University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

A few more wins and the polls will have to begrudgingly put you in the top 25. Of course, you have UCLA, Stanford, and Arizona upcoming...

Still just 3rd in the Mid poll, behind Western Michigan and someone, and I don't think they're in danger of being ranked. I'd have to pull at least one miracle win, if not 2 here.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

Pauley Pavilion
Los Angeles, CA

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at UCLA Bruins
Dec 27, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Alaska-Anchorage (16-2)	41	34	75
#8 UCLA (13-1)	34	53	87

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	22	0-1	0-1	2-2	3	5	1	1	1	2
Spears	23	4-9	4-9	0-0	0	6	2	0	0	12
Luz	23	2-6	2-5	0-0	3	4	0	0	0	6
Wilkins	20	4-9	0-0	0-0	1	1	1	0	1	8
Atkinson	19	17-22	0-0	3-4	6	1	3	0	2	37
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	7	1-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	2	0	1	2
Peavy	8	1-2	0-0	0-0	1	2	0	0	2	2
Borders	7	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	2	2	0	0	2
Taft	10	2-8	0-0	0-0	2	2	0	0	0	4
Scalzo	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		32-62	6-15	5-6	16	23	11	1	7	75

UCLA Bruins
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Nashif	25	9-13	0-0	1-2	0	9	1	0	3	19
Blue	26	5-7	0-1	0-0	7	4	0	1	1	10
Shipp	25	4-5	0-0	1-1	5	3	1	1	3	9
Okafor	13	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	1	1	0	1	2
Clifton	25	14-22	0-0	0-0	14	2	2	1	1	28
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Peterson	11	6-9	1-1	0-0	2	4	1	0	1	13
Graves	8	2-4	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	4
DeLeon	2	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nardi	5	1-1	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	2
Daniel	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Assel	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Morkeliunas	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		42-65	1-3	2-3	33	23	6	3	11	87

Tovarich: Ugh. They were nice enough to spot us a 20-6 lead, not that we did anything for it. We were struggling to score too. They just couldn't hit anything for about 7 minutes. We traded baskets for a bit. I think we lead 31-16. Then they overwhelmed us. 71-44 they beat us from then on. The offensive rebounds lead to too many putbacks. We were only down 13-9 on the boards at the break, so it was 20-7 in the second. That's obviously not even close to good enough. Other than Atkinson and some 3-point shooting, not enough other people stepped up. Lots of people have to play beyond their normal performance and ultimately only Atkinson did that in terms of offense. He didn't on defense or on the boards though. Everything needs to be a lot better to beat a team like that.

Reporter: Does this give you any confidence against Stanford or Arizona?

Tovarich: I'm not sure UCLA is THAT much better than either of them. Hopefully neither of them have dominant big guys who destroy us. That would give me the confidence to say we have a better chance.

Reporter: You usually don't turn the ball over that much. What did they do?

Tovarich: They just had length we hadn't seen before. We made passes we make all the time. Bakersfield can't do anything about them. UCLA had too much length and they deflected a lot of our passes. They blocked well, better than the stats said. They altered lots of our interior shots. We don't have that size and haven't seen that size yet.

Reporter: Spears started 3-3 on 3's. Do you feel like he's recovered from his moose-related injury?

Tovarich: Yeah, hopefully he's all healed up. He was ok. But 'ok' is not good enough against that team.

Reporter: Is Atkinson's scoring enough to make up for his lack of rebounding in a game like that?

Tovarich: Awesome night for a guy who missed his first 3 layups in the first 2 minutes of the game. He missed his last shot too, so he was 17/18 in the middle there. 6 boards by him is just about his average. It's been a long time since we allowed 28 points to a center though, maybe never before, so even though he came out +9 in the scoring column, the boards lead to a lot of putbacks and the +8 in rebounds ate into his scoring advantage significantly. Overall, it's kind of what you'd expect. Everyone else has to be better too.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Dec 29, 2008
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	1	Connecticut	12-0
2	2	Duke	12-0
3	3	Gonzaga	14-0
4	5	Auburn	13-0
5	4	Memphis	7-1
6	8	UCLA	14-1
7	6	Tennessee	12-1
8	9	Michigan State	9-2
9	7	Washington	12-0
10	12	Arizona	8-1
11	10	Texas	11-1
12	13	Louisiana State	11-0
13	15	Notre Dame	10-1
14	14	Arizona State	11-0
15	18	Villanova	9-2
16	11	Louisville	10-2
17	16	Clemson	11-1
18	17	Miami Florida	11-1
19	19	Southern California	9-2
20	20	Providence	8-2
21	22	Stanford	8-2
22	21	Dayton	11-1
23	23	North Carolina	7-3
24	24	Rhode Island	14-1
25	NR	Arkansas	9-1

