By Dave Morrison
It’s hard for me to believe that Mountain State could have done any better in the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City last week.
Second place isn’t always bad.
I talked to a lot of people who were back home during the Cougars run who thought that after MSU’s impressive annihilation of previously undefeated Georgetown in the Fab Four — again! — that Mountain State would coast to the title Tuesday night.
That would be to short-change exactly how hard it is to win this tournament.
Look no further than MSU’s opening win over Olivet ... in double overtime.
Or the fact that the Cougars were ahead of Wayland Baptist by just two, 44-42, at the half of Game 2.
Or the fact that MSU was tied with Azusa 32-32 in Game 3.
MSU, as it routinely does against Happy Osborne’s Georgetown teams (“I’m getting tired of losing to them in the semifinals,” Happy said sadly after the game), caught fire early and Georgetown never did rebound from a slow start.
Similarly, Oklahoma City caught fire early in the second half and it was a haymaker MSU wouldn’t recover from in the 75-72 loss.
But the area can be proud of how it was represented by the team while it was in Kansas City. On and off the court.
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Some interesting tidbits have crossed my desk in the last two weeks while I’ve been doing the tournament tour.
West Virginia’s Joe Alexander going pro?
Wow, just one year ago he could barely find time on the court during WVU’s run to the NIT national championship.
Now he’s a potential Top 15 pick in the June NBA Draft?
No doubt the Mountaineer forward has the athletic skills to play in the league.
But scoring 30-plus points in three games during a two-week span doesn’t necessarily mean you have the game to play with the pros at this point.
Alexander’s best bet is to come back for one more year of tutelage under Bob Huggins, who has done a tremendous job in his first year on the Mountaineer bench.
Meanwhile ...
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Speaking of coaches who have done a tremendous job: What about Woodrow Wilson’s Ron Kidd?
You have got to be kidding me that the Mountain State Athletic Association picked Ripley’s Craig Harmon as coach of the year.
After Kidd’s team won the state title, beating seeds Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on consecutive nights?
After overcoming cancer to return to the bench?
After overcoming the loss of two starters to grades?
So the all-MSACteam was picked before the state tournament. Then release it before the state tournament.
This is right up there with the genius move the MSAC made last spring when Lanny Meadows of Woodrow Wilson was named first-team all-state in baseball but didn’t cut it on the All-MSAC team. What kind of shenanigans and tomfoolery was that?
The MSAC — represented by coaches who pick the team — is so blatantly against this area when it comes to all-MSAC teams that it borders on foolishness.
No wonder some teams are angling to get out of the MSAC.
For a conference that touts itself as the best in the state, it certainly uses junior high homerism when it comes to All-MSAC teams. And that is a shame.
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Not surprised that WVU Tech is currently looking at returning to the West Virginia Conference. The Golden Bears never really had much success on their second run in the NAIA, and their first in the Kentucky-based Mid-South Conference.
Looks like the powers-that-be at Tech who orchestrated that move severely underestimated the talent prevailing in the NAIA and the Mid-South Conference (two men’s teams, Georgetown and Campbellsville made the NAIA Fab Four last week). Maybe that’s why they’re no longer powers-that-be at Tech.
Tech is much better suited for success at the NCAA Division II level.
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The Scott Brown Memorial Basketball Tournament (April 12 at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center) boys invitations have apparently been held up in the mail. They were mailed out 10 days ago.
Players invited for the Class AA-A team were:Cory Williard and Blake Cook (Wyoming East), Dusty Mullins and Ben Wise (Ravenswood), Caleb Ashley (Winfield), Andrew Gunnoe (Summers County), Josh Murray (Oak Hill), Billy Trump (Meadow Bridge), Scott Prince (Shady Spring), Tommy Stull (Midland Trail) and Ansel Ponder (Bluefield).
Players invited for the AAAteams were Damien Tunstalle, Travis Parkulo and Joe Rodriguez (Woodrow Wilson), D.J. Georgievski, Josh Birchfield and Victor Ogunniyi (MSUAcademy), Bryant Irwin (Bridgeport), Brett McClanahan (Nitro), Rio Berkeley and Malik Witten (Capital, Michael Prevatt (Greenbrier East) and Shane Minnix (Princeton).
— E-mail:demorrison
@register-herald.com
