2008 Woodie Awards
Giorgis completes Foxes puzzle
Brian A. Hodge
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
I'm pretty good at puzzles.
Crossword, those Sudoku ones with the numbers in the boxes, a 500-piece depiction of Fenway Park - I can do all of these reasonably well. Put it this way, I could definitely win a challenge on MTV's Inferno.
But there are people who can do them better. And I bet women's basketball coach Brian Giorgis is one of them.
I say this because, since his arrival on campus five years ago, he has done nothing but piece together winning team after winning team. Plus he continues to do so in a difficult situation, the puzzle equivalent of someone tinkering with the pieces you've already put together.
Giorgis and the women's basketball program have put themselves in a unique position - "the team to beat" in the conference. And with that moniker comes opposing teams' best effort to take you down, a proverbial "bulls-eye" on the back of the jersey.
Men's coach Matt Brady, who served as assistant coach on the St. Joseph's team that was the top-ranked in the country, knows a bit about being the circled game on other teams' schedules.
"It's very different when you are the hunted," Brady said. "The way (Giorgis) and his team have responded year after year is incredible."
His "pieces" have varied over the years. Giorgis has successfully plucked valuable pieces from afar, like Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC_)player of the year, Fifi Camara, from the junior college ranks.
Additionally, he has been able to recruit freshman like Rachele Fitz, Lynzee Johnson, and Brittany Engle; not the easiest thing to do considering how cold the winters are here.
These pieces always seem to fit nicely with those already in place, such as the talented guard play of Alisa Kresge, and Nikki Flores, frontcourt size and skill in Sarah Smrdel and Meg Dahlman, and sharp outside shooting from Julianne Viani and Courtney Kolesar.
But they almost seem to be doing it in relative anonymity on campus, perhaps the only piece Giorgis has not been able to put together. I never hear students discussing senior point guard Kresge's assist-to-turnover ratio (which is 3rd best in the country), or Fitz's record-breaking ninth conference rookie of the week award.
This is not SportsCenter. There is more to basketball than jams and catch phrases. Like fundamentals (the team leads the nation with the fewest turnovers per game), and defense (13th in the country in scoring defense). All puzzle pieces that tend to fall between the couch cushions of other coaches, except Giorgis.
Plus, Marist is flat out crushing teams, outscoring the opposition by an average of 15 points per game. They have won 10 straight and an absurd 20 straight games at home.
"It's getting to the point," Giorgis lamented recently, "that we beat teams by 12, and people want to know what happened."
The team has been so dominant that losing would seem unacceptable, like quitting before the puzzle is complete. And, the last piece might be an NCAA tournament upset.
But, getting more of the student body behind this team?
That may be the hardest puzzle yet.
Crossword, those Sudoku ones with the numbers in the boxes, a 500-piece depiction of Fenway Park - I can do all of these reasonably well. Put it this way, I could definitely win a challenge on MTV's Inferno.
But there are people who can do them better. And I bet women's basketball coach Brian Giorgis is one of them.
I say this because, since his arrival on campus five years ago, he has done nothing but piece together winning team after winning team. Plus he continues to do so in a difficult situation, the puzzle equivalent of someone tinkering with the pieces you've already put together.
Giorgis and the women's basketball program have put themselves in a unique position - "the team to beat" in the conference. And with that moniker comes opposing teams' best effort to take you down, a proverbial "bulls-eye" on the back of the jersey.
Men's coach Matt Brady, who served as assistant coach on the St. Joseph's team that was the top-ranked in the country, knows a bit about being the circled game on other teams' schedules.
"It's very different when you are the hunted," Brady said. "The way (Giorgis) and his team have responded year after year is incredible."
His "pieces" have varied over the years. Giorgis has successfully plucked valuable pieces from afar, like Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC_)player of the year, Fifi Camara, from the junior college ranks.
Additionally, he has been able to recruit freshman like Rachele Fitz, Lynzee Johnson, and Brittany Engle; not the easiest thing to do considering how cold the winters are here.
These pieces always seem to fit nicely with those already in place, such as the talented guard play of Alisa Kresge, and Nikki Flores, frontcourt size and skill in Sarah Smrdel and Meg Dahlman, and sharp outside shooting from Julianne Viani and Courtney Kolesar.
But they almost seem to be doing it in relative anonymity on campus, perhaps the only piece Giorgis has not been able to put together. I never hear students discussing senior point guard Kresge's assist-to-turnover ratio (which is 3rd best in the country), or Fitz's record-breaking ninth conference rookie of the week award.
This is not SportsCenter. There is more to basketball than jams and catch phrases. Like fundamentals (the team leads the nation with the fewest turnovers per game), and defense (13th in the country in scoring defense). All puzzle pieces that tend to fall between the couch cushions of other coaches, except Giorgis.
Plus, Marist is flat out crushing teams, outscoring the opposition by an average of 15 points per game. They have won 10 straight and an absurd 20 straight games at home.
"It's getting to the point," Giorgis lamented recently, "that we beat teams by 12, and people want to know what happened."
The team has been so dominant that losing would seem unacceptable, like quitting before the puzzle is complete. And, the last piece might be an NCAA tournament upset.
But, getting more of the student body behind this team?
That may be the hardest puzzle yet.
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