Category: Manhattan

EKU Wins, But Both Masiello And McHale Living The Dream

RICHMOND, Ky. – While it’s normally taboo for opposing coaches to engage in lengthy conversations before games, Steve Masiello and Dan McHale were willing to make an exception Tuesday afternoon and sat together like the old friends they are in McHale’s office at McBrayer Arena while their teams went through warmups out on the playing floor.

Why not? Despite the ups and downs that come with being a college basketball head coach, the old friends had beaten the odds. A year apart (Masiello in 1996, McHale in 1997), both came straight out of high school from the New York City metropolitan area to the University of Kentucky, both doing so not necessarily for the change of scenery, but a chance to study for what they hoped to be their chosen profession: basketball coach, which doesn’t exactly rank very high on the areas to ensure gainful employment after college.

What are the chances that a walk-on who rarely saw the floor (Masiello) and a student manager (McHale) from the same program at the same time would go on to become Division I head coaches two decades later? Slim to none, but luckily slim didn’t decide to leave the Big Apple or Lexington.

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Manhattan 71, St. Francis Brooklyn 60: Magnificent Seven For Jaspers

BRONX, N.Y. – Division I basketball coaches aren’t generally a breed that is prone to feeling sorry for themselves, but even among that group, Manhattan coach Steve Masiello has to rank near the bottom of the list.

The Jaspers have carved back-to-back MAAC titles through adversity, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that dressing seven players – not seven scholarship players, but seven total – was but a minor distraction on Monday night as they led start to finish and dominated defending NEC regular-season champion St. Francis Brooklyn 71-60 at Draddy Gym.

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Can Masiello Turn This Manhattan Team Into Winners?

Looks can be deceiving, right? Steve Masiello and the Manhattan basketball team certainly hope so because right now no matter how you slice it, the two-time defending MAAC champions look a long, long way from making it three straight come March.

Manhattan (1-5, 0-2) didn’t play a terrible game Sunday and had a 82.5 eFG% in the first half against Marist. The Jaspers even led by 11 midway through the second half, using the running and jumping defense and pressure that had made them who they are in the Masiello Era to cause turnovers and give them easy opportunities in transition.

But even that wasn’t enough as eventually it was the Red Foxes who left Draddy Gym victorious for just the second time in 15 years (and third in 21 tries ever) with a 75-70 victory, just their second of the young season (2-4).

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