CHAMPIONS!

It doesn't get much sweeter than this week at the Hart!

The camaraderie, the respect, the excitement, the passion, the caring, the drama.

The downs and the ups. The big things and the little things.

Three days, two teams, two league championships!

Bucknell coming from 19 points down to tie the game, and Holy Cross going 16-16 from the free throw line late to withstand the challenge.

The Holy Cross women storming back from a halftime deficit, controlling play in the second half, making big shots, and rebounding, in multiple senses of the word.

Big Tim talking with his pal Chris McNaughton after Chris's last collegiate game.

Shaking Torey Thomas's hand. Torey, you are the man.

Women's team manager A.J. Noto getting pulled into the "Team Captain" trophy photo, with Ashley Brennan-McBride, Brittany Keil, Kaitlin Foley, and Coach Gibbons.

John Griffin hitting two ridiculous late threes.

Pat Flannery melting down and yelling at Bill Gibbons, Sr. at the scorers table on his way to the locker room at the end of the first half.

Pat Doherty knocking down a sweet, smooth trey in the first half.



The men's team painting their chests and faces, spelling out "CRUSADERS!", starting the wave, and doing the Tone Dance during the women's game.

The buzzer sounding on the women's game, signaling victory, a league championship from the depths, overcoming injuries to Laura Aloisi, Jessica Pearson and Brittany Keil, and and a 1-4 start to the league season. The definition of resilience.



Talking with Kyle Cruze's parents again, after meeting them at Bucknell last season.

Bethany O'Dell. Fearless, tough as nails, and those deadly threes.

Brianna McFadden. Patient execution, quiet confidence and leadership.

Christy Cushnie. Aggressive, confident, energetic team player.

Dot Willard, ninety minutes after the men's game, enjoying time with her grandchildren.

Chatting with HoopTime.

Meeting Eric Meister's sister, who said Eric is greatly enjoying his Holy Cross experience.

Coach Bill Gibbons dressing as the Crusader, and during an early TV timeout of the men's game, climbing a stepladder situated near the HC band, taking off the Crusader helmet revealing himself wearing his team's cut basketball net around his neck, and leading the crowd in a chant of "Beat Bucknell!"

Ralph Willard, his turn arriving to cut down the net, not doing so until Keith and Torey joined him on the ladder.

This is Holy Cross. This is Holy Cross Basketball. I love these teams. The coaches, players and their families, and of course, my fellow fans, make it a special experience. We are blessed to have Bill Gibbons and Ralph Willard leading the hoops players on campus, establishing the atmospheres and winning traditions they have, and attracting quality players and people. No, things aren't always perfect. But for three days, they have been. And for that, I'm exceedingly grateful and proud to be an alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross.

(First two photos courtesy the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.)

Women's Hoops Opener!

Continuing our tradition, we're posting the opening game starters. Good luck to the women's basketball team this season!

Must-Read HC Articles

Last weekend's Sunday Telegram contained a ton of Holy Cross content. Paul Jarvey wrote an excellent front-page feature. Also, there were the football and hockey game recaps, along with season previews for the men's and women's basketball teams.

Here are a couple of the articles, which I don't remember seeing linked by anyone over on Crossports. Read 'em before they get archived by the T&G!

First up is a heartwarming story by Sports columnist Paul Jarvey, on senior lineman Matt Lemire and his family. Matt's mom is battling lupus.















Next is the women's hoops preview, featuring an ecstatic Brittany Keil, taking a break from her basket-weaving classes.
Coach Gibbons is always good for some quotes, and this article is no exception. A nice story on Brittany.

I couldn't find the link to Jennifer Toland's men's hoops preview, but it was a very good article. Torey and Keith spoke about their bond, and how Keith does the cooking and cleaning in their student apartment. Keith also recently made his "famous beef enchiladas" for the team. Simmons also discussed the frustrations and limitations of his cramping last season. "I'd cramp up when I tried to be explosive," he said.

Torey Thomas closed the story with this gem regarding being a captain: "I relish the responsibility because not everyone's a leader, not everyone's called on to be a leader. It's prestigious, but it's not just because of a title. It's because you have more to give to other people. When you have more to give to other people, you can be successful. If you lead right, with a keen eye and good discretion, you can make something ordinary become something special."

