I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[Wayne23]

Achuely da newest vergin of da Garden on'y opened up in 1968. It is da fourt' bilding wit' dat name. Da foist went up in 1879. Oh, it ain't on Madison Square neither.

Your frien' Sammy.

P.S.: Congrats on da win.

[CoachC]

in that time Busch Stadium was opened, renovated, demolished and rebuilt. that's my point

[CoachC]

even since 1968 not many such venerable sports buildings have remained standing

3 Rivers Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Veteran's Park, the Kingdome, Metropolitan stadium and scores more were built and demolished since the LAST MSG incarnation.

[CoachC]

Still luv ya though Sammy! come see us beat the tar out of Seton Hall tomorrow night.. I'll treat ya to a late supper.

[Wayne23]

Yore pernt is well tooken.

I have allreddy bought my tickit ta da game an' will be cheerin' youse on.

[CoachC]

Incidentally, I realize I was only citing baseball venues because they are the most obvious.. but since 1968, I can only think of 3 indoor venues in the U.S. with history somewhere close to the history of the MSG that still stand... Pauley Pavillion, the LA Forum, and Boston Gardens. One of those (the LA Forum) was actually purchased by MSG. And, I might be wrong about this, Pauley Pavillion, disgraced itself by partially selling naming rights.

[CoachC]

Like our first opponent, LSU, the Pirates(95 rpi) got into this tournament on football money rather than merit. Their non-conference resume was not very good. Our only mutual oppenent was Liberty, whom they beat by 20 at home, but then again, so did we. In conference, they did get wins over #13 Pitt at home and more impressivelly a win on the road vs #6 Marquette. When you have a conference of 2000 teams, 500 of which are ranked in the top 25 at the end of the season, accidents are bound to happen. It still didn't save them from finishing deep in the 2nd division of their conference in the regular season.

With the #6 seed in the east they got here via the much easier bracket route with wins over Fordham, a weak but over-rated NC ST team, Central Florida, and Loyola Marymount.

That being said they do pose a problem for us in that they are team that likes to run with incredibly balanced scoring. With no player averaging in double digits their 5 starters average between 7.6 and 9.8 per game.

Turnover differential will probably be the deciding factor in this game. Because of their scoring balance, we'll once again open in 1-3-1.

I challenge my 8 seniors to remember that this is the last game they will ever play in a Bulldog uniform, and for many, probably the last game they will ever play in ANY uniform. They need to come out tonight hoping the game never ends, and NOT with the attitude that it can't get over soon enough.

We were extremely tight offensively in the first half both in the starting lineup (other than Felts) and off the bench, while early in the half, forced on the perimeter they kept hitting shots they didn't now how to make. But a persistent pounding of the boards (21-13, 10-4) still gives us an 8 point lead at the half.

At intermission I tell the guys the truth.. we gave them our worst in the first half, and they gave us their best and we still have a nice lead at the half. I tell them to slow things down and not let the Pirates run and gun pace dictate the way we play. If we play even a little bit better at both ends in the 2nd half we can run away with this.

But we don't. Instead we come out and play at both ends of the court like the JV team of a girls parochial academy and let a vastly inferior team manhandle us. Even a barrage of 3s at the end can't save us from ourselves.

After the game I don't tell the team how disappointed I am in their performance. I just thank each of the seniors individually for what they did for us on the court and in practice during the time at Boiling Springs.

I won't even bother running down the individual stats in this one, because, almost to the man, the stats look far better than the performance.

Disappointing Final:

G-W 67 Seton Hall 83

[CoachC]

Apr 3: Oregon and Air Force play for the national title tonight and I could care less. I'm off on a 3 day fishing trip by myself. Right now I'm wishing I'd never heard of the game of basketball.

[CoachC]

Apr 7: When I return home I learn that Ike is an honorable mention all-american, Big South defensive player of the year, and 1st team all-conference. Felts makes 2nd team. Inexplicably I am given coach of the year honors which I most certainly didn't deserve.

[CoachC]

I also hear that Oregon knocked off Airforce down the stretch for the national title. Bully for them. I still don't give a damn.