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Epilogue, The Ninth: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Memories

So We Meet Again

Rte. 139 - End of the Line

Hanging On

A Championship in Pictures

This Time of Year

Dotson Leads Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen

Grizzlies Overwhelmed by Orangemen

Empire

Challenge 11: Final Four Memories

By George, UConn is Dead

Butler and Us

Donning the Black and Gold

Challenge 10: Tourney Memories

The Madness of the Horizon League

The Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament

MAC Madness

Anything Can Happen in the MAAC

Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood

A Youthful Surprise

From Worst to First

Peers and Seers

Category Archives Season 6 (2009-10)
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S6 April 6, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS, April 5 -- One hour after the end of the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, I re-entered the United States via the Peace Bridge border crossing. I was shaking and crying. As I made my way down Interstate 5 in Washington State, I made an emotional pact with myself that I...
S6 April 5, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- At this point, there really isn't anything that hasn't been said. You know 1 Samuel 17:49, and you've heard the one about brick walls, and you know everything that's at stake tonight. Nothing less than the National Flippin' Championship, and one of our own is playing for it. All of...
S6 April 4, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- It's even uglier up close. I mean, the architecture of it isn't offensive; its tall flat surfaces of impossibly smooth brickface appear as out of a three-dimensional CAD drawing, a simulation come to life. But Lucas Oil Stadium (or "Sports Bubble Stadium," if you prefer) is repulsi...
S6 April 4, 2010 : INDIANAPOLIS -- At this point, the random logic of the heart is far ahead of the reasoning of raw numbers. Of course a little private school with non-scholarship football can beat a mammoth sports machine that spends almost as much on men's basketball ($9 million) as it does on all sports ($11 m...
S6 April 3, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- Day broke over Indianapolis with a hazy grey so light it could have been mistaken for silver. The streets, still relatively lazy and quiet on Thursday, exploded in a thousand team colors as basketball people took over downtown -- a slow-motion floor storming of citywide proportions...
S6 April 2, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- Here at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Airport, there's magic in the air. Mid-Majority headquarters, usually empty on account of the airport moving away two years ago, has turned into a bonafide basketball mecca. The median height has shot up past the 6-foot mark, and the number of ...
S6 April 1, 2010 Final Four Chat Block No. 3 This is the last Chat Block. Why? Because we're shutting down the site forever! We're out of money! Everything must go! Alright, Fooly-wooly Day, whatever. It's just amazing that TMM is still operational on April 1st. With the guaranteed finish coming within the week, we...
S6 April 1, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- Gordon "G-Time" Hayward has officially gone platinum. The "Too Big Yo" smac rap surfaced on YouTube two weeks ago, was taken down quickly when the track went national, and then the rescued audio was posted here on this site. We've made attempts to offload some of the traffic to other...
S6 March 31, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- The sky above was blue, the concrete below was grey, and Butler fans streamed into Monument Circle to celebrate their team's return home to play in the Final Four. Bally and I headed downtown to see what all the fuss was about! The players and coaches weren't there (they were in cl...
S6 March 31, 2010 This is it. Now it's up to you. Our remaining seven As-You-Go Bracketeers have done their work, now you must pass judgment. At the bottom of this post is a voting mechanism, and the winner will receive a most-expenses paid trip to Indianapolis this summer (estimated cash value: $650). It's all on th...
S6 March 31, 2010 Final Four Chat Block No. 2 Bally and I are headed to the big Butler pep rally at noon on the square today! We'll bring back plenty of sights and sounds for you. There will also be another Chat Block at 3 p.m. EDT live from our headquarters here in Hoops Nation's capital city Indianapolis, so stop ...
S6 March 30, 2010 Downtown Vancouver, February 2010 MINNEAPOLIS -- I've been thinking a lot about the Kent State team from 2002, the one that went to the Elite Eight, during these last couple of days. No specific reason, really, because I've been too busy straining to remember the particulars. This all happened eig...
S6 March 28, 2010 HOUSTON -- We will speak of invisible architecture later. We will fully consider the way that stories are constructed for public consumption in this new and strange century. But in any era, past or present or future, every satisfying path must end at home. Just as the dominant seventh must resolv...
S6 March 28, 2010 HOUSTON -- Living weekend to weekend is certainly exciting, but "going Sharpie" on the calendar is preferable. The life of Season 6 has been extended, thanks to Butler; we're going to have some extra time together, you and I. We have nine beautiful breathing-room days to celebrate and wrap up our bu...
S6 March 27, 2010 HOUSTON -- Bally and I won't be there in Salt Lake City today. We're still in Texas, in the expansive and quiet Reliant Stadium media room. There are so many moving logistical chutes and ladders with something like this, and there simply wasn't enough time to change course. I can't tell you how mu...
S6 March 26, 2010 Last night, Butler overcame a $5 million gap in men's basketball budgets and eliminated Syracuse. Seriously, why spend all that extra money if it's not going to help you win? Tonight here in Houston, Saint Mary's will go up against another BCS school, attempting to keep its beautiful game going for ...
S6 March 26, 2010 Down 68-65 with 1:16 left in regulation of a second round NCAA game at Providence's Dunkin' Donuts Center, Villanova called time out. We'll never really know exactly what was drawn up in that huddle, but what emerged was a play that only a team full of McDonald's All-Americans could ever execute. ...
S6 March 25, 2010 The now-famous "TMM 5" have basked in basketball glory for three days now. Tonight three of them will face another rigorous test each, at higher stakes, under hotter lights. Nervous times. And Butler, Xavier and Cornell have the same disadvantage going in as they had in the first two tests: financia...
S6 March 25, 2010 What's a mid-major? What isn't? Have you had enough of this crap? Yeah, we have too, since Season 3 or so. It's an impossible discussion to have, especially when one-third of the people in the debate think it's a snapshot measure of basketball quality, another third insist it's about intangibles l...
S6 March 24, 2010 HOUSTON -- We're heading into the second weekend. Are there any people left still playing that office pool bracket stuff anymore? I think everybody's entries are busted, because I haven't heard people talking about it for days. But for our nine brave As-You-Goers, their brackets are totally, 100 per...
