Spring Break
Men's Basketball: Laser gets shot at revenge
Dan Cusack / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Sports
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On Monday night, the Eastern men's basketball team was chosen to play Western Michigan in the ESPNU BracketBuster and Laser, a Michigan native, said he was ecstatic when he heard the news.
"I can't wait," Laser said. "There's a lot more personally, than just playing in Michigan. Western Michigan's David Kool was an AAU teammate of mine, and I blame him for winning state my sophomore year."
Laser said Kool's high school defeated his team in the quarterfinals and went on to win state.
"I am not about to lose to him twice," Laser said.
Laser said he learned of Eastern's draw from teammate and sophomore center Matt Dorlack when he came into his room last night. He said he immediately called his dad after and expects a number of friends and family at the game to support himself and the Panthers.
"I'll probably have about (200 to 300) people out there cheering us on," Laser said.
He said he is excited to play his old AAU teammate and will start talking trash to him tonight on Facebook.
The announcement of the game was televised on ESPNU at a selection show at 5:30 p.m. The game time has not been set. This is Eastern's fourth year in the BracketBuster event, an event designed by ESPN in 2003 to give mid-major schools a chance to play each other shortly before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Eastern head coach Mike Miller said he had no idea whom the Panthers would draw and did not find out until the selection show aired.
He said he is excited to play against the Broncos and that this will be a good opportunity for his team.
"The point of BracketBusters is to have your team pair off with a similar team from a different conference," Miller said. "It is going to be a good experience for our team and a good opportunity to play a good team out of a good conference."
Senior forward Billy Parrish said he did not find out about the drawing until he read the newspaper this morning.
"It's cool and I'm excited," Parrish said. "I know (former Eastern former basketball player Bam Willhite) lives up there with his girlfriend, so I'm real excited to go up there and play them."
Parrish said he likes BracketBusters because this is his senior year and it is another chance to play.
This will be the fourth year Eastern will participate in BracketBusters. The Panthers hosted Evansville last season and lost. This will be the third meeting between Eastern and Western Michigan, but the first since 1994 when lost in Kalamazoo 66-58.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
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