Non P6 hoops 2024 part 2

 Horizon: Robert Morris continues a slow climb out of basement. Hastings 31 pts , 15 reb led RMU to a 102 Detroit 99 (OT)win.

OAK 70  YSU 67, IUPUI 85 PFW 79

SunBelt: ULL 86 TXST 68, USM 69  ARST 66,  APP 76 GAST 68

Appy and Marshall are keeping pace with Troy.

MWC: San Diego St beat Nevada to keep pace with Utah St

 Jan 19, 2024

ODU gets its first SBC win, rolling over Marshall. Allete scored 27 for the Monarchs. Budding regional rivalry.

WCC: O'Neil scored 23 for Santa Clara in a win over Pacific. Zags won, too but both trail San Fran, a winner last night over LMU. 

Jan 21, 2024

MWC: Boise edges the Aztecs  67-66 . BSU, SDST , and UNM are nipping at USU's heels.

Summit: Fidler's PPG continues to decrease for Omaha. I guess more teams are focusing on him. UMKC 74 Omaha 72. UMKC made a wise regional move out of the WAC in 2020. HC Billy Donlon, who was 19-12 in the 2021-22 season, left UMKC to become the Associate HC at Clemson. Current HC Marvin Menzies has struggled since replacing Donlon. Menzies resume.

2007–2016 New Mexico State

2016–2019 UNLV

2019–2020 Grand Canyon (assoc. HC)

2022–present Kansas City

Jan 22, 2024

AAC: . UTSA forces FAU into OT but falls 112-103. Davis scored 34 for the victors and Ivy Curry scored 38 for UTSA.

Tulane(3-3 AAC) gets a big 81-79 win over Memphis to stay relevant.

USF gets by Wichita St 82-78.

Jan 24, 2024

MWC: Boise St beat Fresno while Aztecs handled Wyoming. 

Zips keep cruising in the MAC with a 67-58 win over Ohio. Freeman (19pts, 14 reb) for the winners.

Jan 25, 2024

Herd got 22 from Killen in a win over GA St, but Troy and JMU also won. Appy, the top dog in the SBC, plays GA Southern tonight.

Jan 26, 2024

 Ike scored 22 in a big win for the Zags over San Fran. Saint Mary's beat Pacific to remain atop the WCC. 

Appy beat GA Southern to remain atop the SBC.

Goodrick (14pts, 12reb) for Cal Baptist in a win over UTRGV which moves them into a three- way tie with SFA and Tarleton for second in the WAC. SFA lost to Grand Canyon, the conference leader. Tarleton lost to SUU.

Jan 28, 2024

Catching up with the MVC. Conwell scored 22 points for Indiana St in a 95-86 OT win over Bradley. Three ISU losses: Bama, Sparty, and Drake, which trails them by a game in the conference.

SBC: Appy, Troy, and the Herd won. CUSA: LA Tech and Sam Houston are tied for first. LT beat NMST and SHSU beat UTEP yesterday.

Jan 29, 2024

AAC: Lendeborg(23/16/4) for UAB over Memphis. FAU edged UNT and is tied with CHAR for1st. Wichita St over SMU. ECU needed OT to beat Temple.

Jan 31, 2024

Akron and Toledo won last night to remain tied for 1st in the MAC

Zags crush LMU in the WCC.

Dayton, SBON, LOYCH, won in the A10. Holmes(25/12/4) for the Flyers who trail Richmond by a half game.

Feb 1, 2024

UNCG beat VMI and sits a game behind Samford in the Southern Conference. They've been on a bumpy ride since upsetting Arkansas in December.

M. Rice scored 35 points for Boise St in a win over UNM to keep things tight in the MWC. Both teams trail Utah St.

Richmond beat Fordham and sits atop the A10 with an 8-0 record.

St Marys(17-6,8-0) beat Santa Clara and is a game ahead of the Zags in the WCC.

Feb 2, 2024

Appy(1st) and Troy(2nd) keep winning. JMU scores105 in a rout of CCU. Herd lose at home to cellar dweller ODU.

