Villanova Wildcats 65 at Seton Hall Pirates 66 (NCAA Basketball) -February 25, 2013

When I first planned this trip I figured I would have no sports to watch on Monday night in New York as there were no NBA or NHL games in the area. However, when I met up with Gary on Sunday, he mentioned that Seton Hall would be hosting Villanova in Big East basketball action. Despite being a relatively small school, they play at the Prudential Center in Newark, which is easily accessible from downtown Manhattan using the PATH train from the World Trade Center. Another local friend Mike "The King" Casiano decided to join me so after work, we met up and headed over to New Jersey.

Prudential Center



More commonly known as the home of the New Jersey Devils, the Prudential Center was opened in 2007 to replace the aging IZOD Center in the Meadowlands. The Devils moved in immediately while the Nets only came here in 2010 before moving on to Brooklyn this season. The arena is also host to a number of other clubs, including Seton Hall Pirates basketball. I had already visited "The Rock" when the Leafs played the Devils back in 2008, a 3-2 loss that ended John Ferguson's tenure as GM.



With a capacity of over 18,000, the stadium is too big for the average college crowd, which seems to number around 7,500, so the upper bowl is usually blocked off. As such, I didn't do much touring as most concessions were closed and the concourse was quite empty (above). The Seton Hall band used the extra space to set up and serenade entering fans prior to the game, a nice touch (below).



The only other thing I noticed was The Mural, a 200-foot long piece of art by Tom Mosser that highlights local sports figures (below). As game time was approaching (a rather late 9 pm start), we took our seats without doing a full tour, so I'll have to come back for a Devils game in the near future.



The Game

Seton Hall came in with a 2-13 conference record and on a 9-game losing streak, while Villanova, was coming off a big road win at 17th-ranked Marquette on Saturday and had taken the last ten games over Seton Hall.



The story here was the Pirates' 3-point shooting. They went 8-13 from beyond the arc in the first half (and only 1-9 from inside), which allowed them to stay close to a more well-rounded Wildcat squad, who shot 67% from close range as the half ended tied at 32.



The second half was more of the same as Aaron Cosby (#1 leaping above) made three treys early on to keep the Pirates in the contest. After much back and forth, Villanova used a 9-2 run to get a little breathing room, building a 60-55 lead with five minutes to go. Seton Hall pulled with 1 but a Darren Hilliard (#4 in blue above) three pointer and a Mouphtaou Yarou (#13 above) jumper sandwiched around two freebies by Brian Oliver allowed the Wildcats to take a 65-61 lead with just 19 seconds left.

This is when things got crazy. Fuquan Edwin drove to the basket and was fouled, sinking both free throws to make it 65-63. As Villanova inbounded, the Pirates pressed and forced a turnover before the Wildcats could call timeout. Tom Mayaan passed to Edwin who stepped back beyond the arc and drained the shot for the 66-65 lead and a suddenly crazy crowd. It was the Seton Hall's 13th three in just 21 attempts and it won the game as Villanova could not get a good shot on their last possession.



This game may have had a thrilling finish, but it wasn't pretty to watch. There were 37 turnovers and 41 fouls. The best part was Villanova's FT shooting, which was 25-27. Still, that's only 25 points, far less than Seton Hall gained on those 13 three-pointers. If you believe you only need to watch the last two minutes of a basketball game to enjoy it, this battle would do little to disprove that.

Notes

Before the game, the King and I signed up for the designated driver program to get our free soda. Every game one person who signs up wins a prize and this time it was the King himself. He seemed quite shocked to see his name (Michael Casiano of course, not the King) up on the scoreboard. The swag was pretty good, including a nice Seton Hall hoodie. Congratulations Mike!

The final shot was #9 on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays on their late broadcast.

