NIT-2023

 You knew it was coming UAB/ USM. He!! they played each other twice a year in the CUSA until USM jumped to the SunBelt this season, And, don't go claiming you're keeping it regional when you have Colorado playing Seton Hall.  I'm intrigued by YSU(Horizon)/OK St.(B12), Sam Houston(WAC)/Santa Clara(WCC), and Cincy (AAC)/VTech(ACC). All those B10 teams here saved us from seeing them at the Dance.

AAC: I get Cincy in the NIT but how did UCF get the nod over Tulane or Temple. BTW, Temple moved McKie from HC to adviser.

I hope the announcers don't ramble on about religion during the Liberty(ASUN) /Villanova(Big East) game.

March 15, 2023

K. Buffen(26PTS 12REB) led UAB to an 88-60 blowout of USM. Blazers have been a hot team except for the loss to FAU in the CUSAT.

Liberty beat Nova and Toledo lost to Michigan.

Ga. Southern: Brian Burg is out and Charlie Henry, a Bama asst , replaces him. I'm sure they'll let CH coach at the Dance

No. 1 Rutgers vs. Hofstra 

No. 3 Michigan vs. Toledo

No. 4 UAB vs. Southern Miss 

No. 3 Liberty vs. Villanova |

No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. Yale 

No. 2 Wisconsin vs. Bradley 

No. 4 Washington State vs. Eastern Washington

No. 3 Colorado vs. Seton Hall 

March 15

No. 1 Oklahoma State at Youngstown State

No. 4 Florida vs. UCF | 7 p.m. 

No. 1 Clemson vs. Morehead State 

No. 2 North Texas vs. Alcorn 

No. 3 Sam Houston at Santa Clara 

No. 4 Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech 

No. 2 New Mexico vs. Utah Valley

No. 1 Oregon vs. UC Irvine 

March 16, 2023

Clemson loses to Morehead St (OVC). What a rapid descent for the Tigers who were looking like a dance team a month ago. VTech, another ACC team, loses to Cincy (AAC).  WAC winners: Sam Houston edged Santa Clara(WCC), and Utah Valley beat New Mexico (MWC). Pitino Jr's Lobos have looked bad in the past six weeks.

March 19, 2023

I tip my hat to the CUSA in post-season. FAU is still Dancing, and UAB and NTX have rd2 NIT games today. North Texas hosts Sam Houston(WAC) at The Super Pit, Denton, TX.

UAB hosts Morehead St(OVC) at Bartow Arena, Birmingham, AL

WKU: Out: Rick Stansbury | In: Steve Lutz

Stansbury's had .610 winning percentage (139-89) over seven seasons but didn't get WKU to the Dance. I'll be surprised if he's unemployed for long. Lutz took TAMU-CC to the Dance this season.

March 20, 2023

Another good day for the CUSA: UAB 77 Morehead 59. NTX 75 Sam Houston 55.

Refs let Wisky charge over Liberty in the final seven minutes yesterday.  Contact initiated by Badgers O was called D foul on Liberty. 

North Texas/Oklahoma State

Wisconsin /Oregon

 Cincinnati /Utah Valley

UAB /Vanderbilt

March 22, 2023

I couldn't keep my eyes open for OT, but NTX outscored OK St 10-6 for a 65-59. Sissoko had 12 points/15 reb for the winners.  Badgers beat the Ducks in the other matchup.

March 23, 2023

Coach Kennedy made some adjustments on D, and UAB outscored Vandy 43-32 in the second of a 67-59 win. Blazers face Utah Valley(WAC) who beat Cincy(AAC) 74-68. Nice stat line A. Bandaogo-UVU:15PTS 12REB 4BLK.

I didn't pay much attention to the CBI tournament. EKU(ASUN) rally, last shot, fell short in its CBI final loss to Charlotte(CUSA) 71-68 . It's possible the CUSA could sweep three post-season tournaments

March 29, 2023

All CUSA NIT final. NTX 56- Wisky 54.  UAB 88 UVU 86.  Wisky was horrible in the 2nd half and were outscored 27-13.

March 31, 2023

NTX   takes the NIT with a 68-61 win over UAB.  CUSA is 18-2 this postseason. 

and Boom: Texas Tech hires Grant McCasland away from NTX to be its men's basketball HC.

