Loss doesn't derail top placement for St. Joseph's
The Hawks will head
to Buffalo for a first-round
matchup with Liberty
By Ray Parrillo
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
PHILADELPHIA — Jameer Nelson
showed up for the Selection Sunday fes
tivities at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse
Sunday wearing a black cap and a St.
Joseph's jersey with the No. 15 and the
name "West" across the back.
"Why not?" the Hawks' smiling all
American senior said of his backcourt
mate, Delonte West. "I like the guy. He
made me who I am."
As he's done so frequently during
the two seasons he has played along
side Nelson, West took the pass and
went with it.
"I've raised Jameer since he was a lit
tle boy," he said. "Yeah, I noticed him
wearing my jersey. That's just how we
get down with each other."
On Hawk Hill Sunday, the gloom
from the Hawks' 87-67 beating by
Xavier in Thursday's Adantic Ten Con
ference quarterfinal was finally lifted,
replaced by some levity as the Hawks re
ceived a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourna
ment for the first time in school history.
St. Joe's is the first Big Five team since
Temple in 1988 to get a No. 1 seed.
"At 2:30 today when we finished
practice we put Thursday behind us,"
coach Phil Martelli said. "Now it's time
for a celebration."
The Hawks, who went 27-0 and rose
to No. 1 in the polls before Xavier end
ed their perfect run, will face No. 16
seed Liberty (18-14)on Thursday in the
first round of the NCAA East Ruther
ford Regional in Buffalo. A university in
Lynchburg, Va., founded by the Rev. Jer
ry Falwell, Liberty won the Big South
Conference championship game with
an 89-44 win over High Point, a North
Carolina university.
"I know they give up only five three
point shots a game," Martelli said after
the Hawks made it to the NCAA tourney
in consecutive seasons for the first time
since 1981-82, and for the fourth time in
his nine seasons as head coach. "We
have to study how they've done that"
If St. Joe's wins, the Hawks will face
either No. 8 Texas Tech, coached by
Bob Knight, or No. 9 Charlotte, which
will join the Atlantic Ten Conference
in two years.
If the Hawks get out of Buffalo intact
they will move on to East Rutherford,
N J. And if any of Martelli's players dare
to look around, they will see Okla
homa State as the No. 2 seed, Pitts
burgh as the No. 3 and Wake Forest as
the No. 4.
More than likely, though, Xavier —
and not getting dismissed by Billy Pack
er on the selection show — made certain
the Hawks will pay attention to the task
at hand. To a man, the Hawks said Sun
day it was great that the tournament se
lection committee rewarded them for
their historic regular season. But they
also said a No. 1 or No. 2 seeding didn't
matter as much as getting back on the
court to prove that the team that was
blasted out of the conference tourney
was not the real St. Joseph's.
"It really didn't matter to me if we
were No. 1, 2, 15 or 16," Nelson said.
"We just want to play somebody so we
can get this nasty taste out of our
mouths. That loss still hurts, and we
know that if it happens again, we turn
in our uniforms."
Elsewhere in the Fieldhouse, amid
the din made by the pep band and the
cheerleaders and the well-wishers, it did
seem to matter. Martelli grabbed the mi
crophone and called Packer "a complete
jackass" after Packer counted on two
hands the number of teams he thinks
are better than St Joe's, insisting that the
Hawks didn't deserve a No. 1 seed.
Just as West was asked to respond
to Packer, the junior guard was
drowned out by Martelli's booming
voice telling the crowd that Packer
can, well, you know.
"Yeah, well, Coach Martelli speaks
for our program, so I guess we should
feel the same way about him (Packer),"
West said with a wide grin. "We've been
hearing stuff like that all year, but we
haven't been listening."
"But what this (No. 1 seed) really
means is that this program has come a
long way," West added. "We've been a
work in progress and now I guess God
has shined the light on us. Otherwise,
whether you're a No. 1 or No. 2 seed,
the team you play against is going to do
all it can to beat you. We just want an
other opportunity to get back on the
floor and play somebody."
The possibility that St. Joseph's
would drop to No. 2 decreased when
Pitt and Mississippi State lost in their
conference tourneys. No doubt, the
Hawks' loss to Xavier made it more
difficult for the selection committee.
In their favor, the Hawks had the No.
1 nonconference strength of schedule
in the Ratings Percentage Index, a
computer formula that closely ap
proximates that used by the commit
tee. According to the RPI, St. Joe's
played a more difficult schedule than
Pitt and Oklahoma State. And, of
course, the Hawks went undefeated
in the 27 games on their schedule,
which obviously caught the attention
of the committee.
“It was great to see the No. 1 seed
flashed in front of our name,* junior
Pat Carroll said. "But I don't think it re
ally made a difference if we were No. 1
or No. 2.1 think we went into the Xavier
game without the same hunger we had
in the other games. We're looking at
this as a fresh start, feeling we have to
prove ourselves again. *
(c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
RICE
continued from page 2B
"It is what it is," Washington head
coach June Daugherty told The Seattle
Times on March 8. "Our season is
done; and we've done what we've done.
We'll leave it up to the committee."
In fairness, the Sun Devils and
Huskies, although mostly the Sun Dev
ils, struggled at the end of the season.
Washington started 5-0 early in the
season, then turned around and kicked
off Pac-10 play with a 1-5 record. The
Huskies ended their season with a 3-1
push before the conference tourna
ment, the one loss at the hands of first
place Arizona.
Arizona State closed the regular sea
son with a 2-4 plunge down the Pac-10
ladder. Poor finishes wear thin on the
NCAA selection committee, so the Sun
Devils should instead be headed to the
Women's National Invitation Tourna
ment with a 17-11 record.
"The bright side of the WNU is that
we are going to have to play on the
road," Arizona State head coach Charli
Turner Thome told Arizona State's The
State Press on Friday. "We didn't finish
the season strong on the road. (Sun
Devil sophomore) Kristen. Kovesdy
made the comment that we don't want
to wait until next year to improve on
the road, 'let's go out and do it now'"
Arizona State finished the season 4
9 outside of Wells Fargo Arena. With
one senior leaving the squad, it would
be more valuable for the Sun Devils' fu
ture to have the WNIT opportunity
than go one-and-out in the NCAAs.
The WNIT could prepare the
younger players for future, more high
profile postseason appearances. It
would also mean one last farewell —
on perhaps a better note than the Pac
10 Tournament — for Arizona State's
sole senior and Washington's three.
For the Huskies, with attendance fig
ures that are among the top 20 in the
country, a WNIT bid — and likely
chance to host — is the second-best ic
ing on the cake. Washington's three
seniors — Andrea Lalum and Giocon
da and Giuliana Mendiola — should
have one final farewell for the home
town fans.
Both teams were left out of deserving
spots for the NCAA Tournament, but
they still have one last chance to end
the season on a positive note Each sea
son, a WNIT championship is one
team's way of telling the NCAA selec
tion committee that it screwed up.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@daityemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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