This will be the 56th season of The Yarnell Invitational (named after Yarnell Ice Cream in Searcy, AR). As always, it'll be a 6 team round-robin tournament that'll 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: Seattle [Great Northwest] Representing the Great NW for NW Nazerene
Host: New Mexico Highlands [Northern Sun]

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #2: DC @ Host,
Game #5: #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

Historical Conference Standings:
Heartland -15
Central Atlantic - 8
Peach Belt - 8
CVAC - 7
Gulf South - 4
GLV - 4

I'm still a bit behind, where I haven't had time to do the customary previews I like to do or the dynasty rankings. I'm too late to get a preview up, but I'll get the dynasty rankings up (better late than never, especially since I would just fall further behind if I didn't get them completed this season).

SCHEDULE
FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: Seattle @ New Mexico Highlands, Erskine @ Northeastern St., Mesa St @ Columbus St
Game #6: New Mexico Highlands @ Mesa St, Northeastern St. @ Seattle, Erskine @ Columbus St
Game #7: Columbus St @New Mexico Highlands, Northeastern St. @ Mesa St, Seattle @ Erskine
Game #8: New Mexico Highlands @ Erskine, Columbus St @ Northeastern St., Mesa St @ Seattle
Game #9: Northeastern St. @ New Mexico Highlands, Erskine @ Mesa St, Columbus St @ Seattle

PRESEASON RANKINGS:
#1 - Seattle
#2 - Northeastern St.
#5 - Mesa St.
#24 Erskine
NR Columbus St. (currently ranked 21)
NR New Mexico Highlands

PLAYERS TO WATCH

James Walker, PF, Seattle, 1st-Team All-American

Justin Pitcock, C, Northeastern St., 2nd-Team All-American

Allen Montijo, PG, Northeastern St., 3rd-Team All-AMerican

Victor Tatum, SF, Seattle, 3rd-Team All-American

John Dean, PG, Northeastern St., Honorable Mention

Gerard Kelch, SF, Mesa St., Honorable Mention

Bryant Andes, C, Mesa St., Honorable Mention

S. Roane, SG, Columbus St.

J. Allen, C Columbus St.

J. Oliver, PF, Seattle

A. McEachron, SG, Mesa St.

Jason Cardwell, SF, Erskine

David Brown, PF, Eskine

Jeffry Samons, C, Erskine

Johnny Munson, PG, New Mexico Highlands

Richard Weaver, SF, New Mexico Highlands

ROUND ONE
#14 Seattle (2-2) -10 @ New Mexico Highlands (1-3)
Erskine (2-2) +19 @ #1 Northeastern St. (4-0)
Mesa St (2-2) -1@ Columbus St (3-1)

I'm hoping to get the Lone Star Conference their first Yarnell championship. Thanks for running this, long!

STANDINGS
Northeastern St. 1-0
Seattle 1-0
Columbus St. 1-0
Mesa St. 0-1
Eskine 0-1
New Mexico Highlands 0-1

ROUND TWO
New Mexico Highlands (1-4) +4 @ Mesa St (2-3)
#1 Northeastern St. (5-) -6 @ #13 Seattle (3-2)
Erskine (2-3) +5 @ #18 Columbus St (4-1)

ROUND ONE RESULTS
Seattle 90 @ New Mexico Highlands 74
SU - J Walker 17/10R (POG), J Farmer 16, J Oliver 13
NMHU - R Weaver 21, R Johnson 14/10R, J Munson 13/7A

Erskine 76 @ Northeastern St. 79
NSU - J Dean 17/5A (POG), A Montijo 17, R Littlefield 10
EC - D Brown 15, J Cardwell 15, B Williams 11

Mesa St 61 @ Columbus St 75
CSU - J Allen 12/8R (POG), S Roane 12, R Moore 10/10R
MSC - M Preson 10, G Kelch 9, A McEachron

Two very close games for #1 ranked Northeastern St so far in the Yarnell, as they become the early front runners along with Columbus St. If both win tonight, the deciding game will be tomorrow when they face each other. NMHU has Columbus St. tonight though. Let's go uptempo tonight pdx, deal?

