Southern Illinois wins big over Henderson State. Wichitan Jack Crowder scored 12 points in 17 minutes. Tony Freeman started and scored six points in 22 minutes.
Evansville handles Hanover. Northern Iowa over Upper Iowa.
Bradley was supposed to scrimmage DePaul today. Drake and UMKC also supposed to practice behind closed doors.
Wichita State scrimmaged on Friday afternoon, playing four periods of officiated basketball. Predictably, coach Gregg Marshall saw a little of everything. Graham Hatch and Clevin Hannah played very well. The freshmen made freshmen mistakes. Marshall preferred a little more defense from almost everybody.
“We had some guys that didn’t play particularly well, and we have some guys who have no clue what we’re doing,” Marshall said. “But that’s why you do it.”
Hatch made shots, rebounded and hustled.He was the player who stood out, both for his effort and effectiveness. Hannah, Marshall pointed out, enjoys playing against rookie guards. He makes it difficult on Kenny Manigault and Demetric Williams. They sometimes struggled to bring the ball up court. Hannah seemed to get a shot – from deep or in the lane – whenever he wanted. Walk-on Derek Brown contributed a lot for a guy who joined the team two weeks ago. He is a good shooter and looked like he picked up the system quickly.
“I thought Graham Hatch was tremendous, Marshall said. “I thought Clevin Hannah was very good. I thought J.T. Durley was very good offensively. But he would have never scored like he did throughout the course of the scrimmage in a real game because he would have been on the bench with three fouls because of his defense. We’ve got a number of guys like right now. (Toure) Murry is a little like that. Murry’s more worried about the offensive end than he is the defensive end.”
Wichita State wrapped up its fall baseball series on Wednesday. Gold players will serve steak to Black players during the annual post-fall dinner. Winter field preparation used to be part of the losing burden. I’m not sure who much prep work remains with the new turf.
The biggest news of the fall concerns two pitchers who barely touched the mound this fall. Tyler Fleming had surgery to clean up scar tissue in his right shoulder on Monday. The labrum and rotator cuff look good. Pitching coach Brent Kemnitz says there is a chance Fleming could be 100 percent by December and on track to throw this spring. Grant Muncrief, who had Tommy John surgery in April, looks good throwing bullpens. He could be ready by late February. The coaches had largely written him off for this season. Apparently, aggressive rehab this summer in Wichita is putting Muncrief on the fast track. Recovery is usually 10-12 months after surgery and he will be at 10 months in February. Logan Hoch, who also missed last season with shoulder surgery, threw this fall and expects to be full strength this spring.
Any one of those three helps WSU’s bullpen. If two or three are back and effective, the bullpen is in great shape.
“A lot hinges on the health of Logan Hoch, Grant Muncrief and Tyler Fleming,” Kemnitz said. “If you throw them in the mix, our depth is incredible. We’re hopeful. We think they’re going to be OK.”
Some random thoughts and numbers:
“What you saw last year (of Cobey Guy) was not what we recruited,” Kemnitz said. “He came in here hurt. He had no confidence. This fall guys have seen the guy we recruited. There’s no reason he can’t domino that into a great spring, because he has great stuff.”
“We’re doing a much better job of being tougher outs,” he said.
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is coming to Intrust Bank Arena. So if you’re one of the fans who wonders “What would it take for Wichita State women’s basketball to be a real player for love in this town?” – you got your answer.
Play a tournament game downtown in 2011.
Sure, it’s outlandish to talk about WSU in that way. The Shockers have never played in the NCAA. They’ve never been a serious at-large contender and never won a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season or tournament title. WSU is picked ninth this season and hasn’t had a winning season since 2006.
Forget all that, because this news gives WSU the license to dream big.
In 2011, if WSU earns a spot (either at-large or automatic) it will play in downtown arena. That’s a guarantee, according to Jane Meyer, chair of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball committee.
“If you are a host and you’re in, they’re playing at home,” she said.
The NCAA just gave WSU women’s basketball a game-changing opportunity. Coach Jody Adams, starting her second season, knows it. WSU plays in the MVC. Anything is possible. Southern Illinois, with Adams as an assistant coach, went from 1-17 in the MVC in 2005 to 16-2 in 2007. Creighton, last place in 2006, finished second in 2009 and is the preseason favorite this season. Eighth-seeded Illinois State won the tournament in 2005. Eighth-seeded Drake won it in 2007. Ninth-seeded Evansville won it last season.
Why can’t Wichita State do something similar in 2011?
WSU knows this is a rare jewel of an opportunity. Pull this off and WSU women’s basketball elevates itself to real relevancy on the local sports scene. Thursday’s announcement presents the program with the possibility of its first profile-raising, defining moment that doesn’t involve Jackie Stiles.
The Bluejays move into Omaha’s new downtown stadium in 2011 (full-time in 2012). Really, the Bluejays don’t have other options. The on-campus field is bad. Bad seating. Bad turf. Bad lights. Wichita State strongly prefers not playing there.
The new stadium, built for the College World Series, will seat 24,000 fans. Which means around 23,000 seats will be vacant for most Creighton games. The Qwest Center move worked out well for CU basketball. I can’t blame the school for trying something similar for baseball. On paper, the move could have many benefits for scheduling and recruiting. If you can live with empty seats and little atmosphere (other than for the Nebraska game), go for it. If it helps Creighton, it helps MVC baseball. MVC baseball needs all the help it can get. Regardless of how this turns out, it’s nice to see an MVC school taking baseball seriously enough to give this a try.
