Cooley and Herbie's post-game thoughts

Despite the inherent disappointment in their voices, head coach Ed Cooley and senior guard Herbie Allen managed to maintain their optimism heading into next week's showdown against Manhattan in the MAAC Tournament. Cooley even sounded a bit excited toward the end.

Here's their unedited press conference. I'll have a column, a profile, and another random blog post later on today. Here's some things to note:

• The 'we won a lot of battles today' line
• Some lovin' for Sean Crawford
• Cooley's hilarious 'Night Before you get married analogy' to Herbie, which was then directed at me.
• A Nero update - sounds like he's going to give it a go in Albany. But Cooley referenced "a couple of active bodies". I guess that just means a well-rested group, because I can't see them forcing Peanut Johnson to play, and Warren's injury is most certainly season-ending.
  

Head Coach Ed Cooley

Opening remarks

Cooley: Obviously, I’m very, very proud of our effort; of our resiliency, especially down the stretch. We just couldn’t catch that last break. Whether they had a second shot. I definitely thought we had them on the ropes. We went with our full-court pressure. We just couldn’t get that one last rebound or that one last lay-up. But we have to try to put this one behind us quick and look forward to the MAAC Tournament. It’s the old cliché, but everyone is even going up there. We may be playing on someone’s home-court, but that’s a debate for another day. So, I’m really proud of our effort, and we’re looking forward to going up to Albany and giving it our best.

On the maturation of the team’s new lineup

Cooley: Well, it’s the only lineup I’ve got. I think our guys have done a really good job, I’ve been saying it now for a month. When you look at all the adversity, it’s helped us all grow in a lot of ways, not just from a basketball perspective but from a life perspective. Taking advantage of opportunity when it is given, and today was another good example to grow from. We may be on the losing end, but there were a lot of winning battles in this game.

On whether the team’s new lineup has changed the team’s identity

Cooley: Yeah, I think we have. Normally my teams are physical and long and girth-y and athletic. Again, but if you lose what we’ve lost… I told you guys the last time. If there is a coach in the country that can go through what we just went through, and win the game that we’ve won and compete the way that we’ve competed… send me that CD and take me to his clinic, because I want to buy stock now. It’s frustrating in some sense and rewarding in others, because we’ve seen so many other young man step up, in particular Herbie, whose here with us fighting through everything.

On the spark Sean Crawford provided off the bench

Cooley: Yeah, we talked about that in the locker room prior to us walking up. You know, again, someone stepping in… it was the right time and the right call for him. He gave us a big, big push. Hopefully it is something that he can continue to grow on. It was the right time to put him in.

On the quick turnaround to play Manhattan next weekend

Cooley: I think it is luck of the draw a little bit. Both teams are familiar with each other. I’m just glad we’re not playing Loyola. Two years in a row playing those guys up there and coming up short both times in the last possession, both games. I’m pretty sure Manhattan is happy to play us and we’re happy to play them, and that’s reality. If we do some little things, hopefully we’ll be fortune. We’ve got to get healthy, though. Got to get healthy. I’d love a couple of active bodies back that can help this young man go out in style.

On the status of forward Greg Nero

Cooley: Hopefully Greg watched. He’s actually home. He’s actually home resting. We’ll probably have a word on him Monday or Tuesday on his health.

Senior guard Herbie Allen

On his mindset heading into the MAAC Tournament

HA: I’m ready. We’re ready. We just have to come out this week. Come out and work on the little things that we did not do in this game, like box-out. We didn’t really box-out and get the rebounds; second shots really hurt us today. But our team always comes out and plays hard every game. I have no doubt that we came out (today) and played 110 percent. We’ve been in almost every game, except for one (at Niagara). I believe we kept ourselves in a hole. We were down nine in two different situations today, and we wasted a lot of energy trying to get back into the game. We just have to work on staying in the game and not getting ourselves into a deep hold. (Cooley: “That’s a great point”)

On whether he feels this ‘new’ Stags team can beat any team in the MAAC

HA: Absolutely, we’re going to play hard.

Cooley: Absolutely

On whether he approaches the MAAC Tournament differently because he is a senior

HA: I’m going to approach it like these last five or six games our team has played. We are going to come out and play hard and play forty minutes a game.

Cooley: I told Herbie, it is a lot like the night before you get married… these games like that. Do you really want to step to that altar? Oh. You’re saying to yourself, “This is it.” You guys will go through that, you wait and see. Absolutely. You can tell my wife that, I still think about that now.

