The hope Butler gave us: The Wednesday Word 3/7/10

The Road Ends Here....

By Allan Lewis – Alestle Sports Editor

There is a common thread in life between music and sports. Humans live vicariously through these things and become emotionally attached, although we are without direct involvement in their existence. Why is it we hear a song and suddenly mentally crawl into a different time, space or feeling experienced in life? Why do we live and die with each missed free throw? This certain psychological figment is transfixed onto our existence and for some reason or another we cannot imagine ourselves without these things. It is just one of the fascinating phenomenons in life. Where the hell am I going with this? It all has a point, I promise.

Monday marked the end of college basketball season. SIUE has not been playing for over a month, but yesterday we reached the climax. For those in Durham, North Carolina as well as millions of people scattered throughout the country with an unmerited emotional attachment fueled by the existence of runaway bandwagon superiority in the world of sports this was a special moment. Those clinging onto emotions based on financial implications waiting at the end of a broken bracket pool felt the love too. The Duke Blue Devils won the national championship.

Duke unquestionably was the better basketball team in Indianapolis Monday night riding a robotic fundamentally sound scheme against the Butler Bulldogs, taking home the wooden plank of excellence with a 61-59 victory.

Don't they look excited? -MCT CAMPUS

For those of you relishing in Satan’s excellence after Sunday without a degree from Duke, or a membership card in the Cameron Crazies, I am not afraid to call you out for ruining March Madness. Consider this, there are 347 teams in Division I basketball. around 70 of them live in the “power conferences.” The whole “mid-major” discussion and comparison to “Hoosiers” brought on by Butler’s not-so-surprising run to Indianapolis (They were ranked No. 11 in the pre-season) is based on one thing many people seem to be missing the point on. It is all about money. Duke spends $9 million on men’s basketball annually. Butler spends around $1 million, and does not play scholarship football like Duke does, so the majority of its athletic budget is actually tied up in basketball. Duke is not Goliath from an enrollment standpoint by any means, they have an undergraduate population in the 6,000’s, while Butler’s enrollment runs about 4,200. SIUE is bigger than both Duke and Butler combined, yet Duke has the resources to continually be a basketball powerhouse. The same goes for teams like the University of Illinois, whom is heavily fanned upon on this campus just because of the State connection. I have never understood the purpose of getting behind the man. The man who brings us all down. College basketball needs a revolution. There has to be some way for the sport to evolve past the shadow cast upon it in the name of greed. Butler almost gave us this. Gordon Hayward was an inch away from revolutionizing the status-quo of the NCAA twice, but his efforts provided futile, and the nation encountered a wide range of emotions as a result of his missed Larry Bird base-line floater, and the half-court shot that grazed off the backboard, the front of the rim and its rear before slowly descending onto the paint in the lane. That shot was suspended in mid-air for what seemed to be 10 minutes, although it ended in a blur.

Gordon Hayward of Butler (20) shoots over Brian Zoubek of Duke (55), but misses in the final seconds of the NCAA Final Four championship game at Lucas Oil Stadiuim in Indianapolis, Indiana, Monday, April 5, 2010. Duke defeated Butler, 61-59. (Mark Cornelison/Lexington Herald-Leader/MCT)

We almost had the “Hoosiers sequel,” as politically incorrect as it was on the first reference to this year’s Butler team as the millionth. “the Butler had almost done it, if the Clue reference wasn’t just as dull. While the Bulldogs covered their faces in shame underneath their uniforms, complete with the Horizon League emblem, the Blue Devils did exactly what we expected them to do. Point their first to the sky, walk onto the court victoriously, like they were supposed to do and if they felt like cracking a smile, one or two of them did it for a second. It wasn’t the bedlam we would expect from a national championship celebration, but rather a pompous right to superiority being fulfilled. When you have silk uniforms with your logo meticulously shining through with pillars on the back of it, when you have the resources to give your head coach a net-worth of $12 million, when you can have any player in the nation under your control for at least a season you are expected to win. Duke reacted like a team expected to win a national championship, and you know what? they did it. $8 million bought them a one-inch advantage on the court against Butler.

