Seton Hall Women's Team Shows Their Resiliency

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!" (Rocky Balboa 2006)

That is one of my all-time favorite inspirational quotes.  The movie, Rocky Balboa, the sixth in the "Rocky" series, was an OK movie.   But the shown above shortened version of the scene where Rocky talks to his son accurately portrays life.   We've all had moments in our lives, where we have been knocked down, often knocked down hard, perhaps even to the point where you want to just crawl in a hole and just hide.

But it's how we respond to adversity that makes us who we are in life. In college basketball, whether men's or women's, the good teams respond to adversity.   A bad loss is followed by a good win, often several good wins.

In the beginning of January, the Seton Hall Women's Basketball team were on an unprecedented streak.  They rolled into St John's Carnesecca Arena on Friday, January 2nd having won twelve games in a row.  They had a win over previously undefeated #14 Georgia, a win over Illinois, a road win over defending Big Ten Champ Penn State and a win over Butler, a team that has had only two losses in the Big East so far this season.  Seton Hall was even nationally ranked for the first time ever with a #23 ranking.

For me, it was a chance to see my good friends Tony Bozzella, head coach of Seton Hall and Lauren DeFalco. one of his assistant coaches, along with Tony's family.  I also was looking forward to see in person an exciting team that I had seen once this college basketball season, a nationally televised win over Creighton.

For about thirty one and a half minutes, the Pirates more than held their own against the Red Storm, as they led 48-43 with 9:30 left in the game.

Then as Coach Bozzella noted in his post game press conference "When a little adversity hit, they punched us." St John's defense clamped down on Seton Hall over the last nine and a half minutes.  The Red Storm finished the game on a 16-2 run to win 59-50.  

Bozzella also noted in the post game press conference "I told Joe, I think the difference right now is your defense is better than ours. St. John’s ‘out-toughed’ us. I pride myself on resiliency and that’s what good teams are made of, but we didn't have that. St. John’s did. And that’s why we are trying to get to the point where they’re at. Our resiliency was poor.”

St John's hit Seton Hall "Rocky Balboa hard" over that span.  The Red storm out-rebounded the Pirates 48-40 and frustrated the Hall so much on offense, especially the last part of the game, that they forced as many turnovers on the Pirates, as the Pirates did to the Red Storm with their press, twenty. Amber Thompson set a St John's record with twenty rebounds in the game.  It was only Seton Hall's second loss on the season.

Seton Hall was beaten at its own game and beaten hard by a team, St John's, that Seton Hall aspires to be; a team that makes the NCAA Tournament every season.  The Red Storm have been to the NCAA Tournament each of the past five seasons.

So the Pirates left Carnesecca Arena licking their wounds.  The question now was how would Seton Hall respond.  How resilient is this Pirates team?

It turns out very resilient.

Seton Hall had one week to work on their defense and resiliency before they played Xavier at home.  The Musketeers came into the game with only one loss in conference and an 11-4 record overall.  The Pirates came out and were up nine in the first half before the Musketeers responded with a rally tie the game at thirty one.  Then up three in the second, Seton Hall went on a 20-4 to go on to a 78-54 win. Ka-Deidre Simmons led five Pirates scorers in double figures with nineteen points.   The Pirates showed their trademark press, forcing twenty two Xavier turnovers.

Then two days later, Seton Hall was on the road at Providence.  The Friars took a 35-27 lead into halftime.  It was only the third time all season the Pirates were down at the half.  The other two times, at West Virginia and at St John's, they had lost.

Providence extended their lead to seventeen, 46-29 with 16:19 left in the game.  Seton Hall had been rocked to the canvas with an 11-2 right hand run by the Pirates.  It looked like it would be the third loss for the Pirates after trailing at halftime.

But the Pirates got off the canvas this time and responded with a rally that Rocky Balboa would be proud of.

