November peek at non-power hoops 2025/26

Gonzaga: Graham Ike, 23, is the highest-ranked non power conference player. Zags are in their final season in the WCC  . Tough  November: Creighton, OK,  MD, and Bama.  Next season they play in the PAC12

Dayton of the A10 faces Cincy and Marquette this month. Flyers will need Nate Santos to score more than 14 points a game

Memphis is counting on 7'1  Aaron Bradshaw.  @ Ole Miss on Nov 11

NTX is counting on  Cahmal Crosby.  @ St Marys on Nov 14

St Marys will rely heavily on Paulius Murauskas . Gaels are in their last WCC season before joining the PAC12.

More to come

Nov 3, 2025

Ok, HC Billy G  can your Tarleton team start with an upset @ SMU(ACC). Is Chris Mpaka  progressing?

Nov 4, 2025

Tarleton(WAC) got crushed 96-76 by SMU. D. Johnson scored 23 for the losers.

UNO (Southland)Privateers upset Big12 member TCU, 78-74 

Nov 5, 2025

Only bad WCC loss so far is Wazoo losing to Idaho 

UNLV(MWC) lost to to UT Martin last night.

Nov 6, 2025

USC Upstate(Big South) upset FRES(MWC) 67-66. KGregory led the Spartans with 15 points. USCU lost its opener to Cal Baptist(WAC)

USCU is in South Carolina.

Nov 10, 2025

Close game MEM (AAC) 76 SF(WCC) 70 . M. Cook was solid for the Dons. Zags edged OK(SEC)

Boise St(MWC) blew out UVU on its road to recovery from  its loss to Howard Payne 

J Speer and the Herd outscored TOL 55 to 33 for an 85- 73 W in an SBC/MAC matchup.

Nov 12, 2025 

Wow, rough OT loss for UAB. Alabama St (SWAC) 77 UAB 73(AAC)  A.Anderson  20 pts 7 ast for the Hornets.

Nov 14, 2025

Olsen scored 21  for USA(SBC) in a 66-64  nail-biter over CMU(MAC). Wichita St(AAC) had no problem with LOYCH(A10).

Nov 17, 2025

UNLV handled MEM. Fleming (25 pts, 12 reb) for the Rebels.

D. Gillespie (26 pts, 17reb) for Kent St(MAC) in an OT win over Wright St(HOR)

Nov 21, 2025

Memphis hung close to Purdue but lost 80-71.

In the Trojan battle Troy(SBC) hung with USC but fell in OT-107-106. C. Campbell(32, 12,8) for Troy

Nov 25, 2025

Tulane(AAC) edged BC(ACC) C Williams scored 32 for TUL

USU(MWC) crushed DAV(A10) M Colins scored 40 for the Ags.

Nov 27, 2025

WCC yesterday. Zags were blown out by 40 by Michigan. WSU lost to Seton Hall. PEPP was rolled by Fresno(MWC)

SMC beat Wichita St(AAC). T. George(19pts, 6 reb) led Portland to a 93-73 win over LBSU(Big West)

Dec 1, 2025

MWC : L Walker (28pts) and the Cowboys gave TT quite a scare.  TT 76 WYO 72 .  D. Smith(30pts) led CSB(Big West )over Fresno St

USA routed UTSA 82-58. Jags are off to a 7-1 start. Only loss was to UAB

Quick peek at Non P5 hoops standings

SunBelt : I was all set to give the #herd  a toast, but ULM behind Blackmon's 35 points beat them Thursday night in double OT. USM and ULL are 7-2. Marshall and ULM are 6-3 in conference play.

Sienna handled Iona(Pittino Sr) last night and sits alone atop the MAAC. Same can be said for San Diego St(MWC), Liberty(Atlantic Sun), and then there are a bunch of undefeated teams in conference play including these three, Charleston (Big South), FAU(CUSA), and Eastern Washington(Big Sky).

However, it's Saint Mary's(18-4, 7-0, WCC) with a one game lead over Gonzaga that has tongues wagging. Aidan Mahaney leads the team in scoring with 15.0 ppg. Their four OOC losses are all by single digits to UW, Houston, Colorado St, and New Mexico. The loss to CSU is the worst of that bunch. 

Jan 29, 2023

I thought Cincy was going to beat Houston after seeing part of the first half, but the Cougars roared back for the win. HOU 75 CIN 69. These two games caught my eye.

I'm keeping an eye on Memphis who beat Tulsa yesterday for its fifth straight W to stay in the AAC race with Temple and Houston.

Feb 2, 2023

AAC: Cincy(6-4) rebounded from the tough loss to Houston with an 81-55 blowout of Tulsa. Tulane(7-3) rode the Mustangs and cruised to a 74-52 win over SMU.

WAC- Wow, NM St has been ragged since Coach Heiar replaced Coach Jans who went to Miss St, but they beat Stephen F Austin 73-65 last night for their first conference win

The other new kids in town had nice nights. Abilene Christian beat Seattle. Southern Utah beat Cal Baptist. Sam Houston beat UTRGV.

 

Big 12 to discuss adding Gonzaga(WCC) to the conference tomorrow, per 

dennisdoddcbs

Feb 3, 2023

#herd got a solid game from Taylor in a win over Appy to remain a game behind USM and ULL who each won.

