Hoops HD

Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Northern Kentucky JR F Dantez Walton

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Jon Teitel

The Norse are staying the course, of course, of course! On Tuesday Northern Kentucky beat Wright State 77-66 in the Horizon tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Norse had a bad home loss to Cleveland State in late-February but then turned things around to win each of their past 5 games and claim the school’s 2nd NCAA tourney bid in the past 3 years. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with JR F Dantez Walton about facing Kentucky back in the 2017 NCAA tourney and being named to this year’s Horizon All-Academic team.

You grew up in Ohio: what made you choose Northern Kentucky? NKU is not far from home, which makes it easier for my family to come watch me play. I also love the environment here as well as the coaching staff.

You play for Coach John Brannen: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? The amount of time he invests in this team and how he treats us like family is what makes him such a great coach. I have learned that consistency is everything.

In the 2017 NCAA tourney as a freshman you played 9 minutes in a loss to Kentucky: what is your favorite memory from your prior participation in March Madness? Coming out onto the floor and seeing the atmosphere that was present and also checking into the game as a freshman.

You played several NCAA tourney-caliber teams this year in non-conference play (including Cincinnati/UCF): which of them impressed you the most, and why? UCF, due to their length and athleticism.

In the Horizon League tourney title game on Tuesday you posted your 1st career double-double with 15 PTS/14 REB in a win over Wright State: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? I just stayed the course and my teammates put their trust in me to go out and perform my best.

Senior big man Drew McDonald was named 2019 conference POY/conference tourney MVP: what makes him such a great player? His IQ level and his ability to read the floor.

What did it mean to you to win a title, and what has the reaction been like since returning to campus? It means a lot because of all the hard work that we have put in both on the court and in the film room: it is just exciting to see it starting to pay off. Also, the atmosphere was and still is unbelievable when seeing how excited the fans and the community are.

You were named to the league’s All-Academic team this year with a 3.57 GPA in Organizational Leadership: how do you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I am just on top of the books. I really care about my academics and am aiming for A’s at all times.

In the 2018 NIT you had 9 REB in an 8-PT loss at Louisville: what did you learn from that game that will help you this March? Just live in every possession: do not look forward.

What do you think about getting a #14 seed, and what do you know about Texas Tech? I did not have any expectations with the seeding: I am just ready to get out on the court and play this Friday. We know that Texas Tech is a great team with a defensive mindset so we just have to come with our all and leave it on the court.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged Dantez Walton, Northern Kentucky | Comments Off

Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Georgia State SR SG Devin Mitchell

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Jon Teitel

If Georgia State SR SG Devin Mitchell is in search of athletic inspiration he need only look to 2 of his cousins: Jordan Goldwire might very well win a title next month as a sophomore at Duke and Desmond Howard won the 1991 Heisman Trophy at Michigan and was named Super Bowl MVP in 1997 with Green Bay. Last Sunday was Devin’s turn to step into the spotlight as Georgia State beat Texas-Arlington 73-64 in the Sun Belt tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Panthers lost 4 of 6 in January/February but have turned things around since then by winning 8 of their last 9 to claim the school’s 3rd NCAA tourney bid in the past 5 years. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Devin about his athletic family and what it feels like to make the NCAA tourney for the 2nd year in a row.

You began your college career at Alabama: why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose Georgia State? It was just time for me. I went there to play for Coach Anthony Grant and he had a great plan for me and the guys I came in with. I was very set on accomplishing what he had in store for me so once he left I was ready to go too. GSU was home: they had just beaten Baylor (in the 2015 NCAA tourney) and I saw how much it meant to the state and the university. I wanted to be a part of that.

You play for Coach Ron Hunter: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He challenges you day in and day out to play the best you can at all times. After a while you just start to get it if you buy in, and if you are doing that then you will win. He has not recruited anybody who is not a winner so it is fun to accept the challenges from him and win games. He is also one of the most prepared people I have ever been around: our scouting and game-plans for opponents are made easy for us through him. It helps make the game simple and allow us to lock in on what we need to do.

In the 2018 NCAA tourney you scored 3 PTS in a loss to Cincinnati: what did you learn from that game that you think will help you this March? That I needed to work harder this past off-season so I could help my team the next time that we were in that position. I had a career year but my body was not strong enough for March: I timed out. This year I have come back stronger and it is showing.

