Kjell de Graaf and Jaden Bediako contest opening tip in first of 110 games of my live season when Seton Hall played at NJIT in October exhibition. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
Caught in between 10 and 20, and I’m just dreaming, counting the ways to where you are.
I didn’t expect John Ondrasik, whom you may know by his stage name, Five For Fighting, which he — a die-hard Los Angeles Kings fan — took as a nod to the five-minute major penalty a fight carries in a hockey game, to be the introduction for this year’s epilogue and retrospective, but if the past decade-and-a-half has revealed anything in passing, it’s that one should always expect the unexpected.
When this outlet was born into the world on April 17, 2009, the vision for it was a temporary fallback in case the broadcast career never got off the ground. That’s a tale I’ve told countless times. What I didn’t expect then was that I would have and enjoy the flexibility to do both, with the short-term fix ultimately growing beyond the endgame and objective for the long-term idea.
That’s probably as much as I’ll do for the existential and introspective stuff. As for year 15 of this site, which doubled as year 17 for me in the college basketball media, the past five months were marked by a shift — partially intentional, partially by happenstance — in coverage and a commitment to hitting triple digits on the game count for the first time since 2017. The mileage on my tires at almost 38 isn’t the same as it was when I first got to 100-plus at 26, so this was going to be the last year I went crazy with the schedule, just to prove that I still had one more in me before I devoted more time to sleep and the different ways I’ve learned to combat burnout this time of year. Believe me, it’s real, and it’s far from spectacular.
Anyway, the first of 110 came at the end of October, when I finally went to the other arena in Newark for the first time. In a year that would be defined by new or familiar, but less chronicled faces in the coverage plan, maybe it was fitting that my first trip to NJIT — for the Highlanders’ exhibition against Seton Hall, set up by Grant Billmeier and Shaheen Holloway to raise funds for fellow Pirate Jerry Walker’s charity — was the opener for the past five months. Seton Hall won, but not easily, which revealed the work in progress the Pirates would soon become just as much as it did the foundation laid by Billmeier, RaShawn Stores, Pete Lappas and Tommy Messinger on the corner of Warren and Lock. I’ll get into that a little more later on in this rambling behemoth. One more exhibition the following day, between Fordham and UMBC, was the final precursor to the games that counted.
Opening night of the regular season was spent in Newark, where Seton Hall still had not fully recovered or developed, as evidenced by Saint Peter’s holding a sizable lead on the Pirates late into the second half. I went through a majority of the season unsure what to make of Bashir Mason and the Peacocks, another example of the unprecedented parity in a MAAC that was harder to predict than any other season of the previous 12 I had covered it. Sure enough, Saint Peter’s ended up winning the conference in March, but one thing I may not have noted then that I would definitely make a point of emphasis on later was the impact of Corey Washington. The sophomore only scored six points for the Peacocks that night in an 11-point defeat, so the world soon learned that as he’d go, so would Saint Peter’s.
One day later, I was on hand for Rick Pitino's debut at St. John’s, with Stony Brook coming into Carnesecca Arena on the first Tuesday in November. Now before I go any further, I know there will be some objection, criticism, differences of opinion, etc., surrounding the coverage of the basketball program at the university that conferred a degree upon me.
I’ve dealt with “he hates St. John’s” and “I don’t know how he could root against his alma mater” almost as soon as I started branching out to other schools. I may not see the world through red and white glasses, and my opinion of Pitino almost certainly differs from the majority, but I still try to devote some of my time and attention to the Red Storm, as well as all the other mouths this outlet feeds during the season. Far too often, the message gets misconstrued and people are left with the wrong impression. St. John’s is not the main attraction in our coverage, but it is also not an afterthought. The Johnnies also have several people within the program who have been among our biggest supporters, namely Steve Masiello, who finally made his long-awaited debut on the podcast in October. Daniss Jenkins is still one of the best young men I’ve had the pleasure of covering and interviewing, so getting to watch him expand his game and further hone his craft another year was an added privilege. So while I didn’t go all-in on Pitino and my alma mater, I still made sure to check in with the happenings in Queens. And on opening night, the potential for a great season was very much in place following a 90-point effort and double-digit victory.
Iona looked like a work in progress as well during its home opener, needing every bit of Idan Tretout’s offense against Sacred Heart. So too did Rutgers, who overcame an early scare from Bryant to pull away in the second half when it still seemed as though the Scarlet Knights would be vying for a spot on the bubble. Seton Hall made short work of FDU and Albany, but in a surprise, St. John’s was soundly defeated by Michigan in Pitino's much-hyped Madison Square Garden homecoming. After the game, Phil Martelli, filling in for a medically a sidelined Juwan Howard at the time, chided the New York media when addressing the Garden as the second-best basketball arena in the country, trailing only The Palestra. Spoiler alert: He’s right. I’ve spent all of my 37-plus years of life living in New York, and have had the blessing of getting to cover two games in the cathedral of college basketball in my travels. There truly is no place better.
Also in November, I checked in with Joe Tartamella and his women’s basketball program at St. John’s for the first time, covering the Red Storm ladies in a loss to Penn State, as well as Princeton absolutely dominate Monmouth on the way to an Ivy League regular season title. I’ll get to Princeton again when I shift into the February recap segment, especially because I admit I undervalued the Tigers the week before Thanksgiving in West Long Branch. Rounding out the month, St. John’s powered past Holy Cross, Fordham crushed Manhattan (more on the Jaspers later), and Marist won a John Dunne special to raise the curtain on MAAC play in New Rochelle. Hofstra also showed its first glimpse of the CAA kingpin it continues to be when it rolled South Florida in a non-conference matchup, with Dstone Dubar stepping up as the Robin to Tyler Thomas’ Batman, not to mention Jaquan Carlos becoming a well-rounded point guard to add another piece to the tapestry of Guard U in Hempstead. November cannot be properly wrapped up, though, without mentioning the three games I had a ringside seat to during Thanksgiving week, with the reigning national champions taking the floor.
Disclaimer time again: There’s going to be a lot of UConn talk in this year’s look back, and rightfully so. Remember when I mentioned a shift in coverage in one of the opening paragraphs here? This was the intentional pivot. UConn had always been one of the harder credentials to secure, for whatever reason. Fortunately, a strong relationship with new men’s basketball sports information director Bobby Mullen — who will be mentioned again when I thank all the SIDs individually toward the end of this space — from his time working with Tony Bozzella at Seton Hall helped me do more with the Huskies. All told, I was able to get to 16 UConn games this year, more than any other team except Seton Hall, with several others on staff handling a few more during the year as well.
What's better than that is that each time the Huskies took the court, it allowed each of us to tell a different story to better illustrate all the machinations of one of college basketball’s elite. That began against Indiana at the Garden, when UConn returned to its unofficial home court for the first time since last March’s Big East tournament semifinal loss to Marquette and proceeded to run the Hoosiers off the floor in the first real sign of how strong a team playing without Stephon Castle at the time could be. One night later, against Texas in the Empire Classic championship game, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson showcased the depth Dan Hurley would later say was the key to his roster being bulletproof. Those two reserves helped grind out a 10-point win over the Longhorns, one whose margin of victory was closer than the game let on. Then, on the day after Thanksgiving, Tristen Newton reminded everyone just how indispensable he was to the juggernaut in the Nutmeg State.
