Wow. Well this day is just turning out greeeeeat. Hendra suspended, three game win streak snapped, 20 game home PL win streak snapped, chance to enter into a tie for 1st place lost. Yeah, it was one of those days. Check out the AU Examiner's coverage of the game today for a good recap (and the post-game audio from Jeff Jones). Here's the box score. We didn't play well today. We made a ton of mistakes, and we didn't look like we really had our heads in the game. Lehigh also runs a very solid defense. I think even if we had played extraordinarily well, however, we would've had trouble. We didn't, of course, play extraordinarily well. Lehigh has four very good weapons, inside and outside. There's a ton of talent and depth on that team, and while we'll be better suited to competing with them next year, we just don't have the diversity of scorers required to make them spread their pressure out. Anyway, let's get down to it. No one likes ripping off Band-Aids, but it's best to just do it and get it over with.
THE GOOD
Matthew Wilson - Matt scored a career high 8 points today in 13 minutes. He came off the bench and provided a real spark, as well as 2 rebounds and 3 assists. He was the one of two Eagles (Simon McCormack was the other) who wasn't afraid to drive into the lane and take the ball to the basket. Matt always commits a lot of fouls, but I think that's also part of his role on the team, to make fouls so other guys don't have to. Anyway, nice job making the most out of your minutes, Matt.
The Blue Crew - Even though I think it's ludicrous that we had the game today (see below), I think the turnout from the student body was exceptional today. The Blue Crew sections were full, and the Greeks took up their usual perch in the endzone. A real shame that the Eagles couldn't pull out a win for the fans who did show up, but ah well. Great work Blue Crew! Also, good job athletics with getting those pizzas. It was effective at drawing people out!
The Pep Band - Despite the snow today, the pep band sounded very good and had a lot of members show up. Their dedication is second to none amongst AU Eagles fans.
Vlad "the Impaler" Moldoveanu - Maybe it would be better to change Vlad's nickname to "Game-High" since he's always got the game-high point total. Today it was 24 points off of 8-15, 2-4 (3s) and 4-5 (FTs) to go with 6 turnovers and a block. Vlad really did his damage in the first half when he had 16 of the Eagles' 27 points before halftime. He really got locked down a bit in the second half and was really bothered by Lehigh's guards on the outside and Zahir Carrington on the inside. I would've liked to see Vlad create more opportunities for his teammates (no assists in this game), but opportunities were hard to come by for all of the Eagles today. JJ in the post-game comments said that Vlad takes more contact than any player in the league but doesn't lose his composure. So that's good, yippee.
Close but no cigar: Simon McCormack (nice job taking it to the hole, but not enough to warrant a full GOOD), Danny Munoz (nice work with 7 points and 5 assists, but countered it with 4 turnovers and didn't see the floor particularly well. I felt he missed some opportunities to get the ball inside.)
THE BAD
Defense - Jeff Jones said the team played "really hard" and that the "effort was there" but that effort didn't get the job done. We had guys blowing their assignments on the wings leaving open shooters (Lehigh shot 6-12 from 3). We had really shoddy defense in the paint at times...Lehigh opened up the second half with 3 monster jams. Now, Lehigh has a lot of weapons, McCollum, Knutson, Hall, and Carrington, so they can go inside or outside on you, but we just didn't get it done against Carrington on the inside today.
Turnovers/assists - After 3 straight games with 20+ assists, today we notched only 14, which equaled our turnovers. Our passing and ball handling weren't crisp today outside of the first 10 minutes.
Nick Hendra - We really missed Hendra on the court today. He would've been more effective at covering Marquis Hall than Joe Hill. I don't know what team rules you violated, Nick, but shame on you for doing it. You're supposed to be this team's leader.
Free throws/drawing fouls - We got to the line for 7 shots today. That's it. TAKE THE BALL TO THE BASKET AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. DRIVE ON THEM AND SEE IF YOU CAN'T GET FOULED. 7 shots is unacceptable, we've got to do a better job getting to the line.
The foul disparities - 8 fouls for Lehigh ALL GAME, 20 for AU. Um, ref? Hello, hi. All that chippy BS you're letting the Hill Pigeons get away with? DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT. When C.J. McCollum throws an elbow at Simon and starts shoving him? CALL THE FOUL, CLOWN.
THE UGLY
I've been reluctant to put any Eagles in the ugly column for quite a while. Bad, sure, but not ugly. Today I have two performances from individual Eagles that really warrant being here.
Joe Hill - Joe made his first career start today (in place of Hendra) and scored a career-high 12 points. Seems like he should be in the good column for that, right? WRONG. He scored 12 points, on 4-15 shooting, all from 3-pt range. Joe, here's an idea, put the ball on the floor and drive it in. You know you can shoot from places other than behind the arc, ja? There's no rule against it. The most egregious offense today was a shot he took with about 20 seconds left on the shot clock where he was closer to midcourt than to the 3-pt line. Not a good performance, Joe. To be fair, you're not used to playing 30+ minutes a game, but that's no excuse for your shot selection.
Stephen Lumpkins - It's been said that you can't stump the Lump, but the Hill Pigeons certainly found a way to make him disappear. 2-3 for 4 points with 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. The boards and blocks are pretty good, but seriously, 4 points? And I don't buy this crap about how he "was in foul trouble" - Lump finished with 2 fouls. Not foul trouble. He only got to play for 20 minutes! Ugly player management by Jeff Jones and ugly use of the minutes allotted by him to Lumpkins. You mean too much to this team to disappear, Lumpkins, especially with Hendra out for the foreseeable future.
