Post by Commissioner on Nov 2, 2024 17:31:05 GMT -5
Cleary University
Monday, November 4
7:00 p.m.
Calihan Hall
OK, so now the Mark Montgomery regime really, honestly starts in earnest. Nevermind that game against... who was that against? I’ve already forgotten.
And there are actually legit reasons for saying this is the true start of the Montgomery era. Monday’s loss to Wayne State was, in fact, an exhibition, no more valued in the final record and player stats than the reported “secret scrimmage” win over Lake Superior State. AND, Montgomery wasn’t even on the sidelines for the game, having been waylaid with the flu. You scoff at playing Cleary, but this game counts.
Anyway, if you want to start with a win in your first official game, you’d be hard pressed to schedule a better opponent than Cleary University. Maybe Carver College, but they’re no longer on the list of schools that NCAA schools are allowed to count as official opponents.
Cleary University traces its roots back to the Cleary School of Penmanship, which opened in Ypsilanti in 1883. It became Cleary Business College in 1912, and Cleary University in 2002. Early on Cleary did compete in athletic competition, but dropped sports at some point many years back. In 2012, Cleary U. reintroduced athletics, and in 2022, it launched its men’s basketball program, hiring former Eastern Michigan star and NBA player Carl Thomas as its “first” head coach. Thomas was a freshman on EMU’s 1988 NCAA team, a star on its 1991 Sweet 16 squad, and played parts of three seasons in the NBA. His assistant coach is Grant Long, the star of that 1988 EMU team, who eventually played 15 seasons in the big show.
Now in just its second season of hoops (sort of—more on that below), I don’t expect to see Cleary in the NCAA tournament any time soon. Last year’s inaugural squad finished 3-24 (admittedly, two more wins than the Titans chalked up), but they did win 2 of their last 5. The Cougars play in the WHAC (Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference), an NAIA conference that includes schools such as UM-Dearborn, Madonna, Aquinas, Rochester, and Indiana Tech.
But don't be fooled into thinking this game doesn't matter, as I'm sure any member of the Class of '06 or '07 (that's 1906 and 1907) will tell you. You can bet that if Dick Vitale were coaching the Titans, he’d be highlighting the fact that Cleary is one of our oldest rivals. For in fact, according to the Titan record book, Cleary was the third team the University of Detroit ever faced, walloping the Scribes 38-9 in the 1905-06 season, and then following up with a 36-9 win the next season. I like to think that after those two games, the Cleary players got on the bus back to Ypsi and whomever was coaching or captaining the team said, “we’re not playing those guys again for at least 100 years.” And the haven’t played us since.
If Cleary pulls off the upset on Monday, it will indeed be panic time Livernois & McNichols. The Cougars launched their season over the weekend by playing in the Hall of Fame Classic in Huntington, Indiana. Cleary lost the opener on Friday to Milligan College, 89-52. They came back on Saturday to defeat Indiana-Columbus, 76-70, but don’t let that intimidate you—IU-Columbus is in its first season of basketball competition, and, not surprisingly, is off to an 0-3 start. In other words, IU-C has never won a game in intercollegiate competition. Their first two games they lost by 43 and 24 points, respectively.
Cleary returns 6 of its top 7 scorers from a year ago, in junior forward Bennie Crenshaw (10.7 ppg), sophomore forward Chris Williams (10.6 ppg), graduate guard Jalen Cole-Williams (9.3), sophomore forward Tim Kewley (5.5 ppg), sophomore forward Al Hess (5.1 ppg), and grad forward Case Conley (4.4 ppg). Four of them have started this year—Crenshaw, Williams, Cole-Williams, and Hess. The 5th starter was juco transfer Tyree Jones in the opener, and 6’ 7’ senior Austin Santure, another juco, in the second. Besides Santure, there is some height in Jones (6’7”), Kewley (6’8”), and Conley (6’7”), while the starting forwards, Hess and Williams, are listed at 6’6” and 6’5” respectively. Kewley and Williams were the team’s leading rebounders last year.
Crenshaw has been Cleary’s top scorer in both games, with 10 points against Milligan followed by a big game against IU-Columbus, tallying 17 points and 8 assists. Hess has been their top rebounder in each of the first two games. Hess also knocked down 4 threes in 7 attempts against IU-C.
As for the Titans, it will be our second look at the young team. Some questions:
• The Titans started freshmen Nate Johnson and Stephen Okoro against Wayne State. Okoro had 7 rebounds in just 18 minutes, but it was foul trouble (4 of ‘em) that kept him from playing more. Johnson scored 11 points, shot 50% from the floor, and led the team with 5 assists to just 1 turnover. Will either or both be in the starting lineup again? Or was Coach just fooling around? Is Okoro that foul prone, or can he stay in the game?
• Jared Lary also started, meaning Orlando Lovejoy began the game on the bench. I’d be surprised if this is the plan, but maybe we’ll see.
• Will Ryan Hurst play? No official word on his missing the Wayne game. Perhaps, like Coach, he had a bug.
• Will Miles Mitchell or Ryan Kalambay see the floor?
• Can the Titans shoot? 21-62 against Wayne State, 3-17 from three. If the Titans had made just 40% from the field and 30% from three, it would have yielded a 9-point win.
Anyway, the Commish is planning to make the drive up for the game. Show support for the new coach and all. The Titans should win this one going away. Anything less will be a big disappointment.
