Thank God For Repetitive Programming

As I noted in my previous post, this is a very busy time of year for me at work.  When I get home in the evening, I am dog tired.  And often during this time of year, when I get home, I tend to make the mistake of falling asleep on my bed around 9:00- 9:30.   Knowing this, on Tuesday night  I was hoping the Oakland vs. Tennessee game was on #pixelvision, so I could watch it on my laptop and not have to trek upstairs and watch ESPNU while on my bed.

Alas, it was not.  I decided to stay downstairs and keep track of the game while playing with the kids in the living room.   But as both my sons Matthew and Jonathan fell asleep,  the bedroom called and despite being exhausted,  I was fortunate enough to stay up Tuesday night to watch the end of the second half of this game.  And I was treated to being able to watch the entire 13-0 run the Golden Griz used to propel themselves in defeating the Volunteers on their home court.   It was stunning.

If you are one of the few, the proud, the readers of this site, you know that the Golden Grizzlies were one of the top 13 teams in my first Mid Majors Baker's Dozen poll.   Oakland has played an absolute gauntlet of a road schedule - West Virginia, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Tennesssee.  And they still have to face Michigan and Ohio State, both of which, of course, are on the road.

The Golden Griz have played what are known as guarantee games, or unfortunately known as "Body Bag Games", where a Power Six conference team offers a decent amount money to a mid major conference team to play at the Power Six team's home arena.   Usually that mid major road team gets killed, thus the term "Body Bag Game".  And for a team that's as talented as the Golden Grizzlies are, the games also provide stiffer competition than they will face in the Summit League (no offense to the Summit folks).

Oakland had a similar schedule last season when they played Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan State, Memphis and Syracuse.  It prepared them for the Summit League where they went 17-1 during the conference regular season and won the Summit League Tournament.   The Golden Grizzlies would eventually lose to Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  But Oakland finished with a RPI of 65, which is very respectable for a a mid major team.

Now the difference between this season and last season is where as Oakland was basically slaughtered in their non conference games against top opponents last season, this season, the games have been much closer.  The Golden Griz held their own against Purdue until late in their game and lost by 15.  Oakland led Illinois for twenty five minutes before losing 74-63.  And of course, Oakland only lost by a point at Michigan State.  The only blowout loss was to West Virginia (and the Golden Griz also lost at Wright State).

So you had the setup of the Grizzlies playing a very good #7 Tennessee team that I got to see a couple of times during the NIT Season Tip-Off at MSG.  First, I saw the Volunteers hold off the Rams of VCU in a very entertaining semi-final game. Then, I saw the first half of Tennessee's solid win over Villanova in the championship game two days later.  And to top all that, the Volunteers beat #3 Pittsburgh last weekend.

As I noted, I had been following the first half on my laptop and saw that Oakland led for a good part of the first half until about a little less than seven minutes left.    Then Tennessee went on a 21-8 run to end the half up eleven, 50-39.   I thought to myself, "Looks like Oakland missed another opportunity."

But the Griz wouldn't quit and when I checked the score a little bit later, Oakland was down only four, 64-60.   After taking care of couple things, I headed upstairs finally.  The score was 76-68 Tennessee and I was about to witness the comeback that gave Oakland the 89-82 win.

Now I certainly had watched Oakland's Keith Benson in action from the Summit Championship game vs. IUPUI last season, as well as the first round game vs. Pittsburgh and knew he was a force.  But Benson had a lot of help during that run Tuesday night.   Ledrick Eackles (yes, the son of Ledell Eackles), Will Hudson and Luther Wright all contributed along with Benson in the run.   The Golden Griz scorched Tennessee's vaunted defense with 53.6 percent shooting from the field.  Wright scored 19 points, Hudson added 17, and Eckles had 12 points for Oakland.

But Benson was the main force for the Golden Griz with 26 points and 10 rebounds.   He was 9 of 16 from the field, including two 3 pointers and a perfect 6 for 6 from the line.  During the run, I saw Benson hit a long 2 point jumper.  At 6 foot 11, with the skills to not only score inside but shoot from the outside, Benson, who averages nearly 19 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, has a legitimate chance to play in the NBA.  But first, he will continue to wreak havoc in the Summit League.

So now it was 2:30 in the morning and I was about to see Louisville host Drexel at the KFC Yum Center (more on that later) and one of my favorite coaches, Bruiser Flint.  Flint is by far the most animated coach in the CAA and I would go to Drexel games just to see him work the referees and his own players.  He is just downright hilarious.

One of my all time favorite Bruiser moments is when Drexel played Hofstra earlier this year in a blizzard.  Hofstra's Chaz Williams (now at UMass) was fouled on a successful layup attempt at the buzzer at the end of the first half.   Everyone had left the court sans Williams...and Bruiser.  As you can see from the picture, Bruiser went over to talk to the ref about the play.  Meanwhile the other two refs were with Williams at the free throw line.   They ended up shooing Bruiser off the court in one of the most comical moments I have seen in a game ever.

Bruiser's Dragons are known for three things - defense, rebounding and lots of fouls.  If Old Dominion is the "Ground and Pound of College Basketball", then Drexel is the "Low and Slow of College Basketball".  That's because the Dragons like to keep the score low and they like to slow the pace.  They are rugged and they love to be physical.

And Tuesday night was no exception.  Nine and a half minutes into the game and neither team had broken double digits in scoring.    Now double digit fouls, that's another story.  The two teams combined for as many fouls in the first half as Louisville had points, 23 (Drexel had 14 fouls while Louisville had 9).  And Drexel only had two more points than that thanks to a Chris Fouch three at the buzzer.

The Cards came out in the second half and went on a 10-1 run in a little over three minutes to take a 33-26 lead.  During the run both Samme Givens and Daryl McCoy picked up their third fouls which matched teammates Derrick Thomas and Gerald Colds, who got all theirs in the first half.  This led to a classic comment later in the game when Chris Fouch picked up a foul and the announcers stated "Fouch, one of the few Dragons not in foul trouble..."

As I aforementioned, Jerry Beach and I were IMing during this repeat of the game.  He doesn't get ESPNU thanks to having Optimum courtesy of the wonderful people at Cablevision (yes that's oozing with sarcasm).  But whether it's due to me having FIOS or it's just the lovely folks at ESPN trying to pay their bills, during the timeouts I was subjected to the Mind Freak, Cris Angel and his "Platinum Magic Kit".   It is the cheesiest commercial out there at the moment.  And I was subjected to this commercial a couple of times and of course I noted this to Beach.

Meanwhile, Louisville went colder that one of the Colonel's biscuits in the refrigerator and their shots clanked off the rim just as hard as those biscuits.  Louisville's last lead was 42-41 with 8:09 left in the game.  The Cardinals would score just one field goal and two free throws over those last eight plus minutes.

