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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brad Kelleher Is Free To Play Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just When You Think You Got The Answers...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Follow Binghamton - Hofstra Action on Twitter

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

A Strong Second Half Surge Propels Hofstra Over Towson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back at the Mack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now go watch some live college basketball!

With Warmest Regards,

Gary Moore
The College Hardwood

Five Year Anniversary Retrospect - Part I - My First Article Nearly Five Years Ago Today

Before I go into my article today, I want to give a shout-out to my "rival blogger" as Mr. Defiantly Dutch, Jerry Beach calls me.  Today he and his lovely wife and faithful basketball companion Michelle celebrate their 16th year together.   How does Michelle put up with him?  Well Jerry and I have discussed Michelles as saints.  And my wife Michelle, or Chelle as I call her, is a saint, so his must be too.  Happy Anniversary guys!

Speaking of anniversaries, tomorrow marks the five year anniversary of this blog.  And I can't think of a better way to spend the fifth anniversary of this blog tomorrow then be at Hofstra for their game vs. Towson.  So in preparation for a retrospect of the five years of articles tomorrow, I wanted to repost below the first article that started it all, December 4, 2005 "Welcome to College Basketball Featuring CAA Men's Basketball".

Yes, that was the original name of this blog, "College Basketball Featuring CAA Men's Basketball".  A while later it became "Mid Major Hoops", since I wanted to expand the coverage area of this blog.  But in deference to the site that truly is mid major hoops, MidMajority,  the eventual name of this blog became "The College Hardwood".

But my first article was a quick preview of the CAA season.  Little did I know what a season it would be in the first year of my blog.  As you will read below, I had Old Dominion winning the conference tournament beating Hofstra and the player of the year being Alex Loughton.    And I didn't realize that Old Dominion would finally beat Hofstra that season...in the NIT Quarterfinals (even back then I talked about "Garden Parties").  I also talked about the possibility of the conference being a multiple NCAA bid conference that season and that George Mason needed to play better defense if they wanted to be successful (and boy did they ever).

As you can also see below, I didn't do a good job in giving UNCW, the eventual conference champions in 2005-06 their due for the season.  It was also the first season for Northeastern and Georgia State in the CAA.   The Huskies played an integral part in the CAA Tournament and Georgia State nearly did as well.

However, some things don't change five years later.  Old Dominion is the favorite again for winning the CAA for the second season in a row.  VCU, George Mason and Hofstra are also vying for the top of the conference.  And Georgia State is as inconsistent as ever.

But why don't you find out for yourself as we take a trip together down nostalgia lane.

Welcome to College Basketball featuring CAA Men's Basketball

This is the first posting of the College Basketball featuring CAA Men's Basketball Blog.   This may be the only blog site dedicated to in depth analysis of the CAA Men's Basketball conference as well as college basketball in general.

The CAA is comprised of 12 teams, two new added this year; Northeastern and Georgia State, which are now the two farthest points of the conference, spanning the conference now from Boston to Georgia.  Last year, Old Dominion won the regular season title and the post season conference tournament,  before giving  Final Four Michigan State all it could handle in a first round loss.   The conference also had three NIT teams  (VCU, Hofstra and Drexel).

This season, there is talk of a potential multiple team bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the late 80's when Richmond and Navy both made the tournament.  Already many of the CAA teams have made solid impressions to basketball experts around the country.  Old Dominion has impressed teams with a 5-1 start, including wins over Georgia and East Carolina as well as a tough 3 point loss to perennial Big Ten power Wisconsin.   Drexel was impressive in giving Duke and UCLA all they could handle in the post season NIT tournament before losing another three games in a row to tough non conference teams Penn, St Joseph’s and LaSalle (don’t laugh, LaSalle is very much improved).  UNC Wilmington is off to a 6-1 start including winning the BCA tournament in Wyoming which included a win over host Wyoming.  Finally George Mason crushed UC Irvine (which defeated Stanford in Stanford) and took Wake Forest into overtime at Wake Forest.

Old Dominion is again the favorite to win the conference with all of its starters returning including Conference Player of the Year, Alex Loughton, sharpshooter Isiah Hunter and power forward Arnaud Dahi.  The team can go nine to ten players deep with players such as Valdus Vasylius and has a great deal of experience in big games.  They were ahead of Michigan State at halftime by five before losing by eight in the first round of the NCAA tournament this year.  Key player for Old Dominion is seven foot three Sam Harris.  Harris’ continued development is integral to Old Dominion having a chance in not only making the NCAA tournament but actually winning a couple of games in the tournament.  They have the talent to do so.

