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Memo to the rest of the league: Don't leave Garrison Carr open.

Not that anybody can be expected to lose track of American's precocious freshman after they see tape of him open up a 5-11 can of whoop ass on the visiting Towson Tigers.

Carr came off the bench in the first half and almost singlehandedly willed AU back into a game in which they trailed by 10 points early and appeared about to be blown out of their own gym. It's hard to imagine where AU would have been at the end of the first half without Carr, who scored just under half (14) of AU's 31 first half points. It is even harder to imagine the Eagles pulling out the 74-70 win.

Carr hit 4 of his first 6 shots, all from 3-point range, finishing with 14 in the first half. All but one on catch-and-shoot jumpers while Towson sat back in a zone and watched him firet. Not until well into the second half did Towson manage to get a hand in Carr's face. By the time Towson's 6-4 swingman Marc Pratt came to help when Carr popped off a screen on the left side of the arc and blocked Carr's shot from the foul line extended with 7:47 to play, it was too late. By then Carr had put a 25-point hurting on the Tigers and AU had built a double-digits lead.

Led by Carr's six treys, American hit a school record 15 threes in the win. None of the Eagles treys came in the final five minutes. But they certainly set the table for the three layups that accounted for all of AU's offensive production in the final 5:20.

"The team as a whole got more easy shots because of how Garrison was knocking them down," said AU's Andre Ingram, himself a beneficiary of the laxative effect Carr had on Towson's defense. After being hounded and hassled into a 1-for-6 first half, Ingram knocked down four treys in the second half, finishing with 15 points.

"Garrison hit so many early, they started boxing him. That left people like me and Arvydas (Eitutavicius) open more," Ingram said.

It also opened things up in the post a little. After managing only 4 points in the paint the first half, AU scored 14 inside in the second, including a dunk and a layup by 6-10 junior Brayden Billbe in the final 1:30 after Towson had battled back to get within 2 points of the lead. Those two buckets gave Billbe, AU's leading scorer coming in, his sixth double figures game in eight starts.

That AU was in the game when it reached the second half would have been a surprise to anyone who watched the first five minutes. Towson jumped out to a quick 10-point lead by hitting 6 of the first 7 shots it took. Three of those were three-pointers, the lone miss was rebounded and put back. The Tigers were on a roll.

They might have stayed on a roll, too, if not for two things.

First, like A.U., Towson got next to nothing inside in the first half. The 4 points Towson scored in the paint all came on putbacks. Not once were they successful going inside off their halfcourt offense. After hitting 6 of its first eight shots, including 3-4 from the arc, Towson seemed to think the perimeter jump shot was the only weapon it needed to use.

The problem for the Tigers was the longer the half went, the less the jumpers wanted to fall. At the 8:39 mark, Towson was barely still over 50 percent (10-19). By the break Towson's field goal percentage had dropped to 39.3 (11-28).

Given AU's first half offense, that still might have been enough to stay on top, had someone bothered guard Carr a little. The Eagles missed 10 of the first 13 shots they put up and shot only a little better the rest of the half, finishing at 33 percent. The Eagle also turned it over 10 times. Take away Carr, and the rest of American's roster shot 24 percent (6-25) in the first half.

Still nobody got a hand in Carr's face.

"We were certainly trying to. They did an excellent job of finding seams in the zone and getting the ball to him," said Towson coach Pat Kennedy.

The win was AU's second straight, both at home, after starting the year with six straight losses, all on the road. The Eagles will shoot for No. 3 in a row when they host cross-city rivals Howard Monday night before taking an 11-day break for finals.

