Unfinished business 5-9-10

Still a lot of housekeeping to do on this blog, so please ignore the dust. I am planning on purchasing the domain "ecougarzone.com" sometime in the near future, and anticipate everything to be at 100 percent by July 1, just in time for soccer season and pre-season basketball (yes, I said July, its never too early to start talking college hoops."
The majority of this blog will cover SIUe basketball, but all other sports will be covered as well. Be sure to check out my novelette on the 1979 soccer team by clicking the tab beneath the banner.
I will be back at the Alestle for another summer as sports editor beginning in two weeks, so I am just enjoying some much needed down time in the meanwhile.
There is a little bit of unfinished business however, which I will briefly get to.
LET'S GO!!
First, and I am sure you are all super-pumped about this, I have developed a travel map for the upcoming men's basketball season. As you can tell, I am very scientific in my approach to geography. The women's map is a little bit smaller, but I am hoping to hit the road and follow them next season as well.

Although basketball is still 7 months away, there are several things to look forward to as SIUe fans. I am really excited to see what the new recruiting class can do for SIUE. Michael Messer (Wildwood, Mo.) should develop into a decent shooting guard with the ability to take some of the strain off of Mark Yelovich, while Gerald Jones (St. Louis) has the ability to run the point and Alex Brown (Herrin) provides more depth in the paint. This snippet from an ESPN.com article is older, but still important to note. Scouts.com has tabbed SIUE's recruiting class as the best among Division I independents. Last time I touched base with Head Coach Lennox Forrester he said they were looking to add a few JUCO transfers, but nothing has been finalized. I will check back with him when he runs camps this summer.

If those two paragraphs don't get you excited, I don't know what will. Although Messer is regarded as SIUE's biggest grab this recruiting season, he is not the most important. SIUE has a number of players who can play the two guard position (LeShaun Murphy, Cody Rincker, David Boarden and Anthony Mitchell.) Hell, throw Kevin Stineman into the mix as well. Murphy has by far the highest ceiling out of the group of returning players. Here is a brief rundown on SIUE's shooting guard options, and why I feel like Messer could find himself starting immediately (if he fits the scheme.)
Stineman is a guy SIUE relied on in the starting lineup at times last season with Aamir McCleary missing time to injury. He averaged just 3 points and 2 rebounds per game, with his career high 11 coming against Middle Tennessee State. Stineman will be important off the bench next season to get guys a blow, and while he will be a junior next season, his play has not merited a starting position. Forrester likes Kevin, and there's no reason not to. He is always on the floor chasing down lose balls, but he should be starting on the bench.
Rincker is a possible starting lineup guy, and showed flashes of brilliance last season, but is a three point threat and nothing more.
Mitchell has been around the block, limited off the bench at St. Louis University before a JUCO stint and a similar role at SIUE. He is sloppy with the ball at times and not the best shooting option for the Cougars, he is strong for a SG, but lacks the aggressiveness to drive the ball inside at will.
Boarden will be an option, playing 17 minutes per game last season between guard and forward. His downside comes as a 33 percent shooter.
I have said all along LeShaun Murphy is the future. Murphy will be entering his sophomore season, and when he played as a freshmen he was outstanding. He wasn't given as many reps during games to have a freshman year like Yelovich had in 2008-2009, but Murphy is the spark plug SIUE needs.

Seriously, check out that slam! LeShaun was a 43 percent shooter, 37 percent from beyond the arc, and averaged six points per game playing an average of 13 minutes. If Murphy can develop the ability to run the point at the college level it would create an ideal situation, and be the best bet SIUE has at filling the gap left by McCleary.

As far as SIUE's other recruits, Brown is only 6''9 (I say only, while he is a foot and change taller than me) but has a wide wingspan. He needs to do a little bit of work in the gym to become a true post presence, something the Cougars lacked last season. Senior Nikola Bundalo figures to be the starting center, and Brown has the capability to slide right in behind him, followed by Zeke Schneider and Dob Mavrak. Zeke looked much better later in the year last season after an adventurous start to his college career. Bundalo has that deadly hook shot, but SIUE remains soft inside.

There is a lot of time left in the off-season, so nothing to really worry about, here is what I would like to see by November.

PG Murphy
SG Messer
F Yelovich
F Boarden
C Bundalo

Next season will be a very different looking Cougar team.

From SIUE we move to college basketball in general.

