Mt St MArys Coppin state playin game info

[shawn555]

NCAA Basketball: Mount to face Coppin State
By TIM PRATT
Evening Sun Sports Writer
Article Launched: 03/17/2008 09:51:25 AM EDT


The Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team might have dodged a bullet Sunday night.

When the NCAA released pairings for the opening round of the NCAA Division I Championships, the Mountaineers (18-14) were assigned to tip off against Coppin State in the tournament play-in game, set to take place at 7:30 p.m Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

If the Mountaineers weren't given a play-in game, they most likely would have entered as a No. 16 seed and would have had to face a top-seeded team. And a No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1.

Instead, the Mount's chances of winning the school's first NCAA Division I tournament game have increased as they face a Coppin State squad whose record is 16-20.

But the Mount knows not to be fooled by Coppin's record.

The Eagles enter the tournament as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions and, after beginning the season 4-19, have won 12 of their past 13 games .

Mount St. Mary's coach Milan Brown saw Coppin win its conference championship game over Morgan State and has a general idea of what to expect.

"They give you multiple looks defensively," he said. "They'll play some zones, some match-up zones, some 1-3-1. And they're going to take their time offensively. They don't have any problem using 25 seconds off the shot clock offensively, so it's going to be a tough task. It's going to be a battle of styles, who can really win out."

Mount St. Mary's forward Markus Mitchell feels his team should fare well
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against Coppin.

"I think we match up pretty good," he said. "We like to push the ball a lot and they kind of walk it up sometimes, so the two styles contrast and that might be kind of interesting."

The winner of Tuesday's play-in game will face the tournament's overall No. 1 seed, the University of North Carolina, in the East section of the 64-team bracket.

Mitchell said the Mountaineers aren't looking that far ahead, but did admit he was debating with teammate Sam Atupem about who would cover Tarheels forward Tyler Hansbrough if the Mount beats Coppin. Hansbrough has been one of the most dangerous players in the NCAA this season, averaging 23.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game.

"That's the coach's decision," Mitchell said with a laugh. "We don't know. We might both have to guard him at the same time."

Mitchell and the rest of his teammates were in high spirits throughout Selection Sunday. For most, Tuesday's play-in game will be the biggest of their lives.

"I'm real excited. I can't wait," freshman guard Jean Cajou said. "Nothing compares to this. This is something I've been dreaming about since I was a kid. I used to watch this on TV and always wanted to get to that spot, and now I'm here and I can't wait to take advantage of it."

The Mount qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning its third Northeast Conference Tournament title on Wednesday in Fairfield, Conn. The Mountaineers also participated in the "Big Dance" in 1995 and 1999.

Coppin State earned a berth after defeating Morgan State 62-60 in the MEAC championship game on Saturday. The Eagles will be making its fourth appearance in the tournament and its first since 1997.

This meeting between the programs marks the fourth meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1982-83 season. Mount St. Mary's won the three previous meetings.

"This is going to be a big game for us, especially being on ESPN," Cajou said. "We're trying to get this NCAA win and bring more history back to the Mount. I know getting this win and getting to the NCAA tournament will be good for the community, the players, the coaching staff, the students, for everyone - just to see Mount St. Mary's on the board, to put Mount St. Mary's on the map."

Contact Tim Pratt at tpratt@eveningsun.com.

NCAA PLAY-IN GAME:

A glance at the teams in Tuesday's NCAA Tournamenety play-in game at Dayton, OhioL

Mount St. Mary's, Md.

Emmitsburg, Md., 18-14.

Nickname: Mountaineers.

Coach: Milan Brown.

Region: East.

Seed: No. 16.

Bid: Northeast Conference champion.

Tournament Record: 0-2, 2 years.

Last NCAA Appearance: 1999.

Top Scorers: Chris Vann 14.4; Jeremy Goode 14.3; Will Holland 8.8.

Top Rebounders: Markus Mitchell 5.9; Sam Atupem 4.7; Kelly Beidler 4.3.

Top Assists: Jeremy Goode 5.5.

3-point threats: Chris Vann 85; Will Holland 54.

Last Ten: 8-2.

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Coppin State

Baltimore, 16-20.

Nickname: Eagles.

Coach: Fang Mitchell.

Region: East.

Seed: No. 16.

Bid: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion.

Tournament Record: 1-3, 3 years.

Last NCAA Appearance: 1997.

Top Scorers: Tywain McKee 16.6; Antwan Harrison 9.0; Julian Conyers 6.7.

