Rowand44

I'm shocked. Funny s***.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 6, 2006 -> 12:44 AM) although pretty much all in the MVC.) I'm not directing this at you necessarily but I love how all the experts are trying to use this as an excuse to keep some valley teams out of the tournament. There's a reason the rpi's of all these teams are high, and one of the big reasons is that the valley did extremely well against the high majors, going right around .500 and that includes beating the number 2 team in the big 10 and outright winner of the sec. Not to mention the valley was 3 and 3 against the big 10(which is the number 1 rpi conference) this year and that includes Illinois beating the Shockers by a half a second. If a valley team gets left out because their top 50 wins are just against other valley teams, then that's total bulls***.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 6, 2006 -> 12:47 AM) Haha I watched him play tonight, that guy was KILLING it. He only has 2 games left (MAYBE 3 if they pulled a miracle) if they make the dance though, so IMO his only chance to finish ahead of J.J. is for his team to lose the league title game coming up and then make some sort of NIT run. Keydren always wins the player of the year award in the first year of college hoops 06.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 11:09 PM) Yep and you have a very nice guard in Joshua Bone from Nashville, TN coming in next year too. Typical SIU player, smart and gritty, tough defender, can pass and hits open shots. SIU beat out some mid major contenders to get him too, like UNC Wilmington, Miami of Ohio, Bradley, etc. Yup. From what I hear he's an absolute sharp shooter, I haven't seen him play but if he is that, that is exactly what we need. We also have two pretty talented guys coming off redshirts in Jordan Armstrong and Chris Cornelius. I know Bone plays with Brandan Wright so I'm wondering if palehose has seen him play.

I would just like to add, SIU has 0 scholarship seniors, not to look ahead to next year but yay.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 09:49 PM) To me, the Valley is simple. They get 5, with Creighton being the odd man out due to the first game loss in St. Louis and the injuries (and it's a known fact that the committee picks through bubble teams based on how healthy they are). Yup, good point. Creighton's has been killed with injuries this year but their overall resume is still very good. We'll see though, they're squarely on the bubble.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 09:45 PM) If the MVC gets less than 4 I may boycott all tourney games that don't have a team from the state of Illinois in it. And i'm not kidding. I think we'll get 4-5 with Creighton and maybe Missouri State being the odd teams out though I think Mo State is in. Honestly, the mvc should get 6, the resume's of those 6 teams are better then most of the other bubble teams.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 09:24 PM) The CAA has a case to get 3 or 4 based on RPI, i'm interested to see how that goes. I really think they should get 3; UNC Wilmington, G. Mason, and Hofstra, all 3 of those teams deserve it and I think all 3 are going to be in as well.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 09:20 PM) Lots of bubble teams rooting for Gonzaga like hell right now. There's no doubt about that. Also, Hofstra beat George Mason today which will probably get them in, which is more bad news for bubble teams. Ya, that type of crap would have driven me nuts all week.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) Look out for UAB in the tournament. They will give whoever they play a major headache. Their style always gives teams fits in the tourny so I definitely agree with you. Thankfully SIU is no longer a bubble team.

The Zags just continue to prove they aren't that good. I bet they'll pull this one out cause that's what they've been doing against these wcc teams but my sig says it all.

God, f*** f*** f*** f*** YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know where to begin, but I'm happy as f***, this team was seriously dead last tuesday, they get a big win over UNI, get 6 days off and were just a new team. Hopefully Bryan is ok for next week, he's a gutsy kid and I know he'll play but hopefully he's close to 100 percent. We're Dancin' f*** you bubble.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 5, 2006 -> 12:48 AM) O RLY? I thought they were about .500 I watched every game last ST, and this team looks sloppy and slower than last years team. 14 and 18 good for 2nd to last in the cactus league. I'm assuming the 2nd sentence was sarcasm.

Johan.

QUOTE(AssHatSoxFan @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 11:43 PM) this year you can get in the NIT with an under .500 record I believe Correct.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 10:31 PM) If Duke takes care of business in the ACC tourney, then I agree, 1 seed no doubt. But if they falter again in the ACC tourney, someone like GW, OSU, or Gonzaga could sneak up and steal the last 1 seed. I really, really doubt GW or the zags get a 1 seed. OSU has a legit shot but Duke's profile is still better then all of the others to land that one, including Memphis who I believe would be the odd team out of the 1 seeds if OSU gets one.

