This is the Yarnell Invitational (named after Yarnell Ice Cream in Searcy, AR). As always, it'll be a 6 team round-robin tournament that will occur in weeks 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the non-conference schedule. Harding University has been the tournament host historically, and it has been New Mexico Highlands University since season 92. The defending champ from the previous year is an automatic qualifier. The remainder of the field is invitation only.

Defending Champ: Incarnate Word [Heartland]
Host: New Mexico Highlands [NorthernSun]

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: DC @ Host, #2 @ #1, #4 @ #3
Game #6: Host @ #4, #1 @ DC, #2 @ #3
Game #7: #3 @ Host, #1 @ #4, DC @ #2
Game #8: Host @ #2, #3 @ #1, #4 @ DC
Game #9: #1 @ Host, #2 @ #4, #3 @ DC

SCHEDULE
FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
GAME #5: Incarnate Word @ NMHU, Mount Olive @ Northeastern St, Clayton St @ CSU, San Bernardino
GAME #6: NMHU @ Clayton St., Northeastern St @ Incarnate Word, Mount Olive @ CSU, San Bernardino
GAME #7: CSU, San Bernardino @ NMHU, Northeastern St @ Clayton St, Incarnate Word @ Mount Olive
GAME #8: NMHU @ Mount Olive, CSU, San Bernardino @ Northeastern St, Clayton St @ Incarnate Word
GAME #9: Northeastern St @ NMHU, Mount Olive @ Clayton St, CSU, San Bernardino @ Incarnate Word

PRESEASON RANKINGS
#1 Incarnate Word
#7 Northeastern St.
#10 Clayton St.
#14 Mount Olive
NR CSU-San Bernardino
NR NMHU

(Note, all teams are ranked at the beginning of the Yarnell Tournament, including the two top ranked teams..)

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Christopher Reynolds - C, Incarnate Word, 1st Team All-American
Roger Lewis - SF, Incarnate Word, 2nd Team All-Ameican
Randal Duty - PG, Incarnate Word, 3rd Team All-American
Richard Rickards - SF, Northeastern St., Honorable Mention All-American
Michael Fox - SF, Clayton St.
Gregory Doyle - PF, Clayton St.
Aaron Wilson - C, Northeastern St.
Kevin O'Brien - PG, Northeastern St.
Bruce Thompson - PG, CSU- San Bernardino
Matthew Marsh - PF, CSU-San Bernardino
Thomas Benson - C, Mount Olive
Todd Sanders - SF, Mount Olive
Adrian Goode - PG, NMHU
Mike Wesolowski - SG, NMHU

ROUND ONE
#1 Incarnate Word (4-0) -3 @ #16 NMHU (3-1)
#17 Mount Olive (3-1) +2 @ #2 Northeastern St (4-0)
#22 Clayton St (4-0) Pickem @ CSU, #14 San Bernardino (4-0)

Looking forward to it. If I can pull off two wins that'll be my best Yarnell yet!

STANDINGS
Incarnate Word 1-0
Northeastern St. 1-0
Clayton St. 1-0
Mount Olive 0-1
CSU, San Bernardino 0-1
NMHU 0-1

ROUND TWO
#22 NMHU (3-2) Pickem @ #14 Clayton St. (5-0)
#2 Northeastern St (5-0) -1 @ #1 Incarnate Word (5-0)
#24 Mount Olive (3-2) +1 @ CSU, San Bernardino (4-1)

ROUND ONE RESULTS
Incarnate Word 90 @ NMHU 87
IW -R Duty 13/4A/4S (POG), R Lewis 19, D Donati 17/5A
NMHU - A Goode 15/5A/3S, Long 12

Mount Olive 64 @ Northeastern St 68
NSU - K O'Brien 23 (POG), W Merrell 9/8R
MOC - T Benson 17, T Sanders 13, T Lovin 10/9R

Clayton St. 85 @ CSU, San Bernardino 72
CCSU - M Fox 32 (POG), D Joseph 11
CSUSB - C Ritenour 18, K Brawner 13, M Maddux 12/11R

Looks like a huge match-up tonight with 1 vs 2 and an early edge in the Yarnell at stake. Good luck to both teams.

STANDINGS
Incarnate Word 2-0
Northeastern St. 1-1
Clayton St. 1-1
CSU, San Bernardino 1-1
NMHU 1-1
Mount Olive 0-2

ROUND THREE
#20 CSU, San Bernardino (5-1) -1 @ #15 NMHU (4-2)
#8 Northeastern St (5-1) -3 @ Clayton St (5-1)
#1 Incarnate Word (6-0) -10 @ Mount Olive (3-3)

ROUND TWO RESULTS
NMHU 96 @ Clayton St. 83
NMHU - M Wesolowski 23 (POG), D Bundy 12/11R, A Goode 9/8A
CCSU - M Fox 36

Northeastern St 79 @ Incarnate Word 88
IW - R Lewis 28 (POG), C Reynolds 17, R Duty 15
NSU - K O'Brien 20/6A, R Rickards 14

Mount Olive 51 @ CSU, San Bernardino 62
CSUSB - K Brawner 18 (POG), C Ritenour 19
MOC - T Benson 11, M Calvert 10

The key game tonight will be Clayton St @ Incarnate Word.

