Titan,

I too was in Salem over the weekend and not knowing much about the teams outside the Midwest I had Amherst winning it as well.  However, that quickly changed as soon as I witnessed the Hope vs. Wash U. game on Friday night.  It just proves that teamwork, discipline and smarts can beat size and overall talent anyday.  Wash U. just flat out shot lights out and played more agressive than Amherst right from the start. 

This was my first Final Four experience and I may have to make it an annual trip.  Nice weather, nice views, and nice people everywhere! 

Lastly, after seeing the basketball played over the weekend the MWC has a long ways to go before we will see one of our teams in the finals.  Lawrence being the best overall team recently doesn't hold a candle to teams that were representing last weekend.  Nonetheless, I hope the MWC can represent sooner rather than later.

Well til next season!  Everyone have a great summer!  See you in October!

Bust

I really didn't see this coming from the Bucs!  But I guess I should have since just about every year previous Beloit finally decides to start playing with about 6 games to go in the year.  The freshmen (first years) really stepped it up tonight.  Beloit played really well...except for their 3-4 minute lull in each half where they decide to shoot and play defense like Grinnell.   Sorry GC fans I had to throw that in there . 

Watch out tomorrow BlueBoys, the Bucs are on a roll!  Oh yeah and it's Hall of Honor weekend...just an extra bonus!  It would be nice to sweep a weekend for once!

Roop, this last injury was actually the "good" ankle but it didn't matter tonight.  Beloit is just not very good...plain and simple.  One thing I notice about all the other team in this conference is how they just fly around the court.  I don't know if the other teams are just faster or if Beloit is just slower.  It takes to long to set screens and come off of them so they just hold the ball and eventually throw it away.  If they would sprint from one spot on the floor to another (like everyone else) and just pass the ball around quicker I think they would be alright offensively.  They can hit open shots they just don't get very many.  I don't know, there are so many things they need to work on...sorry for my venting.  Thank you.

On a more serious note Ken Hendricks, the founder of ABC Supply Co. died this morning at his home after he fell from his roof.  For those of you who do not know of him, he was a huge part of Beloit's community.  He and his wife both received honorary degrees at last years graduation ceremony for their commitment, hard work and support they had put into the Beloit community.  This is a HUGE loss for the community including Beloit College.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, family, friends, and all of  the southern Wisconsin community whos lives he has changed.

Did anyone else notice the rather strange layout for the Clarke Holiday Tournament bracket???  The astericks at the bottom says that the bottom team for each matchup will be the home team.  So why would Clarke not put themselves in one of the bottom brackets so they would be the home team each game (assuming they advance)?  I know on some weekends when teams play on back to back nights that the road team will wear home jerseys the second night but does the whole home/away jersey thing matter in tournaments?  It just seems a bit strange to me that they are hosting a tournament and could potentially be the visitor in their own gym/tournament.

Just arrived home from the BC vs. CC game tonight.  It was just like I expected with Carroll winning pretty easy.  77-64.  Beloit got within 3 early at 17-20 in the first half but Carroll goes on a 14-3 run to end the half.  Horton was pretty decent tonight as expected with 18 points but he got 2 early fouls which kept him out for a while.  Then Vraney realized that there was really nothing to lose by having him on the floor with fouls.  Bysted, Isham, and Wimmer did a better job tonight and if they can build on tonight they might start to compete a little bit.  However, too many turnovers and bad rebounding at times, as usual, kill the Bucs.  I really hope they can muster up a win or two before it's all said and done.  There's nothing better than playing spoiler down the stretch (except making the tournament of course). 
Carroll's starters are pretty good but their bench (which got to play quite a bit) is not what it has been.  Schultz does a great job using his timeouts to give his starters a breather.  On offense they like to fire three's and when you come out on them they are really good at getting it inside for some easy points.  Mueller was very good tonight inside and out.  Carroll will make some noise in the conference but if other teams get into their bench, they may lose some games if it's close at the end.

BUCS IN '09???

