Rivalry Games

[NJCat]

ESPN weighs in on rivalry games they'd like to see. NU-Harvard? Why not? But in a perfect world, I'd much rather see NU-Duke.....

Harvard-Northwestern
Make this happen, Chris Collins and Tommy Amaker.

Both teams enjoy distinctive positions in college basketball.

They're two of America's most academically astute institutions. In U.S. News' Best Colleges report, Harvard is ranked second and Northwestern is ranked 11th.

And they both recently ended historic postseason droughts.

In 2012, Harvard reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 66 years. Last season, Northwestern earned its first NCAA tournament invitation.

Coaches use big games to showcase their programs for top prospects. Imagine Northwestern and Harvard bringing their top recruits for basketball and their respective engineering programs to this game. Put them all in the front row: the 6-foot-7 forward with the smooth jump shot and the 5-8 kid who skipped three grades.

This makes sense for both schools.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...clude-kansas-wichita-state-maryland-duke-more

 

[kaTNap]

ESPN weighs in on rivalry games they'd like to see. NU-Harvard? Why not?

I found a site that has college bball head-to-head results going back to 1949. We've played every Ivy since 1949 except Penn and Harvard. Harvard definitely schedules P-5 teams; they play at Kentucky (ouch) this year.

 

[NJCat]

I found a site that has college bball head-to-head results going back to 1949. We've played every Ivy since 1949 except Penn and Harvard. Harvard definitely schedules P-5 teams; they play at Kentucky (ouch) this year.

Harvard lost to Holy Cross last year for the third consecutive season. Replacing HC with UK doesn't seem right. Yuk.

It makes sense for them to play P-5 teams. The guarantees are probably decent, and it gives them great experience. Making the NCAA simply comes down to winning the IVY since it is just a 1-bid league in most cases.

 

[EvanstonCat]

ESPN weighs in on rivalry games they'd like to see. NU-Harvard? Why not? But in a perfect world, I'd much rather see NU-Duke.....

Harvard-Northwestern
Make this happen, Chris Collins and Tommy Amaker.

Both teams enjoy distinctive positions in college basketball.

They're two of America's most academically astute institutions. In U.S. News' Best Colleges report, Harvard is ranked second and Northwestern is ranked 11th.

And they both recently ended historic postseason droughts.

In 2012, Harvard reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 66 years. Last season, Northwestern earned its first NCAA tournament invitation.

Coaches use big games to showcase their programs for top prospects. Imagine Northwestern and Harvard bringing their top recruits for basketball and their respective engineering programs to this game. Put them all in the front row: the 6-foot-7 forward with the smooth jump shot and the 5-8 kid who skipped three grades.

This makes sense for both schools.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...clude-kansas-wichita-state-maryland-duke-more

When we have a rivalry game with Duke, we'll know we have arrived. Hopefully, we take MSU's place in the annual B1G ACC challenge and get matched up with them regularly simply on the basis of seeding from previous year's performance. Harvard does nothing for us. Lose and it's damaging. Win and it's not very helpful. It's like playing a strong MAC team. No upside, only downside. Even if they are truly solid or even great, you'll get no credit if you win and you'll still get reamed if you lose.

I'd much rather see us develop rivalries with Kentucky, Kansas, UNC - simply because we are seeing them year after year and beating them in the Final 4.

 

[kaTNap]

We aren't going to be playing every OOC game against the likes of UNC, UK, or KU. Nobody does, including those teams. Would you rather watch yet another OOC game against Texas Pan-American or Valpo, or would rather play someone we haven't seen in 70+ years, like Harvard?

 

[JournCat]

We should schedule this as a home-and-home. It'd be really fun to go to Cambridge if it was on a weekend.

I think it's a waste to play two or three good games and then a bunch of UTPAs and Chicago States. Why haven't we put together the Doug Collins Invitational with Illinois State yet?

 

[willycat]

We aren't going to be playing every OOC game against the likes of UNC, UK, or KU. Nobody does, including those teams. Would you rather watch yet another OOC game against Texas Pan-American or Valpo, or would rather play someone we haven't seen in 70+ years, like Harvard?

Nu used to play the likes of Kentucky, ND and Kansas at McGaw Hall in front of crowds of 10,000. Also played UCLA and West Virginia at the old Chicago Stadium. it's just about time to play these types of programs again in front of 10,000 or 15,000 fans. Oh wait, the sparkling new arena seats less than 7,000. So much for building the program up. guess they still switch some games to UC, All-State Arena or maybe even the new DePaul court.