NOTES: AU held a commanding 41-28 advantage on the boards . . . It was the third time this season AU won the battle on the glass . . . AU's freshman point guard, Derrick Mercer finished with 6 assists and 4 turnovers. His assists to turnovers ratio is likely to improve once his teammates get used to catching some of the nifty passes the 5-9 waterbug dishes off . . . as tough as it is to spell the last name of AU guard Arvydas Eitulavicius, it sounded even more difficult to pronounce for the Towson radio crew seated next door on press row . . . The Towson radio crew could also bemoaning the fact that the Tigers could not send AU to the line in the final moments to try to stretch the game because they had made enough fouls to put AU in the one-and-one ... "If you have three fouls to give with less than a minute to go, you probably have not been playing very aggressive defense," said one of the announcers . . . The same might have been said for AU, which had only 5 second half personals . . . Combined with a first half in which Towson committed 3 personals and AU 4, not a single one-and-one was shot all afternoon . . . Given that both teams shot better than 50 percent from the floor in the second half, that radio guy might have been right about the lack of aggressive defense.

Box score

# posted by Hoop Time : 5:14 PM  

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo! | Mid-Majority

Harvard at LEHIGH 1 p.m.: Lehigh's Web site boasts:

Lehigh’s defense is once again among the stingiest in the entire Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks are tied for first in the league with Bucknell, allowing opponents to hit on only .397 percent of their field goal attempts

Problem is, the Hawks are shooting even worse (37.6). That is dead last in the league.

Harvard had trouble shooting the ball against Boston U. Tuesday night, making just 34 percent of its shots in a 72-63 loss. It was Harvard's second straight loss after opening the season with five wins.Lehigh notes | Harvard notes | USA Today matchup

Towson at AMERICAN 1:30 p.m.: American looks for its second straight win at home after opening the season with a six game losing streak, all on the road.

Towson would seem to be the team AU would want coming to town when the Eagles try to get on a roll. American has not lost to the Tigers since 1997 and is 21-4 all-time against its former mates from the Colonial Athletic Conference. That is a little deceptive, though, since Towson has won three of the last five meetings.

The 3-3 Tigers have not won on the road. The three wins have come against the likes of Morgan State, UMBC and William and Mary. So it is hard to really get a feel for Pat Kennedy's club.

This ought to be a good test for Jeff Jones' youngsters, who could end the first semester on a three-game roll if they get past Towson with Howard coming cross town for a visit Monday.
AU notes | Towson notes | USA Today matchup | AU radio

LAFAYETTE at Columbia 2 p.m.: For a scouting report, we turn to Lafayette's game notes:

After opening the season with five straight wins, three of which were on the road, Columbia dropped a pair of decisions to start the month of December. The Lions fell to Army (12/2) and Wagner (12/6) and enter today's action aiming to improve on a 5-2 record. A pair of big men bolster a talented, mobile frontcourt that accounts for 41 percent of the Lion's scoring. Sophomore forward John Baumann is the only player to start all seven games and leads the Lions with 14.9 points a game. Knocking in 12.9 points per game is 6-9 center Ben Nwachukwu. A native of Nigeria, Nwachukwu is bringing down a team-high 7.1 boards. Also deep at the guard position, the Lions are hitting 42.9 percent from behind the arc. Senior guard Dalen Cuff has been a solid 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from long range in six starts.

Lafayette already has a road win against an Ivy (Princeton). Columbia already has a home loss against a Patriot (Army).
Lafayette notes | Columbia notes | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

COLGATE at Syracuse, 7 p.m.: The 158th meeting of the Orange and the Raiders. Syracuse has won 112 of those, including the last 39 in a row. Of course this is not your father's Orangemen. Last week Syracuse dropped completely out of the Top 25 and the Orange have already lost at home to another Patriot League team.

Sure, it would be easy to say "Yeah, but that was GKU." But Syracuse also had a tough time at home against Cornell and needed two overtimes to get past Manhattan. If ever there has been a non-Adonal Foyle season when Colgate had reason to feel good about its chances in the Dome, this would be it. If the colgate guards can light it up a little from the arc, this could be a ballgame.
Colgate notes (pdf) | Syracuse notes | USA Today matchup | Syracuse.com Orange hoops | 'Gate radio

We are first to admit the site has been very Bucknell-centric thus far this season. The Bison are the only league team we have seen in person so far (though hopefully that will soon change) and it seems like every day there are links to things Bison.

