Friday, October 28, 2011

Basketball AP Top 25 Poll (Week One) Released

October 28, 2011
(First place votes in parentheses)

1. North Carolina (62) 1620
2. Kentucky 1501
3. Ohio State (1) 1482
4. Connecticut (2) 1433
5. Syracuse 1338
6. Duke 1301
7. Vanderbilt 1120
8. Florida 1086
9. Louisville 1055
10. Pittsburgh 1027
11. Memphis 997
12. Baylor 892
13. Kansas 755
14. Xavier 747
15. Wisconsin 720
16. Arizona 616
17. UCLA 404
18. Michigan 401
19. Alabama 395
20. Texas A&M 357
21. Cincinnati 353
22. Marquette 335
23. Gonzaga 283
24. California 230
25. Missouri 139

Also receiving votes: Florida State 131, Michigan State 128, Temple 69, Washington 44, New Mexico 33, Butler 25, Texas 21, Villanova 14, Creighton 12, Purdue 10, Drexel 8, Belmont 8, UNLY 7, St. Mary's 6, George Mason 5, West Virginia 4, Miami (FL) 3, Long Beach State 3, Harvard 2, Illinois 2, Minnesota 1, Marshall 1, San Diego State 1

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Thursday, October 27, 2011

MATTHEW OSBORNE: Miracle covers and a love affair with East Carolina keep me coming back

Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011

It is amazing how a college football day can ebb and flow.

Last week, I felt like I was doing great, but as I watched the games unfold in Hooters of St. Petersburg, Fla., I needed a ridiculous over cover from Florida State and Maryland just to have a winning day.

With two minutes left in the FSU-Maryland game – a blowout, mind you – I needed two more touchdowns. The Seminoles got to a first-and-goal but didn’t even have to score. But they did, and they left 48 seconds on the clock.

Somehow in that time, the Terps ran the kickoff back to near midfield, so I figured I had a small chance. Then they ran the ball on first down, leaving me feeling a little ill.

But oddly, they rushed up the line for another play and threw deep, completing a pass to the 15. They scored on the next play with about five seconds left, giving me an improbable cover, one my father called “a gift from the gods.”

Click here for full column.

-- Follow Matthew Osborne on twitter @trentonianozzy



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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rider hoops picked fourth in MAAC

Published: Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rider men’s basketball coach Tommy Dempsey likes when his team can play the underdog.

He got his wish once again yesterday when the Broncs were picked to finish fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason poll.

“I like the position we are in,” said Dempsey during the league’s annual Media Day, held this year at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, in Springfield, Mass. “We always seem to be lying in the weeds a little bit and that’s a position we’re comfortable in, and I think we have enough talent to compete at the top of the league.”

Dempsey has to replace four-year starters Justin Robinson and Mike Ringgold and incorporate five freshmen into the mix.

There is also concern over the health of First-Team All-League selection Novar Gadson. The 6-7 lefty underwent microfracture surgery on his knee in the spring and still isn’t 100 percent. Dempsey said Gadson hasn’t done much at practice yet but expects to get him started today.


--For coverage of Rider basketball this season follow Kyle Franko on twitter @kj_franko

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Friday, October 21, 2011

MATTHEW OSBORNE: Still trying to get back to .500

Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011

Last week, I said I was hoping to break even. Incredibly, I did.

But some people had better weeks than I did, like the guy who hit a 15-team parlay at Delaware Park on a $5 bet to win $100,000. He is the first person to hit the parlay since it was introduced at the casino in 2009. The house is ahead since then, though, as $370,000 had been wagered on the 15-teamers with no return prior to last week.

Some people had worse weeks, meanwhile, like those who bet on South Carolina laying three points. Steve Spurrier — as he is wont to do in such situations — took an intentional safety near the end of the game while leading 14-10. You do the math.

Click here for full column.

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Saturday, October 15, 2011

Rider hoops rocks Midnight Madness

Published: Saturday, October 15, 2011

By KYLE FRANKO

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Every college basketball team in the country had Friday, Oct. 14 circled on its calendar. The night marked the official start of the season with most schools celebrating by holding a Midnight Madness.

At Rider, it was Midnight MAACness.

And Alumni Gymnasium was rocking early and often.

"This is great," said coach Tommy Demspey. "It's a great way to kick off the year. The place was alive, it was electric. It was a lot of fun, but tomorrow, we get to work."

The program featured a DJ, player introductions for both the men's and women's teams, a slam dunk contest and performances by the cheerleading and dance teams.

Junior guard Jon Thompson won the dunk contest with a nifty between the legs flush.

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Friday, October 14, 2011

AP source: Big East to invite Boise St, 3 others

By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—The Big East plans to invite Boise State, Air Force and Navy as football-only members, and Central Florida to compete in all sports, after it doubles the exit fee for current members to $10 million.

An official in the Big East, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conference had not authorized anyone to speak publicly about its plans, told The Associated Press the invites could go out as soon as next week, but could take longer.

The officials also said Commissioner John Marinatto was in Cincinnati on Friday meeting with representatives from UCF.

