• Season 9 SuperTicker presented by BLAPP
#TMM9
Having recently completed its 9th season, The Mid-Majority is a community chronicle of the smaller Division I college basketball conferences. Last year, the theme was Team. Six groups of five (plus a fantasy mid-major player) were engaged in friendly Amazing Race-style competition, criss-crossing Hoops Nation to provide awesome college basketball content. Season X (2013-14) will be our final one.

Recent Game Recaps

Epilogue, The Ninth: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Memories

So We Meet Again

Rte. 139 - End of the Line

Hanging On

A Championship in Pictures

This Time of Year

Dotson Leads Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen

Grizzlies Overwhelmed by Orangemen

Empire

Challenge 11: Final Four Memories

By George, UConn is Dead

Butler and Us

Donning the Black and Gold

Challenge 10: Tourney Memories

The Madness of the Horizon League

The Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament

MAC Madness

Anything Can Happen in the MAAC

Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood

A Youthful Surprise

From Worst to First

Peers and Seers

Author Archives Raymond Curren
Sorted by date
S9 April 6, 2013 "Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.' "- Maya AngelouPROVIDENCE, R.I. - Game 139. End of the line.It was a fitting conclusion to a season that raced along faster than I ever imagined it would. Working on a couple of hours of sleep, going to an arena above the ...
S9 April 3, 2013 There's some irony in the timing of writing this, and a stiff reminder at how while we never change, the world around us most certainly does not.I'm an unapologetic hater of the University of Connecticut men's basketball program. As I relayed in a trip to neither beautiful nor historic Storrs earli...
S9 March 30, 2013 "Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them."- George EliotPHILADELPHIA - Don't get me wrong, we all love the NCAA tournament, but one of the drawbacks about the format is the extreme condensed version of it all. With 64 teams beginning play on Thursday, 48 of them would be gone by...
S9 March 23, 2013 "Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it."- Dalai LamaAMHERST, Mass. - There is no truth to the rumor that I agreed to cover the UMass-Stony Brook NIT for Big Apple Buckets just to see how tall Chaz Williams actually is.I mean, I'm 5-foot-8, and completely convinced I have ...
S9 March 20, 2013 "Our stitching and unstitching has been naught."William Butler YeatsWEST HARTFORD, Conn. - This season marked the first time that Hartford advanced to postseason play, while the University of Connecticut - which plays most of its games just a couple of miles down the road at the XL Center - did not...
S9 March 19, 2013 "When it's time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived."- Henry David ThoreauBROOKLYN, N.Y. - For most of us, reflection is not a large part of our daily lives. We have a list of things in our brain that we feel we have to accomplish, and we mentally cross them off when they are compl...
S9 March 18, 2013 "A man can be destroyed, but not defeated."- Ernest HemingwayBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Although as we've established, the crowd was not going to be on their side against the VCU traveling circus, you had to figure that UMass was the more motivated squad in Saturday's second semifinal. Their upset of Temple ...
S9 March 17, 2013 "Or watch the things you gave your life to broken;And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools." - If, Rudyard KiplingBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Because you get oblivious to such things in March, I was totally unaware New York City was having its St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday instead of Sunday this ...
S9 March 17, 2013 "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." - J.R.R. TolkienBROOKLYN, N.Y. - This fact was either disturbing or enlightening, or maybe a combination of both depending on your perspective, heading into Friday night's final Atlantic-10 quarterfinal between Temple and UMass. The t...
S9 March 16, 2013 "You don't want to go to war with the Rams; don't start no stuff, won't be no stuff."- VCU War ChantBROOKLYN, N.Y. - On Thursday night, Jeff Borzello of CBS Sports was asked on Twitter who had more fans in attendance, and he answered "VCU".That really wasn't all that shocking, the Rams are renowned...
S9 March 16, 2013 "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."- Philippians 2:3BROOKLYN, N.Y. - No matter your beliefs, there's a reason why jealousy is mentioned so many times in The Bible, and why envy made the cut to be included in the seven cardinal or dead...
S9 March 16, 2013 "I like boring things."- Andy WarholBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Look, I understand my job here is to try to make every game I attend as interesting as possible, but it's also to be honest to you. That's hopefully where my credibility and reliability come from; you as the reader can trust me to bring you the b...
S9 March 16, 2013 "The past is never dead. It's not even past."- William FaulknerBROOKLYN, N.Y. - I was somewhat surprised to see George Washington with the biggest student section of the four at the evening session of the first round on Thursday, especially because I had seen Saint Joseph's at the Palestra a couple...
S9 March 15, 2013 "At every party, there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is they're usually married to each other."- Ann LandersBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Let's be honest, the Barclays Center is not a Mid-majority facility. Nor does it pretend to be. With a total cost of $1...
S9 March 14, 2013 BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Even at rush hour, there isn't much conversation on the New York City subways, certainly not on the Brooklyn-bound lines full of folk that are drained after a long day at work doing something in a building that has more stories in it than teams that are changing conferences after t...
S9 March 13, 2013 "Talent is the divider."- Gary PalladinoSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Gary Palladino began his coaching career like so many others we know in Our Game, only it was the 1970s, and there was no Mid-majority and college basketball was in its pre-Magic and Bird era.That doesn't mean there still weren't young co...
S9 March 12, 2013 "Of all the causes which conspire to blind Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind; What the weak head with strongest bias rules, Is pride, never-failing vice of fools."- Alexander PopeSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Bias is everywhere in our world whether we are aware of it or not. Sometimes, it's nice ...
S9 March 11, 2013 "For believe me: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously."- Friedrich Nietzsche SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - One the first Tweets from the Hickory Picket Fences account last fall was a picture of my car. "Might be the biggest key to t...
S9 March 11, 2013 "I have always a sacred veneration I observe to be a little out of repair in his person, as supposing him either a poet or a philosopher." - Jonathan Swift SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - There are certain situations in life that we just know intuitively are dangerous for us. Wise people do what they can to...
S9 March 11, 2013 "No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly."- Oscar WildeSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - After finally enduring the wait outside so they could "clean" MassMutual Arena (my forgotten program was still sitting where I left it), they allowed us back in just 10 minutes prior ...