S6 March 24, 2010 It always ends in a loss; that is cold fact. Back in 2008, on a warm Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, Butler's season came to a close in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32. That squad's terminal drop came in overtime, to a Tennessee team it was superior to, on borderline calls and bad break...
S6 March 23, 2010 The passage of time is what usually grants college basketball its mystique and aura; witness memory fades and history takes over. Players become larger than life, coaches change into infallible titans of the mind, and single contests transcend the game itself. The words, and the numbers, never fit...
S6 March 22, 2010 In a lot of ways, Northern Iowa feels like the Missouri Valley's far outpost, all the way up there at the tip of the conference. There's no sizable metropolitan area or skyline, like the western points of Omaha and Wichita, and Cedar Falls doesn't jump up on you on the highway -- you have to choose ...
S6 March 21, 2010 Now, we would have preferrrred that the NCAA powers-that-is would have spread the first round upsets more equitably between Thursday and Friday. That would have made for an emotional rollercoaster of far simpler convexity, no? But it shook down like this, and we had six dogs, cats and dudes in the f...
S6 March 21, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- What strange psychology is this? The nation at large usually loves a Goliath. America seeks out the commanding and the dominant, places them in high matrices of "best ever" and "all time," all the while ignoring the struggles of the anonymous and faceless David Does below. Unti...
S6 March 20, 2010 "Cinderella" is such a dumb metaphor for all of this. For one thing, this isn't women's basketball; where I come from, calling a dude a lady will get you into a knife fight. Also, none of our teams get to ride a magical McDonald's All American to the Dance who turns into a pumpkin at midnight. I thi...
S6 March 20, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In the big picture, the really big picture, it doesn't mean much at all. It's a basketball show. This is entertainment for rich people, a diversion for any remaining members of the American middle class with disposable time. The performers are judged on whether their effort ple...
S6 March 19, 2010 Tournament Chat Block No. 5 Due to unpopular demand, we are holding one-hour Chat Blocks every day this week. Here's the schedule (all times EDT): Monday at 3 pm, Tuesday at 2 pm, Wednesday at 1 pm, Thursday at 6 pm and Friday at 5 pm. ...
S6 March 19, 2010 An upset-filled day of unexpected joys can be ruined, or at least diminished, by busted brackets. Oh boo hoo, I'm so sad because I picked Georgetown to go to the Elite Eight. All of these problems can be eliminated if they take my advice and don't fill one out at all. When one watches the NCAA Tourn...
S6 March 19, 2010 As is annual NCAA tradition, we're displaying the overall athletic and men's basketball budget numbers in the mid-vs.-major games. Just like money can buy you a better car or house, it can also buy you a better basketball team. Having large resources allows a program to keep its coaches, recruit a 1...
S6 March 19, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- I have a bobblehead doll of Bryce Drew releasing The Shot that beat Ole Miss in 1998, and a picture on my wall of Northwestern State's Jermaine Wallace uncorking the three-pointer that eliminated Iowa in 2006. I'll admit that I have to think for a minute to remember the names o...
S6 March 18, 2010 Tournament Chat Block No. 4 Due to unpopular demand, we are holding one-hour Chat Blocks every day this week. Here's the schedule (all times EDT): Monday at 3 pm, Tuesday at 2 pm, Wednesday at 1 pm, Thursday at 5 pm and Friday at 5 pm. Thursday's Chat Block will be at 6 pm EDT because of the spill...
S6 March 18, 2010 We do this every year around this time, and here again are the differences in athletic and basketball budgets between the teams in today's mid-versus-notso games. Our Red Line that separates those above and us here below is based on average athletic budgets, and teams in the Upper 8 beat the Other 2...
S6 March 17, 2010 It's the Wednesday before the Thursday of the Tournament, a day for hopes and dreams and wishes. Today, we're all still believing that the impossible will become possible. Every time we play the games in our heads, those teen seeds from one-bid leagues always seem to find a way to pull out wins in t...
S6 March 17, 2010 Tournament Chat Block No. 3 Due to unpopular demand, we are holding one-hour Chat Blocks every day this week. Here's the schedule (all times EDT): Monday at 3 pm, Tuesday at 2 pm, Wednesday at 1 pm, Thursday and Friday at 5 pm. And don't forget about our bracket contest! ...
S6 March 16, 2010 DAYTON, Ohio -- Just the word "playoffs" tightens heart muscles, bates breaths, causes sleepless and nervous palpitations. Fans can't wait for the fun to begin. In the professional ranks of American-Style Football, "wild card weekend" is the start of a month of lost weekends. ALDS and NLCS and con...
S6 March 16, 2010 You've heard the old story before. A bunch of crazy college kids record a silly rap on someone's laptop, one of them just so happens to be a star player for a NCAA Tournament-bound mid-major team, and they upload it to YouTube. Then, some fans find it. Then it goes national, yadda yadda yadda, and t...
S6 March 16, 2010 Tournament Chat Block No. 2 Due to unpopular demand, we are holding one-hour Chat Blocks every day this week. Here's the schedule (all times EDT): Monday at 3 pm, Tuesday at 2 pm, Wednesday at 1 pm, Thursday and Friday at 5 pm. And don't forget about our bracket contest! ...
S6 March 15, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- I see you printing out that CBS blank bracket at work, starting to fill it out in pencil. (You like Murray State's chances for the upset, I see.) I noticed that you'd opened a Fantasy account at ESPN,com, getting ready to fill out 10 different contingency entries. (But you're defin...
S6 March 15, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- We pause to repect the accomplishments of Utah State, Richmond and Xavier. Heck, even Gonzaga. And even though we don't draw the line between power conferences and "none of the above" the same way as the people on TV, there were some other schools that don't play in the Premier Leagu...
S6 March 14, 2010 Happy Selection Sunday, the day when Christmas morning comes at 6 pm. ...
S6 March 14, 2010 Bullet Points Seven championships were decided on the penultimate day of Championship Fortnight. All hail Vermont, back in the Dance for the first time since 2005 (Season 1) and also for the first time in the Mike Lonergan era. Congratulations to Morgan State; the Bears navigated the always-difficu...
S6 March 13, 2010 Bullet Points In the Patriot League, your champions are the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The former Engineers defeated their cross-valley rival Lafayette with a strong second-half burst, and will go to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time. Higher seeds were 12-4 on Friday. The No. 3 over No. 2 upset w...
S6 March 12, 2010 The Mid-Majority Chat Block; Championship Fortnight Edition OK, we had some technical difficulties, but let's try this again. I can haz Championship Fortnight Chat Block? ...