Top Rebounders: Robert Pressey 5.5; Tywain McKee 4.3.

Top Assists: Tywain McKee 3.1; Vince Goldsberry 1.6.

3-point threats: Tywain McKee 62; Julian Convers 27.

Last Ten: 9-1.

 

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Coppin State Eagles Are Flying High - For Now


2008 started off as a year to forget for the city of Baltimore. Well, at least for the part of town that housed little old Coppin State University. In their first game of the new year, the Coppin State Eagles got their usual solid performances from guard Tywain McKee and forward Antwan Harrison, but it just wasn't enough, as the Eagles fell to Norfolk State by a final of 65-60.

The game continued a terrible slide for the team, marking their tenth loss in a row and their 14th in 15 games. Perhaps the only consolation (if you want to call it that) was the fact that it was the third time in that span that the team lost by less than 25 points.

Fast forward to five weeks ago, the night of Saturday, February 2. This time the Eagles were at home, and McKee had an off night, just off enough to leave the Eagles with a 56-48 loss to Delaware State on their home court.

At this point, most fans of the team were probably numb to the losing, because it was no longer fresh. That loss was their sixth in a row, and their 19th loss in a span of 21 games. The team at that point was fairly well buried at the bottom of the MEAC (Mid-Eastern) and players could already have been looking forward to next season.

They can't do that yet, though, because they're now in the NCAA Tournament.

"How on earth did that happen?" you ask. I wondered the same thing when I saw their victory in the conference tournament. Between their sudden rise to the tournament and their having a coach named Fang, it was too good to not write about.

Well, winning eight games in a row didn't take miracle after miracle, which isn't surprising. A lot of times you'll see a bit of regression towards the average over a season. Their streak consisted of four wins over the three teams down at the bottom of the conference with them, three wins over three teams that had beaten them by a total of seven points the first time around, and one solid win on the road against Florida A&M.

By the time the streak ended with a near-miss against eventual conference champs Morgan State, the Eagles had pulled themselves up to a much more respectable record (7-9, 13-20) and the middle of the Mid-Eastern conference.

That was all well and good, but they were still a team that, much like Illinois in the Big Ten or Georgia in the SEC, may have made noise down the stretch, but were still a sub-.500 team for a reason and would have to pull off the unlikely feat of winning the conference tournament to make the Big Dance.

Well, four more consecutive wins by a total of six points, including a 33 point night from stud guard McKee, and the improbable has become a reality. The Coppin State Eagles have become the first team ever to enter the NCAA tournament after losing 20 games in the regular season.

Granted, the deck is stacked, because all Coppin State gets for their efforts is the chance to be in the play-in game tomorrow against Mount Saint Mary's, and if they manage to win that one, they get to travel all the way to Raleigh to face the almighty UNC Tar Heels.

It may not end on the prettiest of notes, but the Eagles have got to be very proud of their impressive turnaround this season, which they will hopefully use as a springboard to better things next year.

 

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Call a timeout on NCAA selection committee


Group's decisions defy expectations by creating situations that make very little sense










North Carolina had a decided home-court advantage in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C., this past weekend. Given what transpired, it could be foretelling what might happen in this year's NCAA tournament as well.

Seeded first among the four top seeds, the Tar Heels won't have to leave the state unless they make it to the Alamodome in San Antonio for this season's Final Four that starts April 5. They make a trip this week to Raleigh and a potential return trip to Charlotte in the East Regional.

"It's an advantage if you play well," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "Just because the crowd's cheering for you, I've never had a crowd win a game. I know it sounds wacko."
You want wacko? How about the NCAA selection committee putting a couple of Baltimore-area teams in the play-in game tomorrow night in Dayton, Ohio?

Instead of sending Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's to Dayton, maybe they should reconsider and bus the Eagles and Mountaineers to College Park now that Comcast Center is available. Maryland will be playing in the National Invitation Tournament at Minnesota.

You want wacko? How does the Big East merit eight teams and the ACC only four?

Does that mean the 16-team Big East is twice as good as the 12-team ACC, or should the ACC just keep expanding? There's no argument for the Terps being included, but should Virginia Tech, which nearly knocked off North Carolina after soundly beating tournament-bound Miami, be excluded?

You want wacko? How does the top seed in the tournament find its way into what is probably the toughest regional?

North Carolina will get a second-round matchup with an Indiana team that was ranked in the top 15 before its coach, the phone call-obsessed Kelvin Sampson, resigned; the Tar Heels also have a potential regional final matchup against a Tennessee team that was ranked No. 1 in the country less than a month ago.

