|
|
Post by rock70 on Jan 14, 2008 8:31:30 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Jan 14, 2008 9:01:32 GMT -5
Lack of numbers wearing Raiders down?
By Marc Katz
Staff Writer
Monday, January 14, 2008
FAIRBORN — This is just a theory, but Cleveland State was probably one of the teams Wright State most didn't want to play Saturday night.
Not only are the Vikings winning, they're using multiple players to do it.
A look at the box score is stunning. Not only did the Vikings use 10 players, they used nine players 11 minutes or more; seven who played 20 minutes or more.
On the Wright State side, only nine players were available, only eight played and each of the five starters played 30 minutes or more.
Some of them denied it later, but they looked tired to me.
How could that not be the case? The way coach Brad Brownell teaches the game, you don't take plays off. You play hard, all the time. And the way the Horizon League is, there are no easy teams. We're not even a third of the way into the league schedule, and already every team except Cleveland State has lost at least once. Every team except CSU and Butler have lost more than once.
As excited as he was to win, CSU coach Gary Waters was quick to point out how close in ability each team is in the Horizon League.
"This is just one win," he pointed out.
It was also just one loss for Wright State, which is 9-6 and all but four games have been decided by 9 points or less. That means just about every game goes down to the final minute before being decided, like Saturday's did against Cleveland State.
The final provided some unusual numbers. Sophomore guard Vaughn Duggins, who led the team with 18 points, also led with five turnovers. In only one other game had he recorded as many, and in only two other games had as many as three. He turned the ball over twice in the last three minutes against CSU.
Will Graham also had four turnovers, and only one assist. Graham managed only four turnovers in his previous three games, while dishing out 12 assists.
And Todd Brown took only eight shots. It was the second straight game he had single digit shots. Is that because of the defense, or is he just tired? When he took a pass from Duggins as the Raiders tried to tie or win the game in the final seconds against the Vikings, he fumbled the ball away. It was hard to tell if it was his fault, Duggins' fault or the result of good defense.
But Brown was in the game 35 minutes and Duggins 38 and Graham 34. Jordan Pleiman played 30 and Scottie Wilson 36.
The facts of life are, guard John David Gardner is out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot and forward Gavin Horne is out at least another week with a sprained ankle, then will have to get back into playing shape. Forwards Cooper Land and Ronnie Thomas are going to have to play more, as is freshman guard N'Gai Evans. Maybe that will help, maybe it won't.
Just don't count out the Raiders, but don't expect any — any — of the remaining games to be easy, either.
|
|
|
|
Post by raiderrunt on Jan 14, 2008 12:17:10 GMT -5
Thanks Rock.
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Alumni on Jan 20, 2008 23:36:32 GMT -5
Raiders wear close calls like badge of honorBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Sunday, January 20, 2008 CHICAGO — This doesn't seem to bother the Raiders at all. It doesn't bother them that they're winning games by the slimmest of margins. It bothers them when they lose by the slimmest of margins, or any margin. But winning by a point or two? It doesn't count any more than winning by 10 or 20 or 30. And now, they're getting so used to it, they appear to be wearing these close calls like a badge of honor. Senior Scottie Wilson just rolls his eyes when the subject is broached. "It isn't like we want to win like this," Wilson said after the Raiders swept Chicago Saturday with a 52-51 victory over Loyola on the heels of a 76-75 victory over Illinois-Chicago on Thursday. "We'll take a win any way we can take it." Coaches go crazy when you start to compare scores. Okay, let's drive a few coaches crazy. On Jan. 12, UIC beat cross-town rival Loyola by 10 in double overtime. Last week, Wright State beat each of those teams by one. Wright State also beat Butler by one and Butler lost to Cleveland State by four and Cleveland State beat WSU by two. Every team in the Horizon League has already played seven or eight league games and every team has had at least four of its games decided by 10 points or less. Loyola has played seven games like that, while Butler, Detroit, Green Bay, Valparaiso and WSU have each played six games decided by that margin. What's it mean? Don't leave a game early. "I asked (Loyola coach Jim) Whitesell if in his four years here if the league has gotten better," WSU coach Brad Brownell said. "He said, 'Definitely. Every night you've got to find a way to win.' " One of the ways WSU won Saturday was with three players who haven't had many minutes. Freshman guard N'Gai Evans played only eight minutes, but he made both his shots – drives to the basket — and had a third basket wiped out by a foul. Sophomore forward Ronnie Thomas also scored a basket. More importantly, he pulled in four defensive rebounds in eight minutes of play. And freshman forward Cooper Land played 17 minutes, scoring nine points. He made both his shots from the 3-point line, which he does all the time in practice. Now that the season has moved just past the halfway mark, the Raiders are going to need those three more than ever. Wright State also had plenty of fans on hand for the two Chicago games. Not only did the WSU athletics department plan a bus trip for nearly 50 fans, about that many took the trip on their own. They formed quite a cheering section behind the WSU bench at each game. www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/01/20/ddn012108raiderconnection.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=38
