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Post by uofdfan1983 on Mar 14, 2022 16:54:56 GMT -5
I usually root for Gonzaga to go all the way (they're a brethren Jesuit school too far away to have actually ever hurt us, like Xavier, Dayton, DePaul, Marquette all did etc etc.) and I will do so again this year.
But a small piece of me will be rooting for Georgia State (1st round vs. Gonzaga). Happy for Corey Allen. He stepped up and did what other local recruits need to do, and then we kinda shafted him during the BA/JJ soap opera. Shame on us.
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 14, 2022 17:08:32 GMT -5
All those schools suck. Root for the Fighting Irish.
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Mar 14, 2022 17:51:48 GMT -5
Growing up I was a huge ND Football Fan. My dad was raised until 8th grade on sharecropper farms near Mishawaka IN and my Papa worked in the ND nursery awhile before they moved to Detroit for a factory job. I loved Joe Montana and Ara Parseghian. But ND proved that it was just another in a long line of selfish Catholic schools - the MCC didn't have football so all we wanted them for was basketball (and they weren't even a top-notch b'ball school). Like idiots, we let them in for all the Minor Sports and they sucked up all kinds of minor sport championships but of course that did no good for the league because no one knew ND was in a league. Zero league exposure, zero value to the members. It only gave ND a place to park its minor sports, win titles and win awards for their minor sport standouts. Not sure why they were "too good for us" and refused to join for basketball, and our dummies in Indianapolis HQ thought that if we let them in for minor sports they'd follow and eventually join for basketball. They wouldn't even join for womens' basketball. And remember, back then we had Dayton, Xavier, St. Louis, LaSalle, Duquesne and a few others.
Another stupid decision by MCC/Horizon Commissioner. A good reason to turn anti-ND, which I have done ever since. I have become (basically) a one school fan. That makes me a long-suffering fan but when we win, it'll all be worth it.
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 14, 2022 17:55:19 GMT -5
“When we win, it’ll all be worth it.”
I’m just curious, what do you mean by that? What is the ceiling for the Titans in your mind?
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Post by fan on Mar 14, 2022 18:06:17 GMT -5
ND should be in the Big Ten, in time their football exclusive TV contact will diminish in value, the Big Ten Network would have brought them more money for their membership than any another place even the ACC, This NCAA there are nine Big Ten shares before game one.
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Mar 14, 2022 20:37:18 GMT -5
The smile on the face/celebrating with my U-D friends begins with the simple accomplishment we should already be garnering at least once every 3 years - winning the League Tournament. I expect that to happen next year and not just with another mediocre record. We need to roll into the Tourney with 20+ wins and at least 2nd place in the Regular Season. But that's just a step on the road.
The ceiling will be visible after we build those new dorms, finish everything on the Road to a Championship list, turn the soccer field into a stadium, start averaging over 4,000 fans again. My ceiling is the A-10 (that might be enough, not sure we need the Big East), and looking alot like Butler or Xavier, with at least one Sweet 16 per decade and an occasional Final Four.
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 15, 2022 19:49:58 GMT -5
The smile on the face/celebrating with my U-D friends begins with the simple accomplishment we should already be garnering at least once every 3 years - winning the League Tournament. I expect that to happen next year and not just with another mediocre record. We need to roll into the Tourney with 20+ wins and at least 2nd place in the Regular Season. But that's just a step on the road. The ceiling will be visible after we build those new dorms, finish everything on the Road to a Championship list, turn the soccer field into a stadium, start averaging over 4,000 fans again. My ceiling is the A-10 (that might be enough, not sure we need the Big East), and looking alot like Butler or Xavier, with at least one Sweet 16 per decade and an occasional Final Four. Respectfully, I just don’t think UDM will ever get anywhere near what you’re hoping for. Unless we get a historic university president, $500m endowment infusion, and fix our branding issues. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I think our ceiling is probably a NCAA appearance every few years. I’m not sure a first round win is even possible with the HL’s awful downfall which means we’d be a 15 seed at best. Not that it matters, but I don’t think people should hate ND for doing what’s best for them. I wouldn’t say they used the HL by “dumping” all their sports into the league with the exceptions of football and basketball. The 80s and 90s were a different time when a school flying tennis and lacrosse players across the country just wasn’t a thing. And ND simply kept their independence in the money making sports to do what was best for them (also, keep in mind that joining the Big 10 wasn’t really an option considering the anti Catholicism that ruined ND’s relationship with the Big 10 in the early 20th century - although I agree that they should join the Big 10 now but now the “independence” label just means too much). Speaking of other sports, I happened to be watching the local news tonight and saw that ND slaughter ruled the Titans in softball 18-0. Ouch!
