PointGuard

Dec. 28, 2029: #14 ranked Boston College (9-2, 0-0) vs Syracuse Orange (6-5, 1-0) at Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY Father Benedict Perry This is the second straight year that I’ve accompanied the team to Syracuse. The Syracuse area is deep in snow right now. Fortunately they’ve done a pretty good job of clearing the main roads, but they’re well-prepared for snow removal throughout upper New York state. Again I’m able to attend the game with two priests I knew when I was at the diocese in Syracuse several years ago. Father Brad is a Syracuse fan while Father Eric grew up in Boston, so he’s a BC fan. The game will go quickly since there is a lot of ribbing and some occasional good-natured taunting of the opposing teams. Coach Aura told me that Syracuse has two players who are scoring well, PF George Plowman and SG Kevin Edmond so they will try shutting them down. BC gets first blood when PF Danny Toliver intercepts a Syracuse pass and upcourts the ball quickly to a streaking Bobby Grannum for a dunk. On the Eagles’ next possession, Grannum sinks a beautiful 3-pointer to make it 5-0. A few minutes later Toliver and Grannum team up for twice again for steals and breakaway buckets. Grannum hits another 3 to make it 14-6 and Grannum has scored all 14 of BC’s points. The Eagles use some hot shooting, control of the boards, and a steady defense to take a commanding 46-26 halftime lead. Syracuse came out in the 2nd half and trimmed the lead to 11 points after 5 minutes of play. BC just could not hit any shots and their lead was down to just 9 points with 5 minutes left. The Eagles finally figured out where the basket was and scored 6 points in the next minute which was the beginning of a 20-4 run to conclude the game. The final score was 80-55 in favor of the Eagles. PG Bobby Grannum had a big game with 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks. SF/SG Glen Robinson hit 7 of 10 FG’s including 6 of 9 from 3-point range and scored 23 points. C Courtland Reese had a double-double, scoring 13 points and hauling down 10 boards.

March Results: Final conference games: NC-Central-82, MD-Eastern Shore (7-9)-69 (Frank Davis-15 pts/3 reb/3 ast; Landon Newby-17 pts) Coppin St.-80, UC-San Diego (6-10)-73 (Donte Madison-23 pts/9 reb/3 ast/2 stl/1 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (14-2)-88, Florida A&M-82 (Imari McDonald-21 pts/12 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 blk) And the fight for 2nd place between Seattle, Binghamton, North Dakota, SIU-Evansville, and Alcorn State, all tied with 9-6 records. Here are the results of each of their final conference games: Maine-84, Binghamton-70 Seattle79, Western Illinois (6-10)-65 (Roy Hampton-17 pts/2 reb/2 ast) Longwood-61, North Dakota-44 And…. Alcorn State (10-6)-70, SIU-Edwardsville-60 (Will Friel-13 pts/6 reb/2 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Therefore, 3 teams are assured of promotion: Arkansas Pine-Bluff: 14-2 (1st place) Alcorn State: 10-6 (2nd place tie) Seattle: 10-6 (2nd place tie) The fourth team to be promoted will be either one of the four teams tied for 3rd place or a lower placed team, should one of those win the conference tournament. Relegation: Coppin State finished in 16th and last place in Conference V and will be relegated to become an Independent next season. Western Illinois and UC-San Diego were 2 of 5 teams that finished tied for 11th place, one game ahead of Coppin State. MD-Eastern Shore finished in 10th place. Therefore all 3 of those teams escaped being relegated to Independent status.

February Game Results: Western Illinois Leathernecks coached by Terry Morillo North Dakota-86, Western Illinois (6-2)-76 (Roy Hampton-20 pts/9 reb/3 ast/2 stl) Longwood-82, Western Illinois (6-3)-64 (Roy Hampton-15 pts/4 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff-89, Western Illinois (6-4)-84 (Roy Hampton-16 pts/8 reb/5 ast/3 stl) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Western Illinois: Roy Hampton 14.8, Guillermo Cabrera-12.4, Duany Vaughn-11.8, Nate Roland-9.9, Earl Cue-8.8 Florida A&M-90, Western Illinois (6-5)-75 (Guillermo Cabrera-21 pts) Alcorn State-81, Western Illinois (6-6)-79 (Roy Hampton-32 pts/8 reb/2 ast/1 stl) North Alabama-108, Western Illinois (6-7)-101 [2 OT’s] (Nate Roland-17 pts/7 reb/4 ast/4 stl) Maine-73, Western Illinois (6-8)-69 (Roy Hampton-19 pts/8 reb/1 stl) Binghamton-77, Western Illinois (6-9)-69 (Guillermo Cabrera-18 pts/3 reb/3 ast/2 stl/1 blk) Comment: After winning 6 of their first 7 conference games, the Leathernecks tanked in February, losing all 8 games. That sank Western Illinois from a tie for 1st to the lower half of the conference standings. Their collapse appears to be due to a series of injuries combined by a season-long serious weakness at SG. MD-Eastern Shore Hawks coached by Mike McMillan SIU Edwardsville-79, MD-Eastern Shore (6-2)-67 (Landon Newby-19 pts/2 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 blk) North Alabama-90, MD-Eastern Shore (6-3)-74 (Darius Rychart-17 pts) MD-Eastern Shore (7-3)-81, Alcorn State-68 (Frank Davis-21 pts/5 reb) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for MD-Eastern Shore: Frank Davis-15.1, Darius Rychart-10.7, Landon Newby-10.0, Tony Rueter-9.0, Omar Briggs-6.8 Alabama St.-72, MD-Eastern Shore (7-4)-62 (Omar Briggs-14 pts/5 reb/3 ast/3 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff-102, MD-Eastern Shore (7-5)-70 (Darius Rychard-18 pts/3 reb) Florida A&M-83, MD-Eastern Shore (7-6)-81 (Joe Carson-19 pts/6 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 blk) Coppin St.-80, MD-Eastern Shore (7-7)-70 (Joe Carson-14 pts/4 reb/1 ast/2 stl/2 blk) UC-San Diego-80, MD-Eastern Shore-67 (7-8) (Tony Rueter-17 pts/11 reb/2 ast/3 blk) Major INJURY: MD-Eastern Shore’s Kent Evans broke his ankle. Comments: Another team with a horrible February, losing 7 of games. After being ties for 1st, the Hawks have slipped to the lower half of the conference standings. MD-Eastern Shore also were bit by the injury bug. But one wonders if more minutes had been given to freshman SG Landon Newby (9.6 ppg while playing just 13.0 mpg), would the Hawks have pulled off a few more victories. Alcorn State Braves coached by Ramon Montez UC-San Diego-79, Alcorn State (3-5)-77 (Mike Gallagher-18 pts) Alcorn State (4-5)-84, Coppin State-60 (Will Friel-18 pts/4 reb/1 stl/3 blk) MD-Eastern Shore-81, Alcorn State (4-6)-68 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/9 reb/3 ast/1 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Alcorn State: Gabriel Atwood-12.6, Mike Gallagher-11.1, Virgil Brown-10.5, Will Friel-10.2, Bernie Graham-7.5 Alcorn State (5-6)-72, NC-Central-68 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/7 reb/4 ast) Alcorn State (6-6)-81, Western Illinois-79 (Will Friel-19 pts/7 reb/2 ast/1 stl/1blk) Alcorn State (7-6)-83, Binghamton-64 (Mike Gallagher-22 pts/1 reb/2 ast/1 stl/2 blk) Alcorn State (8-6)-80, Alabama St.-58 (Virgil Brown-21 pts/3 reb/1 stl) Alcorn State (9-6)-88, North Alabama-85 (Gabriel, Atwood-21 pts/5 reb/2 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Comment: After a lackluster beginning in conference play, the Braves have caught fire, winning 6 of their last 7 games and now have a 5-game win streak. Different starters step to the fore each game to carry the team. Coach Montez has really stimulated the Brave’s offense which averaged about 79 ppg during this month and having scored 80+ points in their final 4 games this month. With the team tied with 4 other teams for 2nd place, the Braves need to win their final conference game (or win the conference tournament) to give them a chance to be promoted. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions coached by Dontell Spencer Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-1)-88, Maine-62 (Imari McDonald-17 pts/9 reb/2 ast/5 stl/1 b Binghamton-84, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-2)-80 (Marcus Huld-18 pts/8 reb/1 ast) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-2)-89, Western Illinois-84 (Imari McDonald-14 pts/9 reb/2 ast/3 stl/3 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Imari McDonald-12.9, Marcus Huld-11.7, Dwayne Robinson-11.1, Dexter Thorne-10.4, Danny Logie-10.2 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-2)-76, Seattle-67 (Dexter Thorne-17 pts/4 reb/1 ast/1 stl) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (10-2)-101, MD-Eastern Shore-70 (Imari McDonald-19 pts/9 reb/2 ast/1 stl/2 blk; Dwayne Robinson-20 pts/5 reb/3 ast/1 stl) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-2)-77, NC-Central-69 (Imari McDonald-18 pts/7 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (12-2)-88, Longwood-61 (Danny Logie-25 pts/2 reb/2 ast) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-2)-76, North Dakota-46 (Imari McDonald-13 pts/12 reb/1 ast/2 stl/3 blk) Comment: Another exceptionally strong month for the Golden Lions, ending the month with a 6-game win streak. Great offense and strong defense all month. Four starters and a sub are averaging in double figures with their fifth starter knocking on the double-figures door. Arkansas-Pine Bluff is now 4 games ahead of the 5 teams (which includes Alcorn State) that are tied for 2nd place. Imari Mc Donald had a very strong month, regularly leading the team to victory. The Golden Lions have assured themselves of being promoted next season. UC-San Diego Tritons coached by Ken Yamoto UC-San Diego (2-6)-79, Alcorn State-77 (Donte Madison-17 pts/5 reb/4 ast/4 stl/1 blk) UC-San Diego (3-6)-96, Alabama State-73 (Joe Houston-21 pts/4 reb/1 ast/1 stl/1 blk; Chris Ratliff-19 pts/7 reb/8 ast/1 stl) UC-San Diego (4-6)-85, SIU Edwardsville-79 (Dave Rush-14 pts/3 reb/1 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Top Scorers (ppg) thus far for UC-San Diego: Donte Madison-12.0, Dave Rush-10.5, Joe Houston-10.2, Chris Ratliff-8.8, Shannon Van Hook-8.4 North Alabama-85, UC-San Diego (4-7)-74 (Joe Houston-14 pts/4 reb/2 ast/3 stl) UC-San Diego (5-7)-78, Longwood-53 (Joe Houston-15 pts/7 reb/4 ast/2 stl) North Dakota-102, UC-San Diego (5-8)-76 (Donte Madison-19 pts/5 reb/1 ast/1 blk) NC-Central-94, UC-San Diego (5-9)-83 (Dave Rush-26 pts/6 reb/1 ast) UC-San Diego (6-9)-80, MD-Eastern Shore-67 (Donte Madison-18 pts/7 reb/5 ast/1 stl/1 blk) Comment: Coach Yamoto woke up the team in February, moving the Tritons from last place in the conference to a 3-way tie for 11th place That puts the team 2 games ahead of the last place team, and with just one game left in conference play, out of jeopardy of being relegated. UC-San Diego averaged over 81 ppg this month. 3 injuries (2 of which are to starters) may make it difficult for the team in their final game of the regular season and in the conference tournament.

