SB Nation - Missouri St Bears

Baylor vs. Alabama Liveblog

big12hoops — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:21:47 -0000

Senior guard Tweety Carter will make his season debut tonight in Baylor's biggest test of the year against Alabama. Carter was suspended for the first four games of the season for an undisclosed team violation.

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Baylor vs. Alabama liveblog online.
Begins at 5:30pm CST tonight.

Next Game

Alabama Crimson Tide
@ Baylor Bears

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009, 5:30 PM CST
Old Spice Classic - Disney`s Sports Complex, Orlando, FL

Continue For liveblog and full game preview>

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=21ca8bdd5e" mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=21ca8bdd5e">Baylor vs. Alabama</a>

Baylor Bears Basketball News

Alabama (2-1) vs. Baylor (4-0)
(Sports Network) about 8 hours ago.

Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball News

Alabama (2-1) vs. Baylor (4-0)
(Sports Network) about 8 hours ago.
Recap: Alabama vs. Providence
(Sports Network) 5 days ago.
Providence (3-0) at Alabama (1-1)
(Sports Network) 6 days ago.
Recap: Alabama vs. Cornell
(Sports Network) 12 days ago.
Cornell (0-0) at Alabama (0-0)
(Sports Network) 12 days ago.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
BAYLOR	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
LaceDarius Dunn	4	29.3	8.5	17.8	47.9	4.8	10.3	46.3	3.5	3.8	93.3	0.8	2.0	2.8	2.0	1.0	1.3	0.0	1.5	25.3
Ekpe Udoh	4	29.3	6.8	9.3	73.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	2.0	4.5	44.4	3.0	5.8	8.8	1.5	1.5	0.5	3.0	1.0	15.8
Quincy Acy	4	21.0	3.0	4.5	66.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.3	55.6	2.5	3.3	5.8	0.3	0.8	0.3	0.8	1.8	7.3
A.J. Walton	4	32.8	2.8	4.8	57.9	0.8	1.0	75.0	0.5	1.8	28.6	1.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	3.0	0.0	2.5	6.8
Josh Lomers	4	15.5	2.3	3.5	64.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	1.8	71.4	1.5	1.8	3.3	0.5	0.5	0.5	1.3	2.5	5.8
Anthony Jones	4	25.0	2.3	6.8	33.3	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.5	1.8	28.6	2.0	3.8	5.8	3.3	1.0	0.3	0.8	0.3	5.0
Cory Jefferson	3	11.0	1.7	3.7	45.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.0	66.7	1.7	1.7	3.3	0.0	0.7	0.7	0.3	0.7	4.7
Nolan Dennis	4	14.5	1.3	3.8	33.3	0.3	1.5	16.7	1.5	3.3	46.2	0.3	0.8	1.0	1.3	2.0	0.8	0.3	1.8	4.3
Dragan Sekelja	3	7.3	1.3	2.0	66.7	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.7	1.3	50.0	0.3	1.7	2.0	0.3	1.0	0.0	1.0	1.3	3.7
Fred Ellis	4	10.0	0.8	1.3	60.0	0.5	0.8	66.7	0.8	1.0	75.0	1.3	1.5	2.8	0.8	1.3	0.5	0.0	1.8	2.8
Givon Crump	3	7.3	0.3	2.7	12.5	0.3	2.3	14.3	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.3	3.0	3.3	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3
Oscar Griffin	3	4.7	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.7	0.7	100.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	1.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.3

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
ALABAMA	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Mikhail Torrance	3	30.7	6.0	11.7	51.4	1.0	2.7	37.5	5.3	6.0	88.9	1.3	3.3	4.7	5.0	1.7	1.0	1.0	1.0	18.3
JaMychal Green	3	26.7	5.0	11.0	45.5	0.0	0.3	0.0	5.0	7.0	71.4	2.7	6.0	8.7	0.7	1.3	1.0	3.3	3.3	15.0
Anthony Brock	1	34.0	5.0	8.0	62.5	3.0	4.0	75.0	2.0	2.0	100.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	3.0	0.0	2.0	15.0
Tony Mitchell	3	19.3	5.3	8.3	64.0	0.0	1.3	0.0	2.3	4.3	53.8	2.0	1.7	3.7	0.7	0.0	1.0	0.3	2.3	13.0
Charvez Davis	3	18.3	2.7	6.3	42.1	2.0	5.0	40.0	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.3	1.3	1.7	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	7.7
Senario Hillman	3	31.7	2.7	8.7	30.8	0.3	2.3	14.3	0.3	1.0	33.3	0.7	1.0	1.7	4.3	3.0	1.3	0.0	3.0	6.0
Justin Knox	3	16.3	0.7	3.7	18.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.3	5.3	81.3	3.0	2.0	5.0	0.7	1.7	0.3	0.0	2.3	5.7
Andrew Steele	3	18.0	1.7	3.0	55.6	0.3	0.7	50.0	1.0	2.7	37.5	2.0	2.0	4.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	4.7
Chris Hines	3	16.3	1.0	1.7	60.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.3	2.3	0.3	1.0	0.7	1.3	3.3	2.0
Ben Eblen	3	11.3	0.3	1.3	25.0	0.0	0.7	0.0	1.0	2.0	50.0	0.0	0.7	0.7	1.3	0.7	0.3	0.0	0.7	1.7

Bears Basketball Schedule

Next 5 Games

Alabama	Thu 11/26	5:30 PM CST
@ Arizona St.	Thu 12/03	9:30 PM CST
Jackson St.	Tue 12/15	7:00 PM CST
Texas-Arlington	Sun 12/20	2:00 PM CST
@ Arkansas	Wed 12/30	8:00 PM CST

