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Vikings Host Kansas State For Second Annual McLendonScholarship Classic
Nov. 20, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release in PDF Format
• 2008-09 Men's Basketball Promotions SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State returns home for the second time during the young 2008-09 season when the Vikings host Kansas State in the second annual McLendon Scholarship Classic on Saturday, Nov. 22 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. Cleveland State enters the contest with a 1-1 record after beating Oakland (58-55) and falling at Washington (78-63) last week. Kansas State is 3-0 after sweeping home games from Florida A&M (96-57), Southeast Missouri State (88-68) and Emporia State (82-60).
PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: After last year becoming one of at least 16 teams in NCAA history to go from losing 20 games in one season to winning 20 the next, the Vikings enter the 2008-09 season with many of the pieces to the puzzle already in place but a few questions that need to be answered. The lineup is centered around the group of seven returning players who keyed the success last year, including the duo of forward J'Nathan Bullock (11.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and point guard Cedric Jackson (11.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.0 apg), both of whom were named to the five-player Preseason All-Horizon League first team this year. Earning spots in the starting lineup are the sophomore duo of off-guard Norris Cole (17.0, 4.5) and small forward D'Aundray Brown (11.5, 6.5). Senior Chris Moore (3.5 rpg) has started each game at center with seniors George Tandy (3.0, 2.0) and Renard Fields (1.0, 1.5) each factoring significantly into the playing rotation. The final three spots in the rotation will come from the group consisting of sophomore guard Eric Schiele (4.0, 1.5) and freshmen guards Josh McCoy (2.0, 3.5) and Jeremey Montgomery.
HEAD COACH Gary Waters: The reigning Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year, Gary Waters has needed just two seasons to convert Cleveland State into one of the top programs in the Horizon League. A 34-year collegiate coaching veteran, he owns a 203-170 record in 13 seasons as a head coach and a 32-35 mark in his third season at CSU, taking seven of his first 12 squads to post-season play. 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. Waters, who led the Vikings to a 21-13 mark last year, earned his 200th career win on Feb. 23, 2008 when the Vikings defeated Marist.
VIKINGS UP TO EIGHTH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: After opening the season ranked ninth in the first Mid-Major Basketball Poll of the season, the Vikings moved up one spot to eighth in the second poll. The Vikings, who ended the 2007-08 season unranked, received 498 votes to be the top team ranked in the Horizon League (Butler was 10th & Wright State 16th). Gonzaga (768 votes, 24 first place) and Davidson (750, 7) were first and second in a close voting. The poll, which is sponsored by CollegeInsider.com, is released each Tuesday throughout the season.
MCLENDON SCHOLARSHIP CLASSIC RETURNS: The CSU John McLendon Classic Scholarship returns for a second year when the Vikings host Kansas State on Saturday in the Wolstein Center. The Classic, an annual men's basketball game hosted by CSU in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), celebrates the life of McLendon, the Basketball Hall of Fame coach who served as the head coach of the Vikings from 1966-69. Proceeds from the event will help to endow an athletic scholarship in the name of John McLendon at Cleveland State. The Classic debuted last season when Cleveland State hosted Ohio State at Quicken Loans Arena. Joanna McLendon, the widow of John, was on hand for the game and was honored by CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed.
THE SOPHOMORES HAVE IT: After weeks and weeks of talk about how the Vikings were going to be led by the senior duo of J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson, it was another less-heralded duo -- sophomores D'Aundray Brown and Norris Cole -- who proved to be the offensive key during the first week of the season. Cole, who averaged 10.0 points over the final six games last season, matched his single-game best with 14 points against Oakland and then blew his career high away with a 20-point effort at Washington. Brown tallied a career-high 15 points against Oakland, going seven-for-nine from the field and made his first career three-pointer, adding six rebounds, a career-high four steals and two assist. He battled foul trouble at Washington, scoring eight points with seven rebounds.
