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Vikings Square Off With Buffalo At Evansville Tourney
Nov. 14, 2006 Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release in PDF Format
GAME 3 SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State takes to the road for the first time during the 2006-07 season when the Vikings play three games in three days at the America's Youth Classic in Evansville, Ind. CSU opens play in the four-team tournament against Buffalo on Friday, Nov. 17 at approximately 8:30 p.m. CST. CSU continues play against host Evansville on Saturday (Nov. 18) at 5:00 p.m. CST before concluding the tourney against Miami (Fla.) on Sunday (Nov. 19) at 1:00 p.m. CST. Cleveland State takes to the road with an even 1-1 record after routing Notre Dame College, 88-62, on Monday night (Nov. 13) in the Wolstein Center. Buffalo comes into the contest with a 1-1 record, including a 77-61 loss at South Florida on Monday night. PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: With two games under their belts, the Vikings are beginning to define the character that they are going to play with under first-year head coach Gary Waters. The senior quartet of guards Carlos English (5.0 apg), Victor Morris (11.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and Raheem Moss (11.5 ppg) and forward Patrick Tatham (6.0 ppg) are joined by sophomore forward J'Nathan Bullock (18.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg) to complete the starting lineup. Four newcomers provide the spark off the bench, including guards Joe Davis (13.0 ppg), who scored 19 points in his CSU debut, and Breyohn Watson and forwards Tristan Crawford and Kevin Francis (12.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg), who had 20 points and 12 rebounds against Notre Dame College. Returners Luke Murphy (2.0, 1.5) and Renard Fields (4.0, 4.0) add size to the interior rotation. The Vikings have exhibited a good team offense in its first two contests, handing out 36 assists (on 60 field goals) in the two regular season games. The Vikings have are averaging 13.5 steals a game, scoring 22.5 points off 22 turnovers a game. HEAD COACH Gary Waters: A 32-year collegiate coaching veteran, Gary Waters took over as the head coach of the Vikings in the spring of 2006, bringing with him to Cleveland a head coaching history that included six trips to the postseason in his first 10 years as a head coach. He posted a 92-60 record in five seasons at Kent State, making NCAA appearances in both 1998-99 and 2000-01 and becoming the third coach in Mid-American Conference history to be named league coach of the year in successive years. Waters moved to Rutgers in 2001-02, compiling a 79-75 mark in five seasons, including three trips to the NIT. TEACHING SUCCESS: Gary Waters taught the Vikings what it takes to achieve success by turning professor for a weekly "Success" class during the summer and preseason. The class, which uses legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden's book which outlined the Pyramid of Success, was held twice each week during the first summer school session and every Wednesday afternoon once school resumed in late August. The class has been a success as the Viking players have used Wooden's pyramid principles to define the items that they need for success, using them to build their own pyramid. BULLOCK GETS OUT STRONG: Forward J'Nathan Bullock has started out his sophomore campaign by playing some of the best basketball of his career. He leads the Vikings in scoring (18.5), shooting an amazing .700 from the field (14-20). He scored 22 points -- on 10-for-14 shooting -- in the opener against George Mason and came back on Monday to add 15 points in 18 minutes against Notre Dame College. . . . BULLOCK FINDS HIS MARK IN OTHER WAYS: One of the most impressive statistics that J'Nathan Bullock has posted in the first two games has nothing to do with shooting the basketball. In fact, he has handed out five assists in the two games, including a career high three assists against Notre Dame College. Five assists in two games is normally not that impressive, unless you consider that Bullock had only nine assists in 28 games (and 707 minutes) during the entire 2005-06 season. VIKINGS FIND THEIR SCORING BALANCE: Cleveland State enters the America's Youth Classic with five players averaging in double figures in scoring this year. J'Nathan Bullock leads the way with an 18.5 scoring average with Joe Davis (13.0), Kevin Francis (12.0), Raheem Moss (11.5) and Victor Morris (11.0) each over the double-digt mark. CSU had just three players average in double figures last year. . . . AND THE BENCH IS PROVIDING A SPARK: Another notable statistics is that both Joe Davis and Kevin Francis -- CSU's second and third leading scorer -- have each recorded their scoring totals coming off the bench. The duo are a big part of why the Viking reserves are averaging 34.0 points a game this year. THREE GAMES IN THREE DAYS: The Vikings will find themselves in a very unfamiliar situation this week when they play Buffalo, Evansville and Miami (Fla.) in successive days at the America's Youth Classic. It will mark just the fourth time in program history that CSU has played three games in three days. The first time came in 1985-86 when CSU defeated Northern Iowa (73-68), UIC (100-84) and Eastern Illinois (70-66) to win the AMCU-8 tourney title and earn the school its only NCAA Berth. CSU also played three games in three days in 1999-2000 at the Hawaii-Hilo Tourney and in 2000-01 at the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tourney. JOE D GOES FOR THREE: Joe Davis made his Viking debut a memorable one against