≈ Saturday, March 11, 2006
It's Bucknell again
Bison finish 17-0 run through Patriot with win over HC
(Originally posted Friday at 8:51 p.m., links added at 8:11 a.m.)
There are no nets hanging in Sojka Pavilion. What was left of them after Bucknell's shooters scorched them in the second half of the Patriot League Championship game were cut down by the celebrating Bison following their 74-59 win over visiting Holy Cross.
It was the second year in a row Bucknell got to break out the scissors. No one is certain, but it might have been the first time they ever cut down the nets at home. The three other times in modern history that Bucknell won its league tournament title it happened on someone else's floor,including last year when they won the title on Holy Cross' home floor in Worcester.
"I can't say it was different than doing it up there because for me, as a coach, it was my first time doing it and I will never forget it," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. "But being an alum, it was especially gratifying."
And it was special for the orange clad crowd of 4,110 that filled Sojka Pavilion, with the obvious exception of the 400 or so Holy Cross fans who made the trip. The Bison student section chanted "Undefeated" as the clock ran down, then stormed the court in celebration of the Bison's unprecedented 17-0 run through the conference regular season and tournament.
That such a celebration would take place began to be apparent early in the second half. Buoyed by a momentum-boosting three-pointer by Kevin Bettencourt that sent the Bison to the locker room at intermission with a 42-38 led, Bucknell came out and took control with an early 15-2 run, holding the Crusaders without a basket for a stretch of over seven minutes
"The start of the second half, defensively we were able to adjust to some of the things they did in the first half," said Flannery.
Bucknell also picked it up a little on offense, too. After a solid 46.9 percent shooting effort before the break, the Bison came out and hit 61.1 percent (11 of 18) in the second half. It started with center Chris McNaughton, who was forced to sit the final seven minutes of the first half after picking up three fouls. Leading 45-42, the Bison went to the 6-11 junior two straight trips down the floor, quickly extending the lead to 49-42.
"(The first half foul trouble) just made me more aggressive coming out in the second half. It kind of motivated me," said McNaughton, who finished with 14 points of 7 of 9 shooting.
After a Kevin Hamilton layup stemmed the tide temporarily, Bucknell scored 11 unanswered points, including five by reserve forward Donald Brown, who overcame a 1 for 5 start to finish with 14 points. All five came courtesy of drives by BU point guard Abe Badmus, who beat his man off the dribble and dished to Brown when the Holy Cross big men came to help.
By the time Holy Cross' Keith Simmons stopped the run with a long three that cut Bucknell's margin to 65-50, it was pretty clear the Crusaders would not be staging any miracle comeback like the one that almost overcame a big Bucknell lead in last year's championship. Not with point guard Torey Thomas sitting on the bench nursing an ankle that he turned badly in the first half and Simmons and Hamilton running on fumes after being forced to play yeoman's minutes to make up for Thomas' absence. The Crusaders never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
"Once Torey went down, it was, as Yogi said, deja vu all over again," said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard, whose team has battled enough injuries to script a season of ER this year. The guy who would have came in for Thomas, Pat Doherty, has not played since early in the season due to a foot injury. Simmons and Hamilton have both battled an assortment of ailments all year. Adding insult to injury, Hamilton lost a thumbnail in the second half to boot.
"It was Murphy's Law," said Simmons. "When Torey went down, I shook my head. I said, 'Oh no, this can't happen again. Not now."
Thomas tried to play through it, but by the time Badmus beat him off the dribble for those two dishes to Brown, it was obvious he was not able to help. Thomas sat and watched the final seven minutes of the game.
What Thomas saw was a textbook example of a deeper, more physical team wearing down an opponent. By the end, when Simmons came out with 1:43 to play, he had run out of gas.
"We just kept working them, making Hamilton and Simmons play defense and they got tired," said Bucknell's Charles Lee, who added the tournament MVP trophy to his collection of post season honors. Lee finished with 16 points.
Bettencourt led all scorers with 23, including six three-pointers. Always a streaky shooter, the senior from Salem, Mass. hit the first trey he took and never stopped hitting them.
"He is always dangerous because if you give him an opportunity to shoot the basketball, he is going to knock it down," said Willard. "He is a senior. He is going to make big plays."
McNaughton was the fourth Bison in doubles, scoring 14 points on a 7 of 9 shooting night.
Hamilton led Holy Cross with 20 points, playing all but a minute of the game. Simmons, who Willard had planned to get significant rests by subbing for him around the long TV timeouts, ended up playing 38 minutes, finishing with 19 points. Tim Clifford also reached double figures for Holy Cross, scoring all of his 10 points in the first half, eight of them at the foul line, where he was perfect.
Foul shooting kept Holy Cross close in the first half. The Crusaders went to the line 20 times before the intermission, making 17. After the break they shot only five free throws in what can only be called an extremely inconsistently officiated game.
NOTES: The loss was the first ever as a No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament for Holy Cross, which twice won the championship as a two seed, including in 1993 when they beat Bucknell in the Bison's old Davis Gym . . . HC was 8-0 as a two seed coming in . . . The win was Bucknell's fourth in a row over HC, dating back to last year's final, and their fifth in six games . . . Lee became the first player in league history to win back to back tournament MVP honors . . . He is the seventh player to win regular season Player of the Year and Tournament MVP in the same season.
Friday, March 10, 2006
All-Tournament awards
All-Tournament team
Keith Simmons (HC)
Kevin Hamilton (HC)
Charles Lee (BU)
Kevin Bettencourt (BU)
Chris McNaughton (BU)
Tournment MVP -- Charles Lee, Bucknell
Keith Simmons (HC)
Kevin Hamilton (HC)
Charles Lee (BU)
Kevin Bettencourt (BU)
Chris McNaughton (BU)
Tournment MVP -- Charles Lee, Bucknell
Championship Gameblog
25 minutes (give or take) till tip off
Reports of the Bucknell student section's demise have proved premature. The Psyhcos are here, and they are already loud.
Chants of "This is our house" and the call and reply "'Ray" "Bucknell" have been going on for about 20 minutes now.
Despite spring break, Holy Cross has mustered about a dozen musicians for a pep band. But the color purple is definitely in the minority here. This is a very orange crowd.
The officials just came out. Surprise, surprise, no Rich Giallella.
Last word on start time from ESPN was to expect a 4:45 tip. One of the facts of mid major life is that you don't get to start your championship game until the ACC finishes the quarterfinal game being shown just before your game, in this case Wake Forest and North Carolina State.
5 minutes till tip
The students in the section behind the bucket HC will shoot at first are equipped with long, tubular, blue and orange balloons, which they are already waving enthusiastically, even before any Crusaders have gone to the free throw line.
About the only Bucknell fans not wearing orange are a bunch of Blue Man Group imitators in the stands at the north end.
Among the signs:
Holy Cross' Last Crusade
Bucknell Bison Patriot league,uNdefeated
We must protect this house
and the usual ESPN variations designed to get the holders their 5 seconds of fame.
And in the Holy Cross student section, one with a picture of a buffalo saying "Endangered Species"
They did a countdown to air time on ESPN, and when they hit zero, this place was nearly as loud as it was when McNaughton finished a fast break with a dunk during the semifinals win over American
Bucknell 7, HC 7 (15:54 first)
HC a turnover on its first possession, a Thomas carry
Bucknell with three offensive rebounds on its first, but can't convert
Tim Clifford's first personal comes at the 17:20 mark. The 'Saders cannot afford for him to get in foul trouble
McNaughton, hedging a screen at the top of the key, gets a steal when Thomas loses the handle and takes it in for a huge slam, hanging on the rim long enough for Clifford to beg the refs for a technical. None is called.
HC is shooting 75 percent (3-4). Bucknell is 3-8 (37.5 percent), most of the misses on that first possession. McNaughton 2 for 2, 4 points for BU
Bucknell 17, HC 14 (11:40 first)
A handful of empty seats in the HC section, otherwise this place is pretty full.
Vander Baan picks up two fouls in the space of 20 seconds. Not good for HC.
Torey Thomas just came up limping after missing a layup trying to drive on Badmus in transition. Another bad omen for HC?
Team fouls stand at HC 6, BU 4 ... both starting power forwards -- Vander Baan and Mastropaolo with 2 each
Bucknell 17, HC 17 (11:18 first)
Officials check the TV monitor on a Hamilton shot at the 11:18 mark to see where his feet where. They rule it a three-pointer, tying the score at 17-17.
So far HC's big men are 2 for 5 from the field. Bucknell's bigs are 3-5, with McNaughton accounting for all three makes and four of the shots.
Bucknell 27, HC 21 (9:08)
Thomas is back in but the ankle looks tender. He is moving very gingerly
Vander Baan gets his third personal at the 9:43 mark. Donald Brown makes the free throw to convert an old-fashioned three-point play.
Bison on a 7-2 run
Bucknell 29, HC 28 (7:52 first)
McNaughton's second personal comes on a horrible call by an official who called it on the wrong guy. Even if he had called it on Donald Brown, it would have been a bad call, since all Brown touched was the ball and the officials was on the far side of the court, completely screened. Maybe he has x-ray specs?
Minutes later an equally horrendous call on Lee when the officials first miss the jump ball when Mastropaolo ties up Clifford, then misses the travel as Clifford tries to get out of the double team.
Hard to believe these guys are the best the Patriot League can muster. But with Big East and ACC Tournaments underway, as well as A-10 ... the cream of the crop is elsewhere and we are stuck with these guys.
Bucknell 34, HC 34 (3:46 first)
McNaughton gets his third personal around the 7:15 mark. Clifford is living at the line without even being at all aggressive going to the basket. He has shot 6 free throws, making them all.
The officials are keeping Holy Cross in the game. They have already shot 14 free throws, making 13. Bucknell 5 for 5 at the line.
It's curious, given that HC has mostly been shooting jumpers while Bucknell is aggressively attacking the hoop.
So much for defense, eh? The Bison shooting 44.4 percent from the field, the Crusaders 45 percent
Bucknell 42, HC 38 (halftime)
It is becoming a habit in Sojka, big Bucknell buckets at the buzzer of the first half. This time it is Bettencourt, who drains his fourth trey of the half to send Bucknell to the break with momentum.
The cheers as the Bison leave to floor quickly turn to a much-deserved chorus of boos as the officials follow out the same corridor.
By the way, the guy who made the phantom call for McNaughton's second was John Hughes. Jeff Plunkett has certainly not distinguished himself with the whistle in the first half either.
In the first half, Bucknell called for 13 fouls, three each on McNaughton and Mastropaolo. Tim Clifford has been to the line 8 times and has made all 8. Overall, HC is 17 for 20 from the stripe in the half.
Bucknell has shot just 6 free throws, making 5. Vander Baan with three personals for HC. Hamilton with two, nobody else withg more than 1 for the Crusaders.
Hamilton with 12 points to lead HC, Clifford with 10.
For Bucknell, Lee and Bettencourt each with 12, McNaughton with 8 before sitting the last 7:17 of the half with three fouls.
Bucknell shooting 15 of 32 from the field (46.9 percent), 7 for 12 from the arc.
Holy Cross 9 for 21 (42.9 percent), 3-8 at the arc.
HC has 10 turnovers, BU 5. Rebounds 18-13 HC.
Riddle me this: How can the team with 14 points in the paint have shot just 6 free throws while the team with 6 points in the paint has shot 20? The answers: Jeff Plunkettt, John Hughes and, to a much lesser extent, Billy McCarthy.
At one point, Kevin Hyland shot two free throws with a foot on the foul line, and no call.
Almost makes you miss Giallella.
To Bucknell's credit, they have played through all that.
Bucknell 49, HC 42 (14:36 to go)
Lee on a breakaway is grabbed by Simmons, right in front of Hughes, negating a breakaway and no intentional foul call.
McNaughton with two buckets already in the half, he now has 12 points. Lee with a trey has 15 now.
Holy Cross turned it over its first two possessions, then got buckets from Simmons and Hamilton to cut it to 45-42 before McNaughton's two buckets.
Bucknell 54, HC 44 (11:52 to go)
D. Brown's dunk off a baseline drive and dish from Badmus gives Bucknell the first double digit lead of the game. It followed Bettencourt's fifth trey.
Bucknell 56, HC 44 (11:27 to go)
Brown's dunk brought an HC 30 sec. timeout. On Bucknell's next possession, the ran the same thing, with Brown laying it in and drawing a foul on Clifford.
Bucknell 57, HC 44 (10:04 to go)
Give the refs credit, they are bad both ways. Vander Baan's fourth comes on a ticky-tack call in the backcourt after a BU rebound. These guys are not just bad, they are inconsistent. Team fouls stand at 4 for HC, 1 for BU now.
All-tournament team ballots have been distributed on press row. My ballot has Hamilton, Simmons, Lee, Bettencourt and McNaughton. Tournament MVP I won't fill in until the game is decided.
Bucknell 58, HC 44 (7:53 to play)
Turnovers re killing the Crusaders. They now have 18 in the game, 8 this half.
Simmons just picked up his fourth personal, three in this half. Team fouls now at HC 6,BU 1.
Brown now in double figures for Bucknell, the fourth Bison to reach double digits.
Brown has 10 on 4 for 9 shooting after starting the game 1 for 5.
HC shooting percentage down to 37.5 percent (12-32), they are 3 for 11 this half.
Bucknell 66, HC 53 (3:27 left)
Simmons stays in with four, what choice does Willard have? He drains a three to end an 11-0 Bucknell run, but Brown answers at the other end to keep the lead at 15.
Brown's second personal, at the 6:48 mark, is just Bucknell's second team foul. Some consistency eh?
Thomas spending a long stretch on the bench. Must be the ankle.
HC using threes to stay in the game, two by Simmons and one by Kyle Cruze since Bucknell's run. But they are trading baskets. Bucknell is now 9 for 16 in the second half and is shooting 24-48 (50 percent) for the game.
Bucknell 72, HC 57 (1:32 left)
HC gets it down to 11, only to see Bettencourt convert a 4-point play on a made three and one with the shot clock running down. What did Jeff Jones say about his threes being like daggers.
