Bucknell University Athletics
Countdown to Tipoff: Bison Men Open 08-09 Campaign at Maryland Friday Night
11/13/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2008
WHAT: Bucknell (0-0) vs. Maryland (0-0)
WHERE: Comcast Center, College Park, Md.
WHEN: Friday, November 14, 2008, 8:05 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
SATELLITE RADIO: XM 190
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: ACC Select
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES 
With a Victory over Maryland, Bucknell Would ...
About The Game
Bucknell begins its 114th season of varsity basketball against Maryland at the Comcast Center. The Bison have achieved tremendous success on both the local and national stage in recent years, but this is a “new look” Bucknell squad both on the floor and on the bench. Longtime head coach Pat Flannery retired after last season, and Dave Paulsen was announced as the program's 20th head coach in May. Paulsen, who won 170 games and a Division III national championship during an eight-year stint at Williams College, has already faced some adversity as injuries have been the story of the preseason for the Bison. Most notably, reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Stephen Tyree suffered a season-ending knee injury in a September pick-up game. Several other veterans have missed time as well, limiting the team's depth in practice and in two closed scrimmages. With the exception of Tyree, the Bison are hoping to be back near full strength for the opener against a Maryland team that won 19 games, including a road victory at No. 1 North Carolina, last season. The Gary Williams-led Terps have to replace two excellent big men in James Gist and Bambale Osby, but they have a deep and experienced backcourt led by Second Team All-ACC pick and conference assists leader Greivis Vasquez. Maryland routed Northwood 104-60 in an exhibition game on Saturday, led by 20 points each from junior Landon Milbourne and freshman Jin Soo Kim.
Bucknell vs. Maryland
This will be the first meeting between the Bison and the Terrapins since Dec. 3, 1994, a 102-64 Terps win. Coincidentally, Bucknell also played that game with a first-year head coach, as the Maryland game was Pat Flannery's fourth as head coach of the Bison. Johnny Rhodes led Maryland with 27 points in that game, while Dave Steigerwald and Gordon Mboya tallied 14 each for Bucknell. These two teams have played six times, with Maryland winning all six by an average score of 97-73. The closest of the six games was a 77-68 Terps win in 1986-87. All six previous meetings came at Cole Field House.
Bucknell vs. The Atlantic Coast Conference
Against the 12 teams that currently make up the Atlantic Coast Conference, Bucknell owns an all-time record of 1-22. The lone victory came at Virginia (99-81) on Jan. 27, 1961. The Bison are 1-2 against Virginia, 0-6 vs. Maryland, 0-4 vs. Wake Forest, 0-3 vs. Duke, 0-2 vs. Clemson, 0-2 vs. Miami, 0-1 vs. Virginia Tech, 0-1 vs. Florida State, 0-1 vs. Boston College.
Bucknell in Season Openers
Bucknell is 75-38 (.664) all-time in season openers, including last season's 55-52 home victory over Albany.
Homecomings
Bucknell has two players on its roster from the state of Maryland. Senior guard Justin Castleberry is from Upper Marlboro and played at powerful Archbishop Spalding alongside Rudy Gay and several other future Division I players. Junior guard Matt Fiery, a walk-on in his second year with the team, played at Dulaney High School in the Baltimore area. Leesburg, Va., native Patrick Behan is also playing close to home.
Bucknell Last Season
Faced with the graduation of the winningest class in school history and a rash of early season injuries, Bucknell finished 12-19 last season, 6-8 in the Patriot League. The Bison finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the league standings and entered the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 7 seed. John Griffin's 40-foot bank shot at the final buzzer of triple overtime lifted Bucknell to a miraculous 87-86 win over No. 2 Navy in the first round of the tourney, but the Bison were eliminated by Colgate in the semifinals. Bucknell's string of three straight seasons with 22 or more wins came to an end, and it was only the third time in 18 seasons in the Patriot League the team finished under .500 in league play.
Bucknell's Recent Success
Bucknell recently enjoyed its finest three-year stretch in program history:
Coaching Debuts
Since Jim Valvano left Bucknell to become the head coach at Iona after the 1974-75 season, tonight's game will mark only the third time that the Bison have debuted a new coach. Charlie Woollum took over for Valvano and coached the team through 1993-94, and Pat Flannery led Bucknell from 1994-95 through last season. Dave Paulsen is Bucknell's 20th head coach, and his predecessors are 14-5 in their first game on the bench.
