Coach Tovarich 2.0 CH2K8 Career Legacy

[Tovarich]

Tovarich: Apparently I'm supposed to do some kind of pre-season press conference. I don't know why. End of speech. Time for questions.

Reporter: How do you feel about the recruiting class?

Tovarich: It came out a little better than I was expecting. I was worried we'd literally end up signing one guy. It came together toward the end with some of the foreign players.

Reporter: You already cut one of your recruits?

Tovarich: Yes. There was a reason I don't recruit 2* players unless they're a C or maybe a PF. That guy was never going to see the court here.

Reporter: You're keeping 10 active players out of your 13. Is that enough to transition to a faster pace you said you'd prefer to play?

Tovarich: I think so. I'd like to have an A team and a B team and we'll see if that works out instead of the mix and match I had to do last year.

Reporter: Your depth chart shows Tyson, a SG, starting at PG. What's the logic there?

Tovarich: He's the plan for now. We'll see how the scrimmage goes. I'd like to just have the 5 best players on the court to start. If it causes issues, we'll move Davis in and see who needs to play with the B team.

Reporter: Take us through the schedule. Other than Villanova, it looks easy. Doesn't the school need more money games?

Tovarich: I don't know anything about money. I don't know what kind of budget the athletic department has. I don't even know my salary. Money doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned. Schedule may be easy, but probably a bunch of our opponents are thinking we're easy for them too. We're finishing up home and homes with NJIT, Binghamton, Longwood, UMBC, St. Francis PA. We still owe Prairie View a road games from last year. We'll get Towson out here in the future when we have enough prestige to host them. Then we'll see who we get in the tournaments. I'd like to gripe for a second about starting MEAC play with 5 consecutive road games though. I'm not a fan. From November 16th to January 23rd, we will play ONE home game. This early conference game really screws with the scheduling because of the arbitrary rules about OOC games in "conference season". Very annoying. We have to frontload the schedule like an Independent team almost.

Reporter: On paper, you're not the favorite to win the MEAC. Do you feel that way?

Tovarich: Not at all. Not sure how the rating system works, but that doesn't feel right.

Reporter: You have 4 scholarships. What's the goal with those? Best players you can get or specific positions?

Tovarich: I think we need a PG for sure. Then we'll go for the best players we can find. Can't hurt to find more big guys.

Reporter: You fired both your assistants, why?

Tovarich: Because I found some marginally better one. One of these guys seems like an almost competent recruiter, so that would be a nice improvement from last year if one can contribute there. The other one is not really an improvement at scouting, but I'm apparently obligated to have two.

[studbucket]

If you play College Hoops 2K8, you'll totally understand a lot of your references and decisions. They are so spot-on to how you should play this game, and I love how you treat them like they are some sort of transparent, known-about reality, in these press conferences

[Tovarich]

@

Hytche Athletic Center
Princess Anne, MD

N.J.I.T Highlanders at Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
Nov 1, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
N.J.I.T (1-1)	33	38	71
Maryland-Eastern Shore (0-1)	33	35	68

N.J.I.T Highlanders
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Lyn	22	8-10	2-2	3-4	0	6	0	0	4	21
Epps	23	7-9	1-2	0-0	2	5	1	0	2	15
Dixon	23	6-9	1-3	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	13
Milosevic	23	1-3	0-0	1-3	14	4	1	0	0	3
Stonkus	24	3-4	0-0	2-3	13	2	0	1	0	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Jefferson	12	3-6	1-3	0-0	0	1	0	0	3	7
Wilson	5	0-2	0-2	2-2	1	0	0	0	1	2
Skema	8	1-4	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	1	2
Nashif	1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Cesar	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Arline	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Kirkland	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		29-47	5-12	8-12	32	19	3	1	12	71
TEAM TOTALS		29-47	5-12	8-12	32	19	3	1	12	71

