New Blog! address

Here is the link to the new Blog! Please post any comments or suggestions to the site as a comment or send me an e-mail at gracbball@yahoo.com

http://thegrac.blogspot.com/

2006-2007 Season Wrap Up

Well the season is now behind us. A few updates to the site before we go into hibernation for the summer.

1.) Final Standings and (Win/Loss) Records have been updated for everyone in the GRAC.

2.) National Tournament Brackets are attached to the right of the Home Page for the Division I (Hutchinson, Kansas) and Division II (Danville, IL).

3.) Additions for the new year will include......

• Game Scores the day after games.
• Frequent online hometown newspaper updates.
• Statistics (How in-depth will depend on how cooperative other are)
• Additions based on your suggestions.

4.) How would you like to be a part of the website? I am looking for 8 good individuals (I can cover LTC) to work with me on keeping this site up-to-date and relevant. The best part is you don't have to travel any farther than your home teams arena if you don't want to!

Job Description: Attend your team's home games (most of them at least) and write down some simple statistics (Total Points, 3 pointers made, assists (We will talk about the definition), rebounds, and blocks. ---- All the hardcore statistical people and any coaches/recruiters is going to get official stats from the schools/conference itself so I am not going to worry about FG % and the like unless people REALLY REALLY want the rest of it. The template will be simple and easily printable from Microsoft Excel and then all you have to do is add them up and send them back via e-mail. Pay: Well nothing, other than helping out your local college with exposure and the good feeling you will get from being part of a fantastic site (this is sarcasm but I hope to have the site up to other conference's standards in the next couple of years).

Please place comments on this post and the site on THIS BLOG entry. I am looking for any input that I can get.

LTC Statesmen bow out of Tournament to Highland Cougars

The Cougars of Highland College sent LTC to the sidelines last night with an impressive 83-52 victory. The Statemen end thier year at 16-18 with the Region XXIV Division I Tournament Championship for their throphy case.

We want to tahnk all the GRAC teams and congradulate them on an exciting and competitive season.


Stay tuned for a season wrap-up and news on additions to the site for the 2007-2008 season!

Tournament Article from Robinson Daily News

here is the article from the Robinson Daily News that I promised everyone.

http://www.robdailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=8&SubSectionID=8&ArticleID=3272

Southeastern Illinois vs. Lincoln Trail post game article

The Daily Register out of Harrisburg, IL gives a great article in regard to the Region XXIV Division I Championship game. Click the Link to check it out.

http://www.dailyregister.com/articles/2007/03/12/sports/sports2.txt

The Daily News of Robinson has not updated its online site yet, but I expect an article from that paper soon. I will post it as soon as I find it.

Region XXIV Post-Season Awards

Player of the Year - Devron Bostick SWIC

Coach of the Year - Junsie Cotten LTC

All-Region Team

DJ Posley - JALC

Josiah Miller - JALC

Desmond Stephens - SEIC

Marcus Van - WVC

Reggie Bunch - SWIC

Olajide Hay - SEIC

Joey Parker - SWIC

Thomas Fraise - LTC

Jared Rehmel - OCC

GRAC Post-Season Awards

Player of the Year - Josiah Miller JALC
Freshman of The Year - Devron Bostick SWIC
Sportsmanship Award - Nathan Owen RLC
Coach of the Year - Mark Imhoff JALC

All-Conference

D.J. Posley - JALC

Marcus Van - WVC

Reggie Bunch - SWIC

Joey Parker - SWIC

Desmond Stephens - SEIC

Anthony Sargent - RLC

Olajide Hay - SEIC

Thomas Fraise - LTC

Lucas Steijn - JALC

Alden Smith Jr. - KC

Rend Lake Update

Well as I stated earlier, Rend Lake hosted the Region XXIV Division I tournament, but they did not participate. In Division II action Rend Lake (Playing as the 2. seed) fell in Quarter-Final action to Lewis & Clark College (3.) (85-78) on Wednesday March 7.

**Lewis and Clark (3.) went on to defeat Illinois Central (1.) (90-75) and will represent Region XXIV Division II as they advance in the National Tournament.

Tournament Results

Well Friday night Lincoln Trail (5.) upset John A. Logan (1.) and Southeastern Illinois (2.) beat Southwestern Illinois (3.) to set up a showdown of teams that split games during the regular season (Each winning on their home floor). This is the best type of rubber match as a neutral court sets the stage for a no advantage game to settle the score until next season.

