Inside College Basketball
Posted: Monday December 14, 1998 12:39 PM
This week's topics:
X-posed | A Czech Makes His Mark
The Eagles Have Landed
X-posed Much-touted Xavier is showing some puzzling flaws
By Kelli Anderson
Xavier senior point guard Gary Lumpkin stood in a hall at The
Crown in Cincinnati last Saturday night, his head bowed, his
voice barely audible as he acknowledged his painful role in the
No. 23 Musketeers' 71-57 loss to 14th-ranked Purdue: 1 for 7 from
the floor, 0 for 5 from beyond the three-point arc, six points,
11 turnovers. "I take 90 percent of the blame for the loss,"
whispered Lumpkin. "I know I'm a good player. I just can't
understand this."
Last season Lumpkin guided Xavier to a 22-8 record and the
Atlantic 10 title. This season, through Sunday, his turnovers
were up (3.1 per game, from 2.3 in '97-98), his assists down
(4.0, from 4.5), and he had converted only 19.0% of his threes
for the 5-3 Musketeers. Though Lumpkin is sharing a backcourt for
a ninth year with Lenny Brown, a schoolmate since junior high in
New Castle, Del., the starting job he has held since his sixth
game as a freshman may be in jeopardy. "You'd think the one thing
this team would have would be consistency in the backcourt, but
that's not the case," says Musketeers coach Skip Prosser. "The
thing is, he's working hard, and technically he's doing what he's
supposed to be doing. It's baffling."
Though Lumpkin is the biggest X-factor at the moment for Xavier,
a preseason Top 25 pick, he isn't the only one. The Musketeers'
vaunted press has been impenetrable one moment and porous the
next. Their eight newcomers, including highly touted freshmen
Lloyd Price and Kevin Frey, have struggled to help senior forward
James Posey fill the shoes of NBA second-round draft pick Torraye
Braggs and last year's leading scorer, forward Darnell Williams,
who was lost for the season when he tore his right ACL during the
summer.
Xavier has also shown a curious lack of emotion. That shortcoming
was so evident in the Musketeers' 94-76 loss to Pittsburgh in
Puerto Rico last month that Prosser called a two-hour team
meeting in his hotel room immediately afterward. "We watched a
tape of the Pitt game and saw every time we dropped our heads or
didn't hustle to the bench," says Posey. "Then we talked and got
a lot of stuff off our chests. It cleared the air."
Before leaving the island, Xavier beat Colorado 74-61 but then
lost again, to San Francisco, 82-69. As a result, a Dec. 2 game
against previously undefeated Miami of Ohio had a certain
do-or-die feel to it. When the Musketeers won 64-56, at
Cincinnati Gardens, students swarmed the court. "This team really
needed that," said Brown last Friday. "We were a Top 25 team, but
we weren't walking around with confidence."
Well, Xavier isn't a Top 25 team anymore, having been dropped by
the polls this week. But that tumble might be exactly what the
Musketeers needs. "Two years ago we were trying to break into the
Top 25, and every game we had something to prove," says Brown.
"When it's about staying in the polls, we don't always attack the
same way. Sometimes we walk out on the court like, We're Xavier,
we're supposed to win. But right now, we're not that good."
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A Czech Makes His Mark
Last Saturday at Valparaiso, 6'7" freshman guard Lubos Barton
brought back fond memories for the Crusaders, nailing a
three-pointer with 2.0 seconds left to defeat Missouri-Kansas
City 66-63. Not only did his bomb conjure up images of the
buzzer-beating 23-footer that lifted 13th-seeded Valpo past
Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA tournament last March,
but it also extended the comparisons between Barton and the
launcher of that epic shot, Bryce Drew.
