The Madness Hasn't Been Kind to the Regular Season Champ

Coastal Carolina Winning 2014 Big South Championship

One thing has become permanently clear in these two weeks coming up to Selection Sunday this season.  If you're the regular season conference champion, chances are you haven't likely fared too well in your conference tournament.    With Louisiana Tech losing to Tulsa last night in the Conference USA championship, that means now twelve mid major level conference regular season champions will have now have an automatic NIT bid because they lost in their conference tournament; Louisiana Tech, Florida Gulf Coast, Boston University, Vermont, Belmont, Robert Morris, UC Irvine, Iona, Green Bay, Utah Valley, High Point and Davidson.  If Georgia State loses in the Sun Belt Conference championship today, it will make it an even Baker's Dozen.

Robert-Morris-LIU 2011 NEC Championship

But it's not been just the mid major conference tournaments where the number #1 seed has gone down.  Villanova and St Louis, both #1 seeds, went down in the quarterfinals in the Big East and A-10 tournaments respectively.  Kansas lost in the semis to Iowa State in the Big 12.  Cincinnati lost in the AAC semifinals to UConn.   Yesterday, San Diego State lost to New Mexico in the Mountain West finals.  Arizona jeopardized a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament by losing to UCLA in the Pac12 finals.

Now for all those regular season championship non mid major level teams that I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the conference tournament didn't mean too much to them, since they were all guaranteed a bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Still, it likely affected several team's seedings in the NCAA Tournament, especially St Louis.

2012 CAA Tournament - George Mason v. VCU

As of this morning, only eight regular season championship teams won their conference tournament and got the automatic NCAA bid; Wichita State (Missouri Valley), Gonzaga (WCC), NC Central (MEAC), Weber State (Big Sky), Southern (SWAC), North Dakota State (Summit), Delaware (CAA) and Western Michigan (MAC).  A ninth team that won the regular season championship, Harvard in the Ivy League, got an automatic bid since the Ivy doesn't have a post conference tournament.

So why has it been so difficult for regular season champions across the board to win their postseason conference tournaments?   Well, there are several reasons.

1. Complacency on the Non Mid Major Level - Let's be honest, it's hard for some Power Conference teams that have a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament to maintain their focus and level of play.   It's also difficult for those teams when playing similarly talented teams on that level.  Case in point, Villanova and St Louis.   Both teams played decent opponents in the quarterfinal rounds of their tournament;Seton Hall and St. Bonaventure. Both the Pirates and the Bonnies needed to run the table to win, so they went all out and caught the Wildcats and Billikens napping.  It happens.
2. Quality of Opponent - On the power conference level, you have ranked teams playing each other in the semifinals, even sometimes in the quarterfinals in the conference tournament.  So there certainly is very little difference between Kansas and Iowa State, Cincinnati and UConn, San Diego State and New Mexico, and Arizona and UCLA.   Cincinnati only received the #1 seed, because they won a coin flip vs. Louisville, who ended up winning the AAC.
   
   This has also been true for some of the smaller conference tournaments.  Florida Gulf Coast, the #1 seed, lost the Atlantic Sun championship game on its home court to Mercer, the #2 seed.   The Bears were returning the favor from a year ago when the Eagles won on Mercer's home court in the A-Sun championship.  Boston U, the #1 seed, lost the Patriot Conference Championship on their home court to the #2 seed, American.  Finally, Iona lost to the #2 seed Manhattan in the MAAC Conference Tournament final, a team they split with during the regular season.
3. "Neutral Site" Tournaments - This is where many of the mid major regular season champions got tripped up.  There are a good number of mid major level tournaments that are hosted on "neutral" sites for likely monetary reasons.   In one case in particular, the America East, the first two rounds conference tournament has been held on one of the conference member sites (the championship has been held on the higher seed's home court).  In this season and last season, it was hosted by Albany.  And in the last two seasons, Albany has knocked off the #1 seed in the semifinals (2013 - Stony Brook, 2014 - Vermont).  The Great Danes have used this momentum in both seasons to win the conference tournament, knocking off Vermont and Stony Brook on those school's respective home courts.
   
   The Big South also has a "neutral site" conference tournament that's hosted by one of its schools, Coastal Carolina, with a little help from the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.  High Point lost on a buzzer beater in the quarterfinals to Winthrop, which opened the door for the host Chanticleers to win the Big South Tournament.
   
   Once conference that used to be held in Albany and was moved to a true neutral site, due to concerns about Siena's home court advantage, is the MAAC.  The MAAC Tournament has been held in Springfield, "MAAChusetts" the last couple of seasons, which is where Iona lost to Manhattan in the championship this year.  However, attendance has been so bad in Springfield, the MAAC is considering other sites, including bring the tournament back to Albany.
   
   Other conference tournaments also use true neutral sites.  Asheville hosted the Southern Conference Tournament, where Davidson got knocked off by Western Carolina in the semifinals.  The WAC hosted their tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, which is where Utah Valley lost to Idaho in the conference semifinals.   Finally the Big West was held in Anaheim, California, where Cal Poly used the momentum from knocking off #1 seed UC Irvine to beat CS Northridge in the Big West Championship.
   
   Many people, including myself, don't think neutral site championships are fair on the mid major level. It's one thing where Power Six conferences or next level conferences like the Mountain West and A-10 can hold neutral site tournaments based on crowd attendance (it even works with the Missouri Valley to a lesser extent).  But at the Southern, WAC or Big West levels, a neutral site doesn't really draw a large crowd to justify a neutral site.  And in the case of the skewered America East host school "neutral site" tournament, it certainly doesn't justify that.
   
   To me and others, it doesn't reward all the work that regular season championship teams have done to finish in first and it also often doesn't put the best conference team in the tournament.   That's why I think the Ivy League has no post season tournament.  The regular season champion that was consistently best all season earns the automatic bid.
   
   It's my opinion that mid major conferences either go to an Atlantic Sun/NEC based tournament, where the higher seeds host the conference games throughout the various levels of the tournament or move to a Horizon League Tournament, where the #1 seed hosts the first two rounds of the tournament and the championship is held on the highest remaining seed's court.  Thus teams will be rewarding for a regular season accomplishment.  But...
    
