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Friday, March 30, 2007
An American grad takes issue with our comments on AU's academics in a recent post about the school's hiring of a new athletics director. Here is his message and our reply:Jordan Cook wrote:
Jordan --
Since you asked us to address some of your comments, here goes . . .
Obviously these things are not easy to quantify, but there are some indicators that are commonly used to assess academic excellence and American does not fare well when compared to the other Patriot League schools.
One such indicator is admissions selectivity. Admissions type love this one, though, frankly, to folks with public university backgrounds like me, it can reek of pretension. Nonetheless, here are the numbers, along with the percentage of incoming students who rank in the top 10 percent of their graduating class:
Another quantitative comparison is average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. Again, American ranks below the rest of the league. Here are the numbers:
As for your arguments that AU's low graduation rates are reflective of the old regime in basketball, that ignores the fact that AU's lower graduation rate spans the entire school and runs across the whole athletic department. AU's overall graduation rate of 71 percent is 14 percent below the next lowest school in the league (Lehigh - 85 percent) and its student athlete graduation rate is also the lowest in the league. AU is the only school that graduates less than 80 percent of its student athletes (56 percent).
The difference in graduation rates between all students and student athletes at every other school in the league is less than 10 percent. Two schools -- Bucknell and Lehigh -- actually have higher grad rates for student athletes than the student body as a whole and the difference between all students and student athletes at Colgate and Lafayette is 2 percent. Holy Cross has a 9 percent difference; American's difference is 15 percent. Here are those numbers:
Breaking it down by sport, American has seven different sports that reported grad rates below 90 percent in the latest study. No other school had more than three sports below 90 percent. Adding significance to the difference is the fact that AU offers fewer sports than any of the other league members.
Now nobody is arguing American is not a fine school, or that it does not belong in the league. And we have heard reports the school is working to improve the academic rankings of its athletes. Hopefully, as you suggest, future graduation success rates will reflect that.
We have no bias against American. Without a doubt, from a competition standpoint, AU has been a fine addition to the league. Jeff Jones is great to work with from a media standpoint -- frank, quotable, cooperative-- and word around the league is that his staff is both well-respected and well-liked by other staffs in the conference.
Our point was simply that if your hire is supposed to reflect your "commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement," you don't bring in a guy from a school with a spotty academic record. The way to send that message is to hire someone who comes from a place that at least can boast an average graduation rate.
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As an AU alumnus (BA, International Relations '95), I greatly resent your comments on your latest entry. I'm sure you have more "insider information" than I do about the PL offices, but are the "league-wide concerns" over AU's academic shortcomings coming from within the PL administration or just from fans of the old-guard schools? The idea that American is not academically equal to any of the Patriot League schools is laughable. With the possible exception of Lehigh, American is probably the most nationally respected university in the league. This is not to take anything away from the other excellent schools in the Patriot League, but your posting gave the clear impression that AU lags far behind Colgate, Bucknell, Lafayette, or Holy Cross in terms of its academic reputation I think you would have a very hard time making an effective case for that argument.
The statistics you point to are for the 1996-1999 cohorts, when AU was at a true low point in terms of its basketball administration. Chris Knoche really let things go at the end of his tenure as coach, and then Art Perry was a disastrous hire, trying to find quick solutions in very questionable characters who had basketball talent. This was the period of our swan song in the CAA, and the university made an institutional decision to move the Patriot League in order to be sure that our athletics department stayed representative of the high academic level the university as a whole is known for. So while 18% is truly an atrocious number, it's not really relevant for discussion when considering AU's history as a member of the Patriot League. And I guarantee you that the rate is MUCH higher now, as the type of athletes we have recruited has changed after entering the Patriot League.
Similarly, your pot shot at the new AD is disappointing. Again, your statistics are NOT APPLICABLE to the period when Gill was at Oklahoma. You'd need to see the CHANGE is graduation rates during his tenure to know what his impact was. How do we know that graduation rates didn't go up from 41% to 60%? Of course, they could have gone down, too, but my point is that we don't have the information. Your quickness to make an assumption makes me wonder if you have some prejudice against American.
I'm sorry to come off as defensive, but I have really enjoyed following your blog, and I think your comments really matter in forming opinions. You should be commended for that, for the hard work you put in. But there was no way to read your last post and not feel insulted as an American University alumnus.
I'd love to see you address some of my comments on your blog. Perhaps you can show me that I am wrong in some way. But it's disappointing to see my school seemingly looked on with disdain, when I don't see a real rationale for that.
Jordan --
Since you asked us to address some of your comments, here goes . . .
Obviously these things are not easy to quantify, but there are some indicators that are commonly used to assess academic excellence and American does not fare well when compared to the other Patriot League schools.
One such indicator is admissions selectivity. Admissions type love this one, though, frankly, to folks with public university backgrounds like me, it can reek of pretension. Nonetheless, here are the numbers, along with the percentage of incoming students who rank in the top 10 percent of their graduating class:
| SCHOOL | Pct. adm. | Pct. Top 10 |
|---|---|---|
| American | 53 | 48 |
| Army | NA | 72 |
| Bucknell | 33 | 71 |
| Colgate | 28 | 70 |
| Holy Cross | 34 | 64 |
| Lafayette | 37 | 62 |
| Lehigh | 39 | 62 |
| Navy | NA | 54 |
| Source: The College Board | ||
Another quantitative comparison is average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. Again, American ranks below the rest of the league. Here are the numbers:
| SCHOOL | Math | Crit. Rdg. |
|---|---|---|
| American | 603 | 620 |
| Army | 641 | 627 |
| Bucknell | 666 | 636 |
| Colgate | 675 | 666 |
| Holy Cross | 629 | 631 |
| Lafayette | 665 | 620 |
| Lehigh | 671 | 631 |
| Navy | 670 | 648 |
| Source: Princeton Review | ||
As for your arguments that AU's low graduation rates are reflective of the old regime in basketball, that ignores the fact that AU's lower graduation rate spans the entire school and runs across the whole athletic department. AU's overall graduation rate of 71 percent is 14 percent below the next lowest school in the league (Lehigh - 85 percent) and its student athlete graduation rate is also the lowest in the league. AU is the only school that graduates less than 80 percent of its student athletes (56 percent).
The difference in graduation rates between all students and student athletes at every other school in the league is less than 10 percent. Two schools -- Bucknell and Lehigh -- actually have higher grad rates for student athletes than the student body as a whole and the difference between all students and student athletes at Colgate and Lafayette is 2 percent. Holy Cross has a 9 percent difference; American's difference is 15 percent. Here are those numbers:
| SCHOOL | All | SA |
|---|---|---|
| American | 71 | 56 |
| Army | NA | NA |
| Bucknell | 88 | 90 |
| Colgate | 91 | 89 |
| Holy Cross | 91 | 82 |
| Lafayette | 90 | 88 |
| Lehigh | 85 | 86 |
| Navy | NA | NA |
| Source: 2006 NCAA Division I GSR Data | ||
Breaking it down by sport, American has seven different sports that reported grad rates below 90 percent in the latest study. No other school had more than three sports below 90 percent. Adding significance to the difference is the fact that AU offers fewer sports than any of the other league members.
Now nobody is arguing American is not a fine school, or that it does not belong in the league. And we have heard reports the school is working to improve the academic rankings of its athletes. Hopefully, as you suggest, future graduation success rates will reflect that.
We have no bias against American. Without a doubt, from a competition standpoint, AU has been a fine addition to the league. Jeff Jones is great to work with from a media standpoint -- frank, quotable, cooperative-- and word around the league is that his staff is both well-respected and well-liked by other staffs in the conference.
Our point was simply that if your hire is supposed to reflect your "commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement," you don't bring in a guy from a school with a spotty academic record. The way to send that message is to hire someone who comes from a place that at least can boast an average graduation rate.
Labels: AU
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Thursday morning readaround
Bill Simmons, ESPN's self-appointed Sports Guy, has a plan to save Holy Cross.
Simmons shares his plan in a piece for ESPN The Magazine, where he laments HC not winning an NCAA Tournament game since 1953 and suggests the solution is, among other things, bringing in a new coach who is willing to cheat.
Not quite sure whether Simmons, who also did a stint writing for Jimmy Kimmel Live, is one of that well-recognized segment of Holy Cross alums who are still pissing and moaning about the school not joining the Big East, or a comedy writer using his alma mater for easy column fodder.
He starts the piece like the former, complaining, among other things, that joining the Patriot League ("a homeless man's version of the Ivy League") has turned HC "into a D1 school with a D3 mentality."
His suggested fixes sound more like a shot at the big time schools who will do anything to win.
Were we convinced he is serious, we'd take issue with some of the arguments he makes about his alma mater's program. We'd argue that Ralph Willard has done a helluva job and that any alum not proud of the program should have graduated from someplace like Memphis, where winning is more important than graduating.
We'd also point out HC was not exactly setting the hoops world on fire when it joined the Patriot League. We'd mention that as a 1992 grad, the glory he longs for is not from his days on Mt. St. James, but from days before he was even born. We'd remind him that the Crusaders had been to the NCAA Tournament exactly twice in the period between Ike Eienhower's second inauguration and his last undergraduate kegger (and not once in his four years as a student, although there was an NIT loss his sophomore season).
Simmons also whines about the "gutting" of the school's football program, conveniently forgetting its glorious gridiron past consists of a 1946 Orange Bowl loss and a 1983 loss in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Yes Holy Cross has a proud athletic heritage. But it has an equally, if not superior, academic reputation. There is no shame in striving to find a proper balance between the two.
That has been the Patriot League experiment, one that is still ongoing. The recent move to allow athletic scholarships shows the experiment is far from complete. Give the league credit for being willing to tinker with its formula in an effort to find that balance, even if it only did so at gunpoint when Holy Cross threatened to bolt.
It is easy to do things the wrong way, much harder to have the courage to try to set an example for all of college athletics. It is even tougher to lead when nobody else has the courage or willingness to follow.
For all its faults, and there are many, the Patriot League has the right idea. Ever see those NCAA ads about athletes going pro in things other than sports? That is the norm, not the exception, in the Patriot.
Still, Simmons is not completely off the mark -- not so much in his criticism of Holy Cross (though we can only imagine what he'd have written had he known about the band-can't-miss-classes charter flight fiasco), but in his criticism of the rest of the league (he grants Bucknell an exception). No doubt Crest and Aquafresh probably could have gone close to .500 in the Patriot this season had they actually fielded a team.
Simmons didn't even mention the Division III-style playoff system that replaced the conference tournament this season.
And we absolutely love his "Girls of the Patriot League" idea. Matter of fact, we might just start selling such a calendar in the Hoop Time store.
Stay tuned.
BONUS LINK:
Youth to be served next for Bucknell (Tom Housenick column in The Daily Item)
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Bill Simmons, ESPN's self-appointed Sports Guy, has a plan to save Holy Cross.
Simmons shares his plan in a piece for ESPN The Magazine, where he laments HC not winning an NCAA Tournament game since 1953 and suggests the solution is, among other things, bringing in a new coach who is willing to cheat.
Not quite sure whether Simmons, who also did a stint writing for Jimmy Kimmel Live, is one of that well-recognized segment of Holy Cross alums who are still pissing and moaning about the school not joining the Big East, or a comedy writer using his alma mater for easy column fodder.
He starts the piece like the former, complaining, among other things, that joining the Patriot League ("a homeless man's version of the Ivy League") has turned HC "into a D1 school with a D3 mentality."
His suggested fixes sound more like a shot at the big time schools who will do anything to win.
Were we convinced he is serious, we'd take issue with some of the arguments he makes about his alma mater's program. We'd argue that Ralph Willard has done a helluva job and that any alum not proud of the program should have graduated from someplace like Memphis, where winning is more important than graduating.
We'd also point out HC was not exactly setting the hoops world on fire when it joined the Patriot League. We'd mention that as a 1992 grad, the glory he longs for is not from his days on Mt. St. James, but from days before he was even born. We'd remind him that the Crusaders had been to the NCAA Tournament exactly twice in the period between Ike Eienhower's second inauguration and his last undergraduate kegger (and not once in his four years as a student, although there was an NIT loss his sophomore season).
Simmons also whines about the "gutting" of the school's football program, conveniently forgetting its glorious gridiron past consists of a 1946 Orange Bowl loss and a 1983 loss in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Yes Holy Cross has a proud athletic heritage. But it has an equally, if not superior, academic reputation. There is no shame in striving to find a proper balance between the two.
That has been the Patriot League experiment, one that is still ongoing. The recent move to allow athletic scholarships shows the experiment is far from complete. Give the league credit for being willing to tinker with its formula in an effort to find that balance, even if it only did so at gunpoint when Holy Cross threatened to bolt.
It is easy to do things the wrong way, much harder to have the courage to try to set an example for all of college athletics. It is even tougher to lead when nobody else has the courage or willingness to follow.
For all its faults, and there are many, the Patriot League has the right idea. Ever see those NCAA ads about athletes going pro in things other than sports? That is the norm, not the exception, in the Patriot.
Still, Simmons is not completely off the mark -- not so much in his criticism of Holy Cross (though we can only imagine what he'd have written had he known about the band-can't-miss-classes charter flight fiasco), but in his criticism of the rest of the league (he grants Bucknell an exception). No doubt Crest and Aquafresh probably could have gone close to .500 in the Patriot this season had they actually fielded a team.
Simmons didn't even mention the Division III-style playoff system that replaced the conference tournament this season.
And we absolutely love his "Girls of the Patriot League" idea. Matter of fact, we might just start selling such a calendar in the Hoop Time store.
Stay tuned.
BONUS LINK:
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Holy Cross senior Keith Simmons has been garnered an honorable mention on the Associated Press All-America team.
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Labels: HC
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Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Heading into the Final Four, seven entries still have a shot at winning the 2007 Hoop Time Bracket Challenge.
Best we can figure, here is who is in contention:
96Bison03Quaker currently leads the pack with 546 points. In addition to ranking first in the Hoop Time challenge group, that ranks tied for 236th out of over 15,000 entries in the wider contest run by sportsnet.ca.
IfFlorida and OSU make the final, with Florida winning, Georgetown beats Florida in the final 96Bison03Quaker will claim the Hoop Time title.
Currently second is EricatBucknell with 541 points. Eric is also in the top 300 overall, tied for 291st. Eric wins the challenge ifGeorgetown beats Florida in the final Florida and OSU make the final, with Florida winning.
But if those two meet in the final with OSU winning, BKing, currently in sixth place with 492 points, would leapfrog to the top of the heap.
Editor's note: We originally had 93Bison and EricatBU's picks reversed in this morning's original post)
Krause is currently third with 535 points, but his bracket is a dead as the Oregon Ducks he picked to win it all. Fourth-place Alezan (518 points) is also out of contention thanks to the Kansas Jayhawks, who Alezan picked to make the final (and lose to G-town).
In fifth place is falconkid with 513 points. A Florida win over Georgetown in the final would give falconkid the championship.
GoGate07, seventh with 482 points, wins if UCLA face G-town in the final, with the Bruins coming away with the national title. If those teams meet with the Hoyas winning it all, EWT112, who is in 14th with 445 points, would win the challenge.
None of the entries currently ranked between GoGate07 and EWT112 can win, either because they have picked champions who are already eliminated or duplicated the picks of contestants already above them in the standings.
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Best we can figure, here is who is in contention:
96Bison03Quaker currently leads the pack with 546 points. In addition to ranking first in the Hoop Time challenge group, that ranks tied for 236th out of over 15,000 entries in the wider contest run by sportsnet.ca.
If
Currently second is EricatBucknell with 541 points. Eric is also in the top 300 overall, tied for 291st. Eric wins the challenge if
But if those two meet in the final with OSU winning, BKing, currently in sixth place with 492 points, would leapfrog to the top of the heap.
Editor's note: We originally had 93Bison and EricatBU's picks reversed in this morning's original post)
Krause is currently third with 535 points, but his bracket is a dead as the Oregon Ducks he picked to win it all. Fourth-place Alezan (518 points) is also out of contention thanks to the Kansas Jayhawks, who Alezan picked to make the final (and lose to G-town).
In fifth place is falconkid with 513 points. A Florida win over Georgetown in the final would give falconkid the championship.
GoGate07, seventh with 482 points, wins if UCLA face G-town in the final, with the Bruins coming away with the national title. If those teams meet with the Hoyas winning it all, EWT112, who is in 14th with 445 points, would win the challenge.
None of the entries currently ranked between GoGate07 and EWT112 can win, either because they have picked champions who are already eliminated or duplicated the picks of contestants already above them in the standings.
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Army signee Nathan Hedgecock has been named Co-MVP of the El Paso Times All-City team.
Hedgecock, who played for Montwood H.S., earned the honor after scoring 19.8 points per game for the Rams, who made a trip to their regional tournament.
Unless he grows, Hedgecock will probably have to learn a new position at West Point. A 6-5 post player, he grabbed 6.1 rebounds, dished off 2.3 assists and had 2.2 steals per game.
Hedgecock, a two-time all-district and all-city selection, was also co-MVP of his district and a TABC Class 5A all-region pick.
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Hedgecock, who played for Montwood H.S., earned the honor after scoring 19.8 points per game for the Rams, who made a trip to their regional tournament.
Unless he grows, Hedgecock will probably have to learn a new position at West Point. A 6-5 post player, he grabbed 6.1 rebounds, dished off 2.3 assists and had 2.2 steals per game.
Hedgecock, a two-time all-district and all-city selection, was also co-MVP of his district and a TABC Class 5A all-region pick.
Labels: Army
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Monday, March 26, 2007
Ralph Willard breaks down the Holy Cross-Southern Illinois game in his latest update on Coach Ralph.com.
While most of the coach's post deals with things like foul trouble and Keith Simmons' cramping, it also reveals the answer to the mystery of Holy Cross' circuituous travel itinerary. Turns out the Crusaders team couldn't charter to Columbus because the pep band was not allowed to miss an extra day of classes since it did not have to perform until Friday.
We'll leave it to you to decide if making sure the band doesn't miss a few classes is a worthy tradeoff for putting your team at a disadvantage in the biggest game most of its members will ever play.
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While most of the coach's post deals with things like foul trouble and Keith Simmons' cramping, it also reveals the answer to the mystery of Holy Cross' circuituous travel itinerary. Turns out the Crusaders team couldn't charter to Columbus because the pep band was not allowed to miss an extra day of classes since it did not have to perform until Friday.
We'll leave it to you to decide if making sure the band doesn't miss a few classes is a worthy tradeoff for putting your team at a disadvantage in the biggest game most of its members will ever play.
Labels: HC
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Two of the Bison's incoming recruits garnered postseason honors.
Point guard recruit Darryl Shazier of Menchville (Va.) High has been named Player of the year for the Virginia Tidewater Peninsula area by the Daily Press in Newport News. Shazier averaged 15 points per game while leading his team to the Virginia Eastern Region semifinals.
Another Bucknell recruit, G.W. Boon of Sparkman (Ala.) High School scored 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds Friday night in the annual ">Alabama-Missippi game. Boon will find the pace a little different at B.U. His Alabama team was outscored 118-113 in the run-and-gun exhibition.
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Point guard recruit Darryl Shazier of Menchville (Va.) High has been named Player of the year for the Virginia Tidewater Peninsula area by the Daily Press in Newport News. Shazier averaged 15 points per game while leading his team to the Virginia Eastern Region semifinals.
Another Bucknell recruit, G.W. Boon of Sparkman (Ala.) High School scored 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds Friday night in the annual ">Alabama-Missippi game. Boon will find the pace a little different at B.U. His Alabama team was outscored 118-113 in the run-and-gun exhibition.
Labels: BU
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Navy has gained a commit from an Indiana big man.
Nate Kasper, a 6-8 frontcourt type from Wheeler (Ind.) High School said last week he will play his college hoops at Navy.
Kasper won't provide immediate help. He is ticketed for aredshirt prep year at the Naval Academy Prep School in Rhode Island. Stashing players at NAPS for a year of seasoning was a key to Don Devoe's success at Navy. Army coach Jim Crews has been using the same tactic to some success at West Point, where seven of the 20 players on this season's roster were guys who spent a year at USMAPS.
Lange has not been able to utilize the prep school advantage in his first few seasons at Navy because he has needed to add his recruits to the immediate mix in hopes of improving the Midshipmen's squad. Now, with a roster filled with underclassmen -- only one senior, little used forward Calvin White, graduates this spring -- Lange has the luxury of stockpiling prospects at the prep school.
Kasper averaged 24.3 points per game for Wheeler, which lost in its regional semis. He finished his high school career with 1,170 points.
From the sound of things, Kasper fits the mold of recent Navy big man recruits. He likes to step out to shoot the three.
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Nate Kasper, a 6-8 frontcourt type from Wheeler (Ind.) High School said last week he will play his college hoops at Navy.
Kasper won't provide immediate help. He is ticketed for a
Lange has not been able to utilize the prep school advantage in his first few seasons at Navy because he has needed to add his recruits to the immediate mix in hopes of improving the Midshipmen's squad. Now, with a roster filled with underclassmen -- only one senior, little used forward Calvin White, graduates this spring -- Lange has the luxury of stockpiling prospects at the prep school.
Kasper averaged 24.3 points per game for Wheeler, which lost in its regional semis. He finished his high school career with 1,170 points.
From the sound of things, Kasper fits the mold of recent Navy big man recruits. He likes to step out to shoot the three.
Labels: Navy
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Friday, March 23, 2007
Keith Gill has been named as American's new director of athletics and recreation.
Gill comes to AU from Oklahoma, where he was a senior associate athletics director since 2004. A graduate of Duke, where he played football, Gill's experience includes two stints with the NCAA, wrapped around a short gig as an assistant AD at Vanderbilt.
In a press release announcing Gill's hiring, AU Interim President Neil Kerwin said, ". . . we were impressed with Keith's strong commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement that we strongly embrace."
Given the general league-wide concerns over AU's academic profile as it compares with the rest of the Patriot League, Gill's hiring might raise a few eyebrows, though. If you throw out the commitment rhetoric and look at the facts, Gill is not exactly coming from an institution known for athletes hitting the books.
The Sooners ranking in the latest NCAA graduation rate studies are well below average, even among the big-time BCS-type schools. The average graduation rate for all Division I-A student athletes was 78 percent in the latest study. Oklahoma's athletes graduated at a 67-percent rate. The national average for men's basketball players at those schools that play I-A football was 57 percent; Oklahoma's rate was 41 percent.
It is worth noting that AU would gladly trade its 18-percent basketball graduation rate for Oklahoma's 41 percent. But neither approaches the standard set by the rest of the Patriot League. Of the seven other league schools, four (Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Navy) had graduation success rates of 100 percent for men's hoopsters. Army checked in at 97 percent, Lehigh 93 percent and Colgate 92 percent.
To view school-by-school graduation rate data, click here and select the school from the pull down menus
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Gill comes to AU from Oklahoma, where he was a senior associate athletics director since 2004. A graduate of Duke, where he played football, Gill's experience includes two stints with the NCAA, wrapped around a short gig as an assistant AD at Vanderbilt.
In a press release announcing Gill's hiring, AU Interim President Neil Kerwin said, ". . . we were impressed with Keith's strong commitment to the twin values of academic and athletics achievement that we strongly embrace."
Given the general league-wide concerns over AU's academic profile as it compares with the rest of the Patriot League, Gill's hiring might raise a few eyebrows, though. If you throw out the commitment rhetoric and look at the facts, Gill is not exactly coming from an institution known for athletes hitting the books.
The Sooners ranking in the latest NCAA graduation rate studies are well below average, even among the big-time BCS-type schools. The average graduation rate for all Division I-A student athletes was 78 percent in the latest study. Oklahoma's athletes graduated at a 67-percent rate. The national average for men's basketball players at those schools that play I-A football was 57 percent; Oklahoma's rate was 41 percent.
It is worth noting that AU would gladly trade its 18-percent basketball graduation rate for Oklahoma's 41 percent. But neither approaches the standard set by the rest of the Patriot League. Of the seven other league schools, four (Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Navy) had graduation success rates of 100 percent for men's hoopsters. Army checked in at 97 percent, Lehigh 93 percent and Colgate 92 percent.
Labels: AU
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Thursday, March 22, 2007
Long-time voice of Lafayette sports Dick Hammer is looking for a new job after his radio station, WEST, switched formats.
The station announced yesterday it would switch from sports/talk to Spanish music, ending an era in the Lehigh Valley.
According to Keith Groller in the Morning Call, Lafayette officials hope to retain Hammer, 72, as their play-by-play man on whatever station they move their games to.
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The station announced yesterday it would switch from sports/talk to Spanish music, ending an era in the Lehigh Valley.
According to Keith Groller in the Morning Call, Lafayette officials hope to retain Hammer, 72, as their play-by-play man on whatever station they move their games to.
Labels: Laf
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Holy Cross' Keith Simmons and Lehigh's Marquis Hall head the list of Patriot Leaguers honored by College Insider.com.
Simmons has been named a Mid-Major All-American. Hall earned Mid-Major Freshman All-American honors.
College Insider also named Simmons the Patriot League Player of the Year, and tabbed Ralph Willard as the league's Coach of the Year. The site also named Bucknell's Donald Brown as the Patriot League's MVP, a decision that can best be described as curious.
It is no secret that Hoop Time felt Brown was shortchanged when the league's official vote left him as a second team all-league pick. But it is tough to argue Brown was the league's MVP given the unbeaten streak Bucknell experienced while he was sidelined with a broken hand.
Conventional wisdom holds a POY is the best player in the league while an MVP is the one who was the most important to his team's success. Bucknell would probably have made the league final without Brown. Holy Cross might not have even had a .500 season in league play without Simmons (or Torey Thomas).
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Simmons has been named a Mid-Major All-American. Hall earned Mid-Major Freshman All-American honors.
College Insider also named Simmons the Patriot League Player of the Year, and tabbed Ralph Willard as the league's Coach of the Year. The site also named Bucknell's Donald Brown as the Patriot League's MVP, a decision that can best be described as curious.
It is no secret that Hoop Time felt Brown was shortchanged when the league's official vote left him as a second team all-league pick. But it is tough to argue Brown was the league's MVP given the unbeaten streak Bucknell experienced while he was sidelined with a broken hand.
Conventional wisdom holds a POY is the best player in the league while an MVP is the one who was the most important to his team's success. Bucknell would probably have made the league final without Brown. Holy Cross might not have even had a .500 season in league play without Simmons (or Torey Thomas).
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Friday, March 16, 2007
(Links added at 8:37 a.m.)
A tenacious Southern Illinois defense and some Holy Cross foul trouble left the 'Saders packing for home.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cramps played a big role in Holy Cross' 61-51 loss to Southern Illinois in the firsts round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.
Between the painful muscle cramps that hobbled HC's best player, Keith Simmons, and the spotty officiating that cramped the style of Crusaders' big man Tim Clifford, the Patriot League champions simply did not have enough weapons at either end of the court to overcome the No. 4 seeded Salukis.
Simmons, who was visibly hobbling by the end of the game, twice went to the bench for treatment late in the second half. Each time, like the warrior he has been throughout his career, Simmons came back on the floor and gave it a go. But the combination of the cramps and stifling, pressure defense by Southern Illinois, he never looked anything like the player fans in the Patriot League have watched all season.
For the first time all season, Simmons was held under double figures, finishing with just four points to end a streak of 44 straight games with at least 10 points. A career 50 percent shooter from the field, Simmons was 0 for 5.
It was not just the cramps that gave Simmons trouble. SIU's Tony Young also gave Simmons fits. You have to figure SIU coach Chris Lowery saw the problems Bucknell's Abe Badmus caused guarding Simmons in both the regular season loss in Lewisburg and the patriot League Championship game. Lowery stole that page straight from the Pat Flannery playbook, assigning the small (6-0), but strong and lightning quick Young the task of guarding the 6-5 Simmons.
"We really wanted to pressure everybody else and make it hard for them to do their sets that they run for him. But Tony Young was very good defensively," said Lowery. "We knew he was going to give up five inches, but we knew Tony was going to fight and try to make him miserable and get under his skin, which I thought he did."
Perhaps the best sign of how well the plan on Simmons worked was the fact that four of Simmons' five tries were from outside the arc. Not once could the Crusaders find him when he tried to go down on the block to post up the smaller defender.
The cramps were a problem all last season for Simmons, but after consulting with nutritionists and doctors and modifying his diet, he had gone all season with no problems until now. Clifford's foul trouble has been a problem throughout the season. This was the disqualification of the season for the 6-10, 270-pound junior.
In Clifford's defense, most of his fouls seemed to come on inconsistent, ticky-tack calls in what was a very physical game both ways. But regardless of how it happened, the effect was more than the Crusaders could overcome on a night when Simmons, and to a lesser extent, senior point guard Torey Thomas, both struggled on offense.
Clifford's first two fouls came in a span of 37 seconds, the second sending him to the bench with 6:54 to go in the first half and HC up 16-13. Ralph Willard was forced to send his big man back on the floor with 3:37 still to go in the half, after starting power forward Alex Vander Baan picked up his third foul. By then, HC's three-point lead had turned into a five-point deficit and SIU was in the midst of a 9-0 run that buil the lead to 7 and gave the Salukis control of the game.
Six points in the SIU run came on easy layups -- the kind that were not available when Clifford was anchored in the middle of the Crusaders zone. another came on a layup by point guard Bryan Mullins, who took advantage of Clifford's foul trouble by daring him to pick up another.
"Tim got in foul trouble and we didn't do a good job after he went out of the basketball game. They hurt us inside with a couple plays. When Tim came back in the game, he was a little tentative," said Willard.
That run proved to be decisive. After six lead changes in the first half, it gave the Salukis the advantage for good. Southrn Illinois led 30-25 at the half and Holy Cross could never get closer than 4 the rest of the night. It was still a four-point game when Clifford picked up his fourth personal with 5:40 to go.
"They are different (when Clifford is on the bench) because he is huge. He is massive in there," said Lowery. "That's when we really got it going."
SIU reserve forward Tony Boyle, who was the primary beneficiary of Clifford's foul woes, hit both shots to stretch the SIU lead to 48-42, starting a quick 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 52-43 while Clifford was on the bench. It was 52-46 when Clifford returned, and 53-46 12 seconds later when Boyle hit the front end of a one-and-one after Clifford fouled out at the 3:04 mark.
"Tim takes up that space. He blocks shots without going over people's backs. He really gives us an opportunity to go out and get on fast breaks, so losing Tim was a big bloc. Plus he came in and was playing tentative because he didn't want to pick up those fouls," said Thomas.
Boyle, who played just two scoreless minutes in the first half, played 19 minutes in the second after SIU's Matt Shaw suffered an ankle injury coming down with a rebound at the buzzer ending the first half. Shaw returned to the bench, but not to the floor, finishing with 11 points. Boyle picked up where he left off, scoring all of his career-high 14 points in the second half.
"We got Tony Boyle some stuff because (Clifford) was out," said Lowery.
With Clifford gone for good, SIU pulled away from there, going on a 7-0 spurt to put the game away.
Simmons was not the only Crusader who struggled on offense. Thomas finished with a game-high 15 points, but 9 of those came at the foul line and 4 more on a pair of uncontested layups in the final minute. Prior to the last minute, thomas had one field goal. Combined, Holy Cross' senior leaders went 3 for 21 from the field.
As a team, Holy Cross finished the night 14 of 42 (33.3 percent) from the field, turning the ball over 20 times against SIU's pressure. The Crusaders were 1 for 11 from the three-point arc.
Freshman Eric Meister was the offensive bright spot for HC, scoring a career-high 14 points on a 6 for 6 night, all from close range. Meister's scoring boost kept the Crusaders close much of the night. The 6-8 forward also had 8 rebounds.
Vander Baan, who also fouled out, grabbed 10 boards to lead all rebounders.
Joining Shaw and Boyle in double figures for SIU were Randal Falker and Jamaal Tatum. Falker had 12, most with Clifford in foul trouble. Hc kept Tatum, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, under wraps all night, holding him to 10 points on 2 for 9 shooting from the field. Four of his points came on free throws in the final 1:25 of the game.
The win gives the Salukis a rematch with Virginia Tech Sunday in the second round. The Hokies advanced by beating Illinois, spoiling the possibilities of SIU facing its former coach, Bruce Weber.
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A tenacious Southern Illinois defense and some Holy Cross foul trouble left the 'Saders packing for home.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cramps played a big role in Holy Cross' 61-51 loss to Southern Illinois in the firsts round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.