Now Drexel wasn't much better, but the Dragons were good enough.   Givens hit a layup to give Drexel the lead 43-42, then Gerald Colds, who led the Dragons with 20 points, hit two free throws to extend the lead to 45-42 with 7:52 left  Then both teams went scoreless for the next three plus minutes until Yannick Formbor hit the last field goal for Drexel for the game to put them up five 47-42.  The remaining five Drexel points came on free throws.

Both teams were putting dents in the rim at the free throw line as they each went 12 of 25 from the charity stripe.  Drexel held Louisville to 32 percent from the field and they dominated the boards.  The Dragons had as many rebounds as the Cardinals had points, 46, while outrebounding them by 20.  My favorite rebound of the night was by Givens, who had eight points and ten rebounds.  On one rebound, Givens one handed the ball with his left hand while wrapping his right arm around the Louisville defender. 

They interviewed Flint after the upset.  In his gravely voice, Bruiser summed up the 52-46 win best saying "We just defended and rebounded."  The Dragons had so quieted the home crowd that when the Louisville pep band played "My Old Kentucky Home", it sounded like a funeral dirge.

Now I know that Louisville's new arena is supposed to be gorgeous and I am sure it is.  But when the announcer talked about the arena, calling it "The Palacial Yum Center", it almost sounded like an advertisement for a strip club or a whorehouse.  Here's hoping that either they find a new sponsor for the arena or the folks at KFC consider a name change. 

After a few more messages back and forth with Mr. Defiantly Dutch, where he noted that the upsets by the two mid major teams were the lead on SportsCenter,  I wished him a good night and logged out.  Mission accomplished.  I got to see the Oakland comeback one more time and I saw Drexel beat Louisville in its entirety.   For one night, there was something to be said for repetitive programming.

Now if there was just a way to get rid of that mind freaking Cris Angel commercial.

Slow Turning

I am a huge John Hiatt fan.  Have been since "Perfectly Good Guitar" came out years ago, and I have seen him in concert numerous times.  I will again when he is at the Beacon Theater on January 22 on his tour with Lyle Lovett.   Hiatt is a terrific singer/songwriter who I have always thought had the ability to see the little things in life and make great music out of them.  And thus the impetus for this article today.

I know haven't written anything since Sunday.  And there's good reason for that.  I have a full time job overseeing an IT department at an academic institution.   This is the time of year that's most busy for me, thus when I come home, I am very tired.  And since I tend to write my articles late at night or very early in the morning, right now, the creative writing juices in my brain simply don't flow during this time of year.  Tuesday night, when I saw the great comeback by Oakland vs. Tennessee,  I managed to barely stay awake at the end.  Then, with my pillow calling me, I fell asleep right before the next great upset on Tuesday night as Drexel upset Louisville.

Thankfully, in a twisted sort of way, I woke up at 2:15 AM Wednesday morning.   Thanks to ESPNU's repetitive programming (more on that in my next post), I watched the comeback again and then was able to watch the replay of Drexel vs Louisville on the U while IMing with Mr. Defiantly Dutch, Jerry Beach about how Pschalnikov in Russian stands for five fouls (that's for all you VCU fans out there).   Yes, CAAZone, bloggers never sleep.

So, I have material to write about for the next few days, but it's been very hard to come up with something that I consider cohesive or meaningful yet.  If you read my five year anniversary post, I don't like to regurgitate games.  It's trying to paint a picture, similar to what my favorite broadcaster of all time, Vin Scully does or how Beach or Kyle Whelliston write their articles.

Writing this college basketball blog has always been a labor of love.   I don't if I would call it a hobby necessarily, because to me it's more of a passion.   A few years ago, I seriously considered becoming a college basketball writer and a friend suggested a site where I could write about women's basketball and get paid for it.   Thought about it long and hard.

But the last couple of years, I have seen the trials and tribulations of two of my favorite sports writers.  One,Whelliston, whose terrific writing is supported by many loyal donor readers, including myself.   Occasionally, you can read in his stories about the loneliness of being on the road.    I have been always amazed at how he does the long road trips by car.  I have done long road trips for baseball, and I have done some long road trips for basketball (usually my basketball trips are day trips, sans the CAA Tournament).  But the long road trips are generally few and far between and just about always have been with my good friend Tieff.  So rarely do I take a trip alone.

I just read the book of my other favorite sports writer, Jerry Beach.   "Fighting Words" is a terrific baseball book about the inside world of the Boston Red Sox media.   In it, he talks about the long days for writers having to cover the Red Sox and how that encompasses most of the season, including now the offseason.  And the book clearly shows that's how it has to be done, to feed the frenzied hunger for baseball news of  the Red Sox Nation.

There is seemingly is very little time in a sportswriter's world for their family and if so, there are periods of time when they are on the road alone and don't see their families for days, weeks even months seemingly.   And that's the life of a sportswriter or even a SID (Sports Information Director), which I thought about as well.  I know someone very well in basically that position, and he has told me the long hours he works in his position.  It's a really unsung job, because they write the articles for their school's teams all year long, and their articles for the most part are quite good and occasionally quite influential.

A little over five years ago, I made a choice, one that I am so truly happy with.  My wife and I had our first child, Matthew.   A little more than two years later. we had our second child, Jonathan.   You see the choice was that I decided to have a family.   And I want to be around them.  I grew up with a deadbeat dad, who when he was home, didn't have time for us anyway.  I have not seen him since I was 13 years old.   And i have no interest in seeing him ever again.  When my mom passed away last year, I said to my wife "I have no parents left."

So it is important to me that I am there for them, that I provide for them and the joy they bring me is immeasurable.  And it's not as if I don't like my current job.   I love my job, so much so that I have been there for seventeen years, which is a lifetime in the world of technology.   My job is never dull, and I am not behind a desk all day.  I am often at meetings, overseeing projects, planning for the future, working with people and I solve problems.  I like solving problems.

It's funny when people hear that I have been at a position for 17 years, they ask why don't you move up or move somewhere else up the food chain.  Don't get me wrong, if the right position comes along in North Carolina, I won't pass it up because the cost of living on Long Island is astronomical, plus I love it down near Raleigh/Durham.  However, I have seen from friends and certainly in college basketball where people/coaches leave a good thing for another often due to ambition.  And they end up either not liking what they do or in the case of college coaches not being as successful as they thought (and often end up being fired).  I have seen friends change professions or go back to a level they are comfortable with, which i have seen with college coaches as well.

However, if you like where you are, the people there like you, you are constantly learning and improving, and things are generally good,  why not stay?  There's nothing wrong with being successful and being happy where you are for a long time. Hey, it's worked for Stew Morrill.

Thus, the title of this article is from one of my favorite John Hiatt songs, "Slow Turning".  In it, Hiatt sings about coming to the realization of what your life is about, accepting and even enjoying it.  There are no more truer lyrics for me than below.

