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This dynasty report is being continued in the Wolverine Studios forums (in the Dynasty Reports > College Basketball Dynasty Reports forum).

This dynasty report is being continued in the Wolverine Studios forums (in the Dynasty Reports > College Basketball Dynasty Reports forum).

Recruiting Needs Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego: Have 3 scholarships to fill. Need at least one good SF. With the other 2 scholarships, best to get a SG, a C, or possibly a 2nd SF. Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: 5 scholarships to fill. Primary need is for a couple big men with secondary need being for 1 or 2 SG’s. Ramon Montez, Alcorn State: 3 scholarships to fill. Principle focus will be to last a 1-2 SG’s and maybe an interior player. Terry Morillo, Western Illinois: 2 scholarships to fill. Just get the 2 best guys we can, regardless of position. Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff: 3 scholarships to fill. Best scenario would be a couple guards and a big man. [Note: As in previous years the AI will be used to do the recruiting for all 5 teams. Let the chips fall may they may!]

Jan. 30, 2031: North Carolina Tar Heels (12-9, 6-5) vs #19 Boston College Eagles (14-6, 8-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College Chronicle IT’S A “D” FOR THE EAGLES By Kinsey Ramsey Following a disappointing loss to Wake Forest on the road late last week, the Eagles returned to Conte Forum to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Coach Aura said, “North Carolina is always a dangerous opponent. This season they’re led by a trio of good scorers. All three hit a high percentage of their shots. SG Rashad Newton is averaging 14.6 ppg and has knocked down 47% of his 3’s. PF Lucious Abrui averages 12.6 ppg and has hauled down 5.5 rpg. SF Brad White has scored 11.2 ppg, hits shots from all over the court, and has pulled down 4.0 rpg. We’ll need to bring our A-game to take down the Tar Heels. Unfortunately we’ve had a spate of injuries. Glen Robinson has a sprained wrist, Danny Toliver sprained his toe, and James Pratt has a nagging sore back. All three should be able to play but it puts pressure on everyone else to do their very best.” North Carolina grabbed an early lead as the refs tagged 4 of BC’s starters with fouls. The Eagles finally scored 3 minutes into the game. Both teams had a tough time scoring, but BC’s “D” kept the Tar Heels scoreless for nearly 8 minutes during which the Eagles were able to pull ahead by 9 points with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. But turnovers and poor shooting prevented BC from holding onto a big lead. When the buzzer sounded ending the half, the score was BC-27, NC-26. Both teams had only been able to hit a third of the shots they’d taken. The Eagles scored the first 13 points in the 2nd half. North Carolina’s shooting woes continued and with just under 10 minutes to go, BC led 55-35. The Eagles defense held strong and BC came away with an impressive 65-45 victory. Just two Eagles’ players scored in double figures. SG Corey Graham scored 16 and C Tim Cotton added 11 points. “Our offense was anemic in the first half. We picked it up a bit in the final 20 minutes, but it was our defense that led to our win tonight,” said Coach Aura. “North Carolina is a good team and any time you can hold their shooting to just 27%, you’ve done an outstanding job. Our guys just never gave the Tar Heels any easy shots.” The win kept the Eagles in a tie with Notre Dame and a game-and-a-half ahead of Duke in the ACC standings. BC travels later this week to to take on the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana.

Transfer Results ALCORN STATE Ramon Montez: “Our goal was to sign a guard, an interior player, and either another guard or a small forward. We spent more money than we’d have liked, but ended up getting 3 very good players. SF Jared Kraft transferred from Indiana where he didn’t play much as a freshman, but is likely to start for us. PG Teremun Harris comes to us from Tennessee-Martin where he started his entire freshman year and averaged 12.7 ppg. PF LaRon Eldridge played as a freshman for Lehigh where he was their primary sub and averaged 8.8 ppg and 3.9 rpg. Harris and Eldridge will get substantial playing time and could challenge for a starting role.” MD-EASTERN SHORE Mike McMillan: “Losing SF Jibran Hale was a big blow since he played so well for us as a freshman. Jibran ended up transferring to Georgetown. We needed to sign a SF to take Jibran’s place. And we got our man bt signing SF Winston Morris who started for Oregon as a freshman and averaged 11.2 ppg and 5.9 rpg. He’s likely to start for us this coming season.. We also signed C Tim Taflinger who, as a freshman, started for Jacksonville where he averaged 5.9 ppg and 5.1 rpg. We also signed PF Luke Feeley who got limited playing time at Kansas last season. Taflinger and Feeley both will get some solid playing time ths season.” WESTERN ILLINOIS Terry Morillo: “We just had one scholarship to fill and were looking for a good interior players. We signed PF Joe Bergmann. He played well last season as a freshman at Yale where he started and averaged 12.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg and was the Conference E Freshman of the Year. We expect him to be a starter for us this season.” ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF Dontell Spencer: “We were going after a guard to fill our lone vacant scholarship. We were able to convince SG Bill Thorton to likely start for us this season. As a freshman he attended Florida Gulf Coast. He broke his wrist so missed a third of the season but was a starter in the games he could play. He scored 15.4 ppg and pulled down 4.4 rpg.” UC-SAN DIEGO Ken Yamoto: “When I see the level of transfer players the others signed, I sort of wish we could have participated. But we had a full house of scholarship players. We will have a young team this season. Nine of our 13 scholarships are filled by freshman and sophomores. So we could be in for a big challenge this year.”

TRANSFERS UC-San Diego—no one transferred and all scholarships filled. MD-Eastern Shore—SF Jibran Hale transferred away.…excellent player (last season was Conf. Freshman of the Year and 1st Team All-Conf.) so a big loss. 3 open scholarships to try to fill with transfer players…Will try to land a SF and an interior player plus best available. Alcorn State—3 players transferred away leaving so have 3 scholarships available to try to fill with transfer players…need a guard, interior player and either a SG or SF. Western Illinois—one player transferred so one scholarship to fill with a transfer player…prefer to get an interior player. Arkansas-Pine Bluff—no one transferred away, but had one open scholarship to fill with a transfer player…need a guard.

