Dusting off the ole blog

Sorry its been a while since my last post but things happen and things get neglected. Matt and myself launched at fan site/blog for USA sports based around the new Jaguar logo. So if you haven't heard or seen it, visit ThunderJags and give us some feedback. Oh and click an ad or two if you like it.

I'm still slowly organizing and putting stuff away in the new place. I've been working around the latest roommate, who still has a huge amount of crap in the game(?) room. I mean really, how many guys has THAT many clothes and shoes?!? He would seriously rival many women I know in both of those departments. In addition to that he has started smoking, at least its outside.

I am considering joining the Jaguar Football Support Club, if anyone is interested in going in with me for now. We can get good priority seating, but I want to know who wants to go in and/or possibly going to games so I can see how many tickets are needed. So send me an email and let me know if you're interested in season tickets or just going to take in a game.

Hopefully I won't take so long between posts next time since I have some things floating around in my mind to blog about.

South Alabama Thundercats?

Jaguar goes RARRRR!!!!!!!

South Alabama unveiled its new sports logo today and as you can tell from the title, it looks very, very reminiscent of the Thundercats logo. So come out and support your South Alabama Fighting Thundercats next fall on the gridiron!

Lacking Inspiration lately

The title says it all, I have been lacking inspiration to blog lately. No football news to speak of much, I'm not that fond of baseball (its not like USA is a real contender this year anyway), and the NBA sucks.

But I do have a couple things to write about, hence the blog post. First, USA had the ground breaking for the new Student Center at the corner of Stadium Blvd. and Old Shell Road. This has displaced the 'old shack' and the oozeball courts. Well rest assured, oozeball will continue in a different location. It will be located between the JagTran building and The Grove. Also, it will be expanded from four courts to five now.

At the groundbreaking, I got an autograph from Coach Jones and a photo with him and the photo can be seen below.
Over the last few days I have started using Twitter. Its a pretty cool way to keep up with people since each 'tweet' is limited to about 140 characters. So you don't get the blabbering like with a bad blog post. I don't have it update me via sms because another friend of mine gets text messages every 25.2 seconds from twitter updates.

Also, I took some time to update my webpage at the school of CIS. Its nothing special but its my page. Thanks to Jeremy who made the template for the ACM website and allowed me to use it for my page as well with some modification. I plan to make more changes to it along the way.

Posting lag

Well, its that time of year when there's not too much to post about.

Coach Saban was in Mobile yesterday to kick off their state tour leading up to this falls football season. He hinted at how much Mobile mattered in rebuilding LSU when we was there and how it will be key to rebuilding the Crimson Tide back to its national prominence.

In a couple hours from now, groundbreaking will take place on the new Student Rec Center adjacent to Stanky Field. Now, for the people who are not familiar with South Alabama baseball, they will initially laugh at the name 'stanky field'. Eddie Stanky was a major league player, manager and eventually coach at South Alabama. He took USA from unknown to a widely known NCAA baseball team.

This same area where the new student rec center is going to be built, is the same area that students gather each spring semester to play 'Oozeball' before finals start. I wonder if it will still be held at the same area or if they will move it to another place on campus.

Also, tonight USA takes on Alabama at Stanky Field at 6pm.

Finally Thursday is release day for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. I will be attending a release party at Picklefish from 7pm - until.

South Paw for the win

The Chicago Tribune ran a contest coinciding with the NCAA Tournament to see who had the best mascot. After a flury of votes at the last minute, South Alabama's own South Paw won with 51% of the vote over Baylor's Bruiser.

NCAA Round 1 Complete

The field is set for round 2 of the NCAA tournament with some surprising faces completing upset bids. #10 Davidson upset #7 Gonzaga to start off the day of upsets. While Matt, Shanon, Big Joe Duke and I were waiting to be seated at Bob Baumhower's Wings, we watched #12 Western Kentucky force overtime with #5 Drake.

