“We kept digging ourselves into a hole,” Kalana Greene said of the close game tonight. “We gave ourselves the lead and then San Antonio goes on a run, they know how to play this game to get back into it. But we reached and we executed well enough on offense down the stretch to come away with the win.”

Greene who netted 17 points and eight rebounds in 24: 30 of playing time, helped to push New York to victory in spite of another close contest. The two teams today were tied four times and the game had six lead changes.  The victory was a big one for New York as they are now the fifth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference standings.

Forward Plenette Pierson who had 16 points and eight rebounds, with some of the biggest defensive rebounds of the game belonging to the forward in the game.  Eastern Conference player of the week Cappie Pondexter netted 13 points, four rebounds and four assist, while point guard Leilani Mitchell had 10 points and eight rebounds. The combination of Pierson, Greene and Carson all came off the bench tonight and provided many key moments in the victory for New York tonight.

“It is awesome to play great team basketball,” Cappie Pondexter said of the game tonight. “It feels good not having to take all of the shots or force everything. I think these guys did a great job of coming in and brining so much energy. That energy brought so much pressure on San Antonio they did not know what to do.”

Head Coach Anne Donovan also liked what she had seen from the bench players saying, “I think Plenette Pierson, Kalana Greene, and Essence Carson all came in and gave us a big lift. More than half of our points came from those three and eleven boards to go with it. When your number is called you’ve got to be ready to go and the three of them were called and they, all three stepped up.”

San Antonio was led by forward Chamique Holdsclaw who is an alum of Christ the King High School. Holdsclaw had 18 points and nine rebounds in a fine game for the Silver Stars. Center Michelle Snow followed with 14 points and eight rebounds and forward Sophia Young had 12 points and five boards. Fan favorite and former Liberty star Becky Hammon had 10 points and four boards along with showing off some of her patented moves to the crowd in tonight’s game.

The Liberty got the game going on a good note building a first quarter lead of 16-9 at the 1:25 mark as forward Plenette Pierson netted a hook shot t with the assist from Leilani Mitchell. Guard Essence Carson hit a running jump shot with 31 seconds remaining to give New York the 18-11 lead. Silver Star center Michelle Snow drove to the hoop and netted a lay-up to cut the lead to 18-13 at the end of the first quarter.

San Antonio started to chip into the New York lead in the second quarter as guard Roneeka Hodges drained a three-point shot at 3:28 to make the score 29-26. Carson hit a jumper with 3:09 remaining to give the Liberty the 31-26 lead. Forward Sophia Young would cut into the lead again for San Antonio by hitting a jumper to make things 31-30 with 2:50 remaining.

The two teams would go into half time tied 36-36 as Kalana Greene hit a jumper with 26 seconds left. Sophia Young answered back with a bank jumper with seven seconds left which made the half tense for both teams.

As third quarter began with the lead thanks to back-to-back lay-ups by Young and Chamique Holdsclaw, gave the Silver Stars the 42-39 lead with 7:57 left.  For the 10,712 in attendance felt like they were having a bad case of déjà-vu as the Liberty have lost games in the second half of play. Thankfully for those fans Taj McWilliams-Franklin hit a big lay-up at the 2:44 mark which made the score 54-48 in favor of the Liberty.  Greene would hit a big three-pointer with 29 seconds, which was followed by a jumper with eight seconds remaining to give New York the 61-57 lead.

Hustle and heart helped the Liberty win the final quarter as San Antonio would continue to fight for the win. Cappie Pondexter hit a huge three-point shot at the 8:10 mark to make the score 64-57 in favor of New York. Holdsclaw drove hard into the lane to get a lay-up to cut the Liberty lead to 67-63 with 7:05 remaining. Pierson who grabbed four rebounds in the fourth quarter was essential in the victory as the Silver Stars seemingly had second chance shots for most of the game. Along with those rebounds a huge driving lay-up with 2:24 left gave New York the 75-69 lead.

“It is just a matter of heart,” Pierson said of her rebounding performance today. “I wanted the ball more and I wanted to help the team win so that we can continue our playoff push.” Of her overall performance Pierson said, “My teammates got me into a really good position tonight in where I could get easy baskets and attack their defense and I wanted to go out and play hard for them tonight.”

San Antonio would not quit as Roneeka Hodges continued a fine evening by hitting a huge three-pointer with 44 seconds left to make the score 75-72 in favor of New York. Hustle and heart continued to lead the way for New York as Taj McWilliams-Franklin got a key steal and two good free throws to seal the 77-72 victory.

The Liberty will next be in Madison Square Garden for another big home game against the Los Angeles Sparks who are fourth-seeded in the Western Conference. Each game and victory is vital for New York as they hope to make a trip to the playoffs this season. Tip-off time for the Liberty vs. Sparks game is slated for 7:30 p.m.

