Hello. I'm moving a lot of things today. The new PL hoops messageboard is at http://patriotleaguehoops.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1. I locked this board in the meantime to encourage folks to post there. If you think that sucks, please drop me a line (mattb at patriotleaguehoops.com) and I will listen to any suggestions.

They should play Sunday. Only bet if you get a spread...

Assuming those lovable Eagles shore up a 3-spot, I will surely be headed to Lewisburg with some Bucknell alumnus next weekend. So, I need your faithful unbiased readers to tell me if I can realistically expect to be playing on Sunday and how large my friendly wager should be with those former Bison.

Thanks, Phelix. Screaming Eagle, I like the blog. Keep up the good work.

Matt, do you have an RSS feed? Catch the USA Today article today?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/men...multiple-bids_x.htm </A>

I guess we can always dream...

Matt, do you have an RSS feed? Catch the USA Today article today?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/men...multiple-bids_x.htm

I guess we can always dream...

A good question, and an even better username.

While Navy is dangerous as all get out, I don't think they're any more dangerous than Lehigh or Colgate, who have both beaten AU. That is, I'd rather play a team that hasn't beaten us than a team that has.

Matt, Navy is hot right now. Do you really want to meet them at Bucknell after beating them at home the week before, even if you can get to the game?

Edited by author 02-24-2005 05:49 PM
Though Matt is the expert on the random stats, I've wasted some time of my own. Check out http://rhydymwyn.blogspot.com/ and look at the post entitled "The Key to Success", which is likely still at the top... Warning: it is only AU stats; I only have so much time to waste due to those pesky classes I take. And you never ever ever have to go back if you don't want to. Just humor me and check at least once.

What can I say? I don't think highly of HC's post players beyond Clifford. But you're right, maybe I think too much of McNaughton.

AU wins the tiebreaker over the other two in all tie situations by virtue of a W over Bucknell and a higher RPI. Colgate is 11 points higher on RPI than Lehigh, so they would win that tie.

So, essentially, Lehigh has to win in order to get a #4 spot, and they have to win and AU has to lose for them to get a #3 spot.

I'd put up a post on it, but I'd much rather just wait for the teams to settle it themselves.

matt-i know you have been waiting to hear from the troll--if not often right about your numerous hc predictions,you are consistent--why do you think so highly of mcnaughton vs the hc defense?--it's never 1 on 1 in the post--willard's d usually takes away the inside strength-and they did it again last night--like sports illustrated,please pick hc to lose in the pl tourney

Edited by author 02-24-2005 10:34 AM
I'm sure the league will come out w/ this eventually...but here's what I gather for tiebreaker scenarios for seeds #3 - 5.

Lehigh/American finish tied - American #3
Lehigh/Colgate finish tied - #3 based on final RPI
Colgate/American finish tied - ???
Lehigh/Colgate/American all finish tied - ???

Anyone have any ideas on the last two scenarios?

Of course, all this is based on who wins, loses, forfeits, bus breaks down, etc. but it's mind boggling to think about so let's just assume a few of these guys will be tied in the end.

The rest of the players:

HC #1, BU #2 , #3 - 5 up for grabs, #6 Navy, #7 Lafayette, #8 Army

HT: It was strange, though, with the fouling. The refs hadn't been calling anything all game long. Sure, they were short on fouls and wanted them to add up, but they weren't wrapups or hack-a-Shaq type fouls. They were closer to touch fouls- reach-ins and whatnot that hadn't been called before. I was somewhat surprised the refs bothered calling them after swallowing their whistles all night until then. I'm certainly glad they didn't keep that up, though one more successful free throw would've been nice.

And the men's win was nice... in the dying moments, it looks like we need to give the ball to Andre to handle it (especially if we need a shot), but when he gets fouled he should go down injured so we can send Ryan to the line (16-17 this season). As for Jason... kudos to him for hitting the shots, now we need to teach him to handle the ball.

Eagle: Looking at that play by play, it seems obvious what happened there. Lehigh had only two team fouls at the time, and needed to foul in a hurry to get in position to foul to extend the game at the end if they managed to get a little closer.

To Sue Troyan's credit, it doesn't look like they ended up doing a lot of fouling at the end since they never got close enough for it to matter.

Meanwhile, a good win for the AU men, eh? Seems they discovered the secret: send Thomas to the line to seal it at the end.

Edited by author 02-23-2005 10:19 PM
Who says AU can't hit free throws? We went 13-13 from the line Wednesday night!

Oops... that was the ladies.

I know we tend to focus on the men, but one more strange thing happened... Lehigh fouled us 5 times in 6 seconds.

                                     03:32 FOUL by Sullivan, Claire
TIMEOUT media 03:32
                                     03:30 FOUL by St. Laurent, Chantal
                                     03:28 FOUL by Hynoski, Mary
                                     03:27 FOUL by DePalo, Jessica
                                     03:26 FOUL by Ellis, Sara

That's taken straight from the box score. We were up 14 at that point. Have you even seen anything like that before, other than in the dying moments of a game?

It seems the men hit four in the last thirty seconds to clinch the win... Looks like they got my shipment of Kool-Aid.

Go HC. Sustain your big mo and play like each game is your last.

Hey Guys

Just wanted to alert you of another Patriot League Basketball board, if you ever wanted to just check it out. It has pretty cool features and it's a free board, so if you're interested, check it out.

http://www.basketballboards.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=103

HT: You said the blue shirts would hate you for saying Ingram didn't deserve his award... well, I don't. We lost. Had no other player scored more than 15 points, Dre might deserve it. But winning with whatever it was Hilliard did... he deserves the award more than Ingram. I'm sure if you asked Dre, he'd trade the win for the honor. I sure would.

A shoutout to Kevin Hamilton (HC) from cbs sportsline......

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/8216398

I'm pretty sure that Willard is preparing the team one win at a time. The last few years, as good as the teams have been, they've stumbled along the way. In '01 there were late losses at Boston University and Army. '02 was an up and down year but the team peaked at just the right time. In '03, there was that awful loss at Marist, plus HC probably should not have lost to Yale in that tournament in Hartford.

This year there were games that scared the bejesus out of the HC fans. That Lehigh Valley swing is always difficult. Navy and American are really solid teams and HC and played them after they'd knocked down Bucknell the week before and they won. They just defeated a scrappy Colgate squad despite shooting poorly.

These are all games that, arguably in the past, HC may have lost because of letdowns for whatever reason.

I'm certainly not saying this year's HC team is one of destiny. Far from it. I do think it's the best squad Willard has put together in his six years in Worcester. I also think there is a lot of respect for the program now, at least in the media, who as we know loves a Cinderella story.

If HC had been winning every game by 30, I'd be worried, because those types of blowouts really inflate a team's ego. But the fact is they've had to work their tails off for every win, plus you have a few breaks go your way. Add it all up and it turns into a really solid season. No doubt though HC will have to work harder now with Bucknell coming to town and the tournament on the horizon, but HC fans' confidence in Willard has been a worthy investment. As good as Bucknell has been this year (and I'm taking nothing away from them - that team does scare me and I know they are very capable of winning in Worcester on Wednesday), I don't see this HC team falling into the trap that previous teams have.

Doesn't scare me - I like the sound of it. Especially since Willard prepares the team one game at a time...

I don't know about that. If you ask teams that have huge winning streaks how easy it is to keep them maintained ----ESPECIALLY when the pressure builds I think the answers may suprise you. Bucknell went on cold pizza on wednesday morning with a huge win streak and caught an L against AU on Friday night.

All I'm saying is come tourney time when things get tough and everyone starts to hype Holy Cross as a possible 12 (or even higher) seed the fact that the next loss could totally knock them out of postseason play could make things interesting. The chances of having a 17 game winning streak going into the NCAA tournament is quite a prospect yet it would scare me a bit if I was an HC fan IMO.

So Prediction, as you point out, this is more a case of winning one game at a time against some stiff competition. The fact that a winning streak builds up in the process, does not IMO make the next win any more difficult.

JRGNYR --- My prediction is more based on the wins than anything. The fact that they will have to end up winning 17 straight (assuming they don't lose this week in Reg. season play) would be quite a feat. Don't get me wrong its possible, I just feel like there are areas that are lacking and will cause them to trip up. Bucknell can get hot and do damage, or even Lehigh/AU (I know most people consider them done) but I see it as more wide open than most people do. I'll be interested to see if HC can maintain their amazing play.

It is definately possible, I just am doubting it. Your points are well taken though.

Just because HC hasn't dominated games doesn't necessarily mean they're going to choke down the stretch.

I'm figuring you think Bucknell will win the PL, and that certainly carries some merit. But HC just beat Colgate on the road by 13. Bucknell beat the Raiders by a deuce.

HC won at Navy and American, while Bucknell tripped up and lost both those games.

The key is that HC has won the games that Bucknell hasn't (excluding the head to head matchup). I think everybody would agree this is a different HC team playing now than they were when they went to Bucknell, and in a lot of ways it's a much different Bison squad as well.

HC has won the games they've had to, and they are too well coached to go into a game unprepared. If they don't execute, well what can you say? They may very well get upset, but I think your logic is flawed when you base your prediction on the fact that HC hasn't been dominating games. HC isn't going to win every game by 30.

hamilton(poy)-ingram--mcnaughton-simmons--olivero

ht- hey, i don't hate you and i don't think you hate us. au is developing a wonderful legacy of not quite making the cut in the final and choking away games (andres and andre, neither knocked down the FTs when we needed them). but we can change it... maybe. andre is still a solid player who could play on any PL team and likely many better ones, too. he can hit fade-aways right before the buzzer, so maybe he should pretend someone is covering him. don't count us out for the final- we've made it three straight years and we might a fourth. doesn't mean we will win it, but... well, you know... us AU kool-aid drinkers will guzzle it down to the last drop.

prediction: i believe dre was the only PL player on the NABC all-american district list, so i'd assume he will be up there somewhere. and perhaps jason thomas, too. he's been player of the week three times, and though he hasn't always been "with it", i'm not sure there are 10 players who are definitely that much better than him.

of course, as president of the blue shirts, i pass out the kool-aid... at the navy game, there'll be teddy grahams, too.

Anyone have any thoughts on the PL first/second teams if they were named today?

Onc exception to below ... I said I don't care who wins. That is true in conference play. Out of conference, I like to see Patriot League teams win.

I love you guys. Anybody who doesn't drink the AU kool-aid or think Ingram walks on water is evil and hates ya. LMAO

I hate to bust yer bubble, but other than busting yer bubble, there's not much I "hate." Certainly not any of the teams in the conference.

The difference between me and you is that I am not a fan. I like the league and its teams, but I could care less who wins as long as I get a decent story.

I could write all kinds of things about why teams other than AU should be considered contenders if I based it only on what they did in the past. But the last three years do not count this year. I cannot help that the Eagles, despite entering the league with a full roster of scholarship kids recruited as CAA players (a higher level, esp. at the time they entered the league) have not been able to win it in any of those three years.

Just like I cannot help that Ingram cannot seem to make a free throw when it really matters. 37 points is nice. Very impressive. But it is not a W. Twice in key situations, the guy has not been able to make an unguarded shot 15-feet from the basket. Only a fool would not sense a pattern there.

Nonetheless, if he comes to the line with 1 second left, shooting two down one in the final, and makes them both, I will be as happy as any AU fan.

Why? Because overcoming adversity always makes a great story.

Of course, given how AU has faded down the stretch, that does not seem very likely.

JRGNYR --- I agree HC is the favorites. I just don't see the storybook ending, ie. them winning 17 straight (expecting them to win the rest of the way to the NCAA's). And HC hasn't won the last three straight although you are correct they won 3 straight not including last year.

I don't think they will do it, especially because they haven't been winning in dominating fashion. Home court advantage throughout is a HUGE + though because AU vs. HC in the 2nd round on their floor could be a sellout with all HC fans. There is no doubt this is a huge advantage to them....I still just don't see them advancing all the way. (also keep in mind, students are on spring break and likely won't be at the games for the most part)

I agree with your AU comment though. They have to get over the hump before they can be mentioned with the champions. 3 for 3 in runner-up trophies isn't a great stat, although it still makes me laugh that Hoop Time is so convinced that AU sucks so much. His commentary regarding Ingram's 37 pt performace... "Andre Ingram, who missed a free throw that could have won the Holy Cross game in regulation, missed two free throws with 18 seconds to go in overtime Note the correction, we originally said the free throws were in regulation to win, not OT to tie) with Lafayette up by two, rendering his 37-point performance pretty much meaningless"....that is classic. I can't say enough for someone who kills a kid who scores 37 pts. Chances are without him AU gets run out of Lafayette's gym...either way, HC are the favorites no doubt, prediction stands though -- they don't make it their 4th title in 5 years.

Uh, I think you have to give HC the advantage. They also advanced to the PL title game three years in a row and won all three. While American has had a knack for getting to the title game, they haven't quite gotten over the hump.

Wow, definately sense some hatred from Hoop Time regarding the Eagles.

The team has been to the final game 3 of the last 3 years, can HC say the same? They know how to win it seems when it counts (except the Title game of course, lol).

And yes, Bucknell, AU, or even Lehigh if Joe Knight plays amazing could beat HC. Tell me their biggest quality win? They should still be dancing in March either way but I'm predicting they won't be....let the games begin.

Edited by author 02-20-2005 09:45 AM
Prediction: Bucknell, maybe. AU? Next you will say they will win it on a pair of Ingram free throws. Puhleeze. They will be lucky to win one.

HC -- Yep, trekked to the tundra just for you Worcester fans. Sorry about the cameras, they were never pointed my way. Only pointed them at the foul line all afternoon.

Sader -- No "affiliation". I started my newspaper career covering Bucknell the same year the league started playing hoops. For the past three seasons I have been sort of HC's Patriot League road beat stringer, covering games at BU, LC, LU, Navy and AU (and today Colgate). Also do some road football for the T&G when HC travels to those (sub G-Town for Navy and AU) or elsewhere in this area (like Penn a couple years ago).

Matt -- Buy the Eagles some Red Bull dude. They are fading like a pair of cheap jeans.

Calling it right now, HC doesn't make the big dance...they get screwed by the selection committee as either AU or Bucknell ends up being them in the Finals. Either way HC gets screwed after a great season.

O'hanlon owns Jones and always will. American couldn't beat Lafayette when Gary Williams was there and they can't beat them now on an uneven (for now - new prez has left the door open) field.

anybody read sports illustrated? check out the letters to the editor... i got jenyce woodruff a mention as the daughter of dwayne woodruff, former steeler mvp and super bowl winner... aren't i proud of me? yes, yes i am.

Edited by author 02-19-2005 09:58 AM
ht--since you wrote about waving to the tv cameras at colgate today, does that mean you are writing the t&g article on the game?--you do fine work on those game pieces

Hoop Time: Nice job with your Blog. I have a question for you: What is your affiliation with the PL? Did you attend or graduate from one of the schools?

Edited by author 02-19-2005 09:50 AM
congrats to andre ingram for making the nabc 2nd team all-american in district 4
ht--ed laubach of the easton times express wrote street and smith's preview and picked hc 4th--you would know if he sees any pl games

Edited by author 02-19-2005 09:31 AM
HC -- When is the last you saw any of those national mag folks at a PL game?

Those things are based on the preseason prospectus that the SID's send out in the spring.

Besides, I doubt that anybody who knew the league would have told you they expected it to be anything but close between the top 4. There was no clear-cut top team in the league (and until HC beats Bucknell twice, there won't be).

Matt -- Look at Navy's personnel vs. Army's ... not even close. That they played poorly under Devoe last year does not make them worse than Army going into this season.

Don't buy into that academy whine about no scholarships. They give as many as they want every year, stash a few at Navy Prep and always have athletes. That no limit and the prep school stuff easily makes up for the military commit situation.

Bottom line, having a few scholarships to give allowed the other schools equal footing after a being at a disadvantage to Navy for years.

Army's problems, I think, are more internal West Point things.

At any rate, Lange might win it, but unless Navy at least gets past the first round in the tournament, I wouldn't even consider voting for him (not that we get to).

I think you give someone the award for doing the most with a squad-- Navy was worse than Army last year, IMO.

You're right though, it's not a crystal clear case. But Lagne is certainly a contender.

The AU bias in me would point out that AU was picked 5th back in 2001, finished outright first, had the 2nd biggest turnaround in the nation (beaten by Texas Tech) and Jeff Jones STILL didn't get the award. So maybe whoever is voting for it doesn't know what the hell they're doing anyway.

ht--not only the pl sids picked hc 3rd or 4th,but the many pre-season magazines agreed in this evaluation

HC ... only reason I can think of is because he figured out in the second half of the season how to get his team to play the way it should have from the start.