While seated we then got to watch Western Kentucky fall behind and then catch back up. After trading some free throws, WKU was down by one point with 5.7 seconds left. The coach drew up a good play, Ty Rogers would inbound the ball to a player. Ty would trail him down the court drawing the focus to him then passed it to Ty a few feet behind him. Ty got the shot off and nailed the 3 pointer to upset Drake in overtime 101-99.

We were hoping that South would pull an upset but the outside shooting for Butler was too much. I hope the NCAA Committee do not think that it was a bad idea to invite USA because Butler is pretty good.

#13 San Diego upset #4 UConn in overtime so Sunday will see a matchup of #12 and #13 seeds.

The battle between the #8 and #9 seeds is typically a toss up, but I had a feeling Pelphrey would lead Arkansas over Indiana due to all of the problems Indiana has had coming down the stretch.

Then rounding out the day of upsets was #12 Villanova beating #5 Clemson. Which also sets up another match between seeds 12 and 13 in Villanova and Siena.

Well, this ends the great season that the Jaguars had. Unfortunately we have to wait several months before we get to see how the Jags look next season, but on the bright side only two players were seniors. However those two seniors really meant alot to this team.

Go Western Kentucky. At least make it to the sweet 16.

Half way through round one

Well, the first 16 games of round one was completed today with the winners advancing to play this weekend. No big upsets yet. #2 seed Duke avoided an huge upset by squeaking out a close game with 15 seed Belmont.

South Alabama takes on Butler tomorrow in Birmingham. Since I'm a cheap college student I didn't spring for tickets to the game so instead a small group of us are going to congregate at Bob Baumhauer's Wings Restaurant to eat, drink, and cheer on the Jags. Come join us!

Go Jags!

Tracking South

The NCAA Selections were released at 5pm and USA (26-6) was selected as a #10 seed in the East bracket. Their first round opponent will be another mid-major in #7 seed Butler (29-3). Butler is the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships and made it to the sweet 16 last season as a #5 seed. Some of Butlers big wins were against Michigan, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, and Ohio State but not overly impressive. The first two rounds will take place in Birmingham at the BJCC. Matt and I are looking into tickets for the game on Friday since we would have a place to stay (thanks mom!).

While Pelphrey and his Razorbacks lost the SEC Championship game, they did get a bid to the big dance as a #9 seed in the East bracket (just ahead of USA mind you).

Go Jags!!!

Thanks to USA for their logos page and Matt for his great photoshop work since apparently I suck at it.

John Pelphrey is making his name known in the SEC

It was sad last year when John Pelphrey announced he was leaving South Alabama for Arkansas, but it was something we all knew was going to happen sooner or later. He was destined to be a big name coach, but not in at a mid-major school.

But few thought that in his first season in the SEC with Arkansas, that he would be challenging for the SEC title. The unique thing is that with the basketball tournaments, if you can get hot at the right time, all you need to do is win four games in a row. Today Georgia and Arkansas will be playing for the SEC Title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Georgia was next to last in the SEC (16-16, 4-12 SEC) while Arkansas is 5th out of 12 teams (22-11, 9-7 SEC).

As of the last bracketology update on ESPN, they still have the Jags in the tournament seeded #10 in the Midwestern bracket playing #7 Oklahoma in Birmingham. With the winner of #2 Tennessee and #15 Austin Peay playing the winner. Remember, this is not the official seedings. They will be announced today at 5pm on ESPN. I'll be wearing my USA shirt and cap. Go Jags!

Could upsets bump the Jags from the dance?

I like to see the underdogs get some revenge from time to time (as long as its not against Alabama or South). But this year, I'm not pulling for the underdogs as much. Since USA lost in the semifinals and being a mid-major school, it doesn't help to get into the big dance.

So, a little recap of last night. Alabama pulled out a big win over Florida, which isn't a bad thing since Florida was a bubble team. Syracuse lost the other night, again which is good since they were a bubble team as well. #13 Louisville was upset by Pitt, while Pitt does have a decent overall record, their record in the Big East is not that good. West Virginia beat #15 Connecticut. Georgia downs Ole Miss in overtime. While some of these aren't very big upsets, they have fairly equal season records but the losing team had better in-conference records.

