Student Sections and the Misguided Notions of Sportsmanship

Hang on, I had just put my soapbox away. Now I've found something that requires me to drag it out again.

Please note in advance: this post will contain a little bit of NSFW language. As such, I'm putting in a jump here so that you can't read the NSFW content from the home page, but you will if you click on the link to this post itself and read it in its entirety. Normally, I wouldn't even put something in about this, but it's integral to the story and, believe it or not, I support its use both in its original context as well as in my own opinion on this story. You've been warned.

2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs: Championship

In 2011, shortly after I launched Confessions of a Sportscaster, I took the BCS to task, and created an alternate playoff format that included 16 teams. At the time, I hadn't yet completed the Wetzel, Peter, and Passan classic pictured to the left. That original 2011 tournament is the only time through my first few years of blogging that I got the exact same matchup as the on-field national championship game.

Of course, once I finished said book, I had to throw together a playoff bracket in the Wetzel, Peter, and Passan style. That first edition created the ultimate chaos. 2012 brought a reasonable championship matchup that differed from the official, but wasn't surprising. 2013's edition showed that simulations are bullcrap; the team that got spanked in the Rose Bowl won the whole shebang, while the team that destroyed them got upset in the first round. Last year's brought the same four teams to the semifinals as got there (albeit with different matchups), but the teams that made the real national championship game did not make it in the simulated version.

And so for the first time since the old format tournament in 2011, the teams playing for the on-field national championship will also meet in cyberspace for the title. Of course, there's a difference between on-field and online: the Death to the BCS Championship Game is played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena because where else would you play it? Clemson and Alabama will play for real in Glendale, Arizona, which is certainly a great place for a football game, but to me, the Rose Bowl just seems more fitting.

Now because this is a championship game, I need to do a better job of making sure to eliminate luck. As such, this matchup will be simulated as a best of five, instead of a best of three, with the "clinching" game being the official result still. Weather in Pasadena from last night will be taken into account. In addition, I checked Don Best's handicapping website yesterday to try to make sure that any injured or suspended players would not show up in the simulation to the best of my ability. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Will Alabama claim the virtual crown as well as the real crown? Let's find out.

A Tale of Four Officials

I touched on this briefly in my Game Notes from the Maryville game back in November. But in the wake of a contest in South Dakota from this past weekend, I need to revisit it. The time has come to tell a full story from the scorer's table. The following is a true story, but names and identities have been redacted from the story to protect the individuals involved.

So, come back with me to November 21st at Merner Fieldhouse in Naperville. The Cardinals are locked in a tight struggle with a ranked Maryville team, down 85-83 with under a minute to play. A stop gives the Cardinals a chance to tie or take the lead. Nearing 30 seconds left, the shot clock is winding down, and a Maryville player puts up a shot along the right baseline with about six seconds left on the shot clock. It hits back iron at about four seconds and bounces high in the air, ultimately being rebounded by another Maryville player. The shot clock had ticked down to two seconds before being reset, as is the rule for a shot that hits the rim. Then, inexplicably, we hear a whistle.

One official comes over to the table and is asking the shot clock operator why she reset the shot clock. She then proceeds to talk things over with her for a couple minutes, as I'm looking at some of the other people at the table in confusion. One guy and I are telling each other, "It hit the rim, it's supposed to be reset," before being told by the official to be quiet. So we turn back to each other quietly and continue to confirm to each other that yes, the shot did in fact hit the rim when the ref tells us again, "You guys, be quiet! I can hear you over here!" Apparently, the plain view of a couple people at the table seeing something that did not benefit the home team does not apply, and after about five total minutes of discussion, she comes over and tells us that basically, because the horn did not sound, there is no shot clock violation (never mind the fact that there wasn't one anyway because THE BALL HIT THE RIM) and Maryville gets the ball out of bounds. The Cardinals ultimately go on to lose 87-85, but not without some on-court drama and another stoppage by the same official checking with me and two other people at the table to see if we had any "definite knowledge" that the clock should read anything other than 0.5 seconds. Obviously, we didn't, and it's not a bad decision to come make sure with that little time left in a close game to make sure that everything is correct, but it's kind of crazy that the same official stopped the game again.