Seton Hall came back in the second half, first using a 17-7 spurt to cut the deficit to seven, 53-46.   Then down eight, 64-56 with 4:17 left, the Pirates made another run, outscoring the Friars 12-3 the rest of the game.  Ka-Deidre Simmons would give the Pirates their first lead since 16:27 of the first half ,hitting two free throws to put the Hall up 68-67 win twelve seconds left.  The Hall defense then put their signature mark on the game, forcing a turnover to end the contest.   Simmons led the Pirates with twenty two points, as again again they showed balance as four Hall starters scored in double figures.

Next on the hit list was Marquette this past Friday.  Seton Hall did what you are supposed to do against the last place team in the conference; win and win handily.  The Pirates led by as many as thirty three points before winning 88-58.   The Hall again continued their balanced scoring as four players again scored in double figures.  Daisha Simmons led the way with twenty four points.

Yesterday, Seton Hall faced perhaps so far its biggest challenge of the season.  DePaul, who was in first place in the Big East and had won at St John's in overtime on Friday night, came into South Orange, New Jersey on a four game winning streak.   This was a chance to show the Big East and the Pirates' home crowd at Walsh Gymnasium that Seton Hall was a legitimate contender for the Big East title.

But again, the Pirates would have to show resiliency.   The Blue Demons jumped out to an early 11-4 lead.   The Pirates would respond, rallying to tie the game at twenty two.   DePaul would retake the lead 31-24.   Seton Hall would respond again, outscoring the Blue Demons 17-7 to take a 41-38 lead on a Ka-Deidre Simmons three pointer.  The Pirates would extend the lead to eight, 56-48 before DePaul cut the lead back to three, 57-54.

That was the score after twenty minutes.  TWENTY MINUTES.  The Knicks only scored fifty six points in THREE quarters in their last loss to Milwaukee.

In the second half, DePaul's Jessica January showed it was her month by hitting a three pointer to tie the game at fifty seven.  From there, it was all the Hall.  Ka-Deidre Simmons put the Pirates ahead to stay 59-57 with a layup.  It was the start of a 23-7 run over the next nine and a half minutes as Seton Hall went up 80-64.

The Pirates were not done scoring however as they put up another twenty seven points on the scoreboard as they ran the Blue Demons out of Walsh Gymnasium 107-87.  Seton Hall took over sole possession of first place in the Big East by simply setting the all time single game scoring record in program history.

This time, only three Pirates' players scored in double figures.  But what a total those three players, Tabitha Richardson Smith (35 points), Ka-Deidre Simmons (28 points) and Daisha Simmons (22 points), put together; a whopping 85 points that nearly matched DePaul's total points.  They combined to shoot a scorching twenty seven of fifty one from the field.  The Hall shot fifty five percent from the field, including eleven of twenty one from beyond the arc.  What was really impressive was Seton Hall held DePaul to twenty eight percent from the field in the second half.

So after being "out-toughed" by St John's, the Pirates came back and showed their toughness, winning four games in a row.  The question of resiliency has been answered for the time being. And for now, Seton Hall's world is full of sunshine and rainbows, as the Pirates have sole possession of first place in the Big East.

But with two road games upcoming; at Villanova and at Georgetown, followed by a chance to "out-tough the Red Storm" in their rematch at home with St John's, dark clouds could be on the horizon.

How Seton Hall continues to show their resiliency over the next three games will say a lot about their potential NCAA Tournament future.

As Rocky Balboa might say, they need to keep taking the hard punches and keeping moving forward.  That's how winning is done.

The Things I Miss This Time of Season

"Halleujah. Noel.  Be it Heaven or Hell.
The Christmas we get, we deserve." 

"I Believe in Father Christmas" By Greg Lake

For the longest time, I truly believed in those words in "I Believe in Father Christmas" (kind of also helped that I am a huge ELP fan).   There were a couple of years in the early Nineties where I spent Christmas alone, due to what I now wrongly believed was what I deserved for mistakes of the heart.