That is not, as some e-mailers have suggested, because this site is run by Bucknell alums. We were not smart enough to get into Bucknell, nor rich enough to afford it, as an undergrad.

It is just that, at the moment, Bucknell is the big story in the league. We try to link to every story we find that we think would be of interest to Patriot League followers. Right now, there are a whole lot of stories being written about Bucknell. Just look at some of the links that follow.

We cannot help it if the Washington Post doesn't bother to cover American or Navy on a given night. It is not our fault that Tom Housenick writes second day columns on Bucknell while most games not one daily paper manages to find its way to Hamilton unless they are there for the hockey game that night.

It is not our fault when the national media start including mentions like this one from the DraftExpress.com Web site:

BUCKNELL was in Nowhere, but has since left there, at least part of the way. Their only loss on the year was to Villanova and they do have four road wins including one at Syracuse this season. The Bison are a tremendous team who returns the bulk of last year’s team that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They will likely dominate the Patriot League this year and could even sneak into the rankings. They got pretty close before the Villanova game checking in at #27. Hopefully the voters won’t penalize them too much for losing to a top five team.

We can't stop Phil Kasiecki from putting stuff like this in his column on College Sports TV's Web site:

Bucknell is the mid-major to keep a close eye on. Last season's win over Kansas in the NCAA Tournament got this team its first big recognition, but that won't be the last. They return all but one reserve from that team, and they play a solid game together. Their earlier win over Syracuse shouldn't be a surprise, and no one should look at it as Syracuse losing the game. Similarly, Tuesday night's loss to Villanova is nothing to be ashamed of.

That national interest in Bucknell is why ESPN has jumped on the BU bandwagon. They saw it coming when they set up the Duke game and invited the Bison to the Bracket Buster ball (By the way, a big plus of BU's Bracket Buster inclusion, not only are the Bison looking like a team that will get one of coveted TV slots, but because they are set to travel for this year's Bracket Buster game, they get a back-end home game with the same opponent next season. That should mean a dandy mid-major marquee matchup in Sojka next season).

And while it is hardly as primo as a 9:30 p.m. slot after women's curling on College Sports TV, the ESPN 360 thing Tuesday night has gotten good reviews from people we have heard from. Kyle's bosses are even adding a repeat airing Wednesday evening on ESPNU.

By the way, if things go according to our tentative plans, by the time conference play opens Jan. 7, we expect to have seen every team in the league except Colgate and Army. Our pre-conference tour of league campuses begins tomorrow in our nation's capital.

(Originally posted 8:49 a.m., additional commentary added at 11:04 a.m., after clearing the driveway of 8 inches of reminder of why I don't like to go to Hamilton)

Corky Blake reports in today's Express-Times:

Lehigh University senior guard Joe Knight will not return to the Mountain Hawks' lineup until Jan. 11 against Navy, the NCAA has ruled.

Corky has some details about the NCAA's reasoning. Apparently Lehigh was counting all Knight's credits, rather than just the ones that count towards the degree he is pursuing. It all comes under the NCAA's requirements for making progress towards a degree.

Blake also answers the nagging question: Why was Knight, who is from Tennessee, taking classes at a Texas community college after leaving High Point? Blake says Knight's parents live there.

For the first time in this saga, Lehigh has posted a public statement on the situation on its Web site.

Lehigh's position on the whole thing seems to be that they are the victims in the entire fiasco. Look at some of the language in the statement:

"Lehigh was quite surprised . . ."

". . . the cumbersome and time-consuming process . . . "

Hey, sure, the NCAA can come off as a big bully on a lot of issues. But this one seems pretty straight forward. Matter of fact, it seems so obvious to us, we are surprised supposedly smart people at a supposedly top academic institution would really be dumb enough to believe their own interpretation of the situation.

