College Basketball: Midwest Roundup--The Daily Southtown
MID-CONTINENT TOURNAMENT Oral Roberts 60, Western Illinois 53
TULSA, Okla. — Ken Tutt tied a season high with 29 points to lead Oral Roberts past Western Illinois in the first round.
Caleb Green added 14 points for the top-seeded Golden Eagles (19-11).
David Jackson scored 20 to lead the Leathernecks (7-21).
...
WOMEN
MID-CONTINENT TOURNAMENT IUPUI 51, Chicago State 40
TULSA, Okla. — Kia Hayes scored 20 points, going 6-of-12 from the floor, as No. 2 seed Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis (17-10) defeated No. 7 seed Chicago State in the quarterfinals.
CSU (11-16) was led by Tina Hill (Richards), who recorded 14 points and seven rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. Wendi Walker added eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Southern Utah women ousted from tourney--deseretnews.com
MAC / state: Roundup--The Detroit News
Mid-Continent
IUPUI 69, Oakland 63: At Tulsa, Okla., George Hill scored 20 for IUPUI in the first round of the Mid-Continent Conference tournament.
Matt Burks scored 14 and David Barlow added 12 points for second-seeded IUPUI (19-9, 13-3), which beat No. 7 Oakland for the third time this season.
Rick Billings scored 15 for Oakland (11-18, 6-10).
OU women know Oral Roberts well--The Oakland Press
By DUSTIN FRUCCI Special to The Oakland Press
TULSA, Okla. — After two straight losses to end the season, Oakland University women’s basketball coach Beckie Francis is preaching toughness heading into today’s game against defending champion Oral Roberts in the fi rst round of the Mid-Continent Conference tournament.
“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked down the stretch, and especially in the second half of those games,” Francis said. “We know were going to have to finish (today). If we want to win this tournament, were going to have to play three games in three days, and we have to be tough to do so.”
If the regular season is any evidence, OU’s first-round game will show whether the team can use that toughness to turn things around in a hurry.
OU’s two regular-season meetings against Oral Roberts both came down to the last possession and saw each team win on the other’s home court. OU won, 72-70, on a game-winning floater by senior Anne Hafeli in early February, while Oral Roberts took a 55-54 decision in the last game of the regular season at the Oakland Athletics Center.
Through the years, the teams have seen each other as frequently as any two squads in the Mid-Con.
Oral Roberts won the tournament last year and knocked OU out of the tournament in 2004. When OU won the tournament in 2002, it defeated Oral Roberts in the semifi nals. Oral Roberts beat OU in the championship game in 2001.
In fact, since 2001, at least one of the teams has made it to the championship game each year.
“We’ve gotten to know them pretty well,” Francis said. “It’s turned into a pretty fun rivalry, and we always seem to get each other in the tournament. The two teams have great respect for each other, and we expect it to come right down to the finish like it always does with us.”
OU’s focus will be squarely on stopping Oral Roberts junior forward Elisha Turek. She scored 37 points and pulled down 21 rebounds in the two games against OU.
“She’s a good player, and she hurt us during the season, but we feel we have the right group of players to stop her as a team,” Francis said. “If we stay active on defense, we should be all right.”
Francis looks to seniors Jayme Wilson and Hafeli to make sure the team plays as a unit on defense, but she doesn’t want any one person to put all of the responsibility on their shoulders.
“We’re at our best when everyone is involved,” Francis said. “The two of them are great at keeping the energy up in their teammates.”
Both Wilson and Hafeli recently gained allconference recognition, and Francis would like nothing more than to send them out in style.
“They’re fantastic players, and they’re really hungry to win this tournament,” Francis said. “They lead us in practice and everything we do. They deserve it.”
Oakland University senior Anne Hafeli will be counted on to lead the Golden Grizzlies as they start their Mid-Continent Conference tournament journey against Oral Roberts today in Tulsa, Okla.
TOURNEYS ROUNDUP--The Oakland Press
OU’s season over at hands of IUPUI
By DUSTIN FRUCCI Special to The Oakland Press
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
TULSA, Okla. — Oakland University men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe said that his team would be exiting the Mid-Continent Conference tournament early if it didn’t do three things: defend the three-point shot, guard the ball to create turnovers and make free throws.
OU didn’t do much of any of them in a 69-63 loss to second-seeded IUPUI on Saturday night.
In actuality, it was the Jaguars who accomplished Kampe’s keys to the game. They forced the Grizzlies into 16 turnovers, held them to 4 of 14 shooting from the 3-point line and went 19 of 28 from the free-throw line.
