A stocked slate of 113 games yesterday. Where to begin?
Alaska-Anchorage 66, High Point 65 (story) - The Great Alaska Shootout gives us the season's first upset of a D1 team by a D2. The Big South's Panthers were up 12 halfway through the second half and let it slip away.
Northern IIllinois 84, DePaul 69 (story) - A blistering run by the Mid-American West division's punching bags put a 20-win Conference USA club away early. First win for NIU in this series in 14 years.
Pepperdine 75, Wisconsin 61 (story) - The Waves ran over, around and through the Badgers; fans were chanting "start the tractor" with five to go. Glen Mcgowan with 29.
Rider 76, Drexel 71 - Princeton's "other" team pulls a St. George act, slaughtering Drexel on the boards (43-21). This just a week after getting waxed by muscle-challenged Penn. After some high expectations, it could get ugly at 34th and Market.
Butler 61, Miami (Oh.) 48 (story) - A falling star in the Horizon League rocks the new kings of the mythical Miami Valley Conference, still high from their win over Xavier. Their three-point touch, upon which they will rely heavily this year, eluded them on this afternoon.
Also worth noting: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 85, Texas Christian 79 (independent over C-USA); Kent State 69, Florida State 59 (MAC over ACC); Oral Roberts 55, Saint Louis 54 (Mid-Con contender over C-USA); Utah Valley State 74, Boise State 55 (provisional D1 thrashes a WAC squad undermanned due to stabbing and scandal).
With the McKendree Bearcats' 78-69 victory over Freed-Hardeman in the NAIA, coach Harry Statham ties Dean Smith's collegiate record of 879 career wins.
Via College Basketball Blog, the story of a Virginia Commonwealth dance team member who was railroaded by an idiot when Rams fans rushed the court at this year's CAA championship in Richmond. I was at this game, and remember a swarm of people surrounding a girl who was obviously badly hurt, leading her off the court. I was with the impartial observers up in the mezzanine, so there was a "did you see that?"/"what happened?" buzz in our section whilst the VCU folks partied on the floor. I'm just glad to see that Shannon recovered quickly and is back doing normal college activities.
Angela Lento, who covers mid-major hoops with style and pizazz, profiles Utah State coach Stew Morrill. He'll lead the Aggies up the conference ladder, but probably won't make Angela's Fashionable Four.
This is still a young blog, and its top Google search reference so far is "paige laurie bitch". I wish I could adequately express how proud I am.
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Having recently completed its fourth season, The Mid-Majority is a blog about the 22 smaller Division I college basketball conferences (and independents) by me, Kyle Whelliston. I write for ESPN.com and Basketball Times, and maintain the Basketball State statistics website as well.
Here's a brief note on who we talk about, and why.
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