The NCAA bylaw that applies here reads:

The calculation of credit hours to meet this requirement [the cumulative credits required under the progress toward degree bylaw] shall be based upon hours earned or accepted for degree credit.

Now remember, we are talking about progress towards an actual degree. The whole idea of this rule is to prevent someone from spending four or five years at a school, maintaining an eligible GPA by taking nothing but classes like The Politics of Women* , Introduction to Canada*, or Raw Vision: Creativity and Ecstasy in the Work of Shamans, Mystics, and Artist Outsiders* while never actually coming close to graduating.

It seems to be pretty clear. For a credit to count as "progress towards an actual degree", it needs to be a "degree credit."

Lehigh tries to remove the context from the clause. In the release, they write:

Prior to his arrival at Lehigh as a transfer student, Joe Knight had completed 93 hours (credits). He has completed an additional 35 in his first year at Lehigh. Lehigh interpreted the bylaw such that Knight had met the provisions of the progress toward degree requirements because these were all credit hours that were “earned” even though some of those completed hours do not apply to the Lehigh degree program Knight is pursuing.

Lehigh felt comfortable that Knight’s overall college progress met the NCAA provisions defined by the bylaw, but submitted an official request for interpretation because Knight’s total number of credits toward his Lehigh degree was less than the number that would normally be expected for a fifth year student. Lehigh was quite surprised to learn of the differing interpretation and appealed the interpretation through the standard NCAA process. Throughout the cumbersome and time-consuming process, Lehigh chose to keep Knight out of competition. The decision to withhold his participation ultimately helped avoid further game penalties.

The NCAA has interpreted the language in the bylaw such that only the credits earned that are applicable to his Lehigh degree program can be used to fulfill his progress toward degree requirements, even though the specific language as written seems to indicate that credits “earned OR accepted for degree credit” would be applicable.

Lehigh might be "quite surprised" by the NCAA's interpretation of the rule, but we sure are not.

Lehigh wants to separate "earned" from "for degree credit." but OR is not capitalized in the bylaw. And it seems pretty clear, in the context of the bylaw, it means the credits can be earned or they can be accepted (transfer credits), but the ones that count must be "for degree credit." You cannot just take courses, you need to be progressing towards a degree.

Of course by Lehigh's accounting, Knight already has earned 128 credits. Most schools that is enough to give you a degree. Lehigh claims Knight will have earned his degree by June 2006, after the completion of one class in the first summer session. They also say at that time Knight will have 57 credits more than what was needed to graduate. Which certainly raises the question: What classes did Knight take that don't count towards his degree, yet were considered applicable towards meeting Lehigh's own stringent transfer admissions requirements?

Lehigh also mentions that they sought a review because Knight's total number of credits towards his Lehigh degree was "less than the number that would normally be expected for a fifth year student." Knight is a sociology major. When did that become a five-year program? What would normally be expected of a sociology major after four years would be grad school or a low-paying job.

At some point, Colgate's Chones brothers should be added to the discussion for a look at how the league treats community college years in the midst of a student-athlete's pursuit of a degree at a member school. Does that violate the "no redshirts other than medical" rule? If a kid struggles academically and takes a semester, or even a season, off from hoops to concentrate on their grades, they lose that season of eligibility. If they leave school, attend a community college, then return, the league seems to allow the fifth year eligibility.

For now, we will stick to the question of how Lehigh's handling of Knight's transfer fits the league's framework of student-athletes being academically representative of the student body.

Still unanswered is the question that really is the key to this whole situation as far as we are concerned: Why did Knight leave High Point and what were his grades when he left?

In other words, did Knight fit Lehigh's profile when he was admitted? Or did he get special admissions treatment because he was a talented point guard?

Seems to us the only way to ever really resolve this who question is to quit releasing statements and start releasing Knight's transcripts.
* Actual Lehigh course offerings

# posted by Hoop Time : 11:04 AM  

(Originally posted Thursday night, updated 8:36 a.m.)

