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….

The Wednesday Word 2.3.10

Allan Lewis, Alestle Sports Editor

by Allan Lewis, Alestle Sports Editor

Good morning sports fans, time for another exciting Wednesday, and you know what that means (or you may not, because this is only the second installment of this particular blog…) THE WEDNESDAY WORD! So, let’s get at it.

Normally, I start out by talking about the SIUE men’s basketball team, but spare that for later on. Let’s talk about the ladies first, because they are actually worth talking about.

Much of what I have to say was talked about in great lengths on this very blog by my colleague and residential women’s basketball beat master Aren Dow last week, but I cannot help but re-emphasize what he had to say in my own words. Their performance Tuesday night and within the Ohio Valley Conference where they are 3-1 gives additional incentive.

This team is feisty. No game is over until 40 minutes of basketball have been played. If the SIUE men’s team is down 10 points with 10 minutes left in the second half, chances are they are going to lose the game by 30 points, and I will get very angry and throw things across the room.

With the women, not so fast, Charlie.

Tuesday was not one of those nights like Witchita State, Valpo or UT Martin. The scoreboard read close throughout, and in the end, the team with more determination and desire for a win was going to get it. It was not one of those games decided by sheer skill, but rather one where mental basketball would win out. SIUE did everything right to get their sixth victory of the season.

Ashley Bey provided the senior leadership with 12 points, 6 assists, 5 steals and 5 rebounds.

Melia Duncan provided the sharpshooting from both inside and outside the three-point circle, scoring 18 points (7-12 from the field, 3-5 from three), nearly matching her career high of 20 set not-so-long-ago in the South Dakota game. The girl can straight up ball.

Raven Berry gave SEMO fits inside the paint and ended her night in double figures with 12.

All in all, the Cougars showed why they will be serious OVC contenders in the coming years, and when the going got tough, they were able to hold a death-grip on their lead until the final buzzer sounded.

The Cougars were out-rebounded, but it didn’t seem to matter because they were on the ball like hawks the entire game. With their opponents ironically donning the name Redhawks, SIUE forced 24 turnovers and capitalized off of them for 26 points. The turnovers gave SIUE 12 more opportunities for field-goals, and while the shooting percentage was relatively low, (40 percent) they were able to make up the difference with their solid defensive presence leading to easy buckets in transition on the other end.

So, all in all, a great effort for the women, I will make my way out to more of your games in the future because your performance has sold me.

I feel as if the next section in this post deserves it’s own blog post, but it is Wednesday, so I cluster it all together, so STOP. Clear your head and get ready to read about the SIUE men’s basketball team from an objective, non-sugar coated, non “Oh, it’s a transition year” bullcrap approach.

I will start with the following: Cougar basketball has been in my life for a long time, going back to when I was a kid, which makes this team even that much more important to me. I cannot say enough of how proud I am of SIUE going forward and making the decision to play D-I ball the first year of my education here. If we didn’t go D-I, I would have transferred out a long time ago, and would not be having as much fun with my job as I am now.

Those are facts. Facts that make tearing this team apart come out of keyboard strikes in the name of love, and with hope.

SIUE men’s basketball is at a young time in it’s adult life, and there are hurdles not even Kayla Brown could jump. Fact is established, enter emotional tangent.

My grandparents were season ticket holders for the longest time during the Division II era, until Cassens and Sons stopped giving their employees a ridiculous amount of free tickets. I saw IPFW’s last visit to SIUE as members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. I was there for the Jack Margenthaler days and seven win D-II seasons. I remember the beginning of the Marty Simmons era, along with the turnaround, the elite eight and the call to Evansville. I remember Wendy Hedberg before her volleyball assisting days, leading the women’s team to the NCAA tournament, and Misi Clark cementing her place in the SIUE record books, much like Ashley Bey has been doing lately. In the day, the women were the story, and some similarities are emerging here on an entirely different level. 

It pains me as much as anything to watch this team lose, because I was an SIUE fan long before I was a student.

Flashforward to the present.

When you think of Southeast Missouri State basketball, what comes to mind? Is it those NCAA rules they broke in 2009, or that pristine 2-26 record last season to accompany their 339th position in the RPI?  Perhaps it was the Cougars 70-69 overtime victory capped by Aamir McCleary’s buzzer beating layup last season.

