— Looking through the girls soccer all-state teams I was a little surprised to see Birmingham Marian goalkeeper Whitney Sarkis left off the Division 2 teams. Sarkis was a first team all-state selection last season and had a much better year this season. She split time in goal last season, but helped lead Marian to the state semifinals. This year she lost one game all season (in districts) and gave a total of five or six goals all season, but was likely left off because the Mustangs lost in the first round of districts to state runner-up Bloomfield Hills Lahser. I don’t know exactly how the all-state teams are made up and in general they do an outstanding job, but seeing Sarkis left off just puzzled me.

— I was looking over Oakland’s women’s basketball schedule and there are some solid home games again this season. The Golden Grizzlies open up the season by hosting Columbia and also host Georgia, Siena, St. Bonaventure, Marquette and Rochester College.

On the road Oakland has a pair of games in Cozumel, Mexico against South Carolina-Upstate and Texas-San Antonio. Other non-conference road games include Niagara, Purdue and Saint Louis.

Oakland has two road conference games in December against Southern Utah and UMKC. The biggest competition for the Summit League title will once again be regular season champion South Dakota State and tournament champion Oral Roberts. The Grizzlies host South Dakota State on Jan. 5 and Oral Roberts on Feb. 9.

The men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball schedules are also up on the Oakland Web site. Hopefully the men’s basketball schedule will be released soon.

— I’m looking forward to the NBA draft this Thursday for a few reasons. One I am interested to see if the Pistons do a draft-day deal and two I am curious to see if IUPUI's George Hill gets drafted. If he does maybe it will bring some more credibility to the Summit League.