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.
Showing posts with label steve luptak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steve luptak. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
American University Trickshot Video Buzz
So, I don't know if you've heard, but Steve Luptak and Joe Hill have become YouTube superstars with their trick shot video. It was the fourth-most watched video in the Sports category on YouTube Wednesday, and was the 51st most-watched video on the whole site in the United States. Just in case you haven't seen it, here it is.
But that's already been on this space. This post is about how many different places that video has shown up. Check out this (incomplete) list:
Chicago Sun Times, SB Nation, DC Sports Bog, Bleacher Report, Slam Online, The Big Lead, ESPN, Sporting News, BroBible, BarStoolU, Buzzfeed, SportsCasm, Politico (as Jeff Jones quipped after the game, "How do you think that happened?"), Huffington Post, Yahoo, DCist (which wins my best headline award) and NBC Washington. The video also made SportsNation on ESPN, and won an online poll between it and the longsnapper trick shot video. It was also the last item discussed on Around the Horn, and Jackie MacMullan won the show by saying that the video was awesome.
Fox5 also sent a camera crew and had Hill shoot more shots, and they went down. They should send the video to NBC Washington, which spent the whole post talking about how the footage was probably fake. I have it on good authority from several people involved with the video that it was shot with a Flip cam and was definitely not fake, and that some of the shots actually didn't take that long.
There are still more interviews to come, and I'm sure there are tons of links that I missed. Bottom line, at about 6:20 PM tonight, the video had 40,000 hits. As I type this, it's over 108,000.
But that's already been on this space. This post is about how many different places that video has shown up. Check out this (incomplete) list:
Chicago Sun Times, SB Nation, DC Sports Bog, Bleacher Report, Slam Online, The Big Lead, ESPN, Sporting News, BroBible, BarStoolU, Buzzfeed, SportsCasm, Politico (as Jeff Jones quipped after the game, "How do you think that happened?"), Huffington Post, Yahoo, DCist (which wins my best headline award) and NBC Washington. The video also made SportsNation on ESPN, and won an online poll between it and the longsnapper trick shot video. It was also the last item discussed on Around the Horn, and Jackie MacMullan won the show by saying that the video was awesome.
Fox5 also sent a camera crew and had Hill shoot more shots, and they went down. They should send the video to NBC Washington, which spent the whole post talking about how the footage was probably fake. I have it on good authority from several people involved with the video that it was shot with a Flip cam and was definitely not fake, and that some of the shots actually didn't take that long.
There are still more interviews to come, and I'm sure there are tons of links that I missed. Bottom line, at about 6:20 PM tonight, the video had 40,000 hits. As I type this, it's over 108,000.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Put This On Repeat Until We Go Dancing
We are sitting upon the threshold of sweet, sweet glory. With the Patriot League Tournament a mere two days away, momentum is key.
Sure, we just ended possibly the most important game of Lafayette's season with a thrilling double overtime come-from-behind nailbiter victory on the road.
Sure, Vlad just tied the single-season record for Patriot League Player of the Week awards with his eighth, and threw in an all-League First Team nod for some icing on the impalement-flavored cake.
Sure, The Unstumpable One joined Vlad with Second Team all-League honors for the first time.
Sure, Nick Hendra was named to the inaugural PL All-Academic Team for his domination both in the classroom and on the court.
All of these pale in comparison, however, to this:
Watch this until your eyeballs turn to Red, White, and Blue mush. Send it to anyone you know at Bucknell, and laugh as they quake in their little Bison Boots. Steve and Joe, see you on ESPN.
Now that's what I call momentum.
Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh
Sure, we just ended possibly the most important game of Lafayette's season with a thrilling double overtime come-from-behind nailbiter victory on the road.
Sure, Vlad just tied the single-season record for Patriot League Player of the Week awards with his eighth, and threw in an all-League First Team nod for some icing on the impalement-flavored cake.
Sure, The Unstumpable One joined Vlad with Second Team all-League honors for the first time.
Sure, Nick Hendra was named to the inaugural PL All-Academic Team for his domination both in the classroom and on the court.
All of these pale in comparison, however, to this:
Watch this until your eyeballs turn to Red, White, and Blue mush. Send it to anyone you know at Bucknell, and laugh as they quake in their little Bison Boots. Steve and Joe, see you on ESPN.
Now that's what I call momentum.
Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Fans Speak: Point Guard Palooza
Often the Poll of the Week results get rolled into some post or another, but this week I think the voice of the fans deserves its own space. We asked, "Who should start at point guard?", and the results are close indeed:
Steve Luptak: 13 (25%)
Daniel Munoz: 7 (13%)
Nick Hendra: 16 (31%)
Blake Jolivette: 15 (29%)
Total Votes: 51 (100%)
Hendra leads with 16 votes, which on one hand is surprising as he is the least like a true point guard of the four. On the other hand, he is definitely the biggest offensive spark and leads the team in assists, although is ball-handling skills and knowledge of the offense from the one spot might not be as great as the others.
Neck-and-neck with Hendra is Blake Jolivette, who has only seen about a minute and a half of play time this season. We've speculated for months as to why he's been riding the pine for about a year now, as last season he shared the starting spot with Danny Munoz up until late December. A fantastic 3-point conversion at West Virginia gave fuel to the "Let Blake Play" camp, although others are quick to point out that it was in the final seconds versus WVU's scrub team. Still, with a dearth of dribble penetration from our other guards, it still holds merit.
Following closely behind Jolivette is Steve Luptak, the first candidate to actually see significant play time at the point guard position this season. He's probably the best defender of the bunch, but the weakest on offense. His ball handling skills are not as tight as Danny's, but his bigger frame helps him hold onto the ball better in tight situations, and his experience as a Senior and accompanying leadership skills get him the starting spot as of now.
Last, surprisingly, is Danny Munoz. I think Steve and Danny coming in 3rd and 4th place respectively speaks to fans' collective disappointment with how weak this position is for us right now, but I didn't expect Danny to fall behind the rest of the pack quite so much. As stated, Danny probably has the best ball-handling skills of the bunch, can hit the occasional three, and against softer teams can make it to the basket every now and then. While I think he should be higher, that's just my opinion, and if my opinion was the only one that mattered then why take a poll?
Last, I do want to mention option #5, Wayne Simon II. As he's new to the team and stands little chance of starting this season, he wasn't included in the poll. This being said, in the years to come we will likely see a lot of him. He's tiny, but quick, and from what I've seen can drive to the basket and pick much larger defenders like it's nobody's business. He has the opportunity to get a bit bigger this summer too, and the cleanup minutes he's been seeing so far have hopefully been helping him adjust to the college game. When we lose Nick and Steve to graduation after this season, we'll likely look to Wayne to step up and contribute much more, along with fellow freshman Tony Wroblicky. This team has a bright future, and Wayne will definitely be a part of it.
Thanks to everyone who voted. AUHoops only gets better when there's more voices being heard. If you have further thoughts on the point guards (and I'm sure you do), share them with us in the comments, then vote in this week's poll, "Which Patriot League opponent will be our greatest contender for the title?" We'll be back shortly with a preview of tomorrow's UMBC game.
Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh
Daniel Munoz: 7 (13%)
Nick Hendra: 16 (31%)
Blake Jolivette: 15 (29%)
Total Votes: 51 (100%)
Hendra leads with 16 votes, which on one hand is surprising as he is the least like a true point guard of the four. On the other hand, he is definitely the biggest offensive spark and leads the team in assists, although is ball-handling skills and knowledge of the offense from the one spot might not be as great as the others.
Neck-and-neck with Hendra is Blake Jolivette, who has only seen about a minute and a half of play time this season. We've speculated for months as to why he's been riding the pine for about a year now, as last season he shared the starting spot with Danny Munoz up until late December. A fantastic 3-point conversion at West Virginia gave fuel to the "Let Blake Play" camp, although others are quick to point out that it was in the final seconds versus WVU's scrub team. Still, with a dearth of dribble penetration from our other guards, it still holds merit.
Following closely behind Jolivette is Steve Luptak, the first candidate to actually see significant play time at the point guard position this season. He's probably the best defender of the bunch, but the weakest on offense. His ball handling skills are not as tight as Danny's, but his bigger frame helps him hold onto the ball better in tight situations, and his experience as a Senior and accompanying leadership skills get him the starting spot as of now.
Last, surprisingly, is Danny Munoz. I think Steve and Danny coming in 3rd and 4th place respectively speaks to fans' collective disappointment with how weak this position is for us right now, but I didn't expect Danny to fall behind the rest of the pack quite so much. As stated, Danny probably has the best ball-handling skills of the bunch, can hit the occasional three, and against softer teams can make it to the basket every now and then. While I think he should be higher, that's just my opinion, and if my opinion was the only one that mattered then why take a poll?
