Mid Major Hoops

I Went to a Garden Party...

Nothing like a Ricky Nelson lead in to my latest post.  But before I get to the main part of this posting, ESPN is reporting that George Mason coach Jim Larranaga has signed a three year extension with the Patriots and has turned down an offer to be the head coach at his alma mater, Providence.  Its a really solid move by Larranaga.  He has probably a lifetime job with the Patriots (as a result of making the Final Four in 2006), while Providence, though a solid school, is not really an elite Big East program.  It would be much more difficult for him to be able to recruit and have a successful program at Providence considering the depth of the talent of the schools in the Big East.  Tom Pecora made a similar decision signing an extension at Hofstra rather than take the Seton Hall position two years ago.

Well obviously, as the title states, I was at Madison Square Garden last night for the NIT semifinals where the UMass fans definitely partied as the Minutemen came back from a nine point halftime deficit and defeated Florida 78-66 in the first game.  In the second game, thanks to an absolutely pitiful first half performance by Ole Miss, Ohio State defeated the Rebels 71-59.

The first game had a very nice rousing atmosphere as a lot of the UMass fans came down for the game. Florida marched out to a 36-27 halftime lead on the strength of their inside play of Marreese Speights and Dan Werner who combined had 27 points and 28 rebounds for the game.  The Gators had a 28-18 rebounding advantage at halftime (it was 50-41 Gators for the game).  What also helped the Gators in the first half is that UMass seemingly clanked every three pointer in the first half (at one time they were 2 of 17 from beyond the three point arc before making three of their last seven three point shots).

After a very nice halftime performance by the Florida Gator dance team (the team only consisted of six girls, but six of the most beautiful girls you will ever see - glad I had center court seats in the 124 section), Florida maintained its lead for the first two minutes, leading 40-32 with 18:12 left before the Minutemen went on a 27-11 run over the next nearly 11 minutes.  With point guard Gary Forbes knifing inside and Dante Milligan working hard on every play inside, the Minutemen rolled by the Gators to take the lead 52-49 on Etienne Brower with 9:52 left before extending it to 59-51 on another Brower three with 7:31 left.  That three pointer resulted in a 30 second Gator timeout and the large UMass contingent was rockin.  Florida would come as close as six, 66-60 with 1:47 left but would get no closer.  What also didn't help the Gators was an absolutely dreadful 8 of 21 from the free throw line.

UMass nearly had five players in double digits as Forbes had 19 points, Milligan had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Ricky Harris and Chris Lowe had 16 each and Brower had all eight of his points in the second half.  Tom Kemp, UMass is very talented.  A little wild and out of control at times, but very talented.  Forbes is as quick as a hiccup and Milligan is a very solid hard working forward.

I am not going to say much about the second game because we only stayed until halftime, but that's all we needed to see.  Ohio State and Ole Miss were tied at 8 before the much taller Buckeyes went out on a 19-2 run to put them up 27-10 with 10:23 left in the first half.  The Rebels were undisciplined with the ball, careless with their shot selection and even worse not hustling.  There was one play in particular where there was a rebound late in the first half where Mississippi forward Malcolm White just stood watching the ball thinking it was going out of bounds.  White though didn't box out, and the Ohio State forward hustled by him hit it off White and the Buckeyes got the ball.  If I was Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, I would have yanked White right off the court there and sat it him the rest of the game.  I have only seen two worse first half efforts this season than this; Hofstra at home vs. Stony Brook and Kent State in the first round of the NCAA tournament (honorable mention goes to Hofstra again vs. Towson in the first round of the CAA tournament).

