Nothing going on today really…its Turkey Break so that means a lot of me sitting on my butt and doing nothing. I am totally cool with that. I hope to get some work done today around the house and for school. We will see if that happens or not.
In other news, I fly with the family to Chicago on Wednesday morning to stay with my family up there for Thanksgiving. And then on Friday I fly back here to work a couple basketball games and go to a football game on Saturday.
Fun, fun.
A basketball…yes it is basketball season already folks…a basketball game today for the WVU women’s team will be at 6 or 6:30. Its a double header with the men so the time isn’t totally for certain. I will be doing color commentary for it for U92. A totally differnet site to listen to the games than for the soccer games. Its ten times easier and there are no logins to remember or deal with. Just click the U92 link on the side of this page here and then click the listen live link on the web page. Its real simple, if you can’t figure it out then I honestly don’t know what to tell you.
Sorry for no updates throughout the week, got a little busy and fell behind on some things but I will probably be posting more this week since it is Thanksgiving break for me.
Seeing how today is the final for the MLS with the MLS Cup pitting New England and Houston. I thought I would throw my two cents out there and predict a Houston win. Both teams have come on strong as of late so it is a tough game to pick but New England hasn’t had the luck that they want in the MLS Cup in their history. Houston has won titles (they won as the San Jose Earthquakes) so it is not all new to them on how to win one of these things.
I have finally gotten most of my stuff back online, the photo pages are working again and I am slowly getting everything back to the way it was this time last week. I believe the web site is working better than ever now too as epp6.com is entering its four year on the world wide web. Crazy to think that its been online that long now but it has!
My main email address is back up and running as well for those who do email me on a normal basis.
In other news….
The men’s soccer game is THIS Wednesday at 7 pm (6 CT) as the Mountaineers will face off against UNC-Greensboro. Not a big surprise to me that they got UNC-G instead of VT for that game. Its a game WVU should be able to win since they are the host seed. If you are in the Morgantown area be sure to check the game out. These guys deserve a rowdy crowd like they had for the Notre Dame game back in the season.
Looking at the men’s backet (I can do this more now that the women’s team stunk up the place against UVA this past week). Plenty of solid matchups, but I do see most of the seeds winning their games. Shouldn’t be too many real upsets in the second round. The Big East had a tough time of things in the first round with 4 of the 5 teams losing their games. Only St. John’s was able to advance into the second round. UConn, Providence, Rutgers, and Cincinnati all dropped games in the first round.
The set up is still very favorable for the men’s team to make a good run in the tournament. I still think they have every chance to make it to St. Louis for the Final Four. If they beat UNC-G they will get the winner of the St. Louis/Northwestern. They should be able to beat either of those teams as that game will also be played in Morgantown.
Lastly…
There are only four more weeks of school for this semester, five if you want to throw in Thanksgiving break. Plenty of work ahead for me though, but thankfully there is a holiday break coming up next week. And yes, I have already broke out some Christmas movies in my spare time. Last night Becca and I watched Elf. I am sure once Thanksgiving passes we will watch more Christmas movies. I know XM likes to provide 5 or 6 Christmas music channels. So I am excited for that.
Busy week ahead as well, but I will try to provide as many updates as I can about games and what not.
After a slight bit of downtime, the ol’ epp6.com is back and running. I have a new host and everything for my site so things are up and running. It didn’t take nearly as long as I expected it to but thankfully it is mostly all back here and working. I just need to get my email back and going and it will be like nothing changed!
Alrighty, incase you missed it yesterday. The draw came out for both the men and women’s soccer tournaments. The men definitely got a good draw and have a solid chance to make it to the Final Four. The women, well…not so much but all is not lost even though they have to go on the road to Wake Forest this weekend. I will be traveling with the team to Winston Salem, NC to cover the events. Hopefully they can manage to beat two ACC teams as they play Virginia on Friday night and should end up playing Wake Forest on Sunday.
Hey it is possible.
In other news, epp6.com has been renewed for another year! YAY! Hard to believe this site is about four years old now. It is still growing but I am also currently shopping for a new host for it. I found one but the process is taking longer than I expected. Some things have changed with transfering hosts over the years. It wasn’t this complicated before. I am mainly waiting on my current host to give me some authorization key to be able to transfer my stuff to them. So hopefully soon it will take place.
