This will be the 57th 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 (always, as in we will change that next year into a special 10 team 9 game tournament to commemorate season 100 of Iba). 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: N Florida [Peach Belt]
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:
(adding full standings this season w/ modification for the one time the Yarnell was declared a tie)

Heartland	15
Peach Belt	8
Central Atlantic	7.5
CVAC	7
GLIAC	4
Gulf South	4
GLV	4
Lone Star	3
CAA	2
Great NW	1
Northern Sun	0.5

SCHEDULE
FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: N Florida @ New Mexico Highlands, Wisconsin, Parkside @ Mount Olive, Chadron St. @ Cal Poly Pomona
Game #6: New Mexico Highlands @ Chadron St., Mount Olive @ N Florida, Wisconsin, Parkside @ Cal Poly Pomona
Game #7: Cal Poly Pomona @New Mexico Highlands, Mount Olive @ Chadron St., N Florida @ Wisconsin, Parkside
Game #8: New Mexico Highlands @ Wisconsin, Parkside, Cal Poly Pomona @ Mount Olive, Chadron St. @ N Florida
Game #9: Mount Olive @ New Mexico Highlands, Wisconsin, Parkside @ Chadron St., Cal Poly Pomona @ N Florida

PRESEASON RANKINGS:
#1 Wisconsin, Parkside
#2 Cal Poly Pomona
#6 N. Florida
#15 Chadron St.
#16 Mount Olive
NR New Mexico Highlands (yes, your gracious host is over-matched in a rebuilding year & will play the role of spoiler)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Matthew McMahan, SG, Cal Poly Pomona, 1st-Team All-American
Aaron Bradford, SF, Wisconsin-Parkside, 2nd-Team All-American
Steven Breslin, PG, Wisconsin-Parkside, 3rd Team All-American
Roger Schuster, SG, Mount Olive, 3rd-Team All-American
Gregory Williams, PG, Wisconsin-Parkside, Honorable Mention
Ron Livingston, PG, Wisconsin-Parkside, Honorable Mention
Morris Espy, SG, Wisconsin-Parkside, Honorable Mention
Joshua Hope, SG, N. Florida, Honorable Mention
Gregory Grossi, PF, Mount Olive, Honorable Mention
Gene Davis, PF, N. Florida, Honorable Mention
David Galli, C, Cal Poly Pomona, Honorable Mention
Russell Roepke, C, Cal Poly Pomona, Honorable Mention
James Maxwell, PG, N. Florida
Joel Wooten, SF, N. Florida
Terrence Burford, PG, Chadron St.
Wayne Hassell, PG, Chadron St.
William Abbott, C, Chadron St.
Calvin Lewis, SF, Chadron St.
Steve Nordstrom, PF, Cal Poly Pomona
Ryan Gasaway, SG, Mount Olive
Roy Reed, SG, Mount Olive
Philip Mumma, PG, New Mexico Highlands
Christopher Frederick, SG, New Mexico Highlands
James Canchola, C, New Mexico Highlands

ROUND ONE
#8 N Florida (4-0) -23 @ New Mexico Highlands (1-3)
#2 Wisconsin, Parkside (4-0) -11 @ #20 Mount Olive (4-0)
Chadron St. (3-1) +16 @ #1 Cal Poly Pomona (4-0)

Yarnell 99 Preview

Trying a different type of preview here that doesn’t involve as much team-specific analysis that was hard to find the time for. Hopefully this will provide a little historical context. Looks like we have a good group this season, collectively 20-4 (with me at 1-3).

Yarnell 99 features what is essentially the rubber match between 97 and 95 champs N. Florida and Wisconsin, Parkside, each of which faced each other in those tournaments. Usually teams get rotated enough that the same teams are not frequently in the tournament, but this will be the 3^rd time in the last 5 seasons these teams have run into each other at the Yarnell. Of course, teamvip’s N. Florida program is well known as the dynasty representing the Peach Belt Super Conference that has incredibly won 7 of the last 11 titles, which is among the top runs in any division in any world. Of course, any time they participate in the Yarnell they enter as a favorite, and have won the Yarnell under teamvip in seasons 93 and 97.

