Putting a Tiger in the NCAC’s tank

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DePauw announced that it will leave the SCAC and join the NCAC for basketball effective in the 2011-2012 season. It’s still a full season away, but adding the Tigers to NCAC men’s basketball could have a very different impact than adding the Tigers to NCAC women’s basketball.

In men’s basketball, DePauw brings depth to a conference that has been incredibly top heavy. Wooster (7) and Wittenberg (3) have won the last 10 regular season titles and all but one NCAC tournament title. Wooster’s dominance is particularly striking. The Scots are 46-51 against Wittenberg (.474) all time and 688-256 against everyone else (.729). Six NCAC teams – everyone but Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan and Wabash – haven’t beaten Wabash in at least 10 seasons.

Maybe DePauw won’t challenge Wooster for the title every year, but it’s hard to imagine the Tigers going 0-for-a-decade against the Scots. DePauw has averaged just under 20 wins over the last four seasons and made consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 2006 and 2007. And I’ve seen the DePauw’s Neal Fieldhouse when it’s full and loud for a basketball game. A road game against DePauw in mid-February will be a much better gauge of how ready Wooster and other NCAC title contenders are for the NCAA tournament than road games at Earlham who is moving from the NCAC to the HCAC.

On the women’s side, the story will be different, at least in the short term. On a lot of nights, adding DePauw to the NCAC may have the same impact as adding a steamroller to a bumper car rally. The Tigers have won at least 19 games every season since 1995. They have made the NCAA tournament in eight of the last nine years with a national championship (2007) and another Final Four appearance (2002) along the way. Since Ohio Wesleyan reached the 2001 Final Four, the NCAC representative has gone 6-9 in the NCAA tournament and hasn’t survived the first weekend since 2004. DePauw has gone 17-7 over that same period and twice beaten the NCAC rep (Denison both times).

There’s a chance that DePauw does to the NCAC women’s field what Wooster has done to the NCAC men’s field. That would be a shame for all involved. Teams who survive tough conferences in the regular season are better prepared to make deep runs in the postseason. So DePauw will have to continue its aggressive non-conference scheduling since there will be a lot of nights where the Tigers aren’t challenged by NCAC opponents, at least in the short term. But there’s also a chance that DePauw will give the conference a gold standard toward which the other programs can aspire, elevating the whole conference’s quality of play. DePauw gives teams like Denison and Wittenberg, who have played well in conference, a better gauge of what it takes to succeed in the NCAA tournament. As one NCAC message board maven put it, hopefully a rising tide lifts all boats.

The final word on La Sierra

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La Sierra’s long trip through the provisional membership process, trying to become a Division III member, took a wrong turn this past fall and finally has come to an end. The NCAA’s Division III membership committee reported that “In regards to La Sierra University, the institution that was instructed to rejoin the process as a year one institution, it is trying to do the right thing and attempting to understand what it takes to be a Division III institution.”

La Sierra, in Southern California, could have been through the four-year process and become an active member of Division III by now, in a spot of the country that could desperately use more Division III schools. Instead, the school has joined the NAIA, according to a release this week.

It isn’t easy to become a Division III school. Many of the schools that start the process are not fully prepared to do so, especially those that have to add sports, in some cases several, to make the minimum. In this case, La Sierra has finally washed out of the process.

One Last Time

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I am a failure. Ok, I really needed to get that off my chest. When I found out I was going to write this blog I had visions of grandeur. One blog per week, creative ideas, and funny angles that would ultimately lead to a cult following which would land me a spot on Bill Simmons’ podcast to talk about the wonderful things that are division III basketball. Oops. I guess some things were just not meant to be. Alas, I failed miserably on all accounts. And for that I would like to say I am deeply and truly sorry to all of my loyal fans, yes both of you.

As you might have figured, (or should have figured by the title of this blog) our season is over. We finished a fantastic season in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in Middlebury, VT with a 64-57 loss to Middlebury. It was a disappointing ending to one of the most rewarding four years of my life. I don’t want to summarize the whole game, but there are a couple of parts I want to highlight elementary school style, yup with Gold Stars. 13 stars to 8 foot tall Andrew Locke of Middlebury. (Wait a minute, that’s Manute Bol) That is one for every block he had Friday night. I’m serious. For those of you scoring at home, that is one more than Jesus had disciples. He blocked me alone 5 times. Here is an example of what happened Friday night. Unbeliveable performance. Andrew, you will receive your stars in the mail. 12 stars for two time NESCAC defensive player of the year Tim Edwards of Middlebury for the number of misses he forced me into Friday night. That’s right I was 3-15. He is a tremendous defensive player and made life difficult for me all night, hence the 3-15 shooting night. On second thought, he can just share his teammate’s the gold stars. 2 stars for the Gordon College Men’s Basketball team for the number of double digit deficits we fought back from. We battled through a rough first half after being down 12 to enter halftime down by 3. In the second half we found ourselves down 16 only to battle back to a five point game with 2 minutes to play. That shows the kind of character and never say die attitude our gritty little squad has. And finally, 1 Million Gold Stars to The Pit. The Pit is the Gordon student section of about 200 students who made the 4 hour trip to Vermont on their own dime because we were on spring break while this game took place. I can’t explain how much their support means to us and if I had anything other than Gold Stars to give out I would.  We have the best fans in New England, bar none.

It is difficult to put into words what my time at Gordon has meant to me but since I have this blog I am going to try anyways.  I have been blessed to be a part of a TEAM in the truest since. There are many teams around the country but very few TEAMS.  A team is a collection of individuals who come together to try to reach some sort of collective goal. A TEAM is a group of people bonded together with a passion for each other who commit to reaching a goal and do everything they can to attain it. TEAMS are special. The latter is what I have experienced the past four years. I am a part of a special class of people who for four years grew to care more about each other than ourselves as individuals. In order to attempt to quantify how special this class has been I am going to go against my nature and brag a little bit. Our senior class will graduate as the All-Time winningest class in school history, has played in more games than any class in school history, the first class to have back-to-back 20 win seasons, two regular season conference championships, and the first Conference Tournament Championship in school history.  One of the most incredible stats is that in four years, our class has missed a total of 3 games due to injury. That is 6 players and over 600 games between the 6 of us and we have all been healthy for all except 3. Even more in incredible is that one of our seniors who will remain nameless gets infections like it’s his job. (We found a creative solution to this problem) We have had 6 All-Conference selections, the defensive player of the year, the player of the year, the senior scholar athlete of the year, and we even won the sportsmanship award. It has been an extraordinary four years and I could not have asked for a better group of guys to experience it with.

