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2000-2001
season
Illini men's basketball outlook
By Greg
Taylor
[NOV.
17, 2000]
The
Illinois basketball team enjoyed a very good season last year, but many
fans viewed the year with some amount of disappointment. Why? Because
preseason expectations from both the media and central Illinois fans were
sky high. Viewing last year objectively, it is really difficult to not see
great progress on many fronts. Illinois welcomed three new starters
(Lincoln's Brian Cook, Frank Williams and Marcus Griffin) and also played
one of the most challenging schedules in the country. Illinois enjoyed a
few strong stretches last season but was never able to establish a
consistent level of play. However, Illinois is being tabbed by many
experts to have a phenomenal season on the hardwood, and expectations for
the 2000-2001 are already sky high.
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Listed
below are five reasons to get excited about Illinois basketball, followed
by the current Illini roster, including a brief biographical sketch for
each player.
Top five reasons to get crazy-excited about
the Illini
1.
"WE ARE FAMILY"
Eight
of the top nine players from the 1999-2000 season return, including all
five starters. A major weakness of last year's version of Illinois
basketball was the team chemistry, or lack of it. The good news is this:
Every single Illinois player, except new freshman Nick Smith of Florida,
spent the entire summer in Champaign in preparation for this year.
2.
SCHEDULE breaks during the conference season
Once
again, Illinois will line up to face Indiana (away), Purdue (away),
Wisconsin (home) and defending national champion Michigan State (home)
only once during Big Ten play, while enjoying home and away scheduling
with struggling teams like Northwestern, Minnesota, Penn State and Ohio
State.
3.
LEADERSHIP, Leadership, Leadership!
Illinois
fielded the one of the youngest teams in the country the past two seasons,
after starting five seniors during their Big Ten championship season in
1997-1998. This year, Illinois will start two seniors and a junior and
will feature a lineup with six seniors and juniors among their top nine
players.
4.
BACKCOURT excellence!
Every
college basketball magazine listed Illinois' guard tandem of Cory Bradford
and Frank Williams as the best in the Big Ten, if not the best in the
country. Most experts believe the NBA is a big man's game, while college
basketball is a guard-driven game. If Bradford and Williams continue to
excel, 2000-2001 could be a special season in Champaign.
5.
The BILL SELF system!
All signs
in Champaign point to a high-energy, up-tempo game plan on both ends of
the court. Illinois has great depth and the athletes necessary to promote
this potential strength. Most Illini fans watched in horror as Florida
wore down Illinois in the second half of their second-round NCAA tourney
game last March. Coach Self is determined to install a similar system. And
by the way, the last time an Illinois coach turned loose a group of great
athletes was the fall of 1988, and the result was a season to savor,
including a trip to the Final Four.
![](../../images/ads/neal_tire/WinterCare.gif)
Illinois basketball roster
Seniors
Sergio
McClain, 6'4", 230, Peoria, Manual HS
A
natural leader, McClain will need to step forward and show leadership,
while being content being the fifth option on offense. A great defender,
he will probably guard several All-Americans this season, including Shane
Battier of Duke and Kareem Rush of Missouri.
Marcus
Griffin, 6'9", 235, Peoria, Manual HS (Lincoln College)
Can
be a great low-post defender and rebounder and will need to be in Illinois’
hopes to contend for the Big Ten title. Also, gives the Illini a great
one-two punch down low when playing alongside Brian Cook.
Nate
Mast, 5'11", 170, Champaign, Central HS
Walk-on
from Champaign is a great practice player, but Illinois is in huge trouble
if Mast gets any significant minutes.
Joe
Cross, 6'2", 200, Carbondale, Carbondale HS
Ditto
Mast.
Juniors
Cory
Bradford, 6'3", 200, Memphis, Tenn., Raleigh Egypt HS
Preseason
player-of-the-year pick by both the coaches and the media. Look for
Bradford to excel in Self's up-tempo system. Can slide over and play point
guard when Williams is on the bench but will spend most of his time in the
shooting guard role he has performed in so well.
![](../../images/ads/BradNeal/BradNeal.gif)
[to top of second column in
this section] |
Lucas
Johnson, 6'8", 230, Des Plaines, Maine West HS
Johnson
is Illinois' version of Brian Cardinal and will probably become the Illini's
sixth man. A very flexible player, Johnson can play on the wing or down in
the post. More than likely he will get most of his minutes sharing the
"3" spot with Sergio McClain.