What's Wrong with College Basketball

College basketball has so many problems, the most obvious being the five time outs afforded each team along with the four media time outs per half. That 18 stoppages for a 40-minute contest. Add on the 40 or so fouls and you rarely get a full minute of continuous action. The game has no flow and when are you are at the venue and not distracted by commercials or Dick Vitale yelling, it can get very tiring. Of course, no one will ever mention this as college basketball is currently the most hyped sport on ESPN with March Madness just around the corner, but it is true. Two hours and 20 minutes for 40 minutes of game action only serves the TV networks who can sell more ad time; fans as usual have their time wasted.

Another issue is the overuse of the 3-point shot. When it was first introduced, the trey was a novelty and teams used it relatively rarely. But we now have a generation of players that have grown up making this shot so their shooting percentage is sometimes 40% or better, while the 2-point shooting percentage is still around 50%. It doesn't take a math whiz to calculate that once you are shooting better than 33% on threes, it makes sense to shoot from there (assuming the 50% rate from inside the arc). In this game there were 92 FG attempts and 39 were from 3-point land (42%). The three point shot is no longer exciting when it happens all the time and it has changed the college game considerably. Basketball should have balance with an inside game to complement the outside shooting, but as teams rely more and more on perimeter play, the quality of big men will continue to decline.

Finally, these schedules are a bit crazy. Villanova played in Milwaukee Saturday and then Newark on Monday. Do these kids study? Isn't it midterms right now? Oh wait, those are stupid questions, college basketball is not about college, it is about money (of which none goes to those kids). If you are not following the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA, you should. It could change the landscape of college sports and finally ensure the players are treated fairly and not exploited so ruthlessly by the NCAA and ESPN.

Next Up

After 16 straight days watching a game, I'm taking tonight off. The Jets are visiting the Rangers but I have other commitments so I will miss it. I still hope to get into the Knicks and Warriors tomorrow night though, so check back to see if I did.

Best,

Sean
 

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Florida Atlantic Owls 57 at North Texas Mean Green 66 (OT,NCAABasketball) - February 21, 2013

I'm back in Dallas after driving 2,000 miles over the past 10 days and watching a few sporting events in the process. When I planned this trip, the NHL was in the midst of a lockout, so I ignored their useless schedule and added the North Texas Mean Green as Thursday's game. After the lockout ended, the new schedule had the Canucks at the Stars tonight and it was tempting to see that instead, but I ultimately decided to skip it anyway as part of my very lame NHL boycott. Instead, I drove the extra 30 minutes north to Denton to watch the Mean Green host the Florida Atlantic Owls in Sun Belt Conference basketball action.

The Super Pit



The UNT Coliseum is where the Mean Green men's and women's basketball teams play, but the arena is more commonly known as the Super Pit. The nickname arose because the previous, smaller, gym was known as the Snake Pit. The Super Pit opened in 1973 and seems to be largely unchanged since then.



Parking at the Super Pit is free in a large lot just across North Texas Boulevard. The campus is right next to I-35E so getting there is no problem, although it did take a couple of minutes to get out as there is only one exit point from the lot.



Tickets are $12 for sideline seats or $7 for those on the baseline. With a capacity of 10,500 though, it really doesn't matter as you can pretty much sit where you want. The seating bowl is actually shaped like a bowl, which means there is not a bad seat in the house as you can see above. There are two seating levels separated by a walkway but it is still a compact venue.



The concourse is very wide and has a number of displays commemorating the history of North Texas sports. Did you know Mean Joe Greene was a Mean Green? Turns out that it is not a coincidence. The school nickname was adopted in 1966 as the North Texas football defense finished second in the nation against the rush. Greene was a sophomore that year and part of that defense. When he joined the Steelers in in 1969, fans there thought that "Mean Green" was his nickname while at North Texas and it stuck. Of course, the university also kept the name and to this day the two are intertwined.



Speaking of history, there are a number of banners hanging inside the arena which provide some background into the program. College teams change conferences quite often (or should I say conferences change teams, I'm not really sure) as you can see below. In fact, the Mean Green are leaving the Sun Belt Conference for Conference-USA starting next year, one of dozens of moves that have impacted the landscape of college sports over the past couple of years.



