NSN Blog

George Commo's Blog - Sunday 3-17-13
For two and three quarters games the University of Vermont men's basketball team had thrown a blanket over UAlbany's Jacob Iati ... then in the biggest spot with the most on the line they lost him ... twice.
But hey, what can you say ... Allbany was the better team yesterday at the Patrick Gym. UVM came right out on their home floor and hit them in the mouth with a 10-0 run to start the game ... next thing you know Albany is up ten. To their credit the Cats fought back and got the lead late, but in that situation you cannot lose Iati, period ... and certainly not twice.
So the Great Danes wait to hear where they are going in the NCAA tournament ... I had thought Vermont puts the basketballs away for the season ... but not so fast. There are several runners up tournaments out there these dayd and it seems likely the Cats will get to play again ... word on that should come down tonight or tomorrow.

No such safety net for the hockey Catamounts ... Vermont's season ended last night with a second straight tournament loss to BC ... Vermont took WAY too many penalties in this game ... they end the year five wins better that the disasterous season of a year ago ... a step in the right direction and supposedly some real good talent coming in ... so we'll see ...

At Middlebury the men's basketball team edged Ithaca by a point to advance to the NCAA Elite 8 ... but the season ended for the Midd women''s hockey team, beaten 1-0 by Elmira in the NCAA D-3 title game out in Wisconsin. Funny, we always like to point out major accomplishments by Vermont kids, but this one was against a Vermont team ... the only goal in that Elmira win was scored by former Hartford High star Taylor Steadman.

Congratulations this morning to the Mt. Abe Eagles, the Winooski Spartans and the Proctor Phantoms for winning state girl's basketball championships yesterday ... one title game remains ... that will be CVU/Rice tomorrow night for the Division One championship at Patrick.
A special tip of our headset mike to the Winooski girls. Winooski tends to get lost here in the media center of the state ... playing D-3 they don't ever match up with the Rices, the CVUs, the Essexs or the Burlingtons anymore ... so they tend to get lost in the shuffle. But these lady Spartans pushed themselves onto the front page by winning their first ever state title ... well done ladies!

Old school Boston Celtics fans are already ticked off. They already are screaming the one word in this blog's title to describe their ill feelings toward anything, or anyone, comparing their beloved Hondo, to Paul "Diva" Pierce. Not so fast I say. Paul Pierce enters today's contest vs. the Miami Heat with 23,777 career points. Quietly, yet effectively and consistently much like Havlicek, he is on pace to pass #17 on the all time scoring list in Celtics history. There are still plenty of buckets left to fill, as Hondo finished his amazing career at 26,395. But with Pierce's 21.8 PPG average it's a mere formality-should he remain a Celtic next year too. As I said, old-school Boston fans are crying foul already. Let me tell you one more thing Mr. Old School-Paul Pierce will break the record in one less season-and then some-than Johnny Havlicek did.

Let me tell you a few other things that you should take notice about. This year Paul Pierce has put the team on his back. With the absence of Rajon Rondo, his leadership has been great. His consistency with 6 boards and 4 assists per game lends credence to his overall game. Sure, he turns it over more than a bakery at 6am sometimes, but, at the end of the game who would you rather have the ball to win it when comparing today's stars? Him or Carmelo? No brainer(fitting for a reference to Carmelo Anthony hey?). Pierce or Lebron? Laughing all the way to the post game excuses for Lebron. Pierce really has one person you can compare to when thinking of being clutch. Kobe Bryant. I'd say that's pretty good company wouldn't you? Further, anyone notice what happened when Pierce didn't play against the Charlotte Freaking Bobcats recently? Um, they lost to them by 26 points. The Charlotte Freaking Bobcats. Last night in rematch he quietly put up 14 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3, count em, 3 blocked shots to go against just 3 turnovers. Keep in mind KG played the night they lost by 26, and didn't play last night. Hmmmm.

Honestly and truthfully(pun intended) it's hard to argue whether Paul Pierce will ever jump ahead of John Havlicek in Celtics lore and legacy. He won't. Havlicek played two seasons in which he played nearly 3700 minutes. The most minutes Pierce ever played was 3,302. No doubt the heart of Hondo for anyone who watched him play leaves no doubt in comparing the two players. I only thought it was apropo to mention that Paul Pierce is becoming a legend too, when considering his place in Celtics history.

One more thing-and Celtics haters will pick on me for saying it-but it's true. I don't think I've ever seen an NBA "star" over the past 4 or 5 years get LESS calls. Maybe it's cause of Pierces constant demand of them to the officials, I don't know. But I do know anyone with an ounce of objectivity, who watches the game closely, would eventually have to agree. All you'd have to do is roll back some tape of the Lakers-Celtics in the finals. Some of you are scoffing, and those same some of you are blind.