Damir
Krupalija, 6'9", 230, Rockford, Boylan HS
An
incredible rebounder, Damir could become a serious force in the low post,
providing great depth behind Cook and Griffin. However, he must overcome
constant injury problems and play within the team system.
Robert
Archibald, 6'11", 250, Baldwin, Mo., Lafayette HS
Will
start the season as the backup center, playing behind Cook and Griffin. His
five fouls per game will be needed once the rough-and-tumble conference
season begins.
![](../../images/ads/medicap/MedCap1.gif)
Sophomores
Brian
Cook, 6'10", 240, Lincoln, Lincoln HS
The
sky is the limit for this former Lincoln HS standout. Cook will be given
several opportunities to become the No. 1 option on offense, and Self
appears to love his ability to play both inside and out on offense. Cook
will also benefit from having Griffin guard the premier low-post threat on
respective teams’ rosters.
Frank
Williams, 6'3", 205, Peoria, Manual HS
Could
be a first team All-American or could cause coach Self to pull his hair out.
Simply put, Frank Williams is the only person who can stop Frank Williams
from becoming a superstar and an NBA first-round draft pick. If Frank
becomes the point guard that coach Self is envisioning, championships will
follow closely behind.
Sean
Harrington, 6'3", 185, Bartlett, Elgin HS
The
LDN was not real excited when Sean Harrington signed with Illinois. However,
we have been pleasantly surprised with his progress, and we see major
contribution from Harrington this season. He can back up both Bradford and
Williams and is able to shoot well under pressure.
Freshmen
Brett
Melton, 6'5", 195, Mahomet, Mahomet-Seymour HS
Class
A players have typically struggled at Illinois and other Division 1 schools
(although Brian Cardinal was able to break this cardinal rule), but Melton
appears to have the athleticism and shooting skills to contribute in his
freshman season at Illinois.
Nick
Smith, 7'2", 245, Valrico, Fla., Bloomingdale HS
The
2000 Florida High School player of the year fits into coach Bill Self's
plans for 2001-2002, but not before. Translation: Smith will redshirt.
Jerrance
Howard, 6'1", 190, Peoria, Central HS
Howard
could become a defensive specialist and back up point guard in the mold of
former Indiana and Peoria Central standout Chris Reynolds.
The
Bill Self era is here, and all the speculation will be worthless after 7
p.m. Friday night, when Illinois opens their season at home against Maine.
The LDN encourages Illini fans to take advantage of the four non-conference
home games this year and cheer the Illini on to victory. Listed below are
the November and December Assembly Hall Illini games:
Friday,
Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. vs. Maine
Sunday,
Nov. 26, at 3 p.m. vs. Texas Southern
Wednesday,
Dec. 6, 7 p.m. vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Saturday,
Dec. 9, at 1 p.m. vs. Seton Hall
GO
ILLINI!!!
[Greg
Taylor]
|
2000-2001
Illinois men's basketball roster:
http://fightingillini.fansonly.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/ill-m-baskbl-mtt.html
2000-2001
Illinois men's basketball schedule:
http://fightingillini.fansonly.com/sports/m-baskbl/ill-m-baskbl-sched.html
Men's
college basketball polls:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/men/polls/
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Illini
hoop team ready to examine its Self
By Jeff
Mayfield
[NOV.
16, 2000]
Brian
Cook and the U of I men’s basketball team are ready to begin a new era
of Illini basketball. Under the hard-driving direction of new head coach
Bill Self, Illinois will do just that in the Assembly Hall this weekend.
The first game matches the Fighting Illini with the Black Bears of Maine.
No one is quite sure how good the Illini can be, but look at these poll
results. The AP writers tab us as the eighth-best team in the country. The
coaches’ poll lists us as No. 9 in all the land, and now Sports
Illustrated has probably cursed us more than it’s helped us by ranking
us No. 4 in the nation. This week the LDN gives a short overview of the
upcoming season. In the days ahead we’ll also give you loyal readers an
outlook on the Lincoln Railers’ upcoming season as well. This is my
favorite time of the year. Let the games begin!!!
|
Personally,
this season is going to be a huge adjustment for me. I’m not just
speaking of the fact that my new son will be born any day now. I’m going
through Lon Kruger withdrawals! You see, I loved Coach Kruger. To me, he
represented everything that is good about college basketball. I’m told
that I will love Bill Self, too. I hope the jury is right about that.