Hofstra returns its entire starting five players from the beginning of last season including all CAA first team player Loren Stokes and CAA freshman of the year Antoine Agudio.   Starting point guard Carlos Rivera has lost 15 pounds and looks much quicker in the games so far this year.   The three keys for Hofstra will be foul shooting (Hofstra is one of the weaker teams in the CAA as far as free throw percentage), keeping center Adrian Uter out of foul trouble, and hoping that their five freshman coming off the bench will adapt quickly to the CAA kind of play.  Freshman Greg “Playstation” Johnson looks like a keeper but fellow freshmen power forwards Chris Gadley and Arminis Urbutis must give quality time off the bench for Hofstra to contend.

George Mason returns its big three in six foot 8 300 pound mammoth center Jai Lewis and guards Tony Skinn and Lamar Butler.  George Mason can light it up but can also give it up. They were at the bottom of the CAA last year in scoring defense which led them to a disappointing sixth place finish in the conference. George Mason must play better defense if they want to contend for the conference title.  An 81-51 win over Georgia State at Georgia State may be an indicator of things to come.

Veteran top echelon Virginia Commonwealth returns senior forward Nick George along with Jesse Pellot-Rosa, and BJ Walker to give VCU a solid threesome.  VCU is very athletic, plays aggressive defense and has one of the best home court advantages in the Siegel Center on the VCU campus.  However, the loss of Michael Doles to graduation leaves VCU without a consistent scoring threat and VCU must cut down on the number of turnovers they have had at the start of the season.   Also VCU must shoot much more consistently from the field which has been an Achilles heel in the past.

Newcomer Northeastern boasts sharpshooter Jose Juan Barea along with three point threat Aaron Davis and shot blocker Shawn James.  Northeastern went 21-10 in the America East last year including a first round loss in the NIT.   Northeastern though is facing a much more balanced conference than they were used to in America East.  Northeastern barely edged past perennial  lower echelon James Madison last night.  Northeastern likes to run up and down the court and  have the score in the eighties.  Problem is they can give up points as well.  In their last four  games, Northeastern has given up 80 points or more.  Northeastern must play better defense against teams like Old Dominion and George Mason who have no problem scoring points.

UNC Wilmington returns John Goldsberry for what seems to be his tenth year in the conference.  Didn’t he play with Brett Blizzard when Blizzard was a freshman!  Just kidding, but it does seem like the six foot three senior has been there forever.  UNC Wilmington uses a balanced attack with Goldsberry, Beckham Wyrick, TJ Carter, and Mitch Laue.  Wilmington will play nine players a game, play solid defense and keep turnovers to a minimum.  Wilmington must keep the score in the sixties to win however.  They do not have the scoring threats that other teams in the conference possess.

Drexel lost three key starters from last year’s NIT team.  So far this year Drexel has used a seven man rotation, with point guard Bashir Mason, shooting guard Dominick Mejia, , small forward Kennell Sanchez, forward Frank Elegar and shot blocker Chaz Crawford leading the way. Drexel is very athletic and plays an aggressive man to man defense.  This leads to impressive showings such as their games against Duke and UCLA.  However, they are very erratic and very undisciplined at times which led to their blowing a late game lead against UCLA.  Drexel needs to improve their shooting from guards Mejia and Mason if they wish to contend in the CAA.

James Madison has shown signs of improvement with wins over Appalachian State (who defeated VCU in the beginning of the year) and competitive games against Georgetown (lost by seven) and Northeastern (lost by three).  Ray Barbosa leads an athletic team that may be the team CAA powers will least likely want to face during the season.  Look for quality play from Jomo Belfor and Juwann James.  This may be the most improved team in the CAA this year.

Newcomer Georgia State is a very inconsistent team.  In one game, they waxed Delaware by 27 at home.  Then against their next conference foe, George Mason, Georgia State loses by 30.  Georgia State gets balanced scoring, with four players in double figures and two others averaging more than nine points a game.   Guards Malcolm Manier and Boyd Copeland lead a very senior laden team that may be the biggest wildcard in the conference.  No one is sure what to expect from the Panthers.

Towson looks to improve with senior star Lawrence Hamm and freshman sensation Tim Crossin. However Towson looks very thin depth wise with only six players getting play time in their first five games.  Coach Pat Kennedy must somehow keep his team fresh in rugged CAA play.

