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!
Showing posts with label daniel fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daniel fisher. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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.
Monday, December 21, 2009
We Played the Penn State Nittany Lions, Some GOOD, BAD, and UGLY Things Occurred. Supply Your Own Pith
Goooooooood evening AU fans! Well, no surprises here my friends, the Penn State Nittany Lions (by the way, what in the name of all that makes Jeff Jones angry is a Nittany Lion?) handed our AU Eagles their 10th loss of the season. Well, I shouldn't say no surprises. I was a little surprised that we were only down by 6 at the half. Let me tell you what I wasn't surprised by. I wasn't in the least surprised by the 15-1 run that PSU started the second half with. I was going to save this for Thursday's Open Letter to Jeff Jones, but I feel it can't wait, so let me give you a little sneak peak.
"Dear Jeff Jones,
I'm not sure exactly what you do or say to our Eagles at halftime that makes them come out EVERY SINGLE GAME sluggish and awful at the beginning of the second half, but for the love of all that makes you angry and profane, please stop doing it. Make them sit on the bench for halftime or something. Anything to keep them focused on the game, which is apparently the antithesis of whatever is going on in the locker room at halftime.
Love and kisses,
Barechested Bender Bill"
Oh, and JJ? Here's your dose of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY for the Penn State game.
"Dear Jeff Jones,
I'm not sure exactly what you do or say to our Eagles at halftime that makes them come out EVERY SINGLE GAME sluggish and awful at the beginning of the second half, but for the love of all that makes you angry and profane, please stop doing it. Make them sit on the bench for halftime or something. Anything to keep them focused on the game, which is apparently the antithesis of whatever is going on in the locker room at halftime.
Love and kisses,
Barechested Bender Bill"
Oh, and JJ? Here's your dose of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY for the Penn State game.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
When you lose by 27 to your city's powerhouse team but it's not quite as bad as you thought it would be, there's GOOD, BAD, and UGLY
Gooooooood evening AU hoops fans! Well, our fateful road swing has begun, and it has begun just as we expected, with a loss, 73-46 to Georgetown at the Verizon Center. To read the recap, go here, and to find the box score, go here. Honestly, the game wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. For the firat 8 mminutes or so we hung with the Hoyas pretty closely. We even had a lead! Don't believe me? Here's proof, in two forms!
First, from contributor Vidulicious (5-4):
And then from our own Josh (7-6):
If only the game had ended after the first seven minutes, we would've had the upset of the year! Alas, we had to play the remaining 33 minutes. It was filled with the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY. Stick with us and see what those elements were!
First, from contributor Vidulicious (5-4):
And then from our own Josh (7-6):
If only the game had ended after the first seven minutes, we would've had the upset of the year! Alas, we had to play the remaining 33 minutes. It was filled with the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY. Stick with us and see what those elements were!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Let's Talk Turkey: SPECULATION TUESDAY
Get it? Talk turkey? Thanksgiving is coming up? Oh God I need some more material. In any event, here we are, everyone, 0-5. Fear, not, however! There is an end in sight to this losing streak. Without too much introductory nonsense (you don't really come here for that, do you?) Here are my items for Speculation Tuesday:
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Playing a cross-town school in another athletic division often brings out the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY
Goooooood evening American University basketball fans! Well, no matter what happens this season, one thing that's positive is that we will NOT go winless! The Eagles defeated the Catholic Cardinals (harf harf) 70-64 in Bender Arena today in a game that eased many of this blogger's worries and fears. Without further dalliance, let's get to today's edition of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY!
THE GOOD
There's a lot that can go in this section as this game was a vast improvement over Tuesday's loss to Randolph Macon. Pretty much every area of the Eagles' game was better today, and it showed as they picked up the W. Some of the good:
- Four players with double-digit scoring: Lumpkins (21 points, career high), Munoz (15, career high), McCormack (12, career high), and Hendra (11). Steve Luptak just missed this cut with 8 points (also a career high).
- Two players with their first double-doubles: Lumpkins (21 points and 10 rebounds) and McCormack (12 points and 10 rebounds).
- Only 13 turnovers, 12 less than against Randolph-Macon. Overall we did a much better job of protecting the ball, and the dribbling was markedly improved.