2036-2037 SEASON Conference Changes due to Promotion/Relegation Michigan State relegated from A to B Duke relegated from A to B Texas relegated from A to B North Carolina relegated from A to B Georgetown promoted from B to A Providence promoted from B to A Baylor promoted from B to A Connecticut promoted from B to A Vanderbilt relegated from B to C St. Bonaventure relegated from B to C Kansas State relegated from B to C Nebraska relegated from B to C Cincinnati promoted from to C to B Memphis promoted from C to B Texas Tech promoted from C to B Gonzaga promoted from C to B Ohio State relegated from C to D Wichita State relegated from C to D Utah State relegated from C to D Purdue relegated from C to D Virginia Commonwealth promoted from D to C Oklahoma State promoted from D to C Nevada-Las Vegas promoted from D to C Syracuse promoted from D to C Auburn relegated from D to E Louisiana State relegated from D to E Utah relegated from D to E Penn State relegated from D to E Iowa State promoted from E to D Texas A&M promoted from E to D Temple promoted from E to D Houston promoted from E to D Colorado State relegated from E to F Iowa relegated from E to F Boise State relegated from E to F Rutgers relegated from E to F Old Dominion promoted from F to E Wake Forest promoted from F to E Colorado promoted from F to E Illinois State promoted from F to E Mississippi State relegated from F to G Saint Louis relegated from F to G Arizona relegated from F to G Ohio relegated from F to G Pacific promoted from G to F Wright State promoted from G to F Fresno State promoted from G to F Alabama-Birmingham promoted from G to F Nevada relegated from G to H Murray State relegated from G to H Kent State relegated from G to H Tulsa relegated from G to H Duquesne promoted from H to G Akron promoted from H to G Winthrop promoted from H to G Bowling Green promoted from H to G Saint Mary’s relegated from H to I Loyola (IL) relegated from H to I Furman relegated from H to I Western Michigan relegated from H to I Northern Iowa promoted from I to H Middle Tennessee promoted from I to H UC-Irvina promoted from I to H DePaul promoted from I to H New Mexico State relegated from I to J Western Kentucky relegated from I to J Weber State relegated from I to J George Washington relegated from I to J Stony Brook promoted from J to I Drake promoted from J to I Pennsylvania promoted from J to I Sam Houston State promoted from J to I Northeastern relegated from J to K Loyola Marymount relegated from J to K East Tennessee State relegated from J to K NC-Greensboro relegated from J to K MD-Baltimore County promoted from K to J Georgia State promoted from K to J Stephen F. Austin promoted from K to J Morehead State promoted from K to J Princeton relegated from K to L Valparaiso relegated from K to L Miami (OH) relegated from K to L Hofstra relegated from K to L Evansville promoted from L to K Little Rock promoted from L to K Grand Canyon promoted from L to K Eastern Washington promoted from L to K Illinois-Chicago relegated from L to M Long Beach State relegated from L to M William & Mary relegated from L to M Hawaii relegated from L to M Coastal Carolina promoted from M to L Austin Peay promoted from M to L Fairfield promoted from M to L Liberty promoted from M to L Mercer relegated from M to N Georgia Southern relegated from M to N Charlotte relegated from M to N Iona relegated from M to N Southern Mississippi promoted from N to M High Point promoted from N to M Ball State promoted from N to M Southern Utah promoted from N to M Abilene Christian relegated from N to O Portland relegated from N to O Manhattan relegated from N to O South Alabama relegated from N to O Jacksonville State promoted from O to N Youngstown State promoted from O to N Brown promoted from O to N Eastern Kentucky promoted from O to N Siena relegated from O to P Robert Morse relegated from O to P NC-Wilmington relegated from O to P East Carolina relegated from O to P Army promoted from P to O Idaho promoted from P to O Norfolk State promoted from P to O Long Island promoted from P to O Appalachian State relegated from P to Q Lipscomb relegated from P to Q Cal Poly relegated from P to Q UC-Riverside relegated from P to Q Northern Arizona promoted from Q to P Texas-Rio Grande promoted from Q to P Monmouth promoted from Q to P Lamar promoted from Q to P Wagner relegated from Q to R Mount St. Marys relegated from Q to R Sacramento State relegated from Q to R San Jose State relegated from Q to R Stetson promoted from R to Q Saint Peters promoted from R to Q Troy promoted from R to Q Incarnate Word promoted from R to Q New Orleans relegated from R to S Delaware relegated from R to S Purdue Fort Wayne relegated from R to S Gardner-Webb relegated from R to S Cal State Northridge promoted from S to R Kansas City promoted from S to R North Carolina A&T promoted from S to R Bryant promoted from S to R UC-Davis relegated from S to T Chicago State relegated from S to T Canisius relegated from S to T Montana State relegated from S to T Alcorn State promoted from T to S Arkansas-Pine Bluff promoted from T to S Omaha promoted from T to S Southern promoted from T to S Citadel relegated from T to U Bellarmine relegated from T to U Sacred Heart relegated from T to U New Hampshire relegated from T to U Jackson State promoted from U to T North Alabama promoted from U to T Morgan State promoted from U to T MD-Eastern Shore promoted from U to T Kennesaw State relegated from U to V Presbyterian relegated from U to V North Dakota relegated from U to V Saint Francis (PA) relegated from U to V Eastern Illinois promoted from V to U UC-San Diego promoted from V to U Western Illinois promoted from V to U Maine promoted from V to U Longwood relegated from V to Independent Birmingham promoted from Independent to Vq

Jan. 27, 2031: #21 Boston College Eagles (14-5, 8-1) vs Clemson Tigers (13-6, 5-4) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC Ty Allison, Head Coach of the Clemson Tigers We’re playing at home where we have yet to be beaten this season. And we’re underdogs! I’ve riled up our team about that and we intend to show everyone who’s putting us down just how wrong they are. Coach Fred Aura has done a solid job during his tenure as head coach at Boston College, but we’ve won 4 of the 8 games we’ve played against the Eagles since he arrived. And we intend to make that 5 of 9 tonight! My guys are psyched to kick those who are disrespecting us in the ass. We scored the first 5 points in the game. We then went up by 13 with 5 minutes left in the first half. We went on to take a 56-35 lead at halftime. We outshot the Eagles 59% to 40% and outrebounded them 22-16. SF Hayden Hailey scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for us. I told my team to keep the pressure on throughout the final 20 minutes. Boston College came back strong at the beginning of the 2nd half and cut our lead to 7 in the first 6 minutes. But we re-established a 25 point lead with 8 minutes left to play. My team then never let BC get closer than 19 points and we came away with a 97-74 whipping of the Eagles. BC’s SG Corey Graham led all scorers with 24 points and SF James Pratt and C Ben Schau had 12 and 11 points, respectively. But my Tigers had 5 players in double figures and 11 players scoring. That’ll show those who disparage us. We’re now tied for 4th place in the ACC, just 2 games behind Boston College.

