Anybody Ready For An All-Nighter This Early in the Season?

On late Wednesday night, MU opens play in the 2005 Great Alaska Shootout with a tilt against Eastern Washington at 9:45pm local Anchorage time. Hey, with the national holiday upon us anyway -- who needs sleep?



The Eastern Washington Eagles are making their first-ever trip to the GAS, and enter the tournament with a record of 1-0. EWU is led three newcomers (sound familiar?) -- Rodney Stuckey, Kellen Williams and Matt Penoncello. The triumverate combined for 43 points, 16 assists, 10 steals and 15 rebounds in a win last week over Pacific Lutheran. En route to the season-opening win, the Eagles poured in 31 fast-break points and collected 26 points off turnovers. Look for EWU to pressure MU heavily when Dominic James is out of the game, much like Winthrop did.

MU enters the game at 1-1, with mounting concerns over the lack of productivity from its big men. MU was grossly out-rebounded in the loss to Winthrop, and outside of Amoroso's 10-point effort against Rice -- no other big man registered double-digit points.

A lineup of McNeal, James, Matthews, Novak and Lott, while intriguing offensively, leaves MU exposed on the boards......perhaps a bigger lineup is in MU's immediate future as the bigs get healthier. Ryan Amoroso, presumably recovered from a concussion sustained earlier this month, seems best equipped to turn things around on the blocks for MU. Ousmane Barro, himself recovering from an illness as well, also figures to contribute.

Don't bother looking for a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel curtain-raiser -- Garry Howard's team didn't care to preview the MU/EWU tilt or the GAS in general. With that in mind - - -

GAS Previews Worth Noting:

Here's the EWU preview of the MU game.

Here's MU's preview of the GAS.

Here's the complete GAS tournament schedule.

Here's a CSTV preview of the GAS.

Here's the Anchorage Daily News.

Here's the Morning News in Florence, SC with a focus on the Gamecocks.