University Press
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March 13, 2012 Vol. 13 Issue 23
Florida Atlantic University’s finest news source
upressonline.com
A social network created by two FAU students is growing, just not as fast as they thought.
A review of We Need to Talk About Kevin, playing on campus
in the Living Room Theaters.
After a disappointing 11-19 season and a tournament loss, the men’s
basketball team sounds off.
PG. 8 PG. 11 PG. 18
And the beat goes onThe founder, director and professor of FAU’s commercial music program tells of his days as a rock star and disco pioneer in the ‘60s, ‘70s –– and where he is today.
PG. 12
2 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com
3March 13, 2012upressonline.com
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www.upressonline.com
March 13, 2012
FeaturesNews SportsRobert Huffman is the new Student Government president, according to SG’s unofficial results. Huffman and his vice president, April Turner, won with 1,123 votes. Helen Pferdehirt and Ryan Ebanks came in second with 464 votes, while Elrigea McIntosh and Jonathan Howell followed up with 338. For a full list of House of Representatives and governor winners, visit upressonline.com.
The Peace Studies Department is hosting a film screening of El Fortin, a documentary that follows the daily struggles and survival of a poor family living in the slums of Nicaragua after a decade of political violence and repression. The event will be on Thursday, March 15 from 5-7 p.m. in Room 101 of the Performing Arts Building. It’s free and open to the public.
FAU men’s basketball concluded its season over Spring Break. The team lost to Arkansas State 70-55 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Hot Springs, Ark. Meanwhile, FAU baseball is off to a 10-6 start after splitting its four-game home series against Princeton and losing 16-1 on the road to the No. 1 team in the nation, the Florida Gators. Catcher Mike Albaladejo leads the team with a 25 hits and a .385 batting average.* Stats and records as of March 11
Briefs
From Feb. 25 through March 2, 11 monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, Ga. created and displayed a sand mandala to symbolize harmony and the balance of the universe at the Schmidt Gallery on the Boca campus. However, destorying the mandala once it’s complete is part of the ritual so it’s no longer there to see. Photo by Christine Capozziello
Police blotterFeb. 19, 2012Location: FAU Stadium
FAU police were on patrol when they noticed six people jump over the fence to get into the stadium. When police turned on the overhead lights, it surprised the trespassers and they all tried to run away. Five people (three males and two females) were caught trying to run away. One was able to flee the scene, but was later identified. Police found the student’s dorm and gave him a written referral for trespassing.
All information is taken from the police reports provided by FAUPD. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Feb. 14, 2012Location: Glades Park Tower (GPT)
A resident student called FAU police saying she was being threatened by another student who believes she was trying to steal her boyfriend away. According to the report, the girlfriend came into the student’s work a couple of times threatening her, but the latest threat came over a Facebook message. The student told police she’s afraid the girlfriend might harm her at school. Fort Lauderdale police were also notified about the threats.
4 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com
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7Mar. 13, 2012upressonline.com
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8 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com
Features
While CollegeTwist.com might prove to be a handy social networking site, students haven’t boarded the bandwagon just yet
Last August, while most students were getting acquainted with their new schedule, two FAU students — Brandon Forschino and Patrick
Daleen — were launching a website specifically for FAU students to post pictures or videos about what’s going on around campus. Since then, they have expanded from FAU to seven other universities in Florida and the Midwest, and they plan to keep branching out.
But it’s been seven months since their launch, and their user count is less than anticipated or desired, according to one of the founders.
“Last time I saw, we were at 1,370 [users],” junior business major Forschino said. “It’s definitely less than we expected.”
CollegeTwist is a website where you can upload photos, videos and post upcoming events onto a calendar for your respective university. When you first sign up, you create your profile with the option to post a photo of yourself and choose the university you go to, and what organizations or fraternity/sorority of which you’re a part. Unlike Facebook, your homepage is made up of photos, videos and events from anyone in your university’s network, not just people you’re friends with. You also have the option to start a discussion thread in each photo album posted.
“We’re really trying to make an official college network
where students can understand what’s going on, on and off campus,” Forchino said.
Since CollegeTwist just recently expanded their website to other universities, such as Florida State University and University of Illinois, Forchino says FAU makes up around 75 percent of the users.
“Really the first bit of the semester was spent unifying the advertisement campaign and getting everyone on the same page,” Director of Campus Operations and senior marketing major Kristin Alspaugh said. “Another reason I think we’ve been so slow is because we didn’t have a street team [before].”