Mid-Major Poll

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Dec 29, 2008
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	Western Michigan	9-2
2	Boston U	8-2
3	Alaska-Anchorage	16-2
4	St. Mary's	11-2
5	Pacific	9-4
6	Butler	8-2
7	Illinois State	8-2
8	Southern Mississippi	10-3
9	Green Bay	8-2
10	Nevada	8-3
11	Western Kentucky	9-4
12	Southern Illinois	5-3
13	Middle Tennessee	7-3
14	Evansville	8-2
15	Siena	10-3
16	New Hampshire	9-3
17	Wichita State	9-2
18	St. Francis PA	8-5
19	Pepperdine	8-5
20	IUPUI	5-4
21	Oakland	6-3
22	Miami Ohio	7-5
23	James Madison	9-5
24	North Dakota State	9-3
25	Colgate	7-3

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

Non-Conference Tournament Winners:
2K Sports College Hoops Classic: Florida State
Hangar Classic: UNLV
Cyclone Classic: UCLA
CBE Classic: Michigan
Pre-Season NIT: San Diego State
"Palm Tree Shootout" aka Puerto Rico Tip-off: Tennessee
"Polar Bear Tipoff Classic: aka Top of the World Classic: Western Michigan
100 Club Classic: North Carolina Central
Paradise Jam: Nebraska
"Hawaiian Invitational" aka Maui Invitational: Arizona State
Great Alaska Shootout: Connecticut
"Orange County Shootout aka Wooden Legacy: Baylor
"Deodorant Classic" aka Old Spice Classic: Louisiana State
Deep Dish Challenge A: Xavier
Deep Dish Challenge B: Arkansas-Little Rock
Liberty Bell Classic A: Illinois-Chicago
Liberty Bell Classic B: Maryland
South Padre Island A: Illinois State
South Padre Island B: Kennesaw State
"Blackjack Shootout A" aka Las Vegas Invitational: Gonzaga
"Blackjack Shootout B" aka Las Vegas Invitational: Central Connecticut
Legends Classic: Washington
"Big Tree Tournament" aka Montana State Bobcat Classic: Pacific
Drake Iowa Realty Tournament: Fullerton
Hawkeye Challenge: DePaul
Drake Regency Classic: Alaska-Anchorage
"Hawaiian Island Classic" aka Rainbow Classic: Vanderbilt
Gossner Foods Holiday Classic: Wofford
"Daylight Bowl Tournament" aka Sun Bowl Classic: East Carolina
Jackpot Challenge A: Auburn
Jackpot Challenge B: Southeast Missouri
"Casual Apparel" aka Aeropostale Holiday Festival: Georgia Tech
Cable Car Classic: Mt. St. Mary's
Gulf Coast Challenge aka Flint Hills Tournament: Rhode Island
Golden Bear Classic: Texas Tech
Shamrock Office Solutions Classic: Siena
Cougar Classic: Canisius
"Railroad Classic" aka Dr. Pepper Classic: Green Bay
UCF Holiday Classic: Southeast Missouri

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

Maples Pavilion
Palo Alto, CA

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at Stanford Cardinal
Dec 30, 2008	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Alaska-Anchorage (16-3)	35	37	72
#21 Stanford (9-2)	33	46	79

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	22	1-3	0-0	2-2	4	3	2	0	1	4
Spears	22	2-8	2-6	0-0	3	1	0	0	0	6
Luz	21	1-10	1-7	1-2	0	3	0	1	0	4
Wilkins	19	8-11	0-0	2-3	1	1	0	0	0	18
Atkinson	18	8-13	0-0	8-10	7	0	1	0	0	24
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	6	1-4	0-1	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	2
Peavy	13	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	4	2	0	0	0
Borders	9	6-6	0-0	2-2	4	0	1	0	0	14
Taft	10	0-5	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Scalzo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		27-60	3-14	15-19	22	13	7	1	1	72

