• Season 9 SuperTicker presented by BLAPP
#TMM9
Having recently completed its 9th season, The Mid-Majority is a community chronicle of the smaller Division I college basketball conferences. Last year, the theme was Team. Six groups of five (plus a fantasy mid-major player) were engaged in friendly Amazing Race-style competition, criss-crossing Hoops Nation to provide awesome college basketball content. Season X (2013-14) will be our final one.

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 Dead

Butler and Us

Donning the Black and Gold

Challenge 10: Tourney Memories

The Madness of the Horizon League

The Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament

MAC Madness

Anything Can Happen in the MAAC

Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood

A Youthful Surprise

From Worst to First

Peers and Seers

Tag: Northern Iowa Panthers
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S9 March 29, 2013 A few days before Thanksgiving, right in the midst of ESPN's Feast Week, I turned on the television to watch a basketball game. Typical me. Ignoring family members to watch a bunch of college kids dribbling a basketball and aimlessly throwing it toward a net. On this particular afternoon, I was wat...
S9 January 21, 2013 The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.In a recent essay, The Hopping Cats captain, Ian McCormick, provided a two paragraph justification for his selection of USC Upstate's Torrey Craig as the second overall pick in the TMM9 fantasy player draft. As a Ballyfest Destiny member who definitel...
S8 March 27, 2012 Game #8-676: Northern Iowa Panthers vs. Illinois State RedbirdsMarch 2, 2012 3:35 pmSt. Louis, MOBBState Stats/Recap"In a game that is that close... All it takes is one really good play."That's what Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson had to say after his season ended in a loss to Illinois State. A phi...
S8 March 20, 2012 Game #8-778: Northern Iowa Panthers at Drexel DragonsMarch 18, 2012 12:00 pmDaskalakis Athletic CenterBBState Stats/RecapWhat's more dramatic than a confession? OK, here goes: this past Sunday was my first time ever seeing a game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on the campus of Drexel University. ...
S8 March 3, 2012 Game #8-676: Northern Iowa Panthers vs. Illinois State RedbirdsMarch 2, 2012 3:35 pmSt. Louis, MOBBState Stats/RecapEarlier this season, we discussed the Interlude, the dance craze started by three Northern Iowa students which quickly swept through campus, becoming a UNI tradition as well as an inte...
S8 February 7, 2012 Game #8-524: Southern Illinois Salukis at Northern Iowa PanthersJanuary 31, 2012 8:00 pmMcLeod CenterBBState Stats/Recap"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." -George Carlin Great sports traditions share common traits. They are organic in nature, as they derive f...
S8 February 3, 2012 Game #8-499: Northern Iowa Panthers at Missouri State BearsJanuary 28, 2012 5:00 pmJQH ArenaBBState Stats/RecapAuthors Note: I’m writing this recap on Wednesday, February 1st. This morning we learned of the passing of Coach Charlie Spoonhour, who coached Missouri State (then Southwest Missouri State...
S8 November 23, 2011 Game #8-097: Western Carolina Catamounts at Northern Iowa PanthersNovember 22, 2011 8:00 pmMcLeod CenterBBState Stats/RecapOn the way to the arena, I kept asking myself, "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around, does it make a sound?" Over and over the question bounced around in my head....
S8 November 13, 2011 Game #8-015: Northern Iowa Panthers at Old Dominion MonarchsNovember 12, 2011 7:00 pmConstant Convocation CenterBBState Stats/RecapAs I raced down Interstate 64 east from Williamsburg after enjoying Old Dominion’s last regular season game of that other sport that we don’t talk about, I crossed what ...
S7 March 13, 2011 If college basketball has taught us anything, it's that there's nothing that becomes irrelevant more suddenly than Championship Fortnight. Once the NCAA Tournament bracket is released, the previous two weeks slip into history... very quickly. But one thing that has to be remembered: the teams that w...
S7 March 5, 2011 h2 {margin-bottom:10px;font-size:13px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:17px;} #droid {font-size:11px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:13px;margin-bottom:8px;} #droid a:link, #droid a:visited {font-size:11px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:13px;}Bullet PointsNow it's mad, ...
S7 March 4, 2011 h2 {margin-bottom:10px;font-size:13px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:17px;} #droid {font-size:11px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:13px;margin-bottom:8px;} #droid a:link, #droid a:visited {font-size:11px;font-family:Droid Sans, arial;line-height:13px;}Bullet PointsOn the third d...
S7 February 24, 2011 CLEVELAND -- Once upon a time, there was this really thick book, and it had a bunch of stuff about college basketball in it. No, not the book you're thinking of, I'm talking about One Beautiful Season. I wrote that, last summer! A few thousand people went ahead and bought it (perhaps you?), and it...
S7 February 23, 2011 CHICAGO -- Every single one of the conference games going on tonight, and tomorrow, and Friday and Saturday too, were scheduled months in advance by a league office (or, in some cases, years ago). Some were circled rivalry games worth driving a day for, others were just-anothers. In early March, t...
S7 February 16, 2011 HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- March really is here before we know it, because there's half a week missing out of February. This month wasn't designed that way -- and nothing was adjusted for our benefit or anything -- but it's still disorienting and disruptive to look at a calendar and realize that in two ...
S7 February 15, 2011 RICHMOND, Va. -- For most of recorded history, things that weren't paid for didn't happen. Take the Old West, for instance. You think saloons allowed tabs? As long as there were four-legged vehicles tied to the post out front, every customer represented a potential flight risk. Plus, there was alw...
S7 February 9, 2011 ??????, ?.?. -- The game continues into its third day; full coverage can be found on the Last Man Live page. Normally on Wednesday, we have a mailbag feature. At the moment, the mailbag is sitting in the corner, tied up. We're not reading The Form™ or e-mail or Twitter or anything outside th...
S7 February 7, 2011 ?????, ?.?. -- Hello from back here on Sunday evening. As for the future present, we are playing our annual game of Last Man, and avoiding The Knowledge as best as possible. But we must always attend to our regular duties, which is sharing the good kind of knowledge with Hoops Nation. What a crazy...
S7 February 7, 2011 Rhode Island Rams at Temple OwlsFebruary 5, 2011 2:00 pmThe Liacouras CenterBBState Stats/Recap Hooter's birthday, and fake Zooperstars. @midmajority Game Tweets13:48 Game No. 7-047: Rhode Island at Temple. Temple University welcomes you and your family.13:50 This, friends, is a band. http://img...
S7 February 4, 2011 Friday mornings have become extra-enjoyable, because these game reports that are coming in are really great. While there's a lot of Season 7 left, I'm excited about Season 8, and the prospect of having well-written, well-executed student and passionate fan accounts of games across Hoops Nation to re...
S7 February 3, 2011 Today is National Pixelvision Day, and the festivities will last from 7 pm ET to after midnight. If you'd like to get involved, shuttle down. PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- An old hippie once proclaimed that information wants to be free. He was a publisher whose bound publication eventually folded. Me, I thi...
