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DAILY 03-11-10 MD SU D8 CMYK
D8
S KLMNO THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Virginia
Freshman Doyle has Howard’s women thinking big
takes stock
thoughts.” Coppin State on Jan. 11 were a single-
by Kathy Orton Despite her misgivings, Doyle was de- game MEAC record. She also is the team’s
of its slide
termined to make it work. She liked second-leading scorer (16.9 points per
Howard redshirt freshman forward Howard, describing it as “homey.” game) behind first-team all-MEAC selec-
Saadia Doyle is the kind of person who “I felt like I was here for a reason and I tion Zykia Brown (18.5 points per game).
from the top
likes to write down her goals. But before didn’t want to give up before I began,” She makes 46 percent of her field
the season began, her list seemed a bit she said. “I knew that I had my schol- goals, which ranks 10th in the MEAC,
ambitious for a newcomer who sat out arship for the year and I told myself that I one of the eight statistical categories she
last season with an injury. was going to work extremely hard to get is listed among the top 10 in the confer-
Entering ACC tournament,
Doyle put down that she wanted to be back on the court and maybe that would ence, while her 19 double-doubles rank
the first player off the bench to start the better my chances of getting renewed for sixth in the country. The eight-time
Cavaliers are mired season, then move into the starting line- the next year.” MEAC rookie of the week was the first
in nine-game losing streak
up by the time the Bison began Mid- When Geckeler arrived on campus, the Howard player selected rookie of the
Eastern Athletic Conference play. She only thing she knew about Doyle was year since Alisha Hill won the award in
wanted to average 20 to 30 minutes, to that she had a torn ACL. A bit of online 1996.
by Zach Berman lead the team in rebounding, to record a research revealed that she had been a Yet for all her accomplishments, Doyle
couple of double-doubles and to earn 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player in said she hasn’t come close to reaching
greensboro, n.c. — Neither MEAC rookie of the week honors at least high school, but she hadn’t played many her potential. She said she needs to be-
snow, nor most of its ACC opponents, once. AAU events aside from local tourna- come less predictable on offense and bet-
could stop the Virginia men’s basket- Achieving any one of those goals ments in Georgia. It wasn’t until individ- ter at on-ball defense. She also wants to
ball team in early February. Despite a would have made Doyle’s first season of ual workouts began in September that improve her ballhandling and extend her
blizzard that buried Charlottesville, college basketball a success. As it turns
COURTESY OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Geckeler started to discover Doyle’s tal- shooting range.
5,988 came to John Paul Jones Arena out, Doyle, the MEAC rookie of the year, Saadia Doyle’s Bison will open with ents. Then as the season began, and “I feel like I haven’t had a great game
on Feb. 6 for the Cavaliers’ game had no problem meeting all those objec- Florida A&M in the MEAC tournament. Doyle’s stats didn’t vary no matter what yet,” she said. “I’ve had spurts, bits and
against Wake Forest. Virginia entered tives. the level of competition, the second-year pieces here and there, but never just a
5-2 in the ACC, and Athletic Director “To be honest with you, I’ve surpassed positive. Not long after she arrived on coach became more and more impressed. noteworthy game.”
Craig Littlepage thanked the excited all of the goals that I initially had, to the campus, she tore her anterior cruciate “After the first three or four games of This season, despite its youth, Howard
audience before the game. point where I had to sit down and reeval- ligament during a summer pickup game. the season, when I saw her consistency has won more games than the previous
“We need for you to be here for the uate and come up with new ones,” she To make matters worse, the coach who game to game, just being able to rebound two seasons combined. With nine fresh-
next couple of weeks,” Littlepage said said. recruited her, Cathy Parson, was fired. the way she did, being able to score the men and only one senior on the roster,
that day, “because we’re going to win Doyle’s unexpected contributions have Niki Reid Geckeler, a longtime George- way she did,” Geckeler said. “I’d say after the future appears bright.
the regular season of the ACC.” helped Howard (15-13, 10-6) post its first town assistant, was hired to replace her. the first month when I saw how consis- “I feel like we’re setting the founda-
Virginia has not won a game since. winning record in five years. Next up for “I was kind of skeptical only because I tently steady she was, that’s when I knew. tion,” Doyle said. “Nothing is worth hav-
What transpired has been a nine- the fourth-seeded Bison is the MEAC felt with Coach Parson I knew my place,” . . . We call her Steady Saadia because ing if it doesn’t have a solid foundation.