Last 5 Games

Hardin-Simmons	Sun 11/22	W 106 - 45
Southern U.	Mon 11/16	W 61 - 45
Hartford	Sun 11/15	W 71 - 69
Norfolk St.	Fri 11/13	W 86 - 58

Crimson Tide Basketball Schedule

Next 5 Games

@ Baylor	Thu 11/26	5:30 PM CST
North Florida	Wed 12/02	7:00 PM CST
Louisiana-Monroe	Sat 12/05	12:00 PM CST
Purdue	Sat 12/12	8:00 PM CST
Samford	Wed 12/16	7:00 PM CST

Last 5 Games

Providence	Fri 11/20	W 84 - 75
Jackson St.	Tue 11/17	W 86 - 69
Cornell	Sat 11/14	L 67 - 71

College Hoops Go-Round: November 17

Chris Dobbertean — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:55:30 -0000

by Ed Reinke - AP

about 1 month ago: Kentucky's John Wall goes between Miami of Ohio's Julian Mavunga (4) and Nick Winbush (20) for a basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. Wall had 19 points in Kentucky's 72-70 win. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

View full size photo »

Since I already previewed today's action here, this post will only recap Monday night's games, with the first few contests from the early morning hours on this enjoyable gimmick of a day thrown in for good measure.

The big story of the day was John Wall's debut at Kentucky, and he bailed the Wildcats out against Miami (Ohio), which ended up 72-70 UK. You can see his game winning shot here.

The other big attraction of the night was regional play in the NIT Season Tip-Off.

In the North region, Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker led UConn to a win over Colgate. The Huskies will next face Hofstra, 68-63 winners over Yale.
The South region final will feature Western Kentucky and LSU in Baton Rouge. The Hilltoppers got 30 from A.J. Slaughter to beat Milwaukee, 69-65, while the Bayou Bengals had little problem with Indiana State, winning 56 to 45.
Duke will meet Charlotte in the East final in Durham. Kyle Singler had a double double (23 points, 11 boards) to lead the Blue Devils to a 25-point win over Coastal Carolina. The 49ers beat Elon in game two, 75 to 61.
Out West, TCU, 83-65 winners over Cal State-Northridge, will face homestanding Arizona State, who beat Texas State 84 to 62.

After the jump, I'll have some of the other action from today, including the scores of the first few games of the round the clock marathon.

The 24-hour marathon got started with a double OT thriller, as Cal State Fullerton defeated UCLA for the first time, 68-65. The Titan win snapped the Bruins' string of 37 straight wins over unranked non-conference foes.
St. Mary's had a suprisingly easy time with San Diego State in the 2 a.m. Eastern game, winning 60-58.
At 4 a.m., Northern Colorado used a 19-0 run to get ahead of host Hawai'i, whose comeback attempt fell short in the end.
St. Peter's blew out Monmouth in the first ever Division I basketball game to start at 6 a.m. local time.
Auburn fell to Missouri State, 73 to 62, becoming the second SEC school to fall to the Bears at the JQH Center in as many years, as Arkansas lost there last season.
Florida State knocked off Atlantic Sun favorite Jacksonville by 26.
Washington State struggled with Eastern Washington, finally prevailing 67 to 61.
Indiana also had a closer game than expected, as they beat South Carolina Upstate by 8.
Cincinnati also had a rough go of it last night, beating Prairie View 69-62. Lance Stephenson only had 7 on the night.
Rider didn't slip up after their upset of Mississippi State. They defeated Lehigh 86-71.
In a battle of two teams picked to finish near the bottom of their respective leagues, South Florida ran all over Tony Bennett's Virginia, 66-49. Dominique Jones had 22 to pace the Bulls.

If I didn't list your team's score, check the rundown on the right of any of the recap pages I've linked to find the result.

Baylor Guard Carter Suspended

editor@big12hoops.com — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:07:25 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Penn State's Talor Battle (12) reacts next to Baylor's Tweety Carter (45) during the second half of the NIT championship college basketball game Thursday, April 2, 2009, in New York. Penn State won the game 69-63.

Browse more photos »

Mark Allan Peterson
Managing Editor
editor@big12hoops.com

Baylor Senior point guard Tweety Carter received a four-game suspension to begin to 2009-2010 season, according to head coach Scott Drew.

Drew said Carter was suspended for rules violations, but did not go into details on the nature of the suspension.

The 5-foot-10 Carter will miss Friday's season opener against Norfolk State, as well as games against Hartford, Southern and Hardin-Simmons. Carter is expected to return for Baylor's biggest test to start the season, a Thankgiving Day game against Alabama in the first round of the Old Spice Classic in Florida.

Carter, the only McDonald's American in school history, averaged a career high 10.6 points and 3.2 assists as a junior for the Bears. He is expected to take over for the departed Curtis Jerrells at the starting point guard position.

In his place tonight, Baylor is expected to start freshman A.J. Walton.

BtB 2009-10 Missouri Valley Conference Preview

Chris Dobbertean — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:26 -0000

Northern Iowa was the only Valley team to make the NCAAs last season. Drake, in their only season under Keno Davis, was the only MVC squad to make it in 2008. For those of you (like me) who keep track of this kind of stuff, that's not a good trend for a conference that's used to multiple bids.

"Wait!," you say. "The Valley is a one-bid league. 2006 was an aberration."

If you look at the numbers, they tell a very different story.

In the first decade of the new century, the only two seasons when the MVC received a single bid were the last two. Sure, in some cases, one of the two bids was a bid thief who deprived a bubble team of a slot, most notably UNI's entry as 14 seed in 2004. But in most years, the Valley's entrants repaid the Committee's faith in the conference, with MVC teams recording a single win in 2001 and 2005 and multiple victories in 2002, 2006, and 2007.

