News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – Friday, Nov 18th

Posted on November 18, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

For John Stalica’s UTR Games of the Day (from abroad!) – CLICK HERE

-Murray State didn’t look all that impressive in their season opener against Saint Louis, but they haven’t lost since then and yesterday they knocked off Texas A&M 88-79 for a HUGE OOC win.  They were good last year, but are virtually an entirely different team this year.  Nevertheless, they showed yesterday they can play with (and beat) top 25 teams.

-Penn State jumped way ahead of Furman and had a 20+ pt lead, but Furman chipped away at it, played good defense, rebounded well, and had it down to 3 with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but had two shots rattle out.  Penn State held on 73-68.  This is a win that could have REALLY helped boost Furman’s resume.  It wouldn’t have just been the singular win against Penn State, but the chance to land on the winner’s side of the bracket and have yet more opportunities at quality wins.  For UTR teams, these early season games can be HUGELY important and pivotal even though it is just the second win of the season.

-After a rough loss at home to Towson, UMass bounced back and beat Colorado 66-63 down in Myrtle Beach.  Colorado is perhaps one of the nation’s most schizophrenic teams so far.  Losses to UMass and Grambling, and a win over Tennessee.  Boy are we going to have fun evaluating that come March!

-South Carolina isn’t all that good, but Colorado State just absolutely blew their doors off 85-53 and showed all the signs of being a top 40ish caliber team.

-Keep an eye on Towson.  They played with their food for most of the game against UNC Greensboro yesterday, but finally woke up, came back, and got the 56-53 win on the road to improve to 4-0.

-Charleston wasn’t a UTR team that we were all that big on coming into the year, but they really played well in a loss at North Carolina, and yesterday they totally blew Davidson (who came in unbeaten) to the moon  89-66.  They move on in the Charleston Classic, and have more chances to pick up early notable wins.

-Hofstra remains unbeaten after picking up their second road win by knocking off San Jose State 85-76 in a game they had to come from behind to win.  None of their wins are exactly quad 1 wins, but none are exactly home buy games either.

-And finally, what Arizona State did to Michigan in the championship game of the Legends Classic may not even be legal in some states.  It was a complete and total 87-62 beat down.  Michigan State has had to sweat out a rather poor Eastern Michigan team, and then got blown to pieces by an Arizona State team that, prior to this game, hadn’t looked that good at all (and had even lost at Texas Southern).  So, the Wolverines will likely be exiting the top 25 and they’ll have some work to do.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-COLORADO VS TEXAS A&M (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  This is probably the match-up many of us were expecting to see, but not in the round we thought we’d see it in.  TAMU fell to Murray State for their first loss of the year, and Colorado followed up their big win against Tennessee (which followed up their big loss to Grambling) with a somewhat surprising loss to UMass.  One thing that absolutely does not matter is the side of the bracket that it’s on.  It’s a neutral floor game, and it counts the same as if they had both won yesterday.

-UMASS VS MURRAY STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Both teams pulled off wins that were somewhat surprising to get here, especially after they had dropped some games early.  As we always say, these early season MTEs are great opportunities for teams to pick up notable wins and to build their NCAA Tournament resumes.

-PENN STATE VS VIRGINIA TECH (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).   Both teams survived late charges from their opponents yesterday as Penn State held off Furman, and Virginia Tech held off Old Dominion.  Neither team has lost this season, both have some momentum built up, and this is a chance for them to add a notable OOC win to their resume.

-FURMAN VS OLD DOMINION (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Furman fell behind by more than 20 against Penn State, but really got on the glass and clawed their way back into it yesterday, and had two good looks to force overtime, but just couldn’t get it done.  Old Dominion isn’t the high caliber opponent that they were hoping to face in order to build their resume, but it is a chance to at least pick up a neutral floor win.

-TEMPLE VS RUTGERS (Hall of Fame Showcase, Uncasville CT).  Rutgers is unbeaten, but largely untested, but that should change today.  I think.  Maybe.  Temple has been a very schizophrenic team early on with a loss to Wagner, a win against Villanova, and a loss to Vanderbilt.  Who knows which version of them will show up for this one.

