Mid-American Conference Daily Fix

Today, Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at MAC basketball. Alexander talks injuries, RPIs and each team's strengths and weaknesses.

See the full report here.

BG men to play on ESPNU

BG's men's basketball game at home against Akron on Saturday, Jan. 17 has been moved to an 8:00 p.m. start as the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

The men's hockey game against Michigan, which was scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m., has been moved to a 5:05 p.m. start time. Bowling Green's men's basketball game against Akron, which was slated to start at 4:30 p.m., will now have a 8:00 p.m. tip-off.

Six Netters named to All-MAC Academic Team

Six Falcon volleyball players were named to the All-MAC Academic Team for the 2008 season. Meghan Mohr, Chelsey Meek and Kendra Halm were named to the first team while Sam Fish, Kaitlan Jackson and Shari Luther were given Honorable Mention. The full All-Academic rosters are below.

2008 Volleyball Academic All-MAC Team
Jess Antosz, Akron
Jenn Stewart, Akron
Kendra Halm, Bowling Green %
Chelsey Meek, Bowling Green %
Meghan Mohr, Bowling Green
Kristin Bignell, Buffalo
Marisa Hornbaker, Buffalo
Alexis Lonneman, Central Michigan
Whitney Evers, Central Michigan
Jillian Wolosiansky, Eastern Michigan %
Ashley Feutz, Kent State
Vaiva Laniauskas, Kent State
Megan Griffin, Miami %
Hallie Hanks, Miami
Maria Leahy, Miami
Irene Johnson, Northern Illinois%
Meagan Schoenrock, Northern Illinois
Ellen Herman, Ohio %
Michelle Jantsch, Ohio
Meghan Simons, Ohio
Jane Sytsma, Ohio
Shannon Strachan, Toledo
Katie Eberling, Western Michigan %
Jillian Mitchell, Western Michigan

% Two-Time Academic All-MAC selection

2008 Volleyball Academic All-MAC Honorable Mention
Liz Martin, Akron
Brionna Patterson, Akron
Kara Smith, Akron
Elaina Kakatolis, Ball State
Sam Fish, Bowling Green
Kaitlin Jackson, Bowling Green
Shari Luther, Bowling Green
Maria Mezzadri, Buffalo
Lindsey Schlegel, Buffalo
Sarah Warner, Central Michigan
Erika Neumann, Central Michigan
Lisa Johnson, Central Michigan
Lauren Krupsky, Central Michigan
Jennifer Swartz, Eastern Michigan
Victoria Randolph, Eastern Michigan
Hayvolla Leite, Eastern Michigan
Joi McKenzie, Eastern Michigan
Lauren Jones, Kent State
Jennifer Keck, Kent State
Catherine Wolfe, Miami
Jody Hardwick, Northern Illinois
Monica Lang, Northern Illinois
Amanda Tadla, Northern Illinois
Meryl Bender, Ohio
Stephanie Kersting, Toledo
Lori Ruth, Toledo
Sarah Wilson, Toledo
Liz Sundburg, Toledo
Allyson Doyle, Western Michigan

Jottings in my red notebook: BG @ Kent State

Notes regarding tomorrow night's women's basketball game against Kent State.

ALL-TIME: BG leads the all-time series against Kent State 40-27 and have won the last nine meetings dating back to March 12, 2005. Prior to that game, the Flashes had won 17 of the last 18.

TOAST OF THE MAC?: Kent State (11-1) and BG (11-2) lead the Mid-American Conference in many categories and the standings:

Scoring Offense
-BG: 74.0, 3rd
-KSU: 75.7, 2nd

Scoring Defense
-BG: 58.2, 1st
-KSU: 64.8, 3rd

Scoring Margin
-BG: +15.8, 1st
-KSU: +10.9, 2nd

Free-Throw Pct.
-BG: 76.2, 1st
-KSU: 73.5, 4th

Field-Goal Pct.
-BG: 44.4, 1st
-KSU: 44.0, 2nd

FG Pct. Defense
-BG: 38.5, 3rd
-KSU: 37.2, 1st

3-Pt. FG Pct.
-BG: 36.3, 2nd
-KSU: 39.4, 1st

Blocked Shots/Game
-BG: 4.31, 1st
-KSU: 3.00, 4th

Assists/Game
-BG: 14.77, 4th
-KSU: 17.58, 1st

LAST TIME OUT: Both the Falcons and Flashes are riding 11 game winning streaks into the conference opener. Last Friday, the Falcons beat SIU-Edwardsville 74-58. On Saturday, KSU finished up its non-conference schedule with a 77-47 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

MILLER WATCH: BG coach Curt Miller, who got his coaching start in Kent State as a graduate assistant, is currently 161-70 in his career at BG. With nine more wins, he will go 100 games over .500, a feat never seen in the MAC before. In fact, through my research, Miller already has the best winning percentage among all tenured coaches in MAC history. He is 9-5 against Kent State in his career.

STAR ACADEMIA: Miller reported 11 of the 15 team members recorded GPAs of 3.0 or higher including four with 4.0 GPAs. No fewer than ten of his athletes have a cumlative GPA of 3.40 or less. Every player who has used all four years of eligibility under Miller has graduated.

PREDICTION: With both teams riding strong and very sound on both sides of the floor, this game could be a low scoring defensive struggle or a high scoring fireworks show. However, I believe the high-flying offense will overshadow the good defense for most of the game with the Falcons squeaking out a 81-76 victory.

