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Ball State Basketball Update

VanDelaySports.com has added a new team of Beat Writers to provide MAC sports fans with additional, personalized team coverage.

A Fresh Start

On April 4, 2006, less than a month after removing Tim Buckley, Athletic Director Tom Collins announced that Ronny Thompson, the son of legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson, was Ball State’s new head basketball coach. Visit the following hyperlink to view information about Ronny Thompson and video coverage of the Ball State press conference where Coach Thompson was introduced.

Ronny Thompson Named Ball State Men’s Basketball Coach (04/04/2006) – GoBSU.com

Thompson’s hiring sparked a flurry of roster changes. Three members of the 2005-2006 Cardinals transferred. MAC Freshman of the Year Maurice Acker transferred to Marquette, 6’ 9” freshman forward Landon Adler transferred to Florida Gulf Coast, and 6’ 10” freshman center Pat Nelson transferred to Wisconsin-Green Bay.

To fill the void Thompson brought in three JUCO transfers and three true freshmen.

• Micah Rollin a 6’10” 260 pound JUCO transfer center from Long Beach, California.
• Steve Horton a 5’ 9” JUCO transfer point guard from Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Jarelle Redden a 6’ 2” JUCO transfer guard from Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Rashaun McLemore a 6’ 4” freshman guard from Richmond, Virginia.
• Ahmaad Cook a 6’ 0” freshman point guard from Inglewood, California.
• Zack Garcia a 6’ 8” freshman center from La Cresenta, California.

One of Ronny Thompson’s goals is to make Ball State more prominent nationally and part of the strategy includes recruiting nationally in areas previously untapped by BSU coaches. The three incoming players from California for example are the first from that state ever to play for BSU.

Peyton Stovall Returns
Returning to the Cardinals for the 2006-2007 campaign will be red shirt junior guard Peyton Stovall who, before blowing out his left knee in the 2005 MAC Tournament and again in the second game of the 2005-2006 season, was a MAC Player of the Year Candidate.

The Season Opener
Ball State began the 2006-2007 season with a 81-42 dismantling of Northern Colorado. The Bears very simply could not handle Ball State’s high pressure defense. Ball State scored 33 points off of Northern Colorado turnovers and handed the Bears, who are in their first season of Division 1 and Big Sky Conference basketball, their 18 th straight road loss. Five Cardinals scored in double figures lead by D’Andre Peyton who scored 15.

Early Injuries
Prior to Ball State’s second game Senior forward Chris Ames took a jaw breaking elbow from the Cardinal’s massive 6’ 10” 260 pound newcomer Micah Rollin. For his size, Rollin is amazingly fast and agile, but suffers from what BSU coach Ronny Thompson calls “Big Man’s Syndrome” meaning that Rollin is so big and strong that a small bump from him can send a victim flying. As much space Micah he takes up its difficult for him to turn around without running into something and as a result he spends a lot of time on the bench in foul trouble. Unfortunately for Chris Ames, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and as a result missed two games and had to have his jaw wired shut. The Cardinals also were without the services of All MAC forward Skip Mills for the second and third game of the season due to soreness from tendonitis in one of his knees.

The Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational
Ball State’s second game of the season was its first in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational. The Las Vegas Invitational is not a tournament and consists of four scheduled games, two on campus sites and two at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Ball State’s first two games of the Las Vegas Invitational were played at Worthen Arena in Muncie.

Prairie View A&M proved to be a more athletic foe that Northern Colorado and did a good job of handling Ball State’s defensive intensity in the first half. At half time Prairie View had actually out scored the Cardinals in points off of turnovers 7-6, but trailed on the scoreboard 28-27. Ball State took control of the game about five minutes into the second half. At that point fatigue and frustration seemed to break the Panthers and Ball State cruised to a 65-48 victory. Junior College transfer Steve Horton, D’Andre Peyton, and sophomore Jalon Perryman all had 13 points to lead Ball State in scoring. Anthony Newell also scored in double figures with 10 points. True Freshman Rashaun McLemore lead BSU in rebounding with 7. Ronny Thompson’s post game press conference and a photo gallery of the game may be viewed by visiting the following hyperlink at GoBSU.com.

Cardinals Punt Panthers (11/19/2006) – GoBSU.com

Ball State’s second game in the Las Vegas Invitational put the Cardinals against the Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs. Ball State dominated the first half of this game and it appeared that the Cardinals were on their way to another blowout victory. Micah Rollin had a dominating first half and BSU lead by seven at the break 33-26. The game changed however when UT-Chattanooga switched to a zone defense and forced Ball State to shoot over them. The Mocs scored the first seven points of the second half and were basically in control the rest of the game, winning 70-55. Ball State was 0-15 from three point range in the second half and 2-28 for the game, setting a Ball State and Worthen Arena record for futility at 6.9% from behind the arc. Sloppy play was also an issue for the Cardinals who committed 16 turnovers for the game. Micah Rollin lead Ball State with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Post game press conference video and a photo gallery of the game may be viewed by visiting the following hyperlink at GoBSU.com.