Last, I do want to mention option #5, Wayne Simon II. As he's new to the team and stands little chance of starting this season, he wasn't included in the poll. This being said, in the years to come we will likely see a lot of him. He's tiny, but quick, and from what I've seen can drive to the basket and pick much larger defenders like it's nobody's business. He has the opportunity to get a bit bigger this summer too, and the cleanup minutes he's been seeing so far have hopefully been helping him adjust to the college game. When we lose Nick and Steve to graduation after this season, we'll likely look to Wayne to step up and contribute much more, along with fellow freshman Tony Wroblicky. This team has a bright future, and Wayne will definitely be a part of it.
Thanks to everyone who voted. AUHoops only gets better when there's more voices being heard. If you have further thoughts on the point guards (and I'm sure you do), share them with us in the comments, then vote in this week's poll, "Which Patriot League opponent will be our greatest contender for the title?" We'll be back shortly with a preview of tomorrow's UMBC game.
Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh
Monday, November 15, 2010
And They Would've Won, Too, If It Weren't for You Meddlesome Eagles! The GOOD, BAD, and UGLY
Two games for our Eagles, and two wins! According to AUEagles.com, this is only the second time under Jeff Jones that the Eagles have started 2-0. Pretty surprising given the level of success we've enjoyed overall during the JJ era. In any event, we played an Albany team that was more or less overmatched the entire game. We jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never looked back. Were there areas we definitely could've improved upon? Yes. In some ways, the margin almost could've been higher. This is an Albany team that was missing its best player and was in foul trouble all game. When you read the rest of this, it might actually read like a GOOD, BAD, and UGLY from a loss. There weren't a lot of standout individual performances. This is a night where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Still, a win is a win. Let's get into it.
THE GOOD
The point guard position - Danny and Steve combined tonight to go 4-8 overall and 2-5 from behind the arc for 10 points. They also had 6 assists and no turnovers. For a position that was supposed to be the weakest part of AU's game, these two have done a pretty good job platooning at the point. Danny's improvement from behind the arc is noticeable and could be a big factor that allows us to spread out the defense even further as the season goes on.
Mike Bersch - Only 11 minutes, but 5 points and a rebound on 2-4 shooting, including his first of what I suspect will be many this season from behind the arc. Welcome back to the good column, Mike.
Stephen Lumpkins - It seemed like Lump has having some trouble finishing his shots during the game, but the 5-10 shooting line wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Add to that his 8 boards and 2 blocks and the fact that he shut down Albany's John Puk (no shots, one rebound, five fouls) all night and he definitely deserves to be here.
Assist to turnover ratio - Any time AU has a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio it deserves to be in the good column. All due praise to the ball handling tonight.
THE BAD
Shot selection - Like I said above, this was a game where we were in the driver's seat the entire way. So let's look at the shot selection: 21-48 overall, but 7-23 from long range. Just under half of our shots were three point attempts. That's unbelievable and inexcusable against an opponent like Albany. Why shoot like you're down 15 when you were up 15 for most of the game? There's no reason to take that many shots from long range. I think it's an indictment of our ability to get the ball inside for us to take that many shots from outside. Not only was the number of 3's we took too high, but the number we made was way too low. Vlad: 1-7, Troy: 2-6. Come on, guys. There will be games you're going to need to rely on the 3. This wasn't one of them.
Free throws - 8-15 tonight. Better improve on that quickly because it will really hurt us later in the season if we're shooting ~50% from the line. Credit to Simon McCormack who hit all 6 of his tonight.
Second half slump - Yes we didn't play with a ton of urgency because we had a big lead, but we only outscored Albany 23-21 in the second half. We also shot 14% worse. Against a team that had 12 fouls in the first half, we only forced one guy to foul out. Felt like we were going through the motions a little bit because of our lead.
Rebounding - Outrebounded 38-31.
THE UGLY
The announcing for this game - The two guys who announced this game for the radio feed should stick with the play-by-play at the duck pond. Couldn't pronounce names for their lives (Vlad Moldano, Mike Hendra, anyone?) With 3 minutes left, and Albany down 14, they were still talking about how they could come back and win it. Just a very poor broadcasting crew. Was tough to listen to. Not like our very own Dan Laing.
Maryland Eastern Shore's loss to Columbia - Columbia hung ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT points on UMES tonight and had 6 players score in double digits. As ugly as that is, I sure hope Wednesday's matchup against UMES will get even uglier for the Hawks. The sweet, sweet revenge tour of '10-'11 continues. We've avenged our losses to Randolph-Macon, St. Francis (PA), and Albany. UMES is next.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
THE GOOD
The point guard position - Danny and Steve combined tonight to go 4-8 overall and 2-5 from behind the arc for 10 points. They also had 6 assists and no turnovers. For a position that was supposed to be the weakest part of AU's game, these two have done a pretty good job platooning at the point. Danny's improvement from behind the arc is noticeable and could be a big factor that allows us to spread out the defense even further as the season goes on.
Mike Bersch - Only 11 minutes, but 5 points and a rebound on 2-4 shooting, including his first of what I suspect will be many this season from behind the arc. Welcome back to the good column, Mike.
Stephen Lumpkins - It seemed like Lump has having some trouble finishing his shots during the game, but the 5-10 shooting line wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Add to that his 8 boards and 2 blocks and the fact that he shut down Albany's John Puk (no shots, one rebound, five fouls) all night and he definitely deserves to be here.
Assist to turnover ratio - Any time AU has a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio it deserves to be in the good column. All due praise to the ball handling tonight.
THE BAD
Shot selection - Like I said above, this was a game where we were in the driver's seat the entire way. So let's look at the shot selection: 21-48 overall, but 7-23 from long range. Just under half of our shots were three point attempts. That's unbelievable and inexcusable against an opponent like Albany. Why shoot like you're down 15 when you were up 15 for most of the game? There's no reason to take that many shots from long range. I think it's an indictment of our ability to get the ball inside for us to take that many shots from outside. Not only was the number of 3's we took too high, but the number we made was way too low. Vlad: 1-7, Troy: 2-6. Come on, guys. There will be games you're going to need to rely on the 3. This wasn't one of them.
Free throws - 8-15 tonight. Better improve on that quickly because it will really hurt us later in the season if we're shooting ~50% from the line. Credit to Simon McCormack who hit all 6 of his tonight.
Second half slump - Yes we didn't play with a ton of urgency because we had a big lead, but we only outscored Albany 23-21 in the second half. We also shot 14% worse. Against a team that had 12 fouls in the first half, we only forced one guy to foul out. Felt like we were going through the motions a little bit because of our lead.
Rebounding - Outrebounded 38-31.
THE UGLY
The announcing for this game - The two guys who announced this game for the radio feed should stick with the play-by-play at the duck pond. Couldn't pronounce names for their lives (Vlad Moldano, Mike Hendra, anyone?) With 3 minutes left, and Albany down 14, they were still talking about how they could come back and win it. Just a very poor broadcasting crew. Was tough to listen to. Not like our very own Dan Laing.
Maryland Eastern Shore's loss to Columbia - Columbia hung ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT points on UMES tonight and had 6 players score in double digits. As ugly as that is, I sure hope Wednesday's matchup against UMES will get even uglier for the Hawks. The sweet, sweet revenge tour of '10-'11 continues. We've avenged our losses to Randolph-Macon, St. Francis (PA), and Albany. UMES is next.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Eagles Point Guard Battle Continues
Going into Thursday’s exhibition against Randolph-Macon, Eagles coach Jeff Jones said that his point guard race was a toss-up between Steve Luptak, Danny Munoz, Blake Jolivette, and dark horse contender Wayne Simon II. If Friday night was any indication, be prepared to see a lot of Luptak and Munoz.
“We wanted to approach it like it was a game, and we knew it was a quality opponent,” Coach Jones. “As you can see, we wanted to win the game. We weren’t just trying to get everybody minutes. We were trying to play as if the game counted.”
If that’s the case, then Jolivette and Simon could be in for a long year. Neither one of them cracked the rotation Thursday, as Munoz played 22 minutes while Luptak started the game and played 18 minutes.
Neither one had a flashy line, but the two combined for sufficient point guard play. Luptak scored four points (all free throws) with four rebounds and two assists with one turnover. Munoz put up seven points, two boards, two assists and a blocked shot, but he also committed three turnovers.
