The Lady Chargers had an exciting Sophomore day at Edison Saturday. They topped Lakeland Community College 66-53. Six sophomores stepped up on one of their last games in the Charger gym. Brianna Innocent once again had the largest numbers in the box score with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Marissa Clark was right behind her with 13 points. 12 points came from the three point line. Angie Cates added 12 points despite a battle wound that had no chance of keeping her down long. Ashley Rice contributed 11 points, too. The win puts the Lady Chargers at 15-9 on the season heading into a big rematch against Cincinnati State Wednesday at Edison. Tip off is at 5:30 p.m.

Cuyahoga Evens the Chargers' Record

The Charger Men lost their second in a row. This time, it wasn't close. Cuyahoga Community College outscored the Chargers 68-53. Scoring was evenly low amongst the Chargers with no one in double figures. Jeremiah Applin, Ricky Bennett, and Jeremey Qualls all had eight points on the afternoon. Their record is now 10-10 heading into conference play Wednesday, February 16, at Owens Community College. Tip off follows the women's game at approximately 7:30 p.m.


Another Tough Road Game for the Lady Chargers

The Lady Chargers traveled to Cuyahoga Comunity College but couldn't pull out the win. They fell 66-53 on Saturday afternoon. They couldn't dig it out of an early deficit despite a great effort, leaving their record 14-8 on the season. Leading the Lady Chargers were Brianna Innocent with 16 points and Marissa Clark with 10 points. They will be back in action Wednesday, February 16, in a rematch against Owens Community College in Toledo starting at 5:30 p.m.

By Lee W. Mowen

Greetings readers, Recently, I decided to check the status of the PBL for my internship with the Dayton Air Strikers. One thing I came across on the Premier Basketball League’s website was only seven teams lined up on the bar. What happened to the eighth team?

In case you haven’t heard, the Vermont Frost Heaves have folded. The last day of operations was on January 26th, 2011.

Yes, that leaves the PBL with seven teams. Business will continue on for these teams, but what about the fan base of the Heaves? If you look at their message board, the newest topic in the general discussion is about the memories of the team. There is even a discussion about fellow PBL team Rochester offering LeBron James to play for the RazorSharks (article is here.) The board is informative, but rather quiet (21 registered members and last post was on January 31st.)

There is some solid history with this Vermont team, with a pair of American Basketball Association championships (no, not the original ABA, where the Indiana Pacers began to play.) The team was also created by a Sports Illustrated writer, Alexander Wolff.

It is sad when a team has to fold, but it’s the nature of the beast sometimes. You can’t have a team if you don’t have the money or the hunger to do well. Let’s hope the PBL does not deal with any more teams folding this season.

Source of information from thepbl.com, vermontfrostheaves.com, and vermont.proboards.com.

Until next time!

 The Edison basketball teams will be playing in the annual “Shoot for a Cure” game on Wednesday night against rival Sinclair Community College. Ticket money will help women who need a mammogram but do not have insurance.

Each team will honor survivors and remember those who lost their battle with cancer in manners chosen by the teams. The athletes of Edison will be celebrating the life of Sonya Wilkins‐Gayle. Sonya is the mother of men’s basketball player Jeremiah Applin.

Sonya fought breast cancer for many years before losing her battle in December of 2010. Mrs. Wilkens‐Gayle was a wonderful mother to Jeremiah and a treasure to those around her. She believed in serving others, getting an education, and treating people the way she would want to be treated. Sonya made a profound impact on Jeremiah and her community.

The Edison Athletic Department looks forward to honoring Sonya with Jeremiah and family on Wednesday evening before the Chargers take on Sinclair in conference play. The women tip off at 5:30 p.m. while the men will start at 7:30 p.m.

By Lee W. Mowen

Greetings readers, Earlier today, I saw an article about how the Summit League should disband, written by Bleacher Report. You can read that article here if you are interested. If you are unfamiliar with the Summit League, let me give you a little rundown on the conference.

The Summit League is a NCAA Division I conference which currently houses ten teams, from Michigan to Utah. After this season, Centenary and Southern Utah will be leaving. SUU will join up with the Big Sky Conference in 2012, whereas Centenary is moving down to NCAA Division III (as mentioned in my “The Fighting New Nicknames” article.) The Summit has been around since 1982, but named as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities before switching to the Mid-Continent Conference name in 1989.

