BU men’s basketball to take on Big East and Atlantic 10 foes
August 30, 2008
The Bearcats have always been used to going up against Great Danes, Retrievers and Catamounts.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-womens-ba…
Tulane Athletics to Host its Annual Fall Fan Day on August 27
August 29, 2008
The Tulane University Athletics Department will host its annual Fall Fan Day on Wednesday, August 27 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Westfeldt Practice Facility located behind the James W. Wilson Jr.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Tulane Athletics to Hold Fall Sports Luncheon August 26 at Dickie Brennan’s Palace Cafe
August 28, 2008
The Tulane University Athletics Department will host its annual Fall Sports Luncheon on Tuesday, August 26, at noon at Dickie Brennan’s Palace Cafe on Canal Street.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane/2008/08/t…
Tulane Athletics to Hold Fall Sports Luncheon August 26 at Dickie Brennan’s Palace Cafe
August 28, 2008
The Tulane University Athletics Department will host its annual Fall Sports Luncheon on Tuesday, August 26, at noon at Dickie Brennan’s Palace Cafe on Canal Street.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Defense Dominates Scrimmage As Football Wraps Up Preseason
August 28, 2008
Green Wave post 15 tackles for loss, including six sacks, as the focus now moves to AlabamaAug. 27, 2008
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NEW ORLEANS - The Green Wave defense posted six sacks among 15 tackles for loss, forced a fumble, picked off a pass and batted down two more as the Tulane University football team wrapped up preseason drills with a 77-play scrimmage Wednesday afternoon at the Westfeldt Practice Facility.
Tulane’s defensive players limited their offensive counterparts to just 3.64 yards per play, including a 1.08 clip on the ground. Wednesday’s scrimmage marked the final preseason practice of the year for the Green Wave as head coach Bob Toledo said his team will begin focusing on season-opening opponent, Alabama.
“I thought we hit some people pretty good today,” Toledo said. “We wanted to get about 70 or 80 plays in today. We’re done with everything (preseason). Starting tomorrow, we’ll be all Alabama. We’ll start preparing for ‘Bama. We’ll have depth charts, we’ll start having scout teams and they will simulate the Alabama offense, defense and special teams. All of our efforts will be directed toward trying to beat them now.”
Sophomore defensive back Alex Wacha led the defensive effort with six tackles, including a team-best four of the solo variety. Senior defensive tackle Julian Shives-Sams, meanwhile, made his presence felt with three sacks for 19 yards in losses.
Not to be outdone, junior defensive end Troy Wilson tallied a pair of tackles for loss while redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Josh Smith and true freshman noseguard Chris Asumnu each had one and a half stops behind the line of scrimmage. Asumnu posted three tackles on the day and added a forced fumble, which was later recovered by senior linebacker Evan Lee.
“He’s got a chance to play a bunch as a defensive tackle,” Toledo said of Asumnu. “He’s getting better. When you have freshmen in there, they make mistakes. But he’s physically capable. He’s a really strong kid. He’s got to learn some things and continue to grow, but he’s got a very bright future.”
The defensive highlight of the day, however, came when sophomore defensive lineman Tony Bryant picked off a screen pass by true freshman quarterback Ryan Griffin and returned it 12 yards.
While the defense dominated the day, the offense was not without its highlights. Griffin was 13-of-20 for 156 yards and a touchdown and the wide receiver duo of sophomore Casey Robottom and redshirt-freshman Chandler Davis each hauled in four passes.
Redshirt-freshman J.T. McDonald paced all ball carriers with 91 yards and a touchdown on six carries, including a 69-yard scoring jaunt in freshman-team drills. True freshman Nathan Austin was next with 48 yards and a score on 11 carries while junior André Anderson galloped for 18 yards on just three carries.
“I think both of them give a little different dimension,” Toledo said of the true freshman running backs. “One is more of a physical, power runner (Austin) and the other is a quick-burst kind of guy (Williams). There is some really good, young talent on this football team.