What does that mean for everyone else? Nothing much really, hopefully there won’t be any downtime for this site. Any more I have the most trouble getting this site to load up with my current host so that is the big reason why I am changing. Not to mention I found a new host that has all the bells and wistles that I want for half the price. Can’t beat that. Not to mention the random discounts they throw on there for certain things. I like discounts, so naturally I listen when I see a good deal.
Again, hopefully there won’t be any downtime as far as changing host and what not. Hopefully it will happen and no one but myself will even see it.
Alright, I do know some things for when it comes to the NCAA soccer tournaments. Expect the men’s side to get the first round bye and play in the second round on November 15th. So next Wednesday they should play. I will let everyone know who and what time too.
As for the ladies, it could be tricky. They honestly could end up on the road now for the first round. It is possible but regardless of where they are at they will play on Friday night and should then again play on Sunday afternoon. Where and what time will be known on Monday.
Both brackets are released on Monday afternoon.
In other broadcast related news, the basketball seasons are about to get under way as well. Depending on soccer, the first home game for the ladies team is on November 18th. They do kick off their season on the road in the coming week. I may be doing a post game show for those games. Again it all depends on how the soccer teams are doing and when they play. Hopefully each team will be home for a while and it won’t matter. But we will see tomorrow when those brackets are released.
For those that are curious, the men and women failed to win the Big East tournament. The women lost to Rutgers on Friday after leading 2-0, they ended up dropping the game 3-2. As for the men, they took St. John’s to overtime in the championship game but with 4 seconds left in the first overtime, St. John’s found the back of the net to punch their ticket to the men’s soccer dance.
You know, despite two, maybe three turnovers against Louisville, I still believe WVU played well tonight.
I do.
It was a solid performance by the Mountaineers but it just wasn’t enough to beat a very talented Louisville team in "the Ville". I hate to do it but now I will say that it is time to hitch a ride on the Cardinal bandwagon and hope they can bring the Big East a national title. Not to mention WVU just needs to keep winning here and they should…and I do mean should be able to make at least a BCS game. Yeah, it can still happen. Plus you just never know what is instored for the next couple weeks.
Do I see a let-down for Louisville next week at Rutgers? Give me a few days and I will let you know…right now I will say, yes.
Does WVU bounce back and start winning again? Yes. The schedule isn’t easy but it does allow WVU to get some W’s when they need them most. Pitt will be the most challenging. You can already mark that down. Pitt, may end up being a tougher game than tonight’s game. Not because it is a rivalry game but because Pitt has gotten better and will make it competative. Something that was lacking last year when we played them.
Still, overall, I felt alright about tonight. Sure, it was ugly at times but it wasn’t the worst I have ever seen out of a Rich Rod coached team. No, but at times I saw the brillance that I know and love with this team. They are still a class act but they are young. Let me remind you that. Slaton and White will continue to run all over the other teams as they did tonight (White had 4…count them 4 touchdowns tonight).
The National Title game dream may be all over for WVU but honestly, it wasn’t the right year for it. I still believe next year will be the year WVU goes all the way.
Conference tournaments end this weekend and this time next Monday we will be able to break down the brackets and make some picks for both the men and women’s NCAA tournament fields. If you are a fan of college soccer, this has to be your favorite time of the season. Lots of questions to still ponder but I think you can almost guess who will get what and where teams will go.
The men’s field is 48 teams, so selection can and will be tough with the amount of talented teams out there. Four teams will get hosts seeds for the entire trip to the final four (in St. Louis). Right now you can pick between 6 or 7 schools to get one of those four spots. I have my own ideas and in a way I hope I am right since it would largely effect WVU.
My top four seeds for the men’s bracket are:
The next four seeds are a little bit differnet, they get the right to be home for a while but once the quarterfinal hits, they will have to travel
5. Virginia – if you haven’t noticed the ACC will dominate the top 8 here…
6. SMU – The Mustangs have been in the top 3 all season, but that one loss against UAB will hurt them
7. Duke – could very well win the ACC too
8. Santa Clara – could flip-flop with Cal
I won’t get into the rest of the 48 team field because I don’t have all night to speculate things but I do see the ACC getting four teams in the top 8 seeds and another team (Clemson or UNC) right out side the top 8. The Big East will and should send 7 teams (WVU, Notre Dame, UConn, Rutgers, Providence, Cincinnati, St. John’s) and could send one more (South Florida).
