The Way I See It,

Libero, my 4 year degree from Lakeland begs to differ that i dropped out. My post number is lacking as i find myself getting further and further away from teams in the NAC. I have only been to a handful of games and don't have the ability to listen to games online. I would love to stay more intuned, but work just doesn't allow it. I have been leaving messages though on games that i have attended this year.

I don't even get to that many Lakeland games anymore. And when i go, I find that they have been losing. So to spare us both the agony, I just have not been going. I will, however, be making the treck to Sadoff Gymnasium tonight to watch Marian and Edgewood.

I do miss my babbling counterparts on here though. It made the work day go a tad bit quicker when trying to outwit the likes of Bust'yall or some of the other WLC posters.

I will be sure to leave an update on what i see tonight. But now if you will excuse me, I am all out of Pledge and my diploma frame needs a good dusting.

The Way I See It,

No need to sit down and talk as i only state things 'the way i see it'. I know probably more than you think I do about the Lakeland team, players, and coaches. I hope your son (i am assuming this is the case) does rather well in a Lakeland uniform, both for his sake and the team's sake. I am not just basing this off of what was clearly evident in Saturday's game. As i said, i know quite a lot about the team, both on and off the floor. I also know why he and several other players were not in uniform last Wednesday night. I have nothing against Rogers or any of the other Lakeland players. I will still cheer as loud as the next Muskie fan when i am at the games. I only stated things 'the way i saw them'.

The Way I See It,

My Muskies are in a little bit of trouble. Saturday's game against Edgewood was a game they should have won. I do not take anything away from Edgewood as they clearly earned it, but it was a game that shouldn't have even been close. It was a 6-4 matchup for 17 minutes of the game (the amount of time that Matt Rogers played).

He clearly decided he was going to play for Edgewood on Saturday. From the moment he made his first touch of the basketball on Saturday, you could tell he was on a different mission than the rest of the team. He was out there to try and accumulate his stats after having sat out the team's previous game. Between the handful of bad shots and 4 turnovers (0 assists) in 17 minutes, it was dreadful. But none of that compares to what he did after hitting one of his 2 field goals. After hitting a 3 pointer late in the game, he held both hands in the air with 3 fingers up and stared at the Edgewood bench for about 3 full seconds.

I would like to see the scoring differential between the minutes Rogers played and the minutes he sat the bench. As a fan, it was very frustrating walking away from that game having witnessed all of this. He is too talented of a player to let this kind of stuff happen. I hope for Lakeland's sake, he gets his act together both on AND off the court.

The Way I See It,

Downtown,
Stop giving us a 12 page update on MSOE. For starters, they are not even currently in this league. And most importantly, they cost the conference its automatic birth to the NCAA tournament. I would much rather pick up my National Enquirer and read about K-Fed trying out his new WWE moves on Justin Timberlake. Save your game capsules and MSOE updates for your Thanksgiving Day toast at the dinner table.

The Way I See It,

It has been long enough since my last post. I know absolutely nothing about the Illinois teams. I do know the LMC teams pretty well, however. I know that WLC does not get any credit because you don't know which WLC team will show up year in and year out. Will they run and gun? Will they play halfcourt? You just can't get a guage until midway through the year. That is not a rip on WLC by any means....it is the truth.

Edgewood will be the same disciplined team they have always been under first year coach Todd Adrian. I look for them to be in the hunt at the end of the year.

I have a question mark on Lakeland. I think the new hire was a good one and the players are adjusting real well. I need to see game play though before i start backing my alma mater with the biased approach that i have been accustomed to in the past.

Marian and MBBC do not deserve more than this sentence...they suck.

As for this 'budding' rivalry between CUC and Lakeland.....not sure about it. None of the Lakeland football players play basketball and i can guarantee you they won't be making the trip down there on December 6th. So i am not sure what the Lakeland basketball team 'deserves' as a previous poster stated, but i think this is getting blown out of proportion even further than Bobby Knight smacking his player around on national television. If the CUC b-ball team wants to use Lakeland's football team as motivation, go right ahead. That would be like me saying, "I think the Lakeland basketball team is ticted at the CUC women's softball team for leaving tampon wrappers in their locker room.....you better watch out now on December 6th. That CUC basketball team is going to get what's coming to them!"

Now if you will excuse me, i need to head down to the local pub for my midday pick-me-up....a cigar and a little gin and juice while watching Mr. Belding run one of the best high schools ever.

The Way I See It,

I guess i am confused as to why the Lakeland/Hope game should be taken out of the picture?  If the game was ugly on both sides of the ball, wouldn't the game be just as close if both teams were clicking on all cylinders? Don't pull out the layoff card and all that crap. The game was close. End of story. So if Hope comes out and plays like that tomorrow night, what would the excuse be then?


GO WLC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be listening to the game via webcast off of Hope's site. Any Hope fans out there do that before? Is the quality good or will it cut in and out?

The Way I See It,

Busty, you must feel like a little boy at Christmas who just got that GI Joe he had on his list. I mean you have never had this many people on this board showing you respect and praising your enthusiasm.  But I too would have been dissappointed to see you not pick WLC to win.

And as for the crowd in UWLax and Calvin, i bet the Hope fans will cheer for UWLax if the game is close. That is just the natural reaction when you see your swarn enemy engaged in battle.

Look for Calvin and Hope to meet on Saturday. I think WLC will give Hope fits early on with their style of play, but Hope is just too good to lose at home in the playoffs. Hope will win by about 15.

If i didn't have to work, I might have even driven along with you Busty. I mean we might have clashed a little, but that is something a few taverns on the way could have fixed.

