KHSAA Top 20

Here's the latest KHSAA top 20, according to Max Preps, with Power Eleven teams (those from our end of the Commonwealth) in bold:

1.  Boyle Co: 8-0

2.  Lou. Trinity:  7-2

3.  Cooper:  9-0

4.  Franklin Co:  8-0

5.  Lou. St. Xavier:  5-3

6.  Lou. Manual:  7-1

7.  Ryle:  6-2

8.  Lou. Male:  7-1

9.  Paducah Tilghman:  8-0

10.  Lex. Frederick Douglass:  5-3

11.  Christian Academy-Louisville:  5-3

12.  Ft. Thomas Highlands:  7-2

13.  Corbin:  7-1

14.  S. Warren:  7-1

15.  Lex. Christian:  6-2

16.  Owensboro Catholic:  8-0

17.  Ashland Blazer:  7-1

18.  Woodford Co:  7-1

19.  Bowling Green:  6-2

20.  Cov. Catholic:  6-2

Here are the top 20 teams in the Virginia High School League (teams from Northern Virginia in bold):

1.  Maury (Norfolk):  7-0

2.  Oscar Smith (Chesapeake):  7-0

3.  Battlefield (Haymarket):  7-0

4.  Phoebus (Hampton):  7-0

5.  King's Fork (Suffolk):  7-0

6.  Stafford (Falmouth):  7-0

7.  Dinwiddie:  6-1

8.  James Madison (Vienna):  7-0

9.  Huguenot (Richmond):  7-0

10.  Liberty Christian (Lynchburg):  6-0

11.  Highland Springs:  5-2

12.  Varina (Richmond):  5-1

13.  Matoaca (Chesterfield):  7-0

14.  N. Stafford:  5-2

15.  Fleming (Roanoke):  7-0

16.  Nanesmond River (Suffolk):  5-2

17.  Warwick (Newport News):  8-0

18.  Green Run (Virginia Beach):  8-0

19.  Indian River (Chesapeake):  4-3

20.  Kettle Run (Nokesville):  7-0

For Eric, here is the top 20 from the Indiana High School Athletic Association:

1.  Lawrence North (Indianapolis):  9-0

2.  Brownsburg:  8-1

3.  Westfield:  8-1

4.  Warren Cent. (Indianapolis):  8-1

5.  Indianapolis Cathedral:  5-3

6.  Crown Point:  9-0

7.  Center Grove (Greenwood):  5-4

8.  Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers):  6-3

9.  Ben Davis (Indianapolis):  4-5

10.  Indianapolis Bishop Chatard:  6-2

11.  Columbus North (Columbus):  8-1

12.  Fishers:  5-4

13.  Franklin Cent. (Indianapolis):  5-4

14.  Pike (Indianapolis):  5-4

15.  Lawrence Cent (Indianapolis):  4-5

16.  Carroll (Ft. Wayne):  7-2

17.  Concord (Elkhart):  9-0

18.  New Palestine:  8-0-1

19.  Evansville Memorial:  9-0

20.  Ft. Wayne Snider:  7-2

And finally, here's the top 20 from the Idaho High School Activities Association:

1.  Rigby:  7-1

2.  Rocky Mountain (Meridian):  8-0

3.  Madison (Rexburg):  7-1

4.  Coeur d'Alene:  6-2

5.  Skyline (Idaho Falls):  6-2

6.  Eagle:  7-1

7.  Hillcrest (Idaho Falls):  5-3

8.  Borah (Boise):  5-3

9.  Highland (Pocatello):  6-2

10.  Post Falls:  5-3

11.  Owyhee (Meridian):  5-3

12.  Timberline (Boise):  5-3

13.  Lakeland (Rathdrum):  6-2

14.  Sugar-Salem (Sugar City):  5-2

15.  Bishop Kelly (Boise):  7-1

16.  Boise:  4-4

17.  Kuna:  3-5

18.  Lewiston:  5-3

19.  Middleton:  4-4

20.  Meridian:  3-5

Rocky Mountain, Skyline, Eagle, Timberline, Lakeland, and Sugar City are all great names.  I also like the fact that one of the high schools in Boise is still called "Boise."  And I'm happy to see James Madison in the top 20 both in Virginia and in Idaho.