Right now I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Again,
it’s not just all of the excitement leading up to the birth of my child.
It is also the excitement leading up to the birth of our new Illini. What
will they be like? Who will they look like? How will they act? These are
just a few of the questions that I’ve been pondering.
I’m
more than a little concerned about our high ranking. I hope it does our
recruiting wonders. However, I have always been of the notion that it’s
better to come out of nowhere and knock people off than it is to have a
target on your back. Maybe I’m just too snakebitten by what we’ve
endured in Illini football and years of Illinois sports frustrations.
Maybe I should take my normal "glass is half full (or a little more
in the right light)" optimism and say that coach Self is going to
extract so much out of this team that a dynasty will be started with this
edition of the Illini. Forgive me for only being cautiously optimistic. I
want to believe. Bless my unbelief.
The players
Actually,
Illinois is returning all five starters from last year’s team. In fact,
six of the Illini’s most-used eight players were either freshmen or
sophomores a year ago.
A
lot will depend on how point guard Frankie Williams matures in his role of
quarterbacking the team. As Illinois strung off 12 of its last 15
contests, Williams averaged 4.2 assists and only 2.3 turnovers a game over
that span. If he can repeat and improve on that performance, spaceship
Assembly Hall will be launched into orbit.
Cory
Bradford, who will be starting his junior year, has already been named by
some publications as the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year! I hate
those things. They’re sometimes the kiss of death. I hope it does
nothing but motivate Cory and the boyz to go out and dominate their
opponents.
The
closest thing that the Fighting Illini have to a true presence in the post
is Marcus Griffin. After honing his skills right here at Lincoln College,
Marcus emerged last season as a force when he was healthy.
Sergio
McClain can occasionally go inside and muscle with the big boys and still
is one of the Illini’s best defensive players.
On
the other end of the spectrum is Lucas Johnson. Even though he can and
will mix it up, his ability to step out to the perimeter and consistently
hit shots has been a big boost for Illini fortunes.
That
brings us to Lincoln’s favorite son, Brian Cook. Brian was voted as the
co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year (I like it when the awards come after the
season) and that was in spite of getting little playing time early in the
conference season. He did not put on as much weight as many thought he
would. Sports Illustrated is reporting that Brian told them that he never
ate breakfast and sometimes skipped lunch, too. Apparently, the coaching
staff force-fed him and locked him in the weight room, for now he’s a
formidable 245-pounder! If he can even equal last season’s output, much
less improve on it, the Illini are destined to have a very solid year.
The
bench should also be deep and may make the difference as to how far
Illinois can go in 2001.
[to top of second column in
this section] |
The schedule
In
a word, absolutely-totally-brutal! (OK—so I can’t count—send me to
Florida if you must!) Of all the great things that Lon Kruger did for
Illinois basketball, the one thing he did not do for coach Self was to leave
a cupcake schedule. We’ve gotta play Duke,
Seton Hall,
Texas, Missouri and possibly Arizona twice, not to mention other possible
tournament matchups, all…before Christmas! If we were the Lakers, I’d
say bring ‘em all on…but, since we’re not…I hope it doesn’t rattle
our confidence. There I go again with my cautious optimism. Someone please
tell me to take two aspirin and that everything will be all right in the
morning entering the Big Ten portion of the schedule. I’m so rattled right
now; I’m going to save my Big Ten review for you until after the holidays.
The intangibles
No
team in the country may be better equipped for this critical area than the
Illinois Fighting Illini. As I mentioned earlier, my friends in the know say
that we’re going to love coach Self. Chris Widlick of Channel 3 TV in
Champaign told me Saturday that we’re going to love him and that he’s
going to make a difference for us. I hope that he and all the other
prognosticators are right. I would love to see a "special" season
in Chambana!
Another
intangible in our favor is our crowd, when it shows up. I don’t mean just
their physical presence in the Hall, I mean when they show up to do battle.
I thought we had learned our lesson well a few years ago when we magically
stole a Big Ten title. I’ll never forget the raucous crowd the night we
completely destroyed Michigan State. I told Coach Izzo, who is a friend of
former Lincoln resident Craig Zastrow, that he could expect more of the same
every time he comes calling on us.