Between the painful muscle cramps that hobbled HC's best player, Keith Simmons, and the spotty officiating that cramped the style of Crusaders' big man Tim Clifford, the Patriot League champions simply did not have enough weapons at either end of the court to overcome the No. 4 seeded Salukis.
Simmons, who was visibly hobbling by the end of the game, twice went to the bench for treatment late in the second half. Each time, like the warrior he has been throughout his career, Simmons came back on the floor and gave it a go. But the combination of the cramps and stifling, pressure defense by Southern Illinois, he never looked anything like the player fans in the Patriot League have watched all season.
For the first time all season, Simmons was held under double figures, finishing with just four points to end a streak of 44 straight games with at least 10 points. A career 50 percent shooter from the field, Simmons was 0 for 5.
It was not just the cramps that gave Simmons trouble. SIU's Tony Young also gave Simmons fits. You have to figure SIU coach Chris Lowery saw the problems Bucknell's Abe Badmus caused guarding Simmons in both the regular season loss in Lewisburg and the patriot League Championship game. Lowery stole that page straight from the Pat Flannery playbook, assigning the small (6-0), but strong and lightning quick Young the task of guarding the 6-5 Simmons.
"We really wanted to pressure everybody else and make it hard for them to do their sets that they run for him. But Tony Young was very good defensively," said Lowery. "We knew he was going to give up five inches, but we knew Tony was going to fight and try to make him miserable and get under his skin, which I thought he did."
Perhaps the best sign of how well the plan on Simmons worked was the fact that four of Simmons' five tries were from outside the arc. Not once could the Crusaders find him when he tried to go down on the block to post up the smaller defender.
The cramps were a problem all last season for Simmons, but after consulting with nutritionists and doctors and modifying his diet, he had gone all season with no problems until now. Clifford's foul trouble has been a problem throughout the season. This was the disqualification of the season for the 6-10, 270-pound junior.
In Clifford's defense, most of his fouls seemed to come on inconsistent, ticky-tack calls in what was a very physical game both ways. But regardless of how it happened, the effect was more than the Crusaders could overcome on a night when Simmons, and to a lesser extent, senior point guard Torey Thomas, both struggled on offense.
Clifford's first two fouls came in a span of 37 seconds, the second sending him to the bench with 6:54 to go in the first half and HC up 16-13. Ralph Willard was forced to send his big man back on the floor with 3:37 still to go in the half, after starting power forward Alex Vander Baan picked up his third foul. By then, HC's three-point lead had turned into a five-point deficit and SIU was in the midst of a 9-0 run that buil the lead to 7 and gave the Salukis control of the game.
Six points in the SIU run came on easy layups -- the kind that were not available when Clifford was anchored in the middle of the Crusaders zone. another came on a layup by point guard Bryan Mullins, who took advantage of Clifford's foul trouble by daring him to pick up another.
"Tim got in foul trouble and we didn't do a good job after he went out of the basketball game. They hurt us inside with a couple plays. When Tim came back in the game, he was a little tentative," said Willard.
That run proved to be decisive. After six lead changes in the first half, it gave the Salukis the advantage for good. Southrn Illinois led 30-25 at the half and Holy Cross could never get closer than 4 the rest of the night. It was still a four-point game when Clifford picked up his fourth personal with 5:40 to go.
"They are different (when Clifford is on the bench) because he is huge. He is massive in there," said Lowery. "That's when we really got it going."
SIU reserve forward Tony Boyle, who was the primary beneficiary of Clifford's foul woes, hit both shots to stretch the SIU lead to 48-42, starting a quick 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 52-43 while Clifford was on the bench. It was 52-46 when Clifford returned, and 53-46 12 seconds later when Boyle hit the front end of a one-and-one after Clifford fouled out at the 3:04 mark.
"Tim takes up that space. He blocks shots without going over people's backs. He really gives us an opportunity to go out and get on fast breaks, so losing Tim was a big bloc. Plus he came in and was playing tentative because he didn't want to pick up those fouls," said Thomas.
Boyle, who played just two scoreless minutes in the first half, played 19 minutes in the second after SIU's Matt Shaw suffered an ankle injury coming down with a rebound at the buzzer ending the first half. Shaw returned to the bench, but not to the floor, finishing with 11 points. Boyle picked up where he left off, scoring all of his career-high 14 points in the second half.
"We got Tony Boyle some stuff because (Clifford) was out," said Lowery.
With Clifford gone for good, SIU pulled away from there, going on a 7-0 spurt to put the game away.
Simmons was not the only Crusader who struggled on offense. Thomas finished with a game-high 15 points, but 9 of those came at the foul line and 4 more on a pair of uncontested layups in the final minute. Prior to the last minute, thomas had one field goal. Combined, Holy Cross' senior leaders went 3 for 21 from the field.
As a team, Holy Cross finished the night 14 of 42 (33.3 percent) from the field, turning the ball over 20 times against SIU's pressure. The Crusaders were 1 for 11 from the three-point arc.
Freshman Eric Meister was the offensive bright spot for HC, scoring a career-high 14 points on a 6 for 6 night, all from close range. Meister's scoring boost kept the Crusaders close much of the night. The 6-8 forward also had 8 rebounds.
Vander Baan, who also fouled out, grabbed 10 boards to lead all rebounders.
Joining Shaw and Boyle in double figures for SIU were Randal Falker and Jamaal Tatum. Falker had 12, most with Clifford in foul trouble. Hc kept Tatum, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, under wraps all night, holding him to 10 points on 2 for 9 shooting from the field. Four of his points came on free throws in the final 1:25 of the game.
The win gives the Salukis a rematch with Virginia Tech Sunday in the second round. The Hokies advanced by beating Illinois, spoiling the possibilities of SIU facing its former coach, Bruce Weber.
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Live from courtside at Nationwide Arena:
10 minutes to tip: It appears we will get a late start. Thanks TV. The official tip time is here already and the two teams are actually back in the lockerrooms, getting final instructions before coming back out to complete warmups.
There's a healthy crowd of HC fans, along with the pep band, cheerleaders and the mascot. The band, cheerleaders and pep band do not appear to have consumed pregame spirits. All bets are off on the fans, especially the students, who look about how you would expect students to look at this time on a Friday night ... ready for a good time.
3:25 to tip: Both teams just returned to the floor. No obvious advantage crowd-wise if the size of the ovations as the teams came on the floor is any measure. It appears the obviously partisan sections are the only ones expressing a rooting interest thus far. That should be good news for the Crusaders. It does not appear as if the leftover Illinois fans are taking sides. At least not yet.
Player introductions: Having trouble publishing due to what is expected to be a brief server outtage. Great timing, eh? We will keep up while we wait for the server to come back on line.
HC 4, SIU 4 15:34 first On Keith Simmons' first shot, a missed three, Tim Clifford hustled after the long rebound in the corner, then tried to trap the Southern Illinois player who beat him to the ball. Admirable effort, but not a great idea. With Clifford trailing the play down the floor, Jamaal Tatum found an easy seem to the rim for a layup.
Clifford just tied things on a little jump hook after SIU's Randy Falker went down trying to draw a foul. Falker already has one personal. IF Clifford can get him in foul trouble, it could be key.
We're going to try to track deflections, a key stat for the HC defense which does not show in the official box score. At the first TV timeout, the Crusaders have three. Would be four, but a ref behind the play called a foul on Torey Thomas when he tried to strip the ball from SIU's Tony Young. .Missed the replay, so not sure about the call, but will question how the refs decided Young was in the act of shooting, thus giving him a pair of free throws.
SIU 9, HC 7 (11:32 first): HC's first lead comes at the 12:17 mark on a Tim Clifford bucket from two feet, powering through an SIU double team. The bucket came with Falker on the bench. the guy who replaced him, Tony Boyle, does not seem big enough to handle Clifford one on one and unlike Falker, seems to lack the athleticism to overcome the size and strength disadvantage.
HC 14, SIU 12 (8:58 first):potential problem for HC, Torey Thomas picks up his second personal at the 10:18 mark. It came on a three-point try by Tatum, who appeared to simply slip coming down from the shot.
To Thomas' credit, it does not seem to have taken away any of his aggressiveness. Less than a minute later he drew a charge.
Meanwhile, Eric Meister has 5 points off the bench, the last three on an old fashioned three-point play after he beat the shot clock with a layup in traffic after a nifty pass from Pat Doherty.
Falker broke into the scoring column with a bucket in the paint while Clifford was on the bench catching a blow. Falker has done nothing offensively thus far when Clifford has been on him down low.
HSIU 24, HC 19 (3:37 first): Southern Illinois first to reach the bonus. Three quick calls against the Crusaders gave them seven team fouls at the 7:31 mark. The seventh was Tim Clifford's first. He got his second 37 seconds later and went to the bench.
Clifford's second, and most of the questionable calls against HC thus far, came from the whistle of the portly white-haired older gentleman, who thus far has not distinguished himself.
More trouble for HC. Vander Baan picks up his third foul with 4:36 to play. That brings Greg McCarthy into the game.
With Simmons catching a breath on the bench, and the starting bigs also sitting, SIU takes a 22-19 lead on an alley-oop layin by Matt Shaw. They extend it to 24-19 on another Shaw bucket, off a fastbreak -- this time after a goaltend call on McCarthy, who knocked the ball off the rim. The Salukis are in the midst of a 7-0 run.
HC deflections thus far stand at 9.
SIU 30, HC 25 (11:32 first):Clifford retunred at the last timeout and scored on another jump hook at the 2:58 mark, interrupting SIU's run, which had reached 9-0.
SIU's Shaw appears to have hurt his ankle coming down with an airball at the buzzer ending the first half. He was down a few moments, then got up and limped off. Shaw has a team-high 11 points at the half.
Other halftime stats: For SIU -- Tatum and Falker with 6 points each. SIU shooting 50 percent from the field (9 of 18), 1 of 6 from three-point range, 11-14 at the foul line.
For HC: Meister with 9 on 4 for 4 shooting. Clifford has 6.
HC shooting 33 percent (7 of 21) from the field; 0 for 6 at the arc, 11 of 13 from the foul line.
Turnovers: HC with 12, SIU 12
Points from TO: HC 6, SIU 10
Points in the paint: HC 12, SIU 14
Fast break points: HC 2, SIU 6
Bench Points: HC 11, SIU 1
Largest lead: HC by 3 at the 9:44 mark; SIU by 7 at the 3:18 mark
There have been 6 ties and 6 lead changes
Halftime analysis: Holy Cross has definitely shown it can hang with the Salukis when it has its best players on the floor. Whether they can keep those guys on the floor enough to pull off the upset remains to be seen. Most of SIU's late spurt came with Tim Clifford on the bench.
Still, if someone had told you Keith Simmons would be without a field goal and HC would still be within 5 at the half, you'd have to feel pretty good about your chances, assuming of course, Simmons gets things going a little on offense in the second half.
Thus far, HC unofficially has 9 deflections. That is well off the pace for reaching their goal of 40, but the defense has been very strong in the halfcourt. Where SIU has hurt them has been in transition. Limit that, get Simmons going, and keep Clifford on the floor and out of foul trouble, and things don't look bad for the Crusaders.
More halftime observations: Team fouls were even when Meister picked up HC's fifth team foul with 8:18 to go in the half. That started a string of 5 straight calls against HC players over the next two minutes, including two on Clifford and two on Vander Baan. When Meister picked up that foul, HC was up 16-13.
Team fouls in the first half: 11 on HC, 9 on SIU. But SIU's are spread across eight players, none of which has more than two.
SIU 31, HC 27 (15:20 to play) : Two fouls on SIU in the first two minutes include Tony Young's third and Falker's second.
Clifford's third foul -- at the 16:20 mark by our grey haired friend -- is an absolutely horrible call. Clifford straight up and down, holding his ground when Falker, out of control, drove into him. Falker made one of two, the first points of the half.
Clifford's answer was a strong bullrush move at the other end for HC's first bucket of the half.
SIU 35, HC 29 (13:21 to play): Speaking of officials, a check of the first round box scores shows friends of Hoop Time John Hughes and Rich Giallella each drew tournament assignments. Hughes worked the Virginia Commonwealth-Duke game; Giallella had the Belmont-Georgetown debacle.
HC cut the deficit to 31-29 on Thomas' free throws out of the last timeout. SIU responded with two buckets inside, one by Falker and one by TGony Boyle, bringing Ralph Willard off the bench for a timeout.
Simmons still without a field goal for HC. Actually, so is Thomas, who was 0 for 7 in the first half.
No sign of Shaw in the SIU rotation this half.
SIU 38, HC 34 (11:28 to play): Thomas gets his third personal at the 12:49 mark. Wanna guess which official made the questionable call?
Doherty hit HC's first three of the game at the 12:18 mark and Thomas followed with an acrobatic layup after a steal with Tatum defending. Thomas' bucket, at the 11:28 mark, is his first FG. Thomas and Simmons a combined 1 for 12 from the field so far.
SIU 44, HC 38 (7:53 to play): Simmons out of the game at the 10 minute mark, the trainer working on the back of his right leg. Looks like he is trying to massage out a cramp. Simmons returned 30 seconds later.
If HC should lose by one, or two, look back at Tony Boyle's tip in around the 9 minute mark. The ball seemed obviously on the rim to everyone near me on press row.
HC band, cheerleaders and some of the students break out that crazy drum cadence dance step at the timeout, trying to generate some heat for Simmons and Thomas, no doubt. Right now they are a combined 1 for 15.
SIU 52, HC 45 (3:16 to play): Clifford's fourth at the 5:40 mark. Guess who?
Adding insult to injury, after Boyle makes both free throws, Clifford misses an open peep on an alley oop pass, though he did recover to break up an SIU fast break at the other end.
Falker also picked up his fourth, foulding Vander Baan at the 4:39 mark, but Vander Baan missed boith free throws, and another when he was fouled again six seconds later after HC got the rebound of his second miss.
Meister keeping the Crusaders in the game. His latest layup gives him 13 points and cuts the SIU lead to 52-45 with HC about to shoot two free throws after the timeout.
SIU 55, HC 46 (2:02 to play) Clifford returns at the timeout at 3:16 and fouls out 12 seconds later trying to block a Boyle shot. He got all ball with his hands, but may have had the body.
With Clifford out, Boyle scores an easy reverse layup for a 55-46 SIU lead. Things looking mighty tough for the Crusaders.
Simmons was out getting worked on again. He is back, but hard to expect him to suddenly become effective, especially if he is cramping.
SIU 56, HC 47 (1:29 to go): SIU fans on their feet and celebrating already. Of course a 9 point lead with a minute and a half to go seems fairly safe when you play D the way SIU does.
SIU 61, HC 51 (FINAL) Vander Baan fouls out with 1:12 to go. If you guessed our old buddy made the call, you'd be right.
Simmons leaves the game with 1 minute to play, finishing without a field goal in the final game of his career.
In the end, the Crusaders just didn't have the horses to keep with the Salukis, not with Simmons hobbling, Thomas missing shots and the big guys saddled with foul trouble. Given the circumstances, staying within 10 is probably as good as you could expect.
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10 minutes to tip: It appears we will get a late start. Thanks TV. The official tip time is here already and the two teams are actually back in the lockerrooms, getting final instructions before coming back out to complete warmups.
There's a healthy crowd of HC fans, along with the pep band, cheerleaders and the mascot. The band, cheerleaders and pep band do not appear to have consumed pregame spirits. All bets are off on the fans, especially the students, who look about how you would expect students to look at this time on a Friday night ... ready for a good time.
3:25 to tip: Both teams just returned to the floor. No obvious advantage crowd-wise if the size of the ovations as the teams came on the floor is any measure. It appears the obviously partisan sections are the only ones expressing a rooting interest thus far. That should be good news for the Crusaders. It does not appear as if the leftover Illinois fans are taking sides. At least not yet.
Player introductions: Having trouble publishing due to what is expected to be a brief server outtage. Great timing, eh? We will keep up while we wait for the server to come back on line.
HC 4, SIU 4 15:34 first On Keith Simmons' first shot, a missed three, Tim Clifford hustled after the long rebound in the corner, then tried to trap the Southern Illinois player who beat him to the ball. Admirable effort, but not a great idea. With Clifford trailing the play down the floor, Jamaal Tatum found an easy seem to the rim for a layup.
Clifford just tied things on a little jump hook after SIU's Randy Falker went down trying to draw a foul. Falker already has one personal. IF Clifford can get him in foul trouble, it could be key.
We're going to try to track deflections, a key stat for the HC defense which does not show in the official box score. At the first TV timeout, the Crusaders have three. Would be four, but a ref behind the play called a foul on Torey Thomas when he tried to strip the ball from SIU's Tony Young. .Missed the replay, so not sure about the call, but will question how the refs decided Young was in the act of shooting, thus giving him a pair of free throws.
SIU 9, HC 7 (11:32 first): HC's first lead comes at the 12:17 mark on a Tim Clifford bucket from two feet, powering through an SIU double team. The bucket came with Falker on the bench. the guy who replaced him, Tony Boyle, does not seem big enough to handle Clifford one on one and unlike Falker, seems to lack the athleticism to overcome the size and strength disadvantage.
HC 14, SIU 12 (8:58 first):potential problem for HC, Torey Thomas picks up his second personal at the 10:18 mark. It came on a three-point try by Tatum, who appeared to simply slip coming down from the shot.
To Thomas' credit, it does not seem to have taken away any of his aggressiveness. Less than a minute later he drew a charge.
Meanwhile, Eric Meister has 5 points off the bench, the last three on an old fashioned three-point play after he beat the shot clock with a layup in traffic after a nifty pass from Pat Doherty.
Falker broke into the scoring column with a bucket in the paint while Clifford was on the bench catching a blow. Falker has done nothing offensively thus far when Clifford has been on him down low.
HSIU 24, HC 19 (3:37 first): Southern Illinois first to reach the bonus. Three quick calls against the Crusaders gave them seven team fouls at the 7:31 mark. The seventh was Tim Clifford's first. He got his second 37 seconds later and went to the bench.
Clifford's second, and most of the questionable calls against HC thus far, came from the whistle of the portly white-haired older gentleman, who thus far has not distinguished himself.
More trouble for HC. Vander Baan picks up his third foul with 4:36 to play. That brings Greg McCarthy into the game.
With Simmons catching a breath on the bench, and the starting bigs also sitting, SIU takes a 22-19 lead on an alley-oop layin by Matt Shaw. They extend it to 24-19 on another Shaw bucket, off a fastbreak -- this time after a goaltend call on McCarthy, who knocked the ball off the rim. The Salukis are in the midst of a 7-0 run.
HC deflections thus far stand at 9.
SIU 30, HC 25 (11:32 first):Clifford retunred at the last timeout and scored on another jump hook at the 2:58 mark, interrupting SIU's run, which had reached 9-0.
SIU's Shaw appears to have hurt his ankle coming down with an airball at the buzzer ending the first half. He was down a few moments, then got up and limped off. Shaw has a team-high 11 points at the half.
Other halftime stats: For SIU -- Tatum and Falker with 6 points each. SIU shooting 50 percent from the field (9 of 18), 1 of 6 from three-point range, 11-14 at the foul line.
For HC: Meister with 9 on 4 for 4 shooting. Clifford has 6.
HC shooting 33 percent (7 of 21) from the field; 0 for 6 at the arc, 11 of 13 from the foul line.
Turnovers: HC with 12, SIU 12
Points from TO: HC 6, SIU 10
Points in the paint: HC 12, SIU 14
Fast break points: HC 2, SIU 6
Bench Points: HC 11, SIU 1
Largest lead: HC by 3 at the 9:44 mark; SIU by 7 at the 3:18 mark
There have been 6 ties and 6 lead changes
Halftime analysis: Holy Cross has definitely shown it can hang with the Salukis when it has its best players on the floor. Whether they can keep those guys on the floor enough to pull off the upset remains to be seen. Most of SIU's late spurt came with Tim Clifford on the bench.
Still, if someone had told you Keith Simmons would be without a field goal and HC would still be within 5 at the half, you'd have to feel pretty good about your chances, assuming of course, Simmons gets things going a little on offense in the second half.
Thus far, HC unofficially has 9 deflections. That is well off the pace for reaching their goal of 40, but the defense has been very strong in the halfcourt. Where SIU has hurt them has been in transition. Limit that, get Simmons going, and keep Clifford on the floor and out of foul trouble, and things don't look bad for the Crusaders.
More halftime observations: Team fouls were even when Meister picked up HC's fifth team foul with 8:18 to go in the half. That started a string of 5 straight calls against HC players over the next two minutes, including two on Clifford and two on Vander Baan. When Meister picked up that foul, HC was up 16-13.
Team fouls in the first half: 11 on HC, 9 on SIU. But SIU's are spread across eight players, none of which has more than two.
SIU 31, HC 27 (15:20 to play) : Two fouls on SIU in the first two minutes include Tony Young's third and Falker's second.
Clifford's third foul -- at the 16:20 mark by our grey haired friend -- is an absolutely horrible call. Clifford straight up and down, holding his ground when Falker, out of control, drove into him. Falker made one of two, the first points of the half.
Clifford's answer was a strong bullrush move at the other end for HC's first bucket of the half.
SIU 35, HC 29 (13:21 to play): Speaking of officials, a check of the first round box scores shows friends of Hoop Time John Hughes and Rich Giallella each drew tournament assignments. Hughes worked the Virginia Commonwealth-Duke game; Giallella had the Belmont-Georgetown debacle.
HC cut the deficit to 31-29 on Thomas' free throws out of the last timeout. SIU responded with two buckets inside, one by Falker and one by TGony Boyle, bringing Ralph Willard off the bench for a timeout.
Simmons still without a field goal for HC. Actually, so is Thomas, who was 0 for 7 in the first half.
No sign of Shaw in the SIU rotation this half.
SIU 38, HC 34 (11:28 to play): Thomas gets his third personal at the 12:49 mark. Wanna guess which official made the questionable call?
Doherty hit HC's first three of the game at the 12:18 mark and Thomas followed with an acrobatic layup after a steal with Tatum defending. Thomas' bucket, at the 11:28 mark, is his first FG. Thomas and Simmons a combined 1 for 12 from the field so far.
SIU 44, HC 38 (7:53 to play): Simmons out of the game at the 10 minute mark, the trainer working on the back of his right leg. Looks like he is trying to massage out a cramp. Simmons returned 30 seconds later.
If HC should lose by one, or two, look back at Tony Boyle's tip in around the 9 minute mark. The ball seemed obviously on the rim to everyone near me on press row.
HC band, cheerleaders and some of the students break out that crazy drum cadence dance step at the timeout, trying to generate some heat for Simmons and Thomas, no doubt. Right now they are a combined 1 for 15.
SIU 52, HC 45 (3:16 to play): Clifford's fourth at the 5:40 mark. Guess who?
Adding insult to injury, after Boyle makes both free throws, Clifford misses an open peep on an alley oop pass, though he did recover to break up an SIU fast break at the other end.
Falker also picked up his fourth, foulding Vander Baan at the 4:39 mark, but Vander Baan missed boith free throws, and another when he was fouled again six seconds later after HC got the rebound of his second miss.
Meister keeping the Crusaders in the game. His latest layup gives him 13 points and cuts the SIU lead to 52-45 with HC about to shoot two free throws after the timeout.
SIU 55, HC 46 (2:02 to play) Clifford returns at the timeout at 3:16 and fouls out 12 seconds later trying to block a Boyle shot. He got all ball with his hands, but may have had the body.
With Clifford out, Boyle scores an easy reverse layup for a 55-46 SIU lead. Things looking mighty tough for the Crusaders.
Simmons was out getting worked on again. He is back, but hard to expect him to suddenly become effective, especially if he is cramping.
SIU 56, HC 47 (1:29 to go): SIU fans on their feet and celebrating already. Of course a 9 point lead with a minute and a half to go seems fairly safe when you play D the way SIU does.
SIU 61, HC 51 (FINAL) Vander Baan fouls out with 1:12 to go. If you guessed our old buddy made the call, you'd be right.
Simmons leaves the game with 1 minute to play, finishing without a field goal in the final game of his career.
In the end, the Crusaders just didn't have the horses to keep with the Salukis, not with Simmons hobbling, Thomas missing shots and the big guys saddled with foul trouble. Given the circumstances, staying within 10 is probably as good as you could expect.
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Wonder what famous (or semi-famous) folks are picking Holy Cross to win tonight? here is a quick scan of some celebrity brackets.
Over on the Sirius Radio Web site, they have posted brackets for several of their on air personalities.
Among those giving it up for the Crusaders: NFL defensive back Ronde Barber (his brother Tiki takes SIU); Brian McGovern, who co-hosts Jerry Tarkanian's fine Shark Tank show; John Hein, co-host of the Wrap-up Show on Howard 100 and Alexis and Jenifer from the Martha Stewart Living Channel, who have the Crusaders inked in all the way to the final, when the ladies say they will lose the title to Oral Roberts (guess God likes fundamentalists better).
Over on the CBS network site, they unveil a few
CBS celebrity picks. Only one CBS personality picks the 'Saders: Alyson Hannigan, who is in the show How I met Your Mother (she used to be in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was that band camp girl in the American Pie movies).
The guy who does the Washington Post's Sports Bog blog got a bunch of D.C. area semicelebrities to enter brackets. Didn't check them all, but did find one prominent expert with a lot of hoops knowledge who picked Holy Cross -- Morgan Wootten, the legendary Dematha high coach).
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Over on the Sirius Radio Web site, they have posted brackets for several of their on air personalities.
Among those giving it up for the Crusaders: NFL defensive back Ronde Barber (his brother Tiki takes SIU); Brian McGovern, who co-hosts Jerry Tarkanian's fine Shark Tank show; John Hein, co-host of the Wrap-up Show on Howard 100 and Alexis and Jenifer from the Martha Stewart Living Channel, who have the Crusaders inked in all the way to the final, when the ladies say they will lose the title to Oral Roberts (guess God likes fundamentalists better).
Over on the CBS network site, they unveil a few
CBS celebrity picks. Only one CBS personality picks the 'Saders: Alyson Hannigan, who is in the show How I met Your Mother (she used to be in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was that band camp girl in the American Pie movies).
The guy who does the Washington Post's Sports Bog blog got a bunch of D.C. area semicelebrities to enter brackets. Didn't check them all, but did find one prominent expert with a lot of hoops knowledge who picked Holy Cross -- Morgan Wootten, the legendary Dematha high coach).
Labels: HC
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It appears those two student buses made it through the snow.
By halftime of tonight's first game, the Holy Cross sections of Nationwide Arena have pretty much turned purple, with a full contingent of fans, many decked out in familiar 'Sader Nation T-shirts.
During the intermission, they even offered up a little of the "Holy" ... "Cross" call and response cheer.
Illinois lead Virginia Tech at the break, giving rise to speculative discussion about the possible impact of an Illinois win on the crowd for game two.
The question is, will Illinois fans root for Southern Illinois? Since Southern and the Illini are not rivals in the traditional sense, it would seem likely that Illinois fans would root for their neighbors to the south.
When Bucknell played Kansas two years ago, the conventional wisdom was that Oklahoma State fans, and Oklahoma City locals who root for Oklahoma, might give the Bison a crowd edge by cheering the Jayhawks' demise.
That did not happen, the Big 12 fans stuck together for the most part to support the Jayhawks.
If Illinois were to lose this one, that might become a moot point. Illini fans might simply leave en masse, leaving behind a score of empty seats for the nightcap, but no crowd edge for the Salukis.
On the other hand, an Illini win might trigger a decision to stick around, at least for half of the nightcap. If that happens, and the game stays close -- which everybody seems to expect since nobody is anticipating much scoring -- they might even hang around to the end.
On a related note, HC fans who could not make it to Columbus ought to be wishing for a blowout in the Villanova-Kentucky game. If that one stays close, CBS is unlikely to cut away to the HC-SIU game as often or for as long. Outside of New England and areas where Southern is a high interest team, the battle of the Wildcats is likely to be the lead television game.
Fans with high speed connections can also try using CBS Sportsline.com's free video stream to view the game. Bob Fouracre's call for the HC network is available online. You can also get the Westwood One radio feed of the game on Sirius 122.
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By halftime of tonight's first game, the Holy Cross sections of Nationwide Arena have pretty much turned purple, with a full contingent of fans, many decked out in familiar 'Sader Nation T-shirts.
During the intermission, they even offered up a little of the "Holy" ... "Cross" call and response cheer.
Illinois lead Virginia Tech at the break, giving rise to speculative discussion about the possible impact of an Illinois win on the crowd for game two.
The question is, will Illinois fans root for Southern Illinois? Since Southern and the Illini are not rivals in the traditional sense, it would seem likely that Illinois fans would root for their neighbors to the south.
When Bucknell played Kansas two years ago, the conventional wisdom was that Oklahoma State fans, and Oklahoma City locals who root for Oklahoma, might give the Bison a crowd edge by cheering the Jayhawks' demise.
That did not happen, the Big 12 fans stuck together for the most part to support the Jayhawks.
If Illinois were to lose this one, that might become a moot point. Illini fans might simply leave en masse, leaving behind a score of empty seats for the nightcap, but no crowd edge for the Salukis.
On the other hand, an Illini win might trigger a decision to stick around, at least for half of the nightcap. If that happens, and the game stays close -- which everybody seems to expect since nobody is anticipating much scoring -- they might even hang around to the end.
On a related note, HC fans who could not make it to Columbus ought to be wishing for a blowout in the Villanova-Kentucky game. If that one stays close, CBS is unlikely to cut away to the HC-SIU game as often or for as long. Outside of New England and areas where Southern is a high interest team, the battle of the Wildcats is likely to be the lead television game.
Fans with high speed connections can also try using CBS Sportsline.com's free video stream to view the game. Bob Fouracre's call for the HC network is available online. You can also get the Westwood One radio feed of the game on Sirius 122.
Labels: HC
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Reports from teh Holy Cross camp indicate the winter storm that hit the northeast is playing havoc with fans' travel plans.
Assistant A.D. Frank Mastrandea says he has been getting calls all day from Holy Cross fans who are unable to get here due to grounded flights.
fans are not the only ones encountering difficulties. The Holy Cross women, en route to Raleigh for Sunday's first round game against Duke in the women's tournament, are spending the night in Boston after their flight was cancelled.
No word yet on the two buses of HC students that left Worcester at 6 a.m. The trip by bus was expected to take 12 hours, but with tipoff near for the evening's first game (Illinois-Virginia Tech), there are few signs of purple in Nationwide Arena -- at least in the seating areas, we have not checked the bars.
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Assistant A.D. Frank Mastrandea says he has been getting calls all day from Holy Cross fans who are unable to get here due to grounded flights.
fans are not the only ones encountering difficulties. The Holy Cross women, en route to Raleigh for Sunday's first round game against Duke in the women's tournament, are spending the night in Boston after their flight was cancelled.
No word yet on the two buses of HC students that left Worcester at 6 a.m. The trip by bus was expected to take 12 hours, but with tipoff near for the evening's first game (Illinois-Virginia Tech), there are few signs of purple in Nationwide Arena -- at least in the seating areas, we have not checked the bars.
Labels: HC
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It is a much busier atmosphere at Nationwide Arena today, even though Columbus iun general can barely muster a yawn about the games here.
Of course with Ohio State a No. 1 seed and playing out of town this weekend, it is no surprise the locals attention might be elsewhere. The eight-team field assembled here also has not particular allure with the locals.
One writer in a local paper suggested the best reason local fans would have for coming out to the games would be to see the Ohio State floor, on loan from OSU's Schottenstein Center, which is being used for the games.
The word on the street, where scalpers are actually licensed, is demand has not been strong. A pair of lower level seats for tonight's seassion in Section 109 -- behind one of the baskets -- can be had for $75 each. Face value is $61. If he still has them tonight, they will be even cheaper.
It is tough to rectify that with the parking situation at Nationwide Arena, where a perfect storm of an auto show at the nearby convention center, the games at Nationwide and the fact that much of the Arena District parking is dual purpose -- monthly commuters by day, event by night -- has caused a perfect parking storm that threatened to force us to park about a mile from the arena.
The good news is, this is Columbus; it only took a fiver to convince an attendant that he ought to go ahead and let me take one of the spots he was supposed to be saving for his regular monthly parkers. Add the $15 regular parking fee (I would not be left out without a ticket to give to the attendant tonight), and the $20 total is still not bad for a full day across the street from the building.
If you are driving in this evening, not to worry. The commuters will be gone after 5, freeing up a lot more spaces for tonight's session.
The crowd for today's first session is close to full. Tennessee in particular appears to have traveled well.
