HPU to play in March despite loss
Despite losing Saturday night, HPU clinched the final spot of the Big South tournament.
VMI (22-7, 13-5 Big South) won their first contest in High Point, 81-76. HPU (9-20, 4-14) had four players finish with double figures.
Melvin Crowder shined in his final home game in front of 1,642 in attendance. Crowder finished with a career best 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
High school wins mean college success?
Recently ran in the Campus Chronicle. Enjoy!
Pop quiz: Can the men’s program become successful?
The men’s team hasn’t won a game at home versus a NCAA Division I team. We have already lost seven games at home total this year. Our most losses in the Millis Center is eight. We are too close to that dubious distinction.
For most of our players this is the worst team they have ever played on by the numbers. At 5-15 they aren’t setting the world on fire right now, especially considering three of those wins were against non-D1 opponents.
On realtimerpi.com we are ranked 336 out of 343 teams. We beat NC Central and they are ranked higher than us; they only have one win. Yeah, this is a tough year.
Where can we go from here? You would think there couldn’t be any further fallout. We are last in the Big South with a lone win coming in Rock Hill versus Winthrop. We can only go up, right?
Well, no. We could stay last and be the first team to be left out of the Big South tournament. That would be the lowest of all lows. We could also lose every game for the rest of the year including a game on MASN against Gardner-Webb and the home contest against independent Longwood. Traditionally, we have not done well on television. Also, we lost at Longwood last year and they have key wins this year against James Madison and George Mason, albeit both games were at Longwood.
On the flip side, Bart and the boys could figure out how to hold on to a 10 point lead at half or even a nine point lead with two minutes remaining. It isn’t like these guys are used to winning.
Melvin Crowder won a state championship in high school against a little guard named Chris Paul. Paul now plays in the NBA for the New Orleans Hornets. Gene Harris lead his prep team to a top five ranking nationally. Cruz Daniels’ high school team went 55-5 his final two years. The prep team for Jourdan Morris was state runners up in Maryland. Steadman Short’s senior year included an 18 game win streak. David Singleton lead his prep team to their first 20-win season in over a decade. Nick Bourbor lost one game last year.
This team knows how to win. They have done it before. Can they piece their previous success together to make a successful Panther program? Time is running out to answer the question. Let’s raise the bar together.
