Bulldogs defeat Fort Hays

Conor Nicholl

Buoyed by a terrific offensive performance, the men’s basketball team opened 2007 with an empathic victory.

Three Bulldogs scored at least 13 points and the purple and white defeated Fort Hays State University 70-59 Wednesday night at Pershing Arena. The victory ended a two-game losing streak for the men and pushed their record to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the MIAA entering Saturday’s contest against Missouri Western State University.

The win represented the biggest scoring margin in a home conference victory since the Bulldogs knocked off Missouri Southern State University by 12 last January.

Individually, the win was a milestone night for forward Andy Calmes. The senior eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in an odd fashion.

Usually an inside threat, Calmes sunk a three-pointer from the top of the key at the end of the first half. It was the first trey he sunk this season and the sixth of his career.

The senior, one of just six players in Bulldog history with 1,000 points and 700 rebounds, had his usual stellar game with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

He wasn’t the only one who enjoyed an impressive offensive performance. Facing Fort Hays for the first time since the mid-90s, the Bulldogs finished the half on a 31-11 run en route to a 40-24 lead. They shot 64 percent from the field in the first half and 55.3 percent for the game.

“We have played stretches like that this season,” head coach Jack Schrader said. “We went up 18 against Armstrong Atlantic State and they are a really good team. When we faced Missouri Southern, we had a similar stretch. I think we played pretty well. We ran our offense and didn’t have a go-to guy. We just found the open man.”

Shooting-wise, it was the best half by the men this season, besting a 60 percent showing in the second half in a victory against Culver-Stockton.

The only time the Bulldogs have tallied more than 40 in a single half came in the first 20 minutes of the season against Central Christian College, a squad far weaker than Fort Hays.

Hays, a top five team for nearly all of the last season, won the RMAC conference in 2005-06 before switching to the MIAA. They tried different defenses the entire night, including a 2-3 packed zone with all five players inside the three-point stripe, and a man-to-man, but nothing could halt Bulldogs’ usual Power half court offense.

“They ran their offense against us very well,” Hays head coach Mark Johnson said. “At times we were out of position which gave them some wide open threes. They also made shots and … exploited holes.”

Calmes, junior forward Nick Certa and Kirby never missed in the first half, finishing 11-for-11 from the field. Kirby paced a strong opening half behind the arc, hitting all four of his three-point attempts en route for 13 points. Overall, the team made 7 of 12 threes, the most treys they sunk in a single half this season.

Certa, who entered the night averaging 16.5 points and shooting 60 percent from the field in his last two games, enjoyed a fantastic half, going 5-for-5 for 11 points.

The only scary moment in the first half came in the final five minutes. Kirby went up for a rebound and fell on a Hays’ player’s knee. He stayed on the ground for a few minutes and was helped to the bench. In the second half, the senior played just 10 minutes but Schrader said he could have played more if needed.

“He’s a tough kid,” Schrader said. “It was because of the rotations and not because of his health that he didn’t see [much time] in the second half.”

After the break, Hays quickly cut the lead to 48-39 with just over 14 minutes left, but Certa kept the Bulldogs in control with a basket that extended the lead to 11. The Tigers never got without double-digits the rest of the contest.

Overall, the versatile Certa scored on a variety of short jumpers, threes and lay-ups and set career highs with 26 points and 10 field goals.

“He is able to score in so many different ways and create mismatches,” Johnson said. “He is a really athletic player.”

Inside threats Grant Agbo and Garrett Grimm were sick earlier in the week, but made a strong comeback, combining for 13 points and 13 rebounds. Grimm, a seven-footer who enjoys playing on the outside, pulled down eight rebounds, trailing only Calmes for the game-high.

Cards might be lucky to have passed on Suppan

By Nathan Becker

Cardinal Nation will collectively frown today.

Free agent commodity and Redbird playoff star Jeff Suppan has agreed to terms on a four-year deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Our hero chased the mighty dollar bill (42 million of them) and not only changed teams – he moved to the Brewers, a division rival the Cards will play 15 times in 2007. He moved from one of the classiest, best teams in the bigs to a team with a home park where the most interesting attraction is a race involving people in sausage costumes.

