Flying High: Young Hartford Hawks on the Verge of History
by Sam Perkins
It was fitting, or at least in keeping with the way the Hartford Hawks season has gone. Scheduled to practice at Loyola College Thursday night in preparation for their Saturday conference championship match-up against top seed UMBC, the Hawks were already running late, after their team bus traveled at a crawl down Baltimore’s narrow streets. Things were further complicated when they had difficulty finding Loyala’s athletic complex, and continued to snowball as head coach Dan Leibovitz and the Hawks could not find an entrance to the basketball arena. When all was said and done, Leibovitz had roughly half the time he had originally allotted to practice when his team took the floor.
But, just like the Hawks have been doing all season, Hartford rolled with it, as Leibovitz ran his squad through an incredibly crisp and fast paced lightning round of preparation.
“We just fit three hours worth of practice into an hour,” remarked Leibovitz.
And if it hasn’t already become apparent, this Hawks team can handle anything that fate, or the America East, can throw at them, and that the many trials and tribulations that they have faced during the season have only made them stronger.
The Hawks were beaten up during the conference’s toughest non-conference schedule, hobbled through injuries, dealt with more than their share of growing pains that come with a young team learning how to play together, and were torched from behind the arc. The Hawks never packed it in, never gave in to self doubt, even when the season threw one gut check after the other at them, none more severe than the 97-66 thrashing the Hawks were handed by the Boston University Terriers, yet Leibovitz’s young squad never let it get to them, and now stands forty minutes away from the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history.
“This is one of the calmest teams I have ever been involved with. These guys are all focused, but they are as far from intimidated as possible,” remarked Leibovitz.
Truly, if you watched the Hawks going about their business off of the court as the hours ticked down to Saturday’s tip off, you would never know the Hawks were on the verge of the biggest game of their collective careers. Michael Turner and Warren McClendon joked over magazines while waiting for their flight out of Hartford. The entire team collectively razzed freshman Anthony Minor when he found a seat on the plane next to two young women. David Bookman pointed out the filming location of Omar’s demise on the show The Wire. The players, coaches, and Hartford faculty seemed completely at ease during a Thursday night dinner at Baltimore landmark Sabatino’s (associate head coach John Gallagher deserves a big time assist for that), and the players even led a very off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday” to walk-on Clint Kuban, before the whole Hartford ensemble shared some birthday cake.
Hartford was hobbled early by a knee injury to guard Jared Von Rosenburg and a hip injury to Rich Baker, both projected starting guards. The Hawks were forced to rely heavily on four freshmen, while also trying to incorporate talented-transfer Warren McClendon into their system. The injured an inexperienced Hawks were battered around during a non-conference schedule that featured Louisville, BYU, Villanova, and Virginia.
However, as the saying goes, “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger,” and the Hawks had stretches of brilliance following their tough non-conference slate. Hartford was greatly aided by the return of Von Rosenburg, the continued progression of star guard and playmaker Joe Zeglinski, and the emergence of Morgan Sabia, who as a rookie established himself as the best shooting in the conference, shooting right around 45 percent from behind the arc. The Hawks got terrific moments from three other fab-freshmen in low post bruiser Kevin Estes, speed-of-light guard Andres Torres, and high-flier Minor.
The Hawks also went through bouts of inconsistency, due in part to the lack of a consistent low post game, due in large part to the sporadic play, and playing time, of McClendon. McClendon’s combination of strength, athleticism and skill made him one of the most talented low post scorers in the conference. However, McClendon struggled greatly to stay out of foul trouble early, and then to simply set foot on the court, as he didn’t seem able to play within the Hawks system. This, combined with the Hawks inability to defend behind the arc, made every game a challenge, as no wins seemed to come easy.
But the Hawks put it together down the stretch, winning five in a row before running into yet another obstacle, as they collapsed versus Vermont, and were run off the court by BU in successive games. Losing the way Hartford did with only one game left before the conference tournament could cripple some teams, yet the Hawks rebounded, winning their final game by one over regular season conference champ UMBC. They earned the number 2 seed, and led to the Hawks making the best tournament run in team history.
Hartford won a dog-fight in their first tournament game, as they watched New Hampshire miss three last-second shots from behind the arc and held on for a 68-65 win. New Hampshire never went away, but the Hawks were playing with a determination that few teams posses “These guys are playing for a dream right now,” said Leibovitz.
