Storming The Floor

Auto Bid Watch: Conference Tourney Time

2010-03-14T03:11:49Z

Time for one of my favorite posts of the year. The Auto Bid Watch conference tourney slate. I resolved to make it better this season, and part of that will be that I will not have it run down the whole page. The main page will show tourneys in progress, with team names being struck through when they are eliminated. The full slate will only appear if you click "read more" at the bottom of the post.

I've always made an unholy mess of the html on this little feature in the past. My skills have not improved. But I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to use this spiffy new thing called a "table". I KNOW! Wonders will never cease.

Auto Bids Clenched:

Cornell (Ivy)

East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)

Winthrop (Big South)

Murray State (OVC)

Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley)

Old Dominion (CAA)

Siena (MAAC)

St. Mary's (WCC)

Wofford (SoCon)

North Texas (Sun Belt)

Butler (Horizon)

Oakland (Summit)

Robert Morris (Northeast)

Montana (Big Sky)

Lehigh (Patriot)

Houston (C-USA)

Vermont (AEC)

Morgan State (MEAC)

Sam Houston State (Southland)

Ohio (MAC)

Kansas (Big 12)

Washington (Pac-10)

San Diego State (Mountain West)

Cal-Santa Barbara (Big West)

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC)

West Virginia (Big East)

Tournaments in Progress

Atlantic Coast Conference

SEED	TEAM
#1	Duke
#2	~~Maryland~~
#3	~~Florida State~~
#4	~~Virginia Tech~~
#5	~~Wake Forest~~
#6	~~Clemson~~
#7	Georgia Tech
#8	~~Boston College~~
#9	~~Virginia~~
#10	~~North Carolina~~
#11	~~N.C. State~~
#12	~~Miami~~

Big Ten

SEED	TEAM
#1	Ohio State
#2	~~Purdue~~
#3	~~Michigan State~~
#4	~~Wisconsin~~
#5	~~Illinois~~
#6	Minnesota
#7	~~Northwestern~~
#8	~~Michigan~~
#9	~~Iowa~~
#10	~~Indiana~~
#11	~~Penn State~~

SEC

SEED	TEAM
E1	Kentucky
W1	Mississippi State
E2	~~Vanderbilt~~
W2	~~Ole Miss~~
E3	~~Tennessee~~
W3	~~Arkansas~~
E4	~~Florida~~
W4	~~Alabama~~
E5	~~South Carolina~~
W5	~~Auburn~~
E6	~~Georgia~~
W6	~~LSU~~

Atlantic-10

SEED	TEAM
#1	Temple
#2	~~Xavier~~
#3	Richmond
#4	~~St. Louis~~
#5	~~Rhode Island~~
#6	~~Charlotte~~
#7	~~Dayton~~
#8	~~St. Bonaventure~~
#9	~~Duquesne~~
#10	~~George Washington~~
#11	~~UMass~~
#12	~~St. Joe's~~

WAC

SEED	TEAM
#1	Utah State
#2	~~Nevada~~
#3	~~Idaho~~
#4	~~Boise State~~
#5	New Mexico State
#6	~~Louisiana Tech~~
#7	~~San Jose State~~
#8	~~Fresno State~~
#9	~~Hawaii~~

Great West

No auto-bid, but should make a nice trivia question some day.

SEED	TEAM
#1	SOUTH DAKOTA
#2	~~Houston Baptist~~
#3	~~Utah Valley~~
#4	~~North Dakota~~
#5	~~NJIT~~
#6	~~Chicago State~~
#7	~~Texas Pan-American~~

Rising Stars vs. Retreads in C-USA

2010-03-12T17:53:41Z

Looking at the C-USA bracket, I noticed something that amused me. On one side of the board, Houston and Southern Mississippi meet. On the other, it's UTEP vs. Tulsa.

Yes, Eric. And your point is?

Look at the headline, I telegraphed it!

Houston is coached by Tom Penders. He's 64 years old, and he's coached over 1,000 games, winning over 600 of that total. He was head man at Columbia, Fordham, Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington and now Houston.

Southern Miss is under the wing of Larry Eustachy, who has led Idaho, Utah State, and Iowa State in his more than 30 years on the bench.

Those are the "retreads", as I have so uncharitably named them.

The "rising stars" on the other side have made waves in their relatively short tenures in the league.

Tony Barbee is the most impressive, having led UTEP to a national ranking and #1 seed in the conference tourney in just his fourth year as a head coach at any level. The former UMass player and Memphis assistant is clearly a Coach Cal guy.

Doug Wojick is no slouch himself. Anyone who pays attention knows that Tulsa is the cradle of national championship-winning coaches: the school claims Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Bill Self as former leaders who won the ultimate prize somewhere else. Wojick is a former UNC and Michigan State assistant who managed an 11-17 team in 2005. Now he's at 23-10 and two wins away from an NCAA bid.

Today, it's retread vs. retread, and rising star vs. rising star. Tomorrow, we'll really find out where the future lies in Conference USA.

