Panthers Make a Statement at the Expense of the Pride (Recap of Hofstra vs. Georgia State)

I always love this time of year.  March Madness has been embedded in my soul for easily over twenty five years.  My favorite part of March Madness is going to a conference tournament.  In my younger college days and mid twenties, I went to the Big East Tournament.  Now, it's the CAA Tournament that is near and dear to me.  With the exception of 2009, I have been attending the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament since 2003.

At about 2:00 AM yesterday morning, my good friend Jerry Beach, aka Defiantly Dutch, and I made the familiar drive down to Richmond, Virginia for what would be my ninth CAA Tournament.  The reason we left at 2:00 AM, is based on my experience, you want to avoid getting caught in the Washington D.C. traffic.

Dutch and I talked about music, Hofstra basketball and life in general.  I am glad he was able to go to the CAA Tournament as well.  I was especially grateful that he was John Candy to my Steve Martin. His good natured company and his sense of humor kept me awake on the early morning drive.  We made really great time and outside of a brief stop for cheap Jersey gas, we got to the outskirts of Richmond by 8:00 AM.  Dutch and I stopped at an Aunt Sarah's Pancake House for breakfast.

After breakfast, I dropped off Dutch in downtown Richmond at the Hilton Garden Inn as he was staying with a friend.  Afterwards, I took a nap in the hotel lobby, then made my way back to my car.  Then I took a short drive to a parking garage across the street from the Richmond Coliseum.

This year's CAA Tournament was going to be special for me.  It was the first time that I would have ever have media credentials for the tournament.  For the previous six years, I had covered the CAA Tournament from sitting in my seats in the Richmond Coliseum, taking the perspective of a fan.  This time I decided to sit on press row and thanks to the good folks at CAA Sports, who follow my blog and follow me on Twitter, I received media credentials.

So I entered the media entrance for the Richmond Coliseum and picked up my credentials for my site, CollegeHardwood.com.   Rob Washburn, my contact at CAASports, greeted me inside the arena and showed me where my seat was on press row.  Sure enough, my seat was next to Defiantly Dutch's seat.  The CAA knows the #CAAHoops Twitter and blogosphere all too well.

The CAA Tournament consists of four days.  The first round, otherwise known by Chris "VCUPav" Crowley as "Pillow Fight Friday", begins on Friday with four games, where seeds five through twelve play each other.   There is an afternoon session of two games; eight plays nine, then five plays twelve.  In the evening, seven plays ten and six plays eleven.

Hofstra, seeded eleventh, was playing Georgia State, seeded sixth.  It was the second game of the evening session and the last game of the day. Neither Hofstra nor Georgia State brought a lot of fans, but there were enough other fans to make it a decent sized crowd, over 5200, for the last game at 8:30 on a Friday night.
The Pride entered the game with only three wins in conference on the season, but they had won two of their last three games, including a twenty nine point crushing of UNCW.  The ninth seeded Seahawks had earlier won their first round game, defeating the Dukes of James Madison.

Meanwhile, Georgia State, who in the preseason had been picked at the bottom of the CAA, finished sixth in the Colonial with eleven wins.  Ron Hunter, in his first year coaching the Panthers, took a team with the same talent that finished eleventh a season ago and made them a top tier team in the CAA.  Many people, including me, thought Hunter should have been picked Coach of the Year, but Bruiser Flint won the award.

I saw the game the Pride played vs. the Panthers last month at the Mack Center.  Georgia State jumped out a to a 16-5 lead with their aggressive zone defense.  The Panthers controlled most of the game and won handily 59-43.  If Hofstra was going to be successful, they would need to score in transition and not let Georgia State setup their zone defense.

And that was the philsophy of Coach Mo Cassara.  The Pride quickly got out of the gate and took a slim early lead on a couple of layups as they didn't allow the Panthers to setup their zone before they scored.   Hofstra was playing with a lot of energy early on in the game.

But Georgia State was equal to the task.  Eric Buckner, who I believe was snubbed out of the CAA Defensive Player of the Year Award, was dominating offensively.  Buckner had seven quick points.  His emphatic dunk gave the Panthers a 15-13 lead right before the under twelve media timeout.

In the past two years of the CAA Tournament, the sixth seed had lost to the eleventh seed.  Two years ago, James Madison knocked off Drexel.  Last year, I watched Quinn McDowell set a CAA Tournament record with thirty five points as William and Mary stunned James Madison.  After the first eight and half minutes, Hofstra was holding their own against Georgia State.  Could the sixth seed knock off the eleventh seed for the third year in a row?

The Panthers answered that question in the next eleven and a half minutes with a resounding "NO".

Buckner's emphatic dunk started a monstrous 24-4 run over the next eight and a half minutes to take a 39-17 lead.  Georgia State's swarming defense forced eight Hofstra turnovers in that span.  When the Pride didn't turn the ball over, they struggled to get a good shot off, missing six of their seven shots in that period of time.

Meanwhile, the Panthers were scoring at will on the Pride defense.  Georgia State scored forty five first half points, the most Hofstra had given up in the first half of a game during the season.  Georgia State shot sixteen of twenty seven from the field and eleven of twelve from the line.   The score was 45-24 at the half.  With the Panthers' swarming defense, the game was basically over.

