Mount St Marys - Coppin State Preview

Opening Round
Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (16a) Vs. Coppin State Eagles (16b)
Tuesday, March 18 @ 7:30

The first game of March Madness 2008 features the NEC Tournament Champions, the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (11- 7 NEC, 18- 14 overall) and the MEAC Tournament winners, the Coppin State Eagles (7- 9 MEAC, 16- 20 overall). Both teams were unlikely victors in their conference tourneys, with the Eagles pulling the biggest upset.

The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are a young club that has shown some potential this season. Their top and most experienced player is senior guard Chris Vann (14.4 PPG), while point man Jeremy Goode (14.3 PPG, 5.5 APG) is a solid court general. The frontcourt includes two fine forwards--Sam Atupem (8.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG) and Jean Cajou (6.9 PPG, .490 3PT%). One major problem for the Mountaineers is the club’s lack of height. Not one player exceeds 6-foot, 7-inches. For this team to advance, they will need to slow the game down. They defend adequately but neither shoot nor rebound particularly well.

Their opponents, the Coppin State Eagles, won their tournament by beating four teams in four successive nights. The total number of points they scored versus all four opponents was six. In order to stop Coppin State, the Mountaineers must stifle the output of senior guard Tywain McKee, who averaged 16.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 3.2 APG this season. Senior forward Robert Pressey utilizes his bulk to command the paint. He averaged a team high 5.5 RPG. This is a club loaded with small forwards. Senior Antwan Harrison (9.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG) has the highest field gold success rate-- .457. Senior forward Julian Conyers (6.7 PPG, 2.4 RPG) contributed an average of 14 PPG during the post season.

Neither club is very big, yet the Mountaineers took in about three rebbies more than the Eagles and scored about 10 points more than the American Birds. This should be a close one.