Even with their user count lower than expected, CollegeTwist has released an iPhone app, which was funded by investments made from a private company, this past Wednesday night, March 7. On the first night, Forchino says about 20 people downloaded the app, but within the past week, they have had over 100 downloads. As for an Andriod app, Forchino says they are still fixing up some things and should be released soon. The apps were created by James Devrys, vice president of technology, along with the site’s web development team.
Alspaugh says the app will feature an infrared map that will show how many people are at events or at different places around campus. And with hopes of reaching 4,000
users by the end of the spring semester, Alspaugh plans to start advertising in the on-campus dorms by meeting with RA’s and having them put their events on the site to promote CollegeTwist.
But they must be doing something right because it seems like the word might be starting to spread.
“I actually just read about this today on a pamphlet from the College of Business,” junior French major, Michela Ekowo, said. “I think it’s really innovative and creative and I would probably use it.”
Matt Montoya, junior hospitality management major, helped promote CollegeTwist from the beginning and has been a user on the site since the start.
“It’s a great website for college students and high school students to find out what the school is like,” Montoya said.
Forchino says he hopes they can keep reaching out to student organizations and Greek life to gain more users. He also says they plan on making each homepage for each university more personable by putting up landmarks specific to whatever university’s homepage you’re on. He also hopes to have 1,000 more photos posted on CollegeTwist by the end of this semester. This way, he says, more users will see more photos and user interaction, and probably upload content themselves.
By Michelle [email protected]
How’s it twisting?About College Twist Log in Signup
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College Twist started as a tool for students to see thetruth about their college of interest. The goal was toexpose the facts that you wouldn't find on a normal tour.CT has evolved to become its own social networkcentralized around colleges.
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11upressonline.com
A review of We Need to Talk About Kevin, a harrowing story of a crumbling household and an unstable child
By Fayez [email protected]
In a household where the son has grown up
to become a mass murderer, is he to blame, or are the parents the ones at fault? We Need to Talk about Kevin
delves into this subject as a broken mother is forced into every parent’s nightmare: raising a sociopath.
Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver, the film focuses on Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), a mother who is being constantly harassed by her son Kevin (Ezra Miller). She is pushed even further as no one sympathizes with her or cares to hear her out. Not even her own husband, Franklin (John C. Reilly), believes anything she experiences. All of this comes together when Kevin goes on a murderous rampage.
The acting is the best part about the film, as Swinton evokes the despair and inner anguish she has to face with her crumbling household. Reilly knows how to be both charming and unsettling with his love for his wife and kids and his refusal to have Kevin be painted as a villain. Miller also does a great job at looking detached from the real world, unimpressed with anything life can offer him, though a large chunk of my issues with this film are about Kevin himself.
There are some thrills to be had with Kevin’s unpredictable behavior, but this shouldn’t have to be designed to be like a horror movie with Kevin as the killer that can’t be reasoned with. The character never has the potential to be a nice kid as he is painted as an evil child from the very start.
Director Lynne Ramsay really goes overboard when it comes to having props. Colors in particular tell the story for us as if symbolism is enough to get a movie off its feet. Red, often used as the color of blood or rage, is used ad nauseam as everything surrounding all of the characters is red. White and yellow are used as signs of both purity and illness, giving the film an excuse to constantly have eggs being destroyed. Get it? Because the egg is supposed to be Kevin.
Overall, it’s a film that should have taken itself more seriously. We should have seen the inner turmoil of Eva taken much more earnestly, but there was no thing that could have been done with Kevin. He’s established as the Terminator in the flesh from the very start. It makes it hard to empathize with him when he is completely obsessed with ruining his mother’s life. The only way I’d recommend this film is if you were taking a film class and needed a topic to write an essay about. The film, at the very least, does its best to throw enough symbolic meaning and character study fodder to write an entire thesis on what the director thought she was doing with the film.
Raising a Review
March 13, 2012
We Need to Talk About Kevin is playing at Living Room Theatres on the Boca campus from now until March 15, weekdays at 5:25, 7:00 and 9:40
monster
1312 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com March 13, 2012
And the beat goes onMusic professor at FAU, founder of commercial music program, shares the story of his life through the music biz –– from a ‘60s rock star to an award-winning producer
The !rst thing you notice when you walk into the o"ce is framed on the far left wall. About six feet up sits the sheet music for “Tomorrow,” the famous song from Annie. Right above the music? A picture with the song’s composer, Charles Strouse, with a
note written on it:“#is song would have been nowhere without you,” it reads. “I
love you –– Charles.”On the other wall is an array of framed awards and albums with
his name on them. Michael Zager, a 69-year-old professor of music at FAU, has the 50 Cent album — Bulletproof — framed on his wall. #e background from that album’s “I’m a Rider” is a track from Zager’s ‘70s band, Ten Wheel Drive.