Prior to this season, I had only covered one triple-double on the men’s side, two overall when you count the one Ketsia Athias recorded for Iona in the MAAC women’s basketball championship last year. But Scott Machado was still on an island for the site until November 24, when Newton conducted a masterclass against Manhattan, to the tune of 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. Somehow, Newton was overlooked to a wide degree despite his immense impact, and Hurley made note of that following his point guard’s masterpiece.
“We used to celebrate the champions more,” he lamented, expressing his dismay with the lack of attention paid to Newton's statistics and value beyond the final numbers. “Now this is a champion that’s averaging 18 (points) a game, (gets) triple-doubles. He should be talked about as one of the best guards in the country, but people that don’t watch the games, that just watch TikTok highlights, are the ones judging. They don’t know shit.”
The skeptics didn’t know then, but would soon find out.
Speaking of Manhattan, it was there where I opened December, with the Jaspers welcoming Mount St. Mary’s to Draddy to open MAAC play. John Gallagher's road would soon become arduous after losing point guard Brett Rumpel the week before to a torn ACL, but in this instance, the Jaspers battled back and scored a come-from-behind overtime win on a Rokas Jocys three in the final seconds before being overmatched by Marist two days later. In between, Illinois — a team that would later cross paths with this site in the NCAA Tournament — smoked Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights continued to try to find a rhythm. December was also the month in which, at least in the mind of this writer, that the national championship favorite was clearly established after how it made a victory over another Top 10 team look easy.
In the back end of a Jimmy V Classic doubleheader that also saw Illinois fend off Florida Atlantic, UConn returned to Madison Square Garden and turned back North Carolina four days after a close loss on the road at Kansas. But at 8-1 on the year at that point, Dan Hurley still felt like his team had not yet fully clicked or had yet to fire on all cylinders. If that December night was a Husky squad that was not even close to peaking, I wondered at the time, God only knows how scary the finished product will be when the time comes. Again, that will be revisited later in this piece.
The first week of December continued on with Hofstra gutting out a road win at Iona, then a pair of New Jersey schools grabbing statement wins early in the season as FDU beat Manhattan on the road and Rutgers turned the tables on Seton Hall to win at the Prudential Center for the first time since 2013. That Rutgers loss, though, would prove to be a turning point for Seton Hall, as the Pirates won all but one of their remaining games in the calendar year after that, after Shaheen Holloway admitted he did a bad job getting his players to understand the magnitude of the Garden State rivalry. Seton Hall went on to wrap up the non-conference slate with wins over Monmouth and Missouri before smacking down UConn on its home floor and defeating Providence on the road. In between that, Fordham got a putback dunk at the buzzer from Abdou Tsimbila to beat North Texas, and St. John’s took another surprising loss to Boston College on a night where Rick Pitino nearly scrapped his postgame press conference before later lamenting his team’s lack of attention to detail, both on the defensive end and the scouting report. The Johnnies would recover the next time they saw the floor, making short work of Fordham.
Hours after that Garden matinee, Iona had a harder go of things at UBS Arena, trailing Saint Joseph’s by as many as 40 points before falling by 25 to the Hawks in a game head coach Tobin Anderson said was equivalent to rock bottom for a Gaels team still finding its way amid an almost entirely new roster. That same outfit revealed the good side of its Jekyll and Hyde persona five days later against Colgate, outshooting the eventual Patriot League champions in a 20-point blowout. Rutgers fell to Mississippi State two days before Christmas at the Prudential Center in the last game the site covered before the holidays, no thanks to a travel snafu that kept me from going to Hartford to see UConn — in its first game without Donovan Clingan — emerge victorious from a fight against St. John’s. Clingan’s absence was necessitated by a foot injury suffered in the aforementioned loss to Seton Hall on December 20, a 75-60 setback in which UConn never really got going before, during, or after the 7-foot-2 center went down. After that game, Hurley was equal parts dejected and bitter, assuring the next day would be “brutal” for his players in practice after rolling back the tape and showing the film from the loss to his alma mater.
“We’ll react appropriately,” he warned.
The Huskies would lose only once more the rest of the season. One week later, UConn found its way into Rick Pitino's crosshairs when — after St. John’s repelled Hofstra at UBS Arena on December 30 — the coach joked that he would schedule UConn on campus at Carnesecca Arena in a calculated ploy to drive attendance to create a more imposing homecourt advantage. The comments would be walked back at a later date, but it was Exhibit A of Pitino being a master at sending and conveying messages in such a way to generate interest and publicity for his program. As for Hofstra that day, the close loss — one in which the Pride was a victim of a generous home whistle in the second half courtesy of James Breeding, a lightning rod for controversy over the years — suggested that Speedy Claxton was showing no sign of a dropoff on Long Island even after losing Aaron Estrada to the transfer portal. After a shaky start to CAA play in which the Pride found itself on the short end of what felt like one bad break after another, Long Island’s best took shape once again in its usual fashion.
For what felt like the tenth year in a row, I opened 2024 roughly 15 minutes from the home base at Carnesecca, first watching St. John’s beat Butler before returning the next day to see the ladies knock off Marquette in a game where Joe Tartamella’s seven-player rotation trailed by eight late in the third quarter and somehow pulled off an upset against a ranked Golden Eagle squad. Before Hofstra’s resurgence began later in the month, it was preceded by a double-digit loss to a Charleston team that would go on to defend its CAA championship, then Saint Peter’s pushed Iona around in Jersey City, outmuscling the Gaels. Seton Hall added another upset to its collection the first weekend of the year, taking down Marquette at the Prudential Center, then Braxton Bayless’ three with less than a second left stole a victory for Niagara at Iona. Rutgers continued its dominance of Indiana two days later, and St. John’s held off Providence at the Garden despite a 31-point, 13-rebound effort from Devin Carter, who had assumed the role of warrior for the Friars after Bryce Hopkins tore his ACL two weeks prior. But it was what happened that morning that was the unquestioned finest hour of the season for me to that point.
If you remember this post last year, you’ll probably recall me mentioning toward its conclusion that an objective of mine going into this season was to apply for Final Four credentials. For a long time, I never thought I had a chance in hell of procuring one, due to the fact that no local had earned a trip there in what seemed like forever, and because my site wasn’t as large or recognizable as some others in the sport. The past two years, when I saw smaller outlets than mine and people with less of a connection to the sport or event getting in, changed that perception. So did my several talks over the years with the great Dick “Hoops” Weiss, who I’ll mention again in the acknowledgments at the end of this meandering, a legend who insisted not only should I try to go to Arizona this year, but that I belonged there. With that said, I applied for credentials the morning of January 10, not expecting a verdict right away and walking away with the satisfaction of knowing I threw my hat in the ring.
I got approved three minutes later.
I’ll have a shitload (and I’ll leave the expletive uncensored, as I’ve done a lot more in recent times just to convey the seriousness and real, raw nature of my coverage, shoutout Dan Hurley) more to say about the Final Four when I finally get into April, but the approval was a victory of sorts over a lot of people.
