MUST SEE GAMES--01/31/2008

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National rankings courtesy of WBCA/ESPN/USA Today poll.

TOP WOMEN'S GAME

#17 Arkansas Tech (16-2, 5-0) at #1 Delta State (17-0, 5-0)--Thursday 6 p.m. CST

Every season, it seems that sooner or later, there's a big showdown that many a loyal fan has circled on his or her calendars for months. The ATU-DSU clash is one of those contests, as the winner of this contest stands alone atop the Gulf South Conference West Division standings.

The top-ranked Lady Statesmen will put their perfect 17-0 record against the 17th-ranked team in the Golden Suns. DSU stayed unbeaten after downing Christian Brothers 54-39 last Saturday (Jan. 26), while ATU won its 16th straight game since starting the season 0-2 with a 74-54 crushing of Arkansas-Monticello that same night.

Consider the following statistics: As this blog entry was posted, ATU and DSU had two of the top three scoring offenses in the GSC (ATU 1st--82.2 ppg; DSU 3rd--73.4), two of the top five scoring defenses (DSU 2nd--52.6; ATU 5th--57.8), top two in average scoring margin (ATU tops at plus-24.4 ppg; DSU 2nd at 20.8), even the highest free-throw percentages in the conference (ATU at .497, DSU not far behind at .495).

In other words, it's like the old saying goes, "something's gotta give" when these two powerhouses clash in this Thursday night special. It's too bad one team has to lose.

TOP MEN'S GAME

Arkansas Tech (13-5, 4-1) at Delta State (9-8, 3-2)--Thursday 8 p.m. CST

As if the main event between two nationally-ranked teams wasn't bad enough, the nightcap shouldn't be bad either, as the Statesmen take on the Wonder Boys in a contest that could further tighten the Gulf South Conference West Division race.

Arkansas-Monticello (11-6, 3-2) moved to within one game of first place in the GSC West by handing ATU its first conference loss of the season with a 67-63 win on the road Saturday, Jan. 26. DSU climbed over .500 in both overall and GSC play, respectively by beating Christian Brothers 79-63 the same night.