Magee Joins 700 Club

Herb Magee, in his 34th season at Philadelphia University, became the 17th coach to win 700 games and the first to reach that figure solely at his alma mater.

The Rams gave Magee the milestone win Wednesday night with an 86-81 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas. It gave them a 13-4 record this season and lifted Magee’s career mark to 700-266.

Magee started coaching at Philadelphia University--then known as Philadelphia Textile--in 1967, just four years after he completed a successful playing career there, finishing with 2,235 points.

The Rams have reached the NCAA Division II tournament 19 times under Magee and they won the national championship in 1970 with a 25-2 record.

Magee is just the third Division II coach to reach 700 wins, joining Clarence “Big House” Gaines, who won 828 games at Winston-Salem State, and LeMoyne-Owen coach Jerry Johnson, who entered the season with 772.

The only Division III coach to win at least 700 games was Dick Sauers, who had 702 at Albany, N.Y.

The overall victory leader is Dean Smith, who won 879 in 36 seasons at North Carolina.

Smith and Magee are among 10 coaches to win all 700 games at one school.

“The fact we’ve done it all here, it means a lot,” Magee said. “The one thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve been consistent.”

Although Magee is the only coach to win all 700 at his alma mater, five others in the 700 club won at least some games at the school they graduated from -- Henry Iba, Northwest Missouri State; Phog Allen, Kansas; Jerry Tarkanian, Fresno State; Norm Stewart, Missouri; and Lou Henson, New Mexico State.

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CHANGING CHIPPEWAS: One of the most impressive turnarounds from last season is Central Michigan’s ride from the bottom to the top of the Mid-American Conference.

The Chippewas’ 78-75 victory over Akron on Wednesday night gave them a 14-4 record, including 8-1 in the MAC. Last season, those numbers were 6-23 and 2-16, the latter the worst mark in the 13-team league.

Now, led by junior guard David Webber, the younger brother of Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings, Central Michigan has won seven straight games and sits atop the league’s West Division.

Webber leads the league in scoring at 19.4 points and leads the team with 5.4 rebounds and is also averaging 3.0 assists.

This kind of success is new around Central Michigan as the Chippewas’ last winning season was 1987-88, Dan Majerle’s senior season.

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STATELY PROBLEMS: With its loss at Brigham Young last Monday, Utah dropped to 0-4 against instate opponents this season.

The Utes also lost at Utah State and at home to Weber State and Southern Utah.

The last time the Utes went 0-4 against instate competition was 1985, four years before Rick Majerus took over the program.

Majerus left the team in early January to spend time with his ailing mother and to recuperate from his own health problems. He has said he expects to be back next season.

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DUTCH TREAT: St. Bonaventure senior forward Peter Van Paassen was honored by his homeland’s embassy when the Bonnies visited George Washington last weekend.

Peter Bootsma, the Counselor of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, attended the game and presented Van Paassen with a plaque in recognition of his athletic and academic achievements at St. Bonaventure.

Van Paassen, the Bonnies’ co-captain and second-leading scorer and rebounder, has been on the Atlantic 10 all-academic team each of the last two seasons.

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TOUGH BREAK: For the second straight season, Michael Bauer’s year ended early because of an injury.

The 6-foot-8 forward, who was third in scoring and rebounding for surprising Minnesota this season at 11.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, will miss the rest of the season following surgery last Sunday, the day after he broke his left forearm against Purdue.

Bauer, a redshirt freshman, played in five games last season before an ankle injury forced him to take a medical redshirt.

He is expected to make a full recovery for the 2001-02 season.

His injury left the Gophers with eight healthy scholarship players.

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COOKING IT UP: One of the most hyped aspects of the 2000-01 season was the three New York City point guards deciding to play in the Big East.

Each of the matchups involving Omar Cook of St. John’s, Andre Barrett of Seton Hall and Taliek Brown of Connecticut were expected to be something special because of how talented each is on the court and how close they are off it.

On Tuesday, Cook and Brown went at it and Cook not only had a better game, but his Red Storm came away with a 60-55 victory after losing their first meeting by two points in overtime.

How intense the personal rivalry is was apparent during the game.

Cook, who had been struggling with his outside shot, made a 3-pointer with 5:50 left that gave St. John’s a 52-47 lead. Connecticut called a 30-second timeout and as the point guards passed each other, Cook let out a long, loud yell toward Brown and pointed to the “King of New York” tattoo on his left arm.

“The last time I was too friendly,” Cook said. “I wanted him to know we aren’t friends on the court. After the game we can be friends.”

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CONFERENCE CALLS: The ever-changing Division I conference map was altered again this week.

Stony Brook and the University at Albany will join the America East Conference next season, giving the league 12 members.

Four schools--Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra and Towson--will leave to join the Colonial Athletic Association for 2002-03.

The other America East schools are Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Northeastern and Hartford.

Richmond, East Carolina and American are leaving the CAA after this season.

The other CAA teams are William & Mary, Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, George Mason, Old Dominion and UNC-Wilmington.

There will be a quiz at the end of the semester.