SB Nation - SE Louisiana Lions

Off Tackle Empire on YouTube: Cigars and Shared B1G Titles

Graham Filler — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:04:47 -0000

Ridiculous, I know, but kind of awesome. Now you get the voice of the fan, with all its foibles and squeaks and "ums".

To answer some burning questions -

The lighting is not excessive, I'm just not tan right now. Michigan will do that to you.

William Buford's name is mispronounced. Sorry. I only did, oh, 35 takes to get a finished product and I would love to show those all to you, but almost every single one ends with me cussing.

The featured celebratory cigar is an Arturo Fuente with a medium ring gauge. It's an easy smoke, but tasty, just like every other AF.

Subscribe to OTE's YouTube Channel here

This channel will be way more awesome when we start to get guest appearances from people other than me. This channel will also be 100x more awesome during football season, when I can bring the thing into stadiums and interview cheerleaders.

Furthermore, I'm assuming you all might have some sweet videos of your own B1G football or non-football experiences. Send those vids onto me, we'll feature them on the OTE channel.

Give me some ideas for what y'all want to see while OTE has a video camera and a YouTube channel. I thought of going to all the B1G stadiums this year, scalping tickets, getting some good ol' home town video at each game...

As for Michigan State v. OSU, hell of a game. The big boys (Nix, Green, Payne, Sullinger, Ravanel) really, frankly, just attacked each other..and the hoop. Brandon Wood looked like the player Spartan fans know he can be, while William Buford looked like the scorer we all fear. What's in store for the tourney? I fear the Spartans above all other teams, what with the depth, senior leadership, and the ability to outrebound anyone.

And Michigan? Sharing a Big Ten title in basketball? The apocalypse of 2012 must be near, now that the Detroit Lions made the playoffs and the Wolverines are co-Big Ten Champs. John Beilein deserves a Coach of the Decade award for building really successful teams out of the Novak's and Pittsnoggles and Gansey's of the world.

More Random Thoughts

I like this trend of referring to Ohio State as "Ohio". It's those kind of irritating and flippant remarks that show me The Rivalry might be making its way back to legitimacy.

We will in fact be debuting our "Top B1G College Town" bracket this week...at some point. You have to think Madison is the leader in the clubhouse, what with all the bars, the friendly folk, the nutso stadium, the students who party and sleep on the iced-over lake during the winter...

RPI WATCH: 1/1/12

BracketCat — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:06 -0000

Capital One Bowl Week also encompassed a variety of conference and non-conference basketball games, which I have summarized after the jump.

Alabama, Charleston Southern, North Florida and Virginia Tech all did their part to keep our RPI high, but George Washington, Loyola Chicago, Southern Illinois, UMES, UTEP and West Virginia ... well, not so much.

Probably the worst damage was done, though, by playing Howard and its horrendous 268 RPI. How on Earth did that abhorrent team actually win four games?

In conference play, everyone won except Oklahoma, which blew a perfectly winnable game at a depleted Cincinnati, and Oklahoma State, which has lost two players in three weeks and is a raging dumpster fire of a program.

But don't be fooled: Baylor probably should have lost to Mississippi State, Iowa State damn near lost to a 1-11 Miss Valley State team, Missouri probably should have lost to Old Dominion, Texas A&M proved nothing against Arkansas Tech and Texas Tech struggled to put away Southeastern Louisiana.

But hey, at least Texas managed to beat Rice, huh? Way to not Aggie that one up, Longhorns.