S9 March 10, 2013 "Time crumbles things. Everything is forgotten under the lapse of time." - AristotleSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - In the days of yore, back when people didn't habitually reach into their pockets and pull out an object that they stared at for hours a day, we would have wondered what the hell Momo Jones w...
S9 March 9, 2013 "By 'guts', I mean grace under pressure." - Ernest HemingwaySPRINGFIELD, Mass. - When it comes to March, there is a big difference between playing the role of the young underdog as opposed to being handed the role of the favorite. It takes a marvelous actor to be able to play both in back-to-back...
S9 March 9, 2013 "Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception." - Carl SaganSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - When last we saw Fairfield, they were laying eggs at Marist to close the regular season, lacking any sort of flow, confidence, momentum, whatever term for intangibles you wanted to come up with.Forced to play on...
S9 March 8, 2013 "Do not go gentle into that good night" - Dylan ThomasSPRINGFIELD, Mass. - It's hard to put a positive spin on a 7-23 season, even harder to do so when your team used to be the dominant team in your conference in the not so distant past.Siena won the MAAC three straight times from 2008-2010, win...
S9 March 8, 2013 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - If I try to sell you on the merits of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, I probably wouldn't start with the actual venue. While just a couple of blocks from the Naismith Hall of Fame, the MassMutual Center is a decaying relic much better suited for hockey than basketball.S...
S9 March 8, 2013 AMHERST, Mass. - They came in out of the snow by the hundreds and thousands. The students filled their allotted seats and spilled over into other sections of the Mullins Center nearly an hour before tip-off. The building, which is rarely full these days for much of anything these days, almost got t...
S9 March 8, 2013 "Not all of us can do great things. But all of us can do small things with great love." - Mother TeresaBROOKLYN, N.Y. - I'm partial to neutral-site conference tournaments, whether it be high school or college, really. Having all the teams you regularly play and know in one place leads to an inte...
S9 March 5, 2013 "You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help." - CalvinPOUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - You've probably heard it more times than you can count from a coach whose team had just laid a giant, foul smelling egg on the court behind him."We had no heart tonight.""We just couldn't fin...
S9 March 5, 2013 "When the prophet, a complacent fat man,Arrived at the mountain-topHe cried, 'Woe to my knowledge!I intended to see good white landsAnd bad black lands-But the scene is grey.' " - Stephen Crane HACKENSACK, N.J. - Part of the job of the sportz journalist is to make judgments about people we d...
S9 March 4, 2013 "That's the shock: All cliches are true. The years really do speed by. Life really is as short as they tell you it is. And there really is a God - so do I buy that one? If all the other cliches are true..." - David BowieBETHLEHEM, Pa. - Just because you know something is coming doesn't make it a...
S9 March 3, 2013 "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest ones are, 'It might have been'." - Kurt VonnegutPRINCETON, N.J. - About a month ago, I mentioned one of my regrets for the season was not seeing a game in Jadwin Gym.Screw that.It took four hours to get there on a Friday afternoon, but with Princeto...
S9 March 2, 2013 "What's normal anyways?" - Forrest Gump's motherNEW BRITAIN, Conn. - My original schedule from way back in November had the Central Connecticut-St. Francis Pennsylvania game - a concoction and confluence of directions and names you might only get in the NEC - slated for Thursday night, with the ...
S9 March 2, 2013 "People always clap for the wrong things." - J.D. SalingerWEST POINT, N.Y. - It was the end of my high school soccer practice one day last fall when one of my players asked to talk to me after practice. If you've been around enough, you start to understand that "Can I talk to you?" usually has ...
S9 February 27, 2013 "Hermits have no peer pressure." - Steven WrightNEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Complaining about the weather in the Northeast seems like a chronic obsession for some, but the blizzard that hit Connecticut two weeks ago was awful. Where I live, a ridiculous 40 inches of snow fell, schools were cancelled fo...
S9 February 26, 2013 STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The "forgotten borough" is an often tongue-in-cheek way for New Yorkers to refer to Staten Island, by far the least populated of the five City boroughs, and also by far the toughest to get to from Manhattan (or Connecticut, for that matter).Staten Island is the only borough th...
S9 February 26, 2013 "The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it." - Richard BachEASTON, Pa. - I didn't learn much Calculus from my high school teacher, but he did say something that has stuck with me in the two decades since: "No matter how good you think you are at something, there's always someone som...
S9 February 25, 2013 "Don't live up to your stereotypes." - Sherman AlexieNEW HAVEN, Conn. - In general, stereotyping is easy. And most people love to do things the easy way. It takes time to break down a group of people or things and understand that -even in groups you think might not be very diverse - there is...
S9 February 25, 2013 "People don't always get what they deserve in this world." - Lemony SnicketFAIRFIELD, Conn. - When last we left our heroes from Sacred Heart, Fate was shining upon them as the Pioneers were tied atop the Northeast Conference. I wondered if Fate could hold out for a few more weeks and maybe kee...
S9 February 23, 2013 INDIANAPOLIS - The biggest dilemma in writing, no matter what the genre, often doesn't come down to what to include, but what to omit.Wonderful scribes sometimes get bogged down in detail, leaving their audience moving one way than another, never quite wrapping the seemingly wonderful details into ...
S9 February 22, 2013 "I have lived to see the last warrior in the wise race of the Mohicans." - Tamenund, The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper)BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - There was a time when independents roamed the college basketball landscape, happily feeding off the crumbs of the conferences, some of whom di...
S9 February 21, 2013 The question posed was "Why are they more than their previously maligned parts?", but the first thing that pops into my head when I watch Bryant this season is, "What happened last year?"The Bulldogs suffered through the pains of restricting to Division I and pulled a coup when they grabbed Tim O'S...
S9 February 21, 2013 "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham LincolnCHARLESTON, Ill. - In an alternate universe where the Mid-majority is king - and not the evil one where we root for the biggest schools with the humongous athletic budgets - Rick Byrd would be a Hall of Famer and househo...
S9 February 20, 2013 "Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here." - Max Ehrmann, DesiderataTERRE HAUTE, Ind. - There were two times that Terre Haute was the center was at the center of the American cons...
S9 February 19, 2013 "Loss of virginity is rational increase; and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost." - Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends WellNORMAL, Ill. - I was set to lose my Valley virginity Sunday night as I traveled south from Chicago to central Illinois. As you'd expect, I was very excite...
