Dribblings 12/8/2004 (Feel The Power Edition)

IUPU-Fort Wayne 64, Utah State 59 (story) - At the IUPU schools, you can choose between a University of Indiana degree and a Purdue one - their marketing people call it "the power of two." Big West co-favorites USU played flat coming off big wins over BYU and Utah, and allowed a hungry IPFW to use the "power of three" to upset them: they were 9 for 18 from behind the arc, and center David Simon gained numerous and-ones on his way to 16 and 10. The conference-less Mastodons have now equaled last year's win total with three - could this be the year of the independents? Highly unlikely, but as Ken Pomeroy notes, this result could help lead to the Mountain West receiving as many Tournament bids as the Big Sky.

Central Michigan 88, East Tennessee State 77 (story) - The SoCon co-favorite ETSU Buccaneers are loaded with weapons - that was evident on Saturday when they took conference foes Charleston to the wire without significant input from SI double-page layout subject Tim Smith (jinx!). But they will rely on him heavily this year, and won't be able to win much if Smith shoots 4-for-18. On this night, they didn't. The MAC's Chippewas are tough at home, and rained threes on the Bucs at a 13-for-24 clip. Junior 6-3 speedster Kevin Nelson had 21 for CMU in the win.

Arkansas-Little Rock 70, Southern IIlinois 53 (story) - UALR of the Sun Belt has been a convenient ashtray for power conference teams so far this year (20-plus point losses against Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech), but they notched a signature home win versus mid-major movie stars SIU. Sixty percent shooting (27 of 44), a clear rebounding edge (30-24) and a breezy ease in breaking the Saluki press proved the difference.

Site note: last night, while watching Gonzaga nearly lose to Washington State (who scored 27 in the first half, as opposed to 29 the whole game the other day), I finally got the standings page working the way I'd like it to. It'll be updated every morning from here on out, and I hope you find it useful in tracking your favorite conferences and teams. I don't know how many times I wished last year for a single quick-glance page with all 30 updated tables on it... I guess that if you want something done, do it yourself, right?

Those humming and buzzing sounds you hear are the conferences' PR departments revving up their fax machines. It must be getting close to the new year. The Big Sky has named Northern Arizona guard DeJuan Stevens its player of the week, and the Mid-Con has given their award to both Caleb Green of Oral Roberts and Brandon Cole of IUPUI.

The Stockton Record looks at Pacific's big front line, and charts the development of Swedish power forward Christian Maraker, who made Kansas coach Bill Self leeringly covetous last weekend.

Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall is sick and tired of people saying they can't show up for Eagles games because of church, PTA meetings, and Peyton Manning.

Over at College Insider, Tim Drake drops some mad Hamlet while discussing the "great mid-major debate", then goes all Jeff Foxworthy on that bee-hind.

Do you regularly pay large sums of money to have other programs come to your house so you can take them out behind the woodshed? If you answered no then you might be a mid-major.

Do you get annoyed when people refer to your program as being of the mid-major variety? If you answered yes then you are a mid-major.

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