Don’t be too surprised if WVU gets a team like VT or Campell waiting for them in the second round of the tournament (top seeds get a bye in the first round).
Now as for the women, things are a little more open as they field a bracket of 64 teams. Its like March Madness but only in November.
It is hard to seperate much between the top teams in women’s soccer. Some say its UNC and some believe it is Notre Dame. Some also like UCLA and Santa Clara. Its tough but I expect each of those four teams that I just mentioned to be the top four teams (or your number one seeds so to speak) for this bracket.
As for your "number 2 seeds" I like WVU, Florida State, Portland and Texas A & M. These teams will be home until the quarterfinal matches. You could also make a case for Oklahoma State, Penn State, Florida and Illinois for one of these spots. A lot does come down to regional brackets and what nots that I don’t even want to get into.
I think the Big East will send 6 but out of those 6 it could be interesting. Notre Dame, WVU, Villanova and I believe by now Rutgers are a sure thing for the ladies field. After that it could come down to the following four teams: UConn, St. John’s, Marquette, and Louisville. And really, the Big East could get lucky and send 7 or 8. It is always interesting to see who gets selected and who doesn’t in this case.
Again, Monday night we will know more for sure when both brackets are released on ESPNews. However, we do know that this weekend’s games will easily impact anything that goes into the brackets. Might see a few surprises and we might not.
Well then…now it looks as though I will not be traveling to New Jersey this weekend to broadcast the Big East tournament. It came down to traveling costs and poor timing really. I was unable to leave with the team on Thursday morning since I have to meet with one of my teachers that day and MSN just didn’t want me to drive up there the following day. It was a matter of not wanting to pay for my gas and not wanting to be held responsible if something happened to me while I was driving.
I was a little upset about the whole ordeal but really its life and I can deal with it. Not to mention it totally opens up my weekend to get other things done around here. And it will give me another day for my story now. That is another thing that I am happy about as well.
What does kinda suck is that the crew they are sending to cover the women’s team this weekend at UConn. They are flying them up on Friday morning and paying for that costs. It does sound a little poor on their part but in a way it comes down to the women’s teams here getting the better treatment. I know UConn is further north than Rutgers but its still a little shady if you ask me. Again, oh well…there will be tournament games starting the following week I believe so I will have plenty of information on that, probably around this time next week. The brackets are released next Monday.
Hopefully both teams will be put in a situation that they will be home for a while in the tournaments. I think at least the men will be, but the women may have to travel some. So we will see.
So as you may have listened or heard…or even read at this point the men’s and women’s teams have both advanced to the Big East semifinals for next weekend. I will be traveling to New Jersey to call the men’s games now. I am not a 100% sure when the game is on Friday but I will let everyone know so you all can be sure to tune in and listen to a big and important match!
The men play Rutgers, a team that they have yet to face this season. Rutgers will be at home and that has some people a little upset that the top seed in the tournament has to travel and play the number two seed on its homefield. Hey, that is just how it works, schools put up host bids for these tournaments and Rutgers is hosting it this time. Not biggie if you ask me. Marquette hosted the women’s tournament last year when many felt that they shouldn’t. Its just the lay of the land, that is all.
So a full week for me here with school and then traveling to New Jersey. I am excited though. I called my second game this season as play-by-play man last night. I felt things went alright, since it was only my third time doing it overall. Still, it was a blast to do and I am looking forward to doing more as the team goes on.
Now, the important thing coming up will be if the men get a host seed (a top 4 seed really) for the NCAA tournament. That would be HUGE. It would mainly mean that they would be home until the Final Four (if they were to advance that far). Homefield is huge and hopefully the men can earn it next weekend. I still believe they have every way of doing so.
As for the women, they advance to the semifinals as well in the Big East like I said. They should get a good seed for the women’s NCAA tournament as well. They should host a few games too. They may need to win the Big East tournament to get a chance to host like the men.
I think the men have put themselves in good position to get that top four seed as of last night. Not to mention, despite the weather, there was a pretty good crowd out there last night. If you didn’t listen, it was cold, rainy, sometimes snowing, and extremely windy. So windy at times the ball would get in the air and catch the wind and it would block it down. It was amazing to watch really.
Well, I will hopefully be back sometime this week with more updates on everything.