Another Update on Josh Snodgrass's Transfer

Thanks to contributor Vidulicious comes this piece of news from The Gainesville Sun :

"Former P.K. Yonge basketball star Josh Snodgrass has departed American University. Twice the Sun's small-school player-of-the-year, Snodgrass dealt with a sprained ankle and the flu after joining the Eagles and and did not see action this season. Snodgrass committed to North Florida on Monday, according to P.K. Yonge coach Carlos Villalobos. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Snodgrass will have to sit out the rest of this season before becoming eligible to play for the Ospreys in the second semester of the 2010-11 season."

We had heard reports that he would be going to North Florida. This report obviously confirms them.

What I am particularly salty about, however, is the fact that we had to find out about Josh's ankle sprain and bout with the flu from a non-AU source. When I asked, "Is there anything that contributed to Josh's lack of playing time?" I essentially got a no comment about it. I guess they thought "Well, he had the flu and he was battling an ankle sprain" would've been too juicy a scoop for a fledgling blog like this one to handle or something. The mind-blowing complexity of it is something best left to WaPo, or at the very LEAST, DCist, I guess.

In any event, I'm willing to finally put this story to bed (although it was probably already there). I'll probably never get a straight comment about if there was anything chemistry/practice-wise that was keeping Josh from seeing minutes the way Munoz, Jolivette, and Bersch are. Maybe he really just wanted to transfer home and wasn't upset about not seeing the kind of minutes he will certainly see as soon as he's eligible at North Florida. And maybe not.

Either way I'll start reading hometown papers to get the dish on our AU Eagles players.

Unbelievable.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Update on Josh Snodgrass's Transfer

Since so many of you have asked about this, here's your update.

Nancy Yasharoff, Associate Athletics Director for Communications, said that Josh Snodgrass has contacted the basketball department and informed them of his intention to transfer. She said, "He intends to transfer to a school closer and we wish him all the best."

Athletics would not discuss Josh's lack of play time this season.

I'm certainly sorry to see Josh go; for someone who got such good reviews from Rivals as a recruit I wish we could have seen him in game at least once.

I'll keep my ears open for further details on the school he will be transferring to, how, if at all, AU will recruit to replace Josh, and the reasons that Jeff Jones had, if any, for not playing him.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

EAGLES WIN! EAGLES WIN! Speculation Tuesday and GOOD, BAD, and UGLY All in One? WHY NOT!? WE WON!

Gooooooooooood evening AU Hoops fans! We won! We won! We got a win! We were victorious! Ah, savor it. Having something other than a zero in the win column. Marvelous. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TEAM!

Ah, effusive joy and happiness concluded, it's time to get back to reality-ville. We won, but it was against an 0-7 team. And it was a very close game, 59-53. There is a lot to talk about in the good column tonight, but there's also some in the bad and ugly. We've also got a piece of news that will come at the end of this entry, and I'll do a very, very quick Speculation Tuesday at the end that will leave you with some questions to think about.

Alright here we goooooo with what should be a pretty long entry!

Will Jeff Jones tone down the profanity? Should the Blue Crew be the Red Crew? Is it Speculation Tuesday? Only one question can be answered YES

Why do I speculate on Tuesdays? It could be because I first had the idea to do a weekly post full of speculations on a Tuesday, or it could be because our site traffic needs a boost on Tuesday. But why hasn't there been a Speculation Tuesday entry since the first one like three weeks ago? It could be because I'm forgetful or easily distracted by shiny objects. Or it could be because the blue paint I use on myself isn't quite as non-toxic as it says it is on the label.

In any event, I'll be trying to make this a more regular feature on the site. Have things you want me to speculate about? Send them to auhoopsblog@gmail.com! I'll do my best to provide you some kind of answer, but of course it would just be pure speculation. Just like the rest of these...

According to Yahoo/Rivals Everyone Can Win the Patriot League Except AU!

Yahoo/Rivals issued their first team reports for the Patriot League today. AU's can be found here, and it's got some interesting tidbits in it...

