The Morning Dish – Wednesday, March 2nd
St. Joe’s President Speaks Out: St. Joseph’s president Timothy Lannon commended Temple coach John Chaney for suspending himself for the Atlantic 10 tournament but expressed disapproval about the lack of action by Temple and A-10 officials. Chaney extended a regular-season ending three-game suspension yesterday after he met with senior forward John Bryant and his family on the campus of St. Joe’s. Bryant broke his arm when Temple forward Nehemiah Ingram slammed him to the court under orders from Chaney to rough up the Hawks. Chaney had expressed disapproval about what he perceived to be illegal screens set by the Hawks and responded when he felt like officials ignored some calls during the game. He inserted Ingram, who fouled out in four minutes after generally bullying through every player he could find. Chaney apologized publicly in the days after the event, and Temple officials extended a self-imposed one-game suspension to three games. But Lannon feels the school and conference did not act quickly or thoroughly to discipline Chaney.
Hawks Win Without Bryant: Although John Bryant could only watch from the bench, St. Joseph’s played well at George Washington, winning 71-56 as the Hawks shot better than 54 percent from the field. The defense of St. Joe’s held the high-octane George Washington offense to 38 percent shooting and allowed only two Colonials to reach double figures. Senior sharpshooter Pat Carroll led four Hawks in double figures with 21 points, including five three pointers. The Hawks clinched the Atlantic 10 regular-season title with the win and will be the conference’s top seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Bubble Talk: By virtue of the loss to St. Joseph’s, George Washington’s status on the bubble becomes more tenuous. The Colonials weren’t alone, however, among teams that managed to hurt their Tournament chances last night. Virginia Tech dropped a must-win game at Clemson as the Tigers won 66-64 on a last-second dunk by senior forward Sharrod Ford. After Clemson hit a three pointer to tie the game in the final 10 seconds, Shawan Robinson stole the ball and hit Ford sprinting to the basket to beat the buzzer. Indiana also failed to make a move forward toward an NCAA Tournament bid thanks to a last-second tip-in by Alando Tucker to give Wisconsin a 62-60 win. The Hoosiers overcame a 10-point deficit in the final 10 minutes, capped by Roderick Wilmont’s game-tying putback with less than 30 seconds remaining. Meanwhile, Mississippi State avoided slipping onto the bubble by sliding past Arkansas 57-55. Senior forward Lawrence Roberts led the Bulldogs with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Conference Tournament Redux: March Madness is officially under way as the Big South, Horizon and Ohio Valley started their conference tournaments last night. In the Big South, No. 7 Charleston Southern upset No. 2 Liberty, the conference’s defending champ, 66-60. Charleston Southern will play No. 6 High Point, which upset No. 3 UNC-Asheville in a 99-93 thriller. No. 4 Birmingham Southern beat No. 5 Radford 69-40 and will play No. 1 Winthrop, which took care of No. 8 Coastal Carolina 74-62.
In the Horizon conference tournament, the higher seeds took care of business. No. 4 Loyola-Chicago beat No. 9 Youngstown State 78-75, No. 5 Illinois-Chicago beat No. 8 Cleveland State 84-65, and No. 6 Wright State beat No. 7 Butler 61-57. And in the Ohio Valley conference tournament, the top two seeds survived while No. 3 Murray State and No. 4 Samford fell to No. 6 Southeast Missouri and No. 5 Austin Peay, respectively. No. 1 Tennessee Tech slipped by No. 8 Eastern Illinois 72-68, and No. 2 Eastern Kentucky beat No. 7 Tennessee State 74-68. Click on our our Thirteen Days: Championship Week 2005 feature for complete conference tournament coverage.
Cardinal Grounded: Ball State senior guard Dennis Trammell will miss the remainder of his final season as a Cardinal because of severe tendinitis in his left Achilles. Trammell was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.9 points per game. He dumped an amazing 38 points on Marshall Feb. 6. Ball State is seemingly one of the only MAC teams not at 10-6 in conference play, and without Trammell, the Cardinals will struggle to make a run in the post-season.
Centenary Must Look for New Extraordinary Gentleman: Coach Kevin Johnson of the Centenary Gents resigned as head coach yesterday after Centenary’s season ends at a disappointing 3-24 and 1-15 in conference play. Johnson had been the Gents’ coach for the past six years and helped guide the Gents out of the Division I purgatory known as an independent and into the Mid-Continent conference. Johnson finished with a 65-100 record at Centenary.
Aggie Out: Utah State coach Stew Morrill dismissed junior reserve Marques Crane for violating team rules and academic reasons. Crane has played in only 12 games this season, averaging four points and 1.5 rebounds per game. The Aggies look to make a run in the Big West tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
