Monthly Archives: December 2007

Travelblog: With McMurry under Golden Dome

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Marcus Fitzsimmons made the trip to Clinton, Miss., yesterday with his sights set on seeing a key American Southwest Conference showdown. Hilarity ensues. Or something.

The Warm Up …
It’s 4 a.m. Wednesday morning and my nerves about traveling to Mississippi College for the night’s ASC conference game with McMurry have me awake. I suddenly empathize with a slew of coaches I’ve heard utter the cliche, “they keep me up at night.”

Traveling for Hoopsville I won’t take the court in the Golden Dome of Clinton, Miss so it’s not performance anxiety. But my flight plans are all crossed up by some confusion over a.m. and p.m. and I’m worried that I may not make the games at all as I’m either going to get lucky going standby or arriving at 11 p.m. for a 5 p.m. tip.

Giving up on getting any more meaningful sleep I down another dose of cold medication, find my shower and layer up to drive to Alcoa and the airport. It’s raining and low 40’s with snow up in the Smokies as I walk into the terminal. Luck is with me. The ticket agent understands my dilemma and thankfully the stand by status has not changed since my phone call the night before. By 7 a.m. I’m having a Ron White moment on a puddle jumper to Charlotte. If something goes wrong the pilot won’t have to use a microphone to let us know.

With three hours to kill in the E terminal and a FoxSports Restaurant offering multiple screens there’s no doubt where to roost for the long layover. A text informing my favorite red head that I did get booked through and that I might live through this cold after all gets sent. Then it’s a phone call ahead to let MC SID Chris Brooks know when I will be arriving in Jackson before breakfast – feed a cold – arrives.

Alternating between a final edition of The Daily Times and cable news it becomes clear that I didn’t miss much overnight. I spend a moment smirking to reread the capsule on Kentucky’s fourth consecutive loss. The Wildcat Blues are killing our latest crime reporter at the paper.

Deboarding in the Jackson-Evers International Airport I’m trying hard not to laugh as the Jeff Foxworthy sketch about flying into this very airport runs through my head. I can’t swear the second puddle jumper didn’t spray crops on the final approach. The feeling subsides instantly as I realize that a) I forgot to ask Chris what car to look for at arrivals and that b) while I expected Mississippi weather to be milder than Maryville it’s a good 50 degrees warmer than it was when I was last outside.

Fortunately David, the graduate assistant for the sports information office, spots me before I melt. A quick stop by the hotel to drop bags, drop another dose of cold medicine, shed some layers of clothing and we’re on the way to the A. E. Wood Coliseum the dome home of the Choctaws.

Turns out David is from Memphis and wants to know the latest from UT, which takes most of the ride with the speculation surrounding Vol assistant football coach Trooper Taylor and the first home game for J.P. Prince just hours away.

Finally at Mississippi College my nerves about missing the games are now settled. I’m here. Let the hoops begin.

Talk some basketball with Chris and then decide since I have plenty of time to plop down in the Dome and work for a little while. I’ve heard about this place, but have never been able to make the trip. It’s where Maryville College’s postseason has ended in the second-round for the last three years – always to the Choctaws. While I’m far from a homer Maryville coach Randy Lambert and his program have earned my respect as a solid team since I took this beat. This is the gateway to the Sweet 16 for the midsouth that until now I’ve only heard described on the radio and seen on webcast, neither of which give you the feel of a campus and its gym.

The good news I hear is McMurry is supposed to have a good player making his debut. The bad news is that All-American Tarra Richardson is injured so I won’t get a follow up game to compare to her Thanksgiving performance. Also my joke on Hoopsville about a Santa hat has been partially fulfilled, so I have red head gear for game time that while minus a basketball does have my name on it.

No. 10 HOLDS ON
The teams are warmed up and while Richardson did shoot around, her tweaked ankle is going to keep her from this game.

Coach Veronica Snow thinks a game without the All-American forward with be a good test for her Top Ten team that remains without a mascot this season.

After 40 game minutes the coach may have found some more inspiring news in her team’s 70-67 ASC win. Maigen Sawyer broke out of a 29 percent slump to hit all four of her trey attempts on the way to 18 points. Back-to-back trifectas by the senior put McMurry up 37-35 after the Choctaws had led by four at the break. Allison Nelson explodes for 19 points, a dozen above her average as the no mascot offense adjusts and executes much better than I’d seen during Thanksgiving.

Mississippi College had opportunities but couldn’t convert the go-ahead run late after leading all but two minutes of the first half. Down by 10 with 3:46 to go MC cut the margin to 64-62 before McMurry pulls back away. A late trey by Anna Patterson gave MC light with 14 seconds left but McMurry added one at the charity line, where the team struggled to 18 of 30 while MC’s 19-for-23 kept them in the lead the first half.

