Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Johnston man is 1 in 5 million

by: Frank Carpano

The NCAA tournament resumes tomorrow and one Johnston man will be taking particular interest in ALL the games.

Johnston’s Joe Jamroz is one of 5 million people across the country who have filled out an NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN.  All 5 million people are trying to predict which teams are going to win.

Well, after the first weekend of play, with 48 games completed, Jamroz is one of only 4 who are currently number 1 out of 5 million entries.
Joe’s in the top spot because of how he picked them: “46 out of 48 and at one point I won 35 in a row. That was astonishing, I don’t think I could ever do that again.” Said Jamroz.

Jamroz is a retired North Providence letter carrier and this is his 3rd year filling out a tournament bracket. He said: “ I’m not a gambler or a speculator. I’m not a computer geek. When it comes to picking the winners, Joe shares his strategy,” I watch the TV Commentators and read the newspaper.”

He admits there is a certain amount of guesswork.”Probably 8-10% I was unsure of.”

You may be wondering which ones Joe missed? He explains; “I was wrong in the Michigan-Clemson game and I also missed the West Virginia-Dayton game.

Other than those 2 games, Joe was perfect. He hopes his streak continues this weekend when 12 more games will be played.

Jamroz explains who he has in his Final 4. “I have Louisville beating Memphis and Pittsburgh losing to North Carolina. And then in the national championship game I have North Carolina prevailing over Louisville.

If Jamroz finishes the contest in first place, ESPN will award him the $10,000 first place prize money

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tasca returns home to heroes welcome

By: Frank Carpano

You don’t have to be a drag racing fan to get excited by the accomplishments this past Sunday by Rhode Island driver, Bob Tasca, the third.

Tasca in only his second season on the NHRA Funny Car tour, won his first career race. “guys race their entire careers and never win. For our program it establishes us as a contender, said Tasca

On Thursday afternoon, Tasca returned home for the first time since his win. He was greeted by over a hundred family and friends at his family’s car dealership in Cranston.

Not only did Tasca win, but he had to beat his sport’s best cars and drivers, John Force and Tony Dedregon to do it.

Tasca said, “There is so much that goes into these wins, it is emotionally, totally draining, to go through a weekend and win in the way that we did.
Clutching his first championship trophy, Tasca admitted he loves representing the Ocean State in the winners circle. “Whenever I go around the country, people come up to me and are so excited that you are out here representing Rhode Island and the little state. Some people don’t even know where we are, but we’ve got ourselves a top fuel trophy. “

Tasca won the title in a race that his car went 289 miles per hour in 4 point 2 seconds.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

PC-Miami Postgame

By: Frank Carpan o

TheFriars never led in tonight’s game. In the second half, the Friars got as close as 3 points with 11:32 to go. But they could never get over the hump. The Friar killer tonight was Miami’s Jack McClinton. He scored the game high 25 points, including 7-3 pointers.

In his final game as a Friar Weyinme Efejuku led the team in scoring with 16 points. There were 2 other Friars in double figures, Brian McKenzie scored 13 points and Jonathan Kale scored 11.

The stats

Shooting %

Miami   41%
PC     33%

3 pointers

Miami   10-27 (37%)
PC       8-27 (29.6%)

Rebounds

Miami     44
PC       35

Turnovers

Miami   19
PC     15

PC-Miami   15:55 left second half

by: Frank Carpano

The Friars are getting some results from the full court pressure.  And Weyinme is driving to the hoop drawing fouls. Still PC now trails by 8 points in a lifeless Dunk.

PC Miami at the Half

by: Frank Carpano

Give the Friars credit, they were able to put a little run together at the end of the first half. And they did it with full court pressure that forced some turnovers.

PC trails at the half 33-28

Halftime stats:

Leading scorers:

Miami:  Jack McClinton 9 points

PC: Jonathan Kale + Weyinme Efejuku each have   7

FG %

Miami 36.4%
PC     32.3%

3 ptrs

Miami       5-15   33.3%
PC         2-11   18.2%

Points in Paint

Miami   15
PC       14

Points off Turnovers

Miami           5
PC             12

Rebounds

Miami 26
PC   15

Second Chance Points

Miami 12

PC     6

PC Miami at the Half

by: Frank Carpano

Give the Friars credit, they were able to put a little run together at the end of the first half. And they did it with full court pressure that forced some turnovers.

PC trails at the half 33-28

Halftime stats:

Leading scorers:

Miami:  Jack McClinton 9 points

PC: Jonathan Kale + Weyinme Efejuku each have   7

FG %

Miami 36.4%
PC     32.3%

3 ptrs

Miami       5-15   33.3%
PC         2-11   18.2%

Points in Paint

Miami   15
PC       14

Points off Turnovers

Miami           5
PC             12

Rebounds

Miami 26
PC   15

Second Chance Points

Miami 12

PC     6

PC Miami at the Half

by: Frank Carpano

Give the Friars credit, they were able to put a little run together at the end of the first half. And they did it with full court pressure that forced some turnovers.

PC trails at the half 33-28

Halftime stats:

Leading scorers:

Miami:  Jack McClinton 9 points

PC: Jonathan Kale + Weyinme Efejuku each have   7

FG %

Miami 36.4%
PC     32.3%

3 ptrs

Miami       5-15   33.3%
PC         2-11   18.2%

Points in Paint

Miami   15
PC       14

Points off Turnovers

Miami           5
PC             12

Rebounds

Miami 26
PC   15

Second Chance Points

Miami 12

PC     6

pc Miami with 3:39 to go

by: Frank Carpano

The Friars continue to struggle defensively.

