Seattle U off to a slow but smart restart in Division I
ABSENT "SUPER CHIEF," Elgin Baylor, Seattle University nevertheless had its greatest scorer in the house New Year's night to help celebrate the school's return to Division I basketball at Seattle Center.
Johnny O'Brien, who at 5 feet 8 played center from 1951-53 and was the first player in national college basketball to score 1,000 points in a season, surveyed the pregame scene from his courtside seat at KeyArena, reached across half a century and offered up a warning.
"I gotta be careful," he said, smiling, "not to yell 'Go Chieftains!' "
Indeed, there will be some retraining all around, within the program and the city.
These are the politically correct Redhawks, and they play in the badlands of the big time, outside a conference and with a schedule featuring Point Loma Nazarene, Northwest Christian, Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras and Cascade College.
They are more than a generation away from their traditions, in a sports market that has grown up without the experience of a second big-time college hoops outfit.
So? Gotta restart somewhere.
In the debut game at their new/old home gym, Seattle U had down cold some of the expected trappings: acrobatic cheerleaders, goofy mascot, sling-shotted T-shirt prizes, over-amped sound system and a dance team grinding suggestively.
They also scheduled smartly: The opponent Thursday, Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference, was the last Division I team SU played before stepping out of the big time in February, 1980. More important, LMU entered the game 0-14.
In the vernacular of boxing, LMU was the perfect tomato can for a program looking for a place.
The turgid 49-39 win on a holiday night of the New Year's first day was culmination of several years of plotting the launch of the new era.
The 4,835 alums and curiosity seekers -- the upper bowl was screened off -- were subjected to less than breathtaking basketball. The last team that played this disjointedly at the Key was exiled to Oklahoma City, and man, are those Okies irked.
But quality of play was never the point. SU will need a crudely clever student cheering section and a couple of good recruiting and/or academic scandals before being taken seriously in the NCAA world. Until then, the point was simply to be back.
"You know, this is how it was when we played," O'Brien said. "We were an independent school, and we played at the Seattle Center (Arena). It all comes around."
The pants, shots and odds were shorter then. But the atmosphere, in contrast to the campus gym that holds 1,050, felt like it was old school.
"It was a little nerve-racking," said forward Austen Powers, who led SU with 11 points. "We never played in front of this many people before.
"This is the day we've been waiting for all year. It was great to see so many people."
SU coach Joe Callero made sure his players understood the gravity of the moment. They spent the previous night in a hotel, then the team bus drove into the Key's lower dock, just like the NBA's big boys used to.
"The bus would have filled Connolly Center," Callero said, smiling. "I could feel the tension in the players. I think that's why we played like we did the first 20 minutes."
The novelty of the first game in their new home -- the only one this year, followed by a complete home schedule in 2009-10 -- will fade quickly, but what will linger is the fact that the win was the fourth this season over a Division I opponent. It also was over a WCC opponent, the conference SU aspires to join in a few years.
"I think we're a little bit ahead of our goals at this point in the season," reserve guard Drew Harris said of the 8-5 Redhawks. "We're happy with where we are so far."
The school whose history includes NBA players of the 1960s and 1970s such as Baylor, Eddie Miles, John Tresvant, Tom Workman, Clint Richardson and Jawann Oldham, as well as one-time Sonics Plummer Lott, Frank Oleynick and Rod Derline, is on a slow, incremental build that figures to take at least five years to gain serious competitive equality.
But for college basketball fans in Seattle, which is one of the rare metropolitan areas in the country without a second D-I school, the prospect is tantalizing. The idea of a four-school rivalry that includes Washington, Washington State and Gonzaga might go a fair piece to filling the winter void created by the Sonics departure.
Gonzaga's 10-year run in the NCAA Tournament field is what tempts the Zags' Jesuit brethren at Seattle U to fire up the program here. The inspiration was felt Thursday night.
Archbishop Alex J. Brunett, who came out from St. James Cathedral on Capitol Hill to sit courtside, was introduced to a Seattle sportswriter. He immediately launched a theological inquiry vital to the Jesuit canon:
"What's wrong with Gonzaga?" he asked.
Perhaps enough that the current three-game losing streak will tempt the good fathers on First Hill to book the Zags for next year.
(c) 1996-2009 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
OSU men's basketball: Shooting stats aside, Lighty brings court savvy to table
The few seconds it took David Lighty to bounce into an interview yesterday were all that was necessary to show that the shooting percentages behind his name don't seem to be bothering him like they are assorted fans, bloggers and e-mailers.
