Posting Up - Scoreboard - Top 25 - Features - Notables - Team of the Week - Broadcast

Around
the Nation

Posted Dec. 4, 2008

Ithaca solving the puzzle

What was the one thing that the Ithaca men's basketball players wanted to make sure was referenced regarding their 6-0 start, the best at the school since 1941?

Ithaca athletics photo Sean Burton averages 21.8 points per game and a hair over six assists.

"All of the guys on our team know how to solve the Rubik's Cube," said the Bombers 5-foot-9 senior guard Sean Burton. "One of our seniors, Peter Friedland, learned how to do it and showed us. It's a neat thing to know how to do. You can get good reactions out of people when you show them."

You can also get a good reaction when you replay the way that Ithaca has to start the season.

We didn't pick any preseason "Super Sleepers" this season, as is our custom, but had we done so, Ithaca would have been a good choice. The Bombers returned seven seniors (actually six, and one grad student) to a team that won 17 games last season and were picked to win the Empire 8 this year. They are the only Division III team in the country to return a pair of players who were first-team all-league selections in each of the last two years- Burton (the reigning E-8 Player of the Year) and senior forward Jeff Bostic, who as a junior was the first player to average a double-double for Ithaca in 29 years.

Bostic was a two-sport athlete but dropped football this year to solely focus on hoops. The day of the football game between rivals Ithaca and Cortland State, the basketball teams met as well and Bostic was in the lineup from the start as the Bombers drubbed the Red Dragons by 24 points at Cortland to set the tone for the season.

"Everything is coming together for us offensively and defensively," Burton said. "Me, (fellow starters) Brendan (Rogers), Jeff, and Sean (Leahy) have been playing together for three to four years. We've been through a lot and it's helped us this year."

Ithaca has already won two tournaments (the first time they‘ve done that since 1980), beating 2008 NCAA Tournament participants Trinity and Rochester in one, and dispatching Baldwin-Wallace and Allegheny in another. In the title game against hosting Allegheny, Ithaca's coaching staff overheard someone questioning Burton's All-American status. When told of this, Burton let his actions speak for him, scoring 11 points in a 15-4 run to start the second half, which blew open a tie game.

Meanwhile, Bostic, labeled a freak athlete both by 12th-year coach Jim Mullins and Burton, finished with 22 rebounds, most by an Ithaca player in 38 years. Notice a pattern of accomplishments here? They're the kind that haven't been seen at this school in a long time.

"I would be hard-pressed to say between Sean and Jeff, which is more valuable," Mullins said. "They're the heart and soul of our team. This (start) isn‘t a surprise to us or to those in our league. It might be to those outside the league who aren‘t familiar with our program."

Though there's a long way to go, there's talk of the Bombers being NCAA-caliber and the coaches have already told the players that every game has importance in giving Ithaca as many options as possible (read: Pool A and Pool C) to qualify.

This team is averaging better than 90 points per game, thanks to the aforementioned seniors, and sophomore guard Chris Cruz, who averages almost 15 points per game. Burton is tallying 22 points a game, and Bostic is cleaning up at the rate of 11.8 rebounds. There are lots of opportunities to be had in an offensive system that stresses run-and-gun, with the encouragement to take the first open shot.

It has led to a clean sweep of the first six games.

"One of our assistant coaches put that offense in last year," Burton said. "This year we've got a year under our belt. We're jelling and clicking."

Much like the Rubik's Cube, everything has jelled and clicked into its proper place.

BISHOPS SUMMER KEYED BY SEVEN: Among other early unbeaten teams, one of the more unlikely ones is North Carolina Wesleyan. Though if you'd spent the summer on campus, as seven returnees did, you'd realize that this was a team finally playing up to its potential.

"Based on our talent the last two years, we underachieved," said head coach John Thompson, whose team posted 12-15 records, and sub -.500 USAC marks in those seasons. "The consistency we've seen in these first seven games this year was not there."

The 7-0 mark is the best by the Bishops since the 1984-85 squad set a school record with a 9-0 start. Among the wins this season are three against Old Dominion Athletic Conference opposition and one against Mary Washington, enough to vault the team to No. 24 in the first regular season Top 25 poll.

Jarmel Arrington and Trey Drake are combining for nearly 40 points per game and the summer work playing with and against teammates Lamont Stokes, Buddy Williams, Alphonzo Frazier, Tyler Murray and Adam Coleman helped both their games. Thompson noted that Arrington, who has made 28 three-pointers in seven games, has improved his outside shooting and defense, and that Drake, who used to play at "100 miles per hour" has slowed down his game to the point where it has made him much more valuable as a point guard.

"The commitment of those seven to the offseason set the tone," Thompson said.

Though Thompson has been impressed with the offense, which registers 92.9 points per game and puts a lot of pressure on opponents by getting a lot of shots, he said the difference in the team is its defensive play. One key to that has been the addition of freshman Alex Murray, who leads the team with eight rebounds per game, and 16 steals.

