The Tournament That Wasn’t: Mid-American

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Chad

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next is the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.  The opening round on campus sites Monday night had seen a major upset when 12-seed Miami-Ohio took down 5-seed Buffalo.  Would the Redhawks continue their run?  Would top seeds Akron and Bowling Green reach the finals?  It is time to find out!

 

MAC QUARTERFINALS

Every now and then, something happens at a conference tournament that seems completely inexplicable.  That is how the entire day felt at the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals.  It began with 8-seed Ohio University shocking top-seed Akron 91-79, as Jordan Dartis, Jason Preston and Ben Vander Plas all scored over 20 points for the Bobcats.  Up next, 12-seed Miami-Ohio, a team that has shocked 5-seed Buffalo on the road in the opening round, continued their magic, turning a 1-point halftime deficit into an amazing 25-point win, 88-63.  The first semifinal was set, and it was the 8 seed versus the 12!

After an amazing afternoon of upsets, the MAC was expected to return to normalcy in the evening session when 7-seed Toledo took on 2-seed Bowling Green.  The game was not even close.  However, it was Toledo that rolled in this one, grabbing a 53-35 halftime lead and rolling by a final of 93-65 thanks to 30 points from Marreon Jackson and a double-double (21 point and 17 rebounds) from Willie Jackson.  The craziness was still not over, however, as 6-seed Kent State made the lower seeds four-for-four on the day, overcoming a 5-point halftime deficit to win 83-74 behind 20 points from Anthony Roberts.  And so, the MAC semifinals were set:  8 vs 12 and 6 vs 7!

 

MAC SEMIFINALS

Miami-Ohio had only won 5 conference games all season, but the underdog Redhawks were suddenly in the semifinals, and amazingly matched up with the 8-seed, Ohio University.  The lower-seeded teams were already 4-for-4 in the games being played in Cleveland, but it appeared that streak might end when Ohio built a 5-point halftime lead.  Miami came out red-hot in the second half, however, and the Bobcats could not recover.  The Redhawks ended up winning again, by a 70-55 blowout margin, and were suddenly one win away from turning a last place finish into an NCAA Tournament bid!  Nike Sibande led the way for the victorious Redhawks, scoring 22 points in the win.

With the lower-seeded teams now 5-for-5 in Cleveland, it would figure that 6-for-6 would happen in the battle between 6-seed Kent State and 7-seed Toledo.  And, of course, it did.  The Rockets came out strong early and never looked back, cruising to a 75-61 win and a spot in the MAC title game against Miami.  Luke Knapke led the way for the Rockets, scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.  And with the win, we had an amazing 7 vs 12 game set to determine who would win the MAC automatic bid!

 

MAC CHAMPIONSHIP

7-seed Toledo.  12-seed Miami-Ohio.  Neither team was expected to make it past the quarterfinal round, and in Miami’s case, the team wasn’t even expected to make it past the opening round and into the quarters.  Yet here we were, with one of the wildest tournament final matchups we had ever seen.  Miami was the lower-seeded team, and given what had happened the prior two days, that practically made them the favorite to win this game!

The first half was back and forth, with neither team able to establish any serious momentum, and Toledo held the narrow 38-37 edge at the break.  The second half, however, saw the Rockets come out on fire, building a 13-point lead by the under 12 timeout.  Miami was never able to make another serious run after that point, and, for the first and only time in the games in Cleveland, the higher-seeded team had a victory.  Toledo was off to the Big Dance for the first time since 1980 thanks to an 83-74 win!

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The Tournament That Wasn’t: Metro Atlantic

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Chad

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next is the Metro Atlantic Tournament, in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.  The Iona Gaels has come into the season winning four consecutive conference tournament titles, but with head coach Tim Cluess sidelined with health issues that led to his retirement, the Gaels were the 7-seed and had already been eliminated on Wednesday evening by 2-seed St. Peter’s.  Top-seed Siena had also already advanced to the semifinals, but two more quarterfinals were on tap for Thursday.  Let’s see what would have happened in them and the rest of the event!

