The Wednesday Word 3/3/10

By Allan Lewis/Alestle Sports Editor

Allan Lewis, Alestle Sports Editor

Good morning Cougar nation! Welcome to today’s Word.

Working on no sleep today should get interesting, especially with Ashley Bey’s senior night over at the VC later on, but we should be able to make it through. Five hour energy rules.

Anyways, I am excited for tomorrow’s paper, the sports section is going to be HUGE with lots of variety. We even have tennis and golf in the mix!

Tomorrow is also exciting, because I will be heading down to Nashville to cover the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the online side of the Alestle. Looking forward to sleeping at truck stops and breathing college basketball for 48 hours. There may be a little bit of hockey mixed in as well, I am going to try to get down in time for the Predators game tomorrow to sit in the nosebleeds and talk to random people about hockey in the South, all the while wearing a St. Louis Blues hat. Hopefully they understand, not like we’re playing them.

What can you expect on alestlelive.com/the alestle sports blog/and twitter.com/allanjlewis?

Good question.

I will be writing recaps for all four games Friday, as well as the tournament finals Saturday on the main page, blogging about my experiences on the blog and tweeting scores and random tidbits on the old Twitter.

So, if you are so inclined, and want to read about basketball and give me a reason for driving 700 miles I would appreciate it! In all seriousness though, it should be fun.

The pairings for the neutral-court games in Nashville were decided last night, with all eight opening round games in the OVC taking place. (4 women, 4 men)

Here is a link to the men’s bracket.

Here is a link to the women’s bracket.

Here are the semi-final match-ups if you do not like clicking links.

OVC Women’s Semifinals

• No. 1 Eastern Illinois vs. No. 4 UT Martin (12:00)
• No. 3 Austin Peay vs. No. 2 Morehead State (2:00)

OVC Men’s Semifinals

• No. 1 Murray State vs. No. 4 Eastern Illinois (6:00 ESPNU)
• No. 6 Tennessee Tech vs. No. 2 Morehead State (8:00 ESPNU)

So, as far as the women go, the seeds stood up, and on the men’s side Tennessee Tech pulled the 68-65 upset over Austin Peay, while  Murray (84-51 over Tennessee State) and Morehead (87-54 over Jacksonville St.) won their quarterfinal match-ups handily, which was expected.

The women’s side is intriguing, mainly due to the fact that the league is flat out terrible. Whoever wins this thing is going to the NCAA tournament, regardless of what Eastern Illinois did in the regular season (it really wasn’t much.) The Panthers ended their season 22-9 (16-2 OVC) and are currently projected as a a No. 16 seed by ESPN women’s Bracketologist Charlie Creme. Undoubtedly, whoever wins this tournament will have to deal with the likes of UCONN, Tennessee, Nebraska, North Carolina or Stanford and get crushed. What a prize it is.

For Murray State on the men’s side, they really have no other choice but to win. The Racers were perfect in the OVC until Morehead edged them by three on Feb. 25. Murray comes in to the OVC tournament with what many “experts” are considering to be a less than qualified resume for an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.

Here is what the selection committee will see two Sunday’s from now if Murray fails to take home the OVC crown.

• RPI: 69
• Strength of Schedule: 278 (what you get playing SIUE twice, sad, but true)
• Big Wins: None.
• Bad losses: 83-72 (Western Kentucky)
• Notable losses 70-75 (California)

Murray has not gotten any attention on the bubble, but earned two votes in the last coaches poll, and could go on to win 29 games while potentially missing out on the dance. If that happens, Murray could become one of the poster-children for a potential 96 team tournament expansion, which in my mind works to use mid-majors against their will. Teams like Murray should be opposed to expansion, because it would allow in more crappy big schools with .500 records to go along with them, but an appearance could save a coaching job down the line.

It has a good side and a bad side. It would be a shame if Murray missed out, but Morehead is tough and has been there before.

Keeping with the OVC theme, next year’s tournament format will be changed to give the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds a bye into the semi-finals (like the Horizon League and West Coast Conference do. Seriously, why try letting anyone beat Butler or Gonzaga? It aint’ happening.

Under the new format, the three and four seeds are placed in the semifinals, and the remaining qualifiers duke it out in an opening round.

Sure makes for a looooooooong road to the NCAA’s for the underdog, but it prevents those pesky 13-17 teams from making the dance and making Selection Sunday hell.

The new tournament is going to be at the Municipal Auditorium, rather than it’s current home, Bridgestone Arena (the Sommet Center randomly decided to change it’s name.)

For SIUE, men’s basketball season is over. It’s a faded memory. It’s incredibly sad. I don’t like this.

Following the Cougar’s final game at the VC, a sloppy 10 point win over an NAIA school, Lennox Forrester, Aamir McCleary, Stephen Jones and Mark Yelovich addressed the media in a very emotional press conference.

