Mid Major Hoops

Preview of Bracket Buster Games

Note - Thanks to the geniuses at ESPN, a great Missouri Valley game - Northern Iowa at Creighton is being shown on ESPNU because of the Winter X Games.   Would love to see the TV rating the Winter X Games gets, especially here in NY, because outside of 16 year old skateboard wanna bees, who would watch such drivel?  And of course, the geniuses that are Cablevision don't have ESPNU yet  and I have the IO digital cable box with the supposed hundreds of channels and ESPNU is not one of them (and Cablevision doesn't have ESPN360 either...nice work Dolans!).  Yes Cablevision IO Digital would rather show the Fox Soccer channel instead.  Oooh another scoreless game in England!

Since I can't watch a great mid major game, lets start analyzing each of the televised Bracket Buster games instead one at a time.

Bucknell (16-3) vs. #25 Northern Iowa (19-3)- The best game of Bracket Buster weekend. 

The mighty Bucknell Bison, slayer of Kansas last year in the tournament, have a Sportsline RPI of 32.  They stampeded the Orange at Syracuse (SRPI #36), then knocked off DePaul at DePaul (SRPI #73)and also have a win vs. St Joe's (SRPI #46).  Two of their three losses came against the #2 and #4 teams in the country (Duke and Villanova).  Their only blemish is a loss at Santa Clara.

#25 Northern Iowa Panthers have a similar pedigree.  The Panthers (Sportsline RPI # 14 and SOS 55) defeated Iowa (SRPI #7), downed LSU (SRPI #19) at LSU, and have wins against fellow conference powers, Wichita State (SRPI # 22) on the road, Missouri State (SRPI #44) on the road and Southern Illnois (SRPI # 20) at home.  Their only losses came at Iowa State (SRPI #58), at Bradley (SPRI #57) and home to Creighton (SRPI #26). 

Despite Bucknell's impressive pedigree, right now their strength of schedule -132, may not be high enough to get them an at large bid.  However a win at Northern Iowa, especially if still ranked, will make the selection committee look twice if Bucknell does not win the Patriot League outright (unlikely as that is).  Northern Iowa has much more of a case for an at large bid with their SOS at 55 and their marquee wins over Iowa and LSU.  Also a 9-2 road record against a difficult schedule rates high with the selection committee.  What also will look good in their favor is that they did a significant part of this without one of their best players.  Eric Crawford (10.5 ppg, 56% FG) has been out due to injury, but is supposed to be back in late February.  However, its unclear if he will be ready for the Bucknell game.  A win against Bucknell only solidifies the Panthers' chances.  A loss would be a blemish, but not something they couldn't overcome.   

 

Who needs this game more?  - Bucknell.  With Syracuse struggling and St Joe's unlikely a tournament team (unless they win the A10 tournament),Bucknell may not have beaten a team that will make the NCAA tournament.   They need this win to strengthen their at large case.  Northern Iowa already has the legit wins, the SOS and the impressive road record necessary to receive an at large bid.

Prediction - If Crawford comes back in time, its a Panthers win for sure.  However, if Crawford does not play, this will be a very close game.  Chris McNaughton is the Bison's leading scorer and the 6-11 senior has 5 inches on Eric Coleman, the Panthers center.  Look for the Panthers to double team McNaughton, perhaps with Grant Stout, the Panthers leading rebounder helping out, and force Bucknell to rely more on guards Kevin Bettencourt and Charles Lee.  Crawford would be a huge help because at 6-4, he would be a difficult challenge for the smaller Bison guards.  On offense, if Crawford's not available, Northern Iowa will continue to rely on the triumverate of Ben Jacobson, Stout and Coleman.  Expect Northern Iowa to have a significant advantage on the boards.

Bucknell ideally wants to keep the game in the 60's.  If it becomes a more fast pace game, then it favors the Panthers.   I don't think Crawford will be back in time, but I think due to the rebounding advantage, the Panthers will get a lot of second chance points.  In a slugfest, the Panthers win at home 69-63. 

Quick Notes

Well, Iona must have been too busy going over the Bracket Buster announcement today because St Peter's stunned them 76-72 behind Keyden Clark's 27 points, 20 of which came in the second half.  Iona fell into a first place tie with Manhattan winning at Siena.   

