jabba the pa announcer.

Senior Night
Originally uploaded by jawzthejaguar.

Who's that gigantic blob goon sitting at the scorers table, reading announcements? Oh yeah. Me.

Note to self: the season's over...get thine large arse back to the gym.

the song is over.

We dropped the curtain on another Jaguars basketball season this evening. Thanks to the most spirited game they've played all season, the women's team went out with a win too. Both teams head into the tournament next weekend at virtually identical records and seeds.

I hope they do well.

As for closing down my sixth season as the Jags announcer...well, it's always bittersweet. You always look forward to the end. But once you get there, you want it to keep going just a little longer. Perhaps it's because I know it's the last game. but I'm always relaxed and in good voice a the last game.

My overall performance this season? Well, I've done better, but I've done worse. I passed, but would like to improve on a couple areas.

The bad, cheerleaders and especialy the dancers were great this year. I'd like to think these groups can hopefully become the foundation of a real student section some day....some day.

As for the table crew, this was our sixth season together. It's a privilege and an honor to work with them. I look forward to the beginning of next season in September with soccer.

In the meantime, I'll be watching the tournament and cheering on the Jags.

Onward.

change of address.

In case you haven't noticed, I've changed the URL to this blog. No, I'm not retiring from my PA duties at IUPUI (unless you know something I don't know). I've decided to make the URL more reflective of the name by which most people associated with the IUPUI Jaguars knows me. So...

IUPUI-JagsAnnouncer.blogspot.com has been changed...

The new URL:

KMac-PA.blogspot.com

Please make a note of it. Beeeeeeeeep!

shock the world.

Last evening was the final men's game (and final doubleheader) of the season. Our teams swept Centenary rather handily. The end of the season is always bittersweet. The men finished dead even: 14-14 overall, 7-7 in the conference. I suppose you could consider the record a letdown after last season's 18-9/13-3 finish. It's worth noting the Jags played most of the season—including the entire conference schedule—without its best player, George Hill. George red-shirted the season after his early ankle injury. To a degree, losing George took a lot of wind out of IUPUI's sails, and not just on the court.

Without George, it seems most Jags fans were deflated. That's probably why we had dismal attendance against Valpo and Oral Roberts and a few other games along the way.

Comparing the crowds in this year's Valpo and ORU games to last year's bedlam is a contrast in night and day.

I prefer bedlam to sleepy fans, personally.

The women's side of things was letdown this season as well. Last year, they had their best season ever, 16-10/11-5. Nobody expected that of the women's team last season. I suppose you could chalk up this season's 12-15/6-7 with one to go as a disappointment, but last year's success put the entire conference on notice: don't take them lightly. And nobody did.

We'll see how the teams do in the tournament. I think I speak for all of us when I say it's going to be an uphill climb for both. At least on the men's side, the know what they're up against. Their first round game against Southern Utah will not be a gimme. And if we get past the T-birds, it gets no easier.

I guess we have to wait and see.

The only part of next season to which I look ahead is in the hopes we draw in the fans again. The Jungle is not a very big place. There's no reason we can't sell the place out for every game. I'm not expecting the crowd to be as amped up every game as they were at the end of last season. But I do expect fans to be into the game. Believe it or not, I've had fans who sit behind me more concerned about what music is being played over the PA system. I'm not joking there.

"Can you play.....?"

I've gotten that more than once. My answer? No. It's that simple. No. I'm not a DJ. This isn't a club. I don't take requests. You're here to watch a basketball game!!

That's probably my biggest pet peeve right now.

Let me conclude by saying the Pep Band, cheerleaders and dance team were SPOT ON this year. You all were great; the best fans in the Jungle, night in and night out.

We've got one more home game and then it's on to Tulsa.

Crazier things have happened (remember Oakland two years ago?), so let's go shock the world!

you tube test.

I decided to upload this to You Tube. It's from last year's ORU-IUPUI game...man, how I wish our home court was like that these days. sigh

heading into the home stretch.

We had our third of four doubleheaders this past weekend. We've had better nights at the table, I have to admit. It's nothing that will carry over or anything, but we weren't as tight as we normally are. The plus side, though, IUPUI won both games. In both cases, our teams are squarely in the middle of the pack. I honestly had higher expectations for both teams, but you know how it goes. On the men's side, an injury to the team's best player clearly rendered an effect. Despite losing George Hill for the rest of the season, the team seems to be coming together at the right time, with four games remaining on the schedule.

For the women's team, it's hard to pinpoint what's happening. Last season, they took the league by surprise. This season, they've had trouble getting the offense going. That couldn't be more apparent than winning on Saturday by a score of 34-31. But they've got five remaining games and could get as high as a #3 seed in the conference tournament. But I think it's going to be Oakland's to lose this year.

What are the men's prospects in the tournament? Hard to say. Oral Roberts and Oakland are dominating right now with the rest of the league jockeying for position. IUPUI is currently in fifth place and could secure a #3 seed if they run the table. My prediction: they finish the conference season at 8-6 and in either fourth or fifth place. That puts them in a tough, tough bracket.

But who knows. Anything can happen.

I'm really quite surprised I'm already talking about the post-season. After tomorrow night, both teams only have two more home games. Once again, how time flies.

jags beat valpo (again); fans still sleeping.

So, we played Valpo last night. We beat Valpo last night. Normally, that would be a big deal. But Valpo isn't the team they used to be. And, to be honest, we aren't the team we thought we'd be. Don't get me wrong. I think there's a lot of talent on the Jags bench, but without George out there, it's not very cohesive. I give credit to our team last night, though. They played their best basketball of the season in the second half to out-score Valpo by 22 points. It's worth noting our shooting was over 60 percent in the second half. You can't count on that happening every game, but you'll take it when it does.

And oh yeah, Valpo had ZERO offensive rebounds. That's saying something about our effort last night.

I have to say, though, the crowd (or lack thereof) was a major disappointment to me. For whatever reason, this program lost all its traction from a year ago. We played Valpo last season on 9 Feb 06 and the place was rocking. It was a sell-out and the fans were the noisiest I'd ever heard them; until two days later when we played Oral Roberts.

We haven't even had a whiff of that atmosphere this season and it's frustrating. I expected more from our fans and our students this season. I don't expect them to make the road trip to Tulsa because that's a haul and a half. But I expect them to show up to the home games and make the place a college atmosphere.

I don't know why this season has been so different, but hopefully we can rally a bit here at the end of the season.

But back to last night's game for a moment...this was the last meeting between IUPUI and Valpo in the Mid-Con. Valpo's moving on to the Horizon League next season. It may surprise you to hear me say this, but I'm going to miss the rivalry. It may not be as strong as it was a couple seasons ago, but it was a fun rivalry.