You want wacko? How does CBS claim it has nothing to do with the seedings, and then voila, we get Southern California and Kansas State in the opening round?

The game between the sixth-seeded Trojans and the 11th-seeded Wildcats in Omaha, Neb., will likely mark the last college game of either USC freshman star O.J. Mayo or Kansas State's Michael Beasley, considered the best freshman in the country and the likely No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft.

Of course that was just a coincidence.

You want wacko? That's probably how first-year Butler coach Brad Stevens reacted when he learned that his seventh-seeded Bulldogs were going to play 10th-seeded South Alabama in the opening round in Birmingham, Ala.

While South Alabama's campus in Mobile is not exactly a hop, skip and jump shot from Birmingham, don't you think a few more of its fans will find their way to the game than the Butler supporters in Indianapolis? What happened to the unwritten rule that lower seeds were not going to get home-court advantage?

You want wacko? Given that's the unofficial nickname by some of the closest friends of a certain basketball coach -- here's a hint, his team will be playing at Minnesota tomorrow night -- it's obvious that this year's NCAA tournament will go on without him.

That's unless the NCAA selection committee can see fit to put Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's at Comcast Center instead of in Dayton.

 

[shawn555]

Much at stake for Coppin, Mount
Maryland schools will battle in Dayton for chance to play North Carolina

By Kevin Van Valkenburg

Sun reporter

9:50 PM EDT, March 17, 2008

Dayton, Ohio


On some levels, it doesn't make much sense. Two Baltimore area teams, separated by just 45 miles, traveled west almost 500 miles to be here today. Tuesday night, they'll play an NCAA tournament game that, one could argue, is not really an NCAA tournament game.

It is a bizarre scenario, almost like holding a family get-together in a stranger's house in a state that no one involved has any connection to.

But, at the same time, there is so much at stake for Mount St. Mary's and Coppin State when the opening round of the 2008 NCAA championship tips off inside the Dayton Arena that the peculiarity of it matters little.

For the Mountaineers, it's a chance to win an NCAA tournament game for the first time in their program's history. It's the beginning of a new era for this tiny school, which is located in an equally tiny town smack dab in the middle of Maryland farm country.

For the Eagles, it could be one more amazing chapter in their already incredible story, one that seemed impossible in February, when the squad was 4-19 and squabbling with one another for control of the team.

Both want the opportunity to have a shot at history. The winner will face No. 1 seed North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, and even though a No. 16 seed has never knocked off a No. 1 seed, the law of averages states that it has to happen someday. Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's just want the chance to believe the impossible is possible.

And though it might have been more convenient for both schools to settle this somewhere else -- the Verizon Center in Washington, for instance -- that doesn't matter anymore.

"If the selection committee had told us, 'You have to go play Coppin in Anaheim, we'd be in Anaheim right now," Mount St. Mary's coach Milan Brown said. "You go where you're supposed to go, I guess."

On one hand, both teams feel blessed to be a part of the postseason, and for one night, with ESPN's cameras rolling, they'll be focus of the college basketball world.

On the other hand, for small colleges like Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's, the idea of the play-in game is something of a backhanded compliment. Even though Coppin State (16-20) is the first 20-loss team to make the NCAA tournament, it still won its conference tournament, something it did in 1997 when, as a 15th seed, the Eagles knocked off No. 2 seed South Carolina in one of the most memorable upsets in recent history.

"I've never really liked the play-in game," Eagles coach Fang Mitchell said. "It takes some of the thrill and the joy out of it for the kids, knowing who you're going to play before the 6 o'clock program comes on. It's trial and error and you learn from things, but I'm definitely not one who is in favor of it."

Despite the outside issues, the game should provide an interesting matchup. Mount St. Mary's (18-14) has had one of the best benches in the country over the past month, with its reserves averaging more than 40 points during the past four games.

And Coppin State has a truly elite player in Tywain McKee, a transfer from Temple who got the Eagles here with a last-second shot in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship game against Morgan State.

"It's scary when you face a player like him, because, on any given night, he can beat you by himself," Brown said. "When he steps on the floor, he's the best player out there."

It was McKee who persuaded Mitchell to put Coppin State's fate in the hands of his senior class, starting all five at once, a decision that he wouldn't regret.

"We had a few cliques on our team," Mitchell said. "But our seniors like one another a lot -- they play well together -- and so we put it on them."