“I think different guys have different strengths,” Jones said. “I think Luptak is our best defender at that spot for sure. Danny’s the guy that if we were putting him in the first half to try to get some dribble penetration because I think he’s more comfortable doing that than Steve is.”
The depth at point guard might be a logjam, but it’s one that Jones prefers. He says this team’s total depth is among the best American has ever had. Both Luptak and Munoz could see starts this season.
“To be honest with you, I know they probably do, and maybe their girlfriends and parents care, but I don’t care who starts,” Jones said. “It’s been a very competitive battle – much more competitive than it was a year ago. We want both of them to continue playing well.”
Jones said that Jolivette was in the thick of the battle, but he never left the bench. He and other scratches will have their chance to impress coaches soon.
“The scrimmage on Saturday is a closed scrimmage,” Jones said. “So there really won’t be any public observation of it and we’ll have an opportunity to play more people.”
The scrimmage against Youngstown State won’t be a game, but it’ll be three second-halves in order to “build in” the late game pressure.
If Jolivette and Simon want playing time at the one, there’s the chance to earn it.
Until then, the Luptak/Munoz battle will power the team. There’s nothing quite like a coach giving totally equal playing time to two players fighting for one spot. Everything’s equal, and it’s up to each of them to make the most of each minute.
“We’re all just working,” Jones said. “But they’ve been competing to try to make that a strong position for us.”
“We wanted to approach it like it was a game, and we knew it was a quality opponent,” Coach Jones. “As you can see, we wanted to win the game. We weren’t just trying to get everybody minutes. We were trying to play as if the game counted.”
If that’s the case, then Jolivette and Simon could be in for a long year. Neither one of them cracked the rotation Thursday, as Munoz played 22 minutes while Luptak started the game and played 18 minutes.
Neither one had a flashy line, but the two combined for sufficient point guard play. Luptak scored four points (all free throws) with four rebounds and two assists with one turnover. Munoz put up seven points, two boards, two assists and a blocked shot, but he also committed three turnovers.
“I think different guys have different strengths,” Jones said. “I think Luptak is our best defender at that spot for sure. Danny’s the guy that if we were putting him in the first half to try to get some dribble penetration because I think he’s more comfortable doing that than Steve is.”
The depth at point guard might be a logjam, but it’s one that Jones prefers. He says this team’s total depth is among the best American has ever had. Both Luptak and Munoz could see starts this season.
“To be honest with you, I know they probably do, and maybe their girlfriends and parents care, but I don’t care who starts,” Jones said. “It’s been a very competitive battle – much more competitive than it was a year ago. We want both of them to continue playing well.”
Jones said that Jolivette was in the thick of the battle, but he never left the bench. He and other scratches will have their chance to impress coaches soon.
“The scrimmage on Saturday is a closed scrimmage,” Jones said. “So there really won’t be any public observation of it and we’ll have an opportunity to play more people.”
The scrimmage against Youngstown State won’t be a game, but it’ll be three second-halves in order to “build in” the late game pressure.
If Jolivette and Simon want playing time at the one, there’s the chance to earn it.
Until then, the Luptak/Munoz battle will power the team. There’s nothing quite like a coach giving totally equal playing time to two players fighting for one spot. Everything’s equal, and it’s up to each of them to make the most of each minute.
“We’re all just working,” Jones said. “But they’ve been competing to try to make that a strong position for us.”
Sunday, March 7, 2010
In the time following the loss, let's focus on the GOOD
Well, good evening AU Hoops fans. After a long season full of ups and downs, the train finally chugged along to a stop tonight against the Lehigh Hill Pigeons who looked decidedly un-pigeon-like tonight. We got completely outplayed tonight in virtually every facet of the game. We came out flat against a team that was more experienced, more cohesive, and more talented. The game wasn't really ever that close. Still, we lost in the semifinals, and that's farther than a lot of people thought we would go this season. (I just wanted to host a home game in the quarters, personally). In light of what the team did achieve, I'm only going to focus on the GOOD from tonight's game. There is plenty of BAD and UGLY to point out, but I'll abstain. I imagine we can talk about it in the comments, but for now, join me after the jump.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
When you play a complete game on your home court and it fills me with a warm fuzzy feeling, I'm happy to write a GOOD, BAD, and UGLY
Goooood evening AU Hoops fans. What a game, what a GAME. I hope you were able to make it to Bender today to see our AU Eagles beat Colgate 73-63. Barring that, I hope you were able to watch it in some form. This was one of the more enjoyable games I've ever seen at Bender, to be honest. Lots of passion from a very fired up team as they extended the PL home winning streak to 18. The recap is here and the box score is here. I also have to say I'm very happy to see the post-game press conference video up, nice touch athletics! Let's get to dishing out the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY after the jump!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
There wasn't a whole lot of GOOD last night, but there were heaping helpings of BAD and UGLY
Gooooood afternoon AU Hoops fans. Hope everyone out there is having a good day and enjoying the Ravens beating the snot out of the Patriots. Kind of like how the Lehigh Hill Pigeons beat our beloved AU Eagles last night. The first half of that game was probably one of the worst that I've ever seen out of AU basketball. There's a little bit of everything today, so let's get down to it.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Will Jeff Jones tone down the profanity? Should the Blue Crew be the Red Crew? Is it Speculation Tuesday? Only one question can be answered YES
Why do I speculate on Tuesdays? It could be because I first had the idea to do a weekly post full of speculations on a Tuesday, or it could be because our site traffic needs a boost on Tuesday. But why hasn't there been a Speculation Tuesday entry since the first one like three weeks ago? It could be because I'm forgetful or easily distracted by shiny objects. Or it could be because the blue paint I use on myself isn't quite as non-toxic as it says it is on the label.
In any event, I'll be trying to make this a more regular feature on the site. Have things you want me to speculate about? Send them to auhoopsblog@gmail.com! I'll do my best to provide you some kind of answer, but of course it would just be pure speculation. Just like the rest of these...
In any event, I'll be trying to make this a more regular feature on the site. Have things you want me to speculate about? Send them to auhoopsblog@gmail.com! I'll do my best to provide you some kind of answer, but of course it would just be pure speculation. Just like the rest of these...
Monday, November 16, 2009
When I'm Particularly Annoyed About a Loss, It Is GOOD, BAD, and UGLY
No time for niceties tonight. Here's the long and the short of it: we blew the game in the second half again. For those of you who weren't there or haven't heard, we lost to the Albany Great Danes tonight 51-50. Just like at St. Francis, the wheels came off the whole operation in the second half, and we blew a halftime lead. At this point I've got to think that conditioning is playing a part in this; we're just gassed by about the 10 minute mark in the second half. Some of that is that we've got a young team with players whose bodies don't have the benefit of 2-3 years with collegiate trainers and training regimens.
Before I get into this, nice to see play out of Mike Bersch tonight. The good news is, he got his first collegiate bucket. The bad news is, he went 0-3 from behind the arc.
Ugh what a bitter loss. Still incredulous that we lost this game. Still, there were some highlights, which brings me to...
Before I get into this, nice to see play out of Mike Bersch tonight. The good news is, he got his first collegiate bucket. The bad news is, he went 0-3 from behind the arc.
Ugh what a bitter loss. Still incredulous that we lost this game. Still, there were some highlights, which brings me to...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
When your freshmen play as well as your juniors, it often brings out the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY
Helllooooo AU Hoops blogosphere! Well, last night was the night we were all waiting for, the beginning of the 2009-10 AU basketball season. It was a doozy of a game, and in case you weren't following the LiveTweeting, we lost. At the buzzer. 49-47. If you want a recap of the game, you can go see our friends at Athletics as it's pointless for us to write a redundant recap. Similarly, the box score is here. I think (read: hope) you readers come here for our charming analysis and obscure references, and so I'm going to offer you the former in this edition of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY.
THE GOOD
- The defense was solid last night. At one point in the first half we held Randolph-Macon scoreless for 13:44. We forced 18 turnovers. Had 10 steals. The benefit of having all these guards? Quick hands. We picked Randolph-Macon's pockets often times before they even realized what happened.
- The freshmen. Danny Munoz and Blake Jolivette (20 minutes each) both had pretty solid games. Daniel Fisher had a few more growing pains in his 17 minutes, but he still picked up three rebounds.
- Stephen Lumpkins. Looked dominant last night. 18 points and 6 rebounds in 28 minutes. Could see he was getting fired up after a couple of tough put-backs. He looks like a guy who has done a lot of maturing in the off-season, which is good, because we're going to put the team on his back this year.
