Early CUSA 2019 football chatter,well knows names

#KaiLocksley  #UTEP s likely starting QB, and son of Terps HC Mike Locksley has been suspending for the off the field violations.  Rahsaan Lewis, Ray's son , is transferring  from UCF to FAU, and Frank Gore Jr is a part of FAU's 2020 recruiting class. More updates coming.
June 15: Beer sales at college football games is a hot topic, and #MTSU of the CUSA has interesting approach.  It is  setting up a beer garden in the south end zone of the stadium and partnering with students at the school to help come up with specific microbrews for each opponent that comes to Murfreesboro, TN

June 16

How is this for week 1 toughies?  FAU at Ohio St,  MTSU at Michigan, and Louisiana Tech at Texas?

June 17

#herd visit Boise St (MWC) on Sept 6 . That's not a regular OOC matchup

June 19

 #herd got some  short yardage WR help with TavinRichardson , a grad transfer from Kentucky.

June 27

  Louisville adds Marshall’s leading sacker,Ty Tyler, as grad transfer. Derrek Pitts , a WVU safety, is joining the #herd.

july 15

 CUSA athletic directors have reportedly discussed trading schools with other leagues. It's mostly chatters about the Sun Belt and probably ties into cutting down on the trips from the east coast to west Texas. It could be just chatter.

july 18

  #CUSA league media picked   #Marshall  to win the East and #northtexas to win the West
july 23: Kiffin confirmed ex-FSU QB Deondre Francois won’t be transferring to FAU
july 26:  #brentStocksill ,  former #MTSU QB and the son of the head coach, was hired as the FAU Owls’ offensive player personnel assistant.
july 30:  UCF,  #FIU (CUSA) reportedly agree to home-and-home series in 2020 and 2022.
july31:   #QuardraizWadley , UTEP's leading rusher, is out for the 2019 season with a toe injury.
aug 2:  Georgia and Charlotte (CUSA) reached an agreement on a matchup that will be played in Athens,GA in 2025.
aug 5: UTEP QB #KaiLocksley back with the team despite his legal casse not being resolved.
aug 7- USC transfer WR Keyshawn Young moves on to #Marshall. Doubt if the #herd get a lot of Trojan transfers.
aug 31- Rice played  decent D but fell at Army 14-7

Playing O5 baseball catchup

 AAC- ECU (17-2) leaders on offense is Bryant Packard with .376 AVG and in pitching its Jake Agnos with 7 wins and 108  K's. I'm a bit surprised that USF and UCF are near the bottom of the conference.
CUSA: USM (19-6) and FAU(18-7) are in a fierce battle for first place. Bryan Bowen is batting .359 for USM and Mitchell Hartigan is batting .341 for FAU.
MAC: CMU  (17-5) is led by Garrett Navarra .371 avg and Zach Gilles 370 AVG.
MWC: Fresno St (16-7-1) Zach Ashford is batting .373 and Ryan Jensen has 8 wins and 74 K's.
SunBelt: Texas St (17-8) leads the West. Jaxon Williams is batting .335 and has five steals.
In the East every teams has a shot except for Georgia St.

May 12: 

 Fresno St hasn’t been to the postseason since 2012.

mAY 15

USM lost it's last two games while FAU split,  leaving both teams at 19-8 in the CUSA .

May 16

Ball St (17-5) has moved to within two games of CMU in the #MAC. #Aaaronsimpson is batting .339 with 14 SB

May 18

#herd beat Rice in ten innings  which should  get them in the top 8  and make them eligible for the CUSAT.

May 19

ECU is easily the favorite in the AACT , but keep your eyes on #JoeyWeimer (6hr, 26 rbi)  and the 2 seed Cincy Bearcats against  7 seed Memphis on May 21.

May 20

Sunbelt: Seeds 7-10 will play-in for the 7 and 8 seeds.  Texas St is the 1 seed and Georgia Southern is the 2 seed.

 May 23

  #CUSA rd1: Marshall first baseman Shane Hanon hit a two-RBI single in the with two out in the top of the 12th to provide the decisive runs in 6-4 win over La Tech.

may 25 

D1 O5 baseball bubble watch:  TXst (sunbelt)  , UCF and Houston (AAC) may get in  and USM (CUSA) may not.

MAY 27, 2019

Automatic Bids: AAC-Cincy, MAC- CMU, MWC- Fresno St, CUSA-USM, SunBetlt - Coastal Carolina.