Zager, who started the commercial music program at FAU in 2002, sits in his o"ce, Room 111 of the Arts and Humanities building, thinking about his lifelong journey through music. But despite his age, he’s still not quite ready to quit.
“I’m always hustling,” he said. “You have to be aggressive and competitive. It’s di"cult to be successful in music, but you have to pound, pound the pavement.”
Zager toured the country with his platinum-selling ‘60s rock band, played at the same New York City club where Jimi Hendrix jammed several nights a week, played with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, spent !ve years in #ailand teaching commercial music to students there, and can tell stories about playing shows with Janis Joplin during her wild hay-day.
Zager’s story, though, traces back to the Vietnam War. Before he got drafted, he tried using his allergies as an excuse to not serve. He heard that might work. But he got drafted anyway. He went through seven years of training, and music, he says, miraculously saved him from being sent overseas.
“I never went to Vietnam,” he said. “Music saved me from going”
During his basic training, there were Army bands that would come by and keep them entertained, something Zager had no idea existed. He sat in the front row at one of the shows and wondered if joining the band might spare him from the terrors of war. He immediately called his father and asked him to !nd out if the National Guard unit in Elizabeth, New Jersey needed an oboe player for its band.
“#e next day I was on the ri$e range with a bayonet learning how to kill people, how to stick a bayonet in and kill, kill, kill.
Musicians don’t like to do that,” Zager said. “So as I’m standing there, a jeep pulls up and a guy says, ‘Zager, you’re coming with me to audition for the band,’ and the sergeant went berserk. But of course they had priority.”
#e audition went worse than expected. He told them he hadn’t played oboe since high school, but they wanted him to play then and there.
“It’s a very hard instrument, and you have to practice, so when I tried to play it, I couldn’t even get a quack out of it,” Zager said. “Literally nothing came out. I could just see myself going to Vietnam at that point.”
#e band ended up giving him an aptitude test, which tested his ability to read music. Two weeks later, just after turning 21, he joined the band as its oboe player.
Being a soldier in the Army kick-started his whirlwind of experiences through the music industry, and now he applies that knowledge to the commercial music program — something his students value.
“When you’re sitting in the room with the guy who did that and knows Grammy-nominated producers and stars, whatever he says is almost like law,” Abraham “Abe” Oleksnianski said, vice president of Hoot/Wisdom Recordings.
Zager’s students learn the logistics of music production and essential lessons about the industry, but they probably don’t know their professor’s back story. Like the one about his little band that toured for !ve years, recorded four albums and headlined Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1968, while still in the Army, Zager started a funk/rock band called Ten Wheel Drive with Aram Schefrin, a friend with whom he had played music since they were kids. Schefrin, a Columbia College and Harvard Law graduate, and Zager got picked up by Polydor Records. Schefrin wanted it to be a rock band, but Zager would only agree under one condition: that the band incorporate a rhythm and brass section (such as trumpets) to give it a jazzy feel.
And so Ten Wheel Drive took o%, recording its !rst album, Construction No. 1, that launched them on their !rst national tour in 1969. #e band’s lead singers were Schefrin and Genya Ravan, whose previous band — the all-female rockers known as Goldie & #e Gingerbreads — had recently broken up. Ten Wheel Drive
played at the Atlanta Pop Festival that year with big-timers like Joe Cocker, #e Byrds, Janis Joplin and B.B. King, two weeks before the famous Woodstock Festival.
Zager recounts another one of their shows at a popular New York club called Steve Paul’s #e Scene, where Jimi Hendrix famously hosted late-night jam sessions often in the late ‘60s. #e Scene was open to many other famous rock acts like Ten Wheel Drive, and one of their shows turned into a jam session with Joplin in 1968.
“She sang with us all night until about 6 o’clock in the morning, drunk as a skunk,” Zager said about Joplin. “She used to drink Southern Comfort like it was Coca-Cola.”
Ten Wheel Drive recorded four albums and toured for !ve years. In 1971, the same year they released their third album, Peculiar Friends, they were commissioned to write a rock opera based on #e Battle of Little Big Horn, to be played at Carnegie Hall in New York City with the American Symphony Orchestra.
“I was really scared because I didn’t know how to write for strings and some of the other instruments,” Zager said. #at’s why, after the band split, he decided to learn more about arranging by taking classes at Juilliard, and ultimately enrolling at Mannes School of Music in New York City.