Currently, Indiana is home to two Summit League teams (IUPUI and IPFW) whereas other states just have one member. Western Illinois University has called the Summit League home the longest, since 1982. The newest members are IPFW, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. South Dakota will join the league in Fall 2011, making the state of South Dakota have two league members as well as Indiana. With Southern Utah gone in 2012, the league will have all schools in the Midwest. This will help out some schools on the travel budget, as Utah is quite a bit away from the other schools.

As a whole, the conference has seen nineteen other teams join and leave the league. The biggest movement of teams to leave the conference at once happened in 1994, when Wright State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, Cleveland State, and UIC all moved to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now called the Horizon League, since 2001.) As a response, the Mid-Con absorbed teams from the East Coast Conference, like Central Connecticut State, Chicago State, Troy State (now known as Troy), Northeastern Illinois, and Buffalo. All of those teams have moved on, with Northeastern Illinois folding athletics altogether in 1998.

Two more teams would leave the Mid-Con for the Horizon League. Youngstown State joined in 2001, followed by Valparaiso in 2007. Before YSU joined the Horizon League, Northern Illinois left  in 1997.

According to the article from Bleacher Report, the summit League should disband because on how low their RPI is in Men’s Basketball. Currently, Oakland is on top of the Summit League with a RPI ranking of 74th out of 345 teams. The next Summit League team is IUPUI at 111. Centenary is near the bottom of the RPI list at 343rd. As a whole, the Summit League ranks 23rd out of 31 conferences and independents. (this is from 2/1/11)

The article does have a good point on the RPI, but does that mean they have to fold completely? If that conference folds, you have eight teams looking for a new conference home. The writer recommends IPFW, IUPUI, and Oakland to check out the Horizon League, but the league is looking for stability. While there are demands from the loyal fans of the HL teams to dump YSU because the majority of the teams don’t compete well enough (Women’s Track usually does exceptionally well), I don’t think the league is looking to dump or add anyone. Sure, it would be a fit geographically, but that doesn’t always make a successful equation.

For the western Summit teams, the writer recommends the Missouri Valley Conference. If that were to happen, that’s sixteen teams. That is very tough to manage, although it seems like the Big East can do it. Keep in mind though, not all teams in the Big East play everything, like football and baseball. Also, keep in mind that’s a different situation as well.

I wish I could spend time of other college sports, since it’s not just basketball. The article and my post just look at that since it’s the sport most fans are watching. Remember, this is where most Horizon League schools got their start in Division I, like Wright State and Cleveland State. Folding teams will not solve anything, since we are in an era of teams leaving for more another conference. I don’t think looking at one number will be a deciding fact on folding a conference. You also have your monetary I will say this, the teams that entered in the 1990′s are still there, which could be a good sign for their long stay in the league.

I guess my point is that folding is not always the answer. Recruiting, scheduling tougher, and playing great will have its rewards.

Sources from Bleacher Report and Real Time RPI (2/1/11).


Until next time!

By Lee W. Mowen

I know this has been an issue I’ve talked about many times on my blog, but it’s time to see another school switching their nickname. I’ve mentioned many times about Miami University switching names (from Redskins to RedHawks) and how Wright State switched logos and mascot suits (but kept the name Raiders). There’s several other colleges and schools that have done this process, like Oakland (Michigan) did when they went to Division I (Pioneers to Golden Grizzlies) and Saint Bonaventure in 1992 (from Brown Indians to Bonnies, eventually turning into a wolf in 1999.)

The University of North Dakota is up next to change.

The most well-known sport at UND is their hockey team. With a logo that is similar to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Sioux jersey is one of the most recognizable in college hockey. With seven national championships under their belt, it is arguably one of their most successful sports.

Currently named the Fighting Sioux, UND is looking for a new image after several years of being pressured by the NCAA and other groups and teams.

The University of North Dakota decided the final straw was failing to get the Standing Rock tribe to vote (they asked another tribe, and the Spirit Lake tribe voted to keep the name.)