VMI 72, Army 63 -- Just when you are ready to say "Hey, maybe Army really is getting better," the Black Knights lay an egg the size of Christl Arena. Three weeks ago, Army went down to VMI and brought back a 53-49 win. This time around, they scored 51 points in one half alone, at home, and got beat by a team that had not beaten another DI team yet this season.

It was deja vu all over again for the Black Knights, who scored only 12 points in the first half, digging a 21-point hole that even the 51-point second half could not help them out of. As an aside, you might be interested in knowing last season Army didn't even score more than 51 points the entire game in nine of its outings.

Army was lucky to have the 12 points it did manage in the first half. They made only three shots in the half (3-26, 11.5 percent -- 1-10 from three-point range).

Even though they shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, Army was never really back in the game. The Black Knights managed to get the deficit down to single digits a few times, but most of the second half VMI's lead was in the teens.

Jimmy Sewell, who started at center early in the season, including the win at VMI, saw his minutes down to 4 against the Keydets this time around. Colin Harris, a 6-6 forward, was the only Army player taller than 6-5 to play more than 10 minutes.

Since these are not Villanova guards we are talking about, the struggles Army is having are probably predictable. The Knights were outrebounded 38-31, a margin that is deceptively close because of Army's 13 offensive rebounds. When you miss 19 three-point tries, there are bound to be a bunch of long caroms that are chased down by the perimeter people. VMI blocked 5 Army shots.

Obviously, this is not a result that shows Army making progress, despite having already doubled its win total against Division I teams from last season.

Matt Bell with 28 to lead all scorers. Bell was 9-20 with 5 treys.

Box score

AP story

Navy 73, Morgan State 47 -- According to Paul McMullen in the Baltimore Sun:

Navy appears hungry and ready to fatten its record.

The Midshipmen had runs of 20-2 in the first half and 14-0 in the second to rout Morgan State, 73-47, at Hill Field House last night. It was the second win in four nights over a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team for Navy, which plays in the Patriot League, and its most lopsided on the road since February 2000.

The remainder of Navy's December schedule includes two Division III opponents, two from the Ivy League and The Citadel. Billy Lange figures to be disappointed if his team (2-4) doesn't have a winning record come 2006.

Of course the question is not what will the Mids record be when league play opens, but rather how ready will they be to face league competition, which is definitely tougher than those MEAC, D-3 and Ivy teams the young Navy squad is teething on.

Adding to that challenge, word from Annapolis is that Corey Johnson had knee surgery Tuesday and could be done for the year. Freshman Clif Colbert has been averaging in double figures since Johnson's injury, but the jury is out on how he will fare playing against some of the veteran guards in the Patriot League. Guys like Torey Thomas, Abe Badmus, Alvin Reed and Juco JOe Knight can make life pretty rough for a freshman.

One thing for sure, the Mids will need to figure out how to take better care of the ball. When you have just 6 assists and 20 turnovers in a game you win by 26 points, that raises some red flags.

The Mids got this win with defense. Navy shot only 38.5 percent for the game, a strong second half (50 percent) masking a 28 percent first half that would leave Navy buried against better competition.

On the other hand, if Navy can hold other opponents to 28 percent all night like they did against Morgan State, then the Mids will be very competitive, even when they shoot poorly themselves. It also helps when you get 20 offensive rebounds and hold a 52-25 edge overall on the boards.

Box score

# posted by Hoop Time : 8:36 AM  

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo! | Mid-Majority

VMI at ARMY 5:30 p.m.: Army has gone 1-3 since beating the Keydets in Virginia (53-49) three weeks ago. VMI comes in on a two-game win streak --- it's only wins thus far. That does not exactly mean the Keydets are on a roll. The wins came at home against Division III Ferrum and some NAIA five from what is known as the Univerty of Virginia's College at Wise.
Army notes (pdf) | VMI Web site | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

NAVY at Morgan State 7 p.m.: Morgan State comes in 0-7, but one-win Navy best not get overconfident. Four of Morgan State's losses came at the hands of the likes of Washington, Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech and UNC-Greensboro. And all 7 losses have come on the road. The Midshipmen need just to look at last night's American game to see what a difference finally playing at home can make for a team.
Navy notes (pdf) | Morgan State notes | USA Today matchup | Navy radio

It's Big Time Kyle, who looks a whole lot like smalltime Kyle, but gets paid better, filing a report on the Bucknell-Villanova game for the WWLIS. So what if ESPN didn't post the damned thing until 6 o'clock last night? Be glad they are not making you pay for it.

