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Posted Jan. 9, 2003

Eagles hope ride hasn't landed
Same cast, totally different story.

The Mary Washington men have matched their win total of 10 from last season in just 11 games, despite the fact that the team's starting lineup is almost identical to last season. The worst thing the Eagles could say about the first two months of the season was that they ended. Now head coach Rod Wood has to get his team back into shape, after two-and-a-half weeks of no practice that followed a stunning win at Division I Virginia Military Institute.

Evan Fowler has had a dozen assists in two separate games.

"Anything more than three or four days is way too long for a coach," Wood said. "We came back the other night and we had to re-condition all our guys. The break is a phenomenon of Division III. Last year it was four weeks."

Wood would have preferred that his team kept right on playing, since it was performing its best going into the break. Two seniors and two juniors, three of whom have started since they were freshman, returned having made marked improvements in their games. The fifth starter, sophomore forward Jon Hurd, was a transfer from Christopher Newport, where he was a regional MVP in a run to the Division III baseball World Series, but didn't even play basketball his freshman year. With the Eagles, he's averaging 8.6 ppg. and hit seven 3-pointers in a win against York.

The difference between this season and last season is that MWC doesn't lose anything when Wood goes to the bench. Point guard Erik Rodriguez was the other last season and has responded to what would appear to be a demotion by shooting 40% from 3-point range. Freshmen Kevin Moore and Ian Sumers have provided quick bursts off the bench, Moore with his size and the 6-foot Sumers (averaging four rebounds in 11 minutes per game) with his energy. In turn, top scorers Dan Dupras and Cris Hairston are playing more efficently. Shooting guard Brett Lively, who led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage as a freshman, is playing pressure-free and shooting 51% on treys. Point guard Evan Fowler has increased his more than tripled his scoring average to 11.5 ppg.

"We haven't had this kind of depth," Wood said. "Now our starters know that if they get away from what we're supposed to do, or they try to force things, they're going to get benched. Our guys worked hard in the offseason. They're playing more within themselves. "

The early wins were nice, but Wood, left, was still reminding people that this was the same group that went 10-16. It was still a little early to have full faith in a program that had only four winning seasons over the past 30 years. Then came the VMI game, where the goal was set to hold their opponent to under 60 points and to force sophomore Jason Conley, the nation's leading scorer as a freshman, to shoot from the outside. Mission accomplished on both ends. Final score, MWC 60, VMI 56.

"That validated what we're doing," Wood said. "I thought we had beaten some pretty decent teams, but a lot of them went into a skid after playing us. This game showed that what we were doing, we were doing pretty well."

OTHERS LOOKING UP: Two other men's basketball programs engineering big turnarounds this season are Emory and Sul Ross State.

Emory went 9-16 last season, plagued by injuries that left them with what amounted to an eight-man roster for the final six weeks. The Eagles did close the season out with back-to-back wins, then opened this season an eye-opening 7-0 before losing to Piedmont. Among their victories were a 17-point triumph over Savannah College of Art & Design and a one-point win against Maryville in which they triumphed on a full-court inbounds pass that led to a layup at the buzzer.

"We've lost a lot of close games in some strange ways," said Emory coach Brett Zuver. "We've been on the wrong end of that a lot. It was nice to have Maryville go our way. I just hope for our players sake that we continue to play well. This team has a lot of potential, which is a scary word."

Six players have led the team in scoring in a game and all five starters are averaging double digits, paced by sophomore Clay Fuller (16.9 ppg), a transfer from Air Force. The thing is that Emory could have one of its best seasons ever, yet finish anywhere from third to fifth in the UAA.

"I guess it's possible, but I hope not," Zuver said. "I hope this is Emory's best season, but there are a lot of games left to be played."

Sul Ross State hasn't had a season with a record above .500 since 1978, so this winning thing is a little new to everybody. So is first-year coach Doug Davalos, a former assistant at Eastern New Mexico, who coaxed a 7-2 start out of his team, despite the fact that six of the first nine games were on the road. Include in that was a win at Howard Payne, the preseason pick to win the ASC.

"Winning is infectious," Davalos said. "People around here didn't know what to think. It's got our kids believing that we could contend instead of having a maybe we can attitude. The positive for us is that we've had a chance to win in every game we've played."

Sul Ross plays a pressure-oriented man-to-man defense and rotates starters and reserves in waves of five. Jorge Quintero and Larry Morales have combined to average 35 points per game playing the wing positions. Five other players are averaging between seven and 10 ppg.

"I don't think that there are a lot of teams that are as good as we are from one to 10," Davalos said. "So we've had success with that system. We're a tough team to prepare for. Not a lot of teams play our way."

The Lobos came close to breaking that below .500 streak last season, entering their final game with Texas Lutheran at 12-12, but dropped an 18-point decision. This may be the season the streak ends.

TRIAL BY FIRE: We ran a note a couple of weeks ago on a couple of the youngest head coaches in the country going head-to-head. To supplement that, we've found what we believe to be the youngest Division III coach in the country in Bluffton women's coach Amanda Curtis, who was 22 when hired and then turned 23 last August. How did she get a head coaching job so quickly? Well, after her player career ended due to injury, Curtis worked as an assistant at Albion while as a student, then spent a season as a graduate assistant at Division I Akron. Curtis is getting an education in coaching very quickly — Bluffton is 1-10.

FOUR IN A ROW WITH NO TALK: On the previously written subject of Division I versus Division III, there's one streak that nowadays would seem like an impossibility. When then-Trenton State was a Division III powerhouse, it faced nearby Division I rival Rider, which at the time was a perennial doormat in the East Coast Conference. The Lions stunned the Broncs in each of four consecutive meetings from 1986 to 1990. No surprise that shortly thereafter Rider plucked away Trenton State coach Kevin Bannon and turned things around.

SCHEDULE THIS: A couple of teams responded to our note on tough schedules in the early part of the season. Muhlenberg women's coach Ron Rohn said his schedule came from "the John Chaney school of coaching" in reference to Temple's frequent early season scheduling. The Mules are in the midst of an eight-game stretch in which seven of those opponents won 20 or more games last season. Muhlenberg has beaten F&M and lost to DeSales (by four), Scranton (by five), St. Lawrence (by 17) and Southern Maine (by 23). They will face Alvernia and then could play at King's in a tournament this weekend.

BULLED OVER: The Wilkes women had their unbeaten streak snapped at home against Moravian, despite a 20-point, 21-rebound performance from Whitney Bull. Bull had a string of 17 consecutive double-doubles end in her previous game, a 64-49 win over Ursinus in which she "only" had 26 points and nine rebounds.

PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE: The schedule maker at Division I Davidson must have a really strange sense of humor. Davidson beat up on three Division III teams — Washington College, Washington & Lee, and Washington & Jefferson. Talk about extreme schedule disparities, Davidson not only has those three Division III teams (currently a combined 6-19) on its schedule, but also has Navy and VMI, both of whom lost to Division III teams. But you can't totally accuse them of going the cakewalk route — they also have played Duke, Arizona, North Carolina, giving them one of the 40 most difficult schedules in the nation thus far. In that 125-44 loss, W&J's Nolan Larry can take heart in knowing that he came to play. Larry finished with a career high 31 points against Division I competition.

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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