Reader Fights for Battle

2010-03-11T19:51:02Z

I encouraged people to write and yell at me if I missed someone important in yesterday's season-ending Stat Hounds section. The proprietor of the Penn State blog "Battle does it again" took me up on it:

No love for Talor Battle's 18.8 PPG 5.4 RPG 4.2 APG 1.1 SPG?

Or does he take too many shots for your liking? He averages 15 FGA a game and has a respectable 1.26 PPS.

Just trying to get a guy some love who always gets overshadowed by overrated Kalin Lucas in his own conference.

Not only do we love Battle's stat line, but we revel in the fact that he's part of the growing "Magna Carta" movement, which is what Marco and I call the scroll-on-the-arm tattoo we first noticed on Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts.

SA-LUTE, TALOR BATTLE!

Postseason of Champions: Season Rewind

2010-03-10T17:02:05Z

First, my apologies for letting BofC slide during Championship Week. This is the time of year when the season's worth of work for you, the reader, tends to pay off in work for us, the writers. We'll be appearing on podcasts and websites where smartass is considered an equal virtue to knowledge throughout the tournament season.

However, you have @HoyaSuxa to thank for getting me off my ass, due to this tweet: "@stfhoops Are you guys sleeping this week or just replacing your blood with coffee?" Point taken.

Since folks be gettin' eliminated and shit, today I'm going to attempt a look back at the season in BofC style. This is considerably easier for Categorical Undeniability than it is for Stat Hounds, but an effort shall be made. And, if I miss your favorite all-around threat, you can email me at stormingthefloor@gmail.com and yell at me, and that's always fun.

Anyway...

Stat Hounds

In case you don't remember, this is the category for all-around players. You can't get by jacking up 30 shots and 10 free throws to get your 20 ppg average and end up here.

Evan Turner, F, Ohio State: 19.5 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.9 spg, 0.9 bpg

Greivis Vasquez, F, Maryland: 19.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.3 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.3 bpg

John Wall, G, Kentucky: 16.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 6.1 apg, 1.8 spg, 0.5 bpg

Marquez Haynes, G, Texas-Arlington: 22.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.3 bpg

Jimmer Fredette, G, BYU: 20.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.7 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.1 bpg

Artsiom Parakhouski, C, Radford: 21.4 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.2 bpg

Michael DeLoach, G, Norfolk State: 21.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.2 apg, 2.7 spg, 0.1 bpg

Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard: 16.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.4 apg, 2.5 spg, 1.1 bpg

Omar Samhan, C, St. Mary's: 20.9 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.5 spg, 3.0 bpg

Damian Saunders, F, Duquesne: 15.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.8 spg, 3.0 bpg

Honorable Mention (For Meritorious Service to Transitional DI Visibility)

Tyler Cain, C, South Dakota: 15.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.7 spg, 2.8 bpg

Categorical Undeniability

This is for the guys who are so good at one particular thing that they leave everyone else in the dust night after night.

Points: 25.3 per game - Aubrey Coleman, 6'4" senior guard, Houston

Rebounds: 13.4 per game - Artsiom Parakhouski, 6'11" senior center, Radford

Assists: 7.8 per game - Ronald Moore, 6'0" senior guard, Siena

Blocks: 5.4 per game - Hassan Whiteside, 6'11" freshman center, Marshall

Steals: 2.8 per game - Jay Threatt, 5'11" sophomore guard, Delaware State; Devan Downey, 5'9" senior guard, South Carolina ; Christopher Jones, 6'0" senior guard, Prairie View A&M; Damian Saunders, 6'7" junior forward, Duquesne

Tempo, Schmempo

And, for those of you who despise the kind of per game statistics I just made an entire post out of, here are your tempo-free* winners.

Points per 40 Minutes: 28.8 - 6'10" junior forward Charles Garcia, Seattle

True Shooting %: 71.9 - 6'5" junior guard Tommy Freeman, Ohio

Points per Shot: 1.42 - 6'0" junior guard Kellan Carter, Nicholls State; 6'5" junior guard Tommy Freeman, Ohio

Effective FG %: 77.1 - 6'8" junior forward Dallas Lauderdale, Ohio State

Efficiency per Possession: 0.4501 - 6'11" freshman center DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky

Average Efficiency: 23.6 - 6'7" junior forward Evan Turner, Ohio State

*Really, you need to get something that lazy media guys can grab onto, like that cool saber image the baseball guys have. Nerds never sounded so swashbuckling

Coming up over the next few weeks: the STF Postseason awards, which are always fun.

STF Road Trip: Storming with the Monarchs

2010-03-09T18:35:41Z

With my ODU Monarchs playing for the CAA auto-bid, you knew I would be there. However, I went to the game fully prepared to partake in the (doubtless more intense) storming that would occur if William & Mary won their first NCAA bid ever.

I dragooned local reader Stormy to ride shotgun on the way to Richmond. This is what we saw there.