Anyway, I've gotten off topic. I hope Paul Pierce doesn't go anywhere in the off season. He deserves to be at the top of the Celtics list in scoring, and in due time will be. In due time will anyone give him credit?


High School Tournament Thoughts Real Quick:

I was watching last night when Winooski made an amazing run in the latter minutes of the ball game. They were aided by a couple of incredible shots by sophomore Christina Dang. One was eerily similar to another I'll tell you about in a moment, only it was with the left hand. If you go to the NSN archives next week you'll see a shot that will go down in Winooski record books as the shot heard round the world. Dang drove from fifteen feet out, left the court off her right foot, like she was taking a lay up, and shot it left-handed from around 12 feet-just inside the foul line area, or near it. It went it, Winooski made their comeback and claimed their first ever championship. It also reminded me of the shot sophomore James Wells made for the Rice Green Knights in their game vs. St. Johnsbury Academy. Check it out. Two amazing shots.

I'm happy for Mt. Abe's Connie Larose. Apparently the third time is the charm, or was for the Eagles. Having lost two straight times they were not to be denied against BFA Fairfax yesterday. I've admired Connie's coaching ability from afar, and yesterday was no different.

Finally, in the St. Johnsbury Rotary tournament my wife's team(and daughters) took first place in the A division against a tough Berlin squad. It capped an undefeated season for the LTS Bulldogs, the only one on the history books. I'm very proud of those girls, and their coach!

George Commo's Blog - Saturday 3-16-13
You know how it is sometimes ... you just have a feeling about something ... nothing you can put your finger on ... just a feeling. Well I had that feeling yesterday about the Norwich/Oswego NCAA hockey game up here in Lake Placid. I didn't feel good about it ... I didn't feel that Norwich was going to lose ... but I didn't feel real confident that they were going to win either ... same feeling I had going into their game with Babson in the quarterfinals last Saturday. While my feeling proved out wrong a week ago it proved out spot on yesterday. The Cadets played well at times ... scored a couple of spectacular goals ... but they were outplayed in the third period and their season ended in a loss to Oswego.
I bring this up this morning because I have the same feeling about the UVM basketball Catamounts as they head into today's America East championship game with Albany at the Patrick Gym. Vermont has had Albany's number in recent years ... they have beaten them twice this season ... but Albany is good ... they have won 23 games this season and they are due against UVM. Again, this is not prediction ... I don't necessarily think Vermont is going to lose .... but I've just got a feeling ....

George Commo's Blog - Friday 3-15-13
Its what you love about the playoff season .... sometimes you get those powerful matchups that you hope for ... so coming up in the next few days we have:
... Norwich/Oswego men's hockey this afternoon here in Lake Placid in the NCAA Division Three hockey semi-finals ....
... Middlebury/Plattsburgh women's hockey in the NCAA D-3 semi-finals out in Superior, Wisconsin ...
... UVM/BC in the Hockey East quarterfinals in Boston ...
.... UVM/Albany in the America East Championship game on Saturday morning at the Patrick Gym ...
... Middlebury/Ithaca in the NCAA D-3 men's hoop Sweet Sixteen in Midd ...
... Three state champiionship girl's basketball championship games tomorrow at the Barre Aud ...
... and the CVU/Rice D-1 girl's hoop finale on Monday night at the Patrick Gym ....
Now THAT is a weekend! I love my job!
.... and

I mentioned this yesterday, but unless you're a Patriot fan or a Denver fan why do care about the Wes Welker story?
There are huge NFL moves being made every day.
Two Rams fans talking, not to me, ....nothing about Danny Amendola leaving for the Patriots by the way or losing Stephen Jackson to Atlanta, nope it was all about Welker.
A Philadelphia Eagles fan, whose team plays the Patriots every four years by the way, not talking about his team's plans, nope it's about Wes Welker and whether Tom Brady actually took a pay cut or got a pay raise.
Just a few examples. It's kind of hilarious. Why does anybody care?

Girls basketball state championship day at the Barre Auditorium tomorrow.
Love the cliche..."It's tough to beat a team three times".... I agree with this one of course. It is hard to beat a team three times because it's hard to beat a team multiple times plus the team they're trying to beat for the third time is probably pretty good because the third time is probably in the playoffs.
Proctor is playing Arlington for the third time tomorrow in the girls basketball Division 4 championship game after winning the two games during the regular season.
Right now though, Proctor does not have to beat Arlington three times. They only have to do it once!