Tournament Preview

Most college students are not required to face their toughest test of their term in the week that follows the school’s spring break.

It appears the Lincoln College men’s basketball team may not be that lucky. The Lynx open the NJCAA National Tournament tonight with their hands full against Phoenix College of Phoenix, Arizona at 8 p.m. 

The Lynx come into the game with a record of 28-5, and finished the season ranked No. 3 in final NJCAA Division II Poll. The opposition comes into the game with a record of 24-9, while finishing the season ranked No. 13 in the national poll.

The trip to Danville is the second in a row for the Lynx, and the third in the last four years.

While saying this year’s team and last season’s “don’t really have anything to do with each other”, Lynx coach BJ McCullum did acknowledge one similarity between LC’s previous tournament appearances- his team’s routine.

“In sports, I’m a believer that you want to stay in the same routine as much as possible,” McCullum said. “We’re not going to anything different than we did during the regular season as far as preparation and travel.”

The 1600 miles between schools didn’t prevent McCullum from getting a look at his team’s opposition in their first round match up. Because the Lynx were one of the first teams to qualify for the tournament when they won the Region XXIV Championship on March 6th, McCullum was able to attend Phoenix College’s last two National Tournament qualification games on March 10th and 11th- even if it meant some time on the road.

“I went and watched the play their first (qualifying) game in Harrison, Arkansas on Friday against North Arkansas College, which was about a 450 mile trip,” said McCullum. “Then, on Saturday, I went and saw them play again at Johnson County Community College (located in Overland Park, Kansas), which they won and put them in the National Tournament.”

And what did McCullum learn about the Bears from Phoenix College?

“They are a very good basketball team,” said the coach. “They have three really good players that we’re going to have to deal with.”

“Their main post player (Ira Brown) is a 6’4” 230 pound guy, who’s 25 years old. He played six years of minor league baseball, and now he’s come back to college. They also have a very good wing player (Sacha Stafford) who’s about 6’4” and is also a very good athlete.”

“The key player for them is probably a guard by the name of Tyree Hardge. He had 32 and 35 points in the two games I saw them play.”

According to the statistics recorded by NJCAA.org, Brown averages 17.5 points per game, while also averaging 10 rebounds per contest. Hardge scores at a 17.1 clip, followed by Stafford’s 16.2 average.

“We have to defend their top three guys well, make sure we out rebound them, and limit the turnovers against them,” said McCullum. “They are going to apply a lot of pressure at times, with a diamond and one press. Handling their pressure is going to be important in order for us to win.”

In regards to what affect the two teams differing resting periods would have on the game, McCullum said only hindsight will determine which team was at an advantage.

“It’ll come down to who wins, probably,” said the coach. “If we win, then people will say ‘oh, the rest was an advantage for them’. If they win, people will say ‘the later game was advantage for them, they were fresh’. Right now, I don’t think the layoff is hurting us at all.”

Feeling no definitive conviction on any advantage or disadvantage his team’s time off may could potentially play, McCullum did seem optimistic that being the “home team” in terms of proximity to Danville could be a potential advantage to his club.

“The fact that our students and cheerleaders will there will give them a boost, I hope,” McCullum said. “We’re able to travel and stay in our own beds, stay in as much of a routine as possible. But we won’t know how much that really helps until we’ve played.”

Seemingly the only real certainty to the Lynx coach was that, in March basketball, certainties rarely exist for any team- no matter what happened in the preceding months.

“Rankings and records and all of that don’t mean much right now,” said McCullum. “You can see right now with the NCAA Tournament that, right now, anyone can beat anybody in tournament time.”

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