All you could hope for if you were a Hofstra fan was that your team would play hard in the second half and make the game respectable.   Early in the second half, they did exactly that.  A Steve Mejia three cut the Georgia State lead to sixteen, 50-34.

But as Hunter said in his post game press conference, Georgia State was playing "with a chip on its shoulder".  They felt as if they had been not given the respect they deserved at the CAA Awards Banquet and they played inspired, even angry.  They weren't going to allow Hofstra to get any closer.

The Panthers responded with a 23-6 run over the next nine minutes.   At the under eight media timeout, Georgia State was up 73-40.  In my nine years of watching/covering the CAA Tournament, I had never seen such a dominant performance.

There was a young boy sitting behind the Hofstra bench with a sign that said "Free Hugs".  The Pride looked like they could use some hugs, because they had just been run over by a tractor trailer truck with a Georgia license plate.   The Panthers would go onto win 85-40.  It was the biggest margin of victory in CAA Tournament history.

Georgia State held Hofstra to thirty four percent shooting, twenty eight percent in the second half.  Meanwhile, the Panthers scorched the Pride, shooting fifty nine percent in the game.  Georgia State outscored Hofstra 48-18 in the paint.

Buckner was responsible for a lot of that damage, scoring twenty one points and grabbing eleven boards, four which came on the offensive end.  He was a perfect seven for seven from the field.  James Fields had fourteen points and Devonta White added thirteen for the Panthers.

Mike Moore, the leading scorer in the CAA had sixteen points for the Pride, but was only five of thirteen from the field.  Mejia had fourteen points, including two of four from beyond the arc.  Nathaniel Lester added eleven points.

Being a Hofstra fan at heart, it wasn't the ending I had envisioned.  Then again, having the Pride endure a 10-22 season was not what I envisioned either.   All you can do as a Hofstra fan is move on and hope for next season.  There is a major influx of talent coming in for next season.   Seasons may end, often in loss.  But hope is always eternal.  Right now, it needs to be.

A Senior Day to Remember (Recap of UNCW vs. Hofstra)

After watching Fordham rally to defeat LaSalle, my son Matthew and I were able to quickly make our way out of a back exit of Rose Hill gym.  We made it  to our car in the Fordham parking garage quite quickly before the rest of the Ram and Explorer fans.  Our mission was to make it to Hempstead by 4:00 PM. We made it to Hofstra with time to spare for Senior Day at the Mack Center as Hofstra was hosting UNCW.

Senior starters Mike Moore, Nathaniel Lester and Dwan McMillan were all given a special ceremony by Hofstra University before their last home game as members of the Pride.  All three have been significant contributors this season. Moore, the leading scorer in the CAA,  and Lester, the eighth leading scorer in the CAA,  both scored their 1000th career points for the Pride this season.  McMillan, the CAA leader in assists per game, became the starting point guard after Steve Mejia struggled with injuries.

The three thousand plus fans in attendance gave all three a nice ovation, but nowhere near the ovation that last season's seniors Brad Kelleher, Greg Washington and Charles Jenkins received for Senior Day last season.  Perhaps that might have been because a) the Pride had a sold out Mack Center on Senior Day last season and b) the Pride were 13-4 in conference on Senior Day last season as opposed to 2-15 this season. It just so happened that Washington and Jenkins were in attendance for the day's festivities.

The Pride came out very quickly as they have done on several occasions this season.  Lester scored five quick points and Hofstra went out to a 9-0 lead.  UNCW Head Coach Buzz Peterson was so upset with his team's play, he benched all five starters two minutes into the game.

As has occurred several times this season, the Pride would see their early lead evaporate.  The Seahawks went on a 14-3 run over four minutes.  Tanner Milson's second three pointer put the Seahawks up 14-11 with twelve and a half minutes left.  The Hofstra fans had seen this act before and were afraid of the same result.

However, the Pride responded with a huge run. It started with what must have been forward Moussa Kone's longest jumper of the season, which was a ten foot bank shot.  Then a Moore three pointer and a Lester layup put  Hofstra back up 18-14.  Those three baskets were part of the Pride outscoring the Seahawks 34-11 the rest of the half.  Hofstra hit on nine of their last thirteen shots from the field and only missed two of their thirteen free throw attempts for the entire half.

The Pride led at halftime 45-25 in what was easily their best first half of the season.  The team shot six of ten from beyond the arc, had thirteen assists and outrebounded the Seahawks 21-11 in the first twenty minutes.  Moore and Lester had thirty two combined points.   This didn't seem like the same Hofstra team that had lost to UNCW in Wilmington earlier in the season.

During the game, Jenkins, now of the Golden State Warriors, was honored with a special game ball by Coach Mo Cassara.  It was for being the all time scoring leader in Hofstra history.  The entire crowd gave Jenkins a well deserved standing ovation.  Throughout the entire first half, kids came up to Jenkins for autographs and he more than obliged.  Charles Jenkins is truly a class act.

If anyone thought that the first half was a fluke, they were quickly dissuaded in the first six minutes.  Keith Rendleman tried his best (he had sixteen points and nine rebounds for the game), but the rest of the Seahawks were getting overwhelmed by the Pride.  The lead ballooned to thirty, 60-30, with 14:25 left in the game.  Moore and Lester had nailed two more three pointers and the rout was on.

