Miami OH

Miami's Charlie Coles: Head Coach Q&A

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:24:39 -0700

College Basketball's Best Coaches

CollegeHoops.net is lucky to have access to some of the best coaches in college basketball. As part of our preseason interview series, we thought it would be appropriate to ask these basketball minds about the best things that their team and college basketball has to offer.

Charlie Coles: Miami

We continue this month long Q&A Series with 13th year coach Charlie Coles, who has led the RedHawks to six postseason trips. Coach Coles was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer questions for CollegeHoops.net:

CollegeHoops.net) What will be the best strength of this year's team?

Charlie Coles) I think our team’s strength will be our depth. We return several players and a good amount of depth.

CollegeHoops.net) Any major weaknesses that worries you?

CC) Our weakness is probably our size. We will likely be undersized against opponents at some positions..

CHN) Who is the biggest leader on this year's squad?

CC) Tyler Dierkers because he is unselfish and can do just about everything. He sets a good example for our team.

CHN) Tie score, with just a few seconds left … who will be your go-to guy in those situations?

CC) Michael Bramos

CHN) What's the best change you've made in your coaching style in recent seasons?

CC) Being more patient on the offensive end.

CHN) If everything goes according to plan, what's the best case scenario this season?

CC) Playing in the NCAA Tournament and hopefully winning a game or two once we get there

CHN wishes Coach Coles the best as he continues his recovery from two surgeries towards the end of last season.

Plus, don't forget to watch Miami face Weber State and possibly UCLA in the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer to start the season in less than a month!

CollegeHoops.net 08-09 Preview: Interviews | Complete Top 144 Ranking | 08-09 Preview Homepage | Discuss the Preview

State of '08: Ohio

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:33:26 -0700

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

OHIO

OHIO STATE - While Xavier has had more consistent success since 2001, its hard to match Ohio State's 2007 campaign: Reaching the National Title game while finishing 1st in the RPI. OSU has also won 20 games in 8 of 10 seasons and reached 6 Big Dances.

XAVIER - Sean Miller has picked up where Thad Matta left off, and Matta followed the success of Skip Prosser, who continued the foundation set by Pete Gillen. Since 1986, there's been a continual run of impressive postseason success at Xavier, including 2 Elite Eight trips in the past 5 years.

KENT STATE - Pretty much whatever success you see at Kent State can still be attributed to the job Gary Waters did in the late 90's, turning a dormant program into a winner. In the last decade, the Golden Flashes have made 5 NCAA Tournaments and 4 NITs, and have won at least 20 games in each of those seasons. In 2009, Kent State is once again the projected MAC champ.

CINCINNATI - This is obviously a storied program, but the post-Huggins era has gotten off to a slow start. There hasn't been a tourney trip in the past three seasons, nor a finish above .500 in conference play. 2009 should be better, but the Big Dance will most likely have to wait another season.

DAYTON - After a hot start, Dayton stumbled to an 8-8 finish in A10 play, their third season in a row without a winning league record. From 2000-2005, Dayton won at least 9 league games every season, and made 3 NCAA Tournaments and 2 NITs.

6. MIAMI - The RedHawks have never been bad in Charlie Coles lengthy career. In fact, just one time in 11 seasons has his team failed to go at least .500 in the MAC. His last five teams have finished in the RPI Top 100, and this year's squad looks postseason-worthy once again.

7. AKRON - Keith Dambrot's four year tenure has been highly impressive. The Zips have been finished in the RPI Top 75 the past four seasons, consistently challenged for MAC titles, and advanced to two NITs. The team does lose a lot of talent this year, so it might be Dambrot's most challenging season.

8. OHIO - Ohio is a solid program that has never gone more than couple seasons here or there without contending for the MAC title. The Bobcats have won at least 18 games the past four seasons (including the '05 Big Dance), though the off-season departure of 8-year coach Tim O'Shea was puzzling.

9. WRIGHT STATE - We might be in thee midst of Wright State's best run in program history. Brad Brownell led the Raiders to the '07 Tournament in his first season, and followed that up with another 20+ win season last year. This year, WSU should once again contend for the Horizon League title.