I’ve been called a lot of things over the years. Whether you’ve labeled me a homer, a hack, a clown, a joke, a loser, or a fanboy masquerading as a reporter (that one hurt me the first time I heard and saw that, because it came from a fellow journalist), I’ve kept going because I’ll be damned if I ever let anyone pour a bucket of water on this fire that somehow still burns over a time period that nearly spans an entire adolescent life. This particular season, I was accosted by a handful of computer warriors who thought they were cool insulting me over something that brought me joy, one even going so far as to tag a sitting athletic director in his smear campaign against me in a pathetic attempt to have my credentials revoked. I had to remind myself to use the old Masiello line about ignorant people with no knowledge hiding behind a keyboard and forming an opinion more than once this year. Getting the approval e-mail for the Final Four vindicated me in a sense, and as I’ll reiterate again in the closing paragraphs of this long and winding piece, legitimized me.
My first act after becoming Charlie Bucket with the golden ticket in his hands was to visit one of my favorite venues, McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie. The length of the trip sucks even if it’s a scenic ride on Metro-North, but getting up to Marist is always a pleasure for me. If you haven’t been, I suggest you try it at some point next season. You won’t find many better dudes in this business than John Dunne, or his staff of Dalip Bhatia, Drew Metz, Derrick Phelps (a Carolina guy who I also got to know when he was with King Rice at Monmouth) and Brandon Hall. Mike Ferraro is as good as it gets as an SID, too, not to mention my oracle and point of reference whenever it comes time for me to handle all the MAAC tournament tiebreaker and seeding scenarios. This trip to Marist this year was also rewarding for the fact that it came against Quinnipiac, which allowed me to watch Tom Pecora as a head coach for the first time since the bygone Fordham days that ended nine years ago.
A lot of you like to point out how efficient I’ve become at tweeting quotes and transcribing them as fast as I do. TP deserves most of the credit for that, as his press conferences at Rose Hill were some of the best assets I had branching out in this business. I couldn’t have asked for a better coach to break in with, you know? I leave those last two words in as a tribute to Tommy, who knew I once wrote a column calling for him to be fired, but never held it against me. If that’s not professionalism at its finest, I don’t know what is. Anyway, his Bobcats looked the part of MAAC favorites that Friday night in a comfortable win over Marist, one that confirmed what I knew all along, that he’d be able to win right away at that level. After that, the UConn ladies dominated St. John’s and Geno Auriemma railed against the current state of the game, knocking the transfer portal and NIL legislation for contradicting the old-school ways of building programs and relationships through player development. Iona got back on the right track against Mount St. Mary’s, and Rutgers held off Nebraska in overtime. That middle week of January, though, was reunion week for me, with mounds of familiar faces in different places.
It began in Newark, where Seton Hall used a 28-0 run against St. John’s to defeat the Red Storm fairly easily. The reunion there? The return of Steve Masiello to the head coaching chair, a last-minute change after Rick Pitino tested positive for COVID hours before the opening tip. Two days later, two of his former players turned assistant coaches faced off against one another for the first time ever when NJIT — with RaShawn Stores on staff — hosted New Hampshire, where Tyler Wilson went in the offseason for his first taste of life outside Draddy. UNH won a close game, but the highlight of that was the piece I was able to run that weekend on Ray and Ty, and how they’ve both grown over the years. It makes me proud to see those kids go from boys when I first covered them in Manhattan uniforms to grown men with bright futures in this business. Seeing Rhamel Brown and his wife, Tiffany, there as well — two more longtime friends I’m blessed to have — made that particular excursion across the river worth it.
The next day, I went back to Fairfield for the first time since the middle of the 2022-23 season. That reunion? Chris Casey as the Stags’ head coach, with Glenn Braica on staff. I’ve known both since they were with Norm Roberts at St. John’s, and covered each at their own programs when Chris was at Niagara and Glenn at St. Francis Brooklyn before the athletic department folded. Fairfield’s win over Saint Peter’s that night was one that solidified the Stags, and Pete Janny deserves most of the credit for telling that story given his abundant and detailed coverage in the Nutmeg State, as a MAAC contender. Seton Hall then battled Creighton in a triple-overtime classic that saw Kadary Richmond get a triple-double, but controversial officiating cost the Pirates a Top 25 victory. Richmond missed the next two contests for The Hall, one of which was a narrow home loss to Providence. The month ended, at least down here, with Monmouth coming back from a double-digit deficit to down Hofstra, and Purdue use a dominant game from Zach Edey and a brilliant floor game from Lance Jones to prevail over Rutgers. The Monmouth game was notable in that it was my first trip to West Long Branch since the Hawks left the MAAC, a marriage I still miss to this day. The Monmouth fans are some of my favorites in the sport, and the people in that program are just awesome gems all around. Getting to see Justin Robinson before he headed back overseas, with his wife, Marisa and son, Jayce, was the icing on the cake. I miss covering that dude and just watching him raise everyone around him up to do better. You don’t get many people like that, and when you do, they don’t stay at that level four years like Justin did. He just turned 29 this past Friday, by the way, so happy belated, brother.
February is the shortest month of the year, but at least as it relates to this season, probably had some of the better action and highlights for me. That curtain was raised on Long Island with the second of what turned out to be three Hofstra-Stony Brook games, and having missed the first one due to its 9 p.m. tip and inability to catch a train back to Queens that night from Stony Brook, I made it a point to go out to Hempstead to see if Hofstra could complete the regular season sweep. The Pride did that, but needed almost the duration of the game for it, as Tyler Thomas’ game-winning jumper with less than a second remaining provided both the final margin and a side of Speedy Claxton one doesn’t normally see after games.
OMG #PrideOfLI pic.twitter.com/gEr7dw9UFd
— Hofstra Men's Basketball (@HofstraMBB) February 2, 2024
Normally cool, calm and composed going into the press conference, Speedy was fired up after securing a sweep of the Long Island rivalry, and deservedly so. Editor’s note: This game was the justification for my semi-regular tweet declaring Hofstra to be Long Island’s best after every Pride win.
Hofstra Basketball. Long Island’s Best. #PrideOfLI
— Jaden Daly (@DalyDoseOfHoops) February 2, 2024
The Pride backed up the Stony Brook win with a gritty victory over Towson two days later, with Iona sweeping Fairfield and Rider that weekend as well. UConn also handled business in its return to the Garden by rolling past St. John’s, who defeated DePaul three days later at UBS Arena. Seton Hall recovered from a dose of late January adversity by sweeping Georgetown, but not without a fight. Following that game, the stage was clear for what became my favorite two-week stretch of the year to that point, for both the on-court product and travel.
It began in Newark, with NJIT hosting a Vermont team undefeated in America East play, and most who cared enough to pay attention expecting a fairly benign Catamount win. The three-word credo I mentioned in the initial stages of this epilogue ended up coming into play instead.
Expect the unexpected.
NJIT, with by far its most dominant and most engaged brand of basketball to date, stunned Vermont, scoring an upset win behind a 31-point coming-out party from freshman Tariq Francis, the Pittsburgh native who announced himself to the masses. For Grant Billmeier, who hyped his rookie class but tempered expectations enough to where no one really knew just how good each one would be, Francis’ magnum opus was a vindication of faith and a glimpse into his vast potential. NJIT proved the win was no fluke when it did the same to second-place team UMass Lowell two days later, sweeping the weekend. I did not get to go that second game, however, because I was too busy checking off another iconic venue that, until this year, had never found its way into my ledger.
