Photos from LIU’s 79-70 win over Mercyhurst in the NEC championship on March 10, 2026:
(All photos by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Marquette’s loss gives way to reflection and a productive offseason for Shaka, Golden Eagles
Shaka Smart now shifts to offseason after Marquette was eliminated from Big East tournament by Xavier, ending Golden Eagles’ season at 12-20. (Photo by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
NEW YORK — Shaka Smart has only experienced two losing seasons in his career, the second of which being the 12-20 mark he and his Marquette team enter the record books with after Wednesday’s Big East tournament loss to Xavier.
Smart’s time-tested method of player development came under fire this year more than any other season, largely because of the ubiquity of the transfer portal and his steadfast commitment to the culture of his program. The coach relented during the season and admitted he and his staff would ultimately re-enter the portal this coming offseason after it yielded several payoffs in the early years of his tenure, but also recommitted to his holistic method of improving the incumbent talent already in the program.
“I thought more about roster construction this season during the season than I ever have before, obviously because of the changing landscape of everything,” Smart conceded. “You don’t want to necessarily determine your rotation for next year, but over the next couple months, we do have to determine our roster. I do think we have some young players — Michael Phillips showed it tonight — that can emerge and develop, and be part of a rotation playing heavy minutes. I think Damarius Owens has had games where he’s been really, really good. But at the same time, we’ll still have a lot of young guys next year, and that’s why the number one thing over the next several months is growth.”
“There’s a lot of things that go into that. (We’re) really following the formula that Oso Ighodaro, Tyler Kolek, Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell, those guys laid out as young players when they went from freshmen to sophomores and sophomores to juniors. Exactly what they did is what these guys need to do.”
Even in the face of the anomaly of a record, there were still moments where Marquette showed flashes of a group that had the pieces and potential to remain where it normally is. The Golden Eagles’ freshman duo of Nigel James, Jr. and Adrien Stevens, the former recognized as the Big East’s Freshman of the Year, offer strong building blocks for Smart, as does burgeoning big man Royce Parham. That is only the start of the process, and Marquette’s coach is cognizant of that.
“What goes into winning doesn’t change, so what I know to do is roll up my sleeves and once we get back together, as it relates to our team and growing, there’s a lot of basketball areas — and even cultural areas — where, in a game like tonight, we can be better. What will help with that is these guys’ continuing maturation, and more importantly, their connection with each other, and then I’ve gotta really help them understand all the little things that we have to own and do better to win close games.”
If anyone can readjust a ship that veered off course, Smart is one of the safer bets to do so. His passion for building relationships and connectivity is such that he was already looking forward to shaping his next outfit minutes before his current season culminated. But in the wake of the final disappointment of an arduous year, he was realistic in saying even he needed a step back to truly reassess his situation and encompass everything.
“My first thought when the game ended was, ‘I wanted to coach these guys another day,’ he said. “I wanted to get a chance to play again tomorrow. It wasn’t in the cards.”
“It sucks. There’s a lot of takeaways. When the season gets done, there’s always this time where you want to evaluate everything and you want to figure everything out the next day, but you need a little bit of separation from it to really have clarity. I think there’s a lot of basketball things where guys got better, but there’s a lot of areas where we just weren’t consistent enough this season.”
Holloway selected as unanimous Big East COY: “An award for the whole Seton Hall community”
Shaheen Holloway’s 13-win turnaround was good enough for unanimous Big East Coach of the Year honors for Seton Hall’s head coach. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
That turnaround was recognized on Wednesday, when head coach Shaheen Holloway was named the Big East’s Coach of the Year in an awards ceremony prior to the start of the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. Holloway is the fourth Pirate skipper to receive this honor, joining P.J. Carlesimo, Louis Orr and Kevin Willard. He also becomes the fourth former Big East player, along with Orr, Willard and Dan Hurley, to be recognized as the league’s top coach.
“It’s not really an award for me,” Holloway said after being announced as the unanimous Coach of the Year choice six years to the day that he won the same award in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at Saint Peter’s. “It’s an award for the whole Seton Hall community.”
The Pirates’ resurgence on the heels of a 7-25 campaign last year that yielded only two Big East victories was largely looked at as unexpected, but not so to Holloway, who displayed a quiet confidence entering his fourth season in charge of his alma mater, and carried that humble swagger deftly through a strong non-conference showing before finishing 10-10 in Big East play.