June 4, 2023

So this is how FAU kept Dusty May: a 10-year contract worth well north of $1 million annually. I guess he likes it in Boca Raton. 

June 19, 2023

I wonder if WV raids Youngstown St to replace Huggy. Jerrod Calhoun, Youngstown State worked at WV previously and had an incredible year for YSU. I've seen Andy Kennedy's(UAB) name mentioned, but, I'm not sure they want to re-run all the Cincy era stories.

June  25, 2023

Josh Eilert, who been at WV since 2007, will take the WV head coaching job on an interim basis. AD Wren Baker didn't have much luck moving a good coach from a non P5 this close to basketball season's tip-off.

However, this didn't stop Charlotte basketball head coach Ron Sanchez from resigning this month after leading the 49ers to their first 20+ win season in a decade and joining Bennett's staff at UVA less than an hour later. Aaron Fearne was named interim head coach.

July 16, 2023

What a name! Sundance Wicks, the new HC at Green Bay(Horizon) will need to live up to his rep "Bring the Juice". His last gig was an asst at Wyoming.  

He helped launch the Arizona Power Basketball Academy in 2011. 

Oct 29, 2023

All CUSA NIT final. NTX 56- Wisky 54.  UAB 88 UVU 86. This must've really bugged the NIT.

NIT changed format: No automatic bids for regular-season champions, and power6 conferences to get first 12 spots.

And San Diego St made the final at the Dance.

Success breeds Revenge.

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.

WAC hoops 2019/20 hunches

A little twist on this season's prognostications. Who's the next #PascalSiakham,  former #NMST player and budding NBA star with the Toronto Raptors. It's #MilanAcquaah  of California Baptist.
NM State:  Jabari Rice may be  the scorer the Aggies need to repeat as WAC champ.
Grand Canyon: Majerle's kids went the trey way  in a bruising loss to Illinois (B10). Isiah Brown  Jovan Blacksher Jr are players to watch.
California Baptist: #MilanAcquaah , a guard who's been averaging nearly 20 PPg and doing a solid dishing assists and grabbing rebounds, will lead the Lancers closer to the top of the WAC.
Utah Valley- Is Havsa, the guard from Turkey, a potential solid guard who can assist and rebound?
Seattle U:  Terrell Brown is the Redhawk to watch this season
CSU Bakersfield: DeMonte Buckingham is  far way from his  hometown of Richmond VA, but he'll be a major factor in the Roadrunners' on-going improvement improvement.
UT Rio Grande Valley- Tyson Smith and Terry Winn III are Vacqueros  worth watching.
UM Kansas City: McKissic remains the key player
Chicago State:  Cougars won't get out of the basemnt this season but  Xavier Johnson  opened the season scoring 37 points in a win against a non 1A team
Nov 13: Cal Baptist hung  with Texas most of last night before losing 67-54  MILAN ACQUAAH (17pts, 7 reb , 3 assists)
Dec 15: Cal Baptist has the best OOC record among WAC teams and UVU , the worst. I don't catch many televised WAC games but did get to UTRGV lose to Creighton 89-58 the other night.

dec 22

 Quinton Johnson II led the UTRGV Vaqueros (4-8) with 17 points and seven rebounds in a 69-59 loss to Texas Tech, who madeit to the final game of the Dance last season.

dec 25

 Terrell Brown had 17 points, eight assists and four steals in a 79-57  Seattle win over Long Beach St(BIG West). Redhawks needed this win to shake off a rough OOC December heading into WAC play.

 dec 29

Seattle turned around and gets crushed by St Mary's 80-58.  I'm getting an education on school names from the WAC OOC schedule. Cal Baptist beat Ottawa University Arizona 92-75, and UVU beat Antelope Valley 80-65.

dec 30

 Back to more recognizable names: CS Bakersfield was within 3 points (44-41) of Texas Tech with 12:54 left but lost 73-58 last night.

jan 3, 2020

WAC play is underway and nothing changes for Chicago St who lost Utah Valley. UMKC beat Seattle, and  #brandonboyd (25 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST ) led Cal Baptist to a 76-67 victory of UTRGV.