Jan. 20, 2031: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-7, 4-3) vs #23 Boston College Eagles (12-5, 6-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Baldwin the Eagle I love this mascot gig. Actually I share it with another guy but it’s my night to be Baldwin tonight. Not only is it just a lot of fun, but the cheerleaders and other coeds here are really into it. Baldwin’s helped me get some dates that elsewise would never have happened. And also my non-Baldwin persona is totally different from how I am as Baldwin. Here’s a video (with the wrong date on it) of me a week ago before the Duke game: Besides my normal game activities, tonight I have two special stunts planned. First: at halftime I’m going to attempt (and maybe actually do) a dunk. And then in the 2nd half during a timeout, I’m going to smash a pie in the face of a ref (well, actually a fake ref, a friend of mine who will be dressed as a ref). Even though the defense was shaky, BC had a hot start offensively and held a lead. But midway through the first half our shooting went south and Georgia Tech slipped ahead. We trailed 38-36 at the end of the half. We had a lot of buildup for my dunking stunt. Finally I took the ball at midcourt, ran straight for the basket, hit the mini-trampoline perfectly and went up for the for the dunk, but it all went wrong from there. The ball sort of slipped from my wing hand and while I thought I could still get it down, it slammed up against the rim and came straight back at me and nearly took off my beak. I crashed down to the floor like I’d been shot. Embarrassing but the crowd loved it. Our team played better in the 2nd half, but the refs tagged us for a bunch of fouls (including 4 quick ones on C Ben Schau). So we were leading by just two at 62-60. Perfect timing for me to run the pie stunt during a media time out. Unlike my dunk stunt, this one went perfectly. I complained to the “ref”, then chased him around the court before grabbing the pie and planting it squarely in his face at midcourt. The crowd went crazy. And our team seemed to come alive after that and quickly pulled away to lead 69-60 with 5:21 to go. And I’m taking TOTAL credit for BC not allowing the Yellow Jackets to score a SINGLE point after my stunt! We won 77-60, scoring 15-0 after my pie in the face stunt. Top producers for the Eagles tonight were: PF Danny Toliver—16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks; C Ben Schau—14 points and 8 boards; C Tim Cotton—11 points; SF James Pratt—10 points and 3 blocks; SG Corey Graham—9 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Strange stat for Georgia Tech: their PG Rahim Arnold went 7 for 16 from the field…all 16 shots were from 3 point distance, so he scored 21 points. Notre Dame got beat by Miami, so the Eagles are now in sole possession of 1st place in the ACC.

Article on the online portal for “COLLEGE BASKETBALL” THE FIVE MUSKETEERS Six years ago the NCAA reorganized into 22 conferences of 16 teams each. After each season within each conference the four teams with the best record are promoted to the next higher conference and the four teams with the worst records are relegated to the next lower conference. Additionally 6 independent teams play 15 games against Division I opponents with the team with the best record in those games being moved up into the lowest prestige conference to supplant the team with the worst record which drops down into Independent status. In that initial season new coaches were hired at 5 of those initial Independent teams. None of these coaches had prior head coaching experience in Division I basketball. These five coaches became known as The Five Musketeers. Ken Yamoto was hired at Tarleton State, Mike McMillan became the new coach for MD-Eastern Shore, Ramon Martinez was the new head coach at Alcorn State, Terry Morillo was brought aboard by Dixie State, and Dontell Spencer took over the reins at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. During the succeeding six seasons these five head coaches have grown close…to a degree where the term “Five Musketeers” apply fits. While occasionally their teams compete on the court, the five coaches are supportive of each other and communicate frequently. “Sometimes it feels like we’re true brothers,” said Ramon Montez. “We get together in the off-season and have a great time together.” Ken Yamoto added, “I’ve learned a lot from each of the other four guys. We bounce ideas and suggestions off each other. Since we all came into our head coaching jobs with different strengths and weaknesses, this has really helped round each of us out and become better coaches.” Things weren’t each for the five during their early years as head coaches. Their teams were initially very weak, win-loss records weren’t impressive, and getting out of Independent status was a huge challenge. The teams of three of the coaches were promoted into Division I after the first three seasons. The first to make the jump to Conference V was Ramon Montez at Alcorn State for the 2031-32 season. Then in the 2032-33 season Mike McMillan got his MD-Eastern Shore squad into Division I. The next season (2033-34) saw Dontell Spencer and his Arkansas-Pine Bluff move from being an Independent to becoming part of Conference V. That left Ken Yamoto and Terry Morillo still out of Division I and mired in the depths as Independents. “When we got together right after the conclusion of the 2032-33 season, Ken and I were strongly encouraged by Dontell, Ramon and Mike to see what jobs at other schools were coming available and to jump ship,” said Terry Morillo. Dontell Spencer added, “Yeah we could see that the administrations at Dixie State and Tarleton State just weren’t supportive enough of their basketball programs that Terry and Ken were likely to be able to get their teams promoted in the foreseeable future. And that’s been confirmed by the fact that both those teams have continued to be unsuccessful the past 3 seasons as well. So it was good that Ken left Tarleton State and got hired by UC-San Diego and Ken went from Dixie State to Western Illinois.” The validity of those statements is that both Yamoto and Morillo have been able to develop rather moribund basketball programs at UC-San Diego and Western Illinois into successful ones in the space of 3 seasons. Arguably Dontell Spencer could be viewed as the most successful of the five. But let’s look at how each of the Five Musketeers has done in their 6 years since first getting hired: Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Overall Record: 96-51 (.653); Season records: 6-10, 9-7, 11-8, 25-6, 24-10, 21-10. 4 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances In the past 4 seasons with advancement to the Semifinals one year and to the Championship game another year in the NIT, and ranked in Top 25 one season, 4 promotions to higher conferences. Ramon Montez, Alcorn State, Overall Record: 101-66 (.605); Season records: 8-7, 14-14, 14-16, 18-14, 24-7, 23-8. 1 CIT and 1 NCAA appearance, and 4 promotions to higher conferences. Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore Hawks, Overall Record: 79-69 (.534); Season records: 8-7, 6-9, 12-17, 12-17, 20-9, 21-10. 1 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances, 3 promotions to higher conferences. Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego, Overall Record: 56-75 (.427); Season records: 3-12, 2-13, 6-9 at Tarleton State and 10-17, 15-13, 20-11 at UC-San Diego. 1 CBI appearance, 1 promotion to a higher conference. Terry Morillo, Western Illinois, Overall Record: 59-73 (.447); Season records: 4-11, 7-8, 4-11 at Dixie State and 13-16, 15-15, 16-12 at Western Illinois. 1 promotion to a higher conference. This past season the Five Musketeers’ teams combined for 100 wins and just 52 losses and all 5 got their teams promoted to the next higher conference. Coaches Yamoto, Montez and McMillan were named their individual conference’s Coach of the Year. Ramon Montez said, “Great season by all 5 teams! The five of us are going to party when we get together in early May. Then it’s on to preparing for even better records next year.”

Results of Coach Requests to Their College’s Board of Directors Four of the coaches were able to get their requests to their boards approved this year UC-San Diego: Increased budget by $7150 MD-Eastern Shore: Increased budget by $7000 Western Illinois: Will get a facilities upgrade (from D- to C-) Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Increased budget by $4000 But... Alcorn State: Budget increase was not approved. Coach Ramon Montez was blunt, "This sucks!"