"We're proud of what we've done, but we recognize it's early," Thompson said. "We're just trying to control the things that we have control over."

DEBILITATED DePAUW: For the DePauw women, the date of Dec. 5 has been circled on the calendar since Day One. They've known from the start that their first showdown with Oglethorpe -- a matchup of SCAC rivals ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the nation in the preseason -- would be a big one. What they might not have expected were the challenges that awaited them first.

Two weeks into the season, the Tigers enter the Oglethorpe game humbled at 3-2 -- loss No. 1 came in their opener, a 77-76 heartbreaker decided in the final second by Illinois Wesleyan, and loss No. 2 came last Friday.

Lehman, out of the CUNYAC, shocked the Tigers the day after Thanksgiving by jumping out to a big lead in the second half and holding on for a 65-55 win, the biggest in the Lehman program's history.

"The game against DePauw was big," coach Eric Harrison said. "We felt going into the game that we could match up with them well, and then we were up 15 points in the second half -- we were going away with it. We knew that we could match up with them very well; the team right now has extreme confidence."

It wasn't the first big win for the Lightning this season. After opening with an easy first weekend, the team has padded its resume with an impressive four-game stretch -- Amherst, NYU, DePauw and Trinity (Texas). They won just one of the four, but the rigorous road trip has helped toughen them for the road ahead. 

"We have a very good team with very talented players," Harrison said. "Every year, we're trying to play the best teams we can possibly play. I believe that in order to get recognized on the national level, you have to play some of the top-ranked teams and you have to beat them."

The Lightning were carried to the victory by Sally Nnamani, their senior leader and the program's all-time leading scorer. The 5-11 wing dropped 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way, as she has all along.

"Sally Nnamani is one of the hardest working players I've seen in my 11 years here at Lehman College," Harrison said. "She's always the first one to get here and the last one to leave. And the thing is, she still hasn't reached the peak of her ability."

Nnamani is their All-American, but the Lightning were bolstered this season by the arrival of Tonisha Kirby, a junior college transfer who led Mohawk Valley Community College to the NJCAA Div. III national title game as a point guard last year. As a junior, she's made her presence known in the CUNYAC.

"Tonisha Kirby is a great point guard," Harrison said. "She's an excellent point guard with a lot of Division I talent. She's excellent at seeing the floor; she's a great floor leader. We returned four starters from a very experienced team last year, but she still came in and took over the role of floor leader. She's got that New York City confidence and that New York City mentality. She doesn't want to lose."

Kirby went off for 22 points against DePauw, helping the Tigers to their second loss. While the setback was painful for the Tigers in the polls, dropping them from No. 3 to No. 23 in a week's time, coach Kris Huffman insists that this team wasn't ready to be labeled a national elite.

"With only two returning starters, we should never have been ranked in the top 10," Huffman said. "We were really not that caliber of a team. We have two returning starters, and the rest of our rotation is freshmen and sophomores. We're just not that good yet."

When the voters looked at DePauw in the preseason, of course, they saw three returning starters. But Huffman's team is still reeling from the loss of Jenna Fernandez, the leading scorer as a sophomore last season but missing in action this year. When the 5-11 forward took to the sidelines, she took her 14.5 points and 6.2 boards a game with her.

"Obviously we miss Jenna tremendously inside," Huffman said. "She's quite a great scorer, a great defender and a great rebounder. And what we've had to do without her is turn to our youth."

The Tigers, whose roster includes six sophomores and seven freshmen, have not been afraid to use their youngsters. One of them, rookie forward Katie Aldrich, has emerged as the team's second-leading scorer thanks to 20 points in 20 minutes in an opening-weekend win over Central.

The youth movement won't be ending anytime soon. Fernandez is still sidelined with a blood clot, and it could possibly keep her out for the remainder of the season. "Right now," Huffman said, "that's what we're preparing for."

Meanwhile, that Oglethorpe game isn't waiting for anyone. And while the Tigers keep looking for their identity, the host Petrels are 4-1 and flying high at No. 2 in the nation.

"I would expect to see them back in the Final Four this year," Huffman said. "Those players have a lot of experience and a lot of confidence. They have a style of play that's hard to prepare for if you haven't seen it before."

"We're the underdog in this game," she added. "I think Oglethorpe will expect to beat us, and they should beat us. But what we're really looking at is how good we can be in January and in February. I like this team; I think we just need to get some time together and get some reps."

"But that doesn't mean we don't think we can go down there this weekend and try to steal one."

CABRINI'S REVOLVING DOOR: The Cabrini Cavaliers have a great tradition in men's basketball, but have had a hard time lately.

They have eight conference championships and as many appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Cabrini made the NCAA Tournament six years in a row from 1993-98. They made the postseason field again in 2001 and finished a strong run to the sectionals in the 2002 tournament.

