...best of all, no oral roberts in either dance.

It was nice to see North Dakota St. put up a spirited fight against the defending champion Kansas Jayhawks. No disrespect to the Bison, but I picked KU in my bracket. It had less to do with talent and more to do with experience.

I went 23-9 in the first round and 13-3 in the second. Not too shabby, although I expect better of myself than dropping nine like that.

Over on the women's side, congrats to South Dakota State for advancing to the second round of the women's Big Dance™. They'll take on tenth-seeded Baylor tomorrow night.

Most of all—and I don't mind saying this—it was nice to see someone other than Oral Roberts in either tournament.

You heard me. No, I'm not an objective bystander. :-)

championship tuesday predictions.

Championship Tuesday is all set for the Summit League today.

Women's Championship
Oakland vs. South Dakota State University at 3 p.m.

Men's Championship
Oakland vs. North Dakota State University at 7 p.m.

The women's match-up might be the most intriguing of the two. OU's Beckie Francis is no stranger to championship-round basketball. Same goes for SDSU's Aaron Johnston. While conventional wisdom might suggest SDSU should win, I've got a hunch OU is going to pull this out.

On the men's side, it could be a real dog fight. Both teams surged into the tournament, with NDSU leading the way in its first year of post-season eligibility (in the conference). I think North Dakota gets the edge in this one based upon a few factors:
* Home Court. Perhaps not as stark as the previous four years in Tulsa, but they're playing in the Dakotas. More NDSU fans will make the trip.
* Player of the Year. Ben Woodside led the conference in scoring. But OU counters with Erik Kangas, who was No. 2 in scoring.

The game might tip on defense, where NDSU seems to hold slight advantages. But don't count out OU. Statistically speaking, they're not too far behind in defensive categories.

I think OU cuts down at least one set of nets today, but not two. I think it's going to be Oakland on the women's side and North Dakota State on the men's side.

Just a hunch.

jaguars knocked out.

Well, that was quick. For the first time in its D-I-eligible history, the IUPUI Jaguars were knocked out in the first round of conference tournament play. It's not too terribly surprising, given that this really turned out to be a rebuilding year for Ron Hunter's team.

So, the perennial favorites (and last year's championship game teams, IUPUI and ORU) are out. That leaves a wide open tournament on the men's side of things. My money's on North Dakota State prevailing, but Greg Kampe has a way of getting his Oakland team to play inspired basketball in the conference tournament.

Over on the women's side, it's going to be tough to stop South Dakota State. But the only team to hand them a conference loss (Oakland) is alive and kicking in this tournament.

We'll see who can survive the second round tomorrow night.

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!!

It's only been a year since my last entry here. What could awake the sleeping giant? The fact that Oral Roberts University got KNOCKED OFF in the opening round of the Summit League Championship Tournament!!

Which team? The men's team? The women's team?

BOTH!!!

That's right. ORU is already on a bus heading back to Tulsa.

Nothing could be finer than a quick exit for the team that was the benefactor of the most negligible home court advantage in the championship tournament over the past four years.

of mascot brawls, overnight 'net sensations & credit for breaking the story first.

I don't know if I talked about it at length here, but I think I figured out how my video of Eli and Jawz squaring off in a Battle Royale with Cheese was the YouTube video that would launch a thousand blog entries, TV news stories, ESPN conversations, etc.

I think it all started here and here.

Let's go back to the beginning...

Tuesday
6:30 p.m. CDT: (or so): The mascots got ejected for fighting during a timeout.
6:41 p.m. CDT: I post a one sentence entry about the fight to this blog.

Wednesday
12:35 a.m. CDT: I uploaded my video of the fight to YouTube.
2:41 a.m. CDT: I upload a link to the video on this blog.
6 - 11 a.m. CDT: As I'm waiting for my flight home from Tulsa, I sit in the airport and bump around the Internet on my iPhone. Amidst the bumping, I notice I'm getting lots of traffic to this blog. All the hits seem to be coming from Tulsa.Rivals.com. By the end of Wednesday, this blog received 120 hits...a ONE THOUSAND PERCENT INCREASE!
7 p.m. EDT: After a long day of traveling, I go straight to bed once I get home. I don't re-surface until 7 a.m. the following morning.

And to what did I awaken?
* My YouTube video received more than 40,000 hits in about a day and a half
* I got word the Tulsa World ran a story about the brawl, directly citing (and linking to) my YouTube video: "The incident sparked interest Wednesday after a portion of the scuffle appeared on youtube.com, a popular Internet site for viewing, sharing and uploading video content."
* ESPN contacted me to use the video.
* Several local affiliates across the nation broadcast it or portions of other video captured by IUPUI and a Tulsa affiliate.
* It appeared on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann Thursday night.
* By week's end, the Jawz vs. Eli scuffle has become an all-out Internet sensation...my YouTube video has garnered nearly a quarter-million hits.

Of course, no one knows nor cares about Patient Zero in this entire thing...unless you're Patient Zero. In this case, I am Patient Zero! And I will remind you of that as often as necessary.

Why? Since I stand to gain nary a penny from this whole thing, I feel it's to my best interest to remind the world who broke this thing wide open. This is my Watergate. My Zapruder film. My stained, blue dress. It is my one and only claim to Internet fame and I plan to exploit it so this site may receive more traffic.

Just remember, boys and girls, it was SummitLeague.blogspot.com who broke this story.

EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY followed me on this one.