Maybe Cardinals fans shouldn’t be as sad as they probably will be.

I’m a diehard Cards fan, and I can’t believe I’m getting ready to say this: Suppan just wasn’t that good.

Sure, he was clutch in the playoffs. The guy brought us a World Series Championship, and for that I am forever grateful. But Cardinals fans must have short-term memories – an amnesia that erases any recollection before October.

Flash back to just before the start of the 2006 season, when Suppan was the projected fourth starter in the rotation, settling behind Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and now-Cub Jason Marquis (good luck with that, Chicago). No one expected Soup to do anything more than fill a rotation spot, which he has a history of doing very well. Soup was expected to give his team about 200 innings of about 4.00 ERA baseball, and he did just that.

Then the wheels fell off the 2006 Cardinals, and the team and its fans had no one else to turn to.

Mulder was horrible and eventually out for the season, and Marquis suddenly looked like a little leaguer throwing softballs to Vladimir Guerrero every at-bat. Sidney Ponson was horrible, and rookie Anthony Reyes was inconsistent. Midseason acquisition (and later playoff co-hero) Jeff Weaver couldn’t stanch the bleeding either, putting together a 5-4 record with a 5.18 ERA.

Sure, when it was all said and done, the Cardinals were in the playoffs, but their only certainty in the rotation was Carpenter. In steped Suppan and Weaver, who might have upped their collective offseason paydays a total of $40 million with their playoff performances alone.

Bada bing, bada boom, World Series Champions.

What most people don’t realize is that as of Aug. 19, Suppan’s ERA was 5.03. He started dealing after that and didn’t stop until the playoffs were through (by the end of the season, he had lowered his ERA to 4.12).

But we’re talking about a guy who, before joining the Cardinals, whose hitting and defense undoubtedly padded his stats, had only put together one full season with an ERA under 4.50. His career ERA is 4.60, and his WHIP is 1.41 – hardly sparkling.

Maybe what Soup did from August to October was just a hot streak – something players of both great and little ability go through. Does anyone really think Jimmy Rollins and his hit streak are anywhere near as good as Joe DiMaggio? No way. Perfect example of a hot streak.

It’s this year’s market combined with his playoff performance that makes Soup such a valuable commodity (see: Kansas City Royals doling out too much money for Gil Meche).

But no matter how M’mm M’m good Soup was in October, he’s not worth 4 years at $42 million. It was wise for the Cards to not spend their money on Soup and instead wait for next year’s free-agent class or some talent to develop in their minor-league system.

There’s no reason they can’t spend significantly less to reel in a veteran on a one-year contract who will give them a full season of 5.00 ERA (not that much difference from Suppan when you stretch it out). Steve Trachsel’s still out there. So are John Thomson, Joel Pineiro and Jamey Wright.

The Cards should invest in a temporary stopgap starter who can eat up innings at a low dollar amount. It’s what they did before the 2004 season when they needed a fifth starter. They signed him to a $5 million, two-year deal. He gave the Cards just what they needed: stability.

His name? Jeff Suppan.

Assessing Men's Basketball

Conor Nicholl

(Note: Tyler Madsen has an excellent post about men's basketball under this story.)

How good is the men’s basketball team?

No one doubts the Bulldogs’ starting five is very talented, likely among the MIAA’s best. Everyone agrees this team doesn’t have much bench right now, though Travis Kern and Garret Grimm showed some welcome signs of life Wednesday night.

Early returns show the squad has an even better offense than last season’s 20-9 team, but, because of a variety of reasons, the defense isn’t matching the same form from the 2004-05 campaign.

I made the comparisons between the last two seasons using possessions/game in the non-conference slate. Raw numbers such as points/game and assists/game don’t create accurate comparisons, because they fluctuate because of tempo. For example, if Team A has 50 possessions a game and scores 75 points, they are a better more efficient offense than if Team B has 100 possessions a game and scores 100 points.

I used just the 2004-05 non-conference slate because I wanted to find out exactly where this current team was in relation to last year. Conference and postseason games were not included, because the competition is much harder in the MIAA. This gives the team 11 non-conference games. (actually, it’s 11.125 games, because the Bulldogs played one non-conference overtime game.)

