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Posted Nov. 21, 2008

Jordan's return
is Augie's gain

Two games back from an arduous injury and two game-winning shots. Which Jordan are we talking about here, Michael, or Delp?

Augustana athletics photo Jordan Delp scored more points per game than any other Augustana player last year. Unfortunately for the Vikings, he played just seven games.

We're referring to the latter, though that's the sort of thing that the former Bull would have done. Both are fueled by a highly intense desire to compete and in the case of Delp, the senior six-foot guard back from a ruptured left Achilles, it's led to a 2-0 start for No. 2 Augustana and a home date Saturday with defending national champ, No. 1 Washington University. The game will be broadcast by D3hoops.com.

"We've been able to execute well down the stretch in these games," Delp said. "I've been in position to get a good look at the hoop and I've been able to make shots."

That Delp is on the court at all is a big deal, after missing almost all of his senior season, when he suffered that injury in the team's seventh game of the season, against St. Norbert. It was an injury that Delp thought was a charley horse during the game, but one he realized was much worse once he talked with St. Norbert's trainer afterwards.

Surgery came the next week and the rehab was intense. Without Delp, the Vikings won the CCIW regular season for the third straight year, before losing at home to Washington by three points in the NCAA Tournament. With him, they're off to a good start, hoping to become only the second team in CCIW history to win four straight league titles. The Vikings were picked second in the CCIW preseason poll behind Wheaton, though the vote was extremely close.

Delp's first game-winner came with 23 seconds left to beat Simpson. The second came with five seconds left at defending UAA champ Chicago.

"His being back is inspiring, both to our team and our staff," said Augustana head coach Grey Giovanine. "He's not quite at full speed or 100 percent yet. I hope a month from now he is, but even without being fully recovered, he's a great addition. So much of his comeback is due to his work ethic and tenacity. He's off the charts with that. It's remarkable that he's hit two game-winning shots, but given that it's Jordan, I believe it."

The Vikings are not completely injury-free, as Delp's backcourt mate Brett Wessels, the team's leading scorer from last season, has missed the first two games with an ankle injury, though he's expected to return in the near-future. That's why Giovanine calls the team, which returned all but one starter from last season, a "work in progress" though to be that, and No. 2 in the nation is pretty good. Through two games, Delp is third on this team in scoring behind Alex Washington (17.0 points) and forward Chandlor Collins, (13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds)

"I think the biggest thing you think of with our team is that we're hard-nosed," said Delp, who led the team in scoring and 3-pointers as a junior, and was poised to do so again as a senior, averaging 16 points per game prior to the injury. "We get on the floor, take charges, and do a lot of the little things well. We play good team defense, good pressure defense. We can run a lot on offense and share the ball really well. I try to go as hard as I can all the time and I think that filters down to our younger guys. When I got hurt, I tried to become more of a coach, and tried to help with a lot of the little things."

Augustana's run of success through two close games is nothing new. It's a characteristic that seems to have filtered down as well. The Vikings went 15-5 the last two seasons in games decided by five points or less. They've already gone through beating a No. 1 ranked Washington team, winning by six points last November. They're eager to get another shot after last year's season-ending defeat. Giovanine said last year's NCAA game wasn't one that his team lost -- it was one that Washington won with how well it played.

Delp is happy to be part of getting another chance against the Bears.

"For a lot of people, having (No. 1 play No. 2) is pretty cool," Delp said. "It should be pretty exciting."

Particularly if the ball is in Delp's hands for a last-second shot.

WAITING DUTCH: Hope has waited a long time to play its first game of the 2008-09 season. After last year's run to the Elite Eight, where they suffered their only loss of the season to eventual national champion, Howard Payne, the Flying Dutch want to get back to business.

They originally thought that day was Nov. 15 against Mount Union. However, a virus swept through Hope's campus and forced the cancellation of many activities, and Mount Union elected not to make thr trip.

"We weren't allowed to meet as a group from Thursday until the following Wednesday," said 13-year coach Brian Morehouse. "That certainly put a kink in our practice schedule. I think it slowed our progress.

"We had to jam a lot of stuff into a short number of days," he added. "Our kids are a little bit overloaded right now, but we'll work our way through that. We had a couple kids that got sick. It was just the flu."

Hope athletics photo It's been a long wait for Jenny Cowen and Hope, after a season that ended a week earlier than planned and a season opener that came a week later than scheduled.

With the all clear given for interscholastic sports to resume, Hope will host its annual tip-off tournament this Friday and Saturday. After Alma and Defiance meet in game one, the Flying Dutch play Concordia-Moorhead.

"We were disappointed because Coach [Suzy] Venet wanted to play really bad," Morehouse said of canceling the Mount Union game. "It wasn't her decision. It was their team doctors and as coaches, we need to respect the opinions of medical personnel in everything that we do.

"We certainly didn't pick an easy road of teams to play," he added of the Concordia game. "They've got 88 percent of their offense returning. Hopefully, our defense can carry us because I think our offense will struggle a little bit in the early season. We're going to have some very difficult games to start."

Hope's tournament has an interesting twist to it. If Alma wins and Hope beats Concordia-Moorhead, the Flying Dutch and Scots will meet three times this year. If Defiance takes the matchup, they will play Hope twice in a span of four days.

Following the tournament, Hope plays at Defiance on Tuesday and opens Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play on Dec. 3 at Albion.

"We've got to weather the storm early and hopefully learn from our mistakes while winning," Morehouse said. "We're on a home-and-away schedule with Defiance. We had tried to work it out where we would not play them in that opening weekend. Then, we had a team drop out after they had signed a contract. We were very fortunate that Alma from our league came along and joined the tournament.

