Goooooooooood afternoon AU hoops fans! Hope you all had a chance to watch our AU Eagles declaw the Laugh-ayette Kittycats! There were a few ties and lead changes in this game, but to be honest we had the game in hand for a majority of the time, and it was really a matter of "Are we going to blow this?" more than "Are they going to come back?" The answer to both questions, of course, is no! This win, our third straight, means we will finish this weekend no lower than tied for second place. What a great day to be an AU Eagles fan. I hope you're all enjoying the snow and being careful and all that. Do yourself a favor, don't go outside, stay right here and join me as I dish out the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY!
THE GOOD
Danny Munoz - Danny gets mentioned first today because he had a really solid all around game. He was also our leading scorer at halftime, which is impressive. He finished 4-7 (2-3) for 10 points with 2 assists and 2 rebounds in 32 minutes. It was mentioned again in the liveblog that not having to look over his shoulder about whether or not he's keeping the starting job has exponentially improved his play recently. The quality minutes he's giving now can only help him the remaining 3 years. Aren't you glad you didn't become a BU Terrier now, Danny?
Stephen Lumpkins - Stephennnnn...Stephen Lumpkins...King of the Wild Frontier. Wait. That's not true. Lumpkins is the last person I'd imagine as being a frontiersman. Here's what Lumpkins is all of a sudden very good at though: DOMINATING THE PAINT. For a guy who I hounded for a third of the season for not being able to finish his shots, he hasn't had many problems in the last three games. Today he was 6-8 for 13 points and 8 rebounds. He was also going up against massive multifaceted landbeast Jared Mintz, so getting those points and boards was no mean feat. Nice work, Lumpy. You proved again today that no one can stump the Lum...err...you.
Vlad "THE IMPALER" Moldoveanu - Vlad had 21 points today, but it was a quiet 21 points. I know that seems oxymoronic (or I may just be moronic) but he wasn't the dominant force today that he was against Navy. 7-12, 2-6, 5-6 for 21, with 6 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. I think Vlad's more important role today was drawing the double teams that got everyone else open. He also had a sick dish that I want to mention here. He drew the double team in the paint and then had an over the shoulder pass to Lumpkins who went up for the lay-in. Even double teamed he maintains great sight lines on the court. He may get his second consecutive PL Player of the Week award this week.
Nick Hendra - Hendra had a very quiet first half (just 1-2 for 4 points), but he really came alive in the second half and scored the first 8 points for the Eagles. He finished the game 4-11 (3-8) for 12 points with 8 rebounds and a career-high 6 assists against only one turnover. I would like to see the shooting percentage a little higher, but I'll take it because Nick has had some off games. Hopefully he's going to wake up again and be the force we saw earlier in the season for an 8-9 game stretch.
Joe "The Mountain" Hill - Yes that is his new nickname. No it is not debatable. I've got some issues with Joe. Some of our loyal commenters really like that he's been getting so much play time, and I don't DISlike it per se, but I've been critical. I think he has really ugly form on his shot (it looks like mine used to, and that is all I feel I need to say), and he doesn't do too much on the inside. Still, today he hit some clutch 3's for us and finish 3-5 with 9 points. He also chipped in 4 assists though, which was critical. Nice game, Joe. I'll lay off now.
22 assists - Third win in a row. Third game in a row with 20+ assists. Coincidence? I think not. Correlation? I think yes. Causation? Maybe, read this comic. Jeff Jones was surprised after the Navy game that we had had 20+ assists, and he's got to be stunned that it's continuing. 22 assists versus only 11 turnovers. Great patience, great passing. Excellent ball movement.
Honorable mention: Simon McCormack - You do everything right, Simon, and you're always where you're supposed to be. You don't appear here often enough, but you're the facilitator who makes a lot of things go right for this team.
THE BAD
What this game would have looked like if Lafayette hadn't shot 5-21 from behind the arc and 15-22 from the foul line - Is this a great win for us? Yes. Is it possible we would have won if Lafayette hadn't been ice cold from long range? Probably not. We played a great game and did a lot of things right, but Lafayette was hurt more by what they didn't do (shoot well) than anything we did (defend well). I'm not saying our defense was poor, but it wasn't as good as their shooting percentages would make it seem.
Jared Mintz - Jared Mintz was actually very GOOD in this game, which means that we were BAD defending him. He's a very talented player with good vision on the court and great hands. He finished 6-8 (7-11 from the line) for 19 points. We did a good job boxing him out (he only had 3 boards), but we were able to lock him down a little bit because Laugh-ayette's perimeter shooting was so poor today. When we see him again we may not be so lucky, and we need to do better.
THE UGLY
I got nothing. Nothing really ugly in this game. So switch this to...
THE BEAUTIFUL
WE'RE IN SECOND PLACE. I know, I know I talked a lot of smack about this team after the loss to Army, but it looks like that whooping really was what they needed to turn the corner. Let's hope it persists!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend and be careful in the snow!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Just want to point out that in 2007-2008 we also beat Lafayette when they led the League at 5-1. They bombed the rest of the season and finished (I believe) last, while we finished first. As they say, I can only hope history repeats itself.