The Valley even started building a reputation in the final years of the 20th century. The MVC earned multiple bids in '94, '95, '96, and '99, finishing with a .500 mark in all of those years, except for '96. Former league member Tulsa represented the conference in the Regional Semis in '94 and '95, while Missouri State reached that stage in 1999.

So, over the past 16 tournaments ('94-'09), the MVC has been a multi-bid league 12 times. The challenge for this year is to make it 13 out of 17. To help reach this goal, the conference has even entered into a challenge series with the Mountain West this year in a bid to schedule some exciting matchups and generate more attention for both leagues. (Go here to see the matchups.)

More on the teams who will attempt to make the Valley a multi-bid league again after the jump.

Let's begin with a look at the final 2008-09 Missouri Valley standings.

Missouri Valley Conference Standings

(updated 3.31.2009 at 10:55 PM EDT)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Creighton Bluejays	14	4	27	8
Northern Iowa Panthers	14	4	23	11
Illinois St. Redbirds	11	7	24	10
Bradley Braves	10	8	21	15
Evansville Aces	8	10	17	14
Wichita St. Shockers	8	10	17	17
Southern Illinois Salukis	8	10	13	18
Drake Bulldogs	7	11	17	16
Indiana St. Sycamores	7	11	11	21
Missouri St Bears	3	15	11	20

Now here are my picks for the 2009-10 season, presented in reverse order.

Evansville (last NCAA: 1999) The Aces climbed their way up to the middle of the Valley pack after spending most of the decade in the bottom three, but it looks very much like Marty Simmons' team will sink right back down to the bottom due to some significant losses. Most of the Aces offense has moved on, double-figure scorers Shy Ely, Jason Holsinger, and Nate Garner graduated, and freshman point guard Kaylon Williams, a truly talented passer, transferred. So, Simmons' two newcomers with experience, Valparaiso transfer Bryan Bouchie, a 6-10 center, and 6-0 point guard Monie Hudson, a late JC signee, will have to contribute immediately for UE to avoid the basement. The Purple Aces don't face a BCS school this year, but they host Butler and visit Western Kentucky.

Drake (last NCAA: 2008) The Bulldogs went from winning 15 regular season MVC games, sweeping the league's regular season and tournament crowns, and losing to WKU on a buzzer beater in the first round of the NCAAs in '08 to losing 11 league games, falling out of the MVC tournament in the first round, and losing to Idaho in the dying moments of the CollegeInsider tournament in '09. Second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Jonathan Cox (12.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg) is gone, but the backcourt is solid with seniors Josh Young (15.4 ppg) and Craig Stanley (7.9 ppg, 3.8 apg) back. They'll be supported by two intriguing newcomers, Arkansas State transfer Ryan Wedel (15.1 ppg in '07-08) and point guard Frank Wiseler, a point guard from (wait for it) Luxembourg. The frontcourt is a major area of concern for Mark Phelps, however. He'll need more out of 6-6 Adam Templeton (5.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and will have to plug in 6-8 freshman Ben Simons immediately. Besides hosting Iowa State and traveling to Iowa, the Bulldogs will participate in the Glenn Wilkes Classic. They'll host IUPUI and take on Akron, UCF, and Georgia Statein Daytona Beach.

Missouri State (last NCAA: 1999) The Bears opened up their new arena, the JQH Center, with a new coach at the helm, Quonzo Martin. The highlight of the year was an upset of Arkansas to christen the new building, but the rest of the season was disappointing, as Missouri State only managed to win 10 more times. Forwards Chris Cooks and Wayne Knapp, who combined to average over 21 points and 10 boards a game are gone, but the Bears have a lot of hope thanks to a good mix of newcomers and returnees. The National JC Player of the Year, Nafis Ricks, a 6-2 guard who averaged over 17 points a game and nearly 6 assists per contest is now on board, as are Eastern Kentucky transfer Adam Leonard, a 3-point sharpshooter; Jermaine Mallett, another JC transfer who can score; and 7-foot center Caleb Patterson, a transfer from Colorado. They'll join key returnees F Kyle Weems (10.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg), G Justin Fuehrmeyer (4.7 ppg, 2.8 apg), C Will Creekmore (7.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg), G Cardell McFarland (6.9 ppg), and F Ryan Jehle (4.9 ppg). If Martin can get some more production out of his returnees (especially on the offensive end, where they struggled) and integrate the newcomers quickly, the Bears could really surprise. Missouri State welcomes Auburn to the JQH Center this year.

Indiana State (last NCAA: 2001) Kevin McKenna's side 2008-09 campaign started badly, as they dropped 19 of their first 23. But there were two glimmers of hope during that span, a double OT win over UNI in Cedar Falls and a home win over Illinois State. The Sycamores ended up winning 7 of their last 9, completing the sweep over the Redbirds, sweeping Missouri State, and winning a game in the Valley tournament. Indiana State may be able to carry that momentum into this year, as four starters return, led by the backcourt of Rashad Reed (11 ppg) and Harry Marshall (13.6 pgg). They'll get some help from the addition of Louisiana Tech transfer Dwayne Lathan. McKenna has some issues in the frontcourt as 6-8 Jay Tunnell (12.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) has graduated. 6-5 swingman Carl Richard showed he can be a force, but ISU may need 6-10 Brant Leitnaker, 6-8 Isiah Martin, or 6-11 Josh Crawford to step up inside. The Sycamores are in the NIT Season Tip-Off where they're in a challenging regional. They face hosts LSU first, then either Milwaukee or WKU.