My Tournament MVP ballot: 1) Lee, 2) Hamilton, 3) McNaughton ... they have no room for honorable mention, but if they did it would go to Simmons, who has played like a warrior this afternoon. He just came out after falling while trying to chase down a BU fast break. Looked like he had nothing left to give.
Bucknell 74, HC 59 (FINAL)
Bucknell lets the shot clock run out on its last possession as bedlam breaks out in Sojka. Definitely the loudest moment of a loud season here.
The Pscyhos storm the court and no criticizing it this time, after a championship game, it is fitting.
Bucknell finishes the game shooting 52 percent from the field, 26 of 50, including 10 of 18 from the arc.
Championship hats already on the Bison player's heads.
Reports of the Bucknell student section's demise have proved premature. The Psyhcos are here, and they are already loud.
Chants of "This is our house" and the call and reply "'Ray" "Bucknell" have been going on for about 20 minutes now.
Despite spring break, Holy Cross has mustered about a dozen musicians for a pep band. But the color purple is definitely in the minority here. This is a very orange crowd.
The officials just came out. Surprise, surprise, no Rich Giallella.
Last word on start time from ESPN was to expect a 4:45 tip. One of the facts of mid major life is that you don't get to start your championship game until the ACC finishes the quarterfinal game being shown just before your game, in this case Wake Forest and North Carolina State.
5 minutes till tip
The students in the section behind the bucket HC will shoot at first are equipped with long, tubular, blue and orange balloons, which they are already waving enthusiastically, even before any Crusaders have gone to the free throw line.
About the only Bucknell fans not wearing orange are a bunch of Blue Man Group imitators in the stands at the north end.
Among the signs:
and the usual ESPN variations designed to get the holders their 5 seconds of fame.
And in the Holy Cross student section, one with a picture of a buffalo saying "Endangered Species"
They did a countdown to air time on ESPN, and when they hit zero, this place was nearly as loud as it was when McNaughton finished a fast break with a dunk during the semifinals win over American
Bucknell 7, HC 7 (15:54 first)
HC a turnover on its first possession, a Thomas carry
Bucknell with three offensive rebounds on its first, but can't convert
Tim Clifford's first personal comes at the 17:20 mark. The 'Saders cannot afford for him to get in foul trouble
McNaughton, hedging a screen at the top of the key, gets a steal when Thomas loses the handle and takes it in for a huge slam, hanging on the rim long enough for Clifford to beg the refs for a technical. None is called.
HC is shooting 75 percent (3-4). Bucknell is 3-8 (37.5 percent), most of the misses on that first possession. McNaughton 2 for 2, 4 points for BU
Bucknell 17, HC 14 (11:40 first)
A handful of empty seats in the HC section, otherwise this place is pretty full.
Vander Baan picks up two fouls in the space of 20 seconds. Not good for HC.
Torey Thomas just came up limping after missing a layup trying to drive on Badmus in transition. Another bad omen for HC?
Team fouls stand at HC 6, BU 4 ... both starting power forwards -- Vander Baan and Mastropaolo with 2 each
Bucknell 17, HC 17 (11:18 first)
Officials check the TV monitor on a Hamilton shot at the 11:18 mark to see where his feet where. They rule it a three-pointer, tying the score at 17-17.
So far HC's big men are 2 for 5 from the field. Bucknell's bigs are 3-5, with McNaughton accounting for all three makes and four of the shots.
Bucknell 27, HC 21 (9:08)
Thomas is back in but the ankle looks tender. He is moving very gingerly
Vander Baan gets his third personal at the 9:43 mark. Donald Brown makes the free throw to convert an old-fashioned three-point play.
Bison on a 7-2 run
Bucknell 29, HC 28 (7:52 first)
McNaughton's second personal comes on a horrible call by an official who called it on the wrong guy. Even if he had called it on Donald Brown, it would have been a bad call, since all Brown touched was the ball and the officials was on the far side of the court, completely screened. Maybe he has x-ray specs?
Minutes later an equally horrendous call on Lee when the officials first miss the jump ball when Mastropaolo ties up Clifford, then misses the travel as Clifford tries to get out of the double team.
Hard to believe these guys are the best the Patriot League can muster. But with Big East and ACC Tournaments underway, as well as A-10 ... the cream of the crop is elsewhere and we are stuck with these guys.
Bucknell 34, HC 34 (3:46 first)
McNaughton gets his third personal around the 7:15 mark. Clifford is living at the line without even being at all aggressive going to the basket. He has shot 6 free throws, making them all.
The officials are keeping Holy Cross in the game. They have already shot 14 free throws, making 13. Bucknell 5 for 5 at the line.
It's curious, given that HC has mostly been shooting jumpers while Bucknell is aggressively attacking the hoop.
So much for defense, eh? The Bison shooting 44.4 percent from the field, the Crusaders 45 percent
Bucknell 42, HC 38 (halftime)
It is becoming a habit in Sojka, big Bucknell buckets at the buzzer of the first half. This time it is Bettencourt, who drains his fourth trey of the half to send Bucknell to the break with momentum.
The cheers as the Bison leave to floor quickly turn to a much-deserved chorus of boos as the officials follow out the same corridor.
By the way, the guy who made the phantom call for McNaughton's second was John Hughes. Jeff Plunkett has certainly not distinguished himself with the whistle in the first half either.
In the first half, Bucknell called for 13 fouls, three each on McNaughton and Mastropaolo. Tim Clifford has been to the line 8 times and has made all 8. Overall, HC is 17 for 20 from the stripe in the half.
Bucknell has shot just 6 free throws, making 5. Vander Baan with three personals for HC. Hamilton with two, nobody else withg more than 1 for the Crusaders.
Hamilton with 12 points to lead HC, Clifford with 10.
For Bucknell, Lee and Bettencourt each with 12, McNaughton with 8 before sitting the last 7:17 of the half with three fouls.
Bucknell shooting 15 of 32 from the field (46.9 percent), 7 for 12 from the arc.
Holy Cross 9 for 21 (42.9 percent), 3-8 at the arc.
HC has 10 turnovers, BU 5. Rebounds 18-13 HC.
Riddle me this: How can the team with 14 points in the paint have shot just 6 free throws while the team with 6 points in the paint has shot 20? The answers: Jeff Plunkettt, John Hughes and, to a much lesser extent, Billy McCarthy.
At one point, Kevin Hyland shot two free throws with a foot on the foul line, and no call.
Almost makes you miss Giallella.
To Bucknell's credit, they have played through all that.
Bucknell 49, HC 42 (14:36 to go)
Lee on a breakaway is grabbed by Simmons, right in front of Hughes, negating a breakaway and no intentional foul call.
McNaughton with two buckets already in the half, he now has 12 points. Lee with a trey has 15 now.
Holy Cross turned it over its first two possessions, then got buckets from Simmons and Hamilton to cut it to 45-42 before McNaughton's two buckets.
Bucknell 54, HC 44 (11:52 to go)
D. Brown's dunk off a baseline drive and dish from Badmus gives Bucknell the first double digit lead of the game. It followed Bettencourt's fifth trey.
Bucknell 56, HC 44 (11:27 to go)
Brown's dunk brought an HC 30 sec. timeout. On Bucknell's next possession, the ran the same thing, with Brown laying it in and drawing a foul on Clifford.
Bucknell 57, HC 44 (10:04 to go)
Give the refs credit, they are bad both ways. Vander Baan's fourth comes on a ticky-tack call in the backcourt after a BU rebound. These guys are not just bad, they are inconsistent. Team fouls stand at 4 for HC, 1 for BU now.
All-tournament team ballots have been distributed on press row. My ballot has Hamilton, Simmons, Lee, Bettencourt and McNaughton. Tournament MVP I won't fill in until the game is decided.
Bucknell 58, HC 44 (7:53 to play)
Turnovers re killing the Crusaders. They now have 18 in the game, 8 this half.
Simmons just picked up his fourth personal, three in this half. Team fouls now at HC 6,BU 1.
Brown now in double figures for Bucknell, the fourth Bison to reach double digits.
Brown has 10 on 4 for 9 shooting after starting the game 1 for 5.
HC shooting percentage down to 37.5 percent (12-32), they are 3 for 11 this half.
Bucknell 66, HC 53 (3:27 left)
Simmons stays in with four, what choice does Willard have? He drains a three to end an 11-0 Bucknell run, but Brown answers at the other end to keep the lead at 15.
Brown's second personal, at the 6:48 mark, is just Bucknell's second team foul. Some consistency eh?
Thomas spending a long stretch on the bench. Must be the ankle.
HC using threes to stay in the game, two by Simmons and one by Kyle Cruze since Bucknell's run. But they are trading baskets. Bucknell is now 9 for 16 in the second half and is shooting 24-48 (50 percent) for the game.
Bucknell 72, HC 57 (1:32 left)
HC gets it down to 11, only to see Bettencourt convert a 4-point play on a made three and one with the shot clock running down. What did Jeff Jones say about his threes being like daggers.
My Tournament MVP ballot: 1) Lee, 2) Hamilton, 3) McNaughton ... they have no room for honorable mention, but if they did it would go to Simmons, who has played like a warrior this afternoon. He just came out after falling while trying to chase down a BU fast break. Looked like he had nothing left to give.
Bucknell 74, HC 59 (FINAL)
Bucknell lets the shot clock run out on its last possession as bedlam breaks out in Sojka. Definitely the loudest moment of a loud season here.
The Pscyhos storm the court and no criticizing it this time, after a championship game, it is fitting.
Bucknell finishes the game shooting 52 percent from the field, 26 of 50, including 10 of 18 from the arc.
Championship hats already on the Bison player's heads.
And then there were two
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No. 2 Holy Cross at No. 1 Bucknell, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2): So whaddya know, here we are again. As Yogi would say, it's like deja vu all over again.
For the fifth time in as many years, and the 10th time in the league's short 16 season basketball history, Bucknell and Holy Cross meet in the Patriot League Tournament. No two other teams have met in the tournament more often. Bucknell holds a slim 5-4 edge in the previous nine playoff meetings between the two.
It's the second straight year, third overall, the Bison and the Crusaders will meet in the final. The other time was in 1993, when Holy Cross came into old Davis Gym and knocked off Bucknell for the crown. Last year the Bison returned the favor, winning in Worcester.
Given the history, it comes as no surprise that these two are meeting in the postseason. They have done so six of the past seven years. Matter of fact, almost anybody who doesn't wear brown and yellow expected this game to be played on March 10 since before the first ball was thrown up back in November.
The storylines abound here. HC's Kevin Hamilton and BU's Charles Lee, the two best players in the league, and two of the best in the history of the league, meeting in their final league game. The mirror image point guard matchup between Bucknell's Abe Badmus and Holy Cross' Torey Thomas. The two coaches with the most career PL tournament wins in the Bison's Pat Flannery (15) and the Crusaders' Ralph Willard (12). The only two teams in league history to win a postseason game. The league's two best defenses. Kevin Bettencourt of Bucknell facing his big brother's old team.
It's pick an angle, any angle.
For all the similarities, though, there are some very big differences. Differences between the two teams. Differences between this year's scenario and years past.
In those two previous title bouts, the two teams came in very evenly matched. In both cases they split the regular season series and in both cases, on paper, they looked very close.
You'd have had a difficult time making an unrebuttable case for either team in both of those years. Holy Cross fans like to paint last season's Bucknell win as a big upset, hanging their hats on the Crusaders' better regular season record, especially in conference play, where Bucknell finished 10-4 to Holy Cross' 13-1. But those two teams were not three-games apart. Matter of fact, throw out Bucknell's little midseason swoon, which happened to coincide with the absence of both the team's head coach and the loss of its starting power forward, and it is not hard to argue Bucknell had the better regular season, with wins at Pitt and at Saint Joe's.
Those two teams were very close. Aside from the game being played in Worcester, it was hard to assign either a significant edge. They were the same way back in '93.
Holy Cross fans point to both games as sources of inspiration. The '93 game proves they can win at Bucknell, they argue, last year's game proves a road team can win in the final.
The differences, though, are too big to ignore. Bucknell is deeper, more experienced, better in the frontcourt and healthier in the backcourt. The Bison are, as their record, including a sweep of the regular season series, shows, quite simply the better team.
Those purple faithful like to point to the second of those two games, a come-from-behind 57-52 Bucknell win in Worcester, as evidence that they are capable of playing with Bucknell. A more realistic interpretation would be that it was a game that showed Bucknell could beat HC in its own building, even when the Bison did not play at the top of their game.
On top of that, they are playing in their own building, which will be packed with over 4,000 fans, 90 percent of whom will be doing their utmost to be bad hosts. Its a building where the Bison lost once all season -- to No. 2 Villanova, a building where they have won 26 in a row against other Patriot League teams.
No sense getting into discussions about what if Pat Doherty didn't have that bad foot, or what if the rest of Crusaders had been healthy all season. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. None of that matters here.
There is no doubt Bucknell is the better team this year. That has been established. Matter of fact, they have proven themselves to be the best team in league history. Pick a team, any team, from the league's past or present, this Bucknell squad would win at least 7 or 8 out of 10, even if you play 5 on each team's floor.
Does that mean Bucknell can mail this one in? Of course not. Holy Cross is a good team, with some extraordinarily good players. In this era of the three-point shot, almost anybody can pull off an upset if they can enough treys. The Crusaders have guys who can shoot the rock, and they play tough defense that ought to keep them in the game. It would be an upset. A big upset. Maybe the biggest in league final history. But it is not out of the question.
It's just that for Holy Cross to pull off the upset, it will have to play a near-perfect game and hope that Bucknell does not bring its A game.
Don't believe us? Then ask Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard. In his latest post over at , Willard puts it like this:
We have no margin for error, as Bucknell is too deep, too talented and too well coached for it to be otherwise.There are those who would tell you all the pressure is on Bucknell. It is hard to see how that is the case. Bucknell already knows this won't be its last game. As regular season champions, they are guaranteed no less than an NIT berth, and most supposed experts are saying the Bison make the Big Dance even if the stumble in the final.
Holy Cross, as Willard said, has no margin for error. For the Crusaders, a loss means time to get out the golf clubs. Their only chance of postseason play is by beating Bucknell.
Even if it is the other way around, Bucknell has a veteran squad that has faced adversity and tough opponents all season long and has shown a knack for handling the pressure of close games in hostile environments. The same five that will start Friday's game started against Kansas last March in Oklahoma City.