George Mason on Saturday, coming off the bench to score 19 points. The 6-0 freshman connected on seven of his nine field goals. He tied a CSU freshman record by making five three-point field goals, going five-for-seven from behind the arc. The 19 points was the third-highest scoring total by a freshman in their first game at CSU, trailing the school-record 36 points by Don Ross vs. Hiram, (12/1/66) and Frank Mignoli's 21 points vs. Western Reserve (12/1/55). He enters the tourney ranking second on the team with a 13.0 scoring average. . . AND DAVIS LIKES HIS NEW ROLE: Joe Davis is no stranger to the Wolstein Center, though he appreciates the role he is playing in the building this year. In both the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, Davis served as a ball boy at Viking home men's basketball games. MOSS EYES THREE-POINT MARK: Senior guard Raheem Moss enters the America's Youth Classic needing to make just one three-pointer to break the school record for consecutive games making at least one trey. Moss' triple against Notre Dame College extended his streak to 19 games, tying the school record held by both Jermaine Robinson (3/03 to 1/04) and William Stanley (2/89 to 1/90). The streak began after Moss did not attempt a three in the 84-53 win over John Carroll last year. Moss has made a three-pointer in 31 straight games in which he has attempted at least one trey. . . . MOSS MOVES UP THREE-POINT CHART: Moss continues to make his mark as one of the most prolific three-point shooters in Viking history. He enters the weekend ranking ninth on the CSU charts in both three-point field goals made (122) and attempted (317). Moss needs eight treys and nine attempts to catch Percell Coles (2000-04) for eighth place on both lists. THE VIKING BASKETBALL REPORT DEBUTS NOV. 15: A new addition to the television lineup this year is The Viking Basketball Report, a weekly half-hour show that will include game recaps, highlights and features on players and other elements featuring information about the CSU program. The first episode of the show will air on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 9:00 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 16 at 10:30 p.m. It will be hosted by Mike Cairns with commentary from head coach Gary Waters. THE BAKERY IS CLOSED: One of the goals that Gary Waters elaborated on during the preseason was the team's desire to take better care of the ball, knowing that the Vikings needed to make the most of every possession. CSU has taken Waters' words to heart, committing just 10 turnovers in both the exhibition win over Slippery Rock and the season-opening loss to George Mason. CSU averaged 16.1 turnovers a game last year and has not made less than 10 turnovers in a game since committing just nine in a 58-48 win at Youngstown State on Feb. 14, 2002, 119 games ago. MENTORING PROGRAM BENEFITS VIKINGS: As part of Gary Waters' emphasis on education, the Viking coaching staff has organized a mentoring program that pairs each of the 16 players with a professional from the Cleveland area who is working within each players' field of study. For example, Munch Bishop, who does the morning sports reports on WMMS, is mentoring George Tandy, a junior communication major. "THE COMMITTEE": When Gary Waters took over as head coach last spring, he called upon the four Viking seniors -- Patrick Tatham Victor Morris, Raheem Moss & Carlos English -- to take over as the leaders on the squad. Waters would call "The Committee" together whenever he either needed a sounding board among the players or wanted to pass along information to them. The quartet worked so well together that Waters has decided to not name team captains for the 2006-07 season, electing to allow "The Committee" to continue representing the team. A BUSY NOVEMBER: The Vikings will open the 2006-07 season by playing a school-record eight games during the month of November, a staggering total considering that they will be played over a 19-day period. The total shatters the previous school standard of five games in November set in both 2000-01 and 2002-03. By comparison, CSU will play eight games during the 31 days in January and seven in December. . . . AND A BUSY YEAR: The Vikings are assured of playing at least 31 games this year, a figure surpassed just three times in CSU basketball history. The school record for games played in a season is 33, which was set in both 1985-86 and 1986-87. Most recently, the Vikings played 32 games in 2000-01. CSU will play 30 regular season contests this year and at least one game in the Horizon League Championship. SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG WITH THE NUMBER THREE: For the second straight season, the Vikings will be starting a player sporting a different uniform number from the season before as senior guard Carlos English has ditched the No. 3 that he used during his junior campaign in favor of wearing No. 1 this season. Something must be wrong with the No. 3 jersey as it was just a year ago that Victor Morris, who wore it as a freshman and sophomore, switched to No. 5. No word yet from sophomore Tristan Crawford, who inherited No. 3 this year, on whether or not he will keep it. BULLOCK NAMED TO ALL-HORIZON SQUAD: Sophomore forward J'Nathan Bullock, who became just the fifth freshman in program history to lead the team in scoring, has been named to the 2006 Preseason All-Horizon League second team. Bullock, a 6-5, 240-pound forward from Flint, Mich., started 22 of the 28 games that he played in a year ago, averaging 11.3 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. He recorded 17 double-figure scoring games, including three double-doubles. Bullock