- Lumpkins had a game that deserves a special shout-out here. To go along with his 21 points and 10 rebounds, he kicked in 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals and only committed one turnover. Now, Lumpkins only went 3-10 from the field, but he made up for it because he went 15-19 from the free throw line. If Lumpkins had only scored free throws, he would've still been tied for game high points. Marvelous performance from him. It's clear the team is relying on him, and he has really accepted the responsibility these past two games. He's also making it look good, near the end of the first half Lumpkins dished it to McCormack who put it in for two with a sweet reverse lay-in that fired up the crowd including President Neil Kerwin, who stood up and cheered for the play like he was an undergrad.
- Simon McCormack also deserves a pat on the back here. For a guy who got VERY minimal play time last year, he has looked fantastic so far this year. Great hustle, not giving up on plays, fighting for loose balls. +1 to you, sir. I think Jeff Jones has got quite a decision to make as four of the guards (Luptak, McCormack, Jolivette, and Munoz) all looked pretty good today.
- Free throw shooting. MUCH improved over last year. 32-38 as a team, including 8 in the last 32 seconds from Munoz to ice the game. We weren't bad, per se, from the line last season, but we weren't good by any stretch. Obviously we've put in some work on them during the off-season, and we ended up getting about half our points from the line tonight. Seems like that work paid off.
THE BAD
Unfortunately this wouldn't be much of a Good, Bad, and Ugly column without putting some things I thought were bad and could be improved upon. I hate to do it, but sometimes it's got to be done.
- I was a little disappointed by Riley Grafft's performance today. Here's the line: 17 minutes, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover. No points on 0-1 shooting, and the one shot was from three. Not a quality performance. I'm not sure if this is his fault or not, but Riley was out on the perimeter quite a lot, and I have no idea why. The team was trying to use him as some kind of a swing man, and it just didn't work. He should have been in the paint where he could've used his height to some advantage today against a short CUA team. Riley's got good hands for a big man, but using him on the perimeter as a swing man is not a good use of his talents.
- Daniel Fisher is someone else who could have had a better game. He was only in for seven minutes, but for most of those minutes he looked extremely uncomfortable in the paint. Calling for the ball when he was well guarded, not handling the ball well when they got it in to him. He did get to the line and sunk one of two. Just an off game, maybe, and I hope he'll recover and have a great one against St. Francis.
THE UGLY
- The passing today was very ugly. Especially in transition, but I'll get to that in a minute. These lazy bounce passes are not getting it done, and they were the cause of a lot of the turnovers this afternoon. The team needs to communicate better, think its passes through more completely, and most importantly, execute those passes. Too many passes were easily picked off today because we tried to force them. There were some pretty nice dishes, too, but not enough to keep this aspect of the game off the ugly list.
- The transition game was miserable. No points in transition today. Not one. And it isn't like we didn't have opportunities. The one bone I have to pick with Danny Munoz is that he has had some trouble running the point in transition in these two games. There have been some sloppy passes, not just by Danny, but he's done it the most. The transition game just needs some work, we're not getting back quick enough to take advantage of 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 situations. We're not making the right passes, and we're not converting.
Overall, you can see that from the comparative sizes of these sections this was a pretty good game. Vast improvement over Tuesday, and I think that we can at least be competitive for some of these opening regular season games. We saw some definite chemistry today that we didn't see on Tuesday. It also looks like we've got a plethora of candidates to run the point, and, whether he likes it or not, Jeff Jones may have to run point guard by committee. After these games, Luptak, McCormack, and Munoz have all proven they deserve the playing time they've been getting. Jolivette has been a little behind those three in terms of outputs, but he's still been playing pretty well.
While I was pretty perturbed after Tuesday, I feel much better after today. So, as always,
PRO DEO ET PATRIA AND GO EAGLES!
THE GOOD
There's a lot that can go in this section as this game was a vast improvement over Tuesday's loss to Randolph Macon. Pretty much every area of the Eagles' game was better today, and it showed as they picked up the W. Some of the good:
- Four players with double-digit scoring: Lumpkins (21 points, career high), Munoz (15, career high), McCormack (12, career high), and Hendra (11). Steve Luptak just missed this cut with 8 points (also a career high).
