2007-08 Around the Nation columns

December 7, 2008 Whitewater set to go deeper If they have their way, this season won’t end as the last one did for the No. 7 rated UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team, with a lot of frustration.

March 13, 2008 Big shots put Bullets in Sweet 16 Before the NCAA Tournament, Gettysburg junior swingman Corey Dorsey got an e-mail from his former St. John’s Prospect Hall high school teammate, Al Sowers, now a senior guard on the Coast Guard men’s basketball team. Corey Dorsey came up big for the Bullets in the closing seconds against Elms. “Al told me to win a couple games, and that hopefully we’d get to meet up,” Dorsey said.

March 6, 2008 Wheaton has faith restored The faith Kent Raymond has was reinforced Monday afternoon when the Thunder received an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Though they had a 19-7 record and were eliminated from the CCIW Tournament in the semifinals by Illinois Wesleyan, the Thunder and Raymond were given a second chance to end their season on a strong note.

February 27, 2008 Unlikely dance for John Jay John Jay senior captain Hakeem Kased doesn’t want his team’s unlikely run to its first NCAA Tournament bid to be labeled a Cinderella story, though he admitted he wouldn’t mind if Disney came calling to make a movie about it someday.

February 21, 2008 No safety net for Pool B's Pool B might as well be called Pool Bubble. No matter what your record is, you have no automatic bid to shoot for and, short of going 25-0, there’s always the chance you might get left out.

February 14, 2008 Ursinus getting better enough It’s not about the wins and losses yet, at Ursinus, and it’s nice to be able to say that when you’re 20-2, 15-0 in Centennial Conference play, and ranked 19th in the D3hoops.com Top 25.

February 8, 2008 On a collision course? There are still three undefeated teams left in Division III women's basketball, but two of them appear destined to meet in the NCAA Tournament, if only because they are both in the Great Lakes region. While neither Hope nor Thomas More can afford to look that far ahead, we can, because, well, we're the media, and that's apparently what we're supposed to do.

January 31, 2008 Plattsburgh's big shot still the difference Anthony Williams likes to call himself "Big Shot" but it’s a nickname he backed up last March. With Plattsburgh down a point in the final seconds, Williams took a feed and drilled a shot from not far inside midcourt at the buzzer for the victory. Almost the same spot he’d been practicing from.

January 24, 2008 Early call got Mass-Dartmouth running Picked to finish fourth in the Little East this season, Mass-Dartmouth has been one of Division III’s biggest surprises, with quality wins over Brandeis, Salem State and most recently, at Rhode Island College.

January 11, 2008 Keystone stakes Franklin and Marshall men’s coach Glenn Robinson and Wilkes men’s coach Jerry Rickrode have more than 50 years combined of head coaching experience, each with long, extraordinary runs of success and traditions as Pennsylvania powers. Their teams have hit some bumps over the last season and a half and they’re presently working through that, trying to get their programs back to an elite level.

December 13, 2007 Unpronounceable but unstoppable The No. 1 ranked Rochester men’s basketball team has its own version of “untouchable” players, though there is a better “un” to describe two of them. So we’ll dub the senior forward/center tandem of Uche Ndubizu and Jonathan Onyiriuka as “The Unpronouncables.”

November 30, 2007 Smith's aura still strong at Witt Though replacing a legend in Springfield will be a constant challenge for Sarah Jurewicz, her first message to the team was about celebrating the Wittenberg tradition and honoring Pam Smith.

November 15, 2007 Strong still making waves Everyone has taken notice of Guilford center Ben Strong's basketball skills, including NBA scouts. Plus Millikin's Lindsay Ippel hopes to cap her career with another Tournament run and we give you four sleepers for the upcoming season.