The first two hold true. SEMO still sucks. They are a 7-15 team. They are improved, but it is still a fact. Anthony Allyson, Sam Pearson and Cameron Butler have grown up a little as juniors, to help SEMO win a few games, and freshmen guard Derek Thompson has put together a good season, but SEMO is still SEMO, while SIUE has went the opposite direction. Tuesday’s 68-49 loss in Cape exemplified this to almost the same degree as the women’s victory did to legitimize their recent success.

The Cougars are not losing, they are getting blown out. A 19 point-loss in college basketball is characterized as a blowout nationally, but here at SIUE we have grown accustomed to 30, 40, even 50 point losses over the past two seasons to make 19 not seem so bad.

A19 point loss is a 19 point loss, and that, my friends, is a blowout.

Tuesday wasn’t SIUE reaching rock bottom in the OVC: that deed occurred in the form of a 16-point loss to 3-17 UT Martin, a team which almost lost to D-III Westminster. Everyone in the conference seems to be taking part in SIUE’s introductory roast.

We were all optimistic about this year. Hell, I wrote on here we would win 11 games, largely due to a number of teams on the schedule coming out of the OVC, Summit League, Atlantic Sun and Independents with low RPI’s. I never factored us all of a sudden, becoming one of them – if not worse than them, but it is happening, it can be saved – but it is happening.

Okay, we are not New Jersey Tech and their 51 game losing streak. We are not the team they eventually beat Bryant: another newcomer in the D-I world, currently 0-22. We, after all, have won three games this season.

The level of concern comes into play when finding a solution to our misfortunes. I am sure the coaching staff is not in the dark about the problems shaping up. They are the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to their team and their players, and should be able to find ways to correct things.

Sometimes it’s simple. We can’t rebound? Box out and fight for the basketball. We shoot too many three-point shots without the shooters to do so consistently? Don’t shoot 25 of them a game. We don’t have the big guys to feed at the post? Get a little more movement in the offense, set screens and find the open man, and maybe create opportunities for the big guys on back-door cuts. We need a firecracker in the lineup? Play LeShaun Murphy.

It’s hard for the fans not to get frustrated to a large extent with this team, because we want to win now. Like I have said before, the players are trying their asses off, but there is only so much they can do with the skills they posses. You have to have the athletes to get the job done, and right now, to put it blatantly, we don’t.

Did Princeton complain about being the little guy in the Ivy League in the 1930’s? No. They perfected their own offense: one that has evolved over generations and would work perfectly at SIUE. The kicker is, it worked.

Needless to say, As far as SIUE basketball goes, here are my feelings: in musical form.

Somewhere, in my ramble there was a basketball game played to trigger all this built up emotion. Let’s talk about that!

The officiating, as I noticed watching the game on pixelvision and as Alex Helton reiterated as we vented frustrations on the Red Storm Facebook Group following the game played largely into the hands of the host Redhawks.

Mark Yelovich was called for a technical foul early in the first half, one purely fueled by emotion, something this team is desperately lacking. When I think of a technical foul,  I think of Bob Knight throwing chairs, not a player pissed off at themselves for missing shots they usually drain. Players are going to clap their hands and yell “$#!+” or “$*#%” in situations like that. This is not middle school basketball, and just because it’s the OVC doesn’t mean everyone has to be a Southern gentleman. It happens.

The referee who whistled Yelovich for the technical, Kevin Mathis, is actually the king of technical fouls. Some D-I refs go a year without calling one. Mathis has called 13 violations this season alone in 29 games, and he has had 32 players foul out under his watchful eye. Since 1996, Mathis has issued 165 technicals.

Mathis’ call put the wheels in motion, and set the game up in SEMO’s hands. It was just a 7-3 game at the time, and although SIUE managed to keep the game close into the 20’s, it clearly set the tone for what was soon to come. Forrester benched Yelovich for a lengthy time, and the bench tired out. Once Yelovich stepped back onto the floor, he was pressing. Yelovich wanted to take the game into his own hands, and as the best player on the floor he has the right to do that. He took shots when he had the opportunity to pass and create open looks. For my money though, I’ll take Yelovich on a fade-away jumper any day.

