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.

MU Head Coach King Rice has his coaching staff set for the 2011 - 2012 basketball season

In fact, towards the end of the last season I actually stopped posting pictures up on the blog because the entire atmosphere around the program was dull, lethargic, and all-around crappy. Frankly, going to the games became a bit of a bummer because who wants to see their team fight to win a game and then wind up losing in the fourth quarter? I mean those players were fighting their asses off and something just wasn’t clicking. I can’t imagine how it must have felt for the guys in the uniforms, but for the fans in the stands (at least those of us who continued to go to the games until the dire end) it was pretty miserable. Blech.

But if any team in the Northeast Conference has managed to turn the “excitement tide” during this off-season, it has got to be the Hawks. Not only did the Hawks welcome a brand new head coach a few months ago, but there is an entirely brand new coaching staff. Plus, Monmouth sophomore Marcus Ware was named to the All-NEC Rookie Team during this off-season – very impressive!

However, I really think the change that has most fans excited is the change in the head coach position. At the end of March, Monmouth hired King David Rice to replace Dave Calloway (who is now working with a consulting firm). There is a lot of hope pinned to Coach Rice and I’m sure he understands the job that lies ahead of him. As was expected, one of his first steps in making this program his own was hiring an entirely brand new coaching staff. I think it was a great move and one that has the potential to pay dividends, but I understand that some long-time fans were annoyed at seeing the previous Assistant Coach let go (his name escapes me – I’m talking about Coach K) because of his long tenure at the university. I mean, I get that he had a long time to work within the Monmouth University system, but sometimes you have to move on, I guess.

The guys who were on the old coaching staff are talented in their own ways and I’m sure that they’ll land on their feet wherever it is that they decide to go.

Back to the point – Coach Rice has a big job ahead of him. Not only does he have to rebuild a broken program (let’s face it folks, the program is broken), but he has to do that while filling up that still-brand new arena, igniting a fire under the asses of the student population and the fan base, and developing relationships with existing supporters of the program (more on this momentarily). Most importantly, though, Coach Rice has to ensure that the young men on his team are getting the education that they are in college to receive. I blogged on here many times during the last season that it was totally unacceptable that freshmen – FRESHMEN – were suspended at the beginning of the season because of poor academic performance. Absolutely, without a doubt unacceptable. Talk about a student athlete support system not keeping their eye on the ball. Good grief!

Sorry, I get mad about that every time I think about it… because it’s ridiculous.

But back to the point about developing existing supporters of the program – I’ve been a supporter of the program for the past several years (three, I think). And I tried to attend all of the post-game mingle sessions after each of the home games. Sure, I’d hear the previous head coach talk about the game and how the team performed, but other than that – I didn’t see much development going on. When I write “development” I’m talking about fundraising. I don’t think anyone expects the head coach or the coaching staff to do fundraising, but I think everyone expects them to do the friendraising part of the equation. I didn’t see the previous coaching staff doing much friendraising after the games ended and the team’s supporters were in the Varsity Club. Hopefully, Coach Rice and his staff will completely engage the folks upstairs because the more support that can be generated for the team, the better off the program will be in the long run.

Anyway, that’s about all that I’ve been thinking about for the team during the off-season. I’m waiting for Monmouth to announce that season tickets are on-sale so I can renew both of my tickets. I’m a little bit of a salesman for the university for those tickets, by the way. During the first season in the new arena, I bought two season tickets. Then because of being invited to sit in my extra seat for a few games, my buddy down the street bought two tickets during the second season in the new arena to go along with my two seats (that’s four season tickets in total). And for this coming year, both of my roommates are going to buy season tickets so that’s a total of six season tickets that I’m somewhat responsible for helping the university sell. I mean as a fan I’m doing my part, I think!

Here’s hoping that Coach Rice and his new staff do their part. I think it’s going to be a great season!

My apologies, folks, but I don’t have any pictures or specific commentary from Wednesday night’s game. If you’re looking for a review of the game, then I would suggest heading over to the Monmouth University Athletics website and getting a recap there. Again, my gut feeling is that while Wednesday night’s victory was good (and one that the players really needed in front of the home crowd), this is still a season that needs to be forgotten as soon as possible.

Now, the reason why I don’t have any commentary from last night’s game is because I, along with some of my fellow Sigma Pi alumni, was invited to watch the game from President Paul Gaffney’s Box on the third floor of the MAC. Joining me in the box was one of our recent alumni (who occasionally guest blogs on JerseySmarts.com), one of our alumni from the mid 1990’s, and the national president of our Fraternity. We were also accompanied in the box by a member of the university’s advancement office and a whole host of folks that I met, but didn’t really know. It was nice to see President Gaffney again, though I doubt he remembers the previous times that we’ve met (I was actually one of the student members that interviewed him for the President’s position back in Spring 2003). Also, it was nice to meet the Athletic Director and some of the other university administration. We had a lot of fun conversations and covered a variety of topics (too many to go over on the blog). The whole experience up in the President’s Box was really fun and one that I hope I have an opportunity to repeat.