"I have a short-term memory," he said with a smile.
And an apparent long-term appointment on the floor for the Ohio State men's basketball team, which is undefeated and ranked for the first time in two years in part because of all Lighty does when he isn't missing shots the way he has this season.
The No. 17 Buckeyes play host to Jacksonville tonight in Value City Arena.
"You see David doing things that probably most people don't see, (but) we see them," coach Thad Matta said. "I have great trust in David knowing not only what he's supposed to do but what everybody else is supposed to do.
"There was a segment in practice (Monday) where he literally stopped it and said, 'Look, here's what happened. You should have been here, you should have gone there, and then I would have gone there.' Where most guys just write it off and say, 'Well, I just hope the opponents don't do that,' he has that mentality of correcting it.' "
Lighty was one of the team's four captains last season. He is the only one this season, the only scholarship player left from the team that won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the NCAA championship game two years ago.
Matta appreciates the experience and competitiveness Lighty brings. He has started 50 games, played in 82 and won 65. He has defended four positions and taken an uncounted number (except by the coaches) of charging fouls. He averages more minutes per game than any other Buckeyes player.
What can drive people crazy are his hell-bent forays into crowds and stretches of inconsistent shooting, which doesn't make him the Lone Ranger on this team.
In one five-game stretch last season, for example, Lighty made 3 of 14 three-point attempts; in the next five games, he made 10 of 18. This season, he made 1 of 2 the first game and is 2 of 14 since.
He also missed 4 of 5 free throws Saturday against Butler, putting him under 50 percent from the line for the season.
"My mom always told me practice makes perfect, so just keep practicing and they're going to fall for me eventually," he said with another smile.
"I really don't let things get to me or rattle me too much. I guess I kind of learned that from experience, from watching Mike (Conley Jr.) out there, and Jamar (Butler). (Just because) my shot's not falling, I'm not going to let that affect the rest of my game."
Lighty, playing mostly power forward this season, has increased his rebounding and had eight, one off his career high, against Butler. He also has looked to score more, closer to the basket, as the Buckeyes search for a consistent second option behind Evan Turner. Two-thirds of Lighty's shots the past two games have been inside the three-point arc.
Ohio State is averaging 64 points and shooting 42.5 percent from the field, the lowest in Matta's five seasons. Thanks to its defense, though, opponents are faring far worse.
"We're getting good looks and good shots. Sometimes they're just not falling for us," Lighty said. "We've just got to keep shooting and keep working hard. It's going to come. I don't think we're getting frustrated or anything by it."
(c) THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH.
Texas puts a 7-0 record on line against Ole Miss
Gail Goestenkors knows what it takes to build a championship program.
In 15 seasons as women's basketball coach at Duke University, Goestenkors transformed a program that had only one 20-plus win season in its first 17 seasons into a national power.
It took Goestenkors three seasons to win more than 20 games in a season (22-9 in 1994-95) and to help the Lady Blue Devils advance to the NCAA tournament.
Twelve consecutive NCAA tournament appearances followed, along with two trips to the national title game (1999, 2006), four Final Fours, seven Elite Eights, nine Sweet 16s, eight Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles, and five ACC Championship tournament crowns.
Now the two-time Naismith National Coach of the Year (2003, '07) will see if she can revitalize a program that knows what it is like to be a champion.
If this season is any indication, Goestenkors is already well on her way as the coach of the Texas Lady Longhorns.
No. 9 Texas will bring a 7-0 record to Oxford on Sunday when it takes on Ole Miss (7-0) at 2 p.m. at Tad Smith Coliseum.
Sharing and balance have been keys to the Longhorns' success. Eleven players average 13.8 minutes per game or more, and three - Brittainey Raven (17.3 points per game), Kathleen Rush (13.3), and Erika Arriaran (11.4) - average double figures.
More importantly, Texas is averaging 19.1 assists per game, which is sixth nationally.
"That is one of the stats I always emphasize," Goestenkors said of assists. "To me that epitomizes team. I feel like we're doing a great job looking for and finding each other, which are things we did not always do last year when we were learning and growing."
Goestenkors was hired April 5, 2007, to replace Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Jody Conradt as women's basketball coach at the University of Texas.
Playing without Arriaran, who suffered a season-ending knee injury midway through the 2006-07 season, Texas rebounded from losing six of seven games in January and February 2007 to win five games in a row down the stretch to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Returning to the NCAA tournament was significant because the Longhorns had missed the tournament the previous two seasons.