No way of telling what kind of turnout Holy Cross will have tonight. The only signs of purple on the way in to Nationwide Arena this afternoon were the purple and gold clad Albany fans, who took their Wahoo whooping very well.
They were drowning the sorrows in a bar attached to the arena, many of them in an outdoor tent erected to handle the overflow. Their presence was detected from outside when a pair of U of A fans walked by singing their UA, UA, UA, UA to the tune of that soccer Ole song (or the Jose, Jose version they sang the last year or two at Lehigh). The occupants of the tent heard the pair's song and responded in kind.
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Of course with Ohio State a No. 1 seed and playing out of town this weekend, it is no surprise the locals attention might be elsewhere. The eight-team field assembled here also has not particular allure with the locals.
One writer in a local paper suggested the best reason local fans would have for coming out to the games would be to see the Ohio State floor, on loan from OSU's Schottenstein Center, which is being used for the games.
The word on the street, where scalpers are actually licensed, is demand has not been strong. A pair of lower level seats for tonight's seassion in Section 109 -- behind one of the baskets -- can be had for $75 each. Face value is $61. If he still has them tonight, they will be even cheaper.
It is tough to rectify that with the parking situation at Nationwide Arena, where a perfect storm of an auto show at the nearby convention center, the games at Nationwide and the fact that much of the Arena District parking is dual purpose -- monthly commuters by day, event by night -- has caused a perfect parking storm that threatened to force us to park about a mile from the arena.
The good news is, this is Columbus; it only took a fiver to convince an attendant that he ought to go ahead and let me take one of the spots he was supposed to be saving for his regular monthly parkers. Add the $15 regular parking fee (I would not be left out without a ticket to give to the attendant tonight), and the $20 total is still not bad for a full day across the street from the building.
If you are driving in this evening, not to worry. The commuters will be gone after 5, freeing up a lot more spaces for tonight's session.
The crowd for today's first session is close to full. Tennessee in particular appears to have traveled well.
No way of telling what kind of turnout Holy Cross will have tonight. The only signs of purple on the way in to Nationwide Arena this afternoon were the purple and gold clad Albany fans, who took their Wahoo whooping very well.
They were drowning the sorrows in a bar attached to the arena, many of them in an outdoor tent erected to handle the overflow. Their presence was detected from outside when a pair of U of A fans walked by singing their UA, UA, UA, UA to the tune of that soccer Ole song (or the Jose, Jose version they sang the last year or two at Lehigh). The occupants of the tent heard the pair's song and responded in kind.
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Tip off for the Holy Cross-Southern Illinois game is not until 9:40 tonight. That leaves plenty of time for a little pregame reading. Here's some of the top stories on the Web about tonight's game:
Game Day: Holy Cross-Southern Illinois (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
’Saders have 2 ‘old pros’ (Telegram & Gazette)
Crusade Begins (source)
Madness overtakes Prep's Doherty (Scranton Times-Tribune)
Clifford big cog for HC (Boston Herald)
Salukis ready to roll with Young, Tatum (Chicago Daily Heralde)
Lowery's success good—and bad—for SIU (Chicago Tribune)
These days, the force is with Young (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Meet Mr. Falker (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Southern Illinois has Cross to bear (AP)
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/sports/stories/110135.asp (State Journal-Register)
6 feet, 1 game separate SIU, Illini (State Journal-Register)
Missouri Valley more like a peak (Toledo Blade)
Mullins revved up for tourney action (Chicago Tribune)
Dueling Defenses (Chicago Tribune)
Major plan for SIU (Courier News)
Young, Salukis looking to pick on Holy Cross (Beacon News)
Tatum, Young want deep run (Chicago Sun-Times)
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Labels: HC
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Thursday, March 15, 2007
As promised earlier, here is a transcript of the Southern Illinois players' press conference:
REPORTER: This is for Tony. It's been quite a while since you guys played a game. How do you guys handle the time in between the tournament and do you think that will have any effect on the way you play?
YOUNG: I think the last week or so we've been getting back focused on doing the small things that we do. After last week's loss, we've had a lot of time to sit back and focus on things we need to getter better on and we've just been going hard at each other getting ready to play the game. I think we'll be ready to play once we get back on the floor.
REPORTER: Jamaal, could you just talk about your opponent and what kind of a game you expect.
TATUM: Well, I know off the top we expect a dog fight. That's the type of things we're good at. We know they're going to come out and play hard for 40 minutes just like we're going to do. As far as the type of defense and all that stuff, we haven't really gone over that stuff a lot yet, but I think we're ready to go.
REPORTER: A question for Jamaal or Tony, you've always been a really defense-minded team, but this year you're scoring a lot more points, you're winning a lot more games, getting a lot more national attention. Is there anything in your minds that has changed this year from last year that you're doing in preparation?
YOUNG: I don't think we're doing anything differently, I think we're just more focused on getting better at the thing we weren't as good at. Like I said last year we struggled a lot on offense, so for us being a more mature team and growing and learning from the things we did last year, I think this year is just focusing on doing offensive things and Coach is giving us a lot more shots in practice and just working on your own game and working on your own offensive skills.
REPORTER: Jamaal, I wonder if you could just reflect on when you first met Tony and how you've seen his game at all, but also his personality and temperament.
TATUM: When I first met him, I just thought that we were -- I looked up to him and I was like, he's going to take me, he's going to be what shows me the ropes and stuff and then I kind of realized that we were pretty much peers, you know, and we enjoy the same things, have similar personalities and we're both sore losers. And over the years, I just realized that we both had to become better leaders and we were both willing to do it and we both did. So I think that over the course of time, he's become a lot more mature and that's helped me become a lot more mature.
REPORTER: Both of you, I know I'm putting you on the spot because your coach is sitting next to you, but what's special about playing for Coach Lowery?
YOUNG: The biggest thing about playing for Coach is he's one of the coaches that understands his players. You've got a lot of people that push you to do things you don't want to do, he gives us the freedom to go out and play the way we want to play but within his offense and the things he wants us to do. And he really rides us and makes us strive to be the best we can be as far as people, as far as players, really just all around.
He doesn't settle for us being second best. He doesn't let us settle for it either.
TATUM: I'll agree with Tony on that. He definitely pushes us. When he came back from Illinois and we got our first workout with him, he put me and Tony against each other and I thought he was trying to make us transfer schools or something the way he came at us, but he was just expecting a lot out of us, he knew it was going to be a big year and he knew that he had some shoes to fill and we had some shoes to fill and that we had to be a good team and we were a great team that year and he came back and he really put it on us and made things difficult for us. That's the thing about him, he expects so much out of all his players that he will push you and I'm thankful for what he's done because I've become a lot better player under him.
REPORTER: For both of you guys, Southern's been sort of the underdog in this situation in the last few appearances, now you guys come in with a high seed and you're sort of taking on a different role, could you talk about that, being the favorite, and also is Southern starting to become like a Gonzaga of the midwest?
YOUNG: I think as far as being a favorite, you look at every game the same because going into the NCAA tournament, anyone could lose at any day, so you can't come in and think that just because you're a favorite that you're automatically going to win or you can't disrespect your opponents. I think the big thing is to stay level headed and play our hardest.
TATUM: I definitely think we have the same mind set as we had the year before and the year before that, no matter what seed we are. We go in and fight every day in practice, we go in and work hard and we compete and I think fourth seed or 10 seed or 12 seed, we're going to go play the same, hardest on the court.
REPORTER: This is the fourth time around for both of you guys, it's the last time around for both of you guys, how are you approaching this or is your mind set any different after you've been here all these years?
YOUNG: I think maturity level is the big difference for us. Before we came in knowing we won't win, but having the outlook that if we lose, we'll be back next year, having something to look forward to as far as getting ready for next year, but with it being our last year, it really just hits you, the fact of reality that once you lose it's all over with, so we just stay on everyone else and stay on each other to continue to get better and get ready to play hard.
REPORTER: Tony, just look back at how you came to Southern Illinois, how that worked out, it seemed like kind of a crazy path.
YOUNG: I think it worked out great for me when I came in, I was a little scrawny kid getting beat up by everybody. It was a learning process for me, I mean, now, I go out and try and pick on as many people as I can. Once you've been in a program like this and you play with so many different people and so many different types of players, you learn how to grow up and you learn how to go out and try your hardest to win games and I think Coach Lowery really taught me a lot about myself as far as a person and playing basketball.
REPORTER: Just to follow up, also how did it work out to be at SIU?
YOUNG: How did I get there? I was getting recruited by a bunch of different schools, SIU, when I went on my visit, I went to the Sweet 16 and watched the practice. I talked to Marcus Belcher and Coach Weber, and then when I came on my visit, it was just a lockdown, talked to all the players, got a chance to hang out with everybody. With this program, being around us, you can feel how much of a family everyone is. You can feel how much everyone actually likes each other and is always around each other. When I got that feel from everybody, it was a no-brainer for me.
REPORTER: Do you feel an edge this year that you all didn't have last year at this moment going into this tournament, and why do you think that is? Based on what you guys have been talking about, but what's the single biggest factor?
YOUNG: I think the biggest factor is fear for us right now. We know what we want to do, but everyone's scared for it to end. Nobody wants to lose, nobody wants to go home. So I mean, we just go out and just continue to practice hard every day regardless of what we're going to play, who we're going to play. We continue to beat up on each other regardless of how we feel. We came to shoot a lot of shots and do all those little things that people would usually lag away from, just to try to get to the NCAA tournament, just for the fact that we want to continue to get better.
So our mentality this year is different from other years and we don't want to lose, we're not going into it as, well, if we lose, it's another year.
We're looking at it as if we lose, it's all over so we're going to go out and just give it our all.
TATUM: I think that we can tell we have an extra advantage this year by the way we're practicing right now, and practice has been very
physical and everybody's been competing and that's what you expect for a team that's going to make a big run in the tournament. And every day, we haven't seen the intensity slip and that's what has to happen to carry over into the game so I think the edge is definitely there.
REPORTER: Can you answer the question I asked Tony a while ago, about how your attitude towards playing in the tournament is different this time around and how it's changed through the four years?
TATUM: I think we both know that this is definitely on our clock right now. You go out the first round of the tournament and that's when your clock is on, Tony and Jamaal's clock, no one else's clock. It's kind of one of those things if you want your legacy to be good or not, Tony and Jamaal, their senior year, they were really mature and leaders and led their team to how far we go in the tournament, to a lot of wins.
REPORTER: Could you just describe Tony's demeanor on the court and do you think it's accurate to say that he likes to have the other fans kind of hate him.
TATUM: I think so. I think we all like to have the other fans hate us, we get our motivation that way. But I think more than the other fans hate him, I think he likes to have the other players hate him and that's the biggest thing right there, when he knows he's getting underneath somebody's skin, he tries to do it even more. That's what you've got to have. That's the mind set of a great player, a great competitor like he is.
REPORTER: For both or either of you, for your years now you've seen how the Missouri Valley just keeps getting better and better. Can you talk a little bit about the quality of the conference, as a Mid Major, and maybe whether it's about time for it to go?
YOUNG: I don't even refer to us as a Mid Major. I don't even like the word, so I just look at it as if we're a competitive school. I feel we can compete with anyone anytime we get on the court with them. As far as our conference goes, we've got all these schools constantly winning games and beating these high major teams and all these bigger teams and the quality of players and all these schools are getting the quality players that we recruit and all these other schools are constantly getting better. So I think that just makes our conference that much better every year.
TATUM: Honestly, I don't even pay attention to the terms they use to describe the caliber of team as us right now or our conference, because we get the respect we deserve after the game and nobody comes up to us after the game and tells us, you're a good Mid Major team, they come up to us after the game and tell us, you're a good team. And I remember playing Oklahoma State sophomore year and their coach coming up to the coach and telling him how good of a team we are, he didn't say you guys are good for a Mid Major team, so I don't really even pay attention to the titles anymore.
REPORTER: Tony, maybe I should have asked you this first, do you sort of like that feeling of, I don't know if villain is the right word of really getting under people's skin and relish that?
YOUNG: I enjoy it. Ever since I was in high school, you just play defense on somebody, they get mad at you, it's funny to me, just to see how other people react, and then when I got here, I know how I reacted when Stetson and B. T. and all those guys did it to me, so if I can make somebody feel the way I used to feel, that's a great thing.
REPORTER: Just to follow up, what would you say the difference in your temper is today than it was four years ago?
YOUNG: I think it's maturity, just growing up and becoming more of a man than I was before. Before you get mad over everything and let certain things bother you, and now you just brush it off.
REPORTER: Tony, does Holy Cross remind you of any team that you've played before? How would they compare, say, to Creighton?
YOUNG: I can't compare them to Creighton, because I haven't seen them play a lot. I watched a couple games, but unless you play against them, you can't really compare two teams like that. But watching them play, they're a good team. Seeing them get out and run and seeing some of the things they do, but like before, we need to go out and continue to play hard, just do the things that we do.
REPORTER: For both of you, when you saw the brackets and people looked and saw Illinois is a possibility, what was the reaction or was there any reaction at all?
TATUM: I think everybody had to get past the fact that we couldn't possibly be playing them, because you have to get past your first round game to play everybody. We're a very mature team, so I think everybody got past that quickly and realized that we had a good Holy Cross team ahead of us, and that was the first line of business.
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REPORTER: This is for Tony. It's been quite a while since you guys played a game. How do you guys handle the time in between the tournament and do you think that will have any effect on the way you play?
YOUNG: I think the last week or so we've been getting back focused on doing the small things that we do. After last week's loss, we've had a lot of time to sit back and focus on things we need to getter better on and we've just been going hard at each other getting ready to play the game. I think we'll be ready to play once we get back on the floor.
REPORTER: Jamaal, could you just talk about your opponent and what kind of a game you expect.
TATUM: Well, I know off the top we expect a dog fight. That's the type of things we're good at. We know they're going to come out and play hard for 40 minutes just like we're going to do. As far as the type of defense and all that stuff, we haven't really gone over that stuff a lot yet, but I think we're ready to go.
REPORTER: A question for Jamaal or Tony, you've always been a really defense-minded team, but this year you're scoring a lot more points, you're winning a lot more games, getting a lot more national attention. Is there anything in your minds that has changed this year from last year that you're doing in preparation?
YOUNG: I don't think we're doing anything differently, I think we're just more focused on getting better at the thing we weren't as good at. Like I said last year we struggled a lot on offense, so for us being a more mature team and growing and learning from the things we did last year, I think this year is just focusing on doing offensive things and Coach is giving us a lot more shots in practice and just working on your own game and working on your own offensive skills.
REPORTER: Jamaal, I wonder if you could just reflect on when you first met Tony and how you've seen his game at all, but also his personality and temperament.
TATUM: When I first met him, I just thought that we were -- I looked up to him and I was like, he's going to take me, he's going to be what shows me the ropes and stuff and then I kind of realized that we were pretty much peers, you know, and we enjoy the same things, have similar personalities and we're both sore losers. And over the years, I just realized that we both had to become better leaders and we were both willing to do it and we both did. So I think that over the course of time, he's become a lot more mature and that's helped me become a lot more mature.
REPORTER: Both of you, I know I'm putting you on the spot because your coach is sitting next to you, but what's special about playing for Coach Lowery?
YOUNG: The biggest thing about playing for Coach is he's one of the coaches that understands his players. You've got a lot of people that push you to do things you don't want to do, he gives us the freedom to go out and play the way we want to play but within his offense and the things he wants us to do. And he really rides us and makes us strive to be the best we can be as far as people, as far as players, really just all around.
He doesn't settle for us being second best. He doesn't let us settle for it either.
TATUM: I'll agree with Tony on that. He definitely pushes us. When he came back from Illinois and we got our first workout with him, he put me and Tony against each other and I thought he was trying to make us transfer schools or something the way he came at us, but he was just expecting a lot out of us, he knew it was going to be a big year and he knew that he had some shoes to fill and we had some shoes to fill and that we had to be a good team and we were a great team that year and he came back and he really put it on us and made things difficult for us. That's the thing about him, he expects so much out of all his players that he will push you and I'm thankful for what he's done because I've become a lot better player under him.
REPORTER: For both of you guys, Southern's been sort of the underdog in this situation in the last few appearances, now you guys come in with a high seed and you're sort of taking on a different role, could you talk about that, being the favorite, and also is Southern starting to become like a Gonzaga of the midwest?
YOUNG: I think as far as being a favorite, you look at every game the same because going into the NCAA tournament, anyone could lose at any day, so you can't come in and think that just because you're a favorite that you're automatically going to win or you can't disrespect your opponents. I think the big thing is to stay level headed and play our hardest.
TATUM: I definitely think we have the same mind set as we had the year before and the year before that, no matter what seed we are. We go in and fight every day in practice, we go in and work hard and we compete and I think fourth seed or 10 seed or 12 seed, we're going to go play the same, hardest on the court.
REPORTER: This is the fourth time around for both of you guys, it's the last time around for both of you guys, how are you approaching this or is your mind set any different after you've been here all these years?
YOUNG: I think maturity level is the big difference for us. Before we came in knowing we won't win, but having the outlook that if we lose, we'll be back next year, having something to look forward to as far as getting ready for next year, but with it being our last year, it really just hits you, the fact of reality that once you lose it's all over with, so we just stay on everyone else and stay on each other to continue to get better and get ready to play hard.
REPORTER: Tony, just look back at how you came to Southern Illinois, how that worked out, it seemed like kind of a crazy path.
YOUNG: I think it worked out great for me when I came in, I was a little scrawny kid getting beat up by everybody. It was a learning process for me, I mean, now, I go out and try and pick on as many people as I can. Once you've been in a program like this and you play with so many different people and so many different types of players, you learn how to grow up and you learn how to go out and try your hardest to win games and I think Coach Lowery really taught me a lot about myself as far as a person and playing basketball.
REPORTER: Just to follow up, also how did it work out to be at SIU?
YOUNG: How did I get there? I was getting recruited by a bunch of different schools, SIU, when I went on my visit, I went to the Sweet 16 and watched the practice. I talked to Marcus Belcher and Coach Weber, and then when I came on my visit, it was just a lockdown, talked to all the players, got a chance to hang out with everybody. With this program, being around us, you can feel how much of a family everyone is. You can feel how much everyone actually likes each other and is always around each other. When I got that feel from everybody, it was a no-brainer for me.
REPORTER: Do you feel an edge this year that you all didn't have last year at this moment going into this tournament, and why do you think that is? Based on what you guys have been talking about, but what's the single biggest factor?
YOUNG: I think the biggest factor is fear for us right now. We know what we want to do, but everyone's scared for it to end. Nobody wants to lose, nobody wants to go home. So I mean, we just go out and just continue to practice hard every day regardless of what we're going to play, who we're going to play. We continue to beat up on each other regardless of how we feel. We came to shoot a lot of shots and do all those little things that people would usually lag away from, just to try to get to the NCAA tournament, just for the fact that we want to continue to get better.
So our mentality this year is different from other years and we don't want to lose, we're not going into it as, well, if we lose, it's another year.
We're looking at it as if we lose, it's all over so we're going to go out and just give it our all.
TATUM: I think that we can tell we have an extra advantage this year by the way we're practicing right now, and practice has been very
physical and everybody's been competing and that's what you expect for a team that's going to make a big run in the tournament. And every day, we haven't seen the intensity slip and that's what has to happen to carry over into the game so I think the edge is definitely there.
REPORTER: Can you answer the question I asked Tony a while ago, about how your attitude towards playing in the tournament is different this time around and how it's changed through the four years?
TATUM: I think we both know that this is definitely on our clock right now. You go out the first round of the tournament and that's when your clock is on, Tony and Jamaal's clock, no one else's clock. It's kind of one of those things if you want your legacy to be good or not, Tony and Jamaal, their senior year, they were really mature and leaders and led their team to how far we go in the tournament, to a lot of wins.
REPORTER: Could you just describe Tony's demeanor on the court and do you think it's accurate to say that he likes to have the other fans kind of hate him.
TATUM: I think so. I think we all like to have the other fans hate us, we get our motivation that way. But I think more than the other fans hate him, I think he likes to have the other players hate him and that's the biggest thing right there, when he knows he's getting underneath somebody's skin, he tries to do it even more. That's what you've got to have. That's the mind set of a great player, a great competitor like he is.
REPORTER: For both or either of you, for your years now you've seen how the Missouri Valley just keeps getting better and better. Can you talk a little bit about the quality of the conference, as a Mid Major, and maybe whether it's about time for it to go?
YOUNG: I don't even refer to us as a Mid Major. I don't even like the word, so I just look at it as if we're a competitive school. I feel we can compete with anyone anytime we get on the court with them. As far as our conference goes, we've got all these schools constantly winning games and beating these high major teams and all these bigger teams and the quality of players and all these schools are getting the quality players that we recruit and all these other schools are constantly getting better. So I think that just makes our conference that much better every year.
TATUM: Honestly, I don't even pay attention to the terms they use to describe the caliber of team as us right now or our conference, because we get the respect we deserve after the game and nobody comes up to us after the game and tells us, you're a good Mid Major team, they come up to us after the game and tell us, you're a good team. And I remember playing Oklahoma State sophomore year and their coach coming up to the coach and telling him how good of a team we are, he didn't say you guys are good for a Mid Major team, so I don't really even pay attention to the titles anymore.
REPORTER: Tony, maybe I should have asked you this first, do you sort of like that feeling of, I don't know if villain is the right word of really getting under people's skin and relish that?
YOUNG: I enjoy it. Ever since I was in high school, you just play defense on somebody, they get mad at you, it's funny to me, just to see how other people react, and then when I got here, I know how I reacted when Stetson and B. T. and all those guys did it to me, so if I can make somebody feel the way I used to feel, that's a great thing.
REPORTER: Just to follow up, what would you say the difference in your temper is today than it was four years ago?
YOUNG: I think it's maturity, just growing up and becoming more of a man than I was before. Before you get mad over everything and let certain things bother you, and now you just brush it off.
REPORTER: Tony, does Holy Cross remind you of any team that you've played before? How would they compare, say, to Creighton?
YOUNG: I can't compare them to Creighton, because I haven't seen them play a lot. I watched a couple games, but unless you play against them, you can't really compare two teams like that. But watching them play, they're a good team. Seeing them get out and run and seeing some of the things they do, but like before, we need to go out and continue to play hard, just do the things that we do.
REPORTER: For both of you, when you saw the brackets and people looked and saw Illinois is a possibility, what was the reaction or was there any reaction at all?
TATUM: I think everybody had to get past the fact that we couldn't possibly be playing them, because you have to get past your first round game to play everybody. We're a very mature team, so I think everybody got past that quickly and realized that we had a good Holy Cross team ahead of us, and that was the first line of business.
Labels: HC
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HOOP TIME NOTEBOOK
Both teams play tremendous defense. Both do it in a different way, though.
The matchup between Holy Cross and Southern Illinois features two of the top 10 defensive teams in the nation. The Salukis allow 56.5 points per game, third best among all 300-plus Division I teams in the nation.
Holy Cross, which allows 57.1 points per contest, is just behind, ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense.
"Our defense is very similar, they try to keep everybody out of the middle. They give great weak side help. They only allow 56 points a game, we allow 57. So they play with a great deal of emotion and passion on the defensive end as we do and it's going to be a battle," said HC senior Torey Thomas, when asked to compare the two styles of play.
Holy Cross switches defenses more and plays a good deal of zone. Southern Illinois will employ mainly man-to-man.
That is not the only difference.
"They're committed to defense like we are committed to defense," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard. "But they're so much more physical than we are."
It's a difference in philosophy..
"We do many more things on the defensive end in terms of trying to make you think, they're just trying to wear you down and keep constant pressure on you," said Willard.
"We have to guard all of them. And I think when we focus on that and are consistently focused on trying to take away stuff and trying to make their life miserable, make them feel like they don't have enough space on the court, we have a chance," said SIU coach Chris Lowery.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: The perception among the Southern Illinois media contingent seems to be that Holy Cross junior center Tim Clifford might give the Salukis fits inside. At 6-10, 270, Clifford is both taller, and physically more imposing, than any post type Southern Illinois can deploy.
Holy Cross coach Ralph WIllard hopes those SIU beat guys are right. Getting Clifford going in the paint could make a huge difference for the Crusaders.
"We're going to try and get the ball inside. Obviously we try and do that against every opponent," said Willard "They're quicker and more athletic than we are, but one of the things they do a great job is putting tremendous pressure on the basketball much so one way to relieve that is by getting the ball to the middle of the floor and getting it inside to your big guys. So they double, they take away the post in a lot of different ways, they do a great job rotating, but it's obviously something we're going to have to try and exploit in order to -- really in order to get our guards more looks at the basket too."
One thing Clifford adds to the mix is his ability to step away from the basket to shoot the jumper, even out to three-point range. A career 40.7 percent shooter from the arc, Clifford has knocked down 13 of the 35 treys he has taken this season. That is a concern for SIU coach Chris Lowery.
"(Clifford) is huge. I mean, he's very big. He's probably better defensively than most people think and he's not a high-riser. He takes up a lot of space and he challenges a lot of shots. So our biggest thing is that we can't allow him to get his confidence on offense, because when he does that, he can step away and make shots away from the rim, and when he's doing that, that makes Simmons even better," said Lowery.
One thing SIU will look to do is to attack Clifford when it has the ball, hoping to get him in foul trouble. That has been a problem at times; Clifford has fouled out of seven games this season. It is an area where he has improved as the season wore on, though. Through the last 17 games, Clifford has fouled out just once ( at Hofstra).
Without Clifford on the floor, Holy Cross looks very different. When he plays up to his capabilities, the Crusaders have looked very good.
"Tim's play down the stretch has been incredible. He had six blocks in the first half of our championship game. And like you say, he's been plugging up the middle. He's been a force on the boards, block shots, down on the post on offense, and his play really opens up our play," SImmons said. "Tim's been playing really well."
SCOUTING SIMMONS: Here is Lowery's take on the Patriot League Player of the Year: "He could play a lot of different places in the country. I was shocked how good he was, I had no idea until you watch him more than once. When people say somebody's good, your first impression is, yeah, he's okay, but as you continue to watch him, he's very talented. He's an explosive athlete. He's obviously become a much better shooter than when he got there. His field goal percentages are high. He's a kid who's going to make money playing, so obviously he's a good player."
TOUTING TOREY: Lowery is also very high on Holy Cross point guard Torey Thomas. Here is what he has to say about the 5-9 senior: "I love the kid, he'd be great with us. He steals the ball from anybody close to them. That sets up everything that they do, because not only is he their best defender, he also is their best guy at pushing the basketball. And that's why him and Simmons really have a strong niche together as teammates. They get in transition after steals, after misshots, as well as anybody in the country."
SHOOTAROUND TIDBITS: The crowds for the shootarounds seemed much smaller in Columbus than they did two years ago in Oklahoma City or last year in Dallas. There were probably less than 100 people on hand to watch Southern Illinois -- a good number of those being Illinois fans who arrived early. Even fewer folks on hand for HC's workout.
Aside from parents, only one bit of purple was spotted in the crowd.
Both teams took a similar approach to the shootarounds, running through a series of shooting drills to get used to the lights, background and rims in Nationwide Arena.
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Both teams play tremendous defense. Both do it in a different way, though.
The matchup between Holy Cross and Southern Illinois features two of the top 10 defensive teams in the nation. The Salukis allow 56.5 points per game, third best among all 300-plus Division I teams in the nation.
Holy Cross, which allows 57.1 points per contest, is just behind, ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense.
"Our defense is very similar, they try to keep everybody out of the middle. They give great weak side help. They only allow 56 points a game, we allow 57. So they play with a great deal of emotion and passion on the defensive end as we do and it's going to be a battle," said HC senior Torey Thomas, when asked to compare the two styles of play.
Holy Cross switches defenses more and plays a good deal of zone. Southern Illinois will employ mainly man-to-man.
That is not the only difference.
"They're committed to defense like we are committed to defense," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard. "But they're so much more physical than we are."
It's a difference in philosophy..
"We do many more things on the defensive end in terms of trying to make you think, they're just trying to wear you down and keep constant pressure on you," said Willard.
"We have to guard all of them. And I think when we focus on that and are consistently focused on trying to take away stuff and trying to make their life miserable, make them feel like they don't have enough space on the court, we have a chance," said SIU coach Chris Lowery.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE: The perception among the Southern Illinois media contingent seems to be that Holy Cross junior center Tim Clifford might give the Salukis fits inside. At 6-10, 270, Clifford is both taller, and physically more imposing, than any post type Southern Illinois can deploy.
Holy Cross coach Ralph WIllard hopes those SIU beat guys are right. Getting Clifford going in the paint could make a huge difference for the Crusaders.
"We're going to try and get the ball inside. Obviously we try and do that against every opponent," said Willard "They're quicker and more athletic than we are, but one of the things they do a great job is putting tremendous pressure on the basketball much so one way to relieve that is by getting the ball to the middle of the floor and getting it inside to your big guys. So they double, they take away the post in a lot of different ways, they do a great job rotating, but it's obviously something we're going to have to try and exploit in order to -- really in order to get our guards more looks at the basket too."
One thing Clifford adds to the mix is his ability to step away from the basket to shoot the jumper, even out to three-point range. A career 40.7 percent shooter from the arc, Clifford has knocked down 13 of the 35 treys he has taken this season. That is a concern for SIU coach Chris Lowery.
"(Clifford) is huge. I mean, he's very big. He's probably better defensively than most people think and he's not a high-riser. He takes up a lot of space and he challenges a lot of shots. So our biggest thing is that we can't allow him to get his confidence on offense, because when he does that, he can step away and make shots away from the rim, and when he's doing that, that makes Simmons even better," said Lowery.
One thing SIU will look to do is to attack Clifford when it has the ball, hoping to get him in foul trouble. That has been a problem at times; Clifford has fouled out of seven games this season. It is an area where he has improved as the season wore on, though. Through the last 17 games, Clifford has fouled out just once ( at Hofstra).
Without Clifford on the floor, Holy Cross looks very different. When he plays up to his capabilities, the Crusaders have looked very good.
"Tim's play down the stretch has been incredible. He had six blocks in the first half of our championship game. And like you say, he's been plugging up the middle. He's been a force on the boards, block shots, down on the post on offense, and his play really opens up our play," SImmons said. "Tim's been playing really well."
SCOUTING SIMMONS: Here is Lowery's take on the Patriot League Player of the Year: "He could play a lot of different places in the country. I was shocked how good he was, I had no idea until you watch him more than once. When people say somebody's good, your first impression is, yeah, he's okay, but as you continue to watch him, he's very talented. He's an explosive athlete. He's obviously become a much better shooter than when he got there. His field goal percentages are high. He's a kid who's going to make money playing, so obviously he's a good player."
TOUTING TOREY: Lowery is also very high on Holy Cross point guard Torey Thomas. Here is what he has to say about the 5-9 senior: "I love the kid, he'd be great with us. He steals the ball from anybody close to them. That sets up everything that they do, because not only is he their best defender, he also is their best guy at pushing the basketball. And that's why him and Simmons really have a strong niche together as teammates. They get in transition after steals, after misshots, as well as anybody in the country."
SHOOTAROUND TIDBITS: The crowds for the shootarounds seemed much smaller in Columbus than they did two years ago in Oklahoma City or last year in Dallas. There were probably less than 100 people on hand to watch Southern Illinois -- a good number of those being Illinois fans who arrived early. Even fewer folks on hand for HC's workout.
Aside from parents, only one bit of purple was spotted in the crowd.
Both teams took a similar approach to the shootarounds, running through a series of shooting drills to get used to the lights, background and rims in Nationwide Arena.
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The Salukis have been to the Big Dance before. But then, so has Ralph Willard.
One of the biggest differences between these two teams is experience.
Not only do the Salukis have twice as many seniors (4-2) as Holy Cross, but two of their four are fifth-year guys, redshirting being a common practice at SIU (the roster also includes two second-year freshmen, two-third-year sophomores and three fourth year juniors. And most of the Salukis have been here before since Southern Illinois has made the NCAA Tournament six seasons in a row.
Tony Young, a fifth-year senior, added some perspective to that experience.
"I think maturity level is the big difference for us," said Young. "Before we came in knowing we won't win, but having the outlook that if we lose, we'll be back next year, having something to look forward to as far as getting ready for next year, but with it being our last year, it really just hits you, the fact of reality that once you lose it's all over with."
Contrast that with Holy Cross, which made it to the tournament three years in a row between 2001 and 2003, but has not been back since any players on the current roster arrived on Mt. St. James.
