Summer League Playoffs Round 2 Preview

Round 1 went great for the Mavs as both the current team and the grads advanced.  The current Mavs face a steep challenge in the 2nd round while the grads face the “cinderella” of the tournament.

At 5:30 at Omaha Central on Thursday, the current Mavs will battle McGinn Law.  McGinn Law is one of the draft teams consisting of Bruce Chubick, Scot Abels, Charles Richardson, Joe Webb, Earl Mitchell, Chris Kuhn, Bryce Johnson, Evan Lamprecht.  Chubick played for Nebraska from 1991 to 1994… I was 7  when he finished (and so were some of the players he’ll play tomorrow I think)… yikes.  But he was a stud back then.  Scot Abels I have no clue (this is where I wish I hadn’t misplaced my rosters during my move).  Charles Richardson was a Husker from 2004-2007 who never put up gaudy numbers, but at an undersized 5’9″ was a ton of fun to watch.  Joe Webb is a two time all NAIA All American from Bellevue who put up 16 a game as a senior in 2007.  Earl Mitchell is from Alvernia college in Pennsylvania, a small D3 school. No idea on Chris Kuhn.  Bryce Johnson is a Bellevue grad as well… while Lamprecht played at Elkhorn and is now at Midland Lutheran).  The cool matchup to me is going to be Charles Richardson vs. the gaurd combo of Jenkins and Bridger.  Both will be taking him on some I imagine.  Also Bruce Chubick vs. Matt Akins.  Akins will have to play hard to hang with Chubick I imagine, but this will be a good test for him to see how he can stack up.

For the grads, the path appears to be a little easier.  Hastings College shocked the #2 seed EQ School of Hair and are into the quarterfinals.  Hastings can’t be underestimated though of course and I expect the grads to show up and take care of buisness.  They play at 7:30.

The other two games of the night feature Nebraska Kearney playing the Antoine Young led State Farm Insurance at 6:30 and PCS Phosphate (led by P’Allen Stinnett) taking on Narmi Group (led by Josh Dotzler).  That matchup is at 8:30.  I’ll take UNK (they play hard and strong) and PCS (strength of P’Allen) to advance to play the UNO teams of course… That would be a dream final 4 to me.. UNO-UNK rematch and UNO Grads taking on the most exciting Creighton player’s team… we can only hope!  Hope to see you all out there.

Summer League Playoffs – Round 1

A good night for Mavs fans!

The current team played at 5:30 and raced to an early lead over Bellevue.  Bellevue came fighting back and made it close, but couldn’t do enough to catch up.  UNO moves along to play McGinn Law (Bruce Chubick, Scot Abels, Charles Richardson, Joe Webb, Earl Mitchell, Chris Kuhn, Bryce Johnson, Evan Lamprecht) next week at 5:30 at Omaha Central.

Next up was the grads at 7:30.  They were in a tight game when I got there but pulled away to beat Porter Tauke & Ebke (BJ Valentine, Lorenzo Wilson, Brandon McGruder, Nick Krenk, Ben Nelson, Dusty Sitsmann, Ben Thorn, Klaye Rowe) fairly handily.  They move on to play EQ School of Hair ( Cody Levinson, Jason Dourisseau, Brian Conklin, Cavel Witter, Elijah Collins, Andy King, Avery Tyler) EDIT-According to Bluejay Basketball Cavel’s team actually lost..so UNO’s grads will take on Hastings College at 7:30 next week at Omaha Central.  Definitely should be favored to win that game if they show up and play well.

I also watched the 8:30 game between PCS Phosphate ( Chad Cruise, Derek Paben, P’Allen Stinnett, Kenton Walker, Omar Bynum, Stanley Boateng, Hannibal Cofield, Cole Salomon) and Shanks Law Firm (Bion Flint, Rodney Buford, Kenny Lawson, Booker Woodfox, Roman Evans, Josh Jones, Travis Van Ragenmeter, Mike Snyder).  Josh’s team (Shanks) got off to an early lead and held the lead until the 2nd half… but P’Allen led his team back and they ended up coasting to the win.

