Saying Goodbye to a Family's Best Friend

I know this doesn't have anything to do with college basketball.  But it does have to do with a dog loved by two college basketball fans.  Last night, we had to put to sleep our dog of eight years, Twinkie.   Last fall, Twinkie had a reoccurrence of a tumor that she has fought for several years.  The doctor at the animal hospital said there was nothing they could do this time (more on that in a little bit) and it was decided we would let it run its course.   She wasn't supposed to make it through Christmas.  But Twinkie is the toughest dog I have ever known and she made it through our fifteen year wedding anniversary, which was on Tuesday, June 7th.  But Twinkie became ill yesterday and we decided to put her to rest.

The story starts back in January of 2003.   We had moved into our new house in August of 2002.  Chelle and I both wanted to have a dog. She had a dog growing up named Jackie, who was still alive at this time.  I had a dog growing up, Gem Gem, who had died a few years prior.   We first got a dog, a male black lab/pit bull mix named Ace from North Shore Animal League.  But Ace had serious psychological issues (ie would attack you for no reason) and we brought Ace back to North Shore Animal League.

Undaunted by our experience with Ace, we decided to follow my brother's recommendation and we went to the League of Animal Protection in Huntington.  Our mission was simple.  We want to find a female dog that loved people.   A volunteer there, Maureen Hickey, recommended Twinkie, a three year old pit bull/boxer mix that was neglected by its previous owner.   We had looked at their web site ahead of time for dogs we were interested in and we had seen Twinkie.  Also, unlike North Shore Animal League, which seemed to have no documentation on Ace, Maureen pulled out a huge binder and went to Twinkie's section.  She described all of Twinkie's traits - housebroken, very good with dropping bones on command, very friendly.  And sure enough Twinkie was very friendly with us.   So we agreed to adopt Twinkie and brought her home.  Maureen would call us every so often to see how Twinkie was doing in her new home.  We knew right there Twinkie was something special.

Twinkie was a very well trained dog when it came to the house.  When she first was in the house, she stayed in a large crate during the day, since both of us worked.  When we got home, the crate was neat.  Twinkie would wait for us to get home and then would go outside and go to the bathroom.   Twinkie also loved and I mean LOVED running around the backyard.  I had never seen such a fast dog.  I told Chelle that I was considering training her for those ultimate dog competitions.  She was also the first dog I saw that actually fetched a stick.  You always hear or see about dogs fetching sticks.  But in all the years that I had known so many dogs, I hadn't seen one that would fetch a stick.  Twinkie would and she would drop it for you.

Eventually we stopped using the crate and let Twinkie stay in the house unimpeded.  She was great. She would just sleep on the couch.  She never touched anything other than her toys and bones.  We found out early on that she didn't like thunderstorms, because we found her one day under our bed.  That became a regular occurrence during fireworks or thunderstorms.

Twinkie had her faults.  Sometimes, you had to yell at her to do something.  Twinkie was at times mentally hard headed as she was physically hard headed.  Another fault was that you could not leave a gate open.  Twinkie liked to explore and liked to be free.  We found this out a couple of times early on.  You could catch her if you brought some treats.    Twinkie also loved to chase cats, because being your classic dog, she hated cats.   My neighbors two doors down the street have a black and white cat that loved being in our yard, and loved taunting Twinkie.

One day while I was in the city to work the first day of the New York State Bar in July 20003 (it was the first year the NY State bar allowed bar takers to take the first day of the exam on computer using the same exact exam software we use).  Chelle called me while I was heading to dinner with an old friend.  Chelle and I had this old routine.  Whenever one of us caught Twinkie doing something bad, we would tell the other "Your dog has been bad."   Well when Chelle called me that day she said "Your dog has been really bad."  I replied, "She ran through the fence?"   Chelle replied that she did.

When we moved into our house, we had an old wood fence.  We knew we had to replace it relatively soon due to the concern we had with Twinkie running through it to chase a cat.  And that's what she exactly did that night.  She chased the cat through the fence.  My wife had to go get treats and Twinkie's leash.  Shortly thereafter, we had a new PVC fence installed.  Later that year, on Thanksgiving day, the cat taunted Twinkie who was behind the screen door.  I let Twinkie outside to chase her away since the cat would leave immediately as the door opened.  Well, this time the cat fell climbing the fence.  Twinkie caught her and then right out of a cartoon, they rolled around the grass.  The cat got free and went three quarters the way up our large tree in the backyard.  The cat didn't come down for hours and never taunted Twinkie again.

2003 was a busy year for me and I needed to get away.  I told Chelle we had to go on vacation for a few days.  Chelle was insistent that we had to bring Twinkie with us.  Her reasoning was that she didn't want to leave her in a boarding kennel because she thought Twinkie would think we were putting her back in a shelter.  So we had to find a pet friendly city/town that we could have a vacation in.  Thus we chose Saratoga Springs.  The Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs allows for pets and there are several state and national parks in the area where you can walk a dog with a leash.  There are very few places on Long Island where you can bring a dog.

So we went up to Saratoga Springs for a couple of days.  We also happened to go right around the time of Americade.   When we were driving up Interstate 87, a couple of motorcyclists drove past us and Twinkie went ballistic, barking at them.  We found out right there that Twinkie hates loud noises, especially motorcycles.   When we walked Twinkie in town, we also learned that she liked to play tough dog to bigger dogs and barked at them incessantly.   While in a park, Twinkie also nearly caught a chipmunk, thus we found out she liked to hunt.

