Published: March 20, 2008 11:45 pm      

Tidbits from the NAIA tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — What’s wrong with Mountain State’s Tyrice Watkins?

The Cougars’ starting No. 4 man finished Wednesday’s first-round, double overtime win over Olivet scoreless.

Watkins, a 6-foot-7 senior from Camden, N.J., picked up his fourth foul at the 18:55 mark of the second half and never returned to the game.

“It’s tough to sit for a long period and then go back in the game cold at that point,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said, explaining why Watkins never got back on the court.

“And Ermin (Tarcin, 13 points, nine rebounds) was playing well at that point.”

Understandable.

But Watkins was also scoreless (0-5 from the field) in the Cougars’ Independent Region championship win over Voorhees last week in Orangeburg, S.C. In fact, Watkins hasn’t scored in double figures since he went for 17 points and 11 rebounds in a 97-90 win over Cumberlands on Jan. 12.

“He’s been injured,” Bolen said, pointing out Watkins missed a late-season road trip to South Carolina with what was described as “an inflamed knee” at the time.

“Who knows, it might just be a blessing in disguise,” Bolen said. “Tyrice had a good week of practice last week and it looked like he was getting healthy. Then he gets in foul trouble and doesn’t play (nine minutes against Olivet). That’s giving him more time to heal. He should be even more healthy for (today’s game vs. Wayland Baptist at 10 a.m. EDT). We’re going to need him.”

Watkins is capable, scoring in double figures in six of the Cougars’ first nine games and also netting 17 in an exhibition loss to West Virginia. But since that early streak, he has scored in double figures just once, against Cumberlands (an NAIA national tournament team).

With its win over Olivet on Wednesday, Mountain State tied Fairmont State for the most NAIA tournament wins for a state team with 15.

“That’s a great accomplishment,” Bolen said. “Those Fairmont teams of the 1970s and ’80s were known as a dynasty. For us to tie that, in such a short period of time, says something about the quality of our program.”

Those teams were dynastic, going 15-14 in 12 trips. Fairmont finished as runner-up in 1968, losing to Central State (Ohio) 51-48.

In fact, four state teams finished as runners-up, including MSU (2003), West Virginia State (1987) and West Virginia Wesleyan (1983).

MSU and Marshall remain the only teams to win the NAIA national title. The Cougars did it in 2004, Marshall in 1947.

Interestingly, Marshall had to survive an early-round 56-point performance (second all-time) by Nate Delong of Wisconsin-River Falls before going on to win the title with a 73-59 win over Mankato State (Minn.).

By the way, Wisconsin-Rivers Falls is from where West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt transferred.

Other interesting tidbits: West Virginia Wesleyan’s Ken Remley set the record for rebounds in a game with 32 that was later tied by a guy named Dennis Rodman of Southeastern Oklahoma in 1986.

Zach Moss is still regarded highly here after his 2004 NAIA tournament MVP run. He is 21st all-time in tournament scoring with 236 points in just 10 games. His 23.6 average is 10th overall.

Graduate assistant Mersad Terzic led the 2005 tournament in rebounding with 10.3 per game.

There was an interesting snafu in the media guide for the NAIA tournament.

The name of MSU’s home court was listed as “Abe Lemons Arena.” Obviously, it’s the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. Abe Lemons Arena is home of tournament team Oklahoma City, where Lemons was the longtime coach. He might be better know as the coach at Texas (1976-1982).

It was Lemons who once famously said, “Finish last in your league and they call you an idiot. Finish last in medical school and they call you a doctor.”

A guy with that quote deserves a building named after him.

Talk has centered around the weak schedule Mountain State played this season.

Indeed, Lee and Cumberlands were the only national tournament teams on the schedule.

However, Union was expected to be a tournament team but didn’t qualify after a tornado all but destroyed its campus in Tennessee.

Bolen has already started bulking up next season’s schedule, adding home and home games with Crichton (a perennial tournament team that failed to qualify after starting the season as a Top 10 team), Union, Cumberland (Tenn.) and Cumberlands (Ky.)

No word on a home and home with Georgetown, Ky., undefeated and whose win over Emmanuel on Wednesday gave it an NAIA record 47th tournament win.