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BONUS READS:
Leopards go scholarship
(Originally posted Thursday night at 10:12 p.m., links added at 7:15 a.m.)
Breaking news out of Easton. According to the :
The Leopards will offer three basketball scholarships per year, with a maximum of 12 total once the program is fully phased in.
Breaking news out of Easton. According to the :
Lafayette trustees have unanimously approved a revised financial aid policy for student-athletes as part of a broader plan to strengthen the College's intercollegiate athletics program within the Patriot League and to support the College's overall academic mission.According to a release on the Lafayette athletics Web site, basketball scholarships will begin eith this year's recruiting class. Men's soccer and women's field hockey are also to get scholarships starting with next year's recruiting classes.
The Leopards will offer three basketball scholarships per year, with a maximum of 12 total once the program is fully phased in.
More honors for Lee; KHam MVP
Bucknell's Charles Lee, who last week won the Patriot League's Player of the Year award, has added more honors to his lengthy resume. The three-time All-Patriot selection has been named to College Insider's
Lee also won , echoing the award he was given by the league's coaches last week. Bucknell coach Pat Flannery earned the site's Patriot League coach of the year honors and Holy Cross senior Kevin Hamilton was named College Insider Patriot League MVP.
Lee also won , echoing the award he was given by the league's coaches last week. Bucknell coach Pat Flannery earned the site's Patriot League coach of the year honors and Holy Cross senior Kevin Hamilton was named College Insider Patriot League MVP.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Latest on tickets
According to Bucknell officials, a "very limited number" of tickets will be available at Sojka Pavilion for Friday's Patriot League final between Bucknell and Holy Cross.
Those tickets, which were returned unsold by Holy Cross, will first be made available to students earlier in the day. The remainder will go on sale to the public at 2:30 p.m. at the Sojka box office.
There had been reports of about 200 student tickets going unclaimed by BU students who had been selected at random to receive tickets paid for by the University prior to the start of the tournament. Those reports were accurate, Bucknell officials said, but those tickets were snapoped up in a matter of hours Wednesday night after an e-mail was sent to the student body offering them to any students in need of tickets.
Those tickets, which were returned unsold by Holy Cross, will first be made available to students earlier in the day. The remainder will go on sale to the public at 2:30 p.m. at the Sojka box office.
There had been reports of about 200 student tickets going unclaimed by BU students who had been selected at random to receive tickets paid for by the University prior to the start of the tournament. Those reports were accurate, Bucknell officials said, but those tickets were snapoped up in a matter of hours Wednesday night after an e-mail was sent to the student body offering them to any students in need of tickets.
What Chuck said
If you missed Wednesday night's chat with Charles Lee, here is a transcript of that session:
Hoop Time: We are joined in the room by three-time All-Patriot League selection and this year’s Player of the Year, Charles Lee of Bucknell.
Hoop Time: Welcome to our second Hoop Time Chat Charles, thanks for joining us.
CL3: Thank you for having me
Hoop Time: Charles, I noticed you and Andre Ingram seemed to have a friendly greeting before the game Sunday. Are you two friends off the court? Are there any other Patriot League players you are friendly with off the court?
CL3: Actually him and I are not really friends off the court but we do have such a great relationship on the court. I have a lot of respect for him and think that he is such a great player and competitor. I think the same way about a lot of other guys in the league as well.
CL3: I think that when I leave though I want to keep in touch with some of the guys that I have gotten to know in the league.
Hoop Time: How is your off court relationship with the HC guys?
CL3: I get along well with those guys too. I think that a lot of it is the whole respect thing again. I think that they are great guys who just go out there and play and don't really run their mouth a lot. They are a bunch of classy guys who leave it out there and really play between the lines.
Hoop Time: You are graduating, you won't see the other teams again. Who does run their mouths?
CL3: HAHA. Even though I am graduating I don't want to start any team wars. I just think that it should be known that there are some teams out there that do a lot of jawing. I will just leave it at that.
Hoop Time: In high school, you played in all-star games in DC and Montgomery County and went to the Five-Star camp. Who was the best guy you played against in those high school days?
CL3: Though I played against a lot of great players in my day. I would have to say that the guy that gave me the toughest time was Jarret Jack. We played against each other all the time in AAU and he always seemed to have my number but I did manage to get him here and there. I was glad though in my senior year that we got to play along side each other.
Hoop Time: Why did you not wear the all-white sneakers for the quarterfinal match-up with Army? I saw you went back to them for the American game.
CL3: The truth is that they were supposed to be just filler shoes until the coaches were able to order some more team shoes. While I had them though I started to play pretty well and they were so comfortable. Then I got the nickname "Whiteshoes the Entertainer" which I kind of liked. I tried to change it up for playoffs but the other shoes just weren't working for me.
Hoop Time: Who are some of the guys that helped you grow from your freshman year into the player you are now? And along the same line, What former BU player influenced you the most?
CL3: I think that it is a combination of people that helped me out. I think that most of all Coach Flannery and his staff were a tremendous support for me. Then I look towards people like Mr. Pavlechko and Prof. Sweeney who continuously gave me some encouraging words. I think that the team as a whole was also great about helping me out. Then outside of the team there were my parents as well as Lindsey Geosits. She was some one on campus that was really there for me and helped me a lot.
Hoop Time: You, Kevin and Tarik have been the leaders of the team on and off the floor the past two seasons … your suite is like the team’s social hall … who will inherit that role next year?
CL3: I think that the most likely to carry on the social hall will be Donald, Rob, Chris, and whoever their replacement for Holland is. I could also see John Griffin trying to establish a nice little bachelors’ pad for the team to come and hang out at.
Hoop Time: How much of an influence does the crowd have on you during a game at Sojka Pavilion. What effect does the crowd have on the opponents?
CL3: I think the crowd has transformed into something that is great for us and unfortunate for other teams. They have been so instrumental in a lot of our wins. They do a great job of getting into other players’ heads. I think that our team has done a great job of using the fans as energy instead of as a distraction. In other words we aren't playing towards the crowd which can happen a lot of times.
Hoop Time: What's the loudest gym you have played in?
CL3: We have been at some pretty hostile environments but I think that Duke took the cake. From tip to buzzer it was rocking in there
Hoop Time: Were you nervous going into the game against Kansas last year? What was the team's mentality going into the tournament?
CL3: Yes I was real nervous. I knew that we could go into the tournament and make some noise but we were going to have our hands full with a great Kansas team. The team's mentality was that we could win this game. We felt that we had nothing to lose and were not going to leave Oklahoma without giving it our all.
Hoop Time: Do you think the Bison deserve an at large bid to the Big Dance? Will you be nervous on selection Sunday?
CL3: I think that we deserve one but we can't hang our hats on that. I think that we have proved to be a top tier team. Hopefully, I will not have to be nervous on selection Sunday but if we do happen to fall to Holy Cross on Friday then yes I will be real nervous.
Hoop Time: If you could play any team in the tournament, who would you want to play?
CL3: Geez. I haven't even thought about that. We have taken the approach of looking at one game at a time and for right now my focus is on Friday against the Crusaders. If we don't get a win on Friday then we may not be playing anybody in the tournament.
Hoop Time: Shifting gears a little, let's talk about Friday's game. Does the team feel any added pressure since the championship game is at home this year rather than at the Hart Center and since they are THE Patriot League team, much like many people saw Holy Cross last year?
CL3: No we don't feel any extra pressure. I think that the game is high pressured enough that it doesn't matter where we play it, it's going to be a dog fight. We may be the team in the Patriot League but that means nothing to Holy Cross. They are coming in here to win a championship and they don't care who they have to beat to get it. There are no guarantees.
Hoop Time: In the early days of the league, Lehigh was the big rival because of the old East Coast Conference ... has Holy Cross become Bucknell's archrival in hoops these days?
CL3: I think so because both teams have been consistently good and fighting for the top spot in the Patriot League. Year after year these two coaches have done a great job of bring in some great talent in order to challenge for tops in the league. It's a race to the top with Bucknell and Holy Cross always running along side one another.
Hoop Time: How do you see the matchups with Holy Cross's players for this game? And along the same line, What problems does Holy Cross present to the team and to you specifically?
CL3: I think that we are mirror images of one another. The matchups will probably be the same as they have been all the other times we have played them. It will be key for us to limit their penetration and make them work on defense. They have some great scorers along with great role players and we have to make their scorers take tough, contested shots all game.
Hoop Time: Tell us a little about Kevin Hamilton, most folks think you are the two best players in the league
CL3: I think that he is a great competitor and player. He has lead his team to great seasons year after year. He scores, plays defense, and rebounds. What else could you ask a player to do? I think that he has continued to get better every year and is the reason why Holy Cross continues to be a dominant team in the league. We will have to put manners on him from the tip.
Hoop Time: How is playing for Coach Flannery? Is there anything that he does to help make the team work so well? What are Flannery's halftime speeches like?
CL3: I have enjoyed playing for Coach Flannery. He has taught me a lot on the court as well as given me some helpful real life tips. He has a great mind for the game and is the reason why we have been so successful. He is just as hyped for the games as we are. His halftime speeches are geared towards telling us the good things as well as the bad things that we are doing in the game thus far. I think the thing that has helped this team is his
consistent message of playing together.
Hoop Time: Does the team, or you personally, engage in any pregame rituals?
CL3: We are not a team that is huge on rituals. The only thing that we continuously do is the circle thing during introductions. John Griffin is the only player that has all of these crazy and strung out rituals. I just make sure that I get a prayer in before the game to thank God.
Hoop Time: Outside of Hamilton, who is the toughest guy to guard in the league?
CL3: I would have to say Jarrell Brown from Army. Not only do they set a ton of screens for him but he does not stop moving. He moves real well without the ball and they are so focused on getting him the ball that they screen the piss out of whoever is guarding him.
Hoop Time: Tell us what the atmosphere's been like on campus this week - and what you expect Sojka to be like on Friday afternoon?
CL3: The students are so pumped for the game on Friday. Everyone keeps coming up to me and I know the other guys on the team too, and keeping telling us how proud of us they are and how they would love to see us finish the season with a win on Friday. The Pavilion will be rocking and there will be a lot of orange and blue in the crowd. I expect a crazy environment. Perfect for a championship game!!!
Hoop Time: What other schools did you consider when you were being recruited?
CL3: South Florida, Central Florida, Air Force, Colgate, and Niagara
Hoop Time: What made you decide on Bucknell?
CL3: I was intrigued by the sense of community that this University had. The academics was also something that really drew me to this wonderful place. Most importantly, Coach Flannery and his staff did a great job selling the program. They had a real game plan in place to get the program rolling and I wanted to be a part of that
Hoop Time: What lessons did the team take away from their losses? What went wrong vs. Santa Clara, only game where the team was "upset." The Bison have gotten off to slow starts in the past in big games. What will we expect from the team and you so this doesn't happen Friday night?
CL3: I think that we learned some things but more importantly some things got reiterated. We realized that people are going to be gunning for us and we have to be ready to play. We came out slow and that hurt us. It was good to see us come out with a fire on Sunday against American. Getting off on a slow start is what hurt us the first time we played Holy Cross. Against good teams we really have to make sure that we come out with a fire. On Friday we will be ready to play and will set the tone early.
Hoop Time: Being one of the few players who has seen both Duke and Villanova firsthand, who do you think would win that matchup?
CL3: I don't know if I could really call it. I think that it could go either way. If Villanova is shooting well then I would say Villanova because I don't know if Duke's guards could keep up with those guys. But Duke has that inside out game that is so hard to guard. I would love to see that game.
Hoop Time: Folks, as you all know, players in the Patriot League don't just play ball, they need to study a little too, so we are going to let Charles get to the books after one last question ... Word around campus is that you've been working pretty hard on your golf game in Davis Gym. Any truth to these rumors and if so are you planning a competitive debut at some point?
Hoop Time: and I will add a quick follow, who do you suppose might have asked that one?
CL3: I think I have a real good idea about who asked that. I am going to have to talk to them about this. But yes I have been working on my game and am taking on any challengers after the season. Though I don't get to hit the links very often I still got it.
Hoop Time: Well Charles, Bucknell fans hope you won't be starting the golfing any time in the next few weeks. Thanks for joining us and good luck Friday
CL3: Thank you for having me. See you on Friday.
Hoop Time: We are joined in the room by three-time All-Patriot League selection and this year’s Player of the Year, Charles Lee of Bucknell.
Hoop Time: Welcome to our second Hoop Time Chat Charles, thanks for joining us.
CL3: Thank you for having me
Hoop Time: Charles, I noticed you and Andre Ingram seemed to have a friendly greeting before the game Sunday. Are you two friends off the court? Are there any other Patriot League players you are friendly with off the court?
CL3: Actually him and I are not really friends off the court but we do have such a great relationship on the court. I have a lot of respect for him and think that he is such a great player and competitor. I think the same way about a lot of other guys in the league as well.
CL3: I think that when I leave though I want to keep in touch with some of the guys that I have gotten to know in the league.
Hoop Time: How is your off court relationship with the HC guys?
CL3: I get along well with those guys too. I think that a lot of it is the whole respect thing again. I think that they are great guys who just go out there and play and don't really run their mouth a lot. They are a bunch of classy guys who leave it out there and really play between the lines.
Hoop Time: You are graduating, you won't see the other teams again. Who does run their mouths?
CL3: HAHA. Even though I am graduating I don't want to start any team wars. I just think that it should be known that there are some teams out there that do a lot of jawing. I will just leave it at that.
Hoop Time: In high school, you played in all-star games in DC and Montgomery County and went to the Five-Star camp. Who was the best guy you played against in those high school days?
CL3: Though I played against a lot of great players in my day. I would have to say that the guy that gave me the toughest time was Jarret Jack. We played against each other all the time in AAU and he always seemed to have my number but I did manage to get him here and there. I was glad though in my senior year that we got to play along side each other.
Hoop Time: Why did you not wear the all-white sneakers for the quarterfinal match-up with Army? I saw you went back to them for the American game.
