Programming note: Assume no liveblog tomorrow, if that changes, we'll tweet it and/or update this post and/or put up a liveblog post. Sorry folks, been a long week for me, I need to play catch-up tomorrow with my non-blog life.
As much seething hate as I inexplicably and unwarrantedly have for the Holy Cross Crusaders, I do have to say I've found room in my Grinch-esque heart for a little bit of pity for the Little Knights That Could(?). I mean, they went 1-13 in non-conference play. If AU had done that, I would've turned this blog into a commentary on the state of tea cakes in Middlesex County, NJ. Still, though, despite the abysmal record coming out of a very challenging non-conference schedule, the fans at CROSSPORTS, most of whom I rather admire for their ferocity, basketball knowledge, and commitment to their program, have stayed loyal to their team (if not 100% enthusiastic about Coach Milan Brown). Anyway, the point of all this is that I felt bad for Holy Cross. Genuinely bad. I find no enjoyable schadenfreude in their dismal record. I want everyone in the Patriot League to do well so that the profile of the league overall rises from the gutter in which it currently languishes.
Anyway. Holy Cross is 3-1 in conference play. So I'm increasingly feeling less pity and more fear about the Little Knights That Now Apparently Can. Point guard Andrew Beinert is now coming on in a big way (15 points and 4 assists per game in conference play). Forward Andrew Keister (AK34 to the pro 2nd Amendment Crossers out there) is back from his injury and playing at a high level. Junior guard Devin Brown is once again one of the team's top scorers, but his three point percentage is 13 points off of what it was last year. Holy Cross has only two players averaging double figures, but they have a bunch of weapons. They're kind of like Bucknell in that way, and we all know how well our matchup with the slow-moving land mammals went earlier this month.
Defensively, Holy Cross is prone to lapses in intensity. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Crusaders match up pretty well with us. Keister and Lumpkins will be an epic battle. The Crusaders have a few options for covering Vlad. Eric Obeysekere, Josh Jones, or even Mike Cavataio are quick, long defenders who could disrupt Vlad's game. Josh Jones would be Vlad's best bet because he's a little bigger, a little less longer, and not quite as good on defending the perimeter. Assuming two of those three are on the court at all times, whoever isn't on Vlad will probably be on Troy.
We'll really need our guards to step up here. Limiting turnovers, making smart passes, and maximizing every single possession. Holy Cross runs the same slow kind of offense, so every possession will count. Be on the lookout for who gets time at the point. Munoz got all of four minutes last game, while Wayne Simon II made his debut and got six. Hendra also ran the point some. This is a position that is in flux for the Eagles. It will be a dangerous game for Jeff Jones to try to sort out who he wants at the 1 against a re-energized team playing on their home court in front of a probably loud audience. Make no bones about it, Eagles fans, this will be a tough, tough game for our team. Everyone will have to step up big, play with passion, and minimize mental mistakes for us to sneak out of Worcester with a win.
Here's to hoping they do so, because I can assure you what remaining pity I have for Holy Cross will dissipate rapidly if they deal us a loss tomorrow.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
HC is turnover prone; they are really without a PG, with Beinert filling in. In some respects, they remind me of AU early last year.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately ,we are not the type of team to force turnovers. If we can extend our defense a bit, this is a game where that might pay dividends. If we don't, then HC has enough fire power to win this game at home.
If the Patriot League had a game of the half week this would be the 4th game (out of 5) in League play that feature the Eagles. At stake is second place for at-least a week.
ReplyDeleteThe key to this game will be tempo. HC wants to get out and run and they can, with Brown and Beinert and Cavataio. We can't turn the ball over, but we also can't get into a track meet with these guys. We'll lose. We have to play a 60-70 point game to win. They'll throw a lot of bodies at Vlad, so someone else on the perimeter has to have a big game, b/c Lump has had major problems with Keister over the years and I don't expect very much from him. Troy and Nick have to play big for us.
ReplyDeleteKeys to victory:
ReplyDeleteVlad scores 20 points
Lump double double
Brewer 10 plus points
AU Less turnovers
AU more rebounds
If AU is winning with 5 minutes left it's over and we win
Watching game now. Wayne Simon II is getting some minutes early. HC is looking solid, should be a good game. Tony getting early minutes as well.
ReplyDeleteSteve here (site having problems posting under my name):
ReplyDeleteHC cannot stop us from going all the way to the basket! We are getting shots around the rim everytime, unless we bail out the defense with a 3. Lumpkins with 11 points at half, but should have 16 - he missed a few chippies. Oh well, that's the team we have.