“It is a fight and we just have to keep on winning.” Cappie Pondexter said of the playoff push. “Right now we are trying to climb up that ladder. We are going to keep fighting. The team is showing a lot of resilience right now and we just have to keep working and playing hard, we just hope it pays off.” Cappie has full faith in her team saying, “As long as everyone can keep playing the way we are right now, I don’t see anyone that can beat us.”

“These series with the Liberty and the Fever is becoming a good rivalry for the league and for the eastern conference,” forward Ebony Hoffman said after the game. “I really think we always have good games against each other, it always comes down to the wire. We have had several overtime games already, and it always goes down to the wire every year. Every year it is a great game and we come in ready to play and ready to fight it out.”

Forward Tamika Catchings had a double-double and was one of the key offensive threats countering every New York scoring threat, as she tallied 22 points and 10 rebounds to go along with seven assists. Nine of Catchings points came in the overtime frame for the Fever. Guard Katie Douglas followed with 21 points with four rebounds and four assists. Hoffman was a strong presence for Indiana all evening long cashing in on 15 points and grabbing four rebounds.

“It was a huge win for us today, “Catching said after the game. “When we went into overtime I really did not want us to lose this game. This is the time I have to step-up and help the team win the game. Everyone hit their shots, the defense really stepped up and it was a great overall performance.”

New York, whose three-game winning streak was snapped today, was led by guard Cappie Pondexter who established a career-high 40 points, while also dishing out seven assist and grabbing six rebounds. Guard Leilani Mitchell scored 15 points and forward Janel McCarville added 12 to lead the Liberty offensively.

“To me it’s not about the points, it’s about getting wins,” Pondexter said after the game. “It stinks because we’re definitely in the playoff race, we are trying to get a spot in the playoffs in the east and we let this one get by us today and it was disappointing. But we need to let it go and we need to move on.”

The combination of missed buckets and some key Indiana defensive plays led to the Liberty loss today.  As New York was 31-77 from the field in shooting today, the team shot 14-33 from the field in the fourth quarter which could have helped to propel them to the victory.

“They made some though shots down the stretch,” Mitchell said of the game. “They played some great defense and put a lot of pressure on us. They did some different things with their defense that kind of threw us off a little that we don’t really see too often.”

Indiana meanwhile had solid shooting all evening long as Catchings was on fire in the fourth quarter. Starting with a key defensive rebound at the 7:20 mark of the fourth quarter, she would hit a two point bucket at the 6:19 mark to give the Fever the 62-60 lead.  An offensive rebound which was followed by a jumper in the paint by forward Janelle McCarville made the score 62-62 at the 5:22 mark.

At the 5:02 mark the Fever struck back with a good jumper by forward Jessica Moore which gave them the 64-62 lead. New York answered right back in a game that featured nine lead changes with a driving lay-up by Cappie Pondexter at the 4:52 mark, which tied the two teams up 64-64. Catchings would break that tie with a driving lay-up at the 4:27 mark to only have that lead cut again by New York and a jumper by McCarville making it 66-66.

Leilani Mitchell would give the Liberty the three point lead with a beautiful shot on the outside arc at the 3:14 mark, the Liberty would add on to their lead as Pondexter cashed in on a fade away jump shot making it 71-68 at the 2:25 mark. A Pondexter jump shot at the 1:05 mark made the score 73-70, but Catchings would respond with a huge three-pointer with 50 seconds left to tie the two teams up. In the game tonight the Fever and the Liberty combined for 13 ties as the crowd of 9,508 tried to will the Liberty to the victory.

Both Pondexter and Catchings had last minute shots in that quarter to seal the deal and get the victory, but neither player was able to cash in as the two teams went into overtime. Catchings would however start overtime with the first five points for Indiana to give them the 78-75 lead. Katie Douglas would drain a jump shot at the 3:34 mark to give the Fever the 80-75 lead. Free-throws and a rebound for Catchings would eventually seal the deal and get the Fever the hard earned victory along with first place in the East Coast conference.

“The east is so tough and we have two teams like New York and Chicago to move up the ladder and you can see why it is so tough to move up the ladder,” Fever head coach Lin Dunn said after the game. “It was a hard fought game against a very good team today.”

The Liberty will try to claw their way back up the standings will have a very tough road game on Tuesday. They do so against the fourth-seeded Connecticut Sun, the game which will be televised on the ESPN 2 channel is slated to tip-off at 8:00 p.m.
“We definitely need to fight harder and try to close out the game against Connecticut.” Pondexter said. “There is still room for us to make the playoffs we just have to close-out games when we have the opportunity.”