Associated Press Ranking = 26

ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 25

Overall Record = 11-1

Big 12 Record = 0-0

Top 50 Record = 3-1

RPI = 31

SOS = 113

Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Alabama, Long Beach State

Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = Virginia Tech

Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none

Charleston Southern (9-4, 3-0 Big South) | RPI = 112: Wins over Erskine (96-69) and Liberty (81-76)
Loyola Chicago (5-9, 0-4 Horizon) | RPI = 266: Losses to Wright State (48-64) and Detroit (54-65)
UMES (3-10, 0-1 MEAC) | RPI = 297: Loss at No. 23 Virginia (42-69)
George Washington (5-8) | RPI = 203: Loss to UAB (49-56) and win over Delaware State (77-59)
Virginia Tech (11-3) | RPI = 37: Win at Oklahoma State (67-61)
West Virginia (10-4, 1-1 Big East) | RPI = 27: Win over Villanova (83-69) and loss at Seton Hall (48-67)
North Florida (7-7, 1-0 A-Sun) | RPI = 131: Win over Palm Beach Atlantic (85-78)
Alabama (10-3) | RPI = 26: Win over Jacksonville (72-55)
Southern Illinois (3-9, 0-1 MVC) | RPI = 317: Loss at Evansville (60-78)
UTEP (7-7) | RPI = 194: Loss to Colorado State (53-56) and win over UAPB (79-58) in the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational
Long Beach State (7-6) | RPI = 14
Howard (4-11, 1-1 MEAC) | RPI = 268: Losses at No. 17 Kansas (34-89) and No. 25 Kansas State (46-82)
No. 17 Kansas (10-3) | RPI = 52: Wins over Howard (89-34) and North Dakota (84-58)
No. 8 Missouri (13-0) | RPI = 40: Win at Old Dominion (75-68)
No. 6 Baylor (13-0) | RPI = 5: Win over No. 15 Mississippi State (54-52)
Oklahoma (10-2) | RPI = 57: Loss at Cincinnati (55-56) and win over Northwestern State (83-63)
Texas (10-3) | RPI = 72: Win over Rice (73-59)
Oklahoma State (7-6) | RPI = 92: Win over SMU (68-58 in double overtime) and loss to Virginia Tech (61-67)
Texas Tech (7-5) | RPI = 187: Wins over Cal State Bakersfield (74-58) and Southeastern Louisiana (62-54)
Iowa State (10-3) | RPI = 77: Win over Mississippi Valley State (67-65)
Texas A&M (9-3) | RPI = 242: Win over Arkansas Tech (76-58)

SE Louisiana 54, Texas Tech 62 | Post Game Thoughts

Seth C — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:14:23 -0000

Box Score | Post Game Quotes

GAME RECAP

MVP

Jaye Crockett | This was maybe the team's most well-rounded win of the year and a lot of players contributed, but I thought that Crockett looked the best he has all year, scoring 10 points, grabbing 9 boards, but he had 8 turnovers (that doesn't seem right, but I think it is). Still, I liked Crockett's energy.

Numbers

69.0% | I didn't like the way that this team shot free throws, under 70%, which included Tolbert going 1 for 4.
21 | Another 20+ turnover game, but again, a large part of that is due to Crockett.
28.3% | The Texas Tech defense was stellar and held the Lions to under 30% from the floor. Every player seemingly gave full effort on defense

THE RESULT | STELLAR DEFENSE | Son of a son, this was all about defense and absolutely loved it. It seemed like this was a complete defensive effort from everyone and as mentioned in the last number on the right, Texas Tech held SE La. to 28.3% from the field. Sure, you can blame some of it on SE La. not being a good shooting team, but to shoot under 30%, you have to give some credit to the defense that played incredibly tight defense all game long. I think that head coach Billy Gillispie would love to win some games holding opponents to under 30% this year and would guess that this is what he's preaching this morning. If Texas Tech plays defense like this, then I'm holding out hope for 6 or 7 conference wins, which is too high, but I get to be hopeful because I'm a fan.

BACKCOURT

Jararez Willis | Could have given MVP honors to Willis as he was very solid all game with 15 points, including going 8 of 8 from the free throw line. I did appreciate that he played 39 minutes, had 3 turnovers and 2 assists, which is better than in the past handful of games.

Ty Nurse | I shouldn't be surprised that he got the start and maybe he is the perfect compliment to Willis at point guard. Nurse isn't your typical shooting guard in that he doesn't have incredible athleticism, but he's okay. Finished with 10 points, 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 1 turnover.

DeShon Minnis | How about the dunk of the night? It's that type of athleticism that teases you and if Minnis could ever figure out his jump shot and score from the outside, he would be a legitimate player that could do some damage in the Big 12. Finished with 5 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.

Kevin Wagner | Played 10 minutes, but was fairly quiet.

Luke Adams | Played only 6 minutes (again) and had a steal and a turnover, but that was about it.

FRONTCOURT

As a team that is all we can do really to put ourselves in games, is defense. We have, I am not going to call them excuses, but we have a lot of reasons not to be good, but I think defense is one thing we can control and our effort is one thing we can control, and so we have to get after people on defense to really keep ourselves in games.

- Robert Lewandowski

On defensive perforamnce of the team.

Jordan Tolbert | Because SE La. had Bailey, they really had someone that could neutralize Tolbert and because of foul trouble, Tolbert didn't see the minutes that he usually does, but he was still darned effective when he was out there. Like Lew, I still want to see more rebounds from the both of them as SE La. had 15 offensive rebounds. That's too much. Tolbert finished with 11 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 block.

