Nick at Night
Basketball proposal should be based on using advantage, not simply having one.
by
Nicholas Kartos,
9/19/2009
From our message board, the WIAA area meetings and the many conversations I’ve had with many people, it is clear that there are some holes in the WIAA basketball proposal being discussed at the area meetings.
This is my idea to fix the problem, to try and come up with a compromise between the two parties.
I think even the staunchest fan to the private school debate can admit that it’s not totally fair to paint them all with a broad brush and move everyone up. It’s just a means to move the teams they want moved up to move up. And worst yet, the WIAA proposal doesn’t even accomplish moving up all the teams people feel should move up.
Fix Five Division Idea
An issue has been presented that smaller D1 schools have a problem competing with the larger D1 schools. But by taking 5 divisions and dividing them equally all you do is create a new problem. In the proposal, the biggest D2 school is 1124 while the smallest is 531. Twice the size.
Instead of a new D2 let’s go for a D1A and D1B. Top 64 teams are D1A, next 64 teams are D1B. In this case the biggest school in D1B is 1342 and the smallest is 862. Seems more fair.
From there you actually start from the bottom, the bottom 128 schools enrollment wise are D4. The next lowest 124 are D3. The remaining schools are in D2, this allows for D2 to be tighter in enrollment.
This is of course before teams are moved up or down.
Divisional Placement
The crux of this argument is that being in or close to a urban area is an advantage for a school. I say there is a difference between having an advantage and using an advantage. I also believe there has to be a history of success, not just one team that pulled it together and had a nice year.
So here is my plan for moving teams up or staying put. You take the number of games over .500 in tournament play over the previous three years. If your team is 7 or higher games above .500 you move up. This of course could be changed to 5, 6 or 8; but for now let's just say it's 7.
So let’s apply this to some teams.
Boys, teams in bold would be moved up a division:
Aquinas(5, 7, 5 = 17)
Assumption(5, 1, 0 = 6)
Dominican(1, 4, 3 = 8)
Lakeside Lutheran(1, 1, 1 = 3)
Madison Edgewood(3, 1, 0 = 4)
Milwaukee Lutheran(1, 0, 0 = 1)
Regis(4, 3, 3 = 10)
Roncalli(4, 3, 4 = 11)
Sheboygan Christian(2, 2, 2 = 6)
St. Catherine's(7, 3, 7 = 17)
St. John's(0, -1, -1 = -2)
Wisconsin Lutheran(6, 0, 1 = 7)
Xavier(4, 1, -1 = 4)
Girls, teams in bold would be moved up a division:
Assumption(2, 2, 1 = 5)
Edgewood(3, 0, 0 = 3)
FVL(0, 3, 0 = 3)
Regis(1, 1, 1 = 3)
Roncalli(3, 0, 2 = 5)
Sheboygan Christian(0, 4, 1 = 5)
St Mary Central(7, 5, 0 = 12)
The Hope School(2, 0, 2 = 4)
Wausau Newman(0, 1, 3 = 4)
WLA(0, 0, 0 = 0)
Xavier(1, -1, 0 = 0)
Waiver to stay in Division
There would be a wavier that a private school could apply to stay in their division. This one might need some work because I might not have the terminology down. But my basic thought is if all of the players on their team came from their parish feeder system OR are paying full tuition at the school the team does not have to move up.
You may also modify this rule to allow them one player not from the parish system.
Why not public schools too?
Another complaint about the proposal is that it does nothing to address open enrollment. So try this one on, use the criteria on public schools as well. Their waiver would be if they have one or less open enrolled kid on their team they do not move up.
Well, I got a Badger football game to catch. Thoughts?
Get in shape, relive the rivalry and throw some Gatorade on a Manning!
by
Nicholas Kartos,
7/15/2009
How would you like to turn back the clock and play your big rivals one more time?
In the name of team, community, fitness and product placement two rivals from Pennsylvania got that opportunity in late April.
Easton and Phillipsburg have played an annual grudge match every Thanksgiving day since 1905. In the 1993 match-up a heavily favored Easton team could not pull out a win, but also did not lose in a game that ended 7-7.
The sister kissers from both squads were
given a second chance to decide a winner in a promotion that Gatorade is calling “Replay.”
The towns bought into the rivalry replay right away, the game sold out, with 10,000 tickets going in less than 90 minutes. The players bought in as well, with age ranges from 32-34 over 30 players from each team bought into a training program to get ready for the game. All told many of the players lost 30 pounds or more with one player dropping a cool 60, in two months!
In the game itself Phillipsburg
took out Easton 27-12. They took advantage of having what was probably the two most in shape and athletic guys on the field, in receivers Joe Luke and Mike Lelko who combined to catch all 15 passes and run 9 of the 17 rushing attempts.
The aforementioned Gatorade is the sponsor that made it all possible and you can watch a
recap of the game and the training on their website.
