Amid the Shock, Uncertainty Ahead for Eagles

There are dozens of ways that this could have happened differently. Jeff Jones could have called for a foul to send Lafayette to the line for two at the end of regulation, instead Ryan Willen ties the game at 53 with a long three. Troy Brewer's three could have rolled in instead of out. Vlad could have hit that three in the corner with six seconds left in the second overtime.

AU had a shot to win the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime, and a chance to extend their lead with a few seconds left in the second overtime. But they didn't get it done. Lafayette had one hectic chance with time expiring in the second overtime, and Jim Mower buried it over a diving Nick Hendra. All of the sudden, that was it. The next full-court inbounds was a formality. Nick Hendra tried to find Vlad Moldoveanu, but his pass was plucked out of the air.

"I'm really sorry," Hendra said through tears, "that this team couldn't bring back the championship to where it belongs. And I feel personally responsible for that."

"I'm not really sure what happened," Moldoveanu said. "We were up six [in the second overtime], and it felt like the next second the game was tied.

"They made big shots, and we - slash, I think I - missed big shots. And kind of like Nick said, I feel really guilty for it. Last year's playoffs, now this year, this game, I got to take a lot of blame for it."

AU had been down most of the second half, but they had always kept the deficit manageable. Five points, three points, but you always knew they would cut it down. If they could make an 18-6 run against Colgate, they could squeak out a 7-0 run on Lafayette.

"I don't think we played well," Jones said. "We played awfully hard."

That might be the epithet written on the 2010-11 Eagles' tombstone. The effort was there, as was the goodwill, but there was always a stretch - however small - of bad play that would come back to doom them, or at least expose their mortality.

What makes tonight's example so excruciating was that the Eagles had their chances. It wasn't sloppy turnovers. It was a three pointer rolling out of the basket.

"Whether you're college age or a 50-year-old coach, it's the kind of thing that sticks with you," Jones said. "Hopefully with time, that pain and that disappointment will subside a little bit."

Maybe. But part of what makes this so shocking is that this year's senior class includes three starters, and Moldoveanu joined the 1,000 point club tonight after just 53 games. He will wind up tied with Gordon Stiles, who scored 1,012 points between 1967-1970. Replacing Moldoveanu's production will no doubt be done by committee. But it will be a committee of unproven players who didn't play much this season.

Stephen Lumpkins will be back. Brewer will be back. Charles Hinkle will be back. We'll probably get our first real look at Wayne Simon II. Jordan Borucki will get more than the six minutes he got this season. Warren Flood, Jr. may get an expanded role. Incoming freshman forward Kyle Kager looks promising. But we don't really know what next year's team will look like. We can guess, but we don't know.

That is the question for the next eight months while Jones and his staff assess the status of the roster. As much as I loved Moldoveanu, and he was one of the best players we will see in Bender for a while, here's hoping the next iteration of the Eagles is more balanced offensively. The difference between the '08-'09 teams and the '10-'11 teams was that you knew who would produce in those first two years. But In the last two seasons, it was Vlad and the rest. It was difficult to judge who else would provide meaningful production every night.

These Eagles gave us great moments. The double overtime win last Friday at Lafayette, the 5-0 start, the Cable Car Classic win, the one-point win at Lehigh, and that magical second half run to put Colgate away last Wednesday. All told, it was another 20-win season, the team's third in four years. After the game, Jones gave a farewell to the three players that won't be here to make another run next season.

"I wanted to thank them," he said. "I hope each of their teammates has an opportunity to thank them. Not just for what they've done as far as basketball, but for them as people and their contributions across the board. You look at it, and Luptak and Hendra are kind of your typical [player]. They've grown up so much and they've come so far. With Vlad, it's hard to believe that somebody in just a year and a half can have as much of an impact on a program. People will either believe me or they won't, but they need to understand, that with Vlad it's not just about him being a good player. He's a damn good player. But he's a great teammate. He's just an outstanding young man and I think has made my job easier and hopefully his teammates have enjoyed playing with him. I think it's rare that you play with someone that good who's also that good a person."

