SEASON 1
Recent Game Recaps
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 DeadButler and Us
Donning the Black and Gold
Challenge 10: Tourney Memories
The Madness of the Horizon LeagueThe Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament
MAC Madness
Anything Can Happen in the MAAC
Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood
A Youthful SurpriseFrom Worst to First
Peers and Seers
March 8, 2005 8:14 am ET by Kyle Whelliston |
Bullet Points
Bracket Wrap
Missouri Valley: (3) Creighton 75, (5) Southwest Missouri State 57 (story) Arch Madness turned into the "Creighton Invitational" once again, as the Bluejays dispatched Saluki-killing Bears in rude fashion. So the biggest mystery in Hoops Nation right now: how many bids are in there Valley? Two? (Creighton and Southern Illinois) Three? ( Wichita State - or SMS, rated 48th in the New Improved RPI). Stay tuned, sports fans!
Metro Atlantic: (1) Niagara 81, (2) Rider 59 (story) So much for any drama in Buffalo - after Purple Eagles-Broncs III was hyped with clips from the two barnburning games these two teams played in the regular season, millions of ESPN2 viewers switched over to the Valley game when this got out of hand. Big Canadian Juan Mendez opened the proceedings with a dunk that rattled dishes out in Batavia, and stormed to a 27 and 13 performance. Niagara goes to the Dance for the first time in my particular lifetime - it's been 35 long years.
Colonial: (1) Old Dominion 73, (2) Virginia Commonwealth 66 (OT) (story) - More on this one later.
West Coast: (1) UMPFN 80, (2) St. Mary's 67 (story) They tried to squeeze some drama out of this WCC season, but in the end, it was the same old story. The Unnamed Major Program From The Northwest are WCC champions once again, after running roughshod over a conference they outgrew a long time ago. To celebrate their sixth league championship in seven years, and seventh consecutive trip to the Tournament, I'm going to go down to the nearest playground and beat up some six and seven-year-old kids.
Meanwhile, in the other locker room, the Gaels of Saint Mary's College hang their heads and place their overnight orders for cases of Pepto-Bismol. The score of this game, and the fact that they went seven second-half minutes without scoring, puts them on the far outer limits of Bubbleville. It will depend on power-conference tournament results whether they make it in or not, and I'll bleed a little with them if they're left out on Selection Sunday.
Mid-Continent: We have a final two in Tulsa, and one wanna-be Cinderella.
(1) Oral Roberts 80, (5) IUPUI 69 (story)
(7) Oakland 56, (6) Chicago State 53 (story)
Oral Roberts would appear to have the auto-bid wrapped up, after their Wonder Twin Powers took care of business once again: Caleb Green scored 22 on 8-of-11 shooting, and Ken Tutt had 18 with eight assists. But does Oakland have one more upset left in them? In a tourney with plenty of upsets, the Grizzlies held off a game bunch of Chicago State Cougars by making their free throws down the stretch. They'll meet tonight in front of a heavily pro-ORU crowd; ORU wins, and they're Dancing for the first time since 1984.
Sun Belt: It's fitting that the two Western top seeds are in the final, they've been the best teams in a league where the balance of power has shifted to the sunset side of the Sun Belt in recent years.
(W1) Denver 77, (E2) Western Kentucky 68 (story)
(W2) Louisiana-Lafayette 80, (E5) Florida International 69 (story)
A 15-4 Denver run midway through the second half put away the pesky Tops and avenged their regular-season meeting, and the Pioneers earned their first-ever conference title shot - the former NAIA and Division II school hasn't been to the D1 postseason since the 1959 NIT. A 20-6 run by the Ragin' Cajuns ended FIU's dreams, and they'll defend their conference championship tonight. Denver, however, swept the season series between the two.
Mid-American: The campus-site first round is complete; no surprises heading into Cleveland.
(4) Ohio 72, (13) Marshall 66
(5) Kent State 91, (12) Central Michigan 60
(6) Akron 78, (11) Eastern Michigan 66
(7) Buffalo 73, (10) Northern Illinois 66
(8) Bowling Green 75, (9) Ball State 73
Mid-Eastern: Two first-round games down, one to go. More on the MEAC bracket in a couple of text-blocks.
(6) Morgan State 77, (11) Maryland-Eastern Shore 56
(7) Florida A&M 80, (10) Howard 56
Let's Get Tournament-al!