jan 12

 Brandon Boyd had 16 points as Cal Baptist edged past Grand Canyon 61-57  and trail NMST, who barely beat UMKC last night, by a half a game in the WAC. In other games Seattle beat UVU and UTRGV beat Chicago St.

jan 17

Grand Canyon beat Chicago St 78-64, but either they're low on talent or Chicago St is improving.  Rajeir Jones scored 19 points in the Cougars' loss. NMST(4-0) beat UVU to stay a game up on idle Cal Baptist(3-1) and Seattle (3-1) who beat UTGRV. Bakersfield beat UMKC.

jan 27 

Franck Kamgain registered 16 points and six rebounds for UMKC in a win over Cal Baptist(4-2) who fell two games behind NMST (6-0) , a winner over UTRGV yesterday.

 jan 30

 #De'jonDavis tallied 19 points and 17 rebounds for Cal Baptist in a win over UVU. Big win that keeps them 2GB of NMST .

feb 2

 Milan Acquaah had 18 points and eight assists as Cal Baptist defeated Seattle 72-65 to remain 2GB of NMST, a winner over Grand Canyon, in the WAC. UMKC beat Chicago St. UTRGV beat Bakersfield.

feb 9

Cal Baptist's(7-3) comeback  against an improving Grand Canyon(5-4) squad fell short in 103-98 loss . NMST(10-0) remained undefeated in WAC play witha 67-61 win over UMKC, Seattle(5-4) beat UVU(3-6). Chicago St(0-10) got closer to it's first conference win in a long time, but Lesley Varner II made 4 of 5 treys and 9 of 10 free throws to score 23 points for UTRGV(5-5) in a comeback 75-64 win.

feb 15

Coach Majerlie has Grand Canyon getting into gear for a late season run . They beat UMKC 71-66 to move to 6-4 in WAC play but NMST beat Seattle to move to 11-0. Second place Cal Baptist (7-3) played an OOC game against Westcliff.  UTRGV beat UVU and  Bakersfield beat Chicago St.

feb 21

Seattle(6-6) put the brakes on Grand Canyon's(7-5) recent run with a 95-89 win. Terrell Brown SEA - G(31 PTS, 6 REB, 10 AST) had a big night. UVU(4-8) beat Bakersfield (5-7). NMST (12-0) has 4.5 games lead on second place Cal Baptist(7-4).

feb 23

Yes, Chicago St is a bad team but  they were handed one of their worst defeats this season by Cal Baptist who hit 18 treys in a 95-53 victory. NMSt beat remained undefeated in WAC play with a win over UTRGV. Seattle continued to improve with a win over Bakersfield, while Grand Canyon lost to UVU.

feb 27

 Milan Acquaah scored 24 points and De'Jon Davis added a double-double for California Baptist(20-8, 9-4 WAC) in a 73-66 win over UVU

March 1

 De'jon Davis scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Milan Acquaah added 27 points  for Cal Baptist(10-4) in a narrow win over Seattle. UMKC crushed Chicago St and UTRGV beat Grand Canyon.

mARCH 4

i THINK Chicago St men's hoops may be working its way out of the WAC and 1A hoops  the men's team would not travel to Seattle or Utah Valley for WAC games  this week, and the woman's team won't be hosting the same teams . And also may not attend the WACT. tHE REASON: coronavirus . No response yet from the WAC.

March 6

  Wow, Cal Baptist got a taste of the big dog. NMST 83 CB 50. UMKC beat UVU

March 13

 Tarleton St near Dallas TX, and Dixie St  in Utah are joining the WAC in 2020.
 CAL St Bakersfield is leaving the WAC for the Big West.  UMKC is leaving for the Summit League which leaves Chicago St, the lone member from the Midwest section of the USA. All of these moves were scheduled a few years ago.

March 17

Jerry Colangelo, Grand Canyon strategic advisor,said this after the school  fired Dan Majerle  "GCU has become a premier mid-major basketball destination with its resources, facilities, and student and community support." Just a bit of overhype. So much for Phoenix Suns alumni hanging tough.

March 28

Looking back to 1962:  The WAC’s  original six-team league: Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. AZ and ASU exited the Pac 10 in 1978. 

