Please Stop. You’re Making It Worse--HoriZone Roundtable
Inopportune offensive lulls doom Vikings--HoriZone Roundtable
Cleveland State men's basketball loses triple overtime thriller at Purdue Fort Wayne--Cleveland State Hoops
Titans Open Four-Game Homestand On Friday Vs. NKU--detroittitans.com
Games 25-27: Detroit Mercy Closes Our Home Schedule Against Purdue Fort Wayne and Cleveland State--detroittitans.com
Green Bay Phoenix week in review--HoriZone Roundtable
Phoenix Prepares[sic] for Final Regular Season Home Games Against UIC and IUPUI--greenbayphoenix.com
Panthers Welcome First-Place Cleveland State Friday Night--mkepanthers.com
MKE Hosts IUPUI to Begin Final Homestand--mkepanthers.com
Men’s basketball falls to Youngstown State for third straight loss--Oakland Post
Men’s basketball ends three-game skid with win over Robert Morris--Oakland Post
Men’s basketball rallies to defeat Detroit-Mercy in packed O’rena--Oakland Post
Women’s basketball falls to Milwaukee, falls further behind in conference standings--Oakland Post
Women’s basketball drops 61-57 to Green Bay, falls to 9-6 in Horizon League--Oakland Post
Purdue Fort Wayne Heads to Detroit for Thursday League Game--gomastodons.com
Robert Morris’ Kahliel Spear is a silent star--Chronicling The Colonials
The Toole Shed: The Homestretch (2/16/22)--Colonial Sports Network
Final Homestand of Regular Season Opens Thursday--rmucolonials.com
Forde Minutes: Is This the Year of the Mid-Major?--Sports Illustrated
STUDENT-ATHLETE WELFARE? YEAH, RIGHT
As college athletics has continued to produce more and more revenue, the industry leaders were careful to frame everything around a single guiding principle: student-athlete welfare. Put the athletes first, and make every major decision based on how it affects them. Sounds good, right?
It also rings particularly hollow when it comes to conferences banning departing schools from competing in their league championships. Because how, exactly, does abruptly terminating athletes’ goals of winning a conference title and/or advancing to the NCAA championships in their sport square with student-athlete welfare?
Thankfully, the Horizon League (23) reversed course Tuesday and changed its championship ban on outgoing UIC, which is ticketed for the Missouri Valley. Kudos to that group of leaders for being flexible in their thinking and putting some sincerity behind their athlete-first platitudes.There are some layers to these stories. In each case, the leagues have bylaws that made clear that this termination of conference championship eligibility would happen when a school declared its intention to leave. And the departing schools have often voted in favor of those rules (in UIC’s case, its leadership proposed the rule to its Horizon colleagues). Knowing those rules existed, those schools have at times disingenuously gone to the media to cry foul when they are enforced.
It’s understandable that conferences would not want to see departing members making off with vital revenue shares and prestige-enhancing championships. But there also is vindictiveness and pettiness at play here. The departing schools haven’t cheated or been charged with NCAA violations; they have simply exercised an option that many of the others in their league would love to have for themselves.
(They could have hidden their departure date to avoid such issues, which is hardly an ideal way of handling things. Conference USA (25) just found itself in a massive football scheduling pickle when Southern Mississippi, Marshall and Old Dominion announced their departure date as June 30—an announcement that directly coincided with C-USA’s release of a 2022 football schedule that included those three schools. The three schools are headed for the Sun Belt, but it’s unclear whether they can begin competition in that league this fall.)
To simply shrug and say “check the bylaws” as athletes are being turned away from the biggest competitions of their season runs directly against the stated mission of college athletics, doesn’t it? At some point, the adults in charge need to step up and do what’s right for the athletes. Be the bigger person/school/entity and waive the bylaw, as the Horizon League did this week. Cutting off access to a league title and punishing the athletes involved isn’t the answer.
Final Roadtrip Tips Off for Flames--uicflames.com
@UIC_WBB Takes On Green Bay On Thursday Evening--uicflames.com
Wright State falls to fourth after consecutive losses--HoriZone Roundtable
Women’s Basketball closes regular-season road schedule--wsuraiders.com
Penguins Begin Final Home Week Against UIC Thursday--ysu.prestosports.com
YSU teams hoping to finish strong--Mahoning Valley Tribune Chronicle
Penguins Host NKU Friday to Begin Final Home Week--ysu.prestosports.com
#HLMBB Weekly Notebook – February 16--The Horizon League
#HLWBB Weekly Notebook – February 16--The Horizon League
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