Stanford Cardinal
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Mark	25	5-7	2-2	6-6	0	10	1	0	5	18
Byfield	23	6-12	3-6	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	15
Battles	24	6-13	2-3	0-0	7	5	0	2	0	14
Konryn	17	4-8	0-0	1-1	10	3	0	2	1	9
Adasi	13	1-2	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	1	0	2
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Baker	13	4-6	0-0	2-3	2	0	0	3	0	10
Bro	4	2-4	1-2	1-2	2	0	0	0	0	6
Batte	6	1-1	1-1	0-0	0	3	0	0	1	3
Nicholas	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sanderson	1	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Edelin	11	1-1	0-0	0-0	4	1	0	0	0	2
Katelynas	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		30-55	9-15	10-12	29	24	1	8	7	79

Tovarich: We stayed in against their crazy 3-point shooting in the second half as best we could. But we couldn't hit many. They were 6/9 after the break. We were 2/7. We got to the line in the first half, then things magically stopped being fouls after halftime. All 8 of their blocks were in the second half and if the statkeeper gave them 8, it was at least 12. Taft was an automatic block if he shot. Luz played like he got slapped in the face by a sea lion at the beach or something. Taft breathed in too much California smog in Los Angeles and he couldn't do anything.

Reporter: Was the rebounding an improvement?

Tovarich: It wasn't so bad. We were -2 at halftime and -7 for the game. We bricked a lot of 3's late in the game there. They weren't missing a lot. It was certainly less bad than last game, but we had all their big guys in foul trouble in the first half. Then the refs must have been admonished for making the game take too long or something so it was a free-for-all in the second half. Maybe Stanford's players were late for a study group in the library.

Reporter: Is San Francisco a must-win now?

Tovarich: It kind of is. I see nothing that says we are playing well enough to beat Arizona, so you don't want to lose a game that is much more of a winnable proposition. We got them at our place last year. They'll be tougher at theirs.

Reporter: Are all the unhappy bench players causing any of the team's struggles?

Tovarich: Taft is the happiest guy on the bench and he was 0-5. Borders is very unhappy and he went for 14. I don't know if any of them are sowing the discontent with anyone else. We just stepped up in competition in a big way and on the road and we didn't play well. Maybe we needed those games a little bit sooner when were playing well. Maybe the timing doesn't matter.

Reporter: If you end up losing to all the power teams, will that change how you feel about scheduling them next year?

Tovarich: It probably will. We get a lot younger next year. Top 2 PG's are gone, and Taft the backup C is gone. I expect minimum two others to leave the team at the end of the season, so we potentially have 6 FR coming in next year. Maybe 4 power games is too many. Maybe we drop that down to 2. Maybe we find some that aren't in the top 25 like these three are. Maybe we focus more on some Mountain West or American type opponents instead. The goal is to get to the tournament and our RPI looks like it's right at 50 like it was when we started this road trip, so it may not be hurting to drop our record, but it's not helping either. Scheduling 4 automatic losses next year doesn't help us to get to the tournament. We will have a harder time with the cupcakes probably because we'll be so young. So next year's needs to be a bit easier for sure.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

War Memorial Gymnasium
San Francisco, CA

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at San Francisco Dons
Jan 3, 2009	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Alaska-Anchorage (17-3)	46	47	93
San Francisco (6-7)	42	30	72

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	21	1-2	1-2	2-3	3	3	2	0	1	5
Spears	20	4-11	3-10	0-0	1	2	1	0	1	11
Luz	21	5-13	3-9	0-0	3	5	1	0	1	13
Wilkins	20	7-9	0-0	4-5	6	4	4	1	0	18
Atkinson	19	12-17	0-0	3-3	5	2	2	1	0	27
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	6	0-0	0-0	1-2	0	0	0	0	0	1
Peavy	11	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	2	1	0	0	0
Borders	8	1-3	0-0	3-3	2	1	1	0	0	5
Taft	8	4-5	0-0	0-0	2	1	2	0	0	8
Scalzo	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marsh	2	1-1	0-0	1-1	0	0	0	0	0	3
Wagner	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	2
TEAM TOTALS		36-64	7-22	14-17	23	20	15	2	3	93