- Two players with their first double-doubles: Lumpkins (21 points and 10 rebounds) and McCormack (12 points and 10 rebounds).
- Only 13 turnovers, 12 less than against Randolph-Macon. Overall we did a much better job of protecting the ball, and the dribbling was markedly improved.
- Lumpkins had a game that deserves a special shout-out here. To go along with his 21 points and 10 rebounds, he kicked in 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals and only committed one turnover. Now, Lumpkins only went 3-10 from the field, but he made up for it because he went 15-19 from the free throw line. If Lumpkins had only scored free throws, he would've still been tied for game high points. Marvelous performance from him. It's clear the team is relying on him, and he has really accepted the responsibility these past two games. He's also making it look good, near the end of the first half Lumpkins dished it to McCormack who put it in for two with a sweet reverse lay-in that fired up the crowd including President Neil Kerwin, who stood up and cheered for the play like he was an undergrad.
- Simon McCormack also deserves a pat on the back here. For a guy who got VERY minimal play time last year, he has looked fantastic so far this year. Great hustle, not giving up on plays, fighting for loose balls. +1 to you, sir. I think Jeff Jones has got quite a decision to make as four of the guards (Luptak, McCormack, Jolivette, and Munoz) all looked pretty good today.
- Free throw shooting. MUCH improved over last year. 32-38 as a team, including 8 in the last 32 seconds from Munoz to ice the game. We weren't bad, per se, from the line last season, but we weren't good by any stretch. Obviously we've put in some work on them during the off-season, and we ended up getting about half our points from the line tonight. Seems like that work paid off.
THE BAD
Unfortunately this wouldn't be much of a Good, Bad, and Ugly column without putting some things I thought were bad and could be improved upon. I hate to do it, but sometimes it's got to be done.
- I was a little disappointed by Riley Grafft's performance today. Here's the line: 17 minutes, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover. No points on 0-1 shooting, and the one shot was from three. Not a quality performance. I'm not sure if this is his fault or not, but Riley was out on the perimeter quite a lot, and I have no idea why. The team was trying to use him as some kind of a swing man, and it just didn't work. He should have been in the paint where he could've used his height to some advantage today against a short CUA team. Riley's got good hands for a big man, but using him on the perimeter as a swing man is not a good use of his talents.
- Daniel Fisher is someone else who could have had a better game. He was only in for seven minutes, but for most of those minutes he looked extremely uncomfortable in the paint. Calling for the ball when he was well guarded, not handling the ball well when they got it in to him. He did get to the line and sunk one of two. Just an off game, maybe, and I hope he'll recover and have a great one against St. Francis.
THE UGLY
- The passing today was very ugly. Especially in transition, but I'll get to that in a minute. These lazy bounce passes are not getting it done, and they were the cause of a lot of the turnovers this afternoon. The team needs to communicate better, think its passes through more completely, and most importantly, execute those passes. Too many passes were easily picked off today because we tried to force them. There were some pretty nice dishes, too, but not enough to keep this aspect of the game off the ugly list.
- The transition game was miserable. No points in transition today. Not one. And it isn't like we didn't have opportunities. The one bone I have to pick with Danny Munoz is that he has had some trouble running the point in transition in these two games. There have been some sloppy passes, not just by Danny, but he's done it the most. The transition game just needs some work, we're not getting back quick enough to take advantage of 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 situations. We're not making the right passes, and we're not converting.
Overall, you can see that from the comparative sizes of these sections this was a pretty good game. Vast improvement over Tuesday, and I think that we can at least be competitive for some of these opening regular season games. We saw some definite chemistry today that we didn't see on Tuesday. It also looks like we've got a plethora of candidates to run the point, and, whether he likes it or not, Jeff Jones may have to run point guard by committee. After these games, Luptak, McCormack, and Munoz have all proven they deserve the playing time they've been getting. Jolivette has been a little behind those three in terms of outputs, but he's still been playing pretty well.
While I was pretty perturbed after Tuesday, I feel much better after today. So, as always,
PRO DEO ET PATRIA AND GO EAGLES!
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!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Let's Learn a Little Bit More About the Newest Eagles
Sorry it's been so long between entries, friends and fans. It's been a long week what with the real world and the weekend and all that good stuff.
