| 2004 RECAP REPORT |
| DRINI CLASSIC |
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| 9 |
| Drini Classic 2004: Rain, Rain, Go Away For anyone familiar with the Drini Classic, it should come as no surprise that it rained on the originally scheduled date for the event. That�s because it has rained on every even year the event has been held. It has also rained every year George Fedorcyzk said he was going to attend. A weird coincidence or an evil plot by George � you be the judge. However, years past that were rained out always seemed to turn out to be a gorgeous day. That wasn�t the case this time around. Sunday morning started out as crummy as Saturday. Despite the cold steady drizzle, the Drini Classic participants came out in force. After enlisting the help of a few squeegees and brooms, the courts were made ready for play. While the sunny and warm weather really never showed up, the weather did hold up enough to get in a good day of hoops and fun. From the start, one team and in particular one person distinguished themselves above the rest of the competition. Banana Cognac Biatch (Taft, Castro, Pereira) ran away to a perfect 6-0 regular season record. The closest they game to a challenging game came from the thug-heavy Sackett team. Team Boner (Prior, Marchitto, Baik) also had a solid day dropping one game on their way to a 5-1 record. The sole undergraduate team, High Rollerz (Koo, Drechsel, Weg), looked to be right in the mix of things too but a costly late day upset to Team PRO hurt their playoff seeding. Meanwhile Triple D�s (J. Alessandrini, S. Alessandrini, Miller) and 2 Suburbans and a Hearse (Betchakdjian, Thompson, and Derasmo) finished the regular season with a 4-2 record and looked to factor in the playoff picture. The talented Blouses (Santos, Addvensky and DiTondo) seemed to underachieve in the regular season but still made it into the playoffs with a 3-3 record. Night Shift (Patel, Johnston, Waldman), JC2 (Levin, A. Sackett, J. Sackett) and KFC Honey BBQ Wings (Fine, Ceresini, Huang) all battled through the even field of competition to matching 2-4 records. But in the end, Night Shift and JC2 edged out KFC for the final two playoff spots on the tiebreaker system. Despite their impressive upset of the taller and younger High Rollerz, Team PRO (Opitz, Piga, Rodrigues) finished a disappointing 1-5 record � well below preseason expectations. And Easy Win (Fusco, Heck, O�Donnell) gave their opponents exactly what they expect, coming up short each time in route to a 0-6 record. A few highlights and lowlights worth noting from the regular season included Taft dropping a quick 14 points on Triple D�s in about 30 seconds; Santos and Thompson mixin� it up; the Triple D�s scoring 16 unanswered points to beat the Blouses 16-14; and Lou inadvertently taking a bite out of Tom Johnstone�s head � resulting in offsetting injuries and the first 2 on 2 game in Drini Classic history. Throughout the regular season, the crowd took turns enjoying the traditional BBQ feast including the now infamous Spring rolls and the old standby mac salad, burgers and dogs. There were also more brownies, cookies and snacks to consume then anybody playing 6 games of basketball has business eating. Big props to Jay Stefanelli for slaving over a hot grill for the better part of the afternoon to feed the hungry participants. With the players feed and the regular season behind them, it was now time to battle in the playoffs. Despite lowering the scoring in the first round from 30 to 21, it was evident that Father Time and fatigue were a factor for many teams. As players get older each year, fewer individuals seem to be able to go the distance and are running out of steam. The first seed Banana Cognac Republic started off the playoffs and again struggled with the JC2 thugs. Ultimately, the team was too talented and came away with a 21-15 win. The second seed, Team Boner, also struggled with the scrappy Night Shift team. Despite a Willis Reed-like performance from the injured and bloodied Tom Johnstone, Team Boner prevailed 21-17. In the third match up, Triple D�s and The Blouses prepared for a rematch of their epic regular season battle. The game started off close but Triple D�s seemed to have about as little stamina as they did chemistry, and in the end, the six seed Blouses upset the third seed Triple D�s, 21-11. In the final game of the first round, the High Rollerz used their height and youth to roll by 2 Suburbans & a Hearse squad by a count of 21-13. While all four teams in the semi-finals played hard, their were little surprises. Banan Cognac Biatch outlasted the High Rollerz, despite a late surge, winning 31-22. Meanwhile Team Boner got out to an early lead and then held off The Blouses recording a final score of 31-19. And then there were two! During the final game, Banana Cognac Biatch benefited from an impressive shooting display (matched only by his hustle) from Taft. Despite a gutsy performance by Lou Marchitto, Banana Cognac Biatch beat a tired Team Boner 30-18 to win the 2004 Drini Classic championship. As stated earlier, the day really belonged to one man. Andrew Taft was unanimously named the 2004 Most Valuable Player. And as if being named MVP and champion wasn�t enough, Taft also took home the 3-point shootout trophy as well as several awards and honors. He even shared the Most Improved Player awards with Kevin Fine � who�s solid game and even better campaigning made him a popular selection. The sixth Drini Classic proved once again to be a fun and memorable time. Best of all, through everyone�s efforts we were able to raise more than $3,000 for the American Diabetes Association to benefit those affected with this horrible disease. As always, such an event wouldn�t be possible without the help of so many. I would like to thank my parents, Jim Opitz, the entire Drini Classic committee, John Golden for shooting video and of course my loving, supporting and somewhat understanding wife! |
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