The Weather Outside May Be Frightful, But the College Basketball Inside is So Delightful

Neither snow blizzard, nor canceled babysitter as a result of such, could keep Tieff and me from our appointed duties of seeing college basketball today. First a very huge thank you to my real true love, my wife, Chelle, who was kind enough to bring the kids with her to work today. Apparently where she works at an assisted living home (where she is the recreation director), they have a nice movie theater and the kids were able to watch their favorite DVDs.

Now speaking of the big kid, I was now able to go to the Foot Locker Holiday Festival. It used to be hosted by Aeropostale, who now would rather sponsor the Holiday Classic featuring teams like Duke and Gonzaga. But that's ok, we got to see three very solid mid major teams and an up and coming St John's team. Tieff had to shovel himself out and picked me up late (I had been up since 5:30 am shoveling, so I was all done by 9:00 am, with a little help from my neighbor and his snowblower). Thus we got there for the Cornell-Davidson game in the second half with 10 minutes left.

The Big Red and the Wildcats made up for our lateness over the next 15 minutes (I just gave away partly what happened here). The Wildcats had just made their way back from a thirteen point halftime deficit within the first few minutes we got there, in large part due to the play of freshman forward Jake Cohen. Cohen, J.P Kuhlman (4 of 5 from beyond the arc) and Brendan McKillop combined to score 52 of the Wildcats 88 points.

The Wildcats would take the lead for the first time in the game it turns out at 63-61 with 6:23 left. And the rabid Davidson fans, who made up most of the nearly 6,000 paid attendance (but it seemed less than that, say 4,000 due to the weather), let their Wildcats know their appreciation. After the lead changed hands several times, Kuhlman nailed a three to give Davidson the lead 74-73 with a little over a minute left. Davidson held Cornell on the next possession but Cohen would only hit one of two to give the Wildcats a two point lead. After the Big Red threw away the ball, again Cohen was fouled. This time he missed BOTH free throws and Cornell made him pay with as Louis Dale hit a layup with less than a second left to tie up the game at 75 and force overtime.


It was all you could ask for in a game - dueling three pointers, seemingly crushing turnovers, equally as crushing missed free throws and then again big shots. Then things got even crazier in the overtime. Cornell jumped out to a 86-82 as Cornell's leading scorer Ryan Wittman (and yes, that is former Indiana Hoosier star Randy Wittman's son) nailed a three pointer to put up Cornell by four with 1:25 left.

But Davidson came back on a Kuhlman three to cut it to one. Then it was Cornell's turn to miss free throws. Dale missed both free throws and Kuhlman only made of two on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 88. Then when it seemed we were headed to a second overtime, Wittman got the ball from Big Red Center Jeff Foote and buried a 30 footer at the buzzer, to set off the Big Red frenzy shown above. Cornell wins 91-88.

Davidson shot 50 percent from the field, 35 of 70, but only 8 of 15 from the line, which ultimately doomed them. Cornell shot 33 of 72, but 12 of 15 from the line. Both teams shot well from three - Davidson shot 10 of 22 while Cornell shot 13 of 29. Wittman led all scorers with a game high 29 and he is almost as good a shooter as his dad was. Seven footer Foote added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Big Red.

I always find it funny that after the first game is over in a tournament, fans from both teams, whether the winning team or the losing team decide to leave. Yes, I know we're in New York City and if you're from western North Carolina or upstate New York, you might want to be a tourist, especially around the Christmas season. But wouldn't some of you want to watch the next game, just to see what your opponent is like. I guess that's just me.

Anyway, the remaining fans got to see another good game in the second half of the Festival as Hofstra took on St John's. The Pride had won the last four games from the Red Storm, including their last meeting in the Holiday Festival in 2006. Hofstra had also won five of the seven games in the decade vs. St John's, which shows how much Hofstra has improved and to be honest, how much the Johnies have declined.

Now one of the things you can clearly see when watching mid major teams vs. power conference teams is the difference in size. And I am not talking about height, especially since Cornell has a seven footer in Foote and Hofstra has 6-10 Greg Washington. I am talking about more muscular, bigger, stronger players. And this was very evident in the difference between St John's and Hofstra. Washington is 6-10 but 200 pounds while St John's Dele Coker is 6 -10 but 253 pounds. The Pride's Halil Kanacevic is 6-8 and 245 pounds (seems less to me) while the Red Storm's Sean Evans is 6-8 and 256 pounds (seems more to me).

This size differential would come into play immediately as St John's jumped out to a 10-2 lead, as the Pride simply could not keep the Johnies off the glass. The Pride would come back thanks to juniors Charles Jenkins and Greg Washington and freshmen Halil Kanacevic and Chaz Williams. Hofstra cut the lead to 12-11 and the game would be very close for the rest of the first half, as the teams traded runs - St John's would go on a 7-0 run, Hofstra would respond in kind. This was due in large part to the Jonnies woeful free throw shooting (3 of 8 from the line) offsetting their clear advantage on the boards (29-20 rebounding advantage).

Dwight Hardy had a very solid first half for St John's scoring 11 points. D. J. Kennedy had 8 points and Evans had 7. Hofstra was surprisingly very balanced. Jenkins had 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting (including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc), Washington had 9 points on 4 of 9 shooting and Williams had 8 points (including 2 of 2 from the three point line) and 5 assists.

So with the score 37-36 at halftime, Hofstra came out with the lineup I have been wanting to see starting all season - Williams, Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester at the guards, Washington and Kanacevic at the forwards (perhaps coach Tom Pecora has finally tired of Miklos Szabo's ineffective play). And the lineup came through with an 8-0 run and Hofstra was up seven, 44-36.

When Hofstra plays well, it's often due to good ball movement, initiated by Williams. He is incredibly quick, sees the court extremely well and passes very effectively. Williams had seven assists in the game and only one turnover. That's his most impressive stat, his assists to turnover ratio is 3.2 to 1, which is terrific for a freshman.

However, there was a key point in yesterday's game that changed the face of the game. Williams picked up his fourth foul with about seven minutes left and headed to the bench. The Pride then became one dimensional with Jenkins running the point and the team seemed like it did often last year, no one moving around and waiting for Jenkins to do something. And thus the Pride's 59-54 lead with less than six minutes left would eventually disappear.

And give the Johnies credit, they took advantage. Not that they shot any better from the field in the second half (38 percent in the first half, 38 in the second half) but they drove the lane and worked it inside and drew fouls. Lots of fouls. Greg Washington, who had no fouls in the first half, had five in the second half alone. The Red Storm shot 15 of 21 from the free throw line, as opposed to Hofstra who only shot 3 of 8 from the line in the second half.

The bigger Johnies simply wore down the Pride in the second half. The Red Storm guards and forward Justin Brownlee swarmed over Jenkins, who only shot 3 of 11 in the second half and had several shots blocked by Brownlee (5 blocks) and Kennedy (3 blocks). When Williams did come back into the game with four minutes left, he too found himself swarmed by St John's defense.

Combine the rebounding advantage (53-41), swarming defense and the solid free throw shooting and you had the makings of a St John's run. A big run. Try an 18-1 run to end the game as the Johnies won 72-60. Yes, the Pride scored one point over the last five plus minutes. Now I know why St John's is 9-1 and has beaten Siena, Temple and now Hofstra (with their only loss a respectable nine point defeat at Duke). It's due to great defense. St John's will be very competitive in the Big East.

Kennedy led the Red Storm with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Hardy added 17 and Brownlee also had a double double with 10 points and 13 rebounds (Sean Evans also had double figures in rebounds with 10). Jenkins would have 24 points but down the stretch he was shut down. Williams had 14 points but again, he too was shut down at the end. Kanacevic would only have 4 points on 2 of 12 shooting but he did hold his own on the glass with 11 rebounds.

So, Monday's Holiday Festival action will have Davidson vs. Hofstra at 7 pm and the championship game will be a very festive color - The Big Red of Cornell vs. the Red Storm of St John's at 9:30.

So we left MSG but our trip was not done yet. We were heading to Storrs to supposedly see our friend Tony Bozzella's Lady Gaels vs the #1 ranked Lady Huskies of UConn. Our trip to Storrs started later than we thought thanks to the Cornell-Davidson overtime game running over. We both thought the game was a 7:00 pm start. As we were at least 30 minutes outside of Storrs at around 6:45 pm, for some reason I decided to check the Iona web site on my cell phone, where I had stored it as a favorite. I saw the link for the game and it said 19:55 left in the first half with no score.

Huh? I refreshed it again. Still same thing. Then I checked it a third time.

UConn 43 Iona 18 with less than two minutes left in the first half. Uh Oh.

Then we found out. The game started at 6:00 pm. Why a game starts at 6:00 pm is beyond me? But that's what it was, a 6:00 pm start. The game was probably at half time now. We would be lucky to see the end of the game after finally getting there, then parking and walking to the arena. We decided to turn back. I texted Bo and told him what happened. I felt horrible.

It had been a day of disappointments. First Hofstra led most of the second half until a combination of St John's defense and bad offensive execution resulted in a St John's win. Second, the Jets, the girl that always breaks my heart, leads most of the game against the Falcons, only to see the Falcons finally score a touchdown on their last possession beating the Jets 10-7 and ending any chance Gang Green has of going to the playoffs. Now this.

How do you make up for a day of disappointments? Well, it so happens we were near New Haven, which happens to be the home of the original Frank Pepe's Pizza Place on Wooster Street in the Little Italy section of New Haven. Frank Pepe's is the BEST pizza I ever had. We went to the Frank Pepe's in Bridgeport in February before the Hofstra-Fairfield Bracketbusters game. As noted in that article, it was first recommended to me by my friend Bob Sugar, the equipment manager at Post through Hofstra Sports Information Officer Jeremy Kniffin. Again, we had the chicken and pepperoni large pie. And we were so stuffed, we wrapped the rest of ours up to take home.

But being the good husbands that we are, we each got another small mozzarella pie for our wives. Our way of saying thanks for letting us go to the games today. Since we both married italian girls, it should be interesting to see what they think of Frank Pepe's.

But we weren't done yet. If you are a dedicated reader of this site, you know that there is a tradition with Tieff and me. Whenever we are on the road, we try to find either a Waffle House or a Dairy Queen. Tonight, we decided to search for the latter. Thanks to Tieff's built in navigation system on the Durango (known otherwise as "The Big Red Machine"), we found two Dairy Queens in New Haven. Unfortunately, the first one was out of business. Then we had hope for the second one since it was near I95. Alas, it was closed too.

