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Posted Feb. 16, 2006

E-mail: mark@d3hoops.com

Headed for
a career in
the league
The fortunes really changed for the Wheaton men’s basketball team last Wednesday when senior guard Tony Bollier learned he was headed for the NBA

Bollier, the Thunder’s co-captain will be a player in the league, in a manner of speaking. He got word that he was hired as a broadcast associate by the NBA as part of a program, now in its sixth year, in which the league hires a dozen college graduates, from an applicant pool of more than a thousand, to be associates for a year within various departments. That was enough to put him on what he described as “Cloud 9.” What followed the next few days probably took him up a notch or two above that.

On the floor, Wheaton has been 'Tony Bollier and the rookies' all season. The senior is mentoring four new starters.

Things have changed for the better significantly. Wheaton hadn’t won back-to-back games all season, but then knocked off a pair of Top 10 teams, downing Augustana, a few hours after Bollier’s NBA notice, and then Illinois Wesleyan at home. With the CCIW having gone to a four-team playoff system this year, the Thunder still have hope of making the postseason, needing to beat Elmhurst and Carthage to have a shot at a tie for fourth. They put themselves in that position by winning at Millikin on Wednesday night.

It has been a tough season for Wheaton, a program used to being among the very best in the CCIW. The Thunder lost 10 of the top 13 players from last season — six seniors and four others who were expected to return, all of whom chose not to play, including All-American candidate Kent Raymond. Bollier was basically the only returnee to see any significant minutes on a team that went 20-6 and lost to Calvin, 75-74 on a last-second shot in the opening round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, and it showed. The Thunder opened the season 4-8 with five of the losses decided by four points or fewer, then started the CCIW season 2-5.

“This has been my most difficult season, because losing never loses its sting,” Bollier said. “But it has been rewarding to go through this with a great group, and to have a week like we did last week. It’s been an honor to lead these guys.”

Said Wheaton head coach Bill Harris: “Tony has been unbelievable with his leadership. You need a kid who is dedicated to what you’re doing to make believers out of (the others). He’s done that on and off the floor. We got drilled by North Central last week and I put the kids through a tough practice the next day. Tony vocally and physically led us through every drill. He’s so respected that the other kids follow along. He’s so positive about everything. I might get down on a kid who misses several straight shots. Tony will be right there (after I’m done) telling the kid ‘You’re saving your best shot for last.’ ”

Bollier and fellow senior co-captain Jordan Kemper have saved their best play for last. Kemper had a huge game in helping the team come back from 13 down at halftime against Illinois Wesleyan and is averaging 11.1 points and 7.7 rebounds. Bollier entered the week as Division III’s top free throw shooter at 92.6% (since upped to 93.2 after going 9-for-9 against Millikin) and is Wheaton’s scoring leader at 16.1 points per game. He drained two critical foul shots in the final seconds of the win over Illinois Wesleyan, assuring that the Titans would need to make a buzzer-beating 3-pointer just to tie (they didn’t).

“My first word was 'ball', and my dad coached me in high school, so I guess I better know how to shoot free throws,” Bollier said. “The best thing about going to the line at the end of that game is that at the end of my workouts, I always end them shooting free throws. And I always say “This is a one-and-one to beat Illinois Wesleyan.’ So when I went to the line (in the game), I realized that hey, I’d done this a million times before.”

The good news for Bollier, who was aided by a referral from TNT broadcaster Ernie Johnson, is that his long-term future looks good. Of those hired by the NBA’s associates program in the past five years, only one is no longer working within the league. Bollier will start on July 10 in the NBA’s broadcast offices in Secaucus, N.J.

“Every televised NBA game is monitored by the league,” Bollier said. “They want to make sure that everything is running smoothly, and that what’s on TV is a good product. I’ll be watching games to do that. It was sometime in high school when I realized that I maxed out my vertical leap that I knew I wouldn’t play in the NBA. I figured the next best thing would be to work there and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”

IT COULD BE FIXED: Carleton’s men started 2-4 and 0-3 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, but coach Guy Kalland has been around the school for long enough (22 seasons) to know when to be concerned and when he needn’t worry.

Carleton has been a good team in recent years, but not this good. The Knights have won a school-record 19 games, including 15 straight overall, tying a school record set during the 1915-16 season. With one more win the team would clinch a share of its first league title since it won the Midwest Conference in 1964-65. It has won its last 16 conference games and now stands a worry-free 16-3.

“We’re not accustomed to being 0-3, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed,” Kalland said.

During this run of success the Knights have won in different manners. They’ve won via blowout and have been what Kalland referred to as “escape artists.” The best example of that was a 10-0 run to overcome a nine-point deficit and edge Bethel by a point midway through this streak.