I've got to be honest, my beloved (and often befuddled) Miami Dolphins are on Monday Night Football for the first time since 2006, so I'd like to watch them wreck Peyton Manning's evening. In the interest of letting me do that, we're going to do this entry quick and dirty like a Holy Cross education. Ohhhh. Yep.
Before I start on the main point of this entry, which is to take a look at our incoming freshmen, I want to send a shout-out of support to the team. I've been seeing (via Twitter and Facebook, yes I use social media, you might even say I am "hip" to it) that the team's practices have been featuring ladders. For those of you who don't do much in the way of physical activity except for double-clicking your mouses to come to this blog, ladders are hellacious. Just thinking about when I used to run them for cross-country makes me nauseous. Not sure what flavor of ladder the team is running, but you can be assured they aren't the least bit fun.
With that said, I have two things to say to the team: THANK YOU and KEEP GOING. I know it's easy for me to say the second thing since I'm not the one out there busting my ass on the court. I get that. But you guys had better believe that the fans appreciate the work you do to get in shape for the season. We'll repay all that effort with Blue Crew frenzy come game time. It will all be worth it in the end when you're running all over your winded opponents in the last five minutes of games.
In any event, let's talk a little bit about the class of 2013. We'll start with the forwards.
Get to know...Jeff Holton
6'7" (though he's also been listed variously at 6'6" and 6'8"), 240lb, Germantown Academy, Ft. Washington, PA
Jeff Holton is going to have to step up this season and have the kind of season that Lumpkins had last season. Why? Because as documented in the last entry, our depth at the 4 and 5 spots is just not there this year, and if Lumpkins or Vlad the Impaler get into foul trouble, Holton is going to have to step in and play some quality, or at least not bad, minutes. Named the best senior basketball player in his high school league, Holton has also been highly praised by ESPN's Scouts, Inc. who called him a "very skilled pick and pop four man that can put on the floor and get to the rim or stretch the defense by knocking down the open three. He runs the floor and has an excellent basketball IQ. Holton is a constant threat on the offensive end of the floor." ESPN does note that, "One area that Holton must improve in is rebounding. If he can add the offensive glass to his game and help start the break on the defensive end it takes his game to another level. Overall tremendous skill and scoring ability." You can find that review here if you have an ESPN Insider account (free!). The inexplicable thing here is that although Scouts gives him a grade of 83, which amounts to "a solid contributor and two- or three-year starter at a mid-major program," wasn't enough to get him any stars from Rivals. Let's hope Rivals was wrong on him (but right on Jolivette and Munoz).
Get to know...Mike Bersch
6'6", 205lb, Rancocas Valley Regional High School, Mt. Holly, NJ
If nothing else, the talented Mr. Bersch fills what I personally feel is a critical role on the team: representing for the Garden State. Sure he's a completely different kind of player than the last guy to hold that position down (Derrick Mercer), but let's hope he's bringing the same level of talent. Bersch helped Rancocas Valley win Jersey's Group 4 championship (the most competitive of NJ's six groups) in his junior year, but they were unable to repeat his senior year because of a broken hand. Bersch seems to be right in the thick of things because he also suffered a shoulder injury and concussion in his senior year. Like a true gamer though, Bersch, who was supposed to miss 4-6 weeks from these injuries, came back in under three weeks and in his first game back scored 25 points. He went 2-3 from long range and 5-7 from the line. Like Holton, he's going to have to play solid minutes behind Vlad and Lumpkins. ESPN praises his passing ability and says that he can "make a living as a pick-and-pop guy or as a shooter that spots up and delivers 3-point daggers in transition." They do criticize his ball-handling a bit, which means he might not be able to penetrate into the paint too often. Hopefully the coaches will work with him on his handle, which will go quite nicely with what sounds like an absolutely lethal long-range jumper.
Get to know...Daniel Fisher
6'7", 220lb, Melbourne Grammar, Melbourne, Australia
I have to begin this part of this entry with an apology, I haven't been able to get much on our newest eagle from the southern hemisphere. This is the only article that I have been able to find about him, but I'm hoping that I will get some more information soon from our friends at AU athletics. Daniel, takes this as a lame I.O.U., I look forward to writing plenty about you in the blog over this upcoming season.
