Western Courier| November 9th, 2020

Sports: Getting to know Rob Jeter

Opinions: Joe Biden wins Presidential Election

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Monday, November 9, 2020 - Vol. 121 Issue 17

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Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential election

By Jenna Skarlupka NEWS3 reporter

WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Vice President Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in the 2020 election Saturday to become the 46th president of the United States.

The Democrat will lead a nation gripped by the historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. Biden’s victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as elec-

tion officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.

Biden, 77, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. The strategy proved effective, resulting in pivotal victories in Michigan and Wisconsin as well as

Pennsylvania, onetime Democratic bastions that had flipped to Trump in 2016.

Biden also had a margin of more than four million votes on Trump, which could grow as votes are still being counted in some states. Trump is the first incumbent president to lose reelection since Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992. He issued a statement Saturday morning saying he would not concede until all legal ballots are counted, alleging Biden “has not been certified as the win-

ner of any states,” and his campaign will begin a prosecution case on Monday Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris also made history as the first woman, first Black person, and first person of South Asian descent to become vice president.

The former presidential candidate and senator from California will be the highestranking woman in American government. Her husband, lawyer Douglas Emhoff, will become the nation’s first ‘second gentleman.’ Former

second lady Jill Biden, who has a doctoral degree in educational leadership, plans to continue her teaching career while First Lady of the United States.

Biden issued a statement Saturday morning, saying he “will be a President for all Americans – whether you voted for me or not.”

He campaigned pledging large government responses in contrast to the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, race relations and more.

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Monday, November 9, 2020

WesternCourier.com

Sigma Sigma Sigma hosts virtual 5K

By Rachel Greene editor-in-chief

Sigma Sigma Sigma will be hosting their first ever Virtual 5K philanthropy event from Nov. 12th through the 15th in support of the Tri Sigma Foundation.

As event regulations get stricter and weather gets colder, organizations on the Western Illinois University campus are being forced to get creative in terms of philanthropic initiatives.

As http://www.wiu.edu/ student_services/greek_ life/ reads, “Each national fraternity and sorority has established a philanthropy or community service program that raised money for

charitable causes. Many organizations participate in a local Adopt a Street program in a partnership with the City of Macomb and also sponsor local service and philanthropy projects each semester.

Philanthropies such as the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Pediatric Aids, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Galludet University, the American Red Cross, the McDonough County YMCA, Macomb Fire Department, Macomb American Legion, and many more have benefited from the local and national efforts of Westerm Illinois University's fraternities and sororities.”

The Sigma Sigma Sigma philanthropy chair Emily Gutierrez said, “Our annual Fall philanthropy is a dodgeball tournament that we call Dodging Prematurity. Dodgeball is a hard sport to social distance and play safely during this pandemic, so we opted to look into other options. We wanted to raise money and spread awareness about our cause in a way that allowed anyone to participate, even people who are high risk and do not want to interact with others. A virtual event seemed like the perfect solution.”

The event details were posted on a Facebook Event page and explain how to

register, participate and qualify for the prizes being offered to the winners, three Amazon gift cards for first, second and third place. The event will be spread over a span of four days in hopes of allowing the most people possible to participate. Participants can log their times on the “Just Move” App, which can be downloaded onto any Smartphone. There is a $10 registration fee to participate, but all of the proceeds will go directly to the Tri Sigma Foundation. Senior member of Sigma Sigma Sigma Melanie Higgins said, “It is amazing that we are able to do an event this year that requires no cost

to host. This means that all registration fees and donations can go towards our philanthropy. The Tri Sigma Foundation provides leadership training for women, scholarships as well as supporting children through partnerships with March of Dimes and the Robbie Page Memorial Fund.” Gutierrez echoed this when she said, “I am so glad that even in these difficult times, we are able to give back to a cause that is so important to all of us in Tri Sigma.”

