LamarStatesports Posted December 19, 2008 Report Posted December 19, 2008 This is the fifth year of intercollegiate basketball at Lamar State College-Port Arthur. We've learned alot during the previous four seasons, and we look forward to the time when the Seahawks program is an established tradition. The program has come a long way since 2004, when Don Bryson came out of retirement to take the helm with less than five months to put together a team, schedule games and get the team ready to play. Each year, we learn and grow. Those lessons don't come easy. All you have to do to understand what I'm saying is come out to one of the eight home games Lamar State has left in the 2008-09 season. The competition is as good as any college ballgame you could see. Some people may regard JC ball as an inferior entertainment product. Nothing could be further from the truth, particularly in Region XIV, one of the toughest Division I conferences in the nation that often produces the national champion. As we learned graphically during the first year, an abbreviated 15-game 2004 season, the rosters of Region XIV teams often look like the rosters of international all-star teams with players from all over the world -- places like Eastern Europe, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York City. Many of those players will appear on the rosters of major universities after they leave the junior college ranks. The first-year Seahawks faced nothing but Region XIV teams whose coaches were more than happy to schedule games against a fledgling team. Needless to say, we went 0-15, playing all of those games between the first of November and the first week of December. Many Region XIV players already are committed to four-year schools that have coaches who know those players likely wouldn't be playing on the varsity at their school and would be relegated to the bench on the JV squad. It's a much better strategy to have these student/athletes playing at the junior college level, where they can start 30 games and play against a very high-caliber of talent. As an example, take Lamar State's first intercollegiate game at Lee College. When I went through the photos I took, I found that every picture I had of a Seahawk shooting the ball also had this big guy from Lee who was blocking the shot. Mike White wasn't that big (6-6, 232), but he was the real deal. He went on from Lee to play his junior and senior years for the Indiana Hoosiers. With each succeeding year, the Seahawks gathered more talent than the previous season. As proof of that, Region XIV coaches each year became less and less interested in scheduling non-conference games against Lamar State because they were't so sure that we would provide an easy W for their records. Even though this year's Seahawks have more talent than any previous team, it's no surprise to anyone that the two new schools in Region XIV this year -- Lamar State College-PA and Bossier Parish Community College -- are on the bottom of the conference standings so far this season. The competition is tough. Lamar State's up-coming opponents include Paris Junior College (currently ranked No. 7 in the nation), Tyler Junior College (No. 21) and Jacksonville (ranked just outside the Top 24 Division I teams in the nation). Here are the Seahawks' home dates (all are conference games) for 2009: Saturday, January 10 Panola College 4 p.m. Wednesday, January 14 Lee College 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 21 Kilgore College 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 28 Tyler Junior College 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 4 Paris Junior College 7 p.m. Saturday, February 7 Lon Morris College 4 p.m. Saturday, February 14 Angelina College 4 p.m. Saturday, February 21 Jacksonville College 4 p.m. The college especially invites all former students and the public to attent the February 4 and Feburary 7 games, which are during Homecoming Week. There will be a tailgate party before Wednesday night's game. The Homecoming Court will be presented during halftime of Saturday's contest. We hope you will come out for some of those games.
HoopInsider_Cooper Posted December 20, 2008 Report Posted December 20, 2008 Please let Coach Cole do his thing!!! Hard sell without dorms....
Lazeek Posted December 22, 2008 Report Posted December 22, 2008 How is conference going now? Last I saw they had not won a conference game.
LamarStatesports Posted December 23, 2008 Author Report Posted December 23, 2008 That's what I said in my last post. The Seahawks are 0-4 in Region XIV play with losses to Lon Morris (11-1, 3-0), Angelina (10-5, 2-2), Blinn (11-2, 1-2) and San Jacinto (9-5, 2-2). You will notice that San Jacinto, which was picked to win the conference in the coaches pre-season poll, is 2-2. The Ravens were upset twice by teams they were expected to beat. They probably will play well enough to get into the conference tournament, where the winner takes all. But I think the real powerhouses in the conference are Tyler, Paris and, possibly, Lon Morris, who has surprised everyone so far. Here are the Region XIV standings after four weeks: REGION XIV NORTH ZONE Navarro 10-2, 3-0 Tyler 12-1, 3-1 Paris 10-1, 2-1 Kilgore 7-8, 2-1 Trinity Valley 9-4, 1-2 Panola 10-3, 1-3 Bossier Parish 8-4, 0-4 REGION XIV SOUTH ZONE Lon Morris 11-1, 3-0 Jacksonville 9-2, 3-0 Angelina 10-5, 2-2 San Jacinto 9-5, 2-2 Blinn 11-2, 1-2 Lee 8-4, 1-2 Lamar State 6-6, 0-3
gamma Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 great win tonite lamar........jacksonville now only undefeated team in region 14
gamma Posted January 17, 2009 Report Posted January 17, 2009 ps.........for schedules/ scores in reg. 14 .... go to smokey.com
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