PointGuard

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  1. This dynasty report is being continued in the Wolverine Studios forums (in the Dynasty Reports > College Basketball Dynasty Reports forum).
  2. This dynasty report is being continued in the Wolverine Studios forums (in the Dynasty Reports > College Basketball Dynasty Reports forum).
  3. Recruiting Needs Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego: Have 3 scholarships to fill. Need at least one good SF. With the other 2 scholarships, best to get a SG, a C, or possibly a 2nd SF. Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: 5 scholarships to fill. Primary need is for a couple big men with secondary need being for 1 or 2 SG’s. Ramon Montez, Alcorn State: 3 scholarships to fill. Principle focus will be to last a 1-2 SG’s and maybe an interior player. Terry Morillo, Western Illinois: 2 scholarships to fill. Just get the 2 best guys we can, regardless of position. Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff: 3 scholarships to fill. Best scenario would be a couple guards and a big man. [Note: As in previous years the AI will be used to do the recruiting for all 5 teams. Let the chips fall may they may!]
  4. Jan. 30, 2031: North Carolina Tar Heels (12-9, 6-5) vs #19 Boston College Eagles (14-6, 8-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Boston College Chronicle IT’S A “D” FOR THE EAGLES By Kinsey Ramsey Following a disappointing loss to Wake Forest on the road late last week, the Eagles returned to Conte Forum to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. Coach Aura said, “North Carolina is always a dangerous opponent. This season they’re led by a trio of good scorers. All three hit a high percentage of their shots. SG Rashad Newton is averaging 14.6 ppg and has knocked down 47% of his 3’s. PF Lucious Abrui averages 12.6 ppg and has hauled down 5.5 rpg. SF Brad White has scored 11.2 ppg, hits shots from all over the court, and has pulled down 4.0 rpg. We’ll need to bring our A-game to take down the Tar Heels. Unfortunately we’ve had a spate of injuries. Glen Robinson has a sprained wrist, Danny Toliver sprained his toe, and James Pratt has a nagging sore back. All three should be able to play but it puts pressure on everyone else to do their very best.” North Carolina grabbed an early lead as the refs tagged 4 of BC’s starters with fouls. The Eagles finally scored 3 minutes into the game. Both teams had a tough time scoring, but BC’s “D” kept the Tar Heels scoreless for nearly 8 minutes during which the Eagles were able to pull ahead by 9 points with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. But turnovers and poor shooting prevented BC from holding onto a big lead. When the buzzer sounded ending the half, the score was BC-27, NC-26. Both teams had only been able to hit a third of the shots they’d taken. The Eagles scored the first 13 points in the 2nd half. North Carolina’s shooting woes continued and with just under 10 minutes to go, BC led 55-35. The Eagles defense held strong and BC came away with an impressive 65-45 victory. Just two Eagles’ players scored in double figures. SG Corey Graham scored 16 and C Tim Cotton added 11 points. “Our offense was anemic in the first half. We picked it up a bit in the final 20 minutes, but it was our defense that led to our win tonight,” said Coach Aura. “North Carolina is a good team and any time you can hold their shooting to just 27%, you’ve done an outstanding job. Our guys just never gave the Tar Heels any easy shots.” The win kept the Eagles in a tie with Notre Dame and a game-and-a-half ahead of Duke in the ACC standings. BC travels later this week to to take on the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana.
