Resilient Bryant Gets Third Division I Win

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – There are times when a lot of hard work that seems unrewarded finally does pay off. When it does, the feeling is pretty good, and sometimes it drives home a lesson learned.

Such was the case with Bryant’s third Division I win, a 56-43 decision over visiting Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs have had some bumps in the road in their first transition season to Division I, being on the short end of a string of blowouts in December. They entered Saturday being outscored by an average of 15 per game, losing four times by 25 or more points.

All along, head coach Tim O’Shea has raved about his team and how they have gone about everything. So it’s not a stretch to say that this win brought out some happy feelings.

“They’re just quality kids, and they’re being rewarded for their perseverance and their resiliency,” said O’Shea. “It’s really nice to see, because most people look at a half-empty gym on a Saturday afternoon, with two teams with losing records, but for the situation we’re in this year in going to Division I, this means a lot to these kids, and I thought they played with a lot of pride. This game meant a lot to these guys.”

In fact, when a few players seemed a bit down at the half after the Knights rallied late, O’Shea tried to nip that in the bud. The Bulldogs were up 25-13 at one point, only to see the Knights get within one at the half by scoring the last 11 points.

“At halftime, Coach kind of jumped the bench because we weren’t really into it, and saw some down faces,” said forward Nick Pontes, who paced the Bulldogs with 18 points to match his season high. “When we came back out, we had so much more energy out there.”

That energy helped lead to a run of 17 unanswered points that broke a 30-30 tie and gave the Bulldogs the lead for good. They had to stave off a late rally by the Knights, who got as close as eight before Bryant scored the final five points of the game. The 43 points is the lowest point total for a Bryant opponent this season.

For his part, Pontes has really come along, scoring in double figures in seven straight games. There’s no question the potential to be a consistent double-digit scorer inside is there, and he can be a better rebounder as well. The difference in recent games came with an important lesson regarding practice.

“It really started with practice,” said the junior forward. “(O’Shea) got on me for not playing hard in practice, and once I started to really play hard in practice, I started to play a lot better in the games.”

Pontes is just one example of what has made this season enjoyable for O’Shea despite the team’s 3-15 record. O’Shea said he hasn’t had to coach attitude or effort, and that’s a big reason the team has improved all along. Pontes sat out last season to concentrate on academics, at a time when he wasn’t doing well at all. Now Pontes has just about done a complete 180 in the classroom, and it’s no accident that he’s more productive on the court as well since a person’s life off the playing field is reflected in their on-field performance as well.

Getting the wins is a bonus for this team, as O’Shea is already enjoying the job immensely. The players all understand what the jump means in terms of difficulty, and that’s made O’Shea’s life easier than anyone might imagine.

“People call me up and think I’m on a suicide watch,” said O’Shea. “I have as good a group of kids as I’ve ever dealt with in my life on a daily basis. If you have that, you can enjoy coaching even if you’re not winning a lot. I actually really enjoy this group.”

With the lessons learned and the perseverance that was rewarded again on Saturday, it’s easy to see why O’Shea is a happy camper. His team was full of happy people on Saturday as well.

