Paving Their Road to Success: The Legacy of Coach Moon

[VandyRedskins21]

Good luck in the conference championship!! And great comeback in the first round.

[Per4mance]

Southland Conference Tournament 2009-2010 Preview

Championship:

#1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. #2 Central Arkansas

And after two rounds of play we finally got the match up everyone's been waiting for. The Islanders, the defending Southland champions and dominant team throughout the entirety of this year's in-conference schedule. They represent the current, as all their current starters were part of that championship team. Meanwhile, their challenger is none other than the media joy that is the Central Arkansas Bears. The Bearcubs as they've been dubbed are the 17th best recruiting class from last year's offseason amazingly put together by a frisbee coach turned college basketball coach. Will the new usurp the old? The storylines run rampant for this game, but to avoid writing a short novel just to preview this game we'll look at the facts. These two squads only met once, where in early January the inexperienced Bears were thrashed on the Islanders home floor to the tune of 79-55. However, since then that loss the Bears are a red hot 12-2 and riding the momentum from a classic in the first round and a beatdown in the second. Meanwhile since that win the Islanders are 11-4 and have easily cruised past their first two opponents. Still a tough decision? We agree. Our deciding factor is by studying the current playoffs. Corpus Christi cruising through their first two rounds may not have helped them. Sure, they're rested but if they get punch in the mouth will they be able to answer the bell right away or still be groggy from their earlier successes? Meanwhile, despite how ugly it may have seemed the Bears were given an industrial shot of adrenaline after their overtime thriller with the Colonels. The result? The largest one-sided game of this postseason. Our conclusion? Though the champs might have the experience the young guns just won't sink low enough on their momentum swing to be caught. And, after getting burned on an extremely hot seat last off season Coach Moon gets the Bears their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

WINNER: Central Arkansas

[Per4mance]

Southland Conference Tournament 2009-2010 Recap

Championship:

"Finishing the Job"

Last year we expected this, the #1 and #2 seeds duking it out to decide who 'deservedly' was the best team in the conference. What happened? Corpus Christi crashed the party from the #6 seed and beat both of them. This year there was no party crashing needed, as Corpus Christi held strong as the team to beat stemming from last season's win. Their challenger, is none other than the young guns from Central Arkansas, consisting of five starting freshmen they proved that despite their relative struggles that raw talent can win you game. The stage was set, and boy it didn't disappoint.

Corpus Christi knew the stage, they had been the stunners last year, and it showed. The Islanders played with the Bears defense, getting everyone involved in the scoring and with no one to key in on the Bears couldn't seem to shut them down.

"They were good man, at everything, it was crazy frustrating."

The Bears on the other hand came out like you'd expect a starstruck group of freshmen would. Randle could find no space to execute and as a result the Bears offense was unconventionally lethargic. Every time the Bears tried to run something the Islanders were one, even two steps ahead it seemed like and before they knew it halftime was upon them and they were in a hole.

"That's the beauty of the sports. You can talk about how you're gonna 'kill it' in the spotlight, but you don't really know until the spotlight's actually on you. Lucky for me I knew my boys would respond, they're different from a year ago."

Coach Moon might not have any college basketball experience on the big stage, but you wouldn't have guessed it. His meltdown against Nicholls State was long forgotten and his locker room followed suit at halftime. Oswaldo Hairston keyed in on this post game.

"No yelling, no shouting, we were all business. All I could think about was last year, where we kinda just sulked. TSU was slapping us around and we just wanted to go home, at least I did, it was miserable. But this time it felt different, Coach just calmed us down and basically said relax, we're a second half team and we've got them where we want them. It definitely made me feel better."

The Bears responded to the bell, ready to make the second half a fight. Randle may have been held scoreless in the first but finally started to make his expected impact with assists, finding the open man on the wing or under the basket all the same, and the Bears came to life, going on a 10-0 run to effectively kill the Islanders lead.

"Just like coach said, we're a second half team and it showed."

After that it was simply a slugfest, neither team missed and neither team faltered. The whole entire second half felt like a staring contest, with the first one to blink going home empty-handed. That blink finally came with a minute to go, as Chris Brown was denied by none other than the rim on a put back lay up.

"Demoralized. The only way I can describe it."

The Islanders weren't one to squander the opportunity, playing the solid half court offense that they'd run perfectly all game, finding the open man underneath and slamming it home, the Bears trailed by two with five seconds to go. A quick in bounds and a timeout by the Bears and the final act was set.

"I definitely wasn't prepared to call a play with five seconds left trailing by two. I mean, I was, but I never thought I'd actually have to run it (laughter)."

The plan was simple, and everyone knew it. Despite his five point nine assist performance being the worst of his tournament, Randle would get the last shot. Samabaly in bounded the ball and found Randle coming off a pick on the wing. He raised a fired over not one but two defenders, and swish.