DUO NAMED TO ALL-HORIZON LEAGUE SQUAD: The senior tandem of J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson have each been named to the 2008-09 Horizon League Preseason first team. The selection, which was made in a balloting of the league head coaches, sports information directors and select media, marks the first time in program history that the Vikings put two players on the preseason first team. Bullock, a 6'5" 240-pound forward from Flint, Mich., was a first team all-league choice last year after leading the team in scoring (14.8) and rebounding (6.6). Jackson, a 6'3" guard was second on the team in scoring (13.9) while leading the team in both assists (168) and steals (88).
BUILDING A HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: When Gary Waters took over as head coach in the spring of 2006, he made note of the team's 5-10 home record the year before and indicated that for the program to succeed, the Wolstein Center would have to become a much more difficult place to play. The Vikings accomplished that goal in 2007-08 when CSU set a school record for wins in a season by going 12-2 in games played in the Wolstein Center. CSU was also 8-1 in league games, falling just short of the perfect 9-0 home league record in 1992-93. Including the win over Oakland, CSU is now 13-2 on campus over the last two seasons, a considerable improvement over the 25-42 over the previous five seasons.
WATERS ON THE RADIO: CSU fans will be able to get the inside scoop on the Vikings this year by listening to The Gary Waters Show each week on WTAM, 1100 AM. The one-hour call-in show, which will be hosted again by Andre Knott, will air weekly beginning on Nov. 12. At least 14 episodes of the show are planned, most coming on Monday night's. There is no show during Thanksgiving week with the next scheduled show set for Monday, Dec. 1 beginning at 8:00 p.m. A complete schedule is available on CSUVikings.com.
. . . AND ON TELEVISION: The Viking Basketball Report, with Head Coach Gary Waters returns for a third season on SportsTime Ohio. The half-hour weekly show includes game recaps, highlights and features on players and other elements of the program. The show will be hosted by Mike Cairns with commentary from Waters. It will air multiple times every week, usually debuting on Tuesday evening.
BULLOCK STARTS WITH A DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Despite being the primary focus of the Oakland defense on Saturday (Nov. 15), J'Nathan Bullock fought through the double and triple teams to score 11 points with 10 rebounds for his 13th career double-double.
JACKSON MAKES A KING-LY FIGURE: As part of the pre-season opening Viking Madness event, Viking senior Cedric Jackson and women's basketball junior Angel Roque were selected CSU's 2008 Homecoming King and Queen, respectively.
BULLOCK EXTENDS STARTING STREAK: With starts in every game this season, senior J'Nathan Bullock extended his starting streak to 71 consecutive game, the fifth-highest total in school history. Bullock needs four more starts to catch Weldon Kytle (1961-65), who is fourth with 75 straight starts. If he stays healthy, he could catch record-holder Ken McFadden (1985-89), who started 86 straight games, in January.
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER: Instead of spreading to the different parts of the United States to spend the final week before school started in August, the Vikings hopped a plane to Spain as part of an 11-day tour of the country. From Aug. 14-24, CSU soaked in the culture of the Spanish cities of Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Designed as a team-bonding trip, it was just that as the Vikings toured the scenic sites and museums of the three cities while learning something about a country that none of them had ever visited before. The trip did have a basketball purpose as well as the Vikings went 3-1 playing games against two high professional teams and two of the best club programs in the country.
"CLEVELAND" STATE: Keeping a promise that he made when he took over as head coach a year ago, Gary Waters has quickly turned the Viking roster into one that is representative of the region. Inheriting a team with just one player from a high school in the greater Cleveland area (walk-on Greg Vlosich), Waters increased that number to nine student-athletes from Ohio this year with five being from northeast Ohio. Daitwan Eppinger (Garfield Heights), Tim Kamczyz (Strongsville), Joe Latas (North Olmsted), Chris Moore (Madison) and Eric Schiele (Atwater) each call the greater Cleveland area home.
VIKINGS HAVE THE BRACKET BUSTED: Cleveland State didn't have much success when the Vikings first took part in the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, losing the inaugural game to Eastern Michigan in 2003-04 and to Central Michigan the following year. The tide has turned however as the Vikings enter the 2008-09 season having won three straight games in the event. It started with a 52-40 win over Delaware in 2005-06 and was followed by a cross-country journey in 2006-07 that resulted in an 85-76 win at Cal State Northridge. Last year, Marist visited the Wolstein Center with CSU winning, 59-44, in a game televised nationally on ESPNU.
