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Monmouth
Road to the Final Four.............................................................................................
Coach Dave Calloway has completed his turnaround of the Monmouth program, taking it from a 5-21 record in 1998-99 to a Northeast Conference tournament championship this season. After losing their opener to Rider the Hawks got a big win over Ivy League power Princeton, beginning a stretch in which they won seven of eight games. The Hawks won a school-record 15 conference games this season, finishing just one game behind St. Francis (N.Y.) and earning the second seed in the conference tournament. Monmouth earned the NEC's automatic bid by coming back from 20 points down with 14 minutes to play in the championship game of the NEC tournament to beat top-seeded St. Francis 67-64. Player to Watch Monmouth relies on junior point guard Rahsaan Johnson to do everything. Johnson was named the conference player of the year and led the NEC in assists (5.8), ranked second in scoring (19.6 ppg), and was third in steals (2.0). He led his team in each category and was also the Hawks' leading rebounder this season (6.3). Oh, and he was also in the top 10 in the conference in rebounding, defensive rebounds, free-throw percentage, 3-pointers made and assist/turnover ratio. With the Ball Opposing coaches must first stop Johnson. He dropped a career-high 43 points on St. Francis during the regular season and became the first Monmouth player to top 500 points in a single season. Senior Gerry Crosby is a 3-point threat, hitting 61 treys on the season and averaging 16.3 ppg. Kevin Owens is a 6-foot-10 banger who averaged 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds down low. Defending the Ball Monmouth put the clamps on the NEC this season as its 64.1 ppg allowed led the conference by more than seven points and its field goal percentage defense topped the league at .403. Along with Johnson's quick hands, Owens and junior Steve Bridgemohan are big men who throw their bodies around inside.Seed Analysis Exceeding the Seed None. Playing to Expectations Falling Short None. BRACKETOLOGY SCORE: 1.0 (1,000 is playing exactly to a team's historical seeding) Bracketology Report 1985-2000: The Northeast Conference has a long, proud history of ? losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. No. 13 Monmouth did so in its only prior NCAA appearance, falling to No. 4 Marquette in 1996. In all, 19 of 20 NEC representatives have bowed early and mostly meekly. The only exception came in 1983, when Robert Morris defeated Georgia Southern in a play-in game at Dayton (sound familiar?). Roster
 NCAA Basketball Championship Week It's March, which means the madness has started and invitations are being reserved throughout Championship Week.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |  |
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