MAC Sports Blog by VanDelay Sports

VanDelay Sports is sitting on press row for the MAC Basketball Tournament this week, and we’re running live diaries during the games. We’ll be updating this at most of the media time outs. Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining and informative for those who care.

Posted this earlier, but seems pertinent before this game… ESPN is calling Kent State a lock for the NCAA Tournament. I’ve gotta agree they’ve got a great profile and they looked awesome against the Toledo Rockets last night.

Pregame - If this was Kent State versus Ohio I’d be calling for a 20 point blowout by the Golden Flashes, but against Miami… I don’t know. Teams typically don’t blowout the RedHawks due to their style of slowing it down, and it’s hard to count out a team on a mission like Miami as they’ve been dedicating their play in this tournament to Coach Coles who underwent a heart procedure earlier this week. Bramos especially has been fantastic in the first two games of this tournament, and Miami has been getting some great contributions from Tyler Dierkers who went off for an unexpected 11 points and 13 rebounds last night against the Bobcats. Miami needs a similar performance tonight as Quaintance and Scott are a handful for anyone to handle in the front-court.

Kent fans are out in droves tonight. If you’re a MAC fan do you root for Kent to lose to Miami tonight so the MAC can get two bids? I think you root for Kent to win so they definitely have an at-large in their grasps, but it’d be realllllly nice to see the MAC get 2 bids for the first time since 1999.

Wally World sighting. He’s sitting in the first row across the court from the Miami bench rooting on his alma mater.

15:12 - Defensive struggle early, tied at 4.

10:30 - Kent up 12-9. It’s Tyler Dierkers so far for Miami. He’s all over the boards and already has 5 points.

7:34 - 14-13 Kent lead. More Dierkers, he’s all over the boards with 8 of them already and he hits another stick back for 7 total points. Chris Singletary with a mean block on a layup attempt last segment too.

3:45 - 21-17 Kent leads. The Golden Flashes are knocking down a ton of crazy shots tonight. Spinning runners, open 3 after open 3. I won’t have shooting percentages until halftime, but I’ve got to imagine that the Flashes are shooting at a pretty good clip right now, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if they cool down.

1:38 - Miami ties it at 21. They’re just out working Kent right now.

Halftime - 25-23 Kent leads. Great half of basketball. Kent shooting 45% Miami shooting 42%. They’re getting their points in different ways. Kent is 3-7 on 3-pointers, Miami is 0-4. Miami leads points in the paint 22-12. Tyler Dierkers has been huge for the RedHawks with 11 points and 9 boards. The Kent State attack has been spread out. Nobody has more than 6 points or 3 rebounds for the Flashes. I’m waiting for Scott, Q, Fisher, Bramos, or Pollitz to really step up in the 2nd half. If somebody wants it this game is there for the taking. We’ve seen all 4 of those guys take over games in the past.

Couldn’t we have just made Western Michigan’s band stay here after the last game and let them provide the music for this one?

15:29 - 31-29, Pollitz is starting to heat up. He’ll be going to the line trying to finish off a 3-point play when we get back. If I’m Kent State I’m a little worried right now. This is what I would call a “Miami game”. Low scoring, slow paced, a lot of scratching and clawing for every loose ball on both ends. The Flashes would love to force a couple of turnovers and get out and run the break. A thunder dunk or two by Scott or Q would quickly start to turn this into a home crowd for Kent. Right now their fans are a little quiet.

11:54 - Back and forth, back and forth, Kent up 35-34. It looked like the Flashes had a chance to seperate there knocking down a 3, and forcing Miami into a bad look on offense, but a long rebound started a fast break for Miami and Kenny Hayes converted a layup. Coach Henderson going with a small lineup of Moosman, Hayes, Pollitz, Pollitz and Bramos.

9:21 - Bramos finally on the board with a tough runner and Miami goes up 38-35 as the Miami faithful erupt. Christian calls a timeout to talk things over.

7:52 - Kent goes on a little run capped off by a Mike Scott steal and an Al Fisher 3-point play. Eric Pollitz hits a tough 18 footer and we’re tied up at 40. The end of this one is gonna be fun.

6:01 - Kenny Hayes is fouled shooting a 3 but only hits 1-3 FTs. Pollitz muscles to the hoop hits the shot and gets fouled… He misses. 3 point Miami lead.

4:38 - Kent cannot convert on the contested fast break opportunities that they’re getting. Miami is having trouble converting in the halfcourt. It’s coming back to defense. 43-42 Miami lead.

4:03 - Crazy sequence with Miami and Kent players toppling over each other. Coach Henderson is very upset with the officials right now, I think for not calling a travel when the Kent player with the ball tripped over Miami players on the floor and fell to the ground with the ball. The play is currently under review. I have no idea why. Kent leads by 1.