As someone who went to the CWS in 1991 to see WSU and Creighton play, my first thought whenever the topic of a Creighton baseball facility comes up is – why did it take so long? Creighton missed a great opportunity to capitalize on the success of Jim Hendry’s team in the late 80s and early 90s.
ST. LOUIS – The Northern Iowa men and the Creighton women start 2009-10 as the preseason favorites in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Voting by coaches, media and sports information directors make the Panthers the men’s favorite for the first time since 2005-06. The Creighton women are picked first for the first time since 2002-03.
Wichita State’s men were picked fifth. The Shocker women are ninth.
Team (First-place votes) Total
1. Northern Iowa (38) 389
2. Creighton (1) 336
3. Illinois State 299
4. Southern Illinois 272
5. Wichita State 216
6. Bradley 208
7. Indiana State 173
8. Drake 105
9. Missouri State 92
10 Evansville 55
Preseason all-conference
Kwadzo Ahelegbe, G, Northern Iowa
Osiris Eldridge, G, Illinois State
Tony Freeman, G, Southern Illinois
Adam Koch, F, Northern Iowa
P’Allen Stinnett, G, Creighton
Josh Young, G, Drake
Honorable mention: Kevin Dillard, G, Southern Illinois; Clevin Hannah, G, Wichita State; Jake Kelly, G, Indiana State; Sam Maniscalco, G, Bradley, Toure Murry, G, Wichita State
Team (first-place votes) Total
1. Creighton (34) 393
2. Illinois State (6) 340
3. Drake 296
4. Northern Iowa 253
5. Indiana State 250
6. Bradley 214
7. Missouri State 188
8. Evansville 108
9. Wichita State 97
10. Southern Illinois 61
Wichita State’s fall baseball series successfully dodged bad weather again on Sunday. Gold won 6-0 to force Wednesday’s game 7. Since losing 15-3 and 15-3 to fall behind 3-1, Gold has won two straight and given up four runs to Black.
“I feel really comfortable,” Goro said. “Defense is one of my strong suits. It’s something I definitely take pride in. When the pitcher’s out there, I want him to feel confident that if the ball’s hit my way, I’m going to be there.”
“I’ve been hitting my spots, inside and outside, pretty well,” he said. “If you can do that, then you mix in your off-speed and keep the hitters off balance.”
That name should bring back nightmares for a generation of Shocker basketball fans. Pressey tormented some of WSU’s greatest teams when he played for Tulsa from 1980-82. He went 4-0 against WSU in his two seasons. Whenever Tulsa needed a steal or a basket in those game, Pressey seemed to deliver. As a Shocker fan, you hated him for beating your team. You also admired the way he played. Pressey, who played 11 seasons in the NBA, returned to Wichita last week as an assistant for the New Orleans Hornets. The first memory on his list was the 1981 game when Tulsa beat No. 14 WSU in double overtime after trailing by five points with under 30 seconds to play in regulation.
Q: What do you remember about playing in this arena?
A: I was telling some of the other assistant coaches that some of my greatest college basketball games were here. Us being down, I believe it was five points with 25 seconds to go. It was an exciting moment, being on the road and winning like that against a good team. Xavier McDaniel, I think he was a freshman my senior year. Levingston and Antoine – those guys were monsters. They were stacked. It was a good basketball game to watch because both teams played very fast and were very aggressive in the paint. That made it exciting basketball.
Q: Describe playing at Tulsa for coach Nolan Richardson.
A: He was a father figure for me, leaving home from (Richmond) Virginia and going to Western Texas (for junior college) playing two years there for him and then going to the University of Tulsa. When you get far away from home, you need a father figure and he was it. On and off the court, he set the tone – not just for me but for all his players. I always believed he did that at whatever university he coached for. He was going to teach his players to be young men. Basketball was going to take care of itself.
Q: What is it like coaching Hornets star Chris Paul?
A: He allows you not to have to coach very much. He’s just a talent. He’s an extension of the head coach. He’s our leader. He makes the game easy for a lot of players out there on the floor and therefore he allows our team to have some kind of success. It depends on how the rest of our players step up their level of play as to how far we go this year. I like our chances. We injected some young players, including Julian Wright from Kansas. We put (Wright) in the starting lineup because we wanted to put him with our best players and give him a chance that those mistakes he makes, our veteran players can help him get over those.
Q: Phil Pressey, one of the nation’s top high school point guards, is headed to Missouri to play for former Tulsa teammate Mike Anderson. How did your son end up with the Tigers?
A: Coach Anderson is not just a mentor from a coaching standpoint, he’s seen my son grow up. They already had a relationship. It’s a perfect fit. He plays his style of basketball. My whole thing was I wanted to make sure he goes somewhere where the coach teaches him about growing to be a young man. I didn’t care about basketball. He’s a very good basketball player and that’s going to take care of itself.
Q: Is Phil a defensive stopper like his father?
A: He’s a pretty good defensive player, but he’s a Chris Paul. He has that mind-set and is that kind of caliber player. He’s a game-changer. That’s why Coach Anderson was so in love with him. He’s an exciting player, he’s an ooh-and-aah player. Every team would love to have one of those.
The Wall Street Journal profiles former Shocker Casey Blake, now third baseman for the Dodgers. He is mentioned in the same breath as Ron Cey, which means Blake must be doing something right in L.A.