Sports Central

A bunch of stuff

What with the impending girls basketball playoff announcement, the start of the boys basketball playoffs (tonight), the culmination of the hockey playoffs this week and next Monday, plus the Frost Heaves' season winding slowly down, there is a lot going on. And you can throw the state wrestling championships where Spaulding has an excellent chance at second place in the state, the Nordic championships half way home (Stowe placed 1, 2, 3, 5 in the Division II classical race), and the Alpine championships on the way. Don't forget Norwich hockey (men's and women's this year) winding down along with the Cadets men's and women's basketball teams and UVM and ... well, you get the picture.

It's almost too much. That's not a complaint, just a statement.

I'm not sure which intrigues me the most, all of it I guess, but some things more than others. These are the teams I will be paying a little extra attention to this over the next two weeks.

The Twinfield girls basketball team is a powerhouse, nearly unbeatable in its own realm and with the added experience of the championship game last year in their utility belts.

The Spaulding girls basketball team seems to be as good as it wants to be, even with 19-0 (and probably 20-0 in the end) BFA-St. Albans waiting on the playoff horizon. The Crimson Tide is fast, if not tall, and capable of beating anyone in the state.

The Harwood boys basketball team is very good and the U-32 Raiders are, at best, a half step behind. The playoff set up, with Mt. Abraham and Windsor seeded ahead of the Central Vermont pair, would not have a Harwood/U-32 playoff game until the championship. What could be better for the Barre Auditorium. (Although a Montpelier upset of Otter Valley in Wednesday puts the Solons into a quarterfinal matchup against a winning U-32 team ... cool.)

Notwithstanding Saturday's blip of a loss against a .500 Castleton team, the Norwich men's hockey team looks as good as it has over the past few years. The offense is especially strong, which pleases the fans and tends to worry coaches who would love for the team's strength to be at the defensive end. Don't worry, the Cadets are plenty strong at the defensive end.

Think about this for a minute, The Vermont Frost Heaves have lost a total of eight games in one and three quarters seasons of basketball.  This year the team is 26-4 with nobody on the remaining schedule that has a win against Vermont this year. Last year the team lost only four games on the way to the American Basketball Association championship. Eight losses in roughly 75 games ... Yikes! Obviously the Heaves are going to have to figure out how to beat Manchester to win back-to-back championships, but that hardly seems insurmountable.

It's not even March and, locally, the madness is here.

   

"Big" signing for Frost Heaves

On Thursday, the Vermont Frost Heaves added some size to their line-up with the signing of former Vanderbilt center Ted Skuchas.

Skuchas, a 6'1" center from Philadelphia, Pa., was supposed to play in Germany's first division but broke his hand prior to the first game. He was part of Vandy's run in the NCAA tournament last year.

Pete wrote a story about the signing for Friday's (today's) paper, but for any number of reasons it didn't make it into Friday's edition. I won't spill any more beans on this guy because the story will run as a sidebar to tonight's game at Montreal. Skuchas will be in uniform, wearing Tyrone Levitt's No. 45.

--Anna Grearson

"Big

Sunday is National Girls & Women in Sports Day @ NU

National Girls & Women in Sports Day was a big deal at my school, and I'm glad to see Norwich is also taking part. Here's the release the sports information folks sent out, and I encourage any and all area girls to get involved.

NORWICH TO HOST EVENT FOR NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY

NORTHFIELD, Vt. –In conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Norwich University will host a day-long event, filled with sport clinics and a myriad of fun activities, for girls in the community on Sunday, Feb. 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event is hosted by Norwich University’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the NU Athletic Department, Norwich’s Student Affairs, the Norwich Wellness Committee, the NU Physical Education Department and John Fricke and Associates.

All girls in grades K-8 are invited to attend the event, which will take place at the Northfield campus. Check-in will be held in the lobby of Andrews Hall at 9:30am, and events will be held in various athletics facilities on campus.

Student-athletes from each of Norwich’s women’s varsity teams will be coaching the children in activities ranging from basketball, volleyball and soccer to softball, swimming and lacrosse.

Children who plan to attend Sunday’s event are encouraged to come dressed in athletic clothing, and wear sneakers. Children who wish to use the swimming pool should bring a bathing suit and towel. The event is free to all and lunch will be provided.

--Anna Grearson

Final - 98-85 Manchester

read tomorrow's paper!

Manchester 72-71 @ end of 3rd

Issa Konare just sank 2 foul shots with no time left in the quarter to pull Vermont within 1 for like the 100th time this quarter.