In a battle of three point shooting, Villanova outlasted Louisville 79-73.  Allan Ray had a season high 26 points, Mike Nardi added 20 and Randy Foye had 19 for the Wildcats.  Tacquan Dean had 23 points for Louisville.  Villanova shot 14 of 26 from three point range, while Louisville went 12 for 23 from the three point arc.  The Villanova four guard offense of Ray, Nardi, Foye, and Kyle Lowry (who had 8 points) accounted for all but 5 of Villanova's points.  Villanova improves to 16-2, 7-1 in the Big East. Louisville continues to struggle falling to 14-7 and 2-6 in the Big East.

In other action involving Bracket Buster televised teams, Samford was hammered by Murray State 59-38.   Butler won easily 68-39 at Illnois Chicago and Wisconsin Milwaukee also won on the road at Loyola Chicago 68-57.

Tomorrow, I go in depth on the televised games and tell you why two MAC teams should not have televised home games (while Bradley and Manhattan should). 

Bracket Busters - A Great Concept Gone Awry - Part II

ESPN announced the thirteen game televised Bracket Buster schedule.  The games will be shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360 (their web based channel).  The matchups are as follows;

• Bucknell at Northern Iowa
• George Mason at Wichita State
• Missouri State at Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Louisiana Tech at Southern Illinois
• Buffalo at Iona
• Fresno State at Creighton
• Akron at Nevada
• Butler at Kent State
• Marist at Old Dominion
• Northwestern State at Utah State
• Samford at Ohio
• Albany at Virginia Commonwealth
• Northern Arizona at Western Kentucky

Most of the games are pretty good. 

I have two complaints though right off the top of my head. 

1) I believe Fresno State is ineligible for postseason play is taking on Creighton.  The University put itself on probation through December 2006 (I have to confirm if that includes a ban from postseason play).    If that's the case, it might be a good game, but couldn't it have warranted a different road team that might make the NCAA's?  If I was the 14the rated road team, I would be pissed right now that I don't have a chance to play on TV.  Also Fresno State is rated 107 in the RPI and 10-8 overall, so even there, they don't deserve to play. Ugly.

2) ESPN 360?  There are a lot of internet providers that don't carry it.  Why not show those games on ESPN Classic, which has a large viewership.  Hmmm, great moments in bowling or good college basketball?  Duh!

Also from my last posting, maybe 48 teams is still too much.  Perhaps narrow it to 36 even, thus 18 games.  Why call it ESPN Bracket Buster if you are not going to show most of the games on ESPN???  Hmmmm.

More to come on this.

Update - I was correct, Fresno State is ineligible for postseason play due to the excessive phone call scandal by former members of the coaching staff.   The university instituted self imposed sanctions on November 4, 2005.  For further details, click here.  This looks really bad now for ESPN.  Lets deny a team that has a chance at postseason and show a team that can't go to postseason.  Nice work by the ESPN braintrust. 

Bracket Busters - A Great Concept Gone Awry - Part I

As you probably know, February 18 is ESPN Bracket Buster Day.  And today is the listing of the 13 televised games (tomorrow is the listing of the other 37 games not on TV).  This was ESPN's way of giving exposure and a national audience to good mid major college teams.  Unfortunately, this year, ESPN decided to put the concept on steroids and setup ONE HUNDRED teams in the Bracket Buster pool.  There are many problems with this.

1) With so many teams chosen, as Joe Lunardi writes on his ESPN Insider's column, there are too many good home teams, thus many good teams will not get a televised game.   There are only 13 televised games, so if you are considered the 14th rated on team, you will not get a televised game. I have it on good word that Hofstra is one of those teams that will not get a televised game (from my source, Hofstra was considered the 15th best team that had a home game).

2) With 100 teams, you have watered down the concept.  There can't be 100 good mid major teams in the country.  Perhaps half maybe, but certainly not 100.   This means that not as many good quality games with 100 teams as opposed to say 50.

3) With so many good home teams, you end up having teams that are considered potential bracket buster teams with high RPIs potentially playing mediocre teams with low RPIs and this ends up hurting those teams in the RPI!

Here's some advice for ESPN on what should be done with the Bracket Buster for 2007.

1) Drastically cut down the teams from 100 to 48.  This means more quality games for the Bracket Buster day.

2) Better selection of teams.   ESPN should be basing their selections on whether the team made the postseason, returning starters, RPI from the previous year, among other categories.  Based on some of the teams selected in the pool of 100, this could not have been the case.

