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Around
the Nation

Posted Feb. 25, 2003

Their roll
must go on

The limited number of at-large spots for teams in the NCAA Tournament creates interesting situations in a number of leagues throughout the country. One slip-up may be enough to prevent some of the hottest teams in the nation from playing in the postseason. That adds a little pressure to the mix, and makes the stories of these squads all the more interesting. Here’s the way it goes for four of them:

Bryant James got a medical redshirt after missing almost all of last season with a knee injury.

After losing its eighth consecutive game, to Salem State on Jan. 21, Westfield State men’s coach Rich Sutter decided that it was to let his team know how he felt. He instructed his team to have a players-only meeting the next day, then followed that up with some words of his own.

“I took the paint off the walls,” Sutter said of a time when his team was 2-10. “It was no longer about suffering a loss (the preseason death of freshman teammate Ricky Martin-Cofield at practice). It was time for them to stop feeling sorry for themselves and play the type of game that was fitting to his memory. I turned the team over to them and asked them what they were going to do.”

What the Owls (14-10, 9-3 MASCAC) did was play an inspirational brand of basketball, one that has seen them rip off 12 consecutive wins entering the league postseason tournament.

One switch was made on the court, as Sutter moved his best player, 25-year-old Sacred Heart transfer Shawn Jones, from shooting guard to point guard. Jones ended up leading the league in scoring, assists, and steals, so it looks like the move paid off pretty well. It’s not the only transition that worked out well for Jones, who was dismissed from Sacred Heart after a fight with a football player then took a year and a half off from school, but has since changed the way he lives. He should graduate in December with a criminal justice degree, and works, even during the season, doing counseling in a juvenile detention center.

As we mentioned in a previous column, Jones went so far as to guarantee a championship during a broadcast interview. That looked pretty silly during the losing streak, but seems pretty smart now, especially considering the way the Owls won their next-to-last game of the regular season. He won’t be backing off after that one.

Westfield trailed Framingham State by 12 points with 5:15 remaining, but closed the game out by scoring 15 straight points to win. Jones fed Bryant James for a 25-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer that set off a wild celebration.

“I think Ricky Martin-Cofield guided that ball in the basket,” Jones said. “I think we have an angel looking over us, because I can’t believe how we’re winning these games.”

New England, with a Midwestern feel
We were looking for a team in the western half of the country to include in this story, and though Southern Vermont doesn’t actually qualify, it could.

The Mountaineers’ roster is geographically diverse. The starting point guard, Lydale Waller, hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and transferred from a community college in Arizona. The leading scorer, Sean Ezell, is from Gary, Ind., via Northern Illinois. The top rebounder, Cortney Denison, is from Chicago through Kishwaukee Junior College. Two kids from France provide an international flavor. Several more from New York bring solid games, as well as St. John’s (N.Y.) transfer Jack Wolfinger.

“We are a melting pot of college basketball,” said head coach Ryan Marks, who used some connections he made as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois to bring this group to Bennington, where they have thrived on a 400-student campus.

Two seasons ago, the Mountaineers went 3-22. Marks was hired as basketball and baseball coach (a full-time staff of five coaches necessitates that each coach handles two sports) that summer. Last season they went 15-12, an improvement that was second in the country only to national champion Otterbein. This season, they are 20-5, 16-2 in the GNAC and have won 14 of 15 games. Defensive play has been the key.

“There is a fine line between a great season and an average season,” said Marks, whose team has won five games in overtime — all on the road. “Our group believes with three minutes left that if it’s a close game, we’re going to win. Some of our early wins have perpetuated themselves”

Basketball fever has touched the student population. There have been scrambles up to 45 minutes before game time for one of the 300 free seats.

“We have a great environment at home,” Marks said. “We have a uniqueness in the community atmosphere here. Everyone knows someone who is on the team.”

Tough schedule has paid off
The Geneseo State women didn’t fare too well against the six then-Top 25 teams they faced in a very tough non-conference schedule, winning only once, but new head coach Kris Ruffo told her players that everything would turn out fine in the end.

“My assistant (Shawn Monihan) said after we played Rochester (and lost by three points that we would be fine,” said Ruffo, in her first season after previously coaching at Savannah Art & Design and Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. “He knew that no one else in our league had gone through what we had.”

The Blue Knights were still finding their way in mid-January. Ruffo was the third coach in four seasons and the five senior returnees from a team that went 14-12 last season lacked the confidence of a winning group. That changed once the SUNYAC season got rolling.