I’m greatly impressed with McMurry’s ability to win on the road minus Richardson. The team still looked a bit lost at times but overall they are a much improved from the squad that lost to Birmingham Southern with the star in foul trouble. The no mascots are definitely in the conversation for me, but with 20-plus conference games preventing any more head-to-head comparison with the other region powers the seeding is all on ASC play.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?
I get company in my ringside seat as Coach Mike Jones comes over with his special guest – his cardiologist and the doctor’s son. The head coach recovering from heart surgery is behind the scorer’s table for his second game and is under orders not to yell. We chit chat briefly about how some teams are looking but his attention is all on the floor as soon as the player introductions end. In deference to the coach and the light crowd on what must be the first Wednesday night game in a decade for MC I leave the bright red D3 Santa hat on the table and unworn.

McMurry is much more than its 3-5 record indicates. All the losses have come in conference and all have been close. Even more surprising to me is to find Travis Tennyson back on the former Indians roster. The 6-foot-7, 300-and-then-some post shows his rust in his second game back with his former school. Two seasons ago he was an all-conference performer but he’s carrying some weight now. The big man can still move and while he’s held in check by Mississippi I can’t help but wonder how much bigger a factor he might be by conference tournament time.

Jones takes his notes to the locker room but it’s obvious he and current assistant (former head coach) Don Lofton are on the same page from slightly different directions.

The Choctaws prevail in a 85-74 decision that puts them into a tie for first in the ASC East with LeTourneau. The roster is barely recognizable from the Sweet 16 team that lost to Va. Wesleyan nine months ago.

Under the direction of Lofton MC is showing signs of growth after a conference opening loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor. Three players from last season are still in the first 10 rotation of the Choctaws five-at-a-time sub-system. Blending in are five junior college transfers and two freshmen.

It’s obvious from the start that this MC team while smaller is much faster and carrying a lot more offensive force. Junior Bryan Johnson and senior Tyler Winford both stand out as the lean fast posts that can not only bang but fall away or step out to drive or shoot.

Clarence Jeffrey may be the best leaper I’ve seen this season. When he’s focused there isn’t a rebound he doesn’t take from taller players.

But uncharacteristically of an MC team defense is not the glue. These Choctaws will be learning the defensive lessons during the season rather than leading the nation in scoring defense but they have the luxury of a multitude of scoring options that should allow them to learn against most competition with a win.

CALL IN SHOW
After the teams shake hands I circulate the floor picking brains and having mine picked. The staff is as interested in the midsouth and eastern side of the region as I am in the west. David is once again tapped as chaueffer and we head to the hotel as McMurry begins a 9-hour ride home that will put them on campus after sun up to scatter for the holiday break.

It’s at this point I tell David that he may be able to get an early start on a drive to his home in Memphis as my 6:10 a.m. flight means he’ll be picking me back up in a less than six hours. A dose of cold cure and I’m out with my alarm set but lap top open. I find I went down mid-sentence when I stir awake not long enough later.

Good as his word the guy chasing his MBA at MC meets me at the lobby door at 4:50 in the OMG it’s early. At the airport I bid him farewell and wish him luck for the post-Christmas trip to Hampden-Sydney.

The airport security line stretches almost the length of the lobby and I know I’m in trouble even with an hour to wait. Arrive at the gate at 6:12 with two other passengers bound for Charlotte only to see the door to the plane close. The pilot waves as he pulls the plane away. Take a minute to put belt back on and slip back into the shoes I carried in my sprint from the security station. With no other option rebook a flight home and the fortune of the fates that got me here with no delay now spins back as I will now spend the next six hours waiting on the next flight out of Jackson International.

Decide to edit my travelblog and delete the long line of random characters I hit in my sleep. Find a strange reference or two that I blame on the cold medicine and then delete.

Text the favorite red head to cancel our planned afternoon Christmas shopping. Decide to also text the newbie in the sports department and give him fair warning I won’t be back for the afternoon news meeting and that he’ll be covering. It would be more fun to panic him with 10 minute notice of it but it’s the holidays after all.

Despite the bumps it’s been a great trip and some good basketball. MC has been a great host and I can’t help but think I will see the Choctaws and the Lady No Mascots again in a few months provided I ever work my way back through the security line and get out of Jackson.