Recruits Coming to the 5 Teams in the Coming Year UC-San Diego C Joe McCray #722, 2 star Inside shooting and scoring PF Jeremiah Mason #1165 1 star Outside shooting and scoring PG Calvin Henderson #1289 1 star Ball handling and passing PG Matt Holcomb #1304 1 star Outside shooting and scoring PF Michael Faulkner #1407 1 star Inside shooting and rebounding PF Stephen Leith #1565 1 star Rebounding MD-Eastern Shore Filled 2 of 4 vacancies SF Ryurik Rokossovsky #99 4 star Inside shooting and scoring PG Cark Hancock #1619 1 star Defense and outside shooting Alcorn State C Rick Kraft #907 1 star Inside & outside shooting and rebounding PG Jameel Miller #1238 1 star Outside shooting and passing PF Zach Baker #1381 1 star Inside and outside shooting PF Anthony Hanganu #1453 1 star Inside and outside shooting SF Danny Murphy #1725 1 star Outside shooting and passing Western Illinois PF Orvo Haapajarvi #7 4 star Inside shooting and scoring SF Eliran Zaichik #163 3 star Inside shooting and scoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff Filled 2 of 3 vacancies PF Derron O’Quin #1306 1 star Shooting and passing PG Erik Taylor #1699 1 star Passing and outside shooting

Jan. 18, 2031: #23 Boston College Eagles (11-5, 5-1) vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-7, 2-4) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery We’ve finally clawed our way back into the polls. Coach Aura said he puts little faith in these, particularly when Duke is ranked #10 but Notre Dame is ranked just #20 when the Fighting Irish are 7-0 in the ACC and 1-1/2 games ahead of Duke and when North Carolina State is still ranked #16 but has only won 2 of 5 ACC games. But I believe we deserve to be in the Top 25 and am glad to see us there. I also think it gives recognition to our players for their hard effort. We’ve got to take care not to take Wake Forest too lightly. They’re a stronger team than in past seasons and are a good shooting team that generally has been successful on their home court. There were 11 lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the game with neither team ahead by more than 3 points. But we have greater depth so we were able to keep fresher legs on the court. That helped us pull away from Wake Forest and achieve a 49-33 halftime lead. With such a large lead, our team let it’s guard down on defense in the 2nd half and Wake Forest used that to begin hitting a high percentage of their shots. The Demon Deacons crept up on us but never really mounted a serious challenge. We came away with a 92-80 victory, having hit 61% of our shots. PF Danny Toliver hit for 19 points, C Ben Schau put in 17 points, and SG Corey Graham added 14 points. Coupled with Virginia’s upset road win over Notre Dame, we moved to within ½ game of the first place Fighting Irish.

Awards: SG Kwame Mickens, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T Player of the Year Ramon Montez, Alcorn State—Conference T Coach of the Year SG Kwame Mickens, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 1st Team All-Conference SF Dan Jefferson, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference C Chris Betts, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference C Gabriel Atwood, Alcorn State—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference SF Jibran Hale, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U Freshman of the Year Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U Coach of the Year SF Jibran Hale, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U 1st Team All-Conference SG Marcelo Barker, Western Illinois—Conference V Defensive Player of the Year Ken Yamoto, UC San Diego—Conference U Coach of the Year SG Marcelo Barker, Western Illinois—Conference U 2nd Team All-Conference

Jan. 13, 2031: #10 Duke Blue Devils (12-4, 4-1) vs Boston College Eagles (10-5, 4-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Coach Fred Aura When Duke comes to town every seat at Conte Forum is filled and with the two teams tied for 2nd place in the ACC, tonight’s no different. It’s a raucous crowd. Duke’s been more inconsistent than usual this season. Overall they’ve played, including winning the Cancun Challenge tourney. But they’ve sustained some unexpected losses both on the road and at home. As usual though, they have a great defense, allowing only 60 ppg. Recently we’ve had some good perimeter shooting so we’ll try to beat their defense that way. As far as our defense goes, we need to try to control their senior C Michael Rashaw who has developed into their leading scorer this season averaging 15 ppg, their PF Enrique Fortin who is scoring about 10 ppg, and PG Casey Dare who has scored 11-1/2 ppg. Duke jumped out on top. We trailed by 4-6 points throughout most of the first 10 minutes as they throttled our offense. At the 2nd media time out I put in Glen Robinson at PG since the Blue Devils were really pressuring Bobby Grannum. Glen quickly hit some key baskets to tie the game and then move us ahead. Our defense tightened and by the end of the half we led 29-24. Defense continued to be the key to holding our lead in the 2nd half. Our offense stuttered in the middle of the half so that Duke was able to get within 2 points of us. But the Blue Devils were never able to put on a sustained run because our guys were keeping them from getting clear shots. In the last 8 minutes of the game we steadily pulled away to rather surprisingly bury Duke by a score of 64-48. Yes, we held Duke to just 48 points! The Blue Devils only made 30% of their shots. So even though we were limited to 39% shooting, it was enough. We held Rashaw to just 6 points. Our leading scorer was SG Corey Graham who finished with 15 points. PG/SG Glen Robinson scored 11. Our fans swarmed the floor at the end of the game. It got pretty messy. Some how I ended up losing one of my better fedoras. But I was intent on getting our guys off the court before someone got hurt so couldn’t worry about my hat.