Now married for seventeen wonderful years with two adorable boys, this time of season is special in many ways for me, from a family standpoint as well as a college basketball standpoint. For forty five years, I spent Christmas as a New York resident.  For as long as I can remember, I had the time between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day off from work, when I worked for Hofstra.  I still do, now working for the University of South Carolina.   It's one of the perks working for an academic institution.

And around the holiday season is a great time to see college basketball games in New York.  There's the annual Holiday Festival at MSG, the new tradition, the Barclays Center Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival and a good number of local New York teams that are home during the holiday season break.

But this time of year also reminds me of what I miss about the rest of the college basketball season now that I am a resident of Columbia, South Carolina.

First, I miss the close proximity of local New York Division I colleges.  Stony Brook, St John's, Fordham, Iona, Wagner, Manhattan, LIU and of course Hofstra were schools whose games I went to with quite regularity.  They were all within an hour's drive.  Then you had Madison Square Garden, which was an hour train ride into the city. Writing for Mid Majority in 2011-12 as part of the 800 Games Project, from a commuting standpoint, it was relatively easy and quick to get to a college basketball game (well except parking at Manhattan College).  It helped greatly in my coverage of fifty nine Division I men's basketball games that season.

Now, outside of the University South of Carolina, which is the same distance and time for me as it was traveling to Hofstra games, there are only two other schools that are an hour away; Winthrop and Presbyterian and due to scheduling, I haven't seen a game yet at either school.   The other schools I have been to locally; Wofford, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, Charlotte and College of Charleston are at least ninety minutes away from me.  So, unlike a quick evening jaunt to Iona or Stony Brook, those schools I have to catch on a weekend.

But it's more than just the proximity of local teams I miss.  It's the camaraderie that is lacking.  Thankfully, I have my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew to now go to games with here in South Carolina.  That helps a good deal.  But it doesn't make up for not seeing my friends on a regular basis.

First, Hofstra home games were something out of "Cheers".  After twenty four years of being an administrator on campus, I knew a good number of people at Hofstra who I would see on a regular basis there; my former boss and longtime friend Howard Graves, my good friend at the University Computer Center, Marty Gross, my colleagues and friends from the Plant department, Paul Romano and Kenny Tyler, and many others.  I even got to know former Hofstra coach Mo Cassara, one of the true good guys in the coaching profession, who was always kind enough to see if I needed a ticket for a road game.  Glad he is doing well as analyst for ESPN.

University of Delaware Concessions Barbeque. YUM!

Then there was my good friend Defiantly Dutch, Jerry Beach, who I got to know from Hofstra basketball.  I make fun of his age on Twitter and Facebook.  But truth be told, I am older than him by a long shot and this will be the last time I make fun of his age, though I still think I am younger than him mentally.  Beach is also a terrific writer, far better than me.  He has a wonderful wife, Michelle, who I have become friends with (all great women are named "Michelle", ask my wife) and they have the cutest daughter on the planet, Molly.  Finally, he is also a hilarious travel companion, the John Candy to my Steve Martin.

Through Beach, I have got to know several other Hofstra folks like Lee Warner and the lovely Missy Van Brocklin, who I hope will make baked goods again for us when I am there on December 30.  There's Bob, a season ticket holder who I used to sit across from (and my friends still do, since I still have Hofstra season tickets) and we would trade travel stories and betting lines for other games during the Hofstra game.  And of course, there is nothing like rival blogger trash talk with Beach during a Hofstra game.

Also, due to my friendship with Jerry and my coverage for the Mid Majority and local NY hoops, I have become friends with many NYC college basketball beat writers like the omnipresent Jaden Daly of Daly Dose of Hoops, Ray Curren, the one man force that is the Mid Majority this season,  the stat machine Jon Templon, founder of Big Apple Buckets and the dynamic Iona Women's basketball broadcast duo of Nick Guerriero and John Stanko (Nick is now at Dartmouth).