In
case you’ve been off the planet for a while, I’m a lot like Z-93…I’m
all Illinois…ALL the time (as a matter of fact, wherever I am in the
world, even when I was in Africa…I am ALWAYS on ILLINI time).
![](../../images/ads/iga/iga.gif)
So,
once again I implore you wonderful, faithful Illini fans to come out in full
force and back the greatest team in all the land! The more a raucous
environment rules the day, the better chance there will be of the Assembly
Hall becoming such a hostile atmosphere that no one will ever want to play
us here. It’s still a long way from that right now.
If I were
forced to give a prediction (which I hope I’m never held at gunpoint to do
such a thing), I would say that the Illini, in spite of a tough schedule,
might still make a run at a 20-win season. Learning a new system with a new
coach, I will go conservative and predict that we will be somewhere around
18-10 going into the Big Ten tournament in March…but you won’t want to
play us in the Big Dance!
[Jeff
Mayfield] |
|
|
Jeff Mayfield interviews Kevin Crawford, LCC
volleyball coach
Part 3
LCC caps 30-win season
with a trip to nationals
National title dream
eludes Angels
[NOV.
16, 2000]
At
one point earlier this season, the Lincoln Christian College women’s
volleyball team had a record of 10-6. It did not appear at that point that
the Angels were going to make a serious bid at another national title.
However, an incredible metamorphosis took place, and LCC put together an
amazing run that resulted in a 30-9 record, a second-place finish at
regionals, an at-large bid to the national tournament and a trip to have
some fun in the sun in Redding, Calif.! The LCC ladies became a true
epitome team with different stars and leaders showing up on different
nights. I met with LCC coach Kevin Crawford (who the LDN believes is one
of the best small-college coaches of any sport) in my office as he was
shaking off the effects of jet lag.
|
[click here for Part 1]
[click here for Part 2]
Q.
What wins stand out in your mind this season?
A.
To us it’s always enjoyable to beat Moody. We beat Moody at regionals. I
believe, in the last two games of the match, that we outscored them 30-5!
That’s always a good win, as they are a fierce rival. Some of the
upper-division schools that we beat — like Knox, Marycrest
International, MacMurray and Greenville — we had to play good matches to
upend them. Those schools are very good to pick off! We also played UIS
very tough.
Q.
How do you compare this team to past teams that you’ve had?
A.
That’s hard to do. In fact, I really don’t like to compare one team to
another. I think this year’s team felt that they were in the shadow of
our ’98 national championship team. I tried not to put them in a
situation or put them under pressure in that way. They were different. I
don’t know what would happen if they played each other. In ’98 we had
a team of stars and not much of a bench. On this team, we had no stars but
a deep bench. Amazingly their stats are very similar. In ’98, if would
have had an injury to a key player, we would not have won it all. This
year, obviously, that was not the case.
![](../../images/ads/maple/maple092500.jpg)
Q.
You have created a dynasty in small-college volleyball at LCC. How have
you done it? What is your secret?
A.
You ask tough questions (ed. note: the LDN is loaded with tough,
hard-working journalists all trying to put out compelling reading for our
loyal followers). I don’t know if I have a secret to do that. I think
the whole process may start in our summer volleyball camps. We get to meet
these girls while they are very young, and you start having a relationship
with them. Then you go and see them play when they are in high school.
Usually you talk to them during the off-season, either by phone calls or
by letters that you send them. We then have them come to our open gym
practices, and they get a chance to meet my players. Those girls are as
much a part of selling the program as anything.
It’s
interesting…in my early years here, our players were not open to having
new players come in, because it jeopardizes their role. Now our team is
comfortable that they want new players that are skilled to come in. We had
one player come in, and she was going to come back for another college
day. The first time she came in, she practiced with us during the spring.
Three people immediately said that ‘She could stay with me,’ when they
found out she was making a return trip. You can’t buy that. They want
quality players…they actually help pick out players. They will let you
know whom they feel comfortable with and whom they don’t.
[to top of second column in
this section] |
When
you look at our team this year and how well they got along and how much they
enjoyed the whole experience, you never saw the same group of players with
each other. Even in warm-ups they’d warm up with different players. When
we’d go out to eat, they’d sit with different people, and I never saw
them get upset with each other.