TEAM STATS Alcorn State Braves Team: Record: 23-8 (13-3); 73.7 ppg; 66.4 oppg; Net ranking: 33; 17.6 apg; 32.8 rpg. Players: PPG: Caleb Sanden—13.3; Gabriel Atwood—12.0; Will Friel—10.9; Caig Brown—9.6; Virgil Brown—6.8; Bernie Graham—6.4; Todd young—5.4; Harold Hein—4.6 RPG: Gabriel Atwood—6.9; Will Friel—6.7; Harold Hein—4.1; Bernie Graham—3.3; Craig Brown—3.1; Caleb Sanden—2.7 APG: Craig Brown—4.0; Todd Young—2.6; Harold Hein—2.5; Caleb Sanden—2.0 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions Team: Record: 21-10 (11-5); Net ranking: 76; 79.0 ppg; 70.9 oppg; 19.8 apg; 33.3 rpg. Players: PPG: Dan Jefferson—15.2; Chris Betts—13.4; Kwame Mickens—13.3; Delvon Palmer—8.6; Darrin Randolph—8.1; Dwayne Robinson—5.4; Jacob Allen—4.7; Antonio Gailey—4.3 RPG: Chris Betts—6.9; Kwame Mickens—5.2; Delvon Palmer—4.9; Dan Jefferson—3.8; Jacob Allen—3.4; Antonio Gailey-3.2 APG: Kwame Mickens—6.3; Darrin Randolph—2.5; Dan Jefferson—2.3; Chris Betts—2.2 MD-Eastern Shore Hawks Team: Record: 21-10 (11-5); Net Ranking: 51; 70.2 ppg; 65.9 oppg; 17.3 apg; 32.3 rpg. Players: PPG: Jibran Hale—13.6. Travis Templ3—11.9, Dwayne Bullett-10.7, Lataryl Brown—7.4, Tony Rueter—7.0, Ramolo Pantini—6.3, Edouard Gaultier—4.7, Terrance Mann—3.4, Marcos Santini—3.2 RPG: Tony Rueter—7.1, Jibran Hale—6.3, Dwayne Bullett—5.6, Romolo Pantini—3.7, Travis Temple—2.9, Lataryle Brown—2.3 APG: Lataryl Brown—5.6, Travis Temple—2.3, Jibran Hale—2.0, Dwayne Bullett—1.9 UC-San Diego Tritons Team: Record: 20-11 (11-5); Net Ranking: 112; 77.7 ppg; 70.7 oppg; 19.5 apg; 33.1 rpg Players: PPG: Gregg Green—15.8, Jack Robinson—11.5, Joe Roland—8.5, Brian Thomas—8.2, Chris Williams—8.0, Shannon Van Hook—6.9, Brad Sanders—5.8, Delante Keams—4.5, Stephen Perry—4.5 RPG: Shannon Van Hook—6.4, Jack Robinson—5.5, Brad Sanders—3.9, Gregg Green—3.7, Joe Roland—3.1, Brian Thomas—2.9, Chris Williams—2.8 APG: Brian Thomas—5.1, Chris Williams—3.1, Delante Keams—2.7 Western Illinois Leathernecks Team: Record: 16-12 (10-6); Net Ranking: 173; 71.1 ppg; 65.3 oppg; 17.7 apg; 30.5 rpg Players: PPG: Marcelo Barker—13.9, Jamar Curtis—12.3, James Johnson—10.3, Craig Grant—9.3, Tom Daniel—5.5, Martin Dizon—5.4, Larry McClain—5.3, Emerson Owen—3.6 RPG: Jamary Curtis—6.4, Craig Grant—4.9, Larry McClain—4.1, James Johnson—3.5, Marcelo Barker—3.2 APG: Tom Daniel—4.1, Marcelo Barker—2.6, Martin Dixon—2.4, Jamar Curtis—2.2, Craig Grant—2.1

Jan. 11, 2031: Clemson Tigers (11-4, 3-2) at Boston College (9-5, 3-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA PF Darius Hein We’re short one player tonight (and for the following 3 games as well), since Rashon Thorn got himself suspended. Rashon is a good friend of mine. We got to BC the same year. Like him I want to be out on the court and trying to get a win for the Eagles. But it’s stupid to act the way he does at times and make a scene. Not only is it foolish but it makes everyone on the team uncomfortable and knocks him down in a lot of the guys’ eyes. But when he gets that way, there’s really nothing I can say to him that will help. He just gets out of control. Coach Fed is hard to rile up, so Rashon musta said something that was waaaayyy out of line. This week Rashon’s just disappeared…not going to classes, not in his room. I’m hoping none of our players get injured, particularly one of our guards, because if they do we’ll be really short-handed. Clemson’s played us tough. Coach Fed let us know he wasn’t happy that the Tigers had taken their measure of us by winning 4 of the 7 times they’ve played us since he got to Boston College. He told us we need to stop their inside game of C Samuel Lewis and PF Marvin Clayton. We went up 10-1 but then let them score the next 6 points to get back into the game. Then midway through the half the Tigers out-hustled us to take a 5 point lead. We had to claw our way back. Our starters carried us to a 37-33 halftime advantage as C Ben Schau led the way with 11 points and 7 rebounds. After 5 minutes of the 2nd half we were up by 12 and I FINALLY got into the game. 30 seconds later I got a bucket on a tip in. I got to play for 8 minutes and did pretty well (3 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks) and left the game with us ahead 64-48. We went on to take down the Tigers by a final score of 76-60. C Ben Schau had 15 points and 9 boards, PG Bobby Grannum also scored 15, and SF James Pratt had 13 points and 6 rebounds. But Coach Aura was happiest with our defense as we held Clemson’s shooting to just 38% and 17% on their 3-point shooting plus forced them to turn the ball over 21 times. He also gave all us interior players a big pat on the back for holding Leis and Clayton to a combined total of just 12 points which was 40% of what they normally score.

CBI Results Round 1 UC-San Diego (19-10)—77, NC-Asheville—49 (UC-San Diego dominated the Bulldogs in the first half and led 42-23 at the break. Their lead grew to 32 in the 2nd half as they destroyed NC-Asheville by outshooting them 53% to 32%, holding a 38-33 rebounding advantage and making 3 less turnovers. SF Gregg Green scored 19 points.) Round 2 UC-San Diego (20-10)—97, Cleveland State—94 (OT) (Hell of a game. 29 lead changes and 19 ties. Cleveland State led 40-37 at the half. But the Vikings had to knock down a 3 with 4 seconds to go to send the game to overtime. The Tritons jumped ahead in the OT and stubbornly wouldn’t let Cleveland State back into it. UC-San Diego held advantages in most all team stats but the Vikings’ SF Josh Moore dropped in 29 points to keep them in the game. SG Chris Williams and PF Jack Robinson both scored 16 for the Tritons with Robinson also hauling down 7 rebounds. C Shannon Van Hook scored 11 and had 10 rebounds for a double-double.) Round 3 Oregon State—79, UC-San Diego (20-11)—63 (The Tritons came out of the first half with a 39-36 lead. The Beavers gained the lead with 15 minutes to go and sprinted to a lop-sided victory. Coach Yamoto said, “Our energy lagged in the 2nd half, but this was a great experience for our team and coaches. Our guys put together a very good season.” SF Gregg Green topped the scoring with 19 points.) NIT Results Round 1 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (21-8)—89, Alabama State—71 (The Golden Lions quickly got ahead and good shooting and strong rebounding gave them a 49-30 halftime advantage. They held the Hornets off in the 2nd half for a decisive win. C Chris Betts had 18 points and 8 boards and SF Dan Jefferson scored 16, pulled down 4 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, and had 3 blocks and 2 steals.) Round 2 Yale—72, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (21-9)—63 (“We hung with Yale for a while, but once they got ahead, they we were unable to give them a real challenge since we shot so poorly,” said Coach Spencer. C Chris Betts scored 23 and had 7 rebounds.) NCAA Results Round 1 Pacific—92, MD-Eastern Shore (21-10)—73 (The Hawks’ offense was clicking in the first half as they outscored Pacific 49-46. But Pacific throttled the Hawks in the 2nd half and ran away to bury MD-Eastern Shore. “Too many turnovers and too little defense,” said Coach McMillan. “But Pacific was just too good for us tonight.” SF Jibran Hale scored 20 points.) Syracuse—82, Alcorn State (23-8)—78 (Syracuse tore up the Braves in the first half to lead 54-32 at the break. But Alcorn State steadily crept up on the Orange in the 2nd half to make a game of it. Coach McMillan said, “I’m proud of how our guys fought to get back into this game. Syracuse is a very good team but we were able to put a scare into them. It’s not often you lose when you outshoot a team 51% to 39% but they scored 11 more points at the foul line than we did and we were a -8 on the boards.” PG Caleb Sanden topped the Braves’ scoring with 21 points.)

