Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas everyone and happy holidays. I hope you all enjoyed the last few days with family and friends. I had a great Christmas yesterday and have been enjoying my time off from school. I've been practically doing nothing and resting up after a busy first semester.

As for the team I hope they are enjoying there few days off at home before it's back to work for them, practicing and resuming their schedule. They sure did give themelves a nice Christmas gift a few days early with a nice victory over Albany on the 22nd. This was a very nice win for the Red Foxes as well. It was on the road against a non-conference opponent and it was good for them to get back to their winning ways. However Albany did come into the game with a 1-10 recrod. And while your probably asking yourself, why didn't Marist blow this team out? Lets not worry about that, we know a win is a win.

There were also some standout performances in this one as well. Fitz had a remarkable game, tieing her career high with 28 points to go along with 11 rebounds. The backcourt shined as well with Flores having 16 points and 5 rebounds and Viani posting 21 points going 8-9 from the stripe. In fact the Red Foxes shot an impressive 28-32 from the free throw line and practically won the game from that spot. Talk about execution from the free throw line. Albany practically forced the Red Foxes to beat them from the stripe putting them their 32 times. When I see a number like that, it shows me that Albany just couldn't gaurd the Lady Red Foxes. So this game was a nice early Christmas gift for the team, and sent everyone into the holidays with happy spirits.

There it Goes

Well there is some good news and bad news following Marist's loss to Hartford Wednesday. The bad news consists of two different winning streaks coming to an end for the Red Foxes. Their loss to Hartford ended their 1o game winning streak they had rolling this season, and also their 26 game winning streak they were sporting that dated back to the 2005-2006 season. That having been said you can see Wednesday night probably wasn't a very good night and is one the team will want to forget quickly. Not only did they lose, they lost at home by seventeen points. They scored a season low 14 points in the first half and a season low 32 points in the game. Rachele Fitz was held scoreless in the first half and ended up finishing with 12 points. If you weren't at the game the best way to sum it all up would to say it was an offensive struggle. Niether team scored for the first 3:05 of the game and Marist didn't register its first points until the 14:32 mark of the first half. In fact most of Marist's possessions were just down right ugly and Hartford's swarming defense did not make the Red Foxes look like one of the nation's top 30 teams. They missed open jumpers, threw the ball out of bounds, and struggled to beat the shot clock on many possessions. But you have to give credit to Hartford, they played Marist extremely well and did what they needed to do to knock off Marist. Now to the good news. Brian Giorgis will have a week and a half between the loss and their next against Albany to get the girls back on their game and ready to start a new streak. Also since Hartford is non a conference opponent, Marist's 26 game home winning streak in the MAAC still stands strong. The game against Albany is December 22nd at 2pm in the New York state capital.

Double Digit Wins

Right now we're eleven games in the 2007-2008 season and Marist is already in double digits for victories. Marist is posting a 10-1 record coming into their game against Hartford tonight. And tonight is defintely not a game where we can gaurantee the Red Foxes to their 11th straight and overall victory. Hartford comes into the game with an 8-2 record. They were the preseason favorites in the America East Conference and have not yet dissapointed.
Marist has been as hot as a you can be lately as they are riding the nation's biggest winning streak of ten. Not only are they one of the nation's top thirty teams, with their last win they entered an elite group in NCAA Women's basketball. With their win on Sunday over Fairfiled, Marist joined Maryland and North Carolina as one of three teams to have double digit wins this year. MAAC play has begun and Marist is off to a 2-0 start there. It is going to be incredibly difficult for a MAAC team to hand them any conference losses and almost impossible for any team to beat them at McCann. Their remaining home schedule is all MAAC opponents and it will be a nice challenge for them to see if they can improve upon their home winning streak. Lets not forget that currently Marist is sporting a 26 game home winning streak both overall and also in MAAC play. You try and find me a much better home team in the nation. You want to talk about home court advantage....there it is right there.