Random Sader Spottings

If I randomly bump into a current or former Holy Cross athlete around town (I'm not counting sightings on campus), should I post it here? I thought it would be kind of funny, but then I started to think I'd become the "Crusaderazzi" and I don't think that's an objective of this blog. I'm not snapping photos or anything, and I guess I thought it might be interesting to mention seeing these folks as they go about their lives, but you could certainly argue it's an invasion of their privacy.

For instance, a few years ago I was grocery shopping at my local Stop&Shop in Worcester, and the next thing I know, I spot Neil Fingleton (he was on HC's roster at the time) in the deoderant aisle. I know, it's personal and all that. But it was funny just the same. It was strange seeing this 7'6" guy by himself at Stop&Shop trying to find some toiletry item. The store employees and other customers were in awe of him. When I checked out, the cashier said "I wonder if he plays basketball," and of course I provided her the details.

And no, I didn't talk to Neil that day. It just didn't seem right. "Hey Neil, what's up? I'm Jon, and I'm a season-ticket holder at Holy Cross. Say, are you going to go with the Right Guard or the Old Spice High Endurance?"

No, thank you.

I bring this up because today I was at the gas station, and I looked up and a few cars over was a former HC women's basketball player. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to say hello. She didn't see me (I don't think), plus I was almost finished filling up, and there was a line.

Are these sightings worth posting? What if she had a blog? How would I feel about her posting that she saw "Jon" at the gas station? I'm probably blowing it out of proportion by doing this big writeup as opposed to a short-and-sweet post saying "Random Sader Spotting #2: 9/10/06, 'Player X' spotted at gas station on Grafton Street".

And feel free to guess the player. The prize for the correct guess is four straight trips to the NCAA tournament.

Maggie Dixon: 1977-2006

A little over a week ago, and about a month shy of her 29th birthday, we lost Maggie Dixon. The sudden passing of Coach Dixon, who led the Army women's basketball team to their first Patriot League title, has been well-documented. But we haven't been able to do much blogging lately, and wanted to post a little something in her honor.

We'll remember watching her enthusiasm at the Hart Center, as she guided her visiting team to a regular-season victory over the Crusaders. We'll remember commenting about her bright future as a head coach. We'll remember watching her on CSTV, as her team captured the PL title and she was taken off the court on the shoulders of cadets. We'll miss her.

Hope Doesn't Float

Ok, so maybe hope isn't enough. Execution, luck, and other factors are at play. I'm back home from my second Bucknell road trip in the last two months, and once again, the good guys lost to the Bison. Fun trip, though. I'm glad I went. Holy Cross played tough, as they have all year, and KHam had a phenomenal game. He gets praised (and occasionally attacked) on Crossports, but the praise isn't enough. He's awesome, and came to play yesterday. Thanks, Kevin, for showing your teammates what it means to play Holy Cross basketball. You'll be missed.

We arrived at BU around 2:30pm. As I've told a few people, the Bucknell campus smells like money, but yesterday, it smelled like cows. Seriously. We picked up our tickets at Will Call and made our way into Sojka. I was expecting a pumped-and-jacked crowd, something reminiscent of the Hart Center for the PL championship game against American in 2003, but that's not what we found. Less than two hours before the game, Hart was packed and LOUD that year. Yesterday at Sojka, less than two hours before the game, the place was empty and quiet. Disappointing (although I thought it was a good sign for Holy Cross). Fans gradually trickled in, and by 4pm, there was a decent contingent of orange shirts. By 4:15, it was finally beginning to feel like a championship game - a whole 15 minutes before the previously announced start time! (I found out around 4 or 4:15 that the start time had been pushed back to 4:45.)

Oh, here's something for you: You want contrived? The Sojka PA guy had a countdown to the live national telecast, starting at 10 seconds out. So when ESPN2 cut into Sojka, those of you watching at home heard a crowd that was about 5 times louder than it was only 10 seconds before. Hart has never needed that kind of ridiculous countdown for a PL championship telecast. What would be next, rally monkeys on the main scoreboard? We wouldn't have heard the PA anyway at Hart, with the crowds as loud as they were! (Or maybe that's an indictment of Hart's PA system. But that's not what I'm getting at.)