Personally, I say no coach who loses to a D-3 and Army in the same seasonbarely deserves a job, much less an award.

As for where HC was picked. That was done by SIDs, not by coaches who would know better. Nonetheless, if HC runs the table, Ralph would get my vote (if the media got one).

If Bucknell rallies to claim the regular season, I would give Flannery the nod, based in no small part on the wins over Pitt and St. Joe's.

here comes the troll--hc was picked for 4th,some chose 3rd, in the conference--as of now,they are 10-1 and in first by 2 games--navy was picked for 7th--they are tied for 6th--why should their coach be the coach of the year??

I hope that somebody out there besides me was able to catch at least part of 'Law and Order' last night. The premise was based on the Ron Artest brawl and how atrocious fans and their actions have become. Basically, a fan from New York was stalking a basketball player from Philadelphia to the extent that he would place phone calls to his house and intimidate his children. Things finally hit the fan when the basketball player got something thrown at him during a game and entered the stands. I thought it would be worth bringing up this display of ‘pop culture’ in lieu of all that has happened in Bender Arena and across the league and sports in the past couple of years.

Rock on NBC – we miss you Lenny Briskow

just dont send that red-shirted hothead after us or we'll make less-friendly signs next time!

Easy fellows, let's not have this bad blood between the blue shirts and the purps spilling over on the board now. Next thing ya know, peeps will start throwing beads. *LMAO*

matt--troll.hmm-yes,that's the nicest thing you've said about an hc person in a long time--to be honest,i love to read about recruits-i fill the hc board with such trivia--my point is that i so enjoy your comments on the current games,my life was empty without matt 's analysis of the current pl scene

hchoops, you are my favorite troll.

You shouldn't have to register if you want to post comments on specific posts. Don't know why you think you do.

And christ, will you let the "best team ever" thing drop already? I WAS RIGHT. Going into league play, BU had the most impressive resume of any other team in PL history. That, to me, means they were the best team ever going into league play. That's what I was saying. Not that they were going to the final four or something.

I can write about recruits because it's my blog, and that's what I wanted to write about. It's something I've been putting together for a while, and finally finished up. Sorry if the extra information hurts your head!

In Matt's defense, Villanova did the same thing to the former best team in the nation and I promise you HC, they would have done the same, or worse, to any team in the Patriot League the way they shot it last night.

hchoops...the most exciting time of year comes in March or just before. tourny play is what it is all about. all of these other games are just the fourplay leading up to the conference tournies and the big dance. i cannot speak for matt but gave up on the season a few months ago (before it even started for that matter). it is the post season that i care about. there are only three games that matter all year. i would expect somebody from hc to know that since their regular season performance (finishing as the bride's maid repeatedly) has mattered little in their quest for a national title.

as for looking at recruits...their seasons are winding down and there is no better time to watch how they are doing and see where they are going than when they are in the middle of the hardest times of their young careers.

hey,matt--what's with all this registration junk on your new reply site?--weren't you getting enough criticism here?-so,have you given up on this season already?what about your former best pl team ever last night?--how can you talk about recruits now,at the most exciting time of the year?

Yeah, and I think he might be projecting them to win the A-10 Tournament and get the auto, with GW an at large.

hey hooptime i pretty much figure you know this but lunardi is a st joes alum. i think that might factor into his seedings somehow.

Yo Matt, when you do your bit on HC destroying everyone, be sure to include this link:
http://bucknellbison.collegesports.com/spo...04-2005/game14.html

Geez, I really should have taken the tougher math classes. You're right. I mistyped. I'll fix it.

Matt,

I know you went to AU so we can forgive you, but I thought you were getting good this math & statistics stuff. 10% of 2750 would be 275 so how can Colgate's average attendance of over 300 be only 9 % of the student body?

Good morning, and welcome to Garden Chat ... over on Matt's blog today, a discussion on how to force bulbs to maximize blooming in early spring and a how to on rehabilitating acidic soils.

Seems those AU folks want to talk about anything but hoops after this weekend. (j/k blue shirts, save the e-mails)

Hoop Time... I don't mind the gardens, but we don't need to replace the tulip fields every time one petal falls. Nor did some lady need to leave us a couple million bucks for "campus beautification" instead of scholarships. Sure, half the students are here on daddy's money and don't need a cent, but I could use some help. My season tickets for AU sports aren't exactly worth $40k (give or take-- it's all loans anyway).

Hey Screaming Eagle ... don't knock the gardens. The little one with benches near the entrance to Bender made for a fine pregame cigar in the sun before the HC-AU game. Without the gardens, I'd have been stuck sitting on a cement wall someplace.

dadominate: agreed. willard is a class act. the sign had a picture of ralph wiggum picking his nose with a "greater than" sign pointed in his direction, away from a picture of a screaming ralph willard. im glad he liked it, or at least his players did. as much as i hate hc (and now the rest of the league, since weve collapsed), willard is a nice guy, it seems.

aueaglesnumber1fan: i got the info from the player profiles on HC's site. some of the info (such as willard's son's incident) was from googling it, as well as remembering when i heard about it in the first place... im the prez of screaming eagles, and i do remember you. youre more than welcome to stand with us at all games-- including women's if you come. (and so is everyone else who might end up at an au game.)

as for jj... i disagree. name three better coaches for au. he should be doing better, but you dont know the players. pat isn't the most mature guy around, and linas isnt a pg, like you said. thomas is playing out of his mind but isnt that good a player, as great a guy as he is. ryan, in case you havent noticed, is a wonderful guy but only decent at best as a basketball player. and andre is sadly inconsistent. this HURTS to say, but we arent as good as HC. we just arent. we should be, but we arent. but it isnt that our coach isnt as good. now that weve moved out of the caa, we cant get recruits. i dont think anyone here doubts the pl is mostly below the caa, at least for basketball. moving wasnt the doing of jj or joni.

as for tom george... you don't know what he did for the students. he spent all that money and ditched us. sure, he helped out, but he also started screaming eagles and dumped us (we are now a student-run organization, though we get some non-monetary help from athletics). au already spends too much money on things not directly related to students (gardening, etc), as evidenced by our ever-changing landscape and complete lack of scholarship money for the general population. im sure some of that is spent on jj, but tom george... he did a lot for us, but he screwed us over spending that money. weve had to cut scholarships to other sports thanks to him. yes, i wish someone would let us spend more, but au just doesnt have it to spend. he did his best, but he ran us into the ground and fled for the hills.

joni has no money to spend, and isnt going to concentrate solely on bkb. she shouldnt have to, either. she promised not to cut scholarships or teams, which is something we mightve had to do after tom left. so they cut the swim team's scholarships before she got here. shes on a short leash, and has no room to work. tom was a great ad for a school with money to blow, but not for au. joni is more realistic for us, given our situation.

we need some tougher players who dont crumble under pressure. we need clutch guys. people who can hit free throws and not turn the ball over-- all in the last two minutes. we need caa recruits, not pl recruits. we topped the pl (almost) with guys recruited to play in the caa. now that we have people who know were going to be in the pl, we lose out. the "collapse" is ending up with pl players instead of caa players.

gives jones some time to adjust to the pl quality, and give joni some time to settle in. and find someone who can spend some money on the students instead of just athletics. when/if you end up as a student here, youll be more likely to agree with me.

Hey screaming eagle, if you were sitting with the Screaming Eagles at the HC game, I was with you, I was the 15 year old who chilled with you guys, it was pretty fun, where did you find out all that non bball related info on the HC players, that I saw on that sheet?

None of you will ever meet a bigger AU fan then me, no questions asked, so that is why I feel I need to put in my two sense! Right now, being the biggest AU fan is not a good title to have. As the biggest AU I need to put my opinion out, JEFF JONES HAS TO FUCKING GO!!! Ignore my language but thats the only word I can think of when describing Jeff Jones. He has taken a team of talented players and has done nothing with them. This team has Thomas and Ingram, two of the best shooters in the league, also, with Thomas, Okapwae, and Sekou Lewis, AU is easily the most athletic team in the Patriot League, but what has Jeff Jones been able to do.... NOTHING!!!! I realize that we don't have a PG, Lekaviscous is one of the worst guards I have ever seen, but still, if AU was willing to give Jones a long-term contract, with a good amount of money isn't that saying that we believed in him, thus, he should be able to turn either Lekaviscous (Yes, I know Linas did not come here to play PG) or Graham in to a solid PG. Another thing, he can't play Opkwae 16 damn minutes and expect to win, Opkwae has so much room for improvement it's amazing, but Jones, hasn't improved him one bit. Another person I do blame for the collapse of AU is the AD, Joni Comstock, she has done nothing to help the basketball program! Everything in that arena, the new seats, the screaming eagles, the PL team banners, the new scoreboard, all TOM GEORGE. Tom was a great AD, he recruited players, he improved the arena, he wanted to do so much for are program but the school didn't want him to do it, they thought that it would be to much money, they didn't let Tom do what he needed to do.... HE LEFT!!! I know Jones still has a long time on his contract, but if I were the AD, I would have terminated his contract and canned his ass! You guys might think otherwise but this is my opinion, JONES MUST GO!!!!

since matt has put in a plug for some of au's recruits,check out today's baltimore sun and the article on last night's game -arch bishop spalding beating #1 mt st joe's with hc recruit lawrence dixon starring

I left it out of my update this morning, but if you follow the link to the Tom Housenick story, you'll notice Bettencourt said Au players were trash talking him in the game down there. Sounds like he shut them up last night.

As for the TV fiasco, I called Lafayette sports info guru Scott Morse to see if there was someplace down there I could catch the first half or so before doing the Lafayette-HC women's game last night.

Turns out the only place he knows of in the Lehigh Valley with the Direct TV package was having a Valentine's Day shindig and would not have the game on. Apparently love of hoops does not count.

Morse thought Comcast in the DC area carried CSTV. I told him maybe so, but apparentlt not in Matt's neighborhood.

It's not really on DirecTV though-- you have to be a subscriber to their mediocre 'sports package' for 10 bucks a month, which gets you all the FSNs, basically. I did it for a while last season, just to get the 3 or 4 PL games extra out of it, but otherwise it was a pretty useless add on.

You've got that right AU Nation!

However, I'll just be thankful to take any Patriot League games televised on DirecTV for those of us that are geographically challenged and not in the area.

First of all happy new year to all of you.

It is inexcusable to move the BU/AU game tonight because of a women's hockey game...I thought we finally got rid of hockey with this whole lock-out thing.

screaming eagle, you seem to be pretty fair from what i've read, and i'm sure you'll agree with this.

you gotta give ralph credit for answering an email like that. like HC or not, willard is definitely a class act. how many coaches who've made the ncaa tournament 3 out of the past 4 years would be so willing to dignify a sensitive subject like that with a response to someone he doesn't know.

i think it's pretty classic that he said the players thought the sign was funny, but he had no idea what it meant. i can't imagine what he must have thought seeing a bizzare looking cartoon kid and the word "wiggum". probably thinking, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!?

i emailed ralph, and in his response, he said the guy is a trainer. in addition, the red-shirted man was responding to being hit in the back w a foreign object. i dont think he did, honestly, bc i was right there and im not so sure it happened, in addition, screaming eagles tend to yell and scream... but not pelt. however, ive tried to take steps to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. i sincerely hope it doesnt, bc its inexcusable.

ps... coach ralph said the players liked the ralph wiggum sign, but (coach) ralph didnt get it bc he doesnt watch tv...

I don't think anyone has made a connection to the "guy in the red shirt" and the coaching staff, so let's not say his future coaching career is over b/c he was yelling back at some over the top AU fans (not all, but a couple). He could be a student for all you guys know, but as someone who looked up the coaching staff said, it was not any of the HC coaches, which leaves other explanations. Coach Willard would not stand for his coaches doing something like that.

Cheers.

You have a best chants section? Did I miss that? (see Philly Inquirer article)

Anyone else disturbed at the lack of professionalism by the HC bench? Understandably, they were angry about having something thrown onto the court (as am I, though I see no more need be said about that part), but whatshisname in the red dress shirt spent the last chunk of the game screaming at the student section behind him. Ralph said something that appeared to be directed at us, but the other guy got into a heated exchange with some of our fans. Not much of a future in coaching if he snaps when his team (not him in particular) is heckled by opposing students.

I saw the game, highly doubt there were 2,500. Bender only seats 4,500 and it was not nearly half full.

You missed my point, but nevertheless the issue is passed.

An indictment on society??? No, it was a stupid, random incident, that would have been just as dumb in 1930 as it was in 2005. I'm not sure why this conversation is even continuing..

HChoops -- he said that because the crowd #'s were off. They reported it as 1946 but that was definately underestimated, ask anyone at the game and they will say the same. 2,500 was much more accurate.

Nobody's pointing guns... and I'm glad to hear from AUScott that there were fans there who stated the obvious to the fan in question... namely that he's an asshole.

I've got no problem with rowdy and raucous fans. However there's an invisible line that exists between the players and the fans, and tossing an object onto the court crosses the line. I'm glad we all agree to that.

I for one am not saying that every AU fan that exists is an asshole because of this one guy. Far from it. It's also unnecessary to link one AU fan tossing an object onto the court to AU fans being vocal and screaming at the top of their lungs. After all, that's what they paid to do.

What concerns me is downplaying that it happened and saying "it's no big deal." I think that's unfortunately an indictment on where we are as a society when we look at something like that as insignificant. It's also a bad thing to gauge the severity of the incident based on the repercussions. Let's be honest, if Ingram had blown out a knee slipping on the beeds, the fan probably would have been burned at the stake by now, am I right? The point is, saying "nobody got hurt, let's move on" is a dangerous approach.

But I guess in a world where pro players are diving into the stands and attacking fans (and no Artest isn't totally at fault, the fan did nail him with a full cup of ice), something like this goes down a notch.

Anyway, I guess we can all agree it was a stupid thing that happened. Thankfully nobody got hurt and we can look forward to the next weekend of PL bball in 48 hours.

ooh! looks as if some au nerves have been touched--i wonder if the beads-man was in another pl gym and an au player was hurt,would the response be the same?
matt-i think you overstated the crowd a bit--i think it was 1946,not quite 2500

I was standing in the section and saw the dick who threw the beaded necklace onto the court. Just an FYI, but as soon as it happened there was at least 5 or 10 AU students that told the guy he was an asshole. Now, none of us were gonna make the effort to sell him out to the security guys who stood at attention for the final minute of OT, but I think it is safe to say the AU crowd understands the boundaries of competition and will self-police their own when need be. I think you all are over reacting to something that is unfortunately quite common. Every school has idiot fans. God every sports team of any kind does.

Also, having been in Bender for 9 years of basketball, I will gladly take a crowd of mostly uneducated basketball "fans" who are excited to cheer on their team, albeit negatively, then a near empty gym with the few diehards reading a book or sipping tea during halftime. And I bet if you ask visiting teams and players, they'd say the same.

It's not at all fun to play to an empty crowd. The crowd actually makes the players feel like they are playing D-1 basketball.

So what are they supposed to do? Videotape the crowd? Have people watching the crowd the entire game (security at the games already does this to an extent)?

No one is pulling guns on anyone here -- you're being overdramatic. This isn't Ron Artest going into the stands.

I think everybody is getting a little too excited about the fans at AU. The fans support the team with chants and slanderous comments meant to motivate their team while distracting the other team. If an opponent gets upset by this then they should probably thinking about playing chess or maybe swimming so the racket will be minimized or at least muffled. I entirely agree that swearing is not necessary, but it is a sign of a weak and feeble mind. You should take satisfaction in the fact that you have a superior intelligence to those who can only come up with four letter cheers. As for those people that throw things onto the court, well I cannot be entirely upset with them. Granted they are morons and should not have thrown anything onto the court or across the stands, but let’s face the facts: PL games get heated and the officiating is much like that of a school-yard game. Both teams get screwed on calls in every game (as is the case in many sports), but the PL has some of the worst officiating I have seen and I cannot blame anybody for being upset or feeling cheated by the officials.

It's a big deal because if one person does it and there are no repercussions, another dick will get the bright idea that they can throw something too, and it's a slippery slope.

There is one positive to be taken out of it, and that is there wasn't another dick or two or ten or 50 in the crowd who decided to throw something as well. One bad apple won't spoil the bunch, and everybody gets a mulligan, but if it happens AGAIN at AU, then they need to crack down on their fans a bit.