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This was the outdoor Fan Fest tent. It was chilly, there was a mediocre band playing, and you had to pay for beer.

Stormy was employed in college athletics once upon a time, so he knows plenty of folks who are still in the business. He stopped to say hello to CAA Senior Associate Commissioner Kathleen Batterson, who kindly proffered tickets to the hospitality room, where we were able to get our eat and drink on. My biggest regret from this time is that it took me too long to recognize John Thompson as he walked past me, so I never got a photo of him.

I am a famously bad ticket-buyer. Ticketmaster put us high in the upper deck, which is not good for forty-year-old men. We were winded and couldn't see worth a damn.

Gotta love the W&M offense. Notice just one player inside the arc. They cut to the basket a lot, so there were points in the paint, most notably a monster alley-oop to Danny Sumner, who skyed to slam it down.

You stay classy, VCU fans.

Tribe fans, on the other hand, are a pure delight. They're so old-school, even the younger ones. I especially loved the guys in the corner with the T-R-I-B-E letters.

The CAA was great about storming this year. They basically let it happen, but under their control. Here you can see the first guy to storm the floor to congratulate the Monarchs.

Then, the full storm began.

Stormy's favorite part: high-fiving a complete stranger.

The Finnish flag appears anywhere Gerald Lee does.

The title belt was a nice touch.

Someone slapped up the new championship banner in the Richmond Coliseum right quick.

My favorite part of this photo is the little girl behind me. You're never too young to storm, kids. Or, hopefully, too old.

When a problem comes along, you must storm it.

2010-03-09T15:41:50Z

The MAAC said "NO" to floor storming this year. Siena students were having none of that jive.

Storm, you St. Bernards! STORM!!!

The Academy Award Winning Dean's List

2010-03-08T15:17:23Z

Welcome to this week's Dean's List where everyone is completely freaked about about this air traffic controller who brought his kids to work, but no one is asking the important question - How did the kids do? No planes crash so maybe Dad should bring them to work more often.

Honor Roll
Duke spanks UNC, 82-50. Coach K's lower lip quivers. Jon Sheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith outscore the Tar Heels by 15. Roy Williams' blood pressure spikes. Brian Zoubek dominates the boards. My aunt Nancy throws the remote in disgust. My uncle Sig shoots his first hook shot in a decade. He pulls his back. But Duke beats Carolina at home for the first time , so he's still happy.

Happy trails to Rick Scruggs. After 15 seasons at Gardner Webb and a 199-218 record, the ol' coach is being put out to pasture. A 5-13 recordin the Big South this season just didn't cut it in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, anymore. How the tides change. Just two years ago, Scruggs was the toast of the town, having led the Runnin' Bulldogs to an early season 84-68 victory over Kentucky in Rupp Arena.

No barn has ever burned down in such a glorious fashion as Freedom Hall did on Saturday afternoon. Louisville played its last game in the arena that's been home for 54 years, beating Syracuse 78-68 thanks to an unlikely 22-point performance by little used guard Kyle Kuric. Freedom Hall was originally designed to host the Kentucky State Fair World's Championship Horse Show, but has since hosted six national championship games and 682 Louisville victories. The Cardinals are moving to a new court, closer to campus, but Freedom Hall isn't actually being torn down. It will still host the North American International Livestock Exposition every November.

A bad year for the Pac-10 is a good year for Cal. The Bears beat Stanford 71-61 on Saturday to win their first outright conference title in 50 years and most likely earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. This is a team that is 0-2 against top 25 competition and has lost to Oregon State and UCLA. But if Cal proves one thing, it is that you are only as bad as your immediate company.

Detention
Who needs handshakes? Certainly not Siena coach Fran McCaffery. For the second time in his coaching career, he sent his starters to the locker room before the final handshake to avoid a post-game incident. At the end of a chippy 78-61 victory over Manhattan in the MAAC quarterfinals, McCaffery had his best players flee the bench so that they didn't have to exchange pleasantries with the opposition. Two years ago, the coach employed the same tactics in a game against Holy Cross. And, as you can imagine, the Manhattan players were unamused with his coaching tactics. "I think he tried to show us in a certain light, as if we weren't good sportsmen," Manhattan senior Brandon Adams said.

Don't bad tweet your coach. Idaho's second leading scorer Kashif Watson has been suspended after he took to Twitter to disparage coach Don Verlin's will to win. "Wow just don't gett this guys mind set, it's like some times he don't wanna win that bad!!" tweeted Watson. Forget about his grammar and spelling, Watson needs to think before he tweets. Did he not think that coach was going to read his twitter feed? Or did he just not care?

Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg was doing so well on the basketball court that he forgot about the whole going to class thing. The Cavs leading scorer was suspended for the rest of the season after failing to live up to his coach's academic standards. Of course, why go to class when you can go to the NBA, as Landesberg is expected to do after this season? Because an professional basketball career is a terrible thing to waste.