Delaware looks to be in for a long year.  Outside of Harding Nana, Delaware has no consistent scoring threat.  Calvin Cannon and Adrian Washington must help if Delaware wants to remain competitive.  So far, double digit losses to Georgia State and Hofstra do not bode well for the Fighting Blue Hens.

William and Mary must hope that enigmatic Cory Cofield and freshman sensation Calvin Baker can help the Tribe improve on their cellar dweller status in the CAA.  However, a thirty one point loss at Towson is not a sign of improvement that William and Mary fans were looking for.

Predictions

Conference Tournament Final - Old Dominion over Hofstra. 
All CAA - Alex Loughton, Loren Stokes, Jose Juan Barea, Harding Nana, Tony Skinn
Conference Player of the Year - Alex Loughton

Quality CAA Basketball Provides a Welcome Distraction

I  left work Wednesday night and picked up my younger son Jonathan from day care and drove home.   When I got into my house, mentally I crashed.  I think just everything that is going on really overloaded my circuits.   Downtime was needed.  As I had noted in my previous post, there were some good games on the telly this Wednesday night and I planned to watch some of them.

I got Jonathan his beloved milk, had the dog go outside and then fed her.   And then I got caught up on any late work emails and quickly ate, since I didn't have lunch today.   As my wife got home with our older son Matthew, I got changed and planned my evening.  Watch at least two games at once. The first game, I would pay for the monthly ODU pass (figuring that would be a great way to get the Dayton game as well on December 11) and watch the Monarchs take on Richmond.  Then the second game would be watching the ESPN3 feed of USF-VCU.

But I realized that I had to do an errand first.  We were short on milk and as you can see Jonathan loves his milk.  But I also had to get Eggo cinnamon toast waffles as well, because we were out of those and Matthew loves his cinnamon toast waffles.  However, the closer Stop and Shop was out of those a few days ago.  Thus not risking the wrath of a five year old, I made a longer trip to the Pathmark in East Meadow.

Somehow, probably due to my mental overload, a trip that I have made regularly over the years became a befuddled journey.   Completely oblivious to the fact that as I was heading north on Newbridge Road, I had missed the turn for East Meadow Road.  I only realized this until after I had passed North Jerusalem Avenue.   Thus I made the first left I could onto a side street, then U turned in front of cars coming in both directions.  I had become the driver that I had seen in other drivers.  Someone I truly hated.  A clueless person at the wheel of thousands of pounds of steel and plastic.

Finally after I made the turn back south onto Newbridge Road, made the immediate right on North Jerusalem and then the right on East Meadow, I thought I was back on the right track.  But my mind started wandering again.   I was thinking about the next two weeks at work, which are always the busiest time of year for me.  So much so that I can never think about the holidays till those weeks are done.

Then there are the meetings I had tomorrow and the tube implant out patient surgery Jonathan was going to have on Friday.   Would our dog Twinkie make it to Christmas and if not, how would my older son, who adores Twinkie handle it?  I thought about a couple of friends who hadn't responded back to my texts in the last few days. Did I do something to upset them?  Or were they just too busy to respond?   What about what I am getting the kids and Chelle for Christmas?   Then finally, this Saturday, December 4th marks the fifth anniversary of this blog.  What was I going to write about in retrospect?  Would anyone care besides me?

While I had this information overload, once again I missed a turn.  This time the turn into Pathmark.  As I smacked myself in the head to wake up, I made the next turn into the Home Depot parking lot off East Meadow Avenue near the Zachary's part of the shopping center.  I went around the shortcut I know that went into the back of Home Depot and turned onto Front street, then made the right into the Pathmark shopping center.

As I got out of my car and headed to the store, I tried to focus.  OK, oatmeal cookies, milk, Eggo Cinnamon Toast waffles.  Those were the goals.  Get in, get out as fast as you can, then back home and watch good quality basketball on my desktop and my laptop at the same time in the entertainment room.   Immediately I got the milk and cinnamon toast waffles.  So far so good.

Then I hit the cookie aisle.  Unlike Stop and Shop, the cookie selection was somewhat limited.  Downright poor if you asked me.  I didn't see anything resembling the large soft oatmeal cookies that my older son likes.  Looked up and down the aisle.  I was shooting more blanks than typically a team does against ODU and the clock was ticking away on me.  Immediately sensing trouble and forgetting something, I called a timeout and called my wife on my cell.   Chelle answered and I told her the bad news about the oatmeal cookies.  But to make up for it,  I asked if she needed anything else.  Yup, diapers for Jonathan.  Apparently Pathmark had the big size rarely seen for my now 3 year old.

