Dribblings 2/15/2005 (Seeds Of Love Edition)

Mid-American: Akron 81, Toledo 79 (OT) (story) - It was a clash between teams with MAC high-seed aspirations. But most games this year in this league are like that. Eight of the 13 teams currently have winning records, mostly because Marshall and Central Michigan are so awful. But this was no Valentine's Day display of bloated-record Blutos looking for love: eight-and-five Akron of the East beat 8-6 Toledo of the West in a contest that went down to the wire. Actually, make that two wires. Toledo's point guard Justin Ingram hit a three with one tick left in regulation to hush the home crowd, but Zip forward Romeo Travis' soft layup at the end of the extra session held up through 15 seconds of Foul Time. And afterwards, nobody had to kiss a weird-looking girl with no knees and a city accent.

Shootaround!

Colonial: Now that Old Dominion (23-3, 13-1 CAA) has sewn up the top seed for the conference tournament in Richmond (a/k/a "Jammin' On The James"), everyone else is pushing each other around trying to fall in line. North Carolina-Wilmington (16-8, 11-4 CAA) furthered its increasingly convincing case for a two-seed, marching into Drexel and fighting off a late Dragon rally for a 69-66 victory. Defending champions Virginia Commonwealth (14-10, 10-5 CAA) bounced back from their loss to ODU on Saturday - they maintained their mastery of George Mason (14-10, 9-6 CAA), last year's runner-up, with a season sweep. The score in that one was 89-81. The league-leading Monarchs play at GMU tomorrow.

Mid-Eastern: Delaware State (11-11, 9-4 MEAC) has lost two in a row after reeling off seven straight, and find themselves in third after a 75-74 drop at Morgan State - and whaddyaknow, Sam Brand hit the winning free throws. The Hornets' problems can be traced directly to their road record: 3-11. Coppin State (11-12, 11-3 MEAC) stays in first after handing Howard their eleventh straight loss, 75-66.

Southern: It was close, but Davidson (18-7, 14-0 SoCon) maintained their perfect record - their 13th straight win came at division rival Charleston (15-8, 8-5 SoCon), 76-74. Wildcat wingman Jason Morton's shot fell at the buzzer and it spoiled a sterling Cougar effort - both games between the two schools this regular season went down to the last minute, and Davidson showed why it was just a little better than the preseason SoCon picks each time. There's now a three-team cluster fighting over the "S2" seed. Furman (14-10, 7-5 SoCon) went down to Appalachian State 60-47, and Georgia Southern (16-9, 9-4 SoCon) dropped 115 points on The Citadel. The Bulldogs, however, managed 85.

Game! Of! The! Night!

Slim pickings tonight with a thin Tuesday slate, but the Mid-American always seems to have something on. In what will be another elbow-flurry (metaphorically, we hope) for East division seeding, Kent State (15-7, 8-5 MAC) travels to Buffalo (15-7, 8-6 MAC). Their evil twin-like records hide the fact that Kent fought hard through a tough November and December schedule before MAC play began, and they're still considered a solid favorite for a Tournament ticket if they get at least a few rounds on the conference tourney bracket in Cleveland next month. The Bulls? The spotty play and porous D of the preseason conference favorites has flustered and perplexed even their biggest fan, the ever-gregarious Hoops Junkie. "About as much defense as a porn starlet fending off her suitor(s) in the latest Vivid DVD," he conceded recently. Tiptime is 7:00 Eastern, and you can experience it here.

Resources

Bally Club Signup/Activate
Bally Club Message Board
Basketball State
Women's Basketball State
TMM9 Summer Camp
Mid-Merchandise Shoppe
Mid-Major Radio
Contact TMM via The Form™

The Game

				Pts
			Hickory Picket Fences	27629

			The Hopping Cats	21526

			Ballyfest Destiny	18919

			Under a Blood Red Line	10379

			Jen Folds Five	6895

			Prestige Worldwide	1614