Brandeis University men's basketball coach Brian Meehan intended to build a bit of a cushion for his team this season.
As the Judges look ahead to this weekend's Division III Sweet 16, however, they do so alongside the same small core of veterans that have gone to battle with each other for the better part of two years.
In some ways, the familiarity has helped the squad get through the tough times. In others, that it is still playing is a testament to how tough-minded the squad has become.
When Meehan goes through what became of the 11-player rotation he once envisioned, it's like a laundry list of unfortunate breaks and unlikely circumstances. There's a heart defect for one player, an ankle roll for another already coming off double hip surgery, an unrelenting case of homesickness, and finally an ankle sprain to his starting center with two weeks left in the season.
It left Meehan with a seven-player rotation heading into last weekend's opening two rounds of NCAA play.
``It would have been easy for them to make excuses about not having enough guys,'' Meehan said. ``But one problem we don't have is guys clamoring about playing time.''
There will be another weekend of minutes to go around starting in Friday night's Round of 16 in Williamstown when the Judges face Rhode Island College. Last Friday, sophomore guard Vytus Kriskus scored a career-high 29 points in a 76-64 victory over St. Lawrence in the tourney opener. The next night, senior forward Terrell Hollins had 16 points and a career-high 21 rebounds in a 66-52 triumph over host St. John's Fisher.
That leaves the Judges one long trip back from New York, and four days of practice, to prepare to try to reach the Elite Eight for the fourth time in school history.
``I thought we had a good chance to be pretty good,'' said Meehan, whose 21-6 squad faces RIC (22-7) Friday night at 6 at Williams. ``I thought our margin for error was a lot smaller than it has been. We've dodged a lot of bullets and we've won games where we've been flirting with disaster. We never got in a situation where we had a losing streak of any sort. That was good for morale.
``I will be honest in saying this team might be considered overachieving by many people. But I don't think they'd see it that way. To have so few guys, and to deal with the strength of schedule we had, and do what we've done, is impressive.''
Meehan said he's had to make some changes along the way. He had to ease up on the press he hoped would be successful due to fatigue concerns. At times, he's had to caution about overly aggressive play because of foul worries.
But, for the most part, he has been happy about the way his squad has adjusted to the thin rotation and found a way to exploit defenses.
``A lot of it is matchups and what teams want to take away,'' Meehan said. ``This weekend the teams we were going up against were really concerned about Hollins. They couldn't keep him off the glass. He dominated the game with his rebounding, but they were double-teaming and triple-teaming him. That left Vytas and (senior guard Kenny) Small open. We did a really good job of moving the ball, finding the open guy, and those guys were hitting shots.''
Small hit all four of his 3-pointers Friday as part of an attack that went 11-for-18 from behind the arc.
Kriskus then had 17 points, Small had 14 and senior guard Andre Roberson had 11 on Saturday, but despite St. John's Fisher's game plan, the night still belonged to Hollins as he managed a double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds) in the first half alone.
``The Hollins kid has been just so good,'' said Meehan. ``My assistant, once in a while, will say: `Who is going to get all these rebounds next year?' You enjoying having these kids on your bench and you don't stop to think what it all means. He's just been so fun to watch.''
Hollins (13.6 points per game, 10.1 rebounds) has been invited to play in a Division III All-Star game to be held the same weekend of the Final Four. But the Judges are hoping the 6-foot-4 Springfield native will be busy playing a real game that weekend.
If Brandeis wins Friday, it gets right back to action Saturday against the winner of SUNY-IT and host Williams. The Ephs (27-1) were ranked second in the country in the final Division III regular-season poll and are the highest-ranked team left in the tourney after Illinois-Wesleyan bounced Brandeis' UAA rival Washington-St. Louis in the second round on Saturday.
Potentially facing Williams on the second night of a back-to-back could be another huge test for the Judges' short rotation. But facing challenges is nothing new to this crew.
``The kids are on fumes by the end of that Saturday game,'' Meehan said of the schedule. ``You get used to it and you do what you can. One of my concerns is we only have those seven guys. The RIC game could be a real up-and-down game, so that's a concern. But you just try to get by Friday and deal with Saturday when it comes.''
Meehan said the lessons of the UAA schedule should help. While many New England teams are used to short bus trips and games evenly spread out over a week, the UAA slate - which includes games in St. Louis, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Atlanta - means long plane rides and games on Friday and Sunday with just one travel day in between.
``There's no fear or intimidation because we play really good teams in the league and travel doesn't affect us at all,'' Meehan said. ``It's a little harder without that day off in between.''
The good news this weekend is that the travel will not nearly be what it was with last weekend's seven-hour trip to New York. Meehan is hopeful to get additional Brandeis support with Williamstown only about two hours away.
He seems confident those who make the trip will not be disappointed.
``The four seniors - and I include (injured center) Rich McGee in that - have been leading the way,'' he said. ``When you look at teams in the postseason that are successful, they always have a lot experience and leadership, and we have that.''
(Scott Souza is a Daily News staff writer. He can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@cnc.com.)
