After an amazing second half to blow away St. Bonnie yesterday, the magic ride ended today with a 49-48 loss to a less than mediocre Monmouth team. Not at the game but the box score tells a sorry tale. Sweeney scored 20 and brought down nine boards but missed five foul shots. Gardner played well scoring 12 and dishing out five assists. No one else scored more than four with wretched overall, foul and three point shooting today.
Nova still could have pulled this one out, missing three shots in the last 20 seconds. Doesn't look like they deserved to win this one though. For a team that looks like they might be on the bubble for an NCAA bid at the end of the year, this one may come back to haunt them as a really bad loss, unlke the Princeton and Delaware games.
The team has a 9-3 non-conference record, with the Penn game remaining and one of those wins against a D-II team that won't be taken into consideration at tourney bid time. Fifteen Big East games remain with a win in the bag already. They will probably need to win at least seven of the remaining B/E games, including a ranked team, beat Penn and pick up an opening round win in the B/E tournament to get serious consideration for a bid. The Big East will probably not get as many teams in this year as in the past. A tall order, as proved today, this talented young team will still take some lumps this year. Hopefully a learned experience that will help them overcome any letdown in games to come, this year and next.
Come on out on Tuesday night to cheer them on against Pitt at the Pavilion as they prepare for the meat of the B/E schedule.
Nova still could have pulled this one out, missing three shots in the last 20 seconds. Doesn't look like they deserved to win this one though. For a team that looks like they might be on the bubble for an NCAA bid at the end of the year, this one may come back to haunt them as a really bad loss, unlke the Princeton and Delaware games.
The team has a 9-3 non-conference record, with the Penn game remaining and one of those wins against a D-II team that won't be taken into consideration at tourney bid time. Fifteen Big East games remain with a win in the bag already. They will probably need to win at least seven of the remaining B/E games, including a ranked team, beat Penn and pick up an opening round win in the B/E tournament to get serious consideration for a bid. The Big East will probably not get as many teams in this year as in the past. A tall order, as proved today, this talented young team will still take some lumps this year. Hopefully a learned experience that will help them overcome any letdown in games to come, this year and next.
Come on out on Tuesday night to cheer them on against Pitt at the Pavilion as they prepare for the meat of the B/E schedule.