3) Make the process sooner which enables #4 to occur.   You can basically tell what teams are pretty decent by January 15, so make that the day that announces the Bracket Buster matchups.  This gives teams time to sell tickets if they are home.

4) Tell the teams to keep the February 18 day open and that they could either be home or on the road.  Help universities get accomodations and the such to make things easier.  Also, NCAA tournament teams don't know where they are playing till Selection Sunday, so there should be no reason why they can't make accomodations on short notice

5) Try to keep the games as regional as possible unless you have a great matchup.  You might get a good regional game that draws a good local TV rating and a good game crowd.  This year's example could have been Iona vs Hofstra, which would have been a very good choice for a game. 

6) ESPN has five major networks now, they can easily televise 4 games at once (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNU leaving ESPNnews open for its normal programming).  Hell, you can borrow ABC Family for the day and show games on there (who watches that channel anyhow!).  So, what I am trying to say.  Televise All 24 games! (24 games is what I proposed in #1).   You can still fit in the big conference games on ABC if need be.

If ESPN does all this, it gives all the 48 teams exposure for Bracket Buster Day.  It also can workaround the potential problem that one of the teams they selected in September is not very good (Siena, currently #152 RPI and one of the 100 mid majors chosen would say hello to ABC Family!).

Its something ESPN needs to address.  Otherwise, you truly don't get a correct pool of good mid major games for Bracket Buster day.  Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

Norm Roberts Has St John's Back on Track

I watched most of the West Virginia - St John's game today.  For most of the game, West Virginia held a commanding lead, as many as 18 points in the second half.  But St John's as they have for most of the season did not give up.  They continued to play hard and play their trademark defense.  They held West Virginia to one field goal over the final 11 minutes.  They rallied from a 13 point deficit with 4:17 left to 62-60 with a chance to tie with 14 seconds left.  But Daryl Hill inexplicably passed up a open shot and his pass was intercepted by West Virginia.  Mike Gansey who had struggled from the line in several previous attempts calmly hit two free throws and West Virginia held on to win 66-61. 

The game was indicative of the way Norm Roberts has St John's playing this year; stifling defense.  St John's has led the BIg East this year in least points allowed per game.  St John's has defeated two nationally ranked teams in Pittsburgh and Louisville, played top ranked UConn closely for 30 minutes and even gave Duke in Cameron a hard time.   

At times St John's struggles on offense.  Only three players, LaMont Hamilton, Daryl Hill and Eugene Lawrence average in double figures.  There are no consistent outside shooters, so teams often play zone defenses and double and triple team Hamilton.  Yet St John's has played around .500 in the extremely competitive Big East.

Norm Roberts is working hard to mend the fences among local baskeball high schools that Mike Jarvis seemed to have broken.  All Coach Roberts needs is perhaps a few good shooters, because all of St John's starting players will return next year.   The loss of Dexter Gray who announced he was transferring this week hurts somewhat this year, but that only opens another scholarship for next season.

It doesn't get any easier for St John's with their next three games all on the road (at Marquette, at Providence, then at Georgetown) but one thing is certain.  The Red Storm will play hard and play tough defense.  And as Pitt, Louisville and West Virginia almost found out today, that might just be enough to win.

Loyola Ends Lady Gaels Win Streak

In the battle for third place in  MAAC Women's Basketball, the Loyola Md Greyhounds shot 26 of 27 from the free throw line and forced 24 Iona turnovers enroute to a 77-69 win over Iona at home (the game was broadcasted over the Internet courtesy of Loyola) The Greyhounds consistently used pressure defense throughout the game to turn a 9-0 deficit to a 30-29 halftime lead.  Loyola took a seven point lead midway thru the second half, before Iona led by Martina Weber went on a 9-2 run and eventually took a 55-54 lead.  But Loyola would score the next six points and take the lead 60-55 with 5:34 left.  Loyola never trailed the rest of the way.

Loyola was led by Lauren Troupe's 21 points and Jackie Valderas came off the bench to add 18 for the Greyhounds.  The Gaels were led by Tiara Headen's 21 points and Martina Weber added 11 points, all in the second half.   

