Jan. 2, 2007
Great Start
Our men's basketball team has played inspired basketball recently and enters Big Ten play this week (on the road Wednesday against Penn State and Saturday at home vs. Michigan) with a 10-3 record. This is the team's best start in 24 years and marks the first time ever that we have started Big Ten play with 10 wins. Losing leading scorer Vedran Vukusic and defensive standout Mohamed Hachad to graduation, the team entered this season with many question marks. Head coach Bill Carmody has done a great job of bringing the team along, though, and they are playing with tremendous confidence now. Senior Tim Doyle deserves special mention for the outstanding leadership he has provided to this young team. Freshman Kevin Coble also has played well, and is currently our leading scorer -- very impressive for a first-year player. I encourage all our fans to come out for the Big Ten home games and Big Ten tournament games as we make a run for a postseason bid.
Wrestling
Our wrestling team is also off to a great start. They have an 8-0 record in dual matches, head coach Tim Cysewski's best start during his 17-year tenure as head coach. Last week, the team finished third at the Midlands, matching our best finish ever in this tournament. Juniors Ryan Lang and Mike Tamillow both won championships at the Midlands. The team's fast start is particularly impressive in light of the fact that Jake Herbert, a two-time defending Midlands champion and an NCAA finalist last year, did not wrestle in the event. The team is currently ranked eighth in the nation, and should have a great finish to the season.
Big Ten Network
The Big Ten Network, which will start next August, made quite a bit of news last month. The Network, which will cover the Big Ten 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, hired Mark Silverman, a highly respected executive in the television industry, as general manager. Silverman joins the Network from Disney, and will take the lead in planning the start of this exciting project. The Network also purchased studio and office space in downtown Chicago in the old Montgomery Ward warehouse. The biggest challenge facing Silverman will be negotiating carriage deals with cable companies. Those of us involved with the Network have watched very closely the similar process that the NFL Network has gone through in trying to get the cable companies to place the Network on their basic cable packages. The NFL has had no success, as the cable companies have taken a hard line. The Big Ten Network could face a similar challenge, although the Big Ten has many more live games to offer customers. The NFL Network only carries eight games (all played between Thanksgiving and the end of the regular season), while the Big Ten Network will carry well over 200 games a year (35 football games, 105 men's basketball games, 55 women's basketball games and numerous games from other Big Ten sports). In addition, the Big Ten's partnership with Fox will be very helpful in this process.
Happy 2007
I hope that all our fans had a safe and relaxing holiday season.