From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive Rise

Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:39 pm

Graduating Players
Charlie Gilmore (4.0 GPA) 3.4 ppg 1.0 rpg 1.6 apg 0.8 spg (64 games, 2 starts)
Allen Oliver (3.3 GPA) 14.3 ppg 2.3 rpg 4.7 apg 1.5 spg (64 starts)
Stephan Jennings (3.9 GPA) 1.1 ppg 0.1 rpg 0.1 apg 0.1 spg (18 games)
Jamal Cokley (3.3 GPA) 14.2 ppg 3.9 rpg 3.0 apg 2.2 spg 0.8 bpg (62 starts)
Terrance Babcock (3.4 GPA) 5.5 ppg 3.8 rpg 1.0 apg 0.7 spg 0.5 bpg (64 games, 27 starts)
Jon McNeill (3.8 GPA) 0.3 ppg 0.8 rpg 0.1 apg (12 games)*
____________
* Walk-on

Stats Leaders
Scoring: Jamal Cokley (16.2 ppg) Allen Oliver (15.7 ppg) Ahmad Swygart (13.8 ppg)
Rebounds: Peter Howard (5.2 rpg) Reggie Felix (4.8 rpg) Ahmad Swygart (4.0 rpg)
Assists: Allen Oliver (5.2 apg) Jamal Cokley (2.9 apg) Ahmad Swygart (1.7 apg)
Steals: Jamal Cokley (2.2 spg) Allen Oliver (1.6 spg) Ahmad Swygart (1.2 spg)
Blocks: Jamal Cokley (1.0 bpg) Ashmad Swygart (0.8 bpg) Reggie Felix (0.6 bpg)

Awards
Patriot League Player of the Year: Jamal Cokley
Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year: Jamal Cokley
Patriot League Coach of the Year: Tex Kauferhalter
1st Team All Patriot League: Jamal Cokley
2nd Team All Patriot League: Allen Oliver

APRIL 9, 1947 . . . The Board gave me a new contract, $84,000 per year for six years, to keep me here long term. I extended Jason Baxter’s contract as Associate Head Coach to four years at $63,000 per year, though he may retire sooner than that. Our other assistants will coach this year and then move on, as I cannot afford to meet everyone’s contract demands.

APRIL 16, 1947 . . . We got our final recruit commitment today from Jeremy Miles, a 6’5” guard from Commack, New York. Another guy with no other options beyond stepping down to Division II, Miles is going to come to Army instead and see if he has the ability to play at a level higher than expectations. He’s a solid overall athlete, with good passing and handling, and (according to my eye) better than average defensive skill. But most other coaches seemed to take him as a “what you see now is what you’ll get forever” kind of player with little upside. I aim to give him the chance to prove that perception wrong. He has a 4.0 GPA and chose us mostly on academic reputation, though he’s at least open to the discipline aspect as well.

From what I can tell thus far, I suspect we’ll have the best incoming class in the Patriot League when all is said and done, though it’s unlikely to be much higher than 200th nationally. Still, considering we were unable to get anyone outside the state of New York interested in us, we still did a damned find job bringing kids in who want to be here. Now it’s my job to mold them into the team that can dominate the Patriot League for years to come.


SEASON THREE
1947-48


Coach Information
Name: Rolf “Tex” Kauferhalter
Age / Record: 25 (42-25, .627)
Contract: $84,000 / 6 Years
NCAA Appearances: 2 (1946-1947)
NCAA Tourney Record: 1-2 (.333)
Patriot League Titles: 2 (1946-1947)
Patriot League Tourney Titles: 2 (1946-1947)
Patriot League Coach of the Year: 1 (1947)
Reputation: 15% (+4)
Offense: 22% (+2)
Defense: 67% (+5)
Recruiting: 25% (+5)
Scouting: 45% (+2)
Development: 26% (+4)

School Information
School: Army Black Knights
Location: West Point NY
Conference: Patriot League
Arena: Christl Arena (5,043 Cap)
Budget: $147,000 ($98,000 Assistants / $49,000 Recruiting)
Facilities: C
Academics: B+ (SAT Min: 960)
School Prestige: 20% (+5)
Conf. Prestige: 23% (-1)

Job Goals
1. Win the Patriot League Tournament.
2. Win 15+ Games.