Conferences do not publicly invite new members unless they are confident those invitations will be accepted.

The New York Post first reported the Big East was expected to invite Boise State, Air Force, Navy and UCF.

The Big East announced earlier this week it wanted to expand to 12 football schools.

Big East officials made protecting the league’s automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series their expansion priority. That pushed Boise State, which is in its first season in the Mountain West Conference after a decade in the Western Athletic Conference, to the top of the Big East’s most wanted list, along with the service academies.

The Broncos are 71-5 since 2006, finished 10th in the final BCS standing next season and at 5-0 seem on their way to an under-top 10 finish. Big East officials believe putting Boise State’s record on the Big East’s ledger when the BCS reviews which leagues should have automatic bids beyond 2013 should allow the conference to make the cut.

Right now, the Big East has only six schools committed to play football in the league beyond this season.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse have announced they will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, though Big East rules require them to stay in the league for the next two seasons and Marinatto has said he will hold the Panthers and Orange to that. However, that seems unlikely if the league can grow to 12 teams for next season without them.

TCU was slated to join the Big East in 2012, but the Horned Frogs reneged on that commitment and accepted an invite to the Big 12 last week.

Trying to recruit new members has been tricky for the Big East because its remaining members might also be looking for new conference homes.

Louisville and West Virginia are possible targets for the Big 12 if it needs to replace Missouri, which is pondering a move to the Southeastern Conference, or decides to expand back to 12 teams.

Connecticut has interest in joining the ACC if it expands again, and there has been speculation about Rutgersmoving, too.

By raising the exit fee, the Big East is trying to ensure the schools it is recruiting that the conference will be viable in the long run. Boise State, Air Force, which also competes in the MWC, and Navy, an independent in football, all had reservations about the Big East’s long-term health.

The Big East is still considering adding Temple, and UCF’s Conference USA rivals SMU and Houston. Temple, which was kicked out of the Big East in 2005, plays football in the Mid-American Conference.

The Texas schools would replace the presence in the state the Big East thought it was going to have with TCU, and help make the move to the Big East more palatable to Boise State.

Boise, Idaho, is nearly 1,900 miles away from the closest current Big East member, Louisville. Though the trip to Houston is about as far, having a presence in Texas is alluring to Boise State.

Boise State and Air Force would have to find a conference to house their other sports. A return to the WAC is possible for both.

The Big East also has eight members that do not compete in the league in football: Villanova, Georgetown, St. John’s, Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul and Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s goal is to remain a football independent, but if the Big East crumbles the Fighting Irish could end up with no place for their basketball, baseball and Olympic sports to compete. That could force Notre Dame to finally give up football independence and put its storied program in a conference, because it’s unlikely another league will give the Irish the same deal they have in the Big East.

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Oak Harbor (Wash.) standout verbally commits to Princeton

This is several days late but Oak Harbor (Wash.) standout basketball player Mike Washington, Jr. verbally committed to Princeton recently, according to several outlets.

The Whidbey News Times reports that the Tigers had begun recruiting Washington in May and the 6' 3" senior shooting guard visited the Princeton campus late last month.

He was a second-team, all-Western Conference choice his freshman and sophomore seasons, and a first-team selection in his junior year.

Washington averaged 19 points a game last season. He also has a 3.98 grade-point average.

Washington is said to have also mulled offers from several schools including D.C.'s American University.

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Thursday, October 13, 2011

OSBORNE: Hoping to break even with this week's college picks

Published: Thursday, October 13, 2011

Much like the casino industry in New Jersey, I am just happy to (almost) break even.

After a few weeks of just getting torched, I balanced the ship a little last week and at least didn’t bury myself too deep with no hope of return.

I don’t love the spreads this week, as many of the matchups pit untrustworthy favorites against impotent underdogs. So I went heavy on overs in an attempt to steal a win or two on the long road back.

Click here for full column.

Follow Matthew Osborne on Twitter @trentonianozzy

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COLLEGE SOCCER: TCNJ women blanked in tight battle with Johns Hopkins

Published: Thursday, October 13, 2011

EWING – Though the TCNJ women’s soccer team’s 1-0 home loss against Johns Hopkins Wednesday night had all the right ingredients, the game ultimately felt more like an appetizer than a main course.

Both TCNJ and Johns Hopkins are among the cream of the NCAA Division III crop, ranked 11th and 5th in the country, respectively. Both teams are also unbeaten within their respective conferences. For TCNJ, the game, more than anything, seemed to represent an opportunity to gauge itself against top-flight competition before postseason play begins.

“It really prepares you,” Lions coach Joe Russo said. “It’s like an NCAA Tournament game. It gets you ready to play at that level, and I think we are. I liked our mentality tonight and the way we competed for 90 minutes.”

The two teams—which had previously combined to outscore their opposition 78-4—played nearly 67 scoreless minutes before either team was able to find the back of the net. Despite the lack of scoring, the game was extremely competitive throughout, with momentum swinging back and forth.

Click here for full article.

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