FAU didn't look like a team who had won 20 straight and lost to UAB in CUSA action.

St Marys(9-0) and Gonzaga(8-1) won in WCC action.

Feb 4, 2023

Ball St(7-3) eked out a 91-90 win over EMU. It was he!! of a battle. Akron(9-1) beat Kent St(8-2) to stay atop the MAC. 

 SDST(18-5, 9-2 MWC) is ready for Pac 12 hoops. Nathan Mensah scored 17 points for No. 22 San Diego State in a 72-52 win over Boise State. 

Feb 5, 2023

WCC: St Mary's beat the Zags and are in a solid spot for the WCCT one seed. BYU is showing a pulse with a win over Pacific and trails the Zags by a game.

CUSA: FAU bounced back from the loss to UAB with a win over Charlotte while UAB beat FIU and may be a threat in the CUSAT.

SunBelt: Two 10-2 teams won yesterday. ULL beat Marshall and USM beat GA St.

AAC: Speaking of GASt, man do they miss Coach Ron Hunter, whose Tulane squad gutted out an 82-81 win over Memphis yesterday and are 1.5 GB of Houston.

ASUN: Queens(6-6) edged Austin Peay. Liberty and Kennesaw sit at the top with 10-2 records. E.Kentucky trails them by a game.

Feb 6 2023

Houston beat Temple. Tulane moved into a tie for second in the AAC.

Feb 7, 2023

Freddy Hicks scored 22 for Tarleton(13-11, 6-5) in a WAC win over UTA(8-16, 3-8). Billy Gillepsie seems to be doing ok and staying out of trouble at Tarleton. UTA is struggling in its first WAC season since the Sunbelt kicked them and Ark-LR to the curb for not having football programs.

Feb 8, 2023

J. Cook(27PTS 14AST) led Tulane to a 101-94 win over Cincy in AAC action.

Houston 80 Tulsa 42- Sasser 25 points. Memphis beat USF and SMU knocked off Temple , who will probably slide more. It's looking more and more like it's HU, Memphis, and Tulane are heading to the Dance. 

WAC: Tough night for Cal Baptist who lost to UVU 71-55. Nice win for Seattle over Utah (Dixie) Tech to stay in the conference title race. 

MWC: M. Bradley - SDSU(18PTS 6REB 3STL) in the Aztecs W over Utah St.

Feb 10, 2023

WCC: Zags handled San Fran while St Mary's got tripped up by ULM. C. Shelton(G - LMU) scored 31 points in the 78-74 win.

SunBelt: USM beat ULL to take sole control of first place.  Andrew Taylor scored 33 points to help Marshall defeat Coastal Carolina 92-74 and move within a game of second-place ULL.

Feb 11, 2023

New Mexico State men's basketball canceled tonight's game at Cal Baptist and suspended its season indefinitely following "new allegations" within the program. Alleged hazing issues are the latest in the mess.

East Carolina won't play its men's basketball game at Tulane tonight after the death of Pirates radio announcer Jeff Charles(70) while with the team Friday in New Orleans.

 Dwayne Cohill scored 33 points for Youngstown State(12-3) who beat Purdue Fort Wayne 81-72 last night and moved into first place in the Horizon Conference

Kent St(10-2) moved into first in the MAC with a win over Buffalo and Akron's(9-3) loss to Ohio. 

Feb 12, 2023

WCC: St Marys took of care of Portland and the Zags beat BYU, who will need a serious boost to survive in the Big 12 next season. LMU was edged 71-69 by Santa Clara.

SunBelt: Taevion Kinsey scored 37 points for Marshall(10-4)  in 88-77 win over Georgia State. ULL(10-4) lost to Troy. JMU(9-5) beat CCU. USM(12-2) remains the top team with a win over ULM.

CUSA: Florida Atlantic(24-2, 14-1C-USA) keeps rolling with a win over La Tech, while NTX(21-5, 12-3C-USA) stays in the hunt with a win over Charlotte.

Feb 13, 2023

Just wondering if some of the culture at N Mex St predates Heiar, was hired from Northwest Florida State, a JC power. He previously worked as an assistant at ETSU, LSU, Wichita State, and S Miss.

 Chris Jans, the previous HC, is the Miss St HC.

Feb 15, 2023

Three of the four teams atop the MAC are from Ohio. Kent State 11-2, Toledo 11-2, Ball State 10-3 ,Akron 10-3.

Muncie, Indiana: Payton Sparks scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Ball State to an 87-77 home victory over NIU.

Feb 16, 2023

I'll end this blog with this: NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu backed AD Moccia's firing of head coach Greg Heiar over the locker room hazing of a male basketball player and claimed that was not reflective of the athletic department or the school overall. You can bet the CUSA will want better answers than we're hearing, and I'm not surprised that Heiar was sacrificed.  However, I doubt this culture started as soon as Heiar arrived on campus.

Sept 5, 2025

New Mexico State, ex-coach Greg Heiar settles wrongful termination lawsuit over a hazing culture and other off the court issue

 He won the NJCAA Division I national championship  at Trinity Valley Community College with a 34-3 record inthe 2024/25 season.