You’ve never been to Jadwin?
I actually have been to Jadwin, finally. This was a pregame shot before Princeton hosted Penn in February. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked that question in my career, I could probably afford to pay everyone on my staff comfortably. But yes, in 16-plus years, I had never ventured to Princeton or venerable Jadwin Gymnasium for a game until February 10. With Seton Hall in Philadelphia the next afternoon to take on Villanova in a Super Bowl Sunday matinee, Princeton was technically on the way for me that weekend. The Tigers were hosting archrival Penn that night, too, so why the hell not? A third Ivy League venue entered the books, and a high-quality game was enjoyed before Princeton dug deep down the stretch to win going away behind its high-major caliber trio of Caden Pierce, Xaivian Lee and Matt Allocco, with Zach Martini also contributing in the winning cause. Martini, a rare big man who can step out and knock down the three, will see more ink from this outlet with his name in it next season, having transferred to Rutgers. So will whoever else remains for Mitch Henderson’s unit, as they’ve certainly proven themselves worthy of the trip if I don’t get them any closer to the home base.
Super Bowl Sunday wasn’t as enjoyable, as Seton Hall was waxed by Villanova and Patrick Mahomes ended up authoring a come-from-behind drive to win the football game, much to my chagrin. Much like Peyton Manning in the 2000s, I’m the contrarian that doesn’t really care for Mahomes, or for Travis Kelce, for that matter. Maybe it comes from having been a Tom Brady fan for so long. Ironically, had Brady played anywhere else in college, I’d probably dislike him, too, but his Michigan ties have always been his most endearing quality. By the way, let me mention this now since I didn’t get a chance to when I recapped January: Watching the maize and blue win a national championship for the first time in 26 years — and I vividly remember as an 11-year-old watching Brian Griese throw two touchdown passes to Tai Streets and another to Jerame Tuman in Pasadena to win that national title — is still the unquestioned, and probably unbeatable, highlight of 2024 for me. My next trip after the Seton Hall debacle in Philadelphia, though, is still in the top 5.
“Let’s get you to the Dome next year!”
Thanks to Sam Federman, I checked Syracuse off the bucket list this year, too. I’ll let him show off the court storm. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
Those were the famous words of Sam Federman after he read and commented on last year’s version of the epilogue. Sam is now a freshman at Syracuse, and made it a point to try to get me to go to the Carrier Dome (forget the new naming rights deal) when North Carolina made its way up there. Schedule permitting, I was in. Sure enough, there was nothing in the area on February 13, so I made another first-time voyage. Syracuse shot the lights out and avenged a 36-point loss after UNC hung 103 on the Orange a month prior in Chapel Hill, but it actually didn’t put that much of a damper on the night or the trip. If only Ron Groover wasn’t on the whistle. Alright, the inner Carolina fan came out enough in this space.
One day later, I was back in New Jersey, with Seton Hall crushing Xavier to offset the Villanova loss. Iona would handle Manhattan that Friday in New Rochelle, and then, I made a second trip to Hartford this season for what was arguably the game of the year between a pair of Top 5 teams in UConn and Marquette.
Obviously, everyone now knows just how impressive the Huskies’ 81-53 obliteration of the Golden Eagles was, but how did a relentlessness and an insatiable appetite to leave no doubt end up becoming the most enduring impression of the rout at the XL Center?
“We were just trying to prove who we are,” Donovan Clingan calmly shot back. “We’re out here just trying to win, one game at a time.”
“They’re always wanting more,” Dan Hurley would later echo.
It’s not often you see a team that has done what UConn has done act like it’s taking the floor for the first time each time it emerges from the locker room. The 0-0 mindset is a quality to be treasured and valued, and that is what sets the Huskies apart and brings them into the conversation of all-time teams, a topic that will be revisited later in this space.
The day after that domination, Seton Hall trailed by 19 points in the first half at UBS Arena before going on to put St. John’s in a blender, sweep the Red Storm, and launch the now-infamous Rick Pitino rant — staged, intended, or not — about how this year had been the most unenjoyable experience of his life in the wake of the deflating loss. Pitino would later say he said what he said, comments that included panning the Johnnies for their lack of lateral quickness, to light a fire under his team, but the message was sent and the consequence was clear. The Hall of Fame mentor got people talking about his team and got his own classroom turned around. St. John’s did not lose again in the regular season.
Elsewhere in February, Hofstra held off Drexel to avenge a bitter road loss, Rider kick-started its own late surge with a home win over Iona — the first game I’d covered in Lawrenceville since 2015 — and Seton Hall took care of Butler. At the expense of watching Pitino break out his iconic white suit as St. John’s upset Creighton, I instead went to Piscataway for a special edition of the Kevin Willard quote book after Maryland powered past Rutgers. The last piece I needed for New Jersey hoops bingo this season was FDU, and that came on the last day of the month, with the Knights hosting NEC regular season champion Merrimack. The Warriors, and their unorthodox 3-2 zone defense, were enough of a takeaway for me to highlight them in the ensuing week’s edition of MAAC Monday, being that Merrimack will — along with Sacred Heart — be joining the league in July. I look forward to getting to know Joe Gallo and his program more next season, and if that night in February is any indication, I’ll greatly enjoy seeing the product on the floor.
This is March.
What has become the most memeable (is that even a word?) part of Jon Rothstein’s brand will serve here as a gateway to perhaps one of the more unusual, yet typical, months of any season I’ve covered. And I love Jon, by the way. It’s easy to criticize his methods, but there’s no other national media type with as much passion for the game or as much appreciation for the opportunities he has. One thing I’ve tried to do throughout my career is remember that from which I’ve come, which is probably the biggest reason why I still cover as much mid-major basketball as I do. Jon is the same, and it resonates with me year after year. The same guy who will be sitting courtside at the national championship will come into the Hynes Center or Draddy for Manhattan/Iona and not miss a beat, and do so in a three-piece suit. And say what you want about the slogans, but I think they’re an excellent way of getting the casual fan more interested in the game we all love. Anyway, I digress.
March opened in New Rochelle for me, with Quinnipiac moving closer to its regular season MAAC championship in the process after defeating Iona a second time. The Gaels would lose their next contest six days later at Manhattan, one where Tobin Anderson was at a rare loss for words as a result. In between that, Seton Hall held serve at home against Villanova to keep itself on the bubble. My regular season finale was a rare tripleheader, something I don’t do as much of anymore because it’s not as easy for me as it was when I was young and stupid, and had more energy than I do now. The first leg of the three-pronged journey was supposed to be Iona-Siena, but MTA track work forced me to scrap the Metro-North trip to head to the Garden instead for St. John’s and Georgetown. After the Red Storm did what it needed to do, I went up to Draddy for Manhattan and Canisius, where Tre Dinkins hit a three at the buzzer in overtime to win it for the Golden Griffins. By the time I reached the Prudential Center for Seton Hall and DePaul, I was just hoping for something quick and painless to file. It happened.
