March 12, 2020
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ONE AND ALL AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR WAY SAFELY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC.
MCNEESE BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
SportsRadio-1310-KEZM-Lake Charles has been broadcasting McNeese Baseball and Softball games. We were all prepared to promote upcoming broadcasts in this space. But, the Southland Conference has cancelled all games through the end of March. We hope that conditions make it advisable for the SLC to resume play in early April. If so, we’ll clue you in on the broadcasting slate. Our best wishes go out to the McNeese Baseball and Softball teams, players, coaches, fans and all others affected by the cessation of play.
DSAA MEETING MONDAY
The Denham Springs Athletics Association will hold its monthly meeting this Monday, March 16, 6:30 pm at Big Mike’s Sports Bar and Grill in Denham Springs. This was confirmed earlier today. If the meeting status should change, we’ll get an email out to you as quickly as possible.
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides offers media guides. programs and baseball cards. Please visit JonFineProductions.com and click on icon to get to the store. Check out a full array of New Orleans Saints media guides and LSU media guides and programs and publications from much of the entire sports world. Over 6,600 publications listed.
DSHS HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS: The Denham Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for the tenth class of inductees through March 31. Hall of Fame nomination guidelines for the Class of 2020 are available to the public on the DSHS website at www.denhamspringshs.org or by picking up a copy at the school office. For more information, contact Jim Spring at jimspring53@hotmail.com or (225) 588 0366
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
College basketball has lost its mind this year. We get so wrapped up in our team we have a tendency to miss what is going on in the entire sport. As a result, we think only the strange things happen to LSU.
LSU lost to Utah State, East Tennessee State, and USC before conference play. East Tennessee State went 30-4 this year winning their conference. Utah State won their conference tournament by beating the fourth ranked team in the country who had only one loss entering the game in San Diego State. USC finished third in the Pac 12 with a 22-9 overall record. In hindsight, the only bad loss was at VCU who finished 8-10 in their conference. Even that loss wasn’t too bad though because VCU finished 18-13 overall and their conference is highly respected.
For those of us who watched most of LSU’s games, the number of leads LSU lost was disheartening. Yet that has been a trend this year in college basketball. In just the last week, Tennessee came back from 17 down in the second half at Kentucky to win and then Kentucky came back from 18 down to win at Florida.
LSU’s execution down the stretch at Auburn was pretty tough to watch. Later that day, though, I watched North Carolina lose leads in the last twenty seconds against Duke at the end of regulation and overtime.
Speaking of North Carolina, the ACC was completely bizarre this year. That conference finished with four, 3-way ties with North Carolina finishing last. Nobody had that trifecta. Apparently, 3-way ties are in vogue this year as the Big East and Big 10 had 3-way ties for first. The Big 12 had a four way tie for third and one of those teams is Texas who LSU beat at Texas.
Back to the Tigers, I think of the things LSU overcame to finish third in the SEC. Marlon Taylor and Charles Manning have been healthy at the same time for about 17 minutes this year. If you want to hold the coaching staff responsible for the lack of depth in the roster, you have to remember the former athletic director didn’t do the basketball program any favors when he refused to take action last spring.
LSU still finished ahead of Florida who was a preseason top 6 team this year, and who was predicted to finish second in the SEC. The preseason rankings were actually very close. Kentucky was predicted to win the league while LSU as third and both happened. Florida was chosen to finish second with Auburn fourth. Those two finished in each other’s spots.
In reality, LSU did what they were supposed to do this year. They were in position to do a little better in November and December, but they did okay. The Tigers were able to hold their own against the eight toughest non conference schedule in the country by beating teams like Rhode Island who finished 21-9 and Liberty who finished 30-4.
The first half of the SEC was their chance to get on a winning streak and they did that in their classic fashion of winning close games. The second half of SEC was a mixture of ups and downs with a couple blowout losses at Florida and Arkansas.
With all that, I still wish LSU played better defense and wasn’t so stagnant on offense at times. To their credit, we must acknowledge that the team showed huge improvement in taking care of the ball and is finally shooting the ball better from the outside.
I agree with Coach Wade that he probably should have tried playing Cooper, Graves, or Bishop in mid February when the team started to look tired. But that is a tough criticism because I know many coaching decisions come down to trust. When guys like Mays, Smart, Days, and Williams come through over and over again, even when they look like they are down, it is really hard to pull the trigger on guys that aren’t showing in practice they are ready for the game.
At this point, if you don’t know LSU is as a basketball team this year, let me tell you. The
Tigers are an excellent offensive rebounding team. This advantage lost its effect as the season progressed because conference teams are able to prepare and scout so well. But, this strength could be something that will pay huge dividends in the NCAA Tournament.
LSU is a streaky shooting team from the outside. When they play inside out, attacking first, they usually shoot better. This characteristic is hit and miss and makes LSU very unpredictable in these tournaments.