You missed the 1st 7 games of this season due to injury: how difficult was it to make it back onto the court, and how is your health at the moment? It was very difficult: like I said, this summer I worked as hard as I ever have so to miss the first 7 games was pretty devastating. However, with the help of our athletic trainer Dinika Johnson I was back and better than ever and able to help us out. I could not have done it without her: she has helped sustain my health up to this point by keeping me at 100%.

You played some fellow NCAA tourney teams this year in non-conference play (including Kansas State/Liberty): which of them impressed you the most, and why? They are both handfuls. Kansas State’s defensive presence is one of the best in the country and they are even better when playing in Manhattan. Liberty reminds me a lot of our own team: they shoot the three at a high clip and spread you out on offense. Then there is Scottie James: he is just the man out there!

In the Sun Belt tourney title game on Sunday you scored 8 PTS in a 9-PT win over Texas-Arlington: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like after you got back to campus? It was great. The best part about it is that we did it by committee: everybody had a hand in the win. D’Marcus Simonds and I struggled but guys like Malik Benlevi/Damon Wilson/Kane Williams stepped up big so there was not a drop-off: it was a true team win for us.

Your 75 3PM is #1 on the team and you have led the team in 3P% during each of the past 2 years: what is your secret for making shots from behind the arc? Just hard work really: the other part is mental. I think that I am the best shooter in the country so I keep that mindset every game. Coach Sean Mock works with me on my mechanics every day and we try to stay true to that when the game starts: it just makes it easier.

You are majoring in journalism: what is the post-college plan? I plan to play basketball professionally. When I am done playing I would love to work in the communications department at a university or coach at the high school/college level.

Your brother Jalen plays basketball at Clark Atlanta, your cousin Jordan Goldwire plays basketball at Duke, and your cousin Desmond Howard won the Heisman Trophy at Michigan: who is the best athlete in the family, and if the Blue Devils make the Final 4 will you get to head to Minnesota to watch Jordan in person? Desmond is still the top athlete in the family: he is a Heisman Trophy winner! After that I would say myself. I will definitely try to be there for the Final 4 if he has a ticket for me. I have been unable to see him play in person at Cameron Indoor Stadium so seeing him in the Final 4 would be pretty dope. I could be lined up against him though: who knows?!

What do you think about getting a #14 seed, and what do you know about Houston? #14 is respectable but seeding does not really matter to us: we were going to be ready for whoever we matched up with. Our goal is to make a run this year and whoever in the way will get our best basketball. I do not know much about Houston yet other than the fact that they have won 31 games. Any program that can do that you must have respect for because no college team’s schedule is easy these days.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged Devin Mitchell, georgia state | Comments Off

NCAA Tournament Preview – Tuesday, March 18

Posted on March 19, 2019 by John Stalica

For last night’s Hoops HD Report previewing the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE

For Jon Teitel’s interview with Abilene Christian head coach Joe Golding – CLICK HERE

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games outside the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE

Tonight, the NCAA Tournament kicks off in earnest with a pair of games being played in Dayton – the winner of the first opening round game between Prairie View and Fairleigh Dickinson will get a cross-country plane ticket to Salt Lake City to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday. The feature game will involve Belmont and Temple – the winner advances to Jacksonville in the East Region to play Maryland.

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON VS. PRAIRIE VIEW A&M (6:40 PM, TruTV). Prairie View accomplished the SWAC double with a regular season championship and the SWAC Tournament championship with a win against Texas Southern in the final game. Their reward is a game against the Knights of FDU – they earned their ticket to Dayton with a win against St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania.

BELMONT VS. TEMPLE (9:10 PM, TruTV). One of the pleasant surprises of Selection Sunday was the announcement of Belmont’s inclusion into the field. The only reason they ended up in Dayton was because three different teams (Saint Mary’s, Oregon and Saint Louis) all stole bids in their conference championship games. They will face a Temple team that had an early exit in the American tournament against SMU. The biggest question mark for this game will be the status of star Belmont freshman Nick Muszynski; he missed the OVC Championship game against Murray State due to injury.

Posted in CBB on TV, News and Notes | Comments Off

UTR Postseason News, Notes and Highlighted Games – Tuesday, March 18

Posted on March 19, 2019 by John Stalica

While NJIT held off Quinnipiac to become the first program to win a postseason game, the bulk of games will start up today with the NIT kicking off with 10 first-round games today (and six tomorrow). There is also one game being played in the CBI, and two games will be played in the CIT.