S9 February 18, 2013 "The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture." - Alfred HitchcockVALPARAISO, Ind. - Back in the glorious 1980s, 10-year-old me despised the Iron Sheik. When the Sheik would come to the ring and demand everyone stand and be quiet for Nikolai Volkoff's rendition of the Sovie...
S9 February 17, 2013 "Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat." - Ralph EllisonCHICAGO - No one likes to cede control. Think of a facet of your life, maybe the place you work, or even something you're going to do today. Control is paramount to your s...
S9 February 16, 2013 "Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms." - Mark TwainNEW HAVEN, Conn. - The tough or impossible thing, depending on your perspective, about trying to project where a Mid-majority basketball team is going to finish the season, is often exposure.Granted...
S9 February 15, 2013 "Bravery never goes out of fashion." - William Makepeace ThackerayHAMDEN, Conn. - Velton Jones came out with the rest of the Robert Morris team for warm-ups, but not in the same garb as the rest of the squad. While his teammates went through the layup lines and jump shots, Jones - dressed in a sw...
S9 February 14, 2013 "When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have." - Stephen HawkingBOSTON - Like pretty much everything in life, dealing with expectations means a balancing act, the scales needing to be constantly moved and pushed into the correct place to deal with t...
S9 February 13, 2013 "We can't run from who we are. Our destiny chooses us." - Professor Petrovsky, RoundersFAIRFIELD, Conn. - We live for the amazing, the unexpected, the moments that defy explanation. When we finally see them, we just look on in wonder and amazement.But that wonder and amazement isn't necessarily in ...
S9 February 12, 2013 "Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come." - Chinese Proverb PHILADELPHIA - I could sit here and talk to you about Penn basketball and their remarkable second half against Brown Saturday night at the Palestra, outscoring the Bears by 25 points in the final 22 minutes on the w...
S9 February 11, 2013 "In all things, I adore the will of God in my regard." - Jean Baptiste de la SallePHILADELPHIA - "I don't know La Salle.""You don't know La Salle University? It's a big college, they actually have a pretty good basketball team, north part of Philly? Someone must have had to go there at some point?...
S9 February 11, 2013 "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain."- Ecclesiastes 3:6-7NEW YORK - Whenever there is a snowstorm, or in this case a blizzard, one of the things to do here in New Haven...
S9 February 9, 2013 "It is felt that a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering." - Dalai LamaNEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Perhaps because he saw me popping up everywhere he went like a unwanted nuisance, John Templon of Big Apple Buckets asked me earlier in the season to do a guest ...
S9 February 8, 2013 "Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or ...
S9 February 8, 2013 "I father, I Brooklyn Dodger themI Jack, I Rob, I sinAwww man, I'm Jackie RobinsonExcept when I run base, I dodge the penLucky me, lucky we, they didn't get meNow when I bring the Nets I'm the Black Branch RickyFrom Brooklyn corners, burnin branches of stickySpread love, Biggie, Brooklyn, hippie"- ...
S9 February 7, 2013 "Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar to few." - Benjamin FranklinBOSTON - When making a schedule for TMM Season 9 way back in October, there wasn't much thought paid to the road team. One of the primary goals was to see as many venues as possible, and that meant I couldn't really be too p...
S9 February 4, 2013 "Young people need models, not critics." - John WoodenWEST POINT, N.Y. - Proportion and inverse are mathematical concepts, but they can be twisted and bastardized to work in psychology. For instance, our willingness to accomplish a task is directly proportional to our motivation to get said task ...
S9 February 4, 2013 CATONSVILLE, Md. - Coaches often get credit for designing brilliant plays that win games, but - especially when time is limited - they all seem to pretty much follow the same ­outline, whether you're Brad Stevens or Maryland-Baltimore County's Aki Thomas. Of course, unlike Stevens, Thomas likely ne...
S9 February 4, 2013 "The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause."- Martin Luther King, Jr.BALTIMORE - If you're doing any kind of comprehensive tour of the Mid-majority, you have to see a game in the MEAC and the SWAC.This is not negotiable.First and foremost, because they exist. But second, because of h...
S9 February 3, 2013 "Example is leadership." - Albert Schweitzer BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - As January turns into February, the games sometimes have a tendency to blend together, especially when it's a Friday night and I'm in a huge rush to make it on time.In the pre-TMM days, Fridays were designated for my high school games...
S9 February 1, 2013 "No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."- L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard Of OzBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Perhaps nothing can encapsulate the St. Francis Brooklyn ex...
S9 January 31, 2013 "I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." - Pablo PicassoKINGSTON, R.I. - Danny Hurley hasn't had a heck of a lot to smile about in his inaugural season at the University of Rhode Island. Taking over in late March, he pretty much had to play the hand he was dealt this season as far as ...
S9 January 30, 2013 "In this world, you get what you pay for." - Kurt VonnegutALBANY, N.Y. - I have no general disdain for free stuff, even though free food tends to curtail any diet plan I try to introduce. But I generally don't go too far out of my way when the siren call of "while supplies last" or "no purchas...
S9 January 28, 2013 JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Jersey City is New Jersey's second-biggest municipality, at least in terms of population, probably topping 250,000 by now (it was getting close to that number in the 2010 Census). Like many other urban areas in America, it has enjoyed a slight resurgence in the last couple of de...
S9 January 27, 2013 FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The plan was simple enough Saturday, in fact it gave me a couple of hours to wander around Boston. The Harvard-Dartmouth game was at 2 p.m., Northeastern was playing George Mason at 7. I knew Harvard well enough to find a decent parking spot, knew the T (subway) well enough to ge...
S9 January 27, 2013 "I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later." - Mitch HedbergCAMBRIDGE, Mass. - If you take it on its face, there was no good rhyme or reason why Dartmouth was in the position it was Saturday afternoon against Harvard at Lavietes Pavi...
S9 January 24, 2013 "I've seen you guys can shoot, but there's more to the game than shooting." - Norman DaleFAIRFIELD, Conn. - Michael Carter-Williams, D.J. Cooper, Jason Brickman, Larry Drew II, Phil Gaetano.As of the writing of this, those are the top five in the nation in assists. If you watch a lot of college ...
S9 January 24, 2013 "You may never know what becomes of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results." - GandhiHEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - One of the things that made the Mid-majority is the fact that at its core, it was always about going to the games. In 2013, that may seem like a superfluous concept, and in ...
S9 January 21, 2013 "The same is who you are and where you come from. The same will always find you, no matter how far you run, however long you think you can last. The patterns that define you are inescapable and will outlast the temporarily different. Even through resolutions and diets, third weddings and fifth reli...