Finally, LSU is not a good defensive team, but they can do enough to win. Usually LSU plays one good half of defense, and if the offense is clicking, then that is good enough. Most likely, that will get LSU to the semifinals of the SEC tournament where they will lose. But like I already said, getting out of conference can be the best thing for a team like LSU. Given the right matchups, the Tigers can give certain teams fits and make it to the Sweet Sixteen again. I am glad that LSU fans are starting to expect this type of season from LSU.
HEY REF
O. K., I might’ve been too harsh on the XFL for a couple things I’ve said and printed about the league. On second thought, I haven’t been harsh enough and I really do believe that simply because they came out and promised to field a PROFESSIONAL football league. From what I’ve seen the XFL is about as close to being a professional football league as President Trump and Joe Biden are close loving friends.
To be fair and honest, that’s what I’m all about, this second coming of WWE’s vision of what a professional football league should look like is so far off that it should be shut down immediately if not sooner. In just a little over a month from what I’ve witnessed there’s no doubt that those responsible for this circus themed league haven’t a clue as to what the game of football should either be or look like.
Let me take everybody back a few years to when there was an actual threat to the NFL as the American Football League began to advertise there’s another game coming to a city close to you. Those dreamers not only looked at the product the NFL guys were putting on the field but studied “How To” make their games better. That in a nutshell is the very short explanation of “how they did it”. It didn’t happen overnight, I admit it, but they stayed the course and improved the product they’d be offering to a soon to be football crazed nation.
The first time the XFL took to the field everybody knew this wasn’t your mother’s game. They wanted to start strong by getting those fans that showed up for the games excited and out of their seats. Their “great” idea was instead of a kickoff they’d have the teams sprint to the ball to decide who’d go on offense first. It didn’t matter who recovered the ball since right then and there this carnival style of football was in deed OFFENSIVE to anybody and everybody.
Then instead of having the player’s name on the back of the jerseys they allowed just about any slang expression to be on the uniform. The most notable player that did that was of course “He Hate Me”! The games were sloppy at best and reeked of a sixth grade contest. So, the first edition of the XFL lasted just one horrible season. I’ve always heard God answers prayers and he sure didn’t disappoint as the XFL was laid to rest.
So, for some unknown reason the idea of “Spring Time” football took hold once again and the XFL has been resurrected. But the lessons learned from that first dismal season have either been forgotten or just ignored completely. So, when does this new branded XFL start to go downhill? It starts exactly like it did the first time around on the kickoff. But this time as they’re trying to fool everybody by having the receiver’s on their 30 yard line and the kicking team on the 35 with both teams being required to have a foot on each designated yard line. Now doesn’t that get the blood boiling as we anticipate a thrilling return?
Another rule difference is receivers are required to have just one foot in bounds for it to be a legal pass. First time I saw that I knew it was an incomplete pass because the wideout was only able to have one foot in the field of play. But boy oh boy was I in for a shock when the announcer explained the players have to have just one foot in bounds. So, we’re playing under high school rules but trying to make the fans think this is professional football.
Then there are no kicks for any point after a touchdown. Nope, the scoring team could get one or two and even three points depending on where the ball is snapped. Now this rule is designed to keep the fans on the edge of their seats because a team can come from seven, eight or nine points down while scoring just one touchdown. OH BOY, I’m so excited!!!
And then there’s the guy or girl wearing a red hat and the only thing they’re responsible for is spotting the football quickly so the offense can run more plays. And I can hear you wanting to know what’s wrong with that, Mr. Ref. Well, if you remember the NCAA at first allowed teams to run a quick offense before the defense could line up but as it turned out running too many plays back to back causes more injuries as players get tired. Then there’s the fact that players do get tired so it doesn’t matter how fast you spot the ball, players on both sides of the ball will tire and injuries will start to add up.
The XFL wants to be everything to everybody. I’m not 100% sure but I do think each crew of officials has at least one female member. I’m not about to apologize for what follows but females don’t belong on a football field. For each female official there are 10,000 male officials much more qualified but the politically correct police are doing their best to make everybody believe otherwise.
The XFL is trying to fiddle with the rules thinking more scoring will translate to more tickets being sold. So, if that is the case then why do you only give each team two timeouts per half? MMMM, if you’d asked Hey Ref what would make sense he’d said “allow teams to carry over any and all unused timeouts to the second half”. The rules are one place that needs improving. People want to see a high caliber styled professional game being played by highly skilled players. But the little that I’ve seen many of their players are “bush” league.
In the little that I’ve watched the officiating crews are in for big trouble because they aren’t being stern enough with all the pushing and extra activity going down after the whistle. That has to be shut down from the get-go! Nothing good will come from all the pushing and punches being thrown without ejections being dealt out quickly and promptly. I just can’t believe there aren’t better athletes out there because I’ve seen more than my share of some players tipping the scales at what must be 600 lbs. They’re fat and sloppy and don’t belong in any level of competition much less a league trying to make itself respectable.
I’d like to see the league make it but when you’re trying to impress and you ask to be treated as a professional venture you don’t sell cotton candy and pictures with clowns that double as players!
Till next week…
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