Coach Debut Result George Hoskins 1/15/1909 vs. Susquehanna W, 45-16 C. Fulmer 1/12/12 vs. Lock Haven W, 56-13 H.E. Zehner 1/9/13 vs. Bloomsburg L, 23-12 D. Schaffner 1/9/14 vs. Bloomsburg W, 23-16 George Cockill 1/8/15 vs. Bloomsburg W, 53-21 Malcolm Musser 1/4/18 vs. Bloomsburg W, 35-22 Henry Benfer 1/17/19 vs. Wyoming W, 55-36 Clarence Glass 1/7/21 vs. Dickinson W, 23-16 Harry McCormick 1/8/24 at Penn L, 30-26 John Plant 1926-27 vs. Jersey Shore W, 22-18 John Sitarski 12/3/42 vs. Elizabethtown W, 57-24 J. Ellwood Ludwig 12/11/43 at Penn State W, 29-26 Jack Guy 12/6/47 at Cornell L, 58-34 Ben Kribbs 12/6/52 vs. Juniata W, 76-73 Gene Evans 12/1/62 vs. W & J W, 53-49 Don Smith 12/5/64 vs. Bethany W, 65-42 Jim Valvano 12/2/72 at Penn State L, 61-48 Charlie Woollum 12/1/75 vs. Juniata W, 76-58 Pat Flannery 11/25/94 vs. Vermont L, 67-66 Dave Paulsen 11/14/2008 at Maryland ?
Similar Stories
Dave Paulsen becomes Bucknell's second straight head coach to make the leap to Division I after a very successful Division III career. His predecessor, Pat Flannery, won a Division III national championship at Lebanon Valley prior to taking over as Bucknell's head coach in 1994-95. Paulsen comes from Williams, where he also won a D-III national title in 2002-03.
Frosh Starters
If Bryan Cohen starts on Friday night at Maryland, he would become the first freshman to start on opening night since John Griffin in 2004-05. Griffin had a memorable debut, scoring 18 points against Princeton at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Behan's Blog
Junior Patrick Behan is putting his English major to good use as a guest blogger for The New York Times' college sports blog called “The Quad.” Behan has already penned two installments and will be contributing regularly throughout the 2008-09 basketball season. To read his entries, visit http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/author/pbehan/.
Bingo!
The NCAA instituted the 3-point shot in 1986-87, and since then Bucknell has played 647 games. The Bison have failed to make at least one 3-pointer in only five of those 647 games (1/30/89 at Cornell, 1/16/93 vs. Lafayette, 2/5/00 at Navy, 12/22/00 at Penn State and 2/29/04 at Colgate). Bucknell has converted a trifecta in 128 straight games.
Senior Class
The last remaining pieces of Bucknell's 2006 NCAA Tournament team are this year's three seniors, Justin Castleberry, Josh Linthicum and Jason Vegotsky. Despite offseason injury issues for each one, all three could start in the opener against Maryland. This class comes into the season with a 61-33 record.
Freshman Contributions
All three of Bucknell's scholarship freshmen could have an impact this season. Guard Bryan Cohen made the quickest impression on the coaching staff and is expected to be in the lineup on opening night. Cohen will start on the wing, but has also shown the ability to be a backup point guard, even at 6'5”. With regular point guard Darryl Shazier's status in question because of a foot injury, Cohen could see time at the point right away. San Jose native Enoch Andoh comes from a premier prep program in Archbishop Mitty and will begin his Bucknell career as a backup to senior Josh Linthicum in the middle. While still adjusting to the speed and size of the college game, Andoh has progressed throughout the preseason and should play off the bench. Probese Leo has the least amount of experience of the three, just two years of high school ball at St. Pius X in Houston after being discovered in The Bahamas by Frank Rutherford. A very gifted athlete, Leo is working on polishing his game and seems likely to be a major contributor down the line.
Patriot League Success
The Bison are now 162-76 (.681) in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. They have finished at least .500 in PL play in 15 of 18 seasons. The Bison won a league-record 23 straight contests against conference foes from Feb. 23, 2005 to Jan. 12, 2007. Bucknell had a streak of 35 straight wins at home against conference opponents come to an end last season.
Bison Scholar-Athletes
The Bucknell basketball program has also enjoyed tremendous success in the classroom in recent years. Among the highlights:
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell opens up the home portion of the 2008-09 schedule on Tuesday night against Boston University at Sojka Pavilion. This will be the Terriers' first-ever visit to Lewisburg. The two teams' only other meeting came at the 2005 Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara, with the Bison holding on for a 63-57 victory.