Coach Fred Aura When catching up on my email after our return from Virginia I opened an email and read through it. I was totally confused by what it said…at first. Then I noticed it was signed “Renee”. She was appreciative I guess because we’d scouted her cousin’s son (which we had although we were looking much more closely at a player on the opposing team…her relative was ok, but not for Division I basketball…maybe he could play for a Division 3 team, but no need to get into that with her). But there was nothing specifically about him or basketball or scouting in the way she wrote the email. Since I knew what she was grateful for, I understood that’s what it was about. I re-read her email, though. While it expressed she was pleased for what I had done for her, it was written in a way that could have been interpreted as sexual undertones and connotations. As I said earlier, she’s weird. I let our a few explicit epithets to myself and immediately deleted the email since I sure didn’t want anyone else seeing it and misconstruing what she was saying. I made a mental note to myself to stay as far away from her as possible and to try not to be at Eagles Soar events that she might attend. I’ll just send one of my assistants in my place to most of their events. Since we need to get back on a winning track, I focused hard on our upcoming game and tried to totally forget all about Renee McEntire and her strange ways. Then James Pratt and Mike Williams arrived in my office. They’d gotten into a heated argument earlier in the day and had to be separated by other players. I decided to talk to them together and let them know we needed them pulling together. They both took it well and said they’d work harder. With Williams being so new to the team, I’m going to have to try to improve his relationship with his teammates. Next to arrive was Rashon Thorn. As he’d done last season, he’d again been mouthing off again about not playing enough and my favoring Bobby Grannum over him. I tried the soft approach but he came back at me about even that. I warned him more sternly and he was combative. That ended up earning him a two-week suspension. So it won’t be a matter of him playing too little…it will be not playing at all. He’ll miss our next 4 games including our game against Duke. This was turning out to be a pretty lousy day for me in the office. Later than night I watched Notre Dame win on the road by a single point to drop us 1-1/2 games back. My bad day was continuing.

Post-Season Tournament Selections for the teams coached by the Five Muskaterrs : NCAA Coach Mike McMillans’s MD-Eastern Shore Hawks are the 13th seed in the South Region and will play #4 seed Pacific. Coach Ramon Montez’ Alcorn State Braves are the 11th seed in the West Region and will play #6 seed Syracuse. NIT Coach Dontell Spencer’s Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions are the #2 seed in the East Region and will play #7 seed Alabama State. CBI Coach Ken Yamoto’s UC-San Diego Tritons are the #2 seed in the West Region and will play #7 seed NC-Asheville. Missed the Cut Coach Terry Morillo’s Western Illinois Leathernecks failed to get into any post-season tournament due to losing their final 4 games this season.

Jan. 6, 2031: Boston College Eagles (9-4, 3-0) at Virginia Cavaliers (9-3, 1-1) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia Father Martin Christianson I’m not only one of the Franciscan priests at BC, but I also teach American History at the college. So I fought to be the team’s cleric for this road trip where I can spend some time at Monticello to do some research. Our players and coaches mostly just put up with a priest accompanying them. They’ll participate in a pregame or postgame prayer, but seldom does there seem to be a request to talk to us privately about a spiritual issue or a matter of conscience. But Boston College is insistent that one of us goes with the team on each road trip. I do know though that there are 3 players who are having personal issues on the team: Tim Cotton and Adrian Moss are not too happy with the coaching staff (from what I have learned its because they want to start and/or have more playing time) and Bobby Grannum doesn’t get along with his teammates too well. I’ve tried to get them to open up with me but with no success thus far. I can encourage but not push. These kids come to college having been the stars of their high school teams and then to not start and not get to play as much as they think they should is really tough. I’m not sure what Bobby’s problem(s) with the team are. Maybe he’s just waiting for the opportunity to turn professional, which I’m told he has a good chance to do. While Coach Aura and his family attend mass, he’s more committed to his sport than to his religion so he doesn’t help in building a strong relationship between the players and the priests. What’s more, he seems to have some personal issues he may be dealing with but is unwilling to discuss. Again, all I can do is to let him know I’m there if he wants to talk. Janeka, his wife, is more the center of spirituality within their family. I got to the arena in time to go to the locker room just before the game and now am at my seat to watch the game. The Eagles hit two 3’s to go up 6-0. The refs were whistle-happy. C Ben Schau was relegated the bench with 2 personals in less that 5 minutes of play. James Pratt followed a minute later. Virginia scored their first 7 points on free throws and didn’t hit a FG until there was 13:30 remaining. But from the midpoint to the end of the half, the Cavaliers seemingly couldn’t miss while BC had a tough time finding the basket. The half ended with Virginia on top 48-35. In the 2nd half the Eagles went on a 12-0 run to take a 59-57 lead with 12:16 remaining. The lead seesawed for the next 9 minutes but the Cavaliers took a late lead forcing the Eagles to foul intentionally which only expanded Virginia’s lead. BC lost 89-81. PG Bobby Grannum and SG Corey Graham both scored 16 with reserve PF Mike Williams adding 11 points. Coach Aura told the team that they simply ran into a hot-shooting buzzsaw tonight and to just put this game behind them. The loss dropped the Eagles into a tie with Duke for 2nd place, a game behind Notre Dame. But Coach Aura seemed unconcerned about that.

