LEAGUES OF THEIR OWN
The Nuts will be hitting the hardwood, or at least the seats surrounding the hardwood, again this weekend with our first foray into the League that is Ivy. But before that, I thought it would be helpful to explain what appears over there on the right. Because I enjoy playing in the land of make-believe, I've created three distinct divisions. There is no prize for the winners of each of these divisions. There is no make-believe tournament at the end the season. These standings also have no bearing at all on the real-world Top 25 rankings, RPI Index or NCAA tournament. Essentially, these divisions have been created because for no reason whatsoever.

That said, a quick explanation of our divisions. Indulge me.

The Empire
This is our hometown division. Teams here all hail from the great state of New York and will be the focus of our Roundball Project. From Long Island to Staten Island, Brooklyn to Queens, Poughkeepsie to New Rochelle, these are our teams. We will cheer for them when they take on teams from other divisions. We will scoff at the notion that they can be beat. And we will wince when they face off against one another. We will even defend Iona. To the death.

Illadelph
Philladelphia fancies itself a basketball town. Hmm. We in the Empire may think they're silly in Philly, but we'll go ahead and humor them with their own division. In some respects, we like Philladelphia. We enjoy a good cheesesteak (wit wiz) now and again. Liberty is a pretty decent concept. And we're fans of The Roots. But hoops? We're a tad skeptical. In February, the Nuts will be taking a roadtrip to see just how serious they are about their basketball.

Outsiders
Mostly, these guys come from New Jersey, which explains the smell. We may cross the river once or twice during the season to see what all the hype is about. Oh wait, there's no hype, it's Jersey. Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce! What'ev. Also, for good measure, we've thrown the Connecticut Huskies into this group. We were going to include some of the other Conn. schools, but we didn't want to have to spell Quinnipiac too often.

I will attempt to keep the standings over on the right pretty up to date, but don't yell at me if it's not totally accurate. Last thing I need is some angry Drexel alum cyber-stalking me because I forgot to update his team's record. Ease back Dragonbreath. Oh, and every whenever-the-hell-I-feel-like-it, or thereabouts, I will provide a quick recap of action in each division. And if Iona manages to win a game, there will be a giant breaking news alert and very possibly hell will freeze over as pigs fly through the skies over New Rochelle. Pray for that.

Until next time, keep your balls round and your nuts... oh, nevermind.

Nice Nuts.

UPDATE: You'll also notice a link over there to the WSU Cougars, my alma mater. They are not part of this make-believe competition, but nonetheless deserve a presence here. They also kicked Cal's ass tonight to run their record to 15-2. Go Cougs.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! (from afar)
Oh sure, I decide to focus my energies on East Coast college basketball for the year and my alma mater, Washington State, decides to have it's best season since... well, ever. Long way to go of course, but my beloved Cougars have cracked the Top 25 for the first time since 1983. I think they were still playing with a peach basket back then.

And so, while all this is happening out there...



... I'm trying to plot a day-trip to Staten freakin' Island to watch a 4-11 Wagner team. Lovely.