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Posted March 13, 2008

Before the NCAA Tournament, Gettysburg junior swingman Corey Dorsey got an e-mail from his former St. John’s Prospect Hall high school teammate, Al Sowers, now a senior guard on the Coast Guard men’s basketball team

Corey Dorsey came up big for the Bullets in the closing seconds against Elms.

“Al told me to win a couple games, and that hopefully we’d get to meet up,” Dorsey said.

That looked pretty bleak around 8 p.m. last Saturday when both Sowers and Dorsey’s teams were down double-digits in the second half of their second-round games, but a pair of improbable rallies (Coast Guard closed on an 18-2 run to beat Mass-Dartmouth by three) put them in position not just to meet, but also with a pair of upsets Friday, get a head-to-head encounter. Dorsey’s squad meets No. 16 Ursinus for the fourth time this season, after Coast Guard faces No. 13 Rochester in the first game of Friday’s sectional doubleheader.

Dorsey was directly responsible for his team’s advancement in a remarkable victory over Elms. Even when he was 1-for-8 over the first 39 minutes (a self-described “ice-cold”), Bullets coach George Petrie and his assistants were telling their player, known for being better the deeper he stepped back, that he was going to make a big shot.

Dorsey didn’t make one. He made three, all three-pointers in the final 45 seconds, two in the last 16.2, and the last with 0.7 seconds left to give Gettysburg the shocking 66-65 win over Elms. After Dorsey entered the victorious locker room, his teammates swarmed him, much like his defenders had swarmed him up until the crazy final minute.

“It was as if he was wearing a cape on his back,” Petrie said. “Corey is just a very talented ballplayer. That he made the shots wasn’t the shocking thing, in that physically he can do that, shoot that deep without being in rhythm. But to do it in a pressure situation like that was just phenomenal.”

That word also describes the kind of season the Bullets have had, after going 13-13 a year ago. They closed 2006-07 by winning 11 of 15 and the goal was to build off the year-end success. The addition of freshman center Andrew Powers, who averaged 15 points and eight rebounds, and leads the team in assists with 83, has been a key to that. Gettysburg is 24-4 and in the Sweet 16 for the first time, playing a Princeton-style offense, with a starting lineup that features no seniors. Petrie has been greatly impressed with how the team has always found a way to win.

“I think the difference for us has been that everyone understands their roles this year,” Dorsey said.

For Dorsey, that’s scoring, rebounding, and defending, and playing the point guard when the team presses. Dorsey ranks second on the team in scoring, behind junior guard (and “HORSE” shooting partner) Dan Capkin (19.8 points), at 16 points per game, just ahead of Powers (15.3) and versatile 6-8 shot-blocking forward Joe Spierenburg (10.4, 3.9 blocks). That’s up from 10.4 points as a sophomore. Dorsey only played in two games as a freshman while recovering from knee surgery, but has made the most of his time on both ends of the floor since coming back.

“He’s become a much better defensive player this season,” Petrie said.

The only blemishes have been three losses to Ursinus, including one in the Centennial Conference title game, and a road loss at Cal Lutheran during the holiday break. The Bears blew out the Bullets twice, but the championship game was much closer, with Gettysburg holding the lead late before Ursinus rallied.

“Ursinus is a great team, and you can’t make mistakes against them,” Dorsey said. “We made mistakes that cost us in the championship game. I know a lot of people think that the third time is a charm, but I’m hoping that the fourth time is the charm for us.”

NO GLASS CEILING: "We got our glass slippers on and we are just soaking it in"

That was what coach Chris Harney said Sunday night on Hoopsville when talking about St. Mary's (Md.) surprising run into the Sweet 16.

And while they may be wearing the glass slippers now, they looked more like a pumpkin with less than a month left in the season.

St. Mary's senior guard Mike Smelkinson battles Guilford's Caleb Kimbrough for a loose ball. Smelkinson had 18 points; Kimbrough none.

On Feb. 10, the Seahawks were 11-11 overall, and 6-7 in the Capital Athletic Conference. They had lost three straight, all in conference, and a month before hand had lost six of seven games, including five straight. This was not the position St. Mary's figured it would be in after starting the season 5-1.

"We kind of bottomed out there as far as our confidence. Mike Smelkinson, who is the heart of the team, was out. Alex (Irmer) had a knee injury and missed one of the games. And Tyson (Lesesne) really probably could have sat out a number of games (banged up knees) through that stretch as well, but refused to sit out. It was a tough time and we really hit bottom."

So, how did they recover? In a word: meetings. Harney explained on Hoopsville that the team came together and met, then he met with the team, and there were even individual meetings. It was all in an effort to get back on track and it seems to have worked.

Since that lost to York (Pa.) on Feb. 9, and the meetings, the Seahawks have won a season-high eight in a row. They also won the program's first CAC Tournament title, as the fourth seed, and then knocked off No. 8 Guilford with reigning Player of the Year Ben Strong in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

So, how did they do it? In a word: defense. "This whole stretch has been highlighted by great team defense," says Harney, and his counterparts in the Capital Athletic Conference would agree.

"There defense has improved," York (Pa.) coach Jeff Gamber said. "They have very good talent and have put things together of late."

"They play very good permiter defense," comments Villa Julie coach Brett Adams. "They also don't play just one defense, they can play a 1-3-1, 2-3, or man."

