SJU was supposed to take off at 6:30 p.m. last Tuesday. Instead, they didn't take off until 8, which meant dinner was pushed back to 9:45. Not terrible but not ideal.
The Hawks lost the game and headed for the airport. Their plane was there, but it had not been started. Finally, after 90 minutes, they boarded and it was 20 degrees inside. One of the engines would not start. They figured they would be home by midnight. Instead, it was midnight and nothing was happening.
Finally, around 2 a.m., the plane warmed up. Then, it started to move around 4:30 and took off at 4:45, landing in Philly at 5:45 a.m., just in time for Thursday to begin.
ONLY IN PHILLY:
There were two Hall of Fame coaches at St. Joseph's Prep on Sunday to see the Prep vs. La Salle. And they were not recruiting anybody.
Princeton's Pete Carril sat on the Prep bench, near his friend Speedy Morris, the Prep coach. Temple's John Chaney was there to support his old friend Morris as well.
Is there another city in America where you could see something like that?
BEST FAN SECTION:
In this city, it has to be Drexel. Others have more participants. None is as enthusiastic as the DAC Pack. It is loud and creative, with fun being the operative word. And the Dac Pack has a really good team to watch.
SUPER-CONSISTENT OWLS:
Temple's current streak of 93 games without losing consecutively is the third-longest active run behind Kansas (223) and Duke (108) as well as the second best in school history (129 from Dec. 8, 1984 through March 24, 1988).
GAME OF THE YEAR:
I do not understand how an enterprising promoter has not lined up Towson-Binghamton for the game everybody wants to see. What is the matter with ESPN? We are talking 0-21 vs. 0-19, the last two winless Division I teams, a game that one of them has to win.
Perhaps, if neither wins through the end of the season, both teams could be flown to New Orleans for Final Four weekend and play at the Superdome on the Sunday between the semifinals and championship game. The loser gets a trophy.
ODYSSEY STOPS IN LAWRENCEVILLE:
