The SGA has to vote on whether to fund Busses to Binghamton this weekend.

That vote is happening tonight.

Show up to Commons 318 tonight at 5:30pm to show your support for this. Coach Randy Monroe will be there to voice his support.

Thanks to theancientumbc and Spirit Czar for posting comments regarding this.

Don’t forget, Binghamton transportation packages are going on sale… soon. I think Monday, but I’m not sure. This is the information I’m going off of:

Departure time will be announced when the games schedule is released on Monday, March 3. Please sign up in Room 331 of the RAC. Packages will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

-umbcretrievers.com [article]

As for a time, I’m not sure. I’m hoping someone reading can make this more clear. Here’s what this package includes:

For the cost of only $12.00, you will get a game ticket, Retriever t-shirt and transportation to the game. The bus will return after the game, and WHEN the Retrievers win on Saturday, there will be buses headed up for Sunday’s semifinals.

Just read this article on umbcretrievers.com - is it true?

ATTENTION, STUDENTS: Bus Service Announced to America East Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament

2/28/2008

Attention, UMBC students and Retriever fans! There will be bus service going to the America East Conference Men’s Basketball Championships at Binghamton. For the cost of only $12.00, you will get a game ticket, Retriever t-shirt and transportation to the game. The bus will return after the game, and WHEN the Retrievers win on Saturday, there will be buses headed up for Sunday’s semifinals.

 

Departure time will be announced when the games schedule is released on Monday, March 3. Please sign up in Room 331 of the RAC. Packages will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

I’ve been informed by Jake Steel, SGA’s Assistant Director for Athletic Affairs, that there’s a rather urgent need to determine the degree of interest students have in getting buses to go up to Binghampton for the AEC basketball tournament. The success the basketball team has had this year is unprecedented, and I definitely think we should try to get as many students up to Binghampton for support as possible. SGA has offered to help fund these buses, but enough students have to go for it to make sense financially.

If SGA does fund buses, it’d be $20 to get up there and back (really not bad at all). If SGA doesn’t fund buses, the price will jump to about $60 a person. It’s in the hands of the students. If you think it’s important, you need to let SGA know. This is the post of their most recent article about the possibility of buses. I’m assuming this will act as a good place for comments.

If someone in SGA can help me out with a general estimate for how many students need to express interest to get financial help, that’d be great.

The AEC has a spot on their website where fans can vote for who they think should be player of the year. This year UMBC has two players on the list: Jay Greene and Brian Hodges. Here’s the link to cast your vote! Go Big Daw– AEC Champions!

NOTE: This is kinda urgent, because tomorrow is the last day votes can be cast! Tell your friends!

The Men’s Lacrosse home opener is this Saturday at 1:00. UMBC will face 17th ranked Denver (televised on ESPNU and WMAR).

For those with no context for our lacrosse team, I’ll try to catch you up a bit. Our lacrosse team is coming off a very successful 2007 season. Barely missing the AEC Championship in a 14-15 loss to Albany, the Dawgs picked off 7th seeded Maryland (yes, we beat College Park and yes, it was a sweet, sweet victory for all who noticed) to win their first round of the NCAA tournament (which I believe was the team’s first NCAA tournament match?). UMBC lost their quarter final match against Delaware, but all in all, it certainly was an impressive season.

This season the team’s off to a shaky start. Currently 0-2, having falling to Delaware 7-15 and Rutgers 4-13, the team seems to be having trouble scoring goals. This issue was raised in the February 14 Outlook for this season.

The primary question coming into the 2008 season is obvious. UMBC lost an attack unit that accounted for 112 goals and was one of the nation’s most productive offensive units both all-even and on the extra man.

“We need to determine who we’re going to put on the field to create some offense for us,” Zimmerman [head coach] said. “This year we have an experienced defense and a veteran goalkeeper, but we need to find those players who can score some points. We may have to adjust our style on offense to accommodate the strengths and abilities of our current personnel. That will be the biggest challenge.”

Corey Johns, Staff Writer for TRW (and quite a good one, too, from what I’ve read), does a much better job exploring this team’s story in his recent article. Check it out, and hopefully we as a campus can start working on attendance at these games like we did with basketball. I obviously encourage everyone to check out the home opener, but I’m realistic; I know it’s probably going to be totally frigid, and cold + metal bleachers = bad times. BUT, nothing like getting really bundled up and watching men strategically beat the crap out of each other in the cold… right?

Well… hopefully it’ll warm up for Saturday. Go Big Dawgs!

