Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Live Audio - Schedule

Around
the Nation

Posted Jan. 28, 2004

Rebuilding
in a hurry
Something good has rubbed off on the men’s team at UW-Oshkosh and the women’s team at Messiah. Both were thought to be rebuilding after amazing three-year runs that concluded with the graduation of a large core of talent, but the surprises have all been pleasant.

Oshkosh is 12-6, and sits in second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 6-3 mark. That’s impressive considering that the Titans lost their top four scorers from last season’s Elite Eight team, have no seniors, and start three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior.

“You can’t rush experience,” said Oshkosh coach Ted Van Dellan. “You just have to go through some of the things we’ve gone through. The one thing that has impressed me about this team is its chemistry. We were wondering if we could duplicate the chemistry of last year’s team. This group has blended very well.”

All-American forward Tim Dworak may have finished his career last season (he’s currently finishing up his degree in education), but Oshkosh has found a freshman with a resemblance in 6-6, 220 pound Jimmy Capelle, who leads the team in scoring (13.6 points per game) and ranks second in rebounding (5.9 per game), while shooting 40% from 3-point range and 83% from the foul line.

“He’s a tough nut,” said Van Dellan, who coaxed Capelle to come to the school rather than attend Division II North Dakota on a full scholarship. “He’s a good outside threat and he’s more vocal than Tim was at this point.”

Capelle is joined up front by sophomore forward Kyle Pederson, who ranks second on the team in scoring and first in rebounding, and 7-1 freshman Kerry Gibson, whose big contribution is in the form of a WIAC-best 41 blocked shots. The backcourt features freshman Chad Doedens, and the experience of junior Andy Fernholz (7.8 points per game, 4.6 apg).

Oshkosh’s success is partly a product of its schedule. The Titans have seven regular season games left. The five on the road include a lengthy bus ride to Superior, while the two at home come against Stevens Point and Whitewater, against whom they are a combined 0-3. Oshkosh’s best wins this season are the two squeakers it took against preseason favorite River Falls.

“When you go on the road with puppies, they don’t know what’s ahead of them,” Van Dellan said. “That trip to Superior — it’s a six-hour trip and it's hell up there. You’ve got to be mentally ready to go.”

Teams are going to have to be ready to face Oshkosh in the postseason. The Titans went 8-1 in WIAC postseason play the last three seasons.

“Before the season, I thought if we were 8-8, we did a heck of a job,” Van Dellan said. “Now you get a little bit greedier.”

Opposing coaches may have been happy to hear that Messiah graduated four of its top seven, including second-team All America forward Christina Vouriotis and clutch shooting guard Amie Kretzing, who made runs to the national championship game three seasons ago and the Elite Eight last season.

The Falcons are still flying high though, 16-2 after Wednesday night's win against 11-5 Widener, and leading the MAC Commonwealth at 7-0. So much for rebuilding.

“For three to four years, we knew who the ball should go through,” said Messiah head coach Mike Miller. “Now every night, that seems to change.”

Roles have increased greatly this season. Six-foot-two sophomore forward Eli Cook, who played less than 10 minutes per game last season, is now the team’s leader in scoring (12.9 points per game), rebounding (7.8 rebounds per game) and blocked shots (31). Senior guard Katrina Green, a transfer from the University of the District of Columbia, is the other newcomer playing a vital role, averaging 11.8 points per game. Messiah has the luxury of playing a bigger lineup than most teams on the East Coast can handle (Green is the smallest starter at 5-8 and the team’s top two in assists are 5-11 junior guard Kristin Sassaman and 5-10 senior forward Jess Unick), but one that is also quick and adept defensively.

“We are extremely athletic,” Miller said. “We can put three guards on the floor at any time, even when we’re in foul trouble, and we stay after people. We press more on defense this year, which we hadn’t done in the past. That surprised some people. I thought we would have more close games, but we’ve executed really well in the last three to four minutes. That’s a credit to Jess and Kristin.”