Maybe you can understand if I tell you a little about these guys. First off is the honorary member of our class Ben “Moose” Drake. Moose played for three years, and was unfortunately unable to finish this season with us. However, Moose is as much of a part of our team’s success as anyone I know. He never played many minutes, but in some ways that is the most important member of the team. People will always look at the most veteran player who does not get many minutes to replicate their attitude. I have never met someone with a better one. He is the epitome of a teammate. Always putting others first, working as hard as he can day in and day out, and constantly supporting his teammates. Moose even joined us for a couple of honorary team showers. Can you say “Only team in America”? (For those of you who don’t understand this concept this video may help)To top it all off, when I looked into the crowd on Friday night, guess who I saw in the first row cheering on his teammates. Yep you guessed it, Moose. Next is Jeff Derr, the 6’8” gentle giant, and walking sports encyclopedia who is one of the most unselfish players I have ever played with. As a multi-skilled big man he has willingly sacrificed his own glory for the good of the team throughout his career and placed others above himself and contributed in some major ways along the way. That is the epitome of a team player. Next is Brady Bajema. There may not be a better teammate in the country than Brady Bajema. I have had the privilege of being co-captains with Brady the past two years. I have never played with a person who truly only cared about winning. He is the most competitive person I know and constantly kicked my butt in pick-up games, practice and shooting drills the past four years. Brady could honestly care less how many points he scores or assists he has as long as his team has more at the end of the day. Next is Tim MacDonnell. You really need to see Timmy play to understand what he does for a team. (Think Dennis Rodman minus the tats and funky hair and add rec specs) I am sure a number of coaches have looked at our stats when scouting us and wondered, “why does this guy play so much” only to watch film and end up wishing he had a team full of guys like Tim. For example, in our final game, Tim took more charges than I took the entire season, possibly my career. Yes I am a ninny, but what Tim does for his team is impossible to quantify in numbers other than wins and losses. His teams just win. Tim literally gave his right arm for his teammates. He has played the last two and a half seasons with a torn labrum. Some people would miss an entire season with that sort of injury. Not Tim, he missed one game his entire career. Finally is Ben Gaskill. When I think about how unique our team is, Ben is the poster child. He is 6’9” with red hair, and runs like a deer (seriously, when in shape he can run a sub 5 min mile). In my two years as his roommate I have seen him dress up as Ernie from Sesame Street, a shark eating a person, wear a bed sheet as a cape, rip that same bed sheet on a fire extinguisher, and spend more time in the shower than any human on than planet. Not only that, but Ben turned himself into a defensive and rebounding menace. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in our conference and was the main reason we ended the regular season with the third highest rebounding margin in the country. He took his role, embraced it and thrived in it. Ben could have tried to be our leading scorer, which would bring more recognition. Instead, he found how he could best help our team win, and without that we would never have reached the level of success that we did. I also must mention the outstanding coaches we had during our career. While we did encounter a major coaching change before this season, we could not have asked for two better men to lead our teams over four years. These coaches not only led us on the basketball court but helped teach us what it meant to be men of character.  Coach Murphy, Coach Krass, Coach Whitley, Coach Schauer, and Coach Martin, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

One final note that everyone reading this needs to know. As amazing as this group is, our parents are even more incredible. The six of us are from, Overland Park, KS; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Burlington, VT; Philadelphia, PA; and Worcester, MA and I can count on one had the number of games parents missed this season. The commitment each of our parents made to supporting us is unparalleled. On many occasions my dad described it as “crazy.” While it may have been, it is impossible to express how much the support our parents gave means to each of us. On behalf of all of the seniors, THANK YOU!

I know this is getting long, but you have to be careful to give someone a platform to speak, because they just might use it. Sorry Mr. Coleman. This season has been so rewarding, not because we won so many games and achieved so many program firsts, although we did that a lot. It is because of what we went through to get to where we are. We battled expectations, disappointment, a coaching change, frustration, selfish desires, losses, not to mention our opponents, all to arrive at this point. I have heard the quote, “TEAMS are built through shared challenges.” However they can also be broken through them. We chose to become a TEAM through our challenges. We began this season with a new coach and a 4-3 record; we finished as Conference Champions and a 24-5 record. We began our careers as six strangers from all over the country; we ended it as lifelong friends. Even more than that we helped build a program, just as the classes before us have. While our stated goal was to be the “Best team in Gordon history” the true goal was to leave the program in better shape than we found it. Only time will tell, but if future Gordon teams can become a TEAM like ours, our class will no doubt have been a success, regardless of my failures as a writer.

A memorable one

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Throughout the recently completed season, Chapman junior forward Justin Riley blogged about the Panthers’ historic run. His final entry recounts the Panthers’ tournament experience and offers thoughts on the special bond he had with this year’s teammates.

We thank Justin for his thoughtful, well written entries throughout this season. And he was just as good on the court, picking up All Independent Player of Year honors. He’ll be back for his senior season at Chapman this fall, and we hope he’ll chronicle it for us.

On October 15, a group of guys entered the gym with one thing on their minds: getting the chance to prove himself on the big stage. Practices, games and teammates came and went, but the passion to take Chapman to the postseason for the first time in 26 years burned on.

After concluding the season with a 23-2 record, some positive thoughts filtered through my head:

1. We were ranked in the D3 Hoops Top 25 Poll for all 13 weeks.
2. We had a 17-1 in-region record.
3. We defeated NCAA Division II opponent BYU-Hawaii (ranked 18th at the time).
4. We ended the season on a 13-game winning streak (23.7 scoring margin during streak).