It was a key win for Loyola.  Not only do they have sole possesion of third place, Loyola also swept the season series from Iona and holds the tiebreaker on the Lady Gaels should they finish with th same record.  Loyola is now 7-3 in conference and 12-7 overall.  Iona is now 9-10 and 6-4 overall.  Loyola's next two games are on the Western road swing; at Niagara on Friday then at Canisius next Sunday.  Coach Tony Bozzella's Iona Lady Gaels next two games are at home, Friday with Fairfield at 5pm, then St Peters next Sunday.

A Wild Day in the CAA - Part II - Madness at Drexel

As we made the trip down to Philly for the game yesterday, there were signs before the game that Hofstra might finally beat Drexel at Drexel since the 2000-01 season when both teams were still in the America East.  First, the Dragons were missing their starting center Frank Elegar to a one game league suspension due to an altercation at the end of the Drexel - Old Dominion game on Thursday.  Second, though the game was the CAA Game of the Week Telecast, the Dasks Center was nowhere near full, surprising for a Drexel home game (last year's game was practically sold out). 

The game was classic Hofstra - Drexel.  Hard fought, physical, and guard oriented.  Drexel raced out to a 11-4 lead but Hofstra came back and took a 40-37 halftime lead as Antoine Agudio hit a 3 pointer at the end of the half.  Agudio led all scorers at the half with 14 points.  Drexel came back to take a 45-42 lead with 17:38 left.  Hofstra though took over the lead at 46-45 with 16:04 left. Hofstra would extend the lead to seven, 62-55 with 8:03 left. 

With 3:53 left, Hofstra had the lead at six 67-61 but Drexel would score the last six points of the second half with Bashir Mason tying the game with 1:03 left.  On Drexel's last possesion of regulation, Dominick Mejia forced a wild shot and Hofstra got the ball with 11 seconds remaining and a chance to win.  However, Loren Stokes as he drove the lane, passed up the shot and passed the ball to Agudio who missed a short jumper at the buzzer  and the game went into overtime.

Drexel would score the first six points of the second half on two three pointers by Dominick Mejia and Bashir Mason to take a 73-67 lead.  The teams would trade baskets and Hofstra would trail 75-69 with 35 seconds left.   

Then the fun began.  Agudio was fouled at that time.  He made the first shot, but missed the second shot.  The rebound went to Hofstra and Carlos Rivera nailed a three pointer to make the score 75-73.  This is where Bruiser Flint made two crucial mistakes.  On the inbounds play, with a timeout to spare,  Chaz Crawford had trouble inbounding the ball.  Instead of calling timeout, Flint left Crawford on his own and as a result, Drexel was called for five seconds.  Hofstra got the ball back and Rivera was fouled shooting a three point attempt with 6.2 seconds left.  Then Bruiser Flint received a technical foul call for arguing with the referee (it was warranted).   Rivera then missed the two technical foul three throws.  With a frenzied crowd loud as it could be, Rivera recomposed himself and hit the next three free throws.  Drexel called timeout but Bashir Mason's off balance 25 footer went in and out and Hofstra amazingly escaped with a 76-75 win. 

It could have been a potentially very ugly scene afterwards.  Drexel fans were really hot after the way the game ended.  Drexel fans and Hofstra fans that made the trip got into shouting matches.  Thankfully cooler heads prevailed.  It was truly one of the most bizarre finishes I had ever seen.  Bruiser Flint really cost his team the game with that technical foul call.  But give Hofstra credit for not giving up with 35 seconds left and down six. 

Hofstra had all five starters in double figures led by Agudio with 19, but only 5 of which came after the first half.  Loren Stokes had 17, Rivera had 15, Adrian Uter had 11 points and four blocks and  Aurimas Kieza had 10 points and 13 rebounds.   Drexel had also five scorers in double figures, led by Bashir Mason with 19.  Chaz Crawford added 15 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.  Matt Stevenson came off the bench to add 15 points and was 3 of 3 from the three point arc.  Kenell Sanchez had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Dominick Mejia, Drexel's leading scorer was held to 10 points, mostly by the defense of Loren Stokes.  Mejia was held scoreless in the second half and scored only on a three pointer in overtime to get to double figures in points.

Neither team shot well from the free throw line, which is not a shock considering both teams regularly struggle from the free throw line.  Drexel was 12 of 19 while Hofstra was 12 of 23.  Hofstra had only 10 turnovers compared to Drexel's 16.

Hofstra moves to 7-3 in conference and 14-4 overall.  Drexel is 6-5 in conference and 12-10 overall. Hofstra's next game is a big home game against Old Dominion on Thursday.   Drexel is at UNC Wilmington on Thursday.