“For everybody else outside of our circle, it was a surprise,” he said. “I wasn’t really surprised, just because of the type of summer we had and how guys bought in quick, and how they came together quick. I knew this group was gonna be pretty good just because everybody sacrificed something for the development of the team. We talked about that early on in June and July, and we started seeing it throughout the year.”
Seton Hall only returned two players from last year’s roster, but neither of them were key contributors this season as both Jahseem Felton and Godswill Erheriene battled injuries, forcing Holloway to essentially rebuild from scratch, a challenge he readily conceded, but praised his team for its ability to handle.
“It’s gonna happen,” he said of the adversity. “Yeah, it’s a challenge, but when you bring good character guys in and guys that care about the name on the front more than the back, I thought that’s helped us.”
Seton Hall has a potentially advantageous path to a Big East championship this week, but the Pirates will first take on a Creighton team in Thursday’s quarterfinal with whom they split both regular season meetings. Should The Hall survive the Bluejays, a possible semifinal with regular season champion St. John’s awaits if the Red Storm can get past either Providence or Butler.
Holloway joked that his team liked to make things difficult after Friday’s regular season finale loss to St. John’s, hinting Seton Hall would have to “go and take it” to win its first conference championship in a decade. But the coach did acknowledge the significance of what such a moment would mean.
“It would be great for those guys coming in here, believing in me, believing in my vision, especially after the season we had last year,” he said. “And if we continue to keep growing and we continue to keep winning, it’s an unbelievable story.”
Big East tournament preview and picks
St. John’s looks to defend Big East championship this season, but faces challenges from UConn and Villanova. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)
By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)
NEW YORK — The Big East tournament tips off on Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden and Daly Dose of Hoops will have wall-to-wall coverage of not just the four local teams – who happen to be the top four seeds in this year’s tournament – but all eleven teams, hitting on all of the major storylines from around the conference.
Here’s one quick thing to watch from each time, followed by staff picks from Jaden Daly and Sam Federman:
1) St. John’s
No team has won both the outright Big East regular season championship and the Big East tournament title in back-to-back seasons since UConn did it in 1998 and 1999. Ironically, 1999 was also the last time the Red Storm made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, which it will have a chance to do this season.
2) UConn
The Huskies are the betting favorite to win the Big East Tournament at -125, but will have a tougher road to the championship game than St. John’s, having to perhaps face Marquette – which it already lost to – and Villanova, the only team besides the top two with odds better than 50-1 to win the tournament.
3) Villanova
Villanova is still learning to build 40 minutes of lineups without Matt Hodge in the picture, but early returns are strong with controlling wins over DePaul and Xavier in the final week of the regular season. The Wildcats are going to make the NCAA Tournament, but could jump a seed line, maybe even two if they get the right breaks, if they beat the odds and win the Big East tournament.
4) Seton Hall
A few months ago, it looked like Seton Hall was going to be a lock at this point to make the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Pirates need to win three games in three days. Shaheen Holloway’s team had chances to beat UConn and St. John’s in both of the matchups against both teams, but couldn’t pick up the big win, and stacked ten conference losses on top of that. Can they grit and grind through a Big East Tournament, winning games in the fifties and low sixties?
5) Creighton
The Bluejays have lost eight of their last 11 games to finish under .500 in Big East play for the first time since 2015, the year after Doug McDermott left town. But because of how top-heavy the league is, that’s still good enough to get a bye. Nik Graves played arguably his best game of the season in the regular season finale, and the Bluejays will need more where that came from.
6) DePaul
Despite finishing with the lowest KenPom rank in the Big East, DePaul rallied to 8-12 and a sixth-place finish. Although no Wednesday DePaul was in play toward the end of the season, the Blue Demons lost the final two games to lock in the six seed. Chris Holtmann still led this Blue Demons squad to a higher finish in Big East play than any other in history.
7) Marquette
The emergence of Adrien Stevens late in the year has complemented the already blossoming young core of Royce Parham and Nigel James with senior Chase Ross to have Marquette playing some much better basketball down the stretch. The Golden Eagles capped off the regular season with a win over UConn, which could be a quarterfinal matchup.