Hofstra has a new head coach, Mo Cassara. Cassara was supposed to fill an assistant role for Tim Welsh, who was fired after just a few weeks on the job. Welsh was arrested for driving under the influence when police found him asleep at the wheel with a BAC of .18. (Remind you of anyone St. Louis Cardinals fans?)

These circumstances were definitely not ideal for Hofstra, trying to regain control of the Colonial Athletic Association, or Cassara, most recently the third assistant at Boston College who has known Welsh for years.
I think Welsh may have taken his job for granted. There is nothing wrong with celebrating a little but common sense has got to prevail, especially when you are making as much money as Welsh was scheduled to make at Hofstra. $600,000 a year is enough to buy a cab fare.

(Another overdue topic) The NCAA recently (the word we use in journalism when something is overdue, it makes us sound timely when we are not) announced it will be expanding its Men's basketball championship to 68 teams.

I feel as if too many undeserving bubble teams sneak into the tournament as it is. Wake Forest had no business in the NCAA tournament. I am sorry. Under the new system, Virginia Tech and Illinois would have also made the cut. We don't know specifics, but likely it is going to bring 17 seeds into the tournament, and create a PIG marathon in Dayton, (best-case scenario) with two doubleheaders, (one Tuesday, one Wednesday.) If conferences weren't awarded win-shares for advancing teams in the tournament this would be a disaster, giving six additional automatic qualifiers the extra game. Fortunately, the new system will help some of these lower-level conference teams financially, and get them a little more national exposure. The play-in game used to be ho-hum. Most bracket contests don't even require you pick a winner. It was a case of the historically black colleges getting screwed a majority of the time, at least in the media's eye. Now, with CBS sports and Turner's package, these games will actually develop a little more meaning. Meaning they deserve as a part of the NCAA tournament. Thank god it didn't go to 86 teams.

In the Ohio Valley Conference, kudos go out to Morehead State's Kenneth Faried, who decided to forgo the NBA draft and play out his senior season. Faried is by far the best post-player in the OVC, and his decision bodes well for the conference as a whole. Morehead State looks to be right there next season along with Murray State, who returns a majority of its players, including freshman sensation Isaiah Cannon. Unfortunately for SIUE, both teams will be on the schedule again next season. When all is said and done, I would love to see the Eagles and Racers re-match in Nashville next March. Hopefully by then, everything is back to normal in Nashville, best wishes to everyone out there with the flooding. It's a great town.


In soccer news, no schedule yet, it should be available sometime very soon, have to check on that when I get back to work, one thing is for certain though, SIUE hosts IUPUI Sept. 19 at Korte Stadium via IUPUIjags.com.

On the diamond, congratulations to Megan Murphy and Dustin Brooks, SIUE's ESPN the Magazine COSIDA Academic All-District performers.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled summer.
Allan

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Wednesday Word: 3/4/10

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 for everyone at SIUE, given 3 power outages in 3 weeks and all....

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Wednesday Word 2/10/10

Lots to address this week, we have basketball to break down, a few new sports starting their seasons and all kinds of fun and exciting things.

Here it goes again!