Wichita State (last NCAA: 2006) The Shockers finished at .500 overall last year, 8-10 in the MVC, but it could have been a much better season. They were doomed by a 0-6 start to the Valley season, granted most of those losses weren't close. Still, a two-point home loss to Bradley and a five-point away loss to Drake are games Gregg Marshall's team wishes they had back (as is the 13-point loss at Missouri State). It wasn't a good start for a team that actually knocked off Siena at the Old Spice Classic, one of the most thrilling games I saw all year. However, the Shockers recovered enough to win a game in the Valley tournament (over Missouri State) and in the CBI (over Buffalo). Marshall brings back most of his key performers from last season, including his starting backcourt of Clevin Hannah (11.2 ppg, 4.3 apg) and Toure' Murry (11 ppg, 3.8 rpg). The frontcourt is a bit thin on experience, but the presence 6-7 J.T. Durley (8.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) provides a solid foundation. The Shockers' scorelines show their main issue, plenty of defense, but not enough scoring. If Marshall can get more points, they'll contend for a tourney bid. WSU will open their season in the CBE Classic. They'll face Pitt in Kansas City, then either Iowa or Texas.

Bradley (last NCAA: 2006) Typical of teams who finish their league seasons at 10-8, Jim Les' Braves lacked consistency last season. They only managed two sweeps, Indiana State and Wichita State, while they were swept by Creighton and Northern Iowa. Still, 10 league and 18 overall wins got the Braves into the CollegeInsider tournament, where they fell to Old Dominion in the final. Now, Bradley must try to improve on that showing without last year's leading scorer Theron Wilson (14 ppg, 7.3 rpg). His departure leaves the frontcourt thin (which is a common thread in the Valley this year). That means 6-6 Taylor Brown and 6-9 Will Eglof, who's coming off an ACL injury, will have to be more productive this season. The backcourt, led by Sam Maniscalco (12.6 ppg, 3.1 apg) and Andrew Warren (13.2 ppg) , who's returning from a stress fracture in his foot, is in much better shape. The Braves will be challenged by a schedule that features a trip to BYU for the MVC/MWC Challenge, and games against Oklahoma State and either Illinois or Utah at the Thanksgiving Las Vegas Invitational.

Southern Illinois (last NCAA: 2007) Last year, the Salukis not only missed the NCAAs for the second year in a row, after a streak of six straight tournaments from 2002-07 (which included two Sweet 16 appearances), they suffered their first losing season since 1998. They did win 8 Valley games, but much like in the case of Wichita State, they could've done so much more, particularly in a span from January 31 to February 21 when they dropped 5 of 6 league contests and a BracketBuster against Illinois-Chicago. Chris Lowery's side will have to try to rebound without two key starters forward Tony Boyle (9.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and defensively-minded guard Bryan Mullins. The Salukis get their two leading scorers, sophomore guard Kevin Dillard (12.2 ppg) and 6-8 F Carlton Fay (10.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg), back, and they'll be joined by some interesting newcomers, led by Iowa transfer Tony Freeman, who will help Dillard out in the backcourt, and 6-9 C Gene Teague. SIU will need his help to get a boost in their inside scoring to rise up the standings. SIU travels to Las Vegas twice, once to face UNLV, and again to face San Diego and San Francisco in a neutral site event.

Creighton (last NCAA: 2007) I actually had the Blue Jays as my "Last Team In" last season, figuring the Committee would pull an "Air Force in '06" and surprise us all with the last 12 or an at-large 13. If I would've stuck with my own numbers, I would've put Arizona in and been perfect on at-larges for two years in a row. C'est la vie. This year, the Jays look like a team who could be on the bubble again. Dana Altman has two significant holes to fill, as not only is point guard Josh Dotzler (3 ppg, 3.5 apg) gone, but Booker Woodfox (15.8 ppg, 47.6% from 3) is no longer there to make pressure shots for Creighton. Expect P'Allen Stinnett, who averaged 12.5 points per game last year, to have an even bigger impact this season, along with swingman Justin Carter (8.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg)--one of the better defenders on the team, sharpshooter Kaleb Korver (3.7 ppg), Cavel Witter (7.7 ppg), and Antoine Young (4.9 ppg). The frontcourt is a bit thin on experience, especially as backup center Kenton Walker transferred after last year. Starting C Kenny Lawson (8.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg) can be a force, while 6-6 JC transfer Wayne Runnels, 6-7 frosh Ethan Wragge, and 6-8 senior Chad Millard will need to provide substantial levels of support to take the scoring load off the perimeter players. The Jays travel to Disney World for the Old Spice Classic, where they open against Michigan, with Marquette or Xavier to follow in their second game. Creighton also visits Dayton and George Mason, in what should in an interesting non-BCS triangular series.

Illinois State (last NCAA: 1998) The Redbirds have been close to breaking down the Tournament doors the past two years, but their non-conference schedule has been criticized heavily during both seasons. Last year, Illinois State skidded at the end of the year, losing badly at Niagara in a BracketBuster, then dropping two heartbreakers to their main league rivals. They recovered to make the Valley final, where, despite Osiris Eldridge's best efforts, UNI again broke their hearts in OT. The Redbirds closed their season with a close loss at Kansas State in the NIT. While Tim Jankovich lost two starters, guards Emmanuel Holloway (10.3 ppg, 2.8 apg) and Champ Oguchi (15.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg), Eldridge (14 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.4 apg) is back and so is Lloyd Phillips (10.6 ppg, 3.6 apg), meaning the backcourt is still in good shape. 6-8 center Dinma Odiakosa, who averaged nearly 9 points and 8 boards a game last year, will be the key man in the frontcourt, and he'll get support from 6-6 Bobby Hill, who's coming off a knee injury, 6-7 JC transfer Tony Lewis, and 6-8 Blake Mishler, who transferred from East Tennessee State. Eldridge will hope to carry his team to the Dance, but he'll need a lot of help from the redesigned frontcourt to get there. The non-league schedule should again provide a lot of wins, as a home date with Central Michigan and back-to-back December road trips to Ohio and Utah are the biggest hurdles.