The Freakin' Weekend (1974)

It's all happening. Rockford Files debuts at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, 1974, on Channel 6 ...

 

Lawrence Welk is on The Tonight Show at 10:30 that night ...

 

It's the big Evel Knievel episode of Wide World of Sports at 4 p.m. Saturday on Channel 3 ...

 

NFL74 starts at noon Sunday on Channel 6 with Browns at Bengals (instead of Dolphins at Patriots, though that's probably for the best) ...

 

Finally, Monday Night Football on Sept. 15 kicks off its new season on Channel 3 with Raiders at Bills ...

 

Just a huge, huge, huge weekend.

Oh, Kentucky

The 72-student 2019 class for the Governor's School for Entrepreneurs is out. It starts next month at Northern Kentucky U, and, per Corbin's Times-Tribune, "students learn firsthand about the opportunities, benefits and pitfalls of beginning a business. Teams of high school students develop business models, design prototypes, and pitch startup ideas to a large audience and panel of judges."

Meanwhile, starting in the fall, one no longer needs to leave Pulaski County to attain a four-year degree from Eastern, Morehead, Western or UK.

Working out a 98k salary with her, Frankfort reeled in its new finance director from Boise, Idaho. Thorough city 411 from Zack McDonald in The State Journal.

Houchens Industries of Bowling Green has taken its Crossroads IGA game to Lexington.

Twenty Ninth Podcast

The twenty ninth podcast is up. Thanks to freemidi.org for the audio files. Eric and Matthew talk about the college football playoff system.

RSS Feed

Moscow vs Pullman 2015

Album Review: Four by One Direction

As I've said before I take the Roger Ebert approach to album reviews. Maybe that's not fair to artists like Kate Pierson because I hold her to higher standards, than say One Direction, but it is what it is.

So what do you want from a boy band release.  Well you want a lot of good hooks, tempered lyrics, and hummable melodies.  That's really about it, and that's what you get on this album.  Does that mean it's a great album, no, but it does mean that it delivers on exactly what it advertised itself to be.
 

If you are like me you know very little about One Direction, but they are like many other groups that have come before them. They have solid producers around them and they perform as they should on task. Who knows how long a band like this can continue to roll, but for now they continue to put out consistent product.

If you are looking for music for a workout you could pick songs off of here with no problem.  Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.

What's On TV Tonight (1969)?

Yes, the UK-Marquette 1969 NCAA-tournament game is on TV ... on NBC Channel 4 in Nashville.

But it appears Channel 6 is sticking with Ironside and Dragnet.

Meanwhile, in other NCAA-basketball news, ...

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 5)

Hey, we got one! The Team USA men's curlers took down Denmark, 7-4, this morning, as John Shuster and the boys rallied from 3-0 down.

A third of the round-robin tournament is over, and the Americans are 1-2. That's tied for fifth--behind China, Norway and Sweden at 3-0 and Great Britain at 2-1. Canada, Denmark and Switzerland are 1-2, and Germany and Russia are 0-3. Each team plays the other nine in the round-robin tournament, and the best four records advance to the medals tournament. So, we'll see.

The only Olympic Winter Games at which the United States won a curling medal was Torino 2006. A rink skipped by Pete Fenson, a 34-year-old pizzeria owner from Bemidji, Minn., claimed bronze. John Shuster, a 23-year-old from Chisholm, Minn., earned one of those Olympic medals as the lead of the Fenton rink.

At the "Curling for Dummies Cheat Sheet," Bob Weeks writes, "The skip is the captain of the team and decides the strategy. It’s the skip’s job to tell the other players where to throw their shots and when to sweep. The skip also delivers the last two shots of the end. The skip must be good at all types of shots."

"The lead," Weeks continues, "throws the first two rocks of the end and then sweeps the next six. The lead must be very good at throwing guards and a strong sweeper." (Wikipedia adds, "(L)eads are usually proficient at throwing guards and other draws, and throw few takeouts or other power shots.")

But Shuster didn't want to be a lead (Matthew DeGorge wrote in a terrific Feb. 12, 2012, story for The Delaware County Times of Upper Darby Township, Pa.) Shuster wanted to be a skip.