Let's begin the week talking about softball. Yeah, I know we almost had a snow day yesterday and it's -325 degrees outside, but believe it or not Friday the Cougars begin their attempt at an encore to last year's 40 win season, competing in South Alabama's tournament, featuring a cast of mid-majors in hosts South Alabama (Sun Belt), Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun), Samford (the school SIUE is replacing in the OVC, now members of the Southern Conference) and Western Kentucky (Sun Belt).
I am a little hesitant on predicting how Coach Sandy Montgomery's team will fare this season. The Cougars were outstanding last season. The softball team is our athletic department's pride and joy. They are the 2007 Division II National Champions, and last season proved they were not just a transitioning DII juggernaut prone to a rude awakening at the next level. SIUE received votes in the National Top 25 poll, and knocked off two ranked teams on their way to a 40-10 record. 40-10 is impressive for anyone playing the schedule they took on last season, but to do it in their first year was nothing outside of special.
Could this year be a repeat or something different? Well, we will see how it plays out on the diamond, because I honestly have no idea. SIUE lost five seniors, while returning just two. There are MASSIVE shoes to fill for the Cougars, especially on the mound. Caitlin Colosimo was a monster. Check out this line: 19-4, 22 complete games, 10 shutouts a 1.00 ERA, 152 strikeouts, 20 walks and 174.1 Innings pitched.
It's not just her numbers Montgomery has to somehow find a way to re-produce, but her ability to eat a ton of innings and relieve the rest of the pitching staff. A lot of trust is going to go to junior Erika Taylor to fill the ace role, a spot she should be able to naturally fill, after posting her own earth-shattering numbers: 17-6, 1.22 ERA, 17 complete games, 3 shutouts, 144 strikeouts in 143.1 innings.
Junior College transfer Ali Downing and Freshmen Lindsey Coleman round out the pitching staff.
Offensively, SIUE has four of their six biggest weapons returning to the squad, most notably Lauren Zembruski, the team leader in batting average (.373) Home Runs (7) RBI (39) walks (32) and on-base percentage (.497.)
Taylor and Zembruski are going to be the cogs in the SIUE machine this season. Chaleen Rumpf, The only senior on the team outside of Zembruski will also play an important part in the Cougar offense, with her career .331 batting average.
SIUE has a young team this year, and the inexperience on the roster is the only thing keeping anyone from penciling in another 40 win season and perhaps cracking the top 25. There are eight sophomores and four freshmen on this team. The majority of the sophomore cast saw playing time last season, and that added experience will be important. The past success of the program undoubtedly gives Montgomery a little more flexibility when it comes to recruiting, along with the program's fast-tracked status allowing it to compete for championships next season. Freshman Samantha Stanicek comes to the team after being named one of the top high school players in the state.
Following up on last year is going to be a tough task, but this is a confident bunch. We'll see what happens.

 On the slightly bigger field of similar shape with a mound instead of a circle is the SIUE baseball team. They have a little bit more time to prepare for the unseasonably early beginning of  the college season, opening up against the team they closed last season against, Central Arkansas on the road.

The Cougars will be spending a lot of time in Arkansas early on, playing two against UCA with Creighton sandwiched between before a three game series at  Arkansas Little-Rock.

If I had to pick an SIUE team to break out of last season's funk in 2010, it is this one.
Coach Gary Collins knows what he is doing. The man has 944 career wins coaching SIUE baseball.
Last year, the Cougars were 15-39. It wasn't the most illustrious year of Collins career, but as with every team here (besides softball...knock on wood), it was marked by the typical transitional growing pains we have seen across the board. With just six home games on the docket, it was also a grind associated with constant life on the road.
In my short time covering this team at the end of the season, one glaring weakness was apparent.
Pitching.
SIUE did not have any.
Opponents outscored SIUE by 120 runs over the course of the season, but the Cougars certainly had an ample amount of offensive firepower. They just let down too many runs.
The stat of the season last year: SIUE was 7-5 when scoring more than 10 runs in a game.
They allowed opponents to score more than 10 runs 13 times, losing all 13.
The team's combined ERA was 7.01 and opponents hit .323 against SIUE pitching.
This team has it's offensive weapons, in seniors Micheal Hopkins, Mike Hurt and Adam Eggemeyer. There is a good cast of role players complimenting them as well. Offensively, the Cougars are healthy after an injury-riddled 2009.
SIUE will score runs, it is just going to be a matter of keeping them off the scoreboard.
Looking to the spring is nice, but it's time to talk about what is going on RIGHT NOW...and probably what a majority of our readers are here for, COUGAR BASKETBALL!

First up, the men. I will be the first to admit I have been a little frustrated with this team. I love college basketball, and I love SIUE basketball even more. Let's hold off on the frustration for a bit, because I have a feeling my constant regurgitation of the team's problems are getting tired and the proof has been made evident through countless performances.

The two games SIUE played this week were against teams going through the same process we are, in South and North Dakota. USD has owned us throughout the maiden voyage, holding a 4-1 mark against SIUE, (2-0 this season, 2-1 last season, with the Cougars coming back from 17 down last season at the Vadalabene Center for its first "Division I*" home win.) This season, there was little doubt when it came to who was going to get the win in Edwardsville. USD was just the all-around better team on both ends of the court, and held an apparent advantage on the low-post with the combination of Steve Smith and Tyler Cain.

The senior duo combined for 13-19 shooting and 30 points with 14 rebounds and along with the rest of the Coyotes, torched SIUE inside, where they owned a 39-32 rebounding edge and 54 points in the paint, an area where even with a rebounding advantage, SIUE has had trouble scoring. The low post has not been generating any offense for the Cougars all season long, and that area has really put a burden on this team, not being able to work the ball inside out while running the offense. USD's low-post presence undoubtedly helped their shooting numbers, creating easy buckets and an astronomical 65 percent mark for the contest.

