So what's happened to IPFW basketball?A week ago the Mastodons were coming off an emotionally-charged overtime win over IUPUI at Conseco Fieldhouse, then Saturday they lost to last-place Centenary for the second time this season. And to make matters worse, it was the second straight home loss in less than 48 hours.To quote Vince Lombardi, What's going on out there.

By the end of the night you could see that IPFW's junior outside hitter Darryl Shank was getting bone weary.Kills attempts that he put away earlier were flying wide, and didn't have the steam that they once had.Even though he finished with an astounding 35 kills, Shank's Mastodons still wound up losing 3-2 to Lewis on Friday at the Gates Center.

Know that it would have been bad form for the several IPFW fans to storm the Conseco Fieldhouse floor after the Mastodons' 62-60 victory over IUPUI on Sunday, the team went into the stands - sort of - to celebrate.

IPFW's men's basketball team begins the second half of its Summit League season Thursday night at Western Illinois, and if Dane Fife is ever going to get over the 13-win hump, that's a pivotal game.

It will still count as a 3-1 loss to Loyola-Chicago - a team it has lost to five times in the last six tries - but hope springs eternal; at least for IPFW volleyball coach Arnie Ball.Ball leaned on the water coolers after Friday night's MIVA match at the Gates Center and talked of good news-bad news scenarios.

It wasn't long ago when I posted that Deilvez Yearby has all the tools to be the best player in the Summit League.Seems as though the Summit League is beginning to agree with me.For the third time this season, Yearby, the Mastodons' 6-foot-6 forward, was named the league's Player of the Week - an honor he shared with Oral Roberts' Warren Niles.

Now that IPFW's women's basketball team is back in sole possession of first place in the Summit League, now what?IPFW coach Chris Paul made a good point when he said that his team still had to beat the big boys - not a politically-correct term, but so what.His team will hit the road for four straight conference games, including two at North and South Dakota.

In case you haven't seen IPFW's 6-foot-6 forward Deilvez Yearby yet, you should. Seriously.

When Deilvez Yearby hammered home a game-tying dunk with 1:28 remaining, Hilliard Gates Sports Center - and pay attention here - became as loud as any gym I've ever been in. And I covered IU for many, many years. I know one has to be careful here about being perceived as a homer. But if the good IPFW chancellor Michael Wartell was paying attention - and he was in the house Thursday night - even he would have to see (and hear, and feel) what an influence the crowd had in IPFW's 61-56 win over Southern Utah.

IPFW women's basketball coach Chris Paul has announced that former University of Michigan player LeQuisha Whitfield has enrolled at IPFW, and will play for the Mastodons beginning in January 2011.“LeQuisha is a young lady who was very accomplished coming out of high school with a high Miss Basketball finish,” said Paul. “She was highly recruited and decided to play at Michigan so she could stay close to home.”