March 31

look who's back: Tarleton St who's moving to 1A and the WAC hired #BillyGillispie , who had decent stints at the first two schools: UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech. He 's been a coaching at Ranger College, a community college in TX, since 2015.

may 7 2020

  I was kind of surprised Chris Jans, the NMST HC, considered replacing Forbes, who took the Wake Forest job, at E Tenn St (Southern Conference). At best it would've been a lateral move with maybe a few more $$$$. ETSU elevated Shay an asst to the HC job.

may 20, 2020 

#WAC hoops stays in the off-season spotlight. Dan Majerle, ex GC HC,  is suing Grand Canyon for waging a campaign to disparage him as part of its effort to avoid its severance obligation. He was replaced by  former Valparaiso and Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew.

May 26, 2020

#terrellbrown (PTS 20.7  REB 6.2 AST 4.9 last season), a native of Seattle , used the grad transfer portal and left Seattle U for Arizona.

July 10, 2020

Is hiring ex NBAers to be  college head coaches a growing trend?  Mark Madsen had a rough season(11-18, 5-11) at UVU(WAC) replacing Mark Pope who went 24-8 at BYU(WCC) and was probably going to get the Cougars to a No. 6 or No. 7 seed.

dec 10, 2020

 #BillyGillispie , who had decent stints at the first two schools: UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech has  Tarleton (WAC) off to a 2-2 start including battling Texas A&M hard before falling 73-66.e slated to play Kansas on Dec 13.

WAC Hoops 2018/19 hunches

In my hip pocket I had a slip of  dusty paper  that said #NMST and #grandcanyon would be the teams to beat in the  #wac. GC lost to SDak St  while NMST handled N Dak SDt easily in Summit League /WAC challenge . UMKC  and Seattle got crushed by respectively, Loyola ( ILL) and Stanford.


NM State:  AJ Harris had five assists  in a win over UTEP and should have move per game as the season progresses and the Aggies try to repeat as conference champions.
Grand Canyon: T Dreschel  and C Johnson each at 17 ppg so far
Utah Valley- Toolson  18 ppg
Seattle U: Carter 7.5 RBG
CSU Bakersfield: Joiner 14 PPG
California Baptist: M Acquaah  22 ppg so far. Pirog 4 BLKG
UT Rio Grande Valley- Varner & Winn at 16 PPG so far
UM Kansas City: Mckissic 14.5 PPG
Chicago State: C Jacob  is at 8.7 RBG after three losses against IU, ND, and CMU

Nov 17, 2018

Wake up WAC: Cal Baptist is playing well in it's first 1A season. They beat Oral Roberts (Summit) a few days ago  and took Tulsa (AAC) to the final seconds before losing. #MilanAcquaah led Cal Baptist with 20 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.

Dec 7, 2018

New Mexico (MWC) head coach #PaulWeir , who left NMST HC job in 2017 for the NM job,  apologizied for the actions of some of his players in a pre-game skirmish at rival New Mexico State in Las Cruces. JoJo Zamora tossed in 27 points and Ivan Aurrecoechea scored  23 with 11 rebounds in the NMST blowout of NM 100-65.The Aggies are 2-0 against the Lobos this season and also have OOC wins against Wash St (Pac12) and UTEP (CUSA).

dec 9

#IvanAurrecoechea  (14 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST) but Zamora's last second trey attempt  bounced off the rim in New MexicoSt  loss to #2 Kansas.
dec 22
 #ChicagoSt got crushed by local neighbor  #Depaul last week and are 0-17 in this matchup which won't help recruiting. #seattleu is having a decent December including playing UW tough before falling 70-62.

jan 4, 2019

#Acquaah (36pts, 7 reb 1 asst) led Cal Baptist upset over NMST , the top dog in the WAC. Bakersfield beat Seattle. Irvine beat UTRG. Grand Canyon beat UVU.

jan 6, 2019

UTRG outscored Cal Baptist 53-34 in the second half for 81-74 win. Bakersfield beat UVU. Grand Canyon beat Seattle. And #ChicagoSt showed some improvement by staying close to #UMKC  but its 15 turnovers cost them dearly in an 80-72 loss.
jan 12, 2019: Perhaps there is a changing of the guard in the WAC as  CSU Bakersfield is 3-0 in conference play with wins over Seattle, UVU, and UTRG. Joiner, Durham, and Holden are each averaging about 12 ppg

jan 21,2019

It's not a great sign that CSUB(13-6, 5-1 WAC) had to rally beat Chicago State 86-73 (0-4 WAC) Saturday to remain tied with Grand Canyon , who beat UMKC, for first in the Wac.