To register for this Virtual 5K event, go to http://trisigma.crowdchange.co/16392 or contact Emily Gutierrez at ed-gutierrez@wiu.edu.

the least, but RockyTHON is not a group of individuals who tend to give up.

As soon as we received the news, we started brainstorming new ways to raise funds for the kids and eventually came up with a suitable plan.” The group received approval from Western Illinois University to host their event out of the kitchen that is located in Knoblauch Hall. Never having done an event in this location, RockyTHON is in the process of developing a map to guide people through the line. The drive-thru will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and cars will be directed through

the parking lot in between Knoblauch and the Malpass Library. There will be members of the organization designated to be cooking, running the food from upstairs to downstairs, checking the list of ticket sales and delivering the packaged boxes of spaghetti and sides to the cars in attendance.

Vice President of External Marisa Santore said, “I am excited to be a part of this event that raises not only funds, but also awareness for our cause.

Even in a year when it seems like the world is stopping, there are always ways to continue to help the kids in Children’s

Miracle Network Hospitals. I hope the spaghetti dinner helps shed light on our organization and the important work we do on this campus.”

Because this event cannot function in the allyou-eat fashion that it usually does, the ticket cost was lowered from the typical $7 in advance and $10 at the door to $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Tickets can be purchased from any member of the RockyTHON Executive Board or Morale Team, through paying @ WIURockython on Venmo or by dropping off cash payments to the Office of Student Engagement.

RockyTHON adapts annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser

By Rachel Greene editor-in-chief

Western Illinois University RockyTHON, formerly known as Dance Marathon, will host their annual spaghetti dinner this Thursday.

In a typical year, RockyTHON hosts a pancake dinner in the Fall and a spaghetti dinner in the Spring. This year, due to COVID-19 regulations and the event moving to a drive-thru format, members of the leadership team for RockyTHON opted to have the spaghetti dinner in the Fall in hopes that this meal would be more easily transported and

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would still be appetizing by the time it reached its final destination.

When the event was initially announced, the flyers and advertisements said that it would be hosted at the American Legion, as it usually is. Due to the newly implemented restrictions for businesses and restaurants, the American Legion was forced to ultimately cancel the event, leaving the leadership team to return to the drawing board. Vice President of Finance Justin Brown said, “The initial news that our usual location was no longer able to accommodate our event was disheartening to say

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Monday, November 9, 2020

NEWS

3

COVID-19 dashboard clarification

By Cayson Frerichs NEWS3 reporter

MACOMB, Ill. (NEWS3) — With many numbers associated with the Coronavirus, it can be difficult to understand what they all mean.

Western Illinois University has its own Coronavirus dashboard, where the university keeps track of its numbers differently from the McDonough County Health Department. Joe Roselieb, Western Illinois University’s Executive Director of Auxiliary Services and Risk Management, said the university’s count is only based on tests admin-

istered through the university and not tests on WIU students taken elsewhere.

“It’s a reflection of positive cases that are turned in and administered by the university,” Roselieb said.

WIU’s dashboard shows the total numbers of positive, negative, active and recovered COVID-19 cases for students, faculty and staff tested by the university. The MCHD dashboard shows the total numbers of positive, active and recovered COVID-19 cases from WIU’s dashboard and the rest of McDonough County, as well as those that resulted in deaths. This means that WIU students testing

positive for COVID-19 who were not tested by the university only show up on the MCHD dashboard.

Roselieb said WIU does not take in the positive case data from the MCHD because they would only receive the number of positive cases, not negative ones.

“If we only received the positives but no negatives, it would skew the representation of that,” Roselieb said.

All cases in the county are reported to the health department from all the test sites in the area. The MCHD dashboard also shows total case break-

downs by gender, age and county communities, treating WIU as separate from Macomb. Stefanie Johnson, Deputy Public Information Officer for the MCHD, said results from residents who get tested outside of McDonough County are still reported to the health department.

“If we have a resident who goes to a hospital outside of McDonough County and gets a test there, that result still does come to us,” Johnson said.