4. Even With Home Court Advantage, Some Schools Can't Stand Prosperity - Even with the home court advantage, four regular season champions fell by the wayside in their conference tournament.  Green Bay, the Horizon League Regular Season Champion, again lost to Milwaukee on its home court in the conference semifinals.  The Phoenix lost at home to the Panthers earlier in the season.   As noted, Florida Gulf Coast lost at home to Mercer in the A-Sun finals.  Finally, Robert Morris lost at home in the NEC finals to Mount St Mary's.

2011 CAA Tournament - VCU v. George Mason

It's been the craziest conference tournament season I can ever remember.  And as a result, a lot of NIT hopefuls will be now scrambling for bids to the CIT and CBI, Defiantly Dutch's favorite tournament.  This season has shown, now more than ever, with rare exceptions, the regular season doesn't mean a thing.

I love conference tournaments, especially considering all the years I have been to the CAA Tournament, let alone NEC and Big South championship games.  Some of my favorite memories have come from sitting in a usually cold Richmond Coliseum, especially the 2011 and 2012 #CAAHoops semifinals.  There's nothing better than a sold out, raucous crowd during a conference tournament.  I will always remember fondly sitting in the Blackbirds' student section during LIU's overtime win over Robert Morris in the 2011 NEC Tournament final.

But sometimes, on the fairness level of conference tournaments and regular season champions, I think the Ivy League knows best.

Brooks and Droney Make the Difference (Recap of Davidson v. Wofford)

When I last saw Davidson in person, it was a home game at the Belk Arena vs. Drexel on a relatively warm December Sunday afternoon.  In that game, the Wildcats were without their two best all around players, senior forward De'Mon Brooks and senior guard Tom Droney.  Both Brooks and Droney were out due to injuries. The Dragons won 72-58 as the Wildcats struggled on offense, as they shot a horrid three of twenty two from beyond the arc.

Entering Saturday night's game, Davidson had lost five in a row and their record was 4-10.  This is unusual for a Wildcats team that has made the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons, along with five of the past eight seasons and has not had a losing season since the 2000-01 season.  McKillop has had six NCAA Tournament teams, three NIT teams and a stunning 249-95 record in Southern Conference play since 1992.

However, losing streaks and early season records can be misleading.   In their last three losses, the Wildcats lost in overtime at #14 North Carolina, lost only by eleven at #10 Wichita State (and they were only down four with four minutes left) and lost to Charleston at home on New Year's Day after leading at halftime (a 19-5 second half run by the Cougars doomed the Wildcats).

Davidson always plays, what Matt Doherty once noted, as a "ridiculously tough non-conference schedule." Along with North Carolina and Wichita State, the Wildcats this season also played at Duke (lost 111-77), at Charlotte (won in overtime 87-78), neutral site games at New Mexico, Virginia, Clemson and Georgia (only win was over Georgia at the Charleston Classic).   McKillop has done this in part due to the Southern Conference's low overall RPI.  By playing a tough non conference schedule, Davidson's RPI will be much higher.  In fact, despite a 4-10 record, Davidson's current RPI, 157, is higher than 10-3 Mississippi State's RPI, 176.

Despite moving from the Southern Conference to the much tougher A-10 next season, McKillop's non conference schedule will be just as tough, as he has schedule Duke, North Carolina and Virginia for the next two season as well.  He noted in article in the the Charlotte Observer that "We’re going to be just as national and just as aggressive and understanding that, yes, the Atlantic 10 is going to be a significant challenge, but we’re still going to be very aggressive and national in scope,"

Playing such a tough non-conference schedule has worked out for Davidson in the past.  In the 2007-08 season, the Wildcats started 4-6 on the season, due to losses early on to nationally ranked teams such as #1 North Carolina, #7 Duke, and at #7 UCLA.  Davidson would respond with a twenty five game winning streak, including going undefeated in regular season and tournament play in the Southern Conference, then three wins in a row in the NCAA Tournament to make the Elite Eight.   The Wildcats were only a Jason Richards missed three at the buzzer from making the Final Four.

Wofford entered Saturday night's game having won three games in a row, including winning their first conference game, a 71-61 win over Samford.  This was also my second Terriers' game of the season, having seen them barely lose to William and Mary 63-60 at the Benjamin Johnson Arena.

As noted in the past eight seasons, Davidson has been the Southern Conference representative five times. Well Wofford is one of the two other schools that have made the NCAA Tournament during that period, having made the NCAA Tournament two years in a row in 2009-10 and 2010-11 under Young.  Chattanooga made the NCAA Tournament as the SoCon representative in 2008-09 after Steph Curry and Davidson was upset in the Southern Conference semifinals by the College of Charleston.

The Benjamin Johnson Arena is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues here in South Carolina.  As I noted in my previous article, it's really more a small gym enclosed in a nice Student Center with concessions, a coffee bar and comfortable lounge seating near the coffee bar.  As I got to the entrance to the student center, it noted that it was "Happy Hoops Year", as they had a women's home basketball game earlier in the day.

This was my first time sitting in the West Section of the arena.  On Saturday night, the ticket takers didn't have scanners.  So the ticket takers were taking tickets.  He took mine, then realized I was sitting in the reserved area in the front row.  As I noted to you all in my earlier Wofford article this season, it's worth the extra $2 to pay for the reserved seats that have the seat backs as opposed to the wooden bleachers.  He gave me back my tickets saying that I would need to show my ticket for where I was sitting, which was W5, Row A, Seat 1.

As I walked down the aisle, I realized where I would sitting for the evening, right behind the Wofford bench. I usually don't like to sit right behind a team's bench, because your view can be obstructed by bench players standing at times to support their teams.  But it also does allow you some insight, PA system permitting, to what the coach is saying to his team during timeouts.  Plus it was kind of cool seeing the starting Australian point guard for Wofford come out to "INDIANAAA FAITHFULL" during player introductions.

