Published: March 18, 2008 11:29 pm      

Cougars’ draw a tough one

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Goal No. 1 for Mountain State University in the Buffalo Funds NAIA National Tournament at Municipal Auditorium seems simple enough:

Get by its first opponent, Olivet Nazarene.

You’d think a No. 5 seed should be able to handle an unseeded team, right?

Evidence points to a Lee Corso-esque “Not so fast, my friend.”

After all, it was Olivet that took out top-seeded MSU two years ago in the second round, 77-62.

Last year, unseeded Faulkner advanced all the way to the Final Four.

And also last year, sixth-seeded MSU was knocked out by McKendree 86-80 and No. 3 Georgetown was KO’d in the first round by Xavier (La.), 82-79.

All of which is enough to make coach Bob Bolen edgy as he preps his team for the opener today at 11:45 a.m. EDT.

“There is no doubt in my mind, this is a good team,” Bolen said. “They’ve been to two Elite Eights in the last five years. This is the national tournament. Every team is here for a reason. You don’t look at overall records. That’s misleading. Olivet is a team that has won eight of its last nine games, and that only loss was to (tournament qualifier) Robert Morris in the (Chicagoland) Conference championship game.”

That’s why the goal Bolen gave his team coming into the tournament is “to win our first-round game. At this point, that is all we’re concerned about.”

Olivet, out of Bourbonnals, Ill., is a team that takes pride in running its sets, running time off the shot clock and making smart decisions with the basketball.

“We’ve been pretty good with our half-court defense this year, and we’re going to have to play defense for long increments of time,” Bolen said. “Good fundamentals will be key. We’re going to try to get in our running game, but we have to be smart enough to know when we can’t, and in those instances we’ll have to execute. The No. 1 key for us, though, is going to be to rebound the basketball.”

The Tigers (17-14 overall) are led by Phil French, who, as a sophomore, had 16 points in Olivet’s win over MSU in 2006.

And he has improved since then.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pound senior is averaging a team-best 15.9 points and 9.7 rebounds. On the year, French, who is shooting 56.3 percent from the field, has 18 double-doubles and is averaging 2.9 assists.

“He is very fundamentally sound and is a great leaper,” Bolen said. “From 15 feet in, he is a great scorer.”

The inside presence of French and 6-7, 221-pound Tyler Wallenfang (11.7 ppg, 5.1 rebounds), both of whom are very athletic, is a vital concern to Bolen.

A couple of guards also average double figures. Ryan Paxson averages 12.8 ppg and Josh Bronke averages 10.7. Paxson is the son of former NBA standout John Paxson, who played on several NBA championship teams with Michael Jordan.

Paxson is shooting .414 from beyond the three-point arc (82-of-198).

The Tigers are No. 8 nationally in assists per game (17.1) and 12th in three-point field goal percentage (.389).

“The fact that they have won eight out of nine and have a victory over Robert Morris points to the fact that they have been playing at a high level the last five or six weeks,” Bolen said.

The Cougars, of course, are also playing at a high level.

They recently swept through the Independent Region Tournament and boast a 30-2 record. The two losses have come by a combined two points.

Each time the squad has won 30 or more games, it has made a deep run in the national tournament, including 2004 when the Cougars won the national championship.

“I don’t want to keep sounding negative, I know we are very capable of also playing at a high level,” Bolen said. “We’ve had several good practices.

“Again, this is the national tournament and these are the very best teams in the nation. There isn’t an easy game.”

James Spencer continues to lead the Cougars, averaging a national-best 24.4 ppg, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 63 steals.

He is shooting 40.2 percent from three-point range (70 threes).

Adron Marshall is next, averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 boards and 2.7 assists.

They are the only two Cougars in double figures.

After that, the MSU attack is balanced.

Big Jason McGriff, who figures to play a key role in today’s game, averages 9.6 points and a team-best 7.9 rebounds. He also has 31 blocked shots to lead the team. Point guard Jarvis Jackson averages 8.2 points and 5.4 assists and Tyrice Watkins checks in with a 7.1 ppg average along with 5.6 rebounds.

Four players average at least five points per game off the bench: Ralph Legg (5.9), Ermin Tarcin (5.7 and 4.9 rebounds), Ricky Jackson (5.7) and Denzel Lyles (5.2)

Paul Van Scott will have the call live on WTNJ-105.9-FM.