On the Fly:Thursday Evening with the Mount and others

The Mount has jumped to an early 18-7 lead at St. Francis. Chris Vann with an 8-0 run on his own, 12 points total, not quite 10 minutes in yet. We'll keep you posted.

Nice to see the PGA Tour back on the tube as well. The traditional opener from Hawaii on the Golf Channel right now. Did Tiger make the trip? Haven't seen the leaderboard yet...and golf is tough to watch without some commentary. But since I have the Mount on the internet feed, I have the TV muted.

The Mount still leads by nine. 31-22 at the under 5 minute timeout. Chris Vann is leading the way with 14 points and Sam Atupem seems to be having some success inside. St. Francis is not real good and the Mount hit them hard early, but now seems to be lulled into some sluggish play with the lead. Robert Hines is keeping the Terriers in it.

Cam Cameron fired by the Dolphins today. Guy might be a great offensive mind, but he's not a head coach. Didn't work out at Indiana, had the horrible year in Miami. Expect Paul Pasquoloni to get the job in Miami.

A couple games in the Big East tonight. Right now, Seton Hall has an lead near halftime over UCONN, and Notre Dame has a double digit lead on West Virginia. All of these teams could jump into the upper echelon of the conference. But they are more likely to be found in the middle of the pack. West Virginia is struggling because their star Joe Alexander is struggling. Alexander a kid who wanted to come to the Mount, but really nobody wanted right out of high school. So he went to prep school, grew a few inches and then became a star in Morgantown.

Four NEC games all at halftime right now. The Mount with that 9 point advantage at SFC(NY), while St. Francis (PA) trails Quinnipiac by 12 at the break, Robert Morris leads Monmouth 29-25 and Wagner with a three-point advantage on Central Connecticut.

If you can get the Stanford/UCLA game later on via the Fox Sports Net check it out. UCLA is obviously one of the premier teams in the country and Stanford has been playing very well of late. I think the Cardinal could keep it close for awhile and maybe even make it a game down the stretch.

The Mount is finding itself in a little bit of a ballgame in Brooklyn right now. St. Francis has scored six straight to cut the lead to five. The Mount needs to show some composure and finish this off this down the stretch. Markus Mitchell just fouled out on a illegal screen, which he is good for at least once a night. He leaves with 6 points and 7 rebounds.

The Mounties seem to be relying on Chris Vann and his jump shot a little too much at the moment. They lead by just four and have struggled offensively of late with no one stepping up with Vann cooling off. Might be a good time to get Kelly Beidler some action left with 7:23 left in regulation. He brings a different dimension.

On cue, Beidler scores to make it a six point lead.

Will Holland has 11 rebounds for the Mount. He has struggled from the floor, but he has contributed with the rebounds. And with that he knocks down a huge three to make it an 8-point game.

Holland has really heated up at the moment and he now has 11 points and 11 boards. Nice night for him. The Mounties seem to have this in control.

Speaking of heating up. Xavier is on fire early in Cincinnati versus Virginia. They lead it 35-12. The Musketeers have had some real good games this year and are 10-3 headed into tonight. They have lost to Miami (Ohio), Arizona State and Tennessee as they have challenged themselves in the early going. They will enter the Atlantic Ten schedule as one of the favorites, but the A-10 has several teams that will compete for at-large bids this year. UMASS, Rhode Island and Dayton have all had great starts to the season. Meanwhile, St. Joseph's has been very impressive in its 7-4 start, and Charlotte is competitive at 8-4, while nobody will ever want to play Temple. Could be an exciting year in the A-10, which already has one win over the ACC tonight as Richmond downed Virginia Tech in the opener on CSTV.

No score yet in Miami, but the Jayhawks are on the move. But a big sack of Reessing on first down backs them up. Anybody else notice that other than Missouri, the Big 12 hasn't really performed very well in the postseason. Kansas missed a field goal.

It's over in Brooklyn. The Mount remains perfect in the NEC and moves back ahead of the .500 barrier overall. Any win on the road is a good thing. A road conference win is a better thing. It didn't sound pretty. But it is a win and in January, you'll take everyone of those.

Jamar Butler can play a little bit. The Ohio State point guard has a career high 28 with still over 10 minutes to play in the Big Ten opener in Champaign. Illinois is really struggling of late. I've seen Ohio State a few times and this is the best they've looked in awhile. Assuming the Buckeyes hold on, it will be their sixth straight win. They lead by 12 with 7:44 to play.

Anybody want to goto practice with me in Charlottesville tomorrow? The Cavs absolutely getting beatdown in Cincy tonight. Xavier leads it 93-56 with about eight minutes left. My guess is the Cavs were to have a day off or two. But not sure they will anymore. They don't play again until next Sunday in Durham. They'll need the time to mend the wounds.

Don't look now but Illinois has drawn within seven and has the ball. Ohio State hasn't scored a field goal in about four minutes.

I really thought Oregon State was the worst BCS conference basketball team. But they've got a 7-point lead at Arizona with about 14 minutes left. Ahh, the beauty of conference play. Although the one thing that is extremely shocking about this potential upset is that it is on the road. We'll keep our eyes on it.

The impact my posts have on teams is amazing. Arizona has scored nine in a row to take a lead. I don't see the Beavers having the ability to get back into this. Obviously they are only down two, but on the road and everything seems to be going against them. I'd say its as good as done.

Remember when the Orange Bowl halftime show used to be a highlight of New Year's Night? I guess that is ZZ Top out there. I'm more a sports guy. But the ZZ's on the stage gave it away. Or maybe I remembered those beards.