 

METRO ATLANTIC QUARTERFINALS

With the top two seeds, Siena and St. Peter’s, already having advanced to Friday’s semifinals, the final two quarterfinals were set to be played on Thursday of Championship Week in the Metro Atlantic.  Up first, was 4-seed Monmouth taking on 5-seed Quinnipiac.  Monmouth, who had led the conference standings at points this season, did not appear ready for the Bobcats, as they fell down by 12 at halftime and were unable to make any serious second half run.  Quinnipiac advanced by a final score of 84-70, thanks to 21 points from Rich Kelly and 15 points and 15 boards from Kevin Marfo.

In the final quarterfinal, 6-seed Niagara gave 3-seed Rider all the could take and more.  Although the Rider Broncs had opened a 9-point lead at halftime, the Purple Eagles, led by 15 points from Marcus Hammond, came storming back in the second.  Hammond’s 3-pointer with 21 seconds left cut the lead to 1, and after the Broncs only made 1 of 2 free throws, Niagara had a couple of chance to tie or take the lead.  However, one shot missed and the final possession ended in a turnover, leading to a 2-point win for Rider, 69-67.

 

METRO ATLANTIC SEMIFINALS

The first semifinal of the day gave us an amazing thriller, as 5-seed Quinnipiac and 1-seed Siena squared off for a spot in the MAAC Championship game.  Quinnipiac extended a 3-point halftime lead out to 10 early in the second, but Siena was not done.  The Saints fought back and were finally able to tie the game with just under 2 minutes left to play.  A pair of free throw’s by Siena’s Elijah Burns gave the Saints a 71-70 lead with 33 seconds to play, but Quinnipiac looked poised to steal the win when Aaron Falzon sunk a jumper with 6 seconds left on the clock to put the Bobcats up 72-71.  It was then Don Carey’s chance to play hero, as his three-pointer at the buzzer found nothing but net and his Siena teammates mobbed him on the floor, celebrating a buzzer-beating 74-72 victory.

The second semifinal was a battle between two New Jersey schools, 2-seed Saint Peter’s and 3-seed Rider.  The Peacocks built an early lead which they took into the halftime break, but the second half was all about Rider.  The Broncs, led by 16 points from Frederick Scott and a double-double from Tyere Marshall, won 77-67 to set up a matchup with Siena in the championship game.

 

METRO ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP

Siena entered the MAAC title game fresh off of their amazing buzzer-beater semifinal win over Quinnipiac.  It was likely the momentum from that victory that saw them get off to a great start in this one, building a 20-9 advantage early and coasting to a 43-28 halftime lead.  Rider had one last run left, however, as the Broncs fought had enough to close the game down to a single possession in the final minute.  They did not have quite enough left to get over the top, and when the final horn sounded, the Siena Saints, a team that had been unable, during five years of hosting the MAAC Tournament in Albany, to capture a single championship, were cutting down the nets in Atlantic City and on their way to the Big Dance for the first time in a decade.

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Basketball and brains: HoopsHD interviews Mercer Academic All-American Djordje Dimitrijevic

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Jon Teitel

In these troubling times when many of us are working from home with slow computers that we would like to toss out a window, the only thing rarer than finding some toilet paper on a supermarket shelf is finding a handy-dandy IT person to save the day. In the case of the Mercer basketball team they can turn to SR G Djordje Dimitrijevic, who has a 3.87 GPA while getting his degree in computer science. He started his college career at Western Nebraska Community College and is finishing it with the Bears, where his team won 11 of its final 14 regular season games before losing to Western Carolina in the SoCon tourney. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Djordje about scoring 34 PTS in a game last January and the impact of the coronavirus on college basketball.

You were born in Serbia: how did you 1st get into basketball? Basketball is big in Serbia. I had some friends who played the sport when I was a kid and after I got interested in it I told my dad that I wanted to play basketball.