OU is the fourth team to win the Mid-Con tournament championship then lose in the quarterfinals the following year.
The Jaguars opened the second half with an 8-2 run to open up a 32-22 lead behind 3-pointers by Brandon Cole and Matt Burks.
IUPUI kept its lead to at least 10 points until the final margin.
OU stayed close in the fi rst half as both teams suffered through long scoring droughts in the first half.
OU didn’t make a field goal during a six-minute stretch that saw IUPUI go on 13-1 run. David Barlow scored on two driving layups, and Cole made a 3-pointer to put the Jaguars up 18-9 nine minutes into the game.
IUPUI then closed the half by not scoring a single point in the last 3:43. OU went on a 6-0 run during that span, getting four points from junior Shawn Hopes, to close to within 24-20 at halftime.
George Hill led IUPUI with 20 points, and Burks added 14.
Junior Rick Billings paced OU with 15 points, and Hopes and Brandon Cassise each finished with 14.
Junior Vova Severovas, who averaged nearly 26 points a game against IUPUI in the regular season, was held to just four points.
IUPUI moves on to the semifinals to play the winner of UMKC versus Chicago State at 9:30 p.m. Monday.
More Mid-Continent
Oral Roberts 60, Western Illinois 53 — At Tulsa, Okla., Ken Tutt tied a season high with 29 points to lead Oral Roberts past Western Illinois in the first round of the Mid-Con tournament. Conference player of the year Caleb Green added 14 points — all in the second half — and grabbed 14 rebounds for the top-seeded Golden Eagles (19-11). David Jackson scored 20 points to lead the eighth-seeded Leathernecks (7-21), who kept the game close by grabbing 22 offensive rebounds.
Local pipeline fuels IUPUI's rise--The Indy Star
Jaguars easily get past Grizzlies--The Indy Star
Kangaroos women like chances as underdogThe Kansas City Star
Westerwinds survive T-Birds challenge--The Macomb Journal
Valpo needs to reclaim spot atop Mid-Con--The Post-Tribune
March 5, 2006
By Justin Breen / Post-Tribune deputy sports editor
TULSA, Okla.
Last season, the reality started to creep in.
Had the era of Valparaiso’s dominance in men’s basketball finally come to an end?
Surely Chicago State thought so after stunning the Crusaders 72-67 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament — the first time VU had lost in the opening round since 1990.
The defeat was so humbling for a program that had been the conference’s No. 1 or 2 seed the previous 11 seasons, VU’s star Dan Oppland simply said: “We’ve got to improve. There’s nothing else I can say.”
I reminded Oppland of those words on Monday, and he responded that the Crusaders had “underachieved” this season.
Boy, is he right.
In November, coach Homer Drew dreamed of a trip to the Final Four.
But this team, seeded fourth, will be fortunate to win one game in the Mid-Con tourney, where the Crusaders will play fifth-seeded Southern Utah tonight in the first round. The No. 5 seed has beaten the No. 4 seed five of the last six years.
Gulp.
That said, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Crusaders ran the table and won the whole tournament. The Mid-Con is a bad league, and though Oral Roberts is far and away the best and most talented team, it proved in last season’s choke job to Oakland that the best and most-talented team doesn’t always win.
The Crusaders have the potential to be great, but for some reason, they haven’t done it for most of the season.
Coaches will blame the sorry regular season on injuries to Shawn Huff, Jarryd Loyd, Jimmie Miles and Moussa Mbaye and the two-game suspension of Mohamed Kone.
Hogwash.
With the talented group of seniors, and a mostly talentless conference, Valpo should have performed much, much better.
I know it. The coaches know it. The players admitted it.
“We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in,” senior guard Ron Howard said.
The Crusaders’ decade-long success is based on the following four items:
1. Homer Drew’s incredible work ethic and positive nature.
2. Scott Drew’s efforts in recruiting overseas.
3. Bryce Drew’s “Shot” against Mississippi in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
4. And, perhaps most importantly, the decision by Wisconsin-Green Bay, Illinois-Chicago, Cleveland State, Wright State, Northern Illinois and Wisconsin-Milwaukee to leave the Mid-Con following the 1993-94 season.
That opened the door for Valpo to rule, which it did until 2004.
The downslide began last year, and it looks like it’s continuing this season.
Plus, Scott Drew jetted to Baylor. And although Bryce Drew serves as an assistant coach, he’s obviously not adding to his school scoring record. And many of the newer Mid-Con teams have caught up to Valpo. Some have even passed them.
