B-RadHoops - March 2009March 31, 2009
Connecticut, Villanova, Michigan State and North Carolina make up this year’s Final 4. Ross Condon, whose work as our Director of Basketball Operations is invaluable, came to Radford from Villanova where he was a member of their team for four years. Villanova beat Pittsburgh with outstanding defense to earn a trip to Detroit. Outstanding defense was the story as well for Michigan State in defeating Louisville who was the overall #1 seed in this year’s field of 65. UConn’s strength, depth and 23 points from freshman guard Kemba Walker wore down Missouri to advance. And UNC was just too much for Oklahoma despite the tremendous talent of Sooner Blake Griffin. Griffin is the best player in college basketball and has the potential to be a great NBA player.
Watching the regional semis and finals this Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday gets me excited to get back into the gym and start working with our players. This week we start back up with post season strength and conditioning and individual workouts. As in the pre-season we are limited to just two hours a week of organized court time and we can only work in small groups. And we are restricted to just six hours of strength and conditioning training.
This weekend we had a few recruits visit officially. NCAA rules prohibit me from mentioning specifics but both players have committed to us and that now gives us six student-athletes in our incoming freshman class.
A bonus of our season’s success is some opportunities that have come my way to be a guest speaker or clinician and further spread the Radford name. I will be a featured clinician at both the Virginia HS and North Carolina HS coaches’ annual meeting this spring. And the guest speaker at The Richmond Times-Dispatch All Metro Basketball Banquet and the Roanoke B/nai B'rith Athletic and Achievement Awards Dinner.
Sunday afternoon, internationally acclaimed violinist, Ms. Jue Yao performed in Covington Center at Radford as part of Musica Viva! Following the performance Kathleen and Dick Harshberger along with Johann Norstedt hosted a private reception for Ms. Jue Yao. There I got to meet Ms. Yao and David Erlich – nationally acclaimed Israeli violinist and executive director of Musica Viva, and Zheng-Liang-Feng – Radford’s own world renowned watercolorist.
Thursday I am headed to Detroit for the National Association of Basketball Coaches annual convention and the Final 4. On Friday I get to attend the NABC Hillyard Champions luncheon where all regular season champions are recognized and presented a plaque in honor of their team’s accomplishment.
Attached are two meaningful notes I recently received and want to share with you. One from former star player Corey Reed, who is in Singapore with Exxon Oil and the other from Radford campus nurse Judi Collins-Cox.
Go Highlanders
Brad
March 22, 2009
It was quite a season. We started the season playing Brevard College with 500 fans in Peters Hall. We ended the season playing North Carolina in the NCAA tournament in front of 20,000 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
North Carolina is a great team and projected by many to win the national championship in Detroit. They have the ACC’s all-time scoring leader in Tyler Hansbrough, a roster filled with HS All-Americans and Roy Williams, a Hall of Fame coach. Former Highlander star Steve Robinson is a UNC assistant coach. We did not play our best against them and that was disappointing. But we cannot let that one game diminish what the team accomplished this year. It was a season of unparalleled success. The Roanoke Times Aaron McFarling summed it up best with a column after the UNC game. Here’s the link:
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/mcfarling/wb/198360
The experience of playing in the Big Dance against a powerhouse UNC squad will serve us well.
The spirit and joy of a sellout crowd of fans rushing the court to celebrate the Big South and the excitement and energy being part of March Madness is great for Radford University. The national attention and publicity our players and school received the last few weeks should help Radford grow. I am confident it will.
I want to reflect on the three seniors of the 2008-2009 squad. Jamar Jenkins did not play a lot of minutes during his two years on the team but he helped us win a few games, has been an outstanding student and has represented our program with class. Eric Hall helped us win a lot of games the last two years. Eric loves playing, is a great teammate, a splendid athlete, and finished his career among RU career blocked shots leaders. Kenny Thomas joined RU’s 1,000 point club this season and his 35 point explosion in the Big South Semis vs. UNCA will go down as one of the best clutch performances of a Radford player in a big game. As a co-captain the last two seasons his maturity and commitment to TEAM helped us grow into a championship team. Thanks Jamar, Eric & Kenny.
So what does a coach do the first free weekend after the season? Get into a car accident – nobody hurt, catch a late afternoon movie – Duplicity – pretty clever, catch a ballgame live at Cassell Coliseum – tough NIT lost for the Hokies to a HUGE Baylor team, watch the reigning Big South Champion Radford Men’s tennis team shutout Presbyterian, get to my health club to start back up with regular workouts, have dinner with a long-time friend – former St. Joe’s coach John Griffin – who was in town as part of the television broadcast team for the DIII national championship game in Salem, pay the household bills – they were piling up, and take a few long overdue deep breaths. And start thinking about next season and how to improve the team. We have raised the bar and want to keep doing it.