SIUE's offense, meanwhile struggled, connecting on 39 percent of their field goal opportunities, and shooting just 5-23 from three-point range. They went into their typical NBA Live panic mode after a few empty possessions and fired up too many perimeter shots in a feeble attempt  to get back into the game, obviously creating more empty possessions.

There were positives early on. The Cougars were moving the ball much better in their offense, creating a few easy back-door opportunities with Stephen Jones running the point in the absence of Aamir McCleary, but at times they maybe made an extra pass or two, passing up on a look and ending with a mistake.

Mark Yelovich scored 18 points, but was only 8-22 shooting in the game, I thought maybe he was pressing a little too hard without McCleary at his side, but I do agree with what Coach Forrester said after the game, in trusting Mark to take his shots when he has the chance. It was just one of those games where nothing went right, as has been the case offensively for awhile.

I want to make note of this though: SIUE is a young basketball team, with a strong cast of freshmen and sophomores. South Dakota, meanwhile started their transition with an experienced basketball team and in turn, is currently playing with juniors and seniors. Without Cain and Smith, SIUE would have had a fighting chance, but the combination of Nikolo Bundalo, Zeke Schneider (who I will note, has improved since early on this season) and Dob Mavrak (whom I feel Zeke has in turn, passed on the depth chart due to his improvement) was just unable to compete with the experience and talent the Coyotes had at their disposal.

Sunday, SIUE continued their shooting funk, going 27 percent from the field against the other Dakota, the North one.

Yelovich tallied 18 points, and as a team the Cougars just managed 50 in a seven point loss against the patient Fighting Sioux and their Princeton offense. SIUE had 27 rebounds, and was 5-22 from three-point range, you know the story. Cougars will be Cougars.

The outcome of this game was difficult to stomach, because victory was a distinct possibility for the first time in awhile, if you don't consider the win against Robert Morris for more than it was worth. The Sioux were 4-17, SIUE 3-20. It was an even-matched game, and with the full support of McCleary and LeShaun Murphy, out of the lineup for various reasons, the outcome could have been different. The back end of the bench, Dane Church, Alex Newlin and Desmond Young saw action early in this one, which comes as a surprise being a competitive game. This team has got to be physically drained at this stage of the schedule, creating more opportunity for these guys. Not to mention the injuries.

The pieces will come together. I just keep telling myself this. It will be okay.

The SIUE women also had a rough week, but considering the competition, all in all, it wasn't bad. They played the first-place team in the Ohio Valley Conference tough at home, and endured a tough road game at Miami of the ACC, in battle of schools nicknamed after vowels.

Thursday's game against Eastern provided a fantastic barometer to gauge the future of SIUE women's basketball with, and all in all I am okay with the final result, a 74-63 loss to Tony Romo University.

SIUE fought of an early 14 point deficit, and trailed by six at the break, while Freshmen Michaela Herrod had the biggest game of her career, scoring 20 points.

With the Ohio Valley Conference having a horrendous year on the women's side, and putting SIUE's youth into consideration, we can assume the Cougars will improve as the transition period progresses, and the pieces will fall into place when an NCAA tournament bid is on the line.

Speaking of the OVC's weak women's league, ESPN women's Bracketologist Charlie Creme currently has EIU tabbed as a 16 seed. No complaints here.

Miami is on the bubble, at 16-7, they need as many wins as they can get to try and sneak into the NCAA tournament in the always tough ACC. Anytime SIUE plays a power conference school, no matter the sport or gender, it is a good experience, and the Cougars held their own against a very good team, losing 85-60, with Herrod once again coming up big with 20 points.

Up next for the women is Oakland City Saturday at the Vadalabene Center, it's the pink game for Breast Cancer awareness, so if you are not partaking in the Mardi Gras craziness in St. Louis I encourage you to go to the VC for a few reasons.

1. We are going to win, It's Oakland City.(7-12, DII)
2. It's for a good cause.
3. Free T-shirts!!!!

My job advertising is done.

Time to close out with a few random tidbits and things of that nature.