S6 March 12, 2010 CLEVELAND -- It was February 19, 2009, 11:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, during our nine-hour BracketBusters marathon chat. We have a lot of people sign in with names that aren't theirs, but we hadn't had any multi-platinum rock stars show up before. [Comment From Tom Petty]  Two questions. 1) Wh...
S6 March 12, 2010 Bullet Points There were no bids awarded on Thursday. Instead, many of the late leagues held quarterfinal rounds, setting up semifinals for today. The Southland and WAC put forward their top four seeds, but MEAC No. 5 Hampton snuck past No. 4 Hampton. The SWAC's bracket now has a 2-3-5-8 setup; Tex...
S6 March 11, 2010 CLEVELAND -- Just as you don't need to put lipstick on the P.I.G., Championship Fortnight doesn't need any pretty dressing. It's compelling competition that sells itself. March basketball is elimination basketball, and we need to get 31 from 347 before we whittle 65 down to a single champion. It...
S6 March 11, 2010 Bullet Points Upsets! Congratulations to our unexpected champions from last night, as Robert Morris repeated in a sticky NEC final at top-seeded Quinnipiac, and Montana engineered a comeback for the Championship Fortnight ages in the Big Sky. The No. 4-seeded Grizzlies were down by 20 at halftime t...
S6 March 10, 2010 The Mid-Majority Chat Block: Championship Fortnight Edition How ya doin'? Did your team win, did it lose? Come join in a special mid-week chat on Wednesday at 2 PM ET to discuss all the weird wonders that encompass Championship Fortnight. ...
S6 March 10, 2010 One makes for a one-off, but two constitutes a tradition. It's now unthinkable to end Season 6 without having our friends from Storming The Floor over during Championship Fortnight, to discuss one of the most hallowed of all college basketball rituals: the taking of the court. Our First Annual Flo...
S6 March 10, 2010 Bullet Points Three champions were crowned on Tuesday night. Please give it up for: Butler of the Horizon League, which crushed Wright State in that league's title game; the Sun Belt's North Texas, which has now split the last four championships with Western Kentucky; and Oakland, long-suffering G'...
S6 March 9, 2010 Mid-Majority protocol dictates that we take a look back at some of the teams that outpaced modest expectations to put together solid seasons, despite not taking it to the big stage of the Big Dance. It's a leading indicator of sorts, a distant warning to current champions that there will be teams to...
S6 March 9, 2010 Bullet Points A might victory whoop! for our four newest Hoops Nation champions. Old Dominion dropped William & Mary in the Colonial, to return to the Dance after three years away. Siena won the Metro Atlantic for the third straight year, but the Saints needed overtime to fight off brave Fairfield....
S6 March 8, 2010 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- This is the last week we'll all be together, before the 23 Champions of Hoops Nation (and a few others) move on to the fourth and final round -- leaving everyone else to figure out what comes next. It's a bittersweet final few days, full of joy and anguish, ultimate wins and ter...
S6 March 8, 2010 Bullet Points All hail Northern Iowa, repeat winners of the Missouri Valley Conference's Arch Madness. The top-seeded Panthers put on a strong second-half burst to defeat No. 2 Wichita State, 67-52. Four of Sunday's semifinals set up Monday championship games. The Colonial title comes down to a m...
S6 March 7, 2010 With the end of the regular season today, all conference tournament brackets on our side of the Red Line have been finalized. After the jump, opening brackets for the seven leagues starting up during the second week of Championship Fortnight: the MEAC, SWAC, Big West, Great West, Atlantic 14, WAC an...
S6 March 7, 2010 Bullet Points A mighty congratulations to the first three conference tourney winners. Winthrop is the Big South representative for the ninth time in 12 seasons. East Tennessee State repeated in the Atlantic Sun, out of a No. 5 seed. And dangerous Murray State won the championship of the Ohio Valley...
S6 March 7, 2010 This is the final Hoops National of the 2009-10 season. Big Games Atlantic 14: at Massachusetts 69, Rhode Island 67 MASS - 11-19 (5-11) [RPI: 200, State: 205] URI - 21-8 (9-7) [RPI: 30, State: 48] Star of the Game: Ricky Harris 28 Pts (10-21 FG, 6-11 FT), 7 Reb UMass Into A-14s With 69-67 Win O...
S6 March 6, 2010 Bullet Points Two more finals are set. All four of the top seeds are out at the Atlantic Sun, leaving No. 5 East Tennessee State and No. 6 Mercer to fight for the title. In the OVC, top two seeds Murray State and Morehead State will stage a showdown in Nashville tonight. In the 22 games on Friday, ...
S6 March 6, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Big Games Ivy League: Cornell 95, at Brown 76 CORN - 26-4 (12-1) [RPI: 46, State: 50] BRWN - 11-19 (5-8) [RPI: 250, State: 281] Star of the Game: Jon Jaques 20 Pts (7-9 FG), 7 Reb Men's Hoops Claims Thir...
S6 March 5, 2010 The Return of Mid-Majority Chat Block You can't spell "Championship Fortnight" without "chat." Things get started at 2 PM ET. ...
S6 March 5, 2010 Bullet Points The first championship game matchup is set. In the Big South, Coastal Carolina will host No. 3 Winthrop on Saturday. The Eagles upset defending champions Radford 61-46 on Coastal's home floor. Both lower seeds won in the two Atlantic Sun quarterfinals played on Thursday. No. 5 East Te...
S6 March 5, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Big Games Atlantic 14: at Richmond 60, Dayton 56 RICH - 23-7 (12-3) [RPI: 30, State: 32] UD - 19-10 (8-7) [RPI: 41, State: 51] Star of the Game: Kevin Anderson 22 Pts (6-14 FG, 9-10 FT) Spiders Finish 14...
S6 March 4, 2010 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- In 1995, when the internet only had 200 sites on it, there was Mirsky's Worst of the Web. Every day, a mysterious dude named Mirsky would post a link to a badly designed or horribly conceived site, and make snarky fun of the design and content. Most webmasters had nightmares abo...
S6 March 4, 2010 Bullet Points Day 2 saw the first major upset of this year's conference tourneys, as Atlantic Sun No. 8 Kennesaw State beat No. 1 Lipscomb. Kurtis Woods hit a layup with 10.8 seconds left to seal a 72-69 win for the Owls. It was Kennesaw's first game as a postseason-eligible team, and the first No....
S6 March 4, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Big Games Atlantic 14: Temple 57, at Saint Louis 51 TU - 25-5 (13-2) [RPI: 19, State: 19] SLU - 19-10 (10-5) [RPI: 87, State: 80] Star of the Game: Lavoy Allen 18 Pts (9-12 FG, 0-1 FT), 14 Reb #16/20 Tem...
S6 March 3, 2010 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- It's 2010, and the future is now. We have androids and robots that do our bidding, we use magic phones, and all the kids are having droid sex on "virtual AOL." Everything either flies, glows, or has a touch screen. But there's one machine from the old-school that has not been ou...
S6 March 3, 2010 Bullet Points Ten of 12 higher seeds won on the first evening of Championship Fortnight. The Big South semifinals will feature the four top teams in that league, and seeds Nos. 3 through 5 are through to the Horizon League second round. In the OVC quarterfinals, No. 6 Tennessee Tech upset No. 3 Aus...
S6 March 3, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Games of Note at Gonzaga 78, Cal State Bakersfield 59 GONZ - 25-5 (12-2) [RPI: 30, State: 33] CSB - 7-22 (0-0) [RPI: 321, State: 295] Star of the Game: Matt Bouldin 15 Pts (5-11 FG, 3-3 FT), 6 Reb No. 1...