10. TOLEDO - The Rockets haven't made the NCAA's since 1980, but it hasn't been all bad in the meantime. In 2001 & 2007, the Rockets won MAC regular season titles, but couldn't get over the conference tournament hump. Last year was disappointing, and new coach Gene Cross will need to elevate the program's overall talent-level.

11. CLEVELAND STATE - Twenty years after last making the postseason, the Vikings made the NIT in Gary Waters' second season. The Vikings won 10 league games and 20 overall games for the first time since 1993, and there's a legitimate shot they could earn their first Tourney trip since 1986.

12. BOWLING GREEN - Falcons basketball peaked in the 60's. The start of Dan Dakich's tenure, from about 99 to 02, looked promising.. but things went down hill. The last three years have featured sub-200 RPI teams, though the 2009 squad looks promising.

13. YOUNGSTOWN STATE - The Penguins basketball teams have never been able to match the football teams accomplishments. There are occasional hopeful seasons, but 2001 was the last time YSU really did any damage.

Last: North Carolina - Next: Oklahoma

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

2008-09 Miami RedHawks Preview: #73

Joel Welser — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:23:21 -0700

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Miami (Ohio) RedHawks

Overall Rank: #73

Conference Rank: #2 MAC

2007-08: 17-16, 9-7, 3^rd East

2007-08 postseason: CBI

Like many teams in the Mid-American Conference, Miami University has to replace a quality frontcourt player. Coach Charlie Coles has been in this situation many, many times before and he knows how to adjust his team to play to their strengths. The question is whether or not the RedHawks can find some more scorers this time around. Last year the team had three decent scorers and no other legitimate threats behind them.

Who’s Out:

And now Tim Pollitz, who averaged 15.5 points per game, is gone. The 6-5 forward was not just a scorer, he also led the team with 7.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. It will take three players to pick up that slack. Alex Moosmann, who started 23 games as a sophomore, has opted to transfer after averaging 3.0 points per game during the 2007-2008 campaign.

Who’s In:

Julian Mavunga is a versatile power forward who should immediately make an impact in Oxford. At 6-8 and 255 pounds, Mavunga has the size and the length to dominate the paint in the MAC. He can score with his back to the basket, grab plenty of rebounds and even block a few shots, yet he will need to continue to work on his offense while facing the basket before he will become a major scoring threat. Redshirt freshman Adam Thomas and incoming freshman Vince Legarza will add emergency depth in the paint. The lone newcomer on the perimeter is Kramer Soderberg. The 6-0 point guard will spend this year learning the ropes off the bench and could step into a starting position as soon as 2009-2010.

Who to Watch:

Few teams in the MAC have the experience, talent and size in their backcourt that the RedHawks will have this season. It all starts with Michael Bramos. The 6-5 wing does everything you can imagine. He hits the outside shot consistently, gets to the basket, grabs rebounds, passes the ball and even is fourth on Miami’s all-time blocked shots list. With Bramos leading the way, the RedHawks can win the conference. There is help on the wings. Eric Pollitz, brother of the departed Tim, is a good shooter and the likely candidate to step into the shooting guard role. Now a senior, Pollitz could fill a larger role on the team and start taking a few more shots. Sophomores Nick Winbush, Rodney Haddix and Antonio Ballard, who is back after only playing in one game last year due to an injury, have the potential to make some noise this year on the wings. So do Carl Richburg and Isiah Carson who, like the group of sophomores, averaged less than ten minutes per game last year. Despite all the options at the shooting guard and small forward spots, it is up to Kenny Hayes to run the point. He will get some help from Soderberg and Richburg, but Miami needs Hayes to have a good year if they want to make a run at an NCAA Tournament berth. Hayes is a good scorer, but he has yet to prove that he can be a solid ballhandler and floor leader day in and day out.