A Wild Day in the CAA - Part I

Since I just got back from Philly, I am going to make this posting a two parter. 

It was an absolutely wild day in the CAA and I got to see part of it in person.  My friend Anthony (Tony) Terentieff and I saw an absolutely crazy finish to the Hofstra - Drexel game, where Hofstra came back from a 5 point deficit in overtime with 18 seconds left to win the game 76-75.  It included a 5 second violation, Carlos Rivera getting fouled on a 3 point try with 6.2 seconds left, a technical foul call on Bruiser Flint as he went ballistic on the refs on the call, then Rivera missing the first two technical foul shots, then Rivera making the next three regular foul shots, then Bashir Mason's desperation three point shot just miss at the buzzer.  Absolutely incredible.  Hofstra is now fifth in the CAA with a 7-3 record.  Drexel falls to 6-5 in conference.

It signified the rest of the day in the CAA, where first Virginia Commonwealth almost had their road slip up but Georgia State couldn't capitalize.  Trailing by as much as 13 in the first half and twice trailing by 8 in the second half, Nick George tied the game with a three pointer with 7 seconds left and the Rams then outscored Georgia State 18-7 in overtime, winning 79-68. 

Perhaps the biggest stunner followed.  The battle of the first place teams never materialized as George Mason outscored Old Dominion 42-19 in the first half enroute to a 66-49 drubbing of the Monarchs.  The Patriots shot 75 percent in the first half, 52 percent for the game.  George Mason and UNC Wilmington now share first place in the CAA with 9-2 records while Old Dominion is tied with VCU for third with an 8-3 record.

Delaware added to the wild day mix with an upset, pounding Towson at the Bob Carpenter Center 76-61.  Delaware outscored Towson by 14 in the second half.  Towson falls to 5-6 in conference.

In the "Battle of the Cellar", William and Mary easily defeated James Madison 86-68 to win its first conference game of the year.  James Madison is still winless in conference.

And to cap the wild day in the CAA, tonight, UNC Wilmington came back from a nine point halftime deficit as TJ Carter hit a jumper at the buzzer pulling the Seahawks by Northeastern 46-44.   UNC Wilmington is tied for first with a 9-2 record with George Mason, while Northeastern falls to sixth with a 7-4 record. 

Whew!  More in depth posting tomorrow.  I am going to bed!

Expanding My Horizons and a Quick Iona Lady Gael Posting

When you are looking to post a story for your blog, you need to expand your horizons sometime.  As I was looking thru the media notes on Hofstra's Athletics web site for the Hofstra -Drexel game I will be attending today in Philly, I came across a site called Mid-Majority.com.  Cool, another web site dedicated to mid major college basketball.  Its really a terrific site with in depth coverage of all the conferences.   There's a link today about the televised tripleheader of CAA action, with VCU -Georgia State, followed by Old Dominion- George Mason (a huge game for first place) and Hofstra - Drexel (the battle for most likely 5th with Northeastern having to go to UNCW). 

As I am sifting thru the site, I see a link on the left hand side.  I already knew about CAAZone.com (I have signed up but yet to post there), but another blog caught my eye which was dedicated to CAA basketball.  The CAA' - Life as a Mid Major, a blog authored by Michael Litos.  He writes articles about games in his area, which is VCU and Old Dominion.  He also clued me in on ODU's freshman guard Brandon Johnson getting shot.  Did not know about that. Johnson is ok, but he is going to miss 4-6 weeks.  Johnson is one of the regular rotation guys off the bench for ODU, so it is a loss for them.  And it could have been a lot worse for the kid, so I am glad he is ok.

Anyway, Litos has a great idea for a book, which he calls "Three Dreams, One Bid" , detailing the seasons of three teams, ODU, VCU and Hofstra as they try to get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the only bid the CAA will most likely get.  It also details the struggles mid major teams face as they try to schedule major conference teams and try to get that elusive goal - an at large bid for a mid major team.   He already has the foreword written by Jay Bilas.  I believe this could be a great book.  I hope he gets to publish it.  I will be one of the first to pick up a copy. 