S9 January 21, 2013 LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - Here's an interesting geographical fact about Rider University. It is about a half-mile from Interstate 95. My house in New Haven is a couple of miles from I-95 as well. Yet you can't take I-95 directly from New Haven to Lawrenceville, N.J.The bizarre quirk has to do with the ...
S9 January 21, 2013 PHILADELPHIA - "Everyone is disappointing the more you know someone."I watched Synecdoche, New York after I read that prologue from Kyle. As the quote would probably lead to you believe if you didn't know better, it was pretty depressing, which is likely the reason it tanked at the box office. No o...
S9 January 21, 2013 "Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession." - Apollo CreedPHILADELPHIA - The Broad Street Bullies was one of the great nicknames in all of sports history, just as the building they played in - The Spectrum - was ...
S9 January 20, 2013 NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Like a lot of the conferences in Our Game, the MAAC does what it can to promote itself, and so unfortunately, when someone like ESPN tells them to jump, they just respond "standing or broad, sir?".And so, here I was at the Hynes Athletic Center for a 9 p.m. Friday night tip-off...
S9 January 19, 2013 "He who laughs best today will also laugh last." - Friedrich NietzscheSMITHFIELD, R.I. - It didn't occur to me until I was about to depart that this was not my first trip to watch a basketball game at Bryant. I really don't remember the year, but it was definitely more than a decade ago that my fri...
S9 January 16, 2013 STONY BROOK, N.Y. - I don't often like making blanket statements with absolutely no empirical data to back it up, which probably disqualifies me from many government jobs and positions on television.However, Long Island traffic is the absolute worst.I've lived in Dallas, and that could be tough. Ne...
S9 January 14, 2013 "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."― Friedrich NietzscheBRIDGEPORT, Conn. - It's much easier to ridicule than to praise, especially from the distance of a key...
S9 January 13, 2013 "Genius is eternal patience." - MichelangeloLEWISBURG, Pa. - It's not exactly Murray, Ky., but Lewisburg does not exactly rank among the top metropolitan areas in America. Or the Northeast. Or Pennsylvania.In a previous life, I's be much more inclined to get off the exit for Interstate 80 and go no...
S9 January 13, 2013 "Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the rest is physical." - Yogi BerraBETHLEHEM, Pa. - C.J. McCollum was not walking through the Stabler Arena door Saturday afternoon for Lehigh's Saturday afternoon Patriot League opener against Holy Cross.Well, yea, he did walk through the door. But he was on...
S9 January 11, 2013 "Life is a journey, not a destination." - Ralph Waldo Emerson NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - I really have no idea where Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut are going to finish this season. Chances are, neither will make it onto the national radar in the next couple of months. I could go into their ...
S9 January 11, 2013 (To anyone reading this from my place of employment, I swear this is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.)(Or if there are any relatives of Cambodian Khmer warriors out there, I agree to this as well.)WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - I felt slightly ill for a couple of days ...
S9 January 10, 2013 PROVIDENCE, R.I. - You try not to assume things in life, but if you're anything like me, you do anyway. Maybe you don't. Maybe it's a character flaw.I should get proper directions to arenas I've never been to before, but I usually just assume that the basketball arena would be somewhere on the camp...
S9 January 9, 2013 "For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them." - SenecaHEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Ron Hunter is a basketball coach. Most of the time. That's why we like him so much. Hunter stayed at IUPUI for 17 seasons, guiding the Jaguars through the transition from NAIA scho...
S9 January 6, 2013 NEW HAVEN, Conn. - There are no Gators that are native to Connecticut, and as a Nutmegger, I like it that way.Unfortunately, there were a few Gators that invaded New Haven on Sunday night, big blue ones, a breed I'm told runs rampant in the swamps of northern Florida. They brought with them an ento...
S9 January 6, 2013 "Inside of every problem lies an opportunity." - Robert KiyosakiHAMDEN, Conn. - Quinnipiac freshman James Ford, Jr. probably prepared for Saturday's game with Long Island like he did for every other one this season, complete with an elbow sleeve with a pad on his right arm.But in 11 of the Bobcats'...
S9 January 5, 2013 "Potential = Ain't worth shit yet." - Anson Dorrance, coach of 22-time national champion North Carolina women's soccer teamHAMDEN, Conn. - We know about the infamous eye test, but I call it the "biddy basketball test". Sometimes it's simple to tell who will be the favorite in a youth game just be w...
S9 January 3, 2013 "Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist." - Ralph Waldo EmersonWEST HARTFORD, Conn. - It's actually surprising it doesn't happen more often to me, especially in a fairly densely populated state like Connecticut.Unfortunately, real life got in the way (first day back to school after vacation...
S9 January 2, 2013 BRONX, N.Y. - Sometimes when you're in a rut, you just need something small to make you smile.After driving 12 hours back to New York between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I barely had time to stop to grab a bagel before heading up to Draddy Gym for a fairly interesting contest between struggl...
S9 January 2, 2013 "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard ShawCULLOWHEE, N.C. - Everyone makes mistakes. We inherently know this. We're incessantly having it drilled into our heads, even more so if you happen to be an athlete.Howeve...
S9 January 1, 2013 "Money may talk, but it still hasn't learned to speak Cherokee." - Jay Red EagleASHEVILLE, N.C. - We don't often think of fairness as a subjective, fluid commodity in life. From the time of Socrates on down, fairness and justice have been staples on how civilized humans lead a good and virtuous lif...
S9 December 31, 2012 "But, you know, I feel more fellowship with the defeated than with saints. Heroism and sanctity don't really appeal to me, I imagine. What interests me is being a man." - Albert CamusNASHVILLE, Tenn. - I was left with a choice for the nightcap on Saturday. Coming from Murray State, there were o...
S9 December 30, 2012 "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." - John LennonMURRAY, Ky. - Thinking that a Murray State-Valparaiso game may warrant some attention, I tried to grab a ticket before leaving on my journey/vacation last week.I couldn't find a great way to order them online, so I called the Murra...
S9 December 29, 2012 "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; (3X)His soul's marching on!Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah! his soul's marching on!He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord! (3X)His soul's marching on!(Chorus)John Brown's knapsack is strapped u...
S9 December 29, 2012 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - As a true college basketball aficionado, there is nothing quite like the neutral site, early game of a tournament. Friday's Austin Peay-Utah Valley contest in the Dr. Pepper Classic likely being the final one for me this season (until conference tournament play, of course, but ...
S9 December 28, 2012 "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."- H.L. MenckenBOWLING GREEN, Ky. - E, S, P, and N are not four letters we like to use in sequence around these parts, and most of the time with good reason. However, as much as people try to make everything into absolu...