But what I miss most about not being at the Hofstra games is not seeing my dear friends Tony Terentieff and Mal Galletta.  We sat together for years in Section 111, Row D and before that in Section 102.  The banter between the three of us was often truly hysterical.    And from our vantage point in Section 111, we could pick things up being across from the player benches.  You knew when Tom Pecora, former Hofstra Head Coach, was going to put someone in his doghouse or when Bruiser Flint would go off on his players or referees when Drexel visited Hempstead.

One of my all time favorite Hofstra memories is from the 2004-05 season, when I was still sitting in Section 102 ( We moved to Section 111 after the 2005-06 season).   There was an older gentleman who sat by us who use to occasionally fly off the handle, often at the expense of Pecora.  Adrian Uter was in his first season with Hofstra, after two years of JUCO and came off the bench for the Pride, er Flying Dutchmen (sorry, Jer).   In one game, during one particular stretch, Uter was blocking every shot in sight and tearing down rebounds with authority.  Inexplicably, Pecora took him out of the game.   This older gentleman blurts out  loud "PECORA, WHY ARE YOU TAKING UTER OUT?  HE'S AN ANIMAL!"  Our whole section burst out laughing to the point of tears.

Eight years later, it still sticks out in my mind.  That's what you get in a mid major game, fans making comments like that you will always remember.  Mind you, Frank Martin makes up for some of that in Gamecocks' games, because you can often hear him as clear as a bell.  But it's still not the same.

Then there is my good friend Tony Bozzella.  Over the years, Tieff, Mal and I have gone to so many Iona Women's home games sitting with Tony's wife Maria, his very funny daughter Samantha, and the brains behind Bo's fantasy baseball team, his son Joseph.  So many times, we sat in Bo's office after the game talking with Bo and the awesome Lauren DeFalco, going over the game highlights.  We even traveled to Marist to see them play in a gym right out of Hoosiers.  So many memories.

But it's not just the Hofstra or Iona home games I miss with Tieff and Mal.  It's the countless road trips to Delaware (complete with Delaware Concessions Barbeque!), Towson, Drexel, Iona, the train rides into MSG, the long annual trips down to Richmond to the CAA Tournament, including one year going to Atlantic City before the CAA Tournament ("DO YOU THINK I PLAY CRAP HANDS!" - only Mal and Tieff will understand that one) and heck even our trip to Raleigh to see the now famous Stephen Curry Show at the NCAA Regional in 2008.

When Mal and Tieff came down for a sports weekend this November to see our good friend Bo's Seton Hall Women's team play South Carolina, as well as take in a College of Charleston game and the Florida-USC football game, it was like the three amigos were back in business, albeit for one weekend.  Those are things that I miss most about being down here in South Carolina.

Perhaps someday, I will have that camaraderie here at South Carolina.  The road trips to Davidson, Wofford and Charleston are fun, but it's not the same. Plus now that I am a Little League Baseball coach, so the college basketball season seems shorter to me now.

The good thing is that I will be back in New York for the Holiday season and some college basketball.  I hope to be at Stony Brook on December 22.  On December 28, I will be at the Seton Hall- St John's women's basketball game, then at the Barclays Center for the nightcap of the tripleheader as Boston  College takes on VCU.   Then December 30 it's back to Hofstra for a Pride home game.

But this holiday season though has some sadness.  My sister in law's husband, a great guy, lost his mom last week due to cancer.  Only a few months prior, he lost his dad to cancer as well.   It will be good to see my sister in law and him and hopefully my family will bring them some much needed cheer to their Christmas.

Also on Tuesday night around midnight, I woke up to the sound of fire trucks.  My neighbor's house across the street was on fire.  My neighbor, Richard, an older gentleman who's on disability, happened to be in the hospital for heart surgery, for a stroke he suffered only a few weeks back.  His daughter thankfully was not hurt.   But their house seems to be either a total loss or at least needs major work.  They won't be able to spend Christmas at home this year.