This came in to play later on in her life as she turned out to be a champion mouser and unfortunately also killed a baby opposum right in front of us.  If you were a four legged animal, you never went on Twinkie's turf.  Twice I witnessed Twinkie fight another dog.  Once a cocker spaniel came up from behind us off its leash.  Twinkie went into protect mode and attacked the cocker spaniel.  I had to pry away Twinkie from the cocker spaniel.   Another time, the neighbor down the street's black pit bull mix got off its leash and attacked Twinkie.  Twinkie responded by biting the dog on the nose.  That ended that fight.   She was incredibly sweet to people and especially her family.  But if you were a dog and you tried to attack her, you didn't mess with the Twinkster.

The trip to Saratoga Springs really taught us responsibility.  For having Twinkie around was basically like having a child.   We had her treats, her leash, a water dish, water, poop bags, you name it.  The only thing missing was diapers and a stroller.   The bikers staying in the Holiday Inn loved Twinkie, because she was so friendly.   But one day, we went to a walk up ice cream place in town.   While waiting on line, for the only time I could ever remember, Twinkie started barking at a man in the distance.  While Chelle and I wondered why she barked him, someone behind us on line said "Dogs can sense evil".  Turns out the guy was the town miscreant.  Twinkie simply knew it.

Around our neighborhood, word spread about the friendliest dog to people on the block.  Every day Twinkie wanted to go for a walk.  She knew the word "walk" and get all excited.  Chelle and I had to start spelling the word to keep her from getting so excited.  One day, she figured out that the spelling "W-A-L-K" meant walk and she got excited.  We then got use to asking her "Would you like to go for a W-A-L-K?"  She was always so happy.

Twinkie lived for walks.  It could be freezing out, ice on the sidewalk, snow everywhere.  Didn't matter to her.  And I had to walk her because she was incredibly strong.  Thank goodness for that harness which kept her relatively calm.  You couldn't walk her on a regular leash because she was so excited to be out walking that she would practically choke herself.

And the kids loved her.  She was called the "neighborhood mush".  Kids would stop playing and come up to her and play with her.  And she loved it.  She was the truly the most people friendly dog I ever met.  She loved my friend Tony especially and she loved playing with my brother.   After my next door neighbor Dan's dog passed away, his two girls Kayla and Rachel asked if they could play with Twinkie.  Twinkie happily obliged.

When our older son Matthew was born on July 26, 2005, he came home a few days later.  Twinkie knew that Chelle was pregnant but had no idea what was going to be the result.  When Matthew came home and cried for the first time, Twinkie not liking loud noises, bolted up the stairs and hid.   She got used to it though.  As Matthew got old enough to play with Twinkie, she was a little unnerved by his lack of motor skills.  But she got used to his hard patting of her and gracefully took a two year old's idea of petting the dog.  When Jonathan got older and patted her even harder, Twinkie barely batted an eye.

Matthew and Twinkie became quite friendly and their relationship became closer when Twinkie first developed her tumor on her right front leg in 2006.    When we went to the animal hospital, they did a biopsy and removed the tumor.  The doctor warned us that he didn't get all of it and that it would come back.  Twinkie hated the cone of silence she had to wear after the biopsy.

The doctor was right.  It would come back in the same spot.  In late Spring of 2008, it was decided that her front leg would be amputated so that we could spare her life from it.  When Twinkie came out of the surgery, she was quite sad.  The dog that loved going for walks and running around in the backyard now was short one leg and her life wouldn't be the same.

As I previously noted, Twinkie was a tough dog and she got used to have three legs.   She bolted up the stairs when it was time for Matthew to go to sleep.  She could still jump on our bed or the couch in heartbeat.   The only thing it really affected her was when we tried to take her for a walk.  She was able to walk for a little while, then struggled and she had to stop.  She was quite saddened by that and when we would leave for walks without her, she cried.   I had never heard her cry till that first time we left without her for a walk.

During this time, Matthew and Twinkie developed a very close friendship.   Twinkie no longer slept in our bed, but slept in Matthew's bed.  She would sit next to him on the couch, next to him on his Thomas chair, on the floor, wherever.  When Matthew went outside to play baseball or basketball, Twinkie followed.  They became best buds.

Matt would often feed Twinkie goldfish, pizza crust, cheerios, often anything.  And Twinkie being the ultimate mooch, loved it.   Over the years, Twinkie would eat everything, unfortunately including cicadas (which she quickly stopped after it made her sick).  She truly loved lettuce.  Often I would call her our forty five pound rabbit.  As Jonathan got older, when he was done eating, he would give his remaining goldfish, cheerios or pancakes to Twinkie.   Another close bond developed between them as shown by this picture.

In April of 2010, Twinkie had a checkup.  The doctor pronounced a clean bill of health.  The tumor had not reoccurred in over a year and a half, and it seemed Twinkie would lead a long life being best bud to two little boys.  But a few months later, she developed a bump around her hind quarter where her leg was amputated.   We went to the doctor.  The tumor had come back.  There was nothing we could do now but let it run its course.

Twinkie supposedly only had a few months to live.  But again she was one tough dog.  She was still happy when people came by, she still played with Matthew and Jonathan.  And she still slept in Matthew's bed.   Matthew knew about the tumor and was even more considerate and gentle with Twinkie than he already had been.   They were very close.   As I aforementioned, wherever Matthew was, Twinkie wanted to be there.  It made the inevitable now even harder.

A few months ago, Twinkie started losing her appetite.  She would still eat, especially treats and people food, but you would have to cajole to eat her regular food.  Often I would have to put cheese on the food for her to eat it.   She also did something she had never done.  Twinkie bit Jonathan out of pain when he accidentally hit her too hard in the tumor area.   She was hurting.  Another sign of her being in pain was that she would go behind the futon loveseat during the day.  It was her way of hiding and trying to find a place to rest.