Thoughts on the games –

UNO’s team tonight was Andrew Bridger, Nate Owen, Grant Nieland, Tyler Albers, Michael Jenkins, Justin Peterson, Dion Curry, Matt Akins and Jeff Martin joined the team for tonight.  Good to see Jeff get to play with the rest of the team.  Andrew Bridger had a sick behind the back (left handed) pass to another Mav cutting in to the lane… probably the sickest play of the night.  He’s also shooting the ball great, a great sign for this year.  One play that sticks in my mind was Tyler Albers penetrating and kicking it out to him… you almost knew it was gonna go in!  Nate Owen continues to bring great pace off the bench.  He reminds me of soccer players who have that blow by speed (Theo Walcott – here), he just can go right at you and get past you if you’re not on top of things.  Grant Nieland was working really hard tonight and knocked several balls away by getting his hands up in the passing lane!  He also took a great charge. Tyler Albers showed a good game tonight shooting the ball and driving, as well as helping move the ball around the key. Michael Jenkins is his usual self.  Very consistent. He’s still shooting the ball like always (had one thought that surprised me he took… and swish) loves to drive, a lot of fun to watch.  Very passionate. Justin Peterson has shown a great 3 point shot this summer.  He has a chance to have a huge year this year I think. His shot is so sweet.  Dion Curry is a physical presence for UNO. He has the ability to shoot the 3, bang inside against much bigger men, drive the ball… very good all around player for UNO.  Showed a lot intensity tonight for UNO. Matt Akins might be the key to the season.  He’s UNO’s best option at Center this year, and thus is going to have to deliver or UNO will look mighty small.  He’s had some good and bad weeks, but looked better this week.  He played hard, had some good defensive plays and a few nice offensive plays down low.  He doesn’t need to be a star, just work hard, run the court, play defense and rebound… and pick up some trash points.  Jeff Martin is a transfer from UNK.  He’s small but tough and fairly big.  Has a nice shot and plays pretty well.

The grads tonight were Calvin Kapels, Jeff Martin, Denny Johnston, Ryan Curtis, Tola Dada, and Grant Nieland… okay two of those 6 haven’t graduated but that’s okay.  It’s a lot of fun watching these guys play.  They all are very good and you can tell they’re very experienced.  Kapels is a very good PG for a team like this and does a good job distrubting the ball.  Denny Johnston is still his solid self, very reliable.  Tola Dada is a fun guy to watch.  Plays hard and has some good offensive moves.  Ryan Curtis is likewise a lot of fun.  He had one real good hustle play tonight.  They can definitely play some ball.

As far as their opposition, BJ Valentine (Eastern Washington) is always an intersting guy to watch.  He likes to do some talking, but can back it up fairly well.  Has a good shot and is an amazing player for his size. Nick Krenk (Nebraska) seems to work hard and is smart out there.  He’s not the most talented, but you can appreciate what he does.  Dusty Sitsmann (Creighton) seems to be a bit of a leader out there.  You can tell he’s the one at the best school.

In the final game the most fun was watching P’Allen take on Josh Jones… P’Allen played a great game distributing the ball alot, hitting some 3′s, throwing down some dunks.  It’s very apparent that he makes his teammates better. A lot of people love him for his dunks, but I love him for his passing.  He had one great one tonight and ran down the court saying… “Great pass” to the fans while pumping his fist… it was pretty funny.  He’s also great with the children taking time to talk to kids who come up to him . Josh Jones definitely has talent.  He doesn’t have as good of hops as P’Allen but he can still throw down.  He’s also a better shooter.  The thing Josh doesn’t have yet is P’Allen’s ability to pass and make his teammates better.  Early on Josh was scoring a lot and leading his team, but he seemed to disapear some in the second half when his team started to lose the lead.  I think with time to mature and grow in Altman’s system and he will learn to play a better game. He’s definitely got the potential, just needs to make sure he’s not constantly calling for the ball. Booker Woodfox and Kenny Lawson were no shows for this game.

Summer League Week 1 Preview

It all starts tonight at Omaha South High School.  For full details go to http://metrobball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=55

UNO (Current Players) takes on PCS Phosphate at 5:30

UNO (Former Players) takes on State Farm at 6:30

PCS Phosphate is made up of Chad Cruise, Derek Paben, P’Allen Stinnett, Kenton Walker, Omar Bynum, Stanley Boateng, Hannibal Cofield, Cole Salomon.

