Moving to the Daytona Beach area, I knew I’d be in the hub of so many things.
Fishing. Golfing. Auto racing.
But men’s basketball?
OK, maybe that’s a little preemptive. And yeah, maybe the tri-county area isn’t exactly the Research Triangle on the hardwood just yet.
But ya gotta admit, we’re off to a heck of a start around here.
UPSET ALERT: Florida State men’s basketball suffers stunning loss to Stetson in season opener
A QUICK INTRODUCTION:Bell wins, Gibbs on defense and oh, allow me to introduce myself
In case you missed it, Stetson started its season with an 83-74 win in Tallahassee over Florida State on Monday. The last time the Hatters had beaten the Seminoles (March 5, 1975 to be exact) “The Towering Inferno” was the top movie at the box office and the Eagles had the country’s top song with “Best of My Love”.
Whoa, sweet darlin’!
A few days ago, a couple of West Virginia boys — myself and Stetson coach Donnie Jones, who hails from Point Pleasant, home of the Mothman — caught up on the phone in the wake of the big win.
“Huge,” Jones said. “Anytime you can beat a Power-Five school, it’s great for your program. I have so much respect for FSU, they’re one of the top 10 college basketball teams over the past four or five years. For us to be able to get that win, it’s just a huge confidence booster for us.”
Making the victory even more surprising, the Hatters were picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference by league’s coaches. The media had Stetson 13th.
And, to beat all, Stetson was without “Big Mo”. Not momentum, in which the Hatters obviously had plenty, but center Mahamadou Diawara, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound center that would’ve have seemingly been key against a big, physical Florida State lineup. In fairness, the Seminoles were short-handed as well, but Stetson enjoyed an unlikely 38-35 advantage on the boards.
Hey, it’s only one game. And Jones knows that. It’s still a team with several questions to answer and that process has just begun (Stetson’s scheduled game on Thursday against Johnson was postponed due to Hurricane Nicole).
But, while the program has made strides under Jones, now in his fourth season, it’s still seeking its first winning record since 2000-01. Whether the victory can propel the team toward that end remains to be seen.
“We play 10 of the first 12 games on the road and that’s going to give us a good indication as we go through battles in tough environments,” Jones said. “It’s a team kind of unknowns. We have four transfers on this team and a freshman that hasn’t played. That’s five of 13 guys that are new. We’re still trying to figure out who we are.”
And Stetson’s not alone in the early-season, Volusia County basketball renaissance.
How about Daytona State? The Falcons are off to a 4-0 start and checked in at No. 7 in this week’s NJCAA Region 8 coaches poll.
NASCAR is over (more on that in a minute), baseball is over, the Jaguars are a mess, the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes are in a race to eight wins and I’m assuming fishing and golfing is going to be tough in these parts for a while.
So, why not go out and check out some local hoops? At least a couple of area teams deserve the best of your love in the early going.
Motivation for rotation
What did we all think about championship weekend in Phoenix?
Anyone else a bit underwhelmed?
I don’t know. The trucks put on a pretty good show, but that show was put on in the wee hours of Friday night and Saturday morning, long after most had gone to sleep. Including me.
The Xfinity race was dominated and won by Ty Gibbs. The Cup race was dominated and won by Joey Logano. Whenever there’s a championship at stake there’s bound to be some excitement.
And there are parts of races at Phoenix that are fun. Restarts for instance. But once the guys tucked in line, there was little intrigue.
It led me to a question I’ve been asking for years — Why are we not rotating the championship races on a yearly basis? In racing, where certain drivers are better at certain tracks, wouldn’t it be more fair to mix up where the title race is held?
Imagine a championship race at, say, Darlington. Or Bristol. Or Talladega.
Hell, put it at Rockingham next year. Can you imagine the first points-paying race after the track’s triumphant return also deciding a cup title?
Sounds fun to me.
What doesn’t sound fun is another year full of a couple of laps worth of awesome restarts followed by laps and laps of follow the leader.
Even if that leader is polishing off a championship.
Their own day in the sun
So, I know I’m new here and it’s not my goal to make waves already — Lord knows we’ve had enough of those recently, anyway.
And, I’d be the first to admit, I’m still learning about how things work around here.
Hurricane Nicole forced the state’s volleyball championships to move from Friday to Sunday, giving the sport its own day in the world of Florida high school sports. But, why were those championships scheduled for the first Friday of the prep football postseason to begin with?
Maybe there’s a good answer. I certainly wasn’t given one when I contacted the FHSAA to find out. In fact, I wasn’t given a response at all.
And that’s fine. I get it. Again, I’m new here.
But I’m far from new when it comes to sports and having covered them for years, I know that participants in Olympic sports work just as hard as any other athletes. And I also know those efforts can often be overlooked. I’m sure that would be exponentially true if competing against postseason football games, forcing possible attendees to have to make a choice.
Those kids deserve their own day in the sun.
It’s just a shame it took a massive storm to give them one.
Reach Ryan Pritt at rpritt@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @RPritt.
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