game losing streak entering Thurs- tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C., Doyle said. “I knew what to expect a lit- she’s pretty consistent all the time.” We’re trying to put athletics at Howard
day’s ACC tournament opener against where they will play No. 5 Florida A&M tle. But when Coach G came, I was al- Doyle’s consistency is remarkable, es- back on the map because in the past
Boston College. Included in the 35 (18-10, 9-7) on Thursday having won four ready injured. Then I was like: ‘What if pecially for a freshman. The 5-foot-11 for- they’ve had great teams and they kind of
days without a victory were six losses of their last five games. her coaching style was completely differ- ward from Atlanta led the MEAC and fell off. . . . It just feels great to be part of
by double digits, the season-ending Though Doyle is doing well now, her ent? What if I won’t fit into the scheme? ranked 15th in Division I in rebounding the foundation.”
suspension of star Sylven Landesberg initial experience at Howard was not She won’t like me.’ All these pessimistic (10.9 per game). Her 22 rebounds against ortonk@washpost.com
for academic reasons and the depar-
ture of senior captain Calvin Baker,
who left the team for “personal family
reasons.” A season that once appeared
promising has now been cast as a nec-
Hoyas oust
essary step of Coach Tony Bennett’s
rebuilding process.
“It’s a process with bumps in the
road, and you’re going to get frustrat-
ice-cold
ed when you go through hard times,”
Bennett said. “When we went
through some adversity, I thought we
weren’t the team that we needed to be
S. Florida
to compete in this league. That’s not
because the kids were, ‘Ah, forget
this!’ It’s because we struggled.”
in easy win
Bennett is a defensive-minded
coach, and he said the team’s defen-
sive problems were more of an issue hoyas from D1
than an anemic offense. The team had
it “backwards,” Bennett said, only 49 points.
playing sharp defense when it had Jones, who scored a game-high 29 in
momentum created by made shots on South Florida’s 72-64 victory over
offense and the victories that fol- Georgetown on Feb. 3, discounted the
lowed. role played by the Hoyas’ defense
Bennett also admitted that the Wednesday.
close losses took a toll on the Cava- “I don’t think [Georgetown’s defense]
liers. The losing streak started after was tougher,” Jones said. “We had open
the Cavaliers lost to Wake Forest in shots, and we missed them. I missed
overtime; that was followed by a six- them. . . . You can’t beat a top 25 team and
point loss to rival Virginia Tech that a Big East team without hitting shots.”
was close until the game’s final min- Neither team distinguished itself in the
ute. first half.
Another snowstorm postponed a Freeman attempted only one shot
game against Maryland and set up a through the first 13 minutes, but he hit
stretch of five games in 11 days. Each Wright with a nice pass for an easy layup
was in a different venue, requiring that put the Hoyas ahead, 19-9, and
travel that exhausted the team as its prompted a South Florida timeout.
confidence eroded. Coming out of the huddle, Jones tossed
“We went through a stretch of up an air ball from beyond the arc, drop-
Maryland, Florida State, Clemson, ping the Bulls’ already miserable shoot-
Miami, where we really weren’t play- ing percentage to 21. And it sank even
ing well, weren’t having really good lower. At one point, the Bulls were shoot-
practices,” junior forward Will Sher- ing 17 percent from the floor and 33 per-
rill said. “It’s hard to point to one par- cent from the free throw line. It took
ticular thing that really kind of kicked South Florida 16 minutes to score its first
off and say, ‘Okay, that’s where we 10 points.
started playing badly.’ ” Georgetown’s Clark was the only player
Junior guard Mustapha Farrakhan with a genuine touch for the basket early,
said the team has been playing below hitting three three-pointers in the first
its capabilities, and that the quick half. Wright, meantime, earned his 10
start was not overachievement but in- first-half points in trademark fashion,
stead what the Cavaliers were capable slashing through towering defenders for
of achieving. layups.
“That’s why it’s so frustrating,” Far- Meantime, South Florida showed re-
rakhan said. “When we do watch film markable range in the shots its players
or when we talk to each other about failed to make, missing jumpers, free
it, we definitely just let it slip. We throws and even a dunk, drawing at least
knew if we didn’t play defense, we’re a three taunts of “air ball!” from the crowd
below-average team. But if we play in the first half alone.
defense, that gets us where we want Jones was the only Bull to score a point
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
to be and we can play with anybody.” in the final 11 minutes 24 seconds of the Austin Freeman, who scored eight points after taking just one shot in the first 13 minutes, is credited with the save on this play.
Before the losing streak, Virginia’s period.
players were celebrated for embrac- Freeman swished his first basket of the more aggression. first two shots and pulled within six, 35- Monroe already was playing with four
ing Bennett and his system. When the game with 58 seconds remaining in the “I didn’t think we took the fight to 29, with back-to-back dunks along an un- fouls when Wright picked up his fourth
staples of Bennett-coached teams dis- period to give Georgetown a 31-19 half- Georgetown,” Heath said. “So we looked defended baseline. with more than seven minutes left.
appeared, Bennett said it was a fair time lead. Jones accounted for 12 of the in the mirror and realized if we were go- Still, the outcome remained far from “Our guys did a good job of weathering
question to wonder whether the team Bulls’ 19, with the rest of South Florida’s ing to give ourselves a chance, we had to certain because of Georgetown’s mount- the storm,” Coach John Thompson III
still bought into what he’s asking of starters combining for three points. come out more aggressive.” ing foul trouble. said. “We didn’t get frustrated when they
them. He said Wednesday that “for During the break, South Florida Coach The Bulls came out blazing when play Forward Julian Vaughn fouled out made a run.”
the most part,” the players have Stan Heath urged his team to play with resumed. They blocked Georgetown’s with nearly nine minutes remaining. clarkel@washpost.com
worked hard.
