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Posted Dec. 18, 2008

Marooned Chicago
stuck at 0-9

Last season, Chicago had to win its last six regular season games, including the finale against eventual national champ Washington U. just to win the University Athletic Association title and make the NCAA Tournament. It was quite an impressive accomplishment, the team's sixth championship in 12 years.

Photo by Caleb Williams for D3sports.com The University of Chicago has found a bunch of ways to lose games so far.

They may have sold their souls for those wins though. In their first-round NCAA game against UW-Stevens Point, Chicago led 17-0 ... and lost. The team hasn't won since. In one of the most amazing stories of the beginning of the 2008-09 season, the defending champs of one of the best leagues in the country, are 0-9.

And what an 0-9 it is.

It's the kind of 0-9 in which you can feel safe calling them the best 0-9 team in the country. They are a handful of bounces from being 6-3. To wit:

The Maroons lost their second game this season to Illinois Tech, 70-68, in overtime, missing a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won the game. Illinois Tech's head coach was a former Chicago assistant, who knew just about everything that was being thrown at his team and the Maroons were held to 32 percent shooting. That was just the beginning of their woes.

Chicago lost to then-No. 2 Augustana, 58-57, when Jordan Delp hit a tough turnaround jumper from just inside the foul line with five seconds remaining. That dropped the Maroons to 0-3 for the first time in 20 years.

They lost to  Loras in double-overtime, in a game in which they had a chance to win with a second left, but settled for a tie when a free throw was missed. In the second overtime, they got beat on Brian Centella's hoop with four seconds left.

They had a chance to tie Kalamazoo with a second left (a foul call on a missed free throw attempt gave them two shots, down two), but again went 1-for-2 from the free throw line and lost by  a point, 71-70.

They watched three comedies (Caddyshack and Old School) on a seven-hour bus ride to Minnesota for two games earlier this week, one that allowed two seniors from that state to play in front of friends and family. But the basketball portion of the trip had a rather unhappy ending.

The Maroons blew a 15-point second-half lead at St. John's, a game in which they led for the first 19 and a half minutes of the second half. The Johnnies closed with a 9-0 run, taking the lead with 21 seconds left and led 64-61 in the final seconds. Chicago thought it was going to get a chance to tie, when a player got fouled attempting a 3-pointer, but the officials ruled it a foul on the floor, making it a one-and-one opportunity, which Chicago missed on purpose, and the game ended by that 64-61 score.

They then led Carleton for the first 18 minutes of the second half, but were done in by a late 10-0 run, falling 62-61.

In the words of immortal Windy City baseball broadcaster Harry Caray, "Holy Cow!!"

So what has gone wrong for a team that returned two-thirds of its scoring from last season, was picked to finish second in its league, and was ranked No. 22 in our preseason poll?

"If I had the answer, we'd have addressed it by now," said coach Mike McGrath, whom we're pleased to report was happy to talk to us. "I can't put my finger on any specific thing. At times, it's been that we haven't played good basketball. At times, it's been the matchup. At times, it's dumb luck. It seems like everything has broken away from us, but we're doing everything we can to get better. People are keeping their heads up and trying to stay positive."

Comparatively speaking, the Maroons aren't shooting as well as last season's team, which hit for 46 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3-point range, and 73 percent from the foul line.  This year's team is at 41/32/66, while opponents are shooting just over 50 percent against them.

"We been a little inconsistent," McGrath said. "We haven't had a game where we've put it all together at the same time, and when you have trouble shooting the basketball, that puts a lot of pressure on us defensively."

The team misses one key player who did graduate, Nate Hainje, who took 16 points and clutch 3-point shooting with him to the English Pro League. Senior guard Matt Corning, one of the top players in the UAA last season, is still trying to find his shot on a regular basis. He hit for 55 percent last season, 39 percent from 3-point range. This year, he's at 47 and 28 percent from those spots, but still leads the team in scoring at 18.8 points and has almost doubled his rebounding total to 6.7 per game.

Statistically speaking, there are some good signs. You won't find many 0-9 teams with a positive assist/turnover rate, and the Maroons have shot 45 percent from the field, and 40 percent from 3-point range in their last four games.

"Nobody is blaming anyone else," McGrath said. "Everyone is taking responsibility. When you see that kind of behavior from kids you care about, it's hard to watch them struggle. We have three seniors (Corning, forward Adam Machones, and center Tom Watson) who are great kids, and this is tearing them up. You hate to see them go through it."

McGrath has gotten phone calls from sympathetic colleagues who have tried to perk him up. We even reminded him that two years ago, the Coast Guard team his squad faced in its season opener, had its own "best-worst" team in the country scenario, going 2-10 and losing five league games by five points or less before winning three straight close contests to win its league title, so a turnaround is not impossible.