A toast to the 2010-11 AU Eagles. You went before your time, but it was a sweet ride.

And Just Like That, It Was Over

I think there's a collective feeling of being stunned in AUHoops world tonight. In case you missed it, our Eagles fell to the Laugh-ayette LOLKitties 73-71 in double overtime tonight in front of a packed Bender Arena audience. The box score is here, and the recap is here. For what it's worth, I've got a couple of thoughts about the game. I'll have thoughts about the season as a whole later in the week once I formulate everything. I hope Bobby and Josh will chime in too. Away we go.

- First off, big thank yous to Nick Hendra, Steve Luptak, and Vlad Moldoveanu for their AU careers. Unbelievably bitter end to things for them, but they've all had solid careers and deserve to be commended for what they've done. Congratulations especially to Vlad who scored his 1,000th point in this game and wound up as the 27th highest scoring player in AU history. I needn't remind you he only played 1.5 seasons with us.

- Based on how things went for AU through most of regulation, I'm surprised there was one overtime, let alone two. AU trailed at halftime by 2. We shot less than 40% for the game. It wasn't that we weren't getting shots, it's that our shots just would not drop. The back irons of both rims must be worn down a little bit from the number of shots we rubbed against them today. We were especially poor from long range today and shot just 3-16. Vlad and Troy combined to go 2-12. Just one of those days for us, they just wouldn't drop. With 10:52 left in the second half, I was tweeting that this was one of the worst games I'd seen from the Eagles in a while. It was that bad.

- Lump had a slow start to the game today (4 points and 4 rebounds in the first half, I actually thought he was under the weather based on how slow he looked), but he sure had a hell of a game by the end. 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks. One of those blocks came against Jared Mintz with 30 seconds to go in regulation and AU up 2. Why was AU up 2? Because of Lump's baby hook on the other end 30 seconds before. He was just a monster at the end of the game. Wish we could've gotten a few more FTs out of him (he was 5-10), but I'll take 50% out of Lump in a game like this. High pressure, and he's not the best FT shooter. Some things I live with, that's one of them.

- The Lafayette fans were out in force today. They definitely asserted themselves in Bender. The atmosphere in Bender in the last 10 minutes of regulation and through the overtimes was absolutely electric. Wish they had gone home sad, but I commend them for making the trip down here.

- Security was lining up in front of the student section toward the end of regulation as if students were going to rush the court if we pulled out the win. In a semi-final? That we were expected to win? Seriously? I can't speak for all of the students, but no way does rushing the court cross my mind in that scenario.

- Troy's three-pointer at the end of regulation should've forestalled any overtime period. Off an in-bound with 2.5 on the clock, Troy drained an NBA range 3 from the top of the key. Or so it seemed. The ball got halfway down and then spun out. Agonizing. Just like everything else about this game.

- Mintz was 8-15 from the field, but it sure seemed like he made more than that. Seemed to me like he made every shot he took and that he took a lot of them. He got the better of Lump and Tony for most of the game, but surprisingly he only had six boards.

- The second overtime here will haunt our fans and players for a while I think. It looked like we had our foot on the Leopards' throat at 70-64. Things were great. Hendra was exhorting the crowd. And then Lafayette went on a 9-1 run to close the game. Brutal.

- The loss leaves AU's final record at 22-9. The 22 wins is the 4th best in program history. The loss snaps a 14-game winning streak against Lafayette.

Ah what could've been. That's all I've got for now. I'll be back tomorrow or later this week with some more thoughts about the season.

For now, thanks to our readers who have made this season great. The liveblog today was great, so thanks for keeping Bobby company. Thanks to the players and coaches for all their hard work this season. Sorry it ends like this, but so it goes, I guess.

As always,

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!