Over the past several years, the above "I Believe in Father Christmas" lyrics have not rung as true for me.  I have learned that people often do not get the Christmas they deserve. These two above examples remind me of that.

In my case, I am just happy that I will be back in New York for the holidays with my family, to bring warmth and consolation to loved ones, to spend time with friends I haven't seen in a while and see some college basketball with good friends that I miss.  It will be good to be back in a "New York State of Mind", albeit for a brief time.

To everyone, as Greg Lake was so correct in singing - "I wish you a joyful Christmas.  I wish you a brave New Year.  All anguish, pain and sadness leave your heart and let your road be clear".

And if you can, catch a live college basketball game.  No better sport to watch live.

Happy Holidays from The College Hardwood!

Old Friends, New Homes (Recap of Seton Hall vs. South Carolina Women's Basketball Game)

In August of 2012, I accepted a position at the University of South Carolina School of Law.  After forty six plus years of living on Long Island, I made the biggest move of my life and left for Columbia, South Carolina. It's only been fifteen months, but my family and I are truly happy here. It was a move that worked out for the best.

In late March of this year, Tony Bozzella accepted the Women's Head Basketball Coach position at Seton Hall.  In Coach Bozzella's case, he was coming back home to his alma mater after eleven seasons at Iona.  It was while at Seton Hall that he first started his coaching career as the head coach of St. Mary's High School, now known as Cardinal McCarrick, in South Amboy, New Jersey.  But that was not the most important part of his undergraduate years at Seton Hall.    The most important part was meeting there his future wife, Maria, who is also a Seton Hall graduate.

For Coach Bozzella, Seton Hall is just another in the list of reclamation projects he has overseen in his twenty one years as a head coach.   His first job was SUNY Southampton, where he took a perennial doormat ECAC team and took them to six straight winning seasons.  Then he received his first Division I head coaching position at LIU Brooklyn.  In his very first season there, he guided the Blackbirds to their first ever NEC Tournament Championship and their only ever NCAA Tournament appearance.  In his second and final season, he took LIU Brooklyn to the championship game before losing to St. Francis PA.

Then he took the head coaching position at Iona College.  Over his eleven seasons there, he led Iona in 2005-06 to their first ever winning season in twenty three years. In 2006-07, he guided Iona to their first ever postseason appearance, a WNIT bid.  He would take the Gaels to three more WNIT appearances and in his last seven seasons with Iona, the Gaels had an 85-56 MAAC conference record.

Bozzella has always had a sense of family and loyalty as far as his coaching staff.   His Iona coaching staff has been made up over the years of former players for Southampton, LIU Brooklyn and Iona.  His Seton Hall coaching staff is no exception.  Lauren DeFalco, a former star guard at Iona, Melissa Flagg, another former starting Iona Gael guard and Timothy Gardner served as assistants for him at Iona.

When I found out that Coach Bozzella's Pirates were going to be in Columbia to face the Gamecocks on November 17, it was the genesis of what turned out to be a  three day sports weekend for our group of friends.  As I noted in my previous post, my friends Mal and Tieff flew down Friday morning and we spent Friday night in Charleston watching UNC Asheville defeat the College of Charleston in overtime.  We were then joined on Saturday by our friend Den Bashuk and his friend Neal to watch SEC Football as South Carolina rallied at home to defeat Florida.

Sunday was not only a big day for my friends, but for me personally.  November 17 also happened to be my younger son Jonathan's sixth birthday.  He woke up about 7:00 AM and not too long after, we were opening his birthday presents.  Later, my entire family met up with my friends for brunch at Liberty Tap House and then we made our way to Colonial Life Arena.  Once there, we joined up with Maria and the rest of the Bozzella family, Samantha and Joseph and caught up on old times.

