From the Bowling green newspapers:

Owls realistic about chances
Kennesaw State familiar with team that upset No. 20 Kentucky

By ROB HERBST, The Daily News, rherbst@bgdailynews.com/783-3238
Thursday, November 8, 2007 12:00 PM CST

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If Kennesaw State needed a jolt of hope heading into Friday’s opener at Western Kentucky, all it needed was to watch television Wednesday night.

Fellow Atlantic Sun Conference member Gardner-Webb offered an early surprise to the basketball season by handling No. 20 Kentucky 84-68 at Rupp Arena.

Kennesaw State is familiar with Gardner-Webb. The Owls swept Gardner-Webb last season and were picked seventh in both preseason Atlantic Sun polls - one spot ahead of Gardner-Webb.

But if the Owls are oozing confidence entering E.A. Diddle Arena, Kennesaw State coach Tony Ingle is hiding it perfectly.

“I saw (Western) on tape (Tuesday night) and wished I hadn’t, because I needed some sleep,” Ingle said. “After I saw them, I tossed and turned all night.”

Ingle’s WKU nightmare traces to last season, when the Owls opened the season at home against the Hilltoppers.

It wasn’t pretty.

Western handed Kennesaw State a 96-55 thumping after shooting better than 72 percent from the field in the second half.

“If we get beat by 41 (last year), it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (to figure things out this year),” Ingle said. “There isn’t a whole lot we can do when you have a tough time matching up with their quickness, talent and experience and skill. I could sit here and sugarcoat it and lie, but I can’t do that.”

Western will have the edge in experience. Along with returning six seniors, the Hilltoppers have four starters back.

Kennesaw State returns only two starters and two seniors - forwards Shuan Stegall and Ronell Wooten.

Gone is point guard Golden Ingle, who played his freshman year at Western Kentucky, before transferring to KSU to play for father Tony Ingle.

Golden Ingle recently finished a professional basketball stint in Mexico.

While signs point to a Hilltopper victory, WKU will at least be wary of overlooking the Owls.

“We always talk about that,” WKU coach Darrin Horn said. “It’s something you always address, but you’re still dealing with young men that are learning to show that kind of maturity.

“But for us it’s, ‘Are you going to be at your highest level, regardless if it’s a film session, practice, game against Kennesaw State or a game against Tennessee?’ ”

Kennesaw State basketball is in a similar transition as WKU football. The Owls are in their third year of Division I hoops after being a Division II power.

But the Owls still have a two-year wait before they can qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

That’s made life difficult for Tony Ingle.

“We could go 30-0 and not go to the NCAA Tournament,” Ingle said. “Somebody said, ‘Coach, do you see the light at the end of the tunnel?’ I said, ‘I don’t even see the tunnel.’

“We’re losing kids to teams that hadn’t been to the tournament, but at least they have a chance to go.”

The Hilltoppers were the first non-conference Division I opponent to visit the KSU Convocation Center. That was a big benefit for Kennesaw State in the two-year deal.

“That was huge,” Ingle said. “It was sending a message to our community that we’re Division I. Everybody was excited, fired up and of course after the first three minutes of the game, they fizzled.”



WKU guard/forward Courtney Lee recently became one of 10 players named a Playboy preseason first-team All-America.

Lee averaged 17.3 points and 4.6 rebounds last season and becomes the first Hilltopper to be named to the Playboy team since center Chris Marcus was named to the 2001-02 team.

Sun Belt Classic tickets on sale Monday

Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee jointly announced Wednesday that upper-level tickets at the Sommet Center for the Sun Belt Classic doubleheader on Dec. 15 will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday.

The doubleheader features Middle Tennessee and No. 3 Memphis at 6 p.m. followed by the Hilltoppers and No. 7 Tennessee at 8:30 p.m.

The lower and club levels of the arena are already sold out and administrators at both schools encourage fans to get their tickets quickly.

The $15 tickets can be purchased by calling the WKU Athletic Ticket Office at 745-5222 or (800) 5-BIG-RED, and they are also available by visiting the ticket office inside the U.S. Bank entrance of E.A. Diddle Arena. Tickets are also available by contacting Ticketmaster.

The $15 ticket will secure the same seat for both games.



Exposure



WKU expands TV coverage
Most games go national on Fox College Sports Atlantic

By ROB HERBST, The Daily News, rherbst@bgdailynews.com/783-3238
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 11:24 AM CST

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In order to become a Top 25 basketball program, Western Kentucky saw a need to be on television like a highly ranked squad.

So, WKU men’s basketball will be on national television at least 26 times this year - including all regular-season Sun Belt Conference games - with the vast majority of games being produced and broadcast by the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network.

Games broadcast by HSSN (WKYU-PBS local cable channel 11) will also be shown live on Fox College Sports Atlantic (Insight Digital Cable channel 533 in Bowling Green).

“When you look at the types of assets that a Top 25 program has - great facilities, we have that. Fantastic fan base? We’ve got a fantastic fan base,” WKU athletics director Wood Selig said. “Outstanding TV coverage? We felt like in the past that perhaps that was an area of weakness.”

Western’s home games have traditionally been broadcast by HSSN, but the biggest change in this year’s television package is the inclusion of games away from E.A. Diddle Arena.

With the exception of the Great Alaska Shootout and the Tennessee matchup in Nashville on Dec. 15, all games away from Bowling Green will be on HSSN and FCS Atlantic.