"When we were coming over here we had about three police escorts and I was like, Coach, we've got escorts, he said, if you would have made it to the tournament a couple more times, you would have known that," laughed HC guard Torey Thomas, one of the Crusaders two seniors.
Five of the Salukis have even won a game in the tournament, beating 10th seeded Saint Mary's in 2005 when they entered the first round in Oklahoma City as a No. 7 seed.
Being the higher seed this time won't change their approach, Tatum and Young both said.
"I definitely think we have the same mind set as we had the year before and the year before that, no matter what seed we are. We go in and fight every day in practice, we go in and work hard and we compete and I think fourth seed or 10 seed or 12 seed, we're going to go play the same," Tatum said.
"As far as being a favorite, you look at every game the same because going into the NCAA tournament, anyone could lose at any day, so you can't come in and think that just because you're a favorite that you're automatically going to win or you can't disrespect your opponents. I think the big thing is to stay level headed and play our hardest," Young added.
Having been here before is a definite advantage for the Salukis.
"It definitely makes a big difference that they've been here. The experience is always key," said Thomas.
That experience edge is limited to the players. Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard has been to five NCAA Tournaments -- including three with the Crusaders -- and three NITs.Salukis coach Chris Lowery would have been a freshman in college when Willard first coached a team (Western Kentucky in 1993) to an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Holy Cross will rely on Willard's experience, and his game plan, to even things with Southern Illinois.
"Coach Willard is a great Coach, he's been doing this for a long time, he's been at every level of college and the NBA. We've been trying to take a lot from his experience, he's been here with Holy Cross three times and with other teams so we try to look to him for guidance and I think he's done a really good job this week in preparing us for this situation and leading us with his experience and he's a great asset in this game because he's our leader and he's our coach and hopefully he can steer us in the right path," Simmons said.
"Experience is definitely something that they have on their side. It's a definite advantage for them. But we've developed a game plan and we're going to go out there and try and execute our game plan. We're really focusing ourselves in doing what we do best. Southern Illinois is a very good team and they are really experienced but we're going to concentrate on executing our game plan and playing the way Holy Cross plays," said Simmons.
Added Thomas: "Coach Willard is a great coach in this situation, you've got a chance to prepare, plenty of days to prepare for a team for one game and I feel like he's always got a great game plan to help us to a victory in that regard. He's going to help us play to our strengths and try to help us make them play to their weaknesses."
Willard said having a precise game plan will make it easier for his team to focus and avoid some of the distractions that come with playing on the game's grandest stage.
"This is the NCAA, but it's also another basketball game. We compartmentalize the game into sections. We come with a very detailed game plan, so I think by concentrating on the little things, I think you can tend to block out the surroundings and the so-called stature of the stage or the magnitude of the stage. So I think our guys, I know the two seniors, this won't bother them at all. Some of the young guys, it may have an effect, but again, we pa so much attention to detail and concentrate on that so much, I don't think the stage will be that big a factor," Willard said.
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One of the biggest differences between these two teams is experience.
Not only do the Salukis have twice as many seniors (4-2) as Holy Cross, but two of their four are fifth-year guys, redshirting being a common practice at SIU (the roster also includes two second-year freshmen, two-third-year sophomores and three fourth year juniors. And most of the Salukis have been here before since Southern Illinois has made the NCAA Tournament six seasons in a row.
Tony Young, a fifth-year senior, added some perspective to that experience.
"I think maturity level is the big difference for us," said Young. "Before we came in knowing we won't win, but having the outlook that if we lose, we'll be back next year, having something to look forward to as far as getting ready for next year, but with it being our last year, it really just hits you, the fact of reality that once you lose it's all over with."
Contrast that with Holy Cross, which made it to the tournament three years in a row between 2001 and 2003, but has not been back since any players on the current roster arrived on Mt. St. James.
"When we were coming over here we had about three police escorts and I was like, Coach, we've got escorts, he said, if you would have made it to the tournament a couple more times, you would have known that," laughed HC guard Torey Thomas, one of the Crusaders two seniors.
Five of the Salukis have even won a game in the tournament, beating 10th seeded Saint Mary's in 2005 when they entered the first round in Oklahoma City as a No. 7 seed.
Being the higher seed this time won't change their approach, Tatum and Young both said.
"I definitely think we have the same mind set as we had the year before and the year before that, no matter what seed we are. We go in and fight every day in practice, we go in and work hard and we compete and I think fourth seed or 10 seed or 12 seed, we're going to go play the same," Tatum said.
"As far as being a favorite, you look at every game the same because going into the NCAA tournament, anyone could lose at any day, so you can't come in and think that just because you're a favorite that you're automatically going to win or you can't disrespect your opponents. I think the big thing is to stay level headed and play our hardest," Young added.
Having been here before is a definite advantage for the Salukis.
"It definitely makes a big difference that they've been here. The experience is always key," said Thomas.
That experience edge is limited to the players. Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard has been to five NCAA Tournaments -- including three with the Crusaders -- and three NITs.Salukis coach Chris Lowery would have been a freshman in college when Willard first coached a team (Western Kentucky in 1993) to an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Holy Cross will rely on Willard's experience, and his game plan, to even things with Southern Illinois.
"Coach Willard is a great Coach, he's been doing this for a long time, he's been at every level of college and the NBA. We've been trying to take a lot from his experience, he's been here with Holy Cross three times and with other teams so we try to look to him for guidance and I think he's done a really good job this week in preparing us for this situation and leading us with his experience and he's a great asset in this game because he's our leader and he's our coach and hopefully he can steer us in the right path," Simmons said.
"Experience is definitely something that they have on their side. It's a definite advantage for them. But we've developed a game plan and we're going to go out there and try and execute our game plan. We're really focusing ourselves in doing what we do best. Southern Illinois is a very good team and they are really experienced but we're going to concentrate on executing our game plan and playing the way Holy Cross plays," said Simmons.
Added Thomas: "Coach Willard is a great coach in this situation, you've got a chance to prepare, plenty of days to prepare for a team for one game and I feel like he's always got a great game plan to help us to a victory in that regard. He's going to help us play to our strengths and try to help us make them play to their weaknesses."
Willard said having a precise game plan will make it easier for his team to focus and avoid some of the distractions that come with playing on the game's grandest stage.
"This is the NCAA, but it's also another basketball game. We compartmentalize the game into sections. We come with a very detailed game plan, so I think by concentrating on the little things, I think you can tend to block out the surroundings and the so-called stature of the stage or the magnitude of the stage. So I think our guys, I know the two seniors, this won't bother them at all. Some of the young guys, it may have an effect, but again, we pa so much attention to detail and concentrate on that so much, I don't think the stage will be that big a factor," Willard said.
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Here is thge full transcript of Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard's Thursday evening press conference:
COACH WILLARD: Well, I'm happy for the two young men that were just here. They're great leaders. Our only two seniors, they've done a great job in our program. They've been a real credit to our school, both on the basketball floor and off the floor and couldn't be happier for those two guys.
REPORTER: How important is your inside play going to be against Southern? You have quite a big size advantage.
COACH WILLARD: We're going to try and get the ball inside. Obviously we try and do that against every opponent. They're quicker and more athletic than we are, but one of the things they do a great job is putting tremendous pressure on the basketball much so one way to relieve that is by getting the ball to the middle of the floor and getting it inside to your big guys. So they double, they take away the post in a lot of different ways, they do a great job rotating, but it's obviously something we're going to have to try and exploit in order to -- really in order to get our guards more looks at the basket too.
REPORTER: When you look at the Southern Illinois team, is there anything that makes you say, hey, they're like us, especially on the defensive end? I mean, are there things that they do that are very similar to what you do?
COACH WILLARD: Well, I don't know, I'll say this. They're committed to defense like we are committed to defense. I think that's the similarity. But they're so much more physical than we are. I saw the media guide and the Barry Hinson quote about getting the attack dogs from the police station and putting the meat juice on the players' arms, they're much more physical than we are. We do many more things on the defensive end in terms of trying to make you think, they're just trying to wear you down and keep constant pressure on you. Both teams, though both teams are committed to defense, I think there's a different philosophy between the two teams. Those kids are selfless, to play defense like that, you have to be totally selfless, and their team is, they are totally committed to that end of the floor first, and then to the offensive end. Which in today's game, it's tough to get kids to commit the way they do, but they certainly do a good job of it.
REPORTER: Coach Willard, what about their offense?
COACH WILLARD: Well, they have a great guard in Tatum, Young's a great shooter, Falker is great inside, 32, the other kid, the power forward stretches you because he can shoot the three. I've read where they're not a great offensive team, but looking at them, they do a lot of things that make it difficult to guard them. They used the high low pass exceptionally well with Falker and again, their guards are quick. The point guard is amazing to me, he reminds me of the Energizer bunny, he plays defense and never seems to tire. They're a good offensive team. They're also very patient. That's part of their philosophy in wearing you down too, making you defend for 25, 30 seconds before they take a shot. Now, obviously, the other thing is, because of their quickness, they are dangerous in transition, and that's one of the things we can't afford to let them do is transition and get out and get some easy baskets.
REPORTER: Ralph, you talked about your seniors, can you just talk a little more about how Keith came back from the whole cramping issue last year and Torey coming back from the off season knee surgery.
COACH WILLARD: Yeah, Keith's thing last year with the cramping, it really, if that didn't happen, we would have been a heck of a basketball team last year because we probably had two of the best wing players anywhere with Kevin Hamilton and if Keith would have been healthy. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He just did a great job of constantly battling. We tried everything in the world, pickle juice, the whole bit. We've tried everything to get rid of the cramps. He's just a great young man and I'm happy he had the year he's had. The fact he's been able to play 38, 40 minutes a game. Torey's getting hurt in the first half of the Bucknell game last year in the championship game was really devastating to him. And this year really he played on one and a half legs. The surgery was done, but he hadn't fully recovered going into the season and for the first, I would say, actually through the end of December, beginning of January, he was playing on one and a half legs, and he's got the heart of a champion, that kid. I hate to see this end. I want to keep this going for a lot of reasons, but saying good-bye to these guys is going to be very difficult.
REPORTER: Talk a little bit of their experience and what kind of a factor having them here these last four years.
COACH WILLARD: I think anytime you have experience in anything, it helps you. I'm sure that's one of the things that they feel good about. They try and compartmentalize their surroundings in the game. This is the NCAA, but it's also another basketball game. We compartmentalize the game into sections. We come with a very detailed game plan, so I think by concentrating on the little things, I think you can tend to block out the surroundings and the so-called stature of the stage or the magnitude of the stage. So I think our guys, I know the two seniors, this won't bother them at all. Some of the young guys, it may have an effect, but again, we pay so much attention to detail and concentrate on that so much, I don't think the stage will be that big a factor.
REPORTER: Talk about Alex Vander Baan.
COACH WILLARD: He's a tall, skinny kid. He shouldn't get the rebounds he gets. He plays good defense. He blocks shots. He's one of those kids you need to be a good basketball team, and his offense has improved as the year has gone on. I wish he would shoot the basketball more than he does because he's a very, very good shooter, but Alex is a glue-type player, you need glue players on your team and he's one of them.
REPORTER: Coach, a key for your season, 25 wins, what do you feel has been the major key? I know defense, but besides that.
COACH WILLARD: I think we've become a pretty good rebounding team. We've developed our players a little bit as we've gone along. Clifford has gotten better offensively, he's had some big point games for us. I think the consistency of Torey and Keith has been the thing that's enabled us to achieve what we've achieved. They're consistent on both ends of the floor. They both defend exceptionally well and are both good offensive players. Torey has the ability to go by just about anybody, especially on the open floor. So I think those things, the consistency of those two kids and the development of some of the role players, if you will, has been what's enabled us to be successful.
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COACH WILLARD: Well, I'm happy for the two young men that were just here. They're great leaders. Our only two seniors, they've done a great job in our program. They've been a real credit to our school, both on the basketball floor and off the floor and couldn't be happier for those two guys.
REPORTER: How important is your inside play going to be against Southern? You have quite a big size advantage.
COACH WILLARD: We're going to try and get the ball inside. Obviously we try and do that against every opponent. They're quicker and more athletic than we are, but one of the things they do a great job is putting tremendous pressure on the basketball much so one way to relieve that is by getting the ball to the middle of the floor and getting it inside to your big guys. So they double, they take away the post in a lot of different ways, they do a great job rotating, but it's obviously something we're going to have to try and exploit in order to -- really in order to get our guards more looks at the basket too.
REPORTER: When you look at the Southern Illinois team, is there anything that makes you say, hey, they're like us, especially on the defensive end? I mean, are there things that they do that are very similar to what you do?
COACH WILLARD: Well, I don't know, I'll say this. They're committed to defense like we are committed to defense. I think that's the similarity. But they're so much more physical than we are. I saw the media guide and the Barry Hinson quote about getting the attack dogs from the police station and putting the meat juice on the players' arms, they're much more physical than we are. We do many more things on the defensive end in terms of trying to make you think, they're just trying to wear you down and keep constant pressure on you. Both teams, though both teams are committed to defense, I think there's a different philosophy between the two teams. Those kids are selfless, to play defense like that, you have to be totally selfless, and their team is, they are totally committed to that end of the floor first, and then to the offensive end. Which in today's game, it's tough to get kids to commit the way they do, but they certainly do a good job of it.
REPORTER: Coach Willard, what about their offense?
COACH WILLARD: Well, they have a great guard in Tatum, Young's a great shooter, Falker is great inside, 32, the other kid, the power forward stretches you because he can shoot the three. I've read where they're not a great offensive team, but looking at them, they do a lot of things that make it difficult to guard them. They used the high low pass exceptionally well with Falker and again, their guards are quick. The point guard is amazing to me, he reminds me of the Energizer bunny, he plays defense and never seems to tire. They're a good offensive team. They're also very patient. That's part of their philosophy in wearing you down too, making you defend for 25, 30 seconds before they take a shot. Now, obviously, the other thing is, because of their quickness, they are dangerous in transition, and that's one of the things we can't afford to let them do is transition and get out and get some easy baskets.
REPORTER: Ralph, you talked about your seniors, can you just talk a little more about how Keith came back from the whole cramping issue last year and Torey coming back from the off season knee surgery.
COACH WILLARD: Yeah, Keith's thing last year with the cramping, it really, if that didn't happen, we would have been a heck of a basketball team last year because we probably had two of the best wing players anywhere with Kevin Hamilton and if Keith would have been healthy. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He just did a great job of constantly battling. We tried everything in the world, pickle juice, the whole bit. We've tried everything to get rid of the cramps. He's just a great young man and I'm happy he had the year he's had. The fact he's been able to play 38, 40 minutes a game. Torey's getting hurt in the first half of the Bucknell game last year in the championship game was really devastating to him. And this year really he played on one and a half legs. The surgery was done, but he hadn't fully recovered going into the season and for the first, I would say, actually through the end of December, beginning of January, he was playing on one and a half legs, and he's got the heart of a champion, that kid. I hate to see this end. I want to keep this going for a lot of reasons, but saying good-bye to these guys is going to be very difficult.
REPORTER: Talk a little bit of their experience and what kind of a factor having them here these last four years.
COACH WILLARD: I think anytime you have experience in anything, it helps you. I'm sure that's one of the things that they feel good about. They try and compartmentalize their surroundings in the game. This is the NCAA, but it's also another basketball game. We compartmentalize the game into sections. We come with a very detailed game plan, so I think by concentrating on the little things, I think you can tend to block out the surroundings and the so-called stature of the stage or the magnitude of the stage. So I think our guys, I know the two seniors, this won't bother them at all. Some of the young guys, it may have an effect, but again, we pay so much attention to detail and concentrate on that so much, I don't think the stage will be that big a factor.
REPORTER: Talk about Alex Vander Baan.
COACH WILLARD: He's a tall, skinny kid. He shouldn't get the rebounds he gets. He plays good defense. He blocks shots. He's one of those kids you need to be a good basketball team, and his offense has improved as the year has gone on. I wish he would shoot the basketball more than he does because he's a very, very good shooter, but Alex is a glue-type player, you need glue players on your team and he's one of them.
REPORTER: Coach, a key for your season, 25 wins, what do you feel has been the major key? I know defense, but besides that.
COACH WILLARD: I think we've become a pretty good rebounding team. We've developed our players a little bit as we've gone along. Clifford has gotten better offensively, he's had some big point games for us. I think the consistency of Torey and Keith has been the thing that's enabled us to achieve what we've achieved. They're consistent on both ends of the floor. They both defend exceptionally well and are both good offensive players. Torey has the ability to go by just about anybody, especially on the open floor. So I think those things, the consistency of those two kids and the development of some of the role players, if you will, has been what's enabled us to be successful.
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Technical glitches prevent us from posting the audio from Holy Cross' press conferences, but here is a full transcript of Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas' Q&A with the media this evening in Columbus:
REPORTER: Keith, what have you learned about your opponent?
SIMMONS: We watch a lot of film of them and we just continue to learn how good of a defensive team they are and how tough they are on the defensive end. And Coach has been telling us that they're probably the most physical team that we're going to play all year, even with the schedule we've played, they play physical for 40 minutes and they play hard for 40 minutes.
REPORTER: A lot of talk about both teams being very good defensively. Can you compare their defense to yours and kind of contrast what do you do the same, what do you do different?
THOMAS: Well, our defense is very similar, they try to keep everybody out of the middle. They give great weak side help. They only allow 56 points a game, we allow 57. So they play with a great deal of emotion and passion on the defensive end as we do and it's going to be a battle.
SIMMONS: Well, we switch up defenses a little bit, we switch from a man to a zone, they're primarily a man team. Like Torey said, I think the principles are the same, to keep people out of the middle and to give a lot of help defensively.
REPORTER: To both of these gentlemen, how does this feel to make it to the NCAA for the first time?
SIMMONS: It feels really good. We're just trying to enjoy the experience and trying to prepare ourselves to compete tomorrow, but we're enjoying this and it's our first trip, it's our last year as seniors so we're trying to enjoy the process of this.
THOMAS: Just going on what Keith said, we've been here for four years together, we're the only two seniors here, so it's a special moment, special feeling, so hopefully it will be a special tournament for us.
REPORTER: How much did your early season, 11 games in a row, prepare you for this, and games at Syracuse and Duke and other places, how much did that prepare you for this?
THOMAS: It prepared, I think, one hundred percent for a game of this magnitude, Southern Illinois is a very physical team with the likes of Providence, Syracuse and Duke that we played early in the season. It keeps our mentality, because we have to play teams with high majors, the mentality for us is to be able to stay in the game and play tough defense and try to execute from the offensive end so those games helped a hundred percent.
SIMMONS: I think it gives us a little bit of experience going into this game to have played teams that are really tough and teams that are in the tournament, we've played some tournament teams. It gives us some experience and we were really just lucky to have the schedule that we did to prepare us for this time of the year.
REPORTER: Torey, what has Coach Willard told you about the whole NCAA experience, and have you talked to any of your former teammates who have been here before?
THOMAS: Well, a funny joke, when we were coming over here we had about three police escorts and I was like, Coach, we've got escorts, he said, if you would have made it to the tournament a couple more times, you would have known that. So he jokes, so really relishing the opportunity to be here, he's not telling me any logistics or anything, he's saying go out there, be yourself, have fun out there and that's exactly what he's preaching. He's giving us the experience that we came here for business, but also, this opportunity only comes once.
REPORTER: Keith, can you talk a little bit about coming back from the cramping issues that you had last season and just how you felt physically throughout this season.
SIMMONS: We, I felt a lot better this season, I haven't had any problems with the cramping. It just felt really good this season to be able to play at my full strength. Last year I was dealing with the cramps throughout the whole season. It was refreshing not to have to sit on the sidelines. That's why this is even a little more special for me because I didn't even know if I would be healthy enough to even play this year and to be healthy and to be back and be a hundred percent is and be here is really special.
REPORTER: And you've maintained that special diet and hydration plan that you got over the summer?
SIMMONS: Yes, I do some things with the trainer, Anthony, and just watching my hydration and watching my salt intake and potassium intake and some other things. It's not a hassle anymore. I'm used to it now, and just ready to play.
REPORTER: Both of you gentlemen, key or keys to your successful season this year.
THOMAS: One of our major keys is defense, but not only defense, but we play good field goal percentage defense, our rebound margin has been tops on our team and also transition, getting out in the open and transition. But when we don't have any transition baskets, our execution down the stretch has been good, different plays being drawn up.
SIMMONS: I think just staying in the moment. I think there was a time this year where we went through the rough patch where we lost four in a row. Things were really -- everyone was really frustrated and we looked at each other like, we're going to compete and play, but we need to enjoy every moment of this and really pay attention in practice and focus and stay in the moment and once we started to do that, we are able to build a little confidence even from practices and we were able to execute better at both ends of the floor and every possession is the most important possession.
REPORTER: Guys, if you could talk a little bit about, they are very experienced, been here four years in a row, you guys are making your first trip, does that make a difference and if so, how?
THOMAS: I feel like that that definitely makes a big difference that they've been here. The experience is always key. But for us, two seniors, our leadership, we've been in big games, we've played in big games, so we just understand the ability to keep your composure in big stages like this and help our team get through this and I think we'll be all right.
SIMMONS: Like Torey said, experience is definitely something that they have on their side. It's a definite advantage for them. But we've developed a game plan and we're going to go out there and try and execute our game plan. We're really focusing ourselves in doing what we do best. Southern Illinois is a very good team and they are really experienced but we're going to concentrate on executing our game plan and playing the way Holy Cross plays.
REPORTER: Torey, you've been known for your defense, but as of late, you've been the top rebounder as one of the smallest players on the floor; explain.
THOMAS: We're boxing out very well, our big men have been in position to box the big men out, so I've been able to get over the top rebounds and chase the guards down, so I really credit the big men down low, and the guards, putting the body on them and I'm just taking the scrap and I'm very aggressive to the ball, if you have the ball in your hand, you're going to win the game. As many times we have the possession, is a better chance we can win the game.
REPORTER: You guys both have played a lot of minutes this year. Torey, I guess neither of you will likely come out of the game for more than a minute tomorrow. Do you have to caution against coming out too amped up on this big stage to avoid running out of gas by the end of the game against a team that's deeper than you?
THOMAS: I feel like we've been playing. I'm accustomed to playing 40 minutes a game for the past two seasons. The biggest thing is hopefully not getting injured. That's what happened to me last year against Bucknell, I got injured in the game. If I can avoid an injury, I don't feel like the minutes will be a factor. My body got accustomed to it, my workout regimen is structured to handle that. You don't know how you're going to feel until the game comes so I'll see how that is when the game tips off at 9:40.
REPORTER: Could both of you comment on Coach Willard?
SIMMONS: Coach Willard is a great Coach, he's been doing this for a long time, he's been at every level of college and the NBA. We've been trying to take a lot from his experience, he's been here with Holy Cross three times and with other teams so we try to look to him for guidance and I think he's done a really good job this week in preparing us for this situation and leading us with his experience and he's a great asset in this game because he's our leader and he's our coach and hopefully he can steer us in the right path.
THOMAS: I feel like Coach Willard is a great coach in this situation, you've got a chance to prepare, plenty of days to prepare for a team for one game and I feel like he's always got a great game plan to help us to a victory in that regard. He's going to help us play to our strengths and try to help us make them play to their weaknesses. So Coach Willard, there is no other coach I would want to play for my four years, it's been a great experience much me and Keith have been with him for four years, and we learned a lot, we learned a lot about our leadership qualities and he drove us to be better leaders and better people.
REPORTER: A really big key this year has been Tim Clifford and the way that he's improved his game and been able to really plug up the middle. You guys have seen him mature and seen his game mature. What can you say about him and his contribution to the team this year?
SIMMONS: Tim has been huge for us this year. To be a good team, you need to have different looks, you need to have an inside/outside game. Tim's play down the stretch has been incredible. He had six blocks in the first half of our championship game. And like you say, he's been plugging up the middle. He's been a force on the boards, block shots, down on the post on offense, and his play really opens up our play, for him to be playing well in the middle allows the guards to get some open looks on the outside, so his play is tremendous and we've seen him mature and Tim's been playing really well and I'm really happy for him and he's going to be a really good player.
REPORTER:For Holy Cross to get a win, what will be a key or keys?
THOMAS: Got to be able to handle Southern Illinois's pressure, staying composed and making plays. I think it's going to be a defensive slugfest, but whoever executes the best is going to win the game.
SIMMONS: Keeping them off the offensive glass and having the transition work for every basket and keeping them to one shot.
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REPORTER: Keith, what have you learned about your opponent?
SIMMONS: We watch a lot of film of them and we just continue to learn how good of a defensive team they are and how tough they are on the defensive end. And Coach has been telling us that they're probably the most physical team that we're going to play all year, even with the schedule we've played, they play physical for 40 minutes and they play hard for 40 minutes.
REPORTER: A lot of talk about both teams being very good defensively. Can you compare their defense to yours and kind of contrast what do you do the same, what do you do different?
THOMAS: Well, our defense is very similar, they try to keep everybody out of the middle. They give great weak side help. They only allow 56 points a game, we allow 57. So they play with a great deal of emotion and passion on the defensive end as we do and it's going to be a battle.
SIMMONS: Well, we switch up defenses a little bit, we switch from a man to a zone, they're primarily a man team. Like Torey said, I think the principles are the same, to keep people out of the middle and to give a lot of help defensively.
REPORTER: To both of these gentlemen, how does this feel to make it to the NCAA for the first time?
SIMMONS: It feels really good. We're just trying to enjoy the experience and trying to prepare ourselves to compete tomorrow, but we're enjoying this and it's our first trip, it's our last year as seniors so we're trying to enjoy the process of this.
THOMAS: Just going on what Keith said, we've been here for four years together, we're the only two seniors here, so it's a special moment, special feeling, so hopefully it will be a special tournament for us.
REPORTER: How much did your early season, 11 games in a row, prepare you for this, and games at Syracuse and Duke and other places, how much did that prepare you for this?
THOMAS: It prepared, I think, one hundred percent for a game of this magnitude, Southern Illinois is a very physical team with the likes of Providence, Syracuse and Duke that we played early in the season. It keeps our mentality, because we have to play teams with high majors, the mentality for us is to be able to stay in the game and play tough defense and try to execute from the offensive end so those games helped a hundred percent.
SIMMONS: I think it gives us a little bit of experience going into this game to have played teams that are really tough and teams that are in the tournament, we've played some tournament teams. It gives us some experience and we were really just lucky to have the schedule that we did to prepare us for this time of the year.
REPORTER: Torey, what has Coach Willard told you about the whole NCAA experience, and have you talked to any of your former teammates who have been here before?
THOMAS: Well, a funny joke, when we were coming over here we had about three police escorts and I was like, Coach, we've got escorts, he said, if you would have made it to the tournament a couple more times, you would have known that. So he jokes, so really relishing the opportunity to be here, he's not telling me any logistics or anything, he's saying go out there, be yourself, have fun out there and that's exactly what he's preaching. He's giving us the experience that we came here for business, but also, this opportunity only comes once.
REPORTER: Keith, can you talk a little bit about coming back from the cramping issues that you had last season and just how you felt physically throughout this season.
SIMMONS: We, I felt a lot better this season, I haven't had any problems with the cramping. It just felt really good this season to be able to play at my full strength. Last year I was dealing with the cramps throughout the whole season. It was refreshing not to have to sit on the sidelines. That's why this is even a little more special for me because I didn't even know if I would be healthy enough to even play this year and to be healthy and to be back and be a hundred percent is and be here is really special.
REPORTER: And you've maintained that special diet and hydration plan that you got over the summer?
SIMMONS: Yes, I do some things with the trainer, Anthony, and just watching my hydration and watching my salt intake and potassium intake and some other things. It's not a hassle anymore. I'm used to it now, and just ready to play.
REPORTER: Both of you gentlemen, key or keys to your successful season this year.
THOMAS: One of our major keys is defense, but not only defense, but we play good field goal percentage defense, our rebound margin has been tops on our team and also transition, getting out in the open and transition. But when we don't have any transition baskets, our execution down the stretch has been good, different plays being drawn up.
SIMMONS: I think just staying in the moment. I think there was a time this year where we went through the rough patch where we lost four in a row. Things were really -- everyone was really frustrated and we looked at each other like, we're going to compete and play, but we need to enjoy every moment of this and really pay attention in practice and focus and stay in the moment and once we started to do that, we are able to build a little confidence even from practices and we were able to execute better at both ends of the floor and every possession is the most important possession.
REPORTER: Guys, if you could talk a little bit about, they are very experienced, been here four years in a row, you guys are making your first trip, does that make a difference and if so, how?
THOMAS: I feel like that that definitely makes a big difference that they've been here. The experience is always key. But for us, two seniors, our leadership, we've been in big games, we've played in big games, so we just understand the ability to keep your composure in big stages like this and help our team get through this and I think we'll be all right.
SIMMONS: Like Torey said, experience is definitely something that they have on their side. It's a definite advantage for them. But we've developed a game plan and we're going to go out there and try and execute our game plan. We're really focusing ourselves in doing what we do best. Southern Illinois is a very good team and they are really experienced but we're going to concentrate on executing our game plan and playing the way Holy Cross plays.
REPORTER: Torey, you've been known for your defense, but as of late, you've been the top rebounder as one of the smallest players on the floor; explain.
THOMAS: We're boxing out very well, our big men have been in position to box the big men out, so I've been able to get over the top rebounds and chase the guards down, so I really credit the big men down low, and the guards, putting the body on them and I'm just taking the scrap and I'm very aggressive to the ball, if you have the ball in your hand, you're going to win the game. As many times we have the possession, is a better chance we can win the game.
REPORTER: You guys both have played a lot of minutes this year. Torey, I guess neither of you will likely come out of the game for more than a minute tomorrow. Do you have to caution against coming out too amped up on this big stage to avoid running out of gas by the end of the game against a team that's deeper than you?
THOMAS: I feel like we've been playing. I'm accustomed to playing 40 minutes a game for the past two seasons. The biggest thing is hopefully not getting injured. That's what happened to me last year against Bucknell, I got injured in the game. If I can avoid an injury, I don't feel like the minutes will be a factor. My body got accustomed to it, my workout regimen is structured to handle that. You don't know how you're going to feel until the game comes so I'll see how that is when the game tips off at 9:40.
REPORTER: Could both of you comment on Coach Willard?
SIMMONS: Coach Willard is a great Coach, he's been doing this for a long time, he's been at every level of college and the NBA. We've been trying to take a lot from his experience, he's been here with Holy Cross three times and with other teams so we try to look to him for guidance and I think he's done a really good job this week in preparing us for this situation and leading us with his experience and he's a great asset in this game because he's our leader and he's our coach and hopefully he can steer us in the right path.
THOMAS: I feel like Coach Willard is a great coach in this situation, you've got a chance to prepare, plenty of days to prepare for a team for one game and I feel like he's always got a great game plan to help us to a victory in that regard. He's going to help us play to our strengths and try to help us make them play to their weaknesses. So Coach Willard, there is no other coach I would want to play for my four years, it's been a great experience much me and Keith have been with him for four years, and we learned a lot, we learned a lot about our leadership qualities and he drove us to be better leaders and better people.
REPORTER: A really big key this year has been Tim Clifford and the way that he's improved his game and been able to really plug up the middle. You guys have seen him mature and seen his game mature. What can you say about him and his contribution to the team this year?
SIMMONS: Tim has been huge for us this year. To be a good team, you need to have different looks, you need to have an inside/outside game. Tim's play down the stretch has been incredible. He had six blocks in the first half of our championship game. And like you say, he's been plugging up the middle. He's been a force on the boards, block shots, down on the post on offense, and his play really opens up our play, for him to be playing well in the middle allows the guards to get some open looks on the outside, so his play is tremendous and we've seen him mature and Tim's been playing really well and I'm really happy for him and he's going to be a really good player.
REPORTER:For Holy Cross to get a win, what will be a key or keys?
THOMAS: Got to be able to handle Southern Illinois's pressure, staying composed and making plays. I think it's going to be a defensive slugfest, but whoever executes the best is going to win the game.
SIMMONS: Keeping them off the offensive glass and having the transition work for every basket and keeping them to one shot.
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Southern Illinois just wrapped up its press conferences here at Nationwide Arena
Tech problems prevent us posting the players portion. We should have a text transcript a little later though. Meanwhile, hear SIU coach Chris Lowery's thoughts on his team, Holy Cross and the game by clicking here.
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Tech problems prevent us posting the players portion. We should have a text transcript a little later though. Meanwhile, hear SIU coach Chris Lowery's thoughts on his team, Holy Cross and the game by clicking here.
