Five hours from gametime and Keith Connors, Chris Simmons, Ben Doody and me are sitting courtside watching the Stags walkthrough and shoot around. It’s been seven years since the Stags last made it to the championship and 13 years since Fairfield won the title. So clearly it’s a huge day for Fairfield athletics. Plus it’s on ESPN2.  As Hutch Williams was saying last night, “A Stag in California can watch this game tomorrow.”

We’ll have reactions and an evaluation of the walkthrough coming up later as part of many pregame activities. We may have a video pregame show around 5:30, if we can get everything working right.

Right now Ed Cooley is running the Stags through their offensive sets and they seem loose and confident. Another note, Yorel Hawkins is shooting around with Cooley’s son Isaiah on the other end of the court, though it is still unlikely he will play. He dressed against Canisius, but Cooley said in the post-game conference, “I told him to put his costume on but he wasn’t getting any candy, so happy Halloween.”

The Stags are expected to start the same lineup they used against Siena last time, with Ryan Olander and Anthony Johnson both in the post to couteract Alex Franklin (the MAAC Player of the Year) and Ryan Rossiter (All First Team). The key matchup will be whether Olander can keep Rossiter off the offensive boards. Also Shimeek Johnson will likely start and be guarding Edwin Ubiles.

More to come from the Times Union Center later.

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