“When a team is winning, you say
everyone has bought in,” Sherrill said.
“Definitely during the losing streak,
SALLY JENKINS
there were some cracks that appeared
at the surface. It’s not one specific
thing, but I think our team unity was Georgetown won’t have room to wander against mighty Syracuse
a really big problem and a really big
issue. And I think that caused us to jenkins from D1 They missed bunnies, floaters. At one they thought their defense was the finished the game shooting 29 percent
play not as well as we should have. In point in the first half they were shooting game’s deciding factor. “I don’t think it overall, and were just 1 of 10 from
light of kind of what’s happened in Greg Monroe (16 points); and an just 17 percent from the floor and 33 was anything necessarily they did,” three-point range. “I just feel like we had
the last week and a half with us losing X-factor in Austin Freeman (eight). Yet percent on free throws. Watching their Heath said. “We just could not make a open shots and missed them,” Jones
Sylven, Calvin, we’ve kind of banded for all that, they don’t seem to have an numbers dip lower and lower on the shot. I can’t count to you how many said. “I missed them. Everybody else
together a little bit.” emotional driver. It’s perplexing, with scoreboard was like watching mercury layups and free throws we missed.” taking shots missed them. You can’t beat
Virginia has one final chance to no single explanation. Perhaps it’s the falling. In fact, the Hoyas’ defense was a top 25 team and a Big East team
prolong the season on Thursday, and result of youth, of having no senior. Or it “We really struggled to find a shot,” entirely casual to open the second half, without hitting shots. We know that.
it will come without Landesberg. may be a function of personality: South Florida Coach Stan Heath said. with the result that the Bulls quickly cut They just weren’t falling.”
More attrition might follow the final Freeman is their most effective scorer, “We couldn’t hit a perimeter jump shot.” Georgetown’s lead to six. They left the The Hoyas deserved credit for this
game. but his outward demeanor is impassive, Yet the Hoyas took only minimal baseline wide open, and Dominique much: They showed the outlines of real
When Bennett accepted the job last almost apathetic. Or it may be that they advantage of such a dry spell. For a Jones penetrated at will, scoring or character when threatened in the
spring, he did not know the team’s are an extension of Thompson, with his while it seemed an open question dishing. On two straight possessions he second half, outscoring the Bulls 13-4
personnel or the ACC. Bennett said he calculatedly dull persona and emphasis whether they would break 20 easily found Jarrid Famous, who from 6:33 to the 1:43 mark. They made
will take stock after the season and on mechanics and finding the “right” themselves. Freeman was entirely jammed twice and drew Vaughn’s third “big shots when we needed shots,”
has a clearer understanding of what shot. scoreless until 53 seconds remained in and fourth fouls, forcing him to the Thompson said. But the bottom line was
he must do to build a successful pro- Whatever the cause, the Hoyas have a the half. They finally surged to a 31-19 bench. The pair of three-point plays that they beat a so-so team, one right on
gram at Virginia. habit of wandering mentally. Against halftime lead, thanks to Wright, who made it 35-29 with 16 minutes 52 the bubble. It will take a far more
“Now, I have something to really the Bulls, their level of intensity came kept pushing the ball straight to the rim. seconds left. defining performance to prove they
evaluate,” Bennett said. “The person- and went like fog. The game got off to an He scored 10 points before the Bulls did. Against a team with a hot hand, the belong in the company of Syracuse. “We
nel, our system, all those things. inexplicably slow start — maybe it was The Hoyas’ size and discipline had a Hoyas would have been in real trouble. have to make shots and guard our guys.
That’s really important. That’s very just too hard for college kids to get up little something to do with the Bulls’ “I thought we were in great shape,” You know, let’s not make it rocket
valuable. Even going through this before noon. The Bulls never woke up. dismal shooting, as Monroe and Julian Heath said. “I really felt that was a science,” Thompson said. At least that
stretch, there’s a lot to take from it.” They couldn’t make anything — they Vaughn altered some shots inside. But pivotal time we could make a run.” much was clear.
bermanz@washpost.com were even lousy from the charity stripe. the Hoyas were kidding themselves if Instead they went ice cold again. They jenkinss@washpost.com
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