In the paint

BY RODERICK BOONE

While at Shea Stadium last night, I was surfing the Web checking out a few things when I saw a headline for a story. It said something to the effect of "Donovan loses another."

I was curious about this for two reasons. First, Florida is my halfmamater because I spent two years at UF before finishing up my degree at Auburn University Montgomery. Second, Billy Donovan is a Rockville Centre guy and I wanted to see what was going on with him.

So I clicked on it to see that it was former Mr. New York Basketball Jonathan Mitchell of Mount Vernon that was bolting Gainesville. Can't say that surprised me because Mitchell has been riding the pine mostly in his two seasons down in beautiful Central Florida. Despite the Gators losing most of their team to the NBA Draft last June, Mitchell hasn't benefitted. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged just 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds during his sophomore season and has started only one game in his career at the college located just off I-75.

I wanted to do a little more investigating so I checked out the Gainesville Sun. This is where Hofstra comes into the picture. In the story, Hofstra was mentioned as a possible destination for Mitchell. Herb Mitchell, Jonathan's uncle who's handling his transfer, apparently laughed when Hofstra was brought up by the reporter and said that's the first time he's heard Hofstra mentioned.

I can tell you after speaking with several people in the know today that J-Mitch won't be wearing a Hofstra uniform after he sits out his mandatory one-year residency requirement. So let's just squash that rumor right now. It's almost a given, I was told, that Mitchell is headed to Rutgers. Former high school teammate Michael Coburn is already there and Fred Hill has a good relationship with Bob Cimmino, Mitchell's high school coach at Mount Vernon. Either way, Mitchell won't be in Hempstead -- unless somehow Rutgers plays the Pride at Mack Sports Complex within the next three seasons.

Also, there have been a few rumblings that Middle Village's Larry Davis has Hofstra on his radar as he looks to transfer out of Seton Hall. Davis played in all 61 Seton Hall games over the last two seasons and averaged 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in his Pirates' career.

Davis coming to Hofstra is a long shot at best and there's a better chance he'll land at a school on the West Coast, such as Loyola Marymount. Never say never. There's always the chance I can wake up tomorrow and be bald. But in the meantime, we'll put that baby to bed, too.

BY STEVEN MARCUS

The best softball player in Hofstra history (and arguably all of Long Island) gets her due this weekend when Crystal Boyd’s No. 13 will be retired. A two-time All-American, Boyd led the nation in hitting with a .514 average as a sophomore in 1992. She graduated in 1994 with 24 school records. Boyd led Hofstra to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1993 and helped her teams to a combined record of 135 wins and 48 losses in her four seasons. She went from one Pride to the other by playing with the Georgia Pride of the Women’s Professional Softball League until 1999. She currently teaches in the Garden City school district and is an avid tennis player.

BY STEVEN MARCUS

Women’s tennis is hot at Hofstra. The team has won four straight and the eight overall for teh season is the most since the 1999-2000 squad won nine matches. Towson was the latest victim. In a match shortened to singles because of rain, Hofstra won all five completed singles matches in straight sets.

Lauren Clifton, Stacey Kent, Morganne Downing and Valerie McDonald all won for Hofstra. Hofstra hopes to play today in Virginia in a conference round robin against UNC Wilmington.

Coaching salaries in mid-major (sorry, guys, that’s what it is) basketball will undoubtedly spike now that George Mason coach Jim Larranaga has turned down big money (5 years, $4.25 million) from Big East Providence. Larranaga now becomes the first CAA coach to average $1 million in salary.
Larranaga made an excellent move by staying put. He can make the NCAA Tournament five or six times in a decade from the Colonial Athletic Association. Providence, meanwhile, is a second tier Big East program that will not see the NCAA’s any time soon.
This also means Hofstra coach Tom Pecora can look for another raise if he can propel Hofstra back into NCAA Tournament contention.

By Marcus Henry
Marcus.henry@newsday.com

Of the six area Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams, just one of them is still playing.

