I’m borrowing that line from Hoopsville host Dave McHugh, who used it when I shared a nugget about the most interesting statistical nugget I saw from this weekend.

I know of colleagues in the media world who collect baseball box scores, and while the basketball ones aren’t as interesting, they tell some neat stories from the opening couple days of Division III hoops.

The inspiration for this piece was the showing of the Coast Guard women’s basketball team, which ventured cross-country to California for games with Whittier and Cal Lutheran. Coast Guard won both games despite shooting 2-for-29 from 3-point land in the second one (63 rebounds, 4-for-6 shooting from the field in OT, and a couple of good games from the post players helped). That and a visit to Disney made it a good trip. By the way, thanks to a little checking from CGA SID Jason Southard, I learned that it’s the first time both Bears squads (men and women) are 2-0 since 1988-89.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you had the adventures of the Grinnell men’s team the last two days, in matchups with UW Eau Claire and Wartburg. Those used to Grinnell’s system (previously referenced on-site many times) will be familiar with this kind of box score line from Eau Claire. The Blugolds shot 74.7 percent for the game (Dan Beyer was 15-for-15, tied for 4th-best in NCAA history) and had 41 assists, yet lost, 137-132. Eau Claire had the misfortune of having its turnovers (36) match its foul total. Grinnell was 20-for-50 from 3 in the win and got its most notable showing the next day from David Arseneault, who tied a school record with 17 assists in a 105-103 win over host Wartburg.

Some other box score notables

* When there’s a Will, there’s a way…A quick perusal of some New England games found three different ones whose teams had good weekends. Wil Lyons (6-9, 260 pound Rhode Island College center) and Will Lyons (6-4 WPI forward) each came off the bench in a pair of wins for their respective teams (WPI, by the way, took 58 3-pointers in an opening win over Nichols). Will Dawkins (6-foot guard at Emerson) started and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer as his team surprised William Paterson. Emerson is a solid 2-0 after beating Vassar by a narrow margin as well.

* What fatigue? FDU-Florham’s women’s team won the title game of Johns Hopkins season-opening tournament despite using only six players in its 68-56 win over the hosts. Shealyn Taggart gave four of her five teammates breathers as the squad’s lone sub, netting nine points and nine rebounds in 32 minutes (Katie Daly played all 40 minutes). Emily Cerankowski led the victors, who were 15-16 on free throws in the second half, with 31 points.Not as fortunate were the Texas Lutheran women, who played all five starters for all 40 minutes in losses to Pacific Lutheran (64-16) and Concordia-Portland (70-45).

Shooting Most Foul: It was an odd weekend for the No. 1 ranked Washington University men’s basketball team, particularly in this respect. The Bears, who shot 74 percent from the foul line en route to a Final 4 spot last season, were 21-44 from the stripe in the first two games of the season, including 9-20 in their loss to Calvin.

Share your favorite box score nuggets, or tidbits from the season’s opening weekend here…

I realize this is a bit late in posting on Veterans Day, but it is still appropriate. Over the weekend, I met a US Marine who is getting ready to marry his finance at the Naval Academy in January … just weeks before he plans to ship out for his second tour in Iraq. We chatted many times over the weekend and I got a rare inside look at what is and isn’t going on in Iraq. There were no opinions expressed, just stories told. I enjoyed every second of the time I spent with Jon and thought I may not get another chance to hear from someone who served in Iraq for a long awhile, until today.

I was double-checking schedules (as many of us at D3hoops.com do this time of year) in the Atlantic Region late Sunday night when I ended up on the CUNY Web site. And there was a story about Chris Jaeger, a 22-year-old freshmen for John Jay who has experienced more before he ever cracked open a book in college, than most men will experience in a lifetime. That’s because Jaeger has already served his time in Iraq and witnessed his best friend killed in battle.

I don’t want to ruin the rest of the story for you, but will say it will certainly give you another appreciation for not only the Division III athlete, or a dedicated teammate or determined person, but for our troops in Iraq. Whether you agree or disagree with the political side of the war, our troops are serving the best they can in a very tough and chaotic country. The story of Jaeger will certainly bring a different perspective on who some of those soldiers and marines are. Enjoy:

From the CUNY website:

Four flights over 10th Ave., the soldier-turned-freshman fires up a three-pointer from the left corner, and an instant later, is sprinting 94 feet, forcing a turnover at the other end.

Now here he comes back the other way, tattooed arms pumping, face grimacing from exertion, muscling into rebounding position at the end of a fast break.

There are faster players on the John Jay College basketball team than Bronx-born Chris Jaeger, and better athletes. However, nobody on the team – maybe nobody in the whole city – is better at the transition game.

This is a small excerpt from Wayne Coffey’s Nov. 11, New York Daily News article on John Jay men’s basketball player Chris Jaeger. You may read the complete story on the New York Daily News web site.