Seton Hall had won their first three games, the latest being an impressive 78-61 win over Weber State last Friday night.  However, on Sunday the Pirates were missing three of their starters - Bra'Shey Ali, Alexis Brown and Sidney Cook, all due to injuries.  They were facing the #21 team in the country in Dawn Staley's  3-0 Gamecocks on their home court, a tall order even for a fully healthy team.

South Carolina started the scoring on two free throws by Elem Ibiam, as Gamecocks shooting free throws would be a consistent story line throughout the game.  However in another consistent story line, Tabatha Richardson-Smith buried a three pointer to put Seton Hall up one.  Two free throws by forward Tiffany Webb would put the Pirates up three, 7-4.

South Carolina responded with two free throws by Khadijah Sessions, another free throw by freshman sensation Alaina Coates and a three point play by Ibiam to go up 10-7.  Seton Hall would answer as Richardson Smith would tie the game at thirteen with another three pointer.  Then after Aleighsa Welch would put the Gamecocks ahead again with another free throw, Ka-Deidre Simmons hit a jumper to put the Pirates back up one, 15-14.  Simmons would hit another jumper to give Seton Hall an 18-16 lead.

However, the foul toll was mounting on short handed Seton Hall.  In barely a little more than ten minutes, the Pirates had fourteen fouls. Janee Johnson already had three fouls with 10:45 left in the first half.  Bozzella, who was only dressing nine players, used his entire bench in the first half, basically out of necessity.

And yet not only did the Pirates hang in there against the talented, taller Gamecocks, they actually rallied from a late six point first half deficit with 7-0 mini spurt, capped by another basket by Richardson-Smith to put Seton Hall up 39-38 with about a minute left.  Asia Dozier would answer for South Carolina with a three pointer to put the Gamecocks up two.  Simmons missed on a jumper at the buzzer but the Pirates were only down two, 41-39 at the half.

Seton Hall actually hit six more shots on fourteen more attempts in the first half than the Gamecocks including five of nine from beyond the arc. But the Gamecocks went to the line in the first half more than most teams do in a game with twenty seven attempts.  South Carolina hit on twenty one of those free throw attempts, seventeen more than Seton Hall (four of five from the line).

During halftime of South Carolina Women's Basketball games, kids can dance with Cocky on the court. Jonathan had a chance to celebrate his birthday by dancing as well.  He decided he didn't want to go out there.  Then I found out why; he was tired from being up early that morning.  A short while later, he was asleep in his seat.

At the beginning of the second half, Dozier picked up right where she left off with another three pointer. It would start a 16-4 run, culminated by two Tiffany Mitchell three pointers and a Sessions layup to put the Gamecocks up 57-43 with 14:23 left in the game. It looked like the Hall was about to be blown out of Colonial Life Arena.

But the Pirates refused to quit and came back with a 10-4 spurt.  Richardson-Smith would score another five points and a Simmons layup would cut the South Carolina lead to eight, 61-53 with eleven minutes left.  Seton Hall was only down ten, 64-54 with ten minutes left.

But the Gamecocks size and post play was too much for the Pirates.  After Seton Hall was still within eleven, 72-61 with about six and a half minutes left,  Ibiam went to work.  She would score the next seven Gamecocks points, on three short jumpers in the post and a free throw.  It would swell to an eventual 12-2 run that put South Carolina up 84-63.  The Gamecocks would go onto win 88-67.

The Gamecocks shot an impressive nearly seventy four percent from the field in the second half, hitting seventeen of twenty three shots.  The Pirates actually had as many field goals, twenty six and as many three pointers, six, as the Gamecocks.  However, South Carolina had twenty one more free throws than Seton Hall and that was the difference in the game.  

As the game was ending, I heard Coach Bozzella turn to his bench and say "Good Effort".  Considering he was missing three starters, his team was only down two points at the half and were only down ten with ten minutes left, it was a good effort.  The Gamecocks were just too strong in the paint for the shorthanded Pirates, who only committed eight turnovers on the game (South Carolina only committed eleven turnovers).

