THOUGHTS ON HOWIE

Howie Dickenman was very upset last season’s Central Connecticut team didn’t reach the NCAA tournament. Of course, like any coach, his goal is to qualify every year.
But falling short last March signaled the first time any four-year player in the Dickenman Era graduated without at least one experience in the Big Dance.
Although that can’t be undone, it looks like the current seniors have a good chance to go out differently. Central’s 65-54 win last night at Quinnipiac was its seventh straight and allowed the Blue Devils to maintain a first-place cushion with their 9-1 NEC record. It followed a come-from-behind win in overtime against second-place Sacred Heart.
So after knocking off one state rival was backed up by stopping the Bobcats’ six-game winning streak — and being the first road team to win in the new TD Banknorth Sports Center, to boot — Dickenman, a Norwich native, was asked if he can breath a little sigh of relief.
“A friend of mine said to me after the game, which was a real thrilling game Saturday, as we were walking off the court, ‘Hey, how come you don’t smile?’ ” said Dickenman, whose team has eight league games left before the conference tournament. “You just think about the next game.”
Even if he can’t relax, at least he can be humorous about the approach.
“Unfortunately you don’t have enough time to enjoy it,” Dickenman continued. “I remember when I was at the University of Connecticut when we had that ‘Dream Season’ team. It was ’89-90; we were 31-6. And we never enjoyed it.
Dave Leitao (now the head coach at Virginia) and I said, ‘We need to enjoy this.’ … I said, ‘If it happens again, I’m going to enjoy it.’ The next year we won 32 and I didn’t enjoy it one bit.”
Dickenman, who came to Central in 1996, was a little off on his history. The Huskies only won 20 games the following season, but did follow their Elite Eight appearance by reaching the Sweet 16.
But one thing’s for sure, he didn’t relish in any of that success either.

Worth noting …
Tristan Blackwood, who had 13 of Central’s 16 overtime points to finish with a career-high 32 against Sacred Heart, had 15 last night. Obie Nwadike led everyone with 19 points and 16 rebounds and Javier Mojica added a double-double with 14 and 12 for the Blue Devils.
DeMario Anderson, who transferred from Central, led Quinnipiac with 16 points off the bench.