jake94

So how have the early season tourneys gone so far? Who has won on the varsity level? I have been out of town at tournaments the last few weekends and haven't heard much about local high school tennis. Any results, upsets, etc?

LU by 12... Rivalry game and the Cowboys always get fired up when they come to Beaumont. I think we will wear them down in the 2nd half though. They are coming off back-to-back double digit road losses at Central Arkansas and SFA. They only scored in the 30's against SFA.

LU by 5.. This is a road game that we SHOULD win.

I am excited about LU as well, but until we learn to win on the road 12-4 is a pipe dream. If we can learn to win road games the sky is the limit. LU will be tough to beat at the Montagne in my opinion.

Or if you are going to play a lower classification team, then at least make it WO-S, Kirbyville, Newton, Silsbee, Jasper, or even EC!

The atmosphere of that game was a lot different last night than the Lamar game was. It was a sellout crowd vs. a top 10 opponent and Bob Knight going for win #900. The crowd was electric and that looked like a TOTALLY different Tech team than the one that struggled with Lamar on New Years Day.

Interview wise on the radio I thought that Mike Deane was always the best interview and he was a very nice guy OFF the court. Coaching wise I think my favorite coach that LU has had was Pat Foster. He had the Cards believing that they could win EVERY TIME they hit the court. It did not matter who the opponent was.

Something to think about.... LU is winless on the road and SFA is undefeated at home. I think we enter this game as the underdog, but I'd love to see us take it!

Still hope that he stays at Nederland, but he is not a proven commodity yet. I felt like he should have been the starter for the Dogs this season, but I did not see him run between the tackles much and am not sure of his blocking abilities and pass catching skills. He was definitely not the best fit for the spread offense and that may impact his decision since it appears we will run it again next year. He was great as a freshman(on frosh team) and I expected big things from him, but the coaches must have known something that we don't because he did not get many carries. I think he'll have to become more of a between the tackles runner to have success for Memorial in 5A. He is quick, but not blazingly fast and to run wide in 5A you gotta have some jets. Hope he stays at Nederland and becomes a team player. But, if he does go to Memorial I wish him the best. He's not a Jamaal Charles caliber player though. He has the potential to be a good back, but not much Friday Night experience yet. I wish him the best either way.

I say that if we come out with good intensity from the beginning, then we should win this game by double digits. I hope we don't let them get off to a good start and hang around though. I think we should win this one by 10-15 points.

This is not a knock at all, but I don't think PN-G will be as good as they were this past season. They lose their primary ball carrier, as well as the majority of a very good defense, and their top 3 wideouts. Wright and Tatum are good players and the O-Line should be solid(it always is), but they have a lot to replace. Just my opinion.

I think it's SHSU, then everyone else at this point.. I am not completely sold on ANY of the other teams in the conference at this point. SFA and UTA have some good results, but have laid an egg at times too this season. I think SHSU is clearly the team to beat and that there is a lot of parity throughout the rest of the conference. How the heck did Nicholls play within 10 points of UNC on the road? That still baffles me and makes me think they could be a sleeper.

I think it is because talent-wise Barrow is probably our best player. He has not had a great start to this season, but he may be turning the corner now. He was hurt last season and still showed some effects early this season, but let's not forget that this guy was originally recruited by LSU but was a prop 48. If he gets his mind right and is 100% healthy, then I think he can be our MVP this season.

Nederland should be much improved in '08. Key returnees include: On offense: Kirby Bellow QB Asa Cardenas WR Ryan Brady WR Stefan Huber OL Paul Roy RB Brent Salenga WR/RB On defense: Wareall Grogan LB/DE Jordan Landry LB Grant Lovelady LB Krautz, Swain, and Pina have good experience in the 2ndary as well Also, Taylor Trahan is a great Punter/Kicker.

Tech leads 54-29 at the half. Oh by the way, NW State shot 55% in the first half. Are you guys still picking Lamar to win?!

I will pass on the autograph, Kevin. But, good luck in your basketball tourney. I was merely responding to your friend's post that said "nobody serves harder than..." Good luck in the start of your tennis career this Spring and for the remainder of the basketball season.

Tech by 20. How many road wins do we have?

If you are impressed and cannot return a 100 mph serve, then YOU may be the one who needs a few lessons.

Since when is serving 100 a big deal? Deaver serves well over 100, probably 110-115 range. I have played with and against him several times. If this Darling guy(I have no clue who he is) does make the finals, I would be first in line to wager against him if he plays Deaver. As average as you think Matthew may be, he is still the top high school tennis player in the area at this time. How old is Darling and why have we never heard of him?

Agree completely. It would be much better than a loss to a weak D-1 program though and at this point we need a win over a D-1. So, I think a win over Rice could do a lot for LU. A blowout win over Rice would be REALLY NICE. Personally, I figured we would have 3 losses at this point. Those losses being at Ole Miss, at BYU, and at UNO. I figured before the season that we would handle N. Ill, Wyoming, and Oral Roberts and we probably should have won all three of those. But, we didn't and everyone is in panic mode. I am not going to panic. I think this team is going to get much better as the season moves on.

I hope you are right on the Tech game, but I still have my doubts. Tech is like night and day home and away from home. They are undefeated at home this season with a 55 point win over LA Tech, 13 point win over TCU, a 16 point win over SFA, and a 12 point win over UC-Riverside. They also beat Gonzaga by 10 on a neutral court. Their losses have been on the road and the only upsets were at SHSU by 2 and at Centenary by 4. Centenary by the way is 7-4 this season with wins over Texas Tech, LA Tech, Northwestern St, and SMU. So, I guess we might have picked a good year not to play them! Hope you are right and we hang with them, but I don't see us having much chance winning in Lubbock unless we improve immensely in the next week or so.

I think LU will get it going starting with this game. I know that the wins that we DO have are against GARBAGE teams, but.... who really expected us to beat BYU, UNO, and Ole Miss on the road? That was something that just was not going to happen. BYU is money at home, Ole Miss is rolling so far, and UNO has an All-American candidate in McCalebb and wins at NC ST, at Tulane, and at Colorado. I am disappointed in our home losses to Wyoming and Oral Roberts. We led both of those games by double digits in the 2nd half. We could have won both of those, but at worst should have split them. Both of those teams would be toward the top of the SLC in my opinion. N. Illinois was a very disappointing loss. They were winless when they beat us, but two nights later beat Air Force. I still think that is a game we should have won though. All I am saying is that I am as disappointed as anyone with our lacking ability to close out a game. I am not, however, ready to jump ship. I think this is still a team that will get much better by conference. The SLC is a much improved conference this year and several teams are making noise with hot starts. But, none of that means crap when conference starts. There will be ONE BID from the SLC, period and end of sentence. So, while Lamar's start is disappointing, it is not the end of the world. We need to learn from our non-conference mistakes and get ready to play in the conference games. There are probably a few more beatdowns coming.. i.e. at Texas Tech and we typically throw in at least 1-2 clunkers on the road in conference play. But, I think if we can hold serve at home and steal a few on the road that we might be able to turn it around. We shall see.

LU by 8. Time to start turning this season around.

Well, this will be our toughest opponent to date and they have the longest home court winning streak in the nation right now. I think 30 some odd games. I love Lamar basketball, but being realistic, I think BYU wins this game by 30.

Who cares about style points?? State semis is a GREAT accomplishment for the Broncos! Hope they take it all the way.. Sounds like the turnovers let Waller back in the game after a 21-0 halftime deficit.