Assistants
AHC: Jason Baxter (67, $63,000 / 4 years, Rep: 11%) - Recruiting (33%)
2nd: John Dean (39, $18,000 / 1 years, Rep: 10%) - Scouting (26%)
3rd: Tony Johnson (54, $17,000 / 1 years, Rep: 9%) - Development (21%)

MAY 29, 1947 . . . Kareem Lackey has washed out. He stuck with us through his redshirt year and then was apparently not happy with his playing time which is of absolutely no interest to me. If he’d wanted playing time he should have worked harder both on and off the court. With his exodus we will have six scholarship spots open for the new year, and will have an additional walk-on this season to compensate for his absence. Army will never recruit transfer players, due to our requirement that all cadets go through the complete program and then commit to the eight year service commitment.

SEPTEMBER 18, 1947 . . . Our first commit of this year’s recruiting class is official! Warren Prince, a 6’0” guard from East Greenbush, New York, is a two star prospect ranked inside the top 600 nationally, and he’s great with his handling and stealing, as well as when shooting from the outside. He has solid overall potential to go with his 2.9 GPA.

SEPTEMBER 25, 1947 . . . I got a committal from my top targeted prospect this morning -- Jeffrey Sullivan, a 6’6” guard / forward hybrid from Angola, New York, is a three star prospect ranked inside the top 300 nationally. He is a bit of a raw project, with above average defensive skills and great potential, but he works hard and has a 2.8 GPA. He chose us over St. Johns, I think his discipline will pay off when he finally gets to West Point.

As for our scheduling for the upcoming year, we’ve got the road trip to Syracuse on December 13th. They’re in the top ten of the preseason rankings, so that one is expected to be a very tough challenge. We’ll have Citadel coming to town on November 30th, with additional road games at Howard (11/19), Iona (11/26), Cornell (12/3), Niagara (12/7), Siena (12/10) and Manhattan (12/21). SO in general it’s a pretty tough schedule with seven of our eleven pre-conference games on the road.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Fri Mar 24, 2023 3:39 pm

Out Of Character Update: For those of you following this, I was right in expecting this to be a real challenge. The fun starts now though, since this will be the first season when I have five incoming players, and then next season I'll have six. Recruiting has been devilishly hard -- I have had little luck getting out of state players, and now that I am having to pay assistants more money it's going to be tough to recruit outside NY anyway due to budgetary restrictions. I have also tried to stick with real life Army rules ... i.e. no transfers or JuCo recruiting, since the academy requires all admitted cadets to do the full four years regardless of prior college experience. I am allowing redshirting because I have to allow something, lol ... but as we saw this year redshirting even at Army risks that if the player doesn't then become an immediate contributor after the redshirt they're likely to leave anyway, so even allowing my use of redshirting essentially is a risk that the players may transfer and then I have to fill the spot in an already difficult recruiting window.

It's going to be interesting to see if, now that I'm losing a lot of the initially generated players, our performance levels off -- how long will it take for the administration to grow unhappy with me if we don't keep winning the conference every year?
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby Wayne23 » Fri Mar 24, 2023 3:54 pm

Ehat do you have recruiting set at?
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:20 pm

Wayne23 wrote:Ehat do you have recruiting set at?


Hard right now, and I can barely get any kids to answer my phone calls based on that + my low recruiting rating as a coach. Just realized though that I f---ed up and recruited a JuCo last season that I did not realize was a JuCo lol ... but this year I have my recruiting screen set to block all JuCos, so it isn't going to happen again lol ... recruiting tends to take a lot longer now because I have to focus more intently on adding new players to my lists regularly while also making sure I can get answers to my questions on academics / discipline and playing close to home, the most important "cut" answers I use to judge if I can sign someone or not.

Forgot to mention my practice regimen ... We split our strategy points among Motion and Flex (85/15) and then are 100% Man to Man and 100% Full Court Man To Man ... with 100% set usage. Our practice time is split 30% Motion, 5% each for Flex and the three zone attacks, 25% on Man To Man and 25% on Full Court Man To Man.
Last edited by jksander on Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:33 pm

OCTOBER 9, 1947 . . . We added two more recruits to the list for the upcoming season. 6’8” forward Andy Marsh of Bath, New York, and 7’1” center Randy Harris of Buffalo, New York, have signed on to join us Army -- Marsh is a three star recruit with solid overall potential to go with a good ability to score inside as well as a decent defensive grounding in the basics, while Harris is incredibly athletic for a guy as big as he is, with an uncanny ability to score inside. He’s a bit raw defensively but has the wherewithal to want to become better, which is all I can ask for. Marsh is a top 350 player nationally, while I have Harris pegged in the top 600, so both slipped past a lot of discerning eyes and we were able to bring them here where I think they can both thrive.