Marcus Fitzsimmons covers Maryville College, the USA South and Great South for The (Maryville/Alcoa) Daily Times and can be heard doing the South Region report on Hoopsville Sunday nights. Send him tips, travel advice or homemade cold remedy recipes at marcus.fitzsimmons@thedailytimes.com

Insider: Thoughts and More Thoughts

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As finals come to an end and the semester is coming to a close–I thought I’d drop my last entry of 2007 and use it to touch on a bunch of different topics on my mind…

The Coleman Curse: Forget SI or Madden– initially I thought it was a nice little gig when Pat Coleman asked me to write this “insider blog.” Now, I would say it is in every athlete’s BEST interest to say “Thanks– but no thanks” to Pat if he asks you to write for his website. Jordan Delp from Augustana wrote about his team’s trip overseas this summer—and now is out with an Achilles injury. I started writing—and within a week fractured my leg. Then, MIT’s Jimmy Bartolotta starts writing and hurts his ankle in a game before he can even get a post loaded to D3Hoops! All coincidences? I think not. I hope that trio of Oglethorpe women is being extra careful… I would also like to send a best-wishes/get well soon message to Jamie McFarlin of our women’s team. She’s having surgery to repair her ACL on Friday and is now my training-room buddy for the rest of the season.

WU Hoops Update: We’ve had three good wins against Illinois Wesleyan, Fontbonne and Coe College since my last post putting us at 8-2 going into the holidays. We’re definitely happy with the wins, but I think we’re still searching a little as a team for how we’re going to be successful against top competition. Illinois Wesleyan is going to be really, really, scary good sometime in the future. I think Coach Rose did a great job and brought in a ton of young talent and when that group of freshmen mature—look out CCIW. It was great to see Troy play so well against Coe (career-high 35 points and 12 rebounds) and he’s going to need to keep that up. Once we get back from break we open up with a talented Webster team and then Chicago comes to town for the opening of UAA play. Speaking of which…

The UAA is tough: Obviously no one needs to hear me say that Brandeis and Rochester are talented. But I don’t see either of those teams getting through conference play with only none, one or two losses. If any team can hold serve at home and be over .500 on the road I think that’ll get the conference championship. In the UAA, especially this year, I feel like the national attention on the teams at the top are leading people to underestimate how tough it will be to beat Carnegie Mellon (4-2 with 14 point loss at Rochester), Case Western (7-2), and Chicago (5-4 but has been without Nate Hainje) this year. I know some people complain that the UAA got four tournament bids last year but come on—the conference’s W-L in non-conference games is 50-15 this year—that’s pretty dang good!

Grinnell & Assists: There’s been so much hoopla about the breaking of the assist record and Grinnell’s “system” that I figured I’d weigh in from a player’s perspective. I’m not going to sit here and ridicule the style or anything like that because that has been done enough— in my opinion they win basketball games and that’s that… period. But the thing that bugs me about the assist record is just that it was done in a 40-point blow-out win. I’d like to think that in order to feel good about setting a record of this magnitude it must include two key elements. One, the record setting performance is an outstanding individual effort (which this CLEARLY was! I mean, 34 assists is ridiculous. I had 16 vs. Chicago last year and that’s more than DOUBLE that…). But last, that every bit of the performance was needed for the team’s victory. I’m not sure this was exactly the case as I think he played 38 minutes in the blow-out.

Headin to NYC: Tomorrow night I’m going to Madison Square Garden to catch the Duke vs. Pitt game. Since we were young and through high school I’ve played on teams with Jon Scheyer (sophomore on Duke). We’ve been really close for a long time and still talk after almost every game of his and mine. I love going through workouts with him during the summer and I’m really excited to get a chance to finally watch him and his team in-person tomorrow night. Both teams are undefeated and ranked in the top ten so it should be a good one. I really like the way Duke plays this year and they’re deep and talented enough to be a favorite to win it all come March. Look for me behind the Duke bench waving my crutches after Jon drains some 3’s!!

Happy Holidays: Merry Christmas and safe travels to everyone. Wanted to say thanks to my roommate Jared Kleinstein for taking care of me the past few weeks and wish him luck as he’s going away to Israel for the second semester—I’m going to miss [pounding him in FIFA ’08 and NFL Blitz] him.

Take care,

Sean

Top 25 News and Notes–Week 4

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This is the time of year when the D3 hoops world slows down and takes a breather. Remembering that our athletes are students first, most teams take a break to allow the players to concentrate on exams and get home for the holidays. Of the fifty teams in last week’s Top 25 polls, twenty-two took the week off from basketball, and the other twenty-eight played just 38 games between them, ringing up a record of 33-6 (one game pitted ranked foes, as the then-#9 ranked Augustana men handed #13 UW-Oshkosh their first defeat of the season.) With few games and almost no losses, the Week 4 polls look like carbon copies of their Week 3 versions. Each poll has just one new team, both sneaking in at the #25 position. Nineteen of last week’s twenty Top 10 teams are still in the Top 10, with women’s #10 Simpson moving up to replace Southern Maine.

