SOU men’s basketball – Joel Spear

@SOURaiders @SOU_WBB @joelspear @CCCSports #MarchMadness

The Southern Oregon men’s basketball team upset #10 Midland University earlier today to move on to the next round of the NAIA Championship Tourney. The SOU women won yesterday. The women will play at 6:30 a.m. PST on Friday (3/13/15), and the men will play at about 11:45 a.m. Details and links to live stats and video here.

As I mentioned before, with a large amount of NAIA teams (and NAIA headquarters) coming out of the middle part of the country, there is bias in the polling against teams not from the Midwest. This is especially true for football, where the Frontier Conference is routinely snubbed, but the CCC is showing this is true for basketball as well. The Cascade Conference is 5-1 in the tournament so far, and even the one loss could have gone the other way.

SOU will be the favorite in both of Friday’s games so hopefully there will be no upsets in the Round of 16. This is the first time both teams have been in the Sweet 16 in school history.

Posted on March 12th, 2015 under only in ashland. Tags: basketball, joel spear, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Sweet Sixteen for both SOU teams

SOU women’s basketball – Autumn Durand

@SOURaiders @SOU_WBB @ADurand25

Tip off is at 8:15 a.m. PST. Details and links to live stream and live stats here.

Posted on March 11th, 2015 under people. Tags: basketball, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on NAIA Tourney begins now

George McKay grabbing a photo of the SOU men’s basketball team

Once upon a time this blog was supposed to be only about Ashland and would include mostly landscapes, places, and street photography in town. As time has passed, most posts these days are about bands coming through town or athletics in Ashland.

Several years ago I met George. Neither one of us knew it prior to our meeting, but we had similar blogs going. George’s Life in Ashland blog has remained true to the Ashland street photography theme that “Ashland Daily Photo” once did on a more regular basis.

George is also on Instagram now. You can follow him here. I’m on Instagram too. I don’t post daily there like I do here, but you can follow me on Instagram here.

Posted on March 7th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, photography, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Life in Ashland

Saturday’s contests won’t include the annual prom dress rugby match (pictured above), but they will be the last ones for winter term. First match kickoff for the women is noon (same as women’s softball). Maybe catch a bit of both. The fields are almost adjacent to each other. The men’s rugby team will be playing at 4.

Posted on March 5th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, rugby, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on SOU rugby this Saturday

2014 SOU softball senior Ashley Lowe

@SOURaiders @SOU_Softball @ashleyyy_10

This was how all of the cool kids wore their stirrups when I played little league in the late 1970s.

The 18-8 Raiders are back in town this Saturday for a doubleheader against #10 Simpson. First pitch will be at noon. Games should continue until about 4 p.m. SOU has beaten Simpson this year, and their last game against them was a 2-1 close one so these should be very good contests.

Posted on March 5th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: ashley lowe, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D600, Raider Athletics, softball, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Throwback stirrups

SOU men’s basketball – #21 Ben DeSaulnier

@SOURaiders

The new rankings came out today and the Southern Oregon men’s basketball team came in at #21, meaning they will be selected for the 32-team national tournament. The women have also been chosen for the tournament as the #2 at-large team. Pairings for the first round will be announced soon.

Posted on March 4th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, Ben DeSaulnier, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on 21

SOU men’s basketball – Eric Thompson and Tim Weber

@SOURaiders @TimWeber14

Seniors Eric Thompson and Tim Weber were named to the CCC all-conference first team today. Junior Jordan West received an honorable mention. The Raiders find out today whether they will make the national tournament.

Jordan West

Posted on March 4th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, eric thompson, jordan west, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography, tim weber. Comments Off on SOU’s seniors make all-conference list

SOU men’s basketball – Eric Thompson

Eric Thompson’s 19 points and 11 rebounds in each of SOU’s wins last week earned him an honorable mention from the Cascade Conference today. The Raiders will go for the championship tomorrow night in Idaho.

Posted on March 2nd, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, eric thompson, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on Eric Thompson receives honorable mention

SOU men’s basketball – Joel Spear

@SOURaiders @joelspear

In a bizarre twist of fortunes, the Southern Oregon University women’s basketball team, who were seemingly destined for a championship matchup with Eastern, were eliminated by OIT, a team they had dominated twice before this year, for their first loss of the season at home. Meanwhile the men, who were crushed by Warner Pacific twice this season, were huge underdogs on the road going in to tonight’s game. However, the Raiders were victorious, by a wide margin, and will play for the conference championship next week.

Posted on February 28th, 2015 under only in ashland, people. Tags: basketball, joel spear, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, Nikon D750, Raider Athletics, Southern Oregon University, sports photography. Comments Off on SOU men advance to finals