Jan. 4, 2031: Virginia Tech Hokies (7-4, 1-1) at Boston College Eagles (8-4, 2-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Dom Scafani, Forum Security The Eagles gave up too many easy shots in the first 12 minutes of the half and trailed the Hokies by a few points. But then BC caught fire on the outside and streaked to a 50-36 halftime advantage. The perimeter players carried the load as Glen Robinson, Bobby Grannum and Corey Graham hit 14 of 23 from the field (including 6 of 10 from beyond the arc) and combined to score 39 of the Eagles’ 50 points. That put the large crowd in a good mood to reduce the likelihood of security problems. The long bombs continued to fall for BC in the 2nd half and they took a 25 point lead with 14 minutes left in the game. With 10 minutes to go the Eagles were on top by 31. Coach Aura substituted freely, but the lead continued to grow. The final score was 92-58. I was involved in providing security in the interview room. I heard Coach Aura say, “Our guys were zeroed in on the basket all night. It’s nice coaching when your team hits 52% of their FG’s and 16 of 30 of their 3’s. Bobby Grannum with 24 points and Glen Robinson with 26 points combined to hit 18 of 25 from the field and 11 of 17 from beyond the arc. Bobby had 9 assists and 6 rebounds also so quite the night for him. Put that together with some awesome defense (holding the Hokies shooting to under 30%) and work on the boards (we were +12) and it’s no wonder we won big tonight.” One of the press guys had a bit too much to drink, so I then had to usher him out of the room and call him a cab. BC and Notre Dame are now the only teams in the ACC that are unbeaten.

Conference Tournaments Conference V Day 1 Florida A&M Rattlers—94, SIU Edwardsville Cougars-86 NJIT Highlanders—68, Houston Baptist Huskies—63 Maine Black Bears—85, South Carolina State Bulldogs—58 Alabama State Hornets—93, Mississippi Valley Delta Devils—82 Day 2 Quarterfinals Eastern Illinois Panthers—79, Alabama State Hornets—76 Maine Black Bears—85, UC-San Diego Tritons (18-10)—78 (The lead shifted back and forth 16 times and there were 12 ties in this game. But the Black Bears owned the final 4 minutes to score an upset win. The Tritons’ PF Jack Robinson scored 19 points.) NJIT Highlanders—71, Western Illinois Leathernecks (16-12)—70 (NJIT held a small lead through the final 30 minutes of this game. The Leathernecks hit what they thought was a 3 pointer with 2 seconds to go to tie. But upon review of the video, the refs detected a toe on the line and changed it to a 2-point FG changing the tie to a disappointing loss. C Jamar Curtis had 19 points and 7 rebounds.) Merrimack Warriors—97, Florida A&M—92 Day 3 Semifinals Eastern Illinois Panthers—73, Merrimack Warriors—59 Maine Black Bears—81, NJIT Highlanders—70 Day 4 Championship Maine Black Bears—75, Eastern Illinois Panthers—66 [The underdog Maine Black Bears scored their 4th straight upset victory in the tournament after finishing 10th in the Conference V standings.] Conference U Day 1 Dartmouth Big Green—74, Howard Bison—53 Nicholls State Colonels—63, Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks—59 Prairie View Panthers—78, Delaware State Hornets—70 UMass-Lowell River Hawks—69, SE Missouri State Redhawks--63 Day 2 Quarterfinals Jackson State Tigers—84, UMass-Lowell River Hawks—65 North Alabama Lions—80, Prairie View Panthers—76 Morgan State Bears—52, Nicholls State Colonels—44 MD-Eastern Shore Hawks (19-9)—78, Dartmouth Big Green—65 (After building an 8 point lead in the middle of the first half, the Hawks let the Big Green back into the game as their leas was reduced to 32-31 at the break. But MD-Eastern Shore took control in the 2nd half. PF Tony Rueter scored 20 points and SF Jibran Hale totalled 15 points, 5 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.) Day 3 Semifinals MD-Eastern Shore Hawks (20-9)—71, Jackson State Tigers—47 (The game was close for 5 minutes but then the Hawks used a staunch defense and domination of the boards to run away and continue to expand their lead all the way to the end of the game. SF Jibran Hale finished with 20 points and 7 boards.) North Alabama Lions—86, Morgan State Bears—71 Day 4 Championship MD-Eastern Shore Hawks (21-9)—96, North Alabama Lions—91 (OT) (North Alabama led throughout most of the game and by as much as points. But the Hawks slowly chipped away at the lead over the final 15 minutes of regulation and gained a tie by hitting a last second jumper. MD-Eastern Shore built an 8 point lead in the overtime to win the championship. SF Jibran Hale completed a stellar tournament by scoring 24 points, pulling down 10 rebounds, and making 5 assists. PG Lataryl Brown and SG Travis Temple both scored 20 points with Brown dishing out 10 assists for a double-double.) Conference T Day 1 South Carolina Upstate Spartans—85, Texas Southern Tigers—76 Hampton Pirates—76, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles—70 Central Arkansas Bears—67, Bethune-Cookman Wildcats—61 Seattle Redhawks—99, Charleston Southern Buccaneers—64 Day 2 Quarterfinals Alcorn State Braves (21-7)—79, Seattle Redhawks—62 (Alcorn State took care of business right out of the gate and never trailed in this contest. PG Caleb Sanden poured in 26 points and PF Will Friel has 11 points and 12 boards.) Central Arkansas Bears—76, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (20-8)—69 (Throughout the first half and the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half this was a close game with 10 lead changes. But then the Bears began pulling away and held onto the lead the rest of the way. SG Kwame Mickens had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and a block.) Omaha Mavericks—92, Hampton Pirates—85 South Carolina Upstate Spartans—59, Southern Jaguars—54 Day 3 Semifinals Alcorn State Braves (22-7)—75, South Carolina Upstate Spartans—71 (OT) (Alcorn State led 39-31 at the half and their lead increased to 13 points in the 2nd half, but the Spartans made a furious comeback late in the game to tie at 62-62 and send the game to overtime. The Braves hit some big shots in the OT to prevent the upset. PG Caleb Sanden and reserve PF Virgil Brown both scored 12 points.) Omaha mavericks—73, Central Arkansas Bears—66 Day 4 Championship Alcorn State Braves (23-7)—89, Omaha Mavericks—71 (The Braves made it look easy, hitting 64% of their FG’s. C Gabriel Atwood had 22 points and 8 boards and SG Craig Brown scored 21 and dished out 7 assists.)

