Independent college basketball writer covering NY metro hoops since 2009.
@USBWA
member w/focus on MAAC, Big East, Rutgers, local mid-majors, UNC, zebra alerts.
April 17th is always a day of celebration, because it was that date on which the website I’ve now cultivated came to be in 2009. My latest look back took a record 12,647 words to summarize.
This is the epilogue for year 15. I hope you enjoy it.
Hurley on what his wife, Andrea, might say had he taken the Kentucky job: “We just went to Rhode Island, which I had to drag her to, and then to Connecticut, I got her closer (to New Jersey). I can’t afford a divorce right now, I just started making money.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Rick Pitino: “My vision is to play every game at Madison Square Garden, conference-wise. It has to be at a major facility. Carnesecca Arena is not big enough for the brand of basketball we’re gonna build.”
#sjubb
Pitino: “We kind of lost this season with the way we recruited. We recruited the antithesis of the way I coach. It’s a good group, they try hard, but they’re just not very tough.”
#sjubb
Pitino: “We are so unathletic that we can’t guard anybody without fouling. For me, I’ve always enjoyed the first year, and I’m not gonna lie to you: This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime. This has been so disappointing.”
#sjubb
Hurley on Tristen Newton: “He should be talked about as one of the best guards in the country, but people who watch TikTok highlights and don’t watch the game are the ones judging. They don’t know shit.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Rick Pitino: “We need to get in a multi-bid league. I think the Atlantic 10 — with Loyola Chicago coming in, Archie Miller taking over at Rhode Island and Frank Martin at UMass — is gonna take off.”
#ICMBB
Greg McDermott: “I’m really excited and proud of our team, but it’s hard to be in too much of a celebratory mood until we get a full report on the extent of Ryan Nembhard’s injury. I’ve been doing this 33 years…I’ve never been as proud of a team as I am tonight.”
#GoJays
Some sad news to pass along this morning: The great Tom Konchalski is being transitioned into hospice care later today. Keep this living legend in your thoughts and prayers if you can.
Here’s the full quote from Hurley on the Big East possibly only getting three bids. Great question from
@NYPost_Brazille
:
“First off, if Seton Hall is not in, that’s embarrassing, and there’s a larger problem relative to the respect that the Big East gets.” (1/4)
Cam Spencer on technical: “I don’t think I’ve ever had one before, in college at least.”
Hurley: “He gets a shitload of ’em in practice.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
A mid-major is now guaranteed to play for a national championship.
If you’re the NCAA or CBS, you hate this. If you’re a college basketball fan, you love it.
Shaka Smart: “I was at VCU for six years, and we had a sellout streak over 100 when I left. I learned not to take for granted that the arena was full.”
#mubb
#LetsGoVCU
Mike Anderson: “It’s not my first rodeo, so for all the haters, keep doing it. I’m even more motivated than I’ve ever been. Whether I’m a country boy, city boy, I’m loving St. John’s and I’m loving New York.”
#sjubb
Rick Pitino: “I asked about the character of the basketball team. To be honest, I didn’t get glowing reports, but I did get a glowing report on Joel Soriano. We’re gonna bring him to a level he didn’t even think he could reach.”
#sjubb
Shaheen Holloway: “When I took the job, everybody told me, ‘it’s a bad job, don’t take it.’ But like I said, sometimes you gotta believe in yourself, you gotta bet on yourself. Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve done that. That’s who I am.”
#MAACHoops
#StrutUp
I’ve seen Purdue live. I’ve seen
#UConn
live. The comparison between the two is not close.
No disrespect to the Boilermakers, but I can’t see Purdue playing this kind of a game against a Top 5 team like the Huskies just did.
UConn 81, Marquette 53 your final in Hartford.
Pitino just fired a zinger at
@NYPost_Brazille
:
ZACH: “Rick, do you have any nerves for Sunday?”
RICK: “Your paper said we were going dancing! Why would I have any nerves? The New York Post is the Bible, who else am I gonna believe? I was dancing all last night!”
#sjubb
Shaheen Holloway: “A group of guys came in here who no one gave a chance to, no one believed in, and made history. They shocked the world. It’s a story within a story. They came in and made history. Point blank, period.”
#MAACHoops
#StrutUp
Hurley: “Tomorrow’s gonna be brutal. The video session’s gonna be crushing. The accountability is gonna be super high and we’re gonna be brutally honest about what happened here tonight. We’ll act appropriately. When we lose at
#UConn
, everyone hurts.”