San Francisco Dons
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
O'Sullivan	22	3-7	1-1	2-2	0	4	1	0	1	9
Fofans	20	4-9	1-2	3-3	5	3	0	0	5	12
Fray	21	9-15	1-6	0-0	6	1	0	0	4	19
McCoy	16	4-6	0-0	1-3	4	2	1	0	1	9
Sessoms	9	1-2	0-0	1-2	4	1	0	1	1	3
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Stephenson	9	2-2	2-2	0-0	0	3	0	0	1	6
Pettyjohn	13	1-1	0-0	0-0	3	1	0	0	0	2
Beauford	9	2-5	2-2	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	6
Witherspoon	4	0-4	0-1	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Gray	12	3-5	0-1	0-0	5	2	0	0	2	6
Slater	6	0-1	0-0	0-0	4	2	0	0	0	0
Craig	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		29-57	7-15	7-10	33	20	2	1	15	72

Tovarich: That wasn't looking too promising down 37-26 in the first half. You feel like you have to press already because you can feel the momentum going against you. They went on about a 14-2 run there I think. Suddenly they couldn't miss. We couldn't hit anything, especially from 3. I only remember one steal from the press, but for whatever reason they stopped shooting the lights out. Maybe they felt rushed or they got tired. They played a lot of people. We were getting points in the paint and drawing fouls though. These refs were consistent each half, which I appreciate. Seems like they get yelled at at halftime sometimes for calling too many or too few and then they come out of the locker room and swing from one extreme to the other.

Reporter: Even though you dropped in the mid poll, your RPI is up 7 spots from a week ago. Is that a sign that these games against good teams are good enough for your SOS that it still helps even if you don't win them?

Tovarich: It's encouraging. We also had no SOS whatsoever to speak of before Wichita State. We had maybe 3 games against teams ever so slightly over .500 and we didn't beat Texas A&M. So these gaudy records from these ranked "Big 12" teams are really helping. I'm still not sure scheduling 4 is a good idea with next year's team but we'll see how recruiting goes. The Great Alaska Shootout usually has some big schools unlike the Top of the World did.

Reporter: What changed at halftime?

Tovarich: We magically rebounded better, that's for sure. 22-10 we were down on the boards at halftime, so we won 13-11 after that. They took a lot of desperation 3's at the end there, so that might be a little inflated. They just had this one 3-4 minute stretch there in the middle of the first half where they couldn't miss. Other than that, it wasn't a particularly close game. It mainly was turnovers. It wasn't our outside shooting.

Reporter: If you can hold on to an RPI of 43, might that get you in the tournament after 53 wasn't considered on the bubble?

Tovarich: Still collecting data on how to get in. We might not have been in the NIT without an autobid since we were only ahead of the other 11 autobids. Who knows if we're even allowed in?

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Jan 5, 2009
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	Western Michigan	11-2
2	St. Mary's	13-2
3	Boston U	10-3
4	Butler	10-2
5	Alaska-Anchorage	17-3
6	Southern Mississippi	11-4
7	Middle Tennessee	9-3
8	Western Kentucky	11-4
9	Evansville	10-2
10	Pacific	9-5
11	Nevada	9-4
12	Southern Illinois	6-4
13	Wichita State	11-2
14	Siena	10-3
15	Illinois State	11-4
16	Green Bay	9-4
17	Miami Ohio	9-5
18	Austin Peay	10-5
19	IUPUI	6-5
20	Ohio	7-6
21	San Diego	8-6
22	New Hampshire	9-5
23	Utah State	8-6
24	James Madison	10-6
25	St. Francis PA	9-7

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

McKale Center
Tucson, AZ

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at Arizona Wildcats
Jan 6, 2009	1ST	2ND	OT	SCORE
Alaska-Anchorage (18-3)	33	46	15	94
#8 Arizona (9-2)	43	36	13	92

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	28	2-6	2-6	0-0	3	7	5	0	0	6
Spears	26	5-9	4-7	0-0	2	6	0	0	1	14
Luz	26	4-10	4-9	0-0	2	2	3	0	1	12
Wilkins	24	5-9	0-0	0-0	3	2	1	0	0	10
Atkinson	22	17-20	0-0	3-3	5	3	0	0	0	37
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Peavy	9	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Borders	9	2-2	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	4	4
Taft	11	4-7	0-0	3-4	1	0	1	0	0	11
Scalzo	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		39-63	10-22	6-7	18	21	12	0	6	94