The problem.  The diapers were on the other end of the store.  Briskly as I could, I walked to the other end of the store, cursing my fortune.  The time was approaching 7:15 already and I missed the first 15 minutes of the two CAA games I wanted to watch - ODU vs Richmond and VCU vs USF.   Finally I found the diapers and wisely found a self check out station that was free (a great invention!).  I was at my car and back on East Meadow Avenue at 7:21.

I was driving home, angry at myself for not doing this last night.  But wait, I couldn't have done it last night. Chelle worked late last night and I had picked up both kids and played Mr. Mom.   I had come home to my dog having peed on the rug due to her tumor coming back on her.  Cleaned the rug, got the kids something to eat, then watched them till Chelle got home at 9:00 PM, tired and exhausted from a long day.  I realized now that I never had time last night to run an errand.

Thus I calmed myself down, reassured myself I did the right thing as a good husband, and focused on getting home and planning out my Wednesday night viewing of games.  My Macbook Pro laptop would have the Richmond-ODU game which I had setup the paid access for and the desktop would have the USF- VCU game.  Then a stroke of genius hit me, which mind you is extremely rare for me.  I would use my netbook and watch the free St-Joe's Drexel game on the netbook.

I got home, put away the groceries and grabbed my laptop and netbook.  Within minutes, I had the laptop playing the ODU game, the desktop with VCU and the netbook with Drexel all running.  I felt I had my own mini studio in my entertainment room, which brought my befuddled self some comfort.  It was CAA Central and I had to get one of my two Bally dolls and took the above picture, which I tweeted.  I am sure Whelliston liked that one.

As for the games, well the netbook was only getting the Drexel feed so-so and the Dragons seemed to be comfortably up on the Hawks.  Thus I didn't pay much attention to it.  The MacBook Pro was getting the ODU feed beautifully and that game was my main focus.   The first half and the start of the second half had been pretty close, with a good number of lead changes. But Richmond was starting to take over in the second half.  Cedric Lindsay and Kevin Anderson were doing damage and the Monarchs were down eight with nine minutes left.

Meanwhile, VCU's shooting from the field had been brutal from the outset vs. South Florida.  The Rams had been down 28-10 with 6:19 left in the first half and things didn't look good for VCU.   But the Rams defense started bothering the Bulls and VCU actually went on a 10-0 run before trailing at the half down ten, 30-20.  Both teams struggled from the floor in the second half.  But the Rams chipped away and the USF lead that had been 18 was down to one, 40-39 with 10:22 left.

The Monarchs started coming back mainly due to a monster second half by Kent Bazemore, who was seemingly everywhere on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.   What had been a Richmond 56-48 lead with 8:39 left became an Old Dominion seven point advantage, 68-61 with 2:21 left, as Bazemore scored 12 points during that six minute stretch.  ODU extended it to 70-61 before Lindsay and Anderson helped the Spiders to get within 74-70 with 30 seconds left.  But Richmond would not score another point the rest of the way and Old Dominion had their comeback win 77-70 in front of loud, happy fan base at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

While the CAA chalked up one big win on the night,  Drexel had little problems making it two, as they defeated St Joe's at the DAC 62-50.  The Dragons were up 31-28 at the half and then put the defensive clamps on the Hawks.  St Joe's would only score ten points in nearly first fourteen minutes in the second half as Drexel doubled them on the boards, 46-23.  The Dragons will now have bragging rights over their Philly Hawk brethren for the next year.

VCU was desperately trying to make it the trifecta on the night.  They had whittled the USF lead down to one, but over the next nearly nine minutes they had only scored four points.  Fortunately for the Rams, the Bulls were struggling from the field as well, having only scored nine points.  The score was 49-43 USF with two minutes left and the Bulls had the ball.  Suddenly Ed Nixon stole the ball, then rebounded a Brandon Rozzell miss and hit a layup to make it 49-45.  After a USF miss, Jamie Skeen hit a layup, then Nixon stole the ball again and Joey Rodriguez buried a three.   A 7-0 mini-spurt had put the Rams up 50-49 with 46 seconds left.