It was an electric atmosphere at the Garden as the Liberty had 18,162 campers all clapping thundersticks and singing various songs including the famous “Empire State” song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. The campers rocked the Arena and that energy transferred to the Liberty play as the team came out the gate fast and furious, while playing hard and hitting some key shots throughout the game

Leading the way for the team offensively for the Liberty was guard Cappie Pondexter who scoring 17 points, while dishing out seven assists and grabbing three rebounds. Pondexter really took control of the Liberty offensively in the second half as she was able to net 11 points in that half alone.

“That is what Cappie does. Cappie is a winner.” Liberty head coach Anne Donovan said after the game. “She is going to take the game on her shoulders when it’s time for her to take control of the game.”

Also taking control of the game was center Janel McCarville who had a double-double scoring 16 points while grabbing 12 boards, while also going 4-for-4 in free throw shooting. McCarville netted many key buckets in the Liberty’s victory, along with key rebounds throughout, including in the 5:36 mark as she made a strong offensive move to the net and made a good lay-up to make the score 22-21 in favor of New York.

“Coach Donovan stressed that she wanted more points in the paint today and I took it upon myself to establish a low post presence today,” McCarville said after the game. “It was a good team win, they were in first place in the Eastern Conference, we needed to play our game and get the win and we did.”

Forward Nicole Powell showed off some long range shooting for the Liberty tonight scoring 10 points, while also blocking a shot early in the first quarter. It was in the 5:41 mark of that quarter that Mystics forward Monique Currie tried for an inside shot that was met by a resounding block by Powell. A three-point field goal shot at 3:14 in the third quarter to give the Liberty the 45-39 lead and to make the campers in attendance rock the Garden.

“It’s just a great win for our team” Powell said of the victory. “We are trying to climb our way into the playoffs against a very good team and everyone really stepped up and that was the difference in today’s win.”  On having an electric crowd for the game, “It was great to have the campers at today’s game. When the songs came on and with the thundersticks you really felt their energy and it was a wonderful thing.”

The Mystics battled all afternoon long as there were eight lead changes, while these two teams were tied seven times tonight. One of the leaders for the Mystics was forward Crystal Langhorne who had a double-double of her own, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 boards.

“I call her the perfect 10. I just love her. She just does whatever we need her to do,” Mystics head coach Julie Plank said. “She is the first one in the gym and the last one to leave. She is totally unselfish and gives our team a lot of confidence.”

One of the keys to the Liberty victory was a strong defensive play led by point guard Leilani Mitchell. Along with six points and three assist Mitchell had seven steals to lead the Liberty defensively in guarding her counterpart Lindsey Harding, who only had 10 points in today’s game.

“For me Lindsey Harding is a great point guard, she really likes to protect the basketball.” Mitchell said of facing her counterpart, “I was just trying to keep pressure on her and contain her, she is the one that get’s that team going so controlling her was a huge part of today‘s game.”

Mitchell along with center Taj McWilliams-Franklin combined to help seal the victory for New York. Combining for free-throws and a steal. It started with Mitchell, who had two key free-throws for the Liberty at the 21.5 second mark of the fourth quarter for the 73-67 lead. McWilliams-Franklin, who ended the game with nine points and four rebounds, had the final two free-throws at the 10.6 mark along with a steal by Mitchell to cap the 75-67 Liberty victory.

The Liberty look to continue their climb to the top of the Eastern Conference Standings and a playoff push  on Sunday July 18.New York will have an important home game in the Garden against the third-seeded Indiana Fever with tip-off starting at 4:00 p.m.

Janel McCarville likes her team’s chances of the playoffs saying “I think we are in a good position, you know the east is tough this year. Everyone night in and night out comes to play and I think we are in the position we’re in we are definitely in the race for the playoffs at the halfway point of the season.”

New York City aficionados of women’s basketball were as familiar with the players on the visiting Chicago Sky team as they were with the Liberty. Former Liberty stars Shameka Christon, Catherine Kraayeveld and Erin Thorn were wearing Chicago jerseys. Also in a Chicago uniform was rookie Epiphnny Prince, a star at Rutgers University and the highest scorer in a high school game with 113 points. Christon has not played since June 11, when she suffered an orbital fracture. Another familiar face to women’s basketball fans is Sylvia Fowles, a member of the USA Basketball National Team, who was named the MVP of the All-Star game on Saturday after scoring 23 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

The Liberty has undergone many personnel changes during the past year. Only five members of the current squad played with the Liberty in 2009. Two of the five, Kia Vaughn of the Bronx and Essence Carson, are graduates of Rutgers. This year, they were joined by a third Rutgers alum, Cappie Pondexter. The Liberty guard, a starter on the USA Basketball National Team, was the only Liberty player in the All-Star tilt.

None of the locals, other than Pondexter, scored a point. Christon is still recovering from the serious eye injury she suffered in June and did not travel with the team. The other five were all scoreless.