  5. Transfer Results ALCORN STATE Ramon Montez: “Our goal was to sign a guard, an interior player, and either another guard or a small forward. We spent more money than we’d have liked, but ended up getting 3 very good players. SF Jared Kraft transferred from Indiana where he didn’t play much as a freshman, but is likely to start for us. PG Teremun Harris comes to us from Tennessee-Martin where he started his entire freshman year and averaged 12.7 ppg. PF LaRon Eldridge played as a freshman for Lehigh where he was their primary sub and averaged 8.8 ppg and 3.9 rpg. Harris and Eldridge will get substantial playing time and could challenge for a starting role.” MD-EASTERN SHORE Mike McMillan: “Losing SF Jibran Hale was a big blow since he played so well for us as a freshman. Jibran ended up transferring to Georgetown. We needed to sign a SF to take Jibran’s place. And we got our man bt signing SF Winston Morris who started for Oregon as a freshman and averaged 11.2 ppg and 5.9 rpg. He’s likely to start for us this coming season.. We also signed C Tim Taflinger who, as a freshman, started for Jacksonville where he averaged 5.9 ppg and 5.1 rpg. We also signed PF Luke Feeley who got limited playing time at Kansas last season. Taflinger and Feeley both will get some solid playing time ths season.” WESTERN ILLINOIS Terry Morillo: “We just had one scholarship to fill and were looking for a good interior players. We signed PF Joe Bergmann. He played well last season as a freshman at Yale where he started and averaged 12.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg and was the Conference E Freshman of the Year. We expect him to be a starter for us this season.” ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF Dontell Spencer: “We were going after a guard to fill our lone vacant scholarship. We were able to convince SG Bill Thorton to likely start for us this season. As a freshman he attended Florida Gulf Coast. He broke his wrist so missed a third of the season but was a starter in the games he could play. He scored 15.4 ppg and pulled down 4.4 rpg.” UC-SAN DIEGO Ken Yamoto: “When I see the level of transfer players the others signed, I sort of wish we could have participated. But we had a full house of scholarship players. We will have a young team this season. Nine of our 13 scholarships are filled by freshman and sophomores. So we could be in for a big challenge this year.”
  6. TRANSFERS UC-San Diego—no one transferred and all scholarships filled. MD-Eastern Shore—SF Jibran Hale transferred away.…excellent player (last season was Conf. Freshman of the Year and 1st Team All-Conf.) so a big loss. 3 open scholarships to try to fill with transfer players…Will try to land a SF and an interior player plus best available. Alcorn State—3 players transferred away leaving so have 3 scholarships available to try to fill with transfer players…need a guard, interior player and either a SG or SF. Western Illinois—one player transferred so one scholarship to fill with a transfer player…prefer to get an interior player. Arkansas-Pine Bluff—no one transferred away, but had one open scholarship to fill with a transfer player…need a guard.
  7. 2036-2037 SEASON Conference Changes due to Promotion/Relegation Michigan State relegated from A to B Duke relegated from A to B Texas relegated from A to B North Carolina relegated from A to B Georgetown promoted from B to A Providence promoted from B to A Baylor promoted from B to A Connecticut promoted from B to A Vanderbilt relegated from B to C St. Bonaventure relegated from B to C Kansas State relegated from B to C Nebraska relegated from B to C Cincinnati promoted from to C to B Memphis promoted from C to B Texas Tech promoted from C to B Gonzaga promoted from C to B Ohio State relegated from C to D Wichita State relegated from C to D Utah State relegated from C to D Purdue relegated from C to D Virginia Commonwealth promoted from D to C Oklahoma State promoted from D to C Nevada-Las Vegas promoted from D to C Syracuse promoted from D to C Auburn relegated from D to E Louisiana State relegated from D to E Utah relegated from D to E Penn State relegated from D to E Iowa State promoted from E to D Texas A&M promoted from E to D Temple promoted from E to D Houston promoted from E to D Colorado State relegated from E to F Iowa relegated from E to F Boise State relegated from E to F Rutgers relegated from E to F Old Dominion promoted from F to E Wake Forest promoted from F to E Colorado promoted from F to E Illinois State promoted from F to E Mississippi State relegated from F to G Saint Louis relegated from F to G Arizona relegated from F to G Ohio relegated from F to G Pacific promoted from G to F Wright State promoted from G to F Fresno State promoted from G to F Alabama-Birmingham promoted from G to F Nevada relegated from G to H Murray State relegated from G to H Kent State relegated from G to H Tulsa relegated from G to H Duquesne promoted from H to G Akron promoted from H to G Winthrop promoted from H to G Bowling Green promoted from H to G Saint Mary’s relegated from H to I Loyola (IL) relegated from H to I Furman relegated from H to I Western Michigan relegated from H to I Northern Iowa promoted from I to H Middle Tennessee promoted from I to H UC-Irvina promoted from I to H