Goestenkors said her decision to leave Duke for Texas was based on the desire for a new challenge and a new adventure. She said Texas' history (Conradt led the program to a 34-0 record and a national title in 1986), athletic facilities, and great coaches, like football coach Mack Brown and men's basketball coach Rick Barnes, made the job even more appealing.
"They have such a great and rich tradition, but Jody said she was ready to retire and these players had not been to an NCAA tournament, so they had forgotten what it was all about and what being at Texas was supposed to be all about," Goestenkors said. "I think I have helped instill that winning attitude and that expectation that every time we step on the court we should win ballgames, and that we need to walk, talk, and act like champions every day and in every way."
Goestenkors said she grew as a coach last year as she returned to the basics and did a lot of teaching and counseling as she got to know her players.
Senior forward Earnesia Williams said the players banded together at the end of last season to make the push to the NCAA tournament. She said the victories were a byproduct of effort, which she said Goestenkors helped bring out of them by giving players the Hustling Horn award.
Williams said the award isn't a tangible reward but recognition of a player making hustle plays (tipped passes, dives on the floor, rebounds).
"I have got it a couple of times, and whoever gets it is working hard and trying to bring in things for the team," Williams said. "It is all about the team. When (Goestenkors started awarding the Hustling Horn) everybody's intensity and hustle went up."
Williams said that mentality has carried over to this season and is why the Longhorns have been so successful going so deep into their roster.
"Everybody has been contributing in the way we need and the way coach has asked," Williams said. "We are very versatile and can play our whole bench. We are doing very well and are in a great spot."
Goestenkors' goal is to bring the same level of success she achieved at Duke to Texas. She directed the Blue Devils to an unprecedented seven consecutive 30-win seasons from 2000-01 to 2006-07, breaking the mark Duke held with Louisiana Tech.
In these seven years, Duke ranked No. 2 nationally in Division I victories (220) behind only Connecticut (228).
Goestenkors also had national top-five recruiting classes from 1999-2005 and in 2007.
All of the numbers suggest Goestenkors shouldn't have any problem returning Texas to elite status.
She said that shouldn't be a problem if the players continue to play hard, to play together, and to believe in each other.
"Talk is cheap and actions speak," Goestenkors said. "We had to really recommit ourselves as individuals and as a team and understand how hard and how many sacrifices we need to make to be champion. It has taken some time and it is a work in progress."
(c) The Commercial Dispatch.
Ducks finish season with a tournament run
March 26, 2007
Aaron Brooks punctuated his college career, while Tajuan Porter started his.
The senior and freshman backcourt duo took the surprising Oregon Ducks on a 29-8 season and a run to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament.
"I had fun. It's been a road," Brooks said. "I've grown a lot through these years."
After a season when the Ducks finished 15-18 and ended seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference, the team opened with 15 straight wins. Although they lost their 16th game to Southern California, they responded in the next with a 68-66 victory over top-ranked UCLA at McArthur Court.
They stumbled down the stretch with losses in six of eight games, but the Ducks won their final three heading into the Pac-10 tournament, where they defeated Arizona, California and the Trojans for the tourney championship and an automatic NCAA berth.
Oregon was the only team in the nation this season to defeat three teams in the top 10: UCLA (1), Arizona (10) and Washington State (9). They were ranked No. 10 in the season's final AP poll.
The third-seeded Ducks played their way through Miami of Ohio, Winthrop and UNLV to the round of eight, before being beaten 85-77 by defending national champion Florida on Sunday.
Through it all, there were Brooks and Porter.
Brooks, the Pac-10's scoring leader at 17.7 points per game, was a third-team All-America selection, becoming the Ducks' first All-American since Luke Jackson in 2004. He finished his Oregon career ranked ninth in scoring with 1,521 points.
He is one of only five Oregon players to rank in the school's top 10 in scoring, assists and steals. And in six games this season, Brooks scored to tie or put Oregon ahead in the final minute or overtime.
Porter, at 5-foot-6, set Oregon and Pac-10 records for 3-pointers by a freshman with 110.
In Oregon's 76-72 victory over UNLV in the round of 16, Porter scored 33 points and matched an NCAA regional record with eight 3-pointers. He also had four 3-pointers in the second round against Winthrop, breaking open a close game.
Porter didn't fare so well against Florida, hitting 2-for-10 from beyond the arc, but no one was blaming him.
"He's done such a great job all year long, and like Aaron said, you can't fault him, he's one of the reasons why we got here," coach Ernie Kent said. "He's going to break a lot of records or set a lot of records here at the University of Oregon."
