Time To Give Laugh-ayette One Final Sad This Season

Lafayette's Consolation Prize

WHO: #2 AU Eagles  (22-8, 11-3) vs. #6 Lafayette Leopards (12-18, 6-8), Round 3

WHAT: Patriot League Semifinals

WHEN: 5:00 PM March 6th (TODAY)

WHERE: Bender Arena

WHY: We're a hop, skip, and a Leopard-print jump away from the Championship

HOW: No overtime periods necessary

It seems like it was only a little over a week ago that we found ourselves in Easton, PA, fighting to stay alive as the Lafayette LOLCats made a not-so-funny and played absolutely out of their minds in an attempt to draw a home game in the PL Tournament. OK, maybe we weren't exactly fighting to stay alive - win or lose, the game had absolutely zero effect on our seeding in the conference tournament. Despite this, we came back not once, but twice from seemingly impossible deficits to not only beat the clock, but beat the Leopards in double overtime 95-92. This ability to make clutch plays and stay strong near the end in a game where we had nothing to lose, but our opponent everything, is something we've been searching for all season and have (hopefully), finally found.

To be honest, though, we did have something to gain by winning in Easton way back on February 26th, and that's a whole lot of confidence going into this game. I don't mean the type of confidence that will cause us to mistakenly look past the Leopards this round (cross those fingers tight, folks), but the type of confidence that says our 14-game winning streak against the LOLkitties (longest active streak in the League) will hold fast when both team's seasons are on the line. 

Do I expect another double-overtime nailbiter extravaganza? Simply put, no. As I mentioned to trick-shot guru Steve Luptak after the AU Women put on a clinic against Holy Cross yesterday afternoon, "no double overtime necessary." He smiled and said, "that's not the plan. " Well, OK, maybe it's never the plan, but the chances of it happening in Bender Arena are particularly slim. When the 'Pards last came calling in Washington, we put them to sleep in a 73-60 drubbing that was one of our best League wins to date. With any luck, we'll have that same success today.

Who will be our biggest obstacles to victory? Literally speaking, Lumpkins will have to step up vs. Canadian big man Jared Mintz, who put up 26 points and 9 rebounds in Easton a week ago (although notably he was held to two points between both overtime periods). Lafayette's other frontcourt threat, 6'8" forward Ryan Willen, will have to be kept in check as well, although on most nights he isn't nearly as dangerous as Mintz. Sharpshooter Ryan Willen will have to be guarded carefully, although I am sure Nick Hendra and Troy Brewer will be up to the challenge. Finally, it's now worth mentioning sophomore guard Tony Johnson, who went absolutely out of his mind with a team-high 29 points against us last time out, despite averaging 8 ppg (and that's after the fact). In Bender in January, Johnson scored 7.

Although defense is critical, offensively we always seem to find our spark against the Leopards, consistently scoring over 70 points in our contests with them. Vlad is clearly on a hot streak, and (let me knock on the nearest piece of wood before typing this), he doesn't let up one iota of impalement this game. Putting up back-to-back 30-point games (with the first being against Lafayette), has put his season average back up over 20 ppg, and in fact only 13 points stand between him and the 1,000-point plateau for his tragically short career with the Eagles. 

If you remember only a year ago, Vlad struggled in the conference tournament, putting up only ten points in two games (he had more points in the first half of the Colgate game this season, for apt comparison). Luckily, Lump was there to pick up the slack and carry us to the semifinals, but that's not good enough for Vlad this season. Unsurprisingly, Vlad was asked many times what the difference is this year after his 31 points against Colgate in the quarterfinals. His easy-going demeanor showed through as he laughed it off the first few times, before becoming deadly serious and stating, "this year, that just can't happen." Vlad came to AU to win a championship, and I'll be damned if anyone, Raider, Leopard, or Bison, is going to get in his way. NBC4 agrees with this great feature on our "Romanian import."

Also of note is our ability to crash the boards, with our starting lineup averaging just over 23.5 rpg between them. Better still is our propensity to share the ball,  highlighted by Nick Hendra's 9:0 assist to turnover ratio last game. If nine assists seem like a lot, keep in mind we only as 7 turnovers as a team all game. Sure, his shots weren't falling (he had no points), but with ball handling like that, Hendra picks up the slack from the point and then some. Looking back to last season, and even the beginning of this one, our skill with holding onto and sharing the ball has improved remarkably. I'd be remiss if I also didn't mention that we have been seeing some very solid play from the point guards. Against Colgate the Danny-Steve combo platter had a respectable 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists to 2 turnovers between them. Not mind-blowing numbers, but solid, and they showed some flashes of aggression that just weren't there even a few weeks ago. Finally, of course, there's Stephen "The Unstumpable" Lumpkins, whose 19 point, 15 rebound double-double performance on Wednesday was described by Coach Jones after the game as "OK." When that's "OK", you know that there's a lot of potential there, and if he can unleash it against Leopard counterpart, there will be no stopping him.

This week's Poll of the Week was hopefully prophetic of some of the above, as we asked which Eagle you thought would be most likely to be named Patriot League Tournament MVP, assuming we win it all. A record 91 of you said: 

Which Eagle is most likely to be named Patriot League Tournament MVP?

I doubt anyone is surprised that Vlad garnered 67% of the votes, with his back-to-back monster games since this poll first went up. I'm a little surprised Troy didn't pick up more than 8% after his 28 points at Lafayette, and Lump had those same numbers after his big double-double against Colgate. Clearly, Eagles Nation is putting this team on Vlad's back, and as long as he keeps impaling at these levels, that's fine with me (and, I suspect, him as well). On a lighter note, I was happy to see that 11% of our readers feel that Tony Wroblicky, Blake Jolivette, or the mighty Warren Flood will step up and single-handedly bring us home a championship. Hats off to you guys! Warren Flood forever!

I'll leave you today with a desperate plea. If you happen to be within, say, 100 miles of Bender Arena this evening, then please GET YOUR RED, WHITE, and BLUE BEHIND INTO SECTION 114. Lafayette is not on spring break yet, and is confirmed to be sending down a fan bus. Although we are on break (good news is that changes to the academic calendar will prevent this next year), I want to ensure that the Blue Crew remains the best home court advantage in the League. BE THERE, BE LOUD, BE BLUE, BE AU! That's 5 PM in Bender Arena, and don't forget your game face.

If you can't make it to Bender, it's OK, I won't hold it against you. Just be sure to join us for a rousing liveblog that if Lafayette could read, would surely strike fear into their little Leopard hearts. Until then, put on some face paint, ready your dancing shoes, and get ready to give the LOLCats one final sad this season.

Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!

Josh