As far as the game went, Duke showed they were capable of imposing their will on Butler if they really wanted to. They did not. The Blue Devils, were able to easily post up and hook the ball down the hole. They could jump at an inbound pass and tip it in with little pressure. They controlled the boards in the second half, after the Bulldogs rushed to every loose ball in the first half to hold a 7 rebound advantage. The Butler team we saw Monday played with more heart than any basketball team I have ever seen. Duke went through the motions and did what they were supposed to do. Yet, $8 million still only bought them an inch, but that inch was all-important in bringing a championship to Durham, and a big “take that” to the North Carolina Tar Heels, last year’s victors and the Blue Devils biggest rivals.

The line in Hoosiers goes “let’s do it for all the small schools that never had a chance,” For me emotionally, this was SIUE playing for the national championship. Butler represented us all. Every team in the Ohio Valley Conference, including Murray State, whom lost to Butler in the tournament’s second round. It was for Murray State. It was for SIUE. It was for Morehead State, Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin and Jacksonville State. It really was. It was for the Atlantic Sun, the Atlantic Ten, the Summit League, the Big West, West Coast Conference, the Sun Belt, the Big South, the Missouri Valley Conference, the MAC, the MEAC, the SWAC, the CAA, the Ivy League, the America East Conference, the Big Sky, the Southland, the NEC, Patriot League and all the Independents. Butler’s run was that important. The Horizon League was not the only conference being represented by Butler in the championship.

The day before the championship, Easter Sunday, I decided on a whim to go to Indianapolis to embrace some of the Final Four atmosphere. The Goo Goo Dolls were playing a free concert at White River State park. Although I had to be back by Monday morning, and was unable to get a true feel for the Butler culture and the true emotion of losing a championship, I did get a pretty good feel for their fan base, which extends beyond its tiny undergraduate population. This was not a bandwagon situation, a basketball-crazed city got behind one of its small college basketball entities and joined along for the ride. IUPUI became Butler fans. All of the University of Indiana’s extended branches in the city became Bulldogs as well. It was really a special moment for the city, as blue poured throughout the park, as I payed $9 for a beer donning an SIUE shirt, representing everything Butler stands for. When a random person driving down the road honked their horns at me yelling “go Butler!” or “go dawgs!” I replied enthusiastically with the same. We were in this together. I was even asked by someone what my shirt said by two people, one of which was a 12 year old flirting with me (gross) and another a student from Butler. “Well, we are SIUE, we are new to Division I, you haven’t heard of us yet, but you will.” I tell this to myself all the time. The Cougars are rising, and have everything as an institution to be special. Right now, no one outside of St. Louis really knows who SIUE is. Not everyone buys into the notion of supporting mid-major college athletics. At the OVC tournament, I ran into a journalist who had no idea who was favored in the semi-final match-up between Eastern Illinois and Murray State. He was not revoked his credentials and no one physically assaulted him, although I thought about it more than once.

The sad thing is you have to do something special like Butler to be recognized in the canyon of college basketball. You have to be in that category with Butler or George Mason to be recognized. As much of a shame as it is, the finances don’t always  favor notoriety. I could not help but thinking throughout this concert how high these Butler fans surrounding me really are at the moment. I was not thinking about the endless flow of marijuana vapor clouding the air, but rather the emotional high they hold as flag bearers. As a united force crashing the big dance. Also, I thought about the heart break and silence felt throughout Hinkle Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium and that very park I was in Sunday night following Hayward’s shot that went awry. The emotions of 50,000 people singing along to “Iris” Sunday night, the emotions of a missed buzzer-beater, they all share the same values that make these things special to the millions of people who find it important. Some people say “what’s so great about watching a bunch of people fulfill athletic dreams you are not directly involved in? Sports suck.” It’s the way people come together. It’s the Michigan State fan coming out to a concert freshly painted in green with a spartan hat despite his team losing to the home-town team the night before. People would fight for their team, some would die for their team, and Butler represented Indianapolis and all the mid-majors of the world to the best of their ability Monday night. There are no second chances, no what-ifs about Hayward’s final shot falling or a few whistles going the other way. There is still a gray area between charging and blocking. Everything Butler did is motivation. Here may be gone, but tomorrow is bright. November may be seven months away, but penetrating into the college basketball spotlight doesn’t seem to be as much of a challenge as it was 3 weeks ago, all thanks to Butler.