- Simon McCormack. As far as I'm concerned he made the best case out of any of the guards for being the starting PG last night. He only got half the time that Blake and Danny did, but he looked more polished than either. Not giving up on plays, hustling like crazy, distributing (and taking care of) the ball. I think Jeff Jones would be remiss not to give him more play time on Sunday against Catholic.
- We got to see 10 players last night, nine of them for 10 minutes or more. Jeff Jones is using pre-season the right way, to try different combinations to see what works and what doesn't. The fact that a lot of it didn't last night brings us to...
THE BAD
- This section really could begin and end with two words: ball handling. 25 turnovers (eight of them from Nick Hendra, who also had a more than respectable 12 points and 7 rebounds, but 8 TOs negates that a little bit, as do the 6 TOs that Lumpkins gave away). We gave up 14 steals. The dribbling was sloppy. The passing was sloppy (we've got to stick with chest passes, these tortoise-esque bounce passes aren't going to cut it). The rebounding was sloppy. Just really ugly overall.
- We played this poorly against a Division 3 school that, to be frank, didn't look particularly good last night either. The overall quality of play was atrocious. It looked like Keystone Kops out there for most of the game. We've got to get our act together or any D1 school is going to make mincemeat of us.
- The 3 point shooting. 1-9 total. The 1, to be fair, was a beauty from Steve Luptak, from about 8 ft behind NBA range with 3 on the shot clock, but the rest of it was horrendous, which leads me to...
THE UGLY
The way we lost. Getting the ball back with 31.4 seconds left. I'm not sure what the set play was intended to do, but I know what ended up happening was Hendra tossing up an ugly three pointer, we fumbled the rebound, and Randolph-Macon's Eric Pugh streaked up the floor to put in the layup as time expired. Like I mentioned, we were 1-9 from 3, and our shot, for the win, was an unbalanced three pointer that Garrison Carr would've had trouble with?
Listen, I could be harder on this team. There's plenty more Bad and Ugly to write. Let me be fair though, this is the first pre-season game, and quite frankly, this writer expected us to lose this game. RMC is a very experienced and good team, D3 or no D3. The fact that the Eagles never got into a rhythm last night is because JJ was constantly cycling players in and out to see who could do what. When we have a firmer line-up down, the chemistry will come. There's a lot of bright spots from last night. The freshmen looked reliable. Riley and Lumpkins showed glimpses of a lot of promise as an inside duo. The defense was very good. There's a lot of room for improvement though, too. I hope you'll be there with me on Sunday as we watch the season continue to unfold against Catholic.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
THE GOOD
- The defense was solid last night. At one point in the first half we held Randolph-Macon scoreless for 13:44. We forced 18 turnovers. Had 10 steals. The benefit of having all these guards? Quick hands. We picked Randolph-Macon's pockets often times before they even realized what happened.
- The freshmen. Danny Munoz and Blake Jolivette (20 minutes each) both had pretty solid games. Daniel Fisher had a few more growing pains in his 17 minutes, but he still picked up three rebounds.
- Stephen Lumpkins. Looked dominant last night. 18 points and 6 rebounds in 28 minutes. Could see he was getting fired up after a couple of tough put-backs. He looks like a guy who has done a lot of maturing in the off-season, which is good, because we're going to put the team on his back this year.
- Simon McCormack. As far as I'm concerned he made the best case out of any of the guards for being the starting PG last night. He only got half the time that Blake and Danny did, but he looked more polished than either. Not giving up on plays, hustling like crazy, distributing (and taking care of) the ball. I think Jeff Jones would be remiss not to give him more play time on Sunday against Catholic.
- We got to see 10 players last night, nine of them for 10 minutes or more. Jeff Jones is using pre-season the right way, to try different combinations to see what works and what doesn't. The fact that a lot of it didn't last night brings us to...
THE BAD
- This section really could begin and end with two words: ball handling. 25 turnovers (eight of them from Nick Hendra, who also had a more than respectable 12 points and 7 rebounds, but 8 TOs negates that a little bit, as do the 6 TOs that Lumpkins gave away). We gave up 14 steals. The dribbling was sloppy. The passing was sloppy (we've got to stick with chest passes, these tortoise-esque bounce passes aren't going to cut it). The rebounding was sloppy. Just really ugly overall.
- We played this poorly against a Division 3 school that, to be frank, didn't look particularly good last night either. The overall quality of play was atrocious. It looked like Keystone Kops out there for most of the game. We've got to get our act together or any D1 school is going to make mincemeat of us.
- The 3 point shooting. 1-9 total. The 1, to be fair, was a beauty from Steve Luptak, from about 8 ft behind NBA range with 3 on the shot clock, but the rest of it was horrendous, which leads me to...
THE UGLY
The way we lost. Getting the ball back with 31.4 seconds left. I'm not sure what the set play was intended to do, but I know what ended up happening was Hendra tossing up an ugly three pointer, we fumbled the rebound, and Randolph-Macon's Eric Pugh streaked up the floor to put in the layup as time expired. Like I mentioned, we were 1-9 from 3, and our shot, for the win, was an unbalanced three pointer that Garrison Carr would've had trouble with?
Listen, I could be harder on this team. There's plenty more Bad and Ugly to write. Let me be fair though, this is the first pre-season game, and quite frankly, this writer expected us to lose this game. RMC is a very experienced and good team, D3 or no D3. The fact that the Eagles never got into a rhythm last night is because JJ was constantly cycling players in and out to see who could do what. When we have a firmer line-up down, the chemistry will come. There's a lot of bright spots from last night. The freshmen looked reliable. Riley and Lumpkins showed glimpses of a lot of promise as an inside duo. The defense was very good. There's a lot of room for improvement though, too. I hope you'll be there with me on Sunday as we watch the season continue to unfold against Catholic.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Media Day Report Part Two - Jeff Jones Telling It Like It Is
So I was a little bit of a fanboy when I first met Jeff Jones. After stammering my name, the name of the blog, and why I was bothering him, there was kind of an awkward pause before I asked, "So, do you want to maybe, uh, sit down and answer some questions?" Luckily for you, Coach is very forgiving of young pseudo-journalists and was more than generous with his time. What follows here are excerpts from what we talked about.
I started by asking Coach what the starting line-up would be if the Randolph-Macon game was today (last Thursday). His response: "I honestly don't know." JJ indicated that at this point there are three starters more or less locked in: Nick Hendra, Stephen Lumpkins, and, surprisingly, Riley Grafft. For the other two spots, there are "young guys battling for spots."
Right now for the point guard competition, JJ says that, "It's not who's the best player. It's who is the oil, who makes things run more smoothly. There's some good competition going on right now. Things have a lot of moving parts for our team right now with young guys learning and trying to figure college basketball out, much less how they're going to fit in [to a lineup]. I would encourage people not to be too concerned with the starting lineup for the Randolph-Macon game."
Well, Coach, sorry, but here in the blogosphere, we ARE concerned about those kinds of things. Even though we understand that the line-up will change, we still want to know who is emerging out of these pre-season practices looking the most promising.
On Vlad the Impaler: "...different players fit into different styles in different ways. Vlad loved GMU. He didn't leave there because he was unhappy with the coaches. He liked the players; he liked the coaches, but that wasn't the right fit for him basketball wise. His skillset fits what we're trying to do, and, quite honestly, we're trying to build around him and give him a lot of responsibility and have other people feed him...Vlad is an accomplished post-up player, not through bulk, but by being smart, being able to use both hands, and being crafty. He's also probably our best perimeter shooter. In the same way we made Garrison Carr the focus of our offense [last year], and then, depending on what the defense did, we created opportunities for other guys built off of that, we're trying to create those same opportunities around Vlad, Nick Hendra, and Stephen Lumpkins...As coaches we have to handle Vlad becoming eligible [midway through the season], it's not a decision I could make right now, it's not a decision I have to make right now."
On the perimeter game this year: "We're not capable of being the same kind of perimeter shooting team that we were a year ago. We don't have Garrison, no one does. Having a guy like [Brian] Gilmore, like Bryce [Simon], we just can't do that this year. We have shooters, but not the same kind."
On the biggest surprise so far this season: "Riley Grafft's performance thus far has maybe been the most pleasant surprise...People will say “wow” that's a big jump [when they see him on the court]...Riley's confidence, hopefully Riley's confidence, is very high. Another thing is Daniel Fisher, he's...a guy that we thought by his junior year might be able to help. He's proven at the very least he's going to be able to get in games as a back-up, I'm not going overboard, but it's something that we didn't expect."