May 28

At large from O5- FAU (CUSA). AAC: ECU, UConn
June 2: All O5 teams remain alive in the CWS. Fresno St got a big win over Stanford yesterday.
June 4:  ECU (AAC) is the sole O5 team to make the round of 16. The Pirates double-dipped Campbell to move on and face Louisville.

June 8

ECU was pounded 14-1 by Louisville and needs to beat Cards today or they're done 

June 9

 ECU lost 12-1 yesterday. Louisville swept ECU and scored its 26 runs off of 32 hits, none of them home runs.

April 17, 2021

So I got curious about some the players mentioned in this blog since 2020 was a terrible year for kids in the MLB minor league system.

LF #BryantPackard, who played for ECU, was assigned to West Michigan Whitecaps in the Detroit Tigers' system.

May 12, 2021

Nevada's #TylerBosetti ( 5-10, 170 pounds)  homered in his ninth consecutive game, breaking an NCAA Division I record of 8 consecutive games.  It was his 11th homer in 10 games.  

May 26, 2021

Four Memphis players hit home runs, highlighted by back-to-back-to-back dingers by Alec Trela, Austin Baskin, and Taylor Howell in a 11-1 AACT upset of 11th ranked ECU. This is the fourth straight time the AACT  1 seed  lost to the 8 seed in the quarterfinal round. 

May 31, 2021

Automatic bids for O5: Sun Belt South Alabama,  AAC South Florida, CUSA Old Dominion

MAC: Central Michigan,  MWC Nevada: regular season winners

At large bids will be announced later today.

June 8 2021

Marshall athletic director Mike Hamrick is stepping down at the end of the month to become special assistant to university president Jerome Gilbert for one year and will focus on fundraising and planning for the university's baseball stadium project. Gilbert, who  is leaving in 2022,  appointed associate AD and chief of staff Jeff O'Malley as interim AD, effective July 1.

july 25, 2021

#SamBachman RHP, Miami (OH) of the MAC went 14th overall to the Angels in the recent MLB draft. His fastball has been clocked at 101MPH. Later in the draft they took Tulane's(AAC) Braden Olthoff.

March 28, 2022

I was looking around to see if any O5 teams were in the top 25 in baseball and only see TX ST (Sunbelt). 

Then I notice Maryland dropped to 18-5 on the season, after falling to Dallas Baptist(MVC) twice in three days. MD/DB regular season games are not a common occurrence. 

Also, Liberty who's on a path to the CUSA is in the top 25. 

April 9, 2022

Update on how one of these kids is doing. #TylerBosetti returned to Nevada(MWC) for his senior year and the infielder if  off to a solid start with 19 RBIs and 4 SB s. 

June 7, 2022

Sweet 16 in CWS 2022 has two O5 teams: ECU(AAC) and Southern Miss(CUSA). Sunbelt adds S.Miss next season.

Going out West for some hoops---why?

 #PAC12 hasn't received much respect this season and after watching parts of UW's ,the top team in the league with an 11-1 record, narrow win over a pesky WSU (3-9) squad, I get it. Utah(8-5) looked  as if it was ready for a good run , but they lost to ASU(8-5). Stephen Thompson Jr. had 22 points and Oregon State (8-4) swept the Civil War series against Oregon(6-6). UCLA(6-7), who may be worse since firing Coach Alford, was blown out by Stanford(7-6) 104-80. USC (7-6) beat Cal(0-13). Maybe four teams  , UW, , OSU,ASU, and UTAH get Dance tickets.
In the WCC, Gonzaga(12-0) is gong Dancing regardless of how they do in the conference tournament #byu (18-10, 10-3), who defeated Loyola-Marymount yesterday, may be in line for an at large ticket, but they haven't fared well against big name OOc teams with losses to Houston and Miss St, but they beat intra-state rival Utah. San Francisco and St Mary's have to win the WCCT for a dance ticket.

feb 18

Tough times in the desert:  Colorado (16-9, 7-6 Pac-12) sends Arizona (14-12, 5-8 Pac-12) to its 7th straight loss, 67-60.

