Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Olivero is Legit, Rowland is still a punk-ass
Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
January 19, 2004 Monday FIFTH EDITION
SPORTS, Pg. C11, WILLIAMS
D.C. connection Olivero and Rowland bring the juice to Lehigh
By Andre Williams Of The Morning Call
Lehigh University now has a fun-and-gun offense, led by guards Austen Rowland and Jose Olivero, that is entertaining and producing winning results.
Maybe it's a taste of what's to come in future years under Billy Taylor, the second-year coach who now sports a 25-18 record after Saturday's 63-58 victory over American University in Washington, D.C.
Maybe the uptempo style of play, which includes one creative attempt after another and shots launched from beyond the 3-point arc at any time of the game, is what basketball is supposed to be about.
You can not rattle the opposition if you do not force the action aggressively at both ends of the court.
You could not have survived in the Washington Metropolitan area gymnasiums -- where Rowland and Olivero played high school basketball and streetball games -- without bringing your "A" game to the court each time.
Nobody said you had to look or play like Michael Jordan. You just had to bring your best effort, not wilt to trash-talking during the highly intense and competitive games.
Basketball in the D.C. area is the same as it is in other hotbeds such as Philadelphia and New York, and Rowland and Olivero will quickly tell you that respect on the court was not so easily given. It had to be earned.
Olivero, a 6-1 freshman from W.T. Woodson High in Northern Virginia, played his first two years of high school ball in Tampa, Fla. When his father, an Army man, was transferred, Olivero said he then stepped into a totally different basketball world, one that he enjoyed much better.
"I played in front of standing-room-only crowds," Olivero said Saturday after scoring 13 points with four assists against AU. "You can take anything they say out here because I heard a lot worst in high school. It gives you that mental toughness playing basketball up here because you know you can do it."
Olivero is averaging close to 14 points per game.
Lehigh basketball was basically stale for the few years prior to Taylor's arrival. Last season, the Mountain Hawks went 16-12, and are off to a 10-6 start this year. They will give up a height advantage to most teams inside the paint, but they will match up well with any Patriot League team in the backcourt because of Rowland and Olivero.
Rowland, a 6-1 senior transfer from the University of Delaware, grew up in Hyattsville, Md. He has averaged 16.7 points, 5.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds in the last eight games.
"I think they are guys that play with so much passion that it is contagious," Taylor said. "The rest of our team gets it. Our fans get behind it. I think it's an exciting way to play. It's always more fun when you have the victory to go with it, but these guys have worked hard in the preseason. They wanted to give themselves a chance to play at a high level and that's what they are doing."
Taylor has made it easier for Olivero and Rowland to succeed by trusting and giving them both the green light on offense. Both had the same luxury in high school and said they chose Lehigh because of the style of play they believed Taylor would run.
"Definitely, when I was transferring, one of the things I looked at was the style of play," Rowland said. "I didn't want to be on a slow-down team, running the Princeton offense. I wanted a chance to have some freedom out there. Coach Taylor definitely gives us freedom to go out there and create. It's all about making reads.
"He gives you a chance to make mistakes because he knows that playing aggressively you will make mistakes."
Rowland had four turnovers and Olivero had three on Saturday against American, but both hit big shots when Lehigh needed a spark. It's been that way all season and Taylor hopes it continues.
In a way, both are just doing what they used to do in the D.C. area.
Moving up in age, still winning: Temple's Hall-of-Fame coach John Chaney turns 72 on Wednesday and is two victories shy of becoming the 16th coach in Division I history to win 700 games. Chaney (698-277) will join New Mexico State's Lou Henson, Texas Tech's Bobby Knight, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton and Lute Olson of Arizona as the only active coaches with at least 700 victories.
A-10 rank: Saint Joseph's, which was ranked No. 6 in last week's Associated Press poll, has garnered the highest ranking by an Atlantic 10 team since Temple was rated No. 5 in the final poll of the 1999-2000 season. The Hawks figure to be ranked even higher this week.