S9 December 27, 2012 NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Just as I was with C.J. McCollum earlier in the season, again last Sunday I was put in the role of salesman, only this time I thought it might be a tougher sell.My friend, the Temple alum whom I'd witnessed the upset with the day before was still in town, and I gave what I thou...
S9 December 25, 2012 I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas music in general, but any song that has been covered by both The Muppets (RIP John Denver) and the guys from Strange Brew has a special place in my heart.Of course, the biggest holiday in Our Game doesn't begin for a couple more months, but with a few days off t...
S9 December 24, 2012 BROOKLYN, N.Y. - I figured that the finale of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational would draw the biggest crowd Saturday night: LIU Brooklyn was literally a block away and Seton Hall is considered a New York-metro team, playing just a few miles away in New Jersey.That would be incorrect, unfortu...
S9 December 23, 2012 BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Between the first and second games of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational, I committed two egregious violations that went undetected by the Barclays Center staff. Or maybe, they were just being sympathetic.First, being very hungry on my Saturday odyssey in the City, I ate some ...
S9 December 23, 2012 "I was unavoidably detained." - Carl SpacklerBROOKLYN, N.Y. - I was in the bathroom.My first game of the day at Madison Square Garden had gone a little late, and I had to say goodbye to my triumphant Temple alum friend.That didn't leave me much time to catch the 3 train downtown, across to Broo...
S9 December 23, 2012 "Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it." - Salvador DaliNEW YORK- We always want everything to be flawless in our lives. At least that's what we strive for. Whether it's a Thanksgiving dinner, a presentation to our co-workers, o...
S9 December 22, 2012 NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Everything seemed to fit together perfectly Friday night for me. For some reason, Central Connecticut moved its game with Northeastern to an 8 p.m. tip, so I was able to get to coach a full soccer practice, and - because it was on the way to New Britain - still make it to CCSU ...
S9 December 22, 2012 "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." - AristotleAMHERST, Mass.- Jesse Morgan went just 1-for-9 from the field, scoring only three points a...
S9 December 18, 2012 NEW HAVEN, Conn. - I've tried to avoid lower division teams in my travels thus far. I've got nothing against the little guys, and Black Line upsets are always fun, but: a) I want to see as many Division I schools as many times as possible before the season is done, and b) I like to see competitive ...
S9 December 18, 2012 Game #9-172: Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks at Connecticut HuskiesDecember 17, 2012 7:00 pmHartford, CTBBState Stats/Recap "Hit me with it! I've come a long way to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?""Not good.""You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?"Mary:...
S9 December 17, 2012 Game #9-169: Manhattan Jaspers at Long Island BlackbirdsDecember 16, 2012 4:00 pmAthletic CenterBBState Stats/Recap BROOKLYN, N.Y. - What are theories if we don't attempt to put them into practice? I somewhat haphazardly wrote about a hypothetical Green Apple conference that would include all the Ne...
S9 December 16, 2012 Game #9-166: North Carolina A&T Aggies at New Jersey Tech HighlandersDecember 13, 2012 7:30 pmFleisher Athletic CenterBBState Stats/Recap "Thus, what is one man's safety is another man's destruction."- Daniel Defoe NEWARK, N.J.- Let the record show that if Thursday, Dec. 13 was the day that the ...
S9 December 16, 2012 Game #9-163: Canisius Golden Griffins vs. Syracuse OrangeDecember 15, 2012 7:00 pmNew York City, NYBBState Stats/Recap "Where the vale of Onondaga Meets the eastern sky Proudly stands our Alma Mater On her hilltop high. Flag we love! Orange! Float for aye- Old Syracuse, o'er thee, Loyal be thy sons ...
S9 December 15, 2012 Game #9-160: Maine Black Bears at Army Black KnightsDecember 14, 2012 7:00 pmChristl ArenaBBState Stats/Recap "Life is short, Break the Rules.Forgive quickly, Kiss SLOWLY.Love truly. Laugh uncontrollablyAnd never regret ANYTHINGThat makes you smile." - Mark Twa...
S9 December 12, 2012 Game #9-152: Milwaukee Panthers at Fairfield StagsDecember 12, 2012 7:00 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/Recap BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - One of the surprising breakout stars of TMM Season 8 was the Webster Bank Arena black curtain. It is just so ostentatiously huge and intimidating that people gravita...
S9 December 12, 2012 Game #9-151: Stony Brook Seawolves at Saint Francis (NY) TerriersDecember 11, 2012 7:00 pmPhysical Ed. CenterBBState Stats/Recap "I'm standing in Brooklyn just waiting for something to happen.I can't help but look thinking that everyone doesn't get it."- Fun., One FootBROOKLYN, N.Y. - Would you bel...
S9 December 10, 2012 Game #9-145: Siena Saints at Manhattan JaspersDecember 9, 2012 2:00 pmDraddy GymnasiumBBState Stats/Recap "In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only...
S9 December 10, 2012 Game #9-142: Vermont Catamounts at Quinnipiac BobcatsDecember 8, 2012 4:07 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap "Ah, you have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she isallowed to infiltrate this world, then George Costanza as you know him,Ceases to Exist! You see, right now, I have...
S9 December 8, 2012 Game #9-140: Canisius Golden Griffins at Fairfield StagsDecember 7, 2012 7:00 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/Recap BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - When it was told to me that my JV coaching contract was not going to be renewed last spring, it hurt, not going to lie.It was a part-time gig, and it was probab...
S9 December 8, 2012 Game #9-137: Rhode Island Rams at Providence FriarsDecember 6, 2012 7:00 pmDunkin Donuts CenterBBState Stats/Recap PROVIDENCE, R.I.- After paying $10 to give my car a rest at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, I could obviously use a lark, and the sight of the University of Rhode Island cheerleaders followi...
S9 December 7, 2012 Game #9-134: Holy Cross Crusaders at Sacred Heart PioneersDecember 5, 2012 7:00 pmWilliam Pitt CenterBBState Stats/Recap FAIRFIELD, Conn. - We all love it when a plan comes together. Everything just falls into place, and it's just magic from the beginning to the end. You all know that feeling, righ...
S9 December 6, 2012 I was a geography minor in college, and I can tell east from west, north from south. I didn't take too many math classes, but most days I can count to 10 or 12.Bigger is not always better, so it's time to rethink where we're going. So I've combined two passions of mine to form the brand new Green A...
S9 December 5, 2012 Game #9-126: Wagner Seahawks at Hofstra PrideDecember 4, 2012 7:00 pmMack Sports ComplexBBState Stats/Recap "We have to distrust each other. It's our only defense against betrayal." - Tennesee WilliamsHEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - With his team struggling against Wagner's pressure and trailing for the first tim...
S9 December 3, 2012 Game #9-118: Bucknell Bison vs. Columbia LionsDecember 1, 2012 7:00 pmNew York City, NYBBState Stats/Recap "Beware the barrenness of a busy life." - SocratesNEW YORK- Somewhere outside the Prada store on 5th Avenue and 59th Street, it hit me.Call it a mini-epiphany.I was running, attempting to race ...