Robert Lewandowski | I think Lew has really found his groove as to where he needs to be with this team. At the beginning of the year, Lew was being asked to be the low post presence for this team and recently, he's been switched to play mainly the high post and he's been incredibly adept at passing into the post with Tolbert. Like Tolbert, Lew was in foul trouble, but Lew was 4 of 6 from the floor, including a three point make, with 9 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 block.

Jaye Crockett | As mentioned above, I thought that Crockett had his best game and that's in spite of 8 turnovers. Yeesh. Still, Crockett looked more like his old self and I think that Crockett needed a confidence boost after some sub-par games. Crockett has also found his stride, much like Lew, in that he's really a good high post player as he can hit the open jumper, pass it down low or dribble and create.

Terran Petteway | Petteway got the start, but only played 8 minutes. I don't remember who it was, but Petteway is a bit wild at times and really needs to settle down his game, but maybe this is just his personality. I think his 2 turnovers in just 8 minutes put him on the bench for most of the game. If Gotcher is going to be out an extended period of time then Petteway and Minnis are both going to need to be big parts of this puzzle.

Jaron Nash | It's almost sorta funny as Nash is terrific at creating fouls and opportunities but he is horrid from the line and was 0 for 3 last night. In fact, for the year, Nash is shooting 59% from the field and 30% from the free throw line.

SE Louisiana vs. Texas Tech | Game Preview

Seth C — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:00:12 -0000

TEXAS TECH (6-5, 0-0)
VS.
SE LOUISIANA (5-5, 0-0)

Game Essentials

Texas Tech Starting 5

Javarez Willis (5-11/171) | 8.0 PPG | 2.5 AST
DeShon Minnis (6-3/200) | 2.5 PPG | 2.3 REB
Jaye Crockett (6-1/180) | 5.1 PPG | 4.4 AST
Jordan Tolbert (6-7/210) | 15.8 PPG | 6.4 REB
Robert Lewandowski (6-10/256) | 7.7 PPG | 4.4 REB

SE LA. Starting 5

Daron Populist (5-10/170) | 8.0 PPG | 1.4 APG
Brandon Fortenberry (6-3/185) | 17.5 PPG | 3.7 RPG
Deshawn Patterson (6-4/220) | 7.2 PPG | 3.6 RPG
Roosevelt Johnson (6-6/225) | 10.0 PPG | 7.5 RPG
Elgin Bailey (6-8/265) | 11.3 PPG | 9.0 RPG

WHAT TO EXPECT

A POOR SHOOTING TEAM | SE Louisiana is a poor shooting team, shooting about 40% from the field, although the Lions shoot about 32% from the three point line (which is actually pretty okay). The Lions field a much better team if Fortenberry is on the floor, but he's missed a few games recently and that's certainly hurt. I've plugged into the expected starting five, although I haven't been able to figure out if he'll start or even play. If he does play, then that helps out a ton and I'd also add that if Bailey starts, then that's not a bad group. We'll get to Bailey a bit more in a minute. It's also interesting to point out that the Lions are 5-0 at home and 0-5 on the road, so that trend alone bodes well for Texas Tech.

IT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL | This is the last non-conference game for Texas Tech, so this had better be a good tune-up for the season. I'm incredibly nervous about what I think might happen this year in conference play for Texas Tech, not because I think that the Big 12 is the best conference, but there are a lot of very good teams in the Big 12 and right now, Texas Tech is not a good team. I mentioned this after the Cal State Bakersfield game, that I think that if the Texas Tech lineup is fully healthy then I think this team can win 6 or 7 games, but if the full cast of players are not available, I'm struggling to see where those wins happen. I was expecting OU to have a down year as they transition with a new team, but they've actually played pretty well thus far, and the only team that has seemingly struggled is Oklahoma St., but I still think they have more talent than Texas Tech, but they're facing some injury issues at point guard.

KEY MATCHUPS

BAILEY VS. TOLBERT | Tolbert is featured a lot, but this time it may be warranted. Head coach Billy Gillispie mentioned after the CSU-B game that Bailey was a highly rated player coming out of high school, but transferred from Mississippi St. due to getting in a fight with one of their players. Due to transfer rules, Bailey has only played in 3 games thus far, but other than his first game, he's had a very nice impact, and he's been very good on the offensive boards. Bailey is a big-body and that should be good test for Tolbert as Texas Tech transitions into Big 12 play. Tolbert has been nothing short of dominant the last few games for Texas Tech and although the competition hasn't been great, other teams know about Tolbert, but he continues to be the first scoring option for this team.

