Braica puts brakes on Terriers’ title talk

SFC-Brooklyn Coach Refuses to Buy into Tournament Hype

February 17, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Glenn Braica knows all too well that being the best NEC team in February doesn’t guarantee results in March. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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Take St. Francis Brooklyn head men’s basketball coach Glenn Braica at his word.

The Terriers, winners of six straight games and frontrunners for a Northeast Conference regular-season title, haven’t done anything yet despite being touted as the team to beat in the league since the preseason coaches’ poll came out last year.

Braica, a Brooklyn native and long-time assistant at the Remsen Street school before taking over the top post five years ago, knows better than to buy into all the hoopla surrounding his team, which is in prime position to make a run at its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

“The school’s excited, they’re doing a good job promoting, and we appreciate that,” Braica noted even before the streaking Terriers improved to 18-9 overall and 12-2 in NEC play with a 72-62 Valentine’s Day victory over visiting Sacred Heart in front of a crowd of 485 at the Pope Center.

“But we’re not paying any attention to it, to be honest,” he added. “And it’s not for lack of gratitude. It’s because I know the trap you can fall into if you start thinking about stuff like that. We have to crank it up and be focused every day and be ready to play or we’re going to get beat.”

Braica isn’t just shouting into the wind with his warnings of how quickly a potential championship season can turn into a heartbreaking disappointment.

He was alongside long-time SFC head coach Ron Ganulin on the night of March 5, 2001 when the Terriers held a 20-point lead with just over 14 minutes remaining in the NEC Championship Game.

In a contest that was nationally televised on ESPN, the Terriers somehow, inexplicably, let that giant lead evaporate en route to an infamous 67-64 loss that still haunts the program.

“When the engine shuts off it’s tough to turn it back on,” lamented Ganulin that evening while his players watched in agony as Monmouth celebrated its improbable comeback. “We felt the momentum change. Something just happened, and I don’t know why.”

Two years later, the Terriers had another crack at March Madness, but suffered a blowout loss to Wagner in the 2003 NEC title game, and haven’t been back to the precipice of reaching the NCAA Tournament since.

Even last season, when the Terriers won 18 games and posted impressive non-conference victories over Miami, Florida Atlantic and Stony Brook, an off-the-court scandal involving several notable players culminated in a first-round ouster in the NEC Tournament.

So it’s easy to understand why Braica isn’t the least bit interested in handing out NEC Championship t-shirts and caps to his players and making travel arrangements for his team’s big trip to go dancing in March.

“That’s for other people,” insisted Braica. “I’m just worried about the next practice.”

Spearheaded by the likely NEC Player of the Year Jalen Cannon at power forward and quarterbacked by senior point guard Brent Jones, the Terriers are, whether they like to admit it or not, the team with the biggest bulls-eye on it’s back as tournament time approaches.

They also own a 9-3 record at home, where they’ll host Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday night with an opportunity to move closer to clinching the NEC crown and the top overall seed in the league tourney.

But according to Braica, the Terriers’ biggest challenge still lies ahead of them, and nothing they accomplish now can make that path any easier once they enter the single-elimination format in just over two weeks.

“Listen, there’s no easy games,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who finishes where, whoever you play in the playoffs is going to be a war. That’s what I told these guys. No game’s going to be easy, I don’t care if you finish first, second, third, whatever, doesn’t matter. You have to train yourself that way.”

The Terriers won’t be alone in trying to bring Downtown Brooklyn another NCAA Tournament bid next month.

The LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds, winners of a record three consecutive NEC titles from 2011-13, have punched their ticket to the 2015 NEC Championships after missing out on the festivities last March.

Armed with a young, talented roster, peppered with a few key veterans, the resurgent Blackbirds have reeled off four consecutive wins and have taken out six of their last seven opponents overall, with an 81-64 loss at SFC being in the lone blemish during that run.

Third-year coach Jack Perri, who is using six freshmen in his regular rotation, oversaw a rare Pennsylvania sweep for the Blackbirds last week as LIU took down Robert Morris and St. Francis University (Pa.) in back-to-back road contests for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign.

First-year sensation Martin Hermannsson collected his second NEC Rookie of the Week award after averaging 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting a sparkling 54 percent from the field during the Blackbirds’ two narrow wins.

He had 12 second-half points in Thursday’s come-from-behind 63-62 triumph at RMU last Thursday and added a game-saving 3-pointer late in regulation in Saturday’s 79-74 overtime win at SFU.

Poised to finish as high as third or fourth in the final standings at 8-6 in NEC play, the Blackbirds have rebounded nicely from a 2-5 start against league opponents.

“Our guys just hung in there,” said Perri, who won the NEC crown as a first-year head coach in 2013.

“They’ve been a resilient group and they’ve done a good job,” he added. “We had guys step up I’m really happy with that, really happy that we got some stops late and we were able to finish the game.”

LIU (12-13) will visit Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday in search of its fifth consecutive conference win and a .500 overall record.

And for those of you who haven’t had an opportunity to watch either the Blackbirds or Terriers in person this season, they’ll meet in their second Battle for Brooklyn contest of the year on Feb. 26 at LIU’s Steinberg Wellness Center.