Let's not let that minor detail escape, eh?

system didn't reward good teams: ron hunter.

IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter didn't hide his displeasure with getting ignored by the NIT and the Biggest Farce in Basketball CBI. From the Indianapolis Star:

Jaguars left out of postseason play
IUPUI doesn't receive and invitation to participate in any of the 3 tournaments despite putting together a 26-7 record
By Curt Cavin

IUPUI wasn't invited to any of this season's basketball dances.

Jaguars coach Ron Hunter believes being from a non-traditional hoops program cost his team a bid in any of the three events: the NCAA Tournament, the National Invitational Tournament or the new College Basketball Invitational.

"A lot of it has to do with what's written on our chests," Hunter said. "It wasn't about the body of our work." Read more.

I honestly wonder how this will motivate IUPUI's returning players next season. I guess time will tell.

college basketball invitational is a big, fat disgrace.

When you hear the term "invitational" invoked for a basketball tournament, you can rest assured it means the best teams will not always get chosen. In the case of the College Basketball Invitational, it didn't matter who was best or even most deserving. In fact, I'm not really sure how the decision makers behind the CBI arrived at their pairings.

The 16 teams selected in the wee hours--after the NCAA and NIT fields were set--all have one thing in common: NONE HAVE A HIGHER RPI THAN IUPUI.

The upcoming games:
Tuesday, March 18
Richmond at Virginia - 7 p.m.
Houston at Nevada - 9 p.m.
Brown at Ohio - TBA
Rider at Old Dominion - TBA

Wednesday, March 19
Cincinnati at Bradley - 7 p.m.
Valparaiso at Washington - 9 p.m.
Miami (Ohio) at Tulsa - TBA
Utah at UTEP - TBA

Ron Hunter's IUPUI Jaguars were screwed not once, but twice today. The CBI proved itself to be a joke, a sham and a fraud. It was developed to reward deserving teams who were passed over by the bigger tournaments.

Well, they left one of the best mid-major teams standing out in the cold.

Without even playing a single game, the CBI already is dead to me.

How is a team that goes 26-7, has an RPI of 71, is ranked 14th on the Mid Major Top 25 gets left out?

Especially when you consider this about the current CBI field:
* Only two teams have less than 10 losses
* Only five teams have 20+ wins
* Four teams are only two games above .500
* Two teams are .500
* One team--Cincinnati--is FIVE GAMES BELOW .500!

This is an insult. The CBI clearly gave up on its mission before it even left the station.

What a shame for IUPUI. What a shame for George Hill. It was bad enough to be left out by the NIT. Being passed over in favor of mediocre and sub-par teams is nearly criminal.

Ron Hunter is right. There is no justice in the NCAA, and the Gazelle Group is guilty of the very crimes it set out to correct. They ignored the best of what's left in favor of...hell, you figure it out, because it makes no sense to me.

What a disgrace.

oru gets #13 down "south," iupui gets shafted by the nit.

ORU (24-8) got a #13 seed and a date with the #4 Pittsburgh (26-9) in the South Bracket. That game will be played Thursday at Denver's Pepsi Center. Only in the Big Dance™ can a game played in Denver, Colo. be considered "south" by any standards.

As of 9:38 p.m. EDT, IUPUI and its 26-7 record, ranked 14th in the Mid Major Top 25, 72 RPI and a quarter will only get Ron Hunter a phone call. The Jaguars were snubbed by the NIT.

San Diego State, at 19-12 and an RPI of 77, earned an at-large bid. Rhode Island, at 21-11 and an RPI of 79, also received an at-large bid in the NIT.

And where is IUPUI? Sitting at home, done for the year (unless the CBI invites the Jags to play).

No justice, indeed.

Former Valpo head coach Scott Drew guided his Baylor Bears back to the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed in the West Bracket. Once again defying laws of geography, they will head to that western city, Washington, DC, to face #6 Purdue on Thursday. Seriously, the NCAA needs to either buy a new atlas or re-name its brackets.

ron hunter: 'no justice' if jags bypassed for postseason.

While bubble teams sit anxiously around television sets across the nation Sunday evening as the NCAA announces its 65 bids for the 2008 Men’s Basketball National Championship Tournament, IUPUI Jaguars Head Coach Ron Hunter and his team will be waiting just a little bit longer in hopes of securing a postseason bid in either the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) or the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.


"Take a look at our resume and look what we’ve done. We've beaten some good teams, we’re 26-7. This team has done a tremendous job," said Hunter. "I know it's about money and it's about match-ups, but at some point it's got to be about rewarding what a team does."

What has his team done? Despite losing the Summit League Tournament Championship game to Oral Roberts Tuesday night, the Jaguars have an impressive record (26-7), quality wins (UMass, Western Michigan, Oral Roberts) and Summit League Player of the Year George Hill. But is it enough? Hunter thinks so.

"I hope that people will see that and that we’ve got a marquee kid in George Hill that we know can play with anyone in the country," said Hunter. "We just hope that we get an opportunity to play in postseason play because these kids have worked hard for it."

NIT bids will be announced at 9 p.m. EDT Sunday night on ESPN2. The 32-team field begins play on March 18. The 16-team College Basketball Invitation also begins play on Tuesday, March 18. Bids will be announced after the NCAA announces its bids for the national championship tournament.

"I will be heartbroken and really disappointed if this team isn't in postseason play," said Hunter. "There is absolutely no justice if this team is not in postseason play."