WSU INSIDER

[Wolf]

WSU INSIDER

Distractions aside, Raiders look like a winning team
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

While his legacy as an Ohio State assistant may turn out to be something negative, Wright State men's basketball coach Paul Biancardi has earned good marks here for putting together a solid, fun-to-watch team.

Let the NCAA rule after its hearing with the coach Dec. 9-10 in Indianapolis — dates the NCAA would not change even when the Raiders wanted to schedule a game that weekend.

Biancardi will be questioned about violations he may have participated in at OSU — charges that may cost him his job — although a final ruling on his status might come after this season.

Despite all the uncertainty off the court, one thing is certain on the court: Since he was hired by WSU on April 4, 2003, Biancardi has invigorated the Raiders basketball program.

Charges against Biancardi at Wright State are only that he has done his job well. His third team, poised to open the season in Nashville against Belmont on Saturday, is expected to pull away from a .500 record.

This was a man who molded a 14-14 record in his first season with only seniors and freshmen — just eight of them on scholarship. That earned Biancardi Horizon League Coach of the Year honors.

An upgraded schedule last season yielded a 15-15 record.

A third straight .500 record will not fly as improvement, of course, even with the NCAA hanging around, but Raiders fans should not have to settle for that.

Once again the schedule is daunting — at least 14 road games, including four at MAC schools — but the WSU roster is in order and is stocked with enthusiastic players who have embraced Biancardi's call for defense and playing sensible offense.

Two — juniors DaShaun Wood and Drew Burleson — are such undisputed leaders that Biancardi has named them co-captains. Wood is listed at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds — wearing maybe 30 pounds of excess material.

Burleson, fearless inside, is listed at 6-6 and is expected to take on opponents much larger.

A preseason shoplifting incident landed incoming guards Tyrone Scott and Robert Eldridge on a four-game suspension, but the Raiders appear to be deeper than they have been in years. In addition to Wood and Burleson, experience comes from senior guard Jaron Taylor, sophomore guard Everett Spencer and sophomore big man Jordan Pleiman. Walter Chancellor, Parysh Munroe, Scott Wilson and James Craft offer help inside.

There is guard help with William Graham and Reinaldo Smith along with Scott and Eldridge.

The NCAA is hanging over it all. At Wright State, it is hanging over good work.

Contact Marc Katz at [phone]

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[Wolf]

WSU schedule analysis
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

November
Three of the four games are on the road, including at MAC powers Toledo and Miami, with a home game against another top MAC team, Ball State. Getting by those teams with at least a 2-2 record would be a plus.

December
An early Horizon League opener against a good Detroit team on Dec. 7 will help tell how good the Raiders will be. Two more MAC road games — at Northern Illinois and Akron — will be tough, but this may be the easy part of WSU's schedule.

January
All Horizon League except for a game with Division III Kenyon. Five of the games are on the road, including at league favorite Milwaukee. If the Raiders don't want to get into a hole, this would be the place to win.

February
This rest of the HL is played this month, and the Raiders get a break with four home games. But they also end the season in Chicago at Loyola and UIC, a difficult situation if you're looking to win a championship.

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[Wolf]

Fast facts about the WSU Raiders
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

• This is the 36th season of WSU basketball, which began in 1970-71. The Raiders finished 7-17 that season.

• WSU won the NCAA Division II national championship in 1983 under coach Ralph Underhill, finishing 28-4.

• Wright State moved to Division I in 1987-88. The team has gone 258-251 since then, with nine winning seasons, seven losing seasons and two .500 seasons. The first game WSU plays in the Horizon League tournament will be the 1,000th game of basketball for the school.

• DaShaun Wood likely will become the school's 25th player to reach 1,000 career points. He is at 699. Drew Burleson could join Wood. He has 543 points.

• This season is the 16th for the Nutter Center, where the Raiders play.


RECENT HISTORY
Season Overall League Coach
2004-05 15-15 8-8 Paul Biancardi
2003-04 14-14 10-6 Paul Biancardi
2002-03 10-18 4-12 Ed Schilling
2001-02 17-11 9-7 Ed Schilling
2000-01 18-11 8-6 Ed Schilling

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[Big D]

WSU INSIDER

Free tickets are part of bigger plan
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN | Bob Grant remembers the time several years ago when he discovered that the Wright State athletics department didn't have a leg to stand on.

Actually, the department had two legs to stand on. It was just missing the third.

Still is.

What Grant, the department's director of development, is doing now is laying the groundwork to get that third leg, which is part of the reason Saturday's men's basketball home opener is free to the public.

"Fundraising is a three-legged stool," Grant said, repeating what he learned at a seminar. "One, you have annual giving from young, enthusiastic grads. Two, you have special events. We have two golf outings a year and an auction every other year. Three, you have planned giving or special giving."

Oops. That planned and special giving sounds like someone older has to be involved, and that would be correct.

"I was told we had to cultivate our former athletes who were 60 years old or older," Grant said.

Impossible 10 years ago, and just approaching possibility now. Wright State was founded in 1964 and began its first high-profile sport — men's basketball — in 1970.

The leg is almost there, but not quite. There are no gray-beard former athletes ... yet.

"We're still a young school, and a lot of our graduates haven't hit upper management yet," Grant said. "We're getting there."

Sometimes it's a tough sell anyway, especially sitting directly in the shadow of football-dominated Ohio State and UD's 60-year-plus head start in basketball.

Wright State has its product in place — a nice place to play, a decent team, reasonable ticket prices — but needs more fans, who will generate the money to operate a successful athletics program and build the school's academics.

"The academic hand doesn't have a forum," WSU senior associate AD Paul Newman said. "It has no sports page or radio show or television show."

The athletics hand has that, and a budget in excess of $7.8 million, too. That's not much compared to OSU's budget approaching $100 million, but the WSU athletics department doesn't sit around waiting for the money to start trickling in, either.

While the university subsidizes the athletics department with nearly $6 million, that leaves $1.8 million to raise through ticket sales, sponsorships, premium seating, fundraising and NCAA television money.

You might say giving away tickets isn't the way to generate money, but the WSU alumni association — for the third straight year — has purchased all the nonseason tickets for one game.

Patrons can pick up as many as four at the Nutter Center box office for Saturday's 7 p.m. game against Ball State.

"The alumni association is trying to raise awareness in the school," said Grant's wife, Kim, who sits on the alumni board. "We have 80,000 WSU alums and almost half of them work in the area. We want to raise awareness and pride. We wanted this to be a high-profile game, one that was on TV (Time Warner).

"We're doing good as young as we are."

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