Northwestern getting some tough love from MJH right now and he's absolutely right.

How can Jurko compare Northwestern to "one of those directional schools" like Northwestern State? Northwestern plays in the Big 10. If they played in one of those small conferences, they'd have a pretty decent chance of making the NCAA tournament. Your chances of winning your tournament are greater in the smaller conferences. Being in the Big 10 is their downfall. However, this doesn't excuse them for nearly going winless during Big 10 conference play.

I agree. I think they do deserve to get beat up for not making the tournament in many many years. I hadn't thought of Penn State, but they did have a couple of good teams and made the big dance since they joined the Big 11. Personally, I think they need to dump Carmody because he's not able to recruit any players that can get them over the hump to the big dance.

Now is your chance, call in , hold for an hour and Mac will give you 10 seconds to have your say.

I'd rather rant here. Much easier on my ears.

Diddo. I think MUD tried calling in, but as Mac yelled, he didn't have time to wait. But then again who has an hour to wait for anything?

Mac's claim to fame at NU was drinking a 5th of Scotch with Bill Peterson and passing out in the Stands during the Purdue game. He has no room to Criticize NU.

In many years, the Big Ten gets 7 teams into the NCAA tournament. You have to win 10 games in the preconference and then go .500 in the league to get a shot. You don't have to win the conference in the Big Ten like those small conferences.

Welsh-Ryan Arena is a bad stadium and it won't impress any recruit. It shows a complete lack of interest in the program and the only recruits you get are the kind that want to go to NU and use it is as way to pay for it.

NU is a great school, but high school players dream of playing in big games against quality opponents. They want to battle for conference championships and NCAA success.

You can get a good education at a lot of schools and have a chance of winning something in front of full stadiums.

The high academic standards is an excuse. The low expectations and lack of investment is the reason.

From what I understand, the four freshmen at Purdue all could have qualified at NU. E'twuan Moore even mentioned after the NU/Purdue game that he was a little disappointed that NU didn't recruit him heavily. NU was recruiting Hummel and Martin. Those three players would have been good enough to get NU to the dance by next year.

NU is rationalizing the lack of success when there are schools all around the country who have built programs with high quality and smart kids. You don't have to take in people who can't read in order to make the NCAA tournament.

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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 agree. Welsh Ryan is the equivalent of a high school gym. I don't know about practice facilities, but have to assume they are lacking. The non-conference schedule they play is poor so you're not going to face any top opponents.

E'twuan? Is that a typo?

Yeah, it's actually E'twaun Moore. I should know better than that.

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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!

No kidding. Look at a league like the ACC. Places like UNC and Virginia are a bitch to get in for an out of state student. Certianly Duke and maybe even Wake are small private schools with standards equal to NU.

I have to agree with you. After seeing the money and improvements thatt have gone on in Madison since Barry helped fill the till. If you don't have quality facilities or the interest in building an athletic program, you won't attract the players.

And then get a smart response and/or get hung up on if you mention how long you've been waiting. If people had to wait in line at the grocery store as long as they have to wait in line on local radio, we'd all starve.

That's one reason why many people won't call a show. And that's one thing I've never quite understood about talk radio. For a show that cares so much about their "customers" here on the board, at the remotes and generally in conversations, that has customer events like the Manniversary and all the rest....why is the MJH show (and all radio shows for that matter) so customer unfriendly by having their callers wait so long? I don't understand that. Making customers wait more than 20 minutes for anything in life is either bad management or just rude. If you know you are only going to take a few calls an hour, then don't let people wait on hold in the first place.

If one doesn't have 20 minutes to wait, one shouldn't call. I have 10 lines in front of me. I almost invariably take the guy holding the longest. There are updates...breaks... guests... e-mails. Please don't liken this to waiting in line to pay for groceries; it isn't the same thing. And I regularly encourage guys to hang on once they're on the air so we can discuss it with that caller after we've discussed his question or opinion. The fact that 80 per cent of callers make a point and hang up (on the air) is not my creation.

Yup. Thats why most of us here email.

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Thanks, Mac. That's fair. It just seems like maybe you should not have 10 people hanging in the first place. I'm sure for a show as popular as yours, if you only used four lines, for example, you'd still have them lit up most of the time.

I'm interested in what kind of person is willing to kill a half hour hanging on hold so he can speak for 10 seconds and then hang up. There is a market opportunity here to reach these no lifers who apparently need to hear themselves on the air on the 7 second delay. Now if I could only figure out what it is.

Mr. Microphone.

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You know me like that.

I've never had the urge to call a radio show. Less than 1% of listeners to any show ever call that show.

Noted! It's easier to post than hold here at the office. 20 + is a long time to tie up the line. Maybe have them cut the lines down to 5 and at least a busy signal will tell callers they need to call back. Maybe we're on to something here with the posts. Checking the posts for questions vs. callers might be the way to get heard!

