'tis the season'...for some Great B-Ball Action

The first semester has pretty much come to an end; some have finished all their exams, some still have some testing to go but the Lady Petrels still have three games left before the New Year. I know some of you are going to go home for the entirety of the holiday break, but for those of you who live in the Atlanta area or can make it to the games over the break I strongly encourage you to do so. There is going to be some great basketball action over the next couple of weeks and one game in particular that a true Petrels fan can't afford to miss. In case you're just tuning in to the Lady Petrels 2007-2008 basketball season I'll give you a quick update; they're undefeated (7-0), ranked #19 in the nation according to D3hoops.com, they have an average margin of victory of almost 24 points, and they're fun to watch.

All three of the Petrels remaining games before the New Year will take place at home in the cozy confines of the Dorough Field House. On Saturday December 15th (as in tomorrow) at 2PM the Lady Petrels will take on the Lady Monarchs of Methodist University. The Monarchs were the Petrels opening night opponent up in Emory, Virginia that received a 36 point whooping from the Lady Petrels. So you may think that this game is a gimme, but Methodist is going to be looking for revenge and they are currently sitting at 4-1 on the year and will be bringing a 4 game winning streak into the Dorough Field House. Additionally, I don't think Methodist played up to their potential during the first match up. I do believe their winning streak will end tomorrow, but I'm expecting an entertaining game. For those hardcore Petrel fans I highly suggest that after the Lady Petrels finish taking care of business you head over the campus of Emory University to watch the men avenge last weeks loss to cross-town rival Emory at 7PM. Then take a break from basketball, go home, visit your family, have yourself a Merry Little Christmas and get ready for what will be two exciting post-Christmas Holiday tournament hosted by Oglethorpe.

On Saturday December 29, the Lady Petrels will take on the Lady Maroons of Roanoke College in what will be the first ever women's basketball match up between theses two schools. The Maroons will come in with a record of 4-2 and they will be coming in on a 24 day layoff, so I'll bet they're gonna be excited and pumped about playing again. Let's welcome the Maroons with some good 'ole fashioned Dorough Delinquent hospitality. Additionally, the Oglethorpe Men's team will play just prior to the women's game at 6PM versus the Dolphins of Mount Saint Vincent College from Riverdale, New York. If you can't make either of these games on Saturday I'll let you off the hook. However, if you miss Sunday's games then you're gonna miss some really exciting basketball action.

Mark your calendars folks and clear the whole day on Sunday December 30th for some great basketball action. At 6PM the #19 ranked Lady Petrels will be taking on the #22 ranked Wilmington College Quakers, the team that sent our beloved Lady Petrels home in the first round of last year's National Tournament. There is a good chance that both teams will hold a higher national ranking come tip-off on the 30th. The Lady Quakers are currently 7-1 with their only loss coming to #10 ranked Thomas More. This match up will be exciting and the Lady Petrels are gonna need the Petrel Nation to show up in force; I want a standing room only type of crowd. The Men's team will also be in action Sunday versus either Christopher Newport or Trinity (Connecticut) as their tournament does not have set match-ups for the Sunday games (Saturday's two winners will play each other on Sunday and Saturday's two losers will play each other on Sunday) so the time for their game will be determined Saturday night. They will either play just prior to the Lady Petrels or will directly follow the Lady Petrels (4PM or 8PM). These games will also be our chance to steal the National spotlight and gain some true National recognition as Pat Coleman, the creator and administrator of D3hoops.com will be in attendance as part of his "Southern Hospitality Tour". This is a tour that OU Men's Head Basketball Coach Phil Ponder has played a big role in orchestrating. Pat will be reporting on various D-III games throughout Georgia and Alabama. He is set to see 11 games in five days. So let's show Pat how the Petrel Nation lives and how loud and entertaining games at Dorough Field House can be. Pat will be at all four games played at Dorough Field House on the 30th.