Roster
PG - Ricardo Stetson (6’2” 195 lbs Jr) West Seneca NY (West Seneca West HS)*
SG - Chris Bailey (6’0” 170 lbs Jr) Oriskany NY (Oriskany Central HS) 4.0 GPA (2.0/3.0) 1.4 ppg 0.3 rpg 0.4 apg 0.2 spg
SF - Ahmad Swygart (6’7” 201 lbs Sr) Rennselaer NY (Rennselaer Middle HS) 3.4 GPA (5.0/5.0) 13.8 ppg 4.0 rpg 1.7 apg 1.2 spg 0.8 bpg
PF - Reggie Felix (6’6” 202 lbs So) Bristol VA (Virginia HS) 3.0 GPA (2.0/3.0) 6.1 ppg 4.8 rpg 1.3 apg 0.9 spg 0.6 bpg
C - Peter Howard (6’11” 241 lbs Sr) Honeoye Falls NY (Honeoye Falls Lima HS) 3.9 GPA (2.5/3.5) 5.5 ppg 5.2 rpg 1.4 apg 1.0 spg 0.3 bpg

6 - Ben Heard (6’6” 216 lbs Sr) Oakfield NY (Oakfield Alabama Central HS) 3.2 GPA (3.5/3.5) 2.9 ppg 2.8 rpg 1.6 apg 0.7 spg 0.4 bpg
7 - Kenny Cross (6’8” 243 lbs Sr) Afton NY (Afton Central HS) 2.9 GPA (2.0/3.5) 1.7 ppg 2.1 rpg 0.6 apg 0.3 spg 0.1 bpg
8 - Henry Akacem (6’10’ 269 lbs Sr) Brooklyn NY (St. Joseph’s HS) 4.0 GPA (2.5/3.5) 1.7 ppg 1.1 rpg 0.4 apg 0.2 spg 0.2 bpg
9 - Jeremy Miles (6’5” 208 lbs Fr) Commack NY (Commack HS) 4.0 GPA (2.0/4.0)
10 - Waitari Lloyd (6’3” 212 lbs Fr) Peru NY (Peru HS) 3.1 GPA (1.5/2.0)
11 - Sam Lindsey (6’8” 211 lbs Fr) Spencer NY (Spencer Van Etten Central HS) 3.0 GPA (1.5/3.5)
12 - Clarence Brown (6’4” 193 lbs So) Westhampton Beach NY (Westhampton Beach HS) 3.5 GPA (0.5/0.5) - 1.1 ppg 0.3 apg*
13 - Dan Lewis (6’8” 257 lbs Fr) Whitney Point NY (Whitney Point HS) 3.7 GPA (0.5/0.5)*
14 - Kevin Henry (6’7” 218 lbs So) Oneida NY (Oneida HS) 3.8 GPA (0.5/0.5)*
15 - Travis Willis (6’0” 200 lbs Fr) Leroy NY (Leroy Central HS) 3.5 GPA (0.5/0.5)
____________
* Walk-on

NOVEMBER 13, 1947 . . . Our starting lineup looks solid as usual, with Swygart and Howard expected to lead the way, and Felix looks to have put a lot of work in during the offseason as well. Ricardo Stetson signed on to play with us as a transfer from junior college, something that the Academy does not normally allow. But he has agreed to start out as a plebe within the academy and he’ll have to go through all four years of training and agree to the same eight year post-graduate service contract, and he’ll only have two years of eligibility to play for us. Heard, Cross and Akacem look the most likey to get minutes off the bench, though Miles, Lloyd and Lindsey look capable as freshmen. The rest of the team is basically on scout duty. Can we win 15+ games and repeat as conference champs? I think it’s possible, but this team is going to have to work harder to gel, as there are a lot more unproven pieces in the puzzle this year.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:36 pm

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
11/16          Fairleigh Dickenson       W 72-64         1-0             A. Swygart (19 pts 2 reb 3 ast 1 stl) R. Stetson (14 pts 2 reb 3 ast 1 blk)
11/19          @ Howard                  W 71-59         2-0             R. Stetson (17 pts 2 reb 2 ast 2 stl) R. Felix (15 pts 6 reb 5 ast)
11/23          La Salle                  L 77-87         2-1             R. Stetson (16 pts 3 reb 2 ast) A. Swygart (12 pts 3 reb 5 ast 2 stl 2 blk)
11/26          @ Iona                    L 73-74         2-2             A. Swygart (17 pts 2 reb 2 ast) P. Howard (15 pts 10 reb 4 stl 2 blk)
11/30          Citadel                   W 76-65         3-2             A. Swygart (27 pts 7 reb 1 ast) R. Stetson (15 pts 2 reb 4 ast)
12/3           @ Cornell                 W 86-69         4-2             A. Swygart (25 pts 9 reb 2 stl) R. Felix (12 pts 4 reb 1 ast 1 blk)