Another reason North Dakota is shedding the name is to be accepted into the Summit League (formerly the Mid-Con/Mid-Continent.) Currently in the league, along with other teams, is South Dakota (in 2011-2012 anyways), North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. Those three schools have animals as their mascots, such as the NDSU Bison, the SDSU Jackrabbits, and the South Dakota Coyotes. Current member Centenary College (Louisiana) is the only one in the Summit League without an animal as their nickname (Gents and Ladies). However, the smallest D-I school will be dropping to Division III play soon.

Granted, UND isn’t in the Summit League, but they are looking to jump into the league no later than 2013.

The NCAA has been cracking down on schools with names that are linked to Native Americans, because they are seen as hostile and abusive. I remember reading about this around 2005 and it had a list of all the schools that still use those names. While some tribes have said “don’t use our tribe name for your team name,” some are okay with it.

While I’m on the subject: why is it not okay for colleges to use images linked to the Native Americans, but high schools and professional teams can? I know it’s different outside of Ohio, but there are several high schools I can think of that use names like Indians and Redskins. I know that those three levels are different too, but it often struck me as something to question.

Back to the topic at hand, UND has 0ver 2,400 logos of the Sioux in their hockey arena. Not all of those logos can come down, however. The NCAA expects the school to get rid of some of the logos by 2015.

No matter how many times a school changes the nickname, there will always be some people that will wear articles with the old logo/names. It looks like UND students will still be allowed to wear the Fighting Sioux gear after all is said and done.

The sources are Grand Forks Herald and NHL.Fanhouse.com.

Until next time!

Link to my very own Lee Mowen blog! Check it out: http://theleewmowen.wordpress.com

The Lady Chargers hosted Columbus State Saturday afternoon sweeping away the memory of the week's earlier loss with an 84-65 victory.
 
The Lady Chargers were trailing at half 36-42 when freshman Brianna Innocent sparked the second half comeback finishing the afternoon with a double double of 28 points and 17 rebounds. Credit some of Innocent's points to Ashley Rice. She provided her fellow post mate with six assists. Sophomore tri-captain Marissa Clark hit two threes on the night and ended 6-8 from the free throw line for the game and was 4-4 in the final minutes. She garnered 14 points total. Angie Cates was right behind with 13 points and five assists.

The Lady Chargers look to improve their current record of 11-6 when they host Owens Community College on Wednesday, January 26. The game will start at 5:30 p.m.

The Edison Charger mens basketball team took home a big win on the road Wednesday night against NJCAA nationally ranked Sinclair Community College Tartans by a final score of 82-78.

Jeremiah Applin came up big with four threes and ended with 16 points on the night. Zach Bates added 15 points and Ricky Bennett followed right behind with 14 points. This win improves the Chargers to 9-5 on the season.

Next up for the Chargers, Columbus State Community College invades the Convocation Center on the Edison campus in Piqua this Saturday, January 22, for a 3 p.m. tip off.

The Lady Chargers hosted Cuyahoga Community College Saturday stealing the win 65-53 inside the Convocation Center on Edison's main campus in Piqua.

Angie Cates came alive for the Lady Chargers scoring eight consecutive points to gain the lead in the first half. Brianna Innocent hit three free throws in the second half to hold onto the win. Cates ended with 14 and Innocent ended with 17.

The Lady Chargers are now 10-5 on the season heading into their next upcoming league game Wednesday, January 19 at Sinclair Community College when they battle the Tartans for a  5:30 p.m tip off in Dayton.

Troy, OH - The Troy Bruins professional hockey team has announced that due to a lack of long term league stability and factors outside of the team's control, the club has suspended its hockey operations in the All American Hockey League effective immediately. Despite ongoing efforts to find a solution, this decision was ultimately made in the best interest of the players, fans, partners and staff of the Troy Bruins.

All regularly scheduled Troy Bruins contests for the remainder of the AAHL season have been canceled, including the team's remaining home games inside the Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio. All Bruins players have been released, are now unrestricted free agents, and the Bruins wish them the best in their future endeavors. The future of the Troy Bruins remains yet to be determined moving forward.

The Troy Bruins organization would like to thank all of the great Bruins fans and partners for their support over the past two seasons.