It was the most honest I have seen this team all season, and I applaud them for that. I know they worked hard and I know the transition is rough. We have a young team, perfection was not even a question with this group of guys, they just gave us something to talk about.

The first words out of Yelovich’s mouth were somewhere along the lines of: “We weren’t very good,” and his sentiment is one that was obvious, but something that made me think.

Transitioning to Division I is damn hard.

These guys go out, play the most unbalanced schedule in the country, against a number of over-matched teams and NEVER have the opportunity to play what is a meaningful game in the immediate picture we see.

They talked about motivation, they talked about traveling from Edwardsville to North Dakota to Minneapolis to Los Angeles to Fullerton to Fort friggin Wayne and back to Edwardsville. That is a 5,700 mile trip and some serious jet lag.

It is hard to stay focused on the main goal: which in SIUE’s case is to compete, or attempt to compete while trying to build towards a future they will not see as players. It is about pride and about the FOUNDATION.

I have seen the word ‘foundation’ tossed around all the time with this team, and it is defiantly relevant. We are building to the future. The wins/losses are not going to steer potential recruits away at this point. SIUE is in a decent place right now as far as moving forward with its current plan, and really, we are ahead of many past transitional schools.

Right now the record means nothing. We can’t do anything with it, so who cares. Winning is great, but right now SIUE just needs to compete and focus on the bigger picture, so we are capable of doing some damage down the road.

Just think about it in comparison to SIUC.

The Salukis were in the Sweet 16, then made a few more NCAA tournaments and tanked. Enrollment in Carbondale is down, as is the basketball team. I would even go as far to consider Evansville rebuilding with Marty Simmons to be a situation in the Missouri Valley with more upside.

Now look at SIUE. The trends in sports are going to start to mirror enrollment, and education. With St. Louis next door and the media attention the Cougars will receive (albeit as the fourth most popular D-I school in the market, which is BS considering Mizzou and U of I are like 3 hours a pop away) along with newer facilities and this ‘foundational vision,’ we have hope.

The recruits look good, and Forrester said we should be a little better next season.

Now, we have no idea how Mike Messer, Gerald Jones and super-human-playa Alex Brown will do fresh out of high school, but anything is possible.

Think about the wonders the weight room could do for LeShaun Murphy’s game.

I still HATE the word “transition” and still expect wins, but really, there are bigger and better things ahead than what we are seeing now.

As far as next year, Forrester divulged some schedule information, so I will share.

SIUE will play in the Las Vegas Invitational: opening with road games at two college hoops powers, in Indiana and Northern Iowa. From there, SIUE will go to Vegas for a few neutral court contests.

Other eye-opening road games include Iowa, Illinois State, Murray State and Morehead State.

The Cougars will host Murray and Morehead as well.

Time for some congratulations.

• Ashley Bey. The senior plays her final game tonight when the Cougars host Cal-State Bakersfield at the Vadalabene Center. Bey, one of the best basketball thief’s in the nation and an SIUE record-holder deserves your support, as does the entire team ending a long, winding season.
• Ben Bishop. The guy who throws heavy things went to nationals and placed 10th. Good job.
• SIUE wrestling. Eight guys are going to Nationals. That’s awesome.

And a head-scratcher.

• SIUE golf coach Kyle Viehl resigned. What makes this even worse is the timing. The golf team resumes with the spring portion of its schedule March 8.

That’ll do it, hope to get some feedback while I’m in Nashville!

This video may come in handy….

Previewing IC and exhibition number two

The SIUE women’s team will be taking the court in the next hour and a half against the University of Missouri-St. Louis, but for now let’s focus on the men, who will follow with their second dress rehearsal for the University of Illinois and their season opener next Friday.

We will see Mark Yelovich, Stephen Jones and Nikolo Bundalo tonight. They missed Wednesday’s game for “violating team rules,” and the suspension imposed on them by Head Coach Lennox Forrester was just for that particular game.

It will be interesting to see if the Cougars can keep a balanced offensive attack going with three additional weapons, and perhaps their biggest in Yelovich in the lineup, after six players scored in double figures against MacMurray.

Now to talk about Illinois College, the first of three teams SIUE will face with “Illinois” in their name, and by far the easiest of the group to handle.

This should be a walk in the park tonight. Just like MacMurray, IC is located in Jacksonville, Illinois, and just like MacMurray has an enrollment under 1,000 at 891.

They compete in NCAA Division III. They went 11-12 last season, and 8-8 in conference play.

This will be the second all-time meeting between the Cougars and Blue Boys, who first met in 1987, a 100-73 SIUE victory.

David Stewart is going to be the Blue Boy to watch, he averaged just over 11 points last season to compliment five rebounds per-game.