So the Rebels were down 44-20 at half.  And guess what happens after we left (as did most of the rest of the crowd - in fact a lot of Ohio State fans left too!). Ole Miss of course had the obligatory second half run to cut the lead to eleven, 56-45 with 11:23 left in the game.  But of course, as noted here many times, the team coming from behind expends so much energy digging themselves out of a hole, there is nothing left.  The Buckeyes would extend the lead back to fifteen, 61-46 with 10:15 left.  Ohio State still had a fifteen point lead, 73-58 with 5:18 left before Ole Miss, who did shoot 10 of 20 from beyond the three point arc, made one last run, cutting the lead to seven, 75-68 with 1:44 left but couldn't get any closer.  Evan Turner, Jamal Butler, Kosta Koufos and David Lighty combined for 66 of the 81 Buckeye points.  Chris Warren led the Rebels with 19 points, and Dwayne Curtis, who was the only Rebel who really played hard for the entire time on the court had 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Rebels also shot a Floridaesque 9 of 20 from the free throw line - yes, shoot 50 percent from three and 45 percent from the line go figure - ah the lost art of free throw shooting.  And by the way, that was the first non-conference loss of the year by the Rebels. All their previous ten losses were in the SEC. 

So UMass faces Ohio State in the championship game tomorrow night.  It will seem like a UMass home game to the Buckeyes.  It will be interesting to see if UMass can deal better with Ohio State's size than Ole Miss did.

UMass spoils C.M. Newton's Plans

You heard it here first as James Madison has hired Marist head coach Matt Brady as the new coach of the Dukes.

After the first half of the Syracuse-NIT semifinal game, which had the Orange leading the Minutemen 43-24, C.M. Newton and the boys were probably lighting up cigars figuring they had the Cuse and their  legion of fans heading to MSG.   But those cigars must have set off the sprinkler system in their box suite because those cigars got doused in the second half as the Minutemen charged up the hill and looked like North Carolina.  UMass, much to Tom Kemp's chagrin, scored FIFTY SEVEN second half points as the Minutemen edged Syracuse 81-77 and moved on to the NIT Semis at the Garden.  UMass won the earlier meeting at the Carrier Dome as well, 107-100.  The Minutemen have managed to set two records on Syracuse this year.  First, UMass's 107 points in the first win marked the most points ever scored on Syracuse at the Carrier Dome since it opened in 1980.  Second, no team had ever beaten Syracuse twice in the Carrier Dome in the same season. There's a couple of nice recruiting tools for coach Travis Ford.

The second part of C.M.'s plan went according to schedule as Florida surprised Arizona State on the Sun Devils' home court 70-57.  So MSG gets the former two time defending NCAA national champ Gators as well as the Minutemen.  Tonight, C.M. and the boys are hoping for Ohio State at home to knock off Dayton, though that will be a bigger challenge now with Chris Wright back for the Flyers.   Meanwhile, C.M is probably neutral with the #1 seed Virginia Tech Hokies home to face C.M's old fellow SEC foe Mississippi. 

And its not too often you get to see in the same postseason where the same two schools men's teams and women's teams face each other.  In the quarterfinals of the CBI, Virginia at home downed Old Dominion Monday night, while in the second round of the NCAA women's tournament last night, the Lady Monarchs on their home court gained revenge and won on a three pointer in overtime to defeat the Cavaliers.  Somehow, I think the Lady Monarchs' win was more important and much sweet revenge. :-)

Quick NIT Roundup and Predictions

First, I wanted to let you all know that Tony Bozzella's Iona Lady Gaels will be playing in the first round of the Women's NIT at Quinnipiac tomorrow night at 7pm.  Winner gets to play at St John's.  I hope to be making the road trip up to Connecticut for that one.

Second, my friend Grant Hayden sent me this link to a great article in the NY Times by fomer Penn basketball player Stephen Danley.  He really hits it on the head as far as what to watch for in the tournament, talks about the lost art of position rebounding (which thankfully George Mason's Will Thomas still understands as the article talks about) and some of his predictions are dead spot on (as noted in Sunday night's post, I too love Siena to beat Vanderbilt, and Butler to go very far, though I disagree on St Joe's).

One of my colleagues at work looked at my site yesterday and asked how I am able to write so much , saying "it must be a full time job" (Tom Kemp, my fellow writer on this site, is also amazed how I churn this out). 

