Dribblings 12/9/2004 (Worldwide Leading Edition)

Alabama A&M 68, Stephen F. Austin 42 (story) - SFA is one of the many heartbreaking faraway-so-close stories you see in the small-college world. The reason you've never heard of them (unless you have, natch) is because for the past two years, they've won 21 games per season but have fallen a couple of baskets short in the conference title game. The Southland's Lumberjacks, who have never "Danced" before, are way down due to graduations and will unlikely make it past Sam Houston and UTSA this year. Allowing a middling SWAC team to score 30 points off 27 turnovers won't help matters.

Southern Utah 62, Weber State 56 (story) - Weber State has a proud basketball history, having been to the Tournament 14 times. And remember, it's "WEE-burr" not "WEB-burr." And while they labor in Eastern Washington's Big Sky shadow these days, they have an extremely fascinating team that your narrator will be reporting on in more detail later. But last night, they were run into the ground at home early by a fast (if not mediocre) Mid-Con squad and its two hot guards Rand Janes and Tim Gainey, who shot a combined 14 for 19 from the floor. Burly Utah transfer Lance Allred (18 points and 17 rebounds) led Weber.

Yoni Cohen is vacationing somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle for a couple of weeks, but he's hired a talented group of guest-bloggers to steer his soon-to-be award-winning College Basketball Blog while he's away. A gentleman named Ken has posted a two-part exposition about the need for better college hoop stats here and here, and it's a fascinating read. Unfortunately, this is one area where baseball will always have it all over us, due to its more robust and readily-available base of data. As a wise man once said, "the great statistics combine the most mundane of facts to achieve the most remarkable enlightenments."

ESPN will be launching its own college sports channel, ESPNU, on 03-04-05. What will make this channel different than, say, CSTV or Fox College Sports? That's correct, all those basketball TV rights they own. ESPNU will have 25 additional live games during the bestest part of the season: conference tournament week. (And after that, it will be absolutely worthless until September.)

Another party that the Disney Sports Megaverse is a bit late for is the Islander Ball. ESPN The Website's Jeff Shelman breaks out the boilerplate and whips off a feel-good Texas A&M-Corpus Christi story. Thanks, guy - we already found 'em.

Heady days indeed for the West Coast Conference. Santa Clara coach Dick Davey thinks it could have three Tournament bids if the league pushes its conference RPI high enough. St. Mary's sideline-pacer Randy Bennett is already fielding reporters' questions about a certain coaching vacancy down the Interstate in L.A.

Next Sunday is the final day of UNLV's (latest) probation period. The Los Angeles Daily News goes in search of... a school that means to keep it clean and a place where any new coach lives under a shadow. A large towel-biting shadow.

You drive in on Tarkanian Way. And if you're Tarkanian, you have rock-star parking courtesy of a lifetime space. Not even UNLV's new coach Lon Kruger parks closer to the doors of the Thomas & Mack Center.

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