I was at the Beloit/MSOE game the other night and must say it will be a very long year for the Bucs.  I look at their schedule and don't see anyone that I can say Beloit should or could beat.  I don't know how much difference Horton will make when he returns but they will need him all year long.  From what I hear he should play in the conference opener next weekend at IC.  All in all a pretty poor performance from mostly everyone on the team.  They show bright spots once and a while, but the bad plays by far out weight the good.  No post presence on O or D and the guards almost look scarred when they get the ball.  That might be why they shoot so many 3's...they just don't want the ball I guess.  Anyways, I hope Vraney can turn them around but he definitely has his work cut out for him.  BUCS in '09!?

Anybody out there know why Julian Ross has decided not to play basketball at Beloit?  I heard he was pretty good in high school.

Roop,

I was at the scrimmage on Thursday and I found out that Horton has a stress fracture in his foot and will be out for another 3-4 weeks.  Horton would play right now but trainers are holding him back.  I did not hear anything about Nate Tate but I would assume he will not play this year...he is not on the roster as of right now.

As far as the scrimmage...Beloit played better than I expected for the team they have.  Benedictine was a pretty equal match for them but not what the Bucs will see throughout the season.  They will struggle against the MWC but I think Vraney will have them playing better D than they have in the past.  It also looks like Vraney wants to really push the ball up the floor but again with not much bench that would seem unlikely later in the season.  They have some guys that can shoot 3's but the big issues are their bigs and the overall lack of experience.    I also agree that their first year point guard will suprise some people.  He is very quick and can handle the ball as well as shoot 3's.  He reminded me a lot of Dowden his first year with Beloit but with more of a scoring mentality.  It will be interesting to see him face some conference guards. 

However, their season really lies on the shoulders of Horton.  It will be a while before Horton is in any kind of game shape and may not be much of a factor right away once he comes back.  He will be their only consistency whatsoever.  Unfortunately, not having a 20 and 10 talent on the floor may mean a battle for the basement in the MWC.

For those of you who care, Beloit has a scrimmage Thursday (tomorrow) at 7:30 vs. Benedictine.  I must say the improvements to the Flood arena look pretty nice...wish their team looked as good as their gym.

So how bout this 3 pt. line deal...think it will affect the mwc???  grinnell???  I personally don't think it will have much affect because most of the shots taken behind the line are a foot deeper than it is now anyways.  %'s might be down a bit but I think it is a good move for the collegiate level overall.

I know for sure that all of the southern teams in the conference have far better facilities then Beloit.  IC, Grinnell, and Monmouth have fairly new gyms (or additions), which are amazing by the way.  As for the north, I would put Carroll and St. Norbert far ahead of Beloit.  Not sure about Lawrence or Ripon...I've only seen the gyms.  Beloit doesn't even have an outdoor track!  If I was a recruit (and the best ones would put athletics ahead of academics) and I was torn between Beloit and some of the other MWC schools, I would definitely be turned off just by the facilities alone (old or too far away).

fightintitan you are right on with the whole DeGeorge thing.  The "Beloit bubble" really does exist...mediocracy is fine by all.  The whole "tradition" at Beloit has gone down the toilet.  Unfortunately, when ultimate frisbee is your best sport that's pretty bad (no offense, I like to play it).  Anyways, there really is not much support for athletics anymore, which is too bad.

Quote from: Old School on April 18, 2007, 10:45:28 AM
I have no hate towards Youngblood or Beloit.  In fact, I have no dog in this fight, but based on a quick glance at the records since Youngblood took over, it doesn't really look like he improved the team on a consistent basis.  His overall record is horrible.  10 years or so, is plenty of time to recruit your own players and build (or rebuild) a program. 

So I can assume you just care more about how Beloit does than Knox?  Heimann has been there for over 30 years yet not much improvement as a program.  In fact he has about the same winning percentage as Cecil.  I haven't heard anyone asking for his resignation however.  I get the impression that Knox really doesn't matter much to this board...not a whole lot of Knox supporters out there.  True???

I really am curious why there are so many Cecil haters???  Is it just because he didn't win?  I have been a reader for the past 7 or 8 years and still don't really understand what everyones beef is. Just curious.