TASTY TIDBITS Dunne keeps head up at SPC Former Peacock grid coach Taylor dead at 34
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The Peacocks could only improve after enduring a 5-25 disaster in Dunne's first season as head coach. And six games into the season, things were looking good. The Peacocks had reeled off three straight wins, including impressive wins against in-state rivals Monmouth and Rutgers.
After getting the program's first win over a Big East school (Rutgers) in 12 years, you definitely had to feel that the Peacocks were on the rise.
"We felt very good about the way things were going," Dunne said. "We started off 0-2 and then got a couple of wins. I knew that we were much more talented than we were last year."
But then, the bottom fell out and the Peacocks have plummeted. Since defeating Monmouth on Nov. 28, the Peacocks have gone 1-14. They haven't won a single game on the road. They now have another dismal season on their hands, going 4-16 overall and 1-9 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The Peacocks seem to play good basketball for 32 or so minutes every night. Unfortunately college basketball games are 40 minutes long.
Take for instance last Sunday afternoon, when the Peacocks played a very good Rider team at the new Prudential Center in Newark.
With about seven minutes left to go in the game, the Peacocks actually led, 57-54. They were playing solid basketball and had things going in their favor.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it was like someone kidnapped the team that played well for the first 33 minutes. They turned the ball over, took bad shots, made ill-advised plays, and went on to lose, 76-67.
"We lost some really close ones," Dunne said, trying to put his finger on what really went wrong. "We lost some close ones at home. We had a nine-point lead with two minutes left against Fairfield and lost. We lost to Loyola when we had a chance to win. If I try to put it all into perspective, I'd say that we have a lot of freshmen who are learning how to play, especially defend, on the college level. They're fighting through the first semester academically and getting used to college life.
Added Dunne, "They all just hit the wall, got some fatigue and have proven that they're just not ready to compete at this level night after night. We've been trying to get our guys to play for 40 minutes, and they've been inconsistent. With so many young guys, we don't have the mental focus for an entire game, and you just can't win that way."
It was believed that the Peacocks would be vastly improved this season with the addition of highly regarded freshmen like Wesley Jenkins, the former All-State player at Bloomfield Tech; Darrell Lampley, a highly successful guard from Linden, and Jordan Costner, a talented swing player from Seton Hall Prep.
Jenkins has had moments of brilliance, like the explosion early on against Rutgers and the 20 points he scored Sunday against Rider. He's averaging 12.3 points per game. Lampley is averaging 10.1 points per contest as a backup point guard. Costner has seen limited action as a reserve forward.
"I absolutely thought we would have more than four wins at this point in the season," Dunne said. "By no means was I fooled into anything. I really felt we would have an inconsistent year. With nine new guys on the team, I knew it would be a struggle. I did anticipate a few more wins, but if you look around the country, the teams that play with young guys don't do well. Especially young guards, who are the decision makers. We have all freshman guards, and that's not easy."
Dunne knows that it's been a frustrating season - actually, a frustrating decade - for the Peacock faithful that still travel to Yanitelli Center to see the games.
"There is a light at the end of the tunnel," Dunne said. "We just have to keep our young guys growing. We knew there would be growing pains. We're trying to build a program. There is no quick fix. We have to let the kids grow."
There's only one problem. Since Harvard on the Boulevard unceremoniously canned Ted Fiore after he led the Peacocks to the NCAA Tournament in 1995, the program has posted a less-than-stellar 121-191 record spanning 13 seasons. And they only sniffed the NCAA tourney once during that time, going to the MAAC finals in 2006 when they had the nation's leading scorer in Keydren Clark.
Patience is a virtue, as they say, and Dunne has patience to let his young team mature. Whether others have that patience as well remains to be seen...
Speaking of SPC athletics, the school received horrible news last week when it learned that Chris Taylor, the head football coach when the school disbanded their program a year ago, died at the age of 34. Taylor apparently took his own life.
When the school dropped football in June 2007, they kept Taylor on as the assistant athletic director in charge of facilities.
But, he was apparently distraught over losing the football program. The last time this reporter spoke to Taylor, looking for comments about the demise of the Peacock grid team, he said he was too upset to talk about it.
His close friends say that Taylor never handled the end of the program well. It's a tragedy that a young man chose to make such a fateful decision...
St. Peter's Prep do-everything superstar Will Hill can add one more item to his already impressive resume. Hill will be among the 50 top football players in the country that earn the right of a Parade All-American. Hill becomes the first Prep player to earn the honor and joins Duval Kamara of Hoboken (currently at Notre Dame), who earned the status from Parade Magazine a year ago...
Weehawken High School announced that John Keeley, who had been the head football coach there for the last two seasons, will not return and that the search has begun to find Keeley's replacement...
In high school basketball, has there been a better girls' basketball performer than Erika Thompson of High Tech, who has been on a tear, going for 20 points and 20 rebounds practically every game? Thompson is carrying the Lasercats on her shoulders...
OK, here's the Great Hagueini's peek at the Super Bowl, as a favor to avid reader and retired Jersey City police officer Jim "Alamo Jones Shoes Roscoe" Gallagher.
Sorry, local fans, but the Cinderella story ends in sad fashion in Arizona. The Patriots, as much as Hagueini hates them and hates to admit it, are the best team in the history of the league and destiny will shine on those miserable rat bastards. Patriots 45, Giants 17. Remember, don't use that prediction for any wagering except a salami sandwich on rye and a bottle of black cherry soda with your Uncle Looie... - Jim Hague
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