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Pitt
Mar 15, 2007 21:41:52 GMT -5
Post by nybuckeye on Mar 15, 2007 21:41:52 GMT -5
I think we have Pitt's attention.
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Pitt
Mar 15, 2007 22:04:27 GMT -5
Post by Bomber on Mar 15, 2007 22:04:27 GMT -5
(14) Wright St. 30 Half (3) Pittsburgh 43
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Pitt
Mar 15, 2007 23:08:00 GMT -5
Post by Bomber on Mar 15, 2007 23:08:00 GMT -5
(14) Wright St. 58 (3) Pittsburgh 79 Final
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Pitt
Mar 15, 2007 23:09:22 GMT -5
Post by Doliboabros on Mar 15, 2007 23:09:22 GMT -5
Congratulations on a great season Raiders. You made us proud. Good luck seniors.
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Pitt
Mar 15, 2007 23:13:27 GMT -5
Post by nybuckeye on Mar 15, 2007 23:13:27 GMT -5
Hopefully we can make the end to this season a starting point for the Wright State program. Thank you to the seniors and especially Wood and Burleson. Here's to more success in the future and to taking the next step.
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 6:11:40 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Mar 16, 2007 6:11:40 GMT -5
Raiders look small against Big East's PittBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Friday, March 16, 2007 BUFFALO, N.Y. — Some of them wore their Horizon League championship T-shirts in the locker room later, after all of the 18,000-plus fans filed out of HSBC Arena, most of them long gone before half the second half had been played. It wasn't that Wright State wasn't good enough to play in this first-round NCAA tournament game, but they certainly looked small. Forward Jordan Pleiman stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 240 pounds, but next to Pittsburgh's 7-foot, 270-pound Aaron Gray, he looked like a calf standing next to a steer. Even the guys of similar size looked big in Pittsburgh uniforms, which eventually caused the mismatch that was Pitt's 79-58 victory over the Raiders, whose most successful Division I season came to a sudden close. "We were gun shy early," WSU coach Brad Brownell said. "I think the bright lights got us. I was really proud that we came back to tie the score, but that took a lot out of us to do that, and then they delivered another blow." For nearly three minutes, the Panthers threatened to administer the first shutout in NCAA history, taking a 13-0 lead. Their first three shots were all from beyond the 3-point line, and all were good. Wright State, which fell behind Butler 10-0 in the championship game of the Horizon League tournament only to eventually win 60-55, caught up to Pittsburgh, tying the score twice, 22-22 on DaShaun Wood's 3-point basket and 25-25 on a Vaughn Duggins' basket in the lane with 5:26 left in the first half. That's when the Panthers made another run, going ahead 43-30 at the half, and the Raiders would not recover. "As big as they were, we could have competed better," said Wood, who finished his WSU career with 13 points but took only four shots in the second half as he frantically tried to find teammates who could score. He finished with seven assists — four in the second half — but the Raiders had no match four five Pitt players in double figures and 10 players in all who scored. Four Raiders eventually did score in double figures — Duggins managed 12, followed by Scottie Wilson with 11 and Brown with 10 — but the falloff was deep after that. Senior Drew Burleson, who had played so well the last two-thirds of the season, made only one of six shots while trying to go inside against players who dwarfed him. "Their size bothered us," Brownell said. "We got into a lot of arms inside. We couldn't get any baskets around the hoop. We missed a few layups." Wright State had seven shots blocked, four by Gray. "On a couple of plays, their size helped them out," Burleson said. "They're a big team, something we haven't faced this year. "I don't feel good about this now, but after awhile, I'll be able to reflect on our season. This doesn't take away from that." Another senior also was downcast but appreciated the opportunity. "The experience was everything I thought it would be," Reinaldo Smith said. "We didn't come out tonight the way we like, but you have to tip your hat to Pittsburgh for that. Hopefully, we're in a position where this team can move up and pick up where we left off this year." Brownell had similar thoughts. "We all feel bad right now," the coach said. "We didn't show the national media what we can do. But this team was the first in school history to win the league and we won more games than any other team since we've been Division I. I'm really pleased with that." It might not have been enough to beat Pittsburgh, but it was enough to consider the season a success. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/16/ddn031607wsuweb.html
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 6:13:47 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Mar 16, 2007 6:13:47 GMT -5
WSU transfers drive themselves to BuffaloBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Friday, March 16, 2007 BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ronnie Thomas and John David Gardner drove here in Thomas' 1991 Oldsmobile Sierra, the one with 110,000 miles on it. "We can't travel with the team because of NCAA regulations for transfer students," said Thomas, a 6-foot-8 forward who transferred to Wright State from Duquesne. Gardner, a 6-4 guard, transferred from North Carolina-Wilmington. Although both were injured for much of the basketball season and couldn't play anyway, in the last month they have helped the Raiders in practice — when the team has been at home. When the Raiders are on the road, the two stay behind. But Thursday night, WSU played Pittsburgh at the HSBC Arena in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and Thomas and Gardner wanted to be at the game. As part of the team, they were allowed complimentary tickets, but had to find their own transportation, housing and food. They're staying in a hotel near the team. "If we win," Thomas said, "my dad told me he'd pick up our extra days in the hotel." Be prepared Just in case Wright State beat Pittsburgh, assistant WSU coach Billy Donlon sat in the media section at midcourt charting the Duke-Virginia