3:44 - Tim Pollitz misses another FT (the front end of a 1 and 1) the missed free throws are really starting to hurt the RedHawks… still down 1 to Kent.

2:21 - Eric Pollitz shows his brother how it’s done. Hits both free throws. Ties it up.

0:33 - Singletary with a 4th effort stick back to go up 2. Kenny Hayes with ridiculous, great, circus layup that somehow falls to tie it back up. Someone’s getting their hearts ripped out tonight.

0:03 - MAC Player of the Year Al Fisher hits a leaning 18 footer to put Kent up 2 with only seconds left. Miami is going to need another miracle shot here like they got from Doug Penno in last year’s Championship Game.

Final - Miami throw two passes that get knocked out of bounds, getting them a little further down court each time. With 2 seconds left it inbounds to Tim Pollitz on the wing who gets all the way to the hoop but leaves his floater inches short. What a game! What an awful heartbreaking way to lose for Miami, but wow, this one was a classic.

VanDelay Sports is sitting on press row for the MAC Basketball Tournament this week, so since it’s Thursday and most people are stuck in work we’ll be running live diaries during the games. We’ll be updating this at most of the media time outs. Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining and informative for those who care.

Pregame - OU won handily early in the season in Athens. Miami smoked the Bobcats 10 days ago in Oxford. What’s gonna happen tonight? I have no idea. Ohio cannot settle for jumpers and has to work the ball inside to Leon Williams early and often. On the other hand I think Miami would be smart to run their offense through Tim Pollitz as much as possible to start. If he can make some shots/pick up some fouls on Leon that would be great for the RedHawks, and if not he’s a great passer and the offense usually flows pretty well through his hands.

Wow. OU’s band is good. OU’s band is loud. I like it.

18:35 - Tillman with 5 quick points (FT pending) and the Bobcats are up 7-1. Though Leon Williams already has a foul…

15:43 - Ohio up 10-6 early. Bramos is keeping this one close by himself with 5 early points. A hungry Jerome Tillman is a good Jerome Tillman for OU, and Tillman looks hungry.

10:19 - Tied at 16. After going down 10-1 early Miami settles down and scores 13 in a row as OU misses some open jumpers and Williams has trouble finishing on a couple of open looks inside. If I’m Tim O’Shea, I’m already considering giving Devon Washington Kenneth Van Kempen’s minutes spelling Williams. KVK looks completely overmatched in every facet of the game right now.

7:01 - Tied at 22, this is a fast paced game for Miami, usually they like to have the score in the 20’s at the half. OU beginning to establish Williams in the post. He’ll be at the line when we come back.

3:03 - 31-30 Miami’s lead. Bubba with a realllllly long 3, Bramos is hitting just about everything that he tosses up. This is a really good game.

0:38 - Miami player touches the ball on the cylinder… refs miss it. RedHawks up 39-35. Can Miami really score 40 in a half? Bramos is coming back in, so if he gets the ball on this possession I’m thinking so…

Halftime - 39-35 Miami leads at the half. Can Miami score 70+ to win this? I said last night that I thought Coach Henderson plays at a slightly quicker pace than Coach Coles, and I think that’s coming true. Bramos was hot early with 12, Winbush surprisingly came up really big for the RedHawks adding 10 points as well. It’s the big guys doing it for OU, Tillman with 11 and Leon with 9. After coming up really short on the boards against Buffalo last night, Miami is leading 20-10 in that category. This game’s going to come down to the wire.

15:37 - OU hits a couple of 3’s before Bramos hits another running 18-footer. Leon splits a pair of FTs and Miami’s up 1, 43-42.

11:26 - Bramos and Williams are carrying their respective teams with Miami up 50-48. Bramos is working really hard on offense and making really difficult shots. Williams has been all over the glass especially on the offensive end where he’s getting the Bobcats some second and third chance points. It’s really early in the tournament, but both these guys are looking good for the All Tourney Team.

7:10 - Miami up 57-53, but what’s crazy is that the RedHawks have committed 7 fouls this half compared to OU’s 1. Two ways to look at this… OU will be in the bonus which could mean free points, or when this foul differential closes up (if it does) it could spell huge trouble for Ohio.

6:06 - Ohio has been working a lot harder on the offensive boards this half and thanks to another 2nd attempt they’ve closed the deficit to two, 57-55, though Kenny Hayes will be going to the line for 3 when we get back.

3:39 - 61-56 Miami, RedHawk ball. I can feel this one slipping away for Ohio. They’re pressing like crazy on offense. They’ve gotta go to Leon here.