Feb 3, 2024

Akron(MAC) keeps rolling with a 77-70 win over Toledo. Holmes(34pts, 7reb) leads Dayton(A10) to a 76-71 win over the Bonnies. Sure looks like Nevada(MWC) is getting into gear with a 90-60 win over SJST.

Feb 4, 2024

San Diego St and FAU, half of the last season's F4, are playing like they want to be there again.

  LeDee(16pts,8reb) for San Diego St(7-3) in a big win over USU(8-2), who is tied for with Boise St for the MWC top spot.

Davis scored 24 points for FAU in 102-70 blowout of Tulsa in AAC action. They share first place in the AAC with Charlotte and USF.

Feb 5, 2024

Langley scored 30 for UNCG in a narrow 89-87win over Furman and trails Samford by a game in the Southern Conference.  

UNCG is an older section of Greensboro that intrigued me when I lived in that town briefly in 2005.

Feb 6, 2024

J Johnson scored 24 for New Orleans in a blowout of Houston Christian in a Southland Conference matchup of two teams not doing well.

McNesse St (20-3, 9-1) is in first place.

Feb 7, 2024

MWC: Utah St and Boise St lost.  Aztecs and Lobos won. All four are tied (7-3) for first.

A10: Santos scored 21 for Dayton in a 94-79 win over St Joseph. I heard some gambling geeks predicting an upset of Dayton yesterday afternoon, and I laughed at the TV screen.

AAC: USF edges Charlotte and takes a half game lead on FAU.

Feb 8, 2024

WCC BEWARE: Zags take the top spot with a 96-74 win over Portland, also San Diego beat LMU.

CUSA: McHenry(20pts, 3 ast) for WKU in a big win over LaTech

MVC: Avila (27pts,8reb) for Indiana St in a blowout win over VALP.

Feb 9, 2024

Wow, the AAC gets more interesting. Lendeborg(17pts, 21reb) for UAB in an OT win over FAU.

In the WAC, Cal Baptist edged UTA to stay in the race with Tarleton and Grand Canyon.

Feb 10, 2024

A10: VCU 49 DAY 47. Dayton falls out of first place.

MWC: NEV 70 SDSU 66.CSU won and these three teams are not in first place.

Feb 11, 2024

 G Ike scored 23 in a big win for the Zags over Kentucky(SEC). Zags are 2.5 games behind St Mary's and a half game behind San Fran in the WCC.

CUSA: Liberty beat La Tech and WKU beat JVST. WKU sits a half game behind LA Tech and Sam Houston, who are tied for first at 6-3.

SBC/MAC -Solid wins for JMU over Akron and Appy over Toledo. Only two MAC wins, CMU over ODU & BUFF over GASO.

Feb 12, 2024

MVC:  C: Jones scored 24 for UIC in a win N.Iowa.

AAC: Getting mighty crowded in AAC. USF remains in first.  FAU, SMU, UAB, Memphis, and Charlotte won.

Feb 13, 2024

T. Tejada scored 17 points for Towson in an 80-55 win over Elon in CAA play. TU(8-4) is a game behind UNCW and Charleston.

Feb 14, 2024

UNM holds off NEV 83-82.  SDSU cruises past CSU 71-55. Both winners trail Utah St in the MWC.

Kinzinger scored 31 points for ILL St in an upset of Indiana St, who now holds only a game lead on Drake in the MVC.

Non P6 hoops 1

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.

Chicago hoops, weak Depaul and more

 I've had a long distance interest in Chicago-area hoops since the Mark Aguirre/Ray Meyer days of the late 1970s when they were an Independent program.  In 1991 they joined the  Great Midwestern Conference then moved on to the CUSA from 1995 until to 2005 when they joined the Big East, and became basically cellar dwellers . Their last NCAA Dance appearance was in 2004 as a member of the CUSA.

Obviously most of the great Chicago city player have not chosen  to stay at home and play at DePaul, and what probably hurts a little more is that Loyola of Chicago (MVC) has become media darlings in the last few years.

Last night  LoC edged Valparaiso to stay in first in the MVC with Drake who beat UNI 77-69.