The Knights get a lot of production from their starting five, as four from that group average 30 or more minutes per game. The strength of the team is in players who can both pass and score, in 6-5 forward Dan Forkrud (16.3 points per game), point guard Jake Phillips, who leads the MIAC in 3-point shooting and assists, and freshman forward Zach Johnson. Johnson was on the other side of a little basketball history last year, when he was the leading scorer on the Eastview High boys’ basketball team, which lost the Minnesota state title on a crazy shot that won an ESPY award (the opposing player was sitting on the court when he made it). Johnson has been on the right side this season and is Carleton’s top scorer in conference play. Kalland also credited senior guard Brian Sharkey as the team’s hardest worker. Sharkey’s scoring is in single digits, but that hasn’t measured how much time he’s put into the sport.

The Knights put a lot of time into getting better on the defensive end. One of the problems the first three games was that the team was a little too aggressive trying to get into the passing lanes to get steals. An adjustment turned the style into more of a contain mode and that has worked wonders. It’s something that has everyone feeling good as the season enters the final stretch. That has been a key to the success as well.

“The collective personality on this team is as good as any I’ve had,” Kalland said.

GOTTA RUN THE TABLE: The world of Pool B can be a tough one, even in these times of expanded tournament fields, but the Huntingdon men’s team has done everything it possibly could to make the selection process just a little bit more difficult. The Hawks closed out their GSAC regular season by winning their last six league games, as part of a 10-game winning streak, including triumphs over regionally ranked opponents Fisk and Maryville (Tenn.) in back-to-back-games. It marked the first time, since the basketball program was restarted nine years ago, that Huntingdon beat either of those two schools. An overtime win on Wednesday gave the school a share of the GSAC title.

Huntingdon might have dug itself too big of a hole to climb out from, as losing four of its first six games to Division III foes set things back a bit, but sometimes it’s about how you finish and the Hawks are closing this season out as strong as anyone.

There are no points for creativity when it comes to picking NCAA squads, but if there were, Huntingdon, a team among the nation’s leaders in opponents field goal percentage, would get a few. Huntingdon plays what is an unusual offensive style for the Division III level, combining the Princeton and Triangle offense. The team’s leading scorer is senior Allen White, a guard from Detroit with what Duckworth calls “spurtability.”

“Princeton is the purest form of a halfcourt offense, but it has its limitations,” Duckworth said. “We’ve integrated the triangle system into that. That allows for the beauty of the Princeton offense, with its spacing, but can also be smashmouth because we play two big guys who are 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8. With Allen, I’ve never seen a guy who can score in such a variety of ways. He creates dilemmas with how long and athletic he is.”

The NCAA is very strict about following the mathematics of its selection criteria, as evidenced by a few years ago when Fisk beat Maryville in the GSAC tournament title game, but Maryville got the NCAA bid and Fisk sat home on the strength of its regular-season performance. Huntingdon’s best shot is to win the conference tournament, which won’t be easy by any stretch, then hope for the best from the NCAA committee. Maryville again appears to have the edge in terms of regional record and quality of win index and Duckworth admits how impressed he is that the Scots have been so consistently good in the South Region. He’s just hoping that if things break right that his team can get a good look.

“I wonder how much the human element plays a role (in selections),” Duckworth asked aloud and that’s something we’ll be curious to see again as well.

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT: Kudos to the UW-Platteville seniors' on their women’s basketball team, who have put up some of the best academic numbers we’ve seen. The Pioneer Class of 2006, with five of the six being four-year letterwinners, has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.7. The UWP seniors, are Emily Adrian, physical education; Michelle Hardyman, business-finance; Holly Kaiser, biology/pre-physical therapy; Rachel Korth, engineering; Abby Lalko, engineering; and Jill Rajek, engineering.

PONDERINGS: Seniors are close to the final game of their organized basketball careers and one of the most experienced senior classes has to be the one at Mt. St. Vincent. Andrea DiNizo, Laura Bucci, Meagan Fitzpatrick and Lauren DeRosa played their senior night this past week after nearly 100 career starts apiece. They have combined for 3,482 points, 1,633 rebounds, 752 assists, and 564 steals. Ponder a little longer about how long you have to start to get to 100 career starts.

Medaille and St. John Fisher swapped spots in the NCAA's East Region rankings for women's basketball this past week. That was a week overdue, considering Medaille is 21-1 with a head-to-head win against St. John Fisher. While that's Medaille's only opponent all season of any national cachet, the Mavericks are a young squad and growing behind Amanda Baker, the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference co-Player of the Year last season as a rookie. She's one of four sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup, so Medaille has a chance to put together a schedule worthy of the direction they are heading.

It's a tough draw, but at this point, Connecticut College has to be happy just to be in the NESCAC playoffs. It's their first trip to the conference tournament since 2002, which ends a period of futility for the 1999 Final Four team. Tom Satran, a Conn alumnus, went with coach Glen Miller to Division I Brown following that season and is in his fourth season as head coach. At 13-10, the Camels have more wins this season than the previous two put together, but face Amherst in the conference quarterfinals.

Ponderings by Pat Coleman.

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.

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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