Falcons Arrive At Final Four, Make Final Preparations For Weekend
Posted: 3/20/2008
More Women's Basketball news
Mike Miller speaks to the media before Messiah takes on Oglethorpe in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Holland, MI – It may have begun at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, but the Messiah College women’s basketball team finally arrived at the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship Final Four Thursday.

The team participated in its first official practice and partook in varying tournament events throughout the day Thursday, bringing a clearer focus to the weekend’s main attraction: Messiah (29-2) will take on Oglethorpe University (27-5) in the first of two national semi-finals Friday night at Hope College; Howard Payne University (29-0) will face the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (28-3) in the second game.

The winners of those tilts will face off in the national championship at 6:05 p.m. Saturday night. A consolation game will occur at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for the losing teams.

“We had to get up at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning to catch a flight out of Baltimore, and then we got delayed in Detroit,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “But this has been worth every second. It’s been an awesome experience. I don’t want to say we’re just happy to be here, but we are happy to have the chance to continue to play.”

After catching up on some sleep and working out in a middle school gymnasium Wednesday, Miller and company began to receive the official NCAA red carpet act Thursday morning, entering Hope’s $22 million DeVos Fieldhouse to rave reviews. Being the first of the competing teams to hold practice in the three year-old, 3,400-seat arena, sophomore Amanda Naeher turned to junior Sal Shani and asked a question revealing of the facilty’s grandeur:

“You’re not going to transfer here, are you?”

Shani was quick to dismiss the comment made in jest, but the team’s appreciation of the final stage was real: Players were greeted with individual nameplates above their lockers, while a wandering gaze was commonplace at the outset of practice.

“The place is absolutely beautiful,” said junior forward Ashley Brooks. “When I pictured playing in a Final Four, I envisioned something like this.”

Said Naeher: “It’s the most unreal facility I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I first thought we were at a (NCAA) Division I arena, but nope, it’s just the D-III national championships.”

When the novelty finally wore off, Messiah put together a solid hour and a half workout, beginning with position work and concluding with full-court, five-on-five drills. Miller said that transition defense will be a key in the team’s game against Oglethorpe.

“We’ve tried to back off the physical banging in practice over the last few weeks, but we still do things to get the heart rates up,” he said. “Overall, I thought we had a really productive practice this morning. We don’t mind the distractions.”

Seniors Nikki Lobach and Amy Reed joined Miller in a press conference following the workout, addressing national media for the first time of the season. As the trio sat at a raised table with official NCAA backdrops to the rear and name plates in front of them, it was clear this was the big time.

“A lot of stuff has to fall into place, but I’m not surprised (we’re here) at all,” Lobach said to reporters eager to learn more about Messiah. “With who we have on this team and the work that we’ve put in, I think we all knew that this was a realistic goal.”

Miller agreed with Lobach’s assessment.

“I think we’ve done a good job controlling the things that we could control,” he said. “At the beginning of the year, I thought we were one of 30 teams that could get here. Obviously, you don’t get here without (great) players, but our biggest strength is our team chemistry. When we walk onto a court, we’re not going to blow you away with our size and bulk, but we play very well together.”

The squad then utilized the majority of the afternoon for some down time in Holland’s newest hotel, while the perks did not stop there: Participating athletes made use of a large, “players only” room, complete with a large screen television, laptop computers and a never-ending spread of food.

“They’ve done a lot to make this a once-in-a-lifetime type of an experience, and we’ve been treated very well,” Brooks said. “They’ve kind of presented it as you’ve worked so hard to get here, we want this to be something special. And it has been.”

The official team banquet followed Thursday evening, as Reed served as the Messiah representative. She spoke to the over 200 in attendance about her team, her institution and her experience.

“She did a great job,” Brooks said. “There’s a lot of excitement (within our group), but at the same point there’s a focus. We want to not only win basketball games, but serve as a witness to the other teams here.”

Messiah will approach game time with a 9 a.m. breakfast Friday, followed by an hour-long video session and another hour-long shoot around in Devos Fieldhouse. The team will then get some more downtime prior to its semi-final against Oglethorpe.

“This team has always maintained a focus no matter where we have been or what the circumstance,” Miler said. “They’ve maintained that here.”

Messiah will take on the Stormy Petrels at 5:30 p.m. Friday night, with the second semi-final slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. Fans will have a multitude of options to follow the game from afar, as WVMM Messiah College radio will broadcast each of Messiah’s games both on the air (90.7 FM) and over the world wide web. NCAA.com will offer a live video webcast of both semi-final games – simply visit www.ncaa.com around game time and look for the Division III women’s basketball webcast main headline. For those interested in keeping track of real-time stats, a live stats feed will be available for all games by clicking here.

CSTV will broadcast the national championship game on television. Check your local cable or satellite provider for details. To view the official site of the NCAA Division III Final Four, click here.

“We’re all business, but at the same time we’re enjoying ourselves,” Naeher said. “Time will tell, but I think it’s a pretty good combination.”