OVC Tournament Info

Gearing up for tis weeks Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Nashville...You'll need a bracket.

2011 OVC bracket (Men)

2011 OVC bracket (Women)

The tournament gets underway Wednesday at noon. This season all tournament games will be played in Nashville at the Municipal Auditorium rather than first round games at campus sites.

The Championship game for the men will air Saturday at 7:05 pm on ESPN2, the women's title game airs on Wazoo Sports and ESPN3.

All-OVC hoops selections to be released via Twitter

I'll admit when I read this press release (below) I was surprised.  The Ohio Valley Conference is set to release this seasons OVC All-Conference Basketball teams using social media (Twitter). The lists will be released Tuesday.

It's forward thinking for a conference which you could argue has been behind the times in certain areas.
(Basketball double-headers for the men & women, Conference basketball tournament with opening round games at cam pus sites and the way conference baseball games are played).

(To their credit) This year all OVC Tournament basketball games will be played in Nashville and beginning in 2012 the OVC will play it's conference baseball games over three days (all 9 innings) as opposed to cramming them into two days with one of the games being a seven inning game.

KFVS Sports on Twitter http://twitter.com/kfvssports

OVC on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ovcsports.

2001 MVC Tournament Info (Men)

Saturday night the Southern Illinois Salukis wrapped up a disappointing (12-18, 5-13 MVC) season with a fifteen point loss at Indiana State.

Coach Lowery leads his eight seeded team into the Valley Tournament to face ninth seeded Illinois State.
The Salukis and ISU split during the regular season (home team winning). Game time is set for Thursday at 6:05 pm at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis. Winner moves on to play top seeded Missouri State (27-3, 15-3 MVC).

Unless the Salukis go on a serious win streak (8 games) they will end the year with a fourth consecutive sub 20 win season and third straight without advancing to a post season tournament (NCAA, NIT, CBI, etc).

2007-08 Saluiks finished 18-15 (NIT 2nd round)
2008-09 Salukis finished 13-18 (no post season tournament)
2009-10 Salukis finished 15-15 (no post season tournament)

The last time the program failed in back-to-back-to-back seasons to reach a post season tournament was over a decade ago (1998 - 2000).  That was the tail end of a six season drought (1995-2000).

You would have had to have walked through this past season with earplugs and blinders on to not be aware of the frustration brewing amongst SIU faithful. I have answered a lot questions concerning Coach Lowery and his future with the school. I was told has three years left on his contract and the buyout is the remainder of the deal.

Unless there is an agreement on a buyout don't expect him to be removed as head coach...It would be too expensive. However I I don't believe that is a serious option.

I would expect Coach Lowery to be back next season, but if things do not improve...All bets are off.

2011 MVC Tournament (Men)

Tough road ahead for Cardinals

Life becomes much tougher for the St. Louis Cardinals and GM John Mozeliak with the news this week starter Adam Wainwright will under go season ending Tommy John surgery.

A season which seemed promising now sits on the brink of the unknown...before a single Grapefruit League pitch is tossed.

Where do the Cardinals look to find 30 starts, 16 wins, sub 3.00 era and 200 innings pitched (Wainwright's averaged the past four seasons as a starter).

Trade: Good luck finding the one thing every major league team is searching. If they go that route would Mozeliak deplete the big league roster or mortgage the future with the likes of  Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Tyrell Jenkins, Seth Blair, Lance Lynn or Zack Cox?

In-house:  The first five guys mentioned above are (according to Baseball-Intellect) the top pitching prospects in the St. Louis farm system. By all accounts Shelby Miller is atop the list...Is he big-league ready?
Will they fill the rotation with the two from the veteran group of Kyle Lohse, Brian Tallet, Miguel Batista, Kyle McClellan, Ian Snell or P.J. Walters?

Free Agent: Sign a veteran and hope pitching coach Dave Duncan can work his magic?
Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Bonderman, Doug Davis, John Maine, Brian Moehler, Jamie Moyer, Ben Sheets

It will be a move(s) worth paying attention too because the outcome could directly affect the future of Albert Pujols as a St. Louis Cardinal.

What happens if the Cardinals are out of the race in the NL Central as the trade deadline approaches?
Do they gut the team (Pujols, Carpenter, Berkman, ets.) and go into rebuilding mode?

The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals are the equivalent to Must-See-TV.

SEMO Baseball Photos from Wayne McPherson

Nearly every road game the Southeast Missouri State baseball team plays Wayne McPherson sends in pictures.

We can't thank him enough.

I had a few extra minutes to spare so I edited the pictures from this weekends games at Louisiana-Lafayette together with some music.

Again...Thanks go out to Wayne McPherson...

SEMO took two of three in the weekend series to begin the season 2-1.

Salukis need a spark to fuel late season push.

Can the Southern Illinois Salukis (11-14, 5-9 MVC) parlay the momentum and success of tuesday nights upset of Wichita State into a victory tonight over Creighton? We''ll find out tonight at 7:05 CT.

The first game of the season Creighton (15-11, 7-7 MVC) rallied from a seven point hole in the final five minutes to send it to overtime. The Blue Jays pulled away in the extra session to beat the Salukis 72-66.

Since that loss to Creighton the Salukis have been in a free fall dropping three of ten including five straight before the much needed win over Wichita State.

Escaping Omaha with a victory tonight could be the fuel to feed a late season run into the Valley Tournament.

Hopefully they can find a groove and eventually be selected to play in one of the many post season tournaments.  So far this season has been a monumental disaster.

Building a program: Cape Central basketball

Under head coach Drew Church the Cape Central Tigers boys basketball program has improved each season.

This year the hard work and foundation built in seasons past is taking shape.  (As of  Wednesday night) Cape Central sits at 17-3 and has been red hot winning ten straight.

The Tigers will take the top seed into the upcoming Class 5 District 1 tournament.

Interesting article...What if Rams has not traded for Faulk.

Courtesy: Yahoo!

Just stumbled upon this at Yahoo!....  Interesting thought..What might have happened had Rams not traded for Marshall Faulk.

Yahoo! Sports: Faulk trade may have changed others’ fortunes

New bats for college baseball

The landscape of college baseball is changing.

Beginning this season teams will use a bat which plays more like wood.  The balls do not come off the newer bat as fast which makes the game safer for fielders and we probably  won't see as much offense this season.

Players and coaches will have to adjust to a time limit as well as the new bats this season.
With no one on base pitchers have 20 seconds to deliver a pitch.  They get one warning then the batter will be awarded a ball.

The new rule works both ways... If the batter is the cause of a pitch not thrown in the 20 second limit he will be given a strike.  Like the pitcher, hitters are given a warning.

If college baseball games are shortened and the focus is put on pitching & defense I'm a huge fan of the new rules.  Maybe that is my National League roots showing....But I''l take a 4-3 game in less than three hours any day.