It's just a slow turning
From the inside out
A slow turning
But you come about, yeah.

Thus, I have come to the realization that my work life for now is in IT, that I have deadlines and commitments and this blog is a part time labor of love.  So even during the college basketball season, you may not see an article on a daily basis.  That's because either something else is taking precedence or something just isn't coming to me that's article worthy yet.

That doesn't mean though you won't see me at a Waffle House in Maryland on the way back from a basketball game at Towson on a Saturday night, or at the Aunt Sarah's in Richmond before the CAA Semifinals, or desperately searching for a parking spot in Riverdale this Saturday night, as I go to Draddy Gym to see Manhattan host Hofstra  (I am certain I will have an article about THAT the next day).

For those of you who don't read this regularly, the main function of this blog is writing about seeing college basketball live.  However, I just don't do it on a full time basis.  That's probably why Mike Litos recently called me "an erstwhile blogger".   And for me, that's been a "Slow Turning".

And for me, that's just fine.

Jenkins Is Not Enough as FAU Holds Off Hofstra on Brad Kelleher Is Free To Play Day

Do you know this man?  He was a highly thought of JUCO player from Midland, Texas by way of Australia.   A supposed three point specialist/point guard who Tom Pecora thought would play 35 minutes a game for him last season for Hofstra.  Then somehow, the No Clue At All thought a registration form was a contract.  And Outback Brad became Out of Action Brad as the NCAA ruled him ineligible for the 2009-10 season.

Hofstra appealed and Kelleher would be eligible for the 2010-11 season...after sitting out eight games.  When Hofstra asked if they could count the exhibition games as one of the eight he could sit out, the NCAA, conveniently forgetting they allowed that for John Wall, said no.  Finally, on December 11, 2010, it was "Brad Kelleher Is Free to Play Day".

The Pride were taking on the Owls of Florida Atlantic, coached by Mike Jarvis, who when last seen in New York, was hightailing it out of town after running St John's into the ground.  Coming into the game, the Owls had won two games in a row, an impressive road win at Mississippi State and an equally impressive home win over South Florida.  So beating Florida Atlantic would be a difficult task for Hofstra.

But the Pride came out from the start seemingly up to the task.  Three Charles Jenkins three pointers combined with six Greg Washington points would put Hofstra up 17-10 with thirteen minutes left in the first half.  After a Mike Moore three pointer, the Hofstra lead was still seven, 22-15 with 11:09 remaining in the first half.

At this point of the game, the Pride had been shooting 9 of 14 from the field and it was a good thing they were, because the Owls were shooting 7 of 11.  The Pride had the lead due to both their hot shooting and forcing four Owls turnovers in those first nine minutes.

Not too long after a Shavar Richardson three cut the Hofstra lead to 22-18, the crowd of 2,514 all got to see a first.  Brad Kelleher entered a Hofstra basketball game that counted for the first time in his career.  He was inserted as the point guard replacing Dwan McMillan and made an immediate impact.  On a steal by Jenkins, Jenkins passed the ball to Kelleher, who drove down the lane and basically bull rushed Richardson, forcing the foul.  Kelleher hit both free throws and the lead was 24-18.

However, during this time, Hofstra went cold from the field while Florida Atlantic continued its hot shooting.  The Pride would not score a field goal over a span of eight and half minutes, scoring all their points on free throws during the frigid stretch.  While the giant Charles Jenkins head was watching in the Lions Den, two Charles Jenkins free throws would put Hofstra up five, 26-21 with 5:58 left in the first half.

Then came the Owls run.  Over the last nearly six minutes of the first half, FAU would outscore Hofstra 18-4.   A Greg Gantt three point play, followed by a couple of dunks off offensive rebounds, then topped with a Gantt two point jumper and a Brett Royster layup put Florida Atlantic up 31-26, a lead they would never relinquish.

After David Imes finally broke Hofstra's field goal drought with a layup to cut the lead to 31-28 with 2:39 left in the half, FAU responded again.  Two Alex Tucker free throws, a Raymond Taylor three and another three by Gantt sandwiched two free throws by Jenkins to give the Owls a 39-30 lead at the half.

When you took a look at the halftime stats, Jenkins had 15 at the half for the Pride, but Gantt led eight Owls scorers with 12 points.   The Pride, who had started out 9 of 14 from the field, only hit one field goal over the last nine minutes of the first half to shoot 10 of 24 from the field.  Meanwhile, the Owls were 16 of 28 from the field and were outrebounding the Pride 17-9.

These stats might explain why the Pride were so late out of the locker room before the start of the second half.  Probably Coach Mo Cassara was heavily preaching to his team to play better defense in the second half.   It would be the only way that Hofstra could get back in the game.  Well that and Mr. Jenkins.

Jenkins came out and scored the first eight points for the Pride as the one man force of nature tried to bring his team back.  However, the Owls were still up nine, 47-38 with 14:45 left as Taylor buried another set-shot looking three.  Jenkins and Dwan McMillan would score the Pride's next eight points and cut the lead to five 51-46 with ten minutes left.

The Pride would whittle away at the Owls lead as a Mike Moore three cut the deficit to 53-49.   A Jenkins three point play cut the deficit to one, 55-54.  But again, FAU would respond as a Gantt three with one second left on the shot clock, put the Owls up 58-54.  Jenkins would then hit one of two free throws, then follow with a layup to cut the lead back to one, 58-57 with 3:26 left.

The Pride then held the Owls on their next possession and had a chance to take the lead.  Yves Jules had an open look for a three but missed.  Taylor responded for FAU by burying another three, his fourth on the day and the lead was back to four 61-57 with 1:55 left.   Washington finally scored his first points since 16:17 of the first half and the lead was back to two, 61-59 with 90 seconds left in the game.

FAU's Taylor missed a shot, probably because it wasn't a three point attempt, and Hofstra had a chance to tie or, with a three, take the lead.  And everyone in the building knew who the ball was going to.  Jenkins got the ball, drove the lane and put up a layup attempt with his left hand.  The layup missed, and while Jenkins may have been fouled, no foul was called.  Kore White got the rebound for FAU.

The Owls had the ball with 53 seconds left.  There were two choices in strategy here.  Hofstra could play defense and get the ball back with no less than 18 seconds left.  However they could be down two still or if the Owls made a basket, the deficit could be four or even five.    Or the Pride could foul and make it come down to the Owls making free throws on several one and one attempts.    We quickly would find out the decision.

With one foul to give, Dwan McMillan fouled Taylor with 45 seconds left.  The Owls called timeout to set their play, but immediately Jules fouled Taylor to put him at the line.  Taylor hit two free throws to put the Owls up 63-59 with 42 seconds left. 