You began your college career at Western Nebraska Community College: what made you eventually choose Mercer? When I took my official visit to Mercer I realized all of the great opportunities here: a nice community, a team that has experience with international players on its roster, etc. It was an easy decision for me because it would give me room to grow.

You finished your JUCO career with 89 FT%/44.7 3P%: what is the secret to being a great shooter? You can be as talented as you want but you still need to consistently spend time in the gym shooting all of the time. Confidence is also important.

You played in all 31 games during your 1st year in Macon: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? My work ethic and the way I fought allowed me to make an impact. Even if it was not playing time I wanted to have an impact on the culture, which goes back to my decision to come here.

How easy/difficult was the coaching transition from Bob Hoffman last year to Greg Gary this year? Coach Gary’s style is more similar to that of my JUCO team so it was an easy transition for me.

In early-January you scored a career-high 34 PTS/10-19 FG in 37 minutes in an 8-PT loss at Western Carolina: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I was not really focused on my scoring: I was locked in and my shots were falling but I was just playing the game.

In late-January you scored a game-high 18 PTS while becoming 1 of 4 teams to beat East Tennessee State this season: how did you pull off the upset, and do you think that the Buccaneers were good enough to win a game in the NCAA tourney? That was a great game for us. Our defense was the most important factor: when we are physical we win games. We knew that we had nothing to lose and played very freely while sharing the ball. I think that ETSU is a great team and could definitely have won 1-2 games in the NCAA tourney.

Last week you were named an Academic All-American: how do you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I do not focus on balancing the 2 things: I just try to do everything on time and stay on top of my schoolwork. My professors are always flexible, which helps a lot.

You have a 3.87 GPA while working on your degree in computer science: why did you choose that subject, and what is the post-graduation plan? I chose computer science because I have always been interested in computers since I was a young kid. I focused more on sports as I got older but after coming to the US I had to pick a major and thought that IT was a field that was constantly developing. I would like to keep playing basketball after graduation.

Any thoughts on the impact of the coronavirus on college basketball this month? Everybody needs to stay safe and follow the rules. I know it is a hard time for everybody with classes being canceled and people not being able to travel abroad but we have to be patient and trust the people in charge.

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The Tournament That Wasn’t: Ivy League

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Chad

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next is the Ivy League.  Yale won the regular season title in the Ivy, but the tournament was being played at second-place Harvard’s home court, leading many to believe that the Crimson were in fact the favorite to claim the automatic bid.  Before the two teams would even meet, however, semifinals against Penn and Princeton were looming.  It is time to find out just what would have happened!

 

IVY LEAGUE SEMIFINALS

Yale won the Ivy League regular season championship, and promptly had to go play the conference tournament on Harvard’s home court.  Before a potential title game matchup with the Crimson, however, the Bulldogs first needed to get past the Penn Quakers.  That proved to be no problem at all, as Yale jumped out to an early lead and cruised home for a 98-62 win.  Azar Swain led the way with 26 points while Jordan Bruner had 14 points and 18 rebounds.

The second semifinal was a lot closer, as Princeton kept pace with Harvard throughout most of the game.  In fact, with 5 minutes left to play, the score was knotted at 70.  However, Harvard was able to use its home court advantage to put together one final run and came out on top by a final score of 82-76.  The win set up a huge championship game against Yale, a team that Harvard had already beaten twice during the season.

 

IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

They say that the third time is a charm, and for the Yale Bulldogs on Selection Sunday, it most certainly was.  Despite being swept in the regular season by the Harvard Crimson, Yale took care of business fairly easily in this game, building a 7-point halftime lead and then rolling in the second half to win Ivy Madness by a final score of 79-58.  Five Bulldogs scored in double figures for the game, led by 17 points from Paul Atkinson.  With the win, Yale had qualified for back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history.

