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….
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