Zager took up writing music for commercials and theater. But he also cashed in on the disco frenzy going on in the ‘70s. He and his partner, Jerry Love, decided to start #e Michael Zager Band, which was a studio band, in 1976. It ended up getting signed to Columbia Records, and its !rst hit single, “Let’s All Chant” in 1978, was a worldwide sensation, selling over 5 million copies.
#e Michael Zager Band’s songs featured several di%erent artists, like “Don’t Sneak On Me” sung by Luther Vandross in
1980. At the same time, Zager produced for di%erent artists, like Cissy Houston’s gospel records, which led him to the discovery of Whitney Houston when she was 14 and feature her !rst professional recording, “Life’s a Party,” on one of the Zager Band’s albums.
In fact, after the !lm Annie came out, Cissy recorded its famous “Tomorrow” and released it as one of her own singles. Her producer for this track? Zager.
Since then, Zager has composed and produced over 400 songs for commercials, including one for Bounce in 1986, for which Whitney Houston recorded the vocals. He composed the theme song in the third Friday the 13th, which was in 3-D, with composer Harry Manfredini.
Now, Zager serves as director of the commercial music program he pioneered when he noticed students were lacking an opportunity to learn the ropes of the music industry.
President of Hoot/Wisdom Recordings, Brittany Miller, doesn’t work with Zager much, but she knows she can consult him with questions about the music industry, production, recording or even when any of them needs a contact.
“It’s just nice to know that someone’s running the department who knows all these aspects of the industry because they’ve actually been a part of every aspect of the industry,” Miller said. “He has more of a real world perspective on things.”
Love says he visits some of Zager’s music production classes at FAU and is fascinated by his partner’s course, his talent and his unwavering passion for music. He says their age is not going to stop the dynamic duo from working in the music biz today.
“To me, age is just a chronological matter of reference,” Love said. “Music keeps you young and it’s how you feel about life and what you’re doing that keeps you young, too. And I’m still 35 years old.” He’s actually 77.
Zager believes in the talent at Hoot/Wisdom, and says the best part of being the program’s director is that the students are independent, motivated and hungry to learn more about and be a part of being music industry, a hunger that he recognizes from a younger version of himself.
“Students that want to go into the music industry really love it,” he said. “So it’s not like other courses where they feel like they’re forced to take them. #ese are students that are really passionate about the music industry and really love what they’re doing. #ese students have a lot of potential. A lot of potential.”
Cover
“She sang with us all night until about 6 o’clock in the morning, drunk as a skunk. She used to drink Southern Comfort like it was Coca-Cola. ” -Michael Zager on Janis Joplin
By Carolina Fernandez
1312 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com March 13, 2012
And the beat goes onMusic professor at FAU, founder of commercial music program, shares the story of his life through the music biz –– from a ‘60s rock star to an award-winning producer
The !rst thing you notice when you walk into the o"ce is framed on the far left wall. About six feet up sits the sheet music for “Tomorrow,” the famous song from Annie. Right above the music? A picture with the song’s composer, Charles Strouse, with a
note written on it:“#is song would have been nowhere without you,” it reads. “I
love you –– Charles.”On the other wall is an array of framed awards and albums with
his name on them. Michael Zager, a 69-year-old professor of music at FAU, has the 50 Cent album — Bulletproof — framed on his wall. #e background from that album’s “I’m a Rider” is a track from Zager’s ‘70s band, Ten Wheel Drive.
Zager, who started the commercial music program at FAU in 2002, sits in his o"ce, Room 111 of the Arts and Humanities building, thinking about his lifelong journey through music. But despite his age, he’s still not quite ready to quit.
“I’m always hustling,” he said. “You have to be aggressive and competitive. It’s di"cult to be successful in music, but you have to pound, pound the pavement.”
Zager toured the country with his platinum-selling ‘60s rock band, played at the same New York City club where Jimi Hendrix jammed several nights a week, played with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, spent !ve years in #ailand teaching commercial music to students there, and can tell stories about playing shows with Janis Joplin during her wild hay-day.
Zager’s story, though, traces back to the Vietnam War. Before he got drafted, he tried using his allergies as an excuse to not serve. He heard that might work. But he got drafted anyway. He went through seven years of training, and music, he says, miraculously saved him from being sent overseas.
“I never went to Vietnam,” he said. “Music saved me from going”
During his basic training, there were Army bands that would come by and keep them entertained, something Zager had no idea existed. He sat in the front row at one of the shows and wondered if joining the band might spare him from the terrors of war. He immediately called his father and asked him to !nd out if the National Guard unit in Elizabeth, New Jersey needed an oboe player for its band.
“#e next day I was on the ri$e range with a bayonet learning how to kill people, how to stick a bayonet in and kill, kill, kill.
