MBB: Colonial States Athletic Conference

[chairman]

A question and two brief comments before bed.

Jon, as the man who knows where the PAC code is and how to read it, can you say with certainty whether men's basketball reseeds after the opening round? That is to say, if Wesley beats Immac to they win the Golden ticket to play at the PEC? Or is it automatically the Neumann vs Eastern winner?

Secondly, I want to congratulate Garrett Etzl on his 1000th point tonight. That is a very impressive accomplishment for a player to reach in three years. It's made more impressive by the limited number of shots it has taken him to get there.

Third, I request the opportunity to post my year-end all PAC team. I'll not give explanations on anything other than what needs it.

First team:
Finger, Etzl, Shawell, R. Johnson (Wesley), and Boettcher (kills me to put a kid on a non-playoff team on the first team, but he had the ability to dominate games, and you can't totally blame him when his teammates completely forgot to throw him the ball. He has flaws I'm sure, but I saw him seal guys completely in their home game against Gwynedd and watched as his teammates ignored the pin and chucked it up. I can't say how often that happened, but I would vernture a guess that it happened more than it should have.)

Second team:
Jones (Immac), Smith (GMC this is tough, because he has missed on the front and the back now.) Dehran Patrick, Finklea, and Johnson (EU)

Honorable Mention: DelBrocco, Reid, Wildasin, DiMaria, Baumunk

COY: Tough one here. Even though I think Miller has done a great job reloading his squad at the Vern, I think it has to go to Jamie Chadwin at Immac. To take a second year program to a top three seed is a very impressive feat.

Player of the year: Tonight sealed it for me, and it is an upset, but I think that no one at the Vern would question it. Finger takes it. More than anyone in the league, he controls the game. On the four or five critical possessions of the night tonight, after Alvernia struggled a bit, he took control of the basketball and got it to the right place. 16p,12r, 9a .... probably one of his better lines on the year, but I imagine every coach in the league save one will be thrilled to see him move on. He's solid on the defensive end, and is near the top of the league in shooting percentage. Alvernia is 16-2 in the league with the second place team quite a bit back. IMO it has to go to an Alvernia player. Early in the year I thought it was Shawell, and he is good-- a no doubt first teamer, but I am very comfortable with my pick on this one.

ROY: After tonight I haven't got a clue. Best freshman on the floor tonight was Reels, but he made 75% of his season highlight tape tonight, so he's not in the running. King looked very tentative down the stretch (that is to say like a freshman), and I am reopening the voting on this.

These are just my picks, and I would hope that the rest of you step up and post yours.

[chairman]

A little surprised to see the literary equivalent to deadwood here on the PAC chat line. I thought I laid down the challenge to pick all league teams, and the only sound is the whistling wind.
I was also half expecting someone from across the street to post. Feel free to post all league tams or at least rip me to pieces for mine.

[heatlee]

I can't believe that no Cabrini fans have posted anything about the firing of the basketball coach.  This move, though it may be the right one, has just set recruiting back even further.

[Coach C]

heatlee-

Maybe folks are out recruiting to help whoever the new coach will be.

My thoughts on the subject are fairly well known.  This young man was put in a tough spot and he apparently wasn't ready.  he may be some day, but not right now.

The Cabrini program will recover.  They need to find the best available coach who can recognize the past program quaility while developing a foundation for the future.

C

[lefty2]

C,

As they say - "Never replace a legend."

[heatlee]

What Cabrini needs to do is hire someone within the Cabrini family.  Someone like Pat Zipfel.  He's been a head coach at Bucks County, at Centenary College where he took that team to an ECAC berth, and he is currently an advanced scout for an NBA team. He could take Cbrini back to the top. That's who they should hire.

[Coach C]

Lee -

I'd agree that an alum or member of the Dzik era staffs would be a strong choice.  I am already hearing a few names, but I am not sure that Zip will be among them.  He's been pretty tough on the current AD and that might not put him in a good position to work for her.

C

[D3fan14]

Its a shame Macciocca never seemed to have a chance from the beginning.

What names are in the mix?

Word is, AD is a finalist at another college.

[chairman]

Wow. Ask and you shall receive. Six posts in two hours on the news of the day.
I heard things in a very unofficial way and was trying to ascertain whether things were made public. I hope that Macciocca lands on his feet somewhere and is able to get a fresh start in a better situation. He came in to a really tough spot, and while he made things tough on himself with some of the ways he dealt with things and things he said, it is perfectly understandable why a young guy coming into that position would want to project absolute confidence rather than defer to the things which had already been built.

