Catching up a bit more...

Coach Jim Molinari at WIU is getting some mentions regarding Summit Coach of the Year.
Nobody is saying he's going to GET the award - just that he has to be considered among the candidates since his team has done so much better than was expected. His team was pegged by everyone to finish 9th 0r 10th in the conference but currently they are one game out of 4th place and 2 games out of 3rd at around .500.

Here's the beat writer that covers WIU saying he thinks Coach Mo deserves consideration...

"Western Illinois is fourth in the men’s standings, tied for sixth in the women’s standings.
It’s easy to make the case that men’s coach Jim Molinari and women’s coach JD Gravina should get serious consideration for the conference’s coach of the year honors.
With a winning overall and conference record, it’s easy to make the argument for Molinari, especially after last season’s struggles.
Coach of the year honors usually seem to find their way into the hands of the coaches of the conference regular-season champion.
But there’s no question that Molinari and Gravina have done excellent jobs with their teams this season."
http://www3.thehawkeye.com/bohnenkamp_blog/?p=1919



Dr. Michael Cross is being mentioned in the news...
The BU Athletic Director played basketball at Buffalo and is a Buffalo native.

Buffalo AD Warde Manuel stepped down to take the position of new Athletic Director at UConn...leaving open the senior spot in the Athletics Dept. at Buffalo...
http://proxy.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7571366/new-connecticut-huskies-ad-warde-manuel-academic-issues-define-university

One of the first names brought up in the comments below the article is....

"Michael Cross: AD Bradley University…previously at Princeton and Michigan, former basketball player, from Buffalo.."

http://mobile.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/12/2793997/what-warde-manuel-did-for-ub-athletics

But another story this morning out of Buffalo, NY also names Bradley's Dr. Michael Cross as possible replacement candidate at Buffalo
http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article730624.ece


Also - recently Dr. Cross talked with FoxSports and clearly opposes the NCAA's new proposal to allow every member school to give $2000 in "spending money" to each athlete -- as that would hurt smaller schools..

"Certainly, most recruits with a choice will follow the money."
"There are a lot of schools that are struggling with budgets, not just athletic
budgets," Cross said. "They're laying people off, making bigger classes. It's
going to be tough to justify giving additional aid to athletes."
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/WITH-THE-BRAVES-Academic-standards-OK-by-BU-08492474

But Dr. Cross does think that the other new proposal that would allow a school to offer 4-year scholarships instead of just 1-year deals - might end up benefiting some smaller schools..
"Like a professional athlete considering a multi-year contract, a student-
athlete might get a one-year offer from Illinois, but a four-year deal from
Bradley. That's definitely a factor for the marginal high-major recruit to think about."

Personally, I am not sure - whatever incentives can be used to lure recruits - it always favors the bigger schools that have the most money - always ...



There's an interesting story out of Kent State and there's a mention (not too complimentary) of Geno Ford and their lawsuit issues.

A big time, rich donor pledged $1 million for upgrades of athletic facilities and for the naming rights of the new home court.

The money was being given by a Kent State alumnus who is a multimillionaire who made his money through commodity & stock brokering...
However - the guy has been caught defrauding investors and is in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission...

But -- despite the guy's past - Kent State accepted the money and was going to honor him by naming their home court after him...even though there's evidence via e mails that the school might have known about his "checkered past" and the controversy it might cause - after all, it's a lot of money and they really need it!

Then the local student paper began to investigate and publish the story and the guy gets ticked and suddenly withdraws his donation - decides he isn't giving a penny!

University officials now have some explaining to do since they have "wined and dined" this "crook" and his wife for the better part of the last year and now they're not getting the donation!!
http://kentwired.com/the-courting-of-jason-cope-behind-the-scenes-of-a-$1-million-withdrawal/
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/01/10/kent-state-alum-pulls-1m-gift-after-student-paper-asks-questions/
http://kentwired.com/our-view-fraudulence-shouldnt-be-overlooked/

Now the student newspaper writer is getting hammered as costing the school a seven-figure gift!!
http://dougbrown8.com/

This just goes along with all the other stories that show how desperate schools are to land funds & donations...they're even willing to deal with shady characters...thankfully Bradley has such great supporters and donors and has never had sleazy stuff like this...



I don't know about anyone else - but often my morning newspaper doesn't come until well after I have left for work - and as was the case last Friday -- I occasionally simply don't get one at all. Since they habitually come late - it's hard to know until at least 9 AM if I have not gotten one - but, as noted, by then I am already gone to work and don't find out if I actually got one until I get back in the evening. Of course by then there's nobody manning the phones at PJS or in their circulation department - so there's nobody I can talk to regarding this annoying and repeated scenario.