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Jan 25, 2008 7:09:57 GMT -5
Raiders get breather from the grind with a couple of days offBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Thursday, January 24, 2008 FAIRBORN — Ah, finally a breather in the schedule, and not just because Wright State is playing Detroit Saturday, the last-place team in the Horizon League. It's a breather because Detroit is the only game the Raiders have to play this week. When they arrived home Sunday morning about 4 o'clock from their successful two-game trip to Chicago, the Raiders were given the rest of the day off, except, of course, for study hall. Monday they had a brief practice and coach Brad Brownell decided afterward to give the players Tuesday off. "We took an extra day off," Brownell said, "although having Sunday off returning from the trip doesn't always feel like a day off. We had a good practice on Monday, and decided to give them Tuesday off. Some of our guys were logging heavy minutes. We gave them a true day off." Wright State is the only team in the Horizon League with three players among the top 16 in the league for minutes played. Sophomore Todd Brown ranks third with 36 minutes a game, sophomore Vaughn Duggins is 11th with 32.62 minutes a game and junior Will Graham is 14th with 31.38 minutes a game. Three teams — Detroit, Valparaiso and Green Bay — have only a single player among the top 16 and league-leading Cleveland State has none. Some of those minutes are going to start to disappear as freshmen Cooper Land and N'Gai Evans continue to develop, and sophomore forward Ronnie Thomas continues his return from a broken foot. All three had excellent spot appearances in Chicago and another freshman guard, Troy Tabler, has also been a key reserve. Part of the problem for the Raiders comes from injuries. Sophomore guard John David Gardner will be lost for most of the rest of the season with a broken foot. Junior forward Gavin Horne will return soon from a severe ankle sprain, although probably not for Saturday's game. A couple of other injuries have contributed as well. The other problem has been the schedule. The Raiders have crammed their 17 games so far into 62 days. They've taken long bus trips to Chattanooga, Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Green Bay) and Chicago, while flying to Marist in upstate New York and Cal State-Fullerton in the Los Angeles area. It doesn't matter how young you are, travel like that can wear you down. Next week, the grind starts all over again as WSU plays three games in five days. At least they're all at home. Green Bay visits Thursday, Milwaukee on Saturday and Presbyterian the following Monday. First, though, is Detroit, where they'll be greeted by Titans' senior guard Jon Goode. Although Detroit lost both games in Chicago while the Raiders were winning twice, Goode scored 65 points — 30 vs. Loyola and 35 vs. UIC. Playing against someone like Goode certainly won't be a breather at all. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/01/24/ddn012508raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-012408
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Jan 28, 2008 8:37:17 GMT -5
Raiders keep up streak in Detroit victoryBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Sunday, January 27, 2008 DETROIT — It's a media conspiracy, of course, thinking one team is better than another because its record is so much better. Oh, and that comparing-scores scenario. That can be ditched, too. "It's not as much about the opponent as on team improvement," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said following Saturday's 66-57 victory over Detroit. "All you can coach is our play." A few days earlier, Brownell said, "A lot of that other stuff is media driven." The other stuff includes stuff like records. Wright State entered Saturday's game 11-6 and 4-4 in the Horizon League. Detroit was 4-14 and 0-8. Most of Detroit's games were close, but they lost them. "If you watch how their kids play, they play hard," Brownell said. "As long as they play hard, they're going to win some games. Last week, we were in Chicago. We go 2-0 and they go 0-2. They just didn't finish." Wright State finished against Detroit, especially after squandering all of a 14-point first-half lead, and more. The Raiders trailed with little more than 10 minutes to play. Then they started making some shots and making some stops. "They went on a little run," senior Todd Brown said of the Titans, "and we got our defense back together." The Raiders did it not only with defense, but with some reserves that make their