I think it's pretty lame that he mentions it at all. Someone threw something on the court. One person out of 2500 was a dick. So what?

Also, I am banning the use of the phrase "fair and balanced" on this messageboard. I refuse to be associated with such a thing. ;-)

matt-i hope you read ralphwillard.com--he has some important comments about the 1 au fan who threw the beads on sunday--i also hope you agree with the coach's view-i think it is fair and balanced

Patrick Doctor ended up in the NBDL for a while with the Columbus team, but hurt his knee and got cut. He shows up at AU games from time to time.

Really wish we had all four years with him in the PL. He's the closest thing AU has had to an NBA prospect in a while.

He might as well have thrown it into the bleachers behind the basket. It would count the same.

That Ingram free throw realy was straight down the middle, almost dead on, a very close miss.

PL AU ... Don't get me wrong. I think Ingram is a fine player and at times Sunday he was amazing. Both he and Jason Thomas, in the first half, made some shots with hands in their faces that I could not believe.

My point about player of the week is that I view these kinds of honors as more than raw numbers. To me, a guy like Knight, who had good numbers and hit the game-winner against Bucknell, is more deserving -- this week.

That said, right now, Knight would not make my All PL team, maybe not even second team. Ingram would, and is still a Player of the Year candidate. But if he had made the free throw (and like I told someone on the HC board who argued about their OT loss to BC ... a loss is a loss, a miss is a miss, close only counts ... well, you know the cliche) or had he not spent OT on the side of a milk carton, I would maybe feel different about POW honors.

As for his defense, never knocked it. Though Kevin Hamilton missed a lot of open shots at both Navy and AU ... def. an off weekend for him.

Don't know about the Bettencourt fouls ... was not there. Would I be surprised PL officials made bad calls? Of course not.

Honorable mention for Sankes' dunks in the 2001 PL Championship game vs. Navy. Even though the crowd wasn't a sellout (snow + spring break), he blew the roof off the place with the first one, then did it again a few minutes later.

i know you can't lump all frat guys into one category, most of my lifelong buddies from home were in frats at maryland, va tech, etc. god only knows that at fratless HC i did/do the same kind of booze induced idiocy, especially in wheeler where $30 dorm damage fee was par for the course. i just think the stereotypical frat guy, trying to look tough in his frat shirt, on his cell phone, in the BMW his daddy bought for him is funny more than anything else.

anyway, enough of that nonsense for me. i've said it before on the HC board, the atmosphere for the 2002 HC/AU PL final was amazing. i think it's a close call between that game, or Hart for the 2003 PL final, for the loudest game i've ever been to in any sport. that includes big games at cole field house, ravens games, anything. i still get goosebumps thinking about brian wilson knocking those two free-throws down in the deafening AU crowd noise towards the end of the game! what a clutch player that guy was.

My current roommate is a former frat guy at Colorado State, and he doesn't really fit the stereotypical mold of a frat boy... although granted he's pushing 29 now and has outgrown a lot of the usual college shenanigans that we not only participated in but also sorely miss...

Anyway, I was popping in unmarked tapes last night and happened across the 2002 PL Championship game. I know the mere thought of the game opens up old wounds for the AU fans, but watching it for the first time in nearly 3 years, I had a few thoughts that never dawned on me at the time...

What is Patrick Doctor up to these days? He really was an excellent player.

I miss Pat Whearty. And his armor of elbow and knee pads.

Ralph Willard has done a tremendous job recruiting guards. I'm not disparaging Serravalle, Wilson, or Meade by any strech because all three did very well for HC. But compared now to Thomas/Doherty, Hamilton, and Simmons, and you have to favor the current trio. Also to give you an idea of how much deeper Holy Cross is these days, Michael Smiley and Guillermo Sanchez were the first two guards off the bench for HC in the PL championship game in 2002. These days Smiley rarely gets any minutes, which is really a shame. He's got a great stroke.

Also it was interesting to watch Nate Lufkin as a freshman getting the start. I don't think he's put on an ounce of weight in four years.

Obviously you can't get a feel of some of the nasty things being yelled from the stands, but the AU crowd for the 2002 PL championship game was loud and they stood the whole game. You can't ask for anything more out of a small time college basketball crowd on ESPN.

HC's uniforms from the 01-03 days were just ugly. The letterings was atrocious. They've gone back to a much more classic block font, which looks A LOT better.

I had forgotten about the goaltend that gave HC a 52-51 lead late, after Rodriguez (I think?) hit a three to blow the roof sky high and give AU a 51-50 lead. Whearty's shot was going to come up woefully short off the glass and iron. Without that goaltend, who knows...

Overall, looking back, this was a pretty well played game by both teams, although in the end AU's turnovers really cost them early. Had they taken care of the ball better, things very well could have been different. After watching the game again, I can see why HC and AU have such a heated rivalry these days.

Anybody want to get money that it comes down to these two again this year?

in response to the crowd stuff...

i, too, find genitalia jokes funny. and i know i sound like a wimp worrying about fans making fun of fingleton, especially coming from someone who actually enjoyed crowd heckling as a player. but the expletive laced fingleton sexual taunts just didn't sit right with me that day. it was the game two years ago. with the exception of the momo who threw something on the court, i thought the crowd was good and loud sunday.

as for fraternities, gilbert and the boys of delta delta delta are about the only fraternity i can say i'm a big fan of. i've just always found it funny how you take a normally quiet dude and put a frat shirt on him, and he immediately becomes an invincible shit talker. you put a frat shirt on someone naturally prone to talking shit, and they become a combination of robin ficker and rasheed wallace. i actually like robin ficker, so that's not a good example, but i think you know what i mean.

I disagree about Ingram being not as good this year-- he's quietly putting together a pretty good campaign. He's increased his shooting percentage, scoring and assists, while taking a light hit to rebounding. Combined with the fact that he's not getting the open looks he did last year (given that teams like to double team and throw zone defense at him, and losing Andres Rodriguez means losing a lot of open shots), he's having a very good season. Maybe not an MVP one to this point, but he's still in the running.

He's also developed into more of an all around player, rather than the spot shooter he was as a frosh.

I think you take HT the wrong way, AU Fan-- He said that Ingram kept AU in the game. He was great on Sunday, and no one can argue against that. It's too bad the free throw didn't fall, or Ingram might actually be the favorite for MVP.

One more thing, just a btw.

Ask Keith Simmons how he liked being guarded by Andre Ingram.....stat line was as follows:

2-9 from the field, 0-3 from the three pt line, 4 points, 2 turnovers and 1 assist in 32 MINUTES. Almost sounds like another Cresnik line.

Just thought I'd point that out based on the "PL only pays attention to offensive #'s theory"

I agree --- AU is soft when it comes to taking it to the hoop, yet when Petraukas,Okawpae, and Billbe make moves down lown they rarely get calls. I will give you that though about them not getting the hole and thus giving up points.

What kills me though is the "initiated contact" just a week ago I watched Kevin Bettencourt come to our gym, throw his body around like a rag doll, and get calls like he was an all-star, greatest part was he never got touched, he jumped sideways and backwards into Ingram (whistle blown) and then my favorite was him kicking his leg out to the SIDE and watching the ref award him 3 foul shots. Now please, make the "Bettencourt is the best player in the league and he gets those calls" argument. Because I agree, away from home, on the Preseason PL player of the year's home court HE should be getting those calls, right....makes total sense, right?????? (Let's get real, PL is the only league who would say this).

Lastly, I'm not picking a fight because until this weekend I have loved reading your blog and your articles, and agreed with most of the stuff you have said but how do you say you are "unbiased" when you seem to hate Ingram? I understand everyone has certain favorite players but you say on your blog about how subpar he was and that he didn't deserve the PL player of the week award? That free-throw was as near a miss as u can get (it double rimmed before bouncing out) and he singlehandedly hit big shot after big shot to keep AU in the game. I vivedly remembering Simmons looking over at the ref and into the crowd with blank looks on his face almost saying, "How does this kid hit these shots?" Ingram has not been great as he was last year, granted, but this weekend he had two games of 22+ and although most people aren't aware the kid is the 2nd highest scorer in the PL....that's pretty damn good if you ask me, especially since most would say he has had a tough conference year thus far.

Either way, I look forward to the end of the year for all teams, it seems to be wide open after HC taking #1....and who knows, maybe they will falter (although I doubt it).

My point was that Ingram was trapped and from across the court, it looked like he initiated the contact. Hamilton appeared to have good position.

As for the officiating, as happens in most games, there were some bad calls. But this was not the worst crew I have seen this season.

Might also be worth pointing out that I am pretty much an unbiased observer. I was at that game because I was being paid to, not because I was rooting for either team.

In fact, financially, I would benefit from HC not being a top two seed, since I would likely get work covering them if they were anywhere other than Worcester.

As for AU not getting calls, that is just bullshit and you know it. The reason some teams get to the line more is because they take it to the hole more. AU's offense is more perimeter oriented, which will not get you to the line.

BTW, Ingram did NOT step out yesterday, Hamilton CLEARLY bumped him. It was nice to see the refs get the call right as the rest of the game was TERRIBLE. It was good that they got that call right because Holy Cross couldn't have paid them anymore money without it having to be reported to the IRS as a gift.

It really is a shame that AU can't get a call even on it's home court, all the best teams in the league do yet AU never gets them.

As for the rest of the game, HC played themselves into prime positioning for the remainder of the year.

Do you really think your PL blogger would be a frat boy?

Not a chance.

And if you read back in the blog, you can see that I specifically say that profanity is lame in taunting. I was always more of a fan of bringing up the fact that Fingleton looked like a mutant. But that doesn't mean I think AU should prevent kids from being assholes. I mean, they're drunk college kids. When I was a drunk college kid, I thought jokes about genitals were funny. Hell, I still think they're funny.

I'm not sure what year you're talking about, but the crowds for the HC games have been pretty substantial every year-- at least 1800+.

i was initially just countering with a little commentary of my own. but yeah, i was angry at a few of the frat boys a couple years ago regarding fingleton. the place was basically empty, and the taunts about fingleton's genitalia could be heard by everyone and were totally inappropriate. i know i heard that "his balls must be the size of fucking matzoh balls. hahahaha." taunt at least a dozen times. the "abort jesus" and "crucify the crusaders" signs last year were also way out of line. if the fans want to taunt willard, taunt the school, the players, etc. that's fine. i don't see any problem with the we wannabe maryland "you suck" chant either.

just show at least a little class and leave the repeated f bomb and religious bigotry out of it.

rereading it i realize you didn't say that ingram lost it blid, and i understand what you're saying about the major consequences of one play. i actually said something similar to my buddy at the beginning of that possession, that the outcome of that single defensive stand could possibly determine who gets home court in the PL tourny. which would possibly determine who would head to the big dance. thinking about how each little play could change the course of a game or season is maddening, but there is some truth to that kind of thinking.

Who said it was Ingram's fault? I sure didn't, that first paragraph was just a little bit of imaginative fun and I explicitly said they just got beat in the extra period.

The call wasn't that bad at the end of the game, of course I only saw it once but it looked like a legitimate, albeit somewhat a "bail out," call. I think they would have let it go if it wasn't going to force a turnover. Actually, I thought the refs didn't call it that tight for most of the game, especially on fouls under the basket.

Also, dadominate, you seem a little bit angry.

well, "mattb", just take a look behind the basket next time you're at bender and you'll find about 100 of the frat-shirt wearing, religiously bigoted sign making, trash talking to anyone who walks by regardless of age type idiots i'm talking about. if you're one of these, then my apologies. and i'll make sure to screen every HC fan on the way in to make sure they don't have the audacity to have their collar up.

anyway, blaming ingram for the loss is off-base imo. he pretty much single-handedly kept american in the game yesterday. yes, he missed a free throw that could have won it, but he also made one and drew the "foul" that brought it to overtime.

NEWSFLASH FOR AU FANS --- Ingram did not "lose the game" for AU. It was more a case of HC's defense in the second half and in OT won it. It was also more a case of the freshman, Clifford, dominating the paint against AU's typical soft European big men, like Cresnik, who would rather shoot a three than go to the rack.

It is also worth noting, from my angle (which admittedly was on the other side of the floor), the foul that sent Ingram to the line at the end of regulation was pretty much a horseshit call. He was trapped and tried to dribble through it and got the typical homecourt call. Looked to me that Hamilton had established position and any contact was initiated by Ingram.

Actually, I thought it should be a no call, other than Ingram stepping out of bounds.

At any rate, even though he vanished for much of the second half and missed that free throw, without Ingram, there isn't even any OT. Thomas was on fire the first half, but in the second half the only place you could find him was the side of a milk carton.

Just to exercise my flair for the dramatic a little bit: Andre Ingram missed that free throw, so AU lost that game. So AU can not win the PL, so AU gets to the title game of the PL tournament without homecourt advantage and loses again, so AU does not make the NCAA tournament. Because Ingram missed that free throw!! That happens every year anyway, though.

But really, it's not so much that free throw. That free throw didn't make AU lose the game, it sent them to OT. What made AU lose the game was just getting beat in the extra period. And really, it's not so much Ingram's fault as it is Cresnik's, who missed near every shot he took on the night. Everyone has days like that, but missing both free throws as Holy Cross clawed into what had been an AU lead, and then in OT, when he made his one shot of the night, missing the free throw and failing to convert the old-fashioned three point play which would have gotten a great crowd revved and put AU down by one possession. And of course, missing several open threes in OT and five for the night. But wait, at least he was on the floor and out there trying, at least he was taking the shots. Better than Raimondas Petrauskas, who escapes all culpability by playing a mere 14 minutes, picking up 4 fouls, and being generally invisible (0 points, 2 rebounds).

Okay, now for the positive. It definitely was a great arena experience, with Phil Bender and an active crowd, more active than disenchanted Greek life showing up for spirit points, and I think the fans started the "You wear purple" chant somewhere in there. The players showed a lot of hustle, throwing themselves all over the court, and the team is pretty talented overall. It's more fun when you have a good college basketball atmosphere, even when you lose, than winning in an empty Colgate wasteland.

HT-

Good point about Knitter. He does get subbed in and out of games a lot, mostly in on offense and out on defense. Too bad he's not more of an athlete or LC would have a hell of a player on their hands.

tell me, "dadominate", what exactly does a "hmorepressed wussy" look like?

matt - don't confuse HC fans with new england fans. i, and most of my friends from HC, hate the patriots, red sox, and even "the sky above boston" (to quote the illustrious terry glenn) more than any other teams in sports. i've learned not to bet against the patriots though as it's generally a futile endeavor.

for every pop-collared HC fan you saw, i can cite 50 homorepressed wussies trying (and failing) to look tough in their frat shirts. not sure that's any better.

Big win yesterday for the Cross. Let's see if they can win out the last 5 and take a huge winning streak into the tournament.

Matt -- didn't have time to digest all the numbers, but noticed you Knitter comment ... problem is, the guy is too slow to guard anybody. That is why he doesn't play more.

Opakwae was suspended from the Colgate game because he brok curfew after the Bucknell game

Well written and very interesting Matt! Keep up the great work on your Blog.

nice job on the stats matt. that was definitely an interesting breakdown.

and, for the first time ever, you finally held back on the blatant disrespect and/or backhanded compliments you used to deem necessary to include whenever talking about HC in your previews.

Matt-good stuff with the stats. Looking forward to the HC-AU game on Sunday. Best wishes from a Cross alum.

Edited by author 02-04-2005 04:08 PM
matt-nice job on the stats--as far as your solution to beat hc,the difficulty is trying to up-tempo hc--- in the ncaa tourney games kansas and kentucky,and to an extent,marquette, all tried to up tempo with a week's preparation,but as many know from watching countless ugly nba games,it's easier to slow a team down,than speed them up
this year hc is causing more turnovers than in the past,mostly with steals,which they often convert to points-they don't mind some up tempo hoops--their number of league games in the 70's exceeds past years
obviously ,i think and hope you are wrong about sunday--we'll see
as far as your last statement,of course you are biased-aren't all of us who spend time here?

I would be shocked (shocked!) to see a PL team this year getting anything more than a 14 seed, and we should be happy with that. It's a lot better than the PIG or a 16 seed. 14 seeds win sometimes. 16 seeds don't.