Then about a month or so ago, Twinkie started losing control of her peeing and also started drinking a lot of water, often panting heavily.  She was still eating for the most part ,but she had now lost a significant amount of weight.  You could see her ribs and her backbone.  The end was getting closer.

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to a project manager chapter meeting.  For some reason, something was telling me not to go.  I figured it was due to the warm weather and I called Chelle and told her I was not going.  I was going to pick up Jonathan from day care as I normally do and then I figured we would go to the beach.

When I got home, immediately I noticed diarrhea all over the living room floor.  Twinkie apparently had a bad accident.  When I tried to call her out from behind the couch, she wouldn't come out as she normally would.   I had to pick her up and bring her outside.  She was quite warm as well.    I called Chelle and we decided it was time.    Chelle got home and we called her parents to see if they could come by.  Then we contacted the animal hospital to see if they could make the arrangements for putting Twinkie to sleep.  They said they could and that we should come by at 7:00 PM.

During this time, I brought Matthew outside and as simply and gently as I could, I told him what was going on with Twinkie and what had to be done.   He was heartbroken.  Twinkie had become his dog, his best friend and he didn't want her to go yet.   But through his tears, he understood this was for the best.  He fed her half a box of treats and stayed with her outside until we had to go.  When Chelle's parents came to watch Matthew and Jonathan, they both said goodbye to Twinkie.

As I drove to the East Meadow Animal Hospital, all the memories of Twinkie flooded my head.  From the first few months, the trip to Saratoga Springs, to all the walks, then to her growing up with the kids.  Chelle and I didn't say all that much on the 10 minute drive, outside of a reminiscing a memory or two.  We got to the animal hospital and one of the attendants who knows Twinkie immediately made contact with us. Chelle filled out the paperwork and we told the attendant we didn't want the ashes.  Our memories would be more than enough.

We sat in the waiting room for several minutes.   Normally Twinkie would always get nervous and want to bolt from there.  But in her condition, she was tired.  She simply laid down in my lap with both of us petting her.  One of the attendants came and took her to put a catheter in her left arm.   Then she brought Twinkie to a room and put Twinkie on a table covered with a blanket.   I put my arm to keep her on the table and we waited several more minutes as we kept petting her.   She knew the end was coming and seemed ready to accept it.

The doctor came in and we told him the history of Twinkie's tumor.   He could see how much weight she had lost and told us he was very sorry.  The doctor then told us the procedure.  It would be an overdose of barbiturates.  It would take about one minute. Twinkie remained calm as we petted her while he administered the dose.   We told her we loved her and would miss her.   Her eyes remained open as the doctor told us that she had passed away.   The doctor again said he was sorry as we both kissed her on the head and said goodbye.

We both left the hospital with tears in our eyes.   As we headed to the car, the doctor came outside and said that he thought we wanted these.  It was her collar and her tags.  We had completely forgot about them.  We thanked him for doing that and left for home.   When we got there Matthew and Jonathan were playing with Chelle's parents.  They left and we talked with Matthew.  Matthew couldn't grasp that she went to sleep for good and wondered when she would wake up.  Finally Chelle told him that she died and sadly he accepted it.

Afterwards, I decided to sit in the kitchen by myself and eat a piece of pizza.   When I finished it, I had left the crust, as I normally would for Twinkie.  It took me a second to realize that she was no longer there to eat one of her favorite foods, pizza crust.   It had really hit me.   She was gone.

This morning, Matthew woke up and came downstairs crying.  For the first time in two plus years, Twinkie was not there in his bed to greet him.   It will take him some time to get over this, as it will for Chelle and me as well.   Twinkie was our first child, my son's best friend.

We got such a great outpouring of condolences from many Facebook friends.  Many of those friends are law school alums.  When they were students, I had given presentations at Orientation about technology at the Law School.  My last slide was a picture of Twinkie with the preface that if you want to ask me a question, you had to ask first "How's Twinkie doing?"   Many students did exactly that and many of them remembered yesterday and today, the neighborhood mush, Twinkie.

One of my favorite songs is John Hiatt's "My Dog and Me".  In the song, Hiatt sings the following;

Buddy I coulda gone that extra mile
For an extra bark or an extra smile
Cause i never felt so free
It was just my dog and me

I would give anything right now for an extra bark or an extra smile from Twinkie.

May you be in peace my faithful friend.  Your family will always love and remember you.

The 2010-11 Hofstra Men's Basketball Season in Retrospect - Part II

After Hofstra's exciting 92-90 overtime comeback win over James Madison, the Pride stood at 8-1 in the CAA and 14-6 overall.   It was their best conference start since the 2006-07 team started out 9-1 in conference.  A lot of Hofstra fans were excited and one of them was me.  I ended up writing an article about the Hofstra-Madison game I attended for the Mid Majority's 800 Game Practice Run.  Kyle was kind enough to publish the article.

In the article, I not only wrote about the game itself but how "many of your thoughts, concerns, and hopes often lie with your team’s schedule and play."  And thus was the case with me.  I thought about the possibilities of Hofstra having a first round by in the CAA Tournament, how the win put the Pride three games up on the Dukes with the tiebreaker. Could Hofstra finally win at VCU?  For the first time since that 06-07 season, I thought Hofstra had a legitimate chance to make the NCAA Tournament and I was consumed about the Pride's chances in the CAA Tournament.

But there was much work left to be done for Hofstra in the regular season of the CAA.  And they had just embarked on the second CAA gauntlet week of the conference season.   The William and Mary and James Madison games were the first two games in a four game span over eight days.   But more importantly, over the span of nine days,  the Pride were going to play four of the top six teams in the conference.  Hofstra cleared the first hurdle beating JMU, but a road game with VCU, a home game rematch vs. Drexel and a road game rematch vs. George Mason loomed on the horizon.