Late in the second half, Hofstra had a lead of thirty seven points.  Think about this. A team that came into the game with only two wins in conference and nine wins in total  was beating their opponents 90-53 with a little over two minutes left.  Cassara cleared what little he has of a bench (due to injuries, redshirts and dismissals), making sure all his seniors got a standing ovation as they left the court.    The Pride would win their last regular season conference game in impressive fashion 93-64.

The final statistics were bewildering.  Hofstra shot fifty six percent from the field, including twelve of nineteen from beyond the arc.  What might have been more impressive was the Pride having twenty five assists and only eleven turnovers.  Moore had thirty points, including shooting six of nine from beyond the arc.  Lester added twenty points.  Stephen Nwaukoni held his own against Rendleman with a double double, ten points and ten rebounds.  Mejia and Shemiye McLendon each had ten points.  But perhaps the most impressive stat was McMillan with fifteen assists and only four turnovers.

Hofstra ended their regular season on a high note.  Hopefully it will give them momentum for next Friday night's first round game vs. Georgia State.   But at least all three seniors had a truly memorable performance in their last home game for the Pride.

BracketBuster Win Gives Hope for Hofstra (Recap of Siena vs. Hofstra)

Over the past several years, I have been a supporter of the BracketBuster series.  Yes, it's been mostly a marketing tool for the World Wide Leader to say that they give the mid major teams a needed spotlight during the season. But some spotlight is better than no spotlight at all, which was the case for mid major teams before the BracketBusters.

The BracketBusters have also often been an important factor in helping mid major teams get to the NCAA Tournament.  In certainly two cases, 2006 with George Mason and 2011 with VCU, without their BracketBuster wins at Wichita State (how ironic is that?), those teams probably don't make the NCAA Tournament, let alone get to the Final Four.

I have often thought the way ESPN does the home and away team pools for the BracketBusters takes away from having more meaningful games for more teams.  Such was the case for this year's series.  You had seemingly too many strong home teams and not enough good road teams.

But what ESPN did this season finally put me on the other side of the fence.  They rewarded several teams television games based on their RPI and not their record or standing in conference. Northern Iowa, who was in seventh place in the Missouri Valley with a 4-7 conference record when they were picked and Missouri State, who was third place in the Missouri Valley with a 6-5 conference record and a 13-10 overall record when they were picked, are two teams that immediately come to mind (both teams lost their BracketBuster games yesterday).

Meanwhile, George Mason, Stony Brook and Loyola Maryland, three teams that were in first place in their respective conferences at the time of the BracketBuster selections, were denied television games.  If you are not going to reward teams based on merit, why then have the BracketBuster series?   By the way, George Mason and Stony Brook won their non-televised BracketBuster games, while Loyola Maryland plays theirs today.

Now let's get to the other over one hundred plus teams that are a part of the BracketBuster series due to their conference affiliations and don't get a sniff of a televised game. Based on ESPN's selections, those teams end up playing non conference home and home games with teams close to their regional area this season and next.  In the case of Hofstra and Siena, the brilliant World Wide Leader folks decided to match these two teams for a SECOND time in the BracketBuster series.

I was at the Mack Center in 2006 EXACTLY six years ago to the day when Hofstra first hosted Siena in a BracketBuster game.  Hofstra was snubbed out of a television game because AGAIN there were too many good home teams and not enough good road teams.  The game was memorable for two reasons.  One, Adrian Uter had probably his most dominant game with the Pride scoring a career high twenty seven points and added four blocks in a 76-62 win over the Saints. Second, Siena head coach Fran McCaffery AND his wife were both tossed from the game.


So here we were exactly six years later.  The game had much less meaning than the game in 2006.  Then, Hofstra was one of the best teams in the CAA, fighting for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.  This season, Hofstra only has two conference wins.   You could say Hofstra and Siena were battling for the best team to have beaten Iona, a team playing a featured televised game at home vs. Nevada at the same time.

Though there was a crowd of two thousand people, the arena atmosphere was very flat.  The Hofstra Pep Band sounded worse than ever and that's saying something.  You're not supposed to hear a xylophone as clear as day with a brass section.  There also weren't that many students in the Lions' Den student section, which was disappointing to this Hofstra alum.  In fact, there was only polite applause when Hofstra honored Mike Moore for scoring his 1000th career Hofstra point in not even two full seasons (he transferred to Hofstra from Fordham after his sophomore season).

And Siena decided to come out as flat as the atmosphere.  The Saints had a turnover in each of their first four possessions, and nine turnovers in barely over five minutes.  Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro had to call two timeouts in the first four minutes of the game.  As a result, the Pride went up early 8-0.

But has been the case many times this season, Hofstra couldn't fully capitalize on all of Siena's mistakes.  After taking the early eight point lead, the Pride missed four out of five shots and committed two turnovers.  This allowed the Saints to go on a 10-2 run and tie the game at ten with a little less than twelve minutes left in the half.

From there, both teams shot the ball very well the remainder of the half.  Siena shot sixty five percent from the field while Hofstra shot forty five percent.  The teams scored in different ways. In the Saints' case, OD Anosike was unstoppable in the paint, hitting all five of his baskets and scoring twelve points.  Meanwhile, Hofstra had five three pointers in the first half, which is more than they average for an entire game on the season.  Mike Moore and Steve Mejia combined for those five three pointers.