"We decided to play it winners-winners, losers-losers," he continued. "It sets up a unique situation, but we're really struggling to find people to play. We try to schedule in our region and just play good teams. I'm not talking about them coming up here. To even get a home-and-away with people is really challenging."

Ten returning letterwinners are back in the fold, including guard Philana Greene (9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game) as well as forward Carrie Snikkers (7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds). However, leading scorer and All-American guard Jordyn Boles completed her eligibility. Morehouse will be relying on the retuning players and three freshmen to keep Hope near the top of the MIAA.

"You can't replace kids that won 110 games and only lost zero in four years," Morehouse said. "It's just impossible. There was just absolutely no situation they had not seen. That doesn't mean we don't have good players that are playing for us. Right now, the game experience is a difficult thing to replace.

"Can we have a really good team this year, absolutely," he added. "I really enjoy this team. The only way that we can replace what we graduated was to get what we have some experience. That's going to take some time. There might be a few bumps in the road."

One way to get experience is through practice. However, live competition against other teams has the ability to teach both players and coaches.

Players learn how to handle different situations, while coaches get to see each player react to challenges at game speed.

Hope took a trip across the Atlantic to Germany and the Netherlands to experience international basketball and culture. During the trip, the Flying Dutch did not practice. They played games and got to see the differences between life in America and Europe.

"We were there for 13 days," Morehouse said. "We stayed with German families for six or seven days and stayed in some youth hostels. We spent a lot of time in and around the Rhine River in Germany.

"We played five games while we were over there," he added. "We learned that we had some good players returning. We had some players that didn't get as much game action, but had some abilities. They were able to see game situations that were helpful."

IN THE MIDDST OF IT: In the NESCAC, New England's Div. III power conference, a team's fortune can change overnight. One year's powerhouse can be the next year's flop.

That's especially true in a year like this one, as the conference reels from the loss of the best senior class in recent memory, six of whom went pro in Europe. With so many teams rebuilding, finding the cream of the NESCAC crop isn't exactly easy.

"It's too early to really tell," said Bob Sheldon, whose Tufts Jumbos reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2006 and finished last two years later. "But I don't think there's a dominant alpha dog team. I think there's going to be a fight, and I don't know what's going to happen at the top. I don't think anyone really knows yet. We're not going to know until we start lighting it up in January against each other."

"But I think there's still some great teams," he added. "I think Middlebury's a great team."

That's right -- Middlebury.

In the first seven years of NESCAC Tournament play, the Middlebury Panthers made four trips to the league playoffs and were bounced from the first round all four times. They finally won one game at NESCACs last spring; they've still never won a game in the NCAA Tournament. But this could be their year.

"We're very confident that we can perform well in the NESCAC," coach Jeff Brown said. "There's been some turnover with players -- last year's senior class in the NESCAC was fabulous. But I also know that Amherst and Trinity have recruited quite well and that they have awesome classes coming in."

While rival schools continue to haul in the league's top freshmen, the Panthers have two of the league's best seniors. Aaron Smith, their 6-6 power forward, was an All-NESCAC selection last year and returns as the team's leading scorer, while point guard Ben Rudin is a former conference Rookie of the Year and his poised to lead his team to the top.

"They're terrific," Brown said of his co-captains. "They really have a command of the group. In the NESCAC, because we start a little bit later, coaches really have to rely on their captains to get the team going early in the season … and both Aaron and Ben have done a terrific job."

Per NESCAC rules, official coach-supervised practices don't begin until Nov. 1, so athletes routinely work out throughout the fall in senior-led "captains' practices."

"It was the captains, but it was really the whole group of seniors," said Rudin, crediting classmates Kyle Dudley and Matt Westman. "We all worked hard in getting the team prepared. We knew the potential we had, so everyone was ready to work hard for this season."

Captains' practices were strenuous from the start -- two-a-days often began at 6 a.m. But by November, the hard work had paid off. The Panthers opened their season with a 60-59 win over Bloomsburg University -- a Div. II school. After jumping out to a 36-20 lead in the first half, they withstood a late Bloomsburg charge, holding off the Huskies to hang on in the final minute.

"It was a great way to start our season," said Smith, who led the way with 16 points and 11 boards. "It really showed our experience as a team to not be rattled when a D-II team went on a run in the second half."

What won the game -- and their next two, over Norwich and Lyndon State, to improve to 3-0 -- for the Panthers was their balance. Through three games to date, 14 players have seen time and 12 have scored. Only three -- Smith, Rudin and Dudley -- have reached double figures in a game.

"We have a lot of different weapons now," Smith said. "We can go big; we can go small. I think one of our greatest strengths is the depth of our rotation -- we really don't lose much within the first 10 guys that we play."

"In my four years here, that's the most special part of part of being part of the Middlebury basketball team -- we truly embody the team concept," Rudin added. "Year after year, it just gets stronger and stronger. And especially this year, we're such a deep and talented team that everyone believes in the next person. Everyone has each other's backs."

With depth, balance and experience on their sides, the Panthers are ready to make some noise in the NESCAC this season. The captains make it clear that they mean business.

"Everyone on this team is very confident going into this season," Rudin said. "Coming into this year, you could tell. Every single one of my teammates is extremely confident this year, and you could see that from day one. We know we can beat anyone in the NESCAC or anyone else -- every game we go into, we expect to win. We're just looking forward to taking on the competition this season."

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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