Jan 25

CSUB (6-1)  beat Cal Baptist 85-81 to stay atop the WAC. Seattle (1-5) climbed out the basement with a win over Chicago St (0-5) .UVU beat UMKC.

Jan 27

NMST edged UTRGV 63-61 to stay within a half game of  first place Grand Canyon (6-1) a winner over Cal Baptist yesterday.  #XavierBishop scored 22 points and UMKC (3-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 63-54 win over Seattle, who remains a half game  ahead of cellar dweller Chicago St, a loser to UVU.

feb 8

Cal Baptist (4-5 WAC) beat  Chicago St by 50  , 94-44.  NMST (9-1) edged Bakersfield by 1 to stay in first. #TysonSmith scored 21 points for UTRGV in its win over Grand Canyon (7-2)

feb 15

NMST moved to 10-1 in WAC play with a win over UVU(5-4). UMKC  beat GC(7-4). Chicago St (0-11) lost to Bakersfield while Seattle (1-10) lost to UTRGV(7-4)

feb 22

Damari Milstead and Oscar Frayer scored 18 points apiece  Grand Canyon's(9-4) 91-58 rout of Cal Baptist(5-6) .Jake Toolson had 25 points for  Utah Valley in a 103-71 blowout of Chicago State(0-12). UMKC (5-7) lost to Seattle(2-9)

march 1

NMST  (25-4, 13-1 WAC) crushed UMKC (10-19, 5-9 WAC) amd Cal Baptist(15-12, 6-7 WAC) fell to Seattle(16-13, 4-10 WAC). Hey but Chicago St (3-26, 0-14 WAC) came darn close to a win in an 82-77 loss to UTRGV(17-14, 8-6 WAC). Travon Bell posted solid numbers for Chicago St:26 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST

march 3

Is Utah Valley(21-8, 10-4 WAC) a team to watch in WACT ? #BayleeSteele recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds for UVU in a 64-63 win over Cal Baptist to move into a tie forsecond with Grand Canyon, a 73-69 winner over Bakersfield.

march 15

No surprises in rd 1 of the WACT. NMST crushed Chicago St. UTRG beat Bakersfield. UVU over UMKC.  Carlos Johnson scored 31 points in Grand Canyon's  84-75 win over Seattle.

march 16

 CBU had to wait out its transition period. If they were going by record, Chicago St, the perennial WAC cellar dweller, was winless, and would have been sidelined. Dan Majerle has Grand Canyon back in the WAC final against NMST.

march 17

#TrevelinQueen (27 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST) led #NMST to a blowout victory over Grand Canyon in the WACT final.

March 19

NewMexico St faces Auburn , ahot team who just won the SECT. Ags may not move past rd1 of the Dance.

March 21

Tough night for the WAC in the CBI. Grand Canyon lost to West Virginia, and Cal Baptist made a nice second half comeback but fell 56-55 to Loyola marymount.

march 22

 Harris passed on an open layup and fed Terrell Brown for a trey. Brown was fouled but missed two of three free throws with 1.1 seconds left, and New Mexico State fell 78-77 to Auburn. What a roll of the dice.

april 7 2019

 Kareem Richardson, the only coach that has taken #UMKC to the postseason. is out and Billy Donlon, who was head coach at Wright State (Horizon) from 2010-16, is in was named UMKC He has spent time on staffs at Northwestern and Michigan which may help in recruiting in the Midwest.

april 11

I heard the rumors but remain mildly surprised that BYU(WCC)  hired a #WAC coach, #MarkPope from Utah Valley . His Wolverines went 77-56 overall in four seasons, including a 34-24 record in the WAC.

april 15

#markMadsen  hired as UVU Head Coach. His resume:six seasons on the Lakers staff, a year as the Lakers G League head coach, and a season as an assistant coach at Stanford.
 May 31: MILAN ACQUAAH, California Baptist- smart move not leaving for the 2019 NBA draft. He was decent on a so -so team.

july 3

 #grandcanyon Head coach Dan Majerle landed  Jaylen Fisher, an impact transfer from TCU
july 8-some history-  Utah Valley, UTPA and Chicago State  came from the Great West. Texas Pan- American merged into UTRGV. Chicago St won the last  Great West tourney in 2013.