Time Out Awards: the Blues, the Eagles and Florida coach Meyer

Jason Frazier, Alestle Reporter

by Jason Frazier, Alestle Reporter

Back again with this week’s edition of the Time Out Awards, where I recognize those who provided a shining example of what it takes to be a loser on or off the field.

This week has produced a long list of nominees ranging from teams choking in the NCAA tournament (*cough* Kansas *cough* Syracuse) to pitchers in spring training blowing their chances to be the fifth starter. (Yeah, I’m talking to you Rich Hill.)  Only three are worthy enough to receive a Time-Out.

The first Time-Out is a little difficult for me to give out, but I have to give it to the St. Louis Blues. After the playoff surge they made at the end of last season and starting the season with two wins against Detroit, many Blues fans thought this was going to be a special season. Well, it has been especially disappointing, due to inconsistent play and struggling at home.

The Blues are still mathematically in the playoff hunt, but it appears bleak that’s two consecutive losses to Nashville and Detroit, the team they are chasing for the eighth and final playoff spot. It will take a miraculous effort to close the eight point gap with only seven games left to play. Hopefully, I’m wrong, but for now I have to give a Time-Out to the Blues and their playoff hopes.

As an aspiring journalist, this following situation really irritated me. The second Time-Out is going to University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer must have not gotten the memo that not all journalism has a biased undertone.

Meyer uttered this tirade at Florida Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler: “You’ll be out of practice — you understand that? — if you do that again… I told you five years ago: Don’t mess with our players. Don’t do it. You did it. You do it one more time and the Orlando Sentinel’s not welcome here ever again. Is that clear? You’re a bad guy, man. You’re a bad guy, If that was my son, we’d be going at it right now.”

Apparently, Fowler is the worst guy in the world for accurately telling a story and properly quoting Florida wide receiver Deonte Thompson in his comments contrasting current Florida Quarterback Jeff Brantley to former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

“You never know with Tim, he can bolt. You’ll think he’s running, but then he’ll just come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With Brantley, everything’s with rhythm, time. Like, you know what I mean, a real quarterback,” Thompson said in the story.

Meyer needs to stop trying to coach reporters and coach his players on their media interaction. Sorry if this makes me a “bad man,” but Urban Meyer deserves this Time-Out.

I know many NFL organizations would praise a quarterback who has led them to five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl, but not the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles coach Andy Reid gave indications that the team is open to trade talks involving quarterback Donovan McNabb. This is nothing new for McNabb. He is in the center of trade talks every year, despite putting up Pro Bowl caliber numbers and leading to this franchise to post-season success never achieved before McNabb dawned a Eagles uniform. A Time-Out goes to the Philadelphia Eagles front office for the lack of respect and gratitude the Eagles have showed McNabb.

That wraps up this weeks edition of the Time-Out awards, until next time players, coaches and front office don’t blast reporters or lose crucial games. If you do, you just might earn a Time-Out.

Time Out Awards: Georgetown, Washington and the PGA

by Jason Frazier, Alestle Reporter

It’s that time for the weekly Time-Out awards, given by me to those athletes who have been sub-par on and off the field in the world of sports. Let’s start by giving out the first Time-Out in response to something near and dear to my wallet.

Like many this time of year, I made a monetary investment into an NCAA tournament pool, hopefully for my picks to bring my investment back with some extra cash. The Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team receives a Time-Out for possibly turning my investment into a donation. Georgetown was the definite favorite in their game with Ohio University Bobcats, which they lost by the score of 97-83.

Georgetown deserves this Time-Out for three reasons. First, Ohio, which only made the tourney because it got hot and somehow won the MAC tourney, hasn’t won a NCAA tournament game since 1983. Second, Georgetown had such a great performance in the Big East Tournament, you would think they would have a better showing in the Big Dance. And last but not least, they cost many people, including myself, a chance to win some cash.

