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Messages - kiko

#1
Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 11, 2023, 12:27:15 AM
(And, no, Goulet, that's not me telling you guys to take your "Ohmigosh, can we actually sustain drives when all we've shown thus far is the ability to score 80-yard touchdowns at will?" shtick off of this board and onto another one, as if I had the right to do so. I'm simply saying that it's misdirected conversation for this particular audience and much more relevant to a nationally-based topics board.)

I strongly disagree with this.  "This particular audience" includes any number of folks who support North Central, and a conversation about that team is not misdirected here any more than the 2,152nd regaling of the best peanut gallery insults from the Crackerbox in days of yore is misdirected.  Are you suggesting a board focused on the CCIW is the wrong place for North Central fans to talk amongst themselves about their team?  Nobody went out of their way to disparage another school in the conference, and it's not like the conversation popped up on the MWC board (or pick your conference) where talking about North Central would make zero sense.

I would also argue that the topic is relevant not just in November and beyond for reasons I noted above -- things surface now that may factor in down the road.  I see no reason why that space should be off-limits.  A lot of topics we discuss are relevant to only a portion of the people who venture over here.

Take it as humblebragging if you want; people are going to read whatever they want into what someone posts.  Or you can always scroll past it.
#2
Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 10, 2023, 08:13:34 PM
Quote from: robertgoulet on October 10, 2023, 02:35:29 PM
Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 10, 2023, 01:34:51 PM
The North Central fans can pull out their magnifying glasses and spend time to their heart's content looking for things about the Cardinals to complain about. None of the rest of us care. None of the rest of us root for a team that's gonna come within 18 points of NCC -- and that includes Wash U, which is a very good football team, eleven days from today -- and most of us root for teams that have lost or are going to lose to North Central by a whole lot more than the 19 Wheaton was short. So all of that hand-wringing from the Napervillains is unleashing a lot of eye-rolling in other precincts of this league.

So NCC fans are no longer able to post on here about our team then? Got it.

Dunno what you got, but it wasn't from me. I don't see how you deduced "you can't post about NCC" from "other team's fans have no sympathy for your team's essentially nonexistent problems".

I think everyone wearing red and white recognizes that these are Uptown problems and that they are not likely to become problematic against most of the teams on the regular season schedule.  And, I think it is safe to say that we don't expect fans of other Pantone combinations to have much if anything in the way of empathy.

But that doesn't mean the issues are nonexistent.  Things that won't have a material impact in Week pick-your-number can become very problematic in a hurry down the road.  It's a function of the difference in quality at various points on that bell curve you referenced earlier.  And what I think you are hearing is folks wanting some of that cleaned up now before it becomes an issue.  Again, Uptown problems.  But problems nonetheless.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on October 10, 2023, 01:34:51 PM
I'm a lot more concerned with the utter uncompetitiveness of what the Around The Nation guys have apparently dubbed "the C C I Double You". After four weeks of league play, the average margin of victory in 2023 CCIW games is five touchdowns (34.65 points). Again, last year the AMV in this league was 33.3 points, which was ridiculous enough, but it's apparently getting worse -- even though this coming week features two games (Augustana @ Wash U and Illinois Wesleyan @ North Park) that contain at least a hint of being interesting.

What I would be interested in -- Ypsi alert! -- is to see how that benchmarks against other conferences, whether they have a smattering of Top 20 programs or not.  And, whether that average margin has widened broadly across the division, or if it is just an issue with the CCIWMO.

Quote from: Thunderdome21 on October 10, 2023, 09:00:47 PM
NCC's defense is not as dominant as it was last year. Although they still have 1st team AA Dan Lester (who is by far the best D-Line player in the conference), teams with really good O-lines can run the ball to some extent against them because this year's D-line isn't as dominant.

However, NCC's offense is better than last year's, even when losing Greenfield.