Boston College Chronicle ACC PLAY BEGINS By Kinsey Ramsey This Wednesday Boston College will travel to Syracuse to take on the Orange to kick off their 2029-2030 ACC schedule. The Eagles will be defending the ACC crown they won last season. The 15 ACC teams were very successful during the pre-conference part of this season with 124 wins compared to 33 losses. That has resulted in 3 ACC teams in the Top 5 in both polls (Duke is #2, Notre Dame is 3rd, and Virginia is 4th) with Florida State at #9, Virginia at #13, and Boston College at #14 in the Media Poll and #17 in the Coaches Poll. 4 ACC teams are in the Top 10 in the NET Rankings (Duke is 4th, Boston College is 6th, North Carolina is 7th, and Notre Dame is 9th). Here’s the pre-conference records for each ACC team: Notre Dame: 11-0, 1.000 Florida State: 11-0, 1.000 Duke: 11-1, .917 North Carolina St.: 10-1, .909 North Carolina: 10-1, .909 Virginia: 10-2, .833 Boston College: 9-2, .818 Virginia: 7-2, .778 Pittsburgh: 7-2, .778 Clemson, 8-3, .727 Miami (FL): 8-3, .727 Georgia Tech: 6-3, .667 Wake Forest: 6-3, .667 Syracuse: 5-5, .500 Louisville: 4-5, .444 When asked about BC’s chances this season, Coach Aura replied, “I believe that overall the quality of the teams in the ACC is even better this season than it’s been previously. We’re going to be challenged every time we go out onto the court. I really think that at least half the teams have the talent to intensely challenge for the conference title. So all we can do is prepare as best we can for every game and then never take any other team for granted. Our losses to Oregon and Providence have shown our players that they need to step up their games to contend in our upcoming games against ACC teams.” The top scorers within the ACC thus far this season are: Duke’s Trent Coleman-22.3 ppg; Pittsburgh’s Marques Mohr-19.3 ppg; Virginia Tech’s Tony Harrington-18.1 ppg; Notre Dame’s Jay Butler-17.4 ppg; and Syracuse’s George Plowman-16.2 ppg. The top two are freshmen. BC’s Corey Graham is 12th with 13.0 ppg. Leading ACC rebounders are: Duke’s Brian Taylor-10.4 rpg; Syracuse’s George Plowman-10.1 rpg; Virginia’s Seth Wallac-9.9 rpg; Virginia Tech’s Merv Hunter-9.4 rpg; and Pittsburgh’s Marques Mohr-8.9. BC’s Courtland Reese is 10th with 7.5 rpg. Boston College’s Bobby Grannum is the 2nd best within the ACC in assists with 6.5 apg. Virginia Tech’s Darius Rose is just ahead of him with 6.8 apg. Aura said, “During pre-conference play we were able to stabilize our starting 5 with Bobby Grannum at PG, Corey Graham at SG, Darius Hein at SF, Danny Toliver at PF, and Courtland Reese at C. Glen Robinson has developed into a very good 6th man by performing strongly at SF, SG, and PG. Darius (Hein) had a slow start but has steadily become very proficient as we’ve worked our way through the season.”

Dec. 20, 2029: Louisiana State Tigers (6-4) vs #11 ranked Boston College Eagles (8-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA WEEI Radio Game Broadcast (excerpts) *After winning their first 8 games this season, the Eagles have looked terrible in the last 2 games. They’ve dropped from 6th to 11th in the polls. They need to rally their spirits and get back on track as conference play nears. *While it’s true that both losses were to very good ranked teams, a 21 point loss at home is cause for concern. *LSU’s losses have been to Louisville, #16 ranked Wisconsin, Saint Louis, and Georgetown. *Starting tonight for the hometown Boston College Eagles are: Bobby Grannum at PG, Corey Graham at SG, Darius Hein at SF, Danny Toliver at PF, and Courtland Reese at C. *Corey Graham drills a 3 to put the Eagles on top 18-11 with 12:40 remaining in the half. Graham has hit 4 of 5 shot and has 10 points. *Grannum whips the ball over to Minahan. Minaham passes across the lane to Glen Robinson. Robinson drives and pulls up to the left of the foul line. His 16 footer jumper drops through to make it 24-11 in favor of the Eagles. LSU calls a time out with 11:26 to go in the half. BC has now hit 11 of their 16 shots. *Bobby Grannum called for a reach in foul. That’s 2 on Grannum. That’ll bring in Rashon Thorn to replace Grannum. *The fouls are mounting up on BC. That’s 2 apiece on BC’s PG’s Grannum, Robinson, and Thorn. *Good pass by Moss into Tim Cotton. Cotton’s 14 footer on the right edge of the lane and Cottom puts up a contested shot that rolls around and falls through. Its good making it 43-28. *The half ends. Boston College in charge with a 48-30 lead. The Eagles knocked down 59% of their shots while holding the Tigers’ shooting to just 25%. BC’s offense was led by Corey Graham’s 12 points and C Courtland Reese who scored 10. *The Eagles inbound the ball to start the 2nd half. Grannum shoots the ball over to Graham who pops in another shot to give BC a 20 point lead. *BC’s reserves playing some solid defense. LSU is having a difficult time scoring. *Grannum drives then kicks the ball back to Gardner who’s free at the line…his shot settles cleanly through the hoop to make it 69-44 with 5 minutes left in the game. *That’s the end of the game. The final score is Boston College-81, LSU-59. The Eagles dominated all aspects of the game. *C Courtland Reese was high point man with 22 points. SG Corey Graham tossed in 14 points. C Tim Cotton dropped in 12 points.