CL3: The truth is that they were supposed to be just filler shoes until the coaches were able to order some more team shoes. While I had them though I started to play pretty well and they were so comfortable. Then I got the nickname "Whiteshoes the Entertainer" which I kind of liked. I tried to change it up for playoffs but the other shoes just weren't working for me.
Hoop Time: Who are some of the guys that helped you grow from your freshman year into the player you are now? And along the same line, What former BU player influenced you the most?
CL3: I think that it is a combination of people that helped me out. I think that most of all Coach Flannery and his staff were a tremendous support for me. Then I look towards people like Mr. Pavlechko and Prof. Sweeney who continuously gave me some encouraging words. I think that the team as a whole was also great about helping me out. Then outside of the team there were my parents as well as Lindsey Geosits. She was some one on campus that was really there for me and helped me a lot.
Hoop Time: You, Kevin and Tarik have been the leaders of the team on and off the floor the past two seasons … your suite is like the team’s social hall … who will inherit that role next year?
CL3: I think that the most likely to carry on the social hall will be Donald, Rob, Chris, and whoever their replacement for Holland is. I could also see John Griffin trying to establish a nice little bachelors’ pad for the team to come and hang out at.
Hoop Time: How much of an influence does the crowd have on you during a game at Sojka Pavilion. What effect does the crowd have on the opponents?
CL3: I think the crowd has transformed into something that is great for us and unfortunate for other teams. They have been so instrumental in a lot of our wins. They do a great job of getting into other players’ heads. I think that our team has done a great job of using the fans as energy instead of as a distraction. In other words we aren't playing towards the crowd which can happen a lot of times.
Hoop Time: What's the loudest gym you have played in?
CL3: We have been at some pretty hostile environments but I think that Duke took the cake. From tip to buzzer it was rocking in there
Hoop Time: Were you nervous going into the game against Kansas last year? What was the team's mentality going into the tournament?
CL3: Yes I was real nervous. I knew that we could go into the tournament and make some noise but we were going to have our hands full with a great Kansas team. The team's mentality was that we could win this game. We felt that we had nothing to lose and were not going to leave Oklahoma without giving it our all.
Hoop Time: Do you think the Bison deserve an at large bid to the Big Dance? Will you be nervous on selection Sunday?
CL3: I think that we deserve one but we can't hang our hats on that. I think that we have proved to be a top tier team. Hopefully, I will not have to be nervous on selection Sunday but if we do happen to fall to Holy Cross on Friday then yes I will be real nervous.
Hoop Time: If you could play any team in the tournament, who would you want to play?
CL3: Geez. I haven't even thought about that. We have taken the approach of looking at one game at a time and for right now my focus is on Friday against the Crusaders. If we don't get a win on Friday then we may not be playing anybody in the tournament.
Hoop Time: Shifting gears a little, let's talk about Friday's game. Does the team feel any added pressure since the championship game is at home this year rather than at the Hart Center and since they are THE Patriot League team, much like many people saw Holy Cross last year?
CL3: No we don't feel any extra pressure. I think that the game is high pressured enough that it doesn't matter where we play it, it's going to be a dog fight. We may be the team in the Patriot League but that means nothing to Holy Cross. They are coming in here to win a championship and they don't care who they have to beat to get it. There are no guarantees.
Hoop Time: In the early days of the league, Lehigh was the big rival because of the old East Coast Conference ... has Holy Cross become Bucknell's archrival in hoops these days?
CL3: I think so because both teams have been consistently good and fighting for the top spot in the Patriot League. Year after year these two coaches have done a great job of bring in some great talent in order to challenge for tops in the league. It's a race to the top with Bucknell and Holy Cross always running along side one another.
Hoop Time: How do you see the matchups with Holy Cross's players for this game? And along the same line, What problems does Holy Cross present to the team and to you specifically?
CL3: I think that we are mirror images of one another. The matchups will probably be the same as they have been all the other times we have played them. It will be key for us to limit their penetration and make them work on defense. They have some great scorers along with great role players and we have to make their scorers take tough, contested shots all game.
Hoop Time: Tell us a little about Kevin Hamilton, most folks think you are the two best players in the league
CL3: I think that he is a great competitor and player. He has lead his team to great seasons year after year. He scores, plays defense, and rebounds. What else could you ask a player to do? I think that he has continued to get better every year and is the reason why Holy Cross continues to be a dominant team in the league. We will have to put manners on him from the tip.
Hoop Time: How is playing for Coach Flannery? Is there anything that he does to help make the team work so well? What are Flannery's halftime speeches like?
CL3: I have enjoyed playing for Coach Flannery. He has taught me a lot on the court as well as given me some helpful real life tips. He has a great mind for the game and is the reason why we have been so successful. He is just as hyped for the games as we are. His halftime speeches are geared towards telling us the good things as well as the bad things that we are doing in the game thus far. I think the thing that has helped this team is his
consistent message of playing together.
Hoop Time: Does the team, or you personally, engage in any pregame rituals?
CL3: We are not a team that is huge on rituals. The only thing that we continuously do is the circle thing during introductions. John Griffin is the only player that has all of these crazy and strung out rituals. I just make sure that I get a prayer in before the game to thank God.
Hoop Time: Outside of Hamilton, who is the toughest guy to guard in the league?
CL3: I would have to say Jarrell Brown from Army. Not only do they set a ton of screens for him but he does not stop moving. He moves real well without the ball and they are so focused on getting him the ball that they screen the piss out of whoever is guarding him.
Hoop Time: Tell us what the atmosphere's been like on campus this week - and what you expect Sojka to be like on Friday afternoon?
CL3: The students are so pumped for the game on Friday. Everyone keeps coming up to me and I know the other guys on the team too, and keeping telling us how proud of us they are and how they would love to see us finish the season with a win on Friday. The Pavilion will be rocking and there will be a lot of orange and blue in the crowd. I expect a crazy environment. Perfect for a championship game!!!
Hoop Time: What other schools did you consider when you were being recruited?
CL3: South Florida, Central Florida, Air Force, Colgate, and Niagara
Hoop Time: What made you decide on Bucknell?
CL3: I was intrigued by the sense of community that this University had. The academics was also something that really drew me to this wonderful place. Most importantly, Coach Flannery and his staff did a great job selling the program. They had a real game plan in place to get the program rolling and I wanted to be a part of that
Hoop Time: What lessons did the team take away from their losses? What went wrong vs. Santa Clara, only game where the team was "upset." The Bison have gotten off to slow starts in the past in big games. What will we expect from the team and you so this doesn't happen Friday night?
CL3: I think that we learned some things but more importantly some things got reiterated. We realized that people are going to be gunning for us and we have to be ready to play. We came out slow and that hurt us. It was good to see us come out with a fire on Sunday against American. Getting off on a slow start is what hurt us the first time we played Holy Cross. Against good teams we really have to make sure that we come out with a fire. On Friday we will be ready to play and will set the tone early.
Hoop Time: Being one of the few players who has seen both Duke and Villanova firsthand, who do you think would win that matchup?
CL3: I don't know if I could really call it. I think that it could go either way. If Villanova is shooting well then I would say Villanova because I don't know if Duke's guards could keep up with those guys. But Duke has that inside out game that is so hard to guard. I would love to see that game.
Hoop Time: Folks, as you all know, players in the Patriot League don't just play ball, they need to study a little too, so we are going to let Charles get to the books after one last question ... Word around campus is that you've been working pretty hard on your golf game in Davis Gym. Any truth to these rumors and if so are you planning a competitive debut at some point?
Hoop Time: and I will add a quick follow, who do you suppose might have asked that one?
CL3: I think I have a real good idea about who asked that. I am going to have to talk to them about this. But yes I have been working on my game and am taking on any challengers after the season. Though I don't get to hit the links very often I still got it.
Hoop Time: Well Charles, Bucknell fans hope you won't be starting the golfing any time in the next few weeks. Thanks for joining us and good luck Friday
CL3: Thank you for having me. See you on Friday.
Thursday morning readaround
Down in Colonial Athletic Association territory, Harrisonburg, Va. (James Madison), that CAA teams like Hofstra, who are hoping for an at-large bid, are rooting for teams like Bucknell:
Jake Curtis of the says Cal feels the same way.
Eric Thomas has been a busy guy. The Shamokin News-Item's Bucknell beat writer has a good piece on the today and a for overconfident Bucknell fans. As usual, E posts them both on his blog to make it easier for us to link to them since the News-Item's site updates late in the day.
The Daily News Transcript in Mass. . One is Northeastern's Bobby Kelly, the other, Holy Cross sophomore center Tim Clifford.
Not all the Patriot League hoops news is about Bucknell and Holy Cross. In today's Easton Express-Times, the Lafayette faculty has endorsed scholarships. While not needed, the endorsement is viewed as a key step to Lafayette's joining the rest of the league in offering non-need-based aid to basketball players. A decision is expected at next month's meeting of the school's trustees
There's an column in called "Free for All" that is filled with non sequiturs, most of which are lame, at best. But one of them just begs to be posted:
"We don't want any upsets," (Hofstra coach Tom) Pecora said. "We want Air Force, George Washington, Memphis and Nevada to win their tournaments. We don't want other teams sliding in to take an at-large bid."That is not a new sentiment. Matter of fact, we posted it only so we could ask the question: Is Dustin Dopirak related to Ryan Dopirak, a Hoop Time cover boy back in our old print version days. Ryan Dopirak won varsity letters at Bucknell in 1993 and 1994 as an end of the bench kind of guy. He eventually transferred when Pat Flannery replaced Charlie Woollum as BU's coach, a move we always though was shortsighted on his part, because his style of play was far better suited to Flannery's style than Woollum's.
Throw in Bucknell and you've got every bubble squad's favorite teams this week. Of the five, only Air Force is not an absolute NCAA Tournament lock, and of their five conferences -- the Mountain West, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, Western Athletic and Patriot, respectively -- only Conference USA has a second team (Alabama-Birmingham) with any at-large hope."
"This girl was wearing a Bucknell sweatshirt outside of Anschutz today. It still hurts."
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Tickets available at the door
Holy Cross failed to sell its entire allottment of 500 tickets for Friday's final at Bucknell. The unsold tickets will go on sale at 2:30 Friday afternoon at the Sojka Pavilion box office.
No word yet on exactly how many were being returned. A woman who answered the phone at Holy Cross said she was not sure. All she knew was a package with the unsold tickets had just been overnighted to Bucknell.
Bucknell officials had no word yet on how many were being returned.
No word yet on exactly how many were being returned. A woman who answered the phone at Holy Cross said she was not sure. All she knew was a package with the unsold tickets had just been overnighted to Bucknell.
Bucknell officials had no word yet on how many were being returned.
In or out?
Does Bucknell get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if it falls to Holy Cross in the Patriot League final?
Depends who you ask.
Andy Glockner of ESPN.com thinks so. In his latest , Glockner writes:
On the other hand, Bucknell students are not like students at some other schools. Skipping classes is rare. Few will leave early. And the 4:30 p.m. start, plus the lure of being on ESPN2, which lures casual fans the way a mirror ball lures disco dancers, ought to mean almost all of those tickets will end up in the hands of someone who will use them.
Besides, the school has arranged to keep the dorms open an extra night for students who stay for the game.
A big game on national TV. A Friday night, with no classes the next day. Sounds like a party to us. And even though the folks on the hill don't like anyone pointing it out, this is not a campus that passes on good parties.
Depends who you ask.
Andy Glockner of ESPN.com thinks so. In his latest , Glockner writes:
Bucknell [24-4 (16-0), RPI: 51, SOS: 207] Now into the Patriot finals against annual nemesis Holy Cross. This time, the Bison are at home ... and this time, they probably don't have to win to make the field of 65. Interesting note: not only did Bison win at Syracuse, but they also won at DePaul, which just embarrassed Syracuse.So does USAToday.com's college hoops editor Tim Gardner. Gardner's latest says:
Those teams teetering on the edge should now be rooting hard for teams like George Washington, Memphis, Bucknell and Gonzaga to win their leagues. If not, the bubble could shrink and some that look good now will be looking down the barrel of an NIT shotgun.You can also add Tony Mejia of CBS Sportsline to the list of believers. :
The Patriot League juggernaut can count on an at-large bid if it somehow bows out in the conference tournament. Expect the Bison to be nationally ranked entering the NCAAs, and count on the nation's bubble teams praying that they top Holy Cross in the final. Two teams coming out of the Patriot League would definitely happen if the Crusaders prevail. Imagine that.In today's Washington Post, Eric Prisbell :
The primary rule for fans of Maryland and George Mason is to root for the favorites, particularly in conferences expected to receive only their automatic bids. They must cross their fingers that George Washington storms through the Atlantic 10 tournament, Bucknell avoids a stumble in the Patriot League final and Nevada exerts home-court dominance through the Western Athletic Conference tournament.Rob Daniels, of the , seems to think Bucknell is in, too:
All three teams would earn NCAA tournament invitations regardless of whether they won their conference tournaments. Upstarts such as Louisiana Tech, Holy Cross or Temple could make for tense moments should they get hot.
Normally, you might not care who wins the Patriot League tournament. But this year, it's different. The Bucknell Bison, the new Princeton of college basketball after last year's first-round NCAA upset of Kansas, may be a decent at-large candidate if they fall to Holy Cross in Friday's final. The Bison are a solid 3-4 against RPI Top 50 teams; they ripped through their league at 16-0; and their RPI probably still would be in the 50s. That's a viable NCAA tournament resume.Not everyone is convinced though. Writing in today's Patriot-News, :
Bucknell's reality is this: Its road wins over the Big East's Syracuse and DePaul don't look so impressive anymore.Jones also wrote this:
I think it's pretty clear this year is like any other in the Patriot League. You can win the first 16 conference games, but it means nothing if you don't win the last one.
Bucknell needs to seal the deal Friday
. . . if I was a BU fan, I'd be extremely nervous about this game. I see Holy Cross coming into Sojka Pavilion with a nothing-to-lose attitude against a resolute but mentally fatigued Bucknell outfit. And, with the students filtering out of Lewisburg for spring break, the juice in Sojka might not be optimum with a greater percentage of tame townies.Apparently Jones didn't get the memo about the Bucknell students waiting on line all night to buy tickets when they went on sale at 8 a.m. Monday, though in fairness to Dave, with the school's random giveaway of 800 tickets to students who did not even have to sign up or indicate an interest to get in on the drawing, there does seem to be the possibility that some of those ended up in the hands of students who will be on the way out of town as soon as their last class ends Friday.