Using the possession formula found at kenpom.com (an outstanding college basketball site), the 2004-05 and 05-06 possessions/game are: (the numbers in parentheses signify where the teams would rank among current Div. I-A teams, according to kenpom.com.)

05-06: 65.0 (273/336) six games
04-05: 68.7 11.125 games

So, this season’s team is playing much slower than last year’s version, but not much different than the sum total in 2003-04 (65.8). Head coach Jack Schrader said last May he wanted the 20-9 squad to play at a faster pace than normal:

"A year ago, we had our guards take the ball out of bounds because of our lack of depth," Schrader said. "This year, our big guys took it out as fast as we could and we pushed it as quickly as possible. We just tried to set the tone that we were coming out faster."

This year, they have gone back to the slower pace. It’s like one pitcher throwing 100-mph fastball and the other just tossing changeups. If both methods work effectively, then it’s fine. In Div. I-A college basketball, Butler (very slow) and University of North Carolina (very fast), play at two different styles, but both are nationally ranked.

It matters what the team does on the possessions. And this year’s Bulldog team is better than the 04-05 squad offensively.

Non-conference points per possession x 100 possessions:
05-06: 116.5 (20/336)
04-05: 110.9

Defensively, though, the team isn’t very strong compared to last season. Opponents, when measured by points per possession times 100 possessions, are scoring a lot more points this season than they did in the non-conference slate last year:

05-06: 98.7 (165/336)
04-05: 85.7

So far, opponents are rebounding a little better than last season, especially from the offensive end. The increased offensive rebounding by opponents creates more shots and more chances to score.

Turnovers are down, too, but the Bulldogs aren’t creating anymore steals than last year, so it means opponents are taking care of the ball better and aren’t making as many sloppy mistakes.

The major difference comes in one aspect: three-point shooting. Helped by Chip Sodemann and Derek Lindsey last year, team were often stifled behind the arc. In non-conference play last season, opponents shot just 27.9 percent. This year, that mark is raised significantly to 33.7.

The difference is about three points a game, a major factor the Bulldogs’ two losses this season. If teams shoot worse from behind the arc, the purple and white is likely 5-1.

Quincy, who shot 21 percent from threes (6-for-29) in two games last season, made five of nine in its win against the ’Dogs this year, including several by players who aren't three-point shooters.

Is this is a problem? Right now, I would say it’s something to watch, but not quite a cause for concern. I see several different reasons for the change, including the losses of Sodemann and Lindsey.

Like many others, I believe Lindsey helped the team more defensively, especially behind the arc. Nick Certa (who has had a strong year) plays more like a “bigger” 3 than Lindsey or played a shooting guard-esque 3 and stayed on the perimeter more.

Schrader also said the team hadn’t been able to practice hard in recent weeks because of volleyball playoffs, players getting nicked up and other changes.

The bench play could also be a factor, because in the Quincy game, the Hawks made a lot of threes late when the Bulldogs – mainly playing their starting five – was a little winded.

Improved bench play could also provide fresh legs on the defensive end, too.

Offensively, this team is right where it needs to be, probably even better than people expected because of a healthy Grant Agbo. Defensively, if perimeter defense improves and if the squad rebounds a little better, the squad will win more close games.

Murray Feature:
There were a few anecdotes that I couldn’t work into my Pat Murray feature that ran in today’s Index. True freshman running back Marvin Bembry was very helpful with Murray stories and especially talked about Murray’s effect off the field. While Murray was an incredible player on the gridiron, he also assisted several of the younger offensive playmakers.

The Bulldogs played three true freshman on offense (Bembry and wideouts Vanness Emokpae and Albert Coker) and Murray – helped by senior lineman Tyrone McCormick – assisted the freshman.

Murray provided Bembry with plenty of confidence, and the freshman gained 387 all-purpose yards and was a major help in the squad’s transformation from 2-9 to 6-5.

“He really helped me out a lot,” Bembry said of the senior offensive tackle. “He played as a freshman and he told me to relax and play. Even in camp, he was always trying to help me out and show me little things.”

