BEARCPA

I don't think there are any more straws for you to grasp at. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that “suspects” (in the context of Coach T’s quote) are players who may not make the team because their effort is SUSPECT, or their conditioning is SUSPECT, or their talent is SUSPECT.

Yeah it’s the net income for the college as a whole, which come from the annual financial statements they post on their website. They only break down the financials into a few different segments, and Lamar classifies their athletic department in the “auxiliary” segment, which is probably lumped in with a lot of other departments.

Those are all great questions, but times don’t appear to be as tough as they seem for Lamar. They reported $21.2 mil. in net income on their financials for fiscal year 2021, so they had plenty of breathing room to open up the checkbook for more athletic funding.

Texas finally started hitting jumpers today vs Va. Tech. Feels like it’s been ages since they’ve won a game in the tourney. Hope they can keep it going Sunday.

It certainly doesn’t hurt recruiting when your head coach is a former MLB All-Star that played most of his career right down the road.

You bet. I just want to enlighten folks so they can direct their frustrations mostly towards the Board and other decision-makers at Lamar; instead of the coaches and players who are hamstrung by those parties.

Same thing happened with LCM in '96 I believe when they rode Beau Hale one-gamers all the way to the state tourney. Hopefully Griff invested in a bunch of lotto tickets that year.

Nate Clover from PA was on the Oral Roberts team that made the Sweet 16 last season as a 15 seed.

I promise we all want them to be competitive with those programs, but they haven't been able to do it consistently due to a combination of lackluster recruiting and coaching. Why doesn't Lamar get the same quality of athletes and coaches as those other programs? Money. Every one of those schools you mentioned has at least 5% more of an athletic budget to work with compared to Lamar. ACU's financials aren't posted online because its a private school. Lamar athletic budget: $13.6 mil. Tarleton athletic budget: $14.2 mil. (5% more than LU) SFA athletic budget: $15.7 mil. (16% more than LU) SHSU athletic budget: $16.8 mil (24% more than LU) So until Lamar is able to spend on a similar level with these other schools I, along with most other rational Lamar fans, will keep my expectations grounded. Money absolutely matters in college athletics, and the new AD needs to really push administration for more leeway to spend on par with their peers.

I feel ya lol I had them in the Final 4. Just didn’t take St. Peter’s seriously enough.

Another year of throwing my bracket in the trash on the first night of the tourney. Love the chaos though.

I had Iowa in the Elite 8 😐

Apologies if this was answered somewhere before, but does the All-District format (number of players on 1st team, 2nd team, & honorable mention) vary between each district based on the coaches' preferences, or is it some type of UIL-wide format?

There's no point in trying to talk sense into any of the Briles jock-riders.

Thats great news, now LCM fans won't have to stare directly into the sun before it sets in the evening lol

Bingo. Jealousy may play a small part in it, but from what I've seen the issue is mainly people with antiquated views on everything, including improvements to their school district. "We didn't have turf fields back when I played, so why do kids these days need it?" Sadly there are a lot of folks like this in SETX, and the high school athletic facilities around here mostly reflect that way of thinking. Your "what we have is good enough" point is great, because people will say that in regard to local high school athletic facilities, then they will turn around and complain when our football teams get knocked out of the playoffs early (except for WOS and Newton usually) by schools with much better facilities. Top-notch athletic facilities certainly won't guarantee playoff success, but it definitely helps programs get going in the right direction.

Yes its true that most of the athletic programs stink right now, but that should have been expected, especially with the move to the WAC. If you look solely at Lamar athletic programs' recent success (or lack thereof) before the move, Lamar had no business moving to a bigger/better conference. Sure, the move to the WAC will benefit Lamar in the long run, but there are going to be major growing pains when an already-struggling athletic program moves up to a new weight class. My next question to you is why are your expectations so high with Lamar athletics? I'm about to be 32, and Lamar athletics have been overall mediocre at best my whole life. Lamar baseball has made six NCAA tourney appearances in my lifetime, with only one of those appearances coming since 2005. Lamar basketball has two whole NCAA tourney appearances in my lifetime. I will always support Lamar athletics, but I will also always be realistic about it. You will rarely be let down if you temper your expectations.

I'm surprised there hasn't been any talk about expanding the bleachers, especially on the visitor's side.

My bad, I didn't know it was a summer tournament. Is it an invite-only deal or can any team go?

Do you like Lamar? Like even a little bit?

Exciting times in the school district. I was told that turf is also being installed in the old sweat box gym so it can be used as an indoor practice facility for the outdoor sports.

You'd be hard-pressed to find many 4a schools that play a tougher non-district schedule than Silsbee each year.

Those are the two teams I have in the final, with the Zags winning it all. Not super confident in that pick though.

Yepp. Not accounting for strength of schedule, pre-district records in baseball are a lot less telling of how good or bad a team really is when compared to pre-districts records in football and basketball because those sports don't have the pitching aspect factored in. A lot of innings have to be eaten up by less talented guys during baseball pre-district due to the amount of games played in a short timespan during the 2-3 tournaments that each team plays in.

I believe the geography of the Region is irrelevant when picking the sites for first two rounds of the tourney.