3-pt range - 9-34 from the game. We got absolutely nothing going on in the paint and so we started heaving up long range buckets. Without Joe Hill this is still an unrespectable 5-23. Terrible. Just freaking terrible.
The fact that we had this game at all today - Listen, I know that there was probably league pressure not to have to reschedule this, and that there's issues with facility scheduling, team scheduling, etc, but as far as I'm concerned it was terrible to have this game today. Athletics got bailed out by having the Blue Crew come out in such great numbers, but the other side of the arena was terribly empty. Take some responsibility for your team and your fans and say, "Hey, it's not safe, we're going to postpone." God forbid someone gets injured traveling to or from this game, is it really worth risking that? I guess it was, which is terrible and sad.
The officiating - There were only two refs at the game today, but even one ref should've been able to see how chippy it was getting on the court, especially toward the end of the game. Notably, Lehigh went to inbound and the 4 Hill Pigeons on the court started pushing and shoving their AU defenders. The DEFENDERS were then told to back off by the refs. Unbelievable. This really drew JJ's ire in a way we don't normally see toward the officials.
The only other GOOD I have to add is that the snow stopped. Hooray for that. Leave your thoughts on the game below, I look forward to them.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
I don't think it was as bad as you. Lehigh is just better than we are. Lost it in the final 3 minutes of the first half, when we let Lehigh speed up the tempo and take the lead. We match up badly with them. Lump couldn't handle Carrington last year, but we got lucky because Carrington got into foul trouble. We don't have anyone who can stay in front of McCollum, which is what led to the open threes when he got into the paint. And this year, Lehigh has the seniors like Hall, who hit the two killer threes in the second half. Last year, we had the seniors.
ReplyDeleteWe had to take threes today because Lehigh packed it in against Lump and Vlad. That's what teams are going to do. Last week Hill hit some threes. This week...not so much. And he's really the only perimeter option we have at the moment; Munoz isn't ready and McCormick isn't able. I really hope Brewer and/or Hinkle has that in their game.
I wasn't there to see the game in person today, but was able to watch it online and I want to second your sentiments about how amazing the Blue Crew was today. I could not have been more proud to see how many students came out, even with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Big change from the start of the season, for sure! I think you deserve some of the recognition for this, too, Bill. Your dedication to the team on Facebook and on this blog is really inspiring!
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, At least half of those threes Joe Hill took were wide open, he was just missing. But when you shoot 34 threes in a game, it means you're being manhandled in the post. Lump couldn't deal with Carrington, Vlad got double teamed. Even Danny Munoz tossed up 6 threes (1-6). Just a bad, bad game. AU played its style in the first half but Lehigh blitzed them in the second.
ReplyDeleteNo, Joe Hill was not just missing 3s. They were awful shots. He was missing badly, They were embarrassing shots. He didn't square himself, his body was still moving, and the other players did not know what to expect. How many offensive rebounds did we get in the first half? Nobody knew when the shots were coming. I would have sat him down after that first awful shot. Just because a team packs it in, doesn't mean you have to take the bait. Work it around until you're comfortable and everyone on your team is in sync. Plus a faster game plays into Lehigh's strengths.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we played so awfully as a team under the circumstances. Up to a point, there was a lot to like. But Vlad went a long time before he touched the ball in the second half. Lehigh was in control at that point.
Come on guys, why isn't our coach adjusting our offense to what is going on on the court? Joe Hill takes 10 shots in the second half and plays 16 minutes, and Lumpkins plays 13 minutes and takes 2 shots with the same 2 fouls he had in the first half.? Joe works hard but he is a # 9 guy on this team. If Lump is not playing hard and vanishing, then why isn't he on the end of the bench like Jolivette and Bersch? double standard? He and Vlad have to both come up big to beat this Lehigh team- like they did last week vs the Leopards. If they were doubling down on Vlad why didn't they open up the middle by moving him outside and get better spacing for Lumpkin to work 1 on 1 on his man or Munoz to drive ? He did it once and then no further effort towards the basket. Carrington fouled out of the first game vs. AU this season, yet today he was never pressured inside. Matt is no threat on offense-yet some talented offensive players sit on the end of the bench. Missing Hendra, one of our best players and a starter was huge. No rhythm in the second half like in the Lafayette game a week ago. If Hendra is out for a bit, then let's hope Coach Jones tries to teach his disciplinary team principles on the fly with Bersch or Jolivette.also contributing.
ReplyDeleteGreat coverage, but you guys are making no sense with your criticism of playing the game today. Why wouldn't they play this game today? Lehigh was there, American was there, the refs were there...play ball. Doesn't matter if the gym was completely empty, the game had to be played today given those circumstanes. When else are you going to reschedule? Every Wed and Sat is booked the rest of the way. You're going to make Lehigh come all the way back down to DC? Think about it.
ReplyDeleteLike someone said above, the coaches need to take a lot of the burden of this loss. 1.) Joe Hill is not making his shots so leave him in there shooting. 2.)Lump isn't playing hard so leave him in there when others who I guess the coaches think have done the same thing have been banished to the bench for the past two months.3.) Lehigh packs it in daring AU to shoot from the perimeter, Hendra is out and Hill is missing so leave Bersch who had success shooting from three on the bench to watch the carnage of a 7 for 34 day from three. 4.) Others make a ton of mistakes or miss shots for long stretches (Nick in the beginning of the season among others)or seemingly don't play hard but Blake and Bersch are the ones seemingly never to see the light of the court again. It will be interesting to see what changes if any the braintrust make.