This year, tcole23’s Wisconsin, Parkside team entered the season ranked #1, and enters the tournament ranked #2. Given that they were able to defeat N. Florida 4 seasons ago in this tournament will make them a formidable rival. Winner of the NT with Seattle in season 79, tcole23 has also been to two Final 4’s in the last few seasons with the current school.

Also making his first Yarnell appearance is staypuft and #1 ranked Cal Poly Pomona. In only the 6^th season with CPP, staypuft has put the program in the national spotlight with a Sweet 16 appearance, followed by a 1-seed last year before running into a 2^nd round upset. Now entering this season #2 and currently ranked #1, look for this CAA rep to make some noise and cause lots of problems for the other teams, maybe sneaking out with a win in staypuft’s first Yarnell.

Representing the CVAC this season is bbunch’s Mount Olive team. Having won 4 NT’s and multiple other Final 4 appearances during the time with Longwood, now bbunch has been able to turn new program Mount Olive into a contender, recently reaching the Elite 8 while entering this season ranked 16, starting 4-0. Seasons 55, 58, and 86 were won by bbunch’s Longwood squads, and Mount Olive was most recently in the Yarnell under bbunch’s leadership just 5 seasons ago.

Another newcomer to the Yarnell (I think) is cowpoke38’s Chadron St., who entered the season ranked 15, while representing a strengthened Rocky Mtn Conference. Chadron St. under cowpoke’s leadership the last 39 seasons has collected many NT appearances and reached the Elite 8. This team looks to be one of the strongest of recent seasons for this Nebraska-based school. Off to a 3-1 start with only a loss on the road to a top 10 team, the Yarnell will be a test to see how good this Chadron St team is.

Host long_ge’s New Mexico Highland team enters the tournament unranked, 1-3, and with no seniors, so I’m comfortable saying this rebuild will likely try to play the role of spoiler. However, it would be a mistake to underestimate this team that has a top 25 win and has notched two Elite 8’s, a Final 4, and a Title Game appearance in the last 4 seasons.

#2 Wisconsin, Parkiside @ #1 Cal Poly Pomona tonight for the early edge, as N Florida tries to keep pace at the top of the standings against a Mount Olive team that took UWP into the last minute. New Mexico Highlands and Chadron St. face each other to try to stay in contention and avoid falling into a 0-2 deficit.

STANDINGS
Wisconsin, Parkside 1-0
Cal Poly Pomona 1-0
N. Florida 1-0
Chadron St. 0-1
Mount Olive 0-1
New Mexico Highlands 0-1

ROUND TWO
New Mexico Highlands (1-4) +7 @ Chadron St. (3-2)
Mount Olive (4-1) +5 @ #6 N Florida (5-0)
#2 Wisconsin, Parkside (5-0) -1 @ #1 Cal Poly Pomona (5-0)

ROUND ONE RESULTS
N Florida 93 @ New Mexico Highlands 76
UNF - J Hope 30 (POG), J Maxwell 17, G Davis 10/11R
NMHU - C Frederick 15, J Canchola 10, P Mumma 10

Wisconsin, Parkside 85 @ Mount Olive 82
UWP - A Bradford 19 (POG), J Mier 13/14R, S Breslin 11/8A
MOC - R Schuster 19, G Grossi 15/8R, R Gasaway 13

Chadron St. 69 @ Cal Poly Pomona 79
CPP - S Nordstrom 23 (POG), M McMahan 19, D Galli 18/8R
CSC - C Lewis 12, W Abbott 11, M Davis 10

I'm really enjoying the writeups! I think it might be a good idea to start putting the Iba Yarnell writeups on the main forum, as this one is very inconvenient to get to with this setup. Anyway, thanks for the historical shoutout!

We might have to do that next season and see how it works out. I'm sure it would get more attention there. Just to let the cat out of the bag...adlorenz came to me with an pretty cool idea that was almost too late to implement, where we would expand the Yarnell basically doing a massive 10 team round robin to commemorate season 100 in Iba. In what is a minor miracle, I think we got all 10 team's 9 game Yarnell schedule all set correctly by the looks of it. Should be an epic event.