Other Notable Games

• Wake Forest 78, Clemson 68: The Demon Deacons continue to roll, picking up a great win at Clemson to remain undefeated. They should be the new No. 1 team in the polls.
• Louisville 69, Pittsburgh 63: Another undefeated team falls for the first time thanks to a strong second half by the Cardinals.
• Syracuse 93, Notre Dame 74: Luke Harangody did all he could (25 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists), as did Kyle McAlarney (24), but they didn’t have enough support to overcome six Orange players in double figures.
• Oklahoma 69, Texas A&M 63: The Aggies have been flying under the radar, and a win over the Sooners would have changed that a bit.
• Arizona State 61, UCLA 58 (OT): A nice win for the Sun Devils, who had to fight back late in the second half to send it to overtime.
• Stanford 75, California 69: After losing two tough ones last weekend, Stanford picks up a good win in the first of three straight at home.
• USC 65, Arizona 64: A weekend sweep of the Arizona schools puts the Trojans right back in the mix at 3-2 in the Pac-10.
• Marquette 91, Providence 82: The Friars let a great opportunity for a signature win slip away in this one.
• Florida 80, Arkansas 65: The Razorbacks fall to 0-3 in SEC play, which makes one wonder if they might be better off in the Big 12 given their wins over Oklahoma and Texas.
• Duke 76, Georgetown 67: Eight straight wins for the Blue Devils with this one, which extends their non-conference home winning streak to 68 games.
• Washington State 74, Oregon 62: While the Cougars move back above .500 in Pac-10 play, the Ducks fall further into the abyss at 0-6.
• North Carolina State 76, Georgia Tech 71 (OT): The Yellow Jackets fall to 0-4 in ACC play, while the Wolfpack get their first ACC win.
• George Mason 71, James Madison 57: The Patriots will cruise into Boston on Wednesday with a 7-0 CAA mark.
• Hofstra 57, Northeastern 52: The Pride hand the Huskies their first CAA loss, avenging an earlier defeat in Boston.
• VCU 61, Old Dominion 44: A convincing win by the Rams in this big rivalry puts them at 6-1, tied for second in the CAA. They look to be hitting their stride now.
• Wichita State 74, Creighton 61: The Shockers get their first Valley win at home over the Bluejays.
• Butler 59, Illinois-Chicago 52: The Bulldogs continue to roll in the Horizon League, as this road win puts them at 7-0.
• Siena 78, Fairfield 62: The Saints sweep one of their top challengers with this win on the road.
• Cornell 71, Columbia 59: The Big Red begin defense of their Ivy League title. With this win, road teams are 3-0 early on in Ivy League play.
• Holy Cross 68, Bucknell 56: After some non-league struggles, the Crusaders improve to 3-0 in Patriot League play with a nice road win over their arch-rival.
• Boston University 81, Binghamton 64: A solid road win for the Terriers, while the Bearcats have lost three straight.
• Liberty 91, VMI 80: The Flames hand the Keydets their first Big South loss behind a career-high 35 points from Seth Curry.
• Radford 65, High Point 52: The Highlanders pull into a tie for first atop the Big South, improving to 6-1.
• Oral Roberts 64, Western Illinois 54: In the “some things never change” category are the Golden Eagles, who had non-conference struggles but are 6-1 in Summit League play and a half game back in the standings.

O’Shea Enjoying Bryant’s Journey Into Division I

There’s an old saying about how what is most interesting isn’t the destination, but rather, the journey. That’s an idea Tim O’Shea appears to be taking to heart.

The first-year head coach at Bryant knew what he was getting into when he took this job back in June. He’s too experienced not to; he had spent seven years as a head coach and many more as an assistant prior to leaving Ohio to come back to an area he considers home. So it’s not a surprise that he’s both taking the long view and changing the measuring stick for his team as they make the jump into Division I this season.

“My biggest job right now is to keep guys mentally up, keep confidence where it needs to be, and keep looking for that gradual improvement,” said O’Shea. “As we get into this month and January and February, we can look back and say, hey, we’re a much better team today than we were when we started this process.”

O’Shea knows it’s not easy on the kids in a few ways. For one, this is a team whose seniors were in the Division II NCAA Tournament in each of the first three years; they’ve gone from that to being 1-7 as they head into a break for final exams. Losing is tough enough, but suddenly losing after winning often is sometimes harder. But like their coach, they know what kind of a jump they’re making, and they wouldn’t go back to Division II now if they had the chance.

Likewise, for O’Shea it’s certainly a change in evaluating his team. Usually, wins and losses are what matters; the cold, hard reality is that this is a bottom line business, and maybe too much so at times. But with a seven-year contract in hand and having a feel for the college basketball landscape, he’s looking at this team in terms of their effort, attitude and improvement as time goes along. He liked that his team scored 41 points in a half against an ACC opponent.

He’s also looking at things from a program standpoint.

“I know the scoreboard is another loss, but this year is about establishing a Division I identity,” O’Shea said after the Bulldogs lost at Boston College. “We get credibility when we play these schools, we’re going to play them again next year. I think as we go through this process of growing as a Division I program, we can measure ourselves and our progress from year-to-year when we play BC and Providence and Connecticut. Those are important games for Bryant right now.”

While this season’s schedule has a number of tough games against high-major opponents, O’Shea sees that as a positive. He is already finished with next year’s schedule, one he calls “far more reasonable”, and his idea was to continue the theme of this being a Division I program and having a long view.

“Some schools put one foot in the water when they make this move – in other words, they still play 12 Division II games,” said O’Shea. “They don’t go out and play a real Division I schedule. We’re not going to do that. During this process, we’re going to play 29-30 Division I games every year, so we’re firmly established in everybody’s mind as a Division I program.

“It helps us in recruiting,” he continued. “When we recruit kids, we say, look, we’re never going to play Division II, you’re always playing against Division I, and in fact you’re going to play some of the best teams in the country.”

Indeed, a number of schools that are transitioning to Division I still play a schedule loaded with teams outside of Division I. Sometimes that’s the only way they get home games, especially programs that are independent. But Bryant doesn’t have a single opponent on its schedule outside of Division I, and that includes 13 against Northeast Conference opponents. (Those games will not count in the standings as it is not a full slate.)