Rather than dwell on the week that wasn’t, perhaps I should look ahead to the week ahead. Actually, next week is a two-week “week,” as there will not be a new poll released next Tuesday, due to the holidays and relative dearth of games this week. Things pick up, however, as the New Year approaches and teams in the north and east make snowbird trips between the semesters. Some of these warm-weather venues will feature top-flight D3 competition, starting this Wednesday in Orlando, where men’s #8 Hope will square off with #21 Elmhurst. On Friday, fans who are otherwise stick with nothing to do in Cancun can take in the matchup of women’s #6 DePauw and #7 Messiah. This Saturday, the tropical resort of Rock Island, Ill. will be treated to the clash of men’s #3 UW-Stevens Point against the homestanding #5 Augustana Vikings. Then on New Year’s Eve eve (i.e., Dec. 30), those lucky enough to be in the vicinity of Huntington Beach will have the opportunity to watch women’s #1 Mary Washington take on #5 UW-Whitewater.

No matter what your travel plans may be, here’s a wish from me that your holidays are safe, healthy, and happy, and filled with D3 hoops!

Debutantes:
Considering the almost complete lack of movement in this week’s polls, it should hardly be surprising that there are no debubantes in any category this week.

Streakers:
Women: Thirteenth-ranked Southern Maine has now received voting support in 100 consecutive polls. Other active voting streaks include Brandeis (60 polls), #4 NYU, and Wilmington (each at 20 weeks.)
Men: This week’s poll is the 20th since the beginning of last season. Six programs entered the voting in that poll and have stayed ever since, including #1 Rochester, #3 UW-Stevens Point (which has been a Top 25 team for all 20 of these polls), #11 Washington U., #18 Wheaton (IL), Rhode Island College (which was a voting debutante in that 2005 poll), and Aurora. Centre has now received votes in 10 straight polls.

Milestones:
Women: Defending champion DePauw is ranked #6 this week, marking the 100th time the Tigers have been ranked. Eighth-ranked McMurry is celebrating its 40th week as a Top 25 team, while top-ranked Mary Washington is a member of the Top 10 for the 20th time. #10 Simpson has now received votes in 75 polls. Other votes-received milestones were reached by #25 Baldwin-Wallace (110 polls), #22 UW-Eau Claire (90), #9 Thomas More (20), and #19 Tufts (10).
Men: #23 Wooster, which has been flirting with the bottom of the poll for three weeks, nevertheless has extended their poll record of Top 25 appearances to 120 polls (out of 128 all-time.) Twelfth-ranked Capital has now been ranked thirty times, while #8 Hope is a Top 10 team for the 30th time. Nineteenth-ranked Lewis & Clark has now been mentioned in the voting 50 times, while William Paterson has received votes in 60 polls. Other vote-getting plateaus were reached this week by UMass-Dartmouth (30 weeks), Rhode Island College (20), and Centre (10).

High-Water Marks:
Women: The five programs that reached or tied new highs last week did so again this week: #5 UW-Whitewater, #8 McMurry, #9 Thomas More, #17 Oglethorpe, and #19 Tufts. This quintet is joined this week by #20 Medaille, which matched its highest-ever ranking.
Men: #2 Brandeis and #16 Stevens each matched their highest-ever ranking, set or tied a week ago.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: With just three losses among last week’s Top 25, movement in the women’s poll was practically glacial this week. The biggest moves were suffered by #13 Southern Maine and #7 Messiah, which lost road games and fell 134 and 118 points, respectively. The largest gains, such as they were, were earned by #19 Tufts and #17 Oglethorpe, moving up 59 and 50 points respectively.
Men: If the women’s poll was glacial, the men’s poll was practically static. There were just three defeats sustained: one to a D2 squad, one in a matchup of Top 25 teams, and one by a mere two points. The largest moves were made by the loser in the first of these games (#9 Mary Hardin-Baylor, which lost 65 points) and the winner in the second (#5 Augustana, which gained 57 points), teams that switched positions from last week’s poll.

One Charge Too Many!

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A trio of Oglethorpe women’s basketball players are joining the Insider contingent.

