The Hoopsville Classic put on a good show in its first year, replacing the Pride of Maryland Classic. Hoopsville photo

OWINGS MILLS, Md.  —  What started as an idea Stevenson men's coach Gary Stewart pitched to athletic director Brett Adams after the demise of Pride of Maryland Tournament, which then fostered a meeting with Hoopsville's Dave McHugh, became a national showcase that debuted to rave reviews this past weekend.

Even with only one year on the record, it appears the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic will indeed become an annual, early-season Division III basketball tradition.

“It has the feel of an NCAA Tournament in early November and I think that's what the founders of this thing had in mind,” Transylvania head coach Brian Lane said. “Stevenson put on a great tournament —  the organization, the practices, meeting at the hotel, everything was a first-class event.

“We could have lost and I would have still said the same things because it was super.”

All eight participating teams echoed similar sentiments, whether they made a national statement like Catholic in going 2-0 against two ranked teams (No. 16 Transylvania, No. 19 St. Mary's) or used the weekend to create recognition like a work-in-progress Franciscan squad that saw its losing streak extend to 27 games despite playing some entertaining basketball.

“Hopefully we'll get an invite in the future,” Catholic coach Steve Howes said. “Obviously the 2-0 start helps. But to have the Maui-like tournament of Division III is great.”

Next year's field is still under considering between the Hoopsville braintrust of executive director Dave McHugh and Stevenson's Adams and Stewart, the latter of whom served as tournament director. Future versions figure to be even more compelling: There are several institutions spanning all regions who have expressed a willingness to challenge themselves, most of which possess Top 25-caliber programs.

“I'm coming away from this beyond thrilled because I think it was much more successful than even I anticipated,” McHugh said. “I think we had good basketball from top to bottom despite what scores may have indicated and the feedback from those who took part was very encouraging.”

Before fast-forwarding, however, we should take some time to celebrate the first-ever Hoopsville Classic while it is still fresh.

The field selected by McHugh, Adams, and Stewart, offered a captivating mix of teams that are fixtures in the d3hoops.com Top 25 (Transylvania, St. Mary's, No. 24 Randolph-Macon), a program trying to reclaim previous glory (Catholic), and four others in various stages of building and rebuilding contenders — Stevenson went 2-0 after going 6-19 last year, while Mass-Boston and Gallaudet showed promise in splitting a pair of contests and Franciscan's youth movement (see item below) gained significant experience under a national spotlight.

And then there was the poignant moment Saturday night at halftime of a Top 25 battle between Randolph-Macon — which very well could be the nation's best 0-3 team, as St. Mary's coach Chris Harney offered — and Transylvania, when former Goucher guard Damon Brooks made his first public appearance at a basketball game since a freak accident in April left him paralyzed. Adams gave an impromptu, well-worded speech praising Brooks' spirit; some of the proceeds from the inaugural Hoopsville Classic will benefit Brooks' care.

Behind the scenes, McHugh did a tremendous job producing the broadcasts and even jumping on the air along with Frank Rossi for the Classic finale between Randolph-Macon and St. Mary's, while coordinating details with Adams, Stewart, and Stevenson's first-class staff that ensured things ran smoothly across the nearly 48-hour event.

“It's the infrastructure of the tournament that makes it go. It really is a collective effort,” Stewart said. “And to have Hoopsville, D3hoops ... to be such an integral part of it is really special.”

Each of the teams who left the Hoopsville Classic raved about everything from the organization to the on-court product itself. Most likely, the two games each of the eight participants played will pay dividends down the stretch, whether it is an NCAA Tournament push or simply to finish better than they did last winter.

After his team thwarted Randolph-Macon less than 24 hours after falling to Catholic in its season opener, St. Mary's coach Chris Harney put it best when he said, “The lessons we learn here will serv us well in the conference and conference tournament, which is the push behind coming here if you ask me.”

Which is likely the reason you will see more teams calling the Hoopsville Classic a season-opening destination in upcoming seasons.

“We have the ability now to say ‘Randolph-Macon, St. Mary's, Transylvania, Catholic, UMass-Boston have walked out of here saying, You've got to come to this event,'” McHugh said.

“They're not giving us lip service. They're being genuine. That means a lot to me. And I know that means a lot to Stevenson.”