The game was tied eight times in the first half.  So it made perfect sense that the game was tied at thirty seven at the half.  At halftime, my older son Matthew and I went over to say hi to Defiantly Dutch and his much better half, Michelle.  It's become an annual game ritual to go over to see my two good friends at halftime and talk about the first half.

One of the things we talked about at halftime was the improved play of Mejia.  In his previous three games, he scored twice in double figures and in the game against Drexel, Mejia had six steals.  He was also starting to shoot the ball better and he had two three pointers against Delaware.

In this game, Mejia had a strong first half and he continued with an equally strong second half.  He buried another two three pointers, giving him four on the game.  He also had another two steals in the second half, also giving him four on the game.

The start of the second half was almost a repeat of the first half.  The Pride scored twelve of the first fourteen points and went up by ten, 49-39.  But the Saints rallied, scoring the next eight points to cut the lead to two, 49-47.  Siena would eventually take the lead, 59-57 with eight and a half minutes left.  It looked like another game where Hofstra would have a second half lead only to see the other team rally and win.

But this time, Hofstra would not be denied.  The Pride would score their next twelve points on three shots beyond the arc, two by Mejia, and one old fashioned three point play by Stephen Nwaukoni.  Hofstra would regain the lead, but it would only be two points, 71-69 after Anosike hit another layup with a little less than four minutes left.

In many of the Pride's close losses, they failed to make stops down the stretch.  This time was different.  Hofstra would outscore Siena 10-0 the rest of the way.   The Pride forced two turnovers and held the Saints to four missed shots in the last several minutes.  Siena didn't even try to put up a last second shot after Hofstra let the shot clock expire in the last few seconds. The fans gave the Pride a standing ovation at the end of their 81-69 win over the Saints.

Moore had even a better second half, scoring sixteen of his thirty points in the final twenty minutes to lead all scorers with thirty.  Mejia had sixteen points while Nathaniel Lester added fifteen. Mejia and Dwan McMillan combined for thirteen of Hofstra's twenty one assists (with only ten turnovers).

Anosike had a double double with twenty two points and twelve rebounds.  Kyle Downey added seventeen points.  Siena shot fifty eight percent for the game and out-rebounded Hofstra 36-23.  But the Pride forced twenty one Saints' turnovers and Hofstra shot eleven of twenty three from beyond the arc, easily their best three point shooting performance of the season.  The bright side for Siena was neither Buonaguro, nor his wife were tossed from the game.

Hofstra was one of seven CAA teams to win a BracketBuster game yesterday and the only team in the bottom half of the Colonial standings to do so.  With two games left in conference vs. tenth place William and Mary and eighth place UNCW, the Pride have a chance to finish the regular season on a high note before heading into the CAA Tournament.

In 2006, the BracketBuster win over Siena started a six game winning streak for Hofstra that lasted through the CAA Championship game when they lost to UNCW.   If the Pride keeps shooting the three like they did yesterday,  the 2012 BracketBuster win over Siena might just start another win streak.

Love and Basketball (Recap of Delaware vs. Hofstra)

When you think of Valentine's Day, you don't think about spending it at a basketball game.  But when your six year old son would be despondent if he couldn't go to a Hofstra game, you adjust your plans accordingly.  Thus for the first time since the 2001-02 season, my wife, Michelle went to a Hofstra game along with my younger son, Jonathan, my older son, Matthew and me.  To mark the occasion, my wife got me a box of candy shaped in a basketball heart.

Unfortunately for Hofstra, not too many other couples and their families attended last night's game.  When we got there a few minutes before game time, the Lions' Den student section was empty.  Heck, most of the Mack Center was empty.  The announced attendance was 1,785.  Perhaps that included paid season ticket holders who had made other Valentine's Day dinner plans, but I would subtract anywhere from 785 to 1,000 from that number.  The crowd was so small you could hear Hofstra Coach Mo Cassara clear as day.

The lack of energy in the Mack Center appeared to affect the home team.  The Pride struggled to score from the onset while Delaware was scoring easy baskets on the inside.  The Blue Hens raced out to a 17-4 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and it looked like they would finally break their ten game losing streak at the Mack Center.

Delaware last won a game vs. Hofstra in the Mack Center during conference play in the 2000-01 season, the final season for both teams in the America East.  The then Flying Dutchmen would later defeat the Blue Hens in the America East championship at the Mack to start the ten game home winning streak.  It was also the last time Hofstra made the NCAA Tournament.

The Pride responded by outscoring the Blue Hens 24-11 over the next nearly eight minutes on a layup by Mike Moore.  Hofstra had a chance to take the lead, but Nathaniel Lester missed an open jumper. Delaware would then score the next seven points to go up 35-28.  It seemed like Hofstra' season in a nutshell, rally, tie, but they just couldn't get over the hump. The Pride did close the gap to four, 36-32 at the half.

There were so few people in attendance that the Hofstra mascots, Kate and Willy were going into the crowd and saying hi to whatever kids were there.  In fact, Kate had come by before the game and made friends with Jonathan, who found the female lion mascot quite amusing.  Kate came right back to see Jonathan before the second half and played peek a boo with him.  In return, Jonathan showed Kate his monster trucks.

The second half started just like the first half did as Delaware extended their lead to nine, 43-34.  The Blue Hens maintained their lead 49-40 with eleven minutes left.  As has been the case, the Pride was struggling to score.  Hofstra hit on only three of their first thirteen shots in the second half..