FORTENBERRY VS. WILLIS | Given the fact that Willis has been this team's most consistent player and he's been very good defensively, I'm expecting Willis to get the call against Fortenberry, if Fortenberry plays. Fortenberry has missed his team's last three games and other than just a couple of awful shooting performances against Western Kentucky and S. Missouri St., Fortenberry has been a very good player for the Lions. Willis had an awful game against TCU, but he's been on a nice streak over the last three games. Not shooting too much and making 50% of his shots over these last three games. Willis really has to watch the turnovers, especially because he handles the ball so much and that's been his biggest problem as he's had 15 turnovers in his last four games to only 10 assists. That ratio has to be better for Texas Tech moving forward.

2011-12 Texas Tech Red Raiders Schedule

Evan Pfaff — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:00:36 -0000

We won't have our Texas Tech Red Raiders predictions until tomorrow, but if you read Monday's Five Questions For... Texas Tech you might gather that we're selling Tech this season. Therefore they are lucky their schedule features some very winnable games, even for a Tech team that finished second to last in conference and lost a majority of their scoring.

Tech plays a bevy of in-state schools, marking North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M Corpus Christi (at TAM-CC?) and TCU off their list before play the three other in-state conference schools. Needless to say, the Red Raiders travel budget is probably the least in the country.

See the entire 2011-12 Texas Tech Red raiders schedule after The Jump and come back tomorrow for our predictions on the outcome.

Date	Opponent	Time
11/11/2011	vs. Troy	8:00 p.m. CT
11/16/2011	vs. North Texas	7:00 p.m. CT
11/20/2011	vs. Stephen F. Austin	2:00 p.m. CT
11/24/2011	vs. Indiana State	11:00 p.m. CT
11/25/2011	vs. Minnesota / DePaul	TBA
11/27/2011	To Be Determined Old Spice Classic	TBA
12/1/2011	at Texas A&M Corpus Christi	7:00 p.m. CT
12/6/2011	at TCU	TBA
12/18/2011	vs. Grambling St.	7:00 p.m. CT
12/22/2011	at Oral Roberts	7:05 p.m. CT
12/27/2011	vs. Cal State Bakersfield	7:00 p.m. CT
12/30/2011	vs. Southeastern Louisiana	7:00 p.m. CT
1/4/2012	at Oklahoma State	7:00 p.m. CT
1/7/2012	vs. Baylor	12:45 p.m. CT
1/11/2012	vs. Kansas	8:00 p.m. CT
1/14/2012	at Texas A&M	12:45 p.m. CT
1/17/2012	at Oklahoma	7:00 p.m. CT
1/21/2012	vs. Iowa State	4:00 p.m. CT
1/25/2012	vs. Kansas State	8:00 p.m. CT
1/28/2012	at Missouri	12:45 p.m. CT
1/31/2012	vs. Oklahoma State	7:00 p.m. CT
2/4/2012	at Texas	TBA
2/7/2012	at Kansas State	7:00 p.m. CT
2/11/2012	vs. Oklahoma	TBA
2/14/2012	vs. Texas A&M	6:00 p.m. CT
2/18/2012	at Kansas	7:00 p.m. CT
2/22/2012	at Iowa State	8:00 p.m. CT
2/25/2012	vs. Texas	3:00 p.m. CT
2/27/2012	at Baylor	8:00 p.m. CT

Men's Basketball 2011-2012 Opponents Released

Eric Gibson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:00:37 -0000

Finally, the game contracts were finalized, and Penn State released the 2011-2012 non-conference portion of the men's basketball schedule on Tuesday afternoon. Most of the schedule had been known before, but it is nice to finally have the complete list of the 31 opponents the Lions will face in Patrick Chambers' inaugural season.

Before Chambers receives the credit for crafting this slate, it must be made known that this was Ed DeChellis and his staff's work. Ole Miss, St. Joe's, and Duquesne are all returns of home-and-home series signed under DeChellis. Boston College obviously is PSU's ESPN challenge contest. And credit Ed for getting PSU into another exempt tournament with Kentucky, despite the previous regime's record in such events. It's always nice to have an extra couple of games of basketball under your belt before conference play. Even if it means overloading the beginning of the schedule (seriously, 5 games in 9 days?!).

