It's always every one's fear, will there or will there not be a lid on the bucket when your team comes to play? From what I could tell from a computer desk 700 miles away, Sikeston brought a lid with them.
Shots just didn't seem to fall for the red Dog's tonight. Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you. It's a shame, I was hoping for a better game. A nail biter that came down to the wire. But, in the end, the blue and white got the best of the district. And my hat's off to Notre Dame.
There was no doubt that both teams deserved to be there. Sikeston not being able to muster the points tonight certainly doesn't make them a poor, undeserving team. They belonged there. My hat is off to Sikeston as well. This was my first time getting to see them play a full game, and as far as I'm concerned, all the trash-talking from Sikeston fans was legitimate. The red Bulldogs put a quality team on the floor this season, and made a noble effort come tournament time. Sometimes the ball just doesn't go down.
And I'm a believer. Michael Porter is one hell of a basketball player. He handles himself very well out there, and it was a pleasure getting to see him play.
As for Notre Dame, the task continues. There is work to be done. It's time to represent the district and the region as they continue to play on. I know that most people think the winner of tonight's game has a pretty good shot at being in Columbia in a few weeks. But it's tournament time, and this is where upsets love to live. So be careful, Notre Dame. Don't be on that high horse just yet.
Keep working. And make the region proud.
*Kudos to KFVS12 on another great Webcast product.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
It's Snowing Here As Well
Getting hosed by the weather, huh? All those pretty face-painted boys and girls who were ready to throw down against the other Dogs tonight are going to have to wait 24more hours, huh?
Can you handle it? Are you munching on all the snacks around the house? Are you staying up late, watching Jay Leno and laughing even though nothing is funny? I'm not talking about the players, or the coaches, or the parents. I'm talking about the bloggers who have consistently been at it on this web site for over a month now. Is the wait killing you?
How does it feel to know that within 24 hours you'll either be rejoicing in triumph or trying quickly to come up with excuses for your previous posts?
I'll be tuned in tomorrow night on the KFVS webcast. I'll do my best to dish out some thoughts as they go for any of you chumps that missed out on a ticket and want someone to talk to during the game.
Get ready. I hear this is the biggest and most hyped high school game in Southeast Missouri in many a year. May the best Dogs win.
Can you handle it? Are you munching on all the snacks around the house? Are you staying up late, watching Jay Leno and laughing even though nothing is funny? I'm not talking about the players, or the coaches, or the parents. I'm talking about the bloggers who have consistently been at it on this web site for over a month now. Is the wait killing you?
How does it feel to know that within 24 hours you'll either be rejoicing in triumph or trying quickly to come up with excuses for your previous posts?
I'll be tuned in tomorrow night on the KFVS webcast. I'll do my best to dish out some thoughts as they go for any of you chumps that missed out on a ticket and want someone to talk to during the game.
Get ready. I hear this is the biggest and most hyped high school game in Southeast Missouri in many a year. May the best Dogs win.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Fortunately, Banter doesn't decide No.1
So South Iron failed in their quest to become No.1 in our hoops poll. Nobody can decide who should be ranked above everyone else. Area fans apparently thought I was joking when I said I found a girl that could beat Porter and Willen. Scott County is ranked three spots ahead of Bell City, despite two less wins and a loss to the Cubs. Nobody seems to care about that injustice. And everything seems to boil down to Feb. 22 when the Dogs in red meet the Dogs in blue.
And for Christ's sake, let's hope that everybody is healthy so we can stop listening to the cheapskate excuses about Ryan Willen and Austin Greer being hurt, or about Sikeston having bad shooting games and missing their three point threat. It's all crap. Each team fields five players every single game, you win or lose with those five. That's your team for that night. If you can't beat the other team, then you lose. It doesn't matter whether you think you were the better team that particular night, because you weren't. You lost. Plain and simple.
The better TEAM is the team that can adjust when things aren't going their way. The best TEAM is the group of kids that can come together without their star player. Willen and Porter might be the best players in the area, but that doesn't mean their team is the best team. Until Notre Dame proves it can win big games with or without Willen, it can't claim to be a great TEAM. Until Sikeston proves it can find ways to win despite having a bad shooting night, it can't claim to be a great TEAM.
Once the class sizes are aligned and there's no clear advantage due to school size and talent pools, similar to the situation with Notre Dame and Sikeston, the best team in the region is the team that figures out how to win with the five guys their coach has on the floor. There's nothing more to it.
If you can't win without Willen, then maybe you're just four guys relying on someone else. If you can't find a way to win while shooting poorly, then maybe all you are is a team with one attribute, lacking many others. Neither one of those characteristics goes far in my book when it comes to distinguishing the best from the better.
So the verbal shots and lame-ass excuses aside, there's only twelve guys at a time on Feb. 22 that will decide who's the better team for the time being. Ten ballers and two coaches. So yap it up all you want, but when SEMO high school hoops hits the big time on Feb. 22...your banter doesn't mean jack.
And for Christ's sake, let's hope that everybody is healthy so we can stop listening to the cheapskate excuses about Ryan Willen and Austin Greer being hurt, or about Sikeston having bad shooting games and missing their three point threat. It's all crap. Each team fields five players every single game, you win or lose with those five. That's your team for that night. If you can't beat the other team, then you lose. It doesn't matter whether you think you were the better team that particular night, because you weren't. You lost. Plain and simple.