(Sigh) I wish. 

But basically, I spend most of my late nights and early mornings before leaving for work writing my column.  Last night and early this morning, I started writing my first part of my NCAA predictions, which I will have hopefully later tonight.  I also take time during the day to gather up mental notes to myself on what I will write later.  Hopefully that transcends into enjoyable columns for you all.

Well, the NIT starts tonight and C.M. Newton and the boys have made Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Arizona State the number one seeds, which I can understand for the most part since three of them; Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Arizona State were the last three teams probably left out of the NCAAs and Syracuse wasn't far behind.  I will give them credit for giving Illinois State a two seed (remember when they gave Hofstra and Missouri State three seeds after both were the last teams left out of the NCAAs in 2006..nice).  The A10 has four teams in the tournament (UMass, Dayton, Rhode Island, and Charlotte), while the ACC has three (Va Tech, Maryland, and Florida State) and Missouri Valley has three (Illinois State, Southern Illinois, and Creighton).  Surprising omission - Houston, who was left out in favor of the mediocre Oklahoma State. 

Well there are some intriguing matchups, especially for Tom Kemp, the A-10's number one fan (if you are a daily reader of this site you know I am being extremely sarcastic ).  A former MAC coach, Gary Waters, leads Cleveland State, the Horizon runnerup, vs. Dayton, the seemingly one time NCAA lock.  Another potential intriguing Tom Kemp matchup is in the second round if UMass and Akron win their first round games (Akron's won't be so easy at Florida State), you have Tom Kemp's dream matchup of MAC vs. A10.  Tom so badly wants that matchup. 

So my quick predictions on this all.  Here's my final eight.  First, I think everyone is about to find out how good the Missouri Valley is.  I think Illinois State beats Utah State, then Dayton, to setup a matchup vs. Ohio State.  Meanwhile I have the Salukis of Southern Illinois beating Oklahoma State at home in one of the loudest places to play college basketball, Carbondale, Illinois.  Then the battle tested Salukis knock off the Sun Devils on the road and face fellow MVC team Creighton, who will beat defenseless Rhode Island, then knock off those overrated Florida Gators, who Billy Donovan seems to hate so much.  Syracuse gets a nice home bounce and faces...Akron, who gets revenge for Tom Kemp for all the A10's transgressions and denies the Orange the rematch with UMass.   Finally VCU beats UAB showing how weak Conference USA is, then shows everyone that the committee wasn't certifiably insane in leaving Va Tech out and beats the Hokies on their home floor.   The Rams then take on the Rebels of Mississippi, who now free of the SEC, show why they were 14-1 out of conference.

In the quarterfinals, I have three of the home teams making it, basically because of the home court advantage; Ohio State will sneak by Illinois State, Syracuse will end Tom Kemp's dream of a MAC team making the NIT Final Four, Mississippi will get by Eric Maynor and VCU, but the Salukis will knock off Creighton in the battle of the Missouri Valley powers.  However, I hope I am dead wrong, and its an all mid major final four. Wouldn't that be awesome.

In the semifinals, the Cuse somehow sneak by the Salukis in front of lots of their orange clad fans in the Garden in what will seem like a home game.  Mississippi knocks out Ohio State, setting up the final.  I like the Rebels to win that game.

Like I said though, would love an all mid major final four at the NIT.  Wouldn't C.M. Newton and the boys at the NIT love that?  You know the answer to that one...

 

Quick NIT Thoughts

Just some quick NIT thoughts.

I love Bradley tonight against Providence (if you are betting, the line is Bradley by six points..give the points).  Providence has been horrible on the road this season and also has a 2-8 record vs. Top 50 RPI teams, which Bradley is.  DePaul, which finished with a higher record than Providence,  went to Bradley early in the season and lost by 20 points....Bradley wins by 10 at least..