S7 February 1, 2011 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- So much has changed in a single calendar year. On February 1, 2010, the iPad had just been announced, and no mere civilian had touched one yet. Now, they're on press row at college basketball games. The Robot has grown a soul, exhibited feelings, taken a name. (It's "Doctor Thun...
S7 January 31, 2011 As is annual tradition here at TMM, we've put together a full rundown of all the announced BracketBusters matchups, and this will likely be the most clicked-on page of the season once again. It's incredibly difficult to find a complete list of all the non-TV games, which are quietly announced by the...
S7 January 31, 2011 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- What is madness? Back up, let's start this way: the reason and order necessary for understanding and mastery of one's surroundings has no room or space for such anarchic disruption. Madness is the danger where once things were safe, displacing sense and destroying sensibilities....
S7 January 29, 2011 Binghamton Bearcats at Boston University TerriersJanuary 26, 2011 9:00 pmCase GymBBState Stats/Recap New England has had a tough winter. Snowstorm after blizzard after Nor'Easter has dumped feet and feet of snow on the upper right-hand corner of Hoops Nation; it's piled high along the sides of roa...
S7 January 24, 2011 CHICAGO -- American higher learning dates back to before the whole "United States" thing. But until the Civil War was over, no college had a fight song. That idea coincided with the idea of college athletics, and school-specific tunes were written for the purposes of intimidation and inspiration. Ma...
S7 January 20, 2011 CHICAGO -- It can't be said enough: most of what we do as college basketball fans is try to figure out exactly what it is we're looking at. Keeping proper perspective during the season is difficult, impossible sometimes. Up there, north of the Red Line, it's easier because ranked and regarded team...
S7 January 18, 2011 Southern Illinois Salukis at Northern Iowa PanthersJanuary 15, 2011 8:00 pmMcLeod CenterBBState Stats/Recap Of all the times we've been to Cedar Falls, there's one consistent memory: feeling like every extremity is going to freeze and fall off on the walk from the car to the arena (whether the old...
S7 January 10, 2011 VALPARAISO, Ind. -- Now that January has reached double-digits, the slow transition is, in full essence, complete. It's conference season, and even the teams in the Ivy League are starting to play each other. This is definitely the second part of the beautiful season, the third best of the four. N...
S7 January 8, 2011 Cleveland State Vikings at Butler BulldogsJanuary 7, 2011 7:00 pmHinkle FieldhouseBBState Stats/Recap Much of what passes for sports wisdom in enlightened 2011 is so linear and transitive. With so much information to sift and process, the human brain goes into panic mode. It must break matters do...
S7 January 5, 2011 I felt like I ought to write in about the end of the 100GP, since I have to admit I felt a pretty big sense of disappointment (though not surprise) when you said it wasn't going to happen in the future...I think the road is an important part of the site. In general, I think a good outcome would b...
S7 January 3, 2011 CHICAGO -- Coaches talk a lot about taking things away from an opponent; indeed, one of the objects of basketball is exert enough force and will as to displace identity. If the other team is slow and methodical, you might try to speed them up, or vice-versa. If there's a dynamic star who scores an...
S7 December 23, 2010 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- This is the last Stardate until 52-20101229 (a Wednesday), at which time we'll turn our attention away from Red Line Upsets to conference play. There will be a Chat Block on Christmas Eve at 4 pm Eastern, and if there's anybody around, we'll talk about whatever you want to talk ...
S7 December 14, 2010 @midmajority I don't think this has been asked/answered yet... what's the record for RLUs *surrendered* in a single season in the TMM era?Brendan L. (via Twitter)CHICAGO -- One of the best things about Red Line Upsets is that the terms are defined in advance. The Line is the Line. At the beginning...
S7 December 8, 2010 Purdue Boilermakers at Valparaiso CrusadersDecember 7, 2010 9:00 pmAthletics-Recreation CenterBBState Stats/Recap Hope. (via 30fps) @midmajority Game Tweets 20:54 Game 7-021: Purdue at Valparaiso. Hail Crusaders who rise to glory.20:57 RT @cmlrun: @midmajority Our colors are unfurled.21:00 Awes...
S7 December 7, 2010 @midmajority there have been 59 red line upsets, @TempleUniv has three of them. What is the single-school single-season record?- @clivedaddy (via Twitter)CHICAGO -- That's a fantastic question, Mr. Daddy! We've gone into our six-year archive of RLU history and discovered that the two seasons with th...
S7 December 6, 2010 Valparaiso Crusaders at Loyola (Ill.) RamblersDecember 4, 2010 4:00 pmJoseph Gentile CenterBBState Stats/Recap Think of Chicago. Cold city. Dark. Dark in the winter. But not cold and dark enough for a dude in the LU Wolf suit not to walk around slapping high fives with fans arriving for an early ...
S7 December 6, 2010 Hi Kyle, I have been reading TMM religiously since I discovered in in 2007 (the ESPN years) and this is the best Season yet. I had a question about your use of the royal we. I was also a big fan of Deadspin in the old Carl Monday/YWML days, and remember how Will Leitch used it all the time when refe...
S7 December 2, 2010 I received Bally #20 after creating the awesome superhero, but I regret to inform you that his whereabouts as of now are unknown. After he came into my life, it was clear that my girlfriend’s two cats didn’t really care for #20’s constant boinging. A couple months later, #20 lost his voice and I ...
S7 November 26, 2010 Green Bay Phoenix vs. San Diego State AztecsNovember 20, 2010 5:30 pmOxford, OHBBState Stats/RecapIUPUI Jaguars at Miami (Oh.) RedhawksNovember 20, 2010 8:00 pmMillett HallBBState Stats/RecapSan Diego State Aztecs at Miami (Oh.) RedhawksNovember 22, 2010 7:00 pmMillett HallBBState Stats/Recap Mil...
S6 April 4, 2010 : INDIANAPOLIS -- At this point, the random logic of the heart is far ahead of the reasoning of raw numbers. Of course a little private school with non-scholarship football can beat a mammoth sports machine that spends almost as much on men's basketball ($9 million) as it does on all sports ($11 m...
S6 March 27, 2010 HOUSTON -- Bally and I won't be there in Salt Lake City today. We're still in Texas, in the expansive and quiet Reliant Stadium media room. There are so many moving logistical chutes and ladders with something like this, and there simply wasn't enough time to change course. I can't tell you how mu...
S6 March 26, 2010 Last night, Butler overcame a $5 million gap in men's basketball budgets and eliminated Syracuse. Seriously, why spend all that extra money if it's not going to help you win? Tonight here in Houston, Saint Mary's will go up against another BCS school, attempting to keep its beautiful game going for ...
S6 March 25, 2010 What's a mid-major? What isn't? Have you had enough of this crap? Yeah, we have too, since Season 3 or so. It's an impossible discussion to have, especially when one-third of the people in the debate think it's a snapshot measure of basketball quality, another third insist it's about intangibles l...
S6 March 23, 2010 The passage of time is what usually grants college basketball its mystique and aura; witness memory fades and history takes over. Players become larger than life, coaches change into infallible titans of the mind, and single contests transcend the game itself. The words, and the numbers, never fit...
