tim williams – Rush The Court

Checking in on… the Mountain West

Andrew Murawa (@Amurawa) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 17:01:08 +0000

It’s a week of callbacks in the Mountain West check-in because a lot of the things we talked about last week at this time proved particularly relevant in the interim. Before we jump into team-by-team breakdowns, however, let’s hit the big story: San Diego State going a long way toward wrapping up at least a share of the regular season title for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Aztecs knocked off New Mexico on Saturday night, bumping their conference record to 11-0 and establishing a three-game lead over the Lobos in the loss column with seven games remaining. It [...]

Don’t Sleep On Saint Mary’s in the WCC

AMurawa — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:00:20 +0000

Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences. He filed this report from Saturday’s game between Saint Mary’s and Pepperdine.

When you talk about the West Coast Conference, generally the beginning, middle and end of the conversation revolves around Gonzaga – and rightfully so, as the Bulldogs have now won at least a share of 11 straight conference titles. And with the addition of BYU to the WCC this offseason, the Cougars jumped right to the top of the list of the biggest challengers to the Zags’ throne. But there’s that little school in Moraga, you [...]

Checking in on… the Sun Belt

Brian Goodman — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:35:32 +0000

Daniel Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

A Look Back

At least it’s not a guard this time, we suppose. Senior center Cliff Dixon is the latest victim in the Western Kentucky saga, as coach Ken McDonald dismissed him from the team last weekend for violating team rules. Brown already dismissed point guard Ken Brown for academic violations, while freshman guard Snap Peters is academically ineligible. That’s left WKU with a thin backcourt and only two players capable of running the point, and now the team will have to deal with the departure of a frustrating but still potentially [...]

Checking in on… the Sun Belt

Brian Goodman — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:12:15 +0000

Daniel Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt conference.

A Look Back: News and Notes

The hits keep coming for Western Kentucky. Never mind that the Hilltoppers are 5-8 and just lost at Arkansas State. Now, just a few weeks after the dismissal of point guard Ken Brown, WKU has learned that freshman guard Snap Peters is academically ineligible for the second semester. The good news for coach Ken McDonald is that Peters hasn’t left the program for good and can return next year. The Sun Belt’s poor performance in non-conference play has resulted in an RPI plummet for the conference. As of Thursday morning, [...]

Checking in on… the WCC

rtmsf — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:00:37 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

A Look Back

It was an “almost” week for Santa Clara and San Francisco, Gonzaga got its mojo back, Saint Mary’s picked up its first true road win of the year and Portland kept on cruising. Loyola-Marymount, Pepperdine and San Diego continued their losing ways. As Santa Clara battled Washington State evenly on Dec. 19 before succumbing 85-79 in overtime, and San Francisco took undefeated San Diego State to the wire two nights later in a 61-56 loss, visions of a stronger, more successful West Coast Conference flickered before fans’ eyes. It [...]

Checking in on… the WCC

Brian Goodman — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 04:42:59 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

A Look Back

It was a slow, after-finals week for most WCC teams, but the pace picks up considerably this weekend. Early-season top dogs Saint Mary’s and Portland cruised to expected wins – the Gaels by a score of 75-56 over UC Riverside at home and the Pilots in a closer-than-expected 71-64 win at Denver – and Gonzaga continued its slide against Top 25 teams, losing to Notre Dame in South Bend to fall to 4-5 for the first time in many people’s memory. Loyola-Marymount and San Francisco [...]

Checking in on… the Sun Belt

Brian Goodman — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:52:02 +0000

Daniel Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

A Look Back

According to the beat writer for Western Kentucky’s hometown newspaper, star forward Sergio Kerusch was benched for much of Wednesday night’s 59-52 victory at Bowling Green. Coach Ken McDonald played the Sun Belt pre-season Player of the Year for only six minutes, citing a general lack of focus. In a similar move, McDonald also benched guard Khalil McDonald in a December 4 loss to Memphis because of on-court issues. The personnel changes opened an opportunity for freshman forward Stephon Drane the past [...]

Checking in on… the WCC

Brian Goodman — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:42:17 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

A Look Back

It began as a whisper earlier in the season, but recent events have given it full throat – the WCC is down this year. Gonzaga, which has waved the conference’s banner brilliantly for over a decade, has stumbled to a 4-4 record, most recently Wednesday’s 81-59 beat-down at Washington State. Saint Mary’s, coming off a Sweet Sixteen year with high expectations, has whiffed in its only two statement games, losses to BYU (close, 74-73) and to San Diego State (not so close, [...]