Well friends and fans, I wanted to give you details on all seven freshmen tonight, but we're already most of the way through the second quarter, and there's a lot to write about on the guards. So I'll have to offer you a raincheck for the night, and you can be sure to wait with bated breath for an article that will be packed with arbitrary Rivals star ratings and what is sure to be a very competitive battle for the team's 1 spot. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed getting to know these forwards. Learn these names, because they'll be taking the place (on the court, not necessarily in our hearts) of Frane, Brian, Jordan, and Frank (when he was playing the 3). Anyway, cross your fingers that Joseph Addai continues to have a poor game, that'll make me much happier when I come back to tell you about the guards.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
I've got to be honest, my beloved (and often befuddled) Miami Dolphins are on Monday Night Football for the first time since 2006, so I'd like to watch them wreck Peyton Manning's evening. In the interest of letting me do that, we're going to do this entry quick and dirty like a Holy Cross education. Ohhhh. Yep.
Before I start on the main point of this entry, which is to take a look at our incoming freshmen, I want to send a shout-out of support to the team. I've been seeing (via Twitter and Facebook, yes I use social media, you might even say I am "hip" to it) that the team's practices have been featuring ladders. For those of you who don't do much in the way of physical activity except for double-clicking your mouses to come to this blog, ladders are hellacious. Just thinking about when I used to run them for cross-country makes me nauseous. Not sure what flavor of ladder the team is running, but you can be assured they aren't the least bit fun.
With that said, I have two things to say to the team: THANK YOU and KEEP GOING. I know it's easy for me to say the second thing since I'm not the one out there busting my ass on the court. I get that. But you guys had better believe that the fans appreciate the work you do to get in shape for the season. We'll repay all that effort with Blue Crew frenzy come game time. It will all be worth it in the end when you're running all over your winded opponents in the last five minutes of games.
In any event, let's talk a little bit about the class of 2013. We'll start with the forwards.
Get to know...Jeff Holton
6'7" (though he's also been listed variously at 6'6" and 6'8"), 240lb, Germantown Academy, Ft. Washington, PA
Jeff Holton is going to have to step up this season and have the kind of season that Lumpkins had last season. Why? Because as documented in the last entry, our depth at the 4 and 5 spots is just not there this year, and if Lumpkins or Vlad the Impaler get into foul trouble, Holton is going to have to step in and play some quality, or at least not bad, minutes. Named the best senior basketball player in his high school league, Holton has also been highly praised by ESPN's Scouts, Inc. who called him a "very skilled pick and pop four man that can put on the floor and get to the rim or stretch the defense by knocking down the open three. He runs the floor and has an excellent basketball IQ. Holton is a constant threat on the offensive end of the floor." ESPN does note that, "One area that Holton must improve in is rebounding. If he can add the offensive glass to his game and help start the break on the defensive end it takes his game to another level. Overall tremendous skill and scoring ability." You can find that review here if you have an ESPN Insider account (free!). The inexplicable thing here is that although Scouts gives him a grade of 83, which amounts to "a solid contributor and two- or three-year starter at a mid-major program," wasn't enough to get him any stars from Rivals. Let's hope Rivals was wrong on him (but right on Jolivette and Munoz).
Get to know...Mike Bersch
6'6", 205lb, Rancocas Valley Regional High School, Mt. Holly, NJ
If nothing else, the talented Mr. Bersch fills what I personally feel is a critical role on the team: representing for the Garden State. Sure he's a completely different kind of player than the last guy to hold that position down (Derrick Mercer), but let's hope he's bringing the same level of talent. Bersch helped Rancocas Valley win Jersey's Group 4 championship (the most competitive of NJ's six groups) in his junior year, but they were unable to repeat his senior year because of a broken hand. Bersch seems to be right in the thick of things because he also suffered a shoulder injury and concussion in his senior year. Like a true gamer though, Bersch, who was supposed to miss 4-6 weeks from these injuries, came back in under three weeks and in his first game back scored 25 points. He went 2-3 from long range and 5-7 from the line. Like Holton, he's going to have to play solid minutes behind Vlad and Lumpkins. ESPN praises his passing ability and says that he can "make a living as a pick-and-pop guy or as a shooter that spots up and delivers 3-point daggers in transition." They do criticize his ball-handling a bit, which means he might not be able to penetrate into the paint too often. Hopefully the coaches will work with him on his handle, which will go quite nicely with what sounds like an absolutely lethal long-range jumper.
