Big 4 Men's preview
Big 4 basketball preview: Heightened expectations
Better recruits should give fans of Division I schools reason to cheer
Published: November 17, 2009, 1:06 am
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If the decline of the Buffalo Bills has numbed Western New York's sports consciousness, basketball — the Big 4 variety — is prepared to provide a nightly antidote.
From Niagara University's quest for a third NCAA tournament berth, the rebirth of St. Bonaventure, Canisius returning five starters and the University at Buffalo returning four, there are heightened expectations for everyone.
"If you look at it, Canisius, UB and Bonaventure they have got it going, all three of those guys have done a great job at getting the programs back," said Niagara coach Joe Mihalich. "When I look at the schedule, when I see those names — man, those are going to be tough games. We'll all be tough."
There is no shortage of gifted talent in the area, from Niagara's Bilal Benn and Tyrone Lewis to UB's Rodney Pierce, Canisius' Frank Turner and St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson. Niagara and UB are both expected to contend for titles in their respective leagues and while Canisius and St. Bonaventure are ranked near the bottom of their conferences to start the season, many believe they could surprise like UB did last year when the media picked the Bulls to finish in last place.
This is a region in dire need of something to cheer about. The Bills haven't been to the playoffs since 1999 and don't appear headed to the postseason anytime soon. The Buffalo Sabres have made meaningful dents in the postseason and as recently as 2007 played in the Conference Finals but haven't qualified for the postseason the last two years.
But Niagara and UB have enough talent to compete for an NCAA tournament berth and good seasons at Canisius and St. Bonaventure could mean a return to the postseason and after droughts of several years. Why the sudden turn in fortunes for local basketball? It started with the recruiting of a better caliber of student-athlete.
Bona on the mend
When Mark Schmidt was hired by St. Bonaventure in 2007, he had two rebuilding jobs to complete. He had to transform a moribund team and, more delicately, repair the brittle psyche of the program.
"It's about getting players, that's the biggest thing," Schmidt said. "Even though we have young players, we have more players and that's a positive."
Schmidt wants to get out of the rebuilding mode and gain some credibility. The first year he wanted the team to be known as one that plays hard and finished 8-22. Last year it played hard with more talent and finished 15-15, the program's best record in six years. Now he has even more talent, but it's young.
Ten of the Bonnies' 13 players are in their first or second year. St. Bonaventure has two seniors — guards Chris Matthews and Jonathan Hall — but they return Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Andrew Nicholson. The 6-foot-9 sophomore was named to A-10 Preseason All-Conference second team and All-Defensive team, the only player to be named to a pair of preseason A-10 teams.
"You can have all the talent in the world but if you don't have experience talent can't be used effectively," Schmidt said. "We have expectations and I'm not sure how many wins we'll have but we want to get better."
Since Bona has more talent, Schmidt scheduled accordingly with games against St. John's, Illinois State, Mississippi State and Syracuse.
"If we want to compete and ultimately get into the top echelon of the Atlantic 10, we have to play a good nonconference schedule so we can attract recruits," Schmidt said.
Griffs gain experience
Like St. Bonaventure, Canisius isn't overloaded with seniors. The Golden Griffins have three including guard Frank Turner, who was Tom Parrotta's first recruit.
"We're a way more talented team than my freshman year even though we had a senior oriented team," Turner said. "Now, they're more mature."
No one is complaining about Parrotta's ability to lure talent to Main Street. His junior class of Greg Logins, Robert Goldsberry, Julius Coles, Elton Frazier, Rishawn Johnson and Tomas Vazquez-Simmons was supposed to return Canisius to respectability sooner than later.
But the Griffs are only 17-45 over the last two seasons, which led to whispers about Parrotta's job security. That was quickly defused by athletics director Bill Maher. There are higher expectations this season because of five returning starters and a team awash with experience.
"It's something that was a long time coming. We were never able to say we were a veteran team," Parrotta said. "Now it's finally arrived and I think our play in practice and our two scrimmages that we had are really starting to show that some of the lumps we took over the last two years are starting to pay off a little bit."
That doesn't mean there isn't a place for newcomers. Canisius had trouble scoring at times last season so during the late-signing period, Parrotta signed guards Alshwan Hymes from DeWitt and Reggie Groves from Raleigh, N.C. Both are long-range shooters. Hymes and Groves should take some of the scoring load off of Turner, who will look to pass more this season.
