...of the Patriot League tournament, that is. We're still a few games away from the NCAA Tournament's Final Four, but all in due time my friends. We're just eight games away from AU's first national championship (and the Patriot League's, actually).
How did we get into this position? By playing a really complete game against the Colgate Raiders last night. Colgate was in it in earnest for all of about six minutes. After that it was all AU, and especially all Vlad the Impaler and the Unstumpable Lump. AU will play the Laugh-ayette LOLKitties, who upset the delightfully underperforming given how talented they are Holy Cross Crusaders, on Sunday night at 5pm.
Let's look at a few highlights from last night raid of the #7 Raiders, shall we?
- Vlad really impaled last night. 31 points on 11-19, 4-6, 5-7 with 7 boards? Whaaaaaa? He put on a clinic. Driving to the basket, shots from long range, baseline jumpers, leaners in the lane. There was just nothing the Raiders could do about it either. Mike Venezia gave a nice effort, but in the end, his forearm checks to Vlad's back just weren't good enough.
- Lumpkins, aside from playing Navy, has been remarkably consistent in Patriot League play. Last night was no different. He had his 55th double-double of the season. That's not an error. We've played 30 games this year, and Lumpkins had 55 double-doubles. Remarkable, huh? He had 17 points on 6-7 from the field and 15 boards. He also did a great job with John Brandenburg and Nick Pascale on defense while only picking up one foul in 38 minutes. Great game for Lumpy.
- Tough game from the field yesterday for Nick Hendra. 0-6 from the field and 0-4 from long range, but if you ignore that, as you should, and look at the incredible 9 assists against 0 turnovers and the tremendous defense he played all game. Hendra had some good looks that just didn't drop yesterday. It happens. What's also been happening a lot is that Hendra is using his perfected float pass to perfectly place the ball in past the defense and into Lump or Vlad's hands for an easy two. You also saw a great moment last night toward the end of the game when Lump got called out by JJ for something. JJ was really ripping into Lump on the sideline and Hendra came over, put his arm around the big man, gave him some encouragement, and patted him the ass to get him back in the game. That's the kind of leadership you need from your seniors, and that's what we're getting from Lump.
- Every once in a while you see great drives from Munoz or Luptak. Flashes of brilliance that I really wish we could see more of. Clearly our time to see more of it out of Luptak has passed, but hopefully this will change out of Munoz in the future.
- Charles Hinkle doesn't score a ton of points, but when he does, it seems like they come in bunches. He came in yesterday and hit a clutch deep three as the shot clock expired, and then within the next minute got another jumper from 18 feet. Hinkle's five points started a 10-0 run that AU never looked back from.
- Tough game for Troy yesterday. Only 2-8 from the field and 3-4 from the line for a total of 7 points. He did have 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Luckily we didn't really need a huge game from Troy yesterday. We will need a big one on Sunday though, so put your Spiderman suit back on.
That's all I've got for you. What did I miss? Leave it in the comments! What do you think our prospects are for Sunday? Excited? YOU SHOULD BE! EIGHT GAMES, FOLKS.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
We are so lucky to have JJ. Sometimes I think we take him for granted around here. The growth in a player like Hendra--and you know I've had my doubts about Nick for two years--speaks volumes about the way JJ and his staff get most of our kids to get better over four years. (I recall reading a lot last season about how JJ "doesn't develop" anyone, that no one had gotten better during their time here. Don't hear much from those folks these days.)
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't a great performance Wednesday but I expected them to be a little nervous, and for Colgate to play desperate, and both happened. Besides, we're never going to look pretty this season, and we're not going to blow many people out; we've only had one or two true routs this season, and not one since Fordham. We are what we are, and I have been quite pleased with this group's toughness and competitiveness.
Lafayette is playing much better now than they did earlier, and Mintz always seems to give Lump trouble. But if we can keep Johnson from going nuts again I think we win and get the rubber match against Bucknell. Hopefully the student turnout won't be miniscule because of spring break. Lafayette is bringing at least one bus with students.
AU has never had the firepower to rout anyone. Throughout the years it's been a rarity. So I am not looking for a route, but I am looking for steady play and good decision-making.
ReplyDeletePlayer improvement has also been a rarity at AU since 1976 when I first got to campus. The big breakthrough was the junior year of Carr, Mercer, and Gilmore. Three players ALL AT ONCE transformed themselves during the summer and came back to AU as seasoned veterans. Just like you see at those schools in the major conferences. Before that, Gilmore was a typical clumsy AU forward, Carr was a spot player, and Mercer was a cautious role player.
AU has had its share of bad luck in recent years. Guibunda not returning with one year of eligibility remaining and Bryce Simon’s ‘career-ending’ injury limited our potential. I think AU would have beaten both Tenessee and Villanova with a complete team. As is, we gave them all they could handle with Travis Lay and Frank Borden as starting forwards: a duo that couldn’t strike fear in the PL, and 6-5 starting center Jordan Nickles who was never a factor on offense.
This year, the big story is Vlad’s improved defense and rebounding. Hendra is our de facto point guard who has unfortunately lost his shooting touch.