The game started out with the Terriers jumping out to an 8-4 lead at the under 16 media timeout.  Wofford's leading scorer on the season, the talented Spencer Collins, hit two baskets early on and Lee Skinner added a basket and an assist.  It's at the under 16 media timeout that Wofford holds it's "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion, where the cheerleaders handout/throw McDonald's cheeseburgers to fans while Jimmy Buffett's "Cheeseburger in Paradise" plays on the PA system.  This was my third time at a Wofford game and now all three times, I have got a cheeseburger.  Awesome.

During the first four minutes, Brooks only had one touch for the Wildcats and that resulted in a traveling call. Well McKillop must have told his team during the media timeout to feed the big man, because Davidson came out rolling off a 13-0 run on Wofford.  Brooks was unstoppable during this nearly three and a half minute span, scoring nine of the thirteen points.   His jumper put Davidson up 17-8 with a little less than twelve and a half minutes remaining in the first half.

After a media timeout, where Terriers Head Coach Mike Young implored his team to "be aggressive", the rest of the first half saw Davidson and Wofford play evenly as far as points scored.  The Wildcats largest lead over the last twelve plus minutes was ten points.  The Terriers still had no answer to stopping Brooks, who scored another eight points the rest of the half to give him seventeen first half points, along with seven rebounds.  Collins and Skinner did the best they could to keep Wofford in the game, combining for seventeen first half points as Davidson maintained a nine point lead, 37-28 at halftime.

Davidson shot a scorching sixty percent from the field in the first twenty minutes, much of which came from Brooks, who was eight of eleven from the field in the first half.  Wofford only shot thirty nine percent in the first half.

What I always love about mid major schools are the halftime shows they put on.  Usually it's a local boys or girls basketball game.  But Wofford does something different.  At the William and Mary game, it was a step dancing group that played at halftime.   This time it was a local martial arts group, with a bunch of young kids showing off various martial arts techniques and simulated fights.  It made for good theater.

The second half picked up right where the first half led off, with Brooks scoring the first two baskets for Davidson, which extended their lead to eleven, 41-30.  Skinner and Collins continued to do their best to keep Wofford in the game, scoring the team's first three baskets.  Collins three pointer got the lead back down to nine, 44-35 with seventeen and a half minutes left in the game.

But that's as close as the Terriers would get the rest of the game.  Davidson went on a 13-4 run over the span of about four and a half minutes.  Brooks of course was heavily involved, scoring five points, including a three point play and added an assist.  Two Droney free throws put the Wildcats up eighteen, 57-39 with a little less than thirteen minutes left in the game.

During a timeout, Young begged his team to "keep fighting".  The Terriers responded, scoring six straight points to cut the lead to twelve, 57-45.  Skinner scored four of his team high twenty two points in that mini spurt.

But Davidson would not be denied this night.  Droney led the way on another Wildcats' charge, this time a
16-7 spurt, capped by a Brian Sullivan three pointer to put Davidson up 73-52 with a little less than six minutes left in the game.  Droney scored nine points in the run and assisted on another basket.

All that was left was for both teams to clear their benches with about ninety seconds to play.  Davidson would go on and win their first Southern conference game of the season, an impressive 78-63 win.  The Wildcats had finally broken their five game losing streak and in the process, broke Wofford's three game winning streak.

Brooks had a double double with twenty eight points and twelve rebounds, along with four assists and two steals as he shot twelve of sixteen on the game.  Droney added eighteen points, shooting six of seven from the field and a perfect four of four from the line. Tyler Kalinoski added nine points for the Wildcats as Davidson shot sixty one percent from the field on the evening (thirty of forty nine).

Skinner led the Terriers with twenty four points and nine rebounds. Collins added sixteen points for Wofford.  Skinner and Collins combined to shoot fifteen of twenty eight from the field. The rest of the team combined to shoot only eight of twenty seven from the field.

For at least one more evening, Davidson was the big bad team on the SoCon block.  Though it's sad to see a long time Southern Conference staple like the Wildcats leave the conference after this season, one wonders if other schools aren't happy to see Davidson leave the SoCon.

Till then, Davidson stills seems to be the team to beat in the SoCon this year.

Drexel Outlasts Davidson

Yesterday at Belk Arena, Davidson hosted Drexel in a match-up of two of the better mid major programs in the country.  It was by chance that my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew, and I were able to see the game.  Due to the torrential rain on Saturday, Matthew's pickup baseball game was canceled because the Little League field he plays on was covered with large puddles.  So instead, we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon in Davidson, North Carolina.

Last season, both the Dragons and the Wildcats were favored to win their conferences.  Davidson held up their end of the bargain, winning the Southern Conference Tournament, then led Marquette most of the way before losing on a last second game winning layup by the Golden Eagles.  Meanwhile, Chris Fouch got hurt for the Dragons during their third game of the season and Drexel never recovered, finishing 13-19 on the season and losing in the second round of the CAA Tournament to George Mason.

Entering the game, both teams were down some of their best players.   Davidson was without leading scorer, senior forward De'Mon Brooks, who had missed the four previous games as well with a knee injury suffered during a loss to Clemson.  The Wildcats were also without senior guard Tom Droney, who injured his foot in a loss to Niagara.  Between Brooks and Droney, they average 30 points and 10 rebounds per game.  The Dragons are without starting guard Damion Lee for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL. Lee was the team's leading scorer last season, averaging 17 points per game.  Before he got hurt, Lee was averaging thirteen points per game.   So you could day both teams were equally disadvantaged entering the game.

Belk Arena is one of my favorite arenas in the country.  It seats a little more than 5,000 people and the rafters are rich with the history of Davidson Basketball.   Scores of NCAA Tournament and Southern Conference championship banners fill the top of the arena.  But after seventy plus years of affiliation with the SoCon (sans a period of four years in the late eighties/early nineties where Davidson was an independent, then a member of the Big South), the Wildcats will be leaving the conference after this season to join the A-10.