Finally, if Sunday doesn't get you your fill of Lady Petrels Hoops then I strongly suggest you stop by the Dorough Field House on Monday December 31st and support the Lady Petrels with "The Stormin' Petrel Shoot-A-Thon Fund Raiser." The following is a message from Women's Head Basketball Coach Ron Sattele concerning the aforementioned fundraiser:

"Help send the Stormy Petrels to Italy in May. On December 31, New Year’s Eve, the Sea Pigeons will line up at the foul line and shoot free throws, Thousands of them. Each player will have an opportunity to make 1,000 foul shots. All you OU fans can be a part of this fund raiser. Choose your player (or choose all of them) and for each made shot you pledge to pay that player the amount you pledge. Could be a penny per made shot or it could be a quarter or a dollar. You decide. All the players have sign up sheets. I know the players will be hitting up all their relatives and close buddies but I know some of you out there will want to be a part of the fun. Just e-mail me (RSattele@oglethorpe.edu) with the amount you want to pledge and who you pledge it too. The trip is part of the Studies Abroad Program at Oglethorpe headed by Prof. Collins who will join us and guide us. The girls will keep a journal and write a final paper and receive course credit for the trip and hopefully play a little bball along the way. This trip should be a life altering experience for these great young women. I know most of you have enjoyed watching this special group of student/athletes compete. Now you have the opportunity to REALLY show your appreciation and support this fund raiser."

Enjoy the holidays and I hope to see everyone at the upcoming hoops games this holiday season!

Sloppy, but Victorious

The Lady Petrels have made it through another week of the season and their record remains unblemished. Sitting at 7-0, the Petrels have gotten off to one of the best starts in school history. But I'm gonna be greedy, I want more! I'm not just talking about extending this unbeaten streak; I'm talking about the level of intensity during the games. Both games this past week have left me with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Yes, we came away with two victories against two in-state rivals. However, the Lady Petrels often didn't look like the team that is currently 7-0 and ranked 25th in both the USA Today/ESPN poll and the D3hoops.com poll. To be honest, they looked tentative at times and against two teams that I expected them to beat that's not a good thing.

I understand that every game is not going to be the team's "A" game, but it can be the team's "A" effort. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying, both games were not played effortless, in fact, the second half against Emory was some of the best basketball the Lady Petrels have played all season, but did it have to wait until the second half? There were just some extended moments in both games where we looked flat. We're not going to sneak up on anybody, teams know that we are a good team and they know that they have to come out playing hard from the start if they are going to have a chance to win. Physically, we are not the biggest or strongest team but effort and intensity have been the hallmark of this Lady Petrels team the past couple of seasons, and that is what has made them such a tough and competitive team.

The bottom line is that the Lady Petrels got two more wins this past week and they remain undefeated on the season. Maybe the scary thing is that the Petrels are still getting the desired results even while not playing their best basketball. This is a very talented and capable team, and I still expect big things from them this season. Keep up the good work ladies!

My child is going to Beat the Crap out of Your Honor Student!

Yes, it's that time of the year again as the Emory Eagles will grace us with their presence tomorrow night at Dorough Field House. This cross-town rivalry is always a fun event, especially when the good guys win. As an Oglethorpe grad and former basketball player I know how much this game means to our teams and students. It seems that Oglethorpe often lives in the shadow of Emory here in Atlanta, and this game gives us our chance to cast our shadow over the Eagle Nation. This match up always reminds me of Rocky IV, there's the well funded Soviet (Emory) with all of the training facilities and amenities you can imagine and then there's Rocky (Oglethorpe), the little guy who's always having to prove himself; he works his butt off and uses determination and desire to succeed; it's the Oglethorpe way.

I have a personal dislike for Emory for various reasons, but one Oglethorpe vs. Emory moment stands out for me. It was a nice spring night a couple of years ago and Emory and Oglethorpe were battling it out on the baseball diamond. A few Emory Students who made it over to OU for the game decided to head out early. As they passed by the loveable OU fans that were camped out above the right field wall, they decided to make some snide remarks about the struggling OU baseball team. Before I go any further with the story, in case you don't know, the OU fans that hang out above the right field wall are not the fans you want to incite. So after these pompous Emory students put in their two cents about OU athletics, a Petrel fan retaliated with some verbiage of his own, a comment that skipped over cleverness and went straight to the down right personal attack you that you expect from the right field wall fans. It went something like "Nice shnozz beak face," as the student did have a large nose, to which one Emory Student replied "It's all right, it's okay, you're gonna pump our gas some day" (a chant I hadn't heard since my high school days). As the Emory students high-fived and congratulated each other on what they thought was a masterful and clever insult, I realized that these students truly considered OU to be inferior to the "Evil Empire" that is Emory.