S6 March 2, 2010 VANCOUVER, Feb. 24 -- I'm writing to you from the diiiiistant past. Wooooo-ooooo-oo. By the time you read this, the flame will be out, the [CENSORED - ed.] will be over, conference tourney time will have begun; I'll be a jello glob with re-entry syndrome and a fried immune system, telling everybod...
S6 March 2, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Big Games Western Athletic: at Utah State 76, Fresno State 39 USU - 24-6 (13-2) [RPI: 33, State: 32] FRES - 14-17 (6-9) [RPI: 199, State: 191] Star of the Game: Tai Wesley 21 Pts (10-13 FG, 1-2 FT), 7 Reb...
S6 March 1, 2010 SEATTLE -- Think of the most memorable, most exciting, most overwhelmingly intense moment you've experienced in the past month. Now imagine that kind of occurrence three, four or five times a day. For 16 consecutive days! This is what going to the Olympics is like. If you've been to the Games, you ...
S6 March 1, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: at Xavier 78, Richmond 76 (2OT) XU - 21-7 (12-2) [RPI: 18, State: 18] RICH - 22-7 (11-3) [RPI: 26, State: 36] Star of the Game: Jamel McLean 9 Pts (2-3 FG, 5-6 FT), 13 Reb Men's Basketball Takes No. 23/24 Richmond to OT2, Pulls Out 78-76 Win - Led by sophomore Terrell Holl...
S6 February 28, 2010 Big Games Colonial: at Old Dominion 73, Virginia Commonwealth 70 ODU - 23-8 (15-3) [RPI: 42, State: 42] VCU - 20-8 (11-7) [RPI: 62, State: 49] Star of the Game: Frank Hassell 17 Pts (8-9 FG, 1-3 FT), 6 Reb REGULAR SEASON CAA CHAMPS: ODU Ends Perfect Home Season With Win Over VCU - Gerald Lee scor...
S6 February 27, 2010 Big Games Ivy League: at Cornell 50, Princeton 47 CORN - 24-4 (10-1) [RPI: 48, State: 52] PRIN - 16-8 (7-3) [RPI: 161, State: 120] Star of the Game: Jeff Foote 19 Pts (6-7 FG, 7-8 FT) Men's Basketball Tops Princeton, 50-47 - Cornell fought off a feisty Princeton team to claim its fourth stra...
S6 February 26, 2010 Iowa is a word that makes me want to jump in my car and drive far, far away. Iowa is the guilt trip that makes me miss home and asks when I am going to get some common sense and put all this traveling behind me. It's a place that shifts between some of the worst weather any right-minded person cou...
S6 February 26, 2010 Big Games Ohio Valley: at Morehead State 70, Murray State 65 MORE - 20-9 (14-3) [RPI: 98, State: 102] MURR - 26-4 (16-1) [RPI: 73, State: 57] Star of the Game: Kenneth Faried 15 Pts (7-10 FG, 1-3 FT), 11 Reb Hill's Clutch Three-Pointer Lifts Eagles to 70-65 Win Over Murray State Morehead State...
S6 February 25, 2010 Traveling into Athens, OH from the west along Route 33 -- or from any direction for that matter -- is a bleak drive. It's a town set in the middle of nowhere, founded with big dreams of becoming a gateway into the Northwest Territory. The trip in takes you through a series of towns that inspire id...
S6 February 25, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: at Temple 49, Dayton 41 TU - 23-5 (11-2) [RPI: 13, State: 21] UD - 18-9 (7-6) [RPI: 43, State: 51] Star of the Game: Lavoy Allen 9 Pts (3-8 FG, 3-5 FT), 17 Reb #18/20 Men's Basketball Tied For First In A-14 With 49-41 Win Over Dayton - PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore Ramo...
S6 February 24, 2010 The first time I came to the Idaho Palouse, a California kid on a college tour of the middle of nowhere, the Kibbie Dome was the first thing I saw of the University of Idaho. Driving east on Highway 8 and rounding the bend at the Washington state line, its grand, curving arch pops out of the monoton...
S6 February 24, 2010 Big Games Missouri Valley: at Evansville 55, Northern Iowa 54 EVAN - 8-20 (2-15) [RPI: 275, State: 289] UNI - 24-4 (14-3) [RPI: 16, State: 15] Star of the Game: James Haarsma 12 Pts (4-4 FG, 4-5 FT), 8 Reb Total Team Effort Gives UE Win Over #22 UNI - A "total team effort" in the words of Head ...
S6 February 23, 2010 Big Games Seattle 90, at San Jose State 88 - 14-14 (0-0) [RPI: 215, State: 177] SJSU - 13-13 (5-7) [RPI: 121, State: 152] Star of the Game: Aaron Broussard 9 Pts (4-8 FG) Seattle University Men's Basketball Pulls Out 90-88 Victory Over San Jose State - Senior guard Taylor Olson (Seattle, Wash....
S6 February 22, 2010 The College of William & Mary is known for many things across the country. Unfortunately, basketball is not one of them. Founded in 1693, this school located in the old-folks hideaway of Williamsburg, Virginia is the second oldest institution of higher learning in the United States -- second only t...
S6 February 22, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: at Duquesne 73, Dayton 71 DUQ - 15-12 (6-7) [RPI: 98, State: 118] UD - 18-8 (7-5) [RPI: 37, State: 48] Star of the Game: Eric Evans 14 Pts (6-9 FG, 2-2 FT) Dukes Down Dayton, 73-71 - Damian Saunders, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, hit a driving layup w...
S6 February 21, 2010 Big Games BracketBusters: at Butler (HL) 70, Siena (MAAC) 53 BUTL - 25-4 (17-0) [RPI: 21, State: 12] SIE - 22-6 (15-1) [RPI: 31, State: 46] Star of the Game: Shelvin Mack 23 Pts (8-14 FG, 4-5 FT), 6 Reb Mack and Hayward lead way to Bracketbuster win on Senior Day - Shelvin Mack scored 23 point...
S6 February 20, 2010 Big Games BracketBusters: at Northern Iowa 71, Old Dominion 62 UNI - 24-3 (14-2) [RPI: 21, State: 12] ODU - 21-8 (13-3) [RPI: 41, State: 48] Star of the Game: Ali Farokhmanesh 23 Pts (6-10 FG, 6-6 FT) Farokhmanesh's 23-Point Second Half Pushes #24 UNI Past Old Dominion, 71-62 - CEDAR FALLS, I...
S6 February 19, 2010 Kyle once said, "Dayton is a program that never asked for anyone's sympathy," a fact that shows exactly how the Dayton Flyers reflect the attitude of the city that has adopted them, blue-collar, hardworking and a "won't quit" attitude that always leads to great things. Our Game, college basketball...
S6 February 19, 2010 John's guest-hosting this week while Kyle's in Vancouver. On Tuesday I offered one free Gasaway to the first-mid-major that contacted me. I will now be providing free opponent scouting for the NCAA tournament in a robust and tempo-free way to a nameless program, or perhaps even programs if they all...
S6 February 19, 2010 Big Games West Coast: at Loyola Marymount 74, Gonzaga 66 LMU - 14-13 (5-6) [RPI: 210, State: 184] GONZ - 21-5 (9-2) [RPI: 18, State: 28] Star of the Game: Drew Viney 16 Pts (5-12 FG, 4-4 FT), 10 Reb Lions Get Healthy, Beat No. 9 Gonzaga - Playing with a full line-up for the first time in nearly...
S6 February 18, 2010 Entering the circle drive that filters into the campus of Oakland University during the winter semester, an observer will notice a slew of banners hanging on light posts, a familiar sight on any campus. "Coming Home," they read; a reminder of the month's Homecoming festivities. For a school without ...
S6 February 18, 2010 John's guest-hosting this week while Kyle's in Vancouver. Which of course stands for the Temporary Help's Evaluation of Mid-Major Achievement. Is it presumptuous to dish out awards from the Olympian (you know, that adjective is much more situation-neutral and less confusing 99 percent of the time) ...
S6 February 18, 2010 Big Games Western Athletic: at Utah State 67, Louisiana Tech 61 USU - 21-6 (11-2) [RPI: 45, State: 32] LTU - 20-6 (8-4) [RPI: 77, State: 70] Star of the Game: Nate Bendall 11 Pts (5-8 FG, 1-1 FT), 9 Reb Aggies Collar Bulldogs, 67-61, Wednesday For 11th-Straight Win - Junior guard Pooh Williams ...