“Over the past two weekends, 12 UMBC students represented UMBC at the Regional College Bowl and Regional Billiards and Table Tennis Tournaments, sponsored by the Association of College Unions International.

The UMBC College Bowl Team won the Regional College Bowl Tournament, which was held at California University of Pennsylvania in California, Pennsylvania. The team came in 1st place out of 12 other universities and will be invited to the National Championship at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn in May. The team consists of the following students: Michael Fasulo - Junior, Bryan Wilkinson - Junior, William Krueger - Sophomore, and Marc Zerfas - Freshman. College Bowl is the longest running academic competition in the country.  The UMBC College Bowl program was sponsored by The Commons, SEB, and SGA.  This is the second year in a row that UMBC has won the Regional College Bowl Tournament.  At the National Championships, UMBC will be facing 15 other universities across the country including the Defending National Champions from University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin, and Washington University - St. Louis.

UMBC had 8 students participate in the Regional Billiards and Table Tennis tournament, held at West Virginia University. 90 students from 10 universities participated in the tournament.  I want to congratulate the following UMBC students that have been invited to participate in the Table Tennis and Billiards National Championships: Phillip Golden - 2nd place Men’s Table Tennis, Nikhil Ramsubramanian - 3rd place Men’s Table Tennis, and Obinna Odumodin - 2nd place Men’s Billiards. The Table Tennis National Tournament will be held in April in Rochester, Minnesota and the 9-Ball National Tournament will be held in July in Tucson, Arizona! The students that participated in the tournament qualified to represent UMBC at the Campus Recreation Tournament in November.”

- -

Thanks to Kyle Carter for this recap!

“U M - B C, U M - B C, 1 - 2 - 3, GO BIG DAWGS!!!” The cheers and chants rang loudly from the student section as a near maximum capacity crowd was on hand to watch UMBC clinch The America East regular season title. It was actually the all-time school record for attendance at the RAC with 3,712 fans! The maximum capacity for the arena is listed at 4,000, though after talking to Steve Levy, I found out that the number is closer to 3,800. A great showing! The game was against a New Hampshire team that, on paper, appeared to be a cinch. The game turned out to be the closest UMBC has played at home all season.

The first half was a sloppy display by both teams, the Retrievers shooting a dreadful 20% from behind the arc and turning he ball over 6 times (13 turnovers by the end of the game). This type of play is unusual for UMBC, and was certainly not what got them to the top of the conference. “Flyin’ Brian” Hodges (who has been battling an ankle injury since January 30th) saw his first game-speed action in nearly a month, and struggled to find his form. “Brian’s an integral part,” Coach Randy “The Doctrine” Monroe stated, and “he’s working his way back in, so somebody else has to step up” in his absence. Now that the team has secured the regular season title, it will be easier to slowly work “Flyin’ Brian” back into the lineup. “The Doctrine” does not want to rush anything, as this kind of an injury can be very volatile, and re-injuring it would surely be the end of Hodges season. The trainer, Cindy (or Superwoman, as the team refers to her), has done an excellent job, and “Flyin’ Brian” will “be back before you know” (Coach Monroe), which hopefully means up to speed and ready to go for the conference tournament, which is the weekend of March 7th-9th in Binghamton.

As the final buzzer sounded, students rushed onto the court decked out in Black and gold all over their bodies, celebrating UMBC’s first regular season conference title in men’s basketball. “The Doctrine” addressed the crowd immediately following the game, proclaiming the crowd a huge asset, and asking them to accompany the team to Binghamton for the tournament. Referring to the team’s astounding 12-1 record at home, the coach deemed it a “hell of an achievement”, and once again thanking the record breaking crowd. When asked what this achievement means for the rest of the season, he said that the game plan remains the same. There are still two games remaining before the tournament, and “We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied.” The Doctrine mentioned the big picture, discussing the ultimate goal of reaching the NCAA tournament. They want to get to the “Big Dance, so [they] can put on their tap dancing shoes.” And then, his words, not mine, “I’m a pretty good dancer.”

During the after party and reception, “The Doctrine” gave accolades to players that have been outstanding this season, as well as their entire career. Daryl “The Doctor” Proctor and “Flyin’ Brian” Hodges were given symbolic basketballs to celebrate the fact that both reached the 1000 point mark in their careers, a very impressive achievement. Matt “Spaddy” Spadafora was given the prestige of being named one of the teams captains for the upcoming season, along with the returning captains “Lean Mean Dribblin’ Machine” Greene and “Doc.” I caught “Spaddy” on his way out of the reception, and he described his feelings as “honored, and pretty happy.” Incidentally, the two girls leaving behind him, when asked how it felt to be really, incredibly, absurdly good looking, responded that they were “honored and pretty happy.”