The Way I See It,

First off,,,,,great season to my Muskies. It's tough going out like this. Good luck to the seniors.

Now as for the game. Not sure how you can say the reffing was the worst you have seen Big_Uns. I was at the game as well and the reffing wasn't that bad. I mean Lakeland was in the bonus with 15 minutes left to go in the 2nd half. It is a frustrating loss but don't blame the usual suspects in this case.

Edgewood showed last night the team that everyone thought they would be for the entire year. They earned the win last night. They were up 17 in the second half and held on even after Lakeland came back to tie it with a little over 4 minutes to go. I think Lakeland just ran out at the end with having to come from behind the entire game. Props to Big_Uns and the student section for finally providing some ripples in the Tank. It was good to see. Lakeland clearly was the better team night in and night out of the season, but Edgewood may have been a tad better on the night when it mattered most. But great job to Gary and the boys on a hell of a year where not was expected out of Lakeland.

Busty, thanks for the invite but i will have to decline. Hey, as much as i rag on WLC, I was actually hoping for a WLC @ Lakeland final on Saturday. It would have provided the best tournament atmosphere because i know the 6th man would have travelled up here. But alas, a man can't always get what he wants.

The Way I See It,

Lakeland does not draw a good fan base at this point whatsoever. I am even shocked to see the lack of student turn out this year. The problem with being out in the country with these little small towns is that high school basketball takes priority. Tuesday nights are big high school b-ball nights and that happens to be a night that conference games are played. I can't offer you an explanation on the Saturday games because typically in the past they have been a pretty decent draw.

And finally, Lakeland doesn't really have an identity. Incoming coaches view Lakeland as a stepping stone for higher things. Until that view of Lakeland changes as a whole, I don't think the community can latch on to a team that may go through a different coach every few years. I use Tom Desotell of Sheboygan North as an example. He has been there for decades and the fan base that follows North is fairly consistent. Desotell has run the same offense since he has been there. People who go to their games know what to expect from the team. The same can't be said about fans going to Lakeland games. It makes it less exciting when you know absolutely nothing about the game or the team you are going to watch.

The Way I See It,

Busty, (although this may come as a shock) I see nothing wrong with the antics that got you sent to Mr. Belding's office. Yes, Gonzaga students were warned about similar chants last week,,,but come on. This is a college basketball atmosphere. It is the job of the opposing crowd to haze and heckle players. I have no problem with the Brokeback Billy chants. As a player, I fed off the energy of the opposing crowd. It made me want to play better so i could shut them up.

But with that being said, there should never be any contact made between player or fan (i.e. the drunken Michigan State fan that started touching the Michigan player). I wasn't at the WLC/CU game or can't even tell what exactly happened judging by the many different responses, but it sounds like the fan/cheer boy was out of line by even being over by the Concordia bench. Because correct me if i am wrong, but doesn't the 6th man sit across the bench of the opposing team?

Back to the Semis, I see Lakeland winning a close battle over Edgewood. And I will go with Marian over WLC (sorry Busty, but i just can't pick WLC....although i wouldn't mind seeing a rematch of the finals 2 years ago up at the Tank as the atmosphere was nothing short of stellar in that game).

The Way I See It,

The reason there are no games during the week this upcoming week is due somewhat because of MSOE's finals week. They are on a tri-mester setup and it so happens that finals are this week. They will not play a game during the week because of this.

But i too agree with the format. I do not at all like the timing of starting the LMC tournament 2 and a half weeks before the actual NCAA tournament. For starters, this is the 3rd go around at each team. There is no need to prepare more than you have all season in that week between games. Just get the games over with. It actually benefits a lower seeded team and maybe that is why the LMC is not always represented by its best team.  Once you get to the NCAA's you need to be able to win 2 games in 2 or 3 days so why not the LMC tournament as well.

I will make the treck out tomorrow to the snowfields of Lakeland. I was hoping to have a better game to watch, but i guess this will do. I will just have to clear the schedule next weekend as well.

The Way I See It,

I kind of figured that, but i didn't want to bring that up without any knowledge to back it up.

The Way I See It,

Thanks Pat for pointing me in the right direction.

I am not at all a fan of the new Regional format if i read it correctly. It is stripping 2 teams of playing in front of an energetic home crowd (assuming that 1 of the teams in the regional hosts the games) for at least Friday night and maybe even Saturday night if the home school were to lose. And isn't that half the fun of making it to the tournament? I see the reason had to do with academics of some kind. But aren't you only really gaining one extra day of class time by doing this? I think the kids are getting screwed more by missing out on a once in a lifetime experience than they are a class or two.

The Way I See It,

I would think Lawrence would get a first round bye in the tournament (unless the format has changed over previous years). I would think Carroll would be a good possibility if they get in or even the winner of the WIAC or CCIW.

The Way I See It,

I hope i don't have a little Busty in me. I picked Concordia because 'that is the way i see it' happening. I also picked them to upset Edgewood in the semifinals (so concordia over WLC wasn't just out of spite towards you). There is typically a lower seed in the LMC tournament that comes up and surprises everybody. I think Concordia is that team this year. I don't see Marian beating MSOE twice at the Kern Center in one year. I certainly don't see Maranatha staying in the game at Lakeland. And dominican beating edgewood wouldn't really be that much of an upset seeing as how they were up so big on them in the previous two games. So that leaves me with Concordia.

Sorry bout it, but i just don't think WLC has the talent and depth. It has nothing to do with you liking them. It is what i see in the team and what they have done this year.