Musicians don’t like to do that,” Zager said. “So as I’m standing there, a jeep pulls up and a guy says, ‘Zager, you’re coming with me to audition for the band,’ and the sergeant went berserk. But of course they had priority.”
#e audition went worse than expected. He told them he hadn’t played oboe since high school, but they wanted him to play then and there.
“It’s a very hard instrument, and you have to practice, so when I tried to play it, I couldn’t even get a quack out of it,” Zager said. “Literally nothing came out. I could just see myself going to Vietnam at that point.”
#e band ended up giving him an aptitude test, which tested his ability to read music. Two weeks later, just after turning 21, he joined the band as its oboe player.
Being a soldier in the Army kick-started his whirlwind of experiences through the music industry, and now he applies that knowledge to the commercial music program — something his students value.
“When you’re sitting in the room with the guy who did that and knows Grammy-nominated producers and stars, whatever he says is almost like law,” Abraham “Abe” Oleksnianski said, vice president of Hoot/Wisdom Recordings.
Zager’s students learn the logistics of music production and essential lessons about the industry, but they probably don’t know their professor’s back story. Like the one about his little band that toured for !ve years, recorded four albums and headlined Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1968, while still in the Army, Zager started a funk/rock band called Ten Wheel Drive with Aram Schefrin, a friend with whom he had played music since they were kids. Schefrin, a Columbia College and Harvard Law graduate, and Zager got picked up by Polydor Records. Schefrin wanted it to be a rock band, but Zager would only agree under one condition: that the band incorporate a rhythm and brass section (such as trumpets) to give it a jazzy feel.
And so Ten Wheel Drive took o%, recording its !rst album, Construction No. 1, that launched them on their !rst national tour in 1969. #e band’s lead singers were Schefrin and Genya Ravan, whose previous band — the all-female rockers known as Goldie & #e Gingerbreads — had recently broken up. Ten Wheel Drive
played at the Atlanta Pop Festival that year with big-timers like Joe Cocker, #e Byrds, Janis Joplin and B.B. King, two weeks before the famous Woodstock Festival.
Zager recounts another one of their shows at a popular New York club called Steve Paul’s #e Scene, where Jimi Hendrix famously hosted late-night jam sessions often in the late ‘60s. #e Scene was open to many other famous rock acts like Ten Wheel Drive, and one of their shows turned into a jam session with Joplin in 1968.
“She sang with us all night until about 6 o’clock in the morning, drunk as a skunk,” Zager said about Joplin. “She used to drink Southern Comfort like it was Coca-Cola.”
Ten Wheel Drive recorded four albums and toured for !ve years. In 1971, the same year they released their third album, Peculiar Friends, they were commissioned to write a rock opera based on #e Battle of Little Big Horn, to be played at Carnegie Hall in New York City with the American Symphony Orchestra.
“I was really scared because I didn’t know how to write for strings and some of the other instruments,” Zager said. #at’s why, after the band split, he decided to learn more about arranging by taking classes at Juilliard, and ultimately enrolling at Mannes School of Music in New York City.
Zager took up writing music for commercials and theater. But he also cashed in on the disco frenzy going on in the ‘70s. He and his partner, Jerry Love, decided to start #e Michael Zager Band, which was a studio band, in 1976. It ended up getting signed to Columbia Records, and its !rst hit single, “Let’s All Chant” in 1978, was a worldwide sensation, selling over 5 million copies.
#e Michael Zager Band’s songs featured several di%erent artists, like “Don’t Sneak On Me” sung by Luther Vandross in
1980. At the same time, Zager produced for di%erent artists, like Cissy Houston’s gospel records, which led him to the discovery of Whitney Houston when she was 14 and feature her !rst professional recording, “Life’s a Party,” on one of the Zager Band’s albums.
In fact, after the !lm Annie came out, Cissy recorded its famous “Tomorrow” and released it as one of her own singles. Her producer for this track? Zager.
Since then, Zager has composed and produced over 400 songs for commercials, including one for Bounce in 1986, for which Whitney Houston recorded the vocals. He composed the theme song in the third Friday the 13th, which was in 3-D, with composer Harry Manfredini.
Now, Zager serves as director of the commercial music program he pioneered when he noticed students were lacking an opportunity to learn the ropes of the music industry.
President of Hoot/Wisdom Recordings, Brittany Miller, doesn’t work with Zager much, but she knows she can consult him with questions about the music industry, production, recording or even when any of them needs a contact.
“It’s just nice to know that someone’s running the department who knows all these aspects of the industry because they’ve actually been a part of every aspect of the industry,” Miller said. “He has more of a real world perspective on things.”
