Delaware

Welser Wonders: A Weekly College Hoops Column

Joel Welser — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:05:04 -0800

The Holidays are over and that means it is time to concentrate on basketball. I have recovered from watching 32 crappy bowl games and hope to soon recover from my wii tennis elbow to bring you a glimpse into what Welser Wonders…

…what happened to the expected improvement from Conference USA? We all knew Memphis would be good, but we also expected some improvement from the rest of the conference. UAB and Houston were supposed to be looking at an NCAA bid and teams like Tulsa and UCF could have worked their way into consideration. Heading into the week, C-USA has the 11th ranked conference RPI. That’s not very good if they want a second team to make the dance.

Outside of Memphis, the conference went 86-61 in out of conference play and generally that was not against a very tough schedule. UAB, barely cracking the top 100, has the second best RPI in the conference. Yet, unless they beat Memphis a couple times, they are not going to be able to get the quality win they need to reach the NCAA Tournament. Their best win is against Cincinnati and the rest of the conference is way too mediocre to help boost their RPI or get them a quality win. So we may have an NCAA Tournament champion coming out of a one-bid league. Even when UNLV won it all out of the Big West in 1990, New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara received at-large bids.

…who is going to watch the new post season tournament? Well, I will. But I even have my tivo set for the St. Francis (PA) and Mount St. Mary’s game, so what won’t I watch. The College Basketball Invitational, brought to you by the folks from the Gazelle Group who put together such in-season tournaments as the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic and the CBE Classic among others, pairs 16 teams who failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and most likely failed to make the NIT as well, to give us the 98th best team in the nation. The opening round games are on March 18th and 19th, which is precisely when we should all be watching game tape and filling in our brackets for the real tournament.

Coming off the bowl season, the CBI simply adds more pointless post season play to the college landscape. Extra days of practice are good for building for the future and all, but this is supposed to be basketball. We aren’t supposed to do meaningless postseason games like football. Possibly the most bizarre thing of it all, and something that is definitely not associated with college sports, is the setup of the final. The final two teams will play a best of three series. The only thing worse than watching Michigan play Oregon State in March is watching Michigan play Oregon State twice or, God forbid, three times.

I won’t complain about some of the seeding for a mock bracket, but the 2007 bracket released by the CBI contains teams who barely broke the .500 mark like Iowa, Connecticut, Oklahoma and LSU. I just don’t see who is going to care about this tournament. I don’t think Sooner fans are going to be excited not to make the NIT. Even Akron, who totally deserved a home game in this mock bracket by the way, should feel snubbed by the NIT. This is a team that a few days before their first CBI game would have had NCAA hopes…and a couple days later had hopes to make the NIT. Their consolation prize for missing out on the consolation prize is the CBI? If anybody misses out on the NIT, maybe it is just best to say our goodbyes and wait until next year to see them again.

…what is in the water in Newark, Delaware? The Blue Hens have fought their way to a 5-0 conference start with wins over top Colonial Athletic Association teams George Mason, Drexel and Old Dominion. The non-conference record is bad and losses to Central Connecticut State and Iona will not impress anybody, but Delaware has stepped it up for conference play. The CAA is looking like a one-bid league this year, so it will all come down to the conference tournament and the Blue Hens have the early leg up for the top seed.

Wednesday’s game at 4-1 VCU may tilt the conference in favor of the Rams, but Delaware has already proven that they will be a player in the CAA this year.

…why nobody has noticed that Presbyterian has gone undefeated on the season at home against Division I opponents? Among trips to Columbus, Lincoln, Clemson, Raleigh and Athens, the Blue Hose managed to get two home-and-home series against DI teams. Who cares if the team is 0-20 on the road right now? For the folks in Clinton, South Carolina, their beloved team is undefeated in the Templeton Center. PC claimed their first D-I victory over Radford 66-64 in early December on a late Al’Lonzo Coleman layup. Over a month later the team returned home and dismantled Army 52-35 in front of a sell-out crowd. That’s 2,500 people in the Templeton Center, one-fourth of the town’s population. The DI competition heading to Clinton has dried up until next season and the Blue Hose have already ended their home season against DI opposition undefeated. At the end of the year Presbyterian will join the likes of Memphis and North Carolina on the list of teams that have not lost a home game all year long against a DI team. The team has three more home games against lesser level competition left this season.

The Blue Hose have been getting a lot of attention as a new provisional DI Independent and future member of the Big South mostly because they are the Blue Hose. So what is a blue hose? At one point the team was known as the Blue Stockings and instead of going with the more traditional ‘Sox,’ Presbyterian went with the hose instead. Not as cool as it could be, but if you have a bunch of blue hoses in your shed, write Presbyterian on the side and sell them as thunder sticks.

