Men’s basketball on the pursuit of perfection

Forget the Patriots: Try the Corsairs

By Trevor Medeiros

A.J. Tavares sizes up a three-pointer over Foster Oakley.

Reece Freeman soars by Southern Maine’s freshman guard Luke Pollock.

The UMass Dartmouth Men’s Basketball team is hoping to do what the New England Patriots couldn’t. The Corsairs have started this 2007-08 campaign an incredible 19-0 (9-0 Little East), and are the only team in all of Division III basketball to be undefeated.

The team’s most recent victory came last Saturday, as UMD handled LEC rival Southern Maine, 88-69 at the Tripp Athletic Center. Nationally, people are starting to take notice of the perfect Corsairs. Unranked coming into the season, UMD is now ranked in the top five in the national poll conducted by d3hoops.com.

“We feel great,” said UMD head coach Brian Baptiste. “We’re happy about it. We just hope we can keep it going. Keep on playing well; playing together, doing all the things that got us here.”

The team’s fast ascent to the top of the national rankings has many surprised, including Baptiste himself: “I am surprised. I thought we had a pretty good team this year. To have an undefeated situation this far into the season is pretty special.”

Despite the surprises, the Corsairs have used a well-balanced roster of talent to stave off each and every opponent this season. Leading the way for UMD are co-captains Reece Freeman and Dan Holbrook.

Freeman, a junior, is one of the nation’s leaders in assists and steals per-game.

“He does a lot to control the tempo of the game,” said Baptiste. “He’s a pit bull on defense. He just defends the heck out of people. He’s a very valuable player.”

Holbrook, a senior, returned from a foot injury last season to become a force down low for the Corsairs. He’s one of the best in the country when it comes to rebounding.

“Danny’s doing a great job on the boards,” said Baptiste.

The team has also received contributions from players young and old, including seniors Cory Tynes and A.J. Tavares, sophomores Matt Walker and Jeff Macchi, and even a freshman (Brandon Stephens).

“They’ve all given us a really solid contribution,” said Baptiste.

Success isn’t anything new for Baptiste. He’s won over 400 games, 10 LEC tournament titles, had a team reach the Division III final four, and had another team ranked number one (1987-88). Coach Baptiste is also the assistant athletic director at UMD.

Being the only unbeaten team in Division III might go to a lot of player’s heads, but staying focused on the task at hand has allowed the Corsairs to keep a humbled attitude on this magic carpet ride.

“I think this is a pretty grounded team,” said Baptiste. “It hasn’t gone to their heads. They haven’t been arrogant in any way. They’re just solid coming to practice, working hard everyday and I couldn’t be happier with this group of kids.”

Baptiste also knows there’s always room for improvement, even on an undefeated team.

“We hope to improve everyday we come out here and practice. I think if they keep themselves grounded, keep working hard at what they’re doing, take small steps to improve everyday, then I think we’re in pretty good shape.”

The road to perfection still has plenty of speed bumps. The Corsairs finish the regular season with five straight LEC games, including Keene State and Rhode Island College, who won the LEC last season.

“Each game is one game at a time,” said Baptiste. “Each game is a tough game. There’s nobody you can overlook. Anybody can beat you at any given time. You can’t overlook anybody. If you’ve got that attitude, you’re gonna lose.”

The LEC tournament tips off on February 26. Hopefully by then, UMD will be one step closer to a perfect season.

Women’s basketball falls to Southern Maine, 68-39

Ashley Chard takes the basketball to the hoop in Saturday’s 68-39 loss to the Southern Maine Huskies.

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. — The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s women’s basketball team fought valiantly against 11th-ranked Southern Maine in the first half, but fell victim to a barrage of three-pointers and lost to the Huskies, 68-39, in the first game of a Little East Conference doubleheader at the Tripp Athletic Center Saturday afternoon.

The Corsairs kept the game close in the first half, in which neither team shot well. Southern Maine managed only seven field goals, including three of 14 from behind the arc for a 26.9% shooting percentage. The Corsairs converted only six field goals, shooting 17.6% from the field and did not hit a basket from three-point territory. USM led at halftime, 21-18.