State Farm is made up of Mark Esser, John Turek, Eddie King, Kaleb Korver, Antoine Young, Casey Harriman, Rodney Grace, Nick Morrell.

Don’t know who will be playing for the UNO teams, will let you know who played after the games tonight.  I’ll also have some pictures of the first game.  I can’t make the 2nd one .  Actually here might be some info, from the metrobball website, “UNO has a team of all current players and then another team of current players and graduates (Ryan Curtis, Calvin Kapels, Chris DeSpain, Zac Robinson, and Denny Johnston)”.  So it lokos like we should see a lot of guys out there!

I also found out Mitch Albers will not be playing tonight… lame.

Little summary of who the players they will be taking on are.

PCS:

Chad Cruise – 6’2″ gaurd – Went to Midland Lutheran, was 2nd team all-conference (GPAC) as a senior scoring 16 a game. – http://www.mlc.edu/s/290/midlandlutheran.aspx?sid=290&gid=1&pgid=301&cid=2336&ecid=2336&crid=0&calpgid=1908&calcid=1691

Derek Paben – Which one ?  There’s one that played Morningside and then at South Dakota and was a senior in 03-04.  Another played at Northern Iowa it seems.  Appears to have some Euro basketball experience.  I’d guess the former.

P’Allen Stinnet – Who? Plays at Creighton, Sophomore gaurd, Newcomer and Freshman of the Year in The Valley… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj7tnE4liYQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkk3kuBGPCk , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0jyh4MNUgQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy0M6hT5qrk , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-m0WcqD96w , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPAi7MQPE4 .  He’s alright.

Kenton Walker – Sophomore Center at Creighton, pretty dang good.

Omar Bynum – I assume this is the Omar Bynum who played for Iowa State, http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/photo?playerId=895, finished there in 03, was around a 7 PPG and 7 RPG kind guy as a junior. http://iowastate.scout.com/a.z?s=171&p=8&c=1&nid=471846

Stanley Boateng – played at Bellevue, was a senior last year… from Rhode Island and also played at Missouri-St. Louis, a D2 school

Hannibal Cofield – played at Bellevue as well, also a senior last year… he played high school ball at Omaha South

Cole Salomon – played High School ball at Millard North, then a year at UNK before transfering to Nebraska. He’ll be a junior this fall.  http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=23&SPID=24&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1280942&Q_SEASON=2008

State Farm:

Mark Esser – played at Dana, 6′ 8″ center, was first team GPAC as a senior in 05-06

John Turek – was a senior at Nebraska in 04-05, played in Belgium this last year, http://www.b-all.be/basketball/2007-2008/team/2613/3062.php, averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Eddie King – played at UNO and for the Lincoln Thunder (ABA)

Kaleb Korver – younger brother of Kyle, will be a Sophomore at Creighton

Antoine Young – incoming freshman at Creighton, played at Bellevue West as a senior

Casey Harriman – going to be a sophomore at Creighton

Rodney Grace – played at the Des Moines Area Community College last year, now going to Pittsburgh State.  Mav-rival.

Nick Morrell – played at Kearney, http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cvtf9RvIO4o, then he went to South Dakota and averaged 5.9 points per game.

More creighton info is available at… http://bluejaybasketball.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/summer-league-ball-starts-thursday/

In Case The 5 Months Til Mav Basketball Is Too Long For Ya…

The summer league team starts play June 19th at Omaha South High School! The games are free, and lots of fun to go watch.

UNO Summer League Basketball Team Schedule (@ Omaha South unless noted)
June 19th-5:30 vs. PCS Phosphate (Chad Cruise, Derek Paben, P’Allen Stinnett, Kenton Walker, Omar Bynum, Stanley Boateng, Hannibal Cofield, Aaryon Williams.)
June 26th-6:30 vs. Morningside
July 3rd-6:30 vs. Bellevue
JUly 10th-5:30 vs. Kearney (BRING IT ON)
July 17th-9:30 vs. Porter Tauke & Ebke (BJ Valentine, Lorenzo Wilson, Andrew Anderson, Nick Krenk, Ben Nelson, Dusty Sitsmann, Ben Thorn, Klaye Rowe, . )
July 24th-First round Tourney – TBA
July 31st-Quarter finals at Central
August 7th-Semi finals and Title game at Central

I’m not 100% sure of the roster, but it shouldmore or less be the roster for next season. I’ll post it once I see it.