ReplyDeletearen't we all sick and tired of Jones treating these kids like elementary school kids by sticking them in the corner with dunce caps? He did it to Carr his sophomore season also. Where does it say in the coaching manual that a coach cannot teach a kid to play the way he wants him to play, and yet get him to contribute to the team at the same time ?
ReplyDeleteI know we're all frustrated by the loss, but the JJ bashing today is absurd. Every coach goes through ups and downs with his players. And there isn't a coach in the world who plays everyone on his roster. Nor do I know of a coach that would ever not play guys who could help him win. If Jolivette and Bersch aren't playing, it's because they're not better than the guys in front of them. Didn't we all see what happened the first month of the season, when JJ played everybody? 1-8 is what happened. (And, yes, I know Vlad wasn't playing. But we were so bad then, it wouldn't have made much difference.)
ReplyDeleteThe reality is, we are what our record says we are. All due respect, I will trust Jones on who plays and who doesn't more than fans who have friends and favorites they'd like to see on the court. We had nothing before he got here, and now we have a program.
Rob - I get what you're saying, and it all ended up being okay...once a ref drove in from PA, got stuck 4 blocks from AU, and walked in. What about all the other staff that had to come to campus to put on the game? If it means not forcing people to come out in a historic snowstorm that the NWS said was causing "life-threatening" conditions, yeah bring Lehigh "all the way back down to DC." There are some things more important than AU basketball, people's safety being one of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the JJ bashing is a little too much after this. Bersch hasn't played in a game since before Georgetown...I'm sure he would've had some rust to knock off. We just got 1. outplayed by a better team and 2. we didn't play well. Our best players didn't play well, and I don't think the people who didn't play would've played better.
to formerly anonymous- no i do not trust Jones completely on who plays and who doesn't. He uses banishment as his only motivating tool to get his principles across. Because i saw Jolivette and Bersch play in the first 10 games i think i can say that they are better offensive players than Joe Hill and Matt Wilson. What principles would be violated to see if Bersch could keep up with McCollum? What did Jolivette and Bersch do in the first 10 or so games to warrant them getting zero minutes now ? Not 2 minutes, not 5 minutes- ZERO MINUTES> Jones regularly substitutes offensive and defensive players The point is that Jones only feels that he can his message across by banishment. Tell me why Lumpkins was not sitting at the end of the bench during the Lehigh game ? That is the point that Anonymous made earlier. Last year was last year. This is a different group of kids who HE RECRUITED. Are transfers the only kids capable of stepping in right away ? I have no favorites or any horse in the race. A team is a team- some kids cannot contribute great total offensive and defensive skills right now at the same level, but all have something to contribute. To use your analogy the coaching staff's record is what it says it is.
ReplyDeleteA loss after a 3 game win streak to a team that starts 3 Seniors and is number 1 in the league (without an AU key starter)-and everyone wants to go after the coach. Bottom line-EVERYONE on this team has gotten more than a chance to prove themselves this year, in games and practice. AU was losing more and uglier before when other kids were playing, or did we forget that already. We NEEDED a rotation and I think the kids that are out there are playing very well together and playing hard. We now have a rotation that has grown together in recent games. Every team in the country has a rotation-you can't play 10-12 kids-it makes zero sense. This was a tough game without our Junior leader and against a team with more talent and experience than us. That is the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteCan we figure out a couple of things...
ReplyDeleteFirst off, why the fuçk was Hendra suspended.
Second of all, when it comes to guys like Bersch and Blake, it's not that they aren't good, but as somebody said before, Jones has a tendency to do this to kids. Clearly Blake didn't something that Jones didn't like and now he's riding pine because of it. Someone said this before, it's the same thing that happened to Garrison Carr. He always tends to have these younger guys on a short leash. I remember the same thing with Carr. He would enter the game, hit a three, than commit a turnover or miss a bad 3 and like that... He's out of the game riding the bench.
In terms of JJ, I'd say if he limited Garrison Carr's playing time as a soph, then things turned out pretty well regarding that strategy.
ReplyDeleteThere are coaches out there who 'trust eight, play seven.' Or something to that effect. He has gone on record as saying that envisions a team with a PG playing 28 minutees a game, and a backup getting 12. If you have three guards battling for that position, someone is going to get left out in the cold. And I mean cold like the blizzard.
Still, if the end result is Joe Hill launching awkward 3s, then something has kinda broken down along the way. I don't think anyone had a right to expect a victory for AU in the Lehigh game, but I'd like to see a team I'm proud of, and that if they miss shots it's because we took the best we could get and we were just not good enough. I'm not sure that happened against Lehigh.
"Still, if the end result is Joe Hill launching awkward 3s, then something has kinda broken down along the way."
ReplyDeleteJoe Hill wouldn't have had to launch 15 3's if Hendra hadn't gone and gotten himself suspended. Joe Hill is not a starter quality player in general, and he certainly is not a suitable substitute for Hendra. Hill is good enough to be on the court when Hendra needs a breather, but that's it for right now.
Which brings me back to Zach's comment, "why the fuck is Hendra suspended?" I'm torn here. I don't really care what he actually did to get himself suspended because the end result is the same: he's not on the court. I would like to know how long he's going to be out, however, but I'm sure JJ, mercurial as he is, doesn't know that either. Even if JJ DID know that though, you can bet your collectively sweet bippies that Athletics would never let us know because that kind of information is always met with "no comment."