So we had to settle for McFlurries at the next door Mickey D's. Acceptable, but nowhere near as good as a Blizzard (a DQ Blizzard that is). Then I noticed something out the car door window and I took this picture.

I don't know if you will be able to see in the picture, but the sign below the DQ says "Closed. See you in March." See you in March? You know, March is our favorite month of the year here at the College Hardwood. It just goes to show you that despite a day of disappointments, hope always springs eternal. Isn't that what it's all about?

Spiders, Shockers and Monarchs, Oh My! And A Dandy at Hinkle

It's been a wild day all around. There is a major snow storm that has hit the mid atlantic states and is now POUNDING Long Island, home base of the College Hardwood. Here, in North Bellmore, NY, there has not been much else to do but watch college basketball all day. God I hate what snow storms force us to do. However, I can not rejoice too much because the storm is threatening to snow under my plans for the Holiday Festival at MSG tomorrow.

So the day started out with the dandy at Hinkle which pitted Xavier, recent conquerors of Cincinnati vs. Butler, who just slayed the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Though the game was on ESPN2, the boys at Bristol sent their A1 team of Brent Musburger and Bobby Knight. Musburger, Knight and all of America that watched were treated to a great game.

The game did not start out looking like a classic. Butler came out with a barrage of three pointers and early on, Xavier looked like they were going to be buried by the trifecta avalanche (yes there will be a lot of snow storm references in this posting, so you have been forewarned). The Bulldogs hit four three pointers in the first seven minutes and went out to a 20-6 lead.

Butler's lead looked like a snow drift at 32-17 with 6:43 left in the first half as Gordon Hayward had thirteen points in barely over the first thirteen minutes. However, Xavier's Brad Redford would drill two three pointers to help the Musketeers to cut the lead in half to 39-32 at halftime.

Xavier would extend the end of the first half momentum into the first four and half minutes as the Musketeers went on a 15-2 run, forcing four Bulldog turnovers. Jason Love and Jordan Crawford combined for 13 of those 15 Xavier points.

So what was a 39-32 Butler lead was now 47-41 Xavier with 15:34 left in the game. And the Musketeers would hold that lead for nearly eleven minutes until Ronald Nored's two free throws tied the game at 60 with a little over four minutes left. Xavier would regain the lead as Crawford and Love scored six of the last eight points the Musketeers would score.

Shelvin Mack would hit two free throws to cut Xavier's lead to one, 68-67 with 36 seconds left. Then the last 36 seconds would turn into the Gordon Hayward show. First Hayward would force a jump ball which turned the ball over to Butler since they had the possession arrow. Then Hayward would rebound a miss by Mack with 32 seconds left to setup the Bulldogs' final possession. Then after Willie Veasley missed a shot and lost the ball, Hayward scrambled to pick up the loose ball and put in a layup with 1.2 seconds left to put Butler up 69-68.

Then the most bizarre ending to a game that I have ever seen took place. Xavier called time out after the layup and the referees reviewed to see how much time was left on the clock. During this time,the ball was knocked away and Mack picked it up in the Bulldogs backcourt. Around 14.7 seconds left when Mack picked the ball up, the game clock stopped for about a second or so, then started again.

The refs then decided to use a stop watch while reviewing the replay to see how long the clock had stopped and then to see what time really was left on the clock, if there was any time. Well, they used the stop watch and they came to the conclusion that the Hayward layup counted barely, but that there was no time left in the game. The referees said the game was over. Needless to say that Xavier coach Chris Mack was furious at the decision and the Xavier team stormed off the court losing 69-68. Truly truly bizarre.

But the game was a coming out party for Gordon Hayward. The Bulldogs forward had 22 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and pulled down 14 rebounds. More importantly Hayward was huge in the second half. Every loose ball that Butler got , it seemed it was Hayward coming up with it. Truly an outstanding performance. Jordan Crawford was almost as good for Xavier. Almost.

The wacky ending at Hinkle Fieldhouse was just the beginning to a wild day full of bizarre occurrences. In Florida, Richmond was coming off a loss to South Carolina where the Spiders were up on the Gamecocks 32-24 at the half, before giving up 52 second half points eventually losing to South Carolina by 18 points.

Well Florida went out to a first half lead against the Spiders. Guess what the score was at the half? 32-24 Florida. So guess what happened? Yup, Richmond came out and shut down the Gators in the second half, limiting Florida to 21 points and David Gonzalvez had four 3 pointers to lead the Spiders to a 56-53 upset victory. Florida was held to 26 percent shooting in the second half, including 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. Richmond is now 8-3 and has a signature road win on their resume come tournament time.

Speaking of resume wins, Old Dominion had one three seasons ago when they last made the NCAA Tournament in 2007. That season, the Monarchs went on the road to Georgetown and knocked off the eventual Final Four member Hoyas 75-62. It was the only game that Georgetown played that season in the McDonough Arena on campus (they play all their games at the Verizon Center), So a little over three years later, there were the same two teams again at the only game played this season at McDonough Arena.

Could history repeat itself? Yes, it did.

The game turned out to be shown here locally on SNY, so I got to watch the upset unfold. Before the game started, I honestly thought this was a bad matchup for the Monarchs. ODU's strength is their frontcourt and Greg Monroe and Julian Vaughn certainly were a formidable matchup for Gerald Lee and Frank Hassell. I thought this was come down to the backcourts and I thought Georgetown's was superior.

But ODU's guard/forward Ben Finney set out to prove me wrong. ODU came out in the first half on fire, and Finney was the spark. Finney scored 10 first half points as Old Dominion went out to an eleven point halftime lead, 32-21. The Monarchs would extend the lead in the second half to sixteen 47-31 with 13:53 left.

A lot of this was due to a smart game plan by the Monarchs. Drive the lane and kick to the open man underneath for an easy layup or find Finney or Trian Iliadis for the open three. Finney and Illiadis combined to shoot six of eight from beyond the arc (the rest of the Monarchs, who struggle to shoot the three, were 1 of 8 combined). The Hoyas got snowed under due to eighteen turnovers (many of which were due to ODU's defense and many of which were due to sloppy play by Georgetown), the Monarchs had thirteen more FG attempts. And ODU cashed in, shooting 45 percent overall.

The Monarchs had to hold on at the end as they nearly blew their sixteen point lead, but they won 61-57. ODU now has beaten a ranked Georgetown team again on the Hoyas homecourt for the second time in three years and gave GTown their first loss on the season. And the Monarchs now have their own signature win for their NCAA Tournament resume.

Finally, another team put a signature win on their Tournament resume as Wichita State held on at home to knock off previously undefeated and ranked Texas Tech 85-83. The Shockers went 28 of 34 from the line to help plow the road and seal the deal for their tenth win in eleven games. Clevin Hannah and J.T. Durley combined for 44 points in the win.

As I see the snow mount up in my front yard, I am wondering if I will get to see the Holiday Festival tomorrow. My guess is that the games will go on. I just wonder if I will be able to get there to see them live. Stay warm and stay safe tonight.

What's More Important, A Jets Game or The Holiday Festival? The Choice is Obvious

First, a few days ago I thought I saw Kermit the Frog doing an ad for the "Green Game" featuring Michigan vs. Kansas on Saturday. Since I was falling asleep at the time, I was like "Nah, I must be dreaming". Nope, sure enough, it's Kermit the Frog doing an ad for the game. You know Kermit's tag line "It's not easy being green". Well, it's a perfect segueway into my article for today

I am a Jets season tickets holder. Have been for the last several years. I am a diehard Jets fan. I was too young to remember Joe Namath and the Super Bowl team. I am old enough to remember his bad knees and the tons of interceptions he threw as he got older.

Sigh.

Then there was the Richard Todd years. Freeman McNeil, the New York Sack Exchange and the great 81 playoff season run. Then there was that 81 Championship game against Miami.

Sigh.

Then there was Bill Parcells and I remember being at opening day the season after they made the AFC championship game the season before. Vinny Testaverde ruptured his achilles tendon.

Again, sigh.

Then the last several years all the home games I have seen. I was there, when they triumphantly beat the Raiders in the last regular season game to make the playoffs in 2006. Then they upset the Chargers on the road and then had a chance to beat the Steelers.

Then Doug Brien missed the field goal attempt. The Steelers win in overtime.

Triple sigh.

Then there was new hope last season. The Jets got Brett Favre. Who cared if he was wishy washy, who cared if he was a walking soap opera. He led the Jets to a 8-3 start. Beat the previously undefeated Titans. First place in the AFC East and it looked like it could finally be the year.

Then they faded down the stretch. I was there when they lost at home to the hated Dolphins in the last game of the season to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs. Brett Favre played like Richard Todd did in 81.

A big deep sigh.

So there was this year. A new coach, Rex Ryan, whose dad, Buddy Ryan was a defensive line coach for the Jets Super Bowl Championship with Namath. An awesome 3-0 start with an inspiring defense including the game I was at over those same Titans. There is new hope.

Then the Jets lose six of their next seven, with the last game I was at, the demoralizing 30-27 loss to Miami where the Jets defense only gave up nine points (two special teams touchdowns and a returned fumble).

Sighs can't even describe the disheartening feeling.

So the Jets have resurrected themselves. Three wins in a row. A fourth staring them in the face with a beaten up Falcons team. I have my tickets way in advance for this Sunday's 1:00 pm game, December 20th.

December 20th...that sounds familiar.

Then I realized several weeks ago, the Annual Holiday Festival at MSG starts the same day. It's unusually early this year because normally this college basketball tournament is a few days after Christmas. This year's Holiday Festival has Hofstra (my home base), Davidson (when they scheduled it, Stephen Curry hadn't announced that he was leaving school early), Cornell, and the host team St John's.

Hmmm, the girl that keeps breaking my heart, the Jets or my true love (well, next to my wife that is), college basketball.

It was a very easy decision. My friend Jessica's mom just picked up the Jets tickets from my house. I gave them to Jessica as her baby shower present (she has a boy due in May 2010). Three tickets plus the parking pass. Enjoy Jess.

So I am spending the day with my true love (again apologies, Chelle). And this promises to be a fun day.