The SIUE track teams, whom I would have blogged about in a little greater detail if this wasn't already too long and straining your eyes have one more event to close out the indoor season and are on an absolute tear. Every time they compete, someone is setting some kind of record, and that is all good news as we prepare to wait out until the spring, and track without a roof. Ben Bishop has thrown heavy objects farther than everyone else in all five tries inside, while Kayla Brown, Aftan Noon and company are up to their old tricks.

The SIUE women's tennis team is off to a strong start, posting a 6-1 win over OVC rival Southeast Missouri State at the Edwardsville Y!M!C!A! Saturday, sweeping doubles and winning five of six singles matches. Good job.

I clicked onto siuecougars.com the other day and found out we are having a pep-rally for the Men's basketball Bracketbuster game Feb. 20 against Cal State Fullerton. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to find out the pep rally is taking place in FULLERTON. I asked the Alestle to get me on a plane, but that was to no avail.

As far as the Super Bowl goes, I picked the Saints, and the Saints won. Still, football expert, I am not. Go Rams!

You want something to watch on TV Thursday instead of going out? I'll suggest Moreahead State vs. Eastern Illinois in OVC men's action at 8 p.m. on ESPNU and St. Mary's vs. Gonzaga at 10 p.m. over on ESPN2.

In honor of softball/baseball starting up, and the awesomeness of George Knox, I'll sign off with this, enjoy the show!

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Another frustrated Wednesday Word

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.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3dgB_ocQs&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
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!