Northern Iowa (last NCAA: 2009) The Panthers hold the top spot as they return all five starters off a team that won both the MVC regular season and tournament crowns before falling to Purdue in a close, but ugly game in the first round of the NCAAs. Junior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe (11.8 ppg, 3.1 apg) runs the offense, and he's helped out in the backcourt by sharpshooters Ali Farokhmanesh (9.6 ppg) and Johnny Moran (8.4 ppg). In a league where many teams are frontcourt-challenged, the combo of 6-9 Adam Koch (12.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2 apg) and 7-foot center Jordan Egelseder (10.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg) is hard to get around. Koch's younger brother, Jake, who's also 6-9, should also see action this year after redshirting last season. UNI also finished last year first in the league in field goal percentage and second in field goal percentage defense, and they should remain a solid team all-around. The Panthers face DePaul in their first game at the Paradise Jam. If they win that, they'll probably face Tennessee in the semifinals. UNI also welcomes Iowa and Siena to Cedar Falls, while they travel to Iowa State.

The Panthers are my pick to win the Valley's auto bid this season, so they'll appear in my Final Preseason Bracket, which I'll release on Monday, November 9. Now, to wrap up this preview, here is my preseason All-MVC team, featuring the best returning players from last season.

Preseason All-MVC Team

Player of the Year: Osiris Eldridge, 6-3 G/F, Sr. (Illinois State)

Remainder of the Team
Kwadzo Ahelegbe, 6-2 G, Jr. (Northern Iowa)
Jordan Egelseder, 7-0 C, Sr. (Northern Iowa)
Adam Koch, 6-9 F, Sr. (Northern Iowa)
P'Allen Stinnett, 6-3 G, Jr. (Creighton)

Poll

Who is your pick to win the MVC this season?

Bradley

89 votes

Creighton

12 votes

Drake

4 votes

Evansville

1 votes

Illinois State

8 votes

Indiana State

1 votes

Missouri State

1 votes

Northern Iowa

14 votes

Southern Illinois

29 votes

Wichita State

8 votes

167 votes | Poll has closed

Best Years in Purdue Sports History #2: 2000-01

BoilerTMill — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:14:58 -0000

A slow week this week has allowed me to get a jump on finishing this series. As a programming note, I'll continue with previews and stuff over the next three weeks, but I will be out of town July 11-19 with very limited internet access. I'll likely write some previews ahead of time and schedule them to post then, but otherwise I won't be around to comment or post anything that comes up suddenly. I had asked the Boiled Sports guys to come over and guest host for a week, but they too will be unavailable for most of that week. Therefore, feel free to use the FanShot and FanPost features if anything noteworthy comes up. If anyone wants to volunteer to guest host that week please e-mail me.

In the meantime, let's look at the choice that I seriously thought would be #1 on the list. Some confusion in the voting criteria may have made it #2. The 2000-01 school year was my junior year on campus. The basketball team was coming off of its closest approach to a Final Four under Gene Keady, while the football team had Drew Brees returning for his senior season.

Need I say more?

Football highlights:

I think it would be easier to countdown what wasn't a highlight for this season. Four of the games from this year alone made the Best Wins of the Tiller Era list I did last year. The four wins that didn't make the list were in blowout fashion, though the Northwestern game could be included since it came over our fellow Big Ten co-champion.

The season started off with a nice twist. At this point in coach Tiller's career we were known for our offense, while the defense was a major question mark going into the 2000 season. Many of the regular contributors on this defense were freshmen that went on to be stars on the 2003 team. They performed well from the beginning though by shutting out Central Michigan 48-0 in the season opener. It was Purdue's first shutout in 19 years dating back to a 35-0 win over Northwestern in 1981. Travis Dorsch tied the school record for career field goals in the game, and he would break it in the next game against Kent State. That game against the Golden Flashes was more of the same as Purdue won easily 45-10.

A trip to South bend followed, and it was yet another game that makes me angry still today. It was the second of three straight "luck of the Irish" wins Notre Dame got over us in South Bend from 1998-2002. All three of those losses were incredibly frustrating, but they did make the 2004 stomping we gave them that much sweeter. As fun as that 2004 win was, it makes me hate the 2000 game even more. Purdue played like absolute crap and got beat by a tight end playing quarterback for the only time in his career. He couldn't run the option worth a damn, but our mistakes handed them 17 points in a 23-21 loss. The thought of a Notre Dame tight end playing quarterback (poorly for that matter) and doing better than Drew Brees makes me want to punch something even now.

George Godsey led a clutch fourth quarter drive that set up Nick Setta's game-winning 38 yard field goal as time expired. In this game, Notre Dame had a 60 yard interception return for a touchdown and a blocked punt set up another TD. A 22 yard TD pass to Vinny Sutherland gave Purdue the lead with less than 4 minutes left, but the defense couldn't hold on. What made matters worse was the fact that this win set Notre Dame up for their first undeserved BCS bowl of the past 10 years, though it was delicious watching Oregon State beat the crap out of them in that season's Fiesta Bowl.

Demoralized, Purdue returned home to face Minnesota in the Big Ten opener. That day was a memorable one for Brees as he became the new Big Ten career leader in completions and attempts. He threw for 409 yards on 33 completions in 49 attempts to set the new record. He finished his career against Minnesota with especially high numbers. In three games against Minnesota Brees completed 92 of 127 passes for 1,214 yards and 10 touchdowns without an interception. He had a career best 522 yards and 6 TD's against the Gophers as a sophomore in 1998.