On the other hand, some negative thoughts filtered through as well:

1. Our strength of schedule was weak (no surprise), 392 out of 407.
2. We didn’t have any standout Division III wins, losing to our one real test: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
3. We hadn’t played a team with a winning percentage above .500 since December.
4. And of course, Chapman hadn’t made the tourney since moving to Division III in 1994.

Once all of these thoughts made their way in and out, I still wasn’t sure if we were going to make it. As an avid board reader, it looked like we were very likely to get a Pool B bid, but I couldn’t convince myself for certain; setting myself up for heartbreak was a pain I wanted to avoid. On Monday morning, five of us met at a teammate’s house to watch the selection show hoping that we would see our name in the bracket for the first time. The show started…we waited…we waited…and then, history happened.

WE MADE IT!!

If just making it to the tourney wasn’t good enough, finding out we were hosting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first round was the cherry on top. Going in to this game, we knew it was going to be a 40-minute battle. CMS is a well coached, hard nosed team that prides itself on toughness and defense. The practices leading up to the game were very physical and competitive.

At 7:00 PM on March 4, the battle began. The environment was incredible with almost 2000 people in attendance; the Chapman student body covered the entire west side of the gym in white, while roughly 100 CMS students stood across cheering in their respective school colors. CMS jumped out quickly, but we were able to close the gap and fight back-and-forth for the remainder of the first half. Just before halftime, Griffin Ramme hit a buzzer beater three-pointer in the corner to give us a three point advantage going into the locker room.

The second half started similar to the first with CMS jumping out quickly. Once again, we were able to battle back and seize the lead for the final six minutes of the game and capture the victory 58-47. When the buzzer sounded, the gym erupted and the students stormed the court. Words cannot express how I immediately felt, but it was a moment that I will never forget. After the game, the CMS coaching staff and players showed tremendous sportsmanship and wished us well against Whitworth.

The next morning we were up at 4:00 AM to head to the airport to catch a flight to Spokane, Washington. Waking up that early after a physical game didn’t lead to a very comfortable flight, but when we arrived at our hotel, I had no problem taking advantage of the five-hour window to sleep before our evening practice. At practice, we broke down our scouting report and prepared ourselves for another battle Saturday night.

When we arrived to the gym Saturday night, we were very focused and determined to upset Whitworth on their home court. Prior to the game, our coach emphasized that if we came out slow, it would be a long and hard battle back. And that it was. Whitworth came out firing as we found ourselves down 21-6 with 10 minutes to play in the first half. We were able to battle back and close the gap heading into the break trailing 32-26.

The second half mirrored the first as Whitworth expanded the lead to double digits in the opening minutes. We fought hard to close the gap, but were unsuccessful at getting any closer than six points the remainder of the game. Nate Montgomery and Eric Beal did an outstanding job on both ends of the court leading them to a 21-point victory.

Silence filled the locker room as all of us realized that our historic season had come to an end. As players changed and left the locker room, the four guys that started alongside of me every game for the past two seasons—Dan Aguilar, Jared Kaiser, Griffin Ramme and Kyle Wood—sat there in silence. Tears immediately streamed down our eyes as we embraced each other in the locker room for one last time. Though Griffin and I have one more year of eligibility, the camaraderie the five of us shared is something special. I am grateful I had the opportunity to help Chapman make the postseason tournament for the first time in 26 years, but I am more grateful that I was able to share it with this group of guys.

To Dan, Jared and Kyle: thank you for a memorable year.

This is the end

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During the Division III basketball season, I’ve been reading John Feinstein’s The Last Amateurs in which he chronicles a season in Division I’s Patriot League. There are lots of parallels to Division III, especially since many of the Assistant Coaches in the Patriot League are now Division III coaches. The list includes Carl Danzig at Scranton, Jimmy Allen at Averett and Nathan Davis at Randolph-Macon.

Much of the book is about players fighting to prolong their basketball careers. Like nearly all Division III athletes, they are “going pro in something other than sports.” When the final Patriot League team, LaFayette, has its season ended by Temple in the NCAA Tournament, senior Mike Homer says, “I’ll always love this time in my life. I’ll love having been a basketball player. But I’ll be ready to move on. Endings are always sad. But they lead to beginnings.”

