Vegas to Diamondhead- those players' first names

I was scanning the 12/23/18 scores of the smaller hoop conferences  and the names JoJo, Fatts, Amauri, Zigmars, and Lamine  leapt off the page.
Jo Jo Zamora scored 28  for N.Mex St  (WAC) in a win over Wash St (Pac12). Of course, I remember Jo Jo White, of Kansas then the Celtics.
Fatts Russell scored 20 for Rhode Island (A10) in a win over Charlotte (CUSA).
Amauri Hardy scored 22  for UNLV (MWC) in its loss to Indiana St(MVC)

Zigmars Raimo (14 PTS, 17 REB, 3 AST) in Hawaii's (Big West) win over Colorado (pac 12) 

Lamine Diane (24 PTS, 9 REB, 2 AST ) for CSU Northridge (Big West) in a narrow win over Rider(MAAC)

April 20

Making the transition to  college baseball players' interesting first names.

Alsander Womack

Norfolk St. batting

.463.

Easton Walker has a .82 ERA for BYU.

 Adley Rutschman batting  .420 for Oregon St.  Equon Smith has 32 SB for Jackson St.
Andru Summerall (FAU) scored 29 runs

may 7, 2019

I guess this first name isn't too rare.  #davonJones, a BC  RUNNING BACK grad transfer, will be reunited with former Boston College assistant coach Scot Loeffler, who is now the head coach of Bowling Green (MAC).

may 26,2019

 The spelling of  #CodiePaiva,  Loyola Marymount pitcher (7-5, 1.71 ERA), first name is different. BTW, LMU won the WCC tournament.

june 19

Try learning how to spell this first name as a kid:  Kent St defensive back #QwuantrezzKnight will appeal the NCAA's denial of his waiver request for immediate eligibility, which he says is based on depression he developed while playing at MD.

July 13

 #Tyree Appleby 's name has some commercial potential ,  but he was the Cleveland St (Horizon) best basketball player, and his transfer request may have played a role in yesterday's dismissal of head coach #DennisFelton and his staff in the middle of the only July live period. Felton's resume includes HC stints at #wku and #uga .

aug 20

 Wisconsin football reinstates WR Quintez Cephus after being acquitted on two counts of sexual assault.
 aug 26:  Cephus is practicing and listed behind Pryor on the WR depth chart.
sept 2: Cephus had three catches for 39 yards in a Wisky blowout  49-0 win over USF . Bigger question is USF HC Charley Strong  headed for the exit?
sept 24:  Healthy Houston QB D’Eriq King is going to use the red shirt rule to eventually grad transfer elsewhere in 2020.  Self absorption reaches a new high

May 3 , 2020 

I omitted #pookawilliams, RB for Kansas, in my list. He'll be back for his junior year this season.  He's first Kansas U football player since Gale Sayers in 1963 to reach 2,000 career rushing yards in his first two seasons. BTW, Kansas is renewing a Big 8/ big 12 border war in 2025 with Missouri who left for the SEC in 2011.

August 18, 2020

Jahmi'us Ramsey, a Texas Tech freshman hoopster is expected to be a rd1 pick in the NBA draft. The spelling of his name has me wondering if the clerk hit the ' in error while typing his birth certificate.

Jan 10, 2021

Sometimes checking out these rare first names keeps me in the loop. I caught some action on the Red Zone and noticed that #QuintezCephus saw a lot of action in final four games for the Detroit Lions.

May 8, 2021

#JakubDombek and his Hartford U teammates can't be happy with this. Their reward for winning  the school's first America East championship and first Dance ticket is to learn its dropping all sports  from Division I to Division III. Consultants claim the move will save 9M.

May 9, 2021

Cashius McNeilly, a Texas A&M point guard and a native of Scarborough, Ontario , transferred  to TCU . Maybe he'll change the spelling to $$$$ius to take advantage of  the coming laws that allow college athletes to make money from their name, image, and likeness rights.

May 11, 2021

BTW, Pooka Williams was signed as a FA by the Bengals 

May 27, 2021

"It's the lack of respect for the area that bothers me," Hartford U hoops Coach Gallagher said. "It's the '(Hartford) Whalers Syndrome.'

Aug 9, 2022

Checking back in! Pooka Williams, spent most of last season on the Bengals training squad and played one game in December at kick returner. He's been a returner during 2022 Bengals training camp.

Sept 9, 2022

Some tough games to pick among teams with a long matchup histories took me another odd first name. Jirehl Brock, RB for Iowa St. Iowa/Iowa St and Kansas St /Missouri are some tough games to predict this weekend.

Dec 29, 2022

Jalon Daniels was back for the Jayhawks who nearly completed a huge comeback against Arkansas but fell 55-53 in OT. Texas Tech spanked Ol Miss last night. I was hoping for a 2-0 Big 12 night.

Circling back to the original blog topic, I noticed Pooka Williams only lasted a season with the Bengals and is now in the XFL.

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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.