Matthew and I weren't the only CAA stalwarts at the game.  Dan Crain, author of the terrific Dragons Speak blog and longtime fellow #CAAHoops tweeter made the trip down, along with several friends, from Philadelphia for the game and just happened to have seats right next to us.    Dan was looking forward to the Drexel debut of junior guard Freddie Wilson, a transfer from Seton Hall.

It was clearly evident from the start that Drexel's plan was to drive it inside on Davidson.  The Dragons' first eight points came from within the arc, mostly on layups.  Meanwhile, Davidson struggled from the field, missing on their first twelve shots of the game.   Yet the Wildcats managed to stay close early on, trailing only 8-7 with all their points coming from free throws.

But it was only a matter of time before Davidson's cold shooting would come into play.  Drexel would score the next ten points over the next five plus minutes.  A Frantz Massenat jumper would put the Dragons up 18-7 with 10:15 left in the first half.  Wildcats' coach Bob McKillop called timeout to try to get his team going from the field.

It took nearly eleven and a half minutes of game action, but Davidson finally hit their first field goal, a three pointer by Brian Sullivan.  Tyler Kalinoski followed with an old fashioned three point play and suddenly the Wildcats were only down five, 18-13.   Davidson hung around for the next few minutes, only trailing by six, 26-20 with a little less than four and a half minutes left.

But without Brooks, Davidson had no inside scoring threat and continued to miss regularly from outside the arc.  Meanwhile, Massenat was a one man wrecking crew for the Dragons.  He first scored on a three point play to put Drexel up nine.  Then he buried a three pointer to put the Dragons up twelve, 32-20.  Later a Kazembe Abif three point play put Drexel up fourteen, 37-23.  Davidson scored the final four points of the half, much to the chagrin of Dragons' coach Bruiser Flint and the Wildcats were only down ten, 37-27 at the half.

Davidson has a great halftime fan participation game, a variation of "Musical Chairs".   Several kids dribble around a group of chairs at center court while music plays.  When the music stops, the kids have to go to either basket and make a layup.  If they make the layup, then can dribble back to the chairs.   One by one, a kid was eliminated.  It got down to two kids and it turned out both kids ended up on the single chair at the same time, which resulted in a tie.  The fans gave the kids a rousing ovation for a well played game.

The start of the second half had Chris Fouch channeling Loren Stokes (Google "Loren Stokes") with a couple of floaters in the lane to put Drexel up 41-29.  The Dragons maintained their eleven point lead, 44-33 with about fifteen minutes left.

Davidson went on a 11-5 mini spurt over the next three and half minutes.  A Jake Belford three cut the Drexel lead to six, 46-40 with eleven and half minutes left in the game.  Over the next few minutes, Davidson stayed within six, 50-44 with a little less than eight minutes left in the game.

But the Wildcats would get no closer.  The Dragons outscored them 9-4 over the next three minutes. The newest Dragon, Wilson, would score four of those points within the span.  A Fouch three pointer put Drexel up 59-48 with just less than five minutes left.

Davidson had several opportunities from the free throw line to cut the deficit to as little as three points.  But the Wildcats missed four of six free throw attempts over the span of thirty seven seconds.  A Jordan Barham layup cut the deficit to seven, 59-52 with 2:47 left.

But Massenat would score nine of the last thirteen Dragons' points, seven on free throws despite a fan trying to distract him with a large Ron Burgundy head, as Drexel would defeat Davidson 72-58.  With the win, Drexel is now 7-2 on the season, with their only two losses against #22 UCLA and #1 Arizona.  Davidson falls to 4-7 on the season.

Massenat was a stat sheet stuffer on the day, leading all scorers with twenty five points and adding seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.  Fouch had seventeen points, while the newcomer Wilson added seven points.  The Dragons out-rebounded the Wildcats 47-38, not surprising considering Drexel is 44th in the country in rebounds.

Sullivan led Davidson with fourteen points, Kalinoski added thirteen points and Barham had eleven for the Wildcats.  Davidson was held to thirty two percent shooting from the field including an ugly 3 of 22 from beyond the arc.  The Wildcats also struggled from the line, missing fourteen free throws.

For a team that is trying to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996, Drexel appears to be back to their 2011-12 form.  But they have their annual test at fellow Philly native St Joe's on December 18.  Another road win over the Hawks would further strengthen their non conference resume.

Meanwhile, things don't get easier for Davidson.   The Wildcats have consecutive road games vs. North Carolina and Wichita State, both nationally ranked before playing former conference foe College of Charleston on New Year's Day.  Then they start their last regular conference season in the SoCon.

Davidson very likely will be under .500 when they start conference play, Then again, in the 2007-08 season, the Wildcats started the season 4-6.  They never lost again that season until the Elite Eight against Kansas.  Never count out a Bob McKillop team.

Matthew and I said our goodbyes to Dan and his friends and wished them a safe trip back to Philly.  Then we walked back into town, made our way to our car and headed home.  On a nice sunny, relatively warm December day, maybe Matthew and I saw two eventual 2014 NCAA Tournament Teams.

One never knows in the wacky world that is college basketball.

Davidson Holds Off Wofford...Again

After the Georgia-South Carolina game, I got in my car and made the now familiar drive from the Gamecocks' campus to Huger Street then up to I-26. This time I was not getting off at the always crowded Harbison Boulevard exit. No, I was heading up to Spartanburg to see Wofford host Davidson.

It seems the magical time range for any of my basketball road trips so far is ninety minutes (I can make Charlotte in that time frame with my lead foot) to two and a half hours (Coastal Carolina). The trip from Columbia to Spartanburg is ninety minutes. I was debating whether to stop along the way for dinner or find a place near campus. To what I thought was my eventual chagrin, I chose the latter. Along the way though, I saw the exit for Presbyterian College, one of my eventual Big South Conference destinations.

The exit for Wofford College is Route 221, which brings you directly into the heart of Spartanburg. But as I got close to Wofford, I didn't see much in the way of restaurant choices. So I drove into the main entrance to Wofford and a nice campus safety guard showed me the direct way to get to the main parking lot for Johnson Arena.