8) Butler
While Butler responded to a six-game losing streak by winning three of the last five games of the regular season, the Bulldogs finished below .500 in the Big East for a sixth straight season, and fourth in a row under Thad Matta. Could this be the last week that we see him as the coach of the Bulldogs
9) Providence
Have the Friars quit? Or will they show fight? Kim English is reportedly out as PC’s head coach – the correct decision after three straight years missing the NCAA Tournament despite the heavy NIL investment into the program. The fanbase and English have gotten toxic with each other, and it’s worth wondering whether the players will show up with a chip on their shoulder at all.
10) Xavier
The Musketeers are right on the cusp of finishing the season outside KenPom’s Top 100 for the first time in program history. Richard Pitino got a late start with building his roster, and certainly needs more NIL support – which he’s reportedly getting next year – but Xavier may leave an exclusive college basketball club. Currently sitting at 97th ahead of Wednesday’s game with Marquette, only Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky, Villanova, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Alabama have never finished outside the top 100, along with Xavier. The Musketeers are the only team on that list to have spent any time outside of the power conferences during that era.
11) Georgetown
Throughout the season, Georgetown has seemingly found new ways to lose basketball games. If there’s one week to sum up their season, it’s losing 93-89 at home to Butler on February 18, and turning around to lose 51-47 to Seton Hall just days later. With KJ Lewis out for the season, it’s incredibly hard to see the Hoyas making any sort of run, but the matchup with DePaul is a favorable one in terms of a 6-seed.
STAFF PICKS
Jaden Daly: Providence over Butler
Marquette over Xavier
DePaul over Georgetown
St. John’s over Providence
Seton Hall over Creighton
UConn over Marquette
DePaul over Villanova
St. John’s over Seton Hall
UConn over DePaul
UConn over St. John’s
I was extremely tempted to pick Seton Hall over St. John’s because I like the draw for the Pirates more than I do for the Johnnies, but the wise man knows to pick against Rick Pitino at his own risk. I do, however, think Friday DePaul will be a thing for the first time this year. The Blue Demons were fortunate to potentially draw a Villanova team that is down a starter after Matt Hodge’s torn ACL, and will have a favorable path to advance to the semifinals. In the end, though, I think UConn will emerge from a thriller against St. John’s to cut down the nets at MSG for the second time in three years.
Sam Federman: Butler over Providence
Marquette over Xavier
DePaul over Georgetown
St. John’s over Butler
Creighton over Seton Hall
UConn over Marquette
Villanova over DePaul
St. John’s over Creighton
UConn over Villanova
UConn over St. John’s
I think UConn takes it, but could see them losing to Marquette again. The Golden Eagles are the team most likely to steal a bid, even though Seton Hall and Creighton would have to play one fewer game.
Winthrop proves its elite status in back-to-back championship appearances
Winthrop center Logan Duncomb earned Player of the Year honors as the Eagles won 23 games for the second year in a row. (Photo: Big South Conference)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Winthrop coach Mark Prosser
spent Sunday in two places that have become familiar. One is a place he expects
to be. The other is one he would rather never visit again.
Prosser’s Eagles entered the season as a largely unknown
quantity, having lost a significant portion of their production from the year
prior. This lack of knowledge about a lot of the new faces in the Eagle lineup
led to a predicted fifth-place finish in the league. Prosser split Coach of the
Year plaudits with High Point coach Flynn Clayman and his Eagles won 23 games while
reaching the Big South championship game for a rematch with High Point.
Prosser sarcastically commented on the perceived preseason
slight – “To finish 13-3 in a league where we were picked fifth – don’t think
we forgot that or didn’t know that,” he said Sunday – then opined further on
his team and their achievements.
Prosser did so from another familiar – and less desirable –
place: behind the microphone in a press
conference while the league champion High Point cut down the nets and got
showered with confetti.
“Just knowing what is in the heart of our kids,” Prosser
said when explaining the thing that excites him the most about the program’s
future. “They’re winners. They were winners before they got here. I think we have
a brand of basketball that’s attractive to play in. I think we have a lot to
sell in recruiting.”