Now I'm not gonna sit around and be treated like someone’s little sibling; I'm tired of playing second fiddle to Emory so tomorrow night when the Eagles make their way into Dorough Field House to tango with our #25th ranked Lady Petrels I hope our ladies give them the beating of the year. I'm demanding the presence of the Dorough Delinquents. I'm not trying to incite any riots, so Delinquents please keep the comments respectful and cleverness is always a plus but cheer your asses off, make the Eagles envious of our fans, and let's assist the Lady Petrels in staying undefeated on the season. The crowd Friday night vs. BSU was awesome, but I know we can do even better. I'm challenging the Petrel Nation to make an appearance like they've never made before, help our ladies send Emory home completely defeated, wishing they had never picked up a basketball before.

Here's a little message for Emory and their fans; when you're on your way home completely defeated tomorrow night, and you try to make yourself feel better by saying something like, oh I don't know..."It's all right, it's okay, they're all gonna pump our gas some day," just remember that we're a bunch of honor students too.

Show me the D3Hoops.com top 25

With two great wins this opening weekend in SCAC play the Lady Petrels should make an appearance in the D3Hoops.com top 25 poll this week. The Petrels are flying high and looking great thus far in the young 2007-2008 hoops season. At 5-0 and with great wins over Piedmont, a National Tourney team last season, and former D-I Birmingham Southern, the Lady Petrels are demanding respect and I'll be willing to bet that the D3hoops.com voters have taken notice.

With an average margin of victory of 25 pts the Lady Petrels have not only won their first five games, they have made a statement. These blowouts are not the result of a team playing its top seven players for 30 plus minutes; Coach Sattele has been able to get his younger players in the games early and often. Only the Birmingham Southern game was primarily played by the Petrels top seven, and Birmingham Southern is a Good team that has already defeated the D3hoops.com #11 McMurry University on a neutral site.

You can't expect every game to be a blowout and I guarantee they won't be. The SCAC has some really good teams that will definitely challenge the Petrels this season. I will admit that I thought Rhodes was going to be one of those teams, and maybe they will be come February but right now the Lady Petrels are playing at an intensity level that their opponents aren't ready for. It's been fun to watch thus far, and I have every bit of confidence that they are about to get their due respect in this weeks D3hoops.com top 25 Poll. Keep up the good work ladies and let's notch two more victories this week over cross town rival Emory on Thursday and in-state rival LaGrange on Saturday.

Give me the Whistle

So the Lady Petrels are off to a great start (3-0) on this young season, but I'm going to limit the amount of praise I give them in this post because I would like to talk about referees today. If any referee assigners out there ever read this, which I seriously doubt, please stop sending your C team to referee our beloved Lady Petrels basketball team. This is not me ranting about bad calls because of a loss, no, I'm complaining even after the Petrels stomped Piedmont last night in Demorest. The final score was not truly telling of the beating, but I digress. This was the second game this season where the Lady Petrels have had to suffer through some poor officiating. In all fairness, the first such game came in Virginia a couple of weekends ago and the referees weren't in shape enough to keep up with the torrid pace that both teams were playing at, so both teams were the recipients of many unfavorable calls. If you're not there to see the play, then you guess on the call and you make some wrong calls and that's what happened. Last night, however, was just odd.

For starters, a three second violation was called at one point on the Lady Petrels as a player drove into the lane and kicked the ball back out to a perimeter shooter. The player was probably in the lane for three seconds, but who calls that. I thought the unwritten rule was that you don't call three seconds until it becomes so obvious that the opposing team and fans are counting for you. That play really wasn't a big deal in the game, but it added to the humor that was last night’s referee crew. The big issue for me last night was the insane amount of blocking fouls, off the ball fouls, and loose ball fouls that were whistled.

