MWCT - how about Fresno

#1 seed San Diego St should get a Dance ticket regardless of how they do in the MWCT and they should get by the winner #8 Wyoming/#9 Utah St easily. Only one other Dance ticket is likely available for the MWC.
#2  Fresno St  led by Marvelle Harris is a very hot team,   and I see them getting  by the winner of #7 UNLV/#10 Air Force and eventually facing SD St in the final.
#3  Boise St 's lost to SJSU which cost them the 2 seed and their only chance at a Dance ticket is winning the tourney. They face the winner of #6 Colorado St/#11 San Jose St
#4 New Mexico plays #5 Nevada. The Lobos beat Nevada  yesterday behind solid play from Cullen/Neal, but it's  anyone's guess who wins the turn around  re-match Thursday. Maybe Criswell scores 40 and Nevada wins.

March10
UNLV needed three OTs to get by AFA. Fresno should take  handle the Rebs.
Boise St will have a tough one against Colorado St who  stomped SJSU
Aztecs should handle Utah St easily.
March 11
Fresno rolls on . SD ST outlasts USU.

CUSA Tee is on

The top four CUSA teams get a double bye .
#1 UAB has proven they can win close ones and is the only CUSA squad that deserve a look for an at large if they fail to win the the CUSAT.UAB's two excellent shot blockers ,Mehinti & Lee, protect the  rim well
#2 MTSU should handle the winner of  #7 Charlotte/#10 Rice. Hats off to Charlotte for improved play during the season. Reggie Upshaw has spurred MTSU in the last few weeks.
#3 Marshall faces the winner of #6 UTEP/#11FIU.  The #herd will be rooting for FIU because UTEP is playing like a late season Cinderella.The Herd D is shaky as they barely survived a weak USM squad  yesterday. MU 108 USM 106
#4 Louisina Tech plays the winner of #5ODU/#9North Texas. . La Tech's loss to WKU yesterday cost them the 2 seed.and they look pprimed for an upset loss.

MAC T seeding

MAC is the first Other 5 conference  tournament tip off on March 7 and its top four get into action on March 10.

Game 5:  No. 8 Eastern Michigan vs. No. 9 Toledo  Winner vs. No. 1 Akron, 12 Noon

Game 6: No. 5 Kent State vs. No. 12 Bowling Green  Winner vs. No. 4 Central Michigan

Game 7: No. 7 Northern Illinois vs. No. 10 Western Michigan  Winner vs. No. 2 Ohio

Game 8: No. 6 Ball State vs. No. 11 Miami  Winner vs. No. 3 Buffalo

Ball St loss to NIU last night cost them a first round bye.. Akron has been playing well and is the only MAC team that deserves and at large if they fail to win the MAC T. The power resides in the East and Ohio led by Antonio Campbell or Buffalo led by the Bearden/Hamilton due appear to be the likely candidates to knock off #1 Akron.

My Cellar Cinderella  pick is Miami of Ohio who played better in February  and perhaps  Gavin Block and the Red Hawks will take advantage of the reeling  Ball St squad. March is madness time.

For new readers: Other5 , a football creation, is  AAC, CUSA, MAC, MWC, & Sunbelt

MWC- SD St  crushed fading New Mexico .

SunBelt- Arkansas Little Rock led by Roger Woods defeated Ark St and remains in high gear going into the conference tourney. Texas Arlington beat Tx St and has some Cinderella  capability.

MAC: Akron won the East title with a win over Ohio.  Buffalo lost to Miami (Ohio) -huh.Central Michigan beat  Ball St  while W.Michigan beat Toledo which tightened up the West. with one conference game remaining.

WEST	CONF	OVERALL
Ball State	10-7	19-11
Central Michigan	10-7	17-13

MAC tourney March 7

Big night in the MAC as teams jockey for MACT positions starting March 7.
Antonio Campbell leads Ohio into Akron as they battle for first in the East. I'm watching the Toledo/W.Mich game out the corner of one eye.
Ball St hosts CMU in a big battle in the West. The steady trio of House, Calhoun, & Weber  have kept the Cards atop the West deck but  faces a solid CMU squad led by Fowler & Rayson.