“We’ve been fortunate to find success. That’s a weird thing
to say (while) sitting in this press conference two years in a row and three of
the past five, but we know there’s special in this program. There’s special out
there for us. Every time you lose one, it just makes you more and more hungry
for the next opportunity, and I think that message was passed on to the
student-athletes we brought in this year. It will certainly be passed on to the
next group of student-athletes we have right now.”
The sadness of the result was obvious – Prosser fought back
tears and became audibly choked up at times when answering questions – but the
head Eagle shares a distinction with his friend and former boss, Pat Kelsey.
Kelsey’s Eagles lost three in a row between 2014-16 before finally breaking
through in an epic 2017 tournament victory that spawned a run of three crowns
in five seasons.
Prosser has carried Kelsey’s torch after leaving Western
Carolina to replace him. His 101 wins in his first five seasons in Rock Hill
represent a higher total than Big South legends and league champions Nick
McDevitt (Asheville), Cliff Ellis (Coastal Carolina), and – interestingly –
Gregg Marshall of his own school. Only Kelsey’s 102 wins eclipse Prosser’s
total.
To know the impact Prosser and his staff have had on the
program, one simply need ask his stars.
“I love this school so much,” Big South Player of the Year
Logan Duncomb said after Sunday’s game. Duncomb had given up on the game before
arriving in Rock Hill, and the trip netted him a slew of honors. His coach
called his shot before the season, too, saying that Duncomb could be a Player
of the Year candidate.
“They’re the school that gave me a chance,” Duncomb
continued. “These coaches – they stuck with me and helped me grow a lot as a
person and as a player. They filled the team with good players and good guys.
It’s just one of the coolest teams I’ve ever been around. Everyone likes each
other. Everyone hangs out with each other. Being here at Winthrop has been
really special. It’s a different type of basketball that you can’t get anywhere
else.”
Guard Kareem Rozier, who transferred from Duquesne before
the season, was also vocal about his choice to wear the garnet and gold.
“The first call (when I went in the portal) was here, and I
knew right and then that this would be the place I would call home to finish my
career in college,” Rozier said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Rozier then turned his words toward Prosser.
“You mean the world to me,” Rozier said. “You gave me an
opportunity. You believed in me throughout this whole season, even when I was
down. This is a family. I don’t want to ever take off this jersey. That’s how
much it means to me to be a Winthrop Eagle.”
Though Prosser understands that there is an expectation to
hang banners in the Winthrop Coliseum, he also has a clear grasp on the type of
players that should be part of the program. Whether it’s legendary point guard
Keon Johnson – who probably left a dent or two in the maple from crashing to
the floor while driving to the basket – Duncomb or Rozier, or any of the other
stars to help define the Winthrop way, Prosser is not shy about what composes
that standard.
“We have a very unique group of kids that are about what
it’s supposed to be about,” Prosser said. “They don’t worry about stuff on the
outside that doesn’t matter. They sacrifice a lot for each other. They had
opportunities throughout the season to second-guess or not buy in, and they
never did that. What they did was unique and special, because a lot of times,
that’s not what teams and student-athletes do these days. They just kept
fighting and being together.”
“It’s hard to (reflect on the group’s legacy) at the moment.
We’ve had a lot of really special kids. We have a staff that’s been together
for a really long time. We have similar morals and things that we feel are
important. We spend a lot of time in the identification process being
meticulous and intentional about who we bring into our program. As people, we
hit it out of the park this year. It’s hard with the transfer portal, where
(the recruiting process) is like speed dating. You get to know somebody really
quickly and see where it can go. They’re special kids, and that says much more
about them than it does about us.”
The Eagles now turn their sights toward replacing ten seniors
from this roster. We don’t yet know the names that will appear on the back of the
jerseys, but we know the standard they will be expected to uphold. That
standard is obvious in the words Prosser uses to describe Duncomb, who played in all three games of the conference tournament after a foot injury that required constant icing and a scooter.
“He’s a warrior, and we have a locker room full of them,”
Prosser said. “Doing unique things takes special people. His story is an
unbelievable one that should be celebrated for many more reasons than that
alone. He’s a special human being, and so is (Rozier). So are the other 13 that
are in the locker room right now.”
