I decided to do the Fabulous Five because I probably have seen High Fidelity too many times and there is often a lull in sports between football and basketball (Sorry baseball).  I will hold off on This Week’s Special T’s until football, or I will keep it to basketball only, haven’t decided.

Basically I will give you a topic and then a Top 5.  You can chime back in and let me know YOUR top 5.  Let’s have fun…cause isn’t that what this is all about?

Top 5 Things to Watch in the NCAA Basketball Tournament

5)  O.J. Mayo vs. Michael Beasley.  USC vs. Kansas State (first round game in the Midwest region).  If you haven’t seen these two players, this will be your last chance to see one of them.  Reason being, both are going pro, and one’s season will end in Round 1.  Oh yeah…they’re freshman.

4)  Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, and Jay Bilas.  Gus can get a little too excited at times but can call the hell out of a close game.  Bill Raftery is as classy as they come with color commentating and Jay Bilas knows basketball, there’s nothing else about it.

3)  Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster — model college player.  Has been a Commodore all four seasons.  He averaged over 20 points a game, best in the conference this year, and will finish as the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made.  Shan’s coaches say he has always worked hard….and he can play the piano (true).

2)  The upsets, it’s the best part.  Who will be this year’s Cinderella team?  Possibilities:  St. Joe’s, South Alabama, USC, St. Mary’s, Baylor.

1)  The NCAA Championship.  So many take in the first four days and they burn themselves out.  The following rounds bring the best games, trust me.  Enjoy the madness, enjoy the Tourney.

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Can you pick the winners with the best of them?

Have you dominated the "office pool" the past five years and feel the need to play against true college basketball fans?

Come try the WGEM Sportscenter Presented by Hardee’s Tourney Challenge!

Just go to the ESPN Men’s Tourney Challenge home page and follow these four simple instructions: 1) Sign in with your own user name and password to get a FREE account with ESPN.com. 2) Create a team name that gives you a bracket. 3) Click "join a group" and enter "wgem sportscenter" as the group name and "sports" as the password. 4) Fill out the bracket and try to win!

Top five will receive prizes from Hardee’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. And maybe we’ll throw in a little extra stuff from the Sportscenter prize vault as well. Good luck to all and have fun.

Listen to WGEM Sportscenter Presented by Hardee’s every morning from 7-9 to get the updated leaderboard.

* Must be 18 to enter. Only one entry per person. All WGEM contest rules apply.

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Happy St. Patty’s Day to all. Why do we all act Irish for ONE day of the year? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

* First of all, I would like to pat myself on the back. Everybody had Tennessee in as the fourth No. 1 seed, when last week I said Kansas would be there. I love being right.

* OK, Coppin State gets in with a 16-20 record? So, the best 65 teams get in, huh? Yeah, a team with a 44 percent winning clip is one of the best. What a joke.

* My guaranteed No. 1 seed to make the Final Four is UCLA in the West.

* Make fun of ESPN’s "Bracketologist" Joe Lunardi all you want, but the guy predicted all 65 teams correct. He knows what he’s talking about. Can he predict the Tourney outcome? That’s a whole other question.

* Conference USA sucks. That’s all.

* HUGE props to the Whig’s Matt Goldberg. The guy did a phenomenal job not only this past week covering the South Shelby Lady Birds, but with the West Hancock girls and Notre Dame girls. His running blog during the games is the new media I love and hope will continue,

* Wayne’s World 2 ran all weekend on Comedy Central. Maybe Mike Myers should have stopped after the first one. Great line, though. Heather Horne: "Take me, Garth!" Garth: "Where? I’m low on gas and you need a jacket."

* I was one of the first to question QU’s hiring of J.D. Gravina. Thought he was too young with no experience. Wow, was I wrong. He took a young Lady Hawk team past the GLVC and into the National Tourney and won a game. If he keeps this up, QU may have to be looking for another coach soon. He will be a wanted man.

* Kleenex tissues need to be thicker. I was sick over the weekend and went through six boxes. Nothing is more annoying than having a tissue fall apart in your hands. Outrage!

* HBO has done it again. "John Adams" was excellent. Paul Giamatti, along with Daniel Day-Lewis, are two of the more underrated actors of our time. And anytime Tom Hanks can have a hand in something, it’s going to be awesome. Looking forward to the upcoming episodes.

