Navy
- Mar 22, 2022
- 7 min read
March 3, 2022 @ 7:00 PM
Annapolis, MD
Alumni Hall
Patriot League Championship Quarterfinals
THE SCHOOL
The United States Naval Academy is a federal military academy in Annapolis, MD. Founded in 1845, the Naval Academy enrolls around 4,500 students. While in school, each student has the rank of midshipman and is considered an officer-in-training. Upon graduation, graduates are commissioned as an ensign in the Navy or second lieutenant in the Marines, where they must see at least five years of active duty.
Not surprisingly, the Naval Academy has many famous graduates. Annapolis has seen 73 Medal of Honor recipients; notable politicians, such as Jimmy Carter and John McCain; famous athletes, such as Roger Staubach and David Robinson; astronauts like Jim Lovell and Alan Shepherd; and entertainers such as... Montel Williams.
The Navy Midshipmen compete in the Patriot League in NCAA Division I. If you're a football fan, you may be thinking "wait a minute, doesn't Navy play in the American Athletic Conference?" They do, but only in football. In all other sports, Navy is a member of the Patriot League.
American University is a private university in Washington, DC. This my second time seeing American's Eagles this season; I saw their home opener, an overtime win over Marist, back in November. The rest of their season didn't go great; they finished in last place in the Patriot League and completed the regular season with fewer than ten wins.
Additionally, this is the 100th all-time meeting between the Eagles and Midshipmen. Navy leads the series 50-49 (and they're on a six-game winning streak), so this is an important game for history's sake.
THE TOWN
As you probably know, Annapolis is Maryland's capital city. Even though I've lived in Maryland for a year and a half, I haven't been to Annapolis yet. It's not that far from me and Allison used to work there four days a week, but I've not made it there yet. It's time for that to change.
Getting to Annapolis is pretty easy. From where I live, you get on the Capital Beltway for a short time before exiting on to U.S. Highway 50. From here, you exit just before you reach the Bay Bridge that crosses the Chesapeake, and Annapolis is right there. Overall, it took me about thirty-five minutes.
Since this was a night game and I was only there for the game, I still was not able to see much of Annapolis. This is too bad, as the capital city is highly-spoken of. One day I'll get the full experience of Annapolis, but today wasn't that day.
Again, I'm sure Navy's campus is gorgeous, but the lack of natural light hindered my appreciation of it. I've attached the dark, blurry photos I took, but I'm sure campus looks better than this in the daytime. Also, this is a very security-focused campus, so I felt uncomfortable taking a bunch of pictures all willy-nilly. This is likely very silly, but at a place with a high population of intelligence officers, I didn't want to be mistaken as a spy or something. So I took what you see and called it a photographic day.
Alumni Hall is a cool facility. Emerging in sight as you cross the river, this concrete, circular building has been Navy's basketball home since 1991. As you enter, you're met by a lobby where people were hanging out. Once you swing right you'll enter the arena. With all chairback seats and good sightlines, Alumni Hall is a very pleasant place to watch a basketball game.
THE GAME
Parking at the Naval Academy requires permission from the Department of Defense. I don't have that and it sounds like a hassle to get it. Instead, you can park at Navy's off-campus football stadium for $5 and take a shuttle bus to the basketball arena. This is what I did.
Ladies and gentlemen, the shuttle bus was a school bus.
You know what a school bus looks like? You're picturing a school bus now, right? I rode in one of those for the first time in a long time to get to this game.
I don't know why I think this is so funny. Mostly - the United States of America spends so much money on its military. You'd think they could get me something with a better cushion. Or a seat belt. Plus, the driver kept complaining about how he'd been up since 4 a.m. which - I cannot stress this enough - is not what you want to hear from your bus driver when it's very dark outside.
Anyway, if you're one of the 99.9% of Americans who does not have DoD clearance, pack your lunch box before getting on the bus.
~~
I've attended a wide array of college basketball games, and I've noticed that each school has a different type of fan. At some games, nearly all the fans are students, while others see mostly adult fans with few students. Some games will have a lot of young families with kids, while others might only have parents of players. Sometimes everyone in attendance is decked out in team gear, and sometimes nobody is. There is a spectrum of college basketball fandom and each college and university has a unique place on it.
What is Navy's fan type? Middle-aged men.
There were so many middle-aged men here. Like, it was noticeable. If you are a white man aged between 40 and 65 in the Annapolis area, Alumni Hall is the place to be. Some were by themselves, some were with their kids, many were there with other middle-aged men. No matter what part of the arena you sat in, you couldn't help being surrounded by bald patches and white New Balances.