As a "No. 11" seed in 2002, the Cavaliers advanced over Kings Point (85-73) and Williams Paterson (47-43) before losing by two points to top-seeded Elizabethtown 87-85.

But after the 2004-05 season, Cabrini fired coach John Dzik, after he compiled a 483-216 record in 25 seasons. Cabrini has not been back to the playoffs since. In fact, over the past three seasons, all of which ended with records below .500, the Cavaliers have won a combined 28 games for two coaches.

However, former Pitt-Greensburg coach Marcus Kahn made the move to Radnor, Pa., and has the Cavaliers off to a 5-0 start, their best since the 1998-1999 season.

"I came in this year with the goal in mind of nothing but ‘let's get better every day'," said Kahn. "My hope is to add to the long line of banners up in our gym. I know that's not going to happen immediately. It's going to be a long, hard road to do that. My plans for Cabrini are to get it back to where it was, where we have the respect of everybody not only in our conference, but in our region and make a little noise, if we can, on the national level.

"It's hard when you're moving into a new situation because people have ties to the previous coach," he added. "I haven't recruited any of the guys on the team, so I had no prior relationship with them. The thing I'm most thankful for and the reason we're off to a good start is that everybody was welcomed with open arms. They were hungry for somebody to come in that was going to stay here, teach them, coach them and be with them."

Making the switch from Pitt-Greensburg to Cabrini was an easy choice for Kahn to make. Now that he has the job, Kahn's focus is patience for the future.

"Cabrini's a very good job," said Kahn. "It's a step up professionally for me. While I'm thankful for my opportunity that I had at Greensburg and my time there, knowing Cabrini from previous years being at Wesley and Albright, I viewed Cabrini as one of those jobs that would be a top-tier Division III coaching job. I'm finding out it is exactly that.

"I wasn't in a hurry to get out of Greensburg, but the opportunity arose to take a step up and the timing was right for [me] and my family.

 "We're off to a pretty good start, but tradition's going to take [a while]," he added. "We have a long way to go to make our mark on the program, but we're going to do it through hard work and proving that over time, we're going to put together some winning seasons here. [It's] similar to the approach I took at Greensburg, which is that we've got to get in there and out-work everybody else."

Kahn made a successful debut in an 85-82 overtime victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy. The historic Palestra in Philadelphia served as the setting for Kahn to officially take the reins as Cabrini's fifth men's basketball coach.

"I was more in awe of The Palestra than our players were," Kahn said. "That was my first time there. Just to walk around the halls prior to the game was an experience in and of itself, which made the win that much more special. To do it on that floor in that gym, to say that I won a game in The Palestra, the more I talked about [it], the more excited I got.

"Being a West Coast guy from California, I didn't get the full understanding of The Palestra until being there," he continued. "It was a very special win, being the first at Cabrini. It was icing on the cake being at The Palestra."

In the game, junior forward Kevin Misevicius, a junior college transfer that did not play high school basketball, was one of four Cavaliers in double figures. He finished the night with 12 points and five rebounds. He added four steals and two assists in 32 minutes of action.

Glenn Washington had 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while Dom Farrello (23) and Charles Bush (12) also finished in double figures.

"It was very exciting," Misevicius said. "I'm just glad we got the win. I didn't know him, so I didn't know what to expect. Ever since I met him, everything's been good.

"Every time we win a game, everybody's going to be ready for us," added Misevicius. "We just have to come out with intensity and play hard."

On Saturday, the Cavaliers play their fifth consecutive home contest when they host Lebanon Valley. Then they have 11 days to prepare for Lycoming (and final exams). The matchup against Lycoming will be the last game of 2008 for Cabrini.

Once they are done with the Warriors, Cabrini is off until Jan. 3 when it plays Mount St. Mary in the Marymount’s holiday tournament.

For Kahn and Cabrini, several challenges still lie ahead.

"I don't really know all of them that well," Kahn said of the teams in the Colonial States Athletic Conference. "Being the first year going through, I won't know the league like other coaches will. That will be a challenge. We've played some very good teams already in our first five games. In our next two games, it's not going to get easier.

"The recruiting and getting to know the high school coaches in the area [is important]," he added. "Not being a Philly guy, it's going to take me a little while to get into that network with the high school coaches. The good side is we're selling a good product in Cabrini College. People know Cabrini from basketball and the academic side of it, which makes it nice. I couldn't be happier here. As long as they don't get rid of me, I'm going to be here at Cabrini."

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

2009-10 columns
Jan. 28: George Fox swaps plugs, still firing
Jan. 21: EMU Royals off, running
Jan. 14: Ephs make quick return

Previous columns
2008-09 columns
2007-08 columns
2006-07 columns
2005-06 columns
2004-05 columns
2003-04 columns
2002-03 columns
2001-02 columns

Contact Us
About us
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Send Game Scores
Send Press Releases
Team of Week Nominations
User Survey