Game Results—Feb 26-Mar 4 Conference V Maine—66, Western Illinois (16-10, 10-5)—60 (The Leathernecks hung with Maine for most of the first half but then faded. Midway through the 2nd half they trailed by 17. Western Illinois then steadily cut into the lead in the final 10 minutes but the hill was just too steep to climb. C Jamar Curtis finished with 17 points and PF Craig Grant had 14 points and 12 rebounds.) Merrimack—83, Western Illinois (16-11, 10-6)—76 (Western Illinois closed out their regular season with their 3rd straight loss. The Leathernecks were on the short end of a 46-29 halftime score. Even though they outscored the Warriors in the 2nd half, they never truly threatened to take the lead. SF James Johnson scored 15 and C Jamar Curtis had 14 points and 9 boards.) South Carolina State—90, UC-San Diego (17-9, 10-5)—82 (The game was close with a lot of lead changes the first 5 minutes, but then SC State steadily pulled away, leading 43-29 at the half and holding the Tritons off in a frenzied 2nd half. SF Brian Thomas was high point man with 19 points.) UC-San Diego (18-9, 11-5)—78, Florida A&M—65 (The teams exchanged the lead throughout the first 13 minutes of the game, but the Tritons went on a run to lift them to a 41-30 halftime advantage. Florida A&M gave the Tritons’ home fans a scare when the Rattlers briefly regained the lead midway through the 2nd half. But UC-San Diego came back to draw away. SF Gregg Green had 24 points.) Conference U Presbyterian—76, MD-Eastern Shore (17-9, 10-5)—61 (The Hawks suffered an embarrassing home court beatdown by the lowly Blue Hose. Coach McMillan lamented, “We stunk up the gym tonight. We fell behind and then seemed to just fold.” SG Travis Temple scored 19 points.) MD-Eastern Shore (18-9, 11-5)—61, Nicholls State—37 (MD-Eastern Shore trounced the Colonels by putting Nicholls State in a 41-14 hole. The Hawks limited the Colonels’ shooting to just 27% and completely dominated the boards 40-17. C Dwayne Bullett had 12 points and 11 rebounds.) Conference T Alcorn State (20-6, 13-2)—80, Southern—68 (Southern was in control in the latter part of the first half, taking a 41-32 lead to the locker room, and then continuing to hold Alcorn State off for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. But then with their home fans urging them on, the Braves stormed back to bury the Jaguars. Alcorn State’s starting guards, PG Caleb Sanden and SG Craig Brown, carried the team with 28 and 19 points, respectively.) Arkansas-Pine Bluff—67, Alcorn State (20-7, 13-3)—54 (The road proved to be too high a hurdle for the Braves. PF Will Friel had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.) Central Arkansas—92, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (19-7, 10-5)—89 (In a quick paced game with 12 lead changes and 6 ties, it appeared that the Golden Lions might pull off an upset on Central Arkansas’ court. But the Bears hit a 3 to retake the lead with a minute to go, stole the ball to go up by 5 and then held on for the win. C Chris Betts led Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 17 points and 7 boards.) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (20-7, 11-5)—67, Alcorn State—54 (The Golden Lions carved out a 37-33 lead at the half and then applied a stout defense to allow them to pull away from the Braves in the 2nd half. SG Kwame Mickens hit for 14 points plus had 6 rebounds and 5 assists.) Awards: none Significant Injuries: none Comments: Alcorn State finished atop Conference T with Arkansas-Pine Bluff tied with Omaha for 2nd place. MD-Eastern Shore tied with Morgan State for 3rd place but could be kept from being promoted if a team lower than them in the standings wins the conference tournament. UC-San Diego State finished in a tie with Eastern Illinois for 1st place in Conference V with Western Illinois tied for 3rd place with Merrimack. Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Coach Dontell Spencer said, “Pretty damned good year for all us. Each of the five teams has between 16 and 20 wins and is in the top 3 or 4 of their conferences. So I would expect that we should all get into one of the post-season tournaments…definitely if we have some wins in the conference tournaments that happening this coming week.

Coach Fred Aura I hated to miss our game against Louisville, but Malik’s gone into a deeper funk. After starting 5 straight games early in the season, he’s been sitting on the bench the past 7 games, getting 8 minutes of less of playing time the past six games. Both Janeka and I are very concerned, not about his playing or not playing, but about his depression. We almost always play the same days that Georgetown does so getting to a game when we aren’t playing is tough. Georgetown had a game at St. John’s, so I went to New York City so I could talk with him before the game. I bought a ticket to the game since I didn’t want Ike Long, the Hoya’s head coach, knowing I was there and thinking I was trying to influence how he handles the team and my son. The Hoyas won 57-44. Malik played just 6 minutes and scored 2 points, hitting a nice jumper but missing his two 3-point attempts. Thus far this season he’s hitting just 25% of his 3’s which is probably one reason he’s not playing much. They also have him playing out of position…not at SG but at SF. So he’s not that familiar with all the baseline play and getting a different look at the basket. I got together with him after the game so I could talk more with him. Malik learned not only from me, but more importantly from his brother and the game came easily for Malik. He starred his whole time thorough high school so not being the “main man” is a big adjustment for him. Georgetown’s starting SG is a highly rated junior. Their PG is a senior. We talked about how he (Malik) is still learning the sets for the Hoyas while those two have a ton of experience and a lot more familiarity with Coach Long’s strategies. The SG is an excellent player. To be honest (although I didn’t tell Malik this), my opinion is that Malik is a better player than their PG and could do well at that position. But the senior has so much more experience handling the team that I can understand Coach Long relying on him. Malik was a 5-star recruit, but at SF he’s been supplanted by Ken Crider, another freshman who also was a 5-star recruit and was in the top 10 in the recruit rankings last year (Malik was the 20th ranked recruit last season). Crider’s darned good and has been shooting better than Malik and does a good job attacking the glass. Crider will probably be a one-and-done and Georgetown’s PG will be graduating after this season, so that should open a starting role for Malik next season. I tried to get across to Malik that he just needs to keep working hard in practice, nail the sets, work on improving his outside shots (particularly since the 3 point line is just a little further out in college ball compared to high school), boost his teammates while on the bench, and be ready to do what Coach Long needs when he’s put onto the court. I told him his time will come and to treat this period as a good time to improve his overall game. I also encouraged him to be open with his coach and find out more about what Ike wants him to work on. I also asked him to continue talking frequently with his mother and me and to also talk more with Omari, who’s a senior on the Providence team and who also had to work his way up on the team through his years there. Then it was time for Malik to get some sleep since the Hoyas were taking an early express train from NYC to DC in the morning and also time for me to get back home so I could back with my team tomorrow and congratulate them on their big win in Louisville. In the morning I talked with Janeka about Malik. She was happy that I got together with him. But then she got a strange call when I was gone. She said “some woman” had called asking for me and didn’t indicate what the call was about. I asked her who it was. She said the woman wouldn’t identify herself. I told her I had no idea who it was, but that if she calls again I’d let Janeka know who it was and what it was about…and that if Janeka takes the call to try to get the woman’s name and phone number. I met up with Darrell (Montgomery) and gave him a big pat on the back for how he handled the team and his win at acting head coach. I was then able to let the team know how proud of them on how they played against Louisville. But now we have to prepare for our upcoming game against Virginia Tech. Followup note: Georgetown played Seton Hall two nights later. Malik didn’t start but played 17 minutes and scored 5 points, hitting 2 of his 3 FGA’s, and pulled down 3 rebounds and had a steal. Some of that was due to Crider being in foul trouble so that he played just 22 minutes at SF…and scored just 4 points.