“When you go out recruiting, you usually make two or three mistakes. You just bust. We did not make a mistake, and I have to give credit to our assistant coaches. We did a heck of a job of evaluating and recruiting these kids. They can all play for us and help us win, and a bunch of them are going to play this year.”
The Green Wave return to practice on Thursday, Aug. 28, beginning at 2:50 p.m. at the Westfeldt Facility. On Friday, the team will enjoy a change of scenery for a closed practice at the Louisiana Superdome beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Tulane opens the 2008 season on Sept. 6, when it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a showdown with Alabama and the Green Wave open the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, Sept. 13, when Tulane plays host to Conference USA opponent East Carolina in the Louisiana Superdome.
Season tickets for the 2008 Tulane football season are now on sale through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office. For more information on 2008 Tulane football tickets or tickets to any future Green Wave home athletic event, contact the Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
Volleyball To Open 2008 Season Friday At BYU Molten Classic
August 28, 2008
Green Wave look to take first step toward an NCAA Tournament bid vs. Missouri, BYU and Utah StateAug. 27, 2008
Coach Kritza’s Comments Following Wednesday’s Practice
NEW ORLEANS - In what has built up to be a much anticipated year, the Tulane University volleyball team opens the 2008 season on Friday, Aug. 29, when the Green Wave travel to Logan, Utah, to participate in the BYU Molten Classic at Smith Fieldhouse.
The preseason favorite to win the Conference USA title and recipient of 38 votes in the initial AVCA Top 25, the Green Wave get things going on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Missouri. From there, Tulane will battle host BYU on Saturday at 1 p.m. before turning around and playing Utah State at 6:30 p.m.
“We are excited and I think the team is ready to play somebody other than themselves or the staff,” fourth-year head coach Liz Kritza said. “You can tell in practice when plays seem almost too easy to them or they are making focus-type mistakes. They are looking forward to competing. We have done a lot of drilling and we have done a lot of scrimmaging, but there is nothing like game experience. They are definitely ready to play and I think they are excited about the challenge they have ahead of them this weekend.”
The distinction of being picked to win the C-USA title is a new one to the Tulane team as the Wave have never won a league title or advanced to the NCAA Tournament in the 33-year history of the program. This season also marks the first time the Green Wave received votes in the AVCA Top 25 to rank 38th among NCAA Division I teams.
“It is definitely a different position for all of us to be in,” Kritza said of the preseason picks. “But as coaches, we decided that it is our job to continue to challenge them and not allow them to feel that they have proven themselves, because they haven’t. Once they feel that way, then the improvement is going to stop. All of the great opportunities, all of the upsets and all of the milestones we can reach this year are going to be a product of hard work and playing at a consistent level every day.”
The Green Wave are not without the firepower to live up to the lofty expectations, however, as all 13 letterwinners from last year’s C-USA runner-up club return. Four Tulane players - junior libero Jenn Miller, junior outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic and senior attackers Sara Radosevic and Bridget Wells - were named to the Preseason All C-USA Team, and Radosevic became the first player in program history to claim Preseason Player of the Year accolades.
Last season, the Green Wave averaged 16.99 kills per game and connected at a .268 clip while posting 16.65 digs and 2.25 blocks per outing. Radosevic paced the offense with 5.01 kills per game, Miller stabilized the passing game with 5.30 digs per stanza, and rising senior middle blocker Jen Linder led the front-line defense with 0.97 blocks per game. Conversely, Tulane held opponents to a .204 attack percentage and 14.41 kills per game.
And while the Green Wave currently sit 38th in the AVCA, the Tulane team has set its sights on finishing much higher by season’s end and earn the program’s first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. The team will have an opportunity to make an immediate splash and turn some voters’ heads this weekend as Missouri enters the tournament receiving 42 votes, to sit one spot ahead of the Green Wave, and BYU comes in ranked 20th.
“We have talked about it enough that they understand what opportunity lies in front of them,” Kritza said. “They realize that we give them this opportunity with the schedule, but it is up to them to come up with the results they want. For them, it is playing volleyball at a high level. By this time, they realize this is a comfortable level for them. It is not over-performing. It is using their individual skills to put forth our best team system. If we execute our team system, I think we will fare well against all of the opponents this weekend.”