bench deeper than it was just a month ago. Freshman Cooper Land played 22 minutes. He didn't score, but he pulled down three rebounds, had a steal and recorded an assist. Sophomore Ronnie Thomas played 11 minutes , walking away with a rebound and a couple of points and a turnover. Freshman Troy Tabler scored four points, but also had four rebounds, three assists and only one turnover in 10 minutes of play. Freshman N'Gai Evans played only three minutes and recorded no tangible numbers, but he didn't make any mistakes, either, important in a close game as this turned out to be. Suddenly, the Raiders have won three straight, all on the road, and have three home games coming up, beginning Thursday. Two of those games — with Green Bay and Milwaukee — are against teams they have already lost to. The Raiders have also lost three games at home this season. In case you haven't noticed, even with four league losses, the Raiders are right back in the race. Every team has lost at least two games — including favorite Butler and newcomer-to-the-top Cleveland State. Wright State has a game left against each of those teams, although on the road. Already the Raiders have beaten Butler at home and lost to CSU, also at home. We're only halfway through the league season. Nothing is for sure, except most of the games will be close. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/01/27/ddn012808raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-012808
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Feb 1, 2008 7:37:00 GMT -5
Wright State bench starts to step upBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Thursday, January 31, 2008 FAIRBORN — Winning the Horizon League regular-season championship became a possibility again Thursday night for the Wright State Raiders, who now have to depend on only one other basketball team to help them. With Cleveland State losing to Illinois-Chicago and Milwaukee-Wisconsin losing to Detroit, the Raiders at 6-4 (after beating Wisconsin-Green Bay 71-67) can catch both those teams. CSU is 7-3 and will play host to WSU next Thursday, while Milwaukee is 7-4 and visits the Raiders on Saturday night. The only team out of WSU's control is the one expected to be there — Butler. The Bulldogs, who do not play a league game this week, are 8-2, and if the only other loss they incur is against the Raiders on March 28, you can see the problem. Somebody else has to beat Butler. But that's a long way off. When someone suggested this season is turning into a duplicate of last year, when Wright State ran off nine straight victories, eight of them in the Horizon League, on the way to a regular-season tie with Butler for the championship, WSU coach Brad Brownell waved it off. "I'm not sure we're going that well," Brownell said, "but we're going better." Consider the Raiders lost three of four — including 65-63 to Cleveland State at home — before going on the road and winning three games, then beating Green Bay on Thursday. How are the Raiders doing it, especially with key reserves John David Gardner and Gavin Horne out with injuries? Well, without Gardner and Horne, Brownell has had to rely more on freshmen Troy Tabler, Cooper Land and N'Gai Evans. Tabler, a 3-point shooting guard, looked like the best of the bunch early, but increased minutes seemed to sap his shooting strength. Land, who made plenty of 3-point baskets in practice, didn't convert many in games. When he started to do that, opponents began to notice how tough it is to guard a 6-foot-8 kid out that far. And Evans was just looking for some playing time. He didn't get into any of the team's first 11 games before playing three minutes at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Thursday, he played 12 and scored 11 points. The help of Tabler, Land and Evans the rest of this year won't depend so much on how much they score, but how much they can defend and give breathers to starters Vaughn Duggins, Todd Brown, Will Graham, Scottie Wilson and Jordan Pleiman. It was only five games ago Brownell felt he had to use his starters as long as possible. All five of them played more than 30 minutes against CSU. The team lost. Against Green Bay, only Wilson, Brown and Duggins played more than 30 minutes. "They got production from their bench," Green Bay coach Tod Kowalczyk said, "and we didn't." Wright State received 27 points from reserves. Green Bay scored six. To win it all again, WSU is going to need help — both from another team and its own bench. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/01/31/ddn020108raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-020108
|
|
|
|
Post by rock70 on Feb 1, 2008 11:37:41 GMT -5
I like Mr. Katz Raider Connection articles. They tend to be more personal and you get more quotes from coach Brownell and the players and that is what I like to read. In Mr. Katz newspaper articles he just reports starting line ups and a quote here and their and his post game articles are standard reports on the game it self with a few quotes but his Raider Connection articles you feel more passion from him which I like a lot plus he will give his impressions of the team or a sort of commentary of the team which I also like. In short I do look forward to reading his Raider Connection articles.