The report doesn't mince words, saying that "it’s extremely unlikely the Eagles will make a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament." Well isn't that cute.

Obviously they've been getting their research skillz from this blog because they made sure to point out that the team is going to lean heavily on Hendra and Lumpkins. Well, obviously. What I do find a little curious is that they describe Lumpkins as "electric." I don't really know how I feel about that categorization. There isn't a whole lot of flash to his game. In fact, the reason he got so much play last year is probably because he's a pretty fundamentally sound player who hustles a lot and played maturely for a freshman. There's no, as Dick Vitale would say, razzle-dazzle, Shake n'Bake, or YEAAAAAAAAAAH BABY to his game. Whatever, it's one word, Bill, stop making such a huge flipping deal about it.

(I INTERRUPT THIS BLOG ENTRY FOR A RANDOM DOSE OF NAPOLEON DYNAMITE QUOTERY BROUGHT ON BY THE WORD "flipping")

Napoleon: Stay home and eat all the freakin' chips, Kip!

Kip: Napoleon, don't be jealous 'cause I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to become a cage fighter.

Napoleon: Since when, Kip? You have the worst reflexes of all time.

Kip: Try and hit me, Napoleon.

Napoleon: What?

Kip: I said come down here and see what happens if you try and hit me.

Napoleon: [comes down the stairs] Such an idiot...!

[After Napoleon tries and fails to hit Kip a few times, the doorbell rings]

Napoleon: I'll get it. [Slaps Kip in the face while he's not looking]

Kip: Geeeez!

(END NAPOLEON DYNAMITE CUT-IN)

Sorry about that. Anyway.

Conspicuously absent from Yahoo's team report are any mention of Steve Luptak, Matt Wilson, or any of the sophomores other than Lumpkins. I find that to be strange because the article notes that Coach Jones is "now turning to a batch of young players and those unfamiliar with the system," except that he has a bench full of people with a year or more of experience under his system. Strange.

Yahoo also managed to project the starting line-up:
G Nick Hendra, G Josh Snodrass, G Daniel Munoz, F Stephen Lumpkins, F Mike Bersch

All I can say about that is WTF, mate. I mean Hendra and Lumpkins were locks. It makes sense that either Bersch or Snodgrass would get to play at the 3 spot, but both of them, starting? Seriously, Yahoo? No Riley Grafft? I dunno, if I had to guess it would be:

G - Hendra
G - Munoz
F - Bersch/Snodgrass
F - Grafft (until Vlad the Impaler becomes eligible)
F - Lumpkins

The question I really have at this point is, what is Jeff Jones going to do with all of these guards? Are Simon McCormack and Joe Hill going to be career benchers? What is he going to do with Troy Brewer when he becomes eligible next season? I mean, I guess we'll be really deep and insured against injuries, but we're going to have to set some kind of PL record for substitutions with all the cycling through players that JJ is going to have to do.

I really encourage you to read the team report, as it has a lot of great information, even if I disagree with some of it.

For those of you interested in other PL teams, well, Holy Cross and Lehigh come out looking the best, mostly because they return a lot of players from last year.

Just got some breaking news, another entry coming momentarily.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

ZOMG Nine Guards? What is this "T-Pain Goes to the Club Night" at Bender Arena?

It's been a long day, so forgive the title. Or laugh at it. I did. Oh, speaking of T-Pain, if you haven't seen AutoTune the News, you must. So fantastic.

So I think it's fair to describe what we currently have right now as a glut of guards. Bringing in four different freshman guards isn't a bad idea given that three of the four of them are highly touted (and were sought after by other Patriot League teams) but it's going to be very interesting how the coaching staff balances all this new young talent (assuming they live up to the hype) against what experience actually is on the team.

I'm going to cheat a little bit here because I just wrote an entry about Jordan Borucki, and I still don't have a ton of information on him. So for what I do have, please see this entry, and I'll try to get you some more info pretty soon.

Moving on.