Cardinals Shot 6.9% From Three Point Range – Lose (11/21/2006) – GoBSU.com

The caliber of Ball State’s competition took a considerable jump in the third game of the Las Vegas Invitational when the Cardinals took on #10 Kansas at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Kansas might have had a little extra incentive to beat Ball State given that the last time the two teams met was the 2001 EA Sports Maui Invitational where the Cards upset the #3 ranked Jayhawks 93-91. Both Skip Mills and Chris Ames returned to action with Ames now sporting a protective plastic mask. Even with Mills and Ames back in the lineup, shooting and sloppy play again plagued the Cardinals. Ball State shot just 27% in the first half, 36% for the game, and 13% from three point range. BSU committed 19 turnovers and got out rebounded by a considerable margin. Amazingly for most of the game Ball State kept the score just close enough that some hot shooting at the right point could have put them in a position to pull an upset, but that hot shooting never happened. Kansas stretched the lead a bit at the end and took the Cardinals 64-46. Anthony Newell lead the BSU with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The following night Kansas upset #1 Florida.

Ball State final game in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational was against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The night before WKU had suffered a 33 point drubbing by #1 Florida. The Cardinals started this game flat emotionally and although the game stayed close Ball State played from behind for most of it. Near the end Western Kentucky star Courtney Lee nailed some key three point shots which allowed the Hilltoppers to spread the lead a bit and win by ten 76-66. Ball State was lead by Skip Mills who scored 17 points. Micah Rollin added 12 points and 8 rebounds. Ball State’s shooting in this game improved to nearly 43%, but from three point range it was still just horrible with the Cardinals shooting 1-13 which is 7.7%.

Thompson Bowl I
Ball State completed their November schedule with their second game against a top 25 ranked opponent in four days when the Cardinals took on the #23 ranked Georgetown Hoyas in Washington D.C. The game pitted first year BSU Coach Ronny Thompson against his older brother John Thompson III. Georgetown jumped on the Cardinals early and build a 14 point lead less than five minutes into the game. Ball State battled back though, cutting the lead to 4 with about seven minutes left in the half on a Peyton Stovall three pointer. Georgetown outscored the Cardinals 18-10 in the final seven minutes of the half however and held a 12 point lead at the half. The Georgetown lead fluctuated between 12 and 23 points for the rest of the game. The final margin was 15 points and Georgetown won the game 69-54. Micah Rollin and Anthony Newell each scored 10 points to lead Ball State. The Cardinal shooting woes improved considerably in this game with BSU shooting 50% in the first half, 42% for the game and 56% from three point range (5-9). Ball State only committed 12 turnovers.

Rivalries
Ball State broke their four game losing streak on Saturday, December 2 nd with a 73-70 overtime victory over the Indiana State Sycamores.

While Ball State enjoys hot rivalries with most MAC schools, two non-conference schools, Indiana State and Butler traditionally top the list of Ball State’s biggest basketball rivals.

The rivalry between Ball State and Indiana State is more than a rivalry, it’s a blood feud. The school which eventually became Ball State, upon being gifted to the state of Indiana by the Ball family, became a regional campus of the Indiana State Normal School. Ball State’s official name was the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School, but even then people often referred to it by the nickname, “Ball State.” Ball State became the official name of the school in the 1929 when the Indiana General Assembly created an official separation of Indiana State and Ball State, but Ball State was still considered a regional campus of Indiana State and governed by Indiana State’s board of trustees until 1961 when Ball State became fully independent.

The 2006 Indiana State/Ball State game was the 122 nd basketball game in the series with Indiana State leading the 67 games to 55 games after Ball State’s victory Saturday. Stats and information about Ball State’s win over Indiana State as well as a photo gallery and video of post game press conferences with ISU coach Royce Waltman, Ball State players Chris Ames and D’Andre Peyton, and Ball State coach Ronny Thompson can be viewed by visiting the following link at our website, GoBSU.com.

Cardinals Take Thriller From Sycamores (12/02/2006) – GoBSU.com

The Ball State Cardinals will face their next opponent on Wednesday, December the 6 th when they travel to Indianapolis to take on the Pre-season NIT Champion and currently 14th ranked Butler Bulldogs in Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler’s men’s basketball team is perhaps Ball State’s most hated rival in any sport and seeing them do well makes Ball State fans physically ill. Few things make Cardinal fans happier than seeing Ball State win at Butler. Traditionally however BSU seems to get an incredibly raw deal from the officials at Hinkle and even in years when the Cardinals are great and Butler is poor a Ball State win there is a long shot. Butler leads Ball State 39-9 in games played at Butler. Ball State’s last victory at Butler came in the 1996 season when the Cardinals won 71-67. Butler has won 6 of the last 10 games from Ball State including the last two. Ball State’s rivalry with Butler goes back to 1924 when Butler was one of the top national powers in college basketball. The 2006 edition of this rivalry game is the 98 th in the series with Butler leading 60 games to 37.

By Jim Kemp, Ball State Sports Beat Writer for VanDelaySports.com

published 12.05.2006

MAC basketball by VanDelay Sports