Now, this is an experienced official and someone who has worked North Central games before. However, this is a total failure to stop the game for five minutes over something that no one else saw, and when even the team that is hurt by her attempts to give our team the ball on a supposed shot clock violation knows that it would be the wrong call, you know you messed up. Fortunately, it didn't impact the outcome of a game. I wish the same could be said of that aforementioned game in South Dakota.

I had told this NCC-Maryville story to a coworker after it happened, and we've been joking about it on and off for the past month and a half. Over the weekend, he sent me a link to this Deadspin story about a D-II women's game between Winona State University and the University of Sioux Falls. A quick summary about what happened: Sioux Falls is down 58-56 with a few seconds left, but has the ball. They inbound it to Taylor Varsho, and she hits a go-ahead three with less than a second to play to give her team the lead. The clock operator fails to stop the clock in time (it should have been stopped at 0.4 seconds), and the buzzer sounds, leading to the team rushing the floor to celebrate. The officials get the players back to their benches quickly, and get together to discuss the play. Obviously, time needs to be put back on the clock, and from what I can tell, it was, but at the same time, the officials working the game called a technical foul on Sioux Falls for storming the court. Winona's shooter hit both free throws, and Sioux Falls went on to lose 60-59.

Needless to say, people were upset, and it made me happy to see that the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which includes both schools, suspended the officials involved for four games as well as banning them from postseason action. They did not overturn the result of the game, which is smart because that opens up an entire other can of worms, but I have to hand it to the NSIC for making the officials accountable for their mistakes.

Now, maybe I'm making an apples and oranges comparison between these two stories. The NCC-Maryville story is the story of one official ignoring her partners and singlehandedly making a scene about nothing, while the latter is the result of three officials getting together, and after some possible tampering by Winona's coach, directly influencing the outcome of a game on a play that in no way deserves a technical foul. When the buzzer sounds, the natural reaction is to assume game over, but sometimes time gets put back on the clock following a presumed buzzer beater. Never have I seen a game where time gets put back on the clock and a celebrating team gets penalized for having a normal human reaction. It's a gross overstep and abuse of power, which I would argue the ref from my NCC-Maryville game had, only it didn't impact the game and wasn't quite as gross an overstep.

Look, officials have a hard job. I harp on bad calls in real time, but I recognize that an overwhelming majority of the time, it doesn't impact the outcome of the game. There are many times where I'm working a game, see a call go against the Cardinals, and I have to admit that the right call was made, or at a minimum, that I can see why they made the call they did. That said, I recognize that officials are all human and can and do make mistakes sometimes. You have to look past it as best as you can and, if the mistake impacts the outcome, file a complaint and hope the conference won't just sit on its hands.

When the one official in question returns to North Central at some point (and I believe she's scheduled to do at least one more yet this year), I'm going to do my best not to hold a ridiculous stoppage of play against her. After all, it's not like she directly cost us a game.

Game Notes: (MBK) Millikin University @ North Central College (1/6/16)

Final Score
NCC 83, Millikin 54

Game Summary
The Cardinals (9-4, 2-0) opened the game playing to their strength by going inside for a couple early buckets. The Big Blue (6-7, 0-2) countered with five straight points to take the lead, and seemed in control for a chunk of the half behind some early threes. The Cardinals would work their way back, leading to a back and forth game with four ties and four lead changes, the last coming with the start of an 8-0 Cardinal run to close out the half, capped by a three at the buzzer. The Cardinals picked up where they left off to start the second half, getting a three point play to push the lead to double digits, and despite a couple Millikin baskets, pushed the lead with some outside shooting, ultimately using a 23-5 run to build a 25 point lead. It wouldn't last, as the Big Blue hit four straight threes to cut the lead to 16. The Cardinals quickly regained control and were able to get the end of the bench in for the final couple minutes to the delight of the bench and the crowd.