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Mar 16, 2022 9:10:37 GMT -5
Look, nobody said it would be fast or easy. The downspiral of the City of Detroit was a 50-year cycle. We're about 10 years into the upspiral now. It's gonna take about 40 more years before Detroit is once again a shining city (albeit smaller than it was in its heydey).
The University never fell as far as the City itself, and started its turnaround sooner, but it was impacted by the City's demise.
This is a long process. We are finally putting down the foundation -- upgrading campus facilities, trying to add new Dorms, upgrading existing Dorms (or knocking down the ones like Reno that are beyond repair). All of this takes time, money and a vision. We finally have that vision in our Leadership Team.
As it relates to Athletics, we need everyone's support, big or small. Be a part of the solution. Go ahead and complain, that's fine. I do it too. But at the end of year, write a check. U-D needs your money; ND does not.
Some day, the fact we are the ONLY D I school in Detroit will mean something. We absolutely have to revamp our facilities, sign some top-rated local recruits, and energize Metro Detroit again as a fan base. Your mention of ND's non-league softball score getting mention on the Local TV News is a surprising (but insightful) explanation of the difference between cities. There is no way that an insignificant pre-conference softball game would EVER get mentioned on the 6 o'clock News in Detroit. That just shows you the difference between a small market and a large market. I realize that sometimes it's an advantage to be a really big fish in a relatively small town. Other examples include Dayton, Bradley and Gonzaga. But someday, we'll be the only fish in a pretty big and healthy/vibrant town and it'll matter. Until then, we gotta keep plugging along. Start by winning tonight, I say.
By the way, did they call us Detroit or that other name?
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Post by calihanmole on Mar 16, 2022 10:15:40 GMT -5
The local South Bend news channel (CBS) reported on the softball game on the 5:30 news broadcast when the score was 15-0. Yeah, the sports reporter and the graphic on the screen said “Detroit Mercy.”
You’re 100% about the media difference. In SB, Notre Dame is THE sports segment every day. We get updates on virtually every Irish team that played a game. The amount of coverage the fencing team gets is just insane. Obviously football rules all, but I doubt people who haven’t lived here could understand that our men’s and women’s basketball coaches are de facto local celebrities - especially this time of year.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Mar 16, 2022 10:45:45 GMT -5
Look, nobody said it would be fast or easy. The downspiral of the City of Detroit was a 50-year cycle. We're about 10 years into the upspiral now. It's gonna take about 40 more years before Detroit is once again a shining city (albeit smaller than it was in its heydey). The University never fell as far as the City itself, and started its turnaround sooner, but it was impacted by the City's demise. This is a long process. We are finally putting down the foundation -- upgrading campus facilities, trying to add new Dorms, upgrading existing Dorms (or knocking down the ones like Reno that are beyond repair). All of this takes time, money and a vision. We finally have that vision in our Leadership Team. As it relates to Athletics, we need everyone's support, big or small. Be a part of the solution. Go ahead and complain, that's fine. I do it too. But at the end of year, write a check. U-D needs your money; ND does not. Some day, the fact we are the ONLY D I school in Detroit will mean something. We absolutely have to revamp our facilities, sign some top-rated local recruits, and energize Metro Detroit again as a fan base. Your mention of ND's non-league softball score getting mention on the Local TV News is a surprising (but insightful) explanation of the difference between cities. There is no way that an insignificant pre-conference softball game would EVER get mentioned on the 6 o'clock News in Detroit. That just shows you the difference between a small market and a large market. I realize that sometimes it's an advantage to be a really big fish in a relatively small town. Other examples include Dayton, Bradley and Gonzaga. But someday, we'll be the only fish in a pretty big and healthy/vibrant town and it'll matter. Until then, we gotta keep plugging along. Start by winning tonight, I say. By the way, did they call us Detroit or that other name? Without proper leadership which has been missing for a long time we will eventually be set aside by Wayne State. Wayne State will eventually become a D1 program and probably enter the MAC probably with Grand Valley thus the MAC will enter Michigans two largest population centers. Let’s hope we have finally found a true leader in our new President because time is running out and the widow is slowly closing. This frustrates me and I do not like the helpless feeling watching this evolve.
