Thursday night I got to see Georgetown and Creighton, followed by Xavier and Butler. I got to the Garden a little early. Vin was joining me and he got there shortly after the start of the first game. Of course, he brought two large beers up to the seats with him. It was good to see Vin. I hadn't seen him since his engagement party in September. I'm looking forward to his bachelor party and wedding in May. We probably drank a little too much beer considering it was a Thursday, but it was a good time. I was watching the games, but I can't say I was paying particularly close attention until the end of the first game. Creighton gave Georgetown a game. Creighton led 51-45 with about six minutes left, but they couldn't hold the lead. They had some opportunities late, but they were hurt by turnovers. D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera led the way with 25 for Georgetown as they won 60-55. Nobody else had more than 10 for Georgetown. It was the end of a rough season for Creighton. I hope they can compete in the Big East now that their coach doesn't have son that's a dominant college basketball player on the team. Butler, on the other hand, showed great improvement in their second season in the Big East. They were the three seed in the Big East and they took on Xavier in game 2 of the night. I really didn't pay particularly close attention. Vin and I left maybe eight minutes into the second half. We missed a good finish, though. Xavier won 67-61 in overtime even though they didn't have anybody score more than 13. Whatever, I had plenty more basketball to see the next two days. I got home around 12:30.
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| My view for the Big East Tournament |
I did not want to wake up on Friday morning even after setting my alarm for about a half hour later than I usually do. But once I got to school, I felt surprisingly good. I met my brother Tom at Penn Station for another double header. The day before, I had been rooting for Villanova, St. John's, and Georgetown (all of those teams lost their first Big East Tournament game the year before) just because Madison Square Garden is more fun with those teams playing. This year, Villanova and Georgetown came through, but St. John's, not so much. St. John's lost to Providence, who wasn't a terrible option, but they're not going to bring as many fans as St. John's would. Providence won the tournament last year and they had a couple of players I wanted to see. Kris Dunn was the Big East Co-Player of the Year and LaDontae Henton was impressive in last year's tournament. Henton was also the Big East's leading scorer and he scored 38 points on 19 shots against Notre Dame in November. Villanova and Providence played the first game. Villanova had the other Co-Player of the Year, Ryan Arcidiacono. Dunn had himself a game. He had 22 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds. Henton and Arcidiacono were very quiet. Villanova led pretty much the whole game, but Providence tied it late. Unfortunately, the refs put Arcidiacono on the line with a terrible call with 3.1 seconds left. He made both shots to give Villanova a 63-61 lead. I had been rooting for Villanova just because I wanted to see them on Saturday also, but after that foul call I was hoping Providence would find a way to win it. They actually had a nice little hook and ladder type play that got a pretty good look for Henton (considering that they only had 3.1 seconds left) that would have won the game, but he missed.
The second game was Georgetown and Xavier. Again, I was rooting for Xavier just because they'd have a lot more fans there the next night for the championship game than Xavier would. Georgetown's big man Josh Smith got off to a good start. But it was Xavier's big man Matt Stainbrook (or "Stainy," as he likes to be called) who controlled most of the first half. He finished with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Tom and I left in the second half. I think it was at the under-8:00 TV timeout. Georgetown looked totally dead. I found out on my train that Georgetown had made a run. Nobody saw that coming, but Xavier held on 65-63. That brings me to one of the best and worst things about the Big East Tournament: double headers. I love getting to watch two basketball games, but I end up missing a lot of ends of second games. I often end up looking at my watch a lot during the first game and rooting for a quick game more than anything else. On Thursday night, I wanted to get home early because I had work the next day. On Friday night, I just wanted to get home early because I was tired after a long week of work and being out late the night before. A Saturday night double header would be great, but that doesn't happen for the Big East Tournament.
