One Last Shot: University of New Orleans mini-dynasty (CHK28)

[Young Drachma]

Mini-dynasty, in that, I hope to do this one fell swoop and then be done pretty much. We'll see how it goes. It's an alternative history dynasty. Here goes:

After the announcement of the University of New Orleans intent to move to Division 3 after the 2009-10 season, the team huddled together. Starting with the 2007-08 season, the school installed a three-year plan to make an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Despite the problems with Hurricane Katrina and the lack of enrollment, the institution worked hard to keep the basketball program going.

A donation from Hornets owner George Shinn, coupled with a commitment by the team to package several doubleheader games where UNO could be the matinee game to Hornets games, was a real shot in the arm. Where the program succeeded, was upon hiring a new coach.

Sean Wainwright was a scrappy, 25-year old Ivy league graduate was an MBA, but a hunger for basketball. Having played four years at Harvard before graduating in three years and earning an MBA from MIT; UNO snapped him up after just one year an assistant at Providence, believing the New Orleans native was just what the doctor ordered for their program.

While aware that the school was considering demoting the program, he signed on believing the task to be one that was bigger than just about basketball and he set the gears in motion to recruit foreign players who could help his team now, given the difficulties the school was having in recruiting American talent.

During his first season, the team went 15-15, largely with the roster he’d inherited. The second year, his 2008-09 season was a bit more hopeful. With a non-conference intended to pack wins for a team that he hoped would have a shot at a post-season appearance. The entire starting five were foreign-born players, when asked why he eschewed local talent, he replied plainly, “kids don’t see us as a destination. So we’re working on fixing that.”

The starting lineup of: C Justin Kyle (Jamaica), PF Jeffrey Thompson (Jamaica), SF Arnaud Dahi (Ivory Coast), SG Neill Clinton (Australia), PG Destin Damachoua (Senegal) were all foreign born. He also boasted two redshirts in Christopher Johnson (Germany) and highly touted Polish import SF Piotr Malesa (Poland) who would feature well with the team the following year. The coach believed strongly the school could make a run at an NCAA bid in a year.

Then the news came, the University would be downgrading the program after the 2009-10 season. One more year and it would all be over, at least how they knew it. One more season to make good on the promises they’d made to themselves.

Whether they could do it or not, was anyone’s guess, but they were going to try.

[Young Drachma]

Season Two Recap

The 2008-09 season ended with an NIT semi-finals loss to Washington State (24-11) 75-69, to end the year at 22-12. Nonetheless, a return to the postseason was a huge boon to a program that was otherwise on the decline. Vultures were circling the program, waiting to see what players could be picked off. Reserve forward Justin Archie left the team for Western Kentucky, but was the only casualty not lost to graduation.

This wasn’t only related to players, but also to the head coach. Schools such as St. John’s, Oregon State, Providence and Georgia were among those that inquired about Coach Wainwright’s availability. He didn’t mull over any of them for more than a few seconds before deciding to finish the job at New Orleans.

With one more D1 season left, he knew he wouldn’t stay around after the year was done, but felt he owed it to his players to stick it out with them and see what they could build with one more year to do it.

[Young Drachma]

THE FINAL SEASON, Pt. 1

Scheduling for the 2009-10 season was purposely designed to challenge the squad and also to create some energy amongst the student body, who were naturally disappointed at the demise of major college sports at the school as they knew it.

The athletic department’s pitch was “let’s go out with a bang. Make them remember who we are, even when we’re gone.”

The basketball schedule was designed with this in mind. Here’s the OOC schedule for the 2009-10 season:

Nov. 5: 2K Sports College Hoops Classic

Nov 9: @ Rutgers

Nov 15: @ North Carolina

Nov 17: @ Villanova

Nov 21: GRAMBLING

Nov 24: SAN DIEGO STATE

Nov 28: @ Baylor

Dec 12: WESTERN KENTUCKY

Dec 15: GONZAGA

Dec 19: DAVIDSON

Dec. 26: NEVADA

On the strength of last season’s performance, coupled with the redshirts ready to play, the hope is the program can make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996

[Young Drachma]

NOV. 5: vs. Southern (W, 57-37)
NOV. 6: vs. Portland (W, 69-55)

After the tournament to open the year, we headed to our first road trip to Rutgers (2-0) and it's a winnable game, but you never want to take anything for granted.

NOV. 9: @ Rutgers (L, 70-46)

Now we're heading to MSG for the Coaches v. Cancer Classic, our second tournament of the year. I hope we can put a better display on than we did against Rutgers getting destroyed as we did.

NOV. 12: vs. George Washington (W, 77-74)
NOV. 13: vs. #20 Pittsburgh (W, 93-73)

Petr Malesa had 34 points and 11 bounds in this win, to put us at 4-1 for the year and a huge rebound after that game against Rutgers. I think we're serious. Which is good, because we now have to play North Carolina this Saturday.