January Game Results: Western Illinois Leathernecks coached by Terry Morillo Central Arkansas-93, Western Illinois (7-5)-67 (Nate Roland-12 pts/7 reb/2 blk) Western Illinois (8-5, 1-0)-79, Maine-74 [OT] (Roy Hampton-28 pts/14 reb/2 ast/1 stl) Western Illinois (9-5, 2-0)-82, Binghamton-50 (Daniel Bair-17 pts/1 reb/5 ast/1 blk) Seattle-63, Western Illinois (9-6, 2-1)-54 (Roy Hampton-17 pts/5 reb/4 ast/1 stl) Western Illinois (10-6, 3-1)-74, Coppin St-69 (Gabriel Cabrera-17 pts/5 reb/2 blk) Western Illinois (11-6, 4-1)-69, MD-Eastern Shore-66 (Nate Roland-16 pts/3 reb/1 ast/2 blk) Western Illinois (12-6, 5-1)-81, NC Central-77 (Guillermo Cabrera-25 pts/6 reb/2 stl/1 blk) Western Illinois (13-6, 6-1)-69, UC-San Diego-57 (Nate Roland-16 pts/4 reb/1 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Comment: 6 wins in 7 last games including 4-game win streak. Tied for 1st place in Conference V. MD-Eastern Shore Hawks coached by Mike McMillan Lehigh-72, MD-Eastern Shore (4-7)-67 (Frank Davis-22 pts) MD-Eastern Shore (5-7, 1-0)-73, Coppin St.-61 (Omar Briggs-18 pts/5 reb/3 ast; Kent Evans-11 pts/12 reb) MD-Eastern Shore (6-7, 2-0)-83, UC-San Diego-71 (Darius Richart-19 pts/3 reb/2 ast/1 blk; Frank Davis-19 pts/2 reb/3 ast/1 stl) MD-Eastern Shore (7-7, 3-0)-101, NC Central-79 (Frank Davis-21 pts/3 reb/3 ast/1 stl) MD-Eastern Shore (8-7, 4-0)-80, Seattle-62 (Frank Davis-18 pts/2 reb/3 ast/1 stl) Western Illinois-69, MD-Eastern Shore (8-8, 4-1)-66 (Tony Rueter-19 pts/4 reb/1 stl/2 blk) MD-Eastern Shore (9-8, 5-1)-68, Binghamton-64 (Landon Newby-12 pts/1 reb/3 ast/3 stl/1 blk) MD-Eastern Shore (10-8, 6-1)-84, Maine-71 (Landon Newby-26 pts/1 reb/2 ast/1 stl/1 blk) Comments: The Hawks caught fire and now are tied for 1st place in Conference V. Alcorn State Braves coached by Ramon Montez Alcorn State (5-6)-85, Middle Tennessee-81 (Virgil Brown-19 pts/4 reb/5 ast/2 stl/1 blk) Alabama St-79, Alcorn State (5-7, 0-1)-69 (Will Friel-17 pts/3 reb) Alcorn State (6-7, 1-1)-72, North Alabama-58 (Gabriel Atwood-25 pts/8 reb/2 ast Alcorn State (7-7, 2-1)-69, SIU Edwardsville-60 (Will Friel-16 pts/9 reb/1 ast/1 blk) Alcorn State (8-7, 3-1)-86, North Dakota-59 (Jeff Samuel-17 pts/11 reb/2 ast/1 stl/4 blk; Virgil Brown-20 pts/4 reb) Longwood-63, Alcorn State (8-8, 3-2)-55 (Virgil Brown-17 pts/4 reb/2 ast/2 stl/3 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff-68, Alcorn State (8-9, 3-3)-56 (Virgil Brown-15 pts/3 reb/1 ast/1 blk) Florida A&M-85, Alcorn State (8-10, 3-4)-71 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/8 reb/2 ast/1 stl) Major INJURY: Alcorn State’s C Bernie Graham-broken hand. Comment: Beginning to appear to be just a middle of the pack team. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions coached by Dontell Spencer Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-3)-71, Portland State-62 (Imari McDonald-12 pts/5 reb/4 ast/1 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-3, 1-0)-101, Longwood-84 (Imari McDonald-21 pts/5 reb/2 ast/2 stl) North Dakota-67, Arkansas-Pin-e Bluff (9-4, 1-1)-50 (Dwayne Robinson-10 pts/2 reb/2 ast/1 stl) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (10-4, 2-1)-88, Florida A&M-68 (Imari McDonald-19 pts/6 reb/1 ast/4 stl) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-4, 3-1)-80, SIU Edwardsville-75 (Imari McDonald-13 pts/5 reb/2 ast/1 stl/2 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (12-4, 4-1)-74, Alabama St-69 (Milton Cox-16 pts/4 reb/8 ast/1 stl); Imari McDonald-13 pts/10 reb/1 stl/2 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-4, 5-1)-68, Alcorn State-56 (Imari McDonald-13 pts/11 reb/1 ast/2 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (14-4, 6-1)-83, North Alabama-62 (Marcus Huld-17 pts/12 reb/1 ast/1 stl) Comment: An 8-game win streak followed by the present 4-game win streak. Tied for 1st place in Conference V. UC-San Diego Tritons coached by Ken Yamoto Fairleigh Dickinson-81, UC-San Diego (4-7)-52 (Chris Ratliff-18 pts) UC-San Diego (5-7, 1-0)-97, NC Central-74 (Joe Houston-24 pts/5 reb/3 ast/1 stl/1 stl) MD-Eastern Shore-83, UC-San Diego-71 (5-8, 1-1) (Shannon Van Hook-10 pts/8 reb/4 ast/1 blk) Coppin St-92, UC-San Diego (5-9, 1-2) (Dave Rush-13 pts/6 reb/3 ast/3 stl/1 blk) Binghamton-96, UC-San Diego (5-10, 1-3)-92 (Donte Madison-18 pts/3 reb/3 ast/1 stl) Maine-87, UC-San Diego (5-11, 1-4)-60 (Chris Ratliff-11 pts/1 reb/3 ast/2 stl) Seattle-59, UC-San Diego (5-12, 1-5)-50 (Christ Ratliff-17 pts/1 reb/3 ast/5 stl) Western Illinois-69, UC-San Diego (5-13, 1-6)-57 (Joe Roland-16 pts/3 reb) Comment: Defense continues to be weak and when defense shows up, their offense doesn’t. Now in last place in Conference V. Need to start winning to avoid being relegated to the Independents. Coppin State is presently tied for last and that team got relegated from U to V last season.

