Month: February 2012

Mid-Week Grades — Feb. 29

Posted by dobrien – February 29, 2012

Happy Leap Day! Always wondered what it would be like to have Leap Day as my birthday. If I was a Leap baby, I’d only be 10. Wonder if they’d let me still play Little League? Anyway, here’s this week’s grade book. As always I’ll go over these on Wednesday’s edition of WGEM SportsCenter around 8:20 or so. If you have a grade, send it to us on the WGEM text line at 217-617-9437. Here we go:

A — Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team. Probably the easiest A I’ll give out all year. What more can I say about the Lady Raiders, who crushed the Class 2A field on their way to a second straight state title. What the Lady Raiders just did really is amazing. Their closest game in the entire playoffs was their 31-point victory over Breese Central in the championship game. The Lady Raiders have a great chance to three-peat next year. Before that though, I wouldn’t rule out a soccer title by the Lady Raiders in the spring. Wouldn’t that be something?

B — Brad Keslowski. If you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a Twitter junkie — follow me at twitter.com/dob23. When I heard that Keslowski was tweeting during the Daytona 500 fire delay, I thought it was pretty cool. I’m a wrestling nerd, so I follow a lot of wrestlers, some of whom who tweet during events I’m watching on TV. Makes me feel connected to what’s going on. Evidentally, a lot of NASCAR fans feel the same way. Keselowski went from 60,000 followers before Monday night’s race to 214,669 when I followed him on Tuesday night. He didn’t win the race, but more people were talking about him than they were race winner Matt Kenseth.

C — Quincy University men’s basketball. The Hawks’ season ended way too soon. A week ago at this time, the Hawks were in total control of their own destiny. They were eighth in the region rankings with a chance to solidify another NCAA Tourney bid with a win over Illinois-Springfield and a solid run in the GLVC Tournament. Instead, the Hawks lost by a point to UIS before being blown out by Drury in the first round of the GLVC Tourney at Pepsi Arena. The Hawks overcame a lot to finish with an 18-9 record, but the missed postseason opportunity will eat at them.

D — Dwyane Wade. What was Wade trying to prove by actually playing defense in the NBA’s All-Star game. He broke Kobe Bryant’s nose and Bryant had a mild concussion while fouling him during Sunday’s game. This probably won’t be seen in the long run like Pete Rose bowling over Ray Fosse in the 1970 MLB All-Star game, but it’s still silly of Wade to even attempt a hack like that in an exhibition game.

F — Daytona 500. A lot of what happened this weekend wasn’t the organizers’ fault. Mother Nature postponed NASCAR’s biggest race to a Monday start for the first time. We wound up having our first Sprint Cup race in a weeknight prime time spot, which was pretty cool. Then Juan Pablo Montoya caused a more-than two-hour delay by wrecking into dryer truck, which spilled a bunch of jet fuel that wound up catching fire. The entire weekend was a mess. Let’s hope that’s not a theme for the series this season.

 

QU Review — Drury 82, QU men 65

Posted by dobrien – February 26, 2012

The Hawks season came to an end with a first-round loss in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tourament.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s stars:

1. Justin Brock

Though silent for much of the first half, Brock did all he could to will the Hawks to a win. He scored the Hawks’ first 12 points of the second half and his personal 12-5 run to start the half cut Drury’s 14-point halftime lead in half. He killed the Panthers in the post and the perimeter, including banking in a 3-pointer with 1:25 left that cut the lead to 71-65. Those would up being the last points of his career and the Hawks’ season. He finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. Replacing the Liberty product who came to QU via Eastern Illinois won’t be easy.

2. Alex Hall

As good as Brock was in the second half, Hall was every bit as good in the first to help the Panthers (17-10) build that 41-27 halftime edge. He made three first-half 3-pointers and created offense for his teammates with the Hawks paying so much attention to him. After scoring just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting in a loss at Pepsi Arena earlier this season, Hall made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points to lead the Panthers.

3. Courtney Belger

The final spot on my countdown is more of an ode to Belger’s career as a Hawk than what he did in Sunday’s game. He was OK on Sunday with four points, seven assists, seven rebounds and four steals. But he has been a rock at the point guard spot for the Hawks over the last three years. Like Brock, he will be tough to replace. Also like Brock, it’ll be tougher to find a nicer kid than Belger.