Pondexter, on the other hand, was the high scorer of the contest. She netted 30, one point below her season high, also scored against Chicago. The 5-9 guard hit 10 of 17 shots from the floor and six of seven from the free throw line. She also grabbed a season high eight rebounds to carry the Liberty to its third victory in three games against the Sky this season.

Liberty coach Anne Donovan gave credit to Pondexter’s winning effort, “Cappie will do what it takes to win a game. She’s happy to take the game over if that’s what it takes to win.”

Pondexter praised the coach of USA Basketball’s National team [Geno Aureamma] for his encouragement, “Geno’s like a father. I’m excited to be coached by him. He challenged everyone on the team with a losing record to make our teams better. He said ‘your team needs to be on your own level and you need to take them there.’ “

While acknowledging, “I’ll do what it takes to win. There’s no excuses,” she also praised her teammates, “We had other players like Leilani Mitchell contributing. Our bench was enthusiastic which was important.”

Yes, there have been quite an amazing series of twists and turns and a lot of difficult moments for the Hofstra sports community to endure over just the past five months.

The myriad of problems began on December 3rd, when Hofstra dropped its 72-year-old football program, an institution that produced Marques Colston (the leading receiver of the Super Bowl XLIV winning New Orleans Saints); offensive tackle Willie Colon (who can’t shield Roethlisberger from further personal scrutiny, but who protected him from opposing pass rushers enough to win a Super Bowl ring the year before Colston won his); the terrific 11-year career of former New York Jets’ wide receiver Wayne Chrebet; and many others who have made their mark in the National Football League.

An expensive annual cost of $4.5 million and the ability to recoup far less in return due to a lack of fan support, were the basis of Hofstra’s controversial reasoning for cutting football, a decision for which the university still receives a fair amount of negative backlash.

As its second-most visible athletics program became extinct, Hofstra’s most recognizable program was on the verge of being entrenched in turmoil and some challenging times ahead.

The Hofstra men’s basketball team stumbled to a poor start to the 2009-10 season, but caught fire late, under former head coach Tom Pecora, who was in what turned out to be the final year of a 16-year run (seven as an assistant and nine as a head coach) at the school which gave the Queens, New York native his first Division I head coaching opportunity. Though it only managed a seventh-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Pride became the CAA’s hottest team, winning 10 of 11 games, nearly reaching the CAA tournament semifinals, barely losing to second-seeded Northeastern in overtime, in the quarterfinals.

What followed, was a whirlwind of events for Hofstra basketball.

After shunning the low-level, consolation College Basketball Insider postseason tournament the year before, Hofstra, widely accused of not fully supporting athletics after dropping football, tried to somewhat quell those doubts by spending reportedly about $60,000 to host a first-round CBI game against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

That turned out to be a miscalculation as only 952 fans attended Hofstra’s season-ending, 74-60 loss to IUPUI in Pecora’s final game at Hofstra on March 17th, as Pecora uncharacteristically looked on as a disinterested, emotionless coach headed for a new gig from the moment his old team started the game as flat as can be, with a 21-2 deficit.

A week later, Pecora, the second winningest coach all-time at Hofstra (155-126), left his former school scrambling for a new head coach when he joined laughing stock Fordham, which was 2-26 without an Atlantic-10 conference win last season.

Speculation quickly mounted that Hofstra, after citing costs to dispense with its football program, would hire an inexperienced coach on the cheap. But, the administration surprised most on March 31st, spending $3 million on a five-year contract to bring in Tim Welsh, a Massena, N.Y. native who took Iona College to a pair of NIT’s and one NCAA tournament in three years before reaching two NCAA tournaments and three NIT’s during a ten-year run at Providence College.

Hofstra even said it would increase its basketball budget under Welsh in order to expand the Pride’s recruiting footprint, including potentially stealing recruits of some of the CAA’s better teams, from their own backyards in the Virginia area. Welsh also planned to use his contacts from his last job as an ESPNU analyst to help Hofstra gain more of a national spotlight. Optimism was reigning and Pecora’s relative success at Hofstra (despite failing to reach the NCAA tournament as a head coach) was long forgotten.

However, that too, soon unraveled for Hofstra when Welsh, just one month on the job, was arrested for drunk driving after being found 3.5 miles east of the Hofstra campus (where he and his family were staying temporarily), at 1am on April 30th, asleep at a green light, with his 2006 Lexus still in drive, and his foot on the brake. Two hours later, Welsh was found to have a blood alcohol content of .18, barely the threshold for an Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated charge, and more than twice the New York State legal limit of .08.

Just when Hofstra thought it was back on track, Welsh’s arrest continued a further downward spiral for the Hofstra basketball program.