The President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, was in attendance at tonight’s game, and enjoyed every heart-pounding minute. When I asked him afterwards in Flat Tuesdays what this win meant to the University, he described it as “overwhelming.” He showed me his hand, and it was actually shaking from the rush of adrenaline he had from the excitement of the end of he game. He described this season as a part of another “great American story.” He mentioned that the incredible chemistry between the players, coaches, and the entire student body epitomizes the spirit of UMBC. The school has been able to grow through its athletics program in the past few years, and this recent success is very exciting. He told stories of getting phone calls from friends and affiliates all over the country, congratulating him on the current success of the sports teams. It shows that the school is building its athletics “the right way,” concentrating on bringing in good students, good people, and some pretty freakin’ good athletes. When asked how the recent success in the athletics department, such as the women’s basketball team last year, the swimming and diving team this year, and now the men’s basketball team, might affect the prospect of beginning a football program at UMBC, Hrabowski stated, “you never know.” He said that that is the most open response he has given when asked about the subject, and he explained his new enthusiasm as a response to the recent success as well as a growth in school spirit. Nevertheless, Hrabrowksi emphasized that it is better to maintain excellence in a few teams, slowly growing each program with more success. It can be dangerous to grow too quickly and become spread too thin, he said, whether it becomes a funds or resources issue. He did, however, reiterate his newfound openness to growth, and that while it may not come quickly, the possibility of a football team in UMBC’s future is not out of the question anymore.

In the meantime, the Dawgs are well on their way to making it to basketball’s national stage, the NCAA tournament. I cannot give any information as far as buses to Binghamton yet, though I hope to find out soon. As a 12-1 home record shows, the advantage of having a home crowd behind the team is tremendous, and the more people that can make it, the better. This was a huge win for the school, and more history is all that lies ahead.

The Retrievers defeated Albany at their home 81 - 77 in overtime to win their 7th straight game.

As a result of this win, we now have the regular season title. Only Hartford has the possibility of tying for this title, but they are currently 2.5 games behind us and if we win at home on Saturday vs. New Hampshire (by my calculations which have been wrong before) we will be America East’s undisputed regular season champions with an automatic NIT bid.

Next Game is Saturday at 7pm. Be there — its our last home game.

If we win this Saturday we will be the undisputed #1 regular season team in the America East Conference with

edit: my apologies to all — as I posted that we would be playing vermont on Saturday.  We are playing New Hampshire.

First I would like to thank the staff here at UMBC Underground for the opportunity to add some perspective to what I have come to realize is an ever changing environment at 1000 Hilltop Circle. The goal of the stories I share is to show current members of the UMBC community just how much things have changed, for better or worse. I hope that I will not be the only author of Tales from the Past, as there are many more great stores from the history of UMBC. I am going to do my best to give you a sense of what things were like during my time here and hopefully others will do the same. With that said, onto the first Tale from the Past.

Actually, before we get to the past, let’s take a quick look at the present. I had the privilege of attending the UMBC basketball game this past weekend. This was the second time I got to see the Dawgs in action this year and I was quite impressed. The Retrieves held their own against a Boston team that had clearly brought their “A Game” to Charm City.  Besides winning the game there was something else about the game that struck me with a real sense of pride and joy. The RAC was packed.  Every possible seat was taken, the doors had to be shut and I think people were turned away. Retriever fans, young and old, students and staff, alumnus and alumnus to be all held their breath as the teams went back and forth. It was something to behold, and it was not always that way.

When I started at UMBC in 1999, the Retrieves began their second year of conference play in the Northeast Conference (NEC) after having been in the East Coast (88-91) and Big South (92-98) Conferences since making their move from Division II in 1988. UMBC had done very well the previous year, having gone 17-3 in conference play and was projected to do very well again. This was by no means a powerhouse conference, but it was respectable enough that the conference champion did get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. My roommate and I took a look at the schedule and tried to see where the team would get its wins and losses. I used the “did I know them” rule, marking a loss when UMBC played any team I had ever heard of and a win for anyone whom was completely foreign to me. Despite being a decent sports fan, I didn’t really know a lot of the conference teams, so it looked pretty good on paper for the Retrievers.
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