The Maroons haven't even started UAA play yet and McGrath knows that if his squad can get on the right kind of roll, it can be a dangerous team. He remembers that he felt the preseason runner-up rating was about right.

"I don't think anyone should feel sorry for us," McGrath said. "We've had a lot of success over the last 10 years. I think we'll be back at the top of the UAA before we're at the bottom."

MATURE BEYOND HIS YEARS: On the basketball court alone, Gary Brady's story is already impressive. As a sophomore last season, he became a regular contributor on a John Jay men's basketball team that captured the first CUNYAC league title in program history. He played in 29 games that year and started 12, including the Bloodhounds' historic 68-54 win over York (N.Y.) on Feb. 22 to seal the conference crown.

But it's Brady's story off the court that really makes him stand out.

Brady, one of six children born to parents Stacy and Gary Sr., found himself estranged from his family at age 9. He spent the remainder of his childhood growing up in a group home. He remains there to this day, working as a counselor, as he tries to balance his life as a mentor to young adults, a full-time student, and a basketball player.

In all three, he's now succeeding.

John Jay photo by Richard Formica We're not sure how John Jay's Gary Brady manages to fit it all in, but he does.

"I think it shows his maturity beyond his years," said Charles Jackson, his coach at John Jay. "It proves that if you really want to do something, you won't let anything get in your way. It proves that you won't let your circumstances, the obstacles in your life, get in the way of your dreams -- and his dream was to play college basketball."

The route to that dream wasn't easy. Life in the home was difficult for Brady at first, but he persevered.

"It was definitely a different experience," he said. "It was a life-changing experience; it helped me grow up faster, helped make me who I am today. It made me more independent."

"At first it was like, I was trying to find myself as an individual in a group, just trying to fit in. I had to deal with a lot of situations by myself without having my mother or father there to help me. That was especially hard for me in the very beginning."

Brady, now in his third year as a counselor, says he was lucky to have strong guidance from counselors of his own as he worked his way through middle school and high school.

"They made time for everything," he said. "Everything was scheduled -- I had school in the morning, then homework after school, and then meetings. Then in the evenings, I would try to get to the gym and make time for basketball. Everything was tightly coordinated."

He adjusted well to high school life when he reached Martin Luther King, Jr. High, a school with a student body comprised entirely of group home children. He was a three-year member of the basketball team there, and his hard work paid off. His team won the New York Class D state championship when he was a senior in 2005, and he parlayed that success into a spot on the basketball team at John Jay.

Even after graduating from high school and moving into the real world, Brady still must balance school, basketball and life in his group home.

"Now, I've taken a role on the staff as a counselor," he said. "My job is about being there for [the kids] for their support, helping them through their life experiences. They know what I've been through, and I'm there to relate to them, because I've been through a lot of the same experiences they have."

He now works an overnight shift at the home, which makes it difficult for him to stay afloat academically.

"It's very difficult for me," he said. "One semester, it took a big toll on my grades. I work at night now, go to class in the morning, and then have basketball practice in the afternoon. After practice, it's straight to work. I do my homework and everything there; that's the best thing for me now. Then in the morning, I go back to school."

On the four days that he works each week, he usually only finds two hours a night -- generally between 10 and 12 -- to sleep. Somehow he still manages to bring the energy on the court every day.

"He's very athletic, and he's defensively minded," Jackson said. "His offensive game is still growing. This year, he shows flashes of what he can do -- he just has to put it all together on a consistent basis."

Brady credits his coach for staying consistent and keeping him focused through all the ups and downs.

"He knows I'm a hard worker," Brady said of Jackson. "I'd do anything to win; I try not to settle for anything. We have a relationship that's more like a family relationship, like father and son. We don't just talk about ball -- we talk about life sometimes. He relates to me a lot, to a lot of my situations."

"I'm not that old," Jackson countered. "I don't know if I can be looked to as a father figure, but I guess he looks at me like a big brother, so to speak. He and I have had our moments together ... I'm a coach, so I stay on his back. I've got to get on him about him about his schoolwork and his play on the court."

Brady's play on the court has been solid thus far. As a team, John Jay finished the first-semester portion of its schedule at 2-6, but this year's Bloodhounds are still young and are still going through a readjustment period together. As an individual, Brady is a regular starter and is shooting 25-for-46 (54.3 percent) on the season, a stellar figure for a 6-1 shooting guard.

Brady thinks this year's John Jay team can make it back to that CUNYAC title game, but that's only one of his many goals for this year. Last year's team won the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament game, an 80-74 win over Moravian College on Mar. 6, but Brady wants to go even deeper this year. He has his eyes on the Elite Eight and maybe more.

