• Season 9 SuperTicker presented by BLAPP
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

Dribblings 12/10/2004 (100, Not The Loneliest Number Edition)
December 10, 2004 9:45 am ET by Kyle Whelliston
Massachusetts 61, Connecticut 59 (story) - There were "Fire Lappas" T-shirts here in Philly too, back when Steve coached Villanova... but the folks in Amherst can put theirs in the closet for a while. Last night saw the best thing to happen to UMass since the Pixies reunion - a squeak win over the defending national champs in the sleepy west of the woody east. Minuteman Rashaun Freeman laid it in with four seconds to go, and the students stormed the floor. It's educational.

Indiana State 70, Valparaiso 68 (OT) (story) - In 2001, the MVC's Indiana State won 22 games (including a first-round Tournament win against Oklahoma), and went on to win exactly that many over the next three seasons. Tree Fever may be coming back to Terre Haute - they're overachieving with defense, and are 4-2 with a near-miss against Indiana. The Crusaders (0-5) were up by 12 at the break, but the Sycamores slowly chipped away at the lead. Go-to guy David Moss, who had 27 and 16 on the night, hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to put Indiana State up by two... but Valpo's Dan Oppland tied it as time ran out. Point guard Tyson Schnitker drained a 3-pointer with five seconds left in overtime to win it for the Trees.

Boston College 63, Holy Cross 60 (OT) (story) - The mighty Eagles were very nearly felled at home by the purple-clad Patriot Leaguers from Holy Cross. They certainly would likely have been if HC had hit their free throws (7-for-15, 47%). The Crusaders were up by three with five minutes left in regulation, and outrebounded BC 38-36 on the night. In the end they were not able to answer big Craig Smith, who ended up with 21 points and 10 rebounds. If anything, this will only fuel talk amongst Holy Cross fans that they should move up to the Big East.

Book Jacket Quote Of The Day: "Kyle's 100 games project is proof the Internet is good for more than porn." - Hoops Junkie

roadtrip_97x106.gifOK, so I was catching a few minutes of the Stetson-Florida game before bed on the Sunshine Network the other night, right? And during one of the commercial breaks, there was a promo for the upcoming Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Classic. The theme of the spot was "college basketball road trip," lots of asphalt and yellow lines and blue skies. The logo, fashioned after a road sign, had the number 100 on it.

Why 100, I asked myself? Was it just a random number to put on the sign? Why is "Road Trip" really big and "100" really small? Is Sunshine having a little 100 Games Project of their own? What does it mean?

I couldn't sleep. I searched their website for clues, but found none. I just had to write in.

Hi, I live up in Philly, and I watch Sunshine Network on DirecTV. I always TiVo your A-Sun broadcasts. They're great! OK, I have a question. Does the "Road Trip 100" sign in the ads mean you're broadcasting 100 games this season? Just curious. Thanks!


Hours later, came the reply:

Thanks for your message. Yes, collectively, we are televising over 100 college basketball games on Sunshine this season. Keep watching!


I just want to let the people know that The Mid-Majority 100 Games Project is no way affiliated with Sunshine Network's College Basketball Road Trip 100. I had my 100-games idea in February, and Sunshine's marketing people thought theirs up sometime this spring when all they had to show was reruns of cheerleading tournaments. Nobody consulted with anyone else, and it was just one of those crazy things where the same idea occurs in two places at the exact same time - you know, like the Macintosh point-and-click operating system and Microsoft Windows.

Oh, and Sunshine Network? Please don't sue me. I love you!

A number of people kindly wrote in and reminded me that Kent State won at Creighton 67-58 the other day and did I miss it because it wasn't in the Dribblings and what's wrong with me anyway. I guess I just wasn't as surprised as they were. ESPN's Jeff Shelman makes up for his shoddy TAMU-CC patch job with a nice story about the Golden Flashes' recent history and their big gold chain.

(NEWS FLASH: Jeff Shelman has written in and surprisingly did not tear me a "new one" for my immature and insolent swipes. I just want to publicly state that I think Shelman is a great man, a great writer, and I'm naming him to the Mid-Majority Pantheon Of Heroes for making the effort to cover mid-majors in a meaningful way for the WWLIS.)

Gonzaga is losing key reserve Nathan Doudney for the season. The Zags are playing with fire - there was a moment in the Washington State game the other night when Ronny Turiaf came down hard on the outside of his ankle, and I was getting ready to bet my vital organs on St. Mary's to win the WCC before the line moved.

SI.Com's Grant Wahl investigates post-exam trap games, those contests where teams have to play immediately after finals week. According to his theory, Temple may upset Wake Forest next Monday and Rice could beat UConn later in the month.

Ben Miraski is in the midst of the slow annual transition from grid to hoop, and his Sitting Courtside blog is picking up steam. Mid-Majority rules don't allow for mentioning any sort of ratings or polls, but there's a lot of that going on over there too. But if anything, please do make sure to check out his fantastic tribute to Jimmy V from the other day.

Rodney Anderson, a former Cal State Fullerton player who became the victim of a random street shooting in Los Angeles, will be featured in a future episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy for him or rail against exploitative mainstream media forces.