This really doesn't surprise me at all, I almost expected it. Duke's still going to be a 1 seed though, so the only thing that really sucks about this game is losing to unc.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Mar 3, 2006 -> 06:06 AM) Unofficial St. Patrick's Day is about as accurate at portraying the Irish as if...say, I put on blackface, ate fried chicken and watermelon and then washed it down with a forty in a brown paper bag while calling it Unofficial Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I have chosen not to partake in Unofficial. This is on account of my being neither a virulent racist nor an imbecile so obsessed with finding excuses for inebriation that I am able to shun the analytical thoughts emanating from either my conscience or neocortex. Sporting events are worthy of strong drink. Celebrating one's birthday is likewise a legitimate excuse, if one so desires it. But of course herein lies the problem that people feel the need for a REASON. It is as if a life-threatening and brain-curdling twelve-hour binge miraculously becomes good for a person if he or she puts on a silly green hat and customized single-use t-shirt and does it with thousands of other undergrad sheep. Allow me to give credit to today's celebrants who also believe that Chief Illiniwek is an honorable symbol of Native American culture. At least they are consistent in their views. I, of course, see the Chief as offensive to some but completely harmless in any real terms. If it goes, too bad. It's kind of cool. If it stays, too bad. Some people will still be offended. I would love to poll the Unofficial drinkers on their Chief position. Do I expect to find unanimity? Heck no. I blindly guarantee that a significant percentage of these people will say that the Chief needs to go because it is racist. These people are hypocrites, and need to be labeled such. This is the charming part of the bourgeois liberalism that lurks in the GOP-gerrymandered Congressional districts that turn nearly every American urban metropolis into a blue bullseye on a map. As long as it doesn't affect me, my expensive clothes, my cheap gasoline for my expensive SUV and my cheaply bottled Coca-Cola Classic that together comprise a trip to an Illini sporting event, then I am up in arms. But as soon as they try to take away justification for Mickey Mantle-level favoritism on the liver transplant list, then they have gone too far. But have I, in declaring Unofficial St. Patrick's Day an ignorant and racist celebration, gone too far? I believe not. Allow me to provide a quick history of the legitimate St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's day is the feast day of Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, the excluded, and protector from snakes (for much of the past half millennium, the first category fit nicely into the second). He converted Ireland to Christianity from paganism and became Bishop of Ireland. This move allowed the Irish monasteries to preserve literacy and much of Western history during the era of the Viking invasions of the late Middle Ages. The legends of Patrick claim that he drove snakes from Ireland (understood now as symbolism for paganism) and used the three-pointed shamrock to explain to the most powerful Irish chieftain the Trinity: the tri-part nature of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Over time, St. Patrick's Day has been transformed from a traditional Catholic feast day into a secular holiday celebrating Irish heritage and culture. Dublin, Ireland, has an annual cultural festival that attracts thousands of people from all over the country and Europe. American cities with large Irish populations, such as New York City, Boston and Chicago have parades. Chicago dyes the Chicago River green (they do so fine a job it stays that way year-round). But this international celebration of Irish culture has been expanded beyond this secular celebration. Granted, the wearing of the green has been accompanied by the drinking of the ale, but the sense of community fostered by this celebration has been demeaned by the perpetrators of this cultural travesty called Unofficial into obnoxiously oafish drunkenness with no socially or culturally redeeming value. Phrases like "Kiss me; I'm Irish" are found everywhere on T-shirts. Non-Irish-Americans and Irish-Americans alike buy into the idea that Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day. While this view could easily take the form of solidarity with downtrodden and oppressed people the world over - donations of money and used possessions to charities or donations of time at soup kitchens or homeless shelters - people (both Irish and not) attach the Irish culture to a simple 4-letter word: beer. Everyone is Irish, so everyone is an obnoxious drunk. They envision Ireland as a nation of alcoholic leprechauns and nothing more. They do this not on St. Patrick's day proper (although I'm sure many do that day, as well), but on an arbitrary, convenient day. Can I blame people for consuming alcohol? No. But thousands of people are carrying out negative stereotypes of the Irish with absolutely no regard for what they are doing. It honestly hurts to see my heritage spat on by thousands of people for the sole purpose of consuming green beer. Irish history is rich and complex, transforming from tribal chiefdoms into thirty-two counties separated into a nation of twenty-six and a captive country of six by British delusions about remaining an empire. People here know basically nothing about Irish history. It's all about the shamrocks, crosses and alcohol. These people wouldn't even be worthy enough to carry Bobby Sands' H-Blocks-issue blanket if they even knew who he was and what he did. Culture to these racists is "f**goty" dancing, not beautiful rebel songs that simultaneously warm the heart and stir the soul. Check out the Wolfe Tones performing "A Nation Once Again," "Joe McDonnell," "The Wearing of the Green" and "Come Out Ye Black and Tans" if you don't believe me. My concern here is St. Patrick's Day as an Irish heritage day, much as Columbus Day and Pulaski Day, respectively, represent Italian and Polish pride days. What Unofficial and its thousands of participants convey as being "Irish" or "Irish-American" is tantamount to celebrating an Unofficial Martin Luther King Day on which thousands of students would smear their faces with black grease paint and proceed to wash down their fried chicken and watermelon with a forty-ounce bottle of malt liquor concealed in a brown paper bag. This is not representative of African-American culture. What it is, however, is an abysmal manifestation of our inward unhealth as a society: this crowd of mutant locusts prefers to reinforce stereotypes that demean a minority population at the cost of reifying falsehoods and ignoring countless contributions. Of course Unofficial MLK Day couldn't fly, even if done with the utmost sincerity. Irish is white, so Irish doesn't count. A leprauchan mascot causes much less division than an Aztec warrior or Plains Chief. It's the way it is. I'm not asking for Unofficial to be forcibly shut down. People should be free to do as they please. I'm not being physically harmed by these drunkards (excluding the potential of drunk driving accidents). It's a mental strain, but that's my issue. That's why I'm ranting here as opposed to in the middle of Green Street, yelling, "Come out ye black-and-tans / come out and fight me like a man / show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders / Tell her how the IRA made you run like hell away / From the green and lovely lanes of Killeshandra." If you're Irish, or at least have a bit of an understanding of what the history is all about, then you know what I'm talking about. I know that it might be asking a bit much, but stop being so self-serving and ignorant. Green beer is a fine part of St. Patrick's Day. It goes along with the corned beef, boiled cabbage and homemade soda bread you should be eating with your family after the parade. When you're going to partake in a racist, essentializing day of selfish hedonism (This is America, after all. For most people, it is a when question, not an if.), at least perform a little favor for the people whose ancestors' graves you are publically pissing on. Learn something. Anything. Find out about Patrick, Bishop of Ireland. Research the history of the Republican movement. Congratulations, by the way, to Sinn Fein, as it is this year turning one hundred years old. Learn about the hunger strikes. The British oppression. The proposed razing of the Irish table in favor of restarting it with "civilized" British blood. The experience of Irish immigrants to America and what they faced here upon arrival. Something. Anything. Give my ancestors some respect before you go out and piss and puke all over their memory.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 08:50 PM) Wish I could have seen that Winthrop game. That team has dominated all season, including a win at Marquette (a 20 win big dance team from the Big East). NIU played them on the road in the brackbuster, and lost by 1 point in double OT due to one of the great chokes ever, although it was a great game. Winthrop's only issue this year had been that Costal Carolina team they played today, who had dominated them twice this year. I was surprised to see Winthrop found a way to win today, but it's cool. They could be one of those #12 or #13 seeds that scares the s*** outta somebody in the first round (which they did last year to Gonzaga IIRC). Winthrop is a solid team and definitely will at worst scare someone next week. Besides Winthrop; Penn, Murray State, and Belmont have also earned automatic bids so far.