Then, so did the postseason less than 24 hours later.
This year’s travel itinerary was the same as last March: Washington, D.C. to Atlantic City, then back up to New York for the Big East tournament. Fortunately, I didn’t need to make a second trip down to the MAAC tournament because my staff did a tremendous job handling that between them. Even after missing a solid day session of CAA tournament quarterfinals, I got to enjoy Stony Brook’s run, which included a double-overtime win over Drexel before shocking Hofstra in the semifinals. The Pride had eliminated Delaware in the quarters, with Charleston coming back from a late seven-point deficit to sink Towson in the first semi.
Once in Atlantic City, I took in the opening-round MAAC tripleheader, only to end up watching the three coaches that have or will eventually be replaced this offseason coach their last games at their respective institutions. Canisius defeated Mount St. Mary’s before falling to Quinnipiac, Iona took its rubber match against Manhattan, and Niagara used a late comeback to down Siena and wrap up an uncharacteristically off year for the Saints at 4-28. Before heading home, I did get to see Quinnipiac end Canisius’ season, but more importantly, the dominant force that was Fairfield’s women’s team in the quarterfinals against Rider. The Stags finished 31-2 this season, picked up a Top 25 ranking, and added their names to the lineage of MAAC dominance along with Marist and Quinnipiac.
Nothing makes you realize there is no substitute for sleeping in your own bed better than four days on the road. I had to throw that one in before I rehashed the Big East tournament, which started for me with the quarterfinals and UConn obliterating Xavier before St. John’s turned the tables on Seton Hall. With the day session in the books, Jason Guerette and I headed up to the bridge to record new broadcast demos for the two night quarterfinals, where Creighton was upended by Providence and Marquette needed overtime to repel Villanova after James Breeding overturned Kam Jones’ buzzer-beater. I’ll eventually cut highlights of that, as I had the Marquette call that only exists within this domain, and will try to share them at some point.
Semifinal Friday at Madison Square Garden is one that will live in the annals of the building and the Big East forever. First, UConn and St. John’s played an instant classic, one the Huskies narrowly claimed for their own with a 95-90 victory against the one team to give the juggernaut a run for its money down the stretch. Whether it was Tom O’Grady, a longtime friend of Rick Pitino's, heckling Dan Hurley in the first half, the double technical fouls assessed one apiece to each coach, or simply the high-level basketball from both sides, it produced the kind of March encounter everyone loves to see. The nightcap between Marquette and Providence may not have been as close, but that, too, lived up to the hype. So did Red Panda at halftime during the day session Thursday, with none other than John Fanta serving as her assistant and hype man in the process.
Red Panda and John Fanta. Two GOATs. (Video by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
Matt Knowling’s buzzer-beater brought March Madness back to New Haven as Yale won Ivy League. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
I should have also mentioned the one Atlantic 10 tournament game I covered in that stretch, where Max Shulga shot VCU into yet another A-10 title game with a day for the ages to help the Rams end Saint Joseph’s postseason dreams. I would see St. Joe’s again just a few days later when they took Seton Hall to overtime in the NIT before the Pirates pulled out another game with veteran instincts and defensive stands. I won’t get too much into the selection committee only taking three Big East teams when it should have taken at least five, maybe even six, because that’s already been discussed ad nauseam. They screwed up, bottom line. Shaheen Holloway said it best when he said no one could cry over it after it had already been done, leaving Seton Hall to channel its inner Jake Taylor.
From there, my ninth NCAA Tournament commenced, with Northwestern needing overtime to bounce Florida Atlantic and ultimately send Dusty May to its Big Ten rival, Michigan. UConn then put on a clinic in its tournament opener, crushing Stetson to set up a second-round showdown with the Wildcats. While I didn’t see much of Duke and Vermont due to writing the Husky recap, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the wishes of everyone on staff for a speedy recovery for Vermont's TJ Long after he collapsed in a heap in the final seconds on a dunk attempt. The good news for Long, a Rockville Centre native who the longtime followers will remember from his three years at Fairfield before transferring to John Becker and the Catamounts, is that he will not require surgery and should be at his best for his senior year next season.
James Madison then had its way with Wisconsin, throttling the Badgers before being unable to find a gear against Duke 48 hours later, and UConn — or more accurately, Stephon Castle — put Northwestern in a blender to reach the Sweet 16 in Boston. Seton Hall also knocked off North Texas and UNLV to reach the NIT semifinals, which should still be held at the Garden, but were contested at Hinkle Fieldhouse instead.
Once in Boston, UConn made its Brooklyn efforts look pedestrian in comparison after beating San Diego State by 30 and Illinois by 25. The 30-0 run spanning the end of the first half and early stages of the second against the Illini might be the single most dominant stretch of basketball I’ve seen in my many years, and I’ve also been on hand for a 31-0 Iona run against Saint Peter’s in 2012. No disrespect to Tim Cluess and the Gaels, but what UConn did to Illinois was just simply on another level. So, too, was the work Dan Hurley and his staff did in their rebuild to get back to the state in which it currently exists, one Hurley was profoundly open about looking in the mirror and changing the way he coached and approached basic aspects of the game, just for the greater good of the program.
Hurley also, as only he can, tinged the journey with his own self-assessment in which he illustrated just how perfect a marriage he and UConn’s fan base is. I’ll have more words for the Husky fans later, because they’re a breed and class by themselves, but Dan’s “I’m just, at times, an asshole,” was one of the best mic drops ever. We’re all assholes at times. Only those secure enough in who and what they are, and who are unapologetic about themselves, have the courage to admit it when others would worry too much about damaging their reputation. That’s why Danny, and all the crazy accessories to the Hurley experience, is something to be treasured. He is who he is, he’s real, and he doesn’t sacrifice himself to appeal to others who might not like the rough edges. After all, wouldn’t we rather be hated for all that we are as opposed to being loved for something we’re not?
This brings me full circle to a point I made indirectly in the first part of this piece, when I talked about the number of people who feel I hate St. John’s because I don’t share the same sentiment about the program. I’ve tried to be as unique and authentic with all my coverage over 17 years in the business, 15 operating this website. Sometimes it doesn’t always please everyone, but I also know that if you’re going into business to make everybody happy, it’s a recipe for disaster because someone’s always going to inevitably be upset with something, and nine times out of ten, it’s going to be you for either not being true to yourself or knowing there’s something you did that could have been executed better. So with that nugget of learned wisdom in my mind as I got on the plane 15 days ago, my one objective while in Arizona was to just be me. I’m not the type who gets overwhelmed by the big stage, but I felt like I had something to prove as a first-timer on it. I hope you all enjoyed it for the most part, and if there’s something you didn’t like, I apologize. I’ll try to do better next time.
This was for all the smaller outlets who never had a chance to get here. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
UConn, Alabama, NC State and Purdue.
I don’t think that was the combination most people had in the Final Four when the NCAA Tournament started, let alone at the beginning of the year, but all four lived up to the hype.
The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.