Six years later, Hofstra gets back what it lost in 2020 shutdown
Speedy Claxton (right) celebrates with Cruz Davis (5) after Hofstra avenged its 2020 misfortune Tuesday by winning CAA championship. (Photo by Joe Orovitz/Hofstra Athletics)
However, one of Bach’s most well-known quotes is somewhat relevant to the hoops world after Hofstra emerged from the Coastal Athletic Association tournament to be the last team standing, and thusly, the conference’s NCAA Tournament representative.
If you love something, Bach posited, set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t come back, it never was.
March 10, 2020 was a night that, on the surface, marked Hofstra’s ascent to the summit for the first time since 2001. The Pride had just defeated Northeastern to win the CAA tournament championship, and was on its way to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since someone named Jay Wright patrolled the sidelines in Hempstead and a Christ the King product named Craig “Speedy” Claxton was his point guard.
The world had other ideas.
Not even 48 hours after Hofstra and its fans could bask in the glory of being among the 68 teams that comprise the sport’s greatest spectacle every year, the COVID-19 pandemic intervened. Sports were shut down. For Hofstra, it was yet another kick to the gut, another punch to the solar plexus in a two-decade stretch rife with cruel body blows. So regrettably, begrudgingly, the Pride was forced to release its cherished memento into the wild, its fans wondering if — never mind when — it would ever find its way back.
Six years later, to the day, it did.
March 10, 2026 started with Claxton, now in his fifth season as Hofstra’s head coach, calling a timeout less than two minutes into the game as Monmouth took a 6-0 lead. Claxton called another timeout in the second half after Kavion McClain knocked down a trio of three-point shots to vault the Hawks back in front on the strength of a 13-4 run out of the intermission. The response each time was symbolic of how Hofstra has come to be known.
Claxton frequently reminds his team that the game rewards toughness, and that anything less than a 100-percent effort will not produce success. Hofstra’s exploits in closing out Monmouth, one night after needing overtime and a shot from Preston Edmead that will live on forever across Long Island, demonstrated the requisite level of tenacity needed to dance.
“That’s always what it’s gonna come down to, toughness,” Claxton reiterated. “And we compete with the best of them. It’s a toughness game and the tougher team is going to win, and for a majority of the night, we were the tougher team. That’s what we always hang our hat on.”
Hofstra summoned one last tough stretch after Monmouth refused to fade in the final seconds, with Cruz Davis and German Plotnikov sealing the championship at the free throw line. Shortly thereafter, a reunion few in the Pride’s fan base would readily admit was possible commenced. Even Claxton, who has tasted championships at literally every level in his career, did not know how to react at first, crying tears of joy in an embrace with associate head coach Mike DePaoli before reflecting properly after the magnitude of the moment had time to set.
“This moment is so surreal,” Claxton said, speaking from the heart. “It means so much to myself, this program, this university. I couldn’t be happier for these kids, man. This is a moment that they’re going to share for a lifetime.”
The coach was then asked about the closure of retrieving that which was loved and lost, issuing a bold warning that extenuating circumstances may as well turn around and head the opposite way.
“Nothing better stop us this year,” he said, breaking into his trademark effervescent grin. “I’m hoping that everything goes according to plan, we can go through Selection Sunday, see who we’re playing and actually get to fully experience the tournament and everything that it has to offer.”
Hofstra regained the love it lost Tuesday night, proving it was destined to belong on Long Island all along.
And the Pride is not letting it go this time, at least not without a fight.
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Hofstra’s CAA title means more to those who have agonized, suffered and bore 25 years of crosses
Speedy Claxton raises CAA championship trophy aloft as Hofstra avenged having NCAA Tournament stripped from it in 2020 with victory over Monmouth Tuesday. (Photo by Hofstra Athletics)
By Christian Heimall (@ChrisHeimall)
Special to Daly Dose Of Hoops
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three lead changes, four ties, and each team with its largest lead ballooning to seven at various points.
What started out as that familiar pit in the stomach of every fan when your team gets off to a slow start turned into that overwhelming confidence when it stormed back and seemingly took control. The ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and all-around energy shifts of a championship game provided every bit of optimism, anxiety, and euphoria.
This is not a post about the actual game, but the emotions of a fan who finally got to see something he always wanted to.
