Leatherneck Nation

One of these days, I will make a return visit to this affair. Did it faithfully when I was a student.

http://www.holidaybasketball.com/bracket/index.html

Interesting trivia question for you. How many former WIU hoopsters played in this tourney. Some names from the record boook that I do recognize:

Brad Bainter
Tony Moore
Jeff Nielson
Olie Fosdyck
Bill Heisler
Cory Fosdyck

Some of the names bring back memories when I was playing HS ball. The Woodall/Bresnahan bunch from Monmouth in early 70s were very good. In fact, I think they knocked off Galesburg one year but maybe that was earlier.

IMO, having a local kid or two on the roster is always a good idea even if they might not have the talent to play at this level.

Others include: Nathan Koster, Barry Welsh, Matt Margenthaler, Jack Landis, Fred Leuders, Randy Bowman, Kevin Rhodes, and I'm sure I'm missing several others.

Listened this afternoon to the Rockridge/Macomb semifinal contest on K1000. Really took me back to my days of listening to IHSA tournament games throughout my childhood. There is truly something to be said about using your imagination when listening to a sport broadcast. jc

So does a kid like Tournament MVP Bryan Heath from Rockridge take a chance on a DI school and sit on the pine for a couple of years or does he go DII where he probably gets a lot of PT from the get-go? Fancy hotels and plane trips apparently did not matter to this kid - it was the total package (academics, basketball, career opportunity) that swayed him. That is the kind of player smarts that a coach at any level would love to have.

http://www.qconline.com/sports/high_sch ... 1dc99.html