So, now some bracketology. According to Joe Lunardi from ESPN, USA would be a #11 seed in the East bracket with a possible opponent of #6 seed Washington St.

Sun Belt Championship

Again, Matt and I attended the Sun Belt Conference Championship last night at the Mitchell Center between Middle Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. MTSU came out strong in the first half holding the lead until the end of the first half when the hilltoppers hit a three at the buzzer to take the lead going into the locker room.

But the second half was all Western Kentucky. MTSU would close the lead then the hilltoppers would find a way to break their momentum and won the game by 10 points.

The win by Western Kentucky will probably help South Alabama's chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament. With two wins over the hilltoppers and the hilltoppers being the Sun Belt Champs, it will help USA's RPI ratings. While the NCAA Selection board does not go by RPI (supposedly) it can only help our cause.

As for bracket projections, one site was projecting the Jags as a 9 seed in the Little Rock bracket with a possible opponent of Oklahoma. While another site is projecting them as a 12 seed and a possible opponent of Gonzaga. While this is all speculation, it does give hope that the Jags could get an at-large bid.

Either way, congratulations to Western Kentucky Men's and Women's basketball teams for their achievements this season and winning the Sun Belt Championships. Until next year, good luck in the NCAA's.

Jags fall to Middle Tennesse State

Despite Demetric Bennett's 32 points, the Jags fall to the Blue Raiders ending our 17 game home winning streak. Bennett was the only player in double digits for USA, while MTSU had four.

In most games the fans never agree with the calls made by the officials, but there were many times that the same thing happened with us resulting in a foul, that did not with MTSU. I guess this is what happens to the host team when the arena is filled with your fans during a 'neutral' event.

According to the ESPN analyst on SportsCenter, he believes that South Alabama deserves and will receive an NCAA At-Large bid come Sunday, during the selection show. It would have been better for USA to just win the Conference but if we still get in I'm happy. With this game and the upset of #22 Gonzaga, many people think that between these well deserving mid-majors possibly getting bids and the Conference Champions of these Conferences getting automatic bids. It will knock some of the 'bubble' teams out. One of them could be Florida.

If the Jaguars fail to get an At-Large bid, they have an automatic bid to the NIT Tournament for being the #1 seed of the Sun Belt Conference.

So, give it up to Ronnie Arrow and Jags. Especially for the two Seniors Daon Merritt and Demetric Bennett. Bennett averages 20.1 points, 41% 3pt, 83% FT, 5.9 Rebounds and 34.8 minutes per game. Plus Merritt averages 11.5 points, 32% 3pt, 72% FT, 2.8 rebounds, and 32.5 minutes per game. Thats quite a bit of statistics that will have to be replaced.

This will not be the last time I write about this team since they still have the NIT left if not the NCAA.

Go Jags!

Jags advance to semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament

Matt and I attended all four games held at the Mitchell Center yesterday. The first game was South Alabama and the University of New Orleans. UNO was pesky and stayed in the mix the entire game. Only with 10 seconds left did the game really look like USA was going to pull out the win.

The Jags avoided a repeat of last years embarrassing upset in the quarterfinals. UNO put the Jags on the charity stripe 49 times throughout the game. With the Jags hitting 37 of them. Brandon Davis scored 27 leading the Jags scoring.

Bo McCalebb scored 25 for the UNO Privateers, adding to his nations leading active careering scoring numbers. This puts him ahead of names like Wayman Tisdale and David Robinson to make it to 21st in the history of the NCAA.

This also pushes the Jags record in the Mitchell Center to 17-0 for the season.

In other games that I saw yesterday, Middle Tennessee State outlasted Troy. MTSU played a solid game holding off a couple runs by Troy, but in the end the lack of an inside game and missed 3's doomed them in the end.

Arkansas-Little Rock topped Florida Atlantic 66-60 despite only going 14-32 from the free throw line. Neither team looked particulary good. It was after the 10 minute mark in the first half before either team made it to double digits in scoring.