“I thought we played well defensively in the first half,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Mick Klitzner. “We held them to a low point total, but we just didn’t shoot the ball well and you can let a team like that off the hook.”

Southern Maine scored the first eleven points of the second half on back-to-back to back three-pointers by junior forward Stacey Kent, sophomore guard Nicole Paradis and senior guard Dawn Ross and Kent’s layup to push the lead to 32-18 with 16:29 left in the game. The Corsairs answered back, scoring the next five points on a lay up by senior forward Lindsay Marsh, a free throw by junior guard Madison Malloy and a jumper by freshman forward Tashauna Ashmeade to cut the lead to nine points.

That was as close as UMass Dartmouth would get as the Huskies completed a 31-11 run on yet another three pointer, this one by sophomore guard Becky Dixon that swelled the lead to 52-29 with just 7:44 left to play.

“Defensively, we struggled in the second half,” said Klitzner. “The shots that weren’t falling for them started to fall, especially the threes.”

Kent led all scorers with 16 points for Southern Maine and was joined in double figures by senior forward Josalee Danieli, who chipped in with 10 points.

The Corsairs were led by Marsh who scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, while senior guard Ashley Chard added 10 points.

UMass Dartmouth fell to 5-15 and 1-8 in the LEC with the defeat, while the Huskies improved to 18-1 and 9-0 in conference play with the victory. The Corsairs will return to action when they visit Keene State in the first game of a Little East Conference doubleheader next Saturday afternoon.

Swimmers sweep Colby-Sawyer

This lady Corsair -glides through the water in the Trip Athletic Center Pool.

A UMD swimmer takes for one more stroke towards victory.

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA. — The UMass Dartmouth swimming team swept a dual meet from visiting Colby-Sawyer at the Tripp Athletic Center Pool on Saturday, February 2.

The women won, 168-124, while the men were victorious, 169-116.

“We had some great swims, and we qualified more of our swimmers for the New England Championships,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Cathy Motta. “This is one of the largest groups we have ever had qualify. It’s a great was to end the regular season. Our seniors performed well.”

UMass Dartmouth’s women improved to 4-8 and the men to 4-5 with the victories, while Colby-Sawyer’s men fell to 5-6 and the women to 5-7.

The Corsairs will return to action when they host the New England Division II and III Women’s Championships in two weeks.

Women’s team: Who’s who

For the women, winners included senior Renee Kruszyna, who won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:04.47, the 50-yard freestyle in 27.05 seconds and the 50-yard butterfly in 59.02 seconds. She was also a member of the winning 400-yard medley relay team, which finished first in 4:31.20

The women’s medley relay team also included sophomore Kaitlyn Kewriga, sophomore Kathleen Foley, and senior Katelyn Chase. Kewriga won the 50-yard backstroke in 32.33 seconds. Foley took the 50-yard breaststroke in 34.46 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:15.15. Chase won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:05.26 and the 100-yard freestyle in 59.82 seconds. Senior Shannon Quinn took the 500-yard freestyle in 5:55.00 and the 1000-yard freestyle in 12:12.81.

Men’s team: Who’s who

On the men’s side, Corsair victors were freshman Craig Johnson, who won the 50-yard butterfly in 25.96 seconds, the 100-yard butterfly in 59.67, the 200 yard freestyle in 1:57.30. He was also a member of the 400-yard medley relay team, which won in 1:49.19.

The men’s medley relay team also included freshman David Lyons, freshman Steve Szarek and freshmen David Adams. David Adams also won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.90 seconds and swam on the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which finished first in 1:37.51.

The men’s freestyle relay team also included sophomore Andrew Adams, freshman Andrew Haughey and sophomore Nate Landry. Szarek also won the 50-yard breaststroke in 29.97 seconds and the 100-yard individual medley in 1:00.79. Sophomore Matt Fahey took both the one-meter diving (228.60 points) and the three-meter diving (219.19). Lyons won the 50-yard backstroke in 30.27 seconds.

One Corsair catches a breath between strokes on February 2nd against.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The countdown to March Madness begins

By Trevor Medeiros

As we draw closer and closer to March Madness, I think it’s time we stand back and come up with a list of teams who have the best chance to cut down the nets in April and take home the NCAA men’s basketball title.

