On the 9th Day of Conference Tourneys... the Buffet gave to me...
Rocking the MEAC down in Raleigh ... Surf's up in Anaheim ... Vegas Baby Vegas! in the Mountain West ... Sealed With A Championship in Birmingham ... Gary Trent'ing in Cleveland ... and seeing if Larry Centers' alma mater can seal the deal down in Katy...
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference:
After a string of six straight chalk years (the #1 seed winning the MEAC Title), the last two have produced unpredictable results, but this year, an embattled coach with a checkered history has resurfaced in college basketball, and proven that he can build winner, even if he doesn't shell out $30K to parents of his student-athlete, and the rest of the MEAC will be gunning for his squad in Raleigh.
Morgan St. The Buffet doesn't always like highlight coaches over players. Such a practice is part of the reason some outstanding players frm a small private school in North Carolina are derided by a vocal majority, because their coach has been deified and their place in history pre-cemented simply by virtue of their association to him. This aside, a decent little story (that will quickly become an overplayed story, and then become a terrible story) can come out of Raleigh this weekend. Todd Bozeman, former Cal head coach, who had the audacity to provide travel money to the parents of Jelani Gardner, so they could get to his games while at Cal, and then was turned in BY GARDNER'S PARENTS after Bozeman had the further audacity to reduce the underperforming player's minutes, has resurfaced in the MEAC as head coach of the Bears.
Hey, guess what? I wasn't that good, and so we did in Coach to cover that up...
Now, the Buffet does not condone cheating, even less, it does not support lying to those investigating your conduct, but Bozeman got treated like he was Hot Rod Williams in the mid-80's, trading points for cash and cocaine.
You want a scandal? I'll show you a scandal...
In any event, he's back, and so are the Morgan St. Bears ... they started the season off with a bit of announcement of their arrival -- a huge scare to Connecticut (4 point loss to UConn), a win over eventual Patriot champ American, a 4 point loss at likely tourney-bound Miami (Fl), dropping just 2 conference games (by a total of 3 points and one OT), and finishing with Morgan St.'s first winning record in 19 years. The Bears are paced by 2007/8 MEAC Player of the Year, Jamar Smith, and the junior's 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Boubacar Coly (of no relation to Boubacar Aw) is the team's leading rebounder with 11.1 board per (to go with 9.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Reggie Holmes (12.6 pts, 3.2 assists) and Marquise Kately (12.6 pts, 6.2 rebounds) are Jamar Smith's scoring support, and Jerrell Green is the engine in the backcourt (4 assists to go with 6 pts, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.3 steals).
**AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. While at work, the Buffet enjoys listening to the radio. One of the Buffet's favorite internet locations is the WRLT-Lightning 100 in Nashville (as introduced to the Buffet by several Vandy grads working in the same office as the Buffet) -- currently British invasion day is being interrupted by a lengthy MEAC Tournament Preview that is airing at the same time as the Buffet's MEAC preview. Honestly, what are the chances? And she just finished the preview by saying: "The MEAC Conference: United We Jam!" Even odder, as soon as it ended, it broke back into Radio Nowhere by Bruce Springsteen, but didn't start at the beginning, instead went somewhere near the end, almost as though that MEAC Preview only existed on the Buffet's commercial...**
Finishing in a tie, 3 games back were the Hampton Pirates. It looked like they were the class of the MEAC early, with a 17-pt win over Tulsa (Bill Self, Buzz Peterson, Stan Heath where have yuo gone?), and then two tough losses to Maryland (6) and Kent St. (6) that was eventually turned into a 9 point win over Eric Maynor and VCU, and Patriot tourney finalist William & Mary. An 11-5 conference campaign that featured a 5 of 7 stretch (one of those losses coming in OT) to close the regular season has the Pirates peaking at just the right time. Rashad West is the Captain Jack Sparrow of this outfit, averaging 17 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Going into battle with him are Vincent Simpson (10.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals) and Michael Freeman (8 pts, 5 rebounds)
