Happy Monday!
• The best small college rivalry in the state gets takes to the court again on Thursday. I’ll bet the East Central women are ready to take the court again in Ada, whether it’s against archrival Southeastern or anyone else. The Tigers had a nine-game winning streak snapped last Thursday by Southern Nazarene and had an open Saturday two days after that, so Coach Franz’s squad should be excited about the chance to start a new streak. ECU is in a four-way logjam atop the Great American Conference standings with a conference record of 7-2.
• SWOSU’s women won seven straight to end 2012. The new year has been a little tougher. The Lady Dawgs are 3-3 since the calendar turned, but swept the two-game trip to Arkadelphia and are right in the thick of things in the GAC with a 6-3 record. Michelle Fisher and Kimmi Sawatzky have been setting the pace of late for Southwestern.
• In the meantime, I sit corrected to this point with my pick for where the NSU men would be in the MIAA standings. I had the RiverHawks finishing 12th in the league. At this point, nearling halfway through the conference slate, NSU is sitting in a tie for third. Um, yeah, missed it by that much.
Additionally, junior guard Bryton Hobbs was named MIAA Player of the Week today. Coach Gipson has his team rolling right now.
• Out of state on this one –
How about that Gonzaga/Butler game. It was stated on the air the team that had the ball last would win. That was definitely the right call. Even five years ago, I can’t imagine too many people who envisioned College GameDay going to Indianapolis to set up shop for a Saturday Prime Time matchup of these two Bulldogs.
This contest was worth any hype it received – and more.