|
|
|
|
Post by rock70 on Feb 4, 2008 11:21:11 GMT -5
www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/02/04/ddn020408raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rContributions from every player help Raiders' record Click-2-Listen By Marc Katz Staff Writer Monday, February 04, 2008 FAIRBORN — Playing in close basketball games is nothing new to the Wright State program. Already this season, the Raiders have played in 16 games decided by nine or fewer points. You have to go back to 1998-99 when they didn't have at least 10 games decided by that few points. [glow=red,2,300]This is a nice article. I highly recommend reading the entire article. [/glow]
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Feb 8, 2008 7:19:39 GMT -5
Wright State finally starting to get healthyBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Friday, February 08, 2008 CLEVELAND — Every time they get to be just about healthy, the Wright State Raiders suffer a little setback. Just about every player on the team this season has suffered some kind of injury that kept him out of a game except for senior Jordan Pleiman, freshman Cooper Land and junior Will Graham, and Graham has had some problems with his shoulder. The Raiders had to play at Cleveland State on Thursday without the services of Troy Tabler, who suffered a concussion in Monday's game with Presbyterian. With Tabler out and sophomore John David Gardner already nursing a broken foot, the Raiders were a little thin at the guard position. But that's the way it has been this season. Freshman N'Gai Evans missed most of the preseason with a broken hand, which put him so far behind, coach Brad Brownell didn't use him in the first 10 games. Senior Scottie Wilson had to sit out the Miami University game after breaking a bone in his face during practice. Gardner has missed 11 games with his foot (he missed three games before he even broke it), and he won't be able to return until the very end of the season. Sophomore Todd Brown missed the final few minutes of the Wisconsin-Milwaukee game at home when he caught a knee in his side. Junior Gavin Horne has not played since twisting an ankle 13 games ago, although he has dressed the past four games and is expected to be used soon. Sophomore Ronnie Thomas also has had foot and knee problems. He has missed six games due to injuries. Sophomore Vaughn Duggins has been mostly injury-free, but early in the first matchup against Wisconsin-Green Bay, he badly sprained his ankle and missed three-fourths of a game the Raiders lost by three. Somehow, the Raiders have been able to play through it. They are on a seven-game winning streak, and after Saturday's game at Youngstown State, WSU has three straight home games. At least the starters haven't missed large chunks of time, but the injuries to reserves, put a lot of minutes on the starters. And that's not the way you want to go into the final games of the season, with your best players tired. On the bright side, guys who didn't get much playing time early are logging plenty of minutes now, which will only be a help in the long run. If Tabler is cleared to play Saturday, and Horne gets into the game, WSU will be as healthy a team as they've been all season. So far, there have been plenty of injuries for the Raiders, but it hasn't hurt them as much as you'd think. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/02/08/ddn020808raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-020808
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Feb 9, 2008 22:29:40 GMT -5
C'mon, Wright St. deserves more fans at Nutter CenterBy Kyle Nagel Staff Writer Sunday, February 10, 2008 When deciding what stories to write or teams to cover, there are two main factors we consider: Interest and success. The success part is generally easy to discern. That's one of the nice things about sports — there's a record we can reference to determine achievement. Even if it's the most obscure team in the area, a 20-0 record deserves note. But interest? That's tougher. What measure do you use? Number of papers bought when a team is featured? Page views on the Web site? E-mails and calls? Whether it's the best measure or not, we often turn to attendance. That brings us to Wright State's men's basketball team and its interest versus attendance dilemma. This is a team that, before Saturday night's game against Youngstown State, had won seven straight and was 16-6. That takes care of success. But what about the interest? In the first 12 home games, 4,667 people per game came to the Nutter Center, which is less than half of what the building holds. The last home game, against Presbyterian (agreed, not a wildly interesting opponent), drew 4,168. So, is there great interest in Wright State? Compare it to, say, the Dayton Dragons, which sell out every game. Or the University of Dayton, which averages 12,636. The Raiders have a winning team and a coach in Brad Brownell who is one of the young stars in his profession. I know there's more interest than 4,667 people per game. It deserves more in the Nutter Center. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/02/09/ddn021008audible.html
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Feb 11, 2008 9:20:13 GMT -5
Wright State may make history again this yearBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Sunday, February 10, 2008 FAIRBORN — A year ago, the Raiders were already on the highway back to Dayton, a quiet group watching on their cell phones and computers as Butler completed its game against Chicago-Loyola. Since Wright State was surprisingly defeated – and rather handily — at Youngstown State, it appeared the Raiders would finish second in the Horizon League and have to play its league tournament games at Butler. At least it appeared that way. About a half hour into the four-hour trip home, Loyola completed the upset day, knocking Butler into a first-place tie with the Raiders, who had the tiebreak that would force the HL semis and finals to be played at the Nutter Center. Ah, what a happy couple of days for Raiders fans. Wright State beat Butler in the final and went on to play in its first NCAA tournament in 14 