HC isn't going to win out, either. I see them losing in the Splaver Center (please start refering to it as this, everyone) on Sunday. But according to some HC fans, I only run this blog to talk shit about their neuroses and their school, so I could be biased.

au-n--your prediction about seeding may turn out to be true,but hc did get a 14 seed 2 years ago vs marquette,and it's possible that their rpi will be similar to then if they win the rest of their games,no easy task

Matt - first time writer long time reader. I love your new statistical breakdown. Over the year I am sure the outlyers will be weeded out and those stats will show the proper picture of the league.

For those concerned with the postseason no team in the Patriot League will recieve a seed better than 15, even that is going to be questionable. As the league continues to attract better talent you may see a team squeek up a couple of seeds, but as long as a handful of wins come against teams more concerned about waking up at the crack of dawn to do push-ups it is unlikely. Until a team is good enough to have more than a couple of big non-conference wins there will be no PL team getting a 14 seed or better.

hey matt--hoopville says okpwae has been suspended from au's team!what's the deal?--no bad news about au??

ESPN's Bubble Watch is out.

Holy Cross is on it; Bucknell surprisingly is not.

Exactly what does "hosted properly" mean? A snowplow escort and a chauffered snowmobile to get you to the bar in what I hesitate to call "downtown" Hamilton? Where you can look out the window at the roof-high bank of snow seperating the sidewalk and the street while enjoying your Saranac suds and playing shuffleboard?

Or maybe a guided tour to the top of the hill behind the campus, from where you can see the end of the world on a clear day if you bring binoculars?

I am sure Hamilton is a great place in the summer. But I prefer locales that are great plces for more than 3 or 4 days a year.

Matt B -- you have to go back to Colgate this year. Let us know on the 'gate board, and we will hook you up. I have never known anyone to fail to have a good time when hosted properly.

i would think if bucknell beats nova and ends up with 20 wins they would be in the NIT. but i'm not holding my breath on that. besides i would rather see them in the dance.

i gotta pay closer attention to espn. not only am i not an insider (what was the analysis of HC/MSU?), but i overheard them say during halftime of a game that Vermont should be ranked. now i know beating Vermont isn't as great as beating Pitt at Pitt, but Vermont isn't going to lose again until the second round of the NCAAs. (not that they play any good teams.)

i still say the winner of the title game gets a 14/15 seed and the loser goes home. no nit, nothing. (though multiple postseason berths would be wonderful for the PL!)

did anybody notice in lunardi's bracktology he has bucknell as 1 of the last 8 teams left out. so basically he is saying that the patriot league is almost a 2 bid league this year. pretty cool in my opinion

You're right wheeler- my mistake. I was thinking of the dismal 2001-2 season. I'll change my post.
Thanks.

Lehigh was not a "league-embarassment" in that 2002-03 season, when HC went 13-1 in the league, losing only to AU at Bender. When HC beat Lehigh 63-39 in the game following that AU loss, Lehigh was undefeated in the PL and 13-5 overall.

http://www.lehighsports.com/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=582

There's only ONE game that matters for the PL, no matter how many out-of-conference wins (moral or actual) anyone compiles. Unless a PL team goes pretty much undefeated, including nonconference games, only the title game matters. BU has blown their minute chance at the NIT and HC wouldn't make it either if they drop another game or two. (I love AU, but we lost to LaSalle. At home. No postseason without a tourney title.) Whoever wins the title goes to the NCAAs, everyone else goes home 'til next year.

And you aren't the "best team ever" unless you win it all, so we won't know until the title game is over.

I'm sure Matt will get to this but an exciting weekend in PL play has Bucknell tied for 2nd after two losses. Looks like we shouldn't be sending anyone to the dance yet, let alone best PL team ever honors.

i don't think anyone believes this is the best HC team ever. but it is a very good team, and you could make a strong argument at this point that they are the best team in the patriot league THIS YEAR.

i think most of the objection was with the bucknell is the "best PL team ever" non-sense. obviously premature and probably biased, as the objective observer would have noted bucknell would had to have gone undefeated the rest of the way and win the PL tournament to eclipse the record of the 2002-2003 HC team. and obviously neither one was a guarantee.

Edited by author 01-29-2005 10:11 PM
Well Hoop Time, I disagree. All losses are not equal just as all wins are not equal. For example, I personally believe that HC's showing against BC (which beat Georgetown tonight to win its 18th in a row) was far more impresssive than HC's blow-out win against Army. Taking BC into overtime is quite an achievement for a Patriot League team. I also never said that HC was the best team ever in the PL or even that it was better than Bucknell. I was just commenting about quality showings in out of conference actions.

Sorry Sader, but a loss is a loss. And HC also lost to Bucknell.

Not arguing that Bucknell is the best Patriot League team ever. Not even ready to annoint them the bext Bucknell team in the Patriot League ever. But I am also not ready to call this HC team the best HC team ever in the Patriot League.

One of these two teams, Bucknell or HC, might well deserve that tag at the end of the season. But neither deserves it now.

But bottom line is, Bucknell pretty much whooped HC when they played in Lewisburg, so it doesn't much matter who beat who else or who played who else tough.

Hc might well win the rematch in Worcester. But nobody is getting bragging rights until the second Friday in March. That one, assuming both get there, is the only one that will count.

if only that had been john ford griffin (blue jays) and not john joseph griffin (grease monkey). either way, too much hair gel, too little game.

Edited by author 01-29-2005 05:17 PM
I believe Bucknell's win at Pitt was the crowning achievement leading to Matt B's coronation of Bucknell as the best PL team ever. Actually, I think BC's undefeated season shows that BC is superior to Pittsburgh (BC is now ranked betwee 5-8 in the polls while Pitt is ranked from 18 to being unranked, see: http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/polls) and HC's overtime loss at Conte Forum to the Eagles may be as impressive as any PL win this year!

HC is right ... or at least on the right track. BU can't be considered the all-time power. Especially not this early in the season.

Likewise, I would not read too much into AU beating Bucknell last night ... recall a very similar scenario in 2003 when HC got blasted in Bender and went on to win 12 straight, not losing again until the NCAA Tournament.

Not saying Bucknell will duplicate that. But I don't think HC will go unscathed the rest of the way either.

They do control their destiny now (God I hate that cliche since destiny, by definition cannot be controlled), but they still have matchup problems against Bucknell and, as they showed last night, AU is not as bad as they looked in Worcester.

Lots of ball still to be played folks.

matt--i really hate to congratulate you,but your au team proved me right about bucknell--just how bad a loss was that for your --wait who is your team?--hc was helped tonight thanks to those eagles!
is bu still the all-time pl power?

hchoops - you should know by now that when it comes to holy cross, mattb will take any opportunity, to take any kind of potshot, at any time, to try and belittle the Crusaders. we see it in pretty much every preview. he and gate raider remind me of the way ACC fans are obsessed with duke and what their fans think.

p.s. - don't hold your breath for bucknell to go 26-4

hmm... lithuanian devil... i think ive seen that before... in fact... i think you got it off my sign.

when youre at the game, cmon over to the screaming eagles section. im the one with the cape.

ps. au wins big. my reasoning behing this is hidden, even to myself. (i think it has something to do with some guy named len...)

There's nothing ridiculous about that statement. Right now, at this very moment, I would take BU over any team ever fielded in the PL, including those HC squads you're fawning over. Yes, 02 HC beat BC and Princeton, but they beat a bunch of nobodies otherwise: Dowling, Harvard, Brown, Hartford, UNC-Asheville, Qunnipiac. They lost to a real crappy Marist squad and to Yale. Sounds a lot like the BU losses to Penn and St. Francis PA this year, both of which are better teams than were the Yale and Marist squads of 02.

"Tight games" are what losers call losses. Quit pretending that HC is the only school that can put a quality product out there and enjoy watching what BU is doing. They're going to be even better next year.

Edited by author 01-28-2005 03:27 PM
there you go again,matt,spoiling an otherwise decent preview and a little humor,with a typically ridiculous statement about bucknell being the best team the pl has seen--until they match hc's 2002-03 season of good ooc wins(boston college), pl dominance and then a tight game with a top power like marquette in the ncaa's ,don't even think about statements like these
i submit that they will not even match hc of 00-01,with a nail biter vs kentucky, or 01-02 with a close loss to kansas,both after pl championships

Bucknell assistant coach Nathan Davis, who is filling in for Flannery, and Kevin Bettencourt, will be on Cold Pizza on the Deuce Wednesday morning.

I posted the BU press relase at Hoop Time if you want details.

(http://hooptime3.blogspot.com)

it certainly wasn't ugly for hc fans--maybe the hc defense had something to do with au's shooting?

Edited by author 01-25-2005 01:03 PM
you know it must've been ugly when yahoo! sports credits Sekou Lewis (0-1, 2 pts, 3 rebs, 5 assists) as a top performer...that means that AU couldn't do a damn thing yesterday. AU shot a woeful 38% from the floor, and probably would have lost to all PL teams with the exception of Army

Edited by author 01-24-2005 01:43 PM
i better say it before matt does--pitt's win at uconn makes bucknell's win at pitt look pretty good-
oh, and much more importantly, best wishes and a speedy recovery to pat flannery

thanks for the preview--pretty accurate,but hc won very easily--there are some hoops fanatics,who don't care for the nfl,so keep up the posts,please

any preview of the weekend games?--could be some change at the top of the standings with some minor and/or major upsets

CHC -

I'm not going to make it up this year, unfortunately. As you probably know, I was up there the last two years, but this year, the trip was just too damn long. Plus, I really don't want to drive so far just to watch Army play. Colgate-HC was not terrible (well, not really terrible), but the Army-HC drive is a little tougher sell in trying to get people to go with me. It's too bad they're not showing the game on CSTV, although I must confess I would still probably be watching football. Thanks for the offer, though.

Edited by author 01-20-2005 11:02 PM
Matt - Coming to Worcester this weekend? Arrive early as it's supposed to snow Saturday into Sunday, so you'll probably want to leave West Point Sat AM. Let us know where you're staying and we can tell you all the hot - well at least warm - spots in the Worcester Area. You might ask on the HC board though as you'll get a wider range of recommendations.

who,besides bucknell fans and you,matt,will remember that pitt was ever #10 if they continue to falter?

hc-

As much as you want to downplay the BU win, no one is going to remember it as "BU beat #10 Pitt and then Pitt lost to St. Johns and the mitigating factors were blah blah blah". It's just going to be "BU beat #10 Pitt". It was a big win, by far the biggest in PL history, any way you look at it. It's silly to pretend it's anything else.

pitt's loss to st john's last night might somewhat tarnish bucknell's "historic"win--holy cross showed some signs of improvement last night,even without torey thomas,by thoroughly dominating iona--it got to 30 before the subs started to go in with 8 minutes left--iona has a bad record,but they had come off a big win vs manhattan

thomas has won it 3 times--only keith simmons has won for hc--there goes that theory,ht

HC -- Those weekly honors always take politics into consideration. Have to move it around from time to time making sure all teams get a mention now and then. Matt Bell even won it one week, even though his team has yet to win a game (D3s don't count!)

it's hard to see how the pl came up with thomas of au getting the p o w --hc's kevin hamilton outscored him 18.5 to 15.3 and beat him in assists and steals--only in rebs did thomas lead--both teams won all games played

matt- HC was a 13 seed in 1993 against Arkansas.

after seeing the hc-army game i wonder what is in store for the cadets at bucknell tomorrow--army was 3-29 from 2 point range(total of 9 field goals)and got 2 points in the paint--bucknell's d is as good or better than hc's--i think army scored 19 there last year---crews' bolting from christl immediately after the game (and it getting press attention)might not bode well for his future there

Stabler is a dump. It's old, it's musty, and it's a lousy place to watch a game. That big wall seperating the seats from the game makes for a much worse experience than watching the game courtside, like you can in most PL "arenas".

Like Nixon, it's got some personality, but it's not a good one.

What's so crappy about Stabler Arena? It's a nice place to watch hoops, concerts, etc.

I was at the AU/Lehigh Game this weekend. Here are some thoughts:
For AU
-- Ingram is a great player..... did it all scored from the line, off dribble, and from deep
-- AU needs to get Cresnik more involved offensively... he hit 2 threes early than was MIA the rest of the game
-- I would let the Opukwe (spelling.... sorry) shoot every time he touches it
-- AU will go as far as the PG developes... he was not good this weekend
For LU
-- If Earl Nurse wants to play... he is one of the most talented big guys in the league.... but his focus is spotty at best
-- They need to get more rebounds out of Mgebroff... he needs to get in better shape to compete off the boards
-- Neptune looks totally lost out there... I was expecting bigger things from him this year
-- Olivero may be the best clutch player in the league over the past couple of years..... he was totally shutout for the first 30 minutes of this game and then proceeded to drill 3 huge shots down the stretch to bring LU back
-- Knight is starting to get familarized with what they are doing and playing better at the PG

Poor shooting by both teams may be an Achilles heal later in the year. But both have a chance at the top spot come March. The Patriot League is a four team race : Bucknell (clearly #1), Holy Cross, Lehigh, and American (a pick 'em between these three).

The unedited version of the Worcester Telegram-Gazette game story, plus more coverage from the BU and HC game is up on Hoop Time, with a lot of good PL stuff expected in the morning.

http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

Feinstein in the Post on Bucknell, always great.

AU lands University of South Carolina transfer Paulius Joneliunas. 6'11" 250 center.

Edited by author 01-07-2005 03:19 PM
matt-you certainly can make any prediction and i won't comment since i try not to make predictions---but-you make the ridiculous statement that hc is no better this year than last--other than missing a great point guard in jave,where's the proof?record?--last year hc was 6-7 at this point with a loss to williams-as you have astutely noted, this year they are 8-4 with a comparable schedule--shouldn't the record be the major comparison factor provided the schedules are similar? this year's team has 3 double figure scorers to 1 last year(simmons plays starter's minutes as the classic 6th man)-the inside game has been fair on offense and the whole team has played defense much better than last year,more similar to the 3 time pl champs--i don't know if hc will beat bu sat or for the pl championship, but as of today they are much better than last year's squad

Edited by author 01-07-2005 01:41 PM
I watched all three of Colgate's games in Florida. Their achilles heel--rebounding. Every time they've outrebounded their opponent they've won which is only four times. What they have going for them--when they play inside out, they become a tough team. Zidar is a very good passer and when thyey get the ball into him good things happen. In the FAU he went to the basket hard as well, a weakness in his game because he tends to favor threes and fade aways. He had six assists in the FAU win. Foss can pass as well. Freshmen forward Alex Woodhouse is fun to watch--he's a great leaper. He doesn't go to the basket strong. In the post he simply leaps over people and does short jumpers. He has problems with fouls though because he loves to block shots.

Unfortunately 'Gate too often lapses into moving the ball around the perimeter and then shooting. On the plus side Jon Simon can shoot. An inside out game gives him even more looks. Reed has great speed but he doesn't have the teammates to run with him so he's going to have to learn to play ball control for the 'Gate to make any noise in the league. He has a habit of slashing to the basket and throwing up wild shots. In the FAU game he did his slashing and made some great assists. If he does that more, 'Gate will be stronger. By the way, the Chones are back at Colgate this semester. They won't be eligble to play until next year, assuming they can get their grades up.

HC is right to a point. While we suspect the purple in him is apt to downplay Bucknell's pre-conference showing, the more accurate point of view (in our never known to be humble opinion) is that folks are not giving HC credit for its similarly strong start.

In our preview on Hoop Time we have looked hard at both, as well as at last year's three games, since the lineups are almost the same this year.

Our conclusion is that going into Saturday's game, these two are as evenly matched as the Olsen twins.

http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

Edited by author 01-06-2005 04:04 PM
matt-nice job on the team reports--i'm not sure you can say that bu(8-4) is the most formidable pl team ever, going into conf play-1-pitt ,as demonstrated by its loss at home to g'town last night might be going solely on previous pitt teams' reps--this year's team has no great w's-the best were south carolina and richmond at home and memphis at msg--they are #5 in espn's bottom 10 this week after those 2 losses(a little silly)
2-st.joe's is now 4-6 after last night's close w at fordham--they're another squad living on last year's team
3-niagara is a good,not a great mid-major-which,as the above 2 teams, could change,of course
4-so bu's 2(+1) hallmark w's can't be fully valued just yet
  now let's look at the hc team of '02-'03(you just knew this was coming)
1-they were 8-3 at this point
2-their losses were at kansas,marist(a bad l), and yale(also not an acceptable loss)---these are similar to bu's current losses,but 1 fewer--bu's losses,esp to st francis(pa) and by double digits to the ivy p's might be worse
3-their best w's were vs bc at the worc centrum,and princeton at hc--neither was a top 10 team at any time during the season,but as i pointed out,pitt's days of being ranked might be near gone
  so i understand that you are making the comparison now without the perspective of the end of this season,but you just might have to change this typical over-zealous hyperbole

Two great wins yesterday as Holy Cross also beat a very weak URI yesterday. Along with AU, they should battle for the honor to represent the Patriot League in the tourney this year. My early prediction is that American and Bucknell will face off in the Patriot League final. Not sure who will win yet. I'll make that determination after they've gone head to head.

congrats to the bison and fans--a truly great win which may gain or lose in signicance depending upon what pitt does the rest of the way--their high rank was due to their solid last 2 seasons,certainly not their weak schedule thus far this year

Bucknell 69, Pittsburgh 66

Early wrap posted, much more to follow as we can develop it.

