Challenging Schedule Includes East Coast Trip

The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team will get a taste of the new and old Big East Conference this winter.

The 31-game schedule for the Eagles includes a trip to the East Coast to play Connecticut and Seton Hall, as well as six opponents which played in national postseason tournaments a year ago. The schedule, announced by third-year head coach Jim Hayford, includes 20 Big Sky Conference games and a total of 14 home contests.

“I think the Big Sky Conference is going to be more difficult -- there are many teams returning solid rosters,” Hayford said. “We have a very challenging preseason that will prepare us for a great conference season.”

“The East Coast trip jumps out at you -- it is an excellent opportunity for our guys to see a different part of the country and to experience playing against one of the nation’s elite programs,” said Hayford. “I know the guys are looking forward to that trip.”

Eastern’s preseason also includes a trip to Seattle to play Washington from the Pac-12 Conference. Eastern’s non-conference home games include Pacific University, Walla Walla, Seattle and UC Irvine.

“It will be the first time since I have been the head coach that we have played the Huskies and traveled over to Seattle,” said Hayford. “It is always a neat challenge to see how we stack up against the larger schools in the state.”

In all, Eastern’s 2013-14 schedule includes 10 games versus six schools who participated in national postseason tournaments a year ago. Eastern will play six games against those opponents on the road, and four games at home.

The Big Sky Conference Tournament will take place March 13-15 at the site of the regular season champion. For the second-straight year, it will include seven teams, with the regular season champion receiving a first-round bye. The tournament will include a quarterfinal round with six of the teams playing, followed by semifinals and the championship game.

Eastern Receives Inaugural NABC Team Academic Excellence Award

Eagles are one of 96 colleges at all levels to receive team recognition by the National Association of Basketball Coaches

The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team is among the 96 schools nationally to receive the inaugural Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The recipients of the award, which was created by the NABC Committee on Academics, were announced Thursday (July 18).

The award recognizes outstanding academic achievement by teams with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2012-13 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, an institution must count the grade point averages of all men’s student-athletes competing during the 2012-13 season in NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA Division I and II.
Following the spring academic quarter at EWU, Eastern’s men’s basketball players have an average cumulative grade point average of 3.35, and a quarterly GPA of 3.28. In fact, all of Eastern’s sports programs boast an average cumulative GPA above 3.0, with a collective grade point average of 3.27. In spring quarter, Eastern student-athletes had a collective 3.20 GPA.

Coached by head coach Jim Hayford, members of the 2012-13 team included Collin Chiverton, Ivan Dorsey, Jeffrey Forbes, Tyler Harvey, Jordan Hickert, Daniel Hill, Venky Jois, Frederik Jorg, Parker Kelly, Thomas Reuter, Martin Seiferth and Kevin Winford, with Danny Powell and Garrett Moon redshirting.

On July 17, Winford and Hickert were honored on the NABC Honors Court. Those two players, plus Dorsey, Harvey, Hill, Kelly, Jois, Jorg and Reuter, were also honored on the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team for the 2012-13 season.

Hoopfest!

 

Located just 15 minutes from the Eastern Washington campus, Spokane hosts the biggest basketball event in the Northwest; Hoopfest.  Hoopfest is the biggest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament on the planet. That means over 7,000 teams, 3,000 volunteers, 250,000 fans, 458 courts spanning 42 downtown city blocks. It’s safe to say that Eastern Washington is a passionate basketball community!

7,070 teams

27,896 players

454 courts

3,000 volunteers

42 city blocks

Parker Kelly, Garrett Moon, Tyler Harvey, and Fred Jorg were all in the Eastern Washington Booth in Riverfront Park signing autographs and taking pictures with kids throughout Hoopfest Weekend.
  

Spokesman Review-

-->

Even in a crowd of tens of thousands, Eastern Washington University basketball player Frederik Jörg stood out. At 7-foot-1, Jorg, a native of Korschenbroich, Germany, had a great chance to survey the sights and sounds of Hoopfest. “There’s nothing like it in Germany, not even close,” Jörg said as he walked through Riverfront Park with teammate Garrett Moon.

“I think it’s excellent, just sharing the love of basketall,” Jörg said. Jörg and Moon said they’d like to play, but that’s not an option for active college players. Not so for recent EWU alum Kevin Winford, who was parked at Nike Centre Court for the elite games. Winford, who just completed four years in Cheney, said he’d planned on competing with some former teammates, “but I didn’t get my registration in on time.” “Next time for sure,” Winford said.