Georgia State has one game left in its season and coach Ron Hunter is starting to simmer.
Using the word “cheated” six times, he says the Panthers should soon be packing to play in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Richmond, Va. Instead, they will wrap up the season against league leaders Northeastern (18-10, 3-3) on Wednesday and then see if they will be invited to one of the lesser postseason tournaments.
“(We were) Cheated in a sense that we didn’t get an opportunity,” he said. “Cheated in the sense that we didn’t do anything wrong.”
Because Georgia State (15-15, 10-7) is leaving the CAA to join the Sun Belt, many of its teams weren’t allowed to compete in conference tournaments. No postseasons for defectors is a bylaw the league adopted years ago. Both Georgia State and Old Dominion, which is leaving for Conference USA, unsuccessfully challenged it last year.
“Forget the rule,” Hunter said. “People are upset. People made decisions not based upon the kids, (but) based on a lot of different things. That’s why I think we were cheated. We will move on. We will get better because of it. But as a father and a coach, my kids were cheated out of a conference tournament.”
Knowing that they haven’t been able to play for that automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament has made this a motivational challenge for Hunter.
Since becoming a head coach, he said he has always focused his teams on playing for the tournament. He believes it’s what mid-major level programs must do.
This year, he has focused on improvement and getting better as a team. Of course, that’s what he’s done in past years, but this year that’s all he’s been able to do.
Because this year’s team has just one senior, James Vincent, and is filled with underclassmen, he said the lack of a conference tournament didn’t affect them very much. He said that’s mostly because they are good kids that have a lot of basketball left to play during their college careers. They are playing well as the tournament date draws near, winning three of their past four games. Some players have chances at individual honors. R.J. Hunter, Ron's son, has a chance at freshman of the year and first-team all-conference. Devonta White and Manny Atkins are candidates for all-conference. Vincent may make the all-defensive team.
“We’ve actually gotten better as the year has gone on,” he said. “A group like this, they kind of grow backward. We’ve actually climbed that hill. We are playing our best basketball right now.”
He said if last year’s team, which was loaded with seniors, couldn’t have played in the CAA tournament they might not have won more than five games because there wouldn’t have been anything to look forward to.
This year's players knew their fate from the time of the first practice on June 6. Vincent said it still took some getting used to.
“It was messed up,” he said. “We wanted to show everybody we could get there and win it ourselves. Right now it’s OK.”
Hunter wasn’t as diplomatic.
“I still feel bad for R.J. and a lot of those guys because they were cheated out of a conference tournament,” he said. “My kids were cheated out of a conference tournament. My guys get three instead of four.
“I’ll be bitter about that for a long time.”
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