Love says he visits some of Zager’s music production classes at FAU and is fascinated by his partner’s course, his talent and his unwavering passion for music. He says their age is not going to stop the dynamic duo from working in the music biz today.
“To me, age is just a chronological matter of reference,” Love said. “Music keeps you young and it’s how you feel about life and what you’re doing that keeps you young, too. And I’m still 35 years old.” He’s actually 77.
Zager believes in the talent at Hoot/Wisdom, and says the best part of being the program’s director is that the students are independent, motivated and hungry to learn more about and be a part of being music industry, a hunger that he recognizes from a younger version of himself.
“Students that want to go into the music industry really love it,” he said. “So it’s not like other courses where they feel like they’re forced to take them. #ese are students that are really passionate about the music industry and really love what they’re doing. #ese students have a lot of potential. A lot of potential.”
Cover
“She sang with us all night until about 6 o’clock in the morning, drunk as a skunk. She used to drink Southern Comfort like it was Coca-Cola. ” -Michael Zager on Janis Joplin
By Carolina Fernandez
14 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com
Sports
FAU women’s basketball is rallying around its head coach during a difficult time
By Rolando [email protected]
When an immediate family member passes away, it is not uncommon for a person to take a leave of absence from their job. But
the death of Chancellor Dugan’s mother was not enough to keep the workaholic coach away from the hardwood. Jane Dugan passed away the same day the Owls were set to play against FIU on Feb. 4.
Instead of handing over duties to an assistant, Dugan pulled herself together and coached, but not wanting to worry her team, she kept the tragedy a secret until afterwards. Her courage and professionalism spoke volumes to her players, who already viewed Dugan as a legitimate role model, but now had even more respect for her.
“Coach Dugan is really strong. When it happened we didn’t even know. It was a game day and we had no idea. She held her composure,” senior guard Teri Stamps said. “She’s just tough, man. That’s exactly how I want
to be. So I just try to be as tough as her. She showed no emotion about it. We did not know at all.”
To Dugan, though, there was no option but to coach. Her mother wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“I just knew that she would kick my butt if I didn’t [coach]. I knew that’s where she wanted me to be. She loved these girls,” Dugan said. “There’s been so many cards that I’ve gotten, and letters, emails, people facebooking me, from people that I’ve known since I first started coaching. They’ve always known her. They’ve always known my mom. It’s really sweet to hear everything that they have to say about my mother. I pull all my strength from her.”
Now the team pulls their strength from Dugan and the uncertainty that life brings. The passing of Jane Dugan gave the players even more incentive to appreciate each moment.
“It really makes us realize we never know when it’s our time, so we need to go out there and give it our all every
Digging in
single day. You’re not promised the next day,” Stamps said. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on, practicing and playing as hard as we can every day.”
The Owls, the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to knock off North Texas 56-55 on an April Goins put-back layup with just under two seconds left. FAU fell to UALR the next day in the semifinals, but history was still made. It was the first ever victory in the tournament for the program. The effort given by her team is something Dugan does not take for granted. She raves about the intangibles of her 17-12 squad, which was picked to finish fifth in its division.
“This team has been playing hard all year,” Dugan said proudly. “Giving me everything they’ve got.”
What Dugan had was a team with a balanced scoring attack. Chenise Miller led the team in scoring at 10.8 ppg. This made the team unpredictable to defend.
“Our offense is for everyone to score. We don’t focus on one person to score a certain amount of points for us to win,” Stamps said. “That’s what a team really is: give anybody the ball and know they can score.”
Being the No. 2 seed, FAU had the spotlight on themselves to produce. However, to the team, there was no pressure, because to them, they were used to being hunted no matter their record.
“I feel like teams having been coming at us even when we were No. 13. I feel like everyone despises FAU,” Stamps said. “Teams are ready to play us all the time.”
This mindset is one advocated by Dugan. She set the goal of a Sun Belt banner at Midnight Madness before the season, and while it didn’t happen, her squad far exceeded outside expectations.
Not that it surprised them. “We stayed together and believed in each other,”
Stamps said. “We didn’t care about what everyone else was thinking.”
“It was a game day and we had no idea. She’s just tough, man. That’s exactly how I want to be. So I just try to be as tough as her.”
- Terri Stamps, Point Guard
for Dugan
FAU women’s basketball, dressed in pink jerseys for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, had an 11-5 record in conference play, earning the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and a first round bye. Photo courtesy of FAU athletics.