On the other hand, Bucknell students are not like students at some other schools. Skipping classes is rare. Few will leave early. And the 4:30 p.m. start, plus the lure of being on ESPN2, which lures casual fans the way a mirror ball lures disco dancers, ought to mean almost all of those tickets will end up in the hands of someone who will use them.
Besides, the school has arranged to keep the dorms open an extra night for students who stay for the game.
A big game on national TV. A Friday night, with no classes the next day. Sounds like a party to us. And even though the folks on the hill don't like anyone pointing it out, this is not a campus that passes on good parties.
Great moments in PL history
Best of our knowledge, this is a first: .
The winning bidder pair $100 for what appear to be a pair of tickets in the Bucknell student section.
The winning bidder pair $100 for what appear to be a pair of tickets in the Bucknell student section.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Spin doctor
For want of a better RPI, Lehigh ended up playing on the road in the Patriot League semifinals, leading Corky Blake to point out in today in the Express-Times:
Taylor defends , pointing to games against Villanova and Washington. But the truth is, the Mountain Hawks played two Division 3 teams and their out of conference strength of schedule ranked No. 168, while Holy Cross played none and had a OOC SOS of 94. For two teams with identical 18-11 regular season records, that proved to be the difference between sleeping in your own beds for the first two rounds of the tournament and riding a bus six hours to spend a weekend in a hotel.
Lehigh's OOC schedule included two teams in the RPI top 50 and two others in the top 100. But it also included 8 teams that were above 200 in the RPI, including one, Stony Brook, with an RPI above 300.
Taylor points to RPI 22 George Washington, with its non conference strength of schedule of 323, as an example of how winning is more important than strength of schedule. That is true. But Lehigh lost home games against 227 Princeton and 224 Towson, and road games against 212 Cornell and 262 Sacred Heart.
Granted the Mountain Hawks were without Joe Knight for those games, but whose fault was that? And they certainly expected to have Knight available when they made their schedule.
You have to wonder how Sunday's Patriot League men's semifinal would've played out had the game been contested in Bethlehem instead of Worcester, Mass.But Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, last seen trying to convince Andre Williams of the Morning Call that his team deserves an NIT bid, tells Blake
:"I don't put much merit in the RPI."Hey, nobody is saying the RPI is a perfect formula. But while Taylor and his team are on the practice green working on their putting, Holy Cross and Bucknell are still playing hoops.
Taylor defends , pointing to games against Villanova and Washington. But the truth is, the Mountain Hawks played two Division 3 teams and their out of conference strength of schedule ranked No. 168, while Holy Cross played none and had a OOC SOS of 94. For two teams with identical 18-11 regular season records, that proved to be the difference between sleeping in your own beds for the first two rounds of the tournament and riding a bus six hours to spend a weekend in a hotel.
Lehigh's OOC schedule included two teams in the RPI top 50 and two others in the top 100. But it also included 8 teams that were above 200 in the RPI, including one, Stony Brook, with an RPI above 300.
Taylor points to RPI 22 George Washington, with its non conference strength of schedule of 323, as an example of how winning is more important than strength of schedule. That is true. But Lehigh lost home games against 227 Princeton and 224 Towson, and road games against 212 Cornell and 262 Sacred Heart.
Granted the Mountain Hawks were without Joe Knight for those games, but whose fault was that? And they certainly expected to have Knight available when they made their schedule.
Where have you gone Neil Fingleton?
Last time we checked in with former Holy Cross backup center Neil Fingleton, the 7-6 British giant was looking for a new team after being cut by the Austin Toros of the NBDL.
So where is Fingleton now? Back with his old English club, the Teesside Mohawks of the English Basketball League, who appear to be well entrenched in the , according to the latest standings we could find, with a 1-9 record. played for the club from 1996 to 1998, before coming to the states to play at Holy Name H.S. in Worcester, where he was a McDonald's All-American before heading off to North Carolina, and later to Holy Cross.
From the Dec. 7 issue of the British paper :The game saw the debut of 24-year-old, 7ft 6in ex-All American High school and Boston Frenzy star Neil Fingleton.Apparently "star" is one of those words that are used differently in "English English" than "American English."
Here's a from the Evening Gazette's Web site listing stories in which Fingleton appeared. Most of the mentions are in box scores. Despite seeming to score in double figures most games, there are few mentions of Fingleton in the game stories we bothered to read.
The Brits are certainly no power in European basketball. But Fingleton did not make the for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. In fairness to Fingleton, one of the team's centers (or centres, as the Brits spell it) is , who played with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets. The team also includes stars like Fabulous Flournoy.
| Available now in the |
So where is Fingleton now? Back with his old English club, the Teesside Mohawks of the English Basketball League, who appear to be well entrenched in the , according to the latest standings we could find, with a 1-9 record. played for the club from 1996 to 1998, before coming to the states to play at Holy Name H.S. in Worcester, where he was a McDonald's All-American before heading off to North Carolina, and later to Holy Cross.
From the Dec. 7 issue of the British paper :The game saw the debut of 24-year-old, 7ft 6in ex-All American High school and Boston Frenzy star Neil Fingleton.Apparently "star" is one of those words that are used differently in "English English" than "American English."
Here's a from the Evening Gazette's Web site listing stories in which Fingleton appeared. Most of the mentions are in box scores. Despite seeming to score in double figures most games, there are few mentions of Fingleton in the game stories we bothered to read.
The Brits are certainly no power in European basketball. But Fingleton did not make the for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. In fairness to Fingleton, one of the team's centers (or centres, as the Brits spell it) is , who played with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets. The team also includes stars like Fabulous Flournoy.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Welcome to Flanneryville
Bucknell students began lining up at 10:30 Sunday night for a shot at tickets to Friday's Patriot League final between their Bison and the Crusaders of Holy Cross.
Reports from Lewisburg did not indicate any tents were set up, but many brought sleeping bags to await the 6 a.m. special student presale of tickets.
That session lasted from 6 to 8 a.m., with about 400 students buying tickets during that period. Another 800 already were assured tickets through the random drawing for 800 tournament tickets that the University had bought to distribute prior to the first round last week.
The remainder of Bucknell's approximately 3,500 tickets for the final sold in about two hours after going on sale to the general public at 11 a.m.
Holy Cross' allotment of 500 tickets is not sold out yet, according to a woman who answered the ticket sales phone number listed on the HC Web site. A recording on that phone line warns that tickets for the final are being sold only to Holy Cross students, alums and season ticket holders. And they will check to verify that status, it warns.
"Response has been pretty overwhelming," said the woman. "We don't anticipate any left over given the response we have had so far."
Any unsold tickets from the HC allotment will be returned to Bucknell and would go on sale at the door Friday.
LOCKED OUT -- An off day today for Bucknell, with the team being told to stay away from the gym. Bison coach Pat Flannery reportedly forbid his team from even coming in on their own, individually to shoot around.
"Pat all but locked them out," said Bucknell SID Jon Terry. "I think he was even thinking about getting a chair and sitting in the lobby to make sure nobody sneaked in because that is almost what it takes to keep guys like Abe Badmus and Charles Lee out of the gym."
The Bison will resume practice Tuesday.
TRAVEL PLANS -- With Holy Cross on spring break, the Crusaders are planning an early trip to Lewisburg. Plans call for the team's bus to leave Worcester Wednesday afternoon, with a Thursday practice in Sojka Pavilion.
POLL BULL -- Bucknell checks in with 83 votes in this week's , second among others receiving votes. The Bison are first in the others category in the latest .
Alabama Birmingham jumped into both polls this week after upsetting then No. 3 Memphis. No real argument with that, given UAB's that also includes wins over Old Dominion and Oklahoma St.
Besides, given the apparent curse of being ranked as a Mid Major the last month or so, does any team really want that at this point of the season?
No updated as of 7:30 p.m.
THE ENVELOPE PLEASE -- Bucknell coach Pat Flannery has been for the 2006 Hugh Durham Award, which is presented to the mid major coach of the year. Flannery, who won the mid-season version of the award, is one of 15 in the running for the honor, which will be announced during teh Final Four.
NIT OR A NUT? -- According to an in the Morning Call, Billy Taylor is campaigning for an NIT bid for Lehigh after they lost to Holy Cross in the Patriot League semis.
Taylor is touting Bucknell's postseason success last year, along with Holy Cross' NIT showing a year ago, to justify a bid for his team.
But it takes more than a good record in a bad conference to justify a postseason bid, and lopsided losses to Villanova and Washington are not impressive credentials when you didn't make a better showing than the Mountain Hawks did in the remainder of the non conference schedule.
Reports from Lewisburg did not indicate any tents were set up, but many brought sleeping bags to await the 6 a.m. special student presale of tickets.
That session lasted from 6 to 8 a.m., with about 400 students buying tickets during that period. Another 800 already were assured tickets through the random drawing for 800 tournament tickets that the University had bought to distribute prior to the first round last week.
The remainder of Bucknell's approximately 3,500 tickets for the final sold in about two hours after going on sale to the general public at 11 a.m.
Holy Cross' allotment of 500 tickets is not sold out yet, according to a woman who answered the ticket sales phone number listed on the HC Web site. A recording on that phone line warns that tickets for the final are being sold only to Holy Cross students, alums and season ticket holders. And they will check to verify that status, it warns.
"Response has been pretty overwhelming," said the woman. "We don't anticipate any left over given the response we have had so far."
Any unsold tickets from the HC allotment will be returned to Bucknell and would go on sale at the door Friday.
LOCKED OUT -- An off day today for Bucknell, with the team being told to stay away from the gym. Bison coach Pat Flannery reportedly forbid his team from even coming in on their own, individually to shoot around.
"Pat all but locked them out," said Bucknell SID Jon Terry. "I think he was even thinking about getting a chair and sitting in the lobby to make sure nobody sneaked in because that is almost what it takes to keep guys like Abe Badmus and Charles Lee out of the gym."
The Bison will resume practice Tuesday.
TRAVEL PLANS -- With Holy Cross on spring break, the Crusaders are planning an early trip to Lewisburg. Plans call for the team's bus to leave Worcester Wednesday afternoon, with a Thursday practice in Sojka Pavilion.
POLL BULL -- Bucknell checks in with 83 votes in this week's , second among others receiving votes. The Bison are first in the others category in the latest .
Alabama Birmingham jumped into both polls this week after upsetting then No. 3 Memphis. No real argument with that, given UAB's that also includes wins over Old Dominion and Oklahoma St.
Besides, given the apparent curse of being ranked as a Mid Major the last month or so, does any team really want that at this point of the season?
No updated as of 7:30 p.m.
THE ENVELOPE PLEASE -- Bucknell coach Pat Flannery has been for the 2006 Hugh Durham Award, which is presented to the mid major coach of the year. Flannery, who won the mid-season version of the award, is one of 15 in the running for the honor, which will be announced during teh Final Four.
NIT OR A NUT? -- According to an in the Morning Call, Billy Taylor is campaigning for an NIT bid for Lehigh after they lost to Holy Cross in the Patriot League semis.
Taylor is touting Bucknell's postseason success last year, along with Holy Cross' NIT showing a year ago, to justify a bid for his team.
But it takes more than a good record in a bad conference to justify a postseason bid, and lopsided losses to Villanova and Washington are not impressive credentials when you didn't make a better showing than the Mountain Hawks did in the remainder of the non conference schedule.
Holy Cross 73, Lehigh 66
(Originally posted Sunday at 3:51 p.m., links added at 7:33 a.m.)
Joe Knight needed 18 shots to get his game-high 23 points, going 6 for 18 from the field.
It was that kind of afternoon for the Mountain Hawks, who shot just 20 of 63 (31.7 percent) from the field.
Jose Olivero had 13 points, but he was 4 for 20 from the field.
Keith Simmons with 20 to lead HC. Kevin Hamilton had 18, 14 from the foul line, where he missed just once.
It was a physical, foul-filled game, which explains why Bucknell fans didn't get a final until well after the Bison's win over American was over, even though the Bucknell game had all the TV timeouts.
The two teams combined to shoot 72 free throws. HC was 32 for 44 at the line. Lehigh 23 of 28.
Joe Knight needed 18 shots to get his game-high 23 points, going 6 for 18 from the field.
It was that kind of afternoon for the Mountain Hawks, who shot just 20 of 63 (31.7 percent) from the field.
Jose Olivero had 13 points, but he was 4 for 20 from the field.
Keith Simmons with 20 to lead HC. Kevin Hamilton had 18, 14 from the foul line, where he missed just once.
It was a physical, foul-filled game, which explains why Bucknell fans didn't get a final until well after the Bison's win over American was over, even though the Bucknell game had all the TV timeouts.
The two teams combined to shoot 72 free throws. HC was 32 for 44 at the line. Lehigh 23 of 28.
Bison too much for AU
(Originally posted Sunday at 8:04 p.m., links added at 7:17 a.m.)
After his team dropped a 64-50 decision Sunday to Bucknell, American University coach Jeff Jones began his postgame press conference with one sentence that summed things up about as well as any sports writer will do with an entire story.
“Bucknell was just too much for us,” said Jones, whose team saw its season end the same way it did last year, with a loss to the Bison in Sojka Pavilion in semifinals of the Partiot League Tournament.
Jones was right.
It was too much Chris McNaughton for the American. Too much Charles Lee. Too much Kevin Bettencourt. Too much Darren Mastropaolo. And too much Bucknell defense.
Way too much Bucknell defense.
Bucknell held American without a field goal the first 4:54 of the game and just one bucket in the first 7 minutes, forcing four turnovers and five missed shots on AU’s first 10 possessions while starting the game with an 8-0 run en route to an early 11-2 lead.
The tone was set during those first seven minutes, with Bucknell’s first 11 points coming from four different players. Mastropaolo started things, scoring on Bucknell’s first possession off a nice feed from McNaughton off a high-low set. Lee scored the next two Bucknell baskets, the first a layup in transition on a nice outlet pass from Bettencourt, who came up with the steal on defense.