And there is also a team of UNO Grads playing! Their schedule is below!

UNO Grads
June 19th-6:30 vs. State Farm (Mark Esser, John Turek, Eddie King, Kaleb Korver, Antoine Young, Casey Harriman, Rodney Grace, Nick Morrell.)
June 26th-8:30 vs. Doane
July 3rd-9:30 vs. Buena Vista
JUly 10th-9:30 vs. Porter Tauke & Ebke (BJ Valentine, Lorenzo Wilson, Andrew Anderson, Nick Krenk, Ben Nelson, Dusty Sitsmann, Ben Thorn, Klaye Rowe, . )
July 17th-7:30 vs. Southeast CC
July 24th-First round Tourney – TBA
July 31st-Quarter finals at Central
August 7th-Semi finals and Title game at Central

Roster? No idea for sure, but I imagine you’d see guys like Denny Johnston, Jerry Bennett, Zac Robinson, Calvin Kapels, Quantel Murphy, Chris DeSpain, etc. No one who isn’t still around the area I’m sure.

I think both teams will be good and competitive. Other teams in the league are.

• State Farm – Judd Knispel Agency- Mark Esser, John Turek, Eddie King, Kaleb Korver, Antoine Young, Casey Harriman, Rodney Grace, Nick Morrell.
• Shanks Law Firm- Bion Flint, Rodney Buford, Kenny Lawson, Booker Woodfox, Roman Evans, Josh Jones, Travis Van Ragenmeter, Mike Snyder.
• EQ School of Hair – Cody Levinson, Jason Dourisseau, Anthony Williams, Tom Whitehead, Cavel Witter, Elijah Collins, Andy King, Avery Tyler.
• Narmi Group - Ben Holling, Wes Wilkinson, Josh Carter, Chad Millard, Cameron Lollar, Arthur Boults, JR Enright, Josh Dotzler.
• PCS Phosphate - Chad Cruise, Derek Paben, P’Allen Stinnett, Kenton Walker, Omar Bynum, Stanley Boateng, Hannibal Cofield, Aaryon Williams.
• McGinn Law Firm- Bruce Chubick, Scot Abels, Charles Richardson, Joe Webb, Earl Mitchell, Chris Kuhn, Bryce Johnson, Evan Lamprecht.
• Porter Tauke & Ebke - BJ Valentine, Lorenzo Wilson, Andrew Anderson, Nick Krenk, Ben Nelson, Dusty Sitsmann, Ben Thorn, Klaye Rowe, .
• Bellevue
• Morningside
• Buena Vista
• Hastings
• Dana
• Doane
• Kearney
• Southeast CC
• Wayne St
• Kaplan
• Central CC

All the info at the league site, http://metrobball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=55

The Most “Above and Beyond” Scoring Performance of the Year

Often times, we talk about a player playing above and beyond his normal level of play. We say a player really stepped it up last night. We say he had “the game of his life”. This led me to wonder what player had the “most above and beyond” scoring performance of the year. The way to find this is as such, take the highest point totals in a single game this year in NCAA Basketball. Find these players scoring averages. Look at the difference. I only looked at players who scored 34 points or more in a game.
First the top 5 “Above and Beyond” Perfromances.

#5. TIE – Robert McKiver – Houston

Robert went off for 52 Points, the most scored this year, on February 27th against Southern Mississippi State. While this was obviously the most impressive scoring performance of the year, he only scored 29.1 points above his average of 22.9.

#5. TIE – Patrick Britton – Rice

Patrick put up 40 points against Eastern Carolina on Wednesday. Very impressive performance considering he had scored 9 points the last time he played, and 9 points a month earlier when he played Eastern Carolina. His 40 points was also 29.1 points above his average.

#4. Adris DeLeon – Eastern Washington

Adris scored 42 points against Northern Colorado on January 17th. He also scored 27 against them on February 23rd. A true Bear killer if I’ve ever seen one. His 42 were 29.5 points above his average of 12.5.