Game: Hartford @ Marist
When: Tonight at 7:30pm
Where: McCann Center, Poughkeepsie New York
Listen: WMAR Marist Radio 1630. Listen to the webcast at www.maristradio.net

Final Four Possibility

I know it is way too early in the season to be discussing the Final Four. However a comment was posted asking me my thoughts on the possibility of this team going to the final four so heres my opinion. I think the only thing that would make me question the possibility of this team going to the final four would be if they met Pat Summit's Tennessee Lady Vols. I think the number one team in the nation has really separated itself from the rest of the field. I'm not saying that this team can't beat Tennesse because trust me, if they played their best game and caught Tennessee not playing theirs, it could happen. But if Marist played Tennessee 10 times, they would probably take 1 or 2 of those games. Brian Giorgis is an amazing coach and after playing Tennessee last year Marist would not nearly be as intimidated a second time around. That isn't the answer you want, but it is the answer to what would happen next time Marist met Tennessee. When this team is at its best it can beat anyone else in the country. We saw it last year and we can definitely see it again this year. They are even more talented this season and are seasoned now when it comes to tournament time, so I feel the girls would have loads of confidence their second time around. Like last year, I definitely think this team could make a strong run at the Final Four. Tennessee would be a real difficult obstacle, but if they are not in the way, I think Marist has a strong chance at being one of the last 4 teams standing in April.

Dominating at Home

I finally got a chance to watch the Lady Red Foxes in action at the McCann Center. They played their home opener Thursday night against Yale and then another home game Saturday against Bucknell. Let me tell you it was quite special to be able to see them in action and see how good they really are. Offensively you can see in the stat books that they dominate, but it's not until you see them play in person when you really discover how good they are. They're fast, agressive, smart, and my favorite is how unselfish they are on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Offensively this team goes deep. In the starting backcourt Viani and Flores seem to be sharing the point gaurd position. Both of these girls look better than they ever have. They look faster, smarter, and offensively they're ability to attack the basket and finish is what impresses me most. But both are also doing a good job setting up the offense and getting others involved as well. The starting frontcourt is equally as scary. Fitz, Dahlman and Johnson are all capable of scoring double digits on any given night. Their versatility and finishing capabilites are what makes life so difficult on opposing forwards and centers. Then we can look that the deep, talented bench Brain Giorgis can turn to. Off the bench Brittany Engle brings her defensive affressiveness along with Sarah Smrdel who showed me how dangerouse she is on the low block and also outside the three point line. This girl shoots threes just like a gaurd. Then you also have the two freshman coming off the bench which show the future is also bright for Marist. Elise Caron is developing into a nice college point gaurd while Erica Allenspach (shooting gaurd) showed me she can do more than shoot the rock as she attacked the basket nicely with her penetration against Bucknell. The most important thing however for a team that has at least seven girls that can score in double digits every night is the fact they understand basketball is a team game. This team understands that to be successful, they have to be unselfish and share the basketball and what I have come to notice is that it doesn't matter to this team who is scoring, as long as someone is scoring. Giorgis' squad really understands the meaning of the word "team."

This carries over to the defensive side of the ball as well. They play excellent team defense and can really cause a headache for opposing players. One thing about Marist is the fact that they are excellent at rebounding the basketball. Their key is that on every shot, all five players on the floor are boxing out. This is obvious because on most defensive rebounds there are no opponents anywhere close. Marist really plays a well rounded game and showed that against both Yale and Bucknell. These aspects will continue to grow over the season, but they were apparent over the last two games at McCann.

Thursday: Marist 77 Yale 62
Saturday : Marist 68 Bucknell 56

Seeking Revenge

Thursday night at 7:30pm the Lady Red Foxes will finally play their home opener. At 6-1, Marist has played all seven games to start the season on the road and Brian Giorgis and his squad are finally happy to be home. This wasn't any normal road trip either. The team was barely home and when they were, they were getting home late and waking up early the next morning to leave for another game. I would compare it almost to a west coast trip in the NBA. Traveling aside, the team was in Hawaii for some of that time and also returned home with a 6-1 record, so we won't feel too bad for them.

Thursday night they host Yale. Yale leads the all time series 2-0 with both wins coming at home. This will be the first time the two meet in Poughkeepsie. Last season Marist went to Yale and suffered a double digit defeat, falling to the Bulldogs 67-52. This year the one thing on Marist's mind besides extending their winning streak this season to seven straight, is revenge. In talking with Brian Giorgis, he said the biggest things his girls will have on their mind coming into this game is revenge. He said last season his team just didn't play their best basketball against Yale and Yale played phenomenally. This year the Red Foxes want to make sure they show Yale and their home crowd how good they really are.