Something happens when you cover a team and not the sport as a whole. The fondness for the players, the coaches, the logo, and yes, the fans, grows on you. The roots grow deeper and thicker when that team is your alma mater. And no matter the time spent since graduation, or the distance traveled from campus, those feelings are hard to shake.
I graduated from Hofstra University in 2011, spending all four years as part of the student-run radio station, WRHU-FM. I didn’t enroll in Hempstead for athletics, but instead called Long Island home for the opportunity to call games on radio and learn the craft of being a play-by-play broadcaster. Something happened during those four years, though.
Despite all the mentoring and teaching about being ‘unbiased’ and ‘professional,’ the joy of seeing my team win overtook it all.
My career as a student broadcaster ended in the same way that Charles Jenkins’ playing career did (not to compare arguably Hofstra’s GOAT to myself); with a semifinal loss to Gerald Lee and Old Dominion and, ultimately, a loss in the CBI to Evansville. It was an emotional time not knowing when my next broadcast would come, but also knowing a team and a program that had every shot at the NCAA Tournament had come up short with uncertainty about a chance to return.
I was fortunate to build relationships with players, coaches, and staff, many of whom I’m still friends with a decade-and-a-half since I left. So it should come as no surprise that despite my post-graduate career taking me to places like Iowa and North Carolina, or working for other schools and teams, that the Pride of Long Island still lived in my heart. I followed the team as best I could, attended games when they traveled to my area, and always put them on TV when the chance would arise.
That love for the alma mater never wavered, and has helped maintain numerous connections. In 2016, it was ten of us reuniting at a bar in New York City to watch an overtime loss to UNCW. We reminisced and commiserated together, always vowing we would be back. In 2019, it was an expletive-filled group chat as we bemoaned a defeat at the hands of Northeastern. And one year later, it was a different tone, but the same expletives as the demons were exorcised…we thought.
Less than one week after winning OUR first CAA tournament championship, the world shut down and COVID denied us all the opportunity to go dancing. Fast forward to tonight, six years removed from that roller coaster of emotion and willingly jumping on another one, this time with a front-row seat.
Three lead changes, four ties, and each team with its largest lead ballooning to seven at various points. What started out as that familiar pit in the stomach of every fan when your team gets off to a slow start turned into that overwhelming confidence when it stormed back and seemingly took control. The ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and all-around energy shifts of a championship game provided every bit of optimism, anxiety, and euphoria.
After 40 intense, and incredibly well-played, minutes of basketball, it all came pouring out.
Cruz Davis and German Plotnikov hit clutch free throws to seal just the second Coastal Athletic Association tournament title ever. More importantly, it righted a wrong that the universe could not have predicted.
I have long wanted to witness my Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team hoisting the trophy. And while watching it on TV is special, physically being there to see it is just that much better. Yes, I teared up on press row watching the final nine-tenths of a second tick off the clock. Not just because I’m someone who fell in love with the Pride almost 20 years ago, but because finally (FINALLY), for the first time since 2001, Hofstra is going dancing.
A celebration that was cut short by a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy will be run back tenfold and carried for as long as the madness will allow for OUR Hofstra Pride.
FDU starts postseason with rout of Saint Francis in NEC quarters
By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)
TEANECK, N.J. — Coaches will tell you the season is divided into three parts: Preseason, conference season and postseason.
FDU, after running through the second part with an unblemished record, kept its winning ways intact as the third and most crucial part of the campaign commenced Monday.
The Knights defeated Saint Francis, 81-56, in the NEC tournament quarterfinals at Bogota Savings
Bank Center, and advanced to the semifinals, where they will host Le Moyne on Thursday.
FDU (28-4) started fast and never looked back. The Knights began with an 11-0 run against a Saint Francis team they faced just four days earlier in their
regular season finale, and established a 28-11 lead after the first period.
Sophomore guard Ava Renninger led the way for FDU with a versatile 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Kailee McDonald added 15 and freshman Reese Downey, in her first conference tournament outing, amassed 13 points.
“It’s not easy to play a team a third time, then back-to-back,” FDU coach Stephanie Gaitley said.
FDU defeated Saint Francis in its final regular season game last Thursday, 61-39.
“The first (playoff) game is always the hardest,” Gaitley said. “I think the kids responded very well. Every night, someone else is stepping up, and that’s a big difference.”