But Matt Grogan, a walk on who is starting to see more time because he can hit an open three pointer, buried a three to start a Pride 10-0 run over the next three minutes.  Mike Moore's rainbow three pointer gave Hofstra their first lead of the game 50-49 with eight minutes left.  The fans that were there stood and applauded as the Blue Hens called timeout.  As DefiantlyDutch noted on a tweet, it was the Pride's first lead in a game since six minutes left in the George Mason game last Wednesday.  Last Saturday, Drexel led from start to finish in their win over Hofstra.

However, the lead was short lived.  Jamelle Hagins grabbed one his eighteen rebounds off a Khalid Lewis miss and dunked it home.  It would be the beginning of a stunning 22-4 Delaware run over the next seven minutes of the game.  During that time, Hofstra would miss ten straight shots from the field and the fifth leading free throw shooter in the CAA, Moore, would miss three free throws during that span.

Lester hit an anti-climatic three point play to score the final points of the game, but most of the fans had picked up and left earlier, perhaps for late dinner plans. The Blue Hens had a convincing 71-57 win to end the ten game losing streak at the Mack Center.

Delaware's Jarvis Threatt led all scorers with twenty points, thirteen of which came from the free throw line.  Hagins had a double double with fourteen points, eighteen rebounds and added four blocks. Lewis and Kyle Anderson each added twelve points.  For Hofstra,  Moore had sixteen points and Lester added eleven.  The problem was the two combined to shoot an ugly seven of twenty nine from the field.  Steve Mejia added ten points for the Pride.

As Chelle and I said our goodbyes to Defiantlydutch and his much better half Michelle, both of whom sat with us in the second half, we made our way out of the Mack Center  A year ago, I was hanging out by the court celebrating Charles Jenkins' two buzzer beaters on my birthday in a win over William and Mary.  Now I was standing in a empty lot saying goodbye to my friend Tieff after Hofstra's fourteenth loss of the season.  They now have as many losses in conference this season as they had wins in conference last season.

Still, it was good to have the ones I loved with me for the game.  It's not how you spend your Valentine's Day that matters.  It's who you spend it with that matters.

Cheesesteaks, Bungee Jumpers and Basketball (Recap of Hofstra vs. Drexel)

Life is like a group of weather forecasters.  You never know what you're going to get and apparently neither do they.  Based on the forecasts that I heard on Friday, travel to Philadelphia for yesterday's Hofstra- Drexel game was going to be hazardous with snow and rain. I even warned my son Matthew that he was likely to stay home with his mom and little brother due to the weather reports.

But I should have known better.  When I woke up yesterday morning and looked outside, there was barely any snow on the ground and the snow/rain was basically going to end in a couple of hours.  My friend Joe Suhoski, otherwise known as @VaBeachRep on Twitter, was going to be at the game, since he was covering it for CAAZone.  He noted that the precipitation had basically ended by him as he was making the trip up from Baltimore.  

So, Matthew and I picked up our third member of the trip trifecta, Tieff, and headed down to Philly.  The roads were a little wet, but nowhere near the conditions the "weather forecasters" had predicted.  Our plan was to get to Philly by 1:00 PM, meet up with Joe for lunch to talk basketball, then head to the game at Drexel.

I had a revelation while we were crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge. "Why haven't I gone to more mid major basketball games in Philly?"   It's only two hours away from where I live on Long Island.  All the games I could have seen at the Palestra or on the campuses of St Joe's, Temple and Penn.  Hell, all the games I could have seen at the DAC, otherwise known as the Daskalaskis Athletic Center (more than just Hofstra games).  Note taken, note received.

We got to Philly by 1:00 PM and parked right outside, Slainte, a restaurant that Tieff, our friend Mal and I went to last year when we were at the last Hofstra vs. Drexel basketball game in Philly.  Joe was waiting for us at the bar and we ended up getting a table/booth by the window.  Once side had a nice cushy couch/booth, the other side had tables.  Matthew and Tieff wanted the comfy chair, while Joe and I were fine sitting at regular chairs.


I already knew the Sliante menu, which is online, so I already knew my choice; philly cheesesteak with cheese whiz and a side caesar salad.  Tieff had his cheesesteak with provolone instead.  Joe had a chicken salad and my son had his standard plate of french fries.  We basically talked CAA hoops the rest of the time.  Joe, Tieff and I went over a lot of recent Colonial Athletic Association basketball history in that ninety minutes.  Matthew soaked it all in.

After a delicious lunch, Joe walked over to the DAC since his car was already parked there.  We drove and found a spot on the street across from the DAC and paid for three hours of time at the kiosk.  Then we took a short walk on a brisk day to the gym entrance.   We sat behind the Hofstra bench, which turned out to be close  to the Drexel Pep Band.  The pep band started out with "We Want the Funk" and it was a very good rendition. They were sharp all day.

Last season, I sat mid court at the DAC as the Pride knocked off the Dragons in the second conference game of the season for both teams.  At that time, you didn't know how good either team was at the time.  Both teams would finish in the top half of the CAA; Hofstra finished third, while Drexel finished fifth.

This season is a lot different.   Drexel came into the game tied for first with George Mason and VCU.  The Dragons have the tiebreaker on both teams, having defeated the Patriots and the Rams at the DAC (and they don't play either team again in the regular season).  Meanwhile, Hofstra has struggled with only two conference wins and came into the game tied for tenth in the CAA with William and Mary.