We had dinner in Scranton after the game. We ate at Stirna's, which has in recent years become a shrine to Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara. As luck would have it, we arrived at Stirna's with less than a minute left in the Syracuse-Georgetown Big East Semifinal game. The place was going crazy, although it wasn't as jam-packed as you might expect. Next year, we're lobbying for that restaurant to convert over to Pat Doherty. It's not as if the Doherty family doesn't have a presence in Scranton: Pat's uncle is the mayor!

Hope wasn't enough for the men's hoops team, and it wasn't enough for the ladies either. I watched that game on CSTV and it looked like a tremendous atmosphere. Our team had an excellent shot at stealing a PL title from the top-seeded squad from Army, but instead, a last-minute steal turned the game for the Black Knights. Jess Conte, I'll miss watching you. Thanks for everything you've brought to the program. And thanks to the rest of the graduating seniors on both the women's and men's side: Shannon Bush, Sarah Placek and Kevin Hyland. Enjoy the rest of your senior year at the Cross!

HC Hoops Teams Advance!

Is there any time of year more fun than this? The Holy Cross men's and women's hoops teams won their quarterfinal and semifinal conference playoff games, and are advancing to their respective championship games!

The ladies play Wednesday night at Army. The men take on the Bison of Bucknell on Friday afternoon down in Lewisburg. I'll be headed to Lewisburg for the men's game, but can't attend the ladies' game Wednesday. Let's knock off those number one seeds!

Line of the Day

T&G sports columnist Paul Jarvey has the best line of the day, in his column in today's Sunday Telegram. Jarvey's column focused on the fine play of point guard Laura Aloisi in Saturday's PL semifinal win over the Bucknell Bison. Jarvey wrote:

Gibbons said the way she soared for the ball in traffic reminded him of the over-the-rim rebounding of Keith Simmons of the HC men's team. Did we mention that the coach sometimes gets carried away?

Women's Basketball Playoffs On Tap

The HC women's basketball team backed into the number two spot in the Patriot League standings, and will host one-half of the PL tournament which begins Thursday. Bucknell and Lehigh face off in the first quarterfinal game at 5:30pm, with the Crusaders and the AU Eagles matching up at 8pm.

A few folks over on Crossports are wondering why the HC women's team doesn't get more attention from the board's registered posters. That question gets kicked around every so often. My answer, for this year, at least, is pretty simple: This season's version of the Crusaders isn't much fun to watch.

Maybe I just miss those breathtaking Maggie Fontana passes, or the all-around post play of Lisa Andrews. But it's more than that. Seniors Shannon Bush, Jess Conte, and Sarah Placek are shooting a combined 36.1% from the field, and an even worse 31.5% on three-pointers. I love Conte, but her shooting this year has been disappointing.

Shannon Bush has the worst percentages of the senior tri-captains. She's at 34.9% from the field, and a terrible 28.5% from three. Shooting that poorly from three-land is one thing, but taking almost half your shots (actually 46.3%) from behind-the-arc, while shooting that poorly, simply isn't smart. Neither is the fact that she's taken the second-most shots on the team, only 21 behind the 54% shooting and breakout junior center Kaitlin Foley who's taken 302 shots on the season.

The much-maligned Sarah Placek, not a fan favorite, actually has the best percentages of the three seniors. The headline for the game story in today's Sunday Telegram was "Unlikely milestone," in reference to Placek's reaching 1000 career points. Congratulations to her on that achievement! Her pull-up 12-foot jumper is deadly. Yet according to the article in today's paper, she has the lowest career scoring average (8.8) of the 22 members of the HC women's 1000-point club. Longevity doesn't preclude mediocrity.

It probably seems like I'm trashing this year's seniors. That's not my intention. They play hard, and I've heard excellent things about them off-the-court. I'm absolutely sure they represent Holy Cross as well as any students. However, poor decision-making and less-than-stellar shooting have added up to a mediocre season for this season's Crusaders. Add in Keil's lack of development (her junior year is almost over - let's face it, she hasn't met expectations), and Ashley McLaughlin's awful sophomore season, and what are the positives to continuously rave about?

