Scouting Lipscomb and funky Grammar

Some very interesting college hoops going on right now in relation to SIUE's schedule....
Lipscomb 64 @ Ohio State 84 (Big Ten Network) FINAL
UMKC 24 @ Nebraska 41 (ESPN360.com) HALFTIME
South Dakota 35 @ Marquette 48 (ESPN360.com) HALFTIME
And Illinois plays Wofford at 8:45 CST in the Las Vegas Invitational.
Lipscomb looks like they could present a challenge for the Cougars Saturday. They played the Buckeyes extremely tough, closer than the 20 point loss indicates. OSU for the most part looked sloppy and inconsistent, when they were on they were on, but scored in runs and spurts. The Bison did answer them most of the time, just not enough. Lipscomb was undersized, but did a good job containing OSU in the paint. Adnan Hodzick played great down low, he finished with 18 points and 6 rebounds (red flag for SIUE and their weak post game.) He did a good job taking care of Dallas Lauderdale in the second half as well, the Buckeye's big guy finished with 13 points. Michael Teller also had double figures for Lipscomb, scoring 11. Lipscomb shot 44 percent for the game, not shabby.
Ohio State had two big performers, Evan Turner turned (get it?) in his second triple-double, (third in OSU history with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. David Lighty put in a career high 22 point performance. John Diebler also scored in double-figures, he has 17, and was 5-11 from three point range.
Lipscomb actually out-rebounded OSU too. Uh-oh.
Bison(s) come to the VC at 2 p.m. Saturday, game is on Charter Channel 3, and Joe Pott and Chris Bray have the call on 590 the fan, but better yet, if you are in town try and make it down, should be a lot of fun. Shouldn't be a great crowd, considering it's thanksgiving break, but hopefully I get pleasantly surprised.
Full preview of the Lipscomb Bison(s) [the school's nickname IS GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT, NO KIDDING] against SIUe coming sometime tomorrow. For now, enjoy the hoops, great games all the way up until around 1am tonight.
Side note, Cincinnati looking very strong in Maui, about to knock off Maryland. They beat Vanderbilt yesterday, two ranked teams in two days for them. Bearcats making some noise.

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Another plea to the Red Storm

Revamping the Red Storm is vital to SIUE athletics.

With the sixth man breathing down the opponents necks, momentum can shift in a heartbeat, free throws miss the target and floors get rushed after victories.

As is the case with any Division I university, SIUE has two basketball teams: a men's team and a women's team. The men's team will be the one receiving all the media attention and the majority of the student support, but keep in mind Head Coach Amanda Levens and her team this season when heading down to the Vadalabene Center.

Friday presents a scheduling conflict for those who care about SIUE basketball. If you are not going to the University of Illinois to watch the men's team take on the No. 23 Illini or streaming the game on ESPN360.com, the women's team opens the season at home against Morehead State University, the team to beat in the Ohio Valley Conference.

If you would rather watch a game in person and are not making the trip to Champaign, the women would greatly appreciate your support against the best their future conference has to offer.

They'll probably even announce updates on the men's game as it happens, so you really are not missing out on much and still supporting Cougar athletics.

Sunday, the men have a huge home opener against an in-state team with star power coming off a near-miss on an NCAA tournament birth. Conveniently, it is scheduled on the flip-side of a double header, opening with the women's team against a big-name in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Tailgates are great, and it's hard to keep a buzz during the span of two basketball games, but fans and the Red Storm should do their best to give both squads attention. All things considered, the fan support for the women Saturday night against the University of Missouri-St. Louis was adequate, and I commend the group heckling UMSL's players behind me on the media bench. The Cougars need support like that more often.

With two games on Sunday, I advise students to tailgate hard and cheer even harder. Heckle the opposition relentlessly. Unanimously pick a player, and let them have it the whole game. For the women, it might be Milwaukee's Ashley Imperiale because she has a funky last name. For the men, it has to be ISU's Bobby Hill…propane.

It's time to show the nation what SIUE's fans are all about.

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A little overly optimistic (SIUe basketball 2009-2010 preview-archive)

As hard to believe as it may be, the college basketball season tips off in less than two weeks.
It's awesome baby.
SIUE begins its second season in Division I play Nov. 4, with an exhibition game against MacMurray College. Having never heard of MacMurray before, it should be quite the exhibition. I wouldn't bet against us putting 100 on the scoreboard in this one.
This is the greatest time of the year, for me, as far as work goes. The Alestle sports team will be with the Cougars for two early-season road match-ups, Nov. 13 against Big Ten conference power Illinois, and again on Nov. 18 when the Cougars take on former head coach Marty Simmons and his Evansville Purple Aces of the Missouri Valley Conference.
The first week of regular season basketball gets even better with a visit by MVC power Illinois State to the Vadalabene Center on Nov. 15.
We may be in for a throttling against Illinois to open the season. That is almost expected of coach Forrester's bunch. As long as half the SIUE campus wearing orange isn't celebrating afterward I'll be okay with that.
Bruce Webber's bunch seems primed to make a run this season. They managed to squeak into the NCAA tournament last year as the #5 seed, only to lose to #12 Western Kentucky in a 12/5 upset anyone could have picked with their eyes closed. Although the Illini were not expected to do much last season, this year is different. Illinois has a solid class of three freshmen, highlighted by DJ Richardson and Brandon Paul to go along with a slew of returning players like Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis and Demitri McCamey. If there is one place the Illini are going to be weak this season, it's going to be post play, with an inexperienced group of big men. At 6'9, Davis is probably the Illini's biggest rebounding threat, but nonetheless SIUE is going to have their work cut out for them against an Illini team preparing likewise with two exhibitions under their belt, against Quincy, (Division II, Great Lakes Valley Conference) and Missouri Southern (D-II, MIAA.)
PREDICTION: Illinois 89 SIUE 55
U of I is too powerful for the Cougars, it's going to be bad, but not a complete embarrassment.
The home-opener has potential for trouble as well, but the one saving-grace the Cougars have is home court. This means the Vadalabene Center has GOT to be packed. If we can squeeze 4,000 fans into that thing, it is going to be loud, and a hostile environment could shake up Illinois State, who last season played just three non-conference road games, and although they won all three, they were against lesser opponents and they narrowly escaped each one.
Here's how ISU played non-conference away from Redbird Arena last year:

