Point News, 1992 December 15

              Shawn Keehan competed in the half time slam dunk contest.
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fire drill.
is the way Coach V wants us to play-
-the way they spread the floor.”
Despite their size advantage, the
Russians shot poorly in the first half.
“Our 1-3-1 zone gave them prob­lems,”
added Valvano.
“When we changed defenses ear­lier
[in the season], it was like a Chi­nese
fire drill. We’re getting better.”
Senior point guard Quentin
Hillsman, Keehan and Frank Phillips
all had four points to lead Seahawk
scorers. Phillips also had two blocks.
Bobby Windsor, Mike Rudolph had
threepoints each andMike Lind added
two.
Halflime featured a three point con­test
and slam dunk contest.
The Point News December 15,1992
Trip to Caps Center, Europe to follow Russian experience
BOB VALVANO
Head Basketball Coach
It is somewhat interesting, I sup­pose,
that this is only my second
column for The Point News and I will
have started both with references to
Saturday Night Live. Nevertheless,
this time I am reminded of the charac­ter
Garrett Morris played who con­stantly
proclaimed, “Baseball been
berry, berry good to me.” Well, bas­ketball
has been pretty good to me as
well, and has provided some wonder­ful
and memorable experiences. Last
Wednesday, in Somerset Gym, I was
proud to be part of another of those
experiences which was not only
memorable in its own right, but re­minded
me of some other noteworthy
experiences, and hinted at some po­tentially
exciting ones to come.
The Russian All-Star team, com­prised
of some of the best players in
Russia, including four who played in
the Olympics, came to St Mary’s
College as part of their Tour of the
United States. They will go on to play
a number of other colleges and Uni­versities
here, including a number of
very big Division I institutions. Hav­ing
them kick off their tour here at
SMC was a treat for all of us. From a
basketball standpoint, it allowed us to
play both against and with some of
the finest players in Russia. I say that
because we played a half of a game
against them, and then “mixed and
matched” players for the second half,
making up teams that were part
Seahawk, part Russian (part Bear?).
The first half saw us hold our own for
most of the way before succumbing
31-20. WE then played an exciting
second half that allowed our players
what I hope will be a memorable
experience forthem-playingnotonly
with Russians as teammates, unusual
enough in itself, but with Olympic
caliber athletes. It was a great learn­ing
experience, and a lot of fun for all
of us.
Emotionally, it reminded me of the
year I coached professionally in Swe­den.
I was very excited when a team
from the Soviet Union came over to
Stockholm to play an exhibition
againstus-butalittle nervous as well.
Sweden prides itself on its neutrality,
but I was a bom and bred American
who was old enough to remember a
childhood flavored (or “dis-flavored”,
if you will) with cold war rhetoric.
How would I react to these young
Soviets? Moreover, how would they
react to me?
Much as Jay Gardiner pointed out
after our game Wednesday with Rus­sia,
once the game starts; players be­come
guards, forwards, and centers,
and not Americans, Russians, or any­thing
else. Among the many beauties
of sport, this is clearly one of them. I
am sure our players felt that on
Wednesday; it did not take long be­fore
we were most aware simply of
our guests exceptional basketball
abilities. Itmay be corny, butl thought
that having that feeling, in Sweden
was extraordinary, and J believe it
was the same here on campus last
Wednesday. I wanted to get to know
the Soviet players better in Sweden,
and I know many of the players and
staff here at S t Mary’s felt the same
way last week.
I mention the hint of some excite­ment
for the future for our team as
well, because we will be on the other
end of a foreign tour when we take a
European trip from December 28
through January 6. We will play about
seven games in Belgium, Holland,
Germany and Iceland, and I am con­fident
we will be shown the same kind
of welcome I am proud to say our
community showed the Russian team
during their visit. It should be an
exciting experience for all of us, and
we will be eager to share our stories
with you in these pages upon our
return.