feb 21

Then Colorado(7-7) turned around and lost to WSU(4-9) 76-74. Utah(8-6) scored only 18 points in the second half of a 62-45 loss to UW(12-1). ASU(9-5) got 16 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST from Rob edwards in a 80-62 win over Stanford (7-7)

feb22

Is it Pac 12 parity or mediocrity? UCLA(7-7) edged Oregon St(8-5), USC(8-6) blew out OU Ducks(6-7), and Zona(6-8) kept Cali winless in P12 play. Top 3 remains at UW, ASU, and Oregon St.
In the WCC Zaga rolled Pepperdine.  BYU(10-4) lost to San Fran (9-4). St Mary's (9-4)  won while holding Pacific(3-10) to 32 points.San Diego(6-7) kept Portland winless in WCC play

feb 24

 Matisse Thybulle had 17 points, six steals and five blocked shots  for UW(13-1) in its win over Colorado(7-8). Beavers (9-5)  beat the Trojans. Utah (9-6) beat WSU, and UCLA beat Oregon.
In the WCC BYU's 34 point lost to Zaga probably means they need to win the WCCT to get an at large ticket . St Mary's beat San Diego to  move to 10-4 in WCC play while  San Fran fell to 9-5 with a loss to Santa Clara.

march 1

This can't help the Pac 12 get more dance tickets.  Darius McNeill scored 19 points and Connor Vanover had 18 to help the California(1-15) snap a 23-game losing streak in Pac-12  play by beating No. 25 (overall) Washington(13-2) 76-73 on Thursday night. Oregon St (9-6) lost at the buzzer to Zona(8-8)  while ASU (10-6) lost 79-51 to Oregon (7-8). That's a rough night for the top 3 Pac12 teams. UCLA (9-7) beat USC(8-8) and Stanfords (8-8) crushed WSU(4-11)
IN the WCC the Zags beat Pacific while Saint Mary's(20-10, 11-4 WCC)kept it's thin Dance chances alive with a 65-48 win over Portland

march 3

Jordan Ford had decent numbers for St Mary's, 19 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, but the Gaels wilted in the secod half of a 69-55 WCC loss to Gonzaga.  More goofiness from the P12 .Cali beat WSU for it's second win in a row. Zona follow up a solid win over Oreg. St with a 73-47 loss to Oregon , while Utah's descent continued with a 71-63 loss to Colorado. What a mess after UW (13-2).  see blog

Arizona State	10-6		19-9
Oregon State	9-6		17-10
UCLA	9-7		16-13
Utah	9-7		15-13
Colorado	8-8		17-11
Oregon	8-8		17-12
Stanford	8-8		15-13
USC	8-8		15-14
Arizona

Chi-town area Saturday (Jan 13) hoops

Last weekend I watched St Johns beat Georgetown in OT as two 80's stars now head coaches,  Chris Mullen and Patrick Ewing, are trying to revive their programs and rivalry games. Yesterday, DePaul((10-5, 2-2 Big East) which hasn't had much success since the Meyer/Aguirre days of the 80s beat the Johnnies behind #FemiOlujobi (27 PTS, 8 REB, 2 STL). GTown got 33 points from Govan in an OT win over Providence.
Last season's Madness Cinderella Loyola-Chicago held off Illinois State 67-64 with Marques Townes scoring 21 points.- in an MVC matchup . Also in MVC play SIU lost Valpraiso 65-61.
WAC doormat, Chicago St, is showing signs of recovery as they nearly took down Cal Baptist but fell 77-75 despite   (24 PTS, 9 REB, 2 STL) from #AnthonyHarris . 
UIC (Horizon) hit 17 treys in a 73-56 win over Cleveland St.
 St Louis (12-4, 3-0 A 10) got a solid game from Goodwin (12 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST) in a 71-64 win over LaSalle.

jan 17, 2019

#depaul  fell back to earth as Butler outscored them 51-29 in the second half.  Butler 87 Depaul 69. Ill St hung on Tuesday night for a 59-58 win over SIU in MVC play.
Northwestern's loss to Michigan on Sunday left them at 1-5 in B10 play.
Jordan Goodwin scored 20 points in the Saint Louis (4-0 in A10) win over Fordham 63-60 on Tuesday night.

Jan 19,2019

NW looked ragged but broke a two game losing streak with a 65-57 win over Rutgers.   St Louis won its sixth straight as Dion Wiley and Javon Bess scored 20 points apiece in a 68-57 St Louis(14-4, 5-0 A 10) win over St Joseph. Travis Ford , who was fired from OK St, is in his third season as HC. ST Louis exited the CUSA in 2005 for the Atlantic 10 , and I still feel like it wa san odd geographical move.