Hoop Time -- http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

BUCKNELL SHOCKS PITT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT GREAT REP FOR THE PL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afternoon game reports from today are posted at Hoop Time.

http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

Edited by author 12-29-2004 02:37 PM
Hope everyone had a good holiday.

Coleman LeClair will likely never be in the media twice on the same day again. An honorable mention All-Hobbit selection and news of his transfer all in the same day. How about that? I'm hearing from a pretty good source that Coley didn't like AU "the school" and will transfer to Loyola of Chicago to be closer to home. His transfer had nothing to do with the team or Coach Jones. Hard not to believe that. Even though he was riding major pine this year, he was due to get major minutes next year. Now Brayden Billbe is the only returning big man with three open scholarships remaining. I'll be shocked if they don't all go to big men. Jordan Nichols from DeMatha has committed although a signed letter of intent has yet to be announced by the school. 2 ships left. Hassan Fofana would be a great christmas gift in my opinion. One can dream. Maybe a JUCO or experienced Intl big guy. We'll have to see who Jones can uncover.

Which leads me to a separate question? Isn't there an NCAA rule that says a school is only allowed one press release regarding recruits during each semester (one in the fall and one in the spring)? AUEagles.com has put out three releases to announce the first three members of the recruiting class. Maybe I am making that up or maybe it changed.

Went to the Maryland game and was impressed by the American's performance. Night and day difference from last year's performance. They played with supreme confidence for the first 8 minutes of the game, played outstanding for the first 18 minutes of the game and held it together for 30 mins. In the last 10 mins, UMD overwhelmed them and blew us out of the gym, but it was a definite confidence boost to show them that they could hang with a superior team if they executed well. Gary Williams was beside himself at the first TV timeout as we were outperforming the Terps from the opening tip. He took one more timeout and lost it before they woke up and put the clamps on JThomas and his 4-4 from 3pt land scorching start. We got killed on the boards throughout.

A few things drove me crazy in this game. First, on two separate in bounds plays for UMD where they were under their own basket, AU left the basket side wide open for a cutter to come right through the lane, catch the ball and lay it in.

Second, and this has happened all season, our press break sucks. In years past, all of our players were constantly moving to get someone open to make imbounding the ball fairly easy. This year, everyone stands around and makes it an adventure. Not having Andres at the point is glaring as he always shook free to get the ball in his hands. But the lack of work on the "special teams plays" of basketball is showing. They need to work on the details that will help them get over the hump in close games. Right now, they are walking a slippery slope that will only get worse if they don't put in the effort to correct those mistakes.

The LaSalle game was the first real road bump of the season. They came out in zone and we froze. If teams are scouting us, zone is the way to go, cause we couldn't get anything going last night. I think Jones was secretly happy that we blew this game last night. Things were going a little too well so far this season and we needed the wake up call. In the huddle last night, Jones made a comment about the team always wanting the easy way out. And he is right, the team gets a lead and then trys to just hold it together, rather then go for the jugular and put a team away. Linas has moments where he can make a spectacular pass, but too often he is killing us with bad decisions. He isn't capable of penetrating against quick ACC or A-10 guards (which isn't the end of the world but..), he carries all the time (2 consecutive calls in the MD game after Gary Williams complained to the refs about his handling) his shooting is atrocious, and he misses too many lay ups because of poor form. The coaching staff needs to put him through the Mikan drill so he can finish with both hands.

LaSalle stud Steve Smith was just hanging out for 30 mins last night, not really posting up and jacking long range shots. And AU gladly let him. Then in the final 10 mins, he caught fire, hitting almost every shot he touched. What shocked me is that AU let him catch the ball easily anytime he wanted it. They made no effort to deny him the ball. That and the fact we couldn't hit a shot last night with the exception of Pat Okpwe who was hitting turnaround jumpers like he was Hakeem.

Also, the 6 or 7 game run where Jason Thomas was unconscious and playing like one of the best players in AU history hit a bump last night. He couldn't make a shot and was just average. Let's hope he can rekindle the magic when the Patriot League schedule begins in a week.

And I'm done.

"If AU loses to Maryland by 16, I'll say they got blown out then too. Anything 15+ indicates to me that a game wasn't really close." (Matt B)

Your guys lost by 21. I now expect bold font on the front page stating that Maryland opened up a can of whoop arse on your boys!!!

Sounds like it was in all fairness a close game to start, BUT a blowout is a blowout...some more than others even. ;-)

Tough loss for AU, the 16-0 run in the second half killed them. It worries me that these seem to be happening every game.

OTOH, nice to see Sekou Lewis's follow-up dunk make #9 on SportsCenter's Top Plays. PL notoriety is always good.

HT--

Yeah, that's the place. Man, Hamilton is a dump of a town. I know I've said it 1000 times, but it has never stopped being true. Maybe it's really nice in the summer, who knows. What I do know is that it sucks in the winter.

HC is right. No doubt Bucknell is playing as well as anyone right now. Anyone who wrote them off when they went 1-3 in a 10 day stretch at the end of Nov. (and Dec. 1) did so prematurely.

Was at the game and have to say it was about as well as I can remember a Pat Flannery Bucknell team play at both ends of the court. They are def. playing at a different level than they were against St. Francis (Nov. 22, first time I saw them this season).

http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

tonight's bucknell 2 point win over a good niagara team makes the 3 team forecast for the pl title closer to reality-with hc and au

COLEY GETS ALL HOBBIT HONORABLE MENTION!!!!!!!

Yo, AUscott22 were do you sit at Bender???

Hey Matt ... about that bar in Hamilton ... did it have a shuffleboard game on the back wall and a canoe oar behind the bar?

That is my lone barroom memory of Hamilton, that and the snow that was literally piled so high you could not see the street when you looked out the front window.

Barring blizzard conditions that prohibited leaving town, why the hell would you stay in Hamilton long enough to reach for two forms of ID? And don't give me that "babe quotient" BS *LMAO*

so this guy decides he doesn't like college and misses home after one semester and leaves? now he misses out on the all-hobbit team

holy cross'keith simmons' 30 points last night at brown could be a break-out game for him--which would mean good things for hc's offense

hc-- I did not bet the blog, unfortunately it seems there aren't any lines on games that have PL teams in them. Probably for the better, since I'd end up losing my savings betting against the spread on AU/Maryland.

CHC- I love the "luft ball" thing. Those Dookies are well prepared, and deserve their rep.

..gate, it was the nicer one, kind of near the bookstore, and it wasn't that I _had_ two ID's, it's that they wanted two. And I only had my driver's license, which apparently will not suffice. So we went to some place called the "Hour Glass", full of friendly locals. We were clearly the only people under 30 that had ever stepped in the bar. They were nothing but nice and regretfully told us they only served liquids and had no grill or other food source. Man, what a dump. The campus sure looked nice, though, and CU definitely has the highest babe quotient in the PL (a scientific term, and one I can get away with since my audience is 0.05% women).

Edited by author 12-22-2004 08:35 AM
while AU is dominating the AP polls, Holy Cross is dominating RPI (#19), did you see that

What bar in Hamilton would not serve you with two forms of ID? My God, what are coming to?

Matt,

Possible transfer taunt for McNaughton - courtesy of the Cameron Crazies and an excellent example of pregame prep and knowing your opponent.

In the mid-1980's when playing Washington, German import Detlef Schrempf launches an air ball and the chant begins as spontaneously as it would in any arena. But listen closely and they were not chanting AIR Ball, but LUFT Ball!
Was LMAO when I heard it!

FYI,

I nominated AU freshman Coleman LeClair for Grant Wahl's CNNSI.com College Hoops mailbag All-Hobbit team. Hopefully he gets selected. I'll post the link if he makes it.

matt--was the army nd spread under 25?did you bet the blog?do we have to go to chris at hooptime?say it aint so!!

That is a kick in the teeth. It knocks the PL down a peg.

well,hc is not the only pl school to lose to a d-3(at least williams was defending champ)--navy lost to gettysburg--also lehigh lost to harvard--at least bucknell won vs cornell

coachralphwillard.com has some interesting info and view on the challenge of making a pl ooc schedule-check it out

matt, you got me on the edge of my seat waiting for your analysis. unlike you wordsmiths, i am a quant guy. actually in shock to hear someone is just figuring out Excel and can live day to day without it.

as for you and Mr C. at HoopTime, i am just delighted to have two PL basketball blogs to visit. i like both of your styles. as a Bison fan, i remember Chris' Hoop Time v.1.0 and in fact as a geographically challenged Bison fan coerced him into mailing me copies although he extracted an exorbitant fee (probably almost enough to cover the postage).

oh, I sit in the 2nd row in the reserved seating... Near Jason Thomas parents... in the middle section... I sometimes have my screamin eagles shirt on... youngest member... 14

Half the time, I'm working with Athletic Facilities, so I'm in the black shirts on the floor. Last Saturday, they didn't need me, so I was that nut in the front row of the Screaming Eagles, near midcourt on the far side of the court.

if your an eagles fan who goes 2 the games, where do you sit

Yo, aueaglesjosh, where do you sit at the AU games?

a word of caution when you look at Lafayette's and Colgate's records matt. last year Bucknell was 1-5 at exam break wit the 1 win over D3 Ursinis College and turned out to be a threat in the league. both Laf and Gate lost a lot of talent from last year and are playing a number of young/inexperienced players. i think both will at least put a scare into one of the top teams at some point although i think it unlikely they will emerge the way the Bison did last year.

Edited by author 12-12-2004 12:35 AM
Ohio was very up-and-down. They looked good at times, forcing turnovers and hitting some big shots. But they were still only 4 for 12 from the free throw line. Fears, Troutman, and Halbert played OK when Ohio was on their run in the second half. But otherwise, I didn't think they seemed that good.

Take that with my bias FWIW, though.

josh--how good was ohio?

Was at the game: Thomas looked good, again shooting the lights out. What worries me is that teams are starting to shut Ingram down; even though they're winning, he needs to get his. The four-man big man rotation seems to work, as two or three guys will be playing well. If Matej gets his shooting touch going, watch out. Sekou Lewis also played, and looked REALLY good, especially on the defensive end. If he can be a shut-down guard, that'll help immensely. OTOH, Lekavicius wasn't so great, and got stripped clean a couple of times. I'm hoping he improves throughout the year.

Edited by author 12-11-2004 05:49 PM
another nice w for au over ohio u --i don't know how good ohio is this year(now 3-2--sagarin-58)but a pl win over a mac team is a solid one--this,plus the win over vermont ,has to make au the current pl favorite
matt-your boy, jason t,did it again !

Gee, thanks Matt ... but you are too humble. That points per posession stuff was damned interesting analysis.

Meanwhile, I am beginning to think Lafayette is going to play the role of spoiler before all is said and done in the Patriot League.

Ken--

Yeah, I'm in the generic "communications" field. I do a lot of writing, but not journalism. Chris at the Hoop Time blog is a journalist, and you can tell when you read his stuff-- he's a great writer with a sense for where sports stories ought to go. I sometimes struggle with that, but hopefully the bad jokes and occasionally angry prose cover that up.

hc fought the noble fight (again)but lost in ot at bc--they outrebounded,out stole,forced more turnovers,got more field goal attempts and makes,but lost badly at the foul line--for the first time this season the 3 big men-lufkin,hurley and hyland all played very well--the guards defended well,but shot very poorly --what it means,besides a loss,will be seen in the pl race

Edited by author 12-10-2004 08:03 AM
aufan, i am not worried, but i am not an au fan either. was simply curious since as i understand the school can only publish one release in the fall and one in the spring after LOIs are signed. it seemed odd that only one was reported given we had heard of four commitments.

care to share something new with us given your hint of something better to come?

an interesting start on your analysis matt. i expect you'll get some feedback and ideas and i'm willing to get it started. next step should be a similar set of defensive measures. if you are very efficient offensively because you press and overplay the passing lanes getting easy break opportunities, but give up lot's of easy buckets to the opposition, the offensive stats may look good, but you lose all the time.

by the way, what do you actually do for a living? are you a journalist or a writer in some capacity?

dont you worry, American already has more than 1 recruit who has signed a letter of intent. you guys will see shortly, and i can guarantee, everyone will love it, (if you are an American fan)

Billbe is really active. He moves very well for his size. He needs a post player with a thick body on the floor with him at all times or the interior defense will be lacking. I like him as a weakside help defender. He has definitely blossomed.

AU's post play has been the reason for their success so far. No question about it. They smothered Coppenrath with double teams everytime he touched the ball. I don't see any Patriot League post player besides maybe McNaughton that can give our bigs trouble.

The guards have played alright so far. Linas and Ryan need to settle down. Andre and JT are playing great to this point. Thomas is out of his skull recently. And Sekou Lewis hasn't even dressed yet.

I'm excited for the Patriot League schedule to start. And there are still some great games on the schedule including Ohio, LaSalle, Maryland and Missouri. Giddy up.

I doubt JT even knows about this site, but hell, if talking a little trash about him gets him riled, I'm happy to continue.

The turnovers will get better as Linus gets more comfortable in the PG position. I have a little something planned to write about him, actually.

AU's four post guys were definitely the reason (other than Thomas playing very well) AU won against UVM. We have three guys who are legitimate scoring threats. Petrauskas would start on any other team in this league. Billbe is becoming a good rebounder and defender, which is all we need from him right now. He'll be legit the next two years.

Matt, I guess Thomas is still psyched up from your comments. Another double-double, 26 and 11. 8-9 shooting, 5-5 from three, 5-5 from the line. Okpwae had a big game, too. He's going to be a big key; if he can equal Draughn's role from last year, that'll be huge.

I'm worried about the turnover ratio, though. -4 in this game, -7 against UVM, -25 on the season. Not good, although I'm sure Jones is aware of it.

Edited by author 12-08-2004 06:30 PM
AUScott, you tout AU as having four quality post players. That should make a difference in the league. Did that help in their win over Vermont?

I think that Colgate's just lost a starting post player-Mark Daniel's-to a broken foot in Monday's practice. Daniel's started every game for the 'Gate this year. He didn't score alot but he was a big man with a long wing span plugging up the middle on defense. If he's out for a long time it definitely hurts 'Gate's depth in the post.

Edited by author 12-07-2004 03:09 PM
matt-hc played a great defensive game against fordham--the offense still struggles--that o will determine its fate in the pl--o!hc does not play cornell--your thoughts about the 16 seed are relevant--i just hope the pl stays out of the play in game--fordham has improved,esp their defense--they play 4 frosh--their win at iona last thurs was a good one for them--they could not solve hc's d

Bad night for the PL ... Ivies swept a pair and the military twins agains misfired. thankfully HC salvaged a little bit of pride by once again beating league expat Fordham.

Film at 11

http://hooptime3.blogspot.com

Edited by author 12-06-2004 04:35 PM
Colgate lost by 13 to Syracuse and it was defintitely not a blow out. Syracuse walk-ons think Colgate is their one opportunity to score each year. Not this year. Colgate refused to go away. Less that ten minutes to go and 'Gate took the lead. The Syaracuse starters had all they could do to pull this one out. 'Gate went in and controlled the tempo of the game. Davis did a great job of coming up with a game plan. Look out, the rest of the Patriot League. Colgate has great chemistry this year and they are playing as a team

Ken--

AU is typically not so good at releasing info about their recruits. My guess is that the are others beyond Garris are still coming.

As far as the role of favorite, I'd say AU took it with this win. But it's still early.

I'd say the difference between American and the other PL teams is that no other squad can roll out 4 capable big men. We have Petrauskas, Cresnik, Billbe, and Okpwae. They all do different things and give us a plethora of options to handle just about any low post matchup. Combine that with the fact we have arguably the best player in the PL in Andre Ingram and we may be able to win the league this year. Our major negative so far has been our mediocre play at the PG. Put Andres Rodriguez back at the point for one more year and this team would have been untouchable.