Because of these differences in data collection, the WIU dashboard reports 189 and counting total positive cases on campus, while the

MCHD dashboard reports 318 cases and counting on campus. Roselieb said people can continue to look at the university dashboard, but the health department’s dashboard paints a more complete picture.

“As we look at our campus, continue to look at that dashboard, but holistically, look at the county dashboard,” Roselieb said.

Surveillance testing will continue on the Macomb campus until Nov. 20. Anyone who is not selected for surveillance testing but still wants to take a test is asked to call the Beu Health Center at 309-298-1888 to schedule an appointment.

A week ago, I said that I believed that Joe Biden would be elected as the next President of the United States. I admitted that I didn’t think he was a strong candidate and even preferred others during the democratic primary process because of his past support of the Iraq War and 1994 Crime Bill, along with his decades in Washington D.C. But, when matched with the prospects of facing Donald Trump during a once in a lifetime global pandemic and civil unrests, I believed

Biden had all the cards in his favor to make Trump a oneterm president, and he did exactly that.

Before the pandemic, I thought Trump was in a good position to get re-elected; the economy was pretty good, he had signed breakthrough criminal justice reform in the First Step Act, as well as, renegotiated NAFTA like he said he was going to do, and most importantly had over a 90 percent approval rating among the Republican party. Trump had a record

that he could convincingly run on and the Democrats really didn’t have a strong candidate that seemed likely to stand up to him. And then Coronavirus happened.

Life as we knew it quickly and dramatically changed; everyone was being told to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with people, and just like that, the record that Trump had to help him get re-elected was quickly brushed aside during this pandemic.

How George W. Bush handled the Sept. 11 attacks and showed true leadership, thus garnering over a 90 percent approval rating, Trump could’ve done that same thing with the Coronavirus, thus cementing his chances of re-election. How-

ever, Trump resorted to calling it the “China virus” and constantly made missed opportunities to publicly show true leadership for everyone to get behind. Biden took this opportunity and showed the complete opposite, thus making his chances of securing the nomination and beating President Trump more likely.

Trump’s refusal to wear a mask, continue to have his large rallies, as well as make contentious rhetoric after the death of George Floyd really just sunk any chances he had of securing a dominant path to re-election. Biden did not have an inspirational message like Barack Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ of 2008 or even Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ of 2016, but he just displayed true leader-

ship and maturity that was needed in a time of crisis.

Biden stepped up to the occasion, in which Trump was just incapable of.

Now, after days of waiting, Biden was projected as the 46th President of the United States Saturday morning, along with Kamala Harris becoming the first woman and woman of color to be Vice President of the United States. Trump completely missed his George W. Bush moment and, even in defeat, still refuses to concede or even show any acknowledgement of leadership. Biden is not a strong candidate by any means, but due to our current president's inability to show true leadership during this crisis, was just the right person at the right time.

E3 EDGE

Monday, November 9, 2020

WesternCourier.com

Netflix holiday finds

As the holiday season is quickly approaching, Netflix has begun to drop some new holiday movies for viewers to enjoy. A wonderful stress reliever for myself is to watch some holiday movies, so this week I was able to check out two of the new additions to Netflix.

The first movie that I was able to watch this week is “Holidate,” which is a new movie to 2020 and was released for the first time on Netflix Oct. 28.

This movie was directed by John Whitesell and was based on a

screenplay by Tiffany Paulsen.

The movie follows a young woman in her 20s, played by Emma Roberts, through many holidays. It opens to a Christmas where Roberts’ character is the only one without a date in her family. Her aunt explains the concept of the “Holidate,” a date exclusively for a holiday with no strings attached. Soon after an awfully uncomfortable Christmas celebration, Roberts’ character runs into a handsome and single young man at the mall, played by Luke Bracey.