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The first Wednesday Word

Seems like it's been forever since we have updated this thing, my apologies, got a little sidetracked with classes starting back up, but the Alestle started back up as well, no real excuses, no rest for the weary, that sort of thing.
All of that being said, there is a lot to talk about, so let's get rolling!
The SIUE men's basketball team has hit a rough patch. There have not been a whole lot of positives to write home about this season, there are various things factoring into this, and it has been a frustrating time for all of us who consider ourselves to be fans of the mighty Cougars. (Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be a fan, because I'm a so-called 'journalist,' but the school gets tuition money from me too.)
The last column I wrote summed up what I feel this team is about, and since it ran the team has done nothing to make me change my mind. We suck.
It is hard to be rough on these guys. You cannot help but like our team, they're a bunch of lovable losers, really classy guys and I'm sure all the losing has been taking its toll on them and incredibly hard to stomach. Going to Division I isn't easy, and I do not like using it as an excuse because SIUE has so much going for it, being in the Ohio Valley Conference (No. 21 in conference RPI) and what not, having a great recruiting pipeline (St. Louis and Chicago) and becoming more and more a legit college.
Now I'm done being nice and ready to talk business.
Monday's game shows us how far we have come, or not come for that matter throughout this process.
UT Martin entered the game dead-last in the OVC. At the Alestle, we count OVC games against SIUE in our newspaper's OVC standings. No one else does. So, as it stands, the Skyhawks are 0-9 in real OVC play, and 1-9 in Cougar-included OVC play. They are 3-16 overall, with wins against the Cougars and a pair of non-DI schools, Westminster (Tenn.) and the pride of St. Louis, Harris Stowe. To put it lightly, losing to this team was really really really embarrassing. (notice how the expletives were replaced with the word 'really?'...Really?
How bad was it? Picture us losing to the mess SEMO was last season or New Jersey Tech during their two-season long losing streak. Maybe picture what it would be like if SIUE lost to a D-III school...oh, that actually happened. Never mind. Through Sunday, SIUE's RPI ranking sat at No. 318 out of 346 D-I schools, Martin at 335, so that number will inevitably drop.
A few telling stats from the boxscore, and nothing really out of the ordinary here.
Mark Yelovich and Aamir McCleary combined to score 38 of SIUE's 56 points. Breaking out the good old calculator, we figure that is 68 percent of the team's offensive total. Without these two guys on the floor the Cougars have zero pulse.
McCleary's night could have been even better had he been knocking down his shots. He was just 6-18 from the field, 2-4 from three-point territory and knocked down two of three free-throws. He had five rebounds, tied for the team lead with who else? Mark Yelovich.
So, Mark and Aamir, you get a pass on this one.
SIUE shot 38 percent as a team, and the bench scored ZERO POINTS in 61 combined minutes. 30 of that went to the defensive efforts of Stephen Jones, while the freshmen LeShaun Murphy played just seven minutes, going 0-2 with one rebound. SIUE collected just 27 rebounds the entire game, to UT Martin's 46. SIUE had just six on the offensive glass to 15 for UTM.
The Cougars again, took 24 shots from beyond the three-point line, making eight.
So, what is new?
Absolutely nothing.
There is really no point in analyzing this team because every single game they have the same problems, and if you read up on your Cougar basketball you can easily get a sense of Deja Vu. Wait, did they just take the game story from the Kennesaw State game and slap on UT Martin's name instead? Seems like it.
A change in philosophy is really the only thing in order here. Lennox Forrester claims to preach to his guys about playing the game inside out, working the interior post and kicking it out to create open looks. Coach, how do you improve on rebounding? "well, I'll tell the guys to box out and harp on it in practice..." yet, here we are, 20 games into the basketball season and the same things are happening over and over again.
Is it too late to switch things up and implement a motion or Princeton style offense to push aside the failed high post strategy? Probably.
Again, by no means do I want to be hard on these guys, but the smartest college basketball man I have ever met, Kyle Whelliston of the Mid Majority (who was in town for the Robert Morris game,) said it best trying to describe what he has seen from SIUE. He told me our guys have a real business-like approach to the game. Kind of like robots, they go out there, play basketball and that's it. On a more awesome note, here is a photo of myself and his friend Bally.
Next time you watch SIUE, pay attention to their composure on the court.
I won't go into detail about the Robert Morris game, but 92-71? Come on. They are in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. I had never even heard of that before the game. Yes, there is a level of college basketball BELOW the NAIA and we witnessed it.
In other news (somewhat related,) there has been some off-the-court trouble-making on the part of SIUE recruit Alex Brown, which I did a little brief on a few weeks ago but alas, the juicy details regarding his suspension from the Herrin High School basketball team have emerged, in an article by the Benton Evening News.
At first I laughed, then I cried, and after that I wrote a View From the Sidelines column sharing my opinions on the matter for Thursday's paper. Big decision looming for coach Forrester, his staff and AD Hewitt, and it could mean another scholarship becoming available during the off-season recruiting period if SIUE decides to act on the matter.
In my opinion, Brown, the Harts and the Hart's mom; who inevitably attempted to take a bullet for her kids as all mothers of distressed teenagers do, are not giving away the whole story. There has got to be more than this, and it could cost Brown more than just half a high school basketball season.
Another intriguing SIUE basketball related note involves former Cougar guard Brandon Dunson.
Dunson left the Cougars after playing just one semester of basketball upon transferring into SIUE from UT Chattanooga for Wabash Valley, a junior college. It kind of upset me, to be honest because I was expecting big things from the kid. Apparently, people obviously more important than me feel the same way.
I didn't understand the reasoning behind Dunson's transfer to Wabash Valley of all places. Maybe Bradley in the Missouri VALLEY, but not WABASH VALLEY. The reasoning behind his departure is now apparent because bigger and better things await, and transferring to another mid-major right away for his sophomore season of eligibility means another long red-shirt period due to NCAA guidelines. Dunson is getting scouted HEAVILY by the likes of UCLA, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Illinois, Oklahoma State, USC and Nevada. The Gonzaga people seem to be excited at the prospect of having Dunson join their squad, and according to Dunson's twitter page, all of the major schools looking at him seem to be eager for his services.
This is jaw-dropping news to me that he was ever that good. Dunson is averaging 11.5 points a game at Wabash, and looked to be an intriguing player to watch at the mid-major level, but never a guy playing half his season on ESPN. Looks like the kid has options now, good for him, but SIUE could sure use his contributions right now...(cough...play LeShaun Murphy more...cough.)
Men's basketball is all the talk, because of the media coverage, but the women have been doing fairly well recently, as in not consistently being awful, and being winners of their last two home contests against D-I schools, something the men have yet to do over two seasons. Things are really looking up for Amanda Levens and crew, they could legitimately compete for the OVC regular season crown next season, with the conference on the women's side shaping up horrendously thus far in 2010, (although it would all be for naught, with no trip to the conference tourney and what not.)
We have baseball, softball and tennis getting started up soon, hopefully we see a few positive story-lines come across featuring those teams down the road, because we need them.
Finally, I just wanted to end by congratulating the Southern Star Dancers on winning their competition this past weekend in Chicago. Good job.
Also, wanted to give a shout out to Alex Helton for his feedback on a few of our blogs, not hard to agree on any analysis of the Cougars, or headless chickens.
That's all, keep your pant's off the ground all you cool cats.