As we post this article at 10:30 AM EDT, there is one notable coaching change in the Atlantic 10 – Phil Martelli has been dismissed after 24 years at Saint Joseph’s. He had two notably successful seasons on Hawk Hill that included a Sweet 16 run in 1997 and an Elite 8 run in 2004 that included a team that ran the table during the regular season. The timing will certainly be awkward – today, ironically enough, is the feast day of Saint Joseph!

NIT

(7) HOFSTRA AT (2) NC STATE (7:00 PM, ESPN2). NC State seemed to be the power conference most upset at its exclusion from the NCAA Tournament, but there is no rest for the weary – they will face a Hofstra team that won the regular season title in the Colonial and fell short against Northeastern in the CAA Championship game last week.

(5) LIPSCOMB AT (4) DAVIDSON (7:00 PM, ESPN3). Early on in the season, Lipscomb was on track for a potential at-large NCAA run, but that changed with a pair of losses to Liberty and a regular-season loss at Florida Gulf Coast. They travel to a Davidson team that lost in the semifinals of the A-10 Tournament against eventual champ Saint Louis.

(8) CAMPBELL AT (1) UNC-GREENSBORO (7:00 PM, ESPN3). UNC-Greensboro was the victim of one too many bid thieves during Championship Week – the Spartans were the first team to be left out of the NCAA field this year. They have a good defensive ballclub, but they will be tested by the Chris Clemons Show tonight.

(8) ST. FRANCIS-PA AT (1) INDIANA (7:00 PM, ESPN). The Hoosiers made a late-season rush after a horrendous stretch in their season from mid-January to mid-February. They shouldn’t have too much trouble at home against the Red Flash tonight.

(7) WRIGHT STATE AT (2) CLEMSON (7:00 PM, ESPNU). There will be some intrigue in this game featuring Brad Brownell and his current Clemson team and his former team in Wright State.

(6) SAN DIEGO AT (3) MEMPHIS (8:00 PM, ESPN3). Memphis looked like they might make a home-court run in the American tournament, but they were short-circuited by Houston in the semifinal round. San Diego managed three wins in the West Coast Conference tournament and gave Saint Mary’s a huge scare in the semis before losing in the closing seconds of that game in Las Vegas last week.

(7) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT (2) TEXAS (9:00 PM, ESPN). This might be the feature game tonight in the NIT with Mike Daum and the Jackrabbits going on the road to face a Texas team that had some decent quality wins this year, but not enough in quantity.

(7) LOYOLA-CHICAGO AT (2) CREIGHTON (9:00 PM, ESPNU). Our Hoops HD Selection Committee thought highly enough of Creighton that they were our last team in the NCAA Tournament field, but at the end of the day didn’t have quite enough quality wins despite a tough schedule this season. Loyola can be a pest, but haven’t been able to stay healthy all season long, either.

(5) ARKANSAS AT (4) PROVIDENCE (9:00 PM, ESPN2). The Friars are one of five Big East teams in the NIT field this year despite flirting with last place in the conference near the end of the season. Arkansas had one moment of glory with a win at LSU this year, but precious little else on their profile.

(5) DAYTON AT (4) COLORADO (11:00 PM, ESPN2). Very quietly, Colorado put together a somewhat decent season and only had two losses at home all year – one was against Washington and the other against Oregon State. They’ll be facing a Dayton team that does have some young talent, but might be unfamiliar with the Mile High air tonight.

CBI

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE AT UTAH VALLEY (9:00 PM). We’ll let you guess at home which team bought their way into this tournament despite a 20-loss season.

CIT

CORNELL AT ROBERT MORRIS (7:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). Despite missing the 4-team Ivy League tournament, the Big Red of Cornell will get at least one postseason game on the road with a trip to Moon Township to take on the Robert Morris Colonials.

IUPUI AT MARSHALL (7:00 PM, WatchCIT.com). This is the first of 5 “Classic” opening round games – the Jim Phelan Classic features an IUPUI team that won at Boston College during nonconference play. Marshall had a middling season in C-USA one year after beating Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament.