The two quickly hit it off and soon after became each other's “Holidate.” New Years, Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, 4th of July, the list goes on, but what could go wrong, right? Check out this cute romantic comedy to find out just exactly how those holidates end up.

The second movie I had the opportunity to check out is also new in 2020, and is titled “Operation Christmas Drop.” This movie was released to Netflix on Nov. 5. Directed by Martin Wood and starring Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig, this romantic comedy is surely one to see this holiday season. This film follows the congressional aide Erica, played by Graham, on an assignment to report on the happenings of an Air Force

base. It is suspected that the base is using military equipment and funding to deliver toys, coined “Operation Christmas Drop.” On the base, Capt.

Andrew Jantz, played by Ludwig, has the mission of keeping Erica from finding out the truth. When all else fails, Capt.

Jantz can only hope that the good the base is doing for the local community can save them from being defunded, but it all relies on the report that Erica gives. Will Erica find that there is more than meets the eye at this military base? And will she be able to keep her boss from defunding the base?

Both of these films currently have three out of five star ratings on IMDb which, as quite predictable romantic comedies, I feel that is a fair rating. How-

ever, if you are someone that enjoys romantic comedies, especially of the holiday season Hallmark variety, I suggest checking out these two films.

They are both very different in content, but are great new options for this holiday season.

So, put on your favorite festive pajamas and fuzzy blanket, grab some hot coco and hop onto Netflix where you can find both of these new films!

B oth streaming platforms have very similar characteristics and are very reliable apps in the music streaming industry. If one is better than the other is all based on the user and their own personal preferences.

NYTIMES.COM

Netflix's movie "Holidate" was the most popular on the platfowm this week.

CHICAGO.SUNTIMES.COM

The movie "Operation Christmas Drop" is based on the Department of Defense’s longest-running humanitarian airlift operation.

Monday, November 9, 2020

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Sports 7

Predicting Big Ten Standings Dylan leasure Courier staff

We have just entered the month of November, and that can only mean that college basketball is right around the corner. In less than three weeks, the road to March Madness will begin, and there is almost no conference that will live up to the hype that the Big Ten has built this offseason. Due to the pandemic cancelling the NCAA Tournament last year, a lot of teams in the Big Ten had their hopes shattered. Rutgers, Penn State and Illinois were about to end significant tournament droughts. There was a three-way tie for the Big Ten Championship last year.

There was a lot of hope for this premier conference. So the question that lies is, who takes the crown for this year?

These are my thoughts about where each Big Ten team will finish, bottom to top.

No. 14 Northwestern: There is not a lot of hope in Evanston this year. Chris Collins brings a team that is lacking any talent and did not recruit any help. Last season, they started off the year by losing to Merrimack, a team that was just called up to Division I a year before. The key factor returning is leading scorer Miller Kopp who averaged 13 points per game, and also brings back Pete Nance and Boo Buie. It should be a dark season for the Wildcats, but I can see them getting a possible upset this year.

No. 13 Nebraska: This will be another rebuilding year in the second season under Fred Hoiberg for the Cornhuskers.

They will be a team built around the hopeful success of their transfers. They bring in former Western Illinois guard Kobe Webster, Pittsburgh guard Trey McGowens and Western Nebraska Community College product Trey Allen. The Huskers will be bottom feeders along with Northwestern, but I think that Hoiberg will get his team a few wins in the conference to hopefully bring hope to Lincoln in the next couple of years.

No. 12 Minnesota: This could be a hot seat year for Richard Pitino. Last year the Gophers fell into a huge slump. They were destined to make the tournament, but

were a very inconsistent team in the home stretch of the season and finished 15-16 and No. 12 in the Big Ten last year.

A key loss for Minnesota was undoubtedly center Daniel Oturu, who averaged a double double last season, but announced that he would declare for the draft. There is hope in Minneapolis with their backcourt, with Marcus Carr and Jamal Mashburn. It could be the best guard tandem in the Big Ten. But they do not have any go-to frontcourt players, and that will be the killer. The Gophers have potential to be a bubble team this year, but if Pitino repeats history, he could be shown the door.