To get to Johnson Arena, basically, you have to drive past the main Wofford College entrance and take the second right on Pearl Street. Then as the campus safety guard noted to me, once you see the pink house on the top of the hill, you bear right. Then you follow the winding road down behind a housing development (nice houses by the way), which then takes you down a narrow road that leads to the entrance of the main parking area. There an attendant directs you to park. I wouldn't have found this myself had it not been for the helpful campus security guard.

Once I got out of my car, it was a little after 5:30. I followed some Wofford fans to the entrance of the Campus Life Building where Johnson Arena is located. When you first walk into the Campus Life Building, you are greeted by a small statute of a Terrier. Then you walk into a quiet commons area with a coffee bar on the right hand side. But if you look in the right hand corner, you will see a student cafe. This cafe contains ample seating, flat screen TVs and a mini food court with a Chick Fil-a counter, a deli counter and another "Foods of the World" counter. In front of the entrance to the mini food court was a table with homemade baked desserts, cookies, cakes, cupcakes etc.

After striking up a conversation with the friendly attendant at the Chick Fila station where he made me a fresh grilled chicken sandwich, I grabbed some waffle fries, some desserts and grabbed a sweet tea. I managed to somehow hold onto all four items without a tray, paid the cashier and made my way to a set of tables that was right in front of the flat screen TV showing Northern Iowa and Wichita State (eventually won by the Panthers).

There was a nice mix of students and Wofford fans, many of them older fans. I could see why many people would come out for a nice Saturday night game. My reserved ticket cost twelve dollars, a bleacher seat costs ten dollars. Dinner was seven dollars. Think about it, for twenty bucks per person you can have a decent meal and watch a good basketball game. That's a good deal. Thanks Wofford!

After dinner, I made my way to my seat. There are two wings, the east and west wings, each of which has a separate entrance and outside of one hallway outside the arena, there is no connection to the wings once in the building. Not knowing this, It turns out I went to the wrong wing entrance. But the usher was kind enough to show me how to get there and I eventually made my way to the east wing section where my seat was located.

Now don't take this the wrong way Wofford fans, but when I got to my seat at Johnson Arena, I didn't consider it an arena. It's somewhat a very large gym with mostly wooden bleachers that had three sections of reserved comfortable chair back seating on each side in the front.. There is no club suite seating. The walls are your classic concrete gym walls.

However, there are two standout things you notice about Johnson Arena. First is the striking parquet floor, one of the few of its kind. Second, the gym holds noise well. Really well. In fact, in the second half, when Wofford made a run on Davidson, it started getting really loud and it was not packed (about 1500 was the attendance last night). Turns out, as I drove home, I turned on the post game show from the local Wofford station and they noted that half the students still haven't returned from break. Imagine the arena when Wofford had good teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011. I bet it was the place was rocking.  Plus, the giant "Beware of Dog" sign behind the Wofford basket was a nice touch as well.

A local grade school choir did a wonderful job singing the national anthem. The students also were located in the bleacher level behind me, so when they made their way up to their seats, I made sure to tell the music choir director what a good job they did. It was the start to a very good evening of basketball and promotional events.

As the team introductions were made, I saw that Davidson's fans had basically taken up the entire section behind the Wildcats' bench. Yes, it helps to draw fans when you are 9-1 in conference. But considering Davidson's long storied history, I am not surprised by the large contingent they had for last night's game. I thought for sure that they were going to break out into "Sweet Caroline" late in the second half.

The Wildcats came out early scoring the first four points. Spencer Collins though would drill a three pointer, in what would be a reoccurring theme for the Terriers on the night. Through the first six minutes, it was a close affair, with Davidson maintaining an 8-6 lead.

But if you have watched enough of Davidson's basketball games on TV or in person, you can see that is so difficult to stop Bob McKillop's team on offense. The Wildcats' offensive sets are a thing of a beauty, both from a ball movement standpoint and a player movement standpoint. The Wildcats are constantly moving without the ball. This leads to multiple screens, backdoor cuts and a lot of open looks driving the lane. In the second half, with Davidson on my end of the court, it was truly a treat to watch their offensive set from my vantage point.

As a result, Davidson started pulling away from Wofford in the first half. First it was a 9-2 spurt on four consecutive layups, including a three point play by senior forward Jake Cohen. Davidson was up 17-8 and Wofford Coach Mike Young had to call timeout. It was a good timeout which resulted in an offensive set that got Karl Cochran open for a three pointer that he buried to cut the lead to 17-11.

Again Davidson responded with an 8-2 spurt with Tom Droney and Chris Czerpowicz each scoring four points. The Wildcats were now up 25-13 with nine minutes left in the half. It seemed that the Terriers had no answers to stopping Davidson on offense.

However, Wofford kept in the game in large part due to Collins (number 32 pictured here), who by himself would keep the Terriers in the game. Collins scored ten straight points for Wofford on a variety of shots, a three pointer, a layup and a couple of short jumpers. After being fouled in the act of shooting and missing his first attempt, Collins hit the second free throw to end his ten straight point outburst and cut the Davidson lead to ten 31-21.

Davidson's relentless offense would respond with another mini spurt, outscoring Wofford 7-2 over the last five minutes of the half. The Wildcats would enter halftime up 38-23. It was similar to their first matchup I saw when they played back in December at Belk Arena. Davidson was up big early, 31-10, before Wofford used a 12-0 run to cut the lead to nine at the half, 31-22. The Terriers would cut it to four late but the Wildcats would eventually hold onto win 63-56. I wondered if there would be a similar outcome.

Wofford has a lot of unique promotional events during media timeouts. Three stood out. Early in the first half during the first media timeout, they had a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion where the Wofford cheerleaders toss out wrapped McDonald's cheeseburgers in plastic bags. Guess who got one?

In the second half, they had "Steal a Meal". One fan gets a meal - a drink, burger and fries. But another fan gets to try to steal the meal. If they hit the layup, they get the drink. If they hit the free throw, they get the chips.  And if they bury the three pointer, they get the burger. It was a couple and thankfully for the wife, the husband missed all three attempts. I would love to play that game with my son (are you reading this, Wofford? :-) ).