Finally, the Renardo Sidney saga is over. The NCAA was kind enough to make the kid wait for almost the entire regular season just to tell him he had give up $12K and sit out the remainder of this season and nine games next season if he wants the privilege of playing college basketball at Mississippi State. So what are the major crimes that Sidney has committed? He received preferential treatment and improper benefits because of his talent. Specifically, he can't remember details of a trip he took as a ninth grader five years ago. Just another wise decision by the NCAA.

Dean's List Sleepers
UTEP - The Miners have Caracter, Derrick Caracter. The tubby Louisville transfer dunked with one second left to propel UTEP to a Conference USA regular season championship.

Cornell - The Big Red almost beat Kansas and have the experience, skill and size to prove once and for all that smart guys don't always finish last.

Murray State - The Racers finished 17-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and have lost once since December 22nd.

Covering The Great West: Awards!

2010-03-08T03:27:36Z

Before we get to the awards, it should be noted that the seedings are set for the first Great West Conference postseason basketball tournament, which begins Wednesday in Orem, Utah:

(Update: Well, those were horribly wrong. I got the standings from ESPN.com, so chances are I read them wrong. The correct pairings for the first round are below.)

#1 South Dakota - BYE
#2 Houston Baptist vs. #7 Chicago State
#3 North Dakota vs. #6 NJIT
#4 Utah Valley vs. #5 Texas-Pan American

Now, let's give out some hardware! WOOOOOOO! (As always, feel free to agree or disagree with any of these.)

(Any time a statistic is listed with a number in parentheses next to it - for example, Tyler Cain's rebounding average - that number indicates where that stat falls in the national rankings.)

12th Man
Ben Daniels, Houston Baptist (71 minutes in 15 games, 4.7 minutes/game)
Alex Roberts, Chicago State (74 minutes in 22 games, 3.4 minutes/game)

As suggested last week, we have two winners for the 12th Man Award. Daniels appeared in exactly half of Houston Baptist's games this season, getting onto the floor for an average of 4.7 minutes every time he appeared. Roberts saw more action, playing in seven more games, but had just three more total minutes for an average of just 3.4. Given those circumstances, I thought both men deserved recognition.

All-Defensive Team
Tyler Cain, South Dakota - 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 3 blocks
Michael Moss, Houston Baptist - 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 steals
Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist - 9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks
Carl Montgomery, Chicago State - 8.6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1.1 blocks
Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley - 5 rebounds, 1.4 steals

Defensive Player of the Year
Tyler Cain, South Dakota - 10.2 rebounds (20th), 1.5 steals, 3 blocks (15th)
Cain had the top four single-game shot blocking performances in the Great West this season (8, 8, 7, and 6), the third-best single game steals total (5), and five games with 15 or more rebounds.

Freshman of the Year
Chris Flores, NJIT

All-Freshman Team
Jake Thomas, South Dakota
Chris Flores, NJIT
Jared Maree, Texas-Pan American
P.J. Miller, NJIT
Aaron Urbanus, Texas-Pan American

Sophomore of the Year
Isaiah Wilkerson, NJIT

All-Sophomore Team
Isaiah Wilkerson, NJIT
Louie Krogman, South Dakota
Nick Weiermiller, Texas-Pan American
Patrick Mitchell, North Dakota
Kabangu Tshinga Kasamba, Chicago State

Junior of the Year
Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist

All-Junior Team
Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist
Carl Montgomery, Chicago State
Jheryl Wilson, NJIT
Christian Wall, Chicago State
Michael Moss, Houston Baptist

Senior of the Year
Tyler Cain, South Dakota

All-Senior Team
Tyler Cain, South Dakota
Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist
Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley
Roman Gentry, South Dakota
Travis Bledsoe, North Dakota

All-Conference Third Team
Chris Flores, NJIT - 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.9 steals
Travis Mertens, North Dakota - 10.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals
Jake Thomas, South Dakota - 12.9 points, 4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.2 steals
Michael Moss, Houston Baptist - 5.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2.4 steals
Travis Bledsoe, North Dakota - 15.3 points, 2 rebounds, 1.8 assists

All-Conference Second Team
Jordan Swarbrick, Utah Valley - 12.7 points, 5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.4 steals
Isaiah Wilkerson, NJIT - 13.2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.3 steals
Wendell Preadom, Houston Baptist - 13.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals
Roman Gentry, South Dakota - 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.1 steals
Christian Wall, Chicago State - 12.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 steals

All-Conference First Team
Tyler Cain, South Dakota - 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, 3.0 blocks
Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist - 13.8 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.5 blocks
Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist - 18.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists
Carl Montgomery, Chicago State - 13.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1.1 blocks
Jheryl Wilson, NJIT - 14.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1 steal

All-Offensive Team
Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist - 18.8 points (t-52nd)
Tyler Cain, South Dakota - 15.2 points, 66.2% field goal (8th)
Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist - 13.8 points, 53.7% field goal
Travis Bledsoe, North Dakota - 15.3 points, 50.4% field goal, 44.1% 3-point (53rd)
Jheryl Wilson, NJIT - 14.7 points

Offensive Player of the Year
Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist - 18.8 points (t-52nd)
Gonzalez had fourteen 20-point games this season, ten of them in conference play. He scored 30 or more four times, including three in the season's final five games, and played a conference-high 981 minutes to lead Houston Baptist to a second-place regular season finish.

