College basketball season is underway once again, and that means it was time for the Quinnipiac Men’s Basketball team’s annual trip to take on the University of Connecticut Huskies. Courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics (and in exchange for all my “hard work” throughout the rest of the year), I was equipped with a media pass for the second straight year, as well as a misspelled placard marking my spot of press row. So, I threw on a suit and made the trek up I-91 and out I-84 to eastern Connecticut’s farm country and went into the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (pictured at right) to watch the Bobcats in the spotlight for one night as they took on a national powerhouse. These are the thoughts and observations of the night:
Why so many banners? – When you look around the rafters of Gampel Pavilion, you can’t help but notice that there are a very large number of banners commemorating just about every “accomplishment” in the history of Connecticut basketball, no matter how mundane they are compared to the program’s modern success. Perhaps in the past, before the program hit the big-time, these were seen as a source of pride and accomplishment, but now it just looks as though the institution has decided to put up banners just so the rafters look full with success. After the success both the men’s and women’s teams found in the mid/late 1990s and started racking up National Championship banners, it seems unnecessary to continue to inform us that the men’s team made the NIT quarter finals in 1989 or that they simply made it to the NIT in 1975 (two of the examples I found while scanning the hanging laundry). I’m all for history and all, and I grew up and remain a Huskies fan, but it just seems like the University is trying to hard to look important.
More importantly, where are the women’s national championship banners? – Despite the overabundance of banners, there are five accomplishments that are noticeably not among the large amount of blue and white fabric hanging from the ceiling. The banners from the 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 Connecticut Women’s Basketball National Championships are nowhere to be seen at Gampel as the 2006-2007 campaign begins. The men’s National Championship banners from 1999 and 2004 have been re-designed (at least in contrast to the ones I’m familiar with from the Hartford Civic Center) and are hanging from the ceiling against the wall in the upper reaches above and behind the scorer’s tables, but the women’s ones are nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, the folks in Athletic Communications at Connecticut were nice enough to include the reasoning in their packet of game notes. The women’s banners are currently down and being redesigned to match the new men’s ones, and will be back up soon (presumably by the time the women play their first 2006-2007 game at Gampel). The space where they used to be is going to be converted into several panels honoring significant individuals and team accomplishments over the program’s history. The opposite end of the Pavilion will hold similar panels for the men’s program. Perhaps these new panels will replace the overload of banners which I mentioned above.
Free food and sports: a perfect marriage – It is events like this that remind me why I got into sports (well, aside from the entertainment, the drama, the adrenaline, the nail-biting contests, the yelling crowds, the pep bands, and all that other jazz): any event worth it’s weight (i.e. big-time college basketball, big-time college football, conference tournaments, and any professional event) has a full and delicious pregame spread available to the press. Combine that with the court-side seats offered to press at basketball games, and college basketball may just be the greatest sport in the world. I mean seriously, what’s better than a free meal and one of the best seats in the house to watch one of the country’s best basketball programs?
Dressed for success – The new Quinnipiac basketball uniforms this year look fantastic (here’s the home version). The road blues are designed in the same manner, just with different colors: the base color of the jersey is navy blue, the trim around the arm and neck holes as well as on the shorts is gold, and the lettering is white with gold trim. The new look seems appropriate, as in their first official game in the new duds, the Bobcats mixed in a couple new looks in their play on the court to go with the new-look jerseys. More on that later, but first onto other wardrobe issues…
Why even bother with the outerwear? – Seriously, why does Quinnipiac coach Joe DeSantis even bother wearing a suit jacket to the game? It certainly never stays on very long. Tonight (like most) it was off in less than a minute. I suppose it’s important to look professional for the pregame handshake and the national anthem. On the other side of things, at no point during the night was Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun’s tie nice and neat. Instead, it was plenty loose around his neck, and made it look more like he was stumbling in from the bar or three hours in rush hour traffic rather than coaching a Division I college basketball game. Come on, Coach. I know it’s lowly Quinnipiac, but looking professional wouldn’t hurt.