The game started out as a microcosm of the season.  Hofstra struggled to score from the field as Drexel's defense forced the Pride to use most of the shot clock on their possessions then have to settle for contested shots.  The Dragons jumped out to a 16-6 lead.  

But despite their record, Hofstra has played hard all season and have not quit in any of their games.  The Pride responded with a 15-7 run and cut the deficit to the two, 23-21.   But Drexel would score nine of the last twelve points in the half and entered halftime with a 32-24 lead.

Then came the surprise of the day. It wasn't the surprise appearance by DefiantlyDutch and his better half, who originally weren't coming to Philly but yet, there they were sitting right next to us.   The surprise was a group of young kids, known as the Bucks County Bungee Jumpers, a jump rope team that came out as the halftime show.  Many of us didn't know what to expect.  But what we got was stunning.  These kids were incredibly talented as they showed off their various jump rope skills.

The crowd, especially the Drexel student section, got louder and louder with their applause after each trick the team performed.  The Drexel Dragon mascot was in disbelief of how good these kids were.  The best trick was the group jumping rope while on pogo sticks.  Yes, jumping rope while on pogo sticks.

It was simply the best halftime show I had ever seen at a college basketball game.  They have a video on Youtube, which doesn't even do them justice. You can find them at this site.  Note to all the colleges in the Philadelphia metro area - You want these kids performing at halftime of your athletic events. They are awesome.


After they finished their show, the Bungee Jumpers were given a well deserved standing ovation from the crowd at the DAC.  I didn't think anything could top that halftime show.  But two players, Chris Fouch of Drexel and Nathaniel Lester of Hofstra, did their best to put on their own memorable second half performances.

The Pride came out with a quick 8-2 spurt, to cut the lead to two, 34-32.  Lester was responsible for most of those points as he would for the rest of the second half.  He would score ten of Hofstra's first sixteen points in the second half.   But unfortunately for Lester and the Pride, a familiar thorn in their side, Fouch, would be equal to the task.

Earlier at lunch, the topic of Drexel came up and I talked with Joe about how Fouch had not been a real factor for the Dragons this season.  Until yesterday, that had been the case.  Fouch, who was the leading scorer for the Dragons last season, is fourth on the team in scoring this season coming into yesterday's game averaging 8.9 points per game, which is down six points from last season.  With the emergence of freshman Damion Lee, he is averaging seven less minutes per game than last season.

But Fouch has had a history of torching the Pride. Coming into the game yesterday, Fouch had averaged nearly sixteen points per game vs. Hofstra with eleven career three pointers. When he was a freshman, he burned the Pride for twenty nine points on six shots from beyond the arc, in a 75-62 win over Hofstra on January 23, 2010.

Fouch decided to channel that performance from two years ago in the second half and make me eat my lunchtime words.  He would score twenty of his twenty five points in the last twenty minutes of the game.  Fouch was six of seven from beyond the arc on the game.  He was a big part of Drexel's 10-0 run that made a two point game into a 44-32 lead.  Fouch also scored his 1000th career point in the second half and as fellow Hofstra fan Lee Warner put it, seemingly 936 of those points came against the Pride.

Drexel extended the lead even further to nineteen, 61-42.  But again, Hofstra refused to quit. Behind Lester and Mike Moore, who had eighteen points, the Pride went on a 10-0 run.  Lester probably had the best second half of his career.  He scored twenty two second half points. twenty seven overall and he had seven offensive rebounds on the game.  The Pride had cut the lead down to eight, 67-59.

But Hofstra could get not get any closer.   Drexel would win 78-67.   The Dragons were truly fire breathing from the field as they shot nearly sixty percent in the game, including a blistering ten of seventeen from beyond the arc.  Frantz Massenat had twenty points, while Lee had fifteen.  That was the difference in the game; Drexel had three double digit scorers that combined for sixty points.  Hofstra had Moore and Lester who combined for forty five points, but were the only two double digit scorers on their team.

Since we had a two hour ride back to Long Island, we said our goodbyes to DefiantlyDutch and Joe and made our way back to the car. Sure enough, as we walked on Market Street, it was lightly raining. The rain turned to wet snow as we traveled across the Ben Franklin Bridge.  While we drove the entire way up the New Jersey Turnpike, it was coming down at a pretty good clip and made the drive a little more adventurous.  But the weather meteorlogists on WCBS AM and WINS AM seemingly had no clues of this.  They only talked about possible flurries in the area.

Just another surprise in a day full of surprises.

Six Degrees of Hofstra Separation Part 2 - Pride Continue to Play Hard Despite the Results (Recap of Georgia State vs. Hofstra)

When the CAA Tournament is over and I look back on this Hofstra season, I will remember all the incredibly close games that ended in loss; the last second losses to Florida Atlantic, James Madison, Delaware, Northeastern, Drexel and George Mason. There were the large second half leads that evaporated vs. Boston University and Old Dominion.

The most frustrating thing to all this is that there weren't just losses.  You could perhaps accept this team's fate had there not been glimmers of hope. However, there was the potential this team showed in wins over LIU, Cleveland State and Iona, three teams that are currently in first place in their respective conferences.  At one time, Hofstra was 6-7 until they lost nine of their last eleven games.  That's what has made this team so mind numbing for its fans and probably for Hofstra Coach Mo Cassara as well.