Finally, at halftime, to celebrate the 75th year of the NCAA Tournament, Wofford is putting on a series of "re-creations" of famous plays from the NCAA Tournament. In this case, they tried to "recreate" the famous Christian Laettner game winning shot vs. Kentucky. One fan played Grant Hill with the inbounds pass at one end of the court. Two girls each got an attempt to play Laettner in catching the pass and turning around and hitting the shot. They were not successful in any of the attempts, which shows how difficult that play was to make.

The start of the second half saw Davidson maintain its double digit lead as Cohen scored six points in the first seven minutes of the half. Wofford kept within striking distance due in large part to Cochran and Collins, who scored all but two of the first fifteen Terriers' points in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half.

But after two straight Czerapowicz baskets put Davidson up by thirteen with ten minutes left, it didn't seem like Wofford would be able to get any closer. Enter the Australian sophomore point guard with the striking name of Indiana Faithfull. Faithfull would have a hand in the Terriers' next three baskets by hitting two three pointers and assisting on a Cochran layup. His second three pointer cut the Wildcats' lead to seven, 54-47 with seven a half minutes left.

A little later, Collins would get the Terriers's closer with a three point play to cut Davidson's lead to six, 59-53 with a little less than five minutes. That's when the fans started making some noise and you could tell the potential of how loud Johnson Arena can be with a full, noisy crowd.

Wofford had two chances to cut the lead even closer. But their two leading scorers, Cochran and Collins each committed a critical turnover. And when Jake Cohen buried a NBA three pointer to put Davidson up 64-53 with 1:10 left, that was the ball game. The Wildcats would eventually win 68-57.

Davidson had a very balanced attack with four scorers in double figures. Cohen led the Wildcats with fifteen points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Czerapowicz also had fifteen points and six rebounds. De'Mon Brooks and Droney each had thirteen points. Davidson shot forty eight percent from the field and an impressive twenty four of twenty seven from the charity stripe. Davidson is now 15-7 overall and 10-1 in conference.

Collins led all scorers with twenty four points on ten of nineteen from the field. Cochran added fourteen points. And Faithfull, who played all forty minutes of the game, had eight points, nine assists and six rebounds. A truly solid all around performance for the Australian. Wofford is 8-15 overall and now 2-8 in conference.

As I left Wofford walking through the commons area, reveling in the good time I had last evening, I saw the coffee bar was still open. It was tempting, but I figured I would visit that the next time. The next time I am at Wofford, I hope to have my color analyst, aka my seven year old son Matthew with me. The thought of sitting with him in the commons after the game, going over the contest and watching another basketball game sounds really appealing. That is something that should be shared.

Still, I really enjoyed myself last night. Thanks Wofford for a fun experience.

Wildcats Show How It's Done (Recap of UNCG v. Davidson)

After watching the South Carolina State - South Carolina game, I took the now familiar drive from Columbia to Davidson to see the Wildcats play the Spartans of UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference play.  I parked in the same school parking lot across from the Brick House Tavern and made the again familiar walk on main street into Davidson town, then down to Belk Arena on the school campus.

After I walked in to the arena and the usher scanned my ticket, I pulled two dollars out of my pocket and preceded to walk straight to a small stand.  Before I was even up to the stand, the tall pretty short haired very friendly blonde at the stand said "Now there comes a man prepared".  She knew I was there to get my program and knew how much it cost.  Two dollars.  She told me De'Mon Brooks was the featured player in the program and thanked me.  Nineteen years ago, I might have struck up a conversation with her.  But I have a pretty long brown haired woman with two cute blonde haired kids waiting to move down to South Carolina with me.  They are my world, well that and college basketball.

Now it is early January and most colleges are not in session, as was the case with South Carolina earlier in the day.  Davidson was also the case, but unlike South Carolina, who had their cheerleaders, dance team and pep band, the Wildcats had none of the above.  So filling in for the pep band was a local cover group called Cradle Fish, composed of drummer/vocalist (who sang the national anthem), keyboard player, guitarist and bass player.  When they started out with Johnny B. Goode, I knew I we would get along just fine.

Davidson was coming off a nationally televised loss to #1 Duke on national TV on Wednesday.  The Wildcats were tied with the Blue Devils at the half before the Dukies clamped down on defense and won by seventeen.  Coming off a tough loss like that, you often don't know how a team will respond in their next game.

Davidson showed quickly that there was no hangover from their loss to Duke.  In what would be a common theme for the game, Jake Cohen scored the first five points of the game.   UNC Greensboro would not score their first basket until five minutes into the game.  By that time the score was 12-4 Wildcats.  Two Nik Cochran free throws and a Brooks dunk extended the Davidson lead to 16-4.

It was clearly evident six minutes into the game that you had two teams with different half court sets and mind frames.   Watching Davidson in their half court set is an absolute pleasure.   Not only do they move the ball around, the players are also in constant motion.   In fact during one play in the second half, you could clearly hear Bob McKillop yell out "Keep it moving!"   The Wildcats half court offense leads to either a lot of open three point looks, which they hit eight on the night, or back door layup opportunities (Davidson was 19 of 33 on two point field goals).

Meanwhile, at the outset, Wes Miller's UNCG team's half court offense needed some work.  It's not that they are not talented.   They may have been 2-9 on the season entering the game, but they had close losses at East Carolina, Rutgers and Virginia Tech.  Plus they won their only conference game, a thirty point home pasting of Citadel.   Last season, they won eleven of their last sixteen games and return their two top leading scorers, Trevell Simpson and Derrell Armstrong.   Plus they added a former CAA player I know well in fifth year senior forward Kelvin McNeil who played at Delaware for his first three seasons (averages six points and nearly seven rebounds per games).

And, for a brief time, the Spartans made a game of it.  They outscored the Wildcats 7-2 and after David Williams three pointer, UNC Greensboro was only down 18-11 with 11:21 left.  Perhaps they just needed a little time to get settled.