I asked if in two years the Munoz-Jolivette-Snodgrass trio might end up being like the Mercer-Carr-Gilmore trifecta from last year: These three are "different than Carr, Mercer, and Gilmore. [Munoz and Jolivette] are more traditional point guards than Garrison Carr. Snodgrass is more of a wing player than Gilmore. It's important to note that when that class [class of 2009] were freshmen, we went through some rough times...[But] they didn't get crushed, they fought through it, they got better, they got more determined. When those guys were juniors, we were picked sixth [in the preseason Patriot League coaches' poll]. We had lost 90% of our scoring, a lot of our statistics...[but] the hope is the new guys can step in and help...[However,] last time we lost 6-7 players, we filled with juniors, not freshmen, and I don't think our freshmen are ready to step in to that degree...[We're going to have to,] I want to use the term patch together, but I'm not saying that like the Redskins offensive line, it's not a natural fit based on where we played a year ago...We'll be evolving."
On Riley Grafft: "Last year there was no thought that he'd be a guy who could contribute this year. We knew he had athleticism. He's 6'11”, so he's got length. He runs the court very well, but I think the biggest thing, well when we saw him in the recruiting process, he's got some skill that most other guys his height don't have...what he's shown us is to be able to show us some of those skills that we knew about a long time ago [during recruiting]...It's a confidence thing."
On the battle for point guard: "The thought coming in was that one of either Blake [Jolivette] or Danny [Munoz] would come in, and the other would back him up. At this point, Simon McCormack has made it a little bit more complicated, and he's head and shoulders better than where he was a year ago. There hasn't been a knockout" in terms of one point guard emerging as far and away the best. "Practices have been good, we've been doing some scrimmaging. Saturday we will do some scrimmaging situations that probably will determine who starts against Randolph-Macon. After Randolph-Macon, we'll have to take a look after that. Two of those three will get a really long hard look in the Randolph-Macon game." From there, the coaching staff will try to make some decisions to see who will start at point guard. JJ also noted that instead of platooning point guards and playing 2-3 equally, he would "rather have one guy earn the job and the other back him up. So that it's clear to everybody, he's our PG because I think that instills confidence." He also indicated that whoever is the starting point guard will play 25-27 minutes and his back-up will play 13-15 minutes.
I asked JJ if he thought Nick Hendra was ready to stand up and take leadership of the team because in the past he has sometimes opted to make the flashy play instead of the smart play.
JJ: "Frank [Borden, last year] played defense and didn't screw up. That's why he played in front of Hendra...If you look, Nick was in at the end of the games; he was playing more minutes. The maturity, the decisions were still an issue [last year]. He needs to make a bigger step from last year to this year because we're going to have to rely on him. [Last year] I could just yank him [if he made mistakes], we don't have that luxury this year...We had a practice where Nick was aggressive, made some great plays, then made some bonehead plays, and we didn't yank him because we need him to learn that we need the really good plays, but there's a line there, and you can't cross that line...From the time he got to AU until now he's made a lot of progress, but there's more progress [to be made]. In high school, you get volume, you get 30 shots a game. In college, you need to be efficient. It's an important lesson that he's going to need to learn even better...You look at Greg Sprink [from Navy] a couple of years ago. [We're saying to Hendra,] 'We're going to give you chances to do things with the ball, you need to make sure that you make good decisions. If you don't get an opportunity we're coming back to you.'"
On leadership on the team: "We don't believe in captains, we don't nominate captains. Assigning them a title, I can remember as a player at UVA and as a coach, that there were so many times that the team got it wrong because they're either the senior or the popular guy, so I was like, we're not doing that. Leaders lead, our leaders are going to lead, why do I need to put a letter on someone? Brian Gilmore was a vocal leader, Derrick Mercer was the guy everybody looked to, Garrison led by example, those guys were so competitive...They were so competitive, but they led in very different ways, but in very effective ways, but not any one of them was any more of a leader, it was just different ways. Luptak and Matt Wilson are really taking it to heart. Nick is trying to assert himself a little more. Lumpkins is trying to assert himself with his work ethic. Even Vlad, Vlad feels like he needs to be a leader on this team, he hasn't been around that long, he hasn't played in any games, and the guys look to him like 'okay, you're our best player', at Mason he was just another guy."
That's all I've got. Re-posting some of this, it makes me realize there's a LOT of good stuff in here. I want to thank Jeff Jones, though I doubt he reads this, for his candor. One other quote from JJ I want to add is on team motivation: "I made my career out of being pissed off at the other team." That actually made me laugh during the interview.
I'll cut this short now because I think this has already run pretty long, but I want to say I'm pretty surprised about the positive (and rave) reviews on Riley Grafft and Daniel Fisher. Those two, combined with Lumpkins and Vlad when he's available, have the opportunity to give the Eagles an inside game that I thought wasn't going to be possible. That's encouraging.
I think Josh is going to post a preview of Randolph-Macon tomorrow, so look forward to that. I will see you all, I hope, in Bender Arena at 7:30p on Tuesday!
THE SEASON IS UPON US!
PRO DEO ET PATRIA AND GO EAGLES!
I started by asking Coach what the starting line-up would be if the Randolph-Macon game was today (last Thursday). His response: "I honestly don't know." JJ indicated that at this point there are three starters more or less locked in: Nick Hendra, Stephen Lumpkins, and, surprisingly, Riley Grafft. For the other two spots, there are "young guys battling for spots."
Right now for the point guard competition, JJ says that, "It's not who's the best player. It's who is the oil, who makes things run more smoothly. There's some good competition going on right now. Things have a lot of moving parts for our team right now with young guys learning and trying to figure college basketball out, much less how they're going to fit in [to a lineup]. I would encourage people not to be too concerned with the starting lineup for the Randolph-Macon game."
Well, Coach, sorry, but here in the blogosphere, we ARE concerned about those kinds of things. Even though we understand that the line-up will change, we still want to know who is emerging out of these pre-season practices looking the most promising.
On Vlad the Impaler: "...different players fit into different styles in different ways. Vlad loved GMU. He didn't leave there because he was unhappy with the coaches. He liked the players; he liked the coaches, but that wasn't the right fit for him basketball wise. His skillset fits what we're trying to do, and, quite honestly, we're trying to build around him and give him a lot of responsibility and have other people feed him...Vlad is an accomplished post-up player, not through bulk, but by being smart, being able to use both hands, and being crafty. He's also probably our best perimeter shooter. In the same way we made Garrison Carr the focus of our offense [last year], and then, depending on what the defense did, we created opportunities for other guys built off of that, we're trying to create those same opportunities around Vlad, Nick Hendra, and Stephen Lumpkins...As coaches we have to handle Vlad becoming eligible [midway through the season], it's not a decision I could make right now, it's not a decision I have to make right now."
On the perimeter game this year: "We're not capable of being the same kind of perimeter shooting team that we were a year ago. We don't have Garrison, no one does. Having a guy like [Brian] Gilmore, like Bryce [Simon], we just can't do that this year. We have shooters, but not the same kind."
On the biggest surprise so far this season: "Riley Grafft's performance thus far has maybe been the most pleasant surprise...People will say “wow” that's a big jump [when they see him on the court]...Riley's confidence, hopefully Riley's confidence, is very high. Another thing is Daniel Fisher, he's...a guy that we thought by his junior year might be able to help. He's proven at the very least he's going to be able to get in games as a back-up, I'm not going overboard, but it's something that we didn't expect."
I asked if in two years the Munoz-Jolivette-Snodgrass trio might end up being like the Mercer-Carr-Gilmore trifecta from last year: These three are "different than Carr, Mercer, and Gilmore. [Munoz and Jolivette] are more traditional point guards than Garrison Carr. Snodgrass is more of a wing player than Gilmore. It's important to note that when that class [class of 2009] were freshmen, we went through some rough times...[But] they didn't get crushed, they fought through it, they got better, they got more determined. When those guys were juniors, we were picked sixth [in the preseason Patriot League coaches' poll]. We had lost 90% of our scoring, a lot of our statistics...[but] the hope is the new guys can step in and help...[However,] last time we lost 6-7 players, we filled with juniors, not freshmen, and I don't think our freshmen are ready to step in to that degree...[We're going to have to,] I want to use the term patch together, but I'm not saying that like the Redskins offensive line, it's not a natural fit based on where we played a year ago...We'll be evolving."
On Riley Grafft: "Last year there was no thought that he'd be a guy who could contribute this year. We knew he had athleticism. He's 6'11”, so he's got length. He runs the court very well, but I think the biggest thing, well when we saw him in the recruiting process, he's got some skill that most other guys his height don't have...what he's shown us is to be able to show us some of those skills that we knew about a long time ago [during recruiting]...It's a confidence thing."