No. 11 Penn State: The Nittany Lions are a team that really wish the tournament did not get cancelled last year. They graduated their best player in Lamar Stevens and also frontcourt menace Mike Watkins. They climbed all the way to No. 10 in the AP poll, but lost two in a row and fell down again. Last month, head coach Pat Chambers stepped down amid allegations regarding inappropriate conduct. The reigns have now been handed to interim coach Jim Ferry, and there is still a little bit of hope in State College. They do return Myreon Jones and Myles Dread, who will have to be x-factors if the Lions want to get back on track.

No. 10 Purdue: Matt Painter has an interesting team coming into West Lafayette this year. He lost both Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms to transfers. They do return sharpshooters Eric Hunter Jr. and Sasha Stefanovic, however. They also return breakout from last year Trevion Williams. Even though they won’t be the most talented team to compete with the top dogs, Painter is known to thrive even with less talent.

A tournament appearance is not out of the picture for the Boilermakers.

No. 9 Maryland: The Terrapins could possibly have one of the bigger drop offs as well. After winning a share of the Big Ten title last year, Mark Turgeon lost two of arguably the best players in the Big Ten last year, point

guard Anthony Cowan and power foward Jalen Smith.

They return Aaron Wiggins, however, who averaged 10 points per game. He has to be the go-to guy for the Terrapins to have a successful year. A lot of people are writing off the Terrapins to not even finish in the top 10, but I can definitely see Maryland giving the Big Ten a run for their money due to their success in previous years.

No. 8 Indiana: There is still hope in Bloomington for the Hoosiers and Archie Miller, as they return a top forward in the nation in Trayce Jackson-Davis. He is a very good rebounder and nearly unstoppable around the rim. He also has great frontcourt depth behind him in Joey Brunk, Race Thompson, and Jerome Hunter. The Hoosiers also return Jordan Geronimo, sharpshooter Anthony Leal and great athlete Trey Galloway. Miller also has five-star point guard Khristian Lander coming in, who will get significant minutes in his first year. The Hoosiers have the depth to compete for the Big Ten title, and I would not be surprised if they actually end up finishing in the Top five.

No. 7 Ohio State: Chris Holtmann has done such a great job in Columbus. His recruiting has been nothing short of stellar. He brought in two-time Illinois Mr. Basketball winner E.J. Liddell last year, who will most likely be a starter this year for the Buckeyes. They also return their second and third leading scorers in Duane Washington Jr. and CJ Walker. The Buckeyes did suffer a tough loss, though, as they lost Kaleb Wesson to the NBA Draft. But Holtmann has brought in two great transfers in Justice Sueing from Cal and Seth Towns from Harvard. The Buckeyes were bound for a tournament last year, and they will be this year as well.

No. 6 Michigan: Juwan Howard undoubtedly had great success in his first year.

He jumped to the No. 5 spot in the AP poll very early last year, but then lost to Louisville and Illinois to drop right back down the rankings. This year, the Wolverines are getting very overlooked. This is great news for Michigan fans, though. Why is that? Because every time this happens, the Wolverines have a great season. They take a key loss in Zavier Simpson, who was

one of the best point guards in the nation last year. Isaiah Livers will be looked upon to lead the Wolverines this year, and they also return Franz Wagner, who when healthy is killer. Howard will also rely heavily on his transfers this year. Grad transfer Mike Smith, transfer from last year Eli Brooks, and Wake Forest transfer Chaundee Brown comes in. And then freshman Zeb Jackson will also come in and play a key bench role.

The Wolverines are poised for a good year, because when are they not?