Concessions are basic with hot dogs and popcorn seemingly the most popular. My favourite is the pickle for a $1. Yep, just a big pickle. Never seen it at a sporting event before, but definitely better than the usual.



The band starts performing about an hour before game time and keeps it up during the game which really adds to the atmosphere. They also hassle the visiting team on a constant basis.



There are typical cheerleaders who dance with pom poms as well as a pep squad that tries to lead the crowd in chants. This might be interesting with a full house, but with perhaps 2,000 fans there (announced attendance was 2,532 but clearly overstated) it was mostly for show.



The biggest change in the Coliseum is that the seats were changed from orange to green to match the team name. There is a plaque honouring those who contributed to the effort but it is better so show the picture below - a great combination of the seats and the colours on the floor.



The only other thing to note is that there is no main scoreboard above the floor but scoreboards at both ends of the court as well as some hustle stats boards at the corners.



Overall, the Super Pit is a great old venue, simple in its design and offering a complete college basketball experience. I have heard that the fans there can be loud and proud, but for the game I saw, there weren't enough of them. Which is unfortunate, because their team won a pretty good game.

The Game

The visitors came in at 12-16, two games better than the Mean Green. In other words, not a battle of the titans. Tony Mitchell (#13 in white below) is the player to watch for UNT; he was a preseason All-American and considered a legitimate NBA prospect. (Update: Mitchell was drafted #37 overall to Detroit.)



The first half saw some nice plays for both teams but neither could build a big advantage and halftime arrived with the score knotted at 35.


6'10 Kenneth Coleman pretends he's an airplane.

The second half was an exercise in bad shooting. Florida Atlantic started on an 8-0 run to take the crowd out of it for a while, but UNT replied with a 10-0 run of their own to get back in it. After that, it got pretty ugly. The teams combined to go 17-52 and yet again nothing was decided. Both squads had a chance to win it in the last minute but neither succeeded and we went to overtime tied at 57.



Midway through the extra frame, Roger Franklin drained a 3 for UNT and that turned out to be the only FG in the period. FAU went 0/8 from the floor and resorted to fouling North Texas in a vain attempt to get closer. The final was 66-57 as the Mean Green outscored the Owls 9-0 in overtime.



Not a bad game at all, with 11 ties and eight lead changes. Mid-major basketball doesn't get a lot of play on the hype machine that is ESPN, but it is still entertaining. Mitchell is a great shot blocker and had four on the evening, but I wasn't completely impressed. He's only a sophomore though and bears watching.

Notes

It seems like news is following me around this week. On Tuesday, I was at Texas A&M and the insanely important news about Johnny Manziel taking courses online broke. Yesterday I went to the Rockets game and they made the big trade. Then today, Florida Atlantic was visiting and they were in the news for selling naming rights to their football stadium.

The tradition here when an opposing player fouls out is fun: fans yell "Sit....sit.....sit....sit...." as the player slowly walks back toward the bench, then finish with a "Siddown!" as the player takes his seat.

The leading scorer for FAU was Greg Gantt (below) with 18 points. I asked for his shot chart but nobody got the joke.



Next Up

I'm driving over to Allen tomorrow to watch a Central Hockey League game between the Allen Americans and the Wichita Thunder. Check back tomorrow for a recap of that one.

Best,

Sean

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Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils 57 at Texas Southern Tigers 73 (NCAA Basketball) - February 18, 2013

I've written enough about my change in plans necessitated by UNO moving their Monday basketball game from Lakefront Arena. I didn't want to make the 350 mile trip to see a secondary venue, so I stayed in Houston and instead went to see the Texas Southern Tigers hosting Mississippi Valley State in Southwestern Athletic Conference action.

The SWAC is a conference with ten historically black universities in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. Texas Southern, with an enrollment of 11,000, is the largest of these while Mississippi Valley State is the smallest with just 2,500 students. In basketball, MVSU won both the conference and tournament last year but graduated many of their players and are 4-20 this season, while Texas Southern was 12-14 and on a 7-game win streak. The Tigers play at the Health and Physical Education Center located in Houston, just five miles south of downtown.

