The Boubacar 1/15/2008 (Academy Edition)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Tuesdays are generally going to be a bit slow around here during conference season. For all its presupposed "Big"-ness, Mondays are nearly as slight as Fridays schedule-wise, with only the MEAC, SWAC and a few WCC and SoCon games reporting. So that gives us here at The Mid-Majority a little time for housekeeping. And housekeeping-related rants.

For over three years now, the name of this site has been "The Mid-Majority." And we love it when other sites link to us, because it lets more people read about mid-majors, makes us seem more popular than we are, and even gives us a few more stray pennies in Google Ad revenues. But an alarmingly high number of site operators don't get the name right. Aa lot of the links to this site say "Mid-Majority Report," or "Mid-Major Report," or somesuch.

There's no "Report" anywhere on this page, and there haven't been for years, except for the two mentions I just typed up. I don't get it. I don't know if this site reminds people of The Majority Report... do I look like Jeanene Garofalo? That's the show on liberal radio outlet Air America which complained about our short-lived "Mid-Majority Report" podcast two years ago, and had it blacklisted from iTunes, effectively killing it. There's no more podcast, there's no Jeanene, and precious little liberal politics. And this isn't some ironic joke, like the Colbert Report, which, okay-fine, was funny for a month or two.

This may seem like small stuff to you, but what if I got your name wrong? What if you were me, and I called you "Carl?" It's annoying. Plus, nobody calls the Worldwide Leader "ESPM," or CBS' site "Sportsline." Names are important, and so it is with the name of this site. The Mid-Majority.

We're going to start getting actively aggressive about this. If you have our name wrong, we're going to purposely misspell your site's name in our link back to you. We're going to replace "Hoop" with "Poop," real damaging and mean stuff like that. See how you like having your Google PageRank screwed up.

VMI. Hoops Nation's favorite basket-stuffers lead the nation in possessions per 40 minutes (again) with 83.5, force a lot of turnovers (again) with 20.5 per ballgame, and share the ball like cake, with a Division I-best 20.3 assists per game. But even though the Keydets made it all the way to the Big South championship game last season by suddenly slowing down, they might still seem to you like a big joke, like some traveling roadshow that uses "basketball" as the familiar context with which to bewilder spectators with loony antics.

Well, joke this. VMI has won seven of its last eight games, including a sweep of its first BSC road weekend at Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina, and sit atop the conference with a 2-0 record. Last night versus the Chanticleers of CCU, VMI came back from 17 down with nine minutes to go; Reggie Williams scored 38 points and notched his fourth straight double-double to pace a 107-100 win. This sets up Saturday's megaclash with 7-7 Kenny George and the UNC Asheville Bulldogs, which right there... right there is worth spilling 40 bucks or whatever to get the Big South Edge online TV package. Chip in with your friends, do it like a wrestling pay-per-view.

The Citadel. Last night, I felt the first pangs of sympathy I've felt all season. The Citadel, a team with 11 freshmen on its roster and one junior (three-year walk-on Jon Brick), stumbled to nine points in the first half against the College of Charleston, and eventually lost 69-46. Demetrius Nelson, a 6-9 senior, was supposed to be the leader, but he's out injured and may take a redshirt. Because the school requires all first-year students to have neatly-shaved heads, Brick is the only Bulldog with hair.

It's unfair to give The Citadel the red arrow because they've been at the bottom so long. Since the other South Carolina military academy joined the SoCon for the 1937-38 season, they're one of only five of the long-term NCAA schools that have never reached the Tournament, and one of only three never to make it to the NIT. All-time, the Bulldogs are 9-43 in the SoCon tourney, only advancing to the third round once (1959).

But there are glimmers of hope. Tyrell McDowell, for one -- he's a 6-5 freshman (duh) who got hot in the second half and made five shots, helping the Bulldogs make the score at least halfway-respectable. Charleston and The Citadel has been one of the great city rivalries at this level, and it would be wonderful if McDowell and the rest of this group matures enough in the next three-plus years to make it building-packing hot again.

Also...

How 'Bout™ Norfolk State? In the G!O!T!N! last night, Michael DeLoach's buzzer-beater lifted the Spartans to a 71-69 win over Morgan State, and gave NSU unlikely and early control of the MEAC at 3-0. We're honor-bound to mention that The Boubacar, the original one, had a 24 point, 12 rebound double-double for the losing Bears, and was the second-most efficient player in the country last night (35, according to the NBA Efficiency Model) to Williams' 50.

#boubacar onclick=simpletogglediv('boubacar')>Do you have a nomination for tomorrow's Boubacar?

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