I thought one of the more interesting aspects of last nights game was watching the little kid shoot for groceries.  He nailed eight free throws in thirty seconds.  I would have bet he couldn't have thrown it to the basket, but it seemed he couldn't miss.  Hope he plans on playing for the Racers someday...

WHY?
OK, I know why.  But did it make a close-up on ESPN2?  If so, I'm glad I was at the game and not witnessing it in HD!

It was a long drive to and fro to Brooks.  It looked like a great crowd, there were even women backed up into the men's room.  Probably the only good thing of the night was wondering what song about rain the staduim would play next.  I didn't know so many had been recorded.  Too bad the game was called, but hopefully all the fans can return soon for the OVC.

The "Racer" Nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.  Any word on where Joe went?

I am ready to give up.  I realize that this is an old topic, but I am getting sick of all the U***?K? fans in all of my classes.  Only of few of them ever attend MSU games, but they are completely mesmerized by all aspects of  U***?K? basketball.  I asked one of my larger classes this week if anyone was attending the Morehead game Saturday night.  No takers.  But several students volunteered that they will be taking part in the ESPN game day festivities at the "Gator" away game....I have never, ever attended or worked at a university where most of the student loyalities lie with a university that they don't even attend.  I didn't even know it was possible.  I really am at a loss to explain this or to try to change this.  Any suggestions?  Why is it so difficult for Murray State Students to support and root for Murray State?

That was a great line Neal.  You have a knack for making the post-game shows interesting.

The Paducah Sun "Watercooler" mentioned this morning that the Racer games on Jan 16 against Peay and Jan 23 against Tech will be broadcast on Heartland CW (WQWQ).  The blurb says this is due an agreement between ESPNU and the OVC.  This is great news for me since I don't get ESPNU and can't make these games.

This is a good article from this mornings Paducah Sun.  Thought those of you out of the area would enjoy reading it.

Racers ready for holiday slumber
Murray State gets a 10-day break after playing its first 11 games in 29 days.
By Jason Yates jyates@paducahsun.com--270.575.8662
 
 We have good character and when we develop toughness to go along with it, we may have something.
– Billy Kennedy  

 
Tuesday, December 12, 2006

COLLEGE BASKETBALL


MURRAY, Ky. — Most teams take advantage of home cooking. Murray State coach Billy Kennedy is just joyous to have an extended amount of home sleeping.

The Racers began a 10-day vacation from competitive action following Saturday's 70-67 Ohio Valley Conference win at Morehead State. The early schedule has kept the Racers busy with 11 games in 29 days, including eight of them on the road. Their next game is at home Tuesday against Jacksonville State, followed by a visit two days later from preseason OVC favorite Samford. The road will be left untraveled until Jan. 2.

"We're excited to be home for the next three weeks with a chance to get better," Kennedy said at his weekly media luncheon Monday. "We have a better feel for our team, and a better feel for what it takes to win in the OVC."

Murray State (4-7, 2-1 OVC) almost escaped last week's "Death Valley" trip not experiencing what if feels like to lose in the OVC. Before vanquishing the Eagles, the Racers had a 10-point halftime lead Thursday at Eastern Kentucky, but lost in overtime 72-66 when the Colonels' Mike Rose drained a last-second 3-pointer in regulation to tie the game.

"Losing the way we lost at EKU bothered us, but our attitude was good and we all stuck together," Kennedy said. "We have good character and when we develop toughness to go along with it, we may have something."

What Kennedy has now is more than a week in between games for the first time since Murray State opened its season Nov. 10 against San Diego State. That will give the team time to incorporate more of his system and work on the Racers's two prominent flaws — rebounding and sustaining effort.

"Defensively, I don't think we can be any worse on the defensive glass as we were against Morehead State," said Kennedy, whose team was outrebounded 31-24 by the smaller Eagles — including 16 offensive rebounds.

The Racers' big men are obvious culprits. Rob Kennedy (6-foot-9), Marvin Williams (6-6) and Curtis Parker (6-7) have combined for just 59 rebounds in 353 total minutes — a total of less than six rebounds per game.

Senior Shawn Witherspoon's average has also dropped by more than two rebounds (7.7 to 5.6) as a still-not-right injured foot continues to sap him of his athleticism. Lithe freshman Tony Easley is exploding to the glass, but his 6-9, 200-pound frame is preventing him from controlling many of them.

"We're going to start charting missed block outs, and penalize our guys with some kind of conditioning for not doing it," Kennedy said. "We're just doing a poor job of making physical contact with our opponent."

Kennedy suggested rebounding is a theme that will be force fed into his players' psyche. Playing time will not be doled out simply because of position or height.