On the bus in preseason camp at Nevada, Mo., Bembry sat next to the 6-foot-four-inch, 315-pound Murray. At first, the Chicago native was a little apprehensive, but the tackle put him at ease.

“I was the lucky guy who got to sit with him,” Bembry said. “I walking back on the bus looking for a seat and as a freshman, we kind of have last dibs on things like that. The only seat next to him was next to him, I was thinking ‘man he might make me sit on the floor.’ I hadn’t really talked to him that much, but he was a real nice guy who was real cool about it.”

I sat next to him, didn’t know what to expect and he did a lot of things that other people wouldn’t notice and he was really a huge help for me.”

Bembry wasn’t supposed to see much playing time, but injuries to feature back Jake Cunningham and Phil Kenney thrust Bembry into a starting role very early in his career. In Week 4 against University of Central Missouri, Bembry saw a lot of playing time.

“[Pat and Tyrone] were saying, ‘Let’s go Marvin, we have a lot of faith in you, we believe in you, [and] what you can do,” he said.

The impact from the seniors was mainly felt in a Week 6 win against Missouri Southern. Kenney was already out and Cunningham was injured early in the first quarter. Bembry had to shoulder the load by himself and needed to have a strong second half to help the team capture a victory.

“Phil was out, Jake was out, and in first half I didn’t really play that well,” Bembry said. “At the half, Pat and Tyrone were saying, ‘Let’s go Marvin, we are behind you,’ that type of thing, really pumped me up and felt like I needed to perform for those guys.”

Bembry finished with 101 total yards, helping the team capture a key 35-28 win.

Men's Basketball Thoughts

*Tyler Madsen*

A quick post with a few thoughts about the men's basketball team through their game Monday night against Culver-Stockton.

Team,
1) Is 3-2 that disappointing at this point of the season after a 20-win campaign last year? The answer is both yes and no. Yes in the fact that the two games the squad lost were by three points (Armstrong Atlantic) and six points (Quincy). What hurts about those two losses are the facts that the 'Dogs were up 18 against AASU midway through the second half and let it slip away and that Quincy is just a big nonconference rival of the squad.

No in the facet that they've beat who they're supposed to and been close in the other two. A favorable stretch also lies in wait.

2) The fact the 'Dogs are scoring very well this year (75.8 ppg) bodes well for the rest of the season. Truman is usually considered a "grind it out squad", so to be running and scoring at a high clip will help out the stout defense even more as we move along.

3) 31 percent of the scoring is coming from the bench. Isn't this the time the bench players are supposed to get a lot of PT? With no reserve really stepping into a solid role yet, the starters are having to pick up the slack (four averaging over 29 minutes per game). You have to hope that the guys will have enough left in the tank come March.

4) 106 free throws to the opponents' 72. That's a great start to the season, and with the squad shooting a modest 70% as a whole, it's a good sign to see the team getting to the charity stripe. But don't worry fans, that discrepancy will likely fade as the season progresses ... after all, there're still two games against Central Missouri left on the slate to help even it out.

Individually,
1) 14.0 ppg (1st on team), 4.2 rpg (4th on team) coming from Banks Estridge, a first-year starter at a position that hadn't seen a different man in four years. I'd say he's filling that void quite well at this point.

2) Austin Kirby: 16 assists, 1 turnover. Wow. Add to that a 49% shooting percentage (41% from behind the arc) and a 90% free throw clip, and you've got a senior leader at the guard spot.

3) Andy Calmes: 11.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg. The only first-team all-conference selection is making his presence known again in his final season.

Come on out to Pershing Arena Wednesday night for the team's sixth game of the year .. this time against Hannibal-LaGrange College.

Quincy defeats Truman in rivalry game

By Conor Nicholl

An age-old rivalry yielded new questions for the men’s basketball team.

In the 101st meeting between two schools situated about 90 minutes apart on Route 6, Quincy University knocked off the Bulldogs, 82-76, Tuesday night at Pershing Arena.