There
were times when we struggled, like the loss to Clearwater. We had a team
meeting and went over what they were feeling at the time and re-evaluated
what we were doing, and they all contributed to that.
I
wish I had a secret. I could write a book and…(laughter). I think it’s
basically the way we treat them.
Q.
What does the future of Lincoln Christian College volleyball look like?
A.
We’re definitely losing our team captain, Tracy Nolan, and possibly our
defensive specialist, Kim Hageman. Prospects coming in are a 5’10"
girl from Streator, Illinois, by the name of Amanda Cole, who could be an
impact player for us. At this point, everybody else is coming back.
We’re
looking for an outside hitter, and we’d like to pick up another setter.
Setters are sometimes hard to find at our level. We’re very interested in
LCHS sophomore Kari McFadden (by the way congrats to LCHS!). We would be
interested in many of their players, as well as many area players, but they
have to want to come to a Bible college. Darcy White would be an excellent
one to pick up also. She’s a real sweet girl, and I have known her since
she played ball at West Lincoln. She would be an excellent addition to us…I
don’t know if she is interested in us or not. Hopefully we can attract
Kari, as both her mom and dad went to LCC. We’re also looking at some
girls from Hartsburg and from Illini Central. Some girls are even two-sport
athletes. I never discourage them from playing more than one sport.
Q.
How will this team be remembered?
A. They had
the attitude that they would never give up. Even during our final game (a
loss to Mid-America Bible) you could see that they played every point as
hard as they possibly could. Even the final point — as the ball hit the
floor, three players went diving for it. That’s what I’d like to have as
a coach, a team that never says die. Even at nationals, when we lost the
first game of every match, although they were making me a lot older, maybe
they needed that as a challenge. It’s certainly not what we teach, to lose
the first game of the match, but they worked very hard for all the success
that came their way all season long.
In
closing:
Kevin, a
30-9 season, a runner-up spot at regionals, some postseason awards for the
girls, a trip to the Elite Eight in sunny Redding, California…I know it
didn’t finish the way you and the girls had dreamed that it would, but
there are thousands of us who have never advanced to nationals in anything.
On behalf of the LDN and our community, congratulations to you and the
ladies for an outstanding season!
[Jeff
Mayfield] |
Lincoln
Ag Center
1441 State
Route 10 East
Lincoln, IL
217-732-7948 We
support Lincolndailynews.com! Click
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|
|
Jeff Mayfield interviews Kevin Crawford, LCC
volleyball coach
Part 2
LCC caps 30-win season
with a trip to nationals
National title dream
eludes Angels
[NOV.
15, 2000]
At
one point earlier this season, the Lincoln Christian College women’s
volleyball team had a record of 10-6. It did not appear at that point that
the Angels were going to make a serious bid at another national title.
However, an incredible metamorphosis took place, and LCC put together an
amazing run that resulted in a 30-9 record, a second-place finish at
regionals, an at-large bid to the national tournament and a trip to have
some fun in the sun in Redding, Calif.! The LCC ladies became a true
epitome team with different stars and leaders showing up on different
nights. I met with LCC coach Kevin Crawford (who the LDN believes is one
of the best small-college coaches of any sport) in my office as he was
shaking off the effects of jet lag.
|
[click here for Part 1]
(Part
1 ended with this comment from Kevin Crawford, the LCC volleyball coach:
"Even though we did have a couple of All-Americans, we really don’t
have a star.")
Q.
Was it easier to coach these ladies because of that?
A
Well, the last four years we had an All-American in Stephanie Nangle, who
averaged six kills a game. We counted on her so much that the others even
backed off and let her take over. It really forced some of the younger
players to grow up and take a leadership role. People were counting on
them. Even though we finished third in the country last year at nationals,
our stats and our record was much better this year. We played a tough
schedule this year, and we were ranked No. 1 in the nation in the power
rankings for six weeks during the season.
Q.
What memories will you take away from this season?
A.
The big thing that I will take away from this season is that we had a lot
of people step up their level of play. We had a lot of sophomores who will
be leaders for us in the future. It was also satisfying to watch senior
Tracy Nolan, who was a role player on our national champion team in 1998,
come out and become an All-American this year. And she was very deserving
of the award. She was on the floor and always hustling for every ball that
she could get. We had a match before we went to the national tourney, and
she sprained her ankle in it. She sat out one practice and was back in
there the next day! In fact, you would never have known that she was
injured.