This also has led me to do a a special blog posting for tomorrow.  I am going to look back to a year ago, when my friend Tony and I did a lot of road trips to Hofstra basketball games, culminating in the CAA tournament at Richmond, which we go to every year, and I will be doing it again this year (the true test - how to post to my blog this year during the tournament...hmmm).  We went to a lot of games last year and I am going to try remember as much as I can about it.  There were a lot of fun interesting things that happened, met some interesting people, including a scout for the Memphis Grizzlies who sat next to us during the tournament. 

Here is my quick Iona Lady Gael posting today. Iona ended their game last night on a 13-5 run, coming from behind to beat Manhattan 71-68.  Das Wunderkind Martina Weber had 26 points before fouling out and Tiara Headen added 21 for the Gaels.  The Lady Gaels are now 9-9 overall and 6-3 in conference, putting them firmly into fourth.  Iona has a big road game at Loyola Md tomorrow.  Loyola is currently third in the MAAC with a 7-3 record.  If Iona defeats Loyola, Iona will move into third place with a chance to be tied for second with Canisius.  Iona has won four in a row and five of its last six.

Hofstra Briefly Thanks Old Dominion..

For Hofstra last night, it was a win win situation for the Pride.  The Pride gained some sort of measurable revenge in beating Towson 82-70, avenging a 94-91 road loss earlier in the conference season.  Hofstra also got help from Old Dominion, who came from behind at home and defeated Drexel 74-67.  Arnaud Dahi and Alex Loughton combined for 37 points to offset Dominick Mejia's career high 34 points.  The Monarchs shot 50 percent from the field for the game.

I am sure someone will read this and say "Hofstra got help from Old Dominion?"  Yes, it did.  Though only a game back in the loss column, Hofstra started the day 8th in the CAA conference at 5-3.  After beating Towson and Drexel losing, Hofstra moved into sixth in the conference.  The Pride are tied with VCU with 6-3 conference records, however Hofstra lost to VCU at VCU in the only game they play against each other in the season, so Hofstra is currently sixth.   

For Hofstra to finish fourth or higher in the CAA conference and avoid the first round play in game (and avoid the possibility of having to play 4 straight days to win the CAA tournament), Hofstra needs to start putting teams in its rear view mirror.    One of them is Drexel, their old arch rival from the America East days.  Hofstra has a real chance of putting Drexel further away from the Pride by doing something it hasn't done since joining the CAA with Drexel in the 2001-2002 season, beating Drexel at Drexel. 

I don't know if you ever have gone to a game at Drexel.  I have and its old school college basketball.  First, its a gym, seats a little more than 2000.  Second, its packed, Drexel gets close to a sellout in its games.  Third, its loud.  Very very loud.  Its a fun place to watch a college basketball game, but not a fun place to play if you are the road team.  And its never been a fun place for Hofstra, especially since both teams have been in the CAA.  Last year, Hofstra won nine of its last ten in conference play to turn a 3-5 conference start into a very respectable 12-6 record.   The only loss in those ten games, a absolute pasting, 70-52 by Drexel at Drexel.  Hofstra would avenge that loss in the tournament, defeating Drexel 89-77, the first win by Hofstra against Drexel in their last nine meetings.

But Saturday may be the best chance for Hofstra to finally beat Drexel at Drexel and make it two in a row.   First, this will be Drexel's third game of the week.  The first was a tough home win by the Dragons over Towson on Monday.  That game was tied at 56 with less than four minutes left before Drexel went on a run to win.  Then last night, Drexel had to travel to Old Dominion, take a halftime lead, then only to see the Monarchs pull away from a 52 all tie in the last seven minutes of the game to win.  So there is a good chance Drexel is somewhat tired after all this.   

Second, this may not be as good a Drexel team as in the past few seasons.  Phil Goss and Jeremiah King were big thorns in Hofstra's side.  They graduated.  Dominick Mejia is a very good long range shooter and Bashir Mason is solid, but Goss and King had better all around games.  Drexel has won most of their games by close margins, often winning their games in the 50's and low 60's.  They have lost twice at home to teams Hofstra has beaten; LaSalle and UNC Wilmington. 

However, it won't be easy by any means.  Drexel is a reflection of their coach, Bruiser Flint.  They play hard, they play physical. With Frank Elegar and Chaz Crawford, they can rebound and block shots.   

Its going to come down to who makes the less mistakes and who can execute on offense.  And Hofstra better hope they shoot better from the free throw line.  They only shot 16 of 30 last night against Towson.  They have to do better.

Still, this is their chance.  Lets see if the Pride take advantage of it.