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Am I the only person who assumed Concordia was a Lutheran school?

I don't think the A10 is that big of a threat to steal the Loyola. If the Big east came call, sure we would lose them. Haven't heard any chatter about that though. I haven't even heard any in the media propose LU to the A10.

Actually it makes a lot of sense for the Big East to stay at 11 teams. It sets up a natural 20 game conference schedule that other P5 are jumping through hoops to achieve.

Someone in Australia read about that new sport of basketball and wrote to Naismith to get a copy of the rules.  Their interpretation of Naismith's original rules of basketball is a big women's sport in the Commonwealth countries called Netball.

Jordan Ash to Wright State.

I'd have to believe that if this Mr Freeze was a badminton player he should have good footwork. 

Am I the only one expecting a presidential tweet of approval?

Good point Indy. They are in Columbus, Ohio, which is Fox's wheelhouse.  But they were 2-8 last year and gave up a ton of points (no defenders there, maybe), but they did manage to score some points.

They have a player participating in this years NFL combine so there must be some talent there.

Can anyone tell me if the NBCSCH plus channel is included on Sling or just the main channel?

For some reason I clicked on the UMKC / Chicago State game the other day.  UMKC is now playing in a 1500 seat on campus gym that was built in 1941, and looks every bit that old.

 Every mid major is looking for home games, so why not do home and away in the same season with a non conference opponent or two.

Actually, if the goal of the mascot is to reflect Lutheran tradition, the Crusader is a pretty poor choice.  Luther was born two centuries after the last crusade during the Renaissance Era.  The Crusades were a vestige of the Middle Ages acceptance of Papal authority to intervene in secular affairs.  It was the decline of that Medieval authority that lead to the Crusades that protected Martin Luther from suffering the fate of Jan Hus.

Actually the game hasn't been cancelled,it's on hold.  If Incarnate Word loses their first playoff game against Montana State November 24Th the game is still on.

Jason Hawkins just named head coach at Trinity Christian.

Kapers signed with the Rangers Thursday.

The Bears have announced Adam Amin will be part of a new preseason broadcast team.

Am I the only person who thinks that Las Vegas is wearing Valpo uniforms?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I heard we showed some interest in Palombizio late in his recruitment process. I don't think we're a fit. I'm hoping if we pursue a RS transfer it would be for someone with higher upside.

Palombizio going to D2 Bellarmine.

Seems to me Loyola did ok without a power forward.

Emanuel Dildy. I haven't heard anything but I'd imagine his name would be discussed as a possible replacement for Gates. I'd think they're going to pursue a coach with experience and strong recruiting ties to the CPL. I want to emphasize this is just speculation on my part

Well,if that's what they are looking for, Tracy Dildy was let go at Chicago State so he is available.

Six Evansville players Friday asked for permission to contact other teams about possible transfer.  No telling how many actually will go but it looks like they want to have the option to leave depending on the new coach.

Here is another coincidence.  Of the 27 schools mentioned in the FBI investigation, 24 come from states carried by Donald Trump.

As to Milwaukee, I picked up on a term a couple of days ago that fits their situation. Milwaukee is a shxthole program in a shxthole Athletic Dept. led by a shxthole A.D. in a shxthole conference. The MVC and shxthole Milwaukee could not be a bigger mismatch.

Do you actually believe others respect comments like that?

Local universities puzzle over new endowment tax
Formula puts Northwestern, U. of C. on the bubble — but payment might come later
BY DAWN RHODESCHICAGO TRIBUNE
Northwestern University and the University of Chicago may get a reprieve from paying an endowment tax under the new federal tax overhaul, but both could end up shelling out millions in the near future.

Congress passed the tax legislation Wednesday, and President Donald Trump signed it into law Friday.

The legislation imposes a 1.4 percent tax on net investment income at private colleges and universities with more than 500 students and where the market value of endowments equals more than $500,000 per student. At least 50 percent of a school's students must reside in the United States.

That would put University of Chicago and Northwestern right on the bubble. At $7.82 billion and $9.8 billion, respectively, the schools carry a couple of the largest endowments in the country.

The University of Chicago is closer to being tax-eligible because of its smaller enrollment. But exactly where that cutoff lies is open to interpretation. Even the universities are confused.

"We still aren't real clear on whether Northwestern would be affected by the excise tax in the next year or not," said Alan Cubbage, a Northwestern University spokesman.

University of Chicago leaders also do not know whether the tax would hit the South Side university, according to a spokesman, Jeremy Manier, who said unresolved details in the legislation were "making it difficult to assess the bill's full impact."

