Coach Brownell hammers home defense

By Marc Katz | Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 11:38 PM

FAIRBORN — There are always parts to a basketball game a coach isn’t going to like. For instance, the defense in the second half or the shot selection or the inability for anyone to block out underneath.

While he liked the overall results — two victories in three games in the Athletes in Action Classic in Seattle — from more than a week ago, he did find fault in the defense.

After all, the Raiders allowed the fewest points in the Horizon League last season, an average of only 57.5 a game.

So when the Raiders gave up an average of 72.3 points on the road trip, WSU coach Brad Brownell thought he had to do something about it.

He hounded his players to play better defense, and Central Michigan paid the price. The Chippewas are a team that likes to shoot from the outside. Brownell surmised his team could stop that from happening and hold CMU’s inside game down enough to win.

That’s exactly what happened in Tuesday’s 69-53 victory, during which CMU was just 4-of-9 from 3-point range, down from a usual 8.5-for-22.5.

It helped that Vaughn Duggins came back to contribute 21 points off the bench, and Todd Brown added 20, the third time this season he has gone over the 20-point mark. He had five of those games all last season.

Duggins was obvious in his defensive prowess, but maybe Ronnie Thomas and Cory Cooperwood were not. Thomas, who didn’t score any points, led the team with six rebounds, five of them on defense. Cooperwood, who scored seven points, had four rebounds, three on defense.

Now comes a game at Northeastern on Saturday against a team that has allowed an average of just 60 points to two teams and is 1-1. Northeastern knows something about defense, too.

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Raiders win third straight

By Marc Katz | Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 08:47 PM

FAIRBORN — With junior guard Vaughn Duggins coming off the bench to play his first game in nearly a year and scoring 21 points, the Wright State Raiders secured a 69-53 victory over Central Michigan tonight at the Nutter Center.

It was the third straight victory for the Raiders, who went to 3-1.

Duggins, who was hurt almost all of last season and did not play in the first three games this year because of a suspension, entered the game with 16:38 to play in the first half to applause from the crowd of 5,588.

He missed his first shot from the three-point line, then drove the lane for a layup and drew the foul for a three-point play with 14:17 left.

While his play helped, it may not have been needed as the Raiders showed renewed interest in playing defense, holding CMU to only five 3-point shots in the first half (3 made).

The Chippewas had been averaging more than 22 3-point shots a game, but couldn’t find many against the Raiders.

Meanwhile, senior Todd Brown made all four of his 3-point shots in the first half and finished with 20 points.

Last year, the Raiders played at Central Michigan and lost 70-68 in overtime after leading by 10 points with just more than four minutes to play in regulation and by five with just under three minutes left in overtime.

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Memory of last year still burns

By Marc Katz | Monday, November 23, 2009, 06:39 PM

FAIRBORN — Cooper Land says he is playing better this year because everyone else is, too.

‘It makes it a lot easier,” said Land after he finished a Monday afternoon practice to get ready for Tuesday’s game against Central Michigan. “Everyone kind of grew up. We’re not taking anyone for granted.”

This has been a recurring theme with the Raiders, who don’t rely on excuses for their poor 0-6 start to last season. They say they didn’t take the game as seriously as they should have.

“In practices (now) we have enthusiasm,” said Land, who has come off the bench to score 27 points in three games. “Everyone wants to play. There more team spirit. When the coaches talked to us at the beginning of last year and said we weren’t practicing hard enough, I don’t think any of us believed them. I think we just thought it was coach talk.”

Six games later, they found out and finally saved their season to go 20-13. This year, they hope not to hit a downturn.

“There’s better chemistry on this team,” Land said. “We’re looking forward to coming to practice.”

Meanwhile, the media is noticing. Associate head coach Billy Donlon as well as players Todd Brown and John David Gardner were on Channel 22 Monday morning at 8:20 and today Jim Bucher of Channel 2 will broadcast live from the Nutter Center at 5:45, 6:15 and 6:45 this morning.

Prior to the game tonight, Mark Schlemmer will do his WONE-AM (980) sports talk show from the Nutter Center and following the game, Scott Leo will host a post-game review from BD Mongolian Grill in The Greene.