Without further adieu:

Date	Opponent	Time
11/5/2011	Slippery Rock^	TBD
11/12/2011	Hartford	TBD
11/14/2011	Radford*	TBD
11/16/2011	Long Island*	TBD
11/19/2011	vs Kentucky*	12:00 PM
11/20/2011	vs S. Florida/Old Dominion*	2:00 PM
11/23/2011	Youngstown State	TBD
11/26/2011	at St. Joseph's	TBD
11/30/2011	at Boston College#	TBD
12/4/2011	Mississippi	TBD
12/7/2011	Lafayette	TBD
12/10/2011	at Duquesne	TBD
12/18/2011	Mount St. Mary's	TBD
12/21/2011	Cornell	TBD

^Exhibition *Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic # Big Ten/ACC Challenge

All of the times/locations will be finalized after TV contracts. What has been confirmed is the Hartford basketball/Nebraska football game doubleheader on November 12th. It's now just a matter of what time each will be played (likely that basketball will be at 11:30, with football kicking off at 3:30), but it's cool to see PSU offering free admission for everyone to draw interest in the start of the Chambers' Era.

I personally love this schedule, regardless of what the RPI/SOS numbers turn out being. Boston College will be replacing their entire NIT squad (full of Al Skinner's players) that won 21 games last year, while Ole Miss loses their own Talor Battle, with Chris Warren graduating. I like the exposure on the road in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia against in-state A-10 foes (who we really should play more often). Thrown in are a couple of quality games in the HOF Tip-Off Classic, including possible preseason #1 Kentucky, and the rest is filled out with winnable guarantee games.

The full schedule will be released in August with the addition of the Big Ten slate. With Nebraska joining the conference, there will still be 18 conference games, but with 4 one-plays this season instead of two. PSU received this draw:

Home: Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, and Northwestern
Away: Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, and Northwestern

With Nebraska, Iowa, and Northwestern on the schedule twice and Ohio State and Michigan State just once, it's safe to say PSU made out in the end. I think the schedule sets up favorably for PSU to have a good chance at reaching .500, but it's ridiculously early to get started with wins predictions.

For those looking for a breakdown of potential RPI impact and which opponent is returning who, there will be a post breaking down these opponents and projecting their RPI when the season nears. For now, kudos Ed DeChellis, for not screwing us over this time. Get some season tickets, people!

Murray State's Billy Kennedy now on Wyoming Radar

The Road — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:48:27 -0000

The search process for the next Wyoming head coach is progressing now that we are moving into the second half of March. The newest addition to candidates is Billy Kennedy who is currently at Murray State of the Ohio Valley Conference. Eric Schmodlt first reported the news this morning and it appears that Kennedy has ties with Reggie Slater who may be on the hiring committee.

Kennedy served as an assistant at Wyoming from 1987-88. The rest of his coaching career has been spent at schools in the Southeast. He is native of Louisiana and coached at Centenary and his alma mater SE Louisiana. At Centenary he coached the Gentlemen to a .500 record which is impressive for that school. At SELA he turned around the program that dismal. In his final two years he went 44-18 and made it to the first round of the NCAA tournament.

At Murray State has kept the Racers above .500 and had tremendous success the last two years. Back to back Ohio Valley regular season championships and 54-14 record. In 2010 the Racers went 31-5 including knocking off Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

There is a a couple of interesting clauses in the Kennedy's contract.:

Murray State lost coach Mick Cronin to Cincinnati after last season. When Murray State hired Billy Kennedy as its new coach, it added language to his contract anticipating that he might be wooed by other schools someday.

Kennedy owes Murray State $25,000 if he leaves to take a head coaching job in the six power leagues or in Conference USA, the Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Western Athletic or Ohio Valley. The buyout is $10,000 if he leaves for a school in another conference.

Another clause says if Kennedy leaves for any Division I school, he agrees his new school will play at Murray State within two years.

"With Coach Kennedy coming in, and the success I expect from him, I thought that was something that might pay off for Murray State in the future," athletics director Allen Ward says.

The salary increase at Wyoming would easily cover the $25,000 buyout. Playing one game in Murray, KY but it would look bad if the Cowboys lost. Kennedy seems like a solid get for Wyoming. Has experience in Wyoming and has had success at the three schools where he has been a head coach. He is losing two of his top three scorers to graduation this year so it may be the right time for Kennedy to make a jump.

Now that teams are being knocked out the tournament except the hiring process to speed up. Mike Dunlap of St Johns and Blaine Taylor of Old Dominion are both free after being knocked out in the first round.