-INDIANA AT XAVIER (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  This is the first real test of the season for either team.  Xavier hasn’t exactly blown away some of the teams they’ve played in home buy games, so even though they’re at home this is definitely a game that Indiana is capable of winning.

-COLGATE AT DUQUESNE.  Colgate is coming off a decisive win at Syracuse, and is suddenly looking like a very dangerous team.  Duquesne is a modest 2-1 with the only loss being at Kentucky, so they appear to be better than expected.  I’m intrigued by this one.

-VIRGINIA VS BAYLOR (Main Event, Las Vegas NV).  This is Virginia’s first game since the tragic shooting deaths of three members of the football team, and it’s a tall order against a Baylor team that’s ranked in the top five.  Both teams are in the rankings, both are playing for protected seeds, and this is a chance for one of them to pick up a really big early season win.

-UCF AT OKLAHOMA STATE.  I still think Oklahoma State is a dark horse, and they face a UCF team that could make some noise in the American this year.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT LIBERTY.  Southern Miss is 3-0 with a win at Vanderbilt (although the other two wins were against nonD1 teams).  So, they sort of have our attention.  They’ll have much more of our attention if they can win on the road against a good Liberty team that’s looking to bounce back after a decisive loss to Alabama.

-FLORIDA AT FLORIDA STATE.  Florida State is still looking for their first win.  In fact, it’s even worse than that.  All their losses have been home buy games.  Florida hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but they’ve at least taken care of business in their home buy games.  This is a rivalry game, so maybe this will finally snap FSU out of whatever funk they’ve been in.  I’m not holding my breath, though.

-VILLANOVA AT MICHIGAN STATE.  Villanova has lost to Temple, and really didn’t look good at all in their last game against a Delaware State team that’s just all kinds of awful.  Michigan State, on the other hand, has simply looked amazing so far this season.  With them being at home this one could get ugly for Nova.

-GRAMBLING AT GRAND CANYON.  Yes!  We are highlighting this!!  It has a storyline that we never would have imagined at the start of the season! Grambling is unbeaten with a win against Colorado.  Grand Canyon is a VERY tough place to play, though, so while it’s been a good run for Grambling so far it’s going to take a huge effort to keep it going.

-ILLINOIS VS UCLA (Main Event, Las Vegas NV).  Both are top 20 teams, and this is a showcase game to add what will probably be a high quality win to their resume.  Teams get protected seeds by playing in and winning games like this one.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Rider vs Stetson (MAAC/ASun Dublin Challenge, Dublin Ireland) – Stetson has two road wins, and while this is a neutral floor game, it is certainly a long way from home.
-Buffalo vs Drake (Paradise Jam, Saint Thomas Virgin Islands) – Drake needs to do well in this event in order to build up their resume
-La Salle vs Wake Forest (Jamaica Classic) – Neither team is expected to do much, but both come in with respectable records and both have a chance to build on that if they can do well in this event
-Howard vs Wyoming (Paradise Jam).  Wyoming is coming off a surprising loss and needs to do well in this event
-Georgetown vs LMU (Jamaica Classic)
-Campbell @ Appalachian State – App State is 3-0
-Vermont @ Iona – two really good UTR teams that are among the favorites to win their leagues
-Boston College vs George Mason (Paradise Jam)
-DePaul vs Santa Clara (Bahamas Championship) – DePaul is unbeaten, but should get a bit of a test tonight
-High Point @ UNLV – both teams unbeaten and UNLV has a really nice win against Dayton (albeit at home)

BUY GAMES:

-Delaware @ Duke
-Penn @ West Virginia
-Lipscomb @ Notre Dame
-Bellarmine @ Clemson
-UT Martin @ Ole Miss
-Southern Utah @ Kansas
-Texas Southern @ Auburn
-Purdue Fort Wayne @ Northwestern
-South Alabama @ Oklahoma
-UNC Wilmington @ Connecticut
-Jacksonville State @ Alabama
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ USC

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | 1 Comment

Under The Radar Doubleheader of the Day – Friday, November 18th

Posted on November 18, 2022 by John Stalica

MAAC/A-Sun Challenge in Dublin, Ireland (2 Games)

Rider (1-1) vs. Stetson (2-0) – 5:00 AM ET (ESPNU)

No, you are reading this right – the Under The Radar Doubleheader of the Day goes across the pond to Dublin, Ireland in a day-night doubleheader featuring four different teams. Stetson has been a road warrior so far this season with wins at Florida State and South Florida, and now they will look to be the ultimate road warriors with a win on two different continents before playing their first home games of the season! Rider comes in off of a close loss at Providence despite leading the defending Big East champion Friars by 14 in the first half.