I think this is exactly right.  What impact it has in the weeks ahead will be interesting (for some of us, at least) to watch unfold.
#3
Quote from: lmitzel on October 08, 2023, 11:49:29 AM
A week after NCC went quick strike mode on Wheaton, they did it again to Carroll yesterday. The Cardinals averaged 14 yards per play and posted three separate one play touchdown drives of 69, 76, and 93 yards. And that doesn't count a 98 yard Joey Lombardi kickoff return touchdown off Carroll's first score, plus a 76 yard Angelo Cusumano pick-6 in the second half.

The one possible cause for concern I have (as noted by Frank Rossi) is that the Cardinals have lost the time of possession battle in all four CCIW games this season, but they have won those games by a combined score of 252-65.

Losing the TOP battle is a direct result of all of the things you described in the first paragraph.  I actually think if/when they win TOP it will be a sign that the offense has been slowed.
#4
Today:
Augustana 42, Millikin 3 in Rock Island
North Park 35, Carthage 20 on the Northern side of the Cheddar Curtain
Wash U 38, Illinois Wesleyan 10 at How's It Going, Norm? Field

Tonight:
North Central 69, Carroll 24 in Naperville
Wheaton 61, Elmhurst 6 at Langhorst
#5
Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 30, 2023, 09:35:55 PM
Quote from: USee on September 30, 2023, 06:58:46 PM
Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 30, 2023, 05:14:44 PM
Just curious ... when's the last time somebody put up 54 on the scoreboard against Wheaton?

2003 against the #1 team in the country.

That doesn't seem long ago, but I'm old enough now to realize that what doesn't seem long ago nevertheless often is truly long ago. ;)

There were undoubtedly players on the field today who were not alive then.  So in that sense, it was a lifetime ago.
#6
Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 25, 2023, 10:44:40 AM
And, for the first time since 1968, the Vikings have shut out two opponents in the same season.

Worth noting also that this isn't the product of scheduling a pair of delicious cupcakes.  Millikin is not a good team, but there is CCIW-bad and D3-bad, and those are typically not the same thing.
#7
Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 17, 2023, 05:54:56 PM
It's startling how uncompetitive the vast majority of CCIW football games really are.

I've thought for a long time that the bell curve for D3 football is much flatter and wider than for just about any other sport.  We have been seeing it more acutely in the CCIW in recent years but this holds true nationally as well.  Typically of late, there are a handful of close games at most in the first round of the playoffs, and those are played between teams that were much further to the right on the bell curve for their respective conferences.  Ask me what a typical D3 basketball team level is and I can stumble through a definition.  Ask me about a D3 football team, and there are eleventy billion different tiers to reconcile.
#8
Today:
Albion 41, Carthage 20 in Kenosha
Elmhurst 14, Albion Alma Adrian 3 at Langhorst
North Central 41, Roosevelt 7 in Arlington Heights
Wash U 44, Hendrix 27 in Conway AR

Tonight:
Augustana at Simpson
Millikin at Illinois College
North Park at Manchester

Next Week:
Central at Illinois Wesleyan
UW Oshkosh at Wheaton
Wisconsin Lutheran at Carroll
#9
Quote from: CardinalAlum on August 30, 2023, 03:30:16 PM
Game notes for week 1 vs Roosevelt.  Hopefully a good test for the Cards in week 1.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/northcentralcardinals.com/documents/2023/8/29/20230902_roosevelt_notes__2_.pdf

For those who wallow in this sort of thing, North Central's two deep is in the notes that CardinalAlum posted.  Two observations:

1. Unsurprisingly, this is still a very very Illinois-centric roster.  The Cardinals' recent playoff success may mean the coaching staff is landing kids they weren't previously landing, but it has not led to an expanded geographic footprint.

2. Not surprisingly, there are only a few freshmen on the two deep coming into the first week, with only one WR and some special teamers starting the year atop the depth chart.
#11
Quote from: iwu70 on August 23, 2023, 07:26:13 PM
WUPHF, perhaps so.   Have to say, though, that my Dad's group at IWU in the early 40s pulled off some pretty good pranks, once getting a Model T Ford up the stairs in the old Hedding Hall on the IWU Quad -- before it burned down during my Dad's senior year.  I do wish the current cohort of students would have some more fun, pull off some creative pranks and rivalries.  We had ISU's Victory Bell stored out on a farm some miles east of Bloomington for over three weeks, before finally returning it via our cheerleaders back to the ISU cheerleaders.  It was chained to the front of Stevenson Hall for a day or two, for one of our rallies on the Quad before an ISU-IWU game.    The County Sheriff (who had been head of Security at IWU) was after us, but no one gave up the gig . . .  the main ringleader of that "gang" later became a federal narcotics agent. . .  so there you go.  The value of a liberal arts education . . .