Western Athletic (all 10 qualify) - Tonight, action gets going in Reno with two first-round games. Seventh-seeded Hawaii plays 10 San Jose State; then, 8 Boise State goes aainst 9 Tulsa. Quarterfinals are on Thursday: 3 Rice and 6 Southern Methodist square off, as do 4 Fresno State and 5 Louisiana Tech. Also on Thursday: 2 Texas-El Paso takes on today's Game 1 winner, the Boise-Tulsa survivor will play top-seeded Nevada.
Big West (top 8 of 10 qualify) - After saying good night to California-Riverside and Cal Poly, the staggered bracket of the BWC begins eliminating teams on Wednesday in Anaheim. Fifth-seeded California-Irvine returns to the tourney after a one-year absence, and will play 8 Idaho. In the other first round game, 6 Long Beach State will take on 7 .
OK, hang with me here, this gets a little tricky. The bracket gets redrawn on Thursday after the first round: 3 Cal State-Fullerton plays the lower remaining seed, while 4 Cal State Northridge goes against the higher. And then on Friday, the two top seeds - 1 Pacific and 2 Utah State - reap the benefits of their protected status and play the two remaining teams. Winners of the semifinals will play live on ESPN on Saturday.
Mid-Eastern (all 11 qualify) - Action started yesterday in Richmond with two first round games as mentioned above, one more today that features 8 Bethune-Cookman versus 9 North Carolina A&T. With the CAA out of town, action will shift from the Arthur Ashe Center to the Richmond Coliseum. The winner of today's game will play 1 Delaware State on Wednesday night, followed by 7 Florida A&M versus 2 Hampton. On Thursday, the other two quarterfinals: 4 South Carolina State gets 5 Norfolk State, and 3 Coppin State will take on 6 Morgan State in a good old-fashioned Baltimore rivalry.
Southland (top 8 of 11 qualify) - Non-qualifiers Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana-Monroe and Nicholls State will all stay home, but then again so will almost everyone else. All action in the SLC will take place at campus sites at homes of higher seeds. Today is quarterfinal Tuesday: top-seeded Northwestern State will host 8 Texas-Arlington; in Hammond, 2 Southeastern Louisiana will try to stifle 7 Texas State with their killer D. Sam Houston State is at the three-spot, and the Bearkats will play 6 McNeese State. In the 4-5 axis game, Texas-Arlington will take on Lamar. Seeds are shuffled after the first round; semis are on Thursday, and the final will take place on Sunday.
Atlantic 10 (all 12 qualify) - First round Wednesday in Cincinnati will feature four games. Richmond, the Western four-seed, and E5 Rhode Island will start things off at noon, followed by E3 Massachusetts and W6 LaSalle. In the evening session, E4 Fordham will play W5 Duquesne and W3 Dayton gets E6 St. Bonaventure.
On Thursday, E1 St. Joseph's will play the Richmond-URI winner, the UMass-LaSalle survivor gets to take on W2 Xavier. On the other side of the bracket, W1 George Washington plays either Fordham or Duquesne; E2 Temple, sans coach John Chaney, will play the Bonnies or Flyers.
One left to go: the very special SWAC, which kicks off on Thursday in Birmingham.
What's On Tap
We have those three finals. And in addition to the quarters in the Southland and the first round in the WAC, there are also semifinals in the Big Sky.
Automatic Bids
Pennsylvania (19-8, 12-1 Ivy) clinched the Ivy League regular season title on February 27.
Winthrop (27-5, 18-1 BSC) won the Big South tournament on March 5.
Chattanooga (20-13, 13-6 SoCon) won the Southern tournament on March 5.
Eastern Kentucky (21-8, 13-5 OVC) won the Ohio Valley tournament on March 5.
Central Florida (24-8, 15-7 A-Sun) won the Atlantic Sun tournament on March 5.
Creighton (23-10, 13-7 MVC) won the Missouri Valley tournament on March 8.
Niagara (20-9, 15-5 MAAC) won the Metro Atlantic tournament on March 8.
Old Dominion (28-5, 18-3 CAA) won the Colonial tournament on March 8.
UMPFN (25-4, 14-2 WCC) won the West Coast tournament on March 8.
- Four champions are crowned: Creighton (MVC), Niagara (MAAC), Old Dominion (CAA) and UMPFN (WCC).
Three more tonight: the Sun Belt, Mid-Continent, and the Horizon league matchup of Detroit and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The run of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies of the Mid-Con continued, they'll go into that Mid-Con title game after pulling two upsets out of the 7 seed.