S9 December 2, 2012 Game #9-114: New Jersey Tech Highlanders at Saint John's Red StormDecember 1, 2012 1:00 pmCarnesecca ArenaBBState Stats/Recap QUEENS, N.Y. - I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I didn't even know the nickname of New Jersey Tech when I walked into Carnasecca Arena Saturday afternoon.I actually didn't ...
S9 November 30, 2012 We all want to get that original holiday gift, don't we? Another season goes by, you give the same types of gifts to the same people and you never actually see them again. We here at the Mid-majority have a solution to your problem.Global warming may be creeping slowly north, but it may take a whil...
S9 November 29, 2012 Game #9-108: Niagara Purple Eagles at Iona GaelsNovember 28, 2012 7:00 pmHynes CenterBBState Stats/Recap "I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm." - Franklin D. RooseveltNEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - At the risk of being unpopular, what is...
S9 November 27, 2012 Game #9-101: Lehigh Mountain Hawks at Quinnipiac BobcatsNovember 27, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap HAMDEN, Conn. - The text message went out to several of my friends at exactly 7:25 a.m. Tuesday morning. It read as follows: "Future possible lottery pick and Duke slayer C....
S9 November 27, 2012 Game #9-098: Wagner Seahawks at Albany Great DanesNovember 26, 2012 7:00 pmSEFCU ArenaBBState Stats/Recap “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.”- The Road Not Taken, Robert FrostALBANY, N.Y. – “The Road Not Taken” is one of the mos...
S9 November 25, 2012 Game #9-091: Lehigh Mountain Hawks at Sacred Heart PioneersNovember 25, 2012 2:00 pmWilliam Pitt CenterBBState Stats/Recap FAIRFIELD, Conn. - You had me at "unfinished business", C.J. McCollum.Actually, you probably had me at Lehigh beating Duke in the NCAA Tournament, but close enough.Conventional ...
S9 November 25, 2012 Game #9-090: Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at Saint John's Red StormNovember 24, 2012 7:30 pmCarnesecca ArenaBBState Stats/Recap QUEENS, N.Y. - The plan seemed simple enough: drive the 70 miles from Lafayette to St. John's in about three hours for the guarantee game between the Red Storm and Florida-Gul...
S9 November 25, 2012 "I hope you would root for who we are, not for who we are not."- Norman DaleThere are plenty of websites that can tell you who leads the nation in scoring, what kind of efficiency the starting five of Kentucky has, or even what top eighth-grade recruits North Carolina might be bringing in.This isn'...
S9 November 25, 2012 Game #9-084: Princeton Tigers at Lafayette LeopardsNovember 24, 2012 2:00 pmKirby Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap "The years teach much which the days never knew."- Ralph Waldo EmersonEASTON, Pa. - Somehow Jim Finnen had never heard of Joe Arnone until Saturday. And that's a shame.As I took my seat...
S9 November 25, 2012 Game #9-083: Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds at Rhode Island RamsNovember 23, 2012 7:00 pmRyan CenterBBState Stats/Recap KINGSTON, R.I. - After a quick stop at Mystic Aquarium, somewhere I hadn't been in two decades, I arrived at the University of Rhode Island campus to find it absolutely deserted.One of th...
S9 November 22, 2012 Game #9-074: Hofstra Pride at Manhattan JaspersNovember 21, 2012 7:00 pmDraddy GymnasiumBBState Stats/Recap BRONX, N.Y. – I was left with a travel dilemma again Wednesday. I wanted to write up the recap of the game I attended Tuesday, but didn’t want to get caught in New York traffic on the busiest ...
S9 November 21, 2012 Game #9-070: Army Black Knights at Saint Francis (NY) TerriersNovember 20, 2012 7:00 pmPhysical Ed. CenterBBState Stats/Recap BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The much maligned and scrutinized Shabazz Muhammed scored 21 points as UCLA held off Georgia, 60-56, Tuesday night at the brand spanking new Barclays Center....
S9 November 20, 2012 Game #9-054: Rhode Island Rams vs. Seton Hall PiratesNovember 18, 2012 7:00 pmUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap UNCASVILLE, Conn. - At the end of a long weekend, I either misread or didn't bother to look at the schedule of Sunday's games to see that the championship game of the Naismith Bracket of t...
S9 November 19, 2012 Game #9-053: Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds vs. Albany Great DanesNovember 18, 2012 2:00 pmUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap "The answer is that we are not helpless in the face of our first impressions. They may bubble up from the unconscious - from behind a locked door inside of our brain - but just becau...
S9 November 19, 2012 Game #9-052: Norfolk State Spartans vs. Missouri-Kansas City KangaroosNovember 18, 2012 11:30 amUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap UNCASVILLE, Conn. - It was 10:45 a.m. on a Sunday, but the casino never sleeps, so the bells and whistles still greeted my sleepy body as I returned to the Mohegan Sun Ar...
S9 November 18, 2012 Game #9-049: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Rhode Island RamsNovember 17, 2012 5:00 pmUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Given the choice of going back to the casino before the next contest or talking to Bob Hurley, well, that's not a very hard choice, is it?Hurley was in attendance prim...
S9 November 18, 2012 Game #9-046: Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos vs. Albany Great DanesNovember 17, 2012 2:30 pmUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Being at a casino and all, I decided to play a little internal challenge with Game 2 of the tripleheader (there were actually four games Saturday, but we d...
S9 November 18, 2012 Game #9-043: Norfolk State Spartans vs. Loyola (Md.) GreyhoundsNovember 17, 2012 12:00 pmUncasville, CTBBState Stats/Recap UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Sometimes in life, you take a look around and things just don't make a whole lot of sense.Seeing Loyola of Maryland and Jimmy Patsos and Norfolk St. together...
S9 November 17, 2012 Game #9-042: South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Hofstra PrideNovember 16, 2012 7:00 pmMack Sports ComplexBBState Stats/Recap "I don't believe in fate."- John WoodenHEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - For one of the very few times in my life, I had to disagree with Mr. Wooden Friday night.But I can understand why those...
S9 November 16, 2012 Game #9-037: Brown Bears at Central Connecticut Blue DevilsNovember 15, 2012 7:30 pmDetrick GymBBState Stats/Recap "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream."- C.S. LewisNEW BRITAIN, Conn. - For better or for worse, there are more Mike Martins than Howie Dickenmans in Our ...
S9 November 15, 2012 courtesy Quinnipiac athleticsThe Quinnipiac that existed when Bill Mecca came aboard in 1978 is, quite simply, unrecognizable from the one that exists today.In 34 years, the name has changed from Quinnipiac College to University, and it has gone from a tiny local school to one that draws students f...
S9 November 15, 2012 Game #9-033: Maine Black Bears at Holy Cross CrusadersNovember 14, 2012 7:00 pmHart Recreation CenterBBState Stats/Recap WORCESTER, Mass. - Even though he went to a couple of prep schools and now plies his trade pretty darn close to the Terrestrial Middle of Nowhere, surely Maine sophomore Xavier Po...
S9 November 14, 2012 Game #9-025: Vermont Catamounts at Connecticut HuskiesNovember 13, 2012 7:00 pmHartford Civic CenterBBState Stats/Recap STORRS, Conn. - There was a time when I was a huge fan of the University of Connecticut and its basketball team.As a wee lad in the early 1980s, I took a couple of trips to Greer F...
S9 November 13, 2012 Game #9-024: Harvard Crimson at Massachusetts MinutemenNovember 13, 2012 10:00 amMullins CenterBBState Stats/Recap AMHERST, Mass. - I don't deal well with traffic, which is to say that I don't deal with it at all, so most days I'm posthumously pleased that my job starts as early as it does (and ther...