In case you're in the Captial Region...

Here's a pocket schedule for next week's tourney:

Session I: Thursday, March 5, 2009 - Women's First Round

#7 Rider v. #10 Niagara                               12:00pm

#8 Manhattan v. #9 Loyola (Md.)                 2:00pm

 

Session II: Friday, March 6, 2009 - Women's Quarterfinals

#2 Canisius v. Rider/Niagara                      9:30am

#3 Fairfield v. #6 Siena                                11:30am

#1 Marist v. Manhattan/Loyola                     1:30pm

#4 St. Peter’s v. #5 Iona                               3:30pm

 

Session III: Friday, March 6, 2009 -Men's First Round

#8 Loyola v. #9 Canisius                              7:30pm

#7 Iona v. #10 Marist                                    9:30pm

 

Session IV: Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Women's Semifinals

Winner of Canisius/Play-In v. Fairfield/Siena         9:30am

Winner of Marist/Play-In v. Iona/St. Peters’            11:30am

 

Session V: Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Men's Quarterfinals

#4 Manhattan v. #5 Fairfield                                    2:30pm

#1 Siena v. Loyola/Canisius                                    5:00pm

 

Session VI: Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Men's Quarterfinals

#2 Niagara v. Iona/Marist                             7:30pm

#3 Rider v. #6 St. Peter’s                             10:00pm

 

Session VII: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Women's Championship Game (MSG)     12:00pm

 

Session VIII: Sunday, March 8, 2009 - Men's Semifinals

Manhattan/Fairfield v. Siena/Play-In                       6:00pm

Niagara/Play-In v. Rider/St. Peter’s                        8:30pm

 

Session IX: Monday, March 9, 2009 –

Men's Championship Game (ESPN2)                   9:00pm

Dempsey gets defensive

Here's some post-game quotes from Lawrenceville. I'll start with Rider, where head coach Tommy Dempsey used the press conference as a formu to voice his offense regarding supposed "harsh" coverage his team has received this season and the lack of recognition they're getting in league circles.  I suppose he's referring to the fact that the Broncs aren't really in conversation with the "MAAC Elite" (i.e. Siena and Niagara). But when you lose to St. Pete's and Canisius, what do you expect?

As for the 'consensus' comment, draw your own conclusions. But Ben Doody's words have readers drinking plenty of 'Hatorade' lately. 

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Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey:

Opening remarks:

“Again, we just found a way to win. I think that’s what this team is pretty good at. It’s not always perfect, to say the least. I thought we were pretty sloppy today. But, again, we seem to come in here and talk about how it’s not perfect, but most of the time they’re wins. I think that, as you look back now… I know the consensus seems to be that it has been an up-and-down year, but the reality is that we have 18 wins, twelve league wins in a great league – I don’t consider that an up-and-down year. I think that’s a great year. We’ve won nine of our last twelve to end the season, and four in a row. That’s what I’m trying to focus on, the positives as we head into the MAAC tournament.

 

On his defensive reaction and his disagreements with public perception

“I think expectations have gotten to the point that the tone of everyone is always, “Ugh. That was sloppy. That was this, that was that.” I have to defend (my players) because look what we have done. The league is great. We’re three games clear of the team that finished fourth. We have beaten everybody in the league. I do feel like I have to defend. It’s been a very good year and I don’t feel like that is getting recognized right now.

 

On why that is the case

Just the consensus.

 

On the matchups against Fairfield today as compared to the (date) game at Alumni Hall

Well, they’re different right now. They’re big guys aren’t there. They’re playing a much quicker group and, in a strange way, they matched up (with us) a little bit better. Before the guys got hurt, they were so big and physical, and we were kind of stronger and quicker, whereas today they started a four-guard lineup and I felt they were able to guard us better. I thought their matchups, especially defensively, were better with this group versus when everybody was healthy.

 

On whether or not Fairfield’s lack of size and strength hurt them down the stretch

Yeah, I think we got the ball in the paint, we dominated the glass, we went to the free throw line – those kinds of things were the difference in the game. If we took care of the ball better, I think we would’ve been in better control of the game. We were a little sloppy today. I think we threw the ball around a little too much. 22 turnovers are very uncharacteristic of our teams. I think that is what gave them a chance to hang in the game.