 

[VirginiaWildcat]

Oh wait, the sparkling new arena seats less than 7,000. So much for building the program up. guess they still switch some games to UC, All-State Arena or maybe even the new DePaul court.

OCD...Plenty of room on the Depaul bandwagon!

 

[kaTNap]

Nu used to play the likes of Kentucky, ND and Kansas at McGaw Hall in front of crowds of 10,000. Also played UCLA and West Virginia at the old Chicago Stadium. it's just about time to play these types of programs again in front of 10,000 or 15,000 fans. Oh wait, the sparkling new arena seats less than 7,000. So much for building the program up. guess they still switch some games to UC, All-State Arena or maybe even the new DePaul court.

 

[bringbacktherantboard]

Chicago could do something like the Philadelphia Big 5 and have NU, DePaul, Loyola, UIC, and Chicago State duking it out for a championship each year.

I mean, why not?

 

[backdoorpass]

I'd much rather see us develop rivalries with Kentucky, Kansas, UNC - simply because we are seeing them year after year and beating them in the Final 4.

Those won't happen. One that is within reach and a good rivalry is ND. Bus ride for each team makes it feasible, too.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Nu used to play the likes of Kentucky, ND and Kansas at McGaw Hall in front of crowds of 10,000. Also played UCLA and West Virginia at the old Chicago Stadium. it's just about time to play these types of programs again in front of 10,000 or 15,000 fans. Oh wait, the sparkling new arena seats less than 7,000. So much for building the program up. guess they still switch some games to UC, All-State Arena or maybe even the new DePaul court.

How many seats are in the new arena again?

 

[NJCat]

How many seats are in the new arena again?

<5,000

 

[Sec_112]

Chicago could do something like the Philadelphia Big 5 and have NU, DePaul, Loyola, UIC, and Chicago State duking it out for a championship each year.

I mean, why not?

No clue. People have talked about it for decades. Every year, the programs have a barely-covered, promotional lunch together as they did unfortunately yesterday (one of the bigger city sports days in a while).

And for some reason, the discussion goes nowhere year after year.

I wonder who the problem is? My guess is it has something to do with Loyola and Depaul. The 13 people who care about that rivalry from each school have old-school problems with other school. It's too bad.

Anyhow, NU has been doing it's part with regular games against Depaul and CSU. I think they've also played UIC in controlled scrimmages lately.

 

[JournCat]

Unfortunately, we proved last year at the UC that our fans won't travel within Chicagoland (though many thousands of us did travel to Salt Lake City). You'd need Illinois to sell enough tickets to make it profitable, and they doesn't have the same motivation to play local rivals. Illinois and DePaul will play this year for the first time since 1957, and that's only because of the Gavitt Games.

 

[kaTNap]

No clue. People have talked about it for decades. Every year, the programs have a barely-covered, promotional lunch together as they did unfortunately yesterday (one of the bigger city sports days in a while).

And for some reason, the discussion goes nowhere year after year.

I wonder who the problem is? My guess is it has something to do with Loyola and Depaul. The 13 people who care about that rivalry from each school have old-school problems with other school. It's too bad.

Anyhow, NU has been doing it's part with regular games against Depaul and CSU. I think they've also played UIC in controlled scrimmages lately.

We had the "Chicagoland Cage Classic" back in the 1980's. DePaul didn't participate, however.

 

[FightNorthwestern]

When we have a rivalry game with Duke, we'll know we have arrived. Hopefully, we take MSU's place in the annual B1G ACC challenge and get matched up with them regularly simply on the basis of seeding from previous year's performance. Harvard does nothing for us. Lose and it's damaging. Win and it's not very helpful. It's like playing a strong MAC team. No upside, only downside. Even if they are truly solid or even great, you'll get no credit if you win and you'll still get reamed if you lose.

I'd much rather see us develop rivalries with Kentucky, Kansas, UNC - simply because we are seeing them year after year and beating them in the Final 4.

How you view Harvard is prob exactly like how most Duke fans would view us.

 

[EvanstonCat]

How you view Harvard is prob exactly like how most Duke fans would view us.

Probably. But the question isn't about who Duke wants as a rivalry. They have great rivalries already.

And still, at least NU is a B1G team. I'd say it's a step up from Harvard and the Ivy.

 

[Styre]

Harvard does nothing for us. Lose and it's damaging. Win and it's not very helpful. It's like playing a strong MAC team. No upside, only downside. Even if they are truly solid or even great, you'll get no credit if you win and you'll still get reamed if you lose.

Playing and beating good mid-major teams provides a boost to your computer rankings, and can be quite helpful when it comes to tournament seeding. This isn't football, where all wins count the same unless you're at the absolute top of the mountain.