Purdue could not sustain that momentum a week later in losing 22-20 at Penn State. Travis Dorsch missed a 46 yard field goal with 2:36 left that sealed the win for Penn State, who was just 1-3 coming in to the game. Once again, special teams cost us as two botched punts led to two Penn State touchdowns. Purdue came home to face Michigan at 1-1 in the conference and needing a win to stay alive.

It's just a shame ABC didn't get the double-bird from Dorsch or Tim Stratton hanging from the goalposts

That win ranked as the #5 win on the Best Wins countdown. Dorsch redeemed himself for numerous failures (firing a double-bird salute toward the student section in the process) as Purdue upset Michigan 32-31 on his last second field goal. More details can be found on that link, but it started the most memorable October in Purdue football history. Purdue followed it with a convincing win over Northwestern (41-28) in Evanston and another memorable overtime win over Wisconsin in Madison to set up a battle for first place against Ohio State.

That Ohio State game is the best football game I have ever attended, narrowly beating out the Colts-Patriots AFC championship game in Indianapolis a few years ago. The fourth quarter alone is more than enough to make me watch the tape I have (a generous gift from Boilerdowd) until it wears out. Short of Purdue winning a National Championship in football or basketball with me in attendance (or my beloved Kokomo Wildkats winning a boys basketball state title) I doubt I will ever have a game top it. The game itself can be summed up with the following play:

I still don't remember anything after he actually caught the pass. It was easily the happiest moment in Ross-Ade Stadium history. I doubt any Purdue fan objects to yet another viewing of it.

We now controlled our destiny for Pasadena with a week off. In that week, a critical game happened as Northwestern upset Michigan in another fantastic game in Big Ten history. That proved to be a critical result, as we simply crapped the bed at Michigan State in an ugly 31-10 loss. Fortunately, Iowa also upset Northwestern on that day, meaning we got a second chance and controlled our own destiny going into the Bucket game. Given that chance, there was NO FREAKING WAY we were going to let Indiana prevent us from going to the Rose Bowl. Montrell Lowe's 208 yard, 4 touchdown day booked us that trip with a 41-13 win over the Hoosiers.

The Rose Bowl, even though we lost, is still one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken. At the time I deliriously though it would be the first of many trips under Tiller. We would only come close one more time, that being in 2003. We had waited a lifetime to play in Pasadena, and even if we don't go again until 2035 I am glad I got to go once just to see at least 50,000 Purdue fans also make the trip. Hearing "I Am an American" in Pasadena was almost as tear jerking as it was the very next time I heard it in a virtually silent Ross-Ade Stadium on September 22, 2001.

As for season honors, Drew Brees brought home a ton of them. He won the Maxwell Award as the nation's most outstanding player, was on numerous All-America teams, made the Cover of Sega's College Football 2K1, and is the only Purdue athlete (and second Purdue alumni, joining Neil Armstrong) to reach prestigious Level 8: Multiple Dead Male Hookers of the infamous Dead Hooker in the Trunk Scale. For someone else to reach this level that person will have to be a Purdue grad and first person to set foot on Mars or lead Purdue to a football national title. The stakes are set. I am sure if Drew ever reads this it will be the highest honor of his career. That, or he will think I am completely insane and he will possibly have a restraining order filed against me.

Basketball highlights:

After such an incredible football season, the men's basketball season was very anti-climactic. Midseason injuries to Rodney Smith and John Allison derailed what had been a promising year, but any team that relied on John Allison and his pitiful rebounding ability for a big man didn't have a lot of promise. At least he wasn't Matt ten Dam.

Purdue started the year with a shocking loss at home to Central Michigan on a last second layup. They then upset #1 ranked Arizona in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse. Virginia delivered a 92-79 loss in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge before Purdue reeled off seven straight non-conference wins over easy opponents. A December 30^th 87-82 loss to UCLA in Mackey Arena gave Purdue a solid 8-3 record going into conference play.

Purdue beat Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin to start conference play 3-0, but consecutive losses to Iowa and Minnesota ended the hot start. Purdue broke the streak with another win over Northwestern, but then lost 66-55 to Indiana in Bloomington. The Boilers were able to rebound once again in a home win over Minnesota, but that is when things quickly went south. Purdue then dropped six straight games, losing Allison and Smith (the two leading scorers) to injury in that stretch. A late season win over Michigan and Big Ten Tournament win over Minnesota salvaged a 15-14 regular season finish, but it broke a string of 8 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. It also meant we would dance only once over the next seven seasons.

Purdue did receive an NIT invite and that lead to home wins over Illinois State and Auburn, but a double overtime loss at Mackey Arena to Alabama prevented Purdue from going to New York. Both Allison and Smith were able to return for the NIT.

Other highlights:

Women's basketball - The women's basketball team, behind current Indiana Fever star Katie Douglas, Camille Cooper, and Kelly Komara, turned in a fantastic season during the 2000-01 year. All they did was win the Big Ten and come within a basket of winning their second National Championship in three years.

Unlike 1999, the ladies didn't enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the favorites. Purdue came in as a #3 seed at 26-6 and had lost the Big Ten Tournament championship to Iowa. An opening round over UC Santa Barbara was easy in Mackey, but Purdue was tested in a 3-point win over LSU in round 2. In the sweet 16, Purdue survived another close game, beating Texas Tech 74-72. They also got a huge break when Xavier upset top seed Tennessee in the other regional semifinal. Unfortunately, freshman point guard Erika Valek tore a ligament in her knee during the game and was lost for the rest of the tournament.

Purdue took care of Xavier in the regional final 88-78 to reach its third Final Four in program history. Once there, they faced tournament Cinderella Southwest Missouri State. The Bears featured the NCAA's career scoring leader in Jackie Stiles and had become the story of the nation during the tournament. Purdue held her to 22 points in an 81-64 victory to earn a rematch with Notre Dame.

