Game! Of! The! Night! Jan 01: San Diego at Eastern Washington

Happy New (Calendar) Year, Hoops Nation! There's a lot of hot conference action that will spread like wildfire all across the land in the days and weeks to come, but today we have a tepid holiday slate of four games. Only one is a matchup of mid-majors, and it gives us the opportunity to talk about two squads we haven't mentioned much this year.

Eastern Washington of the Big Sky (4-5) is one year removed from a 15-seed - they crashed hard last year, finishing 8-20 and 5-10 in conference. They did find at least one productive piece in 2004-05's wreckage, though - 6'4" guard Rodney Stuckey, who's averaging 21.3 ppg and dropped 36 in a losing cause the other night at Boise State. That's a forumla that will repeat itself a lot this year as the Eagles continue to rebuild. San Diego (9-3) is an intriguing little team and a legitimate NIT threat in the WCC - they shoot better thanUMPFN's (49.6% FG, 19th nationally), play at D1's 14th fastest rate of speed (78.3 possessions/40 min.), but still find a way to be led by a big man (Nick Lewis, 19.5 ppg). So forget the football and get your mid-major ball on as we ring in Sexy '06.