Ready to bark

Armed with as much info as possible on their opening-round opponent, Mighty Oaks take on Riverland CC in their first-ever basketball national tournament game 

JUCO DIVISION III TOURNAMENT
Wednesday’s Game
(10) Salem CC vs. (7) Riverland CC, 4 p.m.
Thursday’s Game
Salem-Riverland winner vs. (2) Mohawk Valley, 6 p.m.
Salem-Riverland loser vs. Genesee-Union loser, 11 a.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

HERKIMER, N.Y. – Mike Green posed the question on one of his social media platforms around 7 o’clock Sunday night when he was already four days into his research.

“Is there a such thing as over preparing?” he rhetorically asked to the world.

One of his good coaching buddies told him privately an emphatic no, which Green took to mean he was doing the right thing. At least in the way the second-year Salem CC basketball coach goes about his business preparing the Mighty Oaks for Wednesday’s 4 p.m. NJCAA Division III national tournament debut against Riverland (Minn.) CC here at Herkimer College.

Ever since the matchup went up on the selection show screen last Wednesday afternoon, Green has been burning the midnight oil, pouring over stats and whatever video he could find of the Mighty Oaks’ immediate and potential future opponents.

“I know he be up all night, I do know that,” sophomore guard A.J. Jones said. “He wants it as much as we do, if not more.”

That’s just his way. Once, when he was an assistant at Penn State, in charge of player development, he broke down film on all four of the Nittany Lions’ potential 2023 NCAA Tournament foes. That year, they beat Texas A&M in the first round for the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2001 and narrowly lost to second-seeded Texas in the Round of 32.

“I’m used to it,” Green said. “That’s all I’ve been watching, Riverland. I go over it piece by piece. I feel like I know their players as if they were in our league. We’re in the know.

“But I’m not playing, so the key is to get my guys to be so familiar with them as well.”

What the coach’s research has shown is Wednesday’s game will be a clash of styles and whoever imposes their will best will come out on top. The Mighty Oaks (23-7) like to get it and go, go, go, while the Blue Devils (29-3), in the national tournament for the third time in four years, want to slow you down.

The Blue Devils are averaging 86 points a game and rank sixth nationally in offensive efficiency, led by Christian Campbell (15.2 ppg), Nazih Chehade (14.9) and Damar Jenkins (13.2). But it’s the way they can run down the shot clock on defense that gives the appearance of a slower pace. They’re only allowing 67 points a game and give you on average about 60 shots. The Mighty Oaks have put as many as 90 in a game this year.

That approach had them No. 1 in the nation for 12 straight weeks this season before a two-game hiccup in early February dropped them back. Two of their losses have come to Minnesota State Community & Technical College, the No. 3 seed here and a potential semifinal opponent for one of these two teams.

“I wouldn’t say we play slow by any means,” Riverland coach Derrick Hahn said Tuesday night. “I think the good defense is kind of what slows the game down a little bit. But contrasting styles for sure.”

The Mighty Oaks are confident they can adjust. They played a slower, half-court game in their two Region 19/North Atlantic District games last week and beat CC of Philadelphia and Montgomery County CC, two teams that beat them in close games during the regular season. They didn’t press once in the district championship game against Montco.

“I feel like the team we have this year we can make anybody play how we want them to play if we just put our minds to it,” Jones said. “We’ve got dawgs on our team. We’re gonna bark.”

ACORNS: Green was undecided about the Mighty Oaks’ Wednesday pre-game routine as he left Tuesday’s welcoming banquet. It’ll either be a walk-through somewhere in the hotel or a shoot-around at nearby Mohawk Valley CC … The team practiced at the tournament site Tuesday morning. Green liked it. “It’s a shooter’s gym,” he said. “Hopefully our guys can get going” … If the Mighty Oaks lose Wednesday, the consolation game Thursday will be their final game in the tournament win or lose. If they win Wednesday, then lose in Thursday’s quarterfinals, they will continue to play until they lose again … The tournament committee drew random players from each team for a door prize at the welcoming banquet. Xavier Brewington was the lucky Salem player. He chose a canvas carry bag .. There are 431 schools across the NJCAA’s three divisions, 56 are still playing.