Entering the nationally televised game on Thursday January 27, Hofstra was 0-7 vs VCU at the Siegel Center.  The Pride and the Rams came out early on and played "a track meet" as the ESPN announcers noted.  VCU's Jamie Skeen and Hofstra's Charles Jenkins were putting on an offensive clinic.   But the Rams would go on a late 13-1 run and turned a close game into a 46-29 lead.   The Pride never recovered and suffered their eighth straight loss at the Siegel Center, losing 82-67.   VCU now had sole possession of first place in the CAA and Hofstra fell into a tie for second with George Mason.

The Pride had a chance to recover two days later against Drexel at home.  It was a very special day at the Mack Center.  Charles Jenkins was set to break the Hofstra all time scoring record on "Pack the Mack" day, which was a sellout.  The crowd of 5,100 included an overflowed Lions Den, which was a sea of blue with all the students wearing Charles Jenkins #22 T-shirts that were given out to them before the start of the game. One of those 5,100 was all time Hofstra great Speedy Claxton, who is now a scout with the Golden State Warriors.

As for the game itself, Drexel dominated the boards against Hofstra, outrebounding them 47-24.  Still the game was close for the most part.  The highlight for the Pride came with 10:15 left.  Jenkins hit two free throws to cut the Dragons' lead to 47-45.  With the two free throws, Jenkins was now the all time leading scorer in Hofstra Men's Basketball history, passing Antoine Agudio.   Unfortunately, the record came in a losing cause as Drexel held off Hofstra 65-60.   The Pride had now lost two in a row in conference and were now technically fourth in conference as they were tied with ODU but the Monarchs had the tie breaker.

Hofstra now had to face George Mason at the Patriot Center.  Since their back to back losses to the Pride and the Monarchs, the Patriots had won seven straight and were in second place in the CAA, a game back of VCU.   Mason jumped out immediately on Hofstra, going out to a 49-34 halftime lead.  The Patriots never let up and won handily 87-68.  The Pride had now lost three straight games and stood in fourth place at 8-4 in the CAA.

For the second time in the 2010-11 season, Hofstra faced adversity.  With six games left and the team with a shorter bench due to an eye socket injury to once starting point guard Dwan McMillan, the team needed to refocus and get back to their new slogan - "Roll Pride".   And the Pride did exactly that - roll.

The first game after the loss to Mason was a home rematch vs. Northeastern at the Mack.  This was not the same Huskies team the Pride had beat up in Boston, as Noreaster came out firing.  The Huskies hit 7 of their first 12 shots from beyond the arc in the first half.   In the second half, Noreaster continued their torrid scoring and went up 66-52 with nine and half minutes left.  Shortly thereafter, Charles Jenkins picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench with 8:52 left with Hofstra down 66-54.   The Pride were staring their fourth straight loss in the face.

But Jenkins' teammates picked him up.  Hofstra went on a 9-0 spurt with Jenkins on the sideline to cut the lead to three.  Northeastern extended the lead back to seven, 75-68 with 3:52 left.  But the Pride shutout the Huskies the rest of the way and using a 10-0 game ending run to win the game.  Shemiye McLendon hit several huge free throws down the stretch to lift the Pride to a stirring 78-75 comeback win.  The Pride had stopped the bleeding by getting back to balanced scoring.  Hofstra was now 13-1 when three or more players scored in double figures.

Even though balanced scoring was definitely an ingredient in Hofstra's winning formula, the key ingredient to Hofstra' success was of course #22, Charles Jenkins.  Jenkins, who eventually would become a two time CAA Player of the Year and a three time Haggerty Award winner, was starting to get significant attention in the media and more importantly, attention by scouts.   This was no more evident than in Hofstra's next game, a road game vs. Georgia State.

Twenty seven scouts attended the Pride-Panthers game to see Jenkins.  And he didn't disappoint.  Jenkins had one point for each of those scouts with one left over for good measure.  He shot 10 of 15 from the field, 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, along with 5 rebounds and 4 steals.  Hofstra led by as many as eighteen in the second before eventually winning 79-68.  Three other players scored in double figures for Hofstra with Brad Kelleher getting 10 points and 8 assists.  Hofstra had now won two in a row and had a two game lead on Drexel and James Madison for the fourth and final first round bye spot in the CAA Tournament.

I have to thank Tom Yeager for making sure Delaware and Hofstra play home and home games every season. That's because one of my favorite road trips every year is the jaunt down to Newark.  It's barbecue and basketball when going to Delaware.  So after dealing with pothole crews on the Belt, moronic ticket booth agents at the Bob Carpenter Center and a ticket printing company that can't spell Hofstra correctly, I got the barbecue I so crave and proceeded to watch the Blue Hens take on the Flying Dutchmen.

As for the game, Hofstra came out and looked like they were going to handle the Hens rather easily.  The Pride, er  Flying Dutchmen were up thirteen in the second half, 43-30.  After Delaware cut the lead to 47-42, again Hofstra extended the lead to eleven 53-42 with 5:42 left.  But the Blue Hens again rallied, cutting the lead to two 57-55 with 48 seconds left.  But Jenkins hit four free throws down the stretch and the Pride, er Flying Dutchmen escaped with the 61-58 victory, their third in a row.   The only way to celebrate the end of a good road victory was a large chocolate truffle blizzard at a nearby Dairy Queen.

February 15, 2011 turned out to be a very special day for me.  First it was my birthday and it just so happened that Hofstra was hosting William and Mary on February 15.  Second, my older son Matthew came to the game with me.  By early in the second half, he was hooked and became a big Hofstra basketball fan for the rest of the season.   But what transpired the night of February 15, 2011 would be one of the best birthday presents I ever received.