Aloisi and Foley salvaged the year, in this fan's opinion. I've been a season-ticket holder for a few years, and I haven't seen a player make offseason progress like Foley did this year. She made astounding improvements, and she's capable of having a dominant senior year. Aloisi has been very good through the PL schedule, and seems to be back to 100% after her injury-filled freshman campaign. She's still improving.

Prospects for the PL tournament? I'm not sure. I've said all along that Bucknell would be trouble in the tournament. If they beat Lehigh, and HC beats AU, then we'll have another tough HC-BU women's game on hand for Saturday afternoon. Obviously I hope HC wins their games this weekend, but following this season's pattern, nothing will be easy. Good luck, ladies.

Good Day, Bad Day

The Holy Cross basketball teams split their doubleheader with the Leopards of Lafayette College on Saturday afternoon, but the real story of the day was the bus accident involving the men's basketball team as they made their way home to Worcester. No passengers on the HC charter were injured, but tragically, two teenagers in another car were killed. We send our thoughts and prayers to everyone involved.

As for the games, the men had a nice comeback as they overcame a halftime deficit, and came away from Easton with a 77-61 win, improving to 6-2 in PL play.

The Crusader women suffered a devastating 54-49 defeat. Once again, the ladies shot poorly, going for 31.3% from the field, 20% from three-land, and 37.5% from the stripe. Holy Cross will need a near-miracle to achieve a 17th 20-win season for head coach Bill Gibbons: They'll have to win the rest of their league games, win the PL tourney, and win their first-round game in the NCAA tournament.

So we're looking at a win total short of twenty, but that aside, the team can still make the NCAAs. The next two games are critical tests. In this opinion, this Saturday's matchup against the talented, young squad from Bucknell will be the game of the week for the women's team. It should make for an outstanding doubleheader at Hart!

Sojka Pavilion

I already posted a few of my thoughts on the men's loss to Bucknell in this thread on Crossports, and the women's win in this thread, so I'm not going to duplicate that here.

Instead I'll talk a little about Bucknell University's gorgeous new Langone Athletics and Recreation Center, which includes Sojka Pavilion. The Langone Center has in its center the Kinney Natatorium (featuring an Olympic-size swimming pool), abutted on one side by a fitness center, and on the other side by the basketball court. Floor-to-ceiling windows are prominent throughout Langone. Sojka's concourse overlooks the swimming pool. Across the pool, the two-story fitness center has a wall of windows, also overlooking the pool.

After the men's basketball game, the BU players held an autograph session for the fans. The players' tables were situated in the aisle atop the bleachers in the natatorium, just through the glass in Sojka's concourse. I briefly considered making my way thought the autograph line, while killing time before the women's game, but thought better of it. Maybe that was a mistake. I probably missed out on some prime autograph opportunities:

• "To Boxman, thanks for the continued support, your friend John Griffin"
• "To Kevin Hamilton, HC made the right decision, Kevin Bettencourt"
• "To Bob, it's McNAWton, not McNORton, from Chris"

Overall, it was a fun road trip. The men's game was disappointing, and the ride home was difficult to say the least, but it was fun being there. I also had a chance to talk to Hoop Time for ten or fifteen minutes before the game. I told him that if I'd known further in advance, I would have brought him a HC hat from the bookstore, but he said he purchased one, albeit navy blue, from the link someone provided on Crossports. He may have been fibbing, but I don't think so. He also seemed unaware of this blog - maybe I need to order some free "We Are Crusaders" business cards to hand out to people?

Bucknell Road Trip!

I'm leaving for Lewisburg Friday afternoon! I've heard from people who've been there that Sojka is a beautiful arena, and that Bucknell has a nice campus. So it's a road trip to Bison country. I didn't make it to the PL final at Davis in 1993, and have never been to Bucknell, so this will be fun. I can't wait for the game on Saturday!

Go Crusaders! Beat the Bison! Sweep this doubleheader!

It's probably too late to ask for sign suggestions, or is it? I doubt we'll even have a sign, but it's fun to think of ideas anyway. CSTV...

Can't
Stop
Torey!
Victory awaits!

Or how about this one:

Cru-
Saders
To
Victory!