Player of the Year
Tyler Cain, South Dakota - 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, 3 blocks
Cain had twelve double-doubles this season. His last one was possibly the conference's performance of the season - 34 points, 17 rebounds, 5 steals, and 7 blocks against Texas-Pan American last Thursday. His main competition came from Andrew Gonzalez and Mario Flaherty of Houston Baptist, and I have to admit that the head-to-head aspect of that competition gave me pause: Cain didn't play terribly in two games against the Huskies (19 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 9 blocks), but both Gonzalez (58 points, 19 rebounds) and Flaherty (32 points, 39 rebounds, 6 blocks) were outstanding in those two games.

If the season had lasted another month or so, who knows what would have happened. Gonzalez played out of his mind near the end of the year; maybe another 8-10 games would have vaulted him into the lead. Maybe. The important thing to remember is that Gonzalez was an exceptional scorer and rebounder; Cain scored, rebounded, passed, stole, and blocked, all season long.

	Chicago State	Houston Baptist	NJIT	North Dakota	South Dakota	Texas-Pan American	Utah Valley
Points	27 (Carl Montgomery)	32 (Andrew Gonzalez)	27 (Jheryl Wilson)	33 (Patrick Mitchell)	34 (Tyler Cain)	25 (Nick Weiermiller, Aaron Urbanus)	30 (Jordan Swarbrick)
Rebounds	17 (Carl Montgomery)	20 (Mario Flaherty)	13 (Isaiah Wilkerson)	12 (Travis Mertens)	17 (Tyler Cain)	14 (Matt Mierzycki)	15 (Jourdain Scoubes)
Assists	6 (Christian Wall)	10 (Michael Moss)	8 (P.J. Miller)	5 (4 players)	14 (Kendall Cutler)	8 (Nick Weiermiller)	7 (Corey Claitt)
Steals	4 (3 players)	7 (Michael Moss)	7 (Isaiah Wilkerson)	4 (Travis Mertens)	5 (Tyler Cain)	4 (3 players)	5 (Jordan Swarbrick)
Blocks	3 (Carl Montgomery)	6 (Mario Flaherty)	4 (Sean McCarthy, Ryan Regis)	4 (Patrick Mitchell)	8 (Tyler Cain)	3 (Luis Valera)	5 (Justin Baker)

The God Shammgod Award Finals

2010-03-04T20:37:49Z

It's all over, and one player has led the God Shammgod totals from wire to wire. It's the Stormin' Mormon Jimmer Fredette! Jimmer is the first-ever recipient of the God Shammgod Trophy, which is being held in a secure location due to its great value and gooey chocolate center.

Here are the final standings for the top four:

1. Jimmer Fredette, G, Brigham Young: ANT rating 48.9

2. Magnum Rolle, C, Louisiana Tech: ANT rating 42.4

3. Osiris Eldridge, G, Illinois State: ANT rating 36.2

4. Tiny Gallon, F, Oklahoma: ANT rating 34.3

So, there you have it, a historic moment. If anyone out there knows how to make a realistic-looking trophy, drop us a line at stormingthefloor@gmail.com

Breakfast of Champions 3/4/2010

2010-03-04T14:36:13Z

C'mon, smell the conference tournaments! Smells like deep-fried heaven.

Scores

Maryland 79 - Duke 72

Terps fans loved this win so much, they threw a good old-fashioned riot. Not sure why they felt compelled to turn a good thing into a bad thing, but c'est la College Park, as they say in France. Storming the town is outside our jurisdiction, so don't expect a ruling.

Kansas 82 - Kansas State 65

In a way, it's too bad this got out of hand late, because it was a real battle-royale for thirty minutes. Sherron Collins went out in style. So, likely, did Cole Aldrich and the game's true hero, Xavier Henry, who scored 19.

Kentucky 80 - Georgia 68

Purdue 74 - Indiana 55

New Mexico 73 - TCU 66

Tennessee 80 - Arkansas 73

BYU 71 - Utah 51

Temple 57 - St. Louis 51

Wisconsin 57 - Iowa 40

Notre Dame 58 - UConn 50

Texas A&M 76 - Oklahoma State 61

Florida State 51 - Wake Forest 47

Tournaments

Kennesaw State 72 - Lipscomb 69 (Atlantic Sun Tourney)

The Owls pulled the 8-over-1 upset. Not only does this keep Tony Ingle's team alive, it clears the way somewhat for one of my adopted mids for this year - the Jacksonville Dolphins. Speaking of which...