* Georgia Southern hit 14 homers in one game over the weekend. It appears Jason Marquis is pitching against college teams now.

* Best sign this spring for the St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Kennedy hitting .351. They seriously thought about buying out his final two years to just get rid of him. Spring stats matter when you’re coming off a .219 year.

* And finally, it was an odd weekend for me. Saturday night, I attended a good friend’s wedding reception, then this morning I sang at family friend’s funeral. Highs and lows.

–HOOCH

Posted under Sports

1.  North Carolina Tar Heels (32-2) 3rd straight week — Watching the ACC Championship vs. Clemson I said to myself, "I’m not sure who is going to beat this team."  With that said, expect Roy Williams and company to make it no less further than a Final Four appearance.

2.  Memphis Tigers (33-1) 3rd straight week — Every conference in the country seems to be somewhat internally competitive except C-USA.  No team dominates their conference like the Memphis Tigers.  It is almost stupid.  Hope they can dominate outside the C-USA.

3.  UCLA Bruins (31-3) 3rd straight week — My top three teams proved they should be here this past week by all winning their conference tournaments.  No help from the refs this time, just pure Bruin domination.  It WILL continue in the NCAA Tournament.

4.  Kansas Jayhawks (31-3) Up 1 spot — Obviously I expect these four top seeds of mine to be the four #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.  A big win over Texas to claim the Big 12 title, 30 points from Mario Chalmers?  Watch out Big Dance!

5.  Texas Longhorns (28-6) Up 2 spots — The Longhorns gave Kansas a legitimate run for their money.  They made it to the Big 12 final.  This is a quality basketball team capable of big things.  I expect them to receive a #2 seed in the tournament.

6.  Wisconsin Badgers (29-4) (NR) — I have refused to give Wisconsin any respect this year.  I am still somewhat convinced they make an early exit in the NCAA tournament.  But I give props to Bo Ryan.  This man can coach, their slow it down, take good shots, style of basketball flat out works.

7.  Tennessee Volunteers (29-4) Down 3 spots — The Vols were upset by Arkansas.  Bruce Pearl hopes that the upset bug is out of their system as they will most likely receive a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament now.

8.  Stanford Cardinal (26-7) (NR) — Stanford is the only other team I felt worthy of the #8 spot.  They made it to their conference tournament (Duke didn’t), they lost to a ranked team (Georgetown lost to Pitt), and they kept it close.  It was a good finish for Stanford.

Bye Bye — Duke and Georgetown

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The season has come to an end for first-year head coach J.D. Gravina and the QU Lady Hawks. Missouri S&T mounted a second-half comeback and erased an eight-point halftime deficit on the way to a 79-73 win here in Springfield, Missouri tonight. The Lady Miners move on to the Sweet 16 and will play the winner of the Drury-Northern Kentucky game (NKU up at the half at time of this post).

QU finishes the season at 20-10. A heck of a season for a team with no seniors, that had to adapt to a new up-tempo style implemented by a first-year head coach. They gained a lot of valuable experience not only during the regular season, but especially here this week in the NCAA Tournament. Pulling the upset over #2-seed Hillsdale on Thursday and then backing it up with a strong showing tonight the Lady Hawks certainly showed they belonged on this stage, and are a major threat to get back to this point if not go farther next year with everyone coming back.

Jessica Keller rewrote the single-season record books this year. Set several marks in a number of different offensive categories, while finishing with 20.5 ppg. She had 24 points on this night. The junior from Belle, Mo. was first-team all-region and all-conference this season, and should be the favorite for player of the year at both levels going into her senior season.

Along with a strong supporting cast, which all got better as the year went along, and being more comfortable going into year two of J.D. Gravina’s coaching, these Lady Hawks will be a very fun bunch to watch in the 2008-09 campaign.

It’s been fun covering them this season, and could be even more fun next season. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think this team could make a return trip to the Elite Eight, following in the footsteps of the 2003-04 team. No pressure ladies!

Guess that means our local basketball season is over now. It’s been a good ride, now we look forward to the spring sports.