"The new tax on endowments at certain nonprofit private universities will have a negative effect on the ability of universities to make vital, long-term investments in education and research," he said in a statement.

Still, even if they escape the tax for now, both universities will most likely pay it in the near future — a prospect that even Northwestern acknowledged.

"We are fully anticipating that, if not next year then in later years, that we will be subject to a tax," Cubbage said. "When it occurs, we will pay the tax."

The new tax provision marks a striking shift in how the federal tax code treats the nation's richest universities and their burgeoning endowments.

Endowments are long-term funds that provide sustained support for a university. In many cases, donations to endowments are restricted to specific purposes — such as to fund a professorship, or financial aid — so the money cannot be distributed solely at a university's discretion.

But earnings from an endowment also can provide critical support to a university's annual finances. Endowment dollars were 10.5 percent of University of Chicago's 2016-17 operating budget, according to its annual report.

Historically, university endowments have not been taxed because they are part of a nonprofit entity — the university — that is tax-exempt. But now, university endowments will be levied similarly to how the government taxes private foundations.

The change is expected to generate $1.8 billion in federal revenue over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation.

To determine eligibility for the tax, the law stipulates dividing the fair market value of the endowment at the end of the preceding tax year by the full-time equivalent enrollment. If that quotient is above $500,000, schools will owe the tax.

That, at least, is the general idea.

Full-time equivalent enrollment counts the raw number of full-time students as well as the number of part-time students whose collective credits add up to a full-time student. It is not the same as student head count and thus is a more fluid metric open to interpretation.

How to calculate an endowment's net assets is vague as well. Liz Clark, senior director of federal affairs for the National Association of College and University Business Officers, said college and university endowments are structured differently from private foundations, so the tabulations also must be distinct.

In both cases, advocates and university officials say, the federal government has much work to do to clarify the parameters of the tax. Abrupt changes to the bill in recent days left experts scrambling to evaluate it, with slightly different results.

For example, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a Washington-based advocacy group for private institutions, named more than 30 universities that met the requirements for the levy. That list — headed by schools like Princeton, Yale and Harvard — initially did include University of Chicago, but a spokeswoman later said it does not meet the threshold after the Tribune questioned the calculations.

A separate analysis from The Chronicle of Higher Education used a different methodology and also included University of Chicago as one of the schools that would have to pay next year — although just barely.

The University of Chicago's endowment rose from $6.54 billion in 2014 to $7.82 billion as of October. Its full-time equivalent enrollment during that period rose from 14,181 to 15,302, according to university and federal data.

Using the university's 2017 figures, the South Side campus' endowment now equates to $511,044 per student.

Northwestern's endowment spiked from $7.5 billion in 2014 to around $9.8 billion now, according to Cubbage and federal data. The full-time equivalent enrollment during that time rose from 19,153 to about 20,500, Cubbage said.

For now, that puts Northwestern just beneath the minimum threshold for the tax, at $478,000 per student.

The recently passed tax overhaul is hardly the first time legislators have targeted well-endowed universities.

The issue came to the forefront in 2008 when two senators sought information from dozens of schools on how they were managing their endowments. But public dialogue seemed to fizzle once the recession hit and endowments declined.

Legislators revived the conversation in the last couple of years, with a House subcommittee devoting multiple hearings toward examining the issue last fall. The president announced his intention to target college endowments during the election season.

Those discussions largely revolved around the argument that wealthier colleges were generating vast sums of money and devoting comparatively little of it to lowering tuition and easing debt burden on students.

There is national research to support some of those general ideas. Recent studies have showed that several highly selective private schools can afford to admit and provide aid to more low-income students. Others have concluded that the net cost of college — what students pay after all financial aid is considered — still prices out low-income families.

This tax, some counter, does nothing to correct those systemic inequities.

"This is an unprecedented new tax on nonprofit organizations which will diminish resources institutions would have otherwise had available for scholarships, academics, and other mission-related expenses," said Clark, of the university business officers association.

In addition to the endowment levy, the final bill also doubles the standard deduction, which experts say may discourage private donations to universities. Public universities increasingly have pursued private benefactors to support their institutions in the face of diminishing public funding. Advocates also said caps on state and local tax deductions could hurt state budgets and further threaten state support for higher education.

drhodes@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @rhodes_dawn

Ramblers, the mascot is dressed in a wolf head

I don't know when they changed the mascot, but as late as the  80's the mascot was a guy in a hobo outfit.

and they have a 7-0 Senior  Center from Spain... who has not played this year... don't know why

He is a transfer from South Florida sitting out this season.