Following the BYU Molten Invitational, the Green Wave will open the home portion of the 2008 schedule on Monday, Sept. 1, with a 7 p.m. showdown with Florida A&M. From there, the Tulane team will hit the road once again to participate in the Paso Robles Marriott Invitational on Sept. 5-6 in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
For season tickets information or tickets to any future Green Wave home athletic event, contact the Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
Tulane, UNO facilities are coming back after Katrina
August 28, 2008
Tulane, UNO facilities are coming back after Katrina - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune August 27, 2008 11:38AM
Categories: sports
Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneTulane cross country runner Tim Cullen: “I still think it’s amazing that Tulane is willing to bring these sports back while still running a deficit and trying to pay off money lost in Katrina.”Even if he weren’t a history major, Tulane student body president Tim Cullen would have a strong sense of the appropriateness of the Green Wave Cross Country Invitational being held Friday, on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans.
That’s because the meet at City Park marks the return of the men’s program at Tulane. Cross Country is the first of the sports to resume after being suspended by Tulane and UNO because of post-storm budget cuts.
Cullen, who was to be a freshman in 2005 until the storm wiped out the season before the first meet, is finally getting his chance to run for the Green Wave.
“I’d lost my sport and my major (general engineering), and I was afraid I might lose my school,” Cullen said. “And I still think it’s amazing that Tulane is willing to bring these sports back while still running a deficit and trying to pay off money lost in Katrina. I’m very proud to be able to wear the Tulane name across my chest.”
“The kids we were recruiting had no memory of Tulane tennis. … Our goal is not just to get Tulane back to where it was, but to win a national title.”Terri Sisk, Tulane tennis coach
Women’s tennis and golf also will be returning to Tulane this fall, as will outdoor men’s track and field in the spring.
UNO is instituting a men’s swimming program, with the first event a dual meet against national powerhouse Stanford on Sept. 8 at LSU. UNO also resumes play in men’s and women’s tennis next month.
“We’ve got something tangible to show we’re coming back,” UNO Athletic Director Jim Miller said. “It’s not just hiring coaches and making plans; it’s actually competing. For us it’s huge, because it truly shows we are on the road to recovery after the worst natural disaster of our lifetime.”
Mark Schindler, a UNO freshman swimmer from Grace King, puts it a little more succinctly.
“Being the first sport back at UNO, that’s pretty cool,” he said.
Tulane and UNO each cut nine sports after Katrina, leaving Tulane with eight and UNO with six. The NCAA gave the schools five-year waivers to bring their totals back to Division I minimums: Sixteen for Tulane because it has football and 14 for UNO, although 15 sports are required for Sun Belt Conference members.
Both schools are on track to meet the NCAA requirements by 2011.
Danny Bourque/The Times-PicayuneUNO swimmer Mark Schindler: “Being the first sport back at UNO, that’s pretty cool.”
That’s coming a long way from the painful experience of eliminating sports that affected almost 200 athletes at the two schools.
“I don’t think anything was on my mind that day except comforting our kids,” Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson said. “But the first thing I wanted to do after that was to get us back on our feet to allow us to heal. To me, this completes the cycle. It’s like we’re finally going downhill instead of uphill.”
However, there are some lingering effects from the storm and the budget cuts.
At Tulane, women’s soccer, scheduled to return in 2011, and men’s cross country will be non-scholarship sports. Men’s golf, a pre-Katrina sport, is being dropped in favor of women’s bowling, also set to debut in 2011.
At UNO, men’s swimming, which had not been a sport at the school since the early 1990s, is being restored this year. But plans to have women’s soccer and softball replace track may have to be scrapped because enrollment levels, and thus the student activity fees that account for more than half of the budget, have not rebounded as quickly as school officials had hoped.
Additionally at UNO, the Lakefront Arena pool has not reopened, although it is expected to be ready by the scheduled Oct. 10 dual meet against Incarnate Word.
