3/29/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday
29 March 2024 Sports
Marquette coach Shaka Smart can’t seem to escape his time in Texas when it comes to signature moments with the Golden Eagles in the NCAA Tournament.
Smart is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since taking VCU from the First Four to the Final Four 13 years ago, and it’s been two years since he reached the NCAAs in his first season at Marquette.
Once again, Smart is about 200 miles from the campus of the Texas Longhorns, this time in Dallas following a first-round blowout loss to North Carolina in 2022.
Smart didn’t win an NCAA Tournament game in six seasons in Austin, which is why there were questions about his future following a shocking loss to Abilene Christian in 2021 and he made the first move by taking the Marquette job.
Three NCAA victories later, Smart is dodging shadows again as third-seeded Marquette prepares to face seed North Carolina State in the South Regional on Friday night.
But now there’s a chance to cut down the nets in the state where March Madness has mostly been sad for him.
A year ago, after the Golden Eagles lost to Michigan State in the second round following the program’s first tournament victory in 10 years, the Longhorns reached the Elite Eight before losing to Miami.
There were still enough Texas ties for Smart to enjoy that run by the Longhorns vicariously and now he’s in position to do something that helped him get the Texas job in the first place.
“He doesn’t really say too much about it to us,” leading scorer Kam Jones said. “I know as a person, as a competitor, as a man, he thinks about it. It means something to him. That kind of just goes into our team goal of we want to win. We all want to win one for Coach, want to win for each other. We want this bad.”
Chase Ross, a sophomore from Dallas, was recruited by Smart to go to Texas before deciding to join him at Marquette and he didn’t know the Golden Eagles could end up in his hometown until they reached Indianapolis for the first and second rounds.
So, a celebration on Sunday would mean a little more for Ross and Smart, regardless of whether they would say so.
“He’s a cool, calm and collected guy,” Ross said of his coach. “He stays true to himself. With him being in the state he’s in and telling us what he needs from us, I think we’ll be fine.”
No matter how many times Smart ends up back in Texas chasing an NCAA title, he will always downplay the connection.
Jones hadn’t really thought about the idea of a Texas celebration until a reporter brought it up.
“I’m sure it would be kind of bittersweet for him, pretty good experience for him to be able to do that,” Jones said. “In order for us to do that, we have to do what we have to do Friday.”
The history of Marian women’s bowling is being written right now.
“Five years ago, the AD at the time here at Marian, came to me and asked me if I could help him figure out a budget for a bowling program. About three months later he came to me and asked me if I wanted a job. I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t and it’s kind of been history since then,” said head coach Dan Mueller.
From a conversation to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. It’s been a journey for the past five years.
“I think it’s gone by pretty fast. It was a lot of work put into it, and I think the hardest part of it was going out and recruiting, and selling a program that had roots, had nothing, and from there moving forward to where we’re at now. I have amazing young ladies that put the hard work in,” said Mueller.
Brenna Schiekiera and Jenna Betts are two key parts of that foundation with experience on the lanes that goes beyond the age of the program they bowl for currently.
“I’ve been a part of bowling my whole life. My parents grew up bowling, my grandpa, so it’s just kind of been a part of me,’ said Brenna Schiekiera.
“Come to college and it’s the same thing, but you do a lot of stuff outside. Practice three days a week, and then tournaments for your four days a week,’ said Jenna Betts.
Betts went on to receive All-Conference honors four times in her Marian career while Schiekiera is coming off one of the best seasons in Sabres’ history after winning the second conference Bowler of the Year Honor and throwing the program’s first 300 game.
“It’s very honoring. It’s a huge part of my career that I always remember. I had a big accomplishment first semester, I bowled my first career 300 game. That was awesome. So being recognized for that is really special,” said Schiekiera.
The best is yet to come for the Sabres after claiming the CCIW Tournament title and securing the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
As for the competition itself on the lanes, it comes down to a combination of physical and mental abilities.
“What we’re doing is bowling the lanes. We’re bowling to the oil conditions, and we have to figure out how to do that to the best of our ability, because we can’t play defense in bowling,” said Mueller.
As one of the small schools in college athletics, bowling gives Marian a chance to compete against bigger schools like Nebraska, who is in the same regional and has six national titles to their credit already.
Zion Williamson scored 28 points and CJ McCollum added 25 as the New Orleans Pelicans held off the Milwaukee Bucks 107-100 on Thursday night.
Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, giving him his 32nd double-double of the season, but just his first in 11 games. Trey Murphy III had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who won despite going just 8 of 32 on 3-pointers and shooting just 39.6% overall.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points and 14 rebounds for Milwaukee while Damian Lillard scored 20 points for the Bucks, as did Malik Beasley, who hit six 3s.
Milwaukee lost its second straight after falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime in its previous game.
The Pelicans led for most of the game and by as many as 18 in the first half, but when Lillard hit a 3 with just more than five minutes left, New Orleans’ lead was down to five.
Williamson continued to attack the basket and get to the foul line. He made five of six free throws to help the Pelicans close it out.
New Orleans outscored Milwaukee 52-44 in the paint and the Pelicans went 27 of 34 from the line.
New Orleans led by as many as 18 in the first half when McCollum converted a three-point play on a 7-foot runner as he was fouled, capping a 14-2 run that made it 52-34.
Valanciunas and Herb Jones each hit 3s during the spurt, which began with McCollum’s floater off the glass as he was fouled by Lillard.
Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his points in the opening half, including an alley-oop layup that made it 59-45 before Larry Nance Jr.’s floater at the horn gave New Orleans a 61-45 halftime lead.
Up next the Bucks travel to Atlanta on Sunday night.
One of the greatest aspects of March Madness is that heroes come from anywhere and on Thursday, one came from Devils Lake, North Dakota.
Grant Nelson delivered the game of his life when Alabama needed it most, scoring 24 points in a 89-87 win over North Carolina.
Nelson went from relative unknown to hot commodity last offseason when he entered the transfer portal out of North Dakota State and highlights of a 6’11” guy who could handle, shoot and dunk emerged.
Alabama is into its first regional final since 2004, and the Crimson Tide will face a program that had an even longer wait: Clemson is into the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980 after a 77-72 win over Arizona. Chase Hunter scored a team-high 18 points, and his brother, Dillon Hunter, sealed the game late.
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