WAC HOOPS: Chicago to Seattle

WAC has some wild geography . #NEWMEXICOST is on a nice roll. Their only conference loss is and they face Seattle tomorrow. They've beaten Illinois, UTEP, Colorado St , & New Mexico and lost to USC in OOC play. Utah Valley and Seattle are the most likely teams to upset them in the WACT which returns to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the eighth year in a row. Utah Valley led by UVU #Manyang (14.0 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.0 APG) faces UTRGV on Feb 17.

Leading scorers

1. Dixon, Nick-UTRGV 20.6

2. Lofton, Zach-NMSU 20.0

3. Kavas, Matej-SU 16.1

Leading rebounder 12.4 rbg is Jemerrio Jones #NMSU





WAC standings

New Mex. St. 9-1 22-4

Utah Valley 7-3 18-8

Seattle 7-3 18-9

Grand Canyon 6-4 17-9

UT-Rio GV 5-5 14-13

UMKC 4-7 9-19

Cal-Baker. 3-7 10-15

Chicago St. 0-11 2-26

feb 18 update: Jordan Hill (24 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST) led #seattle to a 73-63 upset over #nmst despite
Zach Lofton's (26 PTS, 12 REB, 5 AST) effort. UVU won to keep things tight among the top 3.
Bakersfield beat GC. Cool first day checking out the WAC

feb 22 forecast: #nmst should stop their two game losing streak against Chicago St tonight.
Seattle plays GC and UVU plays Cal Bakersfield. Three conference games left. Obvious must win for the top three WAC teams
feb 23: Grand Canyon got a great game from Alessandro Lever  who scored 30 points , grabbed 10 rebounds, and hit 14 of 15 free throws  in a win over Seattle. NMST won and Conner Toolson scored 22 in UVU's win. Two WAC games to go.
New Mex. St. 10-2 Utah Valley 9-3 Seattle 8-4
feb 25 update: NMST  led Jemerio Jones (15pts , 23 rebs)crushed UMKC to wrap up the WAC regular season title. UVUmade alate push but fell to Grand Canyon. Seattle's slide continued when they couldn't hold back a late Cal-Baker  push. UT Rio kept Chicago St winless in WAC play.
March 4 update: Props to #deiontesimmons (20 PTS, 11 REB, 1 STL) leading Chicago St squad to it's first  #WAC win this season . CST 96 UMKC 82. They'll face #NMST  in rd1 of the WACT . Utah Valley crushed Seattle  in a matchup of two teams going in opposite directions. Seattle's loss allowed Grand Canyon who beat Bakersfield, to move into the 3rd slot. WACT March 8 PST times on ESPN3
6 UMKC vs. No. 3 Grand Canyon, 12 p.m. 
7 CSU Bakersfield vs. No. 2 Utah Valley, 2:30 p.m. 
 8 Chicago State vs. No. 1 NM State, 6 p.m. 
5 UTRGV vs. No. 4 Seattle, 8:30 p.m. 
march 9 rd 1: Do you remember #danmajerle when he played for the Phoenix Suns? His Grand Canyon squad edged #UMKC as they try to to recover  from a four year probation with a Dance ticket. Their next opponent is Utah Valley  who got solid efforts from the #toolson brothers in a win over Bakersfield. NMSU handled Chicago St easily as it appears winning the WACT  is their only Dance option. #seattle recoverd from its recent slide in a win over UTRGV. Solid game from Richaud Gittens SEA - G (17 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST). 
My gut says Utah Valley is the biggest threat for NMST.
march 10- My gut was wrong (what's new)  as Grand Canyon with Lever and Braun scoring 15 each beat UVU  to advance to final against NMST who beat Seattle. Zach Lofton NMSU - G (31 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST)
March 11: The Aggies weren't  betting on the committee so they took care of business defeating Grand Canyon 72-58 .  The WAC  made a solid move naming #jemeriojones the WACT MVP for grabbing 55 rebounds in three games.  I'm guessing #newmexicost will be a 13 or 14 seed.
march 15 : I'm rolling the dice on #newmexicost  winning its rd1 game over Clemson. #jemeriojones gets 20 rebounds
march 17: Clemson is better than #Newmexcost, who didn't shoot well , particularly from the free throw line. J Jones is a great rebounder who needs to work on free throw form. Great game from Lofton ( 29 points, 3 rebounds)