#3. Justin Jonas – Troy

Justin, who started his career at Alabama, scored 59 points as a freshman, 82 points as a sophomore, 180 as a junior, and 44 in his 2nd game as a senior. That meant after that game he had scored a remarkable 11.5% of his total points in his 62nd of 62 career games. His 44 points were also only 16.7% of the total points in the game (a 133-131 Troy win over Paul Quinn (the team, not the person), a NAIA team out of Dallas, Texas). His 44 points were 30.1 points above his average of 13.9

#2. Derek Wright – Austin Peay

Derek, a Senior at Austin Peay, put up 43 against SE Missouri State on January 29th. Continuing the trend of going off on a team once, and barely scoring in the other, he had only 7 points in a home win on January 12th against SE Missouri State. His 43 were 31.2 points above his season average of 13.9

#1. Cavel Witter – Creighton

Cavel Witter, a sophomore in his first year at Creighton had this line in a road loss to Bradley: 16 Minutes, 0-4 from the floor, no points, no rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover. His line in a home win vs. Bradley on March 1st: 34 Minutes, 13-20 from the floor, 12-13 from the line, 4-6 from three, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 turnovers. A remarkable turnaround. His 42 total points were 33.3 points above his season average of 8.7 He had scored just 40 points in his previous 6 games. A stunning performance for the Bluejay from Kansas City.

Now I knew going in that Cavel had really upped his scoring on that night, so I used his “Above Average” number to set the base level for points in a game to calculate how above average the performances were. So based on that, the “Most Average” 34 points in a game award goes to…

Reggie Williams – VMI

Reggie put up 34 points on February 26th against Liberty. Impressive, but how impressive? He has scored more than 34 5 times this year (including a season high 43 against Apprentice on December 10th). He has scored in double digits for every game he played this year (overall streak of 50 straight games). His lowest total of this year, 10, was the only time he was under 17. So his 34 against Liberty, fairly average [for him].

Saturday January 5th Preview

Alright… it’s a big day tomorrow.  Our latest edition of the NFL playoffs kicks off.

First up is Washington going to Seattle.  Washington has finished extremely strong, and come together after the tragic death of Sean Taylor.  But can they go to Seattle and win on the road in the playoffs?  I don’t think so.  Washington is starting Todd Collins at QB.  That Todd Collins.  The one who is famous (infamous) for being the player with the largest gap between starts in NFL history at over 10 years.  There is a reason for that.  Good QBs don’t go 10 years without starting by accident.  Todd Collins is not capable of leading this team to a road victory in the playoffs in my opinion.  I’m taking the Seahawks 28-10

So the Jaguars are going into the Steel City, where they won a few weeks ago.  Can they do it again?  I think so.  Pittsburgh is in trouble with Willie Parker, the leading RB in the NFL at the time.  The Jaguars are built to win in situations like this.  I don’t buy into David Garrard as a good QB for the playoffs yet, but I think he’s good enough to beat the Steelers.

Jaguars win 27-17.

The Maverick hockey team has a big series at Western Michigan.  UNO, struggling all year, is still “in it” technically for a top 4 seed (trailing Michigan St. by 7 points with 2 to play (a sweep at MSU makes it 3 points… but MSU still has 3 extra games more than UNO).  They would need to go on a run unlike anything we’ve seen at any point this year though to pull that off.  Trying to get a 5-8 seed is much easier.  The 5th place team (Bowling Green) has 12 points while UNO is back in 8th with 11.  Ferris State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska are also right there with 12, 12 and 10 respectively.  UNO travels to Northern and Alaska over the next month or so, and has an opportunity to put some ground on those teams.  The Mavs can definitely get that first round home game if they play well down the stretch.  It won’t take a great stretch of wins, just picking up wins over teams they should beat and maybe a few surprises.

Anyways, back to this weekend.  Western is in 2nd to last with just 4 points and a 2-8-0 record in conference, but we tied last place Lake Superior State for their only 2 conference points (0-9-2) at home in our last conference action… so who knows if this is gonna be doable on the road.  UNO really needs to sweep.  Western is not a good team.  The return of Juha Uotlia was key last weekend.  He added some more depth and some much needed experience to the blue line.  The Mavs need someone in goal to step up.  Jerad Kaufmann struggled Friday night, and Jeremie Dupont did the same Sunday night last time out.  I’m not sure who’s starting this weekend.  Kaufmann, Dupont and Aarnio all have the potential to step up and win games, but until one of them steps up and establishes himself as the go to goaltender down the stretch, this team is doomed to struggle I fear.