The Gamecocks had five players in double figures in scoring.  Ibiam led the way with eighteen points, Sessions added seventeen, while Welch and Mitchell each had fifteen and Coates added ten points. Richardson-Smith led Seton Hall and all scorers with twenty four points while Simmons added nineteen.

We said our goodbyes to Maria, Samantha and Joseph, along with Mal and Tieff.  We couldn't stay because Jonathan wanted to have his birthday dinner at his favorite place...McDonalds (hey, he is only six).  Plus I knew I would see them again later next month when they play at St John's during our Christmas in New York vacation.

It was good to see an old friend who was able to go back home to his alma mater.  For Tony Bozzella, considering his track record, it will be for the best too.

Back in the New York Groove (Recap of Colgate vs. Iona Women's Basketball Game)

For the sixth time in four months, I flew from Charlotte International airport back to New York and the fifth time from Gate D4, the "official" gate of Jet Blue to JFK.  As has been the case, the five previous times I came in from Charlotte, my wife was there to greet me at the baggage claim.   It was the first time she was there without the kids since she had a Christmas party she had to attend at her job.  Her parents were watching our two sons at our house.

When we got home, my older son, aka my color analyst Matthew, was wide awake, but my younger son, Jonathan, was fast asleep.  Matthew was happy to see me, but he seemed more interested in his macaroni and cheese and one of the Ice Age movies as I had to practically beg for a hug.  Ah seven year olds.

Yesterday morning, I was the first one up.  As with this article, I was in the entertainment room reviewing what trains I had to take for my trip into the city yesterday.  Jonathan, who would make an excellent spy, was in usual stealth mode and snuck up and said "DADDY!"  I got the biggest hug and he sat with me on the chair as I finished reviewing the subway map of New York City.

Jonathan and I each had a bowl of cereal and watched "Tom and Jerry" together on Boomerang.  Boomerang put us in the Christmas spirit by playing the classic "The Night Before Christmas" episode.   Shortly thereafter, Matthew came down, came up to me and said "I want to spend a lot of time with you today" and curled up into me.  I was so choked up, I couldn't reply immediately.  I just hugged him for a minute and finally said "I will".  Matthew is used to me only being home a few days and didn't realize that I would be in New York for eleven days due to my holiday break at South Carolina.

After both kids went to school, my wife dropped me off at the Bellmore Train Station to take a train into the city.   I was heading to New York Law School for a work related matter and to visit two old friends there I used to work with at Hofstra, Oral Hope and Pete Trimarchi.  I was there for ninety minutes looking over a very impressive building with great views of Tribeca and the city.  Finally I had to say my goodbyes to Oral and Pete and head towards Canal street for the second part of my day.

I took the number six train from Canal street north to Grand Central Station.   I was meeting my friend Tieff at the famous Grand Central clock above the Metro North Information Booth to take a train up to New Rochelle.   If that sounds familiar to my marines, aka the few, the proud, the readers of my site, that's where Iona College is located.  Yes, I was heading there to see Coach Tony Bozzella's Gaels take on Colgate.

I have been to Grand Central before, most recently last year to hang out with a good friend, the beautiful Cecilia Guerra, for drinks at one of the great bars located in the lower concourse and then we met up with another good friend, Andrew Wilson for a dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby Grand Central.  This time, I was standing in the middle of the station, trying to avoid passersby and tourists taking pictures of their loved ones in front of the famous clock.  As it always is with Tieff, he was running late and got there a few minutes before the 1:10 New Haven train was leaving.  But, I came prepared having already bought two one way tickets for New Rochelle.