First, the Holiday Festival starts at noon with Davidson and Cornell, then Hofstra and St John's at 2:30. Three mid majors and the one time local NYC bully, the Jonnies.

Davidson has struggled this season with Stephen Curry leaving school early for the NBA and Andrew Lovedale graduating. Well, struggled might be kind as the Wildcats have started out 3-7. But upon closer inspection, Davidson has played a pretty tough schedule. All seven losses have come against teams with winning records, including road losses at ranked Butler and Gonzaga. The Wildcats are led by freshman Jake Cohen who averages 13 points per game while averaging only 20 minutes per game. The Wildcats are coached by one of my favorite coaches in all of college basketball, Bob McKillop.

Cornell, ranked #13 in my Baker's Dozen article, has been very solid this season at 7-2, which is especially impressive when you notice they have only played two home games all year. Road wins at Alabama, UMass and at Drexel (the Dac is not an easy place to play when full) are particularly impressive. Ryan Wittman has been terrific for the Big Red, averaging 18 points per game on 47 percent shooting from the field (including 41 percent from beyond the arc). Wittman leads three other scorers in double figures. The Big Red will be battling current fellow Baker's Dozen member Harvard for the Ivy League title this season.

Hofstra has been very solid, starting out the season at 7-3, with their only losses at Kansas, at UConn and home to a very good Charlotte team (just ask Rick Pitino and Louisville). The Pride are led by Charles Jenkins, the 2009 Haggerty Award Winner. Jenkins, only a junior, is being his usual statistical monster self. Jenkins is averaging 19.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. But what has made Hofstra better this year is how they are handling the ball. The Pride are third in the CAA in assists to turnovers ratio (last season they were at the bottom). Much of that can be attested to terrific freshman Chaz Williams, who averages 4.1 assists to 1.4 turnovers per game. In fact in his last game, Williams had 10 assists and no turnovers vs. New Hampshire. The Pride are looking for their fourth Holiday Festival Title, which would make them the only team with more than three titles other than St John's.

Speaking of St John's, the Red Storm have fallen on hard times since Mike Jarvis burned every NYC connection and left the program in shambles. His replacement, Norm Roberts has been relatively unsuccessful during his tenure with no NCAA or NIT appearances in that span. But this year, Roberts and St John's may have finally turned the corner. The Jonnies are 8-1 with impressive back to back wins over Siena and Temple in the Philly Hoop Classic (just ask Nova how good the Owls are). St John's is led by guard D.J Kennedy, the only player averaging double digits in scoring at 16.4 points per game (Kennedy also averages over 5 rebounds and nearly 4 assists per game). However, the Red Storm have five other players that average 8.5 points or more per game and more importantly, they have ten players who average ten minutes or more per game.

So it should be a very competitive Holiday Festival. But my college basketball day doesn't end there. If you are a regular reader of this site, you know that Coach Tony Bozzella of the Iona Lady Gaels is a good friend of mine. And his Iona Lady Gaels are making a trip up to Connecticut. Yup, to face the #1 ranked Huskies at Storrs. So from MSG, we will be traveling to Storrs for a 7 pm tipoff. Along the way, we'll be stopping at Frank Pepe's for the best brickoven pizza around.

You can't ask for a better day than that. Sorry Jets, but that's the itinerary for the day. Spending the day with my true love (again apologies Chelle :-) ). But it doesn't mean I won't be following the Jets on my cell phone (which will be new because I lost my phone tonight). Somehow you never get over the girl that breaks your heart.

The Mid Majors Baker's Dozen - December 15, 2009

When I started writing this Baker's Dozen this morning, I thought back to the start of the season. I figured I would have two CAA teams (check), two West Coast Conference teams (check), two Horizon teams (check), two Missouri Valley teams (check) and a Southern Conference team (check). So all those are in place.

And of course, there are no A10 teams, because to me the Atlantic 10 is not a mid major conference. As for the terrific A10 and the reasons they aren't a mid major, well that's for another day (soon, very soon).

However, imagine the following scenarios for my rankings;

1) One CAA team that made it is VCU. However, the other CAA team that made it is not ODU, George Mason, James Madison or Hofstra.

2) The Southern Conference team that made it is not Davidson, Charleston, or Chattanooga.

3) Not only did an Ivy League team made the list, but TWO Ivy League teams are on the list.

4) The MAC has no teams, not even in the honorable mention category, and the honorable mention from the WAC is not Utah State or Nevada.

5) Western Kentucky who has three wins the last two NCAA tournaments and a recent win over Vanderbilt, gets an honorable mention only.

6) The teams I picked from certain conferences, the Ohio Valley and the Southern, are the best teams in their respective conferences right now, but Joe Lunardi picked other teams from those conferences in the first Bracketology listing for the season. Why? Ask Lunardi!

If you said to me in November that all of those scenarios would occur, I would say "you're nuts". But here we are. Those are the scenarios.

So, without further ado, the tastiest thirteen mid major teams in the country and it's A10 free.

1) Northern Iowa (9-1) - The Panthers have picked up right where they left off from last year's NCAA Tournament team. Neutral site win over Boston College, road win over in state rival Iowa State and beatdowns of Iowa and Siena put Northern Iowa #1 in our list. The Panthers nearly average four scorers in double figures led by Kwadzo Ahelegbe and Adam Koch, both of whom are in the top ten in the Missouri Valley in scoring. The Panthers really don't do anything exceptionally well statistic wise (highest category for the Panthers in the MVC is third in scoring defense), but they know how to win. First game of the Missouri Valley conference schedule is at Creighton, so a big test early for Northern Iowa.

2) Gonzaga (8-2) - The Zags were supposed to be "rebuilding" this season. I think everyone got "rebuilding" confused with "reloading". With returning players Matt Bouldin and Stephen Gray, along with a healthy Robert Sacre, and one of the best freshmen in the country in Elias Harris, Gonzaga has been able to win the Maui Invitational over the likes of Cincinnati and Wisconsin. The Zags never shy away from tough opponents. Still on the schedule - Duke, Illinois and Oklahoma before an absolute killer WCC road trip - at Portland, at Saint Mary's and at San Diego to start the conference season.

3) Butler (7-3) - Perhaps a Top Ten ranking was too much for the now #17 Bulldogs. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish. Only three losses were to ranked teams - Minnesota, Clemson and Georgetown. Big win at home this past Saturday against Ohio State. Still upcoming, two tough games - home to Xavier and at UAB before conference play starts. Gordon Hayward had a terrific game vs. Ohio State and leads the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging nearly 17 points per game. But the Bulldogs are based around Matt Howard. When Howard is out of the lineup, the Bulldogs are simply a three point shooting team. Howard has also struggled from the field, shooting only 41.2 percent as opposed to 55 percent last season. Howard is often seeing double and triple teams. When Howard gets on track, so will the Bulldogs, a scary thought for any team facing them.

4) Western Carolina (10-1) - Where did these Catamounts come from? Last year they were 16-15 and lost to Charleston in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament. This season, they already have ten wins and several of the quality type - a win over A10 Duquesne, an impressive road win at Bradley, then the coup de gras, a road win over Louisville. First, they do it with depth. Eight players average 15 or more minutes per game. Second, they do it with defense. First in the SoCon in steals, 10 per game, first in FG percentage defense, 38.4 percent, and second in three point FG percentage defense at 25.6 percent. Third balanced scoring, with five players averaging 8.5 points or more per game led by Jake Robinson's 12 per game. Big game against Clemson on December 22, then it's conference play.

5) Missouri State (9-0) - You are wondering probably "Why is an undefeated Missouri Valley team only ranked fifth in these rankings?" Well, just like Illinois State (who didn't even make Honorable Mention status after losing their first game to Niagara), Missouri State has played most of its games at home, often against cupcakes. Yes, they beat Auburn and Air Force. But both were at home. Yes, they have a win at UALR, but the Trojans at 4-6 are nowhere near as good as last year. Let's see how they do in their next three games - all road games; at Saint Louis, Arkansas, then Evansville. I do like their forward Kyle Weems, an underrated post player who can also shoot the three.

6) St Mary's (7-1) - Only a two point home loss to Vandy keeps the Gaels from being undefeated. Nice road wins at Utah State (where the Gaels broke the Aggies 37 game home winning streak) and Oregon help the cause. Despite the loss of Wayne Hunter, St Mary's still rolls thanks to one of the best big men in the Mid Majors, Omar "Enter the Sandman" Samhan, a walking double double machine. I'll be watching that first game against Northeastern on December 22 on ESPNU at the first round of the Diamond Head Classic (a potential game vs. UNLV awaits). Who needs Patty Mills?! Ok, he would have helped!

7) William and Mary (6-2) - The Mary in the Baker's Dozen!!!! Well, when you are first in the CAA in scoring offense, three point field goal percentage and my favorite stat, assist to turnover ratio, chances are you might be legit. Big home wins vs. Richmond and VCU make a stronger case that the Tribe are legit. But the road win over Wake Forest (who won at Gonzaga) screams "LEGIT!" Only losses are single digit loss at UConn and a heartbreaking buzzer beater at fellow Baker's Dozen member Harvard. Tony Shaver has taken a team that was considered bottom fodder in the CAA by the coaches and me, and put them on the map. Road games vs. Radford and Maryland before big conference road game at Hofstra will either reinforce the "LEGIT" label or make the Mary the midnight pumpkin.

8) Harvard (7-2) - The Crimson! Maybe three is a charm for Tommy Amaker. After the Seton Hall and Michigan jobs, Amaker resurrected himself at Harvard. Wins over the Mary (granted, it was a Jeremy Lin three pointer at the buzzer that gave Harvard the home win) and Boston College are downright impressive. And also a six point loss to UConn is nothing to be ashamed of. The loss to Army, well, the Cadets are 7-2. Lin has been a force, averaging 18.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game (that's Charles Jenkinsesque!). Another test comes up on December 23 at Georgetown.

9) VCU (6-2) - No Maynor, no problem so far for the Rams. Only two losses were at Western Michigan (eh) and the one point loss at the Mary. Wins include impressive home victories over a ranked Oklahoma team (and the Sooners have righted their ship winning over Arizona and Utah) and Richmond. Larry Sanders has been Larry Sanders (averaging 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks per game). But the key has been the Rams depth. VCU has nine players who average about 10 minutes or more per game. TJ Gwynn (49 percent) and Ed Nixon (48 percent) have been outstanding off the bench for the Rams. With Terrance Saintil back and Wake Forest transfer Jamie Skeen now available, the Rams could be eleven deep. Uh oh.

