The report doesn't mince words, saying that "it’s extremely unlikely the Eagles will make a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament." Well isn't that cute.
Obviously they've been getting their research skillz from this blog because they made sure to point out that the team is going to lean heavily on Hendra and Lumpkins. Well, obviously. What I do find a little curious is that they describe Lumpkins as "electric." I don't really know how I feel about that categorization. There isn't a whole lot of flash to his game. In fact, the reason he got so much play last year is probably because he's a pretty fundamentally sound player who hustles a lot and played maturely for a freshman. There's no, as Dick Vitale would say, razzle-dazzle, Shake n'Bake, or YEAAAAAAAAAAH BABY to his game. Whatever, it's one word, Bill, stop making such a huge flipping deal about it.
(I INTERRUPT THIS BLOG ENTRY FOR A RANDOM DOSE OF NAPOLEON DYNAMITE QUOTERY BROUGHT ON BY THE WORD "flipping")
- Napoleon: Stay home and eat all the freakin' chips, Kip!
- Kip: Napoleon, don't be jealous 'cause I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to become a cage fighter.
- Napoleon: Since when, Kip? You have the worst reflexes of all time.
- Kip: Try and hit me, Napoleon.
- Napoleon: What?
- Kip: I said come down here and see what happens if you try and hit me.
- Napoleon: [comes down the stairs] Such an idiot...!
- [After Napoleon tries and fails to hit Kip a few times, the doorbell rings]
- Napoleon: I'll get it. [Slaps Kip in the face while he's not looking]
- Kip: Geeeez!
Sorry about that. Anyway.
Conspicuously absent from Yahoo's team report are any mention of Steve Luptak, Matt Wilson, or any of the sophomores other than Lumpkins. I find that to be strange because the article notes that Coach Jones is "now turning to a batch of young players and those unfamiliar with the system," except that he has a bench full of people with a year or more of experience under his system. Strange.
Yahoo also managed to project the starting line-up:
G Nick Hendra, G Josh Snodrass, G Daniel Munoz, F Stephen Lumpkins, F Mike Bersch
All I can say about that is WTF, mate. I mean Hendra and Lumpkins were locks. It makes sense that either Bersch or Snodgrass would get to play at the 3 spot, but both of them, starting? Seriously, Yahoo? No Riley Grafft? I dunno, if I had to guess it would be:
G - Hendra
G - Munoz
F - Bersch/Snodgrass
F - Grafft (until Vlad the Impaler becomes eligible)
F - Lumpkins
The question I really have at this point is, what is Jeff Jones going to do with all of these guards? Are Simon McCormack and Joe Hill going to be career benchers? What is he going to do with Troy Brewer when he becomes eligible next season? I mean, I guess we'll be really deep and insured against injuries, but we're going to have to set some kind of PL record for substitutions with all the cycling through players that JJ is going to have to do.
I really encourage you to read the team report, as it has a lot of great information, even if I disagree with some of it.
For those of you interested in other PL teams, well, Holy Cross and Lehigh come out looking the best, mostly because they return a lot of players from last year.
Just got some breaking news, another entry coming momentarily.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Lumpkins will be the only Sophomore to even play, let alone start. With the current freshman class including two outstanding point guards, I find it very likely that Luptak will get less minutes this year than last. This year will be a 7-8 man rotation.
ReplyDeleteI say this with all due respect to Ramone, but it seems like this team has a ton of Ramone Penny type players on it. Players who are going to be perpetually on the bench and play for all of 30 seconds a game. Granted I've never played on a D1 team, but I feel like that would breed resentment. No?
ReplyDeleteSo for the 7-8 man rotation you see:
Hendra, Lumpkins, Munoz, Moldoveanu, Snodgrass, Bersch, Grafft, and Luptak?
Luptak will not play more than 1-2 minutes per game. You did not mention Blake Jolivette who might start along with Munoz and Hendra. In the first 5 years under the Jones era he typically started 3 guards. Rodriguez, Stokes and Miles started for almost two straight years. Ingram, Thomas, Lekavicious and Eitutavicius also played consistently as a 3 man backcourt. AU also doesnt need Graft to play. I would think that Holton will get playing time due to his size.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your insights, as always, anonymous guest. If you care to e-mail us here, you can do so at auhoopsblog@gmail.com. We'll keep your identity secret if you want to contribute more.
ReplyDeleteWe're also happy to have you just as a commenter of course, too!
Somehow I don't think Yahoo spent TOO much time investigating any Patriot League teams, considering as how we're solidly mid-major material no matter how you slice it. Most of their efforts and resources went straigh to the power conferences, which explains gaps in the logic of their information. As always, I'd take it with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think this blog fills in those gaps left by sources like Yahoo and Rivals excellently. Thank you!