Barton, after all, has already proved to be a quicker draw than
Drew, at least in practice. Using one ball and one rebounder and
moving constantly along the three-point arc, Drew once made 100
treys in seven minutes and one second. Within two months of
arriving at Valparaiso from Ceska Lipa, the Czech Republic,
Barton had shattered that record by sinking 100 in 6:40. "I
didn't think we'd ever see someone do it in under seven minutes,"
says coach Homer Drew, who designed the drill specifically for
son Bryce, a guard who graduated last spring and was taken in the
first round of the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. "Good
shooters can do it in 10 or 11 minutes; really good shooters in
about eight minutes." What does that make Barton? "A coach's
dream," says Homer.
Barton isn't just a quick three. He scored 27 points in his
collegiate debut, a 67-61 upset of South Carolina, and through
Sunday he was averaging 15.1 points and 5.9 rebounds while
hitting 43.6% from beyond the arc for the 7-1 Crusaders. "What
makes Lubos special is that he does so many things well," says
Bryce, who has been working out at Valpo during the NBA lockout.
"He shoots well, defends well, has great court vision, and he has
arms that go on and on. And his teammates love him because he
passes the ball."
The son of an elementary school headmaster, Barton values family,
which is one reason he spurned Cal, Clemson and Virginia and
signed with the Crusaders. (He was soon joined by his older
brother, Jerry, who is now a team manager.) Aside from offering a
good education and a safe, small-town setting in northern
Indiana, Lubos says, Valparaiso is close to Chicago's large Czech
population and O'Hare airport. "From here I can get on a plane
home quickly," he says.
For now Barton is doing his part to help take the Crusaders, who
have nine newcomers, back to the NCAAs. And if any last-second
heroics should be required in the tournament? "I'm not promising
anything," says Barton, "but I'll try to be ready for it."
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The Eagles Have Landed
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Kentucky's Bradley committed to B.C., but signed with the Wildcats. John Biever |
The Big East has decided to dispense with the two-division format
it used the last two years. That news is most unwelcome at Boston
College, which seems a good bet to become the first 13th-place
finish in league history. With a 2-4 record, including a 62-61
loss to Harvard, through Sunday, BC is still reeling from the
decision two years ago by director of undergraduate admissions
John Mahoney to reject two of then coach Jim O'Brien's recruits,
whom Mahoney said were unqualified academically. O'Brien fled to
Ohio State, leaving successor Al Skinner to pick up the pieces.
There aren't many pieces left: This year Boston College has six
freshmen, four sophomores and four juniors on its roster. In case
Skinner feels like pondering could-have-beens over the next few
months, here's a list of Eagles and near Eagles who, for one
reason or another, flew the nest.
| PLAYER, CLASS | HEIGHT | |
| Adam Allenspach, Soph. | 7'1" | Gave oral commitment to BC but changed mind after admissions controversy; through Sunday was averaging 4.1points and 5.4 rebounds as Clemson reserve. |
| Andy Bedard, Jr. | 6'1" | Lack of playing time two years ago prompted transfer to Maine; averaging 24.7 points, fourth in nation, and shooting 91.2% from line. |
| Michael Bradley, Soph. | 6'10" | Committed to Eagles but signed with Kentucky after admissions controversy; starter for all seven Wildcats games, he's shooting 69.4%. |
| Jonathan DePina, Soph. | 5'9" | Denied admission in fall of 1996; is sixth man at UMass this season. |
| Chris Herren, Sr. | 6'3" | Transferred in 1995 after being injured most of first year; averaging 15.3 points and team-high 6.9 assists at the point for Fresno State. |
| Kostas Maglos | 6'10" | Would have been senior and lone returning double-figure scorer for BC but instead signed to play professionally in Greece. |
| Scoonie Penn, Jr. | 5'10" | 1996 Big East Freshman of the Year; followed O'Brien to Ohio State; averaging 16.3 points and 3.9 assists for 6-2 Buckeyes. |
| Elton Tyler, Soph. | 6'9" | Denied admission to BC two years ago; is sixth man at Miami. |
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-- Seth Davis
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Issue date: December 14, 1998
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