I Will Will Have Posts Up Tomorrow After the Holidays, Myaw

A quick note to the throngs of Bengal fans:

I will regale stories to all about Women's Basketball's fun trip down to Texas tomorrow, after stuffing myself with turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and Thanksgiving FOOTBAW. Our Women's Basketball correspondent, Czar Nicholas II, happily reports that they played extremely well and that the 1-2 record down there doesn't reveal just how much fright they put into everyone (one of them, the Longhorns, are ranked #16 in the nation). A quick mention before tomorrow's official WWIS post is that Chelsea Pickering, a native of the Lone Star State, gave the locals one helluva show in every game (she was at the very SOURCE of her Texas-given powers, myaw).


Your Women's Basketball Correspondent, His Royal Majesty and Czar of All the Russias...Joe Schad has NOTHING on this guy

Another quick note: as our WBB Correspondent is Czar Nicholas II, we have deemed it tragically ironic to have a Communist (and German!) march as the victory march for WBB. As such, we have decided to commission the "Preobrajensky March" as the Victory March for Idaho State, in honor of our correspondent, instead of the East German "NVA Parademarsch"!



Also, for those interested, we turn to our Volleyball Correspondent, the Duke of Wellington!

*Enter Sir Arthur Wellesley*

A Good Evening to you all, readers! I happily remind you of volleyball's Big Sky Tournament play in Portland come Friday. We are the 3rd seed, and per tournament format we will be facing Northern Colorado, the #2 seed and current defending conference champions. The winner shall face whoever comes out alive from the Portland State-Montana battle (#1 and #4 seeds, respectively)

*Ahem* For those who were not clear on the setup, the seeding is as follows, broken down for your pleasurable convenience:

#1 Seed: Portland State Vikings
#2 Seed: Northern Colorado Bears
#3 Seed: Your Most Heroic Idaho State Bengals of the Royal Orange Fusiliers
#4 Seed: Montana Grizzlies

That's all for now, good readers. And if you're looking for updates on Men's Basketball, I happily direct you to the Idaho State Journal! Ta!

Strong Second Half Propels ISU to VICTORAH over Air Force

First off, congrats to my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes for pulling out one clutch play after another to beat Iowa and remain alive for the BigTen Championship and a potential at-large BCS Bid!

Women's basketball came back and fought their way in the second half to beat Air Force 68-58, going into the half with a 4 point deficit and turning it into a 10 point lead by the 7 minute mark. Air Force in the first half rolled the Bengals up and asserted dominance, eventually building a 23-13 lead that went to a 12-point lead before ISU clawed their way back into the game to make it 37-33 at half time. ISU came back after the halftime break a more focused squad, thanks to adjustments put into place by Coach Sobolewski. In his own words:

"We made a defensive adjustment where we switched every screen and we were able to stay in front of the penetration. I think we misjudged how much they would drive to the basket compared to how much they would take the outside shot"

ISU, with those adjustments, roared in the second half with a great defensive show, holding Air Force to a 30.8% shooting percentage on an 8/26 shooting performance while firing on all cylinders, outscoring the Falcons 35-21. That performance included an 11-0 run as well, stopping Air Force for 3 minutes while scoring those 11points.

Intangibles and Other Stuff

Victory March!

Women's Basketball will have a victory march for themselves, just like Volleyball and Soccer do! In honor of their defense-oriented schemes and how tough they are, the team will have the "NVA (National Volks Armee) Parademarsch", of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany)



Cydney Horton Rocks the Block

Ms. Horton blocked 2 shots Thursday night, and it's her second game where she has posted a block or more. Here's to her keeping that streak up!

Not Much of a Holiday Season

ISU will spend this Thanksgiving not eating turkey and pie, but rather playing 5 games in 8 days. They left today to go down to Texas Tech to play some Red Raiders on Sunday. Best of luck and safe travels to the team as they play in Pickering Land!

Andi Blodgett is Amazing and You are Not The itty-bitty adorable senior posted the game-high 15 points, sharing that honor with Chelsea Pickering who also had 15 points. Kudos to Spot Blodgett!

Women's Basketball: A Quick Recap Thus Far

Amid the celebrations of ISU letting Zamberlin go after a 6-38 record over 4 years with no signs of improvement except the improvement of the gaping hole in our souls, the women's basketball team has been busy. Last week, as many of you recall, we beat a solid West Coast Conference team in Loyola Marymount in a very physical game, 63-55. Freshman Lindsey Reed totally went off, scoring 21 points, nabbing 8 rebounds, and getting 3 steals in her 35 shining minutes on the court. However, ISU could not carry the momentum into the game against the University of Boise, falling very flat in a 73-48 loss (where Reed was one of the few bright spots, leading ISU scorers with 14 points). The record so far stands at 1-1, and ISU looks to get back on their feet with a win against Air Force tomorrow night (where Yours Truly will give the Falcons an improvised honor guard; as they are a service academy they are deserving of one).