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SIUE against Purdue

I'm back!
Good afternoon everybody, hope break is going well, hopefully better than its been to the Cougars so far after a 79-61 loss to Loyola at the Vadalabene Center Sunday.
It's back to the court today for Lennox Forrester and crew, and things don't get any easier with the fourth best team in the nation waiting.
Purdue is a 41 point favorites against the Cougars.
It's tough to break down these guarantee games. We know SIUE is the definite underdog in this one, and likely the results will not be pretty. We will lose and the basketball program will get a big check for having the kahoneys to travel to West Lafayette.
After the Loyola game, Forrester was quoted in an article by the Alton Telegraph as saying "If we play like we did (Sunday) we will lose by 70 points."
Unfortunately I have to attribute them because I was unable to make it out to the game, but it's the same thing.
The Purdue contingent is not too happy about this one being on the schedule. I don't blame them. SIUE comes into this one ranked #327 in the latest RPI ratings, Purdue is #8, a little down from their AP national ranking due to their strength of schedule. Purdue's schedule is ranked 69th toughest in the nation up to this point, after playing the likes of North Dakota State (#280) IPFW (#263) Ball State (#220) and CS Northridge (#153). There is a lot of complaining over cupcakes in West Lafayette.
Needless to say, the Boilermakers have beat some decent teams. You don't climb to the #4 national ranking doing nothing. They have wins over #11 Tennessee in the Virgin Islands, a win over Wake Forest in the Big Ten ACC Challenge and a nice victory over Alabama. SIUE is their final tuneup for Big Ten play, which begins against Iowa (a team I am convinced SIUE could beat, the Hawkeyes are awful) next Tuesday.
Here are a few things Boilers fans are saying on ESPN's game conversation.
"purdue is going to kick butt tonight they r going to crush siue"
"This game is gonna be a blowout. Boiler up!"
"no matter how soft siu-edwardsville is, it's hard to resist +41. it's christmas time... certainly purdue will show some compassion?" (my favorite one!)
"purdue's schedule needs some big boy games, enough of the playing high school teams." OUCH!
"remind me again why this game is even being played?? I will be very disappointed if we ever schedule a team of this magnitude - or lack thereof - again."
So, to conclude, the Purdue people are not really excited about this one.
So, who to watch for Purdue?
E'Twaun Moore (16.1 PPG)
Robbie Hummel (15 PPG 7.3 RPG)
I would expect atleast 20 and ten from Hummel if Cougars cannot contain him. I would expect Yelovich to be matching up with him, expect Stephen Jones getting a lot of minutes for defensive purposes to guard Moore.
Keys to the game for SIUE:
1. Don't try and run with Purdue. The Boilers average 78 points and SIUE CANNOT run with them. Try and slow things down in the half-court and get some open looks. With this offense it is not going to happen, but that is a way to keep this one somewhat close.
2. Rebounding. As usual with the Cougars, they are 2-0 when they out rebound the opponent, 0-9 when they don't. They need to pay extra close attention to blocking out.
3. Don't play like you did Sunday. Forrester said his team would lose by 70 points if this happens. They cannot play scared and have to come out with some swagger.
That's about all for now, as I wait for my SIUE hoodie in the washing machine. Game time is 45 minutes away from Mackey Arena, and Buffalo Wild Wings for me. Hope to see you there.
Allan Lewis

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My second angry rant of the season...