Central Arkansas (2-1) vs. Niagara (0-2) – 11:00 AM ET (ESPN3)

The second game of this doubleheader will be online-only with other exempt bracketed events being televised on the ESPN networks; Niagara comes into this game coming off of a pair of blowout losses against both rebuilding Bucknell and Maryland teams. Central Arkansas started the season with a win against in-state rival Little Rock, but they are now coming off of a loss at Wichita State by 20+ points.

Since there is a very good chance the first game may already be done by the time you read this, keep in mind there is a 6 AM starting time for Saturday’s game between Central Arkansas and Rider. Niagara and Stetson will follow with a noontime game on Saturday as well.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – Thursday, Nov 17th

Posted on November 17, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

For our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Texas basically controlled Gonzaga from tip to buzzer and came out with a decisive 93-74 win.  Gonzaga’s defense didn’t exactly look the best.  Not to take anything away from Texas, who is a really good team, but in order for Gonzaga to be considered a Final Four caliber team there are certainly some areas where they need to improve.

-Arkansas didn’t have too much trouble with South Dakota State, who was playing their second game in two days.  The score was 71-56, but at no point did it ever feel like the Razorbacks were not in control.  South Dakota State will likely win a lot of games this year.  They were just swinging way over their heads last night.

-Cincinnati wend down the road and across the Big Mac Bridge a few miles, but fell to Northern Kentucky 64-51.  This is a good NKU team, but they’re still the kind of team that you would expect a top 40 at-large caliber team to be able to beat on the road.  So, Cincinnati still has a lot of work to do.

-Iowa picked up a nice road win at Seton Hall. 83-67  It was a solid road performance and the kind of game teams need to be able to win if they want to make the NCAAs Tournament.

-San Francisco, who we thought would be in complete rebuild mode this year, got a really nice road win against Fresno State 67-60 last night.  They’re now 4-0 on the season, and have a nice road win to go along with that record.

-Congrats to Chicago State for their somewhat decisive 87-74 win against Valparaiso last night.  Chicago State has now won back to back games against D1 teams.  I’m sure that’s happened before, but it can’t have happened all that often in the last several…well…decades or so.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-FURMAN VS PENN STATE (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Neither team has lost yet.  We really like this Furman team, and some feel that Penn State can be a dark horse in the Big Ten.  For UTR teams like Furman, doing well in events like this one can be the difference of whether or not they end up inside the bubble come March.

-COLORADO VS UMASS (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Colorado stubbed their toes with the home loss to Grambling, but made up for it (and then some) with their win against Tennessee in Nashville.  They’ve got another winnable neutral floor game today against a UMass team that I think will be good someday soon under new coach Frank Maritn, but probably not today.  Still, a good showing in an event like this can catapult a team onto the national map.

-OLD DOMINION VS VIRGINIA TECH (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  An in-state battle taking place in another state!!  ODU doesn’t appear to have much this year, and we think VA Tech might have some potential.  But, like we always say, events like these are great opportunities for UTR teams like Old Dominion.

-MURRAY STATE VS TEXAS A&M (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  This would have been a fantastic game a year ago, but this year it looks to be a bit of a mismatch.  TAMU is ranked in the top 25 and this event is a chance for them to show that they deserve it.

-COLORADO STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Many a Hoops HD really like this Colorado State team, and while South Carolina doesn’t appear to be anything too special (although they are coming into this without a loss), this event is a chance for the Rams to get some good wins away from home and start to build up their resume.

-NEBRASKA AT SAINT JOHN’S (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Some say this is more of a pillow fight than a major clash, but I for one think Saint John’s can surprise some people this year.  A home win over Nebraska probably won’t end up counting for that much, but we can still learn something about them in this one.