Boston College Vs. McNeese State: Getting To Know The Cowboys

Brian Favat — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:00:33 -0000

Tonight, the Eagles face the Southland Conference's McNeese State Cowboys down in Lake Charles, La. in the First Round of the NIT. So just who are the McNeese State Cowboys?

McNeese State is a public school located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and home to roughly 9,000 undergrads (a little bit smaller than BC's undergrad population). The school was founded in 1939 as a junior college as a division of Louisiana State University, and became known as McNeese State University in 1970.

McNeese State's basketball program began play in 1946 and has played every year since. McNeese State started as an NAIA school, winning an NAIA Championship in 1956, and slowly worked its way up to Division I. McNeese State was a member of the Division II's Gulf States Conference until 1971, before joining Southland Conference and Division I in 1975.

The Cowboys' most notable basketball alum is Joe Dumars. You may have heard of this guy ...

Dumars played for McNeese State from 1981-1985 and holds the school's career records for points scored, field goals, free throws, as well as the freshman, sophomore and junior year scoring records.

Dumars would go on to have a Hall of Fame career that spanned 15 seasons, all with the Detroit Pistons. In Detroit, Joe D was coached by the late Chuck Daly, who also coached on the Heights from 1969-71. Here is your requisite Boston College-McNeese State connection.

McNeese State will be making just its the third ever appearance in the NIT, having previously made NIT appearances in 1986 and 2001. The Cowboys have also made the NCAA Tournament twice as champions of the Southland Conference -- in 1989 and 2002.

Fast forward to present day. Tonight's game at Burton Coliseum will be the first ever NIT contest hosted at the arena. McNeese State's only other home NIT game was played at Lake Charles Civic Center. Another first: Boston College will become the first ever ACC school to play at Burton Coliseum.

McNeese State won the Southland's East Division and regular season title with a conference record of 13-6. The Cowboys would be playing in this week's NCAA Tournament if not for a 75-72 loss to Texas-San Antonio in the Southland Conference Championship Game.

The Cowboys won 15 of 16 games at home this season, dropping their only game at home to Southeastern Louisiana (81-74), 13 days ago on March 2.

The Cowboys have four starters that averaged double digit points this year -- Patrick Richard (15.9 PPG), Diego Kapelan (15.0), Stephan Martin (10.4) and P.J. Alawoya (10.3).

As for what to expect tonight, sounds like McNeese State has a similar style of play to Boston College. Here's what coach Dave Simmons had to say following McNeese State's 75-72 loss to UTSA in the Southland final:

"The biggest thing is that we're a perimeter oriented team. We shoot the basketball and get to the line. Tonight we didn't have our A game from perimeter. I'm proud of this team. We didn't quit and we had a chance to go up by one with a few seconds left and then we had a chance to tie it.

"It was a game in which we struggled early against their zone."

In the Southland final, McNeese State attempted 67 field goals, 30 of which were threes (45 percent). In BC's loss to Clemson, the Eagles attempted 50 shots, 24 of which were from beyond the arc (48 percent). Over the course of the season, 44 percent of BC's field goal attempts were threes (764-1749), while McNeese State only averaged 33 percent (614-1843).

Still, sounds like this one is going to be a three fest. First one to 60 wins?

2011 NIT Championship: Analyzing Boston College's Path To Madison Square Garden

Brian Favat — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:41:04 -0000

First off, let's pay some bills:

Ever wish that more things worked like college brackets? That you could seed everything that way? Top 64 pre-game foods. Top 64 college players. Well, now you can do just that with your friends, with the Allstate BFF Brackets, which takes your 64 top Facebook friends (an algorithm seeds them based on interaction) and seeds them in four regions, exactly like the real tourney. Once the tourney starts, your friends advance with the corresponding seeds – till one is left standing. Check it out at http://apps.facebook.com/bffbrackets/

Unfortunately, we aren't in this year's NCAA Tournament. We are in the NIT. Time to come to grips with reality, folks, and focus on getting to Madison Square Garden. Let's take a look at the road ahead for Boston College and how the Eagles can get to MSG on March 29.

For reference, here is the official NIT bracket.

Game 1: at #8 McNeese State, Tuesday 9 PM

McNeese State is in this year's NIT by virtue of winning the Southland Conference's regular season title (13-6) and earning an automatic berth to this year's NIT. Without the auto-bid, it's likely that the Cowboys wouldn't have made the NIT's field of 32. If it's any indication of how good the Southland Conference is, the Southland champ -- UTSA -- is playing Alabama State in one of the NCAA Tournaments 16 seed First Four matchups in Dayton, along with UNC Asheville and Arkansas-Little Rock. So we are talking about NCAA Tournament teams 65, 66, 67 and 68.

