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Nance/Young

Yeah people who follow college basketball know that Duke signficantly lowers their academic standards for the basketball team. It eroded that way because of Mike Krzyzewski and the discrepancy is the worst among all Division 1 programs. The truth is the truth.

I look at college sports as competition between students. Is that idealistic? Maybe. But as John Mellencamp once sang - "You gotta stand for something or you're gonna fall for anything."
But I think the point is that even though people know this about their basketball program, it hasn't hurt the overall academic reputation of the school. Now they have an excellent reputation and good basketball. Whether the whole system chews up these kids and spits them out is a different debate...

But I am a big proponent of the idea that a top flight university should attempt to recruit the best people in the world at what they do and then help them benefit from the university's environment.
 
But I think the point is that even though people know this about their basketball program, it hasn't hurt the overall academic reputation of the school. Now they have an excellent reputation and good basketball. Whether the whole system chews up these kids and spits them out is a different debate...

But I am a big proponent of the idea that a top flight university should attempt to recruit the best people in the world at what they do and then help them benefit from the university's environment.

Thats ok but some schools, primarily the best, stress academics.
When the Ivy League schools start offering plumbing majors, then I'll agree with you.
 
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Thats ok but some schools, primarily the best, stress academics.
When the Ivy League schools start offering plumbing majors, then I'll agree with you.
I have no interest in NU being an Ivy League-like school. NU belongs to that tier of universities that combines world-class academics with a mainstream, American-university experience. That includes high-level athletics. So, if we're going to do that, then let's do it well. Otherwise, let's just become the University of Chicago.
 
I have no interest in NU being an Ivy League-like school. NU belongs to that tier of universities that combines world-class academics with a mainstream, American-university experience. That includes high-level athletics. So, if we're going to do that, then let's do it well. Otherwise, let's just become the University of Chicago.
It isn't about Northwestern being an Ivy League-like school (and I didn't say that).
Yes, part of the appeal of NU is the Big Ten sports.
Its a small group of universities that can claim the combination of academics and athletics that Northwestern possesses currently.

But I really don't understand this philosophy that "If we can't be good at all the sports, we should give up and become University of Chicago."

And I don't agree at all with "The ends justify the means."

In my opinion thats the philosophy of Duke's basketball program under Coach K.

Dramatically lowering academic standards for athletes is cheating.
 
It isn't about Northwestern being an Ivy League-like school (and I didn't say that).
Yes, part of the appeal of NU is the Big Ten sports.
Its a small group of universities that can claim the combination of academics and athletics that Northwestern possesses currently.

But I really don't understand this philosophy that "If we can't be good at all the sports, we should give up and become University of Chicago."

And I don't agree at all with "The ends justify the means."

In my opinion thats the philosophy of Duke's basketball program under Coach K.

Dramatically lowering academic standards for athletes is cheating.
I guess I'm arguing for a much more holistic approach to admissions. Obviously, we can't admit a basketball player who got all D's in high school. But I would certainly take the fact that they are one of the best in the world at something we appear to value at Northwestern, even as a B or even C-level student, into consideration. They could absolutely find success here. Same things is true in art, or music. If they are truly really talented and driven as a violinist, then they must have a work ethic and ability, and so maybe I don't care quite as much that they didn't get 90th percentile scores on their SATs and all A's in math and English in high school.

Where you draw that cut-off line is up for debate, but even if you lower it a little bit (did I ever say "dramatically"??), that opens up a whole new group of athletes that could come thrive at Northwestern. It's a win for them and a win for us.
 
It isn't about Northwestern being an Ivy League-like school (and I didn't say that).
Yes, part of the appeal of NU is the Big Ten sports.
Its a small group of universities that can claim the combination of academics and athletics that Northwestern possesses currently.

But I really don't understand this philosophy that "If we can't be good at all the sports, we should give up and become University of Chicago."

And I don't agree at all with "The ends justify the means."

In my opinion thats the philosophy of Duke's basketball program under Coach K.

Dramatically lowering academic standards for athletes is cheating.
This debate isn’t so interesting to me, but I’d like to chime in to say, Man, it’d be terrible for NU and greatly harm the school if NU under CCC had a run like Coach K’s at Duke.