Posted in CBB on TV, News and Notes, Under the Radar | Comments Off

Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Abilene Christian head coach Joe Golding

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Jon Teitel

Golding is certainly glittering this week! On Saturday Abilene Christian beat New Orleans 77-60 in the Southland tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Wildcats were only 16-16 last year but bounced back this year to win 27 games and claim the school’s 1st-ever NCAA tourney bid. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Coach Golding about leading his alma mater to the NCAA tourney for the very 1st time.

You were a PG/assistant at Abilene Christian: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you 1st get into coaching? I was not a very good player but I always joke with my AD because he averaged 20 PPG and I averaged about 3 PPG. The moral of the story: do not pass the ball!

In the 2018 CBI you had a 7-PT OT loss at Drake: what did your team learn from that loss that will help them this year? It gave us some great experience. Last year was the 1st year that we were eligible for postseason play and we played a great Drake team on national TV. The atmosphere was comparable to an NCAA tourney game, which helped us in Katy last weekend at the conference tourney.

You never won more than 16 games during each of your 1st 7 years as head coach: how on earth were you able to win 27 this year? This transition is not for the weak of heart: it is a very challenging deal to move from D-2 to D-1. There was not a lot of support from the administration in the past but we raised about $500,000 in guarantee games during our 1st year of the transition. We recruited high school kids, developed them, and they stuck with us. Each year we continued to get better before breaking the door down this year.

The only fellow NCAA tourney team you played this year was Texas Tech (who beat you by 34 PTS): how good are the Red Raiders? They are really good: the best defensive team that I have ever coached against. Coach Chris Beard was actually my college coach here at ACU and he has been really good to us. Jarrett Culver scored 30 PTS against us and showed that he is a future NBA player. I think they have another chance to make a deep run.

Your team is top-20 in the nation with 38.3 3P%: what role does the 3-PT shot play in your offensive philosophy? It plays a large role, especially after losing our best big man last month. We try to shoot threes at a high percentage/rate, which is a big factor for us.

Last month you dismissed Jalone Friday/BJ Maxwell from the team for violating team policies: how difficult was the decision, and how were you able to overcome such an obstacle so late in the season to win each of your final 6 games? I cannot really talk about the dismissal but it was tough on our guys and the most emotional meeting that I have ever had to hold as a coach. We were able to rally the troops due to having so many juniors/seniors with great leadership. They have paid their dues and our saying was “finish the fight”. Every team has adversity during a 6-month season with injuries/suspensions/etc. but we handled it at a high level.

Earlier this month you were named Southland COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a ton to me: I was surprised but very honored because I have a ton of respect for every coach in our league. This is not the easiest job but everyone knows how we built our program and that award is a credit to our entire staff.

In the Southland tourney title game last Saturday SR SG/SF Jaren Lewis scored a game-high 20 PTS in 23 minutes in a win over New Orleans en route to being named conference tourney MVP: how was he able to play his best when it mattered the most? He realized that he was 40 minutes away from his dream. He is from Orlando but we could just not find a place in Florida for him to have a homecoming game so to have the tourney in Jacksonville was just the perfect situation for him. You want seniors like him who know that their college careers are over if they lose.

What did it mean to you to win a title at your alma mater, and what has the reaction been like since returning to campus? It has been crazy! We go to chapel every day and they introduced the men’s and women’s teams the other day because we both won our respective conference tourneys. The whole town is rallying around us and everywhere you go people are talking about it. It is an honor to be the 1st coach to lead this institution into March Madness: this place basically raised me and has done a lot for me.

What do you think about getting a #15 seed, and what do you know about Kentucky? I turned them on this morning, watched about 10 minutes of the Wildcats…and then turned off my laptop and took a walk! Kentucky is 1 of the most historic programs in the country with a Hall of Fame coach and plenty of 5-star players. Everyone will be talking about Kentucky but they will also learn about Abilene Christian. I have never met Coach John Calipari but I have so much respect for what he has done: it will be so nice just to shake his hand before the game. We are fired up for the opportunity.

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The Hoops HD Report: March 18th, NCAA Tournament Edition

Posted on March 18, 2019 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel begin by looking at the NCAA Tournament and critiquing the selection committee by talking about who they thought the snubs were and what changes they would have made to the seedings. From there, they collectively fill out a bracket by discussing all of the match-ups in the Round of 64, and the highest potential match-ups in the later rounds. At the end of the show, they reveal what everyone has been waiting for all year long!! The 2019 AC8 Field!!!