The 2nd place tying team was the Spartans of Norfolk State. In fact, Norfolk tore out to a 11-2 MEAC start, running neck and neck with Morgan St, but the wheels came off just a bit, as NSU lost 3 of 4 to finish the season (and 4 of 5 overall, including a loss to Winston Salem St). Norfolk is paced by Tony Murphy and his 17.5 points (to go with 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals); Corey Lyons chips in 14.2 points (and 3.9 rebounds), and Michael DeLoach adds 13.1 points (and does everything else: 3.7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.8 steals). Larry Vickers does the dirty work around Norfolk, giving 4.7 points, but mostly used for his defense (1.5 blocks) and rebounding (5.7 per game)
Others to Watch:
Ed Tyson, Maryland-Eastern Shore, 6'2 junior guard - 20.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals
Roy Bright, Delaware State, 6'6 senior guard, 19.0 pts, 5 rebounds
Tywain McKee, Coppin State, 6'2 senior guard, 15.8 pts, 4.2 rebs, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals
Leslie Robinson, Florida A&M, 6'0 senior guard, 14.9 pts, 3.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals
Steve Rush, North Carolina A&T, 5'11 senior guard, 14.7 pts, 2.5 rebounds, 1.1 steals
Eugene Myatt, Howard, 6'5 junior guard, 14.1 pts, 3.3 rebounds
Jason Johnson, South Carolina St., 6'7, junior F-C, 11.2 pts, 7.4 rebounds, 1 stl, 1.6 blks
Who Will Win: Morgan St.'s dominance, all random Todd Bozeman-love aside, has been impressive, while they have been challenged, they just haven't been thoroughly beaten to the point where you wonder if they'll face adversity. But let's be honest, Bozeman was a solid coach, but this isn't like John Wooden discovered the fountain of youth here. Nonetheless, Morgan St. is the pick.
Did You Know:
Bethune-Cookman Junior F/G Kevan Creppy is a very intriguing person, while shooting the "J" with Kevan, we learned his favorite author was Zora Neale Hurston, but that his favorite class at BCC? "Basketball Class"
BCU Junior G Josh Cummings is the nephew of long-time Milwauke Buck Terry Cummings
BCU Junior G Dominique Whatley is the cousin of the man that Chicago drafted, passing up Clyde Drexler
When shooting the "J" with Joey Wood, we learned his favorite collegiate team is the Miami Hurricanes ... the Buffet wonders how that sits with his teammates...
Coppin St is coached by the legendary Ron "Fang" Mitchell
Delaware St. freshman point guard Trevor Welcher is a 3rd cousin of Kobe Bryant, and the g-dson of former DSU Hornet Darrin Shine
In a stunning upset, freshman guard from Florida A&M, Cassius Bell, enjoys playing basketball in his spare time. Some people call that practicing.
Delaware State freshman center Adrija Topic (from Croatia)i s the cousin of UFC fighter Ivan Niksic
DSU junior guard Donald Johnson admits that he cannot swim and says he is introverted, but prides himself on being a leader and not a follower. Unless, apparently, he needs to lead a water rescue, or lead a large group of people...
DSU junior guard Jerrel Chavis reports that he has a brother on the Miami (Fl) basketball team ... however, no player on the Miami basketball team seems to want to admit it (and no one has the surname "Chavis")
MEAC All-Conference Awardees
MEAC Player of the Year: Jamar Smith, Morgan St.
MEAC Coach of the Year: Todd Bozeman, Morgan St.
MEAC Rookie of the Year: Carrio Bennett, So. Carolina St.
MEAC Defensive Player of the Year: Boubacar Coly
MEAC First-Team
Jamar Smith, Morgan St.
Roy Bright, Delaware St.
Tony Murphy, Norfolk St.
Tywain McKee, Coppin St.
Boubacar Coly, Morgan St.
Otter Watch
Trevor Welcher, freshman, Delaware St - 1.87 Ast/TO
Jerrell Green, senior Morgan St - 1.75 Ast/TO
Joe Ballard, junior Florida A&M - 1.39 Ast/TO
3 comments:
Today was a sad day in Nevada. No longer will we be able to bet against Oregon St this year.... At least they gave us one final disinterested halfhearted performance.
Boubacar Coly of Morgan State was a four-year player at Xavier who received a medical hardship due to several knee injuries. Sort of a summer league legend. Good to see him doing well.
I hope the Buffet can rank the following games in order of unwatchability:
Iowa/Michigan
Penn State/Illinois
Minnesota/Northwestern
If opening-round Big Slow games aren't a sign of the impending downfall of western civilization, I don't know what is.
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