grizz, 'dons & 'necks still gunning for #3 seed.

Wow! Did Western Illinois lay an egg in my master plan of a three-way tie for third place! They went to North Dakota State and got a beatdown, 86-62. Brett Winkelman led all scorers with 21 and Ben Woodside added 20. What was the big difference? Western Illinois couldn't throw it in the ocean. They hit just 29.8% from the field. That ain't gonna get it done.

So here are the scores from Thursday night:
IUPUI - 70, South Dakota State - 56
IPFW - 65, Centenary - 44
Western Illinois - 62, North Dakota State - 86
Oakland - 53, Oral Roberts - 60

Oral Roberts handled Oakland 60-53 to stay undefeated in the conference while the Golden Grizzlies are now in a bit of a fight for the #3 seed. But the big story tonight is IPFW who won their first road game OF THE SEASON! George Hill dropped 23 for the Jags, leading a group of four double-digit scorers.

Heading into Saturday's games, the top six seeds are getting awfully bunched up.
Current standings:
1. Oral Roberts 11-0/16-5—W11
2. IUPUI 10-2/18-5—W5
3. Oakland 7-5/12-11—L1
3. IPFW 7-5/10-13—W3
5. Western Illinois 6-6/11-12—L1
5. North Dakota State 6-6/12-11—W1
7. Centenary 3-8/9-14—L4
7. UMKC 3-8/8-16—L2
7. Southern Utah 3-8/5-17—L3
10. South Dakota State 2-10/7-16—L4

Saturday's games:
IPFW @ Oral Roberts - 7:05 p.m
Western Illinois @ South Dakota State - 7:30 p.m.
IUPUI @ North Dakota State - 7 p.m.
UMKC @ Southern Utah - 7:30 p.m.

Since Oakland is idle, I'm going to call the IPFW-ORU game the Game of the Week. Why? Because if the Mastadons do the impossible and win, they stand alone in third place.