May 24, 2013

While We’re Waiting… 20 years since Indians tragedy

March 23, 2013 by 2 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

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20 years ago yesterday. Nice story from our friends at DTTWBL: “Whenever a loved one is lost, the memory of that moment seems endless. It’s hard to believe that it was 20 years ago that the Olin, Crews and Cleveland Indians families all lost people that they loved.” [Steve Eby/Did The Tribe Win Last Night?] [Read more...]

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Cleveland State Preview: Season Tips Off With Waters Getting A Seven-Year Extension

November 9, 2012 by 2 Comments

Since the salad days of Kevin Mackey, the “Run and Stun,” and Ken “The Mouse ” McFadden, there were some seriously lean times for the Cleveland State Men’s College Basketball team. From Mike Boyd to the disastrous Rollie Massimino hire to Mike Garland, the program was headed in the wrong direction.

Enter Gary Waters.

The former head coach at Kent State came back to Ohio after a failed stint at Rutgers, never an easy place to win in the loaded Big East. Waters arrived in Cleveland in 2006 with a plan to get the Vikings back to the top of the Horizon League and he has done just that. He enters his seventh season piloting the Vikes, where he has gone 122-82. Most importantly, Waters has taken CSU to four postseason appearances, including the school’s second NCAA Tournament bid where they upset fourth-seeded Wake Forest in the first round.

All of this has added up to Waters getting extended by the school late yesterday for seven more years. [Read more...]

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Opportunity Lost: Cleveland State’s Big Dance Dreams Shattered in Indiana

March 5, 2012 by 2 Comments

It wasn’t supposed to end that way. A season that started with a shocking 71-58 road win at #7 Vanderbilt, rode a 12-2 start to a 20-4 Horizon League lead, crashed and burned on a Valparaiso Saturday night.

In the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament, the second-seeded Cleveland State Vikings faced the Detroit Titans, who finished tied for third in the league and earned the  third seed thanks to a sweep of Butler. UDM came into Saturday’s tilt needing two victories just to get the opportunity to face the Vikings, the recipient of a double-bye. The draw look auspicious for CSU, considering that nemesis Butler and top seeded Valparaiso were on the other half of the draw. The Vikings had already beaten Detroit both times they played in the regular season, including a 77-64 win just a week ago. Gary Waters’s club was also welcoming back Senior leader SF D’Aundray Brown, their second leading scorer and best defensive player.

It all looked so good on paper. The Vikings had floundered down the stretch, but seemed to gotten their acts together with back to back home wins to close out the regular season. With Brown back and four seniors ready to take their last shot at the NCAA Tournament, the Vikings looked like they were ready to roll. [Read more...]

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Vikings Handle Their Business, Now Just Two Wins Away From the Big Dance

February 27, 2012 by 5 Comments

When we last left our Cleveland State Vikings, they were losers of five straight. This reeling bunch, which once stared down the Horizon League title and then fell completely off the table, had two games left to make things somewhat right. On Thursday night, they faced a pseudo-double bye chance elimination game with Detroit (sporting the same 10-6 conference mark as CSU). The Titans came to Cleveland on a five-game winning streak. Still without their Senior leader and defensive stopper D’Aundray Brown, it was put up or shut up time for the Vikes.

Like they have so many times in the Gary Waters era, Cleveland State rose to the occasion and leaned on their defense in the second half, erasing a six point halftime deficit on its way to a 77-64 win over the talented Titans. CSU held Detroit to just five second half field goals (on 23 shots) and 29% shooting for the game. The duo of Anton Grady and Aaron Pogue did a great job holding UDM Center Eli Holman to just six points on 3-10 shooting, which was key during the second half surge. Offensively Senior Tre Harmon’s 16 led four Vikings in double figures.

The Freshman duo of Marlin Mason and Charles Lee came up huge in a time when their team needed it the most.  Mason, who had played more than 18 minutes just once and never scored more than six points in a game, exploded for 15 points in 32 minutes.  ”That’s the best I’ve ever played, defensively and offensively,” he said.  Lee came off the bench to add 12 points and five assists, and was subsequently moved into the starting lineup for the next game. They really were the difference makers in this one. [Read more...]

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Can The Vikings “Right The Ship” In Time For March?

February 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

What has happened to the Cleveland State Vikings?

Once the darlings of the Horizon League, the wheels have come off of the proverbial wagon and Head Coach Gary Waters has been left scratching his head, wondering how things turned so quickly towards the negative.

The Vikes were 20-4, 10-2 in the conference and battling it out with Valparaiso for league supremacy. Then Valpo came to town on February 9th for the ultimate showdown.  The winner would be in control their own destiny for the regular season title as well as the inside track to host the Conference Tournament. Instead of coming out hyped on their home floor where they have been so good during the Waters era, CSU laid a major egg, being blown out in front of their biggest crowd of the season. The loss gave Valpo essentially a two-game lead on Cleveland State, since they had now beaten them twice.

Little did we know that was just going to be the beginning of the Vikings swoon. [Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting…the Vikings prep for West Virginia, and Arenas to ORL talk

December 18, 2010 by 2 Comments

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com

CSU Coach Gary Waters on today’s game against WVU…tip-off’s at 2pm people:  “They [WVU] have size on the backline. They hold you down, we are going to have to find ways to score on this team. It’s not going to come easy. The difference is that we can shoot in the 40s and still be in the contest. ”

Waters also did talk about his two key players of the game, first Jeremy Montgomery.

“He came in those games and did not have any fear. I always tell Jeremy he’s a gamer, when the game time is on, Jeremy comes to play. When it comes to putting the ball in the basket, he’s ready to play.”

Then Norris Cole [pictured].

“I am trying to evaluate who will guard him and I don’t know if you can say that they have anyone to do that. The one that I think that could mirror Norris is Flowers. Put a bigger guy on him and see if he can slow him down in what he does.”

“Our goal is to go out there and play as hard as we can and compete. I want us to compete at our highest level. I have to get these guys ready to compete and I have to make sure that they are not full of themselves on this 12-0. That can easily be knocked right out of you.”  [Robert Ivory / CSU.com]

[Read more...]

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