Can everyone do me a favor today?
I understand certain college basketball media types are being dragged through the mud today, but can we please leave Fanta out of this? John did nothing wrong here, and shouldn’t be lumped in with all the other vitriol.
Be better, everyone.
Rick Pitino: “I’d like to give a special shoutout to Tim Cluess. Nobody did a better job than Tim Cluess...he was one of the premier coaches in the country, and Tim, wherever you are, we share this with you tonight.”
#ICMBB
Pitino: “Look: Joel’s slow laterally, he’s not fast on the court. Chris Ledlum is slow laterally, Sean Conway’s slow laterally. Brady’s physically weak, Drissa is slow laterally.”
#sjubb
The streak lives to fight another day.
Providence is now 22-0 all-time with
@John_Fanta
on the call after the first test on the road ends in a gritty Friar victory.
#pcbb
Never in my 15-year career, or even before that, did I expect a
#MAACHoops
team to reach a regional final.
For that,
@PeacocksMBB
deserves to be celebrated and remembered through the ages. What Shaheen Holloway and his team did was unparalleled, unbelievable, special.
#StrutUp
One last quiet court at the RAC, and fittingly, that’s Caleb McConnell out there dropping the curtain on the old barn. You don’t see many like him anymore, that’s for sure.
#RHoops
#TheKnighthood
If any West Virginia fans follow me: You’re getting one of the most talented and humble players I’ve had the privilege to cover over 15 years in the New York/New Jersey media, a kid who will win you over right away and stop at nothing to better himself.
Our loss is your gain.
Pitino: “It’s not the job. You could be at Missouri and recruit slow players. Believe me, it’s not St. John’s. We had to put together a team at the last second. We will never, ever, do that again.”
#sjubb
Steve Pikiell: “First, I’d like to quickly mention our radio announcer, Coach Joe Boylan. He’s in the hospital. We’re thinking about you, Coach.”
#RHoops
#GardenStatement
My sources tell me that Jose Perez will receive a decision on the appeal West Virginia filed for his eligibility waiver that was initially denied last month, and that he could be available for the Mountaineers Saturday against Kansas if all goes well.
Hurley: “To get to where we were, the work that this staff did, I just think we get like-minded people to come and play here. We just try to recruit winners and people that it’s never enough for. Whatever we are now, 24-2, it’s never enough. We have people like that.”
#UConn
#UConn
’s current roster:
Hassan Diarra
Alex Karaban (testing draft waters)
Samson Johnson
Jaylin Stewart
Solo Ball
Youssouf Singare
Jayden Ross
Andre Johnson
Andrew Hurley
Ahmad Nowell
Isaiah Abraham
Liam McNeeley
Tarris Reed (Michigan transfer)
Aidan Mahaney (SMC transfer)
Hurley on Big East going 6-0 in NCAA: “Look what we’ve done in non-conference games, MTEs, NCAA Tournaments. There should have been five or six Big East teams in this tournament…you see how other leagues who got bids over us have underperformed.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Rick Pitino: “I’ll play New Mexico at the Garden. Let’s go,
@LoboCoachPitino
. You need to come to Madison Square Garden. He still owes me a game.”
#sjubb
Dan Hurley: “Storrs, Connecticut is the basketball capital of the world. We’ll come into a season with a chip on our shoulder, or two chips, and that’s why I think this program is as successful as it’s been. We don’t carry complacency.”
#UConn
Pitino: “That’s why next year, the only game we’re playing at Carnesecca is Connecticut. The rest, we’re gonna negotiate.”
When asked by
@NYPost_Brazille
if the comment was serious: “100 percent. I have my reasons.”
#sjubb
#UConn
Pitino: “About three weeks ago, the administration and I were talking. I could sense in their minds, (the season) was over. In our minds, it was just beginning.”
#sjubb
Hurley: “Like I said in New York, the Big East is a monster and iron sharpens iron. It should have been a six-bid league, and I just think the league prepares us for these games.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Pitino: “RJ is a great talent who’s gonna give me a nervous breakdown. Throwing the ball off the guy’s rear end off an inbounds pass? Some of the things he does are going to age me. Some of things he does make me 90 years of age…I’m close to Looie now.”