--Anna Grearson

Manchester 50-41 @ half

Who needs Ife Anosike, Ismael Caro and Rob Sanders? Apparently not Manchester. Write it down, folks. I was wrong on that one. At least for this first half.
Remember my very biased like of Anthony Anderson? Yeah, kid has 14 points off 2-of-3 from 3 and the unofficial record for longest shorts in the league. PJ Young, who I've never seen shoot well from 3, is 3-of-3 from outside and also has 14 points.
Dokun Akingbade leads Vermont with nine, and Issa Konare has seven.
Vermont coach Will Voigt can't be pleased with the rebounding - Manchester has that advantage, 24-23.

--Anna Grearson

25-13 Manchester, end of 1st

Yeah. Weird. You can imagine how this happened...

Manchester gets hot from 3...Vermont does not.

And another thing...the maracas are not match to the cowbells. But the glo-sticks for the pre-game announcement of the starters was different.

-Anna Grearson

Pre-Game

7:00 to tip...

Though the Milne Travel bus had to be cancelled for lack of numbers, the Vermont fans in attendance tonight may once again have come close to equalling the Manchester fans. Maybe the Millrats faithful have embraced this rivalry like the Vermonters?

Rumor has it that Rob Sanders has left the team/was released. Either way, his large frame is not warming up with the rest of the team in front of me. Manchester has made a lot of roster moves since the last meeting between these two teams, and the absence of Sanders, Anosike and Caro should be more than palpable.

2:25 to tip...

--Anna Grearson

I'm Manchester bound...you should be, too.

At this time tomorrow night we'll know if Manchester takes the season series at 4-2 or if Vermont has evened it at 3. Unless of course that evil overtime rears it's ugly head. Let's all hope for my sanity that there is no OT.

I informed Pete I was going to this game earlier in the season...about an hour after the infamous fight night at Memorial Auditorium, actually. I had decided before the game was (declared) over that I was going, I just had to concoct a scheme to convince him. It went a little something like this: "Hey Pete. I'm going to Manchester on Feb. 2. Write it down. Um, that okay?" He is awesome and wise, and therefore I will be in Manchester tomorrow night.

Vermont is headed into this game at 22-3 on a 9-game win-streak (the longest in team history). Manchester is 17-9 and just walloped the Boston Blizzard 143-82 at home at Southern New Hampshire University this past Sunday.

Manchester has tagged Vermont with all three of it's losses, but that Millrats team is not exactly the team the Heaves will see tomorrow night. Manchester lost Ife Anosike and Ismael Caro as a result of the incidents in Vermont in January, and have since added to it's roster, making the outcome of this game near impossible to guess.

What's more, the atmosphere at SNHU is...interesting. It's total sensory overload. The Millrats play music constantly - whether the ball is in play or not - and I'm not talking some bland elevator music, either. I'm talking full-out warm-up level tunes. I've left with a headache both times I've gone. So while your ears are being harassed, your eyes are watching basketball, that game with clear glass backboards, right? Wrong, my friend. Wrong. You are indeed watching basketball, but the backboards are neon yellow. Like Best Buy tag-neon yellow. As in, there's a huge Best Buy tag between the glass and the supports. On both ends. As in, WHAT?! I tip my hat to those players who hit bank shots because that means they were somehow able to find the square.

And with all the hating on Vermont that goes on in this league because of the fan's cowbells, Manchester's answer is going to be to hand out 500 maracas at tomorrow night's game. I feel like the Grinch over here. "noise, Noise, NOISE!"

But really, it clearly doesn't get any better than the Vermont-Manchester rivalry in the ABA these days. This is really why I'm going. I'm a basketball purist, and I'm purely going for the basketball. These teams play the games like a championship, or so they all keep saying, and then they prove it by leaving it all on the floor. With all the drama in the ABA, both on the court and off, these two teams are actually playing basketball. Sometimes I wonder if other bloggers remember that this is about basketball.

One Manchester player who has seemed to get lost in the shuffle of all the negativity surrounding the last game is guard Anthony Anderson. Now, I may be a bit biased as I am a raging UMass fan (those Minutemen started this whole basketball obsession circa Marcus Camby, Donta Bright, Dana Dingle, the Padilla brothers, the original Carmelo (Travieso, hello!), amongst others), but this kid plays well. He's ProBasketballNews' Minor League Player of the Week last week. That's from a pool of not just the ABA, but the CBA, PBL, and the D-League, too. Let's pay attention to him, huh?

That is all. Mayhaps I'll liveblog the game from press row tomorrow night...

--Anna Grearson