Key Stats

• NCC: 12-28 3PT (42.9%). I mentioned to more than one person at the table last night that this game reminded me of the 2012 CCIW Championship Game (aka the Kevin Gillespie Game), especially in the second half, where the Cardinals shot 7-11 from deep. Pretty much everyone got in on the fun. Especially...
• Erwin Henry (NCC): 8-8 FG (4-4 3PT), 0-2 FT; 20 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 2 ast. We may have to call this the Erwin Henry Game. He notched a couple of baskets while being fouled, but the three pointer line is what amazes me. Erwin isn't an outside shooter, and I wasn't sure on a few of his threes if they'd go, but they did. Sometimes it's just your night, and last night was Erwin's night.
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 4-7 FG (2-3 3PT), 2-3 FT; 12 pts, 5 reb (1 off), 8 ast, 2 blk. Connor just keeps getting better and better before our eyes. He was by far the best distributor last night and also had a good day shooting. His highlight came right at the end of the first half, where he inbounded the ball, quickly got a bounce pass back, and hit a three at the buzzer to push the Cardinal lead to seven.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ Illinois Wesleyan 82 (7-6, 1-1), Wheaton 66 (4-9, 0-2)
• @ Elmhurst 77 (12-1, 2-0), Augustana 75 (12-1, 1-1) (OT)
• North Park 87 (9-4, 1-1), @ Carthage 79 (7-6, 1-1)

Matt Nadelhoffer Jacket Watch
Per the suggestion of friend of COAS Geoffrey Clark, I'm including this fun little tidbit in every men's home game the rest of conference play. Geoffrey thinks, and I quote, "You need to be a special breed of crazy to be a college coach." I don't necessarily disagree, as one thing I seem to notice in a lot of games is coaches taking their suit jackets off as they start to disagree with things going on on the court.

Now, I almost feel a little bad doing this to Coach Nadelhoffer, as he is also an Aurora Christian alumnus (class of 1993) and member of some of the best teams ACS ever put out on the floor. He is also part of the 80 game home winning streak (second longest in Illinois history) back during the glory days of basketball at 801 W Illinois Ave in Aurora, where ACS went something like 232-21 or something obscene like that in that gym. However, new tradition must take the place of the old tradition. Coach Nadelhoffer removed his jacket at the 19:00 mark of the second half, though not in reaction to anything from what I could tell. Clearly he went to the Don Davidson School of Coaching. Geoffrey's comment: "Maybe I jumped the gun on my suggestion." Maybe, but I'm sticking with it.

Final Thoughts
Stat that wasn't a key, but seems important: Millikin had 16 turnovers, probably half of which were traveling calls. You don't expect that at this level, but fundamental flaws didn't help the Big Blue last night.

On another note, what I loved most about last night's game was the end of the bench getting involved. They got a couple minutes of run time, with points scored by Geoff Godwin, who's a fan favorite, and Hayden Witt, who hit a three. There was a small group of fans who made a ton of noise following Godwin going 2-2 at the free throw line, and the bench went nuts when Witt hit his three. That's a great sign of team chemistry and camaraderie, and as someone who played that role at the end of my career, I feel a kinship with guys like that. I'm thrilled for those guys.

It was also awesome to get to see a familiar face in Don Davidson, legendary former coach at Aurora Christian who tries to make this game every year to see Coach Nadelhoffer. I got to talk to him a bit both before and after the game, and it's always great to see an old mentor.

Looking forward, this team's biggest flaw is free throw shooting. They were 11-16 last night, which is okay, but for the year they're at 65.5 percent. You can get away with that against the Millikin's of the world, but not the elite teams.

North Central embarks on a three game road trip now,all of which will be tough games: at Wheaton on Saturday, at Augustana (who won't be #1 next week, but will probably still be at like #2 or #3) on Wednesday, and at Illinois Wesleyan that Saturday. It's a tough trip, but if this team plays the way they did last night, they'll be fine.

2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs: Semifinals

Half of this bracket will look extremely familiar to you. Of the other half, one part will make you look a second time before nodding and saying, "Okay." The other part will have you scratching your head furiously and wondering just what the heck happened.

This past Thursday the actual College Football Playoff played its semifinal games in Miami and Arlington, Texas with Clemson and Alabama playing for the actual national title. The question I came into December with was whether or not the simulator would come up with the same matchup or not.

The top two seeds, Clemson and Alabama have taken differing paths to get here, but have made it. Clemson got a good game from San Diego State two weeks ago before needing a late rally to come back and top Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Alabama romped through Arkansas State and Iowa the past two Saturdays to host another game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Clemson's opponent this week pulled an upset, but not a surprising one; Ohio State made relatively quick work of Houston before edging out the Sooners in Norman. On the other side, the Crimson Tide get to host this year's Cinderella in Bowling Green. The MAC champion Falcons went into East Lansing and not only knocked off Michigan State, they beat them handily in round one before going to Fort Worth and jumping all over TCU early to get to this semifinal stage, something that should enhance football all across the country as athletes realize they don't have to go to the flagship schools for exposure and a shot at a national title.