Bryant will play 11 home games by the end of the season, and in the first two they have had sizeable student section crowds. They have played against big crowds in road games, which is one more step toward being a full-fledged Division I program as they typically would not see crowds as big while in Division II.

Despite the big losses in a few of the road games thus far, O’Shea is keeping things positive and his team is getting better. He’s remaining upbeat as well, clearly enjoying the group he has and feeling like he’s in a good situation. That’s not entirely surprising since it’s been clear all along that he wants to be here, but losing isn’t fun in this bottom-line business. Still, this is part of the growing process.

“I said to them before the game, I told them there’s not a kid at Bentley, or name some of the schools in the NE-10, that wouldn’t rather be in their shoes, having a chance to play some of these schools and games that mean something,” O’Shea said.

It’s another reflection that right now, what means the most of anything to O’Shea and his players isn’t the destination, but the journey.

Bryant’s First Division I Opponent Has Been There

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – It’s ironic that Bryant would open its Division I tenure against Albany, which it did in Wednesday night’s 76-67 loss to the Great Danes. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that Albany was a program new to Division I and having to adjust the way Bryant has to now. And in the immediate, that experience certainly helped Albany head coach Will Brown, because he had an idea what to expect.

“We knew this was going to be a big night for Bryant,” said Brown, who was an assistant when the program first made the leap. “We knew they were going to play with great energy, we were going to get a great effort.”

There were some difficult times early for the Great Danes, who struggled to even put seven players on the floor at times. An already thin roster was further depleted by injuries, leaving them with perhaps the thinnest margin of error imaginable. It was basically a trial-by-fire for Brown, who spent the first year with the “interim” tag before having it removed. Though he may have been coveted for some jobs the last couple of years with the success the program has now had, it didn’t happen right away.

“I was one of those naïve 28-year-olds who thought he had it all figured out and thought we were going to win that year,” Brown reflected on his debut season. “Boy, did I have something coming to me.”

That wasn’t all, as his first call to a prospective recruit was a wake-up call to another key part of what the job would entail.

“The first kid I called, he said, ‘Hey coach, is Albany a state school in Georgia?’” Brown recalls. “And I’m like, no, it’s Albany in New York. That’s when I started recruiting nationally.”

The newcomers acquitted themselves well. While the game wasn’t quite as close as the nine-point margin suggests, the Bulldogs never quit and rallied late to make it a respectable game. With 16:05 left, Albany was fully in control with a 21-point lead helped by a strong start to the second half as they made four of their first five shots and Bryant made just one of eight. The Great Danes scored 12 of their first 15 second-half points in the paint, where the Bulldogs are quite undersized with no player taller than 6’7″.

But guards Chris Birrell and Barry Latham led a rally that got the Bulldogs within twelve a couple of times, and later into single digits before the Great Danes closed it out. Birrell was 4-6 from long range for his 12 points and added seven assists, while Latham posted his second career double-double with 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Both coaches had positive things to say about the effort of the newcomers.

“I was impressed with everything that went on tonight from Bryant’s standpoint,” said Brown, whose team already had two road games with virtually no break in between before this one. “I thought their kids played hard, I thought they were well-coached and they competed to the buzzer.”

“You want to win every game you play, but there are times you have to be realistic and appreciate the improvement when you see it,” said Bryant head coach Tim O’Shea. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in these guys and I like the way they competed, I really did.”

O’Shea, who is taking a measured approach to evaluating his team, certainly saw the irony in playing the Great Danes. While Brown thinks Bryant has an added advantage in having a veteran coach to start off, his opposite number didn’t have to look far for an example.

“It’s interesting that we played Albany tonight because they’re a team that went through this process ten years ago,” O’Shea reflected. “You see what can happen ten years later, they’ve got a strong program.”

The Bulldogs got a nice crowd of students, as the student section was packed and lively all night long. The attendance was 2,167 for the opener, and players and coaches alike noticed it. The Bulldogs are certainly happy with the turnout and hope it continues.

O’Shea also noticed how appreciative his players are of little things that come with the move up. They like playing at the Division I level, which every kid wants coming out of high school, but even O’Shea was reminded of some of what comes with it earlier in the day.

“For them, this move to Division I is a whole new feel,” said O’Shea. “I’ve never been to a place that didn’t have a pre-game meal, but this is the first time they ever had a pre-game meal, and they thought that was the greatest thing going. It’s nice to be around a group of kids that are so appreciative of everything. At the Division II level, these kids used to pay a portion to get their sneakers, their practice gear and all that – they paid for that. Now that we’re Division I, they didn’t pay for that. It’s so nice to be around kids that say ‘thank you’ and appreciate that.”

There are a lot of new things that will happen for Bryant this season. In time, that will wear off, but they now have the first game under their belt, and they had a good example to look at on the other side in that game.