DePaul promoted from I to H New Mexico State relegated from I to J Western Kentucky relegated from I to J Weber State relegated from I to J George Washington relegated from I to J Stony Brook promoted from J to I Drake promoted from J to I Pennsylvania promoted from J to I Sam Houston State promoted from J to I Northeastern relegated from J to K Loyola Marymount relegated from J to K East Tennessee State relegated from J to K NC-Greensboro relegated from J to K MD-Baltimore County promoted from K to J Georgia State promoted from K to J Stephen F. Austin promoted from K to J Morehead State promoted from K to J Princeton relegated from K to L Valparaiso relegated from K to L Miami (OH) relegated from K to L Hofstra relegated from K to L Evansville promoted from L to K Little Rock promoted from L to K Grand Canyon promoted from L to K Eastern Washington promoted from L to K Illinois-Chicago relegated from L to M Long Beach State relegated from L to M William & Mary relegated from L to M Hawaii relegated from L to M Coastal Carolina promoted from M to L Austin Peay promoted from M to L Fairfield promoted from M to L Liberty promoted from M to L Mercer relegated from M to N Georgia Southern relegated from M to N Charlotte relegated from M to N Iona relegated from M to N Southern Mississippi promoted from N to M High Point promoted from N to M Ball State promoted from N to M Southern Utah promoted from N to M Abilene Christian relegated from N to O Portland relegated from N to O Manhattan relegated from N to O South Alabama relegated from N to O Jacksonville State promoted from O to N Youngstown State promoted from O to N Brown promoted from O to N Eastern Kentucky promoted from O to N Siena relegated from O to P Robert Morse relegated from O to P NC-Wilmington relegated from O to P East Carolina relegated from O to P Army promoted from P to O Idaho promoted from P to O Norfolk State promoted from P to O Long Island promoted from P to O Appalachian State relegated from P to Q Lipscomb relegated from P to Q Cal Poly relegated from P to Q UC-Riverside relegated from P to Q Northern Arizona promoted from Q to P Texas-Rio Grande promoted from Q to P Monmouth promoted from Q to P Lamar promoted from Q to P Wagner relegated from Q to R Mount St. Marys relegated from Q to R Sacramento State relegated from Q to R San Jose State relegated from Q to R Stetson promoted from R to Q Saint Peters promoted from R to Q Troy promoted from R to Q Incarnate Word promoted from R to Q New Orleans relegated from R to S Delaware relegated from R to S Purdue Fort Wayne relegated from R to S Gardner-Webb relegated from R to S Cal State Northridge promoted from S to R Kansas City promoted from S to R North Carolina A&T promoted from S to R Bryant promoted from S to R UC-Davis relegated from S to T Chicago State relegated from S to T Canisius relegated from S to T Montana State relegated from S to T Alcorn State promoted from T to S Arkansas-Pine Bluff promoted from T to S Omaha promoted from T to S Southern promoted from T to S Citadel relegated from T to U Bellarmine relegated from T to U Sacred Heart relegated from T to U New Hampshire relegated from T to U Jackson State promoted from U to T North Alabama promoted from U to T Morgan State promoted from U to T MD-Eastern Shore promoted from U to T Kennesaw State relegated from U to V Presbyterian relegated from U to V North Dakota relegated from U to V Saint Francis (PA) relegated from U to V Eastern Illinois promoted from V to U UC-San Diego promoted from V to U Western Illinois promoted from V to U Maine promoted from V to U Longwood relegated from V to Independent Birmingham promoted from Independent to Vq
  8. Jan. 27, 2031: #21 Boston College Eagles (14-5, 8-1) vs Clemson Tigers (13-6, 5-4) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC Ty Allison, Head Coach of the Clemson Tigers We’re playing at home where we have yet to be beaten this season. And we’re underdogs! I’ve riled up our team about that and we intend to show everyone who’s putting us down just how wrong they are. Coach Fred Aura has done a solid job during his tenure as head coach at Boston College, but we’ve won 4 of the 8 games we’ve played against the Eagles since he arrived. And we intend to make that 5 of 9 tonight! My guys are psyched to kick those who are disrespecting us in the ass. We scored the first 5 points in the game. We then went up by 13 with 5 minutes left in the first half. We went on to take a 56-35 lead at halftime. We outshot the Eagles 59% to 40% and outrebounded them 22-16. SF Hayden Hailey scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for us. I told my team to keep the pressure on throughout the final 20 minutes. Boston College came back strong at the beginning of the 2nd half and cut our lead to 7 in the first 6 minutes. But we re-established a 25 point lead with 8 minutes left to play. My team then never let BC get closer than 19 points and we came away with a 97-74 whipping of the Eagles. BC’s SG Corey Graham led all scorers with 24 points and SF James Pratt and C Ben Schau had 12 and 11 points, respectively. But my Tigers had 5 players in double figures and 11 players scoring. That’ll show those who disparage us. We’re now tied for 4th place in the ACC, just 2 games behind Boston College.