December Game Results: Western Illinois Leathernecks coached by Terry Morillo Colgate-89, Western Illinois (4-2)-71 (Guillermo Cabrera-23 pts) Western Illinois (5-2)-88, So. Carolina Upstate-77 (Roy Hampton-26 pts/8 reb/3 ast/4 stl; Guillermo Cabrera-18 pts/12 reb/3ast) Grand Canyon-78, Western Illinois (5-3)-64 (Roy Hampton-16 pts/7 reb/3 ast/1 stl) Vermont-78, Western Illinois (5-4)-53 (Guillermo Cabrera-16 pts/2 reb/3 ast) Western Illinois (6-4)-75, Drake-55 (Roy Hampton-22 pts/7 reb/2 ast/2 stl) Western Illinois (7-4)-84, Presbyterian-74 (Nate Roland-17 pts/6 reb/1 stl/2 blk) AWARDS: Roy Hampton-Conf V Player of the Week (12/10/2033) Comment: Offense sputtered at times. MD-Eastern Shore Hawks coached by Mike McMillan MD-Eastern Shore (2-4)-71, Robert Morris-68 (Frank Davis-16 pts/7 reb/4 ast/1 stl) MD-Eastern Shore (3-4)-65, Oral Roberts-56 (Frank Davis-12 pts/3 reb/2 ast/2 stl) Mississippi Valley-78, MD-Eastern Shore (3-5)-70 (Landon Newby-19 pts/3 ast) Furman-93, MD-Eastern Shore (3-6)-77 (Mike Rolle-25 pts/9 reb/1 ast/3 stl) MD-Eastern Shore (4-6)-75, Tartleton St.-58 (Darius Rychart-14 pts) Comment: They won when they got their defense together. Alcorn State Braves coached by Ramon Montez Alcorn State (2-4)-93, Brown-87 (Gabriel Atwood-21 pts/2 reb/2 ast/4 stl/1 blk) Coastal Carolina-72, Alcorn State (2-5)-61 (Gabriel Atwood-19 pts/7 reb) NC-Wilmington-61, Alcorn State (2-6)-47 (Mike Gallagher-12 pts) Alcorn State (3-6)-72, Columbia-68 (Virgil Brown-25 pts/1 reb/3 ast/4 stl/1 blk) Alcorn State (4-6)-93, NC-Asheville-75 (Virgil Brown-22 pts/5 reb/2 ast/4 stl) Comment: Atwood and Brown are becoming a dynamic duo. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions coached by Dontell Spencer Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-3)-105, Georgia St-99 [OT] (Dwayne Robinson-32 pts/8 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-3)-93, Dartmouth-76 (Danny Logie-21 pts/4 reb) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (5-3)-73, San Francisco-59 (Danny Logie-21 pts/4 reb/2 stl/1 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-3)-75, Cornell-69 (Milton Cox-14 pts/2 reb/3 ast/1 blk) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-3)-78, Florida Gulf Coast-72 (Milton Cox-18 pts/10 ast; Dwayne Robinson-22 pts) AWARDS: Dwayne Robinson, Conf V Player of the Week (12/3/2033) Comment: Now have a 6-game win streak. UC-San Diego Tritons coached by Ken Yamoto Richmond-83, UC-San Diego (3-3)-68 (Devon Jackson-20 pts) Idaho-92, UC-San Diego (3-4)-88 [OT] (Donte Madison-28 pts/6 reb/2 ast/2 stl/1 blk) Princeton-83, UC-San Diego (3-5)-76 (Chris Ratcllff-21 pts/4 ast/2 stl) Nicholls St.-78, UC-San Diego(3-6)-68 (Joe Houston-11 pts/10 reb/4 ast/1 stl/2 blk) UC-San Diego (4-6)-89, Lehigh-84 [OT] (Donte Madison-20 pts/4 ast) Comment: Defense fell apart.

Ramond Keep In June a friend let me know that the Eagles had a vacant walk-on slot on their basketball team this season. I played high school and JC ball before coming to Boston College. I decided that I might as well try out for the spot. I knew it would only be for a year since I’m a senior. But hey, since the Eagles are now a good team, it would be a way for me to be part of March Madness and tell my kids and grandkids that I was in the NCAA Tournament. So Coach Fed and his staff selected me to be on the team and in October I began practicing with the team. I was a good high school and JC player and got right back into it. Not to pat myself on the back, but I can keep up with the other PG’s on this team. When the starting lineups were set, I wasn’t surprised that Bobby Grannum was the Guy. Hell, he came to BC with all kind of recruiting hoopla. So, OK, I wasn’t uptight about not being a starter. But I tell ya, I’m every bit the player Rashon Thorn is. Let’s just be honest about things, I’m better. So I figured I would be subbing in for Grannum. Well, I soon found out that wasn’t happening. Coach Fed kept throwing Rashon (and sometimes Glen Robinson or Corey Graham) in at the point when Grannum got fatigued or into foul trouble. What’s up with that? We’ve now played 10 games and I’ve played in just one blowout and for all of 2 freakin’ minutes! And in the past two games (which we lost badly), Grannum pretty much sucked. So after we got our butts kicked the second time, I have to admit, I lost it. I let it be known that I should have been out there on the court instead of Grannum and it was because Coach Fed didn’t like me that I wasn’t out there helping the team. Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have been so vocal, but it’s the truth. Then some teammate or teammates let the coaching staff know about what I said. That earned me a trip into Coach Fed’s inner sanctum. He kicked my butt…and that just was totally unfair. I have a right to my own freakin’ opinions and that’s what I told him. Rather than hearing me out, he just took the easy route and laid a suspension on me. Let me tell ya, my opinion of him went way down. I mean having a suspension is really not even a penalty. Without the suspension all I’m doing is working my butt off every day at practice and then sitting on my butt for the entire 40 minutes of every freakin’ game and supposed to be a cheerleader from the bench. So now I can play video games during all that time this week. I guess Coach Fed figures a suspension will shut me up. Well I’m not wired that way…if I got something to say, I’ll damn well say it. And let me tell you, I’m not happy with the teammates who went tattling to the coaches after hearing me the other night. Don’t go crying to daddy for God’s sake. When I find out who it was, you better believe that I’ll be giving them an earful. Don’t go selling your teammates out, buddy-boys. And if they don’t like that, we can take it outside. I’ve never backed down from getting into scraps.

November Game Results: Western Illinois Leathernecks coached by Terry Morillo Manhattan-74, Western Illinois (0-1)-60 (Earl Cue-16 pts/6 reb in 17 min) Western Illinois (1-1)-78, UC-Riverside-70 (Roy Hampton-20 pts/10 reb; Duany Vaughn-17 pts/10 ast) Western Illinois (2-1)-70, Rice-63 (Roy Hampton-20 pts/6 reb/2 ast/4 stl) Western Illinois (3-1)-70, Radford-69 (Roy Hampton-25 pts/4 reb/4 ast/1 stl) Western Illinois (4-1)-78, Indiana St.-76 (Roy Hampton-13 pts/10 reb/4 ast/1 stl) Major INJURY: Western Illinois’ SG Duany Vaughn tore his Achilles tendon and will be out the rest of his senior year. AWARDS: Roy Hampton-Conf V Player of the Week (11/26/2033) Comment: 4 game win streak, scoring either 70 or 78 points in each of those games. Hampton hot. Loss of Vaughn creates shallow bench for guards. MD-Eastern Shore Hawks coached by Mike McMillan Wright St. 66, MD-Eastern Shore (0-1)-47 (Kent Evans-9 pts/7 reb) James Madison-84, MD-Eastern Shore (0-2)-72 (Kent Evans-11 pts/6 reb) MD-Eastern Shore (1-2)-91, Campbell-69 (Junior Sarchet-18 pts) Incarnate Word-91, MD-Eastern Shore (1-3)-84 (Frank Davis-28 pts) McNeese St-73, MD-Eastern Shore (1-4)-46 (Frank Davis-15 pts) Comment: Ouch! Tough start to their season. Alcorn State Braves coached by Ramon Montez South Carolina Upstate-71, Alcorn State (0-1)-69 (Gabriel Atwood-22 pts/6 reb) Wagner-86, Alcorn State (0-2)-71 (Virgil Brown-16 pts) Alabama A&M-87, Alcorn State (0-3)-78 (Virgil Brown-14 pts/5 reb/2 ast/3 stl) New Orleans-78, Alcorn State (0-4)-67 (Gabriel Atwood-13 pts/4 reb) Alcorn St. (1-4)-71, Oregon St.-66 (Will Friel-18 pts/4 reb) Comment: Nice win over Oregon State. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions coached by Dontell Spencer Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-0)-86, Mississippi Valley-78 (Imari McDonald-18 pts/6 reb/6 ast/2 stl/3 blk) Sam Houston St-80, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1)-59 (Marcus Huld-12 pts/4 reb) Chattanooga-86, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-2)-74 (Marcus Huld-16 pts/9 reb) Youngstown St.-79, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-3)-71 (Dwayne Robinson-23 pts/4 ast) Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-3)-94, Fresno State-77 (Marcus Huld-17 pts/9 reb) Comment: Rough start for the Golden Lions. Weak defense thus far. UC-San Diego Tritons coached by Ken Yamoto Army-85, UC-San Diego-67 (0-1) (Dave Rush-14 pts) UC-San Diego (1-1)-72, American-49 (Shannon Van Hook-11 pts/13 reb) Loyola (MD)-80, UC-San Diego (1-2)-72 (Donte Madison-21 pts/6 reb/4 ast/1 stl) UC-San Diego (2-2)-86, Norfolk St-73 (Brian Thomas-14 pts/4 ast in 12 min of play) UC-San Diego (3-2)-73, Marist-69 (Dave Rush-21 pts/6 reb/3 Rast/3 stl/1 blk) Comment: Good start but not the toughest competition.