DePaul(3-10, 1-10 Big East) lost to Seton Hall 60-52.Pauly Paulicap had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the slumping Blue Deacons.

Some earlier blogs on the Chicago area hoops scene: https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2019/12/chi-town-area-pre-xmas-2019-hoops.html    https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2019/01/chi-town-area-saturday-jan-13-hoops.html

Feb 19, 2021

Depaul/Marquette rivalry goes back over 100 hundred years when both were usually Independents. BTW, McGuire owned Ray Meyer. from 1970-76.  Since the late 1990s  they've been in the same conference most of the time. Dwayne Wade played for Marquette when they were in the CUSA in the early 2000s.

Feb 27. 2021

 Loyola Chicago(20-4, 15-2 MVC) moves closer to a dance ticket with a 60-52 win over Southern Illinois

(11-12, 5-12 MVC). Regardless of what happens in the MVC tourney, I think they're in.

March, 8, 2021

Loyola of Chicago fed their big man Cameron Krutwig(20 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AS), and punched their Dance ticket with a 75-65 win over Drake in the MVCT final.

One of their starting forwards, ABAHER UGUAK, is from Edmonton, AB

March 11, 2021

Javon Freeman-Liberty and Charlie Moore each scored 21 points for  DePaul in a 70-62 upset of Providence in the Big East tournament. Next up UConn.

March 16, 2021

For the second time in this century Leitao is out at DePaul. He left there for UVA in 2005 and was fired yesterday.

MVC news: Loyola of Chicago faces a hot Ga Tech squad in rd1 of the Dance. Drake got an at large bid and has a play-in against Wichita St.

March 20, 2021

MVC is on a nice roll. Drake  beat the Shockers in the play-in game and LoC beat Georgia Tech in rd1 with Lucas Williamson providing 21 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST.

March 23, 2021

LoC handled with Illinois with smart, aggressive play and a solid O  so at this point I'm not writing them off against Oregon St.(Pac12)

March 28,2021

Beavers found a way to handle the LoC. Defense! Oreg St 65 LoC 58. It was the second meeting in their histories. Loyola won 31-19 in Chicago on Dec. 31, 1927

April 1, 2021

DePaul hired longtime Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield. I don't see any clear Chicago connections in his past.

He was also Cincinnati's recruiting coordinator from 2006 to 2010 under Mick Cronin, who has UCLA in the F4.

April 5, 2021

I'm mildly surprised:  Moser leaves LoC for the job to coach the Oklahoma Sooners. I thought he would stay in the Midwest if he took another job. It looks like Loyola will promote Drew Valentine to fill the spot.

May 13, 2021

Milwaukee is about 90 miles from Chicago, and 5 star basketball recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr. will join his father Patrick Baldwin Sr., the Panthers' head coach since 2017 at the U of Milwaukee of the Horizon League.

July 20, 2021

Just when I thought Chicago St (WAC) was going to toss in the towel on hoops, they hired Samford assistant Gerald Gillion  to be the men’s basketball head coach, Samford , a member of the Southern Conference, hasn't had much hoop success lately. Gillion is known as a great recruiter.

Nov 15, 2021

I'm getting prepped for college hoops and found this name, JAVON FREEMAN-LIBERTY, a PG for DePaul. He's had solid games against C.Michigan(MAC), and Coppin St, a Baltimore school in the MEAC. The kid must've legally changed his last name.

Dec 4, 2021

Coach Moser is at OK, but Loyola (Chicago) handed DePaul its first loss of the season.

This not a mistype: Chicago St(WAC) beat Tennessee St(Ohio Valley) 59-49 on Saturday.

Dec 11, 2021

DePaul recovered and roared back to beat Louisville last night 62-55. Loyola of Chicago beat Vandy, coached by Jerry Stackhouse and featuring Pippen Jr.

Jan 8, 2022

I'm reading a story on Murray St leaving the OVC for MVC and discover Loyola Chicago is leaving the MVC for the Atlantic 10 in July 2022. The A10 has been a solid hoops conference for a long time. St Louis will have at least one close conference game now.