Things worked out pretty well. Shuster broke from Fenson's rink, started his own and qualified for the Vancouver 2010 games.

Then came, as DeGorge labeled it, "the Vancouver debacle." NBC had taped an interview before the Olympics in which Shuster talked about being "almost addicted" to the pressure of having the last rock. The United States opened the tournament with four straight losses, and, in three of them, Shuster--in a signature baseball cap that drew even more attention to himself--had the last rock with a chance to win and failed to do so. In mid-tournament, Shuster was benched.

And that might've been the last we ever heard about Shuster at the Olympics. He withdrew from the 2010 national championships, which occurred just a few weeks after the Vancouver Games. He did not skip a rink that participated in the 2011 national championships. He did enter a rink in 2012 and '13 national championships, and the first- and second-place finishers would earn automatic berths for the 2013 U.S. Olympic Curling Trials--but Shuster's rink failed to finish so high.

But in the complicated rules of the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials, the United States Curling Association's "High Performance Program (HPP) Selection Committee" selected a fifth rink for the November 2013 tournament in Fargo, N.D. Shuster's rink, which had placed third in the two previous national championships, was the choice.

Hats off to Shuster that he and the rest of his rink made the most of the opportunity. Dad of a 6-month-old and a manager of Duluth's venerable Pickwick Restaurant & Pub, Shuster could practice only sporadically in advance of the tournament. In Fargo, though, the Shuster rink won six of eight round-robin games against the four 2012 and '13 national champions and runners-up. That was the best performance in the tournament. Shuster's and the second-place team in the round-robin portion advanced to the best-of-three finals.

And that rink was none other than Pete Fenson's.

Shuster, now 31, and Fenson, 45, waged a back-and-forth affair. The first game, on Friday, Nov. 15, saw Shuster open an 8-3 advantage after seven of 10 "ends" before his old skip scored 2, 2 and 1 to force an 11th, in which the Shuster rink prevailed for a 9-8 victory. In Saturday's Game 2, it was Shuster who rallied from behind, with a 10th-end score, before Fenson's rink won in the 11th, 5-4, to force a Sunday rubber game.

"No problem," Fenson told the Bemidji Pioneer back home. "We have been through it a lot of times. Like I said, my team handles these big games really well. I never worry about them. I know they are going to show up, I know they are going to be relaxed. They almost always play great."

But Fenson's rink did not play great; Fenson especially did not. If you thought the USCA's qualification rules were complicated, check out this discussion of how curling "accuracy percentage" is determined. Whatever, Fenson's accuracy was scored as 82 percent and 91 percent in games 1 and 2 of the Olympic Trials (compared to 81 percent and 86 percent for opposing skip Shuster). In Game 3, Shuster's accuracy was 94 percent. Fenson's? Forty percent.

After four ends on Sunday in Fargo, it was 11-1. "Stunned silence" is how Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis StarTribune described Scheels Arena after what happened next: Fenson conceded.

"It was like a funeral in here," Shuster told Fenson's hometown Bemidji Pioneer.

Scheels Arena is dead quiet. No cheering, no cowbells, air horns, nothing. That's how stunning Fenson's concession was. #curlingtrials
— Patrick Borzi (@BorzMN) November 17, 2013

"It’s notable that Fenson rallied from 8-3 down after seven ends on Friday," Nick Zaccardi wrote for NBC OlympicTalk. "He must have believed that a 10-point deficit with three more ends to make it up than Friday was too much."

Even then, the Shuster rink wasn't yet through to Sochi.

Eight teams--the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States--vied in a Dec. 10-15 qualification tournament in Fussen, Germany, for two Olympic berths. And if you thought the USCA's qualification rules or the curling accuracy percentage were confusing, get this (from Wikipedia):

In both the men's and the women's tournaments, the teams played a single round robin, and at its conclusion, the top three teams advanced to the playoffs. In the playoffs, the first and second seeds played a game to determine the first team to advance to the main Olympic tournament. The loser of this game, along with the third seed, played a game to determine the second team to advance to the main Olympic tournament.