Donlon said he wants the Raiders to “compete at the national level this year,” which it already has, losing by just five points at No. 14 Washington in the opening game.

Also tonight, former Dayton Daily News sports writer Chick Ludwig will be honored by WSU during a time out. Hal McCoy, who recently retired from the DDN along with Ludwig, will also be honored, on Dec. 3.

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Different week, different challenge for Raiders

By Marc Katz | Sunday, November 22, 2009, 09:39 PM

FAIRBORN — Each week is different, Wright State coach Brad Brownell was saying. He has a different approach each week to match.

If he thinks his players are tired, Brownell pulls back on practice. If he thinks the team needs more conditioning, he adds that element.

This early in the season, he’s not so sure what the team will need.

“It’s early in the year,” Brownell said in the wake of winning two games in three days at the Athletes in Action Classic in Seattle. “We’re still trying to figure things out. We didn’t play as well as we needed to if we’re going to be good.

“We shot the ball at a terrific percentage (54 percent), but certainly, we’re glad to be adding Vaughn (Duggins). Now, we’ve got to assimilate him back into the team and see how that affects everything else.”

Games will come rapidly now, but more evenly-spaced. Tuesday, Central Michigan invades the Nutter Center. A year ago, the Raiders went to CMU’s place, squandered a late lead and lost in overtime. This year, Duggins joins the team for the first time this season after sitting out most off last season with an injury. He played in the CMU game and scored only eight points.

After Tuesday’s game, the Raiders go to Northeastern in Boston for a 2 p.m. Saturday game after which, suddenly, the Horizon League begins. Wright State hosts Cleveland State on Thursday, Dec. 3 and Youngstown State on Saturday, Dec. 5.

The next HL game won’t be played until the Raiders visit Chicago for games at Loyola and UIC Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

Why are the first two games set apart from the others? The entire Horizon League participates in ESPN’s Bracket Busters event on Feb. 19-20. That means that weekend can’t be used for league games. Also, the league tournament — again set up to help get some of the games on television, lasts more than a weekend.

That means two games have to be played earlier, and league commissioner Jon LeCrone said most schools have either exams or trips planned for late December. That means two games have to be moved to early December.

And, as Brownell says, what you see now may not be what you see later in the season. It’s just that right now, what you see from the Raiders is mostly good.

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Duggins can set his own pace in return

By Marc Katz | Thursday, November 19, 2009, 11:02 PM

FAIRBORN — Practice looked as usual earlier today.

It’s next Tuesday things will look different. That’s when Vaughn Duggins returns to action.

“I have a lot of work to do,” said Duggins, who has been practicing with the team all fall. “I can’t tell you how excited I am. Last night, I couldn’t get to sleep thinking about it.”

Duggins played in three games last season then, during a Thanksgiving Day practice, injured the ring finger on his right, shooting hand. It was thought to be a bad sprain at first, and Duggins had the finger taped to his middle finger while he attempted to play at Sam Houston State on the following Saturday.

He played. He led the team with 16 points. The Raiders lost and Duggins had his finger x-rayed when he returned home. It was broken, and while there was hope it would heal enough for him to return during the season, it didn’t. After deciding on a medical redshirt year, he had some clean-up done on an ankle.

He pointed to this year when he was picked up near campus on an OVI charge. Coach Brad Brownell suspended him for the first three games of the season, all in Seattle. The Raiders won two, so they’re not exactly needy. Into that situation walks a guy who left the program as its best player.

“It’s been awhile,” Duggins said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m going in there and competing again.”

“Your program is always trying to be bigger than one player,” Brownell said, “but players make a difference. We played all last year without him. We did alright. And we did fine in Seattle. But I’m glad we have him back.”

Talk about your best of both worlds. The Raiders are playing well — especially at guard — and now a player of Duggins’ ability is back in the lineup with no pressure on him to perform at his best immediately.