Getting the program back on campus is vital, said UNO swim coach Randy Horner, whose women’s team has operated out of the Reily Center pool at Tulane for the past two years.
“We’ve been recruiting on a vision,” he said. “Now we can show recruits what we actually have. Our pool is definitely in the top 25 percent in the country.”
Schindler and Mark Beach of Slidell are the only local members of the team.
“We’ve been recruiting on a vision. Now we can show recruits what we actually have. Our pool is definitely in the top 25 percent in the country.”
Randy Horner, UNO swimming coach
“I was going to swim at LSU before Coach Horner called me,” Schindler said. “I wanted to stay close to home, and UNO had my major (electrical engineering). That made it perfect for me.”
Horner is getting a boost from the fact that UNO is adding men’s swimming when more than 100 programs around the country have been cut over the past two decades due to budgetary and gender-equity issues. His initial class of 20 was ranked No. 18 nationally by CollegeSwimming.com.
“There’s a great talent pool out there because scholarship opportunities can be hard to come by,” Horner said. “When guys see our university making a commitment, they’re attracted to that. Our women like the idea of us having a full component program, too. We have all the ingredients to build a top level Division I program here.”
Women’s tennis and golf at Tulane is attempting to regain the Top 25 status they enjoyed before Katrina. Both seem headed in that direction with highly regarded initial signing classes.
The golf team, which will play the first of four fall tournaments at Charleston, S.C., includes three freshmen — Janine Fellows, Ashley McKenney and Stephanie Wagstaff — who competed in the U.S. Amateur this summer, plus transfer Lynn Gustafsson, who won the Southland Conference championship last spring playing for Texas State.
The tennis program got a major boost by the signing of Lindsay Dvoak, ranked No. 83 nationally among high school seniors.
“The kids we were recruiting had no memory of Tulane tennis,” said Green Wave Coach Terri Sisk, who was the coach at Samford before coming to Tulane a year ago. “But getting Lindsay was a big step in helping us rebuild the brand because others followed her lead. Our goal is not just to get Tulane back to where it was, but to win a national title.”
Green Wave golf coach J.T. Horton has similar ambitions.
“We are using the history and tradition of Tulane golf to help get us off the ground and then the unique opportunity in coming back from a natural disaster,” Horton said. “Our goal is to be nationally competitive. You start doing that by finding young ladies with the same goals and passions and ambitions that you do. They want to put Tulane back on the map again.”
UNO tennis coach Burgis Kanga was the Privateers coach before Katrina, but his duties were split between that and being the tennis director at Chateau Country Club.
Now he is concentrating solely on the UNO program and sees the Privateers quickly becoming competitive in the Sun Belt. Kanga’s initial men’s team features three freshmen and four transfers, and the women’s team has six freshmen and one transfer.
That includes the nationally ranked brother-and-sister duo of Calvin and Kir Kemp from Atlanta.
“We’re not just having a program for the sake of having a program,” Kanga said. “There’s an entirely new outlook about tennis here. We feel like we’ve got the international connections to help make those things fall into place, and we’re finding players who are sold on the idea of being responsible for rebuilding this program.”
There are less lofty ambitions for the Tulane men’s cross country program. Although the women’s track program will have a full allotment of 18 scholarships and 35 team members, the men’s program will rely on participants who are not receiving athletic aid, plus possibly some football players in the spring.
More than 20 athletes will be running for the Green Wave in Friday’s meet. That group eventually will be cut down to eight who will compete as the Tulane team.
That number could include Cullen as well as Eric Sweeney, who also was set to be a member of the 2005 team.
“What we’re looking for is to give the guys the whole college experience,” Tulane Coach Heather Van Norman said. “They’re going to train and work just like any other college athlete, and my goal is to give them a sense that they’ve improved as runners, even if it’s just in small increments.”
That’s fine with Cullen.
Although he had been an avid runner before the storm, he developed other interests while Tulane was without a program. He got involved in student government and became vice president of his fraternity.