DOBservations

To add insult to the Hawks’ loss, they would have avoided top-seeded Bellarmine in the quarterfinals of the tournament had they won. The GLVC reseeded the tournament after the first-round games. Since 10th-seeded Lewis beat No. 7 Illinois-Springfield on Sunday, that means the ninth-seeded Panthers will play second-seeded Missouri-St. Louis in Friday’s quarters. Nothing against the Tritons, but getting put in the bracket opposite Bellarmine is a huge break for the Panthers, who could be a threat as long as Hall and freshman Drake Patterson are hitting. … Former Quincy University Athletic Director Pat Atwell made the trip up to watch the game from Springfield, Mo. He had to boot a couple of QU students out from their would-be seats behind the Panthers bench before the game. … Drury can thank its free-throw shooting for the blowout win. The Panthers knocked down 28 of their 31 attempts from the stripe. … After being ranked in the Midwest Region rankings at the No. 8 spot last week, the Hawks lost two games. QU won’t get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and finishes its season at 18-9.

Debating the QND girls basketball team’s success

Posted by dobrien – February 25, 2012

As you can expect, not everyone is pleased with the Quincy Notre Dame girls basketball team obliterating the Class 2A state playoff field.

There was a nice little debate had on Friday. It started with a blog post by Rockford Register-Star assistant sports editor Matt Trowbridge. He believes the Lady Raiders didn’t challenge themselves on the way to state. He believes QND should have played up a class this year.

Trowbridge went so far as to ask the Lady Raiders about the path they took to get to state after Friday’s win. That led to a great column by our own Blake Toppmeyer. Take a look at it here.

My two cents:

The Lady Raiders don’t have to apologize for anything they’ve done. Last time I checked this wasn’t Quincy Park District beer league softball where the champs are bumped up to the next level the following season. If the other schools in Class 2A have a problem with the Lady Raiders they need to get better and beat them.

Slap of the Week — Feb. 24

Posted by dobrien – February 24, 2012

There are a lot of people mad at Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun this morning. It looks like the reigning National League MVP doped up and got away with it. Braun on Thursday had his 50-game drug-related suspension overturned, the first time an MLB player has ever successfully fought the system and won.

You can be mad at Braun all you want. He is the bad guy in this scenario, but you can’t blame him for putting up a fight. After all the 50 games he would have sat out were worth a couple of million in income for him. You’d fight, too, if you had millions on the line.

Part of your ire should go toward Major League Baseball and whatever courier service it uses to handle these drug samples. Braun won his case because the folks in charge of shipping the samples to the lab didn’t take it to FedEx because they thought it was already closed on a Saturday.

Carrier pigeon would have worked better than what MLB used on this one.

Braun will also been seen as a doper, and MLB leaders will continued to be seen as dopes.

QU Review — Illinois-Springfield 63, QU men 62

Posted by dobrien – February 24, 2012

The Hawks hopes for a Senior Night victory were dashed when time ran out on them at Pepsi Arena.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s stars:

1. Justin Brock

It looked for a second like the senior may be the hero again for QU. Ryan Stuckman missed a short jumper, and Brock had two great looks at tip-ins, but couldn’t get either to fall. By the time his third tip went in, the buzzer had sounded. He was shut out in the first half by UIS, but came back to finish with 15 points and eight rebounds.

2. Courtney Belger

The Hawks’ other senior to be honored also had nothing to be ashamed of as Belger played one of his best games of the season. He had 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. He made several big plays down the stretch when the Hawks really needed it.

3. Jermaine Love-Roberts

The guy with one of the best names in the GLVC showed a game to match it. He scored the Prairie Stars’ final nine points of the game after center Michael Fakaude fouled out. Love-Roberts’ jumper with 50 seconds left to play proved to be the game-winning shot. He finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.

DOBservations

I finally figured out why Belger is such a lover of basketball shoes — he always has the best kicks. His mother, Darlease, works at a shoe store. Darlease, Courtney’s dad, Bryant, and his little brother, Treshaun, were all sporting sweet-looking Air Jordans. … Marshawn Norris is on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon. He’s the first person in Quincy who I’ve seen wearing a Lin shirt. … Injured senior Tyler Thompson once again won best dressed award for his willingness to wear a bow tie. … The loss damages QU’s hopes of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. QU had just entered the region rankings at No. 8 this week. … The Hawks are the No. 8 seed in the GLVC Tournament and will play a 2 p.m. Sunday game against Drury at Pepsi Arena. The teams split their season series with each team winning on its home court.

QU Review — QU women 98, Illinois-Springfield 87

Posted by dobrien – February 24, 2012

The Lady Hawks wrapped up the GLVC West Division title and the No. 1 seed in the GLVC Tournament with a Senior Night victory at Pepsi Arena.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s stars:

1. Ali Schwagmeyer

Knowing her, I doubt that Schwagmeyer cares too much if she’s named the GLVC Player of the Year for a second straight time. She’d much rather have the Lady Hawks do great things in the upcoming GLVC and NCAA Tournaments. Still, she’s putting on a heck of a push for a repeat win. She had 29 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals to lead the Lady Hawks’ charge. Like Jessica Stuckman before her, I shudder to think what her career totals might look like had she played all four of her college seasons at QU.