10) Portland (6-3)- The good - Wins over UCLA and Minnesota in the 76 Classic. The bad- Losing at home to Portland State, blown out by Idaho. We'll give them a pass on West Virginia. They are a terrific shooting team, shooting 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. Nik Raivio is their leading scorer, but it's Luke Sikma that I love. Averaging 24 minutes per game, Sikma averages 7 points and nearly 8 rebounds per game while shooting 62 percent from the field. Definitely like his dad, Jack. A couple of big road games loom - at Washington, then at Nevada, before conference play starts.

11) Murray State (8-2) - There are some things I don't understand about Lunardi's Bracketology bracket today. Both Murray State and Austin Peay are 2-0 in the OVC. The Racers have one loss (a close game at Cal) while the Governors have four losses. I'll take the Racers over the Governors for now. Most impressive stat - the Racers' average scoring margin is 21 points. Second most impressive stat, nearly 13 steals per game. Thus why teams only average 58 points per game against Murray State. They would have been higher had it not been for the loss to honorable mention Louisiana Tech.

12) Green Bay (9-3) - Definitely an interesting lot. Defeats Wisconsin at home, but loses at home to Long Beach State. Loss to UAB is ok, but as much as I like Oakland, the Phoenix should not be losing to them by 24, even if the game is on the road. Rahmon Fletcher might be the best player in the Horizon that's not on Butler. Still, if they want to be the team to win the Horizon come March, they need to be more consistent. A good way to start, the New Year's eve game at Butler. Happy New Year!

13) Cornell (7-2) - The Big Red have been very solid. Road wins at Alabama and UMass. Sweeping the Legends Classic by beating Toledo, Vermont, and Drexel on the Dragons home court. Home win over St Joe's. Only two losses are to two Big East teams, Seton Hall and Syracuse. Pretty respectable. Ryan Wittman leads four scorers in double figures for the Big Red. Up next, it's Davidson at the Holiday Festival (followed by either St John's or Hofstra). Then a January 6th game at Kansas. The January 30th game vs. Harvard could be for first place in the Ivy.

Honorable Mentions -

Louisiana Tech (9-2) - Yes, they have the win tonight over Murray State, but it's a home win. Both losses were bad ones (at Arizona by 16 and at New Mexico by 29). First two conference games, vs Nevada and Utah State, both at home, will tell if the Bulldogs are pretenders or contenders.

Wichita State (9-1) - The Shockers are 9-1. Yet Northern Iowa and Missouri State get all the love. Perhaps it's Wichita State's relatively soft schedule - a loss to Pitt and a win vs. 3-7 Iowa are really the only standouts. The game against #20 Texas Tech on December 19 is big.

Siena (6-4) - They'll be back in the countdown soon enough. See Sunday's article for details on those four losses. With Clarence Jackson, Edwin Ubiles, Ronald Moore, Ryan Rossiter and company, they will be just fine.

Niagara (7-4) - Knocked off Illinois State on the Redbirds' home court hopefully signifies the return of the Purple Eagles. Bad losses at Akron and home to Buffalo (ugh).

Western Kentucky (5-3) - Another team probably on its way back soon into the Baker's Dozen. Lost on their home court to Indiana State, then back to back losses at LSU and South Carolina. However, the win over #24 Vandy was their third in a row. A.J. Slaughter is the best player in the Sun Belt.

Just to note Lunardi's first Bracketology listing of the year has eight of my Baker's Dozen members (Northern Iowa, Gonzaga, Butler, Missouri State, St Mary's, William and Mary, Green Bay and Cornell), along with one honorable mention (Niagara).

Pride Win Handily, Purdue Turns Up the Heat to Turn Back the Tide and What Happened in Cedar Falls?

As you can tell from all the live updates I posted yesterday, Hofstra defeated New Hampshire 75-58. A very solid win for the Pride. Hofstra was up twelve, 43-31 and basically ended the game by starting the second half on a 10-2 run. The Pride shot 10 of 15 from beyond the arc, held New Hampshire to 3 of 19 from beyond the arc and 34.5 percent overall. Charles Jenkins led the way with 21 points and Cornelius Vines had 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc. Hofstra took the lead with 16:41 left in the first half and never trailed again, going up by as many as 24 points in the second half.

Richmond played its third CAA team of the season last night at the Spiegel Center in Richmond as they faced VCU in their annual Black and Blue Classic. The Spiders went out to a twelve point first half lead before being up nine 29-20 as the Rams missed 17 of its first 22 shots. The second half was MUCH different as VCU shot 12 of 21 from the field and more importantly, cashed in from the charity stripe, going 18 of 23 from the free throw line.

Larry Sanders had his usual solid game with 12 points, 13 rebounds and of course 5 blocks. However, the Rams got help from the bench as TJ Gwynn had a career high 20 points and Brandon Bozzell went 3 of 3 in the second half from beyond the arc to power VCU to the win. The Rams came out on a 19-4 run to start the second half to win their sixth Black and Blue Classic in a row.

I watched a good part of the second half of Purdue vs. Alabama. Alabama had been dominating most of the game and was up fifteen, 51-36 with 15 minutes left when I started watching it. Then it was like someone, most likely coach Matt Painter, who told his team to start playing defense. And then Purdue went into lockdown mode. The Boilermakers held the Tide the rest of the way to 4 of 20 shooting, as well as forcing eight turnovers. As a result, Purdue went on a 37-14 run the rest of the way to win 73-65 in their first road game of the year.

It was really one of the best defensive clinics I have seen. Alabama struggled mightily to get shots off during those final fifteen minutes. It really was outstanding man to man defense by Purdue. And they cashed in on the offensive end. A very solid all around team. They truly deserve their #5 ranking.

Western Carolina came into its road game vs. Louisville at 9-1. The Catamounts had solid wins on their resume, a home win over A10 Duquesne and a road victory over Bradley. But this was the first of their two big road tests, the Cardinals on their home court. Well by judging how well Western Carolina did against Louisville, if I was Clemson, I would get ready, as the Catamounts stunned the Cardinals 91-83 yesterday. The Catamounts shot over 50 percent from the field and were 29 of 41 from the free throw line. Yes, Louisville may not be as good as last year, but they were ranked to start the season. With this win, the Catamounts have sealed a place in the rankings for the first Mid Majors Baker's Dozen coming out this week!

Speaking of the Mid Majors Baker's Dozen, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa yesterday, one team sealed their ranking in the Baker's Dozen, while one slipped out as Northern Iowa used a big second half to crush Siena 81-65, in a Bracketbusters return matchup from last season. Northern Iowa had a key 18-5 second half run that turned a three point game into a rout. The Panthers did it in their usual style, burying the three ball. Northern Iowa shot 9 of 15 from beyond the arc. Ali Farokhmanesh led five Panthers scorers in double figures with 15 . A telling stat from this game was assists to turnovers. Northern Iowa had 19 assists to 13 turnovers, Siena had 10 assists and 9 turnovers.

So what's with Siena? A preseason favorite by many people, including me, with four starters returning has seemingly struggled from the gate only winning six of their first ten games. A closer look shows that it it is really not so bad. Three of the four losses were on the road - at Temple, at nationally ranked Georgia Tech, and at Northern Iowa. Their only other loss was a neutral site loss to St John's at the Philly Hoop Classic. Combined record of those four teams - 27-5.

If you remember last season, the Saints struggled from the gate, going 6-4 in their first ten games in a row (against also very good teams). In fact, Kyle Whelliston gave the Saints the award for most disappointing mid major team in the first half last year. Then the Saints went 21-4 the rest of the way, knocked off Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, then nearly beat #1 Louisville in the second round. The Saints will be just fine. But they won't be in the first Mid Majors Baker's Dozen rankings for the season (they will be a honorable mention).

Pride Up Twenty two

73-51 with 2:56 left. Jenkins has 21 to lead Hofstra.

Pride Extends Their Lead

Hofstra up eighteen, 53-35 with 15:35 left.

Hofstra Up Thirteen At Half

The Pride lead New Hampshire 43-30 at halftime. Hofstra is 7 of 8 from beyond the arc. Charles Jenkins and Cornelius Vines each lead the Pride with 10 points.

The 43 points scored by Hofstra in the half is one less than they scored in their entire win over Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Pride Up Seven

31-24 with 3:23 left. Greg Washington is back with his nose plugged up.

Hofstra Down Two...Players

Within the first five minutes, both Greg Washington and Charles Jenkins were hurt and out of the game. Washington never made it on the court to start the game. Jenkins got hurt during a loose ball. He is back on the court wearing a different jersey number (31 instead of 22). Pride up 14-6 with 12:52 left in the first half.

Another Day, Another Game At The Mack Center

Today, New Hampshire comes to visit Hofstra. UNH has not won a road game this season.

Expand the NCAA Tournament? Yes, But Only Slightly...

When I visited the ESPN College Basketball web site, I was greeted by one the article tag lines, "Men's tourney could grow, move to cable". So obviously, I clicked on the link and it was article on Andy Katz' blog about the discussions now that Myles Brand is no longer President. Great, the staunchest supporter of keeping the tournament the way it is has been dead not even three months and you have the Senior NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen saying the following;

"We're just in a due diligence phase of examining all of our assets and among those things is men's basketball"

Nice. Well at least Greg and company waited almost three months before "examining" their best asset. And it's a two prong "examination". First, they are considering expanding the tournament field, potentially to 96 teams, including folding in the NIT tournament into it (the NCAA now runs it and has been, let's face it, looking to kill it). Second, they are considering opting out of their deal with CBS and moving to cable?

First, let's talk about that second prong. So if they decide to move it to cable, will it be ESPN...or their own channel? Several conferences now, the Big Ten and the SEC, have their own cable channels. Did you think the NCAA hasn't been considering this? Cmon. They already show Division I, II and III tournaments on their website. And if the NCAA decided to have their own cable channel, don't you think every cable company under the sun would have to carry them if it was known that the NCAA tournament was on their cable channel?