On April 16th, highly touted recruit Branden Frazier, a 6-foot-3 combo guard who was initially recruited by Pecora to play at Hofstra after starring at Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin high school, followed Pecora to Fordham after Van Macon, Pecora’s top assistant at Hofstra, did the same.

On Monday, Welsh was forced to resign from Hofstra. On Tuesday, disappointed mostly by Pecora’s departure, Hofstra’s leading rebounder and last season’s All-CAA rookie team selection, 6-foot-8 Staten Island forward Halil Kanacevic verbally committed to join Pecora’s new A-10 rival, St. Joseph’s.

And, although he’s still very much a member of the Pride, reports surfaced on the same day that another former Brooklyn star, point guard Chaz Williams, who played at Bishop Ford high school and who joined Kanacevic on the All-CAA rookie team last year, might follow Kanacevic in asking for his own release from Hofstra.

Circumstances looked very bleak amid great uncertainty and little hope for the immediate future and perhaps a few years down the road for Hofstra basketball.

However, then came Wednesday, when Hofstra finally put the brakes on an athletics program –- or at least, on a men’s basketball program –- that like Welsh’s dangerous and irresponsible, drunken jaunt, was seemingly traveling down a dark road to nowhere.

With a surprising and fairly bold move, Hofstra decided not to conduct a lengthy search, and instead, give it one more shot — or, one Mo shot — as in Mo Cassara, who was promoted to a multi-year head coaching deal (terms undisclosed, though it’s believed that Cassara will receive about half of what Welsh would have earned annually at Hofstra).

Cassara, whom Welsh tabbed to be his assistant at Hofstra, is widely considered to be one of college basketball’s rising young stars.

Still, the opportunity which Cassara has been thrust into must be a shock even to him, relative to a mere five weeks ago, since the 37-year-old Canton, N.Y. native wasn’t even considered as a head coaching candidate by Hofstra when the university lost Pecora.

However, there were two things key things that worked in Cassara’s favor this time around. One, is that he very quickly ingratiated himself to Hofstra President Stu Rabinowitz, Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes, and many of the Pride players, with whom he’s already begun to develop solid relationships both on and off the court since his arrival at Hofstra. Additionally, Hayes didn’t want to continue the recent program upheaval and put an entire third new staff in place since the end of March. Thus, Cassara became the choice to head a staff including two other Welsh selections, Allen Griffin, and Hofstra’s newly named associate head coach Steve DeMeo, who worked with Welsh at Providence, and who seemed to be the favorite to get the head coaching job when Hofstra decided to look in-house for Welsh’s replacement.

Cassara though, brings a strong pedigree in his own right. He comes to Hofstra after tutoring for four years under well-respected, long-time head coach Al Skinner, at Boston College, where Cassara was responsible for recruiting, scouting, on-floor coaching, off-season workouts, and game scheduling while helping Skinner guide the Eagles to two NCAA tournament appearances and one NCAA tournament win before the two were dismissed from Boston College after Skinner interviewed for the St. John’s head coaching job on March 27th.

Prior to his work at Boston College, Cassara gained two years of head coaching experience at Division III Clark University in Massachusetts after spending one year as an assistant coach at Dayton University, where he helped the Flyers go 24-9, win an A-10 regular season title, and earn an NCAA tournament berth.

Earlier, Cassara guided prep school Worcester Academy (Massachusetts) to a 90-21 record from 1999-2003 after beginning his coaching career as an assistant, spending a year each at The Citadel and Washington & Lee University.

As with Welsh, Cassara’s hiring is as much about the future of Hofstra basketball as next year, but that doesn’t mean that Cassara doesn’t have some Pecora holdovers which he’ll try to make some noise with in the CAA next season. The loss of Kanacevic hurts up front, but as of now, Hofstra’s all-time leading shot blocker and last year’s All-CAA Defensive selection, Centereach, Long Island’s 6-foot-10 forward Greg Washington, is expected to return as a senior. And, if Williams stays, he’ll return in the backcourt alongside fifth-year senior and reigning CAA Player of the Year, powerful 6-foot-3, 220-pound shooting guard Charles Jenkins, a former Springfield Gardens (Queens) high school star who’s been impressed with Cassara since the two met.

In the recent volatile world of Hofstra athletics, it appears that the Pride once again has reason to be proud. Or, as Jenkins told Newsday, “I think things are going to calm down now. I don’t think anything else is going to happen. I’m glad they hired [Cassara].”

Indeed, a coaching hire which already appears to be worth one “Mo” shot.

The recently completed 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament was played under the widely assumed specter that it would be the last such tournament before expansion to 96 teams would occur as early as next season. Yet, along came an unexpected, lucrative television deal on Thursday morning to save college basketball as we know it.

