Celebs out on Broadway event
2 accidents close I-75 southbound
.jpg)
Glamour's Women of the Year
PREVIEW MIAMI AT INDIANA STATE
Miami game not a 'bracket buster'
Contest against floundering Indiana State won't live up to the hype.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
OXFORD — Technically, today's get-together between the Miami RedHawks and Indiana State Sycamores is an ESPNU BracketBuster game.
Logically, nothing could be further from the truth.
Extras
The game will not be broadcast on ESPNU or any other ESPN channel, and the outcome will not bust any brackets since neither team has any chance of squeezing into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.
The original concept of the ESPN Bracket Buster (as it used to be known) was to take a handful of NCAA hopefuls from mid-major conferences, pair them on a single Saturday and thus throw a little fuel onto the who's in, who's out debate.
Now, more than 100 teams are chosen to participate in this made-for-TV event, but only 12 games are scheduled to be televised today and the Miami-Indiana State contest isn't one of them. Which is no surprise.
Today's game pairs a .500 team that stresses defense (Miami) against a sub-.500 team that has lost 10 of its
last 11 (Indiana State).
Coach Charlie Coles will be looking for a little more energy on offense from his RedHawks, whose four-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday at Kent State 61-45.
"We were so tentative in the first half against their traps," Coles said of the RedHawks, who watched the Golden Flashes score the first 11 points of the game.
"(Kent State's) energy
covered up for some holes (on defense) that might have been there."
Kent State coach Jim Christian agreed that his team had the edge in energy.
"That's kinda the way we have to play," he said. "We have to be flying around the floor. And it can't be chaotic. We have to understand where we're going."
Indiana State, which has lost three straight, has been experimenting with its starting lineups lately. Four of the Sycamores' key players are freshmen — guards Marico Stinson, Cole Holmstrom and Harry Marshall and forward Norman Wells.
Miami and Indiana State have a common opponent. The Illinois State Redbirds (who are in last place in the Missouri Valley Conference) smothered Miami 64-40 on Dec. 5.
The RedBirds lost to Indiana State 54-50 on Jan. 6, but avenged that loss on Wednesday with a 68-53 victory over the Sycamores.
