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March 1, 2010
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Hubbard emerges as a force for ETSU
 If
you're looking for college basketball's most
improved player this season, then East Tennessee
State's Tommy Hubbard might just be your guy.
Despite a distinguished career at the St. Mark's
School just outside of Boston, the 6-4, 210-pound
guard (which might be a generous height listing)
didn't receive a lot of attention from Big East or
ACC schools. After weighing multiple mid-major
offers he decided to take his game down south to
Johnson City in 2007.
Hubbard took some time to warm up to the college
game, and multiple injuries didn't help his cause,
either. But during his first two seasons as a
Buccaneer he did develop a reputation as a
relentless worker and a defensive specialist.
It was that capacity to defend that prompted ETSU
coach Murry Bartow to convince Hubbard to sacrifice
a redshirt season last year. With nine games to go,
he suited back up for the Bucs.
That unselfishness turned out to be a godsend for
the program, as Hubbard's defense in the Atlantic
Sun Tournament helped propel ETSU to three wins and
an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
While the other 16 seeds lost their first round
games by an average of 41 points in the Big Dance,
ETSU only lost by 10 to top seeded Pittsburgh.
Hubbard helped keep the Bucs in it by pulling down
seven rebounds in 22 minutes of work.
His tenaciousness and desire to do whatever it takes
hasn't gone unnoticed. "He's got that will to win,"
said one NBA scout of Hubbard. "He has the mentality
of an NFL special teams player. He does whatever it
takes to help the team."
Hubbard was expected to be an important contributor
for Bartow coming into this campaign. But nobody
realized just how important a player he would
actually become for ETSU.
This past summer he headed back to Boston and
participated in workouts with NBA players. It's
during that time that the offensive light came on
for him.
Coming into this campaign Hubbard had only scored a
grand total of 75 points in his first two seasons.
He eclipsed that total by ETSU's sixth game this
season. Prior to this year he had one double digit
scoring effort to his credit. This season he's
exceeded double digits in 22 contests, with eight of
those efforts being of of the 20+ point variety.
He's leading ETSU in scoring (13.8 ppg) and
rebounding (8.4 rpg) as well as steals (49). Once a
liability at the charity stripe, Hubbard is now
making an extremely respectable 73% of his free
throw attempts.
Earlier this season, the Bucs took Tennessee to the
limit before fading in the second half and dropping
a 12-point decision. The game made Tennessee coach
Bruce Pearl a believer in Hubbard's ability.
"He's a terrific player and championship teams need
a player like Tommy Hubbard on the roster," said
Pearl "His stat lines are impressive, but what he
brings to the floor goes well beyond the box score."
Atlantic Sun Tournament appears to be a wide open
affair
Speaking of the Bucs, they'll be in Macon, GA this
week to defend their Atlanta Sun Tournament title.
This year's edition of the tournament seems to have
all the makings of a wide open affair.
Belmont appeared to be ready to lock down the
league's top seed a week and a half ago. That was
before a head scratching loss to a Florida Gulf
Coast team that was 7-20 at the time.
At that point Jacksonville assumed the driver's
seat, but they were victimized in their regular
season finale by ETSU.
Once the dust had settled there were Lipscomb,
Jacksonville, Belmont and Campbell all tied atop the
league standings with a record of 14-6. In league
procedures, Lipscomb gained the top seed,
Jacksonville the second berth, Belmont the third
spot and the Camels were tabbed fourth.
Siena looks to make it a threepeat in the MAAC
Tournament
Since the MAAC Tournament returned to Albany in 2008
it's been all Siena. This season, the venue is
the same, and once again Siena's the team to beat.
The Saints nearly ran the table in MAAC play, their
lone league loss coming back on February 12 to a
Niagara team that's seeded fifth in this tournament.
No team in the league sports a frontcourt duo as
proficient as Siena's Alex Franklin and Ryan
Rossiter. The forwards have combined for 30.1 ppg
and 17.8 rpg on the season.
But it's senior point guard Ronald Moore who is
Siena's best player. He leads the nation in assists
per game at 7.7 a contest and ranks 11th nationally
in assist to turnover ratio (2.7).
As he goes, so go the Saints. In that loss to
Niagara last month, the Purple Eagles forced him
into an uncharacteristic five turnovers. The rest of
the MAAC can definitely use that as a blueprint in
trying to prevent a third straight title for Siena.
Butler a prohibitive favorite to win the Horizon
League Tournament
No tournament rewards regular season excellence more
than the Horizon League. The top two seeds actually
get two byes and the higher seeded teams in the
first round get home games. That's a pretty sweet
deal right there.
With that in mind, regular season champion Butler's
path to the tourney title is even easier. The
Bulldogs ran the table in conference play and
haven't really been tested in over a month.
A possible semifinal game pitting #2 seed Wright
State and #3 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay would be the
most intriguing matchup of the tournament. With
Wright State sitting on 19 wins and Green Bay
sitting on 20, both teams could use some resume
building to enhance their postseason chances.
Bubble teams from the major conferences will be
paying attention to the Horizon tourney because in
the unlikely event of a Butler loss, this conference
would get two bids to the NCAAs. Therefore, coaches
like Rick Stansbury and Steve Fisher will be big
Bulldog fans this week.
Big South Tournament a shot at redemption for
Cliff Ellis
Lefty Driesell, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and Eddie
Sutton. Those are the four coaches in the history of
college basketball who have led four different
schools into the NCAA Tournament.
If regular season champ Coastal Carolina wins the
Big South Tournament, Cliff Ellis would join that
elite group. That's not bad company to keep.
His last coaching stop at Auburn was an up and down
tenure that ended with him being fired in the midst
of an NCAA investigation (in which he was not
implicated of wrong doing). While the program at his
former school flounders, he's made Coastal Carolina
competitive again. The school hasn't been to the Big
Dance in nearly two decades.
Seniors Mario Edwards, Joe Harris and Logan Johnson
lead a Chanticleer team that's only allowed 59
points a game to the opposition. Nationally, the
team ranks seventh in field goal percentage defense
at 37.7%.
John Stansberry is in his thirteenth season as
a senior writer for collegeinsider.com. Check out
John's blog
LonelyTailgater.com.
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