Northeastern St. 2-0
Columbus St. 2-0
Seattle 1-1
New Mexico Highlands 1-1
Mesa St. 0-2
Eskine 0-2

ROUND THREE
#12 Columbus St. (5-1) -9 @ New Mexico Highlands (2-4)
#1 Northeastern St. (6-0) -24 @ Mesa St (2-4)
#19 Seattle (3-3) -7 @ Erskine (2-4)

ROUND TWO RESULTS
New Mexico Highlands 119 @ Mesa St 76
NMHU - J Munson 19/5A/4S (POG), R Weaver 26, C Fredrick 11/7A
MSC - G Kelch 18, C Burge 13/4S, E Preston 10

Northeastern St. 75 @ Seattle 73
NSU - A Montijo 17 (POG), J Pitcock 15/9R, J Dean 13
SU - T Matson 16, J Oliver 12/8R, V Tatum 10/12R

Erskine 58 @ Columbus St 81
CSU - S Roane 22 (POG), J Allen 14/8R, G Reneau 14
EC - B Williams 13, D Brown 12, J Samons 12

Biting my nails with these games.

Northeastern St. is in the drivers seat, but the Columbus St loss actually makes things less clear for Northeastern St.'s path to the Yarnell title. First, the Columbus St @ Northeastern St game tonight is huge. If Columbus St. wins, they would own the tie-breaker over Northeastern St., but Seattle and NM Highlands would still be in it as well, with tie-breakers getting split several ways depending on how remaining games play out. If Northeastern State prevails tonight, it would eliminate and Columbus St, but NM Highlands could still be alive if they also win tonight against Erskine. Seattle would remain alive in the event of a Northeastern St. victory tonight only if NM Highlands wins, due to tie-breakers. This possibility would set up a game tomorrow with NM Highlands @ Northeastern St, with Seattle's holding out for a 3-way tie if NM Highlands wins and Seattle wins their remaining games. Of course, tonight if Northeastern St wins against Columbus St., and NM Highlands loses to Erskine, Northeastern St. will clinch. Confused yet?

STANDINGS
Northeastern St. 3-0
Columbus St. 2-1
Seattle 2-1
New Mexico Highlands 2-1
Mesa St. 0-3
Eskine 0-3

ROUND FOUR
New Mexico Highlands (3-4) -2 @ Erskine (2-5)
#22 Columbus St (5-2) +10 @ #1 Northeastern St. (7-0)
Mesa St (2-5) +10 @ #17 Seattle (4-3)

ROUND THREE RESULTS
Columbus St 69 @New Mexico Highlands 78
NMHU - R Weaver 22/4A/4S (POG), J Munson 17/%A, R Johnson 10
CSU - S Roane 21, J Allen 14/9R, G Reneau 13/9R

Northeastern St. 83 @ Mesa St 70
NSU - J Dean 24/5A (POG), A Montijo 14, J Atkins 9/8R
MSC - G Kelch 13, A McEachron 13, C Burge 9/4A

Seattle 72 @ Erskine 57
SU - J Walker 16/9R/3B, S Poirier 12/5A, V Tatum 11
EC - D Brown 15, J Samons 13

Wow that was a lot for you to figure out, long. I like the breakdown. Kudos to pdx on the coaching job so far this tournament. Because if I'm being honest I'm least afraid of his squad of any I've faced in the tourney so far. But he's 2-1 and a school like Mesa State is 0-3...go figure.