But for the rest of the game, the Spartans basically shot themselves in the foot on offense.  On most of their half court sets, UNC Greensboro barely used any of the shot clock and took a ton of off balanced, forced, bad shots.  Players would drive into double teams and put shots off the backboard, a couple of times off the side of the backboard.  And if not, then they would be called for an offensive foul.   It was like they had a bus to catch. Often you just cringed at what the Spartans put up.  Yes, it was that bad.

As you could guess, the result was Davidson and their precision offense started picking apart UNC Greensboro. Cohen nailed a three pointer to start a 17-7 run. Nik Cochran capped it with another three pointer to put the Wildcats up 35-18 with about three and half minutes left in the first half. Davidson would enter halftime with a 45-27 lead.

Cradle Fish was making my night. It's not often you hear a pep band, or in this case "a guest band" play Allman Brothers at halftime or "Another Brick in the Wall". But my favorite song they played was "Rambling Gambling Man" by Bob Seger. It's one of his lesser known songs, but it's a favorite of mine.

And Wes Miller must have felt like a rambling gambling man that was out of luck. His team apparently didn't listen to him at halftime. UNCG continued with their off balance, rushed shots. As a result, Davidson extended their lead to twenty one, 55-34 with about fourteen minutes left.

Then the Wildcats ended any Spartans' fans hopes of making the game respectable by outscoring the visitors 22-6 over the next seven and half minutes. JP Kuhlman buried a three pointer to put Davidson up 77-40 with six and a half minutes left in the game. Several Davidson fans started heading to the exits, secure in the knowledge that their team had won the game.

All that was left was De'Mon Brooks to score his 1000th career point on a free throw. Bob McKillop emptied his bench in the last few minutes of the game. Seldom used Connor Perkey finished the Wildcats' scoring with a layup and Davidson had a 85-53 win.

Cohen led five Davidson scorers in double figures with twenty points and eight rebounds. Brooks had fourteen points and seven rebounds. Cochran had twelve points, Tyler Kalinoski came off the bench to score eleven points and Kuhlman added ten points. Armstrong was the only Spartans scorer in double figures with seventeen points. Simpson, the Spartans leading scorer on the season, was held to seven points and only attempted seven field goal attempts.

As I walked back on a brisk Main Street to get back to my car, I thought to myself that I had a very good time. Another impressive Davidson win and I really enjoyed the "guest band". On a cold January night, the experience of a fun college basketball game keeps you warm.

UNCW Falls to Davidson’s Three Point Shooting Prowess (Recap of UNCW v. Davidson)

When you statistically take a look at the Davidson Wildcats, one statistic in particular stands out to you.  Entering their game yesterday, Davidson was the nineteenth ranked team in the country in three point percentage at 39.6 percent.  They average eight three pointers per game.  It stands to reason then that Davidson defeated Vanderbilt and West Virginia in the Old Spice Classic and the Wildcats were a handful in their close losses to New Mexico and Charlotte.

For the second week in a row, I went to Belk Arena on the lovely campus of Davidson College to watch the Wildcats host the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington.  But as I did last week with Matt Cayuela, I wanted to have dinner and a tasty beverage first.  But when I went to the Brick House Tavern, the place was packed and there were no spots at the bar, as there were the week before.

So I took a short walk to Main Street looking for a place to eat.  I found the Toast Café, saw the dinner menu on the board outside the restaurant and walked into the place.   There was a bar on the right hand side and a main dining error with more tables in the back.   Immediately a waiter and the hostess said they would be right with me.

  

The hostess led me to a small table in the back, midway between the main dining area and the smaller back dining area.  I liked the paintings done by local artists and the tapestry hanging on the wall.   When I first came in, there were a few people sitting at tables.  Within fifteen minutes, just about every table was filled, several with Davidson fans.  A sure sign that this was not only a local hangout, but a well liked restaurant as well.

I decided on the Prix Fixe menu; Caesar salad, chicken Marsala and what turned out to be a terrific brownie ice cream dessert.   I washed that delicious meal down with a Fat Tire beer.  The Toast Café in Davidson is very highly recommended by yours truly.

After the meal, I made the familiar walk down Concord Road to Belk Arena.   Before I went to my seat, I went to see my friend, Brian Mull, the terrific sports writer for the Wilmington Star and the beat writer for UNC Wilmington.  Brian was starting to tweet his fun facts about UNCW, as he does before every game, when I said hello.  We talked for about five minutes or so about the game, CAA, Atlantic Ten and Big East basketball as well as our families.  

After talking with Brian, I made my way to my seat on the other side of the arena.  My seat in section 106, Row G, was basically center court.   I took a picture of the seventeen Southern Conference Championship banners in the rafters and tweeted that to the few, the proud, the followers of my twitter account. 

Before the game, I also noted on my twitter account that if UNCW could gain an advantage on the boards, especially on the offensive end, the Seahawks would have a shot to win the game.   They needed that advantage to offset the three point advantage Davidson had. Coming into the game, UNCW was 288th in the country in three point field goal percentage at 28.7 percent.  The Seahawks only average four three point field goals per game.

Early on, UNCW was holding its own.  In the first eight and a half minutes, the Seahawks held the Wildcats scoreless from beyond the arc and Davidson was only 2 of 10 from the field.  The score was 9-9 with 12:30 left.

  

Keith Rendleman, the wonderful forward for the Seahawks, did his best to keep his team in the game in the first twelve minutes.  Rendleman scored ten points during that time frame.    He did it in various ways; layups, a sweet little face up outside jumper and his best was a one handed putback slam that tied the score early on at seven.

But you can only keep a good shooting team like Davidson down for so long.  First it was De’Mon Brooks working inside to put Davidson up to stay 13-9 with a couple of free throws and a basket.  Then the Wildcat three point barrage started.  Davidson would hit four three pointers over the last nine minutes and forty three seconds of the first half.   

Clint Mann was in the thick of things scoring nine straight points for the Wildcats who opened up a fourteen point lead, 35-21.  The Davidson student section started a large chorus of “You can’t stop him” and gave Mann a loud ovation when Mann took the bench late in the first half.   The Wildcats led at the half 35-23.

