Took in 12 games in 3 days at this tournament in Southwest Florida. It's a good mid-major tournament and if you're in Florida during Thanksgiving week and a basketball junkie, it's worth a look.
The field this year was Wisc-Green Bay( Brian Wardle best coach in the tourney), FGCU(offense was offensive), San Francisco(coach Rex Walters said after touney that his players have to grow up and stop tweeted at 3:30am night before a game), Evansville(Purple Aces wear orange uniforms), Hawaii(how did they beat Pitt last week?), Marist(low on talent), Fresno State(coach Brian Terry is the Steve Lavin of the Mountain West), and East Carolina( the DePaul of the AAC).
I sat next to Tim Murray, the Marist AD, during one of Marist's games and he had high praise for Pat Lyons. He said teams pay to play in the torunament and also that when he hired Matt Brady several years ago as head coach he interviewed Fred Hill for the job.
I was surprised to Ted Valentine working 3 games. He might be controversial but he stood out amongst the refs with decisive good calls. I don't like it when a ref looks at a play and then waits a second or two to make the call.
Marty Simmons the Evansville coach must be the heaviest coach in College Basketball at 300 lbs. I was surprised to learn in High School he was Mr. Basketball in Illinois and played at Indiana for Bobby Knight.
On to Newark and the Prudential Center for a series of home games for the Pirates.
The field this year was Wisc-Green Bay( Brian Wardle best coach in the tourney), FGCU(offense was offensive), San Francisco(coach Rex Walters said after touney that his players have to grow up and stop tweeted at 3:30am night before a game), Evansville(Purple Aces wear orange uniforms), Hawaii(how did they beat Pitt last week?), Marist(low on talent), Fresno State(coach Brian Terry is the Steve Lavin of the Mountain West), and East Carolina( the DePaul of the AAC).
I sat next to Tim Murray, the Marist AD, during one of Marist's games and he had high praise for Pat Lyons. He said teams pay to play in the torunament and also that when he hired Matt Brady several years ago as head coach he interviewed Fred Hill for the job.
I was surprised to Ted Valentine working 3 games. He might be controversial but he stood out amongst the refs with decisive good calls. I don't like it when a ref looks at a play and then waits a second or two to make the call.
Marty Simmons the Evansville coach must be the heaviest coach in College Basketball at 300 lbs. I was surprised to learn in High School he was Mr. Basketball in Illinois and played at Indiana for Bobby Knight.
On to Newark and the Prudential Center for a series of home games for the Pirates.