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The Very 1st 4: HoopsHD interviews former UNC Asheville PG JP Primm

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Jon Teitel

From 2001-2010 the 2 lowest seeded teams in the NCAA tourney played in an Opening Round game at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, OH. In 2011 the NCAA changed the format to a series of play-in games between teams holding the 4 lowest-seeded auto-bids and the 4 lowest-seeded at-large bids called the 1st 4. Today we should be talking about last night’s 1st 4 games (perhaps UCLA and NC State having a rematch of their 1974 Final 4 2-OT game that ended the Bruins’ streak of 7 straight NCAA titles, or Winthrop and NC Central engaging in a battle of the Carolinas?), but instead we are left to wonder what could have been. 3 of the 4 1st 4 games in 2011 were yawners with a final winning margin of 9+ PTS but the 4th was a 4-PT OT thriller with UNC Asheville beating Little Rock. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former Bulldog PG JP Primm about winning that 1st 4 game in 2011 and almost becoming the 1st #16-seed to ever upset a #1-seed in 2012.

At Dickson County High School you were invited to play in All-Star games for both basketball/football: which sport were you best at, and which 1 did you enjoy the most? My best sport was probably baseball but I fell in love with basketball during my sophomore year. I was playing football as well and loved whatever sport I was doing at the time, but due to the way the seasons fell and since basketball was the last 1 of the year it drove me to continue playing that sport.

You played for Coach Eddie Biedenbach at UNC Asheville: what made him such a good coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He really gave me a shot and I learned a lot from him as well as the 2 guys who recruited me: Nick McDevitt, who is now head coach at Middle Tennessee, and Brett Carey, who is now an assistant coach at Indiana State. I learned how to lead, how to talk to different guys in the huddle, etc.

You played 31 games as a freshman and led the team with 139 AST: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? Once you join a new team you have to find your niche and figure out how you can fit in. I am a natural leader so I wanted to lead by example even as a freshman. I was constantly in the gym trying to get better, which helped me gain a lot of respect from the older players.

In the 2011 Big South tourney title game you scored 7 PTS in a win at Coastal Carolina: how much of a home-court advantage did the Chanticleers have at Kimbel Arena, and what was the reaction like after you got back to campus? They had an advantage but we were a veteran team who understood what we had to do. Our coaching staff explained that it would be a game of runs and we rallied together possession by possession.

In the 2011 1st 4 you scored 22 PTS in a 4-PT OT win over Little Rock and sealed the win by making several FTs down the stretch and a STL in the final seconds: what did it mean to you to win a game in the NCAA tourney? It meant a lot: it is every kid’s dream while watching the NCAA tourney on TV. It is 1 thing to be excited to just be in it but it is another to not just be satisfied with that goal. It was such a rewarding feeling after all of our 6AM workouts and the hard work we put in every summer. It was super-exciting for all of us.

In the 2012 NCAA tourney you scored a team-high 18 PTS in a 7-PT loss to Syracuse: how close did you come to being the 1st #16-seed to ever upset a #1-seed, and what did you think of the 2 calls that went against your team in the final 2 minutes (a lane violation called against you and a ball that appeared to go out of bounds off Brandon Triche that was given to the Orange)? I do not like pointing fingers at the refs because if we could have handled our business then it would not have mattered. They did not cost us the game but rather the opportunity of winning, if that makes sense. I felt like I was shooting into the ocean that night so if we had a couple of calls go our way then I think I could have made a shot at the end to win it. I was doing the same thing during FT attempts every single time so replays would have been very crucial back then. If we had won that game then the future of some of our players would have changed tremendously.

As a senior your 75 3PM/84.2 FT% were each top-3 in the conference: what is the key to being a great shooter? Just spending a lot of time in the gym. Coach Carey put me on a summer shooting challenge before my senior year where I had to make 100,000 shots(!) in 84 days: he would call to check in on me and make sure that I stayed on pace. He said that I could lie to him but would not get anything out of it so I bought into it and was true to it. I completed the challenge on the final day, which was a huge thing for me.

You remain the all-time leader in school history in both AST/STL: how did you balance your offense with your defense, and do you think that anyone will ever break your records? I had the role of leading the team as a freshman and had some great players around me who could shoot the cover off the ball. The last thing I wanted to do was make my teammates not like me so I would share the ball like crazy. Once I started catching on to being a better defender by anticipating passes and blowing up pick and rolls, that helped keep me on the court.