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Holy Cross has had its share of travel fun this season -- the train ride to Annapolis stands out as perhaps their most adventurous itinerary -- but you'd have figured traveling to the NCAA Tournament would be a breeze.
Figure again. Instead of a direct flight to Columbus, the Crusaders were forced to fly from Providence to Philadelphia, where they had a two-hour layover before catching another plane to Columbus.
The Crusaders left campus after practicing Wednesday and arrived at their hotel around 10 p.m. last night.
Not sure what brought about the round-about travel plans. A quick check on Expedia showed non-stops from Logan for a cheaper fare than what was available from Providence.
Today's schedule included a team breakfast with films, a late afternoon practice at Columbus State, then their press conference and public workout here at Nationwide Arena, followed by a team dinner tonight.
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Figure again. Instead of a direct flight to Columbus, the Crusaders were forced to fly from Providence to Philadelphia, where they had a two-hour layover before catching another plane to Columbus.
The Crusaders left campus after practicing Wednesday and arrived at their hotel around 10 p.m. last night.
Not sure what brought about the round-about travel plans. A quick check on Expedia showed non-stops from Logan for a cheaper fare than what was available from Providence.
Today's schedule included a team breakfast with films, a late afternoon practice at Columbus State, then their press conference and public workout here at Nationwide Arena, followed by a team dinner tonight.
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A busy day of public workouts and press conferences is underway in Columbus Ohio's Nationwide Arena, where Holy Cross will take on Southern Illinois Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
All eight teams competing at the site take their turns meeting the media and getting in a quick shootaround on the Nationwide Arena floor.
Albany was first up, the Danes arriving at the arena with three motorcycle cops escorting their bus through the non-existent Columbus traffic.
Obviously today's weather -- it was raining when we hit the road in Zanesville this morning and snowing by the time we made Columbus around 10:30 a.m. -- has a factor in the lack of pedestrian traffic, at least in the parts of the downtown we drove through to reach the Arena District. But weather aside, this might be the slowest-paced city we've been in since we quit making the trek to Hamilton.
Columbua folks, it appears, are the ultimate Dilbert characters, cocooned in their cubicles downtown near the capital and out here near the Nationwide Insurance headquarters.
Albany led off the press conference lineup. They go student-athletes, then the coach, during these pre-tournament affairs. After Danes coach Will Brown wrapped up his comments, Albany was first to take the floor for the public practices.
These are the sessions that are open to the media and general public. For the most part, they tend to be more entertainment than preparation. Serious work is done at closed practices held in other gyms in town. These public sessions give the players a chance to shoot under the lights a little, but for a lot of teams, especially the major conference schools, they tend to become dunking exhibitions.
Southern Illinois will take the podium at 4:30, with its shootaround set for 5:10 p.m. Illinois will follow, then Holy Cross will end the day's festivities with a 6 p.m. press conference and a 6:40 to 7:20 slot for its public workout.
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All eight teams competing at the site take their turns meeting the media and getting in a quick shootaround on the Nationwide Arena floor.
Albany was first up, the Danes arriving at the arena with three motorcycle cops escorting their bus through the non-existent Columbus traffic.
Obviously today's weather -- it was raining when we hit the road in Zanesville this morning and snowing by the time we made Columbus around 10:30 a.m. -- has a factor in the lack of pedestrian traffic, at least in the parts of the downtown we drove through to reach the Arena District. But weather aside, this might be the slowest-paced city we've been in since we quit making the trek to Hamilton.
Columbua folks, it appears, are the ultimate Dilbert characters, cocooned in their cubicles downtown near the capital and out here near the Nationwide Insurance headquarters.
Albany led off the press conference lineup. They go student-athletes, then the coach, during these pre-tournament affairs. After Danes coach Will Brown wrapped up his comments, Albany was first to take the floor for the public practices.
These are the sessions that are open to the media and general public. For the most part, they tend to be more entertainment than preparation. Serious work is done at closed practices held in other gyms in town. These public sessions give the players a chance to shoot under the lights a little, but for a lot of teams, especially the major conference schools, they tend to become dunking exhibitions.
Southern Illinois will take the podium at 4:30, with its shootaround set for 5:10 p.m. Illinois will follow, then Holy Cross will end the day's festivities with a 6 p.m. press conference and a 6:40 to 7:20 slot for its public workout.
Labels: HC
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Still time to enter the 2007 Hoop Time Bracket Challenge. The deadline for making your picks is noon.
To register, go to http://fantasy.sportsnet.ca/sportsnet-hoops07. After you sign up, find the "groups" page and select Hoop Time Bracket Challenge from the menu. The password to join the group is: patriotleague.
As usual, scoring will include base points for all correct picks, plus upset bonus points. You'll find all the rules on the site.
We will try to come up with some sort of prize for our group winner, plus all entrants also are entered in sportsnet.ca's Bracket Madness contest, which offers a chance to win an Xbox 360, iPod Shuffle or Sportsnet Prize Pack.
Once registered, you can begin making your picks. Picks can be made, or changed, through noon Thursday.
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To register, go to http://fantasy.sportsnet.ca/sportsnet-hoops07. After you sign up, find the "groups" page and select Hoop Time Bracket Challenge from the menu. The password to join the group is: patriotleague.
As usual, scoring will include base points for all correct picks, plus upset bonus points. You'll find all the rules on the site.
We will try to come up with some sort of prize for our group winner, plus all entrants also are entered in sportsnet.ca's Bracket Madness contest, which offers a chance to win an Xbox 360, iPod Shuffle or Sportsnet Prize Pack.
Once registered, you can begin making your picks. Picks can be made, or changed, through noon Thursday.
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Billy Wagner of the Annapolis Capital reports Navy point guard Corey Johnson has left the team, with plans to join the Midshipmen's football team his senior season.
A junior, Johnson averaged 9.5 ppg in an injury plagued sophomore season. His numbers were down this year (5.8 points per game), but Johnson started all 30 games and only Greg Sprink played more minutes.
A two-time all-state pick as an Indiana high schooler, Johnson reportedly turned down football offers from Big Ten schools to pursue hoops at the Naval Academy. He is expected to work at defensive back when Navy begins its spring drills later this month.
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A junior, Johnson averaged 9.5 ppg in an injury plagued sophomore season. His numbers were down this year (5.8 points per game), but Johnson started all 30 games and only Greg Sprink played more minutes.
A two-time all-state pick as an Indiana high schooler, Johnson reportedly turned down football offers from Big Ten schools to pursue hoops at the Naval Academy. He is expected to work at defensive back when Navy begins its spring drills later this month.
Labels: Navy
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We rolled into the parking lot of the Super 8 off exit 152 of Interstate 70 in a driving rainstorm, arriving around 2 a.m., thrilled to find a cheap bed with wireless Internet.
It's about an hour from here to Columbus, where Holy Cross will be the last of the eight teams to take the podium for the afternoon press conferences. The Crusaders are on at 6:30 p.m.
We'll start updating from Nationwide Arena later this morning, with notes, mood and color. Southern Illinois will meet the media around 4. We will have a complete report, with Salukis press conference audio, shortly after.
In the meantime, here are a few links to help you kill time while you countdown to today's tip-offs:
NCAA Pants Party: Southern Illinois-Holy Cross (Deadspin)
Salukis get right to business in Columbus (The Southern)
It's time to put an end to this fruitless crusade (Boston Globe)
NCAA Davids gain on Goliath (Journal Gazxette)
Southern Man (Beacon News)
HC needs a whole (Telegram & Gazette)
When two won't do (Wichita Eagle)
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It's about an hour from here to Columbus, where Holy Cross will be the last of the eight teams to take the podium for the afternoon press conferences. The Crusaders are on at 6:30 p.m.
We'll start updating from Nationwide Arena later this morning, with notes, mood and color. Southern Illinois will meet the media around 4. We will have a complete report, with Salukis press conference audio, shortly after.
In the meantime, here are a few links to help you kill time while you countdown to today's tip-offs:
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Part two of our scouting report on Southern Illinois looks at the Saluki's bench and a little on the style SIU likes to play.
Southern Illinois definitely has an edge in numbers off the bench. The Salukis go 10 deep, with five guys making contributions from the pine.
How much an advantage that is Friday night remains to be seen. If Holy Cross stays out of foul trouble, it should not be too big a factor in round one. Should HC advance and have to play again Sunday, their short, seven (and a half) man rotation could result in some weary legs late in the game. In round one, coming off a week's rest, that should not be too much of a factor.
Keep in mind, it is not like Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas are not used to playing a lot of minutes by now.
SIU does not get a lot of scoring from its bench, but the way it plays defense, it does not need extra scoring. The three guards and two big men who see time off the bench give Salukis coach Chris Lowery the flexibility to give the five starters a blow here and there to keep them fresh.
The first guard off the bench is 6-3 redshirt sophomore Wesley Clemmons. Clemmons plays 16.2 minutes per game, averaging 3.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He is capable of scoring more, as evidenced by the 12 point night he had against Western Kentucky and the 11 he scored against Saint Mary's, a game in which he was 3 for 4 from the arc.
Clemmons is not afraid to shoot the three, though he connected on only 28.9 percent of his shots outside the arc.
“He’s a fighter, and he’ll get down there and mix it up with those guys. He’s not afraid to get his nose knocked off,” Lowery
Tony Boyl;e, a 6-8, 235-pound redshirt sophomore if the first big man off the bench. Boyle is known as a tough defender.
"He is one of our tough guys that gets the rebounds, the fouls and all the dirty work," Clemmons said.
Boyle plays 11.4 minutes per game, averaging 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.
He is also prone to foul trouble. Boye played in every game this season, picking up 71 personals in 375 minutes of action. That is better then 5 per 40 minutes.
Jamaal Foster is a 6-10 redshirt junior who is the other big man off the bench. Foster is not much of a scoring threat. In 161 minutes, he has taken only 12 shots (making 6).
Foster played AAU ball with starters Jamaal Tatum and Randal Falkeron the Saint Luis Eagles team that won the July 2002 Nike Supershowcase in Orlando
Tyrone Green and Joshua Bone are two other backcourt types who see regular playing time.
Green is a left-handed 6-3 junior juco transfer who can play the point When Tatum had to sit out the first regular season game as part of his punishment for a DUI arrest, Green got the start. Best known as a defensive specialist, Green averages 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game.
Bone is a highly touted freshman who sat out nine games this season after breaking a bone in his right foot. Since coming back, he has had one turnover through 177 minutes. Bone was nearly redshirted after the injury, but started to come on in practice in December. Although he has not been a big scorer, Bone is not afraid to shoot the three, as evidenced by his 8 for 29 showing at the arc, which accounts for more than half his 15 made shots and more than 50 percent of Bone's 45 attempts.
How they play: Here is a quick scouting report on the Salukis' style, excerpted from a Kieran Darcy, ESPN story reprinted in the Saluki's game notes:
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Southern Illinois definitely has an edge in numbers off the bench. The Salukis go 10 deep, with five guys making contributions from the pine.
How much an advantage that is Friday night remains to be seen. If Holy Cross stays out of foul trouble, it should not be too big a factor in round one. Should HC advance and have to play again Sunday, their short, seven (and a half) man rotation could result in some weary legs late in the game. In round one, coming off a week's rest, that should not be too much of a factor.
Keep in mind, it is not like Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas are not used to playing a lot of minutes by now.
SIU does not get a lot of scoring from its bench, but the way it plays defense, it does not need extra scoring. The three guards and two big men who see time off the bench give Salukis coach Chris Lowery the flexibility to give the five starters a blow here and there to keep them fresh.
The first guard off the bench is 6-3 redshirt sophomore Wesley Clemmons. Clemmons plays 16.2 minutes per game, averaging 3.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He is capable of scoring more, as evidenced by the 12 point night he had against Western Kentucky and the 11 he scored against Saint Mary's, a game in which he was 3 for 4 from the arc.
Clemmons is not afraid to shoot the three, though he connected on only 28.9 percent of his shots outside the arc.
“He’s a fighter, and he’ll get down there and mix it up with those guys. He’s not afraid to get his nose knocked off,” Lowery
Tony Boyl;e, a 6-8, 235-pound redshirt sophomore if the first big man off the bench. Boyle is known as a tough defender.
"He is one of our tough guys that gets the rebounds, the fouls and all the dirty work," Clemmons said.
Boyle plays 11.4 minutes per game, averaging 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.
He is also prone to foul trouble. Boye played in every game this season, picking up 71 personals in 375 minutes of action. That is better then 5 per 40 minutes.
Jamaal Foster is a 6-10 redshirt junior who is the other big man off the bench. Foster is not much of a scoring threat. In 161 minutes, he has taken only 12 shots (making 6).
Foster played AAU ball with starters Jamaal Tatum and Randal Falkeron the Saint Luis Eagles team that won the July 2002 Nike Supershowcase in Orlando
Tyrone Green and Joshua Bone are two other backcourt types who see regular playing time.
Green is a left-handed 6-3 junior juco transfer who can play the point When Tatum had to sit out the first regular season game as part of his punishment for a DUI arrest, Green got the start. Best known as a defensive specialist, Green averages 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game.
Bone is a highly touted freshman who sat out nine games this season after breaking a bone in his right foot. Since coming back, he has had one turnover through 177 minutes. Bone was nearly redshirted after the injury, but started to come on in practice in December. Although he has not been a big scorer, Bone is not afraid to shoot the three, as evidenced by his 8 for 29 showing at the arc, which accounts for more than half his 15 made shots and more than 50 percent of Bone's 45 attempts.
How they play: Here is a quick scouting report on the Salukis' style, excerpted from a Kieran Darcy, ESPN story reprinted in the Saluki's game notes:
"“Disrupt” is the perfect word to describe what Southern Illinois does to teams defensively. The Salukis don’t apply a full-court team press, but Lowery has his point guard, Bryan Mullins, pick up the opposing team’s point guard and defend him the full length of the floor. That can really wear a point guard down and make it difficult for a team to get into its offense. And once a team manages to get into its half-court offense against SIU, it’s under constant pressure. Each Salukis defender gets right up in his man’s grill when he has the ball. Virtually every pass is contested, let alone every shot. It’s rare to see a team get a clean, uncontested shot against Southern Illinois.Leftovers: Tatum got his hair cut and dreadlocks done with roommate Falker in April, 2004. Neither have cut it since . . . only three opposing players have scored 20 or more points against the Salukis this season . . . Southern Illinois shoots 69.3 percent from the free throw line for the season, but the Salukis are better during crunch time, making 71.4 percent in the last two minutes of regulation . . . the Salukis are 4-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament games . . . SIU has now strung together six straight 20-win seasons . . . All five starters and the top eight in Lowery's rotation are the same guys who filled those roles on last year's SIU team, which lost in the first round.
And on the offensive end, Lowery’s Salukis are extremely disciplined as well. You’ll rarely see them take a quick or forced shot. They’ll pass the ball around the perimeter looking for an open jumper or for their big men inside, using the majority of the 35-second shot clock in the process. That wears teams down too, having to play defense for that long."
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A quick survey of the best of the rest of the Web on Holy Cross-Southern Illinois and other items of interest.
Apparently, in addition to the usual bracket-based contests, there are folks who draft fantasy teams for the NCAA Tournament. ProFantasySports.com lists Holy Cross guards Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas, along with Southern Illinois' Jamaal Tatum in its fantasy draft guide to guards in the tournament. They also list the Salukis' Randal Falker in their look at tournament forwards,claiming "Falker should be able to shut down the paint against Holy Cross." Maybe. Or maybe these folks will end up looking silly for failing to include Tim Clifford on their list of centers. If Clifford can stay out of foul trouble, he will be an awful tough matchup for the Salukis.
Elsewhere:
Simmons gets shot to dance (Times Herald-Record)
SIU Salukis: Building Blocks (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
McCarthy makes it to the dance (Sun Chronicle)
Mids not thrilled with exclusions, seedings (A good Kyle Whelliston piece on a bunch of ABC TV Web sites)
Torey Thomas helps Holy Cross into NCAA Tournament (Stamford Advocate)
Thomas the 'mayor' of Holy Cross (Journal News)
A healthy Doherty boosts HC chances (Telegram & Gazette)
Clifford a center of attention (Boston Herald)
Meet Mr. Falker (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Crush your bracket: West Region (Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls HC his Cinderella)
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Apparently, in addition to the usual bracket-based contests, there are folks who draft fantasy teams for the NCAA Tournament. ProFantasySports.com lists Holy Cross guards Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas, along with Southern Illinois' Jamaal Tatum in its fantasy draft guide to guards in the tournament. They also list the Salukis' Randal Falker in their look at tournament forwards,claiming "Falker should be able to shut down the paint against Holy Cross." Maybe. Or maybe these folks will end up looking silly for failing to include Tim Clifford on their list of centers. If Clifford can stay out of foul trouble, he will be an awful tough matchup for the Salukis.
Elsewhere:
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No, this year's team won't play again, but you can still relive the glory of the historic win over Kansas this afternoon at 5:30 on ESPN Classic.
It is amazing what an obsession that game has become for the Jayhawk Nation. Chris McNaughton's jump hook game-winner haunts their memories the way Joe Carter's dinger of Mitch Williams still evokes real pain in South Philly. Just look at the number of Kansas stories on Google News that reference the Bison.
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It is amazing what an obsession that game has become for the Jayhawk Nation. Chris McNaughton's jump hook game-winner haunts their memories the way Joe Carter's dinger of Mitch Williams still evokes real pain in South Philly. Just look at the number of Kansas stories on Google News that reference the Bison.
Labels: BU
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
A quick look at the Southern Illinois starting five (includes bonus links)
When Holy Cross looks at film of Southern Illinois, they might feel a little like they are looking in a mirror.
The Salukis, the top-ranked team in the Mid-Major Top 25, are a defense-first kind of team with a pair of top-notch guards, a capable big man and a roster of quality role players. Just like Holy Cross, Southern Illinois is ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense. Matter of fact, the Salukis' 56.5 points against per game rank even higher (No. 3) that Holy Cross, which is No. 9 on that list (57.4 ppg).
Also like the Crusaders, Southern Illinois' roster features a pair of first team all-league picks, one of whom was the Missouri Valley's player of the year, the other earning honors as the MVC's top defender.
When you break down the Holy Cross roster, the first guy you talk about is Keith Simmons. His counterpart for the Salukis is 6-2 guard Jamaal Tatum, the MVC player of the year. Tatum, who served a three-game suspension at the beginning of the season related to an off-season DUI arrest, averages 15 points per game, tops on the team. Tatum, a 44.3 percent shooter) leads Southern Illinois in three-pointers with 64 (on 154 tries - 41.6 percent). A little under half of his shots (154 of 352 come from the arc).
Tatum's player of the year award came in close balloting, with two other players finishing within 5 points in the voting. Third in that vote was his own teammate, Randall Falker, a 6-7 junior who was named the defensive player of the year thanks in no small part to his MVC-leading 70 blocked shots. Falker's 2.1 blocks per game ranks No. 39 nationally. By comparison, HC center Tim Clifford ranks No. 52 with 1.9 per game (52 total blocks). Falker's game is more than just blocking shots, he averages 12.5 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game. He has posted seven double-doubles this season and shoots 60.1 percent from the field, all his shots coming inside the arc.
The third double figures scorer for the Salukis is Matt Shaw, a 6-7 junior who averages 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. A 47-percent shooter, Shaw has step-out range, hitting 35.7 percent from the three-point arc. Stopping him might be the key to beating Southern Illinois. When Shaw scores 15 points, the Salukis are 9-0. Keeping him off the boards is also a key; SIU is 15-0 in games where Shaw grabbed six or more rebounds.
Both teams have outstanding point guards, but unlike HC's Torey Thomas, the Salukis' Bryan Mullins is not a big scorer. The 6-2 sophomore is more a dish-off kind of guy with an assists to turnover ratio of nearly 2 to 1 (120 a-62 to). Like Thomas, Mullins is a tough defender. Mullins led the MVC in steals while earning freshman of the year honors last season and a team-high 46 steals this season. Like Falker, Mullins was namded to the MVC's all-defensive team.
Also accorded that honor was SIU's fifth starter, 6-0 senior Tony Young. Young also plays a little offense, averaging 9.8 points per game while hitting 37.9 percent of his three-point tries. A fifth-year senior and a 1,000-point scorer, Young is the NCAA career leader in games played with 135. A win over Holy Cross would allow Young to tie Darren Brook's school record of 106 career wins. The Salukis are 105-30 in games Young has played.
One other thing the Salukis have in common with Holy Cross is strong academic performance. Though the Salukis 67 percent graduation rate lags HC's tournament best 86-percent, Tatum is an Academic All-America pick and Mullins and Shaw joined him on the MVC's All-Academic team.
We will look at the rest of the Salukis' rotation tomorrow.
DOG BITES: Missouri Valley coach of the year Chris Lowery, who is 34, is the youngest coach in the tournament again. He was also the baby of the bunch in 2005 and 2006 . . . SIU is one of 12 schools to qualify for the last six NCAA Tournaments . . . . the other 11 include the likes of Arizona, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Pittsburgh,
Texas and Wisconsin.. . . Five of those six trips to the dance have come as an at-large team . . . Southern Illinois has never played a Patriot League team . . . The Salukis have beaten Colgate and Navy each once in games in the 1980s, before the Patriot League was formed . . . Only one team has scored 70 points against SIU (W. Kentucky, in a game SIU won 75-70 at WKU) . . . The Salukis have held 7 Division I opponents under 50 points
SIU roster | SIU stats | SIU schedule/results
BONUS LINKS:
Highest Grad Rate in Tourney: Holy Cross (Comcast SportsNet)
Cinderella? Give a shout to the Salukis (AP)
Bracket breakdown (AP)
Lowery refuses to speak 'I' word (AP)
A word or two about the games (Peoria Journal-Star)
Moonlight engagement for men (Telegram & Gazette)
A look at Southern Illinois vs. Holy Cross (Telegram & Gazette)
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When Holy Cross looks at film of Southern Illinois, they might feel a little like they are looking in a mirror.
The Salukis, the top-ranked team in the Mid-Major Top 25, are a defense-first kind of team with a pair of top-notch guards, a capable big man and a roster of quality role players. Just like Holy Cross, Southern Illinois is ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense. Matter of fact, the Salukis' 56.5 points against per game rank even higher (No. 3) that Holy Cross, which is No. 9 on that list (57.4 ppg).
Also like the Crusaders, Southern Illinois' roster features a pair of first team all-league picks, one of whom was the Missouri Valley's player of the year, the other earning honors as the MVC's top defender.
When you break down the Holy Cross roster, the first guy you talk about is Keith Simmons. His counterpart for the Salukis is 6-2 guard Jamaal Tatum, the MVC player of the year. Tatum, who served a three-game suspension at the beginning of the season related to an off-season DUI arrest, averages 15 points per game, tops on the team. Tatum, a 44.3 percent shooter) leads Southern Illinois in three-pointers with 64 (on 154 tries - 41.6 percent). A little under half of his shots (154 of 352 come from the arc).
Tatum's player of the year award came in close balloting, with two other players finishing within 5 points in the voting. Third in that vote was his own teammate, Randall Falker, a 6-7 junior who was named the defensive player of the year thanks in no small part to his MVC-leading 70 blocked shots. Falker's 2.1 blocks per game ranks No. 39 nationally. By comparison, HC center Tim Clifford ranks No. 52 with 1.9 per game (52 total blocks). Falker's game is more than just blocking shots, he averages 12.5 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game. He has posted seven double-doubles this season and shoots 60.1 percent from the field, all his shots coming inside the arc.
The third double figures scorer for the Salukis is Matt Shaw, a 6-7 junior who averages 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. A 47-percent shooter, Shaw has step-out range, hitting 35.7 percent from the three-point arc. Stopping him might be the key to beating Southern Illinois. When Shaw scores 15 points, the Salukis are 9-0. Keeping him off the boards is also a key; SIU is 15-0 in games where Shaw grabbed six or more rebounds.
Both teams have outstanding point guards, but unlike HC's Torey Thomas, the Salukis' Bryan Mullins is not a big scorer. The 6-2 sophomore is more a dish-off kind of guy with an assists to turnover ratio of nearly 2 to 1 (120 a-62 to). Like Thomas, Mullins is a tough defender. Mullins led the MVC in steals while earning freshman of the year honors last season and a team-high 46 steals this season. Like Falker, Mullins was namded to the MVC's all-defensive team.
Also accorded that honor was SIU's fifth starter, 6-0 senior Tony Young. Young also plays a little offense, averaging 9.8 points per game while hitting 37.9 percent of his three-point tries. A fifth-year senior and a 1,000-point scorer, Young is the NCAA career leader in games played with 135. A win over Holy Cross would allow Young to tie Darren Brook's school record of 106 career wins. The Salukis are 105-30 in games Young has played.
One other thing the Salukis have in common with Holy Cross is strong academic performance. Though the Salukis 67 percent graduation rate lags HC's tournament best 86-percent, Tatum is an Academic All-America pick and Mullins and Shaw joined him on the MVC's All-Academic team.
We will look at the rest of the Salukis' rotation tomorrow.
DOG BITES: Missouri Valley coach of the year Chris Lowery, who is 34, is the youngest coach in the tournament again. He was also the baby of the bunch in 2005 and 2006 . . . SIU is one of 12 schools to qualify for the last six NCAA Tournaments . . . . the other 11 include the likes of Arizona, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Pittsburgh,
Texas and Wisconsin.. . . Five of those six trips to the dance have come as an at-large team . . . Southern Illinois has never played a Patriot League team . . . The Salukis have beaten Colgate and Navy each once in games in the 1980s, before the Patriot League was formed . . . Only one team has scored 70 points against SIU (W. Kentucky, in a game SIU won 75-70 at WKU) . . . The Salukis have held 7 Division I opponents under 50 points
SIU roster | SIU stats | SIU schedule/results
BONUS LINKS:
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Monday, March 12, 2007
A quick wrapup of some of the top coverage of Holy Cross's NCAA Tournament appearance:
HC-Southern Illinois stories:
Dance Party Jen Toland of the Telegram & Gazette reports on the Crusaders reaction to their seeding and takes a quick look at Southern Illinois
SIU gets highest seed ever, date with Holy Cross (Chicago Tribune)
Salukis get their highest seed ever as No. 4 meets No. 13 Holy Cross (Belleville News-Democrat)
No. 4 seeding a high-water mark for Southern Illinois (Daily Southtown)
SIU’s focus on first-round task (Daily Herald)
Salukis earn No. 4 seed in the West, play Holy Cross first (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Recognize the Southern Illinois Salukis (AOL sports)
SIU no longer secret at No. 4 seed (Kane County Chronicle)
Holy Cross to play S. Illinois in NCAA Tournament (AP)
West Region analysis (Mike Mike Towle of the Nashville Tennessean calls Ralph Willard the "Coach to watch" in the West
Stories on the tournament and mid-majors:
This season, it's a Valley of despair (Peoria Journal-Star on the Missouri Valley getting just two bids)
Power conferences dominate field (AP)
Debate, analysis as good as the games -- well, almost (Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe says Holy Cross is the official "NCAA Opponent From Hell")
Orange crushed: NCAA snub stuns Syracuse (Yes Virginia, there is a God, and he doesn't just watch over Holy Cross ... from the AP ... sorry, we can't resist rubbing this one in a little)
Mid-Majors won't get a chance to prove themselves (AOL sports)
NIT snubs Bison:
Bucknell fails to receive bid from NIT (Daily Item)
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HC-Southern Illinois stories:
Stories on the tournament and mid-majors:
NIT snubs Bison:
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Sunday, March 11, 2007
They say Columbus ie beautiful in the spring. Holy Cross is about to find out.
With the hometown Buckeyes down in Lexington as a Number One seed in the South, The Crusaders will try to paint Crimson Columbus purple. The Crusaders drew a number 13 seed and a Friday first round date with fourth-seeded Southern Illinois. The winner gets a Sunday meeting with the winner of the other West Regional pairing at Nationwide Arena in Columbus -- No. 5 Virginia Tech or No. 12 Illinois.
Southern Illinois (27-6) is ranked No. 15 in the latest coaches poll, after losing to Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference final.
Here are the full brackets in a convenient, printable pdf file.
In related news, Bucknell did not get an invite from the NIT, meaning the collegiate careers of Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown are over.
REMINDER: Test your prognostication skills against other Patriot League fans in the Hoop Time Bracket Challenge
To register, click on the link. After you sign up, find the "groups" page and select Hoop Time Bracket Challenge from the menu. The password to join the group is: patriotleague.
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With the hometown Buckeyes down in Lexington as a Number One seed in the South, The Crusaders will try to paint Crimson Columbus purple. The Crusaders drew a number 13 seed and a Friday first round date with fourth-seeded Southern Illinois. The winner gets a Sunday meeting with the winner of the other West Regional pairing at Nationwide Arena in Columbus -- No. 5 Virginia Tech or No. 12 Illinois.
Southern Illinois (27-6) is ranked No. 15 in the latest coaches poll, after losing to Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference final.
Here are the full brackets in a convenient, printable pdf file.
In related news, Bucknell did not get an invite from the NIT, meaning the collegiate careers of Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown are over.
REMINDER: Test your prognostication skills against other Patriot League fans in the Hoop Time Bracket Challenge
To register, click on the link. After you sign up, find the "groups" page and select Hoop Time Bracket Challenge from the menu. The password to join the group is: patriotleague.
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Saturday, March 10, 2007
(Originally posted Sat. at 7:05 p.m., latest update at 9:25 a.m. to add links and fix audio link)
Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas combined for 51 points to lead Holy Cross to the Patriot League championship.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
For Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons, their time has finally come. After three years watching their season end at the hands of the Bucknell Bison, twice in the league championship, Holy Cross' two seniors willed their team to a 74-66 win over their arch nemesis from Lewisburg and into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their storied careers.
When Simmons and Thomas graduate in May, they will leave behind a lengthy list of accomplishments -- a combined five all-league selections, a player of the year and a defensive player of the year and a host of entries in the Holy Cross record books. But what Crusader fans will remember the most will be the show the two seniors put on in their last game in the Hart Center.
Simmons poured in 23 points, nailing down the tournament MVP award in the process, and Thomas added 28 to carry the Crusaders back to the big dance for the first time since 2003.
"I'm so happy for our two seniors, who have been on the cusp of this for a few seasons," said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.
Thomas and Simmons were a combined 11 for 22 from the field, helping Holy Cross to shoot 22 for 41 (53.7 percent) for the game. It was their shooting from the free throw line, though, that made the difference in the end. After building a 19-point lead early in the second half, Holy Cross watched it disappear in the wake of a 26-7 Bucknell run that culminated when Bucknell's Darren Mastropaolo tied it at 53-53 on a putback with 5:51 to play.
Holy Cross managed just one field goal the rest of the way. Matter of fact, that bucket, a huge three by Thomas that rebuilt the Crusaders lead to 60-53, was the only field goal the Crusaders would score in the final 9:45. The rest of Holy Cross' points in the last five minutes came from the foul line, all at the hands of Simmons and Thomas, who went a combined 16 for 16 from the stripe to ice the win.
"We were fortunate, we had the right guys going to the line," said Willard. "It comes down to the seniors making plays."
There was more to the Crusaders good fortune than that, though. After Bucknell tied the game, Holy Cross came up with three straight stops -- the first coming when Bucknell's Abe Badmus missed a pair of free throws that might have changed the complexion of the final stretch by putting Bucknell in the lead. That defense, along with four Simmons free throws and Thomas' big three, gave the Crusaders enough cushion to carry them down the stretch from the foul line.
"When they made their run and tied it, we stayed in the moment," said Simmons. "We got rebounds, we got stops, we made free throws and we were able to push it back up."
The rebounding was a key. Bucknell finished with 13 offensive rebounds, leading to a 17-4 edge in second chance points. But in the last five minutes, Bucknell got just one offensive board, and the Bison were unable to convert that one.
That Thomas three was also huge.
"I knew Castleberry was going to go underneath the screen. Tim (Clifford) did a good job burying him. I just had to lock and load," Thomas said.
That screen was not Clifford's only big play. Although the 6-10 junior finished with just 8 points and 4 rebounds, his six blocked shots, all in the first half, were a key to Holy Cross establishing its big lead. WIth Chris McNaughton on the bench most of the final nine minutes of the first half after picking up two fouls, Bucknell seemed unable to get anything going offensively. Lacking Bucknell's force in the middle to keep them at home, Holy Cross' guards were able to get out and pressure Bucknell's shooters, knowing Clifford was there to erase any mistakes should they get beat off the dribble.