Also checking in with an aftermath column is Tom Housenick, the Bucknell beat writer for the Daily Item. Tom mentions:

At least 60 media credentials were issued for that night’s basketball game, from the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer to the several regional newspapers suddenly on the Bison bandwagon. In all, more credentials were issued for this men’s contest than are generally given for the Patriot League postseason tournament.

Which begs the question: How many of those 60 were there to actually cover the game? Because we counted about a dozen folks at the postgame press conference. Of course that number includes the crew for ESPN 360, a camera man and talking head for the Scranton TV stations who needed a campus map to find Sojka. Then there were at least three dudes from the campus newspaper, which probably won't even publish another edition until spring semester.

Still, it was definitely more media than Bucknell is accustomed to having on hand and sports information guy Jon Terry and his staff did a fine job handling the horde. A special thanks too, for the BU IT folks who have made Sojka a wi-fi hotspot, enabling our live gameblogging experiement.

One other guy checking in today with a follow to the BU-VU game is Gordie Jones of the Morning Call. Imagine the love Lehigh fans down in the valley must feel this morning when they pick up their paper and find a column about Bucknell and no coverage of the Lehigh-Sacred Heart game.

In advance of the Colgate-Syracuse game, the Chones boys are all the rage in Salt City. There are stories about them in the Syracuse Post-Standard and the Daily Orange.

Here's what we found most interesting in the Post-Standard piece:

It paid off when they returned to the Red Raiders last January. They enrolled in school, redshirted the season and returned to practice. Although Kyle and Kendall were ecstatic to be back with the team, it was a hard adjustment to practice every day and then sit out of games.

We added the emphasis to the word "redshirted."

Did we miss something? When did the Patriot League start allowing non-medical redshirt years?

Here all along we figured the lack of a reaction to teh Joe Knight situation from anyone on the tundra was because there are no papers that cover Colgate. Maybe, though, it is the result of living in glass houses.

(Originally posted 12:05 a.m., updated 8:04 a.m. ... though not much to update since we could not find much coverage of any of these games)

American 80, Mount Saint Mary's 60 -- There is no place like home. Especially for those American Eagles. AU finally gets a home game, after opening the season with six straight road losses.

So what if the win is only over 1-5 Mount St. Mary's. Another week or so without a win and Jeff Jones would have been ready to schedule Polytechnic. It is hard enough opening with six straight road games, let alone having to do so with a lineup full of freshmen, which is what AU has been starting.

Jordan Nichols joined fellow rookie Derrick Mercer in the starting lineup two games ago against Heorge Mason. Junior Linas Lekavicius, who was a returning starter, has lost his spot in Jones' first five. Last season Lekavicius averaged almost 25 minutes per game. The last two combined he didn't play 25 minutes. Despite starting three of the six games AU has played, Lekavicius is averaging less than 14 minutes per game.

Mercer, a true point guard, is responsible for a lot of Lekavicius' bench time. The freshman has been solid. He hit 3-of-4 from the field against MSM, finishing with 8 points, 4 assists, 1 turnover. That is right around his average scoring and assists and although he is averaing over 2 turnovers per game, his a/to ratio us still comfortably on the plus side. From a freshman, starting, on the road ssome of the places AU has been, you have to be happy with that.