S6 March 22, 2010 In a lot of ways, Northern Iowa feels like the Missouri Valley's far outpost, all the way up there at the tip of the conference. There's no sizable metropolitan area or skyline, like the western points of Omaha and Wichita, and Cedar Falls doesn't jump up on you on the highway -- you have to choose ...
S6 March 21, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- What strange psychology is this? The nation at large usually loves a Goliath. America seeks out the commanding and the dominant, places them in high matrices of "best ever" and "all time," all the while ignoring the struggles of the anonymous and faceless David Does below. Unti...
S6 March 20, 2010 "Cinderella" is such a dumb metaphor for all of this. For one thing, this isn't women's basketball; where I come from, calling a dude a lady will get you into a knife fight. Also, none of our teams get to ride a magical McDonald's All American to the Dance who turns into a pumpkin at midnight. I thi...
S6 March 20, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In the big picture, the really big picture, it doesn't mean much at all. It's a basketball show. This is entertainment for rich people, a diversion for any remaining members of the American middle class with disposable time. The performers are judged on whether their effort ple...
S6 March 19, 2010 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- I have a bobblehead doll of Bryce Drew releasing The Shot that beat Ole Miss in 1998, and a picture on my wall of Northwestern State's Jermaine Wallace uncorking the three-pointer that eliminated Iowa in 2006. I'll admit that I have to think for a minute to remember the names o...
S6 March 18, 2010 We do this every year around this time, and here again are the differences in athletic and basketball budgets between the teams in today's mid-versus-notso games. Our Red Line that separates those above and us here below is based on average athletic budgets, and teams in the Upper 8 beat the Other 2...
S6 March 8, 2010 Bullet Points All hail Northern Iowa, repeat winners of the Missouri Valley Conference's Arch Madness. The top-seeded Panthers put on a strong second-half burst to defeat No. 2 Wichita State, 67-52. Four of Sunday's semifinals set up Monday championship games. The Colonial title comes down to a m...
S6 March 7, 2010 Bullet Points A mighty congratulations to the first three conference tourney winners. Winthrop is the Big South representative for the ninth time in 12 seasons. East Tennessee State repeated in the Atlantic Sun, out of a No. 5 seed. And dangerous Murray State won the championship of the Ohio Valley...
S6 March 6, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Big Games Ivy League: Cornell 95, at Brown 76 CORN - 26-4 (12-1) [RPI: 46, State: 50] BRWN - 11-19 (5-8) [RPI: 250, State: 281] Star of the Game: Jon Jaques 20 Pts (7-9 FG), 7 Reb Men's Hoops Claims Thir...
S6 March 3, 2010 NOTE: The Hoops National will only cover regular-season games for the remainder of the week. Games of Note at Gonzaga 78, Cal State Bakersfield 59 GONZ - 25-5 (12-2) [RPI: 30, State: 33] CSB - 7-22 (0-0) [RPI: 321, State: 295] Star of the Game: Matt Bouldin 15 Pts (5-11 FG, 3-3 FT), 6 Reb No. 1...
S6 February 28, 2010 Big Games Colonial: at Old Dominion 73, Virginia Commonwealth 70 ODU - 23-8 (15-3) [RPI: 42, State: 42] VCU - 20-8 (11-7) [RPI: 62, State: 49] Star of the Game: Frank Hassell 17 Pts (8-9 FG, 1-3 FT), 6 Reb REGULAR SEASON CAA CHAMPS: ODU Ends Perfect Home Season With Win Over VCU - Gerald Lee scor...
S6 February 24, 2010 Big Games Missouri Valley: at Evansville 55, Northern Iowa 54 EVAN - 8-20 (2-15) [RPI: 275, State: 289] UNI - 24-4 (14-3) [RPI: 16, State: 15] Star of the Game: James Haarsma 12 Pts (4-4 FG, 4-5 FT), 8 Reb Total Team Effort Gives UE Win Over #22 UNI - A "total team effort" in the words of Head ...
S6 February 20, 2010 Big Games BracketBusters: at Northern Iowa 71, Old Dominion 62 UNI - 24-3 (14-2) [RPI: 21, State: 12] ODU - 21-8 (13-3) [RPI: 41, State: 48] Star of the Game: Ali Farokhmanesh 23 Pts (6-10 FG, 6-6 FT) Farokhmanesh's 23-Point Second Half Pushes #24 UNI Past Old Dominion, 71-62 - CEDAR FALLS, I...
S6 February 17, 2010 Big Games Missouri Valley: at Northern Iowa 70, Creighton 52 UNI - 23-3 (14-2) [RPI: 25, State: 14] CREI - 13-14 (8-8) [RPI: 132, State: 142] Star of the Game: Johnny Moran 17 Pts (6-10 FG, 2-2 FT) #24 UNI Clinches 1st-Ever MVC Regular Season Outright Championship With 70-52 Win Over Creighton ...
S6 February 14, 2010 Big Games Missouri Valley: at Bradley 68, Northern Iowa 59 BRAD - 13-12 (8-7) [RPI: 125, State: 147] UNI - 22-3 (13-2) [RPI: 15, State: 16] Star of the Game: Chris Roberts 13 Pts (6-8 FG, 1-1 FT), 2 Stl Bradley Knocks Off #18/19 UNI - Bradley junior guard Andrew Warren (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebe...
S6 February 11, 2010 The State of College Basketball is a ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the Final Four ...
S6 February 10, 2010 Colonial: at George Mason 82, Virginia Commonwealth 77 (OT) GMU - 16-9 (11-3) [RPI: 132, State: 104] VCU - 17-6 (9-5) [RPI: 49, State: 41] Star of the Game: Michael Morrison 18 Pts (8-10 FG, 2-3 FT), 10 Reb Men's Basketball Rallies Late, Downs VCU in Overtime - Cam Long hit a pair of free throws ...
S6 February 9, 2010 Big Games Western Athletic: at New Mexico State 70, Louisiana Tech 68 NMSU - 15-8 (8-2) [RPI: 78, State: 94] LTU - 19-5 (7-3) [RPI: 71, State: 67] Star of the Game: Troy Gillenwater 19 Pts (7-12 FG, 4-4 FT), 8 Reb, 2 Stl Laroche Hits Game Winner over LA Tech, 70-68 - New Mexico State sophomore ...
S6 February 8, 2010 Big Games Atlantic 14: at Richmond 71, Temple 54 RICH - 18-6 (7-2) [RPI: 31, State: 41] TU - 19-5 (7-2) [RPI: 17, State: 35] Star of the Game: Kevin Anderson 29 Pts (11-17 FG, 5-5 FT) Richmond Topples Temple, 71-54 (via Richmond) Atlantic 14: at Dayton 90, Xavier 65 UD - 16-6 (5-3) [RPI: 33, S...
S6 February 4, 2010 The State of College Basketball is a ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the Final Four ...
S6 February 3, 2010 I'll never forget Christmas 1987. The anticipation made my little underdeveloped heart jackrabbit in its bony cage. I recall bounding down the old toasty staircase, pushing my little sister aside, my eyes wide as canned hams. And there, 'neath the tinsel-topped tree, was the box I'd longed for so ...