Chances are that they won't create their own cable channel, but with the success of the Big Ten Network and SEC Network, don't tell me they haven't at least thought it. More likely though, they see great possibilities with ESPN. The single biggest complaint I have heard about CBS' coverage of the NCAA Tournament is their failure to cut into other games that may have potential upset implications. Well, that's because they don't want to cut their ratings in those markets. They figure a Syracuse fan in NY won't watch if CBS cuts from let's say Cuse vs. LSU in the NYC region to Western Kentucky vs. Drake because the Hilltoppers are about to stun the Bulldogs.

With ESPN and their family of five networks (oh, I forgot the "Ocho"), you are more likely to get the network to cut into a game with serious implications on ESPNnews for instance. Plus, you can have all four other networks, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Classic to show the first round games. Yes, there is the DirectTV package where you can watch all the games on. But not too many people have DirectTV (despite the wonderfully funny commercials that espouse them). Thus ESPN makes the most sense.

And if you thought 11 years $6 billion was a lot of money, when the boys at Bristol get involved, it will be all she wrote for CBS.

Now to the second part, expanding the tournament. First, I hear about all the "purists" who want to keep it at 64 (well really 65. More on that in a second). Please. These purists act like it's been 64 teams all along. Those of us who grew up watching college basketball or can look up wikipedia know better. :-)

History of the NCAA Tournament (courtesy of Wikipedia)

• 1939–1950: eight teams
• 1951–1952: 16 teams
• 1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
• 1975–1978: 32 teams
• 1979: 40 teams
• 1980–1982: 48 teams
• 1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
• 1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
• 1985–2000: 64 teams
• 2001—present: 65 teams (with an "opening round" game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)

So for anyone who says they are a purist is either a) born after 1985 b) is older than 25 and has either a bad long term memory or no sense of history or c) just thinks 65 teams is the right number of teams.

I remember quite well when it was 32 teams. Now notice something in particular here. In 1983 and 1984 , there were four and five play-in games respectively. This is going to come into play later on with my recommendation for expanding the Tournament.

Now those who want to change it want to expand it to 96 teams. That would mean a first round with 64 teams, all at large teams, playing each other with 32 other teams receiving byes (perhaps the 31 teams with auto bids plus one). If they stick to the current schedule, that would mean that the Tuesday already setup for the 64-65 play in game would have those 32 games instead.

Geez, that would mean I would have to take three days off that third week of March instead of two. Not a bad thought mind you.

And this would effectively end the NIT tournament which the NCAA took over a few years ago and has been wanting to kill off for sometime. And that's also part of the reason for the expansion of the NCAA Tournament. At one time the NIT was on par with the NCAA Tournament, when there were fewer teams in the NCAA Tournament. I remember vividly Ralph Sampson as a freshman leading Virginia to the NIT championship, which springboarded them to future NCAA tournament success.

So it kills the NIT tournament, what's the big deal?! With 96 teams, more teams would get in to the dance and there won't be any more teams wrongly snubbed out of a NCAA bid, such as Hofstra and Missouri State in 2006, Drexel and Syracuse in 2007, Arizona State in 2008 and Saint Mary's in 2009.

Well here's the problem with that.

1) The NIT is basically the leftovers of the NCAA tournament. Teams that certainly weren't good enough to make the NCAA tournament litter the NIT now. It still does OK, but with a handful of exceptions (more on that in a second), these teams are not NCAA Tournament teams.

2) If you look at the NIT from last season, you had teams that were barely over .500 making the tournament - Washington State finished 17-16 after their first round loss to Saint Mary's and Providence finished 19-15 after their first round loss to Miami, Fla. Why did this happen? Well, CM Newton and his flunkies overseeing the NIT thought teams like Washington State and Providence were better draws than Wisconsin Green Bay and Portland for example, who were better teams (just ask Wisconsin and Minnesota this season).

Do you seriously want slightly above .500 teams making the NCAA tournament? It will turn the NCAA Tournament into Bowl Season. Who wants that. Hey, you're 6-6, you're bowl eligble and you're playing on New Years Day in the Gator Bowl! (yes that was a swipe at Florida State, who has no business playing a New Year's Day Bowl)

3) Even if you expand to 96 teams, you will still have teams that will feel left out, no matter what, even if you are comparing mediocre to mediocre. As per the above example, anybody could tell you that Wisconsin Green Bay was a better team than Washington State, yet the Cougars made the NIT and Wisconsin Green Bay had to settle for the CBI. What's going to be the criteria for 66-96? Will it be the same as the other at larges from 34-65?

Here's a better solution. Expand the tournament to 68 teams. Here's how it will work;

1) The 64-65 play-in game between two low level automatic qualifiers is removed. It's not fair anyway. Both those teams got AUTOMATIC bids to the NCAA Tournament. Why are they playing in the 64-65 game? Why, because the No Clue At All, ie the NCAA, think they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell in beating a #1 seed. But that's not the point. Each team won their Division I conference. They deserve as much as a right to playing the first round of the NCAA tournament, if not more so than an at large that lost in their conference tournament.

You can work the seeds around so that these teams play a #1 seed in the first round and thus accordingly move other teams down. It actually works out that you get probably an even more competitive #3-#14 game in the long run.

2) Then the teams that received at large bids 60-68, which makeup usually the #10 - #12 seeds in the NCAA tournament, play each other for the last at large seed in each region. You can play two games at Dayton and two games at another site.

3) After the four regional play-in games, you then have your 64 teams left as the "purists" want it to be.

This would work better for many reasons. The first that comes to my head is that it's usually only a handful of teams, say two or three that truly get wrongly snubbed out of a NCAA bid. Last season, you could seriously make a case for Saint Mary's, San Diego State and Creighton not making the tournament. It's been like that the last four seasons by my count (see my aforementioned other teams in previous seasons). This way you can get those teams into the play-in round and we can then see which team truly deserved to be in the dance.

Second, you don't water down the NCAA Tournament by expanding to 68 teams. Going to 96 is just serious overkill and really cheapens the NCAA Tournament. Hell John Wooden wants all 300 teams to be in the tournament. I love John Wooden, but that's ridiculous. Why have a regular season then?

Third, in my proposal, only four teams will have played one game before their first round NCAA Tournament game. In the 96 team proposal,. 32 teams would have already played and won one game, which to me is an unfair advantage. That makes it awfully unfair for the 32 teams that got a bye.

Now why are they considering expanding to 96 teams? One word - Greed. Adding 32 teams means 32 additional games - tickets, concessions, sponsorship ads etc etc.

Do the Math. Thirty two more games instead of four more games is much more profitable. That's the only reason for this "examination" of the Tournament. Myles Brand knew it and didn't like it. Some of the purists know it. You and I know it.

By making it 68 teams and an eight team play-in round, it makes Tuesday much more exciting and interesting. The quality of basketball is not watered down. And only four teams will have played and won a play-in game. And I guarantee the Dayton play-in regionals and the other site play-in regionals would sellout in a heartbeat, unlike the 64-65 play-in game now. Not quite the profit the NCAA is looking for, but it's still a profit.

What's it going to be NCAA? Greed or Quality Basketball?

Ugly But Effective for the Pride

It was not for the faint of heart. It was a game that maybe only Bruiser Flint would truly love. At the Mack Center, two teams played hard nose defense, but left their shooting touches at their last game, along with ball control. Hofstra went out to a 21-5 first half lead and barely held on for a 44-39 win last night.

How ugly was it? Consider these facts

1) Manhattan shot 12 of 56 from the floor (21 percent), including 2 of 14 from the beyond the arc. At one point in the first half, the Jaspers were shooting 2 of 20 from the field.

2) Hofstra shot 18 of 52 from the floor (34.6 percent), including 2 of 12 from beyond the arc.

3) Hofstra, who entered the game leading the CAA in free throw shooting at 75 percent, shot 6 of 16 from the free throw line. Manhattan started off shooting 7 of 13 from the line, but hit 6 of their last 8 to go 13 of 21 from the line.

4) Hofstra, who had been second in the CAA in assist to turnover ratio, had six assists...and NINETEEN turnovers. Manhattan had 3 assists and 10 turnovers.

5) The Pride had as many personal fouls as their two leading scorers, Halil Kanacevic and Charles Jenkins, had combined points - 20.

6) Charles Jenkins, who entered the game shooting 48 percent from the field and averaging 20 plus points per game, shot 3 of 14 and had only 9 points, as the Jaspers basically double teamed him the entire game.

7) Miklos Szabo, who shot 11 of 14 against Towson, was 2 of 7 from the field last night. He missed a lot of easy shots.

The bright side - defense. Hofstra had 12 blocks to continue their lead in the CAA in average blocks per game and outrebounded Manhattan 44-33. As mentioned, the Jaspers did a terrific job in double teaming Jenkins and he had an incredibly difficult time finding open players. Jenkins did have four steals of his own.

Contiuning the bright side, the Pride have to be impressed with the play of freshman forward Kanacevic, who led the Pride with a double double - 11 points, 10 rebounds.

Manhattan, who fell to 5-4, got 10 points each from Patrick Bouli and Rico Pickett. However, leading scorer Darryl Crawford, who came into the game averaging 16 points per game, only had 6 on 3 of 12 shooting.

The baskets seem to have large lids on them last night. A good part of it was defense, but also a good part of it was the teams missing easy shots, or forcing wild ones. It wasn't pretty, but for one team, Hofstra, it was effective for one night. Neither team though can keep playing like this or neither team will have a winning record this season.

Manhattan Inches Closer

Pride up four 38-34 with 6:30 left.

Pride Up Only Five At Half

After being up 21-5, the Pride went ice cold and the Jaspers outscored Hofstra 13-2 to end the half only down 23-18. It has been a VERY ugly first half.

An Ugly First Half

The Jaspers are 2 of 24 from the field in the first half so far. Thus it's not a surprise with 3:57 left in the half that Manhattan has 10 points. Hofstra hasn't been much better. 21-10 Pride.

Hofstra Run Early

After the Jaspers scored the first five points of the game, the Pride on 14-0 run. Hofstra up 14-5 11:50 left first half.

Live From the Mack

It's Manhattan vs. Hofstra from the Mack Center. Live updates to follow.

Dayton Test Drives the CAA This Week and the Jimmy V Classic

What better way to find out how good George Mason and Old Dominion are than to have them play a common opponent this week. Enter the Dayton Flyers who made the second round of the NCAA tournament last season and entered this season nationally ranked. The Flyers only two losses were at the Puerto Rico Tipoff to #3 Villanova and Kansas State (whose only loss on the season was to #25 Mississippi in the semifinal game in that tournament).