The game started out with the Pride jumping out to a 15-3 lead as Mike Moore nailed three 3 pointers.  But just when you thought that Hofstra was going to blow William and Mary right out of the Mack Arena, the Tribe responded.  Boy did they ever respond, as they went out on a 36-11 run over the next 17 minutes of the game.  W&M was up 39-26 due in large part to one Quinn McDowell who had 11 of those 36 points.

But this night would be Charles Jenkins' night, as well most nights were.  Jenkins scored eleven points during a 21-4 Hofstra run and the Pride went back in front 47-43.  The teams would trade the lead back and forth with the Tribe leading 69-66 with nine seconds left.  But after a timeout, Jenkins got the ball and buried a three to tie the game at 69 and force overtime.  In overtime, McDowell scored seven of his twenty eight points in overtime, including two free throws to tie the game at 78.  But Jenkins would respond one more time, burying a 35 footer at the buzzer as Hofstra stunned William and Mary 81-78. Jenkins buzzer beaters went viral and his game winning shot was the #2 highlight on ESPN Sportscenter that night.

As the Lions Den section roared with the buzzer beater and celebrated with Jenkins who went into the student section after the shot, the Pride had won their fourth straight game.  While Jenkins cemented his legend with the game tying and game winning shots, the win was a team effort.  Moore had 25 points and 8 rebounds.  David Imes had a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Brad Kelleher had 9 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals.  Hofstra was now tied for second place with VCU and ODU and clinched a first round bye in the CAA Tournament, their first since the 2006-2007 season.  They were now headed for Dayton, Ohio to play Wright State in a nationally televised Bracketbuster game.

I decided to go on a road trip and travel to Dayton to watch the game.  It's a nine and a half hour drive (at least it was for me) and I stayed at a hotel across the street from the Nutter Center, home of the Wright State Raiders.  Though the Wright State fans were very friendly and hospitable with me, unfortunately the Nutter and Wright State weren't very hospitable to Hofstra.  The Raiders jumped on the Pride early and led 17-9.  The Pride rallied to get the score within 19-15 but could not get any closer.  Wright State did a terrific job of playing the passing lanes and double teamed and triple teamed Jenkins.  Vaughn Duggins, a former UNCW recruit until Brad Brownell left the Seahawks for Wright State, led all scorers with a career high 31 points in a convincing 82-56 win for the Raiders.

Hofstra needed to bounce back and would have to do so on the road at UNC Wilmington, a team they had  to rally to beat at home.   And it was another Charles Jenkins vs. Chad Tomko duel.   Both players scored 14 points in the first half as the teams were tied thirty at the half.   And after a little more than thirty six minutes, the teams were still tied at 59.  But David Imes hit a jumper to put the Pride up to stay as they eventually beat the Seahawks 71-64.  Imes had a terrific game with 12 points and 17 rebounds, his sixth double double of the year.  Greg Washington added 7 points, 7 rebounds 3 blocks and 2 steals while staying out of foul trouble.  With three games left in conference, Hofstra was 13-4 in conference and with a win vs. Delaware, they could finish no lower than third in the CAA.

The Pride's last game of the CAA regular season was a special one.  It was decided a few days prior to the game that Charles Jenkins would have his jersey retired before the Senior's Day game.  And that certainly helped the attendance, as another sold out crowd saw Brad Kelleher and Greg Washington, who were also graduating, have videos in their honor and then got their framed jerseys.  Then it was Jenkins turn,   After Jenkins' video (which could have been sent to all 30 NBA teams afterwards for scouting purposes), everyone looked up to the rafters to see the unveiling of Jenkins' #22 jersey.  It was the first time ever in Hofstra athletic history that an active player's number was retired before their last game.  The crowd roared "CHARLES JEN-KINS!" as the black cloth was lowered from the banner in the rafters.

As for the game itself, Delaware led early 19-17 before Shemiye McLendon sparked a 12-2 run and Hofstra went up 33-26 at the half.  Hofstra had already known that they clinched at least third place when it was announced over the PA system that James Madison had defeated VCU.    Then the three Hofstra seniors, Washington, Kelleher, and Jenkins scored 19 of the Pride's first 23 points as Hofstra went out to a 20 point lead.  All that was left was to take Jenkins out of the game with 58.6 seconds left.  The entire crowd of 5100 Hofstra faithful gave Jenkins a standing ovation in what would be his last Hofstra home game.  The Pride would defeat the Blue Hens 79-60 and finish the CAA regular season with a 14-4 record, their best since the 2006-07 season.  Hofstra headed to Richmond winners of six in a row in conference.

Hofstra would now enter the CAA Tournament as the third seed with a first round bye.  This was a team that again "Prided" itself on ball possession, ball movement, free throw marksmanship and balanced scoring.  Hofstra was first in the CAA in free throw shooting and assist to turnover ratio and third in turnovers.  Entering the CAA Tournament, Hofstra was 18-1 when three or more players scored in double figures.  Yes, Jenkins was a huge part, but not the whole story.  Mike Moore was a more than capable second scorer averaging just about 15 points per game, good for 11th in the CAA and was second in the CAA in free throw shooting percentage at 85.2 percent.  Greg Washington was second in blocks.  Brad Kelleher was second in the CAA in assists to turnover ratio (tied with Charles Jenkins at 2.2) and seventh in assists. David Imes had six double doubles on the season (Hofstra was 6-0 when Imes had a double double).