ReplyDeleteWe're in third place
ReplyDeleteRight now, yes, but if Lehigh loses to HC tomorrow, we'll be tied for 2nd. My bad.
ReplyDeletewhat was nice about this game was that AU showed it could win on the road. Lafayette has a nice team, but AU played better than them for most of the game. Lafayette missed 3 layups that could have changed the complexion of the 2nd half. Yet AU stepped up when the Leopards made runs. AU lost a 51-44 lead to get tied at 53. Lafayette then goes into an aggressive zone, but the AU kids found the open Joe Hill who then calmly hits a huge three. Lafayette makes another run and AU always answered. For this game it looked like the players felt comfortable in their roles. Munoz adeptly handled the ball and shot with confidence, and Lumpkins played aggressively- instead of laying up the ball like he has often done in the past- he went to the hole and slam dunked. The coaches have been trying to get him to be more aggressive and perhaps he has decided to follow their advice. Both were outstanding and Vlad found the open man. He is so smooth on the court. Who knows if it will continue, but for this game it was nice. Coach Jones also adeptly handled substitutions and had the right match ups more often than not- out coaching his opponent. The assist numbers accurately reflected the teamwork of this win. Vlad did not have to carry the team and yet when needed he made the big shot. let's hope they all work hard in practice next week. A home win vs. Lehigh would go a long way to cementing a top 4 finish in the League.
ReplyDeleteMentioned it in the liveblog, but we need turnout to be absolutely HUGE next Saturday. I'm talking Phil Bender type-turnout. These guys are working their tails off right now. They deserve a massive sixth-man next week.
ReplyDeleteHow many Lehigh freshman does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None, that's a sophomore course.
The AU season obviously is divided into three parts: Before Vlad (1-8), Vlad Arrives, Adjustments Occur (3-7) and This is the Real Team (3-0 and counting). As The Other Anonymous said, today was a major step forward for this team. Winning at DePaul was huge, but they hadn't won an important game away from home since. Big sign of growth. The passing has been excellent the last three days; the guys seem to now know where to get the ball for scoring plays, not in the hopes that whoever catches it will score. Big difference.
ReplyDeleteAnother big test on Saturday, as Lehigh is, records notwithstanding, the real threat in the Patriot this season.
I hear a lot of talk about filling Bender Arena, but where are you bloggers on the away games? Lafayette and Lehigh are only two hour travels, Navy is a mere hour or so but you guys don't go to any of the away games yet call yourself fans? Critiquing from the computer. LOL........ and when you grad, I guess someone else will fill ur shoes. Easy to be a fan when they are winning...I guess only the home games count.
ReplyDelete...I shouldn't even deign to respond to the last comment, but I guess that I will. Where am I during the away games? Watching the games on a feed I pay for and liveblogging the games with other fans on the site. Yes they're only two hours one way for some of the games, but when you have a four hour round trip and a two hour game that takes up more of my weekend than I care to have it take up. There's also the issue that I don't own a car because I live in DC. And by the way "when I grad" already occurred. I'm an alumnus, dedicating my free time to running this site for other fans,f which you clearly don't qualify as. "Easy to be a fan when they're winning"? They're 6-15, except for a few bright spots and the last few games, this has been a miserable season.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't have taken the bait on this, but I think you can pretty much piss off and find something else to read if you don't like the way we do things here.
Yeah, unless you can travel to every single game you really shouldn't comment on anything you idiot!
ReplyDeletePlus, this is like the best season AU's had in years, so it's really easy to be a fan now, you bandwagon fan.
/sarcasm
Well, we're having our worst season in about seven years, sitting pretty with a 7-15 record right now, so I'd say the fact that we decided to write a blog THIS year as opposed to any other negates your comments.
ReplyDeleteYou know why you have the time to make that post? You went to Holy Cross, thus you don't have a job.
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!
ReplyDeleteSmall steps for AU. Danny gets in his first effective game at PG. Unreal assist totals for this team. The PL is really weak this year. Saturday test vs Lehigh will tell us if we're good enough to compete at the top yet. We don't have to be ready; that still might take some time. But I'd like to see some progress on Saturday. Lehigh's Knutson ate up Holy Cross. Hopefully we can deny him the ball in the post or double down quickly.
ReplyDeleteFirst effective game? Not all about points Steve. He's been running this team very well for quite a while now, scoring or not. 3 wins in a row and 4 of last 6, couldnt be done without effective PG play. As far as progress from the team, Ive seen progress each and every game since starting league play.