After graduation you played professionally in different countries for a few years: what is the biggest difference between basketball in the US vs. basketball overseas? It is very different in many ways. It is not just the basketball part: when you are playing for a coach in France who does not speak any English is a tough transition! I was the low man on the totem pole but they expect a lot out of anyone when they are paying them $100,000. I got called for 3-4 walks in my very 1st preseason game: it was 1 of my biggest struggles because I have such a quick 1st step that the refs just took away from me.

You currently work as a basketball trainer: what makes your training different from other programs, and what do you hope to do in the future? I have a lot of things going on with my training. Everyone who works with kids thinks they are a trainer but I evaluate my players and have more than 100 kids in my AAU program. I am fighting to really build that up and some of our older guys are getting D-1 high-major offers. I am going to have a feeder program so it is all starting to come together. I would not trade it for anything because it is my calling from God and I get to give back to kids and try to help change their lives.

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The Tournament That Wasn’t: Conference USA

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Chad

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next is Conference USA — the conference that plays its first two rounds by having multiple games going on simultaneously with a giant curtain separating the two courts.  We love the curtain here at HoopsHD, and have one more round of curtain play to go in the quarterfinals, before moving on to the semis and the title game.  North Texas, Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech all battled for the regular season title with the Mean Green coming out on top, but could we be in for a surprise at Curtain Madness?  It is time to find out!

 

CONFERENCE USA QUARTERFINALS

The Curtain was back up at the Conference USA Tournament as the quarterfinals got underway with two games being played simultaneously in the same building.  On Court A, six players scored in double figures for North Texas, led by Umoja Gibson’s 18, as the Mean Green held off Florida Atlantic 85-76.  Meanwhile, on Court B, Charlotte rallied from a 10-point deficit to knock out Florida International 87-83, thanks in part to 24 points from Jordan Shepherd.

In the late session, it was Western Kentucky versus UAB on Court A while Louisiana Tech took on Marshall over on Court B.  The WKU-UAB game was tight throughout, and in fact when regulation ended, the two teams were knotted up at 66 apiece.  WKU was finally able to seize control in the extra frame and win 82-78.  16 points and 14 rebounds from Carson Williams led the way for the Hilltoppers.  On Court B, Louisiana Tech was able to open an 8-point lead early in the second half and keep Marshall at arm’s length the rest of the way, winning 84-76.

 

CONFERENCE USA SEMIFINALS

The semifinals of the CUSA Tournament were both played on the same court.  Game 1 proved to be a thriller as 4th-seeded Charlotte took on top seed North Texas.  The surprising 49ers held a three point lead at halftime, but neither team was able to pull away from the other at all during the second half.  An open jumper from Charlotte’s Luka Vasic gave his team a three point lead with just under a minute to play, but UNT came right back down, and James Reese nailed one from long distance to tie the game at 76 with 28 seconds to play.  Luka Vasic was not done, however, as his shot with 1 second left to play found the bottom of the net and sent the surprising Charlotte 49ers to the Conference USA title game by a final score of 78-76.

Game 2 saw a back-and-forth battle throughout the first half between Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky.  However, the second half of the game clearly belonged to the Hilltoppers.  WKU extended their lead out to as many as 14 points and held on to win 73-62.  Carson Williams led the way for his team, scoring 18 point and pulling down 13 rebounds.

 

CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP

The Charlotte 49ers entered the CUSA title game seeking their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005.  This team had been picked to finish near the very bottom of the league standings preseason, and their run to an upper division finish and a spot in the title game had become the talk of Frisco, Texas.  Despite having a 2 point lead at the halftime break, the Cinderella story finally came to an end.  WKU was able to take the lead early in the second period, and finally pulled away from the 49ers late to win 72-63 and punch their Dance Ticket.  Taveion Hollingsworth led the Hilltoppers with 24 points and Jared Savage added 23 for the champions.

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