UMBC and Morgan State must be in hog heaven.
While others scrap around for games this time of year, traveling to play teams ranging from low-majors such as Liberty to powerhouses such as Connecticut, the Retrievers and Bears each get two games against comparable teams this weekend in the Conference Challenge.
The UMBC men and women (both 2-3) are hosting the event at the Retriever Activities Complex, beginning at 7 p.m. today, when the UMBC men play against Drexel.
The UMBC women will play Penn at 2: 45 p.m. tomorrow, and the Morgan State men (0-5) will meet Drexel at 7: 15 p.m., with a 5 p.m. George Mason-Rider game in between. The Drexel-Lehigh women's game will start the action at 12: 30 p.m.
Sunday's schedule opens with a 12: 30 p.m. game between the Penn and Drexel women. Then, the UMBC women and men will play consecutive games against Lehigh and George Mason, respectively, followed by Morgan State's 7: 15 nightcap with Rider.
Though his team did some traveling last week -- taking beatings from Dayton and Rutgers -- UMBC men's coach Tom Sullivan said he was glad to keep it to a minimum. Scheduling has become more difficult for his team since its surprising, 19-9 finish last season.
"All of a sudden, you become a little better, and no one wants to play you, except teams that were way above you," Sullivan said.
The Conference Challenge, with teams from the Northeast, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Metro Atlantic and America East conferences, along with the Colonial Athletic Association and Ivy and Patriot leagues, was created to pit some of the better lower-level Division I teams against each other.
"These are teams that we have to play against, and we consider them to be comparable to us, and we want to win these games," Sullivan said. "I don't consider George Mason or Drexel as an unwinnable game. Or, on the positive, I see these as winnable games."
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Another game worth seeing will match the women's teams of Morgan State and Coppin State.
The Bears, who started with a roster of six players and saw corresponding results, have bounced back as more of players -- some injured, some having quit -- return to the lineup.
Last weekend, they gained two MEAC wins, playing at North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State.
Coppin (3-3) has two of the state's best players, Kiesha Brooks and Liesha Mitchell, who combine for 43.1 points and 20 rebounds a game. The Eagles also picked up two wins last weekend against the same teams Morgan State beat.
Coppin's men (2-6) found the Carolina road trip rejuvenating, too, winning their first two games of the season -- against North Carolina A&T and two-time defending MEAC champ South Carolina State, the latter by 15 points.
The wins came despite Fang Mitchell's suspension of two players, Larry Tucker and Khari McKie.
Mitchell's sanctions against the pair -- arising from an undefined incident during practice -- began before the St. John's game on Dec. 1 and were extended to last weekend. The coach said: "We're working on seeing if either of them will be reinstated."
Towson's men, 5-2 after beating Hartford last night, merit mention for also winning a road game over Patriot League-favorite Lafayette. From last year's 6-22 team, one key player was declared ineligible (Pete Mauro), one eloped (Guy Zenou), and another (Josh Davalli) is missing the first month with a knee injury.
Still, the Tigers are playing better than any other team in the area and would be working on a five-game winning streak had Brian Barber hit two last-second free throws in an overtime loss at Liberty.
"For us to be as successful as we've been speaks to the character of this group," Towson coach Mike Jaskulski said.
Bowie State's women (6-2), on a five-game win streak after beating Cheyney, 79-51, are ranked No. 25 in Division II.
On the flip side, Mount St. Mary's men are still looking for coach Jim Phelan's 801st win, nearly nine months after their appearance in the NCAAs.
Melvin Whitaker's absence (until January, because of an ankle fracture) hurts, as does as a tough nonconference schedule.
Miscellaneous
Coppin State's wrestlers play host to Maryland at noon tomorrow. Coppin's Marty Kusick (ranked 19th nationally at 125 pounds) and Maryland's Brandon York (ranked 17th at 133) both bear watching. Goucher's men's tennis team is 14th among South region teams in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Salisbury State's men's soccer team were 20th in final Division III rankings, and Anne Arundel Community College's women's team ranked ninth among junior college teams. Led by Meghann Donovan, who won the 100-meter breaststroke, UMBC swimmers set five school records at Penn State last weekend.