Most people thought the other semifinal between number 1 seeds UConn and Notre Dame was the real national championship game. The two heavyweights had dueled twice in the regular season and most people assumed The Irish's 90-75 win in the Final Four would give them the title. Notre Dame had even defeated Purdue 72-61 during the regular season. The Boilers surprised everyone by building a 12 point first half lead and controlling most of the game though.

Purdue led 66-64 with about a minute to play but was unable to stop the nation's best player in Ruth Riley. Riley tied it with a basket in the lane with 1:01 remaining then got a rebound after a Purdue miss at the other end. Riley was then fouled in the final seconds and hit both free throws to give Notre Dame a 68-66 lead. Douglas missed an 18-fotter at the buzzer for Purdue, giving the title to Notre Dame.

Douglas would finish as a first-team All-American for Purdue, while several freshmen such as Shereka Wright and Valek would go on to have stellar careers.

Baseball - I have spoken about how Purdue has a poor history in baseball numerous times, but the 2001 season was probably the best the Boilers have had in the last 20 years. Purdue began the year by upsetting the #1 team in the nation, Rice, 5-2 in the season opener. They then lost to #16 Central Florida, but pulled off another upset of #24 Wake Forest to win the prestigious Coca-Cola Classic in Houston during the season's opening weekend. As a result, Purdue actually made an appearance in the bottom of many national top 25 baseball polls for a week.

Unfortunately, the hot streak didn't last. Purdue lost 11 of its next 13 games, including all six games on a spring break trip to play some of California's top baseball schools. Once in Big Ten play Purdue got hot again. Purdue went 19-7 in Big Ten play and finished 32-22 overall. It also had some rare national recognition from its early season wins, so a good showing in the Big Ten Tournament would likely mean an NCAA Tournament berth.

What ultimately hurt the Boilers was snow. One game of a four game series at Michigan State was snowed out early in the Big Ten season. Purdue won the other three games, but since that fourth game wasn't played the Boilers lost the Big Ten regular season title to Ohio State by just a half game. Had Purdue played that game and won, it would have ended a 92 year Big Ten baseball title drought that has now reached 100 seasons. They also would have hosted the Big Ten Tournament instead of the Ohio State. Rain also cancelled a fourth regular season game with Minnesota in West Lafayette.

Unfortunately, Purdue couldn't manage the one win it likely needed to secure an NCAA Tournament at large berth once they got to Big Ten tournament play. Purdue dropped games to Illinois and Michigan to finish 0-2. Their 32-24 record was overlooked by the committee and Purdue had to stay home.

Pitcher Chadd Blasko was named the top pro prospect from the Big Ten and was a 1^st round compensatory selection by the Chicago Cubs in that summer's draft. Dave Gassner, another starting pitcher on that team, went on to have a better pro career. He was drafted by Toronto and later made the major leagues for two games with the Minnesota Twins. He is Purdue's most recent Major Leaguer and managed to win his major league debut on April 16, 2005.

Women's Indoor Track and Field - The women's indoor track and field team won its only Big Ten team championship to date in 2001. Krissy Liphardt was an individual Big Ten champ by winning the 400 meter dash. To me, these last three achievements added to football should have made this the best overall year combined in Purdue sports history.

Swimming and Diving - This really isn't for anything the program did, but 2001 was the year that the Boilermaker Aquatic Center opened, moving our programs from the dank Lambert Fieldhouse pool into one of hte nicest collegiate aquatics centers in the country. It is so nice, in fact, that Purdue hosted the 2003 women's NCAA championships.

Monday Musings - The Let's Talk About Basketball Edition

The Beef — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:32:20 -0000

Alright...probably another short version of the Musings coming since I was gone (again) all weekend...spending Saturday in KC for the football game and Sunday in Como for the hoops game. Thoughts on both are coming, along with swimming and women's basketball updates. I probably have some random thoughts in there as well, but likely some quick ones, plus...a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!! This rock and roll lifestyle I lead is just too taxing on the little blogging I do :-)

Football:

I cannot imagine there is anything I am going to offer which has not already been offered in the two threads and 250+ comments which are floating around on this site. I guess so we all know where I am coming from, I do not feel GP needs to make a significant change in his defensive coaching staff, but I am sure we will see the same off-season tweaking which has happened every season and resulted in the continued growth of this team and program. However, I guess I feel obligated to point out that while one particular defensive coordinator is getting crushed by most for his defensive scheming, another defensive coach has not really been mentioned. And while I hate to call out anyone on here, I think some of the "blame" does need to fall on Cornell Ford and his secondary. Banged up? Certainly. But, there have still been some pretty glaring errors back there in the last two weeks which should not happen, and have probably made the "scheme" look worse than it probably was.

Anyway, as I said here last year....any bowl in Texas is a good one. I have seen Northwestern play a little bit this year, and while they certainly were fortunate to get a decent schedule from the Big 10 (no Penn State and got Minnesota as they were starting their tank), they have a solid team. Their QB I think you will find is very similar to Nevada's QB, who CAN throw, but DOES run. I think their head coach (Fitzgerald) has done a really nice job there and is defenive coach too, so I think they will have something for us. However, in the end, I think we have more athletes and will come out on top. Will be interesting to see what Vegas thinks about this once the spreads start coming out.

And as a late addition to this piece...MU fans should not shoulder the blame for this game in KC not selling out. There were a TON of seats not sold on both "sides" of the stadium. Us beating kU would not have sold all those seats, and I was actually a little surprised more OU fans were not at the game.