A quick comment about our early
season progress. After opening up
with the most difficult part of our
schedule (losses versus four consecu­tive
NCAA playoff teams and then
the #22 ranked NAIA team in the
country), we won back-to-back games
going into our game with Division I
UMBC. More importantly, we have
shown good progress since our trip to
Philadelphia for a tournament in early
December. That has been one of our
major goals-constant improvement
from November to March.
One of the reasons for this progress
is the character of the players on our
team. I must go on record as saying I
have not enjoyed working with any
team more that this group of players,
even duringthe five game losing streak
to open the season. I have enjoyed
them very much, both on and off the
court, and I am proud of their efforts
and dedication. I am pleased for them
that we are starting to see some
progress, because their efforts deserve
it and I am hopeful they look forward
to the remaining three-quarters of our
season as eagerly as I do.
One last note before I go, a com­mercial
of sorts. Please come and
support us at the Capital Centre on
December 19. How’s that for direct?
This is a great opportunity not only
for our players but for the entire cam­pus
community. As many of us here
believe, Division III is not a synonym
for third-rate. Players, alumni, stu­dents,
and fans, can enjoy one of the
pleasant experiences that is unique to
athletics--the excitement of the big
arena, with the game being televised
on Home Team Sports, while know­ing
full well we are doing it solidly
within the framework of Division III.
WE are proud of that and hope you
will be too.
Oh by the way, the “undercard” at
the Cap Centre is Morgan State and
some team from D.C....Georgetown
or somewhere like that. I hear they’re
not bad.
Hope you’ll be there.
Elizabethtown rolls
over Women,]06-48;
Smith sets rebound record
LEIGH KESSLER
staff writer
Despite the Seahawk’s bitter loss
of106-48 against Elizabethtown Col­lege,
senior Kirsten Smith set the
school record for career rebounds at
600 in her final game with the
Seahawks.
The women had no spark in them
when they started their game against
Elizabethtown College on Saturday.
They expected to lose the game, and
their attitude showed in the first half
of the game.
At the half the score was 17-59 in
favor of Elizabethtown. The
Seahawks were consistently turning
the ball over before they could get a
shot off. When they did finally get
shots off, they were often wild bombs
just tossed toward the hoop when
they weren’t in position for a good
shot. Elizabethtown was also con­trolling
the boards both offensively
and defensively.
Coach Wojnar must have said
something to motivate them during
half time though. The ladies came out
and the hustle and smiles were back.
They were relaxed, having fun, and
determined to play their best. In the
second half, they scored 14 points
more than in the first half. They also
held Elizabethtown to 12 points fewer
than in the first half.
Betsy Anthony led the team in scor­ing
with 17 points, followed by Kirsten
Smith with 9 points. Betsy Anthony
and Cindy Leeds led in steals with
four each. Leading in rebounding
were Cindy Davenport with seven
and Kirsten Smith with six.
(From RUSSIANS, Page 1)
side for the second half.
“The players had a lot of fun,”
added Valvano. “I’m a little person­ally
disappointed. I lost both halves. I
just wanted to have fun. There was no
pressure or expectations.”
Surprisingly, the Seahawks played
even with the Russian team until the
older, more experiencedteamjumped
ahead with a 17-4 run at the end of the
first half. With 10:56 to go in the half,
Valvano called time-out with the
scored tied at twelve, but the Rus­sians
went on to win 31-20.
Using their superior size, the Rus­sians
wore St. Mary’s down. “They’re
big enough to invade small coun­tries,”
Valvano j oked. “That’s the big­gest
group of guys most us have ever
played against.”
“They were a lot bigger,” said jun­ior
Sean Keehan. “The way they play
"They're big enough
to invade small
countries...When we
changed defenses
earlier [in the season],
it was like a Chinese
Demonstrating the skills that got him elected waterboy for the Board
of Trustees is SMC’s own Phil March (wearing his olderbrothers
clothes), does his impersonation of Peter Pan.
A View from the bench with Bob Valvano