Q.
Tell us about some of your players… Who stood out in your mind?
A.
I think it would start with Tracy. She had progressed from being a
defensive specialist her freshman year to being an outside hitter and an
All-American her senior year. She simply made a lot of progress and put a
lot of hard work into it. Even in our spring practices she was very much a
leader both on and off the volleyball court.
Another
girl would be Heather Brock. She is about 5’10" and that’s about
what she brought as a freshman. I thought that Heather would end up having
about four years of just being a really nice practice player for us. But
we had an injury last year and she had the opportunity to move over to
weak-side hitter, and she made that her position. You had to almost kill
her to get her out of there. She came along and led the team in digging,
receiving and blocking.
Those
types of players…you really can’t coach them or make them that way.
They have to come with that kind of determination that if you’re going
to give me an opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it. That’s
what’s really neat about those two girls.
Breanne
Prunty was the same way. She was an outside hitter that we moved to middle
blocker last year, and she made the all-regional team. This year she made
all-regional and All-American and was the No. 2 player in our region. She
worked on her vertical jump during the summer and increased it by 5
inches!
That’s
what makes this team special: how much they will work on things during the
off-season. They worked to improve from last season to this one, and they
stayed with the program for the long haul.
[to top of second column in
this section] |
In
the early years we’d have a player for one or two seasons, and then we
would have to go out and recruit six or seven players every year. That gives
you no continuity whatsoever! Now, we’re down to where we only have to go
after two or three players each season. Lots of times they are now making as
big an impact on the team as the veteran players are.
Another
player that I should mention is Sarah Allen. I know she felt bad when her
sister was injured, but she went in and took her place. One thing that Sarah
can do better than anyone else on our team is that she can hit the ball
right down the line. She has kind of a buggy-whip arm and she doesn’t care…she
just goes up and hits the ball as hard as she possibly can, every time. In
the past, she’d hit it long, she’d hit it in the bleachers or she’d
knock it off the back wall. This year she came in focused and wanting to
play.
The
turnaround in our season was our tournament when we had to play Faith
Baptist of Ankeny, Iowa. Faith had only lost one match all year and that was
to us earlier in the season. They were out to get revenge on us, and Sarah
beat them all by herself! That’s why she was named the MVP of that
tournament!
I’d
also like to mention Tasha Brock. Tasha was not a big contributor statwise,
but she really took on a servant’s role. She came in and did all the ankle
taping and functioned as the team trainer. When players weren’t feeling
well, that’s whom they’d go see. She was the team’s biggest
cheerleader on the bench. When you have players that sit the bench and don’t
mope about their lack of playing time…everyone on the team respected them
for what they do.
Tasha
played the first two weeks of the season and saw that there were people that
were ahead of her. She decided that it might be better if she got off the
team. She found that she really missed it, and about 10 days later asked if
she could rejoin the team. Everyone on the team wanted Tasha back!
![](../../images/ads/BradNeal/BradNeal.gif)
Those
kinds of players you don’t get to see very much. They don’t get the
awards, but she has a huge impact on the team! She’s like the heart and
soul of our ballclub. She has a really sweet spirit. You want players to
accept their role, but you don’t want them to always be satisfied with
that role. You’d like to see them progress as they accept their role. They
know that they come in at certain times and in certain situations. They can
deal with that and still be a motivator and a cheerleader on the bench…that’s
great. That’s pretty much Tasha. She maybe played in three or four matches
this year.
Q.
This had to be a satisfying team to coach?
A. Yes, it
was. At one time early in the season we were only 10-6 (which means the
Angels went 20-3 over their last 23 and were 20-1 going into their last
two!), and then Rachel Allen went down. We went through a period of mourning
where we lost three matches in a row. We went from 10-6 to 30-9! It’s
pretty hard to be upset about that kind of season. When we were 10-6, if you
would’ve told me that we were going to make it to nationals, I would’ve
been pretty excited. If you would’ve told me that we would be eliminated
in the quarterfinals, I would’ve been pretty disappointed. Overall, I am
very pleased.
(To
be continued)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
[click here
for Part 3] |
|
|
Jeff Mayfield interviews Kevin Crawford, LCC
volleyball coach
Part 1
LCC caps 30-win season
with a trip to nationals
National title dream
eludes Angels
[NOV.