Well, let’s start with the top-ranked team in the country. The Memphis Tigers are the only team left in all Division 1 that’s still unbeaten. Led by Chris Douglas-Roberts and freshman sensation Derrick Rose, the Tigers have a great chance of running the table.

They don’t exactly play in the toughest conference in America. Conference USA has been a joke ever since Marquette, Louisville, and DePaul left a couple of years ago. Plus, this isn’t the first time Coach John Calipari has had success in college hoops (remember Marcus Camby and UMass?). Finally, the Tigers have to be hungry after falling one game short of the Final Four the past two seasons. The only teams that could spoil Memphis’ hopes at a perfect season are Chris Lofton and Tennessee (who they play soon) or someone in the NCAA tournament.

Maybe it could be Kansas. The Jayhawks only have one loss so far this winter and have perhaps the most complete team in the land. This team is loaded with athletes, including Mario Chalmers on the outside and Sasha Kaun on the inside. Plus, Coach Bill Self managed to get KU over the obstacle of not winning a tournament game last season when he guided them to the Elite Eight. We saw up-close and personal what the Jayhawks are capable of when they dismantled Boston College a few weeks ago at Conte Forum.

The Eagles were also smashed by ACC foe North Carolina. The pre-season number one, the Tar Heels were upset by Maryland a few weeks ago, but make no mistake: This team certainly has the talent to win Roy Williams his second title this decade. Tyler Hansbrough is a bull inside, and Ty Lawson is the fastest point guard in the country. Plus, the Heels are anxious to redeem themselves in the postseason following last year’s overtime collapse to Georgetown in the Elite Eight.

We can’t forget about Carolina’s bitter rival, Duke. After being uncharacteristically knocked out of the tourney in the first round last year, the Dukies are re-loaded and ready to give Coach K his fourth title.

This version of the Blue Devils is fast, athletic, young, and (of course) play great defense. Coach K can thank his freshman trio (Kyle Singler, Taylor King, and Nolan Smith) and the improved play of point guard Greg Paulus and DeMarcus Nelson for the revival of his Cameron Crazies.

So, with that being said, who out of this Final Four has the best chance of winning it all? Memphis’ lack of playing strong conference opponents will cost them down the stretch. North Carolina’s good, but not as good as they were last year after losing Brandan Wright. Duke’s also good, but since losing Josh McRoberts, they lack the low-post game needed to win a championship.

So, that leaves Kansas. I know they lost to Michael Beasley and in-state rival Kansas State, but trust me. This team is too experienced, well-rounded, and well-coached to be denied their first title since the days Larry Brown roamed the sidelines in Lawrence.

MMA

Lesnar takes a turn in the Octagon

By Timm Freitas

For being one of the most under-promoted UFC events in recent history, last Saturday’s UFC 81 delivered for the fans who watched.

Perhaps the event wasn’t preceded by the usual advertising bombardment people have become accustom to because of its “lackluster” (and I use the term loosely) fight card, or maybe it was because it was merely one month ago the event was put together in its entirety. Anyway, the point is, the event showcased few of the UFC’s biggest names, but delivered in a big way in terms of upsets and entertainment.

Some of the best fights are fights that make it to the decision, but as a fan, it is most likely you want to see the fight finished, its more exciting and the decision is more definitive, and with only three out of the nine fights going the distance, viewers were given an exciting night of fights.

A few months ago I had mentioned that the UFC had signed former WWE champion Brock Lesnar. Last Saturday, mixed martial arts (MMA) fans finally got to see if he had what it takes to compete in real fighting rather than fake, and the answer is undoubtedly, yes. Lesnar was matched against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and although he lost the fight, he proved that he belongs in the octagon.

From the onset of the fight, Lesnar easily overpowered Mir (who is a large heavyweight fighter) and was landing devastating strikes. In a matter of moments Mir was bloody and bruised- undoubtedly it seemed the fight was going to be over in a matter of moments. But then came the “upset.” Mir showed off his ju-jitsu expertise when Lesnar made the rookie mistake of leaving a leg open for a knee bar and Mir swept in and scored the submission victory.