Messiah has two other things going for it that should pay off well late in the season and into the league playoffs. The Falcons are 6-0 on the road, having already beaten their likeliest competitor for the top spot in Lebanon Valley (their other quality win this season was at home against DeSales). Messiah also ranks 10th nationally in free throw shooting at 74.8%. Unick has filled in for Kretzing, who was one of the top free throw shooters in the nation, by hitting 23 of 24 in league play.

“We aren’t where we expected we would be, and that’s made it fun for the coaching staff,” Miller said. “It’s nice to be in this position.”

CENTURY MARK: They have a proud men’s basketball tradition dating back 106 years at Westminster (Pa.), in its fourth season in Division III after leaving the NAIA as the winningest program in its history, so a 2-8 start didn’t sit too well with first-year coach Larry Ondako. The outsized Titans were hanging their heads with every missed shot, knowing that since their tallest player was 6-4, there weren’t going to be many second chances.

So Ondako decided to completely change the team’s offensive philosophy, installing a fast-paced system reliant on 3-point shooting and pressing. It’s not quite like that used by Grinnell and others, (there is no set subbing pattern — players signal the coach when they’re tired), but it is similar in nature. Did it work? Heck yes. Westminster (8-9, 3-0 Presidents Athletic Conference) scored 123 points in its first usage against Kalamazoo on Jan. 2, and won five of the next six after that. The most recent win was a 119-97 triumph over Waynesburg, in which the team forced 30 turnovers, set a school record with 23 3-pointers (in 66 attempts) and got 33 points in 22 minutes from Pat O’Connor (right). The teams combined to fall one shot short of the combined record for 3-point attempts.

“I told my players that the last thing I’m going to do now is try to figure out what we’re doing,” Ondako said with a laugh.

Ondako, who has never seen film of Grinnell, is relying on his own instincts for now. Westminster has only a 13-man roster and the full effects of fatigue haven’t played themselves out yet, because when the team first started playing this week, it had plenty of time off between games to recover. Now that league play is in full force, the team figures to be tested.

“We’ve started to get on a roll,” Ondako said. “We’re happy we’re winning and our kids are confident.”

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Emerson senior Rob Hennigan became the school’s all time leading scorer on Jan. 22 in a game against MIT.

Hennigan, who entered Thursday with 1,908 career points, set the record at Pine Manor, one of 18 different gyms the team has used to host practice or games the last three-plus seasons. Others range from Suffolk University, to the Chinatown YMCA, at which the court is surrounded by people coming in for workouts.

“You get used to it,” said Hennigan, a finalist for the Jostens Trophy last season and an honorable mention preseason All-American. “The rim is still 10 feet from the floor wherever you go.”

The 6 -5, 180-pound Hennigan, a native of Worcester, Mass., wasn’t recruited heavily out of high school and wasn’t even sure he was going to play collegiate basketball. But Emerson coach Hank Smith gave him the chance to start right away and Hennigan stepped up nicely into his role as one of the most potent jumpshooters in the Northeast. Emerson is 6-7 this season, 4-3 in the GNAC and Hennigan leads the team in scoring at 18.5 points per game.

“I think the main thing about my success is that I don’t create my own shot,” Hennigan said. “My teammates are willing to get me open with screens. I credit them for my success. I came to the right place at the right time and Coach Smith’s gamble on me paid off.”

Hennigan also works for the college television and radio stations as a news and sports anchor. He plans to pursue a career in broadcast journalism after graduation.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? It’s Super Bowl week, so who better to track down than former Wabash star Pete Metzelaars, who won the Outstanding Player Award at the Final Four for the 1982 national champs, then went on to play in three Super Bowls in a 16-year NFL career as a tight end, primarily with the Buffalo Bills.

Pete Metzelaars, right, and Josh Estelle, who eventually passed him as Wabash's all-time leading basketball scorer.