Jan 20, 2019

Loyola-Chicago  (12-7, 5-1 MVC) led by Cameron Krutwig 16 points and 10 rebounds spoiled Indiana St  celebration of the 1979 "Bird" team. L-C 75 ISU 67. Milik Yarbrough scored 27 points to lead Illinois State (4-2 MVC) over Evansville 78-70. Max Strus scored 22 points in DePaul's 67-63 (3-3 Big East) win over Seton Hall.

Jan 24, 2019

Tough night for Chicago's Catholic  teams: Depaul lost to Marquette  and Loyola- Chicago was pounded  70-35 by Missouri St.. #CameronKrutwig scored 15 of L-C 35 points.  Saint Louis

(14-5, 5-1 A 10) lost to Duquesne in A10 play.

Jan 28

 Cameron Krutwig scored 22 points in L-C (6-2 MVC)  75-50 win over SIU and took over the MVC top spot. Depaul lost to Providence and Northwestern was pounded by Wisconsin.

jAN 30

Terps got healthy beating up Northwestern last night. Fernando had a great night. DePaul
(11-8, 3-5 Big East) hosts a hot Villanova (16-4, 7-0 Big East) team tonight.

Jan 31, 2019

Depaul lost to Nova 86-74 and descended toward its old spot in the Big East cellar.Cameron Krutwig
(22 PTS, 11 REB, 5 AST) led Loyola of Chicago to big  61-60 win over N.Iowa in MVC action. St Louis was upset by Richmond in A10 action.

Feb 2

 Marcus Ottey and Tarkus Ferguson scored 17 points each and Illinois-Chicago (5-5 Horizon) beat Wright State (6-4 Horizon) 67-53. Northern Kentucky Norse sits atop the Horizon with an 8-2 record

feb 3

#PaulJorgensen scored the game-winning basket on a goal-tending call in Butler's win over Seton Hall, and Depaul beat Providence in Chicago area Big East action. Yarbrough scored 21 in Illinois St. victory over Loyola-Chicago 65-57 that left both teams at 7-3 in the MVC. Illinois beat Nebraska and continuing its  climb out the B10 basement . #ChicagoSt  (3-20, 0-8 WAC), one of the worst teams in 1a hoops was beaten 83-39 by N Mex St.

feb 4

 #TarkusFerguson had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the UIC  69-67win over Northern Kentucky, the Horizon leader.

feb 5

#Northwestern (3-8) lost it's third game in a row and moves closer to joining Penn St (1-10) in the B10 cellar. Penn St 59 NW 52 

feb 6

90 miles from Chicago ,  #10 Marquette  was upset by  a St Johns' team who was just blown out by Duke. Ponds led the Johnnies with 28 points.  Illinois upset #9 Sparty. NIU was edged 73-72 by Ball St in MAC play. In MVC action Ill St lost 53-69 to Valparaiso and
M. Townes LOY CHI (32 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST) led  the Ramblers in a blowout of Drake.

feb 10

 Markus Howard (38 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST) led #Marquette (9-2 BE) to a big 66-65 win over Nova(10-1) while Paul Reed (15 PTS, 8 REB, 2 STL) led #Depaul (5-6) out of the Big East cellar win a win over Xavier. Marcus Ottey  scored the winning layup with 26 seconds to lead #UIC (7-5) to to its third Horizon win in a row.   Giorgi Bezhanishvili (35 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST) led  #illinois to a win  over Rutgers, its fourth win in the last five B10 games.

feb 11

Northwestern blew a huge lead to Iowa and lost 80-79/ In MVC play Townes scored 18 for  Loyola-Chicago (9-3) in its win over Valparaiso and Jarred Dixon banked in a half-court shot just before the final buzzer as Missouri St edged Illinois St 66-65.

feb 13

#marquette pounded depaul  Markus Howard (36 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST) had another huge night for Marquette. Butler lost to St Johns (18-7, 6-6 Big East) I'm guessing the Big East gets five dance tickets so the Johnnies needed this one . #siu lost to Drake in MVC play.

feb 14

Northwestern lost to Rutgers .and is down in B10 basement with Penn St. Javon Bess had 26 points as Saint Louis (A10) topped Gw 73-58. In MVC play Loyola of Chicago fell to Bradley while Missouri St beat Evansville, and N. Iowa beat ILL St. L-c (9-4) has a one game lead over Drake  and Missouri St in the MVC.

feb 17

UIC lost  81-73 to Youngstown St who were led by #DariusQuisneberry 's 37 points in an Horizon matchup.Tough night for other Chi-town teams: NW lost to Nebraska and Depaul lost to Butler. In MVC play Loyola of Chicago lost to Bradley while SIU beat Indiana St. A little further away St Louis defeated La Salle 62-49 behind Tramaine Isabell's  23 points and 10 rebounds.

feb 18

 Tulio Da Silva  (16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks) led Missouri State(9-5) to a 65-61 win over Loyola of Chicago (9-5)  and moved into a three way tie for first in the MVC with L-C and Drake.

