Jan. 17, 2003
By Gary Rubin
D-III News
Washington University head coach Mark Edwards has his Bears at 12-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. A decisive 75-56 victory over Mike McGrath's Chicago squad last weekend on the road put Wash. U. in first place in the University Athletic Association. The 12-0 start is the best in school history, but it hasn't always been a success story at the St. Louis school, as Edwards explains.
"One of my most memorable wins occurred in our first year of having a basketball team," he said. "The last game of the season saw us sitting without a Division III win (we did beat a chiropractic school and a seminary) as we faced a winless Division III program. This was the last chance for either team to get a Division III win. The game went to overtime and we won on a shot at the buzzer. The players were so elated that they actually wanted to cut down the nets."
The Bears are favored to get another chance to cut down the nets this season, possibly for a national title.
Quattrocchi Wins 200th Game
Skidmore College men's basketball coach John Quattrocchi won his 200th game (18th season, 200-253) with a Nov. 25th win over D'Youville College. Quattrocchi, in his 15th season at the helm of Skidmore basketball, has guided his team to two ECAC tournaments and coached Mass College to a 1986 NCAA Division III tournament berth. He is the chairperson of the NCAA Division III East Region Menšs Basketball Committee and serves on the NCAA national menšs basketball committee.
Russell Hits Century Mark
Savannah College of Art & Design head coach Cazzie Russell recorded his 100th collegiate win on Dec. 1 when his Bees knocked off Dick Reynolds' Otterbein Cardinals 76-72 in overtime in the championship game of the 2002 Maryville Invitational. Russell has a career record of 100-54 in his seven seasons with the Bees.
30 Years Later, Baruch's Rankis Enjoys Homecourt Advantage
After more than 30 years, Baruch College head coach Ray Rankis finally won a true home game. The Bearcats, as Baruch's teams are now called after many years as the Statesmen and Stateswomen, defeated New Paltz 87-67 on Nov. 26 in the schoolšs new Vertical Campus at the corner of 24th Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.
The game was the first men's contest played on the Baruch campus since Jan. 24, 1972 and was the first game at Baruch for Rankis, who is in his 20th season at the college having coached over 500 games.
When Baruch split off from City College of New York as an independent entity in 1968, the team played home games in the Sixth Floor Gymnasium in the collegešs 23rd Street building. Constructed in the late 1920s, the Sixth Floor Gym had a court 46 feet wide and 78 feet long, well short of the regulation 50 feet by 94 feet. Without a viable on-campus facility, Baruch was eventually forced off campus in order to play legitimate contests. The last menšs game in the Sixth Floor Gym was a 92-89 win against Polytechnic on Jan. 24, 1972.
Baruch used the 69th Regiment Armory on 25th Street for most of its home games in the 1971-72 season, and continued through the 1983-84 campaign. In 1984-85, Baruch relocated to Xavier High School's gym on 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Occasionally over the years, the Armory or Xavier would be unavailable, causing Baruch to seek temporary quarters at other local college gyms for one or two games.
Pattillo Joins 500-win Club
Howard Payne head coach Charles Pattillo began 2003 by reaching a coaching milestone. The 10th-year Yellow Jacket coach posted his 500th head coaching win on January 2 directing HPU to a 78-61 win at Austin College. Pattillo, who has been on the high school and college coaching sidelines for 40 seasons, is 501-326 with a 102-134 record at Howard Payne. Pattillo coached 31 years at five different Texas high schools, winning 12 District championships while piling-up 396 wins. At Howard Payne he has directed three conference championship teams and participated in three NAIA National Tournaments (1995, '96, '97).
600 Victories for DeWeese
Mary Hardin-Baylor head coach Ken DeWeese directed the Crusaders to a 71-55 win vs. UT Dallas on Saturday (Jan. 11) for his 600th coaching victory. DeWeese has 63 wins in five seasons at UMHB, and totaled 404 victories in 16 years at McLennan Community College and 133 wins in a six-year high school head coaching career. DeWeese is now 600-199 in a 27-year coaching career.
Perfect Records Fall
Something had to give on Wednesday night when Tony Shaver's unbeaten Hampden-Sydney Tigers hosted Mike Rhoades' unbeaten Randolph-Macon Yellowjackets in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference showdown. In the end, H-SC defended its homecourt and won 52-45.
Montclair State suffered its first loss of the season on Wednesday when Jose Rebimbas' William Paterson Pioneers beat Ted Fiore's Red Hawks 75-72 in overtime.
Goliath's Fall to D-III's
It's been a great year for Division III teams upsetting Division I programs. To start the season, Fisk, coached by Larry Glover, traveled across Nashville and upset Tennessee State 69-65. A few days later, Brian Newhall's Occidental Tigers upended Cal State Fullerton in an exhibition game 82-74. In December, Bill Nelson guided Johns Hopkins to one of the biggest wins in school history with a 66-61 upset of Navy. The win marked the first time Hopkins has defeated a Division I program under Nelson and was JHU's first-ever against the Midshipmen. Finally, Mary Washington scored its first victory over a Division I team in its 30-year history when it beat Virginia Military Institute 60-56 on Dec. 20. Head coach Ron Wood has his team at 12-2 entering the second part of the season.
Tip-Ins
Pat Miller's Wisconsin Whitewater team moved into first place in the WIAC with three wins over nationally-ranked opponents in a span of eight days. The Warhawks defeated UW-Oshkosh (ranked 14th) 71-70 in Oshkosh January 8, won 84-75 in overtime versus UW-Eau Claire (ranked 16th) January 11 in Whitewater, and earned an 80-70 decision over UW-Stevens Point January 15. The loss was the first of the season for Jack Bennett's Pointers.