Anyway - there's a lot going on that might explain their haphazardness...

All the newspapers in Central Illinois have a new chief - head editor..
http://www.reviewatlas.com/news/x962226972/R-M-editor-named-GateHouse-regional-editor

Maybe he just doesn't know what's going on yet???

The PJS also now moved all their printing operations to new locations - this must be terribly confusing..
http://news.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/media/view/20220213gatehouse_media_consolidates_news_production_in_mass_ill/srvc=home&position=also

But it's also somewhat secretive - what gives...why all the hocus pocus and secrets??
"The newspapers' printing will be moved to other GateHouse printing plants, which the company declined to name."
http://journalstar.com/business/local/maverick-media-printing-plant-closing/article_d19007a1-bd78-5ece-b9a1-d327baef55cc.html

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x58623157/Illinois-GateHouse-newspapers-to-centralize-page-production



I can't imagine the papers are going broke, though, as long as there's willing dopes like this spending huge sums on wasteful advertising...
The city of Galesburg spends THOUSANDS running ads trying to convince Caterpillar to re-locate their plants there -- seriously!!!
They think if the new plants are being built in Peoria, that somehow Galesburg has an advantage?? Gimme a break!!
http://www.wgil.com/localnews.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=022012&newsid=42

Never the less - they're still cutting staff and laying people off like crazy -- sounds like they've really mismanaged their funds...
"Sources said that GateHouse, which owes its creditors more than $1 billion, is consolidating copy desk functions at all of its newspapers.

“It was terrible,” one source said. “One staffer used the word ‘dismantle’ to describe what they were doing.”

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-9568-sj-r-to-lay-off-copy-editors.html



Mitchell Anderson, Jr. had yet another double double last night - 10 pts, 12 rebs - he's had 3 Double Doubles in the past four games and has his season's averages up to 11 ppg, 6 rpg


SIU transfer to Iowa State, Anthony Booker must be wondering why'd he ever leave the fine company of Chris Lowery!
After sitting out a year figuring to play a bunch at depleted Iowa State, Booker does get into every game, but does not produce diddley-squat!
Again last night vs. Baylor, he played 7 minutes and was scoreless.
His averages are roughly 3 pts/ 2 rebs, but he often gets just a few minutes, and it won't get any better next year with better players coming in.
He still keeps launching 3-pointers at a 25% rate.


Northwestern dropped to 15-9 and just 5-7 in the Big Ten with their loss to Purdue.
If they don't make the NCAA this season - then their hopes sure do not improve with the loss of John Shurna...
BUT - they look to finish possibly just 7-11 or maybe optimistically 8-10 but look for the NCAA to give them a bid anyway --
and if it happens, it's just more proof of BCS bias as Northwestern has not been particularly impressive to deserve a bid.
They beat a bunch of nobodies but got annihilated by Baylor, Creighton, Ohio State, and just about any decent team.
If the NCAA allows their win over inconsistent Michigan State to be a determining factor then Illinois should get the same nod.


5th year at ISU - and Tim Jankovich has never won at Cedar Falls (vs. UNI)!
Jank holding at 99 career wins will he get his 100th today at Indiana State?
John Wilkins is hampered with an ankle injury, not known how much he can play.
ISU is only 1-6 in conference ROAD games and just 2-7 overall in road games, winning only at Morehead State and MSU.


Tom Crean = whiner ?? He's still pleading with the Big Ten to smack down Illinois' Meyers Leonard for rough play against his boy Cody Zeller.
https://twitter.com/#!/JeffRabjohns/status/169218525636988928


Peyton Allen is visiting Bradley tomorrow...and taking in the game..along with a couple of his Jets teammates.
https://twitter.com/#!/swjetsbbclub/status/169162739317616641
https://twitter.com/#!/Dwilliams1515/status/169445421888978944

I am curious and would love to know why he switched AAU teams and left the Illinois Wolves who are perhaps the most successful and reputable program in the nation!!

BTW -- here's a nice new article on Peyton Allen - I cover it a bit more thoroughly on the Facebook site.
http://illinois.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1330912

The Facebook site - LMK
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001456727547


BTW -- a few people point at UC-Davis' record and poke fun at Coach Les .. but they obviously are so mis-informed...
nobody expected UCD to do anything this year then they lost 3 of their best players for the entire season and were forced to play a ton with new players and freshmen...
But despite all the losses, most have been close!!
four of their last 7 losses were just a single possession and ended with only a few points losing margin.
And of their 22 losses with players everyone agrees are inexperienced - they STILL have lost a bunch by 30 points as some teams have done...
The only big time losses on that scale were at Stanford and at UCLA...
They're battling and they might make some noise in their tourney...time will tell.