NOV. 15: @ #8 North Carolina (W, 89-86)
NOV. 17: @ #16 Villanova (L, 86-84)
NOV. 21: vs. Grambling (W, 90-64)
NOV. 24: vs. San Diego State (W, 84-63)
NOV. 28: @ Baylor (L, 97-89)

At 7-3, we're obviously playing well, but we're losing games that I would've expected us to win and so, I don't really know what to make of the streaky play. I'm going to chalk the UNC and Pitt wins to momentum and the Villanova loss as a moral win given how close it was and the fact that it was on the road.

DEC 12: vs. Western Kentucky (W, 84-78)
DEC 15: vs. Gonzaga (9-2)

[Young Drachma]

Here's our roster, as this is the final season of the program. I run the modified Grinnell system, which is really designed for a team that's got a lack of athletic players, but can shoot well from outside and focuses on the boards. That's not our story, but I just like being able to have a team of guys who I know can take shots on the outside when I want them to. And this team does that.

We've probably got more size than you'd normally have in a system like that, but we're also playing D1 basketball and the system was designed for a small D3 program (That I've seen play) but the outcomes are generally the same (high scoring games shootouts where we wear the other team out.)

Here's our roster for the final season:

(#41) PG Cruz Dandridge (Fr.) New Orleans, LA, 6'6" 203 lbs. He's rated 61 overall. He's largely a 3-point specialist with average defensive skills.

(#21) SF Piotr Malesa (Fr.) Poland 6'8" 200 lbs. Rated a 78 overall. He's the real deal. I'm super excited about him, especially since I don't actually do any of the recruiting, he was just there. Great interior guy, with some three-point ability as well. Just a good all-around player that I think will do us good. Sort of a weird shot and streaky, but...still, a guy I'm happy we have on our squad.

(#55) PF Jeffrey Thompson (So.) Jamaica 6'8" 238 lbs. Rated a 60 overall. Another guy with 3 point skills and can shoot the rock from up close, but isn't going to do much for us defensively. Was a starter last year with Justin Kyle, they were called "The Jamaican Twin Towers" but I think he's going to come off the bench this year.

(#33) PF Patrick Tchuisi (Jr.) Cameroon 6'11" 208 lbs. Rated a 70, he transferred after one year at Alabama and is now playing for us after sitting out a year. He'll take over Thompson's spot in the lineup. Strong defensive skills and some rebounding ability, I'm hoping he'll give us a bolstered interior presence, because rebounding is such a huge part of our system.

(#54) C Justin Kyle (Jr.) Jamaica 7'2" 257 lbs. One part of the Jamaican twin towers, he's one of my favorites, but drives me crazy because he's just a lazy player sometimes. The guy is a 71 overall, can jump out of the building and has great interior skills. But like I said, he's streaky. He has days where he'll kill and others where you barely understand how he's playing for anyone, anywhere. Still, you can't teach size.

(#20) PF Christopher Johnson (Fr.) Germany 6'11" 197 lbs. This beanpole frosh is supposed to do some good for us on the rebounding side of the ball, at least, that's the goal with him. He's a 68 overall, but he's got lots of potential. Too bad we're moving down after this season.

(#51) C Filip Latovic (Fr.) Serbia 7'1" 236 lbs. Other than size, he doesn't really have any major things that make him stand out. He's pretty good on the awareness side of things, but as a 63 overall, I think we'll mostly use him to backup Kyle.

(#24) SF Neill Clinton (Jr.) Australia 6'6" I've actually been using him at the 2 guard position most of the time, largely because of the way we're so mismatched in terms of roster spots. A solid guy from 3-point range, he's my energy guy off the bench more than anything. He started last year too, but this year, I just like him better in that 6th man role.

(#23) SF Arnaud Dahi (So.) Ivory Coast 6'9" Notice how we've recruited for size? I just told the game to do it and that's what we've got here. He's a 66 overall player who gives you good jumpshooting ability and some defensive rebounding skills as well. Another guy who started, but will alternate from the lineup to the bench depending on our needs.

(#11) PG Eric Wallace (Fr.) England 6'4" A 64-overall player who is a distributor of the first order. He'd always rather pass than shoot and this generally suits our offense.

(#5) SG Destin Damachoua (Jr.) Senegal 6'2" 58-overall guy who doesn't really fit so well with the improved players we've picked up. Still, as an old guard guy I like his scrappyness and he gets shifts.

(#30) SF Tre Martin (Sr.) Vacaville, CA 6'5" Yes, an actual American. He's a 58-overall guy who really just gives us some close range shooting talent when we need it. He's on the bottom of the 10-man rotation we've been running, so he gets playing time, but it's usually dependant on how the team is doing.

(#13) C Jaroslav Tyrna (Sr.) Germany 6'11" 234 lbs. Overall a 57. He's an average defender and above-average shot blocker. But save for that, he's really just a guy who plays in garbage time, sometimes.

(#31) Markus Ireland (Fr.) Los Angeles, CA 6'5" 200 lbs. Overall a 57. He's actually a reserve who'll only see the roster if someone gets hurt. He's a decent inside shooter.

(#32) Ronny Dressel (Sr.) Milpitas, CA 6'5 200 lbs. A 56 overall. Doesn't play and is just a reserve center.

(#40) George Kole (Sr.) Phoenix, AZ 6'10" 267 lbs. A 46 overall. Reserve PF who plays in practice. Sometimes.