Set Your Tivo: 12.01.10

Brian Otskey — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:15:55 +0000

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live **** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home *** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later ** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013 * – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

It’s going to be hard to top the game [...]

Checking in on… the Sun Belt

Brian Goodman — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 07:12:51 +0000

Danny Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

A Look Back: News and Notes

Ray Taylor is the speedy point guard and primary playmaker for Florida Atlantic, but he’s dealing with disciplinary issues here in November. Coach Mike Jarvis suspended him for the team’s two exhibition games—one of which FAU lost—and he missed his team’s season opener against UC-Davis. The Owls better hope the suspension keeps Taylor in line, because their high-powered offense can’t survive without him. Travis Bureau sat out Louisiana-Lafayette’s 60-55 loss to Cleveland State last week due to illness. The senior guard, who rotated in and out of the starting lineup [...]

Set Your Tivo: 11.27.10

Brian Otskey — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:38:25 +0000

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

A great week of hoops rolls on with some championship game [...]

RTC 2010-11 Impact Players – Deep South Region

rtmsf — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:26:07 +0000

It’s October. The leaves are starting to turn colors. Halloween candy is already in the stores. There have been a few nights where you may have even turned on the heat. Midnight Madness is imminent and RTC is full bore into the 2010-11 Season Preview materials headfirst. For the second October in a row, we’re bringing you our RTC Impact Players series. The braintrust has gone back and forth on this and we’ve finally settled on a group of sixty players throughout ten geographic regions of the country (five starters plus a sixth man) to represent the who and [...]

RTC Conference Primers: #21 – Sun Belt

Brian Goodman — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:32:40 +0000

Danny Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Predicted Order of Finish

East:

Western Kentucky (12-4) Florida Atlantic (11-5) South Alabama (11-5) Middle Tennessee State (6-10) Troy (4-12) Florida International (4-12)

West:

North Texas (12-4) Arkansas State (11-5) Denver (8-8) Louisiana-Lafayette (8-8) Arkansas Little-Rock (6-10) Louisiana-Monroe (3-13)

All-Conference Team (key stats from last season in parentheses)

G: Josh White, North Texas (14.5 PPG, 3.5 APG) G: Ray Taylor, Florida Atlantic (14.2 PPG, 5.9 APG) F: Sergio Kerusch, Western Kentucky (14.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG) F: Steffphon Pettigrew, Western Kentucky (14.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG) F: Brett Royster, Florida Atlantic [...]

Checking in on… the Sun Belt

jstevrtc — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:47:27 +0000

Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division (conf/overall/streak)

Troy (4-1/9-7/W1) Middle Tennessee (3-1/8-8/W1) Western Kentucky (2-1/9-5/L1) South Alabama (3-2/11-6/L2) Florida Atlantic (3-2/7-9/W2) Florida International (2-4/5-14/L1)

West Division (conf/overall/streak)

Denver (5-1/12-5/W2) Arkansas State (4-1/9-7/W2) North Texas (3-3/10-6/W1) Louisiana-Lafayette (2-2/5-10/W1) Louisiana-Monroe (1-5/6-11/L2) New Orleans (1-5/6-11/L2) Arkansas-Little Rock (0-5/4-12/L7)

News and Notes

South Alabama junior Tim Williams was the Sun Belt Conference player of the week, and he deserved it after leading the Jaguars to three road victories and averaging 20.7 points [...]

ATB: Texas the New Florida?

rtmsf — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:22:29 +0000

Damion James Makes an Early Case for POY. #2 Texas 79, #9 Michigan State 68. Four days and two games against top ten opponents for Rick Barnes. No sweat, right? Texas passed yet another difficult test prior to the winter break by imposing their hellacious perimeter defense into 22 Michigan State turnovers and allowing the future Big 12 all-time rebounder Damion James to put up 23/13 on 10-18 FG in a statement victory at home. The dynamic defensive duo of Dogus Balbay and lengthy freshman Avery Bradley confused star point guard Kalin Lucas (3-11 FG and 2:6 A:TO [...]