Let's get to know...Blake Jolivette
5'11", 170lb, St. Thomas High School, Houston, TX

One thing you can say about Blake Jolivette. The guy isn't discriminating about courts. Whether they be the kind you play basketball on or the kind I wind up in after leaving parties at the Berks, Blake likes them. Apparently he wants to be a lawyer and is really smart, given that he got 12 scholarship offers, some from Ivy League schools and two of the service academies. Impressive. He also turned down a scholarship offer from Holy Cross. That's not impressive, it's just smart.

Blake's rationale for winding up as an Eagle?
"I originally wanted to attend an Ivy League school because I have good grades, but they don’t offer athletic scholarships … I chose American because I was close with the coaches and they did a good job recruiting me. I like their philosophy pertaining to me and the fact that I will have a good chance to start my freshman year … and I really like the DC area because it is a perfect environment for law,” Blake said. Well how about that, told him he had a good chance to start eh? Tell that to the other eight guys, five of them with a year or more of experience. There's a pretty good reason for him to think he's got a good shot at starting though.

Rivals gives him two stars. ESPN grades him an 82 and says, "Jolivette has a good basketball body and is a strong lead guard. He has a good basketball IQ and takes care of the ball. He has the ability to run the team and is very steady...He makes excellent decisions in transition as well as in the half court and scores with his mid range game on dribble pull ups and slashes to the rim. He can keep the defense honest from behind the arc but his strength is running the team and finding the open man." Sounds like the skill set Mercer was so successful with for four years. At 5'11", he's got four inches on Mercer, now let's see if he's got anywhere close to Mercer's handle. If he lives up to the hype he could be the starting point guard by the end of the season, but he's got a lot of people to go through to get there, including junior Steve Luptak and also the guy behind door number two...

Let's get to know...Daniel Munoz
6'1", 175lb, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Plantation, FL

Dan came remarkably close to being a Terrier up at Boston University. In fact, he committed to the university and would've been barking his little terrier tail (Dan, if you read this, seriously, think about it, you were going to be one of those dogs that snooty women carry around in dog purses, gross) up in Boston if it weren't for BU's coach Dennis Wolff becoming a member of the unwillingly jobless club. After Wolff was made to leave, Dan decided to decommit and signed with us. Munoz now becomes a key part of what could be a fantastically talented backcourt in a year or two, maybe better than Mercer/Carr. Munoz, according to AU Athletics' press release, was "named All-County by both the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald in his junior and senior seasons. He averaged 11.1 points and 7.0 assists per game in his senior year, helping to lead his team to a 17-8 record and a runner-up finish in the district." Jeff Jones offered him lofty praise saying, "Dan is a throwback, pass first-type player who makes everyone around him better. He's an extremely hard worker and a basketball junkie who will fit in well with our team and our incoming class."

That hard work is probably what helped turn him into a two-star Rivals recruit. ESPN gave him an 81 and said, "Munoz is a true point with a high basketball IQ. He is a fundamentally sound good athlete that is also gym rat. He is an excellent ball handler and passer that can find the open man when penetrating the lane or when running the half court offense. He does a great job of feeding the post as well. Munoz is an excellent decision maker in transition as well as in the half court. He can knock down the open jumper with range to the arc." My thought is that in a year or two the coaching staff tries to convert him to a solid-handling shooting guard since he seems to have, from the sound of it, better range than Blake. That hard work will serve him well I'm sure, though I don't know if being called a "gym rat" is a good thing. Should be a hell of a battle between Luptak, Jolivette, Munoz, and our last candidate...