Final Projection:

Tyler Dierkers is not a flashy big man, but the 6-8 center gets the job done. He averaged 6.1 points and 6.4 rebounds as the starting center last year. Without Tim Pollitz by his side, the pressure will be on Dierkers to pick up the slack. Adam Fletcher and Dwight McCombs are the only other experienced frontcourt players on the team. Yet, it is hard to call Fletcher and McCombs experienced. They both averaged under nine minutes per game. In fact, the RedHawks only had six players who averaged over ten minutes per contest last year. And with two of those six gone, it does not take a mathematician to know that one player is going to have to go from the bench to a starting role and at least one more will have to see a drastic increase in playing time.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NIT

Projected Starting Five:

Kenny Hayes, Senior, Guard, 12.1 points per game

Eric Pollitz, Senior, Guard, 5.5 points per game

Michael Bramos, Senior, Forward, 16.2 points per game

Julian Mavunga, Freshman, Forward, DNP last season

Tyler Dierkers, Senior, Center, 6.1 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2008-09 Preview & Awards | Coach Interviews | Discuss the Preview

Miami RedHawks Basketball Schedule: 08-09

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:14:41 -0700

OXFORD, Ohio--Coming off its fourth-consecutive postseason appearance with a berth in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational in 2008, Miami University's men's basketball program continues a tradition of exciting and challenging schedules.

The RedHawks are set to face six non-conference opponents, and a potential seventh, which advanced to postseason play in 2007-08, including five which earned bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Miami will be challenged early and often. After a home exhibition game against Saginaw Valley State on Nov. 8, the RedHawks open the regular season at UCLA as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament, facing Weber State on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The following day, Miami will face either UCLA (NCAA Tournament Final Four) or Prairie View A&M and could advance to the Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals and finals in New York City at Madison Square Garden Nov. 20-21.

Rounding out the month of November, Miami heads east to face Pittsburgh (NCAA Tournament Second Round) on Nov. 17, before traveling to battle local rivals Wright State on Nov. 24 and Xavier (NCAA Tournament Elite Eight) on Nov. 29.

Miami finishes a lengthy road stretch with a game at Temple (NCAA Tournament First Round) on Dec. 3.

On Saturday, Dec. 6, Miami hosts the first of three-straight home games as the RedHawks entertain Northwestern State in their home opener. Miami then hosts UW-Milwaukee on Dec. 11 and--in a return game of from last year's ESPNU BracketBuster--Valparaiso (CBI Second Round) on Dec. 13.

Following a seven-day break for final examinations, Miami hits the road to face its second Big East opponent of the season when the RedHawks battle Bob Huggins' West Virginia Mountaineers (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16) on Dec. 20. A trip to Northwestern State on Dec. 30 in a home-and-home series with the Demons concludes the 2008 calendar year for the Red and White.

A game at Dayton (NIT Quarterfinals) on Jan. 6 and a road game for the ESPNU BracketBuster either Feb. 20 or 21 rounds out the RedHawks' 2008-09 non-conference slate. BracketBuster pairings will be announced on Feb. 2.

Miami tips off its 16-game 2008-09 Mid-American Conference schedule with a pair of key home games. The RedHawks host Akron on Saturday, Jan. 10 and entertain Ohio on Wednesday, Jan. 14. The RedHawks will host two of their final three games with home tilts against Kent State on Sunday, Mar. 1 and versus Bowling Green on Thursday, Mar. 5. Miami concludes the regular season at Buffalo on Sunday, Mar. 8. Miami seeks to regain the MAC Tournament crown it won in 2007 the week of March 10-14 at the 2009 FirstEnergy MAC Men's Basketball Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Head coach Charlie Coles' squad returns a significant amount of its firepower from last season, retaining 70.5 percent of its scoring and 71.9 percent of its rebounding from 2007-08. The RedHawks return 11 letterwinners, including four starters: senior forward Michael Bramos (Harper Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North), senior guard Kenny Hayes (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont), senior center/forward Tyler Dierkers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) and senior guard/forward Eric Pollitz (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf).