The victory kept Quincy perfect at 3-0 and moved the Bulldogs – who finished 2-0 against Quincy last season – to 2-2 on the season and 1-1 at Pershing Arena. Coupled with the defeat to Armstrong Atlantic University (Ga.), the Bulldogs are 0-2 this season against potential Top 25 and NCAA tournament squads.

“I think we are all right right now,” head coach Jack Schrader said. “Quincy and Armstrong Atlantic are awfully good teams. They could be both top 10 teams and the games could have gone either way.”

Tuesday’s contest, though, broke a 50-50 stalemate in a rivalry that dates back nearly a full century.

“We have not been able to practice hard for any period of time this year because of injuries,” Schrader said. “I think in the next two weeks we can rectify that. I think we have to get tougher. I think that the other teams are a little bit physically tougher than us as far as taking charges and getting loose balls.”

Banks Estridge furthered erased any doubt that he can start at point guard, delivering another great offensive performance. Three days after setting a career-high with 15 points against the University of Missouri-Rolla, Estridge supplied a game-high 23 against the Hawks, scoring in a variety of ways, including off steals, lay-ups and three-pointers.

Still, the loss bucked some recent trends for the Bulldogs.

A team that won 20 games last season and came within a few seconds of advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament was built on few turnovers, a solid bench and strong, suffocating defense that limited shots and made three-pointers non-existent.

Through three games this season, those numbers held. Opponents shot just 33.1 percent from the field and a mediocre 24.6 rate from beyond the arc.

Quincy exploited all of the 2005-06 strengths, shooting over 50 percent from the field and, effectively using set plays and creating mismatches several times, sunk over half of their three-point attempts, including several huge shots down the stretch.

“We just took away the inside a little more,” Schrader said. “They took shots that we wanted them to take. We didn’t give up many looks at it and I think that is good.”

They also forced the Bulldogs to rely heavily on their starting five. Last season, the team could use a host of reserves, especially Nick Certa, Estridge and Matt Brock, to supply offense and keep the team on an even keel.

In the 76-62 victory versus Quincy last year at Pershing, the ’Dogs bench was instrumental in the victory, outscoring the Hawks 28-16 from their reserves.

The bench is still an enigma in the early part of this season’s version, producing zero points, zero assists, one rebound and two turnovers Tuesday. Schrader hasn’t settled on any rotation behind his set starting five, using multiple players to find the best solution.

“I don’t really care where we get the offense, it’s how we play,” he said. “The thing is execution. You come in and you can’t turn the ball over and cause a backflow of what we are trying to do and stop the rhythm. I am not concerned with the productivity as I am with how it influences our play.

It will come. We have some good players, but they are just inexperienced. I don’t know which buttons to push yet,” he said.

Quincy pushed many of the right buttons against the Bulldogs, a team they had lost twice last season, including a four-point overtime defeat at the Quincy Holiday Tournament.

On Tuesday night, the Hawks never allowed the Bulldogs to get close enough to force overtime.

The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead, but wouldn’t hold an advantage for the rest of the evening. They tied Quincy at 25 after Estridge sunk two free throws, but the Hawks –helped by several turnovers – went on a 12-6 run and led 37-31 after 20 minutes.

“We played way too anxious the first half and we when got anxious, they got easy baskets in transition,” Schrader said.

After the break, Quincy ran out to a 10-point lead before Estridge and Certa made the game close. During a three-minute stretch, the duo combined for 10 points, closing the gap to 54-53 with slightly over 11 minutes remaining.

The Bulldogs also pulled it to 63-62 with 6:26 left, but free throws and several three-pointers provided the final margin.

“In the second half, we played Bulldog basketball,” Schrader said. “We took what they gave us ... We just couldn’t come back from the first half deficit. If we play within ourselves offensively and execute defensively, then we can be all right.”

UNA Advances to Elite Eight

By Conor Nicholl

University of North Alabama finished a goal they didn’t meet last fall.

In 2005, UNA hosted the South Central Regional and was favored to advance to the Elite Eight. Instead, the University of Central Missouri pulled a gigantic upset, knocking off the Lions in their own arena.

One year later, UNA had their second opportunity against the Jennies. This time – one day after defeating No. 1 Truman in a five-set thriller – the Lions rolled to a 3-0 (-21, -27, -29) victory Saturday afternoon at Pershing Arena.

