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Monmouth Men’s Basketball Releases 2011 – 2012 Schedule

Joe — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:30:06 +0000

Today, the Asbury Park Press released the Monmouth University men’s basketball team’s schedule for the upcoming season. However, since they clearly copied and pasted from some website or e-mail and didn’t take the time to go through the copy and reformat it so it didn’t look like a complete mess, I’ve reformatted the schedule here for your viewing pleasure.

2011 – 2012 Monmouth University Men’s Basketball Schedule
Friday, November 11th at Villanova, 7:00 PM

Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Virginia Tech
Monday, November 14th at Virginia Tech, TBA
Tuesday, November 15th vs. George Mason or FIU, TBA
Monday, November 21st – Wednesday, November 23rd vs. TBD, TBA

Regular Season
Friday, November 25th at Vanderbilt, 9:00 PM
Thursday, December 1st at St. Francis, PA, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, December 3rd at Robert Morris, 7:00 PM *
Tuesday, December 6th at Navy, 7:00 PM
Saturday, December 10th vs. FORDHAM, 7:00 PM
Monday, December 12th at Rutgers, 7:30 PM
Thursday, December 22nd vs. RIDER, 7:00 PM
Wednesday, December 28th at Lafayette, 7:00 PM
Sunday, January 1st at UNC-Chapel Hill, TBA
Thursday, January 5th vs. MOUNT ST. MARY’S, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, January 7th vs. WAGNER, 7:00 PM *
Tuesday, January 10th vs. HARVARD, 7:00 PM
Thursday, January 12th at St. Francis, NY, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, January 14th at LIU, 7:00 PM *
Thursday, January 19th vs. ST. FRANCIS, PA, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, January 21st vs. ROBERT MORRIS, 7:00 PM *
Thursday, January 26th at CCSU, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, January 28th at Bryant, 7:00 PM *
Thursday, February 2nd vs. SACRED HEART, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, February 4th vs. QUINNIPIAC, 7:00 PM *
Wednesday, February 8th at FDU, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, February 11th vs. FDU, 7:00 PM *
Thursday, February 16th at Mount St. Mary’s, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, February 18th at Wagner, 7:00 PM *
Thursday, February 23rd vs. ST. FRANCIS, NY, 7:00 PM *
Saturday, February 25th vs. LIU, 7:00 PM *

NEC Tournament (if Qualified)
Thursday, March 1st; Sunday, March 4th; and Wednesday, March 7th

* = Northeast Conference Game
Opposing Team’s Name in CAPITAL LETTERS = Home Game

There are a few things that stick out in this schedule to me. First, there are only 12 home games according to this schedule while there were 15 last year. I don’t know whether or not this schedule is truly finalized (I assume that it is not), but I would hope that the powers that be find a way to put a few more home games on the schedule.

Second, the first home game isn’t until nearly the middle of December?! Come on! That ain’t right – not just for the fans, but for the players. These kids should be given an opportunity to play in front of their fellow students and home town crowd during a time that isn’t right smack dab in the middle of preparation for final exams. If there isn’t another home game added to this schedule before the December 10th game, then this is just poor scheduling on someone’s part.

Third, talk about playing against some stiff competition! This is great! I’m so glad that the Hawks are no longer going to go to that silly Basketball Travelers Classic in Idaho. Who gives a damn about that tournament? Getting into the Preseason NIT? Now that’s a step up for the program – nice work! And a game against UNC-Chapel Hill right in the middle of the season? I love it! Very, very good work putting this type of real, tough, competitive schedule together.

Here’s looking forward to the coming season! Read more about this season’s schedule at GoMUHawks.com.

Thoughts and Pictures from Monmouth University vs. Seton Hall University

Joe — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:40:09 +0000

After a rousing victory against Florida International University on Friday night, the Monmouth University Hawks came up slightly short against the Seton Hall University Pirates. A little earlier today, the Hawks went down 72 – 87 in a game that was much more competitive than a 15 point difference.

Monmouth wins the tip off against SHU

Seton Hall is a very tough, aggressive team with some stellar athletes playing for them. To their credit, they played a great full court press style of defense the entire game and it took the Monmouth players a little while to adequately fight back. I was impressed with Seton Hall’s overall team speed, too. They’re a quick bunch of guys and, as anyone who has played a competitive sport can tell you, speed comes in handy as the game goes on.

As for the Hawks, I was impressed with their overall cohesion as a team, but I’d like to see them start playing a little bit more aggressively throughout the game. They don’t need to generate a ton of fouls, but they shouldn’t be afraid of some physical contact with their opponents. And free throws. They have to hit their free throws. I’m not sure when the box score and statistics will be available for this game, but I would bet that they’ll show the Hawks missing a large percentage of their free throws. In fact, I bet that if they hit all of their free throws, the final score may have been a lot closer and possibly in their favor…

On a day when the Monmouth University men’s soccer team won the NEC Championship, the men’s basketball team came up a little bit short. But that’s okay. I’m sure the team will bounce back and have a great game against St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey. That game is at 6:00am and on ESPN, so if you happen to be getting up early in the morning to get ready for work – look for it!

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, head over to my page to take a look at some pictures from today’s game. Enjoy!

Monmouth University Men’s Basketball Team Wins Home Opener Against FIU

Joe — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:29:41 +0000

Earlier tonight, the Monmouth University men’s basketball team won their home opener (and their first home game ever in the MAC Center) by beating Florida International University 99 – 70. As a season ticket holder, I was at the game and I have to say that it was absolutely phenomenal. The Hawks soundly beat a team coached by NBA Hall of Fame member Isiah Thomas and they beat them with no questions about who the better team was – the Hawks dominated, hands down.

The final score of the MU vs. FIU game

In my view, the Hawk players of the game were #10 Will Campbell, #25 Travis Taylor, and #5 Whitney Coleman. Taylor, in particular, was dominant for most of the night. The FIU team played aggressively with a few minutes left on the clock and I’m sure that their aggressive play with help them in future games. However, the Hawks managed to not just to win, but to win by 29 points and nearly broke the 100 point barrier in their first game of the season! It really was a great win for the basketball team and, as an alumnus of the university, it was great to see such strong (and vocal) student support. That’s the type of experience that many of my fellow alumni and I never had the opportunity to get while we were undergraduates, but I like that the current generation of students have this great facility and a great team to cheer on!

And on that point, there are a bunch of Monmouth University alumni from the late 1990’s/early 2000’s that have some degree of bitterness towards the university for a variety of reasons. As someone who was always aggravated that the college completely botched my graduation back in the spring of 2003, I have to admit that I was very impressed with the production tonight. It all went off perfectly and the entire show made me slightly proud to be from Monmouth. And for those of you that know me, you know that this statement means something else coming from my mouth! For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you can check out over 50 pictures from the game.

I can’t wait for the big game against Seton Hall this Sunday afternoon – if you’re in the Monmouth area you should check it out!

Mainstream Coverage of the Monmouth victory over FIU: Miami Herald | The New York Times | Asbury Park Press (PDF Download)