It was a fun hoops weekend as we saw college games in two very historic college basketball venues. On Saturday we took our first trip to the famed Palestra in Philadelphia for the Hoop Group Philly Classic. Regarded as the Cathedral of basketball, we could see why. Although the place was not packed for any of the four games, the corridor is like a walk through the Hall of Fame with some of the displays featuring the greats of the game that have played there.
Every seat has a great view of the action and it does get loud. I could only imagine how high the decibel level would be with a packed house in a big game.
The highlight of the four game slate was the final game of the evening, when Seton Hall stunned 23rd ranked Virginia. The Pirates were determined and outworked their ACC opponent. Brian Laing was terrific, and there were good efforts across the board from Seton Hall. Jr. Paul Gause made his usual amount of hustle plays, including some rebounds against much bigger players. There was a vocal group of Seton Hall fans who made the trip down the Turnpike and enjoyed themselves cheering their team on to the exciting win. Former Bergen Catholic star Adrian Joseph got the start for Virginia and is finally getting his chance to play major minutes.
The Hoop Group put on the college event which started on campus sites and than brought the 8 teams to Philadelphia. One of the interesting aspects of the event which had all four games Saturday broadcast on CN8 were the number of coaches who had worked for the Hoop Group before going back to the sidelines. Robert Morris Head Coach Mike Rice and Assistant Andy Toole were both Directors of Eastern Invitational Camp, as was Navy Assistant Joe Burke, as were Penn Assistant Chris Sparks and Seton Hall Director of Basketball Operations Steve Sauers.
On Sunday we went up to the Armory in Jersey City. It was billed as the first college game in the building since 1975. However we were there a few times in the early 1990’s to see Hudson County College play. Passaic County College was coached back then by current Passaic County College Head Coach Rich Corsetto. And as an Assistant for Kean College in those days I was trying to recruit Phil Bryant. Still one of the best dunkers we have seen. Unfortunately he decided not to go to Kean, but that’s another story. We have also been to the Armory a few times over the years for high school games with St. Anthony’s, including the popular charity high school event the Dan Finn Classic.
The place looked much better with some improvements made including better lighting and a new scoreboard. The buidling that was the home for many of the great St. Peter’s teams of the 60’s and 70’s had that old time charm similar to the Palestra. According to North Jersey sportswriter Jim Hague who we sat next to at courtside, some of the greats that had played in the Armory were Artis Gillmore and Calvin Murphy.
The story of this game was St. Peter’s and their upset win over Rutgers. St. Peter’s looks much improved from their 5 wins of last season. The Peacocks started three freshman including Wesley Jenkins from Bloomfield Tech who shot the lights out, hitting 5-6 treys.
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