Except in the men's round robin, four teams finished 5-2. So, in some no-doubt-Byzantine method that is mercifully not explained, it was determined which two 5-2 teams made the playoffs and which two 5-2 teams had to compete in a tie-breaker and then how they would be seeded in the two-game playoffs to determine which two teams would go to the Olympics. 

Shuster's rink and South Korea went to the tie-breaker. In the ninth end, South Korea scored 1 to pull within 6-5. In the 10th, Shuster scored, and his rink was into the finals as the third seed.

Germany, playing at home, beat the Czech Republic in the first qualifier for a berth to Sochi. That meant Shuster's rink in the second qualifier would play the Czech Republic, which had won the team's round-robin game, 9-7. After seven ends, it was 3-2 in favor of the Czechs. But then Shuster scored a stunning 5 in the eighth end. The Czech Republic came back with 2 in the ninth, but Shuster added a score in the 10th, and the 8-5 victory finally had Shuster headed back to the Olympics to see if Sochi 2014 might be a happier experience than had been Vancouver 2010.

In Sunday's Wall Street Journal, Shuster recalled for Brian Costa being "the goat of curling ... the goat of the USA in the Olympics." He talked about wondering whether continuing to pursue curling was worth the sacrifices.

"I just love this sport too dang much, man," Shuster told Costa. "I think I have something to offer to curling still, and our country. I know I do."

Northland curlers John Shuster, Jeff Isaacson, Jared Zezel, John Landsteiner in Sochi today. Reuters pic pic.twitter.com/jomN2HXNuf
— Duluth News Tribune (@duluthnews) February 10, 2014

And then the smiles got harder to come by yet again. After a 7-4 loss Monday to Norway, Shuster (@Shoostie2010) Tweeted of "a struggle today." After a 9-7 loss Tuesday to China, Shuster Tweeted of "a tough day on the ice." Even the HP kicked when he was down.

Who knows what happens now? Team USA plays Germany tomorrow. Given that the Germans are winless and the Americans are currently on the pop side of the playoff bubble, this has to be considered a must win.

But, whatever, today was a good day. Good luck, John Shuster. Sorry for the shot yesterday. Go, Team USA.

Previous reports:

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 4);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 3);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 2);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a);

-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976;

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928, and

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924.

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1)

After some early-morning calisthenics, we're back to action in Sochi. Comments, as warranted.

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924;

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928;

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a), and

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0).

Kentucky 70 - 55 Boise St. (No. 2,119)

Here's the score by quarters:

1st:  Kentucky 22, Boise St. 14
2d:  Kentucky 19, Boise St. 17 (UK led 41-31 at the half)
3d:  Kentucky 15, Boise St. 10 (UK led 56-41 with 10 minutes to go)
4th:  Kentucky 14, Boise St. 14 (Final score:  UK 70-55)

This was UK's first game ever against Boise State, and its first game against a team from Idaho since 1955.  The Wildcats are now 3-0 all-time against teams from the Gem State.

Ken Pom liked this result, as he bumped UK up from 11th to 7th.  But he gives UK only a 34 percent chance of beating UNC on Saturday, and only a 49 percent chance of beating U of L in a few weeks.  Losing those two games will not improve the mood in the Commonwealth.

Glory's Last Chance

Here is the latest top 10 from the Official World Golf Ranking:

1.  T. Woods
2.  P. Mickelson
3.  R. McIlroy (NIR)
4.  J. Rose (ENG)
5.  A. Scott (AUS)
6.  M. Kuchar
7.  B. Snedeker
8.  G. McDowell (NIR)
9.  L. Donald (ENG)
10.  K. Bradley

Remarkably, the last four majors were won by golfers ranked 2, 3, 4, and 5 on this list.  Tiger hasn't won a major this year, but he's won 5 times in only 11 starts.  After so many flukey winners in recent years, this has been a great year for golf fans.