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	20	4-7	4-5	0-0	4	6	4	0	3	12
Wiley	20	5-12	5-11	2-2	0	5	1	0	0	17
Walcott	20	3-12	0-6	2-2	2	2	0	0	0	8
Lathum	20	1-3	0-1	1-3	6	1	1	0	1	3
Montrimas	20	6-11	0-0	0-0	6	2	2	0	1	12
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	8	4-4	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	1	0	8
Davis	8	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	5	2	0	0	0
Bright	8	1-4	1-2	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	3
Krleski	8	2-8	1-7	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	5
Popovic	8	0-0	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		26-62	11-33	5-7	23	22	11	1	5	68

Tovarich: And that's why I question how we're the MEAC favorite. This team has a lot of growing to do. Something about team unity and togetherness or something. Long way to go there.

Reporter: Does Walcott have a red light on 3's yet?

Tovarich: I hope he just had an off-night. Freshman jitters or something. He's supposed to be a solid 3-point shooter.

Reporter: Is Tyson best used as a PG or should he be more available to catch the ball for a 3?

Tovarich: He did fine. As long as Walcott is going to be more of a threat from 3 than he was today, everything's good.

Reporter: Looks like rebounding is going to be a problem again.

Tovarich: That may never change.

Reporter: Any changes for Binghamton?

Tovarich: No. Too early for that. Since our postseason life just depends on 3 games in March, or 4 depending on where we finish in the standings, this is all just practice for those. We'll get better like we did last year. 4 of those starters are new. Tyson's in a new position. It will improve. It already did. We lost to NJIT by 18 last year. We had a chance at tying it at the buzzer there.

Reporter: The bench was fairly productive, should they have had more minutes?

Tovarich: Maybe. I'm more familiar with them and what they can do and they've all played together before. The starters will grow into that.

[Tovarich]

@

Events Center
Vestal, NY

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Binghamton Bearcats
Nov 6, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Maryland-Eastern Shore (1-1)	37	33	70
Binghamton (0-1)	34	33	67

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	21	0-10	0-9	1-3	2	8	0	0	0	1
Wiley	21	6-12	5-10	0-0	2	2	1	0	0	17
Walcott	21	4-11	3-8	1-1	3	1	0	0	1	12
Lathum	21	5-10	0-2	0-0	4	1	1	0	0	10
Montrimas	21	3-4	0-0	4-4	10	0	1	0	0	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	7	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Davis	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	5	0	0	0	0
Bright	7	1-2	1-2	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	3
Krleski	7	4-7	3-6	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	11
Popovic	7	2-2	0-0	0-0	3	1	0	0	0	4
TEAM TOTALS		26-61	12-37	6-8	28	18	3	0	1	70

Binghamton Bearcats
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herbert	26	3-5	2-3	0-0	0	6	1	0	2	8
Lukusa	24	6-8	3-4	0-0	1	3	0	0	0	15
Klimovic	22	10-16	9-14	0-0	1	2	0	1	1	29
Trifunovic	20	2-4	0-0	0-0	8	2	0	1	1	4
Fuller	20	1-4	0-0	2-2	7	3	0	1	1	4
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McBride	4	1-3	0-2	1-2	1	0	0	0	0	3
Camara	8	0-3	0-2	0-0	0	3	0	1	0	0
Kovacevic	8	1-2	0-0	0-0	4	0	0	0	0	2
Ebong	8	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	1	0	2
Ere	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Barnes	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Danielson	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		25-48	14-25	3-4	24	19	1	5	5	67

Tovarich: I don't really know how we overcame Stojakovic' shooting.

Reporter: His name is

Tovarich: I know what his name is. I said what I meant.

Reporter: You had someone with double digit rebounds. Is that encouraging?

Tovarich: I guess? We got 4 more than them, they got a couple on offense, obviously because they weren't missing shots.

Reporter: Why didn't the defense close down on Klimovic better?

Tovarich: No idea. I told them to. He was always open. Even if he wasn't open, it didn't matter what we did. I'm just relieved we somehow outscored them.

