Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Opens Season Friday against Mercer in Providence
11/11/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2009
WHAT: Bucknell vs. Mercer, Providence & Bryant at World Vision Invitational
WHERE: Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence, R.I.
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, Nov. 13-15
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: friars.com (Providence games only)
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
Game Notes in PDF Format 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 13
Bucknell vs. Mercer, 5 p.m.
Providence vs. Bryant, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 14
Mercer vs. Bryant, 4 p.m.
Bucknell vs. Providence, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 15
Bucknell vs. Bryant, 12 p.m.
Providence vs. Mercer, 2:30 p.m.
About This Weekend
Bucknell begins its 115th season of varsity basketball this weekend at the World Vision Invitational in Providence, R.I. The Bison open up on Friday evening against Mercer, one of the preseason favorites in the Atlantic Sun Conference. On Saturday night Bucknell faces host Providence, then the Bison will have a quick turnaround for a noon game on Sunday against Bryant. Head coach Dave Paulsen begins his second season on the Bucknell bench this weekend -- coincidentally, all four coaches in the tournament are beginning their second year with their school -- and he welcomes back a team that features four returning starters, plus another former starter in Stephen Tyree, who is back after missing all of last season with a knee injury.
About World Vision
The naming rights to the tournament were donated to World Vision by Basketball Travelers, Inc., the tournament organizers. As a Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision aims to contribute to a 75 percent reduction in malaria cases, with the end goal of nearly zero preventable malaria deaths by 2015. World Vision works in 62 malaria-endemic countries, 23 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. More information is available at www.endmalaria.org.
Three Games in Three Days
Bucknell has a busy schedule this weekend, playing three times in a span of just 43 hours. The last time a Bison team played a game on three consecutive days was all the way back on Nov. 23-25, 1991 at the San Juan Shootout. At that tournament, Bucknell opened with an 81-68 loss to Murray State, then came back to defeat Northern Iowa (71-57) and Saint Louis (103-93).
First-Time Opponents
Bucknell has never before played any of the three opponents at the World Vision Invitational. These will be Bucknell's first games in the city of Providence since Jan. 17, 1996, when the Bison defeated Brown 75-69.
Bucknell vs. The Atlantic Sun Conference
Bucknell is 0-1 all-time against the current members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The only member of that conference the Bison have faced is Stetson. Bucknell fell to the Hatters 59-55 on Jan. 2, 1973 in DeLand, Fla.
Bucknell vs. The Big East
The Bison are 30-90 (.250) against current members of the Big East (9-14 vs. Villanova; 9-18 vs. Pittsburgh; 8-22 vs. Rutgers; 2-9 vs. Georgetown; 1-8 vs. Syracuse; 0-8 vs. West Virginia; 0-5 vs. Seton Hall; 0-2 vs. Connecticut; 0-2 vs. Notre Dame; 1-0 vs. DePaul; 0-1 vs. South Florida and 0-1 vs. St. John's). Bucknell has, however, won three of its last six games against the Big East. The 69-66 upset of then-No. 7 Pittsburgh in January 2005 was Bucknell's first win over a Big East team since Jan. 11, 1975 (also Pitt, 72-66). The Bison also defeated Syracuse and DePaul early in the 2005-06 season.
Bucknell in Season Openers
Bucknell is 75-39 (.658) all-time in season openers. Last season the Bison dropped its opener at Maryland, 81-52. The last opening-night win came the previous year, a 55-52 home victory over Albany.
Bucknell Last Season
Faced with a rash of injuries and major depth issues, Bucknell struggled in 2008-09 and finished with a 7-23 overall record, 4-10 in the Patriot League. The Bison played a school-record six overtime games last season, going 2-4 in those games, and they lost six other games by four points or less. For only the fourth time in 19 years in the Patriot League, and for the first time since 2000, Bucknell lost in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament, falling 75-56 at Holy Cross.
Welcome Back Stephen
Bucknell received a major blow a year ago when Stephen Tyree went down with an ACL injury in an organized pick-up game just prior to the official start of preseason practice. Tyree, a starter in every game in 2007-08 when he was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, missed the entire 2008-09 campaign. Now a senior, Tyree was named a co-captain this season, and he is expected to start at the small forward position on opening night.
Behan, Cohen Honored
Bucknell returns two players who earned Patriot League postseason honors last year. Senior Patrick Behan was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection, while sophomore Bryan Cohen was a member of the Patriot League All-Rookie Team.
International Experience for Cohen
Bryan Cohen spent several weeks this summer playing for the United States team at the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel. The U.S. squad, led by Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl, won the gold medal, beating defending champion Israel 95-86 in overtime in the final. The U.S. posted a 5-1 record at the event, which is also known as the "Jewish Olympics." Accounts of the games mention Cohen scoring in double figures in at least four of the games. He scored a team-high 18 points against Russia and also had 17 against Canada, 12 against Mexico and 10 against France. Dan Grunfeld, a former All-Pac 10 player at Stanford, scored 25 in the gold-medal game and was named tournament MVP.
Cohen on Frosh Scoring Chart
Bryan Cohen scored 353 points last season, the fourth-highest total ever by a Bucknell freshman. Only Gerald Purnell (467 in 1974-75), Bob Barry (441 in 1976-77) and Al Leslie (367 in 1977-78) scored more as freshmen.
Behan Looking to Pick up Where He Left Off
Late last season head coach Dave Paulsen elected to go with a smaller starting lineup, and he moved 6'8" forward Patrick Behan to the center position. The move paid off for Behan, who took advantage of his quickness edge against bigger centers. In the final 11 games of the season, Behan averaged 18.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and shot 53.5% from the field. He scored 20 or more points in each of the final five games of the regular season, the longest such 20-point streak by a Bucknell player in seven years. Behan had eight 20-point games on the season and was later named team MVP.