The final game of the night was Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and North Texas. WKU dominated the game from the tipoff pretty much. The lead by UNT was short lived. A late rally from 20 points down was stopped by strong defensive play and missed shots.

The officiating was pretty bad for all four games. I'm not a referee, nor do I have the urge to be one (especially in basketball). But there were a lot of bad calls. Hopefully the officiating will get better.

Now, I have to note that the mascot for WKU is quite puzzling. He is some sort of red blob thing. Most of the time people were wondering what he was supposed to be calling him an ink stain, blood clot or just plain ugly.


Plus Hilltoppers? Just because they sit on top of a hill. If your school sits in a valley, you wouldn't call your team the valleywags would you? These guys must not be too creative.

The only thing worse is the Stanford Tree mascot.
Just sad.

John Turner joins USA's football coaching staff

On friday, Coach Joey Jones announced the hiring of John Turner from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as offensive line coach. Turner joins Les Koenning, Dameyune Craig and Bill Clark on the coaching staff.

Turner was at UT Chattanooga since 2003 and was promoted to Assistant Head Coach after the 2005 season. Under his tutorage, his line players surrendered less than a sack per game on average over the previous three seasons combined. He has also coached under Terry Bowden at Auburn ('97 and '98), Tommy Bowden at Clemson ('01 as a graduate assistant) and Western Carolina in 2002.

His ties also extend into the High School ranks with stops at Daleville HS ('94-'97, State champions '92 and State finals '93), Dothan HS ('94-97'), UMS-Wright Preparatory here in Mobile ('99-'01).

His brother, Brian, is a safeties coach at Troy and his father is a retired high school coach in Florida.

Coach Jones is building a fairly young and solid coaching staff. Youthful enthusiasm will definitely help get the program on its feet and will hopefully help with recruiting in the area. Lots of good players are signed from this area each year, if only a few of them stay here to play for the Jaguars, it will be some big wins for the Jaguars.

Jones adds more coaches to football staff

Coach Jones has announced the hiring of a couple coaches for the football program at USA. The first announced was former Auburn quarterback and Mobile native Dameyune Craig as running backs coach at USA. He was most recently the quarterbacks coach at Tuskegee.

The second hire was former Texas A&M offensive coordinator Les Koenning, Jr to fill the same duties at USA. He has 27 years of experience with all but one of them at the collegiate level. The last 10 years he has been coordinating offenses and calling plays starting in 1998 at Duke, before going to Houston in 1999, TCU in 2000 and at Alabama from 2001 through 2003 under former Alabama coach Dennis Franchione when he left for Texas A&M with Franchione.

Koenning has coached teams to 9 bowl games including three straight with A&M, and in 2000 TCU participated in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile.

The third hire was former Prattville HS Head Coach Bill Clark as assistant head coach. In addition he will coordinate the defense and coach linebackers. He spent the last nine years with Prattville where he was the two-time Alabama Class 6A defending champions. His last two teams won 30 consecutive games and the 2007 team ranked #2 in the nation according to USA Today's national high school poll. His overall record at Prattville was 107-11 with his last regular season loss dating back to the second week of the season in 2002.

So, Coach Jones has swept onto campus to thunderous applause and he is continuing this momentum with some good hires for South Alabama.

Now if we can only get an overhaul to the USA Sports website I would be much more happy.
usajaguars.com

Guess who is ranked 28th in the nation...

The USA Jaguars Mens basketball team, thats who. Unfortunately, they are ranked higher than the Crimson Tide but thats not here nor there.

But the Jags have finished up a great regular season with a record of 25-5, a perfect 16-0 at home in the Mitchell Center and winning the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship. With this they will be seeded #1 when the SBC Tournament starts later this week. They get a first round bye and will face the winner of the first round pairing of Denver(9) at New Orleans(8) on Sunday at 12:30pm.

Mom may be coming down this weekend and if she does I will take her to the game on Sunday to let her take in the scenery. If anyone else would like to go, let me know.