S6 February 1, 2010 TMM Shortattentionspantheater! Siena (19-4, 12-0) has won 13 in a row now, and Butler (18-4, 11-0 Horizon) has a 10-game streak! And they could play each other in the Busters, yeah! (Don't forget, matchups are announced tonight!) Northern Iowa (19-2, 10-1 MVC) remains two games clear in the Valle...
S6 January 25, 2010 We've spent most of the last week in the Missouri Valley Conference, an annual trip of ours since The Mid-Majority's second season. People often ask me, "Why do you always say that the Valley is the best mid-major conference in the country?" It's a harder sell nowadays, as the MVC will, most likel...
S5 March 20, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS -- There's no day more exciting and more highly anticipated than First Round Thursday, and there's no 12 hours quite as difficult to get through. As soon as the games begin, the NCAA Tournament teaches a hard lesson about the perfection that's necessary to compete against enemies with mo...
S5 March 19, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS -- Not to get all Jean Shepherd on you, but when I started as an undergrad at the University of Oregon there were no coffee shops near campus. Then one opened up on the corner near the bookstore, and it had couches and soft music and 50 different ways to drink coffee. It was the hottest ...
S5 March 16, 2009 Aside from reality show winners and one-hit wonders, nothing is forgotten quite as quickly as Championship Fortnight when the NCAA Tournament brackets are released. Some of the teams we've been following all season are destined for great and lasting glory, which will be fulfilled and certified once ...
S5 March 16, 2009 Bullet Points Stephen F. Austin punched Hoops Nation's final NCAA Tournament ticket Sunday afternoon, its first appearance ever. Championship Fortnight is over, and the national postseason is just ahead. Completed brackets and scores for all 23 TMM leagues are included below. Southland Texas...
S5 March 15, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a decrepit old ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of th...
S5 March 13, 2009 CLEVELAND -- Hundreds of seasons lie in ruins now, but there's never time to properly mourn them. Instead, mid-March is for celebrating mid-major championships and great victories, for getting golden tickets to the other side of the great gate of Selection Sunday. It's a time for Robert Morris' rede...
S5 March 12, 2009 KATY, Tex. -- Quick programming note: we've run into some technical difficulties here in Texas, so that marathon chat we promised has to be postponed. Next week seems a better fit anyway, since there will be an actual 65-team bracket to talk about. We'll do a regular chat tomorrow from Cleveland at ...
S5 March 10, 2009 Bally loves the excitement of March basketball as much as anyone, and he gets to travel all around the country seeing lots of games and meeting new friends! Here he is on Monday night with the South Alabama Jaguar mascot right after the team upset Arkansas-Little Rock in the Sun Belt semifinals as ...
S5 March 9, 2009 Bullet Points Northern Iowa has qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the Missouri Valley championship. Davidson was eliminated in the Southern Conference semifinals by the College of Charleston. After semifinal rounds yesterday, finals are set in seven leagues: the CAA (George Mason...
S5 March 8, 2009 Bullet Points Radford (Big South), East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun) and Morehead State (Ohio Valley) have qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Cleveland State, the Horizon No. 3, eliminated No. 2 Green Bay in that conference's semis, and Illinois State upended Creighton in the Missouri Valley...
S5 March 7, 2009 Bullet Points Cornell became the first school to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. For the second straight year, the Big Red claimed the Ivy League title, beating Penn 83-59. The upsets began in earnest on Friday. Ohio Valley No. 4 Morehead State took out No. 1 Tennessee-Martin. CAA No....
S5 March 6, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a rapidly-aging ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of t...
S5 March 6, 2009 Bullet Points Four-time Atlantic Sun champion Belmont barely escaped Mercer, and Big South top seed Radford fought off a strong challenge from No. 4 UNC Asheville in that league's semifinals. The Big South final on Saturday is set: VMI at Radford. The three top seeds in the Northeast Confer...
S5 March 4, 2009 NASHVILLE -- They're the greatest two weeks in Hoops Nation, these. Conference teams are racked up in brackets according to regular-season performance, we determine a championship for each league on the court, and the ultimate winner gets to go all the way to March Madness, the kind on CBS. League t...
S5 March 3, 2009 Bullet Points Here we go again: it's Championship Fortnight. Three leagues kick off with campus-site first rounds: the Horizon League, Ohio Valley, and Big South. There are 12 games on tap this evening. On Tap Tonight Big South Radford will begin its quest for its first championship since 19...
S5 March 2, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- Every day we get just a little more physically vulnerable, every day another step closer to the inevitable finish line of life. The positive trade-off is that whether we've cheated the reaper by strengthening our bodies or not, our minds are always increasing in power. Every day, we ...
S5 February 27, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a relatively new ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of ...
S5 February 25, 2009 HARRISONBURG, Va. -- Still trying to figure out what all this means. So you're saying that if I had just auctioned off a crate full of Ballys last month, we wouldn't have had to do that whole bailout thing? But seriously, it's amazing to see that we've touched off the hottest plushie trend since Pea...
S5 February 24, 2009 In honor of Fat Tuesday, here's Bally with a king cake on a recent Louisiana trip to Northwestern State. The plastic baby is usually hidden in the cake somewhere, and whomever gets the piece containing it is the king and has to buy the cake for the next party as proof of his (or her) ultimate Mardi...
S5 February 24, 2009 Northern Iowa at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) Redbird Arena - Normal, IL 8:05 PM EST And so we approach the end of one of the most strange, random, Bizarro MVC regular seasons in memory. Hopefully next year at this time, we'll be discussing two, three and four bid possibilities -- or rather, t...
S5 February 23, 2009 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- BracketBusters VII is safely in the history books now. It was more fulfilling than a Dave & Buster's appetizer (six chips do not qualify as "nachos"), and fell somewhere between Buster the crash-test dummy and Buster Bluth on the entertainment scale. Longtime readers will r...
S5 February 21, 2009 So here we are again, it's late February and it's time for Mid-Major Christmas... BracketBusters VII, brought to you locally by Flying J Travel Plazas and Ballito's Powdered Horchata. Here's a handy clip-n'-save list of all Saturday's televised games, with links to handy print-n'-collect Basketball ...
S5 February 20, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a somewhat new ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of th...
S5 February 17, 2009 Evansville at Creighton (Missouri Valley) Qwest Center - Omaha, NE 8:05 PM EST The Bizarro Valley race is, and I think we can all agree on this, mercifully about to end. There are only three regular-season games to go, and then we can get to the important business of sticking all these teams into ...
S5 February 17, 2009 SAN JOSE -- Hundreds of votes have been counted, and Lester Hudson now has a nickname. (Figures it would be the one with the cool poem attached to it.) In this space, all future references to Tennessee-Martin's future NBA star will include "Done Ruthless," which is a fantastic anagram of his name, o...
S5 February 12, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a kinda-new ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the F...
