Note - this is a reprint from an artice posted in February, but still valid in content, and a little introduction into the world of D2 basketball appropriate to start the season
Hello all… this is my first and maybe only foray into the D2 East Hoops world of words, but Chris, Steve and Tim do enough for the site and it’s time for me to step up my game. They are the face of d2easthoops.org, and I’m the behind-the-scenes guy who does his best to support their craft and keep the website humming. That’s the real point of this essay, but I do want to bring up a few thoughts that were flowing through my head at 3 a.m. when sleep was as unattainable as a three-quarter-court Hail Mary.
Chris and Steve have been following D2 hoops in the region and writing about it for many years, but the site has been around for about seven. It was created so there would be an easier way to communicate news, updates and information to their growing audience. For years this was done via email, but it made sense to have a place online to store and communicate all the goings-on in the region.
Veterans of the written word but not so much the electronic realm, they turned to Presto Sports to help develop a website. Presto came through with a template that we still use today, and it allows us to display scores, statistics and standings in addition to the writings and podcasts we create. It’s not flexible, but I do what I can with it, and as we learn more about how it behaves, we plan to add more content and features.
Why D2 basketball – and why D2 in general? For Chris and me, it grew out of being LeMoyne alumni and basketball fans, and Steve fell in love with D2 basketball as a freshman at Stonehill College. His passion didn’t die when he graduated, and he even published a New England college basketball newspaper for a decade. Over the years, Chris and I have worked in Division I and professional sports as well, but there IS something special at the D2 level, and basketball in particular. Professional and Division I basketball have made the sport elite, a must-watch event, typically due to the almost superhuman skills of the athletes on the court. Great, athletic, gifted players can take over a game and be successful almost in spite of a lack of basketball fundamentals.
That doesn’t happen at this level, where you will find some amazing athletes, but the recipe for winning, and winning consistently, doesn’t rely on making sure you get the next group of players from the McDonald’s All American Game. It instead requires attracting the best student-athletes that you can, balancing their academic and athletic priorities, and coaching and teaching them both on and off the court to reach a level of excellence. It means long bus rides and trips in cramped vans, sometimes driven by the coaches. It means not having the luxuries that the elite players at other levels have.
But somewhere along the way, it works out, and I think the lack of those amenities helps. Players and staff can become as close as families, and friendships last forever. I know that can happen anywhere, but the nature of the blue-collar workaholic efforts that it takes to be successful at the D2 level seem to create a more robust foundation. Coaches and players are more down-to-earth and approachable, and we have been fortunate to spends parts of our lives with them.
Division II basketball is a great product. It showcases some amazing athletes, great coaching, well-played fundamental basketball, and gets us an occasional foray into something more – players in the NBA and wins over our Division I counterparts. Much of that has happened in our region; players like Manute Bol (Bridgeport), Mario Elie (AIC), Garth Joseph (Saint Rose), and Jaylen Morris (Molloy) all had stints in the NBA, and many other D2 schools outside our region have made frequent contributions to NBA rosters.
LeMoyne beating a 30-5 Syracuse team in a 2009 exhibition remains a career highlight for many players, coaches and fans, and one that Chris and I won’t ever forget. The atmosphere in the Carrier Dome – where I have worked for many years - was not exhibition in nature, and sitting in the broadcast chair after the game, it took a while for the win to sink in. St.Thomas Aquinas took an undermanned St. John’s team behind the woodshed in 2015, forcing 27 turnovers in a 90-58 rout. A big win outside our region happened with Augustana (SD) defeated Iowa that same year. Most of these matchups are exhibitions, but in 2014, The University of the Sciences stunned Drexel with a regular season 54-52 upset on the Dragons home court! There are many other examples that have left Division I teams scratching their heads.
I do like working at the D1 level, and it is fun and exciting to be a part of the “big time,” but I love working at this level as well. As I typically tell people, we still get the fun of it all, without all the pressure that comes working at a higher level.
LeMoyne players celebrating after their win over Syracuse in 2009.
Why is all of this important? I think because for the most part, D2 does it the right way. It’s not as much about money, cutthroat recruiting, and dare I say, the cheating that takes place at the D1 level. It’s about kids choosing the right school that is a better fit academically, geographically, socially, and economically. Though the number of transfers has risen recently, many schools still work on recruiting four-year players and giving them a good four-year education, while developing them into great basketball players and even better human beings.
We humans, for some reason, like to collect things. Whether it be baseball cards, dolls, music boxes, those little spoons you get from gift shops, Pez dispensers,
things with cats on them – people collect just about anything. My son Alex, who lives in the mysterious and puzzling world of Autism, collects hair clippers and vacuum cleaners. My dad? He used to collect opera music CDs. Stamps, coins, sports memorabilia, rare books – the list goes on.
For us living in this D2 basketball world, we are collectors as well, of the memories we have experienced in nearly 40 years of following the sport. Whether it be the excitement of a D1 upset, a championship and all the obstacles it takes to get there, or simpler things that happen along the way. Chris and I still joke about the Howard Johnson’s in Milford, Connecticut where we had to walk through a dozen doors just to get to our room. Those memories that players have span not much more than four years, but they will be precious to them as they get older. For Chris, Steve and me, and to some extent Tim and Karl as well, there are many more years of memories.
Alex’s vacuum cleaners, all lined up like the Daleks of Dr. Who fame, waiting to be released to take over the world!
This website has become a place to both recall and store those memories, while new ones are being created. It gives us a place to house our works, collect our thoughts, and honor those that deserve accolades. It gives us a place to remember those we have lost, like Darrell “Hollerin” Halloran (Pace), the great Bert Hammel (Merrimack), and most recently, Pat Filien (St.Rose). It gives us a place to remember schools that are closed or will be closing (see Chris’ article on Concordia at https://d2hoop.prestosports.com/men/features/Super_75/MEN-S_NOTEBOOK). It gives us a place to record and follow the statistics and numbers of all the current games, and work on what we’re going to write in the future. More and more, it is becoming a focal point for those who are part of the Division II basketball community in the East region.
Three of the many that we miss, left to right: Darrell Halloran (Pace), Bert Hammel(Merrimack), and Pat Filien (St. Rose).
In order to keep this going, we need some financial help. These efforts have always been a labor of love, and nobody collects any salaries for doing any of this. Our only expense that we can’t handle is our bill from Presto Sports each year; our pockets simply aren’t deep enough to continue to pay for the site ourselves. If you see value in what we do, please consider a donation at our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/D2easthoops . And if you have ideas for subjects for us to cover in the future, or for site changes, or any comments at all, please reach out to us. Our contact information is here https://d2hoop.prestosports.com/men/contact_us .
Thank you for all your support!
Don Familo