"It gets dark in there, You just can't see. (Clifford) is so big," Flannery said.
Bucknell had just two field goals in the final nine minutes of the first half while Holy Cross stretched a 5-point lead to a 35-22 halftime margin.
"One of the things that hurt us was Chris' second. We got down in the first half when Chris got his second and they were able to stretch it a little bit," said Flannery.
McNaughton scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, helping key Bucknell's rally. But when he picked up his fourth personal with 6:10 to play, it took some wind from Bucknell's sails. The Bison tied it while he was on the bench, but before Flannery could get him back on the floor, Holy Cross had used Simmons' four free throws to regain control. McNaughton played just 25 minutes before fouling out in the final 25 seconds.
John Griffin led Bucknell with 15 points, including four three-pointers. Brown finished with 11 and Castleberry had 10.
In the end, though, Holy Cross' pair of seniors was a hand that beat Bucknell's four double figures scorers.
Holy Cross will find out Sunday where it is headed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Bucknell now will have to wait and see if the NIT sends them an invite.
NOTES: The win closes out Holy Cross' home slate with a perfect 14-0 record in the Hart Center . . . HC has now won 18 straight in Hart . . . Thomas, who set a Holy Cross record for minutes played in a season during Sunday's semifinals win over American, added another 40 minutes to that mark in the final . . . Simmons played 39 minutes for HC . . . Holy Cross finished the game 23 of 26 from the foul line, Bucknell was 18 for 21 . . . Even though Bucknell reached the double bonus 2:40 before the Crusaders, HC ended up taking 25 free throws in the second half to 16 for the Bison . . . The loss snappeed a 14-game win streak for Bucknell . . . Joining Simmons on the All-Tournament team were Thomas, Clifford, Brown, McNaughton and Andre Ingram of American
Box score | Gameblog | Postgame audio (Willard, Simmons, Thomas; Flannery, Brown, Castleberry) | Daily Item | Sun-Gazette | Telegram & Gazette (gamer) | Telegram & Gazette (sidebar) | Boston Herald | The Sports Network
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Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas combined for 51 points to lead Holy Cross to the Patriot League championship.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
For Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons, their time has finally come. After three years watching their season end at the hands of the Bucknell Bison, twice in the league championship, Holy Cross' two seniors willed their team to a 74-66 win over their arch nemesis from Lewisburg and into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their storied careers.
When Simmons and Thomas graduate in May, they will leave behind a lengthy list of accomplishments -- a combined five all-league selections, a player of the year and a defensive player of the year and a host of entries in the Holy Cross record books. But what Crusader fans will remember the most will be the show the two seniors put on in their last game in the Hart Center.
Simmons poured in 23 points, nailing down the tournament MVP award in the process, and Thomas added 28 to carry the Crusaders back to the big dance for the first time since 2003.
"I'm so happy for our two seniors, who have been on the cusp of this for a few seasons," said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.
Thomas and Simmons were a combined 11 for 22 from the field, helping Holy Cross to shoot 22 for 41 (53.7 percent) for the game. It was their shooting from the free throw line, though, that made the difference in the end. After building a 19-point lead early in the second half, Holy Cross watched it disappear in the wake of a 26-7 Bucknell run that culminated when Bucknell's Darren Mastropaolo tied it at 53-53 on a putback with 5:51 to play.
Holy Cross managed just one field goal the rest of the way. Matter of fact, that bucket, a huge three by Thomas that rebuilt the Crusaders lead to 60-53, was the only field goal the Crusaders would score in the final 9:45. The rest of Holy Cross' points in the last five minutes came from the foul line, all at the hands of Simmons and Thomas, who went a combined 16 for 16 from the stripe to ice the win.
"We were fortunate, we had the right guys going to the line," said Willard. "It comes down to the seniors making plays."
There was more to the Crusaders good fortune than that, though. After Bucknell tied the game, Holy Cross came up with three straight stops -- the first coming when Bucknell's Abe Badmus missed a pair of free throws that might have changed the complexion of the final stretch by putting Bucknell in the lead. That defense, along with four Simmons free throws and Thomas' big three, gave the Crusaders enough cushion to carry them down the stretch from the foul line.
"When they made their run and tied it, we stayed in the moment," said Simmons. "We got rebounds, we got stops, we made free throws and we were able to push it back up."
The rebounding was a key. Bucknell finished with 13 offensive rebounds, leading to a 17-4 edge in second chance points. But in the last five minutes, Bucknell got just one offensive board, and the Bison were unable to convert that one.
That Thomas three was also huge.
"I knew Castleberry was going to go underneath the screen. Tim (Clifford) did a good job burying him. I just had to lock and load," Thomas said.
That screen was not Clifford's only big play. Although the 6-10 junior finished with just 8 points and 4 rebounds, his six blocked shots, all in the first half, were a key to Holy Cross establishing its big lead. WIth Chris McNaughton on the bench most of the final nine minutes of the first half after picking up two fouls, Bucknell seemed unable to get anything going offensively. Lacking Bucknell's force in the middle to keep them at home, Holy Cross' guards were able to get out and pressure Bucknell's shooters, knowing Clifford was there to erase any mistakes should they get beat off the dribble.
"It gets dark in there, You just can't see. (Clifford) is so big," Flannery said.
Bucknell had just two field goals in the final nine minutes of the first half while Holy Cross stretched a 5-point lead to a 35-22 halftime margin.
"One of the things that hurt us was Chris' second. We got down in the first half when Chris got his second and they were able to stretch it a little bit," said Flannery.
McNaughton scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, helping key Bucknell's rally. But when he picked up his fourth personal with 6:10 to play, it took some wind from Bucknell's sails. The Bison tied it while he was on the bench, but before Flannery could get him back on the floor, Holy Cross had used Simmons' four free throws to regain control. McNaughton played just 25 minutes before fouling out in the final 25 seconds.
John Griffin led Bucknell with 15 points, including four three-pointers. Brown finished with 11 and Castleberry had 10.
In the end, though, Holy Cross' pair of seniors was a hand that beat Bucknell's four double figures scorers.
Holy Cross will find out Sunday where it is headed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Bucknell now will have to wait and see if the NIT sends them an invite.
NOTES: The win closes out Holy Cross' home slate with a perfect 14-0 record in the Hart Center . . . HC has now won 18 straight in Hart . . . Thomas, who set a Holy Cross record for minutes played in a season during Sunday's semifinals win over American, added another 40 minutes to that mark in the final . . . Simmons played 39 minutes for HC . . . Holy Cross finished the game 23 of 26 from the foul line, Bucknell was 18 for 21 . . . Even though Bucknell reached the double bonus 2:40 before the Crusaders, HC ended up taking 25 free throws in the second half to 16 for the Bison . . . The loss snappeed a 14-game win streak for Bucknell . . . Joining Simmons on the All-Tournament team were Thomas, Clifford, Brown, McNaughton and Andre Ingram of American
Box score | Gameblog | Postgame audio (Willard, Simmons, Thomas; Flannery, Brown, Castleberry) | Daily Item | Sun-Gazette | Telegram & Gazette (gamer) | Telegram & Gazette (sidebar) | Boston Herald | The Sports Network
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Friday, March 09, 2007
Notes and observations from Holy Cross' 74-66 win over Bucknell in the Patriot League championship game.
35 minutes to tip off: Already the chants and cheers are roaring back and forth like distant artillery volleys in a prelude to the battle set to get underway here in a little over 30 minutes.
A Bucknell cheer goes up, followed by a chorus of boos from the Holy Cross fans, then they switch order.
In splitting the two schools' ticket allotments, they have gone so far as to run ropes between the Bucknell and Holy Cross sections in the lower bowl, not that they would have any effect if craziness were to ensue.
Bucknell folks set up shop outside of Hart, handing out orange and blue pom poms, printed signs and free hats to their orange clad faithful.
Inside, the HC folks ran a similar operation, handing out signs and placing purple pom poms on every seat in the two bleacher sections behind the baskets.
Curiously, the Bucknell band has been placed on the side, opposite the Bison bench instead of being given one of those end of court sections. A league official says everybody agreed to that arrangment, but a BU athletic department source said Bucknell was given no input on the matter.
27 minutes to tip: The Holy Cross team emerges to begin stretching and warming up, bring chants of "three-peat" and "NIT" from the Bucknell fans, who erupt moments later when their team takes the floor.
26 minutes to tip: It wouldn't be a TV game without fans in silly "please give me 15 minutes of fame" costumes, like the three HC fans wearing chicken suits under their purple T-shirts.
24 minutes to tip: TV games also mean signs. The best one seen so far, a Pat Flannery Meltdown Meter, complete with a picture of Flannery on his knees pleading for a call. O.K>, the idea is borrowed from Matt B., but it still is pretty clever.
18 minutes to tip: The officials have taken the floor. Tough to believe this is the best the league could find for the title game -- John Hughes (yes, the same John Hughes who gave Bucknell's Chris McNaughton a technical in the Navy game), Billy McCarthy and our old buddy Richie Giallella.
12 minutes to tip: The Holy Cross women's team is here, but they are not repaying the men's team with "in kind" support. If you watched the HC women win the league title on ESPNU Wednesday night, you might have seen a bunch of shortless guys painted purple with white C-R-U-S-A-D-E-R-S across their chests. The women's team is wearing purple T-shits that say "Dance with us" on the front, "The Cross 2007" across the back.
2 minutes to tip: That is two minutes assuming a timely conclusion to the ACC game on television before this one.
We no sooner type that than the PA announcer tells the crowd the tip will be delayed six minutes for TV.
Bucknell 9, HC 4 (15:53 first half): Simmons at the line for an and one after the TV timeout. He has all four of HC's points. John Griffin with 4 for BU on a four-point play, McNaughton with two and Castleberry a three.
During the timeout, the Crusaders mascot climbed a ladder with an HC sign, then took off his helmet -- usually a cardinal sin for mascots -- reveealing HC women's coach Bill Gibbons inside the suit.
HC 25, BU 18 (6:17 first half):Chris McNaughton on the bench for Bucknell with two fouls since around the 9 minute mark.
Keith Simmons showing why he was the league's Player of the YEar, with 10 points already. Torey Thomas right behind with 8.
Bucknell with an unusual look, playing Darren Mastropaolo, Donald Brown and Patrick Behand together. The idea appears to be to use Brown defensively against Simmons, sacrficing the offense of a third shooter on the perimeter.
HC 29, BU 18 (3:49 first) Pat Flannery rolls the dice and re-enters McNaughton at the 4:26 mark.
HC 35, BU 22 (Halftime): The first half has been all Crusaders, at least from about the 9 minute mark on. Not coincidentally that coincides with when McNaughton sat down with two fouls.
Without McNaughton inside to keep things honest, Bucknell's offense has struggled. Tim Clifford, who had just one foul in the first half, was dominant in the paint on defense with McNaughton out, blocking 6 shots.
Simmons is leading the HC offense, with 13 points on 5 for 8 shooting, 2 for 2 from the arc. No Bucknell player has more than 4 points
HC shot 57.7 percent (15 of 26) in the first half, while holding Bucknell to 7 field goals on 26 shots (26.9 percent).
HC 46, BU 30 (15:26 seoncd half): Tough to do much updating. We have no stats monitor and there have been no updated box scores distributed on press row except at halftime.
Torey Thomas with 5 second half points has joined Simmons in double figures. Thomas has 13 points. Simmons 14.
HC 46, BU 36 (12:43 second half):Turns out the HC women's team did show up with body paint after all. They pulled off those "dance" T-shorts to unveil matching black sports bras with "B-E-A-T B-U-C-K-N-E-LL" painted across their bellies.
Bucknell on a 9-0 run, doing it the best way given the amount they were behind -- 4 of the 9 coming at the foul line, with the clock stopped.
HC 48, BU 40 (10:51 to play): Tim Clifford ends a 13-0 Bucknell run with a little jump hook over Donald Brown at the 11:11 mark, ending a scoreless spell of over 5 minutes for the Crusaders.
The Bucknell run definitely has its fans back in the game, though they really did a respectable job of hanging in while HC was having its way. Both sides fans loud and proud all evening.
HC 51, BU 49 (7:37 second half): This place is rocking after a DOnald Brown dunk following a Justin Castleberry miss brings Bucknell within two. The Bison on a 22-5 run, including 7 unanswered after Simmons hit a three to stem the bleeding for HC. That is Simmons' only field goal thus far in the second half.
HC 60, BU 53 (3:06 second half):
Bucknell in the double bonus when Pat Doherty picks up his third personal with 6:55 to play. HC reached the double bonus at the 4:15.
McNaughton gets his fourth personal with 6:10 to play. He returns to the floor 2:01 later.
Bucknell managed to tie it at 53-53, but 4 Simmons free throws and a Torey Thomas three reestablished the HC lead.
HC , BU 4 ( Final):The refs turned it into a free throw shooting contest down the stretch, sending Holy Cross to the line 16 timesin the final 5 minutes, where they were perfect. HC managed only 1 field goal the final 9:44 of the game.
McNaughton fouled out with 24 seconds to go.
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35 minutes to tip off: Already the chants and cheers are roaring back and forth like distant artillery volleys in a prelude to the battle set to get underway here in a little over 30 minutes.
A Bucknell cheer goes up, followed by a chorus of boos from the Holy Cross fans, then they switch order.
In splitting the two schools' ticket allotments, they have gone so far as to run ropes between the Bucknell and Holy Cross sections in the lower bowl, not that they would have any effect if craziness were to ensue.
Bucknell folks set up shop outside of Hart, handing out orange and blue pom poms, printed signs and free hats to their orange clad faithful.
Inside, the HC folks ran a similar operation, handing out signs and placing purple pom poms on every seat in the two bleacher sections behind the baskets.
Curiously, the Bucknell band has been placed on the side, opposite the Bison bench instead of being given one of those end of court sections. A league official says everybody agreed to that arrangment, but a BU athletic department source said Bucknell was given no input on the matter.
27 minutes to tip: The Holy Cross team emerges to begin stretching and warming up, bring chants of "three-peat" and "NIT" from the Bucknell fans, who erupt moments later when their team takes the floor.
26 minutes to tip: It wouldn't be a TV game without fans in silly "please give me 15 minutes of fame" costumes, like the three HC fans wearing chicken suits under their purple T-shirts.
24 minutes to tip: TV games also mean signs. The best one seen so far, a Pat Flannery Meltdown Meter, complete with a picture of Flannery on his knees pleading for a call. O.K>, the idea is borrowed from Matt B., but it still is pretty clever.
18 minutes to tip: The officials have taken the floor. Tough to believe this is the best the league could find for the title game -- John Hughes (yes, the same John Hughes who gave Bucknell's Chris McNaughton a technical in the Navy game), Billy McCarthy and our old buddy Richie Giallella.
12 minutes to tip: The Holy Cross women's team is here, but they are not repaying the men's team with "in kind" support. If you watched the HC women win the league title on ESPNU Wednesday night, you might have seen a bunch of shortless guys painted purple with white C-R-U-S-A-D-E-R-S across their chests. The women's team is wearing purple T-shits that say "Dance with us" on the front, "The Cross 2007" across the back.
2 minutes to tip: That is two minutes assuming a timely conclusion to the ACC game on television before this one.
We no sooner type that than the PA announcer tells the crowd the tip will be delayed six minutes for TV.
Bucknell 9, HC 4 (15:53 first half): Simmons at the line for an and one after the TV timeout. He has all four of HC's points. John Griffin with 4 for BU on a four-point play, McNaughton with two and Castleberry a three.
During the timeout, the Crusaders mascot climbed a ladder with an HC sign, then took off his helmet -- usually a cardinal sin for mascots -- reveealing HC women's coach Bill Gibbons inside the suit.
HC 25, BU 18 (6:17 first half):Chris McNaughton on the bench for Bucknell with two fouls since around the 9 minute mark.
Keith Simmons showing why he was the league's Player of the YEar, with 10 points already. Torey Thomas right behind with 8.
Bucknell with an unusual look, playing Darren Mastropaolo, Donald Brown and Patrick Behand together. The idea appears to be to use Brown defensively against Simmons, sacrficing the offense of a third shooter on the perimeter.
HC 29, BU 18 (3:49 first) Pat Flannery rolls the dice and re-enters McNaughton at the 4:26 mark.
HC 35, BU 22 (Halftime): The first half has been all Crusaders, at least from about the 9 minute mark on. Not coincidentally that coincides with when McNaughton sat down with two fouls.
Without McNaughton inside to keep things honest, Bucknell's offense has struggled. Tim Clifford, who had just one foul in the first half, was dominant in the paint on defense with McNaughton out, blocking 6 shots.
Simmons is leading the HC offense, with 13 points on 5 for 8 shooting, 2 for 2 from the arc. No Bucknell player has more than 4 points
HC shot 57.7 percent (15 of 26) in the first half, while holding Bucknell to 7 field goals on 26 shots (26.9 percent).
HC 46, BU 30 (15:26 seoncd half): Tough to do much updating. We have no stats monitor and there have been no updated box scores distributed on press row except at halftime.
Torey Thomas with 5 second half points has joined Simmons in double figures. Thomas has 13 points. Simmons 14.
HC 46, BU 36 (12:43 second half):Turns out the HC women's team did show up with body paint after all. They pulled off those "dance" T-shorts to unveil matching black sports bras with "B-E-A-T B-U-C-K-N-E-LL" painted across their bellies.
Bucknell on a 9-0 run, doing it the best way given the amount they were behind -- 4 of the 9 coming at the foul line, with the clock stopped.
HC 48, BU 40 (10:51 to play): Tim Clifford ends a 13-0 Bucknell run with a little jump hook over Donald Brown at the 11:11 mark, ending a scoreless spell of over 5 minutes for the Crusaders.
The Bucknell run definitely has its fans back in the game, though they really did a respectable job of hanging in while HC was having its way. Both sides fans loud and proud all evening.
HC 51, BU 49 (7:37 second half): This place is rocking after a DOnald Brown dunk following a Justin Castleberry miss brings Bucknell within two. The Bison on a 22-5 run, including 7 unanswered after Simmons hit a three to stem the bleeding for HC. That is Simmons' only field goal thus far in the second half.
HC 60, BU 53 (3:06 second half):
Bucknell in the double bonus when Pat Doherty picks up his third personal with 6:55 to play. HC reached the double bonus at the 4:15.
McNaughton gets his fourth personal with 6:10 to play. He returns to the floor 2:01 later.
Bucknell managed to tie it at 53-53, but 4 Simmons free throws and a Torey Thomas three reestablished the HC lead.
HC , BU 4 ( Final):The refs turned it into a free throw shooting contest down the stretch, sending Holy Cross to the line 16 timesin the final 5 minutes, where they were perfect. HC managed only 1 field goal the final 9:44 of the game.
McNaughton fouled out with 24 seconds to go.
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Five seniors will bow out in a final between two teams they have built into fierce rivals.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross for all the marbles. What else is new?
It's like a broken record, which for those of you too young to remember vinyl, is a little like a CD that skips, stuck on the same note over and over and over again.
For those who prefer their pop culture references from the world of film, think Groundhog Day.
Like last season, and the season before that, the Bison and the Crusaders will meet on the Friday before Selection Sunday to decide who will represent the Patriot League in the Big Dance.
Only one thing is certain: somebody's streak is going to end. Holy Cross has won 17 straight games in the Hart Center. Bucknell has won 14 in a row and eight straight league tournament games.
For the five seniors on the rosters of the two teams, it is a fitting ending to an era that has made the Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry arguably the best in the league.
Whather or not it stays that way when these five seniors graduate, taking with them a combined collection of hardware that includes a player of the year, two preseason POY selections, two all-rookie picks, two defensive player of the years, three (and counting) all-tournament team picks and a combined nine all-league choices.
There have been a lot of very good groups of seniors to pass through the league. This year's bunch, led by these five guys -- Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas of Holy Cross, and Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown would rank up there with the best.
The past three years, they have been a part of a two-team league dominance that has been almost unprecedented in league history. In that stretch, Bucknell and Holy Cross are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league, 59-1 the last two seasons and 30-0 this season alone.
These seniors have, in many ways, been the vanguard of what many are expecting to become a better and better conference now that scholarships are being offered across the board. In fact, the Bucknell seniors are the school's first scholarship class.
These five seniors have also been a part of the only three postseason wins in league history.
By any measure shy of championships, Holy Cross' seniors have had extremely successful careers. In the past three years, they have only lost six games in Patriot League competition -- including a 6-2 mark thus far in league tournament action.
But without a win in this afternoon's final, Simmons and Thomas will graduate with a hollow feeling. Five of those six conference losses over the past thee seasons came against Bucknell. Two of those came in the conference finals.
It has been Bucknell that has stood between them and the dance.
If HC should lose, they are guaranteed a spot in the NIT by virtue of being the league's top seed. There is considerable speculation that Bucknell's name recognition would land them in the consolation ball should they lose in the final, but that is not guaranteed.
Much has changed since the two teams first met back in January in Worcester. There have been some big changes since the two met three weeks ago in Lewisburg, too.
The biggest change has been the return of Bucknell's Donald Brown, who missed seven games due to a broken bone in his shooting (right) hand. Brown was not in uniform when Bucknell handed HC its only league loss in Sojka Pavilion.
Since he returned, Brown has posted two straight 15-points, 9-rebounds games coming off the bench in relief of Darren Matsropaolo, who regained his starting job at the four while Brown was out.
With McNaughton and Mastropaolo, Bucknell dominated inside the last meeting. Brown should add to that edge.
It's worth mentioning Tim Clifford was in foul trouble in that game. Holy Cross needs the 6-10 junior to stay on the floor in the final.
Player of the Year, Keith Simmons, scored 15 for Holy Cross in that loss, but he was effectively shutdown in the second half by the defense of Bucknell's Abe Badmus.
After the game, both HC coach Ralph Willard and his point guard, Thomas, spoke of the need to let the 6-5 Simmons post up against the 6-0 Badmus in that matchup. It will be interesting to see if that is part of the gameplan this afternoon.
Having Brown back on the floor might allow Bucknell to stay with more of its matchup zone since he is quicker to get out on perimeter shooters than Mastropaolo.
None of that will surprise Holy Cross. They know what Bucknell will try to do, just like the Bison have a pretty good idea what the Crusaders' plans will be. This is the 12th time the seniors on these two teams have met since they started their college careers. There are no secrets.
Beyond that, any preview of this game becomes repetitive. Want to know what to expect, just look through the history of this rivalry over the past three seasons. It is all right here:
FLASHBACKS:
2007 Game 1: Box score | Game story | Preview
2007 Game 2: Box score | Game story | Preview
2005 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
2006 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
PREVIEW LINKS:
Bison-Crusaders by the numbers
HC ready for showdown (Telegram & Gazette)
Clifford key man today (Telegram & Gazette)
HC eyes new ened to familiar tale (Boston Herald)
Bucknell, Holy Cross meet in PL final (Daily Item)
Players from all over contribute to Bucknell's success (Daily Item)
PL's top teams victims of their own success (Daily Item)
Up for grabs: Bison, Crusaders duel again in league’s glamour game (Sun-Gazette)
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Bucknell vs. Holy Cross for all the marbles. What else is new?
It's like a broken record, which for those of you too young to remember vinyl, is a little like a CD that skips, stuck on the same note over and over and over again.
For those who prefer their pop culture references from the world of film, think Groundhog Day.
Like last season, and the season before that, the Bison and the Crusaders will meet on the Friday before Selection Sunday to decide who will represent the Patriot League in the Big Dance.
Only one thing is certain: somebody's streak is going to end. Holy Cross has won 17 straight games in the Hart Center. Bucknell has won 14 in a row and eight straight league tournament games.
For the five seniors on the rosters of the two teams, it is a fitting ending to an era that has made the Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry arguably the best in the league.
Whather or not it stays that way when these five seniors graduate, taking with them a combined collection of hardware that includes a player of the year, two preseason POY selections, two all-rookie picks, two defensive player of the years, three (and counting) all-tournament team picks and a combined nine all-league choices.
There have been a lot of very good groups of seniors to pass through the league. This year's bunch, led by these five guys -- Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas of Holy Cross, and Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown would rank up there with the best.
The past three years, they have been a part of a two-team league dominance that has been almost unprecedented in league history. In that stretch, Bucknell and Holy Cross are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league, 59-1 the last two seasons and 30-0 this season alone.
These seniors have, in many ways, been the vanguard of what many are expecting to become a better and better conference now that scholarships are being offered across the board. In fact, the Bucknell seniors are the school's first scholarship class.
These five seniors have also been a part of the only three postseason wins in league history.
By any measure shy of championships, Holy Cross' seniors have had extremely successful careers. In the past three years, they have only lost six games in Patriot League competition -- including a 6-2 mark thus far in league tournament action.
But without a win in this afternoon's final, Simmons and Thomas will graduate with a hollow feeling. Five of those six conference losses over the past thee seasons came against Bucknell. Two of those came in the conference finals.
It has been Bucknell that has stood between them and the dance.
If HC should lose, they are guaranteed a spot in the NIT by virtue of being the league's top seed. There is considerable speculation that Bucknell's name recognition would land them in the consolation ball should they lose in the final, but that is not guaranteed.
Much has changed since the two teams first met back in January in Worcester. There have been some big changes since the two met three weeks ago in Lewisburg, too.
The biggest change has been the return of Bucknell's Donald Brown, who missed seven games due to a broken bone in his shooting (right) hand. Brown was not in uniform when Bucknell handed HC its only league loss in Sojka Pavilion.
Since he returned, Brown has posted two straight 15-points, 9-rebounds games coming off the bench in relief of Darren Matsropaolo, who regained his starting job at the four while Brown was out.
With McNaughton and Mastropaolo, Bucknell dominated inside the last meeting. Brown should add to that edge.
It's worth mentioning Tim Clifford was in foul trouble in that game. Holy Cross needs the 6-10 junior to stay on the floor in the final.
Player of the Year, Keith Simmons, scored 15 for Holy Cross in that loss, but he was effectively shutdown in the second half by the defense of Bucknell's Abe Badmus.
After the game, both HC coach Ralph Willard and his point guard, Thomas, spoke of the need to let the 6-5 Simmons post up against the 6-0 Badmus in that matchup. It will be interesting to see if that is part of the gameplan this afternoon.
Having Brown back on the floor might allow Bucknell to stay with more of its matchup zone since he is quicker to get out on perimeter shooters than Mastropaolo.
None of that will surprise Holy Cross. They know what Bucknell will try to do, just like the Bison have a pretty good idea what the Crusaders' plans will be. This is the 12th time the seniors on these two teams have met since they started their college careers. There are no secrets.
Beyond that, any preview of this game becomes repetitive. Want to know what to expect, just look through the history of this rivalry over the past three seasons. It is all right here:
FLASHBACKS:
2007 Game 1: Box score | Game story | Preview
2007 Game 2: Box score | Game story | Preview
2005 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
2006 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
PREVIEW LINKS:
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Breaking down the Bucknell-Holy Cross matchup is as easy as 1 - 2 - 1,199.
0 -- Number of times, in the 16-year history of the league, a team seeded lower than No. 2 won the Patriot League championship
1 -- Number of teams who have ever won three Patriot League titles in a row (Holy Cross)
2 -- Consecutive championships for Bucknell heading into this game
3 -- Losses by the two teams combined to other league teams over the past three seasons (the two are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league in that span)
4 -- Total number of league titles won by HC, the most by any team in the league. This is also Bucknell's 4th appearance in the league championship game
5 -- Combined number of seniors on the two team's rosters
6 -- Number of Bucknell wins in the 10 meetings between the two in league tournament play
7 -- National ranking of Holy Cross' 57.1 points allowed per game scoring defense. BUcknell has allowed 57.2 ppg.
8 -- Number of Patriot League championship games HC has played, number of consecutive league tournament wins for Bucknell coming into this one, Regular season losses for both teams
9 -- All-time Bucknell wins against Holy Cross in the Hart Center, also number of Bucknell losses to Holy Cross in Hart all-time
10 -- Bucknell road wins this season
11 -- This will be the 11th all-time tournament meeting between Bucknell and Holy Cross
12 -- This will be the 12th time the two team's seniors have faced each other in their four seasons
13 -- Straight Patriot League games in which Bucknell has outscored the opposition in the paint (Bucknell has done so 15 of 16 games this season. In the 15th it was even 22-22 in the first game against HC)
14 -- in a row, Bucknell's current win streak
14.5 -- points per game averaged by HC senior Keith Simmons in nine career PL tournament games
15 -- times this season HC has reached double figures in steals
16 -- times Simmons has led the Crusaders in scoring this season
17 --Straight wins in the Hart Center by Holy Cross, a school mark
17.2 -- points per game averaged by Simmons, tops in the league
18 -- Tournament wins by BU coach Pat Flannery, most in league history
19 -- Bucknell wins in 23 games where they out-rebounded the opponent
20 -- Bucknell wins in 21 games where they shot more free throws than the opponent
22 -- Bucknell wins this season
24 -- Holy Cross wins this season
43 -- Consecutive double figures scoring games by Simmons
44 -- Number of times the two teams have met (Bucknell leads series 25-19)
53 -- Straight games Bucknell has not allowed a PL foe to score 70 points
66 -- Holy Cross' ranking in the RPI
77 -- Wins in Hart center by HC since start of the 2000-2001 season. HC is 77-12 in Hart in that stretch
78 -- Bucknell's RPI
87 -- School record number of wins by Bucknell's current senior class
123 -- Career games played HC point guard Torey Thomas, 2nd on HC's all-time list
124 -- Career games played by the guy ahead of Thomas on that list, Crusaders' guard Keith Simmons, and by Bucknell's Chris McNaughton, who now holds the BU school record
137 -- Career blocked shots by HC center Tim Clifford (second all-time at HC, ninth all-time in PL)
156 -- League best all-time wins by Bucknell (156-68 -- .696 in 17 seasons)
158 -- wins as head coach of Holy Cross in eight seasons by Ralph Willard (158-88)
191 -- Career three-pointers by Simmons (2nd all-time at HC)
619 -- Combined career wins for Flannery (317) and Willard (302)
1,199 -- Minutes played this season by Thomas, breaking his own school record set last season
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0 -- Number of times, in the 16-year history of the league, a team seeded lower than No. 2 won the Patriot League championship
1 -- Number of teams who have ever won three Patriot League titles in a row (Holy Cross)
2 -- Consecutive championships for Bucknell heading into this game
3 -- Losses by the two teams combined to other league teams over the past three seasons (the two are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league in that span)
4 -- Total number of league titles won by HC, the most by any team in the league. This is also Bucknell's 4th appearance in the league championship game
5 -- Combined number of seniors on the two team's rosters
6 -- Number of Bucknell wins in the 10 meetings between the two in league tournament play
7 -- National ranking of Holy Cross' 57.1 points allowed per game scoring defense. BUcknell has allowed 57.2 ppg.
8 -- Number of Patriot League championship games HC has played, number of consecutive league tournament wins for Bucknell coming into this one, Regular season losses for both teams
9 -- All-time Bucknell wins against Holy Cross in the Hart Center, also number of Bucknell losses to Holy Cross in Hart all-time
10 -- Bucknell road wins this season
11 -- This will be the 11th all-time tournament meeting between Bucknell and Holy Cross
12 -- This will be the 12th time the two team's seniors have faced each other in their four seasons
13 -- Straight Patriot League games in which Bucknell has outscored the opposition in the paint (Bucknell has done so 15 of 16 games this season. In the 15th it was even 22-22 in the first game against HC)
14 -- in a row, Bucknell's current win streak
14.5 -- points per game averaged by HC senior Keith Simmons in nine career PL tournament games
15 -- times this season HC has reached double figures in steals
16 -- times Simmons has led the Crusaders in scoring this season
17 --Straight wins in the Hart Center by Holy Cross, a school mark
17.2 -- points per game averaged by Simmons, tops in the league
18 -- Tournament wins by BU coach Pat Flannery, most in league history
19 -- Bucknell wins in 23 games where they out-rebounded the opponent
20 -- Bucknell wins in 21 games where they shot more free throws than the opponent
22 -- Bucknell wins this season
24 -- Holy Cross wins this season
43 -- Consecutive double figures scoring games by Simmons
44 -- Number of times the two teams have met (Bucknell leads series 25-19)
53 -- Straight games Bucknell has not allowed a PL foe to score 70 points
66 -- Holy Cross' ranking in the RPI
77 -- Wins in Hart center by HC since start of the 2000-2001 season. HC is 77-12 in Hart in that stretch
78 -- Bucknell's RPI
87 -- School record number of wins by Bucknell's current senior class
123 -- Career games played HC point guard Torey Thomas, 2nd on HC's all-time list
124 -- Career games played by the guy ahead of Thomas on that list, Crusaders' guard Keith Simmons, and by Bucknell's Chris McNaughton, who now holds the BU school record
137 -- Career blocked shots by HC center Tim Clifford (second all-time at HC, ninth all-time in PL)
156 -- League best all-time wins by Bucknell (156-68 -- .696 in 17 seasons)
158 -- wins as head coach of Holy Cross in eight seasons by Ralph Willard (158-88)
191 -- Career three-pointers by Simmons (2nd all-time at HC)
619 -- Combined career wins for Flannery (317) and Willard (302)
1,199 -- Minutes played this season by Thomas, breaking his own school record set last season
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Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Patriot League Championship game between Bucknell and Holy Cross is sold out. Bucknell officials confirmed this morning they will not be returning any unsold tickets from their allotment of approximately 1,200 for Friday afternoon's 4:30 showdown at the Hart Center in Worcester.