Two games last night were decided in the last 5 seconds. The other game, between #1 and #2, went into overtime. A critical game tonight pits N Florida against Wisconsin, Parkside for the 3rd time in 5 seasons. If N Florida wins, it will likely lead to a decisive showdown between Cal Poly Pomona and N Florida in the last game. If Wisconsin, Parkside prevails, that opens the door for more possibilities with Cal Poly owning a tie-breaker against UWP, who would own a tie-breaker against N Florida, as we await that CPP vs UNF match-up on the last day. New Mexico Highlands will try to play spoiler against Cal Poly Pomona as 36 point underdogs, while Chadron St and Mount Olive face each other to get in the win column. Mount Olive has faced two of the best teams in the country and lost by 2 and 3 points and finds themselves in the hole, but so goes the Yarnell.

STANDINGS
Cal Poly Pomona 2-0
N. Florida 2-0
Wisconsin, Parkside 1-1
New Mexico Highlands 1-1
Chadron St. 0-2
Mount Olive 0-2

ROUND THREE
#1 Cal Poly Pomona (6-0) -36 @ New Mexico Highlands (2-4)
Mount Olive (4-2) -1 @ Chadron St. (3-3)
#6 N Florida (6-0) pickem @ #3 Wisconsin, Parkside (5-1)

ROUND TWO RESULTS
New Mexico Highlands 70 @ Chadron St. 69
NMHU - C Frederick 11/5S/4A (POG), J Canchola 11, F Phillips 10
CSC - M Davis 16, W Hassell 11, T Burford 9/4A

Mount Olive 61 @ N Florida 63
UNF - J Hope 22, (POG), G Davis 13
MOC - R Schuster 13, J Moore 12

Wisconsin, Parkside 82 @ Cal Poly Pomona 90 OT
CPP - R Roepke 19/7R/5Blk (POG), D Galli 18/9R, M McMahon 13/6A
UWP - A Bradford 16, J Mier 14/10R, S Breslin 12/5A

Going through every scenario, if both Cal Poly Pomana and N Florida both lost tonight, one of them would have to finish 4-1 since they still face each other in the last game. No other team can get to 4 wins to get into a tie, so this year's title will come down to the last night when Cal Poly Pomona visits North Florida. Regardless of what happens tonight, the winner of that game would win the Yarnell. That is, if one of the teams were to lose and the other win tonight, they still face each other and whoever would win would have the tie-breaker if that is even needed. So tonight won't have much impact on the title, but it should build the anticipation for defending NT and Yarnell champ against the upstart #1 team in the country.

STANDINGS
Cal Poly Pomona 3-0
N. Florida 3-0
Wisconsin, Parkside 1-2
New Mexico Highlands 1-2
Mount Olive 1-2
Chadron St. 0-3

ROUND FOUR
New Mexico Highlands (2-5) +23 @ #8 Wisconsin, Parkside (5-2)
#1 Cal Poly Pomona (7-0) -16 @ Mount Olive (5-2)
Chadron St. (3-4) +17 @ #4 N Florida (7-0)

ROUND THREE RESULTS
Cal Poly Pomona 90 @ New Mexico Highlands 59
CPP- M McMahan 20/4A (POG), L Zehr 19, S Nordstrom 17
NMHU - F Phillips 10, J Canchola 8

Mount Olive 72 @ Chadron St. 69 OT
MOC - R Schuster 26 (POG), R Gasaway 14, R Reed 11/4S/5A
CSC - C Lewis 16/11R, D Cox 13, R Ellis 12/2Blk

N Florida 74 @ Wisconsin, Parkside 65
UNF - G Davis 21/15R, J Hope 22/4A, J Wooten 9
UWP - A Bradford 14/8R, G Williams 10, S Breslin 10

#1 Cal Poly Pomona travels to #3 N Florida both knotted up at 4-0 at the top of the Yarnell standings. The winner of tonight's contest will win the Yarnell title outright and receive an automatic invite back to the Yarnell in two seasons. Good luck, it should be an excellent contest and potential F4 preview.

