IWU Woo!

In case you didn't see this, my proud alma mater, IWU, made the sports page of the Chicago Tribune because of the great story of both its men's and women's basketball teams making the Final Four of their respective D-III NCAA Tournaments (while NO D-I teams from Illinois even made the field of their Big Dance).

It's made even more impressive by the fact that the women's coach, Mia Smith, has led the team during a grueling treatment for breast cancer. I had her for one class, and she is very sharp. She also worked with the student newspaper while I was there to try to get people to go to women's games, attempts that were not overly successful in increasing attendance but that did help me earn an Illinois College Press Association Award for editorial writing (see lead editorial, page 4, here: http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/iwu_argus&CISOPTR=1255&REC=4).

I just heard that the men's team lost their Final Four game, but them women have advanced to the final. You can keep track of the action at iwusports.com.

Anyway, it's a nice story, and nice that a small D-III school and one of its dedicated coaches are getting richly deserved recognition.

UPDATE: The women have won it all! http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/women/national-champions-iwu-women-win-d-iii-title/article_b4a759f8-7094-11e1-9903-0019bb2963f4.html