I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but having a mother who is obsessed with the books and the movies has expanded my knowledge on that front, so the immortal Luna Lovegood gets a citation in the epilogue for that quote. It was particularly true this month, because two players that our site saw a lot of at the mid-major level found their way back into our world, if only for a few days. I personally didn’t get to cover DJ Burns before seeing him inside State Farm Stadium, but the southern bureau has a valid claim to him from his days at Winthrop to where getting to the pinnacle of the sport at NC State was a victory for all of them. Then, there’s Aaron Estrada.
Aaron Estrada. Remember him from Saint Peter’s and Hofstra? (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
I first saw Aaron as a lanky freshman guard at Saint Peter’s, where he — along with Daryl Banks III, Fousseyni and Hassan Drame, Doug Edert and Matthew Lee — was the promise of the future for Shaheen Holloway as Sha quickly turned the Peacocks into a MAAC contender. Aaron was the rookie of the year in the conference in 2019-20, with his game-winning shot ending Iona's tournament winning streak before the world shut down, and then transferred to Oregon while the rest of his class stayed in Jersey City to spearhead the Elite 8 run. Then after that didn’t go as planned, he came back to the area, spent two years at Hofstra, won a pair of CAA Player of the Year awards and a Haggerty Award (that, also, should have been twofold), then took Alabama's NIL package to provide for his family this season. That was a bittersweet moment, and no matter what people tell you about it always ending in a loss, it damn sure felt like a win. A mid-major kid proving he can play with the big boys, and then scoring 13 points against the reigning national champions? Sign me up.
As Purdue beat NC State and UConn proved to be too much for Alabama, Estrada’s performance was symbolic in a sense, and a fitting tribute to a longtime friend who is, sadly, no longer with us.
If you recall in last year’s epilogue, Jack Styczynski was a huge supporter of mine and of the site, and would always interact with me on Twitter during the season. Basketball had become his salvation during the pandemic, and was enough a part of his life that he had a hand in several different teams and conferences while also being a part-time writer. Jack committed suicide on April 6, 2023, three days after UConn cut down the nets in Houston. It wasn’t at the top of my mind as it happened in real time, but me sitting courtside covering my first Final Four on April 6, 2024, with a Hofstra alumnus on the floor, was probably the best possible homage to a man who was largely misunderstood, but one of the most knowledgeable and unique characters I’ve ever come across in the industry. Rest in power, Jack. I hope I did you proud.
Finally, we’ve come to the 110th and final game of my live season, UConn and Purdue for the national championship nine days ago. Before Saturday’s doubleheader, I made it a point to catch up with Ian Eagle before signing on. Ian and I go back about a decade, maybe more, from when we were both guest speakers at Craig D’Amico’s sports broadcasting camp in New Jersey. He and I have crossed paths somewhat regularly over the years, and he still offers feedback whenever I send him a demo or any other piece I’d like critiqued. This weekend, though, was just a simple well-wishing for someone who deserved the promotion to the big stage that Ian got when Jim Nantz stepped away from the hardwood. Throw in the fact that it was two Queens guys — Ian from Forest Hills, me from Woodhaven — there for the first time, and we truly were rooting for one another.
Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan contest the final opening tip of the season. Somehow, I got a perfect shot zoomed all the way in. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
The battle between Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan went as advertised, with Edey willing his way to 37 points and 10 rebounds but UConn being too much to overcome as the Huskies cemented their all-time status by repeating as national champions and reaching the top of the mountain for the sixth time in program history. And for Dan Hurley, who lived most of his early years in the shadows of his father and older brother, the repeat solidified him as the best coach in the sport today, something he would never have seen coming 30 years prior. It was fitting in a sense that the last piece of the season was one reflecting on Danny’s journey from being done with the game as a junior at Seton Hall to where he now stands, because having covered him at Wagner and Rhode Island before he arrived at UConn, it feels as if this site has been there to experience the rise at each stop. I guess when you follow a band before it blows up and makes it big, it’s a different perspective.
Anyway, this rambling spiel now puts me at the edge of seventeen…years as a card-carrying member of the college basketball media. I’ll cue Stevie Nicks just as a formality here.
Last year was the first year that I went into as much detail as I did when chronicling what I’d done the past five months, and it was so well received that I figured, why not do it again? Well, what you just read — and if you’ve made it this far, I thank you so much because it means more to me than anyone realizes — covers the entire 2023-24 slate. All that’s left for me to do now is highlight the special people who made it all possible.
First, my mother, Julie. Mom always gets the initial acknowledgment, that’s how it’s always going to go down. After all, this project was her idea 15 years ago because she thought I should be smart enough to protect my investment in case the on-air stuff went south. It didn’t, but I’m glad one of us had the foresight to cover my ass. I may be a lot of things and wear several hats in life, but none are as meaningful or as prideful to me as being Julie Daly’s only child. My role model, my biggest inspiration, the best friend I’ll ever know, the greatest achievement and influence in my own life, and someone I admire more each day just because I can. Thank you for being you, Mom.
To the coaches and players gracious and willing enough for me and my staff to tell their stories and share them with the larger audience they deserve. You’re the why in this crazy business. And without your support, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in. I want to mention individually the three coaches whose time in our sphere of influence has since stood still, if I may:
To Reggie Witherspoon, even though Buffalo and New York aren’t exactly in one another’s backyards, thank you for always offering a laconic and thoughtful answer to whatever questions I had over the past eight years at Canisius. The 2017-18 team, with Jermaine Crumpton, Takal Molson and Isaiah Reese was one of the better MAAC outfits I’ve been around, and that group deserved a better ending than its relegation to a what-if. The job Reggie did with Malik Johnson, one of my favorite players of all time, turning him from a young Virginia boy into a man wise enough to take on the real world, was one of his crowning moments on Main Street. Jim Christian has a reputation for building winners at this level, but he has a hard act to follow as Reggie’s successor moving forward.
To Dan Engelstad, I can’t thank you enough for being so receptive to me and my coverage the past two years. It’s never easy when you’re the new kid in town like Mount St. Mary’s was in the MAAC last year and this year, and it’s even harder when you’re more than an hour from the two big media markets in your area of the country like The Mount is. I guess it’s fitting that the school that lies 15 minutes from the battlegrounds in Gettysburg has to take on a warlike mentality sometimes to get respect, but that’s one thing Dan and his teams always excelled at. He’s going to crush it as Adrian Autry’s right-hand man at Syracuse, even if I probably won’t get to see him as much, but someone else on staff who I’ll get to in a little bit will. And Dan, I’m an even bigger fan of yours than you are of mine. He texted me last week after the Syracuse announcement broke saying the MAAC was lucky to have me and this outlet covering it. Au contraire, sir. We’re beyond blessed to have had you in the family. I wish Dan, his wife, Camille, and their three daughters all the best the world can possibly offer them. Whoever takes over in Emmitsburg has an attractive young foundation with the potential to rebuild a winner in short order.
To Carmen Maciariello, thank you for balancing the pressure cooker of being the head coach at your alma mater with a brutal honesty that may not have been what some people wanted to hear, but was usually what needed to be heard. Carm deserved at least one more year to get Siena back in the right direction, especially after how his first couple seasons at the helm had gone. The 2019-20 team that had its dreams snatched away by COVID is a reminder of how fickle this world can be, but also one in which the power of belief was at its absolute best. The pieces I wrote on the Saints that year were some of my best work as a MAAC writer. Someone like Carm won’t be on the sidelines long, he’s too valuable a commodity to sit out. He’ll be back soon enough, and his presence in the game will only benefit everyone. Thank you for making Siena a worthy point of coverage during your tenure.
