BRYANT BASKETBALL
March 8, 2007
BRYANT BASKETBALL RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT THIS WEEKEND
Bulldogs Open With Adelphi Saturday at Noon
GAME NOTES / LIVE
VIDEO
The Bryant University men's basketball team will make its fourth consecutive appearance (sixth overall) this weekend when the Bulldogs travel to Waltham, Mass. for the 2007 Northeast Regional hosted by Bentley. Bryant (19-10), the No. 3 seed of the tournament, will open quarterfinal play against sixth-seeded Adelphi University at 12 noon at Bentley's Dana Center. The winner will play the winner of the Saint Rose / Pace match up on Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
2007 NCAA Division II Northeast Regional @ Waltham,
Mass.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
No. 3 Bryant (19-10) vs. No. 6 Adelphi (18-12), 12:00
pm
No. 2 Saint Rose (21-9) vs. No. 7 Pace (20-12), 2:30 pm
No. 1 Bentley (29-0) vs. No. 8 Caldwell (19-11), 6:00 pm
No. 4 Bridgeport (21-8) vs. No. 5 Philadelphia (20-9), 8:30 pm
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Bryant / Adelphi winner vs. Saint Rose/Pace winner,
5:00 pm
Bentley / Caldwell winner vs. Bridgeport / Philadelphia winner,
7:30 pm
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Regional Championship, 7 pm
BEEN THERE BEFORE HAVE WE?
Now this is a bit strange. Bryant and
Adelphi met in the first round of the NCAA playoffs back in 2005,
the same year Bryant won the NCAA regional championship and
advanced to the NCAA Championship game. Bryant was the No. 6
seed that year and Adelphi was No. 3 after winning its conference
tournament. Bryant won the game 69-48 and would proceed to
defeat Bloomfield and Bentley to win the regional title. This
year, Bryant is the No. 3 seed and Adelphi comes in as the No. 6
seed after winning their conference championship.
NCAA EXPERIENCE
This will be the fourth appearance in the NCAA
tournament for seniors Chris Burns and Nate Sudlow. The two played
in the Lowell regional as freshmen in 2004. Senior Dan
Hammond did not play that year but has played in the NCAA
tournament the last two seasons. This regional will be his
third. Jon Ezeokoli will also be making his third NCAA
appearance.
BRYANT VS. TOURNAMENT FIELD FOR 2007
Bryant is 3-4 against the tournament field this
year, playing all seven teams with the exception of Adelphi and
Caldwell. Bryant fell to Bentley three times and Philadelphia
in the first game of the season.
Philadelphia Nov. 15 63-85 L (Away)
Bentley Dec. 5 49-61 L (Away)
Feb. 3 76-78 L (Home)
Mar. 1 74-85 L (Away)
Bridgeport Dec. 30 64-57 W (Home)
Saint Rose Jan. 6 72-71 W (Home)
Pace Jan. 11 80-72 W (Home)
BRYANT IN NCAA TOURANMENT
This is Bryant's sixth trip to the NCAA
tournament and fourth in a row. The Bulldogs are 7-7 in six
postseason appearances all-time and 7-3 in NCAA
tournament play under coach Max Good. In March of
2004, Good led the Bulldogs back into the NCAA tournament after a
23 year hiatus. As the No. 7 seed, the Bulldogs proceeded to
knock off CW Post and NYIT before falling to host UMass Lowell on a
last-second shot by Elad Inbar. The following year, Bryant
the No. 6 seed, again reached the regional final and proceeded to
knock off host and top-seed Bentley to advance to the Elite
Eight. Last season, Bryant, the No. 3 seed, fell to UMass
Lowell in the first round in Easton, Mass.
BRYANT IN NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES (7-7, 7-3 Under Coach Good)
1978
vs.
Merrimack
91-116 L
vs. Bridgeport
85-89 L
1980
vs. Springfield
78-91 L
vs.
Quinnipiac
97-102 L
2004 @ Lowell, Mass. (#7 Seed)
vs. C.W. Post 65-63 W
vs. NYIT 64-60 W
vs. UMass Lowell 62-63 L
2005 @ Waltham, Mass (No. 6 seed)
vs. Adelphi 69-48 W
vs. Bloomfield 76-59 W
vs. Bentley 74-64 W
NCAA Elite Eight
vs. Mount Olive 84-69 W
vs. Tarleton St. 60-55 W
vs. Virginia Union 58-63 L
2006 @ Easton, Mass. (No. 3 seed)
vs. UMass Lowell 63-77 L
LOOKING AT ADELPHI PANTHERS
Adelphi earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament by
way of earning the automatic bid by winning the East Coast
Conference (formerly NYCAC) championship, 61-58 over C.W.
Post. Kimani Blaize scored 27 points including two free
throws in the final five seconds to give the Panthers their
second-straight conference title.
SENIORS HAVE .638 WINNING PERCENTAGE
Bryant's senior class of Chris Burns
(Merrimack, NH), Dan Hammond (Brunswick,
Maine), Nate Sudlow (Brooklyn,
NY) have been involved in more than 80 wins during their
four year careers. The trio bring a combined record of 88-39
(.638) the week.
STORY LINES
* Chris Burns is ranked 11th nationally last
week with 3.6 three-point field goals per game average. The senior
has a career-best 105 three's this season which is THIRD-best in
school history. The school record is 119 held by John
Williams in 2004-05.
* Adelphi is 26th in scoring defense (60out of 262 schools), allowing just 64.1 points per game and 13th in field goal percentage defense (40.2 percent).