The next Time-Out goes to Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, who tested positive for cocaine for last season. In a press conference on Wednesday, Washington said, “I did wrong, and I take responsibility for that, and I’m sorry.”

Although Washington did openly admit to his mistake, I still have to give him a Time-Out because as the leader of a team, you can’t allow yourself to get in a situation like this. Washington is in charge of making important on the field decisions for his ball club. How can the Rangers trust him to do that when he can’t make important off the field decisions for himself?

Every golfer on the PGA Tour not named Tiger Woods is the recipient of this week’s final Time-Out. Woods announced he will end his hiatus from golf April 8 at the Masters. Shortly after, Las Vegas odds makers deemed him the 3-1 favorite to win the Masters.

I don’t think there are any golf courses at the sex rehab clinic Woods has been at, so he hasn’t had much time to practice. Somehow he is still the favorite. I think Woods is the greatest ever to play the game of golf, but maybe the crop of golfers he is playing against are just not very good. Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and the rest of the tour might not be the favorite to win the Masters, but they definitely win this Time-Out award.

That closes another edition of the Time-Out awards for this week. Athletes, coaches, and front office personnel: put your best foot forward and don’t make me give you a Time-Out.

Hello from Nashville

Allan Lewis – Alestle Sports Editor

For the past two days I have seen a lot in Nashville, Tenn., thinking towards the future and what is in store for SIUE at future Ohio Valley Conference Tournaments.

Three of the four semi-finals yesterday were close, Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay closed out their opponents in the second half to advance on the women’s side, while EIU gave Murray State the fight of their life in men’s basketball. Morehead State had no trouble whatsoever with Tennessee Tech, in a game where the off-the-court action was much more entertaining than the game itself.

I’ll break down that story for you. The Morehead State student section was located behind the baseline to my left. Right behind me, was a drunk (and when I mean drunk I mean HAMMERED NOT EVEN FUNNY DRUNK) Tennessee Tech fan. You can imagine this being pretty entertaining during the latter portion of a 30 point blow-out.

Morehead State is known nationally as sort of a laughingstock due to its name. Everyone acts 12 years old when they hear Morehead. Now what makes this even better is their students have the same dirty minds as the rest of us.

Take a look at this video I took.

It’s one thing to be like “Go Morehead” but “WE WANT…MORE HEAD!” is a little different.

Anyways, drunk TTSU fan was getting verbally destroyed by the Morehead fans and eventually started screaming I LOVE MORE HEAD! I WANT MORE HEAD! He had a little dance-off with Beaker.

Makes me wonder how I personally put up with SIUE blowouts, 30 points doesn’t seem like all that much when we play, but last night felt like a complete bloodbath.

The Murray State/Eastern Illinois game was one of the best basketball games I have ever seen. EIU came out with a purpose and nothing to lose, while Murray on the other hand, with their No. 303 strength of schedule, RPI over 60 and no eye-catching wins basically has to win this thing to get to the dance. Eastern, of course had to do the exact same thing, because at 19-12 there is no way in hell towards getting an automatic bid, but for Murray it was a little different. After the type of season they have had so far, they are the team EXPECTED to be in the NCAA tournament. The NIT resembles failure.

The crowd was 90 percent Murray fans, 5 percent neutral fans and 5 percent Eastern fans. It’s a little bit of a drive from Charleston, so its understandable.

The Panthers fought for 40 minutes. They were down by one at half-time and kept the game close throughout. They even led in the second half. The later the game moved along, the more and more I thought EIU would be able to pull the upset. It did not happen, but they have nowhere to hang their heads but high after the effort they gave against a really good ball-club.

The bracket’s are set, right now the pep bands are rocking and Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois’ women’s teams are on the court about ready to get this thing started. The EIU men’s team just walked into the gym as well and took a seat in the student section. That is really nice to see.

