Monday Madness Thoughts. Sounds reasonable now that we are a little over a week away from conference play beginning. The madness technically began last week with the Chicago State news.
Add in the madness New Mexico State has gone through just to get another game scheduled.
And the madness that is choosing the WAC Player of the Week and you can see why the name of the episode.
On this episode of the podcast, I talk about the selections for Player of the Week honors. GCU swept the award with Asbjørn Midtgaard winning on the men’s side and Katie Scott winning on the women’s side. Both had solid performances in their respective games this week. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much depth in terms of games played so it is to be expected. Midtgaard and Scott are both well-deserving. Hopefully more games are played this week prior to conference play starting next week so we get a look at other players throughout the WAC.
Adding to the madness is Chicago State.
Chicago State suspended its men’s basketball season last week. And there has been a lot of speculation going on about the decision. Athletic director Elliott Charles said it was due to the safety of the student-athletes. And it very well might have been. The amount of speculation going on via Twitter and social media is kind of crazy. Are there financial issues within the Chicago State athletic department? Absolutely. With the lack of success, should the Cougars move down to Division II? Perhaps. Again, all speculation at this point.
The one fact is that the men’s basketball team has been hindered a great deal by injuries. Andrew Lewis, Isaiah Lewis, Lou Demuth, Jordan Polynice, and Solomon Hunt all among players who have missed a good deal of time. Chicago State has had to play with 6-8 players over the last three contests and four players are averaging nearly 30 minutes per game. That’s not healthy and can create long-term issues. We don’t know what the discussion was behind closed doors. And remember, we were all critical of Chicago State making the decision not to travel to Seattle or Utah Valley last March. Look what came of that.
Let’s put it this way: it wouldn’t be Monday Madness if we didn’t talk about New Mexico State.
And finally, New Mexico State takes the floor once again. Aggies have been off for 26 days and just recently came off quarantine last week. Now, New Mexico State faces its first Division I opponent of the season in CSU Northridge. The Matadors haven’t played a game since Dec. 19. Mayan Kiir gets his first minutes in an Aggie uniform. Perhaps there will be rust but New Mexico State should be able to use its athleticism and strength to make it 22 wins in a row.
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Image courtesy New Mexico State Athletics.
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