In three games, WSU guards Troy Tabler, Todd Brown, N’Gai Evans, Scott Grote and Darian Cartharn made 48 of their 90 shots (53.3 percent) and Tyler Koch — also a good shooter — didn’t play long enough to take a shot.

So the Raiders seem set at guard, and Duggins hasn’t even played yet.

By the end of next month, John David Gardner might even join the mix. He has been out with a hip injury.

The Raiders could be in for a very nice season.

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Raiders did it right

By Marc Katz | Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 09:19 AM

FAIRBORN — Unlike the Wright State basketball team, I did some other stuff out in Seattle over the weekend.

The Raiders, of course, just played basketball, although they did walk two blocks one night for dinner, and following closing ceremonies on Sunday (they won two of three games and nearly beat No. 14 Washington), they sang happy birthday and had cake for point guard N’Gai Evans and coach Brad Brownell at Red Robin.

You know, if you want a little of Seattle’s atmosphere, go to Red Robin. They’re all the same, I’m told.

Anyway, the Raiders didn’t have time to walk eight blocks to the Pike Street Market or take a short tram ride to the Space Needle or do anything else.

The games were Friday, Saturday and Sunday against Washington, Portland State and Belmont. WSU arrived Thursday before noon and went directly to practice. The team took the red-eye home Sunday night.

Todd Brown and Troy Tabler made the Athletes in Action all-tournament team. Everybody played, and generally played well. It was a basketball-only trip for them.

I, on the other hand, was with my wife, so there was a little sight-seeing involved, which I add here in case you’re planning a future visit.

The Space Needle offers a spectacular view. My wife took a boat trip around Puget Sound (even I didn’t have time for that) and saw the water house used in Sleepless in Seattle. She said it recently sold for $2.5 million.

Okay, we weren’t going to be in the ballpark on that one.

One morning we even took a trip through the Seattle underground, where the city was first built.

You could also spend hours and hours in the market, which we didn’t, but at least we walked through and it was fascinating.

Now, I’m trying to shake a cold and the Raiders are taking exams. A few of them have spent some time shooting around at the Stezer Pavilion or lifting weights, but the next scheduled practice isn’t until Thursday. The next game in Tuesday, vs. Central Michigan.

That’s the same Central Michigan that came from behind to beat the Raiders in overtime at Mount Pleasant last season.

“After exams this week, all we’ll have to concentrate on is basketball,” said WSU senior Todd Brown.

He certainly isn’t going to go sight-seeing.

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What a difference a year makes

By Marc Katz | Monday, November 16, 2009, 11:04 AM

SEATTLE — Three games into last season, guard Todd Brown scored 11 points. He scored none in the third game, against Miami. Wright State was 0-3, on its way to 0-6.

Three games into this season, Brown has scored 57 points, including 25 during an 82-73 victory over Belmont on Sunday. The Raiders are 2-1.

Three games into last season, guard Troy Tabler had scored 14 points. He also scored none agianst Miami.

Three games into this season, Tabler has 36 points.

Sunday night, both were named to the All-Tournament team in the Athletes in Action Classic at the University of Washington, where the host Huskies won all three games, WSU won two and Belmont one. Washington’s closest game was against WSU, a team Washington beat by five.

“Todd is playing like a senior,” WSU coach Brad Brownell said. “He’s playing like a guy who has urgency. He’s not longer just a shooter. He’s making more plays off the dribble.”

“We pretty much worked over the summer and it’s paying off,” Brown said. “We know we’re a good team. We play defense, and our defense helps our offense. I wanted to come out 3-0, but I take 2-1. It’s a lot better than 0-6.”

After Sunday’s game, the Raiders ate near the airport and took the redeye to Cincinnati, where they expected to arrive about 7 a.m. Monday. Then, they faced a bus trip back to campus and exams this week.

Their next game in Tuesday, Nov. 24, vs. Central Michigan at the Nutter Center. Not only is it WSU’s only home game of the month, it will be the season debut for former All-Horizon League guard Vaughn Duggins, who sat out almost all of last season with an injury.

Duggins was on this trip and practiced with the team, but was suspended by Brownell for an off-court incident.

“The guys are excited about having him back,” Brownell said.

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