DECEMBER 4, 1947 . . . Cornell came into this game with a 4-1 record and a NET ranking inside the top 25, but we came onto their court and bruised them up 48-36 in the first half and then clamped down defensively to make sure they’d never recover. Swygart has taken a few games to really come into his own as a leader on the court, but based on his performances in this game and against Citadel on our court, I think he’s going to have a very special season. If he plays like this all year he has the potential to become the first 1,000 point career scorer since I got here.

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
12/7           @ Niagara                 W 70-57         5-2             A. Swygart (29 pts 7 reb 5 ast 2 stl) R. Stetson (11 pts 2 reb 3 ast 2 stl)
12/10          @ Siena                   L 60-70         5-3             A. Swygart (16 pts 4 reb) R. Felix (7 pts 8 reb 1 ast 1 blk)
12/13          @ #7 Syracuse             L 40-63         5-4             R. Felix (11 pts 9 reb 2 ast 2 stl) P. Howard (8 pts 5 reb 2 stl)
12/21          @ Manhattan               L 58-59         5-5             A. Swygart (15 pts 5 reb 1 stl) R. Felix (13 pts 6 reb 1 ast 2 stL)
12/28          Fairfield                 W 66-55         6-5             A. Swygart (22 pts 4 reb 3 ast 2 blk) P. Howard (8 pts 6 reb)


JANUARY 4, 1948 . . . No one in our conference has a NET ranking above 100, though Lehigh and American each lead the league with 8-4 records thus far and our 6-5 record is paired with a Patriot League best #105 NET rank. Colgate (3-8, 324 NET), Loyola MD (1-10, 352 NET) and Boston University (0-11, 353 NET) are dragging us all down. As per usual this league looks completely up in the air, as records can be deceiving when it comes to playing everybody twice over the next two months.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby PointGuard » Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:02 pm

Beyond using m-2-m defense, it seems Army should also have an Annihilate defense. And maybe a Shock and Awe offense.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Fri Mar 24, 2023 11:10 pm

PointGuard wrote:Beyond using m-2-m defense, it seems Army should also have an Annihilate defense. And maybe a Shock and Awe offense.


That, good Sir, is hilarious ;)
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:19 pm

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
1/4            Lafayette                 W 79-70         7-5 (1-0)       A. Swygart (24 pts 7 reb 3 ast) R. Stetson (23 pts 2 reb)
1/7            @ Loyola MD               L 58-77         7-6 (1-1)       A. Swygart (15 pts 4 reb 2 ast 2 stl) R. Stetson (12 pts 2 ast 2 stl)
1/11           Holy Cross                W 67-57         8-6 (2-1)       A. Swygart (17 pts 8 reb 1 ast) P. Howard (13 pts 5 reb)
1/14           @ American                L 64-74         8-7 (2-2)       A. Swygart (24 pts 8 reb 1 ast 3 stl) R. Felix (12 pts 4 reb 1 ast 1 stl)
1/18           Colgate                   W 61-48         9-7 (3-2)       A. Swygart (13 pts 8 reb 2 ast 3 stl) R. Stetson (14 pts 1 reb 1 ast)
1/21           @ Navy                    W 70-66         10-7 (4-2)      A. Swygart (23 pts 3 reb 4 ast) R. Stetson (21 pts 2 reb 6 ast)
1/25           Bucknell                  W 62-57         11-7 (5-2)      A. Swygart (15 pts 8 reb 4 ast 1 blk) R. Felix (10 pts 6 reb 1 ast)
1/28           @ Lehigh                  L 64-68         11-8 (5-3)      A. Swygart (20 pts 4 reb 3 ast) R. Felix (12 pts 9 reb 2 blk)


FEBRUARY 1, 1948 . . . Heading into the Boston University game near the Patriot League season’s midpoint, we’re 5-3 in-conference and two games behind the Terriers, who have stunned everyone by starting out 7-1 in the conference after their abysmal 0-11 start to the year. We’re still by far the better team in the NET, just inside the top 100, while theirs is a miserable 257th, so based on our solid performance in close games and our adherance to a defensive regemin that has us ranked 56th nationally in points allowed per game, I think we’re in good position to continue our solid Patriot League run. Swygart (18.5 ppg) and Stetson (11.4 ppg) are leading the team at the moment, and Swygart broke the 1,000 point barrier in our game at Lehigh.

