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.

Week 11 O5 impact games

Picking the hot team usually backfires in the Sunbelt , but I'll go with Troy behind the running of  B J Smith (138 CAR, 860 YDS, 10 TD) in a squeaker at Ga Southern on Saturday.
MAC: #NIU is 5-0 in MAC play and will ride Childers arm to a home win over Toledo.
MWC: Brett Rypien  Boise St (222-328, 2779 YDS, 24 TD)  host a Fresno St D that has only given up 36 points in  five conference games this season. Who bends?  Fresno 20 BSU 19
CUSA: Southern Miss is coming off a narrow win over the #herd and will stumble a bit at UAB. Spencer Brown has a big rushing day for the Blazers.
AAC: I'm not seeing USF recovering from it's bad loss to #tulane. Cincy's D will contain the Bulls in a 24 16 win
___
Nov 8: Childers scored two rushing TDs and tossed  one in the #NIU 38-15 blowout of Toledo. Also Miami O edged Ohio and Buffalo rolled Kent St.
Nov 10: I was wrong as  the Fresno D couldn't handle #AlexanderMattison 
(30 CAR, 144 YDS, 2 TD)  and Rypien (269 yards passing, TD) in a 24-17 loss to Boise St. BSU moved to within a half of game USU, who they face in two weeks, in thne MWCM.
Nov 11: Werts was involved in all three Ga Southern TDs, but that wasn't enough as #troy rolled to a 35-21 win. #spencerbrown  scored on a 17 yard TD run in OT in UAB's 26-23 win. #michaelwarrenII rushed 154 yards and three TDs in Cincy's 35-21 win over USF.  4-1 for the weekend.
Surprises in the standings: SMU tied for first with Houston in the AACW. NTex-3rd in the CUSAW. Akron descendingtoward the MACE cellar. SDST falls into a tie for 2nd in the MWCW after being upset by UNLV yesterday. ULM atop the Sunbelt West.

Week 10 O5 impact games

MAC: Ragland will  toss 2 TDs  for Miami  (Ohio)  in a Tuesday night win at Buffalo. Both teams have lost to Army, who used  Buffalo and barely survived MO.
AAC:  UCF will survive a close one at Temple on Thursday behind  the running of Killins.
CUSA:  Going to roll with #herd D dominating in a win at USM.
MWC:  I'm curious about  Wyoming and SJST coming off impressive wins against respectively,  Colorado St and UNLV. #joshlove will  do enough for SJST to win a road game at Wyoming.
SunBelt:  Georgia Southern is 4-0 in conference play and Werts running will leader them to a narrow win at ULM
Oct 31_=- It came down to Buffalo blanking MO 9-0 in the the 4th Q for a 51-42 win.  QB's, Ragland and Jackson each were involved in  four TDs.
Nov 2-  UCF outscored Temple 24-6 in the second half for the comeback 52-40 win.  McRae had 16 carries, 188 yards for #UCF .
Nov 4: 1-4 this week. USM forced four turnovers and hung on at home for a 26-24 win over the  #herd. Wyoming 's D held SJST to three FGs in a 24-9 win..  Wow, Georgia Southern stumbled early and couldn't recover in a 44-25 loss to ULM, who moved to first place in the Sunbelt West. Gore and Evans combined for 216 yards rushing and three TDS.
Other notable upsets FAU over FIU. SMU over Houston, Tulane over USF

Independents week 9 quick glance

Book  a win for Notre Dame over a  Navy(AAC) team  that's had some struggles this season
UMass  Offense will carry the day is a high scoring  40-30 win over UConn (AAC) . Andrew Ford,  UMASS QB (1366 YDS, 9 TD) will have a good day in the regional contest.
#army will make it 3-0 against the MAC this season and edge EMI 23-20.

Freshman   BYU  QB  #zackwilson  will do enough for the Cougars  to beat visiting  NIU (MAC) 26-19.

 New Mexico St will  get a road win at TX St, a weak Sunbelt team. NMST 12 TXST 9  -- a battle of field goals

Oct 27

Nice grind out win for Army. weird to see emu not throwing to the end zone in the final minute.

Marquis Young came alive late  (148 yards rushing) scoring the wiining TD in a Umass 22-17 win over Uconn. two for two, so far.