Feb 6, 2022

Courvoisier McCauley scored 21 points and Jalen Terry had 13 as short-handed DePaul upset # 21 Xavier by a score of 69-65. I was surfing from game to game and stopped on this one to see if Depaul could retain a small lead in the final minutes. With about a minute to go, Xavier had the press on to close a four point gap, and looked like they might cause a 10 second violation when they opted to foul a Blue Demon. The announcers were praising the analytics, and I was shouting it's too soon and very stupid.

Feb 10, 2022

DePaul won its second in a row. This time they beat GTown who is winless in the Big East. David Jones had led DePaul with 22 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assist in a 82-74 win.

Feb 15, 2022

Damaria Franklin and Jace Carter scored 12 points each in Illinois-Chicago 57-54 win over IUPUI, but they still trail Cleveland St by a few games in the Horizon League.

Robert Morris is near the cellar again in its second season since leaving the NEC in most sports.

Feb 16, 2022

 DePaul fell 73-71 to Butler. Simas Lukosius hit a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining for Butler. 

Domask (25 PTS 3 REB) led SIU to a 65-57 win over Bradley in MVC play.

Feb 23, 2022

Huge Huskies win over Nova last night, but they still trail Nova by a game and Providence by 3 games with three to go in the regular season. They finish with Creighton, Depaul,, and GTown. 

Chi-town area pre xmas 2019 hoops

Sometimes reading a print edition of the paper wakes me up to items I've missed.
The Coppin St Eagles , a Baltimore City university, who've been floundering in the MEAC for a few seasons beat Loyola of Chicago (MVC) early in November and just as I thought the Ramblers had stumbled in to a ditch, they upset Vandy(SEC)  76-72 last night .Krutwig  (22 pts, 10 assists)
DePaul (BIG East) has done well in pre conference play with wins over Iowa, Cincy, and Minnesota. Their sole loss was to Buffalo (MAC).
UIC Horizon) and Chicago St(WAC) have struggled big time.
Northwestern(Big10) had a nice win over Providence in November and came close against Sparty last night.

dec 21

It never fails:  I mentioned UIC's struggles and they go out out and beat UC Irvine(BIG West) 76-67. Ottey scored 18 for #UIC .

dec 25

On Sunday Dec 22 Chicago St Cougars lost to Indiana St(MVC) 85-64.Xavier Johnson and Isaiah Lewis led each scored  17 points in the defeat. Cougars head to Missouri(SEC) for a game on Dec 30
Loyola of Chicago lost to Davidson (A10). Marquise Kennedy scored 16 points off the bench for the Ramblers in  the loss.

DEC 29

#GodrenBoahen scored 21 points off the UIC bench in a 71-66 win over Cleveland St

jan 5, 2020

#depaul is missing those pre Xmas days. They're 0-2 in the Big East. Paul Reed had 24 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for the Blue Demons in a 66-65 loss to Providence who won when Nate Watson sank a free throw with a second left. Depaul lost to Seton hall 74-63 on Dec 30.

jan 19

DePaul got its first Big East win this season by knocking off # 5 Butler . #paulreed was the top Blue Deacon (23 PTS, 9 REB, 1 AST) 79-66. Northwestern(B10) hung close but lost to Illinois 75-71. Tarkus Ferguson(16 PTS, 9 REB, 9 AST) led UIC to a 75-66 win in Horizon Conference action.

feb 6

Loyola of Chicago only scored 16 points in the second half of  68-39 loss  to Indiana St in MVC game . Both teams are tied for third with 7-4  records. NIU (9-2) SIU( 8-3) are ahead of them in the MVC

feb 15

My occasional interest in Chicago area teams caused me to check in on the UIC((12-15, 7-7)/Wright St(22-5, 12-2) game last night. Tarkus Ferguson scored 18 points  for UIC in its 75-58 loss. Wright St has a one game lead over Northern Kentucky(19-7,11-3) , who hasn't appeared to be miss  a beat since Coach Brannen moved on to Cincy,  in Horizon League.

