{"id":136,"date":"2008-03-19T17:35:54","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T22:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=136"},"modified":"2008-03-19T17:35:54","modified_gmt":"2008-03-19T22:35:54","slug":"bsb-in-attendance-umbc-is-going-dancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"BSB In-Attendance:  UMBC is Going Dancing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\" width=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gerontologyphd.umaryland.edu\/bin\/h\/u\/umbc.jpg\" height=\"100\" \/>If you have never gone to a low-major championship game, particularly one on\u00a0a participant&#8217;s\u00a0home floor, you are seriously missing out.\u00a0 I had my first opportunity to do just that on Saturday, when I went to the America East Championship between UMBC and Hartford at the RAC, on the campus of UMBC.<\/p>\n<p>I do not want to get into too much detail about the game itself because it is, well, the America East, but regardless of the &#8220;level of play&#8221; (which is a farse because these guys can play with just about anyone), the game was a thrilling display of pure collegiate emotion.\u00a0 UMBC, on the strength of incredible long-range shooting, jumped out to a 25-6 lead and ran right in halftime, leading 41-23.\u00a0 Out of halftime, Hartford coach&#8211;and long-time John Chaney assistant at Temple&#8211;Dan Leibovitz made some necessary adjustments and the Hawks went on a run early in the second, getting as close as 10 points.\u00a0 However, the Retrievers would not be denied, turning the outside shooting back on and ended up winning going away, 82-63, as the whole place stormed the court, chanting &#8220;We want Tennessee!\u00a0 We want Tennessee!&#8221;\u00a0 Pretty amazing scene for someone who went to an undergraduate institution that no one has ever heard of.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"198\" src=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/images\/newsroom\/small\/small_0F07B6A4-3048-2F0A-CA3040BDF4AD2EA8.jpg\" height=\"181\" \/>Moving forward, the Retrievers drew Georgetown in the first round.\u00a0 As I said in my initial bracket reactions, probably not the best matchup for UMBC.\u00a0 No mid-major (with the possible exception of UNC-Asheville and the 7&#8217;7&#8243; dude) can matchup with skilled 7&#8217;2&#8243; center, Roy Hibbert.\u00a0 UMBC&#8217;s tallest starter is 6&#8217;8&#8243; Justin Fry and he is listed at 220 pounds (I am thinking he would be lucky to actually weigh 200).\u00a0 Plus, Georgetown has experience, a great coach and immense talent all over the floor.\u00a0 So, what can UMBC do on Friday?<\/p>\n<p>Well, personally, I believe that they can win.\u00a0 What do they say wins in March?\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1). Experience.<\/strong>\u00a0 UMBC starts four (yes, FOUR) 1000-point scorers.\u00a0 Cavell Johnson and Ray Barbosa scored 1000 points at James Madison, before transferring this year.\u00a0 Darryl Proctor scored 1000 points for Coppin St. before tranferring this year.\u00a0 And, the leader of this team for the last three years, before this incredible influx of talent is senior SG Brian Hodges, who scored all 1000+ points in a Retriever uniform.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2). Guard Play.<\/strong>\u00a0 Barbosa (the America East&#8217;s leading scorer this year) and Hodges both play on the perimeter and are very capable ballhandlers and leaders, but this team is driven by the smallest guy on the court.\u00a0 Junior PG Jay Greene is second in the nation in assists, at 7.3 per game and leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.6.\u00a0 Yes, Greene dishes out over\u00a0seven assists a game and only turns the ball over twice per game.\u00a0 The emotional leader of this team, Greene also pulls down 2.5 rebounds a game, which is not all that impressive, unless of course, you are 5&#8217;7&#8243; TALL!<\/li>\n<li><strong>3). Regular Season Tests.\u00a0 <\/strong>To win the in the tournament, you have to be &#8220;tournament-ready.&#8221;\u00a0 UMBC played a difficult non-conference schedule and played it very well.\u00a0 They beat two regular season conference champions, Morgan State at home and American on the road.\u00a0 They were 3-0 against the Atlantic 10, with wins on the road against LaSalle and Richmond and a home win over George Washington.\u00a0 They also played at West Virginia, at Wichita St., and at Ohio St. (a game in which they had multiple late second-half leads before eventually losing by 9).<\/li>\n<li><strong>4). Coaching.\u00a0 <\/strong>Coach Randy Monroe is only in his fourth year, but was named America East Coach of the Year, and has done a fantastic job seemlessly incorporating three transfers&#8211;albeit, talented ones&#8211;into the lineup.\u00a0 Then again, he is no Thompson.<\/li>\n<li><strong>5). Best Player on the Floor Theory.\u00a0 <\/strong>Here is where the game may come down to.\u00a0 On defense, can UMBC&#8217;s &#8220;bigs&#8221; contain Hibbert?\u00a0 And, on offense, can someone step up and be the &#8220;best player on the floor&#8221; for the day?\u00a0 Ray Barbosa is UMBC&#8217;s most talented scorer, but will probably be staring at Jesse Sapp&#8217;s jersey all day.\u00a0 Sapp, as one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, should be able to neutralize Barbosa, which is why I believe that this game will come down to someone like Brian Hodges.\u00a0 And\u00a0though I am a UMBC student, I am rooting as much for him as I am for the school he represents because I have gotten to know him personally over the past couple of months, and I can guarantee you that there isn&#8217;t a more humble, more dedicated, and a better person on and off the court than Brian Hodges, and after 3 years of being\u00a0a great\u00a0player on a bad team, it is about time he gets to revel in being a great player on a great team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have never gone to a low-major championship game, particularly one on\u00a0a participant&#8217;s\u00a0home floor, you are seriously missing out.\u00a0 I had my first opportunity to do just that on Saturday, when I went to the America East Championship between &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=136\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[46,249],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-georgetown","tag-umbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}