New lineup

Just learned that Dannie Powell is expected to start at the point. I like it, I'm a big believer in getting as many ballhandlers out there as possible. The Mountain Hawks are big though. This could be tough.
Let's do this.

Weekend plans

Spent Friday working on the soccer preview, hence no recent blogging. I wrote an in-depth preview for the paper, and I'll have a nice sidebar that reminds us of who these kids really are before the game that I'll post here on the blog.

I'll squeeze in some thoughts on hoops too, but as up-and-down as this group of freshman (as expected) has been, I firmly maintain that we won't know much about this team until January.

Home cooking?

Per a request I talked to people in the know this afternoon, and if CCSU wins Sunday, there's pretty much no chance they would host the quarters. CCSU is among (though now I bet the committee wishes it could start over) the lowest seeds in the dance.
That, however, didn't come from the NCAA itself, so yell at my sources, not me, if I'm wrong. However, I'd put it at 2 percent that CCSU would get a home game.

However, I'd put Central being there at 50 percent, which isn't bad at all.

Button up for a good cause

Saturday's basketball games will mark the annual CCSU Button-Up Connecticut Coat Drive. Anyone who donates a winter coat will receive a free general admission ticket to both the games. The women start at noon and the men go at about 2 p.m.
So be generous, bring a coat so that someone less fortunate can be warm while we watch another exciting basketball season.

Clearing a couple things up

Now I'll admit I knew nothing about the men's soccer tourney before this all started, but having done some checking...

UMass is the higher seed, that's why they're hosting. UMass was the higher seed in their pod. If you think of it like the basketball, it would go: BC, Tulsa, (the national seeds) Harvard, UMass (the hosts in the first round) then BU and CCSU. It had nothing to do with Central not having a good enough field.

Using the same logic I think CCSU goes to UIC or SMU, but let's worry about that next week.

PS, a men's thought

I won't lie, between being at the women's game and watching the soccer game on a video feed, then hustling to write two stories, I didn't get to follow much of the men's game tonight except for scoring updates and an occasional check of GameTracker.

I did pick up two things. First off, there seems to be more offensive diversity, which is a good sign. Secondly, it was 20-7 I believe early, and the Blue Devils rallied and fought to stay in it all night. Say what you will about this year's team, but they refuse to let anyone blow them out.

At some point, that trait will have to start leading to wins in order for it to matter. But for now, it's a glimmer of hope. Remember what I said from Day 1: Don't judge this team until January.

Are you kidding?

That was the theme of the day in Devilland. At one point tonight, coach Green said to me, "CCSU is playing for a spot in the final 8. Did you ever think you'd hear those words?"

Honestly, I did not. Though it couldn't have happened to a better bunch of people. And to see the support they're getting from the community and at the school is pretty neat. By the way, the bracket has opened up like the sky during a summer thunderstorm. There's no reason now that this team can't make the national semifinals. Especially if it's going to score 3 goals a game.

Great first half from the women tonight, not much after that. I'll post more on both of these games tomorrow, just wanted to touch base with you all tonight. I will say that, while they were late-arriving, the turnout to see coach Piper's first game was impressive.

The second half defense was not.

By the way, I know I've been a little behind in the hoops coverage, but I do promise that will pick up. At the rate this soccer season is going, however, that might not be until the middle of December.

Quite frankly, soccer season was supposed to be over a couple of weeks ago. And even more honestly, I have no problem with the fact that it's not. We'll be all over the two key NEC games that the hoopsters have coming up, but right now, Blog Central is Soccer Central.

Belief without evidence

It's a pretty cool thing. To have the faith in yourself and your teammates that things will work out, no matter how bleak they may seem at the time, is a special trait.
Shaun Green has it, and it's rubbing off on his team.
By now, anyone reading this blog or anything in the paper under my name knows the story. Green was sitting in the rain after CCSU's latest gut-wrenching loss, the season seemingly over. A year in which Green had worked himself to the bone getting the biggest recruiting class in school history, acquiring corporate sponsors and doing everything he could think of to raise the program's stature had gone up in smoke.
"At one point we were 2-8-2 and I was thinking to myself, how can this be," Green said. "How can so many people put in so much work and not get any rewards for it?"
Still, Green never let his team stop working as hard as he and his staff were. The program kept plugging. Now, eight incredible games later, the Blue Devils are a win away from the Sweet 16.
"There's a thing in life called belief without evidence," Green said. "Religion is founded upon it. People believe in God but they haven't seen him. I believe in God, but I haven't met God. I believe in UFOs. There's 260 million planets in a galaxy and 260 million galaxies. There's got to be something out there, however I've never seen a UFO. My point is this: These guys believed in this team when the evidence didn't point to it."
While the science and math might be off, all the statistics, starting with the team records, indicated that Central had the worst team in the league. But the Blue Devils were undaunted.
"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're finished," Green told his team.
It didn't. Seven wins and a tie later, CCSU is the conference champion and the first men's team in school history to win a NCAA game. Now it's up to Tulsa to try and tell the Devils they're finished.
The Blue Devils don't believe that will happen. But no matter what the result is on Wednesday night, this team has been given the rewards it so badly searched for in October.
"It's validation," Green said. "In anything you do in life you always look for some form of validation so that whatever you do has some worth to it. What we did by beating Harvard was validate all our work."
They've also given us all evidence that belief is all you need sometimes.