Meanwhile, back in the present. Pretty gruesome loss for F&M last night. They dominated for 30 minutes with Federici looking great and Dickinson barely hanging in, thanks largely to the play of reserve guard Mike Hinckley, who seemed to have swallowed a bottle of Adam Honig pills before the game. F&M seemed to have things well in hand with a 12 point lead with 10 to go when they started jacking up 3s. Looking for the dagger, I guess. Must have missed 5 or 6 in a row, then started turning it over and rapidly the 11 pt lead became a 4 pt deficit. F&M battled back to tie it at the 2 minute mark but could not close. It looked like the Dips ran out of gas. Their field goal % in the last ten minutes must have been in the 15% range. Congrats to Dickinson for making the finals for the 4th time in 5 years.
THE nightcap was your typical 4-5 vs 1 seed game. Ursinus fought hard for a half but Swat's size, toughness and fresher legs were too much in the 2d. Some of the Bears looked a little rattled at the raucous environment. The exception was Knowles, who closed his career with a magnificent performance. Ursinus will be back. The announcers pointed out that the 4-5 seed has not only never won the tournament, they have never even made the finals. Tough to perform on one night's rest when your opponent has had 7, is at home, and has the best regular season record.
Congrats to Swat for a great atmosphere. Looks like the Swat community has decided that winning mens basketball is not such a terrible thing after all. Logic says Swat should crush Dickinson. They are bigger, stronger, shoot better, have the best player in Wiley and rebound extremely well. The factor in Dickinson's favor is their team quickness, also after a season with several improbable late comeback wins, they won't panic if they find themselves down. But you have to make Swat a huge favorite to take their first Centennial championship.
THE nightcap was your typical 4-5 vs 1 seed game. Ursinus fought hard for a half but Swat's size, toughness and fresher legs were too much in the 2d. Some of the Bears looked a little rattled at the raucous environment. The exception was Knowles, who closed his career with a magnificent performance. Ursinus will be back. The announcers pointed out that the 4-5 seed has not only never won the tournament, they have never even made the finals. Tough to perform on one night's rest when your opponent has had 7, is at home, and has the best regular season record.
Congrats to Swat for a great atmosphere. Looks like the Swat community has decided that winning mens basketball is not such a terrible thing after all. Logic says Swat should crush Dickinson. They are bigger, stronger, shoot better, have the best player in Wiley and rebound extremely well. The factor in Dickinson's favor is their team quickness, also after a season with several improbable late comeback wins, they won't panic if they find themselves down. But you have to make Swat a huge favorite to take their first Centennial championship.