(Do you realize that very few NU athletes would get in without their scholarship offer. By your definition, NU is cheating today.)
 
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This debate isn’t so interesting to me, but I’d like to chime in to say, Man, it’d be terrible for NU and greatly harm the school if NU under CCC had a run like Coach K’s at Duke.

(Do you realize that very few NU athletes would get in without their scholarship offer. By your definition, NU is cheating today.)
Everything I say is interesting!!!
 
This debate isn’t so interesting to me, but I’d like to chime in to say, Man, it’d be terrible for NU and greatly harm the school if NU under CCC had a run like Coach K’s at Duke.

(Do you realize that very few NU athletes would get in without their scholarship offer. By your definition, NU is cheating today.)
the key concept is that Duke is "dramatically" lowering their academic standards for their basketball team.

Everybody lowers their standards for athletes - even the Ivy League.
I think we're in line with other schools currently.
Except Duke basketball, which I think may change now that Coach K's stranglehold on admissions has been lifted.
 
I guess I'm arguing for a much more holistic approach to admissions. Obviously, we can't admit a basketball player who got all D's in high school. But I would certainly take the fact that they are one of the best in the world at something we appear to value at Northwestern, even as a B or even C-level student, into consideration. They could absolutely find success here. Same things is true in art, or music. If they are truly really talented and driven as a violinist, then they must have a work ethic and ability, and so maybe I don't care quite as much that they didn't get 90th percentile scores on their SATs and all A's in math and English in high school.

Where you draw that cut-off line is up for debate, but even if you lower it a little bit (did I ever say "dramatically"??), that opens up a whole new group of athletes that could come thrive at Northwestern. It's a win for them and a win for us.
Your point about music, theatre and all those talents is valid, but those kids still have to put up grades in high school, as far as I know. You won't find an "A+" in football on high school transcripts (north of the Mason-Dixon line)
 
the key concept is that Duke is "dramatically" lowering their academic standards for their basketball team.

Everybody lowers their standards for athletes - even the Ivy League.
I think we're in line with other schools currently.
Except Duke basketball, which I think may change now that Coach K's stranglehold on admissions has been lifted.
“Dramatically” is a made-up standard. If a student wouldn’t have had a chance of getting in as a non-athlete applicant, and they get in as an athlete, then that strikes me as ‘dramatic’.

Despite this, everyone who stays graduates.
 
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the key concept is that Duke is "dramatically" lowering their academic standards for their basketball team.

Everybody lowers their standards for athletes - even the Ivy League.
I think we're in line with other schools currently.
Except Duke basketball, which I think may change now that Coach K's stranglehold on admissions has been lifted.
All schools including NU have lower standards for admission for athletes than the general student population. And of the elite schools in P5/6 most still lower them more than NU and some dramatically so. About the only school that keeps as close to the standards of the general student body as NU is probably Stanford. No one is suggesting going as far as DUKE has in BB but it would still seem that we still should have more leeway than admissions has allowed, Can they reasonably get through the programs and successfully graduate give the support that they have? The fact that we have for example so many FB players with 3pt plus averages says yes and that we still have room to be flexible. I mean, when was the last time you heard of any athlete being prevented from competing because of grades? I think the last one I heard of was Austin King (I think) and even he got things straightened out. How long ago was that? I think that it was under Randy Walker

How much more leeway is the question. More would definitely seem to be in order. We all know that currently there is more difficulty getting in than getting through. How about giving a couple exemptions per year in FB and maybe one in BB until there were indications that those exemptions were starting to have difficulty getting through? The programs would not want to take too much leeway because failure would impact their competitiveness as they would have difficulties getting them on the field and would also hurt them in the future by having more stringent standards going forward.
 
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I guess I'm arguing for a much more holistic approach to admissions. Obviously, we can't admit a basketball player who got all D's in high school. But I would certainly take the fact that they are one of the best in the world at something we appear to value at Northwestern, even as a B or even C-level student, into consideration. They could absolutely find success here. Same things is true in art, or music. If they are truly really talented and driven as a violinist, then they must have a work ethic and ability, and so maybe I don't care quite as much that they didn't get 90th percentile scores on their SATs and all A's in math and English in high school.