On the battle for point guard: "The thought coming in was that one of either Blake [Jolivette] or Danny [Munoz] would come in, and the other would back him up. At this point, Simon McCormack has made it a little bit more complicated, and he's head and shoulders better than where he was a year ago. There hasn't been a knockout" in terms of one point guard emerging as far and away the best. "Practices have been good, we've been doing some scrimmaging. Saturday we will do some scrimmaging situations that probably will determine who starts against Randolph-Macon. After Randolph-Macon, we'll have to take a look after that. Two of those three will get a really long hard look in the Randolph-Macon game." From there, the coaching staff will try to make some decisions to see who will start at point guard. JJ also noted that instead of platooning point guards and playing 2-3 equally, he would "rather have one guy earn the job and the other back him up. So that it's clear to everybody, he's our PG because I think that instills confidence." He also indicated that whoever is the starting point guard will play 25-27 minutes and his back-up will play 13-15 minutes.
I asked JJ if he thought Nick Hendra was ready to stand up and take leadership of the team because in the past he has sometimes opted to make the flashy play instead of the smart play.
JJ: "Frank [Borden, last year] played defense and didn't screw up. That's why he played in front of Hendra...If you look, Nick was in at the end of the games; he was playing more minutes. The maturity, the decisions were still an issue [last year]. He needs to make a bigger step from last year to this year because we're going to have to rely on him. [Last year] I could just yank him [if he made mistakes], we don't have that luxury this year...We had a practice where Nick was aggressive, made some great plays, then made some bonehead plays, and we didn't yank him because we need him to learn that we need the really good plays, but there's a line there, and you can't cross that line...From the time he got to AU until now he's made a lot of progress, but there's more progress [to be made]. In high school, you get volume, you get 30 shots a game. In college, you need to be efficient. It's an important lesson that he's going to need to learn even better...You look at Greg Sprink [from Navy] a couple of years ago. [We're saying to Hendra,] 'We're going to give you chances to do things with the ball, you need to make sure that you make good decisions. If you don't get an opportunity we're coming back to you.'"
On leadership on the team: "We don't believe in captains, we don't nominate captains. Assigning them a title, I can remember as a player at UVA and as a coach, that there were so many times that the team got it wrong because they're either the senior or the popular guy, so I was like, we're not doing that. Leaders lead, our leaders are going to lead, why do I need to put a letter on someone? Brian Gilmore was a vocal leader, Derrick Mercer was the guy everybody looked to, Garrison led by example, those guys were so competitive...They were so competitive, but they led in very different ways, but in very effective ways, but not any one of them was any more of a leader, it was just different ways. Luptak and Matt Wilson are really taking it to heart. Nick is trying to assert himself a little more. Lumpkins is trying to assert himself with his work ethic. Even Vlad, Vlad feels like he needs to be a leader on this team, he hasn't been around that long, he hasn't played in any games, and the guys look to him like 'okay, you're our best player', at Mason he was just another guy."
That's all I've got. Re-posting some of this, it makes me realize there's a LOT of good stuff in here. I want to thank Jeff Jones, though I doubt he reads this, for his candor. One other quote from JJ I want to add is on team motivation: "I made my career out of being pissed off at the other team." That actually made me laugh during the interview.
I'll cut this short now because I think this has already run pretty long, but I want to say I'm pretty surprised about the positive (and rave) reviews on Riley Grafft and Daniel Fisher. Those two, combined with Lumpkins and Vlad when he's available, have the opportunity to give the Eagles an inside game that I thought wasn't going to be possible. That's encouraging.
I think Josh is going to post a preview of Randolph-Macon tomorrow, so look forward to that. I will see you all, I hope, in Bender Arena at 7:30p on Tuesday!
THE SEASON IS UPON US!
PRO DEO ET PATRIA AND GO EAGLES!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Media Day Report Part One - Hey, Mr. Willllsoooon
Before I get into the meat and potatoes that you're all hungry for, I want to say that overall I'm really happy with the way Media Day went, and I want to thank my friends over at AU Athletics for facilitating my attendance today. If you haven't read the LiveTweeting at twitter.com/auhoops, I suggest you do that because a lot of the choicest quotes from Coach Jeff Jones's introductory speech are there. From my shorthand, here's a lot more of his speech.
Bob Socci, Patriot League commenter, asked Coach Jones how the team was going to deal with the loss of so many talented players. JJ started with, "I think it's safe to say that a year can make a big difference.”
Here are some other tidbits from his speech:
- “[Losing guys] is something we're dealing with.”
- “Losing two assistant coaches further compounds the challenges that we face.”
- “It's a different kind of challenge and a year that allows us as a coaching staff to re-examine some of the things that we do to help the team achieve its potential.”
- “We've been pleased with the effort of our guys, but we have a long way to go.
- "Sometimes it's been baby steps, sometimes it's been one step forward, and one step back.”
- “The question is not if, but when, we're going to round into shape and be competitive in the Patriot League this season.”
- Coach Jones is excited about the young men on the team and “there will be some surprises as the season continues on”
- The Patriot League is “always competitive, tough when you have to go on the road, but as I look around this year, certainly Holy Cross is the team that everyone seems to be looking at, they will clearly be an outstanding team.”
- There is “amazing balance” in the Patriot League, and this could be “one of the most interesting PL seasons in my years in the league.”
- JJ is “Looking forward to the season.”
- Concludes with: “Let's hope that in a month we'll be much better off than we will be next Tuesday.”
I didn't, admittedly, pay as much attention to the other coaches' speeches because this is, after all, the AU Hoops Blog. The other speeches were okay, talk about past challenges and future potential, yadda yadda yadda, Laugh-ayette isn't winning anything, Lehigh's downplaying their team, etc. etc. Anyway.
After the press conference, I awkwardly stood around until Matt Wilson, who is a very friendly guy, agreed to talk with me (and two other actual people who are real journalists and not 20 somethings running a hobby blog because it fills in between times where he has to paint himself blue) about AU basketball.
Matt was great to have at media day for the team. The lone senior, Matt was well-spoken and gave very thoughtful answers to my myriad (and sometimes odd) questions. He clearly understands the transition that the team is undergoing, has a great knowledge of the game and his team, and he was a font of knowledge for me today.
Without further praise, here is Matt Wilson on a number of topics:
- On how practice has been going: "Practice has been going well. It's a long process as far as improving because we have so many new guys...it's a long road ahead of us, but we've all been working hard, and we're excited to have a lot of opportunities ahead of us."
- On changes to the team's plan this year: "We have to play a different style this year. We're playing a little differently in practice. We're doing different things...We're going to push the ball a little more. We don't have the personnel that we had last year. We don't have the solid point guard in Derrick Mercer, we don't have the explosive scorer like Garrison. We're going to have to try to work the ball around a bit." (then later) "Not so much more passing, but just how we initiate our offense. We're likely going to push the offense a bit more. We're going to try to create opportunities in transition a bit more and try to get the team when they're not exactly settled defensively. Because last year when we had Derrick he was able to get the ball wherever he wanted whenever he wanted...We're still going to play very good defense, and we're still going to be patient, but we're going to try for more opportunities...Likely we're not going to be as strong scoring in the half court, so we're going to have to score some in transition to make up for that."
-On his role this year: "My role is probably going to be that of a facilitator, as far as giving our best scores, that is Nick Hendra, Vlad (when he's eligible), and Stephen Lumpkins
opportunities to be successful. That's what we're all trying to figure out is exactly what our role is going to be."
-On Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Moldoveanu) not being eligible until the second semester: "It's a little disruptive, but Coach does a good job making sure that he plays with both the first and second teams."
- On the freshman who has made the most progress so far: "We have a kid named Daniel Fisher from Australia, and I'd say he's made the most progress thus far. He's a hard worker, and I think he's going to be good for us. He's good at getting post positions, getting other people open" - This is actually a sentiment that Jeff Jones echoed, but we'll get to that later.
- On the conditioning regimen: "Offseason was very very difficult, our strength and conditioning coach Jason Riddell is very good at what he does, and so our lifting regimen has been very strenuous. We conditioned three times a week, we did two days where we ran sprints and one day where we did agilities. So we've been just doing the best we can so we can be in the best shape possible when it's time to compete."
- On team leadership: "As far as leadership goes, myself, Steve Luptak, and Nick Hendra are the three who were here both years we went to the tournament, and we've really been trying to get the guys up to speed on the work ethic that that group of seniors (last year's) had and how to take care of the things they need to off the court."
