Southeast Missouri St.

[Dakota]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

Nagy was very very disappointed in his radio interview. THe took credit for the team getting tense and nervous down the to the end. Commented several times on being up by 17 and it really was a devastating loss. But said they will pick up the pieces and hopefully get stronger from this game. Their young and in order to handle these types of situations you have to be in them. I guess it is a growing process.

The stats were about even, we lead in boards and turnovers were down.

[sdman]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

I am really disappointed that we lost it. I turned it off when we were up by 15 and told the Mrs. we finally have gotten over the hump only to come back to find out we let it slip away. I listened to the entire game against milwaukee but missed this one. I don't know what is more painful - getting beat like a drum or this one. I suspect it is this one bc I really feel disappointed. At least the women won which is nice but I am primarily a men's fan.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

That was disappointing. Like all of you, I am accustomed to the Jacks winning games they lead by 17 points. It's hard to know how to deal with a complete and utter collapse.

Now, with a few hours to digest this, I must say that given the guards we have, it's a miracle that we're competing as well as we are. Let's face it, Geiver and Hokenson weren't good enough to start, or even to play much at all, on last year's team. Casey has potential, but he's young and probably not strong enough yet. We knew this would be tough, and this has to be seen as a transition year.

From what I can tell, we have a very good nucleus of young players: Holdren is going to be terrific; Loney is playing well; Green, Beran, and the injured Wenig, are all good players; Casey has potential; and I'm told the two other redshirts Cadwell and Gilbert will be really good.

So there's hope... Now if I can just survive this season without flinging my laptop through the living room window.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

I think we need to look at the SEMO game as more baby steps on the large and huge adult looking D1 trail.

I am impressed with the efforts so far.  It may be too, that the NCC D2 competition of the past may be not as intense that we have thought it to be.  We felt we could beat some lower tier D1 schools and maybe last year that could have happened, but we are now rebuilding and that complicates matters a great deal.

I do remember when the Jacks played in Cape Giruardo in 1988 in the D2 regional.  I believe the St Louis newspaper took some jabs at SDSU for being the Running rabbits. I can't recall the roster off hand but we had size, but not much speed.

As far as the guard play of Giever and Hokanson, I think we all know now why they were never starters, but at the same time, I think they gave us quality minutes off the bench.  We are kind of in a hard place and a rock.  The freshmen guard recruits are not ready to play and those that are seniors are maybe to be commended for effort, but not talent. I respect Giever and Hokanson for hanging in through four years of Nagy's practice. That can't be fun.

Lets keep our chins up, I think to be in the game up until the final buzzer says a lot about progress.

Yes we should have won, but consider that SEMO has been building a D1 program since 1989. If Gary Garnder is still the coach, he is the guy that left Drake as an assistant and coached against a very young Scott Nagy when Fort Hays was ruling or trying to rule the North Central Region.

So SEMO by rights should have beaten us by 30 points instead of 1 point, if you consider the numberof years that they have been D1.

[89rabbit]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

Story lowlights from Missouri

http://www.semissourian.com/story.html$rec=151663

Southeast rallies for wild win



By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Mike Nelke picked a heck of a time to score his first points of the season.

Nelke, a senior guard who has seen limited action so far this year because of a sprained wrist, hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer Saturday night as Southeast Missouri State University pulled out a 59-58 victory over South Dakota State.

"My first points," a smiling Nelke said after Southeast rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit.

The triumph, in front of an announced crowd of 3,301 at the Show Me Center, improved Southeast's record to 2-3 and averted what would have been a major upset by first-year Division I program South Dakota State (1-5).

"We didn't play very well at all. They played harder and with more energy. I wish I knew why," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "We were fortunate to win, but I do have to give our kids credit. I don't think you could come back from that many points down if you don't have some character.

"And we played shorthanded again, which didn't help."

Southeast was without leading scorer Dainmon Gonner, who sat on the bench in street clothes after being suspended for one game by Garner for violating unspecified team rules. The senior forward is averaging 22.3 points per game, which also leads the Ohio Valley Conference.

