Dribblings 2/22/2005 (.500 Edition)

Northeast: St. Francis (NY) 110, Fairleigh Dickinson 103 (story) - Nope - not an overtime game, and not something straight out of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The two teams created an old-school NBA score in just 40 minutes despite each shooting just a little over 50% - needless to say, the game's pace was a little on the fast side. Gordon Klaiber, FDU's monstrous inside presence (relatively, mind you - this is the NEC) dropped 34 points and 13 boards - their flashy guard Tamien Trent ladled in 36. "New York" (or "College") point guard Tory Cavalieri, who was forced to take up more of the scoring load when disgruntled Terrier backcourtmate John Quintana left after last season, found a guard double-double in his pocket: 30 dollars and 10 dimes. St. Francis, last year's two-seed, is streaking towards the conference tourney with four straight wins.

The boys from Teaneck (15-11, 11-4 NEC) had crept by archrival Monmouth (13-12, 12-4 NEC) for the top slot over the weekend, but Fairleigh Dickinson failed to capitalize. As for the top seed, it might come down to tiebreakers. Monmouth and FDU split the season series so it might be settled on the fourth tiebreaker, which is the record against the third-place team. If it does turn out to be these Terriers, and Monmouth wins there next Monday, MU would take the top slot by virtue of a season sweep. One-seed gets to play the title game at home should they make it that far, so it's important.

Shootaround!

Mid-Eastern: Marketers may not have been successful in making Wednesday Prince spaghetti day, but we all jump and shout whenever it's (just another) MEAC Monday. Full five-game slate of action, and Coppin State (12-13, 12-4 MEAC) won at Bethune-Cookman 75-64 to stay on top by a half-game. Hampton and Delaware State kept pace at 11-4, both won but the DSU Hornets needed an Aaron Williams driving layup with a second left to slide past South Carolina State at home by two, 67-65. The Atlantic Sun may have nine teams with .500 records or better, but the MEAC has eight. Once they sort out the lower seeds on the infamous Green Rubber Floor at Richmond's Arthur Ashe Center, this will be a decent tournament.

Southwestern Athletic: Monday night's SWAC Attack saw Alabama A&M (13-10, 11-3 SWAC) tighten its grip on the conference with an 80-77 win at Southern, a game which would have been the G!O!T!N! had there been a webcast. The Bulldogs now lead in-state rivals Alabama State by two games with three contests remaining.

Western Athletic: Nevada (21-5, 13-2 WAC) won its seventh straight, beating lowly Tulsa 70-56. Reigning MMBOW Nick Fazekas had 15 points and 15 rebounds on a day when the Wolfpack emerged at the lower end of those bizarre poll thingies. "Little by little, around the nation, everyone is starting to respect Nevada," senior frontcourter Kevin Pinkney told the AP. 'Bout time!

Game! Of! The! Night!

It's a battle for Mid-Con supremacy between Oral Roberts (21-5, 11-2 MidCon) and Missouri-Kansas City (14-9, 10-2 MidCon). If homestanding UMKC wins, they take the conference lead; ORU can push them back to 1 1/2 games. Kangaroo guard summed it up succinctly to the subscription-only Kansas City Star: "We have to beat these dudes."

The Golden Eagles were everyone's favorites coming in, but an 11-game win streak brought renewed interest in basketball to the hallowed halls of UMKC. But now ORU has a six-game unbeaten stretch of their own, leading back out of the first meeting between these two schools - an 88-74 'Roo win in Tulsa last month. Warning sign: Kangaroo fever has brought two 6000-plus, near-capacity crowds to the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, and the home team has lost both of those games (to Chicago State and Oakland). Tonight's tilt tips at 8:00 PM Eastern and can be heard here.

I visited Long Island's Schwartz Athletic Center the other week to say goodbye. The Daily News readers get to say farewell to the old Paramount Theater as well, thanks to writer Sean Brennan. He got the answer I was looking for when I was there - it will be converted into a cyber café.

Lastly, please make sure you check out the new and improved ~~College Basketball Blog~~ yoco: College Basketball if you haven't already this morning. You can find my housewarming gift to Yoni at the top of the page.

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