SUCCESS 301: The third edition of Success Class under Gary Waters is utilizing the book Quiet Strength by Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy as the course text. Instituted at CSU in the summer of 2006, Waters used Success Class to teach the Viking players the finer points of what it takes to succeed. Success Class 101 used John Wooden's book, The Pyramid of Success while last year, Waters relied on John Maxwell's book Talent Is Never Enough to instruct the Vikings. The non-credited class is taught weekly by Waters to the Viking players over the summer and preseason months.
VIKINGS TABBED AS PRESEASON FAVORITE: Cleveland State is the favorite to win the 2009 Horizon League title in a preseason poll if the league's coaches, sports information directors and media. CSU, which was picked to finish ninth a year ago, received 40 of the 49 first place votes and 478 total points. Wright State, who tied the Vikings for second place last year during the regular season, was picked second with 412 points and three first place votes. UIC (361, 2) was picked third, followed by Green Bay (326) and defending champion Butler (216, 3).
BULLOCK GOING FOR A 4TH SCORING CROWN: Senior J'Nathan Bullock will attempt to become only the third player in CSU history to lead the team in scoring in four straight seasons. He started the streak as a freshman in 2005-06 when he was one of three Vikings in double figures for the year, averaging 11.3 points a game, the lowest average ever by a player who led the team. Bullock improved his average to 13.5 points in 2006-07 and trailed Cedric Jackson for most of last season until exploding for 39 points against Green Bay to take over the scoring lead for good. Bullock would join Franklin Edwards (1977-81) and Weldon Kytle (1961-65) as the only four-time scoring leaders.
A 20-20 VISION: The 21 wins last season allowed the Vikings to achieve the rare distinction of going from 20 losses in one season to 20 wins in the next. Although the NCAA Basketball record book doesn't track exactly how many times this has been accomplished, it does list 15 teams (each of whom improved by 13 or more wins from one season to the next) with a small window existing for several other teams to accomplish it as well. Xavier is the only Horizon League team to earn the honor, going from 8-20 in 1981-82 to 22-8 the following year.
VIKINGS REACH 20 WIN MARK FOR SIXTH TIME: The March 1st win at Youngstown State allowed the Vikings to record their 20th win of the season for just the sixth time in school history. CSU reached the win total in four consecutive seasons under Kevin Mackey, going 21-8 in 1984-85, 29-4 in 1985-86, 25-8 in 1986-87 and 22-8 in 1987-88. Four seasons passed before the Mike Boyd-coached Vikings went 22-6 in 1992-93 to reach the 20-win plateau for the most recent time.
JACKSON IS A STEAL: With 88 steals during the 2007-08 season, Cedric Jackson not only ran away with the Horizon League steal title, but he also posted the third-highest single season steal total in school history. Jackson's 2.59 steals per game easily topped Green Bay's Terry Evans, who was second with 1.97 steals a contest. The 88 steals trailed only Kenny Robertson, who set the school record with 111 thefts in 1988-89 and had 90 steals in 1987-88. On a national basis, Jackson ranked ninth among Division I players in steals last year.
ANOTHER 1,000 & 500 MILESTONE APPROACHES: J'Nathan Bullock enters Saturday's game needing to to attempt just one free throw to become the fifth player in school history to attempt 1,000 field goals and 500 free throws in a career. Bullok enters the Kansas State match with 1,001 field goal attempts and 499 free throw attempts. He would join Ken McFadden (1,639 field goals, 761 free throws), Clinton Ransey (1,511, 604), Franklin Edwards (1,807, 520) and Theo Dixon (1,291, 504).
A FOUL CALL: Although Cleveland State committed 679 personal fouls a year ago, the fourth-highest single season total in school history, the Vikings didn't allow the fouls to hurt them, setting a school record by having just three players foul out of games during the season. Cedric Jackson (at Kent State), D'Aundray Brown (Green Bay) and Chris Moore (at Dayton) each fouled out of a game once during the year, allowing the Vikings to break the old record low of five players fouling out, which was set in 1985-86.