#sjubb
Jose Perez has informed me that he intends to enter the transfer portal in the wake of Steve Masiello’s dismissal at Manhattan.
Perez, the MAAC preseason player of the year, was returning for his senior season, and his bond with Masiello transcended the basketball court.
Kevin Willard: “I would like to thank my Seton Hall family. I was there for 12 years…it was home. I get really emotional talking about Seton Hall…I had great support, and I want to thank my players and my staff for everything they’ve done. I love you guys.”
#shbb
#HALLin
#Terps
Rick Pitino: “I’m not a candidate for Indiana or any other job. You could come to me with the greatest job in the world, and I would not consider it.”
#ICMBB
#iubb
BREAKING:
@John_Fanta
will be on the call for
@PCFriarsmbb
’s Saturday night home game against Creighton, in which the Friars can clinch the Big East regular season championship with a win. For those of you scoring at home, Providence is 13-0 all-time with Fanta on the call.
#pcbb
Shaheen Holloway: “Saint Peter’s made it to the Elite 8. Great story, you guys should write about that. I’m gonna end it on that.”
Mic drop.
#MAACHoops
#StrutUp
Shaka Smart: “Our guys are in the locker room clowning around, but you know what? That’s Kam Jones. I could tell him to be like me, but I don’t shoot like him. So I’m fine with him being him.”
#mubb
On this day in 2009, I started Daly Dose Of Hoops with no clear vision of what it would become. Today, it turns 14, and as I do every April 17th, I recap my journey during the season.
Here’s all 10,592 words of this year’s epilogue. I hope you enjoy it.
This quote from
@JulianChampagn2
should get St. John’s fans fired up:
“We want to come out and execute like our life’s depending on it. We’re going to run through brick walls for our fans, and we’re also going to run through brick walls for our teammates and our coaches.”
#sjubb
Sha: “I think the future’s bright. We’ve got five juniors coming back, I thought Clarence had a great year, Juju had a great year, three guys sat out. When you get e-mails saying I want my son to play for you, I admire what you’re doing, I think the future’s pretty bright.”
Hurley: “There’s a lot of truth to what some of these conferences did relative to manipulating the NET. When you look at some resumes of some of these programs, they literally beat nobody in the non-conference.” (4/4)
Finally listening back to the Hurley locker room scrum audio as I write this column I’m about to share.
On Clingan: “I know they had him for five (blocks), but I’d imagine we’re gonna go back and look. We WILL send a petition in, trust me, because we’re petty like that.”
#UConn
Martelli on MSG: “You’re gonna get pissed, but it’s the second-best basketball arena. Because everybody knows The Palestra is the best basketball arena.”
Dre Davis being presented with the second annual J.P. Pelzman award, recognizing his accessibility for and interactions with the media. Tyrese Samuel was the inaugural recipient last year.
A tradition established by
@NJHoopsHaven
to honor our late great colleague.
#shbb
#HALLin
Steve Pikiell on senior day: “When they came here four years ago, we didn’t have a lot of fans, we didn’t have a lot of traditions. We need to have everyone here (Sunday), it needs to be an unbelievable sendoff. They deserve it.”
#RHoops
#GardenStatement
@RURiotSquad
Shaheen Holloway: “I got a call from Myles Powell this morning…I haven’t spoken to Myles in a minute, and the first thing he said was, ‘you can’t let Shavar beat you.’”
#shbb
#HALLin
Sha mentioned multiple times that he told his team it got a chance to represent Seton Hall for a different audience than it’s been used to.
That different audience also got to see what we’ve known in NY and NJ for years, that Sha is just a first-class dude.
#shbb
#HALLin
After Seton Hall wins the NIT Title, Shaheen Holloway **quite literally** tells Robbie Avila to keep his chin up.
This is respect between two great representatives of college hoops.
This is sportsmanship at the highest level.
This is a since-deleted tweet from Iona’s Isaiah Washington, possibly in regard to the Rick Pitino rumors. Remember, Washington transferred to Iona from Minnesota, where Pitino’s son, Richard, is still the head coach:
#MAACHoops
#ICMBB
This is how Sha ended his press conference tonight, and this is how he’s always been since I interviewed him for the first time five years ago at Saint Peter’s. In a world of coachspeak, the brutal honesty is refreshing. And it’s why those who know Sha well love him so much.