The Flyers play on the road to the Patriots tonight. This is the third year in a row that the two teams have played each other. Dayton won at home last season 66-62. Prior to that in 2007, Mason won at home 67-56. Each team that has won in the prior two years has made the NCAA tournament that season. Hmmm.

Then Dayton goes home on Friday to host Old Dominion. The Monarchs have a home game vs. Mount St. Mary's tonight before the contest on Friday.

Tonight at the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic, you have one very good game between ranked teams and one game with a struggling team facing a rebuilding team. In the first game #20 Butler takes on #13 Georgetown. The Hoyas are undefeated while Butler suffered two losses to Minnesota and Clemson in the 76 Classic.

In the second game 3-4 Indiana takes on 7-1 Pittsburgh. The Hoosiers have struggled to a 3-4 record including losing three games at the Puerto Rico Tipoff while Pittsburgh's only loss was to the only ranked team they have faced so far this season, 78-62 to #2 Texas. Pittsburgh did manage to set a Division I NCAA record in their last game as they combined with New Hampshire for 22 first half points, the lowest number of points in a half since the shot clock was introduced in 1985 (score was Pitt 15-7 at the half). Hopefully some team breaks 50 tonight.

Miscellaneous Thoughts About Saturday's Action

I was over at my mom's house yesterday afternoon help cleaning up the house with my family when I got a call from my friend Tieff. He gave me the news that William and Mary had just defeated VCU 75-74. I was very happy, especially after calling the 6-2 Mary yesterday the best team in the CAA. When I found out how they did it, coming back from a 14 point second half deficit, I was really impressed. The Mary win using the three ( 10 of 26 yesterday) and have the CAA's best assist to turnover ratio and yesterday's 17 assists to 8 turnovers only enhances that.

Then I watched the Wake Forest 77-75 comeback win over #16 Gonzaga yesterday afternoon and was impressed with three things. One, Wake didn't quit when they were down 24-11 yesterday. Yes, the Elias Harris flagrant foul ejection helped inspire the Demon Deacons (and yes, that was a flagrant foul - he threw a forearm shiver to the throat) . But the Deacons controlled most of the second half and in fact went up fourteen at one point. Two, despite losing Harris (who as I have noted in a prior colum will be very good and will learn from this ejection), the Zags came back in the game and had a chance to tie the game at the end. The Zags will be fine. Finally, this makes the Mary look even better. Remember, the Mary won at Wake just recently.

Speaking of the West Coast Conference, I am really starting to feel that the WCC is going to be a multiple bid conference after seeing St Mary's won at Utah State 68-63. With the win, the Gaels broke the Aggies 37 game home winning streak. The Gaels won due in "large part" to 6 foot 11 Omar "Enter the Sandman" Samhan who had 22 points and 17 rebounds. Samhan was also not a player listed in Fran Fraschilla's top ten mid major players. Then again, Fran didn't list Charles Jenkins either. Fran's 0 for 2 by my count.

With Gonzaga, Portland and St Mary's playing so well, I am seriously starting to get conflicted as to where to go in March for quality conference tournament basketball; Vegas for the WCC tourney or my home base of Richmond for the CAA.

Most people would say "How can you turn down Vegas for Richmond?!" Well, the way the Mary are playing is one reason. Another reason is the way my alma mater, the Hofstra Pride (5-3), is playing. Hofstra traveled to Towson and simply dominated the now 2-4 Tigers 84-64. The main reason, the awakening of Pride Center Miklos Szabo. The "human fouling machine", as my friend Tieff calls him, was challenged this week by Coach Tom Pecora to practice well or find himself starting on the bench for this game.

Szabo, who only had 2 rebounds in a win over Fairfield on Monday, came out possessed. He shot 11 of 14 from the field and had eight rebounds including five on the offensive end. If Szabo can provide a consistent scoring force and not play "soft" on the boards (as Pecora indirectly stated this week), he will free up Charles Jenkins (21 points vs Towson including 7 of 13 from the field) to create more havoc.

And what makes Hofstra even more impressive is that their three losses came to two nationally ranked teams (Kansas and UConn) and to a Charlotte team that is turning out to be really good. I watched the 49ers absolutely dismantle #18 Louisville at Freedom Hall on ESPNU last night 87-65.

The scary thing about this 6-1 Charlotte team's win last night; leading scorer Shamani Spears, who averaged 21 points per game going into the contest, only had nine points on 3 of 10 shooting last night. No matter, the rest of the 49ers shot 27 of 56 from the field, including 10 of 24 from three, and shot 17 of 19 from the line. Chris Braswell dominated the Cardinals with 21 points and 14 rebounds, as Charlotte outrebounded Louisville 46-35. The 49ers can shoot the three and have the inside combination of Spears and Braswell. The 49ers are a team to watch in the A10 this season.

Drexel and Northeastern played a typical game for them, a 49-47 win for the 4-5 Dragons at the Dac. It's amazing how these teams play basketball. It's really a game that only Woody Hayes could love, 3 yards and a cloud of dust. The teams combined for 83 field goal attempts for the entire game (by themselves, Hofstra had 69 field goal attempts yesterday against Towson). The teams didn't shoot badly from the field - Drexel shot 44 percent, Northeastern 42 percent. However, you won't see either team chuck a lot from three - Northeastern attempted only three from beyond the arc (made two), while Drexel was 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.

Two things killed Northeastern yesterday; sharpshooter Matt Janning was only 4 of 7 from the line and Northeastern showed why they are last in the CAA in assist to turnover ratio - 8 assists to 14 turnovers. You can't win with that lack of ball control and the lowest number of field goal attempts in the CAA - 317 FG attempts, 39 less than the next team Towson. Thus their 2-4 record.

The funny thing is that Georgia State also won a similar game over James Madison 49-44. Both teams combined for 90 field goal attempts (in all the other CAA games, the teams combined for over 100 field goal attempts). I really believe if you put Georgia State, JMU, Drexel and Northeastern right now in a round robin tournament with all teams playing each other three times, there would not be a single game where the winning team scored more than 55 points. Seriously.

I correctly called the ODU 21 point blowout win over Delaware. If ODU could have hit a few three pointers (3 of 17 from beyond the arc), it would have been 30 easily. The Blue Hens are going to struggle to win a game in conference this season. They are that bad.

Finally, I watched the first half of the game between George Mason and UNC Wilmington. The Patriots held on to beat the Seahawks 57-52. Mason was up by 20 in the second half before UNCW rallied to cut it two but just couldn't make up the entire deficit. I told my friend Mal two things in a text yesterday before the game. One, I thought UNCW would win. I was wrong. Second, I texted him "Remember the name, John Fields." I was right about that. Fields had 21 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Mason has a lot of talent with Ryan Pearson, Kevin Foster etc and I love the Patriots. But Fields was the best player out there, and he's the reason why UNCW is so much more competitive this season.

Finally, my friend Grant sent me this link on Kansas' blowout win over Alcorn State. Apparently Kansas' 36 consecutive points vs. Alcorn State was spurred by an Alcorn State coach telling his players not to help up Sherron Collins when he fell down near their bench. Collins told his fellow players "Don't let them score". Moral of the story - Be sportsmanlike at all times and allow your players to help up their opponents. Especially when you're 0-9, playing on the road and your opponent is #1 ranked Kansas. Just sheer brilliance there.

Now back to watching my kids. May you have a fun Sunday. :-)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

And no, I am not talking about the Christmas season. I am talking about the start of conference play in college basketball, specifically the CAA. Yes this week, many mid major conferences start conference play. Mind you it's only one game, then the rest of December teams play non-conference games. Then in January, the real conference season starts.

But for me, on one magical day in December, we get a whole slate of CAA conference games. That day is today!! Woohoo!

It starts off with a dandy at noon. Long time CAA conference power VCU goes on the road against the team I say right now is the best team in the CAA...wait for it....WILLIAM AND MARY! Yes, Tieff, the Mary! The Mary are outstanding right now,5-2 with huge wins over Richmond and Wake Forest. The Tribe are third in the CAA in scoring, third in field goal percentage at 45 percent and of course, first in three point shooting at 41.3 percent. In fact, the Mary have attempted 50 more three pointers than the next team in the CAA, VCU. The Mary average 11 three pointers made per game.

Speaking of 5-1 VCU, who have nice wins over Oklahoma and Nevada, they will present the ultimate challenge to the Mary Bombers, as they lead the CAA in three point FG percentage defense at 16.9 percent. Yes, teams have only shot 15 of 89 against the Rams. VCU is also first in steals and second in turnover margin in the CAA. Again, this will be another challenge to the Tribe as the Mary are first in the CAA in assists to turnover ratio.

At 2 pm, two teams trying to find their way, Georgia State and James Madison meet on the Dukes' home court. Georgia State has found its way back to .500 at 4-4 using stifling defense to keep them afloat. The Panthers are first in the CAA in FG percentage defense, second in three point FG percentage defense and second in rebounding margin. They need defense because their offense has struggled, last in the CAA in scoring offense, and next to last in assists and assist to turnover ratio.

Meanwhile the Dukes are starting to recover from the season ending injury to Devon Moore. They have won four in a row and that is due to defense as well as JMU is fourth in the CAA in scoring defense. But they have struggled on offense without Moore, next to last in the CAA in field goal percentage offense and they also have the worst rebounding margin in the CAA.

At 4 pm, a game I wish I could have made a road trip for occurs, 4-3 Hofstra at 2-3 Towson. This looks to be a high scoring game (take the over) with the fourth and fifth best scoring teams in the CAA. Towson also happens to be next to last in the CAA in scoring defense, giving up 77 points per game.

The Pride are a much different team from last season. Last's season Hofstra team was a very physical defensive team that struggled to score. This season the Pride are first in the free throw shooting percentage, third in assists and third in assists to turnover ratio. However, they give up 70 points per game on the defensive end and have allowed 80 or more points in three of their seven games.

The Tigers are pretty good themselves on the offensive end as they are second in the CAA in three pointers made at 8, fourth in FG percentage, second in assists to turnover ratio and second in turnover margin. Again though, the Tigers are weak on the defensive end, dead last in the CAA in FG percentage defense at 48 percent.

