Brooke hurts her hand

Early in tonight's Lady Demon basketball game in Prather Coliseum, junior guard Brooke Shepherd hurt her left hand at the base of her pinkie finger. They'll recheck it at halftime and probably go to get X-rays after the game, but she may have a broken finger - or hand.

Former Athletes Can Be Talent Scouts

Former Demon baseball pitcher Rob Breutsch (1986-88), now living back in his native state of New York, recently passed along information about a football prospect from that part of the country. I forwarded the information to Coach Bradley Dale Peveto and his staff and at this point, the proverbial ball is now in their court.

The bigger message here is my passing along an encouraging word to all NSU former athletes, especially those who live in our prime recruiting areas of Louisiana and Texas, to follow Rob's lead and keep an eye out for future Demons and Lady Demons from their area. I will quickly advise, so as to not get crossways with NSU compliance coordinator Dustin Eubanks (actually he's a Steelers fan and I am a Browns fan so there is only so much "get along" as is), that alumni should be cognizant of NCAA rules and regulations which limit, and in many cases prohibit, former athletes (""representative of athletics interest")from having direct contact with a prospect. The safest and most prudent course of action by a former NSU athlete who has identified a prospect that might be a good fit for NSU is to directly contact the head coach of that sport. Contact information for NSU coaches can be found on our athletic web site - www.nsudemons.com - under "staff directory." Finally, please be understanding if the prospect that you recommend does not receive an offer to attend NSU. I have always said that talent evaluation is ultimately the job of our coaches but that they are always appreciative of alumni who serve as "eyes and ears" for them....some of the best athletes to every play for NSU got on our recruiting radar as a result of a tip from a former athlete.

Finally, to all former athletes, I extend best wishes for a healthy and happy 2010 and encourage you to call, email, or stop by my office at any time.

Greg Burke, Athletic Director

New year, fresh start

Didn't plan on a month-long hiatus from postings here, and apologize for that. But hold on to your mouse, we're roaring back to life with The Daily Demon.

We'll have more variety in 2010 and will come close to the implied credo - i.e. "Daily" ... that's the goal.

It's funny, there's never a boring day around the athletic department at NSU, but in trying to keep the train running, this feature too often has gotten less use than it should.

Perhaps partly inspired by the non-stop action in the movie "Avatar" (saw it in 3D Friday night in College Station with Voice of the Demons Patrick Netherton), we're wheels up on bringing you a lot of inside info and insight on The Daily Demon in 2010. (BTW, do not walk, but run to your nearest 3D-friendly theatre and check out that movie!)

It may be trivial, it may be funny, it may be serious, and it may or may not be interesting (we hope it always will be), but we'll have frequent blog entries for you to check out.

Thanks for your interest in Northwestern State Athletics!

Doug Ireland, Sports Information Director

Demon angle on UND-Idaho State game

You probably know that Notre Dame's head basketball coach, Mike Brey, was a standout player for Tynes Hildebrand's Demon basketball teams from 1977-80.

You may root for the Irish because of that.

Tonight, there's a former Demon on the visiting bench in South Bend.

Joe O'Brien was an assistant coach as a graduate student at NSU when Brey was playing here. He's now the head coach at Idaho State.

BTW - Coach Hildebrand was working last night's Demon game at Centenary in his role as an officials observer.

Now, here's the story from the Idaho State Journal in beautiful Pocatello:

http://tinyurl.com/ybpu5c8

Former Demon Surprises Team

The NSU Demon basketball team made a long road trip out of their first away game tonight at Texas Tech. The team left Natchitoches Tuesday night and stayed in Dallas before practicing on the Stage at Texas-Arlington on Friday.

The team would travel after practice to Lubbock and are getting ready to play the Red Raiders tonight at the United Spirit Arena.

But as practice was getting going, I spotted a tall, lanky guy in a pair of Memphis Grizzlies game shorts helping the bus driver put water into the bus outside. Sure enough, it was former Demon great Trey Gilder.

Gilder is a native of the east Texas area and was invited to practice by assistant coach Jeff Moore. He walked in, surprising head coach Mike McConathy as well as several of his former teammates who are still playing for the team.

Trey was on the opening-game roster of the Memphis Grizzlies this year, playing in two games, logging five minutes, scoring two points, grabbing a rebound and nabbing a steal. He was released by the Grizzlies when Allen Iverson was ready to rejoin the team.

I got a chance to talk to Trey a bit and he said he has some feelers out for game action this year and was going to talk to his agents and handlers today to see where he might be able to latch on. Coach McConathy quizzed him on his workouts, if he was staying in shape for the chance to play again. He said he was keeping his workouts up and was ready if the call came in.

Trey looks exactly the same...tall, thin, reserved. Several players came over and hugged him, asked how he was doing, chatted him up. And he continues to be one of the more gadget-minded guys around, as he sported an iPhone, Blackberry and some sort of slide phone. Three phones, all on his waist, leading point guard Michael McConathy to dub him "Radio Shack" for all his gadgetry.

Well Radio Shack is doing well, and let's hope he lands on another NBA roster very soon.

-- Patrick Netherton - Demon Sports Network