Bentley seeking finishing touch
SPRINGFIELD - While the Red Sox have gone global, the Bentley College men's basketball team is trying to go national - and doing so by merely traveling across the state.
The Falcons have brought their 33-0 record and shared No. 1 national ranking from Waltham to Springfield for the NCAA Division 2 Elite Eight.
They are three wins from the school's first national championship, but coach Jay Lawson is not looking ahead.
"Our goals are much simpler," he said. "We just want to win one game. There's no sense looking beyond that. If you don't advance, you're going home."
That one game is tonight at 8:30, the final quarterfinal contest, pitting Bentley against a North Alabama team that is certainly not lacking confidence. The Lions' schedule, printed in the media guide at the beginning of the year, listed both the Elite Eight and Saturday's national final. The Lions (27-8), ranked 17th, have won a pair of national titles, in 1979 and '91. And with a coach named Bobby Champagne, they are clearly looking to celebrate another.
This will be the Falcons' second trip to the Elite Eight. The first was a year ago, under essentially identical circumstances. Then, too, they came in undefeated. In the first round, though, they ran into likewise spotless Winona (Minn.) State, the defending national champion. The Warriors dominated a physical game, 64-51.
Any sort of "just happy to be here" sentiment from a year ago has been replaced by a new resolve, according to senior point guard Yusuf Abdul-Ali. "This year we know going in that we have a chance of winning," he said. "We're a little more confident in ourselves and our game."
For Abdul-Ali, the game represents a homecoming. He grew up in Springfield, where he led a start-up high school program at the New Leadership Charter School to the Division 3 state championship game in 2004. After playing a backup role for two years at Bentley, he has emerged as a star, running the show for a team that has gone 65-1 the past two years.
This season he is averaging 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
According to Lawson, a storybook ending for Abdul-Ali would be great, but his legacy is already secure.
"Honestly, for all of us in the Bentley program, the sweet story is already completed with Yusuf," Lawson said. "No matter what happens in this tournament, it's wonderful for him to get back here to finish, regardless of whether we win it all. What he's become is everything we want our seniors to become in our program."
The only other senior also hails from a place with some rich basketball heritage. Nate Fritsch of Durham, N.C., brings a 13.0 scoring average, and 5.5 rebounds per game to the table, and was named a Division 2 All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Fritsch came in with last year's senior class - which Lawson credits for setting the winning tone - but wound up losing a year to a knee injury.
"We've had that one big brother to hang around, which I think has had an impact on all the other guys, because they look up to him so much," said Lawson.
