Adam Rank Posts

Don't fret Long Beach, at least you still have, well, you have a pretty cool pyramid. Seems that Cal State Fullerton just has it all over Long Beach. The 49ers baseball program is dwarfed by Fullerton's nationally relevant baseball program. Now Fullerton's basketball program is in a position of strength following a 91-75 91-75 win in Long Beach.

The Fullerton/Long Beach rivalry has become about as one-sided as the battle between Coke and the Stater Bros. store brand cola.

And that's not even counting Fullerton's dynastic dance program that won another national championship. A point that Fullerton fans take great delight in deriding Long Beach about. The 49ers dance team has long been serenaded with chants of "You're No. 2" or "Second Place." Sophomoric? Sure, but it's about the only thing interesting in this lopsided contest.

This also was a special night for Fullerton because there was a Marcus Crenshaw sighting. For this first time in a long time, Crenshaw received more playing time that starter Junior Russell.

Of course, the cynic would point out that Crenshaw did get a considerable amount of time in a blowout at the Beach. But you have to take wins where you can get them. The key is that Fullerton didn't have any missteps as it looks ahead to playing at first-place Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

(If you want more pictures of the Fullerton cheer squad, go here.)

The Herb Pope situation at New Mexico has taken a turn for the bizarre. Pope has lawyered up according to Jason Grove of the Las Cruces Sun-News:

Herb Pope's attorney Stephen Hubert of Las Cruces said that the player has been cleared to play basketball for the Aggies. "(State District) Judge Jerald Valentine today signed a restraining order restraining the NCAA from declaring Mr. Pope ineligible and ordering New Mexico State University to give him his Pell Grant," Hubert said.

NMSU Athletics Director McKinley Boston confirmed the report.

"The judge did rule that Herb was eligible to be treated as a student athlete and we are now having conversations with the NCAA regarding the injunction as it relates to NCAA Bylaw 19," Boston said.

"There is an injunction and the judge ruled he was eligible pending the outcome of the initial eligibility certification process."

Hawaii is in the Sugar Bowl. The freaking Sugar Bowl. This has to be some sort of sick, perverse joke, right? Any astute observer of college football knows this can't be real. Like Ashton Kutcher is going to tell us today that we've all been Punk'd.

Hawaii should not be playing in the Sugar Bowl. They should be playing in a bowl where they belong.

The BCS Championship Game.

That's right, Hawaii deserves to be in the BCS Championship Game and it's a joke that they are not playing for the title.

Gonzaga is having the best week ever, going to the East Coast and smaking around St. Joseph's and Conneticut, this coming off the heels of playing in the Great Alaska Shootout. Punching those East Coast teams in the mouth is always a good thing. Not a bad thing, but a good thing. Everybody on the West Coast gets how good Gonzaga is, but it always seems that the East Coast needs a little reminder. And Gonzaga is always up for the challenge.

Now let's take a look at the biggest winners and losers in this week's edition of the WCMMPM.

You have to love this time of the year in college basketball, when some of the mid majors pull major upsets of ranked teams, only to fade into oblivion.

You don't have to worry about that with St. Mary's.

The Gaels made headlines with a stunning "upset" over No. 11 Oregon. But St. Mary's 85-70 beat down of Seton Hall might be even more impressive.

When a team like St. Mary's upsets a West-Coast power like Oregon, the East Coast voters tend to dismiss it as the Pac-10 being soft as opposed to the Gaels actually being a good team. That is, assuming that those on the East Coast notice at all seeing as the box score is buried in the following day's agate. But when you can come out and smack one of their own -- especially from that pompous Big East conference -- that is a win that will make people take notice.

Seton Hall came into the game ranked ninth in unofficial RPI and were undefeated at 6-0. The Gaels not only defeated the Pirates, they absolutely buried these guys. St. Mary's is going to be hard to ignore when the new Top 25 poll comes out. Seton Hall had been one of those teams who had been earning votes. Not now. At least not ahead of St. Mary's who left no doubt who was the better team. This team had better be ranked on Monday.

Patrick Mills (pictured here in his Team Australia uniform) continues to impress with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. This guy isn't your average freshman. Omar Samhan also had 19 points Diamon Simpson had 15. St. Mary's also played some good defense, holding Larry Davis to only six points as he was saddled with foul trouble.

St. Mary's is 6-0, and off to its best start since 1988-89, when the team started 9-0.

UNLV received some much-needed scoring from one of the guys they were counting on this season -- Joe Darger -- in a 84-71 win over UTEP. The Runnin' Rebels (5-2) had been doing a pretty good job of shutting people down this season, but have had trouble putting the ball in the basket. Darger had a career-high 23 points (including a perfect 7-for-7 on free throws) to lead UNLV, while Curtis Terry added 20. This was the most points that the Rebels have scored since they put up 97 points on Dixie State. So let's just say this was the most points they put up against a real opponent this season. The Rebels are still looking for Wink Adams to get some more consistency to lead this team, but this was a pretty good start.