Feb 21

Marques Townes had 21 points as Loyola of Chicago (10-5-MVC) defeated Evansville 70-58. Ill St (7-8)lost to Indiana St(6-9) and  SIU(7-8) lost to Valparaiso. Depaul (5-9) lost to Creighton(5-9) and is back in the Big East cellar

Feb 23

In Horizon league play #UIC (8-7) was nipped by Green Bay (9-6) 63-62 . Sandy Cohen III had 20 points for GB, who moved to with two games  of N. Kentucky and Wright St , both 11-4.

Feb 24

In MVC play  L_C lost to  SIU(8-8) to and remains in a three way (10-6) tie for first with Drake and Missouri St. In Horizon play Godwin Boahen had 22 points for UIC in a 74-59 win Milwaukee.

feb 28

Marques Townes registered 16 points and eight rebounds for Loyola of Chicago in a one point over UNI that kept them tied with Drake, a winner over Indiana St., for first .in the MVC. Missouri St  fell to second with a loss to Ill St. SIU beat Evansville.
Paul Reed registered 16 PTS, 12 REB, 3 AST for DePaul in its loss to GTown

march 3

Are the L-C "Nuns"  gearing up for another Dance visit? #MarquesTownes had 26 points as Loyola-Chicago topped Bradley 81-68  to win a share of the MVC regular-season title with #drake , a 73-62 winner over Missouri St. In Horizon play Tarkus Ferguson had 20 points and 10 rebounds, his seventh double-double this season, for #UIC(10-8)  who rallied  to beat Detroit 80-71, but don't have a chance of catching N.Kentucky.

march 6

#UIC fell 82-77 to Green Bay in rd1 of the HorizonT.  Ferguson had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists for UIC

march 7

 #depaul 101-69 blowout of Georgetown ended the Hoyas' slim Dance chance unless GT wins the Big East tournament.

march 8

 MVCT: Loyola Chicago faces Valparaiso who beat Indiana St last night while Drake gets Illinois St, a winner over Evansville.

March 9

Sister Jean's team, Loyola of Chicago, moved a step closer to a return to the Dance with a 67-54 win over Valparaiso in the MVC quarterfinals and faces Bradley, a winner over Missouri St. The other matchup is Drake/Northern Iowa. #TremellMurphy had a season-high 26 points for Drake in a 78-62 win over  Illinois State while WyattLohaus scored 21 points for UNI in a 61-58 squeaker over SUI Southern Illinois 61-58.

March 10

  No. 1 seed Loyola-Chicago lost to Bradley and No. 2 seed Drake lost to NIU in the MVC semifinals. I'm not sure if  L_C loses a Dance ticket. St Louis lost to St Bonaventure in A10 PLAY. Depaul lost to Creighton and finished the season in a three way with Providence and Butler for the Big east cellar spot. Northwestern lost to Purdue  and sits alone in the B10 basement.

March 14

DePaul  fell 82-74 to a the Johnnies, who are desperate to get off the bubble. Eli Cain had solid night for the Blue Demons (23 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST).  Giorgi Bezhanishvili scored 26 points andTrent Frazier added 21for Illinois in a comeback win over Northwestern.

March 15

Another long season ends for Chicago St(3-29, 0-16 WAC) , an 86-49 loser to NMST in rd1 of the WACT.
March 20:Loyola of Chicago lost to Creighton in rd1 of the NIT. Another solid game for Krutwig.
March 21- Depaul scored 100 points in a CBI win over Central Michigan.

March 30, 2019

 Max Strus and Paul Reed scored 24 points apiece for the Blue Demons in 92-87 win over Coastal Carolina to advance to best 2 of 3 CBI final series against #USF (AAC)
April 1 Depaul lost game 1 to USF 83-81 in the best of three series.