From the Newspaper Archives

This afternoon, I happened upon my small collection of newspapers and clippings, mostly kept for watershed world events or important sports milestones. It's pretty subjective, but there are some HC stories in the pile. I scanned in some of the winning Holy Cross headlines.

From the March 13, 2003 Telegram & Gazette. Maggie Fontana pours in 23 points as the HC women's team defeats Army 78-65 to win the PL championship. They advanced to face Penn State, getting crushed on Penn State's home floor (a beautiful arena, by the way.)


From the March 15, 2003 T&G. Big Pat scores 21 points and pulls down 8 boards as the Crusaders beat a steady club from American U., 72-64. American started Draughn, Cresnik, Stokes, Miles and Rodriguez, all very good PL players.


From the March 10, 2005 T&G. Seniors Caitlin Agostinacchio, Lisa Andrews and Maggie Fontana lead Holy Cross to a 79-70 victory over Colgate, capturing the Crusaders' tenth PL title and netting a 16th 20-win season for Coach Bill Gibbons.


Thanks to Non Alum Dave for providing me with this March 16, 2005 copy of the South Bend Tribune, featuring Holy Cross's most recent postseason victory, a 78-73 win over Notre Dame in the first round of the 2005 NIT. Great headline, too.

I loved the Holy Cross coverage in the South Bend Tribune that day, but there's something else that caught my attention. You know those mini-headlines, the one listed in smaller print above the name of the newspaper at the very top of the front page? Usually it says something like, "Weather: Storm Brewing Offshore /Back Page" or "Towns cry foul over budget process: B1." Well the one on the front page of this edition says, "Local: Beach Boys Surf Into Town on May 22 / B2."

Don't get me wrong. I love the Beach Boys. One of my all-time favorite groups. But things must be awfully quiet in South Bend if a Wilson-less Beach Boys tour date, two months away, gets that mini-headline on the front page!

Keeping Score

Bob Fouracre. He's an institution at HC. He is Mr. Entertainment. And for sure, his continuous name mixups are part of that "entertainment."

Let's tally some of his recent misnomers:

• Shannon Brush (a personal favorite)
• Keith Dixon
• Carl Cruze
• "The freshman" (said multiple times during a broadcast of the men's basketball game at Dartmouth during the 2003-04 season. Kramer? Simmons? Thomas? Young?)
• Alex Vander Bomb (destined to be a classic)
• Keith Hamilton

And as of Saturday, according to Crossports poster "Root," we can add two more to the list:

• Colin Cummings
• Victor Valva (reminds me of a famous Seinfeld episode...Mulva?)

I'm missing some, I know. Please drop a comment if you can think of others.

Oh, that darn plantar fasciitis

What is it with plantar fasciitis, anyway? First Pat Doherty, then Laura Aloisi. On Saturday, I found out my mother has it, too! When my mother told me her doctor had given her that diagnosis, the first thing I said was, "That's what Pat Doherty has!" She wasn't aware of that, but she surprised me when she instead reacted, "It's the same thing Laura Aloisi has!" Mom almost seemed to take some pride in that.

I'm a first-generation Crusader, but my parents pay close attention to the goings-on up on Mt. Saint James, and they do follow Holy Cross athletics. They live close enough to Worcester to catch WTAG radio coverage over the air. They also subscribe to the Telegram & Gazette, which is surely how my mother found out about Aloisi's injury.

Crossports continues to debate the redshirt issue for Doherty. I thought this thread died, but it came back to life a few days ago. Do I think Pat should take a redshirt? From an athletic standpoint, I think it would be the right decision. It's really a matter of measuring his chances of returning this season. He can decide on the 5th year later on.

As posters have said, other factors are involved in such a big decision. Some student-athletes graduate with eligibility remaining. Kristin Popovics comes to mind as a recent example. She was ready to move on with her life. Other players, like Pat Whearty and Mary-Rose Campbell, returned to play for a fifth season. Steve Silva decided very late that he would return for a 5th year. And thank goodness for that!

Thursday Thoughts

It seems like it's been ages since I last posted. Between holiday visits and work, there hasn't been much time for either of my blogs, or much else for that matter. You know it's the peak of "year-end" at work when you leave the office at 9:56pm and there are still several cars in the parking lot.