Tonight comes the epic showdown everyone has been anticipating since the beginning of the season. Morehead State and Murray State. the Eagles took down the Racers for their first OVC loss this season Feb. 25. Morehead, at 23-9 is essentially the only team in this conference capable of beating them on ANY given night. Last night, it was Maze Stallworth scoring 24 points and Kenneth Faried, quite possibly one of the best mid-major players on the planet with 10 points and nine rebounds to oust Tennessee Tech. Tonight they will be essential to getting Morehead State back to the dance. Remember, they were a 16 seed a year ago and have more tournament experience than this current group from Murray State. No doubt coach Donnie Tyndall will have them fired up for this one. I’m excited, are you excited?

ESPN2. 7:00.

So, Nashville is a pretty great town and all the people are nice. There is a certain southern twang in almost every locals voice, and that’s kind of disturbing, but other than that I am enjoying myself.

I came down a day early to catch the Predators game right here at Bridgestone Arena. While waiting in line for a ticket, a guy came up to me and asked if I just needed one, and I did. I ended up scoring a free ticket five rows from the ice. Beer was half-price too for ‘college night,’ so I took advantage of that.

Later on in the night, I went to a bar with a great live band. Seriously, if you are ever in Nashville there are some awesome cover bands. The one Thursday at a place called “The Stage” on Broadway played everything from Journey to Love and Theft. Today for lunch, I went to a place right across the street from the arena with a 3-piece cover band playing, the lead singer was actually originally from St. Louis, which was fun to note. A beer, a water a fish sandwich and off to right now.

So, about the truck stops…I didn’t want to get a hotel and spend $80 bucks to sleep for 2 nights. So, instead I enjoyed a two night stay in the luxurious Saturn Suite at the Pilot Hyatt, or so I like to call it. The one thing that sucks about truck stops is the weather. Here in Nashville, the days have been nice, but the nights have been chilly. I swore I was going to get hypothermia and by the time I woke up I was drenched in sweat because the sun was beating down on me. I came out alive, and hookers? just an urban legend.

Here is a photo from my pre-game shoot-around at Bridgestone Arena, I’m out for now, Women’s championship about to tip-off

From the other side

Being a fan has its perks

The Cougars blew another halftime lead and lost to UMKC tonight.

I was not happy about it.

Normally my job requires me to show no emotion or bias in supporting SIUE athletics. I am after all, a journalist. First and foremost though, I have a lot of pride for the Cougars, which I feel is okay since I am a student. Being christmas/winter/holiday break (whichever you prefer) and being a native of Edwardsville (and not having anywhere to go home for the holidays because, um, I’m already here,) I wanted to go to the Vadalabene Center tonight. I had two choices: be the journalist I am, providing some sort of game story recap on this very blog, attend the post-game press conference, get quotes and provide some live game blog analysis, or since the Alestle does not print over the recess from classes go to the game in an entirely different function. That of a fan.

And I chose the latter.

This was new to me. I could yell things at the other team and clap. it didn’t help the Cougars efforts being one of about ten students in the audience of 1,650 but being able to partake in the emotion and intensity of college basketball was something special for me.

It didn’t hurt that the marketing people chose me out of the deserted student section to participate in the Commerce Bank Dash for Cash at the first media timeout of the second half, they really didn’t have a choice. It was me or my friend who attends Illinois State. After the home opener Nov. 15 it was safe to say he was not stepping foot on that court. I got $93 out of it, not too shabby, considering I would have made about $24 covering the exact same game and having to do some serious “work.”

The Cougars jumped out to an early 9-0 lead while shooting over 60 percent from the field. Nikolo Bundalo opened things up with a nice hook-shot in the lane, Mark Yelovich tallied a mid-range floater, Denycko Bowles hit a three and Yelovich capped it off nailing another jump shot.

Things were looking good for SIUE. UMKC could not get a rebound if their scholarships depended on it and SIUE was doing a good job maintaining defensive pressure and forcing turnovers.

Then it got away a little bit and the tide began to turn. The Kangaroos fought off an 8-0 run of their own to get within one and after another Cougars run they got back into the game yet again and went into the locker room down two.

My first thought at the break was “here we go again.”

The same thing happened to SIUE at home against Lipscomb and IPFW. They led Lipscomb by eight at halftime on the road before getting pummeled in the second half towards a 20 point defeat. It is nothing against the will of the players, they just cannot play 40 minutes of solid basketball on any given night. You can bet on 20, but 40 is pushing it just a little bit.

