Sports Team Performance Evaluation

Table of Contents

• Team Success and Achievements
• Challenging Competitions
• Tournament Performance
• Team Potential and Growth
• Competitive Spirit and Effort
• Strength of Opponents
• Historical Context and Legacy
• Evaluations and Criticism
• Other

Team Success and Achievements

We won the MASCAC every year I played at Salem State. Those were really good times. We went to the Division III Sweet 16 twice while I was there. I also broke my own rebounding record twice.

I heard somewhere that maybe one or two people doubted the capacity of East Carolina University to achieve that great status. It's hard for me to believe that anyone would have doubted us, but I think the record speaks for itself.

This is arguably one of the best teams in school history. It's been a great run.

We won the first two section championships. The second year we beat former USF and Chicago Bulls center Bill Cartwright at Elk Grove in the semifinals.

In two of the past three years, the two schools have been co-champions - some say the Metro title goes through Kennedy. And right now, they're the team to beat.

The year before I got there, KU was in the final four. At that time there were only 32 teams in the tournament. So you had to be one of the best to get in. It wasn't like today where the no. 1 seed plays a 16 seed that barely had a .500 season.

Exeter beat us in the first round two seasons ago. We came back the next year and won the state title.

We accomplished a lot this year. We won 14 games, which I think is overachieving. We beat (ULL) twice and Western Kentucky, which was a big win for our program.

The school has been around for probably 50 years. There's a lot of history here. Back in the 1980s, we had some dominating teams but we just couldn't get to the final. We've been close, but everything just came together this year.

Just winning two state titles in anything, any year is an amazing feat. So to have it done in the same sport by the same school is truly an impressive feat. I think it really speaks to the level of talent in the area.

The people who were here tonight now have an idea of the talent you see at the NAIA National Tournament. This team is every bit as talented as what you see at the nationals. In fact, if this had been 20 years ago when the NAIA had 600 teams, this team could have won it.

It's always difficult to beat a team three times in a row in the same year. We know that having been on both sides, but we've won on the road before to get to the NAIA National Tournament.

This is special. This university has had so many good teams, but it never quite worked out. Tonight it did.

Challenging Competitions

They've won three of their last five and played both Montana and Montana State well on the road, just came up short.

All I know is, as long as I led the Southeastern Conference in scoring, my grades would be fine.

I think on any given night, any good college basketball team can beat another one, particularly in a tournament situation.

There might have been a little tougher competition in the A-10 at the time. Temple always had good teams, and George Washington, Rhode Island and St. Joseph's were tough. But there probably isn't a lot of difference.

The Missouri Valley Conference bought games. And they all have winning records. Did I (say) that they all played tough teams? No. Look at their non-conference schedules.

Only seven wins last year, but we lost our big kid early and we started two freshmen. This year we started two sophomores and a freshman. We played a little better basketball.

There's one team that has separated themselves from the rest of the pack, and that's Cheyenne Mountain. But from the second seed to the 12th, all of those teams are very competitive and can beat anyone.

These AAU teams are amazing. They practice all year. They're well coached. They play a lot of games.

Wright State (0-4) is a tough team to tell anything on by their record. They have played outstanding competition thus far, including two matches with ranked foes (Michigan State and Ball State universities). They should be ready for a competitive match.

We played hard. Illinois is very, very strong, but we competed very well and challenged them.

We played a tough schedule against the top teams from all over Pennsylvania and Ohio. I think it helped us get as far as we did in the district tournament.

We played against the 18th-ranked team out of maybe 350 Division I programs, so we're talking maybe one of the 20 best teams in the country. Harvard is a very solid and very deep team. We played them tough.

It's everything I thought it would be. Us winning at Pacific and Louisiana Tech winning. Fresno State played Creighton very strong. It bodes well for us in general.

Tournament Performance

Both of our NCAA Championships (1999, 2004) came in years where we won the Big East Tournament. Time will tell if that's an automatic correlation. There are no good losses. No moral victories. But I do know this team is one to be reckoned with at the NCAA tourney.

They are an NCAA Tournament team. It was two very good teams playing out there. We won the battle.

That's no easy task for any team. But it was even tougher to beat a team that's as good as Stratford.

That's an NCAA tournament team without a doubt. They've played that way down the stretch.

Air Force is an NCAA Tournament team, no question. They deserve it. I thought they hit huge shots down the stretch.

It was early in the year and we've looked forward to competing against them later in the year, ... They've obviously improved a lot over the course of the year and they beat Illinois, Penn State and Rhode Island. We're the only top-four team they haven't beaten.

They ran pretty well. I was happy with that and I think we can still take some time off of that. I know they can drop that down and be competitive (at State).

We knew what we were getting into with Mount Olive. They are aggressive offensively. Good teams that win in the NCAA Tournament, they hit their free throws.