Kent was also a winner this season. After last season, many had questioned whether he'd be around much longer as Oregon's coach.
This season the Ducks quieted those critics.
Although he's been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Michigan job, and there's been speculative talk that new Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny might be interested in Gonzaga coach Mark Few, a good friend, Kent told reporters after Sunday's loss he wants to remain a Duck.
The Ducks, who credit much of their success this season to a preseason playing tour of the Bahamas, will return their starting lineup with the exception of Brooks next season.
Forwards Malik Hairston and Bryce Taylor, and center Maarty Luenen are currently juniors.
"It's just a matter of recruiting, recruiting, recruiting," Kent said. "But we've got a great group coming back."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2006-2007, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Daily Dribble: 2008 NCAA Tournament Projection
March 19th, 2007 ACC, Bracketology, Pac-10, SEC, WAC
By Shawn Siegel
We're only a week through the 2007 Big Dance.. but its never too early to start thinking about next year's Tournament. Here's an early projection of the 2008 NCAA Tournament field:
Big East (8) - Louisville - (DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, UCONN, West Virginia)**
Pac-10 (6) - UCLA - (Arizona, Stanford, USC, Washington, Washington State)
SEC (6) - Kentucky - (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee)
ACC - UNC (5) - (Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, NC State)
Big 12 (4) - Kansas - (Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas)
Big Ten (4) - Ohio State - (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State)
Missouri Valley (3) - SIU - (Bradley, Wichita State)
WAC (3) - New Mexico State - (Fresno, Nevada)
A-10 (2) - GW - (Xavier)
CAA (2) - George Mason - (VCU)
Mountain West (2) - BYU - (San Diego State)
One-Bid Leagues (20)
America East - Vermont
Atlantic Sun - ETSU
Big Sky - Montana
Big South - High Point
Big West - UCSB
Conference USA - Memphis
Horizon - Butler
Ivy - Yale
MAAC - Siena
Mid-Con - Oakland
MAC - Akron
MEAC - Hampton
Northeast - Sacred Heart
Ohio Valley - Eastern Kentucky
Patriot - Bucknell
Southern - Davidson
Southland - Northwestern State
SWAC - MVSU
Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
WCC - Gonzaga
Next: Georgetown, Iowa, Rhode Island, Syracuse, Texas A&M, Utah State
** I had originally omitted Marquette from the list by mistake.
Note: I'll be doing an updated projection later on in the summer once decisions about the NBA Draft are made. (ie, LSU will already have to be changed after the Glen Davis decision). A similar article went online a week or so back, but was lost due to site maintenance. Let me know in the comments section if you agree or disagree with the selections.
Surprise Ole Miss season the beginning
CSTV U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. -- It wasn't a pretty way to end such a beautiful season. Twenty-four turnovers and an 89-68 loss at Clemson awaited Ole Miss in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, but it really is a wonder that type of game didn't happen more often.
Even while winning 21 games and a share of the Southeastern Conference Western Division title, there was a difference between a good Ole Miss team and the one that played Monday, and it can be boiled down to ball control.
"The one stat that allows us to have won 21 games is that fact we value the ball," Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said in postgame after the Clemson loss. "We typically don't turn the ball over which allows us more possessions, and we are in a possessions game."
The job Kennedy has done in his first season at Ole Miss has been talked about enough, and rightfully so, but the fact that he resurrected a program without a group of players to fit his coaching style is even more impressive.
Only Kenny Williams and Eniel Polynice played significant minutes for Kennedy out of his first signing class, meaning the first-year coach was coaching players who were used to a half-court offense, and most importantly, losing.
"If you looked at it statistically without knowing our record, you would think we were a .500 team," Kennedy said. "We aren't a very good field goal-shooting team, which means we aren't good shooters. We get out-rebounded on par. I think defensively we have a lot of issues. We're last in the SEC in blocked shots."
Those areas of concern will be addressed through recruiting. Kennedy pointed to Clemson as an example to build a program.
"If you look at what Oliver (Purnell, Clemson head coach) has done, he's been here for four years and has re-invented his team, and that's what we are going to try to do. We certainly need to get more athletic in a number of positions. We are working on that."
Kennedy and staff signed point guard Chris Warren, forward Zach Graham and center Kevin Cantinol in the early signing period. With guard Trevor Gaskins and forward Wesley Jones committed to sign in the April signing period, the Rebels appear to be on their way to getting a lineup to play the up-tempo style of play Kennedy wants, but it may not end there.
