It is never too early to think about basketball season as preseason basketball magazines are already hitting the bookstore shelves.
The Sporting News recently came out and magazine ranked the Top 50 teams entering the 2010-11 season. The Murray State Racers were tabbed the 35th-best team in the country.
Here are the complete rankings from The Sporting News.
1. Michigan State 2. Duke 3. Purdue 4. Kansas 5. Ohio State 6. Kansas State 7. Syracuse 8. Kentucky 9. North Carolina 10. Pittsburgh 11. Villanova 12. Memphis 13. Missouri 14. Gonzaga 15. Illinois 16. Baylor 17. Georgetown 18. Wisconsin 19. Butler 20. Florida 21. Virginia Tech 22. Tennessee 23. Washington 24. Wichita State 25. Florida State 26. Texas 27. Temple 28. San Diego State 29. Texas A&M 30. Xavier 31. BYU 32. Mississippi State 33. N.C. State 34. Minnesota 35. Murray State 36. West Virginia 37. Dayton 38. Marquette 39. UCLA 40. Clemson 41. Northwestern 42. Maryland 43. Arizona 44. Oklahoma State 45. New Mexico 46. Richmond 47. Georgia 48. Cincinnati 49. UNLV 50. Wofford
Jacksonville State freshman quarterback Coty Blanchard appeared on ESPN2's First Take on Monday, Sept. 6. Below is the video. Blanchard was named OVC Co-Offensive Player of the Week (along with teammate Marques Ivory) for his part in the Gamecocks upset of Ole Miss on Sept. 4. Blanchard and Ivory later were named National Players of the Week by College Sporting News.
If the video embed does not, try this link: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5539270
Sometimes the underdog pulls one out. That was certainly the case today in Oxford, Miss. as the Jacksonville State Gamecocks topped Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent Ole Miss 49-48 in double overtime.
Fans were treated to an exciting game that saw Jax State score and convert a 2-point conversion to force overtime and then after a stallmate in the first overtime, score and get a 2-point conversion in the second overtime to pull out the win.
It was the first win for an OVC team against an FBS opponent since 2004, snapping a string of 50-straight losses to the higher-division foes. It was also the first time since the Conference was formed in 1948 that an OVC team topped a team from the Southeastern Conference.
Here is a video of the JSU postgame from today ...
What is great about the situation is that nobody expected JSU to win today. Even though the Gamecocks are nationally-ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) at No. 17 and Ole Miss was picked last in the highly-competitive SEC West, most people thought this would be a win for the Rebels who were playing with transfer quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, a Heisman hopeful at Oregon last season.
What is even better is that Jacksonville State received a big financial guarantee to play the Rebels. So not only did the Gamecocks go home with a victory, but also a check!
What is also great about the victory is the recognition that Jacksonville State and the OVC will receive today, the coming week and all year. It is no secret that the league has struggled in football over the past decade. No OVC team had won a game against an FBS foe since 2004 and the league has not won a FCS Playoff game since 2000 (and that was by Western Kentucky, a team that isn't even in the league anymore). With that lack of success comes very little national respect; but one win over a FBS school, a SEC school nonetheless, will help establish the league this season.
It is not the only big win for the OVC over the past six months. Still on a lot of peoples' minds is Murray State's victory over another SEC foe, this time Vanderbilt, in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. That win was the first for the league in the tournament's first round since 1989 and was the first over an SEC team since the 2000-01 season, snapping a string of 71-straight losses to the SEC. In case you did forget, here is a look at some of those highlights:
So in summary sometimes it is tough when the "little guy" goes out and plays hard but comes up just short. A great season for one team in the league leads to a dream trip to the NCAA Tournament only to see that squad get manhandled by a bigger conference school.
But as I've shown you that is not always the case. The past six months have shown that OVC teams can compete with any team out there. So enjoy the victory over an FBS team. See below for more coverage from today's victory,
The selection of the 20-team field for the 2010 Division I Football Championship will not occur until Sunday, Nov. 20 but the Sports Network is already looking towards the newly expanded bracket.
FCS Executive Director Craig Haley will be doing his own version of "bracketology" each week during the season in predicting the field.
In his first attempt at the projection (it is a PDF file),Haley has two OVC teams in the field of 20. He has Jacksonville State as one of the eight teams playing in the first round, taking on James Madison with the right to advance and play national-power Appalachian State (a team he predicts will be the No. 2 national seed). Haley also has Eastern Illinois in the field, giving the Panthers a buy into the second round for a matchup with No. 5 national seed William & Mary.
Haley predicts the other national seeds as Villanova (No. 1), Montana (No. 3) and Southern Illinois (No. 4). Other teams he has in the field now include Elon, Stephen F. Austin, Richmond, Eastern Washington, Delaware, South Carolina State, Liberty, Montana state, Central Connecticut State, New Hampshire, Colgate and South Dakota State.
This year the FCS Championship will be held for the first time at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. This year's game date is later than normal, as it will be played on Friday, Jan. 7.