So to determine our paring that will go not to Glendale, but to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl (because let's face it, it's the perfect setting for the biggest game of the year), we are going back to the simulations. Home field advantage is going to our top two seeds, and the weather from kickoff time is going to be taken into account in an effort to make this as realistic as possible. Don Best's handicapping website has been keeping track of player availability, and I use this to minimize the presence of injured or dismissed players from the games (though it's not perfect; I'm pretty sure a guy who tore his ACL or something had a pick-six in a game some time in the past two weeks). For offense though, it usually works well enough to minimize the impact of guys who wouldn't realistically be playing. With those factors in mind, I simulate these games as a best-of-three, with the "clinching" game being the official result. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's set up a title game.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (1/2/16)

Final Score
NCC 76, NPU 64

Game Summary
In a thrilling rematch of last year's CCIW Tournament Play In Game to end last season, the Cardinals (8-4, 1-0) opened the game going inside before working their way out, getting out to a 13-6 lead. The Vikings (8-4, 0-1) hung tough however, hitting some threes and getting some offense from their playmakers, but couldn't close the gap. A tip at the buzzer got them within six at 36-30 to end the first half. North Park got a three to start the second half, but the Cardinals answered with nine of the next 13 points to extend the lead back to eight. North Park wouldn't go away, pulling back within one at 47-46, but the Cardinals broke out on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to go up by 11. North Park got no closer than eight over the next few minutes, and the Cardinals were able to pull away for the victory.

Key Stats

• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 9-10 FG (4-5 3PT), 2-4 FT; 24 pts, 14 reb (4 off), 1 ast, 1 stl, 6 blk. It's way too early to crown an "Alex Sorenson Game", but this is going to be one of the leading candidates. He was a monster early, scoring the opening basket on a pick and roll to the hoop, then started spotting up from outside, hitting his first two triples in the opening minutes to give the Cardinals the early advantage. There was a stretch where he was contained after that, especially early in the second half, but he started to get to the basket again as the game went on, and then I think it was during that 12-2 run he hit a couple threes and was pumped after hitting both. He then put the cherry on top with a thunderous dunk with about a minute to go.
• Kevin Honn (NCC): 7-13 FG (0-1 3PT), 2-3 FT; 16 pts, 9 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. I told our official scorer right before the game was about to start that we had one big advantage in this game: size. Across all five positions, the Cardinals were taller, and this is factoring in that Honn came off the bench and put up these numbers. Honn was able to consistently get to the basket, and more than once was in perfect position off a beautiful feed for an easy bucket. The role players need to step up on good teams, and Honn did so last night.
• Jordan Robinson (NPU): 9-15 FG (4-5 3PT), 4-5 FT; 26 pts, 9 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 blk. Robinson led all scorers, and he plays like a bigger version of Juwan Henry. One of his threes early in the game was a nice stepback triple that I couldn't tell from my vantage point if he was behind the arc or not (he was). He clearly showed up, as he led his team in rebounding as well, but his effort just wasn't quite enough to get the Vikings a road win.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ Carthage 74 (7-5, 1-0), Millikin 71 (6-6, 0-1)
• @ Elmhurst 78 (11-1, 1-0), Illinois Wesleyan 64 (6-6, 0-1)
• @ Augustana 72 (12-0, 1-0), Wheaton 68 (4-8, 0-1)

Tom Slyder Jacket Watch

This is normally a section I'd reserve for Grey Giovanine of Augustana, but at the suggestion of my good friend Geoffrey Clark, we're doing it conference wide because, as he put it, "You need to be a special breed of crazy to be a college coach, so I think it's warranted."

North Park coach Tom Slyder's jacket came off at around the 7:00 mark in the first half. I missed when exactly it happened, but it was around then following a few supposed "missed calls" in a row. I didn't catch him dropping any F-bombs on the officials last night though, unlike last year.