S6 February 17, 2010 It was February 28, 1998. I was a sophomore at Western Michigan University, driving home to my parents' house in Metro Detroit for Spring Break. Four hours previous, Miami RedHawks head coach Charlie Coles had a heart attack on the University Arena court. There was 11:23 left in the first half wh...
S6 February 17, 2010 John's guest-hosting this week while Kyle's in Vancouver. The NCAA is considering expanding the D-I men's basketball tournament to either 68 or 96 teams, and it is the latter scenario that has occasioned the most discussion and debate. After all, adding three more teams is less interesting and not...
S6 February 17, 2010 Big Games Missouri Valley: at Northern Iowa 70, Creighton 52 UNI - 23-3 (14-2) [RPI: 25, State: 14] CREI - 13-14 (8-8) [RPI: 132, State: 142] Star of the Game: Johnny Moran 17 Pts (6-10 FG, 2-2 FT) #24 UNI Clinches 1st-Ever MVC Regular Season Outright Championship With 70-52 Win Over Creighton ...
S6 February 16, 2010 Driving Eastward on interstate 255 from St. Louis there's large billboard with the simple phrase "Cougars rising," and each time I see it I inevitably crack a smile, because the Cougars are my work, education and my life. I'm rising too. A short 20 minute drive from that billboard lies our den; a q...
S6 February 16, 2010 John's guest-hosting this week while Kyle's in Vancouver. I occasionally receive email like this: I have a question regarding the comparison of players from different conferences. How can one compare, say, Freshman A from Conference USA to Freshman B from the Big 12 in terms of production, given...
S6 February 16, 2010 Big Game MEAC: South Carolina State 71, at Morgan State 68 SCST - 14-9 (9-4) [RPI: 229, State: 207] MORG - 19-8 (12-1) [RPI: 117, State: 126] Star of the Game: Jason Flagler 24 Pts (11-17 FG, 1-1 FT), 2 Stl SC State Hands Morgan State First League Loss 71-68 - South Carolina State built a twelv...
S6 February 15, 2010 When Kyle proposed the series of fan essays about various schools in the Mid-Majority, I hesitated about writing about mine. It's not like Butler has been starved of column inches by the national media or TMM. Butler has almost reached a Gonzaga-esque point where some folks might prefer calling th...
S6 February 15, 2010 Big Game Mid-American: at Akron 91, Ohio 88 (2OT) AKR - 19-7 (9-3) [RPI: 119, State: 102] OHIO - 14-12 (5-7) [RPI: 154, State: 162] Star of the Game: Chris McKnight 25 Pts (7-12 FG, 11-17 FT), 18 Reb Men's Basketball Outlasts Ohio in Double Overtime - Chris McKnight and Jimmy Conyers each po...
S6 February 15, 2010 My name is John Gasaway, and on behalf of Kyle I want to welcome you to a week of highly worrisome temp help here at The Mid-Majority. Kyle's in Vancouver to partake of what Viktor Gustaf Balck hath wrought. If I know my K-Dub he's already pounding out 3,000 words on the ineffable je ne sais quoi o...
S6 February 13, 2010 Big Games Metro Atlantic: at Niagara 87, Siena 74 NIAG - 14-13 (7-8) [RPI: 172, State: 184] SIE - 21-5 (14-1) [RPI: 33, State: 50] Star of the Game: Kashief Edwards 20 Pts (9-14 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb, 3 Stl Niagara Halts Siena, Nation's Longest Win Streak - NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y.-The Purple Eagles h...
S6 February 12, 2010 SEATTLE -- The papers are in order: passport, car insurance, medical. The Canadian government's extradition order for Bally has been overturned, following several rounds of tense inter-embassy negotiations. I think we're ready for a border crossing. We will be at the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Van...
S6 February 12, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block (Olympic Edition) Kyle's leaving the country for 16 Days of Glory, so come on by and enjoy this last Chat Block for a couple of weeks. ...
S6 February 12, 2010 Big Games West Coast: at Gonzaga 80, Saint Mary`s 61 GONZ - 20-4 (8-1) [RPI: 24, State: 20] SMC - 21-4 (8-2) [RPI: 41, State: 47] Star of the Game: Matt Bouldin 18 Pts (8-14 FG) Bulldogs Regain WCC Lead With Victory Over Saint Mary's - The No. 16 Zags are still in first place in the West Coast ...
S6 February 11, 2010 The State of College Basketball is a ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the Final Four ...
S6 February 11, 2010 Last summer, a friend in the basketball world sent me a brochure about an organization that puts together popular pursuit challenges in major American cities. The way the game works is that you're locked in the trunk of a car, your hands bound with tape, then you're taken to a undetermined locatio...
S6 February 11, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: Richmond 69, at Rhode Island 67 RICH - 19-6 (8-2) [RPI: 31, State: 39] URI - 19-4 (7-3) [RPI: 14, State: 25] Star of the Game: David Gonzalvez 19 Pts (7-12 FG, 2-3 FT), 2 Stl Surging Spiders Grind Out Road Win At Rhody, Move Into A-14 First-Place Tie - KINSTON, R.I. - Dav...
S6 February 10, 2010 Colonial: at George Mason 82, Virginia Commonwealth 77 (OT) GMU - 16-9 (11-3) [RPI: 132, State: 104] VCU - 17-6 (9-5) [RPI: 49, State: 41] Star of the Game: Michael Morrison 18 Pts (8-10 FG, 2-3 FT), 10 Reb Men's Basketball Rallies Late, Downs VCU in Overtime - Cam Long hit a pair of free throws ...
S6 February 9, 2010 Most of the great coaches in college basketball came from down here, below the Red Line. There are plenty of old friends in the national polls. Bill Self got his head coaching start at the Badlands Conference's very own Oral Roberts. Jay Wright got his current Villanova gig because he was so good ...
S6 February 9, 2010 Big Games Western Athletic: at New Mexico State 70, Louisiana Tech 68 NMSU - 15-8 (8-2) [RPI: 78, State: 94] LTU - 19-5 (7-3) [RPI: 71, State: 67] Star of the Game: Troy Gillenwater 19 Pts (7-12 FG, 4-4 FT), 8 Reb, 2 Stl Laroche Hits Game Winner over LA Tech, 70-68 - New Mexico State sophomore ...
S6 February 8, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: at Richmond 71, Temple 54 RICH - 18-6 (7-2) [RPI: 31, State: 41] TU - 19-5 (7-2) [RPI: 17, State: 35] Star of the Game: Kevin Anderson 29 Pts (11-17 FG, 5-5 FT) Richmond Topples Temple, 71-54 (via Richmond) Atlantic 14: at Dayton 90, Xavier 65 UD - 16-6 (5-3) [RPI: 33, S...
S6 February 7, 2010 Apologies, once again, to Sly. Say, wouldn't you rather turn off the TV and have a thumb war with your friends instead? Here's how. ...
S6 February 5, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block (2-4 pm ET) K-Dub holdin' it down for two hours. Werd. ...
S6 February 5, 2010 One of the greatest paradoxes in our human condition is that we seek acceptance from a greater collective, when all we need in order to find fulfillment and satisfaction is one single Other from among those strange billions. Just one, somebody with whom you can lock eyes, who will say, "I understa...
S6 February 4, 2010 The State of College Basketball is a ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the Final Four ...
S6 February 4, 2010 Yesterday was National Pixelvision Day. We didn't make #pixelvision a Trending Topic -- we topped out at 0.03% of all Twitter traffic, which is about a tenth of what #UKnowUBrokeWhen got over the course of the evening. That's still pretty impressive, but what really matters is that there were peop...
S6 February 3, 2010 National Pixelvision Day: Enhanced Coverage The hashtag is #pixelvision. Relevant Links InfoCenter/Trading Post | Huh? | The Pixelvision Patrol Pals Schedule of Events (all times Eastern) 6:30 pm - National Pixelvision Day Pregame Show 7:00 pm - East Coast games begin 10:00 pm - Halftime show f...