This is supposed to be a family atmosphere, Jim – Kudos to Jim Calhoun for dropping a very audible (from across the court, no less) f-bomb at one of his players after a second half turnover. Quite professional and classy. Add in a few classic (as of the last few years) Calhoun temper tantrums and stomping fits, and it’s enough to make you wonder if the Hall of Fame coach has earned himself a little too much leeway over the years. I’ve seen no-name NEC coaches get T’d up for far less than what Calhoun does on the sidelines. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: for both Calhoun and his counterpart with the Connecticut women’s team, Geno Auriemma, the success of the last decade has gone to their head a bit. I liked both far better back when they were building the program from no-name into a national power than I like them now that both are figureheads of an established national power.
Nice day for a walk - … or an errant pass, or a palming violation, or an airball, or any of the other various ways to turn over a basketball. This game was quite sloppy throughout. There were many shots which left us wondering why exactly they were taken to begin with, numerous passes that sailed into the benches or press row, and more than a handful of traveling violations. The two teams combined for 40 turnovers compared to only 21 assists; not such a good ratio. About the only way neither team managed to turn it over was via a shot clock violation. Connecticut shot 30.4% from the floor, Quinnipiac shot 25.8%. Not pretty numbers on either side. Also sloppy was Connecticut’s free throw shooting, checking it at an abysmal 15-for-34 (44.1%). If that doesn’t get fixed, they are going to run into a lot of trouble against power conference opponents.
New look for the Bobcats - For a team that is usually overly concerned with offense (and they still ran the floor plenty), the Bobcats showed a refreshing concern for the defensive side of the game. At the end of the year look and see how many other teams hold the Huskies under 60 points. It won’t be many. Granted Connecticut played some awful basketball at times, but Quinnipiac was surprisingly scrappy and feisty on defense. We also got our first look at Central Connecticut State transfer DeMario Anderson in a Bobcat uniform, and he was impressive… at times. He showed a definite ability to slash towards the hoop, and certainly showed an ability to score. Having just returned after a week-plus away from the team after the death of his mother, DeMario’s timing was obviously and understandably a little bit off, but he really showed some promising signs. All-in-all, after tonight’s show on the big stage, I’m cautiously optimistic about the upcoming NEC season.
Gampel vs. the Hartford Civic Center - No contest, score it in favor of the Pavilion in Storrs. Only a shade over 10,000 seats compared to the Civic Center’s 16,000+, but Gampel is twice as loud as the building in Hartford. The student section is larger and more on top of the court. After Adam Gonzalez hit a three to cut the Connecticut lead to two with 2:33 to play, the Gampel crowd came alive during the ensuing timeout and ratcheted things up to an electric atmosphere. One of the few veteran players left on the Huskies, Craig Austrie, responded with his only points of the game, a three-pointer that finished off any hopes the Bobcats had of pulling off the upset. Never thought I’d have to see the Gampel crowd pull their team to victory against Quinnipiac though. What a game, and what an atmosphere.
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A few links I found interesting over the last few days:
Man Lights Firecracker in Buttocks – Umm… yeah. No comment needed.
Storm Discovered on Saturn – If you’re into astronomy, science, or weather, this is pretty neat stuff. A hurricane-like storm over Saturn’s south pole, only with 300+ mile per hour winds.
Only 12 World War I Veterans Remain – and their average age is 108.
Statue of George Washington Beheaded – and the culprit left a dollar bill with Washington’s head sliced off on the neck of the defaced statue. So, I guess if you’re in Manhattan, and you see someone carrying around the head of our first president, you may want to alert the authorities.
Cursing at Work – an interesting story which focuses first on a movie which deals with cursing, and then focuses on cursing in the work place. Pretty much agree with this one; how can you be professional while dropping the f-bomb left and right. As I said up above regarding Jim Calhoun, it just doesn’t sound professional at all.
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November 11, 2006 at 8:57 am
November 11: This post featured at Basketball Blog Digest