Health and PE Center

Built in 1989, the Health and PE Center is a large gymnasium that hosts the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams. With over 8,000 seats, its capacity is nearly as much as the student population at the university. Located in a dark corner of the Texas Southern campus, I had trouble finding the place as the listed address (3100 Cleburne Street) is really the university's main address; the H&PE center is closer to the intersection of Ennis and Rosewood. There is a parking garage right next to it, but I ended up parking across the street near a sorority house.



The main entrance is at the top of a long ramp from where you can see the Houston skyline. Tickets are $10 for general admission and you can sit anywhere as it seems most students are not that interested in basketball. There were only 650 fans at the game I attended, which meant you could have a row to yourself.

There were two concession stands serving hot dogs, funnel cakes and a few other snacks, but nothing interesting. There are some banners commemorating past successes, mostly SWAC championships, although the 1977 team won the NAIA title.



The band, known as the Ocean of Soul, sits in one corner and plays during timeouts. With so few fans, the band dominates the atmosphere, especially with so many tubas as you can see above.

There is one scoreboard above center court and a couple of more detailed video boards above each end of the gym. That's about it; the H&PE center is as basic as a college venue can be. Not every school is part of the hype machine that is the NCAA and in those cases, the game is still the primary attraction rather than the venue itself.

The Game

The visiting Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils were ranked 344 out of 347 Division I basketball teams in RPI. They were 1-15 on the road, while Texas Southern had won 11 of 12. A rout was expected and that is pretty much what happened.



The first half was an embarrassment for the Delta Devils (in green), who shot 17% while falling behind 35-16. It was ugly, with air balls, bad shots, and turnovers the order of the day for the visitors.



The second half was time for the referees to shine as they called 33 fouls during the 20 minutes of action. From what I could tell, most of the calls were correct; the players simply were unable to play defense without committing an infraction. The photo above sums up the half - ugly basketball and fouls - there was a loose ball fall called on the play above. There were 40 FT attempts which dragged out the half. Check out the scoreboard below - both teams had reached the 10 foul limit with over seven  minutes left!



The bright spot was Fred Sturdivant, #4 for the Tigers. He scored 21 points including a couple of monster dunks, and grabbed 17 rebounds to go with 8 blocks as he dominated both ends of the floor. Unfortunately, his weakness was revealed by his 5-18 performance from the charity stripe.



For me, the surprise of the game happened when Delta Devil Matt Smith fouled out of the game. The fans swarmed the floor near the MVSU bench and sang and danced to a song that I sadly did not recognize. It was the most energy the fans had displayed all evening and it was good fun to watch.



Notes

The 346th best team is New Orleans, which suffers in the rankings from being an independent. They won the game I was originally going to attend, beating a non-Division I opponent 100-59.

The worst team is also a member of the SWAC, Grambling State, who are 0-23.

Next Up

A short drive today to College Station today to watch the Texas A&M Aggies in college baseball this evening. Check back tomorrow to see how that went.

Best,

Sean
 

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UCF Knights 71 at Memphis Tigers 93 - February 13, 2013

It is day 3 of the trip and I finally had a day to relax, which meant getting over the jet lag before heading back to the FedEx Forum to watch the Memphis Tigers take on the Central Florida Knights in Conference USA basketball.

I already described the venue in yesterday's post, so I won't bother with any more. I will say that the atmosphere for the college game was superior to that generated for the Grizzlies. There were over 16,000 rabid fans here tonight compared to about 12,000 (14,722 was announced, but many of those were no-shows) the night before. The vibe was so different, I had trouble believing I was in the same place. Even then, I feel that college ball is better suited to somewhat smaller venues. The band is a fixture at every game but in such a large stadium, their impact is muted. Still, you can't argue with such strong attendance.