S6 February 3, 2010 I'll never forget Christmas 1987. The anticipation made my little underdeveloped heart jackrabbit in its bony cage. I recall bounding down the old toasty staircase, pushing my little sister aside, my eyes wide as canned hams. And there, 'neath the tinsel-topped tree, was the box I'd longed for so ...
S6 February 2, 2010 Rider figured to be one of the teams that would step up challenge Siena's two-year stranglehold on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference -- heck, a single first-place vote for the Broncs was what kept the Saints from being a full-consensus top pick on media day back in October. And Rider, not Siena...
S6 February 2, 2010 College Hoops... by the Numbers! Last night, Jackson State held off Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the G!O!T!N! by a 72-67 count, stifling the Golden Lions' second-half comeback from out of a 17-point halftime hole. The Tigers withstood disqualifications on fouls to nearly their entire starting five, to ...
S6 February 1, 2010 As is annual tradition here at TMM, we've put together a full rundown of all 49 announced BracketBusters matchups, and this will likely be the most clicked-on page of the season once again. It's incredibly difficult to find a complete list of all the non-TV games, which are quietly announced by the ...
S6 February 1, 2010 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- This was going to be the day. Conditions could not have been more perfect. The Bryant Bulldogs, 0-21 on the season, had the struggling Monmouth Hawks right where they wanted them -- on the ropes. The newest member of the Northeast Conference sprung out to a 15-5 lead on the four...
S6 February 1, 2010 TMM Shortattentionspantheater! Siena (19-4, 12-0) has won 13 in a row now, and Butler (18-4, 11-0 Horizon) has a 10-game streak! And they could play each other in the Busters, yeah! (Don't forget, matchups are announced tonight!) Northern Iowa (19-2, 10-1 MVC) remains two games clear in the Valle...
S6 January 31, 2010 The "meta-" prefix has its roots in Greek, and its etymological root just so happens to have sprung forth "mid-" as well. The original preposition meant, among other things, "with." In modern First World times, we have computers and the Internet. That proves that we're smarter than the ancient Greek...
S6 January 30, 2010 Seth Davis is a professional sports journalist who worked his way up from the New Haven Register to a fact-checking job at Sports Illustrated, and then on to a 15-year, award-laden career covering college basketball (and golf) for SI's magazine and website. And you also might possibly recognize him ...
S6 January 29, 2010 PHILADELPHIA -- They say the difference between home and the road is that when you're at your own place, you clean up. That the difference between a guest and a friend is that a friend will help with the dishes. So when I slept over at the Palestra on Wednesday night, a place I consider to be the ...
S6 January 29, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block Conference races are really heating up as most reach the halfway point, and the only way to put out the hot fire is with cool, refreshing chat. ...
S6 January 28, 2010 PHILADELPHIA -- The Palestra, the concrete and steel Cathedral of College Basketball, opened in 1927 at 215 South 33rd Street, near the edge of the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, it's hosted 52 NCAA Tournament games, hundreds of Big 5 and Ivy League tilts, and thousands of c...
S6 January 26, 2010 BOSTON -- My high school, just an hour's drive north of here, wasn't big enough for a band -- unless you count the garage-rock outfits that banged out Grateful Dead covers in the dorm rooms. It wasn't until I got to college when I crossed paths with "pep band people," strange creatures who tended ...
S6 January 25, 2010 We've spent most of the last week in the Missouri Valley Conference, an annual trip of ours since The Mid-Majority's second season. People often ask me, "Why do you always say that the Valley is the best mid-major conference in the country?" It's a harder sell nowadays, as the MVC will, most likel...
S6 January 24, 2010 ...
S6 January 23, 2010 Several times a year during our travels of 100-plus games, we'll run into a halftime show called ZOOperstars! Though the concept is simple -- double-lifesized mascots that are each a hybrid of a sports celebrity and a zoo animal -- it's still the weirdest and most awesome thing in the world. So what...
S6 January 22, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 January 22, 2010 EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- When I come to a place, I try to get a sense of it, learn its moods and rhythms. So I drive around the neighborhoods. If you want to understand how people live, you have to go to where they live, and see how they've developed their homesteads. I spend hours driving down resid...
S6 January 20, 2010 Let me tell you a story you may not believe. (It's all true, I promise! No, really! Don't leave!) It's about my friend Bally, who's orange and round, And the wonderful dream world he magically found. WICHITA, Kan. -- If you're a super-longtime readers, or if you've just happened by in the past 36...
S6 January 17, 2010 ...
S6 January 15, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block (Kyle 2-3) It's a travel day for both of us, but you can still yappity-yap at Kyle at 2 pm ET. ...
S6 January 15, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS -- I threw back the blinds. Behind a south-facing window was the capital city against a dusty chalkboard sky. The jagged comb of the skyline sputtered and twinkled in the night's final moments of darkness, set off against the great brick anchor that sat alongside to the immediate righ...
S6 January 14, 2010 CHICAGO -- As we waited to fly out of Philadelphia on the big orange, yellow and blue bird this morning, we learned of the death of one of that city's greatest musical innovators and ambassadors. Teddy Pendergrass died following complications from cancer surgery, and he is now able to connect with t...
S6 January 13, 2010 NEW YORK CITY -- Who is the poet laureate of Long Island? I pondered this question as I walked along the Hempstead-Bethpage Turnpike from the train station towards Hofstra University, past Mexican laundromats and dimly lit gyro joints. In a flourescent storefront, ladies with tall hair were gettin...
S6 January 11, 2010 PHILADELPHIA -- On June 6, 2001, the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-101 in overtime. It was Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and the Allen Iverson-led Sixers catapulted to a quick series lead. It was a promising harbinger of a championship, since the game was out west, on the road. Ph...
S6 January 10, 2010 ...
S6 January 9, 2010 Since all the "bracketologists" are coming out of the woodwork, that must mean that March is right around the corner. And it is! In exactly 65 short and symbolic days, the NCAA Selection Committee will release the pairings for the 2010 field. And we're also nearly 11 months past the most popular pos...
S6 January 8, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 January 7, 2010 PHILADELPHIA -- Malik Rose asked me to go to Drexel. Not in person, but through a TV set. It was a somewhat elegant request, though -- it came in the form of two-point dunk shots and sweet jumpers, as he led the Dragons to a stunning 12-over-5 upset over Memphis in the first found of the 1996 NCAA...