Jacksonville 76 - North Florida 69 (Atlantic Sun Tourney)

Lafayette 73 - Colgate 65 (Patriot League Tourney)

Holy Cross 67 - Bucknell 64 (Patriot League Tourney)

Lehigh 64 - Army 45 (Patriot League Tourney)

American 62 - Navy 60 (Patriot League Tourney)

Stat Hounds

Adnan Hodzic (Lipscomb): 29 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks vs. Kennesaw State

Stephen Lumpkins (American): 29 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assists, 0 steals, 1 block vs. Navy

Ricky Harris (UMass): 31 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks @ La Salle

Categorical Undeniability

Points: 31 - Ricky Harris (UMass) @ La Salle

Rebounds: 17 - William Mosley (Northwestern State) vs. Sam Houston State

Assists: 10 - O.J. Avworo (Navy) vs. American

Blocks: 6 - DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky) @ Georgia

Steals: 5 - Melquan Bolding (Duquesne) @ St. Bonaventure; Derwin Kitchen (Florida State) vs. Wake Forest

Covering The Great West: Part 6

2010-03-04T01:13:21Z

Wow, It's Almost Time To Actually Name The Player Of The Year

I thought about busting out the All-Conference awards this week, but with nine games remaining on the schedule, it just felt a tad too soon. Next week, though, in between the end of the regular season and the start of the conference tournament? We gonna hand out some hardware!

3. Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist (LW: 3) - Flaherty's 20-16 effort against Texas-Pan American last weekend was his tenth double-double of the season and his second 15-15 game. He has eleven games with ten or more rebounds, and as far as I can tell, he's the only Great West player to pull down ten offensive rebounds in a game this season.

2. Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist (LW: 2) - With twelve games of 20+ points on the season, Gonzalez is to scoring what Flaherty is to rebounding for the Huskies. At 44%, he doesn't shoot well, but I for one am excited at the prospect of next season: with Flaherty and Wendell Preadom graduating, Gonzalez will be the team's primary scoring option. I'm putting the over/under at 25 points a night.

1. Tyler Cain, South Dakota (LW: 1) - Cain has eleven double-doubles thus far this season, just one more than Flaherty. Look closely at his game logs, though, and you'll see that on eight other occasions, he came within one or two rebounds of the double-double. And that's not including the 8 and 9 he put up against Texas-Pan American, or the 15 rebounds and 8 blocks he had against Utah Valley. The man is a monster. (This, however, I refuse to believe: in high school, he set a school record with 24 blocked shots in a single game.)

Honorable mention: Carl Montgomery, Jheryl Wilson, Isaiah Wilkerson, Jordan Swarbrick

We Now Present The Contenders For The Vaunted 12th Man Award

This week, I eliminated anyone with more than 100 minutes, leaving just five contenders going into the season's final week. The big question at this point is how to address the issue of total minutes vs. minutes per game. Ben Daniels and Dustin Tetzlaff have fewer total minutes than anyone else on the list. When it comes to the latter category, however, Roberts is clearly the most deserving of a fictional award, with an average of just 3.7 minutes per game.

5. Mike Mathison, North Dakota - 97 minutes in 15 games (28 team games)
4. Mitch Wilmer, North Dakota - 91 minutes in 16 games (28 team games)
3. Alex Roberts, Chicago State - 74 minutes in 20 games (29 team games)
2. Ben Daniels, Houston Baptist - 70 minutes in 14 games (28 team games)
1. Dustin Tetzlaff, South Dakota - 65 minutes in 13 games (26 team games)

Game of the Week

South Dakota 77, Chicago State 73 (Saturday) - In this game, Cain became the second South Dakota player with 1,000 career rebounds. Carl Montgomery had 17 and 13 for the Cougars, who have just one senior and should be a force to reckon with next season. Montgomery and Christian Wall could be Mario Flaherty and Andrew Gonzalez Redux, with Jonathan Montgomery playing the role of Wendell Preadom.

Upcoming Schedule

How's this for some excitement at the finish? Thanks to the rescheduled NJIT game, South Dakota gets to play three games in four days heading into the conference tournament. Said tournament starts on Wednesday, but you and I both know the Yotes would like that first round bye and an extra day of rest. They can assure themselves of that with a win over Houston Baptist on Saturday. The Huskies get a tough run of their own at the end, making the trip up to the Dakotas for the Thursday-Saturday matchups.