Blake is one dimensional, is not a practice player, does not play the way the coaching staff wants him to play. If you are not capable of knowing the plays and executing which the coachs have been on record as saying, why would they play him until he shows (in practice) that he is both willing and ABLE to do so.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned about Hendra being the leader? Please, he is the biggest partier on the team. Guess that comes being a branch of his father. He is not leader. There are games when Nick has 2 points and you wouldn't know he was on the court. Other games he is crisp, makes incredible passes and contributes double digit points and 6-8 rebounds. Leader? I don't think so. The only leader and fireball on the team is Vlad. The other players look to Vlad, not to Nick.
Lehigh is a better team than us this year, CUT AND DRY,, Hall and Carrington alone make them better.
Jones is doing the best he can with what we got right now. I trust JJ's basketball knowledge and ability as a coach over those of us in the bleachers second guessing. No one was second guessing the past two years during the bad times but when we are a second tier Division 1 school and we get the recruits after the top 150 are taken. We have to hope for a prize in disguise. GO AU,,, Thanks Jeff for having the guts to discipline you most experienced returner. No one is above team rules... Thanks for enforcing a LIFE TEACHING moment....
no one was second guessing during the good times I meant to say the past two years... sorry for mistype. Keep up the great blog and great posts.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things:
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'm not saying JJ is above criticism. No one is. But the criticism here seems to be a) he didn't, and doesn't, play Jolivette and Bersch at all and b) he "banishes" or "punishes" players he doesn't like. I just think that's a silly analysis.
There isn't a basketball team at any level, from CYO to NBA, that plays three point guards regularly. There just aren't enough minutes. PG is not an interchangable position, like shooting guard/small forward (and, at the PL level, power forward/center). The point guard has to be on the floor more than the other players. He runs the offense. He gets guys the ball where they can score. The other players, being dependent on the PG, have to know where he's going to pass them the ball, and he has to know where and how they like to catch the ball (bounce pass? high? low? on the move?) So you can't have, say, an even 13.3 minutes/game distribution between three guys. It doesn't work.
Ask yourself this: Jolivette was one of the first guys recruited in this class. Why, then, at the 11th hour, would JJ offer a scholarship to ANOTHER freshman point guard? (Compare this to Mercer, who also started as a freshman. Did we recruit another freshman point guard after him?) Munoz decided he didn't want to play at BU and we scarfed him up. In MAY. I don't know Blake and I'm not trying to rip an 18 year old kid, but that's a red flag.
And you are also making a mistake when you say JJ is playing Joe Hill instead of Blake. He's not. He's playing Luptak instead of Blake.
As others have mentioned, you can't play all 12 guys. To establish any kind of continuity on a team, you have to have a regular rotation of 7-10 players. That requires coaches to make decisions. Obviously, JJ thinks Munoz is better than Blake right now. It's not "punishing" Blake, or Bersch. It's a decision. That doesn't mean it's going to be that way all the time; as many have mentioned, Carr didn't play much his first two years. Things change, guys mature (or don't). Blake will have more chances here, or he'll go somewhere he thinks he'll get more chances.
Second, it's important, again, to point out where we are as a program right now. After Ed Tapscott left, basketball went into a tailspin. Chris Knoche wasn't a bad coach, but he wasn't much of a recruiter. Then came Art Perry, a total disaster. When we basically got kicked out of the CAA, there was a lot of sentiment--a lot--that AU should just ditch DI and go D III, because we'd never commit enough money or people to sustain a real DI program.
Luckily, we got a president in Kerwin that gives a damn about athletics and has opened up the tap a little. And we've got a good AD in Keith Gill (we went through four ADs in a decade beforehand). And we've got a great coach in JJ. Trust me, he is as good as we're ever going to have around here. He's not some kid with ambition and he's not some fossil that can't coach anymore. He likes it here and his family likes it here. We cannot ask for someone better. If and when he leaves, as all coaches, eventually, do, you'll know that.
we were second guessing for the past two years. there was no forum like this to express those thoughts. what is consistent is that Jones is inconsistent in his discipline of his players. When it suits him to play a kid he needs to play- more than sit him, then he does that. when he has three point guards then he can afford to sit the one or two that do not please him- in spite of their having particular talents. Let him apply the same rules to Lumpkins as to Jolivette- plain and simple. This team was getting its legs and playing as a unit. when Hendra was benched then the coach has to adjust. In my opinion he adjusted badly. And what is this about Hendra being a branch of his father? what kind of idiot are you ? who is your father- Pope Benedict ? moron.
ReplyDeleteEaaaasy with the ad hominem.
ReplyDelete"We were second guessing for the past two years. there was no forum like this to express those thoughts" - And boy am I happy to provide you folks with this forum!
Thanks for all your great thoughts. Comment sections like this are what convince me that we need (and are going to have) a message board in the future the way the other PL schools do.
Formerly Anonymous, good insights/thoughts there about the Blake/Danny recruitments. I never thought about it that way. Good call.
formerly anonymous- duh, maybe jj recruited Munoz so he would have a backup point guard- something he did not have the last two years, and finally wised up ! If Mercer ever went down, we now know what would happen as we watch Luptak struggle with his basic ball handling skills.
