2008 Woodie Awards
Men's hoops has come a long way from 2004
Brian Fitzsimmons
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Sports
The debris from years not up to par has been cleaned up at the Pitt Center and the awful stench of losing has aired out for the most part by now. The basement of the Northeast Conference standings isn't familiar and the Red Mist has grown into the Red Wave.
Now, fans sporting Sacred Heart pride colors occupy the stands where a tumbleweed or two were once spotted and the noise from 2,012 strong on Pack the Pitt day speaks - or shouts, to be more precise - for itself.
Times have certainly changed around in the ever-growing world of Pioneer sports and its necessary to look back and remember how things used to be.
In 2004, the men's basketball team won four out of 27 games. Fans would cheer when Mading Mading would stroll to the scorer's table to check in and the rest of the time would be as silent as a funeral. The Pioneers suffered blowout loss after blowout loss without any sense of direction. Three wins at home and a 1-15 mark on the road will do that to teams, I suppose.
A year later the results differed for the better, but no long-term goals were actually achieved. It was nice to see an 11-17 overall record and a respectable 8-5 mark at home, but troubles on the road plagued the team that ultimately ended up losing in the Northeast Conference tournament to Central Connecticut. Needless to say, the improvement was grossly overshadowed by the women's team's magical run to a league title and bid in the NCAA tournament.
Last season, a team comprised of likable sharpshooters and post players with a tremendous amount of guts took us on the ride of our lives. The Pioneers traveled down to Charlotte, N.C. and played even with North Carolina, the top ranked program in the country. From then on, the bandwagon has gotten very crowded to say the least. That party bus drove all the way to a 12-6 conference record and an astonishing 11-2 home record. The Pitt was a house of horrors for NEC foes, and all of a sudden, the Pioneers were the Beast and not the Least for a change.
Now, fans sporting Sacred Heart pride colors occupy the stands where a tumbleweed or two were once spotted and the noise from 2,012 strong on Pack the Pitt day speaks - or shouts, to be more precise - for itself.
Times have certainly changed around in the ever-growing world of Pioneer sports and its necessary to look back and remember how things used to be.
In 2004, the men's basketball team won four out of 27 games. Fans would cheer when Mading Mading would stroll to the scorer's table to check in and the rest of the time would be as silent as a funeral. The Pioneers suffered blowout loss after blowout loss without any sense of direction. Three wins at home and a 1-15 mark on the road will do that to teams, I suppose.
A year later the results differed for the better, but no long-term goals were actually achieved. It was nice to see an 11-17 overall record and a respectable 8-5 mark at home, but troubles on the road plagued the team that ultimately ended up losing in the Northeast Conference tournament to Central Connecticut. Needless to say, the improvement was grossly overshadowed by the women's team's magical run to a league title and bid in the NCAA tournament.
Last season, a team comprised of likable sharpshooters and post players with a tremendous amount of guts took us on the ride of our lives. The Pioneers traveled down to Charlotte, N.C. and played even with North Carolina, the top ranked program in the country. From then on, the bandwagon has gotten very crowded to say the least. That party bus drove all the way to a 12-6 conference record and an astonishing 11-2 home record. The Pitt was a house of horrors for NEC foes, and all of a sudden, the Pioneers were the Beast and not the Least for a change.
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