OT: Northwestern Basketball lost to Merrimack
So I was watching the ending of the UCF Tulsa football game and I happened to notice that Northwestern lost to Merrimack in basketball 71 to 61. I questioned if Merrimack was a real team, and upon looking them up, discovered they were division II.
Northwestern would appear to be really bad in both major sports.
November 8th, 2019 at 10:55 PM ^
Merrimack was Division 2 last year. This is their first year in Division 1. They are pretty bad though. I think they lost to Maine by 20 in their previous game.
November 9th, 2019 at 12:13 AM ^
"The College's 2011 strategic plan, the Agenda for Distinction, called for Merrimack College to become a Division I institution to compete and excel at the highest level," said college President Christopher E. Hopey, Ph.D.
November 9th, 2019 at 2:52 AM ^
"[T]o compete and excel at the highest level," he says.
Grammar aside (To compete and to excel), uh, mission accomplished, I guess? :) I mean, winning your second-ever DI game, against, a major conference school, has to be considered excellent, right? Even if it is Northwestern. :)
November 9th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
Merrimack may be making progress in athletics, but I think it has gone downhill academically. (Full disclosure: I work at a school that is in Merrimack’s former athletic conference.)
November 9th, 2019 at 2:49 AM ^
You think correctly. Then again, you don't just walk into the Cross Insurance Center, in Orono, ME, and expect to walk out with a win.
(It's safe to say that you do walk into Welsh-Ryan arena and expect to walk out with a W, though. :)
I suspect the rallying cry in Evanston this year will be, "At least we're not Nebraska!"
November 9th, 2019 at 3:14 AM ^
This comment generated a hearty guffaw.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:03 PM ^
#poundtherock
November 8th, 2019 at 11:06 PM ^
They're a baseball school now, like Michigan.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
No belly rubs for coach Collins.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:21 PM ^
Hey, the Merrimack is a tough ship. Just wait till they play the Monitor.
November 9th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
The Confederates' ironclad at the Battle of Hampton Roads has popularly been known as the Merrimack, but the Confederates called it the Virginia. As Wikipedia puts it, the Merrimack was a steam frigate, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War. And of course Virginia is the defending national champions, which I guess implies that Northwestern lost to a good team playing under a pseudonym. Or they were Virginia playing without an iron shell, which probably gave them a little more flexibility last night.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:31 PM ^
And we only get Northwestern once this year.
November 8th, 2019 at 11:54 PM ^
Northwestern is a tire fire in both sports, maybe their academic requirements are catching up with them?
Also, why did Illinois MBB play an away game at Grand Canyon University tonight? Don't see power 5 teams playing on the road against tiny schools often. Guess it was an excuse for a free trip there? In that case I don't blame them.
November 9th, 2019 at 1:49 AM ^
I can answer the second question for you: Jerry Colangelo is a former U of I basketball player, and now a big donor to GCU. This was a favor to him.
November 9th, 2019 at 2:45 AM ^
GCU isn't really a "tiny" school. (They claim 70K online students for a total enrollment of 90K). They've been one of the fastest-growing schools in the country for the last ten years or so. They're trying to walk a fine line between being for-profit and non-profit: the DOE currently considers them for-profit and they consider themselves non-profit.
Anyway, they've gone on a massive athletics spending spree over the last 10 years or so to try to raise their profile.
Anyway, the opening loss to Davenport didn't do GCU any favors, but they're 131st in KenPom, projected to have a winning record... it's actually a really good idea for someone like Illinois to schedule this game. It has a decent chance to wind up as a Quadrant II game, and that can certainly help boost a résumé if they end up on the bubble.
November 9th, 2019 at 12:13 AM ^
But but but they used to have that kid whose mom was on Seinfeld.
November 9th, 2019 at 1:15 AM ^
Dererk Pardon?
/s
November 9th, 2019 at 12:50 AM ^
But did Collins get down on all fours and bark like a dog though?
November 9th, 2019 at 6:50 AM ^
Also in college basketball news, the university of Utah won their game by 94 points last night and two different guys get triple doubles. Fun night of college basketball
November 9th, 2019 at 8:42 AM ^
You would think they would have been able to even accidentally put together a team good enough to make the tournament by now.
November 10th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
NU made the tourney a couple years ago, their first appearance. I also think that when teams like NU are good, the conference is better, which always helps with SOS.
November 9th, 2019 at 8:44 AM ^
Good. Northwestern basketball has been a pain in the ass the last several years. Fuck them.
November 9th, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^
Maybe now people will forget Michigan lost to NJIT.....oh wait....
November 9th, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^
Man what is up with Northwestern. I actually kind of like it when their teams are good.