Let's get to know...Josh Snodgrass
6'4", 220lb, P.K. Yonge High School, Gainesville, FL

Josh, yet another Rivals two-star recruit, got offers from six schools but ended up here at AU. I'm excited to have him because I think they could convert him to a solid 3-guy, which means that in two years you could potentially have the trio of Jolivette-Munoz-Snodgrass starting. That would be nasty. I'd put money on it now if gambling on sports wasn't so wrong (unless you're in Delaware or Las Vegas, in which case, track me down we'll get a wager going). Josh was named to the class 3A all-state first-team in Florida last year. That's just the beginning of a long list of accolades, though. Gainesville Sun Basketball Player of the Year. North Central Florida Class 3A player of the year. Hell, he finished third in class 3A Mr. Basketball voting behind Kenny Boynton (now at Florida, where Josh can give him hell in the game this season) and Brandon Knight (2009 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year Award, ranked in the top 5 by Rivals, ESPN, and Scouts, Inc. in the NATION). Nah, Josh didn't do much in high school. Not much at all. Pffft.

Along with Jeff Holton he has the highest ESPN grade of the new recruits (an 83), and ESPN's analysis of him was short, sweet, and positive:

"Josh is a solid shooter with good size. He has range to 22 feet. He has solid strength and should have no problem adjusting to the college game. He can do a little off the dribble but is mostly a shooter and a scorer. He is a great get for American."

The Gainesville Sun offers their own analysis: "Quite possibly the area's best inside/outside offensive player, Snodgrass is comfortable behind the three-point line, driving to the basket or using his 6-5 frame to post up smaller guards or forwards. Similarly to Gantt, he worked diligently throughout his career to build his once-slender frame into one resembling a muscular college guard."

Impressive.

The best thing about having all this talent on the team is that they all have to play each other in practice. They'll only get better having high caliber competition.

I'm all about it. If things turn sour this year (and God I hope they don't) but if they do, you better believe we have a solid foundation to build on for the future. Good Lord. Great work by the coaching staff to bring in a fantastic new class of seven after losing seven to graduation last year. So exciting. Well, that's that, now you've met the freshmen. What do we think of the class now that we know about them? Leave your comments!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Eagles Spend Summer Getting Buff

Courtesy of AUEagles.com comes this video highlighting the Eagles' summer workouts under strength and conditioning coach Jason Riddell. This isn't a particularly incisive video, to be sure, but hey, when it's August and you're basketball-starved it looks like an ice-cold Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA with spicy Mexican food (what, just me?) The good news here is that three of the incoming freshmen are on-campus taking summer classes, so they're getting a head start on their conditioning. I recognized Blake Jolivette, who I think is Josh Snodgrass, and a third, as yet unidentified player (sorry about that, I'll get to know all your vitals before you know it) practicing with junior guards Steve Luptak and Nick Hendra. Team godfather Derrick Mercer and class of 2008 forward Travis Lay also make appearances in the video training, as does new Director of Basketball Operations Bryce Simon.

I have to say I like the attitude that Hendra shows in the video as he notes that "The key thing is to just work as hard as possible as we possibly can at any given moment and that'll set the right example for the younger guys who are coming in..." If that's the attitude that Luptak and Hendra are taking in earnest as the season starts, we can expect to reap the benefits as a team down the line; I think good work ethic can overcome a lot of faults on a team (not that I'm saying this team does or doesn't have them, but solid work ethic sure as hell never hurts). Luptak mentions that this summer is definitely the hardest he's had since coming to play at AU; not surprising given that this will definitely be the hardest season the Eagles face since Luptak has arrived.

Definite bonus for Jolivette to be getting practice time early with the more experienced guards, especially Mercer. Coming in as a two-star recruit, you have to believe Jolivette is the leader of the Eagle backcourt in two years, the faster he gets ahead of that learning curve the better.

Not sure what the rest of the team is up to in terms of training regimen for the summer, I'll try to do some research on that and report on that in the next week or so. This is both looking back and pretty far ahead at the same time, but the reason the Eagles are 0-2 the past two years in the NCAA tournament isn't for lack of talent, it's for lack of gas in the tank over the final eight minutes of the game. It's very hard for a team like AU to play the physical level of ball that they do in the Big East, SEC, or ACC when teams like Colgate and Lafayette just don't have the same big bruisers. It's nice to see the Eagles bulking up and building their endurance (seemingly running 400m laps at the end of the video) in preparation for what will undoubtedly be a grueling season.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!