Stevens Point gets big early win

Sam Barber and UW-Stevens Point got off to a fine start at Millikin's star-studded tipoff tournament. UW-Stevens Point photo by Jack McLaughlin

Even taking down a No. 1-ranked Calvin squad that derailed its season in March's second round with a shockingly one-sided 84-63 victory Saturday night was not enough for Shirley Egner to eschew the live-in-the-moment, one-game-at-a-time mentality she and her coaching staff continually instill in the No. 7 UW-Stevens Point women's team.

Because, as she put it prior to Tuesday's 68-19 victory over Marian, “That game was not any more important than our Friday game,” which was a 65-50 victory over host Millikin that set up the Calvin rematch, yet was uneven enough for Egner to admit displeasure with her team's performance.

However, in addition to ensuring there will be a new No. 1 team in the next D3hoops.com Top 25, the Pointers' performance proved stunning in how quickly, how decisively they created separation from a Calvin squad missing 2011-12 First Team All-American Carissa Verkaik.

Even so, Preseason First-Team All-American Sam Barber delivered a 26-point performance on just 15 shots, draining 10 of them including a 3-for-4 showing beyond the three-point arc. En route to earning a spot on our Team of the Week, she averaged 26.5 points in two victories while shooting 71.4 percent from the floor. For good measure, she also grabbed 5.5 rebounds per contest, showing the type of floor game Egner forever encourages her to keep improving.

To her credit Barber, who transferred from Division II Winona State prior to the 2010-11 season, sees the wisdom in her coach's words. “You never can stop improving,” the 5-9 senior said. “I want to keep that mindset: I want to keep improving.”

This is a pervasive mentality across the Pointers' roster, extending from the scoring exploits of Barber (22.3 points, 5.0 rebounds per game) to the other four members of Egner's starting five: junior post, Myranda Tyler (8.0 points, 5.0 rebounds), senior guards Liz Althoff (7.3 points, 3.7 rebounds) and Brooke Allen (6.7 points, 3.3 rebounds), and junior guard Alyssa Olp (2.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.0 steals).

Which is a good thing considering how Egner sets up her schedules each season. Before Christmas, the Pointers will travel to No. 3 St. Thomas this Sunday, followed by home dates with No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater (Dec. 12) and No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan (Dec. 15)  —  all of which will require the same types of performances as they showed last Saturday against Calvin.

“Our coaching staff will not let them forget about the competitive spirit we showed against Cavlin after we didn't play well the night before (against Millikin),” Egner said. “We'll definitely have our kids' attention.”

Franciscan in the national spotlight

The field for the first-ever Hoopsville Classic featured a newcomer to the national spotlight, with a Franciscan squad in just its second season of full Division III membership competing against up-and-coming programs from Mass-Boston and Gallaudet.

However, judge the Barons not on them losing both games by double-figure outcomes or on extending their losing streak to 27 games — a skid that includes 24 double-digit losses extending back to their last win, a 69-61 victory over D'Youville on Feb. 16, 2011.

Instead, realize this is a work in progress. The Hoopsville Classic represented Franciscan's first-ever overnight road trip. The work second-year coach John Lamanna is doing with just nine players, all of whom played hard all 80 minutes, will likely pay off sometime this season with a win once four new players come aboard at the semester break.

“With us being so new to college athletics, the goal was to give us postseason-like experience during the (early season) and that's what this tournament provided for us,” Lamanna said. “At some point the goal with this group of guys is to play in the postseason. We'll know what to expect.”

Franciscan will not experience another overnight trip this season — its longest trip will be the 3 1/2-hour bus ride to Buffalo to play conference rivals D'Youville and Medaille. The Barons never experienced postgame news conferences like the ones at the Hoopsville Classic, either. All of these experiences can only help bridge the gap toward better days ahead.

Even if the Barons went 0-2, they gained respect from UMass-Boston coach Leonard Titus and Gallaudet coach Brendan Stern, both of whom praised their opponent's effort. Franciscan led UMass-Boston for parts of the first half and pulled within 63-60 with 8:57 left before falling, 87-71, on Saturday. And despite falling into a deep deficit early against Gallaudet, the Barons pulled within 85-72 at the final buzzer.

Both showings represented significant progress from an opening-night, 94-46 loss to Bethany on Nov. 15.

“We're right on the verge of converting to positive things,” said 6-7 sophomore forward Joseph Rine, who is averaging 11.7 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Lamanna might have an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Rookie of the Year candidate in 6-3 guard Christian Duke, who is averaging 17.3 points and scored 42 games in two Hoopsville Classic contests.

“We're right there,” Duke said.