Commonwealth game, played just before WSU-Pitt. The winners meet late Saturday afternoon. Butler coach Todd Lickliter could have used Wright State coach Brad Brownell as a source, but he didn't. The Bulldogs first-round opponent was Old Dominion of the Colonial Athletic Conference, the same conference in which Brownell coached at North Carolina-Wilmington for several years. Lickliter was asked if he contacted Brownell about what to expect. "I saw him Wednesday," Lickliter said, "and we talked, but I didn't really ask him (about ODU). I respect his team's wanting to prepare for his opponent. I had seen tapes of Old Dominion and saw they were physical. He reinforced that and helped me to lose sleep last night." His sleep Thursday night was filled with thoughts of Maryland, which beat Davidson, 82-70, followed by Butler's 57-46 victory over ODU. Butler plays Maryland at 3:20 p.m. Saturday. Butler has doubters Even though Butler came in with a 27-6 record and some solid previous showings in the NCAA, some questioned its No. 5 seed and thought the Bulldogs were ripe for an upset by No. 12 Old Dominion. "I know we had a lot of doubters," Lickliter said. "If you looked at our stretch at the end, it was a tough stretch." Butler, which lost four of its final eight games — including two to Wright State — had to play four games during the final eight days of the regular season, losing two. "My father-in-law trains horses," Lickliter said after the Bulldogs beat ODU. "He doesn't run his animals as often as that." Butler ended up in a first-place Horizon League tie with WSU, but lost the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage in the league tournament because Loyola of Chicago beat the Bulldogs in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Cusack a presence Wright State Athletic Director Mike Cusack showed up for most of Butler's afternoon game in a show of Horizon League solidarity. No Butler blue for him, though. He wore a light green sweater. Only the wings are hot Ever wonder how really cold it gets in Buffalo? When the temperatures dipped into the 30s Thursday, the local television weather report called it "chilly." Overnight forecasts called for temperatures in the 20s, which was "brisk." A forecast of 1 to 3 inches of snow was called a "dusting." Wonder what they call it when the weather really gets bad. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/16/ddn031607wsunotes.html
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 6:15:16 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Mar 16, 2007 6:15:16 GMT -5
Loss can't dim super seasonBy Tom Archdeacon Friday, March 16, 2007 BUFFALO, N.Y. — With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe, this Pitt and the Pendulum tale isn't just a horror story. That is unless you just focus on the final score of Thursday night's — and Friday morning's— first-round NCAA tournament game at HSBC Arena. In a game that ended past midnight, Pittsburgh overwhelmed Wright State, 79-58. The size of the romp may have been surprising, but the massive Pitt team had gone in an overwhelming favorite. Wright State, as coach Brad Brownell said before the game, would have to play "near perfect." Instead — as senior Drew Burleson put it afterward — "we started out a little in awe. It was kind of the deer-in-the-headlights syndrome." After falling behind 13-0 in less than three minutes, the Raiders settled down and tied the score 22-22 with 8:33 left in the half. "After putting ourselves in a hole like that, we had to expend so much energy to come back," Brownell said. "I think it left us a little empty when they made another surge." The Panthers pushed their margin to 43-30 at the break and kept adding to it in the second half. And yet where Wright State is concerned, there should be more to this NCAA appearance than the final score. While Pitt heads to a second-round match-up against a Virginia Commonwealth University team coached by former Dayton Flyer, Anthony Grant, Wright State will find its pendulum has swung to lofty heights as well. The 23-10 Raiders got to the school's first NCAA Tournament in 14 years, had their first 20-win season in just as many years and won their first regular-season league title in school history. Just before the tip, Wright State president Dr. David Hopkins — who met with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland on the WSU campus Thursday morning before driving to Buffalo — looked out at the Raiders as they were finishing their warm-ups and smiled: "Tonight is an inspiration for our whole campus, for our alumni and really for anyone who believes in underdogs and over-achievers." That's what this team was. Undersized, undermanned, they endured a 3-5 start and some double-digit drubbings before they comprehended and flourished in their new coach's offensive scheme. In the process, they gave the basketball program and the school unprecedented national coverage. They drew the embrace of former Raiders players, alumni and the city itself like never before and again made WSU a desirable destination for high school talent. On more personal levels, Brownell was unveiled as one of the rising young coaching talents in the game and senior DaShaun Wood was showcased as one of the scrappiest guards in the nation. This Wright State team was easy to love, even Thursday night in the throes of a resounding loss. That's why the some 400 Raiders fans who made the trip to Buffalo stood and filled the arena with a proud chant near game's end: "We Are ...Wright State!" "We Are ...Wright State!" Afterward, the players had a tough time seeing the big picture. "Coach has always told us we're only as good as our last game," Will Graham said. "And right now that last game is a loss. None of us feels very good. We didn't want to go out like this." Across the room Brownell tried to add some perspective. "Here on the national stage, it's a shame we didn't show what we had. But I tried to stress to the guys afterward, 'Remember, you left a legacy.'" www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/16/ddn031607arch.html
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 9:14:00 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2007 9:14:00 GMT -5
Congrats on the great season Raiders. I know it ended earlier than you wanted it to but it sure had to be a fun ride. Looking forward to next year.