He also touched on what else has helped St. Mary's succeed. "I think in order to be good you need to have at least two players that can take over a game."

Those two players have been Tyson Lesesne and Mike Smelkinson. The two seniors are in the top three in points and assists for the Seahawks. And against Guilford, the two led the way. Lesense hit six of nine from behind the three-point line and led the team with 27 points. Smelkinson was next with 18 points and was 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. But it wasn't just offense, as Smelkinson held the Quakers' Caleb Kimbrough to zero points and just four shots in the game.

This is also a team that is very good at adapting.

"(Alex) Franz, Lesesne, and Smelkinson can all shoot from the perimeter," says Adams. "The number of threes that Lesesne made against Guilford obviously raised havoc to any zone defense Guilford may have tried to play. Also, it allows the team to spread the floor."

But is this a case of St. Mary's getting lucky in one game against Guilford and riding that wave into the Sweet 16? Harney doesn't think so.

"I think people kind of overlooked our conference a little bit this year. Our conference, top to bottom, is some really tough teams. There is not one team in our conference I feel comfortable going against. Every one of those teams play with such determination. That is something we really matured and learned from."

Harney also is quick to give credit to everyone for the win over Guilford. "It was a complete program effort, from my assistant coaches, to the players, right down to the end of the bench."

Up next for St. Mary's, which is playing in the program's first ever NCAA Tournament, is No. 16 Millsaps at Wash U. in St. Louis.

"Pretty good job by a 9-7 (CAC) team," says Gamber. "Their best players are playing bigger minutes now and that has helped them."

"I am proud of the players and I feel like they are really representing the school well," says Harney."

Representing the school and the CAC is something Harney says he and his team are proud to be doing.

FINAL FOUR: Quick thoughts on news and notes from around Division III.

It’s force of habit for us to see Washington University as the Central Region’s UAA rep in the Sweet 16, but that’s not the case this time around. Chicago got over the hump of getting through the brutal UAA season and the reward was two neutral-floor wins in the NCAAs. The Maroons, who were 16-0 last season before faltering to seven losses in nine games at the finish, have played to their potential in 2007-08 in earning the program’s first NCAA wins. Two key stats jump out: No opponent has shot better than 40.4 percent against them (St. Norbert shot 14 percent in the first half of its second-round game), and Chicago has outrebounded 25 of its 27 opponents.

“Our defense, along with our rebounding, have carried us even when we have struggled in other aspects,” said Chicago coach Aaron Roussell.  “Winning your last nine games at the end of the season feels a lot better than losing seven of your last nine. The biggest difference from the end of last season and the end of this one is that we are simply a year older. This year’s team is still young (11 of our 15 players are underclassmen), but we all have had a lot of game experience.”

Buena Vista has specialized in winning the close games this year, with its last four victories, including NCAA Tournament wins over St. Thomas and UW-Stevens Point, coming by five points or less. So what’s the secret?  “We have such a great group of guys who really care about each other, and when the game is on the line they are playing for each other and the program,” wrote head coach Brian Van Haaften in an e-mail earlier this week. “On top of that, all the guys that play are juniors and seniors and they see the end in sight, and they don't want this to end any time soon.”

By the way, kudos to Van Haaften for maintaining a coach’s blog that has been updated every four to five days all season.

So where have all the ranked men's teams gone? Good question -- their demise has been even more pronounced than usual. But as we've been saying all season, this is the type of year where the men's race for Walnut and Bronze has been up for grabs.

Instead of great teams, we have a lot of really good teams. We have St. Mary's (Md.) in the Sweet 16, which knocked off the only ranked team in its regional, while because of geography, other regionals had three ranked teams. Other unranked teams in the Sweet 16, such as Wheaton (Ill.), Coast Guard and Ohio Wesleyan are less surprising considering who they faced and how they performed at the end of the season. It was hard to rank Ohio Wesleyan on its 12-6 start, but the Battling Bishops have won 10 of 11 games. Coast Guard started 9-0, then went 2-6, but has won 12 in a row since. They and Wheaton have been on the radar as being among 45-50 really good teams.

That's why this is a really good tournament.

On that thought, remember the list of Pick'em entries from last week in this spot? St. Mary's, Buena Vista, Coast Guard and Gettysburg are still alive, four wins from Walnut and Bronze, but had nobody pick them.

Still alive: Amherst 106, Hope 64, Rochester 29, Plattsburgh State 26, Brandeis 19, Ursinus 8, Washington U. 6, Whitworth 6, Wheaton (Ill.) 3, Richard Stockton 2, Millsaps 1, Ohio Wesleyan 1.

If you have a tip or note, send it to atn@d3hoops.com.

Previous columns
2007-08 columns
March 6: Faith restored
Feb. 27: John Jay, Cinderella
Feb. 21: No safety net
Feb. 14: Ursinus better enough
Feb. 8: Hope-TMC on collision course
Jan. 31: Plattsburgh's big shot
Jan. 24: UMD answers call
Jan. 18: Like Bosko, like son
Jan. 11: Keystone stakes
Dec. 13: Unstoppable
Dec. 7: UWW aiming deeper
Nov. 30: Coach's shadow lingers
Nov. 15: Strong duo
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

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