Bramos was Miami's leading scorer a season ago, averaging 16.3 points per game and was a second-team all-MAC selection. Hayes, who is Miami's other returnee to average double figures in scoring last season at 12.1 ppg, earned honorable mention all-MAC accolades in 2008. Dierkers is Miami's top returning rebounder and assist leader, averaging 6.4 rebounds per game and dishing out 79 assists a season ago.

MAC Semifinals Review: Akron to Face Kent St

Bill Kintner — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:41:10 -0700

CLEVELAND – For second time in two days Akron has exacted some revenge against teams that beat them earlier in the season.

Tonight it was Western Michigan that felt the revenge wrath of the Zips as they fell to Akron 73-62.

In a game where Akron (23-9) consistently led and led by double digits starting at the end of the first half It came down to the Zips’ strong shooting performance.

Akron shot a blazing 58.7 percent (27-46) from the field versus 44.7 percent (21-47) for Western Michigan (20-12).

“I think we were able to shoot the ball well. One of the things coach emphasized was sharing the ball. I feel we didn’t run as many plays as we have because we were able to pass the ball around,” said Akron’s Chris Knight.

Akron coach Keith Dambrot thought his team turned up the intensity to pull out the win.

“We matched their intensity,” Dambrot said with a smile after the game.

Another key for the Zips was containing Western Michigan’s David Kool, who scored 24 points in yesterday’s win against Eastern Michigan. Akron managed to hold him under 50 percent (6-13) for the game, although he still got 17 points.

“We used a variety of people (on Kool), mostly (Nate) Linhart, who is very long. I thought the length bothered him,” explained Dambrot. “He gets a lot of points around the rim and at the line. I think Linhart gave him a little more trouble than he’s used to.”

The game started out with Akron’s Cedrick Middleton hitting a 3-pointer at the 19:37 mark and the Zips never trailed in the game. Akron finally pushed the lead out to double digits at the 6:32 mark when Chris Mc Knight put in a layup to make it 25-15.

By the half Akron pushed their lead to 13 points at 37-24.

In the second half the Broncos didn’t cut Akron’s lead to single digits until the 1:31 mark when Kool hit a 3-pointer to make it 67-59 but the Zips pushed the lead back to 11 by the end of the game, 73-62.

“They shot lights out. It was just too much for us to overcome. Said Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins. “We showed a lot of fight in the second half, but every time we came back they hit big shots.”

Game Two: Miami vs Kent State

Does history repeat itself? Miami attempted to answer that question in the semifinals against Kent State.

With :02 left Miami inbounded the ball in front of their bench they got the ball to their ace, Tim Politz. He got it in the lane, about five feet from the basket, he twisted shot it and it bounced off the rim, and Kent State won 49-47.

It was just a year ago that Doug Penno hit the game winner against Akron as time expired to punch Miami’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

But tonight it was not to be for Miami.

With :34 remaining in the game Miami’s Kenny Hayes put in a layup to tie the game 47-47.

After a Kent State (27-6) timeout they began working the ball around the perimeter and they finally got it to Al Fisher. He drove down the lane spun to his right and shot a floater over the out-stretched hand of Tyler Dierkers to put Kent State up 49-47 and that was stake the landed in Miami’s heart.

Fisher said he just was looking to get any shot when he got the game winner. “We were just looking to get a shot up. It’s easier when your coach and teammates have a lot of trust in you. It takes off a lot of the pressure.”
Miami actually out-shot Kent State 42.2 percent (19-45) to 35.8 percent (19-53) but Kent State coach Jim Christian thought it was experience and maintaining intensity that did the trick.

“We’ve been in many of these situations before. We’ve won many close games,” he said. “There is something to be said of the will to win. You have to be intense the whole time.”

Miami (17-15) scored the first basket a little over two minutes into the game on a layup by Hayes to go up 2-0. Aside from a brief one point lead a little over two minutes later Kent State led the whole first half and went into halftime up 25-23.

The second half was more back and forth with the biggest lead being four by the Golden Flashes at the 4:25 mark on a jumper by Rodriquez Sherman.