One notable difference with tonight's setup is that the Tigers' banners from each season are on display as well as some retired numbers including that of Penny Hardaway. Conspicuous by its absence is the 2008 banner, which was taken down after it was determined Derrick Rose allowed someone else to take his SAT exam. That was the year Memphis lost the championship game to Kansas in overtime. Imagine if they had won; there would be no national champion for that year. Gotta love the NCAA when a high school violation can affect the season years later.



The Game



Memphis came in ranked #22 in the nation at 20-3 and on a 14-game win streak. UCF are no slouches either, coming in at 17-6 overall. Their star is Isaiah Sykes (above), the only player in Division 1 with more than one triple-doubles this season (he has two).



The Knights started quickly and maintained a lead for the first eight minutes of the game and were still within a point with less than 5 minutes to go, leading to some complaints from the spoiled fans around me. They had no reason to worry though, as the Tigers knocked down 7 straight points and led at the half 42-36.



A 9-2 run to start the 2nd period gave Memphis a 13-point bulge and when they made three consecutive treys midway through, the game was effectively over at 67-49. In fact, the Tigers continued their barrage and led 91-60 with 3 minutes to go, before UCF used the remaining garbage time to make the score slightly more respectable.



The Tigers are a great team, with Joe Jackson (below) the clear leader. His 21 points and 10 assists paced the team but four others scored in double figures, including D.J. Stephens with some monster dunks that brought the fans out of their seats. The Memphis defense was also quite strong and I'd expect this team to do well come March.



Notes

NCAA basketball rankings are stupid. In mid-November, Memphis lost to a couple of teams that are now ranked and it sent them out of the top 25 for months. They have won 15 in a row and are undefeated in conference play yet have only made it up to #22. If there are 21 better teams in the country, I'd be very surprised.

This was my 400th venue in which to see a live sporting event. However, it doesn't count toward the Quest for 400, as I am not including NCAA stadiums on that list. Yeah, it's confusing.

Next Up

I'm off to OKC where the Heat are in town tomorrow night in a rematch of the NBA Finals. It should be a great game so check back for a recap.

Best,

Sean
 

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Fours Are Wild Road Trip

I like to post road trip ideas here even when I'm not taking them as it keeps the creative juices flowing. While browsing the NCAA Baseball home page, I noticed that the Final Four and Frozen Four were being held one week after the other, with both taking place in the southeast; New Orleans is hosting the hoops on March 31 and April 2, while Tampa showcases the hockey on April 5 and 7. At the same time, the newly-named Miami Marlins open their ballpark on 4/4. Fours everywhere! A bit of searching to find some other games in between and we have the following:

Sat Mar 31   NCAA Final Four at New Orleans
Sun Apr  1   Arkansas at LSU (NCAA Baseball at Baton Rouge)
Mon Apr  2   NCAA Basketball Championship Game at New Orleans
Tue Apr  3   Winnipeg Jets at Florida Panthers or Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State (NCAA Baseball at Tallahassee)
Wed Apr  4   St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins (Stadium Opener)
Thu Apr  5   NCAA Frozen Four at Tampa
Fri Apr  6   New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays (Home Opener)
Sat Apr  7   NCAA Frozen Four Final at Tampa

It would be a long drive (850 miles) from New Orleans to Sunrise to see the Panthers, so Tallahassee might be a more reasonable stop. In reality though, you'd probably want to reserve that day for recovering from the post-game party that is sure to rock Bourbon Street.

Best,

Sean

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Robert Morris Colonials 49 at West Virginia Mountaineers 82 - December 7, 2010

When I do these solo trips, I look for a game every day. In the summer, this is not hard with baseball pretty much everywhere, but in the winter, there's really only hockey and basketball during the week, so I often spend a long time scouring the internet for an event that is within driving distance. Fortunately there are college sports and although I am not a fan of the NCAA as an organization, it is always interesting to visit a college campus to watch a game. Such was the case last night as I needed to find a game between NHL tilts in Columbus and Pittsburgh. There was an ECHL game in Cincinnati but I've been to that venue before and it was well out of the way, so I was happy to find out that the West Virginia Mountaineers were hosting Robert Morris in Morgantown, WV, just over an hour south of Pittsburgh.