A double header wasn't an issue on Saturday afternoon. The Atlantic 10 semifinals started early enough that Tom and I could watch both games and then make it to Madison Square Garden for the Big East championship game. I had this idea last year, but I didn't do it. This year I was paying attention on Stubhub to Atlantic 10 Tournament prices. I ended up buying tickets for the entire tournament with the plan of selling everything except for the semifinals and maybe the finals. I did end up selling all my tickets except for the semifinals and my net cost for two tickets for the semifinals was $6.80. So that worked out pretty well. I got there a little later than I planned on because I missed the train I wanted to get in Hicksville because I couldn't find a place to park (Hicksville gave me a lot more train options coming home than Huntington or Greenlawn). But I still made it in time for the start of the first game. When I got there, Tom was in the Barclays Center meditation room. I would make fun of him, but he made fun of the meditation room and used it to charge his phone. The first game was VCU-Davidson. It was a much smaller crowd than the Big East Tournament. Most of the lower level was full, but most of the upper level was curtained off. There were only a handful of people sitting close to the middle of the court up high. Despite the small crowd, VCU's fans and band were boisterous. Davidson got off to a really good start (they led 16-4), but then VCU turned it on. VCU led 44-28 at halftime. At some point during the first half, I got went to the Boomer and Carton Kitchen and got a Border Dog. It was okay, but it didn't taste as good as it looked or sounded. Davidson made a little run in the second half, but VCU ended up winning 93-73. Mo Alie-Cox was their most impressive player with 18 points and 8 rebounds. By the way, after seeing Davidson get pounded by VCU, I still picked them to go to the Sweet 16. The lesson, as always, I'm an idiot.
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| The Border Dog. It had guacamole, salsa, and cheese on it. |
The second game was Rhode Island-Dayton. Rhode Island had beaten George Washington (Tom's alma mater) the night before. I was rooting for Dayton since it was the only Catholic school in the semifinals. It was a much closer game than the first one, but neither team was as fun to watch as VCU. Rhode Island had the best name of the day though, with Gilvydas Biruta (beating out Dayton's Scoochie Smith). He was their best player with 14 points and 9 rebounds, but he got in foul trouble. I thought Rhode Island handled the end of the game very poorly. They kept him on the bench and they took too long to foul when they needed to late. Dayton had a very balanced attack. Only seven guys played for them. Six scored and they had 12, 10, 9, 9, 8, and 8. Dayton ended up holding on for a 56-52 win.
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| My view for the Atlantic 10 semifinals. I would prefer to sit near the middle of the court, but I can't complain for the price I paid. |
We got the subway right outside Barclays Center and headed to Madison Square Garden. Tom went to some hippie vegan place to eat and I looked for a place at Penn Station. I passed Moe's Southwest Grill. I had never eaten there before and I didn't plan on it, but I looked at the menu and their vegetarian burrito was called the Art Vandalay. I didn't have a choice. It was fine, but it wasn't as good as a vegetarian burrito at Chipotle. Tom and I met up at the seats for the game between Villanova and Xavier. It was pretty much a Villanova home game. It seemed like it was a 20:1 ratio of Villanova fans to Xavier fans. It wasn't much of a game. Stainy didn't have it. He only had 4 points and 3 rebounds. Villanova won easily. Ryan Arcidiacono had another quiet game (3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist), but this one was never in doubt. Dylan Ennis had 16 points and 6 rebounds and Josh Hart had 15 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Hart was named tournament MVP. I was watching the first half of Notre Dame-North Carolina on my phone. Tom left a little early in the second half. I wasn't going to leave early, but it wasn't as exciting as watching Notre Dame win the ACC Championship at a crappy bar in Penn Station.
So that was it. I don't know about going to the Atlantic 10 Tournament again next year, but I definitely won't rule it out. That will probably depend on whether or not I can get a great deal on tickets again. I'll be back next year at least for two nights of the Big East Tournament (I would say three again, but my mom's birthday might interfere next year). Hopefully I'll miss another Notre Dame ACC Championship.
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