EAST	CONF	OVERALL
Akron	11-5	22-7
Ohio	10-6	19-9
Kent State	9-7	18-11
Buffalo	9-7	16-13

WEST	CONF	OVERALL
Ball State	10-6	19-10
Central Michigan	9-7	16-13
Northern Illinois	8-8	19-10
Toledo	8-8	17-12

West to east feb 28

MWC: While most  MWC fans were focused  Boise St big win over San Diego St, I 'm kept my vision on Marbvelle Harris (32 points, 10 assists) over New Mexico who got a monster game from Elijah Brown (41 PTS, 11 REB, 6 AST). Three Dance tickets are back on the MWC table .
San Diego State14-2 21-8
Fresno State 11-5         20-9
Boise State 10-6         19-10

Nevada           9-6         17-10.

AAC: Temple fans must be nervous wrecks as their Owls needed DeCosey's last second trey to surviveUCF. Meanwhile Capuain's 27 ponts  helped Cincy fend off ECU's second half rally. Two key games today Houston @  UConn and Tulsa @ Memphis. 




Temple 12-4 18-10
SMU         11-4 23-4
Cincinnati 11-5 21-8
Tulsa 11-5 19-9
Connecticut 10-5 20-8

Houston 10-6 20-8

Feb 29: Crazy Sunday in the AAC .: what a scramble now Houston ( 

Damyean Dotson 22 PTS, 14 REB, 3 AST)beat UConn . while memphis  Dedric Lawson

27 PTS, 12 REB, 6 AST beat Tulsa

SMU	12-4	24-4
Temple	12-4	18-10
Cincinnati	11-5	21-8
Houston	11-6	21-8
Tulsa	11-6	19-10
Connecticut	10-6	20-9

March 4: #smu crushed UConn and put them back on the bubble

scanning the south Feb 26

SunBelt: Arkansas -Little Rock has the regular season crown locked up but the question is who can  upset them in the  conference tourney and get the Dance ticket.. ULL has been playing well and got a monster night  (29 points, 20 reb) from  Shawn Long last night.. ULM has a balanced squad who've won six straight.
CUSA
 Dirk Williams hit four treys in UAB(13-2,23-5) win over Marshall (11-4,15-13)
Louisiana Tech(10-5,21-7) beat North Texas
Middle Tennessee(10-5,18-9) collapsed in the final minute and lost to WKU.
Charlotte(11-17,7-8) may be the most improved team in the CUSA, and got 21 points each from Uchebo & Davis in a high scoring 114-108 win over UTSA.

Aug 15, 2023

While leafing through some stat books I discovered that John Matusak(Oilers rd1-1973) played at Tampa U, which played 4 years(1971-74). as a 1a Independent. Freddy Solomon was also on those teams. December 29, 1972 Tangerine Bowl TU  21– Kent St 18. Head coaches in the game : Earle Bruce (TU). Don James (Kent St).BTW, Jack Lambert was on the Kent St team that lost to Tampa U and Tooz in the Tangerine Bowl.

The school ended football in 1974 due to an overall enrollment of only 1300 students.

It's had a highly successful 1AA baseball team for a long time.

August 17, 2023

Completely forgot that Noah Jackson (Tampa U) was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1975 and played 8 seasons with the Bears.

March 10, 2024

Cecil Howell Travis played his entire career in MLB as a shortstop and third baseman for the Washington Senators from 1933 to 1947, The frostbite he suffered during his stint as a soldier WW2 weakened him on his return to the MLB. He led the AL in hits in 1941 and his career BA of .314 ranks third among all shortstops behind Honus Wagner (.327) and Arky Vaughan (.318).

He declined a scholarship to Georgia Tech to attend a baseball training school. I can't find much info on this.

May 11, 2024

Missouri St moves up to 1A football to CUSA on July 1, 2025. In 2024 they face only one 1A team, Ball St(MAC).  Bobby Petrino was the HC there from 2020 to 2022. 

Of course, I'd love to see Missouri St get Mizzou on the schedule, and Delaware get Maryland on its schedule.

Famous Missouri St sports alumni: Clay Harbor, TE for Eagles (NFL), Curtis Perry (NBA) played with Lew Alcindor(Bucks).

Famous baseball player: Ryan Howard. Also, Keith Guttin is in his 42nd season as head baseball Coach

May 19, 2024

Missouri St upset Drake(1/24/24), who made the Dance last season. Let's see if they can gain some hoops steam in their final MVC season. MVC to CUSA is likely a lateral move in mens hoops.