Without a doubt Lesnar was owning the fight until the moment of his submission, and his display on Saturday was promising. Without a doubt, once Lesnar has a bit more experience in the world of MMA he will be a force to be reckoned with. Mir won via experience alone.

The co-main event of the evening was a title fight between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Nogueira, and this fight concluded in the first few minutes of the third. Now, most people hate watching Sylvia fight because he is boring. But because he wins against quality competition, he is often in the octagon fighting in a five round bout (championship bout), so I was not overly excited to see Sylvia fight.

What I was excited about, though, was being able to see Nogueira go to work for the title. Well, first off, from the get go, it seemed like Sylvia was going to finish the fight in the first round, and then the second, but Nogueira did what he does best and survived the storm. Then in the third round, Nogueira used his ju-jitsu expertise to lock in the guillotine choke and submit the former champ to win the belt. Once again, it proves that developed skill can conquer brute force. It happened in the previous fight and in this one as well.

With the win, Nogueira became the first Pride champion to hold a UFC belt as well. And with Mir’s win, he may have established himself as a legitimate contender again, and has opened a door to a rematch with Tim Sylvia to establish a contention fight, a fight that classic fight fans have been waiting for since Mir broke Sylvia’s arm a few years ago. Even thought the fight card wasn’t as stacked as next month’s card, it was a quality night and established contention status in the heavyweight division.

SUPER BOWL RUMINATIONS

18-and-no championship

By Jeff Bogosian

Today I was in class learning about trade routes in the dark ages and for some strange reason all my notes turned out to say the same thing “Eli (expletive) Manning.”

In Boston sports history, changing opposing players middle names to (expletive) have been reserved for the players that defeated the Redsox with one swing of the bat. People like Bucky (expletive) Dent hit a home run against the Sox in a 1978 tie-break game to keep the Sox out of the play offs. Aaron (expletive) Boone earned his nickname by coming out of obscurity to hit a game winning walk off homerun in the bottom of the eleventh inning in Game 7 of the ALCS. This weekend Eli Manning gained this notorious nickname by engineering a last-minute touch down drive to win the Super Bowl.

The Giants in Super Bowl XLII were huge underdogs and given almost no chance to win; apparently they didn’t get the news. This shock can best be described in the words of my friend Sam Perry when he said, “It feels like my girlfriend just broke up with me and then kicked me in the testicles.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. They came out with intensity while the Patriots came out flat, as if burdened by their undefeated record. Eli Manning, who is known for throwing interceptions and not having what it takes to succeed, changed that during the post season. He became Mr. Reliable, Mr. Automatic. His sure fire accuracy left me asking one question over and over again: he knows he’s Eli Manning not Peyton... right?

Peyton, over the last half decade being the Patriots’ biggest rival and foe, has dealt The Patriots many blows during his time in the NFL, most notably last year in the AFC championship game. This year Eli stepped up to the plate to end our season with a loss. This prompted the next thought to go through my head —who’s going to beat us next year? Cooper?

That’s right, my prediction for the Patriots season next year is going 16-0 in the regular season then being defeated by the Dolphins, who with their first round pick selected Cooper Manning, older brother of Peyton and Eli.

This probably seems completely outlandish to most of you reading this, seeing how he hasn’t played football since his days at Ole Miss, before he was diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis. But to the fans like me who, after seeing Eli’s performance on Sunday, believe that the Manning family is bred with a special Patriot-killing chromosome, you know what I’m saying is true.

In this new world that was created on Sunday, everything I thought I knew is now wrong: black is white, up is down and, most shockingly, Eli Manning won the Super Bowl. This just proves that no off-season trade, no free agent pick-up, no Tom Brady to Randy Moss record breaking touchdown most prolific offense in history can hold a candle to pure luck.

So from the bottom of my heart, congratulations Eli (expletive) Manning. Go sky diving, drive 150 mph and play the lottery because on Sunday you proved you are the luckiest person in the world.