ReplyDeleteyou must have missed Lehigh and Army... no progress in either of them, we were horrible those two games. Not having true guard is going to kill us down the stretch. Danny is a terrible shooter, often THROWING (not shooting) up bricks or airballs. Joe Hill simply is not athletic enough as a guard. He guts it out but no future there. Steve Luptak is the closest thing to being a floor leader we have and again, not to knock him but he is not the answer. Blake is still in Jeff's doghouse and will stay there until he understands the system and his role. Matt comes in for relief but has absolutely no scoring ability. We will be in the semi finals this year but I think that may be as far as we can get with this crew. The big men are coming around somewhat. Need to be more physical inside on defense. Bucknell and Lehigh scored at will inside on those guys. Great blog... keep it up
ReplyDeleteIt will take a total team effort to beat Lehigh- who also have improved and have less improvement to make than AU to win the top seed in the PL. Less turnovers, no foul troubles, and a team game like against Lafayette. The tournament is really wide open. Getting a 1 or 2 seed would be huge. How nice it would be if we had a junior or senior point guard with real game experience. This situation was on the horizon for 2 yrs and the coaching staff knew what the downside was. When you know a guy is "retiring" - don't you have a younger solid protege in the wings for the most important position on the floor ? No excuses.
ReplyDelete"This situation was on the horizon for 2 yrs and the coaching staff knew what the downside was. When you know a guy is "retiring" - don't you have a younger solid protege in the wings for the most important position on the floor ? No excuses."
ReplyDeleteThat's one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is that Luptak maybe didn't quite grow into the PG they thought he would. He's an excellent defensive stopper and a pretty good floor general now, but he's not a top tier PG.
I wouldn't sacrifice the two PL championships we have for an increased possibility of winning one this year.
Hard to keep up with the Anonymi (I'm one, too), but to the Anonymi who said we should have been better prepared for the loss of Mercer--dude, get some perspective.
ReplyDeleteAU had NEVER been the NCAA's until two years ago--that's almost 50 years of DI ball without a sniff of the tournament. And then, the class of '09 gets us consecutive bids, and you're complaining?
When should Jones have gotten Luptak some experience? Against Army in the semis last year? Maybe HC in the final? Did you not notice our offense stopped completely when Mercer wasn't on the floor the last two years? We had seven seniors last season; we were going to be down this year, no matter who Jeff put out there. It happens in college ball. But look at where we are--we have a fighting chance to finish in the top four and host a PL tournament game. Would you have taken that at 1-8? In a New York minute.
Even if we don't host this year, and go out in the first round, so what? Look what we've got set up for next year--two seniors (Vlad, Hendra), five juniors (Lumpkins, Troy Brewer, McCormack, Grafft, Hinkle), three sophs (Munoz, Jolivette, Bersch, etc.) and a 6-9 freshman big in Tony Wroblicky that graded out at 90--the highest of any incoming recruit in the whole league. That's a pretty damn good group--many of whom will have gotten an invaluable year of experience this season.
We will have a great shot at at least one more, and probably two more, NCAA bids after this season. I don't know about you, but I'll take three or four tournaments in six years all the time.
To the last anonymous (PICK PSEUDONYMS, FOLKS!), agreed all the way around. The depth we're going to have next year is really unbelievable. We should be the runaway favorite to win the PL next year.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have that I hope someone can answer for me is re: Troy Brewer. Will he be a junior or a senior next year? He's listed as a junior now, and I know he's sitting out this year because of transfer regulations, but does this count as a redshirt year? Bottom line, do we get one year out of Troy or two?
We will have Troy for two more seasons. That's coming from the "inside." I'm really looking forward to seeing him play. From what I hear he is a beast in practice and I can speculate is the guard we need.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I worry about next year is the wealth of talent Lehigh has right now in their freshman. McCollum and Knutson have dominated the Rookie of the Week awards this year, and they still have 3 years left in them. It might not be enough to contend with us next year, but two years down the road when we lose Vlad it could be bigger.
No doubt Lehigh's gonna be good for a while with those two. But I think we're gonna be good for a while, too. Keep in mind: Lump has two more years as well. If Wroblicky is as good as you hear, and Bersch fills out, I'm encouraged post-Vlad about our frontcourt. And, look--nothing is certain. I thought for sure that Evans was going to dominate the PL this year and Holy Cross was going to be great. You never know.
ReplyDeleteTo one of the anonymi - don't forget Holton, Borucki, and Fisher! Any one of them, and I'm thinking particularly Fisher, could have a standout year over the next 3 or so.
ReplyDeleteAlso fingers crossed that Blake gets out of JJ's doghouse before he decides to take his talent elsewhere.
Best thread ever on this site.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure anything could have prepared us for the graduation of Mercer.
ReplyDeleteStill, one thing I was disappointed in the last two seasons was the lack of time for Hendra, and for Lumpkins last year. Remember that Hendra spent nine straight games his freshman year not getting off the pine until Bryce Simon got hurt in the PL semi-final. He then steps on the court and is proves valuable ever since. I am very sure that both of those players would have helped more vs. Tennessee or Villanova if they could have seen more time during the regular season. I don't like the doghouse idea.