Oct 28

Wilson threw for 208 yards but couldn't find the end zone in BYU's 7-6 lost to NIU.
Book was solid at QB and Dexter Williams rushed for 142 yards and 3 TDs in ND's 44-22 win over Navy.
Willie Jones III threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third  as TX St pulled away early from NMST and held on for a  27-20. 3-2 for the weekend

Nov 1 Week 10

Army ' out rushes AFA and wins at home 29-20. Liberty (4-3) stays in line for a bowl shot with a big rushing game from Hickson . Lib 33 Umass 30. Rypien will lead  Boise St  by BYU in what should be a MWC game. Notre Dame  gets a tough game from Northwestern but will pull away late in a 40-30 win. Dexter Williams has been leading a solid rushing attack. NMST shouldn't lose to Alcorn St.
Nov 4: Four out of five  this week. I didn't foresee Umass outlasting Liberty 62-59. Hickson had a solid rushing game for Liberty, but #Comis threw for 540 yards, four TDs, and Young rushed for 148 yards.. Byu fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and lost 21-16. Army got out to an early lead and hung on for a 17-14 win. ND survived a Wildcats scare behind Book's arm with a 31-21 win. NMST 52 Alcorn St 42

11/06/18

Week 11 Quick hits. Notre Dame should handle the worsening FSU Noles. Coach Taggert may be thinking I should've never have left USF for Oregon then returned  to the state of Florida.. Army should handle 1AA Lafayette.
I underestimated UMass last week against Liberty so I'll roll with their  O  against visiting  BYU.
Liberty has their moments  and Hickson may have another solid rushing game , but I don't see  them winning at UVA.

11/11/18

Book-less and ND was fine with Wimbush at QB and Dexter W rushing for 202 yards in a 42-13 pounding of the Noles. Army won, and Hickson did his best for Liberty in a loss to UVA.  BYU found some O  and outscored UMass 28-6  after the first quarter on their way to a 35-16 win over UMass. three of four for the weekend.
Nov 15: Week 12  quick peeks: Book is back for ND and they'll hold off Syracuse 34-33. Liberty will hang for awhile with Auburn but lose. Umass will get crushed by Georgia. BYU should beat NMST easily but may let it get close before eking out a win. Army will beat Colgate (1AA)

11/18/18

Book and the O played as expected in a 36-3 win over Cuse. Props to ND  defense. Liberty was blanked 53-0 and NMST played a decent first quarter in a  45-10 loss to BYU. Bit surprised UMass scored 27  in a loss to UGA.  Army won

11/21/18

ND should handle #USC in LA.  BYU  is a mediocre team and won't get by #utah, the leader of Pac 12 South. Curious  as to how Utah and Utah St are have surpassed BYU in football quality. Hickson will bounce back and rush for 100 plus as host Liberty  evens the series against NMST and makes up for the September loss.
Whipple is out as UMass HC

dec 8, 2018

 #army will make it 3 in a row over Navy today.  #byu lost to NIU of the MAC this season and now is going to the the Blue Turf in Boise to face  W. Michigan  in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in about two weeks.

dec 9

Army (10-2)  beat navy 17-10 yesterday  making it three years in a row, and captured  the #cic cup.
dec 22: I'm so tempted to take #army over #houston in the Lockheed Bowl today . Maybe I'll toss a coin? #byu crushed #wmu yesterday

dec 23

#army QB, K. Hopkins Jr. rushed for 170 yards and  5 TDs in a 70-14 blowout of Houston.  Big props to Army, but Houston hasn't been the same since the Coach Applewhite/Ed Oliver jacket confrontation

June 6, 2019 

I'm pretty sure #Army left the CUSA in 2004 ,and Marshall joined the CUSA in 2005 so it's cool to see Army, and Marshall agree to home-and-home starting in 2025.