The other 4 pm game is the enigmatic Northeastern Huskies traveling to the DAC to face the Leon Spencer less Drexel Dragons. Spencer injured his wrist in a prior game and may not be back till January. The 2-3 Huskies have played five games, all of which have been decided by six points or less.

This looks to be another close game for the Huskies because 4-4 Drexel is playing typical Dragons' basketball that only Woody Hayes and Bruiser Flint would truly love; low scoring physical slobberknockers of games. Drexel is tenth in scoring offense, dead last in field goal shooting percentage. But the Dragons are third in scoring defense, third in field goal percentage defense, and second in rebounding defense.

However, if the game is close, the advantage at the line is clearly Northeastern's. Huskies are second in the CAA in free throw shooting. Drexel, dead last.

The Huskies have also struggled to score this season. They are ninth in scoring offense and dead last in the number of field goals attempted and made in the CAA. They are incredibly deliberent on offense and this might be due to them being dead last in the CAA in assists. They also tenth in the CAA in three point FG percentage at 29.3 percent, again taking the fewest three point shots in the league with 75 (the next lowest has 30 more). They quite possibly might be the most enigmatic team in the league. Having watched them often last season, it seems they are playing the same way this season. They look terrific at times and just well, downright ugly at others. They should be better than they are.

The CAA feature game of the week, which is being shown on ESPN Full Court and ESPN 360 today is the 5:00 PM matchup between George Mason and UNC Wilmington at the Trask Coliseum, one of the loudest arenas to play in the CAA (along with Siegel Center).

The 3-4 Patriots after playing so well at the Puerto Rico Tip Off have been a little disappointing lately, losing their last two road games including a 17 point drubbing at George Washington. This is what's going to occur with a talented young team that starts three sophomores and plays four freshmen off the bench. Mason is in the middle of the pack in most CAA statistical categories. However they are not shooting well from the field, tenth overall in the CAA. And only Drexel is worse from the free throw line.

The 3-4 Seahawks are a surprise team in the CAA so far this year, perhaps the second biggest surprise to William and Mary. They played very well in the Charleston Classic, upsetting NIT champ Penn State in the first round, then barely losing to both Miami and South Florida in the next two rounds. UNCW is still high scoring, averaging 78 plus points per game and 48.8 percent from the field, good for first in the CAA in both categories. The difference is theeir defense is definitely improved from last season. Though they are still low in the CAA at tenth at 73.7 points per game allowed, it's much better than the 83.5 points per game they allowed last year.

The last game might be the blowout game of the day. 1-5 Delaware travels to 4-3 Old Dominion. The Blue Hens, whose only win of the season is over a winless Penn team, is dead last in scoring defense in the CAA, giving up 81.8 points per game. Their FG percentage defense is next to last at 46 percent, which is what ODU shoots from the field (good for second in the CAA).

The Monarchs started out the season strong at 4-0. But that was due to the level of their competition, the Longwoods and Bethune Cookmans of the world (cupcakes to the CAA). They have lost their last three games to Missouri and Mississippi State in the South Padre Classic, then a road loss at Richmond.

ODU dominates the glass though with their terrific frontcourt as they outrebound their opponents by over 10 rebounds a game. Combine that with Delaware being dead last in the CAA in defensive rebounds and you have the makings of a ODU rout.

Why the Loss of Hofstra Football Should Be a Rally Call for Hofstra Men's Bball

This article is being done by Gary Moore, the Hofstra alum.

As many of you have heard, Hofstra dropped it's football program today. After 69 years of producing NFL standouts such as Wayne Chrebet, Marcus Colston, Dave Fiore, Lance Schulters and Tampa Bay Head Coach Raheem Morris, the football program is no more.

Its amazing how much play this story is getting on the news. On ESPN, under "The Most Sent Stories on ESPN", the leader is now "Hofstra cutting football, citing cost, low interest". It had been earlier "Tiger-Elin matchmaker Parnevik lashes out" and Hofstra second, but now Hofstra has taken the lead. Another article with a Hofstra tie in about Saints wide receiver Colston, is the fourth most sent story on ESPN.

I have seen several Hofstra football games over the years. My standout game that I remember seeing involved Hofstra playing Villanova with Brian Westbrook, who had an absolutely dominating day against the Pride. And Hofstra had several very good Division IAA teams under former coach Joe Gardi, who I have met and I like. I have seen Charlie Adams, Gio Carmazzi and others play as well.

However, I suggest if you want to know more about the football end of this, go see the always terrifc Jerry Beach's column "Defiantly Dutch". He has interviews with Coach Gardi and Raheem Morris among others on this.

For me, I am going to come at this from the basketball side. That's what I write about.

I will say this. I am not going to tell you that it was the right thing or the wrong thing to end the football program. I will say this, one of the main reasons cited by Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz for ending the football program was "the low level of interest, financial support and attendance among our students, our alumni and the community, the choice was painful, but clear."

I have been at the football games and he's right in that in a 13,000 seat stadium, there would be 4,000 fans there. And that's also when the team was very good in the Gardi days with Chrebet, Schulters and opposing players like Westbrook.

What's bothersome and what I want to write about in part is that it's a similar malaise with the basketball games as well at Hofstra over the years. I remember being at the first home game in the 2001-02 season against Florida Atlantic, the season after TWO consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. How many fans were there? 1800.

Now to this year. Hofstra is coming off a 21 win season. The Pride have the best player in the NYC area, 2008-09 Haggerty Award winner Charles Jenkins returning for his junior season. The Pride just lost a very close nationally televised game to UConn in the second round of the NIT Tipoff, where the Pride were leading for a good part of the second half (and were down one point with a little over a minute left). What was the attendance for the first home game on a Friday night vs Farmingdale State (grant you, not quite UConn)? 2655, barely half full.

The attendance for the NIT Tipoff games vs. Elon and Charlotte were embarrasing (737 and 787). Grant you, there was not much publicity for these games since the short turn around time for deciding a home arena for these games. But still, quality college basketball and not 1,000 people there?

It's a consistent problem with Hofstra athletics. Lack of attendance. And I am not just blaming students, though 500 out of 4200 on campus students for a football game is not good. It's also the local area, the alumni and the community that just don't see a good thing when it's in front of them.

Here's a great example. Let's go back to the 2005-06 team shall we. This was a team that was returning all its starters basically from the 2004-05 NIT team, so this team was not an unknown quantity. Here's the attendance figures for some of their home games and their record after the game (asterisk notes Saturday game)

December 5, 2005 - 3534 in a win over Delaware (4-1)*
January 5, 2006 - 1814 in a win over JMU (9-2)
January 7, 2006 - 2309 in a win over Georgia State (10-2)*
January 14, 2006 - 2207 in a triple OT win over UNCW (11-3) *
January 29, 2006 - 2907 in win over ODU (15-4)
February 11, 2006 -3614 in win over Northeastern (18-4)*
February 18, 2006 - 3331 in Bracketbuster win over Siena (19-5)*
February 23, 2006 -4192 in win over George Mason (21-5)
February 25, 2006 -5047 in win over Drexel (22-5)*
March 16, 2006 - 3614 in over Nebraska (25-6) -first round NIT
March 22, 2006 -5047 in loss to ODU (26-7)

The January 14 game is quite telling. This was a preview of the eventual CAA championship game and UNCW was in first place in the conference at that time with Hofstra second or third at the time I believe. This was also a televised game and is quite an infamous moment in my life (which I have noted in my blog a couple of times the past few years and will again). And think about it, the place is not even half full for that game.

The January 29 game was the Auremius Kieza three pointer at the buzzer classic. The place wasn't even 60 percent full to see that classic which cemented the ODU/Hofstra feud.

The attendance started to rise after that, though the Bracketbuster attendance was disappointing. The win over Mason was well attended on a Thursday because Mason was nationally ranked at the time. That's what finally got people rocking and the last CAA home game with Drexel was sold out, as was the NIT Quarterfinal game vs. ODU. Stunningly only 3614 were at the Nebraska game (then again it was up against the first round of the NCAA tournament too).

But it took a win over a nationally ranked team to get more than 60 percent of the arena's capacity to come out to see a very good team, a team that went to the NIT the season before. And think about it, only three games where the arena was filled to 80 percent or more capacity for a 26-7 team that swept the season series from a Final Four Team! That's downright disgraceful.

This is my point, there is a general apathy, malaise whatever you call it at Hofstra or more importantly on Long Island to college sports. It's what caused Hofstra to kill a football program that had more of its share of NFL players for a FCS school.

You can't spend/lose 4.5 million dollars annually when you get no publicity and no fan support.

What is it exactly? Here are the reasons I think.

1) Well, unlike a lot of southern/midwestern schools, there is lots to do on Long Island and it's close proximity to the NYC. Broadway plays, major sports franchises, shopping malls (sigh) etc.

2) Two thirds of the Hofstra student base is commuter. They don't live on campus. And the group that is on campus, well the lack of attendance, perhaps it's due to reason #1. When only 1/8 of your on campus population comes to a football game, well, it's not good.

Southern schools like ODU, George Mason, Davidson, UNC Wilmington and especially VCU have most of their students live on campus and there are no pro teams competing (see #3).

3) Unlike most of the schools listed, Hofstra lives in a major sports market. The Knicks, Rangers and Islanders, all of who stink, still dominate the fan base and the airwaves. So commuter students, alumni and the general community will often choose the professional franchise over the college.

Hofstra Basketball has done better in recent years because the NCAA Basketball Tournament has become a big deal. However, the FCS tournament playoffs barely gets any coverage (how many people know Applachian State won 3 national championships in a row in FCS. Seriously). Even when Hofstra was successful at Division I AA and regularly made the playoffs, there was little interest outside of a core group.

But even in college basketball, it's hard to get a consistent local NY fan base unless the team is really really really good. Look at St John's. Once a bastion for great college basketball and all its great tradition, the Jonnies have fallen on hard times and no longer sell out Carnessca Arena on campus, let alone the Garden.

So put all those factors together and it's not easy for Hofstra to get a consistent fan base. But really that is sad. Think about it. Hofstra basketball has had four twenty win seasons in the past five years with three NIT appearances. When's the last time the Knicks or the Islanders had a winning season? Or St John's really for that matter?