Bracket Wrap
Missouri Valley: (3) Creighton 75, (5) Southwest Missouri State 57 (story) Arch Madness turned into the "Creighton Invitational" once again, as the Bluejays dispatched Saluki-killing Bears in rude fashion. So the biggest mystery in Hoops Nation right now: how many bids are in there Valley? Two? (Creighton and Southern Illinois) Three? ( Wichita State - or SMS, rated 48th in the New Improved RPI). Stay tuned, sports fans!
Metro Atlantic: (1) Niagara 81, (2) Rider 59 (story) So much for any drama in Buffalo - after Purple Eagles-Broncs III was hyped with clips from the two barnburning games these two teams played in the regular season, millions of ESPN2 viewers switched over to the Valley game when this got out of hand. Big Canadian Juan Mendez opened the proceedings with a dunk that rattled dishes out in Batavia, and stormed to a 27 and 13 performance. Niagara goes to the Dance for the first time in my particular lifetime - it's been 35 long years.
Colonial: (1) Old Dominion 73, (2) Virginia Commonwealth 66 (OT) (story) - More on this one later.
West Coast: (1) UMPFN 80, (2) St. Mary's 67 (story) They tried to squeeze some drama out of this WCC season, but in the end, it was the same old story. The Unnamed Major Program From The Northwest are WCC champions once again, after running roughshod over a conference they outgrew a long time ago. To celebrate their sixth league championship in seven years, and seventh consecutive trip to the Tournament, I'm going to go down to the nearest playground and beat up some six and seven-year-old kids.
Meanwhile, in the other locker room, the Gaels of Saint Mary's College hang their heads and place their overnight orders for cases of Pepto-Bismol. The score of this game, and the fact that they went seven second-half minutes without scoring, puts them on the far outer limits of Bubbleville. It will depend on power-conference tournament results whether they make it in or not, and I'll bleed a little with them if they're left out on Selection Sunday.
Mid-Continent: We have a final two in Tulsa, and one wanna-be Cinderella.
(1) Oral Roberts 80, (5) IUPUI 69 (story)
(7) Oakland 56, (6) Chicago State 53 (story)
Oral Roberts would appear to have the auto-bid wrapped up, after their Wonder Twin Powers took care of business once again: Caleb Green scored 22 on 8-of-11 shooting, and Ken Tutt had 18 with eight assists. But does Oakland have one more upset left in them? In a tourney with plenty of upsets, the Grizzlies held off a game bunch of Chicago State Cougars by making their free throws down the stretch. They'll meet tonight in front of a heavily pro-ORU crowd; ORU wins, and they're Dancing for the first time since 1984.
Sun Belt: It's fitting that the two Western top seeds are in the final, they've been the best teams in a league where the balance of power has shifted to the sunset side of the Sun Belt in recent years.
(W1) Denver 77, (E2) Western Kentucky 68 (story)
(W2) Louisiana-Lafayette 80, (E5) Florida International 69 (story)
A 15-4 Denver run midway through the second half put away the pesky Tops and avenged their regular-season meeting, and the Pioneers earned their first-ever conference title shot - the former NAIA and Division II school hasn't been to the D1 postseason since the 1959 NIT. A 20-6 run by the Ragin' Cajuns ended FIU's dreams, and they'll defend their conference championship tonight. Denver, however, swept the season series between the two.
Mid-American: The campus-site first round is complete; no surprises heading into Cleveland.
(4) Ohio 72, (13) Marshall 66
(5) Kent State 91, (12) Central Michigan 60
(6) Akron 78, (11) Eastern Michigan 66
(7) Buffalo 73, (10) Northern Illinois 66
(8) Bowling Green 75, (9) Ball State 73
Mid-Eastern: Two first-round games down, one to go. More on the MEAC bracket in a couple of text-blocks.
(6) Morgan State 77, (11) Maryland-Eastern Shore 56
(7) Florida A&M 80, (10) Howard 56
Let's Get Tournament-al!
Western Athletic (all 10 qualify) - Tonight, action gets going in Reno with two first-round games. Seventh-seeded Hawaii plays 10 San Jose State; then, 8 Boise State goes aainst 9 Tulsa. Quarterfinals are on Thursday: 3 Rice and 6 Southern Methodist square off, as do 4 Fresno State and 5 Louisiana Tech. Also on Thursday: 2 Texas-El Paso takes on today's Game 1 winner, the Boise-Tulsa survivor will play top-seeded Nevada.
