Road to the Final Four

[fabfries]

Second Week
We had a pretty hard second week, but I think we fared alright for our expectations. We went 2-2, but we were only favored in one game. We're now ranked 12th in the nation - I don't know how I'll be able to keep this up!

W 91-75 vs. #18 South Carolina (Hawaiian Shootout)
L 62-69 vs. #11 Winston-Salem
W 83-82 vs. Eastern Kentucky
L 55-68 @ Ohio St.

The S.C. game was a signature victory for us, as we established ourselves as a real threat to make the Sweet 16, in my opinion. Roach and Horton played best in that game. Then, Winston-Salem came into town and edged us out by seven. We only had 1/3 chance to win, according to our scouts. They have a senior SF, Glen Thornton, who is already a three-time All-American and has stayed for his senior year. We held him to a season-low 24 points! Next, we played a scary game against Eastern Kentucky in which no team had more than a 5 point lead the whole game. We eventually took care of business on a bad shooting night. Townes won player of the game. At Ohio St., we struggled to score and lost to a better team.

[fabfries]

Third/Fourth Weeks
We took care of business the last two weeks, going undefeated while averaging over 80 points a game during that span. We seem to be clicking as a team and we're still ranked 12th. Todd Townes is getting 15.3 ppg, Horton with 4.6 apg, Dan Carnes with 6.3 rpg as our leaders in the three main categories.

W 80-72 vs. VMI
W 87-79 vs. Teaneck
W 85-70 vs. New Brunswick
W 79-69 vs. Army

Against VMI, we cruised to an easy victory while going 1 for 19 on three pointers. Carnes went for 16 and 10. We then got past Teaneck, as Raphael Horton scored 20 points on 8 shots, showing why he deserves his starting spot. Townes added 24. Our second N.J. team we played was New Brunswick, from the Eastern 10 Conference. Townes went for 23, While Roach added 18 and 7. It was a pretty easy win. Our last game was against the atrocious 1-7 Army Black Warriors. Roach showed his skill, going for 21 and 7 on 13 shots. Ernest Bussey scored 12 off the bench. Raphael Horton scored 7 and dropped 8 assists. Statistically, we are not a great team, but we are winning.

[fabfries]

Fifth/Sixth Weeks
In the last two weeks, we've been performing as expected. Our sole loss was to a Spokane team that is now ranked in the top 25. As for us, we are 17th, sitting at 12-3. We have an RPI rank of 42. This is a tournament team, at least it's looking that way.

L 66-70 @ Spokane
W 87-75 vs. Cal-SLO
W 95-88 @ Mississippi
W 79-75 vs. Akron

The Spokane game was a tough loss, but they played better than us all night. They led by as much as 20 at one point, before we crawled our way back into it. It was too late, though. Roach was a bright spot, going for 20 and 7 on 14 shots. That might not seem terribly efficient, but he played better than anyone on our side that night and as good as anyone on their side. We weren't favored, either. We returned home to get a breather against Cal-SLO, as they never led. Roach put in 25, and Townes and Horton combined for 25 points and 7 assists. We traveled to Mississippi to play the Mavericks. Although they led by 17 at one point, we ended up winning by seven. Derrick Roach was lethal, going for 30 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds - his best effort of the season. Ash, Townes, and Horton went for double figures. Townes got a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, a hard feat for a guard. The win against Akron came harder, as we shot badly. Roach was the exception, putting in 23 points while Townes added 14 and Ash went for 10 points and 12 rebounds. In the game, backup guard Byars broke his foot on an awkward fall trying to avoid a charge. He's out for a month, and Brent Dudley, the (talented) freshman walk-on is coming to replace him. Dudley scored 5 points in 7 minutes tonight, so hopefully he can continue to be that productive in a regular role.

[fabfries]

Conference
In our conference schedule, we went 6-8 - a pretty poor mark that I am disappointed with. The highlight of our season was beating #5 Syracuse. Other than that, it was hard and forgettable. We shot the ball simply awfully, as our younger guys need to learn the system a bit better. But, I'm hoping that Dane Riggins will be able to give us a true dominant force inside. Right now, we sit at 19-12. Our tourney chances are really a toss-up - I'm not sure how we'll fare. We have enough quality wins and a hard strength of schedule, but some of our losses against in-conference foes were hard to justify. We have beaten #5 Syracuse, #14 South Carolina, and a few other good schools.

We earned a 5 seed in the conference tournament, where we played Villanova and won, 86-80. The next day, we played Syracuse, and lost 99-100. That's not a joke. We matched up with them so well all year, losing 84-87 at their place in overtime. Our guys came up so clutch towards the end of regulation, but we couldn't close it out. The loss stings, as I really feel like we played better every time we played them.

[fabfries]

Postseason
We earned a #2 seed in the AIT. I'm disappointed with it. We made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Nevada, 69-78.

W 85-71 vs. (7) Lamar
W 87-70 vs. (3) Dallas
L 69-78 vs. (4) Nevada

A truly forgettable second half of the year. A few good moments, but I have to say I wanted more. We return four of our starting five.

South Carolina, who we beat, seeded 3rd in the MNA, lost in the first round to Cal St. Northridge.
Teaneck, who we beat, seeded 13th in the MNA, made it to the Sweet 16 miraculously.
Spokane, who we lost to, seeded 5th in the MNA, lost in the first round to 12th seeded Oregon, who made a cinderella run to the Final Four.
Winston-Salem, who we lost to, seeded 2nd in the MNA, lost to Florida in the Sweet 16.
Pittsburgh lost in the first round to 11th seeded Georgia.

Final Four: (3) Syracuse, (12) Oregon, (4) New Mexico, (1) Tennessee -- Syracuse won it all. We went 1-2 against them, but in total outscored them in the series. It shows our potential. I'm excited for next year.

[Magic Bird]

Tough break ending up on the wrong side of the bubble. It sounds like your team may have been the sort of Jekyll/Hyde team that plays well and beats good opponents yet plays poorly and loses to bad opponents. At least you return a stellar young backcourt and welcome a solid recruiting class to the team next year. I predict the Buccaneers will make a run in the Big Dance next season.