By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com

A few hours prior to Plattsburgh State’s first-round NCAA matchup with Rochester, the Cardinals’ shootaround was just wrapping up when head coach Tom Curle got in a chat with an NCAA site rep. Then-junior guard Anthony Williams and a teammate started firing up shots from near midcourt. At one point, Williams made four out of five, though that drew a yell from Curle, indicating he should work on something that might become pertinent.

Plattsburgh State shocked Rochester in the first round of last year's tournament. Photo by Jeffrey Levy, D3hoops.com

Williams likes to call himself "Big Shot" but it’s a nickname he backed up that day. 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.

"It wasn’t a heave, it was a jump shot," said Curle. "That’s where his weight training and strength came into play. If you saw the form on the shot, you would have thought it was a 15-footer. He was coming towards me, and I looked in his eyes and thought ‘he might make this."

That shot could be viewed as a reward for all that went into last season, when the Cardinals successfully defended a title they had won the year previous. Williams played the entire season with knee tendinitis, but fought through it.

This year, Williams has also made his share of big shots, including a pair of late three-pointers in a win against Brockport State. He’s averaging 22.7 points per game. Curle describes Williams’ strength as his strength and considers his shooting range to be NBA-like. When the team needs something, it looks to Williams to come through, and Williams has, time and again.

"I consider myself a leader in how much work I put into this," Williams said. "It’s hard to stay consistent if you don’t put the work in."

Anthony Williams has kept Plattsburgh State on the radar the past two seasons.

Williams, a native of Brooklyn who turns 25 in March, transferred from Division I Morgan State two seasons ago. Williams had left school after his son, A.J. (Anthony Jr.) was born to allow his girlfriend to finish her degree at Temple. After she did that, he decided to return to school, and at the suggestion of Curtis Smith, a high school teammate who became an assistant at Plattsburgh, came to this school. He’ll graduate in May with a history degree, and three consecutive semesters with a 3.0 GPA or better, and will pursue a masters degree with the intent of becoming a school counselor.

Williams’ mother died of breast cancer when he was in 11th grade, and he also draws significant inspiration from his late grandmother, a maintenance worker who took pride in her punctuality above all else.

"She was never late for work for 25 years, and then one day she was one minute late, and it was like the end of the world to her," Williams said. "She said it’s the principle that matters, about being professional in everything that you do."

Williams isn’t the only older player on the Plattsburgh State team. Forward Travis Gorham, a transfer from Division II C.W. Post (where Curle previously coached), is also in his mid 20s, having worked to support family before returning to school.

"All of the accolades I’ve gotten, I wouldn’t have had any if not for him," Williams said. "He’s a team first player who keeps everything together. If I’m having a bad game, he’ll tell me, but he’ll also let me know when it’s time to take over. He gets a lot of rebounds, but sometimes he’ll think like a point guard, he’ll tell me what he sees and we’ll go to that."

Williams has one up on his brother, Edwin Ubiles, a sophomore and leading scorer for Division I Siena in that he’s been to the NCAA Tournament and Ubiles has not. Williams and his brother have a friendly rivalry going in that Ubiles will only call him if Siena wins or Plattsburgh loses. There haven’t been many calls in which Ubiles has the upper hand because of the success that Williams and his teammates have had in trying for this three-peat.

"I’ve never seen a group of dudes work together for one goal like this," Williams said. "We could have gotten spoiled (by the back-to-back titles) but we’re working harder and harder each year. It’s the beginning of a really good program here."

WORTH WATCHING: Yes, we know Washington University and Rochester have a noteworthy meeting (for all four teams) on Friday, but we’re going to spotlight the games taking place the next day, one day prior to the Super Bowl. The assortment is good enough for us to dub it “Super Saturday.”

Saturday, Feb. 2
Men’s
Guilford at Randolph-Macon: The four-way tie at the top of the ODAC could resolve itself a bit this weekend, with Guilford at Randolph-Macon and Virginia Wesleyan on back-to-back days. The Yellowjackets already won at Guilford earlier this season, so we’ll see what Quakers center Ben Strong has in store in his 100th career game

Brooklyn at Staten Island: In a game that we imagine will keep the message board quite busy, former Staten Island star Sean Weismuller returns to face his former team, with both squads locked in a close race for the CUNYAC lead.

Southern Maine at Mass-Dartmouth: These are not the same Huskies who loss to Mass-Dartmouth by eight in December, but rather one with a chance of pulling off an upset. Southern Maine, boosted by the midseason addition of  ex-Division I players Nick Gooding (Sacramento State) and Jamaal Caterina (New Hampshire), has won five straight. Forward Drew Coppenrath (younger brother of former Vermont star Taylor Coppenrath) is also making a nice name for himself this season, averaging 15.1 points, just behind Caterina’s team-best 15.4.
 
St. Thomas at Carleton: Odd that Carleton, which is 10-1 on the road this season, hasn’t played as well at home. The Knights will get a chance for a nice home win against a Tommies team that handed them their only road loss earlier this season.

