College Basketball: Weekly Mailbag
Each Monday, CHN college basketball expert Joel Welser opens up his mailbag to answer
fan questions. At the end, Joel also includes
some timely college basketball tidbits. If you'd like to ask Joel a
question or if you'd like to read past editions, check out the
Monday Mailbag archive.
Joel,
Did you see Houston and UAB?
How did Tom Penders get a technical for passing out?
From James,
Oklahoma
Well, he was complaining about the call at the time. But
it was a bizarre situation. Apparently the referees thought that Coach
Penders was making a point about the foul call and T’d him up.
Understandable, but a makeup call was definitely in order after that. The
good news is that the coach was just light headed and returned to the
sidelines for the second half after being taken off the court on a
stretcher.
Joel,
Have hoops on the west coast ever been so bad? The
Pac 10 isn’t great from top to bottom, the best team in the WAC is slipping,
the Mountain West doesn’t have a dangerous tournament team, the WCC has two
teams above .500 and the Big West is full of mediocrity.
From Paul,
California
Yeah, it’s pretty bad. I’m glad I don’t live on the
coast anymore, but I could go for some valley heat right about now. Heading
into this week, three teams from the conferences you mentioned were in the
top 25; Washington, UCLA and Gonzaga. The Zags are legit for now, but they
don’t play in the Pac 10 either, so they’ll coast through conference play.
Washington and UCLA are solid teams and will hang around the top 25, but the
point about the depth in the PAC-10 is a good one. Nobody is that bad,
besides Arizona State, but nobody is that great either.
The West Coast Conference is obviously down. They’ll be
back though, as a conference they lost a lot of talent heading into this
season. The Mountain West is a one bid conference and the Big West has a
lot of problems that won’t be fixed anytime soon.
The conference that doesn’t get as much publicity as they
deserve is the WAC. This is mostly due to Nevada, as you referred to, going
on a little slide. Louisiana Tech, Utah State and Hawaii add quality depth
to the conference. Utah State has the best chance at an at-large berth and
a win tonight at Nevada would help that quite a bit.
Joel,
Is there anywhere I can find a complete list of
televised games and links to internet audio and video telecasts?
From Anonymous,
California
Wow, that sounds like a planted question. Do I know you
anonymous one? Debuting on Friday, as part of CHN, I will unveil my little
blog which will have television schedules and links to audio and video
internet broadcasts. While every game may not initially be represented,
there will be a healthy list of games everyday. Be sure to check back on
Friday and beyond to check it out.
Have a question? Ask them
on the easy form at the
Monday Mailbag Homepage. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.
Please include your first name and home state and put Monday Mailbag in the
email title.
Joel’s Thoughts of the Week
Last week I made fun of Central Michigan for scoring
seven points in the first half against Ohio. I even said they might not win
another game all year. Well here we are, just one week later and the Chips
not only won a game, but a road game against a team who thought they were
decent. Central Michigan went into Buffalo and knocked off the Bulls to the
surprise of MAC fans everywhere. This week we get to make fun of Buffalo.
Every weekend of hoops just gets better and better. How
cool was it to watch the last three undefeated teams get knocked off one by
one.
Baylor and Morgan State are the only two teams who
haven’t had a date with the victory column. Morgan State had a tough non
conference schedule so it was hard to judge how they would do in the MEAC.
However, after five conference games, we have an answer about the Golden
Bears…and it is not pretty.
The injury to Erik Crawford is going to catch up with
Northern Iowa sooner or later. Six players averaged over 25 minutes per
game and everybody else was under nine before the injury. Legs will be
getting tired come February and March if at least Adam Viet, Travis Brown
and Jared Josten can’t become bigger contributors.
Check back each week for Joel Wesler's Monday Mailbag. If
you'd like to ask Joel a question or if you'd like to read past editions,
check out the
Monday Mailbag Homepage.