I'm not ready to annoint AU the favorite at this point, but you'd have to admit we are playing the best basketball up to this point. We'll see how long that lasts.

article on the American (and PL) website reports Garris as the first to sign LOI. what's up with all the other early commitments that were reported?

a nice win for au,the best so far for a pl team(not saying a lot)--but it's still early to tell how good vt is--their best showing was a good loss to kansas in the opener--time will tell

congratultions to American on an excellent win. as has been noted, this is clearly the best win this year (so far) for the PL. has American assumed the role of favorite at this point?

Edited by author 12-05-2004 03:41 AM
Haha, losing by 16 is definitely a blowout unless it was less until the last minute or two. That's a pretty wide margin.

HC lost a game that wasn't close in the last few minutes. That to me is getting blown out, when an opponent can't make for an interesting game in the last five minutes.

If AU loses to Maryland by 16, I'll say they got blown out then too. Anything 15+ indicates to me that a game wasn't really close.

Edited by author 12-04-2004 10:09 PM
mattb,

congrats on the win tonight...great for the PL.

However, HC did not get blown out. Yeah, we lost but blowout, no. Hate on HC all you want due to our rivalry but 16 points is not getting crushed...not great but a blowout is 30+.

And as I edit this, Colgate loses to Cuse by 13. Let's redefine "blowout" please in your article. Laf got blow out, HC did not.

Cheers.

Jason Thomas read what you wrote about him last week and he was fired up.

Last year Colgate lost to Buffalo at Colgate by 30. Last night Colgate hung tough for 3/4's of the game with a Buffalo team picked to top the MAC East. Buffalo eventually pulled away to win by fifteen. Colgate couldn't match their interior height and were out rebounded 20-38. The best Colgate defensive stat--Buffalo had 22 turnovers againts 'Gate after averaging 11 turnovers in their first three games.

Josh-- I saw that too, it's actually that Penn has beaten PL teams 19 times in a row. Colgate beat Cornell just a few weeks ago. They worded it poorly, though.

With the Princeton and Penn wins over HC and BU, respectively, according to ESPN, that's 19 in row for Ivies over PL teams.

Yeesh.

I think Knight will only get better for Lehigh. Remember he sat out a full year without practice. Austen Rowland started out slow last year and ended up being POY for the league, I think Knight will have that kind of impact after he settles in. Lehigh will depend heavily on he and Olivero to repeat.

HC/Princeton game is in Worcester...

I can't wait to get back to the US so I can actually see some of these games.

Petrauskus only avereaged 17 mins last season too. I think its just that he gets tired. But Petrauskus instead of Cresnik? I don't know. Matej is good inside and outside. Probably one of the best big guy shooters in the league.

And is Billbie still a freshman?

glad to see American avenge the PL against SFP last night. fortunately for my mental health, i do not believe in a transitive property of basketball results so i still feel good about BU in the league.

as i've stated before, i expect some real battles and balance in the league. having seen the Bison, they are definitely better than last year and still improving. haven't seen any of the other teams, but based on early results, HC is playing better and American is playing well again. Lehigh is off, but certainlty can't write them off for the season.

Hey guys I was in Bethlehem this past weekend so I took in the Lehigh/Dartmouth game Saturday Night.
Olivero lit up the Big Green, and was clearly the best player on the floor. Knight looked ok..... still looks like he is finding his way in their offense.... I assume he'll get better as the year goes along. Mgebroff struggled with fouls all night. Lehigh needs to get more out of him they want to repeat as League champs. Their freshman guard Erik Smith can play, and shoot the 3 ball. He would start for a lot of teams in the league.
Officiating was poor all night... allowed the game no flow (and in my opinion helped Dartmouth stay in the game during the 2nd half). It was only a 10 point win for Lehigh.... but the game was never in doubt.

DC

I think AU looked good against St. Francis, PA. It looked like they did their best to choke down the stretch, but then after a time out they got themselves under control, beat the press and hit free throws. Andre and Linus have got to slash more and drive to the hoop, because a lot of the time they can always beat their man. That would also then open up the floor for the rest of the players, collapsing the defense and allowing a pass to a guy out waiting for a three or a big guy down low. But it seems Jones doesn't have any such plays.

Edited by author 11-29-2004 09:13 AM
team played a better game against SFA. did not shoot well or take care of the ball against ISU. missed an opportunity to win against a power conference team.

on the plus side, Abe B is back in the starting lineup and shaken some of the rust off althoughstill not at 100%. he made a huge difference in the team's play this weekend. McNaughton is playing extremely well, but needs to avoid the cheap fouls. Matropaolo got a lot of quality minutes. he was not prepared for the athleticism of the ISU players, but the experience has to help. looks like he will be a very solid reserve by league play.

HC is getting it done so far this year. looks like the anticipated dog fight in the league will materialize. Lehigh has fallen short of my expectations to date, but has time to develope their chemistry. American has played well against a couple of tough teams. Lafayette looks like they will be more dangerous than anticipated.

bucknell's defeat ,62-55,at iowa state might be their best showing thus far--iowa st is supposed to be pretty good in a very tough conference

Cornell is ranked #2 by Blue Ribbon, the only preseason guide I go by. Whether they will match up to that, who knows. But I trust BR.

St. Peters is good, but not major conference good. On second look, Duquensne doesn't have the front court to muscle around schools like LC, so while the victory was impressive, it should be taken with a grain of salt when LC gets blown out by teams like St. Pete.

ccsu and csf both tried to be uptempo while Cornell runs the slower Princeton offense. Uptempo worked better against Colgate. Also Cornell had a quite a few second half traveling calls when they tried to beat Colgate of the dribble from the perimeter. Don't know if that was usual for them but it hurt them.

matt-some comments on your words of "wisdom"--
1-st. peter's,despite the peacock,was competitive last year and is better this year(see kiki clark)--duquesne just gave west va a tough game--so maybe you should wait a bit before allowing early scores to cloud your "better judgment"
2-i don't know what ivy experts you speak with,but the p's are overwhelmingly the pre-season favorites for 1 and 2,next come yale,brown,and then maybe cornell with harvard and columbia

how did cornell compare with ccsu and csf?

I watched all three of Colgate's games thus far. They led Central Connecticut for most of the first half but dug themselves a big whole in the last minute of the first half when Central Connecticut scored nine unanswered points including 2 threes in the last seven seconds before the half. In the Cal-Fullerton game the guards and threes shot 39 times and the post players 11 times. On Sunday and Monday in practice the coach focused on setting picks and getting the ball into the post. It worked. Against Cornell on Tuesday night Colgate had a balanced inside-outside attack with the perimeter players shooting 30 times and the post players 27. They beat Cornell by 14. Without Kendall Chones they need a post player besides Zidar to step up. Jon Foss scored a career high of 14 points. Colgate is young and I expect them to keep improving. If they can keep a good inside-outside balance they have a chance of surprising some people come Patriot League time.

hey matt--congrats on the shout-out on the mid-majority site--they like your mascot comments,esp the st. peter's peacock

AU beat Wagner handily tonight (70-49) after they blew a decent lead at the start of the 2nd half.

They had moments where they looked great and other moments where they looked soft. So it is tough to say what you're gonna get from them at this point. Although, close games versus real good teams in VCU and Niagara should spell big trouble for the rest of the PL. This team is playing together and playing confidently. The veteran leadership on this team is showing up every night.

In the first half, Petrauskas led the way, with a variety of post moves leading to buckets. He brought them back from an early defecit. Graham replaced Linas early because he wasn't playing hard. Thomas shot horribly from the field. Matej provided no impact. Billbe was incredible, his hustle and spirit keyed their surge. Ingram was steady.

In the 2nd half, they came out flat. Matej still had his head up his ass. But they battled through it and blew the game open. Ryan Graham played a solid game. He telegraphed a few passes, and shot the ugliest three I've ever seen (and hit it) but all in all he helped Linas put 40 mins in the books and allowed Ingram to play off the ball. Ingram and Matej got red hot at the end matching three after three and blew the doors off.

I heard tonight that Sekou Lewis is sitting 5 games as a result of playing in an unsanctioned summer league. Tonight was game three of five. Buzz on the street is that he'll replace Thomas in the lineup when he returns. Interesting...I think he will be the PL version of Stacey Augmon before the year is out, although he isn't really a scorer or shooter. I see him being used to shut down Neptune from Leigh and Hamilton from HC especially. We'll see.

Next up is Monday night against St. Francis of PA who beat Bucknell by 5 the other night. I look at this matchup as a great measuring stic for AU and the rest of the PL elite. I'll say this though, barring injury, you will see AU in the finals of the PL tournament with out a doubt this year. They'll be tough to beat.

Edited by author 11-20-2004 07:56 PM
matt-you've predicted some correct ones,but of course,i'm mentioning the wrongs--esp. hc's nice w at bu-strong d and balanced scoring--also the big surprise has to be the leopards over duquesne(correct spelling)--i also followed your advice and went to the rider site--i counted a 17-14 record last year with wins over niagara and manhattan(2nd round ncaa)-i also hear that all 5 starters are back-sounds pretty legitimate d-1 to me--nice w for bu

big thing tomorrow for the Cross is protecting the ball...if this does not happen then we might be in trouble...lthis being said, if we haven't fixed out shooting woes over the summer then we will be in for a long season.

Go Cross!!!

P.S. The women sound really good already against PC so far. Her is hoping for a great win tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!

matt-i just read jake wilson of the ivy board-he claims the start tomorrow of a new basketballu.com board-which will first expand to the pl-will that affect this board?

Matt,

I love your commentary and the site is great, but sometimes your red, white, & blue AU glasses and HC envy really show thru in your predictions! ;^)

To call BU a more experienced team than HC is just silly. HC returns 4 starters. The 5th starter saw significant playing time as a freshman. Another 2 people off the HC bench averaged 15 and 20 minutes a game respectively. 8 players on the team lettered. BU returns 3 starters and 4 others who lettered.

Look at the team breakdown by classes (Sr/Jr/Soph/Fresh)

HC (5/2/3/3)
BU (2/3/3/6)

The 4 HC starters have been playing together as a unit - either as starters last year or as scout/2nd team the prior year - will need less time to "gel" than most PL teams and certainly less than BU, who will be looking for a significant contribution from January eligible transfer, Omari Peterkin, from Notre Dame!

Now you may think that BU will win because of better players/talent, home court, or some other voodoo but it won't be experience and lack of team gel that leads to it.

HC to win another close game 63-59 and keep up the good work.

btw, Scott, I thought your summary of the exhibition game and the upcoming season was great. Thanks for posting it.

I wasn't there so I'm hesistant to say anything about last night. I listened online, it sounds like Andre was the whole show.

Linas is not going to be spectacular at the PG position for a little while, until his ankle heals up and he gets used to the college PG game. The fact that Rodriguez played so many minutes (i.e. all of them) at the 1 last year was great then, now it seems like it would have been nice to have Linas out there at times.

But give him a few games before you start denouncing him here. I still think he can be our PG for the next three years. He's talented as all hell, and once he starts figuring things out I think he can be a top caliber player, even better than Ingram.

That will take a lot though, considering how awesome Ingram is. I just hope he doesn't get awesome enough to seriously consider transferring.

matt--maybe you have to step in and stop this au family squabble--how about some thoughts on last night's tough loss?

Oh no... not the way I see it... I just happen to know Linas is not the player they thought they were getting when they were recruiting him. I think they recruited him as a PG but found out he is a 2 guard (problem is Ingram holds that spot down... sounds like he was a stud last night by the way). Perhaps they will move Andre to the 3 next year... Linas to the 2 and insert a frosh PG after Thomas graduates?
Anyway.... gotta do what you gotta do cause they have no other options at the point. But probably this fact would take them out of the championship discussion in the Patriot League. With no PG they are going to have a difficult time keeping people honest with Ingram.

I have ben a fan of Linas from day one. The kids got talent. Whether he should be a PG, I don't know, but he should be on the floor. He's fast, and has a pretty good shot. Rumor is he can even dunk. Backwards.

I'm sorry you see it that way DC, but there is no balloon to burst. I am fully aware that Jones has signed 2 PGs for next fall, Garrison Carr and Derrick Mercer. But we got a season to play NOW, and Linas is our PG THIS season, warts and all. He isn't a natural PG, I'll give you that, but he and Ingram are the only two that can create their own shot and get the ball to others in a position to score, so they'll have to handle the majority of the backcourt minutes. At no point can AU afford to have them both sitting. That is what it is. We'll evaluate the future recruits when they arrive on campus. Until then, we go with the best we've got. Linas and Andre are unquestionably that.

AU leads VCU by 12 at half. 36-24. Ingram has 18. Giddy up.

good luck-and skill- to the eagles tonight!

AUSCott,

     Don't want to burst your balloon. But I happen to know that American is looking to bring in two PG's next year because they are not sold on Linas playig the point. He's a shoot first kid and not a great handle to boot. Unless he has improved greatly, they're going to be asking Ingram (who is a fabulus player) to do an awful lot. If your own coaches are wondering about their PG... it would make me a little nervous.

DC

Bucknell has posted their early signees on their website:

a third signee, Josh Linthicum, 6-11 center. he had some early interest from some bigger schools amongst a long list of mid majors with interest(don't know who else offered). sounds like another good pickup for the Bison.

Went to the AU/Catholic game last night. AU stunk up the joint out of the gate, getting seriously outhustled in the 1st half. They asserted themselves in the 2nd half and won easily.

Andre Ingram led the way. He was a little flat starting off, shooting missles but settled down, put some arc on his shot and was fine, hitting almost all of his shots in the 2nd half. Raimondas Petrauskas was shaky on defense but a beast in the post on offense, he didn't miss a shot or FT all game. Linas sat out and didn't even dress. Everyone else was awfully shaky. Matej sat a lot of the game, i'm assuming so Jones could evaluate other players and never got into a rhythm. Jason Thomas was up and down. Pat Okpwe was solid defensively.

Without Linas and Ingram healthy all season, playing big minutes and performing, AU is in trouble. It's just that simple. Ingram is the only one who could create his own shot last night. And he and Petrauskas are the only two that could score at will. Linas has to be able to take charge and help ease the scoring burden on those two.

AU's rotation should look like this.

C Pat Okpwe and Raimondas - Raimus is the better offensive player, Okpwe is the defensive guy. Keep them down low whenever possible.

PF Matej and Brayden Billbe - Matej was a non-factor last night but has to continue to be a threat to hit the outside shot to open up the low post for Raimus to do his work. Billbe played okay. The kid has a good jumper and can play the high post but he gets thrown around down low and abused when posted up on D. He really shouldn't see the floor that much if they can help it.

SF J Thomas, Sekou Lewis, and Travis Lay - Thomas will be fine. He can shoot it pretty well and defends very well, he just needs someone to set him up on offense. He'll be fine and contribute. Sekou reminds me of Stacey Augmon. I think he'll be able to get minutes against a Kyle Neptune and contain him. He is long and athletic. Doesn't kill you but can't really score other than in transition. Lay is promising. He hustles, fights hard, and works for everything. He can't score right now and is a little undersized, but his scrappy attitude is refreshing. I say work him in slowly too with Billbe. It's scary to think about but Billbe and Lay could be the starting 4 and 5 on next year's team. I'll just move on.

SG - Andre Ingram and Arvydas Etutavicius - It's Andre all the time. Which is fine. He's real good. He needs to play off the ball so he can be a scorer. Arvydas should be the backup but Jones is chaining him to the bench. There is obviously something going on there. He can shoot and can handle. He must get minutes in this thin backcourt. Work it out Jeff. He's too talented to not use him. Get him on the same page if that is the problem.

PG - Linas and Ryan Graham - If Linas is hurt for any extended stretch we are D-U-N done. We missed him desperately last night. Ryan Graham and Weinstein are not PL PG's. Graham can handle but doesn't move the ball well, Weinstein can pass but got ripped a few times by Catholic guards. Craig does play the passing lanes well but it is clear he should not be seeing time on the floor.

Coley LeClair - he looks like he has a decent PL body for a freshman but is lost out there. We can afford to sit him this year, but he'll need to be ready come next season. I like him as a prospect. Hopefully he can eclipse Billbe and be are starting Center next year. We'll need him rebounding down low.

