Not a helpless underdog, this Ball State side that's won five of six and just bombed Bowling Green 91-69 in Muncie on Saturday. It might be worth keeping tabs on the Cards, too, as they have a unique feature in the MAC, a bruising big man, as punishing boomerang transfer 6-10 C Payton Sparks has scored 19 or more and grabbed 12 rebounds or more in four of the past five games, while juco G Fatt Hill (16.5 ppg) balances the floor. As for the host Bobcats, they're only 4-8 as chalk this season, and not carried away by Saturday's blowout of a poor Northern Illinois. Play Ball State