SPRINGFIELD, MA. — Thirty years in a career path has a way of tempering one’s enthusiasm. After all, when someone has seen things come, go, recycled and called something different it can be difficult to get excited.
That’s why Joe Mihalich’s recent comments might give reason to pause and cause for concern.
“It’s amazing. Some people think it’s a long season,” Mihalich said after his Niagara University Purple Eagles fell in the MAAC quarter-finals to the Loyola (MD) Greyhounds. “To me, it’s a short season. It goes so fast. I wish we were starting over. I can’t wait for next season to start.”
In one sentence, Mihalich flipped the page from his 14th season on Monteagle Ridge and started considering number 15. His Purple Eagles dropped 19 games this year, but the dean of MAAC coaches is full of optimism.
And, why not.
The Purple Eagles started four freshmen in Saturday’s game – Juan’ya Green, Antoine Mason (RS), Ameen Tanksley and Joe Thomas (RS). Malcolm Lemmons, a sophomore, is the elder statesman among the starters.
Marvin Jordan, a sophomore, averaged 30 minutes per game coming off the bench for much of the season. Freshman, Josh Turner, logged 11 minutes in 21 games. Juniors, Scooter Gillette and and Ali Langford played 16 and 10 minutes per contest respectively.
“I love this team,” Mihalich said. “It’s a great bunch of guys.”
KenPom.com ranks Niagara as the third youngest team in the country at .59 based on weighted playing time. Only St. John’s and Nicholls State have younger squads.
With less than three minutes to go in Saturday’s match-up those youngsters were within single digits of the the eventual conference champion.
After playing to a tie at halftime, the Purple Eagles fell to the eventual MAAC champions, 86-73. A pair of Jordan threes capped late rallies that fell short. The sophomore connected from long range at the 7:28 mark as NU scored eight straight to close within four at 65-61. The sophomore’s trey with 2:46 to go made it a 74-69 game.
That’s as close as Niagara got for the remaining time. The Greyhounds converted eight free throws after that point.
“They’re so young they don’t even know that this means the world,” mused Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos. “So they’re only making threes all love the place. I really admire that he said ‘I’m just going young.’ Joe can really coach. Their program is back on the rise.”
“This is the night you don’t want to have come,” Mihalich said in the post-game press conference. “When you are as young as we are, you know you are going to have some frustrating moments. Every experience you have is going to be the first time around. That’s what tonight was for us. We didn’t handle everything well. We’re disappointed. We wanted to keep playing.”
The loss played out like many for the young squad. Of Niagara’s 19 setbacks on the season, seven came by single digits. A play here or a play there proved the difference. Eleven of NU’s losses also came on the road.
“I talked to (former Siena and current Iowa coach) Fran McCaffery over the summer,” Mihalich explained. “He said ‘Hey! Play those freshmen. That’s what we did with those guys that we had, and by the time they got to be sophomores and juniors and seniors, that was an incredible group of guys.’ ”
Niagara’s bright future starts with Green. The freshman guard finished the season in the top fifty of the nation averaging more than 17 per game. His numbers put him at second among freshmen in the country.
The Philadelphia native has proved himself to be much more than a scorer. With a combination of athleticism and basketball savvy, Green can pull up from the outside, finish at the rim in traffic and find an open teammate when opposing defenses collapse on him.
Mihalich waxed pop culture using a Seinfeld episode when referring to Green as the Maestro after Niagara’s victory over rival Canisius. With the Golden Griffin defense focusing on him, Green turned into a distributor handing out 11 assists with just five turnovers. He followed that with seven dimes and one miscue at Manhattan. Against Loyola in the MAAC quarter-finals, Green dished out eight helpers with just one turnover.
The Purple Eagles provide a balance around their leader. Tanksley averaged more than eight points with six rebounds. Mason and Jordan average 15 and 10 points respectively.
“They’re all different,” Mihalich reflected. “But with Juan’ya Green, Ameen Tanksley, Antoine Mason, and these other guys, we’re going to get better and better.”
Mihalich spent 17 seasons as an assistant at La Salle University before coming to Niagara. While there Mihalich helped develop the careers of Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton, Randy Woods and TimLegler – all of whom went on to play in the National Basketball Association.
Mihalich began his career as an assistant under Basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee, Morgan Wooten at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, MD.
“We’ll take some time and reflect on things, study the year.” Mihalich commented. “We’re a piece or two of the puzzle away from being a pretty good team.”
A piece or two away? Denizens of the “Purple Palace” can start the countdown to next year. Opposing coaches have that much time to figure out their game plan.
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