Where you draw that cut-off line is up for debate, but even if you lower it a little bit (did I ever say "dramatically"??), that opens up a whole new group of athletes that could come thrive at Northwestern. It's a win for them and a win for us.
No team can admit the player that was all Ds in high school. If your suggestion that someone with a 2.9 should not be automatically rejected then yes.

Fact is that athletes at NU tend to have really good work ethics and time management is critical to their success.
 
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“Dramatically” is a made-up standard. If a student wouldn’t have had a chance of getting in as a non-athlete applicant, and they get in as an athlete, then that strikes me as ‘dramatic’.

Despite this, everyone who stays graduates.
Why is that dramatic? A lot of people cannot get in that could get through NU just fine. If you said someone that would have trouble getting through at all, that would be dramatic
 
All schools including NU have lower standards for admission for athletes than the general student population. And of the elite schools in P5/6 most still lower them more than NU and some dramatically so. About the only school that keeps as close to the standards of the general student body as NU is probably Stanford. No one is suggesting going as far as DUKE has in BB but it would still seem that we still should have more leeway than admissions has allowed, Can they reasonably get through the programs and successfully graduate give the support that they have? The fact that we have for example so many FB players with 3pt plus averages says yes and that we still have room to be flexible. I mean, when was the last time you heard of any athlete being prevented from competing because of grades? I think the last one I heard of was Austin King (I think) and even he got things straightened out. How long ago was that? I think that it was under Randy Walker

How much more leeway is the question. More would definitely seem to be in order. We all know that currently there is more difficulty getting in than getting through. How about giving a couple exemptions per year in FB and maybe one in BB until there were indications that those exemptions were starting to have difficulty getting through? The programs would not want to take too much leeway because failure would impact their competitiveness as they would have difficulties getting them on the field and would also hurt them in the future by having more stringent standards going forward.
Ok, I will suggest it then. Go as far as Duke has in BBall. I will take 5 Natty’s and 5 number picks in the NBA draft. Those guys went to Duke and majored in Basketball. Making hundreds of millions, I an thinking they somehow managed without the parchment.
 
Ok, I will suggest it then. Go as far as Duke has in BBall. I will take 5 Natty’s and 5 number picks in the NBA draft. Those guys went to Duke and majored in Basketball. Making hundreds of millions, I an thinking they somehow managed without the parchment.
One of the problems with that for us is that DUKE was able to bring in one and dones which we are not. One and dones don't even really have to go to class as they are gone before grades catch up to them.

We are more of a developmental program so recruits have to be here longer. Therefore they had better be able to handle classes enough to stay eligible. We cannot go down to the level DUKE got to. That is not saying that our admissions cannot be more lenient than they have been, just that we should not be entertaining DUKE standards
 
the key concept is that Duke is "dramatically" lowering their academic standards for their basketball team.

Everybody lowers their standards for athletes - even the Ivy League.
I think we're in line with other schools currently.
Except Duke basketball, which I think may change now that Coach K's stranglehold on admissions has been lifted.

Not just for BB.

Dook also lowered academic standards to the NCAA minimum for 1/3 of their available FB schollies.
 
Speaking of Duke, they were absolutely robbed of a huge win at #6 Virginia by, you guessed it, the referees. It is probably a reversal of the Coach K effect, where the cheating was pretty blatant.

Tie game, time running out. Filipkowski goes to the rim to dunk it. Guy from Virginia comes over and whacks his arm, causing him to miss. Refs call the foul. Duke bench celebrates. Refs pause. Virginia crowd screams. Refs review. TV shows 0.1 seconds on clock when defender hacks Filipkowski and shot is out of his hand. Shot is therefore up before time has expired. Refs scramble. Refs talking to "the booth." More talking.

Refs overturn the foul call because the foul was called after time had expired...

What? Thats not how it works. Foul was committed before time had expired! Game goes to OT. Virginia "wins."

ACC apologizes, says refs got it wrong. But they decline to let Filipkowski have two free throws to win the game.
 