Fred Aura After our loss to Providence, walk-on PG Ramond Keep was complaining to several teammates saying he should be playing rather than Bobby Grannum and that was because I disliked him. I called him into my office and told him his attitude was lousy and that he needed to shape up. He took that poorly and came back at me. That earned him a suspension. That upset him further with me…he seems to have quite a big chip on his shoulder. Ramond is a pretty good player for a walk-on, but there’s no way he’s going to get much playing time since I’m having a tough time splitting the playing time at PG up amongst Bobby Grannum, Rashon Thorn, and Glen Robinson. If Ramond’s poor attitude continues, I’ll just cut him. Tough enough putting up with attitude problems with a scholarship player, but absolutely no need to have to deal with it with a walk-on.

Dipak Suresh The 2033-2034 season is about to begin. Here’s my notes based upon my review of the rosters of the 5 teams and my phone conversations with each coach about their team for this season: Alcorn State Braves, Conf V, Coach Ramon Montez Previous season records of the coach: 8-7 (Independent, 1st-tie); 14-14 (Conf V, 5th-tie); 14-16 (Conf V, 8th) My good friend and head coach Ramon Montez hopes to improve on his past two 14-win seasons. The Braves look pretty solid at the 3, 4 and 5 positions with talented players and great depth at those positions. But the team is weak at the guard positions, with the possible exception freshman Todd Young at PG. Ramon said he’s been pleasantly surprised by how Young has performed during the autumn practice period, particularly because he was only ranked #1735 as a recruit. Anticipated starters: PG Todd Young(6-0, Fr), SG Mike Gallagher(6-0, Sr), SF Virgil Brown(6-6, So), PF Will Friel (6-6, So), C Gabriel Wood (6-8, So) Western Illinois Leathernecks, Conf V, Coach Terry Morillo Previous season records of the coach: 4-11, Dixie St. (Independent, 4th); 7-8, Dixie St. (Independent, 2nd); 4-11, Dixie St. (Independent, 5th). Last Season Western Illinois had a 17-13 record and was tied for 4th in Conf V. Coach Morillo has said he’s extremely happy to have been hired as the new coach for the Leathernecks. His recruiting success this year is in stark contrast to the difficulties he encountered while coaching at Dixie State. SF Roy Hampton is expected to carry the team this season. But the Leathernecks have two good C’s as well. The other three positions appear to be rather average, although Morillo says he won’t be surprised if any of the three starters at those positions is surprisingly better than expected. Anticipated starters: PG Earl Cue (6-0, Sr), SG Duany Vaughn (6-2, Jr), SF Roy Hampton (6-3, Jr), PF Guillermo Cabrera (6-11, Jr), C Jamaal Adams (6-10, Jr) UC-San Diego Tritons, Conf V, Coach Ken Yamoto Previous season records of the coach: 3-12, Tarleton St. (Independent, 5th); 2-13, Tarleton St. (Independent, 5th); 6-9 Tarleton St. (Independent, 2nd-tie). Last Season UC-San Diego had a 14-14 record and was tied for 4th in Conf V. The Tritons have only one true PG on their roster and he’s not ready to be a starter. Brian Thomas came to the Tritons as a SF and subbed at the “3” last season, so there’s a lot of uncertainty as to how well he will handle the Point this season. Donte Madison needs to shoot better than he has the past 2 years…if not it may be wise for Coach Yamoto to try him at PG and move Thomas to SG. “I was really pleased to recruit Kevin White and look forward to his joining the team next season since I believe he will solve our PG deficiency,” said Yamoto. Although Shannon Van Hook was the team’s top scorer last year, Dave Rush wasn’t far behind him and is expected to be the go-to guy this season. Rebounding may well be a deficit that UC-San Diego has a tough time overcoming this year. Anticipated starters: PG Brian Thomas (6-6 So), SG Donte Madison (6-2 Jr), SF Dave Rush (6-3, Jr), PF Byron Kelley (6-7 Jr), C Shannon Van Hook (6-10 So). MD-Eastern Shore Hawks, Conf V, Coach Mike McMillan Previous season records of the coach: 8-7 (Independent, 1st-tie); 6-9 (Independent, 3rd); 12-17 (Conf V, 9th-tie) Only Junior Sarchet was a starter for the Hawks last season. But he scored well and Coach Mike McMillan is hoping JC transfer Kent Evans will dominate inside. Since both starting guards are very inexperienced, unless they step p and play well, it could be long season for McMilla’s troops. “We’re really short on bodies with 4 transfer players who are ineligible to play this season and you take away the 2 walk-ons, that just leaves us with 9 scholarship players who can play so depth is going to be a real problem for us,” said McMillan. This may just be a building year for the Hawks who look to be much strong next season. Anticipated starters: PG Omar Briggs (6-2, Sr); SG Tyron Adras (6-4, Sr); SF Junior Sarchet (6-8 So); PF Tony Rueter (6-6 Fr); C Kent Evans (6-9 Jr) Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, Conf V, Coach Dontell Spencer Previous season records of the coach: 6-10 (Independent, 3rd); 9-7 (independent, 1st, NIT 1st Rnd); 11-8 (Independent, 1st, NIT Semifinals) All 5 starters are not only talented, but experienced. The Golden Lions look to be the cream of the crop when comparing these 5 teams. While the others will be trying to avoid being relegated, Arkansas-Pine Bluff has set their sites on being promoted at the end of this season for the 2nd straight year. “We have 4 transfers players who can’t play for us this season while sitting out their year of ineligibility. So we’ve got a short bench meaning I’ll rely heavily on my starters,” said Coach Spencer. If the Golden Lions can avoid serious injuries, it should be a good season for Arkansas-Pine Bluff and maybe even a better one next year when the transfer players are able to contribute and if the 5 recruits landed this year produce as freshmen. Anticipated starters: PG Milton Cox (6-0 Sr); SG Dwayne Robinson (6-0 So); SF Dexter Thorne (6-7 Sr); PF Marcus Huld (6-6 Sr); C Imari McDonald (6-10 Sr)

Dec. 13, 2029: #10 ranked Providence Friars (6-0) vs #6 ranked Boston College Eagles (6-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA 3rd Assistant Coach Jeremy Anderson (scouting) Another very tough opponent and again we’re the underdog. Hopefully our home court advantage will give us a chance against the Friars who are led by freshman phenom SG Zack Watkins who is averaging a formidable 35.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg. Another freshman, PG Moses Adams is averaging 21.7 ppg and 6.7 apg. Watkins was the #2 ranked recruit and Adams wasn’t far behind as the #9 ranked recruit last season. An amazing recruiting class. Providence is averaging 89.5 ppg (best in the country) and only giving up 61.7 ppg (30th best) while pulling down 36.3 rpg (12th best), dishing out 21.0 apg (7th best), and getting 6.7 bpg (6th best). Because Watkins and Adams are scoring so prolifically and combine to shoot 60% of the Friars FG’s, no one else on the team has a high scoring average, including Omari Aura, Coach Aura’s son. He’s started every game at SF but is averaging just 5.5 ppg. But…we’re a better team than the Friars have thus far faced this season. We can’t expect to stop Watkins and Adams, but hopefully can keep them from breaking out while avoiding our starting guards getting into deep foul trouble and focus on dominating inside. Glen Robinson is a top-flight defender. We typically have him subbing in at SF and SG. But against Providence we’re not going to play Glen at SF as we usually do, so that we can dedicate him to subbing at both SG and PG in relief of Corey Graham and Bobby Grannum to try to limit Watkins and Adams. We’ll also start the game playing man-to-man defense 100% of the time since playing zone might let Watkins and Adams get free too much. If we execute all that, I believe we’ll have a good chance of winning this tough non-conference rival game. Of course it would definitely help if we can get Watkins and Adams into foul trouble. Damn! Adams hits a jumper on Providence first possession and even while double-teamed, Watkins sinks a 3 on their next possession. The Friars hit just 5 of 15 FG’s, but 4 of those from beyond the arc while we made just 1 of 12 FG’s and we fall behind 16-4 after 8 minutes of play. Watkins picks up his 2nd foul with 11:20 to go so fortunately goes to the bench, but not before scoring 8 points. Hitting just 2 of 14 FG’s and 4 of 10 FT’s, we fall behind 26-9. Our offense finally comes out its slumber and led by SG Corey Graham and PF Danny Toliver we cut the Friars’ lead to 6 points before fading in the final few minutes of the half to trail 39-30 at the break. Adams and Watkins scored 26 of the Friars’ 39 points. We hit just 30% of our FG’s and 25% of our 3’s. Providence dominated the boards 23-15. We had no points in the paint, no 2nd chance points, and no fast break points. Coach Aura blisters the guys in the locker room. Midway through the 2nd half we’re still only hitting about 30% of our shots and we trail 61-43. Miss after miss and miss. Bad shooting is a disease infecting our entire team. We get trounced 76-55. We were outshot 43% to 32%, we hit just 13% of our 3’s, we were out-rebounded 39-31. We were called for 19 fouls while Providence was called for just 12. That resulted in the Friars going to the line 11 more times than us. We “held” Zack Watkins to 25 points and Moses Adams to 18 points. Out only player to score in double figures was SG Corey Graham and he had just 12 points and he hit just 3 of 10 FGA’s and missed all 5 of his 3PA’s. Providence now has won both games against us since they became our non-conference rival. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