Monday, November 4
7:00 p.m.
Calihan Hall
OK, so now the Mark Montgomery regime really, honestly starts in earnest. Nevermind that game against... who was that against? I’ve already forgotten.
And there are actually legit reasons for saying this is the true start of the Montgomery era. Monday’s loss to Wayne State was, in fact, an exhibition, no more valued in the final record and player stats than the reported “secret scrimmage” win over Lake Superior State. AND, Montgomery wasn’t even on the sidelines for the game, having been waylaid with the flu. You scoff at playing Cleary, but this game counts.
Anyway, if you want to start with a win in your first official game, you’d be hard pressed to schedule a better opponent than Cleary University. Maybe Carver College, but they’re no longer on the list of schools that NCAA schools are allowed to count as official opponents.
Cleary University traces its roots back to the Cleary School of Penmanship, which opened in Ypsilanti in 1883. It became Cleary Business College in 1912, and Cleary University in 2002. Early on Cleary did compete in athletic competition, but dropped sports at some point many years back. In 2012, Cleary U. reintroduced athletics, and in 2022, it launched its men’s basketball program, hiring former Eastern Michigan star and NBA player Carl Thomas as its “first” head coach. Thomas was a freshman on EMU’s 1988 NCAA team, a star on its 1991 Sweet 16 squad, and played parts of three seasons in the NBA. His assistant coach is Grant Long, the star of that 1988 EMU team, who eventually played 15 seasons in the big show.
Now in just its second season of hoops (sort of—more on that below), I don’t expect to see Cleary in the NCAA tournament any time soon. Last year’s inaugural squad finished 3-24 (admittedly, two more wins than the Titans chalked up), but they did win 2 of their last 5. The Cougars play in the WHAC (Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference), an NAIA conference that includes schools such as UM-Dearborn, Madonna, Aquinas, Rochester, and Indiana Tech.
But don't be fooled into thinking this game doesn't matter, as I'm sure any member of the Class of '06 or '07 (that's 1906 and 1907) will tell you. You can bet that if Dick Vitale were coaching the Titans, he’d be highlighting the fact that Cleary is one of our oldest rivals. For in fact, according to the Titan record book, Cleary was the third team the University of Detroit ever faced, walloping the Scribes 38-9 in the 1905-06 season, and then following up with a 36-9 win the next season. I like to think that after those two games, the Cleary players got on the bus back to Ypsi and whomever was coaching or captaining the team said, “we’re not playing those guys again for at least 100 years.” And the haven’t played us since.
If Cleary pulls off the upset on Monday, it will indeed be panic time Livernois & McNichols. The Cougars launched their season over the weekend by playing in the Hall of Fame Classic in Huntington, Indiana. Cleary lost the opener on Friday to Milligan College, 89-52. They came back on Saturday to defeat Indiana-Columbus, 76-70, but don’t let that intimidate you—IU-Columbus is in its first season of basketball competition, and, not surprisingly, is off to an 0-3 start. In other words, IU-C has never won a game in intercollegiate competition. Their first two games they lost by 43 and 24 points, respectively.
Cleary returns 6 of its top 7 scorers from a year ago, in junior forward Bennie Crenshaw (10.7 ppg), sophomore forward Chris Williams (10.6 ppg), graduate guard Jalen Cole-Williams (9.3), sophomore forward Tim Kewley (5.5 ppg), sophomore forward Al Hess (5.1 ppg), and grad forward Case Conley (4.4 ppg). Four of them have started this year—Crenshaw, Williams, Cole-Williams, and Hess. The 5th starter was juco transfer Tyree Jones in the opener, and 6’ 7’ senior Austin Santure, another juco, in the second. Besides Santure, there is some height in Jones (6’7”), Kewley (6’8”), and Conley (6’7”), while the starting forwards, Hess and Williams, are listed at 6’6” and 6’5” respectively. Kewley and Williams were the team’s leading rebounders last year.
Crenshaw has been Cleary’s top scorer in both games, with 10 points against Milligan followed by a big game against IU-Columbus, tallying 17 points and 8 assists. Hess has been their top rebounder in each of the first two games. Hess also knocked down 4 threes in 7 attempts against IU-C.
As for the Titans, it will be our second look at the young team. Some questions:
• The Titans started freshmen Nate Johnson and Stephen Okoro against Wayne State. Okoro had 7 rebounds in just 18 minutes, but it was foul trouble (4 of ‘em) that kept him from playing more. Johnson scored 11 points, shot 50% from the floor, and led the team with 5 assists to just 1 turnover. Will either or both be in the starting lineup again? Or was Coach just fooling around? Is Okoro that foul prone, or can he stay in the game?
• Jared Lary also started, meaning Orlando Lovejoy began the game on the bench. I’d be surprised if this is the plan, but maybe we’ll see.
• Will Ryan Hurst play? No official word on his missing the Wayne game. Perhaps, like Coach, he had a bug.
• Will Miles Mitchell or Ryan Kalambay see the floor?
• Can the Titans shoot? 21-62 against Wayne State, 3-17 from three. If the Titans had made just 40% from the field and 30% from three, it would have yielded a 9-point win.
Anyway, the Commish is planning to make the drive up for the game. Show support for the new coach and all. The Titans should win this one going away. Anything less will be a big disappointment.