Starting Lineup

C Patrick Okpwe - 20mins
PF Matej Cresnik - 30mins
SF Jason Thomas - 30mins
SG Andre Ingram - 35 mins
PG Linas Lekavicius - 35 mins

Bench
C/PF Raimus - 25mins
PF Billbe - 5mins
SF Sekou Lewis - 10mins
SF Travis Lay - 5mins
PG Ryan Graham - 5mins

Arvydas Etutavicius is the wildcard here. I think he is clearly the most talented guard after Linas and Andre. I think he could get some significant minutes (10-15) and ease the burden on the starters. They need to get him in the rotation.

thanks for rooting for the Bison hchoops. unfortunate the team could not get the win yesterday. Laf and HC have opportunites against PU to avenge the PL, but they are certainly going to be tough.

i think Bison should win tonight, but it will be a few more games before we can really begin to assess whether this team is ready to step up to the level expected (or beyond).

Edited by author 11-12-2004 11:13 AM
sorry about the opener,bison--pu will be trouble for most,maybe starting with the cuse tonight--good luck with n colorado-
matt-that was an exhibition win vs. catholic--did you see it?are you a pol?

Sory to disappoint HC, but the job that pays the bills has been taking up most of my time the last few weeks (such is life in DC during an election and post-election period).

I predict the Tigers win a close one tonight, while AU hopefully blows out D3 Catholic.

Edited by author 11-11-2004 10:35 AM
good luck(and skill)to the bison tonight--beat the tigers!!
matt--where are you?the season we've been waiting 8 months for(almost our new baby)is beginning

Edited by author 11-09-2004 09:20 AM
Lafayette board reports a signing for the Leps:

Dave smith 6'7 PF Cape May,NJ Middle Township.... Recruited by Penn and Columbia

i could not find anything to confirm it or add to the info on him. of course, we need to leave some of the work to matt b who finds some good sources.

hchoops,

     I scooped that one a month ago..... trying to steal my thunder :) No seriously, thanks for reposting it. I've heard from a reliable source the kid is a legitimate 7 footer

lehigh got a verbal from john gourley,6-11,250lbs,from paris,ark--2 stars from rivals

i don't know hc, i may be confused, it does happen from time to time, but the rankings look like team rankings to me. the schedule ranking column is blank.

these are not team ,but schedule rankings,which is also strange considering the difficult bu sched-there's a reference to the formula on the hc board

found no explanations for how Mr. Sagarin does his pre-season magic. definitely adjustments from last years final standings. in some cases, like Laf which lost a lot of Sr. starters, a big drop makes some sense, but BU returns five starters and top seven scorers and drops 16 spots. not that any of this really matters, but i am curious.

Holy Cross pre-season favorite per Sagarin ratings. i don't know how he does his pre-season ratings, but i suspect it might be based on something like the last 10 games of last year. does he adjust for players lost? maybe i'll go back and read to see if he discloses.

 165 Holy Cross
 205 American U.
 241 Bucknell
 256 Colgate
 262 Lehigh
 269 Lafayette
 314 Navy
 322 Army

or maybe he read Bikeman's post that HC would dominate the PL again.

hchoops, i did not see the game, but certainly it was an encouraging outcome. understand they handled the press against an athletic team pretty well, but the turnover statistics were a bit high.

the game against Princeton on Thursday will be a very different style and against a higher caliber of competition. will have to take very good care of the ball and even with Badmus back, the Bison are still a bit thin at guard this year (guess that's why we recruited two more for next year).

Edited by author 11-07-2004 08:49 PM
i'm surprised the bu people haven't posted their 83-55 exh win over indiana u of penn,without mcnaughton and badmus playing only 4 mins--both are expected to be back thurs for the opener vs princeton (at syracuse)

hey matt--what's with au's graduation % of 67,well below the rest of the pl??(on the pl home page)

in response to lou's question about other 2/3's that will make a difference, i will second HC1843's mention of keith simmons. i think he'll show this year that he's got athletic talent rarely seen in the PL. the kid is a lethal slasher to the hole, is quick defensively, and has got a nice J (shot about 50% from beyond the arc). the kid averaged 8+ ppg in a limited role last year, something like only 15 minutes per game.

having gotten stronger in the offseason (200+ lbs now) and most likely earning a starting role, look for him to compete for all PL honors. simmons is the real deal!

Edited by author 10-29-2004 03:42 PM
hc, unfortunately, i am too far away to have gone to the game. the Bucknell website has not posted any info on the game either so i know nothing at this point. i don't expect to get to the IUP game either, but have my sights set on the first couple of regular season home games.

ken--are you going tonight?--if so,please post your observations--thanks

Bucknell has an intrasquad scrimmage tonight and pre-season game with IUP a week from Saturday. getting an earlier start than many teams since they play in the CvsC tournament starting on the 11th. are there any other open scored scrimmages or pre-season games for PL teams in the next week or so?

also thanks for the HC recruiting thoughts. scholarships have certainly benefited the league and i believe most are fans are on board with this being an improvement. i hope hc fans recognize that the league is improving, although i recognize some will never be satisfied with the PL. we can expect a real dog fight for the championship this year and that this will be the norm going forward. HC may have teams as good as recent NCAA teams that will not win the league.

Hey Lou,

Hamilton, assuming he is healthy (broken wrist) will be a difference maker for the Cross with the potential for Keith Simmons to really have an impact this year. He has added 20 lbs of muscle and with one year under his belt and more PT, should really contribute.

my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Hey All,

I'm Lou Ingram, Andre's brother. I just wanted to say that I search the web all the time looking for PL chats and quick convos. This site is great! I am my brother's biggest critic, so nothing said would offend me. Just wanted to chime in and join the convo!!

Andre, along with Charles Lee(Bucknell) and Neptune(Lehiegh) are examples of players that I think will determine the outcome, standings wise this year in the pl league. These guys are 6-3/6-4 and have good size, the ability to score and defend, and rebound from the 2 or 3 guard spot. All three are also better than average free throw shooters, and "sub-leaders" on their respective teams.

What other league difference makers am I missing from the 2/3 guard spots??

KenZ,

I think it is the typical excitement around getting signings. However, it is safe to say that no team should prognosticate about a recruit..most PL recruits need a year to really settle in.

This being said, it appears that the league is doing really well across the board for this year's class. The word seems to be getting out on the PL and the quality of kids is increasing...in no small part due to school's following HC's smart, yet often maligned, decision/move to force the scholly issue all those years ago.

good question--imo it's mostly the normal excitement--but getting the 3 this early is a bit different from recent classes--also,some of the posters have seen 2 of the recruits,so their excitement has been contagious--this year's sophs look good,esp simmons and thomas,while the frosh clifford seems to have big time potential

hc: posters on the HC board seem very upbeat about this year's commitments. they look like good recruits on paper, but i can't say i see anything that distinguishes them from HCs recruits the last two years (which i think were also good classes despite some of the handwringing by HC fans). do you think this years recruits are better or is this just the normal elation associated with any newly reported recruits?

hc got its 3rd verbal--alex vanderbaan,6-8 of whitinsville mass

Wow, you can't even get need based aid in D-III? Can someone let me in on why LC would go to D-III instead of, say, D-II?

I think LC Prez's argument that they are sticking with the originial agreement of the Patriot League doesn't hold water. I mean, 5 out of 8 give scholarships. I think they are trying to keep academics first, but that is clearly failing.

also, two articles in the Morning Call re Lafayette and the scholarship position. looks like the situation could get ugly there with threats of potentially withholdong financial support by some major contributors.

that's a big loss for 'Gate, particularly in a year following graduating two key players. will be interesting to see if their first scholarship class can give them a big boost as Bucknell's did last year.

gate 13 reports on the pl board that neither chones brother is currently in school

Petrauskas has been awesome. His coming out of sorts was that championship game against HC two years ago-- the kid held his own in what was an otherwise frustrating year for him and those of us who had to watch him.

I'm less convinced about Etutavicius' ability to contribute. From watching him play pickup games, I haven't been too impressed.

Edited by author 10-20-2004 11:18 AM
matt-thanks for the cunningham scoop-(you are keeping up with your snide comments)-only time will tell how good he becomes-certainly the odds are overwhelingly in favor of your prediction-his team is pre-season #25 in u.s. by street and smiths

Petrauskas is the key down low. The kid is a beast, granted it's been mostly of the "bull in a china shop" variety. But he's had games where he has just dominated. He is solid from the FT stripe and can hit the mid range jumper. I am going to go out on a limb and pick him as the POY. Hopefully, he has gotten over his tendency to be over aggressive on defense and get into foul trouble. He has the skills to consistently score 16-18PPG and pull down 8-10RPG. I think this is the year he pulls it all together.

I also think Linas is a very important player for us. Hopefully, his overaggressiveness on defense (what is it with these Lithuanians?) is under control and he has matured into a capable floor leader. It wouldn't surprise me if Arvydas Etutavicius becomes a real player for us this year. He is a competitor who wants the ball in his hands and looks to score all the time. He'll most likely be the third guard.

In a young PL this year, AU has a legitimate chance to be successful on the strength of a veteran front court balanced out by a talented backcourt.

Lehigh and Bucknell should be real competitors this year as well. Lehigh's sophomore trio of Mgreboff, Olivero, and Neptune are all excellent players. Let's see if Knight can replace Rowland to drive the offense. If not, I don't know if Olivero can flourish in that role. Bucknell scares me more, because they are solid fundamentally at every position and have a veteran squad. They can beat you in a lot of ways.

Never underestimate the momentum 3pt shot from Matej. Bender erupts (relatively speaking) everytime he drains one.

"how could HC be reasonably selected as preseason favorite? They finished fifth last year and lost their best player."

i think it would be reasonable because so much of college hoops is team chemistry and confidence. HC was clearly not the best team last year, but they were very competitive in the second half of the PL round robin. they need improvements from a couple of players and in their free throw shooting to get there, but I see them in the mix. you are right that Meade is a big loss for them and while i think they'll be tough, i will concede that if they don't get the improvements i mention, they probably will finish around fifth.

hc: "i agree with your assessment--but bu will have a struggle in ooc because they have the toughest sched by far"

agree that BU cannot expect a great OOC W-L record, but they can still acquit themeselves and the league well. to do so they need some wins against the better mid-major e.g. Princeton, Penn, Niagara teams and some good showings against the majors.

hchoops, snide remarks are the bread and butter of my site, you know that. That and poor grammar.

Matej is a real nice guy, but I think he is going to be offfensive option #3 or 4 this year. I'd rather see Petrauskas get more touches.

Ken-- how could HC be reasonably selected as preseason favorite? They finished fifth last year and lost their best player.

i agree with your assessment--but bu will have a struggle in ooc because they have the toughest sched by far

Edited by author 10-19-2004 11:40 AM
i would prefer if BU were not the pre-season pick. it's nice to have the talent to be considered, but this year's race is wide open. player developement since last year and team chemistry will determine which teams end upp near the top. at this point i think AU, BU, LU and HC could each be reasonably be selected as pre-season favorite.

in OOC play, HC, BU and LU should all be ready earlier than last year and represent the conference well. AU and LC will probably struggle a bit more early, but have the potential to be tough in conference.

i'm ready for action; just over 3 weeks away from tip-off.

Edited by author 10-19-2004 11:22 AM
matt-your snide remark about hc will haunt you--by the way did au have schollies when they lost the last 3 pl championship games?-twice to hc

Matt:

I really don't think your pick of Linus is that much of a stretch, I think he is very under rated and will have a breakthrough season now that A Rod graduated. Although I would also look for Big Play Matej doing well this year too. I think AU still has a lot of strength, good recruits, and I will be looking forward to seeing them play once I get back from London.

All the Ingrams are very nice folks. It used to be I'd be the only AU fan at road games, now I know the Ingrams will be there with me.

Congrats to AU Sophomore SG Andre Ingram who was named Preseason Player of the Year. Mrs. Ingram is a great Eagle supporter and a fantastic lady. AU is picked to finish 3rd but I would expect you'll be seeing them in their 4th consecutive PL tournament final.

the pl pre-season poll is on the pl site--bu,lu,au,hc,'gate,lc,navy,army--no real surprises,but i think hc will be higher,as in 1st

I've been surprised about how great a guy Kermit Washington enough times that I shouldn't be getting surprised anymore, but I still am. I think AU should build a statue of him, and another, more expensive statue of Ben Ladner (just because) and put them in the quad.

Jeff Jones gets another committment for AU, but where's the beef?

This guy is from Brayden Billbe's stomping ground, good old Washington State. Another little pesky PG, this one a outside shooting dynamo as opposed to Mercer who is the defensive pest.

5-9 PG Garrison Carr from Issaquah (WA) High averaged 25PPG, 4APG, 4RPG, and 2St. He was named King CO 3A POY and named to the all-tournament team in the Adidas Super 64 Tournament in Las Vegas this past summer. He starts at PG for his AAU team, the West Coast juggernaut Rotary Select. He was being recruited by UC Santa Barbara, Oregon St., Pepperdine, San Diego, and Washington St. At one point he was being looked at by Stanford and Oregon as well.

He sounds like a good catch that will need time to grow into his body, but that makes 2 PGs in the class of 2006 and only one spot left for some more big men. Maybe another ship will open up during the year. If not we may be grossly inexperienced and undersized going into next season down low. But you can never have enough talented guards in college basketball, especially PGs.

A couple of observations, it looks like Jones is committed to staying stateside for recruits. Too bad, he had a nice little bigman pipeline burgeoning overseas. I wonder if his international connections left with David Odom.

Also, it seems like Jones will most likely go with a 3 guard lineup in the coming seasons. He is building a pretty deep backcourt with Linas, Ingram, Arvydas, and Penny as juniors being joined by the incoming freshmen Mercer and Carr. Look for Ingram next season to replace Jason Thomas in the role of defensive stopper and third guard (small forward) spot. Seeing as he'll be the first option on offense too, I hope that isn't asking too much.

matt-thanks for the kermit washington article--it's great seeing an athlete giving so much of himself to people in need

the ivy is more respected for 2 reasons-princeton and penn--for a long time (possibly changing a bit)it has been a big 2 and little 6 --those 2 have significantly tougher schedules than any other ivy or pl school(bucknell is trying this year)--one major factor is that big schools will go to those 2 schools,esp to the palestra

HC was a 14 just last year, so it's possible for the league to pick up a decent seeding. Of course, that was after HC had taken two quality shots at high seeds in previous tourneys. So it's essentially going to take institutional memory of good PL performances or a ridiculous record with some big wins (see: HC, 2003, at 23-4, with a win over BC), to pick up a higher seed.

Delusional to think Lafayette will be anything but last?

No doubt LC President and BoT are frustrating the LC faithful but how about a little perpsective here...Sadly, LC will NOT be last in the PL in 2006. That distinction will likely go to Army. Fact is, LC has had good luck convincing scholarship quality kids that qualify for financial aid to come on in and play. They had a very good recruiting class of 2008 (as they did last year). O'Hanlon is a very good coach - one of the best in the PL.

Ironically, their modest success in the PL is holding them back from making the 'tough' decision on schollies. It is going to really piss everyone off to lose to the only non-scholarship team in the PL isn't it?

Anyway, LC will get there. The current President, who is philosophically opposed to giving athletic scholarships retires and Board does not want to go against him and/or not give the new president a chance to weigh in.

In the meantime, the 'Pards will be competitive in the PL.

I'm sure if Joe Knight left High Point and went to a Junior College he did just fine there. SOme kids struggle early in their college careers, go through some adversity, and mature later. I'm sure some of this scrutiny is related to the fact Lehigh is now winning and there is some jealousy. But if the coaches there feel comfortable bringing him in then that should be enough for those of us in cyberspace.

There have been complaints from people on this board and others about Lehigh bringing in guys like Austen Rowland and Joe Knight. AU, to be fair, heard similar complaints when Glenn Stokes and Steve Miles transfered in.

Also, there were a bunch of freshmen on the academic honor roll. McNaughton (OK, it's hard to consider him a freshman), Ingram, Clark, and some kid from Army who I can't remember.

Edited by author 10-07-2004 07:50 AM
MattB: Kind of a cheap shot about Lehigh on Academics. Let's see... who was the only Men's basketball program with a Freshman on the all academic honor roll this past year? (hint the player was also on the all rookie team).