The key game tonight will be Northeastern St @ NM Highlands. If Northeastern St wins, they lock down the Yarnell title outright, no tie breakers involved. If NM Highlands can pull off the upset, both teams will finish 4-1, with NM Highlands owning the tie-breaker. However, if Seattle also wins tonight as they host Columbus St, that will put Seattle at 4-1 as well, owning the tie-breaker against NM Highlands and losing the tie-breaker to Northeastern St. Each team would split tie-breakers against the other two teams. In that case, we would have a 3-way tie and put hackerhog on speed dial to sort through the mess and determine the champ. While I don't like NM Highlands chances, I would love to see the chaos at the top of the standings.

STANDINGS
Northeastern St. 4-0
Seattle 3-1
New Mexico Highlands 3-1
Columbus St. 2-2
Mesa St. 0-4
Eskine 0-4

ROUND FIVE
#1 Northeastern St. (8-0) -18 @ New Mexico Highlands (4-4)
Erskine (2-6) -1 @ Mesa St (2-6)
Columbus St (5-3) +2 @ #13 Seattle (5-3)

ROUND FOUR RESULTS
New Mexico Highlands 90 @ Erskine 79
NMHU - R Weaver 18 (POG), M David 16, J Munson 13
EC - J Cardwell 15, R Kendrick 10, J Samons 7/10R

Columbus St 50 @ Northeastern St. 68
J Dean 19/6A (POG), A Montijo 16/5A
J Allen 13, S Roane 8/3S

Mesa St 74 @ Seattle 87
SU - S Poirier 16/7A (POG), J Walker 11/7R, J Marshall 11
MSC - C Burge 17, E Preston 12, G Kelch 10

The battle to not be last place goes down tonight. Need to turn this season around tonight.

Posted by cregen7 on 12/6/2017 11:21:00 PM (view original):
Wow that was a lot for you to figure out, long. I like the breakdown. Kudos to pdx on the coaching job so far this tournament. Because if I'm being honest I'm least afraid of his squad of any I've faced in the tourney so far. But he's 2-1 and a school like Mesa State is 0-3...go figure.

Thanks cregen. I don't have many options or tricks up my sleeve with my current squad after striking out on some big targets for the last few recruiting cycles. One more bad crootin' year and I'll have to do another rebuild. I am ecstatic to even be .500 with the quality of teams in this year's Yarnell.

I'm as excited to win a Yarnell as I was to win a NC. I never thought I would get one!

Congrats to cregen on the Yarnell title this season and the auto-invite for Northeastern St. in season 100, and thanks to everyone for participating. Made it closer than I thought in the final deciding game, and with the Columbus St win over Seattle, the NM Highland vs Northeastern St ended up being a winner-take-all game, even if it wasn't apparent going into the game. Two missed 3-pointers in the final 6 seconds, after multiple lead changes over the 2nd half. Good way to decide the tournament. At least I feel a little better about my 4-5 team after hanging with the top-ranked team. Anyway, good luck to everyone the rest of the way and hope to see everyone back in the Yarnell down the road sometime.

FINAL STANDINGS
Northeastern St. 5-0
Seattle 3-2
New Mexico Highlands 3-2
Columbus St. 3-2
Mesa St. 1-4
Eskine 0-5

FINAL ROUND RESULTS
Northeastern St. 92 @ New Mexico Highlands 89
NSU - J Dean 24 (POG), J Pitcock 14/13R, A Montijo 13/4A
NMHU - R Johnson 15/8R, M David 15, R Weaver 15

Erskine 68 @ Mesa St 71
MSC - C Burge 16, B Andes 12, G Kech 10/8R
EC - D Brown 10/8R, J Samons 9

Columbus St 63 @ Seattle 54
CSU - J Woods 20 (POG), S Roane 15, G Reneau 11/9R/5B
SU - J Oliver 14, J Walker 13/13R

Post-season results for the season 98 Yarnell participants are as follows:

Northeastern St.: Sweet 16 (loss to Columbus St.)
Seattle: Elite 8
New Mexico Highlands: Elite 8
Columbus St.:Elite 8
Mesa St.: 1st Round (loss to NMHU)
Erskine: PI Champs

Can't wait to see "Lone Star - 1" under next year's historical standings!