ReplyDeletehere is another fact- we did not get kicked out of the CAA. The Bucknell President who headed up the PL, had been after Ladner for years to join the Patriot League. With 7 teams they had an awful scheduling problem. That was how we got to the PL - to join other private high scholastic universities.
I will tell you what is troubling- this has been a successful program built partly on the backs of transfers for the past three years: Simon, Borden, and Vlad. Next season two more. Can or cannot this head coach recruit high school kids better than the other PL Coaches ? We know he is a good x and o guy, but his reputation in the coaching fraternity is that he does not like, nor enjoy recruiting. he tried the Eastern European route to try to take a shortcut- and that did not pan out as he had hoped. And by the way, what is the matter with having a young coach with fire in his belly ? The answer is Tom Young, Jim Lyman, Gary Williams, and Ed Tapscott.
@Lord Baltimore, I think that #1 fan was simply referring to the partying that the father was famously known for. Ease up on the name calling.
ReplyDeleteJoe Hill is not the answer long term or short term at any position. Originally I thought he got to play at the first Lehigh game becaue it was in his backyard but was assured that JJ doesn't care about that. Then he continued to see sufficient playing time ever since so it has to do with doing what the coaches expect him to do. He is not very gifted athletically when you think D1 basketball.
JJ will turn this team around and make the semi's of the PL playoffs but that's as far as I see this team going.
Barechested Bill, great job on the blog, keep it up. What a great format and sounding board for AU BBall fans.
maybe i'll get ripped for this, but can someone on this board please explain to me why the team should be forced to disclose what hendra has done? bill, i don't understand why you feel entitled to this piece of internal information regarding the basketball team...this team, like all teams at all levels has internal "family" matters, and i don't see why we can't leave it like that?
ReplyDeleteAlso, as someone who has worked closely with both the men's basketball team as the athletics department, i can assure you that outside of, maybe, the AD, the folks in athletics don't know what happened. coach jones keeps these things between his coaches and the player involved and no more. i'd be pretty sure that the rest of the team, and the rest of the department does'nt know what happened. its an internal matter for the team, no one elses business.
your support is great, and the fact that you're asking is great, but i don't understand the sense of entitlement....ok, flame away at me!
it is always wiser to deal with the truth rather than rumor. it will come out anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnon, in your zeal to kill JJ for everything, I think you're straying toward the ridiculous.
ReplyDelete1) If Munoz is a "backup," how come he's starting?
2) If you want to believe that the CAA wasn't happy to see us go, fine. But they were happy to see us go. They didn't do anything to keep us. We were pseudo competitive in basketball, taking down the conference's oveall RPI rating, and weren't going to commit to football, as the CAA desperately wanted to do. Yes, the PL wanted us, but if a conference wants to keep you, it generally does. The CAA let us go, and quickly expanded north (Northeastern, Drexel, UD, etc) and south (Ga State)--all schools that were similar to us in size and makeup.
3) A program "built partly on the backs of transfers the past three years?" Come on. That's really reaching. I'm glad we got Bryce; he was a key member and contributor to our first ever NCAA team, and he's a quality kid. Borden competed and made some huge plays against Colgate in the '08 tournament final. And do you really want to think about where we'd be this year without Vlad?
At any rate, the two title teams were built, as any fair assessment would conclude, with Mercer, Carr, Gilmore and Nichols--ALL SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS.
Mercer: PL Player of the Year (09). Carr: PL Player of the Year (08) and two-time tournament MVP. Gilmore: the biggest big-time player that's been here since Boo Bowers. Nichols: undersized, big heart, provided all our interior defense last season.
Also, our transfers have almost all been kids that we recruited hard in the first place--like Vlad, like Brewer. They went elsewhere, and decided they didn't like where they were and came to us. I don't think that's a negative; I think that's a strength. If JJ was such a bad recruiter, why would they come back to him?
4) I don't necessarily mind young coaches, but I also don't mind an older coach who wants to stick around for a while. If you can build a program hiring a new guy every two years, more power to you.
Anyway, enjoy the back and forth.
@anon
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be so sure about that. I can think of several "internal" issues from the team that no one on this blog or outside of a very, very small group of people know occurred, or have any idea that anything might have possibly occurred..some of them this season.
Give this team some time. They are still young. THeir recent performances have been good although Lehigh was a step back. Hendra being out and Lumpkins foul trouble made it tough. People who call for bench guys to play more need to realize the coaches have had over 20 games and 100+ practices to evaluate the players. JJ would play the devil if he thought it would help them win. Lehigh performance notwithstanding, Lumpkins has been very good in PL games. Finding a "big" who can consistently score/rebound in double digits is not easy. Hendra's suspension hurts as he is a good wing defender and can score. Lets hope he is back soon. This team is being built for next year. Munoz is still getting better and shows flashes of being a real solid PL PG. Any success and experiance they get now is a bonus. You don't lose 6 of your top 8 and 3 all league guys and expect to be as good next year. Patience.
ReplyDeleteTo EaglesFan, I'd like to point out that in the comments I said that I don't really care what he did to get himself suspended but that I'd like to know how long he will be out. Nowhere did I say that I thought the team should be forced to disclose what Nick did. When I tweeted that having no comment on this was a typical athletics info lockdown, I was being serious; this is typical that they wouldn't comment on this. So I am content to "leave it like that", I don't care what Hendra did, I do care about when he'll be back. Know why? Because I'm a fan, and as a fan, I want to see the team succeed, and anything that doesn't go toward helping the team succeed, I want to know about. What I don't want is for you to put words in my mouth. I feel no more or less entitled than any other fan of any other team who wants to know about things that impact their team.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that no one else on the team probably knows what happened and that it's being kept hush hush. I think you're wrong when you say it's "no one else's business." It affects the team, which affects the fans. Let me put some words in YOUR mouth, maybe you'll like the taste of them...would it be better if we were all completely apathetic? Couldn't care less whether or not Hendra plays or if the team succeeds? Maybe that would be better, then athletics would never be bothered with people's questions.
