SHOTS FROM THE HEART
The first round of the Free Throw Shooting Tournament is complete
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey isn't the best
shooter on his staff. That title goes to assistant coach Martin
Ingelsby who scored 28 points in his first round contest.
Unfortunately for him his opponent Dan Englestad (Holy Cross)
tallied 30 points. However 27 points was good enough for Mike Brey
to advance to the second round.
Check
out the video of Mike Brey shooting his free throws and talking
about the tournament
There have been a number of excellent shooting
performances in the tournament thus far. UNLV head coach Lon Kruger
was a perfect 25-for-25 in his win over Davidson's Bob McKillop.
Kruger's bracket may be the toughest in the tournament with Iowa
State's Fred Hoiberg and New Mexico's Steve Alford also making all
25 shots in the first round. Kruger will face Minnesota's Tubby
Smith in the second round, which will take place in
December.
Check
out the video of Tubby Smith shooting his free
throws
One of the favorites in the assistant coach
tournament, Kellen Sampson (Stephen F. Austin) predicted he would
make 25 straight. He missed his first shot but made the next 24.
Sampson said he was used to shooting in front of an empty arena,
explaining that he only got into the game when the game was already
out of reach.
Check
out the video of Kellen Sampson shooting his free throws and
talking about competing in the
event
One of the biggest fans
of the event is George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga. Coach L
doesn't see himself going deep into the field, but he is looking
forward to competing. He believes Radford's Brad Greenberg should
be considered as on the favorites to win it.
Check
out the video of Jim Larranaga talking about the
event
As expected, the 'Shots
from the Heart' tournament has brought out the competitive nature
of the coaching profession. Some have taken that competiveness to
another level.
"This is a great tournament," said Virginia Tech head coach
Seth Greenberg. "It's a great way to pay tribute to Skip Prosser
and a great way to find out which coaches have weakness in their
game."
Greenberg, one of the organizers of the event, was
particularly interested the matchup between Bruiser Flint (Drexel)
and Brad Greenberg (Radford). "To be honest I didn't see Bruiser
having a much of chance," said Seth. "Brad is an excellent free
throw shooter. The final result is no surprise at all."
Check
out the video of Bruiser Flint shooting his free
throws
Seth's brother, Brad
converted on all 25 attempts to advance. As for Seth, his opponent
was a familiar face in Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating. "If I
can't beat Keating I will retire," joked Greenberg.
"To be honest I was pleased to see my first round matchup
was against Seth," said Keating. "To give him a chance, I decided
to shoot right-handed." The lefty Keating shot it well. Greenberg
didn't. Keating advances to the second round.
"In all seriousness I was fortunate to get on good run early
and hope that it was enough to advance," said Keating. "Good luck
to Seth and all the participants, everyone is a winner as we help
raise awareness and honor a great man at the same time."
The back-and-forth exchange wasn't reserved only for
Greenberg and Keating. Fairfield's Ed Cooley and Rider's Tommy
Dempsey have been chirping since they learned that they would face
one another in the opening round.
"I told CollegeInsider.com that I wanted Dempsey," said
Cooley. "I know Tommy well and he can't shoot."
Dempsey responded. "My advice to Ed is be careful what you
wish for. He wanted me and he's got me."
Kent State head coach Geno Ford spoke about participating in
the tournament. "Having the opportunity to be involved with
anything that pays tribute to Skip Prosser is a tremendous honor,"
said Ford. "He was a great coach and an even better person. I have
never met anyone in the coaching profession that didn't deeply
enjoy their friendship with Coach Prosser."
As for his first round matchup with Duquesne's Ron Everhart,
Ford knows the pressure is on. "There is definitely pressure to
perform well," he said. "Like every coaching staff in the country
we are on our guys about shooting free throws every day in
practice, so I already know there are 13 guys on our roster that
are rooting against Coach [Rob] Senderoff and I."
Check
out the jumbotron at a recent Kent State home
game
Both Will Brown
(Albany) and Jeff Bzdelik were perfect from the line, converting
all 25 attempts. "I was fortunate," said Brown. "I have a spent a
lot time practicing and it paid off." Brown and Bzdelik could meet
down the road in the round of 16.
As impressive as those performances were, Steve Pikiell's
25-for-25 was even better. The Stony Brook head coach is shooting
with a bad Achilles. It's difficult to move, but Coach Pikiell can
shoot it.
Arizona head coach Sean
Miller described his first round performance as being, "mediocre."
One of the pre-tournament favorites got a challenge from Stephen F.
Austin's Danny Kaspar, but managed to advance.
And Miller felt fortunate.
"I'm excited," said Miller. "I was a little nervous about
the number I posted, but I am happy to advance. Much like an NCAA
Tournament game, you are always happy to get that first win under
your belt and get rid of the nervousness and anxiousness. I look
forward to the second-round match up."
Check
out the recap from ArizonaWildcats.com
The battle for New
Jersey was closely contested affair in Monmouth's Dave Calloway
managed to slip past St. Peter's John Dunne. "John is a tough
competitor," said Calloway. "I was lucky to squeak that one out. I
had a couple lucky rolls around the rim that fell my way. I'm
looking forward to moving on to the next round and continuing to
increase awareness in Skip's name."
The very first matchup of the tournament needed to be
decided by a tie-breaker. Xavier's Chris Mack made ten consecutive
free throws to advance to the second round. Oakland's Greg Kampe,
who was on the wrong side of the final result, is already looking
forward to next season.
"This is a great event," said Kampe. "I think 'Shots from
the Heart' is only going to get bigger and better in the coming
years. What a great way to pay tribute to Skip Prosser. We had a
lot of fun with it here at Oakland, but I still want to see the
replay of coach Mack's final shot to see if he got it off in
time."
Check
out the recap from OUGrizzlies.com
