December 31, 2010

NCDS: Phil Cunningham, Asst. Coach - Mississippi State

 

The road trip to end all road trips officially ended at 10 am CST on Thursday, December 30, when an MSU bus carrying around 30 tired Bulldogs rolled into the back parking lot of Humphrey Coliseum.  The longtime university bus driver noted that he'd never seen an entire bus load sleeping as soundly as this particular set of passengers did as we rolled along Highways 78, 55 and 82 from the Memphis Airport back to campus.  After Tuesday night's game with St. Mary's at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, we hopped a red-eye flight into Memphis that landed close to 7 am local time.  After riding the bus back to Starkville, all of the guys headed in different directions for a much-needed break.  A few observations from a trip that spanned 15 days (Dec. 15-30), and covered over 12,000 miles (according to the ESPNU research team).

First stop - The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas

Our entire party was blown away by the hotel and resort itself.  Unfortunately, our guys only had about half a day to truly enjoy the water park, but they did as much as possible in that brief period of time.  The basketball event was run at an extremely high level in terms of organization and efficiency, and everything was handled in a first class manner.  The icing on the cake was the fact that the game was a sellout!  So many neutral site games are played before sparse crowds, but our game with Virginia Tech had a true tournament feel to it because of the packed house.  I definitely believe that the fine folks who are working to make this event an 8-team tournament will be going head-to-head with the Maui Classic in the very near future for the title of most coveted multi-team event. 


I was truly impressed by Virginia Tech.  I scouted that one so I read a lot of articles about their team and listened to all of the commentators on their TV games that I broke down.  It's crazy how the media can speculate in mid-December how a team has basically jeopardized their entire season with some early losses.  I'll be shocked if the Hokies aren't playing in the NCAA Tournament in March.  Seth Greenburg has a veteran team that plays a physical and disciplined style of ball, and they've got a guard in Malcolm Delaney who can take over a game at any time.  They simply lost to some outstanding teams early, and again, I suspect them to see their name called on Selection Sunday.

Next stop - Waikiki Sheraton in Honolulu

This was my second trip to the Big Island for a basketball tournament, and once again I come away with the feeling that Honolulu would be a super vacation spot.  The hotel truly possesses a laid back atmosphere that simply makes you feel relaxed as you walk through the lobby and feel the breeze rolling in off the Pacific Ocean.  And you've got to eat the breakfast buffet at Duke's restaurant because the fresh pineapple is as good as it gets!

The organizers ran an outstanding tournament, and as always with an ESPN event, the quality of the field was excellent.  We opened with Washington State, and they came at us in the second half (we led by 1 at halftime) with an offensive outburst that we haven't seen in a while.  We played those guys in the Legends Classic during Tony Bennett's final season at the helm, and it's truly amazing how differently they play under the new staff.  But their personnel has adapted well to Ken Bone's more uptempo style, and I look for them to be hanging around the top of the Pac 10 standings all year.  After a loss to the Wazzu, we faced San Diego for the 3rd time in as many seasons.  It's been a very friendly series between our programs as Bill Grier and his staff are not only excellent coaches but "good people" as we say it back in my home state of Kentucky.  Coach Grier made an interesting change in offensive philosophy by going to a Princeton style of play, and with less than 24 hours to prepare for the game, we decided to try our zone defense.  Fortunately, the zone was effective, and we employed it for 40 minutes in our win.  Coach Stansbury has always been a hardcore man to man guy, but I've learned from him that you've got to make wise decisions on when to play zone.  I'm not sure that we could have beaten San Diego had we not played zone the entire game.  In our final game at the Stan Sheriff Center, we ran into a red-hot Hawai'i team.  We got down 12-0 to start the game, and it was over.  We could never muster enough of an offensive surge to make up for that early deficit.  Gib Arnold and his staff have their guys playing with a ton of confidence in their first season at the helm, and the Rainbow Warriors are going to be hard to beat at home in conference play this year.

Final stop - Orleans Resort and Arena in Las Vegas

If any of my friends in the coaching business call me in the future seeking advice on how to play St. Mary's, my reply will be a simple one.  DON'T play them!  The last thing in the world we needed to end up a 15-day road trip, was an appointment with one of the most under-heralded teams in the country who run a ballscreen-dominated offense that cuts up defenses like a ginsu knife.  We've played in 6 of the last 9 NCAA Tournaments so we know the importance of who pops up on that bracket with you on Selection Sunday, and I promise you that you don't want to see St. Mary's opposite your name in about 2 1/2 months!  Their 2 guards (McConnell and Delavedova) are the college version of Steve Nash with the way they control the entire game with their ballhandling skills, shooting and passing ability, and overall basketball IQ.  The ole zone technique didn't slow these guys down either.  Dellavedova came into the game shooting 31% on 3s and proceeded to knock down 6-10 from long range.  His back to back threes after we had cut the lead to 10 midway through the 2nd half were backbreakers for us.  I know that Gonzaga gets all the national pub in that league, but St. Mary's has certainly found a niche in a recruiting and playing style that is going to make them annual "dancers" every March!  And lastly, the Orleans Arena was a super venue to play a neutral site game.

Time to take a few days off and recharge the battery!

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