Thursday, January 11, 2006

OffshoreInsiders.com

CBB

Wisconsin Milwaukee-Cleveland State

Press Notes

Cleveland State
returns home for the first time in the new year to
start a three-game league homestand. The Vikings open
the stretch against three-time defending Horizon League champion
UW-Milwaukee. Vikings have played better
than their 6-11 overall and 0-4 league mark shows, owning the halftime lead in
12 of the 17 games this season. CSU is coming off a 65-53 loss at UW-Green
Bay on Jan. 6, a game which saw the
Vikings fall behind after having a 13-point halftime lead. UW-Milwaukee (4-13,
1-3) has struggled after losing all five starters off last year’s 22-9 team.
The Panthers split their two league games last week, including a 65-64 overtime win over Detroit
on Jan. 4. After using the same starting lineup and player rotation in the
first 11 games, the Vikings made some changes over the last five games to help
offset the loss of senior Victor Morris (9.7 ppg, 2.5 apg)
to a foot injury.

Bowling Green-Ohio

Press Notes

If the first weekend is any indication (three games
decided by a combined eight points), the battle for the MAC East title could
emerge as one of the best races in recent history. Bowling
Green and Ohio
will meet for the 119^th time on Thursday night. BGSU,
the most improved team in the MAC thus far, is 10-4 and 1-0 and coming off a
74-73 victory at home over Buffalo.
Ohio, also 10-4 and 1-0, defeated
Akron 77-72 last Saturday. A big
reason for the early season success for BGSU has been
the improved defensive effort of the Falcons. Last year, BGSU
allowed 71.4 points per game on 45.7% shooting from the field. This year, BGSU leads the MAC in field goal percentage defense (38.9%)
and is fourth in scoring defense allowing 64.0 points per game. Ohio
returns three starters from last year’s team and has several key performers
back from the 2005 MAC Tournament Championship team. Akron
transfer Bubba Walther has had an immediate impact averaging 15 points per
game. Sophomore Jerome Tillman is averaging 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds,
junior Leon Williams is contributing 14.4 points and 8.9 boards, and senior
Whitney Davis is averaging 12.2 points.

Washington-Stanford

Press Notes

The Stanford men’s basketball team (9-4,
1-2 Pac-10) return to the Bay Area to host conference foe Washington
(11-4, 1-3). The Cardinal are 2-2 since returning from the holiday break and
are coming off a hard fought road win (76-75) at Virginia. Huskies enter
Thursday’s contest with an 11-4 overall record and a 1-3 mark in league play.
Last week, UW split with the Arizona
schools, beating ASU and falling to Arizona.
Washington ranks 11^th nationally in scoring with an average of
84.8 points per game. Stanford holds a 66-58 lead in the all-time series
that began in 1916, including wins in 15 of the last 20 meetings against Washington.
The Huskies lost in their last 13 visits to Maples Pavilion.

Louisiana Tech-Boise

News Star

After a 2-0 start in the 2006-07 Western Athletic
Conference season, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (4-10; 2-0 WAC)
will continue league play tonight at 8:05 against the Boise State Broncos (7-6;
1-1 WAC). Since joining the WAC
in 2001, the Bulldogs and the Broncos have battled 11 times with the Tech
winning eight. Last season in the conference opener, Tech’s Paul Millsap had to
hit a last-second three pointer to get past Boise
in Idaho.