Then FAU implemented a defense to deny Jenkins the ball the rest of the game.  As a result, McMillan attempted a three pointer that missed and FAU got the rebound and the Pride immediately fouled.  After Tucker missed the front end of a one and one free throw attempt,  the Pride again couldn't get the ball to Jenkins and Moore took a three pointer where from my vantage point he was definitely fouled.  But again, there was no foul.  The result was an air ball that again FAU rebounded.  Again, the Owls missed the front end of a one and one, and again it was McMillan who missed another three.  And again the Owls rebounded and ran out the clock, winning the game 63-59.  Jenkins did not attempt a shot over the last 50 seconds of the game.

The Pride played better defense in the second half, limiting the Owls to 24 points, but the nine point halftime deficit was too large a whole to dig out from.  Jenkins, aka The Force of Nature, had 32 points on 9 of 14 from the field, including several drives that had Owls' players just shrugging their shoulders as they had often no way of stopping him.  Jenkins was also 11 of 12 from the line. Jenkins is now shooting a ridiculous 58.8 percent from the field including 47.5 percent from three, while averaging over 25 points per game

But the Owls had better balance overall as they had three players in double figures.  Gantt had 17, Taylor had 14 on 4 of 5 shooting from beyond the arc and Tucker added 10.  They also dominated the boards, outrebounding Hofstra 30-21.  The Pride had no other scorers in double figures and Moore, who had 28 vs. Binghamton, only had 8 points on 3 of 11 shooting from the field.

And as for our recently freed hero, Kelleher?  Well he played seven minutes, going 0 of 2 from the field, including a three pointer that rimmed out.  He did hit his two free throws for 2 points.  I wished that he was out there during the end, because I thought the Pride needed a three point shooter out on the court.  Though he looked fine in his seven minutes of playing the point, there was no doubt he was probably rusty from lack of real game action (thanks No Clue At All!).  But there are at least 21 games left on the schedule (3 non conference, 17 CAA and at least the first round of the CAA Tournament).  Plenty of time for Outback Brad to become a hero to the Pride faithful.

Brad Kelleher Is Free To Play Day

Follow my updates for the Florida Atlantic Game @gmoore21566 on Twitter.

Hofstra Rallies to Beat Binghamton, Or How Charles Jenkins Overheated My Computer

After a very busy day at work on Wednesday, I picked up my younger son Jonathan from day care and got home.  Fed the dog, fed the younger son and we watched TV together till my wife got home with our older son Matthew   Then, I got a call from work on an issue and after giving some advice on the issue, I hung up the phone.  I told my wife what a crazy day it was at work and what the issue was on the phone.  Then I told her my plan to deal with the stress of the day and retreated with my laptop upstairs to my bedroom.

My plan was simple - Pay the one time fee of five dollars for the GoBearcats.com video feed of Hofstra vs. Binghamton.   It wasn't quite my CAA trifecta of a week ago, but the Pride and Bearcats would have my undivided attention.  The best stress reliever I know is college basketball.

In 2004, Tieff and I went to the Vestal Events Center in Binghamton to watch Hofstra defeat Binghamton 76-63.   The arena was basically new six years ago and we were quite impressed with the Bearcats home arena. But we wondered why build a new arena since Binghamton was barely now a Division I school in athletics, and it certainly had never been a basketball power.  And our thoughts seemed justified, when it wasn't even half full the night we were there.    

Well, Binghamton decided a couple of years after that they needed to justify the building of the thirty three million dollar Vestal Center.  And Lois DeFleur, the Binghamton University President empowered former AD Joel Thirer to hire Kevin Broadus to bring the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament.  And sure enough, Broadus did just that as Binghamton won the America East Championship in 2008-09.   No doubt DeFleur and Thirer were thrilled that a sold out crowd saw the Bearcats defeat UMBC.

But as I noted in an article in October of 2009,  a NY Times article noted that Broadus recruited players with shady pasts, which infuriated a lot of his fellow America East coaches.   And when one of Broadus' players, Emanuel Mayben, got arrested for cocaine possession and distribution, the whole program started to unravel.   Six players including Mayben were released from the team.  Broadus was then found to have violated several rules due to improper recruiting.  Thirer resigned, Broadus was put on indefinite reassignment and eventually was gone from Binghamton.  Finally, DeFleur resigned her post this summer.

As a result, a team that won the America East two seasons ago has taken several steps back.  Interim coach Mark Macon took over the leftovers of that ravaged team and limped to a 13-18 record last season.  This season, Binghamton won their first game over Colgate then proceeded to lose their next five games by a combined total of 117 points.

This was the Hofstra's first trip back to the Events Center since 2004.  The Pride had held their last six opponents to 62 points or less, while Binghamton had only averaged 45 points in their last five games.  And to top all of that, Kyle Whelliston wrote a Midmajority article on Binghamton last week, noting that "The 2010-11 Bearcats are, quite simply, one of the worst and most inept Division I basketball teams I have ever seen."  Thus you had the makings of what seemed to be a relatively easy Pride win.  However, the adage "But that's why they play the game" never had more truth to it than Wednesday night.

Right off the bat, the Bearcats hit four of their first five shots and  jumped out to a 9-6 lead with 16:20 left in the first half.   The Binghamton announcers noted that Macon had been working on a Princeton style offense in practice and implemented for this game. Surprise!  The Pride could not handle the Bearcats' cuts and Hofstra  immediately switched to a zone.

However, the suddenly red hot Bearcat offense was able to adjust and find the holes in the Pride zone.  Jimmy Gray hit a jumper at the top of the key.  Then after Mike Moore hit a jumper to put Hofstra up one, Gray followed it up with a three pointer to put Binghamton up two, 19-17 with 12:18 left.  After a Greer Wright layup made it 21-17, the Bearcats would continue to zone bust by hitting four consecutive threes to put Binghamton up 33-26 before Charles Jenkins' layup closed the gap to 33-28 at the half.

I had been tweeting updates of the game on Wednesday night @gmoore21566 and I noted that "If you are a #hofstra fan, considering #binghamton is 7 of 14 from 3 & Jenkins has only 7 pts, u have to b happy down only 5."   And a lot of that had to do with Mike Moore, in the middle of his biggest game of the year, scoring 15 points in the first half to keep the Pride in the game.  So you had to figure that Jenkins would get hot and that Binghamton would cool down from the perimeter.

Well you would only be half right.  The Bearcats picked up right where they left off as Wright buried another three to put Binghamton up eight, 36-28.   They would extend the lead to ten 47-37 on a Moussa Camara three pointer with fifteen minutes left in the second half.   Just think, Binghamton had already scored more points in twenty five minutes of this game than they averaged in their last five games.   And the Bearcats weren't done yet.