But USF broke the VCU press and Jawanza Poland hit a layup and Nixon going for the charge was called for a block.  Poland hit the free throw for the three point play and again the Bulls were up 52-50.  But again, Nixon came up huge with a driving layup to force overtime.

In overtime, USF again went out to a lead, 60-54 but once again VCU would come back.  A Rozzell jumper and three Skeen free throws put the Rams down one, 60-59.   VCU forced a shot clock violation and the Rams had the ball with nine seconds left and a chance to win.  Bradford Burgess had a good look at a driving layup but missed.  VCU could not get another shot off and lost 60-59.  So much for the trifecta.

It was still a very good night and I topped it off watching Butler hold off previously undefeated Loyola on the Ramblers home court.  Butler still rules the roost in the Horizon for now.   As I decided to check on the kids, then my work email and call it a night, I realized that this was actually fun.  It kept my mind off all my worries and I was spent enough so that I could sleep through the night.  Well hopefully with two kids.  

I don't think I will make it a habit watching three games at once.  And I'd rather watch one game live, than watch three games being streamed.   But every once in a while, it might be a very good distraction.  Last night was one of those nights.

Good College Basketball Games Always Help Writer's Block

If you have noticed, I have written anything in two days.  Between worrying about more deadlines and commitments, a dog in failing health and an impending ear tube implant for my younger son Jonathan on Friday, nothing really was coming to mind.  For more than 48 hours, I have had a case of writer's block.

Finally, I started writing my new Mid Majors Baker's Dozen poll this morning. Then I realized that three of my top teams had major games tonight.  Thus I have decided to offer some online viewing advice for tonight, as most of the games listed are on either TV or a web site feed.  If it's a web site feed, most likely you have to pay for one of these games.  But wouldn't you have to pay for these games if you were there live (but if you are in the area of one of these games, you SHOULD go see it live)?  And for those you who like free TV, there's always Pixelvision to watch a good college game (check the Mid Majority site later in the day to see what games are on Pixelvision), plus at least one of these games is being broadcast on their web site for free.

Richmond vs. Old Dominion - How great should this game be?!  Kevin Anderson and his fellow Purdue conquering Spiders take on the Paradise Jam Champion Monarchs.   Two teams that made the NCAA Tournament play each other on the first day of December.  If you are in the area, go see the game live, or if not, you can watch this by signing up for Monarch TV. (click on subscribe on the top left hand side).

St Mary's vs San Diego State - These two teams seemingly hookup every year and play dandy games.  So tonight's game should be no exception.  The undefeated Aztecs led by Kawhi Leonard and Billy White vs the sharpshooting Gaels led by Mickey McConnell.  Expect a high scoring game in the 80's.  If you are in the area, you best try getting a ticket now.

BYU vs. Creighton - The team that barely knocked St Mary's off the undefeated ranks, the undefeated Cougars travel to one of the best destinations in the Valley, the Qwest Center, home of the Creighton Bluejays.  The Bluejays are undefeated at home, so this should be a dandy test for  #21 BYU.  Doug Elgin has to be happy that the Bluejays have scheduled a quality non conference opponent.  And you can watch it on Creighton's webcast site, for a fee.

VCU vs. South Florida - If your cable company subscribes to ESPN3, you can watch this game tonight as the Rams, fresh off a third place finish in the Preseason NIT, take on the Bulls of South Florida.   Last week at MSG, VCU defeated UCLA after barely losing to Tennessee while South Florida knocked off Texas Tech after barely losing to BYU.  Should be a good road test for the Rams.

Butler vs Loyola Ill - Who thought that the team that would be undefeated going into this game would be the Ramblers?   But sure enough, in the opening Horizon League contest for both teams, it's Loyola, averaging 75 points per game that's 7-0.  They host a Bulldogs team fresh off an upset loss at home to Evansville.  Also Ronald Nored appears out for tonight's game.  How will a wounded Butler team respond?  You may get to see for yourself.  The game is on ESPN3 but I also believe it will be broadcasted on the Horizon League site (and that I believe is free).

St Josephs vs Drexel -  Finally, one of the games I selected for my Plan Your Road Trips Part I article.  If you are going tonight, give yourself sometime, have a cheesesteak for me, then watch a classic Philly brawl.  But if you are not going to be in the Philly area, you can watch the game online...for free right here!  Hmmm, maybe I can go order a cheesesteak to go and watch the game on my computer.

Whatever you decide, enjoy some good college basketball.