Arizona Wildcats
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Garcia	27	5-11	2-7	3-4	0	4	1	0	5	15
Defares	26	2-9	0-2	1-2	2	4	0	0	1	5
Hodge	30	8-13	5-7	1-3	3	5	1	1	0	22
Dieng	28	5-5	0-0	1-2	6	2	2	1	4	11
Todd	27	9-10	0-0	2-2	14	2	1	1	1	20
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Geason	12	6-7	3-3	0-0	0	3	0	0	2	15
Madison	2	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Bailey	10	2-4	0-1	0-0	3	3	0	0	0	4
Lowe	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falls	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Garnett	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Ireland	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		37-61	10-20	8-13	28	24	5	4	13	92

Tovarich: Wow, lots of ups and downs in that game. Totally unexpected. We seemed like we were falling apart at the end of regulation. Overtime we were awesome. The first 3 minutes coming out of halftime were the best 3 minutes in the history of this program. I don't even know what I said at halftime.

Reporter: Is this the biggest win in the history of the program?

Tovarich: It probably will be when I retire.

Reporter: What was the plan at the end of regulation?

Tovarich: They were nice enough to miss the front end of the 1 and 1 with 6.6 to go, so we grabbed the rebound and I called a timeout to get the ball to half court faster. The first part of the plan is them missing the FT of course. And we executed that perfectly. If they make that, the game's over. For whatever reason, when we passed it in to Murry, no one was standing outside the 3-point line. It was driving me crazy. We're down 3 and there's only a few seconds, so he had to just spot up and shoot it and he drained it with 1.1 to go. That certainly wasn't the plan, but thank goodness he hit it.

Reporter: How about at the end of overtime?

Tovarich: We missed the 3 with about 8 seconds to go up 3, so I usually feel good about fouling there. This team really makes me pause on that idea though. It's not hard to see where they make the first, then miss, get the rebound and lay it back in, but I went ahead and did it since we were down to 3 seconds or so. He made the first, and then I think he missed the second on purpose, but I'm not sure. We grabbed the board and thanks to the refs largely refusing to call fouls on them, they had no time to get the ball back. I love when that comes back to bite them. They actually weren't calling many on us either. We had to intentionally foul at the end of regulation too because we were only at 4 fouls I think. The refs just didn't seem interested in calling much and that worked out for us. All they had to do was hit their FT's at the end though and we have no chance for Murry to toss in an unexpected 3. Then we hit a couple 3's to start OT and were up 8 in like 45 seconds. It was just hanging on from there.

Reporter: Are you sure you didn't say something at halftime to prompt the 17-4 run the first 3 minutes?

Tovarich: I did very little. I upped the tempo on offense, and that's about it. We were already tight on the two guys who were killing us shooting, not that it made any difference. They used up most of their 3's in the first half though. They were a pedestrian 4-11 on those after the break. If they just lead Geason and Hodge take every shot, they'd have beaten us by 25.

Reporter: Is the win extra special because you used to live in Tucson coach?

Tovarich: I almost didn't want to play here for that reason, just like I really don't ever want to play Oregon State. But you know what Bill Walton said about Tucson, where the mythical and tangible become the same. I think he was high when he said it, and most things he ever said too probably. It's more about the program beating a top 10 team on the road. It's an awesome win for our resume, and we have most of our fellow independents to finish up the season apart from a couple tough ones @ DePaul and Western Michigan. Hopefully this is a huge confidence booster and propels us to a strong finish.

[studbucket]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

Tell me more about that 17-4 run. Threes? Steals? Blocks? Dunks?

That's a fun win.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

Tell me more about that 17-4 run. Threes? Steals? Blocks? Dunks?

That's a fun win.