Don't know if this has been mentioned in a prior posts, but... I certainly wish all those who transferred without throwing shade on the program or the University all of the best, but wouldn't it be oh so cool if NU finished the year ranked higher than any of the schools who got our transfers!
 
All schools including NU have lower standards for admission for athletes than the general student population. And of the elite schools in P5/6 most still lower them more than NU and some dramatically so. About the only school that keeps as close to the standards of the general student body as NU is probably Stanford. No one is suggesting going as far as DUKE has in BB but it would still seem that we still should have more leeway than admissions has allowed, Can they reasonably get through the programs and successfully graduate give the support that they have? The fact that we have for example so many FB players with 3pt plus averages says yes and that we still have room to be flexible. I mean, when was the last time you heard of any athlete being prevented from competing because of grades? I think the last one I heard of was Austin King (I think) and even he got things straightened out. How long ago was that? I think that it was under Randy Walker

How much more leeway is the question. More would definitely seem to be in order. We all know that currently there is more difficulty getting in than getting through. How about giving a couple exemptions per year in FB and maybe one in BB until there were indications that those exemptions were starting to have difficulty getting through? The programs would not want to take too much leeway because failure would impact their competitiveness as they would have difficulties getting them on the field and would also hurt them in the future by having more stringent standards going forward.
Our son was recruited by NU and Stanford, but his standardized tests weren't good enough for the latter. NU admissions for athletes is more lenient on standardized tests, but does not want to see even 1 D on a transcript. Also, the dual credit classes our son took in high school were not allowed for credit.

But I think the biggest issue is the quarter system and transfer credits. Transferring into (and even out of) NU is a huge challenge and makes us a non-factor in most portal opportunities. In today's game, this is our biggest hurdle from admissions.
 
Speaking of Duke, they were absolutely robbed of a huge win at #6 Virginia by, you guessed it, the referees. It is probably a reversal of the Coach K effect, where the cheating was pretty blatant.

Tie game, time running out. Filipkowski goes to the rim to dunk it. Guy from Virginia comes over and whacks his arm, causing him to miss. Refs call the foul. Duke bench celebrates. Refs pause. Virginia crowd screams. Refs review. TV shows 0.1 seconds on clock when defender hacks Filipkowski and shot is out of his hand. Shot is therefore up before time has expired. Refs scramble. Refs talking to "the booth." More talking.

Refs overturn the foul call because the foul was called after time had expired...

What? Thats not how it works. Foul was committed before time had expired! Game goes to OT. Virginia "wins."

ACC apologizes, says refs got it wrong. But they decline to let Filipkowski have two free throws to win the game.

What a shame. Just terrible for Duke. Poor Ryan.
 
Speaking of Duke, they were absolutely robbed of a huge win at #6 Virginia by, you guessed it, the referees. It is probably a reversal of the Coach K effect, where the cheating was pretty blatant.

Tie game, time running out. Filipkowski goes to the rim to dunk it. Guy from Virginia comes over and whacks his arm, causing him to miss. Refs call the foul. Duke bench celebrates. Refs pause. Virginia crowd screams. Refs review. TV shows 0.1 seconds on clock when defender hacks Filipkowski and shot is out of his hand. Shot is therefore up before time has expired. Refs scramble. Refs talking to "the booth." More talking.

Refs overturn the foul call because the foul was called after time had expired...

What? Thats not how it works. Foul was committed before time had expired! Game goes to OT. Virginia "wins."

ACC apologizes, says refs got it wrong. But they decline to let Filipkowski have two free throws to win the game.
I did not watch it live but saw the replays. It was astoundingly ridiculous. More than the end of the game of Rutgers at Ohio State, which also drew an admission from the conference that the refs got it wrong. In that one, at least they were caught with a play that did not fall into the "reviewable" criteria, and just got it wrong in real time. Even though, from my couch, it was blatant in real time.

I think this is just another data point as to why we should not criticize our coach for getting mad at refs. They are human and it influences their split second decisions. Coach K was a mild mannered, delightful guy off the court. He was a freaking demon on the sidelines. And this call probably goes the "right" way with him on the sidelines.