 

Rider guard Ryan Thompson

If the team is playing with a chip on their shoulder due to a lack of recognition

Not really. It really doesn’t bother us. Everybody is competitive in this league. We take every game one-step at a time and treat every game as if it is our last.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Doody

Another Fairfield/Rider game, another 'Doody Calls' return to the Mirror Sports Blog.

Back by popular demand, the former E-I-C and current assistant sports editor/columnist at 'The Trentonian' was nice enough to sit down and chat with me about tomorrow's game and the state of our teams heading into tourney time. Ben's likely to be helping us (and maybe even crashing with us) with our wall-to-wall covearge in Albany, so be ready for plenty of quality input and insight come next weekend.

And without further adu...

Here's the Q's:

1. What is the fundamental difference between Rider now and the Rider team we saw at Alumni Hall in late January?

Ben Doody: Justin Robinson has moved permanently to the 2 (with Ryan Thompson at the point) and become a very serious scoring threat. Before the first Fairfield game, Robinson had scored in double figures four times in 15 games. Starting with that game, he's done so in nine out of 10 games, including the last seven in a row. One reason for that is he had arthroscopic knee surgery about three weeks before the season started, and it took him a while to get going. Another is that partially because Harris Mansell has been in and out of a shooting slump for most of the year, Rider has gone to Robinson more often. He's shooting 48 percent from 3, so I'd say they've been rewarded for doing so.

2. If Siena and Niagara are 1 and 1A in the MAAC, is Rider the hands-down "next best"?

B.D.: First, I agree that Niagara is No. 1A in the MAAC and not No. 2, which I wouldn't have said until the Purple Eagles took care of the Saints with such ease the other night in Lewison. As for as the best of the rest, you'd have to say it's the Broncs, since they're the only other team to have beaten Siena, and because they split with Niagara. But the gap between Niagara and Rider is bigger than the gap between Rider and the Manhattans and Fairfields of the world.

3. Post-season Awards: Is Ryan Thompson a first-team All-MAAC selection? Gadson a possible ROY?

B.D.: I think Thompson is a shoo-in for first-team all-MAAC and Gadson is in a two-way race with Scott Machado of Iona for ROY. Until the last two weeks, I thought Gadson was the clear frontrunner, but that was before Machado won two more ROWs and Gadson had several off-games. But Gadson took a step forward against Loyola. He was suspended for the first half for violating team rules (which can't help him but probably won't hurt him much either) and Rider trailed by 13 at the break. He scored 12 points in 13 minutes in the second half and Rider came back to win. To me, that's a pretty good demonstration of his value to his team.

4. Just by looking at season results, it seems as if the Broncs have been a bit streaky and an enigma (wins vs. Niagara and Siena, losses to Canisius, SPC). What gives?

B.D.: I think that's symptomatic of young teams. It's easy to forget because Thompson and Mansell are their most visible players, but seven of the first nine guys in their rotation are freshmen and sophomores. When you consider their ability to win without big-time performances from Mansell (the only contributor they'll lose to graduation), they should be better and much more consistent next year.

5. If Rider is to make a noise in Albany next week, (blank) must happen and (blank) must step up. [I think you know where I'm going with there. Any predictions are fine. Be as creative as you'd like.]

B.D.: The answer for the first blank is lights-out 3-point shooting, which they've gotten in both of their key wins this year. They shot 58 percent from 3 against Siena and 62 percent against Niagara. For the second blank, they'll need good performances from just about all of their regulars, but I'll say Mansell. When he's on, they have three very dangerous outside shooting threats (Thompson and Robinson being the others), which many teams don't have.

OT:

1. It's baseball season... any bold AL East Predictions?

B.D.: I don't think I wrote this anywhere, so I guess you'll have to take me at my word, but I predicted in our news room last March that the Rays would make the playoffs. Everyone laughed at me, then I laughed in their faces when the Rays went to the World Series. (Then they had the last laugh when the Phillies -- the team of choice in greater Trenton -- beat the Rays into submission in the World Series). Since the Rays making the playoffs is no longer an absurd concept and the Blue Jays and Orioles both totally stink, I don't have anything bold for you. I'll just second Baseball Prospectus' opinion and pick the Red Sox to go 98-64 and win the division and the Yankees to go 96-66 and win the Wild Card. Then the Red Sox will beat the Yankees in six games in the ALCS before losing to the Cubs in the World Series. Now there's an absurd prediction for you.