Colorado St

Top of the World Classic Field Announced

Press Release — Tue, 15 May 2007 09:15:15 -0700

Fairbanks, AK - Hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, seven Division I teams from the “lower 48” will be joining UA’s Nanooks in the spectacle held at the Carlson Center which has become a popular D-I event.

Akron, the Mid-American East regular-season champion and an NCAA tournament team except for a last-second desperation shot, won 26 of 33 games last season and will be considered an early favorite in the TOWC with three of its first five scorers returning.

Nevertheless, it’s the overall balance of the eight-team field and its balance which is the most notable aspect of next season’s tournament.

Colorado State and the Nanooks, both with 17-13 marks, are top teams in the tournament’s upper bracket based on final 2007 records.

The Rams will be facing a dangerous Oregon State (11-21) club in the meet’s opening game Thursday (Nov. 15) while the Nanooks have been pitted against Tennessee State (12-20).

Akron will likely be a strong favorite in its first outing against South Carolina Upstate which will be competing for the first season at the D-I level after collecting a 17-11 record in its final year of D-II play.

In the final game of the TOWC’s first-round, a powerful Portland State club which won 19 while losing 13 a year ago, will open against IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis).

Overall the 2007 tournament teams posted a composite 134-113 won-lost record compared to an overall 130-122 mark compiled by teams from last year’s TOWC field.

The complete pairings follow:

Thursday (Nov. 15)—
Game 1, 6:00 p.m. Colorado State vs. Oregon State
Game 2, 8:30 p.m. Alaska vs. Tennessee State

Friday (Nov. 16)—
Game 3, 6:00 p.m. Akron vs. South Carolina Upstate
Game 4, 8:30 p.m. Portland State vs. IUPUI

Saturday (Nov. 17)—
Game 5*, 12:00 p.m. Losers of games 1 and 2
Game 6, 2:30 p.m. Losers of games 3 and 4
Game 7*, 5:30 p.m. Winners of games 1 and 2
Game 8, 8:00 p.m. Winners of games 3 and 4

Sunday (Nov. 18)—
Game 9*, 10:00 a.m. Losers of games 5 and 6 (7th and 8th place)
Game 10*, 12:30 p.m. Losers of games 7 and 8 (3rd and 5th place)
Game 11*, 3:30 p.m. Winners of games 5 and 6 (4th and 6th place)
Game 12, 6:00 p.m. Winners of games 7 and 8 (1st and 2nd place)

The championship game between winners of games 7 and 8 will follow three earlier games determining the other six-place finishers in the tournament.

*As in previous years, there will be a provision granted the host Nanooks allowing their games to always be played in an evening session.

– www.alaskananooks.com –

Jason Smith: NBA Draft Profile

Jeff Fox — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:29:16 -0700

NBA Draft: Jason Smith

College: Colorado State

Class: Junior

Stats: ESPN.com

Position: PF/C

Height: 7”0”

Weight: 240lbs

Accolades: First Team All-Mountain West (07), CHN First Team High-Major All-American Team (07), First Team All-Mountain West (06), Mountain West Freshman of the Year (05), Honorable Mention All-Mountain West (05), Two-time State Player of the Year – Colorado – high school.

Scouting Report: An athletic 7-footer.

Strengths: Very athletic for his size – can get up and down the floor. Good range on his jumper. Good passer out of the double team. Decent back-to-the-basket post moves – nice spin move. Very good rebounder. Double-double threat – averaged double figures in points and rebounds and finished off the season with eight straight double-doubles. Good shotblocker. Very good free throw shooter.

Weaknesses: Still needs to get stronger and bigger. Very turnover prone, especially for a big man – had eight games with five of more turnovers this year. Can be very foul happy. The MWC is a good league, but he didn’t go against many guys with close to his size. Game still needs work – it takes big men longer to develop.

Projected 2007 Draft Range: Mid to late first round pick.

Consensus: Smith is an athletic 7-footer with a nice shooting touch, which is something NBA teams like. While his game still needs work, with some added strength and speed he should be a good pro.