Homer Drew remains as positive as ever, looking to continue a dynasty that he is greatly responsible for.
But as senior Ali Berdiel said about winning this tournament: “It’s just having desire and passion. That’s nothing the coaches can teach us. That has to come from us.”
It better, or the Crusaders will be leaving Tulsa early for a second straight season.
As a program in big-time trouble.
Contact Justin Breen at 648-3122 or jbreen@post-trib.com
Time almost up for VU women to find answers--The Post-Tribune
March 5, 2006
By Steve T. Gorches / Post-Tribune staff writer
What’s wrong with the Crusaders?
Where did the promising season disappear to?
Those are just two of what seems like a thousand questions surrounding this year’s Valparaiso women’s basketball team.
Now is the time for answers with a first-round game against UMKC at noon today in the Mid-Con Tournament.
Going into the season, VU looked like a lock for second place in the conference, with only Western Illinois standing in its way. Instead, the Crusaders limped through the last two weeks capped by a 31-point “effort” against Oral Roberts in the regular-season finale.
It wasn’t just a bad output on the scoreboard. They looked out of sync with bad shot selection and even worse execution in the second half with 18 percent shooting.
Here are a few pertinent riddles that better be solved today or seniors Jamie Gutowski, Mayella Kuikhoven and Lauren Bechtold will be cleaning out their lockers on Monday.
Despite coach Keith Freeman defending those seniors to their last day, two of them may have received a little more playing time than warranted.
Kuikhoven has had some moments this year — 14 points against a terrible Centenary squad or nine rebounds against Ball State come to mind — but her plodding presence on the floor isn’t conducive to the offense VU should run.
There are some athletes on this team — Aimee Litka, Sarah Ott, Agnieszka Kulaga and Launa Hochstetler — but because they are freshmen (Ott is a red-shirt freshman), they aren’t getting as much playing time.
Those athletes could create a streamlined transition offense instead of halfcourt boredom.
Bechtold has been the good soldier her first three years, biding her time before getting the chance to start last season when Katie Boone got hurt.
She had some moments this year also — 11 points against Purdue — but they are few and far between. Yes, her assist-to-turnover ratio isn’t bad (a little less than 2-to-1), but that doesn’t make up for a lack of offense (4.0 ppg).
Ott could be a better power forward than Kuikhoven. Hochstetler and Kulaga could be better point guards than Bechtold.
Loyalty to the seniors goes only so far. Earning victories has to take over eventually.
Another issue is team chemistry, which has been rumored to be tenuous.
Could it be playing time has gotten under the skin of some players? Could it be the change of offense frustrating them? Is it just the normal strain of college life and Division I basketball?
Gutowski has a partial answer. “You put 14 girls together all the time — we’re not like guys who put everything behind them and don’t care when they get on the court,” she said.
“Girls take everything to heart. It’s typical of any team I’ve played on. My brother is always giving me a hard time saying, 'you girls take everything with you on the court.’ We’re emotional and can’t put it behind us. We can’t help it.”
Emotional or not, the Crusaders need to win three games in three days.
Contact Steve T. Gorches at 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com
Crusaders looking to jump Kangaroos--The NWI Times
McAfee, Jaguars punch ticket to second round--The NWI Times
Valpo ready to go--The NWI Times
Western falls short in tourney--The Peoria Journal Star
Second-half surge leads Western Illinois to semis--The Peoria Journal Star
SUU women unable to finish off W. Illinois--The Spectrum
T-Birds catch Valpo on off year--The Spectrum
Women: Thunderbirds going into tournament on good note--The Salt Lake Tribune
SUU vs. Valparaiso--The Salt Lake Tribune
Women's Basketball Concludes Season in First Round of Mid-Con Tournament--Chicago State Athletics
IUPUI ADVANCES TO MID-CON SEMIFINALS FOR THE JUST THE SECOND TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY WITH 51-40 WIN OVER CHICAGO STATE--IUPUI JAGUAR ATHLETICS
JAGS WIN SIXTH CONSECUTIVE OPENING ROUND MID-CON TOURNEY GAME, TOPPING OU 69-63--IUPUI JAGUAR ATHLETICS
Oakland Falls to IUPUI at Mid-Con Tournament--OUGrizzlies.com
Tutt Leads ORU Past Western Illinois, Into Tourney Semi-Finals--Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles
T-BIRDS SEE SEASON END WITH 50-37 LOSS TO WESTERN ILLINOIS IN MID-CON TOURNEY OPENER--SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS
Oral Roberts Fends Off Leathernecks in First Round, 60-53--Western Illinois Athletics
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