-WICHITA STATE AT RICHMOND.  I believe the Spiders can be a dark horse in the Atlantic Ten, and that they should be able to pick up this win and improve to 3-1 on the year.

-BOISE STATE VS CHARLOTTE (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Boise could potentially make some noise out in the Mountain West this year, and this event is a chance to give their resume some good early wins.  Charlotte is unbeaten, but untested.  They’ll be tested in this event and have some chances to add a few decent wins to their resume.

-DAVIDSON VS CHARLESTON (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Charleston is the host team, and while we weren’t expecting much out of them this year, they did play really well against North Carolina last week, and they have a really good coach in Pat Kelsey.  This event is a tremendous opportunity for them.  Davidson comes in at 3-0 with a decent win at Wright State under their belts, but they could really boost their resume with a strong showing in this tournament.

-UTAH STATE AT SAN DIEGO.  We really weren’t expecting much out of either of these teams, but both come into this unbeaten and both have shown some signs of life in their first three games.  It’s Utah State’s first road game, so we should learn something about them.

-MICHIGAN VS ARIZONA STATE (Legends Classic, Brooklyn NY).  Michigan had absolutely no trouble with Pittsburgh last night.  Pitt is not a good team, but Michigan still played what appeared to be their best game of the season so far.  Arizona State just barely got by VCU and could potentially get blown out tonight if they don’t play better than that.

-SAM HOUSTON AT UTAH.  Sam Houston already has a win at Oklahoma, and I wouldn’t count them out of this game tonight.  If you want to know how teams from one bid/UTR conferences can get bids to the NCAA Tournament, this is how.  Utah is also unbeaten, but also untested.  This will be their biggest test of the year so far despite it technically being a home buy game.

HOFSTRA AT SAN JOSE STATE.  Hofstra has racked up some decent wins already and can add yet another at least decent road win against a San Jose State team that will likely struggle this year, but that is currently unbeaten.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Bryant @ Florida Atlantic – Bryant is 2-0 and looking for their second road win, and FAU just won at Florida
-Towson @ UNC Greensboro – I really like this Towson team and think they can pick up their third road win of the year tonight
-Samford @ Alabama A&M – Samford is 3-0 and looking for their first road win
-Louisiana Tech @ Louisiana – Neither team is expected to do much this year, but this is always a fun matchup
-Tennessee State @ Southern Illinois – Southern Illinois has the big win at Oklahoma State, and Tennessee State comes in 3-0
-Portland @ Air Force – I’m not a full blown believer in Portland yet, but they are 3-1 and this is another winnable road game
-Loyola Chicago @ Tulsa (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Loyola can stay unbeaten and set themselves up for some quality games in later rounds with a win

BUY GAMES:

-Merrimack @ Troy – Troy is 3-0 with a win at Florida State
-Saint Francis U @ Butler
-Kansas City @ Kansas State
-SC State @ Kentucky
-UL Monroe @ TCU
-New Orleans @ LSU
-Northern Illinois @ Georgia Tech – GA Tech 2-0
-UC Riverside @ Creighton
-Long Island @ Marquette
-Utah Tech @ Arizona
-Central Michigan @ Minnesota
-South Dakota @ Mississippi State
-CA Baptist @ Washington

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Happy Birthday! HoopsHD interviews Missouri legend Steve Stipanovich

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Jon Teitel

Missouri has gotten off to a great start this year (1 of 8 teams in the nation who are 4-0), which reminds us of the glory days of Tiger basketball when they won 4 straight Big 8 regular season titles under Coach Norm Stewart from 1980-1983. 1 of the stars of those teams was Steve Stipanovich: 1980 Big 8 Newcomer of the Year, a #2 seed in the 1982 NCAA tourney, and 1st-team All American in 1983. He was drafted 2nd overall by Indiana in the summer of 1983 and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1984. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Steve about his NBA career and his athletic family. Today is Steve’s 62nd birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!

At De Smet Jesuit High School you won back-to-back Missouri Class 4A state titles as part of a 60-game winning streak: what did it mean to you to win a pair of titles, and did it just reach a point where your fans expected you to win every time that you stepped onto the court? We had a very good team but were not head and shoulders above everyone else. We had a legendary coach (Rich Grawer) who helped us win a lot of close games. We also had some decent athletes: our power forward from my senior year later played college football, another guy played college baseball, and 1 played college golf.