"If it means a 6-3 guard is blocking out a 6-8 forward, we're going to play them," said Kennedy, whose team was led in rebounding by 6-4 Bruce Carter on Saturday with 11 boards.

As much as their foes, the Racers have battled themselves in the first month of the season. Kennedy said with all the late signings and scrambling to field a roster in the summer, conditioning received a late start.

"We get fatigued both mentally and physically," he said. "We've fought conditioning for the first six weeks, and it's not because we don't condition in practice."

He pointed out that freshman guard Danero Thomas was 30 pounds overweight when he arrived on campus. Several of the other players who are new to Division I action are just now learning how much effort is involved at sustaining the expected level of play.

"Some of it is mental toughness, and some guys haven't been trained to go hard every day," Kennedy said. "Shawn Witherspoon, Ed Horton and Dwayne Paul have gone through that. The rest of them are trying to break through."

Barring a setback, the Racers will debut junior point guard Kevin Thomas when they return to the court. He missed the first 11 games because of a knee injury.

Kennedy raved about Horton's improved play at the point — he had 10 assists and just four turnovers while playing 69 minutes on the "Death Valley" swing. Still, Thomas's presence will buy Horton additional breathers and shift him to shooting guard — his more natural position.

"We can call a timeout and draw something up, and (Thomas) is good enough to get people in the right spots," Kennedy said. "Having another guard on the floor that understands the game will help."

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From this mornings Paducah Sun.  


Griffin's first class waiting to make mark
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By Steve Millizer smillizer@paducahsun.com--270.575.8663
 

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

In Matt Griffin's young head coaching career he has just two "first" recruiting classes, and both are having an big impact in the Ohio Valley Conference, although with vastly different results.

His first class was at Tennessee-Martin four years ago, a group that broke the Skyhawks six-year OVC winless streak as freshmen and now is poised to give the school its first-ever OVC football title as seniors – 7-1 overall and tied with Tennessee State at 4-0 in the OVC.

His second "first" class came to Murray State for the first time this fall, and already 16 of them are playing "significant minutes" with 10 in starting roles for Griffin's first Racer team. Unfortunately, they are also part of a long losing streak (now 13 straight OVC losses).

The Racers have just two games left to break that school-record futility, the first on Saturday at old rival Eastern Kentucky (12 p.m.). If they can't clear that hurdle against the Colonels, they get a week off to prepare for the Skyhawks on Nov. 18.

"This freshman class (at Murray State) is probably a little more talented physically and on paper," Griffin said. "The one thing that I told our guys, that the unknown is this — that group of seniors (at UT-Martin) is the hardest working group I've been around.

"That's not by coincidence. Those are the kinds of kids we wanted to recruit. You want kids who love to play because those kids have pretty good character. Did they all have four or five scholarship offers? No. We wouldn't have got them with our history if they had. But they loved the game, have great families, character and were good students.

"I credit those kids for staying together and doing the things they're doing (at UT-Martin). I'm happy for them and proud of them."

Griffin has done his best to keep his young squad's minds off any negatives and making progress despite sitting last in the OVC with a 0-6 conference record and 1-8 overall. While this week's foe Eastern Kentucky was picked in the preseason to win the conference, it now sits disappointedly in the middle of the pack with a 2-3 OVC record (3-5 overall).

"It's not so much that (the streak) as it is getting a win, and really getting a return on our investment," Griffin said. "To draw light to the losing streak is a negative and as a coaching staff we're doing a good job not drawing attention to that and just focusing them on the next play and the next game.

"I've been real enthused with our young kids and the way they're playing. They're making plays at critical points, and that's encouraging. We have to build off that. At one of these points, I think it will be this Saturday, when they figure out how to finish, it will start to set in and snowball the other way.

"It's more keeping our kids focused at tasks at hand rather than streaks."

The Racers felt they had a chance to the snowball going the other way against Southeast Missouri after rallying from a 10-point deficit to tie the game early in the fourth quarter. The rally fell apart when SEMO's Tim Holloman scored on a 76-yard run two plays later, despite a Racer drive that came tantalizingly close to forcing an overtime.

"We had some opportunities to win the game, it's disappointing," Griffin said. "At the same time, I'm pleased with the kids. They were down 10 points and came back and tied it. We really had a shot to go ahead. That's one we'd like to have back."

The Colonels have been stung by the worst turnover margin in the OVC (-12) which has frustrated an offense that ranks third in yardage (329.5) a game, but seventh in scoring (17.0 a game).

Eastern Kentucky took last week off after beating Southeast Missouri 27-21 by scoring 27 third-quarter points. Its only other OVC win was at Samford (31-12), which beat the Racers 33-7 three weeks ago.