VIKINGS REBOUND TO REBOUND: It has been six seasons since Cleveland State finished the year with a positive rebounding margin, but the Vikings put the streak to rest in 2007-08. In 34 games, CSU has averaged 34.7 rebounds a game while limiting its opponents to 31.6 boards to lead the Horizon League with a +3.1 rebounding margin. The Vikings out-rebounded their opponent in all but nine games. The last time that CSU was able to hold the rebounding edge for an entire season came in 2000-01 when the Vikings had a +3.1 rebounding margin.
. . . FROM WORST TO FIRST, A LEAGUE FIRST: Not only did the Vikings finish second in the Horizon League after finishing in last place a year ago, but CSU became the first team in league history to go from last in rebounding margin in one year to first the next. The Vikings were out-rebounded 33.1 to 36.6 in 2006-07 for a -3.5 margin but rebounded to own a +3.1 margin last season..
. . . BUT CSU HAS SOME WORK TO DO THIS YEAR: The first two games of the season haven't been two of CSU's best in the rebounding department as the Vikings have been out-boarded, 107-77 for a -15.0 rebounding margin. Included in that total was a -26 margin at Washington (60-34), the worst rebounding effort by a CSU team under Gary Waters. It replaced a -24 margin at Ohio State in 2006-07.
JACKSON & BULLOCK REACH FREE THROW MILESTONE: The tandem of Cedric Jackson (131 free throws made) and J'Nathan Bullock (147) hold the distinction of being just the fourth pair of teammates in school history to each make 100 free throws in the same season. The milestone was previously achieved in 2003-04 (Jermaine Robinson, 141, & Omari Westley, 124), 1989-90 (Brian Parker, 119, & Steve Givens, 104) and 1986-87 (Ken McFadden, 177, & Clinton Ransey, 100).
. . . AND AN EVEN BIGGER ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR JACKSON: The 100th free throw made of the season also made Cedric Jackson just the fourth player (and sixth time) in school history to make 100 field goals, 100 free throws and hand out 100 assists in the same season. He joins Damon Stringer (195 FGM, 113 FTM & 108 assists in 1999-00), Ken McFadden (159, 144 & 146 in 1988-89 & 205, 177 & 177 in 1987-88) and Franklin Edwards (265, 134 & 142 in 1980-81 & 253, 131 & 117 in 1979-80). In 34 games, Jackson made 148 field goals, 131 free throws and handed out 168 assists.
. . . JACKSON IS THE ONLY 4x100 PLAYER: If you add Jackson's 166 rebounds to the list, then Cedric Jackson is the only player in CSU history to record 100 assists, 100 rebounds, 100 field goals made and 100 free throws made.
JACKSON MAKES MARK ON SEASON ASSIST CHART: With 166 assists in 34 games last year, Cedric Jackson posted the third-highest single season assist total in school history. He was one short of second place Gravelle Craig,. who had 167 assists in 1992-93, and 11 short of Ken McFadden's single season record of 177 set in 1987-88.
CSU CLAIMS MOST IMPROVED AWARD: With a 21-13 overall and 12-6 league record last season, Cleveland State broke the school records for the most improvement in wins from one season to the next. The Vikings had 11 more wins overall and nine more league wins then CSU posted during all of 2006-07 when the Vikings were 10-21 overall and 3-13 in the Horizon League a year ago. The 11-win improvement overall surpassed the previous best of eight wins set in 1985-86 when CSU went from 21 wins to 29. In conference play, the improvement of nine wins broke the old mark of eight set in 1992-93 when the Vikings won 15 league games (they won seven in 1991-92).
NEXT UP: The Vikings head to Miami, Fla. to play three games in three days at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, which will be played at Florida International. CSU plays Saint Leo on Monday (Nov. 24), Toledo on Tuesday (Nov. 25) and host FIU on Wednesday (Nov. 26).
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