years. Repeating that scenario may be a little more difficult this season, although you could say, if it happened last year, why not this? Butler has six league games remaining and WSU has five, and WSU is down two in the loss column. They play each other in Indianapolis on Feb. 28. Tuesday, Butler is at UW-Milwaukee, Thursday hosts Youngstown State and Saturday hosts Cleveland State, so there are three games in five days because the Horizon League values television time, and ESPNU had a window on Tuesday. The network wanted nationally-ranked Butler to fill it. Already Wright State has done things no other team in school history has done in the 21 years it has played Division I basketball. The victory over YSU gave the Raiders five straight victories on the road, a team record. With only three regular-season road games left (and a possible road game in the tournament at Butler), it gives the Raiders a winning record (7-3) on the road for only the second time in school history — the other being the 7-6 record in 1989-90 (unless, of course, the Raiders lose all their remaining road games, plus a tournament game at Butler). At 17-6, the Raiders seem destined for the second straight 20-win season, a first back-to-back happening in the school's DI history. With eight straight victories, that record nine-game string of a year ago is also in jeopardy. Of course, a second-straight NCAA bid would also be unprecedented. Regardless, this is going to end up being a remarkable season. The Raiders have been entertaining, and have won. They have had multiple heroes, from twin sophomores Vaughn Duggins and Todd Brown to freshman N'Gai Evans, who at one point appeared to be headed for a red-shirt season. There are three home games left — Thursday, Saturday and next Wednesday — with Chicago-Loyola, Illinois-Chicago and Detroit. If you want to see the Raiders win, there's a good chance. If you want to see stiff competition — WSU beat Loyola and UIC by one point each and Detroit by nine in previous meetings this season — there's a good chance. Mostly, if you want to see WSU history, there's a good chance. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/02/10/ddn021108raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-021008
|
|
|
|
Post by rock70 on Feb 15, 2008 7:40:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Raider Country on Feb 18, 2008 8:19:26 GMT -5
Free-throw practice helps Raiders pull another last-minute winBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Sunday, February 17, 2008 FAIRBORN — Little things happen on game night those sitting in the stands hardly ever hear about. Like before Saturday night's game between Wright State and Illinois-Chicago. The Raiders were out warming up, and if you've ever watched some of this, players do stuff they'd never do in a game. Like freshman Troy Tabler standing back 35 feet trying to make extra-long three-point shots. Or Saturday night, when freshman Cooper Land went to the free throw line and practiced his shots from there. Even teammate Scottie Wilson wanted to know what was going on. "I said, 'Why are you shooting free throws?'" Wilson said later. "'You never get to the line, and you're shooting free throws.' I'm glad he did." Prior to Saturday night, Land had shot only 23 free throws for the Raiders, making only 12 (52.2 percent). He stood tied for sixth on the team in the number of free throws taken, and seventh in accuracy. A freshman, 12-for-23 in 23 games. And there he was, at the line with WSU trailing by a point with 6.9 seconds to play in regulation. It had not been a particularly good night even for those of the Raiders used to going to the foul line. In 12 chances already, they made only seven shots (58 percent). That's not very good. Mostly, the Raiders have been fair from the line, shooting a little over 68 percent for the season. Sometimes, they've been very good, like 9-for-11 against Loyola of Chicago just last Thursday. Sometimes, they've been very bad, like 7-of-13 against Cleveland State the week before. Here they were at 7-for-13 again, and with a freshman at the line who usually doesn't get to the line, the fate of the game in his hands. He made both shots. Maybe it was all the practice winning close games. The 52-51 victory was the fifth one-point victory for the 19-6 Raiders this season. Of their 19 victories, 16 have been by nine points or less; 12 have been by five points or less. Three of their six losses have been by five, three and two points. "The Raiders got it done when they needed to, and we failed when we needed to," UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. "Obviously, the Raiders have learned to win through adversity. This was a very important game for us, as it was for the Raiders. The Raiders just hit shots when they needed to, and we did not." At least two of those shots came from sophomore Todd Brown, who was not having a good shooting night. Brown was 3-for-11 when he made his last two baskets, both in the final two minutes, one on a tip-in and one a 3-point shot similar to the one that beat Miami by a point in December. "For some reason, I can't shoot that good at home," Brown said. "Troy kept saying, 'You're going to make the big shot, you're going to make the big shot.' And just like Miami, I made the big shot." Still, at home, Brown is shooting just 34 percent from the field. On the road, he's making better than 48 percent of his shots. Maybe it's good luck the Raiders have only one of their final four games at home. That would be Wednesday, when Detroit calls at the Nutter Center. A lot is at stake for the Raiders. They can solidify their hold on second place in the Horizon League with a victory — and still have an outside shot at Butler for the regular-season championship. They also have a chance to do what no other Division I men's basketball team has accomplished in 21 years of play — a second straight 20-victory season. Jimmy Collins is right. The Raiders have figured out how to win www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/02/17/ddn021808raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-021808
|
|
|
|
Post by rock70 on Feb 22, 2008 9:16:35 GMT -5
|
|