Points of Emphasis
Running the table: FDU, despite its personnel losses, was in a position to repeat as NEC champion, per many observers. But to go undefeated again?
“We had a conversation this summer,” Gaitley said. “Ava said, ‘I don’t see us going undefeated.’ (Renninger jumped in lightheartedly, saying, ‘I didn’t say that!’) We both thought that we were such a mixed group. Great kids. The year before, everybody had a lot of seniority. This group was m mixed with a lot of new kids. We didn’t know what we would get from the freshmen, then Lilly (Parke) went down. There were a lot of question marks (and) we played through some tough games early.”
“Winning close games early, like at Manhattan, helped us. These guys are understanding the details as we go along. I’m so proud of them. On a given night, someone different is stepping up.”
Renninger added her thoughts, saying, “the freshmen stepped in and saw our culture, and have done a tremendous job along the way. A lot of us have been overlooked and underrecruited. It’s hard to beat a ‘chip on the shoulder’ hard-working team.”
Unselfishness: A key trait and reason behind the success of this FDU team.
“Our offense is second-most important,” Renninger said. “Defense is our priority, but we have five scorers on the floor. Anyone can score, and what’s great is we move the ball. We are a very unselfish team, that’s why you see someone different step up on a given night.”
“I had the most tonight, but I could get two points. If I have to rebound, that’s what I will do. I think you can say that for the other players on the team.”
Defensive concerns: The score might hint this was an easy win for FDU, but Saint Francis did pose defensive concerns for Gaitley’s group.
“A lot of teams we play have at least one kid who is not a threat from three,” she said. “In this case, everyone out there had hit double-figure threes. You can’t just drop off someone and help in the lane. We had to switch on a lot of screens, which meant that our kids were sometimes playing a guard. I think the rest of the time, we will face teams that allow us to be who we are on defense.”
Rebounding: FDU won the battle of the boards by a convincing 48-25 margin, 15-5 on the offensive end. FDU’s Akeelah Lafleur grabbed a game-high nine boards. As has been happening most of the season, several players contributed to the Knights’ prowess on the glass. On this night, there were six players with five or more rebounds.
“In practices, we demand it,” Gaitley said of the emphasis on rebounding. “We shoot with the lid on the basket. No fouls, get after it. In games, play through. If you don’t box out, you come out. It’s a reminder that that is what got us here. We do a lot of rebounding drills. We go five to the boards.”
Resilience: The Red Flash made a few brief runs, none to seriously challenge, yet they kept playing.
“It’s not over until it’s over,” acting head coach Raphael McNeill said. “We want to keep fighting, keep fighting, it’s a testament to these young ladies, a very resilient group. “They play hard and that’s why it hurts me. I wanted to give them an opportunity to keep going. We just ran up against a bus tonight, Fairleigh Dickinson, my hat is off to them. Whenever we got on a run, Ava would find a way with a three or finding someone else. We were fighting, but just didn’t have enough energy to keep it going.”
End of an era: The final buzzer sounded an end to Saint Francis’ time in Division I. For decades, the small school in Loretto, Pa. had built a rich and storied tradition. Next season, the Red Flash will play at the Division III level.
“We have to start a new (era),” McNeill said. “It is the end of an era. We got our 400th (NEC) win, now we have to start with our first PAC win. It’s definitely going to be difficult, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity if it’s presented to me. Saint Francis will have the opportunity to thrive. We have to find some quality student-athletes and keep going.”
Notes. In the tempo-free recap, it was a 67-possession game with FDU owning a sizable 121-84 edge in offensive efficiency. The Knights shot 48 percent from the floor and 9-of-31 from deep. Saint Francis hit for 40 percent, but was 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
Saint Francis had a slight 42-40 edge in points in the paint, but FDU had a resounding 14-2 lead in second-chance points. FDU also had success attacking the basket, especially in the second half.
“Once you see the team fouls (expand) from the opponent, you want to attack the basket,” Gaitley said. “We’ve given such green lights to (outside) shooters. I don’t want to take that away. We identified the matchups and started to attack aggressively.”
“It was exciting,” Downey said of her first conference tournament experience. “I was a little nervous, but I thought I did a good job.”
That she did.
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