STANDINGS
Cal Poly Pomona 4-0
N. Florida 4-0
Wisconsin, Parkside 2-2
Mount Olive 1-3
New Mexico Highlands 1-3
Chadron St. 0-4

ROUND FIVE
Mount Olive (5-3) -8 @ New Mexico Highlands (2-6)
#5 Wisconsin, Parkside (6-2) -18 @ Chadron St. (3-5)
#1 Cal Poly Pomona (8-0) -2 @ #3 N Florida (8-0)

ROUND FOUR RESULTS
New Mexico Highlands 56 @ Wisconsin, Parkside 84
UWP - S Breslin 13/5A (POG), G WIlliams 13/7A, R Livingston 13
J Canchola 11, F Phillips 11

Cal Poly Pomona 62 @ Mount Olive 57
CPP - D Galli 16/9R (POG), M McMahan 16, R Roepke 15/11R
MOC - R Schuster 18/5A, R Gasaway 11, R Reed 10

Chadron St. 56 @ N Florida 73
UNF - J Wooten 24 (POG), J Hope 22, J Maxwell 14, A Dominiguez 3/9A
CSC - R Ellis 13, M Davis 12

Thanks for the extra win, but we should be 1-3

Good catch, I was probably thinking to the future...lol

Congrats to staypuft on Cal Poly Pomona winning the Yarnell this season and getting an automatic invitation to the Yarnell in season 101. I appreciate everyone's participation this season and good luck the rest of the way in making some deep NT runs. We certainly have a few teams capable of it in this group.

FINAL STANDINGS
Cal Poly Pomona 5-0
N. Florida 4-1
Wisconsin, Parkside 3-2
Mount Olive 2-3
New Mexico Highlands 1-4
Chadron St. 0-5

FINAL ROUND RESULTS
Mount Olive 80 @ New Mexico Highlands 69
MOC - G Grossi 13/15/R (POG), R Reed 13, R Gasaway 12
NMHU - J Canchola 18/8R, M Broach 14/9R, C Frederick 10

Wisconsin, Parkside 48 @ Chadron St. 46
UWP - S Breslin 15 (POG), A Bradford 9/4A
CSC - C Lewis 10, K Costa 8

Cal Poly Pomona 60 @ N Florida 49
CPP - D Galli 14/7R (POG), S Nordstrom 12, M McMahan 12
UNF - G Davis 14/5Blk, J Hope 13, J Maxwell 10

Hey everyone!

Thanks long_ge for putting together the tournament, there were a lot of great teams and I think I had a couple games bounce my way.

Also good luck to the rest of the field going forward, hopefully we can get another meeting in the NT for some fun.

Here are how the Yarnell 99 teams did in the post-season.

Cal Poly Pomona: 2nd Round (upset by eventual champ)
N. Florida: Elite 8
Wisconsin, Parkside: Final 4
Mount Olive:Sweet 16
New Mexico Highlands: 2nd Round
Chadron St: Sweet 16

Kind of strange post-season results all things considered. You have a team that was 0-5 in the Yarnell advance further than the team that went 5-0. While Cal Poly Pomona obviously got a tough match-up with the eventual champ who was MUCH better than their seed in Pfeiffer, it is no surprise that Chadron St was able to advance against a top 10 competitor and a recent NT champ. Just there are tough games in the Yarnell that sometimes sees really good teams go 1-4 or 0-5. Also, Mount Olive went 15-1 in conference play (generally I'm trying to guess 2 years in advance who has the best teams), but 3 CVAC teams advanced further in the NT(all of which have played in the Yarnell recently), including both teams in the finals. I thought we had a good shot at seeing multiple Yarnell teams making F4 runs, but only Wisconsin, Parkside made it that far, so congrats to tcole. Oh yeah, congrats to zorzii and really the entire CVAC on that post-season run.

Next season, we have the mega-Yarnell with 10 teams over 9 games to celebrate Iba's 100th season (credit goes to adlorenz on that idea), so I'll probably post that on the main HD board to draw more attention, but I'll work on getting the dynasty rankings done this weekend.