By Mark SiefertI hope all of you had a great holiday season,and a great time away from campus and school work. For any new readers, I focus on Cougar Athletics – everything from scores to breakdowns to my personal opinions. During Winter Break there was a ton of athletic news from both of our basketball teams, including the highest national ranking in our programs history. Also, for anyone who missed it, there was a monumental game in SXU athletics history with the first ever men’s volleyball game. Overall, this break was HUGE in terms of wins, rankings and historic events. So without further ado, here are this week’s ramblings.
Women’s basketball receives No. 2 National Ranking
First off, congratulations to our women’s basketball team for this achievement. But, honestly, why does the NAIA constantly keep doing this to our sports teams?
Example A: Our football team was undefeated and only moved into the top six in the last couple of weeks in the season.
Example B: Our men’s basketball team is beating ranked opponents left and right and it takes two rankings to move into the top 25.
Example C: Why isn’t our women’s team ranked No.1?!?!?!? We beat the No. 1 team and were undefeated. Does that not qualify to be No. 1, especially when we beat the team who is above us? I do not understand the thinking of the NAIA in their ranking system, but if I were Athletic Director/Head Women’s Basketball Coach Bob Hallberg, I’d be fuming and someone at next year’s national meeting would be getting an earful from me.
Men’s Basketball
I don’t like to say I told you so… but I told you so. At the beginning of this year I said in my pre-season basketball blog that this young Cougar team had the ability to be a contender in the conference and make a run to the national tournament. With a few injuries to deal with, this team has been above par in my eyes and has surprised me at a few points this season. They have a great young core of players who, in my opinion, can return the men’s program to the prominent spot it once held. I think this team will continue to grow and bond into a cohesive unit and potentially get into the NAIA tournament.
Men’s Volleyball’s First Game EVER!!!!!
WOW! When I came here four years ago and our club men’s volleyball team was dwindling, I never would have thought that we would have an official team. I am extremely happy for Coach Bob Heersema on this momentous achievement and I know he has been working hard to get this team up and running. If I know him, he will have this team at a championship level real soon. With the great talent in this area and Coach Bob’s ability to recruit in this area, we should have two championship contending volleyball teams in this area within a few years.
Stay Classy Cougars,
Mark
Mark Siefert is a senior social science major from Crest Hill. He is a member of the baseball team. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.
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