PL's magic man: American University senior guard Andres Rodriguez had a Patriot League-record 19 assists in a win over Navy on Wednesday night. It was an NCAA high this season, and topped the previous record of 16 that Bucknell's Russell Peyton posted in 1991. Rodriguez had just seven assists against Lehigh on Jan. 10.
andre.williams@mcall.com @ 2:23 PM
Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
January 19, 2004 Monday FIFTH EDITION
SPORTS, Pg. C11, WILLIAMS
D.C. connection Olivero and Rowland bring the juice to Lehigh
By Andre Williams Of The Morning Call
Lehigh University now has a fun-and-gun offense, led by guards Austen Rowland and Jose Olivero, that is entertaining and producing winning results.
Maybe it's a taste of what's to come in future years under Billy Taylor, the second-year coach who now sports a 25-18 record after Saturday's 63-58 victory over American University in Washington, D.C.
Maybe the uptempo style of play, which includes one creative attempt after another and shots launched from beyond the 3-point arc at any time of the game, is what basketball is supposed to be about.
You can not rattle the opposition if you do not force the action aggressively at both ends of the court.
You could not have survived in the Washington Metropolitan area gymnasiums -- where Rowland and Olivero played high school basketball and streetball games -- without bringing your "A" game to the court each time.
Nobody said you had to look or play like Michael Jordan. You just had to bring your best effort, not wilt to trash-talking during the highly intense and competitive games.
Basketball in the D.C. area is the same as it is in other hotbeds such as Philadelphia and New York, and Rowland and Olivero will quickly tell you that respect on the court was not so easily given. It had to be earned.
Olivero, a 6-1 freshman from W.T. Woodson High in Northern Virginia, played his first two years of high school ball in Tampa, Fla. When his father, an Army man, was transferred, Olivero said he then stepped into a totally different basketball world, one that he enjoyed much better.
"I played in front of standing-room-only crowds," Olivero said Saturday after scoring 13 points with four assists against AU. "You can take anything they say out here because I heard a lot worst in high school. It gives you that mental toughness playing basketball up here because you know you can do it."
Olivero is averaging close to 14 points per game.
Lehigh basketball was basically stale for the few years prior to Taylor's arrival. Last season, the Mountain Hawks went 16-12, and are off to a 10-6 start this year. They will give up a height advantage to most teams inside the paint, but they will match up well with any Patriot League team in the backcourt because of Rowland and Olivero.
Rowland, a 6-1 senior transfer from the University of Delaware, grew up in Hyattsville, Md. He has averaged 16.7 points, 5.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds in the last eight games.
"I think they are guys that play with so much passion that it is contagious," Taylor said. "The rest of our team gets it. Our fans get behind it. I think it's an exciting way to play. It's always more fun when you have the victory to go with it, but these guys have worked hard in the preseason. They wanted to give themselves a chance to play at a high level and that's what they are doing."
Taylor has made it easier for Olivero and Rowland to succeed by trusting and giving them both the green light on offense. Both had the same luxury in high school and said they chose Lehigh because of the style of play they believed Taylor would run.
"Definitely, when I was transferring, one of the things I looked at was the style of play," Rowland said. "I didn't want to be on a slow-down team, running the Princeton offense. I wanted a chance to have some freedom out there. Coach Taylor definitely gives us freedom to go out there and create. It's all about making reads.
"He gives you a chance to make mistakes because he knows that playing aggressively you will make mistakes."
Rowland had four turnovers and Olivero had three on Saturday against American, but both hit big shots when Lehigh needed a spark. It's been that way all season and Taylor hopes it continues.
In a way, both are just doing what they used to do in the D.C. area.
Moving up in age, still winning: Temple's Hall-of-Fame coach John Chaney turns 72 on Wednesday and is two victories shy of becoming the 16th coach in Division I history to win 700 games. Chaney (698-277) will join New Mexico State's Lou Henson, Texas Tech's Bobby Knight, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton and Lute Olson of Arizona as the only active coaches with at least 700 victories.
A-10 rank: Saint Joseph's, which was ranked No. 6 in last week's Associated Press poll, has garnered the highest ranking by an Atlantic 10 team since Temple was rated No. 5 in the final poll of the 1999-2000 season. The Hawks figure to be ranked even higher this week.
PL's magic man: American University senior guard Andres Rodriguez had a Patriot League-record 19 assists in a win over Navy on Wednesday night. It was an NCAA high this season, and topped the previous record of 16 that Bucknell's Russell Peyton posted in 1991. Rodriguez had just seven assists against Lehigh on Jan. 10.
andre.williams@mcall.com @ 2:23 PM