The St. John’s women’s team, making its third post season appearance in four years, topped Iona, 65-59 in a WNIT second-round game at Carnesecca Arena. The Red Storm advances to the third round on Thursday, where they will host Boston College at 7:00 p.m. at Carnesseca Arena.

St. John’s can take a lot from its latest post season game. First and foremost, the Red Storm are still playing. There isn't a team in the area that doesn't wish it were still playing. Seniors Kia Wright and Tiina Sten have earned themselves a chance to play at least one more game. The win had to be especially fitting for Wright, who made the decision to come back for a fifth season, because she didn't want to leave the program on a sour note.

The Red Storm, although probably wishing they were playing in the NCAA Tournament, can take solace in the fact that they have established themselves as a viable Division I program. St. John’s is 67-53 over the last four seasons, including consecutive 20-plus win seasons. Not bad for a team that prior to coach Kim Barnes Arico’s arrival in 2002-03, had seven straight losing seasons.

The highlight of Barnes Arico’s tenure came in 2005-06, when the Red Storm finished with a 22-8 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

For all the talk of Antoine Agudio and the Hofstra men’s team and the plight of St. John’s men’s coach Norm Roberts, the Red Storm women are the only squad who can claim a recent NCAA berth.

BY RODERICK BOONE

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Before he started talking about North Carolina's 108-77 pasting of Arkansas in the East Regional, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams went off on the NCAA.

Hitting the nail on the head, Williams called out Big Brother because his players kept slipping. The NCAA is too hands-on as usual, making anyone who has a drink put it in a cup with the NCAA and Dasani logos on it. The arena's usual advertising logos are covered with black sheets. There's even a John Deer tractor in the concourse that was covered with black sheets. Yeah, I know.

The NCAA goes out of its way to promote, well itself, and its buddy-buddy sponsors.

"You guys write a little bittty note in your columns that the NCAA," Williams said, "that can say I can't bring a Coca-Cola cup up here, that can say everything in the world. Stop putting those stupid logos on the floor where kids slip and slide around and somebody is going to get hurt. And I've said that for years, and years, and years. Every coach here at this site said that it's a mistake to have that."

He was asked about it again later.

"Two years from now," Williams said, "we have been asked to play in a tournament and I'm refusing to play in the tournament if we have to put logos on our floor. They are slick. I've said this for five or six years. Somebody is going to get hurt. Lane Kennedy and the people here have done a great job of trying to do everything they could. They washed it with amonia; they wahed it with Wendy's super burger whatever. And they did everything you possibly -- they need to rip the daggum things up. It's just a fact."

You're right Roy. So here's the little bitty note, although this isn't a column. Just for you Roy, my man.

BY RODERICK BOONE

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lost in all the excitement of North Carolina's pasting of Mount St. Mary's last night was an embarrassing moment for Marcus Ginyard.

Ginyard collected a steal and had a fastbreak all by his lonesome. So he goes up to dunk ... and gets stuck on the rim. He fell to the floor and smirked a bit as he ran downcourt to get back on the defensive end. He knew he was going to hear about that and he sure did.
Here's what he had to say about it today:

"Didn't work out the way it was planned obviously," Ginyard said. "Was feeling a little stiff out there. I told Coach before when I came in, he looked at me and said, 'Are you OK?'"

"I said, 'Yeah I'm all right, a little stiff.'"

"He said, 'You haven't been playing, you have two fouls.'"

"And I said, 'I'm a little stiff staying on the bench and when I'm playing, I'm sore. I don't know what to do.'"

"He said, 'Get out there old man'" and I got out there and next thing I know I'm out on the break things slowed down a little bit, didn't quite feel right. And tried to get my steps together, tried to go up kind of smooth, didn't want to get too much emphasis or anything like that. But I guess my knees just tightened up on me, and I didn't get up quite as high as I needed to, and just didn't come down right. And the worst part about it was falling down on my butt afterwards. So I got a lot of texts last night telling me how my butt was feeling. It's doing fine. Thank you for the concern."

Then he added this: "I'm hoping to get it back and I'm planning to. So just be on the lookout for that."

