USF playing with a tournament purpose

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Now that the University of St. Francis men’s basketball team has won nine straight games, the longest streak since the 1990-91 Saints won 11 straight, first-year coach John Baines had a message for athletic director Dave Laketa.

“I told Dave I don’t think he can fire me,” Baines said with a laugh.

Smiles abound these days in the USF Sullivan Center. The Saints (16-4) have a long way to go, with the meat of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule yet to come. But they take the floor each night expecting to win, and that is fine with their coach.

“My goal for this year was to lay the foundation for the next couple years,” said Baines, who succeeded USF coaching legend Pat Sullivan. “Now we’re in position to do something special, and it’s a great feeling.”

That something special would be to qualify for the NAIA Division I national tournament. Division I of the CCAC has only five teams eligible for the postseason, so the league does not receive an automatic bid to the nationals. The Saints must be ranked in the top 25 at season’s end to receive an at-large bid. They were ranked 27th last week.

USF finished 8-21 last season but returned a solid, deep nucleus.

“Sully left me a pretty good team,” Baines said. “It could be any coach who had this team this year, it was going to be a lot better than the year before.”

The Saints were 8-4 against a toned-down early schedule when they arrived at the Saint Xavier Midwest Tournament on Dec. 20-22. All they did was beat defending NAIA Division II national champion Saint Francis (Ind.) 96-83, St. Ambrose 83-70 and Saint Xavier 109-105 in three overtimes to claim the championship.

“We got off to a good start and we played better in the Christmas tournament than I thought we could,” Baines said. “We shot the ball very well for a week. That makes a coach look good.”

Baines said he knew entering the season that he had two difference makers in senior point guard Andrew Fair from Proviso West and Olive-Harvey College and 6-8, 295-pound junior center Bruce Watson from Detroit. Fair averaged 23 points and was the MVP in the Saint Xavier Tournament. For the season, he is averaging 16.0, Watson 15.6.

“Bruce and Drew have been rocks, and it’s been two other guys a night playing really well,” said Baines, who has only four players averaging more than 20 minutes and another eight averaging 11-18, including sophomore forward/center Dan Dispenza from Joliet Catholic.

“It has been a total team effort for us,” Fair said. “Last year I told the guys that if we work hard we will be better this year. The big things we had to do were rebound and defend better.”

Watson is the leading rebounder with a 6.1 average and junior forward Lukas Zebrauskas, who became a starter when Michael Cole was injured early on, is at 5.6.

“Lukas guarded two All-Americans at the Christmas tournament,” Baines said. “He is playing unbelievably well. He is our leading rebounder since he became a starter.”

The impressive statistic, though, is the Saints, no bigger than they are, outrebounding opponents by about 7 per game on the average, one of the best margins in the nation.

“If you looked at us walking into the gym, you would never think that,” Baines said. “But we have guys who go at it hard.”

Plus, they are together for a second year.

“For the most part, this team was new last year,” Watson noted. “It took awhile to learn each other’s games. Now everyone knows their roles.”

Watson’s role? “I have to get the ball and score,” he said with a grin. “We have a lot of guys who can rebound, but I know I have to do my part there, too.”

Saint Francis must continue outrebounding opponents — besides playing hard and shooting well — considering what lies ahead. Among the highlights: Wednesday at Robert Morris, Feb. 2 home vs. Saint Xavier, Feb. 12 at Olivet, Feb. 16 home vs. Robert Morris and Feb. 23 at Saint Xavier.

And, when the regular season ends in late February, the Saints want to be ranked in the top 25.

“Getting to the national tournament has been a dream since I came here,” Watson said. “This is our best chance. We have to stay focused. Robert Morris (Wednesday) will be our toughest game of the season. They’re ranked No. 2. All that we have done to this point has been leading up to that game.”

“That game will be for first in the conference,” Fair said. “That’s big for us and big for our program. And, if we want to get in the tournament, we have to keep winning against everybody.”

It matters not what anyone else thinks, these Saints believe.

“When you get off to a good start, it makes things easier,” Baines said. “The guys’ work ethic has improved over the last couple months. They were trying to figure me out at first, and at first I don’t think they knew what to think. Now they just say, ‘It’s Coach being Coach.’”

“We get along well with each other and with Coach Baines,” Watson said. “He feels like he is a real part of this team.”