DC

Navy again:

Cecil Avant, point guard chose Navy over Appalachian State, Wofford, Florida Gulfcoast and Florida Southern.

hoopscoop reports bu geting a verbal from 6-3 sg jason vegotsky of penna

Edited by author 10-01-2004 12:00 PM
good to see Navy staff getting it done. cannot claim knowledge on any of these three guys, but appears they are beating out other D1 schools. if Navy and Army can field improved teams in a few years, the PL will really improve its standing.

another navy recruit--amazing!!casey reed,6-5 sf from oregon,also recruited by some ivies--that new coaching staff is working

another navy verbal--6-7 adam teague from north carolina(on hoopscoop)

Lehigh signed a 7' center from Arkansas for next year. He recieved 2 stars on rivals.com

congrats to navy--insiders reports that kaleo kina,6-2 sg from ariz(2 stars from insiders)has given navy a verbal commitment

matt's article says nichols is 6-5--that's a power forward?is he 220 lbs?

Nichols is not a starter for DeMatha. But they are loaded in their top 10 players. I would say he's a bit below interms of potential than the kid from Spalding that signed with Holy Cross last week. Though Nichols is a "4" and the Spalding kid is a "3". Nichols is similair in stature to Jernavis Draughn.

mercer definitely started last year--mccurdy played off the ball--they usually played 3-4 guards

Edited by author 09-24-2004 09:21 PM
Here's a little more information I was able to gather about the new prospects for 2005.

Garris is a 5th year prep who was being recruited by Columbia and Yale. He was injured for most of last season but was well thought of as a NJ prospect. 12PPG and 7RPG before he was injured.

Mercer is a small, waterbug defensive PG (think Glen Stokes). He doesn't really need to provide much offense on such a good prep team like St. Anthony's and it is unclear whether he even starts as their is another highly thought of PG named Sean McCurdy who has already committed to Arkansas in 2005. He does seem to get significant minutes though.

Nichols is a PF who was being recruited by Niagara, Colgate, VMI, Navy, Loyola and William & Mary. A real solid kid academically. There is a real good article about him on MDVarsity.com which is on the Rivals network. Talks about his in-home with Jeff Jones and Kelvin Jefferson.

The back court seems set for the future, I'd think the last 2 scholarships will likely be targeted for bigmen. Billbe, LeClair and now Nichols will be all the team has after the Senior bigs graduate.

AU has been mentioned prominently in the recruitment of 6-8 PF Dan Stonkus from South Brunswick NJ who is also being recruited by Lafayette, Bucknell, and Delaware, 6-7 PF David Neal from Bishop O'Connell in VA who is being recruited by Princeton and Wofford, and 6-7 PF Corey McGee from Fairport NY who is being recruited by Siena and St. Peters.

Two kids from Jersey and one from Maryland. Two states that AU as a school draws heavly from. I don't know what this means, but its interesting. Looks like this team will have a lot of young talent over the next few years.

i've seen mercer -he's a very good player--will make au stronger

Gary Garris graduated from Morristown-Beard, a private school in Morristown, NJ, and is a Post-Graduate at the Hun School of Princeton, coached by Jonathan Stone, Colgate '92.

Also, thanks to all of you for the continuous flow of information. I hope you think my stuff is half as useful as what you all provide me.

I just posted an article about the three recruits. Jeff Jones is awesome and his assistant coaches keep bringing in great recruits. The departure of Caterina and Kohl just opens up room for other (hopefully more useful) players.

Garris is doing a post-grad year at Hun this year. he played in league against Bucknell frosh Rob Thomas last year (Thomas was a co-player of year, Garris on 1st team).

second name is Jordan Nichols from Dematha. another forward listed at 6-6.

no info on third signee.

the ivy board says au got 3 commitments last weekend--only name there was garry garris from princeton,nj-6-5--matt-are you there??

marquis sullivan of spalding hs(md) has committed to loyola of balt--this gives spalding 3 d-1 verbals-previous 2 were with bucknell and hc as seen on this page

KenZ,

     I went to Lehigh and I am "connected" to a high school team in the DC Metro area. One of the former players I came to know down here a couple of years ago is excelling in the Patriot League. I'd be happy to shed any light on any recruits from the DC Metro area in the future. ANd of course I will try to keep my Brown and White bias from becoming too much of a distraction.

DC

thanks for the info DC. always good to get a report based on seeing actual game action. how do you come to know the PL so well?

I've seen these two kids from Archbishop Spalding (a private school powerhouse in the DC/Baltimore Area) play several times.
     Castleberry (Bucknell) was one the most sought after 8th graders in the metro area and started his high school career at DeMatha Catholic (Morgan Wooten fame). He transfered after his Sophmore year. He's a tall PG (6'3") who has a nice handle and solid mid-range game. He'll be a good player but not a 1st team all-conference kind of guy in the Patriot League( think like 8-10 ppg, and run a team well).
     Dixon is a legit 6'5" that will play the small forward at Holy Cross. His ball skills are not quite good enough to play the 2. His game reminds me a lot of Kyle Neptune's at Lehigh. Not quite as athletic and not quite the deep range (read 3-point range)of Neptune. But a better 15 foot game and similair body.
     Neither of these two guys is Spalding's best player. Marquis Sullivan (6' 2 guard) is their top player and is looking at several mid to small D 1's. Hope this info helps.

Edited by author 09-19-2004 08:25 PM
thanks,ken-he was a high priority for hc-how did you hear it?

Castleberry's teammate, Lawrence Dixon, has committed to Holy Cross. he is a 6-5 swingman.

I have to agree AU is a little underrated in this poll. They only graduated A-Rod and Draugn, who were good, but I think they lost more talent the year before, and they still finsihed second in the PL.

Hi! I am new to this baord and I have been in AU fan since I was six and now it's my 8th year supporting my Eagles. I dont see why were not picked so high in the PL Pre Season Ratings. We still got Stud Ingram and Raimonda Petrauskus and we got some solid recruits. Caterina and Kohl didnt do crap accept maybe Caterina would throw in a few points and grab a couple rebounds here in there. I also like are guy Arvyda Itkuvackus (are how ever you spell it.) he looks like another good 3 point shooter. Thats the one thing we are going to miss is 3 point shooting because as an AU fan we've always had great shooter Nate Smith was possibly the best 3 shooter in the country in his junior and sophmore years, Ronald Hearns had a good shot and of course the great duo that was Miles and Stokes. Hopefull guys like Ingram, Lekavisious and of course Matej Cresnik. AU also has possibly the defensive player of the year in PL with Jason Thomas who Jones always sticks on the opponents best shooter. Watch out for the eagles in 204-2005.
GO EAGLES 2004-2005 BABY WIN THE PATRIOT LEAGUE (PLEASE I CANT STAND ANOTHER YEAR)

oh well, thanks. i am very happy with BU's recuiting since offering schollys, but it doesn't seem we have won a head to head competition for a recruit against you yet. i heard that you have offered his teammate (Dixon?)

ken-sorry to disappoint,but to my knowledge,he was not a top priority for hc

hchoops, i know you are pretty well connected and was wondering if HC actively recruited Castleberry. i saw HC mentioned early on with him, but they were not listed as a finalist. just curious if you can shed any light on this. it would be really nice to know we beat HC out for a recruit head to head for a change. i do like seeing Davidson on his final list, McKillop does a good job of identifying talent.

interesting connection between hc's new assistant and bu's new recruit--same hs--archbishop spalding--too bad the pl couldn't get their best product-rudy gay,a frosh at uconn

Athlon Sports College Basketball Magazine just came out w/ its rankings. Here they are:

1. Bucknell
2. Lehigh
3. Holy Cross
4. American
5. Colgate
6. Lafayette
7. Navy
8. Army

Very small write-up with information most of us already know...BU has all 5 back and the new guy from Lehigh can light it up. Also says that Lufkin needs to be a force in order for HC to make a run.

CHC, your caveats are points well taken. while i get excited by the opportunities the schedule provides, there are a number of good name teams at the top, but about half of the games are in the category that no one outside of a Bucknell fan will care if they win. if they don't win any top games no one else will care who they scheduled.

now to be clear, i am not disparraging the second tier of the schedule. the Bison cannot afford to take any game for granted and most of these games will be very competitive. however, a season of beating the 'lesser' teams plus lot's of 'moral victories' against the top tier, but no real breakthrough could tough to digest.

after all that rambling, it is still an exciting schedule for both the players and the fans. furthermore, conference play will be the major determinant of the seasons success.

Edited by author 09-14-2004 04:33 PM
Amid the kudos (including mine) there are a couple of caveats on Bucknell's schedule that could make it much weaker when the season is done than it looks now.

1. St.Joe's is a good team but,losing both guards this year will mean the team will be closer to a 50-70 RPI than they will be to a top 30 RPI as they have been the last 2 years.

2. It is not a huge stretch see them playing Northern Colorado - a team playing it's first year as D1 - twice.

That said, I wish them well in both tourneys and hope that does not happen.

guessing the coaches and sids pick is different than making ones own predictions, but i'll give it a shot

Lehigh, Bucknell, Holy Cross, American, Colgate, Lafayette, Navy, Army.

while LU lost significant players i think with the addition of Knight to a rapidly developing frosh class the coaches give them the edge. i also think there is always a lot of inertia in the picks, do well one year, you are assumed to be good the next. HC was picked first despite losing a ton of talent and experience.

shortly,the pl coaches and sids will give us their pre-season predictions-anyone else care to guess what they will say?imo bucknell will get the 1st slot--after that it's more difficult--lehigh lost a lot,but all know the rep of knight,so lu will be up there--au and hc should also be in the top 4--then lc and 'gate wil have the 5-6 slots followed by army and navy

CHC8485,

i have no hard facts to this effect, but reading between the lines of various communications, i believe there was a general commitment to strengthening PL basketball schedules. i believe this was a part of the broader strategic process a year or two ago when Navy came on board in a number of additional sports and affiliate members (other than football) were eliminated. i think HC has demonstrated an increased commitment to strengthen their program beyond basketball while other schools acknowledged their need to improve the leagues image in hoops.

in addition to scheduling, Bucknell has moved the time of Saturday games to the evening. this isn't a big item, but it is an attempt to improve attendance at the games. the PL is never going to be a big-time money conference, but it can significantly improve its standing amongst the "mid-majors."

Army and Navy need to focus on their talent levels first, but Lehigh and Colgate really should step up their schedules, particularly now that 'Gate has joined the merit scholly group.

just saw lc's sched on the pl site-new to me are louisville and penn,which raises this sched quite a bit

KenZ,

With an average 2004 RPI of 135 (and a chance to go as high as 129 if they win the 1st game of both tournaments they are in) and a median RPI of 124, that looks like the best schedule in the PL this year!

Kudos to BU and Coach Flannery for taking it on!
  
HC, AU, LC and BU have done a good job. Most notably they went from 5 games against D3 schools last year between them to 1 this year.

I hope this and the more challenging scheduling is the result of an concerted effort on all the leagues coaches to do this and hope the other 4 memebr follow suit very soon!

Edited by author 09-07-2004 05:10 PM
Bucknell schedule finalized. Villanova has now been added officially. no excuses for not giving us the full analysis now Matt.

http://bucknellbison.collegesports.com/spo...-rel/090604aaa.html

hc has another frosh,6-2 shooting guard,kyle cruze,from fork union military acad in va--he's from tennessee

AU has added a transfer to it's roster. 5-11 Sophomore PG Romone Penny has transferred from Florida State where he was a walkon last year. He saw a little garbage run in a few games last season. AU was recruiting him a year ago but took committments from Linas and Andre instead.

thanks,matt for the article on andy sachs--he sounds like he will be a strong addition to the all new assistants at hc

looks like there is a change to BU schedule; will play Iowa St. in first round of their tournament rather than Stephen F Austin.

Edited by author 08-22-2004 11:10 PM
it looks as if you are correct about cu--if au only has 12 ooc games ,their median # would be 159,midway between #6, rpi 130(delaware), and #7,rpi 188(lasalle)

hchoops,

I may have confused the NIT with the CVC on the mini-tournament format.

The schedule posted on the AU web site says

NOVEMBER
11 Thur. CATHOLIC (Exhibition) 7 p.m.

Here's the link: http://www.american.edu/athletics/mbb/schedule.html

So they need a 13th OOC game unless they count the CU game.

Edited by author 08-22-2004 10:35 PM
chc-the pre-season nit is not set up for mini-tourneys--when hc lost to kansas in 2002,there was no 2nd game--i believe that the catholic u game is no exhibition--matt b seems to agree. as his commentary shows

HCHoops,

The Catholic U game is clearly on the AU schedule as an exhibition.

I believe the pre-season NIT is set up to have "mini-tournaments", i.e. First round losers get a second game against each other as they would in a typical 4 team tournament.

Either they have another game to schedule or are counting their second round NIT game as their 13th - even though they don't have to. Who that game is against could drop AU's median to 130 (Delaware).

Either way HC & AU are pretty close in SOS and did a good job on the OOC schedule.

Edited by author 08-22-2004 11:47 AM
matt-using the ave rpi hc's ooc sched is an unimpressive 175-but harvard and dartmouth's 300's really skew that average stat--a median score might reflect a better(self-serving,also)indication of the ooc's strength--then hc is at 156(minnesota) and au is 188(lasalle)-that's counting d-3 catholic(no rpi) as the 13th team(in the bottom 6)-even using your rpi ave stat catholic would have to bring down au's strength
i'll be interested to see your analysis of bucknell's ooc rpi

Edited by author 08-21-2004 01:37 PM
OK. One last (very long!) post from me on RPI & the play-in-game.

First - if HC were in the PIG and I could get to Dayton, save the front row seats for me too. I just would rather be in Uniondale, St. Louis, or Indianapolis in the front row.

Second - It seemed to me that Scott's share distribution would take away the incentive for lower tier leagues to improve, so I did a little research.

NCAA tournament shares are distributed to conferences, not schools. The conference then decides how to distribute to its schools. PL distribution is 0.5 share for the participant and the rest divided among the league. It is not clear if that is half a share for each YEAR you make the tourney or half a share per GAME played.

The NCAA determines shares using a 5 year rolling average of the number of games your conference has played in and is distributed the year after the tournament. So had Lehigh won the PIG this year the LEAGUE would have gotten 1.2 shares next spring (and the following 4 years if they only played in one game each successive year) when the money is distributed. A share this year was about $130,000.

So unless your conference plays in the PIG AND wins it several years in a row, your school's share does not go up significantly. Your league gets an extra share over 5 years, so you get an extra 1/8 share over 5 years!

Finally - the PIG is a joke. As if a #16's chances of winning weren't slim enough, make a team play a game 3 days before taking on a well rested Goliath, where Goliath is playing close to home.

The PIG winner becomes the #1 overall team's lunch. A #14 or #15 winnner becomes the talk of the tournament.

I'd rather take my chances improving my team/conference thru the teams I play OOC, increase my team & conference RPI then get my second tournament game by scoring an upset in the first round.

OK. I'm done!

Edited by author 08-20-2004 07:23 PM
scott-you say(8-17--#201) that a pl team would have a tough time getting a 15 seed--holy cross has gotten a 14(2003) and a 15(2001)their rpi was the major factor in both seeds

It just bothers me that the school is giving up on having a unique athletics site that they maintain, and instead going to one that looks exactly like 100 others. I find the collegesports.com interface clunky and annoying, with little or no actual human involvement in its maintenance. it's not a big deal, just a pet peeve.

Hey Matt, I'm not sure what the implications of your post about AU's website are. What does it mean? What's so bad about it?

Edited by author 08-19-2004 01:17 PM
I think the play in game sucks in theory. There should be 64 teams in the tournament, not 63 plus 2 that are maybe good enough. Especially if those two made it by winning their conference tournament-- make the borderline teams that couldn't get it done there prove they belong instead. But it's not going to change anytime soon.

That said, I never knew about the money angle Scott points out. So maybe it's not all bad. And don't get me wrong, I would be calling everyone I know at AU to get tickets if we made the PIG.

I had heard about Kohl playing football. What a joke. Caterina transfering to UNH is too bad as well, but maybe he wanted to be closer to home. He showed flashes of an ability to contribute last year, too bad he won't be able to continue on that path here.

I think it's just a misprint about Billbe. But it shouldn't matter too much, as I doubt he ends up getting any decent minutes.

Edited by author 08-19-2004 07:45 AM
unofficial word is Caterina transferred to UNH.

also see Billbe is listed as a frosh again this year. recall he played a few minutes last year. did he get a medical redshirt?

Another key loss to the AU squad is assistant coach Pete McLaughlin, Jeff Jones game management assistant who was the teams graduate manager for 3 years prior. He did a lot of individual instruction with the players, charted the game, and called out the defensive assignments and rotations. Easily the most important and involved assistant coach duting the games.