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Notes from around the Mid-American Conference:
• Updates from the Mushroom Kingdom: Austin White, Denel Harris and Joe Sawicki are now all officially off the team, per a CMU release.
As mentioned previously, White had transferred from Michigan and got into some trouble there so he was on basically on his third or fourth chance. Harris was a freshman not on scholarship but he won't be coming back. And Sawicki didn't play last year nor will he in the coming years. Sawicki was arrested for running a drug house selling a mushroom narcotic, while Harris was arrested for felony larceny. White is on the run from the law.
Nothing on the other two suspended players, Deon Butler and Kevin King. But I'm sure we'll find out where they stand.
• But enough about sad offseason tales. How about 2012 previews? SBN's own Bill Connelly has lumbered onward and he seems to be on a bit of a MAC kick. Here's the compendium of all the MAC previews and so far he has profiled UMass, Eastern Michigan, Akron, Miami, Buffalo, Toledo, Kent State, Ball State and Bowling Green. He's very good at this stuff and makes me feel inferior about knowing my own football teams. (Although I kinda knew all the stuff about BG, at least.)
• All's fair: a non-SBN site that's also astoundingly smart on football, Pre-Snap Read, counts down from worst teams to best, and UMass is in at No. 120.
• Over The Pylon has some refreshing thoughts about Ball State's new athletic director Bill Scholl. Specifically he noted an extra spring in his step and speech, which differed from lame duck AD Tom Collins. I watched Scholl's press conference as well and can certainly see what he means. Seems like a very approachable fellow who knows what he's doing.
• The WNBA Draft was earlier this week and EMU's all-time scorer Tavelyn James wasn't drafted. Sigh. No doubt she will at least get a chance somewhere in training camp, but at that level player size is a bigger factor, and the sparkplug of a scorer is just 5'7".