"It was a very simple thing, not anything major," Garner said.

With eight seconds left and South Dakota State leading 58-56, the Jackrabbits missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation.

After a scramble for the rebound, Southeast senior guard Brett Hale came away with the ball, took a few dribbles and passed to Nelke in the left corner.

Nelke was guarded tightly and it appeared as if he might not even get a shot off, but he finally let fly from about 22 feet just before the buzzer sounded. The ball nestled into the net and set off a wild on-court celebration by Southeast players.

"I just couldn't get it off at first. Their guy did a great job playing defense," Nelke said. "I thought it had a chance. It kind of felt good and it looked good."

Said senior guard Derek Winans, who saw his first action of the season after being out with a stress fracture and scored three points in 18 minutes: "I feel great. It was awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better ending in my first game back." . . .

"We're relieved," Willoughby said of the narrow escape. "But I thought we showed a lot of character to come through."

Hale, who missed the previous game after receiving stitches in his left ring finger, was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer with 10 points.

Senior forward Reggie Golson scored all nine of his points in the second half and he led all rebounders with seven. Junior guard Ryan Belcher scored all seven of his points in the second half as he came up with several key plays.

Freshman forward Michael Loney paced the Jackrabbits with 19 points. Sophomore forward Joe Green added 10.

Despite falling behind 9-0 in the game's opening minutes, the Jackrabbits took the fight to Southeast most of the first half, either getting layups or going to the free-throw line. South Dakota State hit 17 of 20 foul shots in the opening period to rally for a 31-28 lead at the break.

South Dakota State kept pouring it on in the early stages of the second half, getting easy shots in close and using a 17-4 run to go up 48-32 with 12 minutes left. Green's 3-pointer with 8:34 remaining gave the Jackrabbits their biggest lead at 55-38.

Then, all of a sudden, Southeast appeared to wake up from its slumber, particularly defensively. South Dakota State scored just three points the rest of the way.

Golson got a conventional three-point play while Winans and Belcher drilled consecutive 3-pointers, all in a span of two minutes, as Southeast pulled to within 55-47.

With 1:14 left, Belcher's follow shot cut South Dakota State's lead to 58-55. Southeast had a chance to tie after a Winans steal, but he missed a 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.

The Jackrabbits missed the front end of a one-and-one with 25 seconds left. Southeast junior center Ketshner Guerrier made one of two foul shots with 10 seconds to go as Southeast pulled within 58-56, setting up the wild finish.


Go State.

[sports_buff]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

I think we need to look at the SEMO game as more baby steps on the large and huge adult looking D1 trail.

I am  impressed with the efforts so far.  It may be too, that the NCC D2 competition of the past may be not as intense that we have thought it to be.  We felt we could beat some lower tier D1 schools and maybe last year that could have happened, but we are now rebuilding and that complicates matters a great deal.

Of course last year you could have beaten some lower level D-I teams. Heck, you can this year, and as everyone has said you aren't near as good this year. You still will beat some D-I teams. SDSU has had teams that would have one loss at this point, maybe two. Don't think that your competition in DII isn't what you thought, you guys just aren't as good as you used to be, but you already know that. You had a good DII team last year that lost their last game by 40 points, you have a team thats really down this year who just lost the last game they played to a D-I team by one point. Don't worry there are still several D-I teams on your schedule that I know you will beat.

[SDhoopfan]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

Sports_buff is right. Don't be mislead by the quality in D-II competition level. Many of the best players in NCC over the years were recruited to play in division 1 programs or could have been. SDSU teams who won NCC league would have competed in many of the mid-major leagues around the country. The current team is not of that caliber, however.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Southeast Missouri St.

Nagy mentioned on WNAX last night that SEMO's coach Garner told him that one of his DII Ft. Hays teams was better than his 1999-2000 SEMO team that went to the big dance in DI.