North Alabama will face Ashland University (Ohio), the winner of the Great Lakes region, in the Elite Eight at Pensacola, Fla.

“This was a big match for us in a revenge way, but to also get back to the Elite Eight,” Lions’ senior setter Laura Bellinger said. “We do have a history with Central Missouri and we were glad to come out on top.”

For Central, it represents another fine season in terms of wins and losses, but another year that ended in the region. For four straight years, the Jennies have eclipsed 25 wins, but haven’t reached the Elite Eight.

“We have made it to the finals every year I have been here and it has always been against Truman or UNA and we just can’t pull through and that stinks,” senior libero/outside hitter Katie Tarka said. “ … I think we served well and I think we passed well. It was almost like we weren’t connecting and we weren’t playing the whole game through.”

Still in a season that UCM was supposed to have some drop-off, they still finished at 29-7 and ranked in the top 25 in the polls for the entire season.

“We didn’t think that we would get this far, honestly,” Jennies’ middle hitter Jillian Ohrman said. “It was a growing year for us and people were surprised by how well we were doing. Getting this far was a blessing, although we wanted to go further.”

Similar to their match against the Bulldogs, North Alabama was behind and pulled off a comeback. However, this time the deficits were a little fewer than 0-2, 15-16 in the third set. The Jennies took a 17-14 lead in game one, but UNA stayed calm, called a timeout and regrouped.

A 9-0 run followed that saw Central burn a timeout and lose one of its best players. At 22-17 UNA, Jennies’ middle hitter Lauren Nuckolls twisted her knee on an attack.

She was carried off the court. Later, she had an ice bag taped to her knee and was gingerly walking under her own power, but wouldn’t return.

Nuckolls’ offense was certainly missed. She led the Jennies with 20 kills in their win against University of West Florida on Friday afternoon. Without Nuckolls, the Jennies had to turn solely to Ohrman and Tarka.

Ohrman, the Jennies’ best offensive player, collected 14 kills and hit .381 mainly off slides on the right side, but she was the only one that did much against the Lions’ defense.

Entering the match, Bellinger said the Lions wanted to focus on stopping Tarka, one of the best liberos in the country who played outside hitter in the regional.

Tarka led the team in kills in their first round match against Missouri Southern and provided another 17 versus the Argonauts.

The Lions contained her, forcing a .077 hitting percentage in the first game. Overall, Tarka finished with 13 kills, but hit just .205.

“She is a hitter that likes to hit off the block, so we really focused on keeping our hands pushed in, so she couldn’t do that,” Bellinger said.

UNA outside hitter Megan Stout, who enjoyed 20 kills in the win against Truman, had eight in the first game, providing a spark that would last for all three sets. She finished with a match-high 16 kills.

“I think Laura did a good job on the sets, seeing where one blocker was going so where they had one blocker up,” Stout said. “I was just focused and could see the holes.”

UCM took a 21-19 lead in game two, but UNA went on a 7-2 run and grabbed a 26-23 lead. The Lions was helped by terrific setting from Bellinger and offensive depth that included Stout, Dee Ayers and Nilcia Oliveria.

“They had a good presence on the court and they stayed pretty strong, which is a big deal because they don’t freak out,” UNA head coach Stephanie Radecki said of the comebacks. “A couple points to them, they can turn that around pretty easily.”

Bellinger, the South Central Player of the Year and arguably the best setter in the country, read the blockers and constantly delivering perfect, high sets.

After hitting .357 in game 1, the Lions crushed the Jennies’ defense – a defense that entered the playoffs with the second-lowest opposing hitting percentage in the South Central – registering a .365 average.

“I got great balls off the passes, read the blockers and just saw where the opportunities where,” Bellinger said. “We seemed so in sync and in system because we have a lot of depth on offense.”

UCM was ahead 28-26 in the third game, but the Lions came back again, winning five of the final six points and advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time since they captured the national title in 2003.

In the last two matches, the Lions won four straight in games decided by three points or fewer – a streak that could help UNA equal the 2003 feat.