15March 13, 2012upressonline.com
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As he slowly walked off the court for the final time this
season, the feeling was all too familiar for Owls junior guard Greg Gantt. For the fifth game in a row, his team came up short, and Gantt was livid. As another year of his college career dwindled
down the drain, all he could think about was how pathetically sad FAU’s “Year of the NCAA Tournament” turned out to be, and how yet again they were not ready for the magnitude of a contest with high stakes.
“It’s the same shit that happened all year,” Gantt said of a 70-55 loss to Arkansas State in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. “It was frustrating. Nothing different. We get into a big game and we just chill. They came out and punched us in the mouth first and we didn’t respond. Same exact thing every game. We got out challenged. We’ve been underachieving all year.”
The loss concluded a frustrating season for the Owls. After winning 21 games the season before, FAU regressed to an 11-19 record. The coaching was not the problem this year. Head coach Mike Jarvis tinkered with the rotation so much that every player started at least one game, but the spark never arrived. The team regressed because they only put in the necessary effort for some, not all, of the games. The players only have themselves to blame for this mess of a season.
Going into the 2011-2012 season, FAU, the reigning Sun Belt regular season champs, had the talent and experience (six of top seven leading scorers returning) to take the next logical step in its ascension: the NCAA Tournament.
Mentally though, they were never really up for the challenge, and now a long off season awaits.
A season that began with hope instead deteriorated into a display of sloppy, undisciplined basketball. Take the elimination game versus Arkansas State for example. FAU had six assists ... as a team. Ask Gantt, though, and he has no clue why the Owls couldn’t put it together.
“I’m confused as to why we played the way we did,” Gantt said. “If you look [at our team] on paper, with our talent level and the players we had returning, it just doesn’t make sense.”
The mental makeup of the Owls held the team back from reaching its potential. No matter how much talent a team has “on paper,” if it is not unified, success will be hard to come by. Gantt points to this as a cause for the team’s failure.
“Dealing with all the adversity, ups and downs, different emotions, things that we can’t control.
Mind gamesFAU men’s basketball’s collective psyche ruined a season of promise
By Rolando [email protected]
We let all of that affect the way we play the game of basketball,” Gantt admitted. “We haven’t been playing together as a team. There’s been too many personal issues on the team that we haven’t been able to deal with and put aside and play basketball.”
He would not go into details about the “personal issues.” However, for an experienced team, the Owls oddly lacked chemistry and it showed on the court all year. Little-to-poor execution offensively
became the norm each game. “Paying attention to the details,” point guard
Ray Taylor said of the missing element from his squad. “As a team we haven’t been on the same page, so if you think a player is going to do one thing and you throw the ball for a curl and they fade, that’s just the kind of season we’ve been having.”
Continued on page 20
Following a 21-11 season in 2011, the Owls and Greg Gantt (above) finished the season 11-19, with a first-round loss to Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Tournament. Last year, FAU entered the tourny as a No. 1 seed, this year it entered as a No. 8 seed. Photo courtesy of J.C. Ridley
Opinion
“It’s the same shit that happened all year. We get into a big game and we just chill. They came out and punched us in the mouth first and we didn’t respond. Same exact thing every game. We got out challenged. We’ve been underachieving all year.” - Gregg Gantt
19Mar. 13, 2012upressonline.com
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The lack of consistency in the middle also contributed to FAU’s lackluster season. Kore White never filled the void of Brett Royster and the team suffered greatly because of it. White is the Owls “X” factor.
When he performs well (23 points, nine rebounds in a Feb. 11 win versus North Texas and its NBA draft projected forward Tony Mitchell) the team has unlimited potential. But when White disappears (one point, one rebound in a loss against Middle Tennessee on Feb. 18), the Owls are mediocre at best. His mental instability and lack of dedication led to poor results on the court according to his teammates.
“The ball bounces a little funny when you don’t put all the work in that you need to,” Taylor said about White. “His effort level is not consistent at all. “
What should motivate White is the arrival of center Dragan Sekelja next season. Despite not having played in any games yet, the junior transfer from Baylor has something that cannot be taught — extraordinary height.
“I think with Dragan coming in next year it will help with rebounding,” Gantt said. “There’s no other 7-footer in the league.”
Aside from Sekelja, incoming freshmen, like point guard Stefan Moody (Kissimmee Poinciana), who is 5 feet 9 inches but can dunk with a 40-inch vertical leap, and 6 feet 9 inches athletic power forward Chris Bryant (Tallahassee-Rickards), the Florida Class 3A player of the year, will be counted on to provide depth. However, leadership from the upperclassmen is the most important ingredient to making 2012-2013 a better season.