Had that referee crew been officiating a men's game last night, the game would have been decided by each team’s third-team as all starters and second-team players would have been sitting on the bench with five fouls apiece. The Lady Petrels are an aggressive basketball team, and when the referees take that away, you take away a lot of what has made them so successful the past couple of seasons. Notice I called them aggressive, not physical, there is a big difference between the two and last night's referees couldn't comprehend that. It was not as if the Lady Petrels were out there pushing around a bunch of 3rd grade kids on crutches, they were playing against a team that was just as capable as they are and our ladies were penalized because of there aggressiveness.

If referees were to actually call every foul as defined by the official rules of basketball then they would be blowing their whistle very 10 seconds in Today's style of basketball. The game has evolved, and yes, that means the women's game has evolved too. This is not 1950's basketball anymore. Our Lady Petrels would dominate Gene Hackman's Hoosiers (we've just got to cover Jimmy Chitwood on the perimeter). Just because one team does not play an aggressive style of basketball does not mean you penalize a team for playing aggressively and last night our ladies were penalized. In fact, they were penalized many times for just being out on the court, the whistle just kept blowing. As a referee, you have what they call discretion and just because something is a foul according to the official rules does not mean you have to call it; you get to ask yourself is this "foul" affecting the play in any way, if not can I maybe just give the player a verbal warning to let them know I'm watching? Basketball is an extremely tough game to referee, it's fast paced, lots of rules and all of the action takes place on a small playing surface (in comparison to baseball, football, soccer). That being said, I understand that referees are not going to make every call, but last night they almost did, and that doesn't go over too well in today's game. Not every "foul" is a foul. Ok, I’m done bitching now.

As tough as last night was with the foul situation The Lady Petrels got a great win over a Piedmont team that appeared in last year's National Tourney. Good win ladies and let's get two more great wins this weekend.

We'll Take 'em

If you haven't heard, Oglethorpe absolutely dominated their two opening weekend opponents this past Friday and Saturday at the Emory & Henry Tip-off Tournament. Neither of the games was ever really close and Coach Sattele was able to get a good look at many of his young players as Oglethorpe's defense put both games away early on. The Lady Petrels did exactly what I expected them to do...dominate their inferior opponents this past weekend. Just so you know, in case you weren't able to catch the action live, Oglethorpe was far from playing flawless basketball. I think that's one of the best things to come out of this weekend; there's plenty of room for improvement and the Petrels still dominated. I'm not trying to be overly critical of the ladies, but the fact is (and they should know this) they had their fair share of opening weekend miscues and errors. You can't expect them to play February type basketball in November...and they didn't, but if this weekend is their November basketball then I can't wait to see them in action come February. I thought their young players looked young at times, but they also were able to show me that there is some real talent in this freshmen class. In a few months, when the freshmen are sophomores (in terms of basketball experience), this team will be deep and I mean really deep. Yes, two blowout wins were a great way to start this season, but being able to play your subs against the opposing teams' starters, and extend leads during those minutes is what impressed and excited me the most about this past weekend. This team is good and I'm confident they will be great come February.

