... but the Bloodhounds are dancing anyway. CUNYAC tournament MVP Hakeem Kased would prefer you call them "a good story," and he should know, since he's one himself.
In addition to being a full-time student, Kased works for the New York City Transit Authority, on a graveyard shift doing train-track maintenance. He goes to class during the day, practices and games in the afternoon and evening, then reports to various stations on the Manhattan No. 1 line, on New York City's West Side by 10 p.m.
&&p-boxl&&And somehow in between all that he and John Jay found a way to come together at the right time, winning four in a row after a span in which it dropped six of seven games. But they won the right games, and they're in the field. More in Around the Nation.
Baruch was finally able to put its 2007 conference title game disappointment behind it, with Chiresse Paradise being a major factor. The Bearcats don't play in the strongest conference, but with Kean, Scranton, Messiah, DeSales, Chicago and Hamilton on their non-conference schedule, they know what NCAA Tournament-level competition looks like. For Paradise, grad school in film is on the horizon, but she's still putting her basketball IQ to work.
Centre hasn't clinched an automatic bid yet, but at 23-1 they are about the best lock there is for an at-large. When Pat Coleman talked to South Region teams in December, the thought was that DePauw or Millsaps were the best team in the league and the Colonels had lost too much. But they haven't lost any ballgames since opening night, thanks in no small part to Matt Nestheide at point guard.
Plus, there's a pair of conference championship games this weekend that won't appear on any conference tournament schedule: Thanks to the scheduling gods ... or whomever drew up the schedule the UAA has been using for years ... Chicago and Washington U. will meet for both the men's and women's title on Saturday. We called on our best UAA expert to break down each of those games.
That and, yes, even more in this week's Around the Nation.