Behan Reaches 400/200 Level
Patrick Behan achieved a rarity in 2008-09 when he accumulated 400 points and 200 rebounds in the same season. He finished with 415 points and 205 rebounds to become the 22nd Bison player to accomplish the feat. The last Bucknell player to do that was Charles Lee (412/210) in 2004-05. Lehigh's Zahir Carrington was the only other Patriot League player to do it last season.
Shazier Lends Helping Hand
Junior point guard Darryl Shazier won the Partiot League assists title last season, making him the first Bucknell player to do so in the 19-year history of the league. Shazier averaged 4.6 assists per game and had six or more assists 13 times. He also led the Patriot League in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.06).
Northern Exposure
Recent Bucknell recruiting classes have brought in players from warmer climates, such as Alabama (G.W. Boon), Texas (Stephen Tyree), Southern California (Zach Evans), Virginia (Patrick Behan and Darryl Shazier) and even the Bahamas (Probese Leo). Well two of this year's newcomers won't be complaining about the Pennsylvania winters. Mike Muscala is believed to be the first Bucknell player from the state of Minnesota (roster data with hometown information dates back to the 1940s). Bryson Johnson comes from even farther north. Johnson is a native of Pictou, Nova Scotia and went to high school at St. David Catholic in Ontario. While he is the first Nova Scotian to play at Bucknell, he is not the only member of the team to be born in Canada. Enoch Andoh was born in Montreal.
Frosh Starters
This could be the second straight year Bucknell has a freshman starter in its opening-night lineup if Joe Willman gets the nod at power forward, as expected. Last year Bryan Cohen started at Maryland in the opener, and he ended up starting every game. Before Cohen, the last freshman to start game one was John Griffin in 2004-05.
Willman Healed
For freshman Joe Willman, earning a spot in the starting lineup is a significant feat considering how his senior year at Monmouth Regional High School ended. Willman was averaging better than 21 points and 13 rebounds per game and was being discussed as a candidate for state player of the year when his season was cut short in late January. He took an awkward fall after being fouled on a breakaway dunk and broke both wrists trying to brace himself on the landing. That ended Willman's season, but he was still named Shore Area Player of the Year. He is now fully recovered from the injuries and has enjoyed a strong preseason for the Bison.
Three-Point Trio
For the first time ever, Bucknell had three players with 50 or more 3-point field goals last season. G.W. Boon had a team-high 53 3-pointers, followed by Bryan Cohen with 51 and Justin Castleberry with 50. Only two other Bucknell teams had three players connect on at least 40 treys: the 1990-91 team with Keith Fenton (60), Mike Bright (50) and Bill Courtney (41); and the 2004-05 team with Kevin Bettencourt (78), John Griffin (47) and Charles Lee (46). Last year's squad nearly had four players with 40 threes, but Darryl Shazier just missed with 37.
20-20-20-20-20 Vision
Bucknell had five different players score 20 points in a game last season, the first time that has happened since 1994-95. Darryl Shazier, Bryan Cohen, Justin Castleberry, Patrick Behan and G.W. Boon all topped 20 at least once (all but Shazier did it multiple times). In 1994-95, Brian Anderson, Kihlon Golden, Sekou Hamer, Dave Steigerwald and Kevin Wenk all registered 20-point games.
Attendance Champs
Despite its record, Bucknell led the Patriot League in home attendance in 2008-09, earning its fourth straight PL attendance title. The Bison drew an average of 2,509 fans to Sojka Pavilion last season.
Behan's Blog
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 is in his second season contributing to the site. 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 677 games. The Bison have failed to make at least one 3-pointer in only five of those 677 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 158 straight games entering the 2009-10 season.
Patriot League Success
Bucknell has an all-time record of 24-17 in 19 Patriot League Tournaments. Bucknell has beaten every team in the league at least once in the postseason. The Bison have reached the championship game six times, including wins in 2005 and 2006, and reached at least the semifinals in 15 of 19 years. Bucknell's streak of eight straight first-round wins came to an end last season at Holy Cross.
Bison Scholar-Athletes
The Bucknell basketball program has also enjoyed tremendous success in the classroom in recent years. Among the highlights:
-- Chris McNaughton in 2007 became the first player in league history to win Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors three times. The electrical engineering major who was also a three-time first-team all-league player, was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team in 2006.
-- In the Patriot League's 19-year history, the league's men's basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year has come from Bucknell nine times.
-- Bucknell drew national acclaim at the 2006 NCAA Tournament for its perfect 100-percent men's basketball graduation rate.
-- The Bison men's basketball program easily met the national standard in the NCAA's Academic Performance Rate (APR) study, released last April. The men's basketball APR is 994 (out of 1,000), which is in the top 10 percent nationally and earned the Bison program an NCAA APR Public Recognition Award.
-- Bucknell Athletics as a whole ranks No. 2 among all Division I schools in student-athlete graduation rates, factoring a four-class average from those who entered between 1988-89 and 2001-02.
-- Bucknell has claimed 117 national Academic All-Americans since 1970, including eight from men's basketball. The total of 117 ranks fifth among all Division I institutions, trailing only Nebraska, Notre Dame, Penn State and Stanford.
Captains Named
Bucknell has three team captains in 2009-10: seniors Patrick Behan and Stephen Tyree and junior Darryl Shazier.
Who's Got Next?
After this weekend's tournament, the Bison are back on the road again, facing Delaware next Wednesday at 7 p.m. That will be the return game from last year's BracketBusters matchup at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell's home opener will be Saturday, Nov. 21 against Saint Francis (Pa.).