S9 November 13, 2012 Game #9-020: American Eagles at Quinnipiac BobcatsNovember 12, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap "How did it get so late so soon?"- Dr. SeussHAMDEN, Conn. - For whatever reason, I've found a niche in coaching younger kids, 9-11 year-olds. It's fun, there's not much pressure ...
S9 November 12, 2012 Game #9-018: Central Connecticut Blue Devils vs. Fairfield StagsNovember 10, 2012 8:00 pmHartford, CTBBState Stats/Recap WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Kyle Vinales drilled a three-pointer and had a few words for the Fairfield bench on the way back down the court, beating his chest and pointing toward the C...
S9 November 12, 2012 Game #9-013: Yale Bulldogs vs. Sacred Heart PioneersNovember 10, 2012 5:30 pmHartford, CTBBState Stats/Recap “In some alternate universe, a much better version of The Big Year exists, one that embraces the essential, insular weirdness and romantic fanaticism of the birding community it chronicles.”-...
S9 November 11, 2012 Game #9-006: Denver Pioneers at Iona GaelsNovember 9, 2012 9:00 pmHynes CenterBBState Stats/Recap “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To be blest:The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”- Alexander Pope, An Essay on ManNEW ...
S9 November 6, 2012 "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory." - Douglas MacArthurI'm not quite sure what a mid-life crisis feels like, but it's entirely possible I was in the middle of one driving up the windy roads that lead to West...
S8 March 22, 2012 Game #8-783: Robert Morris Colonials at Fairfield StagsMarch 21, 2012 8:00 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/Recap “Just like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli The patterns of games get monotonous over time, teams do ...
S8 March 20, 2012 Game #8-777: Manhattan Jaspers at Fairfield StagsMarch 18, 2012 5:00 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/RecapIt seems in my travels that The Simpsons are either loved or hated, there’s not much in between. But at the risk of offending our loyal readers, the best analogy I could make to how I felt S...
S8 March 12, 2012 Game #8-737: Vermont Catamounts at Stony Brook SeawolvesMarch 10, 2012 11:00 amHartford, CTBBState Stats/RecapFor what will likely prove to be my final game for the 800 Games Project, I figured that I’d bring back a concept that seems to be very popular when I do my high school writing: the running ...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-745: Fairfield Stags vs. Loyola (Md.) GreyhoundsMarch 5, 2012 7:00 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/RecapAs the final horn sounded Monday night and Loyola had officially won the MAAC, I half-expected Jimmy Patsos to run to the middle of the court and rip off his suit, revealing a white T-shirt...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-744: Vermont Catamounts vs. Hartford HawksMarch 4, 2012 7:15 pmHartford, CTBBState Stats/Recap When I last left Hartford coach John Gallagher, he was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to get his team better as the season turned toward the all-important homestretch. When I first met ...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-743: Siena Saints vs. Loyola (Md.) GreyhoundsMarch 4, 2012 4:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/RecapLactic acid has gotten a bad rap over the decades. Long thought to be the source of muscle fatigue, in the past few years it has been shown to be critical to fitness and energy in athletes. O...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-734: Fairfield Stags vs. Iona GaelsMarch 4, 2012 2:00 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/Recap“History is written by the victors.” - Winston Churchill In wandering the halls of the MassMutual Center after Fairfield’s 85-75 upset of Iona in the MAAC semifinals, I came across a scene which hurt...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-742: Siena Saints vs. Manhattan JaspersMarch 3, 2012 9:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/Recap“Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o’clock is a scoundrel.” - Samuel Johnson Back in my college days, and probably for a while thereafter, my friends and I would go out on a random...
S8 March 11, 2012 Game #8-741: Niagara Purple Eagles vs. Loyola (Md.) GreyhoundsMarch 3, 2012 7:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/RecapThe announcement came over the PA system at the end of the Iona-Marist game that they were going to clear the MassMutual Center, as the next game between Loyola and Niagara started a ...
S8 March 6, 2012 Game #8-710: Marist Red Foxes vs. Iona GaelsMarch 3, 2012 4:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/Recap There was a slight break between games, so I got to check out the MAAC's version of the FanFest, which was significantly better than America East, primarily because going to it was a strictly volunta...
S8 March 6, 2012 Game #8-709: Rider Broncs vs. Fairfield StagsMarch 3, 2012 2:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/RecapWelcome to Springfield:No, not that Springfield. Springfield, Massachusetts.Other than being the birthplace of basketball, Springfield, Mass. was a curious choice for the MAAC Tournament. Traditional...
S8 March 6, 2012 Game #8-708: Binghamton Bearcats vs. Stony Brook SeawolvesMarch 3, 2012 12:05 pmHartford, CTBBState Stats/RecapThe America East conference can’t thank the Binghamton men’s basketball program for much in last couple of seasons. By now, most of you know the scandal that has pretty much crippled the Be...
S8 March 3, 2012 Game #8-673: Canisius Golden Griffins vs. Niagara Purple EaglesMarch 2, 2012 9:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/Recap“The readiness is all.” - Hamlet When you get a No. 7 seed against a No. 10 seed, tip-off isn’t until 9:45 p.m., and the two teams in question come from six hours away (and that’s...
S8 March 3, 2012 Game #8-671: Saint Peter`s Peacocks vs. Marist Red FoxesMarch 2, 2012 7:30 pmSpringfield, MABBState Stats/Recap “Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright ...
S8 March 2, 2012 Game #8-664: Fordham Rams at Rhode Island RamsFebruary 29, 2012 7:00 pmRyan CenterBBState Stats/Recap“I hope you would support who were are, not who we are not.” -Coach Norman Dale The confluence of events that led me to the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I., Wednesday night are vast and would take fa...
S8 February 29, 2012 Game #8-642: Cornell Big Red at Yale BulldogsFebruary 25, 2012 7:00 pmJohn J. Lee AmphitheaterBBState Stats/Recap “Injustice, if it is on a large enough scale, is stronger, freer, and more masterly than justice.” -Thrasymachus (Plato’s Republic) Part of the fun for me this season with the Mid-Maj...
S8 February 28, 2012 Game #8-638: Wagner Seahawks at Central Connecticut Blue DevilsFebruary 25, 2012 3:30 pmDetrick GymBBState Stats/RecapDespite Connecticut being among the smallest of our nation’s united states geographically, there’s no easy way to get from Fairfield to New Britain, meaning it was an hour drive (I’m...
S8 February 27, 2012 Game #8-629: Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash at Sacred Heart PioneersFebruary 25, 2012 12:00 pmWilliam Pitt CenterBBState Stats/Recap “I am but a shape that stands here, A pulseless mould, A pale past picture, screening Ashes gone cold.” - Thomas Hardy, the Dead Man Walking The St. Francis of Pen...
S8 February 25, 2012 Game #8-616: Canisius Golden Griffins at Manhattan JaspersFebruary 24, 2012 7:00 pmDraddy GymnasiumBBState Stats/Recap“What the hell’s a Jasper?” Actually, to do that justice you have to say it in chant form: “What - the - hell’s – a – Jas – perrrr?” When I was eight years old, that was the funnie...