* A Bryant win would be the 20th this season, Bryant's fourth-straight 20-win season.
* A Bryant win would be coach Max Good's 113th at Bryant and 222nd overall.
* Bryant is 6-9 away from home and 2-2 on neutral courts.
* Chris Burns is 10th in the conference in scoring this year with 15.5 ppg. Burns leads the conference in three-pointers per game (3.62 three's per game) and second with 105 three's made. Pace's Ryan Williams has made 113.
WINNING WHEN IT MATTERS MOST
Max Good's Bulldogs have found success in the
winter months leading up to conference and NCAA playoff time.
The Bulldogs, who have advanced to three-straight NCAA
Championships, were 7-2 in the month of January. Since the
2003-04 season, Bryant has a 27-13 record in the month of January
and 22-9 record in the month of February. Last year, Bryant
was 8-1 in February.
Since 2003-04:
Record in January -
27-13
Record in February
-
22-9
BURNS HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH)
racked up a career-best 36 points in Bryant's win at Southern
Connecticut on Feb.17. It was the third time this year Burns
scored more than 30 after stellar back-to-back nights of 31 against
Pace and Stonehill in January. The 36 points ties him for sixth for
most points in a game with two other players (Noel Watson and Jason
Bennett who reached the mark twice). The record for points in
a game is 53 by Dave Sorafine in 1976.
Three-point field goals in a season:
1. John
Williams
119
2004-05
2. John Williams
115
2005-06
3. Chris Burns
105
2006-07
Career Three-point field goals
1. John
Williams
323
2002-05
2. Jason
Bennett
295
1998-00
3. Chris
Burns
274
2003-present
NORTHEAST-10 PRESEASON POLL
The Bryant University men's
basketball team has been selected to finish second in the
Northeast-10 Conference in 2006-07 following a vote from the
conference's head coaches. After claiming a share of the
Northeast-10 regular season title last season, the Falcons of
Bentley College are favored to finish first again
this year as voted by the men's basketball coaches. Overall, the
Falcons received 201 votes to put them on the top of the preseason
coaches' poll. Bentley tied Bryant University with six first place
votes in the poll. However, the Falcons edged the Bulldogs, who
finished second in the ranking with 183 total points. The
College of Saint Rose followed in third place with
182 points and claimed two first place votes, while
Southern New Hampshire University (169) and
Pace University (158) rounded out
the top five respectively.
WINNING WAYS
Bryant has posted three-straight 20-win seasons
in five seasons under Max Good. The Bulldogs have
qualified for three-straight NCAA tournaments, going 23-10 in
2003-04 while following with a 25-9 campaign in 2004-05, reaching
the NCAA Division II Championship game in March of '05. Last year,
Bryant went 21-10.
ALL CONFERENCE
Senior guard Chris Burns was named to the
Northeast-10 All-Conference First Team. Teammate and junior
forward Jon Ezeokoli was named third team all-conference.
While this is the first all-conference honor for Ezeokoli, Burns
was named the conference Freshman of the Year in 2004. This
is the second first team honor in a row for Bryant with John
Williams earning first team and co-player of the year honors last
season.
QUICK LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs enter the season picked to finish
second overall in the preseason Northeast-10 Conference coaches
poll - the highest a Bryant team has been selected in the preseason
poll. The Bulldogs opened the year with exhibition games at
Syracuse (86-92 L) and UConn (45-70) and followed with an 85-63
loss at Philadelphia to open the season. The team rallied
back to win two at home, defeating AIC in a non-conference affair
and Saint Anselm. After falling to Franklin Pierce (for the
second-straight season in Rindge, NH), the Bulldogs bounced back
with a solid 62-48 win over Assumption at home on Nov. 29 and
followed that with 69-66 win at UMass Lowell on Jon
Ezeokoli's three-pointer with two seconds remaining.
The streak would come to an end Dec. 5 with a 61-49 loss at
seventh-ranked and preseason conference favorite Bentley.
After Jan. 3 loss at Merrimack, the Bulldogs have reeled off
seven-straight wins, knocking off #20 Saint Rose, Assumption, Pace,
Stonehill, So. NH, Le Moyne and UMass Lowell before falling
at Saint Anselm Jan. 31 (71-70). In February, the Bulldogs
have failed to win consecutive games, going 3-3 in six games but
closed the regular season with back-to-back wins over Southern
Connecticut and Merrimack to secure the fourth seed of the
conference tournament. The Bulldogs would advance to the
NE-10 semifinals with a quarterfinal round win over AIC but would
fall in the semis to top-seed Bentley.
GOOD MOVES PAST REILLY FOR THIRD
Head Coach Max Good is in his sixth
season at the helm of the Bryant basketball team. In the win
over Southern Connecticut, Good passed Ed Reilly for coaching
victories at Bryant. During his five seasons, Good has led
the Bulldogs to three-straight 20-win seasons and three consecutive
trips to the NCAA trip - highlighted by a trip to the national
championship game in March of 2005 where the Bulldogs fell to
Virginia Union by five. Good has a record of
112-72 while at Bryant and
221-210 during 15 seasons as a head coach, having
previously coached at UNLV and Eastern Kentucky.
Bryant's Coaching Victories
1. Tom Foliard 174
(1968-78, 174-88)
2. Leon Drury
126 (1978-89,
126-182)
3. Max Good 112
(2001-present, 112-72)
4. Ed Reilly
109 (1989-01,
109-209)