Geneseo went 15-1 in league play and enters the postseason with a 12-game winning streak. Senior guard Tara Snavlin leads the way averaging 15.4 points per game, added 100 assists, and made a team-best 83 3-pointers. Senior forward Kendra Vavrina adds a potent option inside, averaging 13.1 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game to go along with 36 blocked shots. Injured senior Karin Meuwissin leads the SUNYAC, shooting 45% from 3-point range. Senior forward Becky Rice is the top defender and at 5-8, can guard anyone within a six-inch range. A fifth senior, Jenny James, has challenged the team’s low post players to get better in practice, and occasionally comes off the bench.

“I attribute (the success) to our senior leadership,” Ruffo said. “This is a smart bunch of young ladies who are doing good things. There are a lot of factors that can tear a team apart (The adjustment to another new coach) was the type of thing that could have gone either way and we’re fortunate that things went this way.”

Keeping the pressure on
The Wittenberg women led the 2002 North Coast Athletic Conference title game by 18 points with 11 minutes left until a celebration on their home floor.

Anticipated jubilation was replaced by disbelief after Ohio Wesleyan rallied to win the league championship in overtime.

“They just played more aggressive,” said Wittenberg head coach Pam Smith. “All the momentum shifted and we didn’t respond to them.”

This season’s team has responded. The Tigers (21-4) took care of business during the regular season, sweeping through with a 16-0 mark.

This year’s team may have the same core group, but it has more depth than ever before. No one is averaging more than the 11.5 points per game of senior guard Kate Rolf or the 5.2 rebounds per game of junior Haley Warden, or even the 2.9 assists-per-game.of senior guard Stephanie Campbell Yet almost everyone is a contributor to a defense that has forced 662 turnovers with intense pressure. No player is averaging more than 23 minutes, but 10 are averaging at least 10 minutes.

“We’ve gone deeper than we’ve ever gone before,” said Smith, now in her 17th season. “We can keep up our pressure on teams for whole games because of our subbing in.”

The Tigers know they likely have to win their league to get an NCAA bid, because even with the win streak, losses to three of the top teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference, have kept their regional ranking low. The Tigers tradition is strong, with six NCAA bids, but this would be their first since 1998. The season, which began with a trip to China with the men’s basketball team in the spring, really gets going now.

“We’re just focused on playing one game at a time,” Smith said, “and doing all the things that we’re supposed to do.”

DROPPING THE CURTAIN IN ANNVILLE: Lebanon Valley has allegedly had some divine intervention on its behalf in the past, namely the end of regulation in the 1994 national title game against NYU. But with Lynch Gymnasium closing at the end of this season after 53 years, fate had one more twist in store.

With Lebanon Valley trailing 78-75 with just 3.9 seconds remaining in the first overtime and Messiah’s Greg Bernhardt heading to the foul line to shoot a pair of free throws, defeat seemed imminent. However, Bernhardt missed both foul shots and senior center Darren Pugh snared the rebound, setting up a storybook finish. Pugh handed the ball to Byers, who weaved his way through a crowd of Falcons before launching a 50-footer from center court at the buzzer. The shot caromed off the backboard and through the net, sending a capacity crowd into mayhem. For confirmation, check out this clip of the final seconds of overtime, called by WLVC-FM, Lebanon Valley's campus station. It's an MP3 file on their site.

Lebanon Valley won the game in the second overtime 85-82.

Next year the school opens a new gymnasium, listed at 1,550 capacity, and Lynch will be converted into classrooms and office space.

CRAZY FOR YOU? We were disappointed with in the response to our call for pictures of “Cameron Crazies” or active fan support of teams. Maybe we asked for them too soon. Maybe all the good teams were on the road. So we’ll leave it open for another week or two. For now, here’s the one shot we got, courtesy of the Christopher Newport athletic department. Show us you can do better.

A DUNK COUNTS MINUS-2 POINTS: An rarely invoked rule played a significant role in a win for the Coast Guard men’s basketball team against Springfield last week. During pregame warmups a Springfield player dunked, which warrants a technical foul by rule. When Bears coach Pete Barry pointed this out to officials, they agreed, awarding Coast Guard two free throws before the game even began. Aaron Holler sank both and those proved to be the difference, as the Bears won by one point.

THE FLAG PROTECTS HER, TOO: Manhattanville senior women’s basketball player Toni Smith has gotten national attention for her decision to refuse to salute or acknowledge the American flag during the national anthem.

While we may disagree with Smith’s choice, we also agree that the flag gives her the right to do as she chooses, She’s also going to have to get used to the consequences for her decision, (including the on-court protest of a Vietnam veteran) especially considering that one of the games was played at a military academy.

Hopefully the fans at Manhattanville’s next game will remember that she is there to play a game and will allow her the freedom to do so reasonably peacefully.

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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