It's certainly easy to look past a Southland Conference team that has a kenpom rating in the 190s, no quality wins and losses to the likes of Southeast Louisiana (x2), Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin and Texas-San Antonio (x2), but the Cowboys did play majors Texas A&M and LSU relatively close this year. Then again, McNeese State also suffered blowout losses to Washington to start the season (118-64) and a 20-point loss to Miami, so there's that too. McNeese State is 21-11 (13-6 Southland) on the year, but if you take away wins over Louisiana College, Jarvis Christian, Southwest and SW Assemblies of God, the Cowboys have only won 17 games against DI opponents.

Still, I'd imagine the McNeese State home court will give the Cowboys a slight edge in this one. kenpom predicts a 76-69 victory for the Eagles.

Game 2: #4 Northwestern / #5 Milwaukee, March 18, 19, 20 or 21

Should BC advance past the First Round, its most likely opponent is the Northwestern Wildcats. kenpom predicts that NU will beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee 76-64, so let's go with that.

The funny thing about this matchup is that Boston College and Northwestern are eerily similar teams. Both have highly efficient offenses (BC 12, Northwestern 22) and don't play a lick of defense (BC 196, Northwestern 138). Bill Carmody runs a Princeton-style offense that is somewhat similar to Donahue's offense.

What I don't like about this matchup is the BC defense against the Northwestern offense. If Donahue runs a lot of zone (1-3-1 or 2-3), the 'Cats should be really successful.

This is a game that BC will likely be favored in, but if we have to go on the road to Welsh-Ryan Arena, this game becomes nothing more than a pick'em in my opinion.

Game 3: #2 Washington State / #3 Oklahoma State / #6 Harvard?, March 22 & 23

Tough to say who will come out of the bottom-half of BC's bracket. Could be Wazzu or Oklahoma State or even Harvard. Motivation could very well be a factor with Washington State, whom I'm sure had bigger plans this year than a #2 seed in the NIT. Especially after the Cougars started the season 10-1 with wins over Gonzaga and Baylor, only to limp to a 9-11 finish down the stretch.

Oklahoma State was equally unimpressive. After starting the season 13-2, including wins over Kansas State, Missouri State and Alabama, the Cowboys finished the season going 6-11.

BC's Quarterfinals matchup could very well be against ... Harvard, in a rematch of the Eagles' January 5 loss to the Crimson. Some might shudder at the thought of a second loss to Harvard in one season (and fourth in three years), but I welcome it. I think this team would be extra motivated for a rematch with Harvard, and it would make for good college basketball press in the Boston area. I say, bring it!

Game 4: Semifinals, March 29 at Madison Square Garden

Your guess is as good as mine as to who comes out of the bottom half of our side of the NIT bracket. Will #1 Virginia Tech play up to all the complaining they've done about their NCAA Tournament snub, and get to the Garden? My gut tells me we won't see the Hokies in NYC.

#3 seeded Dayton -- last year's NIT Champ -- could get back to MSG, but they have a tough road ahead including a first round game at College of Charleston.

My projections for this portion of the NIT bracket: (1) Virginia Tech over (8) Bethune-Cookman, (4) Wichita State over (5) Nebraska, (6) College of Charleston over (3) Dayton and (2) Cleveland State over Vermont. In the second round, I have (4) Wichita State over (1) Virginia Tech and (2) Cleveland State over (6) College of Charleston. Finally, in the Quarterfinals, I'll take Wichita State over Cleveland State, and the Shockers head to MSG.

Wichita State has some decent wins on the year, including wins over Virginia, Tulsa and two over Tournament-bound Indiana State. I think the Shockers could give BC a game, but given Boston's proximity to NYC, I'd hope that the Eagles would enjoy a home-court advantage in this one. But perhaps the opposite would happen, with fans from Big East schools going to MSG to heckle BC in only our second game in the Garden since bolting for the ACC?

Game 5: Finals, March 31 at Madison Square Garden

At this point, who knows who BC could face in the NIT Championship Game. Alabama and Colorado are the 1-seeds from the other side of the bracket, but I could just as easily see St. Mary's or Miami getting to NYC. BC would be loathe to see this game be an All-ACC final, as the 'Canes present all sorts of matchup issues for the Eagles.