S5 February 12, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- Well, here we are. Today is Mock Selection III, and I still have no idea what I did to deserve an invitation -- or why I've been listed as representing Basketball State all along. It's a real thrill, even though we've had to detour from our regularly scheduled travel and will be goin...
S5 February 10, 2009 NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Tomorrow I'll drive the four hours back up to Little Rock, jump on a jetliner and return to the hub-and-spoke center of Hoops Nation, the city of Indianapolis. On Thursday at 1:30 p.m., I'll walk into the Hyatt Regency with 19 other journalists and engage in the third annual NC...
S5 February 6, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a gracefully-aging ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three o...
S5 February 4, 2009 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- A bit late, but I just wanted to thank everybody who showed up for our first Mid-Majority chat last Friday. There were over 200 questions, just as many as my final chat over the MLK holiday at the other place. It blows my mind that so much of the regular audience found its way ove...
S5 February 3, 2009 Northern Iowa at Bradley (Missouri Valley) Carver Arena - Peoria, IL 8:05 PM EST The Great Unknown is a scary thing, isn't it? We pattern-seeking creatures require some sort of assurance that future events will mirror the results we've already seen. Staring into the anti-void of endless possibilit...
S5 February 3, 2009 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- BracketBusters pairings are out, and we're temporarily reunited with our own bed and desktop computer, so it's a good time for a game reset. Who am I? Why am I here? Seventy-five percent of what The Mid-Majority is about during the regular season is analysis. There are check-ins o...
S5 February 3, 2009 As is annual tradition here at TMM, we've put together a full rundown of all 51 announced BracketBusters matchups, and this will likely be the most clicked-on page of the season once again. It's incredibly difficult to find a complete list of all the non-TV games, which are quietly announced by the ...
S5 February 2, 2009 CHICAGO -- So much of modern life is blocking, filtering, limiting. There is so much information coming at us every day that we must become fighters of information, lest it overwhelm and submerge us completely. We battle back with fast-forward buttons, delete keys, spam-guards, RSS newsreaders, trus...
S5 January 30, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a sorta-newish ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of th...
S5 January 29, 2009 CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Being an East Coaster with a family tree that only extends thin branches into the midwest, freezing fog is definitely a new experience. Yesterday morning, driving the long straight Interstates of Iowa headlong into the sun, the sky was thick and golden, just like heaven would pro...
S5 January 28, 2009 Silver Jews - "People" CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Since 2004, I've gone through a lot of different bags, pens, cell phones, cameras, iPods and Moleskines. The only item that I currently carry around the country that came with me on trips four years ago is a taped-together copy of "Actual Air" by poet and...
S5 January 26, 2009 OMAHA -- You know what I don't understand? Hubris. How anybody could believe that they're the center of the universe, or better than everybody else, or the owner of unassailable opinion, has always been beyond my comprehension. Walking the world demands humility, and is full of reminders why our liv...
S5 January 22, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a sorta newish ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of th...
S5 January 22, 2009 EMMITSBURG, Md. -- They call them the blues because of blue notes, those tones hidden in between the in-between places there on the pristine straight streets of the music scale. Each one of us has had the blues at one time or another, stuck in the gutter, the ditch, the rut, been down soooo loonnngg...
S5 January 21, 2009 Bradley at Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) McLeod Center - Cedar Falls, IA 8:05 PM EST A lot of people don't like when things don't go according to prognostication -- folks can get downright prickly in some instances. Here's some stuff that has defied simple prediction: gas prices, the career arc ...
S5 January 15, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- It is so cold, so unstoppably frigid, that the view outside the window is completely frozen in place like a badly composed painting: the skyline, the cars on the roads, the birds in the sky, the smokestack steam. All perfectly still. Also suspended in invisible amber is our weekly Ba...
S5 January 12, 2009 BOONE, N.C. -- I'm going to get into my grandpa rocking chair and tell you what's wrong with pop music. I'm sorry that you had to get this from a basketball writer, but that's just the way it worked out. Most music specifically released for public consumption is far too dependent on context and repu...
S5 January 7, 2009 ATLANTA -- One of the upsides to spending so much time in basketball arenas is that my connection to popular music remains simple, true and direct. In this atmosphere, with athletic competition on the floor and fans demanding two hours' worth of entertainment, organized payola can't find purchase. I...
S5 December 29, 2008 LOGAN, Utah -- Whenever I travel to this part of the country, the Tetris-stack of states that makes up the intermountain west, I feel a great sense of unease. This goes back to when I lived in western Oregon for seven years, and would occasionally come further inland, but my advancing age allows me ...
S5 December 1, 2008 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- It's the first of December. Do you know where your college basketball team is? (Arkansas State, by the way, is here in town.) More importantly, do you know what it is? So much of this right now, at this point of the season, is involved in figuring our what is real and what is tr...
S5 November 26, 2008 INDIANAPOLIS -- Lots of housekeeping today. For starters, Feast Week will only be a three-course meal here on The Mid-Majority. There will be no posts on Turkey Day or Black Friday, but we'll be camped out at the Chicago Challenge watching eight games in two days so the Twitter feed will be very act...
S4 March 17, 2008 Bullet Points In the final final in mid-majordom, Texas-Arlington emerged as surprise Southland champs. All hail! We had 78 entries into our "guess-the-play-in-matchup" contest on Saturday, and not a single correct answer. The correct pairing, as we all know now, is Coppin State (MEAC) against Moun...
S4 March 9, 2008 Bullet Points Three autobids were given out yesterday. All hail mighty Winthrop of the Big South, Austin Peay of the Ohio Valley Conference, and the Atlantic Sun's Belmont. All are off to the Big Dance! One final today -- the championship of the Missouri Valley Conference. Drake and Illinois State...
S4 March 8, 2008 Bullet Points Today, three autobids to the NCAA Tournament will be awarded! The Big South, Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun will crown champions. The No. 6 was a lucky number yesterday -- surprising Tennessee State moved to the finals of the OVC, Northern Iowa upset No. 3 Southern Illinois in the MVC, ...
S4 March 7, 2008 Bullet Points There was an upset in the Atlantic Sun quarters, as No. 6 Gardner-Webb routed No. 3 Stetson. The Big South final is set: UNC Asheville and Winthrop, the league's top two seeds. The game will be played Saturday. In the MVC first round, No. 8 Indiana State and No. 7 Missouri State adva...
S4 February 25, 2008 FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Sometimes I just have to pinch myself (even though dreams can be complicated enough that I wouldn't wake up if I did). Three years ago, I was just another computer programmer with a college basketball blog, and the next thing I know I'm talking over BracketBusters highlights wit...
S4 February 18, 2008 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Plenty of folks have the day off for the holiday today, but we have a patriotic duty to provide you with a Supersized Boubacar that takes into account all the action from the weekend that was. We'll get to that in a second, but I wanted to share with you my most recent fantastic...
S4 February 14, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- If you're an eagle-eyed reader, or just someone who can see things that are orange against a tan background, you have likely noticed the new Welmer-Whelliston Widget™ on the right side of the page. I can't believe the response to this since I announced it a couple weeks ago...
S4 February 12, 2008 The State of College Basketball is a brand-new ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 341 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the F...