But now he is ready to compete again, albeit just for one season.
“I stayed at Tulane because I fell in love with the campus the first time I visited, and I never wanted to be anywhere else, even after the storm,” he said. “Now I’ve got an opportunity to do what I was afraid would never be offered me here again. I just want to go out there, do my best and see what happens. But I promise you, I won’t finish last.”
Camp Toledo Concludes As Football Holds 24-Period Practice
August 27, 2008
A final pass dropped from the sky, there was a collision of humanity and there came a great whistle from Tulane head football coach Bob Toledo announcing, it is done.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Tulane’s football team getting help from walk-ons
August 27, 2008
Tulane’s football team getting help from walk-ons - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Andrew Lopez, The Times-Picayune August 27, 2008 7:52AM
Categories: FootballIf Reece Thomas was asked where he would be today after graduating from Jesuit in 2005, a football field at Tulane would have been the answer furthest from his mind.
Thomas signed to play soccer at East Carolina, and the two-time All-State selection even started for the Pirates his freshman season. However, East Carolina dropped the program after that season, and Thomas was left trying to figure out what to do.
He entertained the idea of playing soccer at Massachusetts but decided his heart wasn’t in it anymore. That’s when his mom called and gave him an idea.
“My mom called and told me about the Continuing Studies program here, and it was such a great opportunity . . . to be back home, and living at home was just the best thing for me,” Thomas said.
After staying at East Carolina for the fall semester, Thomas headed to Tulane last spring and walked on to the football team this past spring. He tried out as a wide receiver, a position he played for two years in high school but quit after his sophomore year so he could concentrate on soccer.
Thomas said he received tips from his brother Lee, who played at Lehigh and now is a wide receiver for the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings of af2.
“I’ve worked with him a lot, but it’s a little different when someone is hitting you — and you’re in full pads — than just being in the yard,” Thomas said.
He added that he has been working out at kicker the past few days and was consistent from about 30 yards out on field-goal attempts but was trying to become more accurate.
Thomas is one of 14 walk-ons with the Green Wave this season. Running backs coach Greg Davis, who is the walk-on coordinator, said it was a priority of the staff to get more walk-ons this season.
“There are a lot of guys that apply to this school that played high school football that don’t know they can play Division I football and help out,” Davis said.
Davis mentioned that senior David Skehan was a walk-on who ended up earning a scholarship and eventually a starting position. Asked if there was anyone who could have a Skehan-like impact from this class of walk-ons, Davis said he was hopeful.
“It’s kind of early right now, but there are some positions that we were thin at so some guys are getting some looks over there,” he said. “I don’t know if I can point to one guy that has just stood out for us right now, but there are some guys that have some potential that could show us something.”
CAMP TOLEDO SET TO END
Today is the final day of fall camp, and Coach Bob Toledo said the team would have a scrimmage to get a final idea of who the starters are and what spots still are up for grabs.
The first team will have 36 scripted plays, the second team will have 30, and the third team will go through about 12 plays.
Toledo has stressed conditioning this season and wants to make sure his team is ready when it opens the season at Alabama on Sept. 6.
“We want to make sure they are getting in game-time shape, so we did a lot of drills,” Toledo said. “We did the two-minute drill, which stressed them out pretty good, and ran them pretty good after practice.”
The past few practices have been less intense, but according to senior center Michael Parenton, it’s a natural affect at the end of camp.
“You’re going to have peaks and valleys, but that’s college football,” Parenton said. “You’re going to have times when you have to push through. But in terms of the offense, I feel way ahead of where we were last year.”
Last season, Toledo criticized his team for its lack of conditioning. This season, it’s different.
“Strength-wise and conditioning-wise we made gains. As young as we are, bodies are going to mature — getting bigger and getting stronger,” Parenton said. “We’re doing that.”
Camp Toledo Concludes As Football Holds 24-Period Practice
August 26, 2008
A final pass dropped from the sky, there was a collision of humanity and there came a great whistle from Tulane head football coach Bob Toledo announcing, it is done.