ACCSports.com The ACC dominance in basketball is again on display. The latest Media Poll has ACC teams in the 2nd (Duke), 3rd (Notre Dame), 4th (Florida State), 5th (Virginia), 6th (Boston College), and 9th (North Carolina) spots in the Top 25. Although the rankings vary slightly, all those teams are within the Top 10 in the Coaches Poll. Those six teams have a combined record of 54 wins and just 4 losses and four of the teams are in the Top 10 within the NET Rankings, an indication that their strength of schedules are robust. None of the other nine ACC teams have losing records. Those nine teams have won 50 games and lost 23. Boston College is the #1 team in the NET Rankings listing. Coach Fred Aura said, “We definitely want a tough pre-conference record. That’s because we know that the ACC schedule will not just be demanding, but tortuous. Any ACC team can beat any other one on a given night. So preparing for the ACC grind by playing strong teams helps challenge our players and ensure that they won’t be surprised when they go up against the many great ACC teams. So we don’t schedule weak competition for pre-conference play. Oregon proved that against us in our last game and Providence will be just as tough in our next game this week. Our guys realize they need to be up for each and every opponent. We take pride in that we’ve been up at the top or very near the top of the NET Rankings the past three seasons. To be honest I’m more focused on the NET Rankings than the Polls.”

Dipak Suresh (part 3 of 3) October 16th: Each of the five coaches have filled all their scholarships and have completed recruiting unless any of the recruits have SAT scores that do not meet their school’s minimum. They all seem to be relative satisfied with the recruits who have committed and feel that these recruits will fill upcoming needs for their teams. Alcorn State: All 4 scholarships filled. *SG Craig Brown, JC Soph from Pensacola, FL. Rated #873. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Ball handling. *SF Harold Hein, HS Sr from Collinsville, MS. Rated #371. Strengths: Inside shooting, Stealing, Passing, Athleticism. Top 25 at Memphis Hoops Summit. *SF David Pryce, HS Sr from Shannon, MS. Rated #471. Strengths: Defense, Scoring, Outside and Inside Shooting, Athleticism. *SF Darrick Grace, HS Sr from Bruce, MS. Rated #1338. Strengths: Outside and inside shooting, Ball handling, Hard worker. Western Illinois: All 3 available scholarships filled. *C Craig Grant, HS Sr from Concord, IL. Rated #695. Strengths: Inside shooting, Defense, Scoring. *SG Mike Noyola, HS Sr from Glen Ellyn, IL. Rated #562. Strengths: Outside shooting, Scoring, Defense. *C William Byams, HS Sr from Chicago, IL. Rated #387. Strengths: Inside shooting, Rebounding, Passing, Scoring. UC-San Diego: Filled the single available scholarship. *PG Kevin White, HS Sr from Scottsdale, AZ. Rated #446. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Defense, Ball handling. MD-Eastern Shore: Filled all 2 scholarships *SF Jair Jupiter, HS Sr from Washington, MD. Rated # 470. Strengths: Outside Shooting, Passing, Rebounding, Stealing. Tremendous work ethic. *SF Frank Reed, JC Soph from Naples, ME. Rated #611. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Rebounding. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: All 5 scholarships filled. *PG Darrin Randolph, JC Soph from Lake Village, AR. Rated #1482. Strengths: Athleticism, Outside shooting, Passing, Ball Handing. Tremendous work ethic. *SF Dan Jefferson, HS Sr from Mansfield, AR. Rated #370. Strengths: Outside and inside shooting, Scoring, Defense, Athleticism. Great leader. *C Travis Vines, HS Sr from Greenbrier, AR. Rated #1752. Strengths: Inside and outside shooting, Defense, Scoring. *C Chris Betts, HS Sr from Mountain Pine, AR. Rated #945. Strengths: Inside and outside shooting, Scoring, Defense. *SF Jamar Brown, JC Soph from West Palm Beach, FL. Rated #632. Strengths: Outside shooting, Passing, Rebounding, Athleticism. PointGuard NOTE: Hah! No extra walk-ons for the 5 coaches this time! All scholarships have been filled. But now the association has been returned to the AI to sim for remainder of this association and the future.

Dipak Suresh (part 2 of 3) 2nd Week: Alcorn State: Got verbal from 6’8” SF Garrick Grace and has another SF who seems close. Returning to visit one of the SF and the SG plus visiting two different SF’s. Western Illinois: Got verbal from 6’8” C Craig Grant and returning to the other 2 C’s previously visited. Also visiting another SG and PG. UC-San Diego: Decided to drop the SG who was visited the first week due to concerns about his grades and potential for meeting the school’s high SAT standards. Revisting a PG plus visiting 3 different PG’s. MD-Eastern Shore: Revisited the same four recruits. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Got verbals from 6’4” SF Dan Jefferson and 6’1” JC PG Darrin Randolph. Revisiting a C visited last week plus a new SF, C, and PF. 3rd Week: Alcorn State: Got verbals from 6’2” SG Craig Brown and 6’8” SF Harold Hein. Revisited a SF and visited 2 new SF’s and a SG. Western Illinois: Revisted PG and SG plus a new PF and C. UC-San Diego: Received Verbal from 6’5” PG Kevin White. No other scholarships to offer. MD-Eastern Shore: Revisited PF and C plus new PF and SF. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Revisited 2 C’s and a new SF. 4th Week: Alcorn State: Revisited 2 SF’s and SG plus a new C. Western Illinois: Revisited the same 4. UC-San Diego: No more scholarships to offer. MD-Eastern Shore: Revisted 2 SF’s and C plus a new SF. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Got verbals from 6’7” C Travis Vines and 6’9” C Chris Betts. Revisited SF.]

December 11, 2029: #15 ranked Oregon Ducks (7-2) vs #6 ranked Boston College Eagles (8-0) in Championship Game of the Emerald Coast Classic at Niceville, FL Coach Fred Aura After two straight hair breadth wins, I’m hoping our team can get a big lead and hold it. I’m not sure I can withstand another exceptionally close game. While we haven’t played particularly well in either of or games in this tournament, I’ve liked how our guys got tough when it was needed. Oregon has scored as well as we have this season, but has held opponents to just 62 ppg. Four of their starters are averaging in double figures. The Ducks roster is loaded with talent. Just before this tournament they had a big win over Texas which was ranked 6th in the polls at that point. Oregon is a 7-1/2 point favorite to beat us. We need to play solid defense and to stay out of foul trouble. Our guys seemed pretty tight during the pre-game warm up. But then in our huddle just before the game started, Adrian Moss did a humorous rapping psych-up routine with rags about each of us coaches that loosened up the entire team. Adrian’s a good guy with a great personality. He wants starter minutes, though. So while he has a lot of potential, he’s still developing the skills to be consistently productive. With Corey Graham and Glen Robinson playing well, I’m having a tough time giving him much playing time which I know is frustrating him. Well, here we go. I’m on the refs early as they rack up fouls on our guys. SG Corey Graham is charged with 2 quick fouls so is riding the bench. Oregon is sinking free throws but we’re hitting FG’s to keep up with the Ducks. In the first 7 minutes the refs have called 3 fouls on us on Oregon’s 3-point attempts and Oregon converts 8 of those 9 shots. Calling the game so close is making a mockery of the championship game. Late in the half, I decide to try to force the Ducks’ big men to get into foul trouble and instruct my guys to continually work the ball inside to see if we either score in the paint or they foul us. It works as their starting center is called for his 3rd foul with 3:15 to go in the half. But we still trail 34-31 when the half ends even though we held Oregon’s shooting to just 31%. But they hit 15 of 17 free throws. In the locker room I tell my guys even though the refs are whistle happy to continue to play up tight on Oregon’s players. The refs just seem to look at Corey Graham and call fouls on him. I get a technical early in the 2nd half meaning I have to be careful not to get another T and get banished from the game. Our guys are doing the best they can, but Oregon’s shooting improves in the 2nd half and they have great quickness that results in some fast break scores on our turnovers. The Ducks’ lead grows to 61-45 with 11 minutes to go. We fight hard to narrow the gap, but then our shooting goes ice cold and we end up getting thumped by a final score of 77-58. Oregon’s defense and quickness were just too much for us, showing we have a lot of work to do before conference play begins. SG/SF Glen Robinson tops our scoring with 16 points and also hauls down 8 boards. SF Darius Hein has another strong game, hitting for 14 points and PF Danny Toliver adds 10 points. SG Corey Graham has the worst game of his collegiate career, nearly fouling out which limits him to just 16 minutes of play during which he is held scoreless. Oregon’s SG Ashante Harmon hits 9 of 13 FG’s, 4 of 8 three-pointers, and 4 for 4 at the foul like to drop 26 points on us.