It will be interesting to see if Cabrini will bring in someone with historical ties to the Dzik era. It will be tough to do either way. Anyone with long standing loyalty will likely be seen as a threat to the current administration, and anyone without connection to the legend will likely be regarded with suspicion by the alums.

Any picks on the games tomorrow?

[saratoga]

Please bear with me PAC fans as I take a moment of your time on your board. The situation Cabrini currently finds itself in regard to firing their current coach after putting him in this job just two short but, seemingly long years ago was due to only one thing...your "current" President was unable to deal with the fact that a man the stature  of Coach Dzik may be looking over her shoulder & only because of her personal insecurities was he let go. Coach D & I met many years ago & at that time he mentioned how much he desired respect for this new conference and how he so much appreciated what Coach Bessoir had brought to the MAC & his wish was for the same fortunes for all PAC members. This man brought a purpose & a passion not only to the game...but more importantly, for the game and to his school. Cabrini is not a better place without Coach D...as a matter of fact, many in the world of academia would say Cabrini is currently aimlessly floating in that awkward space reserved for those special schools that may one day soon not see another entering freshman class. University's make changes all the time, it's when the changes made are for personal rather than professional growth...that the results can be devestating...Cabrini, under this current administration is on such a path.

[The Observation Deck]

Its a shame Macciocca never seemed to have a chance from the beginning.

What names are in the mix?

Word is, AD is a finalist at another college.

Perhaps he shouldn't have come into the job badmouthing the previous coaching staff and running off their players. Just a thought.

[Coach C]

Saratoga -

Very well put.  You are always welcome on PAC Chat!

OD -

Yeah - Maccoccia made some mistakes.  Hopefully he learns from them.

C

[East Coast Eagle]

Yes he came into a tough situation.

He did have players when he got here, but they all transferred or quit.

That was his biggest mistake, letting all Dziks recriuts leave.

Imagine Fitzgerald, Daily, McMahon, Reid and Macelland as Cabrini's starting five this year. I think they would have a home game tomorrow afternoon.

[Coach P]

Time and again during his high school years, Matt Macciocca would sneak into the old Founder's Hall gym at Cabrini for little pickup b-ball. More often than not, he'd be discovered and shown the door.


The stubborn kid from Radnor, Pa., just minutes from campus, would be back again the next day. And the day after.


"The outdoor courts in the area stunk back then, recalled Macciocca (pronounced Ma-CHUCK-a and mispronounced 742 assorted ways). "The cement was cracked, the rims were all bent. We needed somewhere to play. I tried to sneak into Cabrini dozens of times, maybe hundreds."


Thirteen years after Macciocca's last attempt at infiltration, Cabrini showed him the door one more time. The door to his new office.


On April 19, 2005, his 31st birthday, Macciocca became just the third head coach in the proud history of Cabrini men's basketball. The Cavaliers have won 15 conference titles in the past 26 years, including eight titles in the 14 years since they joined the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC).


Today Macciocca no longer has to sneak into the gym. He owns a shiny new key to the new arena in the Dixon Center. HIs mission: Restore Cabrini to the Division III elite status it enjoyed in the 1990s under longtime coach John Dzik.


In 2005-06 "Coach Chuck" took a small team with equally small expectations and went 11-14 (8-10 in the PAC), tying for the sixth and final playoff spot in a 10-team league. Only the arcane tie-breaker formula kept the Cavs out of the postseason. (That and a pair of two-point losses to the defending champs.)


Their trademark became the never-say-die comeback, including a rally from 25 down to beat Marywood and a surge from 24 down to overtake Misericordia -- both on the road.


If you're wondering if Matt Macciocca can get it done, consider this: Here's a guy who's faced far greater challenges than a mere 25-point deficit at Marywood. Here's a guy who's glared over at the opposition bench and seen one Mike Krzyzewski of Duke glaring back.


"I remember standing on the baseline at [Duke's] Cameron Indoor Stadium during warmups my first year as an assistant at Wake Forest," Macciocca said. "They were No. 3 in the nation and we were No. 4. Game was on ESPN and everything. I'm thinking, 'This crowd isn't so bad. We can handle this.'


"Then all of a sudden the PA booms out, "HERE...COMES...DUKE!" and the team takes the court and the energy from the crowd goes ballistic. I'm thinking, 'This is unreal. This is big-time.'"


