It’s been almost a quarter
century since the Rush last appeared back-to-back at the “big dance” of small
college basketball. It’s a feat that’s
been accomplished only twice in program history.
“We are excited about going to the national
tournament for the second consecutive year,” said head coach Dannton Jackson,
now in his third year. “It has only been
done twice before in school history; first by Bob Hopkins in 1972 and 1973, and
later by Denny Alexander in 1981 and 1982. This puts the group of young men in a very distinguished class.”
A noble achievement
highlighted by the fact that, this season, the Rush has the experience to
advance beyond the first round with six seniors on the roster – all of whom made
the trip to Kansas City last year. They
have already reveled in the pomp and circumstance of the national stage. This season, fate is in the hands of the
believer – and you can believe that the Gold Rush is well aware of what’s at
stake.
“We are very confident, we feel as
though we control our own destiny,” said
At a time when some teams may be
running out of gas, the Xavier men have been playing at peak performance,
narrowly missing a shot at the conference title with a 60-66 loss to eventual
champion – the
“We are excited about the way we
finished off the season. We feel as
though we are playing our best basketball,”
In 2003-04, Xavier lost to a
seasoned Oklahoma Baptist in round one of the national championship,
67-75. In preparation for this year,
“We are ranked 26th in the
country, so we understand that our opponent will have a higher ranking. We feel as though our preseason schedule has
helped us,” said
He added, “Playing Concordia and
Christian Heritage, which were ranked No. 1 and 10th at the time, will help
us. Also our tough conference schedule,
with two teams being in the top 15, has [also] prepared us for the challenge.”
The mid-season surge by the Gold
Rush can be attributed to great post play by seniors Timothy Green, Jonathan
Harper and Jason Leonard, and clutch shooting by senior guards Michael Varnado
and Chevis Brimmer. But if you look in
the middle of the bench, one constant has been the court presence of guard
Shaun Dumas, this season’s GCAC Freshman of the Year.
In only his first year,
Dumas (5-11, New Orleans, LA) has played all 33 games for the Gold Rush, starting
in 12. He leads the team in assists (111), steals
(103), while shooting a respectable 46 percent from the field (6.6 ppg) in just
under 23 minutes of playing time per contest. Opposing coaches have had to immediately adjust their game plans after
seeing Dumas in action. Some have not
always been successful, and that is what the Xavier coaching staff is counting
on.
Leading the Rush is Green,
a repeat selection for All-Conference along with Leonard, recently selected to
the All-Tournament team. Green (6-6, Canton, MS) averages 14 points and seven rebounds per
game, on 54 percent shooting from the field. Leonard (6-7, San Antonio, TX) accounts for 12 points and almost five boards
a game, and shoots
nearly 43 percent from beyond the arc.
Harper (6-5, Long Beach, CA), also repeating the All-GCAC team, is second in rebounds with 5.5 per game and third in scoring with 11.7 points per contest, and has a team best 11 blocks. Close behind is Brimmer (6-0, New Orleans, LA), hitting 10 points a game while posting 81 assists and 72 steals. Varnado (6-3, New Orleans, LA), who landed the No. 3 spot on the Rush all-time assists list in January, has filled in the blanks as needed with an average of 6.5 points and 2.2 boards per game, in addition to 94 assists and 50 steals.
The Gold Rush will carry an overall record of 24-9 into national tournament play, as they await the announcement of the men’s national championship bracket pairings.
The Division I championship format is a 32-team, single elimination tournament featuring 16 automatic qualifiers from 11 Division I affiliated conferences, one independent qualifier and 15 at-large berths.
For more tournament information, log on to www.naiahoopskc.org.
-www.xula.edu/athletics-
