It's Day 11 for Erie

Mad Antics

The D-League will hold its annual national tryouts June 15 in New York. The one-day event will see 200 hopefuls in full-court games in front of team executives, coaches and scouts.Thursday

Howard, Smith work at Development League camp

Mad Ants guard Ron Howard and center Tommy Smith accepted invitations to the NBA Development League Elite Mini Camp, which started Monday and runs through Tuesday in Chicago.Monday

Record year for D-League

It wasn't only the Mad Ants that made 2012-13 their best season; the rest of the NBA Development League had a record-setting year, as well.May 1, 2013

It's a fairly significant game tonight when the Mad Ants play Erie at Memorial Coliseum.

Of course we've talked about the playoff implications from here on out. Fort Wayne (21-24) holds onto the final playoff bid, but barely. With Idaho winning Monday night, the Stampede and Texas are both 20-25, and Austin is 19-24, which means all three teams are a game behind the Ants.

Erie (28-16) has been a team that's had Fort Wayne's number. The BayHawks have won the last two and four of the last five.

Erie, though, could be road-weary. This is Day 11 of the BayHawks' trip that began in Iowa, then moved to Reno, Bakersfield and now Fort Wayne before returning home to play the Ants on Thursday.

Eager to see how the defensive threesome combination of Rod Wilmont, Chris Kramer and Ron Howard will translate to tonight's game, especially against Ivan Johnson, the league's second-leading scorer with a 21.8 average.