With more than 95 percent of its total revenue emanating from TV broadcast rights to the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, the NCAA was in strong pursuit of a way to increase its monetary returns, and the organization was hoping to capitalize on a potential bidding war between CBS Sports and ESPN.

The NCAA’s hope was that CBS would opt out of its 11-year, $6 billion deal by July 31st, clearing the way for CBS to either outbid ESPN in keeping a 65-team field, or for ESPN to spend even more on televising all games in an expanded 96-team field. Throughout last season, the NCAA tournament seemed destined for the latter of the two scenarios.

Foolishly, the NCAA saw only the dollar signs, despite the fact that nearly every poll released, revealed that more than 80 percent of college basketball fans were against expansion to 96 teams.

Thankfully –- for all sane college basketball fans everywhere –- with the addition of another TV partner, the NCAA tournament will expand, but only by three teams, to the perfect number of 68 teams.

The NCAA announced on Thursday, a new 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting that will begin next March, when CBS will start broadcasting the tournament in conjunction with Turner’s channels, TNT, TBS, and truTV, through 2024.

You’ve heard of a win-win situation? Well, this is a win-win-win (sorry ESPN, you’re the sole loser in this deal, but it’s hard to have sympathy knowing that a 96-team tournament would have been a huge mistake).

CBS, along with Turner, win their contract; the NCAA gets the revenue it sought; and, most importantly, the most exciting sporting event in the world isn’t sabotaged for fans as a result of money and greed. As an added bonus, every game of the tournament will be broadcast live nationally for the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history.

It’s ironic that the date on which we’re all encouraged to “go green” the most, was the same one that another “green” which was driving tournament expansion to 96 teams, ultimately yielded the perfect tournament of 68 teams.

However we got there, sensible college basketball fans everywhere are now breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Everything that’s been great about the NCAA tournament to date figured to be undone in a 96-team field. Imagine ninth-seeded Northern Iowa, instead of beating eighth-seeded UNLV and knocking out the tournament’s overall top seed Kansas in the second round (as it did in March), instead losing in a lackluster fashion by double digits to Kansas because it would have run out of gas after beating the 24 seed and UNLV before playing Kansas, all within the span of less than a week in a 96-team setup.

Consider too, how many undeserving and uninspiring teams would have competed in a severely watered-down tournament of that size.

A 96-team field also would have rendered much of the regular season and exciting conference tournament finishes (such as Kentucky’s thrilling overtime SEC final win over bubble team Mississippi State in March) a lot more meaningless.

And, a by-product of a 96-team field would have likely meant the end of the NIT. While that tournament has become merely the consolation to the NCAA tournament, it’s still quite valuable for many teams that play in it, and it’s too steeped in rich tradition and history to simply do away with it (as evidenced by the sheer jubilation of Dayton players, coaches, and fans after Dayton, which has the second most NIT appearances in history, captured this year’s NIT title).

With the new TV deal, all of the above worries are gone. The tournament keeps its same basic structure which has made the event as great as it has been for decades, and adding the additional three teams –- if it’s done right — would make the tournament even better than it’s been.

In any given year, there are usually no more than three or four bubble teams with real, legitimate gripes about being left out of the field of 65. Thus, a field of 68 would be an improvement, and would actually represent the ideal number of teams to be included.

The suspected plan is that the NCAA would replace the current play-in game between the two lowest seeded teams in the tournament with four play-in games on the Tuesday before the first-round games.

The 64/65 play-in game was always unfair anyway, since the teams participating in that game were the only two entries forced to play their way into the tournament twice. All other automatic qualifiers via conference tournament wins would automatically receive bids to play in the first round of the tournament. It should be that way for what used to be the 64th and 65th teams, as well.

Hopefully, Thursday’s announcement isn’t simply an intermediary step toward an eventual field of 96 teams. With the new deal running for 14 years, there’s plenty of time for a field of 68 to be proven as the ultimate possible setup.

The deal reached by the NCAA, CBS, and Turner assures that at least for the foreseeable future, the right number of teams will be selected.

Now, to make the entire postseason — including the men’s NCAA tournament and the men’s NIT –- the NCAA needs just one last step: have the four play-in games played throughout the day on the Tuesday prior to the first round, with one play-in game in each region, at noon, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm EST; the last four bubble teams in against what would have been the first four bubble teams out under the old system, with one game per region; the winners get the four 12 seeds, the losers get the four top seeds in the NIT. That would yield perfect postseason arrangement.

Whether or not the NCAA does exactly that with the early part of the men’s NCAA tournament or with the NIT remains to be seen. Regardless, the main thing is that at least for a while, that which could have been the ruination of all that has made March Madness so special, pleasantly surprised by making the best sporting in existence, even better.

