page 6
sports
febuary
00
Duke basketball:
the experience of two reporters
jon dougherty and
Stephanie hartung
Anyone who has been
to aDuke basketball game knows
that it is always an exciting
event. However, getting a press
pass to one of these games
opens another whole can of
worms.
Think of it. Front row
seats, locker-room passes, press
conferences with one of the
greatest coaches of all time.
Coach K. It is exhilarating. Col
lege fans screaming and cheer
ing in unison in one of the most
feared gyms in all of basketball.
You think NCSSM fans are
rowdy? You have yet to experi
ence rowdy imtil you have been
to a Duke game in tiny Cameron
Indoor Stadium (capacity:
9314).
We attended the pre
season match-up between Duke
and Australia with male dorm
coordinator Steve Goldberg,
who provided us with the press
passes. Granted, this is not the
most talked about game of the
season, but the players and fans
still put on a spectacular show.
CM'
The first thing about a press
pass is the great parking. We
got to pull up
right to the
gate. Then,
we were im-
mediately
ushered to
the Duke
pressroom
for a pre
gamebriefing
and dinner.
We
could not get
over our luck.
Not only do
we get front
row seats
and behind-
the-scenes
passes, but
they feed us
too. We were
given statis
tics and infor
mation on
both the
Duke and
Australian players before the
game and during half time. As
game time approached, the other
media began to take their seats
courtside. We walked onto the
court in the bright, hot lights and
1 ; :
I'l'i
&
V
i
Jon Dougherty and Stephanie Hartung pose with the Duke
Devil aftertheirpress conference with Coach K.
the murmiu' of the fans. As the
Duke players took the court the
fans began to get loud. When
it was time for the Aussie team
TEAR IT UP
99
BACK
FOR THE UNI’S
katie watlington
“Tear it up” is the
motto that can be heard in a
huddle with the women’s bas
ketball team. They say the
phrase after practice, before
every game and during time
outs.
“ It helps boost our
confidence and gives us a
sense of team unity,” said Jun
ior Emily Warren.
The 1999-2000
women’s basketball season
began in early November with
the start of practice. The team
works out everyday from 4:15-
5:30. Practice consists of con
ditioning, shooting, going
over plays, and lots of lay-ups.
The season ended
for the Uni’s Tuesday night,
February 23, with a defeat by
Cardinal Gibbons in the first
round of the conference play
offs. Their regular season
record concluded at 5-12. De
spite their record, the girls
have played hard this season,
many of the games coming
down to the wire.
“We had a hard time
playing to our full potential,
especially after Christmas
break. I think we have the
abihty to \vin more games than
we did,” said Senior, Emma
Hardison.
This is Coach Mel
issa Hill’s first season with the
women’s basketball team at
NCSSM.
“I feel that we had a
good season, although I feel
that we could have been more
victorious in a couple of
games,” said Hill.
This season is
Coach Hill’s first year actu
ally coaching a team. While
she lacks coaching experi
ence, she makes up for this
lack of experience in playing
time. Beginning in the sev
enth grade, she played bas
ketball all of the way through
school, including while she
attended Fayetteville State
University.
“I think Coach Hill
really cares about the team
which shows through her ac
tions. Though she is a first
year coach, she should be
commended for timiing the
team around,” said Senior
Jonelle Stovall.
The women’s bas
ketball games for the majority
of the season started at 6:00
pm. This has usually resulted
in a smaller crowd at the
women’s game, compared to
the men’s. The one game
where the women played af
ter the men resulted in a much
larger turnout for the
women’s game.
“Our season would
have been a lot more exciting
if we had more support. The
one game when we played
after the guy’s team was prob
ably the most exciting game
of the season,” said Junior
Meera Sridhar.
The womens bas
ketball team worked very hard
this year and deserves
everyone’s commendations.
“Despite our overall
record, we still had a great
season because we practiced
hard and learned a lot,” said
Junior Emily Warren.
to take the floor, the fans greeted .
them with “G’day mate.”
After the tip-off, the
noise was so loud that we
had to yell at each other to
talk. Unfortunately, because
we were supposed to be
“working media,” we were
not allowed to cheer with the
Cameron Crazies; however,
laughing was hard to contain.
The Dukies put on a show of
three-pointers and high-fly
ing dunks. Even though the
game was insignificant, the
Crazies were into it the whole
way. They only sat down at
half time to rest their sore
throats and aching legs.
The fans continuously
found new and interesting
ways to insult the visiting
Aussies. When an oppos-
I ing player missed a free throw
or open shot, the Crazies
* would scream, “Too much
Fosters,” or “Stick to rugby.”
At one point during the
game, after Duke had an in
surmountable lead, they
chanted, “New Zealand’s bet
ter.” Late in the game, an Aus
tralian player fouled out. The
fans began their trademark yell
ing until he sat down. However,
the brazen Aussie was more
daring than most. He braved
taunting for more than ten min
utes as he refused to take his
seat. The Crazies reciprocated,
only stopping their yelling when
their players were shooting free
throws. But, finally, as all play
ers do, the Aussie succxunbed
to the onslaught, sitting down
to a chorus of “See ya.”
Duke won a resounding
victory, 123-63. However, our
adventure was far from over.
We still had a press conference
and locker room interviews to
attend. Coach K entered the
room amid rapt attention and
wonder on om part. He then
proceeded to break down the
game piece by piece. He seemed
to talk more about the upcom
ing season than the game that
just occurred. He felt that the
three things that made the team
play well were that they were
ready to play and play hard, and
had good spacing on offense,
and were not selfish.
~Duke P7~
Boys’ basketball ends season
with loss to Cary Academy
The boys’ basket
ball team ended its season
with a tough loss in the first
roimd of the TISAC tourna
ment to Cary Academy. Al
though the Uni basketball
squad had a hard time this
year, its solid talent was re
vealed at Cary Tuesday
night.
With Tuesday
night’s loss, the record of the
boys’ team fell to 1-16. Some
of the difficulty that the team
encountered this year is
smely attributable to the an
nouncement midway through
the year that Ray Sanderson,
the team’s coach, had re
signed.
The team had very little
experience since the three re
turning seniors were the only
ones with varsity basketball
experience. But the losses are
surely not due to a lack of
working. The team practiced
for close to two hours each
day during the season and
even came in on Saturday
mornings for practice.
The prospects for
next year are promising. Alex
Hawkins, a starting forward
and departing senior, believes
that there is much potential.
“Depending on the situ
ation with the new coach and
the incoming junior class, I
think that the team could be
very good,” said Hawkins.
Alex was also quick to add that
the TISAC conference was
very strong. The conference,
which includes private and in
dependent schools in the area,
is composed of Cardinal Gib
bons, Cary Academy, Durham
Academy, Ravenscroft, and
NCSSM.
Evan Bumess thinks
that the support that the fans
bring really helps the team.
“It's really great playing
at home and nice having fans,
that go all out for us,” said
Bumess. He also credits the
support of the cheerleaders for
helping to raise the spirits of
the fans during the season.
The home games
were veiy well attended this
season and provided an ac
tivity for the entire NCSSM
community. We thank the
players for their hard work this
season and looks forward to
what next year brings.