It's a beautiful morning

I know SayHey, Mike Honcho and many of our other friends are very happy this morning when they saw that the impossible happened last night in Florida. That's right, the Miami Hurricanes defeated the often hated but sadly never indicted Duke Blue Devils.

It is the second straight loss for Coach Rat and his Blue Devils, with the first one being of the utmost importance to our friends, and Honcho, when they lost to the Demon Deacons over the weekend. Honcho is Demon alumni, as is a handful of our friends, so it's a very good thing that they had Monday off, except for CD who probably was smiling through the pain at work.

The loss to Miami though is even more embarrassing; it's not like Miami is this huge powerhouse of a team. I know it pains SayHey to even cheer and be happy that a Miami team won, but I think his hatred of Duke Basketball and Coach Rat is more pronounced then his hatred for the Hurricanes.

Miami is on a roll, they've won three ACC games in a row and this is their first victory over a top five opponent since they beat number 2 UConn in 1999. Big props to Miami's Jack McClinton who sank two clinching free throws before Duke's DeMarcus Nelson hit a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer. Senior Dwayne Collins also scored a career-high 26 points to go along with McClinton's 22.

Sophomore Jon Scheyer scored a career-high 27 points for the Blue Devils, who had to rally from a 20 point second-half deficit, was the lone bright spot for a team who suffered from 23 turnovers during the game. You have to love this lasting image of CoachRat around the end of the game...

Vermont Catamounts Update

The Catamounts have continued their traditionally solid conference play in the America East. After getting off to a rough 1-2 start, the Cats have rebounded to improve their league record to 7-4. They are currently tied for second place in the America East with Hartford, behind the immensely talented University of Maryland, Baltimore County who is in the drivers seat at 9-2.

As good as sophomore combo forward Marqus Blakely was in the non-conference schedule, he has been even more impressive during league games. He is producing to the tune of 19.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game. He is the odds on favorite to win the America East player of the year and has the ability to win games by himself with his athleticism and overall game.

The Cats have gotten healthy and have received some key contributions from seniors Kyle Cieplicki and Tim McCrory. Their strong play will be needed to gain momentum for the conference tournament.

A quick note on the recruiting front for the Catamounts, Garvey Young (committed to UVM for next year) just scored his 1700th point for Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda.

VCU Rams Update

Tis the season where I can pull for my Alma mater, THE Virginia Commonwealth University Rams. Who you ask?? Well, they were the 2004 and 2007 CAA Conference winners and the school who is always overshadowed by the Richmond Spiders. Well, not this year my friends, for last seasons Cinderella team has its superstar back for another, and hopefully, 2 more seasons. His name, Mr. Eric Maynor. I am absolutely pumped for this season. We proved we can hang with the big boys last year, upsetting Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament and taking Pitt the overtime in the second round before losing a hard fought game.

We had our first game of the season on Saturday vs the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Yeh, I dont know who they are either but we beat em, giving us a record of 1-0. Maynor looked rusty but still managed to hit half his shots. Other than him, we are thing. LOTS of fresh faces since 2 of our key starters; Pera Rosa and Skinner graduated, giving us far less experience from a year ago. But we have a 6'9 freshman in our midst's. 2nd tallest in the CAA I believe. So we can concentrate on more than just the 3-point ball this year.

Thursday, we have a tough task at hand. We play Clyde Drexlers Houston Cougars at home. Updates to come!

America East Scores

America East Scores

Nov.9 - Boston U. 64...St. Bonaventure 58
Nov.9 - George Mason 62...Vermont 74
Nov.9 - Villanova 89...Stony Brook 56
Nov.9 - Hartford 68...St.Francis (NY) 59
Nov.10 - BC 76...UNH 56
Nov.10 - Albany 63...Bucknell 70
Nov.10 - UMBC 74...St. Peter's 58
Nov.11 - Virginia 67...Vermont 68
Nov.11 - Hartford 71...Quinnipiac 64

Season Record: 0-0