So what's going on, anyway? The men's basketball team is struggling. But I'm not giving up on them. I'm even thinking of heading to Bucknell for the game on the 14th, but I'm not sure yet. I wonder when HC has to return their ticket allotment to Bucknell?

If this turns into one of those lost seasons, I'll be disappointed, but I love the team and enjoy going to the games no matter what. Holy Cross has tremendous kids in its program, and I will continue to root for them, on and off the court. Plus there's always Crossports. The message board and the posters I've met from it have really added to my enjoyment of attending games.

The women's hoops team is sitting on a 4-7 record after a trouncing this evening at the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers. Did Holy Cross really have a 8-33 assist to turnover ratio in this game? Ouch! The team heads up to Portland, Maine, for a game on Monday afternoon. One of my readers was contemplating the women's/men's double on Monday, but I think the Portland-Worcester drive will be too much to ask given the game times. As for the team, I believe Laura Aloisi's health is the critical piece of their potential success this season. Twenty wins? Last year, we thought it was impossible, but the team got there. This year? If they go 13-3 over the rest of the regular season, they'll have to win the PL tournament to reach 20 wins and obtain that coveted NCAA berth.

Holy Cross fans may have to hang their "winter sports" hats on the men's hockey team, and they deserve the attention. They also lost this evening, but I like the makeup of that club. I like their chances of winning the league this year.

Happy New Year, everyone, and Go Cross!

Basketball Media Guides, 2005-2006

A week ago Friday, I finally received my Holy Cross men's and women's basketball media guides for the 2005-06 season. I devour these things when they arrive each year.

The women's media guide is much more entertaining and creative than the men's guide. I enjoy reading both, but the women's guide gives you a taste of the players' personalities, with the "Off the Court With..." features. The women's guide also contains a couple of interesting posed team photos, shown above. Can you imagine the guys taking a team picture like either of those? I can't.

Here are some highlights from the "Off the Court" player profiles:

• Jess Conte's favorite song is "The Best of What's Around" by Dave Matthews Band. This is a great song from one of the best 90's rock albums, in my opinion. Good choice, Jess! And her craziest ambition is to go skydiving, something I'd like to do, too.
• Kaitlin Foley's favorite Coach Gibbonsism is "Simonize your watches!" That's priceless, Foles! And her favorite team tradition is "Helping out at the Mercy Centre."
• Brittany "Spider" Keil says she chose #33 "because Anna Kinne is my idol."
• Laura Aloisi's favorite professional sports team is the Boston Red Sox. A fine choice.
• Shannon Bush had never heard of "bubblas" before coming to Holy Cross. Really? She can drink from the bubbler after eating a grinder then a dessert of ice cream topped with jimmies. Don't you love these local expressions? So don't I.
• A handful of the girls like to have team singalongs on the team bus trips, although Brittany likes to "listen to my teammates sing." Shy? Can't hold a tune?
• Asked why they chose HC, almost all the players answered, unsurprisingly, that HC offers an excellent combination of academics and athletics. Several also mentioned something about a "family atmosphere." I think I've heard that mentioned once or twice before.

New Banners in Hart

Sader1970 sent along these fine photos of the new "tournament appearances" banners hanging in the Hart Center. They are hanging on the same side of the gym as the Bud Ryan room, next to the men's NIT and NCAA Championship banners. Frankly, the color contrast between the purple of these new banners and the faded championship banners is startling.

The new banners look sharp, though, and let's hope we quickly run out of space on the top half of these banners! Thanks, '1970.

Ashley Returns

Thanks to sader1970 for sending this picture of sophomore forward Ashley McLaughlin's return to the starting lineup! (McLaughlin is on the left.) Ashley returned from her stress fracture, on schedule, for the women's hoops game against the Peahens of St. Peter's College. The Crusaders downed the Peahens (of course), 65-56.

As always, click the photo to expand it. "We Are Crusaders" is your home for exciting close-up pictures of the scorer's table!

Same Hair Stylist?

Freshman HC hoopster Kathy Gruzynski (left) and senior Sarah Placek got a two-for-one deal at the hair salon when prepping for the team photos.