February 5: Trounced on the road again, 55-74 at Stan Francis.
“19 TOs! Is it ever gonna stop!”
“John Kilt had a big game, 14, 2, 3.”
“Yeah, if he keeps it up maybe we’ll give him Burd’s minutes. He had 8 of the TOs.”
Lane and Star looked good too.”
“Yeah but we just ain’t playin; like a team, Red.”
“It takes time, Dave.”
54-50 over FDU at home.
“You have to love Pete Mel’s TOs.”
“Yeah, he really takes good care a the ball just about ev’ry game. We looked good tonight.”
“4 guys with either 12 or 13, only 11 TOs, and we took 11 more shots than they did.”
“Which is practic’ly a miracle.”
“Small steps. Hey there’s 2 teams behind us in the standings.”
“Yeah and we’re all the way up to 289 in RPI, which is embarrassin’.”
“Better than Bryant has done in three years.”
This week we’re at 16-5, 9-3 Robert Morris, which figures to be a very tough game. Then we host 7-14, 3-9 Wagner. Unfortunately, after that 3 of our last 4 are on the road.
February 12: 48-76 at Robert Morris.
“Pathetic.”
“Hey, Tim’s been our best player and he’s a junior. If we can get him some help we’ll be okay next year.”
“Big if!”
65-51 over Wagner. 29, 9 for Mike Lane and we led all the way.
This week it’s 14-9, 10-4 Mount Mary, and 12-11, 8-6 Silly Hat, both on the road.
“We GOTTA get a split this week. We just GOTTA!”
All Frankie Gillardi asked was that we not finish last in conf. We’re in 6th right now but with 3 of 4 on the road last place is in sight.
February 19: “YEAH!!!”
63-49 over 1st place Mount Mary there. Go figure. 4 starters in double figures, +4 TOs. Pete Mel continues to move the ball without turning it over. This win means it’s impossible for us to finish last. Oh, this tied our longest win streak of the year- 2.
Then Silly Hat crushed us 42-66. 21 TOs, but Pete only had 2 of them.
2 to play. We host 10-15, 7-9 Sam Franklin, then we’re at 14-11, 10-6 Long Island. A split would be great. It would get us to 10 wins.
February 26: 62-57 over Sam Franklin. 25 for Mike, 1 TO for Pete, 11 for the team.
46-56 at Long Island. 17, 9 for Tim, 12, 10 for Mike, 11 TOs, 36 RBs.
“Hey, we got ta 10 wins. Never thought we would.”
10-17, 7-11, RPI #260.”
“Which sucks.”
“Which is the best Bryant has done in 5 years.”
Burd sprained a toe. He may or may not play in our first (hopefully not only tourney game).
We finish tied for 7th, the #8 seed. Unfortunately that means we play Robert Morris, #1 in the conf., in our first game. They beat us by 16, then by 28.
“Jesus, Robert Morris, That teams like the shark and we’re like the guppies.”
“Dave, it’s 2:00 a.m.”
“Yeah, I know. Margie an’ I are just leavin’ Lefty’s. How in hell we gonna beat Robert Morris?”
“Can we talk about this in the office tomorrow?”
“Okay, okay.”
The truth of the matter is that it’s pretty doubtful that we can win this game. I suspect that our season is over after that game. We aren’t having a lot of luck with recruiting. We desperately need to sign a couple of PGs.