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49ers a Team on the Move
by Gentry Estes, Times Free Press
March 14, 2007
KNOXVILLE — Sterling Byrd arrived a few minutes late to his Monday
morning statistics class at Long Beach State University.
The professor halted his lecture mid-sentence, turned and stared.
"He just stopped class and everybody gave me applause," Byrd
said.
"The whole school is happy."
A college known best for baseball is discovering basketball again.
Resurgent Long Beach State is back in the NCAA tournament for the
first time in 12 years, driven by an influx of experienced, junior
college players such as Byrd.
With encouragement from its coastal corner of Southern California,
sun-and-gun Long Beach State (24-7 ) is now aimed at fifth-seeded
Tennessee (22-10 ) in Friday's 2:45 p.m. NCAA tournament first-round
game in Columbus, Ohio.
If it's not the biggest basketball game in school history, it's close.
"We were yearning to get back," 49ers coach Larry Reynolds
said.
"We're back in it now, and we want to try to build on that. I think
this game can kind of be the impetus to keep this thing going."
Reynolds is in his fifth season in charge of the 49ers, although only
the final two were memorable. LBSU lost three-fourths of his first 84
games there, lagging near the bottom of the Big West Conference.
The coach's injury-plagued third season finished 10-20, which was an
improvement on his first two teams.
"It was to the point where we kind of had to win right away or I
wouldn't be sitting here talking right now," Reynolds said.
His immediate answer was to overhaul his club and stock up on junior
college talent for a quick-shot, high-scoring system. Right away, it
worked. The 49ers improved to 18-12 last season, led all of Division I
in scoring offense at more than 83 points per game and lost in the Big
West tournament final to Pacific.
With all five starters back as seniors, Long Beach was an overwhelming
preseason favorite to win the Big West this season. Four of the
current starters attended junior college, including Byrd, a Compton,
Calif., native who had turned down Reynolds in high school.
"I didn't want to come because I didn't think they had the type
of
players that wanted to win," Byrd said. "They did a good job
of
recruiting guys who won at their high school or their junior colleges.
We're just so used to winning, we don't expect to lose."
Despite early blowout losses this season to Southern Cal (79-61 ),
UCLA (88-58 ) and Temple (74-49 ), Long Beach won 13 of its final 15
games, including two in the conference tourney by double digits.
The 49ers gathered after Saturday night's Big West title victory to
watch Sunday's NCAA selection show, expecting the worst because of
their lack of recent postseason history. They celebrated again when
they saw their pairing.
"We were all sitting there thinking we're going to play a 1, 2 or
a 3
seed," Byrd said. "Actually, we felt like they gave us a little
bit of
love when we got a 12 seed."
While basically no one at Tennessee's selection event had seen much of
Long Beach State this season, Byrd said he watched the Volunteers at
least five or six times on television this season.
He recalled details of the Vols' home victory over Florida and a
narrow road defeat at Ohio State, both of which impressed him at the
time and left him wondering how the two teams would compare.
"It's going to be a track meet," Byrd said. "All of us
will shoot it any time."
Given its style of pace, Long Beach is an intriguing underdog for
Tennessee. Not often does UT coach Bruce Pearl wish to slow down an
opponent, but that could be the case this time.
The 49ers, at No. 9 nationally, are one of only 10 teams in Division
I
averaging more points than the Vols.
"We'll be challenged to stop them from scoring," said Pearl,
who
surmised simply, "We play well, we'll beat this basketball team.
We
don't play well, we won't. It's why they're in the tournament."
Reynolds' biggest concern about UT is the fullcourt pressure and
handson, half-court defense. That goes back to a previous experience.
Pearl's Southern Indiana team used steals and quick runs to overcome
an early 30-8 deficit in the 1995 Division II title game against
Cal-Riverside, where Reynolds was an assistant coach.
"Hopefully, one of our strengths is that we play three guards and
those guys will be able to handle the ball," Reynolds said. "But
I
don't think we have played a team this year that can put that amount
of pressure on you in the full court.
"They probably play a little more physical than we're used to."
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