Reporter: Is Tyson's off-night an indication that he may be not comfortable at PG?

Tovarich: He went 4-5 in the first game as a PG, so it shouldn't matter what you call him position while he's shooting. He just had a bad night. This team's obviously more than capable of that.

[Tovarich]

@

Hytche Athletic Center
Princess Anne, MD

Savannah State Tigers at Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
Nov 11, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Savannah State (0-3)	34	34	68
Maryland-Eastern Shore (2-1)	45	41	86

Savannah State Tigers
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Ward	25	9-13	6-8	2-2	1	3	0	0	4	26
Hardy	26	2-10	1-6	0-0	1	4	0	0	1	5
Davila	22	3-14	0-5	4-6	4	3	0	0	2	10
Linton	20	2-4	1-2	0-0	4	0	0	0	3	5
Birley	20	3-4	0-0	1-2	13	1	0	3	1	7
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Shaw	6	2-2	0-0	0-0	4	1	0	0	1	4
McKenzie	8	2-5	2-2	2-2	3	0	0	0	0	8
Shuler	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Stowers	12	0-0	0-0	1-2	1	2	0	0	1	1
Ogletree	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Tatum	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Bouldin	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		24-54	10-23	10-14	33	14	0	3	13	68
TEAM TOTALS		24-54	10-23	10-14	33	14	0	3	13	68

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	14	0-1	0-1	0-0	2	3	2	0	0	0
Wiley	14	1-3	1-2	0-0	1	2	0	0	0	3
Walcott	14	5-7	3-3	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	14
Lathum	14	5-11	0-2	4-4	1	3	1	0	0	14
Montrimas	14	5-9	0-0	0-0	3	2	1	1	0	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	14	8-10	0-1	1-2	4	0	3	0	0	17
Davis	14	1-1	0-0	3-3	0	5	4	0	0	5
Bright	14	0-2	0-0	0-0	1	2	0	0	0	0
Krleski	14	4-12	2-8	1-1	2	1	1	0	0	11
Popovic	14	5-7	0-0	2-2	6	1	0	0	0	12
TEAM TOTALS		34-63	6-17	12-13	22	19	12	1	0	86

Tovarich: Another Stojakovic. Luckily we were well ahead so it never really made the game too tight anyway.

Reporter: Is the rebounding disparity still concerning?

Tovarich: Yep. So is making layups, especially against the break.

Reporter: Tyson and Krleski took all the 3's last year, but they're not contributing much from outside. Is this lineup working?

Tovarich: It would be better for Tyson's stats obviously if he came off the bench and was more of a shooter. I don't know how he'd feel about that or how his confidence would be. It's hard against the man defense for him to open from 3, maybe when we see some zone he'll have more opportunities to be open and can score more, but the offense is doing well, so no changes right now.

Reporter: Are you really learning anything from these easy opponents?

Tovarich: We were an easy opponent for the great NJIT. This is what this team needs. Wins and confidence. It's what I need as a coach to get better. We're young and we're still not exactly overflowing with talent. We're years away from needing our schedule to be harder.

[Tovarich]

@

Hytche Athletic Center
Princess Anne, MD

Citadel Bulldogs at Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
Mar 16, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Citadel (0-4)	23	30	53
Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-1)	34	32	66

Citadel Bulldogs
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Wells	25	5-9	3-5	0-0	0	4	1	0	4	13
Urbanus	19	5-11	1-4	0-0	1	2	0	0	1	11
Dahn	20	0-8	0-1	2-2	2	6	0	0	0	2
McDowell	22	3-7	0-0	0-0	9	0	0	1	2	6
Dogan	21	3-3	0-0	2-2	14	2	1	1	1	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Howard	8	2-2	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	2	4
Brick	9	2-6	1-3	0-0	1	2	0	0	2	5
Zeravica	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Clark	7	2-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Bozeman	6	0-1	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Simmons	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Moss	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		22-49	5-13	4-4	31	16	2	2	12	53
TEAM TOTALS		22-49	5-13	4-4	31	16	2	2	12	53