Miami has hit 5 3 pointers. 5-13 to this point.

PC is 1-8 from beyond the 3 point line

Attendance tonight is comparable to a non Big East game. I would estimate about 5000 fans who haven’t had much to cheer about so far

PC Miami 12 minutes to go first half

by: Frank Carpano

Justr u
nder 12 minutes to go in the first half…The Friars have gotten more aggressive defensively and are attacking the glass on offense.
They trail 16-10

Something I never thought I’d hear from a Friar crowd at the Dunk….a cheer for the University of Rhode Island. That happened when the URI winning score over Niagra score appeared on the scoreboard

PC-Miami

by: Frank Carpano

They have played almost 4 and a half minutes of the game and PC has yet to score from the field. The offense has yet to kick in. Fortunately, the Friars have gone to the foul line and scored 4 points….now trailing 11-4

PC-Miami

by: Frank Carpano

They have played almost 4 and a half minutes of the game and PC has yet to score from the field. The offense has yet to kick in. Fortunately, the Friars have gone to the foul line and scored 4 points….now trailing 11-4

Friday, March 13, 2009

Greatest game I’ve ever seen?

by: Frank Carpano

Greatest game I’ve ever seen?

I have had the honor and pleasure to see some memorable games in person. The Patriots winning the Super Bowl in the final seconds on an AdamVinitieri field goal, the Red Sox ending an 86 year drought to win the World Series, the Friars beating Georgetown to advance to the Final Four in 1987. The one thing they all had in common was that I was there working as a member of the media

But the UCONN-Syracuse 6 overtime game at the Big East Tournament is the first time I have attended such an historical event as a fan.

It was an amazing experience. Complete with mind blowing performances by players who refused to give up.

Think about this; the typical college basketball is 2 halves, 20 minutes each. In the Syracuse-UCONN 6 overtime game, they played a total of 70 minutes. Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn wins the ironman award, he played 67 of those 70 minutes. It’s not that the other players ran out of gas, they would have loved to been out there. But 8 players (4 for each team) fouled out!

Every fan watching inside Madison Square Garden knew they were witnessing something special. The vast majority of the 19,375 fans stayed in their seats for the entire 3 hours and 46 minutes. And the person handling the public address system music selection was right on with his picks. After each overtime picking the perfect song to help describe the situation. For example after the second overtime, they played “AfterMidnight”. And after the fifth overtime, the song “All Night Long” blasted from the speakers.

The players may have been getting tired, but the fans seemed to get a burst of adrenaline with each overtime. Some got too much. There were more than a few fights in the stands during the game. But even that couldn’t spoil this special occasion.

And when it was all over (at 1:22am), the fans didn’t want to leave. I saw many taking pictures holding 6 fingers up. They were there for one of the greatest college basketball games ever played.

I texted a friend of mine, a Syracuse fan, who was watching elsewhere in the Garden.
I told him in the 4th overtime that this game would be on ESPN Classic in the morning.
His response: “If it’s over”.

I’m not sure how you could ever top it

Thursday, March 12, 2009

PC-Louisville stats + Postgame Quotes

by: Frank Carpano

Louisville 73
Providence 55

Leading scorers

Louisville   Earl Clark 24 pts (and 10 rebounds), Samardo Samuels 22pts

Providence Weyinme Efejuku 17 pts,  Goeff McDermott 11pts

Rebounds

Louisville   41
PC       36

Turnovers

Louisville   20
PC       26

Shooting %

Louisville 14-26 54%
PC       12-28 43%

3 pt shooting %

Louisville   3-19   16%
PC         2-17   12%

After the game:

Keno Davis: “obviously it’s disappointing anytime your team loses. But when you play a team that is the top seed in the conference and likely a top seed in the NCAA tournament, we were going to have to play our best to beat them. We couldn’t make a run on them in the second half, mainly because of their defense and we couldn’t buy a bucket”. “I think fatigue did play a role in this game. And the fact that we were playing against athletes who will be playing in the NBA some day.We had some great looks and those shots just didn’t go in.“

On whether PC is in the NCAA’s: “I’ve heard alot of predictions. But all the people who are doing the predictions arent in the committee room.“  “We are in the upper half of the Big East with wins against Syracuse and Pitt. This game puts us squarely on the bubble. We’ll keep our fingers crossed on Sunday.: I think one of the things the committee will look at is that we play in a league with some many quality teams. I hope they consider that and we should get credit for that.“

Weyinme Efejuku: “I think they (Louisville) are the most aggressive defense we have played.“

Rick Pitino: “The key to our win is our ability to take the 3 point shot away”.

Regarding whether PC should be in the tournament: “Anytime you go over 500 in the league I thimnk a team should go to the NCAA tournament. In my mind, they deserve to be in the tournament”.

Regarding playing in the Garden: “ I have so many unbelievable memories of this building. So many things come to mind.“

Do you ever flashback to when you coached at Providence: “ I always root for Providence. It’s like my alma mater. The school and the city are a special place. If I had one place to pick, where I’d like to live, it would be Rhode Island.“

Friars record now 19-13

We will have coverage from PC and URI on Selection Sunday

Check out Joe Kayata’s updates of the URI game later tonight elsewhere on this web site

PC Louisville

by: Frank Carpano

Louisville wins 73-55

Coming up Stats and postgame quotes

PC Louisville 9:20 to go

by: Frank Carpano

The Friars are shooting 8% from the 3 point line and 30% overall. Not exactly the recipe for an upset of the #5 team int he country.

9:20 to go,  Louisville 51   PC 38