As for the ongoing Nance/Young thing: I hope everyone just genuinely wishes them and their teams to do well. I feel some of those wishes around here and not sincere. I am convinced both of them are delighted in our success this year. Because they are both class acts and outstanding young men.
 
As for the ongoing Nance/Young thing: I hope everyone just genuinely wishes them and their teams to do well. I feel some of those wishes around here and not sincere. I am convinced both of them are delighted in our success this year. Because they are both class acts and outstanding young men.
They made the objectively right moves.

And NU would be worse if they were here, because Nicholson *still* wouldn’t see the court.

I’d imagine Young is as surprised as many of us that he’s played so much at Duke.
 
I did not watch it live but saw the replays. It was astoundingly ridiculous. More than the end of the game of Rutgers at Ohio State, which also drew an admission from the conference that the refs got it wrong. In that one, at least they were caught with a play that did not fall into the "reviewable" criteria, and just got it wrong in real time. Even though, from my couch, it was blatant in real time.

I think this is just another data point as to why we should not criticize our coach for getting mad at refs. They are human and it influences their split second decisions. Coach K was a mild mannered, delightful guy off the court. He was a freaking demon on the sidelines. And this call probably goes the "right" way with him on the sidelines.

As for the ongoing Nance/Young thing: I hope everyone just genuinely wishes them and their teams to do well. I feel some of those wishes around here and not sincere. I am convinced both of them are delighted in our success this year. Because they are both class acts and outstanding young men.
I find myself pulling for those two guys to do well when I see a bit of Duke or NC on tv, but besides that, I couldn't care less how their teams do. As I likely suffer from Duke and NC fatigue, there is some joy in watching those teams struggle. But it is not because of Pete and Ryan.
 
As far as I'm concerned Nance and Young are still OUR GUYS. They didn't leave early, the gave their all for NU, and they went to (what they thought) was a better place for tourney prospects. Who can blame them? That their departures helped pave the way for a special season is another reason to thank them for what they gave NU. I don't like Duke at all, so I'd never root for them to win, but if Young has success there, I'm thrilled.
 
I find myself pulling for those two guys to do well when I see a bit of Duke or NC on tv, but besides that, I couldn't care less how their teams do. As I likely suffer from Duke and NC fatigue, there is some joy in watching those teams struggle. But it is not because of Pete and Ryan.
Same. In normal years, they are up there with Kansas or Kentucky in teams I root against.
 
I'd normally root against Duke and Carolina. Don't like either program.
But with "the demon" (as Gato described Coach K) gone from the Duke sidelines, it seems like the times are changing.

I just don't like seeing anybody have a game (literally) stolen from them by the refs.
It cuts directly at the integrity of the college game, which already has plenty of integrity problems.
 
I find myself pulling for those two guys to do well when I see a bit of Duke or NC on tv, but besides that, I couldn't care less how their teams do. As I likely suffer from Duke and NC fatigue, there is some joy in watching those teams struggle. But it is not because of Pete and Ryan.
Good Lord, NC is terrible and Pete is doing nothing to traverse that trend. Gato is right, Davis has no clue what he is doing.
 
Speaking of Duke, they were absolutely robbed of a huge win at #6 Virginia by, you guessed it, the referees. It is probably a reversal of the Coach K effect, where the cheating was pretty blatant.

Tie game, time running out. Filipkowski goes to the rim to dunk it. Guy from Virginia comes over and whacks his arm, causing him to miss. Refs call the foul. Duke bench celebrates. Refs pause. Virginia crowd screams. Refs review. TV shows 0.1 seconds on clock when defender hacks Filipkowski and shot is out of his hand. Shot is therefore up before time has expired. Refs scramble. Refs talking to "the booth." More talking.

Refs overturn the foul call because the foul was called after time had expired...

What? Thats not how it works. Foul was committed before time had expired! Game goes to OT. Virginia "wins."

ACC apologizes, says refs got it wrong. But they decline to let Filipkowski have two free throws to win the game.
Too bad. So sad. If the refs blow 1 call a year againsr Duke in the next 25 years, Duke would still be ahead of the game.
 
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