Non P6 hoops- more news- WCC and W2 too

 NCAA requires at least seven active Division I members, which must sponsor men's and women's basketball, and for the conference to sponsor at least 12 Division I sports. Beavers and Cougar of the PAC2 have a two-year grace period in which it can exist without the minimum number of schools.

Oregon St and Wazzoo are working to join West Coast Conference as affiliate members. Zags and San Francisco are off to decent starts this season and are keys to the Alliances as well geography. St Marys has stumbled a bit this season but has been a regular Dance participant in the past 5 years. Dec 20 WCC scoreboard.

Dec 28, 2023

I took a quick look the non power6 hoops standings and focused on Liberty and WKU each being 10-3. LU got rocked by FAU but has a decent win over Wichita St. Flames face Bama today and WKU on 1/6. WKU lost to Wichita St.

Wichita St (AAC) played solid games against Kansas St and Mizzou but lost.

Dec 30, 2023

 Kind of confused by "stuns" in this headline:  San Diego State stuns No. 15 Gonzaga 84-74. Aztecs were in the Dance Final game last season and have less losses than the Zags this season.

Jan 1, 2024

Checked out some of the Summit League matchup of Omaha @ South Dakota. Frankie Fidler is a player to keep your eyes on. He scored 27 and made three steals for Omaha in a 67-51 win. ORU knocked off Denver, who defeated Omaha on Dec 29.

Jan 4, 2024

Omaha 81 Arizona(Big Sky) 55 Fidler 22 points, 2 steals

Marshall is getting healthy playing SunBelt opponents with recent wins over ULL and ULM after the Dec 21 loss to UNCW(CAA), who beat Kentucky earlier this season,

Jan 6, 2024

MAC: Checked in on the end of the Toledo 68 MiamiO 64 game last night. Ragged, physical play and neither team looks like it will fare well against Akron this season. Freeman (24pts,11reb) in the Zips 83-67 win over Bowling Green last night.

Jan 7, 2024

A10 is heating up. GW hung on to win 84-82 at VCU, who were trying to recover from a tough loss to the Bonnies. James Bishop IV made a two-point pullup jump shot for GW with two seconds remaining.

#herd beat TXST for its 3rd straight SBC win

WKU edged Liberty in CUSA action.

Jan 10, 2024

Wow, Aztecs got a scare from San Jose St  SDST 81 SJST 78.  J. LeDee  scored 31 PTS for Aztecs in MWC play.

Zips keep winning in MAC play. Akron 80 Ball State 76

Jan 12, 2024

FAU facing some tough AAC foes . Boyd scored 21 for FAU in an 85-84 win over Tulane.

WCC: Gonzaga(11-5), 4th in WCC lost to  Santa Clara(12-6), 2nd in WCC by the score 77-76

Santa Clara has wins over Oregon and Wazzoo(Pac12) and a loss to  Taco Tech(San Jose St-MWC)

Jan 13, 2024

Friday night is a decent night to check in on the non-P6, but sometimes it ain't pretty. Youngstown St 81 Wright St 71 -looked more like a rugby game at certain points.

Robert Morris 91 Purdue(Fort Wayne) 88. Corbin led RMU with 28 points. Perhaps RMU is finally getting some traction since leaving the NEC in 2020.

MILW 88 CLEV 80

Jan 15, 2024

Ragged game. Surprised Liberty stayed close to the end.  La Tech 80 LU 76. Crawford scored 22 for LT

In AAC play Memphis 112 Wichita St 86.

Plus Tulane lost a tough one to last place Tulsa 94-87 in OT. Haggerty scored 25 for Tulsa.

Jan 17, 2024

Akron remains in first in the MAC. AKR 77 WMU 66. Freeman had 20 pts, 14 reb for the Zips.