Good interview!

NU not making the tournament EVER is a disgrace. But don't suggest we shouldn't be in the Big 10. We were a fucking founding member. It's not just what the Big 10 has become, it's about history. From the B10 website:

"A meeting of seven Midwest university presidents on January 11, 1895 at the Palmer House in Chicago to discuss the regulation and control of intercollegiate athletics, was the first development of what would become one of organized sports' most successful undertakings."

Those were... University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin



.... Regardless all this discussion isn't nearly as enthralling as the discussion of the prepositional phrase "of gas"

Rick, normally I love your posts. This one however, is idiotic. No one is rationalizing anything. I'm bitching about not ever making the tournament. I'm bitching about having a shitty stadium. I'm bitching about having a coach that doesn't encourage offensive rebounds. I'm bitching about EVERYTHING regarding NU hoops... In short, I'm pissed... not rationalizing.

And for what it's worth... I know bitching doesn't accomplish anything. I go to games. I root for my team. I donate. Maybe I should do more of the last part... I hope the new AD Jim Phillips will use these dollars more effectively in the future.

Be patient Mud...I have a feeling you'll be bitching about the football team this year. Fitzie cleaned house with the coaching staff this year and wants to play the 3 - 4 defense in the BigTen . Good luck on stopping the run and the pass.

You aren't rationalizing. I never said you were. People who say that NU can't compete without lowering standards are.

You, sadly, are a rare breed it seems for the NU fanbase. I have never seen you use the excuse that you would have to "lower standards" to compete. That is a rationalization. You are pissed about the actual reasons why NU isn't competing. If every fan had your expectations then things would be much different at NU.

Sorry if it came off as a personal attack on you. It was a personal attack on the "lowering standards" excuse.

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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!

so is University of Chicago and they aren't in it anymore

Did anyone notice that Stu actually used the quote function properly? And a pin dropped!

Myspace

Sorry for my rant... I bring it upon myself. Who in their right mind roots for the Chicago Blackhawks, Cleveland Browns, and the Northwestern Wildcats? A masochistic white guy from the Western Burbs... that's who. My only fear is that I accidentally transfer my masochistic sports fandom onto my 4 unsuspecting children.

And for the record, I only called into MJH twice about two years ago. Once I was rebuffed by the screener for wanting to talk college football during (gasp) college football season. And the other was to relay a story from the Big 10 Kickoff luncheon... I actually got through on that one. Perhaps because it was "unique content"... the only type of content that MJH endorses I can't call in anymore now that MJH has moved the show up... my commute home is in the 6:00 hour now and I'm pretty sure the boss wouldn't be big fan of me calling in from work.

For what it's worth, this was one of the posts by Lake The Posts, the definitive (read: only) NU football blog (which occassionally dabbles in b-ball too).

"Hoops - Bad to the Point of Relevancy?
At approximately 6 pm CT today another ignominous NU hoops season will officially end when we bow to Minnesota in round one of the Big Ten Tourney. But, before we slip into March Madness jealousy mode, I have to point out an unusual segment I heard yesterday on the radio.

On the days I drive to and from work I usually have ESPN 1000 (Chicago) as my default radio station. On the morning drive it is Mike & Mike, so there is little local talk, but on the drive home it is all local talk. For the very first time I can EVER remember Mac, Jurko and Harry actually had a substantive conversation about Northwestern basketball. I was shocked.

My shock quickly turned to glee as they were hammering NU for NEVER having gone to the Big Dance. They actually spent substantial time on the topic of why NU cannot become a Duke, Vandy or Stanford. As usual, their conversation ventured off into the baseless speculation and uneducated facts about admission standards and the like. However, they were unanimous in their vote that Carmody should be fired - 8 seasons with no postseason appearance - AND not much hope for seeing that change in the future.

They even had callers on the topic - with one of Jim Phillips high school classmates saying what a good guy he was but he has no chance to turn it around in hoops. The reason I was happy was not because I bask in the glow of failure for NU hoops, but rather it is this type of coverage that will lead to action.

You don't think the DePaul administration was having hush hush meetings in response to Jay Mariotti's scathing assessment of the Jerry Wainwright era? I've said all along that NU is the best hoops job in America - if you want it to be your last. You can get a good 6-10 years of job security by not even going .500. Where else in major college athletics can you pull down significant coin in a BCS conference and have NO PRESSURE to succeed?

I've talked to several insiders in the hoops world about the NU job and they say the word is that it is a coaching graveyard. The risk/reward and the future damage for the NEXT job after NU is too great. The consensus is only the "rising star" assistant, or someone with nothing left to prove - are the fits for NU. My only hope is that the media attention continues -because having no media attention - good or bad - sinks us to the netherland of irrelevancy. "