– Hampsmire

Posted under Sports

Broc Hampsmire here, currently the voice of the QU Lady Hawks, checking in from lovely Springfield, Missouri. With last night’s 82-73 win over Hillsdale, first-year head coach J.D. Gravina has gotten QU to the Great Lakes Region semifinals (round of 32) for the first time since 2005. **Side Note: Major props to Coach Gravina for his suit selection on Friday night (a creme and peach combo). He was making the rest of us who were trying to look important, look bad.**

Two years ago (Quincy’s last trip to the NCAAs) they lost in the opening round right here in Springfield to the host team Drury. In fact, last night’s win was only the second time ever the Lady Hawks have walked off the floor at Drury’s Weiser Gym a winner.

The QU women are now 8-4 all-time in Great Lakes Region Tournament play. That 2005 team I mentioned earlier was also the last to reach the region championship game (Sweet 16), which the Lady Hawks will try to do tonight. They face a familiar foe in fellow GLVC West Division member Missouri S&T (formerly Mo.-Rolla). The teams split two regular-season meetings, with each winning on their home floor. Although, QU lost by only two points in Rolla, and had a chance to tie it at the end of regulation.

Quincy vs. S&T is the 6 p.m. game (which can be heard on ESPN 1440, starting with the pregame at 5:40). It’s followed by the second semifinal, another GLVC matchup between the host and top-seeded Drury and Northern Kentucky.

I think the chances are good that we will see a Quincy vs. Drury matchup for the region championship on Monday night at 7 p.m. If, and when, that happens you will be able to hear that game on News/Talk 105 with a 6:40 pregame start. As always, don’t forget you can listen to our broadcasts streamed live as well right here on wgem.com (just go to the "radio" link at the top of the page).

I will check in again after tonight’s game.
– Hampsmire

Posted under Sports

Now that Par Pitts is headed to tradition-rich Odessa to lead it’s football program, the question is who does Palmyra turn to run their gridiron group?

With the well documented budget problems facing the school distict, Palmyra is more than likely faced with having to hire from within rather than opening up an exhaustive and pricy search.

The two likely candidates (unless of course they join Pitts at Odessa) are assistant coaches Jason Keilholz and Marty Smyser.  Both are obviously familiar with the personnel and won’t miss a beat in trying to get the Panthers back to the playoffs.

It’s a pretty good situation for any candidate especially with All-State quarterback Jonathon Nutt returning for his senior season.  But keeping offensive guru Smyser around would allow Nutt to remain comfortable in the spread offense.

The football situation is one of three major hires Palmyra is facing now that Brian Wosman takes over as athletic director.  With his new position Wosman was forced to give up coaching both softball and girls basketball.

The next few months will be very interesting in P-Town.

- Marth

Posted under Uncategorized

As early as Tuesday morning Derek Thomas was not going down without a fight as Western Illinois men’s basketball coach.

WGEM Sports confirmed Thomas refused to step down but as the hours went by pressure from athletic director Dr. Tim Van Alstine made Thomas reverse his decision.  Just a few hours after a press release was sent out stating Van Alstine would not renew Thomas’ contract, another release was issued saying Thomas decided to step aside.

Despite his high character and a 12-win season (the most since the ’01-02 campaign), Thomas’ five-year record of 40-104 was the tipping point in Van Alstine making the final call.

Now the onus falls on Van Alstine who hired Thomas over Murry Bartow (East Tennessee State) prior to the ’03-04 season.  He’s got to find a head coach who can recruit legitimate talent to Macomb and bring fans back to Western Hall.  Everybody knows college athletics is all about the bottom line and attendance has slipped in a big way.

Van Alstine told me he’s already working off a "short list" and even inquired (not sure if this had anything to with the current opening) about QU’s Marty Bell.  Folks in Macomb are still wondering how Bell convinced Joel Box to pick Quincy over Western.  Bell’s run of taking the Hawks to three straight Division II NCAA Tournaments ended in Saturday’s loss at Drury but you’d be hard pressed to find an individual that will work harder than Bell and his ability to recruit top-notch talent plus win might get Bell a long look at WIU.