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	17	1-3	1-2	0-0	1	1	3	0	0	3
Wiley	18	6-14	4-8	0-0	1	2	0	0	0	16
Walcott	18	4-10	1-4	0-1	0	2	0	0	0	9
Lathum	18	2-2	0-0	0-0	4	4	2	0	0	4
Montrimas	18	4-5	0-0	1-1	9	3	1	1	1	9
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	10	2-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	1	4
Davis	11	2-7	0-1	0-0	2	3	1	0	1	4
Bright	10	2-5	0-3	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	4
Krleski	10	3-7	1-3	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	7
Popovic	10	3-3	0-0	0-0	4	2	3	0	1	6
TEAM TOTALS		29-58	7-21	1-2	22	19	13	1	4	66

Tovarich: Good team effort. Everyone scored. Was a fairly straight-forward win, as I'd hope. Still not thrilled with the rebounding. Had a long cold spell once we got up 22-10. 3-point shooting definitely not as much of a strength as last year.

Reporter: How great it is to have all 10 guys score?

Tovarich: Not so worried about it in this particular game, but in the long term, it means we have a plan B, and a C. Last year we didn't have that. So more options is great if someone's off, and every game, someone seems to be, but we can overcome it more easily than last year.

Reporter: Davis ran with the A team for about a minute. Was that the experiment to see how it went?

Tovarich: It wasn't much of one. I may experiment with Tyson coming off the bench at some point. He's a SR, so hopefully he's mature enough to be able to handle it should I do that. Statistically, he should take off if I do.

Reporter: Steals are up for this team and it's without pressing. Is that encouraging?

Tovarich: We're definitely a more athletic team, so that's evident in the steals that aren't from the press since we haven't done any of that the last 3 games. Sometimes it's just the other team being predictable. We can see the screen coming across the court and we just anticipate it.

[Tovarich]

@

DeGol Arena
Loretto, PA

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
Mar 20, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-2)	32	25	57
St. Francis (PA) (3-2)	28	30	58

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	22	1-5	0-2	2-2	2	5	3	0	1	4
Wiley	19	1-12	0-9	1-2	3	2	2	1	0	3
Walcott	22	2-8	0-4	0-0	4	2	0	0	0	4
Lathum	21	4-7	0-0	0-0	4	2	6	0	2	8
Montrimas	21	7-10	0-0	3-3	7	2	1	0	0	17
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	6	2-4	0-1	1-2	3	0	0	0	1	5
Davis	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	3	0	0	0	0
Bright	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Krleski	9	5-12	5-8	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	15
Popovic	7	0-3	0-0	1-2	2	0	1	0	0	1
TEAM TOTALS		22-61	5-24	8-11	25	17	14	1	4	57

St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Ford	23	8-11	4-6	1-3	1	5	0	0	4	21
Nelson	22	3-12	0-4	0-0	2	1	0	0	1	6
Sweetney	26	4-5	1-1	0-0	9	2	0	0	1	9
Jukic	18	3-3	0-0	0-0	12	2	1	0	1	6
Dieng	21	1-5	0-0	0-0	8	3	0	0	2	2
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Berry	11	2-5	0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0	1	4
Surprenant	5	3-5	2-3	0-0	0	2	0	0	0	8
Jackson	8	1-3	0-0	0-0	3	1	1	0	1	2
Hoffman	6	0-1	0-0	0-0	3	1	0	0	1	0
McFarland	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Profeta	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Orandi	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		25-50	7-15	1-3	38	18	2	0	12	58

Tovarich: That felt like some kind of destiny or something that we were going to lose no matter what. Only Krleski was allowed to make a 3. Incredible. Must have been that intimidating gym we played in. Or that team unity thing. I guess it makes you miss wide open shots just because. We did a good job getting it down to 1 with .3 to go but no time to get the ball back. I think we had about 15 shots to take the lead or tie and missed every single one in the second half. Amazing.

