Dribblings 1/11/2005 (Wrong! Edition)

Mid-Continent: Western IIlinois 85, Oral Roberts 83 (story) - I said last week that we wouldn't be bothering to mention WIU that much this year, but I was brutally incorrect. ORU (11-4, 2-1 Mid-Con) couldn't get through their first conference road trip perfect, and 1,291 Leatherneck fans saw it happen. Widebody Florida International transfer Eulis Baez led the way for Western with 30 points, and juco transfer Troy Okeson sunk two freebies with 20 seconds left to win it. The Golden Eagles' wonder twin powers Caleb Green and Ken Tutt combined for 49 points, but they could have used a little help tonight.

Atlantic Sun: Troy State 77, Gardner-Webb 71 (story) - G-Webb dropped a 24-7 run to make up a 15-point halftime deficit against the nation's leading three-chuckers, and the stage was set for a thrilling finish. Troy took the lead at 73-71 with seconds to go, and Bulldog star Brian Bender launched a mid-air shot with time running out whilst being contacted by an opposing hand. There's nothing as depressing as having the refs ruin an otherwise good game by calling a double technical on the bench for protesting a missed foul call, but that's what happened here. Troy's Ryan Heck was given four free throws, and hit them all. The Bulldogs, TMM's A-Sun pick to go Dancing, fall to 4-1 in conference play.

Shootaround!

Big South: Charleston Southern is the first team to three wins, as they beat Radford on the road last night by a 67-60 count on the strength of their Buccaneer-laden bench.

Big West: Provisional D1 California-Davis won at California-Riverside 66-65 on a last-second bucket by Ryan Moore. Don't make them wait until 2007, they're ready to join the league right now!

Mid-Eastern: The Norfolk State Spartans are currently tied atop the league table at 4-1 with Coppin State. Both teams were on the bus last night: NSU went to North Carolina A&T and picked up a 69-62 victory, and the Eagles knocked around Howard 89-74.

Northeast: Long Island (5-7, 2-1 NEC) completed the season sweep of a drowning Wagner team (1-11, 0-3 NEC) at the lavishly converted Brooklyn Paramount Theater last night, 59-55. And increasingly frustrating Mid-Majority conference pick Central Connecticut State (4-8, 0-4 NEC) is doing its part to make the standings look funky - their latest bad loss came to Fairleigh-Dickinson at home. C'mon guys, I've seen you play. I know you've got it in you. So let's go! (Ya bums.)

Missouri Valley: Drake, conquerors of Bradley last week, beat independents Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 91-80 at home. That is all.

Western Athletic: Since we're off the whole WAC-only Mid-Majority Baller of The Week thing for now, we'd like to inform you that the conference player of the week is Nevada's 6'11" sophomore stud Nick Fazekas. The Wolfpack are now 4-0 in the league.

Game! Of! The! Night!

Nothing against the Southland Conference, but you know it's a light weeknight of action when I point you in the direction of the Southland Conference. Southeastern Louisiana (7-5, 2-0 SLC) is at Sam Houston State (7-5, 1-0 SLC) in a matchup between big defense (SELU: 56 PA/game) and big offense (SHSU: 79 PF/game), and something's... gotta... give. Game starts at 8:00 Eastern, webcast here.

Biggest news in college sports yesterday was the NCAA's passage of an educational reform package that measures teams' graduation rates. Those Academic Progress Rates, or APR's, will be used to a.) determine whether teams should be penalized with scholarship losses or not, b.) dramatically increase the number of Underwater Basketweaving majors throughout the nation, and c.) conclusively prove that all the good acronyms are already taken.

LaSalle coach John Giannini pens a tribute for New Mexico State head man Lou Henson on College Insider. Henson is recovering nicely from a brain inflammation, and will return to coaching soon.

On that same site one can find the mouthful better known as the CollegeInsider.com mid-season Mid-Major All America team. St. Mary's forward (and first All-Mid-Majority Team member) Daniel Kickert gets "Mid-Season Mid-Major Player Honors", but we still think the dude could still work on his defense a little.

Navy's press release announcing their inaugural alumni game this Saturday at 10:30 mentions that "fans are encouraged to stick around for the Navy varsity game at 2 p.m. against... Lehigh". Considering the Midshipmen's 3-10 record (0-1 Patriot), a considerable dropoff in attendance from the first game to the second is certainly fathomable.

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