It is all the mental things that cost the Cougars tonight, and I saw a direct correlation with SIUE’s volleyball team. Now, I am starting to talk like a sports reporter, but the problem with SIUE’s 2-27 volleyball squad was their inability to put together a solid match throughout. When opponents made runs the Cougars never had the intangible ability to shift the momentum back in a positive direction. Back to basketball, it is the same problem. It is all mental. You can contribute this to whatever you want, inexperience, coaching or execution. In my opinion, tonight’s loss was a combination of all three things.

Inexperience: When UMKC went on runs the Cougars confidence took a nose-dive and there was no way they would be able to kick it into overdrive. Chalk this up to having a young team.

Coaching: Kevin Stineman should not be starting basketball games. Nothing against him, but he is not what we need in the starting five even if Stephen Jones can’t go, which was the case today. There is no reason in my mind at least to play a defensive specialist in the starting lineup when you have scorers like LeShaun Murphy at your disposal. Sure, Murphy is a freshmen, but when he is on his game he has the ability to be the most electric player on the basketball court. Murphy is fourth on the team in scoring with 6.1 ppg in limited action. Stineman? 3.2 ppg. Bowles probably needs to get his starter tag removed as well, in favor of David Boarden. A starting lineup of Bundalo, Yelovich, Murphy, McCleary and Boarden sounds absolutely deadly in my mind. Stineman had two points to show for his 27 minutes on the court. Bowles put together a decent effort with a season-high ten points, but he has not proven to be a consistent answer for SIUE.

Execution: The Cougars take way too many three-point shots. You can attribute this to having virtually no interior game, but you have to try to get buckets however you can and the perimeter is not the answer. SIUE went 4-18 from long-range, and the second half was just a disaster from that point of view. It doesn’t help that there isn’t someone to depend as a garbage disposal down low to punish the inside and get some hard-earned points, but the Cougars need to find better ways to attack defenses. I don’t care if Dob Mavrik rebounds with one hand or if Zeke Schneider is still a work in progress. UMKC was switching up their looks a lot, and that proved frustrating, as they mixed and matched zone coverage with man-to-man throughout the second half. Execution was also lacking on the defensive end. SIUE sent the Kangaroos to the free-throw line 35 times, and they capitalized on 27 attempts. There’s your game. Nearly 43 percent of all of UMKC’s points CAME FROM THE FREE THROW LINE. It deserves to be capitalized and now spelled out, because it was FOURTY-THREE PERCENT OF ALL OF THEIR POINTS. You cannot do that and expect to win at any level of basketball. That, is how you win a basketball game shooting 38 percent from the field.

Rebounding was a little bit better for the Cougars, but UMKC is not a good rebounding team by any stretch of the imagination. They came in averaging under 30 per contest. They ended up holding the advantage 36-32 in this one, after SIUE got a little sloppy boxing out in the second half.

SIUE forced more turnovers than they gave up, 20-15, but it sure didn’t seem like it. Almost every time the Cougars had a critical posession the ball ended up headed the other way.

The last ten minutes of this game my hands were on my head and my heart was sinking with every missed oppurtunity or UMKC free-throw attempt. Yelling at UMKC’s Kurt Korver and telling him he’ll never be as good as his brother (Utah Jazz forward and former Creighton bluejay Kyle Korver) was also a highlight of this rare oppurtunity to just kick back and watch some Cougar basketball, just as I did watching the game against Purdue on ESPNU last week.

I would have traded my $93 in prize money for that first Cougar’s Division I victory on home soil, but it wasn’t meant to be, and now I’m left with a wad leaving people wondering where I’ve been and this blog entry highlighting the woulda coulda shoulda’s of tonight’s game.

As a fan I just have to keep reminding myself the wins will come, and one day we will be crowned Ohio Valley Conference champions earning ourselves an automatic bid in the big dance, and as a reporter I have to remind myself that one day in the near future I will have to ask Coach Forrester another tough question.

Allan Lewis
Alestle Sports Editor