We made our train to New Rochelle.  Our friend Mal was picking us up at the Chase Manhattan building right near the New Rochelle terminal.  But as we got off the train, we had a surprise.  The great Jaden Daly, author of the Daly Dose of Hoops site, where I have been a contributor a couple of times this season, had been on the previous train to New Rochelle.  We had been in touch via Twitter and Jaden decided to wait for us at the station.  We talked hoops as we normally do as we walked to meet Mal, who drove us to Iona College.

We got to the Hynes Center just in time for the national anthem and walked into the gym during introductions.  Coach Bozzella smiled as we said hi and made our way up to seats behind the Iona bench.  The Gaels hadn't played in two weeks due to finals but they had a nice crowd, larger than anticipated, there to greet them back to the land of non conference Division I conference basketball.

Last season, Iona played at Colgate.  The Raiders ran out to a 46-18 halftime lead.  The Gaels could never recover and lost 75-50.  Several of the players from that Colgate team returned for yesterday's game, including sophomore Mariah Jones, who scored fifteen points in the win over Iona.

In the first ten minutes, you could tell Iona hadn't played in two weeks.  They struggled holding onto the ball, committing ten turnovers.  Fortunately, the Gaels were playing good defense and the Gaels led 8-7 nearly halfway through the first half.

Bozzella went to a smaller lineup and something clicked with this young Iona team (only one senior on the team, starting guard Haley D'Angelo).  The Gaels rolled off a 20-3 run over the next seven minutes.  Freshman forward Joy Adams scored eight of those twenty points and Iona had a 28-10 lead.

During this run, Adams drove for an impressive layup. It was right after this that Jaden and I noticed Coach Bozzella actually smile during a game for one of the rare times we could remember.  Freshman Aaliyah Robinson finished the first half by burying a three pointer and the Gaels went into the locker room up 36-17 at the half. Iona shot exactly fifty percent from the field in the first half.

After being a guest of the always terrific radio play by play man of the Iona Gaels, Nick Guerriero, on the halftime show, I was looking forward to see how this Gaels team would play in the second half.  Young teams often find it difficult to play consistently over forty minutes.    The Gaels wouldn't disappoint me in the second half.

Iona went out on a 15-6 spurt over the next six minutes to go up 51-23 with fourteen minutes left in the game. Freshman point guard Aleesha Powell scored seven of those points whole Damika Martinez added six points during that spurt.  Powell was particularly impressive in the second half, scoring ten points in the final twenty minutes of the game.  She was also very much under control and shot three of five from beyond the arc and six of ten from the field for the game.

Bozzella rested his starters for much of the second half.  Eleven players played seven or minutes on the day.  But the reserves didn't let up on the Raiders as the Gaels lead never dipped below twenty three points the rest of the way.  After losing to the Raiders by twenty five points a year ago, the Gaels returned the favor, leading from start to finish as they won by twenty six points, 73-47.

Martinez led all scorers with seventeen points, while Powell added fifteen points and Adams added another double double with ten points and twelve rebounds.  D'Angelo had a strong game at point guard with six assists and only one turnover.   In the final thirty minutes of the game, Iona had twenty assists and only seven turnovers.

The Gaels also did a terrific job on defense. They held the Raiders to twenty seven percent shooting from the field and had fifteen steals, scoring sixteen points off turnovers.  Finally, Colgate's Jones, who had scored fifteen points vs. Iona in the Raiders' win last season, was held scoreless on the day, with only five shot attempts for the game.

Afterwards, Mal, Tieff and I went up to see Coach Bozzella (Jaden left to cover the St John's game last night), Associate Head Coach Christi Abbate and Assistant Coach Lauren DeFalco.  It was good to be around so many old friends again.  We talked about our families, our Christmas plans, college basketball of course, golf and the next women's game against Stony Brook on December 30.

This was the first of many New York college basketball games that I will be attending over the next several days while I am back up here.  After every Iona women's game, the PA system plays "Back in the New York Groove" .

While it lasts, it truly is good to be back in a New York college basketball groove.