S6 January 5, 2010 PHILADELPHIA -- I was only four years old when Rocky was released. Even at a young age, I had an idea of its cultural impact; my mother kept a poster of Sylvester Stallone, muscles taut under a green tank top, in the downstairs bathroom. I didn't see the movie until I was a teenager in New York City...
S6 January 4, 2010 ALBANY, N.Y. -- There's a city that's 136 miles south down the Hudson that might be in an "Empire State of Mind," but this is the Empire State of Reality. Most of the laws and budgets that New York City must live with are written up here, in New York's true capital. Albany is one of the most impor...
S6 January 3, 2010 ...
S6 January 3, 2010 It seems like just yesterday when the University of Vermont was winning three consecutive America East titles and upsetting Syracuse in the 2005 NCAA first round. In real time, the days of T.J. Sorrentine, Taylor Coppenrath and Ultra-Violence Mechanism were nearly five years away. After Tom Brennan ...
S6 January 1, 2010 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 December 31, 2009 NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- The date was December 21, 2007. The place: Manhattan College's Draddy Gymnasium. A small crowd, its numbers diminished by school break and holiday shopping, watched the homestanding Jaspers take on the Pepperdine Waves in just another pre-conference tuneup. Those who did show...
S6 December 29, 2009 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- One more drinker's holiday, and the calendar will flip. Many Americans are spending this week in silent fear of what's on the other side: a return to the bleak routine of five-day workweeks, the gray skies of short days, and January bills from December's illusions of prosperity. O...
S6 December 25, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- Many stories are bolstered by a strong sense of place. Locations can affect and shape the motivations and actions of the humans that move within them, so much so that they become characters themselves. I don't know how many stories out there contain three-and-a-half star airport ...
S6 December 23, 2009 Guided By Voices "Dayton Ohio 19 Something and 5" Isn't it great to exist At this point in time? DAYTON, Ohio -- Schoolteacher-turned-rocker Robert Pollard, leader of the legendarily little-known and long-departed indie band Guided by Voices, has written thousands of songs -- literally. Only a ...
S6 December 22, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- What is the Sports Bubble? Can you see it? Would you recognize it if you could? Does it have a smell, touch, taste? Can its movements be tracked with GPS or radar? We know it exists, we know that. But in what dimension, on what plane of consciousness? There is no sole point of foc...
S6 December 21, 2009 Sports information is like electricity or water. When the power's on and everything's flowing regularly, nobody notices. Everybody takes these things for granted. But whenever anything goes wrong, people act like it's the end of the world. Sports information directors are expected to be perfect, t...
S6 December 20, 2009 ...
S6 December 19, 2009 There's no other way to introduce our subject; Tim Capstraw is a Mid-Majority god. A Red Line legend. We offered homage all the way back in Season 1, after Game 59 of the 100 Games Project, but it took us five years to properly pay tribute, by letting the man speak in this space. Mr. Capstraw was t...
S6 December 18, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- If you were a young boy once, or just a 1990's sitcom character, you probably passed odd hours engaging in the classic game of playground speculation -- who would win? Who'd prevail in a fight between Superman and Spiderman? The Incredible Hulk of the Green Giant? My dad or your dad?...
S6 December 18, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 December 17, 2009 Every year around the holidays, a team south of the Red Line unleashes a surprise stretch of inspired play. Upset kings can spring up from any corner of Hoops Nation. One year, it could be Rhode Island, Nevada, Pacific or Davidson. Or in 2009, it could be William & Mary, Portland, Charlotte or Weste...
S6 December 16, 2009 The road is full of questions, mysteries. Why are three-digit Interstates that start with even numbers loops, the ones with odd numbers spurs, and why can't they ever follow their own rules about that? What does "certified business location" mean? Jackie Robinson, Christopher Reeve, Michael J. Fox...
S6 December 15, 2009 SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- In the South, it's hard to find a place that's not overrun with SEC this or ACC that. There are very few cities and towns down here that don't bleed some weird color. But tucked into the upper nublet of South Carolina, at the intersection of two important Interstate highways, ...
S6 December 14, 2009 Schools like Tennessee Tech and Northwestern State, from conferences like the Ohio Valley and the Southland, spend much the first two months of the season trading humiliation for money in guarantee games. But those opportunities usually disappear when teams move up to the next level, out of the deep...
S6 December 13, 2009 ...
S6 December 12, 2009 Rick Byrd has coached at Belmont University since 1986, and brought his program to national prominence with three consecutive Atlantic Sun tourney championships. As a No. 15 seed in 2008, the Bruins suffered a near-miss against Duke, losing the lead in the final minute of a classic game. Despite ret...
S6 December 11, 2009 Ever have one of those months? Not about one of "those months," not the vague, indefinite bad stretch of luck the phrase usually implies. I am talking about an oddly specific month. Maybe what I really mean is "that month." You thought you had everything in line -- planning, good health, infrastruc...
S6 December 11, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 December 10, 2009 Game No. 024 - Dayton at Miami Wednesday, December 2, 2009 OXFORD, Oh. -- Treble does not exist in Millett Hall; the building is literally made of pure bass. When the public address announcer calls out the name of a player who's scored a basket, you feel the announcement deep in your stomach. Eve...
S6 December 9, 2009 NASHVILLE -- In the various regions of Hoops Nation, there are regional customs and rules that specifically dictate to whom people are nice, exactly how much they're nice to them, and when. In the Deep South, where I spent much of November, everybody's nice to you until you're not around. In the N...
S6 December 8, 2009 A whole three of you e-mailed me and asked if I was doing the holiday gift guide again. My first response was, "What holiday gift guide?" It's been five years and a day since I spent half an hour writing up the last one, and if people remember it, they either have been spending time in the archives...
S6 December 6, 2009 ...
S6 December 5, 2009 In 2006, after 10 years as an assistant at Idaho, LSU and Middle Tennessee, Donnie Tyndall took over the Morehead State program after a 4-23 season led to a complete housecleaning. Very little introduction was necessary; Tyndall attended MSU, where he played for the Eagles for three seasons and lett...
S6 December 4, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block (Kyle 2-3) Kyle goes from 2-3. ...