Wednesday, March 3
Chicago State @ Northwestern

Thursday, March 4
Houston Baptist @ North Dakota
Texas-Pan American @ South Dakota
NJIT @ Utah Valley

Saturday, March 6
NJIT @ Chicago State
Texas-Pan American @ North Dakota
Seattle @ Utah Valley
Houston Baptist @ South Dakota

Sunday, March 7
NJIT @ South Dakota

Great West Standings (through games of Tuesday, March 2)

Current Standings
South Dakota: 17-9 (8-1)
Houston Baptist: 9-19 (8-2)
North Dakota: 8-20 (5-5)
NJIT: 9-17 (4-5)
Utah Valley: 11-16 (4-7)
Texas-Pan American: 4-25 (3-7)
Chicago State: 8-21 (3-8)

Tournament Projections
#1 South Dakota - BYE
#2 Houston Baptist vs. #7 Chicago State
#3 North Dakota vs. #6 Texas-Pan American
#4 NJIT vs. #5 Utah Valley

	Single-Game High	Season Leader	Conference Leaders
Points	33 (Patrick Mitchell, North Dakota)	17.8 (Andrew Gonzalez, Houston Baptist)	21.1 (Travis Bledsoe, North Dakota)
Rebounds	20 (Mario Flaherty, Houston Baptist)	9.9 (Tyler Cain, South Dakota)	11.1 (Tyler Cain, South Dakota)
Assists	14 (Kendall Cutler, South Dakota)	4.4 (Kendall Cutler, South Dakota)	4.3 (Michael Moss, Houston Baptist)
Steals	7 (Isaiah Wilkerson, NJIT; Michael Moss, Houston Baptist)	2.3 (Michael Moss, Houston Baptist)	3.3 (Michael Moss, Houston Baptist)
Blocks	8 (Tyler Cain, South Dakota)	2.9 (Tyler Cain, South Dakota)	3.8 (Tyler Cain, South Dakota)

STF Book Club: I Don't Mind Hitting Bottom, I Just Hate Dragging

2010-03-03T22:30:09Z

In honor of Tony Ingle and his Kennesaw State Owls, who just pulled a #8 over #1 upset in the Atlantic Sun tourney, beating Lipscomb 72-69, I'm reposting the book review I did in this season's infancy. Read it, and you'll discover that this is all going according to Ingle's plan.

I'll be honest here. When Kyle Whelliston told me he was going to write a book about Tony Ingle, I had to do a quick google search to find out who the heck he was talking about. I learned that he's the head coach of relatively new DI entrant the Kennesaw State Owls. Coach Ingle won a DII national championship with the Owls a few years back, and was once the interim head coach of the BYU Cougars.

That's the straight biography, but it doesn't tell you one thing about the man or why you should want to read a book about him. I'm here to handle the latter part.

Reasons to read this book:

1. It's a story of triumph over adversity.

I hear you, out there, groaning "Ohhh, no. Not triumph over adversity! I already have the Lifetime Network!" I am as resistant to being uplifted through emotional manipulation as the next guy, maybe more so. But nothing like that happens here. Tony Ingle relates his dirt-poor upbringing in Georgia with unflinching detail. He's brutally honest about the emotional scars caused by a childhood facial deformity that kept him from the symmetrical ideal. Unlike just about anyone else who has ever related his own story, he's honest about throwing himself pity-parties, mistakes he made, and selfish thoughts he had to battle. The triumph takes a long-ass time to arrive. It's unadulterated reality.

2. It's damn funny.

If the previous paragraph made you want to slit your wrists, hold up there, sonny! All of the ups and downs of Tony Ingle's life are told in his own voice, with an inimitable self-deprecating style that makes the chapters fly by. I turned down page corners every time I laughed out loud at an Ingleism, then went back and copied out some of my favorites for you:

Referencing his high school successes in Georgia: "It was just like the movie Hoosiers, but with thicker accents."

"The morning after we lost by one point to Brewton Parker in the regional championship game, I was as low as the dry part of a whale turd."

Ref: "OK, Coach, what's your question?" Tony: "Sir, are you using a flathead or a Phillips?"

On landing Shawn Bradley: "(W)e were all jumping up and down, laughing and hugging. We celebrated in the great Mormon tradition - by ordering a round of milkshakes."

Then there's this joke, told to Ingle in the midst of a horrible winless streak as interim head coach at BYU:

Israel Ingle: Hey, daddy, knock-knock!

Tony Ingle: Who's there?

Israel: Owen.

Tony: Owen who?

Israel: You're Owen 19!

Q.E.D.

3. It may actually make you try to be a better person.

Again, I say, I'm allergic to sap. But there was a part in this book where Tony Ingle talked about coming home exhausted after a day of coaching, only to have one or more of his five children beg him for attention. So he'd take them to shoot baskets without fail, operating on the basic assumption that a father should always be there for his kids, and tiredness was no excuse.

I have one kid, and I can't even live by this stricture. But now I hear that line in my head every time I'm tempted to beg off, and it shames me into trying a bit harder. That's a positive impact.

Basically, it's a good read. You'll never feel like it's being rushed nor dragged out. You'll enjoy it, and you'll be glad you took the time to get to know Tony Ingle.

Buy It: I Don't Mind Hitting Bottom, I Just Hate Dragging

Too Little, Too Late, Reilly

2010-03-03T20:59:12Z

This should come as a shock to nobody, so I'll present the links without comment:

Rick Reilly's article on court storming

Storming the Floor's rules for storming the floor, written four years ago and widely disseminated since.

