Hat Trick

Back up to speed

Cory — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:01:22 +0000

Hey all. Since we last talked a lot of stuff has gone down in the world of college sports. Both tourneys came to a close with the UNC Tar Heels winning yet another national championship sending the Chapel Hill faithful into a complete frenzy. The UConn Huskies won the women’s tournament, giving Head Coach Geno Auriemma another undefeated season to put on his resume and adding another chapter to Connecticut’s dominance in women’s basketball.

I also won my bracket, which is always a plus. Highlights of my bracket included a correct pick of the Dayton upset and three out of the Final Four (I had Duke instead of Villanova.) I also correctly picked a UNC victory over Michigan State.

In hockey news, the Boston University Terriers pulled off something incredible, scoring two goals to erase a 3–1 deficit with under a minute remaining in the third period. BU scored the game winner in overtime to bring an NCAA championship to Boston. Check out the video, this is really some incredible hockey.

Yahoo! Sports digs up UConn’s dirt

Cory — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:23:39 +0000

Despite having the national championship tournament down to the sweet 16, the college sports world has been negatively impacted this week by a Yahoo! Sports report detailing major recruiting violations by the University of Connecticut.

After a six-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports, Adrian Wojnarowski and Dan Wetzel reported that UConn’s recruitment of former guard Nate Miles grossly violated the NCAA’s rules. According to the report, Miles and professional sports agent and former UConn student manager Josh Nochimson were involved in an illegal relationship.

Nochimson reportedly provided lodging, transportation, meals and representation to Miles and despite UConn being aware of the situation and took no action. Connecticut’s basketball staff was involved in discussions with Nochimson throughout Miles’ recruitment and exchanged 1,565 text messages and phone calls with the agent.

Yahoo! obtained call and text records from UConn Assistant Coach Tom Moore involving both Miles and Nochimson. While Yahoo! did expose a potential NCAA rules violation, and if the report is entirely accurate, UConn needs to clean up its act. However, with sports agents becoming more involved in athletes’ lives, all institutions need to make sure they are not engaging in similar acts. Recruiting violations are serious. The age and inexperience of the athletes and confusing nature of the period they are at in their lives is not something for agents and institutions to tamper with. While the NCAA has contacted UConn about the report, the NCAA needs to send a message to all of its institutions and get more involved to make sure these violations are reduced and eventually eliminated.

Tourney time!

Cory — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:18:54 +0000

No, not the big one, but the Division-III tournament starts today and I am thrilled. While there won’t be the hype and national coverage of these smaller schools, there will be plenty of action. Here are some thoughts on the men’s bracket.

This is an interesting bracket, with some serious strengths in the Western brackets. The John Carroll bracket has a ton of schools in the top-25 in No. 10 John Carroll, No. 13 Capital, No. 17 Trinity, No. 22 Texas-Dallas, No. 23 Guilford and No. 24 Transylvania.

The St. Thomas bracket is a wild one. I expect to see No. 1 St. Thomas and No. 3 Wheaton battle it out and finals of this one, but any of the UW teams or No. 7 Puget Sound could pull an upset.

The Middlebury bracket could provide some interesting headlines. No. 9 Middlebury vs. No. 6 Richard Stockton seems like the most obvious match up for the final in this one but there is a lot of buzz around MIT in its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

The Ithaca bracket is full of potential Cinderellas. Brandeis is expected to make a run and UMass-Dartmouth and Worcester Polytechnic Institute could make some noise as well. Also, look for Rochester Institute of Technology and center Mark Carson to show up to play after taking the Empire 8 championship. I see Ithaca taking this one. As long as the Bombers shots are falling and they bear down on the boards, they should come out on top.

As far who will be leaving Salem, Va. as a champion is a toss up. Wheaton looks real strong and St. Thomas is undefeated. I believe this will the final match up in the D-III showdown.

Women’s preview to come.

When you’re right, you’re right

Cory — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:03:26 +0000

Last Monday I blogged about the absurd amounts of upsets in the men’s college basketball season. Well, another weekend has gone by and another round of upsets to go with it. First on Friday No. 3 North Carolina fell to ACC opponent University of Maryland in overtime. The story of this game was the play of Terrapins’ junior guard Greivis Vasquez who recorded UMD’s first triple double since 1987.
Vasquez went absolutely nuts on the Tar Heels dropping 35 points, including Maryland’s first 16 of the game. He also pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists in the upset.
With a 13–13 record prior to the game, Washington State University upended No. 15 UCLA 82–81 in another of Friday’s upsets. Taylor Rochestie dropped 33 on the Bruins as he carried Wazzu on his shoulders throughout the win in southern California.
Then came the night cap. Texas and Oklahoma have fostered one of the biggest rivalries in college sports whether it’s on the football field or basketball court. Oklahoma came into the game ranked No. 2 and with player of the year front runner Blake Griffin leading the charge, the Sooners seemed ready to storm into Austin and take down the Longhorns. But this year is unlike any other as far as predictability goes. Griffin suffered a concussion halfway through the first half and was on the bench for the rest of the game as Texas upset their rivals to the north 73–61. Now, I know I said OU would be No. 1, but now I just have no idea what to think. This year is just too confusing. I think at this point I’m going to have to be that guy who flips a coin on all of my bracket picks in March.