But Jenkins was still the man as he would win his second straight CAA player of the year award and recently won his third straight Haggerty Award in a row (which only Jim McMillan and Chris Mullin have accomplished).  Jenkins was the ultimate stat stuffer in the CAA - first in scoring at 22.6 points per game, sixth in FG percentage at 51.7 percent (he was the only guard in the top six in FG percentage), 6th in 3 point FG percentage at 42 percent, second in assists at 4.8 per game, fifth in FT percentage at 82.4 percent, 4th in steals and tied for second in assists to turnover ratio.

In fact, Jenkins was so important to his team, he finished sixth in John Hollinger's College Basketball Player Efficiency Ratings. As a result of Jenkins' terrific senior season, there was talk of him being a first round draft pick.  All that was missing for Jenkins was a NCAA berth, something he wanted so badly.

When you have balanced scoring, the ability to possess and pass the ball, good free throw shooting and the best player in the conference,  chances were that Hofstra was good in close games.  And sure enough, entering the CAA Tournament, the Pride's record in games decided by seven points or less was 9-3.  Hofstra would be a tough out in Richmond.

Hofstra's first opponent would be William and Mary in the quarterfinals.  The eleventh seeded Tribe stunned the sixth seeded Dukes of James Madison in the first round.  No doubt the Hofstra coaches and players were watching Quinn McDowell set a CAA Tournament record as he scorched JMU for 35 points.   As noted previously, McDowell had scored 28 vs. Hofstra.  So the Pride had their work cut out for them.

William and Mary started the game out with a 9-0 run on Hofstra.  But the Pride responded with an 11-0 run of their own.  The Tribe would respond with an 8-2 spurt and went up six, 23-17.  But Hofstra would score eight of the last twelve points in the first half and would only be down 27-25.  Jenkins only had five points at the half and you knew that wouldn't last.

And sure enough in the second half, Jenkins came to life as he, Kelleher and Moore combined for eleven points to put Hofstra up 45-36.  Later on in the second half, the Pride put the game away with a 15-0 run.  Jenkins would score 15 of his 20 points in the second half.

Meanwhile, Cassara made his third best coaching move of the season.  He had his team take McDowell out of the game and force the other Tribe players to beat them.   Hofstra hounded McDowell all night and limited to just six points on just 2 of 6 shooting from the field.   The Pride dominated the last 20 minutes of the game and won handily 72-56.  Hofstra forced 15 W&M turnovers while only committing two turnovers themselves (while dishing out 12 assists).  The Pride again had four scorers in double figures with Kelleher, Moore and Imes each having 10 or more points.

Hofstra now faced ODU in the semifinals as all top four teams made the third day of the CAA Tournament.  After watching #4 seed VCU soundly upset #1 seed George Mason, Hofstra was hoping to knock off #2 Old Dominion, the defending CAA champions.   Could there be another upset in Richmond?

Well, both teams came out smoking from the field.  Hofstra hit eight of its first eleven shots while ODU hit six of their first nine.  Ten minutes into the game and the Monarchs were only up one 22-21 in what was a high scoring affair by ODU standards.  A little bit more than a minute later, Greg Washington, who had been so effective coming off screens for layups, picked up his second foul.  When he went to the bench, so did the Pride offense.  The Monarchs jumped out to an eight point lead.  Hofstra would cut it back to three, but ODU got it back up to seven, 41-34 at the half.

The Pride tried valiantly to come back and got within 56-50 on a Jenkins three with twelve minutes left.  But Hofstra missed on two chances to cut the lead even further.  ODU would not give them a third chance as they shot 57 percent from the field.   Despite scoring eleven more points than the Monarchs on average gave up for the season, and dishing out 19 assists to only four turnovers, the Pride lost to the Monarchs 77-69.  With all five starters scoring in double figures for Hofstra, it was only the second time all season the Pride lost when that happened.

It may have been a disappointing end to the CAA Tournament season for Hofstra and particularly for Jenkins, but they had a lot to be proud of as a result.  The Pride had thirty one assists and only six turnovers in two games which is an astounding 5-1 assists to turnover ratio.  Hofstra held Quinn McDowell to six points one night after he set the all time CAA single game scoring record.   The other three CAA semifinalists all made the NCAA Tournament.  ODU lost on a buzzer beater to eventual National Runnerup Butler in the first round, George Mason won their first round game against Nova and of course there was VCU's epic Final Four run.

The Pride season would end in their season on a Division II basketball court in an anti-climatic loss to Evansville in the CBI 77-70, which featured terrific stat updates by the Evansville web site (yes, that was sarcastic).  The Pride would finish 21-12 on the season.

The season was memorable for many reasons, the main reason was obviously Jenkins.   As noted earlier, Jenkins received significant national attention for his play this season.  There were countless articles about Jenkins in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal (and here's a second one), Sports Illustrated and ESPN, among other national publications.  Jenkins received an honorable mention all America this season as well.  And when your program receives national attention like that, it certainly helps getting your name out in recruiting.

But the team also had a big following via social media and a lot of that had to do with Coach Cassara's embracing of social media.  Coach Cassara is probably up around 5:30 a.m. and already he is posting on Facebook, where he has 1895 friends and on Twitter, where he has 1614 followers.  And the coach has a sense of humor using social media.  Someone started on Facebook "Charles Jenkins Facts", a hilarious takeoff on Chuck Norris Facts.  When Hofstra traveled to UNCW, Cassara remarked "Charles Jenkins is driving the bus."

Cassara has found a home at Hofstra after he thought he might have been without a job after Tim Welsh got fired.  During a Hofstra women's home basketball game against Virginia, I was sitting with my friend Tony and Defiantly Dutch.  Coach Cassara came by to say hi to Dutch and he sat with us for about 20 minutes.  I remember him vividly him talking how he genuinely appreciates the opportunity he received and how he loves the Hofstra community.  