This season we have noticed that the amounts of charges called have significantly increased since last season. We find ourselves asking each other why is this happening? Charges used be to something a player would take pride in, seeing as there would be only a few charges called every few games. Now there are charges being called, at least for our games, every game, multiple times a game. This also makes us ask ourselves is this trend the same for men’s games? We think not! Why is it that when a girl makes an athletic move to the basket she must be out of control, yet men can do it all the time? If refs think this, then an out of position player can take a charge, or flop, which can change the whole momentum of the game. NEWS FLASH: GIRLS CAN MAKE ATHLETIC MOVES TO THE BASKET TOO! A charge used to get the bench on their feet and excited. Now a charge is just another part of the game, nothing extraordinary. A charge should be called if the player is clearly out of control and contact is made with the defensive player. Many of the charges that have been called have had no or barely any contact. The defensive player flops without even being touched. We would not be mistaken to say that 85% of the charges that have been called in our 8 games of play this year have been flops. This is just something we think should be addressed. We are not in high school anymore our games should be called this way, contact is inevitable. Sorry this is all for now. We must go to practice and practice flopping abilities seeing as that is the popular thing to do these days. Until next time, try not to miss our genius insight of the game too much!

Insider: A Look Back

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The first part of the season sure has gone by fast.  It is hard to believe that I am more than a half way done with my college career.  This past semester has been filled with a lot of highs, a few lows, and a lot of twists and turns. 

This week I will briefly touch on some things that many people might not realize happens in D3 basketball.  Specifically, I will talk about our preseason commitment to the sport and some of the things we do as a program to get ready before we step on the court with coaches on October 15th.      

Most students at MIT arrive on campus a good week and a half before classes start.  We move in, help with freshman orientation, and some even participate in community service or leadership development programs. 

The end of summer is probably my favorite time of the year.  Aside from getting back together with my closest friends, there is a solid week in which I basically have no obligations.  With school, basketball, and summer internships it can be fairly hard to find some alone time to do what you please during the year so getting some time is amazing.  This year
Boston was great.  The city was lively and I had one focus in mind – get in the gym. 

I hope that every program is able to take advantage of the machine called “The Gun”.  This machine is quite a contraption that has nets to catch rebounds and an electrical throwing arm to pass to the shooter.  With this machine I was able to rattle off about 1,000-1,500 jumpers a day in about three or four hours depending on the intensity or focus of the workout. 

During these sessions I felt that I was subtly redefining myself as an individual.  I’m sure this feeling is not uncommon among athletes from all sports.  I think the biggest thing that helped me improve as a player during these workouts was the “visualization”. 

We are lucky enough to have a coach on our staff that has PhD in Sports Psychology.  Coach Oliver Eslinger (Clark ’97) talks a lot about the importance of visualizing everything we do.  Making a move as if a defender is there, imagining the footwork of a move before practicing it, and visualizing a tight release on your jumper are a few examples of the countless techniques that can be utilized.

Although a lot of players were in the gym anyway, the first day of classes signified the start of official captain’s practice.  Captain’s practice essentially takes the place of regular practice except we focus on playing, drills, and lifting.  This year we were lucky enough to have Coach Akin Aina (MIT ’96) as our Strength & Conditioning coach. 

We committed to 5 days of team plus 1 extra day of individual workout time.  It seems like 6 days a week is a lot out of season, but this type of commitment is critical in order to compete consistently at a high level.  Coach Akin developed a great strength program for us and it definitely helped us get through the tough preseason workouts.

Two reasons that I personally like the high intensity off-season workout schedule is (1) it simulates the intensity of season and (2) it separates the players that are serious about ball from the ones who think that they are serious about ball.

For conditioning we run 3 mile “bridge-loops” (run around the
Charles River crossing bridges along the way), swim, and on-court running.  Our conditioning is then tested the week before season begins.  I still claim that this test is the hardest mental and physical exertion that I have ever done for athletics.  We are required to run Harvard Stadium.  This stadium looks like a coliseum and we have to run up and down every stair in the whole stadium in under 30 minutes. 

Every year we talk it up to the freshman about how hard it is and every freshman says that the stadium is much harder than they had imagined.  I can honestly say that I will never run that Harvard Stadium after I graduate from school.

After the stadium, we rest up and fine tune our skills to get ready for the first day of practice on October 15th. 

We, as D3 players, really do commit to our sport year around.  It takes an enormous amount of effort but I believe that I speak for most when I say that it is more than worth it.  We find our best friends, learn how to time manage, push ourselves in new ways, meet great people from around the nation and world, and – hopefully – make a difference in others’ lives as well.

Off topic, I would like to thank the training staff at
Amherst for their efforts and help after an injury last week.  I am always amazed with how much competitors care about the welfare of opponents.  It is one of the reasons that I love this sport and the D3 community so much.  Thanks, good luck to all of those that have finals, and safe travels.

Jimmy Bartolotta

*In my next piece, I plan to recap the games from the whole first part of the season.