SLIAC

[fcnews]

Hey doug, Safe travel. I'll ask Lauren to point you out to me. It would be very nice to meet you.

[jdoug2]

Thanks fcnews. I'll be there with Lauren's mom, my sister. Not looking forward to the cold weather.

[sully309]

I've given myself 3 days to cool off about this, but it's still eating at me, so I would like to get this off my chest. First of all, I work for Eureka College, as you could guess by my name and I'm aware that what I write on this board not only reflects on the school I work for, but also the SLIAC overall as a conference. I apologize if this is not the right place to vent, but let me assure everyone that I am saying this as a college basketball fan. I do not want my opinions to reflect how everyone feels at Eureka. This is just me being a basketball fan.

There was an incident that happened at the end of the Blackburn/Eureka women's game on Tuesday that truly angered me and sadly, from what I've learned since, I have lost some respect for certain groups and individuals. Blackburn had played a great game against Eureka and was on the verge of their best win of the season. BC was up I believe 10 with under 3 minutes to go when a Blackburn player passed the ball to a teammate and immediately punched a Eureka player in the stomach. None of the officials saw the punch. The Blackburn player was not immediately pulled from the game even though the punch happened right in front of the BC bench. She was taken out before play started again, but was soon put back in after EC had scored a basket.

I may have heard the rule wrong, but I was told the NCAA has a mandatory 1 game suspension for a player throwing a punch in a game. I was shocked to find this was only a 1 game  suspension when NBA players have recently been charged upwards of 15 games to a punch thrown. Secondly, as weak as it is, the NCAA rule I was told is not enforcable in this case anyway because the referees did not call anything. I have learned that Blackburn has suspended the player. I hope they went above and beyond the NCAA rule, but after the coach put the player right back in the game even though they still had a comfortable lead, I'm sceptical. There was also a lot of extremely rough play in first game between BC and EC in Eureka. I know Blackburn played a non-conference game Thursday, so maybe the Beavers will be short a player when you watch them Saturday, jdoug. Either way, I hope Fontbonne's players get through the game unscathed. It benefits the conference as a whole if all of the team operate at full strength. Teams have enough trouble staying healthy over the course of the season without having to worry about cheap shots.

Tuesday was my first visit to Blackburn. Everyone I met was very nice and I enjoyed my time at the Beaver Dome very much until the very end of the women's game. It's a shame a few bad apples have dimmed my perception of the entire day.

Again, I apologize if I have over-stepped my bounds here, but I really felt this incident needed to be aired somewhere, sometime. I know I feel better already.

[y_jack_lok]

euereka_sid, from my point of view there is no problem with your post above about the incident at the Euerka-Blackburn game, regardless of your affiliation wiht Eureka College. In addition to the fans, most coaches & athletic directors read these posts, as probably some of the players do also. They need to know that fans are watching and are concerned about these things. Sometimes there can be disagreement about exactly what took place in a given set of circumstances. I would expect that if anyone affiliated with Blackburn saw the incident differently, or could give a reason why the player might have done what you describe, then they would step up and post a rebuttal. At that point both sides of the incident would have been expressed and hopefully everyone could move on. However, I would hate to see this site become a forum for an ongoing argument.

[Pat Coleman]

I think suspending a player 15 games of an 82-game season might be fair.

Suspending a player 15 games of a 25-game season is not proportionally appropriate. Think about that for a second -- in the NCAA your CAREER is 100 games without postseason play.

[sully309]

I don't see your point, Pat. 15 games out of an 82 game schedule is over 18% of the entire season. A 1 game suspension out of a 26 game season is less than 4%. That's not even close.

[fcnews]

EC_SID - There were no incidents in the FU v. BC game. Then again it was like 48 - 23 early. Also, if the siruation has got you that bothered, I'm sure the Commish would be willing to take a look at it. If EC decided to submit it.

[jdoug2]

Eureka sid I see your point. If none of the refs noticed the punch I'm not sure how the SLIAC can step in. However, that does not preclude the coach of Blackburn from suspending the player for a few games. I know things can get out of hand in the heat of the game, but there is no excuse for punching another player. Whenever something like this happens you always wonder if the punishment, or lack thereof, is dependent upon the level of the player. Star player gets a slap on the wrist. Benchwarmer gets suspended for 5 or so games.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't see your point, Pat. 15 games out of an 82 game schedule is over 18% of the entire season. A 1 game suspension out of a 26 game season is less than 4%. That's not even close.

You aren't willing to concede that 15 games out of 25 -- 60% -- is unreasonable? Boy -- going to have a hard time having a meaningful discussion with you about it then. That was my actual point.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm sure the administration at Eureka will be happy to know that their athletic department spokesperson is coming out in opposition to Blackburn's athletic department and NCAA rules.

You should consider remembering your position when you post statements like that. Any statement you make publicly represents your department.

[jdoug2]

Since the refs missed the punch I guess it does fall to the coach. Missing 1 game seems trivial, but 15 games seems too harsh. There has to be a happy medium between 1 and 15 games. Of course I'm saying this having not seen the game.

In the end, I doubt anything comes of this.

[Just Bill]

In other leagues, if they play was clearly documented on videotape, the commissioner can issue a suspension.  I know of one (maybe two) occasion that occurred in the WIAC and a suspension was issued after the fact even though no violation was called at the time.  It depends on the the rules of the particular league.

[jdoug2]

As for the game Saturday, Fontbonne vs Blackburn, like FCnews said it was never that close. By the way, glad to finally meet you FC. Fontbonne was able to actually out rebound someone and Blackburn had no answer for the inside game of Kristen Chamberlain and Liz Sharpe-Taylor. That plus Mandi Newsome having a great shooting and rebounding game was plenty. My niece also had several nice lefty floater shots. Looks like some of that work in the summer playing ball with the guys helped her a bit. Fontbonne has a nice gym, I just wish they had more fans at the game. Oh well. I'll be back for the Feb 17th game. Until then, I'll be keeping up via the net.

[sully309]

I don't see your point, Pat. 15 games out of an 82 game schedule is over 18% of the entire season. A 1 game suspension out of a 26 game season is less than 4%. That's not even close.

You aren't willing to concede that 15 games out of 25 -- 60% -- is unreasonable? Boy -- going to have a hard time having a meaningful discussion with you about it then. That was my actual point.

Suspending a player for 60% of the season would be way too long. Of course, I never said they should be suspended 15 games. I was just susprised at the difference in percentage of games missed (18% vs. 4%).

I also never said that I was in opposition with the Blackburn athletic department. I didn't even know what the BC athletic dept. decision was, so how could I be in opposition to it? I was upset the BC coach put a player back in the game only seconds after she had punched an EC player and I disagree with the NCAA rule that a player is only suspended 1 game for punching someone. So what's wrong with that? If I said I didn't like using a 30 sec. shot clock, would that be different? That's an NCAA rule too. I don't have to agree with everything the NCAA does.

Pat, I have said before how thankful I am for all you do for D3 sports, but please don't insult my intelligence by saying you can't have a meaningful discussion with me.

O.K., so I'm done with that. Let's move on to the rest of the season. Fontbonne has definitely not helped out Eureka much this season.  Not only did they beat us twice, but they went and lost to Prin and Greenville. What's up with that? 

[jdoug2]

Eureke sid, sorry about Fontbonne not helping you out. They do play Principia this Friday. Maybe there's still a chance to make it into the top 4.