Murray State at E. Kentucky

KICKOFF: Saturday at 12 p.m. at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, Ky.

RECORDS: Murray State 1-8 (0-6 OVC), EKU 3-5 (2-3)

GAME NOTES: With freshmen in 10 starting spots, the Racers look to end a 13-game OVC losing streak against a disappointing Colonel team picked to win the conference in the preseason.

I heard on the radio this morning that CB Antonio Patton had been suspended for the remainer of the season.  On Sunday (10/15) the Paducah Sun wrote that "Senior rover Michael Sturgis and backup defensive back Chris Fountain were suspended indefinitely on Thursday for "conduct unbecoming" to the team.  In the same article the Sun also reported that  "Dominic Spinks, the other starting cornerback who leads the team with four interceptions, did not play the entire first half and sparingly in the second because "he is as unaccountable as anyone in that locker room" according to Griffin".  I am pleased that Coach Griffin is dealing strongly with players violating team rules.  It is just a pity that he has had to deal with so many of these serious problems this late in the season.

I am posting a story from this mornings Paducah Sun.  What happened that Griffin "bolted" and didn't speak to the media?  I left before the end, and got home right as the game ended and didn't listen to the post-game interview.  It seems strange that a local reporter would accuse a new coach of "bollting" after his first home game.  By the way, I still love the GAP acronym from the Denver Johnson days.  -EH

Redbirds' 'GAP' plays push ISU over Racers
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By Jason Yates jyates@paducahsun.com--270.575.8662
 

Sunday, September 24, 2006

MURRAY, Ky. — For 30 minutes, Murray State battled the No. 6 team in Division I-AA to a standstill and outplayed Illinois State and former head coach Denver Johnson in many ways during a 14-14 first half.

In the final 30 minutes, the Redbirds found enough GAPs to roll up 21 unanswered points in a 35-14 victory in new Murray State coach Matt Griffin's Roy Stewart Stadium debut.

"We talk all the time about GAP plays — game altering plays," Johnson said. "If you watch any football game, there's a whole lot of plays that cancel each other out. At the end of the game, there is a handful of plays that determine a ballgame."

No snap altered Saturday evening's contest anymore than the Racers' third offensive play of the second half. On 3rd-and-7 from their own 17, Murray quarterback Zach Barnard was stripped when he cocked his arm to unleash a pass.

"I thought I was about to throw the ball," said Barnard, who never felt the pressure approaching from his backside.

Illinois State's Ronnie Tate recovered the fumble at the 9, and running back Pierre Rembert (39 carries, 184 yards) escorted the ball into the end zone on the next play for a 21-14 edge.

"The most precious thing in any game is possession of the football, and the second most precious thing is field position," Johnson said. "A turnover like that addresses both."

After answering a 14-0 first-half deficit with two touchdown passes, Barnard was unable to rally the Racers a second time. On the second play following ISU's touchdown, the Redbirds rush brushed against Barnard to force a duck of a deep pass that Leon Kittrell intercepted.

Seven plays later, ISU receiver Laurent Robinson beat Derrick Parrott in one-on-one coverage on a 3rd-and-11 for a 26-yard touchdown and 28-14 lead with 8:12 left in the third quarter.

In the absence of Griffin — who bolted immediately following his postgame radio interview and did not speak with the media — Barnard (17 for 28, 223 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) shouldered the second-half blame.

"We shot ourselves in the foot, or I shot our team in the foot," said Barnard, a redshirt freshman. "Our defense stepped up in the first half, and I put them in terrible positions with those two turnovers."

After outgaining Illinois State 222 yards to 180 in the first half, the Redbirds enjoyed a 165 to 29 advantage in the second half.

Murray State played the entire first quarter on its heels after Illinois State returned the opening kickoff to its own 42. The Racers forced a punt on that drive and Dominic Spinks' goal line interception stopped the next one, but the offense could not flip the field with a pair of three-and-outs inside its own 20.

Illinois State finally cracked the scoreboard on its third possession, moving 50 yards on seven plays to take a 7-0 edge with 3:41 left in the first quarter. Rembert's 25-yard rush served as the catalyst, his only big run in a half where every one of his 89 yards on 21 carries was met with resistance.

The Racers moved the ball for the first time on their third drive as Barnard connected with Rod Harper on two passes that spanned 42 yards, but on 4th-and-2 from ISU's 24 running back Charlie Jordan was stuffed for a 1-yard loss. After gaining 335 yards on 57 carries in last week's victory against Indiana State, the Racers managed a paltry 28 yards on 23 rushes against the Redbirds.

"We'd been pretty stout against the run until the Eastern Illinois game (a 44-30 victory on Sept. 16), and they kind of exposed us (45 carries for 185 yards)," Johnson said. "We wanted to improve that in practice, and I think we did."