Steve Pikiell: “It’s a difficult day for me. I just want to talk about our seniors…these guys came here when we didn’t have a winning season, there were no sellouts, we didn’t have a practice facility. They’ve done nothing but win.”
#RHoops
Horrible to see that someone projected an anti-Semitic message on to TIAA Bank Field at the end of the sold-out Georgia-Florida game. A relative sent this to me. It’s in reference to comments Ye (formerly Kanye West) made recently.
This hate has to stop. Period.
Dan Hurley: “Monday, my dad gave me his full assessment of Iona and what we need to do to pull this game out. It was a long conversation, I’ve not talked to him since. He takes a lot of pride in his two sons being on this big stage…it means a lot to him.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Never once in my life did I expect so many people to actually want to pay attention to little old me. The fact that 10,000 of you do, and appreciate my musings, makes my heart smile.
Thank you, everyone. I also fully expect someone to unfollow and drop me back to 9,999 now!
Mike Anderson couldn’t recruit New York and get local kids to stay home, they said.
In 2 1/2 years? A half-dozen commitments within his own backyard, two of whom likely first team all-Big East, more than Mr. “you don’t have to tell me where the gyms are, I know them all.”
#sjubb
This is for all the smaller outlets that never had a chance to get here, including this one for the first 17 years of my career.
Until today.
Game
#108
baptizes my Final Four debut in about 45 minutes, with
@BoilerBall
and
@PackMensBball
the celebrants.
#BoilerUp
#GoPack
Rick Pitino on St. John’s: “My interests lie with my team. I’m very thankful to Iona. You have to understand one thing: The biggest factor in my life is winning, more so than anything. Winning is the most important thing in my life. In two years in league play, we’re 35-6.”
No conference has ever played for ALL four major postseason championships in the same season.
If Villanova beats Kansas tomorrow, the Big East — a league everyone left for dead in 2013 — will be the first.
Being a pure basketball conference is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
the big east is 5.4 seconds away from having teams in the men's final four, the women's national title game, the women's NIT final, and the men's NIT champion
On a zoom call with Sha now.
Said accepting the NIT bid was the players’ decision, they discussed it after the NCAA selection show and told him they still wanted to play.
Also expressed his shock at being first team to win 13 Big East games but still get left out.
#shbb
#HALLin
Rick Pitino on WFAN with Boomer & Gio: “I truly felt (Iona) was it and I loved it. It was great, a 5-minute drive, we’re winning. And then the president of St. John’s made a trip to Mamaroneck, he sat down and he told me to take this job. He’s a superstar, Father Shanley.”
#sjubb
Before tonight, the last team from New Jersey to reach a Sweet 16 was Seton Hall, in 2000. Its leader? Shaheen Holloway.
In 2022, Saint Peter’s has broken the Garden State schneid. Its coach? Shaheen Holloway.
Joel Soriano: “For me, it was tough (after Anderson got fired) because I was trying to see what my future was. I gave it time to see who they hired, and I’m here now.”
#sjubb
BREAKING: I’m told that Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune has emerged as the favorite for the head coaching position at Fordham. Per sources, the job “is his if he wants it.”
Pitino: “I thought tonight was a great learning experience for our basketball team. I don’t think we could have played any better than the first 18 minutes…Carter, by himself, was physically tougher than our entire team. He was just unbelievable.”
#sjubb
Rick Pitino: “Richard’s gonna want to beat us by 30…he’s not gonna want to take it easy on Dad, and the reason why he’s gonna want to beat us by 30 is because I taught him that way. But he knows he’s not coaching against me, he’s coaching against Iona.”
#IUMBB
Rick Pitino on Quinn Slazinski: “He’s gonna transfer, probably to a Power 5 school. He wants an NIL. Hopefully we’ll have Osborn back.”
#IUMBB
#MAACHoops
Pitino: “I haven’t met Posh. I know Joel fits into what I’m all about, I know the young man I haven’t met from Lutheran fits into the style of play and character I need (Drissa Traore).”
#sjubb
Hurley: “Our fan base is obnoxious as shit on social, so everyone hates us. It’s an us against the world thing, so I wanted to celebrate with them a little bit.”
#UConn
#BleedBlue
Pitino on Gonzaga joining the Big East: “100 percent, no. I don’t feel like getting on a plane for five or six hours. Tell (Hurley) he could go join their conference. But if they want to join for basketball only, hey, let’s do it.”
#sjubb