You played for College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Norm Stewart at Missouri: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He was a great teacher of the fundamentals: he kept things simple but taught us the basics. He was tough and pushed us very hard to learn how the game should be played.

As a freshman you were named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year: how were you able to make such a smooth transition from high school to college? I was highly recruited out of high school but it was not that smooth: I had some ups and downs. I still needed a lot of work like most big men do but I was willing to work hard and had some great coaches.

In the 1980 NCAA tourney you scored 4 PTS but missed the 2nd half of a 10-PT win over San Jose State due to hyperventilation: were you just too excited after making it to the postseason? No: I think I was just sick with the flu.

In the 1983 Big 8 tourney title game Leroy Combs had 34 PTS/11 REB and made a scoop shot past you at the end of the 1st OT in a 1-PT 2-OT win by Oklahoma State: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It was a big game against a good team…but was not anywhere close to the most devastating because we were going to make the NCAA tourney anyway. We just woke up the next day and started preparing for the tourney.

You finished your career as both an All-American/Academic All-American: how were you able to balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? It was very difficult: people do not realize how hard playing a D-1 sport is. You go to practice, eat, and do homework. It forces you to be in a strict routine so you do not have a normal college experience, but the school provided a lot of help/guidance so we could maintain our grades. It raises the baseline very high because you are forced to do so much on a daily basis. When you get into the real world after graduation you know how to work hard, sacrifice, and be part of a team.

You were selected 2nd overall by Indiana in the 1983 NBA draft (1 spot behind Ralph Sampson): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? When you are 7’ tall you have a big advantage because teams back then were built around centers. As a little kid growing up in St. Louis all I did was play/watch sports: all of the boys I knew wanted to become pro athletes. It was a stressful time because I was going into a difficult world but lifelong dreams can come true. It gave me a great amount of satisfaction to be among the few pro basketball players in the world.

You only missed 7 games during your 1st 5 years in the pros but due to a degenerative knee condition you had to retire in 1988 with career averages of 13.2 PPG/7.8 RPG: how satisfied are you with your career, and how frustrating was it to not be able to go out on your own terms? It was very frustrating because everyone wants to play as long as they can. I was just starting to come into my own when the Pacers drafted Rik Smits in 1988, which would have allowed me to move to my more natural position of PF. My knee was still hurting at the start of year #6 so I sat out for 2 years and had several knee operations. It was disappointing to not reach my goal of getting 10 years in the league but I was still thankful to play 5 years. If I had gotten hurt in college then it might have been zero years!

Your father Sam played college basketball, your brother Ted was a state shot put champ in high school, and your kids/nephews/nieces play a bunch of different sports: who is the best athlete in the family? I think Ted was: he was heavily recruited out of high school to play football so coaches like Barry Switzer/Tom Osborne were around our house all of the time. He played a little at Colorado and eventually decided that he did not want to do it anymore. I was very coordinated for my size but some of my brother Mike’s kids also played D-1 sports. We are a big sports family so we gravitated toward that as kids.

You eventually became the owner/operator of a coal mine: how did you get into the business, and how do you like it? I have always been involved with heavy equipment. I buy/sell a lot of industrial equipment…and when you own a coal mine it is all about equipment! Power utility companies are my niche.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, November 17th

Posted on November 17, 2022 by John Stalica

For Jon Teitel’s interview about St. Francis University Head Coach Dr. William “Skip” Hughes – CLICK HERE

For last night’s Under The Radar podcast – CLICK HERE

Tennessee State (3-0) at Southern Illinois (2-1) – 8:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

We haven’t featured Tennessee State very often in our UTR Game of the Day, but this year figures to promise more appearances for the Tennessee State Tigers. They have won their first three games so far this season, including an 87-76 victory against Alabama A&M on Monday. Jr. Clay is currently averaging 21.7 points a game for TSU; they will need his production as they begin a 5-game road trip tonight that includes a trip to San Juan Capistrano as part of the SoCal Challenge this weekend.