Eli Cain DEP - G 19 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST
David Collins USF - G 23 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AS

April 4, 2019

#depaul survived some sloppy play at the end of regulation to defeat USF 100-96 in OT.  Paul Reed was big for the Blue Demons ( 28 PTS, 16 REB, 2 AST)

april 6

DePaul played sloppy ball in stretches and lost  77-65 at home to USF in the final game of the 2019 CBI.

april 18

#portermoser, the Loyola of Chicago HC, has turned down job offers from UNLV and St Johns this off-season
july 24: #depaul 's  climb out of rough seasons may be ending. The Blue Demons were 19-17 last season , but  he NCAA suspended DePaul(Big East) men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao for three games next season and placed the team on  three years probations for various infractions.

 

New Year football notes in the state of West Virginia

  #danaholgorsen ,61-41 WVU record, is leaving WVU for Houston U (AAC)  to replace Applewhite as HC and will be the highest paid  Other 5  (Group of 5) coach at 5yr -20M . I guess it's all about the Benjamins because why would you leave a Power 5 job in which you've been moderately successful. WVU tied for third with Iowa St in the Big 12 this season.
#RichRodriguez, one time WVU HC, will be the next Ol Miss OC.

Marshall DC Adam Fuller is leaving the  #Herd to take the same gig at #memphis

He will replace Chris Ball who was was recently named head coach at Northern Arizona.

jan 4, 2019

WVU hires  Troy's #NealBrown , who's learned O from the same guys, Mumme & Leach, as Holgorsen did. Fickell , the Cincy U coach, was considered for the job, too, , but Tony Gibson , the WVU DC wasn't. Brown 's  2017 Troy squad upset LSU.

jan 14, 2019

#tonygibson will be the NC St safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator. He replaces Ted Roof, who left to become Appalachian State’s DC.
 jan 29, 2019
 USC hired #GrahamHarrell , North Texas OC, who also followed Kingsbury as a quarterback for Texas Tech and developed his coaching style in the  Mike Leach's Air Raid offense. I wonder who replaces Harrell at NTX. 

april 30, 2019

Boston’s #FenwayPark will host a new bowl game starting in 2020 featuring football teams from the ACC and AAC conferences.

May 29 2019

#MaxDurschlag, a long snapper,is leaving Appalachian St for South Carolina. he is coming on as a walk-on, so he'll be eligible to play immediately in 2019.

June 6 2019

jarrett Doege, QB, transfers from Bowling Green to WVU.  Doege's brother Seth played for Neal Brown, the new West Virginia head coach, when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech from 2010-12

Oct 12 , 2019

Holgorsen is off to a rough if not terrible start (2-3) as  Houston's HC  with kids fleeing for the transfer portal. They host Cincy in the AAC opener today.
WVU is( 3-2, 1-1) but it's next three games are against Iowa St, OU, and Baylor.

August 21, 2021

I dug up an old blog just to chat about the MD/WVA opener @ College Park, MD, the Terps' home. West Virginia  28–22–2 leads the rivalry series which started in 1919 and has had several breaks. A lot of the rivalry is based on recruiting battles between neighboring states. The daily weather forecast for western MD is more like WV and Ohio than the rest of the state of MD. I'm calling this year's matchup a tossup because both teams are coming off so-so seasons. Starting  QBs: Tua's brother for the Terps and Jarret Doege for WV.

sept 1, 2021

#hoops They love Huggy in your state. He got a 2 year extension. Plus in 2024-25 season, he can choose to assume an appointment of at least two years in public relations and development along with other duties within the athletic department if he is no longer the coach. 

sept 21, 2021

WV hung on against VTech to take home the Black diamond trophy. If they hadn't, it would have been a brutal week for HC Neal Brown. They travel to Norman, OK this weekend for a b12 matchup.

sept 28, 2021

OK took a tumble in the polls after needing a last-second field goal to beat West Virginia 16-13. Who new WV could play D?

nov 1, 2021

 After blowout losses to Iowa State the past three seasons West Virginia beat ISU 38-31. 

In other B12 news, #GaryPatterson exits TCU immediately after 20 season despite being asked to finish the season. Jerry Kill will serve as interim HC. For those thinking about Cincy's post season hopes this season, his 2010 Horned Frogs(MWC), made history as the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl during the BCS era, and finished that season 13-0 edging Wisky(B10)  21-19.

Jan 15, 2022

 Todd Graham, who started his coaching career on Rich Rodriguez's staff at West Virginia as a linebackers coach in 2001, resigned as the HC of Hawaii(MWC). Rainbows' players were calling him a verbal abuser, a tyrant, and a hypocrite during a state senate hearing, but he'll get his buyout dollars.  Hey Hawaii, lotsa luck finding a HC who doesn't yell at his players. 