Go Highlanders
Brad
March 15, 2009
If at the beginning of the season someone offered me this story: Our team would win
the Big South Regular Season Championship, the Big South Tournament,
and get the opportunity to meet one of the most storied basketball
programs in NCAA history in the NCAA tournament in their backyard……… I would have said….BRING IT ON!
How great is it that we get to go to Greensboro, and go toe to toe with UNC. No 16 seed has ever beaten a #1 seed. But as I told our team after watching the Selection Sunday show, the last two times I sat on a bench where the opponent was the UNC Tar Heels as an assistant at VT, we were victorious. It can be done. Boston College beat UNC this year. And Harvard beat Boston College. Florida State beat them on Saturday. They are great. But they are not unbeatable.
And how strange is it that in the last two ACC Tournaments, in games decided in the last seconds, UNC knocked off VT and those outcomes probably kept my brother’s squad out of the NCAA tournament. I wonder if that even came up in the discussion among the selection committee as they doled out seeds and finalized regional matchups.
The Selection Watch party on campus where our team gathered with President Kyle, other administration, students, fans, parents and media was really a great way to involve more of Radford in this momentous accomplishment. Being able to honor our All Conference players (Joey and Art) and All Big South Tournament players (Joey, Art and Kenny) in front of this gathering and present Amir Johnson with a ball commemorating his 1,000 point in the VMI game was a bonus.
I had the chance to address the gathering and introduce our staff, Rick Hall, Ali Ton, Cedric Smith and Ross Condon. They are involved in every aspect of building this program, training our team and I am very fortunate to work with these guys every day.
Two years ago I was given a 1998 NCAA Championship Radford hat by Albert Mah of the RU Advancement team – he must have been cleaning out his closet. I have kept it displayed in my office, a reminder of our goal and what could be accomplished, and now we get to purchase 2009 NCAA Radford merchandise. How cool is that?
I have always felt that a successful college athletic team can help bring people to the front porch of a university and hopefully get them to step inside. And maybe the spectacular USA Today cover story on our basketball team this past Friday can help do this. What an honor to be featured in this world-wide publication. It’s fantastic that our team can help make people aware of Radford University and perhaps get them to take a closer look at what a special university we are part of.
Here's the link to the USA story. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/bigsouth/2009-03-12-radford-cover_N.htm
I am very proud of our team and what we have accomplished this season. All Highlanders should be as well. Hope to see you Thursday in Greensboro.
Go Highlanders
Brad
March 8, 2009 Nobody can
accuse me of having two left feet any more. We’re going
dancing. Your 2008-2009
Radford University Highlanders are Big South Tournament Champions
and it was our aggressiveness, determination, grit and team attitude
that won out with three wins over a 5 day period to be the first
Division I Conference Tournament Champion of this year’s
Championship Week. The nation now
knows about Highlander spirit. And they know we have a team
that plays inspired, aggressive an unselfish basketball. On Tuesday we
won our Big South opening round match-up vs. High Point 82-58. On Thursday we
withstood sharpshooting UNCA 94-86. That set up
Saturday’s BSC dream match-up between #1 seed RU and #2 seed VMI. The scene in
Dedmon will forever be etched in the minds of those in attendance.
A capacity crowd sea of Red and an ESPN2 national TV audience
witnessed 2 teams with a laser like focus on the prize. VMI prides
itself on being tough and supremely conditioned. I have a lot
of respect for Duggar Baucom and the Keydets who had a marvelous
season en route to 24 wins. I hope they get a NIT bid.
But as I watched the ESPN2 broadcast of Saturday’s game on Sunday
afternoon it was very evident to me that WE WORE THEM OUT!
FLAT OUT PHYSICALLY CRUSHED THEM IN THE PAINT AND HOUNDED THEM INTO
A MISERABLE SHOOTING - 32%, AND THREE POINT SHOOTING – 25% 2ND
HALF. The team that was tougher was our Highlanders and the
spirit of our players was stronger than VMI. I told the team
before the game that I believed we were the better defensive team,
the more efficient offensive team, the better rebounding team and
the team that could dominate the paint. Our guys executed our
game plan. Art Parakhouski
and Joey Lynch-Flohr combined for 43 points and 29 rebounds as we
scored 64 points in the paint and shot .56% from the field.
