ATB: 903 for Herb Magee
Posted by rtmsf on February 24th, 2010
#903. Philadelphia 76, Goldey-Beacom 65. It’s not D1, but we don’t really care. Anyone who wins 903 games deserves all the accolades he can get, and RTC is happy to oblige (especially when their fans oblige us with a well-deserved RTC). With local coaching luminaries such as Villanova’s Jay Wright and Temple’s Fran Dunphy in attendance, the 68-year old coach Herb Magee thrilled an SRO crowd by avenging the school’s only CACC conference loss as he officially became the all-time leader in NCAA wins, passing Bob Knight’s 902. His Rams move to 23-6 overall and 15-1 in the conference as they look to make another run in the Division II Tournament next month. Magee won a national title at the school in 1970 and has averaged over twenty victories a year ever since, yet he says he has no plans to slow down as long as he’s healthy, inviting everyone back in “four and a half years” for the next celebration at 1,000. After the game fans were given t-shirts with Magee’s name and the number 903 on the front — if anyone can send us one of these, we’d be exceptionally grateful. Congratulations, Coach Magee — a class act, through and through.
Fans RTC After Magee Won his 903d Game Tonight (Phila. Inquirer)
The Wild and Wonderful Big East. #13 Georgetown 70, Louisville 60. As soon as you think you have this league figured out, it surprises you again. Come on, who wasn’t saying at halftime of this game tonight that the Cards were surging and the Hoyas were cooked. It’s ok, you don’t have to admit it to us, but that’s what we were thinking too. Um, we guess the Hoyas weren’t thinking that. Georgetown used a 24-5 run to start the second half and silence the Freedom Hall crowd behind Austin Freeman’s 29/4/4 assts, the vast majority of which came in that half. The rest of the game was academic, as Rick Pitino’s team fell back into its old habit of Edgar Sosa (24/8 assts) and Samardo Samuels (11/6) doing most of the shooting (and scoring). Both of these teams are now 9-6 and one game behind West Virginia for magical double-bye that the Big East Tournament offers its top four seeds. Georgetown has two winnable home games vs. Notre Dame and Cincy sandwiching a tough road game at WVU, while Louisville has three pretty tough games remaining (UConn and Marquette away, Syracuse at home). As for the long-term viability of these two teams, both have warts, but Georgetown’s better offensive balance and big-game ability carries a lot more weight with us — if having to choose now, Louisville looks like a first-round upset waiting to happen, while the Hoyas are a Sweet Sixteen team so long as their starters stay on the floor.
Upset of the Night. Evansville 55, #24 Northern Iowa 54. How badly must suspended UNI center Jordan Eglseder feel now? Although the Panthers are still safely within the NCAA field even if they lose in Arch Madness next week, this loss to the hapless Evansville Purple Aces will have a serious impact on their seeding two Sundays from now. Evansville, who has won only two games in the MVC all season but beat the top two teams (UNI and Wichita State) on their home court, held Nothern Iowa to 33% shooting and only 5-27 from three, one of their three worst performances of the season. The few Evansville fans who were there actually RTC’d, but we haven’t yet found any photographic or video evidence of this yet.