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Post by titansforever on Mar 16, 2022 12:24:35 GMT -5
The MAC has no interest in adding any school that does not play football.
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Mar 16, 2022 12:38:33 GMT -5
UP refuses to look at Garibaldi outside of Athletics but no matter: you are correct that we need bold and smart leadership from our new President. Garibaldi has positioned us nicely in NW Detroit; now we need to continue our focus on improving our facilities so we don't keep losing students to nice new campuses out in the countryside.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Mar 17, 2022 1:21:15 GMT -5
The MAC has no interest in adding any school that does not play football. And that is why Wayne State and Grand Valley will be added because they do play football and are climbing not sliding. They play in the best D2 Football Conference in the country. Unless you were referring to Detroit. My statement was that we will not be Detroits only D1 University in Sports much longer. That window will slowly start to close.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Mar 17, 2022 9:43:41 GMT -5
UP refuses to look at Garibaldi outside of Athletics but no matter: you are correct that we need bold and smart leadership from our new President. Garibaldi has positioned us nicely in NW Detroit; now we need to continue our focus on improving our facilities so we don't keep losing students to nice new campuses out in the countryside. I have looked at Garibaldi outside of Athletics and some are giving him a pass for his supposed fund raising and strength in helping the Universities financial standing yet in the General thread of this forum there is a article about the Forbes rating system for the health and ability of a University to survive. We are dropping and becoming less able to survive under the financial genius of Garibaldi. The reason I have been so focused on him for the Athletic decline of the U is that he placed himself there. He was instrumental in the Vowels hire and he put himself in the position of having Vowels confer directly with him on athletic decisions thus he becomes as responsible as Vowels for the accumulating bad decisions. This might also explain the delays in Vowels inabilities to make accurate timely decisions.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 17, 2022 12:03:38 GMT -5
UP refuses to look at Garibaldi outside of Athletics but no matter: you are correct that we need bold and smart leadership from our new President. Garibaldi has positioned us nicely in NW Detroit; now we need to continue our focus on improving our facilities so we don't keep losing students to nice new campuses out in the countryside. I have looked at Garibaldi outside of Athletics and some are giving him a pass for his supposed fund raising and strength in helping the Universities financial standing yet in the General thread of this forum there is a article about the Forbes rating system for the health and ability of a University to survive. We are dropping and becoming less able to survive under the financial genius of Garibaldi. The reason I have been so focused on him for the Athletic decline of the U is that he placed himself there. He was instrumental in the Vowels hire and he put himself in the position of having Vowels confer directly with him on athletic decisions thus he becomes as responsible as Vowels for the accumulating bad decisions. This might also explain the delays in Vowels inabilities to make accurate timely decisions. Not to mention that this is, primarily, a board about Titan Hoops and other Titan athletics. It seems natural that that is what discussion here would focus on.
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