**********************************************************************************

As it turns out the streaking Statesmen, saved their best basketball of the year for the most important time of the year! LTC used the hot shooting of Thomas Fraise (24 points), excellent court vision from court general Terry Wade, and dead-eye free-throw shooting at the end of the game to turn a 8 point half-time lead into a 9 point victory. The Statesmen also benefited from a bench that seemed deeper and more confident than Coach Junsie Cotten had grown accustomed to all year.

LTC travels to Freeport, IL to take on Highland in a Tuesday night game that will be covered by local media and if the game Saturday night is any indication, there will be a nice group of supporters that will make the long trip to Northern Illinois to see the game first hand!

(I will add more details, post season awards, and links to articles from both local papers as soon as they are available).

Tournament Update

John A Logan, Lincoln Trail, Southeastern Illinois, and Southwestern Illinois won yesterday. Lincoln Trail provided the lone upset of the day defeating Wabash Valley as the #4 and #5 seeds clashed.

So, the lineup for today will be....

(1.) John A Logan vs.
(5.) Lincoln Trail

(2.) Southeastern Illinois vs.
(3.) Southwestern Illinois

Good Luck for all the teams!

Tournament Pairings

1) John A Logan
8) Lake Land

4) Wabash Valley
5) Lincoln Trail

2) SE Illinois
7) Olney Central

3) Southwestern Illinois
6) Kaskaskia

According to Bret on Juco Junction Games are on Thursday and I think they start at 2 PM. ALL GAMES will be held at Rend Lake College in Ina, IL.

Updated Standings and Blogger! note

Well I keep making simple errors in the standings, but I believe that after checking through several sites that all of the GRAC and Region XXIV Division I standings are correct. (See the link to the right to check them out)

My errors were due to using several different sites to collect data and sometimes the data is updated and thenn updated again with corrections from mistakes and I failed to keep up with the corrections. Let my apologize to anyone that was confused to why their school was in the wrong spot or maybe had a game or 2 appear out of nowhere.

Well it is tournament time and Rend Lake College will host, but not participate as they are already in the Semi-Finals of the Region XXIV Division II tournament (The Warriors are set to face Lewis & Clark College @ 7 PM this Wednesday in Ina)

I have not seen any word about the 1st round games being at the higher seed, but they very well could be. After the 1st round I am certain that games move to Ina, IL and Rend Lake college for the reminder of the tournament March 8-10.


Again anyone that is viewing the site please post a comment to one of the entries, I need to find out if this site is of any value to people out there.

Thanks and good luck to all the teams!

Rebion XXIV Tournaments Update

Well when I checked earlier in the season NJCAA.org had the Region 24 D-1 Men's Tournament games being held at the higher seed. Now it is listing as being held at Rend lake College.

The Women's Tournament is listed as being held at John A Logan College, but I have heard rumblings that it might go to the higher seed format like the men did last year.

At this point I just don't know. I will list more information as it is available.

Updated Standings and Region XXIV Torunament

Well it looks like I had a few mistakes in the standings and it took me a while to correct and update them. Southeastern Illinois had one additional win and I think I gave John A Logan a win they didn't have.

Anyway everything should be correct and up-to-date for the GRAC standings as of 2-20-2007.

Poor weather caused a couple postponements since I last posted. I do not know as of today when they will be played, but I will post the times when I do know.

**************

Lakeland vs. Rend Lake in Ina 2-17-2007 - - - Postponed

John A Logan vs. Lincoln Trail in Robinson 2-14-2007 - - - Postponed


There have been so very few comments I am thinking that this Blog! is not of much use. I will continue to update it until every team from the GRAC is either ousted from the National tournament of one wins it all, but after that I would like some feedback (Please any of your thoughts on the site, changes, suggestions, things you like/dislike, additions, deletions)

Anyway it looks like everyone in the GRAC is back in action tonight with the exception of Southeastern Illinois who next plays this Saturday.

Speaking of Southeastern, they have taken over sole possession of 1st place in the GRAC as of Monday night while receiving votes in the National poll as well this week. John A Logan falls to second in the conference but holds onto the 7 position in the National poll.