- Me: "You guys have like nine guards...how is this going to work? Are you going to play a four guard set?"
Matt: "We are not going to play a four guard set, and that's one thing that we actually tried. Likely there will just be a rotation since obviously you can't play nine guards at once."
(to which I added, astutely, "but it would be sweet if you could")
Listening to the voice recording of this made me realize I sound like a complete valley girl about AU basketball. Ugh. Anyway, that's enough for one night. I'll get the Jeff Jones entry up sometime this weekend for all of you. Probably not tomorrow night, but maybe sometime Saturday. If I have to push it to Sunday, have a safe and happy Halloween!
ALSO: THE FIRST PRE-SEASON GAME IS ON TUESDAY! THIS TUESDAY! GET READY! GET PUMPED!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Bob Socci, Patriot League commenter, asked Coach Jones how the team was going to deal with the loss of so many talented players. JJ started with, "I think it's safe to say that a year can make a big difference.”
Here are some other tidbits from his speech:
- “[Losing guys] is something we're dealing with.”
- “Losing two assistant coaches further compounds the challenges that we face.”
- “It's a different kind of challenge and a year that allows us as a coaching staff to re-examine some of the things that we do to help the team achieve its potential.”
- “We've been pleased with the effort of our guys, but we have a long way to go.
- "Sometimes it's been baby steps, sometimes it's been one step forward, and one step back.”
- “The question is not if, but when, we're going to round into shape and be competitive in the Patriot League this season.”
- Coach Jones is excited about the young men on the team and “there will be some surprises as the season continues on”
- The Patriot League is “always competitive, tough when you have to go on the road, but as I look around this year, certainly Holy Cross is the team that everyone seems to be looking at, they will clearly be an outstanding team.”
- There is “amazing balance” in the Patriot League, and this could be “one of the most interesting PL seasons in my years in the league.”
- JJ is “Looking forward to the season.”
- Concludes with: “Let's hope that in a month we'll be much better off than we will be next Tuesday.”
I didn't, admittedly, pay as much attention to the other coaches' speeches because this is, after all, the AU Hoops Blog. The other speeches were okay, talk about past challenges and future potential, yadda yadda yadda, Laugh-ayette isn't winning anything, Lehigh's downplaying their team, etc. etc. Anyway.
After the press conference, I awkwardly stood around until Matt Wilson, who is a very friendly guy, agreed to talk with me (and two other actual people who are real journalists and not 20 somethings running a hobby blog because it fills in between times where he has to paint himself blue) about AU basketball.
Matt was great to have at media day for the team. The lone senior, Matt was well-spoken and gave very thoughtful answers to my myriad (and sometimes odd) questions. He clearly understands the transition that the team is undergoing, has a great knowledge of the game and his team, and he was a font of knowledge for me today.
Without further praise, here is Matt Wilson on a number of topics:
- On how practice has been going: "Practice has been going well. It's a long process as far as improving because we have so many new guys...it's a long road ahead of us, but we've all been working hard, and we're excited to have a lot of opportunities ahead of us."
- On changes to the team's plan this year: "We have to play a different style this year. We're playing a little differently in practice. We're doing different things...We're going to push the ball a little more. We don't have the personnel that we had last year. We don't have the solid point guard in Derrick Mercer, we don't have the explosive scorer like Garrison. We're going to have to try to work the ball around a bit." (then later) "Not so much more passing, but just how we initiate our offense. We're likely going to push the offense a bit more. We're going to try to create opportunities in transition a bit more and try to get the team when they're not exactly settled defensively. Because last year when we had Derrick he was able to get the ball wherever he wanted whenever he wanted...We're still going to play very good defense, and we're still going to be patient, but we're going to try for more opportunities...Likely we're not going to be as strong scoring in the half court, so we're going to have to score some in transition to make up for that."
-On his role this year: "My role is probably going to be that of a facilitator, as far as giving our best scores, that is Nick Hendra, Vlad (when he's eligible), and Stephen Lumpkins
opportunities to be successful. That's what we're all trying to figure out is exactly what our role is going to be."
-On Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Moldoveanu) not being eligible until the second semester: "It's a little disruptive, but Coach does a good job making sure that he plays with both the first and second teams."
- On the freshman who has made the most progress so far: "We have a kid named Daniel Fisher from Australia, and I'd say he's made the most progress thus far. He's a hard worker, and I think he's going to be good for us. He's good at getting post positions, getting other people open" - This is actually a sentiment that Jeff Jones echoed, but we'll get to that later.
- On the conditioning regimen: "Offseason was very very difficult, our strength and conditioning coach Jason Riddell is very good at what he does, and so our lifting regimen has been very strenuous. We conditioned three times a week, we did two days where we ran sprints and one day where we did agilities. So we've been just doing the best we can so we can be in the best shape possible when it's time to compete."
- On team leadership: "As far as leadership goes, myself, Steve Luptak, and Nick Hendra are the three who were here both years we went to the tournament, and we've really been trying to get the guys up to speed on the work ethic that that group of seniors (last year's) had and how to take care of the things they need to off the court."
- Me: "You guys have like nine guards...how is this going to work? Are you going to play a four guard set?"
Matt: "We are not going to play a four guard set, and that's one thing that we actually tried. Likely there will just be a rotation since obviously you can't play nine guards at once."
(to which I added, astutely, "but it would be sweet if you could")
Listening to the voice recording of this made me realize I sound like a complete valley girl about AU basketball. Ugh. Anyway, that's enough for one night. I'll get the Jeff Jones entry up sometime this weekend for all of you. Probably not tomorrow night, but maybe sometime Saturday. If I have to push it to Sunday, have a safe and happy Halloween!
ALSO: THE FIRST PRE-SEASON GAME IS ON TUESDAY! THIS TUESDAY! GET READY! GET PUMPED!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Friday, October 23, 2009
According to Yahoo/Rivals Everyone Can Win the Patriot League Except AU!
Yahoo/Rivals issued their first team reports for the Patriot League today. AU's can be found here, and it's got some interesting tidbits in it...
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")
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
TWO WEEKS TO GO. INTRODUCING, "Speculation Tuesday!"
Sorry for the lack of new content lately, thanks to Josh for picking up the slack during my quasi-absence. As you can see from the post title, this time two weeks from now, your AU Eagles will be playing Randolph-Macon in Bender Arena!
God knows I'm excited about that. Hell, I bought my body paint for the year today! I want to share some links with you in case you want to get well-equipped for the upcoming season!
Blue Body Paint - 1 gallon
Giant Blue Foam Cowboy Hat
Red, White, and Blue Mardi Gras Beads
Eagle Mascot Halloween Costume
I'll have a Randolph-Macon preview for you soon, but for now I want to introduce a new regular segment here at the AU Hoops Blog. It's called Speculation Tuesday. Now, most of you are AU students or alums, so I think you're smart enough to figure out what the point of Speculation Tuesday is. I'm going to ask a number of questions that I don't know the answers to, and I want you all to post your thoughts on them in the comments.
Without further unnecessary explanation:
1. Who's starting the season at the point? Luptak makes sense, but there's a lot of hype about Daniel Munoz and Blake Jolivette.
2. If Luptak does start, will he be a suitable replacement for Mercer? How short will his leash be?
God knows I'm excited about that. Hell, I bought my body paint for the year today! I want to share some links with you in case you want to get well-equipped for the upcoming season!
Blue Body Paint - 1 gallon
Giant Blue Foam Cowboy Hat
Red, White, and Blue Mardi Gras Beads
Eagle Mascot Halloween Costume
I'll have a Randolph-Macon preview for you soon, but for now I want to introduce a new regular segment here at the AU Hoops Blog. It's called Speculation Tuesday. Now, most of you are AU students or alums, so I think you're smart enough to figure out what the point of Speculation Tuesday is. I'm going to ask a number of questions that I don't know the answers to, and I want you all to post your thoughts on them in the comments.
Without further unnecessary explanation:
1. Who's starting the season at the point? Luptak makes sense, but there's a lot of hype about Daniel Munoz and Blake Jolivette.
2. If Luptak does start, will he be a suitable replacement for Mercer? How short will his leash be?
3. What is the team going to do at the four and five spots to start the season? Lumpkins is a lock to start at the five, but who will get the four? Riley Grafft, who played a grand total of seven minutes last season? Or one of the freshmen?
4. Last year Hendra didn't always necessarily make the right choice going inside, sometimes opting for the flashy play rather than the smart one. Is he ready to put this team on his back and be its leader?