Then McNaughton got in on the act, finishing in transition with a thunderous dunk off another pass from Bettencourt.
Derrick Mercer got American on the board with a runner in the lane at the 15:06 mark, but Bettencourt, who missed his first two three-point tries, found the range on his third.
American did manage to come back to tie the game at 11-11 on a Brian Gilmore free throw with 9:15 to play in the half. But the major themes of the game – balanced scoring and tough defense, were set in those first seven minutes and a third theme came on Bucknell’s next possession, when Mastropaolo answered with a hook shot over 6-11 AU center Paulius Joneliunas at the other end, giving the Bison a lead they never relinquished.
American tried guarding McNaughton, Bucknell’s 6-11 junior center one on one, something few Patriot League teams are willing to do. McNaughton responded by going 8 for 9 from the field, his lone miss on a blocked shot by AU’s Jordan Nichols that looked awfully close to a goaltending call.
“We really didn’t have much of an answer for McNaughton,” said Jones. “He really exposed our lack of interior defense.”
American had no answer for Bettencourt, either. After missing his first two tries from the arc, the senior co-captain went 4 for 4 from three-point range the rest of the way, finishing with 16 points to share team-scoring honors with McNaughton.
“You work so hard. They make you guard the entire possession. Then all of a sudden, bam, (Bettencourt) knocks down a three and it takes a little bit of the life out of you,” said Jones. “His baskets are like daggers.”
Lee, the league’s Player of the Year, who spent the afternoon driving into the lane and either scoring himself or kicking the ball out to an open man. Lee had 15 points and dished off four assists. Lee also played his usual great defense on American junior guard Andre Ingram, who came into the game shooting under 25 percent from the field in seven career games against Bucknell, most of which he has spent a big part of the game guarded by Lee. Ingram, American’s leading scorer and a two-time all-league pick after being the league’s rookie of the year as a freshman, managed just five points while going 2 for 8 from the field.
“I have a lot of respect for Charles Lee. He’s the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League,” said Ingram. “He showed why he is the player of the year. He’s a phenomenal player.”
“He makes the big plays, the tough plays,” said Jones.
And then there was Mastropaolo, who went three for three from the field and helped hold American’s frontcourt players to a combined 1 for 10 shooting performance when he was not busy setting screens for Lee and Bettencourt.
“Darren is the reason Charles, Abe (Badmus) and I get open,” said Bettencourt.
“(Mastropaolo) is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine,” said Jones.
Put those pieces together and you come up with an offense that hit 24 of 50 (48 percent) from the field and a defense that held American to a 17 for 47 (36.2 percent) shooting effort.
“They showed great balance,” said Jones. “They are a great example of a team having stars you can rely on. They are very efficient. But what sets them apart from other good teams is that their role players not only understand their roles, they do them extremely, extremely well. And they all play great defense.”
While Bucknell kept the lead after Mastropaolo’s hook shot, American did not go away, thanks to the play of Linas Lekavicius, who scored 21 points, most by taking the ball to the rack when he got a mismatch with one of Bucknell’s big men on the perimeter against the Bison’s matchup zone. But he was a one-man show. American managed only 5 assists all afternoon, its lowest total of the season.
Lekavicius shot 8 for 15 from the field. The other 10 guys who saw action for AU combined to make 9 of the 32 shots they fired up.
“They became a one-man team and the other guys stood around a little,” said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Lekavicius cut Bucknell’s lead to 5 on a layup with 2:24 to go in the first half, but the Bison responded by closing the half with an 8-0 run, taking a 35-22 lead at the intermission when Lee’s three pointer bounced around the rim and fell in at the buzzer.
"They just seized the game at that point," Jones said.
In the second half, twice AU cut Bucknell’s lead to 9 on Lekavicius three-pointers. But each time the Bison answered by scoring the next 4 points, keeping American’s comeback hopes from gaining any traction.
“They are a terrific team,” said Jones, who called the Bison the best he has seen in the league since AU joined in the 2000-2001 season. “They’ve got terrific individuals but the thing that makes them the best, or near the top is that those individuals fit together very nicely.”
The win send Bucknell into the league final for the second season in a row and breaks the school record for wins in a season. The Bison’s 25-4 record is the best in modern school history, bettering the 24-5 record of Bucknell’s 1984 East Coast Conference regular season championship team.
Gameblog Notebook (Pat Flannery's hometown paper)
After his team dropped a 64-50 decision Sunday to Bucknell, American University coach Jeff Jones began his postgame press conference with one sentence that summed things up about as well as any sports writer will do with an entire story.
“Bucknell was just too much for us,” said Jones, whose team saw its season end the same way it did last year, with a loss to the Bison in Sojka Pavilion in semifinals of the Partiot League Tournament.
Jones was right.
It was too much Chris McNaughton for the American. Too much Charles Lee. Too much Kevin Bettencourt. Too much Darren Mastropaolo. And too much Bucknell defense.
Way too much Bucknell defense.
Bucknell held American without a field goal the first 4:54 of the game and just one bucket in the first 7 minutes, forcing four turnovers and five missed shots on AU’s first 10 possessions while starting the game with an 8-0 run en route to an early 11-2 lead.
The tone was set during those first seven minutes, with Bucknell’s first 11 points coming from four different players. Mastropaolo started things, scoring on Bucknell’s first possession off a nice feed from McNaughton off a high-low set. Lee scored the next two Bucknell baskets, the first a layup in transition on a nice outlet pass from Bettencourt, who came up with the steal on defense.
Then McNaughton got in on the act, finishing in transition with a thunderous dunk off another pass from Bettencourt.
Derrick Mercer got American on the board with a runner in the lane at the 15:06 mark, but Bettencourt, who missed his first two three-point tries, found the range on his third.
American did manage to come back to tie the game at 11-11 on a Brian Gilmore free throw with 9:15 to play in the half. But the major themes of the game – balanced scoring and tough defense, were set in those first seven minutes and a third theme came on Bucknell’s next possession, when Mastropaolo answered with a hook shot over 6-11 AU center Paulius Joneliunas at the other end, giving the Bison a lead they never relinquished.
American tried guarding McNaughton, Bucknell’s 6-11 junior center one on one, something few Patriot League teams are willing to do. McNaughton responded by going 8 for 9 from the field, his lone miss on a blocked shot by AU’s Jordan Nichols that looked awfully close to a goaltending call.
“We really didn’t have much of an answer for McNaughton,” said Jones. “He really exposed our lack of interior defense.”
American had no answer for Bettencourt, either. After missing his first two tries from the arc, the senior co-captain went 4 for 4 from three-point range the rest of the way, finishing with 16 points to share team-scoring honors with McNaughton.
“You work so hard. They make you guard the entire possession. Then all of a sudden, bam, (Bettencourt) knocks down a three and it takes a little bit of the life out of you,” said Jones. “His baskets are like daggers.”
Lee, the league’s Player of the Year, who spent the afternoon driving into the lane and either scoring himself or kicking the ball out to an open man. Lee had 15 points and dished off four assists. Lee also played his usual great defense on American junior guard Andre Ingram, who came into the game shooting under 25 percent from the field in seven career games against Bucknell, most of which he has spent a big part of the game guarded by Lee. Ingram, American’s leading scorer and a two-time all-league pick after being the league’s rookie of the year as a freshman, managed just five points while going 2 for 8 from the field.
“I have a lot of respect for Charles Lee. He’s the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League,” said Ingram. “He showed why he is the player of the year. He’s a phenomenal player.”
“He makes the big plays, the tough plays,” said Jones.
And then there was Mastropaolo, who went three for three from the field and helped hold American’s frontcourt players to a combined 1 for 10 shooting performance when he was not busy setting screens for Lee and Bettencourt.
“Darren is the reason Charles, Abe (Badmus) and I get open,” said Bettencourt.
“(Mastropaolo) is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine,” said Jones.
Put those pieces together and you come up with an offense that hit 24 of 50 (48 percent) from the field and a defense that held American to a 17 for 47 (36.2 percent) shooting effort.
“They showed great balance,” said Jones. “They are a great example of a team having stars you can rely on. They are very efficient. But what sets them apart from other good teams is that their role players not only understand their roles, they do them extremely, extremely well. And they all play great defense.”
While Bucknell kept the lead after Mastropaolo’s hook shot, American did not go away, thanks to the play of Linas Lekavicius, who scored 21 points, most by taking the ball to the rack when he got a mismatch with one of Bucknell’s big men on the perimeter against the Bison’s matchup zone. But he was a one-man show. American managed only 5 assists all afternoon, its lowest total of the season.
Lekavicius shot 8 for 15 from the field. The other 10 guys who saw action for AU combined to make 9 of the 32 shots they fired up.
“They became a one-man team and the other guys stood around a little,” said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Lekavicius cut Bucknell’s lead to 5 on a layup with 2:24 to go in the first half, but the Bison responded by closing the half with an 8-0 run, taking a 35-22 lead at the intermission when Lee’s three pointer bounced around the rim and fell in at the buzzer.
"They just seized the game at that point," Jones said.
In the second half, twice AU cut Bucknell’s lead to 9 on Lekavicius three-pointers. But each time the Bison answered by scoring the next 4 points, keeping American’s comeback hopes from gaining any traction.
“They are a terrific team,” said Jones, who called the Bison the best he has seen in the league since AU joined in the 2000-2001 season. “They’ve got terrific individuals but the thing that makes them the best, or near the top is that those individuals fit together very nicely.”
The win send Bucknell into the league final for the second season in a row and breaks the school record for wins in a season. The Bison’s 25-4 record is the best in modern school history, bettering the 24-5 record of Bucknell’s 1984 East Coast Conference regular season championship team.
Hoop Time notebook (BU semis edition)
Darren Mastropaolo does not light up the stats sheets. His rebounds and points, about three-and-a-half of each per game, hardly impress the casual fans, who tend to see the game, and judge players, by those sorts of numbers.
They don't keep stats for charges drawn, or picks set, or individual defense, so Mastropaolo's contributions get overlooked by the fans. For the same reason, writers who call him the second-best big man in the Patriot League get flack for such statements every time they make them.
Coaches judge players differently than fans, though. They watch hours of film, breaking down what opponents do on offense, trying to figure out ways to stop them. They see the things that don't show up in box scores, and they notice Mastropaolo.
"If you were in our locker room and heard our scouting reports, he gets an awful lot of credit from opposing teams," said American coach Jeff Jones after his team lost to Mastropaolo and the Bison Sunday in the league tournament semifinals.
"He is not a scorer, that is definitely not one of his strengths. He is a space eater. That might seem insignificant, but offensively and defensively, he occupies space and puts a body on people that allows McNaughton and his other teammates to move freely," said Jones.
"It's like a nose guard in football, taking on the double team and allowing the linebackers to move around . . . He is an important cog in that machine."
Jones also raved about the way Mastropaolo helps Bucknell's scorers get open.
"He is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine," Jones said.
And Bettencourt said Mastropaolo's three for three shooting against American was no fluke.
"I think you will see down the line, he can score. He doesn't maybe get the opportunities. He had three baskets today, three for three. He can do some things, it's just not his role right now," Bettencourt said.
MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY -- Pre-game introductions are handled a little different in tournament games. Instead of introducing the visiting team first, then the home side, players are introduced by position, one from each team, with the two meeting at halfcourt for a quick shake of hands.
But when swingmen Charles Lee of Bucknell and Andre Ingram of American, two guys who have matched up eight times over the past three seasons, greeted each other, they went beyond the usual handshakes, hugging briefly, and exchanging a pat on the back and a quick whisper in each other's ear.
So what was that all about?
"I have a lot of respect for Charles. He is the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League. I just told him congratulations on being the Player of the Year. He has had a great season. He showed why he was Player of the Year tonight. He is just a phenomenal player. He moves without the ball well, defends like crazy; he is a great player," Ingram said.
"We always have a few words for each other every time we play. It's just respect, thatafterwards
Told afterwords what Ingram had said, Lee expressed appreciation for the compliments and returned them in kind.
This was the last time the two will meet, at least in college. Ingram will be back next year for another season, but Lee is set to graduate in May.
BEST EVER? -- Jeff Jones has only been around the Patriot League for five seasons, but in that short time, he has seen some pretty good teams in the league. The 2002-2003 Holy Cross team went 13-1 in league play, 26-5 overall, beating Jones' Eagles in the league final for the second straight season.
AU was also on the short end of the 2003-2004 final, won by Lehigh.
None of those teams quite measure up to Bucknell in his estimation.
"I thought a year ago, going into the Patriot League tournament, that Holy Cross' team last year was the best one I'd seen in my four years in the Patriot League. I certainly believed that. But this Bucknell team, I think it is safe to say, is the best Patriot League team that I have seen," Jones said. "They don't have any glaring weaknesses."
REVENGE FACTOR -- To those with longer memories, last year's Bucknell win at Holy Cross in the final evened the score from the 1993 final, when second seed Holy Cross stole the title from the top-seeded Bison in Bucknell's Davis Gym.
To others, especially Holy Cross partisans with shorter memories, this Friday's game is the Crusaders' chance to exact revenge for last season.
"I am sure they will try to use it as some sort of motivation. I know we probably would. It wasn't a good way for their season to end last year. They felt they deserved it. I am sure they are going to come try to take it to us, just like we did to them last year," Bettencourt said.
Lee said last year's game has little relevance beyond motivation.
"That team they had last year was a lot different. They have different guys doing different things now. We will be a lot more focused on the first time we played them this year and the second time we played them this year instead of last year, instead of worrying about last year. Last year is over," Lee said.
"Hopefully we can try to celebrate on our home court. It will be a new experience," Bettencourt said.
And the Bison senior said Bucknell fans need not worry that Holy Cross will have a motivational edge.
Said Bettencourt, "We'll be ready."
TEDDY FACTOR -- Every time Bucknell and Holy Cross meet, somebody can be counted on to bring up the fact that Bettencourt's older brother, Teddy, was a four-year letterwinner for the Crusaders and captained HC's 1006 team.
Matter of fact, Ted Bettencourt was a freshman on that HC team that stole the '93 championship game in Davis. But his younger brother said that won;t make a whole lot of difference to him as he prepares for Friday's final.
