The Phenom

[Wayne23]

2/3: 79-82. A real battle in the 1st half. They took a late lead and led by 2 at the half. They led for most of the 2nd half. We had our chances but couldn't quite get it done. Howe missed a 25 footer at the buzzer.

23, 8 for Owen, 18, 5, 3 for Howe, 12, 3, 10 for Sand. Our bench was badly outplayed by theirs, 5, 7, 5 to 22, 11, 4; that was the difference. +12 RBs.

Our D let us down; they shot 49.2%, 46.7% on threes.

A 3 way tie for 1st place with another team one game back and 8 to play. We have one very tough road game left but we should go 7-1 at least.

[Wayne23]

2/7: 97-84 over Murray ST here but it was closer than that. We pulled away in the last 2 minutes. We took an early lead. They stayed close for most of the 1st half. Up 13 at the half.

Terrible D again; they shot 58.3%, 53.8% on threes.

20, 5 for Weat17, 4 for Owen, 15 each for Howe and Celk. Owen was in foul trouble all night and played only 13 minutes.

We'll take the win but we're not happy with our D.

[Wayne23]

2/10: 99-77 at Southeast Missouri State. We fell behind early and had to play catchup all half. Down 6 at the end. We changed a couple things at the half and took control in the 2nd, leading by as many as 32.

This was a game of benches, ours had 35, 15, 8, and theirs had 36, 6, 5.

19, 9, 4 for Celk, 20, 7 for Owen, 16, 8, 6 for Weat, 14, 1, 7 for Sand, 11, 4 for Morr. +13 RBs.

Still a 3 way tie at the top of the OVC.

Gary Owen is #7 on the Norton list.

[Wayne23]

2/14: 76-63 Tenn State here. Slow start. We woke up late and led by 2 at the half. As we usually do when we win, we had a good 2nd half. The D was better tonight but we shot only 35.9%. For an inside focused team that's not good. A pathetic 2-18 on threes.

16, 13 for Owen, 16, 6, 4 for Weat, 13, 8 for Brom.

Our toughest remaining regular season game is next, at Eastern Illinois, 17-7, 11-2. We're 19-5, 11-2, and it's still a 3 way tie. We could finish 3rd in the conf. if we don't win this one.

Luke John is making good progress and will be back in about 2 weeks. He may play in our last regular season game.

[Wayne23]

2/17: 91-65. We got off to an early lead. Up 19 at the half. I am thrilled. I thought we could beat them but this was a shellacking; didn't expect that!

23, 13, 3 for Owen, 14, 6, 5 for Brom, 15 for Celk. +12 RBs, and we took care of the ball. Great win!

Excerpts from the Post Game Presser:

Q: Coach, Eastern Illinois is one of the best teams in the OVC but you've owned them this season, winning by 28 at home, and 26 tonight. How does that happen?

Coach: We match up well with them, especially inside. To be honest this is a team I'd rather not play in the post season; they have something to prove and that can be dangerous.

Q: Coach, when you guys are on your front court dominates. You have a lot of weapons inside.

Coach: We definitely do. But, we can be stopped, and we have been stopped 5 times this season, twice in conference play. I work hard at reminding my guys of that. They need to stay focused at all times.

Q: Eastern Kentucky looks like your biggest challenge in the conference tournament. They beat you by only 3 at their place. What do you need to do to beat them?

Coach: Play better! (laughter) Frankly, it's too early to focus on the post season. We look at video of teams we may play down the line but our main focus is always on our next opponent.

Q: But when you look at video of Eastern KY, what does it tell you.

Coach: They're a really good team, especially outside. We'll have Luke John if
we play them in the post season, and he's our best outside defender. He didn't play in the game at their place so we hope that will make a difference. We're so thin in the back court right now.

[Wayne23]

2/21: 92-69 vs. SIU Edwardsville here. We got out to an early lead. Stretched it to 12 at the half. We were in control all the way.

27, 8 for Weat, 15 for Morr, 12, 9 for Celk, 12, 7 for Brom. +15 RBs.

Still tied for 1st with Eastern KY, 1 ahead of Eastern Illinois.3 to play.

[Wayne23]

2/24: 78-91 at Austin Peay. Down 14 at the half. Not happy. They're killing us outside. We were never in it. Terrible D, especially outside. They shot 52.5%, 51.7% on threes (15-29). +14 RBs.

I was too pissed to say anything in the locker room. I went to the office in there and stayed there until the players got on the bus, then I took a taxi to the hotel.

We're alone in 2nd, 1 back of Eastern KY.

Luke John is available for backup duty in our next game. That's about the only bright spot right now.

[Wayne23]

2/28: 98-81 over Morehead State here. It took us 10 minutes to establish a double digit lead. Up 14 at the half. We were never threatened in the 2nd.

22, 8 for Brom, 20, 7 for Owen, 15, 9 for Weat. Only 5 TOs.

John was rusty and it showed, but he's at 100% and I'm going to start him in our last regular season game.

[Wayne23]

3/3: 93-82 at Belmont. Down 7 at the half but we completely turned it around in the 2nd. 32, 8 for Owen, his best game of the season. 25, 10, 4 for Brom, 14, 5 for Weat. +11 RBs.

Eastern KY lost so we end the regular season tied for 1st. We'll be the #2 seed.

23-6, 15-3. NET #25. +13.5 PPG, +10.0 RBs, -1.9 TOs, but 13.6 is too many. We were #1 in PPG and NET Offense, #4 in RBs, #5 in Total NET rating.

Owen led us with 19.6 PPG, and was 2nd in RBs with 7.4. Weat had 14.3 PPG, 6.2 RBs. Brom had 12.4 and led with 7.6 RBs. Celk had 11.2 and 6.0.

[Wayne23]

3/5: Gary Owen is #5 on the Norton list which makes him a possible 1st team All American. Pretty exciting.

3/7: We get a bye to the semifinal round where we face #3 seed Eastern Illinois, 20-10, 13-5. We have beaten them badly twice this season, by 28 and 26.

Scouting Assistant Pers Will: Overconfidence is scaring the coaching staff. We match up VERY well with this team. We feel we're better at every position except PG, which is about even, and we think we have the better bench. We can't let them beat us with threes, which is probably their only chance.

3/8: 95-91. We took the lead right away. Up only 3 at the half though. It was a war right to the end, mostly because of our awful D (they shot 51.9%, 10-20 on threes) and going 0-9 on threes. We won it at the line; they had 3 guys foul out. We were quicker, which meant they had to foul but honestly, the game was not well officiated.

31, 8 for Owen, another big game when we needed it. 19, 7, 4 for Celk, 19, 3, 2 for Weat. Our guards didn't give us much. We'll need a lot more from them in the title game.

As expected we play #1 seed, #21 ranked Eastern Kentucky, 25-5, 15-3.

They beat us by 3 there in Feb. We didn't have Luke John.

Scout Pers Will: The game in Feb. was close all the way. Been watching it over and over. They won it on a 25 foot buzzer beater. We won the inside game easily, didn't lose the outside game by much and we took care of the ball. The two differences- 14 threes to our 6, and their bench was WAY better than ours.

They run a fast paced O with lots of screens and good movement without the ball. They look for the outside shot. I'm recommending that we play a lot of 3-2.

They use a 1-2-2 full court press almost every time and then settle into a man to man. They'll try to tire out our guards.

As far as personnel go we're the better team except for bench strength and I feel like if we play our game we should win.