Get to know...Daniel Fisher
6'7", 220lb, Melbourne Grammar, Melbourne, Australia
I have to begin this part of this entry with an apology, I haven't been able to get much on our newest eagle from the southern hemisphere. This is the only article that I have been able to find about him, but I'm hoping that I will get some more information soon from our friends at AU athletics. Daniel, takes this as a lame I.O.U., I look forward to writing plenty about you in the blog over this upcoming season.
Well friends and fans, I wanted to give you details on all seven freshmen tonight, but we're already most of the way through the second quarter, and there's a lot to write about on the guards. So I'll have to offer you a raincheck for the night, and you can be sure to wait with bated breath for an article that will be packed with arbitrary Rivals star ratings and what is sure to be a very competitive battle for the team's 1 spot. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed getting to know these forwards. Learn these names, because they'll be taking the place (on the court, not necessarily in our hearts) of Frane, Brian, Jordan, and Frank (when he was playing the 3). Anyway, cross your fingers that Joseph Addai continues to have a poor game, that'll make me much happier when I come back to tell you about the guards.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Does Everyone On This Team Weigh 215 Lbs? And Other Observations on the Revised Roster
AU Athletics did a little sprucing up to the men's basketball page today. What with posting a video (see previous entry) and updating the roster. Everyone has a number now (run out and get your 2009-10 AU Eagles tattoos with the do-it-yourself kit available at the Eagle's Nest) which is a bonus. In addition to numbers, the roster also expanded, by 25% no less! There are now fifteen Eagles on the roster, though Vlad Moldoveanu doesn't become eligible to play until January, and I'm not particularly sure about Troy Brewer (I'll check into that). Vlad should be a force at 6'10" 215lb (GMU's site lists him at 224lb), hopefully he'll spend the fall putting on some muscle; he just never got the minutes to have a breakout season at GMU, but in a future post we'll detail his impressive play in his native Romania.
Everyone else on the roster are the expected suspects, until you get to 6'7" 215lb freshman Daniel Fisher out of Melbourne Grammar in Melbourne, Australia. I've had trouble finding much information about him on the interwebs, but I'll be sure to try to get some from the ever-growing list of things I need to research.
What is particularly exciting about the roster is that the average size of the team is now a little under 6'5" and boasts no one listed at under 6'0". That kind of size will definitely help us in the non-conference portion of the schedule, but it would still be good to see some of our big men put on 5-10 lbs. of muscle (when you're 6'7"+ 200-210 lbs. isn't all that much anymore). At this point having six players over 6'6" gives us plenty of options down low, and I just hope that Coach Jones will adjust his playbook accordingly. We've played basically a perimeter game the past two seasons, but we may be able to pound it inside this season (assuming and God willing that these guys have good hands), which will open up Hendra and Joe Hill and Simon McCormack from the outside.
Anyway, those are the updates on the roster. We should have a ton of new content coming soon because I've found a co-contributor who will be introducing himself this weekend. Get excited. I am!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Everyone else on the roster are the expected suspects, until you get to 6'7" 215lb freshman Daniel Fisher out of Melbourne Grammar in Melbourne, Australia. I've had trouble finding much information about him on the interwebs, but I'll be sure to try to get some from the ever-growing list of things I need to research.
What is particularly exciting about the roster is that the average size of the team is now a little under 6'5" and boasts no one listed at under 6'0". That kind of size will definitely help us in the non-conference portion of the schedule, but it would still be good to see some of our big men put on 5-10 lbs. of muscle (when you're 6'7"+ 200-210 lbs. isn't all that much anymore). At this point having six players over 6'6" gives us plenty of options down low, and I just hope that Coach Jones will adjust his playbook accordingly. We've played basically a perimeter game the past two seasons, but we may be able to pound it inside this season (assuming and God willing that these guys have good hands), which will open up Hendra and Joe Hill and Simon McCormack from the outside.
Anyway, those are the updates on the roster. We should have a ton of new content coming soon because I've found a co-contributor who will be introducing himself this weekend. Get excited. I am!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
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