ESPN has the rights to broadcast the Great Alaska Shootout. Western’s opener against Gonzaga on Nov. 22 will be televised on ESPNU; Western’s broadcast schedule for the rest of the event depends on tournament results.

Only Friday’s home opener against Kennesaw State and the Nov. 17 matchup against Murray State won’t be televised.

“I think it’s huge,” WKU coach Darrin Horn said. “The number one way we can impact our program off the court besides winning is through television.”

Former WKU star and coach Clem Haskins will continue to be the color analyst for HSSN home games. Former WKU women’s coach and men’s assistant coach Paul Sanderford, who retired following last season, will provide analysis on HSSN road games.

According to WKU, George Plaster and Jeff Younglove will split play-by-play duties. Both have worked HSSN games in the past.

The WKU Lady Toppers’ television schedule hasn’t been formally announced, but indications are that about a dozen women’s games will be televised under the plan.

Selig said WKU will spend between $350,000 to $400,000 on the television package.

“A Top 25 team deserves that commitment and deserves that coverage,” Selig said. “We want our fans to have the same expectations that the fans at Duke, UCLA and North Carolina have. When their team plays, they expect to be able to turn on the TV and find it.”

Horn said there are several benefits from being on HSSN and Fox College Sports, but it all comes down to trying to give Western Kentucky more exposure.

“When you are on between November and March that many times, you can’t really put a value on the exposure that gives your program,” Horn said.

“For building your fan base at home, for keeping your alumni involved across the country, for recruiting. For you never know who’s voting on the NCAA Tournament stuff that’s going to catch a game.”

And any type of exposure can have some boost on recruiting.

“I don’t think you can count on it the first time around necessarily, but you never know who is watching,” Horn said. “(The TV package) in itself makes a statement, especially when you talk about recruiting kids outside a three or four hour area. When you look at it, what separates the programs? (TV) is one of the things that sets them apart.”

i'm confident that we can beat them. We need a big game from Wooten and Stegall

It will take an remarkable performance or some major luck..but anythings possible I suppose..

Hmm Ingle doesnt sound too confident!

“There isn’t a whole lot we can do when you have a tough time matching up with their quickness, talent and experience and skill. I could sit here and sugarcoat it and lie, but I can’t do that.”

Not looking good.

I think that part was a smoke screen for the media.

Its no suprise that Ingle sounds that way. They are better than us and it isn't close. I hope we can pull something off or at least put up a good showing though...

Well, I think Ingle is probably pretty dead on. This is the same team that beat us by 41 points AT Kennesaw State. They return 4 starters, 6 seniors, and had a heck of a recruiting class. We don't return as much, have only 2 seniors, and our recruits aren't as heralded as some of the guys they brought in.

Never say never...obviously Gardner Webb was severely outmatched against UK, and still won, but it would be an upset of major proportions for Kennesaw to beat Western Kentucky at their place. They are bigger, faster, and more talented than us at basically every position. But that is the great thing about basketball. A less talented team can beat a more talented team on any given night. Hopefully tonight is our NIGHT!

Watch (or listen) for stegall to play some PG. I am sure we will try to put a big team out there at certain times in the game to creat size mismatches with their gaurds. Such a team may include Stegall (PG), Wooten (SG), Keith (SF), Whipple (PF), and J-MAC down low. They wont play this the whole time but I am sure we are going to try to create some mismatches to work to our benifit as their gaurds are rather small. However, they are very fast. We will see what happens! They did this some vs. UGA last year and it worked well. Anyone going to listen to the game?

Well the element of surprise is timing and expectations. GW had both. Kennesaw only has one. WKU knows what happened to Kentucky taking away the surprise and destroying the timing. If this was a few weeks removed it would be better but not 4 days.

What Kennesaw does have going for them is that they are a better team than last year with depth they have never had before. The season's going to be great. This one game doesn't hold the key to our success in the ASun just as much as GW's win over UK doesn't mean they are tourny bound. It's impressive but in the end, how much does it mean? UK will write it off as overlooking them and they'll forget all about it come March. GW will hold on to that as their battle flag going into their new conference.

I've been looking forward to this game for a while now. I know our chances of winning are pretty slim, but maybe we can atleast get some respect from this team that absolutely destroyed a lot of our momentum heading into last season (I don't know if you guys remember, but the article on the website reported a record crowd of over 2,000 at the game which we never even came close to afterwards). I'm not saying it would be a complete failure if we didn't do this, but I would love to see us at least stay within 15 this year. I think that would be a good accomplishment against a team this talented. However, I'm pulling for an Owls win and I believe we can do it.

Their good, but honestly that 41 point win could end up hurting WKU. They prob wont take us that seriously. If they had just played a slightly above average game last year, they prob would of won by around 15-20. It was one of those games where nothing was missing.

Its a game we can keep within twenty. Thats what I'm shooting for.

I think I may have found a free way to view the game. Click on the link provided and select sign up now. Western Kentucky's Big Red Zone says it is including our game in the free "preseason" package. I hope this is correct as I just registered.

http://www.wkusports.tv/LogoffPage.dbml?...1109204246

I saw that last night and thought it was only preseason games..I hope you are correct as well..

kr983 Wrote:I think I may have found a free way to view the game. Click on the link provided and select sign up now. Western Kentucky's Big Red Zone says it is including our game in the free "preseason" package. I hope this is correct as I just registered.

http://www.wkusports.tv/LogoffPage.dbml?...1109204246

Went back and re-read it..It sounds like your right..Ill sign up as well..

Wow I wish I didnt have the option to watch it...