On Friday night, ESPNU showed a graphic of Cleveland State's NCAA Tournament resume.  The good wins included a road win over Vanderbilt, a likely team in the NCAA Tournament.  The bad losses included their loss to Hofstra at the Legends' Classic in Rhode Island.  Having been one of the few fans in attendance for that game, including one of the few people to see former Pride player Bryant Crowder, nicknamed Bigfoot by DefiantlyDutch, actually play in a regular season game, I can tell you that it was a good win for Hofstra.

But when I do a retrospect on this team's season, I will also know that this team always played hard and never quit.  They even showed togetherness when they weren't on the court.  I was at a Hofstra women's basketball home game vs. James Madison a few weeks ago.  As I sat behind the Hofstra basket with my older son Matthew, I could see to the right of me, sitting in Section 110 the entire men's basketball team rooting on the women's team.

They were all in for this season and lately the results were starting to come together. They got their first conference win two weeks ago, rallying late on the road to defeat James Madison 71-69.  Then on Wednesday, they drubbed Towson 74-49.   Yesterday seemed like a golden opportunity to get their third win in conference against a Georgia State team that had struggled lately, losing four of its last six games.

After watching Fordham lose to Charlotte in our first game of our tripleheader on the day, Tieff. Matthew and I raced over to Hofstra.  Along the way, I dropped Tieff off at his car at a friend of mine's house where we had met before traveling to Fordham.  We then got to the Mack Center with time to spare before the start of the game.

It was Staff Appreciation Day at Hofstra.  Staff, faculty and administration could get up to four free tickets and vouchers for pretzels and drinks. It was also Mardi Gras Day at Hofstra as there was a big party with music for the students after the game.  Thus there was a good crowd of about 3800 people and the Lions' Den student section was in full force.

Since I have my season tickets already, I gave my two of my four extra free tickets to someone waiting on line, then grabbed four pretzels and three drinks from my free vouchers.  Needless to say, Matthew was happy with his bounty of pretzels.  Now we were ready to see how good this Georgia State team now was under with new coach Ron Hunter.

Overall on the season, the Panthers have been so much better with Coach Hunter at the helm.  Basically taking over the same team that went 12-19 last season, Hunter, one of the main supporters of Samaritan's Feet, already has Georgia State with fifteen wins on the season and 7-5 in the CAA, good for fifth in conference.  They are first in the Colonial in field goal percentage defense, second in scoring defense, first in blocked shots and second in steals and turnover margin.

Hunter has a take no prisoners kind of approach to coaching.  Watching him on the sidelines yesterday, I can tell you that he is demonstrative, demands excellence of his team at all moments.  He spent most of the game yelling at his team during the action and during timeouts.  He makes Bruiser Flint seem mellow in comparison.  My favorite Hunter moment this season was after a poor effort in a win over Towson, he tweeted " I love my basketball team, but tomorrow practice will be epic. Bring your lunch pail."

The Panthers are now a reflection of their coach.  As I watched the first few minutes unfold on the court, I was really impressed with Georgia State. They are very active on the defensive end with a matchup zone and they challenge shots frequently.  Within the first four and a half minutes, the Panthers had three blocks.  As a result, Hofstra struggled to get good shots off against Georgia State. The Panthers did a really good job focusing on Mike Moore, as he did not score his first two points of the game until late in the first half.

Meanwhile, Georgia State was getting good looks from the perimeter.  They would hit six of their nine three point attempts in the first half as Devonta While and Rashard Richardson each connected on three of their shots.  The Panthers would shoot forty seven percent from the field in the first half.

The Panthers went out to a 16-5 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.  As Georgia State was putting on such a dominating defensive performance, one of the fans in my section that I am friendly with said to me "What's the NCAA record for fewest points in a half?"   Fortunately, the Pride scored thirteen more points to avoid such a fate, but the Panthers scored another fifteen to take a 33-18 lead at the half.

While a New Orleans style brass band played terrific halftime music, I was perusing stats with Defiantly Dutch and our good friend, Joe Suhoski who was covering the game on press row.  Interestingly enough, Hofstra had more field goal attempts than Georgia State, 29-21 due in large part to nine offensive rebounds.  But the Pride were an awful one of twelve from beyond the arc.

The start of the second half saw the Panthers maintain their large lead as they were up sixteen, 43-27.  But Hofstra was starting to solve Georgia State's defense, while they forced turnovers due to a trap they implemented at the beginning of the second half.   They would outscore the Panthers 12-3 over the next five minutes to cut the lead to 46-39.

Three times Hofstra had a chance to cut the lead even further.  But Moore missed an open three point look, then turned the ball over.  Then after a steal, Steve Mejia drove in for a layup against defensive pressure.  But as a symbol to the Hofstra season, the layup bounced on the rim a couple of times then went off.  Georgia State would respond with a 5-0 spurt to put the lead back up to twelve, 51-39 with a little less than six minutes left.  

From there, the Panthers clamped down on the Pride.  Hofstra would only score four more points the rest of the way and Georgia State went on to a convincing 59-43 win.  Four players scored in double figures for Georgia State who shot 55 percent from the field.  White led all scorers with fifteen points, while Jihad Ali had fourteen points, Richardson had twelve points and Eric Buckner had twelve points and six blocks.