Men's Hoops:

The men won their two games this week by an average score of 35 and a half points. Not always a surprise when it comes to out of conference season, but when you mix in a BCS team, it makes it all the more impressive. I watched most of the Ark P-B game and the thing I will take away from that was the look on Coach Anderson's face when his son threw that dumb-ass attempted alley-oop off the backboard with time winding down. His quote about it being a good thing his (junior's) mother was his (senior's) wife was pretty priceless. Oh yeah...that and Sutton bombing those three's to finish the game.

As for yesterday, this was the first chance I have had to see the men play in person. We played a VERY solid first 12 mintues of the game...then pretty much took the next 8 off and allowed Cal to get some confidence and get (somewhat) back into the game. Nice to see us coming firing back out after the half. The only time I got really frustrated yesterday was after we were killing Cal early in the paint with Carroll and Lyons that we started chucking threes (which allowed Cal to get back into it). But...we got back to what was working and made quick work of our 2nd Pac 10 win.

Was impressed by Safford...on the defensive end. If he can keep his head in the game, he really is a pretty solid on-ball defender and was doing well at forcing jump shots (misses) from his counterpart. English and Denmon certainly can fill it up, and EVERYONE looked good from the FT line. And while I do conceed that both Lyons and Carroll have range to 18...I would still like to see them work a little more to the block, especially when everything we got into the paint either was a bucket or a foul (which became pretty much a bucket when hitting 85 percent of the FT"s)

Easy week this week, as the only game will be a home match-up against Murray State, and that is not even until Saturday. Paltry crowd yesterday (especially since both Missouri football teams were playing later, and both were on the road) and that really needs to start getting better at some point. But...the team now has two easy one's before what is slowly becoming a suddenly nationally relevant game against Illinois. And right now, this team and program needs all the excitement it can get.

Women's Hoops:

Just one game this week for the Fighting Stein's...a 70-50 win back on Wednesday against Toledo. Sophomore Shakara Jones had 15 (on 6-11) and senior Alyssa Hollins had 15 (on three more shots). The Tigers shot a decent 45.5% from the field, and a very solid 6-7 from the FT line. They never trailed in the game and were up by 14 after only 5 minutes. They managed the game well, extending the lead to 25 but never less than 17 in the second quarter for the easy win.

The ladies now sit at 3-4 and have won two straight games. Their next contest will be at home this week on Tuesday against Bradley at 6:30 p.m. on your local MSN affiliate, and then a Sunday contest against Tenn-Martin. Win two more and the happy side of .500 awaits :-)

Men's and Women's Swimming:

MJ (and I guess more specifically Spike Lee) used to say, "it's gotta be the shoes". Well...for the Tigers...it's gotta be the pool. They hosted the first Mizzou Invite this weekend and set 48 new top-10 times, and broke a whopping seven team records over the course of the weekend. In the process, the men took first, defeating a solid Iowa team along with some local schools (SMS, Rolla, etc..). The women also defeated Iowa along with Drury and SIU (Ark and kU sent a few swimmers).

For the women, Lori Halvorson littered the record book with her name over the weekend, with FOUR record-setting performances. She broke her own record in the 100 free in the prelims (but did not improve on it actually in the finals). She brok the record in the 200 free and the 200 IM, while also being a part of the 400 free relay team. Kendra Melnychuk won the 10-meter platform competition (the first time a Mizzou diver has earned the honor this season) in record setting fashion.

For the men, breaking pool records was the 400 free relay which is comprised of two seniors and two sophomores. RS Sophomore Cameron Sellers (a member of the 400 free team) set another school record in the 200 free as well. Both teams are done competing for the calendar year and will get back in the pool on Jan 10 when both take on Kentucky and the women will also swim against Arkansas.

BIG Annoucement:

THE RETURN OF THE ROCKMNATION BOWL PICK 'EM CHALLENGE IS HERE!! For those of you new to the site, you can see the final standings from last year by clicking here. Basically...later this week I will present all bowl games with the spread and over/under. Your job will be to pick the winner (against the spread) and the over/under. The competition is free...and you may get a prize....you may not...but you probably will. We had a good turnout last year, and with the growth of the site, I am hoping there are plenty of people to keep me busy with it. Look for the picks to open later this week, and they will remain open until Friday, Dec. 19th.

Random Musings:

Figures the Jets would take a step back after beating NE and Tenn by losing to Den and SF. REALLY hurt that NE was able to come back and beat the Seahags.
So...on that ESPN streak contest thing...dude is sitting at 24 wins (of the needed 25) all week...waits to pick an NFL game. And for one million dollars, picks Pitts over Dallas. Can you imagine his house when PItt ran the INT back for the TD with 2 minutes (or less I believe) to go. Good for him.
My Devils are hanging in there in a ridiculously strong Atlantic Division, where they are 7th in the east, but 4th in the Atlantic. Just be around the playoffs when Brodeur gets back is all I ask. Scott Clemmensen has stepped up well, winning 6 of 8.
Winter meetings starting up in baseball...otherwise known as "Who will the Mets overpay for relief help?"
Okie Joe's affirmed itself as the best BBQ I have ever had. Z-man and fries...does it right...every time.

Open Thread: Oregon Ducks vs Utah Utes

dvieira — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:51:49 -0000

Time: 6:00 p.m. PST

Place: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Telecast: Radio Only

The Oregon Men's Basketball Team is in Salt Lake City tonight to take on the Utah Utes. Tipoff is at 6pm PST (9pm EST). Utah is 4-1 in the Mountain West Conference and coming off a 71-58 win against Missouri State. Utah has won all of its games by 9 points or more and their one loss was back on November 15th against Southern Baptist. Oregon is coming off two tough losses in Maui to Texas and North Carolina but had a big win against Alabama.

GO DUCKS!