Joey’s ball handling helped us to break VMI’s press. And he
did a remarkable job juggling defensive matchup responsibilities to
zone up and help on ball screens and dribble handoffs with the
demands of covering three point shooters. He was named BSC
All-Tournament after being selected 1st Team
All-Conference earlier in the week. Art was the
dominant player on the court and was simply too big, too strong and
too talented for the Keydets en route to being named BSC Tournament
Most Outstanding Player to add to his BSC Regular Season Most
Outstanding Player and 1st Team All-Conference honors. Kenny Thomas had
15 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists vs. VMI after torching UNCA in
the semis with a Big South tournament semi-final record tying 35
points. He has been a Co-Captain of our team the last two
seasons and his constancy of purpose has been extraordinary.
Kenny was also chosen the BSC All-Tournament Team Phillip Martin
does so many little things that help us win. On Saturday his
defensive determination to move his feet, fight over ball screens
and challenge three point shots was inspirational. Amir Johnson has
been a rock of a ball handler and floor leader all season. His
defensive decision making and ability to play effectively while
saddled with fouls is example of how far he has developed as a
player. He has sacrificed his scoring, improved his playmaking
and become a complete player.
Three other players really produced during the three conference
tournament wins In 29 combined
minutes vs. UNCA and VMI, Eric Hall contributed 16 points, 10
rebounds and 6 blocks. Chris McEachin
was a resilient playmaker, an instinctive defender and clutch free
throw shooter en route to 18 points, 5 blocks, 3 assists and 3
steals in 30 minutes on Championship Saturday. Cole Wilder was
6-7 in 6 minutes of action vs. High Point and had 3 points an assist
and a steal in 4 minutes vs. UNCA. A coach could not ask for a
more unselfish and team oriented player than Cole. On Saturday we
put six players in double figures en route to a Big South
Championship game record 108 points and we scored an astounding 284
points in the three games for an average of over 93 points per
victory. I want to thank
everyone who has supported us all season. From an inauspicious
start in tiny Peters Hall to sell-out crowds in Dedmon, “We Love the
Red” has never been more evident. Special thanks
to everybody who attended this week’s games, especially the students
who stayed for Saturday’s game. And to Charlie
Cash who cut short his 80th birthday party to attend the
game with his family, Thank You. Next Sunday is
selection Sunday. Tune in to CBS to learn about our 1st
round match-up. Go Highlanders Brad
March 1, 2009 Saturday night we were presented the Big South Regular Season Championship Trophy. Co-Captains Kenny Thomas and Joey Lynch-Flohr accepted it for a spectacular regular season 15-3 conference record in front of a sell-out Homecoming Weekend crowd.
It was also senior night and Kenny Thomas, Eric Hall and Jamar Jenkins were honored. It has been a privilege to coach these wonderful young men
I wish we could have played a stronger game Saturday against Liberty and made the day even more memorable. Despite a Dedmon Center record tying 39 point performance by Art Parakhouski, our nine-game winning streak came to an end.
We played a pretty good game Saturday but Liberty shot exceptionally well. We finished the Big South regular season #1 in field goal percentage defense (.393%) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.312%) Liberty shot 25-50 = .50% from the field and was 10-24= .42% on threes. The game was tightly officiated and the teams were whistled for a combined 63 fouls and shot a total of 87 free throws. We missed some defensive assignments early in the game and allowed a few of their best shooters too many open shots. We played more intelligent defense in the second half but they made some big time field goals with defenders up tight and earned the win 92-85.
Saturday’s atmosphere in Dedmon was tremendous. The sellout crowd, a sea of RED with students, parents, alumni, and former players presented a very impressive image of Radford University to a MASN regional TV audience.
Tuesday the Big South Conference Tournament begins and we host High Point. They played us strongly both times during the regular season.
B-RadHoops sends a special shout-out to Albert Mah who couldn’t make Saturday’s game. We missed you and look forward to seeing you back in Dedmon real soon.
Thanks also to former Highlander baller Tom Gallaher. He was honorary coach at Saturday’s game, is on President Kyle’s Advisory Council, and is one of the most loyal Highlanders you can find. Tom lives in Knoxville and keeps reminding me that he would like to see us schedule a game against Tennessee sometime soon. In the meantime he said he will settle for hosting an alumni gathering this spring at his home.
Hope to see you Tuesday at 7pm in Dedmon.
Go Highlanders
Brad
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