To get back on track, the Raiders have undoubtedly the worst record in the Patriot League. At 1-14 overall, and 0-2 in the League, it's a bit of an understatement to say that Colgate's had a challenging season. Likely most painful for the Raiders are the near record-setting blowout losses to Duke, Syracuse, and Maryland on the road, with the average margin of defeat just shy of 55 ppg. In conference play, Colgate opened by falling to Army and Lafayette, which is not an encouraging sign for them when AU is about to come calling.
That's because we are 18-4 all-time against the Raiders, although we split the series last year. I would still argue that our loss, which came at Colgate in double overtime 75-74, was due to the lack of cameras and replays and the inability of anyone to verify a last-second shot by Vlad, which I maintain was good. However, the most noteworthy play on our end was the shot that even got us into overtime, a buzzer-beating three from Joe "The Mountain" Hill that left our liveblog, well, speechless.
Last season's heroes for the Raiders, Ben Jonson and Kyle Roemer, were lost to graduation. Months ago, I would have speculated that Virginia transfer John Brandenburg, hailed as one of the best transfers in League history primarily due to a ridiculously high ranking coming out of high school, would have given us Muscala-esque fits in the post. However, Brandenburg has largely flamed out this season, averaging 3.6 ppg and 2.7 rpg - poor numbers for a big man listed as 7'0" at Virginia (downgraded to a still-imposing 6'11" by Coach Emmett Davis' staff), and weighing in at 263 lbs. Assuming Vlad plays (more on this in a bit), and even if Lumpkins has to shoulder a lot of the load, we should have no problems in the post, or having our way with inside-outside sets.
That isn't to say that Colgate doesn't have its share of quality players this year. Yaw Gyawu is as fierce as ever, averaging 12.5 ppg, with senior guard Joe Hoban contributing a solid 9.3 ppg as well. Even with the production from Gyawu and Hoban, the Raiders are giving up an average of 75.8 ppg while scoring only 59.5 ppg of their own. Of course, these numbers are skewed a bit from the huge road blowouts, the other 80% of their games haven't been particularly close either.
Needless to say, this should be an opportunity for us to rebuild our spirits after Bucknell. We are still a top team in the League, and have the opportunity to upset the Bison in Lewisburg later on and bring the Patriot League Tournament home to Bender.
One thing we will be watching out for, however, is whether or not Vlad plays. He took a pretty terrible face plant while trying to avoid diving into a camera during the Bucknell game, and while he stood up after a few moments and seemed to be annoyed most by a bloody arm, we don't know if there was any hidden damage. He already sat out one game this season (Columbia) with a mild concussion, and at the very least I can imagine he missed at least one practice just to be safe. While I am hoping he's able to get out there today, I also hope he isn't overextending himself, as while he's an important cog on the team his long-term health is far more important. Regardless, even if Vlad does sit out, we should be able to defeat Colgate, which may be an even better confidence booster.
We'll let you know if we can get a liveblog up prior to the 2:00 PM EST tip. If not, you can follow live stats of the game here.
Before I leave you this morning, I'd like to share something I saw yesterday during AU's incredible counter-protest sparked by the Westboro Baptist Church's unfortunate visit yesterday afternoon:
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| Nothing breaks the awkwardness of the Westboro Baptist Church like exerting dominance on the basketball court* |
*For those unfamiliar with the Westboro Baptist Church, that sign is mocking the infamous ones they produce that say such terrible things as "Thank God For (insert natural disaster or national tragedy here)", and it's not trying to be offensive in its own right.
Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh
I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Jones doesn't dress out Moldoveanu even if he's healthy. A way to learn to win without Moldoveanu is to force our team to win without Moldoveanu. With Colgate we won't get a better opportunity before we face Lehigh and Bucknell again and Jeff Jones has a convent excuse for those who would question such a move.
ReplyDeletePointless and only vaguely interesting rambling story time:
My grandfather played for Woodrow Wilson basketball in the forties. He was a role player playing a fair number of minuets off of the bench. The coach was talking with my grandfather before the district championship about whether or not to play the star who was injured. The coach new he shouldn't play him but felt like they couldn't win without him. He played him anyway and the team won the title. If a high school coach in the forties could feel the pressure to play a player when he knew he shouldn't have then even in the Patriot League coaches can be under pressure to make decisions based on a priority of winning when other priorities should trump. I don't think Jeff Jones would play a player he shouldn't but I can't be sure.
Also interestingly, my grandfather didn't play (at-least much) that game. He played a type of ball the coach didn't want him to play. My grandfather was good at set shots as opposed to layups which were the two types of shots in the game then (a set shot is unheard of in today's game). The coach wanted a stronger inside game and my grandfather would ignore him and take the set shots from outside. A couple of years latter when my grandfather was at college at Maryland (annual tuition: $550) he and his buddies took a trip to American University to see the AU player who was doing the brand new thing of jumping when he takes a set shot. It's a nice gimmick and may work for him but I really don't see it catching on.
Oh yeah... I brush with Crest. Lets Go Eagles.
Benjamin Arthur Schwab
There will be live streaming here for anyone that wants to watch: http://www.midmajority.com/pxl/93192#top
ReplyDeleteI'd like to take a moment and say that, aside from the Bucknell fiasco, AU has been showing some of the best off the ball movement I have ever seen here. If they can keep that up, I see no reason why we can't get back to that against a lesser team. So far, Bucknell is the only PL team that poses unique problems for us. And we have a lot of time to figure them out for the rematch.
ReplyDeleteI assume you know, but just didn't say, that just beating Bucknell in the rematch is not enough to bring the tournament to Bender. If both Bucknell and American both went 13-1 (which isn't going to happen), then Bucknell would host the tournament.
ReplyDelete@bison137, if Bucknell and AU were tied in PL standings and split the head-to-head, whats the 2nd tiebreaker?
ReplyDeleteSecond tiebreaker is each team's record against the third place team, then the fourth place team, etc. But of course that doesn't break the tie if they are each 13-1 or 12-2 with splits with each other and LU.
ReplyDeleteIn that case, the next tiebreaker is each team's RPI. If BU and AU each end up with thes same PL record, there is no possible way AU could catch up in that metric. Thus BU would host if they met in the final.
Well, let's not assume too much about the rest of the season yet. I am not assuming AU will run the table, nor can I assume the same thing of Bucknell since they struggled against Navy in their first game.
ReplyDeleteThe AU-Colgate game was ugly. AU started off cold, then abandoned their offense for a series of bailout shots, making it easy on the Colgate defense. I'm not sure what our thinking is, but it stinks.
bison, is it RPI or OOC record? was never sure about that, although RPI would make more sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's RPI. OOC record would definitely make no sense since there is such a difference from one team to the other. For example, Bucknell's ooc schedule ranked more than 100 places higher than AU's - so a comparison of ooc record would not be meaningful.
ReplyDelete