"We are just excited to be in the championship game. Holy Cross is just another team. I know they build that up because of my brother going there, but this will probably be the 12th time I have played them," Bettencourt said.
"It's the championship game. I don't look at who we'll be playing. It is not any extra incentive. They are a good team. They are well coached and I have a lot of respect for them. That is where it ends."
THIS AND THAT -- Bucknell has now won 20 in a row against Patriot League opponents, 26 in a row at home against league foes and 12 in a row overall at Sojka . . . Bucknell is the 16th No. 1 seed to advance to the league final in 16 seasons of Patriot League play . . . Bucknell's seniors have won 76 games in their Bucknell careers, fifth most of any class in school history . . . a win in the final would move them into a tie for third on that list with the classes of 1993 and 1986 . . . a win in the final and a win in the NCAA Tournament would ties the class of 1989 for second . . . No. 1 on that list is the class of 1987 . . . That mark is probably safe for now, the Bison would need to reach the NCAA championship game to equal their 82 wins . . . This year's juniors, though, should have a shot at that mark. They have won 62 games thus far in their first three years . . . Lost in the shuffle of the opening round win over Army was Bettencourt's 1,500th career point . . . with his 16 against American he moved past Mike Joseph into fifth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,524 . . . Bettncourt needs 11 points to tie Jaye Andrews for fourth on that list.
They don't keep stats for charges drawn, or picks set, or individual defense, so Mastropaolo's contributions get overlooked by the fans. For the same reason, writers who call him the second-best big man in the Patriot League get flack for such statements every time they make them.
Coaches judge players differently than fans, though. They watch hours of film, breaking down what opponents do on offense, trying to figure out ways to stop them. They see the things that don't show up in box scores, and they notice Mastropaolo.
"If you were in our locker room and heard our scouting reports, he gets an awful lot of credit from opposing teams," said American coach Jeff Jones after his team lost to Mastropaolo and the Bison Sunday in the league tournament semifinals.
"He is not a scorer, that is definitely not one of his strengths. He is a space eater. That might seem insignificant, but offensively and defensively, he occupies space and puts a body on people that allows McNaughton and his other teammates to move freely," said Jones.
"It's like a nose guard in football, taking on the double team and allowing the linebackers to move around . . . He is an important cog in that machine."
Jones also raved about the way Mastropaolo helps Bucknell's scorers get open.
"He is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine," Jones said.
And Bettencourt said Mastropaolo's three for three shooting against American was no fluke.
"I think you will see down the line, he can score. He doesn't maybe get the opportunities. He had three baskets today, three for three. He can do some things, it's just not his role right now," Bettencourt said.
MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY -- Pre-game introductions are handled a little different in tournament games. Instead of introducing the visiting team first, then the home side, players are introduced by position, one from each team, with the two meeting at halfcourt for a quick shake of hands.
But when swingmen Charles Lee of Bucknell and Andre Ingram of American, two guys who have matched up eight times over the past three seasons, greeted each other, they went beyond the usual handshakes, hugging briefly, and exchanging a pat on the back and a quick whisper in each other's ear.
So what was that all about?
"I have a lot of respect for Charles. He is the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League. I just told him congratulations on being the Player of the Year. He has had a great season. He showed why he was Player of the Year tonight. He is just a phenomenal player. He moves without the ball well, defends like crazy; he is a great player," Ingram said.
"We always have a few words for each other every time we play. It's just respect, thatafterwards
Told afterwords what Ingram had said, Lee expressed appreciation for the compliments and returned them in kind.
This was the last time the two will meet, at least in college. Ingram will be back next year for another season, but Lee is set to graduate in May.
BEST EVER? -- Jeff Jones has only been around the Patriot League for five seasons, but in that short time, he has seen some pretty good teams in the league. The 2002-2003 Holy Cross team went 13-1 in league play, 26-5 overall, beating Jones' Eagles in the league final for the second straight season.
AU was also on the short end of the 2003-2004 final, won by Lehigh.
None of those teams quite measure up to Bucknell in his estimation.
"I thought a year ago, going into the Patriot League tournament, that Holy Cross' team last year was the best one I'd seen in my four years in the Patriot League. I certainly believed that. But this Bucknell team, I think it is safe to say, is the best Patriot League team that I have seen," Jones said. "They don't have any glaring weaknesses."
REVENGE FACTOR -- To those with longer memories, last year's Bucknell win at Holy Cross in the final evened the score from the 1993 final, when second seed Holy Cross stole the title from the top-seeded Bison in Bucknell's Davis Gym.
To others, especially Holy Cross partisans with shorter memories, this Friday's game is the Crusaders' chance to exact revenge for last season.
"I am sure they will try to use it as some sort of motivation. I know we probably would. It wasn't a good way for their season to end last year. They felt they deserved it. I am sure they are going to come try to take it to us, just like we did to them last year," Bettencourt said.
Lee said last year's game has little relevance beyond motivation.
"That team they had last year was a lot different. They have different guys doing different things now. We will be a lot more focused on the first time we played them this year and the second time we played them this year instead of last year, instead of worrying about last year. Last year is over," Lee said.
"Hopefully we can try to celebrate on our home court. It will be a new experience," Bettencourt said.
And the Bison senior said Bucknell fans need not worry that Holy Cross will have a motivational edge.
Said Bettencourt, "We'll be ready."
TEDDY FACTOR -- Every time Bucknell and Holy Cross meet, somebody can be counted on to bring up the fact that Bettencourt's older brother, Teddy, was a four-year letterwinner for the Crusaders and captained HC's 1006 team.
Matter of fact, Ted Bettencourt was a freshman on that HC team that stole the '93 championship game in Davis. But his younger brother said that won;t make a whole lot of difference to him as he prepares for Friday's final.
"We are just excited to be in the championship game. Holy Cross is just another team. I know they build that up because of my brother going there, but this will probably be the 12th time I have played them," Bettencourt said.
"It's the championship game. I don't look at who we'll be playing. It is not any extra incentive. They are a good team. They are well coached and I have a lot of respect for them. That is where it ends."
THIS AND THAT -- Bucknell has now won 20 in a row against Patriot League opponents, 26 in a row at home against league foes and 12 in a row overall at Sojka . . . Bucknell is the 16th No. 1 seed to advance to the league final in 16 seasons of Patriot League play . . . Bucknell's seniors have won 76 games in their Bucknell careers, fifth most of any class in school history . . . a win in the final would move them into a tie for third on that list with the classes of 1993 and 1986 . . . a win in the final and a win in the NCAA Tournament would ties the class of 1989 for second . . . No. 1 on that list is the class of 1987 . . . That mark is probably safe for now, the Bison would need to reach the NCAA championship game to equal their 82 wins . . . This year's juniors, though, should have a shot at that mark. They have won 62 games thus far in their first three years . . . Lost in the shuffle of the opening round win over Army was Bettencourt's 1,500th career point . . . with his 16 against American he moved past Mike Joseph into fifth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,524 . . . Bettncourt needs 11 points to tie Jaye Andrews for fourth on that list.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
BU-HC ticket info
From the Bucknell Web site:
Tickets for the championship game will go on sale on Monday morning beginning at 11 a.m. at the Weis Center or Elaine Langone Center box offices. A special student-only sale will take place from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Monday morning at the Sojka Pavilion box office. Valid Bucknell ID is required to purchase a ticket during that period.
Bucknell-American gameblog
75 minutes to game time
About 200 tickets still remain for this afternoon's game. The 200 remaining is approximately the number of tickets turned back by American Saturday.
Approximately 500 tickets that were available went on sale at 11 a.m., and the line stretched around the corner of Sojka Pavilion towards Seventh Street in Lewisburg when the box office opened.
A quick check about five minutes ago showed the line was gone, so if you are in near Lewisburg and thought the game was already sold out, there is still a chance to get tickets.
30 minutes to game time
If you are planning to tune in at 1 o'clock to watch American and Bucknell, you might be in for a shock. CSTV, in what might be a breach of its contract with the league, is showing a Big East women's quarterfinal live in that time slot. The Bucknell-American game has been shifted to tape delay.
The Bucknell officials, who asked not to be identified, are furious with the shift, which the league and the school were not informed of until this morning.
"We have people gathering at alumni clubs all over the country to watch the game," said one BU official.
League executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich said contractually the network is supposed carry the game live. The league will examine its legal options, but there is nothing it can do to change things at this point.
A check of the broadcast schedule on the CSTV Web site does say when the game will be shown. We will try to find a producer or someone to get that answer.
23 minutes to game time
A group of three AU blue shirts are seated directly behind us in the first row.
We take back what we said earlier in the season about them not getting dates -- one is a very cute young lady. (Wonder if that comment will bring that AU guy who complained about the mentions of girls and dating in an AU recruiting brochure to our doorstep for protests).
Speaking of that, in our chat Wednesday with Kevin Bettencourt of Bucknell, he said girls are the subject of a lot of questions when recruits visit a campus. Seems to us that makes those brochures even more legitimate, not that we thought they were the least bit offensive to begin with.
19 minutes to game time
Among other subjects of conversation with Schlie Femovich:
The Joe Knight situation still has not been completely finalized by the league's presidents. They are still sorting out issues like individual player and coach records, among other things.
Schlie Femovich said she had hoped it would all be resolved by now, but the league presidents do not meet in person until June and it has been difficult coordinating their schedules for a conference call or other consultations.
That does not mean it will not be settled until that June meeting, though. It should be sooner.
"We want to put the issue to rest," she said. "We are close."
The league continues to evaluate its tournament options and would prefer to return to a neutral site if one can be identified that will both generate good attendance numbers and be affordable.
Lacking such a site, the higher seeds hosting is preferable to a single, on-campus site because, as a one-bid league, the conference wants to give its best teams the best chances of advancing.
"Annapolis would be a great site. The fans love going there. But nobody wants to play Navy on its home floor in the tournament," Schlie Femovich noted.
2 minutes till game time
Finally tracked down a time for the tape-delay broadcast of this game on CSTV. It is supposed to be shown tonight at 10:30.
Davis nearly full, except for an almost empty section that was part of the Au allotment and some scattered seats in the section that was occupied by Army fans in the first round.
Bucknell 6, AU 0 (16:11 first)
Bucknell students begin pogoing before the tip.
First possession Bucknell runs a high-low set to Mastropaolo, who scores off the assist from McNaughton. Mastropaolo also helps create a turnover on AU's first possession.
The "Gary Coleman" chant is heard each time AU's Derrick Mercer touches the ball.
AU with turnovers on three of their first five possessions. A missed shot on the other two.
Charles Lee with four of BU's first 6 points, the last bucket, a short baseline jumper in a crowd, brings a quick AU timeout
Bucknell 8, AU 0 (15:09 first)
Andre Ingram's first shot is an air ball, and results in a thunderous dunk by McNaughton in transition.
In 7 career games against BU, Ingram has shot 23.8 percent from the field.
Bucknell 11, AU 6 (10:46 first)
Derrick Mercer's runner at 15:03 is AU's first bucket.
Three's the charm for Bettencourt, who drains a trey after missing the first two he took. Puts BU up 11-2.
Through the first 8 minutes, AU has 1 field goal and 4 turnovers.
Arvydas Eitutavicius gives AU an offensive spark with back-to-back buckets just before the second media timeout.
AU now shooting 3 for 8 (37.5 percent) Bucknell at 5-11 (45.5 percent) 4 of BU's 6 misses are from the arc, where they are 1-5 so far.
Bucknell 20, AU 14 (5:58 first)
After Eitutavicius adds another Bucket to make it 11-10, Lee checks back in to guard him.
Travis Lay hits one of two free throws to tie it 11-11 at the 9:15 mark, but BU right back on top when Mastropaolo hits a hook shot over Joneliunas.
Bucknell's guards being aggressive taking smaller AU guards to the hole.
After the tie, Bucknell on a 9-3 run, 4 points from Mastropaolo and 5 from Bettencourt, who just hit his second three in a row after missing his first two.
Bucknell 24, AU 19 (3:22)
AU's mascot takes the floor during the media timeout. If the Eagle was any shorter it would be Derrick Mercer. It wears a 5 on its jersey, same as Garrison Carr, who is taller than nobody else in uniform except his teammate Mercer.
Ingram hit his last two shots, the second a three-pointer. He is now 2-5.
AU shooting 7-20 (35 percent), Bucknell 11-21 (52.4 percent).
Bucknell 35, AU 22 (Halftime)
When Billbe picks up his second personal, AU goes small, with 6-8 Brian Gilmore and 6-5 Jordan Nichols up front. Bucknell goes to McNaughton two straight trips and Jeff Jones hustles 6-11 Joneliunas back in.
With 22 seconds to go, Bettencourt chases down a loose ball after an Ingram miss and gets the timeout while falling out of bounds to give Bucknell the last possession. Lee's three-pointer bounces around the rim and falls in, sending the Bison off the floor at intermission to a thunderous roar.
At the half:
Bucknell 15 of 26 from the field (57.7 percent), 4-9 from three-point range.
Bettencourt with 11 points leads all scorers. McNaughton has 8 on 4-4 shooting. Lee 7. Mastropaolo 3 for 3, 6 points.
AU 8 for 23 (34.8 percent), 2-5 from the arc. Eitutavicius and Lekavicius with 6 each. Ingram with 5.
Interesting note: neither team reached the 1 and 1 in the first half. Both teams with 6 team fouls. Mastropaolo and Billbe each have 2, nobody else with more than 1 foul in the half.
AU did get to the line 5 times, making 4. Bucknell 1 for 2 (Donald Brown).
Rebounds are 15-12 Bucknell. Turnovers: Bucknell 5, AU 7.
Points in the paint: BU 12, AU 6.
Elsewhere, Holy Cross leads Lehigh 32-26 at the half in Worcester.
Bucknell 41, AU 30 (15:46 left)
McNaughton can't miss. His first shot of the second half a step out jumper from the top of the key finds nothing but twine. He is now 6 for 6, 12 points
AU got within single digits at 37-28 on a trey by Lekavicius, but Brown answered and the lead was back to double digits.
Bucknell 43, AU 30 (14:34 left)
McNaughton finally has a miss, but not without controversy. His shot was blocked by Nichols, and appeared to be goaltending, at least to Pat Flannery, who reacted in disbelief at the no call.