“The team that won a title at Wabash wasn’t as talented as the teams we had the two previous years,” said Metzelaars, who now lives in Indianland, S.C., with his wife Barbara and two sons, Anthony and Jonathon. “We graduated six or seven seniors off the previous year’s team. But we came together in incredible fashion. Everyone accepted their roles (the 6-8 Metzelaars shot 75% from the field, averaged 24.2 points per game, and scored 45 points in the title game). I remember we were 5-4 and we had just gone down to Texas to play three Division I teams in a row. We lost all three. On the plane ride back, I said to coach (Mac Petty) ‘We’re not going to lose the rest of the year.’ We didn’t.”

Metzelaars spent the past year as an assistant football coach with Division II Wingate. He has done internships with NFL Europe and the Indianapolis Colts, and will be working with NFL Europe’s Berlin Thunder this summer. He has been working the phones hoping to land an NFL job.

As for his Super Bowl pick, he thinks it will be a close game, but will pick against the team from his neighbor state.

“I have to go with New England, 17-13,” Metzelaars said. “They’ve been so good all year long. Both teams play great defense. I think it will be close, so long as there aren’t a lot of turnovers.”

GAME OF THE YEAR? Next time the folks at Greenville will remember to have an extra videotape ready.

The great finish to the first-place men’s showdown between Greenville and Fontbonne on Jan. 24 is left to memories, since the game film runs out at the end of the first overtime, which in this case was two too early.

Fontbonne edged Greenville, 120-117 in triple overtime in the highest scoring game in the history of the league.

The visiting Griffins rallied from an early 23-5 deficit and from six points down in the final minute of the first overtime to eventually pull this game out.

The tape’s final image should be a good one. Fontbonne point guard Kevin Roberts, a transfer from Division I Southeast Missouri State, hit a 25-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime. Roberts, who led six Griffins in double figures with 26 points in 50 minutes, then hit another 25-foot 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third overtime, giving Fontbonne the lead for good.

“I don’t know what would have happened if it had gone four overtimes,” said Fontbonne coach Lee McKinney, who had never coached a triple-overtime game in 44 years in the profession. “I know my team was exhausted. I think we would have had to put five new guys on the floor.”

The Griffins (10-4, 4-0), league runners up in each of the last three seasons, haven’t made the NCAAs since 1996. They entered Thursday tied with Maryville for best record in the SLIAC. Greenville, a two-time entrant in our Game of the Year listing, is 10-5, 3-1.

JINX THIS: Greensboro guard Trey Williams, cited for his big-shot ability in last week's column, was clutch again in a 65-62 win over North Carolina Wesleyan on Jan. 24. Williams hit the game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds remaining to give Greensboro its fifth consecutive win. While it's tough to jinx all three featured NESCAC teams (perhaps a jinx would be if Trinity had lost to Middlebury), we must note that Grinnell went on to win its next eight games after being featured in December, the Capital women have won their last four, including at Wilmington, since being featured, and Franklin & Marshall is 7-0 since we wrote about Glenn Robinson's run at the wins record.

THE BASKETBALL BUNCH: The sky’s the limit for Lincoln sophomore 7-2 center John Bunch, who tied his own NCAA all-divisions record with 18 blocked shots in a loss to New Jersey City a couple weeks ago. Bunch, who has grown from 6-10 upon admission, still has open growth plates, and may continue to get even bigger. As it is, he is an imposing 300-pound presence in the paint.

Bunch was not actively recruited out of Reisterstown (Md.) High, as he wasn’t used much in a guard-oriented program (four ex-teammates are playing Division I). The wife of Lincoln coach Robert Byars spotted Bunch taking tickets in a movie theater and a couple of days later, he was sitting in the Bunch kitchen recruiting. The team has only begun to tap into his potential. Lincoln is building its team around Bunch, who is averaging 11.1 points per game, 12.4 rebounds and 8.2 blocks (150 total) for the 5-13 Lions, an independent program and the nation’s oldest Black college.

