Pioneers delighted to have life, invite to NIT

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March 16, 2005

It's not exactly March Madness in the traditional sense, but the University of Denver will take it. Especially when all of the Pioneers' Front Range rivals are staying home.

DU will play its first National Invitation Tournament game in 46 years tonight when its men's basketball team visits the University of San Francisco.

DU, the regular-season champion of the Sun Belt Conference, saw its NCAA Tournament hopes dashed by a loss last week against Louisiana-Lafayette in the league final, yet the Pioneers aren't looking at the NIT as an unfortunate consolation prize.

"It's sweet being the only local team in the postseason," senior point guard Rodney Billups said. "Not CU. Not CSU. Not Air Force. They can't say DU isn't a good program anymore."

Pioneers coach Terry Carroll already understands what the postseason invitation can do for his program. Three years after an 8-20 debut season at DU, Carroll practically jumps out of his chair when he discusses what it means for current and future Pioneers players to be in the same tournament with teams such as Indiana, Notre Dame, Maryland and Clemson.

"I'm happy for our two seniors, Rodney and Erik (Benzel)," Carroll said. "I'm also happy for our underclassmen and the fact that we get four more practices and another tough-game situation.

"Going into homes, now we can tell kids we were one game away from the NCAA Tournament and we played in the postseason. That's huge. We can compete for a whole other level of player because of this. Young people want to know you have a chance of playing in the tournament."

Tonight's winner will face either Cal State Fullerton or Oregon State on Saturday. In order for the Pioneers to advance, they will need to address a few of the shortcomings that led to their downfall in the Sun Belt tournament.

Yemi Nicholson, the team's top scorer (18.2) and rebounder (8.6) averaged only 13.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in three league tournament games. Nicholson's aggression was held in check during the final two games after he picked up two early fouls in each contest. Nicholson didn't record more than nine rebounds in a game in the SBC tournament, the first time since December he went more than one game without a 10-rebound effort.

Sophomore forward Antonio Porch also struggled. Porch entered the SBC tournament with a scoring average of 13.2 but hit only seven of 25 shots while averaging 8.7 points.

Benzel was a bright spot, hitting 12 of 28 three-point attempts and averaging 18 points, nearly five more than his regular-season average.

"San Francisco is an athletic, senior-dominated team," Carroll said. "They had two (close losses) to Gonzaga. They beat St. Joe's, Pacific, Fresno and Penn, so they are a quality team."

? Notes: This is the Pioneers' first NIT appearance since March 14, 1959, when they lost 90-81 to New York University . . . The winner will play Oregon State or Cal State Fullerton on Saturday . . . DU and USF played three times between 1946 and 1950. San Francisco leads the series 2-1 . . . DU is 1-5 all-time in postseason tournaments. The Pioneers are 0-1 in the NIT, 0-1 in the NAIA National Tournament, and 1-3 in the NCAA Division II tournament . . . This is Evans' first season at San Francisco after spending seven years at Louisiana-Lafayette, which defeated DU in the final of the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Carroll is 1-6 against Evans . . . This will be Benzel's 118th game at DU, matching a school record set by Doug Wilson.

 

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Dons facing heavy order
Taller and bulkier, Denver tough task in tonight's opener


Jessie Evans began the season bemoaning USF's lack of height. He's still doing it in the postseason -- with good reason.

The Dons (16-13) open NIT play at Memorial Gym tonight against Denver (20- 10), a team led by center Yemi Nicholson. He's on top of the Pioneers' statistical sheet with 18.2 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. At 6-foot-10, 240 pounds, Nicholson gives life to a basketball cliche.

"He's a load," Evans said.

"We can't match up in size," the coach added. "We're playing with big forwards and they have a true center. He's certainly a pro prospect."

For starters, Evans will be looking to backup center Jason Carter to come off the bench and have his best game of the year.

At 6-9, 260 pounds, Carter may be the Dons' best hope at slowing Nicholson.

"He's the only one we have on our roster who can match him in size and bulk," Evans said.

The Dons will try to limit Nicholson's catches on the inside and try to push him off the block.

"We need to have him get shots going away from the basket instead of going to the basket," Evans said.

Evans said he'd also be looking to starting center Alan Wiggins Jr. (6-9, 220), starting forward Tyrone Riley (6-7, 245) and backup forward Johnny Dukes (6-7, 210) to help against Nicholson.

"Not only does he command double-teams inside, he's a very capable shot blocker on the defensive end," Evans said of Nicholson, who has 91 blocks this season.

"You can't run away from him," Evans added. "You've got to take the ball right to him. We are going to have to take the ball to the rim and above. When you try and get cute with a shot-blocker like Nicholson, he's at his best. He'll swat that thing out to the goal seats."

Before coming to the Hilltop this year, Evans regularly faced Denver in the Sun Belt Conference as head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. In five years of playing the Pioneers at least twice a year, Evans said he only lost once.

"They're much improved from the team I played against last year," he said. The Pioneers won the Sun Belt West this season -- the divisional title won by Evans' Ragin' Cajuns the three previous seasons.

Evans is quick to mention that Denver is much more than a one-person team, with four players scoring in double figures.

Shooting guard Erik Benzel averages 13.8 points a game, wing Antonio Porch 12.8 and point guard Rodney Billups, the younger brother of the Detroit Pistons' Chauncey Billups, 10.2.

"Billups is an excellent point guard, very quick, very clever with the basketball and leading the team in assists (195) and steals (57)," Evans said.

This is the Dons' first postseason appearance since a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament in 1998.

Briefly: USF point guard Jason Gaines is out after tearing an ACL in practice. Starter Andre Hazel, who missed the last game of the regular season with a sprained ankle and has battled a knee injury most of the year, is close to 100 percent, Evans said. ... The 1976 USF team, the last to play in the NIT, and the '49 team, winners of the NIT championship, will be honored at halftime.