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
2/1            Boston University         W 77-74         12-8 (6-3)      A. Swygart (24 pts 7 reb 1 stl 1 blk) R. Stetson (21 pts 3 ast 1 stl)
2/4            @ Lafayette               L 50-70         12-9 (6-4)      A. Swygart (19 pts 3 reb 1 ast) W. Lloyd (9 pts 2 reb 1 ast)
2/8            Loyola MD                 W 80-60         13-9 (7-4)      A. Swygart (27 pts 4 reb 5 ast) C. Bailey (12 pts 2 reb 8 ast)
2/11           @ Holy Cross              L 66-76         13-10 (7-5)     A. Swygart (25 pts 3 reb 1 ast) P. Howard (10 pts 2 reb 1 ast)
2/15           American                  W 66-55         14-10 (8-5)     A. Swygart (19 pts 5 reb 2 ast 1 blk) R. Stetson (17 pts 6 ast 1 stl)
2/18           @ Colgate                 W 74-58         15-10 (9-5)     R. Stetson (21 pts 5 reb 2 ast) A. Swygart (19 pts 5 reb 3 blk)


FEBRUARY 19, 1948 . . . Four games remain in the conference schedule and we’re currently at 9-5 with a #78 NET, just a game back of Lafayette (16-9, 10-4, #83 NET) who we’ve split our two matchups against. We’re currently in a three way tie with Holy Cross and Boston University, and only a game ahead of Lehigh and Bucknell, and American’s Eagles are in 7th place at 7-7 in the conference. So winning these four games is critical or we have the potential to slid significantly in the standings. Right now that Lafayette loss on the road by twenty points is by far our worst non-Syracuse loss of the season and it could be the difference in who wins the Patriot League this year.
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Re: From WWII to the NCAAs: "Tex" Kauferhalter's Defensive R

Postby jksander » Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:19 pm

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
2/22           Navy                      W 70-48         16-10 (10-5)    A. Swygart (21 pts 10 reb 2 blk) R. Felix (7 pts 5 reb 3 ast)
2/25           @ Bucknell                L 73-82         16-11 (10-6)    A. Swygart (25 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 stl) R. Stetson (13 pts 2 reb 3 ast)
3/1            Lehigh                    W 67-50         17-11 (11-6)    A. Swygart (17 pts 12 reb 4 ast 3 stl) R. Felix (12 pts 5 reb 2 blk)
3/4            @ Boston University       W 73-61         18-11 (12-6)    A. Swygart (21 pts 6 reb 3 ast) R. Felix (15 pts 8 reb 2 ast 1 stl)


Lafayette won their last four games while we went 3-1, and since we lost at Bucknell and finished tied with them in the standings, we’ll go into the Patriot League Tournament seeded 3rd. Lehigh and Holy Cross both finished tied for fourth, and American finished sixth with a 10-8 conference record. Boston University slid to seventh with a 9-9 record in-conference and a 9-20 record overall. Colgate finished last by far, with a 4-25 (1-17) record and ranked 353rd in the NET.

Patriot League Tournament

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
3/6            (6) American              W 57-49         19-11           A. Swygart (12 pts 8 reb 3 ast 3 stl) R. Stetson (15 pts 3 ast 2 stl)
3/7            (2) Bucknell              W 66-58         20-11           A. Swygart (14 pts 3 reb 3 ast) R. Stetson (14 pts 1 reb 1 ast)
3/8            (1) Lafayette             L 58-67         20-12           A. Swygart (21 pts 9 reb 2 ast) R. Stetson (9 pts 2 reb 2 ast)


MARCH 9, 1948 . . . We went into the rematch with Lafayette overly confident after beating Bucknell and the Leopards took over in the second half, taking a one point lead at the half and turning it into a nine point defeat for our Black Knights, ending our hopes of making the NCAA Tournament as we were well off the bubble despite our 62nd ranked NET. We expect to get an invite for the NIT, however, which gives us the chance to prove we’re better than our poorer than usual Patriot League performance would suggest.

