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1. by Kyle Whelliston
S6 January 26, 2010 ......
2. by Kyle Whelliston
S6 January 7, 2010 ......
3. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 23, 2009 MADISON, Wisc. -- I've long felt that the word "heartbreak" doesn't do a proper job as a member of the English language. It implies shatter or malfunction, and sounds so dry. The true feeling is more of a burst -- so closely related to the challenge of capacity that joy brings, but with a method of ......
4. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 22, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS -- You work in an office. It's a big office with hundreds of people. You all have hard jobs: everyone toils at their stations every day, struggling to put in efforts that will be recognized. When you get a pat on the back and a "good job," it always seems so fleeting... nobody remembers......
5. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 21, 2009 It's the NCAA Tournament, and Bally's got a front row seat! Our little orange friend got so close to the first round action that the refs almost snatched him off the press row table and put him into the game! Not that he'd complain about that! Bally has never been to the Metrodome, but he's seen i......
6. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 21, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS -- Just so we're clear, we don't care about your brackets. We know you want to talk about who you "have," about how three of your eight website entries are totally and thoroughly busted, and how you'll never win that $84.50 in the office pool now. We don't want to hear about how you......
7. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
8. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
9. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 18, 2009 Let's get this out of the way: it's not the Opening Round, because that implies there's a "round." It's one game. And it's the Play-In Game, a/k/a the Notorious P.I.G., because it's for true mid-major players. And Bally... well, he's the P.I.G. P.O.P.P.A.! Bally loves going to the P.I.G. every ye......
10. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 18, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- The year 2006 wasn't really all that long ago. Sure, we're dealing with problems light years beyond those we faced back then, and anybody would trade in total world financial meltdown for another "bird flu" scare. But Nelly Furtado's "Loose" feels like it just came out yesterday, inn......
11. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 17, 2009 DAYTON, Oh. -- Back during a time when the years had smaller numbers than they do now, I went to Drexel University, a fine, upstanding and expensive mid-major school. In my studies there, there always seemed to be fellow students who skipped out on the first eight weeks of class, then showed up for ......
12. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 16, 2009 CLEVELAND -- Lately I've been reading When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball by Seth Davis, a man I'm privileged to know and lucky to share a bond of mutual respect with. It's a tremendously fantastic book by a supremely talented writer, one that documents the famous 1979 national......
13. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
14. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
15. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 15, 2009 Bally loveslovesloves the NCAA Tournament, it's his favorite time of year! After the Play-In Game in Dayton, we'll be headed off to a first/second round pod. But where? Will it be Philly or Portland? Miami or Minneapolis? Kansas City, possibly? Boise, maybe? Greensboro is keen this time of year. Or......
16. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
17. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 15, 2009 Bullet Points Seven championships were awarded on Saturday. Binghamton won its first-ever America East title; Morgan State is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever out of the MEAC. Temple repeated as Atlantic 14 champions; Akron is on the Big Bracket for the first time since 1986. Alabam......
18. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 14, 2009 Bullet Points American won its second consecutive Patriot League championship, and is on to the NCAA Tournament once again. Dayton and Xavier, the two higher seeds, went down in the Atlantic 14 semifinals; this sets up an improbable 4/7 matchup between Temple and Duquesne. Other semifinal w......
19. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
20. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 13, 2009 Bullet Points One championship to be decided this afternoon: that of the Patriot League, which has been winnowing down its field verrrry slowly since Tuesday, March 3rd. The Atlantic 14, MEAC, MAC, Big West, Southland, SWAC and WAC are down to final fours as the last weekend of Championship Fo......
21. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
22. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 12, 2009 Bullet Points Two more titlists after last night's action. Portland State defended its Big Sky title, and Robert Morris will return to the NCAA Tournament out of the Northeast Conference. The Southland Conference begins today with quarterfinals in Katy, Tex.. It's the last of our 23 conference......
23. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 11, 2009 HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- With our third-to-last GMHN of Season 5, we have a very special treat for you, yes we do. The image you see over and over during Championship Fortnight is students running all willy-nilly onto the floor after their beloved teams win mid-major titles. So it's only fitting that w......
24. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 11, 2009 Bullet Points Congratulations to North Dakota State (Badlands/Summit), Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) and Cleveland State (Horizon League). All three have reserved space on the Big Bracket with title game victories last night. Two championships tonight: the Northeast Conference and Big Sky will d......
25. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 10, 2009 Some are still under the impression that this is just another blog, that I'm sitting at home and ranting about mid-major basketball from my couch. That is definitely not the case. TMM Mobile HQ is very real, and has already logged over 22,000 miles and over 90 games this season. Put that in your pa......
26. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 10, 2009 HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- There are 248 teams in conferences below the Red Line. Only 25 or so will move on to compete for the coveted Division I title next week, have their names known by everybody, reflect in the fleeting glory that's reserved for champions. Most of our favorite teams are already packe......
27. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 10, 2009 Bullet Points Four more champions were crowned last night, teams that will automatically continue on to the NCAA Tournament. Congratulations to Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial), Siena (Metro Atlantic), Chattanooga (SoCon) and Gonzaga (West Coast). Three autobids will be granted tonight: the Su......
28. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 9, 2009 HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Our year is a blur of quick-cut transitions: from total silence to Midnight Madness, pre-season to regular season, games outside conferences to games inside parentheses. Standings grids give way to brackets, and before you know it, campaigns are cut short in early elimination ro......
29. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
30. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
31. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 7, 2009 Nevada at Boise State (Western Athletic) Taco Bell Arena - Boise, ID 10:15 PM EST This is it: the final regular season weekend, and the last Game! Of! The! Night! of 2008-09. Adieu, adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow. So is partying, which is what the virtual G!O!T!N! camera crew will be doing in......
32. by Kyle Whelliston
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.......
33. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
34. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
35. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 5, 2009 Dayton at Xavier (Atlantic 14) Cintas Center - Cincinnati, OH 9:00 PM EST In a conference with a geographical footprint so big you can see it from space, tonight you can boil everything down to four letters: XU and UD. Or just X and D, if you think the University identifier isn't necessary. There......
36. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 5, 2009 NASHVILLE -- You might recall that there was a marathon chat announced to be held Friday (tomorrow) from the Valley quarterfinals. Due to a number of factors, that's being postponed. Instead, we'll try for a 12-hour chat next Thursday, and do a regular chat at 3:00 EST tomorrow that will overlap wit......
37. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
38. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 4, 2009 Bullet Points Championship Fortnight is under way, as the top seeds won in the Big South and Ohio Valley. The first minor upset occurred in the Horizon League, where No. 7 Illinois-Chicago outhooped No. 6 Youngstown State. Both finished the conference slate at 7-11 and were separated by tiebre......
39. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 3, 2009 Weber State at Montana State (Big Sky) Brick Breeden Fieldhouse - Bozeman, MT 9:05 PM EST One of the first conference games we attended this season was between Northern Colorado and Idaho State, an early Big Sky test for both. Since then, there hasn't been much mention here of the only league to b......
40. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 3, 2009 HOUSTON -- Think of it this way: this is the only time when team rankings are based in reality. It's all posturing and conjecture in November, it's a popularity contest every Monday afternoon, and it's not necessary to hash over the imperfection of a convoluted process that will take place in downto......
41. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 March 2, 2009 Boise State at New Mexico State (Western Athletic) Pan American Center - Las Cruces, NM 9:00 PM EST Every year, there's one undisputed apex of Championship Fortnight, that one title game that ESPNU chops up into a 90-minute clip show and Hoops Nation remembers forever. In 2005, it was Ohio's come-......
42. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
43. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 28, 2009 When somebody pretending to be Tom Petty asked a question 49 minutes into our eight-hour marathon BracketBusters chat, it seemed at the time like any other funny non-sequitur we've encountered in four-plus years of doing those things. But then the Heartbreakers references kept flying for the next s......
44. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 27, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- Though nobody has time to read them anymore, and the economy's so bad that folks are burning them for heat, writers aren't really considered "writers" until there's a stack of dead tree scrapings covered with their scribblings available for general purchase. Especially since writing ......
45. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 26, 2009 Maryland-Baltimore County at Binghamton (America East) Mid-Majority Events Center - Vestal, NY 7:05 PM EST We strongly suggest that you tune in for the Morehead-Murray matchup on ESPNU tonight if you haven't seen either strong OVC contender. But here in the calm before this weekend's storm of cru......
46. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 26, 2009 ATHENS, Ohio -- As was noted in this kind piece by the newspaper I spent my college career wishing I could work for, next week marks the beginning of what we're really here for, what this is really all about. The conference tourneys mark the third of the four seasons within a season in college baske......
47. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 25, 2009 Dayton at Rhode Island (Atlantic 10) Ryan Center - Kingston, RI 7:00 PM EST While the titans of college basketball sportswriting are off drooling over Kansas, or boo-hooing over Pittsburgh, or whatever they do up there, they're missing out on the big fun of the high-stakes race at the top of the A......
48. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
49. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 24, 2009 LYNCHBURG, Va. -- In the late stages of a Sunday flight from Raleigh to Nashville, after the announcement about portable electronic devices, I did what most people in need of an info-fix do: page through the Sky Mall catalog. It's only in those 20 minutes at the end when full-size Lord of the Rings......
50. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 23, 2009 Slumdog Millionaire (a film we saw in Indianapolis hours after penning this paper plane), was easy enough to predict as a Best Picture winner, although others of these supposed lead-pipe locks would have lost you your mortgage money. And so it is with predicting the machinations of another academy. ......
51. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 23, 2009 Tennessee-Martin at Murray State (Ohio Valley) Regional Special Event Center - Murray, KY 8:30 PM EST With BracketBusters complete, it's time to make the mad dash towards the first tourneys. In just a little over a week, a number of smaller conferences will begin elimination procedures; one of the......
52. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
53. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
54. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
55. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 19, 2009 MORAGA, Cal. -- I've come to avidly dislike "bracketology" in all its forms, I don't make any bones or excuses about that. I can't stand bubble watching or seed projecting. I respect Joe Lunardi for combining computer power and over-the-top braggadocio to single-handedly ignite a cottage industry, a......
56. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 18, 2009 Drexel at George Mason (Colonial) Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA 7:05 PM EST Leagues at our level generally prefer their parity limited, and to put their best team forward. But the Colonial race, once a three-team race with a round-robin that decided momentary supremacy, is now a deathcore mosh pit.......
57. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 18, 2009 SAN LUIS OBISPO, Cal. -- Morning really is a relative concept, isn't it? It's always morning somewhere, or 5 p.m., or the night time (a/k/a "the right time"). And it just might be Morning in America all over again, depending on what economic time zone you're in. I write this to you as the a.m. hours......
58. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
59. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
60. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 14, 2009 Quinnipiac at Robert Morris (Northeast) Charles L. Sewall Center - Moon Township, PA Saturday, 7:00 PM EST The Northeast Conference has always been a favorite, and it's one of the key collectives that deepened my love for mid-major college basketball. Big metropolitan areas, tiny schools, and high......
61. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 13, 2009 Thursday, 1:05 PM -- I don't know what made me think this, but I went to the Hyatt Regency first and looked for anything that said "Mock Selection." There was an NCAA Life Skills conference on the second and third floor, so I asked somebody at the ballroom reception where it was. "Who are you, and ......
62. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
63. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 12, 2009 Temple vs. Saint Joseph's (Atlantic 10) The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA 7:00 PM EST It's super-exciting in the grand old Atlantic 14 this week, no? Those who tuned into ESPN Classic last night looking for a rerun of the Cheap Seats Superdogs/Superjocks episode were treated to a thrilling ballgame ......
64. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
65. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 11, 2009 Long Beach State at California-Riverside (Big West) UCR Rec Center - Riverside, CA 11:00 PM EST Don't worry, we'll be doing plenty of breakdown of Dayton-Xavier tomorrow (or you can get a very fine BBSU-aided preview here). But one league we haven't talked about too much this season is the Big Wes......
66. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 11, 2009 LITTLE ROCK -- Just one more day until that whole Mock Selection thing, and we're still chewing over this wonderful binder full of information. After decades of hearing this or that from NCAA representatives every March, it's nice to see this stuff printed in black and white. From a 7,000-foot persp......
67. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
68. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 9, 2009 Sure, we have our favorites. There are players who we enjoy watching endlessly, the mid-major stars who have stood in this space for the past five years and have gone on to great and lucrative levels. The next one in that class could be the 6-2 senior guard from a little school in the Tennessee back......
69. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 9, 2009 Stetson at East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun) Memorial Center - Johnson City, TN 7:00 PM EST The Atlantic Sun is providing many of these mid-major hot-shot conferences a clinic on how to organize its standings. You want three teams up top with gaudy records, a strong .500 midsection, and a couple......
70. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 9, 2009 BATON ROUGE -- When the ax started falling in the SEC last month with midseason firings, the thought around here was that it was kinda cute. Four such severances in four years seemed like another indication that the pressures of BCS basketball were getting to be more in line with those of the pros, ......
71. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 8, 2009 Charles Kuralt once said, "Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." While we consider each Flying J a roadside attraction unto itself, the wise old sage of America's roads had a point. Last Tuesday, we asked you to nominate......
72. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 7, 2009 Presbyterian at Radford (Big South) D.N. Dedmon Center - Radford, VA Saturday, 7:00 PM EST There are some fascinating contests that will shape league races on Saturday, mostly games that pit a runaway leader with a team that may or may not be capable of knocking them down a half-peg -- most specif......
73. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
74. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 5, 2009 Tennessee-Martin at Austin Peay (Ohio Valley) Winfield Dunn Center - Clarksville, TN 9:00 PM EST One of the greatest hidden coulda-shouldas of Championship Week 2008 occurred on the first Friday, when Tennessee-Martin and junior star Lester Hudson came just one point short of upsetting NCAA-bound ......
75. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 5, 2009 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Let's get this out of the way first: when the first place team loses to the last place team, it's definitely not good for the league profile. And when the overwhelming preseason favorite takes one in the collective stomach from a team that long ago unanimously passed a team rule b......
76. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
77. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
78. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 3, 2009 The picture on the left does not depict the hot club dance move or the new way the kids these days are expressing their excitement, it's just a snapshot of the most pure and perfect shooting mechanics in Division I right now. (And as you can see in the background, it's making the girly-girls go craz......
79. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 February 2, 2009 Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Jackson State (SWAC) Williams Athletic Center - Jackson, MS 8:30 PM EST Tonight in the Swickity, a battle between two 6-2 teams looking up at defending regular season champion Alabama State. If either were to win the conference's coveted ticket to the Big Dance, they would u......
80. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 31, 2009 Saint Mary's at Portland (West Coast) Chiles Center - Portland, OR Saturday, 9:00 PM EST Most of the games we feature on G!O!T!N! are the sorts of contests that feature interesting matchups or players, or tilts that will determine the direction of league races. But once or twice a season, there's ......
81. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
82. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 30, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- Every once in a while, I receive a hit through the feedback form, written in a language I don't understand. Sometimes these are in French, or German, cast in a Cyrillic alphabet or rendered in simplified Chinese. I'd like to think these are messages of support, and they indicate to ......
83. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 29, 2009 This is totally unprecedented. In nearly five years, there has never been more than one G!O!T!N! at a time. But tonight, there's no way to choose. Maybe you can pick between these supergood gems, but we can't. Nevada at Utah State (Western Athletic) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum - Logan, UT 9:05 PM EST ......
84. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
85. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
86. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 27, 2009 I just wrapped up paying for every single one of my remaining rental cars, plane flights and weekly hotels for the rest of the 2008-09 season, which was a great relief and a testament to the wonderful support you've given the site. So the least I could do is turn the floor over to you for a while, a......
87. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 27, 2009 Northeastern at Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial) Siegel Center - Richmond, VA 9:00 PM EST How many eyes do you need to finish this fight? You're gonna eat lightning, and you're gonna crap thunder! See that look in their eyes, Rock? You got to get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger. Get him a b......
88. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 27, 2009 OMAHA -- It's been half a forever since we gave away a Bally. It's mostly due to a backorder situation, something that will be rectified when we head home for a couple of days next week. There are two people out there still waiting on their orange globular friends, and those will be forthcoming. Sor......
89. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 26, 2009 The Citadel at Samford (Southern) Pete Hanna Center - Birmingham, AL 8:30 PM EST It's easy to get caught up in the Davidson excitement. The Wildcats are 9-0, scoring 81 points against 67 allowed in league play, and they have this one player who can shoot lasers out of his toes or something. They'r......
90. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
91. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 24, 2009 OMAHA -- Every so often, I'll get a long note from one of you detailing exactly when you found The Mid-Majority, the post you first discovered, and occasionally you'll remind me of something that I completely forgot I wrote. I'm always taken aback, floored and flattened by these letters, mostly beca......
92. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
93. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 21, 2009 David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens PHILADELPHIA -- It was written nearly 30 years ago, but "Once In a Lifetime" remains the most concise four-minute statement on modern humanity that rock musicians have ever come up with. There are two mantras and a zen koan within it but at its l......
94. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 19, 2009 Jackson State at Prairie View A&M (SWAC) Baby Dome - Prairie View, TX 8:30 PM EST Last Monday was Laundry Day, the regular weekly laundromat trip an endless road trip like this requires. I stopped off at a faded old strip-mall laundromat in Gastonia, N.C., just west of Charlotte, before drivin......
95. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 16, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS -- As we begin every Friday around here, a reminder that there's a chat over at ESPN today at 4 p.m. It's about American mid-major collegiate basketball, and I'm in it and so are you, and there's this one part when we're chillin' in my basement listening to old Wilco records. It's like ......
96. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 15, 2009 The State of College Basketball is a new-esque 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......
97. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
98. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 14, 2009 Steely Dan - Kulee Baba (demo) INDIANAPOLIS -- In 1980, Steely Dan released Gaucho, a seven-song album full of disco-jazz pop songs about getting laid and drugs and revenge, all set in Los Angeles. All three are popular enough themes that the record went double-platinum. Due to various production pr......
99. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 13, 2009 Northern Illinois at Ball State (Mid-American) Worthen Arena - Muncie, IN 7:00 PM EST I've probably said this before, but if you're a mid-major conference and you're smart, schedule games on Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons. (And Friday nights, if your geographic footprint is small enough that......
100. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 12, 2009 Before the 2007-08 season, Josh Akognon transferred from Washington State to Cal State Fullerton with two years of eligibility remaining -- his point production doubled, and he set school single-season records for 3-point field goals and free throw percentage. That's an indication that maybe he wasn......
101. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
102. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 8, 2009 Wright State at Butler (Horizon League) Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN 7:00 PM EST Tonight marks the first slate in which every college basketball game nationwide is a league contest. We have action in the CAA, SoCon, NEC, OVC, Horizon, America East, Sun Belt, Badlands Conference, Big West, ......
103. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 8, 2009 BIRMINGHAM -- Normally in this space, I'll meander on about some philosophical thing or some other non-basketball topic, and then field a pile of back-channel comments about what a horrible job I'm doing and how I should just give up. This is exciting for me, because I get to play out this daily scr......
104. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 7, 2009 High Point at Winthrop (Big South) Winthrop Coliseum - Rock Hill, SC 7:00 PM EST This is a season for big changes in mid-majordom, and most are not necessarily the positive kind that our president-elect talks about. There have been massive shifts in power as multi-bid conferences like the Valley, ......
105. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
106. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 6, 2009 He was a breakout superstar from 2007-08 who came out of nowhere to lead a perennial OVC flounder to a salmon-jump in the standings. He was a juco transfer who learned how to study and landed at Tennessee-Martin, and nearly left after a year in the wake of an impressive showing at pre-Draft camp. In......
107. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 6, 2009 NASHVILLE -- A lot's happened in the past 48 hours. I've driven 1,450 miles through high Colorado mountain passes, endless Kansas, Oklahoma hailstorms. I've watched Southwest Airlines' careful domino-stack of hourly gate departures collapse under the weight of a weather delay, into a maelstrom of sc......
108. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 5, 2009 Hofstra at Northeastern (Colonial) Matthews Arena - Boston, MA 7:00 PM EST During George Mason's Final Four run, when head coach Jim Larranaga said that the initials "CAA" stood for "Connecticut Assassins Association," he wasn't kidding. The Colonial earned two double-bid years, as well as nationa......
109. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 2, 2009 Creighton at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) Redbird Arena - Normal, IL Saturday, 8:05 PM EST We don't often keep the G!O!T!N! camera crew in one place for any significant time, but after the events of New Year's Eve afternoon, we have a situation in the Valley that requires additional monitoring......
110. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 January 2, 2009 POCATELLO, Id. -- First of all, we have a chat today over at ESPN SportsNation at 4 p.m. Eastern, or 2 p.m. Mountain Standard. Don't forget! One last blast of mid-major mystery before we turn our attention solely to conference races, and forget that the top eight conferences exist -- a luxury we'll ......
111. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 31, 2008 The State of College Basketball is a 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 Final F......
112. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 31, 2008 Evansville at Illinois State (Missouri Valley) Redbird Arena - Normal, IL 3:05 PM EST Much of today's action is of the afternoon variety, because Americans are conditioned to party like rock stars on New Year's Eve. And as 2008 comes to a close with a full slate of Valley games, here's one game th......
113. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 31, 2008 LOGAN, Utah -- It's the final day of the year, the end of the holidays, and a bad day to buy a calendar (they'll be 50 percent off tomorrow). Here in college basketball world, the ringing out of the old has more to do with crossing the bridge between nonconference and league play -- happily so -- an......
114. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 30, 2008 Cleveland State at Wright State (Horizon League) Ervin J. Nutter Center - Dayton, OH 7:00 PM EST Teams in most conferences are just now finishing their city games, guarantees and D-II walkovers. Not the Horizon, it's gone full-bore into league season and has pretty much completed its quest for nat......
115. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 30, 2008 LOGAN, Utah -- Yesterday's GMHN closed with a query to the cosmos as to why there will be nearly 300 fewer mid versus major games in 2008-09 than there were in 2007-08. And when I end a daily post with a question, I should expect that my mailbox will contain a few answers. And they arrived! Response......
116. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 29, 2008 The holidays wiped out half the week's schedule (in a good way, of course), but some players made the most of the four-day week. And just to be clear, a shortened week does not mean that the award is less than 100 percent full strength, the same way that some fans tried to undercut the importance of......
117. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 29, 2008 Davidson at College of Charleston (Southern) Carolina First Arena - Charleston, SC 9:00 PM EST As the egg nog wears off all across Hoops Nation, it's time to start operating the heavy machinery that will move us from non-league to conference season. Thanks to the result of a few summer phone calls......
118. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
119. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 22, 2008 Belmont at Austin Peay Winfield Dunn Center - Clarksville, TN 8:00 PM EST One crisp spring Saturday in Nashville, we shuttled between two Music City arenas to watch two conference champions crowned -- first, the Austin Peay hoopsters took out Tennessee State to win the OVC crown, then two hours la......
120. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 19, 2008 Illinois-Chicago at Illinois State Redbird Arena - Normal, IL 8:05 PM EST Here's a very interesting tilt between two Illinois programs who have been dormant in recent years, but are having breakout seasons heading into play in their respective conferences. If the NCAA field ends up being littered ......
121. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 19, 2008 GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Just a reminder that there's a chat today at 4 pm over at ESPN, so come on by. Mediocrity is a touchy subject around here, generally because the word mediocre shares the same Latin root as mid-major, which confuses people into thinking that basketball at our level is just, you kn......
122. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 18, 2008 Western Kentucky at South Alabama (Sun Belt) Mitchell Center - Mobile, AL 8:05 PM EST The teams in the Sun Belt may not have scheduled well (coming off a two-bid year, the conference RPI is 22 and the noncon record is 49-55), but the league office sure did. Nothing like a mid-December matchup of t......
123. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 17, 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 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the F......
124. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 17, 2008 Akron at Virginia Commonwealth Siegel Center - Richmond, VA 7:30 PM EST The best thing about BracketBusters, in my opinion, is the BracketBusters return game. Sure, the chance for TV exposure in February is nice, but that only affects the handful of teams angling for NCAA consideration. All 100 or......
125. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 17, 2008 CLINTON, S.C. -- What's the value of a score? The market has it much less than the 1/1000th of a cent that manufacturer's coupons are worth -- interested parties expect to get them for free, that a score should cost the same over a computer network as it does transmitted from mouth to ear. Is "Tenne......
126. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 16, 2008 Cal State Bakersfield at South Dakota State Frost Arena - Brookings, SD 8:05 PM EST Tonight I will be covering North Florida at Clemson, one of those ultra-rare instances when the No. 1 RPI team plays the last-place RPI team. To include that here would break the only two rules of the G!O!T!N! (rec......
127. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 16, 2008 CLEMSON, S.C. -- It's Tuesday, which means that we give away a Bally. Last week's question was an intermediate-level brain buster that a lot of people got right: name a team that lost twice to a conference regular-seaosn champion in January and/or February, then took its revenge at the conference to......
128. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 15, 2008 Usually, this feature is reserved for players at our level who a.) have great performances in games that matter and b.) win. But sometimes we have to make an exception, or one-and-a-half. Ben Woodside of North Dakota State is our fifth Mid-Majority Baller of the Week for the 2008-09 season. On Frida......
129. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 15, 2008 Louisiana-Monroe at Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt) Cajundome - Lafayette, LA 8:05 PM EST Some schools had finals last week, some are heading into it now. The rolling parade of all-nighters and books means that the two middle weeks of December are a piddling pastiche of guarantee games, mid-on-mid ......
130. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 15, 2008 CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Let's get this out of the way first: the Atlantic 14 owned this weekend. Pwned it. The A-14 was in yr weekend, steelin yr basketballz. This conference put such a stamp on the last two days that the second weekend in December should be a three-day hoops holiday, by proclamation of......
131. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 10, 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 344 (here's the long-winded version). In its overall form, it retroactively picked three of the F......
132. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 10, 2008 BALTIMORE -- Last Thursday, I saw my first conference tilt of the year. It was at the Truman-era art deco palace known as Memorial Auditorium, one of my favorite places to see a game, and the Badlands Conference clash featured the homestanding UMKC Kangaroos hosting the Oakland Super Golden Crisp Gr......
133. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 9, 2008 San Francisco at Pacific A.C. Spanos Center - Stockton, CA 10:00 PM EST Tonight we have two western teams on the road back to respectability -- one's trail, however, is a little longer than the other. San Francisco, the center of the WCC's Jesuit triad, will always have a better NCAA Tournament re......
134. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 9, 2008 LEXINGTON, Va. -- I think we can chalk up the weekend voting on the Ultimate Project contest an unqualified, unmitigated disaster. There were more complaints about the voting mechanism (clicking through either brought up a "please log in" screen or a full-screen ad to start your own poll) than actua......
135. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 8, 2008 Fairleigh Dickinson at Monmouth (Northeast) Boylan Gym - West Long Branch, NJ 7:30 PM EST In tonight's only league game, we have a couple of case studies in how difficult it is to maintain success, much less consistency, at the low-RPI end of the mid-major pool. In 2005, Fairleigh Dickinson's Hors......
136. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 8, 2008 LOUISVILLE -- This week marks the one-month milepost of the 2008-09 season. Most of the action we've seen has consisted multi-team tournaments of questionable merit or importance, early league games, and power-conference teams beating the snot out of mid-majors. While we've made a lot of the signifi......
137. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 5, 2008 Albany at Siena Times Union Center - Albany, NY 7:00 PM EST When you think great mid-major city games, there are matchups like Loyola and UIC in Chicago (also being contested on Saturday), or maybe the NEC's Battle of Brooklyn between St. Francis and Long Island. But don't forget a pairing with a ......
138. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 4, 2008 Saint Mary's at Kent State Memorial Athletics Center - Kent, OH 7:00 PM EST It was the BracketBuster game few stayed up to watch, but its effects had a resounding impact on the way the 2008 bracket was shaped. Al Fisher (28 points) helped propel the Golden Flashes over the nationally ranked Gaels ......
139. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 4, 2008 KANSAS CITY -- Later today, I'll be posting the first version of the State of the Other 22, the mid-major (and A-14) subset of the complicated ratings system I put together last year (with the help of some great coaches who helped define the important ingredients) on the Basketball State site. The r......
140. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 3, 2008 SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Tonight I'll be making my first visit to Missouri State's brand new JQH Arena, which was just christened within the month. I've been really excited about this for a couple weeks now, for a few reasons. I like shiny new things as much as any American, but most of all I'm curious a......
141. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 2, 2008 CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The fact is that sometimes in this business, you just have to kick a little ass. I'm really sorry when my turn comes up, it isn't in my upbringing to upbraid people. But when I announced last week's contest, I thought I could count on folks to be creative on their own. It didn't ......
142. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 December 1, 2008 Most fans know him for "the Dagger" against Duke two seasons ago, but he's been making opponents say "dang" for the better part of three years. Over the past seven days, he put together one of the most impressive three-game stretches seen in Hoops Nation so far this season. Eric Maynor is our third ......
143. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
144. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 25, 2008 Mount Saint Mary's at George Mason Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA 7:00 PM EST There's plenty of hot mid-on-mid action tonight. There's our game, for example, out in Bucknell as the Bison host Old Dominion, at which we'll all party like it's 2005. The best excuse for a city game in Boston takes place......
145. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 25, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Tuesdays mean no lollygagging, goldbricking or hanging out in the alley. This is contest day, and we have a prize to give out: a real live stuffed Bally. And in order to keep 99.9 percent of Hoops Nation from feeling sorry for itself, we have another contest on deck. Hello, Bally ......
146. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 24, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- For my money, the greatest movie about rock and roll music ever made is Stop Making Sense, the 1984 Talking Heads concert film directed by Jonathan Demme. The movie strikes a very personal note for me, because I take a 40 long jacket. Manufacturers don't tend to make that size, so......
147. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 21, 2008 NEW YORK CITY -- Madison Square Garden IV, indeed the fourth venue to have had this name, is a layer cake built on the corner of 7th Avenue and 33rd Street. It opened in 1968, four years before I was born. By the time I started going to games there, in the mid-1980's, its internal workings were as ......
148. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 19, 2008 PHILADELPHIA -- This blog has been involved in several pet causes... heck, this entire thing is a pet cause. But TMM is getting involved in a new charitable campaign that strikes to the heart of what's important in Our Game. This is all about getting Drexel students to adopt proper rollout procedure......
149. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 18, 2008 Nevada at San DiegoJenny Craig Pavilion - San Diego, CA10:00 PM EST The Western Athletic and West Coast took completely different paths last season -- the WAC, a perennial multi-bid league despite its allocation of most of its resources to football, languished in the 20's of the RPI scale and sque......
150. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 18, 2008 PHILADELPHIA -- Drexel hosts Penn today at 10 a.m. as part of ESPN's Mega Mammoth Opening Day Explosion. This'll be the last morning game we attend, at least until the next NAIA tournament or summer AAU spectacubash. For that reason, we'll be short with this (MMBOW and G!O!T!N! will be forthcoming l......
151. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 17, 2008 PITTSBURGH -- When something like this happens, when 111-103 happens, when a little military school from western Virginia marches into venerable old Rupp Arena and runs the home team off its own floor, it's never about the victor. That's just the way these things work. The tale, as it's commonly bei......
152. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 14, 2008 PEORIA, Ill. -- Remember back when you were a kid, it was a hot summer day out in your backyard... you had your 1980's NBA-style short-shorts on with no shirt, just hanging out in the grass your daddy just mowed fresh that morning. Not a care in the world. Then you got really thirsty, and you were t......
153. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 13, 2008 CARBONDALE, Ill. -- It's a day with no games (at least none to attend), and one for catching up on e-mail, writing stories, plugging leaks over at Basketball State and picking up roadtrip supplies at Wal-Mart. It's also probably best that there's a breather after last night's Lazarus act by Southern......
154. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 12, 2008 CARBONDALE, Ill. -- When I switched on the local TV this morning, there was a reel of clips from a Murray State exhibition game, the Racers were beating up on Bethel College. In the inbox, news that Stephen Curry had lit up the scoreboard for 41 points... iin a non-counter against Lenoir-Rhyne (ei......
155. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 10, 2008 (Originally posted November 13, 2004) It is designed to do a lot of things, but it certainly is not designed to break your heart. The game begins in the late autumn, when everything else has shriveled and fallen and died. Its blossoms come slowly in winter's course like crocus starts popping throug......
156. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 8, 2008 Eighth in a series of nine daily essays leading up to the 2008-09 college basketball season.Since the invention of the printing press and discovery of binding, it's been the dream of everyone who strings words together to write a book. A longform work of 80 or 100 thousand words that can be touched,......
157. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 6, 2008 Sixth in a series of nine daily essays leading up to the 2008-09 college basketball season. Here in early November, we're still at least a month away from the non-stop barrage of "Year In Review" specials, all those tidy bow-snapping recaps that attempt to impose order on a loosely-joined, selectiv......
158. by Kyle Whelliston
S5 November 1, 2008 First in a series of nine daily essays leading up to the 2008-09 college basketball season. It's not supposed to work out for the best, and the system is designed to anticipate failure. On March 21 in Birmingham, the four lower seeds wore their extra digits like anchors, eliminated one after another......
159. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 April 1, 2008 Seriously, what's the big deal about fearlessness? It's made out to be this incredible and rare trait that only a select few possess. People forget that it's our natural, default state of being. We enter the world too naive to fear anything; over time, we develop a profile of all that scares us. Som......
160. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 30, 2008 We received a lot of messages in response to the query as to whether or not I should wear the "Just Balls" tie to the game today. With a 2-to-1 split in favor of donning autographed neckgear, the votes against stuck out and haunted my sleep. Several people brought up the possibility of a double-reve......
161. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 29, 2008 When ESPN.com brought me on in the summer of 2005, my good friend Sarah bought me a Ralph Marlin "Just Balls" tie. It was one of those nice timely things that good friends do -- they buy you things having to do with what you're celebrating just as you're celebrating them. Little did I know that it w......
162. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 29, 2008 DETROIT -- The alarm clock went off this morning, like it normally does... but we're still trying to figure out when, exactly, we fell asleep. Around 6 p.m. yesterday? That timeframe makes more sense than what we were hallucinating about. Davidson? A No. 10 seed? Slaughtering the Big Ten champs in B......
163. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 27, 2008 One of the great things about the day before an NCAA subregional, regional or Final Four is that the public can come and watch the teams practice for free! This is enormous Ford Field in Detroit, which is normally used for American-style football. The stadium will have 72,000 available seats for t......
164. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 27, 2008 There are 16 teams left to fight over the National Championship, each with just four more wins to go to achieve the ultimate prize. Strangely enough, they spent widely disparate amounts of money to get here. As my new friend TuckyBill likes to say, "mid-major" is just another name for "more bang fo......
165. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 26, 2008 Bowling Green At 2:45 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, the message came in, with a time stamp that indicated it had been left an hour earlier. "The plane leaves around 3 p.m.," the sports information director said. "We'll see you down there at the airport." I'd have received the call on time if I......
166. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 25, 2008 If you've been reading this site with any sort of regularity this year, you know about my Face Off with one Mr. Steve Welmer, the most-travelled official in Division I. And all the e-mails have been really great, people are really getting into it. This is one part Amazing Race, another part Cannonba......
167. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 23, 2008 Two brave, fighting groups of men... two long dormant small-college basketball legacies reborn... two tourney champions turned Sweet survivors. The Sun Belt and the SoCon, two leagues the general public can't tell apart from each other, are sending representatives to the NCAA Regionals. Hoo-zah! ......
168. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 22, 2008 Back by popular demand, it's another chart of who's got money and who doesn't. Basing your prognostications on athletic budgets isn't a perfect method -- you would have gone 24-8 in the first round, which seems about average for all those suffering from Tampa Madness (you would have had WKU over Dra......
169. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 O Wildcats, dispatchers of Zags, plain-sight stealers of ACC-level recruits! You play a fair game, you play a square game, and you win in everything! Davidson's red and black machine won its 23rd game in a row, but its first at the NCAA tournament since 1969, when ol' Lefty Driesell paced the Wildca......
170. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 ......
171. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 BIRMINGHAM -- On mornings like this, after days like that, I'm envious of people who can simply move on with their brackets and think about the next round's matchups. For those of us who cover the mid-major schools, we'll be reliving this day over and over again for the next year. The true underdo......
172. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 20, 2008 Well, here we are in Birmingham. I'm watching practices, asking dumb questions in press conferences, eating all the Cheetos at the media buffet spread, and waiting for the upsets to start happening on TV. While I'm doing Real Serious Work, Bally is living it up VIP style at the Big Dance. Follow a......
173. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 19, 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......
174. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 19, 2008 We had quite a few mail inquiries and chat questions yesterday about the chat that was published in my weekly blog for the Worldwide Leader. For those of you who are ESPN OutSiders, I listed the top five largest financial disparities in both overall athletic expenses and men's basketball budgets. Pe......
175. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 18, 2008 I remember my first March Madness office pool. The year was 1992, I was about to leave my teenage years behind. I had just nabbed my first real actual journalism job, working for out-of-state tuition as a junior copy editor at a farming magazine in Oregon. I recall that the whole bracket thing was a......
176. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 17, 2008 I can't think of anything that captures the essence of modern corporate America better than Selection Sunday. Four and a half months of sweat and blood spilled by on-court workers is distilled into numbers and charts, spreadsheets and presentations. Merits are debated by people in suits in a locked ......
177. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
178. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 16, 2008 Bullet Points The autobid picture is nearly complete, as seven champions were named on Saturday. Kent State and UMBC followed up their regular-season trophies with tourney rings, in the MAC and America East respectively. In a low-seed shocker, No. 7 Coppin State upset No. 1 Morgan State in the MEA......
179. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 15, 2008 Bullet Points Bow down before the altar of American, poxy fules. The Eagles are going dancing out of the Patriot League for the first time in school history. Today will see the crowning glory in seven conferences. The America East, Atlantic 14, MAC, SWAC, MEAC, WAC and Big West will all have champi......
180. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 14, 2008 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It's fitting that we're here in Jersey -- just as there were 86 episodes of The Sopranos, there were exactly that many daily weekday posts this year. This right here is the final edition of the season -- this 86th Boubacar, too, was "Made in America." Not that this is the end......
181. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 13, 2008 It was a special number once, an emotional milestone, an achievement of a lifetime. Four years ago in this space, I attended exactly one hundred college basketball games in a single season and wrote something faintly humorous about each one. It was a journey that culminated in a loss. Because it alw......
182. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 13, 2008 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- I don't know if I'm ripping the cover off some secret clandestine something, or exposing some horrible underbelly of The Business here. But one of the best things about Championship Fortnight is the media gifts. Yes, many conferences bestow presents upon us ink- and pixel-sta......
183. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 13, 2008 Bullet Points Make way on the big bracket for two more mid-major champions: Mount Saint Mary's, surprise winners of the NEC out of a No. 4 seed, and Portland State, double-champions of the Big Sky. There were three exciting finishes in the Atlantic 14, with La Salle, Dayton and Charlotte pulling ou......
184. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 12, 2008 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- As we promised earlier this week, we're going to take one last look at some seasons that may not have resulted in a Dance card or a lot of national headlines, but were breakthroughs or returns to form. Here, then, are eight teams that few saw coming... in alphabetical order. ......
185. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 12, 2008 Bullet Points Three more automatic bids were awarded last night. Full 100 percent congratulations to Butler, double-champions of the Horizon League, as well as Oral Roberts, three-time titlists of the Mid-Con cum Summit cum Badlands Conference. Western Kentucky is back in the Dance from the Sun B......
186. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 11, 2008 Bullet Points Scissors and ladders were indeed used last night, as four mid-major champions ascended to thrones. Davidson streaked to a third consecutive title in the SoCon, George Mason survived the Colonial tourney, Siena is the double-champ in the MAAC, and San Diego stole the WCC title from Gon......
187. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 10, 2008 ALBANY, N.Y. -- Yes indeed, the regular season is over. Everybody's into their conference tournaments now, and four are over already. And since The Boubacar is a regular-season thing, we'll be winding down this particular portion of the entertainment this week. But first and foremost, I wanted to l......
188. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 10, 2008 Bullet Points All hail Drake, double-champions of the Missouri Valley Conference. Not only did the Bulldogs capture their first MVC tourney ever, it was the first time in 10 years the regular season champs survived Arch Madness. Four finals tonight: we'll have autobids delivered in the Colonial, Me......
189. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
190. by Kyle Whelliston
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, ......
191. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 7, 2008   Kent State at Akron (Mid-American) James A. Rhodes Arena - Akron, OH 7:00 PM EST So it's come to this. The final G!O!T!N! of the year, the last contest our virtual crew will travel to on the last day of the regular season. Everything's pretty much been settled as far as the MAC race goes (......
192. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 7, 2008 NASHVILLE -- There is nothing in the world more fun that this fortnight, this extended Championship Week. Days full of games, wave after wave of cheerleaders, pep bands, student sections and players' moms. Every two hours new ones come along come, a blurry time-smear of orange, red, green, blue, gol......
193. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
194. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 6, 2008 Jason Thompson isn't the kind of talent you often find at the mid-major level. Heck, there aren't that many players in the power conferences like him. He's a 6-11 specimen who can shoot mid-range jumpers just as well as he can lay it in, and can muscle his way to any rebound, anywhere. Entering this......
195. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 6, 2008   Xavier at Saint Joseph's (Atlantic 10) Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse - Philadelphia, PA 9:00 PM EST Xavier (25-4, 13-1) comes into tonight's G!O!T!N! on an 11-game win streak, has an RPI of six, and is the only team in the entire Atlantic 14 that could leave for a 10-day all-expenses-paid vac......
196. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 6, 2008 NASHVILLE -- There's a little Fighting Camel in all of us -- that piece of our soul that's tragically misunderstood, a little out of place. It's the part of you that's told you'll never make it, never achieve your dreams. Silly camel, you aren't supposed to fight for or win anything... you're suppos......
197. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 5, 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......
198. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 5, 2008 NASHVILLE -- Our day-long drive down from our Rhode Island home down to Music City was like the 2007-08 season in intricately-styled microcosm. There were a lot of miles driven (about a thousand), hours upon hours of XM radio (we like the new "Thriller" channel) and spotty cell reception just about ......
199. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 5, 2008 Bullet Points The first two upsets of Championship Fortnight occurred yesterday. The OVC's No. 6 Tennessee State won at No. 3 Morehead State, while Horizon No. 8 Loyola (Ill.) shocked No. 5 Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Big South's four top seeds won to set up Thursday's semifinals. OVC No. 4 Tenness......
200. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 4, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- M is for March, and madness, and mania, and magic; any etymologist knows they all came from the same source, Ma-, a Anglo-Saxon derivative meaning "super-awesome." M is also for Mid-major. It's our time, and this is our year. With so many struggling power-conference teams trying t......
201. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 3, 2008   North Carolina A&T at Hampton (MEAC) Convocation Center - Hampton, VA 8:00 PM EST Morgan State has pretty much run away with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference race, clinching the No. 1 seed last week and winning a 39-36 American-style football game at defending regular-season titlist......
202. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 3, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- The calendar does not deceive you, it's been March for two-plus days now and we haven't seen one conference tournament game. We'll take care of that tomorrow (the Big South, OVC and Horizon get underway), but this in-between day gives us a chance to catch our collective breath and......
203. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 28, 2008 WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. -- One of the great traditions in college basketball is Senior Night, the last home game of the regular season. All outgoing seniors, no matter if they were four-year starters with awards and all-league selections, or guys who played the parts of opposing players on the practi......
204. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 27, 2008   American at Navy (Patriot League) Alumni Hall - Annapolis, MD 7:00 PM EST Perhaps it has something to do with the Presidential race or something, but the balance of power in the Patriot League has definitely tilted towards America's capitol region. The champions of recent years, Bucknell a......
205. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 27, 2008 RICHMOND, Va. -- We don't do a lot of Mid-Major Mailbag action around here anymore (we get plenty interactive enough with the chats, you know). But there's something about the combination of assisted research and the last slow Wednesday of the season that makes us want to break out the blockquote ta......
206. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 26, 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......
207. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
208. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 24, 2008 Most basketball fans know the 7-2, 240-lb. "A-Train" as one of the greatest centers ever to play the game, a 12-time All-Star who played five seasons in the American Basketball Association before pounding the paint for 11 seasons for the Bulls and Spurs. Artis Gilmore scored a total of 15,579 points......
209. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 23, 2008   Drake at Butler Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN (ESPN BracketBusters) 5:00 PM EST If you've been reading along this year, this game needs no introduction. It's the two best chances we here at the mid-major level have for deep NCAA runs, No. 1 (Drake) and No. 2 (Butler) in our . They a......
210. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 21, 2008   South Alabama at Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) E.A. Diddle Arena - Bowling Green, KY 8:00 PM EST If you're a league that hasn't earned an at-large invite to the NCAA Tournament since 1994, there are a few scenarios you can try to get back to two-bid status. The best and easiest is to offer a......
211. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 21, 2008 JACKSONVILLE -- Lots and lots to get to today with a full slate of red-hot mid-major action, but first I wanted to pimp n' plug tomorrow's Gigantic BracketBusters Marathon Chat on ESPN.com. There are always hundreds of people who don't get their questions attended to during the regular Wednesday dea......
212. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 20, 2008 BOCA RATON, Fla. -- We've been mentioning the Atlantic Sun prominently this season, what with all the early upsets and Belmont's run at a third straight title and all, but we haven't talked much about its most improved team. Stetson has never achieved the NCAA Tournament since Glenn Wilkes (552 wins......
213. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 19, 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......
214. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 19, 2008 DELAND, Fla. -- Last night on press row at Florida A&M in Tallahassee, my inbox full of nasty notes from Penn fans (more about that later on), I was reminded once again about the key differences between Ivy League and MEAC basketball. And there are differences, even though both conferences would......
215. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
216. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 15, 2008 We've certainly certainly said this before, but we strongly believe that "Jasper" Joe Arnone, Voice of the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, is the finest arena announcer in Hoops Nation. He is to college basketball what Yankee Stadium's Bob Sheppard is to baseball, but with Vin Scully's friend......
217. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 15, 2008   Oral Roberts at IUPUI (Summit League) IUPUI Gym - Indianapolis, IN 7:00 PM EST The sands in the regular-season hourglass are now primarily in the bottom chamber, and so there are plenty of games this weekend full of one-seed implications and general position-jockeying. We're looking forwa......
218. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 15, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Admittedly a little nervous this morning, we were thinking of just shutting the site down and ending with this, because there's never going to be a better post here than that one. So how do we follow up the most sublime moment in Mid-Majority history? Photoshop-manipulated pictur......
219. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 14, 2008 In 1969, Drake achieved the Final Four with a 26-5 record. Adolphus (Dolph) Pulliam was the emotional leader of that team, and his Bulldogs lost in the national semifinals to UCLA and Lew Alcindor by a single point. After his senior season, he was drafted by multiple professional basketball and foot......
220. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
221. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 13, 2008   William & Mary at North Carolina-Wilmington (Colonial) Trask Coliseum - Wilmington, NC 7:00 PM EST We'll be closely tracking the Rhode Island-Temple battle on the A-14's second tier, as well as the tough test for Drake at Southern Illinois, but tonight's G!O!T!N! spotlight falls on two......
222. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 13, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- We've been promising this for a few days before getting sidetracked with actual news, but we have a winner in our "Hunan: Return of the Phoenix" contest, which challenged you to come up with a movie to fit an existing title. Our champion is Tom from Omaha, who submitted a totally ......
223. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
224. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 12, 2008 There's no doubt that Cal State Northridge, a school with just two winning seasons since joining the Big West in 2001, has gone from pity-party to postseason candidate in short order. At 16-6 overall and 8-2 in the conference, the first-place Matadors are on track for their first Big West men's bask......
225. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 11, 2008   Utah State at Nevada (Western Athletic) Lawlor Events Center - Reno, NV 10:05 PM EST So tonight we have a rare Monday tilt in the Wickity WAC, made possible by an extreme-weather postponement on Jan. 5. (Snow in Nevada? We here at TMM are not exactly shocked about that.) It's Utah State, t......
226. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
227. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 7, 2008 CLEVELAND -- There are a lot of subtle differences between higher-strata conferences and the leagues at our level. For instance, when a team in the ACC or Pac 10 is having a bad year, the media is still going to write about it, no matter what. The stories usually come with the angle of, "what's goin......
228. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 7, 2008 Chains of Love The Donner Party, those westbound settlers who were looking for gold to pan and ended up as each other's dinner, was a contingent cut in half by the towering gateway that separates two areas that came to be Nevada and California. Donner Pass is named for the group that was 87 stron......
229. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 4, 2008 MEADVILLE, Pa. -- It's a lot of effort trying to live a life free of American-style football, the lengths you have to go to in order to pretend it doesn't exist. It's come to this, it really has, and I can't believe it myself. But I made it through the night, Hoops Nation. I'm shacked out in a litt......
230. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 February 2, 2008 NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- If you've been reading along, you know how we feel about American-style football, which has its big over-bloated title game this weekend. The sport has come to define American maleness and took over the true title of "America's pastime" long ago -- not actually strapping the pa......
231. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 31, 2008   Murray State at Austin Peay (Ohio Valley) Winfield Dunn Center - Clarksville, TN 8:30 PM EST Hot times in the OVC, the conference that loves conference play so much it drafted up a 20-game schedule, with all 11 teams playing home-and-home with each other. Good thing, too, because it's wort......
232. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
233. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 30, 2008 The grand old Mid-American Conference has been tragically misunderstood this decade. A league that's produced some of the most competitive, exciting and thrilling hoops at the mid-major level has had a lot of trouble with respect on the national scene, not having received a second bid to the NCAA To......
234. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 30, 2008   Texas-Arlington at Sam Houston State (Southland) Johnson Coliseum - Huntsville, TX 8:00 PM EST It's you, me and the Southland Conference tonight, here to witness the next chapter in the timeless Lone Star rivalry of Huntsville and Arlington. Huntsville is the state's prison capital -- one ......
235. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 30, 2008 HUNTSVILLE, Tex. -- We promised you a Badlands Conference logo winner, and by gosh, we are going to deliver. Finally. After three weeks. We were looking for a logo to replace the up-arrow that the former Mid-Continent Conference chose when it changed its name over the summer. We don't particularly ......
236. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 29, 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......
237. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 29, 2008   Virginia Commonwealth at George Mason (CAA) Patriot Center - Fairfax, VA 7:00 PM EST Tonight, we have a rematch of a CAA title game that was so hot, John Feinstein handed an NCAA bid to the 18-15 Patriots after they lost. (Logic somehow prevailed.) Bally had both these teams going to the 2......
238. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
239. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 28, 2008 We're in Texas, so it's only fair that we shine the spotlight on some Lone Star hoops. Because of Texas-Pan American's longstanding independent status and virtual unlikelihood of making the NCAA Tournament, you don't hear much about them in the mainstream press... and with the 15th smallest athletic......
240. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 28, 2008   Morgan State at Hampton (MEAC) Convocation Center - Hampton, VA 8:00 PM EST Tonight, we have a real treat, a Chesapeake Bay battle at the top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Representing Virginia is Hampton, the hottest team in the conference at 6-0, winners of six straight. In the......
241. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
242. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 25, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- I tried to make it simple, I tried to offer the sound-bite answer. I tried to simplify things on the far side of complexity, because 'tis a gift to be simple. But I attempted to shave with Occam's razor, but ended up having to wear a small piece of toilet paper, attached with spit......
243. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 24, 2008   Dayton at Xavier (Atlantic 10) Cintas Center - Cincinnati, OH 8:00 PM EST Like the new header? Yeah, it's come to this -- doing stuff just to see who complains. More about all of that tomorrow. For now, we have a hot game in the conference that gives fans 40 percent more than advertised, t......
244. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 23, 2008   Akron at Kent State (Mid-American) Memorial Athletics Center - Kent, OH 7:05 PM EST Kent State has the strongest MAC legacy in the past decade by far -- the Flashes are working on a 10th straight 20-win season, and their four NCAA appearances have yielded four wins. Three of those, of cou......
245. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 22, 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......
246. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 21, 2008 It's never going to end. We might try to fight it, we may try to ignore it, but every year it's going to come back. I'm talking, of course, about the endless debate of what a "mid-major" is and what one isn't. Within the past few weeks, we've had weigh-ins here, here, here and on countless blogs. W......
247. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 21, 2008 A 6-0, 185-lb. junior point guard from Houston, Texas had the shooting night of his life -- or most people's lives -- on Saturday. In a 96-75 blowout of James Madison, George Mason's Dre Smith scored a career-high 34 points on astonishing 11-of-12 shooting. But, as you might have heard already, 10 o......
248. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 21, 2008   North Carolina A&T at Delaware State (MEAC) Memorial Hall - Dover, DE 7:30 PM EST The news channels say that this is a day for "remembering" and "celebrating" the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. which has always struck me as a superficial invitation that may or may not include par......
249. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 21, 2008 MORAGA, Ca. -- One of the most-asked question types I get is in regards to these datelines. Where am I? Where have I been? How many games am I up to? I know it's all pleasant small-talk, and folks are just trying to make conversation, but I've been meaning to put together a one-webpage answer to ans......
250. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 18, 2008 Until the night of Nov. 7, 2007, most college basketball fans didn't know Gardner-Webb from a weed whacker. But with a 84-68 thumping of Kentucky at Rupp Arena, the little school in Boiling Springs, N.C. was thrust into the national spotlight. It was the first major story of the 2007-08 season, the ......
251. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 18, 2008   Boise State at Nevada (Western Athletic) Lawlor Events Center - Reno, NV 19:00 PM EST In keeping with our West Coast Bias theme, we're going to forget about all those big games going on back East. (Like, say, Chatty at Davidson, Valpo-Cleveland State, and... oh yeah, that battle of Valley ......
252. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 17, 2008   IUPUI at Oral Roberts (Summit League) Mabee Center - Tulsa, OK 7:00 PM EST Call it the Mid-Continent, the Summit League, late for dinner or the Badlands Conference (like we do), this randy group of Central Standard Time-based basketball warriors (and Southern Utah) hasn't seen a regular-se......
253. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 17, 2008 DAVIS, Ca. -- We have a system here, we do a California trip every season and alternate between Southern (odd-numbered years) and Northern (even). We're going to go recover from the jet lag before charging into our annual West Coast Bias weekend, but we have some Easty bits to clean up. UNC-Ashevi......
254. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 16, 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......
255. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 16, 2008   Delaware at Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial) Siegel Center - Richmond, VA 7:30 PM EST A lot of stuff's changed since last time these two teams met, back on Dec. 20, 2006 when the Rams mopped the floor with Delaware 79-60. Like, for instance, the inherent basketball power that the Blue Hens......
256. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 16, 2008 ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- I'm really all atwitter today. I've been to 52 games so far this year, but none has been as eagerly anticipated as tonight's. For the finale of my weeklong tour of the Carolinas, I'm going to see UNC Asheville square off against High Point for first-place bragging rights in the Bi......
257. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 15, 2008   La Salle (Atlantic 10) at Pennsylvania (Ivy) The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA 7:00 PM EST When there's no games featuring conference frontrunners or prospective NCAA teams that are facing soul-baring tests, we here at G!O!T!N! studios usually revert to the game we'll be attending. Since we'......
258. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 15, 2008 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-Majorit......
259. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 14, 2008 CHARLESTON, S.C. -- It's Monday, which means no cutesy-cutesy, no how-do-ya-do, no warm-up act jokes. Nearly every one of the 245 teams in Hoops Nation played over the weekend, and we're totally committed to mention at least two percent of those. It's all basketball today. Drake. No leading score......
260. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 11, 2008 GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Super-size fast-food. Big Dog t-shirts. Enzyte. This is America, and everything is big. Real big. We all want to be big-time, and some of us do it by leading pieces with the kind of stuttering, oddly conversational, and totally incomplete sentences that have vaulted hack sports......
261. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 10, 2008   New Mexico State at Boise State (Western Athletic) Taco Bell Arena - Boise, ID 9:00 PM EST OK, so what about the WAC?, you ask. It's a conference that started out very slow due to ill-timed up-scheduling (like you can schedule your scheduling around unscheduled crises anyway), sitting in t......
262. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 10, 2008 SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- I was going to start out today with a hilarious joke about squirrels and their nuts, but this came across the wires this morning. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a fine newspaper, ran this today: Xavier shuns mid-major award. Here's a taste for those who don't like clicking things: Ri......
263. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 9, 2008 After a week-long break (nobody wants to talk during the holidays), TMMI is back. And to kick off the new year, we have one of the most powerful men in all of Hoops Nation, Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin. He's led the toughest mid-major conference in the land since 1988, spent fo......
264. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 9, 2008   Rhode Island at Dayton (Atlantic 10) U. of Dayton Arena - Dayton, OH 7:00 PM EST If we've learned anything from college basketball, it's that November and December results can be intoxicating, bewildering, and occasionally ultimately maddening. There's no rollercoaster that quite matches t......
265. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 8, 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......
266. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
267. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 8, 2008 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- I want to share with you an idea I had this morning. I'll do anything necessary to make this possible, but I think that next November somebody should hold a Multi-Team Event just for relentlessly uptempo teams. The naming rights are open for purchase by any beverage manufacturer, ......
268. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 7, 2008 After Albany was thrashed by Virginia in a 2007 NCAA Tournament first-round game that was a viable athletic contest for about 20 seconds, those of us in attendance on the "little guy" side did a lot of wondering aloud about the future of the Great Danes afterwards. This was a school that quickly asc......
269. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 7, 2008   Manhattan at Marist (Metro Atlantic) McCann Recreation Center - Poughkeepsie, NY 7:30 PM EST It could be argued that these schools are the two from the MAAC that have received the most national attention in recent years -- Manhattan for its NCAA first-round victory over Florida in 2004 (wh......
270. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 7, 2008 INDIANAPOLIS -- Making the transition from nonconference to conference season is always a little rough. Not that we're getting dragged into something we don't want to be dragged into -- they just require such different mindsets. For two months, it's all rah-rah beat the power conferences, and then i......
271. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 4, 2008 SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- I attended my first-ever Summit League game last night. Oh sure, I've been to plenty of Mid-Continent Conference games before, but things are different now. They've got a new name, new colors, and a new clip-art logo. Are their feelings of inadequacy solved? Hope so! Folks fro......
272. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 3, 2008   Long Beach State at California-Santa Barbara (Big West) The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara, CA 10:00 PM EST More conference action tonight, and not a moment too soon. We'll be closely tracking Georgia Southern at Davidson from our perch at UMKC tonight, since GS (and Chattanooga) look like th......
273. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 3, 2008 DES MOINES -- We usually leave the politics to bloggers who enjoy disseminating red-or-blue opinions and sorting through 300 comments' worth of fallout (You're in league with al-Qaeda! No, you are!), but it's been fascinating to see the caucus process in action up close. People around here take this......
274. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 2, 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......
275. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 January 2, 2008   Akron (Mid-American) at Dayton (Atlantic 10) U. of Dayton Arena - Dayton, OH 7:00 PM EST OK, remind me how to do this thing again. There's a premier spotlight game between mid-major schools, lots of exclamation points, and at least two exploratory paragraphs about key storylines and player......
276. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 31, 2007 Comfort, Enemy of Progress When folks find out I sleep in truck stops and live out of my suitcase during college basketball season, I can't blame them if they're not impressed. If my life was a Richard Dawson survey-says, the number one reaction would be horror, followed closely on points by the ki......
277. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 31, 2007 MUNCIE, Ind. -- Well, here it is, the last Boubacar of 2007, coming at the beginning of the final broken week of the 2007-08 season. No Boubacar tomorrow, but there will be a few special treats posted here, including our annual New Year's essay. You'll want to stay tuned for that. For now, here are ......
278. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 28, 2007 CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The end of the holiday season means the end of holiday music, and thank gosh for that. The world doesn't need another imaginative reinterpretation of Irving Berlin (much less a hip-hop one), and I've long held that the sound of recorded sleigh bells sounds just like fingernails a......
279. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 27, 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......
280. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 27, 2007   Rider (Metro Atlantic) at Drexel (Colonial) Daskalakis Athletic Center - Philadelphia, PA 7:30 PM EST We're in the nonconference home stretch now, with just a few more games to go before everyone gets deep into their real seasons, the ones that happen in parentheses. That's where we'll be ......
281. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 27, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Hey y'all, hope you had a great holiday. We sure did here at the version of TMM Mobile HQ that has its own basement. And with the lack of actual games these past three days, we also have the chance to catch our breaths and look at a few off-court stories in Hoops Nation lately. ......
282. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 24, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- As promised, we're going to crown our ARRRGH contest winner today and give out a free stuffed Bally. We were looking for the best mid-major ARRRGH moment, the worst instance of thwarted victory, the most crushing realization that the big guys have won again and that "Hoosiers" mom......
283. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 20, 2007 KENT, Oh. -- Just a reminder that you have until Friday morning at 7-ish Eastern time to enter the Mid-Majority ARRRGH essay contest. We did the great NCAA moments during Finals Week, now it's time to recall the most frustrating mid-major collapse, defeat, buzzer-beating dropped decision you can thi......
284. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 19, 2007   Bradley (MVC) at Butler (Horizon) Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN 7:00 PM EST When we pundits make our predictions in October, we are usually soooo sure of ourselves and our expertise and our intimate knowledge of the game of basketball. Many in this business make ice-cold ice-pick lo......
285. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 18, 2007 And now, the last entry concerned with the second non-annual Mid-Majority Finals Week. The 40th and final question was an essay question: What is your favorite mid-major NCAA Tournament memory, and where were you when it happened? We received 84 completed essays, and here are six of the best ones -......
286. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 18, 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......
287. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 18, 2007 EMMITSBURG, Md. -- All three Ballys from Finals Week were sent out by The Official Wife yesterday, and the two from earlier contests are on their way as well. Still heartbroken that you didn't get one? Well, here's your chance. Inspired by yesterday's announcement of the new ARRRGH! award, which le......
288. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 15, 2007 Thanks to the 168(!) people who played along with our second non-annual Mid-Majority Finals Week. That's so many people, they'd have to hold this class in one of those auditoriums where the professor doesn't know you from Samuel Haanpaa, where you have to spend five minutes of your six-minutes durin......
289. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 14, 2007 And finally, painfully, mercifully, we've come to the end of the second non-annual Mid-Majority Finals Week. The slim slates of games are over, most teams are back practicing and playing again, looking forward to March Madness instead of exam excitement. We are too -- that's why this fourth section ......
290. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 14, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- It had to come to an end eventually, these two weeks of sitting at home, watching basketball, cooking dinner for the Official Wife and digging out the driveway. This weekend, I go out on the road again for a seven-day, eight-game trip through Ohio, Maryland and Pennsylvania. But ......
291. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 13, 2007   Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Centenary (Summit) Bossier City, LA (Neutral court) 8:00 PM EST Tonight's G!O!T!N! is a long-overdue chance to spill some ink on Centenary's start. The Gentlemen are 6-4, with wins over Texas Tech and SMU, and they split their first weekend in the Badlands Conferen......
292. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 13, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- It's the bright early morning of an American day that will likely end with a lot fewer baseball fans. As I often say to disillusioned sports nuts tired of steroids this and Barry Bonds that, why don't you give mid-major college basketball a try? We've got close games, tons of te......
293. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 12, 2007   Pacific (Big West) at Santa Clara (West Coast) Leavey Center - Santa Clara, CA 10:05 PM EST G!O!T!N! goes late night again, to a strange and wonderful land of silicon and dreams called Northern California. And tonight, we have two historically significant mid-major programs that have regis......
294. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 11, 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......
295. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 11, 2007   Saint Mary's (West Coast) at Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley) The SIU Arena - Carbondale, IL 8:05 PM EST Even in a light week, we couldn't pass this one up, a rematch of the 2005 first-round mid-major-off between the No. 7 Salukis and No. 10 Gaels. That resulted in a wonderfully excitin......
296. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 11, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Folks sometimes come up and ask me how they can get started with their very own mid-major college basketball blog. "Read mine all the way through, then do it better," I tell them. "Put me out of business, so I can go back to what I really love... 18-hour days of cross-checking my ......
297. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 10, 2007   New Jersey Tech (Independents) at Stony Brook (America East) USB Sports Complex - Stony Brook, NY 7:00 PM EST Tonight's eight game slate gives us this standout contest, between two schools that have combined for 18 losses so far, with only one win between them. Lest you think that finals w......
298. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 10, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- I was looking over the schedule, trying to find some games to go to this week. Maybe you were too. There's hardly anything going on out there in Hoops Nation this week. Virtual bupkis. Not enough nothing to cancel the G!O!T!N! for the week, but all across the land, the "athlete" p......
299. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 7, 2007 Kyle Hines is the 6-5 senior leader of the UNC-Greensboro Spartans, but he's a lot more. In addition to a 17.3 ppg average and a streak of 56 consecutive games of scoring in double figures, Hines is a gentleman-scholar, a blogger and one of the most well-spoken ballplayers you could ever hope to mee......
300. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 7, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- It's taken a week, but I believe we have all the entries in our Pop Loser contest, most of which took as much time as media mail to arrive because of e-mail clog on this end. And of our 22 entries, I had to eliminate 15 of them. The point was not to point out an instance of refere......
301. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 6, 2007   Valparaiso at Wright State (Horizon) Ervin J. Nutter Center - Dayton, OH 7:00 PM EST An embarrassment of small-conference league-game riches tonight. Among other contests, we've got Sacred Heart at CCSU in the NEC, ambitious Morehead State will take on league champs Austin Peay in the OVC......
302. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 6, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Good morning, Hoops Nation. I've been having a bunch of fun with our new database of officials over at Basketball State. We've got a white pages listing, rankings of fouls called by teams including each ref and average call margins on home teams, and maps of all the games your fav......
303. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 5, 2007   Creighton (MVC) at Xavier (Atlantic 10) Cintas Center - Cincinnati, OH 8:00 PM EST Another day, another great mid-matchup. Here are two teams that made the 2007 NCAA Tournament, both with issues of production replacement, but both are putting up solid numbers in the early going. Creighton......
304. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
305. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 4, 2007   Akron (MAC) at Winthrop (Big South) Winthrop Coliseum -- Rock Hill, SC 7:00 PM EST These two teams combined for 55 wins last season, which immediately qualifies it as a mid-major showdown of the highest degree. The Eagles and Zips took different March paths, though: Winthrop beat Notre Dam......
306. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 3, 2007 Philadelphia Lift up your downcast eyes, woman; there is a special place in heaven for you. O truck stop waitress, you sustainer of the long-distance voyageur, Cinderella of the service industry, underfoot guardian and caretaker of the linoleum empire... one day, when you finally fall from your wea......
307. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 3, 2007   Towson at Delaware (Colonial) Bob Carpenter Center -- Newark, DE 7:00 PM EST After a crazy upside-down backwards day in the CAA, we get a night of hoops from members of what's been the bottom half of the league recently. It's the only conference game in Hoops Nation tonight, and it'll be c......
308. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 3, 2007 Michael Bramos of Miami (Oh.) was Michigan's Mr. Basketball runner-up coming out of high school, and he's spent most of his college career as a solid, dependable yet overlooked third option -- he's that guy out on the floor who plays 35 minutes but usually puts up more intangibles and Charlie Points......
309. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 December 3, 2007 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The "e" in e-mail was supposed to stand for "emproved" and "enstant." It was designed to be better than regular mail, because it would arrive there the second you sent it and you can feel confident enough in the system that every e-mail will be properly received. Sure, you can't ......
310. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 30, 2007 Gregg Marshall is a lot of things: a master motivator, an excellent rap dancer, and the first mid-major head coach to have a double-keg installed in his living room. As of ten months ago, after coming up short in his first six attempts, he's also a member of the NCAA Tournament victor's club -- join......
311. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 30, 2007   Hampton vs. Howard (MEAC) Madison Square Garden -- New York, NY (Big Apple Classic) 9:00 PM EST We figure you already know about the big mid-major vs. major games on Saturday's docket (Duke-Davidson in Charlotte, Indiana @ SIU, Michigan @ Harvard, Seton Hall @ Saint Mary's, Texas Tech @ Ce......
312. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 30, 2007 DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Welcome to your weekend Big B, the final one of November. Hard to believe it's almost December already. Season's almost a month old. Say, how's the family? Kids alright? Good, good to hear. This weather we're having... never thought we'd still be in short sleeves and singing Christ......
313. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 29, 2007   Drexel at George Mason (Colonial) Patriot Center -- Fairfax, VA 7:00 PM EST We here at The Mid-Majority are 100 percent for early conference games and schedule gerrymandering if it gives us games like this, contests that will shape the conversation in leagues like the CAA for weeks to come......
314. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 29, 2007 HIGH POINT, N.C. -- In a world of Bill Simmons this and Dennis Miller that, there is no worse crime than blowing a pop culture reference. You know what I'm talking about. I think all of us, at one time, have tried to pass ourselves off as having seen a movie (by looking at the list of quotes on iMDB......
315. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 28, 2007   Georgetown (Big East) at Old Dominion (CAA) Constant Convocation Center -- Norfolk, VA 7:00 PM EST Sure, we're being quasi-homers again and picking our attended game, but this is what we've got for counter-programming to the ACC-Big Ten thing. This is the home-and-home rematch of last year......
316. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 27, 2007 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The leftovers are already running out in your fridge, but they're always stocked up here at the Bread Restaurant. Personally, I recommend the cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese, and perhaps a veggie grilled panini sandwich later. I'd better finish this Boubacar u......
317. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 26, 2007 BOONE, N.C. -- The problem with taking the holiday off from posting is that things happen, build up, force a gigantic Monday post. Here, then, is your long weekend in mid-major land. Saturday, November 24, 2007. After the pitch-blah of Black Friday came a sunburst of brightness, as hungry mids ove......
318. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 25, 2007 The Long One Steel-colored first light above a lengthwise highway, rolling gun-metal hills beyond, a scene set off by a row of spindly and barren trees in crisp black focus. There's something comforting, regular about the standard tableau that I usually wake up to on the road, a simple chalk draw......
319. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 23, 2007 I'll allow you a few minutes to put the pieces of your blown mind back together. Okay? Let's go. Big media rivalries, like college sports rivalries, are supposed to be predicated on the idea that the folks on the other side are filthy, writhing subhumans. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that t......
320. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 21, 2007   North Texas (Sun Belt) at Texas-Arlington (Southland) Texas Hall - Arlington, TX 8:05 PM EST Are you ready? Are you ready to Take It To The Stage? No, not that Stage... this one. Two 3-0 teams will go at it tonight in Arlington, ranked 28th (UNT) and 39th (UTA) in the early version of the ......
321. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 20, 2007   Austin Peay (OVC) at Utah State (WAC) Dee Glen Smith Spectrum -- Logan, UT (South Padre Island Tournament) 9:05 PM EST For reasons unbeknownst, the last few days of The Mid-Majority have been brought to you by Office Depot. Office Depot: do you have your "easy button?" If anybody understan......
322. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 19, 2007   Fairleigh Dickinson (NEC) at Rider (MAAC) Lawrenceville, NJ - Alumni Gymnasium 7:30 PM EST Tonight's G!O!T!N! is a celebration of all things Jersey: Bon Jovi, the Devils, and that TV show that ended on a black screen. At lovely Alumni Gym in Larryville, the Exit 7A Broncs will entertain th......
323. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 19, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Wow, what a weekend. So packed with hot mid-major action that I don't have time to tell any jokes here in the intro paragraph. Here we go! Siena's Super Saints. Number 20's been an unlucky spot in the national popularity contest lately. That's where Kentucky sat when Gardner-Web......
324. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 16, 2007   Dayton (A-10) at George Mason (CAA) Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center 7:00 PM EST All due respect to the "2-0 Showdown" tonight between Colgate and Texas State at the Kennesaw tourney, but we have an Atlantic-14 threat visiting CAA country on Saturday evening. Dayton has great senior leadership......
325. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 14, 2007   North Carolina (ACC) vs. Davidson (SoCon) Bobcats Arena, Charlotte NC (Neutral) 7:00 PM EST Tonight marks the first of three remarkable opportunities for the SoCon favorite Wildcats: a trio of neutral-court shots at college basketball's elite. Later on, they'll play Duke on this same floor......
326. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 13, 2007   Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Southland) vs. Texas-El Paso (Conference USA) College Station, TX (Neutral) -- NIT Season Tip-Off 6:00 PM EST A current mid-major darling meets one of our favorite Mid-Majority ex-pats tonight in the early game of the Texas A&M-College Station pod of the P......
327. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 12, 2007   Appalachian State (Southern) at Charlotte (A-10) Halton Arena -- Charlotte, NC 7:30 PM EST Appalachian State's cagers will open their 2007-08 campaign tonight, and they do so on what some might refer to as "a mission." Sweet memories of San Juan wins in December 2006 (Virginia, Vanderbilt)......
328. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 12, 2007 One of the most common e-mails I received last year was the repeated question about where the Mid-Majority Baller of the Specified-Time-Period went. I can't even remember why I took a year off from doing it, it was always such a fun part of every Monday. It had become such an honor that school SID's......
329. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 12, 2007 COLUMBUS, Oh. -- Daily roundups have been a Mid-Majority staple over the past three-plus years. They were known as "Daily Dribblings" during the first season, weren't given titles in Year Two -- an open pander to the surrealist Samuel Beckett fans who make up a good portion of my audience. Finally, ......
330. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 9, 2007 Once upon a time there was a tiny little cell, one among a million billion, sloshing and sliding inside a gigantic and vibrant and heaving body. The tiny little cell did its tiny little job as well as it tiny little could, and during its time off it had fun bouncing around with other tiny little lik......
331. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 3, 2007 Mid-major universities tend to fall in one of three categories. There are the expensive and tiny religious schools in remote and leafy locations, flame-keepers of Christian subsects born out of the Great Schisms. You have your specialized colleges: the teacher's schools, the agriculture and mining i......
332. by Kyle Whelliston
S4 November 2, 2007 There's an annual event -- if that's a phrase suitable and grey enough to describe something that doesn't cut it as a tradition -- here in our household. Every year around this time, the satellite television company beams in a solid week of unlimited American professional basketball in a free previe......
333. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
334. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 19, 2007 In light of this great WaPo article about relative quality of hotels in the NCAA tournament's first weekend, might as well bring out the dist-o-meter again. How far from home did the committee send teams? (Distances are from campus to city center) (East 11) George Washington -- 2372 mi. to Sacramen......
335. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 17, 2007 As a public service, here are the second-round cheatsheet previews for all games, even the non-mid-major ones. Enjoy! Saturday 12:00 -- Bradley vs. Mississippi State 1:10 -- Xavier vs. Ohio State 3:20 -- Butler vs. Maryland 3:40 -- Louisville vs. Texas A&M 5:40 -- Vanderbilt vs. Washington......
336. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 14, 2007 So what are the real upsets? When it comes to college sports, it's all about the Benjamins. Here, then, are the first round matchups with the participating schools' 2005-06 athletic budgets. "Differences" are based on the high seed's budget. As always, expense data from the Office of Postsecondary E......
337. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 10, 2007 Bullet Points Holy Cross is back in the NCAA Tournament after beating Bucknell in the third consecutive Bison-Crusader title game. It's not a rivalry unless both teams get to win. Nevada was sent out of the WAC tourney with a freaky foul moment against Utah State. In other No. 4-over-1 action, Toled......
338. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 6, 2007 Bullet Points Three championships were settled yesterday. All hail Virginia Commonwealth, double champions of the grand old Colonial, who held off a pesky George Mason team. And congratulations to Niagara, which beat Siena to claim the MAAC tournament championship. Oh yeah, andUnnamed Major Program ......
339. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 5, 2007 Bullet Points In Sunday's only championship game, Creighton beat Southern Illinois to win the Missouri Valley autobid. Cinderella 2: Electric Boogaloo... George Mason upset Old Dominion in the CAA semis out of the No. 6 seed. Siena upset Marist in a No.5-over-1 job in the Metro Atlantic semis, and S......
340. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 4, 2007 Bullet Points We have four champions on the busiest day of Championship Fortnight: all hail Winthrop of the Big South and Davidson of the SoCon, double champions both. Second seeds who rose up to claim tourney championships and dance tickets: Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley and Belmont of the At......
341. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
342. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
343. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 February 27, 2007 Bullet Points Today is the first day of Championship Fortnight, with three leagues getting under way with elimination games. The Big South and Ohio Valley kick off with campus-site quarterfinals, and the Horizon League begins with a three-game first round. Brackets The intriguing thing in the Big......
344. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
345. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 February 23, 2007 NASHVILLE -- Look, nobody has to tell me about how long the season is. I've been out on the road for all but two weeks since November 10, and it's taking its toll mentally. Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was organizing Oprah's music collection; she was telling me she couldn't decide whether to......
346. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
347. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
348. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
349. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 February 12, 2007 BALTIMORE -- OK, OK, OK, OK. I've read your e-mails, I've received your calls and media inquiries. The big question of the weekend is not what happened in the huge mid-major games these past few days, but what are we to do about this? And this? Let's get the easy punchline out of the way first: Ther......
350. by Kyle Whelliston
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 (......
351. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
352. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
353. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
354. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
355. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
356. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 26, 2007 CHARLOTTE -- A couple of quick housekeeping things up front: my ESPN.com chat today is at a special this-week-only time of 2 pm ET; I'm switching timeslots with Joe Lunardi. Come on by! As of Friday morning, we've had 82 entries in Bally's BracketBusters Racket, the fun game where you can win valua......
357. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
358. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 23, 2007 COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Over the past 20 days or so, the vast majority of my incoming hoops-related mail (and Friday chat questions) have had to do with the mid-major conference selections that I submitted to the Worldwide Leader the other week. It's great that they get people talking about mid-majors ......
359. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 22, 2007 CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- Lots to get to today, just like every Monday. And if you haven't signed up to play Bally's BracketBusters Racket yet, you have a lot more to get to than I do. Roll the HTML! The Big Games! at Virginia Commonwealth 80, Old Dominion 75 (Colonial) (box) -- The VCU Rams are the only......
360. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
361. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 18, 2007 NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- It's a seasonably warm Thursday morning in Mid-Majorland, let's get right to it! Conference Shootaround! Colonial: Virginia Commonwealth stretched its CAA record to 7-0 (15-3 overall) at the expense of North Carolina-Wilmington on Wednesday, and The Dub stands for Woeful righ......
362. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 16, 2007 NEW ORLEANS -- We discussed this a little yesterday, but there's a growing drumbeat sounding across Hoops Nation; thunder in the distance, if you will. I'm talking, of course, about the potential fall from grace by the sore thumb in our midst, the eternal oddball, the one voted Most Likely To Succee......
363. by Kyle Whelliston
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. ......
364. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 12, 2007 NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Mid-majors are often the Scrappy-Doos of college basketball (Let me at'im! Let me at'im!), which is probably part of the reason they're so annoying to major schools. But I disavow any such implied connection -- I hated that character as much as you did. Generally, I had a lot o......
365. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
366. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 9, 2007 NASHVILLE -- I guess it's basic human nature that we try to build fences and walls, to divide the included from the excluded, to protect what's inside from what's outside. There's nothing worse than the idea that the world doesn't make sense -- that's the fundamental building block of organized reli......
367. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 8, 2007 JACKSON, Miss. -- Mondays from here on out will be busy times as we continue to track all the hot hot conference action, so let's all take a deep breath and let's get to it. Conference Shootaround! Missouri Valley: Yesterday in lovely Springfield, Missouri State broke both an eight-game losing str......
368. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 4, 2007 HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Just a reminder: make sure you get in on the action as The Mid-Majority expands its feature list in 2007 in return for warm, soft cash. We're halfway to unlocking mobile boxscores, a quarter of the way towards the team mileage maps, and we've also a chunk into the Tournament Geni......
369. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
370. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 January 1, 2007 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- I'm not a complainer by nature, not at all. I don't gripe about primetime television becoming a lowest-common denominator toilet, or that Kenny G did a lite-jazz cover of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful," unknowingly creating the audio skeleton-key to hell's gates in the process. ......
371. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
372. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 December 20, 2006 MARTIN, Tenn. -- First of all today, I want to welcome the newest member of the Mid-Majority family, the "vs. Others" page. Every team now has one -- even yours! -- and it's got all sort of cool stuff on it like records and results against current conference opponents, as well as records against oth......
373. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 December 19, 2006 There's a debate raging in Hoops Nation, one that has very little relevance whatsoever to anything relevant. It's supposed to be about respect, honor and parity. It should be about ball control, free throws and the flex offense. And sure, it's about basketball -- a little bit -- but it's also about ......
374. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
375. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 December 15, 2006 Kyle, it seems like mid-majors still aren't getting any respect. It doesn't matter how many games CAA or Missouri Valley teams win, it's either a "step towards respectability" or some kind of fluke. How many steps is it going to take? John, Falls Church VA I'll start this like I always do, with ......
376. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 December 8, 2006 WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. -- Let's go straight to the mailbag, no delay, no bullpoop. Kyle, all these heroic recaps of "mid-over-major" results are great and everything, but what about the December games that really matter, the early conference stuff? Stan K. You're right, Stan. It's easy to get caug......
377. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 25, 2006 CHICAGO - The holiday season. What a putrid, disgusting thing it's become. Housewives maiming each other over "door-buster" sales, crappy holiday music, pointless religious debates over nomenclature, and all those Lifetime movies starring Valerie Bertinelli about the little town that found the true ......
378. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 21, 2006 PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Calendar years. Every 12 months, it's a different one. Crazy stuff, that. But aside from the numbers, here's the only real difference between this basketball season and last season. Last season, ESPN's non-Andy Katz blog was telling you all about how great all these mid-major upse......
379. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 20, 2006 PAWTUCKET, R.I. - By November 19, 2005, there had been 16 games in which a school from one of the eight major conferences had been beaten by a school from one of the 23 other D-I conferences*. [*Unnamed Major Program From the Northwest excluded] This year, on that date, there have been 26. This i......
380. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 14, 2006 ROANOKE, Va. (en route to Charlotte) -- Hello again, friends, and welcome to your mid-major Pre-Hump Day. Before we get to yesterday's action, though, something's been bugging me. I was driving through Maryland this morning, and out of nowhere a beer ad jingle from the Eighties jumped from the dee......
381. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 13, 2006 BLOOMSBURY, N.J. (en route to Charlotte) -- Hello again, friends, and welcome back to TMM's regular schedule. This here is The Daily Paragraph, which is specifically designed to be triply too clever for it's own good: it's a play on existing basketball literature, is a sarcastic/ironic attempt at on......
382. by Kyle Whelliston
S3 November 2, 2006 One thing you can never say about our game is that it overstays its welcome. For all but the lucky pocket of players and fans whose season didn't end in a meaningful loss, college basketball is quickly forgotten, gone, off the radar. For some, it's the pull of the new baseball season, but for most......
383. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
384. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 March 8, 2006 The scenario seemed so familiar: a hungry low-seeded opponent readying to upset the regular-season champs in the title game and go on to the Tournament. Much like last season's shock loss to No. 7 Oakland, No. 6 Chicago State hung around and led into the second half on No. 1 Oral Roberts' home floor......
385. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
386. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 24, 2006 At some point, a team will simply refuse to accept a national ranking; George Mason was the most recent mid-20's mid-major to fall, losing at Hofstra last night and setting up the most incredibly thrilling Colonial tourney in league history. With GMU, Hofstra and UNCW (even Astyle=font-weight:bold H......
387. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 23, 2006 The University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a classic mid-major tale in the making: a scrappy bunch who masks their shooting inefficiencies with nationally-ranked defense, who shook off an embarrassing loss to RPI No. 278 East Carolina to go 13-3 in conference. But they're competing with lots ......
388. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
389. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
390. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 17, 2006 Here is is... it's BracketBusters time, and while we'll stop short of encouraging signal theft, do whatever you need to do to be in front of one of the 39 U.S. television sets that can pick up ESPNU tonight. Because you're going to get to see two teams that will likely have NCAA seed numbers attache......
391. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 15, 2006 When I called Hofstra head coach last summer to get his take on this season's CAA race, he said, "It's all about Old Dominion, baby." Well, in a strange twist of fate, it's been partially about Hofstra. They're just a game out in the loss column as the Colonial's stretch run begins.Tonight's tilt fe......
392. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 14, 2006 All due respect to the Valentine's Day bloodbath tonight between Penn and Princeton, there's no love lost in the upper reaches of the MVC. After a freaky weekend that saw five road wins, the best (and mathematically strangest) mid-major conference in America still features a four-way tie at the top ......
393. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 February 3, 2006 David Fisher's had a rough couple of weeks (no, not that David Fisher). The New Mexico State guard was declared academically ineligible in mid-January, but appealed to the school and NCAA to "reinterpret" his grades and was successfully reinstated. Now, I don't know what any of that means (I got a D......
394. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 28, 2006 The CAA's chances to avoid going stag to the Big Dance likely fizzled for another year when the last team having anything an at-large NCAA resumé, George Mason, lost to UNCW last Saturday. There are just too many untimely and/or embarrassing losses here. But now, hopefully, we can forge......
395. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 25, 2006 Undefeated powers collide tonight in the Patriot League! One of them you're aware of: league favorite and ESPY winners Bucknell, who are off to a 5-0 start after bravely battling the top teams in the nation. You probably aren't familiar with the home team tonight, Lehigh, unless you're old enough to......
396. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 22, 2006 Chant it with me now: "Chaminade, Valpo, North Dakota State." The independent Bison (RPI No. 187) and their nine freshmen lost on a buzzer-beating tip-in against Utah Valley State on Thursday, and the Wisconsin Badgers (RPI No. 3) had the extreme misfortune of being next on the schedule. Despite tur......
397. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 21, 2006 Here's a matchup of two teams that have lived the harsh reality of the modern-day SoCon, long ago the romping grounds of Duke and Carolina but now a league that struggles to get out of the teen-seeds. Georgia Southern (12-5, 3-1) had a breakthrough 21-win season in 2003-04, but were nipped by Chatta......
398. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 20, 2006 The future of the Colonial Athletic Association may not only be "next," he might even be "now." Hofstra's star junior guard scored seven of a gamebreaking 11-0 run, and the Pride notched a tremendously large road win at league favorites Old Dominion. The Pride shot just 42% as a club, but Stokes too......
399. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 19, 2006 The CAA went into the New York area to raise the league's visibility, so it's odd that of all the good-but-not-great teams that make up the league's core this year, Hofstra has received the least love. They won nine of ten against the middle of the RPI table in late December and early January, and a......
400. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 18, 2006 It's WAC-y Wednesday, and La-Tech is your surprise conference leader, sprinting out to a 4-0 start that includes nice wins against Hawaii and Fresno State. Defending two-time NCAA rebounding king Paul Millsap used the mini-run to climb back into the national lead in glasswork (12.5 rpg), and has his......
401. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 16, 2006 Martin Luther King didn't specifically mention basketball in his 1963 "I have a dream" speech, but its echoes were felt in the 1966 Texas Western national championship and later in the inclusion of HBCU's in the NCAA's Division I. Today, many of those historically black colleges and universities are......
402. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
403. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 7, 2006 Friday evening was a night of firsts for Division I newbie Kennesaw State: they notched their first-ever road win as a member of the NCAA's top flight, and their first-ever televised win as a D1. And that it came against -- and at -- Atlantic Sun favorite Gardner-Webb was pretty neat too. After a se......
404. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 3, 2006 We're keeping a close eye on ODU lately, because this is the stretch when they either prove themselves worthy of their hype or become an argument for the abolition of preseason magazines. Old Dominion's G!O!T!N! win last Friday night over the ACC's Virginia Tech is impressive until you start looking......
405. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 January 2, 2006 Like a new day finally dawning, a sunburst of conference play breaks over Hoops Nation on January 2. We've got games in the SWAC, Valley, A-Sun, NEC and Mid-Con on tap. But we're going to focus our G!O!T!N! cameras on Boston tonight. The Colonial was a major disappointment in the 2005 portion of the......
406. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 30, 2005 It's put up or shut up time for Old Dominion (7-4, 1-1 Colonial). The preseason league favorites have swung wildly from pole to pole, showing signs of their predicted level of play in amongst blowouts at the hands of Drexel and UAB, doing serious damage to any CAA two-bid scenario in the process. T......
407. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 28, 2005 With the CAA and MAC frontrunners taking big and bad losses recently, the Missouri Valley has emerged as the be-all end-all mid-major league in the early going - at least when it comes to multiple Tournament bids. Tonight, we have a holiday treat with two of those likely bids squaring off in Omaha ......
408. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 27, 2005 Game 114: at Manhattan 81, Fordham 68 Friday, December 23, 2005 Draddy Gymnasium - Bronx, NY The 21st Century is amazing. Thanks to scientific advances and mass-production, all you need is a phone line, a computer and a microphone and you're on the radio. Or live on the internet, with RealAudio o......
409. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 22, 2005 Something's been missing from VMI basketball in recent years, and it's not the strategically-placed letters "O" and "T." It's been "W"'s - take last season, for example, when they win three out of 16 conference games. But there's a new sheriff in town (former Virginia policeman Duggar Baucom), and h......
410. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 21, 2005 Game 110: Ohio 71, at Rhode Island 63 Saturday, December 10, 2005 Ryan Center - Kingston, RI If you skiied through high school English with yellow Cliff's Notes strapped to your feet, or if you received the bulk of your literary education on the can from "Don't Know Much About Books" books, you p......
411. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 16, 2005 Time to put a dent in the ol' mailbag. What chance do you think there is for the NCAA to allow a 5th year of eligibility in basketball? There are a number of reasons it would be a good idea. First, it will enable kids to remain on scholarship another year and enhance their graduation rates. Second,......
412. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 16, 2005 When I talked to ULL coach Robert Lee over the summer, it was the day after Dwayne Mitchell had been granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. He played in an exhibition game for Auburn before transferring, you see, and this had previously counted as a full year. Coach Lee was so happy, I co......
413. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 15, 2005 Time to check in with Buzzball On The Coast, Mr. Peterson's seaside rebuilding project in scenic Conway, S.C.. Coastal Carolina led for a half in Minnesota and beat MEAC power S.C. State yesterday, a matchup they probably lose last season. The 3-3 Chanticleers have a nice little tandem going in 2005......
414. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 4, 2005 Some people complained when it became necessary to have a Ph.D in geekology to decode the expanded Colonial Athletic Association's new new scheduling format, but you can't kvetch much when the opening weekend of play is capped by a hot game with seeding implications galore.The home of the 5-1 Seahaw......
415. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 December 2, 2005 Game 105: at Bucknell 87, Yale 60 Saturday, November 26, 2005 Sojka Pavilion - Lewisburg, PA There's a white sign that greets you when you drive onto their campus, a lush green acreage dotted by vermillion-brick buildings. "Welcome to", "http://schools.basketballstate.com/BUCK >Bucknell" it s......
416. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 30, 2005 This is 8 in a series of 10 early-season essays.Yeah, you, buster. You're as guilty as the next one. There's nobody around, it's okay to admit it - it's happened to you too. Here's the scene: you're sitting at the sports bar, watching the sports ticker out of the corner. There it is - a score that......
417. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 30, 2005 Tonight we say Yes! to Michigan, the Great Lake State. Both Bowling Green of the Mid-Am and NCAA Play-in Champions Oakland went down south to start the season (Blacksburg and Gainesville, respectively), and both had a modicum of success. BGSU beat their Hokie hosts, and the Golden Grizzlies both bea......
418. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 24, 2005 Game 102: at Providence 87, Vermont 77 Monday, November 21, 2005 Dunkin' Donuts Center - Providence, RI Here's an old joke for you. There are two types of people in this world, those who divide humanity into two types of people and those who don't. But in sports, there are actually three types of p......
419. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 23, 2005 Sure, cute-n-furry Jack White and his buddies had their fun last night in Hawaii. But they're power-conference imposters. The real small-town feel-good story is Bucknell, who continues to topple national powers. Last night, the team with eight scholarships went into Syracuse and came out with a guar......
420. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
421. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 22, 2005 George Mason's psychic RPI (PRPI?) has doubled in the 10 idle days since their Coaches vs. Cancer adventure in Winston-Salem. Before coming up just short in overtime against formerly nationally-rankedWake Forest, they surgically dismantledCalifornia-Irvine. UCI, as you might remember, went on to thr......
422. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 20, 2005 The thrilling 1996 Tournament upset is etched in your memory, sure - the game in which Princeton used the backdoor to topple UCLA. But do you recall the setup - the neutral-site playoff win against Penn? The teams met halfway at Lehigh, and battled into overtime. Afterwards, Pete Carrill wrote "I ......
423. by Kyle Whelliston
S2 November 7, 2005 This is 4 in a series of 10 early-season essays.With five seconds remaining in overtime, the home team was down by a single point. A packed and sweltering arena roared. The wise old coach, a veteran of these tense situations, quickly drew up a play during the final timeout and sent his charges back ......
424. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 21, 2005 Game 100: (5) Michigan State 72, (13) Vermont 61 NCAA Tournament, Second Round (Austin Bracket) Sunday, March 20, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Fitting then, that this is the final chapter: the Vermont Catamounts, the feel-good story of the year, fell to the Michigan State Spartans. It's a happy ......
425. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 21, 2005 Game 099: (10) North Carolina State 65, (2) Connecticut 62 NCAA Tournament, Second Round (Syracuse Bracket) Sunday, March 20, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Game 23: N.C. State/St. John's| ......
426. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 098: (5) Michigan State 89, (12) Old Dominion 81 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Austin Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Worcester, Oklahoma City, Nashville and Charlotte are locations that have absolutely nothing to do with one another. For a single weekend, though, th......
427. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 097: (13) Vermont 60, (4) Syracuse 57 (OT) NCAA Tournament, First Round (Austin Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA A crucial element of the tale is the heroine's anonymity - nobody knows who this girl is. She shows up at the ball in a nice chariot, rushes off in the ele......
428. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 096: (2) Connecticut 77, (15) Central Florida 71 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Syracuse Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA One popular view of college basketball holds that the players are just a rotating set of chess pieces, created and molded and positioned by masterm......
429. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 095: (10) North Carolina State 75, (7) Charlotte 63 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Syracuse Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA On television, all NCAA Tournament sites look like the happiest places on earth. The court is shiny, the paint-faced fans scream proudly, the ba......
430. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
431. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Delaware State Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: Duke Record: 19-13 (17-4 Mid-Eastern) Big Nonconference Wins: A 71-56 win in November versus Jackson State (14-17, 10-9 SWAC) in Las Vegas will have to do. 100 Games Project Appearances: #29, #52 Key Players: You won't find a more unselfish crew in the ......
432. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Why trust those Johnny-come-latelies? We've been covering these guys all season. Here, then, is the first of four capsule sets of the mid-major teams who will appear on your television screens starting on Thursday, along with a few clips of their TMM appearances. Montana Seed: 16 1st Round Opponen......
433. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Fairleigh Dickinson Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: Illinois Record: 20-12 (16-5 Northeast Conference) Big Nonconference Wins: December 9 at eventual MAAC two-seed Rider (76-74) 100 Games Project Appearances: #65 Key Players: Big Gordon Klaiber and little Tamien Trent are the inside-outside mechanism ......
434. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 15, 2005 Game 093: (4) Ohio 80, (7) Buffalo 79 (OT) Mid-American Championship Saturday, March 12, 2005 Gund Arena - Cleveland, OH The gauntlet was thrown down the night before. During a timeout contest sponsored by a regional chain of grocers, a pale young man named Hans stepped out onto the Gund Arena ......
435. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 14, 2005 MAC, Knifed: A lot of watercooler talk this morning is and will be centered around the Mid-American Conference, more specifically the lack of at-large teams from such. Even Dickie V, who was born on Exit 16W but made his coaching hay in the MAC's geographical sphere of influence, was all over the c......
436. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 14, 2005 In the heat of the postseason, it's easy for people to quickly sweep their preseason conference picks under the rug. What? Huh? I picked Princeton? Look over there, a birdie! But not this one; I face my failures head-on. For your amusement, here are my picks from late December. Note that I had an e......
437. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 13, 2005 Game 092: (7) Buffalo 75, (3) Western Michigan 68 Mid-American Semifinals Friday, March 11, 2005 Gund Arena - Cleveland, OH There's only so much humanity a person can take. If your heart bled for every panhandler's tale of woe, each wide-eyed island child in need of financial sponsorship, all vic......
438. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
439. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 13, 2005 Game 090: (4) Ohio 62, (5) Kent State 55 Mid-American Quarterfinals Thursday, March 10, 2005 Gund Arena - Cleveland, OH When the starting five take to the floor, there are all the matematically insignificant digits - 1, 3, 4, 5. There's even a double-zero out there. Low numbers are usually indi......
440. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 12, 2005 Bullet Points Congratulations to Bucknell, orange-clad kings of the Patriot League. Eight-seed Boise State continued to rip through the WAC bracket, knocking off Fresno State one day after dispatching 1 Nevada. Today marks the grand crescendo of the mid-major season. With finals in the America East......
441. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 11, 2005 Bullet Points Western Athletic regular season champions Nevada dropped a shock decision to Boise State, clearing the way for a two-bid WAC. There won't likely be many other two-bid mid-major leagues except for, say, the Missouri Valley... apparently the new RPI isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'......
442. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 10, 2005 Bullet Points Two more Dance tickets were printed and punched last night: Fairleigh-Dickinson out of the NEC, and Montana from the Big Sky. Defending champion Florida A&M was ousted from the MEAC tournament. After a last-second bracket reshuffling due to three forfeited games, the SWAC gets it ......
443. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 9, 2005 Bullet Points Oakland of the Mid-Continent Conference pulled the low-seed surprise of the year, taking down 1 seed Oral Roberts in the league's title game by a 61-60 score. Two other proud conference champions, and two overjoyed satellite campuses: Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Louisiana-Lafayette. The P......
444. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 8, 2005 Bullet Points Four champions are crowned: Creighton (MVC), Niagara (MAAC), Old Dominion (CAA) and UMPFN (WCC). Three more tonight: the Sun Belt, Mid-Continent, and the Horizon league matchup of Detroit and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The run of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies of the Mid-Con continued, they'......
445. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 8, 2005 Game 079: (2) Northeastern 86, (6) Maine 73 America East Semifinals Sunday, March 6, 2005 Events Center - Binghamton, NY The point guard position has enjoyed a long and strange evolution. From Bob Cousy to Jerry "The Logo" West, and later to Magic Johnson and Allen Iverson, players of all sizes, ......
446. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 8, 2005 Game 081: (1) Old Dominion 73, (2) Virginia Commonwealth 66 (OT) CAA Championship Monday, March 7, 2005 Richmond Coliseum - Richmond, VA I wish that I had the words to describe the marked contrast between February to March, the shock of that annual transition. Games in the shortest month have var......
447. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 8, 2005 Game 080: (6) Morgan State 77, (11) Maryland-Eastern Shore 56 MEAC First Round Monday, March 7, 2005 Arthur Ashe Center - Richmond, VA In recent years, the fine city of Richmond, Virginia has hosted two Division I basketball tournaments - that of the Colonial Athletic Association, as well as the......
448. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 7, 2005 Bullet Points No finals yesterday, four tonight. The Missouri Valley, as expected since the beginning of the season, was no cookie-cutter cakewalk for top seeds. Both 1 Southern Illinois and 2 Wichita State went down, but the Salukis remain bulletproof on Selection Sunday. Two defending conference ......
449. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
450. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 6, 2005 Game 077: (6) Maine 47, (3) Boston University 45 America East Quarterfinals Saturday, March 5, 2005 Events Center - Binghamton, NY When you drive east into Boston along the MassPike, you'll pass by the home of the local pro baseball team. Last May, Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino asked Tom Brennan to ......
451. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 6, 2005 Game 076: (2) Northeastern 90, (7) Stony Brook 79 America East Quarterfinals Saturday, March 5, 2005 Events Center - Binghamton, NY Jose Juan Barea of Northeastern scored 41 points on 17-for-32 shooting, and his Huskies prevailed over the Stony Brook Seawolves in an America East quarterfinal. Tha......
452. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 5, 2005 Bullet Points Two one-seeds went down: Tennessee Tech lost in the OVC semifinals, and Davidson was eliminated in the Southern Conference semis. Four automatic bids will be handed out today, as the ESPN networks begin a schedule of court-stormings every two hours or so. We have the Big South's matc......
453. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 3, 2005 Game 070: at New Hampshire 76, Stony Brook 66 Sunday, February 28, 2005 Lundholm Gymnasium - Durham, NH On a cold and clear Senior Day just off the New Hampshire seacoast, the 100 Games Project entered the seventies. The 100GP tied Mark McGwire's single-season home run record, an aesthetically plea......
454. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
455. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 27, 2005 Ivy: Pennsylvania 80, Columbia 72 (story) - Congratulations to the Quakers! The first ticket to the NCAA Tournament was punched last night as Penn (17-8, 10-1) clinched the Ivy League regular-season title. They stormed to a win on the Lions' home court, bolstered by 68% second-half shooting and a ......
456. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 26, 2005 Game 066: at Boston University 66, Maine 50 Thursday, February 24, 2005 Case Gymnasium - Boston, MA The scoreboard records the points, the newspaper keeps track of the wins and losses, and the banners hanging in the rafters immortalize the championships and dynasties. Lights, paper, cloth - that's ......
457. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 25, 2005 Atlantic Sun: Central Florida 58, Gardner-Webb 55 (story) - G-Webb (15-11, 12-7 ASun), who finished ninth and out of the conference tournament last year, could have clinched the regular-season title and the tourney one-seed right there on their home floor. The Runnin' Bulldogs From Boiling Springs c......
458. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
459. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 21, 2005 America East: Northeastern 63, Boston University 48 (story) - It's a dog-eat-dog world, and nowhere is that more true than in this conference. The Terriers of BU (19-6, 13-3 AE) stifled junior sharpshooter and former MMBOW Jose Juan Barea (2-for-17, 10 pts) on Senior Day, and held on to a lead for n......
460. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 21, 2005 After Nevada's streaking ascent to the Sweet Sixteen out of a 10-seed (they defeated Michigan State and UMPFN before falling to eventual national runner-up Georgia Tech), they lost their coach (Trent Johnson) to Stanford and their top scorer (Kirk Snyder) to the NBA. Most preseason publications had ......
461. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 18, 2005 Game 063: Arkansas-Little Rock 55, at Western Kentucky 53 Thursday, February 17, 2005 E.A. Diddle Arena - Bowling Green, KY With no teams in the major pro leagues and no meaningful college football of any kind, it may be the one state in the union where residents are free to obsess over college bas......
462. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
463. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 16, 2005 Game 060: at Chattanooga 82, North Carolina-Greensboro 68 Monday, February 14, 2005 McKenzie Arena - Chattanooga, TN No news here, but this red state-blue state thing isn't a new divide by any means. Back in the 1860's, an invisible Mason-Dixon line separated America's two primary philosophical nat......
464. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 16, 2005 Game 061: at Austin Peay 73, Jacksonville State 65 Tuesday, February 15, 2005 Dunn Center - Clarksville, TN When halftime comes, the "Gov" mascot strides onto the floor accompanied by his attendants, a phalanx of black-dressed cheerleaders. The red-coated, top-hatted old gent with a monocle, a cha......
465. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 15, 2005 Mid-American: Akron 81, Toledo 79 (OT) (story) - It was a clash between teams with MAC high-seed aspirations. But most games this year in this league are like that. Eight of the 13 teams currently have winning records, mostly because Marshall and Central Michigan are so awful. But this was no Valent......
466. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 14, 2005 So it turns out that Hot Sh*t Saturday was a great success. Six games, all good. Thrillers, comebacks, overtime, great shooting, great defense... HSS had something for everyone. Let's review: Big West: Pacific 64, Utah State 63 (story) - With 31 seconds left, homestanding Utah State was leading 61-......
467. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 14, 2005 Game 059: Wagner 62, at St. Francis (NY) 61 Saturday, February 12, 2005 Pope Center - Brooklyn, NY The Northeast Conference doesn't try to be something that it's not, and that's refreshing. Their mission statement strives for "athletic achievement, academic integrity and development, community out......
468. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 13, 2005 Game 057: at Fordham 63, Massachusetts 56 Saturday, February 12, 2005 Rose Hill Gym - Bronx, NY As alums, Atlantic-10 fanatics and trivia buffs can tell you, Fordham's Rose Hill Gymnasium is the oldest facility in Division I college basketball. Its beauty is undeniable - upon approach, you wonder i......
469. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 13, 2005 Game 056: at Pennsylvania 73, Columbia 66 Friday, February 11, 2005 The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA Every game counts, but the sad flipside of the Ivy League season is that it is cruel and short: only fourteen games over six weeks. Each team gets three weekends at home, two midweek contests against......
470. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 11, 2005 Game 053: at Delaware 76, William & Mary 47 Saturday, February 6, 2005 Bob Carpenter Center - Newark, DE As the second half of a CAA second-division blowout wore sadly on, I pulled out my Sony digital camera and began snapping the traditional round of atmospheric pictures that make up such a la......
471. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 11, 2005 Big South: Winthrop 69, Liberty 61 (story) - I'd like to introduce you to a young man named Torrell Martin. He's a 6'5" sophomore shooting guard for the Winthrop Eagles who can shoot. During the Winthrop Gauntlet - a six-day, four-game stretch from hell - Martin has been completely lights out: 19 po......
472. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 10, 2005 Firstly, a big "yo" to all Philadelphia Inquirer readers who scoped Janet Paskin's piece instead of the sports-section leader about Donovan McNabb's vomit. Welcome to TMM, here's the first page. Despite both what The Official Wife Of The Mid-Majority™ says and Herculean efforts by the gentlema......
473. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 9, 2005 Big South: Winthrop 72, High Point 55 (story) - The Winthrop Gauntlet, as mentioned yesterday, is a four-game, six-day stretch; they'll take any break they can get. Last night, they took advantage of the indefinite suspension of HP's star forward (and defending Big South Player Of The Year) Danny Ga......
474. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 8, 2005 Letters. Who doesn't love 'em? I read each one, answer a few directly, and on a good day am able to post a "Mid-Majority Mailbag" entry. Here, then, are the results from my second good day. Wanted to say that I appreciate your site. I graduated from Albany 20 years ago. Went to almost every game ......
475. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
476. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 5, 2005 Game 051: Pennsylvania 70, at Harvard 57 Friday, February 4, 2005 Lavietes Pavilion - Cambridge, MA Two weeks after the Blizzard of 2005, much of the ancient city of Boston was still buried under three feet of frozen white. The temperatures had been too frigid for significant melting to occur, and ......
477. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 4, 2005 Game 050: at Central Connecticut State 78, St. Francis (PA) 60 Thursday, February 4, 2005 Detrick Gymnasium - New Britain, CT Our game is played in two halves, each lasting twenty minutes. As soon as time slips away in the first half, there is a traditional break in the action. The game clock is re......
478. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 3, 2005 Game 049: at Manhattan 69, Fairfield 61 Sunday, January 30, 2005 Draddy Gymnasium - Bronx, NY Draddy Gymnasium is a proud old barn on top of a hill in the Bronx, nestled alongside the other gold-hued brick buildings of Manhattan College's campus. Inside, just about everything has the same medium gr......
479. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 2, 2005 Game 046: at Drexel 88, James Madison 60 Saturday, January 29, 2005 Daskalakis Athletic Center - Philadelphia, PA They ended up sending me a bunch of admissions brochures, but Malik Rose was a far better ambassador for Drexel University than any glossy-print booklet could ever be. I remember sittin......
480. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 2, 2005 Missouri Valley: Creighton 73, Wichita State 69 (story) - If ever there was a year when Wichita fans believed they could end their decade-long curse and win a game at Creighton, this was it. But in the land of big steaks, the Bluejays ran off a big 19-3 streak after finding themselves in a halftime ......
481. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
482. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 February 1, 2005 Game 045: Duquesne 72, at LaSalle 67 Saturday, January 29, 2005 Tom Gola Arena - Philadelphia, PA The last time I saw Duquesne play, I was chowing down on a pile of Dayton Arena nachos. About a thousand people were in attendance as the Dukes gutted out a tight upset win over East division four-seed......
483. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 30, 2005 Results from Shakedown Saturday are in! And here they are! Mid-Continent: Missouri-Kansas City 88, Oral Roberts 74 (story) - Okay, UMKC Kangaroos, here's your "for real" tag. Wear it proudly. With four minutes left, they were up by only four and had lost their entire two-man backcourt to foul disqu......
484. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 27, 2005 Game 042: Richmond 78, at LaSalle 71 Wednesday, January 27, 2005 Tom Gola Arena - Philadelphia, PA Last week, I attempted an experiment I called "GameLogg™ Coverage." After a MAAC doubleheader, I posted minute-by-minute recaps of both games - the response was, well, less than evenly split. T......
485. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
486. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 24, 2005 Patriot: Army 63, Navy 43 (story) - I've been talking so much about the Academies lately, might as well share the biggest upset of the day. Having observed the wide gulf of talent between Army (3-14, 1-4 PL) and Navy (3-15, 0-5 PL) within the past week, I'm in slackjawed disbelief at a result that s......
487. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
488. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 23, 2005 Game 039: at Holy Cross 79, Navy 56 Friday, January 21, 2005 Hart Center - Worcester, MA Just a little over 98 years ago, Navy basketball was born. After a well-attended intramural scrimmage at the U.S. Naval Academy, played a mere decade and a half after the peach-basket birth of the sport, the lo......
489. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 20, 2005 Colonial: Old Dominion 67, Hofstra 66 (story) - As was the case in their recent squeaker against Drexel, Old Dominion raced out to a big lead and then hit the cruise control button too early. The second half was filled with streaky back-and-forth runs, and the homestanding Pride grabbed a 66-64 lead......
490. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 20, 2005 Game 037: at Northeastern 77, Boston University 75 Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Matthews Arena - Boston, MA Folks might think that when your humble narrator married The Official Wife Of The Mid-Majority™, it would have been a big hoops-themed ceremony - you know, with a wedding cake shaped lik......
491. by Kyle Whelliston
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......
492. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 18, 2005 Southern: Georgia Southern 102, Chattanooga 84 (story | play-by-play) - Throw out the record book! The SoCon team record for three-point goals made in a game was set last night in Statesboro, Georgia, where the Eagles (8-7, 4-2 SoCon) nailed 22 to bring down the North division-leading Mocs. Diminuti......
493. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 18, 2005 Game 034: New Hampshire 69, at Binghamton 60 Sunday, January 17, 2005 Events Center - Binghamton, NY In my youth, Binghamton was more of a concept than an actual place. My New York Rangers had their farm team there once, and the place seemed like a magical blue fog from which hockey players would a......
494. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 18, 2005 Game 036: Canisius 84, at Siena 80 (OT) Monday, January 17, 2005 Pepsi Arena - Albany, NY This is the second part of The Mid-Majority's GameLogg™ coverage of the annual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference M.L.K. Day doubleheader. The first installment can be found here. Our second game featu......
495. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 16, 2005 Metro Atlantic: Marist 88, Niagara 87 (story) - The half-asleep Purple Eagles (9-6, 4-3 MAAC) were spent emotionally and physically after their tough loss at Manhattan the other night, and almost had enough to sleepwalk through this one. But the upstart Red Foxes (who are now a surprising 5-1 in con......
496. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 14, 2005 Big West: Pacific 73, Utah State 66 (2OT) (story|box) - If only this game was televised, so I could pass out burned DVD copies to all the people who blather on at me about how boring mid-major basketball is. This battle between last year's co-regular season champions had it all: lead changes, scorin......
497. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 14, 2005 There is no question that that this is a deeply divided nation, this America. The election last November showed a country split between Republicans and Democrats, retro and metro, blue states and red. And across those thin black battle lines flew the arrows of misunderstanding, hate and prejudice. J......
498. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 13, 2005 Western Athletic: Texas-El Paso 83, Nevada 80 (OT) (story) - UTEP (11-2, 4-0 WAC) has passed its early tests against Rice and Nevada, and have established themselves as the true team to beat in the conference. But it wasn't easy on this night, against the team with whom they shared last year's regul......
499. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 13, 2005 Game 031: at Lehigh 63, Lafayette 57 Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Stabler Arena - Bethlehem, PA February 14th, 2004 broke cold and clear in the slumbering burg of Easton, Pennsylvania, but the love in the Kirby Sports Center was powerful enough to warm the whole town. Lafayette's basketball team sat......
500. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 11, 2005 Mid-Continent: Western IIlinois 85, Oral Roberts 83 (story) - I said last week that we wouldn't be bothering to mention WIU that much this year, but I was brutally incorrect. ORU (11-4, 2-1 Mid-Con) couldn't get through their first conference road trip perfect, and 1,291 Leatherneck fans saw it happ......
501. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 11, 2005 Game 029: at Delaware State 68, Morgan State 53 Monday, January 10, 2005 Memorial Hall - Dover, Delaware On December 18, Delaware State traveled to Michigan State's Breslin Events Center to pick up a routine five-figure guarantee check and a whoopin'. But they had grander aspirations: out of the ga......
502. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 10, 2005 Game 028: at Boston University 69, Binghamton 54 Sunday, January 9, 2005 Case Gymnasium - Boston, Massachusetts This wasn't going to come to light until the 100 Games Project director's cut or the DVD extras, but there's a missing game on the list. On Wednesday, November 24, I took the Green Line o......
503. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 9, 2005 Since this has turned out to be America East week here at The Mid-Majority (four of the last five 100 Games Project tilts have been from that particular league), it's only fitting that an AE guy is the recipient of our regular weekly honor. Big, burly Taylor Copppenrath of the <A Vermont Catamoun......
504. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 9, 2005 West Coast: St. Mary's 66, UMPFN 61 (story) - Well, that didn't take long - now the folks who compile those goofy "mid-major polls" have to pick someone else. Homestanding St. Mary's used Mr. Three to take down the Unnamed Major Program From the Northwest, knocking down 16 of them. Senior guard Paul......
505. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 7, 2005 WAC: Texas-El Paso 96, Rice 67 (story) - Reigning MMBOW Michael Harris had 10 points and 15 rebounds - but most were during the first ten minutes, when the visiting Owls established dominance down low. UTEP was able to make successful adjustments, and for the remainder of the game they kept Rice out......
506. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 6, 2005 Colonial: Old Dominion 60, Drexel 59 (story) - You can't tell much about this game from the boxscore - both teams shot around 40%, were even on rebounds, and neither club turned the ball over that much. But ask one of the 2,000 or so who showed up at Drexel's DAC, and they'll tell you how truly ugly......
507. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 5, 2005 Hoops Nation rejoice! College football season is finally over! Mid-Continent: Oral Roberts 73, Southern Utah 67 (story) - It was a ho-hum night for the Golden Eagles' wonder twin powers: pocket-sized guard Ken Tutt dropped 22 points, and Caleb Green dub-dubbed with 14 points and 11 rebounds. ORU al......
508. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 4, 2005 Mid-Continent: Missouri-Kansas City 77, IUPUI 61 (story) - If anyone's going to catch Oral Roberts in the Mid-Con this year it's IUPUI, who made a name for themselves (errr, make that an acronym for themselves) by going to the Tournament in 2003, then coming five points short last year. UMKC, whose ......
509. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 January 4, 2005 Game 024: Boston University 72, at Albany 69 Sunday, January 2, 2005 Recreation and Convocation Center - Albany, New York When you play college hoops on your PlayStation or XBox, you have the option to enter something called "legacy mode." As you take the reins of a bottom-feeding school and try to......
510. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 31, 2004 Missouri Valley: IIlinois State 62, Southwest Missouri State 61 (story) - I apologize in advance if this site goes through January and February stretches where it seems like the All-Valley Blog, but this league is going to be red-hot. Illinois State (8-3, 1-1 MVC) is rising Phoenix-like from a disas......
511. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 30, 2004 Southeast Missouri 65, Saint Louis 49 (story) - When you have a defensive club that has trouble scoring points, you'll still end up beating a few teams. When your defense goes missing and you still can't score points, everyone will beat you. This is the story of the Billikens, whose lost season (2-9......
512. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 29, 2004 Game 021: at Drexel 76, Monmouth 47 Tuesday, December 28, 2004 Daskalakis Athletic Center - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Like so many great things, it all started at the University of Oregon. Hall Of Fame coach Howard "Hobby" Hobson led the Ducks back in the Forties, and he also served on the NCAA ru......
513. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 28, 2004 Because I took an extra day of X-Mas break yesterday, this week's MMBOW only has six days to rule over the mid-major world instead of the normal seven. I'm feeling a little guilty about this and it even kept me up last night for a few extra minutes, so I wanted to do something extra-special for this......
514. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 28, 2004 Game 020: at Villanova 81, Middle Tennessee State 62 Monday, December 27, 2004 The Pavilion - Villanova, Pennsylvania CHAPTER 1 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright and turned away from all evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and thre......
515. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 23, 2004 Game 019: at Villanova 86, Albany 72 Wednesday, December 22, 2004 The Pavilion - Villanova, PA I just found your story about the Nova vs. Fordham game on the Rivals board. Congratulations. You're living proof that any egotistical, misinformed jackass with a computer and an internet connection can s......
516. by Kyle Whelliston
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 ......
517. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 19, 2004 When I put together the Finals Week quiz, I thought that it would be some nice blog-filler for a light week of hoops. I had no idea that people would actually complete it and send it in, and that I'd find myself "grading" 32 tests despite my total lack of teaching experience. I talked to the Officia......
518. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 18, 2004 Winthrop 70, East Carolina 55 (story) - With embarrassing losses to D2 teams and potential school-poaching by the Atlantic Sun, it hasn't been the Big South's day, their week, their month, or even their year. But Winthrop has been a big bright spot, running out to a 7-2 record that includes two wins......
519. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 17, 2004 No recap-worthy games or newsworthy news in the college hoops world on Thursday, so we're really "faking the funk" today. In August 2003, the Connecticut Post printed a story based on an anonymous letter that charged that Fairfield's basketball program was a cesspool of cash, third-party schoolwork......
520. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 16, 2004 Lander 67, Charleston Southern 59 (story) - To get beat by a Division II team, you usually have to go to Alaska or Hawaii. But this game marked just the third time this season that a true D2 has beaten a D1 - and the first time it's happened at the big school's house. Charleston Southern has traditi......
521. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 16, 2004 Yes, it's still Mid-Majority Finals Week! It's the third day of it, in fact. Today, we have some fine mathematical and statistical questions for you that mostly have to do with mid-major basketball-related things. "Pencils down" time is Saturday at 6:00 PM EST. But you knew that. Unless you just sh......
522. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 14, 2004 San Diego 75, Eastern Washington 56 (story) - San Diego was the 298th-best team in the nation last year in terms of RPI, and now here they are beating the stuffing out of the defending Big Sky champions. EWU is now 2-5, mostly against lower-tier WCC and Big West competition. Is the door open for Web......
523. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 9, 2004 Game 014: Central Connecticut State 60, at LaSalle 48 Wednesday, December 8, 2004 Tom Gola Arena - Philadelphia, PA The Jimmy V Classic, a doubleheader of high-profile games designed to be shown on a certain national sports television outlet, was held the other day up at Madison Square Garden. Unfo......
524. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 7, 2004 Northwestern State 85, Tulane 72 (story) - Northwestern (Louisiana) State is the answer to a trivia question - who won the first NCAA Tournament 65-vs.-64 play-in game? (against Winthrop, 2001). They also beat Kentucky 16 years ago. Not known for their long-range accuracy, the Southland Conference's......
525. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 7, 2004 The U.S. Postal Service recommends that folks get their holiday mailing done early, because an estimated 20 billion pieces of mail will be sent through the pipes during these next few weeks. That's a lot of mail. So just because there are 16 whole shopping days left until Christmas doesn't mean you ......
526. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 6, 2004 The other day, I was doing something I rarely do - watching SportsCenter. (I'm more of an ESPNews guy.) They were coming in from a commercial break, and they showed a 30-second quick-cut highlight reel of all the Heisman Trophy candidates, set to hot and funky urban beats. There was a repeated loop ......
527. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 5, 2004 Game 013: Drexel 57, St. Joseph's 49 Saturday, December 4, 2004 The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA Dear Mr. or Ms. St. Joseph's Hawk, Hello. How are you doing? I hope you don't mind that I'm participating in the ridiculous tradition by writing a "concept" piece in the form of a published open letter,......
528. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 5, 2004 Game 012: Temple 53, Villanova 52 Saturday, December 4, 2004 The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA My Uncle Pete is about as cool as the side of the pillow that's directly under some sweaty guy's butt. A while ago, I heard him use the phrase "jump the shark" while referring to Penn State football. I hope......
529. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 5, 2004 Game 011: Pennsylvania 78, LaSalle 67 Saturday, December 4, 2004 The Palestra - Philadelphia, PA Carlos Castaneda's primary life mantra, "fly past the eagle and be free," probably wouldn't go over too well in Philadelphia, a town stuck in a perpetual heartbreak cycle with its football team. But h......
530. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 4, 2004 UNC-Greensboro 79, Southern Mississippi 78 (story) - At Iowa's Hawkeye Challenge, the C-USA's Golden Eagles were up by eight at the break against a second-division SoCon school... but blew the lead and let the Spartans spurt after a Larry Eustachy technical. UNCG's Ricky Hickman led all scorers with......
531. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 3, 2004 Indiana State 62, Birmingham Southern 55 (story) - The prohibitive favorites in the Big South - and champions of the recent Marist Classic - went to Indiana and got beat by the worst team in the Valley. The Sycamores (or the "Trees" if you're cool) did the Panthers in with stingy perimeter defense, ......
532. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 December 2, 2004 UC Davis 72, Sacramento State 63 (OT) (box) - Davis has to wait until 2007 to achieve full Division I status and join the Big West, but they're wasting no time. The 1998 D2 national champions beat the Big Sky's Hornets in the "Hornets' Nest" by a sizeable margin in overtime, despite never having had......
533. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 30, 2004 Georgia State 85, Louisiana-Lafayette 78 (story) - A good Atlantic Sun club beat a bigger and stronger Ragin' Cajun team - one picked by many to storm through the Sun Belt Conference this year - by making their free throws down the stretch. It was the front end of a rare non-conference home-and-home......
534. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 29, 2004 Santa Clara strikes again! A week after making North Carolina extremely angry, the Broncos beat Stanford 86-76 at home. They were led by Travis Niesen and his jump hook - 31 points and 11 rebounds for the reigning MMBOW. Independent Texas A&M-Corpus Christi free-threw a tired Old Dominion team ......
535. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 28, 2004 A stocked slate of 113 games yesterday. Where to begin? Alaska-Anchorage 66, High Point 65 (story) - The Great Alaska Shootout gives us the season's first upset of a D1 team by a D2. The Big South's Panthers were up 12 halfway through the second half and let it slip away. Northern IIllinois 84, De......
536. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 26, 2004 Today, we celebrate the one-weekiversary of the brawl that will likely end up plunging the NBA to levels of fan indifference not seen since the 1970's. Pundits are still lining up to decry a disturbing new "culture of violence" in the modern sports world. Who's to blame? The fans, the players, the m......
537. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 24, 2004 It's time once again for the Great Alaska Shootout (not to be confused with the Top Of The World Classic). I'm sure it's difficult to be at least 4,000 miles far away from home on Thanksgiving, but I hope the players don't get too bored between games and do stupid things, like, say, getting lost in ......
538. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 24, 2004 Game 007: at Villanova 66, Maryland-Baltimore County 41 Tuesday, November 23, 2004 The Pavilion - Villanova, PA Earlier this month, boxer Thomas "Top Dog" Williams and promoter Bobby Mitchell were found guilty of conspiracy and sports bribery for fixing a fight in Las Vegas four years ago. The go......
539. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 22, 2004 When the Mid-Majority Baller Of The Week award made its debut last week, I never expected that it would be argued about in sports bars across the nation, become the target of intense lobbying by athletic directors, or gain a cherished place in college basketball fans' hearts. At least, not right awa......
540. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 20, 2004 Game 005: Auburn 80, at Temple 78 Friday, November 19, 2004 Liacouras Center - Philadelphia, PA I never attended Temple University. It was a close call, though - when I moved to Philadelphia back in 1997, I looked long and hard at TU as a transfer option. I mean, it's a great school. But my girlfri......
541. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 18, 2004 When your humble proprietor was a wee lad, he played him some base ball. Although official statistics were not recorded in the Keene-Peterborough (N.H.) Pee Wee League, I'm sure that my .560 season batting average (achieved primarily with slap singles) would have been near the top of the league lead......
542. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 16, 2004 The Magnificent Spitlers: USA Today profiles four brothers who all gained spots on Division I basketball teams (Saint Peter's, Stony Brook,Canisius and Holy Cross) the walk-on way. Says Chris Spitler, "What's amazing to me is that all of us could be mediocre enough not to get a scholarship." Air Fo......
543. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 15, 2004 I can remember a time when close only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades. When second place meant "#1 loser," when gold was for champions and silver was for dinnerware, when "Miss Congeniality" and "bridesmaid" really meant "No Soup For You." There, in the dimmest recesses of my memory, I remem......
544. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 13, 2004 It is designed to do a lot of things, but it certainly is not designed to break your heart. The game begins in the late autumn, when everything else has shriveled and fallen and died. Its blossoms come slowly in winter's course like crocus starts popping through icefields. And when it does stop, it ......
545. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 12, 2004 Game 001: Drexel 78, University Of The Sciences 45 (exh.) Thursday, November 11, 2004 Daskalakis Athletic Center - Philadelphia, PA The Chili's at 38th and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, in an attempt to "get local," offers a menu item they call the "Drexel Dragons Burger." It's a half-pound of ......
546. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 11, 2004 To the baseball fan, a long winter of hot stove leagues and hibernation is rendered tolerable by that most optimistic of sporting phrases, those two words that warm the soul like sunshine on the coldest of January mornings: "Opening Day." The football fan can summon the bracing chill of September w......
547. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 9, 2004 Questions, Frequently Asked and Otherwise So, what's this about? It's about mid-major basketball. Every day except Saturday, I post a "Dribblings" entry to consolidate the scores and news from Mid-Major Land into one easy-to-digest package. It includes recaps of key games, a "Shootaround!" of conf......
548. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 9, 2004 One Sunday afternoon in early February, I found myself sitting in a cold, half-empty gymnasium in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. I was watching Rider and Loyola - two of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's perennial doormats - fall all over each other. It was halftime, and the two squads had barely......
549. by Kyle Whelliston
S1 November 9, 2004 My earliest basketball memory: it's a cold winter morning in New England, November 1983. I'm eleven years old, and I'm pulling a Greg Ballard Washington Bullets home jersey over my spindly torso (the only one at the sporting goods store that fit me). I'm taller than the other boys in the neighborhoo......

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Now in its sixth season, The Mid-Majority is a blog about the 24 smaller Division I college basketball conferences (and independents) by Kyle Whelliston.

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