Why is this? I don't really know. It's safe to assume that many of them are Navy graduates, but surely not all of them. Many of them probably work at the Academy, but again, surely not all of them. It's possible that Navy just attracts a certain type of fan - I'm not sure. All I know is that if you're a middle-aged man looking to meet other middle-aged men, I know a place.
~~
One of my favorite parts of college sports is the rivalries. College rivalries involve a level of pride, pettiness, devotion, and nonsense that American professional sports can never match. In so many cases, the rivalry extends far beyond the game - you're thinking about your rival every day of the year.
Perhaps no rivalry exhibits all these qualities better than Army vs. Navy. They respect each other more than most rivals, but boy, do they hate each other. You know what Navy's main chant is? "Go Navy, Beat Army." Doesn't matter who they're playing, it's "Go Navy, Beat Army." And at Army, it's the same thing but reversed: "Go Army, Beat Navy." These two are obsessed with each other even when they're playing different teams.
Each year, Army and Navy compete in the Star Series, which essentially awards the school that beats the other the most in the most sports. Navy has dominated the series lately, and they currently lead this year, 15 sports to 2.
At halftime of this game, Navy honored all the athletes of the Star Series-winning teams by having them stand on the court while the audience applauded. You know what they're really doing? They're showing everyone else that they're better than Army. They know it irks the folks up in West Point that Navy can fill up a basketball court with athletes who beat them, so Navy will gladly do it. It's college rivalry at its finest.
During a break, it was announced that every student in attendance could get a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich. Most of the students were these student-athletes and they all left en masse.
Even though I've been out of college for a few years, I often think I could probably still blend in. I had a moment of "yeah, I could probably get myself a sandwich." But then I remembered - with my shoulder length hair and unshaved face, the United States Naval Academy is one of the only places where it is abundantly obvious that I am not, in fact, a student. So I just sat in my seat, glad I didn't make a fool of myself, but still wanting a sandwich.
~~
One fun thing about Alumni Hall is that every armrest in the arena commemorates a former midshipman. My armrest said "Byron Horne Nowell... Class of 1935." I thought this was pretty cool. I looked up Byron Nowell later, and it turns out the guy was a lieutenant on a submarine that sunk a few Japanese ships in World War II. Pretty cool.
~~
I guess I'll talk about the game now.
Navy was the favored team but American had the hot start. The Eagles' Johnny O'Neill hit three three-pointers in the first four minutes and American got out to a 16-7 lead at the 14:00 mark of the first half. A lot of middle-aged men were getting nervous.
Navy turned it around, though. Over the next seven minutes, the Eagles went ice cold while the Midshipmen went on a 18-2 run, and they now led, 25-18. American still fought, however, as big man Matt Rogers hit several inside shots. While they didn't retake the lead before halftime, they entered the break only down by 3, 33-30.
But the Eagles couldn't keep it up. Navy's best player, John Carter Jr., hit two threes and an and-one early in the half while American's offense was increasingly stiff and lifeless. With 5:42 remaining, Navy reached a fifteen-point lead (58-43) and American's season seemed all but over.
You'd assume Navy is a disciplined, fundamentally-sound team. And for the most part, they are. They have a tight defense, run clean offensive sets, and don't turn the ball over all that much. But in the last 2:30 of the game, the Midshipmen shot 14 free throws and only made 6 of them. This is how American got back in it.
American's Colin Smalls and Stacy Beckton hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 7. Navy went 1-2 from the free throw line, Smalls made a floater, Navy again went 1-2 from the line, O'Neill hit a three-pointer, and suddenly it was just a 4 point game with 30 seconds remaining. The Eagles had a chance.
Navy's Austin Inge got fouled and went to the free throw line where he - guess what - missed the first before drilling the second. Navy led by 5.
After some discombobulation, American's Jaxon Knotek got a good look at a 3 with 16 seconds left. But it clanked off the iron and Carter Jr. got the rebound. Carter made two free throws to score his 21st point of the night, and Navy finally completed their task.
Final: Navy 71, American 64
Navy won their semifinal match against Boston University, but lost to Colgate in the championship game, narrowly missing their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998.
Well, I guess that's it for this season. I saw 13 college basketball games, 10 of them in Maryland, 2 in DC, and 1 in Virginia. I wanted to see more a variety, but that's how things worked out. This is one of my favorite things to do and I look forward to seeing more next season. I really appreciate the kind words from those who read these write-ups; I enjoy writing these as much as I like watching the games.
Thanks for reading.
Go Navy, Beat Army
Comments