  9. Jan. 20, 2031: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-7, 4-3) vs #23 Boston College Eagles (12-5, 6-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Baldwin the Eagle I love this mascot gig. Actually I share it with another guy but it’s my night to be Baldwin tonight. Not only is it just a lot of fun, but the cheerleaders and other coeds here are really into it. Baldwin’s helped me get some dates that elsewise would never have happened. And also my non-Baldwin persona is totally different from how I am as Baldwin. Here’s a video (with the wrong date on it) of me a week ago before the Duke game: Besides my normal game activities, tonight I have two special stunts planned. First: at halftime I’m going to attempt (and maybe actually do) a dunk. And then in the 2nd half during a timeout, I’m going to smash a pie in the face of a ref (well, actually a fake ref, a friend of mine who will be dressed as a ref). Even though the defense was shaky, BC had a hot start offensively and held a lead. But midway through the first half our shooting went south and Georgia Tech slipped ahead. We trailed 38-36 at the end of the half. We had a lot of buildup for my dunking stunt. Finally I took the ball at midcourt, ran straight for the basket, hit the mini-trampoline perfectly and went up for the for the dunk, but it all went wrong from there. The ball sort of slipped from my wing hand and while I thought I could still get it down, it slammed up against the rim and came straight back at me and nearly took off my beak. I crashed down to the floor like I’d been shot. Embarrassing but the crowd loved it. Our team played better in the 2nd half, but the refs tagged us for a bunch of fouls (including 4 quick ones on C Ben Schau). So we were leading by just two at 62-60. Perfect timing for me to run the pie stunt during a media time out. Unlike my dunk stunt, this one went perfectly. I complained to the “ref”, then chased him around the court before grabbing the pie and planting it squarely in his face at midcourt. The crowd went crazy. And our team seemed to come alive after that and quickly pulled away to lead 69-60 with 5:21 to go. And I’m taking TOTAL credit for BC not allowing the Yellow Jackets to score a SINGLE point after my stunt! We won 77-60, scoring 15-0 after my pie in the face stunt. Top producers for the Eagles tonight were: PF Danny Toliver—16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks; C Ben Schau—14 points and 8 boards; C Tim Cotton—11 points; SF James Pratt—10 points and 3 blocks; SG Corey Graham—9 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Strange stat for Georgia Tech: their PG Rahim Arnold went 7 for 16 from the field…all 16 shots were from 3 point distance, so he scored 21 points. Notre Dame got beat by Miami, so the Eagles are now in sole possession of 1st place in the ACC.
  10. Article on the online portal for “COLLEGE BASKETBALL” THE FIVE MUSKETEERS Six years ago the NCAA reorganized into 22 conferences of 16 teams each. After each season within each conference the four teams with the best record are promoted to the next higher conference and the four teams with the worst records are relegated to the next lower conference. Additionally 6 independent teams play 15 games against Division I opponents with the team with the best record in those games being moved up into the lowest prestige conference to supplant the team with the worst record which drops down into Independent status. In that initial season new coaches were hired at 5 of those initial Independent teams. None of these coaches had prior head coaching experience in Division I basketball. These five coaches became known as The Five Musketeers. Ken Yamoto was hired at Tarleton State, Mike McMillan became the new coach for MD-Eastern Shore, Ramon Martinez was the new head coach at Alcorn State, Terry Morillo was brought aboard by Dixie State, and Dontell Spencer took over the reins at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. During the succeeding six seasons these five head coaches have grown close…to a degree where the term “Five Musketeers” apply fits. While occasionally their teams compete on the court, the five coaches are supportive of each other and communicate frequently. “Sometimes it feels like we’re true brothers,” said Ramon