The other issue is the arena in which the Leathernecks play in.  Sorry but Western Hall has lost a bit of it’s luster and has to be the near the bottom of The Summit League in regards to it’s appearance and facilities to lure high-profile recruits from other teams around the league.  Unfortunately, at this point, there aren’t any plans to renovate Western’s digs.

My suggestion – bring in a successful Division II coach like Bell or even Drury’s Steve Hesser to lay the foundation for long-term success, not short-term.  And for those conspiracy theorists, Bobby Knight is not coming to Macomb.

- Marth

Posted under Sports

The following commercial was recently removed from the WGEM/CGEM television airways.  The reason this particular promo was pulled was due to the fact that there were too many complaints voiced through phone calls and e-mails.

Let me explain that this commercial was not supposed to be negative in any way.  It was simple humor.  The Hawk, hits papers out of Ben’s hands.  There was no inside joke or unsportsmanlike actions or bullying.

The three major complaints were that:

1. The commercial promoted bullying and that was bad for kids.
2. The commercial promoted an unsportsmanlike attitude.
3. The commercial did not represent Quincy University and its values.

Reply to 1–I am not sure what cartoons kids watch nowadays but I am pretty sure there is plenty of slapstick humor, besides, that is the basis for cartoons in the first place.  If you can’t let your kids watch a tv commercial as simple as this then it’s going to be hard raising them in today’s world.

Reply to 2– Unsportsmanlike attitude?  There was no sports taking place.  Once again, it was simple humor to make people laugh and appreciate the light-heartedness that a sportscast often brings.

Reply to 3 — If QU was upset with this then we would have immediately taken the commercial off the airs.  For the record we had no one from Quincy University ask for this spot to be removed.  I was told the Franciscan values do not promote fighting and our commercial did.  Seriously?  There is more violence at a QU football game (no offense Coach T) than there was in papers going in the air.

These commercials were to show that we are so involved with community sports that local mascots enjoy hanging out at WGEM and enjoy a little "work environment fun".  So for those that said they were disappointed in US…I am disappointed in YOU.  There are worse things in the world to complain about and better causes to fight for. 

Expect more commercials to come and thanks for all the positive comments, they heavily outweigh the negatives. 

Download sports_zone_hallway.wmv

–Tyler L. Tomlinson

Posted under Sports

1. North Carolina Tar Heels (29-2) 2nd straight week — The Duke game was their final big test before the ACC Tournament and they excelled.  Everyone was watching the best player in the nation Tyler Hansborough and the return of Ty Lawson but Danny Green’s play won the game for UNC.  He’s good.

2.  Memphis Tigers (30-1) 2nd straight week — The Tigers have won 39 straight conference games.  That is crazy.  John Calipari matched Adolph Rupp’s record of the only coaches in NCAA history who have won 30 or more games in three straight seasons…let that sink in, it’s amazing.

3.  UCLA Bruins (28-2) 2nd straight week — Yes, the officials may have helped them win in both their games, but it’s not called home-court advantage for nothing!  The fact is they had the chance to win at the end of the game and they did.  Sometimes the just bounces your way.

4.  Tennessee Volunteers (28-3) Up 1 spot — A decent win over Florida vaulted this group up a spot, other than that, they got the job done this week.  Another win against South Carolina and I am ready for the SEC Tournament.

5.  Kansas Jayhawks (28-3) Up 1 spot — Convincing wins.  That’s all one has to say about Bill Self’s group.  They destroyed Texas Tech 109-51 (Bring back Bobby) and they hurt Texas A&M 72-55 (When does football season start?)  This team could still get a #1 seed in the tournament.

6.  Duke Blue Devils (26-4) Down 2 spots — After the first half, Duke should not have been in this game.  But, they came back and had a chance to beat UNC at the end.  They’ll be just fine come tournament time.

7.  Texas Longhorns (26-5) Up 1 spot — Nothing too spectacular for Rick Barnes and company.  A couple of wins and the Longhorns move up a spot.  Interesting to see how the Big 12 tournament unfolds…my money is on the Jayhawks.

8.  Georgetown Hoyas (25-4) NR — Two big wins when you need them.  JT3 beats Louisville, who I gave a lot of love to, and also ranked Marquette.  For some reason though it seems every team has beat ranked Marquette this season.

Bye Bye — Louisville

Posted under Sports