Unfortunately, that run may now be coming to an end.  Here are the last 10 winners of the PGA:

2012:  R. McIlroy (NIR)
2011:  K. Bradley
2010:  M. Kaymer (GER)
2009:  Y.E. Yang (KOR)
2008:  P. Harrington (IRE)
2007:  T. Woods
2006:  T. Woods
2005:  P. Mickleson
2004:  V. Singh (FIJ)
2003:  S. Micheel

It's a pretty good list, but check out the 2003 winner -- Shaun Micheel.  That was the only victory of Micheel's career -- and one of only two times he finished in the top 10 of a major.  And that lone victory came at Oak Hill Country Club, the same course that is hosting this week's PGA.  Here were the top 4 players in the 2003 PGA:

1.  S. Micheel
2.  C. Campbell
3.  T. Clark (RSA)
4.  A. Cejka (GER)

Not exactly Murderer's Row.  And here were the top 4 at the 1989 U.S. Open, the last National Open held at Oak Hill:

1.  C. Strange
T2.  C. Beck
T2.  M. McCumber
T2.  I. Woosnam (WAL)

Again, not an impressive list.  Oak Hill doesn't always produce such disappointing results -- Jack Nicklaus won the PGA here in 1980 and Lee Trevino took the Open here in 1968.  But I'm afraid it's one of those U.S. Open-type courses with lots of narrow fairways that punishes long, aggressive players.  This type of course makes no sense to me, as long, aggressive players tend to be the best players in the world.

So I think this is the week to take the field, and assume that some relative unknown will take the title.  But given how much fun this year has been for golf fans, we won't complain (all that much).

U.S. Amateur Quarter-Finals

Here are today's quarter-final match-ups at the U.S. Amateur golf championships, being played near Denver.

1. Justin Thomas of Goshen, Kentucky, who played for Louisville St. Xavier and now plays for the University of Alabama, will take on Oliver Goss of Australia, who will be a freshman at the University of Tennessee this fall.

2. Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal, who plays for Central Florida, will take on Michael Weaver of Fresno, Calif., who plays for the University of California.

3. Steven Fox of Henderson, Tenn., who plays for UT-Chattanooga, will take on Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, who plays for the University of Washington.

4. Cheng-Tsung Pan of Taiwan, who plays for the University of Washington, will take on Brandon Hagy of Westlake Village, Calif., who plays for the University of California.

Congratulations to the Cal Bears and Washington Huskies for their very strong performance in this event so far.

U.S. Amateur Round of 16

Only 16 golfers are left in the battle for the U.S. Amateur. Here's what's happening with the three who are of interest to us.

1. Justin Thomas of Goshen and the University of Alabama is playing his teammate, Bobby Wyatt. Wyatt, who is from Mobile -- and who once shot a 57 at the Alabama Boys' State Golf Championship -- also plays for the Crimson Tide. Through seven holes, Wyatt is one up.

2. Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho and the University of Washington is playing Edouard Espana of France. Williams is one up after the first hole.

3. Patrick Newcomb of Benton -- who played for Marshall County and who now plays for Murray State -- will play Brandon Hagy of Westlake Village, California. As you can see here, Westlake Village is quite different from Benton. Hagy plays for the University of California. That match is scheduled to tee off at 2:50 Mountain Daylight Time -- and you should be able to see it later this afternoon on the Golf Channel.

U.S. Amateur Round of 32

Here are what our three golfers of interest are up to in the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur golf championship, now being played at Cherry Hills near Denver.

1. Justin Thomas of Goshen, Kentucky, is two up with two holes to play in his match against Max Homa, who plays college golf for the University of California.

2. Patrick Newcomb of Benton -- who played for Marshall County and who now plays for Murray State -- is one down after four holes of his match with Michael Hebert of Alpharetta, Georgia. Hebert plays for Auburn.

3. Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho -- who plays for the University of Washington -- is three up after nine holes of his match with Adam Stephenson of Greenville, North Carolina. Stephenson played for East Carolina.

Update on Amateur Golf

We've been busy with the Olympics, so a few golf items fell through the cracks.

The U.S. Women's Amateur championship was won last week by 15-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who beat out Emma Talley of Princeton for Low Amateur at the U.S. Women's Open. At the U.S. Women's Amateur, Miss Talley finished two rounds of stroke play in a tie for 66th place -- and thus missed the chance to advance to the match-play phase of the tournament by one shot.

This week, the U.S. Amateur championship is taking place at Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver. Two Kentuckians made it into the match-play rounds. Justin Thomas, of Goshen, tied for 13th in the stroke-play phase with a two under par 139. Patrick Newcomb, of Benton, tied for 51st with a two-over par 143.