Lady Petrels Picked Second Behind DePauw

The SCAC has finally released its preseason predictions for the 2007-2008 basketball season, and the DePauw Tigers are the clear favorite in the conference. However, with one day to left to vote on the poll on this Blog, it appears that the lady Petrels are a clear favorite to win the conference. Yes, my poll may be slightly biased but it is still a poll of opinion and anyone in the World (who has access to the internet) can vote on our poll. So I know our poll is completely biased, but I think the way my poll is shaping up is very legit. DePauw has to be the preseason favorite in the conference, they're not only the defending conference champs but they're also the defending National Champs and as the SCAC press release points out, they're bringing back a solid core of players. There is no doubt that DePauw will be a good team this season. Just looking at their roster they have brought in about 30 new players (they seriously have 22 players on the roster12 are freshmen). There is a large crop in Greencastle to choose from they could probably field two competitive teams in the SCAC. However, there is no Liz Bondi on this year's roster. Someone for DePauw is going to have to step up and become that go-to player that Bondi was. The loss of Bondi is a lot more than just the 15 or 16 points a game she provided on offense. A great player, which Bondi was, makes your entire team better just by being on the floor. Opposing defenses have to pay a lot of attention to a player like Bondi, and this often leads to the offensive success of other players due to the lack of attention they receive from the defense. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure DePauw has plenty of players that can score, but are they going to have the player(s) this season that defenses have to key on? If not, DePauw may struggle...or they could be an extremely well balanced offensive team, we just don't know yet. But I do know that DePauw would much rather be with Bondi than Bondiless. The lady Petrels on the other hand had an extremely well balanced offense last season, and from watching them last Saturday, they're going to be even more balanced on the offensive end this season. I'll agree that DePauw is worthy of the top spot in the SCAC preseason rankings, but I'm going to have to disagree with number of first place votes they received (10, Trinity received the other one). If the sports information directors in our conference are almost unanimously picking DePauw to repeat as Conference Champions then they must know something that I don't (which is very possible). I will say this, this season won't be a cakewalk in the SCAC for the defending National Champs, nor will it be a cakewalk for any team in the conference. I expect a very competitive conference season, and I won't be surprised when the Lady Petrels win that first conference championship this season. You can find the complete SCAC Press release at http://www.scac-online.org/ The SCAC preseason rankings are as follows:

1. DePauw University
2. Oglethorpe University
3. Trinity University
4. Rhodes College
5. Austin College
6. Hendrix College
7. Southwestern University
8. Colorado College
T-9. Centre College
T-9. Sewanee-University of the South
11. Millsaps

D-III Voters reading our blog?

I am not 100% certain, but it does appear that a large percentage of voters for Women's DIII News have been reading our blog and have done their research on the 2007-2008 Lady Petrels Hoops team. The first two major preseason top 25 polls left the Petrels out, but after my criticism of the other polls, the Women’s DIII News poll gave our Ladies the #20 preseason ranking. I believe they were scared of being criticized like the other publications and knew that they had to do their research and make a true preseason top 25 poll. Now, you know how I feel about preseason rankings, but our Ladies are deserving of this and I am confident they will not let these voters down. #20 is only the beginning...#1 is the goal!

WOMEN'S DIII NEWS 2007-2008 PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL
# TEAM 2006-07 record
1. Capital 20-7
2. New York University 27-4
3. Washington University (Mo.) 25-6
4. Bowdoin College 29-2
5. Kean 27-4
6. DePauw 31-3
7. Calvin 28-3
8. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 19-9
9. University of Southern Maine 27-3
10. Illinois Wesleyan 22-6
11. Messiah 26-3
12. Hope College 24-4
13. Millikin 20-6
14. Luther College 24-5
15. Emmanuel College 29-2
16. Mary Washington 31-3
17. Wilmington 25-5
18. St. Benedict 22-6
19. Scranton 27-3
20. Oglethorpe 21-8
21. George Fox 19-7
22. Randolph-Macon 26-5
23. Puget Sound 24-7
24. Manchester 21-7
25. Carroll 22-5

Preseason Polls are in and OU's on the Outside

The 2007-2008 Preseason polls from D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) agree that OU will not begin the season as one of the top 25 teams in the nation. However, OU did receive votes in both polls and is currently ranked 36th in the D3hoops.com poll and 34th in the WBCA poll. I must admit that I think the Lady Petrels are deserving of a preseason top 25 ranking, but does it really matter? Being in the preseason top 25 does not guarantee a 20 win season; in fact it doesn't even guarantee a single win. With the little media exposure that D-III athletics actually receives, there is no way to determine who the top teams are in the nation. Unlike D-I, freshmen and newcomers are absolute mysteries to opposing coaches. If any coach in the SCAC actually knew something of the OU freshmen class from 2005-2006, they would have never picked the Lady Petrels to finish last in the conference, they probably wouldn't have picked them second either but they surely wouldn't have been picked last. If you take a look at the final D3hoops.com poll from the 2006-2007 season and compare it to the 2007-2008 preseason poll, you will find that there are only four teams in the preseason poll that were NOT in the final poll last season. The latest top 25 poll seems to be more of a recap of last season, not actual expectations of the year to come. Basically, I think it's a shame that the Lady Petrels are not a preseason top 25 team, but come January, if they play up to their potential they will be amongst the ranked teams in the nation. Additionally, I'm sure that a ranking in the final poll in March will be more prized than a preseason top 25 nod.

