Just saw the Final D3hoops Top 25 Poll - how can Oglethorpe drop below Thomas More?  They both lost in the Sweet 16 on Thomas More's floor...OU lost to George Fox, the eventual National Champion and Thomas More lost to Hope - OU falls 4 spots & TM falls only 1?  Oglethorpe also beat Thomas More in their head-to-head meeting in December (and in the 2nd round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament).  Outrageous!

Conspiracy...maybe...maybe not, but it's still hard to believe that he hasn't won the award at least one time.

Great Game for OU Women today!  Go Petrels!  Very proud of the overall effort of this team and the recognition for Hannah as Defensive Player of the Year is well deserved!

I have to say that I am shocked that Coach Sattele has been passed over for Coach of the Year for the 4th straight year!  What does this man have to do?  He turned a team that never had a winning season into a national powerhouse and has been snubbed 4 straight years...last year, the reasoning was that OU lost to DePauw 2 times (I realize that OU lost a 3rd time after the COTY voting was completed).  I don't want to take anything away from the Centre Coach, she has done a fine job, but nothing at the level of Coach Sattele (this year, 14-0 at home; wins over DePauw, Thomas More, St. Norbert, Transylvania, Centre (twice); ranked as high as #2 (top 11 all season); achieved 100 career victories at Centre last week (reached milestone quicker than Coach Huffman, a multi-year winner of this award); took team to Final Four in 2008)!!

Now, if he has taken himself out of the running for the award, forgive my ranting, but if he hasn't, it's a terrible injustice.  Let's hope that the OU Women can give him a Conference Championship on Sunday!

Forgot to mention...overall, the officiating was pretty even at both DePauw and Centre this weekend.  The calls were pretty balanced...with 2 exceptions - the Refs at DePauw refused to call 3 second violations on DePauw's women...there were blatant violations the whole game with DPU just camped out in the lane (could be why they lead the conference in rebounding margin).  The other officiating story came from one ref in the OU/Centre Men's game on Sunday...Coach Ponder from OU was working an official early on in the contest and the ref just went off and gave him a warning immediately (he must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, because he was just cranky).  I knew immediately that there were going to be issues later in the game and "Cranky Ref" did end up giving OU's bench a technical in the 2nd half.
The officiating is not terribly different than what I see down here (lack of consistency and no one calls 3 seconds in the lane).  The biggest problem has to be with consistency though - one play it's almost like someone tackles another player and nothing is called, the next minute, someone gets called for a touch and it interrupts the whole flow of the game!  I don't want to get down on the Refs, Heaven knows I couldn't do it, but if you are going to let them play, let them play and stick with it...stop going back and forth.

Just got back to Atlanta from my trip to Indiana & Kentucky for SCAC basketball!  Remember, my views are based on seeing only OU play this season (at home).  Friday night at DePauw was not pretty from OU's standpoint.  DePauw's Bigs had a really good game rebounding and scoring (Coach Huffman has a deeper bench than most of the teams I have seen and she subs them in very well).  The Petrels seemed to lose their confidence and swagger on Friday night.  But I have to tell you that the last 5 minutes of that game were really something to see with OU coming back form an 84-64 deficit to cut the lead to 4 and trail 88-84.  I heard several DePauw fans after the game saying that they got very nervous towards the end.  If only, they had started that run with 7 minutes to go instead of 5!

Sunday's game at Centre was a lot of fun to watch, as both teams were playing great ball - neither team could get that run and take command of the game.  Katie Kulavic had an outstanding game - 33 points on 14 of 17 shooting!  I was really happy to see her get the conference scoring record, but I have to tell you...Katie is a great individual player, no doubt, but she is the consummate team player - she only wants what is best for the team and it shows in her grit, determination and spirit on the court.  I have to agree with previous posts about Centre though - they are doing some really good things right now, but next year, they may just be the team to beat in the Eastern Division.  Any team that has to play them this weekend better come ready to play!

Looking forward to reports from Hendrix this weekend since I can't be there

Go Petrels!

FotP:

Thank you for the welcome to the Boards.  It has been a lot of fun watching OU the last 4 years...I have to say that the SCAC has to be one of the toughest conferences in DIII.  While there are favorites, on any given night, I would say any team can hold their own against any other team in the conference (and outside the conference), especially on their Home court, that's why I am making the trip to DePauw and Centre this weekend to support the Petrels!

Saw OU Women beat up on BSC today - it was Senior Day for 7 OU Seniors, so kind of emotional.  OU was up 32-24 at the half, but really kicked it up in the 2nd half winning 83-58.  Congratulations to Biz Richman for reaching the 1,000 point milestone! 
Tina Grace is back...after looking a little rusty on her first night back this past Friday, she poured in 21 points today in the win.  Anna Findley added 20 and reigning SCAC POTY Katie Kulavic added 7 bringing her career total to 1,503 - only 42 to break the conference career point total - Good Luck Katie!

Tough weekend coming up at DePauw and Centre, but this team is up to the challenge.