S4 February 11, 2008 HAMDEN, Conn. -- We have been, and we stand, accused. Accused! Of having too much fun around here, of shifting the focus off basketball and running too many contests, pictures of pretty girls, cartoons and snapshots of pet basketballs. So we're going to put on our super-serious faces, talk in our su...
S4 February 6, 2008 As is tradition here at TMM, we've put together a full rundown of all 50 announced BracketBusters matchups. Mostly because we know that it's incredibly difficult to find a complete list of all the non-TV games, which are quietly announced by the schools after ESPN unleashes the televised matchups. T...
S4 February 6, 2008 KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- At 7:48 p.m. Central Standard Time on Tuesday night, I became infected with The Knowledge. After nearly 48 hours of conscientious objection, of no TV or radio or websites other than Google Maps, of looking the other way when passing by USA Today newsboxes, I now know who won t...
S4 February 5, 2008   Drake at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) Redbird Arena - Normal, IL 8:05 PM EST Yes, everybody knows about the 19-game winning streak. But here begins the true grind for Drake, three games which will test their mettle like no stretch has. OK, fine, whatever, so we've been saying things li...
S4 January 31, 2008 DENTON, Tex. -- While making the long drive up I-45, which is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about, I was pondering the names we give things. A lot of them don't quite fit, and bleed into general use because once people have agreed on a title for something, it's tough to get everybod...
S4 January 29, 2008 HOUSTON -- It's only of those slow post-Monday Tuesdays here in Hoops Nation, a perfect opportunity to get some site housekeeping done. We have one contest in search of a winner, for those of you with long memories... the Badlands Conference logo contest from earlier this month. We'll anoint the cha...
S4 January 28, 2008 HOUSTON -- I was thinking over the weekend, while I wasn't at any games, about all the games I go to. A total of 57 games so far this year, headed for yet another 100-game season. Having done 100 twice now, it's tough to find triple-digit motivation anymore. Need to turn it into some kind of contest...
S4 January 8, 2008   Northern Iowa at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) Redbird Arena - Normal, IL 8:00 PM EST Tuesday night is the night that we usually go to your mother’s place, and it's also Valley night. In a topsy-turvy MVC where everything formerly down (Illinois State, Indiana State and Drak...
S4 December 4, 2007 The State of College Basketball is a brand-new ratings system that uses a lot of good basketball sense, per-game team performance ratings and degradation of older results to rank the teams from No. 1 to 341 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the F...
S4 November 27, 2007 I know, I know, I promised to do this last week. I didn't. I'm doing it now. Welcome to the first edition of The State Of The Other 22, a weekly look at the best and hottest mids in convenient top-ten form. There is no Week 1. The State of College Basketball is a brand-new ratings system that uses ...
S4 November 19, 2007 Tennessee Morning cracks open over Middle Tennessee like a giant farm-fresh egg. It bastes the mini-mall in gooey yellow sunshine, washing over the giant fluorescent Shoe Carnival sign. The letters blink a few times, then they're drowned, extinguished for another day. The sun soaks the Bread Rest...
S3 March 28, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I., Mar. 28 -- All animate organisms, from the globbiest amoeba to the most intricate human machine, share one thing in common: life. Life is what keeps you going, it's the light before the beginning of the tunnel. The meaning of life is simply this: it means so much that nobody can sur...
S3 March 3, 2007 Bullet Points In the first real shocker of Championship Fortnight, Appalachian State was upset by College of Charleston in the SoCon semifinals. Four leagues crown champions today on the ESPN family of networks. The Big South, Ohio Valley, SoCon and Atlantic Sun seasons will conclude with autobids b...
S3 March 2, 2007 Bullet Points No. 6 seed Virginia Military Institute has advanced to the Big South final after defeating the tourney's Nos. 2 and 3 seeds. Furman, the No. 5 seed in the SoCon, advanced to the semifinals by defeating No. 4#North Carolina-Greensboro. The Atlantic Sun quarterfinals played according to ...
S3 February 26, 2007 BOZEMAN, Mont. -- That's right, waah-waah. This is the final Daily Paragraph, the last K-Dub's Krazy Fact of the Day of the season. That's because (not-so-Top Five) Tuesday, February 27 is the honorary first day of March. It's tourney time! The Horizon League, Ohio Valley and Big South kick off thei...
S3 February 22, 2007 CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Before we get too wrapped up in Championship Week this and NCAA Tournament that, in seeding whichever and Billy Packer whatever, I'd like to take time out to offer a small tribute to some special people. This is a tribute to the 508 fans who attended last night's Division I ga...
S3 February 16, 2007 INDIANAPOLIS -- It's the eve of mid-majordom's national holiday, and for this fifth edition of the event we're getting the whole family involved. Yo dad, those repairs on the car can wait. There are 14 great televised mid-major matchups to watch! It's the perfect time to bring Junior onto the couc...
S3 February 14, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- I've been talking to folks around the country these past few days, and have had a really hard time convincing them that the Northeast is where it's at. It's not all Friends and the Hamptons and day trips to Times Square... you pay for all that glamour with high gas prices, frost h...
S3 February 9, 2007 DALLAS -- Big, big weekend in Hoops Nation. Huge. Make sure to check out these six big showdown/throwdown/hoedowns at the top of league tables this weekend. As a bonus, we're offering some sample pregame warmup music for your iPod, so you can truly get pumped up for these hot matchups. Holy Cross (...
S3 February 8, 2007 ARLINGTON, Tex. -- It's true what they say, everything's bigger in Texas. The hats, the Cadillacs, the stars at night, people's butts, the food. I went into a convenience store this morning and saw an 84-ounce fountain soda for sale, I couldn't even get my hand around it much less fit it in a cuphol...
S3 February 6, 2007 LOS ANGELES -- I'm not going to get all weird on you and tell you that covering basketball is tantamount to some kind of athletic event, but boy-oh-boy can it take a physical toll. Last night, I ventured out to Gersten Pavilion (a/k/a "Hank's House") to take some notes on theUnnamed Program From t...
S3 February 5, 2007 LOS ANGELES -- There are three important national holidays on the official calendar of Hoops Nation™. First and foremost in importance, of course, is Selection Sunday in March -- the day that the entire college basketball year leads up to. A second is coming up in a couple weeks: that glorious...
S3 February 2, 2007 PHOENIX - O, layover... Haven of annoying cell-phone talk, home of heavily made-up airline employees yet unhelpful gate agents (that'll be seventy-five bucks to fly standby, please), opportunity to gorge oneself on 3,000-calorie Cinnabons, chance to catch up with increasingly irrelevant color period...
S3 January 31, 2007 Here, then, are all the pairings for BracketBusters 2007. You can click on a matchup to learn more about the two teams and how they, well, match up. Albany at Boise State (TV) Appalachian State at Wichita State (TV) http://bbstate.com/games/66467>Austin Peay at Akron http://bbstate.com/games/664...
S3 January 30, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Before we begin our supersized DP, I just want to share with you something I wrote yesterday. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition, 2004, published by Houghton Mifflin) defines the word "champion" as "One that wins first place or first prize in...
