Going by the first post in this thread, we might play Sacred Heart this season. Mike Sixsmith from Sacred Heart is the author’s choice for breakout player in the NEC for the coming season. The criteria for breakout player is the player was not the leading scorer for his team nor did he average double digits in points for the season. For the MAAC, the author picks Siena’s Aidan Carpenter as the likely breakout player for this year.
Going by the first post in this thread, we might play Sacred Heart this season. Mike Sixsmith from Sacred Heart is the author’s choice for breakout player in the NEC for the coming season. The criteria for breakout player is the player was not the leading scorer for his team nor did he average double digits in points for the season. For the MAAC, the author picks Siena’s Aidan Carpenter as the likely breakout player for this year.
Interesting concept to think about in this long off-season as we anticipate the start of real action in a few months. As far as SHU is concerned, yeah I guess Sixsmith makes sense (I've never watched him play), but certainly his shooting numbers, although small in sample, are off the charts in all three areas of accounting (FG, 3-point FG and FT). BTW are we actually playing the Hearts this season? I haven't heard anything official from anyone, so who knows? But anyway back to the 'breakout' talk, because Siena loses a couple of their leading players, maybe Carpenter is a good choice. However his shooting numbers (again limited sample) are not so hot, especially FT% which is downright ugly. And I wonder how much effort the author has done in analyzing every team in each league? As far as the Stags are concerned I would think Leach might be the best candidate to fit into this category based on the fact that as a freshman he had decent shooting numbers before he got injured and I believe he is a natural scorer who might produce a lot if given the opportunity. OTOH with scoring guards in front of him such as Benning, Wojcik and maybe even Long if he is a stud, playing time might not be a given for Jalen. Nice problem for Jay Young to have however.
Carpenter’s FT % was bad for the season but he was 3 for 3 from the foul line against us. Good thing we won’t be playing Siena at Alumni Hall again since Carpenter did much better from the foul line there than he probably did in any other gym where he played. I’m not arguing that Carpenter is the best choice as breakout player in the MAAC, but the article did make me think about the upcoming season in a bit of a different way than most offseason articles do; which emphasize returning star players and impact transfers and prepsters.
Gave up a home game for cash? That’s one of the most awful things I ever heard. Giving up the opportunity to host an ACC school at WBA for some extra coin?! No wonder we can’t draw in Bridgeport. Apparently we would rather host teams that have no chance of drawing a crowd versus pulling in 5,000+ for a game that actually would have the community’s attention and interest...
Right Campion. This became a bush league program years ago, and its only getting worse.
Going by the first post in this thread, we might play Sacred Heart this season. Mike Sixsmith from Sacred Heart is the author’s choice for breakout player in the NEC for the coming season. The criteria for breakout player is the player was not the leading scorer for his team nor did he average double digits in points for the season. For the MAAC, the author picks Siena’s Aidan Carpenter as the likely breakout player for this year.
Well since you have reminded us that we might be playing the Pioneers this coming season, I just read some more news about them concerning a couple of added players to their program, and it is interesting because there is definitely a local angle involved. The first guy is Holy Cross transfer Joey Reilly who was formerly a high school star at East Catholic but for some reason never seemed to be able to make a dent in regards to importance as a Crusader. That was certainly a surprise to me as I had thought he might be ready to perform well there as a 6' PG with a lot of skills. Maybe a change of scenery will help him at SHU although there is definitely another PG on the roster in Aaron Clarke who figures to get much of the playing time in that position. The other new player is freshman 6'6 forward Tanner Thomas who happens to be the brother of star shooting guard Tyler. Like Tyler, Tanner had played high school ball at Amity before going to a prep school the last couple of years. I'm not really sure how good he will be for their team as I haven't watched him play for a longtime and had never really thought of him as a D-1 prospect. But maybe he has improved a lot in the ensuing years, so who knows? Anyway I know some will disagree with this point, but I hope we play Sacred Heart in the fall. We should be hearing something soon I would imagine.
I with you Nash we should play SHU every year and develop the game into the rivalry it can be. Also we should alternate playing the game as a home game on each campus once the Convocation center is finished.
I with you Nash we should play SHU every year and develop the game into the rivalry it can be. Also we should alternate playing the game as a home game on each campus once the Convocation center is finished.
yup , these games have some juice...
and even the old videos where the other teams mascots goes to the opposing campus were entertaining (marketing?)
I with you Nash we should play SHU every year and develop the game into the rivalry it can be. Also we should alternate playing the game as a home game on each campus once the Convocation center is finished.
yup , these games have some juice...
and even the old videos where the other teams mascots goes to the opposing campus were entertaining (marketing?)