Om Thursday, a press conference was held at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx to introduce Pecora. The remarks from all parties at the conference were that there will be a cooperative and concerted effort to improve the level of success of the program but that the methods of improvement will be done in total conformity with the ideals that guide the Jesuit institution of learning. The spirit of cooperation was cited by Pecora,

“It takes a university to raise a program.” The high level in which change will be brought about was stated by the Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Frank McLaughlin, “We are an educational institution, not a basketball factory.” The concern for the student athletes in the basketball program was described by the university’s president Father Joseph McShane, “We believe he [Pecora] will give the players the kind of college athletic experience they expect at Fordham. Our student athletes deserve the same kind of care and attention to personal development on the court as they receive in the classroom, and we are confident that Tom is the coach to deliver that experience.

“He [Pecora] gave the Pride {Hofstra] a reason to be proud.” McLaughlin spoke of on the court success expected, “We are extremely confident that Tom will build a successful program at Fordham to become competitive in the Atlantic 10.” All three speakers gave thanks to many for their cooperation in allowing this partnership to be made possible. Among those cited for cooperating were: the athletic director and president of Hofstra University, local high school and AAU coaches, the basketball leadership of the Atlantic-10 colleges and Fordham’s search committee.

Pecora, in explaining his decision to leave Hofstra after 16 years and come to Fordham, said, “I thought it was the right time to accept a new challenge.” He said it was a family decision that included his wife and three children.” He clearly stated that he was not a patient man and that based upon what he learned it attempting to better the Hofstra basketball program, he would recruit effectively in the metropolitan area for Fordham,

“I have a long-standing relationship with high school coaches in the area. Having been through this process, I know how to do it [improve the basketball program]. We can get the best players in the country because of the conference.” He intends to take no short cuts to achieve success, “The only way I know how to do it is the right way.”

Pecora was born, resided and worked in the metropolitan area through almost all of his life. He was born in Brooklyn. He moved with his family to Queens when he was a young child, attended Martin Van Buren High School in Queens and graduated from Adelphi University in 1983. He remained on Long Island to serve as an assistant coach at Long Island Lutheran High School after graduation. His next position was as an assistant at Nassau Community College (1978-89).

For the following three years, he was the head coach at the State University at Farmingdale (1989-92). He left the area for two years, one as an assistant at UNLV and the other as an assistant at Loyola Marymount. The next 16 years he devoted to Hofstra University. He served as assistant for seven seasons before taking over the head coaching duties in 2001. Hofstra was a 20- plus game winner in four of Pecora’s nine seasons at the helm. The team finished 19-15 this year and was invited to the CBI tournament and appeared in three pot season NIT tournaments under his helm.

In the first round on Tuesday, the 13^th seeded Red Storm (17-15) upset the Connecticut Huskies (17-15), 73-51. St. John’s began the contest with great intensity and took a 10-2 lead at 15:15. A free throw by Paris Horne gave the Red Storm its first double digit advantage, 22-12, at 10:48. The first half ended with St. John’s leading, 35-22.

The Red Storm never led by less than eight points in the second half. The team surged ahead during the final eight minutes. St. John’s climbed to a game-high 25 point advantage with 46 remaining after a 22-6 scoring run. After the contest, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun profusely praised the St. John’s team, “they [St. John’s] came out with purpose, physicality and quite frankly handed us our butts. They knocked us all off our screens. They completely outplayed us. They were much hungrier than we were.” Calhoun clearly foresees a great improvement for New York City’s only representative in the Big East Conference, “They certainly have a bright future ahead of them. They’ll be one of the better teams, I think, in the Big East, certainly top five or six next year.”

The second round game against Marquette (21-10) was reminiscent of the contest between the two teams at Carnesecca Arena in Queens late in the regular season when Marquette edged St. John’s, 63-61 in overtime. Marquette scored the first six points of the contest on Wednesday, and held the lead throughout the first half. After an opening second half basket by Marquette’s David Cubillan, St. John’s went on a 22-10 scoring run to tie the game at 39 with 10:46 left to play. The game was tied four more times in the next seven minutes, but St. John’s again fell short by two points, 57-55. St. John’s was without the services of its second leading scorer Dwight Hardy. The Bronx native has made an important contribution to the team’s improvement this season. Hardy’s leg injury, suffered  late in the regular season, has kept him out of the lineup. The highly competitive contest excited the large local crowd in attendance. After the conclusion of the exciting contest, Marquette coach Buzz Williams gave credit to his counterpart at St. John’s, “Coach Roberts doesn’t get the credit he’s deserving of for how hard his team plays. ..If you were to ask our players who is the hardest playing team in the league, they would tell you St. John’s. I don’t think teams play hard just for one another. I think they play hard for one another and for their coach. I think that’s what St. John’s does. I think that’s what they did yesterday. And I thought they were the hardest playing team today.”