This game was tied 12 times and there were nine lead changes.

A tired acting Miami coach Jermaine Henderson thought his team played hard and just came up short.

“I think we played hard and leave it all out there” he said after the game. The right guy got a shot off but it came up a little short.”

Notes:

-I mentioned yesterday that Keith Dambrot is a great coach; he is also entertaining to watch during the game. His favorite position on the sidelines is bent over with his hands on his knees; with his tie hanging down like an outfielder waiting for the pitch to be delivered. Sometimes he runs the length of the bench clapping his hands. Bottom line, if you take a look over at the Akron bench there is a good chance Drambot will entertain you.

-Yesterday I ranked Ohio’s dance team as the best looking team in the MAC. Upon further review I would rank Western Michigan’s as number two and Akron’s as number three. There you have it the MAC Hot Dance Team rankings.

-Former Miami great and current Cleveland Cavalier Wally Szczerbiak was in attendance for the Miami/Kent State game sitting in the front row across from the Miami bench.

-The clock crew has had a tough tournament. They have consistently screwed up starting and stopping the clock at the proper time. I hope this is not the crew that works the clock for the Cavs games.

MAC Tournament: Day One

Bill Kintner — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:44:52 -0700

Game 1

The No. 7 seed Eastern Michigan beat No. 10 Ball State 59-55 to put the Cardinals out of their misery and moved into the semifinals against No. 2 Western Michigan at noon. Justin Dobbins led the Eagles with 21 points, including a put-back that gave them a 45-44 lead and led to an 8-0 run to pull away from Ball State.

Fav quote:

“We expected them to play well. They had nothing to lose. They are a much better team than that record indicates.”
- Eastern Michigan coach Charles Ramsey

Game 2

It was a three game sweep as No. 6 Central Michigan whipped No. 11 Northern Illinois 83-71. Senior guard Giordan Watson led the Chippewas with 20 points. Central Michigan led by as much as 22 in the second half before a late comeback to make the score respectable. CMU plays Akron at 2:30 pm.

Fav quote:

“I know we have good shooters. When you have good shooters, they make shots.”
- CMU player Giordan Watson

Game 3

The No. 8 seed Toledo beat arch-rival No. 9 Bowling Green 52-48 to avenge a regular-season loss to the Falcons. The Rockets shot a meager 33.3 percent from the field and 5.9 percent (1-17) from 3-point land. Jonathan Amos led the Rockets with 15 points. Toledo plays Kent State at 7 p.m.

Fav quote:

“We bogged down on offensively. We had open shots , we just couldn’t convert. At one point they had nine offensive rebounds and I was pretty disappointed with that.”
- Toledo coach Stan Joplin

Game 4

No. 5 Miami, took a lead with three minutes thanks to the shooting of Kenny Hayes and the RedHawks made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to hold off No. 12 Buffalo 69-68. Michael Bramos led Miami with 23 points. The RedHawks were out-rebounded 38-22 and had just four offensive rebounds. Miami plays Ohio at 9:30 p.m.

Fav quote:

“We were getting frustrated because they were playing a lot harder than us. We had to come in the second half and match their intensity.”
- Tim Politz, Miami player

Three Stars of the Day: Pollitz, Reitz, Morris

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:14:20 -0800

Three Stars of The Day

We handpick the best performances of the day, whether it be stat lines that make you drool, or clutch performances. Either way, its our way of showing the love:

Tim Pollitz - Miami (OH)

Had the best all-around game of his fine career, going off for 26 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds against Chicago State

Joe Reitz - Western Michigan

Dominated Randal Falker and SIU with 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 57-41 victory

Donovan Morris - LBSU

Set a career-high with 24 points, and added 7 off the glass, as the 49ers beat San Francisco by 3

Other Top Performers

AZ Reid - High Point - 28 points and 14 rebounds against Savannah State is another monster game from the senior averaging 25 and 10

Jonathan Rodriguez - Campbell - The A-Sun Player of the Week was back once again with 29 points and 11 rebounds against Norfolk State