2:49 - Miami blows about 5 bunnies in a row but keeps working on the o-glass and eventually gets it to fall. 63-56 lead. Leon Williams hits a beautiful falling layup while being fouled… nope, they’re calling it on the floor, that could have been a momentum swing.

1:07 - Dead man walking. Ohio with an intentional foul, EP hits 1 0f 2 and OU sends Miami back to the line. Miami’s up 8 with a FT coming.

Final - Miami moves on, for the second year in a row getting the better of the Bobcats in the quarterfinals. Gotta hand it to Bramos who went off for the second game in a row. Also, really nice contribution from Tyler Dierkers who was all over the boards for the RedHawks. Should be some interesting games tomorrow night. More to come tomorrow…

VanDelay Sports is sitting on press row for the next four days, so since it’s Wednesday and most people are stuck in work we’ll be running live diaries during the games. We’ll be updating this at most of the media time outs. Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining and informative for those who care.

Preview - Miami doesn’t typically play a style that lends itself to blowouts (save 10 days ago versus Ohio), but I expect them to beat Buffalo fairly comfortably unless Andy Robinson goes absolutely nuts. Also I claim that Jermaine Henderson plays a (slightly) faster tempo than Coach Coles, so it’ll be interesting to see what the RedHawks look like with Henderson at the helm.

Miami’s band is here, I’m not impressed. Though a couple of guys in the UB band are decked out in top hats and shades, so… I don’t even know what joke to make here.

15:21 - Miami out to an early 8-4 lead. If some of their big men could finish off on nice feeds from the Pollitz brothers this would be an even bigger lead.

13:30 - If John Boyer isn’t Amish he pulls off the look really well with that shaved head and scraggly beard.

11:30 - Tied up at 12. We’re sitting right behind OU Assistant Coach Kevin Kuwick and I’m pretty sure he’s rooting for a 3 overtime thriller in this one. Early misses from the 5 foot range are plaguing Miami. Dierkers and Fletcher have blown a couple easy tries from in close.

9:16 - 20-14 UB with the lead. Boy is my blowout call looking dumb (but to be fair I was pretty much spot on with the earlier 3 games, so… yeah.)

7:46 - 22-16 UB is still up. Bramos with a thunderous block of a Buffalo 3-pt attempt sending us to a timeout on the floor. If I’m Miami here I’m working the ball to Tim Pollitz on the next few trips. Main difference so far is UB winning the rebounding battle 15-7.

5:17 - Miami with two quick hoops closing the deficit to 26-20 and Reggie Witherspoon responds with a quick time out.

2:50 - Buffalo up 6, 29-23. Both teams are shooting 42% from the field, both teams have 3 3’s and 2 FTs. The difference is that UB is out rebounding Miami 19-10 and they’re beating them in the paint 14-10.

1:39 - Bramos with a 4-pt play. Miami on a 7-0 run.

Halftime - Buffalo up 1, 30-29 at the half. Who’s more excited about Buffalo being up at the half, UB fans or OU fans? I’m gonna say OU fans, but it’s probably a close one. It looks like Michael Bramos might be getting untracked, which spells trouble for UB. Bramos started out slow, but ended the half with 11 points. Both teams are shooting pretty evenly, but Buffalo is demolishing Miami on the boards 24-9, 10-0 on the offensive boards. Is it scary that Buffalo is outrebounding Miami by 15 and they’re still only up 1? Probably.

My Second Half Prediction - Miami closes the -15 rebounding deficit a bit and pulls out to about a 7 point lead 8 to 10 minutes into the half. Buffalo starts chucking up 3’s to get back close. They knock ‘em down and this turns into a wild finish. They clank them and Pollitz and Bramos impose their will and pull out a close one (but not a nailbiter).

19:06 - Let’s Go REDHAWKS!!!!… That wasn’t me, it was the guy behind me. He screamed it in my ear so loudly that it just typed into my keyboard somehow.

17:42 - Miami’s not messing around coming out of the half. They’ve already built a 5 point lead… make it 6 as Pollitz adds a FT.

16:18 - Bramos tries to step into an airborne UB defender, the officials don’t call it (it was a good no-call), UB grabs the board runs down and laces a 3 to go up by 1. Henderson was working Referee Terry Wymer hard during the timeout and it actually looked like both might dance for a second (not slang, really dance) as both had their hands on each other’s hips, but the Miami band must not have any good slow dance songs in their repertoire.

14:33 - UB up 44-40 with 2 Miami free throws coming. Momentum keeps swinging back and forth in the 2nd half of this one.

12:11 - Boyer with a 3, Buffalo up 9, Miami with a time out. Chaos!

11:39 - Shocker alert here. 51-42 Buffalo up. Bramos or Pollitz or somebody has to takeover here. It actually looks like Pollitz has been trying, but nothing around the hoop has been falling for the RedHawks. The rebound differential has not tightened up either, it’s 38-16.