No. 5 Rutgers: One of the biggest surprises of last year, Steve Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights have high hopes for this year. They turned the RAC into one of the hardest places to play in last year, only losing a single game the whole season. The Scarlet Knights return Geo Baker for his senior campaign, along with Ron Harper Jr. The thing that will kill Rutgers is that the offensive numbers did not look too well, averaging only 69 points per game. but their defense made up for it. The Scarlet Knights will be hungry for another tournament appearance, as they would have made it if it weren’t cancelled. Rutgers will have to learn to make the RAC hard to win in again, even if there are no fans there this year.

No. 4. Iowa: This is where things can get hairy and tough to call. The top four teams in this conference undoubtedly will be scratching and clawing for that title.

Iowa has a great team for the year. They return National Player of the Year candidate and Big Ten Player of the Year winner from last year Luka Garza, who lost the NPOY last year to Dayton’s Obi Toppin. Fran McCaffery also has Jordan Bohannon returning from injury, and CJ Fredrick and Joe Wieskamp returning as well. In order for the Hawkeyes to stay in the top four, they need to play defense. Their offense makes up for it, but defense wins championships. They definitely have the depth to stay up there, and there should be high hopes in Iowa City.

No. 3 Michigan State: After getting a share of the Big Ten title last year, there is another season of high hopes in East Lansing. They lost Cassius Winston due to graduation, who was an alltime guard for the Spartans.

Rocket Watts will have some big shoes to fill, but he is still a great player and can be a good floor general for these guys. Another question is how impactful Joshua Langford can be. He has been hit by so many injuries and hopes he can finally have a fully healthy season. They also have good transfer play coming in. They have Joey Hauser from Marquette who is eligible after sitting out a year. Also, Aaron Henry is coming back after thinking about declaring for the draft. Tom Izzo is going to miss Winston dearly, but he should still be excited for his team coming into this year.

No. 2 Wisconsin: Greg Gard did such a great job of having the greatest mid season turnaround in the nation last year. After winning the Big Ten title last year, the Badgers lost almost nobody.

They bring back Micah Potter, Brad Davison, D’Mitrik Trice and Nate Reuvers, all players playing a key factor in their great play down the stretch.

They did lose Brevin Pritzl, however, a key frontcourt player. Everyone should be excited in Madison, because they will be one of the deeper teams in the nation. They just can’t get into their early season woes from last year so this year they can be the only Big Ten champions this year.

No. 1 Fighting Illini: With the biggest hype in Champaign since the 2005 Final Four squad, there is a reason that there is. When stud Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn announced they would return, the Illini skyrocketed the rankings. The Illini lost sixth man Alan Griffin when he surprisingly transferred to Syracuse, but they have such a deep team that they will without a doubt overlook it. They have Trent Frazier returning for his senior campaign, same with defensive lockdown DaMonte Williams. They also bring in top 30 recruit Adam Miller, and top 100 prospect Coleman Hawkins.

They finally get their transfers Jacob Grandison and Austin Hutcherson eligible after having to sit a year.

The Illini will be tested in the first couple of weeks in the season, as they will have to play Baylor and Duke in the matter of six days. These two games will determine if the hype is real or not, and many experts believe that Brad Underwood’s squad can live up to it.

Coach Nick Irvin Getting to know Head Coach Rob Jeter ready to start season

By Brendan Reidy Courier Staff

It’s no secret that the Western Illinois men’s basketball team has struggled the last six years under the Billy Wright era. With losing season after season, the Leathernecks finally got the change they so desperately needed. They opted to bring an experienced coach who has had success at the Division One level. After plenty of rumors on who the next coach would be, they brought in new Head Coach Rob Jeter.

Jeter has been around the college basketball scene for quite some time but is known for his tenure with the University of Milwaukee. Coach Jeter left UWM as the all-time winningest coach with a 185170 record from 2006-2015. He also was able to secure a win in the NCAA tournament against No. 5 seeded Oklahoma.

After his time with Milwaukee, he became an assistant head coach at Minnesota and UNLV. I was able to sit down with coach Jeter to talk about the upcoming season and learn more about him as a coach. When asking about the Macomb community and how he’s settling in, he said, “I have gotten a chance to go around to a few places, and am still trying to do as much as I can with COVID-19 still going on.”

