CSU and the Horizon League Tournament: An Uphill Climb

Heading into last Thursday, the Cleveland State Men’s Basketball team had their destiny in their own hands. What should have been a magical weekend for Gary Waters turned sour Thursday night in a home loss to Milwaukee. Strangely, the usually upbeat Waters was despondent afterwards.

“All I can say is this team is not ready to win a championship.”

“We have no bench … and you don’t rebound the basketball. Those things will beat you every time you play. If you want me to say it’s smoke and mirrors we got through this [season], I’ll say that. It’s reality.”

You don’t often hear that kind of honesty from any head coach. Anyone who has watched the Vikings all year, knows their weaknesses. Waters spelled them out. He was clearly beyond frustrated, but probably could have kept that criticism in-house. Waters knew he was wrong, and apologized to his team the next morning.

“I put too much pressure on them to win that one game,” he said. “We play to give honor to God and to play to the best of our ability. That is our goal each day, each game. I got away from that. It was all about winning that one game.”

He may have “put too much pressure” on winning the Milwaukee game, but the message was right. The loss to Milwaukee sent them from the #1 seed in the Horizon League tournament, a double bye, and hosting advantages to the #3 seed and needing to win four games to get to the NCAA Tournament instead of two.

To get that #3 spot and a share of the Horizon League regular season title, the Vikings still had to knock off Green Bay in Norris Cole’s senior day at the Wolstein Center Saturday afternoon.

Right off the bat, the Vikings came to play, jumping all over Green Bay 21-6. With such a big lead early, the Phoenix had plenty of time to chip away, and they did. With under four minutes to go in the game, Green Bay had cut the lead to 53-51. A Tim Kamczyc three turned out to the dagger, putting CSU up six and Green Bay never threatened again.

The 64-57 win was keyed by not just Cole, who as always led the Vikings with 22 points and 10 rebounds (is there a better rebounder under 6’2 in the country?), but Center Aaron Pogue as well.

We’ve said it all year – if Pogue can stay out of foul trouble, it brings an entire new dimension to the Vikings. He is their only true low post threat and when he can stay in the game and get a rhythm going, he is tough to stop. In this one, as Green Bay got closer, Waters turned to Pogue in the post. He hit all five of his shots (in 22 minutes) and was the real key to the Vikings win. Yes, he fouled out, but when he was on the floor, he was productive.

Said Cole of Pogue: “When Aaron’s effective, teams can’t be as tight on the guards. When he plays big, our team is big.”

The Vikings three-way share of the Horizon League title did them no good in regards to seeding. They didn’t own any of the tiebreakers with Milwaukee or Butler, so their road to the NCAA’s is two games longer than it should be.

The first round of the tournament starts Tuesday nights at the home court of the higher seeded teams. Cleveland State faces last place Illinois-Chicago at the Wolstein Center at 7 PM. If they win, they get the winner of #6 Wright State and #7 Green Bay in Milwaukee Friday night. CSU took all six games from the aforementioned three teams during the regular season.

Two victories would pit them against Butler, the Vikings personal nemesis. But you have to crawl before you can walk. That game is still two wins away.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Waters, ” but I’m taking all my suits.”

photo via John Kuntz/PD