Binghamton extended their lead to 56-44 with 10:44 left.   The Pride seemingly had no answers for stopping the once inept Bearcat offense.  At one point, the Bearcats were 12 of 19 from beyond the arc.  And Wright was just killing the Pride, whether it was a long three or taking his man in the lane and hitting a layup or a short jumper.  What had been probably thought as an easy road win looked to be a long bus trip back to Hempstead for the Pride.

But Hofstra has the ultimate equalizer.  The two time Haggerty Award winner for best NYC metro player and the reigning CAA Player of the Year, Charles Jenkins.  And Jenkins has always been known for heating up in the second half.  And on Wednesday night, he didn't just heat up.  He became nuclear.

With the Pride down 59-52 with 8:32 left, Jenkins took over.  He would score 17 points in the span of five and a half minutes, culminating his scalding streak with a three pointer to put the Pride up one 71-70 with three minutes left in the game.  It was during this time that I noticed my MacBook Pro laptop starting to overheat.   I actually lifted my laptop off the bed to try and cool it off.  But I knew what was happening and was only delaying the inevitable.

Binghamton would regain the lead as Mr. Everything, Greer Wright, hit one of two free throws, then assisted on a Chretien Lukusa layup.  Wright, easily the Bearcats' best player, had a monster game on Wednesday night.   The six foot seven forward had 28 points, including four threes, seven assists and five rebounds.  Hofstra had no answer to stopping Wright until the end of the game.  The answer - foul him.

It turned out that Wright had one hole in his game, which ultimately cost the Bearcats the win in regulation - free throw shooting.  Down the stretch, Wright would miss four of his six free throw attempts, perhaps due to him being dogged tired from being Mr. Everything.   His last two missed free throws after Jenkins fouled him enabled Jenkins to hit a layup to tie the game at 75 on a layup with six seconds left and forced overtime.  It was Jenkins 30th and 31st points of the second half.

It was during this time that my laptop finally gave out from the heat caused by Jenkins scorching second half streak.  I had to race down to the entertainment room and watch the end of the second half and the overtime on my desktop.  My laptop would cool off, but not Hofstra.

In the overtime, Binghamton briefly went out to a lead, but Hofstra took the lead for good on a Mike Moore layup.  Jenkins's layup gave him 40 points on the night and a 80-77 lead for the Pride.  Moore would add five more points and with an exhausted Wright on the bench, Hofstra would survive the Events Center with an 89-85 overtime win.

Moore finally was Robin to Jenkins' Batman with his best game of the season, 28 points including 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and added 8 rebounds.  Jenkins and Moore combined to shoot 23 of 39 from the field while the rest of the team only shot 8 of 24.   Binghamton would end up shooting 12 of 29 from three, but only shot 10 of 20 from the line, which included Wright's ugly 6 of 14 from the charity stripe.  Gray added 18 for the Bearcats.

Binghamton's next game is today at an equally struggling Manhattan team, so there is hope for the new and improved Bearcats offense.  Meanwhile, Hofstra hosts Florida Atlantic as they welcome Brad Kelleher, freed from his NCAA gulag, in his first game as a member of the Pride.   And I will be there providing updates today on the game via my Twitter feed @gmoore21566.

As for my laptop.  Well it recovered from "The Charles Jenkins Experience".  But if it could talk, it would probably ask that I refrain from streaming any game video feeds involving Jenkins and the Pride.  However, I can't make that promise, so perhaps the next game I will watch on my desktop.

Just When You Think You Got The Answers...

I was a big fan of wrestling in the 80's.  One of my all time favorite wrestlers then was Rowdy Roddy Piper.   Piper has to be one of the funniest wrestlers ever and based on this recent internet skit, he still is.  His Piper Pit segments were downright hysterical.  And the above skit might have been the funniest one ever.   In this segment, Piper just verbally rips apart Frank Williams, who in wrestling terms, is a career "jobber", a guy who never won a match.  Piper finally decides to beat the jobber Williams up and throws him off the set.   And Piper finishes the segment with the classic line "Just when they think they got the answers, I change the questions!"

And that's a good lead-in to today's article.  There are times when you think you have a team figured out and then something happens that just leaves your head scratching.  And I will give you three teams today that fit that criteria.

I had been giving Old Dominion their props lately and deservedly so.  This is a team that so far this season had defeated Clemson, Xavier, Richmond and had Georgetown on the ropes for most of their game before losing by three points.   And I wrote my Ground and Pound article on the Monarchs before their terrific comeback against Richmond where Kent Bazemore put on a clinic over the span of six minutes in the second half.

So the Monarchs were 5-1 heading into their first CAA game at Delaware on Saturday. They were facing a Blue Hens team that finished at the bottom of the conference last season.   Now I know that in my CAA preview that I thought Delaware was much improved.   Little did I know that they would go out their home court at the Bob and defeat Old Dominion 75-67.   The Blue Hens dominated the Monarchs for the most of the game as ODU's last lead was 7-6 early in the first half.

Now there are just about always good reasons for why a good team loses to a lesser team.  Well first, usually the games are road games.  In this case, the game was at the Bob.  Check.  Another good reason is that the opponent's best player had a huge game.  Jawan Carter had 29 points on 6 of 12 shooting, all from beyond the arc and 11 of 15 from the line.  Check.   Another reason is ball possession.  The Monarchs only had 7 assists and 14 turnovers while the Blue Hens had only had 6 turnovers.  Finally, though ODU had 26 offensive rebounds, they couldn't convert the second chances as they shot 35 percent from the field.

Now one road loss to a supposedly lower half CAA team is certainly not a cause for concern, nor should it be a major factor if Old Dominion ends up having to fight for an at large NCAA bid.  However the Monarchs can't afford too many more losses like this.   But if any ODU fans had any concerns, the Monarchs alleviated them last night as they came from behind with a strong second half and came away with an impressive road win, 81-68 over East Carolina.   And by the way, Delaware knocked off a previously 7-1 Hampton team on their home court tonight.  So it looks like the Blue Hens are much improved.

Another team that suffered a head scratching loss was Texas on Sunday night to USC.  Now I saw Texas play quite impressively vs Illinois in the 2K Classic at MSG.  The Longhorns beat the Fightin Illini 90-84 in OT.  The Longhorns would barely lose to Pitt the next night in the championship game.   Texas was playing the Trojans on their home court.  But USC had struggled mightily so far.  The Trojans lost at home by TWENTY to Rider and had lost two straight to Nebraska and TCU.   Texas hadn't lost since losing to Pitt and were ranked #20 in the country.

So, what happens?  Of course, USC wins by 17 over Texas.  And you had factors similar to the ODU/Delaware game.  Road game at Galen Center.  Check.  Trojans best player has a huge night.  Nikola Vucevic scores a career high 24 points.  Check.    Team shoots poorly from the field.  The Longhorns shoot 32 percent on the night.  Check.