The technical call had the eyes of the officiating crew squarely situated on number 33 in red. Yelovich earned his second foul with 9:02 left on the clock, and another trip to the pine. In a minute’s span in the second half he received three and four. Number five came when the Cougars desperately needed him on the floor trying to recapture momentum on the offensive end, where he dished the ball off while contested beneath the basket to avoid drawing a charge, and was whistled for it anyways.

A number of off-the-ball offensive foul calls on the Cougars also played into the hands of SEMO, and despite both teams drawing an equal 23 fouls in the game, SEMO earned the more important whistles.

As harsh as I have been, the Cougars have managed to correct a few issues and come away with some positives.

They out-rebounded SEMO 34-32. This coming after doing the same to Murray State (44-31) in a big loss earlier in the week. SIUE even had nine on the offensive end, so it appears the boards are starting to be a little kinder to the Cougars.

It all came down to exactly what happened against Murray, and why the Princeton offense, again would be helpful to this team. SIUE had six assists the entire game and shot 30 percent. Those are the only two telling stats in the boxscore. The 20 turnovers played a huge factor, but the Cougars forced 15.

No fast break points and a huge disparity inside the paint were factors, but that was namely because the Cougars operated at a mythological pace and took too many bad shots from the outside, going 4-20 from beyond the arc, with Cody Rincker going 3-7 and Anthony Mitchell 1-1 to make up the other. Not everyone is Cody Rincker from that territory.

Speaking of Rincker, he turned in a career game, with 13 points, and made all four of his free-throws, the first he has attempted all season. Yelovich was the only other player in double figures with 10.

So, what does SIUE take from this game?

They need McCleary healthy. His presence after going down with a hip injury against Murray State was sorely missed, as was Yelovich’s, spending the majority of the game benched with foul trouble. They need to take good shots, and not shots for the sake of taking shots. They need to take better care of the basketball. In hindsight, the things that went wrong were minor mistakes, but those are what separates great teams from good teams, and good teams from bad teams.

A 30 percent night from the field will not get it done no matter how many rebounds you pull down, no matter how many minutes your best player plays. Adjustments can, and will be made.

We will get through this together, Cougar Nation. I promise.

Time for some random tidbits to close out this exhaustive essay:

• The NCAA Is apparently talking about upgrading it’s Division I tournament from the 65 team format we all know and love to include 96 teams. Nothing is imminent at the moment, but it all rests on the NCAA’s contract with CBS Sports, and it’s contract with the NIT. Money is a huge player in the decision-making process here.
• There are more teams competing at the D-I level now than ever before,  in fact, there are 347 of them, including the newest foresome SIUE, South Dakota, North Dakota and Seattle. You can argue with more teams comes a bigger need to install more teams into the NCAA but it shouldn’t work like that.
• A quarter of the teams in the country should not be dancing. It would make the first round a meaningless carousel of erasing mid-majors, and weakening the importance of a bid. Arizona, Kentucky or Georgia finish 18-14 in a year and don’t get a bid? Too bad . They don’t deserve it anyways. Best case scenario for the NCAA’s is to eliminate an at-large bid and stop singling out lower tier conference winners in the play-in game atrocity, or make a day out of it and add 3 more games so teams can  fight for those 16 seeds. 31 more teams pushes it all too far.
• ESPN is starting to anger me more than ever before. I love sports analysis as much as the next guy, but they could do a documentary on Dwight Freeney’s leg or Kobe Bryant fighting adversity and resiliently taking down the Lakers scoring record… Oh, and for the record: the Lakers lost. Who beat them? An OVC alum! So congrats to Lester Hudson, formerly a UT Martin Skyhawk with the Memphis Grizzlies for attempting, yet failing to shut the worldwide leader up.
• Speaking of Freeney, there’s this thing Sunday, I don’t know if you have heard about it, but it’s called the Super Bowl. Who ya got? I’ve got the Saints.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Apparently, they were holding out on us

-Aren Dow

After six straight losses for the Cougars, SIUE squeezed out two narrow victories to take home a shiny silver trophy declaring they were the HyVee Classic Tournament Winners.