"You always want to think right off your hand that you're gold. But honestly that shot felt horrible, I couldn't even see the basket through the hands."

Amidst all the fans the Bears stormed the court, celebrating the victory. They had blinked first, and still pulled it off, the first in their history.

"They did it. We had a goal in mind in the beginning of the season and that was to make this program a winning program. Not next year or the year after, but this year. They bought in and look where we are now, we're Southland champions. This is only the first milestone and we're not done yet."

For once the Bears are in uncharted territory. There will actually be meaning behind Selection Sunday, and not just to see who will eliminate their Southland competition. For once, they'll be finding out who they'll be playing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But for now, the Bears actually have something to celebrate.

Central Arkansas Bears at Texas A&M-CC Islanders
Mar 15, 2010	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Central Arkansas (20-9)	33	54	87
Texas A&M-CC (19-9)	43	43	86

[yougo1000]

NCAA here you come.

[Per4mance]

2009-2010 NCAA Tournament

FIELD OF 64

Play-In Game
#16 Alabama State v. #16 Winthrop
East Regional

#1 California v #16 Play-in Winner

#8 Arizona v. #9 Kansas State

#5 Maryland v. #12 Wright State

#4 Memphis v. #13 Southern Illinois

#6 Kentucky v. #11 Iowa State

#3 Vanderbilt v. #14 Old Dominion

#7 Mississippi State v. #10 Providence*

#2 Duke v. #15 Harvard

South Regional

#1 Louisville v. #16 Binghamton

#8 Oklahoma v. #9 Minnesota

#5 Tennessee v. #12 UNLV

#4 Texas v. #13 Western Kentucky

#6 Wisconsin v. #11 Illinois

#3 Kansas v. #14 UC Riverside

#7 Georgia Tech v. #10 Charlotte

#2 Connecticut v. #15 Tennessee Tech

Midwest Regional

#1 Oregon v. #16 South Carolina State

#8 Ohio State v. #9 Xavier

#5 UCLA v. #12 Siena

#4 Arizona State v. #13 Central Arkansas

#6 Marquette v. #11 Gonzaga

#3Georgetown v. #14 Ball State

#7 Miami (FL) v. #10 Houston

#2 North Carolina State v. #15 Fresno State

West Regional

#1 Cincinnati v. #16 Montana

#8 Arkansas v. #9 Oklahoma State

#5 Florida v. #12 Fairleigh Dickinson

#4 Syracuse v. #13 IPFW

#6 USC v. #11 Western Carolina

#3 Texas A&M v. #14 Mercer

#7 Michigan v. #10 La Salle

#2 North Carolina v. #15 Colgate

*=Defending National Champions

[VandyRedskins21]

Wow Vandy is a 3 seed... Good luck against Frat State!

[waytofailself]

grats on the 13 seed. That's excellent.

Good luck against Arizona State

[Per4mance]

2009-2010 NCAA Tournament
Round of 64 Preview

#4 Arizona State v. #13 Central Arkansas

Arizona State has made 13 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Central Arkansas has made one, which includes this year. This is a usual scenario in the first round as power conference contender faces the big fish from a very little pond. Arizona State has had a very solid season, albeit struggling a bit in conference, finished their year 22-11 and 11-7 in conference. Their conference tournament could've fared a bit better though as they snuck by Stanford (didn't make the tourney) only to get crushed by Oregon (#1 seed in the Midwest). The Sun Devils have been lead by their strong junior backcourt of Jamelle McMillan and James Harden, who've prided themselves at their offensive efficiency (ranked #3 in the Pac-10 and #11 in the nation).

Their opponent is on the other end of the spectrum in terms of their notoriety. The Central Arkansas Bears had, for a small conference team, a respectable season. They made no noise in their out of conference play but found a spark in conference that has them on a 12 game win streak, ending their season 22-9 and 12-4 in conference. During this stretch however they've shown they're still vulnerable to their small conference counterparts, needing late game dramatics against Nicholls State (133-122 in OT) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (87-86) to pull of their first conference title in school history. These Bears, however young, have still proven to be efficient ball handlers. Priding themselves on being the most efficient offense in the Southland and 41st nationally (Corpus Christi was 2nd in conference and ranked 92nd nationally). The Bears also find themselves getting solid offensive contributions from all corners of their freshmen five, but their offense has recently been spearheaded by point guard Elgrace Randle.

It might be a long shot, but the Bears drew the best seed they possibly could have. Central Arkansas, despite their struggles, have been firing on all cylinders and winning in tough circumstances. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils are considered the weakest of all the four seeds (the other three being Syracuse, Texas, and Memphis) and have been known to fold when an offense gets going on them (see their 101-52 loss to Oregon in the Pac-10 Tournament). As stated, it may be a long shot, but if the Bears can get the Sun Devils on their heels early we could be looking at one of the first round upsets in this year's tournament.

Winner: Arizona State