In 13 years of college basketball leading up to Cabrini -- four as a player (at Allentown College, now DeSales University) and nine as an assistant coach (at Allentown, Wake Forest and Kings Point) -- Macciocca had been with one losing team (as a freshman), one .500 club (as a sophomore), and then 11 straight winners. Eight earned postseason bids, including four NCAA tournament berths and an NIT championship with Wake Forest in 2000.


Eleven winners in 11 years. That may have something to do with the dogged, aggressive attitude he perfected in high school, both in his adventures in Founder's Hall and in his all-star career at Radnor High. At Radnor he made all-Delaware County, all-Central League, all-Suburban and all-Main Line as a 6-2 small forward, averaging 17 points and seven rebounds.
Cabrini showed little interest in recruiting him, but Allentown went after him hard, so he packed his bags and embarked on a career as a role player who gave it all he had for the few minutes a night they untied his leash and sicced him on the opposition.


As a senior in 1995-96, Macciocca helped Allentown reach the PAC title game (losing to Cabrini) and earn what remains the only NCAA tournament bid in school history. In the NCAA loss to Wilkes, he drilled an inconsequential three-pointer at the buzzer and filed the moment away as a sweet final flourish to a basketball career that was about to become history.


Three months after graduating as a criminal justice major, Macciocca was slogging through the state-police exams in several states when the phone rang. It was Scott Coval, his coach at Allentown, wondering if he'd like to join the staff.


Coval admired the way a guy who played just a few meager minutes a game never hesitated to leave his blood, sweat and tears on the practice court every day for four uncomplaining years.


"A lot of the time my role in practice was to guard our best player and to physically abuse him -- get him used to it," Macciocca recalled. "I was very physical. I took so many charges in practices and games, not a day went by I wasn't bleeding somewhere -- nose, elbows, knees. There's nothing I wouldn't do to win."


Macciocca became a big winner on Sept. 18, 2004, when he married Susie Beers, a math teacher and assistant field hockey coach at the Springside School in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill section. Macciocca shows up at Springside hockey games to lend moral support whenever he can. "As a coach," he declared, "it's a huge plus to have a wife who understands what you're going through."


Macciocca went through three good years on the Allentown staff (1996-99), helping the team make the ECAC tournament in 1998-99. Meanwhile he worked at several summer basketball camps run by Division I coaches and caught the eye of Wake Forest's Dave Odom, who brought him aboard for two head-spinning years (1999-2001) in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Enchilada of college hoops.


Macciocca went from riding vans and buses at Allentown to boarding cushy charter flights at Wake Forest. For his first road trip, the team leased the Atlanta Hawks' private plane.  "Double-wide first-class seats," he marveled. "Big enough to lie down on. Fresh chocolate-chip cookies, baked right on board and still hot. Anything you wanted to drink, they had it. Anything. You wanted lemon-lime Gatorade, you got it."


The Demon Deacons went 22-14 in 1999-2000 and capped the season by knocking off Notre Dame in the NIT title game. The following year they went 21-11 but dropped a shocker to Butler in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Odom departed for South Carolina, and the new Wake coach brought in his own people.


Macciocca landed another assistant's job at Division III powerhouse Kings Point (the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) under new head coach Chris Carideo. The Mariners won the Skyline Conference in his first two years and went 76-36 during his four-year stay (2001-05). They wound up losing in the NCAA first round to Cabrini in 2002 and in the second round to Ramapo in 2003.


"The thing I took away from Wake Forest," Macciocca declared, "is that everything you do, you do with a certain class. You don't just go out there and do the best you can. You go out there and strive for excellence. At Cabrini we have the potential to win a national title. That's what I want our guys to strive for in everything they do."


Nearly every basketball coach has title dreams, and nearly every coach falls short. But don't count out a guy who's finally clutching the key to the door he first tried to barge through all those years ago.

[chairman]

Talent-wise, they could have been scouting the other two games to look at potential opponents, but in watching the whole thing unfold, it was apparent that his insecurity about replacing a legend led him to make more than a few ill-advised statements and to fail to publicly acknowledge the work Dzik did in building the program. I don't know that he got good advice from those who hired him on how to handle the situation. To step into the highest profile coaching position in the school and maybe the conference as his first head coaching job, and to have a situation where he had to either embrace his alumni or his administration put him in a real tough spot.

I can't speak to what happened to Daily, McMahon, and Fitzgerald, but I can say that the talent level in this year's freshman class at Cabrini didn't look great, and I am not sure that even with all the talent that he was ready to win the number of games that would have the Cavaliers in a top four spot.