Week 10 in the O5

 AAC: While it lasts, an AAC matchup between two former SWC teams. SMU 30 Rice 20. SMU QB

P. Stone (2138 YDS, 19 TD, 5 INT) is having a great season.

CUSA: La Tech will give Liberty a scare in Lynchburg, VA, but not prevail. LIB 24 LaTech 23

MWC: I 'll go with Fresno QB Mikey Keene in a home game. FRES 31 Boise St 27

SunBelt: Both teams have struggled. J. Aguilar QB - APP (2173YDS 20TD 6INT) will do enough at home for win over Marshall.  Appy 21 Marshall 16. It will be televised on NFLN.

I didn't pick the game: Gunnar Watson threw 3 TD passes to Chris Lewis for Troy in a 28-10 win over South Bama. Troy is 4-1 in the SBC

Nov 5, 2023

Rice gave SMU a good game. SMU 36 Rice 31

Q. Cooley RB - LIB (23CAR 179YDS 2TD) in a 56-30 win over LaTech, but wasn't as close as I guessed.

Fresno moves to 4-1 in the MWC with a 37-30 win over the Blueturfers

Rough times for the Herd. Appy 31 Marshall 9.

correct on all 4 picks.

Some wild AAC scores: Tulane could only manage 13 points in a win over ECU. Memphis 59 USF 50. Tigers won but their D is bad.

Week 6 in the O5

 MWC: Hard to resist making a guess on Fresno St at Wyoming. Kenne, the Fresno QB, has nearly 1500 passing yards but Cowboys will slow him down and Waylee will rush for over 100 yards. WYO 25 FRES 24.

AAC: Long road trip for NTX to Navy, but they'll squeak out a win. NTX 17 Navy 16. I'm not sold on the new Navy HC Newberry.

MAC: Both teams have upset P5 teams. I'll roll with Gabbert and the Redhawks. Miami O 27 BG 22

CUSA: Sam Houston will remain winless after its visit to Liberty.  LIB 30 SHSU 13.  Liberty's win will move it to 3-0, the same record as surprising Jax St.

SunBelt: Marshall is 5-0 and looking strong, but NC St(ACC) held Louisville to 13 points last week. NCST  15 MU 13.

Oct 6, 2023

I thought SHSU was going to get its first W, but the Flames D stiffened. LIB 21 SHSU 16. Nice game for Q. Cooley RB - LIB 17CAR 106YDS 1TD

Tulane AD Troy Dannen is headed to UW.

Oct 8 2023

4 of 5:  Navy was my incorrect pick. Surprised that Miami O shutout Bowling Green, and how high scoring the NC State 49 /Herd 42 game was.

AAC action that surprised me by the score: UTSA 49 Temple 34.  UAB 56 USF 35
Week6 surprises: MiamiO 5-1 and SDST Aztecs(2-4) 

O5 - Week 11

 Well, MAC was early this week so here's 4 picks..

AAC: Gus has the UCF(7-2 4-1 AAC) looking sharp. Plumlee will toss two TD passes at Tulane (8-1 5-0 AAC). UCF-24 Tul 20

CUSA: FAU (4-5 3-2 C-USA) at FIU((4-5 2-3 C-USA) in an intrastate battle. Nkosi Perry is having a decent year at QB and had a good game in last week's big win against UAB. FAU 21 FIU 20

MWC: San José State (6-2 4-1 MWC) visits Snapdragon to take on San Diego State (5-4 3-2 MWC). I'll ride with Cordeiro, who has tossed for 2,224 yards and 11 TDs for the Spartans. SJST 28 SDST 23

SunBelt: App St visits Marshall and the erratic teams have identical (5-4 2-3Sun Belt) records. Laborn carries the rushing load for #herd at home. MU 17 APP St 16

Nov 13, 2022

Pratt threw more TD passes than Plumlee but that wasn't enough for Tulane. UCF 38 TUL 31

Nkosi Perry accounted for 4 TDs and FAU rolled FIU 52-7. 