These upsets are getting upsetting

Cory — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:52:08 +0000

I just don’t even know what to think anymore about this college basketball season. First, there is the anomaly of Boston College. First the Eagles lose to St. Louis University, which currently stands at 16–11. Then they handed the then No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels their first loss of the season … in Chapel Hill (thus instituting this absurd shirt) How did the Eagles fare after dethroning the former No. 1 team? With an 82–70 loss to Harvard. But then they beat No. 6 Duke University!
But the squad from Chestnut Hill is not the only one dishing out the upsets. Tonight No. 4 Pittsburgh beat the top ranked UConn Huskies, which appeared to be ready to finally be the season’s first solid No. 1 team.
But, this is a season in which the Syracuse Orange has lost to Cleveland State and Providence College. A then No. 5 Louisville was demolished by a reeling Notre Dame.
I honestly don’t even know what to expect anymore. With all these upsets, I can’t even imagine what my March Madness bracket is going to end up looking like. We’ll see if Oklahoma can actually hang on to the No. 1 spot.

Harvard vs. BC in women’s Beanpot final

Cory — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:59:13 +0000

The women’s Beanpot semifinals took place Tuesday and saw advancements by Harvard University and No. 7 Boston College.

In the first game of the semis, the Harvard Crimson absolutely dominated Boston University 8–0. Harvard’s Sarah Vaillancourt had a hat trick and collected four assists. (For those keeping score at home, that’s contribution in seven out of eight Harvard goals.) Goalie Christina Kessler had 17 saves in the shut out.

In the nightcap, BC eliminated the Northeastern University Huskies 3–1. BC junior Allie Thunstrom had two assists in the game to reach 100 career points.

The women’s final between the Crimson and the Eagles is at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Matthews Arena in Boston.

BU vs. Northeastern in Beanpot final

Cory — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:20:29 +0000

There are two types of people who care about the Beanpot tournament - people from Boston and people who love college hockey. I happen to be both.
For those of you not familiar with the annual tournament, it the true test for hockey supremacy in the city of Boston. Boston University, Boston College, Harvard University and Northeastern University meet in the TD Banknorth Garden for two rounds of hockey to determine the true champion of Boston.
Residents of the “Hub of the Universe” are used to seeing BU or BC take home the trophy year after year, but 2009 has a different storyline. This is the year of the Husky.
Northeastern, ranked No. 3 in the country, routed No. 12 BC 6–1 in the first round. The Huskies are often the first team dispatched in the tournament, having only ever won the Pot four times in the 56 year history of the tournament. BU has the vast majority of Beanpot championships with 28 and is the No. 1 ranked team in the country. The Terriers however, struggled against the Ivy Leaguers from across the Charles, narrowly defeating the Harvard Crimson 4–3.
The final between the Huskies and Terriers is Monday at 8 p.m. It will be the battle of the dogs and I’m taking the underdog in this one. Northeastern will beat BU and take the Pot back to Huntington Avenue for the first time since 1988.
The first round of the women’s tournament starts tonight. Check back for updates.

Big East takes no action against UConn or Syracuse

Cory — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:52:43 +0000

An interesting development occurred following the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team’s 107-53 win over Syracuse University on Jan. 17. During the post-game handshakes, UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma and Syracuse forward Nicole Michael are shown having a fairly heated discussion. On Auriemma’s way back to the locker room, Michael then appears to try and trip him. The UConn players then lead their coach away from the scene and into the locker room.

Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese has decided to punish neither Auriemma nor Michael for their involvement in the issue after reviewing the tape and receiving statements from the athletic directors of both programs saying that similar incidents will not occur in the future.

Tranghese is making the right call here. While both Auriemma and Michael resorted to rather childish behavior at the end of the game, the incident did not escalate to a situation which would necessitate punishment. Both parties involved should be embarrassed by their actions, but will hopefully move on from the incident and be a little more civil in future meetings.

RIT allegedly hits buzzer beater to sink Bombers

Cory — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:52:28 +0000

The formerly undefeated and No. 12 ranked Ithaca College Bombers were beat by their conference rival Rochester Institute of Technology on a last second, half-court buzzer beater Jan. 11. Sophomore guard Nate Korinchak sunk the shot, but as far as I’m concerned, the replay shows that the ball was released after the buzzer sounded. The video is below. You be the judge. Was the ball released on time? Or like me, do you believe the Bombers should be 14-0?

SUNY-Geneseo senior sinks crazy shot

Cory — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:46:32 +0000

It’s not every day you see a Division-III men’s basketball highlight as the No. 1 play on Sportscenter’s Top Ten Plays. But when SUNY-Geneseo senior guard Scott Morton made a wild game winning shot with .4 seconds left on the clock to defeat SUNY-Oswego on Tuesday, the play launched him into the mainstream with the clip being shown worldwide.

To recap: Morton nails a three with under 20 seconds left to put Geneseo up by one. Ten seconds later, Oswego’s Tommy Downing goes coast to coast sinking a finger roll to put the Lakers back on top by a point. Geneseo sends the ensuing inbound pass all the way down the court, misses a layup and Morton dives and throws the ball over his head and in with less than half a second on the clock.

Here is the video clip of the play on ESPN. This is some really wild stuff.