Mikesdad, I remember the mascot videos also which helped to create the excitement of a rivalry. If I remember correctly the videos were created during the Cooley era at FF. I remember one video when the pioneer mascot came into the stags weight room and Anthony Johnson met him. Lots of good things happening around the FF basketball program during Cooley era. Only to be ruined during the SJ tenure. The damage that SJ did will take years to turnaround, if ever. It still pisses me off that the administration ( Von Arx/ Doris) extended SJ contract not once but twice and paid a salary to him at the top of the MAAC coaches salary level .
and even the old videos where the other teams mascots goes to the opposing campus were entertaining (marketing?)
Mikesdad, I remember the mascot videos also which helped to create the excitement of a rivalry. If I remember correctly the videos were created during the Cooley era at FF. I remember one video when the pioneer mascot came into the stags weight room and Anthony Johnson met him. Lots of good things happening around the FF basketball program during Cooley era. Only to be ruined during the SJ tenure. The damage that SJ did will take years to turnaround, if ever. It still pisses me off that the administration ( Von Arx/ Doris) extended SJ contract not once but twice and paid a salary to him at the top of the MAAC coaches salary level .
Unfortunately guys like Ed Cooley are rare. Ed was creating an energy around the program, something that SJ didn't duplicate and something that, so far, Young has not been able to recapture.
Its not just about the head coach, marketing takes many people. But during the early days of the SHU series they did do a great job of marketing the rivalry to students and the area community. It would be nice to see that kind of energy at a game again, but I am not convinced that the University is prepared to put in the work needed to recreate the buzz that was part of those early match-ups.
Precisely the reason this game, if promoted properly, could never be scheduled at the Pitt Center. (Capacity listed as 2,062 seats - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Pitt_Center )
This needs a larger venue if it is going to be the event we all want and expect. If SHU can't face this reality, they don't deserve the game.
And, the WBA will be a neutral court once the CC is completed. We can even play it on a generic floor if that make folks happy. (There must be a non-Stags badged floor available somewhere).
The Pitt Center is just too small if the "potential" of this rivalry is going to be realized. It belongs at the WBA, not another bad HS gym.
Last Edit: Jul 13, 2021 12:29:39 GMT -5 by paulie74
Precisely the reason this game, if promoted properly, could never be scheduled at the Pitt Center. (Capacity listed as 2,062 seats - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Pitt_Center )
This needs a larger venue if it is going to be the event we all want and expect. If SHU can't face this reality, they don't deserve the game.
And, the WBA will be a neutral court once the CC is completed. We can even play it on a generic floor if that make folks happy. (There must be a non-Stags badged floor available somewhere).
The Pitt Center is just too small if the "potential" of this rivalry is going to be realized. It belongs at the WBA, not another bad HS gym. [/quote] The funny thing about the Pitt Center is that the building itself, fire laws permitting, is certainly big enough to have a capacity setup much bigger than the 2,062 as currently listed. It's actually kind of a field house with a lot of space available both outward and upward if they wanted to use it that way. It sort of reminds me of the situation at Manhattan that Stag fans know about from visiting so often. But again, maybe they aren't allowed to change the arrangement to allow more people in. Whatever, playing in Bridgeport every year would make the most sense I guess, but OTOH a full 3,500 at Fairfield one year followed by a full 3,500 at the Pitt Center (assuming they could add the seats) would seem to be the best way to bring the electricity back to the now dormant rivalry while at the same time not leaving out too many people that would like to be allowed in. Indeed a 'hard' ticket to acquire would make each game between the two schools that much more exciting, would it not?
Post by reindeerfan on Jul 13, 2021 20:18:44 GMT -5
well I have never felt the issue was strictly about a location or a home court advantage. As I recall, SHU was given some number of tickets to sell and they got to keep that money. Financially SHU would do better to play half the games at their arena and get 100% of the draw every other year. So this game not being played has everything to do with money, pride, control and things that have nothing to do with the merits of the game or the rivalry. I don't object to the game being played but I depart from others that it will ever be a true "rivalry" game. Uconn never considered us a rival when they beat us 27 times in a row, even though we say it as a rivalry game. The SHU contest won't be a true rivalry until the programs become equal, something I hope never happens.
By the way, why can't we create the SHU Buzz with Quinnipiac? Couldn't we promote it the same way with a home and away series? If I were in marketing, I would have done that since those game have to be played every year.
Tough opener. But I would have to think given the experience of everyone returning from a team that was playing well at the end of this past season, the effort against the Friars will be much better than last year's disaster. But anyway now we have two definite dates with this contest plus the Dec. 19th match-up against UMass. More dates to come shortly I would imagine.