OU's growing Apathy a concern to researchers

"We have sports teams?," commented a 5th year junior at Oglethorpe when I asked him about his expectations of the Lady Petrels this coming hoops season. Surprisingly this was not the first such response I received last Wednesday when I went back to the campus of Oglethorpe University in a quest to gather student insight on their expectations of the 2007-2008 Lady Petrels hoops squad. Disguised as a Japanese Maple, I planted myself outside of the Emerson Student Center and bombarded unsuspecting OU students with questions concerning the Lady Petrels. After 6 hours of incredibly unnecessary covert journalism I was shocked to discover that the majority of students I interviewed were more surprised to find out that OU had sports teams than the fact that they were talking to a tree. That's right, it didn't even begin to phase these students that they were talking to a frickin' Japanese Maple! As I drove home, disappointed with my day's research, I began to reflect upon my wonderful days at OU. I remembered being at almost every single sporting event I could attend. Me and my cronies made several road trips to support our fellow students in their athletic competitions. It was a fun era at OU. Students made absolute fools of themselves at every sporting event. Life was great, Lake Lanier was full, and home games on Friday nights in January and February were what we lived for. Have you ever cheered so hard and fanatically that after a win the players come and thank you and assist the EMT in starting your intravenous drip because you've given everything you have as a fan? Well I've been there and it's awesome! Why can't the good 'ole days return to OU? I want to see Dorough Fieldhouse packed all season long. I've had enough of the apathy around campus, it's time to get out and support your school, your fellow students, and the concession stand (conveniently located in Dorough Fieldhouse). Let's bring the energy back to OU. The Dorough Delinquents need to return, and return in force. I'll see you this season!

What should we expect this season?

With the Lady Petrels first regular season game less than a month away, you have to ask the question; is this team ready to make a run at the D-III National Championship? I know the season has not yet begun, and two straight years of making the national tourney does not guarantee a third straight appearance, but the fact that the Lady Petrels are bringing back their core players for a third straight season and Corbett is returning from injury makes me believe that that we will be adding some hardware to our trophy case come March, assuming the lock hasn't rusted over from lack of use. I'm probably getting ahead of myself but I truly believe these girls will provide OU with some much needed excitement this March. DePauw's Lady's took home the National Championship last year, our Lady's took down DePauw at Dorough last season. If they can find that level of intensity and determination that they had versus DePauw last January and apply themselves to that level of play all season long, they will be the team to beat around the SCAC and come March, around the country. What do you think, am I full of it, or do the Lady Petrels have a legit shot at a National Championship? What will it take for them to win the SCAC? What will you consider a successful season? I want to hear from you. Post your comments.

About this Blog

Kim and Brett will frequently post blogs concerning the Lady Petrels basketball team and their webcasts. Your job is to comment on their posts. You can just leave comments, or ask questions and Brett and Kim will incorporate these comments into their webcasts of the OU Lady Petrels basketball games. Additionally if there is a topic you feel is worthy of discussion you can simply e-mail brett at brettrwise@gmail.com or Kim Wiley at kimawiley@yahoo.com

Webcasts

Fans of the Lady Petrels basketball team of Oglethorpe University can now listen to all the home games for their favorite NCAA D-III women's basketball team via the web. Click on the following link to catch the Lady Petrels in action this season http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/ then click on "Listen Live." The games will be brought to you by Oglethorpe University alumns and former student athletes Kim Wiley and Brett Wise. A full schedule will be posted in the coming days.