Wrong on SJST. Cordeiro did plenty, but Jalen Mayden threw three touchdown passes and Jordan Byrd returned a kickoff 95 yards for a TD for San Diego State. SDST 43 SJST 27

Marshall U blocked a punt for TD and Fancher tossed two TDs in a 28-21 win over App St

3-1 for the weekend

Nov 16, 2022

Virginia canceled its game against Coastal Carolina this coming weekend after 3 football players  were killed earlier this week in an on campus shooting.

And some Baltimore -related news. Charlotte has hired Michigan associate head coach Biff Poggi as its next HC 

Poggi was a longtime successful high school coach in Baltimore ,Maryland with  Gilman School and  then powerhouse, St. Frances Academy, before joining Jim Harbaugh's staff at Michigan. He  sent  Blake Corum and other St Frances stars to Michigan.

Week 8 O5 conference play

 AAC: I'll roll with Tyjae Spears(500 rushing yards, 8TDs) and the Green Wave(6-1, 3-0) in a close home win over Memphis. TUL 27 Mem 24

CUSA: It's hard to ignore Harris tossing for 2300 yards and 15 TDs so I like UTSA at home. UTSA 31 NTX 23

MAC: Most of the MAC has beaten up on each other while Toledo and Buffalo are each 3-0 in conference play. Buffalo wins at home. BUFF 20 TOL 19

MWC: Air Force host Boise St, and I think Roberts has a big game running the ball at home. AFA 38 BSU 35

SunBelt: I visit the Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach area once or twice a year and bet Virginians are wondering how JMU and ODU are getting all the sports ink. Well, I think Khalan Laborn, a Virginia Beach native who is having a great season running the ball for Marshall, will steal some of the ink from JMU this weekend. Marshall 24 JMU 23

Oct 22, 2022

UAB's D contained WKU QB Reed's passing so he rushed for two TDs in a 20-17 win. jury is out on whether Reed is another Zappe.

Oct 23, 2022

4-1 for the week and we'll start with the one incorrect pick. Boise kept Robert under 100 yards, and it was a low scoring game. BSU 19 AFA 14

Spears had a solid game for Tulane who led 35-0 at the half. TUL 38 MEM 28

Harris tossed the winning TD for UTSA with 15 seconds remaining. UTSA 31 NTX 27

Buffalo outscored Toledo 24-zip in the fourth quarter. BUFF 34 Tol 27

JMU was up 12-2 in the first quarter and stopped scoring. Laborn 30 car 151 yards and two TDs. MAR 26  JMU 12.

AAC nabbed my attention this week. Ahlers, the ECU QB, led ECU to a convincing 34-13 win over UCF, and Cincy had to stop a two -point conversion attempt by SMU for a 29-27 win.  UCF and Cincy need more work for they join the Big 12.

Week 3 O5: Hot or not

 I can't ignore three hot SunBelt schools, App St, Marshall, and Georgia Southern, this week. I think the trio may come out of the gate slow but get in gear by the second quarter of their respective games.

App St will get a big game out of running back C Peoples in a 30-19 home conference win over Troy.

Marshall will ride freshman phenom K. Laborn to a 31-16 win at Bowling Green(MAC).

Georgia Southern will have to slow down C Brown to pull out a close road win. GS 24 UAB(CUSA) 22

Air Force has relied on a strong running attack to get off to a 2-0 start but face a tough conference road game at Wyoming. Peasley will throw 3 TDS for the Cowboys and hand AFA a 27-24 loss.

I covered the AAC in a blog on ACC history and SMU losing a close one to MD(Big10)

Sept 17, 2022

Peasley only tossed one TD pass, but the Cowboys slowed down AFA in a 17-14 win.

Sept 18, 2022

The "Stun" belt had a few holes poked in it this weekend, on OOC play with Marshall falling in OT to BG and Georgia Southern getting handled by UAB which made me 2-2 in my picks. Laborn's fumble out of the end zone for a touchback was a killer for Marshall.

In other OOC play USA was held scoreless in the fourth quarter in a one-point loss to UCLA, Ark St fell to Memphis, ODU fell to UVA, SMU lost to MD, and ULL lost to Rice.