S8 February 24, 2012 Game #8-609: Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash at Quinnipiac BobcatsFebruary 23, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” - C. S. LewisIt was 60 degrees in southern Connect...
S8 February 17, 2012 Game #8-577: Saint Francis (NY) Terriers at Quinnipiac BobcatsFebruary 16, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you’re doing the impossible.”- St. Francis of AssisiYou get the feeling that St. Francis of Assi...
S8 February 13, 2012 Game #8-562: Yale Bulldogs at Columbia LionsFebruary 11, 2012 7:00 pmLevien GymBBState Stats/Recap“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance,”- Socrates, 400 B.C. There used to be a show on MTV -– back when I used to watch MTV -- called Diary, that began “You think you know, but you have no id...
S8 February 12, 2012 Game #8-555: Dayton Flyers at Fordham RamsFebruary 11, 2012 1:00 pmRose Hill GymBBState Stats/Recap “A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is...
S8 February 9, 2012 Game #8-534: Central Connecticut Blue Devils at Quinnipiac BobcatsFebruary 8, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap“The difference between one person and another, between the weak and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy – invisible determination.” - Thomas ...
S8 February 7, 2012 Game #8-523: Siena Saints at Fairfield StagsFebruary 5, 2012 3:30 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/Recap “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me -– filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before” - Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven I had no plan to hit the Fairf...
S8 February 7, 2012 Game #8-522: Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds at Saint Peter`s PeacocksFebruary 5, 2012 12:00 pmYanitelli CenterBBState Stats/Recap“When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors.” – Lady Macbeth I choked. I could sit here and make the usual list of excuses for you: it’s hard to simulate the pressure,...
S8 February 6, 2012 Game #8-516: Princeton Tigers at Yale BulldogsFebruary 4, 2012 7:00 pmJohn J. Lee AmphitheaterBBState Stats/Recap"Follow your dreams." "Don’t let anyone stand in your way." "You can be whatever you want to be." If you’ve been involved in sports (or likely even if you haven’t), you’ve heard them a...
S8 January 29, 2012 Game #8-480: Wagner Seahawks at Quinnipiac BobcatsJanuary 28, 2012 2:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap The blizzard had subsided enough for me to make my way down to Madison Square Garden for the 1993 Big East title game between Seton Hall and Syracuse. There wasn’t much to cheer ...
S8 January 29, 2012 Game #8-478: Dartmouth Big Green at Yale BulldogsJanuary 28, 2012 7:00 pmJohn J. Lee AmphitheaterBBState Stats/RecapAs the Yale basketball team awoke with a giant headache Saturday morning, they probably had the usual questions. What happened? Did I get run over by a truck? No, that was just Harva...
S8 January 28, 2012 Game #8-468: Mount Saint Mary`s Mountaineers at Quinnipiac BobcatsJanuary 26, 2012 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap “Let the celebration begin in Emmitsburg. The Mount is going to the Dance.” - ESPN’s Mike Tirico; March 5, 1995 The ties to the athletic teams we support are oft...
S8 January 25, 2012 Game #8-455: Boston University Terriers at Hartford HawksJanuary 22, 2012 4:00 pmThe Sports CenterBBState Stats/Recap“I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have chaos in yourselves. “Alas, the time is coming when ma...
S8 January 23, 2012 Game #8-441: Cornell Big Red at Columbia LionsJanuary 21, 2012 7:00 pmLevien GymBBState Stats/RecapI debated just going back to Grand Central Station and home after the conclusion of the St. Francis game. It was just about 7 p.m., and I really had no idea how long it would take or how lost I would g...
S8 January 23, 2012 Game #8-440: Mount Saint Mary`s Mountaineers at Saint Francis (NY) TerriersJanuary 21, 2012 5:00 pmPhysical Ed. CenterBBState Stats/Recap“I was sure you’d be on foot because you always say public transportation is for losers.” - Marge Simpson (to Homer) The original plan, in place for a few weeks ...
S8 January 17, 2012 Game #8-404: Rider Broncs at Fairfield StagsJanuary 16, 2012 7:30 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/RecapAfter three hours of early-morning basketball practice (watching so much mid-major basketball has led me to put in about 40 new plays, at least two of which have actually worked), I had a rare ...
S8 January 16, 2012 Game #8-400: Saint Joseph`s Hawks at Massachusetts MinutemenJanuary 14, 2012 4:00 pmMullins CenterBBState Stats/Recap My head understands why the University of Massachusetts (and the rest of the Atlantic-14, sans Xavier) is below the Red Line, but when you’re used to the low-income housing of the NE...
S8 January 10, 2012 Game #8-372: Iona Gaels at Marist Red FoxesJanuary 8, 2012 2:00 pmMcCann Recreation CenterBBState Stats/Recap“Do you feel the same For what was remained Yesterday is gone, we can't go back again Do you ever cry for the ghost of days gone by” -Alter Bridge Time can be a funny thing as it pertains t...
S8 January 8, 2012 Game #8-365: Saint Francis (NY) Terriers at Sacred Heart PioneersJanuary 7, 2012 3:30 pmWilliam Pitt CenterBBState Stats/Recap"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” – Robert BurnsI call it the Connecticut Triangle (feel free to give me a better moniker, that’s not terribly creative). I...
S8 January 4, 2012 Game #8-335: Virginia Commonwealth Rams at Hofstra PrideJanuary 2, 2012 7:00 pmHofstra ArenaBBState Stats/Recap With apologies to former winners Shaka Khan, Shaka Hislop, and Shaka Zulu, the runaway Shaka of the Year award for 2011 went to VCU coach Shaka Smart. This isn’t the forum or time for a f...
S8 January 2, 2012 Game #8-329: Canisius Golden Griffins at Fairfield StagsJanuary 1, 2012 1:00 pmArena at Harbor YardBBState Stats/RecapThrough sheer happenstance, I was sitting about 20 feet from Princeton’s Doug Davis as he hit one of the most memorable shots of the 2011 college basketball season: a buzzer-beater t...
S8 January 1, 2012 Game #8-316: Saint Francis (NY) Terriers at Army Black KnightsDecember 31, 2011 2:00 pmChristl ArenaBBState Stats/RecapThere is always a mental checklist of things whenever you’re getting ready to go to a game, particularly if you’re making a drive of any decent length. Directions? Check. Game time...
S8 December 11, 2011 Game #8-223: Niagara Purple Eagles at Hartford HawksDecember 10, 2011 6:00 pmThe Sports CenterBBState Stats/RecapI remember my first coaching victory well. A decade ago as a recent college graduate, there was an ad in the local paper for a volunteer to coach in the local middle school league.It soun...
S8 December 6, 2011 Game #8-193: Yale Bulldogs at Sacred Heart PioneersDecember 5, 2011 7:00 pmWilliam Pitt CenterBBState Stats/Recap“You gotta play hurt,” as Den Jenkins semi-famously titled his book two decades ago. Of course, Jenkins wrote it as fiction and largely lampooned sports journalism, but I digress. At abou...
S8 November 20, 2011 Game #8-077: Army Black Knights at Central Connecticut State Blue DevilsNovember 19, 2011 2:00 pmDetrick GymBBState Stats/Recap NEW BRITAIN, Conn.- As the public address announcer asked for a moment of reflection to “remember those serving to protect our freedoms both home and abroad”, the guys in...
S8 November 15, 2011 Game #8-033: Yale Bulldogs at Quinnipiac BobcatsNovember 15, 2011 7:00 pmTD Banknorth Sports CenterBBState Stats/RecapIt’s now been 15 years since Quinnipiac first announced it was going to the promised land of Division I. That sentence looked about as out of place in 1996 as the Bobcats’ new home –...
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