People ask me why I prefer to sit in the stands than sit on press row, which I do on occasion.  The main reason is that most of the time in the past two years, I am with my older son Matthew, which due to my family situation has been rare this season.  The other reason I tell them is that you get a better perspective from sitting in the stands, especially what other fans are thinking about the game and the players. 

Last night, I was sitting near several UNCW fans, who made the drive from Wilmington to Davidson.  Late in the first half, Seahawk guard Freddie Jackson drove the lane, stopped and nailed a short jumper.  A  UNCW fan behind me yelled “See, a little penetration will go a long way!”  Hearing the fan talk with his friend afterwards, apparently Jackson doesn’t drive the lane enough.

And that actually was a telling remark about the first half of play and the difference between the two teams.  Davidson passes the ball really well; quickly, sharply, looking for the open man on the defense.  It’s a trademark of a Bob McKillop coached team.  This often leads to open three point looks and as noted, the Wildcats are very good at hitting the three pointer.  

Meanwhile, the Seahawks struggle on offense.  As noted, they don’t have good three point shooting.  Also, the Seahawks, especially point guard Tanner Milson, dribbled the ball too much.  This allows the defense to concentrate on the ball handler and often results in forced shots with not much time left on the shot clock.  Such was the case for UNCW last night.

Just like last Saturday, there was another entertaining grade school basketball game at halftime.  Once the second half started, the Seahawks made their best run of the game.  Rendleman made a couple of layups while Milson buried two three pointers and hit a two point jumper in the span of barely over four minutes.  UNCW had gone on a 14-5 run to cut the Davidson lead to 40-37 with fifteen and a half minutes left.   During a timeout, the student section heartily sang along with Mariah Carey’s version of “All I Want for Christmas”.

Then the Wildcats’ Jake Cohen went to work, giving the student section an early Christmas present.  In the span of a little over four minutes, Cohen scored thirteen points, including six from the free throw line.  After a JP Kuhlman layup, the Wildcats had outscored the Seahawks 21-11.  Davidson was up 61-48 with about eight minutes left.  During the under eight media timeout, the entire crowd sang along to “Sweet Caroline”, which was their theme song during their magical run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament (remember it fondly from being at the Raleigh regional).

Rendleman and Cedrick Williams each hit jumpers to cut the lead briefly back to single digits, 61-52 with seven minutes left.  But once again, Davidson went back to its bread and butter, the three pointer to close the deal.  Chris Czerapowicz nailed two shots from beyond the arc and Cohen as well hit a three pointer.   The Wildcats had opened up a fourteen point lead, 70-56 with three and a half minutes to go in the game.

All that was left was the creative Davidson student section to start loudly singing “Silent Night”, which brought a lot of smiles and laughs from the crowd in my section.   It was fitting because UNCW was about to” sleep in heavenly peace” as far as the final score.  Davidson would eventually win 77-61.

Cohen led four Davidson scorers in double figures with twenty one points, most of which came in the second half. Brooks was a double double terror inside for the Wildcats, scoring fourteen points and adding twelve rebounds, six on the offensive end.  Mann had all thirteen of his points in the first half while Czerapowicz added fourteen points, including four three pointers. 

Rendleman led the Seahawks with twenty points and nine rebounds, but only two came on the offensive end.  He was double teamed all night and was forced to hit outside jumpers, which kept him from the glass.  Milson was the only other Seahawk in double figures with ten points.

UNCW shot the ball well, shooting forty seven percent and actually had more field goal attempts than Davidson (57-53).  But as Brian Mull so aptly put it, the view of their three point statistics told the difference.  UNCW was only 3 of 7 from beyond the arc while Davidson was 9 of 22.  That’s an eighteen point difference.  The margin of victory was sixteen.  Also the Seahawks were only 4 of 10 from the line (Rendleman was 2 of 6), while the Wildcats, the ninth ranked team in the country in free throw shooting at 78.3 percent, was 16 of 20.

After the game, I finally met Mid Majority Writer, Ian “The Machine” McCormack, who is ubiquitous in his coverage of South Carolina and North Carolina college basketball.   I have been an admirer of his work and we will be sitting together for the Appalachian State – South Carolina game on Wednesday.

I made my way back to my car which was in a school parking lot across from the Brick House Tavern.  After talking with my wife on the phone briefly, I drove my car over to the Brick House parking lot. I went into the Brick House and had a beer at the bar while waiting for Brian Mull to come by after he finished his work.   

Since there were no seats at the bar available, I was standing by the corner of the bar.  A few minutes in, a gentleman came up from behind me and said "Excuse me".  It was Coach McKillop.  He was out celebrating the win with his wife and his coaches.  I introduced myself as a fellow former Long Islander (read my previous article for Coach McKillop’s Long Island background) and we talked for a few minutes.  He described his team’s play last night as “efficient” and he couldn’t have been nicer.  I wished him a Happy Holidays and we toasted.    

Brian came by after he finished his article and we sat at the bar and talked for a while.  Mr. Mull knows his North Carolina basketball and we talked for seemingly a good hour.  Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and I told him I would certainly see him on February 9th for the Hofstra-UNCW game and some good barbecue.  Brian is good people.

I was smart enough to have had only one beer in three plus hours at the bar.  Also I had two coca colas before I left the bar, which was important because the caffeine more than kept me alert on the road.  Turns out I needed that caffeine.  About twenty minutes outside of Columbia on I-77, there was a deer in the middle of the darkened road.  I saw it just in time and honked.  The deer moved just enough as I swerved to the right to avoid it.   

Knowing my wife would be up, I called immediately to tell her what happened.  She picked up immediately and thought I had been in accident.  I told her I was fine and just wanted to share with her what happened.  You always hear of stories about cars hitting or nearly hitting deer late at night.  This was my first experience with that and a reminder that I wasn’t in Long Island anymore.

But no potential deer in the road will deter me from going to Davidson again for a Saturday night basketball game if the schedule warrants it.  Davidson is a wonderful college town with a cozy basketball arena, nice local surroundings and a good basketball team.   

And if you’re fortunate, you might literally run into the head coach at the local bar/restaurant after the game.