Dipak Suresh (part 1 of 3) I'm kind of a basketball junkie. I played high school basketball...well I played, but not exactly played well. I was on the Freshman team, then the JV team and finally made the varsity team as a bench warmer mostly. But my love for the game remains. I went to graduate school with Ramon Montez and Mike McMillan and the three of us were (and still are) very good friends. Lots of good times together. When the two of them became head coaches of Division I teams I was ecstatic. I later learned that they forged a little “new coaches club” together with Ken Yamoto, Dontell Spencer and Terry Morillo. The more I found out about that from Ramon and Mike, the more interested I became in keeping track of the five with the aim of eventually writing a best-selling book that will chronicle their development and coaching careers. I finally was able to contact all five to let them know what I wanted to do. It took a while to gain all their trust, but now I’m able to talk with each of them and they’ve been very open with what they’re doing and experiencing. This past summer I’ve touched base with each of the five coaches to find out about their recruiting efforts. A common concern of all of them at one point or another was that even though some recruits were showing initial interest, they were having an extremely tough time building the level of interest to the point where the coaches thought they had a chance to get any of the recruits they were pursuing to commit to their schools. It’s now early September. The “contact” period of recruiting is just around the corner…four weeks when the coaches can do home visits to recruits. This is the time when the coaches can talk face-to-face with key recruits and their parents with the goal of “making the sale” on themselves, their basketball programs, and their universities. The coaches can they extend scholarship offers to those recruits they want and feel they have a chance of getting verbal commitments from. Here’s the “inside info” that I’ve gathered from the coaches on the types of recruits they are zeroing in on…they wouldn’t divulge names of the recruits, just some generalities on who they will be visiting the first week: Coach Ramon Montez, Alcorn State: With 4 scholarships to offer, his primary focus is upon SF’s and SG’s. The first week he’s visiting 4 recruits, the first 3 are from MS and the 4th is from FL…the first is a SF who was in the top 25 at the Memphis Hoop Summit but whose work ethic is a little suspect; the second is a SF who is not highly rated but is a hard worker and really likes Alcorn St.; the third is another SF who is a good shooter and passer but whose interest level in Alcorn St. hasn’t been particularly strong since he wasn’t impressed with the school’s facilities, so he’s a long-shot; the fourth is a SG who also is probably a long-shot but is a great outside shooter and very good passer and ball handler. Coach Terry Morillo, Western Illinois: Has 3 scholarships and would like to fill them with a PG, SG and a big man. The four he’s visiting are: a C from Illinois who is great defensively and a good inside scorer but wants good facilities which Western Illinois doesn’t have; a SG from Illinois who’s a great outside shooter and a pretty good defender but who wants good facilities and discipline which aren’t strengths for Terry but he’ll focus on location; an athletic PG from Indiana who is a strong passer and ball handler with a good outside shot; a C from Illinois who is a good defender and scorer. Coach Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego: Has just one scholarship to offer and wants a PG. He’s visiting: a SG from Alaska with good passing and ball handling skills who’s scores well from outside and is a strong rebounder; a PG from CA who’s a good scorer, defender, and rebounder and is a hard worker; another PG from CA who is an exceptionally hard worker with a nice outside shot and good passing and ball handling skills; a PG from AZ who is an excellent passer, good ball handler, very good defender, and is a good scorer from outside. Coach Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: 2 scholarships and prefers to get a SF and a big man. He will be visiting: a C from Maryland who is a good rebounder and shot blocker with good inside shooting skills; a SF from Maryland who shoots well from outside and is a good rebounder and passer with a great work ethic; a JC C from Virginia who’s a hard worker and good scorer from inside and strong defensively; a JC C from Pennsylvania with good shooting skills from both inside and outside who is a strong rebounder and shot blocker. Coach Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Has 5 scholarships to fill and wants 3 big men, a SF and a PG. He’s visiting 4 recruits from Arkansas: an athletic PG with good passing and ball handling skills who is also a good outside scorer; a SF who is a great leader and is a good scorer with an outstanding outside shot and has strong defensive skills; a C who’s a very good inside scorer but also can hit from outside; a C with excellent defensive skills and strong inside scoring abilities.

PointGuard NOTE: OK, I burned the way, way, way-past-midnight oil to get beyond my self-created SNAFU and completed the summer/autumn recruiting. I’m going to break up the results into 3 separate posts, one post would just be too long and more than anyone really wants to go through. Warning on the side of the DDSCB2021 Box: Doing the recruiting on your own for a whole bunch of teams in a Universe Mode association is NOT for the faint of heart. If you have a family and/or a job and/or a life, it’s ill-advised.

Dec. 10, 2029: #12 ranked Boston College Eagles (7-0) vs Michigan Wolverines (5-1) in 2nd Round of the Emerald Coast Classic at Niceville, FL 2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans Michigan beat Tulane 92-72 in their opening game of this tournament. The Wolverines are a good scoring team that shoots a little better than us, but we are the better rebounding team and our defense has been stronger thus far this season. We need to bounce back from the low-energy play of our last game. Even though we were hitting a high percentage of our shots, the Wolverines simply destroyed our defense, hitting nearly all their shots. We slipped behind gradually. With 12 minutes to go in the first half, we trailed 24-16. Some sloppy play resulting in a series of turnovers definitely was adding to our woes. Michigan sliced thought both our m-2-m or 2-3 zone like a warm knife through butter…either scoring or getting fouled on every possession. We fell behind by as much as 17 points and trailed at the end of the half by a score of 49-36. Michigan hit 67% of their FG’s. Five of our players has 2 or more fouls. SG Corey Graham pumped in 16 points, but he couldn’t solely carry the team. Somehow we needed to clamp down defensively on the Wolverines in the 2nd half. Coach Aura made some adjustments to our defensive schemes that stymied Michigan when the 2nd half began. And we hit shots that cut their lead to 52-47 just 4 minutes into the half. Even though the Wolverines began hitting some shots, 3 minutes later we’d crept to within 1 point at 59-58. Then with 12:26 on the clock, Corey Graham drilled in a 16 footer that put us ahead by a point. Courtland Reese picked up his 4th foul on Michigan’s next possession. With 10 minutes left we led 66-63. A 4th foul was called on PG Bobby Grannum with 8-1/2 minutes remaining. Coach Aura was called for a technical foul. A combination of free throws and 3’s put Michigan on top 77-68. We fought back to narrow the gap to 81-79 with 3:37 to go. Then Courtland Reese cut into the lane and hit a turn-around 10 footer that tied the game. Corey Graham was fouled and hit both free throws to put us ahead 83-81 with 2:43 left. Corey Graham then got called for his 4th foul, but Michigan failed to connect on the first of a 1-and-1. We were up by 2 and Michigan fouled…Graham knocked down both shots to make the score 87-83 with a minute to play. The Wolverines forced up a shot that was off the rim…we rebounded and were fouled. Bobby Grannum sunk both free throws. The Wolverines scored and fouled. 2 more points for Grannum. Graham fouled out. Michigan hit both foul shots and immediately fouled. Grannum hit one of two free throws putting the game out of reach. Our second half effort yielded a come-from-behind 92-87 victory sending us the championship game. We hit 60% of our shots in the 2nd half and held the Wolverines shooting to just above 40% in the final half. SG Corey Graham poured in 27 points plus had 2 steals and 4 blocks, PG Bobby Grannum scored 21 points, and C Courtland Reese added 10. Our wins shot us up to #6 in the Media Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll.