I also like Appalachian State tonight against Mississippi tonight.  The toughest non conference team that Mississippi played at home was Tennessee Tech, and they won that by only 9 (they also only beat New Orleans by 8).  The Rebel's'  non conference losses were at UConn by 18, at Memphis by 12 and at St Louis by 3.  As stated here before, Appalachian State has won at Wichita State, at VCU, won at the San Juan Shootout vs Virginia and Vanderbilt (which Ole Miss lost to by five) and at Davidson.

How about Marist last night outrebounding a taller more athletic Oklahoma State by a 32-25 margin, enroute to a 67-64 upset over the Cowboys at Oklahoma State's home court. Wil Whittington led the Red Foxes with 31 points.  The Cowboys outshot the Red Foxes 44 percent to 36 percent, but Marist had 10 more attempts from the field and shot 10 of 28 from the three point line.

I'll be back later with my NCAA predictions.

Drexel Stubs Their Toe and Niagara Moves On

Past history has shown teams that were seemingly snubbed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee often lay an egg in the first round of the NIT.  A few years ago, a Notre Dame team that thought they should have made the tournament stubbed their toes at home losing to Holy Cross in the first round of the NIT.  Last year, Maryland's Gary Williams squawked about not making the NCAA tournament stating "We'll play Missouri State three times at a neutral site any day".  Then Maryland, the #1 seed in the NIT East region went out and lost to Manhattan at home.   

Tonight, a third victim was claimed, as Drexel playing at home in the DAC (which included a lot of NCAA Snub themed signs), squandered an early 15-4 lead  and lost to NC State 73-66.  Again, it was an all too often common theme this year in college basketball as It was free throw shooting that killed the Dragons.  Despite scoring a game high 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting from the field, Frank Elegar missed eight of twelve from the free throw line.  This included two missed free throws with 2:30 left with the score tied at 54.  NC State pulled ahead on a Ben McCauley free throw and never trailed the rest of the way. 

NC State shot 50 percent from the field for the game.  Drexel made seven of their first nine shots, but shot only 15 of 44 the rest of the way as the Dragons lost at home for the fourth time this season (the other three in conference during the season - Hofstra, ODU, and VCU).  Drexel may have blown a second chance to have another home game as Marist is currently stunning Oklahoma State 50-35 on the Cowboys home court with 14 minutes left in the game.

Old Dominion Defeats Hofstra and Goes to a Garden Party

For most of the second half of the CAA season, Old Dominion was the forgotten team.  The 2004-05 CAA champs, the team that gave 2005 Final Four member Michigan State all they could handle in the first round game of the 2005 NCAA tournament, had finished fourth in the 2005-06 CAA regular season, despite having basically its entire team back from last year.   Then a stunning upset at the hands of Northeastern in the quarterfinal round of the CAA tournament, left Old Dominion out of the CAA limelight as UNC Wilmington, George Mason and Hofstra got national press, in one way or another.  But the NIT tournament was the Monarchs' resurrection.  They first thumped Colorado on the Buffs home court 79-61.  Then they held off Manhattan at home 70-66.  Then last night at Hofstra Arena, the Monarchs ended college basketball's second longest winning streak, as the Monarchs rallied from an eight point second half deficit to defeat Hofstra 61-51.

I was at sold out Hofstra Arena last night for the game.  It was loud, electric and exciting; everything you wanted in a college basketball game.  The teams struggled early in a turnover fest.  It was evident that both teams were a little tired.    Hofstra and Old Dominion traded leads early on in the first half, then with Old Dominion up 21-20 with a little over 2 minutes left in the first half, Hofstra went on a 10-3, culminating in a Carlos Rivera three point bomb to end the half with Hofstra up 30-24.