Southern Illinois is coming off of a pair of games that have seen both a solid road win at Oklahoma State but also a decisive loss at Southern Indiana against a team that is beginning their transition up to Division 1 basketball. The Salukis will also be headed west after this game to the aforementioned SoCal Challenge, although they will be in a different 4-team bracket than Tennessee State. Both Lance Jones (15.3 PPG) and Marcus Domasl (14.3 PPG) lead the way for the Salukis.

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Happy Anniversary! HoopsHD interviews Bob Moore about Dr. William “Skip” Hughes

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Jon Teitel

Sometimes a coach has a team that is loaded with talent and sometimes a star player can lead his team to victory despite not being on the same page as his coach…but when the coach and the star player create a special bond then special things can happen. Dr. William “Skip” Hughes played basketball at Pitt and was later named head coach at St. Francis College in Loretto, PA. He spent more than 2 decades on the sideline and won almost 300 games but his teams from the early 1950s are the ones that had the most success: with star player Maurice Stokes leading the way they made it all the way to the NIT semifinals in 1955. Coach Hughes passed away in 1991 but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former St. Francis SID Bob Moore about Skip’s life/legacy. Today marks the 26th anniversary of Skip’s induction into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame on November 16, 1996, so we take this time to remember his remarkable career.

Hughes began his basketball career at Pitt where he was a 2-time captain: what made him choose Pitt, and how good a player was he back in the day? He was a very good player for Coach Doc Carlson. Later on when he became a coach he would occasionally put on a jersey and take the court with his players. He was a great athlete who eventually became a scratch golfer.

He later became coach at St. Francis: why did he take the job? He only lived about 30 minutes away. I think it is safe to say that St. Francis would never have become a D-1 school if Skip had not been there. There were rumors that he did not even receive a salary during his 1st few years!

While serving as coach he was also a full-time dentist: how was he able to balance the 2 gigs simultaneously? It was pretty difficult to drive up a mountain in the snow but he was a dentist by day and a coach by night. His players said that the night practices actually prepared them well for night games. He was a great recruiter: there was nobody who was his equal at that time because there was not a lot of competition around there.

His most famous recruit was Maurice Stokes from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh (who became 1 of the 1st African-American athletes in school history): how was he able to convince Stokes to come to St. Francis, and how big a deal was it back then to have a biracial team? It was a big deal. He cast a blind eye toward racial issues because he just wanted to win games. Stokes had a good friend/high school teammate named Eugene Phelps who had been recruited by Skip so that helped Stokes follow suit. The school did not have a lot of Black students but after a couple of 20-win seasons he was glad that he stuck around. He is buried on campus, which is proof of what he thought about the place. A lot of the students were vets from WWII so to make the NIT meant as much to the team as beating their local rival (Duquesne).

He stuck with his starting 5 most of the time and would only put in a substitute if a starter got in foul trouble: how exhausted were his starters by the end of the season? He ran them so hard during practice that they were “built for the night.” There was some grumbling by the bench players who did not get into the game much and during the 1960s that system did not work well for him.

In 1952 he lost to Marquette in the National Catholic Invitational title game: what was the feeling like in the locker room afterward? For Catholic schools in the East in the 1950s it was a big deal. However, that loss to Marquette propelled them very far the following season.

In the 1955 NIT tourney MVP Stokes scored a career-high 43 PTS/15-17 FT despite playing with a sprained ankle in a 6-PT OT loss to eventual runner-up Dayton after the Flyers made a desperation shot in the final seconds of regulation: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? I do not think that it was a devastating loss: I think the 5-PT OT loss to Cincinnati in the 3rd-place game was the more harmful one. Stokes got a lot of accolades from that run and is still viewed as 1 of the best players in the history of the NIT. Beating Duquesne (who won the 1955 NIT) was important because they had always lost to them and they were a power back then.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? I think he should be remembered as 1 of the finest recruiters of his era. He was able to attract a high quality of players while not getting compensated as much as other coaches…and he did all of this while having another profession at the same time! He even got players from Chicago, which was almost unthinkable back then. After retiring as a coach the school still used him to recruit, and he had a lot of guys who got drafted even when there were not as many college basketball programs back then.

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