"I'll be recruiting tomorrow," Kennedy said Monday. "I've got 13 (scholarships) available."
Thirteen scholarships is the most a team is allowed to carry in one season, and while Kennedy likely isn't looking to replace everyone on his team, it shows he will do anything to get a team he feels can win championships.
The Rebels lost three seniors in the backcourt group of Todd Abernethy, Bam Doyne and Clarence Sanders. The signing of Warren, Cantinol and Graham replaces those scholarships, but with the commitments of Gaskins and Jones, it means more than likely there will be more players leaving in pursuit of more playing time.
While the scholarship situation remains to be seen, the Rebels in Kennedy's second year have a chance to be more talented than those in his first. The talent level will get a boost as David Huertas, a transfer from 2006 national champion Florida, gains eligibility for the 2007-2008 season. Huertas brings a sweet stoke from behind the arc, but also the size at 6-foot-5 to mix it up under the basket.
Graham was the number-one prospect on the Rebels' recruiting board. The 6-5 forward from Atlanta is rated a three-star prospect and the No. 37 small forward in the country by Rivals.com.
The biggest hole is left by Abernethy. The senior guard who led the SEC in assists his senior season was the steadying hand that was the key in Ole Miss winning the turnover battle. Abernethy was the prototypical point guard in Kennedy's offense, one who could push the ball offensively and provide pressure on defense. Returning senior Brian Smith will have the first crack at taking over for Abernethy, but a player like Warren or even Polynice might handle the duties as well.
The frontcourt will have a trio of seniors next season with Williams, Dwayne Curtis and Jermey Parnell.
Before the season started, Kennedy said one of his goals for the season was changing the culture. While he works on his next goal of making his team more athletic, he knows he has already gotten the hard part out of the way. A team that hadn't won in four seasons now expects to win.
Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved
Reserve March Madness for NCAA graduation rates
Administrators, coaches and fans at Florida A&M University were highly offended that the historically black college was forced to compete against Niagara in what the National Collegiate Athletic Association billed as a first-round game of the annual basketball tournament, but was really a "play-in" game to earn your way to the tourney.
But when Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, released his annual report on the graduation rates of Division IA basketball, FAMU supporters were quite muted in their reactions.
According to Lapchick, FAMU did not graduate a single basketball player who entered as a freshman between 1996 and 1999. If you toss in players who earned their degrees after transferring, arrived from a junior college or earned a degree more than six years after enrollment, the university only graduated 9 percent of its players.
That graduation rate is absolutely pathetic.But don't think FAMU was the greatest offender. Ohio State, which is the top-ranked school in the nation according to the polls, was at the bottom of the list when it came to graduation, with only 10 percent of its players who entered as freshmen graduating.
There are a litany of schools playing in the tournament that have graduation rates so low that if their field goal percentage each game equaled it, the schools would likely just get rid of their basketball programs.
And don't think I'm picking on FAMU and Ohio State. Whatever joy I may have had over my alma mater, Texas A&M University, entering the tournament as a No. 3 seed, its highest ever, dissipated when I read Lapchick's report showing that 15 percent of the school's players graduated.
The NCAA has tried to do something about these terrible stats by revoking scholarships. Among those likely to lose a few because of low scores last year are FAMU, Texas A&M and New Mexico State.
If a basketball coach lost as many games as he did graduating players, the alumni would be calling for his head, and the university president would oblige.
The only real solution to ensure schools do more to graduate players is for the NCAA to ban them from the tournament. Such a move might be considered over the top and too harsh, but what else is there left to do? Clearly losing scholarships isn't doing the trick.
Like it or not, big-time college athletics is now all about making the big money. When you can collect a $10 million check for playing in a Bowl Championship Series football game, and earn millions when your team advances to the Final Four, the last thing you really care about is whether a player is performing in the classroom. The only thing that concerns you is how your team can improve its rebounding, free-throw shooting and defense.
This is not what college is supposed to be about.
The bottom line is simple: Nearly all of the players on the 65 NCAA tourney teams will never see an NBA court. They will need to get regular jobs like the rest of us, and that college degree will be vital to their future.
NCAA officials must do the right thing and tie what happens in the classroom to taking advantage of the riches their Division IA sports have to offer.
If fans of FAMU, Ohio State and Texas A&M, and any of the other schools that are graduation cellar dwellers truly care about their players, how they perform in the classroom should matter more than our NCAA tourney pools.
Roland S. Martin is executive editor of the Chicago Defender. His column is distributed by Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
@ Copyright 2007 The Detroit News. All rights reserved.
|