[Young Drachma]

I'm going to go through the games individually now, at least, for the most the part through the end of the season. If it's a particularly creampuff opponent, then I probably won't.

[Young Drachma]

GONZAGA V. NEW ORLEANS

I was happy to see that Gonzaga agreed to visit us, because well..it's quite hard to get teams to come down and play us in New Orleans. At halftime, we led 72-58, which gives you some evidence of what a Grinnell offense game is like when I play the whole thing through (rather than just simming, as I did for the majority of the previous games...) I forgot to mention that Eric Wallace is injured and won't be available for this game. He's day-to-day for the next 14 days with a dislocated finger.

Offensively, Neill Clinton only played ten minutes but put up 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting in the first half. Malesa chipped in with 11 points and 7 rebounds, while Tchuisi had 10 points at the half. The only person who didn't play in the first half was Tre Martin, so otherwise the rotation was pretty steady.

The only thing keeping us ahead is somewhat consistent shooting, but only relative to Gonzaga's inability to get on a run. This is one of those games that could change in the second half, if they figure out how to get on the scoreboard in big numbers.

I simmed the second half and the final score was 108-83 in favor of the Privateers. The real difference was three-point shooting, as we were 50% from 3-point land and they were only 34.5% and we took about the same amount (they took 29, we took 30) and the other real difference was rebounding. We outrebounded them 45-33 and had 40 bench points, but bench depth is one of the hallmarks of our offensive system.

So it was a solid win for us against a mid-major team. Kyle and Malesa led the team with 18 points apiece, Malesa and Tchuisi both had double doubles (Malesa 18 pts, 12 rebounds/Tchuisi 15 points, 13 rebounds)

We play Davidson (1-5) this Saturday at home. We're now 9-3 on the year, as we wind down the non-conference part of schedule over the next few weeks. I like our chances though heading into the conference season.

[Young Drachma]

Here's the rest of the regular season schedule:

Davidson (3-15) (W, 89-65)
Nevada (16-4) (W, 80-57)
at MTSU (7-13) (L, 63-62)
at UALR (9-9) (W, 81-62)
vs Louisana-Monroe (4-15) (W, 84-48)
at Louisana-Lafayette (9-8) (W, 82-59)
vs Florida Atlantic (10-10) (W, 86-64)
vs North Texas (9-9) (W, 101-62)
at Denver (10-9) (W, 88-75)
vs FIU (8-14) (W, 76-74)
at Arkansas State (11-16) (W, 108-44)
at South Alabama (14-15) (W, 96-76)
vs Troy (12-14) (W, 108-63)
at W. Kentucky (15-12) (W, 80-73)
vs. MTSU (11-18) (W, 66-63)

I don't know that we have tournament long chops, though. The most recent bracketology has us as a #2 seed in the South bracket. I guess that's what a 27-4 record will do for you, but a spill in the conference tournament would surely hurt that prospect and even then, I expect us as a 4 or lower if we win the Sun Belt out right, maybe a six if we lose before the finals.

How good is this team? I don't know. I have fun playing with them and it's sad this is the last season of the program, because I've enjoyed putting them together immensely.

Let's go now and see if we can do the unthinkable.

[Young Drachma]

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT

Quarterfinals: UNO 82, FIU 68
Semi-finals: UNO 82, FAU 74
Finals: UNO 88, UALR 61

We're going dancing. I can handle that.

[Young Drachma]

TOP SEEDS

Georgetown, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina

SOUTH REGION, FIRST ROUND

#2 New Orleans v. Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts went 18-11 and finished 2nd in the Summit League. I don't know how they squeaked into the tournament as an at-large, but they did, hence the #15 seed. They're led by Senior forward Andre Hardy who averaged 17.6 PPG and 7.9 RPG during the regular season. Another senior, Kyron Stokes put up 13.8 PPG and averaged 5.1 boards, with Dominique Morrison, a junior forward averaging 10.1, the only other guy on that team in double digits.

We've got more size than they do and we're led by center Justin Kyle (23.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.0 BPG) and forward Piotr Malesa who ended the year with 14 PPG and 6.7 RPG
We distribute the ball extremely well, we have five players on the New Orleans squad averaging at least two assists per game, but really, our offense goes through the hands of our big guys and if they can't get it into the bucket, we'll suffer.

I don't know what to expect, because we are a hot/cold team. I expect us to beat Oral Roberts, but it could be a trap game, but if we're going to get anywhere, we'll have to establish presence early.

The winner of this game, gets the winner of Virginia/Michigan.

[Young Drachma]

THREE NEW ORLEANS PLAYERS SUSPENDED FOR NCAA OPENING GAME
Three University of New Orleans players were suspended for "at least the first half" of the opening round game, after unspecified team violations occurred the night before the team's game. New Orleans coach Sean Wainwright said that "we're just not going to tolerate behavior that's unbecoming of our student body and our institution."

Wainwright said that he'll evaluate whether Justin Kyle, Christopher Johnson and Patrick Tchuisi would be allowed to play in the 2nd half of the game.