5. Is this non-conference schedule going to toughen up our Eagles or demoralize them? I'm anticipating some major struggles early on as the team jells. Florida, Penn State, and Georgetown, among others. How's this going to play out?
6. How long will it take before we see the promise in the freshman class in action?
7. Which of the guards are going to emerge out of practices to back-up the starting one and two guards?
8. Will we see an increase in Bender attendance this season after two straight PL championships?
That's a good start. Have at it in the comments!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
4. Last year Hendra didn't always necessarily make the right choice going inside, sometimes opting for the flashy play rather than the smart one. Is he ready to put this team on his back and be its leader?
5. Is this non-conference schedule going to toughen up our Eagles or demoralize them? I'm anticipating some major struggles early on as the team jells. Florida, Penn State, and Georgetown, among others. How's this going to play out?
6. How long will it take before we see the promise in the freshman class in action?
7. Which of the guards are going to emerge out of practices to back-up the starting one and two guards?
8. Will we see an increase in Bender attendance this season after two straight PL championships?
That's a good start. Have at it in the comments!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Monday, August 24, 2009
No I'm Not Dead, I've Just Been Taking Stock of the Situation
So I bet you all thought that this blog was going to succumb to the usual "five posts and kick the bucket" wayside. Well. You're wrong. In the immortal words of Alex Trebek, "Oh no...no no...no." I would quote Jeff Jones to the same effect, but this is a family site for Christ's sake. In any event, I was looking at the Holy Cross 2009-10 basketball prospectus today. Why? Because AU doesn't have a 2009-10 basketball prospectus (nudge, nudge) yet, and I wanted to scope out the competition like any good fledgling basketball blog hosting guy.
So I figured I'd take a stab at seeing what we've got left after last season. Brace yourselves out there in AU basketball blog land, it ain't pretty. There's not a whole lot we can bank on. (As a short aside, this is in sharp contrast to Holy Cross who has 4/5 of their starters returning as well as 5 other letter winners. Oh dear sweet Clawed Z. Eagle.) Anyway, here's some quick hits on the stats and players we've got returning for the 2009-10 campaign.
- Out of 64.5 total points per game scored, 9 points per game are returning. 6.3 of these are Nick Hendra, who was last year's fourth leading scorer. This is a fact that actually surprises me. (In a good way, Nick!) I would've thought Nichols had a higher PPG just because of minutes. Shows what I know. That's a pretty grim statistic to start out with, but it becomes brighter when you consider that...
- Out of 200 possible minutes per game, the seven seniors that we graduated played an average of 169.2 minutes. If you figure that Hendra is going to get about 30 minutes a game (and that's lowballing it), his scoring should move up to around 10-12 PPG. Under the same assumption, Lumpkins will increase his production to the same levels. Make no bones about it, we will need at LEAST two other Eagles to step up their production mightily in order for us to be competitive, but the 169.2 minutes per game that are now available to the remaining Eagles should allow for that and more.
Now, let's be serious here for a moment. I've given you two statistics. Logic (and common practice) would dictate that two does not a blog post on basketball statistics make. Unlike Holy Cross, however, AU does not have the luxury of a veritable shit ton (that's a statistical term, look it up) of returning players. Any conclusions or calculations I made based on the fact that Lumpkins and Hendra are the only returns who saw any legitimate play time (sorry Luptak) would be irresponsible at best and completely worthless at worst.
Let's look at the bright side (which I will greatly expand on in my next post about where the strengths for the upcoming season are):
- Vlad Moldoveanu has the size and experience (20.3 PPG over 8 games in the 2004 FIBA) to be a force in the Patriot League.
- Our sophomores, who had the benefit of the seniors' experience and advice last year, should come back eager to prove themselves and with some tricks up their sleeves.
So you know what to look forward to, there's two upcoming posts from me:
- Expanding on the sophomores
- Breaking down the Holy Cross prospectus
I'm also going to look into what AU Athletics thinks the TV coverage will be for this season. Stay tuned, and be sure to leave your feedback!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
So I figured I'd take a stab at seeing what we've got left after last season. Brace yourselves out there in AU basketball blog land, it ain't pretty. There's not a whole lot we can bank on. (As a short aside, this is in sharp contrast to Holy Cross who has 4/5 of their starters returning as well as 5 other letter winners. Oh dear sweet Clawed Z. Eagle.) Anyway, here's some quick hits on the stats and players we've got returning for the 2009-10 campaign.
- Out of 64.5 total points per game scored, 9 points per game are returning. 6.3 of these are Nick Hendra, who was last year's fourth leading scorer. This is a fact that actually surprises me. (In a good way, Nick!) I would've thought Nichols had a higher PPG just because of minutes. Shows what I know. That's a pretty grim statistic to start out with, but it becomes brighter when you consider that...
- Out of 200 possible minutes per game, the seven seniors that we graduated played an average of 169.2 minutes. If you figure that Hendra is going to get about 30 minutes a game (and that's lowballing it), his scoring should move up to around 10-12 PPG. Under the same assumption, Lumpkins will increase his production to the same levels. Make no bones about it, we will need at LEAST two other Eagles to step up their production mightily in order for us to be competitive, but the 169.2 minutes per game that are now available to the remaining Eagles should allow for that and more.
Now, let's be serious here for a moment. I've given you two statistics. Logic (and common practice) would dictate that two does not a blog post on basketball statistics make. Unlike Holy Cross, however, AU does not have the luxury of a veritable shit ton (that's a statistical term, look it up) of returning players. Any conclusions or calculations I made based on the fact that Lumpkins and Hendra are the only returns who saw any legitimate play time (sorry Luptak) would be irresponsible at best and completely worthless at worst.
Let's look at the bright side (which I will greatly expand on in my next post about where the strengths for the upcoming season are):
- Vlad Moldoveanu has the size and experience (20.3 PPG over 8 games in the 2004 FIBA) to be a force in the Patriot League.
- Our sophomores, who had the benefit of the seniors' experience and advice last year, should come back eager to prove themselves and with some tricks up their sleeves.
So you know what to look forward to, there's two upcoming posts from me:
- Expanding on the sophomores
- Breaking down the Holy Cross prospectus
I'm also going to look into what AU Athletics thinks the TV coverage will be for this season. Stay tuned, and be sure to leave your feedback!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Eagles Spend Summer Getting Buff
Courtesy of AUEagles.com comes this video highlighting the Eagles' summer workouts under strength and conditioning coach Jason Riddell. This isn't a particularly incisive video, to be sure, but hey, when it's August and you're basketball-starved it looks like an ice-cold Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA with spicy Mexican food (what, just me?) The good news here is that three of the incoming freshmen are on-campus taking summer classes, so they're getting a head start on their conditioning. I recognized Blake Jolivette, who I think is Josh Snodgrass, and a third, as yet unidentified player (sorry about that, I'll get to know all your vitals before you know it) practicing with junior guards Steve Luptak and Nick Hendra. Team godfather Derrick Mercer and class of 2008 forward Travis Lay also make appearances in the video training, as does new Director of Basketball Operations Bryce Simon.
I have to say I like the attitude that Hendra shows in the video as he notes that "The key thing is to just work as hard as possible as we possibly can at any given moment and that'll set the right example for the younger guys who are coming in..." If that's the attitude that Luptak and Hendra are taking in earnest as the season starts, we can expect to reap the benefits as a team down the line; I think good work ethic can overcome a lot of faults on a team (not that I'm saying this team does or doesn't have them, but solid work ethic sure as hell never hurts). Luptak mentions that this summer is definitely the hardest he's had since coming to play at AU; not surprising given that this will definitely be the hardest season the Eagles face since Luptak has arrived.
Definite bonus for Jolivette to be getting practice time early with the more experienced guards, especially Mercer. Coming in as a two-star recruit, you have to believe Jolivette is the leader of the Eagle backcourt in two years, the faster he gets ahead of that learning curve the better.
Not sure what the rest of the team is up to in terms of training regimen for the summer, I'll try to do some research on that and report on that in the next week or so. This is both looking back and pretty far ahead at the same time, but the reason the Eagles are 0-2 the past two years in the NCAA tournament isn't for lack of talent, it's for lack of gas in the tank over the final eight minutes of the game. It's very hard for a team like AU to play the physical level of ball that they do in the Big East, SEC, or ACC when teams like Colgate and Lafayette just don't have the same big bruisers. It's nice to see the Eagles bulking up and building their endurance (seemingly running 400m laps at the end of the video) in preparation for what will undoubtedly be a grueling season.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
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