Soon-to-be seniors Gantt and Taylor need to change the mindset of the team, or their careers at FAU will have ended without a single postseason victory in four seasons, let alone a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
“I can’t go out like I did this year,” Gantt said. “I just can’t do that.”
The small, yet intensely loyal and rowdy crowd at The Burrow deserved better. The players are aware and have a message for them.
“To our fans: just stick with us,” Gantt said. “We haven’t quit on ourselves. We’re still working hard each and every day. We promise that next year is going to be better.”
After four straight first round exits, it better be.
Continued from page 18
Tucked awayIt’s the last regular game of the season. FAU’s down 83-
82 to Troy and bolting up the court — game on the line, punctuation of the season on the line — and the team has a shot to win it. Point guard Ray Taylor swings the ball to senior Alex Tucker who sees an opening. Tucker drives left, as Troy’s Alan Jones lets him get free around the edge before Tucker goes up strong with a layup attempt.
It’s blocked.6-foot-9-inch Tim Owens swoops over and sends Tucker’s
shot flying backwards. The buzzer sounds. A distraught Tucker walks gingerly toward half-court. While Troy players are hugging and high-fiving, the rest of the Owls are walking, heads-down, back to the locker room.
Tucker crouches down and thinks, his red shoes bending at the soles trying to keep steady a broken man.
“Just thinking about the good stuff and the bad stuff that happened in The Burrow,” he says. “I had a lot of good memories — beating Big East teams, winning the championship last year in The Burrow, and then, obviously, the games we’ve lost.”
After a full minute, the 5-foot-11-inch guard from San Pedro, Calif. retires to the locker room, his thoughts consumed with pain.
“What really hit me was when I was on the court, the fans and the students were still there, and then they started to applaud, and I realized that’s the last time we’re gonna hear that in The Burrow,” Tucker said. “And my dad came out from California and he just told me how proud he was, how proud he was I was going to graduate. It was an emotional night.”
By Ryan Cortes
In his final regular season game ever, senior Alex Tucker couldn’t connect on his game-winning shot attempt, sending himself and his teammates back to the locker room empty-handed. Photo courtesy of OwlAccess.com
Opinion
21March 13, 2012upressonline.com
22 March 13, 2012 upressonline.com
Across5. The Peace _____ program brought a group of Buddhist monks to FAU. (7)6. Last week’s UP issue reported that Mission _____ wants to add a fee to tuition that will make FAU more energy efficient. (5)8. “The Owl ____” was the title of the tennis article in last weeks issue. (3)10. The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters will present a French ____ Festival from March 14 to April 11. (4)11. Fraternity party attire. (4)13. _____ are annual calendars containing im-portant dates and statistical information such as astronomical data and tide tables. (8)15. The Florida _____ approved a $47 million cut of FAU’s state funding. (6)17. Read FAU’s undergraduate catalog for the Pass/____ policy. (4)19. Kelsey _____ is the MGSA president, as reported in last week’s article “Get green by going green.” (5)20. FAU has a ____ amount of programs. (4)21. The cover of last week’s UP issue was called “______ Budgets.” (6)22. The Live Oak _________ (8)25. The spring semester ____ May 4. (4)28. “___, laughter and second chances at Niagara Falls,” was the title of last week’s review of the Department of Theatre’s performance of “Wonder of the World.” (4)29. A hearty brew you can buy at a pub. (3)31. You can use a ____ plan to pay for food on-campus. (5)32. The UP suggested that you visit _____ River Beach for Spring Break. (7)
Down1. FAU’s mascot has feathers not ___. (3)2. In a geology class, you may hear about _____, the main chemical compound in sand. (6)3. In a psychology class you will learn about people’s ids, ____, and superegos. (4)4. The Sun _____ Conference tourna-ment begins March 3. (4)7. Causes to be ineffective or invalid. (7)9. Getting 100% on a test means you answered ____ of the questions cor-rectly. (3)12. The Boca _____ Company will be performing “Griswold” at FAU’s Univer-sity Theatre March 31. (6)14. The University of Florida’s stadium is known as “The ____.” (5)16. In English classes you read more____than textbooks. (6)18. MGSA is an ______ for FAU’s Mis-sion Green Student Association. (7)23. John ____ is an English professor at FAU. (6)24. FAU’s mascot. (3)26. The____ Shop Drive-in is one of the largest drive-in movie theaters in America. (4)27. The Owl’s ____ is an FAU fansite on Facebook. (4)30. Owls burrow, people ___. (3)
Head to upressonline.com to view the answersCrossword by Jessica Cohn-Kleinberg
23March 13, 2012upressonline.com
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