McCoy named MAC Player of the Week

Junior Niki McCoy was named the Mid-American Conference women's basketball Player of the Week.

McCoy averaged 18 points and four rebounds in the Falcons' two games at Dayton last week. Additionally, she shot 60.9% from the field and was 8-for-10 on free throws.

To round out the week, McCoy scored 16 more points at home against SIU-Edwardsville while shooting 70% from the field.

McCoy previously was named POW at Akron twice, but this is the first time she has won the award as a Falcon.

Whitney Taylor to be featured in art show

By Gary Brown, The NCAA News - In conjunction with a Champion magazine feature on student-athlete artists, the NCAA will sponsor a special show at the Convention in Washington, D.C., January 13-17 that spotlights student-athletes' talents on canvasses and in kilns instead of on fields and courts. Whitney Taylor, a former women's basketball standout at Bowling Green State University, is one of the 20 student-athletes who will be featured.

The first-of-its-kind art show at the Gaylord National is called "Statements" and features the work of the following student-athletes:

• Robin Hextrum, Southern California (rowing, painting)
• Julia Hopson, Fredonia State (track, illustration and photography)
• Anya Rosen, Carnegie Mellon (soccer, painting)
• Karyn Jordahl, Edgewood (volleyball, photography)
• Adrienne Spivak, Occidental (soccer, painting)
• Tim Rusterholz, Virginia Commonwealth (track, sculpture)
• Nubia Garcia, Montana State (basketball, photography)
• Dexter Larimore, Ohio State (football, sculpture)
• Sarah Lee, Chapman (water polo, photography)
• Derek Cheng, Johns Hopkins (track, sculpture and illustration)
• Allison LaChance, RIT (rowing, painting and illustration)
• Kristina Baskett, Utah (gymnastics, photography)
• Kurt Gardiner, Greensboro (soccer, painting)
• Julie Rader, Oklahoma State (track, fashion design and jewelry)
• Jessie Gallagher, Lycoming (swimming, photography)
• Nick Schneiders, South Carolina Upstate (basketball, graphic design)
• Whitney Taylor, Bowling Green (basketball, photography and illustration)
• Allison Papko, Bethel (Minnesota) (ice hockey, illustration and graphic design)
• Brittany King, Wheaton (Massachusetts) (lacrosse, painting)
• Dina Hegazy, Southern California (swimming, photography)

The first 13 student-athletes will be featured in the January print issue of the NCAA's Champion magazine (the others - including Taylor - will be represented in the online version of the publication), including personal statements about their work, how it relates to their athletics accomplishments, and self-portraits that are in many cases as creative as the work itself. Some of the student-athlete work is sports-related, but most reflects other aspects of life.

"We're all familiar with the tagline on the NCAA's promotional ads that say `There are more than 400,000 student-athletes and most of them will go pro in something other than sports' -- well, this is a visual manifestation of that," said the NCAA's Damon Schoening, who as director of brand strategies and events is co-directing the show. "This is a chance to display the talents of a cross-section of student-athletes diverse in sport, division and background. They truly represent what the NCAA is all about."

Arnel Reynon from the design and print firm Sport Graphics in Indianapolis is assisting Schoening. "The work represented in the show will appeal to a wide-ranging audience," Reynon said. "It is a very national collection that includes an entire spectrum of media - from oil and acrylic on canvas to digital photography and clay. While the NCAA membership at the Convention already knows that student-athletes have many skills beyond athletics completion, the show will be a visual reaffirmation of that notion."

The concept of a show emerged after Champion magazine solicited the student-athlete population through listservs and conference and institutional sports information directors for accomplished student-athlete artists. Almost two dozen were selected from more than 100 worthy nominees.

Many of the student-athletes have displayed their works in other forums. Two student-athletes from the University of Southern California in fact - Robin Hextrum and Dina Hegazy - have appeared in an on-campus show called "Artletics" that focuses entirely on student-athlete work.

"The student-athletes feel really good about this type of recognition," said Southern California ceramics department head and Artletics director Karen Koblitz. "They think, 'Here I am being recognized for something besides athletics, which I've been recognized for my whole life.' It's an enlightening change of pace for them."

Many of the student-athletes will attend the Statements show at the Convention and participate in an opening reception Wednesday, January 14, at 5 p.m. The show will be staged in the Café area located between the hotel's sleeping rooms and convention center.

Schoening said the show may be replicated in Indianapolis later this winter, though plans are preliminary at this point. The January issue of Champion will be distributed the week of Convention and be available online (www.NCAAChampionMagazine.org) by January 19.

Mid-American Conference Daily Fix

With Brady Hoke gone to San Diego State, the Ball State defensive will now face two challenges Tuesday: Tulsa's potent offense and a new defensive play caller. Hoke called the plays on defense throughout the season and talked to player's after every defensive set. With him gone, the actual defensive coordinator will be a new voice for the Cardinals.

See a full story on this topic here.

Kent State Daily Fix

With a big Mid-American Conference opener pitting BG against Kent State coming up on Wednesday, neither team is looking back. With the Falcons having won every game since their second of the season and the Flashes now with eight wins in a row, the game is sure to be a doozy.

Check out Kent State's latest victory here.

Mid-American Conference Daily Fix

Ball State quarterback Nate Davis' last game on a football field can described as U-G-L-Y. However, with one more game left in the Cardinals season, Davis has a shot at redemption in what could be his final collegiate game. Davis will use his tough competitiveness and spirit to try and lead Ball State past Tulsa on Tuesday.

See the link here.