"Right now, we're not so confident about everything because of our record, but a lot of us think we can still do it. It's just got to be a group effort."

And even if it doesn't work out? Brady will still be happy. Through basketball, he's found an emotional outlet that works for him.

"It's a stress reliever; that's really why I started playing," he said. "It started as a way for me to take my aggression out on people on the court. That's why I play ball."

TARTANS, MEET OSPREYS: Carnegie Mellon and Richard Stockton will give East Coast basketball fans an early Christmas present this Saturday night.

The Tartans travel east to Pomona, N.J., and will battle the Ospreys in a matchup of Top 25 teams. Carnegie Mellon tied the school record for its highest ranking ever at No. 11 in this week's D3hoops.com poll, while Richard Stockton moved up three spots to No. 20 with 92-74 victory at Brooklyn last Saturday.

After almost meeting in a tournament at Johns Hopkins last season, the two programs decided this would be a good test.

"You're never going to play 25 stiffs," said Richard Stockton coach Gerry Matthews. "You've got to play against good people if you want to play in tournaments in the end. That's when you start seeing nothing but good people and you've had to have some points in the season where you measure where you're at.

"The big, strong teams have been teams we've struggled against in the last couple years," Matthews added. "There comes a point where we have to play well against somebody, and not just play well. We have to win. We haven't done that."

The Tartans come into Saturday's game with victories over Rochester and The College of Wooster. A win against Richard Stockton would be another positive on a possible postseason resume before Christmas break.

"Those are two big-time programs and we learned that we can play with anyone in the country," CMU guard Ryan Einwag said. "Throughout my time here, we've beaten a lot of good teams and we've won a lot of games. It's good to beat two better-known programs toward the beginning of the season. I think we have high expectations from here on out.

"You do your best to deal with the success that you've had so early in the season because you realize it is still early in the season," added Einwag. "There's still a long way to go. We like where we're at right now and we feel like we're growing and getting better. Hopefully, we can continue to do that. Obviously, wins against those programs helped our confidence."

In the wins against Wooster and Rochester, Carnegie Mellon limited the teams to a combined 42.3 percent shooting from the field and 36.7 percent from three-point range (11 of 30). The Tartans also hold a victory over the John Carroll Blue Streaks (4-3).

"We're capable of playing pretty good defense," said CMU coach Tony Wingen. "The second half of the Wooster game, and especially the second half of the Rochester game, we really defended them well. That's a couple teams that have some very talented perimeter players.

"Our guys are starting to take some pride in guarding that way and shutting down three-point shooters," he added. "We also did a very good job of getting the ball inside in both those games. As you go down the line and hope to get into tournament play, playing good defense and attacking the interior are two things you have to do."

Carnegie Mellon and Richard Stockton both struggle with turnovers.

The Tartans have turned the ball over 96 times, but forced 117 on the defensive end. Richard Stockton has 164 turnovers heading into Saturday's game. However, they have 222 takeaways as a team.

Both squads see the turnovers as a by-product of hustling up the floor in transition.

"We like to get it and go," Einwag said. "All of our starters and all our guys off the bench can get up and down the floor pretty well. We welcome a faster pace. If they [Richard Stockton] play a faster pace, that'll be right up our alley.

"We have a lot of guys that really like to attack the basket," added Einwag. "We kind of feed off of that. We have a lot of guys that can really score the ball and it depends on how the defense is playing us. Last year, we saw a zone and this year, we've seen more man than we have in previous years. Personally, I like to see man-to-man and a lot of other guys on our team do too because we feel we're good scorers and can work the defense."

"We do work a lot on it," Richard Stockton forward Jerome Hubbard said of the transition game. "We're playing with a higher tempo and everybody's trusting each other more each game.

"We have a week off so we're going to leave everything on the floor," Hubbard added. "Nobody should have any complaints about anything. We're all practicing hard and had a good practice [Tuesday]. Hopefully Saturday, we'll come out with a ‘W' because we know we have that week off afterwards."

A victory on Saturday may not make or break the season just yet. However, it will decide who enjoys the holiday season more. Richard Stockton does not play again until Jan. 3 in the Scranton-Radisson Invitational. The Tartans play in the Averett Classic on Jan. 2-3.

"It'll justify everything that we've done to this point," Einwag said of beating Richard Stockton. "We go into every game with the mentality that we're going to win regardless of who we're playing against. We're going into Saturday's game with the mentality that we should come out with a win and anything less than that will be disappointing."

Tune in to Hoopsville on Sundays during the basketball season, as Dave is joined by players, coaches, and regional reporters from around the nation.

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