Now, back in the day when I was growing up, that's what we call a Gumby. He basically rejected himself and his teammates gave him the business.

"He caught a lot for it," Tyler Hansbrough said when I asked him about it. "Just to be honest with you. He was pretty open there and it's definitely embarrassing."

Said Ty Lawson: "Once he missed and came to the bench, we were talking about how he missed it, tell him to ice his shoulder and things like that. Coach said, 'That's probably one of the wosrt dunks that they had as a player.' But it looked pretty bad. We seen it last night on the news. It was terrible."

Yup, Ginyard will never live that one down.

BY RODERICK BOONE

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Earlier today, I asked Davidson coach Bob McKillop about what it's been like over the last week or so. Being a native New York guy (and theater critic, mind you), I was sure more than a few of his old friends tried to get in touch with him.

Here's his response: "It is kind of amazing how players I've coached in 1972, '73, '74 at Holy Trinity or '80, '81, '82, '85 at Long Island Lutheran or teammates from high school in the '60s or guys I played stickball with or stoopball or punch ball with in the streets of South Ozone Park ... they connect.

That tells you what this experience is about and what this event is about -- how it's national in scope and it's something that is embraced by everybody in the country. It's just wonderful for me to be able to talk to someone either by text or e-mail or phone that I haven't talked to in 50 years.

It's funny when you see them and you look a lot shorter than they were when you were younger."

And that, ladies and gents, is what the NCAA Tournament is all about..

BY RODERICK BOONE

RALEIGH, N.C -- Anyone who says North Carolina doesn't have considerable advantage playing a few miles away from its campus has no idea what they are talking about.I don't think I've ever seen more Tar Heel blue in my life.

With the exception of one section filled with Mount St. Mary's fans, the entire arena was awash in the colors of the Heels. It was quite a sight. Seeing it in TV doesn't even do it complete justice.

UNC pummeled the Mountaineers 113-76. Mount Saint Mary's hung in there for as long as it could but North Carolina had way too many athletes and size that proved too much for The Mount.

The Heels eventually wore Mount down completely and turned things up a notch in the second half after scoring 61 leading into the break.About the only thing that went wrong on the second half was Marcus Ginyard getting stuck on the rim as he tried a right-handed fastbreak stuff. Of course, in the grand scheme of things it didn’t mean a thing since the Mountaineers couldn’t match North Carolina;s firepower.

BY RODERICK BOONE

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Serious apologies ladies and gents. We were having problems with the wireless internet here at the RBC Center. But the arena's tech people got us back in the game.

The first of four games today turned out to be as good a one as I thought it would be. Gonzaga and Davidson played in a tight one and the most of the fans were pulling for Davidson, whose campus is about a 2 1/2 half hour drive south of here on I-85.

"It was a lot of fun," Davidson's Stephen Curry said. "They were in the game and loud the whole time. It's just a benefit of being close to home and that's why were happy to be in Raleigh. It was just kind of a fun game to play in with the atmosphere. It's a pleasure to play in front of our home fans and maybe turn some locals or other tteam's fans in support of us."

Curry threw in threes from all over the court. He was unbelievable and who knows where his team would be if it wasn't for him. He scored 40 points, 30 coming in the second half, and was the best player on the court in No. 10 Davidson's 82-76 win over No. 7 Gonzaga.

Man what a game. Leaves you almost breathless. It's games like these that make the NCAA Tournament what it is.

"That was a great college basketball game," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.

Tell you what: I was really impressed with Gonzaga freshman Austin Daye. At 6-10, he can pose serious matchup problems. He's still raw and didn't have his best game. He's long and lanky but can still shoot from the perimeter. He didn't play his best down the stretch and missed a big three that could have tied it in the final minute. Few was happy with his aggressiveness, though, and I'm sure is looking forward to working with Daye as much as he's allowed to in the offseason.

But if Daye does work hard at bettering his game and putting on some weight to his 190-pound frame, he can be a real force for Zags over the next couple of seasons.