Steals and 3's mostly. They were nice enough to brick their first three 3-pointers, which was a welcome change from their 6-9 in the first half. Three possessions in a row I think I'm bringing the ball up court and they're covering my SG and SF, and then just switch the defenders, so while they're doing that, they left them wide open and I think we hit 3-4 on 3's to start after being 2-6 at halftime. I had one steal when they were inbounding the ball so fast after my dunk, that my PF who I wasn't even controlling anymore stole the ball from them because he was still standing under the basket from his dunk and I almost didn't react because it was so unexpected, but then I laid it right back in when I realized it. They full court pressed me after both of their first two baskets. I got it down court to Atkinson who drew the and-1 on both. Then they settled down a bit and we were pretty back and forth the entire game and I don't think they committed another foul until overtime. Couldn't have done it without 2 missed FT's in the last 30 seconds though.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

Sullivan Arena
Anchorage, AK

Monmouth Hawks at Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
Jan 11, 2009	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Monmouth (8-9)	34	27	61
Alaska-Anchorage (19-3)	36	32	68

Monmouth Hawks
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Bryan	23	6-10	2-4	0-2	0	8	0	0	2	14
Whitted	23	3-6	0-0	1-2	1	1	1	0	0	7
Parkinson	21	5-8	0-0	1-2	5	3	0	1	6	11
Schneiderman	23	2-4	0-0	0-0	9	2	1	1	2	4
Davenport	17	4-7	0-0	1-5	8	0	1	1	0	9
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Gomes	12	3-7	0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0	2	6
Kampman	7	3-4	2-2	0-0	3	0	0	0	1	8
Bruce	8	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	2	2
Cummings	5	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matela	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gale	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Klatsky	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		27-48	4-7	3-11	26	17	3	3	15	61
TEAM TOTALS		27-48	4-7	3-11	26	17	3	3	15	61

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	26	0-1	0-1	5-6	1	4	3	0	1	5
Spears	23	2-6	1-5	0-0	3	3	1	0	1	5
Luz	23	4-10	2-7	0-0	2	4	1	0	0	10
Wilkins	23	5-6	0-0	4-7	6	0	6	1	1	14
Atkinson	19	10-19	0-0	2-2	3	0	2	0	0	22
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	6	1-3	1-2	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	3
Peavy	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Borders	5	1-2	0-0	1-2	4	1	0	0	0	3
Taft	9	2-4	0-0	2-2	2	0	1	0	0	6
Scalzo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		25-51	4-15	14-19	23	13	14	1	3	68

Tovarich: That was probably the perfect opponent to follow up with Arizona. The hangover was obvious. We were extremely mediocre at everything we did. We were lucky to be playing someone who wasn't really able to take advantage of it. They had some of the worst FT shooting I've ever seen, or that'd have been a close game at the end.

Reporter: How bad is Atkinson's injury?

Tovarich: He pulled his hamstring. It's expected to linger for about 2 1/2 weeks, but he'll be able to play in a week. I think the doctors cleared him to return with about 30 seconds to go, but we were just in FT shooting mode by then, so it was unnecessary. He can't get a rebound with 2 good hamstrings, so there wasn't much for him to contribute there.

Reporter: You looked like you wanted to shed a tear of joy when Herman hit the 3!

Tovarich: I had to have someone check to make sure I wasn't exaggerating but he hit his first one of the season in the opener against Northern Colorado and he never hit another one until that. We mostly stopped allowing him to shoot them after we benched him. He was all alone though after a freak turnover so he probably had no time to sit there and think about how he's banned from shooting them. We let him have another a minute later to see if he was feelin it but apparently it was just a one time thing where the stars magically aligned for a microsecond and he just happened to shoot the ball at the time.

Reporter: What is his future with the program?

Tovarich: I'm not sure. I love Spears. I've got 2 offers out to shooting guards. Herman is supposed to be more skilled overall, but I've not seen where any of those alleged skills have really translated into anything. He doesn't rebound much. He doesn't assist much. He doesn't get many steals. The main thing I need him to be is a shooting guard. And I don't know what his skill is, but shooting is definitively not it. He's probably not so unhappy that he'll leave of his own free will, so I'm going to have to consider releasing him next pre-season. We'll see how recruiting goes and what our numbers look like because I am sure some other people are leaving.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

Sullivan Arena
Anchorage, AK

Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
Jan 18, 2009	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Southern Utah (11-9)	39	33	72
Alaska-Anchorage (20-3)	38	47	85