And while I don’t have much commentary on the game, I do have a few notes about being up in the President’s Box in comparison to my typical experience at the Monmouth basketball games…

First, the food in the President’s Box is really good. I think I’ve run the gamut of the various qualities of Aramark food that is served on Monmouth University’s campus. When I was an undergraduate, I was stuck with the portion of Aramark’s food where the quality was almost inedible. Seriously, when I was an undergraduate some of the food that was available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was just revolting. In fact, I distinctly remember a few different occasions when I went into the dining hall and opted to not eat anything instead of forcing myself to have a meal of their gruel. Then – right before I graduated – I was invited to dinner at former President Rebecca Stafford’s house and I realized that Aramark actually could make a meal of phenomenal quality.

As a member of the Blue/White Club, I have access to the Varsity Club before the home football and basketball games. This season, the food up in the Varsity Club has been so much better than what it was last year. However, Wednesday night in the President’s Box reminded me that there is an even higher quality food at Monmouth – even if it was just boneless buffalo wings and pigs in a blanket.

Second, the view from the President’s Box is great. I still like my quasi-courtside seats because I’m a basketball fan and from my seats you can hear all of the nitty gritty stuff going on during the game, but I certainly have a new appreciation for the MAC after watching some of the game in the President’s Box. That MAC is pretty well put together.

Third and finally, the folks at Monmouth are really nice. Just like my experience with Aramark, I think I’ve also run the gamut in terms of dealing with the individuals who work on Monmouth’s campus. And, like the food services, the higher up you go the better it gets. I really thought that the university officials up in the President’s Box Wednesday night were really wonderful and very friendly – good people with engaging conversations.

And that’s the story of this past Wednesday night in the President’s Box. Hopefully, I’ll be invited up there to watch another game and I’ll be able to bring the fine readers of this blog a similarly positive report from the game. Until then, let’s hope the Hawks keep their winning ways going!

Mercifully, the game ended

The Hawks were 1 for 19 three point attempts. Ahem… That’s ONE for NINETEEN attempts! Look, everyone in the arena tonight “got it” – the team was down by a significant margin and the best way to gain ground is to get 3 points at a time instead of 2. But when you’re 1 for 5 from three point territory or 1 for 10 or 1 for 15 or 1 for 19, I would think you stop and say, “Ummm, let’s change this strategy. This three point shot stuff ain’t working!”

Then again, the Hawks couldn’t sink a basket for their lives tonight. From the great Tony Graham over at the Asbury Park Press blog The Hawks Nest: “Monmouth shot 25.5 percent (13-for-51) in the game and 1-for-19 from downtown.”

Really? Only 25.5 percent?! Good grief!

Anyway, I’m glad that non-conference play is over and that Monmouth is has some time to lick their wounds before getting into Northeast Conference competition against Bryant in early January. In the mean time, here are some forty pictures from tonight’s game. Look for captions later tomorrow. Enjoy!

What’s an alumnus to do?! Who’s an alumnus to root for?!

The Monmouth Mob Actually Showed Up

Well, as you might imagine I opted to root for Monmouth since it feels a little bit more natural to me. Also, I think I have more of a connection with Monmouth (good or bad). Although no matter what the outcome of the game, I knew that I was leaving the game with my alma mater winning!

But tonight’s game was an interesting one at the MAC Center in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Not only were there a bunch of red shirts in the crowd, but there was a crowd in the first place! Tony Graham over at the Asbury Park Press says that there were 2,852 fans in attendance and I wouldn’t doubt it at all. That building was jumping! Personally, I’m looking forward to this Wednesday night’s game against Villanova which I heard is completely sold out. That’s a 4,200 seat arena that is sold out – should be fun to watch.

Back to tonight’s game.

I was very impressed with the level of competitiveness that Monmouth played with early on tonight, but that would seem to for the Hawks’ style. When the Hawks play against bad teams, they play down to their level. When they play against good teams, they play up to their level. Being so inconsistent isn’t a good thing for any sports team and I wish that Monmouth would just play their game each time they take the court instead of acting like this weird chameleon type of team. Mr. Graham at the APP’s Hawks Nest had a quote from RJ Rutledge regarding Monmouth not playing their style of game in the latter part of the game:

“We hung in with them for most of the game,” Rutledge said. “It’s just that at the end we let the turnovers get to us and we didn’t keep on playing our game.”