Super Bowl became super disaster

By Adam K. Ellis

Within the realm of sports, I am a fanatic who always has an opinion on a certain matter, so it’s fun to discuss what’s on my mind. Most days, I just jump onto a computer with a certain strain of thought and I don’t stop until I have romantically tangled my thoughts into something that I believe to be a decent article.

But being a writer, as well as a fan, it’s sometimes difficult to remove myself from events that occur and write objectively. So when I tell you how difficult it is to place into words the disappointment of Super Bowl Sunday: believe me, it’s not easy.

Throughout the season, I stressed to my readers the historical significance of what was happening. Win or lose I reasoned, it is highly unlikely that we will ever witness a team heading undefeated into the Super Bowl.

Watching the Patriots march towards perfection was as good, or perhaps even better than watching the Sox in 04’. Not taking any credit away from the self-proclaimed “Idiots of 04”, but to go undefeated in the current day NFL would have to be considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest sports’ achievement ever.

And despite struggling for the better half of fifty-three minutes, the Patriots offense finally began to find a rhythm late in the fourth quarter when it mattered most. Brady, who had been knocked around and shaken up all game, finally began to look like the man who had thrown for over 4,800 yards and 50 regular-season touchdown-passes.

Starting at their own 20, Brady began to sling the ball around the field as if it were a playground, completing 7-of-10 passes for 65 yards, and bringing the Pats all the way down to the six. With three minutes remaining and a chance to finally regain the lead, Brady airmailed a wide-open Randy Moss in the endzone.

Brady’s face grimaced with disappointment as he walked back towards the huddle, knowing he missed a grand opportunity. Two plays later, showing the perseverance that has defined his brilliant career, Brady went right back to Moss for what many New Englanders hoped to be, the game-winning touchdown.

With two minutes and forty-two seconds left, the Patriots were knocking on the doorstep of immortality. Seventeen victories, thirteen broken records, and one SpyGate controversy later, perfection was within our grasp. All we needed was one defensive stop. Just one stop.

And if I could stop the narration here, I would march off singing to the tune of a 14-10 victory, hand-in-hand with Tom. I mean…..ummmmm…….GISELE.

But as much as I’d like to forget Super Bowl XLII (and believe me, I tried), history was written in a different fashion Sunday night.

The Twilight Twenty

Unfortunately, the twenty-minutes that existed between Randy Moss’ clear-out touchdown dance and Eli Manning hoisting up the Lombardi trophy, was so surreal, that the only Hollywood depiction that could do it justice, would be The Twilight Zone. And count yourself, as well as myself, as a character in the movie.

The sequence of events that followed were both as indescribable as they were unfathomable. Players such as Rodney Harrison and Asante Samuel, whose late-game big-play theatrics have become expected by fans, somehow dropped two-surefire interceptions. Rookie safety Brandon Meriweather accounted for another interception that could have been caught.

The Play

Those plays may have been bad, but none ripped out the hearts of New Englanders all over the region, such as the following:

On third-and-five, with a little more than a minute remaining, Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour nearly rip off Eli Manning’s jersey. Manning scrambles away from the impending doom, fires a 40 yard bullet to the Giants # 6th receiver on the depth chart, David Tyree.

Tyree being covered tightly, managed to jump up and out-muscle future Hall-of-Fame safety Rodney Harrison, balancing the ball with one-hand on his helmet, as he acrobatically outstretches his body backwards. Add to that, Tyree had five catches all year before the Super Bowl.

Heartbreak and Conspiracy

As a love-lost individual does with pictures of an old relationship, I forced myself to re-watch the Super Bowl on Monday. Once again, I came to the same conclusion as I did the night before: WE SHOULD HAVE WON.

It’s the same feeling I had the previous year when we had the Colts on the ropes early, only to watch the game slip away in the waning moments. And the year before that, when Brady marched down the field on the Broncos in search of the lead, only to watch Champ Bailey run away with a Brady pass as well as our Patriots’ season.

Come to think of it, they remind me of a certain team we used to know: Our beloved pre-2004 Boston Red Sox. Think about it. Heart-breaking defeats; late-game losses on the biggest stages; a team that sucks you in only to stab you in the back. We may have exorcised the curse of the Great Bambino, but the curse of the great Rohan Davey lives on.