The Wildcats came in to the game as one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, and earlier in the year had bombed Hartford into submission from behind the arc. But Hartford finally put it all together, and played their best defense of the season (at least until the following day), holding the Wildcats to thirty-one percent from behind the arc.
“I said before the game the key was going to be the three-point line. If they were going to make ten, eleven, then we were going to have to make them shoot thirty of them, and they were eleven for thirty-five,” remarked Leibovitz.
Joe Zeglinski played like a First-Team all-conference player, an award he won the day before, pouring in 22 points while fighting in the paint for every one of his 11 rebounds, a true testament to his grit and toughness considering his 6′ stature. The other difference was that of McClendon, finally shaking off the foul trouble that had plagued him for much of the season, and having earned his way back onto the court. McClendon played like the best low post player in the conference, scoring 18 points on an assortment of low post moves and one thunderous two-handed slam, while pulling down 10 rebounds, dishing out two assists, and blocking a shot.
“Anytime Warren gets a dunk like that, it helps us out on defense the next possession momentum wise,” reflected Zeglinski.
“The entire year has been about fitting in, some games I didn’t fit in to the offense and defense, and some guys were fitting in better than me. Right now I’m fitting in,” said McClendon.
“Warren came up very big for us tonight as a scoring threat offensively, as a presence defensively, and on the defensive boards, and he was an important part of the game,” stated Leibovitz after the game.
With one game between the Hawks and a first-ever trip to the conference championship game, Hartford found themselves face-to-face with the same Boston University team that embarrassed them ten days earlier. Some teams would have lost the game before even taking the floor, with the memory of such a humiliating defeat taking them out of the game mentally, but Leibovitz relished the chance for redemption, and Hartford followed suit.
“I said to my team before the game that the great thing about athletics is that you find yourself with a second chance a lot of times as an athlete, and we had a second chance against a team that just ran us off the floor about a week ago, and I remember thinking that I want to get that team again, I never want the last time you play someone for it to be like that,” the second-year head coach reflected.
Hartford and Boston University staged a defensive struggle in the first half, with Hartford going into the locker room up 26-21. However, the Terriers responded, cutting the Hawks lead to one. That’s when McClendon took over, scoring nine of his 13 points in the second half, including another vicious two-handed slam that appeared to almost take down the entire backboard. His dunk was especially gratifying considering how much abuse he was taking in the low blocks. “Yeah, that felt pretty good” said McClendon, referring to his dunk. McClendon was a monster on the defensive end, rejecting five shots and altering another half dozen more, while pulling down ten rebounds for his second straight double-double in the tournament.
“The difference was Warren McClendon,” later reflected BU’s Matt Wolff.
McClendon’s game displayed just how far he had come over the year, as he stayed out of foul trouble despite being a force on the defensive end and mixing it up in the post. He also kept his emotions in check, as he appears to have learned how to let go when calls don’t go his way.
“I learned you gotta let some go, you can’t get all of them,” McClendon said. “I got into foul trouble earlier in the year because I wanted all of them, I learned you have to choose and pick which ones that your sure you can get.”
McClendon officially broke the game open with a deep three from NBA range, something Leibovitz banned him from doing after the non-conference season. However, it seems that McClendon’s play has earned him the respect of his coach, as Leibovitz said, “Sometimes you love to coach somebody who listens to everything that you say, and there’s always a time where you actually respect the kid for saying ‘you know what, I don’t care what you say, I know I can make this shot,’ and that’s what he did.”
The Hawks’ offense picked up with McClendon and Joe Zeglinkski leading the way. Zeglinski once again played like one of the best guards in the league, outplaying BU star Corey Lowe by scoring 16 points on 7-12 shooting. While the Hawks’ offense picked up in the second half, their defense remained the same, the best they played all year. The Hawks’ defense resembled that of the great Temple teams that Leibovitz was a top assistant on prior to taking the job, as they held the Terriers terrific shooters to 3-20 shooting from behind the arc.
The Hawks are riding high, and playing the best basketball of their season at the right time heading into what should be an epic battle for the conference title. With all that they have been through, their tremendous team attitude, and the conference’s brightest young coach leading the way, the Hawks are as ready for this game as any they have ever played, and there is no one should be shocked if they are dancing after the final whistle Saturday.