If Clayton St wins, they would be tied at the top of the standing with the tie-breaker against Incarnate Word, possibly in a 3-way tie with all three teams beating each other if NMHU also wins. However, if Incarnate Word wins tonight, they will clinch the Yarnell, regardless of what happens the final night. Note that Mount Olive nearly made this a brand new tournament, leading against Incarnate Word for almost 37 minutes.

STANDINGS
Incarnate Word 3-0
Clayton St. 2-1
NMHU 2-1
CSU, San Bernardino 1-2
Northeastern St. 1-2
Mount Olive 0-3

ROUND FOUR
#9 NMHU (5-2) -5 @ Mount Olive (3-4)
CSU, San Bernardino (5-2) +1 @ #14 Northeastern St. (5-2)
#22 Clayton St (5-1) +6 @ #1 Incarnate Word (6-0)

ROUND THREE RESULTS
CSU, San Bernardino 58 @ NMHU 71
NMHU - M Wesolowski 20 (POG), A Goode 10
CSUSB - B Thompson 14, M Marsh 11

Northeastern St 68 @ Clayton St 72
CCSU - M Fox 27 (POG), G Doyle 9/10R, D Joseph 8/5A
NSU - R Rickards 20, K O'Brien 14, A Wilson 11/10R

Incarnate Word 70 @ Mount Olive 62
IW - R Lewis 18 (POG), R Duty 11/6A, C Nowakowski 11/4A
MOC - T Benson 18/12R, A Barber 12, F Wee 12

Thanks for taking this over long

Even though there is still one night left in the tournament, Incarnate Word wins the Yarnell for season 94, and fungo gets an automatic invitation for season 96.

I appreciate it bbunch, and gg last night. It has been fun, and I'm glad we could keep this running.

STANDINGS
Incarnate Word 4-0
Clayton St. 2-2
NMHU 2-2
Northeastern St. 2-2
CSU, San Bernardino 1-3
Mount Olive 1-3

ROUND FIVE
#11 Northeastern St (6-2) Pickem @ #20 NMHU (5-3)
Mount Olive (4-4) -1 @ Clayton St (6-2)
CSU, San Bernardino (5-3) +12 @ #1 Incarnate Word (7-0)

ROUND FOUR RESULTS
NMHU 80 @ Mount Olive 90
MOC - T Benson 15/11R (POG), 14/5A, F Wee 12
NMHU - A Goode 18, M Wesolowski 15

CSU, San Bernardino 47 @ Northeastern St 57
NSU - R Rickards 16 (POG), K O'Brien 15, A WIlson 12/8
CSUSB - B Bambaataa 13, K Brawner 10

Clayton St 59 @ Incarnate Word 75
IW - R Lewis 21, (POG), C Reynolds 14/12R, C Nowakowski 14/5A
CCSU - M Fox 19, D Joseph 17

Again, congrats to fungobatboy on Incarnate Word winning this season's Yarnell Invitational and the auto-invite for the 96 Yarnell. Also, thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck the rest of the season.

FINAL STANDINGS
Incarnate Word 5-0
Northeastern St. 3-2
Clayton St. 2-3
NMHU 2-3
Mount Olive 2-3
CSU, San Bernardino 1-4

FINAL ROUND RESULTS
Northeastern St 94 @ NMHU 90
NSU - K O'Brien 27 (POG), R Rickards 15
NMHU - M Wesolowski 15/5A/3S, A Goode 14/4A

Mount Olive 74 @ Clayton St 54
MOC -A Barber 15/5A (POG), T Sanders 16
CCSU - M Fox 22/7R

CSU, San Bernardino 63 @ Incarnate Word 74
IW - R Lewis 29 (POG), C Reynolds 19/7R, R Duty 10/6A
CSUSB - K Brawner 20, B Thompson 9

That went well for the Bernies.

Post-season results for teams in the Yarnell. Not as many deeps NT runs as usual, but I have noticed that in the last three seasons we've had a teams with losing records in the Yarnell get 1-seeds (twice) and 2-seeds (also twice) in the NT, which was cool to see.

Incarnate Word - Sweet 16
Northeastern St. - Sweet 16
Clayton St. - 2nd Round
NMHU - Sweet 16
Mount Olive - Elite 8
CSU, San Bernardino - 1st Round