9, 2000]
At
one point earlier this season, the Lincoln Christian College women’s
volleyball team had a record of 10-6. It did not appear at that point that
the Angels were going to make a serious bid at another national title.
However, an incredible metamorphosis took place, and LCC put together an
amazing run that resulted in a 30-9 record, a second-place finish at
regionals, an at-large bid to the national tournament and a trip to have
some fun in the sun in Redding, Calif.! The LCC ladies became a true
epitome team with different stars and leaders showing up on different
nights. I met with LCC coach Kevin Crawford (who the LDN believes is one
of the best small-college coaches of any sport) in my office as he was
shaking off the effects of jet lag.
|
Q.
Kevin, tell us about the national tournament.
A.
The national tournament was held at Simpson College in Redding,
California. It’s a three-day format, where the first day, Thursday, is
all pool play. Friday concludes pool play in the morning, and then, based
on your pool-play record, you are then seeded for the quarterfinals on
Friday and the semi-finals on Saturday.
Q.
How did LCC advance to the nationals?
A.
There are eight automatic bids and two at-large bids. You get an automatic
bid by winning your region. We played in the championship match of our
region, and we lost to Northland Baptist. We ended up getting an at-large
bid, and that’s how we qualified for the national tournament. When they
seeded the 10 teams we were seeded No. 2. That was probably the highest
that we’ve ever been seeded. If we would have won our region, we would
have been seeded No. 1.
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Q.
Walk us through the tournament as to how you played.
A.
Our first match was against the No. 10 seed, Johnson Bible College out of
Tennessee. They beat us in the first game 8-15, and we had to come back to
beat them, 15-13 and 15-8. They came out really loose, and they were
having fun playing. We were the No. 2 seed and knew that we should thump
them…so, it put a lot of pressure on us. I think getting that one out of
the way helped. That took us into a game with the No. 8 seed, Baptist
Bible from Missouri. Unfortunately, we came out and played pretty much the
same way, where we lost the first game 12-15 and had to come back to win
the next two, 15-7 and 15-7. Then we got to play the No. 6 seed, Northland
Baptist. They beat us in the regional, but we had beaten them earlier in
the year. Again, we lost the first game of the match, 9-15. That’s when
we finally got determined that we were going to start playing. We played
much better after that in the next two games, and we were able to beat
them 17-15 and 15-8. So, all in all, it was kind of a struggle on
Thursday.
[to top of second column in
this section] |
Q.
Did the format change on Friday or what happened?
A.
No. We had one more match in pool play. That game was against the No. 4
seed, Clearwater Christian (the eventual national champions), who have
advanced to the championship match in each of the last five years! That was
the first time that I felt like we came out too overly concerned about an
opponent. We lost 9-15 and 2-15. We might have been scared. They have a
mystique about them; they also have the No. 1 player in the country, Julie
Hubbard. She is an outstanding middle blocker. We played tentative, and it
was our worst match of the tournament. That made us 3-1 in pool play, and we
got a No. 2 seed out of our pool. That pitted us against the No. 3 seed of
the other pool in the quarterfinals, which was Mid-America (Okla.) Bible
College. They are a really streaky team. They have three girls that are 6
foot or better, including a girl Sara Nailor, who is a junior that they just
picked up who is outstanding. We couldn’t match up with Nailor. She is on
a much higher level than we are. We lost 8-15, 3-15, 15-7 and 14-16.
![](../../images/ads/iga/iga.gif)
Q.
That had to be difficult for you, as you felt you had a chance to win it
all.
A. Yes, I
did. I really thought we had a good chance to win it. But, if you look at
the whole season and if you look at who our team is made up of, we did not
have a star on our team. We had people that could play two or three
positions, and they did. We had Rachel Allen, who may have been our best
freshman, go out with an injury (a torn rotator cuff). In comes her older
sister Sarah, who had been a practice player the previous two years, and she
wins the MVP of our tournament and she makes the all-regional tournament
team! When we get to nationals, Sarah’s down with some kind of a virus
(and had to go to the hospital) and in comes another freshman who plays very
well for us. Even though we did have a couple of All-Americans, we really
don’t have a star.
(To
be continued)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
[click here
for Part 2] |
|
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