Category Archives: Road Show

Road Show: Hoops in Worcester

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Clark's Kneller Gym.

Clark’s Kneller Gym.

WORCESTER, Mass. — The last time I was in Worcester was a long, long time ago. It was November 2006, to be precise, when I saw Nichols and WPI play in Becker’s tiny little gym. That night, Ryan Cain was just starting his senior season, and he didn’t have the best of nights, going 5-for-14 from the floor and 0-for-6 from downtown.

These days, Cain is an assistant coach at WPI, and he and head coach Chris Bartley and fellow assistant Billy Gibbons are here to scout Clark (and perhaps Rhode Island College as well). When I reminded him that that was the last time I was here, he remembered right away: “That wasn’t my best night.”

Not that it mattered — his team won handily that night and Cain went on to win the Jostens Trophy. But while Cain is an assistant coach at his alma mater, he is definitely putting his degree to good use, working at an environmental engineering firm.

The Engineers, who I will also not see on this trip, have beaten Clark already and have to play the crosstown Cougars again to end the NEWMAC schedule. They’ve also beaten Rhode Island College already this season, and tonight RIC defeated Clark 74-63. Clark was within 3-5 points most of the game, trailing by three as late as 5:40 left before the Anchormen put the clamps down.

I talked with Bob Walsh after the game:

Road Show: A chance meeting

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Teams in airports are easy to spot, and I’ve certainly done that a lot in my travels. The most surprising sighting was one winter when I saw the Mary Washington tennis teams in the Minneapolis airport.

But in a UAA city, on a Thursday, it probably should not have been a surprise to run into the Emory basketball teams. Especially at the Delta baggage claim.

I am not seeing the Eagles play on this trip. Men’s coach Jason Zimmerman was well aware of this and let me know that he knew. I saw them play at home on the Southern Hospitality tour some years back, and I’m still trying to see some teams and gyms for the first time.

Emory is a shot away from being 6-1 in the league, specifically any of the ten 3-pointers Wash U’s Alan Aboona made against them a few weeks back. But the Eagles are rolling otherwise, beating teams by double digits.

Could Rochester sweep NYU and Brandeis this weekend? Zimmerman wouldn’t answer on the record. But he knows how hard it is on the road in the UAA.

Last time I was on this kind of road trip, it was really difficult to post a blog entry. Now there is an app and this post is done before I even get to the rental car place.