If we can continue pumping the ball down low, I don't think HC can keep up. Please let's stop trying to beat them from the perimeter.
IS anyone listening tot ethe PL feed? Moonzor, Hinkly, Warblciky, Lupkins, Moldarviney. We got some new players!
ReplyDeleteSteve here....
ReplyDeleteHonestly, have you ever seen a team get so many shots RIGHT AT THE RIM? Yes, Hendra had a couple of bone-head and Lumpkins dribbled right into a double team, but right now AU has had 4 shots in a row at the rim.
Great win for the Eagles.
ReplyDeleteLump came up big against Keister; he gets all praise from me after I questioned whether he could do it. But he had some help today. The guards were, for the most part, excellent with the ball. Great dribble penetration and keeping the dribble until they were deep in the paint, leading to nice scoring passes for Lump at the rim. JJ made some nice adjustments, too; another well-designed play out of a timeout at a critical time, getting Hinkle a wide-open three when we needed it.
We also kept the game at our pace instead of Cross's by not turning the ball over, defensive rebounding and executing on offense. (But we're KILLING ourselves with the free throws!) It is very encouraging, though, to see we can win a road game in the PL against a real rival without Vlad having to get 25-30.
What's even more encouraging is that we're 4-1 and I don't think anybody believes we've played our best basketball yet. Well, I'll speak for myself: I don't think we have.
We have not played our best basketball in the conference, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteSO far teams not named Bucknell can't match us down low.
Our play is just good enough to eke out these victories. I'd like to see us more determined (patient) on getting the ball inside.
On the topic of us not playing our best basketball yet, Bucknell CREAMED Colgate 76-49 at home today. While our 9-point win against the 'Gate was on the road, it worries me that we're not able to completely shut them out like that. Maybe we'll do it in Bender? I hope so. Some would say that we're so busy focusing on the "big wins" (Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lehigh, etc.), that we "look past" teams like Colgate. Well, Bucknell sure as hell doesn't look past them.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping (praying) our best basketball is yet to come.
Oh, and it's still a *great* win this afternoon no matter how you slice it! Didn't want to overlook that.
Well, let's admit it (and as Anonymous touched on), you haven't lived until you have had the pleasure of hearing (while seeing) this HC Patriot League "All Access" broadcast. While enjoying a hard fought AU victory, we also got to hear "Hinkly" for Hinkle; variations of "Moldy vino" and "Moldy Voodoo" for Moldoveanu; several butcherings of Wroblicky; "Hendra" shooting two foul shots with Luptak actually on the line; and best of all . . . . . . . . .
ReplyDeletethat new player that the NCAA let us bring in especially for this game - "Moon Soar;" for Munoz . . . I couldn't stop chuckling -- but I hope Moon Soar's family was not watching.
I guess this is all understandable with a telecast from "War Sestor, Mass."
The radio call was a really stupid joke just like this websites ridiculous team nicknames.
ReplyDeleteBig game for Lumpkins, 20 pts, 10 rebounds. He won it for us and did it in a blue chip way. Moldoviney added 14 pts and not much else and I would venture 8-10 of those points were in the first half.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the biggest stat sticking out at me is the 40-26 points in the paint advantage for AU. This shouldn't diminish the worrisome 6-12 from the free throw line but that's not why we won. Interestingly a key reason HC lost was it's almost as abysmal 8-14 from the line.
This game looked like a repeat of the Army game for a while in lots of regards. We played a better first half (then in the Army game) and dominated the inside against the 12th century imperialists. HC was relying on the three to keep themselves in the game.
That got away from us in the second half as we lost discipline on the offense and the purple nurpels were able to get things going for themselves from mid-range on offense. Holy Carp used this to build a lead until we got our game back and managed to close it out despite our attempts to shoot ourselves in the foot at the line.
This win puts us solidly in second place for likely two weeks or more assuming Bucknell continues their thrashing of the rest of the League. A road victory against Holly Cross could be big come seeding time.
The women absolutely blew out HC at home yesterday. We host 5-0 Navy while we're looking for a three way tie at the top of the standings on Wednesday. Army looks to be in that tie or outright second when they go to Lafayette which won at Lehigh! The Lehigh basketball teams are competing with each other to determine who is going to have the more disappointing season.
That MOONZORs cracks me up.
I think our team names are rather clever :(
ReplyDeleteThings just wouldn't be the same without those clever team names
ReplyDeleteFor anonymous, the radio call was not a joke. Fouracre actually tries to get the names correct but he is incapable of doing it. He even messes up HC names.
ReplyDelete