NCAA’s nasty shot at Manhattan won’t faze Masiello’s crew

MANHATTAN, New York -- When they barge back into the teeth of March Madness, for Operation Takeover Dayton, they would have been wearing a chip the size of the Empire State Building on their MAAC shoulders anyway. The Other New York Team at The Dance, Manhattan College on the front of their jerseys, Meanhattan College once the game begins.

But NOW?

NOW, after learning seconds after the start of the Selection Show that they would be relegated to a play-in game Tuesday night in the Midwest Region against the 16-17 Hampton Pirates of the MEAC … for the right to be chewed up and spit out Thursday — in LOUISVILLE — by John Calipari’s 34-0 Kentucky meat grinder?

This is what they get for beating Iona in the MAAC Championship game?

Masiello slumped in his front-row seat against a green T-shirt with the words ‘Dancing Back to Back’ draped over it, and his head dropped. If you were looking for the obligatory shot of an underdog team rising to its feet and cheering, you didn’t find it inside Café 1853 on the second floor of Thomas Hall.

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