Mid-Major Minutes: Portland State picks up a big grad transfer, and we know 3 teams that will beat Indiana

Good morning! If you’re reading this, you’re clearly starting your day off right with an effort to better yourself by becoming more educated about the goings-on in the mid-major world.

In a landscape so dominated by the biggest schools and conferences, it’s quite hard to winnow down the information you want and need to hear about your favorite mid-major programs.

Thankfully, Mid-Major Madness is here to aggregate the news and links for you, providing you with a brand-new, daily post about the world of mid-major hoops.

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#Content to Read

Ryan Edwards transferring to Portland State (Portland State Athletics)

Another graduate transfer has left the Gonzaga Bulldogs and decided on a new home, and this time it’s big man Ryan Edwards. The Montana native never saw much playing time with the Zags, but he’s looking to provide a boost to a Portland State Viking squad that I have as a sleeper pick in the Big Sky next season.

Oh, and remember how I said he’s a big man? Yeah, I meant it. Portland State also wants to make that much very clear:

Edwards has played three seasons with one redshirt season at Gonzaga University. He completed his degree requirements at Gonzaga, has graduated, and is eligible to play right away for the Vikings. Edwards, a 7-1, 290-pound center, has one season of eligibility left. He will be the tallest player in the history of PSU basketball.

Three mid-major teams to participate in the Hoosier Tip-Off Classic (Hoosier Athletics)

The 2017 Hoosier Tip-Off Classic will see three mid-major squads travel to Bloomington (bad) to try and make Indiana lose (good). Those three teams that will get their shot against the Hoosiers are Howard, Eastern Michigan, and Arkansas State.

Eastern Michigan and Howard are both coming off disappointing seasons, with the latter losing their best player and scorer, James Daniel III, to both an injury and the transfer market. The Red Wolves head into next year with visions of how their 20-win season was cut short with a loss to a super terrible UL Monroe team in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.

I wish every one of these teams as much luck as humanly possible.

BYU and Utah are going to play basketball again! (Utah Valley 360)

The one-year wait that Larry Krystkowiak imposed after punches were thrown in their last meeting is over. The game was scheduled to be played in Provo last season, but it clearly did not happen. Now, these two bitter rivals are slated to resume play on the hardwood, and things seem to be superficially smoothed over.

Regardless, the Utah Utes are going to have to pay a hefty fee to their biggest rivals for reneging on their deal, but since safety was the issue, I’m sure Krystkowiak is fine with that.

For breaking the contract, Utah has to pay a guarantee fee of $80,000 to BYU, where the 2016–17 was scheduled to be played.

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The 2017–18 season was the first year the BYU-Utah basketball teams hadn’t played since 1944, which only didn’t happen because of World War II. The series has been running since 1909, ranking the seventh longest college basketball rivalry according to the NCAA record book. BYU leads the all-time series with 129–128.

Yale’s recruiting class is :FireEmoji: (New Haven Register)

When you think of good incoming recruits, you think of all the requisite skills necessary for improving a basketball team: size, strength, shooting, the capacity to make up for losses due to departures, and the ability to score touchdowns.

Well, if you’re the Yale Bulldogs, that last item on the list is certainly the case.

In their incoming 5-man recruiting class, Yale has it all. And it just so happens that one of the guys they’re bringing to New Haven, Azar Swain, was the all-time touchdown scorer at his high school.

Honestly, you need to read David Borges’ entire piece to get a sense of exactly how good Yale’s recruiting situation is. Still, here’s just a snippet of what’s to come for the Bulldogs:

Atkinson averaged 20.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game this past season at Westminster Academy and was named the Sun-Sentinel’s South Florida player of the year.

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Rounding out the class is Wyatt Yess, a 6-8 forward from St. Louis who finished second on Parkway West High’s all-time scoring list with 1,714 career points.

“He’s a skilled post player, similar to (Yale rising junior) Blake Reynolds,” said Jones. “There’s a reason why we’ve led the league in rebounding the last five years. Guys like Paul Atkinson and Wyatt Yess are next in a long line of guys who can really rebound for us.”

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Tweets of Interest

I’m inclined to agree with Bill.

Milwaukee lost TWO recruits yesterday

Marshall’s bragging again

I’m going to keep posting about CCSU’s basketball camp until Russ tells me about how he was apparently really good at one once. (I don’t believe him.)

Ed. Note: One? Once? I was at pretty much every session from elementary school into high school. Maybe I’ll ask my mom to send a pic of the trophies that I’m sure are still in my room. - Russ

Many of you imagine us talking in a Legion of Doom-style setting. Actually we’re far more incompetent.

Go say hi! Be polite!

Lobos back?

Big Red has revived this ailing meme

More like Tim Clued-in, huh? HUH??

Media guys in the offseason, I tell ya

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Recruiting News