Final Thoughts

I do want to start off with my views on North Park's team. They're clearly very talented and on the rise, and a team I wouldn't be surprised to see playing the CCIW Tournament this year. But in reviewing my thoughts from when we played these guys last year, not much has changed in that I don't respect this team a ton. Juwan Henry scored 18 points last night, but needed 22 shots to do it, so you could say he struggled. With regards to last year's post though, he didn't flop from what I saw last night, but he did seem to complain a lot. Most notably, he swore at a ref mid-play (as in, an F-bomb) complaining about a missed foul. He should have been T'd up there, but wasn't. Talented ball player to be sure, but he can be easy to frustrate and when he gets frustrated, he becomes a player that's hard to like.

That frustration extended to postgame, though it may have been instigated on North Central's end. Someone said something to North Park's Jordan Robinson in the handshake line, and I'm not sure exactly what it was, though it may have been directed at his play overall (which is weird; dude had a good game). He turned and seemed to want to go after whoever said it, but he was turned back towards the rest of his team, with Coach Slyder telling him to shut his mouth. I have to give Slyder a ton of credit there for making sure he defused the situation.

All in all, this was a fantastic win for the Cardinals. This was fairly similar to the win last year, except we led most of the way, but there were well timed threes to gain control of the game, and that Sorenson dunk served as the exclamation point.

The Cardinals are back home on Wednesday, where they take on ACS alum Matt Nadelhoffer's Millikin Big Blue at Merner, and I get to see my old mentor Dod Davidson again. It will probably be a tough matchup, as the Big Blue won here last year. They need this win though, with a tough road trip upcoming.

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (1/2/16)

Final Score
NPU 118, NCC 108

Game Summary
It was an up tempo opening frame as the Cardinals (6-6, 0-1) hit a couple threes and led 10-8 early in the quarter. The Vikings (10-2, 1-0) went on a 10-0 run to open up an eight point lead and used several well timed threes and a few and-ones to build a 34-24 lead after ten minutes. The Cardinals pulled back within three early in the quarter but the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to go up 49-38. The Cardinals clawed their way back and tied the game at 58 late in the half, but North Park answered with a three with about six seconds left to go into the half up 61-58. The Cardinals were able to get back within one early in the third, but a 13-2 Viking run turned the tide again, and North Park led 87-80 after three. A North Central three was answered by a 10-0 Viking run that effectively put the game away.

Key Stats

• North Park: 9-17 3PT (52.9%). Clearly, offense wasn't the problem tonight; it was defense, but you can't really fault the Cardinals tonight. North Park took advantage of its open looks, especially in key moments to end every Cardinal threat and pull away for the victory.
• Liz Rehberger (NPU): 14-32 FG (4-10 3PT), 10-14 FT; 42 pts, 9 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl. I really want to just leave this line here and stop at that. She had a ridiculous game from all over the court, hitting layups, jumpers, threes, you name it. Just an otherworldly performance.
• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 7-16 FG (3-5 3PT), 4-6 FT; 21 pts, 4 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 2 stl. Mayson got hot in the first quarter, scoring 10 points in about two minutes. She drove to the basket effectively and shot well from outside. Not a bad game.

North Central System Watch

• NPU Turnovers: 19. This could be the one red flag. The Vikings took good care of the ball and were great at the press break. The Cardinals managed 10 steals, led by Alliyah Johnson's three.
• NCC 3PT: 16-49 (32.7%). This was one of their better shooting nights, though primarily in the first half. Coach Roof was happy with the shooting performance overall, and I am too.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 3. Anita Sterling drew a couple early, the second of which was close, and then Michaela Reedy drew one after halftime. North Park, for what it's worth, drew like ten. I lost count after a while.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ Carthage 67 (5-7, 1-0), Millikin 64 (7-5, 0-1)
• Illinois Wesleyan 84 (6-6, 1-1), @ Elmhurst 73 (6-6, 0-1)
• @ Augustana 59 (6-6, 1-0), Wheaton 56 (8-3, 0-1)

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, I just have to tip my cap to Liz Rehberger and company. You rarely see an offer since outburst powered by threes against the Cardinals or a guard-led attack like this. It reminds me of last year's Wheaton game, except closer.

The Cardinals are on the road now for two straight, including a date with Wheaton next weekend before coming back home for Augie on the 13th.