set a CSU freshman record with 20 free throw attempts against Kent State. MCLENDON SCHOLARSHIP SERIES SET: The Cleveland State John McLendon Scholarship Series, an annual men's basketball game hosted by CSU in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), will debut when the Vikings host Ohio State at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Proceeds from the event will help to endow an athletic scholarship in the name of John McLendon at Cleveland State, the Basketball Hall of Fame coach who was head coach at CSU from 1966-69. BULLOCK RECEIVES AVIS SCHOLARSHIP: Sophomore J'Nathan Bullock is the 2006-07 recipient of the Danferd C. Avis Endowed Basketball Scholarship, the first fully endowed scholarship for basketball at CSU. The scholarship is named in honor of Dan Avis, a member of the men's basketball team from 1947-50, who has been involved in Viking athletics for more than 50 years. A captain on the Fenn College teams in each of his last three years, Avis was inducted in the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980 and remains active with the Varsity "C" Club. VALPARAISO IS NEXT ON THE HORIZON: The current 16-game Horizon League basketball schedule will undergo a change next year when Valparaiso joins the league as its 10th member. Currently a member of the Mid-Continent Conference, Valparaiso will bring its 17 sports into the Horizon League effective July 1, 2007. The addition of the Crusaders means that the basketball schedule will increase to 18 games next year with each team being paired with another league school as travel partners. CSU will pair with Youngstown State. VIKINGS ON TV AT LEAST SEVEN TIMES IN 2006-07: At least seven Cleveland State games will be televised this year, five of which are part of a new broadcast partnership between CSU and first-year sports cable channel SportsTime Ohio, the television home of the Cleveland Indians. The CSU road games at Kansas State (Dec. 5) and Ohio State (Dec. 9) will be shown on Fox Sports Midwest and ESPN+, respectively. Additionally, the Feb. 17 Bracket Buster game could be televised on one of four ESPN channels and the semi-final and finals of the league championship will also be broadcast nationally. THE FINAL FOUR APPEARS IN CLEVELAND: The Final Four will be represented in Cleveland at both the start and end of the season. George Mason, which was the Cinderella team of last year's NCAA Tournament when it advanced to the Final Four, opened the season at the Wolstein Center against the Vikings on Saturday (Nov. 11). It was the first time that a Final Four team from the season before played at CSU. The end of the year will find CSU, working in conjunction with the Mid-American Conference and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, serving as the host of the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four. The games, which will be held on April 1 & 3, 2007 at the Quicken Loans Arena, mark the first time that Cleveland will host either Final Four. COMMUNICATION STUDENTS ARE HANDS ON: When a student enrolls in classes in the CSU School of Communication, odds are that they will be involved in several projects that the school works with the athletic department on. After all, it was communication students who did the bulk of the work to make video streaming of men's and women's basketball home games possible last year. This year, they will help to produce The Vikings Basketball Report, a weekly 30-minute show on SportsTime Ohio that will include men's basketball highlights and features. In addition, one class in the school is doing features of student-athletes in all 17 CSU sport as part of a class project with those vignettes being made available to Viking fans online. VIKINGS ARE GETTING STRONGER: Shortly after taking over as head coach, Gary Waters told a media member that a successful program usually has 7-8 players capable of bench pressing 300 pounds or more, a figure that no Viking had accomplished during the spring period. Waters then challenged strength coach Shane Levenson and the Vikings to significantly improve their performance, giving each a target number to reach before the start of the regular season. The results were overwhelming as all 16 players hit their target by the start of preseason practice with six players hitting the 300-pound mark. J'Nathan Bullock leads the way with a 340-pound bench press, a 720-pound leg press and a 490-pound squat. The other Vikings to reach 300 pounds were Raheem Moss (320), Carlos English (300), Cedric Jackson (300), Victor Morris (300) and Patrick Tatham (300). WAITING IN THE WINGS: CSU fans may have to wait until next fall to see the true strength of the Viking recruiting class as three of the seven newcomers are transfers from other Division I schools and will have to sit out the 2006-07 season to meet NCAA transfer guidelines. The trio -- each of whom are juniors and will have two years of eligibility remaining -- includes guard Cedric Jackson and forwards Chris Moore and George Tandy. Jackson is the most experienced of the group, starting 35 games the last two years at Big East Conference member St. John's, while Tandy, a native of Indianapolis who played his senior year of high school at Cleveland's Lincoln West High, was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2004-05 while playing at Eastern Illinois. Moore, who lives in Lakewood and attended St. Edward High, returns home after playing two seasons at UC Santa Barbara. NEXT UP: The Vikings continue play in the America's Youth Classic, facing host Evansville on Saturday (Nov. 18) and Miami (Fla.) on Sunday (Nov. 19).
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