march 25, 2018

Is #chicagost looking to hire a Loyola Chicago ASST  Or will they hire #markaguirre, former #Depaul star.

april 3, 2018

Now that #gonzaga has  rejected an offer to move to #MWC , is New Mexico St their next target? 

april 6, 2018

Some off-season news: South Dakota hires Todd Lee, associate HC at #grandcanyon , as new head coach replacing Smith who took the Utah St job

april 13, 2018

Some coaches view  the #chicagost HC job as the worst position in college basketball. I wonder if the #WACwill be losing a team

april 17, 2018

Here's one reason  Chicago St job is tough.  CSU coaches have been  told to recruit only in the Chicago area to save money. Chicago has a lot of talented high school hoopsters, but you can bet  they weren't lining up to stay in town.
april 28- Maybe I should apply for the #chicagost job ?

April 30, 2018

#danmajerle is  taking the transfer route to move #grandcanyon  closer to New Mexico St in #WAC play. Forward Michael Finke, a graduate transfer from Illinois , will join his brother Tim at GC. Also coming but sitting a season are  is Isiah Brown  from Northwestern  and Carlos Johnson from Washington.

May  10, 2018

#chriszorich, a former LB for Notre Dame and the Chicago Bears, is the new Chicago St AD. They can only hope his recent stint as the Prairie ST CC AD helped him learn some lessons and that his 2013 personal tax evasion conviction is the rear view . Obviously he needs to hire some basketball coaches.

June 9, 2018

On Jan 13, 2017 California Baptist University Lancers accepted an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference in three weeks July 1, 2018, and  will not be eligible for WAC postseason competition in any sport in which the winner is the league’s automatic qualifier for an NCAA. Unlike Chicago St, they have a head hoops coach #RickCroy. 

June 13

It's not often a  big time rebounder wins PoY in any conference. He's definitely going to be an NBA rd2 draftee. #JemerrioJones  (NMST) was named WAC PoY after averaging 11.3 points at a 54.5 percent clip, 14.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game in WAC play.

June 21 

Cal St Bakersfield kids probably will dig visiting the Bahamas  to face #CMU (MAC) in rd1 of #JunkanooJam in November

june 24, 2018

I've seen stranger things happen so I'll toss this into the cybersphere as an unsupported hunch . Will #zorich  of #chicagost interview the beleaguered ex #Uconn HC,  #kevinollie

june 27,2018

History lesson: The #Wac had 16 football teams  in 1996 and was on the cusp of hanging with big boys. It started as six-team league in 1962 -- Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Wyoming New Mexico and Utah.  WAC history 

july 14, 2018

#chicagost may not remain the the #WAC and 1A hoops if  all they can pay a hoops head coach is in the  $70,000-$90,000 range. 

july 28, 2018

Former #NMST basketball student-athlete #JemerrioJones has been awarded the 2017-18 WAC Sportsmanship Award. Jones, a Memphis native, played on the #Grizzlies NBA summer squad.

aug 3

Cal Baptist  will play in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational
#Grandcanyon will play in the #woodenlegacy
Chicago St  official website doesn't have many updates, but James Farr is listed as the Associate Head Coach.

aug 15

I looked away and #chicagost hired #LanceIrvin, an assistant at Chicago’s Morgan Park High School for his brother Nick, as its hoops head Coach . He's had NCAA 1A assistance gigs in the past and his father, Mac Irvin,  was known as the “Godfather” of Chicago basketball.

nov 7, 2018

I haven't started on WAC predictions but Chicago St won't  be near the top . Hoosier 104 Chic St 55

nov 9

Chicago St needs a break from Indiana teams . They lost 89-62 to Notre Dame.