I thought we played very well in the tournament. And we played really well against what might be the best team in the state regardless of class.

(St. Mary's) was very solid, great in the air and in my estimation an NCAA-tournament team.

Trinity is definitely the best team we played all year. They're certainly stronger than Harvard. They just have balance all the way down. We just found a way today. But that was just a great women's college squash match.

I played AAU against Johnson and Sims and they are obviously very good players. They have some talent on that team. We'll need to play one of our best games to beat them.

It's a remarkable year. All eight teams in the tournament have 20-plus wins. Two schools who were top five all year -- Okaloosa-Walton and Miami-Dade -- didn't even make it. According to most scouts and Division I coaches, we have the best league in the country this year.

Team Potential and Growth

We came here in mid-January both 1-3 in the conference and they haven't really lost since then. I think they're as capable of anyone as winning (the tournament).

Greenfield is currently ranked 10th in the area, but we made them look like state champs. With a few exceptions, we just did not execute well and continued to violate some of the basic rules of wresting.

Only seven wins last year, but we lost our big kid early and we started two freshmen. This year we started two sophomores and a freshman. We played a little better basketball.

Fordham is a good team, and we just came out and put in different things. It was a boost of confidence for us to get a 20-point win and play well.

The last time I checked, we were one of two schools ... that had played against five top 50 teams in the country. The RPI that they're using for the NCAA tournament is largely based on strength of schedule and we were fourth out of 330 teams, so we've absolutely been tested.

Our first couple of years we were really, really strong. We could have competed on the NCAA Division III level and even the Division II level. The past few years we've gone down a bit, even though by club standards we still had really good teams. But when we tried to sep up against some of the NCAA II, III and NAIA teams, we did not fare as well.

We had a really good team that was made up of guys who were very good high school players and competitive guys, but not marquee Division I basketball players. This team reminds me a lot of that.

The whole team ran well, but with this big of a group of schools, it was not easy to make the top eight. We ran some of our fastest times to get in the top 12 to 15 teams. Some of the best Kansas City and St. Louis schools were there in addition to the best athletes from mid-Missouri. This meet was a major showcase of state-wide track talent for this early in the season.

Certainly Ba can be regarded as the team to beat this year.

Winona State is a really good team. Everyone came out and played real well.

Between UMBC and UT-Dallas, they're the two powerhouses of collegiate chess in the country. Third place is fairly distant.

Last year, I took a veteran team there, and we finished seventh. This year, I took a young team, and we placed sixth.

I've had some great standouts the past few years, but this team is just real balanced. This is the strongest team we've had going into the (state) tournament the last three years.

Competitive Spirit and Effort

We beat three of their six state qualifiers right there.

One of the best? They are the best. If you want to make it to the state championship you have to play the best some time. We got them earlier than we wanted to. They are, in my opinion, the best team in the state and very respectable.

We played extremely well against a solid Princeton team.

It's always good to beat your rival and it's also good that out of our four singles points, two were from our freshmen.

We haven't beaten a top school this year and this would have been a good win, but we've got a couple more and we've just got to think about those games now.

We were going up against Big 10 schools and we like competing. I think we finished in between Ohio State and the big competitors all day. We had some very good performances.

It's three River-to-River teams and a Black Diamond Conference team. I think the girls basketball in this conference has gotten a lot better with us going to state three (of the last five) years, Sparta being very talented and Herrin being in the sectional two years in a row now.

Grand Ledge gave their best effort playing against one of mid-Michigan's best high school teams. For the past two decades Mason has dominated their conference with multiple district titles. Even though we didn't win, we still played with a lot of heart and emotion.

I don't think there is any one dominant team, no school has really separated itself from the pack. There have been a bunch of very competitive basketball games and every team has shown it is capable.

This is a basketball team that had our number last year. I am very proud of our team. FIU is one of the most physical teams in our league and it showed tonight.

I look at the top five runner's average from this event, and Evansville Memorial was the only school to have a better average for the boys. I thought we stacked up pretty well as a team.

SMU is one of the top four teams in this league, talent-wise. I'm glad we've already played them twice.

I told them that they were champions. They had a great year, and they're state champions in my mind.

Strength of Opponents

Give Illinois Wesleyan credit, they hit every look for about three or four minutes. We needed to get a couple of stops in a row and get a run, but it never came.

TCU is an excellent basketball team. They are five or six shots away from having six or seven more wins.

People don't want to admit it, but TCU has sort of looked down at SMU,

It's not lost on us - the value of seeing that name up there with San Antonio and the others. San Antonio has had Final Fours. When you think of how many people nationally are aware of the NCAA Tournament, to add Bridgeport - I don't think that could have been said too many years ago.