As for his replacement, I am intrigued and somewhat looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I was in college when Gerry McNamara made a name for himself at that same level, and he was one of the few Syracuse players I truly appreciated and enjoyed watching. Getting to cover him will be somewhat surreal, but if he’s anything close to what he was in the Orange uniform, Siena will be what Siena has historically been, and sooner rather than later.
Before I go to my next category of individuals, I want to mention Ronnie Weintraub here specifically instead of going back and making him a footnote in my February recap. Ronnie passed away days before the MAAC tournament began, and his loss is one that will always be felt by anyone who had the honor of getting to know him. I now consider myself blessed that I got one last moment with him in January at Saint Peter’s before he left us, and the tribute I wrote to his legacy is something I still wish never had to happen. It sucks when you don’t get to keep the legends around forever, at least physically. The best part about Ronnie was his passion. You couldn’t help but love his love for life, and I tried to reflect that as best I could when eulogizing him. If all of us could be half of what he was, and live and love beyond our physical statutes, this world would be a better place.
To all the sports information directors who made what we do possible, it’s a thankless job that deserves much more praise and appreciation. All of you are superstars for putting up with us media types, and saints for going out of your way to accommodate us as much as you have. As always, I’ll thank you all individually in the order in which I saw you: Myles Rudnick, Peter Long, Joe DiBari, Dave Gansell, Steve Dombroski, Jack Clark, Brian Beyrer, Jordan Sarnoff, Chris Corso, Kevin Wehner, Gary Kowal, Bobby Mullen, Mike Ferraro, Stephen Gorchov, Mark Vandergrift, Rich Behan, John Tagliaferri, Nick Solari, Drew Kingsley, Greg Ott, Elliott Carr, Mike Mahoney, Mike Sheridan, Matt Reitnour, Miles McQuiggan, Hamilton Cook, Shawn Gillen, Mike Demos, Ivey Speight, John Paquette, Drew Dickerson, and even though I didn’t get to meet him in Arizona, David Worlock for coordinating the media setup at the Final Four and making it look effortless. I love all of you. I’ll add Mark Fratto here as well, since he moderated the Final Four press conferences and because I still miss him terribly at St. John’s.
Special thanks also goes out to John Gallagher for being all-access in his first year as a head coach at Manhattan and making do with limited resources there. I’d also like to welcome Merrimack and Sacred Heart to the MAAC this summer, and I and my staff look forward to continuing our already strong relationships with Joe Gallo and Anthony Latina, as well as incoming SIDs Nick Penkala at Merrimack and Bridget Delaney at Sacred Heart. If there’s ever anything any of you need here, please let me or someone on staff know.
To Travis Tellitocci for putting his own spin and image on an office that hadn’t been transitioned since 1988. Very few people were qualified to replace Rich Ensor as MAAC commissioner. Travis, with his extensive background and having already known the league from his time at Marist, didn’t disappoint, and has already begun picking up where Rich left off in trying to raise the profile and awareness of the MAAC and its brand. I eagerly await his next appearance on the podcast later this offseason.
To everyone on staff this year, who helped push the collective overall game count over 200, beginning with Brian Wilmer. I’d made little to no secret about hoping to land his services after College Hoops Digest was transformed by a new regime, and felt like I landed a five-star recruit a year ago this month when he finally did make the jump. Brian has been a veteran voice in the de facto office, a wordsmith who can fashion a gripping angle at a moment’s notice, and — as he alluded to in his own equally encompassing epilogue this past Monday — a similar storyteller to myself, but in a different way. My southern bureau chief didn’t make the impact I thought he would in his first year on this masthead. He obliterated it in the first week on the job, and raised the bar to a far greater height — figuratively and literally since his boss stands just 5’7 — than anyone else in the same situation would have. I also have to thank the great Josh Adams for leading me to Brian by bringing him on himself, so that everyone could see just how talented he was.
To Jason Guerette, my longest-tenured full-time writer, thank you for staying with me even as your broadcast commitments become more frequent and more advantageous to your own stellar career. There’s no one else I could picture joining me for Seton Hall coverage the past nine years, no one who analyzes the game better than professionals who get paid to do it. There’s always a place for you here as long as you’re willing.
To Jason Dimaio, and yes, I have New Jersey Jason and New York Jason, it’s been a privilege to watch your talent and aptitude grow these last three years. You’ve done so well with Hofstra that it was an easy decision to have you back me up on St. John’s coverage, and that will continue next season. Jay and I will also be recapping games on the podcast next season, time and schedules permitting, something I may try to do with some other schools in our coverage area as well, but this made sense because there will at least be one of us paying attention to the Red Storm.
To Pete Janny for not only wanting to rejoin me early in the season, but take the site to other places in New England to promote and further expose the brand. Pete did amazing work with Fairfield and Quinnipiac yet again, but also added Yale and Sacred Heart to his repertoire while handling some of the Gampel Pavilion half of the UConn home schedule. His ability to tell a story is unique, and better than mine in some ways. I love being able to say that about my teammates.
To Jacob Conley and Justin Mathis for planting the flag in North and South Carolina, and doing it in such a way that the audience they’ve cultivated on their own has followed with them. I wouldn’t know word one about Gardner-Webb, USC Upstate, or the Big South without either of you (or Brian), so I thank you for enhancing my knowledge of the game. Next year will be fun as you both tell the stories of Jeremy Luther and Marty Richter in their first years at the helm in Boiling Springs and Spartanburg, respectively.
To Sam Federman for having the ability to follow all 362 Division I teams and not miss a beat. I always say Sam is like my son in this business, because he reminds me of me when I was his age. The passion he has at 19 years old easily blows past mine at 37, and that’s only going to expand over time. He’s me on steroids, and his Alex Karaban sidebar in November is one of the best pieces I’ve had the honor of editing for a staffer. I can’t wait to see what his sophomore year at Syracuse, and his work here next season, will entail and unlock. He, like many others in this business, help keep me young.
To Kyler Fox for joining the team in November to handle St. John’s women’s basketball while I had other commitments, and displaying an uncanny ability to write on deadline but also find happenings within games some people would never look for. Kyler is also the newly-elected managing editor of The Torch, the school newspaper at St. John’s, so let’s all congratulate him on that honor as he still handles men’s basketball there and the women here. I have to give Joe Staszewski the assist on recruiting Kyler, because he put me in touch with him, and it turned out to be a perfect match for both of us.
To Vinny Simone for finding his way back home after a four-year hiatus. Vinny did excellent work on the production end for CBS Sports Network in that time, and his return came at a particularly opportune point in the schedule, as I was about to be pulled in 96 different directions going into March. There’s always a spot for him here, and also for his former Big Apple Buckets cohort Ryan Restivo if he ever wants to return to this world. Special thanks also goes out to Ray Curren for his phenomenal guest piece as Wagner defeated Merrimack to win the NEC tournament.