MARCH 13, 1948 . . . Lafayette got into the NCAA with an 11-seed, thanks to their automatic bid, where they’ll face (6) South Carolina in the first round. We were invited to the NIT, where we’ll have the 5th seed in the East Region, earning an opening round game against (4) Iowa. Four Patriot League teams made it into the bottom tier Collegiate Insider Tournament -- (5) Holy Cross will face (4) Western Carolina in the Midwest Region, (3) Lehigh will play (6) St. Francis (NY) in the South Region, (7) American will challenge (2) Long Beach State, also in the South Region, and (5) Bucknell will take on (4) Illinois-Chicago in the West Region. Not a bad showing for our tiny conference! We may be a one-bid league in the NCAA tournament, but this shows that there are plenty of solid teams in the Patriot League.

National Invitational Tournament

Code: Select all
Date    Rank   Team                      Score           W/L Record      Key Players
3/13           (4) Iowa                  W 73-53         21-12           R. Stetson (19 pts 2 reb 5 ast 1 stl) A. Swygart (17 pts 4 reb 2 ast 2 stl)
3/15           (1) Ohio State            W 67-65         22-12           A. Swygart (33 pts 7 reb 1 ast 3 stl) R. Stetson (8 pts 7 ast 1 blk)
3/20           (3) Clemson               W 66-59         23-12           A. Swygart (19 pts 9 reb 2 ast) R. Stetson (11 pts 1 reb 6 ast 2 stl 1 blk)
3/28           (1) Utah                  W 81-65         24-12           A. Swygart (30 pts 5 reb 1 ast 1 stl) R. Stetson (18 pts 3 reb 5 ast 2 stl)
3/30           (5) Jackson State         W 73-62         25-12           R. Stetson (25 pts 4 ast 3 stl 1 blk) A. Swygart (15 pts 9 reb 2 ast 1 stl)


MARCH 17, 1948 . . . We opened the NIT on a real tear, blasting past an Iowa team that seemed completely let down to be in the NIT and not the NCAA Tournament, and it showed -- we led by just three at the half, 33-30, but that was enough to completely break them as we won by twenty. We then followed it up with an amazing comeback win over Ohio State, using a 33 point career high by Ahmad Swygart to outscore the Buckeyes 38-33 in the second half, allowing us to advance to the next round in a shocking upset. Lehigh was the only team from our conference to get out of the Collegiate Insider Tournament’s first round when they beat St. Francis (NY) by a 77-63 margin, but they then lost to Long Beach State 64-74. Lafayette was competitive for about ten minutes against the Gamecocks of South Carolina, but they were sorely outmatched and the 67-83 result pretty much said it all -- the game was never really that close.

MARCH 21, 1948 . . . Last night’s win over Clemson puts our program in the NIT National Semifinals for the first time ever! We led 33-29 at the half and never let up on defense as we made their lives completely miserable on offense. This was a more rounded team effort, with four starters players in double figures. They played a deeper bench than ours, which was the only thing that kept them competitive considering our starters outscored theirs 58-31.

MARCH 29, 1948 . . . “Doin’t just be happy to be here!” I told the team before we took the floor against Utah, a team I was confident we matched up with well. “Play our game and we’ll dominate this one and get into the title game! Think of it as just another hill to claim in battle.” We went out and did exactly that, dominating from the start as we put together one of our most complete games of the season. Leading by as many as 18 points late, we won the game 81-65 to advance to the title game behind another 30 point game from Swygart along with another 18 points from Stetson.

MARCH 31, 1948 . . . This one stayed close for about ten minutes, but once we pulled away Jackson State was never back in it. We led 39-29 at the half and though they fought us hard through the second half, a career night for Ricardo Stetson made us a tough team to stop. We won this game 73-62 and we’ll be hanging an NIT Championship banner at Christl Arena in time for the start of the new season in the fall!

APRIL 4, 1948 . . . Weve signed our fifth recruit for the upcoming season. Troy Butler, a 6’3” guard from Wheeling, West Virginia, is a two star recruit ranked just outside the top 600, with solid athleticism, good defensive skills and overall above average potential. He’s looking for a disciplined environemt and hopes to get good playing time, which is a distinct possibility considering how much turnover we’re going to have in the fall. We’ll see how well he handles his plebe year, however, since he’s coming in with a 2.4 GPA (though he got a 960 SAT score so he did qualify academically. He may need to redshirt, however, to fully come up to the Army standard. We have one open scholarship remaining.

In a battle of 2-seeds, Texas took on Wisconsin and fell short by a 65-74 margin, after beating Big Ten rival (9) Illinois in the National Semifinals by a tight 81-75 margin. Texas had upended (1) Oklahoma 83-69 to get to the title game, so it was a good year for the Big Ten and the Big 12.
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