Still not sure why this concept never worked. I know there was a time when it was tried, but I think it needs to be organized.

Fuck U of I, if they dont want to be part of it. I know they think they are a major powerhouse, and then can sit downstate and tell everyone that and you can shame them into playing.

DePaul
Loyola
UIC
Northwestern
Northern Illinois
Chicago State
S Ill
Bradley

8 teams, 3 games over a thurs to Sunday. Create some buzz for college hoop in this town. Amazing how much Hs talent comes from chicago and how little college hype there is.

They do this in Philly and its a big deal, works well.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I love the idea but you're almost better off with Valparaiso than Carbondale -- literally northwest Indiana > practically northern Kentucky. You could put ISU in, too.

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That would be a pretty horrible tournament and I doubt Northwestern would even be interested. No reason to enter a tournament when everyone but DePaul views beating a Big Ten team as a season defining moment.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think bigfan's idea is that the existence of a Chicago tournament that puts the city/region/state's teams on display would motivate lagging programs (particularly DePaul's lagging program) to look good for Chicagoans and recruits on a big stage. You know, sort of like trickle-down economics. I'm not sure it would work, inasmuch as NIU built a nice new arena 10+ years ago and still can't give a flying fuck about putting a decent team in it, and Chicago State is barely even an accredited university, but I think it would be a more compelling use of out-of-conference games than games against schools no one cares about. That's how it works, right? I don't know how out-of-conference scheduling works with tournaments and such.

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It doesn't do Northwestern and Illinois any good though. Remember when Northwestern lost to NIU in football and NIU fans took out an ad in the paper bragging about beating Northwestern and mocking Illinois? This would basically be a tournament designed for the other schools to get big wins while the big schools hurt their strength of schedule and in the case of an upset get a potential season derailing loss.

Indiana brought back the crossroads classic, which is Purdue/Indiana/Notre Dame/Butler but it required Butler to step up first and be a team that won't kill you if you lose to them. I would guess that Northwestern and Illinois would be in for something similar if DePaul were more competitive and another team, such as NIU, stepped up and became a team that isn't a bad win/horrible loss type of team.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

As BRick has pointed out, there's absolutely no incentive for Illinois to do this.

So, in biggie's words, fuck everybody else.

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You know me like that.

Incidentally, what is it going to take for NIU not to be a laughingstock in basketball? It would be fun to see them go on one of those crazy little mid-major runs.

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Football getting them into the Big 12.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Bradley is horrible. No one should have to watch that.

Illinois can go sit in the other room and just keep telling everyone how good they are...everyone else...INCLUDING Northwestern...can use all the exposure they can get.

Northwestern has everything to gain! Everyone of these teams has everything to gain. I will agree that Illinois should win this tourney and losing would cost them.

Of course at some point if they want to keep this inner city pipeline thing happening, this culd be an issue, but I dont care if Illinois is on or out, but they cant ever say they are the best team in Illinois then.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

How bout a college hockey tournament without any team from the state? Nah, that's crazy.

if you find the sponsor..COYOTE IT UP!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Northern Illinois certainly has nothing to lose.

Could this be a preseason thing so that it doesn't hurt strength of schedule if that's the way it has to be?

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I think they can still say that pretty comfortably for quite a while.

I'm willing to entertain shots at the football program. But Illinois still has a significant basketball advantage.

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You know me like that.

Bradley University
Chicago State University
DePaul University
Eastern Illinois University
Illinois State University
University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign
University of Illinois - Chicago
Loyola University
Northern Illinois University
Northwestern University
Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
Western Illinois University


You take out the "Big 3", and that leaves 10. Would enough people show up for Chi St vs SIU Edsville?

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SIU-Edwardsville is in the goddamn Metro-East. Why would they even be invited? I'd just go with Northwestern, Loyola, DePaul, Everywhere I Go It's UIC, Chicago State, Illinois State, Bradley, and Valparaiso. U of I would bump Bradley or Chicago State if they deigned to participate.

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Why it has taken so long for NIU to get back to decent is beyond me. The last time they were any good, Molinari was here with Donald Whiteside. There is absolutely no reason why NIU is not a great basketball program at this point. The current coach they have is the best they've had in some time and he still can't get this team to be any good. The center they built for the team is very nice but no one's going there until they're at least competitive.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

This does not paint a pretty picture:

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/ ... enter-s791







This might be sadder than DePaul.

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I would replace Bradley with Illinois State. But, yeah. Great idea. They all split the first round gate. Final 4 teams split that. Championship game teams splits that.

They all split the TV revenue. Could have it on WGN 9

illinois teams can't compete with anyone else, so this would at least make it interesting. the hell with U of I, they suck anyway.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

You need to slow your modifiers there, COF.

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You know me like that.

It wouldn't be a tournament in the sense that teams move on to future rounds. It should be a tournament in the sense that it is multiple teams playing in the same location on the same day, like a basketball jamboree.

Illinois already plays Loyola or De Paul every year it seems. NU definitely does. This is just changing the venue.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yeah, their advantage is that all the other schools in the state have abysmal basketball programs.

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