Cassara can often be found at many Hofstra sporting events and functions. And from what I have seen, the Hofstra community loves him.  Hofstra home basketball game attendance was certainly up this season and there were two sellouts.  I have never seen the Lions Den student section so animated since the 2005-06 season.   There is a buzz around the basketball program now, one that certainly had not been there before.   Yes, much of that credit belongs to Jenkins, but much of it also belongs to Cassara as well.

The season may be over but the future is very bright for Hofstra.  When Jenkins is drafted by a NBA team, that will bring more publicity to the basketball program.  Also, Cassara has some solid returning starters in Moore and Imes, plus Nathaniel Lester is returning for his redshirt senior season.  McLendon, who was so good coming off the bench, may now be a starter.  Steve Mejia, a transfer point guard from Rhode Island, who Cassara highly regards, will now be eligible and will likely start at point guard.  Dwan McMillan is now healthy from his eye socket injury.  And a good recruiting class led by Malik Nichols should help out.

All I know is that I wish college basketball season started today.  And many other fans that I know feel the same way.  There is one in particular, a soon to be six year old boy, who can't wait for Hofstra basketball season to start.  All I can tell him is to have patience.  It will be worth the wait.

The 2010-11 Hofstra Men's Basketball Season in Retrospect - Part I

It was two months ago Sunday since Hofstra played in its final game of the 2010-11 season, a first round loss to Evansville in the CBI.  But the first season under Mo Cassara had a lot more triumphs than defeats.  And considering how the 2010-11 season started, it was truly an amazing ride.

The 2010-11 season really started in April of last year when Tom Pecora left the comforts of Hempstead for Rose Hill.   Along came Tim Welsh, whose 30 day stay ended in resignation after being arrested for DWI.  Faced with the possibility of completely starting from scratch, Hofstra Athletic Director Jack Hayes instead turned to Cassara, one of Welsh's assistant coaches and offered him the position after a meeting with University President Stuart Rabinowitz.  It turned out to be a terrific move.

But from the start, Cassara and his assistants Steve Demeo, Wayne Morgan (a key addition having an experienced former head coach on the bench), and Allen Griffin were playing with a short deck.  Pecora had already taken his four recruits with him to Fordham.    Then two first team All Rookie CAA players Halil Kanacevic and Chaz Williams transferred.   The coaching staff did a yeoman's job quickly bringing in four recruits, three of whom would see significant minutes during the season - Dwan McMillan, Shemiye McLendon and Stephen Nwaukoni.

But Cassara would be dealt with another loss as senior starter/sixth man Nathaniel Lester would tear his quad during training and be redshirted for the season.   Finally, Cassara would play even another man short for the first eight games of the season as guard Brad Kelleher got an additional eight game suspension by the NCAA after being disallowed to play his junior season for signing an application form.

Cassara though developed an immediate friendship with Hofstra's best player, the now three time reigning Haggerty Award winner and now two time CAA Player of the Year, Charles Jenkins.  The two of them would have to guide a relatively young team through the entire season.

The shorthanded Pride won their first game handily against Division III Farmingdale State before heading to the Puerto Rico Tip Off.   In their first round game against North Carolina on national TV, Jenkins matched heralded Tar Heel freshman Harrison Barnes shot for shot in the first half before North Carolina ran away with the game in a 107-63 win.  Then came the 2nd round loser's bracket game vs. Western Kentucky.  Hofstra led most of the way and was up 52-39 with 3:50 left.  But the Hilltoppers' press caused numerous Pride turnovers the rest of the way.  Hofstra was outscored 23-8 the rest of the game and Western Kentucky came away with a 62-60 win.   The Pride finished up the Puerto Rico tipoff losing to Nebraska.

This was Cassara's first true test as a coach.  How do get your team to respond after a rough pre-season tournament?  The answer was ride your horse, Charles Jenkins.  First, they would defeat comedic and basketball royalty in defeating Wagner.  The Pride's second win in a row came as a result of a solid defensive effort on the road defeating Rider.  It was followed by a convincing home win over conference rival Towson.

Then came one of  Charles Jenkins' many season defining moments as he and Mike Moore were the ultimate two man duo at Binghamton.  Moore kept Hofstra in the game in the first half with 15 points.  But in the second half, it was all number 22.  Jenkins scored 17 points over a five and half minute span to rally the Pride from a double digit deficit.  He then scored his 30th and 31st points of the second half on a layup with six seconds left to force overtime.  Jenkins final two points, which gave him forty on the night, combined with Mike Moore's OT points gave Hofstra the win.  Jenkins and Moore combined for sixty eight of the Pride's eighty-nine points as Jenkins and company that night managed to overheat my Macbook Pro, which was playing the streaming video of the game.

After a close loss at home to eventual Sun Belt regular season champion Florida Atlantic on Brad Kelleher's Free to Play for Hofstra Day, the Pride would bounce back with a win at Manhattan, where Jenkins got his 2000th career point.and Defiantly Dutch learned that you have to get to a Manhattan game early, otherwise you have to park in the next borough.   Then came a home win over Holy Cross, where Antoine Agudio was there to see Jenkins receive a special commerative basketball for getting his 2000th career point.  But the 2010 calendar year ended on sour note as Hofstra was dominated by Iona at the Hynes Center, losing to the Gaels 87-62.  Heading into 2011, the Pride's record stood at 7-5.