"Your support is great, and the fact that you're asking is great." And yet, you just called me out FOR asking and expecting an answer...how often do you ask questions and, upon being refused information, feel good about that? I don't think you'd mind too much if I stopped asking questions.
Of course, my questions are probably beneath you because of your stated close relationship with the team and the department. Forgive me for not having the same privileged information you're privy to.
The last anonymous's point about patience is well taken. Everyone knew this was going to be a tough season, the recent 3-game win streak perhaps made some people (myself included) put the wagon before the horse. Anything good that we do this year is a bonus, like has been said, we're being built for next year. I think it's too much to go too hard after JJ for his recruiting style or not playing this player or that because after the next game we win we'll all be happy again and all will be right with the world. Patience, patience, patience, we can see good times ahead, they don't need to be here RIGHT. THIS. MOMENT.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate ALL of the commentary here today, this has been very illuminating.
@formerly- you speak with authority but do not know the facts:
ReplyDelete1.JJ had no clue in Oct. who was his best point guard and who the backup was. Luptak wasn't.
2.The PL wanted us for about 5 yrs when Fordham left to join the A-10. Al Checcio was the moving force in moving Ladner to join with his Bucknell buddy. When you get lousy coaches for 10 yrs. like Knoche, and lousy AD's like O'Donnell- then of course you will finish in the bottom of the CAA - then composed mostly of publicly funded schools in the Virginias and Carolinas. Just where is AU going to play football genius ? the parking lot?
3.yes built on transfers, Vlad now, and 2 next yr. no question about it.
4.Again, williams, lynam, young, tapscott. just like anon said.
Anon: you're either being willfully ignorant or you don't listen or comprehend too good.
ReplyDelete1) If you're arguing that Blake should play ahead of Munoz, have the stones to say so, instead of hiding behind the "JJ is being unfair to Jolivette" nonsense. Again, if Blake was better, he'd be playing. I can't say it any clearer than that. You want to disagree, fine, but I'll trust the coaches who've evaluated both of them for six months over you.
2) You keep trying to change the subject re: CAA/Patriot League. I have never said the PL didn't want us. I know they wanted us. My original point--which you have never refuted--is that the CAA DIDN'T want us and didn't care if we left. We don't spend what the other schools in the conference do on anything--coaching salaries, recrutiing budget, etc. Compared to Richmond/GM/JMU, our arena is a joke. The CAA wanted schools who were going to, among other things, commit to a football program--which was, genius, what I was referring to, as AU clearly is not going to resucuitate football and/or baseball as varsity sports. AU is not a "mid-major" in any sense of the word, and the CAA's stated intention is to be a mid-major power. So they DIDN'T WANT US, and didn't care if we left.
3) I can't have a discussion with someone that's not willing to deal in facts and reality. If you think we've "built" this program on transfers, you're not being honest and just have an ax to grind. I'll say it again: Mercer. Carr. Gilmore. Nichols. All 4-year guys. We have ONE transfer on this year's roster--Vlad. Everyone else is a JJ recruit. Next year, we have two transfers in Brewer and Hinkle, along with Vlad. Everyone else--Munoz, Hendra, Lump, Grafft, McCormick, Blake, Bersch, Hill and Wroblicky--is a recruit. That's 75 percent of the roster, by my math.
4) Let's make this simple:
All the "young, hot, energetic" coaches AU has had over the years, from Gary to Lynam to Tap, have combined for zero NCAA appearances in 35 or so years. JJ has two in 10, and five PL Finals appearances. I'll roll with JJ.
Obviously you two disagree on things, which is A-OK with me. Just easy with the heat of the moment name calling if you can. We're all big boys here and can take the heat but let's try to keep it more or less civil.
ReplyDeleteThis has been your gratuitous AUHoops.com public service announcement. Carry on with the great debate!
So much action on the site in the past 48 hours, it's really encouraging. Thanks for being here and investing time and energy into your comments, Josh and I very much appreciate it.
