On the road with the Blue Hens of Delaware

This weekend, I was on the road with the men’s basketball team of the University of Delaware. They opened their season on Friday night in Richmond (Virginia, Google maps) and a first home game on Sunday in their own Bob Carpenter Arena.

The roster of the Blue Hens, lead by Coach Monte Ross, can be found here. Monte Ross is a former assistant coach of Coach Phil Martelli of Saint Joseph’s, my actual host university for this ICAB coaches program. One of Coach Ross’ assistant coaches is … Phil Martelli Jr.

On Friday, Delaware played in the renewed Robins Center in Richmond. This is quite an impressive arena that can host 7000 fans, which was almost filled up for this opening event. The introduction of the starting line-up in this noisy gym was accompagnied with the good old Chicago Bulls-theme (yes, still goosebumps, every single time…).

Richmond plays in the “Atlantic 10” Conference (with also Saint Joseph’s University) which has a more competitive reputation than the ACC Conference of Delaware. Unfortunately, lost the game by two points. Looking backwards, winning in that noisy arena, on the road with a strong Atlantic 10 team would be an excellent start for the team of Coach Monte Ross. On Sunday, the team missed the opportunity to offer their fans a victory in the first game of the season in their Bob Carpenter Center and lost again … by two points.

Friday 8/11/2013
Richmond Spiders vs Delaware Blue Hens: 71-69 (boxscore)

A recap of the game:
(Note that this is a summary of the game by Spiders TV, so basically it shows only highlights of the home team)

Sunday 10/11/2013
Delaware Blue Hens vs Southern Charleston University (SCU): 93-95 (boxscore)

Pictures at Richmond:

The renewed Robins Center at Richmond

Richmond Spiders play in the “Atlantic 10” conference, with also the SJU Hawks

Spiders vs Blue Hens.

Richmond Spiders vs Delaware Blue Hens

No comment. A special mention for the male cheerleader on the right

Introduction of the Spiders with the Bulls theme

Game court at Robins Center

Shooting session day before the game

Pictures at Delaware:

Bob Carpenter Center in Delaware

Locker room in Bob Carpenter Center

Morning shoot-around on gameday

Video session at Delaware

From Monday morning on, I will join again the team of Saint Joseph’s University as part of this ICAB program. The Hawks will play home games on Wednesday and Saturday, against Maryst and Creighton.