(Kind of a) Cinderella

When the New York Times does a story on your basketball program, you know you’ve arrived, Northwestern.  A first-ever NCAA bid in 78 years is a great story, but….

You’re still a relatively big school, with an undergraduate enrollment of 8,300 students vs. 6,700 for Harvard and 5,500 for Yale.  Also, you’re a D-I school that gives out athletic scholarships, so it’s not as though sports are an afterthought on campus.  In fact, a recent push by the football team to unionize suggests a professional mindset lightyears ahead of Alabama or Georgia.

Now, take my daughter’s two alma maters, Valparaiso and Elmhurst. Valpo has an undergraduate enrollment of 3,200 students and Elmhurst 2,800.  That Valpo competes as a D-I school is pretty amazing, to say the least.  You want to talk Cinderella story, the Crusaders made the Sweet Sixteen in 1998, in part thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Bryce Drew against Ole Miss in the first round.  Never was a glass slipper more fitting.

Clare’s sophomore year we thought the softball team had a good chance of making the NCAA D-III tournament.  As I recall, we had to go online to find out; there was no televised selection party or any of that.  So, excuse me if I don’t jump on the Cinderella bandwagon.  In D-III, there are no athletic scholarships, just athletes who love to play their sport.  That said, I will be rooting for Northwestern come Thursday.  They’ll be playing Vanderbilt, which just so happens to be coached by Bryce Drew.