Mid-Major Minutes: One man’s hobby that helps him fight epilepsy, and BYU is still drawing large crowds

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

Bryan Black’s jersey collection helps him cope with epilepsy (Mid-Major Madness)

Yesterday, our own Ellie Lieberman wrote a piece about Bryan Black, a college basketball fan who suffers from menial temporal lobe epilepsy. As a result of that, he suffers from seizures daily, but a major moment of tranquility comes for him when he is watching college basketball games.

As Lieberman wrote:

...Black decided to make it more than just a hobby. He’s been able to combine his love for the game with his effort to raise awareness for his condition simply by collecting jerseys. By seeking a jersey from all 351 Division I schools, it means sharing his story with 351 different communities.

“I said to myself, I can turn this epilepsy into something positive just by communicating with people on Twitter, adding every single one of the school’s basketball Twitters and communicating with as many sportswriters and as many people who are involved with these schools as possible,” Black said.

Bryan Black is a man full of resiliency, and if you think you can help him reach his goal, check out the information at the bottom of Ellie’s post!

BYU’s attendance is among the country’s best (Vanquish the Foe)

Though the quality of BYU’s play has diminished in recent seasons, their fans’ willingness to show up and support their Cougars has not taken quite that much of a dive. As Vanquish the Foe’s Robby McCombs notes:

Despite a relatively down year for the BYU hoops team, one that ended with a first round NIT exit, BYU ranked top 15 nationally in attendance for the 7th straight year. BYU’s attendance also ranked 1st in the west for the 8th straight year.

He goes on to note that BYU’s attendance has taken a bit of a dip compared to numbers from previous years, but not enough to unseat them from their spot of supremacy in the west.

Several mid-majors in the mix for Deontae Hawkins (WKU Rivals)

Grad transfer Deontae Hawkins—a former Illinois State Redbird—was initially slated to play for Boston College, but he has since decided that he no longer wants to pursue that (clearly agonizing) option.

With this talented player now up for grabs, many schools are throwing themselves into the fray in order to get this guy to play for them. Just last night, Jon Rothstein tweeted the four schools that Hawkins is consider. Three of them are mid-majors (Western Kentucky, Pacific, and New Mexico).

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Tweets of Interest

Yale’s new court is here!

I’m not sure what this means, but I like it

Oh I see what it’s about now

We got some love from the commish

Yes, let’s!

#AJWeek continues on

Additional information on Deontae Hawkins

Best of luck to these former MTSU players!

Kentucky’s non-conference schedule is a dream come true for me.

This former Gonzaga big man is killing it

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Recruiting News