Roberts, now in his seventh year has been credited with getting his kids to play hard but the wins have still been hard to string together for the “little school from Queens,” as Roberts likes to describe the university. The questions about his job security have grown as his teams continue to be outclassed and out-recruited by other Big East schools.

Roberts is well aware of the buzz over whether St. Johns will offer him a new contract but he feels he’s gotten the program back on track. He took over a decimated program on the verge of NCAA penalty, is 60-76 overall and only 23-52 in Big East play. He said he spoke to Father Harrington, St. Johns’ President, as recently as about two weeks ago at a board of directors meeting and that the university president was 100-percent supportive.

“I feel better about my team than I ever have,” said Roberts. “We’ve taken major steps to getting better and we’re going to be pretty good next year. We just have to continue to grow.”

“I don’t think anybody could forsee six years up the road and tell where a program will be,” he said. “I think we’re further along than when I first got here. We were rock bottom playing in the best league in America. I think we’ve got a chance to be one of the better teams in the league next year.”

St. Johns, under legendary coach Lou Carnesecca, was able to hold onto kids like Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Walter Berry, Bill Wennington, Malik Sealy and many others who went on to productive NBA careers. Under Roberts, they have yet to produce an All-American or an NBA-caliber player.

“Everybody thinks that St. Johns got every New York City kid, they never did,” Roberts said. “I say this all the time and people don’t want to listen to it but it’s right. Ed Pinckney went to Villanova, we got Walter Berry. So nobody worried about Ed Pinckney going to Villanova. Kenny Smith went to North Carolina, we got Mark Jackson so nobody worried about Kenny Smith going to Carolina. Pearl Washington went to Syracuse.

“What we have to do is get the kid that fits us and then when we get him, we have to make him as good as he can possibly be. Then nobody will be asking those questions anymore. You can’t keep them here in NY just like you can’t keep all the great players in Chicago. The landscape of basketball is totally different than it was 20 years ago. With AAU basketball, by the time they’re 18, they’ve been to North Carolina and L.A. 15 times, so it’s no big deal. So for a kid to go there for college, it’s no big deal. When I was growing up in Brooklyn, and I know I’m dating myself, when someone would tell me to go to New Jersey, I would say I don’t know those people over there. I’m from NYC and I wanted to stay home. So, it’s a totally different landscape.”

Roberts does have the respect of his coaching bretheren in the Big East. After St. Johns blew out Jim Calhoun’s Connecticut team, Calhoun went public with his admiration for the job Roberts was doing. At the same time, the wily Calhoun had to know his public support for Roberts could have a positive affect on St. Johns’ decision-making when it comes to retaining Roberts.

After today’s game, Buzz Williams, Marquette’s head coach supported Roberts as well, at the post-game press conference.

“Coach Roberts doesn’t get the credit he’s deserving of for how hard his team plays,” said Williams. “Not that I’m old, but I always trust our players to tell me the truth about other players. If you were to ask our players who is the hardest playing team in the league, they would tell you St. Johns. I thought they were the hardest playing team today.”

St. Johns manhandled Jim Calhoun’s squad, 73-51 in a game that may have said more about UConn then it does about St. Johns. With Roberts’ job rumored to be hanging by a thread, with the pressure to win a few games at least in this tournament, this win over one of the top collegiate programs in the country may have let some of the steam out of the pressure cooker St. Johns has become for its coach and its players.

Calhoun, the Hall of Fame coach who took UConn from being another backwater basketball program to among the top five in the country over the past 20 years, didn’t come through on his promise to bench seniors Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson at the start because of poor play in recent weeks. They did not reward him for the trust.

St. John’s (17-4), the 13th seed, advances to a second-round meeting with No. 5 Marquette at 2 p.m. Wednesday. UConn (17-15) had any hope of reaching the NCAA Tournament snuffed.

Sean Evans had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Horne and Justin Brownlee added 13 points apiece for the Storm as it overcame the absence of second-leading scorer Dwight Hardy (knee). Kemba Walker scored 12 points for UConn.

Being without Hardy was one thing, but leading scorer D.J. Kennedy picked up a second foul just 4:07 into the game and had to go to the bench. He did return for a few minutes and had just five points in seven minutes at halftime but St. John’s held a 35-22 lead.

The slack was picked up by Brownlee and Omari Lawrence. It had been more than a month since Lawrence played more than 10 minutes in a game, but he was the first one off the bench. He had four points on 2-for-3 shooting in 12 first-half minute. Brownlee had seven points on 3-for-5 shooting in 11 first-half minutes.

The Huskies shot just 31% in the first half.

In the second half UConn never got closer than eight points, last at 42-34 on a Robinson layup with 14:23 to play.