On a side note, I wonder if Rich Rod brings Graham to Jax St as it transitions to the CUSA. 

Jan 22, 2022

Maybe now we're seeing why Graham left town? June Jones rejected Hawaii's HC offer because he wouldn't have control over who was on his coaching staff.

Jan 23, 2022

Rainbows hired Tommy Chang, one of their former QBs to be their HC. He knows the MWC from working as a position coach at Nevada from 2017 to 2021 and had just started as an assistant with Colorado St.

April 13, 2022

JT Daniels transfers from GA to WV and reunites with Graham Harrell, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at West Virginia. Harrell was the USC OC in 2019 when Daniels was the Trojans QB .

June 2, 2022

 LSU AD Scott Woodward about the back and forth between Saban and Jimbo

“I’m not going to get in between two hillbillies fightin’ from West Virginia. That’s a no-win situation,”

June 8, 2022

Jerry West,  Rod Thorn, and possibly Oscar Robertson will usher Huggy into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 during enshrinement weekend in September (Sept. 9-10).

Aug 17, 2022

Pretty wild how the SEC doesn't have official soccer. WVU /Herd Sept 24 soccer matchup. A year Marshall followed up a national championship season in 2020 by making the 2021 NCAA Tournament and losing in the opening round to Providence. Below is a Metro news poll. 

Dec 16, 2022

Purdue is set to hire Graham Harrell, West Virginia OC, as its OC, the first major move under new coach Ryan Walters, the former Illinois DC. 

May 9, 2023

Good think Huggy is in the HoF already. He's apologized for his radio comments about the Cincy/Xavier rivalry, but IMO it ain't that bad. 

"Any school(Xavier) that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn't do it, my God, they can get away with anything,"

Interviewer Cunningham then responded and said, "I think it was 'transgender night,' wasn't it?"

Huggins then said, "What it was, was all those fags, those Catholic fags, I think."

He then added: "They were envious they didn't have one,"

June 18, 2023

I tweeted this yesterday about Huggins: Did the sensitivity training lead to the DUI yesterday? I'm kidding!!! I'm ok with Huggy. 

Now it appears he may resign. 

July 9, 2023

Short version: Huggy's reps are claiming that his wife texted WVU that he was resigning, and that's not a formal resignation.  This is likely about $$$. Both sides need to put this to bed. Hey Huggy, I like you, but your time is over. Plus, now you don't have to serve time in WOKE re-training learning how to pretend you buy in to all its inanity.

April 15, 2024

looking back WVU: Adam Fuller has been the DC at FSU since 2020. Graham Harrell has been OC at Purdue since 2023.

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.

.

Sunbelt 2018/19 Hoops Hunches

1) Georgia Southern Eagles: My favorite named player , #TookieBrown , will keep the Eagles near the top
2) Georgia State Panthers: D’Marcus Simonds is the main man.
3) Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns hung with Kansas and beat Tulane early this season
4) Appalachian State Mountaineers- Justin Forrest 19.2ppg and crew have weathered a tough OOC schedule.
5) Troy Trojans: Varnado has been solid.
6) UL Monroe Warhawks: Travis Munnings has been decent but will need some help.
7) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers: Cuthbertson 20.4 PPG
8) South Alabama Jaguars needs O.
9) Texas State Bobcats:  Nijai Pearson is the player to watch.
10) Arkansas State Red Wolves: Rough  out of conference start except for Ty Cockfield 21.1ppg
11) UT Arlington Mavericks- Rebuilding
12) Little Rock Trojans- Good luck to Coach Darrell Walker, a former NBA player, in finding some O.

jan 8, 2019

 Texas St held of Georgia Southern 73-70 to open league play and hung tight in a 73-69 loss to conference leader Georgia St.

jan13, 2019

 Tre Nottingham and Nijal Pearson scored 16 points apiece and #TXST (14-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) defeated #appst. It may be time to get join the Bobcats' pack.  GST, UTA, ARLR, Troy, and ULL also won yesterday.

jan 18, 2019

Texas St (15-3 4-1), my pre-season  sunbelt -9th team , blew by ARLR LAST NIGHT as Tre Nottingham scored 24 points and Nijal Pearson added 19 . Other winners: UTA, GAST, and Georgia Southern

jan 23, 2019

Texas State (5-1) Nijal Pearson had 29 points and 11 rebounds and TXST went on 30-0 run to beat Ark St 77-64 on Jan 19. Varnado's 3-pointer  with 1.7 seconds on the clock gave Troy the victory over  Georgia State (5-1)
feb 1, 2019
 Zac Cuthbertson had 29 points and Devante Jones scored 25 in Coastal Carolina.'s win over ULM.
Tyrell Johnson scored 20 points in 16 minutes for App St in its 104-77 romp over ULL.

