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FHSU men shooting for the Elite Eight

3/12/2010

1"It is the most athletic and talented team I have played on," said Kuntzsch, a junior guard who was a second team all-conference selection. "We have had teams I think in the past that have had to play better defense because we have had to. With this team, when we are gelling and we are playing good, there are not a lot of teams that are going to beat us."

The 14th-ranked Tigers average 77.3 points per game, the best by a Fort Hays squad since the 2003-04 team scored 78 points a night. Fort Hays shoots 49.5 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from the 3-point line, fifth-best in school history.

The high octane offense helped FHSU start 17-1 overall and 11-0 in the MIAA. However, the Tigers struggled down the stretch offensively, going 5-5 in the last 10 games.

"When we are not making shots, it hurts any team, but it probably hurts us more because we don't have other things that we go to real well," Fort Hays coach Mark Johnson said. "We are not a real physical team. We don't offensive rebound good enough for our size. When we're not shooting it well, we don't get enough second-chance points."

The Tigers, at one time first in the South Central Regional rankings, finished third in the final poll. This weekend, third-seeded Fort Hays (22-5) will face No. 6 University of Central Oklahoma (22-5) in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday at the D.C. Ligon Coliseum at Midwestern State (Texas) University. Game time is noon.

Two years ago, FHSU and UCO met up in the first round. Central Oklahoma, then the regional's third seed, defeated Fort Hays, the sixth seed, 65-64 en route to the Elite Eight. Fort Hays, making its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in the nine-year Johnson era, is one of four MIAA teams in the eight-team field.

Saturday's matchup features the South Central Regional's best shooting team versus the highest-scoring squad. Among the eight NCAA-qualifying South Central Regional teams, Fort Hays leads the field in field goal percentage and 3-point shooting. Central Oklahoma leads the regional in scoring (89.6), fourth-best in the nation. Junior guard Daunte Williams leads the Bronchos with 20 points, eight rebounds and 5.5 assists a game. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Williams, a first team all-region selection, jumps the opening tip and runs the point.

Johnson called Williams the best player FHSU has seen all season, and the leader on a team that has shot more than 700 3-pointers.

"The problem is this kid, he handles the ball and he has the ball in his hands," Johnson said. "He makes all the plays. You try to run at him and double-teaming him like you can post players, he makes you pay. He is 6-4 and they just run basically ball screen after ball screen after ball screen for him and what he does, he is so strong that you can't take it from him and then he sees over if you are hedging or trying to trap the ball screen."

Defensively, Central Oklahoma gives up 77 points a contest and plays a variety of defenses.

"On the defensive end, they junk it up, go 2-3, 1-3-1, run and jump, they want to do some stuff to get you sped up and get the ball back," Johnson said. "They are into getting the ball and playing and it will be a real hard matchup."

Fort Hays has been a difficult test for any team this season, rising as high as third in the national polls. After 18 games, FHSU had just one loss (on the road, to Kansas State University), averaged 80.5 points per contest, shot 50.7 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from 3-point range, on pace to shatter the school record.

Fort Hays, which has had eight different leading scorers in a game, has six players averaging at least eight points a game. Junior guard Dominique Jones paces Fort Hays with 13.3 points per contest, while Kuntzsch ranks second with 13 points a game. In the past, Johnson's teams have always relied more on set plays. This year, though, Johnson has allowed his players to read, react and freelance more.

"I think he saw what we could do offensively," Kuntzsch said. "He said he is not going to restrict our abilities, just let us play without the ball and play with the ball depending on who you are. I think that is something we saw from the first day is that we can score and he is going to let us score."

However, in the last 10 games, Fort Hays has struggled through a variety of problems, including a long midseason road trip, tired legs and more physical play from opponents in the second half of conference action.

"We haven't struggled because of effort," Johnson said. "We haven't struggled because of attitude. We haven't struggled because haven't done the right thing. We are just struggling."

In the last 10 games, the Tigers have averaged 71.5 points, shot 47.2 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from beyond the arc. Jones and Kuntzsch have each seen a slide in offensive production, averaging 11.8 and 11.1 points, respectively, in the final 10 contests.

The poor shooting has hurt Fort Hays. The Tigers have played well defensively, but have trouble scoring (and winning) when they don't hit shots because of their rebounding struggles. The Tigers grab 33.1 percent of their offensive rebounds, sixth-best in the eight-team NCAA field. Johnson has often called his team "soft," a different connotation than other coaches have for the word.

"When I use that term, it just means physicalness," Johnson said.

"That's a weakness of ours is physical play, not competitiveness, not want to, not caring about being successful. This is a good defensive team. We are not playing as well offensively the last month of the season as we were earlier."

In the five losses down the stretch, Fort Hays has scored 59, 69, 63, 57 and 61 points; when the Tigers score at least 70 points, they are 17-0 against NCAA Division II teams, a benchmark FHSU might need to hit again this weekend to advance.

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