have said that at Duke, you got a note in your locker
when you absolutely had to attend a class session. NU Basketball requires that everyone
attend every class session, unless you are on the road, and I guess he had a problem doing
that.

Maryland had a kid who had sub 800's, who went to an SAT class, and pulled his scores way
above 1,000. It wasn't that he didn't have the native intellect, it was that the public
schools had failed to teach him how to read, and by extension analyze what he read. As I
remember, this kid graduated and is a teacher/coach somewhere in Baltimore. At first,
Maryland didn't believe the improvement in the scores, but he turned out to be one of the
smarter kids on the team.

We can also point to our own Michael Wilbon - who by his own admission (I heard him in
person) did not have a high enough "score" to get into Medill. He interviewed and
convinced the interviewer that he would be an ace student, and a credit to the school if
they let him in - they did and we can watch him on TV just about every night.

One of the reasons I liked attending Northwestern was a major difference in attitude among
the profs. At other schools, there was always the feeling that they wanted you to fail and
leave so they only had to deal with the really smart kids.

At NU, the assumption was always that you were going to graduate. You were going to do the
work, but I always thought that nothing was impossible if you worked at it while I was at
NU. Of course, I was older, and had been a writer/analyst for four years in the Navy, so I
was used to writing on deadline, but the time I spent in Evanston was really without the
pressure to succeed. You did the work, you read the books, and you wrote the papers, and
everyone in the Speech school, at least, was supportive if you met the standard.

I also had a fraternity brother who was an NU 6 Year Medical guy - I'd never met a relaxed
Pre-Med student before, but this guy could take time to work out stuff that most pre-meds
couldn't because they were chasing "A's"

The bottom line for me still is that whomever we have as a coach at NU is recruiting out
of a 3 foot hole. It takes special kids like Jitim, and Tavaras, and Juice, and Shurna
(and Shon, And Esch and back into history) who have the drive to both play Div I
basketball AND keep up their coursework so they can graduate. Nobody has done a "where are
they now" on the 1960-70's basketball team - We know what Shon and a few others have
achieved, I'd love to see just what some of those other guys in the record books are doing
now.

rsl

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Opinions expressed above are mine alone and are not
those of any organizations of which I am a member.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
Coach Roy's Random Thoughts - http://coachroy.org
--------------------- Also ----------------------
"Commissioner" Delaware American Legion Baseball
Director Media Relations - Little League 
  Senior League Softball World Series
CTR2 USN (67-70) - CTRCS USNR (Ret) (64-67/70-95)
Northwestern University - Speech 1974 - 
Chi Phi: Pi 1974, KD 1968
Publisher Emeritus: Purple Reign (Fox Sports)
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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Aaron
Ament
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 10:50 AM
To: Eric C West
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] future of basketball at NU? Grim,

I think Roy's main point is that Duke takes players with SAT scores below a minimum
threshold that Northwestern will go below.  I'm not aware of any basketball player at NU
that was admitted with a score under 1000.

And yes, as an attorney who represents  the interests of several universities, I am
interested in exactly what bylaws you are referring to when you say "anyone with even a
smattering of knowledge about NCAA compliance knows that it could not possibly be true." ?
Is there a bylaw that prohibits the sharing of a blind transcript of a former student with
his consent?

On Mar 13, 2012, at 10:25 AM, Eric C West <e-west at northwestern.edu> wrote:

> *Sigh* I'm not sure what kind of point "reason to refute" is trying to make. The fact is
it's not true, and everyone who works (or has worked) in the Admission Office knows it's
not true, and anyone with even a smattering of knowledge about NCAA compliance knows that
it could not possibly be true. Who cares about refuting? Eddie Murphy has refuted that
story about him with some lady in an elevator countless times but people still insist to
his face that it's factual. That's what happens with urban legends.
> 
> This was already a dead horse twelve years ago. Whatever actually happened with Amaker,
any "kernel of truth" has been overwhelmed by a fake story. I know urban legends can't be
quashed completely, but we can at least stop using them to "support" whatever argument
we're making.
> 
> Eric West
> e-west at northwestern.edu
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] 
> On Behalf Of Aaron Ament
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 6:00 PM
> To: Mike Nolan
> Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] future of basketball at NU? Grim,
> 
> But Coach Foster did have a reason to refute the story, as he was the head coach at both
schools.  And he did talk about Northwestern having the higher standards..
> 
> 
> On Mar 12, 2012, at 6:48 PM, nolan at tssi.com (Mike Nolan) wrote:
> 
>>> Has Amaker ever said it was not true?
>> 
>> Why would he give a rat's a**?  He's not coaching at NU, he's not 
>> coaching in the Big Ten, he's not likely to do either in the foreseeable futuer.
>> 
>> If coaches had to spend time debunking every story about their 
>> actions, including ones from many years ago, when would they have 
>> time to attend to their current coaching duties?
>> 
>> This reminds me of an oft-told story on the Husker List about how a 
>> certain ex-Notre Dame coach was about to be hired by Nebraska.  The 
>> source was said to be the cable installer for the house he had 
>> supposedly just bought in Lincoln.
>> --
>> Mike Nolan
> 
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