Bucknell 46, AU 35 (11:27 left)
By the way, should Bucknell win and advance to the final, it would host that game at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Bucknell starts spring break that afternoon, but school officials have made arrangements already to provide an extra night of housing in the dorms for students staying for the game.
Officials using the whistles more this half. Nichols third personal at 12:36 is AU's sixth team foul, matching their first half total.
Bucknell has 4 fouls so far. Badmus and Mastropaolo each with three.
Billbe and Nichols with three each for AU.
Where would AU be without Lekavicius. He has 15 points, almost half of AU's total.
Three Bison in double figures already: McNaughton (7-8, 14 points), Bettencourt (11) and Lee (10).
Bucknell 56, AU 42 (7:04 to play)
Bucknell in the 1 and 1 at the 10:55 mark.
Lekavicius hits a trey to get AU back within single digits at 49-41 with about 9:10 to go.
Lee answers with two free throws to push it back to 51-41.
Bucknell playing a very small lineup in this stretch, with McNaughton, Lee, Badmus, Vegotsky and Bettencourt.
During their shootaround Saturday, Bucknell worked on attacking traps, anticipating AU would try that tactic. The Eagles trapped once in the first half, resulting in an easy bucket for McNaughton, and have not tried it since.
Bettencourt his a three right before this timeout, his fourth straight after missing his first two. He now has 14 points.
Bucknell will be in the double bonus with American's next foul. Bucknell's next personal will have AU shooting 1 and 1.
Bucknell 58, AU 45 (3:26 left)
Badmus picks up his fourth personal with 6:45 to go. AU immediately tries full court pressure when John Griffin replaces Badmus at the point.
At the 3:58 mark, Ingram pump fakes, gets Lee in the air, takes two dribbles around him and bricks a pull up J off the front of the rim. Ingram now 2 for 8 from the field.
Bucknell down to 47.9 percent from the field after a couple misses in a row. Lee (5 for 12) and Brown (2-7) the only Bison below 50 percent who have more than 2 shots.
Lekavicius now has 20 of AU's 45 points.
Bucknell 60, AU 49 (1:43 left)
With 2:44 to go, Travis Lay makes a pair of free throws to get Au back to single digits once more at 58-49. McNaughton answers with an 8-foot baseline jumper to push it back to double digits.
Bucknell 64, AU 50 (FINAL)
Crowd on its feet roaring approval the final 22 seconds. Bucknell mercifully takes a 35 second shot clock violation with 3 seconds to go, not even looking at the hoop.
McNaughton (8-9) and Bettencourt each with 16 for Bucknell. Lee with 15.
Lekavicius' 21 the only double figures for AU.
Bucknell finishes 24-50 from the field (48 percent). Bison 11 for 12 from the foul line, 10-10 in the second half.
AU 17-47 (36.2 percent) from the field. 12-15 at the line.
About 200 tickets still remain for this afternoon's game. The 200 remaining is approximately the number of tickets turned back by American Saturday.
Approximately 500 tickets that were available went on sale at 11 a.m., and the line stretched around the corner of Sojka Pavilion towards Seventh Street in Lewisburg when the box office opened.
A quick check about five minutes ago showed the line was gone, so if you are in near Lewisburg and thought the game was already sold out, there is still a chance to get tickets.
30 minutes to game time
If you are planning to tune in at 1 o'clock to watch American and Bucknell, you might be in for a shock. CSTV, in what might be a breach of its contract with the league, is showing a Big East women's quarterfinal live in that time slot. The Bucknell-American game has been shifted to tape delay.
The Bucknell officials, who asked not to be identified, are furious with the shift, which the league and the school were not informed of until this morning.
"We have people gathering at alumni clubs all over the country to watch the game," said one BU official.
League executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich said contractually the network is supposed carry the game live. The league will examine its legal options, but there is nothing it can do to change things at this point.
A check of the broadcast schedule on the CSTV Web site does say when the game will be shown. We will try to find a producer or someone to get that answer.
23 minutes to game time
A group of three AU blue shirts are seated directly behind us in the first row.
We take back what we said earlier in the season about them not getting dates -- one is a very cute young lady. (Wonder if that comment will bring that AU guy who complained about the mentions of girls and dating in an AU recruiting brochure to our doorstep for protests).
Speaking of that, in our chat Wednesday with Kevin Bettencourt of Bucknell, he said girls are the subject of a lot of questions when recruits visit a campus. Seems to us that makes those brochures even more legitimate, not that we thought they were the least bit offensive to begin with.
19 minutes to game time
Among other subjects of conversation with Schlie Femovich:
Schlie Femovich said she had hoped it would all be resolved by now, but the league presidents do not meet in person until June and it has been difficult coordinating their schedules for a conference call or other consultations.
That does not mean it will not be settled until that June meeting, though. It should be sooner.
"We want to put the issue to rest," she said. "We are close."
Lacking such a site, the higher seeds hosting is preferable to a single, on-campus site because, as a one-bid league, the conference wants to give its best teams the best chances of advancing.
"Annapolis would be a great site. The fans love going there. But nobody wants to play Navy on its home floor in the tournament," Schlie Femovich noted.
2 minutes till game time
Finally tracked down a time for the tape-delay broadcast of this game on CSTV. It is supposed to be shown tonight at 10:30.
Davis nearly full, except for an almost empty section that was part of the Au allotment and some scattered seats in the section that was occupied by Army fans in the first round.
Bucknell 6, AU 0 (16:11 first)
Bucknell students begin pogoing before the tip.
First possession Bucknell runs a high-low set to Mastropaolo, who scores off the assist from McNaughton. Mastropaolo also helps create a turnover on AU's first possession.
The "Gary Coleman" chant is heard each time AU's Derrick Mercer touches the ball.
AU with turnovers on three of their first five possessions. A missed shot on the other two.
Charles Lee with four of BU's first 6 points, the last bucket, a short baseline jumper in a crowd, brings a quick AU timeout
Bucknell 8, AU 0 (15:09 first)
Andre Ingram's first shot is an air ball, and results in a thunderous dunk by McNaughton in transition.
In 7 career games against BU, Ingram has shot 23.8 percent from the field.
Bucknell 11, AU 6 (10:46 first)
Derrick Mercer's runner at 15:03 is AU's first bucket.
Three's the charm for Bettencourt, who drains a trey after missing the first two he took. Puts BU up 11-2.
Through the first 8 minutes, AU has 1 field goal and 4 turnovers.
Arvydas Eitutavicius gives AU an offensive spark with back-to-back buckets just before the second media timeout.
AU now shooting 3 for 8 (37.5 percent) Bucknell at 5-11 (45.5 percent) 4 of BU's 6 misses are from the arc, where they are 1-5 so far.
Bucknell 20, AU 14 (5:58 first)
After Eitutavicius adds another Bucket to make it 11-10, Lee checks back in to guard him.
Travis Lay hits one of two free throws to tie it 11-11 at the 9:15 mark, but BU right back on top when Mastropaolo hits a hook shot over Joneliunas.
Bucknell's guards being aggressive taking smaller AU guards to the hole.
After the tie, Bucknell on a 9-3 run, 4 points from Mastropaolo and 5 from Bettencourt, who just hit his second three in a row after missing his first two.
Bucknell 24, AU 19 (3:22)
AU's mascot takes the floor during the media timeout. If the Eagle was any shorter it would be Derrick Mercer. It wears a 5 on its jersey, same as Garrison Carr, who is taller than nobody else in uniform except his teammate Mercer.
Ingram hit his last two shots, the second a three-pointer. He is now 2-5.
AU shooting 7-20 (35 percent), Bucknell 11-21 (52.4 percent).
Bucknell 35, AU 22 (Halftime)
When Billbe picks up his second personal, AU goes small, with 6-8 Brian Gilmore and 6-5 Jordan Nichols up front. Bucknell goes to McNaughton two straight trips and Jeff Jones hustles 6-11 Joneliunas back in.
With 22 seconds to go, Bettencourt chases down a loose ball after an Ingram miss and gets the timeout while falling out of bounds to give Bucknell the last possession. Lee's three-pointer bounces around the rim and falls in, sending the Bison off the floor at intermission to a thunderous roar.
At the half:
Bucknell 15 of 26 from the field (57.7 percent), 4-9 from three-point range.
Bettencourt with 11 points leads all scorers. McNaughton has 8 on 4-4 shooting. Lee 7. Mastropaolo 3 for 3, 6 points.
AU 8 for 23 (34.8 percent), 2-5 from the arc. Eitutavicius and Lekavicius with 6 each. Ingram with 5.
Interesting note: neither team reached the 1 and 1 in the first half. Both teams with 6 team fouls. Mastropaolo and Billbe each have 2, nobody else with more than 1 foul in the half.
AU did get to the line 5 times, making 4. Bucknell 1 for 2 (Donald Brown).
Rebounds are 15-12 Bucknell. Turnovers: Bucknell 5, AU 7.
Points in the paint: BU 12, AU 6.
Elsewhere, Holy Cross leads Lehigh 32-26 at the half in Worcester.
Bucknell 41, AU 30 (15:46 left)
McNaughton can't miss. His first shot of the second half a step out jumper from the top of the key finds nothing but twine. He is now 6 for 6, 12 points
AU got within single digits at 37-28 on a trey by Lekavicius, but Brown answered and the lead was back to double digits.
Bucknell 43, AU 30 (14:34 left)
McNaughton finally has a miss, but not without controversy. His shot was blocked by Nichols, and appeared to be goaltending, at least to Pat Flannery, who reacted in disbelief at the no call.
Bucknell 46, AU 35 (11:27 left)
By the way, should Bucknell win and advance to the final, it would host that game at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Bucknell starts spring break that afternoon, but school officials have made arrangements already to provide an extra night of housing in the dorms for students staying for the game.
Officials using the whistles more this half. Nichols third personal at 12:36 is AU's sixth team foul, matching their first half total.
Bucknell has 4 fouls so far. Badmus and Mastropaolo each with three.
Billbe and Nichols with three each for AU.
Where would AU be without Lekavicius. He has 15 points, almost half of AU's total.
Three Bison in double figures already: McNaughton (7-8, 14 points), Bettencourt (11) and Lee (10).
Bucknell 56, AU 42 (7:04 to play)
Bucknell in the 1 and 1 at the 10:55 mark.
Lekavicius hits a trey to get AU back within single digits at 49-41 with about 9:10 to go.
Lee answers with two free throws to push it back to 51-41.
Bucknell playing a very small lineup in this stretch, with McNaughton, Lee, Badmus, Vegotsky and Bettencourt.
During their shootaround Saturday, Bucknell worked on attacking traps, anticipating AU would try that tactic. The Eagles trapped once in the first half, resulting in an easy bucket for McNaughton, and have not tried it since.
Bettencourt his a three right before this timeout, his fourth straight after missing his first two. He now has 14 points.
Bucknell will be in the double bonus with American's next foul. Bucknell's next personal will have AU shooting 1 and 1.
Bucknell 58, AU 45 (3:26 left)
Badmus picks up his fourth personal with 6:45 to go. AU immediately tries full court pressure when John Griffin replaces Badmus at the point.
At the 3:58 mark, Ingram pump fakes, gets Lee in the air, takes two dribbles around him and bricks a pull up J off the front of the rim. Ingram now 2 for 8 from the field.
Bucknell down to 47.9 percent from the field after a couple misses in a row. Lee (5 for 12) and Brown (2-7) the only Bison below 50 percent who have more than 2 shots.
Lekavicius now has 20 of AU's 45 points.
Bucknell 60, AU 49 (1:43 left)
With 2:44 to go, Travis Lay makes a pair of free throws to get Au back to single digits once more at 58-49. McNaughton answers with an 8-foot baseline jumper to push it back to double digits.
Bucknell 64, AU 50 (FINAL)
Crowd on its feet roaring approval the final 22 seconds. Bucknell mercifully takes a 35 second shot clock violation with 3 seconds to go, not even looking at the hoop.
McNaughton (8-9) and Bettencourt each with 16 for Bucknell. Lee with 15.
Lekavicius' 21 the only double figures for AU.
Bucknell finishes 24-50 from the field (48 percent). Bison 11 for 12 from the foul line, 10-10 in the second half.
AU 17-47 (36.2 percent) from the field. 12-15 at the line.
Final four hit the floor
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No. 3 Lehigh at No. 2 HolY Cross, 1 p.m.: The rubber match between these two teams who split in the regular season. Lehigh won by a point at home on a last second bucket by Jose Olivero. Last week in the rematch at Worcester, HC jumped on the Mountain Hawks early and posted a 12-point win.
Lehigh has not won in Worcester since 1998 and has never beaten Holy Cross in a league tournament game (0-4). Holy Cross has only lost twice at home to PL foes in the past two seasons -- both to Bucknell (last year's final and in the regular season this year).
Both teams have standout guards. Joe Knight and Jose Olivero for Lehigh, and Keith Simmons and Kevin Hamilton of HC, are all-league players. So is Torey Thomas, the Crusaders point guard. That threesome gives Holy Cross an edge in the backcourt and Tim Clifford is a huge edge inside against Lehigh. The only place Lehigh has an edge in comparing starting lineups is at the four.
But Lehigh's bench, while lacking any real offensive firepower, is deeper than Holy Cross'. If one of Ralph Willard's guards get in foul trouble, or if Keith Simmons' cramping problems surface again, the Crusaders will have a tough time keeping their unblemished postseason record against the Mountain Hawks.
Likewise, if Clifford and backup Kevin Hyland both foul out like they did againstNavy in the first round, HC could be in trouble.
Bottom line, while Holy Cross' first five is probably better, the margin is slim. Their margin for error, even slimmer.
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No. 4 American at No. 1 Bucknell, 1 p.m.: American shot the lights out against Lafayette in the first round. If they do that again, Bucknell's long home win streak could be in jeopardy.
That is not likely to happen though. For starters, the Bison have owned AU's Andre Ingram his entire career. And Bucknell's defense is a far cry better than Lafayette's.
The Bison seem on a mission, and in front of what will be a packed house at home, it will take a Herculean effort for American to pull off the upset. The Bison are better at every position and while American does have a decent bench, Bucknell is better there, too.
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