We lost to Detroit, so what?
So after the first of two games against nationally-known powers, the CMU men's basketball team is 0-1 and falls to 3-3 overall.
So what!
The last time I checked, the Mid-American Conference hadn't absorbed the Detroit Mercy Titans in as the 14 team, nor had the Chippewas fled the MAC for the tradition-rich Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
Head Coach Jay Smith and company know that this week's pair of games, the Xavier Musketeers visit Rose on Saturday, are a measuring stick at best.
Don't get me wrong, the team and everyone associated with it has the mentality that they can compete with both of these teams, and within the friendly confines of Rose, perhaps pick up a huge win.
And they almost did it in front of one of the largest and Rowdiest crowds in recent Rose Arena history. But it wasn't just the Rowdies who provided the noise, the entire arena was rocking and for once a CMU game felt like big-time college basketball.
The intensity of the crowd, perhaps the biggest since Wally Szczerbiak's visit last December, was matched only by the intensity of the players including Central's emerging backcourt trio, Tim Kisner, David Webber and J.R. Wallace.
Kisner looked to have his solid shooting touch back for the first time this season as he hit on 4-of-7 from behind the arc en route to a season-high 17 points.
Webber dropped in a career-high 29 points including hitting on seven-of-twelve three-pointers. In only his sophomore season, the 6-2 guard has established himself as one of the preeminent players in the MAC and one of the leaders of this team.
We've already seen Wallace show flashes of his exciting offensive flair and in the second half of Wednesday night's tilt he showed us he can be a defensive stalwart as well, shutting down Detroit's scoring machine Rashad Phillips for much of the second half. The freshman helped hold Phillips to one field goal in the game's final 9:55, even blocking one of his three pointers.
But as we've stated before, the real test for this team as a whole and the players on it as individuals, is the MAC season which begins December 30 when the Chips visit the Thundering Herd of Marshall. Although the Herd's hoops team doesn't have their own version of Chad Pennington, they do present a pretty stiff conference opener for CMU.
Every team has a story and the story on the 1999-2000 CMU men's basketball team won't be written during non conference matchups with Rochester College, Illinois State or even Detroit and Xavier. Although wins now will look real nice, the story of this team will be written during the MAC season. The non-conference schedule is serving to help the team find an author for their story and from David Webber to Tim Kisner to Dan Schell, the race is wide open.
So as the team prepares to face Xavier on Saturday we're most definitely hoping for a victory but remember the Chips are still undefeated in league play.
And for all the Rowdies out there, anybody can be a fan when a big-time instate rival comes in, now we'll start to see who the real Rowdies are.
Xavier is just as good, just as big and just as successful as UDM, will the Rowdies be just as loud, just as large and just as Rowdie?
Know this though, the team isn't the only one using this part of the season as a measuring stick, so are their opponents who will be looking to see just how tough a place to play Rose Arena is.
Let's show them.
