Let the Madness Begin!!

This post is written by assistant coach Marcus Moeller:

Tomorrow marks the 1st day of March. To some, it will come and go with little recognition, but to college basketball fans across the country, it marks the beginning of the most exhilarating time of the year. Die hard fans consider it better than Christmas and Thanksgiving. Simply put, the month of March...is Madness.

The tern "March Madness" was coined by the Illinois High School Executive Secretary, H.V. Porter in 1939, in a poem titled "The Basketball Ides of March". Billy Packer, however, is the one that made the expression famous when CBS took over broadcasting rights of the Men's NCAA Division 1 National Tournament. Now you can't go a day in the month of March without seeing the term on TV or hearing it on the radio, as companies nationwide have capitalized on its familiarity and visibility. From high school on up to Division 1, March marks the postseason tournaments in the game of basketball all over the nation.

This past Thursday we knocked off the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 73-62, to solidify our position in madness that is the MIAA postseason conference tournament, for the 10th straight season. The brackets have just been released and we are scheduled to play the University of Central Missouri on Thursday at 8:15pm. If you have never been to the MIAA tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, you must come see us play on Thursday. The MIAA does an unbelievable job of running a first class tournament and you will not go home disappointed.

This season has shown the unbelievable parody that exists in the MIAA conference. The conference championship was decided by one game, seeds 5 through 9 was determine by a 2 game margin, and one team in our league rattled off 7 wins in their last 9 games to qualify on the last weekend for the tourney! One head coach in our league even went as far as to say the league is as tight and close as it has been in his 20 years in the league. This type of parody is what makes March Madness so fun. Expect the unexpected, because anything can (and usually does) happen.

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!

Marcus Moeller
Assistant Coach

What Junior taught us

Today's post is written by Assistant Coach Marcus Moeller:

Today, Coach Hubbard and I were sitting in the office going over the scouting report of our next opponent, Missouri Western. Coach Hubbard has a phenomenal mind for the game of basketball and I really enjoy listening to her break it down into its finest pieces. Scouting reports have always kind of baffled me. The reason I say that is, while I really enjoy doing them, a loss can make you feel like you've wasted a lot of time (between watching films, breaking down individual players, offenses, defenses, out of bounds situations, and game-flow tendencies, they require A LOT of time). As we sat there in the office I was reminded of one of my favorite stories...

One of my all time favorite basketball stories revolves around an extremely gifted Junior College player Junior. This week was a particularly big week for Junior and his teammates. You see, they were scheduled to play Allen County Community College, who was headlined by a guy named Isaiah "J.R." Rider. J.R. went on to be an All-American for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, the 5th overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft and played in "The League" until 2001. Rider was a man amongst boys at the JUCO level.

All week, in preparation for the game, Junior's coaching staff had stressed that Allen County ran the same play to open "EVERY SINGLE" game. The play consisted of a rear screen that lead to an alley-oop dunk for J.R. Rider. The coaching staff was adamant the game NOT start that way. All week the same message, "don't let Rider start the game with a dunk". Game day finally comes:

Coach: "Junior, what play is Allen gonna run to start the game?"
Junior: "Rear screen for the alley-oop to Rider."
Tip-off is here...the ball goes up and Allen County wins the tip. Rider is on the wing, rear screen comes, Rider goes back door and (as i'm sure you've guessed by now) makes the lane his launching pad as he catches the alley-oop and slams it home. Junior turns to run down the floor, looks at his coaches and proclaims with an excitement in his voice "Coach, you were right! They ran that play just like you said they would!!

If Junior only knew...

Saturday is a VERY SPECIAL day for our program. We are hosting our annual "Pink Night" and we would love to see you there. Our jerseys will be auctioned off to the 14 highest bidders, with all of the proceeds going to benefit breast cancer research. The festivities will also include a halftime presentation that will be very special. Please join us, you will not be disappointed.

Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!!

Marcus Moeller
Assistant Coach