The Longhorns have games coming up against North Carolina next week and a few days after at Michigan State so they will need to right themselves quickly.  Judging by the way they played against Illinois and Pitt, I think they will be ok.

Then last night, St John's hosted St Bonaventure.   The Red Storm had been on a roll.  Since losing their first game on the road to a good Saint Mary's team, St John's had won five straight.  Grant you, their best win was the Great Alaska Shootout Championship win over Arizona State, but still 5-1 is a decent record.  So you would think that the Jonnies would beat the Bonnies last night at Carnesecca Arena.

Well, guess again.  An Andrew Nicholson shot with five seconds left gave St. Bonaventure a one point win, 67-66 over St John's.   How did the Bonnies beat the Jonnies?   Well, Michael Davenport and Nicholson combined for 41 points.   The Bonnies also outrebounded the Red Storm 35-24.  Finally,  throw in St Bonaventure shooting 18 of 22 from the line while St John's shot only 10 of 20 from the line.  Mix well and you have an upset for the A10 team.

Finally, I wanted to note an interesting article from "The Dagger", the Yahoo Sports National College Basketball blog.  The College of Charleston snagged a Top 30 prospect in Adjehi Baru, a six foot nine inch forward from the Ivory Coast.  Now apparently Baru was being courted by North Carolina, Kentucky and Maryland..  But apparently CofC coach Bobby Cremins, no stranger to recruiting players for an elite Power  6 team in Georgia Tech,  said Charleston had something for Baru that the other three schools didn't have.

"Once I went out and saw (Baru) play in July, I thought his recruitment would blow up but the family kept telling me that all he talks about is Charleston, Charleston, Charleston," Cremins said. "What a beautiful city it is, the beaches, the warm weather. They told me not to give up."

Now having been in Charleston myself for the inaugural 2008 Charleston Classic, I can tell you all of that is true.  Charleston is a fun city.  You are right on the water, the warm weather (we were there in November and it was in the 70's/80's), the great food and the nightlife.  And the school is in the heart of the city.  It's really a great place to go to school.

Now, what also probably helped get Baru is that Cremins offered a scholarship to Baru's friend, Patrick Branin, who is also the son of Baru's guardian, Tim.  Now even Cremins basically admits this was a two for one deal by describing Bramin as a practice player.  He goes further about Patrick Bramin saying "Can he ever start here? Right now, no. But he can definitely help us in practice and who knows he might get better".

But hey, at least Cremins is honest and if you don't think the Power 6 schools do similar things, well I have a lovely bridge in Manhattan for sale.  Remember, just when you think you got the answers...

Follow Binghamton - Hofstra Action on Twitter

I will be posting updates at@gmoore21566 as I ponied up the $5.00 for the gobearcats.com feed.

A Strong Second Half Surge Propels Hofstra Over Towson

It's always strange how conferences sneak a conference game in the first week of  December and then don't play again until January.  Such is the case with the CAA, which teases its fans by having a full conference slate on the first Saturday of December and then don't play again until the new year.  At the Mack, it was Towson vs. Hofstra for a 4:00 PM matchup.

The game started with a nice touch on the National Anthem as the Hofstra Dance Team, Hofstra Cheerleaders and the Boy Scouts unfurled a large American flag before the anthem started.  The cherry on top was a nice rendition of the national anthem.

Then it was onto tipoff and the game itself.  The Tigers were looking for their first road win after sneaking by Western Michigan at home.  Meanwhile, the Pride were coming off an impressive ten point win on the road over Rider and looking for their third straight win.

Hofstra continued early on their solid defensive work from their win over the Broncs and held Towson to just two points in five minutes, while holding a 7-2 lead. The Pride were winning 12-7 when the Tigers found their offensive rythym and scored the next eight points as Isaiah Philmore scored the last four points in that run to put the Towson up 15-12 with 10:36 left in the first half.  The teams would then exchange the lead several times over the next five minutes.

But Rashawn Polk's second three of the night, followed by a Philmore three point play put the Tigers up seven, 30-23 with 4:08 left.  The Pride would score six straight to cut the lead to one.  But Towson responded with the final four points of the half, including Brandon Dupree's putback of a Troy Franklin airball to put the Tigers up five, 34-29 at the half..

Towson shot 52 percent from the field in the first half while Hofstra only shot 34 percent, including 2 of 11 from beyond the arc. Philmore (13 points) and Polk (10 points) both scored in double figures. Yet the Pride stayed in the game due to ten more field goal attempts, a result of ten offensive rebounds to the Tigers' five in the first half.  Hofstra's bigs had foul trouble though. Greg Washington had as many fouls, three, as blocks.  Stephen Nwaukoni had two fouls in four minutes.  As a result, coach Mo Cassara used a smaller lineup for a period of time that consisted of Charles Jenkins, Shemiye McLendon, Mike Moore, Dwan McMillan and David Imes as the lone big.

Perhaps realizing that he only had seven points in the first half,  Jenkins was truly "Charles in Charge" to start the second half.  Jenkins scored the first five points of the second half and the first seven Hofstra points as the Pride tied Towson at 36 with 17:27 left in the game.  The teams would go back and forth for a while.  The Tigers would take a lead, then the Pride would tie it.  Hofstra would finally take the lead, 48-46 on two free throws, from who else, Jenkins with 11:44 left.

Hofstra would extend the lead to four but Towson came back as Troy Franklin, who scored 10 points in the second half, buried a three to tie the game at 52 with 8:32 left.  Again, the Pride and the Tigers traded baskets.  A Jenkins three put the Pride up three, but Polk hit his third three of the game to tie it up.  After Dwan McMillan hit a layup, Josh Brown matched it with his own layup and the game was tied at 57 with 6:34 left.

Then came the turning point of the game. With 6:19 left, Imes drove the lane and was fouled as he put up the shot.  The ball dropped neatly into the basket.  Imes would hit a free throw to put the Pride up 60-57.  Brandon Dupree would miss two free throws in part due to the ingenious Hofstra crowd chanting loudly "Look at Him" while pointing to one of the fans right behind the basket in what seemed to be a Ralph Cramden bus driver fat suit.  I kid you not.

From there, the run was on.  Imes hit a jumper to put the Pride up five.  A McMillan layup put them up seven.  Two Moore free throws made it nine.  In the span of not even three minutes, the score was 66-57 and the Tigers never recovered.

The final dagger to Towson is pictured to your left.  Jenkins nailed another three, his fourth of the game, to put Hofstra up thirteen, 71-58 with 2:15 left.  After four Tiger free throws cut it to nine, Mike Moore ended the scoring burying another three and Hofstra had the win 74-62.