Dec. 9, 2029: Missouri Tigers (3-2) vs #12 ranked Boston College Eagles (6-0) in 1st Round of the Emerald Coast Classic at Niceville, FL 1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery The Tigers have 4 of their starters averaging in double figures, but have not been shooting the lights out….only hitting 38.5% of their shots. Their defense has been good, but the level of their opponents thus far has been low. Mizzou blocks 3 of our shots and scores 5 points on that in the first 2 minutes. But we rally to score the next 8 points as part of a 14-3 run that gives us the lead. We had trouble with their 1-3-1 zone defense which allowed the Tigers to take a 19-18 lead. But we then went on a 12-0 run. We exit the half with a 32-23 lead. We held a reasonably solid lead through the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, but then Missouri struck back to take a one point lead with 6 minutes to go. They went up by 3 with 4 minutes remaining. With 2-1/2 minutes left the game was tied 58-58. Glen Robinson hit a 3 with 2 minutes on the clock but we then turned the ball over on our next 2 possessions and the Tigers cut our lead to 61-60. We decided to run out the clock, but Missouri fouled intentionally. Bobby Grannum hit both ends of a 1-and-1. The Tigers missed a 3 point shot but grabbed an offensive rebound. Then Danny Toliver blocked their final attempt and we escaped with a 63-60 edging of a team we should have handled better. We shot just enough better than Missouri (39% to 34%) and held a 36-32 rebounding advantage that was just enough for us to prevail. Overall though, a weak effort on our part. PG Bobby Grannum had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal and 2 blocks. SG Corey Graham scored 13 and C Courtland Reese had a double-double (11 points and 11 boards). Again our bench was unproductive, scoring just 5 points.

NOTE from PointGuard: I have to admit to my biggest DDSCB screw up (there have been many, but this has been my dumbest, I think): I started this association with the intent to SIM all the recruiting. So the AI would do all the recruiting for all 5 coaches' programs. When after the first 3 seasons I was upset that the AI had not been filling all the available scholarships for some of my 5 coaches' programs, I made a fateful decision to DO THE RECRUITING FOR ALL FIVE PROGRAMS MYSELF. Bad freakin' decision! While it's certainly possible to do this, it is horribly time consuming to go in every week, check to see what the focus was for each program and then do all the recruiting actions for FIVE teams. So I got to August 7th and my frustration peaked. To switch back to letting the AI recruit at this point in the recruiting season would mess up the recruiting for these teams even more than what had happened the previous 3 seasons. So I took the easy way out, punted, and shelved this association for the past 7 months. Today I decided that I needed to man up and muscle my way through doing the recruiting for the 5 teams through each week in August, September and October. Plod, plod, plod. Then after the primary recruiting period is over, I will shift the recruiting for the rest of this season and any forthcoming seasons to the AI and let it sim merrily along....and let the recruiting chips fall where they may (even if I don't like them). To be honest, at this point (Aug 7 in my association) I'm not impressed by my personal success thus far in getting recruits interested in these 5 low prestige colleges, so I probably should have just left things as they initially were with the AI handling all the recruiting, but let’s see how it pans out.

Dec. 6, 2029: #12 ranked Boston College Eagles (5-0) vs #17 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (6-2) at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, AR Ethan Reilly I’m one of the token Catholics within Arkansas. Catholics make us just a little over 3% of the state’s population. And Boston College will be the only Catholic university basketball team playing the University of Arkansas this year. So I ‘m attending the game so I can be the Eagles’ sole fan, even though I really don’t know anything much about the team. To top that off, I got transferred by my employer from the Chicago area two years ago, so I’m also a northerner in redneck country. All the people at work are University of Arkansas fans so I hear all day long about Razorbacks’ football and basketball. So…LET’S GO EAGLES! I will have to say, though, that my pay is good and the cost of living is definitely a lot lower than in Chicago so this choir boy is living well down here. Like I said...I don’t know much about BC basketball, but the team looks darned good early. They’ve got a 23-5 lead and their center, Courtland Reese, has scored 10 points. The “Wooooo Pig Sooie!” chants that were occurring at the beginning of the game have disappeared. Reese had to sit due to foul trouble, but his replacement Tim Cotton is doing well also. Cotton scored 13 points as the Eagles pounded the Razorbacks in the first half by a score of 44-20. Great defense by Boston College kept Arkansas from hitting their shots and forced them to turn the ball over 12 times. I noticed that some of the fans are trickling out of the arena. BC expanded their lead to 30 points early in the 2nd half. Then Arkansas scored 4 straight points and there was one fan with a feeble “Wooooo Pig Sooie”…laughable. From there the Eagles cruised to an easy 75-51 beating of the Razorbacks. The Eagles dominated inside with their 2 centers Reese scoring 20 and Cotton adding 15. Boston College controlled the boards 42-25 and held a 40-12 edge on points in the paint and a 13-4 advantage on 2nd chance points.

Thanks! Reading all that, huh? You're a braver man than me.

Nov. 29, 2029: Creighton Blue Jays (2-1) vs #18 ranked Boston College Eagles (4-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA Jason Braxton, Athletic Director Creighton’s recent history closely parallels Boston College’s. Both went to the CIT tournament four years ago and each has been to the NCAA Tourney the past 3 years with exits at the very same point in that tournament each season. This should be a good game. Coach Aura admitted to me that he was worried about the Blue Jays. He said to me, “Creighton’s freshman SG Idris Harris is averaging 21 ppg and senior C Barry Denis, who had hit about 60% of his FGA’s the past 2 season, is hitting an amazing 86% of his FGA’s this season. Junior PG Shaheen Jepsen has dished out 10.7 apg this season. So we are going to have to play hard and smart the entire game. Their loss in their opening game was by a single point to #8 ranked Kentucky. I hope we can energize our home crowd to make lots of noise and cheer us on.” Led by SG Corey Graham, our team got off to a good start. We were up 9-2 with Graham contributing 5 of those points after 2-1/2 minutes of play. But PG Bobby Grannum got into early foul trouble. Creighton got right back into the game, but the refs returned the favor by calling a 2nd foul on Creighton’s SG Idris Harris. So the top scorers from both teams were sitting on the bench. Fouls continued to mount since the refs were calling tacky fouls on both teams. Courtland Reese was sent to the bench just a little later with 2 fouls and Creighton was edging ahead as they dropped in free throw after free throw. The half ended with us trailing 43-36. A portion of that was due to fouls, but poor shooting and poor ball control also contributed to the deficit. SG Corey Graham scored 11 points in the half. We continually edged close only to see Creighton hit shots that re-established their lead. But finally with 7:48 remaining we took a 65-63 lead. A minute later had streaked ahead 61-63, having scored 13 unanswered points. The refs continued to call the game much too closely, but really worked over the Blue Jays in the 2nd half, and we capitalized at the foul line. We ended up with an 86-78 victory. A total of 48 fouls were called on the two teams. Scoring in double figures for us were: SG Corey Graham-20, SF Darius Hein-16, PF Danny Toliver-14, PG Bobby Grannum-13 (all in the 2nd half), and SF/SG/PG Glen Robinson-11. This was Darius Hein’s second straight well-played game and another career high for him. Danny Toliver took a hard fall late in the game. Later it was disclosed he’d suffered a mild concussion.

Omari Aura, SF for Providence Our team is off to a good start, 4 wins and 0 losses. We’re averaging 86.7 ppg and have only given up 59.0 ppg. We’re 7th in the Media Poll and 12th in the Coaches Poll. I’ve started all 4 games at SF. No sterling performances by me yet, but I think solid. Steady, and workmanlike. Providence recruited SG Zack Watkins, the #2 ranked recruit last season. Zack scored 42 points in our season opener and 31 points in each of the following 2 games and then another 42 points in our last game. His 36.5 ppg is far and away the best scoring average of any Division I player. He’s also averaging 8.0 rpg...not bad for a SG. I’ve never played with a guy who has so much talent. We already had a good team, but the addition of Zack has, I believe, made us one of the best teams in college basketball. Pretty darned exciting. Boston College (my Pop's team) and Providence (my team) now have a total of 8 wins and no losses. We take on the Eagles in 2 weeks. I like our chances.