Tomorrow's game at McCann should draw a good crowd from the Poughkeepsie area. But the team's newest campaign is to make more of those fans students. Although the team leads the MAAC in attendance, the women wish they could draw more students in the McCann Center's student section. So make sure you make it to the game and if you cant, they play again Saturday at 2pm against Bucknell at home. This game will be special because in the pregame ceremonies, the Marist Red Foxes will be honored for their efforts last season and a Sweet 16 banner will be raised to the rafters.

Event: Yale @ Marist

When: 7:30pm

Where: McCann Center

Listen: WMAR Marist Radio. Listen to the webcast at http://www.maristradio.net/

Hawaii 3-0

First off in case you didnt catch it I took my title from the popular 70's television show that aired on CBS, "Hawaii Five-0." A little before my time but I do believe I caught it once a few years ago on some channel that was replaying it. Anyway lets come back to the year 2007. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. In case you were wondering mine was very enjoyable and also special because I was able to see a lot of my family that I usually don't get a chance to see very often because they live out west.

As for the Marist Women's Basketball team, I'm sure they enjoyed their Thanksgiving as well. First off they went to Hawaii for a week and didn't have to pay a nickel. I don't care if I'm going to Hawaii for a week to stare at a wall, if its free, I'm happy. The team was able to do more than stare at a wall however as they were obviously there for a basketball tournament. Lets just say this team continues to impress all, even with the high standards they have set for themselves.

In game 1 they knocked off a Utah team in overtime which would prove to be their biggest challenge of the trip. Marist pratically trailed the entire game, being down as much as ten at one point. But if we learned anything from this team last year and so far this year, it is that they can put together boat loads of points in very little time. Sure enough Utah found that out the hard way as Marist tied the game with :58 seconds left. That tie remained and pushed the game into overtime where Marist's Rachele Fitz scored the first four points of extra time and Marist would never look back. Utah also learned that Rachele Fitz is no joke. Fitz tallied 26 points and 10 rebounds in this one just giving the tournament a brief introduction of what she would do over the three game span. Final score Marist 70, Utah 66.

Next up for the Foxes in Honolulu was Nebraska. Again Marist fell behind early, trailing 14-4. But as always Marist soon struck back with one of their patented runs and before Nebraska knew it, the game was tied at 18. Marist would soon after take the lead, and never look back defeating the Cornhuskers 66-59. Rachele Fitz had herself a day as well. She only scored a career high 28 points and hauled down 11 rebounds. Juliane Viani also added a season high 17 points and a solid five rebounds and four assists really playing a well rounded game.

The final game for the foxes came on Saturday againt Eastern Washington. Marist entered the game looking to complete the Hawaiin sweep and that they did. In their easiest of games, they downed Eastern Washington 74-50 behind 16 points from who else but Fitz. You know soon enough I may get sick of writing the girls name so much. Fitz was named to the All-Oahu Classic Team for her efforts in the tournament. Not only did Marist return home from Hawaii with a nice tan, but now a record on the season of 6-1.

Life on the Road

Marist is 4 games into their season, and is yet to play a home game. In fact their next three games are also on the road which means the ladies will have played seven straight road games before they come home for their home opener. But lets not feel too bad for them because although their next three games arent at the McCann Center, they will all be played on the same court in Honolulu, Hawaii. Now I haven't made my way around asking all the members and coaches of the team where they would rather play, but I know I would rather play in Hawaii than Poughkeepsie. They go there to face a nice schedule as well, gauranteed to play three games against Utah, Nebraska, and Eastern Washington. It will be a nice test for Giorgis and his squad and there is a very good chance that this team makes another statement and wins this tournament, bringing the trophy back to Pouhgkeepsie. If Marist can win all three games in Hawaii or at least 2 of 3, they will be off to a start that you have to be happy with, especially having yet to play at home. Marist will play its three games in Hawaii on November 22nd (Thanksgiving day), 23rd and 24th.

Here they Come

It hasn't taken very long for the Lady Red Foxes to start rolling in the early part of this season. After losing the season opener, Marist has come out and won three straight in convincing fashion. There last three games (all wins) were road games against Fordham, Stony Brook and Dartmouth. The women didn't give any of their opponents a chance either, winning all three games by double digits. The beat Fordham 77-55, Stony Brook 65-54, and today embarrased Dartmouth 71-35 to improve to 3-1 on the season. Over those three game Rachele Fitz averaged 14.7 points per game and Meg Dahlman averaged 11.6 points per game, but only had 3 points in the win over Dartmouth. This is the frontcourt dominance we can expect from the these two ladies as this season grows on. Sure Dahlman and Fitz only combined for 13 points against Dartmouth, but the backcourt stepped up and Marist also dominated Dartmouth from the opening tip so the game was never in jeopardy. Ten minutes into the game Marist probably knew they had the game wrapped up, so Dahlman let Viani and freshamn Elise Caron dominate as the two both scored 14 apiece in this one. Marist is now rolling and will take this momentum to Hawaii for the Thanksgiving tournament.