Southern Utah Thunderbirds
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Guerrero	21	9-17	6-11	0-0	0	7	1	0	3	24
Cornette	21	5-9	0-1	0-2	2	2	0	0	1	10
Bridgewater	22	4-7	0-2	0-0	3	3	0	0	2	8
Kemp	21	4-6	0-0	0-0	7	0	1	1	0	8
Novakovic	16	4-6	0-0	0-0	8	2	0	0	2	8
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Channing	9	2-2	0-0	0-0	2	0	0	3	1	4
Fields	3	1-3	0-1	0-0	2	1	0	0	1	2
Akpan	8	1-4	1-3	0-0	7	0	1	0	0	3
Dillard	8	1-3	1-3	0-0	0	2	0	0	1	3
Vaitiekus	10	0-2	0-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Laws	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Mills	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		32-60	8-23	0-2	31	17	3	4	13	72
TEAM TOTALS		32-60	8-23	0-2	31	17	3	4	13	72

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	25	6-9	2-2	3-3	3	10	2	0	1	17
Spears	24	5-11	4-7	0-0	2	4	1	1	0	14
Luz	24	7-15	6-12	0-0	1	3	2	0	0	20
Wilkins	24	3-5	0-0	2-2	5	2	5	0	0	8
Atkinson	23	7-13	0-0	3-8	10	0	1	0	0	17
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	4	2-3	1-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	5
Peavy	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	1	0
Borders	4	0-0	0-0	2-2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Taft	5	0-2	0-0	2-2	0	0	1	0	0	2
Scalzo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		30-58	13-23	12-17	23	21	12	1	2	85

Tovarich: Looked somewhat easy in the end, but it wasn't. It was a streaky game. Both teams went hot and cold at times.

Reporter: Was there a draft on one end of the court, is that why both teams shot so much better on the other end?

Tovarich: Not sure what happened. They were 60% on one end and barely 40 on the other. We shot great from 3 in the second half, not so much in the first. We started 2/7 in the paint in the second half though, so hard to say what was up.

Reporter: Why did no one get tired in the second half?

Tovarich: I have no idea. Usually the big guys are ready for a breather after 4 minutes. We were 5 1/2 in and everyone seemed fresh. Then they started calling a bunch of timeouts while they game got away, but yeah, the bench only played like 2 minutes in the second half because everyone was in good shape still. It must have been adrenaline.

Reporter: What do you think their coach said at halftime to get them to come out in an 8-0 run in the first 56 seconds?

Tovarich: I doubt he had anything to do with it. We couldn't make a layup at first. I was ready to do the Roy Williams and take off my jacket and sit everyone and yell at them while the bench played for a couple minutes. Then there were no stoppages for a long time so the bench just stood on the sideline for a while and it magically turned itself around. Maybe they saw everyone ready to be subbed in and knew they better find some motivation before I had to scream it into them.

Reporter: Does Herman suddenly have a green light to shoot 3's?

Tovarich: He made the first one, so he got a second. He's come a long way from his 1/17 he started the season with, so maybe we'll allow one a game and if he makes it he gets another otherwise he's done.

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Jan 20, 2009
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	2	Duke	18-0
2	1	Connecticut	17-1
3	4	Michigan State	15-2
4	6	Tennessee	16-2
5	5	Auburn	17-1
6	3	Washington	16-1
7	20	Arizona	11-3
8	17	North Carolina	12-4
9	12	Stanford	13-3
10	10	UCLA	15-4
11	14	Notre Dame	14-3
12	8	Villanova	14-2
13	11	Louisiana State	15-1
14	18	Louisville	14-4
15	13	Southern California	13-3
16	24	Providence	12-4
17	9	Gonzaga	16-3
18	7	Memphis	10-2
19	19	Arizona State	14-2
20	21	Miami Florida	13-5
21	15	Clemson	14-4
22	22	Rhode Island	17-2
23	23	Georgia	14-4
24	NR	UNLV	11-4
25	NR	Dayton	14-3