Kai Williams - South Dakota State - Scored 25 of his team's 56 points in the Jackrabbit's 4-point win over Denver

Previous Stars of the Day

December 17th - Darnell Dials - Eastern Kentucky

December 16th - Ty Lawson, UNC

December 15th - Demetric Bennett, South Alabama

December 13th - Jack McClinton, Miami

December 12th - Lee Cummard, BYU

December 11th - Bryan Mullins, SIU

December 10th - Ben Nwachukwu, Columbia

December 9th - Dane Watts, Creighton

December 5th - Drew Lavender, Xavier

December 4th - Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

December 3rd - DJ White, Indiana

December 2nd - Jerryd Bayless, Arizona

December 1st - George Hill, IUPUI

November 30th - Craig Brackins - Iowa State

November 29th - Ryan Anderson, California

November 28th - James Powell, UCSB

November 27th - Stephen Curry, Davidson

November 26th - Michael Bramos, Miami (OH)

November 22nd - Michael Beasley, Kansas State

November 21st - Kyle Singler, Duke

November 20th - Patty Mills, Saint Mary's

November 19th - Matt Causey, Georgia Tech

November 18th - Daniel Hackett, USC

November 17th - Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis

November 16th - JJ Hickson, NC State

November 15th - Jon Brockman, Washington

Wright State Beats Miami at the Buzzer

Bill Kintner — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:24:04 -0800

Dayton – For the second time this season Miami lost to a basketball team from Dayton that overcame a big point deficit to win on a 3-point buzzer-beater as Wright State’s Todd Brown hit a 3-pointer from the corner to beat the visiting RedHawks 58-57.

Earlier this year Dayton’s Brian Roberts sunk a 3-pointer as time expired to lift the Flyers over Miami 63-62.
To make it more bizarre Wright State (4-3) also beat Miami last year 58-56 on a last second 3-pointer by DeShaun Wood.

In a game where Wright State never led until Brown’s winning shot Wright State battled back to finally tie it on two foul shots by Vaughn Duggins to make it 55-55 with 1:47 left.

After a missed shot by both teams Miami’s Kenny Hayes finally hit a jumper with 4.3 seconds left to put Miami up 57-55. After a review by the officials they added .7 of a second to the clock, so Wright State had five seconds to get the final play off.

After back to back timeouts Wright State threw it in under Miami’s basket and put the ball into Duggins’ hands just a few feet past the foul line. He dribbled past half court and split two RedHawk defenders and went streaking toward the basket when he got in the lane two defenders closed in on him and he kicked the ball out to Brown for the winning basket.

“We went to the guy who was going to score two points and the guy out in the corner was saying ‘whoa I can’t believe this,’ it was thank you, Merry Christmas,“ explained an exasperated Miami coach Charlie Coles.

Duggins was going for the shot until the RedHawk defender closed in on him. “They collapsed on me so I just kicked it out to Todd,” said a happy Duggins. It was a play they practiced a few times before, but not extensively.

Brown jokingly said they practiced the entire play that they call “Virginia” including how they would celebrate when they won.

In the first half the RedHawks were on fire and the Raiders looked a little tired. The fans in attendance may have witnessed Miami (4-4) play the best half of basketball they will see all year.

The Redhawks shot 73.9 percent (17-23) and 66.7 percent (6-9) from 3-point land as they took a 44-28 point lead into the locker room.

Coles was glad the RedHawks were hot but he knew it would not last. “We were scoring but that turned into fool’s gold. We had guys scoring that even you (pointing to a person in the back of the room) had to say ‘whoa how did that go in.’ You were not as motivated in the second half as you were in the first half because you think you have a big lead and I knew this team would fight back.”

Wright State’s coach Brad Brownell told his player’s to just keep chipping away at the score.

“We talked about doing a better job at chipping away and giving ourselves a chance here at home. They (Raiders) went through adversity in the second half in terms of missing free throws and losing opportunities to continue to cut the lead,” said Brownell. “Then to just continue to keep getting stops and getting stops to give ourselves a chance, then obviously Miami made a big shot to take the lead, then our guys executed a nice play at the end to win.”