Montez. “We get together in the off-season and have a great time together.” Ken Yamoto added, “I’ve learned a lot from each of the other four guys. We bounce ideas and suggestions off each other. Since we all came into our head coaching jobs with different strengths and weaknesses, this has really helped round each of us out and become better coaches.” Things weren’t each for the five during their early years as head coaches. Their teams were initially very weak, win-loss records weren’t impressive, and getting out of Independent status was a huge challenge. The teams of three of the coaches were promoted into Division I after the first three seasons. The first to make the jump to Conference V was Ramon Montez at Alcorn State for the 2031-32 season. Then in the 2032-33 season Mike McMillan got his MD-Eastern Shore squad into Division I. The next season (2033-34) saw Dontell Spencer and his Arkansas-Pine Bluff move from being an Independent to becoming part of Conference V. That left Ken Yamoto and Terry Morillo still out of Division I and mired in the depths as Independents. “When we got together right after the conclusion of the 2032-33 season, Ken and I were strongly encouraged by Dontell, Ramon and Mike to see what jobs at other schools were coming available and to jump ship,” said Terry Morillo. Dontell Spencer added, “Yeah we could see that the administrations at Dixie State and Tarleton State just weren’t supportive enough of their basketball programs that Terry and Ken were likely to be able to get their teams promoted in the foreseeable future. And that’s been confirmed by the fact that both those teams have continued to be unsuccessful the past 3 seasons as well. So it was good that Ken left Tarleton State and got hired by UC-San Diego and Ken went from Dixie State to Western Illinois.” The validity of those statements is that both Yamoto and Morillo have been able to develop rather moribund basketball programs at UC-San Diego and Western Illinois into successful ones in the space of 3 seasons. Arguably Dontell Spencer could be viewed as the most successful of the five. But let’s look at how each of the Five Musketeers has done in their 6 years since first getting hired: Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Overall Record: 96-51 (.653); Season records: 6-10, 9-7, 11-8, 25-6, 24-10, 21-10. 4 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances In the past 4 seasons with advancement to the Semifinals one year and to the Championship game another year in the NIT, and ranked in Top 25 one season, 4 promotions to higher conferences. Ramon Montez, Alcorn State, Overall Record: 101-66 (.605); Season records: 8-7, 14-14, 14-16, 18-14, 24-7, 23-8. 1 CIT and 1 NCAA appearance, and 4 promotions to higher conferences. Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore Hawks, Overall Record: 79-69 (.534); Season records: 8-7, 6-9, 12-17, 12-17, 20-9, 21-10. 1 NIT and 1 NCAA appearances, 3 promotions to higher conferences. Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego, Overall Record: 56-75 (.427); Season records: 3-12, 2-13, 6-9 at Tarleton State and 10-17, 15-13, 20-11 at UC-San Diego. 1 CBI appearance, 1 promotion to a higher conference. Terry Morillo, Western Illinois, Overall Record: 59-73 (.447); Season records: 4-11, 7-8, 4-11 at Dixie State and 13-16, 15-15, 16-12 at Western Illinois. 1 promotion to a higher conference. This past season the Five Musketeers’ teams combined for 100 wins and just 52 losses and all 5 got their teams promoted to the next higher conference. Coaches Yamoto, Montez and McMillan were named their individual conference’s Coach of the Year. Ramon Montez said, “Great season by all 5 teams! The five of us are going to party when we get together in early May. Then it’s on to preparing for even better records next year.”
  11. Results of Coach Requests to Their College’s Board of Directors Four of the coaches were able to get their requests to their boards approved this year UC-San Diego: Increased budget by $7150 MD-Eastern Shore: Increased budget by $7000 Western Illinois: Will get a facilities upgrade (from D- to C-) Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Increased budget by $4000 But... Alcorn State: Budget increase was not approved. Coach Ramon Montez was blunt, "This sucks!"