WVU Coliseum

Located on the northern edge of Morgantown, the WVU Coliseum is a concrete dome that was built back in 1970. With a capacity of 14,000 for basketball, it is surprisingly spacious inside despite looking somewhat pedestrian from the outside.

Tickets for the general public are $25 regardless of where you sit. There are two seating levels separated by a walkway, along with a section of sideline seats called the Coliseum Club. Student seats are just benches on the opposite sideline (brown section above), but as the students stand during the game, it doesn't really matter.

There's a single concourse that contains plenty of historical plaques and should be explored. Mountaineers who made All-American are honoured; Adam "Pac-Man" Jones was the most notable recent enshrinee. But the most impressive displays are the two cases that commemorate Jerry West, who played at WVU from 1956-60. His number 44 is retired (below) but there are historical items such as scorecard from his last home game (further below). I don't know much about basketball history but it was fascinating to read articles and see game programs from 50 years ago.

There are plenty of concession stands and each one has different items, so walk around and check what is available. I had a pepperoni roll and highly recommend that you avoid it. There was a BBQ beef sandwich for $8 that might be a better option.

There is a state-of-the-art scoreboard that was installed in 2008 and provides excellent video. There are also ribbon boards that surround the floor.

I found this venue thoroughly enjoyable. The history is well-presented and the fans are behind their team the whole way. I was about the only person not dressed in blue and gold. This is a must-see for any college basketball fan and makes a great road trip stop when there are no pro events in the area.

The Game

West Virginia won the Big East championship last season and finished last season ranked #3, losing to eventual champion Duke in the Final Four. Coached by Bob Huggins (above in his post-game interview), they are a nationally recognized team. Robert Morris is a small school that was a 15-seed in the 2010 tournament and almost upset Villanova in the first round before falling in overtime. Of course, both teams have changed since then, losing seniors and bringing in freshmen, but the expectation was for a blowout in favour of the home team.

But Robert Morris kept things close early on, taking an 18-17 lead after sinking two technicals awarded when Huggins blew a gasket after a controversial call. But it was apparent that they were unable to make any consistent penetration into the paint as they were launching mostly 3-point attempts, the vast majority of which missed. Still, WVU wasn't able to capitalize and entered the half up just 32-28.

The second half began with RMU sinking a trey to make it a one-point game. On the ensuing inbounds play, all 4 Mountaineers went upcourt, which meant that there was no one to take the inbounds pass. Huggins called timeout and immediately substituted all 5 players, essentially putting his bench on the floor with just a one-point lead. That was the turning point - the bench, led by Deniz Kilicli from Turkey (sinking a basket above), started to make shots and prevent the Colonials from sinking anything.

WVU went on a 23-4 run to blow the game wide open. The last 10 minutes were essentially garbage time as the Mountaineers cruised to a 82-49 win with Kilicli leading the way with 14 points.

40-8 run in 14:05

The final stats showed that out of RMU's 57 attempts, 27 were from 3-point land. Of those, only 6 were made, and naturally WVU had the rebounding advantage 48-25. This was not a particularly good game, but it was interesting to see how the starters lackadaisical attitude was punished by immediate benching, and the reserves came on to take control.

Notes

Another Mountaineer player is Jerry West's son Jonnie, seen sinking a 3-pointer below.

Like all college teams there was the traditional band (below) and cheerleaders but WVU has taken a page from the pros and also adopted a dance team, which I found a bit strange. I always thought cheerleaders were enough, but the dancers performed during timeouts, adding a new dimension to the proceedings.

I love the dichotomy between big-time college sports and small-time college life in the US. Despite WVU being a nationally known team, the Coliseum is still mostly used for campus athletics, a point made clear by a sign on one of the doors that read "PE 104 cancelled today, tournament begins Monday".

Next Up

A short drive north to Pittsburgh where I will see the new Consol Energy Center as well as the Leafs taking on the Penguins. It should be the highlight of the trip so check back tomorrow for an update.

Best,

Sean

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