In the second half Wright State out-scored Miami 33-13 and didn’t get the deficit to single digits until the 11:13 mark when Todd Brown hit a jumper to make the score 50-41.

After Wright State’s Jordan Pleiman hit a jumper to close the deficit to four points making it 53-49 Miami leading scorer Michael Bramos hurt his knee and was taken to the trainer’s room.

Miami’s Tim Pollitz led all scorers with 15 points. Troy Tabler led the Raiders with 14 points.

Notes:
-Wright State’s Scottie Wilson was out tonight after colliding with Todd Brown in practice today when they practiced some live post trapping.
-Miami was without center Tyler Dierkers who was sick.
-When asked what the turning point in the game was Coles said, “It was when we had to play the second half. They were so much tougher than us. We were literally begging our players to play.”
=Coles on the playing Wright State……”They beat Butler and that is pretty impressive. Nobody beats Butler except Wright State. So we knew we were going to be in for a tough game.”
-Brownell pointed out that his Raiders have been on the receiving end and giving end of key baskets and stops. “We have gotten a stop when we needed one and we have not gotten a stop to win a game.. We have had a chance to make a bucket to win a game and haven’t made it and now we have made a bucket to win a game. It was good for our kids, we needed that to happen.” That was all in the last four game stretch.
-Busy Redhawks….tonight’s game is the start of a four game in eight day stretch. The RedHawks are home on 12/18 against Chicago State. Then on 12/20 they play Illinois and on 12/22 at Kansas.
-Tired Raiders….Wright State is playing their fourth game of a five games in 12 days stretch.
-Hang on what? For some unexplained reason Wright State plays Ohio State’s signature song, “Hang on Sloopy” and there are even some OSU fans at the Nutter Center that shout out O-H-I-O during the song. I asked the band director Ryan Taranyi why they would play that song at a WSU home game. He said they just always have but that come the January the WSU pep band will no longer play that Ohio State song. I think they have gotten a few complaints.
-Miami leads the series 15-8.
-Wright State’s next home game is Tuesday night at home against St. Bonaventure at 7 pm.
-Miami’s next game is Tuesday night at home against Chicago State at 7:30 pm.

Three Stars of the Day: November 26th

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:22:46 -0800

Three Stars of The Day

Continuing a new daily feature on Collegehoops.net, the Three Stars of the day. We handpick the best performances of the day, whether it be stat lines that make you drool, or clutch performances. Either way, its our way of showing the love:

Michael Bramos - Miami (OH)

The junior sharp-shooter had 30 of the Redhawks 67 points in a nice win over Mississippi State

Derric Low - Washington State

Low had 6 threes, all in the second half, to help the Cougars overcome a slow start to beat Air Force by 9

Taylor King - Duke

Not that they needed his points against EKU, but King lit it up with 27 points and 6 threes in just 21 minutes

Other Top Performers

Will Thomas - George Mason - Continuing a good start to the season, Thomas had 22 points and 11 rebounds to help the Patriots go 5-1

Chris Cooks - Missouri State - A week or so after being arrested, the transfer shot a perfect 6-6 and finished with 19 points in 20 minutes

Brandon Rush - Kansas - Gets kudos for finally being able to play full minutes and coming through with 17 and 8 boards.

*Today's awards were chosen before the completion of the late USC/SIU game.

Previous Stars of the Day

November 22nd - Michael Beasley, Kansas State

November 21st - Kyle Singler, Duke

November 20th - Patty Mills - Saint Mary's

November 19th - Matt Causey, Georgia Tech

November 18th - Daniel Hackett, USC

November 17th - Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis

November 16th - JJ Hickson, NC State

November 15th - Jon Brockman, Washington

Top 144 Previews | 2007-08 Preview & Awards | Interviews | Discuss the Preview

Poll: Who Will Win the Anaheim Classic?

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:58:55 -0800