“We’re playing catch up with him,” Byars said, referring to Bunch’s lack of playing time scholastically. “You can really see the difference in hims this year. He’s playing with much more confidence. He’s taking a leadership role and he’s starting to demand the ball. Last year he didn’t have confidence. He walked around the campus with a slouch. This year he walks with his head up. He’s proud of his accomplishments.”

Bunch agrees with Byars on what he has to do to improve.

“This summer, I have to work hard on getting in shape,” said Bunch, a communications major. “My body isn’t in good shape yet.”

Bunch isn’t likely to be swayed into doing something he isn’t ready for, like declaring for the NBA Draft. He still has a lot of work to do on his game.

“I think he’s capable of going a long ways,” said Byars, now in his 18th season. “It depends on how badly he wants it.”

GETTING THE POINT(s): We got quite a response to our research question regarding most points scored by a team without making a 3-pointer (since the 3-pointer began, of course).

Preliminary findings suggest the men’s record belongs to Lawrence, which, lost to Grinnell, 150-149 in triple overtime on Jan. 25, 2003. As has become standard practice against the Pioneers, Lawrence did not make or even attempt a trifecta.

On the women’s side, we had a tougher time digging up an answer. We did determine that McDaniel’s 103 points against Muhlenberg were not even a high for the season. Lakeland tallied 109 points in a 109-15 win over provisional Division III foe Mount Mary on December 29.

Honorable mention, by the way, to St. Norbert’s 137-126 win over Grinnell. St. Norbert shot an NCAA record 89.8% from the field (44-for-49) and 49-for-61 from the free-throw line. The Green Knights did not see a need to even attempt a 3-pointer, and who could blame them? Division I Drake put up 162 points against Grinnell last season, but doesn’t qualify since it did make one 3-pointer in that game. Not to mention all the scholarships.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: Sometimes you have to look at the full box score and not just the basic stats. Gwynedd-Mercy center Badou Gaye (profiled here last season) had a nice night in a 89-57 win over Marywood last week. Gaye finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocked shots. That would qualify as a top performance any day of the week — but what made it impressive was that Gaye only played 19 minutes.

FINALLY 94 FEET: The Hope College Board of Trustees announced earlier this week that they have approved the construction of the $22 million DeVos Fieldhouse, which will seat 3,400 as the new home of the women’s and men’s basketball teams.

Hope’s men’s team plays at the Holland Civic Center, which cannot host an NCAA Tournament game because the playing floor is too short. On campus, the teams play at the Dow Center, which holds up to 1,200 fans.

Construction should begin in March and the arena is expected to be finished in time for the 2005-2006 season.

FRIGHT IS RIGHT: Our colleagues at work were teasing us about how they now cheer for “the scariest basketball team in the nation,” so we decided to make a call to the folks at Transylvania.

Turns out the school name long predates any Dracula references. Transylvania , located in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1780 and is the 16th oldest college in the United States (the word is latin for “Across the Woods.”)

“A lot of people wish our nickname was Vampires,” said Transylvania SID Glenn Osborne. “Ours is Pioneers, reflecting the pioneering vision and spirit of the college.”

The basketball teams are in their final year as provisional programs, competing in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Each entered Thursday with a 10-5 mark. The men threw a scare into Hanover, losing 55-51 on Jan. 21, while the women’s best win came on Dec. 6, 66-58 against Capital.

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.

Previous columns
2007-08 columns
March 6: Faith restored
Feb. 27: John Jay, Cinderella
Feb. 21: No safety net
Feb. 14: Ursinus better enough
Feb. 8: Hope-TMC on collision course
Jan. 31: Plattsburgh's big shot
Jan. 24: UMD answers call
Jan. 18: Like Bosko, like son
Jan. 11: Keystone stakes
Dec. 13: Unstoppable
Dec. 7: UWW aiming deeper
Nov. 30: Coach's shadow lingers
Nov. 15: Strong duo
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

Contact Us
About us
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Send Game Scores
Send Press Releases
Team of Week Nominations
User Survey