March 10

 Tarkus Ferguson scored 25 points for Illinois-Chicago in 73-56 win over Wright St to  advance to its first Horizon League title game since 2004. They'll face Northern Kentucky. Wright St finished first in Horizon in regular season play but may miss the Dance.

March 11

UIC made a run at NKU late and their press did some damage , but NKY punched the Horizon Dance ticket with a 71-62 win. 

T. Ferguson (ILLCH)I15 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST

T. Sharpe (NKY)16 PTS, 3 AST March 26 UIC has been talking a lot about getting to the Dance since they haven't punched a Dance ticket since 2004. They hired LukeYaklich, an assistant coach at Texas and a native of Illinois, to replace Steve McLain, who had three consecutive winning seasons. I bet McLain gets another HC gig soon. april 3  #DaveLeitao received a contract extension through 2023-24. I guess Depaul ADMIN saw signs of improvement, but after starting 12-1 last season they  finished16-16 overall. The Blue Demons  had solid victories against Iowa, Texas Tech and Butler but collapsed during the Big East Conference season. may 19, 2020  I was reading through my blog to see if I missed any hints that  Green Bay would fire Linc Darner who had a winning record in three of the past four seasons and took them to Dance in 2016, his first season. He was 96-80 in five seasons and  had Amari Davis,  Horizon League Freshman of the Year, returning this season.The "Zoom" coach search begins. June 9, 2020

Green Bay(Horizon) announced Will Ryan , the son of former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, as its next HC. He was HC at Div II Wheeling U in West Virginia last season. I'm still looking for published reasons as to why Darner was canned.

June 17, 2020

Robert Morris(NEC) is joining the Horizon League beginning in the 2020-21 academic year for everything except football. The school is  located in  Moon Township, Pennsylvania and most of the Horizon League is located in the Midwest. RMU will join Fort Wayne as the conference’s 11th and 12th members this fall.

July 15, 2020

Robert Morris stays in the news. They will replace Fordham on Hawaii's 2020 football schedule. The football team is a 1AA Independent this season before moving to the Big South.

Nov 22, 2020

 #carmitacoleman , a former Chicago State University professor, faces federal charges for allegedly embezzling over $650,000 from Student National Pharmaceutical Association, a national organization geared toward providing opportunities to minority students.  Perhaps this is one of many reasons Chicago St, a WAC member, has so many financial problems.

Feb 14, 2021

Checking back in with Chi-town hoops. It's appears  those Catholics at Loyola-Chicago are getting into Dance mode. Aher Uguak sparked the Ramblers (18-3, 13-1 MVC) scoring eight points in a two-minute span and finishing with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting in 81-54 win over Drake (19-2, 10-2 MVC).

UIC  was swept by IUPUI, a Horizon League foe.

DePaul Blue Demons (3-9 Overall | 1-9 Big East - 11th) lost to Providence and sits alone in the Big East cellar.

Chicago St (0-9) hasn't played since just before Xmas 2020 and did play a WAC opponent. It sure appears as if  its sports program is nearly dead.

Feb 15, 2021

In the season of back to back matchups, Tremell Murphy scored 17 points, for Drake who rallied past No. 22 Loyola Chicago 51-50 on Sunday.

Aug 1, 2023

Appears NW football is setting up Skip Holtz, now a special assistant, to be the HFC in 2024. Somehow NW hoops HC Chris Collins has escaped the "hazing " storm?

Loretta Lynch will likely try to emasculate football at NW. Big 10 may need to raid another conference.

She stayed loyal to the Clintons during email scandal etc.

Aug 4, 2023

Here come the lawyers: Packers CEO Mark Murphy, the NW AD from 2003-07, is a defendant in a lawsuit by two former players, who both filed under "John Doe," were at Northwestern from 2004 to 2008.

Aug 10, 2023

'Cats Against the World' t-shirts," worn by players. NW AD says tone deaf. HC says I don't censor.

Sept 4, 2023

Rutgers 24 NW 7. It going to be a long season in Chicago. UTEP(CUSA) comes to NW- Cats looking at (0-2)?

Also, NW plays Chicago St in hoops this December.