One of the marks of a good team is how it responds to adversity.  After losing by twenty five points to a local rival, Hofstra was staring straight into the barrel of a gun the first of week of January.  CAA conference season was truly starting, and the Pride had to play three conference games in six days.   And it was truly a gauntlet.  The first game was at Drexel, a team that had earlier won at nationally ranked Louisville on national TV.  Then it was a home game two days later against George Mason, a team Hofstra hadn't beat since 2007.  Finally, there was a road game at Northeastern.  The last time they played the Huskies, the Pride lost to them in double overtime in the 2010 CAA Quarterfinals, a game Hofstra should have won in regulation.  This was a true test of the Pride.

And the Pride passed the test with flying colors.  First at the DAC, Coach Cassara made what I thought was one of his three best coaching moves of the season.   Cassara played a zone defense against Drexel, except that he had sophomore guard Yves Jules play matchup against the Dragons' best players, shooting guard Chris Fouch.  Jules held Fouch to 3 of 10 shooting from the field.

In October of last year at the Hofstra Season Ticket Holder Reception, Coach Cassara stated that David Imes had been a player that really impressed him during the initial practices.  Imes had been seldom used in his freshman season under Tom Pecora.  But Imes became a starter for Cassara and he came through big time against the Dragons.  Imes scored twenty points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Hofstra to an impressive 75-69 road win over Drexel.

Then came the home game vs. Mason.   As most of you know, the two teams have a recent history that dates back to 2006.  The Pride hadn't beat the Patriots since 2007.   But the Mason streak would end that Wednesday night.  It didn't seem that way early on as GMU took a 20-10 lead early on Hofstra.  But the Pride would outscore them 29-15 the rest of the half and go up four at halftime.  In the second half, again Mason went up in the beginning, due to an 8-0 run.  But again Hofstra responded with a 14-0 run of their own and never looked back.  The Pride gave the Patriots their worst regular season conference loss, an 87-74 drubbing, much to the delight of Defiantly Dutch. It gave Hofstra sole possession of first place in the CAA at 3-0.  Jenkins had 32 points, but four other players also scored in double figures for the Pride.

Hofstra had a chance for a sweep of gauntlet week at Northeastern, always a tough place to play for the Blue and Gold. But again, Hofstra would have balanced scoring.  All five Pride starters scored in double digits and Hofstra came away with an impressive 76-67 win.   The Pride shot 53 percent from the field and 90 percent from the line in the win.  Hofstra finished the First Gauntlet Week at 4-0.

The Pride then had a road game vs. Towson right before an all important home game vs. Old Dominion.  Five years ago to that very day, Hofstra played at Towson.  Gary Neal basically singlehandely beat the Pride down the stretch of that game, which likely cost Hofstra a tie for first place in the CAA in the 2005-06 season.   With a chance for redemption, the Pride came out and led from start to finish, winning handily 74-60.  What impressed me the most about the win was the Towson radio announcers commenting how well Hofstra moved the ball around again the Towson zone.  It was emblematic of how the Pride were playing in January.  Good ball movement, balanced scoring and excellent ball possession, all marks of a good team.

Hofstra was now 5-0 in conference heading into their home game vs. Old Dominion, the defending CAA champions, who were 3-2 going into the game.  The Pride came out on fire and looked like they were going to blow the Monarchs out of the building with a 12-0 start to the game.  But ODU played their "ground and pound" game to perfection, rallying back and eventually wearing down Hofstra to take a two point halftime lead.  In the second half, led by eventual all First Team CAA forward Frank Hassell, the Monarchs held off the Pride and eventually won 75-64.  It was Hofstra's first loss in conference and ODU was only one game behind them.

Needing to rebound from the loss to the Monarchs, The Pride would struggle at home with their next opponent, the UNCW Seahawks.   UNC -Wilmington played with much more heart than they did a year ago when Charles Jenkins' nationally recognized eight point play doomed Benny Ross.  Hofstra used a 14-2 second half run to erase a five point deficit.  In a game that I will always remember for the T-shirt toss and a bad intentional foul call, the Pride would end up winning 66-57 to improve to 6-1 in conference.

Later that week, Hofstra traveled to Williamsburg to take on a William and Mary team that was a lot better than their record indicated.   The Tribe led a good part of the game but somehow the Pride kept the game close at halftime.  Later in the second half, Charles Jenkins put Hofstra up to stay and they held off W&M for a hard earned 67-64 road win.   Hofstra was now 7-1 in conference with one more game left at home before they reached the halfway point.

And what a game to end the first half of the regular conference season.  At the Mack, Hofstra took on a very talented James Madison team, led by another eventual all First Team CAA forward Denzel Bowles, in front of a very lively Lions Den student section on ESPN Regional.   Little did the Hofstra fans in attendance and those watching the game on TV know that they were going to see another overtime classic from two teams with a history of overtime games.  The Pride went out to a 13-5 lead only to see the Dukes storm back with a 15-0 run to take a nine point lead at the half.  JMU extended the lead to 50-36 before Hofstra rallied to cut the deficit to three with eleven and a half minutes left.

Madison would again extend the lead to eleven, 69-58 with six and a half minutes left , but again Hofstra would rally and force overtime on two free throws by Shemiye McLendon.  Then in overtime, with the Hofstra PA system playing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, the Pride would be up three late in the OT period.   It was here that Cassara made the second of his best three coaching moves of the season, having McLendon foul Julius Wells before he could get a shot off.  Wells hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second.  Jenkins, who had 32 points on the night, got the rebound and celebrated with the Hofstra Lions Den as the Pride won 92-90 in overtime.

In exciting fashion, Hofstra finished the first half of the conference season at 8-1, 14-6 overall, tied for first place in the CAA.  A team that had started January at 7-5 won seven of their next eight games.   The second half of the conference season awaited them, as did a game on national TV vs. an 8-1 VCU team for sole possession of first place.   What also awaited the Pride was their most difficult challenge of the season.   How they answered that challenge will be in Part II of this retrospect.