Virginia Union’s key weapon: stamina

ERIE, Pa. -- On the eve of their first NCAA Division II tournament game with Willard Coker at the helm, the Virginia Union University Panthers endured a rigorous two-hour workout at the Hammerville Center yesterday.

The No. 2 seed Panthers are refreshed and seemingly ready to rip and run against No. 7 seed Indiana (Pa.) University in today's quarterfinals of the Atlantic Region tournament, which tips off at 2:30 p.m.

The Panthers (21-6), making their 10th consecutive postseason appearance, have boasted all season they are a team built for the long haul. This is essentially the same team, with the exception of two-time all-CIAA forward Brad Byerson, that withered during last year's postseason, in part, because of fatigue.

Lenoir Rhyne left the weary Panthers' tongues hanging like neckties in the 2008 South Atlantic regional opener in Augusta, Ga. Union simply was not fit enough to go the distance against a team with a strong 10-man rotation.

Coker was determined to strengthen an obvious weakness. So, the Panthers hit the ground running when he took over last March, and they've been running hard ever since.

"Last year's team ran out of gas," said Coker, the CIAA coach of the year. But this season, he said, the team "looked fresh even in losing to Johnson C. Smith" in the conference championship game.

"We've been fit all year, because conditioning is a big part of our program," Coker said. "I felt like last year we did not have enough players playing as we do now. I decided to experiment with more players."

Coker tried almost everything -- including lineup and position changes. His lab work yielded a reliable formula: run, run, run.

The Indiana (Pa.) Crimson Hawks must dictate tempo and force Virginia Union into a sometimes unreliable half-court offense to pull the upset. Johnson C. Smith figured it out before the conference title game after the Panthers swept them during the regular season.

"We may have come up short in the CIAA championship game because we knew we had another game," Thondique said. "I wonder if we didn't go after that game as hard as we should have because of it."

The Panthers, seeking their first national title since 2005, has a deep bench including guards Branden McDonald and Branden Smith; centers Brandon Bond and Kyle Cook, and forward Jason Wansley.

Coker is likely to devise a game plan to wear down the Crimson Hawks. The Panthers want to roll out of the blocks quickly, then stretch their legs before IUP, typically a second-half team, can hit its stride.

"I told our guys all year we don't have the traditional Union team that overpowers people. We have to work hard the entire 40 minutes. We have to excel at all the intangibles to be successful."

Contact Ralph N. Paulk at (804) 649-6851 or .