The other major issue that bothered me tonight was that the final score didn’t reflect the level of competition that Monmouth played with for most of the game. When you see that Rutgers scored some 79 points to Monmouth’s 56 points, you think, “Wow. Monmouth got blown out.” The truth is that they didn’t get blown out at all and that certain players like RJ Rutledge, Ed Waite, and Nick Del Tufo had phenomenal games tonight. Sure, Del Tufo needs to keep his level of aggression up on defense, but he was one of the stars for Monmouth tonight. I will admit that the final score, though, definitely captured the feeling of the game in the last 5 or 6 minutes.

And that’s the final issue that bothered me about tonight’s game. As a fan sitting in the stands and having played competitive sports against all different types of skill levels of opponents, I’m pretty good at telling when a team packs it in and calls it a day. Somewhere with 4 or 5 minutes left in the second half, it really appeared like Monmouth packed it in and called it a day and that’s a damn shame. I don’t deny that Monmouth was outmatched in terms of skill, but I do believe that if Monmouth was playing at their best and playing their style of game – well, they may have had a chance of beating this Rutgers team tonight.

Here’s hoping that Monmouth can keep their level of aggressive, competitive play up for the Villanova game this Wednesday. If they can believe that a victory can happen, then you never know – something great might happen on Wednesday night.

After double overtime - the Hawks win!

But I digress…

The game on Saturday night was awesome. Even though these aren’t the two most talented teams out there or the two most successful teams playing in either of their conferences, they managed to make an otherwise uneventful game pretty exciting. After about thirteen minutes of play, Monmouth was down 15 – 0. As most of the fans sitting around me were saying, “Is this a college basketball game or are we at some high school game?” How does a team not score a point on its home court for the majority of the first half?

Well, I’m not sure how they don’t score a point for so long, but I am sure about how they come back and win the game. They give the ball to Gary Cox. This kid is probably someone that you haven’t read much about in the local sports media and that’s because he hasn’t had the opportunity that he had the other night. Cox scored 23 points for the Hawks, who eventually came back to win the game 78 – 74. It was an absolutely amazing performance by Cox and the Hawks and a pretty horrendous outcome for Hartford. The Hartford team had some tough guys, but the Hawks played tough the entire game and, especially, during the second half. As a fan watching in the stands, I think the Hawks managed to just overwhelm the Hartford guys in the end.

Tony Graham over at the Asbury Park Press posted a great article reviewing the game. In his article he has some quotes from Head Coach Dave Calloway and some of the players. This comment from Cox stood out to me:

We didn’t have any points when were were down 15 but I still thought we were in the game. I know how hard we play defense and we were going to score some points sooner or later. When I came in I just wanted to run the offense and try not to force anything.

And that’s how you win a basketball game after being down by 15 points. You give the ball to Cox, let him run the offense for a little while, and keep playing an aggressive style of defense. Let’s see if it works again…

Below are some 40 pictures from game day. I hope you enjoy!

Jordan Davis and Marcus Ware

Imagine that – a smart move by someone from Princeton. Ha!

You can get a great review of the game and some post-game quotes from Tony Graham over at The Hawks Nest. For example, Mr. Graham has quotes from Coach Dave Calloway regarding how the Hawks coaching staff made some adjustments at halftime that put the defense on better footing against a very tight Princeton offense. What I also like about Mr. Graham’s post-game article is that he has quotes from the Hawks players. Like this one from Hett:

“Coach (Dave Calloway) trusts us to come down and make a good read,” Hett said. “I don’t think I made the best read. They kind of ran a couple of guys at me.”

And Hett is correct – as the strongest offensive player for the Hawks, Princeton made sure to put additional defenders on him when he came down the court. Frankly, that’s to be expected at this point. Speaking of the most impressive Hawks on the court, this Jordan Davis (#10) is a pretty solid player. He could easily become one of the big fan favorites if he keeps up the hard work and keeps up his tenacity in future games. He had a very impressive outing tonight.

In any event, as a fan I was very pleased with how the Hawks played in the second half and I hope that they keep that type of intensity going throughout the entire contest in future games. Enjoy the 36 pictures below – including a Santa Claus sighting!

James Hett Winning the Game

Twice during the game Monmouth’s Ed Waite threw up on the floor. In fact, the first time he yacked it appeared that he splashed the basketball a little bit. While I didn’t see the first upchuck, I definitely saw both shots of his second oral expulsion and it was gross. The best part of the vomiting fiasco was that after Waite threw up for the first time and the officials called for an official timeout, Head Coach Dave Calloway was overheard immediately asking the referee if it was still the team’s ball. Hilarious! That’s a man who keeps his eye on the prize, eh?

Bear with me, I’m trying to get all of the possible ways to say “vomit” out in this one entry. Unfortunately, I’m not as professional about discussing Waite emptying his stomach as someone like Tony Graham at the Asbury Park Press, who eloquently wrote, “sophomore forward Ed Waite took sick on the floor.” Graham is good; I’m just trying to find new ways to say vomit.