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New for 2007: Check out CHN's NBA Draft Search Engine

Daily Dribble: Saturday Review

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:55:42 -0800

There were too many games to count on Saturday.. so how is it possible to review them all? By writing the quickest, most straight-forward thoughts on every player and game possible.. Before overtime, Marist-Siena was one of the best games of the year. Hopefully these two will meet in the MAAC finals. I'm convinced that Drexel would have the chance to go farther than any other CAA team if they made the tournament. VT's Zabian Dowdell dserves serious ACC Player of the Year consideration. Who knew Andy Rautins (15 ppg in last 4 games) would be Syracuse's most consistently solid player in their 4-game winning streak? Oklahoma State is collapsing. They're now tied with Nebraska in the Big 12.. Another loss could drop them to 10th place. Clemson's even worse though, there only a game out of last place in the ACC after starting 17-0. Davidson finished the regular season an amazing 26-4. The Wildcats don't even have one senior contributor. Winthrop will probably join them at 26-4 this week once they finish up Big South play against Charleston Southern. Mark Tyndale (37 and 9 yesterday) has become a number's machine for Temple. The junior's averaging 19 and 7 on the season.. too bad the Owls don't play D anymore. After losing at TCU yesterday and UNLV earlier in the week, #13 Air Force could unfortunately plummet all the way out of the Top 25.. Gonzaga's Micah Downs, 19 points on Thursday and 16 on Saturday, is finally scoring like he was expected to do after high school. Is it merely a coincidence LSU won their biggest game of the season (against #3 Florida) without Big Baby? Courtney Pigram really did just have 29 points, 18 assists, and 8 boards last night. ETSU scored 112 in beating Mercer. Alabama was ranked 25th last week despite being about the 40th best team out there. After losing two more games, they probably don't even deserve to be on our Top 50 list. Brandon Heath took over in SDSU's win over #22 BYU. He ended up with 30, 7 assists, and 7 boards. Problem with the MWC is that the Top 4 teams keep beating up on each other. It seems like Kansas doesn't just beat people, but they pummel people. Hawks were up 41-15 on Iowa State at half. Its hard to imagine a few years back that Princeton (2-9) would be one of the worst teams in the Ivy. Akron's the MAC's best team and Romeo Travis the league's best player. 37 and 11 in a win over Bowling Green yesterday won't hurt his Player of the Year hopes. Washington's Tony Bennett is national Coach of the Year. End of story. Randal Falker scored 30 for SIU yesterday. I feel like the Salukis have won games by only scoring 30 points.. 7-footer Jason Smith is quietly an NBA prospect for Colorado State. The junior had 27 and 22 boards last night against Wyoming. Look out for Saint Mary's next year. The Gaels are 15-14 with a lot of good, close losses and return everybody but Brett Collins next year, including emerging star Diamon Simpson. The Big Ten will probably get 5 bids this year and steal one from a more deserving non-BCS team. - Dribble out

MWC Co-Players of the Week

Press Release — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:07:12 -0800

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force senior Dan Nwaelele and Colorado State junior Jason Smith were named the Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Co-Players of the Week.

A 6-5 forward from Bothell, Wash., Nwaelele averaged 18.5 points and four rebounds per game as the Falcons pushed their win streak to four games. Nwaelele contributed 11 points and five boards in a 94-58 rout of Wake Forest on Wednesday, then pumped in a career-high 26 points in a 78-66 win over IPFW on Saturday. Nwaelele was almost perfect against IPFW, making 6-of-7 from the field, including all three of his 3-point attempts, and was 11-of-11 from the free-throw line.

Smith, a 7-0 center from Kersey, Colo., averaged 19.5 points and seven rebounds per game to help the Rams extend their win streak to four games. Smith narrowly missed a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds in an 81-73 win over Denver on Wednesday, going 9-of-10 from the field. On Saturday, the junior center added 15 points and five rebounds in an 84-83 thriller over Kansas State.

2006-07 Preview: Team's #121-130

Joel Welser — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 13:53:09 -0700

Capsules of teams ranked 121st to 130th in CHN's 144 Teams in 144 Days Preview.