Again it was a tale of two halves.  Towson would only shoot 35 percent of the field with half their field goals, four, being from beyond the arc.  Philmore only scored 2 of his 15 points in the second half, while Polk only scored 5 of his 15 points in the second half.  Franklin added 12 for the Tigers.

Meanwhile, Hofstra shot 52 percent in the second half including a scorching 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. As usual, Jenkins saved his best work for the last 20 minutes, scoring 19 of his game high 26 in the second half, including 3 of 3 and 4 of 4 overall from beyond the arc.  Jenkins is now averaging 22 points per game while shooting 57 percent from the field on the season.  Mike Moore had 15 points for the Pride, while David Imes had a double double, 11 points and 10 rebounds.   Finally Dwan McMillan had 10 points for the Pride.

The two most impressive stats in the game though had to be that a) Hofstra had one, yes one turnover in the second half only and six for the game.  The Pride also dished out sixteen assists while forcing sixteen Tiger turnovers.  And b) Hofstra shot a perfect 12 of 12 from the line for the game, which was one less free throw than Towson had, though the Tigers had ten more attempts.  After giving up 107 points to North Carolina, it was the fifth consecutive game Hofstra held their opponent to 63 points or less.

Hofstra's next game is Wednesday night at Binghamton.  Towson's next game is also Wednesday night as they travel to George Washington.

Back at the Mack

For Towson-Hofstra updates follow my Twitter feed @gmoore21566. Good to start CAA conference action today.

Retrospect - Part II - Looking Back on Five Years of the College Hardwood

Earlier this week, when I started thinking about that this blog was going to be five years old today, all sorts of memories came back.  Images of  past live college hoops games I have been at suddenly flooded my mind -  regular season classics, seven years of CAA Tournaments in Richmond, the 2008 Regional in Raleigh.  All the road trips, oh the road trips!  So many great players with so many great individual performances.  It's so hard to try to encompass them all in one retrospective article, but I will try.

First, how did this blog get started?  Well much credit goes to my dear friends, Tieff and Mal.  My fellow partners in crime for Hofstra season tickets.  They thought I had a vast knowledge of college basketball and particularly the CAA.   They encouraged me during one Hofstra home game to start writing about my knowledge.  Thus I started "College Basketball Featurning CAA Men's Basketball and thus my first article, which I dusted off and brought it back to light yesterday.

And oh what a first season the blog witnessed.  2005-2006 was the CAA's coming out party.  Back in December of 2005, I honestly thought it would come down to Old Dominion and Hofstra.  But even then, if you read my December 4, 2005 CAA Preview on the above link, I honestly thought you would see the CAA have multiple bids that season.  And we all know what happened there.  But I also mentioned in that first article that Mason had to play much better defense to be successful.  And the Patriots ended up being in the Top 10 in the nation in scoring defense and we all saw what happened as a result.  Well almost everybody, except Billy Packer.

And being a Hofstra fan, as well as a season ticket holder, I got to see so many great Pride, err Flying Dutch  games that season and several were on the road.  Whether it was the wild overtime win at Drexel in Philly, the last second heroics at home vs. ODU, the wild Bracketbuster game vs. Siena where Fran McCaffery AND his wife got thrown out of the game,  Hofstra won some incredible games.

Then came the CAA Tournament, which Mal, Tieff and I attended,  where I really thought any of four teams could win it all (UNCW, Mason, Hofstra and ODU) plus you had two good teams that could pull off upsets in Northeastern and VCU.  Only UNCW came out of their quarterfinal game unscathed.   Northeastern upset Old Dominion, then in the night session, few people remember that Mason had to rally against Georgia State to force overtime, then won in the OT session.  Then in the final game of the evening, Hofstra went out to a big lead thanks to Antoine Agudio (Antoine Agreatio as Litos called him) and held off VCU and the refs in front of a partisan Ram crowd.

Finally there was the semifinals where Noreaster never gave the Seahawks a game in their semifinal.  Then you had the antithesis in the nightcap.   In the game that a lot of people thought was going to decide the second CAA bid to the tournament, Hofstra took on Mason.   The Pride, er Flying Dutchmen rallied from a halftime deficit with perhaps their greatest 20 minute defensive effort ever and took down the Patriots.

The game will also live in infamy for the Tony Skinn groin punch on Loren Stokes, captured by a Wilmington North Carolina  TV crew. Despite the punch, seeing the ending of the game with the Pride winning might have been one of my greatest highs ever.  And the ride home was equally as great a high as the three of us tried to figure out what seeds the winner and the loser of the CAA championship game would have in the NCAA Tournament.

As noted, we didn't stay for the final, where UNCW defeated Hofstra, but a good number of "experts' figured that with Hofstra sweeping Mason during the season, the Pride, err Flying Dutchmen would make the NCAA Tournament as an at large.   I even wrote the first Moore Primer, which I STILL think is the best set of rules for deciding whether a prospective at large team should make the tournament.

Of course, one week later after the highest of highs, I, along with many others suffered the lowest of lows.  So many of us were stunned to see Hofstra left out and Mason in as the at large.  I have never thought Mason should have been kept out though and thought Air Force was the team that didn't and still doesn't deserve to be in.  Mason of course would go to the Final Four, while UNCW would blow a huge lead vs. GW and lose.  Meanwhile Old Dominion did beat Hofstra finally...in the quarterfinals of the NIT and also end Hofstra's home winning streak.  Overall, a 9-4 postseason men's basketball postseason record in 2006 is perhaps the greatest accomplishment in the history of the CAA.

2006-07 came full of hope and the season started for us on a road trip to Charlotte to see the Pride (sorry Beach, no more Flying Dutch references) take on the 49ers.  Nothing like golf and then basketball on a beautiful 80 plus degree day, which still makes me think I should move down south to Carolina.  Unfortunately Hofstra would play a game that was a harbinger of things to come, losing to Charlotte.  The season would basically end when the Pride were upset by George Mason in the CAA Quarterfinals (yes Hofstra went on and lost to DePaul in the NIT, but that was anti-climatic).

Still there were many things to be thankful for that season.  Watching so many games of the Hofstra guard trifecta of  Loren Stokes, Antoine Agreatio Agudio and Carlos Rivera.  Another multiple season bid as Old Dominion, on the strength of a road win at Georgetown, got an at large.   Then VCU continued the CAA streak of winning in the NCAA by knocking off mighty Duke in the first round.

2007-08 brought some of the greatest basketball memories I can think of.  The epic game by William and Mary vs VCU in the CAA Semifinals, still to this day the textbook example of how to beat a press team.  Then, thanks to Mal, aka Golfman, who was the leader behind the idea of  going to Raleigh for the NCAA first round regional, I got to see history live.  That being Stephen Curry's rise to the national spotlight as he and his Davidson team shot down Gonzaga and Georgetown on the Wildcats' way to the Elite Eight.  Words can't describe how electric the RBS Center was over those two days.