FINAL FOUR: Quick thoughts on news and notes from around Division III. Getting back to a point Dave McHugh made last week: entering Thursday, there are four teams with one loss or fewer on the men’s side. There are 16 with one loss or fewer on the women’s side. We got asked by one follower of a good Atlantic Region women’s team why their squad hasn’t gotten a Top 25 vote. Think the answer is pretty simple: the women’s side is as top-heavy qualitywise as it has been at any point in the D3hoops.com era. The world may stop for the Super Bowl, but Division III basketball does not. Chapman’s women’s basketball team will host UC Santa Cruz at 3 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, about a half hour before the Giants and Patriots kick off.  In all likelihood, this will be the only other sporting event going on at that time in all of North America. Chapman head coach Carol Jue once changed the time of a game so that she could attend the Rose Bowl (her husband’s alma mater, USC, was playing), but no switcheroos were pulled for this game (as Pat Coleman pointed out, it’s not like Los Angeles has an NFL team to worry about). Chapman, by the way, is 16-3 entering the weekend and looks to be headed to postseason for the eighth straight year. Even Hoopsville, our weekly radio show, will air from 1-4 p.m. ET to stay out of the way of the Super Bowl. I feel like we haven’t had as good a year on a couple of our “Super-Sleeper” picks as we should have (Good choices: Defiance men, Occidental women). Hampden-Sydney’s team (men, of course, 9-8, 3-7), Dominican’s men (8-10, 5-6), and Mississippi College’s women (9-8, 6-6) have not lived up to our expectations. We’re not bailing on those squads yet. Still a long ways to go. Emerson hung in gamely through a couple of injuries that left them without any player taller than 6-2 for several weeks, and now its efforts are about to be rewarded. Six-foot-four forward Bryan Rouse, who broke his ankle during winter break, is not as seriously hurt as was initially thought, and is scheduled to return Thursday. This is significant in that the 14-2 Lions (they would have been a great Super Sleeper choice), who lead the country in field goal percentage (better than 55 percent), once again become a team that no one is going to want to play if it can get through the GNAC Tournament.

Carthage at Illinois Wesleyan: Not many around the CCIW expected the two Illinois Wesleyan/Carthage matchups to be crucial in the 2008 league title chase, but they are now.  In the preseason conference coaches poll, the Red Men were picked fifth and Titans seventh in the 8-team CCIW. After coming from behind late to defeat IWU in overtime at home, Carthage visits the Shirk Center in a game with huge implications, especially after its Wednesday home loss against North Park. It’s a good matchup of young players  The Titans feature four freshmen in prominent roles; Carthage features arguably the best freshman in the nation in Steve Djurickovic.

Augustana at Elmhurst: The Vikings won by two points in Rock Island on Jan. 12.  One of these nationally ranked teams will be dealt a severe blow to their conference championship hopes early in the second half of the conference schedule. Augustana looking to steal its second in a row on the road and Elmhurst needs to protect homecourt to avoid picking up its fourth league loss. Elmhurst is led by the terrific inside/outside junior tandem of 6-9, 255 Brent Ruch and 6-4 wing Ryan Burks. Augustana counters with 6-9, 240 senior Dain Swetalla and 6-2 U. of Iowa transfer Brett Wessels.

Women’s
Tufts at Wesleyan: We’ll get a good read on whether Wesleyan’s current first-place status in the NESCAC is legit, with Bates and Tufts coming to Middletown, Conn., this weekend. Cardinals forward Lucy Sprung is coming off three straight double-doubles, will have to play big against Jumbos twin-tower front line.

Amherst at Bowdoin: Both teams are trying to get back on right track after losing to Williams and Wesleyan. Recent column subject Samantha Swensen (11.7) has been keyed on by opposing defenses regularly, held to just 20 total points in her last four games.

Hardin-Simmons at Howard Payne: The calm after the storm that will be Thursday’s meeting between Howard Payne and McMurry is this game, and these two will actually meet twice in a seven-day span. Hardin-Simmons lost twice to McMurry but still should provide Howard Payne one of its few likely challenges in the ASC this season. The Yellow Jackets have played just one close game since opening night. The Cowgirls start two seniors but also a freshman and a sophomore.

St. Lawrence at William Smith: William Smith’s Liberty League lead is on the line this weekend, as the Herons are unbeaten in the league and have won 11 in a row entering Friday night's game against Clarkson. The Saints had an 11-game streak of their own snapped against RPI at home last Friday night, after being held to 27.6 percent shooting from the floor. St. Lawrence got just one bucket off its bench and starters Jamie Wolff and Lauren Sischo, who each played 40 minutes, were a combined 5-for-29 from the floor.

Baldwin-Wallace at Ohio Northern: Ohio Northern is off to its best start in 20 years and has lost three games, all to ranked teams. Baldwin-Wallace is one of them, however, in a game it led by double digits for almost all of the second half, and by as many as 29. Ohio Northern shot well from the outside in the first meeting but was just 10-for-37 inside the arc in losing 79-52.

George Fox at Puget Sound: The top two teams in the Northwest Conference meet after George Fox starts the weekend with a trip to Pacific Lutheran (11-6, 4-4) and Puget Sound hosts last-place Pacific. George Fox won the first go-round 45-39 in sweeping the first go-round in the Northwest Conference. After this weekend the Bruins finish the conference season with five home games and one road game, so a win for them here would really put Puget Sound in a hole for the top seed in the conference tournament.

Carthage at Illinois Wesleyan: These teams will meet for the first time this weekend, with Carthage having won 10 in a row and Illinois Wesleyan six. Carthage features balanced offense, with the five top scorers averaging between 8.2 and 11.6 points per game. Illinois Wesleyan's Mallory Heydorn has been in and out of the rotation and lineup with a strained Achilles' tendon and got an entire night off on Jan. 24 when the Titans hosted non-Division III team Robert Morris-Springfield. She started and played 21 minutes in an 82-66 win at North Central, then sat out an 83-47 win on Tuesday at North Park.