  12. Recruits Coming to the 5 Teams in the Coming Year UC-San Diego C Joe McCray #722, 2 star Inside shooting and scoring PF Jeremiah Mason #1165 1 star Outside shooting and scoring PG Calvin Henderson #1289 1 star Ball handling and passing PG Matt Holcomb #1304 1 star Outside shooting and scoring PF Michael Faulkner #1407 1 star Inside shooting and rebounding PF Stephen Leith #1565 1 star Rebounding MD-Eastern Shore Filled 2 of 4 vacancies SF Ryurik Rokossovsky #99 4 star Inside shooting and scoring PG Cark Hancock #1619 1 star Defense and outside shooting Alcorn State C Rick Kraft #907 1 star Inside & outside shooting and rebounding PG Jameel Miller #1238 1 star Outside shooting and passing PF Zach Baker #1381 1 star Inside and outside shooting PF Anthony Hanganu #1453 1 star Inside and outside shooting SF Danny Murphy #1725 1 star Outside shooting and passing Western Illinois PF Orvo Haapajarvi #7 4 star Inside shooting and scoring SF Eliran Zaichik #163 3 star Inside shooting and scoring Arkansas-Pine Bluff Filled 2 of 3 vacancies PF Derron O’Quin #1306 1 star Shooting and passing PG Erik Taylor #1699 1 star Passing and outside shooting
  13. Jan. 18, 2031: #23 Boston College Eagles (11-5, 5-1) vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-7, 2-4) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery We’ve finally clawed our way back into the polls. Coach Aura said he puts little faith in these, particularly when Duke is ranked #10 but Notre Dame is ranked just #20 when the Fighting Irish are 7-0 in the ACC and 1-1/2 games ahead of Duke and when North Carolina State is still ranked #16 but has only won 2 of 5 ACC games. But I believe we deserve to be in the Top 25 and am glad to see us there. I also think it gives recognition to our players for their hard effort. We’ve got to take care not to take Wake Forest too lightly. They’re a stronger team than in past seasons and are a good shooting team that generally has been successful on their home court. There were 11 lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the game with neither team ahead by more than 3 points. But we have greater depth so we were able to keep fresher legs on the court. That helped us pull away from Wake Forest and achieve a 49-33 halftime lead. With such a large lead, our team let it’s guard down on defense in the 2nd half and Wake Forest used that to begin hitting a high percentage of their shots. The Demon Deacons crept up on us but never really mounted a serious challenge. We came away with a 92-80 victory, having hit 61% of our shots. PF Danny Toliver hit for 19 points, C Ben Schau put in 17 points, and SG Corey Graham added 14 points. Coupled with Virginia’s upset road win over Notre Dame, we moved to within ½ game of the first place Fighting Irish.
  14. Awards: SG Kwame Mickens, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T Player of the Year Ramon Montez, Alcorn State—Conference T Coach of the Year SG Kwame Mickens, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 1st Team All-Conference SF Dan Jefferson, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference C Chris Betts, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference C Gabriel Atwood, Alcorn State—Conference T 2nd Team All-Conference SF Jibran Hale, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U Freshman of the Year Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U Coach of the Year SF Jibran Hale, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference U 1st Team All-Conference SG Marcelo Barker, Western Illinois—Conference V Defensive Player of the Year Ken Yamoto, UC San Diego—Conference U Coach of the Year SG Marcelo Barker, Western Illinois—Conference U 2nd Team All-Conference
  15. Jan. 13, 2031: #10 Duke Blue Devils (12-4, 4-1) vs Boston College Eagles (10-5, 4-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Coach Fred Aura When Duke comes to town every seat at Conte Forum is filled and with the two teams tied for 2nd place in the ACC, tonight’s no different. It’s a raucous crowd. Duke’s been more inconsistent than usual this season. Overall they’ve played, including winning the Cancun Challenge tourney. But they’ve sustained some unexpected losses both on the road and at home. As usual though, they have a great defense, allowing only 60 ppg. Recently we’ve had some good perimeter shooting so we’ll try to beat their defense that way. As far as our defense goes, we need to try to control their senior C Michael Rashaw who has developed into their leading scorer this season averaging 15 ppg, their PF Enrique Fortin who is scoring about 10 ppg, and PG Casey Dare who has scored 11-1/2 ppg. Duke jumped out on top. We trailed by 4-6 points throughout most of the first 10 minutes as they throttled our offense. At the 2nd media time out I put in Glen Robinson at PG since the Blue Devils were really pressuring Bobby Grannum. Glen quickly hit some key baskets to tie the game and then move us ahead. Our defense tightened and by the end of the half we led 29-24. Defense continued to be the key to holding our lead in the 2nd half. Our offense stuttered in the middle of the half so that Duke was able to get within 2 points of us. But the Blue Devils were never able to put on a sustained run because our guys were keeping them from getting clear shots. In the last 8 minutes of the game we steadily pulled away to rather surprisingly bury Duke by a score of 64-48. Yes, we held Duke to just 48 points! The Blue Devils only made 30% of their shots. So even though we were limited to 39% shooting, it was enough. We held Rashaw to just 6 points. Our leading scorer was SG Corey Graham who finished with 15 points. PG/SG Glen Robinson scored 11. Our fans swarmed the floor at the end of the game. It got pretty messy. Some how I ended up losing one of my better fedoras. But I was intent on getting our guys off the court before someone got hurt so couldn’t worry about my hat.