Dribblings 1/17/2005 (Numerology Edition)

America East: Albany 58, Maine 49 (story) - We recently rattled off a list of conference teams that UAlbany could beat, but we didn't indicate a perceived ability to topple upper-division hopeful Maine. Since they were able to do so - up in Orono, no less - speaks to their meteoric rise through the America East ranks. Albany broke open a tight game in the final ten minutes, thanks to Lucious Jordan and his 19 points. The Danes only shot 33% for the game, but they stymied the homestanding Black Bears with lockdown D and were able to get to the line and convert - they hit 21 of 25 of their freebie ops.

Game! Of! The! Night!

After a fully-stocked slate on Saturday and an America East-heavy Sunday, it's a heavier-than-average Monday due to the King holiday. In the Southern Conference tonight, College Of Charleston (9-6, 3-2 SoCon) hosts the Furman Paladins (10-6, 3-1 SoCon). The Cougars have not been the dominant SoCon South force they were expected to be so far, and you might remember Furman as the bullies that loves dropping 110-point games on Division III teams. Will Furman prevail, or is this the time when the basketball universe declares a payback in the form of a 40-poiunt thumping? Game starts at 7:00 PM Eastern, "actioncast" here.

Portland State is stepping into the Big Sky vacuum created by two underachieving squads: Eastern Washington and perennial heavy Weber State. They're undefeated so far in conference, and are 12-4 overall. College Insider's Joe Dwyer is there.

Angela Lento of Basketball Times and her sharp dressed men. She logs her 1,594th interview with Drexel head man Bruiser Flint; today they're talking about something I know a lot about, driving around the city of Philadelphia. (But after seven years, I still get lost coming home from LaSalle games.)

Dipping down to Division III for a moment, the last time we heard about University of the Redlands it was as the punchline to the joke that was Villanova's 2003-04 schedule. The Bulldogs play a soft full-court trap defense and don't waste a second on the attack, and are averaging 148 points a game and 71 trey attempts a game. (They're giving up just as many or more points to any team that has mastered the baseball pass.) This style leaves opposing fans and beat writers in a wake of befuddlement. On their website, they market it like the Harlem Globetrotters.

Back when Marques Johnson was a Milwaukee Buck, he used to come into Boston Garden and shoot the crap out of my Celtics on a regular basis. Now, he's the only good thing about Fox Sports Net's basketball coverage. He goes old school and dissects former Santa Clara coach Carroll Williams' lasting contribution to our sport: the flex offense.

If basketball is a metaphor for life, then the principles of the flex are its blueprint for living. Everyone is interchangeable -- the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Understand your limitations, and accentuate your strengths. Learn how to counter whatever challenge is placed in front of you.

Here is a numerology mission to anyone who might accept it. As more than a few college basketball fans know, there are 37 available jersey numbers from double-zero to 55. No numerals over five, so refs can call fouls without growing an extra hand (obviously, the NBA gave up on this standard a long time ago). Now, what is currently the least-used jersey number in Division I? This would be an easier task with a database that I simply do not own, but such tools exist. All respect to ex- St. Joseph's Hawk Jameer Nelson, but based on my travels I'm willing to bet a dollar that it's 14.

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