I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Who would have thought a week ago that we'd be playing in the Championship game of the Big South tournament? Presbyterian is fired up having eliminated one upstart last night, and having had High Point removed from their path. They aren't about to let another 2nd division team take away their (quoting their team captain Justin Harris in the Asheville morning paper here) "destiny". What no one on their team is saying, but which the coaching staff probably realizes, even with their pretty record, their RPI is too low for them to have any lock on getting into any tournament by invitation, so they are looking at the same situation as we are. Win, or play Yachtzee for the next 4 weeks.

Our only game against the Blue Hose this season was at their place, where a horrendous first 6 minutes of the game and poor free-throw shooting throughout cost us a chance at the end. We did come back in the 2nd half to cut the lead to 1, but lost by 6 in the end.

Without Woods, our defense must be worlds better this time around (they shot 53.6% against us the first time around) and we can't afford to take even one minute off in the contest, let alone 6. Because of the inside presence of Crider and our much shortened bench, we are going to try to start this game in zone see if we can have the sort of success with it we've had in recent contests. Porter will start for the first time this season in place of Woods, and West will start in place of Evans to keep him fresh in case we are forced to play him at the 2 early. 1 or 2 more guys at the deep end of the bench may get the chance to play hero tonight. If so, I hope they are ready and respond to the opportunity the way Robert Myers has in this tournament.

We played about even with them for the 1st 12 minutes, but then they started finding the seams in our zone too easily and began to pull away. We switched to Man for the last 8 minutes. Our man defense really wasn't much better, but we shot the ball so well towards the end that we keep it close, and at the half only trail by 2 38-40. I'm not sure how we are going to do anything with Crider, but we need to do a better job on their 2 Jackson who started getting hot after we went to man. On the offensive end we need to cut down the turnovers. 8 in the first half is more than we can afford, and we have so little margin of error tonight.

at the first media timeout they've increased the lead to 6 and Jackson continues to hurt us in the man. Also Brown and Sheals both now have two fouls trying to guard Crider, so it's time to go back to zone and try to cool Jackson's heels.

By 11;40 we've narrowed the gap to 1, and are still hanging in. The Hose have started turning over the ball a bit which has helped. They do no have an offensive board yet this game either, and continuing to pound the boards is crucial. They shoot the ball too well against us to give them more than one crack at the basket.

At the 6:40 mark we are still hanging in and have tied the game at 60. Their shooting has cooled off since we went back to zone. We need to dig deep.

At 3:15 we are still hanging in, down 2. Time for a real gut check. at 1:52, after we turn it over they have gotten the lead back up to 6, and we call time. Porter nails a 3 out of the timeout to cut the lead in half at 1:45. At 1:32 they throw the ball away. No need to panic, I yell at Lemeke to be patient and make sure we get a good shot. We have just 1 TO left. We get 3 cracks at the basket with good looks but come up empty. :46 left.. we need a big stop....Porter fouls at :36. Only our 6th, but now with only 1 second difference between game and shot clock, we need to foul.. no real good options here, but we don't want to foul one of their guards. Crider gets the ball and we foul immediately at :30. Crider makes the first, but misses the bonus and we don't box out!!! they get the rebound and kick it back out. We foul Jackson at :26.. not our best option. He makes both free throws for a 2 possession game. We call our last time out at :21. We call Porter's number again. He misses this time and they get the rebound. We foul at :08 but down 6, it's all but over. They hit the first freethrow to seal the deal. They make the 2nd as well. Myers hit's a 3 at :04 and with no timeouts we desperately try to steal the inbounds pass, but aren't able to do it, and the season ends.

In the locker room our guys are very disappointed and dejected. I tell them I'm glad they are disappointed because it means they care. And that alone will take us far next season. Too many times this year we got beat by teams that HAVEN'T won 19 games or even close to it, and we DIDNT seem to care at all. You should get MAD when you lose. 4 games ago they were ready to see the season be over, and now they are unhappy it has ended. That's a big tournaround in a week's time, and a very positive one. I then tell them that I'm sad to see them dejected ,however, because they shouldn't be. All I asked before the game is that win or lose they leave the floor with their heads held high knowing they gave their all. They did, in fact giving the adversity we had, not only going into this tournament, but the extreme adversity we had going into the championship game, I tell them they gave it MORE than their all...they put their hearts and souls into the game, and that is all that anyone can ever ask of them... in basketball, and in life. I then call on the 3 seniors individually and tell them how much I will miss them next season, and thank them for their efforts day in and day out. It wasn't always a happy place to be in our locker room, but those 3 seniors as much as anyone gave consistent efforts and leadership throughout and they will indeed be missed.

Porter had 20 in a game where he knew he had to be the goto guy.
Brown took a giant leap forward with 13 points and 7 rebounds against arguably the league's best center.
Lemeke added 11 pts and 3 asts in his final game as a Bulldog.
William's swansong was a good one as well, with 5pts, 7 rebs, and 3 steals.
Evans gave use 9 points including a couple of huge 3s near the end that kept us in the hunt.
West and all the rest gave us positive contributions. Myers continued his sudden metamorphosis with 8 pts and 4 asts in 18 minutes. He could well be our starting point guard next season.

It was a sad, but memorable and optimistic finish to what otherwise would have just been another dismal season at old G-W.

Final score: Blue Hose 78, Runnin' Bulldogs, 73

[CoachC]

After a couple of days off, we return to practice with the returning players and the seniors happily stick around to help out when asked. Our focus during the next few weeks while we can still legally practice will be primarily on the Amoeba Zone.

[CoachC]

Everyone in the conference is hoping that Presbyterian can avoid a play in game in the tournament, but with an RPI of 120 i'm not so sure. They will likely be a 16 seed regardless.

[CoachC]

I'm pleasantly surprised on selection Sunday to see Presbyterian actually get a 15 seed in the tournament. They'll face the 2 seed Kansas. I'm rather shocked and upset to see that High Point doesn't get an invitation to the NIT. They deserved it, and their RPI was high enough. Doesn't make any sense at all. Instead they will be a top seed in the CIT. I call Coach Thompson and commiserate with him over the injustice, and wish him well in the CIT. Damned NCAA and their old boy network.

[CoachC]

3/14 High Point knocks off Furman in their CIT opener 61, 55. Go get em, Roy!

[CoachC]

3/17 Presbyterian gets down by 21 in the first half vs Kansas, but plays them even in the 2nd half for pride points.

[CoachC]

3/19 The injuries to Woods and Gilchrist have healed well enough now that both are cleared to return to practice.

[CoachC]

3/21
High Point loses to Miami(FL) in the 2nd round of the CIT 76-58 after being with 3 at the half. They just couldnt get Jones enough help in the 2nd half on offense.

[CoachC]

East Carolina and South Carolina both lose as 11 seeds in the first round (yay! mainly because we have to recruit against them). The Tarheels lose TO an 11 seed in the first round (much bigger YAY!). NC St gets bludgeoned by Kansas in the 2nd round...(YAY! they actually lost to the Jayhawks by the same margin the Blue Hose did). Top seed and top ranked Duke advances to the Final Four (BOOOO!) along with 2 seed Auburn, and 1 seeds UConn and Maryland. Looks like the selection committee came pretty close to being right with the top seeds this year at least.

[Wayne23]

12 wins is great with the team you had, Coach. Better days are coming.

Someone messaged me asking how to print rosters (or anything else, I guess). Any idea if this can be done, and if it can, how?