Listen to the end of the interview with President Rabinowitz with Mike Francesa today. Mike talks with him about the possible move of the A10 (which Francesa certainly wants and it looks like President Rabinowitz does as well) and that it would need additional resources to do it. The Atlantic 10, which to me is not a mid major conference (an article for another day), gets multiple regular bids to the Dance, unlike the CAA.

But for Hofstra to commit to that, there needs to be a large fan base support, more than there is now. There is a large enough alumni group and enough students that could make a successful fan base for Hofstra basketball.

But someone needs to rally them. So why not me!

To the Hofstra Students - Why not take in a basketball game?!! It's free for you guys! FREE! HELLO!!! Especially if you're on campus. Seriously, are you going to study at 4 pm on a Saturday in February??! And if you're a commuter student, why not come down and take in a game it's free for you too.

To the Hofsta Alumni Community. Here's a chance to channel your frustration about losing Hofstra football and turn it into a positive for Hofstra Basketball. There is a team in the Mack Center dying for support. Bring your kiddies, bring your wife. Guaranteed to have the time of your life (and Hofstra Basketball is much better than the Mets).

To the Long Island/Queens Community - Here's is THE BEST SPORTS VALUE in the area. Take a look at Gohofstra.com and order tickets online. There is no better place than a rocking full arena with two hours of college basketball with a team that ACTUALLY WINS. Forget the Knicks, forget the Islanders. Hell, basketball tickets are comparably priced with the movies now. Guaranteed more fun watching the Pride than the latest bad movie from Wil Farrell.
Bring your kids. They will love the fast paced action.

And folks, you will see on a regular basis, the best player in the local area, Charles Jenkins. And I can honestly say, if he keeps playing the way he is playing and shooting that outside jumper consistently - by the time he graduates, you will see another Hofstra basketball player drafted in the NBA.

Folks, he's that good. Isn't that worth a few dollars? Isn't that worth a couple of hours on Saturday? To see potential greatness in the making.

Now's the time to rally, Hofstra supporters. Let's face it folks. The football team is gone. It's sad, but it's reality. The economics were much too steep.

Here's a chance to support a good basketball team. Or will you let that fall by the wayside too.

It's up to you.

Wednesday Night Awards

Big night of action in college basketball between watching games live and following games online. So for the first time ever, I am starting the Wednesday Night Awards. Hey, what else is there to do on a rainy Wednesday night on Long Island.

The John Starks Keep Chucking Until You Get One In Award - Goes to the Siena Saints and in particular guard Clarence Jackson. Yes he led the way with points for Siena but on 3 of 14 shooting from three and 6 of 23 overall. As far as shooting threes, perhaps Clarence should have stopped when he was 2 of 10. I guess with Edwin Ubiles out, Jackson had no choice but to chuck. And Owen Wignot did not help things with his 0 for 6 performance.

Is it little wonder that Siena just couldn't keep up with #23 Georgia Tech with numbers like that. Pretty hard to win when you are 4 of 27 from three.

The Best Team in the CAA Award- William and Mary? The Mary! Yes, they are the best team going in the CAA. They have a big win over Richmond, whose only loss was to the Tribe (and the Spiders beat the likes of Miss. St, Missouri and Old Dominion) and of course, the huge road win over Wake Forest (yes Wake is nowhere near as good as last year but they are still probably middle of the pack in the ACC).

The Bad Night To Have Two of Your Players Suspended for Stealing Pillows in San Juan Award - George Mason - Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius, two sophomore starters for the Patriots were suspended one game for violating team rules. Apparently they stole items from their San Juan hotel and if the CAA Zone rumors are correct, it was pillows. Well, hope those pillows are comfy cause your team lost to George Washington by 19 points (and were down 20 plus points for a good part of the second half).

The "What the Bloody Hell Happened Award?!" - Goes to Clemson for blowing a 22 point lead on their home court in the span of eight minutes, which eventually turned a 57-35 lead over Illinois with 16:47 left into a 63-61 deficit with 8:28 left. The Fighting Illini would eventually win 76-74.

Well, I can tell you what happened for Illinois in those eight minutes- The Perfect Storm. You need the right combination of ingredients for the Perfect Storm. Force turnovers on defense. Check. Seven Tigers turnovers in eight minutes. Force bad shooting. Check. Tigers 1 of 5 from the field during that eight minute period. Have home team shoot poorly from charity stripe. Check. Tigers shoot 1 of 4 from the line during that period. Go on hot streak from the field with several three pointers mixed in. Check. 10 0f 14 from the field including four three pointers during the eight minute onslaught. Mix well and you have a 28-4 Illini run.

I Hate to Say I Told You So, But I Told You So Award - Goes to Old Dominion. If you follow this blog, I have stated several times, I am not fond of the Monarchs' outside shooting. They may have started the season 21 of 42 from three in the their first three games. But those games were against Bethune Cookman, Longwood (soon to be listed as a Wed. Night award winner) and Liberty, three patsies. In their last four games, including three losses in a row, ODU is shooting 18 of 63 - 28.5 percent. ODU shot 5 of 21 from outside tonight in a 67-60 loss at Richmond. The Monarchs' best player, preseason co-CAA player of the Year Gerald Lee, was held to six field goal attempts and nine points. Old Dominion guards, especially Darius James and Marsharee Neely to hit their outside shots, or Lee will see similar nights.

The Cupcake to the CAA Award - Goes to Longwood. The independent Lancers have three games with CAA opponents this season. So far, a 98-59 loss to ODU, and tonight an 84-65 loss to the Mary, where the Tribe called off the dogs after being up 28 at one point. There is still a late season game next year vs. James Madison. Bethune Cookman gets honorable mention for their back to back losses to VCU and ODU by 28 and 31 respectively. However, the Cook only get honorable mention because they beat the Lancers by four this season 66-62.

We'll Gladly Take Our Cash For the Road Game And Slink Away Award - Goes to Alcorn State who decided "Why not a get a one nice payout while we get drubbed by #1 Kansas. Now 0-10 Alcorn State actually went out to a 4-0 lead. Perhaps Kansas was just spotting them. The Jayhawks scored the NEXT THIRTY SIX POINTS, one short of the NCAA record for most consecutive points by one team in a game. The score at the half was 53-12. Needless to say the Jayhawks won 98-30. I know this isn't a good indicator of how good the Jayhawks are, but having seen them in person. I am surprised it wasn't 125 points scored.

The Finally After All This Time Award - Goes to the Big Ten as they finally beat the ACC overall for the first time in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Big Ten can thank Illinois for that.

Hofstra Holds on Against Fairfield

In the David Mack Center last night, sitting at my usual seat in Section 111, Row D, I can tell that I am going to see a lot of high scoring games this season. Hofstra held off Fairfield late for an 84-80 win. Charles Jenkins had a career high 37 points on 12 of 17 shooting and 9 of 9 from the free throw line.

The game was very close throughout with no team having a lead larger than 6 points. The Stags' gameplan was very simple in the first half. Work the ball inside to senior Anthony Johnson and exploit the Pride's foul prone forwards, Greg Washington and Miklos Szabo. It worked. Johnson had a double double in the first half - 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Pride had no answer for him. Szabo tried to front him. The Stags guards lobbed it over him. Szabo tried to play behind him. Uh uh. Johnson was able to hit shots over him. Johnson was 7 of 10 from the floor in the first half.

If it wasn't Johnson dominating inside, it was freshman guard Derek Needham showing off his three point ability with 11 first half points. The Stags shot 16 of 29 from the field in the first half. What kept Hofstra in the game was the Stags missed several open threes (2 of 11 from three in the first half - both coming from Needham) and were brutal from the line (8 of 18 from the charity stripe in the first half).

Thanks to the Stags inability to hit an open three or a free throw, the Pride were fortunate to be only down two 42-40. What also helped Hofstra is their offense. The Pride was 14 of 25 from the field in the first half and were 9 of 13 from the line. Jenkins had 12 points and Nathaniel Lester had 10 points. The Pride also did a good job of holding onto the ball with only four first half turnovers.

The second half again was a close half. There were two major differences though that eventually enabled the Pride to win. First, the Stags inexplicably went away from Johnson. As I noted in one of my live postings last night, Anthony Johnson only had two points in the first sixteen and a half minutes of the second half. Right after I posted that comment, they went to Johnson who hit a layup (which resulted in my friends Tieff and Mal calling me a jinx). Johnson would only have six points in the second half on six field goal attempts.

The other difference was Charles Jenkins. As I have noted here previously, Jenkins is a second half monster. Last night was no different. Jenkins had 26 second half points on 8 of 11 shooting and 7 of 7 from the line. Fairfield had no answer for Jenkins.

Jenkins has always been a scoring machine. At 6 foot 3, 220 pounds, Jenkins is built like a Miami Hurricane free safety. He can handle physical contact, is incredibly quick, has excellent body control and knows how to twist in the lane for his signature layups. What has enabled Jenkins to elevate his game this season is his ability now to consistently hit the outside shot. Jenkins was 5 of 7 from beyond the arc last night and is amazingly shooting 48 percent from three for the season (and 48 percent overall from the field).

Those numbers from three most likely will not last, but this forces opposing players to guard Jenkins more closely which allows Jenkins to use his speed to blow by them for potentially easy layups. Jenkins is on Fran Fraschilla's list of "Players and Coaches You Don't Know but Need to Find Out About" list. However, I instead would have put Jenkins on the top ten mid major players list in that same article.

Jenkins got help last night from Nathaniel Lester who had 18 points. Fordham stayed in the game in the second half thanks to Needham's 15 points and 26 overal, and Yusef Hawkins 13 points, 22 overall. The Stags (4-2) have a very nice trio of players and if they can hit their outside shots, they will be a very difficult team to beat in the MAAC ( I consider them the third best team behind Siena and Niagara).

The Pride need to keep Greg Washington and Miklos Szabo from getting into foul trouble. Again they were easily outrebounded last night 35-24 and again an opposing big man, in this case Johnson, dominated offensively in the paint. They will have difficulty against CAA teams with good frontcourts (hello Old Dominion).

However, they move the ball around so much better than last season and that's due in large part to point guard Chaz Williams who has an assist to turnover ratio of nearly 3 to 1. Hofstra needs to start Williams and play Cornelius Vines off the bench. You can see how much better the Hofstra offense flows when Williams is in the game. And now with Lester being the second scorer, averaging 12.7 points per game, Vines is less needed for scoring.