Holy Cross previously announced its seats were sold out.
Bucknell alums still needing tickets might want to contactBison Club head Todd Newcomb. The school purchased the few it had left at the deadline to return any unsold tickets. Newcomb said the Bison Club has a "very limited" number of tickets available for club members and alums only.
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Holy Cross previously announced its seats were sold out.
Bucknell alums still needing tickets might want to contactBison Club head Todd Newcomb. The school purchased the few it had left at the deadline to return any unsold tickets. Newcomb said the Bison Club has a "very limited" number of tickets available for club members and alums only.
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Congratulations to Bill Gibbons and his Holy Cross women's team, which won its 11th league title Wednesday night in Worcester.
While we work on putting together our preview package for Friday's men's championship game, here are some links to recap the women's championship:
Eleventh heaven (Jen Toland's gamer from The Telegram & Gazette)
One picture tells it all (Dave Nordman column from the Telegram & Gazette)
Eagles get close but lose in final (Washington Post)
Ready to go to Raleigh, Holy Cross? (ESPN)
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While we work on putting together our preview package for Friday's men's championship game, here are some links to recap the women's championship:
Labels: HC
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Didn't see Army's controversial game-winner against Lehigh? Watch it here now. Keep an eye on the ball and the red light on the backboard.
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There is a state mental hospital in Danville, Pa., a small town about 15 miles from Bucknell that will have a lot in common with Worcester, Mass. on Friday afternoon.
You clicked expecting some sort of bad taste "madhouse" reference. You should be ashamded for thinking such un-pc thoughts. You probably like Indian nicknames and mascots in feathers, too.
The comparison is one of color schemes. Purple and Orange are the colors of the local high school team, the Ironmen. Same colors that will be on display in Hart.
It won't be even, but anybody who thought hosting the final meant an all-purple atmosphere failed to check the Patriot League rules. The reulebook says the host school must make available one-third of the seats in the building for the visiting team to sell.
Last year, only about 400 Holy Cross fans bought tickets for the final in Lewisburg. The other 1,000 or so were returned unsold, put on sale day of the game to folks at Sojka Pavilion.
Reports out of Lewisburg today indicated Bucknell did not expect to return near that many tickets, demand was running high, both locally and from alums, especially those in the New England area.
By noon, five fan buses were nearly full, the roughly $2,000 per bus cost being picked up by sponsors in the Lewisburg area, giving students and fans a free ride to the game.
Meanwhile in Worcester, tickets for non-students are reportedly sold out. There is no mention in that release of the possibility of additional tickets for non-student fans if Bucknell returns any of its allottment. Also, apparently any student tickets not sold in advance will be available day of the game, but only to HC students, raising the possibility that the game could end up not selling out, despite heavy demand for tickets.
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You clicked expecting some sort of bad taste "madhouse" reference. You should be ashamded for thinking such un-pc thoughts. You probably like Indian nicknames and mascots in feathers, too.
The comparison is one of color schemes. Purple and Orange are the colors of the local high school team, the Ironmen. Same colors that will be on display in Hart.
It won't be even, but anybody who thought hosting the final meant an all-purple atmosphere failed to check the Patriot League rules. The reulebook says the host school must make available one-third of the seats in the building for the visiting team to sell.
Last year, only about 400 Holy Cross fans bought tickets for the final in Lewisburg. The other 1,000 or so were returned unsold, put on sale day of the game to folks at Sojka Pavilion.
Reports out of Lewisburg today indicated Bucknell did not expect to return near that many tickets, demand was running high, both locally and from alums, especially those in the New England area.
By noon, five fan buses were nearly full, the roughly $2,000 per bus cost being picked up by sponsors in the Lewisburg area, giving students and fans a free ride to the game.
Meanwhile in Worcester, tickets for non-students are reportedly sold out. There is no mention in that release of the possibility of additional tickets for non-student fans if Bucknell returns any of its allottment. Also, apparently any student tickets not sold in advance will be available day of the game, but only to HC students, raising the possibility that the game could end up not selling out, despite heavy demand for tickets.
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Monday, March 05, 2007
Holy Cross moves up and Bucknell gains votes but stays ranked the same in this week'd Mid-Major Top 25.
The Crusaders pick up 403 points to move from No. 16 (282 points) to No. 13 in this week's Mid-Major Top 25. Bucknell stays at No. 21, its vote total up to 163 from 139 a week ago.
Once again, no Patriot love shown in either of the major polls.
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The Crusaders pick up 403 points to move from No. 16 (282 points) to No. 13 in this week's Mid-Major Top 25. Bucknell stays at No. 21, its vote total up to 163 from 139 a week ago.
Once again, no Patriot love shown in either of the major polls.
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(Originally posted Sunday night, links added at 7:01 a.m.)
Bucknell turned a close game into no contest with an impressive defensive performance against Army.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Matt Bell has suffered through some pretty horrible first halves in games at Bucknell. The Army senior, who started all 111 games in his now-ended Army career, was there in 2004 when the Black Knights scored only 9 points before the intermission. He was also on the floor back in January when Bucknell started the game with an 18-2 run and held Army to 15 first half points.
So when the Black Knights got off to a strong start in Sunday afternoon's Patriot League semifinal in Sojka Pavilion, Bell had to be feeling pretty good about his team's chances.
Even though the Bison had outscored Army 12-3 over the final five minutes of the first half, Bell's team was very much in the game, trailing 40-32 at the intermission, especially since Bucknell (22-8) did not seem to have a defensive answer for Bell and his teammate Jarrell Brown, who both at 13 points already at the break.
Boy was Bell wrong.
In a game that was a mirror image of those other blowouts, Bucknell spotted Army (15-16) a Cleveland Richard three-pointer to open the second half, then proceeded to hold the Black Knights without a field goal over the next 11:12, allowing just three more buckets, one in mop-up time to turn the close game into a 68-47 Bison rout.
"They just took over in the second half," said Bell, who closed out his stellar career by becoming the latest in a Long Grey Line of Cadets who have never beaten the Bison.
The win was Bucknell's 15th straight against the Black Knights, who have not beaten the Bison since 2001.
"Usually we come out here and get down by 10 or 15 points in the first four minutes. It's a little dissappointing they were able to take such command in the second half," said Bell, who was 0 for 3 after the break, finishing with the same 13 points he had at the half. Jarrell Brown added a pair of free throws and a late bucket in the second half to finish with a team-high 17.
Credit Bucknell's defense, which made it a point to do a better job of closing out on Army's perimeter shooters in the second half, a move that resulted in a 4 for 21 (19 percent) showing from the field by the Black Knights.
Richard's three came 20 seconds into the half. Between then and the time Bucknell coach Pat Flannery emptied his bench with 2:26 to play, Army scored all of 5 points -- three free throws and a Jarrell Brown jumper at the 8:27 mark that ended an eight minute scoreless stretch. It would be another 6:08 before the Black Knights scored again on a Cory Sinning jumper with 2:19 left on the clock.
"We really had a hard time scoring," said Army coach Jim Crews, who might actually have understated the situation. "We had a few good looks and a lot of not so good looks."
Army, which went 12 for 27 from the field in the first half, finished the second 4 for 21 (19 percent). It might have been worse had they gotten more shots. The Black Knights attempts were limited by their 14 second half turnovers.
"They did a better job of rotating and matching up. They did a better job communicating," said Bell.
"We got better as the game went on," Flannery said.
Adding to Army's woes was a dominating offensive performance by Bucknell's frontcourt duo of Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown who combined for 38 points on 15 for 20 shooting.
"We really didn't have an answer for McNaughton or Brown inside," Bell said.
In most games, Brown's 15 points and 9 rebounds would be what everybody was talking about afterwards. In this case, the 6-6 senior's second straight 15 and 9 performance was no better than third on the list of things that made a big impression.
Sharing top billing with Bucknell's second-half defense was McNaughton, who was pretty much unstoppable in what was likely the last Sojka Pavilion performance of his stellar career. McNaughton finished the game with 23 points, going 10 for 13 from the field on a variety of layups, hook shots and short jumpers.
"In the second half, Chris kind of took over," said Flannery.
Crews tried three different defenders on the 6-11 German -- Doug Williams, Chris Walker and Jimmy Sewell -- all with the same results, or should we say all with the same lack of results.
"(McNaughton goes left. He goes right. . . . He gets great angles on you. If you don't try top get around him, he gets in deep and if you get around him he gets better angles," Crews said.
McNaughton was quick to credit his teammates, who kept feeding him whenever he got position. Eight of Bucknell's 14 assists came on McNaughton buckets.
"They did a great job giving me the ball where I could score," he said.
Two of those 14 assists were credited to McNaughton himself, who would have had plenty more had the Bison's shooters knocked down more of the open threes McNaughton set up by kicking the ball out when he got double-teamed.
Bucknell was just 1 of 11 from the arc in the second half, a stat that is one of the few negatives nitpickers will find with the Bison half of the box score.
Despite those second half woes from three-point range, the Bison still managed to shoot 53.1 percent (26 of 49) from the field against an Army defense that came in ranked number one in the league.
The win is Bucknell's 14th in a row and its 22nd in 26 games after starting the season 0-4. It is also the Bison's eighth straight league tournament win, their 35th straight victory in Sojka against Patriot League opponents and their 10th straight home win overall.
Bucknell will look to extend those first two streaks when it meets Holy Cross in Friday's conference final in Worcester. The home streaks will have to wait until next season, barring a possible NIT game in Sojka should Bucknell lose in the title game.
Box score | Postgame audio (Crews, J. Brown, Bell, Flannery, Badmus, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Daily Item | Patriot-News | Sun-Gazette | Times Herald-Record (gamer) | Times Herald-Record (column)
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Bucknell turned a close game into no contest with an impressive defensive performance against Army.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Matt Bell has suffered through some pretty horrible first halves in games at Bucknell. The Army senior, who started all 111 games in his now-ended Army career, was there in 2004 when the Black Knights scored only 9 points before the intermission. He was also on the floor back in January when Bucknell started the game with an 18-2 run and held Army to 15 first half points.
So when the Black Knights got off to a strong start in Sunday afternoon's Patriot League semifinal in Sojka Pavilion, Bell had to be feeling pretty good about his team's chances.
Even though the Bison had outscored Army 12-3 over the final five minutes of the first half, Bell's team was very much in the game, trailing 40-32 at the intermission, especially since Bucknell (22-8) did not seem to have a defensive answer for Bell and his teammate Jarrell Brown, who both at 13 points already at the break.
Boy was Bell wrong.
In a game that was a mirror image of those other blowouts, Bucknell spotted Army (15-16) a Cleveland Richard three-pointer to open the second half, then proceeded to hold the Black Knights without a field goal over the next 11:12, allowing just three more buckets, one in mop-up time to turn the close game into a 68-47 Bison rout.
"They just took over in the second half," said Bell, who closed out his stellar career by becoming the latest in a Long Grey Line of Cadets who have never beaten the Bison.
The win was Bucknell's 15th straight against the Black Knights, who have not beaten the Bison since 2001.
"Usually we come out here and get down by 10 or 15 points in the first four minutes. It's a little dissappointing they were able to take such command in the second half," said Bell, who was 0 for 3 after the break, finishing with the same 13 points he had at the half. Jarrell Brown added a pair of free throws and a late bucket in the second half to finish with a team-high 17.
Credit Bucknell's defense, which made it a point to do a better job of closing out on Army's perimeter shooters in the second half, a move that resulted in a 4 for 21 (19 percent) showing from the field by the Black Knights.
Richard's three came 20 seconds into the half. Between then and the time Bucknell coach Pat Flannery emptied his bench with 2:26 to play, Army scored all of 5 points -- three free throws and a Jarrell Brown jumper at the 8:27 mark that ended an eight minute scoreless stretch. It would be another 6:08 before the Black Knights scored again on a Cory Sinning jumper with 2:19 left on the clock.
"We really had a hard time scoring," said Army coach Jim Crews, who might actually have understated the situation. "We had a few good looks and a lot of not so good looks."
Army, which went 12 for 27 from the field in the first half, finished the second 4 for 21 (19 percent). It might have been worse had they gotten more shots. The Black Knights attempts were limited by their 14 second half turnovers.
"They did a better job of rotating and matching up. They did a better job communicating," said Bell.
"We got better as the game went on," Flannery said.
Adding to Army's woes was a dominating offensive performance by Bucknell's frontcourt duo of Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown who combined for 38 points on 15 for 20 shooting.
"We really didn't have an answer for McNaughton or Brown inside," Bell said.
In most games, Brown's 15 points and 9 rebounds would be what everybody was talking about afterwards. In this case, the 6-6 senior's second straight 15 and 9 performance was no better than third on the list of things that made a big impression.
Sharing top billing with Bucknell's second-half defense was McNaughton, who was pretty much unstoppable in what was likely the last Sojka Pavilion performance of his stellar career. McNaughton finished the game with 23 points, going 10 for 13 from the field on a variety of layups, hook shots and short jumpers.
"In the second half, Chris kind of took over," said Flannery.
Crews tried three different defenders on the 6-11 German -- Doug Williams, Chris Walker and Jimmy Sewell -- all with the same results, or should we say all with the same lack of results.
"(McNaughton goes left. He goes right. . . . He gets great angles on you. If you don't try top get around him, he gets in deep and if you get around him he gets better angles," Crews said.
McNaughton was quick to credit his teammates, who kept feeding him whenever he got position. Eight of Bucknell's 14 assists came on McNaughton buckets.
"They did a great job giving me the ball where I could score," he said.
Two of those 14 assists were credited to McNaughton himself, who would have had plenty more had the Bison's shooters knocked down more of the open threes McNaughton set up by kicking the ball out when he got double-teamed.
Bucknell was just 1 of 11 from the arc in the second half, a stat that is one of the few negatives nitpickers will find with the Bison half of the box score.
Despite those second half woes from three-point range, the Bison still managed to shoot 53.1 percent (26 of 49) from the field against an Army defense that came in ranked number one in the league.
The win is Bucknell's 14th in a row and its 22nd in 26 games after starting the season 0-4. It is also the Bison's eighth straight league tournament win, their 35th straight victory in Sojka against Patriot League opponents and their 10th straight home win overall.
Bucknell will look to extend those first two streaks when it meets Holy Cross in Friday's conference final in Worcester. The home streaks will have to wait until next season, barring a possible NIT game in Sojka should Bucknell lose in the title game.
Box score | Postgame audio (Crews, J. Brown, Bell, Flannery, Badmus, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Daily Item | Patriot-News | Sun-Gazette | Times Herald-Record (gamer) | Times Herald-Record (column)
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Ralph Willard preaches defense from the gospel of deflections. His team got a huge one Sunday to seal its semifinals win over American.
Down two with 4.8 seconds to play, American had plenty of time to get the ball up the floor for a potential game-winning three or a two to send it to overtime. But after Holy Cross guard Pat Doherty deflected the Eagles inbounds pass, AU had to settle for a Brayden Billbe desperation heave from the backcourt. Like American's upset bid, Billbe's shot came up short, giving Holy Cross a 55-53 semifinals win and a berth in the Patriot League championship game opposite Bucknell for the third year in a row.
It was the third time this season American (16-14) could not hold a lead against the Crusaders (24-8). Up 26-21 at the half, the Eagles extended their margin to 31-23 in the first two minutes of the second half.
Holy Cross battled back, seemingly taking control with a 9-0 run after the game was tied at 40-40. But American would not go quiet, tying it at 53-53 on an Andre Ingram three with 29 seconds to play.
Patriot League Player of the Year Keith Simmons, held to 3 points and just three shots in the first half, and playing with four fouls the last 6:36 of the game, scored the game-winner on a driving runner from five feet with 4.8 seconds to go, setting the stage for Doherty's key deflection.
Willard says he learned long ago his team will win most games if it gets 40 deflections and shoots 40 percent. Deflections don't show up in the box score -- it's a stat the HC staff keeps itself on the bench. But the Crusaders overcame an icy 8 for 28 first half (28.6 percent) to finish the game hitting 41.7 percent (20 of 48) from the field by shooting at a 60 percent clip (12 of 20) in the second.
Credit center Tim Clifford for keeping the Crusaders in the game in the first 20 minutes. Clifford was 5 for 9 from the field the first half, scoring 11 of the 'Saders 21 points. No other HC player had more than one bucket in the opening stanza.
Clifford finished with a typical Big Purple Dog vs. AU showing -- 19 points and 8 rebounds. Point guard Torey Thomas also had a huge afternoon for HC, scoring 16 points while dishing out 6 assists and coming up with 4 steals. Thomas, who is listed at 5-11 and is actually about two inches shorter than that, led all rebounders with 9 boards.
Simmons, kept in check the first half, responded in the second to post his 43rd straight double figures game, finishing with 11 points.
Ingram led AU with 20 points. Nobody else reached double figures for the Eagles, who shot 37.9 percent (20 of 53) from the field, including 7 three-pointers on 19 tries.
American's inability to get to the foul line proved just as decisive as Simmons' end of game shot. The Eagles only went to the line 9 times, making 6. Holy Cross hit 12 free throws on 15 attempts.
Box score | Telegram & Gazette (gamer) | Telegram & Gazette (column) | Boston Herald
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Down two with 4.8 seconds to play, American had plenty of time to get the ball up the floor for a potential game-winning three or a two to send it to overtime. But after Holy Cross guard Pat Doherty deflected the Eagles inbounds pass, AU had to settle for a Brayden Billbe desperation heave from the backcourt. Like American's upset bid, Billbe's shot came up short, giving Holy Cross a 55-53 semifinals win and a berth in the Patriot League championship game opposite Bucknell for the third year in a row.
It was the third time this season American (16-14) could not hold a lead against the Crusaders (24-8). Up 26-21 at the half, the Eagles extended their margin to 31-23 in the first two minutes of the second half.
Holy Cross battled back, seemingly taking control with a 9-0 run after the game was tied at 40-40. But American would not go quiet, tying it at 53-53 on an Andre Ingram three with 29 seconds to play.
Patriot League Player of the Year Keith Simmons, held to 3 points and just three shots in the first half, and playing with four fouls the last 6:36 of the game, scored the game-winner on a driving runner from five feet with 4.8 seconds to go, setting the stage for Doherty's key deflection.
Willard says he learned long ago his team will win most games if it gets 40 deflections and shoots 40 percent. Deflections don't show up in the box score -- it's a stat the HC staff keeps itself on the bench. But the Crusaders overcame an icy 8 for 28 first half (28.6 percent) to finish the game hitting 41.7 percent (20 of 48) from the field by shooting at a 60 percent clip (12 of 20) in the second.
Credit center Tim Clifford for keeping the Crusaders in the game in the first 20 minutes. Clifford was 5 for 9 from the field the first half, scoring 11 of the 'Saders 21 points. No other HC player had more than one bucket in the opening stanza.
Clifford finished with a typical Big Purple Dog vs. AU showing -- 19 points and 8 rebounds. Point guard Torey Thomas also had a huge afternoon for HC, scoring 16 points while dishing out 6 assists and coming up with 4 steals. Thomas, who is listed at 5-11 and is actually about two inches shorter than that, led all rebounders with 9 boards.
Simmons, kept in check the first half, responded in the second to post his 43rd straight double figures game, finishing with 11 points.
Ingram led AU with 20 points. Nobody else reached double figures for the Eagles, who shot 37.9 percent (20 of 53) from the field, including 7 three-pointers on 19 tries.
American's inability to get to the foul line proved just as decisive as Simmons' end of game shot. The Eagles only went to the line 9 times, making 6. Holy Cross hit 12 free throws on 15 attempts.
Box score | Telegram & Gazette (gamer) | Telegram & Gazette (column) | Boston Herald
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Sunday, March 04, 2007
Coaches love to trot out the cliche about how hard it is to beat a team three times. We'll see if it matters in this afternoon's Patriot League semifinals.
To many fans and observers, the first two rounds of the tournament are viewed as mere window dressing, necessary but not necessarily needed warmups to the highly anticipated main event -- a third straight league final between Bucknell and Holy Cross.
Don't try convincing American and Army that they are just items on the Big Two's checklists, though. Both underdogs will enter this afternoon's games with reason to believe they are capable of pulling off an upset.
No. 4 American at No. 1 Holy Cross (matchup), 2 p.m. -- American wants to take advantage of its third chance to knock off Holy Cross, it will need to find a way to limit the Crusaders' second chances. In a 69-64 overtime loss Jan. 20 at home, and again in Worcester 11 days later, in a 58-47 loss, American's downfall came on the glass. Specifically at the Holy Cross offensive end.
The Eagles held HC to 38.7 percent shooting in the first game and were even tougher in the second, limiting the 'Saders to a 34.7 percent field goal shooting night. But Holy Cross had 12 offensive rebounds and a 12-2 edge in second chance points in the game at AU and 16 offensive boards leading to an 18-2 advantage in second chance points in the rematch. That has been the biggest difference between the two.
Travis Lay might provide some help there. Lay has seen his minutes off the bench increase down the stretch and he has responded by averaging 8 boards per game over the last four.
Holy Cross' all-league junior center Tim Clifford has a long history of big games against American. Expect Jeff Jones to abandon his usual philosophy of trying to guard the post man to man in favor of a scheme that provides his big men some help on Clifford down low.
Jones would like nothing more than to get a strong game out of 6-11 senior Paulius Joneliunas, who has played well down the stretch. Joneliunas is shooting 63.2 percent (12 of 19) over the last four games.
In the backcourt, AU's Andre Ingram has been an effective defender against Keith Simmons. In two games against AU, Simmons has averaged 12.5 points per game, well below his average of over 17 ppg. In the first meeting, Simmons didn't reach double figures in regulation, scoring 6 of his 14 points from the foul line in overtime.
Of course even if they slow down the Crusaders offense, American will still need to generate enough offense to put up more points than HC. The Eagles have plenty of weapons, and if Ingram and Arvydas Eitutavicius both manage to get going from the arc, they could be tough to stop.
That is easier said than done against a Holy Cross defense that has been the stingiest in the league this season. In the two regular season games, AU shot a combined 40.2 percent while turning the ball over 37 times.
A few extra nuggets about this one:
It will be the third time the two schools have met in the league tournament; the first time they have met prior to the finals. HC has won both previous postseason encounters.
HC leads the series 12-3, including wins in the last six meetings in Worcester, where AU has won once in 7 tries.
Holy Cross is 12-0 in the Hart Center this season and has won 16 in a row there dating back to last season.
Ironman Torey Thomas was expected to play less minutes this season once Pat Doherty returned, but sometime in the first half he should break his own HC school record for minutes played. Thomas needs just 8 minutes to equal his own mark of 1,166 set last season.
The number one seed has never failed to advance to the championship game of the Patriot League tournament.
No. 6 Army at No. 2 Bucknell (matchup), 3:30 p.m. -- After taking the Bison to the wire in the regular season finale, the Black Knights should come into Sojka a heckuva lot more confident than they were when they left after the first meeting between the two.
The Bison jumped out to an 18-2 lead in that first game, and led 43-15 at the half before coasting home.
The rematch at West Point was considerably closer, tied 19-19 in the final minute before Bucknell pulled out the 54-49 decision.
Army hit 9 treys in that second game. If they light it up from the arc again, who knows what might happen.
Aside from the change in game sites, there is another big difference between this afternoon and that regular season finale -- Donald Brown. The Bison senior was in street clothes, waiting for clearance to return from a broken hand, when the two teams played at West Point. Brown came back in the first round of the tournament and looked like he had not missed a beat, scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.
Brown was 4 for 5 from the field, with 12 points and 8 rebounds in just 27 minutes of action in the first meeting with Army. His return adds to a huge Bucknell advantage in the frontcourt.
The Black Knights are playing with house money. Almost nobody expected them to finish higher than last in the regular season and few thought they would get past Lehigh in the first round. Yet a resurgent season and a blown call later, here they are, in the league semifinals for just the third time in 17 seasons of Patriot League play.
Bucknell needs to start strong and establish control from the start. Put Army in a hole early and that confidence will start to wane. Let the nothing-to-lose underdogs hang around and gain confidence, who knows what might happen. Just ask either school's women's teams.
Choice tidbits from the two team's gamenotes:
The Bison hold a 36-14 lead in the series, which dates to 1929.
Bucknell has won 14 in a row against Army and 35 of 39 meetings between the two in Patriot League play.
In tournament play, Bucknell is 5-1 against Army, the loss coming in a first round upset in 1995, when Bucknell was a No. 2 seed and Army No. 7. Army finished that season 4-10 in league play, the same record it posted this year.
Bucknell is looking to extend its current win streak to 14 games, the longest in -one-season steak in school history
The Bison are looking for their 35th straight home win against Patriot League opponents
No current Bison is averaging in double figures against Army for their career. Chris McNaughton, who has averaged 9.8 points per game in nine games against Army, has Bucknell's best career numbers against the Black Knights. Abe Badmus, who will also be facing Army for the 10th time, has the Bison's best single-game showing -- a 15-point game the last time the two met.
Army's Jarrell Brown scored 25 against the Bison at Christl Arena last season.
the two teams met in the first round last season, with Bucknell pulling out a 59-47 win in a game they led by just 1 point with 10 minutes to go before using a 14-0 run to gain separation
Army's win at Lehigh in the first round snapped a 10-game tournament losing streak
That win also snapped a 10-game road losing streak for Army and an 11-game losing streak in road league games.
Sun-Gazette preview
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To many fans and observers, the first two rounds of the tournament are viewed as mere window dressing, necessary but not necessarily needed warmups to the highly anticipated main event -- a third straight league final between Bucknell and Holy Cross.
Don't try convincing American and Army that they are just items on the Big Two's checklists, though. Both underdogs will enter this afternoon's games with reason to believe they are capable of pulling off an upset.
No. 4 American at No. 1 Holy Cross (matchup), 2 p.m. -- American wants to take advantage of its third chance to knock off Holy Cross, it will need to find a way to limit the Crusaders' second chances. In a 69-64 overtime loss Jan. 20 at home, and again in Worcester 11 days later, in a 58-47 loss, American's downfall came on the glass. Specifically at the Holy Cross offensive end.
The Eagles held HC to 38.7 percent shooting in the first game and were even tougher in the second, limiting the 'Saders to a 34.7 percent field goal shooting night. But Holy Cross had 12 offensive rebounds and a 12-2 edge in second chance points in the game at AU and 16 offensive boards leading to an 18-2 advantage in second chance points in the rematch. That has been the biggest difference between the two.
Travis Lay might provide some help there. Lay has seen his minutes off the bench increase down the stretch and he has responded by averaging 8 boards per game over the last four.
Holy Cross' all-league junior center Tim Clifford has a long history of big games against American. Expect Jeff Jones to abandon his usual philosophy of trying to guard the post man to man in favor of a scheme that provides his big men some help on Clifford down low.
Jones would like nothing more than to get a strong game out of 6-11 senior Paulius Joneliunas, who has played well down the stretch. Joneliunas is shooting 63.2 percent (12 of 19) over the last four games.
In the backcourt, AU's Andre Ingram has been an effective defender against Keith Simmons. In two games against AU, Simmons has averaged 12.5 points per game, well below his average of over 17 ppg. In the first meeting, Simmons didn't reach double figures in regulation, scoring 6 of his 14 points from the foul line in overtime.
Of course even if they slow down the Crusaders offense, American will still need to generate enough offense to put up more points than HC. The Eagles have plenty of weapons, and if Ingram and Arvydas Eitutavicius both manage to get going from the arc, they could be tough to stop.
That is easier said than done against a Holy Cross defense that has been the stingiest in the league this season. In the two regular season games, AU shot a combined 40.2 percent while turning the ball over 37 times.
A few extra nuggets about this one:
No. 6 Army at No. 2 Bucknell (matchup), 3:30 p.m. -- After taking the Bison to the wire in the regular season finale, the Black Knights should come into Sojka a heckuva lot more confident than they were when they left after the first meeting between the two.
The Bison jumped out to an 18-2 lead in that first game, and led 43-15 at the half before coasting home.
The rematch at West Point was considerably closer, tied 19-19 in the final minute before Bucknell pulled out the 54-49 decision.
Army hit 9 treys in that second game. If they light it up from the arc again, who knows what might happen.
Aside from the change in game sites, there is another big difference between this afternoon and that regular season finale -- Donald Brown. The Bison senior was in street clothes, waiting for clearance to return from a broken hand, when the two teams played at West Point. Brown came back in the first round of the tournament and looked like he had not missed a beat, scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.
Brown was 4 for 5 from the field, with 12 points and 8 rebounds in just 27 minutes of action in the first meeting with Army. His return adds to a huge Bucknell advantage in the frontcourt.
The Black Knights are playing with house money. Almost nobody expected them to finish higher than last in the regular season and few thought they would get past Lehigh in the first round. Yet a resurgent season and a blown call later, here they are, in the league semifinals for just the third time in 17 seasons of Patriot League play.
Bucknell needs to start strong and establish control from the start. Put Army in a hole early and that confidence will start to wane. Let the nothing-to-lose underdogs hang around and gain confidence, who knows what might happen. Just ask either school's women's teams.
Choice tidbits from the two team's gamenotes:
Sun-Gazette preview
Labels: Army, AU, BU, HC, previews
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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Despite what happened at Lehigh Wednesday night, there is no Internet video replay monitor courtside at the women's tournament in Annapolis and there will not be at either of Sunday's men's semifinals either.
For those who missed it, Army beat Lehigh 47-46 Wednesday on a shot that replays showed left the hand of Army's Josh Miller after the clock had expired. Lehigh coach Billy Taylor tried in vain to get the refs to check the feed from the league's All-Access Internet feed.
Lehigh also tried to appeal the outcome, a move that was denied because the Internet video feed had not been designated as an official courtside replay source prior to the game, as required by NCAA rules. (Even if it had been, the appeal would have been unsuccessful since NCAA rules say once the officials leave the floor, the outcome is official, though had there been a designated monitor, it is likely they would not have left before checking a replay.)
That is not because Patriot League officials would not like to have such a monitor available. The system used to produce the league's Webcasts simply is not capable of being used in that manner.
That could change next season, said league executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich in an exclusive Hoop Time interview Saturday.
In the offseason, the league is going to look into what steps it might be able to take to make the Internet video meet the standards needed to be used for officials to check replays.
"We don't believe our current system can do it. We cannot stop it, replay and startit again because of the live streaming," Femovich said. "We are going to look into whether there is some technology we can apply to this system that would allow us to do it when we are streaming live."
The problem with the current system is that it lacks a replay capablity. Short of stopping the Webcast and rewinding video tape to take another look, there is no way to review the video.
While that was a workable solution in an end of the game situation like the Army-Lehigh game, it would not work for other plays during a game. In order to be designated as an official replay source, the video has to have the capability to be used for other situations.
"If they can't replay it, you can't use it," Femovich said.
NCAA rules governing replay do not just call for its use in game clock situations such as the one at Lehigh Wednesday night. Replays can also be used to check things like if a shooter was inside or outside the three-point arc, to check to see which player should be shooting a foul shot or settling shot clock questions.
"You've got to be able to use it from the beginning of the game to the end," Femovich explained.
Even then, there are other shortcomings to the system, which was never intended to be used as more than a way for league fans around the country to see games.
Although the Webcasts utilize a three-camera setup, with one high up top at midcourt and hand-held cameras under each basket, the simple "tricaster" used to produce the feed does not include any recording from the cameras that are not live at any given moment. That means the only replay angle that would be available, if there even were a way to access it in the current system, would be the angle being sent to viewers. That would greatly limit the effectiveness of the feed for official replays.