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 18:27:29 GMT -5
Post by Class of '83 on Mar 16, 2007 18:27:29 GMT -5
NCAA loss shouldn't diminish the season's accomplishmentsBy Marc Katz Staff writer Friday, March 16, 2007 BUFFALO, N.Y. — About 400 Wright State fans sat on their hands most of the second half Thursday night, from school president Dr. David Hopkins and vice president of student affairs Dan Abrahamowicz to transfer players Ronnie Thomas and John David Gardner, who aren't allowed to travel with the team until their transfer year is finished. It was that kind of night for the Raiders, who lost 79-58 in their first-round NCAA tournament game to Pittsburgh. That certainly shouldn't diminish what the Raiders did this season on the way to a 23-10 record, but it showed how tough it is to win as a 14-seed when you have to play a No. 3 seed, or what the NCAA believes is one of the 12 best teams in the nation. Wright State deserved better. It might have — probably would have — fared better as a No. 13 seed or even a No. 12. That doesn't mean the Raiders would have won that game, but the size differential between them and the Panthers was huge. I jokingly mentioned to WSU Athletic Director Mike Cusack his team needed to have bigger players than the school's AD, and Cusack quickly pointed out Thomas and Gardner. "We've already started doing that," Cusack said. Thomas is 6-foot-8, and will help fill in for the graduating 6-6 Drew Burleson. Gardner is a 6-4 shooting guard who can play the point, and will take the place of 5-11 DaShaun Wood. Wright State has three other newcomers for next season 6-8 or taller, giving them — along with Pleiman — five in that range. Pleiman, at 6-8, was the only Raider taller than 6-6 this season. Although the players looked sad at the end, the happy times are what their fans should remember. They won nine straight heading into the last game of the regular season and won the regular-season Horizon League championship for the first time. They followed that up with two victories for a championship in the league tournament. They filled the Nutter Center with fans three times, and played an exciting style of basketball. "When you're in this tournament, you have dreams of being a Valpo or a George Mason," Burleson said, raising the names of two recent mid-major teams who made surprising runs in the NCAAs. "This is a tournament everyone watches. The teachers and everyone at school. "What happened today isn't going to take away from what we did this season. After awhile, I'll be able to reflect on that." So will everyone else. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/03/16/ddn031607raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-031607
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 18:30:39 GMT -5
Post by Class of '83 on Mar 16, 2007 18:30:39 GMT -5
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 19:05:16 GMT -5
Post by Willie on Mar 16, 2007 19:05:16 GMT -5
Thanks for a great season Raiders!
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 21:15:22 GMT -5
Post by Retired Coach on Mar 16, 2007 21:15:22 GMT -5
Thanks for a very memorable season Raiders!
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 21:35:13 GMT -5
Post by Big D on Mar 16, 2007 21:35:13 GMT -5
Last night was a bittersweet way to end the season. It was great playing in the dance again. I just wish our seniors could have played in a closer game.
I am already getting excited thinking about next season. We have a pretty good team returning and a whole bunch of talent and size coming in. If coach Brownell can get our new guys to gel with our returning players, next year could be just as memorable.
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Pitt
Mar 16, 2007 21:51:29 GMT -5
Post by Raiderfan on Mar 16, 2007 21:51:29 GMT -5
I'm a bit bummed out it wasn't a little more competitive but I'm glad I went because the whole environment was worth the price of admission.
This has been an AWESOME season and exceeded my expections BIG TIME!!!!
I am so proud of our players and coaches for the season they put together.
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