Feb 3

It's getting crowded at the top of the Sunbelt heap. 

Georgia State  (7-2) D'Marcus Simonds scored 29 points in a win over Georgia Southern

Texas State (6-3) #BrianWarren scored  30 points in a 83-77 OT win over UT Arlington(6-3)

 Coastal Carolina (6-3) #ZacCuthbertson scored 24 points in a win over ULL

Feb 9
Good Friday night for the Louisiana schools: ULM beat Georgia Southern and ULL beat Georgia St

Feb 10

Texas St remains tied for first with UTA for first- he!! of a season. NPearson scored 17 points  for TXST in the win over CCU remaining tied with UTA  beat appst.
Feb 16
Both Georgia schools got big Friday night Sunbelt wins:  Malik Benlevi scored  26 points as Georgia St defeated South Alabama 90-81,and Tookie Brown and Isaiah Crawley scored 16 points apiece as GA Southern rolled over South Bama to a 76-51. TXSt 9-3, GA St 9-4, UTA 8-4, GS 8-5

feb 22

TX St fell to ULM(7-6)  which allowed Georgia St , a winner over AppSt (4-9) ,to move into a tie for first with them at 10-4. Tookie Brown had 17 for  Georgia Southern(9-5) in its win over CCU (6-7). UTA(8-6) lost to ULL (7-6)

feb 24

Brian Warren scored  33 points for TXST(11-4) in its OT win over ULM and took sole possession of first place when  Ga St(10-5) lost to Coastal Carolina. Ga Southern (10-5) get 28 points for Tookie Brown in its win over AppSt.

Mar 2

TXST(12-4) hasn't folded  and beat Troy to stay one game ahead of Ga St (10-5), a winner over Ark St thursday night  in the Sunbelt race. UTA(10-6) beat South Bama. GA Southern (11-5) was idle.

March 9

Two intrastate games , GA St/Georgia Southern and UTA/TXSt , will determine the regular season Sunbelt winner. UTA is 11-6, the other three teams are 12-5. TXSt had a bad loss to South Bama last week buthas had a he!! of a surprising season.

 March 10

 Kane Williams scored a career-high 23 points helping Ga Southern beat Ga St to clinch the Sunbelt title because TXST lost to UTA

march 13

Nice second half from South Bama in a rd1 win over Ark St  ULM knocked off App St. Troy and Ark LR didn't qualify, and the top four teams get double byes.

March 15

 South Bama is shaking up the Sunbelt T. Rodrick Sikes made one of two free throws with four seconds left to give USA a 70-69 win over ULL. Michael Ertel had 20 points as Louisiana-Monroe crushed Coastal Carolina 80-50.

March 16

TXST halted South Bama's Cinderella move with 79-67 win while Georgia Southern beat ULM. TXST plays GA St and GA Southern faces UTA today.

March 17

Malik Benlevi tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Georgia State to a 59-46 win over Texas St who scored only fifteen points in the first half. Brian Warren scored 21 points as Texas-Arlington beat Georgia Southern 67-58 and prevented all Georgia SunbeltT final.

March 26,2019

 I thought he was Georgia St lifer: Coach  Ron Hunter, fresh off a dance loss to Houston on Friday in, took the #Tulane (AAC) opening.

April 1, 2019

#chrisbeard , the Texas Tech HC , is big news these days. It wasn't long ago he had Arkansas -Little Rock fans ecstatic when they beat Purdue in rd1 of the 2016 Dance then fell to Iowa St in rd2

april 7

  #PhilCunningham took #troy to the dance in 2017 and now he's out. Wow!  They hired  Scott Cross, who some success at UTA through the 2017-18 season.
App State hired  Dustin Kerns , who led Presbyterian (Big South) to  solid 20-16 season and a CTI  invitation after a weak 11- 21  record in 2017-18. It's not the greatest resume.

april 15

 Georgia State hired Tennessee assistant Rob Lanier, a longtime assistant for Rick Barnes at Texas and Tennessee, as it's new HC. He was the HC at Sienna (MAAC) from 2001-05.