The GRAC conference standings seem to be separating the haves from the have nots, as SEIC, JALC, SWIC, and WVC currently have opening round games on thier home courts and everybody else is traveling! LTC is behind the top four and then everybody else is a few games behind LTC.

Good luck to all the GRAC teams as we head for the tournament!

New Standings and National Polls

I have updated the standings for the GRAC through 2-9-2007. Wabash Valley lies dormant through the weekend as everybody else returns to conference action tomorrow.

Good luck to all the teams.

I have added national poll rankings to the standings link. Each team that is ranked has a number in (#) by their team name. As of right now John A Logan is the only GRAC team ranked in the national polls. However, they come into the week with an impressive 6th in the nation ranking.

It is truly sad that only 1 team from the GRAC will move on in the national tournament, as it seems that several teams can play at an elite level.

I am also going to add a link to go directly to the Division I national rankings at NJCAA.org

New Conference Standings and More on Women's Basketball

I have updated the GRAC standings through yesterday's games.

I have only received one comment and it was anonamous, in regard to putting women's basketball coverage on the site. Is anyone else interested in this?

Also, please for my benefit what teams do the readers of this Blog! follow?

Thanks!

Conference Standings Updated and Girl's Standings

Well the men's standings have been updated through Today.

I had a request on a message board to add the women's GRAC standings and information to the site. I am willing to do this, but it takes time and I don't know if anyone is even viewing the site for the men's information.

So, please make a comment to this post if you would be interested in seeing women's information for the GRAC on this site and please if there is anyone for any school that is willing to e-mail me scores the day after the games (online articles would also be appreciated) I would REALLY appreciate the help!


As for the Men everybody returns to conference action tomorrow (Saturday, February 3) with the exception of Rend Lake who is off until the 5th.

As an incentive for viewing the site please posts your thoughts on the outcome of the impending Region 24 Div I tournament. Who's gonna win? What does the higher seed format affect the games? (The higher seed hosts the games throughout the tournament) Who are the players to watch.

I will post your comments on the Blog for all to see!

Updated Standings and GRAC action on January 31st

The GRAC conference standings are updated through today (January 30th)

All the GRAC teams will be in action tomorrow night for conference play, with the exception of John A. Logan. The Volunteers will play the roll of sleeping giant as they sit atop the conference until their next game on the 3rd of February!

Good luck to all the teams!

Standings updated to January 26, 2007.

I guess this is pretty cut and dry the updated standings are up and running.

It will be a basketball filled Saturday as everyone but Rend Lake will be in conference action.

The Lakers of Rend Lake step out of the conference tonight (1/26) and travel to Malcolm X College for action starting at 6 PM CST. I am a big supporter of all the GRAC schools especially when they take on out of conference foes!

Good luck to all the schools!

Corrected Standings and Games tonight

I had a few errors in the standings the other day so i double checked a few things and now they (SHOULD) be updated to today.

Only Southeastern Illinois is dormant tonight as the rest of the teams are in GRAC action.

Please post any thoughts you have on the games!

Updated GRAC Standings and New Links

I have updated the standings to January 20th and I have added links that go directly to the men's basketball websites for each school.

I apologize for the delay in these updated standings, but I am having trouble finding the scores when the people at the schools are not sending them to me.

Here is a plea for help!!!! If you have updated records (both overall and GRAC) for any of the GRAC schools please post them to the comments section of the most recent Blog.

Thanks!

New GRAC Conference Standings

I have updated the GRAC standing Link on the right side of the page. Lakeland and Southwestern have not been updated. Southwestern's game with Lincoln Trail on 1-13-07 was canceled so I assume Southwestern and Lakeland was also canceled due to the weather in the greater St. Louis area. Hope everyone is back up and running today!

Looks like the MWAC has a great site already!

I couldn't find it on the web originally and now someone has (thankfully) pointed it out. The MWAC has a fantastic site up and running already. I don't want to step on the good people at that site!!! I have looked it over and it is great. I will provide a link to it and let them do what they do best!! This site will simply be for the GRAC from now on, since the other site is already doing a good job with the MWAC!!!!!!! Anyway here is the link!

http://www.njcaa24.org/

New Blog!

The new site is up and running, and I have standings updated to 1-11-2007. I will bring the standings up-to-date in the next couple of days and then update more frequently after that.


Please post your suggestions for the Blog as well as any new information that might add value to the site.