The turning point came in the second half.  With the Pride up eight, 32-24, and a chance to put the lead into double digits, Hofstra guard Antoine Agudio's three point shot attempt rimmed out and the Monarchs' Isaiah Hunter proceeded to hit two three pointers in a row to cut the lead to 32-30.  The momentum changed right there.   Hofstra would go back up as many as five, 35-30, but could not shake the Monarchs.   Isaiah Hunter finally put Old Dominion up for good at 43-41 with 9:03 left.  Hofstra would stay in the game and cut the lead to two, 51-49 on a jumper by Loren Stokes with 2:41 left.  But Hunter again would hit another jumper to make it 53-49 and Hofstra would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Old Dominion had a simple game plan; play a physical 3-2 zone defense and keep sending fresh bodies in, often looking like hockey line changes.  It worked as Hofstra struggled in the second half.  Despite many open looks, the shots would not fall for Hofstra.  The Pride shot a meager 23.5% in the second half on eight of thirty four shooting as opposed to Old Dominion's 48 percent in the second half.  Old Dominion also hit 11 of its 15 free throws in the second half to ice the game.   Isaiah Hunter led the Monarchs with an awesome performance, 29 points on 10 of 19 shooting, including four three pointers.   For Hofstra, their trio of Stokes, Agudio and Carlos Rivera struggled, only combining for 35 points on 14 of 51 shooting.

For Hofstra, a great season ended in a bit of bitter irony.  Their home court winning streak started after a one point loss in January, 2005 to...Old Dominion by a point.  It was fitting that the streak would end by Old Dominion.  But there should be no shame for Hofstra.  They tied a school record with 26 wins, they swept NCAA Sweet Sixteen member George Mason, and they have their starting guard trio back next year.  But they know they had a chance to play a home court game in the NIT at the nearby Madison Square Garden.  The shots just wouldn't fall for them in the second half.

For ODU, the NIT has been a redemption for a team that in the beginning of the season was the favorite to repeat in the CAA.  Its also further proof of the great depth of team talent in the CAA.  Its now ODU's turn to shine for the CAA in the national spotlight.  They are the only mid major left in the NIT after Louisville hammered Missouri State.  The Monarchs face Michigan in the NIT semifinals.  Could another George Mason-Michigan State repeat be in store?  For the CAA this year, its a good possibility.

Sidenote 1 - In a twist of irony, on my welcome message to my college basketball blog on December 12, I predicted that Old Dominion would beat Hofstra in the CAA tournament final, which would have been their third meeting of the season.  Last night was their third meeting of the season.   

Sidenote 2 - It was great to see the Hofstra Arena last night sold out and loud and raucous.  Though the Pride didn't give their best effort, I hope the fans realize how good this Hofstra team is and that their starting guard trio of Stokes, Agudio and Rivera are all back next year.  With so many CAA teams losing good starting players and though Hofstra lost starting forwards Adrian Uter and Aurimas Kieza, Hofstra will be considered one of the favorites in the CAA.  I hope these fans that came last night will continue to come.  Hofstra Arena has only sold out one other time the last two seasons, and that was against St John's last season.  Even the home game win against then #25 ranked George Mason was not sold out.   Its time the local area fans of Long Island realize that the best January - March team in the area the last two years has not been St John's, certainly not the Knicks or the Islanders, but here in Hempstead, the Hofstra Pride men's basketball team.   Hopefully all the national attention that the CAA and Hofstra has been getting will finally get thru to these people and make Hofstra Arena the home court advantage it should be. 

Banner Day for the CAA and NIT Seeding Logic

Somewhere, CAA commissioner Tom Yeager is smiling from ear to ear.  He already has conference member George Mason in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, with an excellent chance to be in the Elite Eight playing basically at home in Washington D.C. (George Mason defeated Wichita State 71-68 on Bracket Buster Saturday, February 18).  And tonight, one of his teams is guaranteed a spot in the NIT semifinals when Old Dominion travels to Hempstead to take on Hofstra.  How ironic is this?  Hofstra holds the second longest winning streak in the country.  The last time they lost;  last year to, that's right, Old Dominion by a single point.  They have played each other five times at Hofstra Arena.  The five games have been decided by a total of nine points.   The last game was won by Hofstra on a buzzer beating three pointer by Aurimas Kieza.  The game gets a national audience as its being televised on ESPN2 at 7pm tonight.  Should be a great game.