The better TEAM is the team that can adjust when things aren't going their way. The best TEAM is the group of kids that can come together without their star player. Willen and Porter might be the best players in the area, but that doesn't mean their team is the best team. Until Notre Dame proves it can win big games with or without Willen, it can't claim to be a great TEAM. Until Sikeston proves it can find ways to win despite having a bad shooting night, it can't claim to be a great TEAM.
Once the class sizes are aligned and there's no clear advantage due to school size and talent pools, similar to the situation with Notre Dame and Sikeston, the best team in the region is the team that figures out how to win with the five guys their coach has on the floor. There's nothing more to it.
If you can't win without Willen, then maybe you're just four guys relying on someone else. If you can't find a way to win while shooting poorly, then maybe all you are is a team with one attribute, lacking many others. Neither one of those characteristics goes far in my book when it comes to distinguishing the best from the better.
So the verbal shots and lame-ass excuses aside, there's only twelve guys at a time on Feb. 22 that will decide who's the better team for the time being. Ten ballers and two coaches. So yap it up all you want, but when SEMO high school hoops hits the big time on Feb. 22...your banter doesn't mean jack.
Friday, February 01, 2008
High school hoopers take note: MU hoops is becoming a terrible example
There is little doubt that the University of Missouri's hoops program is STILL in shambles. Unable to recover from the all-too-memorable Quin Synder era, the Tigers are in the headlines yet again for the wrong reasons.
This list of MU mishaps is getting long, too long. Colorado football is no longer the laughingstock of shambled programs in the Big 12. Missouri basketball is.
It's too early to turn the cold shoulder to Mike Anderson. In all fairness, he hasn't been given a long enough shot to shoulder all the blame for this team. A lot of the problem still lies in the shadow of Coach Q, many of the players involved in the fight last weekend outside Club Athena were Coach Q's boys. And Anderson deserves a round of applause for the disciplinary actions he took this week.
But at some point, and hopefully sooner rather than later, somebody needs to step up and make this stop. Whether it be the president, the athletic director, or the head coach taking charge, it needs to happen. This program needs a new direction. A positive direction. If Q's old players are going to continue to act like thugs and hooligans in the streets of Columbia, then drop their scholarships, kick them off the team, and start the hell over.
Bottom line.
Send the message to the new recruits that this is a program following the football teams' direction. This is a program in rebuilding mode, and it won't take much, but it can't stand for selfish, egotistic BS off the court.
It's hard to say whether or not those guys were just coming to the aid of a friend in need. In all fairness, I won't rule it out. Maybe it was legitimate. But I doubt it. I've been around that campus long enough to know that those players are worshipped. Students bow and pray at their feet. Girls fling their panties at them.
If they can't handle being bullied around by one or two drunk guys at a bar, if they can't just turn the other cheek and move away from the bad man making faces and turn toward the 98% of the bar that thinks they're god ... if they can't handle themselves, then they should be punished.
You're not going to convince me that Hannah was in a situation where he couldn't have walked away. I wasn't there, but I'd be willing to bet that this is an issue of somebody stepping on the little man's pride. And the little man just couldn't handle people laughing at him.
When you're getting a free ride to a Big 12 school to play basketball, you don't need to prove your worth. We know you're a stud. Walk away. Or fight ... and have your name involved with negative commentary all across the country. Your choice.
And high school hoopers take note: You're on the basketball team, which automatically makes you one of the coolest kids in the school. Don't blow it because some punk is jealous.
This list of MU mishaps is getting long, too long. Colorado football is no longer the laughingstock of shambled programs in the Big 12. Missouri basketball is.
It's too early to turn the cold shoulder to Mike Anderson. In all fairness, he hasn't been given a long enough shot to shoulder all the blame for this team. A lot of the problem still lies in the shadow of Coach Q, many of the players involved in the fight last weekend outside Club Athena were Coach Q's boys. And Anderson deserves a round of applause for the disciplinary actions he took this week.
But at some point, and hopefully sooner rather than later, somebody needs to step up and make this stop. Whether it be the president, the athletic director, or the head coach taking charge, it needs to happen. This program needs a new direction. A positive direction. If Q's old players are going to continue to act like thugs and hooligans in the streets of Columbia, then drop their scholarships, kick them off the team, and start the hell over.
Bottom line.
Send the message to the new recruits that this is a program following the football teams' direction. This is a program in rebuilding mode, and it won't take much, but it can't stand for selfish, egotistic BS off the court.
It's hard to say whether or not those guys were just coming to the aid of a friend in need. In all fairness, I won't rule it out. Maybe it was legitimate. But I doubt it. I've been around that campus long enough to know that those players are worshipped. Students bow and pray at their feet. Girls fling their panties at them.
If they can't handle being bullied around by one or two drunk guys at a bar, if they can't just turn the other cheek and move away from the bad man making faces and turn toward the 98% of the bar that thinks they're god ... if they can't handle themselves, then they should be punished.
You're not going to convince me that Hannah was in a situation where he couldn't have walked away. I wasn't there, but I'd be willing to bet that this is an issue of somebody stepping on the little man's pride. And the little man just couldn't handle people laughing at him.
When you're getting a free ride to a Big 12 school to play basketball, you don't need to prove your worth. We know you're a stud. Walk away. Or fight ... and have your name involved with negative commentary all across the country. Your choice.
And high school hoopers take note: You're on the basketball team, which automatically makes you one of the coolest kids in the school. Don't blow it because some punk is jealous.
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