Regardless of who we play in the NIT Final, I'd be pretty amped about BC getting to the Garden. A win in the Semifinals would be gravy, and an NIT Title would be pretty sweet considering where this program was 12 months ago.

The Eagles are a top seed in this year's NIT for a reason, and it's certainly possible to find BC back at MSG in two weeks playing for a title.

Poll

How far will Boston College go in the NIT?

First Round loss to McNeese State

10 votes

Second Round loss to Northwestern / Milwaukee

57 votes

Quarterfinals loss to Washington State / Oklahoma State / Harvard?

64 votes

Semifinals loss at MSG

42 votes

Championship Game loss

8 votes

NIT Champs!

97 votes

278 votes | Poll has closed

Big Ten Basketball Tournament 2011: Seeding Impact of Today's Semifinal Matchups

Graham Filler — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:31:18 -0000

Some basic storylines for today's matchups, plus HERE is the latest SBN Bracketology predictions.

Penn State, bubblicious as usual and sitting in many "Last Four Out" brackets, have another chance to strengthen their chances for an NCAA Tourney bid with a win over Michigan State. The Spartans meanwhile, bubblicious for the first time in a bit, helped their chances tremendously by smashing Top 10 ranked Purdue and look to be a lock for the Tourney (Play-In games or Top 60 is yet to be decided).

On the other side of the bracket, Michigan's three point shooting pushed them miraculously past a talented Illinois team and into a probable #10 seed. OSU survived Northwestern weakly, but their #1 seed credentials are still solid, loss to Michigan or not. So let's lay out some scenarios...

MICHIGAN

Seed Range: #7 - #12

Michigan could push themselves even higher than a #10 with a monster win over a bigger, veteran Buckeye team. Joe Lunardi has been dropping Michigan steadily (down to a #12 seed yesterday), while SBN has Michigan sitting comfortably at a #10 seed. Winning the whole B10 Tourney could push the hothothot Wolverines as high as a #7 seed; an 11-3 season ending run plus a Tourney Championship are good bargaining chips. Losing today simply puts the Wolverines into that #10-12 seed range where they currently sit.

FINAL POINT: If MSU wins over Penn State and possibly Ohio State in the final, the Wolverines season sweep of State will start to look a bit better.

...

MICHIGAN STATE

Seed Range: #10 - Play In

It's hard to imagine a bigger win than yesterday's defeat of Purdue. MSU looked physically ready to defend like...every other Spartan team since Izzo took over. Shotblocking, hands in face, etc. This was a different team than the Spartan team that got hammered by Matt Painter's squad at the Breslin Center just a few weeks ago. Combine this with the Tourney Committee's faith in Tom Izzo and MSU is IN.

But where? Losing badly to Penn State would hurt Sparty's momentum and move them away from an #11 and closer to the play-in games. Two more wins and MSU becomes, again, the team no one wants to face in March.

FINAL POINT: Will committee members take less stock in the Purdue win because the Boilers didn't really need this game? Or will the members view it for the thrashing it was?

...

PENN STATE

Seed Range: #11 - Out

At the beginning of the Big Ten Tourney, their were essentially four teams on the bubble: Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, PSU. The Nittany Lions had the weakest resume according to...everyone. But a WW1-battlefield inspired victory over Wisconsin breathes more hope into PSU's chances. Weak early season performances can be pushed aside with another quality win over a Top 50 opponent. We all know that Penn State might need a win to sniff the Tourney. But let's say they get that win...The question remains: Do they need to win the whole thing to get in?

FINAL POINT: How will PSU attack Kalin Lucas, the Spartan PG who has been dialed into "kill mode" for more than a month?

...

OHIO STATE

Seed Range: #1 - 2

Kansas, Pitt, ND, Duke, OSU, SDSU...maybe UNC....all in position to get a #1 seed. The Bucks have enough quality wins and lack of bad losses to make them a near lock. And they couldn't ask for a better matchup than against Michigan today. The Wolverines will have to wear themselves out to slow Jared Sullinger and his bulldozing inside play. Plus there's no way Ohio State shoots as badly as they did yesterday versus NW (32% from the field, 20% from three point land).

One could consider that a Michigan upset might knock OSU off the #1 seed line, but I doubt it. There would have to be a large number of things that ALL happen for OSU to move down (blowout Buckeye loss, plus Conference Tourney titles for all the above-listed teams still playing).

FINAL POINT: In their last matchup, Michigan led OSU for 30 minutes before succumbing 62-53. If OSU starts hot, it won't be so close.