Speaking of the NIT, what was with the committee's seeding.  It was skewered to say the least.  The four #1 seeds were all, surprise, big conference teams; Michigan, Cincinatti, Louisville and Maryland.  Cincinatti certainly deserved a #1 seed.  Maryland,with the two Missouri Valley bubble teams, Missouri State and Creighton, and bubble team Hofstra, having much better records and higher RPIs, did not.  Michigan was a borderline choice.  But Louisville????  Louisville finished as the 12th place team in the Big East and the last Big East team to make the tournament.  Rutgers, the 11th place team in the Big East got an #8 seed.  Rutgers beat Louisville in their only matchup of the year, 65-56.  The RPIs were pretty close, 71 for Louisville, 75 for Rutgers.  Yet Louisville was a #1 seed and Rutgers was a #8.  No clue on that one.  Even worse was that Missouri State, which faces Louisville at Louisville tonight had a RPI of 21, 50 spots higher than Louisville, yet was only given a #2 seed in that region

Better yet, Hofstra was given #3 seed in the East bracket with a RPI of 30 and 24 wins, while St Joe's was given a #2 seed a RPI of #43 with 18 wins.  Didn't matter.  Hofstra won at St Joe's.

In a New York Times article, when asked if the committee was favoring big named teams that might draw bigger crowds, NIT committee chairman C.M. Newton defended his seeding stating "Question our ability, but don't question our motives and integrity. We don't have any dogs in anybody's hunt."  Right.  Lets face it, the committee tried to get the four biggest basketball names to MSG for hopes of a big crowd and a good television audience.  Nice try.  Thanks to Manhattan spanking an undeserving Terrapins team, the committee will only at best get three out of the four.  The NIT will have a guaranteed fourth NIT Semifinal team from the CAA, the mid major conference who has been making a name for itself this year.  And Missouri State might also just having something to say tonight.  Just like the Sweet Sixteen, the mid majors are spoiling the NIT party and are some of "the dogs in the hunt", right C.M?

NIT - CAA 2, Big 12 0

I was at Hofstra Arena last night, where the Hofstra Pride dominated most of the game enroute to a 73-62 win over Nebraska.   Hofstra pulled out to a quick 13-6 lead before Nebraska came back to lead 16-15, using its height to its advantage, getting easy dunks inside.  The game was tied at 21 with 6:52 left before Hofstra switched to a zone defense and went on a 11-0 run and never trailed the rest of the game.   Hofstra was up by as many as 19 in the second half, 52-33 before Nebraska went on a 11-0 run to cut the lead to 52-44.  Nebraska was down nine, 58-49 with about five minutes left, but Hofstra went on an 8-1 run to go up 66-50 and basically ended the game there. 

Hofstra used its quickness to its advantage getting numerous layups and forcing 14 Cornhusker turnovers as opposed to only 6 for the Pride.  Loren Stokes led the Pride with 23 points on 11 of 20 shooting from the field.  Antoine Agudio had 21 points and set the Hofstra record for three pointers on a season with 85 three pointers (he had three on the night).  Adrian Uter added 13 on 6 of 6 shooting from the field and Chris Gadley came off the bench to play stellar defense and grab 8 rebounds in 21 minutes work.   Nebraska was led by Jason Dourisseau and Jamal White who combined for 29 points.  Wes Wilkinson, Nebraska's leading scorer and three point shooter, was held to nine points on four of eleven shooting, including one of five from the three point arc.

This was the second win for the CAA over the Big 12 in the NIT.  The night before, Old Dominion hammered Colorado at Colorado 79-61 as Isaiah Hunter had 28 points to lead the Monarchs over the Buffaloes.  The Monarchs outscored the Buffaloes by 14 in the second half.