We've got a lot of people who take advantage of our AU Hoops blog tip line to send us interesting things. This week, we've had a lot of people write in and offer up some interesting tidbits for us. I want to dispense some of them to you before I speculate about lineup changes.
First comes this tidbit about Josh Snodgrass: http://unfospreys.com/news/2009/12/30/MBB_1230091121.aspx, who confesses that "One of the big reasons I came home was because the distance was tougher than I thought." All the best to you, Josh.
Next comes a story about incoming freshman Tony Wroblicky. http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_14170136. Just a small note, but as the contributor who sent it said, "Does not say much about the kid except that the game seemed to get away when he left the game." Hopefully that bodes well for us next year.
One reader suggests that the Bucknell Bison fan who commented a few weeks back that Wroblicky wasn't in the top 100 may have been wrong. He notes, "Wroblicky is listed in top 100 or so of other pubs. but as a power forward not center." I'll try to get those publications for all of you.
Be sure to check out Yahoo! Sports/Rivals team report for the Eagles today, here: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2010-ncaab-aan&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report, and be sure to note the Quote to Note. Did you note the irony about noting the Quote to Note? NOTE! "It was a combination of Lehigh playing really, really good and us being incredibly soft and not competing. It was men against boys. For all intents and purposes, we already lost the game (after the first half).”—Head coach Jeff Jones, on his team’s performance against Lehigh on Jan. 9, as told to the Allentown Morning Call."
Wow, JJ bringing the snark, bringing the PAIN. I bet the locker room and practices have been a bowl of sunshine and daisies.
Finally, yet another reader sent this in about the student section and its performance this year. I echo the sentiment, we need to BE THERE, BE LOUD, AND BE BLUE. In that order: "Unfortunately, my experience is that over the years, except for the true Blue Crew, much of the student body is made up of front runners. This means lower than the usually pitifully low attendance at future games. We've been fortunate to have had great success and support the last two years. However, now in a rebuilding year student (and alumni/friends) support is most needed. How about each one of you brings at least one other student who otherwise wouldn't attend the game? They don't have to dress or paint up, just come to the game, stay, and enjoy the spirit, sense of community, and, hopefully, a win." Well said. Thanks for that!
Now, for the Speculation Tuesday part of this. Brian Gilmore paid us a visit during the Lehigh liveblog (thanks for that Brian), and he noted that Coach JJ is not big on lineup changes. As a liveblog we were musing that maybe JJ should go with a bigger lineup: McCormack, Hendra, Lumpkins, Grafft, and Moldoveanu. I know that would be a major departure as either Jolivette or Munoz has been a starter all season, but maybe we should let Simon run the point and see how it goes.
The long-term speculation part of this is who runs the point next year? Does Troy Brewer come in and run it? He's more of a shooting guard, I think, but the scouting report is that he has a ton of talent. Maybe Blake and Danny get the backseat for a season to develop a little bit more. I don't know though, the experience they're getting this year, ugly as it is to watch sometimes, is invaluable. And it's not like they're costing us games, not anymore than the general lack of scoring, drive, ability to finish or shoot free throws, or play 40 minutes of consistent basketball is costing us games.
We're going to talk about the poll tomorrow, so I don't want to get into that too much tonight, but I think it's pretty clear Lumpkins needs to get back into the lineup.
Anyway, gave you some pretty stuff to look at. See you tomorrow for the poll breakdown and the Bucknell liveblog!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
McCormick is not getting even a minute at point guard lately. How does he go from that to starting as a point guard? It is not a serious alternative. As far as I can tell, we are stuck with our two freshmen. They are the not-ready-for-prime-time players. I hope we can continue to develop strategies to put less emphasis on the point guard position.
ReplyDeleteSo ease him into it. The point here is that I think McCormack hustles too much not to start. He does the intangibles too well. I think it might be valuable to see more time out of Lumpkins-Riley-Vlad at the same time on the court. That kind of height isn't something that a lot of PL teams have. Our guard play has been pretty weak, but yet we aren't doing anything to ram the front court down teams' throats.
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