3 SIUE Players to watch

Mark Yelovich – Led SIUE in scoring last season, making his season debut tonight

Zeke Schneider – Important to see if the new recruit can rebound from a rough outing Wednesday. He fouled out and had four turnovers in 11 minutes.

LeShaun Murphy – Best second half of any Cougar Wednesday.

That’s all for now, look for live posts during both the men’s and women’s games this evening.

Allan Lewis

-Alestle Sports Editor

SIUE’s red light special looks discounted

by Sean Roberts, Alestle photographer

Sean Roberts

SIUE is a legitimate Division I university. At least, that’s what SIUE wants us to think.

We have a giant poster hanging on the Vadalabene Center, the press needs credentials to get into the games, and now we have red lights all around campus advertising the games. The idea is simple: when the red light is on, the game is at home and students should rush to get tickets and show their school spirit.

When I first saw the red light at the Morris University Center’s Information Center, I thought it was a new desk lamp. In fact, it is an upside down desk lamp with a cheap red light bulb. After careful inspection, I saw that there was also game information scribbled on a cheap, small dry erase board next to it.

You would think SIUE would be able to afford some flashier equipment, especially with the $145 athletic fee we’re all paying. What SIUE has now certainly wouldn’t notify me that a game was going on.  Students would notice more if there were lights that actually stood out, perhaps with decorations or a plastic covering.

As it stands now, it’s a very cheap, very tacky desk lamp that happens to have a red light bulb with a even cheaper dry erase board. Come on SIUE, if you want to promote the basketball games, that’s great, but don’t go halfway.  It was a very cool idea, but not at all well executed.

The lights would get a lot more attention if they looks a bit better than something you’d see advertising clearance specials at KMart.

The red light and dry erase board at the MUC's Information Center are meant to notify students when there is a home game to increase attendance at basketball games.

Breaking Down MacMurray

Tonight is the night, basketball season finally gets started as the Cougars face the MacMurray Highlanders, a Division III team at the Vadalabene Center in exhibition action. As promised, the sports blog is going to be active every time Cougar news breaks throughout the season.

First, a couple of facts about MacMurray.

The school is incredibly small. Student population is 518, and it is located in Jacksonville, Illinois. They are members of the D-II St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, along with a few teams SIUE is used to playing by now, in Blackburn (106-53 win last season) and Robert Morris College of Springfield (88-58 win last season, 6-0 all-time against them.)

This looks to be the perfect tune-up for SIUE heading into their exhibition finale against Illinois College, and more importantly, their season opener at the University of Illinois next Friday.

MacMurray is no Duke, that’s for sure.

The Highlanders finished last season with a 6-19 mark, and finished their SLIAC schedule at 5-11.

Todd Creal is their second year coach, sporting a 9-41 record. Not exactly coach K either.

MacMurray is young, they have seven freshmen on their roster and just three seniors.

Their biggest weapon is Ryan Sichting, a junior who averaged 15.2 points per game and 5.1 rebounds last season.

Historically, MacMurray has played well against SIUE. They lead the all-time series 2-1, but the two teams have not met since 1990, the Cougars won that one 99-91 at the Vadalabene Center.

Against common opponents, MacMurray went 2-1 last season. They split their season series against Blackburn, and defeated Robert Morris handily, 104-76.

One of the things Head Coach Lennox Forrester has stressed of his Cougars going into this season is to treat every opponent with the same respect, and that means playing MacMurray like they are the University of Illinois. This should be the mindset of every team, and the Cougars appear to me as being more mature this season, with three seniors, including Aamir McCleary, who led the team in assists last season and put up nearly 10 points a contest. Look for McCleary to be a leader and tear MacMurray apart tonight. The Cougars will be more mature, a few problems are gone from the team, and they are a year older. Mark Yelovich led the team in scoring as a freshmen, he will only get better from here.

If SIUE does what they are capable of doing tonight, look for the scoreboard to light up the VC. No idea what to expect from the Cougars defensively, but hopefully they are able to lock down.

Last season, the Cougars seemed to have more problems with lesser tier teams than they did with the likes of mid-majors at the D-I level. A loss to Millikin, and a close call in pre-season action to Westminster gives games like this have a red-flag. If this team proves to be mature enough to bear down and use this game as a means of preparing for the season and working on the things they have done in practice and executing them on the floor they should win easily. Hopefully the Cougars don’t take MacMurray lightly, and given MacMurray’s track record they could easily just stay away from the gym and still win by 20.

A lack of effort tonight could leave the Cougars unprepared come the 15th when the games count for real, however, so expect Forrester to have his team ready to play and amped for a new season.

Triple digits are expected, although No. 25 Syracuse did lose to D-II LaMonye last night, so anything can happen.

-Allan Lewis

Alestle Sports Editor