The current system also does not include any inset game or shot clocks, meaning in a situation like the one at Lehigh Wednesday, the only thing an official might be able to go by would be the light on the backboard. That light actually goes on a few tenths of a second after the clock hits 00:00.
Officials could use that, but there still would be the possibility of a ball leaving a shooter's hands after the clock expired but before the light went off, which the replay would not show.
Expect all these issues to be resolved, if feasible, before next season. The league's athletic directors, in a conference call Thursday, agreed there would be no attempt to use the current Internet feed as an official replay source for the remaining games this season.
In the meantime, the only assistance officials will have available in such situations will be the fourth, or table, official, a backup official who charts the game at the scorers table and is available to step in should one of the three game officials be injured.
There was no table official at the quarterfinal games.
"Will we (have a table official for quarterfinal games) in the future? Absolutely," Femovich said.
They are being used for all the games at the women's tournament and will be used for all three remaining men's games.
In a related note, the three officials who worked the Army-Lehigh game were privately reprimanded, but will not face additional sanctions or suspensions for missing the call. None of the three were slated to work any other tounament games anyhow, though one will serve as the table official at one of the remaining games, Femovich said.
In reality, only one of the three officials who worked the game could be blamed for the mistake. The official closest to the play was watching the play and could not see the red light when it came on. (Keep in mind, light travels faster than sound -- there is an even longer delay between the clock expiring and hearing the buzzer). The lead official was under the backet, thus also not in position to see the light.
Only the trail official would have been in position to make the call.
There will be replay availability for both the men's and women's finals, which are being broadcast by ESPN entitites (ESPN2 for the men, ESPNU for the women).
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For those who missed it, Army beat Lehigh 47-46 Wednesday on a shot that replays showed left the hand of Army's Josh Miller after the clock had expired. Lehigh coach Billy Taylor tried in vain to get the refs to check the feed from the league's All-Access Internet feed.
Lehigh also tried to appeal the outcome, a move that was denied because the Internet video feed had not been designated as an official courtside replay source prior to the game, as required by NCAA rules. (Even if it had been, the appeal would have been unsuccessful since NCAA rules say once the officials leave the floor, the outcome is official, though had there been a designated monitor, it is likely they would not have left before checking a replay.)
That is not because Patriot League officials would not like to have such a monitor available. The system used to produce the league's Webcasts simply is not capable of being used in that manner.
That could change next season, said league executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich in an exclusive Hoop Time interview Saturday.
In the offseason, the league is going to look into what steps it might be able to take to make the Internet video meet the standards needed to be used for officials to check replays.
"We don't believe our current system can do it. We cannot stop it, replay and startit again because of the live streaming," Femovich said. "We are going to look into whether there is some technology we can apply to this system that would allow us to do it when we are streaming live."
The problem with the current system is that it lacks a replay capablity. Short of stopping the Webcast and rewinding video tape to take another look, there is no way to review the video.
While that was a workable solution in an end of the game situation like the Army-Lehigh game, it would not work for other plays during a game. In order to be designated as an official replay source, the video has to have the capability to be used for other situations.
"If they can't replay it, you can't use it," Femovich said.
NCAA rules governing replay do not just call for its use in game clock situations such as the one at Lehigh Wednesday night. Replays can also be used to check things like if a shooter was inside or outside the three-point arc, to check to see which player should be shooting a foul shot or settling shot clock questions.
"You've got to be able to use it from the beginning of the game to the end," Femovich explained.
Even then, there are other shortcomings to the system, which was never intended to be used as more than a way for league fans around the country to see games.
Although the Webcasts utilize a three-camera setup, with one high up top at midcourt and hand-held cameras under each basket, the simple "tricaster" used to produce the feed does not include any recording from the cameras that are not live at any given moment. That means the only replay angle that would be available, if there even were a way to access it in the current system, would be the angle being sent to viewers. That would greatly limit the effectiveness of the feed for official replays.
The current system also does not include any inset game or shot clocks, meaning in a situation like the one at Lehigh Wednesday, the only thing an official might be able to go by would be the light on the backboard. That light actually goes on a few tenths of a second after the clock hits 00:00.
Officials could use that, but there still would be the possibility of a ball leaving a shooter's hands after the clock expired but before the light went off, which the replay would not show.
Expect all these issues to be resolved, if feasible, before next season. The league's athletic directors, in a conference call Thursday, agreed there would be no attempt to use the current Internet feed as an official replay source for the remaining games this season.
In the meantime, the only assistance officials will have available in such situations will be the fourth, or table, official, a backup official who charts the game at the scorers table and is available to step in should one of the three game officials be injured.
There was no table official at the quarterfinal games.
"Will we (have a table official for quarterfinal games) in the future? Absolutely," Femovich said.
They are being used for all the games at the women's tournament and will be used for all three remaining men's games.
In a related note, the three officials who worked the Army-Lehigh game were privately reprimanded, but will not face additional sanctions or suspensions for missing the call. None of the three were slated to work any other tounament games anyhow, though one will serve as the table official at one of the remaining games, Femovich said.
In reality, only one of the three officials who worked the game could be blamed for the mistake. The official closest to the play was watching the play and could not see the red light when it came on. (Keep in mind, light travels faster than sound -- there is an even longer delay between the clock expiring and hearing the buzzer). The lead official was under the backet, thus also not in position to see the light.
Only the trail official would have been in position to make the call.
There will be replay availability for both the men's and women's finals, which are being broadcast by ESPN entitites (ESPN2 for the men, ESPNU for the women).
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Friday, March 02, 2007
Lehigh fans are understandably upset with their loss to Army. Who could blame them? Here is an unedited sampling of some of the e-mails we have received about the blown call at the end that allowed Army to advance to the semifinals of the league tournament:
This one came from someone claiming an e-mail address of wegotscrewed@lehigh.edu:
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This one came from someone claiming an e-mail address of wegotscrewed@lehigh.edu:
Name: VeryAnother anonymous one read like this:
Address : Pissed
Address: Off
City: Lehigh
State: Fan
Zip: Wow
Comments: We got screwed...shouldn't have been that close...but Chris,
we got screwed.
Lehigh has sent video of the game to the league already. The shot was approximately .3-.5 seconds late. If they were smart they would send it to ESPN and put some pressure on the league. It comes down to being Lehigh's fault though. If they put a better product on the court, the local television wouldn't be televising a high school game over the first round of the Patriot League tourney. They should have pushed to get the station to do this game. It is funny (sad) that Lehigh has been screwed 3 times now at the end of the game; twice by not having television there. This call was truly awful. I hope you get to see how late the "basket" actually was, Chris. Long story short...LU should not have allowed this game to be close, but in the end, it should have been a LU win...refs truly blew it.This one also identified itself as being from a Lehigh fan, but gave no name:
Here is what my people are telling me: The league ADs met this afternoon (sans Lehigh's and Army's) on a conference call to discuss the situation, presumably after Taylor had pushed for this. It was determined that Lehigh should have won the game (the shot was late), but because the refs had left the court, they couldn't take the game away from Army. Last night, after the one ref (description deleted) made the call, the three stormed off the court without a conference. The reason is because Lehigh never informed the refs that the game was indeed being broadcasted on Internet video. The refs thought it was just game film, something they couldn't look at. Had Lehigh been clear prior to the game that indeed their was a monitor they could review, things may have gone differently. My problem is the with the alacrity that the refs left the court, not allowing Taylor anytime to explain that they were actually able to review the monitor. Once they went into the locker room though, it was over. Really, these refs should be examined for missing such a blatant call. Garbage!Mike from Bethlehem, whose e-mail address was a lehigh.edu domain, wrote:
I'm not sure I understand the "deserve to win" rhetoric. While both teams played poor in the Army/Lehigh game, that doesn't mean Lehigh didn't "deserve" the win. I could quote Herm Edwards, but you get the idea. Obviously, Lehigh would not have been happy with their collective performance had they won, but I'm sure they felt the same way in 2003 after squeaking by Navy in the 1st round.
The story coming from this game isn't about a sub 30% shooting performance; it is the bureaucracy that is the NCAA. How can this result be upheld? A jury of 1,000,000 would unanimously declare that the final shot should not have counted. However, because the three blind officials left the court the result is final?
I understand some Internet broadcast technicality, but the proof could be found on the sidelines within 5 minutes of the disputed shot. This is a disgrace. The NCAA is a joke. Imagine this happening in an ACC tournament game - simply put, Lehigh wins. I feel like shit.
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(Additional links added at 2:37 p.m.)
There will be no overturning the Black Knights' 47-46 win over Lehigh, say league officials.
According to a copy posted on Lehigh's Web site of a statement released by the league, coordinator of officials Mickey Crowley, the ruling is based on the fact that the Internet video equipment at courtside was not designated as an official replay monitor, thus the officials could not use it to review the play in question.
That play, a game-winning shot by Army's Josh Miller, came after the clock had expired, according to reports from media members who have been able to review video of the play.
The league's executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich apparently agrees with those reports. In that statement, she says, ". . . it appears that the shot left the player’s hand after the clock expired.”
While it was not cited in the statement, there is also an NCAA rule that says once the officials leave the floor, the result is official and cannot be changed. Because of that rule, it seemed little chance of Lehigh's appeal succeeding.
Regrettably, these things happen from time to time, though usually you hear about it happening in some other league. Though not exactly the same circumstances, Duke got a win earlier this season due to a clock screwup at the end of a game. There have been others.
This is not the first time something like this has occurred in the Patriot League. In 1994, Bucknell lost a 99-98 overtime decision to Holy Cross in a regular season game in old Davis Gym under similar circumstances. There was no Internet video back then, but Bucknell used to shoot video of the games for a self-produced cable TV coach's show.
That video was not available to the game officials, but after the game, Bucknell's then director of broadcasting, Bob Behler, who is now the voice of the UMass Minutemen, and I reviewed the tape, using the then-high tech equipment in the football coaches offices at Bucknell, which was capable of slowing video down to a frame by frame view.
A short time after that game, Bucknell installed red lights on top of the backboards in Davis, synced to light up when the clock expired. In the old print version of Hoop Time we ran a picture of them and called them the "Joe DeMayo Memorial Lights", a reference to the ref who missed the call.
That game did not have the same stakes involved as the Army-Lehigh game. It was a regular season contest and even if the outcome had been reversed, the tournament seeding would not have changed.
It is too bad for Lehigh's players, especially the four seniors who careers have been cut short by at least one game. The best that can be hoped for from this incident is that the league adopt a policy mandating the All-Access video feed be set up in a manner that conforms to the NCAA's rules for being an official replay monitor, and that it be designated as such in all games not shown on broadcast or cable television.
That won't give Lehigh another game, but it will help prevent such an occurrence in the future.
Lehigh fans react
PL recognizes error, says Army win stands (Morning Call)
Instant replays are a necessity, not a luxury (Morning Call)
BONUS LINK:
RPI a Really Poor Indicator (Tom Housenick's weekly hoops column in The Daily Item)
The latest from Coach Ralph.com (Ralph Willard's views on spring break, the tournament and the Lafayette game)
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There will be no overturning the Black Knights' 47-46 win over Lehigh, say league officials.
According to a copy posted on Lehigh's Web site of a statement released by the league, coordinator of officials Mickey Crowley, the ruling is based on the fact that the Internet video equipment at courtside was not designated as an official replay monitor, thus the officials could not use it to review the play in question.
That play, a game-winning shot by Army's Josh Miller, came after the clock had expired, according to reports from media members who have been able to review video of the play.
The league's executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich apparently agrees with those reports. In that statement, she says, ". . . it appears that the shot left the player’s hand after the clock expired.”
While it was not cited in the statement, there is also an NCAA rule that says once the officials leave the floor, the result is official and cannot be changed. Because of that rule, it seemed little chance of Lehigh's appeal succeeding.
Regrettably, these things happen from time to time, though usually you hear about it happening in some other league. Though not exactly the same circumstances, Duke got a win earlier this season due to a clock screwup at the end of a game. There have been others.
This is not the first time something like this has occurred in the Patriot League. In 1994, Bucknell lost a 99-98 overtime decision to Holy Cross in a regular season game in old Davis Gym under similar circumstances. There was no Internet video back then, but Bucknell used to shoot video of the games for a self-produced cable TV coach's show.
That video was not available to the game officials, but after the game, Bucknell's then director of broadcasting, Bob Behler, who is now the voice of the UMass Minutemen, and I reviewed the tape, using the then-high tech equipment in the football coaches offices at Bucknell, which was capable of slowing video down to a frame by frame view.
A short time after that game, Bucknell installed red lights on top of the backboards in Davis, synced to light up when the clock expired. In the old print version of Hoop Time we ran a picture of them and called them the "Joe DeMayo Memorial Lights", a reference to the ref who missed the call.
That game did not have the same stakes involved as the Army-Lehigh game. It was a regular season contest and even if the outcome had been reversed, the tournament seeding would not have changed.
It is too bad for Lehigh's players, especially the four seniors who careers have been cut short by at least one game. The best that can be hoped for from this incident is that the league adopt a policy mandating the All-Access video feed be set up in a manner that conforms to the NCAA's rules for being an official replay monitor, and that it be designated as such in all games not shown on broadcast or cable television.
That won't give Lehigh another game, but it will help prevent such an occurrence in the future.
BONUS LINK:
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Thursday, March 01, 2007
Tim Clifford and the Crusaders made it look easy in a 30-point first round win over Lafayette.
Clifford poured in 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds as top-seeded Holy Cross (23-8) made quick work of last place Lafayette (9-21), sending the Leopards packing with an 83-53 win.
The 83 points were the second most scored by HC all year, just a point less than the 84 they scored in their conference opening win at Lafayette.
The Leopards led early, and were up 11-10 when the sky fell. Holy Cross took command of the game with a 9-0 run, then after a Lafayette bucket, put it away with a 15-0 run, holding the Leopards scoreless for 8:19 while building a 34-13 lead.
It was 42-18 at the half, and Lafayette never got closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Torey Thomas added 13 points for HC and Keith Simmons also reached double figures with 12. Pat Doherty had 5 of the Crusaders' 10 steals, which helped force 20 Lafayette turnovers.
Turnovers were not the Leopards only problem. Even when they held on to the ball, the end results were seldom favorable. The 'Pards were just 5 of 18 from the field (27.8 percent) in the first half, finishing 17 of 48 (35.4 percent).
Holy Cross had no such troubles, knocking down 32 of 60 from the floor (53.3 percent). Even when they did miss, HC was nearly as likely to get the rebound as Lafayette. Thirteen of the Crusaders' 40 rebounds came on the offensive glass, leading to 18 second chance points. Lafayette finished with 19 boards, 14 on HC misses.
Andrew Brown led Lafayette with 26 points, hitting 8 treys (on 12 tries). Matt Betley closed his career with 12 points for the 'Pards. No other Lafayette player made more than one field goal. Take away Brown and Betley's combined 14 for 23 shooting and the rest of the leopards went 3 for 25 (12 percent) from the field.
Box score | Telegram & Gazette | Boston Globe | Boston Herald | Express-Times
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Clifford poured in 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds as top-seeded Holy Cross (23-8) made quick work of last place Lafayette (9-21), sending the Leopards packing with an 83-53 win.
The 83 points were the second most scored by HC all year, just a point less than the 84 they scored in their conference opening win at Lafayette.
The Leopards led early, and were up 11-10 when the sky fell. Holy Cross took command of the game with a 9-0 run, then after a Lafayette bucket, put it away with a 15-0 run, holding the Leopards scoreless for 8:19 while building a 34-13 lead.
It was 42-18 at the half, and Lafayette never got closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Torey Thomas added 13 points for HC and Keith Simmons also reached double figures with 12. Pat Doherty had 5 of the Crusaders' 10 steals, which helped force 20 Lafayette turnovers.
Turnovers were not the Leopards only problem. Even when they held on to the ball, the end results were seldom favorable. The 'Pards were just 5 of 18 from the field (27.8 percent) in the first half, finishing 17 of 48 (35.4 percent).
Holy Cross had no such troubles, knocking down 32 of 60 from the floor (53.3 percent). Even when they did miss, HC was nearly as likely to get the rebound as Lafayette. Thirteen of the Crusaders' 40 rebounds came on the offensive glass, leading to 18 second chance points. Lafayette finished with 19 boards, 14 on HC misses.
Andrew Brown led Lafayette with 26 points, hitting 8 treys (on 12 tries). Matt Betley closed his career with 12 points for the 'Pards. No other Lafayette player made more than one field goal. Take away Brown and Betley's combined 14 for 23 shooting and the rest of the leopards went 3 for 25 (12 percent) from the field.
Box score | Telegram & Gazette | Boston Globe | Boston Herald | Express-Times
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(Originally posted Wed. at 9:36 p.m., updated with links at 8:37 a.m.)
Bison have little trouble dispatching Navy in the first round.By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Donald Brown hadn't played a game in nearly a month. The way he played Wednesday night against Navy, you'd never have guessed it.
Showing very few signs of any rust from his 28-day exile due to a broken hand, Brown picked right up where he left off, playing like the first team all-league pick he should have been to help Bucknell to a 62-43 first round Patriot League tournament win over Navy.
There was no easing Brown back into the rotation by Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. The only concession to Brown's having missed the last seven games was that he came off the bench instead of starting. Once he checked in at the 16:54 mark of the first half, to a loud ovation from the 3,049 fans in Sojka Pavilion, Brown went right to work.
Any questions about how he might feel about contact were answered about a minute later when he set a bone-jarring backcourt screen on Navy's Chris Harris. Seconds later he made a nice baseline move for a dunk that was wiped off because of a foul on Adam teague before the shot, but Brown's presence was established.
Brown's first bucket in over 30 days came at the 14:31 mark on a little runner in the lane. By halftime he scored three more. By the end of the game, Brown had put in 15 points, snared a game-high 9 rebounds, blocked two shots and made two steals in a 27-minute stint.
"The way Donald was playing, it was a no-brainer," said Flannery, when asked about the extended minutes after the long layoff. "Donald certainly gave us a big spark."
That was evident during the 18-2 Bucknell run at the end of the half that basically put the game away. During that stretch, which came over the final 6:32 of the half, Brown scored 4 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, blocked a shot, made a steal and also had an assist on a John Griffin three-pointer.
"He is a great player. Obviously he had a huge impact on the game," said Navy coach Billy Lange.
It was vintage Brown, skying for rebounds, chasing down loose balls, pogoing around the basket for putbacks. The only sign of the layoff came when he bricked a free throw off the side of the glass, not even hitting the rim. By the end of the game, though, he showed the hand was not affecting his touch, draining a foul line jumper and hitting one of two at the line late in the game.
"I was just so excited to be be out there," said Brown, who gave the crowd a scare when he banged the hand hard off the press row table while blocking a Navy shot from deep in the left corner, just after he had removed the protective pad he was wearing on the back of his hand.
"I hit it pretty hard, but it didn't bother me. I guess the bone is healed. It's a good sign," said Brown.
For Bucknell, yes. For the rest of the league, definitely not. During Brown's absence the Bison won all seven games they played, extending their win streak to 12 in a row. And Brown was not the only star in the Bison's 13th straight victory, their longest win streak since 1919.
Chris McNaughton, who was not denied a first team all-league berth when the voting was announced Monday, was not easily denied going to the bucket against Navy. McNaughton was 5 for 9 from the field, at least two of his misses coming when he was blatantly fouled but got no whistle. McNaughton finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Jason Vegotsky, who hit a pair of threes to open the game, also reached double figures for the Bison, finishing with 10 points. Abe Badmus came up a point shy of double figures, scoring 9 while dishing out 5 assists and making 4 steals.
"We happened to run into a team that is playing very well," said Lange. "Our game plan kind of fell apart for us a little bit."
Of course for Navy, the game plan always includes plenty of three-pointers. When they don't fall, it never bodes well for the Mids, and in the first half against Bucknell, only two of 16 found the bottom of the arc. During Bucknell's decisive run, Navy went the entire 6:38 without a field goal, its lone points coming on a pair of free throws by Kaleo Kina (12 points) with 35 seconds to go in the half. During that span, the Mids were 0 for 6 from the field, five of the misses coming from the arc. They also had five of their 21 turnovers in that stretch.
"We contested them We went out and contested. Every shot is not going to go in when you do that," said Flannery.
Matter of fact, for Navy, two of every three they took refused to fall. The Mids hit 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) in the first half, 16 of 48 in the game. Navy was 7 of 26 from the arc, three of those in a breif second half flurry that cut Bucknell's lead from 27 to 16 points with 9:48 to play.The Mids would get no closer.
Bucknell stays home for the second round, hosting Army, which upset Lehigh 47-46 on a last second buzzer beater in Bethlehem. Sunday's game will have a 3:30 p.m. start.
Box score | Postgame audio (Lange, Kina, Flannery, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Sun-Gazette | Daily Item
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Bison have little trouble dispatching Navy in the first round.By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Donald Brown hadn't played a game in nearly a month. The way he played Wednesday night against Navy, you'd never have guessed it.
Showing very few signs of any rust from his 28-day exile due to a broken hand, Brown picked right up where he left off, playing like the first team all-league pick he should have been to help Bucknell to a 62-43 first round Patriot League tournament win over Navy.
There was no easing Brown back into the rotation by Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. The only concession to Brown's having missed the last seven games was that he came off the bench instead of starting. Once he checked in at the 16:54 mark of the first half, to a loud ovation from the 3,049 fans in Sojka Pavilion, Brown went right to work.
Any questions about how he might feel about contact were answered about a minute later when he set a bone-jarring backcourt screen on Navy's Chris Harris. Seconds later he made a nice baseline move for a dunk that was wiped off because of a foul on Adam teague before the shot, but Brown's presence was established.
Brown's first bucket in over 30 days came at the 14:31 mark on a little runner in the lane. By halftime he scored three more. By the end of the game, Brown had put in 15 points, snared a game-high 9 rebounds, blocked two shots and made two steals in a 27-minute stint.
"The way Donald was playing, it was a no-brainer," said Flannery, when asked about the extended minutes after the long layoff. "Donald certainly gave us a big spark."
That was evident during the 18-2 Bucknell run at the end of the half that basically put the game away. During that stretch, which came over the final 6:32 of the half, Brown scored 4 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, blocked a shot, made a steal and also had an assist on a John Griffin three-pointer.
"He is a great player. Obviously he had a huge impact on the game," said Navy coach Billy Lange.
It was vintage Brown, skying for rebounds, chasing down loose balls, pogoing around the basket for putbacks. The only sign of the layoff came when he bricked a free throw off the side of the glass, not even hitting the rim. By the end of the game, though, he showed the hand was not affecting his touch, draining a foul line jumper and hitting one of two at the line late in the game.
"I was just so excited to be be out there," said Brown, who gave the crowd a scare when he banged the hand hard off the press row table while blocking a Navy shot from deep in the left corner, just after he had removed the protective pad he was wearing on the back of his hand.
"I hit it pretty hard, but it didn't bother me. I guess the bone is healed. It's a good sign," said Brown.
For Bucknell, yes. For the rest of the league, definitely not. During Brown's absence the Bison won all seven games they played, extending their win streak to 12 in a row. And Brown was not the only star in the Bison's 13th straight victory, their longest win streak since 1919.
Chris McNaughton, who was not denied a first team all-league berth when the voting was announced Monday, was not easily denied going to the bucket against Navy. McNaughton was 5 for 9 from the field, at least two of his misses coming when he was blatantly fouled but got no whistle. McNaughton finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Jason Vegotsky, who hit a pair of threes to open the game, also reached double figures for the Bison, finishing with 10 points. Abe Badmus came up a point shy of double figures, scoring 9 while dishing out 5 assists and making 4 steals.
"We happened to run into a team that is playing very well," said Lange. "Our game plan kind of fell apart for us a little bit."
Of course for Navy, the game plan always includes plenty of three-pointers. When they don't fall, it never bodes well for the Mids, and in the first half against Bucknell, only two of 16 found the bottom of the arc. During Bucknell's decisive run, Navy went the entire 6:38 without a field goal, its lone points coming on a pair of free throws by Kaleo Kina (12 points) with 35 seconds to go in the half. During that span, the Mids were 0 for 6 from the field, five of the misses coming from the arc. They also had five of their 21 turnovers in that stretch.
"We contested them We went out and contested. Every shot is not going to go in when you do that," said Flannery.
Matter of fact, for Navy, two of every three they took refused to fall. The Mids hit 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) in the first half, 16 of 48 in the game. Navy was 7 of 26 from the arc, three of those in a breif second half flurry that cut Bucknell's lead from 27 to 16 points with 9:48 to play.The Mids would get no closer.
Bucknell stays home for the second round, hosting Army, which upset Lehigh 47-46 on a last second buzzer beater in Bethlehem. Sunday's game will have a 3:30 p.m. start.
Box score | Postgame audio (Lange, Kina, Flannery, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Sun-Gazette | Daily Item
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It remains to be seen who actually gets the better end of this one, but American advaned to a semifinals meeting with top-seed Holy Cross with a 59-44 win over Colgate.
The win gives American (16-13) a long bus ride to Worcester. Colgate (10-19), on the other hand, can get out its golf clubs, which is not a bad alternative when your campus includes a beautiful Robert Trent Jones course.
Then again, unless the Raiders can shoot a heckuva lot straighter than they do with a basketball, Seven Oaks might just be another source of frustration for Colgate, which lived up to its reputation as one of the poorest shooting teams in the nation with its 30 percent performance in front of 924 fans in Bender Arena last night. The Raiders were 15 of 50 from the field, including 1 of 15 from the arc.
Kendall Chones was the only Colgate player to reach double figures, coming off the bench for 12 points. All-league guard Jon Simon ended his career with a 3 for 12 night, connecting just once from the arc in seven tries.
American didn't shoot a lot better in the first half, going 9 for 23 (39.1 percent) from the field while taking a 24-20 halftime lead. But AU shot 48 percent in the second half to finish the night at 21 of 48 (43.8 percent), including 3 of 12 from the arc. The Eagles opened the second half by building a 12-point lead with an 11-3 spurt and Colgate never got closer than 8 the rest of the way.
Andre Ingram led American with 16 points. Arvydas Eitutavicius added 15. Sign of the coming apocalypse: Paulius Joneliunas also reached double figures, finishing with 12 points.
The win was American's sixth straight opening round victory.
Box score | Quotes | Washington Post
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The win gives American (16-13) a long bus ride to Worcester. Colgate (10-19), on the other hand, can get out its golf clubs, which is not a bad alternative when your campus includes a beautiful Robert Trent Jones course.
Then again, unless the Raiders can shoot a heckuva lot straighter than they do with a basketball, Seven Oaks might just be another source of frustration for Colgate, which lived up to its reputation as one of the poorest shooting teams in the nation with its 30 percent performance in front of 924 fans in Bender Arena last night. The Raiders were 15 of 50 from the field, including 1 of 15 from the arc.
Kendall Chones was the only Colgate player to reach double figures, coming off the bench for 12 points. All-league guard Jon Simon ended his career with a 3 for 12 night, connecting just once from the arc in seven tries.
American didn't shoot a lot better in the first half, going 9 for 23 (39.1 percent) from the field while taking a 24-20 halftime lead. But AU shot 48 percent in the second half to finish the night at 21 of 48 (43.8 percent), including 3 of 12 from the arc. The Eagles opened the second half by building a 12-point lead with an 11-3 spurt and Colgate never got closer than 8 the rest of the way.
Andre Ingram led American with 16 points. Arvydas Eitutavicius added 15. Sign of the coming apocalypse: Paulius Joneliunas also reached double figures, finishing with 12 points.
The win was American's sixth straight opening round victory.
Box score | Quotes | Washington Post
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Interpret that headline how you please. To Lehigh fans and officials and the media covering the game, Josh Miller's game-winner came after the buzzer. Officially, it came late in the game. Either way, it gave Army a 47-46 upset win over the hard-luck Mountain Hawks.
Be clear about one thing: Lehigh didn't deserve to win. Not after shooting 29.1 percent from the field (16 of 55). Not after going 1 for 12 from the three-point arc and 13 for 21 from the free throw line. Even a slight improvement from horrid to mediocre would have given the Hawks the extra two points it needed to advance to the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Lehigh's best player, first team all-league pick Jose Olivero, was 2 for 13 from the field, and missed 4 of his 11 free throws.
But if the reports from media at the game are accurate, and the three guys whose stories are linked below are all top-notch, sixth-seeded Army didn't deserve to win, either. Reports indicate the PL All-Access video of the game clearly showed Miller's runner was still in his hands when the red lights in the backboard came on.
The officials ran straight off the court after the shot and did not check a video monitor at the scorers table.
This was the first Lehigh home game all season that was not carried by the local cable company. It is unclear whether rules allow using Internet video shot by the home team for reviews, though Lehigh folks argue the rules state any "electronic" video available.
Immediately after the game, Lehigh prepared a DVD to ship to Mickey Crowley, the league's supervisor of officials, in hopes of overturning the outcome, though that appears unlikely.
Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, who usually is very calm even when an end of the game call does not go the Hawks' way, reportedly sprinted after the officials as they left the court, presumably hoping to get them to look at the Webcast video.
Taylor told reporters:
Cleveland Richards led Army with 12 points. Jarrell Brown added 11 and Matt Bell 10 for the Black Knights (15-15), who barring an unexpected overturn of the outcome, will be at No. 2 Bucknell for a Sunday afternoon semifinal.
Like Lehigh, Army also had its chances to avoid the close finish. The Black Knights were just 6 of 13 from the foul line and hit just 19 of 55 from the field (34.5 percent), including 3 of 14 from the arc.
Senior center Jason Mgebroff, who missed most of the conference schedule due to stress fractures in his leg, added 11 points for Lehigh, which ends its season with four straight losses. League Rookie of the year Marquis Hall has 9 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Bryan White led all rebounders with 12.
A total of 804 fans were on hand to watch what likely was the final game of the careers of Lehigh's four seniors.
Box score |
Morning Call (gamer) | Morning Call (column) | Express-Times
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Be clear about one thing: Lehigh didn't deserve to win. Not after shooting 29.1 percent from the field (16 of 55). Not after going 1 for 12 from the three-point arc and 13 for 21 from the free throw line. Even a slight improvement from horrid to mediocre would have given the Hawks the extra two points it needed to advance to the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Lehigh's best player, first team all-league pick Jose Olivero, was 2 for 13 from the field, and missed 4 of his 11 free throws.
But if the reports from media at the game are accurate, and the three guys whose stories are linked below are all top-notch, sixth-seeded Army didn't deserve to win, either. Reports indicate the PL All-Access video of the game clearly showed Miller's runner was still in his hands when the red lights in the backboard came on.
The officials ran straight off the court after the shot and did not check a video monitor at the scorers table.
This was the first Lehigh home game all season that was not carried by the local cable company. It is unclear whether rules allow using Internet video shot by the home team for reviews, though Lehigh folks argue the rules state any "electronic" video available.
Immediately after the game, Lehigh prepared a DVD to ship to Mickey Crowley, the league's supervisor of officials, in hopes of overturning the outcome, though that appears unlikely.
Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, who usually is very calm even when an end of the game call does not go the Hawks' way, reportedly sprinted after the officials as they left the court, presumably hoping to get them to look at the Webcast video.
Taylor told reporters:
"We have to fight the fight because it was clearly after the light went off, so we are going to continue to fight until they say we can't anymore, and then we'll fight some more."That time might be better spent working on shooting. Although No. 3 seed Lehigh (12-19) finished the season ranked third in the league in scoring, it came into the game shooting 36 percent from the field in its last nine games. Had it managed even that meager performance, there would be no controversy.
Cleveland Richards led Army with 12 points. Jarrell Brown added 11 and Matt Bell 10 for the Black Knights (15-15), who barring an unexpected overturn of the outcome, will be at No. 2 Bucknell for a Sunday afternoon semifinal.
Like Lehigh, Army also had its chances to avoid the close finish. The Black Knights were just 6 of 13 from the foul line and hit just 19 of 55 from the field (34.5 percent), including 3 of 14 from the arc.
Senior center Jason Mgebroff, who missed most of the conference schedule due to stress fractures in his leg, added 11 points for Lehigh, which ends its season with four straight losses. League Rookie of the year Marquis Hall has 9 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Bryan White led all rebounders with 12.
A total of 804 fans were on hand to watch what likely was the final game of the careers of Lehigh's four seniors.
Box score |
Morning Call (gamer) | Morning Call (column) | Express-Times
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