Just like the rest of the Macomb community, he is just as excited to come to Western and build a tradition of winning.

“The thing I’m most excited for is bringing winning basketball back to Macomb,” said Jeter. “We have a tremendous opportunity to do something special and build a program at Western Illinois” And when I asked him about how difficult it was to recruit and hire a staff during COVID-19 Jeter told me, “Well, luckily for me I had plenty of connections throughout my coaching career, and this is something I have been planning for a long time. Me and Coach Bordeau have been waiting for an opportunity, and then we were able to add in Nick Irvin to help get a good mix between high school and college experience.”

While Western Illinois was ranked last in the preseason rankings, it did not phase Coach Jeter. “That’s where we were. We were the worst team in the league, but that’s not where we want to stay. Because of that, that gives us a lot of motivation and our guys are ready for the challenge.”

Coach Jeter is known for his aggressive style defense, and when I asked about his full-court press he laughed and said, “Well it’s all about bodies now. Hopefully, we can stay healthy enough where we can bring it out and really extend the pressure a little bit.”

Western Illinois hoops is in good hands with these two at the helm, and it will be a fun time to follow this team with the program on the rise. Hopefully, Jeter and Co. can lead this team to some March magic in the years to come.

By Dyane McElwee Assistant Sports Editor For the first time in a very long time, there is buzz around Western Illinois men’s basketball. After a 2-14 season in 2019, Western and head coach Billy Wright mutually agreed to part ways. On March 30, 2020 it was announced that Rob Jeter would take over as the next head coach of Western Illinois men’s basketball.

Along with Jeter is Assistant Coach Nick Irvin. Before coming to Western, Irvin was the head coach at Morgan Park, one of the most successful mens’ basketball programs in Illinois. He coached at Morgan Park for 12 years where he accumulated a record of 301-70.

He led Morgan Park to four state titles. Both title runs were back to back years, from 2013-2014 and 2017-2018. Irvin had coached five players at Morgan Park who are currently playing Division I basketball, three of those players are on this season’s roster. When asked about being able to reconnect with these players at the collegiate level, Irvin said, “I still have a great relationship with the families and felt this was a great opportunity to reconnect.”

One of the players that Irvin had

coached is highly touted recruit Marcus Watson Jr. Watson, the highest rated recruit in Western Illinois mens’ basketball history, had spent the last four years at Morgan Park under the helm of Irvin. When asked what impact Irvin had on Watson in his decision to come to Western, Irvin said, “I had talked to Marcus about why you should pick that college, and the things to look for.” A big thing the two had talked about was to look for a head coach that will get the most out of you, and guide you in the right direction. They both felt that Jeter was a great fit, and that is why these two will have a big part if this team is to be successful this upcoming season.

With COVID-19 going on this season, it’s already different and is going to continue to be different.

The Summit League has released the schedules and Western starts off the season against North Dakota. With a completely new squad, it has definitely been difficult for this team to have their typical practices that you have in the past. “We are just trying to find an identity, we want to play physical, and tough,” said Irvin. He reiterated that defense wins championships, and they feel that they have the guys who can compete on the defensive end and ultimately lead them to success.

Influx of talent makes Welterweight the most entertaining division in the UFC Dylan leasure Courier staff

Over the years, the UFC has seen star fighters come in and out of the Octagon. It seems that each year, they gain another fighter who is ready to take the sport to the next level. There is no arguing that the UFC has the largest star-studded roster they have ever had in their 27 year existence.

While some may prefer the golden years when Chuck Liddell fought rival Tito Ortiz or when Anderson Silva held the Middleweight Title for seven long years, today’s fighters offer a much more extensive and entertaining opportunity for the UFC. This leads to the biggest question surrounding this huge group of fighters, which division is the best?