Mount St. Mary's will counter with sophomore Jeremy Goode, a North Carolina native who has emerged as one of the fastest small-college guards in the country. Goode, who desperately wants to play against the Tar Heels in front of friends and family, has energized the Mountaineers attack with his ability to push the basketball in transition at break-neck speeds. Brown, a former point guard at Howard, decided at midseason to turn Goode loose and try to get easy baskets, a decision that turned out to be the catalyst for Mount St. Mary's late-season run.

"We never stopped focusing on defense," Goode said. "We just made a commitment to try and make some easy shots. The more we push, the more opportunities we have."

 

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Jeremy Goode

you seen this guy play shawn555?

he is pretty darn good huh.....

 

[shawn555]

He is pretty good, should be a real good guard matchup. McKee for Coppin was first team all conference and has been solid almost every time out this year.

 

[IE]

Prospectus Preview
NCAA Tournament Play-In Game

by Caleb Peiffer


NCAA Tournament Play-In Game

University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, OH)

Matchup: Coppin St. (16-20, 8-9 Mid-Eastern) vs. Mount St. Mary's (18-14, 11-7 Northeast), 7:30
Rankings: Coppin St., #309 in Pomeroy Ratings (6th of 12 in MEAC); Mount St. Mary's, #169 (2nd of 11 in NEC)
Pomeroy Prediction: Mount St. Mary's, 67-56 in 65 Possessions
Upset Possibility: 11%
Prospectus: This will be the eighth edition of the NCAA tournament play-in game, which began in 2001 and which has been played every year at the University of Dayton. This year the game is the most unbalanced it has ever been, as measured by the difference between the two teams in the Pomeroy Ratings, thanks to Coppin St.'s unexpected run through the MEAC tournament. (The numbers say the committee should have paired Coppin and SWAC champion Mississippi Valley St.--the worst team in the field by the Pomeroy Ratings at #318--which also was a surprise winner of its conference tournament. That game would have been projected as a 68-67 win for Coppin.) In the span of five days last week in Raleigh, the Eagles won four straight games to capture their fourth MEAC title and head to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time, and first since 1997. Strong play mixed with fortuitous bounces resulted in the Eagles' crown--their wins over Howard and Hampton in the first two rounds were by one point each, and the game against Norfolk St. in the semifinals and the championship versus Morgan St. resulted in two-point victories. Coppin St.'s 62-60 win over regular-season MEAC champion Morgan St. came on a last-second layup by guard Tywain McKee, which finished out the upset that ended Basketball Prospectus' grand NCAA tournament vision for the Bears and their coach, Todd Bozeman, the pairing that produced one of the better stories in college basketball this season. Coppin St. was the seven seed in the MEAC tourney after going 8-9 in the conference regular season, and the team's 20 losses overall are the most of any NCAA tournament team ever. That doesn't matter to the Eagles, however, who have a chance tonight to extend their run and get a crack at the No. 1 overall seed, North Carolina, on Friday.

Standing in their way is Mount St. Mary's, which, like Coppin, made an unlikely run through its conference tournament. A four seed in the NEC tourney after a 15-14 regular season, the Mount beat Quinnipiac, No. 1 seed Robert Morris on the road, and No. 3 Sacred Heart, also on the road, to win its third Northeast championship, and head to the NCAA tournament for the third time overall and first since 1999.

Mount St. Mary's has a much better defense than offense, and the team's strength is making opponents miss, particularly from three-point range, having held opponents to a 46.4 eFG% this season. Coppin St. is the seventh worst shooting team in Division I, with an eFG% of 43.3, so the Eagles will also be relying on their defense to try and win this one. Coppin St. possesses a defense that ranks in the top 20 in forcing turnovers, as opponents have coughed it up against the Eagles on nearly one quarter of possessions. The team's lone threat on offense is McKee, a 6'2 senior, who is 51-of-122 from three-point range (42 percent). McKee also gets into the lane and to the line frequently, and has hit 87 percent of his 139 free throws. The Mount will counter with a player who also hits over 40 percent of his three-pointers in 6'0 senior Chris Vann, owner of a 54.7 eFG%, the highest of any qualifying player on either squad, on 85-of-212 three-point shooting. Mount St. Mary's 5'9 point guard, Jeremy Goode, ranks in the top 30 in assist percentage (helping on 35.5 percent of teammates' baskets while on the floor). Goode is also one of the best in the country at getting to the line, with 219 free throws attempted against 282 shots, a 77.7 rate that ranks him 31st in Division I.