Big West (top 8 of 10 qualify) - After saying good night to California-Riverside and Cal Poly, the staggered bracket of the BWC begins eliminating teams on Wednesday in Anaheim. Fifth-seeded California-Irvine returns to the tourney after a one-year absence, and will play 8 Idaho. In the other first round game, 6 Long Beach State will take on 7 .
OK, hang with me here, this gets a little tricky. The bracket gets redrawn on Thursday after the first round: 3 Cal State-Fullerton plays the lower remaining seed, while 4 Cal State Northridge goes against the higher. And then on Friday, the two top seeds - 1 Pacific and 2 Utah State - reap the benefits of their protected status and play the two remaining teams. Winners of the semifinals will play live on ESPN on Saturday.
Mid-Eastern (all 11 qualify) - Action started yesterday in Richmond with two first round games as mentioned above, one more today that features 8 Bethune-Cookman versus 9 North Carolina A&T. With the CAA out of town, action will shift from the Arthur Ashe Center to the Richmond Coliseum. The winner of today's game will play 1 Delaware State on Wednesday night, followed by 7 Florida A&M versus 2 Hampton. On Thursday, the other two quarterfinals: 4 South Carolina State gets 5 Norfolk State, and 3 Coppin State will take on 6 Morgan State in a good old-fashioned Baltimore rivalry.
Southland (top 8 of 11 qualify) - Non-qualifiers Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana-Monroe and Nicholls State will all stay home, but then again so will almost everyone else. All action in the SLC will take place at campus sites at homes of higher seeds. Today is quarterfinal Tuesday: top-seeded Northwestern State will host 8 Texas-Arlington; in Hammond, 2 Southeastern Louisiana will try to stifle 7 Texas State with their killer D. Sam Houston State is at the three-spot, and the Bearkats will play 6 McNeese State. In the 4-5 axis game, Texas-Arlington will take on Lamar. Seeds are shuffled after the first round; semis are on Thursday, and the final will take place on Sunday.
Atlantic 10 (all 12 qualify) - First round Wednesday in Cincinnati will feature four games. Richmond, the Western four-seed, and E5 Rhode Island will start things off at noon, followed by E3 Massachusetts and W6 LaSalle. In the evening session, E4 Fordham will play W5 Duquesne and W3 Dayton gets E6 St. Bonaventure.
On Thursday, E1 St. Joseph's will play the Richmond-URI winner, the UMass-LaSalle survivor gets to take on W2 Xavier. On the other side of the bracket, W1 George Washington plays either Fordham or Duquesne; E2 Temple, sans coach John Chaney, will play the Bonnies or Flyers.
One left to go: the very special SWAC, which kicks off on Thursday in Birmingham.
What's On Tap
We have those three finals. And in addition to the quarters in the Southland and the first round in the WAC, there are also semifinals in the Big Sky.
Automatic Bids
Pennsylvania (19-8, 12-1 Ivy) clinched the Ivy League regular season title on February 27.
Winthrop (27-5, 18-1 BSC) won the Big South tournament on March 5.
Chattanooga (20-13, 13-6 SoCon) won the Southern tournament on March 5.
Eastern Kentucky (21-8, 13-5 OVC) won the Ohio Valley tournament on March 5.
Central Florida (24-8, 15-7 A-Sun) won the Atlantic Sun tournament on March 5.
Creighton (23-10, 13-7 MVC) won the Missouri Valley tournament on March 8.
Niagara (20-9, 15-5 MAAC) won the Metro Atlantic tournament on March 8.
Old Dominion (28-5, 18-3 CAA) won the Colonial tournament on March 8.
UMPFN (25-4, 14-2 WCC) won the West Coast tournament on March 8.
Resources
Bally Club Signup/ActivateBally 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 | ||
| |||||
Red Line Upsets
2012-13 Upsets 158/933 (16.9%)
2011-12 Upsets 153/988 (15.5%)
2010-11 Upsets 164/954 (17.2%)
Black Line Upsets (and the Stendhal)
Social Media
TMM Meta
800 Games Project (Season 8)100 Games Project (Season 1)
The Epilogues
Chats
Kyle's Travel Maps (Seasons 1-7)
Cartoons (Season 2-6)
Glossary (Season 7)
Historical Design Gallery
Colophon
© 2004-13 The Mid-Majority Basketball Concern Ltd. and ComputerPants Robotics. Your host and commissioner is Kyle Whelliston.
All rights reserved. All times Eastern. Made in Chicago, Illinois, USA.