Bill, you're right. My apologies. I don't mind a healthy debate and I should not include invective in my comments. They can stand on their own.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked to see all these comments. I am also shocked to see how intelligent and how ignorant some of the comments were. It really is astonishing to me to see how coaches are bashed by fans/followers/critics - whatever you want to call them - following a loss. Someone previously put it very well - Lehigh is a very talented team led by 2 very good seniors and also equipped with some good young talent and yesterday they beat an AU team that was missing its most experienced player and an AU team that just didn't play well. There really isn't much more to say about the Lehigh game. As far as Joe Hill taking so many 3's - were they all good shots? no. were a lot of them wide open? yes. Is and has Joe's job been to knock down 3s? Yes. Will AU win many games with Joe taking 15 three point shots? Probably not. Regardless, Joe was playing in place of Nick, not for Blake. Steve has taken Blake's minutes and JJs decision was made several games ago and changing it now, after the team has begun to gel and form chemistry (3 wins in a row?) would make absolutely no sense. Coach has also made a decision to play Joe Hill in reserve minutes and not Bersch - at some point he believed that Hill probably did things better (defense, remembered the offensive sets, worked his ass off, knocked down shots in practice/games) and he's sticking to his guns as to keep the recent chemistry intact. Any team at this point in the season gets down to a 7-9 man rotation and does not differ from it. I also can't say I agree on the comment about AU's success being built on AU transfers. Were Bryce and Frank great additions to AUs squad the past two seasons? ABSOLUTELY. Were they the sole reason that AU won the PL title the last two years? No. Mercer, Carr, Nichols, and Gilmore were the core of that team and the addition of Simon and Borden made the AU team that much better and helped them not only two win the PL title, but to do so in a fairly dominate fashion last year and to put a scare in two teams in the NCAA tournament. AU is young and not as talented as they have been in the past couple years. Be patient. Coach Jones has a reason for who he plays - he plays those that buy into his system - a system that has proven to be successful when each player buys in and the right bond is formed between them. As for the Hendra situation - who knows what he did? Most schools in the country are not going to release the information so why should we expect AU to be any different. Coaches are always going to have their decisions second guessed - understandable. Everyone wants to play monday morning quarterback..why wouldn't we? It's easy to sound right after the fact. Coach Jones has done an amazing job with the AU program and as somebody previously mentioned - he is the best coach AU will ever have.
ReplyDeleteOk so maybe the athletic department didn't say Hendra was suspended because they didn't want Lehigh to find out? Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteIt would be a lot easier to scout us when our second (third?) leading scorer is out
First of all, I see no reason for someone to post 'anonymously.' Make up a handle; it doesn't have to be your real name or real e-mail address. All this Anonymous and Formerly Anonymous is very confusing!
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, I think it's normal for fans to question after a loss. Sure, we all know that JJ has had success at AU and even before. But this doesn't mean he gets a free pass.
The most unique thing about the last two years: The improvement of Mercer, Carr, and Gilmore. I rarely see players improve at AU. I've been following the team since '76, and it's hard to think of a player who really got better from year to year. We had three players who stepped up their games all at the same time, in a big way. This happens at other programs all the time, but rarely at AU.
In terms of playing time, I would have to say that some players never develop as they should because of the lack of playing time. Hendra is one example his freshman year. . Lumpkins sat too much his freshman year also. Nichols had a very hard time getting into games. Even his senior year. He didn't become a starter until later. Yeah, when I was watching AU vs Tennessee or vs Villanova, I was thinking of how much more some players could have contributed if they had some more game experience.
So as much as I admire JJ and what he's done, it doesn't mean he can't improve.
As far as the Jolivettte / Bersch issue is concerned, I have no better idea than the coaches.
As far as the Lehigh game, though, I have to disagree that Joe Hill's job is to take 3s. Joe Hill's job is to take 3s with his toe one inch beyond the three point line after his teammates have carefully set him up to take it calmly with his body squared and with the big guys ready to rebound. You have 35 seconds to try to do that, and if it takes you all of it, so be it.
Also, I don't see what would be wrong, in the absence of Nick Hendra, of playing Vlad at the small forward. If they are going to collapse AND double team Vlad, then both Grafft and Lumpkins should be able to do some damage on the inside if Vlad draws people away from the basket. You still have Fischer to give them relief in the case of foul trouble. But watching those ugly 3s go up made me very glad that I didn't break my neck to try and get to the arena.
As I said before, there were some things to like about AU's play up to a point. We had some nice box outs in the first half and some really good screens. We held Knutson in check very well. Mostly, Mcollum and Hall were making some tough shots and Carrington had some clean up, so we were kinda tough on defense. Simon Mccormack made some very good decisions in the first half. We were only losing by three, though I felt at that point we should have been winning.
I just want to take the opportunity to thank you all for the incredible insight and activity over the past day. This has been really encouraging for us here and this has really lit the fire under my butt, at least, to get cracking on making a true message board as a complement to our blog a reality.
ReplyDeleteAlso as to the comments about JJ's ability to recruit - getting Robert Burke from Georgetown I think was a big coup for us as far as recruiting ability. Burke was known as the best recruiting assistant for Georgetown (other than JTIII himself), and he had been with him since he moved from Princeton. I think if he is able to bring some of his clout with him and sticks around for a few years, it could mean good things one, two, three seasons from now and beyond. Thoughts of the next 2-3 years are more than enough to get us through this tough season.
Thanks again all!
This is an awesome thread! My take on a few things:
ReplyDeleteNick Hendra as an emotional leader? I'm not quite sure where Tom got that from. I've heard more people around AU Athletics dissing him this year than praising him, but I could be wrong. As to why he was suspended: I think you guys make a very good point about Jones keeping this under wraps. I can tell you this, Jones knows, Hendra knows, AD Keith Gill probably knows, and that could be it. One media relations official told me after the game that, "I'd like to know why he was suspended too." Either way I (and I'm sure the Eagle too) am gonna keep poking and see if anything comes up. It may not but it's worth a look, and the longer the suspension lasts the more suspicious we'll all be.
There is a lot of validity to criticizing Coach Jones over Joe Hill's minutes, especially after his parade of threes reached 0-7 before he finally sunk one. After the game he talked a lot about how he thought that the Eagles were not good enough at taking the ball to the basket to challenge some of the guys in the low post for Lehigh. This brings me back to a conundrum I was debating after the game against Randolph Macon: how is AU supposed to score? They don't excel at any one type of offense, be it in the paint or jump shooting. You could probably argue they're built to score in the paint because of their size, but aside from Lumpkins (and arguably Vlad) they don't have a solid big man. This KILLED them against Lehigh. When Lump got in foul trouble they had nobody else to turn to, so they shot 3s like Garrison Carr was playing.