Bryan Marshall is silently having a spectacular season and career.  He now has 8G and 20A in 20 games on the year, giving him 135 points in his career.  That’s only 9 behind David Brisson for 2nd place (behind Mr. Mav Hockey Scott Parse’s 197).  So don’t forget when you’re watching him play how great he really is.  Marshall is 3rd in the NCAA with his 28 points, only 3 behind Michigan’s Kevin Porter.  His 20 assists are top in the NCAA.  Mick Lawrence’s 7 PPG goals places him 4th in the NCAA.

Also, UNO’s opponent for next weekend, Miami, lost to Bowling Green 4-2 tonight, meaning UNO will not be hosting the #1 team after all.  Doh.  Our favorite goalie Jimmy Spratt was featured on the front page of USCHO.com… I can’t wait til the perverts come to the Civic… GET YOUR SHARPIES READY!!!!!

Creighton Basketball faces a tough road trip to Springfield Missouri.  The team is desperate for a win now having started Valley season 0-2 (okay so 14-4 is sounding unlikely for our conference record now…)   The Jays, 9-3 on the year, take on the Bears of Missouri St. (8-6 on the year) at 7 on Saturday.  Creighton’s starters aren’t gonna change and we need to accept that.  I don’t think it will cost them games.  The team can come back if they get down early.  The 0-2 conference record is CU’s worst start since 93-94 (Pre-Dana). That team went 0-7 to start.. yikes. This team is gonna have to look to Dane Watts to lead them.  He is the only player in the conference in the top 7 in points and boards.  He is going to have to have a big game against Missouri St.  Josh Dotzler is gonna need to take care of business.  No sloppy turnovers, good passing, hard defense.  He can’t force shots either.  Chad Millard needs to step up and shows us something as he’s been a bit of a disappointment at CU so far.  Nick Bahe and Pierce Hibma need to use whatever minutes they get effectively.

Off the bench, P’Allen Stinnett will be playing a big game.  In an interview with 590′s Matt Perault, Dana Altman said if P doesn’t stop complaining about foul calls to the refs, he will sit him.  This is going to be interesting to see, how does he respond?  P has loads of talent, but he hasn’t totally bought into the system yet and he’ starting to draw the ire of the coaches it appears.  Casey Harriman, Cavel Witter, Booker Woodfox, Kaleb Korver all need to play their roles.  I’d like to see some 3s out of Casey, to see Cavel stay under a bit more control, and for Booker to continue his hot shooting. Maybe some 3s out of Korver ?  Kenny Lawson and Kenton Walker will hopefully get some time to continue their development.  How well these two do could play a big difference in this team’s season.

Defensively the Jays will worry about the Bear’s Deven Mitchell who leads the league with 16.9 points per game. Blake Ahearn is finally gone though!

Booker Woodfox’s shooting has finally come around.  Earlier in the year the coaches talked about him needing to get some confidence and start knocking down some shots.  Well, it’s happened.  He now leads the team with 17 3s and 42.5% shooting.  He’s 13-21 (61.9%!!!) the last 5 games.  Does Altman think about starting him anytime soon?  He is a junior and he’s playing very well lately.

I’m not gonna take the Jays to win in Springfield.  I hope they do, but I’m taking the Bears 74-69.  Jays will stop the losing at home next week… but it continues Saturday night.

Finally, the Republicans and Democrats have a big debate Saturday night.  It’s gonna be in prime time on ABC.  I will be taping it so I can watch sports and then the debate.  New Hampshire is coming up on Tuesday so this is the last chance for many of the candidates to get their message out to the state as a whole.

Republicans from 6-7:30 CST..

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-NYC
Former Governor Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex.
Former Governor Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
Former Senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

Democrats from 7:45-9:15 CST…
Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C.
Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Governor Bill Richardson, D-N.M.

I’m looking forward to the first debate for the Democrats where the marginal candidates are gone.   These three can now turn to each other (Richardson is around… oh well) and we’ll see what they have to say.  As far as the Republicans go.  This is a big debate as these all are still in it (though Paul has 0% chance I still believe).  Don’t be fooled by Gulliani’s poor showing so far.  He’s focusing on Super Tuesday, not these early states.

So there’s your Saturday preview.  A big fun day coming up!