With a little luck and a controversial pass interference call, the Redbirds grabbed a 14-0 edge early in the second quarter. On 3rd-and-5 from ISU's 30, Spinks apparently defended a pass to Pierre Jackson perfectly. A late flag provided the Redbirds with 15 yards and a first down.

Parrott dropped an interception on the very next play, and defensive linemen Tyler Sinclair and Steffen Visk pursued quarterback Luke Drone on a 3rd-and-8 play to no avail. Drone ran 15 yards backward, and the linemen could not keep their footing on the wet turf . After about eight seconds, Drone found Robinson wide open for 47 yards to MSU's 6. Rembert pushed it in two plays later.

Still, a smallish Racers' defense that relies prominently on seven true freshmen forced two first-half turnovers and played exceptionally well against an offense averaging 391.3 ypg.

"We're striving to have the defense we had in the first half all the way through," said senior safety J.R. Webber, who recorded 15 tackles.

Barnard rallied the Racers in the second quarter in the face of a heavy Illinois State rush. On 1st-and-10 from the his own 25, Barnard rolled to the right, demonstrated extraordinary patience and perfectly timed a 15-yard pass to running back Dante Woods before a rusher got to him. Woods caught the ball in stride and raced the rest of the way for a touchdown with 7:10 left in the half.

The Racers tied the game by executing their two-minute offense for the second consecutive week. Taking over at his own 40 with 1:52 left, Barnard completed five passes, including a pivotal 27-yard missile into the middle of the field to Jonathan Eiland to ISU's 5. On 3rd-and-goal, Barnard hooked up with Harper on the same fade route that culminated last week's drill with a touchdown.

"It was the same play," Barnard said. "Basically, I throw it to Rod and let him make a play."

One of my favorite annual activities is to watch the Racers play at Brooks.  Is their any realistic chance this could happen?  I know it's technically still possible, but with needing to win on the road at Peay, etc...., I'm not so sure.  Any thoughts?

I am confused and I will admit it.  At first I thought that Ward was hiring the basketball coach.  Then the job description said applicants were to apply to a committee.  The committee will meet tomorrow and make a recommendation.  Somehow Kern is involved.  I have several questions that I have not yet seen anyone answer.
 
1 - Is Ward hiring the Coach?
2 - Who is on the search committee and what is their role in the hiring process?  
3 - Is Ward a voting member of the search committee or do they advise him and he can accept or reject their recommendation?
4 - Is Kern a voting member of the search committee or can he accept or reject their recommendation, and/or Ward's recommendation?

It is unclear to me if Ward, Alexander, or the committee is making the actual hiring decision.  One scenario is that the committee is in place to ensure proper procedures were followed, Ward makes the actual call and that Alexander simply signs off on  the hire, provided he sees no red flags.  If anyone could clear this up for me, I'd appreciate it.

It will be interesting to see what happens next week.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/247sports.com/college/iowa-state/Article/Iowa-State-basketball-coach-Steve-Prohm-buyout-information-Cyclones-hoops-Jamie-Pollard-162272822/Amp/

With all the talk about the new coach, it's interesting to see what the University wants.  This is pasted from the GoRacers website.  


Job Openings With Murray State Athletics

Head Men's Basketball Coach
HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH, Department of Athletics, Murray State University.  NCAA Division 1/Ohio Valley Conference.  Full-time, 12 month position to begin April 2006.  QUALIFICATIONS:  Bachelor's degree required, Master's degree preferred.  Previous successful collegiate coaching and recruiting experience is required at the Division 1 level.  Knowledge of and ability to apply NCAA and Conference rules as they relate to the men's basketball program.  Demonstrated ability to work well with students, faculty, community and media is required along with a demonstrated understanding of and strong commitment to cultural diversity.  Demonstrated knowledge of fiscal management.  Excellent communication skills and strong organizational skills.  Working knowledge of computers.  Successful candidate will be required to pass the NCAA Off-Campus Recruiting Exam.  RESPONSIBILITIES:  Planning, development and administration of all phases of the program.  Monitoring of student-athlete academics, participation in fundraising events, and direction of summer camps.  Organization and supervision of practices, management of the program's budget, scheduling, coordination of team travel, and supervision of scholarships.  Recruiting of quality student-athletes in a program committed to academic and athletic excellence.  APPLICATION DEADLINE:  April 4, 2006.  TO APPLY:  Send letter of application, résumé and names, addresses and telephone numbers of three references to:  Head Men's Basketball Coach Search, Attn:  Chairperson, Murray State University, 217 Stewart Stadium, Murray, KY 42071.  Equal education and employment opportunity, M/F/D, AA employer.