By the way, the final is at 1 on cbs tomorrow. Go Dawgs!!

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 07:52 PM) Don't get me wrong, they definitely should get in. But they also have 4 flat out awful losses, and the RPI doesn't take into account the loss to Alaska Anchorage but the tourney committee will. Southern had no good non conference wins, and only has one good road win. All those things are factored in. It really depends on how many teams the committee decides to let in from the MVC. If its 4 than Southern very possibly won't get in. If its 5 they are in. Yup, the bad losses is the one thing that would keep us out. Still, the resume is to good to leave us out. As far as the mvc pecking order goes, we might be 4th being in front of creighton for sure and maybe missouri state. Obviously we'll see but I think we're in if the committe is fair and goes by the best resume's.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 06:27 PM) Their resume is less than impressive. Our resume is almost better then every other bubble team. We got 7 wins against the top 50 by the way kyyle. We're in, there is no doubt in my mind now. Our rpi is right around 35 now, 7 top 50 wins which is just so much more then any of the other bubble teams. Unless the committee just feels like screwing the valley over, we're in.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 11:25 AM) They are a scary team though, I think they can win the tournament if they can put together 3 good games in a row from POB and Sommerville. POB and Sommerville didn't even play that well yesterday, scoring wise. Creighton did a very good job of keeping the ball out of POB's hands. Obviously that'll be a huge factor for them today to actually get O'Bryant the ball. I expect it to be a damn good game but Bradley is to talented and playing to well right now, I think they advance to Sunday.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 4, 2006 -> 12:01 AM) Bradley appears to have a case of a bad in game coach. They have the most talent of any MVC team I've watched, and I'm not even sure it's all that close. They picked a hell of a time to get hot though. They're the biggest, most athletic and most talented team in the mvc, no doubt. I will say though, that if our offense is aggressive like it was today, we're going to be fine the rest of this tourny. Rex, Evansville is going to have a decent team next year. Everyone is back, Matt Webster is a solid player, and Jason Holsinger is a very nice looking freshman.