For me the enduring images of the 2009-2010 season were those in which players and coaches reached the end of their college career.

Clark senior forward Mark Alexander never missed a game in his college career due to injury. Not over 100 plus games. He was a big reason for the Cougars’ opening round upset of Albright and undoubtedly a major part of their strategy to beat Randolph-Macon. But he hurt his knee badly enough in the opening minute against the Yellow Jackets that he never returned. He spent the game on the bench, icing his knee or leaning on crutches. The Cougars scrapped but came up short against Randolph-Macon, ending their season and Alexander’s career. He put a towel over his head and cried when the final buzzer sounded. I’m not sure if he could’ve played in the next round of the tournament, even if the Cougars advanced. Maybe he spent the whole 39 minutes of action thinking about the end of his career. It still wasn’t enough to staunch the emotion.

Coaches don’t normally have to wrestle with those emotions quite as much. There’s usually next season to think about. But during Marymount’s season, women’s coach Bill Finney announced that he would retire after it was complete. His last game was a close one against Hope in the sectional semifinals. Unlike Alexander, he didn’t have time to think about this being his last game even while it being played.

Finney had a tremendous coaching career, winning over 500 games and impacting countless lives. He has also been a great supporter of this site. I’ve benefited from the insight he’s shared with me directly or through other staff. I wanted to get his insight on what he was thinking, what he was feeling that night. Because Marymount’s semifinal was the first game in a double header, I didn’t get the chance to ask him. Maybe no media did since Marymount didn’t appear to have a writer or radio station at the game. I’m not sure I would’ve had the gumption to ask anyway and intrude on that personal moment.

I did get the chance to talk to D3hoops All American Christina Solari about that moment a couple hours later. Her Illinois Wesleyan Titans played a tremendous game against UW-Stevens Point. The Titans went from nearly surviving and playing Hope in the Elite 8 to being beaten on a shot with 2.2 seconds left. Throw in the timeout the Titans called to set up a final play and that’s not a lot of time to think about your last game. I have no idea what Solari was feeling on the inside when I talked to her afterwards. But I was struck by how at peace she seemed to be when I asked her about this being her last game.

Solari has a medical redshirt that would enable her to play another year. But she didn’t seem inclined to use it. At least not right now. Maybe she’ll decide to come back, like Kean’s Melissa Beyruti did. Kean obliterated most of their opponents this season, seemingly on track for the Final Four. Then Beyruti got hurt in the NJAC tournament championship against William Paterson. Two Saturdays later, Rochester ended Kean’s season with Beyruti playing limited minutes. She finished her career tied for the most games played in women’s Division III basketball history.

This weekend the seniors at Rochester, Hope and Washington U. saw their college basketball careers end at the women’s final four. For Hope who lost in the championship game, the ending was emotional for seniors Jenny Cowen and Philana Greene. Cowen admirably wrestled her emotions to the ground during the post game conference. Without knowing what Greene was really feeling, she seemed at peace with the end of her college basketball career.

Amherst didn’t have any seniors on its roster. After its heartbreaking loss to Washington U in the national semifinals, there was a sense of unfinished business. Coach G.P. Gromacki implied as much by calling the team a “work in progress.” He and his players have done an incredible job already, building that program into a national title contender. There’s only one more step they can take, and that’s winning the national championship. Maybe they’ll get there. They will almost certainly be very good again next year. However next season ends, I hope they can enjoy the journey and don’t feel so much pressure trying to win a national championship that the rest of the season feels like the prelude to two games in March.

Of course, not all endings are sad. Two groups of seniors – one men, one women – get to have a happy endings to their careers. Washington U. graduate student Jaimie McFarlin had a rare opportunity to rewrite the end of her college career. Afterwards she told me that her basketball career still may not be finished. She hopes to play in Europe next year. UW-Stevens Point senior Matt Moses also had a happy ending, one that was a long time in the making.

For lots of players, they’ve reached the end, whether it’s happy, sad or somewhere in between. Wherever life takes those players next, we wish them the best. Thanks for giving us a small window into this part of your lives.