To the two elder statesmen on staff, Ray Floriani and Bob Dea, I appreciate you two more because I don’t know how much more time I’ll have you. I understand life gets in the way, but you’ve been valuable assets to this outlet and will continue to be as long as you’re willing and able. Between the throwback columns and high-quality photos, each of you has made the overall experience here better.
To Guy Falotico and Frank Aquino, the two other co-hosts on the MAAC Twitter spaces I set up during the year (I already mentioned Pete and Sam), thank you for adding unmatched insight and a willingness to debate, while also displaying some damn good interview chops too. I run each space like a pregame show, partially because I’m living out a dream by doing so — I always envisioned myself being a Greg Gumbel type who could do studio and play-by-play, just the inverse of him in that I’d do football pregame/postgame and basketball play-by-play — and partially because I want everyone around me to thrive more. All four of you, and I’ll rope Pete and Sam back in here again, make each space must-listen.
I’d also like to take this time to welcome a new staff member to the family next year in Ethan Hurwitz. Ethan, who graduates from Quinnipiac next month, will come to us by way of the Quinnipiac Chronicle, where he spent the past two years as its chief men’s basketball beat writer. He will handle the Bobcats in the same capacity here next season, which will free Pete up to do more with some of the other Connecticut schools, including assisting me with UConn coverage again as the Huskies seek a third straight national championship.
Speaking of spaces, let me shout out everyone involved with UConn Twitter. The names are too many to mention, but you all know who you are. Thank you for opening your doors to some small-time writer from New York who writes some words about your team and talks about them in your three-hour marathons later. I’ll be back in section 239 at the Hartford Civic Center next year.
To Jerry Carino for being the best example of how to cover multiple schools and balance each one without playing favorites. A lot of how I approach every season is based on the outstanding job Jerry does covering Seton Hall and Rutgers equally, and he’s a greater influence on my career than I think he or anyone else realizes.
To the legendary Dick “Hoops” Weiss for always being an undying beacon of support. It means a lot to know that one of my biggest fans is someone I’ve been a big fan of all my life. I, like many others who will read this, grew up reading Hoops’ columns in the New York Daily News. It’s how I grew to know college football beyond Michigan, and college basketball beyond North Carolina. Hoops was the impetus behind me finally applying for Final Four credentials, so you can thank him for that.
Speaking of the Final Four, to Zach Braziller and Adam Zagoria for going out of their way to include me in the festivities while also treating the rookie on that stage with a level of class that most people take for granted. I used to fight with Zach every other night on Twitter when he first took the St. John’s beat from Lenny Robbins, but I soon learned that if Zach DOESN’T bust your balls, you’re the one doing something wrong. St. John’s fans are damn fortunate to have someone like him devoting the energy he pours into that program. As for Zags, his talent gets overlooked more than it should. Adam knows what sells and what gets clicks, but when he needs to get serious, he’s one of the best in the business. I can’t thank both of them enough for how they treated me in Arizona.
To Jerry Beach for the endless distractions and diversions before, during and after the season that make life fun, especially when you’re going through the motions before conference play heats up. Jerry is probably the best example of how to write with humor and be serious at the same time, one that I try to live up to as much as possible. And with Dstone Dubar having just committed to Tennessee out of the transfer portal, TODD HELTON WAS THE QUARTERBACK BEFORE PEYTON MANNING BIAS is once again a thing.
To Erika Fernandez, who is living proof that you can meet and get to know somebody through social media and feel like you’ve known that person forever before ever actually meeting them. Erika and I have ended up talking many times over the years about our own struggles to make something of ourselves in the industry after fighting for what little we do have, and outside of me and my mother, she was probably the next happiest for me getting to cover the Final Four. The professional travails have only led to us sharing Dallas Cowboys and Angel Hernandez memes more often than anyone should, plus being inevitably frustrated at the Yankees and Mets for no apparent reason. Te amo, hermana.
To whatever media colleagues I didn’t mention, because I would run out of space if I ran through all of you individually: You all inspire me to do better. For those I see around the mid-major circuit, you’re doing God’s work. For those who also cover high school, you have a level of respect from me that exceeds anything else in this business. I’ve never covered preps before, and I could never imagine pulling that off with no live stats and no background information. That’s superhuman talent right there.
To Steve Masiello, even though we didn’t cross paths with one another as much as we normally do during the season, for still being one of the biggest supporters this website and my career could ever have. People direct a lot of misguided sentiments toward Mas, but when he has your back, he’ll run through a wall for you. I’m the same way, as I hinted to in last year’s epilogue when I described my relationship with him and how it’s transcended the court over the years. Both of us have been through adversity in our respective professional arenas, and both of us have emerged victorious despite a number of battle scars. Like Steve said a decade ago: If you can survive when you’re supposed to go down, you’re gonna live a long time.
Finally, to you, the fans. Even if you read one word or every piece of content that gets generated over the course of a year, your support is what keeps me going. I couldn’t do what I do without you, and neither could the dozen writers under me. As much as I love the compliments, it’s the interaction — either in person or on social media — that I love even more. That’s tangible, you can quantify it with a smile and a satisfaction that the other person can see and enjoy. Keep talking to me, I’ll always be here to listen. I love you all.
After the dust settled and the confetti remained. I did scoop up a handful to bring home. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)
So that wraps up 15 years for the site, 17 years in the business. I will tell you this: Next year will be a lot less detailed in terms of travel and some of the coverage. As I said way back in the opening stages of this piece, I’m cutting back on my schedule next year. I’m not as old as I used to be, and all the late nights on the train add up. With the nature of the transfer portal essentially creating a new climate for the mid-majors every year, it saddens me to say that I probably won’t handle as much of the MAAC coverage next season, leaving the majority of it to the remainder of my staff. I’ll still be at MAAC games during the year, but as far as being the comprehensive beat guy for the conference, I can’t sit here and honestly tell you that next year’s overall league coverage will match the past 13 years. I can’t read that far into the future, but rest assured, it will be covered somehow, by someone if not me.
I do intend to spend more time at Rutgers next season, too. With Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper on the banks next season, Piscataway may be the place to be more often than not in the area, almost like how St. John’s was this past season during Rick Pitino's maiden voyage in Queens. We shall see how it all unfolds. And if you want to contribute to this growing family, all you need to do is reach out to me. The pay may be nonexistent, but the opportunity is yours if you want it. Hit me up, we’ll take it from there.
Before I offer my final closing remark, I’m going to tee up the closing the same way I have every year I’ve been doing these looks back, with the old Irish blessing, because it’s still one of my favorite affirmations:
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, and I always hope that happens sooner rather than later, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
It’s almost symmetrical in a sense that this was the 15th year of the site coming into being. For the old-school boxing fans, 15 rounds represented the distance in a heavyweight title fight. And when this fight began, I had nothing to say. Hell, I still get lost in the nothingness inside of me sometimes. But somewhere along the way, I let it all out to find that I’m not the only person with these things in mind.
This past season allowed me to heal, as every year somehow manages to. It allowed me to feel like I was close to something real, something I’ve wanted all along.
Somewhere I belong.
Thank you all for helping me realize that I’m legitimate and should carry myself that way at all times. God bless you all, and much love always.
Jaden Daly
Founder and Managing Editor