Of course this all wouldn't have happened without a sponsor and overall Gatorade did a nice job with the product placement, it was frequent and there was a lot of slow motion Gatorade squirting but it definitely not in your face. Granted, some stuff was a bit over the top, like the doctor in the video clip saying that Gatorade can help prevent heart attacks.
I think their big misstep however, was having Eli and Payton Manning be the honorary coaches of both teams. Fresh off their latest commercial appearances in the
Oreo Double Stuff Licking League, the Mannings kind of seemed out of place. Especially with the bonds that both teams had with their coaches, which is reminiscent of the relationships across the country on Friday nights.
However, overall I think the event was a success. One they are going to try to recreate. You can nominate your teams on the
MissionG website and discuss it here on our
message board.
Waunakee's time has come, let's make the Big 8 eight again
by
Nicholas Kartos,
6/16/2009
Conference realignment is always a great debate in the state. Most recently the talks revolve around football and some of the conferences in the northern and central part of the state. Recently there was a bit of a shake-up in the Madison area when Verona joined the Big 8.
Why stop there.
Waunakee has established themselves as a very competitive division 1 school in many sports. In fact, by the time the baseball tourney ends on Thursday Waunakee will wrap up a
top 25 finish in the WSN Cup, which factors in success across all sports a school participates in.
Enrollment wise, they would be on the low end of the totem pole, with currently only 1125 students. However there enrollment has increased in each of the past 5 years and it seems like there is a new subdivision going up in the neighborhood every time I drive though.
I believe their dedication to athletics, as further reinforced by their success on the state tournament level, is more than enough to make up for this enrollment gap.
So, by now you’ve noticed the title of the article and are thinking, wait, adding Waunakee would give the Big 8 eleven schools, not eight.
Well, that’s when things get interesting. Take a
look at this map As you can see there is a grouping of three and a grouping of 7. Hence, I would propose moving Beloit and the two Janesville schools out of the Big 8.
This would lead to a Big 8 comprised of the four Madison city schools (East, West, La Follette, Memorial) and the four largest suburb schools (Sun Prairie, Verona, Middleton, Waunakee). All of which are within 20 minutes of each other. As a high school sports fan and a Madison area resident I think this makes the games more fun and the competition fierce.
You wouldn’t put West Bend in a conference with Waukesha schools. Why would you put Janesville and Beloit in a conference 40-50 miles away if there are other alternatives for that conference?
The obvious downside is the rivalries between the schools that have built up over the years but they’ll still see each other in non-conference contests and state tournaments.
So the second question is where do Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker and Beloit go?
The answer: A revamped Southern Lakes conference. The conference would look something like this:
Beloit (2086)
Janesville Parker (1782)
Janesville Craig (1664)
Burlington (1464) (transplant from Southeast conference)
Lake Geneva Badger (1369)
Westosha Central (1215)
Wilmot (1149)
Waterford (1094)
Elkhorn (1005)
The longest treks in this new conference would be, as a reference Beloit to Madison is 53 miles:
Janesville to Wilmot – 57.6 miles
Beloit to Westosha Central – 56 miles
Waterford to Janesville – 52 miles
The two former Southern Lakes members - Union Grove (771) & Delevan-Darien (866) – would be moved to the Rock Valley. The Southeast conference would become a 9 team league instead of 10.
There are some ways that this idea could blow up in my face.
1) If Waunakee decreased in enrollment or their athletic programs struggled in the Big 8
2) If the Janesvilles / Beloit dominated the new Southern Lakes
3) If Elkhorn, Waterford or Wilmot severely decreased in enrollment.
But as mentioned earlier, if you take a look at state tournament success you would find that it seems pretty even over the last couple of years. In regards to enrollment, that is something that would take a bit of research but I think a lot of my assumptions are correct. Plus on the other side of the spectrum, with some of the recent developments in the employment landscape of Beloit and Janesville, they may see a enrollment decrease which would make my idea stronger.
Ok, so by this point, at the very least, I have Janesville fans and Beloit fans upset at me. Waunakee folks might not be too crazy about it either. But the debates are what makes sports great.
Former state champ finds success on TV
by
Nicholas Kartos,
6/9/2009
A Wisconsin native will be going for his third title since 2005 on national TV on Wednesday night.
I'm not talking about the NBA Finals or the NHL. I'm talking about the MTV Real World/Road Rules Challenge series. Hang with me for a second.
Of course the Real World was the first reality show on television, starting a trend that looks like it has no end. They followed up the successful Real World series with Road Rules, a sort of Real World on wheels, with some extreme challenges thrown in. When Survivor sparked a new genre of competition-based reality shows, MTV utilized the popularity of their reality shows and the personalities on those reality shows into the
Real World / Road Rules Challenges.
