Tough start for O5 at the 2021 Dance

Wichita St (AAC) couldn't take advantage of scoring lulls by Drake(MVC) and lost 53-52.

 #AppSt (Sunbelt) couldn't convert late  and lost to Norfolk St(MEAC) in a tale of two halves:  J Forrest lead Appy with 18 Points                                        

March 20, 2021

I thought NTX(CUSA) would crumble after they couldn't seal the deal in regulation, but they outscored Purdue 17-8 in OT for a 78-69 victory. Javion Hamlet was stellar for the Mean Green providing 24 PTS, 12 REB, 5 AST. Too bad I didn't have enough faith to pick them in rd1.

MWC had a rough day :SDST lost to Cuse and Utah St lost to Texas Tech.

Houston (AAC) rolled Clev St.

March 21, 2021

B. Vander Plas(17pts 5reb 4assists) led Ohio(MAC) to a 62-58 upset of  UVA(ACC) .

Ohio has won its last three NCAA first-round Dance games - beating Georgetown in 2010 and Michigan in 2012.

March 23, 2021

Ohio's O ran out of steam against Creighton yesterday. Dwight Wilson III was the top Bobcat scorer with 12 points in a 72-58 loss to Creighton. Nova crushed NTX(CUSA) on Sunday so the only O5 team to reach the Sweet 16 is Houston(AAC). Q. Grimes (22 PTS, 9 REB, 1 AST) led the Cougars to a 63-60 win over Rutgers on Sunday and they face Cuse in the next round.

March 28, 2021

Houston's D led by Dejon Jarreau   held Buddy Boeheim to 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting, including 1 for 9 from 3-point range in a 62-46 win over Cuse.

March 30, 2021

Dejon Jarreau had another stellar night playing D for Houston. This time he held  Ethan Thompson, the Oregon St forward, who was named the most outstanding player of the Midwest Region, to  11 points on 3-for-12 shooting, in the Cougars 67-61 victory.

April 4, 2021

LAST O5 team falls. Marcus Sasser had 20 points for Houston is a 78-59  F4 loss to Baylor, whose tough D made the difference.

While Mick Cronin's, the former Cincy HC, UCLA squad  played the Zags tough  but lost in the other F4 matchup, his replacement at Cincy , John Brannen, was given paid leave as the school looks for  a way to complete a for-cause dismissal.  Only four scholarship players are slated to return and six have entered the transfer portal.  Is the rift between Brannen the players real or are these kids spoiled brats?

April 10, 2021

Brannen  is owed a 5M buyout and he and his lawyers are not getting nasty in public about his dismissal from Cincy.. One strong guess for his replacement is UCLA assistant Darren Savino, who was a longtime assistant under Mick Cronin at Cincinnati.

April 15, 2021

Cincinnati(AAC)  hired Wes Miller, who has been at UNCG for 10 seasons, as its next men's basketball head coach. Over the past five seasons, he has led the Spartans to three regular-season championships and two Dances. He was an assistant at High Point and at Elon, each located in North Carolina, before becoming HC at North Carolina-Greensboro of the Southern Conference. Let's see how he does in the Rust Belt.

april 20, 2021

CUSA news: Joe Golding has been named the new coach at UTEP after a decade at Abilene Christian which included the upset over Texas in the first round of this season's Dance.

O5 football conferences' hoops teams as of Dec 5, 2020

I took a look at Coaches Poll and found Houston(3-0) , an AAC team at # 10. Houston, led by Marcus Sasser 's 17.3 PPG, has wins over Lamar, Boise St, and Texas Tech. Connecticut(AAC) and  San Diego St (MWC) received some top 25 votes. Other top 25 schools to keep your eyes on are Memphis (AAC) and Western Kentucky (CUSA). I'll return with some tidbits once I get adjusted to how pandemic hoops is going.

Dec 10 update

Houston moved to 4-0 with a 77-67 win over South Carolina (SEC) a few days ago. Quentin Grimes had 23 points and seven rebounds.

Dec 17 update

San Diego St is 5-0. Jordan Schakel scored 25 points, Nathan Mensah had 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Aztecs in an 80-68 win over Arizona St(PAC12) last Thursday night.

Dec 24 update

Houston is 6-0 which includes a recent,  AAC win over Temple. Their next conference game is Dec 26 against UCF led by Brandon Mahan (22.5ppg, 6 rbg)

Jan 1, 2021

Boise St has one seven straight since losing its opening game to Houston (AAC) and may give San Diego St a battle for the MWC crown. DERRICK ALSTON JR (17.6    PPG 3.6 RBG 2.4 APG) has been a major factor.

Jan 5, 2021

I doubt if this lasts long, but Rice(8-2, 2-0 CUSA) is the lone CUSA team undefeated in conference play. Quincy Olivari is averaging 18 points a game for the Owls. Four CUSA teams haven't played a conference opponent.

Jan 9, 2021

UAB(CUSA) is off to a nice start except for the loss to Tenn -Chattanooga(Southern) ,but who knows that may not be a bad loss by the end of the season.

Jan 12, 2021

While reviewing  ODU's 3-1 start in CUSA play , I noticed they're playing back to back games against the same opponent. They split  two games at FAU  and  beat FIU at home. Malik Curry  is averaging 16 PPg for the Monarchs.

Jan 14, 2021

Morris Udeze and Tyson Etienne scored 20 points apiece  in Wichita State's win over Tulsa 72-53. The Shockers(8-3, 4-1 AAC) are doing Ok under Isaac Brown. the interim HC since Marshall's departure.

Jan 16, 2021

I turned on  the UAB/Charlotte game to catch up on the CUSA, and UAB was up 23-1, and it didn't get much better  for Charlotte the rest of the way. UAB 61CHAR 37

#herd couldn't recover from the 12 point deficit in the first half. WKU 81 Marshall 73.  J Anderson(WKU) was 6 of 9 from the field and hit 9 of 9 free throws.

Jan 24, 2021

Houston (13-1, 8-1 AAC)kept rolling with a 68-51 win over Temple. Sasser and Grimes had 15 points each for HU.

Jan 26, 2021

MAC check-in. Toledo Rockets 13-4 Overall | 8-1 Mid American. Their only conference loss was to Akron in OT. #MarreonJackson leads the Rockets in scoring with a 17.5 ppg

Jan 29, 2021

Terrell Gomez scored 14 points for San Diego State (12-4, 6-3 MWC), in 87-57 win over Wyoming(10-6, 4-5 MWC). Aztecs scored 63 in the first half which was enough points to get them the win.

Jan 29, 2021

RIP John Chaney, the great Temple coach, and yes Temple was in the Atlantic 10 ,not the AAC,  during most of Chaney's time there. A buddy and I were 30 rows  from the  court and could hear Chaney and Knight yelling at their respective squads during a 1994 March Madness game at Cap Center in Largo, MD. IU 67 Temple 58

Jan 30, 2021

 Dwight Wilson III scored 21 points for Ohio(10-6, 6-4 MAC) in 76-75 win over Buffalo(6-6, 4-4 MAC). He made 8 of 10 shots from the field.

Feb 1, 2021

Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 17 points and Grant Sherfield scored 15 points with 11 rebounds for Nevada in an 89-60 MWC win over UNLV. Nevada was  31-for-55 (56.4%) shooting, including 14 for 24 (58.3%) from 3-point range.