Well that's the recap for now, I told you it was short. Tip-off is tomorrow night at 7:05pm, in Reed Gymnasium (or, if Lindsey Reed keeps playing the way she has, it will be "Reed's" Gymnasium)

Rumors on the Wind: The Zamberlin Era is OVER!

According to the latest reports and rumors, along with some Facebook statuses from some of the players, AND with Bengalcub getting countless confirmations, the Zamberlin Era is finally over. The players, according to a few inside sources, will have an emergency meeting tomorrow.

Everyone who has been deeply concerned with the PROGRAM and the REPUTATION, and the overall direction of ISU will be very happy. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

Final Thoughts on the Wacky Decisions of Old and Crusty Regents in Montana

News reports indicate that Montana has decided to stay in the FCS, despite having a program that has consistently dominated this level and is more than ready for the move up to Division I football.

There were three reasons for Engstrom's decision, and it's easy to translate seeing as how he's old and is reportedly a clone of former President Captain Dennison:

1) Keeping the rivalry with Montana State alive (so what if the WAC forbids going to FCS Stadiums...raise your middle fingers and do it anyway, what are they going to do? A stern warning?)

2) To compete with academic institutions with similar missions to Montana (don't ALL damn colleges have the SAME DAMN MISSION STATEMENT? To graduate and educate?)

3) He wanted to maintain the success and prestige sustained over the last 20 years (so...he wants the status quo despite the warnings all around him that the utopia desired and believed in by the Woodrow Wilson-Democracy-Loving types is a farce and cannot work in the long run)

Seriously, this whole decision, in my opinion, was short-sighted in the least politically motivated at the most, and it's showing the Good Ole Boy network and their intentions very well. They want to keep Montana and MSU in small-football forever because the Board apparently feels that they can hold back time, that they can freeze it and keep their universities where they are at for as long as they can. Kind of reminds me of the old elites after World War II. They thought they could hold their empires together despite being totally ravaged by the war, that the great independence movements could be contained and their empires forever preserved in time.

They, like President Engstrom and Montana will soon find out...were dead wrong. You should have taken this chance. Yes it would have been expensive, and it would have been painful. But you should have looked beyond the next 2 months, sir. You should have been looking at the next 15-20 years. You may never get another chance at this.

You have decided to remain frozen in time, and you will pass away as an image of glory and pride having long passed into history.

Some Quick Notes on Coverage

First off, sorry for the long hiatus. Life kind of got in the way there but it's ok because now I'm back and things have settled down (and they'll be REALLY settled next year after I obtain my degree this coming Spring).

Due to the Journal not having enough people to cover women's basketball (heh heh), I'll offer coverage the best I can.

And the best part: I'm sure as hell am not neutral :)

Anyways, Women's Basketball beat up on New Mexico Highlands last week, 65-54. Kaela Oakes, ISU's Mighty Mouse, scored a game-high 18 points, and ISU turned it up in the second half to put away the Cowgirls, who were only down by 3 at halftime. ISU made the necessary adjustments and kept the Cowgirls at bay for the rest of the game for a pleasant exhibition victorah.

ISU officially opens the campaign for Wooden Trophy Glory this Friday, at 7:05 against Loyola Marymount University. Tip off is at Reed Gym, myaw.

Soccer Finishes Season in a 2-0 Loss to Wildcats, Needs Work Internally

It's been a long time since the Koeniggratzer March has been played for soccer...and for good reason. Thanks in part to internal divisions on the team (upperclassmen angry at lower classmen getting more playing time and playing certain new players over established players, freshmen thinking they own the campus despite a losing record and thinking they are better than they are...) and that we apparently bought into the hype that we were supposed to win the title after hosting the tournament, ISU finishes far from where we were supposed to be.

ISU finished the season yesterday with a 6-11-2 record (1-5-1 BSC) with Weber State winning 2-0. ISU was outshot 19-7, with Jessie Baddley assisting on one of those goals (to Ari Wood) and taking 7 of her own. Fouls were relatively equal with ISU having 14 to Weber's 13. ISU had 7 saves to Weber's 3, which makes sense because we were getting shot at almost 3 times more than our own shooting output.

I could write more but I'm not going to out of sheer disappointment with the team to not put ego and petty bullshit aside for the greater good, and that it's a lax Saturday night and I have other stuff to write about (midterms are finally over so I can focus more on my blog hyah myaw).