We haven't had a lot of marquee wins since Southern Illinois went to the Sweet 16 in 2002. But we have played well against teams that advanced deep into the tournament.

They've got the size and the discipline. Winthrop, I feel, is the most athletic team.

Dartmouth probably still is the best team in the league.

Princeton is definitely a really tough crew to beat. I think our crew rowed a race somewhere between OK and good -- I think they have a little bit more in them.

They got beat by the three best teams in the state.

I don't have to worry. I only graduated one from last year's team and that quarterfinal game; they remember that game. They're an excellent team and I can't think of a team that can beat them but they are beatable and this is a very good measuring stick for us.

I've always felt WSU was the premier university in the Missouri Valley Conference. We have the best community. We have the best overall facilities. We should be ranked, in all sports, at the top of our league.

Illinois Wesleyan is extremely physical and they have seven guys who have played together for three years. They came out extremely impressive against Whitewater (an 85-71 win Saturday).

Just athletically, Western couldn't mat up across the board with Amherst.

Historical Context and Legacy

What I like is the consistency. At the Southwestern Conference Tournament, we only had two scores in the 70s. Today we had five.

Last year, we went to Cincinnati and played St. Xavier,

Looking back on that, it was quite an accomplishment. You had some of the best teams in the state in the CKC.

The school has been around for probably 50 years. There's a lot of history here. Back in the 1980s, we had some dominating teams but we just couldn't get to the final. We've been close, but everything just came together this year.

This team has exactly the same record as the 1997 team (which won the championship). And I remember in 1980, we came here and beat Syracuse -- and they were a one seed -- and then we went on to the Final Four, which was . . . in Indianapolis.

They dismantled the Sweet 16 and they have eliminated the Elite Eight. That was what every team wanted to do was get to the Elite Eight and play downstate. That was the pinnacle for boys and girls basketball in the state of Illinois. The only good thing I like is that you don't play two games on Saturday anymore.

There are several teams that could step up and win it all. Northwestern was picked to win it, and they (the Demons) have been pretty impressive, but some other teams have been impressive, too.

Colfax had a great record but they didn't go and play out of section like some of the other schools. I think that really hurt them from getting a one or two seed because we had nothing comparative to go on.

Timmy wasn't feeling that great coming into tonight. That 152 class is one of the best in the state and I think we'll see some great matches at the regional.

I said it would take a while to become a championship team and we almost became one. It took a great effort to beat us and Harding played a great game. They are the best team in the state.

It's the unofficial City-County championship. (Heritage Christian) beat us a year ago, and their freshmen have made them really, really good.

State College really serves tough. They were able to control the game based on their tough serving. This was the first time a team's been jump-serving at us, at least this consistently. We've seen jump-servers but not this many all game long. We struggled with it.

There is absolutely no way the best team in the NCAA could even dream of beating the worst team in the NBA? You’re talking about men vs. boys.

Evaluations and Criticism

(Plymouth) is a very good basketball team. They won 16 games in a good conference.

Free State played well in the Standard Bank Cup and peaked then, but we haven't peaked yet.

Look, UTEP was 11-3 in the conference for a reason. They had a lot to do in the difference in winning and losing. UTEP is a tournament-type team.

It's very, very difficult to win a college basketball game, and this is a perfect example. There's no sure thing. Non-Division I teams are beating teams a lot more experienced than us. I'm just grateful that we survived. And we did a little better than survive. Down the stretch, we played with poise and were able to get the win.

There were a lot of good teams both from Illinois and Missouri here, and the course was playing very tough,. This was a great test for the girls.

I can't remember the last time this school got this far. We played them hard every game this year.

We played well. We were going up against a good private school that is in midseason form.

Most of the teams that have won here have played No. 18 very, very well.

The only two teams we didn't see were Jefferson and Princeton.

I think we did pretty well. We simply can't compete with the depth of Alta. What it boils down to is the overall numbers, but for our varsity and as far as qualifying for state, we are right where we want to be.

It was the opportunity to see high school football and see the stands full. I'm not saying that Columbus doesn't play good high school football. But Valdosta is a traditional powerhouse and was ranked No. 2 in the state.

To some extent, granted they weren't in the A-10, but they had earned an opportunity to be ranked that high after making the NCAA Tournament the last few years. Nobody in the A-10 had done that. They put themselves in position to be looked at that way.

No one with a 17-11 record should have gotten into the NCAA. And anyone with a .500 record in conference should not have gotten in.

Other

We just had a defensive lapse and they beat us on it. The University of the Pacific is a great place to play, and our boys gave an incredible effort.

I don't think they've (the White House) ever had an NAIA team.

There is absolutely no way the best team in the NCAA could even dream of beating the worst team in the NBA? You're talking about men vs. boys.

We were competing against schools from Maryland and Delaware, and there was a separate division for D.C..

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