weslinder

The reason Lamar beat BYU last year was because James Davis was a better true center than Trent Plaisted, who they built their offense around. Davis swatted Plaisted's first shot (faced up), and the look on Plaisted's face was total shock. It was a great match-up for Lamar with Davis, but it's a bad match-up without him. I'd be shocked if Lamar were able to pull it off.

I shared an office for a while with a former West Texas A&M student. He had nothing but great things to say about that coach and the program. One warning, though: West Texas A&M Football benefits from the "nothing else to do" factor. Their football games are the biggest thing on those plains short of the Big Texan Steak. I know he's a good coach, but I don't know how well the attendance would translate.

You got it Dale. I had faith in you. Arlington State University (now UTA) was one of the five founding members of the Southland Conference with Lamar, Abilene Christian, Trinity, and Arkansas State. The first football season was in 1964, Lamar won the conference and lost in the Pecan Bowl to Northern Iowa.

Nope.

Incorrect. The SLC was founded in 1963. McNeese joined in 1972.

Two of the founding members of the Southland Conference are currently members. Lamar is one. Who is the other?

They scheduled the game at Noon so that BISD middle schools could have a field trip for the game. It'll be the highest attendance game this year, but it'll be mostly kids.

Right now, he'd get abused at the other end. He's a young, foul-a-minute player right now. Any offense he gives would be negated by what he'd give up on defense. Really, from what I've seen, Nabors and Worrell give better post-up options than Custer. Custer's ceiling is certainly higher than either of theirs, but he's got to work his way in a little at a time. Again, he's a redshirt freshman, he's 6'10", and he's got good touch around the basket. We'll see plenty from him over the next 4 years.

He can score and that's about it right now. He's a freshman. We'll see a lot of him over the next 4 years, but he's got a ways to go before he's the best option at center.

When this was first rumored, she was considered to be a top 10 European prospect. [Hidden Content] Kalis Loyd Signs With Lady Cardinals Basketball Loyd brings a wealth of international experience to LU Nov. 29, 2007 BEAUMONT - Kalis Loyd has signed with Lamar University to continue her education and play women's basketball for the Lady Cardinals, announced head coach Larry Tidwell Thursday afternoon. Loyd, a 6-1 point guard from Malmoe, Sweden, comes to Lamar with an impressive career at the highest competitive club level in Swedish basketball where she averaged 22 points, 9.4 rebounds, six assists and five steals per game. With her help, her team advanced to the final four of the division I Swedish playoffs. In addition to her strong play on the court, Loyd was awarded the Silver Shield for excellence in schoolwork and basketball. She was also a member of the U16 and U18 Swedish Youth national teams from 2005-2007. She helped Sweden to the bronze medal at the 2006 European Championships and was named the team MVP from 2000 though 2006. She was also selected to be a member of the U19 national team for the world championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, but was not able to play due to injury. "Kalis brings our program continued credibility around the globe," Tidwell said. "She has a wealth of athletic ability, top-notch international experience against some of the best players in Europe, and a genuine passion for the game. Kalis has goals of bringing championships to Lamar while also having aspirations to play at the next level after her Lady Cardinal career. She is a true point guard and being all of 6-1, she can create a lot of mismatches for opposing teams. Both her mom and dad played professionally in Europe and her Dad is a highly respected coach in the Denmark and Swedish leagues. Kalis was raised on the basketball court."

That makes sense. SFA (and SH and SWT) is certainly a better school for education majors than Lamar. I'm not afraid to admit that. In many other degrees, especially business, arts, and hard sciences, the perception (true or not) is that SFA isn't nearly as good as Lamar.

Are those new couches on the second floor of the Set? Wow! Is nothing sacred? Generations of Lamar students had slept on the old ones.

There's about 2000 that live in the 4 phases of Cardinal Village now, as well as 400 at the Village at Lamar. Cardinal Village Phase 5 is in the plans. If you include graduate students, over 40% of Lamar students now live within walking distance of campus. When I started at Lamar in 2000, there were about 800 students who lived on campus, and when I graduated about 1500. That will have doubled again before the football team takes their first snap.

She's an absolute treat to watch. She can really play the game.

One other thing: If students are picking a school based on campus and town beauty and community support and they're looking at SFA, I'd advise them to look a few miles further east. Northwestern State has them beat in both areas, and they'll waive out-of-state tuition for Texas residents.

LUPatriot, What industry do you work in? I can promise you that if you are in an industrial or commercial field (other than tree-cutting), wherever you go in Texas or across the country, you will meet many, many times more Lamar grads than SFA grads. Because Lamar is such a good engineering and business school, was a pioneer in Computer Science education, and is the best in TSUS at preparing students for grad school, you run into Lamar grads in business circles everywhere. SFA may be known more in Texas, but Lamar is known much, much more around the country and around the world, specifically because the quality of education for "useable degrees" is much higher. SFA has its negatives, and many of them are tied to its location. Ever hear of the term "Nacanowhere"? Ask some SFA grads about nightlife in Nacadoches. See how long it takes for the word "Wal-Mart" to come up. I love Nacadoches, and I don't have a problem with SFA, but your rosy picture of it is complete BS. SFA certainly has one thing on Lamar, though. It has way, way more ugly women.

There is a lot of work to do out there on Joe Dumars drive. The old rodeo arena is in bad shape.

Update from Assistant AD Brad McGowan: There is now a 90 percent chance of rain. We are cancelling the tailgate for this game, but will look at rescheduling for dec. 8. Sorry for cancelling but there were too many pieces to wait until the last minute.

If a little rain doesn't stop LSU fans, why should it stop Lamar fans?

It'll be great! Let's have some links! Oh yeah, and bring your jacket. It'll be cold, but the grill will be hot.

Lamar presses the entire game, frustrates the bigger Texas players some, wins 63 - 62. (A man can dream, can't he?)

Agreed. If he keeps it up, I might buy a Suprise occasionally.

Not a problem. I'm sorta a Poke, myself. (I take grad school classes from OSU through distance education.) I root for them against other teams. But I'm a Lamar alum and the Cards are my team. Was the player Ashley Crawford? Quick little point guard? No report on who, that's my guess from the box score. She'd be a big loss. I hope she's alright.

Wearing red, of course, right?

Molli's a great player, great leader, and wonderful young lady. I know she's a nursing major, but I think it would be nice to see her on the sidelines next year. Her understanding of volleyball is incredible, and I think she could be a really good coach. Whatever she decides, she deserves congratulations for this award as well as a great career.