…when the undefeated teams will lose? We are down to three undefeated teams with North Carolina, Kansas and Memphis all sporting a goose egg in the loss column. The Tar Heels toughest game may be next Wednesday at Miami until the season finale at Duke. With the level of competition in the ACC, UNC will slip on the road at some point against Georgia Tech, Florida State, Virginia, NC State or Boston College. Kansas does not have an easy path to perfection either. Saturday they head to Missouri. If the Jayhawks get by the Tigers, the next big step (and possibly the biggest of the year) is February 11th in Austin.

We know C-USA is pretty bad and that leaves Memphis with the best shot at remaining undefeated. Besides some so-so conference match-ups, Memphis hosts Gonzaga and Tennessee and that will provide the real test. However, both games are at home and Gonzaga is not that great and Tennessee has not looked as sharp as expected despite the 14-1 record. It is so tough to go undefeated during the regular season, even if you are in C-USA, but Memphis probably has the best shot at pulling it off that we have seen in quite some time.

The Bottom 5: College Basketball's Worst Teams

Jason Tomassini — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:14:25 -0800

There are 336 Division I basketball programs. Four have not yet won a game this season. That means there are no more than four students in the country who are covering winless Division I men’s basketball teams for their college. I am one of those students.

Now, I don’t know about the managing sports editors at Iona, Southern University and St. Francis (NY), but I am a massive college basketball fan. March is unequivocally the best month of the year, I can watch any basketball game between any two teams and still enjoy it, etc.

But while my love for the game might be common, my anguish can only really be shared by three other people in America. I’ve seen all of Delaware’s seven games this season and watched them lose each time.

We are 0-7, same as Iona and two better than Southern and St. Francis. I would say if Iona and Delaware were to meet, us Fightin’ Blue Hens would definitely have the edge though. We only lost to Vermont by 2, Iona lost to them by 13 and we only lost to Rider by 10 while the pathetic Gaels fell to their conference rival by 14. Iona may have the advantage because they went to the NCAA tournament last season while the Hens only won nine games (although they did beat Drexel in the CAA tournament, but I digress).

If for some reason you’re still reading this, you are probably wondering why I care if my school’s 0-7 basketball team is better than another 0-7 team, but it’s important. It’s pretty obvious just by looking at this site that people take a lot of pride in college basketball. So, for me, to be at the bottom of the entire Division I (and having to go to every freaking game) is not only disappointing, it’s downright devastating.

None of us are ever going to be “on the bubble,” paying extra attention to Selection Sunday. There will be no chance at an automatic bid or diaper dandies and there sure as hell won’t be any Blue Hens making Greg Gumbel cry on One Shining Moment at the end of the year.

So with all the talk about North Carolina, Florida and UCLA, I’m going to pander to the fans who have struggled along with me, who are worrying not about making the Final Four, but actually winning a game. Since there seems to be a lot of varying opinions on the validity of CHN’s Top 50, I’ll throw another poll into the fold to be debated and berated: the Bottom Five, the worst teams in Division I. If there are actually people who want to see this on a regular (monthly?) basis, e-mail me and we’ll see what we can do.

332. Winston-Salem

Sure, they are 1-12 with their only win coming against non-Division I Anderson College, but at least they know how to win. They have actually played a difficult schedule, sacrificing themselves to teams like Auburn and Notre Dame with future beat downs to come from Georgetown, Kansas, UAB and Georgia Tech. I don’t know who their athletic director is but he’s doing a terrific job, maybe he should coach and play point guard for them as well.

333. Delaware

OK, so I’m a little biased here but my beloved Blue Hens are better than their record, I mean, they should be at least 1-6 after blowing a game in the final minute against Vermont. Plus, they aren’t even last in the CAA standings. At 0-0 the Hens are tied for fifth in the conference with George Mason and are ahead of defending CAA champs UNC-Wilmington. New head coach Monte Ross was an assistant under Phil Martelli at St. Joe’s for 10 years and every encounter I’ve had with him tells me he is a great guy who desperately wants to win and can recruit. Unfortunately for him he’s playing with a 2006 roster sabotaged by former coach and Duke assistant Dave Henderson who didn’t sign any recruits for this season, forcing Ross to sign two of his own in April and, of course, start them. These highly sought-after freshmen have helped the Hens shoot a sizzling 39 percent from the field and just under 28 percent from three.

