I’ve seen numerous fans and reporters get riled up because they have to play SIUE, an independent school without a conference. They play us and in return get a game where their team doesn’t benefit.
Such is the case with one Eastern Illinois writer.
Apparently, you think we’re “an easy team” to beat. Never mind the Cougars have held their own in the Ohio Valley Conference – which Eastern is leading – and then some. They’ve won three of their five OVC games, including beating Morehead State, who is 10-2 and second in the conference.
Help me understand how this “could be a useful warm-up game.” Jacksonville State (twice), Tennessee Tech (twice), Tennessee Martin and Southeast Missouri State all lost to Eastern by the same margin or worse that SIUE did.
Believe me, Eastern was fighting SIUE off the whole way. This wasn’t a warm-up game for anything.
If you wanted a warm-up, meaningless, cupcake game, you might have played, oh I don’t know, someone like Brescia – a NAIA school so small I’m not even sure they have a Web site for their school. Eastern beat them 110-28. That’s a warm-up game.
SIUE hung around despite having Raven Berry and Ashley Bey, two of the teams top scorers, on the bench after fouling out. Berry played a total of 17 minutes because of foul trouble.
The real argument they make is that SIUE doesn’t count for a conference victory, just for a mark in the overall record. Having a game in the middle of conference play renders the Cougars meaningless to Eastern Illinois.
First of all, it doesn’t really matter when the non-conference games are. For mid-majority schools, and especially the OVC, overall record means nothing unless you have three or foul total losses. You aren’t going to make the tournament as an OVC member unless you win the conference tournament or pull off a near-undefeated season. It doesn’t matter when the games are, they’re all “pointless”.
Worrying about a player getting hurt in a “pointless” game is pointless. Whitney Champlin had a concussion is practice, forcing her to miss the Eastern Illinois game. Should we stop players from practicing, those don’t even go into an overall record. What a waste of time.
Here’s where I try to help our future Ohio Valley Conference schools understand. We are coming next year. Our victories will count against you. This is just a “warm-up” of how tough we will play you every game next season.
Hope you’re ready.
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