S6 December 3, 2009 Davidson at The Citadel (Southern Conference)McAlister Field House - Charleston, SC7:00 EST There are other things happening in other parts of Hoops Nation. Like, for instance, Utah, where Weber State and Utah State pulled off Wednesday night RLU's against Utah and BYU, respectively. Or Iowa, whe...
S6 December 2, 2009 COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- When I arrived at Tennessee Tech's Eblen Center, head coach Mike Sutton was waiting for me. He was stationed next to the pass desk; with my head down, I walked right past him and his motorized wheelchair. When he finally got my attention, he extended his hand, a meaty hook wit...
S6 December 2, 2009 Wofford at Western Carolina (Southern)Ramsey Center - Cullowhee, NC7:30 EST Let's see if I remember how to do this. There's a game, there's a night, a preposition and a bunch of exclamation marks... easy enough, I suppose. Our make-believe G!O!T!N! production crew is off to the hills of Carolina t...
S6 December 1, 2009 NASHVILLE -- In most of Hoops Nation, halftime at a small-conference basketball game is when you grab a snack from the concession stand, get in line for the toilet, or chat with folks. Maybe even all of the above. That's certainly not the case in the Mid-South. In Tennessee and the Carolinas, al...
S6 November 30, 2009 BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- For schools in conferences like the Big Ten, college basketball means endless tradition and legacy. It means banners and legends and stories passed down from one generation to the next. For fans, the gameday experience isn't limited to the 40 minutes of action; there are pep r...
S6 November 29, 2009 ...
S6 November 27, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 November 27, 2009 NEW ORLEANS -- Most of the holidays on our calendar commemorate real-life events: revolutions, births, deaths, etc. People knew at the time that history was being made, and they set aside a date so that future generations would always remember. Some are tied to celestial events, and others are pre...
S6 November 25, 2009 NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Last week, when I talked to Northwestern State assistant coach Mark Slessinger about my visit to Natchitoches for the Demons' game against Houston Baptist, one of the first questions he asked me was, "Where do you want to sit?" I spent considerable time around the Northwester...
S6 November 24, 2009 NATCHITOCHES, La. -- What I saw yesterday was a lot of asphalt. I set out from Daytona Beach in the early morning, around 4 a.m., and drove 650 miles west. I made it to New Orleans by 5:00 pm Central time, exactly 20 minutes before my rental car was due back. That was the silver Chevy Cobalt I rente...
S6 November 22, 2009 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Cures and diseases are so closely related. They often define each other -- a cure is designed to erase a disease, which in turn must build resistance and immunity in order to survive and destroy. As I found out again this summer, booster shots introduce a small amount of the...
S6 November 21, 2009 Jon Schaeffer announces college basketball games. Not just any games -- NJIT games. The broadcasting veteran of over 1,000 games is entering his second year as the Highlanders' announcer, and he called every and ever home contest of the team's 1-30 season in 2008-09. He was previously the play-by-pl...
S6 November 20, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 November 19, 2009 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The boy-girl mascots of the University of North Florida are named Ozzie and Harriet. They're two sea hawks, or rather ospreys, and they wear the numbers 19 and 72 to commemorate their school's opening year. The names are kind of a weird joke, because when UNF started, The Adv...
S6 November 18, 2009 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- It's been a busy first few days on the road. Not the kind of busy that makes for compelling narrative, though. Much of what we've been dealing with since we left our Indianapolis headquarters are things like bad web hosting, long e-mails, old business, and a dry, scratchy, hac...
S6 November 13, 2009 Mid-Majority Chat Block ...
S6 November 13, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- We are a species inhabiting a strange planet. Every one of us is predisposed and pre-wired to seek patterns, which help us find similarity and sense. Patterns remove us from the fear of disorder and meaninglessness, and give us comfort. We can choose to model the world in simplisti...
S6 November 12, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- We're all mature grownups. We can be totally honest here, right? We've all waited seven months for college basketball to return. When it did come back, we got three days of pre-planned, pre-scheduled blowouts, all in the name of video games and cancer research. Sub-Red Line teams w...
S6 November 8, 2009 I've often wished that college basketball would somehow become a year-round pursuit, that it would stop disappearing in April and returning in November. (Or, for some, the following March.) But not like this. I don't remember a summer with so much college basketball news. Our Game never left the na...
S6 November 7, 2009 Back in the late 1990's, I was one of those people who thought that the internet would save the world from itself. I honestly believed that limitless information would lead to limitless knowledge, and that our new generation of enlightened master thinkers would transcend manipulation. What I didn't...
S6 November 6, 2009 Dayton, you had a good run. There are so many reasons why the Birthplace of Aviation was the first capital of Hoops Nation. No other place can match its fan awesomeness-to-population ratio; the University of Dayton Arena will always be packed, no matter if the Flyers are 28-1 or 1-28. Since the At...
S6 November 5, 2009 Over the past decade or so, the National Association of Basketball Coaches has been pushing a concept called "Guardians of the Game." You may recall a preseason tourney played under that banner in recent years, and maybe your favorite coach was given a prestigious award of the same name (a GOGgy?). ...
S6 November 4, 2009 Do you mind if I talk baseball? Just for a second. This is a decidedly American League Central-centric website. I've been a supporter of the Twins since I discovered baseball in 1983. Our new compatriot Damon Lewis, who you'll meet next week if you haven't already, is a lifelong Tigers fan. So it ...
S6 November 3, 2009 Sports are great. Actual participation is awesome, but watching other people do sports is still pretty good. These days, anybody can watch sports without being there at all -- anytime, anywhere and in any state of undress they choose. This is truly the age of miracles and wonders, and it's all thank...
S6 November 2, 2009 History, as Winston Churchill famously said, is written by the victors. I believe that maxim only holds true for the quick, easily-understood sweeps of human affairs, the kind in schoolbooks and on multiple-choice tests. Interesting failures have more to teach us about the trajectories of empires an...
S6 November 1, 2009 PAWTUCKET, R.I., October 21 -- On Monday, March 23 at four a.m. Central, on the dot, my cell phone alarm woke me from a two-hour nap. I was behind the wheel of a rented Hyundai Elantra at a rest area alongside the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 in Wisconsin. I was en route from Minneapolis, the ...
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