Despite having seventeen more field goal attempts, in large part due to eighteen offensive rebounds, the Pride shot just 29 percent from the field.   Nathaniel Lester had a double double with fourteen points and ten rebounds, while Moore had eleven second half points to finish with thirteen.  Moore and Lester had to work for their points though, as they combined to shoot eleven of thirty one from the field.

It was again another tough loss for the Pride.  They battled the Panthers basically even during the second half, but they had dug themselves too big a whole in the first half.   They just need to keep plugging away and try to get a couple of wins down the stretch before the CAA Tournament.   It doesn't get any easier with two road games at George Mason and at Drexel, two teams tied for first in conference.

Nothing ever comes easy in the Colonial.  You have to keep playing hard and refuse to quit.

Turnovers, Blown Whistles and Bill Murray (Recap of Towson vs. Hofstra)

When Towson defeated UNCW last Saturday, the Tigers ended their NCAA record forty one game losing streak. With the win, Towson entered a tie for eleventh place in the CAA with Hofstra.  The Pride had just lost earlier in the day at Northeastern.  Both teams entered last night's game with a 1-10 conference record.

One team at the end of the night would be in eleventh place and the other team would be in the cellar.  As my older son and I walked toward the Mack Center entrance,  Matthew turned to me and said "I really hope Hofstra wins so they don't go into last place".  Leave it to a six year old to sum up most Pride fans' feelings in a nutshell.


For the second season in a row, the Mack Center entertained a special guest, one Bill Murray.  Murray's son, Luke is now an assistant coach with Towson.  Last season, he was an assistant for Wagner when they played Hofstra in a December non conference game. His dad watched the Pride hold off the Seahawks.  Last night,   his dad was sitting in the first row behind the Towson bench.   There's no truth to the rumor that he gave the Tigers Team his inspirational speech, "It Just Doesn't Matter" as the pep talk before the game.

It was quite appropriate that Bill Murray was in attendance last night, because the first twelve to thirteen minutes of the game were quite comical.  You had the Tigers, who couldn't hold onto the ball and the Pride who couldn't shoot the ball.   Towson turned the ball over on each of their first four possessions and had thirteen turnovers in thirteen minutes.

Meanwhile, during the same stretch, Hofstra couldn't take advantage as they seemingly couldn't put the ball in the ocean.  The Pride shot six of twenty one during the first thirteen minutes.  Amazingly, Hofstra was only up 18-9 with seven minutes left in the half.

The Pride extended the lead out to fifteen, 33-18 at the half.  Still the numbers were brutal. Towson had more turnovers, nineteen, then points or rebounds (also eighteen).   Both teams had sixteen free throw attempts.  Towson missed ten of them while Hofstra missed six of their own.   Towson shot a respectable forty two percent, but that's when they could get off a shot, as they only had fourteen field goal attempts in the first half.  Yes, that means they only had six field goals in the first twenty minutes.  Hofstra had thirty three field goal attempts, but only hit eleven of them.  My friend Tieff called it "The Good (Bill Murray), The Bad (Hofstra) and the Ugly (Towson)."

Towson actually brought a few fans for the game as they cheered early on behind the Tigers bench.  During halftime, I wondered what Bill Murray was doing to entertain them. Was he Nick Winters singing the Star Wars theme or was he just in town because it was Groundhog Day on Wednesday .  Perhaps he went into the Towson locker room and gave a halftime pep speech, this time the one from Stripes. Oh the possibilities.


We decided at halftime to join my good friend, DefiantlyDutch and his better half Michelle in their seats behind the Hofstra basket. However, I was told by the Dutchman that if we brought bad karma and the lead got under ten points, we would be forced to go back to our regular seats.  Sure enough, Towson went out on a 7-2 spurt and cut the lead to ten, 35-25.

But just as the Dutchman was getting ready to toss us out, Hofstra responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes. Nathaniel Lester and Mike Moore were responsible for all thirteen points scored in that run. Also during that run, Lester scored his 1000th career point on a free throw.  Lester received a standing ovation from the crowd.

The score was 48-25 and all that was left was to see if Lester and Moore together could outscore the entire Towson team. And for a good part of the second half, the two Hofstra players were leading the entire Tigers team as Moore and Lester combined to score forty eight points.  However, a late three pointer by Christian Collins made the final score Towson 49 Moore and Lester 47.    Unfortunately for the Tigers, Hofstra had an additional twenty seven points as the Pride defeated them 74-49.

It had been a long game due to the forty four fouls called, the forty nine combined free throw attempts and the twenty seven Towson turnovers.  In fact, last night, all the CAA games started at 7:00 PM Eastern time. The Hofstra-Towson game was the last one to finish by a good margin. There were more whistles in this game than Salma Hayek walking past a construction site.

Moore had twenty eight points and Lester added nineteen.  The Pride also had twenty offensive rebounds, one more than defensive rebounds.  Walk-on Matt Grogan had a career high six points. Erique Gumbs had twelve points and Kris Walden had ten points.

It was the twentieth time in twenty four games that Towson scored under sixty points on the season.  The Tigers were now back in sole possession of last place in the CAA.  As Bill Murray left the Mack Center, I wonder if he was saying to himself  "It just doesn't matter."