10:37 - Bramos quickly cuts it to 51-46 and UB spends a 30.

7:32 - 53-49 Miami’s inching closer. This is the run right now that UB needs to withstand. If they knock down a couple of shots and build the lead back to 9 or so they’re looking great. If they trade shots with Miami they’re in trouble. Maybe I’m over-analyzing a little bit with Coach Coles out, but it just kind of looks like Miami is out of sorts and not quite as smooth on offense as they usually are.

4:32 - Miami takes the lead back going up 58-57. This could be a wild finish.

3:30 - Buffalo up 1, Miami with good ball movement, but if I’m a RedHawk I want to die with Pollitz or Bramos here, not Moosman taking long jumpers.

2:25 - 60-59 RedHawks thanks to a nice runner by Kenny Hayes. Buffalo runs down the shot clock and then makes a mistake and gets called for up-and-down.

2:25 - Bramos can’t get the ball inbounded and calls a TO. Miami only has one left. This could be big later.

1:54 - Tim Pollitz, absolutely beautiful job breaking down his defender with about 100 pivots. Miami up 3.

0:58 - Andy Robinson airballs an incredibly ill-advised 3. Turns out it was tipped by Miami. Inbound right to Alford who lays it in for 2. Kenny Hayes with an awful runner (why are they not getting the ball to Bramos/Pollitz here) Dierkers with an O-board, gets fouled, will get 2 freebies.

0:35 - Miami up 3, Bramos going to the line. Looks like they’re about to dodge a majjjjjor bullet.

0:30 - Bramos hits both. UB timeout. This is going to take a miracle.

0:04 - UB hits a 2 on their 3rd chance, not much time hopes are slim but Buffalo’s still got a ray of hope here. UB needs to hope for a miss and a 1/2 court make.

0:02 - Pollitz ices both. Unless Drew Gooden is on the court going for a block this one is O-V-E-R.

0:00 - Pierce ices a 35 footer as time runs out. No contact though, Miami wins 69-68.

Final - Bramos is your player of the game with 23 points and 3 blocks. Tim Pollitz did a nice job too with 20 points even though a lot of stuff around the hoop wasn’t really falling for him. I say play of the game was with about 2 minutes left when Miami was up by 1 and Kenny Hayes missed an ugly runner. Tyler Dierkers muscled down a rebound between two Bulls and got fouled in the process. From there he went to the line and knocked down the pair. Gutsy effort from Miami tonight, though I still question not repeatedly going to Tim Pollitz and Bramos down the stretch.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports. He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com

It’s the end of the MAC regular season, so it’s time for us to take a look around the conference and evaluate what we’ve seen and hand out some awards. Without further ado…

Defensive Player of the Year
Hands down, this award goes to Haminn Quaintance. The guy rebounds with the best of them and he averages 2 full blocks and nearly 2 full steals per game. Kent State has done a wonderful job of reloading over the past 10 years, but they’ll certainly miss Q next season.

Most Exciting Game of the Year
Dear Miami v Ohio,

Kent v Akron might be giving you a run for most heated rivalry in the MAC. Nothing was a better display than the most exciting game of the MAC regular season, which ironically doubled as the final game of the MAC regular season. With the high-octane ending to today’s game and the nearby location of both fan base’s to Cleveland a lot of people have to be rooting for another Kent vs Akron showdown in next week’s tournament.

MAC Freshman of the Year
Kind of a weak year for Freshman across the conference, but there was one player, Darion “Jake” Anderson who just played at a higher level than the rest of this season’s incoming class. While NIU had a lackluster season, they could have a bright future building around Anderson and Michael Patton in the backcourt. Anderson finished the regular season average 11.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and 2.8 apg, if he can cut down on his turnovers, Anderson could be a major player in this league.

MAC Player of the Year
In the running…

• Al Fisher - KSU
• Haminn Quaintance - KSU
• Joe Reitz - WMU
• Leon Williams - OU

It’s a close race, and really there are other guys who could be considered here (Pollitz, Kool, Wood…) but I’ve gotta give the nod to Leon Williams. Ohio stumbled down the stretch slightly this year, but Williams put up major numbers for the entire year. 15.8 ppg and 9.7 rpg with 14 double-doubles. Often the POTY vote goes to a player from the Regular Season Champs. With neither Fisher or Quaintance emerging as the alpha dog on KSU this year, they’ll probably split some votes and allow for Williams, who Ohio would have been lost this season without, to bring home the hardware.

Dan Whitmyer is the head basketball writer at VanDelay Sports. He can be reached at dwhit@vandelay-sports.com