I finally got to watch LeTourneau play last night and it was the second time I had seen TLU.  I thought TLU had a good game plan, employing a run and jump in the early going that the Jackets weren't prepared for.  The Jackets did show a calm that has not been there in recent years and put on a nice run in the second half.  Dewones Smith had his best game of the year and Will Smith was great on the defensive end.  Vanright made some unreal passes down the stretch.  Hayes is still out with an injury and Evers is battling through some sort of leg injury that has slowed him down a bit, but with Vanright he doesn't have to score as much.  I was looking at the LETU bench to start the game and four starters from last year were on it (D. Smith, Louimeus, Majors and Hayes).  I think Davis' biggest concern is to get a good rotation going.  TLU is definitely much improved, but just don't have an inside game that can stop the top teams in the conference, give them Tommy Stolhandske from a few years ago and they would be a playoff contender.

Should be a great game tonight.  I'm sure the Jackets are chomping at the bit after losing twice to the Cru last year.  UMHB obviously wants to get things moving in the right direction as well after a few stumbles in the early going.

I also agree with most of you about MC, I think they are still the team to beat in the East until they finally relinquish the title.  It should be a great fight though with them, LETU, UTT and UTD battling it out.  Whoever can get that home court advantage for the playoffs will have definitely earned it.

Would love to watch the LETU-CTX game this week.  Those two teams have played three straight overtime games with the Jackets winning twice, but the Tornados winning last year. 

I heard that Vanwright asked coach Davis to let him come off the bench.  Not sure about Smith though.

I just wanted to find out if we will have "correspondents" in Marshall and Pineville to keep the rest of us informed of the how those games are going.

Actually, LC needs to win both games to assure a playoff spot.  If they only win once, then the Jackets still have a chance to get in should they beat Ozarks and ETBU would lose to Ozarks.

LeTourneau finally looked like the team I saw crush HSU by 25 in Abilene early in the season.  Last night they were running on all cylinders against ETBU, but it might be too little too late.  I'm glad I at least got to see that team once more though.

The tiebreaker in the East goes like this... for LETU to get in they must win both games, ETBU must lose both games and LC has to split.  If all three teams end up with the same record LC has the tiebreaker.  LC has the head-to-head tie breaker over ETBU.  LETU has the head-to-head tie breaker against LC.  ETBU has the head-to-head tie breaker over LETU.  Confused yet:) 

LeTourneau also has their games online with Chitwood sports.

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted... mostly because the YellowJackets are bumming me out.  I do have one observation to make though and that is that UT-Tyler seems to have a belief that they can win any game now.  It will be interesting this week as they go to both LC and MC, but they have done a great job of finding ways to win.  Now if the Jackets can just win both games this week and get ozarks to beat ETBU on Saturday all will be well in the world

Ralph, you are definitely right about Pool C and UMHB will probably be hard pressed to get that if they don't win the tournament.  Definitely looks like a year where we only send one team.

Does anybody have any idea how the East Division is going to play out.  Things are crazy.  Watching UT-Tyler come back from 21 down at the half against LETU was one of the most disheartening things I have ever watched.  I am really interested to see how the Jackets respond.

I just wanted to respond to tball275... I am sure that if you wanted to get any of the ASC head coaches on the air that they would be more than happy to accomodate. 

I agree with you Chris, I still think MC is the best in the East, but there is going to be a team or two in the East that is pretty good that won't make the tournament.  LeTourneau is in a funk right now where they play to the level of their opponent whether they are really good (UMHB) or not that good (TLU, although they are improving).  There is still a lot of time left, but they are scaring me with their inability to put teams away when they should.  Of course, a couple of good wins and I will be back to feeling good again, but right now I'm a little worried.

It was a good night for the East Division as they won 5 of the 7 games.   Looks like it will be a dogfight all the way in the East this year, should make for some excellent ball games in the next few weeks.

Well, it's about halfway through the season so I thought I would give out the player ratings using the same formula I used last year.  Here are the top five

Tom Hermann, HPU - 45.77
Prince Trotter, MC - 41.95
Josh Johnson, LC - 38.55
Mardochee Jean, HSU - 38.35
Filiberto Torres, SRSU - 37.14

Wow, I just looked at the play-by-play from that UMHB-CTX game.  Jason Wagner hit two huge shots, tying the game with 4 seconds left in regulation and then winning the game with 2 seconds left in 2OT.  Mike Moore had an incredible game for CTX.  I think UMHB and CTX are the two best teams I've seen in the West this year.