Playing time is something Jeff Jones takes pretty seriously. He likes his rotation and only digs deep when he's really unhappy with how the team's playing. Thats why you see his teams go on two year runs and then fall off a cliff when all seven people in his rotation graduate.
As for the revolving door at Point, I think Jeff Jones respects the need for an above average point guard and just doesn't think he has it yet. Munoz may become it, Blake may become it, but neither is there yet. This team is pretty young, although Vlad is a junior. I like the core of this team, and I think they have come a long way this season. For a while it didn't look like they'd ever win a game. I think this team could be back to the conference championship game next year, barring injuries or suspensions.
Being an athlete who plays a different sport at American. Everything in the athletic department is kept hush hush especially if it is something like a player being suspended. On the topic of the caa/ pl debate the caa didn't care we left because we weren't bringing them any money cuz we don't have a football team and that is the revenue generator in college sports. If you look at it we were competitive in other sports while in the caa so it's not like we couldn't cut it. It comes down to the fact that we had no football team and we were able to be in the pl without a football team becuase gtown and Fordham are in it for football. The caa obviously thinks we are worth it if they continualy schedule games against au in athletics
ReplyDeleteQuote: "Also as to the comments about JJ's ability to recruit - getting Robert Burke from Georgetown I think was a big coup for us as far as recruiting ability. Burke was known as the best recruiting assistant for Georgetown (other than JTIII himself), and he had been with him since he moved from Princeton."
ReplyDelete- - - - - -
Huh???
Burke was fired by Georgetown at the end of April last year according to multiple sources. (For example: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062401393.html ) He wasn't hired by AU until the start of July, after being out of work for more than two months.
As for Georgetown's recruiting, the guy who landed most of their key players was Kevin Broadus (prior to his going to Binghamton). He is a really sleazy character, but he was able to land players.
Nothing about Nick in the press conference, but I love what JJ says about the fans and the support of the team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiD0mnYz4Es
ReplyDeleteJust a note for "Formerly" - please tell us about the football programs that Drexel and Northeastern brought into the CAA, when AU left.
ReplyDeleteif AU today had to compete 2x's per season against the former Middle Atlantic Conference teams: Temple, St. Josephs, LaSalle, Drexel,& Bucknell like Williams, Lynam, Young, and Tapscott (partly in CAA) did- then unfortunately i think we would be still NCAA barren. We are in a lower level conference than those days. We compete against only 7 other teams, and the two Service Schools have real tough recruiting issues. We have an easier road to the NCAA's than we did pre -1991.
i meant pre 2001 !
ReplyDeleteFrom the Formerly Formerly Anonymous (and, I agree, all these anonymi are getting confusing, hence the new moniker):
ReplyDeleteAs I suspect no one who reads the blog regularly cares much about the minutae of CAA history, this is the last I'll say on the subject:
Re: Northeastern Football: Mr. Baltimore, do you mean the FOOTBALL program Northeastern had for 74 YEARS, until it decided in December to discontinue it? The FOOTBALL program that, when Northeastern joined the CAA, allowed the CAA to form a FOOTBALL conference, as Northeastern became the sixth member school that had a program? You mean that one?
BTW, CAA Football has produced the last two National Champions in what the NCAA now calls its Football Championship Subdivision (and what it used to call I-AA): Richmond in '08 and Villanova in '09. Football is a major revenue generator for the CAA now, and many schools, like Northeastern, have come to the realization they can't spend what's necessary to compete in that sport. Which is what AU realized. Which, again and for the last time, is why the CAA was indifferent to our leaving for the PL.
As to your other point, a fair one. No one can honestly argue that the PL is tougher than the old ECAC South/CAA was in basketball. But, while we're very competitive, we don't exactly dominate the PL every year. I would argue that makes JJ's accomplishments that much more impressive. I suspect you'd argue the opposite.
Anyone who isn't impressed with JJ's accomplishments isn't paying very close attention. If I criticize something it is only in the hope I have a team I can be proud to root for even in a down year.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is really old (class of 1986), let me tell you that you kids just don't know how good you have it with JJ. TRUST ME on this one.
ReplyDeleteJJ has never finished worse the .500 in the PL. Put that in a major conference with a cupcake ooc schedule and he would have been in the NCAA tournament each year. 5 final appearances and 2 championships in 8 PL years, thats unbelievable! He has had great recruits out of high school, juco and overseas. Does it really matter?
ReplyDelete"He has had great recruits out of high school, juco, and overseas. Does it really matter?"
ReplyDeleteNot to me. Not one bit.
just an off the wall tidbit to change the tone a little.. Anyone remember beating Colgate the other year with less than a second on the clock (.07 I believe) and down two points and having to inboounds the opposite end of the court and JJ ran a gimmick play that worked forcing a foul without inbounding the ball. Arvidas went to the line and sank both ends of the 1 and 1 and we went to OT and won. Great win for JJ.
ReplyDeleteHoping to get revenge on Bucknell on Thursday if they play and then go to Colgate to see them win on the road. Always a great trip. I for one enjoy this year as much as any. I just enjoy AU basketball. It's a great level, good to see the struggle, really makes me appreciate the winning times that much more. See everyone on Thursday.