Now in it's 17th season, the Challenge, which features a couple different recurring themes, keeps on increasing the stakes and the prize money. They also pick some great tropical or otherwise interesting locations. This season, dubbed The Duel II, will reward $100,000 to the winner at the end of the show.
That is where Landon Lueck comes in. Lueck graduated from River Falls high school in 1999. An accomplished high school athlete, a D2 tennis doubles state champion his junior year and a fifth place state wrestler as a senior.
In 2004 he got the opportunity to appear on the Real World season that took place in Philadelphia. Fast forward to 2005 he appeared in his first challenge, The
Inferno II, and took the competition by storm. He won 4 out of the 8 individual competitions and ended up on the winning team at the end, taking home a ¼ share of the $275,000 grand prize.
2006 brought on the
Guantlet II in which Landon once again did the state proud, being on the winning team of 9 that ended up splitting the $240,000 grand prize.
After taking a break to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Landon made his return to the challenge in The Duel 2. He enters Wednesday night's season finale as not only one of the final four male contestants, but one who has won 5 of the 9 individual challenges.
I had a chance to catch up with Landon on his strategy for the game and some of the things I am curious about as a staunch fan of reality TV and the Real World franchise.
WSN: Are you paid to be on the show in addition to the potential prize money?
LL: Yes, since I have done two previous challenge shows I receive a flat payment up front and if I stay through the final week (of six) I receive more money.
WSN: What did you do to get yourself in shape for the show?
LL: I race professionally for a mountain bike team out of Boulder Colorado called Mafia Racing. I ride my road bike almost everyday. I commute to work 35 miles round-trip and try to get a 100-mile ride in every other Saturday. I also began doing push-ups again to gain a little strength and size up top.
WSN: How important does the social game play in addition to the physical / challenge side?
LL: For the females it is crucial. For the men, it is quite different. If you win the challenges and are a threat you earn respect. It’s a totally different game with the females (except for Rachel of course).
WSN: As prize money gets bigger it seems that people are partying less, is that accurate?
LL: Very accurate. Or rather, as the partiers leave the house, the more serious players are left who haven’t been partying much at all the entire show – MTV just decides not to show that (of course – that’s not nearly as exciting I guess).
WSN: As an outsider it seems like you take these challenges more business-like and less for trying to get more TV time. What is your main motivation to participate in these shows and how long do you hope to do them?
LL: The travel is the primary reason I choose to participate with these shows. Secondarily the money is a strong pull – obviously. The chance to win $100,000 in six weeks would pull just about anyone into this ring. Being on MTV was super cool and now I’m trying to transition to my real world of the professional world in landscape architecture.
WSN: How does MTV go about picking who is selected to be on these shows?
LL: I have no idea. I would think it’s who’s most popular or who gets the most ratings but at the end of the day….I have no idea.
WSN: Who is the toughest competitor you've faced during your three challenges?
LL: Alton. The man is carved out of wood.
WSN: Who would you least want to see on the wrong side of a dark alley?
LL: CT – he’s such a punk.
WSN: Did anyone else think it was lame that Mark “retired” and gave up his bandana to Derrick and then came back to the show?
LL: No. I think we all wanted Mark to come back. He is one of my favorite cast members from any show and we are friends outside of the show – probably more than anyone else. When asking Mark about that he said that it was never the plan to actually retire so….no idea. Just a little show biz thing maybe.
Root Landon on Wednesday night at 9 on MTV.
Ok, fine. We're on Twitter.
by
Nicholas Kartos,
5/17/2009
I'll admit. I was trying to resist.
But when visionaries the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Tom Crean and Charlie Villenueva using it how could we resist!
Kutcher of course brought the tweet to the main stream with his challenge of Larry King of who can get to a million followers first. Unless if I’m missing something, doesn’t this apply to the “pick on someone your own size” mantra? I mean,
Kutcher is a young Hollywood “mogul” who has young fans who probably eat up things like Twitter for breakfast. King on the other hand, who actually watches
Larry King? Do they even know that the internet exists?
One can only think that if Twitter existed a couple years ago Kelvin Sampson might still have a job at IU and
Crean might still be at Marquette. Well since that is not the case we are left with such nuggets as, “I can watch the NBA playoffs on tape. The Housewives are treating each other in a nasty way.” (regarding the New York Housewives reunion special on Bravo).
Villenueva, in my mind, is the best of the bunch. What else would you do a halftime against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics but this, “In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.”
We’ll be using this emerging technology to keep everyone up to date on the happenings of WSN. New items added to the WSN Cash-In Store, big breaking stories and reminders about events/promotions happening on WisSports.net. We are also very excited about potential other uses, think playoff football scores.
So
become a follower. Do it now. We are going to tweet your socks off. Or in the words of Charlie V, “Good morning twitterland, just waking up, mom making me some pancakes, i love mama pancakes”