Reporter: You struggled on the road last year. Are you surprised by this?

Tovarich: We didn't shoot 36% @ Binghamton. I don't think it was the opponent. They're an ok team, but their defense wasn't so amazing that it caused all that. We were wide open on plenty of those shots. Plenty of those were layups. We got a couple offensive rebounds. Missed those again. Whatever.

Reporter: What do you expect to be able to do @ Villanova?

Tovarich: Based on today, I just hope we can make it to 40.

Reporter: Will you slow that game down like last year?

Tovarich: Definitely.

[Tovarich]

@

The Pavilion
Philadelphia, PA

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Villanova Wildcats
Nov 25, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-3)	16	38	54
Villanova (5-2)	23	36	59

Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Tyson	21	0-2	0-2	0-0	3	7	1	0	1	21
Wiley	18	4-11	3-8	0-0	1	1	3	0	1	11
Walcott	21	5-8	3-5	2-2	1	3	0	0	1	15
Lathum	18	2-3	0-0	0-0	1	1	2	0	0	4
Montrimas	16	2-8	0-0	1-1	2	1	0	1	0	5
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
McFadden	7	0-0	0-0	2-2	0	0	1	0	0	2
Davis	10	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	5	1	0	0	0
Bright	10	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Krleski	10	7-13	3-5	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	17
Popovic	12	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	1	1	1	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		20-46	9-21	5-5	10	19	9	2	3	54

Villanova Wildcats
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Fisher	26	4-5	3-3	0-0	0	7	0	0	2	11
McKinney	25	3-11	0-3	3-3	6	4	0	0	2	9
Clark	15	1-7	0-5	1-2	3	0	1	0	3	3
Pena	20	3-6	0-0	0-0	11	2	0	1	0	6
Cunningham	22	5-5	0-0	2-3	4	1	0	0	2	12
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Anderson	13	3-7	2-4	0-0	4	0	1	0	0	8
Grant	5	1-2	0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	2
Drummond	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	1	0	0	1	0
Tchuisi	8	4-4	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	8
Stokes	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Redding	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Ott	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		24-47	5-16	6-8	33	16	2	1	10	59

Tovarich: That was going relatively poorly for a while. We shot ourselves back in it there at the end. I know we were down 13, maybe 15, got it down to 2. Couldn't quite get over the hump. Great shooting, great effort. Can't feel too bad about that.

Reporter: You mixed up the lineups a little more, and it seemed to work. Thoughts on doing that more?

Tovarich: We'll experiment with that after this way too early conference game @ Florida A&M. We'll have 4 tournament games, Longwood and UMBC before conference play. So I'll consider evening out the lineups a little and see if I can find better combinations.

Reporter: Rebounding was 33-10. Is that even worse than you'd expect?

Tovarich: Yeah, Montrimas on both sides of the ball was way out of his league there, so I got Popovic some more minutes there. I got all the hot shooters on the floor there to see if we could 3 our way back in and some of it worked. We had to press to try and get some turnovers to get back in and we had some more length at times to try and block the passing lanes. It was encouraging. I don't mind if I can drop the A team and B team moniker and just call them group 1 and group 2 and even them out a bit and give them all about even minutes. We'll see. It would be nice to get more from Tyson. And that's our fault for putting him where he is. I like my PG to pass more than shoot, so that's obviously not his strength. We wouldn't look as good on paper if we move him to the bench but he'll get more use.

Reporter: How important is this early road conference game?

Tovarich: Equally as important as the other 17. It just happens to be crazy early for no particular reason that I can see other than to wreak havoc with my scheduling. Can't stand it, but we'll play when they tell us to play and after the last 2 losses, I hope we can find some success on the road. We'll need it in these first 5 conference road games and the neutral tournaments games.