Sorry this is a bit late, but I zonked early last night.
I’d like to chime in on the Andover-Malden game I was at last night.
First off an impressive performance on the Warrior account, with a No. 4 knocking off a No. 13.
1. The kinder, gentler David Fazio truly works. For those of you who don’t know the inside, the Andover coach made a vow to himself and to his team to tone things down on the sideline, not when I droned about it on the blog two months ago, not when a Sunday column in The Eagle-Tribune called him and the rest of the MVC coaches on it, but Fazio chilled out as a necessity for his team.
If you must know the decision to calm down a bit came after the meltdown loss at Lawrence about 10 days ago.
Fazio felt the attitude was hurting his team and adjusted it. He started the new epiphany through the Weymouth tourney and it continued last night.
Fazio was just less feisty. Sure, he fought for his team, and questioned the calls that deserved questioning.
But it was more focus on his team then the officials and it paid great dividends. Fazio had more interaction with the road-tripping “Haak’s Nesters” than he did with the trio in stripes and the game was much less eventful.
Good for Faz. Good for his team.
2. Joe Bramanti was the indefensible Joe Bramanti we saw over much of the first half of the year. The super soph tended to business and like his coach kept his nose to the grindstone and tortured Malden for 20.
He burned the hosts from downtown. He fearlessly worked the lane. He sliced the Malden zone and wreaked havoc.
Most of all he played with the savvy and confidence of a senior.
When he plays like that, Andover is mighty, mighty tough.
3. Speaking of savvy seniors, Sean Ehlbeck might not have singlehandedly turned the game, but he sure picked the right time to impact.
Tie game in the second half, Andover reeling on an 8-0 Malden run, he turned the game with three huge threes, one traditional and two from behind the arc.
Just mighty impressive.
4. Love the backdoor, backcut, alley-oop play to Brian Miller over the top of the 2-3 zone even if he missed the dunk. DJ Fazio’s lob was right on. And the athletic sophomore Miller was way up there. How did it not go in. I send that highlight to any college football program out there and let them know that in three years they could have an athlete like that fearlessly flying across the middle and catching passes. Something special is brewing with the kid. I can feel it.
5. Lost in the boxscore was some real toughness and grit from senior Connor Arnold, who had the tough rebounds when it mattered. It was a five-point night, but it was a huge night nonetheless.
6. Best coaching move of the game came from Fazio who was probing all night in defensive switches. He went to the 3-4 court trap at the right time in the crucial run and got two mighty big turnovers. Giant dividends.
7. The typos aside (DJ and Dave Fazzio, Arnold Conner instead of Connor Arnold), I give big props to the Malden folks for their dedication to the program. The little game program is not one of these grandiose things, but it did have some nice touches, previewing Andover and talking about the game a bit, updating some Malden stats, noting that the winner gets the Brighton-Everett winner next, etc.
Also, there was a pretty entertaining top 10 list on the top 10 reasons you know it’s the tourney, not the regular season.
All 10 are too long to mention, but I will state No 4:
“Andover fans will be dressed extra preppy for the game … in fact, sales at Abercrombie and Fitch shot up 10 percent alone today.”
Great stuff from the Malden side. Give them credit. Without their suspended star, which is a sad, sad case believe me, their kids played hard. I will say this. I’ve seen Malden in the hoop tourney twice the last two years and I’ve seen them in the baseball tourney last spring. I know little about the city, but I will say I like what they’ve got going on there.
I like the attitude of the athletes and I like the way the programs project themselves.
8. The Andover kids from the Haak’s Nest brought their “A” game. Make that A+++++++.
9. I wondered aloud, especially during the pivotal run why Malden sat in the zone, even when Andover picked them apart. Then they switched to man in the fourth, and it was an absolute mismatch. If they played 32 minutes of man, Andover wins by 25.
10. I know Malden was 17-3 coming in and Andover just 13-8, but I’ll bet that if you talked to Everett coach John DiBiaso, deep down he was rooting for the Tornadoes. How could you want Andover after that effort?
Anybody else have any other tourney thoughts?
I will say this. It looks like the MIAA is piling up games Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
For an organization so intent on racking up the admission fees, wouldn’t it make sense to play some games at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, maybe even a 1 p.m. matinee so those who wish to attend more than one could actually do it?
Just one man’s opinion….