2. Karlee Gengenbacher

She was the beneficiary of some lax defense by UIS and great timing on her part early on. She scored 10 of her 15 points in the first half to help set the tone in the high-scoring affair. She did more than score as she also handed out six assists and grabbed five rebounds. That’s quite a difference from when these teams first met and she was stuck on the bench for most of the second half.

3. Linsay Henke

After a slow first half, Henke took off in the second, scoring 17 of her 19 points. Her inside play helped the Lady Hawks pile up 54 points in the paint, including 29 second-chance points. She added seven rebounds and four blocks. The four blocks helped her become the school’s single-season record holder.

DOBservations

All of the six QU seniors and coach Jeni Garber had their own “Fatheads” floating in the stands during the game. … Senior Renita Bunte, who has missed the last two seasons with knee problems, got to play the final 4.4 seconds of the game. … Senior Kassidy Shuman established a career high with 10 assists in her last Pepsi Arena appearance. … As the No. 1 seed, QU must wait until Sunday’s first round games are finished until learning their quarterfinal foe. QU will play a 6 p.m. game Thursday at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield.

Figuring out the GLVC tiebreakers

Posted by dobrien – February 22, 2012

The Quincy University men’s and women’s basketball teams go into Thursday night’s season finale against Illinois-Springfield at Pepsi Arena knowing some of their postseason fate.

Thanks to the two-division system where all teams didn’t play everyone in the other divisions, tiebreakers this year are a little harder to figure out than normal.

The QU women’s basketball team is not only in the drivers’ seat when it comes to winning the GLVC West Division, but the Lady Hawks can also secure the No. 1 overall seed in the GLVC Tournament with a win over the Prairie Stars.

A win would put QU at 15-3 in league play. Even if Drury and Wisconsin-Parkside both win their finales to tie the Lady Hawks at 15-3, QU would get the No. 1 seed. QU swept Drury, so it is the West Division champion. Even though QU lost to Parkside earlier this season, that win doesn’t count in a tiebreaker scenario since Parkside won the game at home. The Lady Hawks have the edge in the tiebreaker over the Rangers since they won at Maryville and Parkside lost there.

The QU men’s team could still grab a share of the GLVC West title with a win and an UMSL loss to Maryville, but the Tritons hold the tiebreaker over QU for the division crown.

No matter what, the Hawks have secured a first-round home game, which will be played at 2 p.m. Sunday at Pepsi Arena. It’s just a matter of who they’ll play.  Even though QU beat Indianapolis, which likely will finish 12-6, the Hawks don’t get to factor that win into a tiebreaker since it came at Pepsi Arena. Indy has the tiebreaker since it won at Illinois-Springfield and QU didn’t.

QU does have the tiebreaker over another potential 12-6 Kentucky Wesleyan team. QU beat Indy at home, while the Panthers lost to Indy on their home court. If QU finishes 12-6, it would likely be the No. 6 and draw No. 11 Missouri S&T in the opening round.

If QU loses to UIS and finishes 11-7, it likely would drop to the No. 7 seed and have to take on a 10th-seeded Lewis team that beat the Hawks 75-59 earlier this season in Romeoville.

The league will release its full playoff pairings on its website on Thursday night.

Mid-Week Grades for Feb. 22

Posted by dobrien – February 22, 2012

Happy Ash Wednesday. Today’s the start of the Lenten season. The Linten season started earlier this month in New York. (Another bad Jeremy Lin pun, yeah!) For me, Lent means no more fast-food, chocolate, soda … basically everything that I’ve been sucking up the past four months or so. I’m back to living a clean lifestyle. We’ll see how I do. Anyway, here are this week’s grades. As we always do, we’ll breakdown these grades on WGEM SportsCenter around 8:20 a.m. or so. Text us with your grades at 217-617-9437.

A —Detroit Red Wings. Talk about home-ice advantage. The Red Wings have won 23 straight games at Joe Louis Arena to establish a new NHL record. The Red Wings, who lead the Western Conference, haven’t lost at home since a 4-1 loss to Calgary on Nov. 3. With the playoff approaching, it looks like the Red Wings are in prime position to regain the Stanley Cup.

B — Carl Edwards. The Columbia, Mo., NASCAR star looks like he is determined to make up for missing out on the 2011 Sprint Cup title, which he lost to Tony Stewart on a tiebreaker. No one was faster at Daytona International Raceway last weekend and Edwards claimed the pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Don’t be surprised if he’s doing a victorious backflip in Victory Lane this weekend.