334. Iona

Should be a surprise to see Iona on this list. After winning the MAAC last year and hanging with LSU for a little in the first round of the NCAAs, Iona hasn’t been within seven points of an opponent this year. It’s tough losing your top three scorers, including Steve Burtt (25.2 ppg) and MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Ricky Soliver, but the Gaels were still picked to finish fourth in the conference. Surely if junior point guard Kyle Camper hadn’t broken his foot, this would at least a two or three win team.

335. Southern

It’s pretty amazing how close teams 332-335 really are. I mean, Southern has played a tour de force of competition early in the year with games at Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and Florida. Sure they lost to the Gators by 56 and the Badgers by 54, but man did they hang tough with the Cowboys, falling by only 15. With Florida beating Prairie View A & M by 61, it should be a shock to most that the Jags are behind the Panthers. Scroll to the fifth paragraph of this game story to see how bleak it really is.

336. St. Francis (NY)

Surely college basketball pundits will have some serious qualms with the 0-10 Terriers being No. 336 as there have been some really bad teams this year, but I feel like I got it right. The first nine losses were nothing to fans who remember the 1-26 ’93-’94 team (and don’t we all). But when the Terriers can’t even beat St. Francis (PA) in a game I’m titling The Battle of the Franciscans—even after the Red Flash were an hour late for tip-off because of traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel (not making that up)—you know it’s a down year.

Vermont Squeaks Past Delaware

Press Release — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:37:18 -0800

NEWARK, Del. - Sophomore Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.) scored a career-high 25 points and freshman Joe Trapani (Madison, Conn.) hit two big baskets in the final 1:19 of play to help Vermont come from behind to defeat Delaware 57-55 on Sunday afternoon in men’s basketball action at the Bob Carpenter Center.

“It was nice to see Mike (Trimboli) finally break out after struggling lately shooting as he was due for a big offensive game,” said Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan. “We played great team defense today and Joe (Trapani) hit a huge three at the end to put us on top for good. I think that we are a more experienced team this year which has allowed us to keep our composure down the stretch and win two close road games this season.”

Vermont improves to 4-4 with the victory after opening the year with seven of its first eight away from home. The win was also the first for the Catamounts against the Blue Hens at the Bob Carpenter Center, as Vermont was 0-13 all-time against its former America East rival on the road.

Vermont trailed 55-51 when Trapani hit a put back to cut the Blue Hen lead to two with 1:17 remaining and on the very next possession he buried a three with a man in his face to give the Cats a 56-55 advantage with 33.3 seconds left. Senior Chris Holm (Henderson, Nev.) hit one of two free throws with two seconds left to wrap up the scoring.

In the first half the home team took a 4-0 lead and the Catamounts did not score their first basket of the day until Trimboli hit a lay up 5:05 into the contest. Over the first 4:13 of the game there were more fouls (six) then combined points between the two teams (four). Trailing 5-4, the Blue Hens rattled off 11 straight, including six by Herb Courtney to take a 15-5 lead with 12:12 remaining the half.

Delaware led 22-12 on a pair of free throws from Zaire Taylor but the Catamounts ended the half on a 15-2 run over the final 5:16, sparked by Trimboli. The sophomore netted nine of his first half high 15 in the spurt as he hit six of his eight attempts before the break. As they have all year, turnovers plagued Vermont to start the game as it had 16 going into intermission.

The Cats would push their lead to as many as six, 32-26 on a jumper by Trapani 2:25 into the second half, but Delaware used a 12-1 run over the next 5:27 to go back on top 38-33. The Blue Hens stretched their advantage to as many as six, 43-37, on a lay up by Zaire Taylor with 9:50 to go in the contest.

In a game of runs, Vermont fought back with a 12-4 push to take a 49-47 lead on a lay up by freshman Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J.) with 4:42 remaining. A jumper by Darrell Johnson knotted the score at 51-51 and after a Catamount turnover Brian Johnson hit one of two free throws to give Delaware a 52-51 lead. The Cats missed two shots and two free throws as the Blue Hens would extend their lead to 55-51 on a three by Taylor, setting up Trapani’s big finish.

Trailing by one with 33 seconds left, Calvin Cannon missed a baseline jumper and Johnson missed a shot that Holm pulled in to seal the deal.

Trimboli finished the game hitting 9-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three to go with six rebounds. Trapani had 12 points and five rebounds, marking the seventh time in eight games that he has reached double figures. Holm matched a career high with 16 boards in the contest.

Taylor led Delaware with 19 points as the only Blue Hen in double figures. As a team Delaware shot 36.4 percent from the game.