Week 9 O5 impact games

AAC: #USF needs this one badly to keep pace with UCF and Temple in the East but  they don't have enough O to overtake King  and the Cougars. HOU 41 USF 33
CUSA: #FAU  can't fall to 1-3 in conference play and  stay in contention. Singletary will carry them on his back to a narrow win over La Tech 27-26
MAC: Thin conference schedule. /Ohio uses a solid rushing attack to win 19-17 at home over Ball St.
MWC: #fresno st  D will contain Hawaii's aerial attack.. Fres 26 Hawaii 13
Sunbelt: Appst  and Ga southern  are each 3-0 in conference play, but Zac Thomas and the guys will outlast GAS   24 -19
Oct 24 add-on: BJ Smith (170Yds-Ru, 1TD-Ru) led #troy to a 38-17 win last night over South Bama.  Troy/App St meet on Nov 24.
Oct 26_ Could I have been anymore wrong on a game than riding the App St tide? Appst QB Zac Thomas was injured early but their D couldn't contain   Ga Southern QB #shaiwerts who passed  for a TD and rushed for a TD. GAS 34 App14.
I was right on Ohio but didn't foresee the  all that Bobcats' O. Ohio 52 Ball St 14
Oct 27: Singletary rushed 171 yards and 1 TD on 19 carries in a losing FAU  effort  at home. 
J'Mar Smith threw for 217 yards and a touchdown for La Tech in a  21-13  win . another wrong pick
Oct 28: Nearly 100 points scored between Houston and USF as D'Eriq King totalled 7 TDs in the Cougars 57-36 win over USF.
Marcus McMaryion threw for 284 yards and four touchdowns in Fresno State  50-20 blowout of Hawaii. 3-2 for the week.
Also in MWC. Nevada suprised SDST 28-24 and SJST scored 50 in a win over UNLV

Key O5 matchups for week 8

AAC- While most of the chatter in the AAC East is about UCF, Temple has recovered from it's early loss to a 1AA team and will need  a big day from QB Anthony Russo  ( 88-150, 1173 YDS, 6 TD) to beat the visiting Cincy Bearcats  rushing attack led by Michael Warren II  (124 CAR, 664 YDS, 11 TD).  Desmond Ridder , the Cincy QB, has been playing better and may be the difference in this win. Cincy 24 Temple 23.
CUSA- Two exciting players ,Singletary (FAU) and Brady (Marshall), to  watch as Coach Kiffin tries to get his guy in gear. FAU 27 #herd 22
MAC: Erratic  #EMU visits surprising Ball St, who are 2-1 in conference games. Riley Neal will toss a few TD passes in a 28-17  home win.
MWC: Hawaii is 3-0 in conference play and will  get a few TD passes from McDonald in 28 -19 home win over visiting Nevada.
Sunbelt: I'm looking for Zac Thomas to throw a two TD passes  to offset the loss of running back Jalin Moore and win 27-25  home in a tough fight with the visiting,  feisty Cajuns of ULL.
Oct 19- Ark ST and Hansen went off on Ga St , scoring 51 in a win.

Oct 21, 2018

 Hey, I got App St right: Cincy collapsed late. #herd let Kiffin know that the Power 5 ain't calling his cell phone.  #Wiegers  EMU (22-28, 257 YDS, 3 TD) was too much for Ball St.  Hawaii's D collapsed in the middle of the  game.
CUSA- Is Butch Davis smiling a little as his Panthers are 3-0 atop the East.
MWC: SDST barely survived SJST and its O needs a dose of Viagra or it won't stay with Fresno.
AAC- Houston appears to have an easier path in the West. In the East UCF has to play Temple, USF, and Cincy.
Oct 23, 2018: #appst Appalachian St cracks AP Top 25 for first time in FBS history.

Scattershot O5 ramblings week 7

#herd vanished in the second half in a loss to #mtsu will they re-appear in force at #ODU Saturday. Will either team play D in the Tulsa/USF AAC matchup? Can Navy bounce back from the strafing Air Force gave them? Ok, App St and Jalin Moore are you ready to take control of the Sunbelt? #hawaii comes to the continent to tame the wounded BYU Cougars- this is smelling like OT. #Niu tames the Ohio Bobcats and becomes the team to beat in the MAC. Drop your ramble before G+ closes its doors in the next twelve months.
Oct 12: AppSt took care of Ark St, but Ga Southern is hanging with them in the Sunbelt. The Eagles got off to a 15-0 lead including a safety then held on as TX ST failed on a two point conversion late in the 4th quarter.
EAST               CONF
Georgia Southern 3-0
Troy                 3-0
Appalachian State 2-0
Oct 13- #AFA hung with #SDST but lost 24-17 in its return to MWC action. #USF did all the 4th quarter scoring including the winning FG with two seconds to go in its win over #tulsa in AAC action
Oct 14: Navy lost to Temple (24-17), an improving AAC team team that has ability to knock off UCF in a few weeks,  .
In the MWC, Hawaii couldn't tame the BYU Cougar in a 49-23 loss. #fresno and utah st are getting stronger
#NIU 24 Ohio 21, and how about Miami (Ohio) moving to 3-1 in MAC play
In the CUSA, FIU scored 11 unanswered 4th quarter points, and Olin Cushion III intercepted an MTSU pass in the end zone  to secure a  24-21 win