S3 January 25, 2007 BOONE, N.C. -- As of press time, 63 of the available 100 entries in Bally's BracketBusters Racket, the only contest in the world that lets you choose all 51 BB matchups, have been snapped up (the limit is in place 'cause I'll be hand-validating the entries, but call it a "soft cap"). Remember: the d...
S3 January 19, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- No mailbag this week, because quite frankly most of the letters this week were way too personal. Look, I'm a basketball writer, when did my mortgage, my stock portfolio and my "size" suddenly become fair game? Oops, wrong mail folder. Anyway... Every year around this time, we sta...
S3 January 15, 2007 LORMAN, Miss. -- BracketBusters season starts in just under two weeks, and that's why we here at the Mid-Majority have put together this little map, so you can start scouting out the home teams (orange) and away teams (grey) and dream about matchups leading into the pairing announcement on Jan. 28. ...
S3 January 11, 2007 NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Let's begin today with dispatches from television's hottest mid-season replacement, "How Weird Was My Valley." Kyle, are the Sycamores really this good? This was a team that I thought would be with Illinois State at the bottom of The Valley, but they have a great RPI, and some ...
S3 January 5, 2007 I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THIS IS, Ala. -- Travelling the highways and byways (mostly byways) of SWAC country is always a strange adventure. One of the most odd things about Alabama is that everywhere you look, there are references to the three American Idol stars the state has produced. This morn...
S3 January 2, 2007 MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Let's take a quick look at happenings in Mid-Majorville on the last day of 2006 and first day of 2007. at Southern Illinois 73, Wichita State 68 (MVC) (Jan. 1) -- If you haven't noticed, the Shockers have had a real frustrating run of bad luck and sub-Shocker play recently. It star...
S3 December 28, 2006 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- If you're a native New Yorker, or just someone who lives in a town with a Tribune-owned television station, you probably know about the Yule Log. It's that close-up shot of a fireplace that goes on for a commercial-free two hours and plays Christmas music. I've loved The Log for y...
S3 December 17, 2006 MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- After the lull of Finals Week, a literal explosion of college basketball action over the weekend! Here are a few results of interest and note from around Hoops Nation. Butler 68, Purdue 65 (Sat.) -- The Bulldogs keep doing what they do. They kept hold of the ball (only 13 tur...
S3 November 28, 2006 VALPARAISO, Ind. -- For every upset of a major program by a mid-major (and there have been 44 so far this season, as compared to 36 at this time a year ago), there's a tantalizing near-miss. Like last night at the venerable old Athletics and Recreation Center, where the Brown and Gold of Valpo nearl...
S2 April 9, 2006 INDIANAPOLIS, Apr. 2 -- There are huge signs all over town -- on airport walls, strung over streetlights, over the main gate to the RCA Dome. They all read, "The Road Ends Here." There's also a giant logo on the side of the 45,000-seat venue, a green and gold star with zag-zigging trailers that has...
S2 March 10, 2006 One of the great clichés of Championship Week is that it's difficult to beat a team three times. And it's true that familiarity breeds a lot of game tape, but in today's only game featuring a black bid binder and net-cutting, it should be one of the easier trifectas to accomplish. Buckn...
S2 March 5, 2006 What a fine mess the MVC tourney has become. Gone are the top seeds, and all the talking heads are having told-you-so field days with all the El Foldos going on. The Missouri Valley Conference is a bubble-busting bust, they say. Teams like Northern Iowa, despite their 23 wins, will have to sweat it ...
S2 February 22, 2006 Short odds that there would be a game like this this late in the Patriot League season; you'd be right if you guessed that 12-0 Bucknell would be one of the participants, but traditional power Holy Cross' losses (three) means that the 'Saders could make this particular party. Nobody expected Lehigh ...
S2 February 18, 2006 Sure, there's that Bucknell-Northern Iowa tilt, but this is the only game in BracketBusterLand that matches up the current leaders from two of America's premier mid-major conferences. In the midst of the Four-Bid Valley discussion (or 5BV or 6BV, if you swing that way), Wichita State (21-6, 12-4 MVC...
S2 February 7, 2006 Doesn't it seem like every time you turn around, there's a life-or-death game in the MVC? With Wichita State's 2OT win over Southern Illinois on Saturday, the four-headed monster atop the Valley standings is now three: UNI, Wichita and Creighton are all 10-3 with five league games to go, with SIU a ...
S2 February 1, 2006 Just as Northern Iowa ascended into the Top 25's popularity contest, Valley reality kicked in: last night, Creighton's home floor swallowed the Panthers up for the 10th straight time. That's the macro view; CU's won eight of their last nine (including the matchup with UNI in Iowa) since they lost Na...
S2 January 14, 2006 Hot thunder in the Valley this afternoon. Here are two of the teams that have legitimate chances to capture two of the MoVal's presumed three bids, chances that have been enhanced by key injuries at Northern Iowa and Creighton.Blake Ahern (MVC-leading 18.8 ppg) is the floor leader of a Missouri Stat...
S2 January 8, 2006 A lot of ink's been spilled about the Valley in the past month or so: Indiana State's 8-0 start, Northern Iowa and Mo-State and Creighton and three four five bids and blabbity-blabbity. But what about the mid-pack squads that will provide the league its RPI strength and crouch in the shadows come Ar...
S2 December 20, 2005 Tonight we have a matchup of two good teams (both went NIT last year) with lots of question marks heading into conference play. First of all, there's the 8-2 start of Wichita State, which has been largely overshadowed by Missouri Valley neighbors Indiana State (7-0) and preseason drool-towel Norther...
S2 November 30, 2005 With all the talk about Northern Iowa and Old Dominion and Nevada, it might end up being the Hilltoppers who emerge from the deep to torpedo your March bracket. Moving with the speed and power of a high-tech nuclear submarine, WKU travelled to UAB last night and dusted a high-tempo team that's won 2...
S2 November 29, 2005 If you need the Big Ten-ACC Challenge to get excited about November hoops, you're at the wrong site. If you like to see upper-class mid-majors getting shots at taking down nearby power conference schools, then you have the kind of attention span we like around here.Near-consensus preseason MVC pick ...
S2 November 28, 2005 Regulate... the Nate Funk era is now in full effect. In a torrid double-overtime thriller against a Dayton team that just wouldn't go away, number 10 in white kept scoring, kept hitting free throws and kept coming back for more - he only sat for five minutes of a double-OT game. Too bad we have to w...
S2 November 23, 2005 If last night's G!O!T!N! pounding of George Mason by Creighton was a miniature MVC-CAA Challenge, tonight the Valley turns its attention to throwing down with the MAC. Northern Iowa, led by Wooden award candidate Ben Jacobson, is a near-unanimous pick to come out ahead in a two- (or three-) bid tuss...
S1 March 17, 2005 Game 094: at St. Joseph's 53, Hofstra 44 Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse - Philadelphia, PA An invitation to the National Invitation Tournament is like... it's like kissing your sister. Naw, that's no good. Already been used. How's this: having to play in the NIT is like eatin...