Also, senior Chris Gadley is not playing for academic reasons and it is not known if he will play next semester.
Parrotta is eager to find out if Canisius can learn how to win.
"I put pressure on myself because I want to win so badly for Frank because he's been the catalyst for this whole thing," Parrotta said. "As you get older and wiser expectations rise and I put those on myself but I think that's good. We finally have something to shoot for. I think we can make a go at this thing."
Niagara making inroads
Niagara has benefited greatly in recent years from talented players who longed for more playing time at other schools and transferred into the program.
The Purple Eagles won big with Clif Brown (Kent State) and Benson Egemonye (Northeastern) and will win some more with Bilal Benn (Villanova) and Rob Garrison (Connecticut).
Mihalich makes it look easy. Twenty-win seasons are the norm now and his brand of breakneck basketball has the Gallagher Center buzzing come winter time. Because of the NCAA tournament and occasional national television appearances, more recruits know about the Niagara brand.
"We have more people taking calls now," Mihalich said. "But it's still tough to close the deal in the end."?
Niagara did gain a commitment from Philadelphia's Shaquille Duncan, who at 6-foot-9 is listed as a top 20 center by ESPN.com. However, a source said Duncan is closer to 6-7 and will probably play power forward at Niagara. At 205 pounds, Duncan needs to get bigger and is still developing.
"The kids who can come in and replace Tyrone Lewis and Bilal Benn are going to bigger schools," Mihalich said.
Asked if he recruited 30 players to sign five, Mihalich said, "I wish it were only 30."
That's why landing transfers is critical for schools like Niagara. Benn and Garrison played sparingly in two seasons in the Big East then came to Niagara, where there were plenty of minutes. Mihalich generally plays his top seven or eight guys so if you're good, you'll receive an abundance of playing time.
Perhaps Mihalich already has the next Tyrone Lewis. Sitting out this year is 6-3 guard Kevon Moore, who averaged nearly 10 points during his freshman season at UNC Wilmington.
"A JUCO guy here, a transfer there and prep school guy there, that's what you have to do," Mihalich said. "You have to get creative up here. You have to find a different way of doing things. We're not going to beat a lot of schools for that really good high school senior. None of (the Big 4) schools are."
Reggie shoots high
For a while, Reggie Witherspoon seemed to struggle with recruiting. There was the Turner Battle-led class of 2001 followed by the Calvin Cage-led class of 2002 and Yassin Idbihi in '03.
But after Idbihi, there was a drop-off in talent at Amherst and it was reflected in the Bulls record. The Bulls did sign Jonas Jerebko in 2005 but he elected to play professionally in Europe and was drafted last summer by the Detroit Pistons. In 2006 and '07 — the years Jerebko would have been the focal point of the team — the Bulls finished a combined 22-39.
After the 10-20 season in 2007-08, UB went out and signed Mitchell Watt and Titus Robinson. They helped lead the Bulls to a surprising 21-win season a year ago when pundits picked the Bulls to bring up in the rear in the MAC. They followed that with the signing of Florida point guard Tony Watson, whom some scouts believed was good enough to play in the A-10. During the November signing period, UB signed Cameron Downing, a 6-9 senior power forward/center from Tulsa Memorial High School, who was recruited by Texas-San Antonio, Missouri State, Tulsa and Oral Roberts, and Newark's Javon McCrea, a 6-8 power forward who was recruited by Georgetown and Massachusetts.
"We've been involved with some pretty good ones and sometimes we get them and sometimes we don't," Witherspoon said. "You try not to settle and just take a guy but keep involving and engaging ourselves with guys who are at the high end and see where it lands from there."
Witherspoon will recruit his share of sleepers and Watt was one in particular. A Division II coach told The Buffalo News two years ago that Watt's prep competition in Arizona was pedestrian and that he wasn't good enough to play for his school. Watt started 29 games for a UB team that finished tied for the best record in the league.
But Witherspoon is looking for more players like Watson, Downing and McCrea, who have enjoyed some success.
"So when they arrive we expect them to work hard and when they achieve that success it isn't foreign to them," Witherspoon said. "They have their own set of instincts like an instinct to compete. There are some guys out there who are going to be better college players than in high school and you try and recognize that when you can but there's also the need for them to have some success."
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