Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Mid-Major Wins of the Night

David knocked Goliath over not once, but twice tonight.

Jackson State, of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, continued their Show Us The Money tour of 2006 tonight in Piscataway, New Jersey, as they shocked Rutgers, 71-70. Catraiva Givens hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1 second left on the clock to give JSU the win. Jackson State opened the year with four games in nine days, all on the road, at Alabama, Georgia Tech, Memphis, and Illinois. NBA teams don’t even have schedules like that. The athletic director is happy, however. So, too, now, is the conference commissioner, as this will go a long way toward helping the SWAC avoid the opening-round NCAA tournament game on that March Tuesday night in Dayton.

At Fifth Third Arena a/k/a the Shoe in Cincinnati, Wofford shocked the Cincinnati Bearcats, 91-90. Wofford is located in Spartanburg, S.C., and is a member of the Southern Conference. Coach Mick Cronin is not happy in Cincy tonight. Worthless disclosure: I sat in front of Mick on a flight from Houston to Cincinnati last spring, as he and several other coaches were leaving a major AAU tournament in Houston. I didn’t try to talk to him, as he and his assistant were busy making legal cell phone calls to recruits. I’m sure he’d appreciate some guy in Texas blogging about it. Hopefully, his fortunes will improve at UC this year.

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