S1 March 16, 2005 Oakland Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: North Carolina Record: 13-18 (9-9 Mid-Continent) Big Nonconference Wins: December 30 vs. Bowling Green (77-53); it was their only non-league win over a D1 opponent. Key Players: Pierre Dukes (see below) is the folk hero, but senior forwards Rawle Marshall and Co...
S1 March 13, 2005 Bullet Points Six more teams are in: Vermont (America East), Ohio (MAC), UTEP (WAC), Delaware State (MEAC), George Washington (A-10), and Utah State (Big West). Championship Week concludes today with a pair of games: the SWAC and Southland finals. It's Selection Sunday, the holiest day of the colle...
S1 March 13, 2005 T1. Southern Illinois, Missouri Valley (23-10, 13-7 MWC, 18 RPI) Chicago 7 T1. Nevada, Western Athletic (24-6, 16-3 WAC, 33) Chicago 9 3. Pacific, Big West (26-3, 19-1 BWC, 22) Albuquerque 8 4. Miami (Oh.), Mid-American (19-10, 13-7 MAC, 43) 5. St. Mary's, Western Athletic (25-8, 12-4 WCC, 30) Chica...
S1 March 6, 2005 Bullet Points Four Dance tickets were punched: Winthrop, Eastern Kentucky, Central Florida and Chattanooga. Despite the two-digit numbers that the Selection Committee will hand them one week from today, all are champions. One-seeds fell like mighty trees. Arkansas-Little Rock, the E1 in the Sun Bel...
S1 March 1, 2005 Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa 67, Wichita State 66 (story) - It's painful watching them keep losing, because it heightens the twin possibilities that the Valley will only get a single bid and the Big East will get (shudder) eight. Six-three Panther guard Ben Jacobsen lit up the scoreboard with 24 p...
S1 March 1, 2005 Darren is a senior guard for the Saluki-men who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 205 pounds. SIU's team leader uses his quick hands to steal, his long arms and powerful hops to snare rebounds, and his soft touch to score points. And he scores a lot. His primary MMBOW credentials are as follows: a 8-of-10...
S1 February 24, 2005 Mid-American: Akron 55, Miami (Oh.) 49 (OT) (story) - Six-four RedHawk guard Chet Mason had the game of his life, with 23 points and 15 rebounds... but as the sportswriters like to say, it was not enough. Despite sending the game to overtime on a last-second three by William Hatcher, Miami (17-1, 11...
S1 February 23, 2005 Mid-Continent: Missouri-Kansas City 77, Oral Roberts 70 (story) - In front of a roaring partisan paid attendance of 7,132, UMKC (15-9, 11-2 MidCon) held off the visitors in what the Kansas City Star pegged as "the most important game in its 18-year Division I era." After a seesaw opening to the seco...
S1 February 20, 2005 Nevada 74, Vermont 64 (story) - You can either contain Taylor Coppenrath or not (18 points here), but the real key to beating Vermont (19-5, 14-1 AEast) is stopping sharpshooter and former MMBOW T.J. Sorrentine. T.J. had 24 total, but only nine of those were in the second half. Nevada's (20-5, 11-2 ...
S1 February 18, 2005 Atlantic Sun: Gardner-Webb 67, Belmont 58 (OT) (story) - G-Webb (15-9, 12-5 ASun) used a five-minute rally to storm back from a 12-point deficit late in the second. The homestanding Bruins controlled the flow for 35 minutes, and that included a 12-0 run midway through the second half to break the ga...
S1 February 17, 2005 Colonial: George Mason 74, Old Dominion 58 (story) - Shall I compare last night's performance by the Old Dominion Monarchs to a summer day? Hell, no. The CAA leaders shot just 33 percent from the floor, because their hosts did a lot of spear-shaking on the defensive end. By handing ODU their second ...
S1 February 16, 2005 Shootaround! Mid-American: Two games last night in the East division. In yesterday evening's G!O!T!N!, Buffalo (16-7, 9-6 MAC) kept Kent State in check on their home court, 77-66. Turner Battle had 22 points and helped power a 17-5 second-half run that brought Buffalo back from a nine-point halftim...
S1 February 6, 2005 Western Athletic: Nevada 76, Louisiana Tech 58 (story) - In the most decisive result of Really, Really Exciting Saturday, Nick Fazekas scored 27 points and Nevada (15-5, 9-2 WAC) dominated the previously surging LTU Bulldogs, who were led by former MMBOW Paul Millsap with his 20 and 8. Insodoing, th...
S1 February 3, 2005 Colonial: North Carolina-Wilmington 71, George Mason 67 (story) - The Seahawks won a rock-'em-sock-'em game of runs, and as the announcers like to say, the last run was theirs. On a night when UNCW retired Brett Blizzard's jersey, sophomore guard T.J. Carter pulled a "Blizz" and scored 12 points in ...
S1 February 1, 2005 Southern: Davidson 67, Chattanooga 53 (story) - Davidson built a fourteen-point lead going into halftime, and both teams treaded water for the second half. Despite outrebounding their hosts, the Mocs shot themselves in the foot by shooting just 30% from the floor. Davidson (14-7, 10-0 SoCon) tighten...
S1 January 27, 2005 Missouri Valley: Southwest Missouri State 92, Southern Illinois 77 (story) - The homestanding Bears took a 14-point lead into halftime, and stepped on the gas out of the break with an 11-4 run. Despite what the two teams' records would indicate, this was a classically-styled "romp" - a 57%-38% field...
S1 January 25, 2005 Missouri Valley: Wichita State 65, Northern Iowa 57 (story) - The Shockers went on an early game-breaker of a run, but UNI fought back to take the lead just after halftime. Big Paul Miller hit a shot to make it 31-30, and WSU never looked back. Wichita State (14-2, 7-1 MVC) takes a half-game lead ov...
S1 January 23, 2005 Missouri Valley: Wichita State 58, Southern Illinois 56 (story) - The Shockers had the boards (42-32) and the defense (held SIU to 32% shooting in the second half), but the Salukis had enough streaks and runs to keep it close. WSU's Illinois transfer forward (and possible "evil twin" of your humble ...
S1 January 21, 2005 West Coast: San Francisco 73, UMPFN 70 (story) - The proud Don tradition lies buried under decades of moldy mediocrity - behind Bill Russell, they rattled off 60 straight wins back in the Fifties. With a new imported coach (Jessie Evans, formerly of Louisiana-Lafayette), they're hoping to get dynast...
S1 January 19, 2005 Mid-American: Ball State 86, Bowling Green 62 (story) - BSU went into the break with 49 points and a 12-point lead, and magically doubled the margin despite shooting 30% in the second half. The Ball State Basketball Cardinals (8-5, 3-2 MAC) executed their first-half battle plan perfectly, driving an...
S1 December 21, 2004 This took longer than expected, but we finally have winners in the excitingly academic Finals Week competition! Shockingly, it did come down to timestamps - there were six clean A+ 100% sheets out of 32 completed entries, can you believe it? And nobody had fewer than 34 correct answers. I just want ...
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