2008-09 brought some fun memories as Tieff and I were two of the several thousand people who christened the Kresse Arena for the inaugural Charleston Classic.  I also learned that Stephen Curry was more than just a great player, but a great human being.  I got to C.W. Post make it to the Elite Eight by winning their regional.  And finally, I saw before my eyes the next great Hofstra player, Charles Jenkins.

This past season, the 2009-10 season, the season really centered around one of my all time favorite road trips, a trip to Lawrence, Kansas.  It was truly a great experience to see Allen Fieldhouse, one of the great meccas of college basketball.  It was also involved a crazy road trip the day after a major snowstorm in December.  There was also a memorable game in March 2010 which involved Stony Brook hosting their first ever postseason game.

The 2009-10 season also brought about a great honor for me.  In late January of this year, Jeff Eisenberg who over sees "The Dagger", Yahoo Sports' National College Basketball Blog, asked me to be a part of the Blogger Power Poll, where a group of bloggers voted for the Top 16 teams in the country every Sunday from February through the beginning of March.   From the beginning of the poll till obviously the end, I had Butler ranked in every poll.   Of course, we all know what happened with Butler.

Of course this past season had a major coaching carousel.  Locally, several teams added new coaches including St John's, Fordham, Rutgers, Wagner, Hofstra and Iona.   In fact, Hofstra had three coaches in the span of three months - Tom Pecora who left for Fordham (which I knew weeks before it was official), Tim Welsh, who resigned and Mo Cassara, who was hired to replace Welsh and looks to be a terrific keeper.

But it's not been all about Division I Men's College Basketball.  I chronicled C.W. Post's meteoric rise to the Elite Eight in the 2008-09 season.  So much so, I promoted their coach for the Hofstra coaching position this past April and it turned out Iona chose our man.   Then there has been this site's long devotion to covering Iona women's basketball and how Tony Bozzella turned a cellar dweller program around into an annual contender for the MAAC title.   Finally, the one interview I did with a coach was with the terrific John Mateyko and how he built a Division III playoff team at St Joseph's in Patchogue.

And it wasn't just about college basketball.  As I mentioned before, it's about the camaraderie between three friends who equally love college basketball.  It's about the road trips and all the places I have seen up and down the Eastern Seaboard from Worcester, Massachusetts to Charleston, South Carolina.  From Stony Brook, New York to Lawrence, Kansas.

And all the places I have eaten in, from the now closed Pasta Luna in Richmond to Maggiano's in Philly, to Frank Pepe's in New Haven, to Hyman's Seafood in Charleston.  All the various Waffle Houses on road trips to Towson and Richmond.  All the various Aunt Sarah's Pancakes and the Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Richmond by the James River.  And of course, I will never forget Guy and Mae's Barbecue Tavern in Williamsburg, Kansas.

Much of my life has gone on during the College Hardwood.  My older son Matthew was a little over four months old when this blog started on December 4, 2005.  My younger son Jonathan was born on Saturday, November 17, 2007, only four and half hours after I watched Hofstra beat Manhattan overtime.  That lead to an infamous comment I made that "I saw two things in labor Saturday night; my wife and Hofstra."   In the five years of this blog I have dealt with depression, my younger son's kidney problems (which have all cleared up), betrayal by once a dear friend and suffered a great loss.

This blog actually has not been always a one person show.  I have also had several people along the way write for this site, albeit briefly. Jeff Hufnagle briefly wrote for the site in April 2006.   Then Mr. MAC himself, Tom Kemp wrote a few articles for the site after I was very impressed with his comments on some of my articles.  I still have Tom's number on my cell phone, so I have to call him one of these days.  Finally, last season, Jerry Beach of Defiantly Dutch and I did a blog swap. Here's his article on my site and here's my article on his site.  I hope we do another blog swap this season.

This blog has also never been afraid of criticizing those in power, whether it's criticizing the No Clue At All for inconsistent punishment of players or ESPN for watering down the Bracketbusters.  The College Hardwood has also taken a certain coach to task for his style of play at the end of close basketball games.  It's also been a conduit for controversy for not being afraid to say what others might not like.    I stand by what I have written on this site and will not make apologies.

If you have been one of the few, the proud, the dedicated readers of this site, you know that the emphasis has been on live college basketball,  If there is one thing that you have ever got out of this blog, it is the all important belief that you should see college basketball live.  College basketball is truly the greatest spectator sport to see live.  Two hours of constant action, great pep bands, beautiful cheerleaders, and often loud wonderful crowds with ingenious fans.  Hopefully I have brought some of that to light for you.

I also want to give a shout out to three people whose writing I admire and respect.  Mike Litos is CAA Basketball, and I love the in depth work Mike does and really appreciate being called an "erstwhile blogger" by him.   Mr Defiantly Dutch, Jerry Beach is one of the most talented writers I know and I will be doing a book review soon of his baseball book "Fighting Words - The Media, The Red Sox and the All Encompassing Passion for Baseball in Boston".  I have read half the book so far and it's a truly fascinating look into how important the Red Sox are to Boston.  But even more importantly, how powerful the various Boston media members are that cover the Red Sox.

And last but not least, thank you Kyle Whelliston for being a huge inspiration to me.  Your work at The MidMajority is truly phenomenal and has been an influence in my writing style.  I have tried to make my basketball articles be more like stories instead of regurgitation, and I have tried to pattern a little of that based on your work. Also, I really appreciate the occasional tweets promoting my work on your twitter feed.  Most importantly, thanks so much for the kind words over the years.  Some of those words have kept me and this site going through several tough times as I have mentioned above.

Finally, these five years wouldn't be possible for a dedicated group of readers.  I want to thank you all so very much for joining me on this journey, as the Moody Blues would say (and yes, Jerry, there had to be a Moody Blues reference in this article).  Especially,  I want to thank many of the CAA Zone members who often link to my articles in their posts.   It is so appreciated that you read my blog.  And to the one recent CAA Zone member who recently linked to my Hofstra-Wagner article on a thread and asked whether or not I sleep, well the answer is simple.  I have two young boys, thus sleep often is not an option.  So why not take advantage of that and write!

As I stated recently, due to deadlines and commitments, I don't know how much longer this blog will exist.  Heck, I didn't think it would last this long five years ago today.  But it's been a wonderful five year ride and it will continue for the near future. Besides, with the kids still little, what else is there to do in northeast winters but to go see college basketball games and write about them!

For me, the ability to try to paint a picture of a game I saw live, trying to emulate how Vin Scully, my all-time favorite broadcaster, calls baseball play by play, is something I dearly love to do.  Hopefully you have enjoyed five years of my artwork.  And thanks again for being a part of this journey.

Now go watch some live college basketball!

With Warmest Regards,

Gary Moore
The College Hardwood