The Skyhawks lost five of their first seven games, taking wide losses at Tennessee and Southern California, and dropping its first two league decisions at Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky. It wasn't the 6-2 Memphis native's fault, he just wasn't getting much help. But the supporting cast has woken up, and Hudson has upped his game as well, resuming last year's pace of remarkable performances. Last Wednesday at Central Arkansas, he scored a stunning 41 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, a double-double that helped UTM to an 84-65 win on the road. Last night, as league play restarted in the Ohio Valley, he shot 10 for 19 from the floor and six of seven from the line for 28 points as Martin topped Murray State by four. The Skyhawks now enjoy a five game win streak heading into the heart of conference play -- with all cylinders firing again, the team looks poised for a run towards its first NCAA appearance. Additionally, the strong week helped Hudson jump out to second place in the national scoring race (25.9 ppg) behind Stephen Curry. It helps that he's one of the top 100 free throw shooters in the country, only missing seven of his 72 attempts so far. If he closes out his senior year strong, he'll be a factor in Draft talk again. NBA body? Um, yeah. Versatility? Dude's got a quadruple-double to his credit, son. How much money he makes for playing basketball, and where, is still to be determined. For now, he's our Mid-Majority Baller of the Week.
Miami (Oh.) at Dayton "Super" Tuesdays are tough for finding games during January and February. It's the in-between night when the power conferences hog all the TV time as well as the good officials, and a number of mid-major leagues have been wise to avoid running out full slates as a result. There's a half-calendar in the Valley this evening, but there's no denying the power of this noncon "Miami Valley Conference" tilt against the best of the MAC and an A-14 team looking for a return to Big Dance glory. The visiting RedHawks (7-4) represent the only team from the Mid-American Conference to make any national noise whatsoever, and do own the No. 9 RPI in the country, whatever that's worth. Most of the plaudits came after a near-miss out at UCLA during the first week, when there were no other games on, and a resounding win at Temple happened to come right before the Owls knocked off Tennessee. Miami will grind it out defensively all day and night, but it's been the 3-point shooting (and former MMBOW Michael Bramos) that's made this edition special. The new arc hasn't fazed the RedHawk shooters, who are second in the country with a 42.9 percent average. But questions look: senior point guard Kenny Hayes is out indefinitely with a bad wrist, and Miami was spanked at West Virginia before Christmas without his full services. After a quick in-season return trip to Northwestern State during which they eked out a one-point win, there's been a week off to contemplate the future. And Dayton. The Flyers are the worst-shooting 13-1 team you're likely to find, but it hasn't been a schedule full of inferior opponents that's brought them to this point with such an impressive record. Dayton has beaten such big-name opponents as Auburn and Marquette on the strength of stranglingly good defense -- only 35 percent of opponents' shots have fallen. There's no lack of energy there, since Brian Gregory has nine players averaging double-figure minutes. But the star of the show is Chris Wright, a 6-8 sophomore two-point dunk shot specialist who will likely be a pro millionaire someday. Dayton has also won six of the last eight meetings in this venerable annual series. NASHVILLE -- A lot's happened in the past 48 hours. I've driven 1,450 miles through high Colorado mountain passes, endless Kansas, Oklahoma hailstorms. I've watched Southwest Airlines' careful domino-stack of hourly gate departures collapse under the weight of a weather delay, into a maelstrom of screaming passengers. I've changed into a suit in a cramped airport bathroom stall, then made tipoff by three minutes... only because of a late-ending women's game. But the moment I'll remember most is flipping idly through my cell phone address book during a two-hour stay in a Dallas departure lounge, cleaning out ancient names and numbers. These were people I'd exchanged business cards with over the years, a gesture that's often used as a quick excuse to end a conversation prematurely. It struck me that most of these people were sportswriters. Then it stuck me that after five years of doing this, I don't have many sportswriter friends. Sportswriters tend to travel in packs: going to bars together wearing brown sweaters, posting on specialized message boards and joining specialized sportswriter clubs. The only purpose of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association is for writers to give each other awards, and I've already stated many times that I will never, ever join that particular society of mutual adult pleasure.
