Classic Concludes
November 14-16, 2008
Since 1997, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ NABC Classic has annually marked the beginning of the college basketball season. The four-team tournament is now hosted by one of the participating institutions and is played at various sites annually. Because the current University of Minnesota coach, Tubby Smith, serves as president of the NABC, the tournament was held at Williams Arena in Minneapolis from November 14-16.
The NABC, located in Kansas City, Mo., was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, then the University of Kansas basketball coach. Formation of the NABC began as an emergency measure for the presentation of a united front opposing the Joint Basketball Rules Committee, then the central governing authority of the game. The committee had earlier announced that, without notice, it had adopted a change in the basketball rules which would, in effect, eliminate the dribble. Allen, a student of basketball founder James Naismith, organized coaches to take a stand in a nationwide protest which successfully postponed the adoption of a rule change that would have drastically altered the way the game is played.
Currently, the world’s largest professional association of basketball coaches, the NABC claims a membership of nearly 5,000 men's basketball coaches throughout the ranks of the NCAA, NAIA, junior and community colleges, and high schools. It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise when president Tubby was unable to coerce more than two NCAA Division I schools to participate in the Williams Arena event. At the last moment, the NABC allowed Smith to enter the Twin Cities’ sole Division II team, Concordia-St. Paul, to participate in the three-day event.
Much of the luster of the event disappeared with the entrance of a Division II school (and one picked to finish eighth in its conference). In fact, since this meant the Gophers played Concordia on opening night, it marked the third consecutive Minnesota opponent from the Northern Sun Conference, a feat not likely to ever repeat itself. The Gophers previously played exhibition games against St. Cloud State and Northern State.
The most hotly contested event of the tournament took place on the first night of the event and, no, it was not the game between Minnesota and Concordia. When Bowling Green and Georgia State tipped off to start the tournament, there were more ushers than spectators in attendance, hardly an auspicious beginning for such a prestigious event. It was also pointed out that Bowling Green had arrived in Minneapolis without its two star players, Nate Miller and Chris Knight. Georgia State was able to take advantage of this and stayed close to the Falcons all night. In fact, It took a buzzer-beater at the end of regulation time by Bowling Green’s Brian Moten to send the game into overtime tied at 65-65. Things got even dicier in the overtime period as the Falcon’s Joe Jakubowski hit a three-pointer with no time showing on the clock to lift Bowling Green to a 77-76 win.
After that excitement, the Gopher game with Concordia proved to be a yawner with Minnesota taking a 18-11 lead on Al Nolen’s three-pointer and coasting the rest of the way. The final was Minnesota 76, Concordia 51. Nolen led the way with 17 points, and swing man Blake Hoffarber led all rebounders with a dozen. Concordia proved to be a one-man band as Craig Heiman scored 26 points. No other Golden Bear was in double figures. The crowd total was announced at 11,818.
The second night of the event matched Concordia with Georgia State in the first game. Somewhat surprisingly, the Golden Bears stayed even with the Division I Panthers, and the first half ended at 30-30. In the second half, Concordia shocked Georgia State with a smothering defense and took the lead at 44-39 led by senior guard Matt Cadwell, out of Cretin-Durham Hall High School in St. Paul. Georgia State’s bench strength eventually proved to be the difference maker as the Panthers took a 65-60 lead on a basket by Leonard Mendez and held on for a 67-63 victory.
In Saturday’s second game, Minnesota took on Bowling Green, and the Gophers played their best half of the season, dominating all phases of the game and coasting to a 36-22 lead at the break. Lawrence Westbrook led all scorers with 13 points at the midway mark. Meanwhile, Bowling Green ace Jakubowski was held scoreless by a smothering Gopher defense.
Sensing the rest of the game would be a cakewalk, the Gophers lapsed into long periods of sloppy play in the second half and gave Bowling Green the chance to catch up. Much to the dismay of the 11,833 in attendance, poor shooting from the field and multiple turnovers combined to allow the Falcons to slip within 55-52 of Minnesota on a field goal by Darryl Clements. Meanwhile Jakubowski was pouring in 10 points (He finished with 12). It took Gopher free throws by Westbrook, Colton Iverson, and Paul Carter in the last minute of the game to seal the final margin of victory. Amazingly, the official scorer credited Iverson and backup center Ralph Sampson with a total of 13 blocked shots in the game, although most appeared to be of the phantom variety.
The final night of the tourney matched Concordia with Bowling Green in the preliminary game, and the results were predictable. The Golden Bears expended their energy in the Georgia State game the night before and shot only 21 percent from the field in the first half. Clements accounted for 22 points for the Falcons to lead all scorers in the 82-61 route. Heiman scored 18 for Concordia.
Georgia State appeared to be easy pickings for the Gophers in the event’s finale, and while Minnesota was out-rebounded by the Panthers in the first half, 50 percent shooting allowed them to take a 35-23 lead. Then, just as in the previous game, the Gophers let an opponent off the hook. Minnesota was unable to score from the field until 14:50 remained in the game. Georgia State was allowed to hang close to the Gophers as no Minnesota player appeared willing or able to take charge. At times against Georgia State, Sampson showed indications of being the go-to guy. Down the stretch, he was able to put back his own missed shot for a basket to give the Gophers an eight point lead, which eventually proved to be the margin of victory.
In all three games, coach Smith was content to juggle lineups much in the same manner as Jacques Lemaire juggles lines for the Minnesota Wild. His search for the combo that clicks continues. Sunday night’s crowd as announced at 11,882.
“I want to compliment the NABC,” Smith said after the game. “The people that ran the tournament did a good job. The fans did a good job getting out and supporting this tournament.”
He indicated that three games in three nights was “really a grind” that took its toll on his team, especially in the second half of the Georgia State game. “Our bench played well and stepped up,” he said.
“We still have a long way to go, but we have confident, skill level of guys coming off the bench, like Sampson, Devron Bostick, and Devoe Joseph. It’s a good feeling to know that we have some weapons that can help us compete.”
The tournament, he indicated, “did help us appreciate what we’re capable of doing defensively. We really played excellent defense for the most part, and we played good team defense. Our free-throw shooting [percentage] might not seem that high, but in clutch situations, like yesterday and today when we had to make our free-throws, we were able to do that, so those were some of the positive things.”
There seems to be little doubt that Williams Arena has seen its last NABC Classic, given the reluctance of Division I teams to come here. Bowling Green and Georgia State appeared only out of the loyalty of their coaches (Louis Orr and Rod Barnes) to Tubby Smith.
The all-tournament team, as announced: