JBU Taking On Coaching Legend

— In order to get past the first round of the NAIA Division I Basketball Tournament, the John Brown Golden Eagles are going to have to defeat a living legend of college basketball.

JBU will play McKendree University, an Lebanon, Ill.-based school out of the American Midwest Conference, at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in Municipal Audorium in Kansas City.

The Bearcats are coached by 44-year veteran Harry Statham, who just recently surpassed the 1,000-win plateau earlier. Statham has been McKendree’s men’s basketball coach and athletic director for the last 44 years.

With 1,022 career wins, Statham is the all-time wins leader in men’s college basketball history at the four-year level.

“(Statham) is a coach that has obviously forgotten a lot more basketball than I know,” joked JBU coach Clark Sheehy earlier this week.

Statham had quite a one-liner himself.

“Maybe I’m just getting old and forgetful,” he teased, before adding. “I’ve been very, very fortunate to work in a good place.”

Statham’s Bearcats (27-6) won the AMC Tournament to earn their fourth consecutive trip to NAIA Division I Tournament and the school’s 14 overall appearance.

Junior forward Eric Hobbie was his conference’s player of the year after averaging 16.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He’s scored more than 1,000 points in his career and is a three-time first-team all-conference selection.

Freshman John Steppe was named the co-freshman of the year in the conference.

The Bearcats have certainly been impressive to Sheehy, who’s gotten a good look at them on film.

“On film I think they’re good,” Sheehy said. “We’re going to have to play well to win, and that’s true when you get to the national tournament. All the teams are good.

“They’re going to be very, very solid. I think they’re very good defensively. They’re a very physical team. We’re going to have to be ready to match their physicalness.”

Statham is equally impressed with the Golden Eagles (24-9), who stormed through the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament as a No. 5 seed and beat Rogers State on March 6to win it and earn their first NAIA Division I appearance since 2006. JBU captured the NAIA National Championship in 2005.

“I think it’ll be a very competitive game,” Statham said. “You don’t win the Sooner by mistake or accident, so I’m sure (JBU is) a solid team. They’re a good 3-point shooting team; stats look good and they have good overall balance. I’m sure they’ll be a load.”

At A Glance

2010 NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship

March 17-23

Kansas City Municipal Auditorium

First Round

Wednesday

Game 1: Southern Polytechnic St. (Ga.) vs. Oklahoma City, 9 a.m.

Game 2: Mountain State (W.Va.) vs. Bacone (Okla.), 10:45 a.m.

Game 3: Campbellsville (Ky.) vs. Fresno Pacific (Calif.), 12:30 p.m.

Game 4: John Brown vs. McKendree (Ill.), 2:15 p.m.

Game 5: Oklahoma Baptist vs. Saint Xavier (Ill.), 4:30 p.m.

Game 6: Georgetown (Ky.) vs. Park (Mo.), 6:15 p.m.

Game 7: Texas Wesleyan vs. Central Methodist (Mo.), 8 p.m.

Game 8: Biola (Calif.) vs. Belhaven (Miss.), 9:45 p.m.

Thursday

Game 9: Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) vs. Lee (Tenn.), 9 a.m.

Game 10: LSU-Shreveport vs. Oklahoma Christian, 10:45 a.m.

Game 11: Azusa Pacific (Calif.) vs. Cumberlands (Ky.), 12:30 p.m.

Game 12: Evangel (Mo.) vs. Westminster (Utah), 2:15 p.m.

Game 13: Robert Morris (Ill.) vs. Life (Ga.), 4:30 p.m.

Game 14: Concordia (Calif.) vs. William Jewell (Mo.), 6:15 p.m.

Game 15: Southern Nazarene (Okla.) vs. Tougaloo (Miss.), 8 p.m.

Game 16: Montana Western vs. Union (Tenn.), 9:45 p.m.

Second Round

Friday

Game 17: Winner 3 vs. Winner 4, 9 a.m.

Game 18: Winner 1 vs. Winner 2, 10:45 a.m.

Game 19: Winner 9 vs. Winner 10, 12:30 p.m.

Game 20: Winner 11 vs. Winner 12, 2:15 p.m.

Game 21: Winner 5 vs. Winner 7, 4:30 p.m.

Game 22: Winner 6 vs. Winner 8, 6:15 p.m.

Game 23: Winner 13 vs. Winner 14, 8 p.m.

Game 24: Winner 15 vs. Winner 16, 9:45 p.m.

Quarterfinals

Saturday

Game 25: Winner 17 vs. Winner 18, 1 p.m.

Game 26: Winner 19 vs. Winner 20, 3 p.m.

Game 27: Winner 21 vs. Winner 22, 6 p.m.

Game 28: Winner 23 vs. Winner 24, 8 p.m.

Semifinals

March 22

Game 29: Winner 25 vs. Winner 26, 6 p.m.

Game 30: Winner 27 vs. Winner 28, 8 p.m.

Championship

March 23

Game 31: Winner 29 vs. Winner 30, 7 p.m.

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