Early Test

Early test? The earliest test you can have. Why not try and pick up where you left off last year was the thought Marist had when scheduling their out of conference schedule. Seven months ago Marist shocked the world and upset 4th seeded Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. On Sunday Brian Girogis and his talented squad went to Colombus to open their season and try to shock again. Marist trailed big early and by 15 at half, but when they finally got the jitters out they looked up at the scoreboard to find themselves within two of of the 16th seeded Buckeyes with under two minutes to go and left Ohio State thinking if it could happen again. Unfortunately Marist fell 63-57 and dropped the season opener. But this team again showed that all the hype surrounding this team coming into the season was deserved. If Marist were to play Ohio State a few weeks into the season when all the kinks are out, I think they definitely beat this Ohio State team.

To be optimistic as I always am, I want to look at the positives we can take from this loss. First off Marist kept it close with Rachele Fitz and Meg Dahlman combining to shoot 6-19 from the field, and more surprisingly did not attempt a single free throw. In fact Marist only went to the free throw line 5 times compared to 22 times for the Buckeyes. Something tells me this wasn't all the fault of the Red Foxes not drawing fouls. Any basketball fan knows that when their is a free throw discrepency as large as this one, the officials may not have done a solid job. I wasn't there to see the game but it seems like Marist may have received some difficult treatment from the Ohio State officials. That being said, when this one was over Marist found themselves on a losing streak. Did I just say losing streak for this Marist women's team? The last time this team lost two games in a row was their second and third games of the 06-07 season when they lost to Duke and Villanova back to back. So back to this streak, dating back to last year and their season ending loss to Tennessee, this loss to Ohio State technically started a two game losing streak. Im going to just say on record this will be the last losing streak we see this season by this team. Lets just prepare for the winning streaks this team stacks up this year.

Expectations

This season for the Lady Red Foxes will be a season of can you top this. Last season the Marist Women's Basketball team had the best season in Marist women's basketball history reaching the sweet 16 of the the NCAA Tournament. To make a run like they did last year would once again shock the nation and provide a buzz the Poughkeepsie area hasn't had since the days of Rik Smits.
There are many questions fans and critics have of this 2007, Brain Giorgis coached squad. First off this team is returning 4 of 5 starters from last year, which is always a good sign when that starting lineup was the one that made the Lady Foxes one of the top womens teams in the nation last year. However that loss in the starting lineup is 2 time MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Alisa Kresge. Although Kresge was not a scorer, ironically she is also probably the most irreplacable player this women's team has had in awhile. Although her game didn't revolve at all around putting the ball in the bucket, she ran Brian Giorgis offensive perfectly and was also their defensive stopper. With Kresge gone Marist will have to turn to a new player to take over at the point gaurd position.
Although Kresge is gone, this is by no means a year where Marist should expect results that fall below last year. That doesn't mean however that if they fail to reach the sweet 16 again it is a dissapointment. But they are expected to dominate the MAAC conference again and also hopefully make some noise in March. Kresge is a big loss but is practically all they lose. Not to mention the fact a new face on the Marist squad is the 2006 Canadian Player of the year Elise Caron, a freshman that I'm sure Giorgis will be training to take over where Kresge left off. Don't expect her to play too much early on, but she will develop into a monster here at Marist. They also return sharp-shooting Julianne Viani, the athletic Nikki Flores and one of the best frontcourts in all of Women's College Basketball consisting of Meg Dahlman, Sarah Smrdel and oh yea speaking of that frontcourt, reigning MAAC rooking of the year and MAAC preseason player of the year Rachele Fitz is back and only getting better. Hopefully the mixture between the experienced backcourt of Flores and Viani, a deep bench, and this dominant frontcourt will expunge all worries of no Kresge. Be ready for Marist to roll through the MAAC, crack the top 25 poll, and do some damage in the NCAA tournament this year.