ISU 69 Wright State 61 (18-12, 12-6 Horizon League)
ISU 84 Southern Methodist 73 (9-20, 3-13 Conference USA)
ISU 72 Central Michigan 69 (11-18, 7-9 Mid American Conference)

ISU started the season 14-0, and finished the regular season at 22-8, but thanks to their weak non-conference schedule, had to settle for the NIT after an overtime loss in the championship game of the MVC tournament.
ISU lost two of their four biggest weapons from a year ago. Champ Oguchi averaged 15 points a game. He is gone. Emmanuel "All Day" Holloway's day is done, and he put up ten a game.
ISU is not going to be nearly as good as they have been, and there is upset potential to this game, especially being at home for the Cougars. At Redbird Arena I would almost immediately write us off, but not here. Why ISU coach Tim Jankovich scheduled this game I have no idea. It remains that Osiris Eldrige is one of the most exciting college players I have seen in person, however, and Dinma Odiakosa is back after averaging eight and seven and a half playing the post for the Redbirds, but the Cougars have a fighting shot here. Lloyd Phillips could also do some damage for ISU.
Ultimately, ISU is the safe bet to win this game, but don't hold that to heart, and if we win, everyone better be on the court afterward.

PREDICTION: Illinois State 61 SIUE 57

The third game of the season brings all the exciting story-lines we should already be used to. It is a tale of two schools with so many coaching connections you would think they branched off of each other to form two different schools. Or it's just some stupid coincidence. Anyways, it breaks down like this.
Marty Simmons - Played at Evansville from 1986-1988

Lennox Forrester - Transferred to Evansville in 1990, injuries kept him from playing, was a student assistant with the team.

Marty Simmons - Assistant Coach at Evansville from 1990-1996 and 1998-2002.
Lennox Forrester - Joined the staff at Evansville after graduating in 1992, was an assistant with Simmons from 1992-2002, before moving on as an assistant at Bradley from 2002-2007.
Marty Simmons - Head Coach at SIUE from 2002-2007. Led the Cougars to the D-II Elite Eight in 2006.
Lennox Forrester - Replaces Simmons as SIUE Head Coach in 2007.
Marty Simmons - Named Evansville Head Coach in 2007
Mark Allaria - 2002 graduate of Evansville, Cougars assistant under Simmons 2002-2007, retained by Forrester. Started at Evansville from 2000-2002 with Forrester and Simmons on the coaching staff.

Ben Wierzda- Assistant Coach at Evansville. SIUE Alumnus (2000) Hired as an assistant at SIUE under Simmons from 2006-2007, and went with Simmons to Evansville in 2007.
It's basically a college hoops soap opera in the twilight zone.
Evansville is a team on the rise under Simmons, although they will have to do a little bit of re-tooling after losing four starters. Pieter Von Tongeran is the only returning starter for the Aces, but he did play impressive against the Cougars last year, with 17 points and eight rebounds. Kavon Lacy scored 14 off the bench in Evansville's 89-58 win on Dec. 2 last season. He is back as well.
This year it is going to be closer. We are better than we were last year, and Evansville, for all intensive purposes until they can show something without Shy Ely (who absolutely torched the Cougars last season, and was impressive in the MVC tournament against ISU) is worse.
For now, safety says the Aces win and drop us to 0-3.
PREDICTION: Evansville 83 SIUE 71

So, when do we get our first win? Mark your calenders, I am making a guarantee.
A bold guarantee.
November 21st at Ball State. (game four)
Last season, the Cardinals beat the Cougars by 12 WITHOUT leading scorer Mark Yelovich. This year with Yelovich the Cougars will go into Muncie and get a win. Last season, the Cougars first win also came against a team from the MAC in Western Michigan. The Cougars start the season with three tough games, Ball State starts with Valparaiso. Bottom line, Cougars win in Muncie before coming home and beating Lipscomb and IPFW back to back to start the season 3-3.
Final record: The Cougars will go 11-15.
This is a manageable schedule. We can play with North and South Dakota, IPFW is not the greatest team in the world, neither is Kennesaw State, and there are teams on the schedule we have beaten in the past in UMKC and SEMO. SEMO is just a sad team to boot.
This may be a little optimistic, but if all goes well, we could be looking at a .500 season once we are eligible for the OVC.
* The Feb. 20 bracketbuster game is not included in the 11-15 prediction.

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