Mid-Major Poll

NCAA Hoops Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Jan 19, 2009
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	St. Mary's	16-2
2	Western Michigan	13-3
3	Southern Illinois	10-4
4	Alaska-Anchorage	20-3
5	Butler	13-3
6	Western Kentucky	14-5
7	Boston U	12-4
8	Wichita State	12-5
9	Illinois State	14-5
10	Southern Mississippi	15-4
11	Bradley	11-6
12	Middle Tennessee	11-5
13	Marshall	10-6
14	North Carolina Central	13-4
15	Pepperdine	11-8
16	Evansville	10-6
17	Siena	13-3
18	James Madison	12-7
19	Pacific	11-6
20	Loyola Maryland	9-6
21	Arkansas-Little Rock	12-6
22	Manhattan	9-5
23	Nevada	11-6
24	Cal Fullerton	10-5
25	Oral Roberts	10-7

[Tovarich]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

@

Sullivan Arena
Anchorage, AK

Cal State Fullerton Titans at Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
Jan 20, 2009	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Cal State Fullerton (10-6)	47	39	86
Alaska-Anchorage (21-3)	40	48	88

Cal State Fullerton Titans
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Camper	18	10-16	2-5	1-1	0	8	0	0	2	23
McCoy	24	8-11	5-8	0-0	2	5	0	0	0	21
Almanson	21	4-7	1-4	1-2	6	1	1	0	3	10
Alloway	17	4-7	0-0	1-2	11	1	0	2	0	9
Webb	21	3-6	0-0	0-0	6	0	1	1	0	6
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Werner	11	3-10	2-4	2-2	0	3	0	0	1	10
Guinn	10	0-1	0-1	1-2	0	7	0	0	3	1
Bodden	9	2-3	0-0	0-0	3	2	1	0	0	4
Moreno	9	1-2	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	2
Blackett	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Buckley	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Vassallo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		35-63	10-22	6-9	31	27	3	3	9	86
TEAM TOTALS		35-63	10-22	6-9	31	27	3	3	9	86

Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Murry	26	1-3	1-3	1-2	0	9	3	0	0	4
Spears	24	2-6	0-4	0-0	4	3	0	0	0	4
Luz	24	7-13	4-9	1-1	1	3	1	0	0	19
Wilkins	22	8-13	0-0	2-3	8	2	2	1	0	18
Atkinson	20	14-23	0-0	3-4	7	2	2	0	2	31
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Herman	4	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Peavy	6	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Borders	6	2-3	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	4
Taft	8	2-7	0-0	4-4	3	1	1	0	0	8
Scalzo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Marsh	-- DID NOT PLAY --
Wagner	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		36-69	5-17	11-14	27	20	9	1	3	88

Tovarich: It's hard to explain how we overcame 20 missed shots in the paint, 30% 3-point shooting and being outrebounded and winning somehow. They were killing us with 3's. We went 4 minutes without scoring toward the end of the first half where we missed 11 shots in a row, 9 of which were point blank. It felt like there was a literal lid on the basket. Only being +6 in turnovers doesn't usually make up for those things. We almost returned the favor from their home game, but we made the front end with 6 seconds to left to make it a 4-point game and then the jumper they hit with .2 to go was irrelevant, but we miss that first one and then they have a 3 at the buzzer to tie like we did in their place.

Reporter: What is it about this team that makes them so good in these close games that could go either way at the end?

Tovarich: We sure make it look hard sometimes, but we make our FT's at the end of games. That's the biggest thing and that's what cost Fullerton and Arizona against us. We've also been lucky in both those games hitting 3's at the end. But when in doubt, we go to the players who are hot and that we trust the most. We've played a ton of hot-shooting guards who dominate and then they don't get shots at the end. Some teams just had to stick with what was working and they'd have beaten us.

Reporter: Your RPI is up to 17. Is there any way you can be left out of the tournament now?

Tovarich: Of course. We still have some tough games left. Any loss is killer. The RPI meant nothing last year, so who's to say it will this year?

Reporter: Do you feel like you're in a conference now that you're playing a bunch of teams twice?

Tovarich: Yeah, we did have one instance last year since we got Butler in the NIT, but yeah, the familiarity against Fullerton was noticeable. Now we go play SE Missouri twice this week. We'll see Monmouth and Southern Utah once more and then the unplanned second game with Loyola MD. If there's such a thing as feeling like you're in a conference, we'll feel like it now.

[studbucket]

Re: University of Alaska-Anchorage Basketball (CH2K8)

Their guards got all their points and your frontcourt got all yours. By design with each team picking on weaknesses?