To narrow it down, I believe there really are only three arguments for this question: The Middleweight, Lightweight, and Welterweight divisions. Middleweight has recently seen a revival of excitement as the current champion Israel Adesanya has proven himself worthy of a star’s title. His title defense against

Paulo Costa cemented him as one of the pound-for-pound top fighters in the world right now. What makes this division so interesting is that it might have the most competiton it has ever had, when it is normally one of the most stacked divisions in UFC history. We have seen champions like Anderson Silva and George St-Pierre absolutely dominate the Middleweight division in the past.

Now, the torch has been handed to Adesanya to lead, but for how long? The former Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker won his bout against heavy-handed Jared Cannonier in October and kept his position as the number one contender. Costa currently sits at No. 2, and notable contenders are Yoel Romero at No. 5, Darren Till at No. 6, Derek Brunson at No. 7 and former champion Chris Weidman at No. 10. While this division has a ton of competition, I do not believe it is the best division in the UFC currently, solely because its cham-

pion, Adesanya, is moving to Light Heavyweight to try and grab his second title. This eliminates a lot of options for this division and puts it on a long hold. The Lightweight division, which would most likely be the most popular answer right now, has shined in recent years. With Khabib Nurmagomedov still holding his belt and possibly making one more return to the octagon, this division has become more and more interesting by the minute. No. 4 ranked Conor McGregor is slated to fight No. 2 Dustin Poirier in early 2021 to mark a long-awaited rematch. With the most recent title challenger Justin Gaethje still ranked No. 1, and the always feared Tony Ferguson sitting at No. 3, this division has a very scary roster of top contenders. Not only do these fighters alone make this division interesting enough, Michael Chandler, a former Bellator champion, has signed a contract with the UFC and is awaiting his debut soon. He has been heavily advertised by the UFC as the next big fighter in the Lightweight division and has a worthy resume to back it up. With this wild card being thrown into the mix, I believe most UFC fans would say that the Lightweight division is the best in the UFC. However, here’s why it’s not. With Khabib’s retirement

being practically reversed according to UFC President Dana White, the Lightweight division has an undefeated champion sitting on top of five solid contenders. If Khabib were to officially retire, this division becomes much more interesting and your contenders are now fighting for a belt, not just for money. Khabib does not want to fight McGregor again, that is clear. Dana White has also repeatedly said that he has big plans for Khabib’s next fight, which most likely alludes to the former Champion and arguable “greatest of all time” St-Pierre. This puts the belt race in the Lightweight division on hold for now, and we have no clue what is going to happen next. This is where the Welterweight division shines. Current champion Kamaru Usman has defended his title several times and has proven himself to be the “Khabib” of his division. In an instant classic, Usman defended his belt against the brash wrestler, Colby Covington back in 2019 and defended it again against new superstar Jorge Masvidal earlier this year. In the Welterweight division, we have a dominant champion with arguably even more competition. Usman is slated to fight number two Gilbert Burns sometime in 2021, after it being pushed back from December

of 2020. Now, we have a title fight coming next year, and an extensive roster with big names leading all the way to No. 15. Between Covington, Masvidal, Leon Edwards, Stephen Thomspon, former champion Tyron Woodley, Vicente Luque and big names sitting at the bottom like Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and former champion Robbie Lawler, the Welterweight division has always been the division to talk about. We just have decided to look away for a moment due to the drama in the Lightweight division. This is not even mentioning the new superstar of the UFC Khamzat Chimaev, who is currently unranked. Chimaev has completely dismantled his first three opponents and out struck them 87 strikes to 1. He has been hit once in three fights. He also fought his first two fights within two weeks of each other. While he hasn’t been brought to ranked competition yet, he has shown us several times now that he is not messing around with this division. Khamzat has come to do one thing, “Smesh.”

While the Lightweight division may hold big names like McGregor and Nurmagomedov, the Welterweight division has proven time and time again that it is the most entertaining and competitive division in the UFC.