C — Greg Oden. The Trail Blazers’ big guy just can’t buy a break. We’re not going to see the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft any time soon after he underwent another knee surgery this week. Oden hasn’t played in an NBA game since early December of 2009. He’s played all of 82 NBA games, while the guy who was picked behind him, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, has become one of the league’s star players. You have to feel bad for Oden. It’s not as if he’s brought this on himself. The same genetics that gave him the gift of 7-foot height also left him with some  paper mache knees.

D — Jay Norvell. I feel bad for college coaches. They have to grovel and beg 18-year-olds every year to help them keep their jobs. It’s bad enough they have to go hat in hand to coax these recruits to campus, but there are new ways for coaches to communicate with their recruiting targets. Norvell, an assistant at Oklahoma, looked pretty pathetic (and may have broken some NCAA rules) when he took to Twitter to offer full-rides to several prospects. Norvell, of course, said his Twitter was hacked, but that hacker also had Norvell’s cell number, which was included in the tweets. This is just sad.

F — University of Illinois men’s basketball team. While Mizzou fans are riding high these days, Illini fans are in the dumps. After a less-than-stellar effort last Saturday in an 80-57 loss to Nebraska, the Illini lost again Tuesday night at Ohio State. Unless the Illini run the table at the Big Ten Conference Tournament, it doesn’t look like they’ll be heading to the NCAA Tournament. It looks like the school may be writing Bruce Weber a $3.9 million buyout check so that he leaves Champaign after the season. It’s one heck of a mess.

QU Review — QU men 55, Maryville 44

Posted by dobrien – February 18, 2012

It wasn’t pretty, but the Hawks got back on the right track with a win at Pepsi Arena.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s stars:

1. Justin Brock

His string of 20-point games was snapped, but Brock was still vital to the Hawks’ winning effort. He finished with yet another double-double — the 20th of his career. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three assists — QU had only five helpers as a team.

2. Scott Hahn

The steady freshman was just that for the Hawks. He matched Brock’s double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. It was his first double-double as a collegian. His 10 rebounds are a career high. He also made one of the three 3-pointers the Hawks had on the day.

3. Marshawn Norris

The backup guard seemed to carry over the confidence he gained from making a game-tying 3-pointer late in the team’s 58-56 loss Thursday at Missouri-St. Louis. With the Hawks’ offense struggling in the first half, Norris stepped up to drill a 3-pointer and a jump shot on consecutive possessions. He finished with nine points in one of his better outings in a while.

DOBservations

The Hawks played their second straight game without junior Ryan Stuckman, who is out with a knee injury. Stuckman did go through pregame drills with the team. QU coach Marty Bell hopes to have Stuckman available for Thursday’s season finale with Illinois-Springfield at Pepsi Arena. … With the win, the Hawks secured a first-round home game for the GLVC Tournament. The game is tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. … The Hawks’ game with UIS will be crucial for GLVC Tournament seeding. Both teams will take 11-6 league records into the game and the winner will earn second place in the West Division.

QU Review — QU women 89, Maryville 81

Posted by dobrien – February 18, 2012

The Lady Hawks overcame a slow start — eight turnovers and five missed shots in the first six minutes — to earn a Great Lakes Valley Conference win at Pepsi Arena.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s stars:

1. Linsay Henke

The senior center had her most productive day in a very productive senior season. She finished with a career-high 24 points, making 9 of 14 shots from the floor and making 6 of 9 free throws. She added two more blocks to creep closer to the program’s single-season record. She has 60 on the season and needs just three more to set the record.

2. Lucy Cramsey

She was part of the problem early on with some ill-advised turnovers, but was also part of the reason why the Lady Hawks pulled away in the second half. She, too, set a career high with 21 points. She had four steals and five rebounds to offset a team-high five turnovers.

3. Felisha Loggins

Part of her addition here is a carryover from her strong play on Thursday night when she tied a career high with nine rebounds in the team’s win at Missouri-St. Louis. Loggins had eight rebounds, including seven offensive. She had six offensive boards in the first half to help the Lady Hawks keep possessions alive when they were struggling on offense.

DOBservations

Senior Darla Gatschenberger, who suffered an injury to her nose on Thursday, came out wearing a protective mask on Saturday. She looked like Chicago Bulls guard Rip Hamilton, but was missing Hamilton’s trademark headband. … Seniors Daryle Goldie and Renite Bunte dressed out for the game, but they weren’t cleared to play. They were suited up for photos that will be used during Thursday’s senior night festivities. … With the win, the Lady Hawks secured a first-round bye in the GLVC Tournament. They can wrap up the GLVC West crown with a win over Illinois-Springfield on Thursday. … Fans might notice a different look for QU assistant Nathan Daume. His beard continues to grow each week. Daume has told the Lady Hawks he won’t shave again until they lose. He’s been growing it out since the team’s loss at UIS on Jan. 16. That’s a 10-game beard growth.