Thomas, who attended Louisville St. Xavier High School, now plays for the University of Alabama, where he will be a sophomore. Today he advanced to the round of 32, as he beat Barry Dyche of Charlotte, North Carolina by 3 and 1.

Newcomb, who went to Marshall County High School, now plays for Murray State, where he will be a senior. Today, in the round of 64, he will play Richard Lamb of South Bend, Indiana.

We will also be keeping an eye on Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, who will be playing in the round of 64 today.

I Am Watching the Olympics (Day 5)

Urgh! I've already missed three rowing medals races today!

Previous reports:

-- watching Day i (July 25)

-- watching Day ii (July 26)

-- watching opening day and the opening ceremony (July 27)

-- watching Day 1 and the men's cycling road race (July 28)

-- watching Day 2, the women's road race, and Team USA's performance relative to the U.S. percentage of world GDP and an introduction to "Olympic Efficiency Scores (OES)" (July 29)

-- watching Day 3, an introduction to "Extended Olympic Efficiency Scores (EOES)," a tip of the hat to Team USA swimming, an arch of an eyebrow toward Team China swimming, a women's basketball update, end-of-day OES and end-of-day EOES (July 30)

-- watching Day 4, a men's basketball update, badminton jive, "culture war" jive, end-of-day OES and end-of-day EOES (July 31)

UI Golf League 2011 Update

So here are the standings going into the 9th event.

GLOP 41.0
Safeway 40.0
Team Ice 38.5
Team Morgan 37.0
Moscow Building Supply I 37.0
SEL 35.5
Dave’s Golf Shop 34.5
Gropp Electric 34.0
Farm Bureau Insurance II 29.0
Vandals 26.0

That's right GLOP has managed to hold onto the lead. It's cool and rainy here today, should be a nice evening for some golf.

UI Golf League 2011 Update

My play collapsed to such a bad state that I gave up on keeping everyone up to date. It became to frustrating to talk about and so I left it for a while.

Recently I have been playing a bit better and so I'm hopeful that soon I will turn things around in the League, but who really knows with golf. The best discovery I have made is that I can play the UI course early in the morning before anyone has even arrived and simply pay when I finish and so today I got in a quick 18 holes before going to work. Hard to beat that. This extra time on the course has helped me quite a bit, but I'm still struggling to hit the ball consistently.

That all being said back to the League. Apparently the League is split into halves. Here were the standings in our Division at the end of the first half of the season.

Team Ice 138.5
Safeway 131.0
SEL 120.5
Team Morgan 116.0
Gropp Electric 115.0
Vandals 111.0
GLOP 105.5
Farm Bureau Insurance II 105.5
Dave’s Golf Shop 98.0
Moscow Building Supply I 90.0

However, we started well and are off to the early lead in the second half of the season, this despite me getting spanked 7 1/2 to 2 1/2 in our 7th event.

GLOP 23.0
Team Ice 21.5
Safeway 20.0
SEL 18.5
Dave’s Golf Shop 18.5
Gropp Electric 17.0
Team Morgan 15.0
Moscow Building Supply I 15.0
Vandals 12.0
Farm Bureau Insurance II 11.0

We don't have the standings yet after our 8th event, but once I know where we stand I'll let you know if we held onto the lead. For the first time I managed to take my opponent winning the match 5 1/2 to 4 1/2.

Vandals!

The Utah State Aggies rode a 17-game winning streak into Moscow last night. They went out with a 64-56 loss, as the Vandals' up-and-down season continues. The last time we checked on Idaho, their six-game winning streak had ended with a 67-70 loss at home to Boise State. The Vandals, apparently discouraged by this result, then lost at La Tech, at New Mexico State, and at home to San Jose State, dropping their record in the WAC to 5-5. But since then they have righted the ship, with home wins over Hawaii and league-leader Utah State. On Saturday, the fourth-place Vandals head to Boise for a rematch with the Broncos. We will see if they can keep the momentum going this time.

Idaho 52 - 51 Boise St. (7:24 left in 2d half)

Another huge game for the Vandals, and they are in another gut-check. Can they continue their winning streak?