Hofstra at Northeastern (Colonial) During George Mason's Final Four run, when head coach Jim Larranaga said that the initials "CAA" stood for "Connecticut Assassins Association," he wasn't kidding. The Colonial earned two double-bid years, as well as national postseason glory, by establishing a reputation as a band of giant-killers. In both 2006 and 2007, the league scored 11 wins over teams from conferences north of the Red Line. This year, with scheduled nonconference play finished, there are just five, and none have resonated on a national level. Needless to say, the CAA is looking at sending a single representative for the second straight year. Only one team has multiple road wins against the top eight conferences, and that's Northeastern (7-5, 2-0). A thrilling win at Providence and defensive shutdown at Indiana probably won't look as good as they did at the time, once those two victims take heavy losses in their own leagues, but both were major accomplishments for a program that's struggled since its rise from the America East to the CAA four summers ago. The Huskies have taken two straight 9-9 league records and won just 12 road games in their first three seasons as league members, but things are looking up. Some predicted NU to take the league championship -- and the team has won four roadies as well as its first pair of league tilts. While Matt Janning has been a workhorse with 37.5 minutes per contest (No. 6 in the country) and a team-leading 15.9 ppg, the rest of the team has struggled both offensively and defensively. At 26.8 rebounds per game, only 21 teams in the country do a worse job on the boards. Hofstra, if you'll remember, was the most controversial snub of the 2006 Tournament (seriously... Air Force?) but made up for the slight with a strong NIT run, finishing with 26 wins. After a 22-10 campaign the following year, with a team that was better, the Pride fell hard to a 12-18 record in 2007-08. (Doesn't matter though -- power teams still won't play them.) Hofstra started out with a gaudy 8-1 record before losing three of its last four (9-4, 1-1), including a home CAA game against Drexel on Saturday. CAA fans already know about sophomore scorer Charles Jenkins, but they might not have realized that the team has won of the weirdest profiles in America. The Pride is the second-best rebounding team in the nation (41.1 rpg), holds opponents to 39 percent shooting, but can't shoot a lick themselves. The Pride's regular rotation includes eight players shooting 41 percent or worse.
Creighton at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) We don't often keep the G!O!T!N! camera crew in one place for any significant time, but after the events of New Year's Eve afternoon, we have a situation in the Valley that requires additional monitoring. On Wednesday, Illinois State absolutely destroyed Evansville 80-50, a total shutdown in every facet. This result wouldn't have looked very impressive, say, last year, but the Purple Aces came in with a 9-2 record against a tough schedule, and the Redbirds were looking for validation of a 12-0 record against one of the country's softest slates. Immediately after the contest, Illinois State's RPI jumped into the 30's, and its SOS climbed 35 spots to No. 270. So even though it was late December in the MVC, this was an important result. That giant win sets up a monster matchup with the preseason favorites in the league, Creighton (12-2, 9-0). After a minor blip in late November that included road losses to Arkansas-Little Rock and Nebraska (teams the Bluejays usually overcome), a gut check on toughness sparked a nine-game win streak, none of which have been close. Booker Woodfox was handed the lead job in an offense that shoots the 3 incredibly well, and has been the team's leading scorer in seven of those games. On defense, however, is where Creighton's greatest gains over last year have come. Dana Altman's club forces a lot of turnovers (19 per game), and has allowed just 34.7 percent shooting in the team's first two Valley wins over Wichita State and Indiana State. For the Redbirds (13-0, 2-0) to win this, and take their fourth straight victory in the series, they'll have to successfully pick the lock of that toughened Jays D. It'll require sterling performances by at least two of their big trio: MVC POY candidate Osiris Eldridge, Oregon transfer Champ Oguchi and 5-10 secret weapon Lloyd Phillips. The three are all averaging at least 12 ppg and have proven themselves capable of hot shooting nights during the 2008 part of the schedule. Illinois State has already earned half of last season's victory total (a 25-10 NIT season), but a win over Creighton on Saturday would put it in the driver's seat for an NCAA upgrade. |
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He was a breakout superstar from 2007-08 who came out of nowhere to lead a perennial OVC flounder to a salmon-jump in the standings. He was a juco transfer who 