So the SIUE Cougars are not off to a great start at starting great. In all three regular season losses, the Cougars dug themselves into deep holes going into the locker room before rallying to a decent second half.
Last night's game was flat out embarrassing. It was the Cougars biggest loss of the season, and it was against the one team they had a legitimate chance of beating. Here are the numbers.
SIUE is being outscored by their opponents 68-133 in the first half.
SIUE is being outscored 121-107 in the second half.
What a difference a 15 minute break does for this team. I don't know what it is. Coach Forrester has been stressing all along in his post-game press conferences that the team needs to play an entire 40 minutes. It is one thing to say it and another to do it. Who knows what it is. Whether it is nerves, inexperience, pre-game preparation or just a lack of urgency out of the gates something needs to be addressed by the Cougars coaching staff. Something has to be done to make this team score early, and it starts from the inside out.
The rebounding game has got to be better, and it's not the players fault, we don't have the tools to compete with some of the bigger athletes. Many of you saw the game against Illinois State, the Cougars were dominated in the paint. The same happened at Illinois. Last night, Evansville out-rebounded the Cougars 49-23. Those are eye-popping stats. the Aces grabbed 26 more rebounds than SIUE. You cannot win basketball games doing that. Mark Yelovich grabbed seven boards to lead the Cougars, followed by Aamir McCleary's four. McCleary leads SIUE averaging five rebounds a game. Your offensive minded team leader and GUARD cannot lead your team in rebounds. This is spawned by the Cougars weak inside game, Nikolo Bundalo and Dob Mavrik shared time against Evansville in the paint, with 18 and 19 minutes respectfully. Mav had 2 rebounds and 2 points, while Nik had 3 rebounds and 4 points. There is no production from inside the paint. Zeke Schneider is finally sitting on the bench, he played just three minutes last night.
For the Cougars, the inside game and establishing some physical presence should be a priority. Whether it is feasible with this cast of players remains to be seen.
On the bright side, help is on the way for next season. Mike Messer, a shooting guard has committed to SIUE, he is the first of SIUE's three commitments for next season to be evaluated by Scouts Inc. and he comes in with an 85 ranking, which in english terms means he is a "mid major prospect," expected to start for 2-3 seasons. They say "Messer is a smooth and skilled wing that competes on both ends of the floor. He has a terrific work ethic that allows him to be productive on a regular basis. In transition Messer runs the outside lane for the spot up jumpers or displays his ability to handle..." on the ESPN website.
That's great, now get us some help in the paint.
The three point shooting needs to settle down. SIUE was 2-15 from long range, take Cody Rincker out of the equation and they were 0-13.
SHOT SELECTION
SHOT SELECTION
SHOT SELECTION.
needless to say, it hasn't been smart.
Next up for SIUE is Ball State. the Cardinals are 1-0 after a 10 point win over Valparaiso. Ball State had six players in double figures, and all eight players on the floor scored. Jarrod Jones provide the size that the Cougars have not proved they can stop, measuring 6"9. He led them with 19 points in the game and had six rebounds.
The Cardinals can rebound, kind of scary, considering SIUE cant.
Thats all for today kids.

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Cougars ready to play ball

The floor in the Vadalabene Center is back to normal, "beat ISU" shirts are on sale and Cory the Cougar is combing his fur.

With no NCAA football team to cheer for during the first few months of the semester, this is it for Cougar fans. The wait for college basketball is over.

SIUE began its second season transitioning to Division I Wednesday, hosting Division III MacMurray College. If you were there, great. If you stayed in your dorm or in the library ignoring the red lights, shame on you. This is not another fan support column because it should be obvious by now the Cougars are hitting the big time and the students need to be behind them in any way possible. If you don't care by now, you probably won't care at all.

There are reasons to be excited and optimistic.

SIUE is going to have a good team. Maybe not an NIT team, and NCAA guidelines prohibit them from being an NCAA tournament team, but they are poised to impress under third year Head Coach Lennox Forrester.

In USA Today's college basketball preview, the Cougars were regarded as one of the top independent teams in the country, and sophomore forward Mark Yelovich was named to their All-Independent team, along with Dana Smith (Longwood University), Jamar Briscoe (North Carolina Central University), Chris Gweth (Seattle University), and Trent Blakley (Cal State-Bakersfield). The publication also billed next Friday's regular season opener at the University of Illinois as a "great local matchup between two competitive teams."

Reading this had me fired up immediately.

The Cougars retained most of their young talent from last season. Brandon Dunson and Barry Wellington packed their bags and transferred to schools I have never heard of, but Yelovich averaged more than 13 points a game and led SIUE as a freshman, Aamir McCleary is a bona fide senior leader, and the Cougars sport a strong recruiting class ready to make an immediate impact. Not to mention the big Serbian center, Nikolo Bundalo will be a force in the paint.

The Cougars will be dangerous. They will not win 20 games, but with Forrester's focus on toughness and competing, expect a more mature team and do not think they will go away or be an easy target.

Most games on the schedule are winnable, with the exception of a few. The University of Evansville is going to be down after losing four starters. Illinois State University is going to be vulnerable on the road and after losing some key parts of their team. The Cougars hold an 8-5 all-time series lead against Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort-Wayne, a team SIUE knows well from their days in D-II.

The Big Ten schools on the schedule will be a challenge, but don't count against SIUE, as they look to turn heads this season.

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