Yeah, I don’t believe it either.

But it’s true. Men’s basketball (2-6) stunned mid-major Drake and then knocked off UT-Arlington who were 4-2 coming into Saturday’s match. Not exactly premier teams, but definitely a higher quality than Lipscomb and IPFW, who the Cougars lost to at home.

I – and I’m assuming the team – took a huge sigh of relief Friday. It’s one thing to have a losing record, it’s another to not have a win. It kills confidence, kills fan support and kills any positive mentality. There is nothing to draw upon or look back to for reassurance.

A huge problem I saw early on is that the Cougars come out flat to start the game and just cannot recover. Maybe those butterflies have passed as the season has gone on, maybe the freshman aren’t as intimidated, who knows. I do know it was good to get a win Friday. It is incredibly outstanding to win the tournament. You have to think the whole mentality of this team has changed.

They overcame a huge hurdle in both games at Drake – closing out the game. In their last two games, they lost a double digit lead in the second half against Lipscomb and then crumbled against IPFW by surrendering six points in the final minute. SIUE hung with Drake and UT-Arlington for forty minutes.

SIUE still has the same problem they have all year, they don’t have an inside presence offensively or defensively. 6’6″ Denykco Bowles has as many rebounds as 6’10” Nikola Bundalo, 23, in less minutes. Our 6’1″ point guard – McCleary – is averaging the second most rebounds on the team. Between Bundalo, Mavrak and Schneider, they are averaging a combined 6.2 rebounds in 36 minutes.

That is why we’ve struggled this season.

During the Drake tournament, Yelovich and McCleary crashed the boards and miraculously led the Cougars to rebounding margins of 39-28 and 39-32 in the tournament. It was the first time all season SIUE came out ahead in rebounding.

You know what also helps? Shooting 50 percent.

This team needs to have a great shooting effort from Yelovich to win. If he falters, the team falters. McCleary and Murphy are great role players right now, but Yelovich is the key to the game every time. It’s the sad truth. So, no pressure Mark, just try to be perfect every time you hit the hardwood. Once they find a way to win without Yelovich will be a good day for the Cougars. I just can’t see that happening anytime soon.

The Cougars do have a chance to get on a run here. Lipscomb, who is beatable, is next and Middle Tennessee State could be win number four.

SIUE is an intriguing team. They are young and haven’t had much experience playing together, but perhaps they have turned a corner.

Wrapping up last night’s game

SIUE came away with a 30 point triumph over MacMurray last night in exhibition play, a few performances stood out, scoring was distributed nicely, and once the Cougars found their rhythm they looked tough to beat.

You can read more later on in the day, I just submitted my “view from the sidelines” column on the game, TJ should be getting the game story in shortly and they will be posted on Alestlelive.com sooner than later.

First, the good from last night, SIUE had six players scoring in double figures. That’s huge to have that many guys on your team who are able to contribute that much offense. This comes with the team missing their leading scorer and starting center, whom we learned from coach Lennox Forrester after the game were benched for “violating team rules.” Senior guard Stephen Jones was in the same boat. All things considered, the Cougars played well and pushed aside a sluggish start.

Last night yielded some impressive performances, notably sophomore guard Kevin Stineman, junior guard David Boarden and freshman guard LeShaun Murphy. You can throw junior guard Cody Rincker into the mix as well, scoring 12 points.

Stineman hustled better than anyone on the floor.

Boarden led the Cougars with 8 rebounds, which was impressive considering he fills a 6’4 frame, Rincker made his case to become a key component of the bench, and was SIUE’s hottest three point shooter, going 4-6, and Murphy showed he can be an explosive player capable of swinging momentum in a heartbeat.

Boarden and Murphy seem to be the perfect answer to the question of “who will replace Barry Wellington and Brandon Dunson?”

They fit the role seamlessly.

The post game could be better for the Cougars, Zeke Schneider did not play well at all, Dobrivoje Mavrak got off to a nice start, but his play tapered off considerably in the second half, but that will improve with Bundalo in the lineup.

Overall, not a bad effort, but still things to improve upon come the regular season opener.

-Allan Lewis

Alestle Sports Editor