Aside from the vomit, it appeared that the Hawks were outmatched for a good portion of the game. However, through a few good stretches of play, they were able to position themselves well enough to win the game. What struck me was how the gigantic center from England, Phil Wait, played during the game. It just seemed to me like there was something off in his game tonight. And I’m not sure, but I also got the distinct feeling that by the second half of the game Wait’s teammates were trying to find ways to play around him.

Now, by no means am I an expert on basketball so take this next statement for what it is, which is a fan making an observation. However, I’m boggled about Wait’s actions on the floor. It seems to me that if you’re 7′ 2″ that you should be under the basket at all times. You should be the lead the team in rebounds and, frankly, you should probably be among the top scorers since you’d likely be putting the ball directly in the basket with each rebound. It doesn’t appear that Wait does any of that too often. In fact, if you look at the box score for tonight’s game, Wait had less rebounds than any of the other starting five.

And it’s not like he wasn’t near the bottom of the basket, rather he was just too far away from the basket to make a difference. There were routinely two or even three guys between him and the hoop when he was going up for rebounds. He also seems to be a very lateral player in that he likes to reach forward when the other team takes a shot. Shouldn’t a guy that tall be putting those massive arms up in the air and jumping to block the shot?

Whatever, I’m just a fan watching a game making an observation.

I hope you enjoy some of the 40+ pictures below. This game was a lot of fun to attend and even though I can’t find an official number on the attendance tonight, I would assume that all of the folks who were there would agree that it was a fun game to watch.

Hawks Fans Distract SBU Player

Overall, I thought that the Hawks played well this morning. There were moments when it felt like the team was ready to break out and go on a scoring run, but the momentum never materialized for a long enough period of time to make anything major happen. I’m sure that the fact the game started at 6am EST had something to do with the team’s inability to keep the momentum fueled for a long period of time, but then again they were playing against a decent Stony Brook defense.

I was impressed by the team’s new center, Phil Wait. In case you didn’t hear about it over the summer, Coach Dave Calloway recruited Wait from jolly old England. I was trying to think of something clever to yell out during the game to mimic what they might say over in England when someone does something good. I figured instead of yelling, “Good job!” maybe I could yell something like, “Jolly good show!” but it sounded too weak. Anyway, what do they say in England when you do a good job?

James Hett also played very well as did Will Campbell – two of the returning starters from last year. Those guys are great basketball players and it would have been nice to see Campbell play a little bit more in the last few minutes of the game. With respect to the last few seconds of the game where Monmouth opted to go for three point shots when they probably would have been better offer just going for a two point shot, Coach Calloway had the following to say to The Hawks Nest after the game:

We had one (a time out). We did what we normally do. I just think if you have an opportunity to go, six seconds is enough time to get down (court), kind of in a scramble mode. I think you have a better chance of getting a good look than if you let the defense get set. So we went with it. I don’t know if we got great look but we got a look. I don’t know if we would have gotten a much better look with six seconds left. Maybe, maybe not.

RJ Rutledge – the player who took the last shot of the game – had this to say about the final shot of the game:

It was a double weave and a hand off. That’s the side I like to shoot from. I came off the screen , the shot felt good, It felt like my best shot all day. Everything felt good, my mechanics, I got a look straight on. It just didn’t go my way.

Anyway, I took some pictures with both my camera and my BlackBerry during the game. They’re all listed out below for you to take a look at when you have a moment. As always, click on the picture for a larger view (and click again on the new page for an even larger view). Some of these pictures may look pretty small in size, but I actually have much larger versions saved on my computer – just in case anyone wants to see a much larger version of any picture. Enjoy!

That’s pretty crazy.

This, of course, means that I’ll be at that game in my first row seats bright and early at 6:00am. It also means that I’ll be getting up at about 4:30am that morning so I can be at the Varsity Club pregame area by 5:00am when it opens. Then from the game I’ll walk over to Bey Hall, teach the 8:30am course that I’m teaching this semester, and then head over to Trenton to go to work until I head back to Monmouth in the evening to teach my 6:00pm class. Talk about a full day!

These early morning games are pretty fun and a good way to get national exposure. However, as a big supporter of college athletes (and student athletes at all levels of education, really), I know that these games add an extra layer of stress to the players. Forget about the fact that the game is being broadcast on ESPN and, thus, all around the world; these students are waking up at an unreal hour and prepping themselves to get ready to play against some stiff competition. Add on the fact that it’s going to be the home opener and the pressure only continues to mount. I wish these guys the best of luck.

Anyway, I’ll be nice and bitter by the time I get to that 6:00pm class at night!