At Miami, Even A Streak With An Asterisk Is A Victory

A phrase coaches love to hear about their team is “best start since.” That means the team is getting the season off on the right foot.

The best of the best starts this season gets an asterisk. Miami won its first six games, the Hurricanes’ best start since they opened the 1962-63 season 8-0. How impressive that is gets watered down by the fact the school didn’t have a basketball program from 1971-85.

Some other starts that haven’t been the norm for the schools involved included Texas A&M’s 4-0, best since 1981-82; Tennessee’s 6-0, best since 1982-83; Vanderbilt’s 6-0, best since 1984-85; and Houston’s 4-0, best since 1986-87.

On the other end of the spectrum is California, which lost its first three games for the first time since 1929-30.

Cal was also among the teams involved in streaks.

When St. Mary’s beat the Bears last weekend, it ended the Gaels’ 14-game losing streak to Pac-10 teams that dated to a victory over Cal in December 1987.

Some other streaks that ended early in the season:

Prairie View won its first non-conference road game since 1990 with a 69-64 victory over Tulane. The loss was the Green Wave’s first at home to a non-conference opponent since Dec. 23, 1992, a span of 42 games.

Akron ended a nine-game losing streak to teams coached by Jim Larranaga when the Zips beat George Mason 82-53. The previous losses came when Larranaga, in his first year at George Mason, was coaching at Bowling Green.

Alaska-Anchorage’s 101-80 loss to Southwestern Louisiana in the seventh-place game of the Great Alaska Shootout meant the Division II Seawolves went without at least one victory in the tournament they host for the first time since 1984.

Coach quips

Wagner’s victory over Dartmouth in the championship game of the Pepsi Marist Classic last weekend meant the Seahawks won an in-season tournament for the first time since they won the LeMoyne Christmas Tournament in the 1968-69 season.

Coach Tim Capstraw was 8 years old when the Seahawks, then playing in Division II, won that title.

Capstraw, in his eighth year at Wagner, took the opportunity to get a dig at another coach who was standing nearby.

“Last time we won a tournament LBJ was in the White House, the Beatles were the rage and (Fordham coach) Nick Macarchuk bought that sports jacket,” he said.

Capstraw also took a shot at himself as the team tries to regroup from consecutive 10-17 seasons.

“I’ve done more rebuilding that Bob Villa,” he said.

Some friends

Louisville senior center Troy Jackson has heard all the comments before. The 6-foot-9, 370-pound senior center draws quite a bit of attention and it’s not because he’s the younger brother of Mark Jackson of the Indiana Pacers.

It’s hard to miss Jackson as moves up and down the court.

During the recent Puerto Rico Shootout, a TV reporter held up one of Jackson’s XXXXL jerseys and couldn’t resist the comment that he didn’t have the shorts because they were flying over the capitol building.

Opposing fans are rough and that’s to be expected, but how about his teammates?

In the Louisville media guide, each player has a personal section. In Jackson’s it says that “few people know that he’s very sensitive.” The next line says “his teammates think he’s Fat Albert.”