Bulldogs ready to take next step
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The Bulldogs (29-4) began their rise when head coach Luke D'Alessio was plucked from Catonsville (Md.) Junior College four years ago to lead the fledgling program.
In short order, he tapped into some of the rich talent pool in the local
Washington, D. C. area, landing juco and Div. I transfers that made his team
competitive right away in the tough CIAA. Bowie State posted its first winning season
in 30 years (19-9) in D'Alessio's second season and then finished at 20-8
last year.
After getting BSU to its first CIAA Tournament semifinal last year, the Bulldogs came into the current season as one of the favorites to win it all and grabbed its first title when they knocked off traditional power Virginia Union in the CIAA Tournament finals. They then rode dominating performances to the South Atlantic Region title defeating Lenoir-Rhyne (88-82), Kennesaw State (95-70) and finally Presbyterian (67-53).
The Bulldogs will open the Elite Eight with a 12 noon matchup with Northeast Region winner Massachusetts-Lowell. A win Wednesday would put them in Thursday's national semifinals. A win there would land the Bulldogs in Saturday's national title game to be carried live on CBS at 1 p.m.
For D'Alessio, the ride to the elite of college basketball, at least on the Div. II level, has been expected. He took Catonsville to the Junior College Elite Eight in the third season and didn't plan on settling for anything less at Bowie State.
"It's part of taking the next step for the program," said D'Alessio Tuesday as he prepared for a press conference at the Elite Eight site in Lakeland, Fl. "Our goal from the beginning of the season was to win the national championship. These were steps we had to take. I'd say we've accomplished nine-tenths of our goals. We've got to win three more games to get where we want to be."
By assembling a squad that includes three Div. I transfers all six-foot,
nine-inches tall four former junior college players, 10 of 13 on the roster that
are seniors and no one recruited by Bowie State out of high school, he has
done what he had to do to reach that goal.
Tim Washington (American), Jon Smith (Virginia Tech) and Shawn Hampton (Rutgers) are the big guys up front that came from Div. I programs. Stephen Moss-Kelley, a 6-6 swingman who played at Eastern Washington and Grand Canyon is the long-range specialist. Juco transfers Cornelius McMurray, Omarr Smith and Arthur Lewis, the latter two from Catonsville, are the backcourt leaders.
"For me, I won't tolerate losing for long and the players I recruited came from winning programs," D'Alessio explained. "Because of my time at the junior college level, I'm used to having players for one or two years so I could handle the jump from juco (two-year) to a four-year college. For my first two years I wasn't even a full-time coach, and we're not operating now with all our scholarships. But I said I'd take whatever resources there were and make it work."
Competing in the CIAA has really prepared his squad for the national tournament.
"In the CIAA you face every kind of team," he said. "If you can play there you can play with anybody in the country. There are so many good coaches and every kind of team.
"There are teams that press you full court and play up-tempo like Winston-Salem State, teams that play zone like Virginia Union, and teams that slow it down and play a half-court game like Shaw. We played against different styles and we feel we can adjust to any style. That's what we had to do in the regional. I feel confident that we can handle what anybody throws at us."
In Massachusetts-Lowell, D'Alessio says the Bulldogs are facing a team much like the CIAA's J. C. Smith.
"They have great outside shooters, they pass well and they're intelligent," he said. "They switch defenses a lot and they can put five shooters on the floor." He expects to employ his man-to-man defense to thwart the River Hawks. UML, under head coach Ken Barer, has four players from Israel. The teams have one common opponent, Southern Connecticut. Bowie State defeated them 76-63 in the Bulldogs second game of the season on Nov. 23. UML beat them 72-52 on Jan. 14.
"If you can survive the CIAA, you can survive anything," he said. "We'll go with what got us here."
© 2003 Azeez Communications, Inc.