You have to like the way the Rebels have bounced back after losses this season. UNLV rebounded from a loss with a good win against Nevada, and now they followed up a tough loss at UC Santa Barbara with the win on Saturday. The team now has a chance to get some wins strung together because of a favorable schedule, so hopefully the can go into the Arizona game on a roll.

Let's take a look at some other key Mid Majors, starting in the Mountain West.

Although, Jeremy Pargo looked a little sleep deprived as he made that silly foul towards the end of regulation, fouling one of Connecticut's three-point shooters that nearly allowed the Huskies to tie the game. But in the end, Gonzaga overcame a highly motivated Huskies team to win its fourth game in a five-game road stretch that took the team from Alaska to Boston.

No. 19 Gonzaga has had some pretty impressive wins over the years, but you would be hard pressed to find a win that was bigger than this 85-82 win over U Conn.

Gonzaga has beaten better teams, certainly, but there was something about this win. Coach Mark Few said that his team spent maybe 48 hours in Spokane, Wash. Then they had to play in a hostile gym at St. Joseph's and then go up to Boston to play a Connecticut team that desperately needed this win to be viable in the national basketball scene. The Bulldogs looked like they might be blown out early as you could clearly see that Jim Calhoun had his team ready to play. But Gonzaga kept chipping away, finally taking the lead on the final play of the first half. There was a sense watching in the second-half that no matter what U Conn threw at Gonzaga, the Bulldogs were going to come away with the win.

This certainly has a chance to be one of the best Gonzaga teams in recent history. Even better than the Adam Morrison team that lost to UCLA. Once Josh Heytvelt gets healthy, this should be a very good team.

Gonzaga will face Connecticut in the Hartford Hall of Fame showcase this afternoon, and it's amazing how this game is perceived. There was a time -- in the not too distant past -- that Gonzaga would be the team looking to prove themselves among the big boys of college hoops, while U Conn was a fixture in the rankings and on ESPN.

Now the Huskies find themselves looking for respect, looking to take aim at the Bulldogs who continue to build an impressive resume of non-conference opponents. A look around the New England papers and some of the U Conn message boards show that the fans are looking at this contest against No. 19 Gonzaga as some sort of barometer game.

Cal State Fullerton rebounded from a demoralizing loss at Arizona to defeat Montana, 100-91, on Friday night. You don't play "must win" games in November, but this was one that the Titans (4-1) desperately needed. Frank Robinson looked lost at Arizona on Wednesday, but had 30 points against Grizzlies. Josh Akognon added 26 as the Titans shot 56 percent from three point land (14-of-25) for the game. (The Titans shot 52 percent from the field overall.)

Where the hell was this on Wednesday night? Arizona is obviously one of the top teams in the country, but there should been a little bit more fire from this team. You want players who relish the spotlight, not run from it, so there is a little disappointment here. The Titans, as evidenced by Wednesday night, are nothing without Robinson and Akognon. Fullerton can't have games where they disappear and expect to have a winning season. Or at least a season that extends past the semi-finals of the Big West tournament.

Still, this team could have easily gone into the tank after such a demoralizing loss and the key here was to just get the win. Even if you have to give up 91 points to do it. You know this must have been a very important game to coach Bob Burton who played Scott Cutley for 30 minutes after he returned early from an ankle injury. Marcus Crenshaw also had another solid game with 13 points and five assists. Crenshaw was third on the team with 29 minutes, but he is clearly the catalyst for the Titans and needs to be on the court at all times.

(Thanks for Dr. Buzan for the scoring updates tonight, too.)

There are a couple of different ways you could look at No. 19 Gonzaga's 70-65 win over St. Joseph's on Wednesday night. Are the Bulldogs underachievers who squandered a 17-point lead, had to rally to force overtime and were fortunate to get the win?

Or, were they a gutty team who displayed a lot of poise in a hostile environment, who were able to overcome adversity and notch a pretty good road win?

Saying that the win was a combination of both is kind of a cop-out, so let's go with second choice. Although it was a little of both.

College basketball is a game of streaks and runs, so it's important to not get really bent out of shape when your team kind of stumbles on a lead. Especially on the road. Getting upset on these things are like getting mad at idiots who stammer when ordering at the drive through. These things just kind of happen. Teams lose leads all of the time. The only thing is, these teams normally lose the game at the end.

But Gonzaga was able to hold on. Matt Bouldin hit some key shots when they were needed and the Bulldogs came away with a pretty solid win. Austin Daye also continues to impress, and even he had a big shot in overtime.

That should make this team a little bit tougher later in the season. It would be easy to just be like Duke, and have every team come to your own gym while you get fat on the cupcakes on the world. That's why Duke always gets eliminated early in the NCAA tournament. They don't learn to win tough games like this one the road.

Don't despair Gonzaga fans, this was a pretty good win.

Don't look now, but Santa Clara is now 5-1 after beating Eastern Washington. The West Coast Conference is looking pretty solid behind Gonzaga, St. Mary's and Santa Clara. The Bulldogs are obviously the front runner, but the Gaels and Mustangs might be looking at tournament bids, too.