Nuff said.

Breakfast of Champions 3/3/2010

2010-03-03T13:59:36Z

Scores

Syracuse 85 - St. John's 66

Ohio State 73 - Illinois 57

Villanova 77 - Cincinnati 73

Vanderbilt 64 - Florida 60

UTEP 80 - Marshall 76

Gonzaga 78 - Bakersfield 59

Stat Hounds

Evan Turner (Ohio State): 16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks vs. Illinois

J.P. Primm (Asheville): 23 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks vs. High Point

Durand Scott (Miami, FL): 29 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 0 blocks @ North Carolina

Categorical Undeniability

Points: 32 - Randy Culpepper (UTEP) @ Marshall

Rebounds: 19 - Kenneth Faried (Morehead State) vs. Jacksonville State

Assists: 11 - J.P. Primm (Asheville) vs. High Point; Norris Cole (Cleveland State) vs. Loyola, IL; Isacc Miles (Murray State) vs. Tennessee State

Blocks: 6 - Hassan Whiteside (Marshall) vs. UTEP; Tony Easley (Murray State) vs. Tennessee State

Steals: 5 - Joseph Harris (Coastal Carolina) vs. VMI

While You Were Sleeping, Steve Alford Lost His Cool (But Has a Hell of a Team)

2010-03-02T18:49:37Z

Oh dear -- you can't do this, Steve Alford.

"You're an asshole." Plain as day. Alford claimed he was trying to congratulate BYU's Jonathan Tavernari for a terrific career, but Tavernari ignored Alford -- perhaps because he was still angry about a late-game confrontation with Lobos' star Darington Hobson. Or maybe just about losing on senior night. Or losing just the fourth meeting between ranked MWC oppenents ever. This momentarily enraged Alford, whose language earned him a reprimand (Ooooo, scary!) from the league office.

This is the second time this school year that New Mexico has displayed iffy sportsmanship against the Cougars; who could forget the...um...liberal interpretations of the rulebook by New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert.

As for the game, it was yet another big-time performance by UMN point guard Dairese Gary: Just one turnover in 37 minutes of play, not to mention 23 points and 6 assists. Know this about the Lobos come tourney time: Hobson's the NBA-level athlete, Roman Martinez the lights-out shooter, but Gary is the linchpin.

With a #7 RPI, wins over Cal and Texas A&M, and only one bad loss (at Oral Roberts), the Lobos have a legit shot at a #2-seed. Lunardi has them there now. And, given that the Mountain West is just behind the A10 in conference RPI, might a 30-3 record, a regular-season and conference tourney championship, earn the Lobos a #1?

The Pac-10 Sinks Yet Further: If you thought Cal's sweep of the Arizona schools and clinching of their first conference title since 1960 might earn them some respect from college poll voters, turn in your Carnac the Magnificent hat. The Bears didn't get a single vote from the fourth estate, and only two points from coaches. (So either one "coach" ranked them 24th or two ranked them 25th.) The Bears will win the conference with no better than 13 wins, lowest total since '85. If you're an optimist, consider that the last-place team will finish with at least 6 victories, the highest total for a cellar-dweller in league history.

WCC Tourney Time! The WCC tourney is in Las Vegas for the second year; last year's first-ever Vegas tourney having been a stellar success. Saint Mary's, squarely on the bubble, must win their semifinal game and make a strong showing against the Zags (presumably) in the championship for any hope of an at-large bid. Of course, if they beat Gonzaga in the title game, they get a bid for sure. A play-in between the conference's four worst teams is Friday night, with the survivors meeting #3-seed Portland and #4-seed USF in the quarters. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's, byed through to the semis, play on Sunday (both semis are on ESPN2). The championship game Sunday night will be on ESPN.

Big Sky Tourney Time! The one-bid Big Sky begin their tournament on Saturday, with quarterfinal games at high-seeded schools. #6-seed Portland State, Big Sky tourney winners the last two years, plays at #3-seed Montana State. #5-seed Northern Arizona goes to #4 Montana. Quarterfinal winners advance to the Big Sky Final Four, beginning Tuesday at #1-seed Weber St., which will pay the lowest remaining seed. #2-seed Northern Colorado gets the highest remaining seed. The finals--with an NCAA bid in the balance--will be Wednesday night on ESPN2.

Other Tourneys:

WAC, Reno/Sparks Arena: First round Thurs., 3/11, Final Sat., 3/13

Pac-10, Staples Center, L.A.: Play-in Weds., 3/10, Final Sat., 3/13

MWC, Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas: Play-in Weds., 3/10, Final Sat. 3/13

Big West, Anaheim Convention Center: First-round Weds., 3/10, Final Sat., 3/13

West in the Polls (AP/Coaches/Mid-Major):

New Mexico: 8/10/x

BYU: 14/15/x

Gonzaga: 18/14/2

Saint Mary's: x/x/5

Northern Colorado: x/x/12

Weber St.: x/x/15