'70

Removing the teams' jerseys from the equipment bags before everyone boarded the bus to Chicago was a pretty good prank.

Oh, wait...  ::)
#12
Quote from: mr_b on August 08, 2023, 04:20:45 PM
Congratulations to Greg Sager on his induction into the North Park Viking Hall of Fame!  He is well deserving of this honor, given his dedication to and support of all Viking sports and his work as announcer in many of them (and at times, two different sports on the same day!).  The ceremony will take place on December 2nd.

Congratulations Gregory!

And kudos to NPU for looking at the entire athletics ecosystem when considering HOF nominees.
#13
That would make for a fascinating service project for a rising Eagle Scout looking to reach that next level.  Give the nesting mother-to-be a break by taking regular shifts before the eggs hatch.
#14
Quote from: petemcb on May 25, 2023, 12:45:28 PM
And did I perhaps just set a record for conjunctions used in a single sentence? I don't know whether to apologize or boast.

This is D3.  Boasting is appropriate.

On d1boards.com, simple sentences and monosyllabic words are encouraged.
#15
Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 19, 2023, 11:43:27 AM
Hard to believe there are still questions about the use of the term rising. It's as old as this iteration of D3boards.com and almost certainly older.

Quote from: David Collinge on May 16, 2005, 08:18:56 PM
Yes, it is rare; that's why I mentioned that Snyder did it at the same school just last year.  So clearly it is do-able, at least at Wooster.  It helps when you have time to plan ahead; Snyder was a rising junior when he realized he had 3 years of eligibility left, and Port was a rising sophomore.  Drake found out even earlier, maybe before he even enrolled at the college.

Anyway, maybe it's less rare at Wooster than other NCAC schools.  I had fraternity brothers on the five-year plan.  Scions of the wealthy, all.

And oh by the way, Wooster does offer postgraduate degrees, but they are in music.  I'm guessing that this is not an option for Port or Drake! <IMG SRC="http://discus.d3hoops.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0>

Quote from: nescac1 on September 14, 2005, 12:41:33 PM
Wow, it sounds like Trinity and Amherst are both really loading up for next year. 

To answer the question re: Williams, in terms of returning talent, on paper, they are probably no better than fifth after Bowdoin, Bates, Amherst, Trinity, probably about even with Tufts in the middle of the pack.  The big problem is that the Ephs have very few upperclassmen who have been major contributors in the past: Andrew Newton is the only potential impact player from the junior and senior classes.  A few other guys are contributors, but all in specific roles (rebounder, defender, shooter, etc.).  The Ephs do have a talented rising Sophomore class and, it sounds like, a large frosh class coming in, but they just don't have a lot of experienced upperclassmen like they did in the championship years.  I believe they may well overachieve due to coaching, tradition, home court, being overlooked, being fired up after last year, etc., but, honestly, thinking they can compete with Amherst and Trinity this year may be a stretch.  Just lost too much from the class of 03 through 05.  Considering that 3 of their top 4 guys are gone from last year's middle-of-the-pack team, they are going to need some big improvements from some of the returnees (Kuntz? Gibbons? Rose? Shalvoy?) and at least two impact recruits to have any shot of cracking the top 3. 

As for Bowdoin, I think they are being slightly overhyped.  Petrie is awesome, but last year's team was really thin, particulalry up front, and they will likely be very vulnerable to injuries or foul trouble.  Bates may have the same problem after losing half of the guys in their rotation from last year.  The best 3-4 guys from both those teams are solid, but they don't have anyone to compete against who Trinity and Amherst have as their 5th/6th/7th/8th options.

What's frightening to me is that there are players who are rising something somethings now who, um, weren't yet rising newborns when that was discussed.