Big Win for the Bears, MVC

Way to go Bears!  A win over an SEC team is real nice, especially over the near by Razorbacks.  They are exceeding my expectations with at least two wins from the first four games.  Next up, Utah on Friday.   I believe that the Bears can and will take them.  

Just looking at the box score from last nights game, here are some items I noticed:

1.  Bears kept there turnovers way down.  Only 10 for the game, against 17 for Arkansas.

2.  Sixteen total assists.  That shows great teamwork.  A far cry from the Terrance McGee - Dano Novak arguments on the floor in front of 6,000 fans.

3. Cooks - Weems - Jehle seems like the lifeblood for the Bears this year.  Jehle was huge off the bench with 8 points, 9 boards and 5 assists.

4. Free throw percentage was alarmingly bad, 56.3% (9-16).  The starters were 4 for 10.  And, I do not know how many misses were on the front end of one and one.  They will lose a lot of games if this does not get corrected.  

5.  The three point percentage was not bad: 34.6%.  I would say that this is an average performance, even though 26 attempts seems like a lot.  If they are going to rely heavily on the three and compete for a conference championship, this stat probably needs to be near 40%.

All-in-all, great win.

I also would like to tack on to this post a commentary about MVC scheduling.  The Bears have the best non-conference win this year so far.  This caused me to take a look at other MVC teams schedules and I am disappointed with the number of games against quality and BCS programs.  I think it is key to schedule these games, whether home, away or neutral, in order to obtain multiple bids in the tournament.  Some of the fault lies with the BCS programs as they are afraid to play the MVC teams.  However, it hasn't prevent several MVC teams from scheduling tough teams.  Here is a breakdown of "quality" / BCS programs MVC teams will be playing this year:

Bradley - Florida, Michigan State, Butler

Creighton - New Mexico, Nebraska

Drake - Butler, Iowa, Iowa State, Vanderbilt

Evansville - Butler, North Carolina

Illinois State - No one

Indiana State - DePaul, Louisville, Purdue

Missouri State - Auburn, Arkansas, Utah, Tulsa

Southern Illinois - Duke, UCLA, St. Marys, Nevada

University of Northern Iowa - Marquette, Auburn, Iowa State, Iowa, Wyoming

Wichita State - Georgetown, Texas Tech, Texas Christian

What concerns me is that Creighton and Illinois State, the two teams that you would think are the best teams in the conference (preseason), have such a weak non-conference schedule.  It will be easy for the committee to dismiss either one of these teams because of schedule.  Hopefully, those teams that schedule decent clubs will (1) pull off an upset here and there; and (2) the other whoopings they take will toughen them up for conference and lead to conference success.  

Movie Reviews

The past two weeks I have seen three movies: Mr. Woodcock, The Happening and Role Models. Here are my thoughts:

1. Mr. Woodcock - This movie has a great premise: Son comes home to find that his mom is dating his torturous junior high school teacher. There should be tons of laughs, but there really isn't besides the flashbacks of Billy Bob Thorton's character kicking the asses of Seann William Scott's character and other kids. It just wasn't funny and disappointing because it could have been hilarious. My recommendation is to avoid.

2. The Happening - M. Night Shymalan's newest flick, which is R-rated for violence, deals with an epidemic that causes people to kill themselves. I will spoil this movie because it sucked. It turns out that the plants and trees are releasing a pollen causing people to self-destruct. Whenever the wind blows, you know someone is going to kill...his or herself. Somehow though, it doesn't effect Mark Wahlberg and company and the explanation makes no sense ("if we are in small groups, we won't be effected"). In the end, the plants just stop killing people and movie over. To top it off, the acting is horrible. I like Mark Wahlberg, but this is the worst acting I have seen from him by far. My recommendation is: this is a Clint Baer approved movie...yes, that bad.

3. Role Models - Finally, a great movie. If you have seen a preview, you know the storyline. Two idiots get in trouble with the law and have to do community service. Seann William Scott redeems himself from Mr. Woodcock and plays a slightly smarter Stifler. Paul Rudd, Independence, MO, native, plays a guy who is stuck in a mid-life crisis and whose frustration leads both characters in front of a judge. The kids (McLovin' and a 9 year old black boy) are hilarious and everything just clicks in this movie. People who know me that one of my complaints about the Judd Apatow movies (Anchorman, Superbad, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is that the movies start out funny and about 2/3 through turn serious and there are few to no laughs in the last 1/3. Role Models, like Step Brothers, does not have that problem. Even when Role Model comes to the usual "serious" moment, director David Wain (The State, Stella), manages to put in enough laughs to avoid the quicksand traps. My recommendation: fan "freakin" tastic. Go watch and laugh...and there is good nudity, which should keep the Baer brothers attention.

Update, Sunday at 9:17 p.m.:  I forgot to mention a movie preview before Role Models.  "The Unborn" looks like a freakin' scary movie, a lot more so than The Happening.  I was impressed, intrigued and scared.

Update, Monday at 5:47 p.m: Role Models gets the Official Justin R. Meyer Seal of Approval.