A lot of Eagles were glad to shoot in their own gym for a change. Especially center Brayden Billbe, who was 8-10 from the field on a 19-point night. Andre Ingram (13 points), Arvydas Eitutavicius and reserve forward Travis Lay (each with 11) also enjoyed the home cooking.

AU owned the boards (36-24), forced 19 turnovers and shot 51 percent for the game.

Box score

AU Web site recap

Holy Cross 64, Brown 41 -- Home cooking suits the Crusaders, who have suddenly won two straight, improving the outlook during some much needed time off for finals. The Crusaders are banged up, under the weather and in need of time to heel a little. This little turnaround sends them into the break on a positive note.

Also a positive, the showing of Tim "the Big Purple Dog" Clifford, who overcame his recent battles with Mgebroff disease to put up a 21-point, 7 boards and 4 blocks night.

Otherwise the usual suspects. Simmons with 14, Hamilton had 12.

A quick Q&A: "How can you shoot 40 percent from the field and still win by 23 points?" Holy Cross' answer: By holding the opponent to under 30 (28.9 to be precose) percent.

Box score

AP story

Sacred Heart 66, Lehigh 56 -- Olivero with 30 of Lehigh's 56. Nobody else had more than 7. Jason Mgebroff (1-9) apparently has not been told there's a cure.

Box score

AP Story

# posted by Hoop Time : 8:04 AM  

The league's Web site has the AU-Mount Saint Mary's game listed as tomorrow. The league's Web site is wrong.

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo! | Mid-Majority

LEHIGH at Sacred Heart, 8 p.m.: Lehigh's last road win was Feb. 11 at Army. Since then they have dropped five straight road games. Sacred Heart snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Army the last time out.Lehigh notes | Sacred Heart Web site | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

Brown at HOLY CROSS 8 p.m.: For a Brown (1-4) scouting report, we turn to HC coach Ralph Willard:

Brown comes to Hart Wednesday night in the last game before exams. Glen Miller has a young team that plays very hard and really pushes the ball up the floor. They are not a great shooting team so they rely on their defense and motion offense to try to create baskets. Though their posts are a little undersized they are very effective. Coaches always say their opponent plays hard, but this team plays really hard. Kevin Hamilton is still not practicing and Keith's situation is ongoing. I can't ever remember looking forward to exam week but this year I really am. Maybe instead of going to PR we should look for a tournament in Lourdes.

HC notes | Brown notes | USA Today matchup | HC radio

Mt. St. Mary's at AMERICAN, 6 p.m.: Finally a home game for the 0-6 Eagles. A winnable one, too. The Mount is 1-4 with its lone win at home over Binghamton. Two common foes in non-conference play. Both AU and MSM have lost at LaSalle. Both lost to Loyola (Md.), too -- AU at Loyola, MSM at home.
AU notes | MSM notes | USA Today matchup | AU radio

While the focus last night was understandably on Bucknell and Villanova, the Bison were not the only league team in action. Down in Easton, Lafayette broke its losing streak with an 89-81 overtime win over St. Francis (NY)the game story in the Express-Times:

(Jamaal) Hilliard went on a personal scoring spree, hitting Lafayette's final five points of the second half and first four of overtime as the Leopards evened their record -- and an old score with the Terriers -- in a thrilling non-conference battle between two teams trying to break two-game losing streaks at Kirby Sports Center.

Box score

# posted by Hoop Time : 8:35 AM  

(Originally posted last night, Updated at 8:06 a.m.)

Here is all the raw material -- like the BOX SCORE some notes and some quotes. Go ahead, write your own story, then compaare it to what the media horde that descended wrote. You will find their versions in the next post down.

Hey, maybe you are better at this than you even know.

POST GAME QUOTES:

Jay Wright:

"They have Big East talent; Big East caliber players on that team. They come out of high school, maybe they are not Big East players. But they come into this program, they get coached, they get nurtured and now they are juniors and seniors and they are Big East caliber players. They are not beating the teams they beat without good players."

"I always felt like they could make a run at us."

On Allen Ray's key three-pointers:

"That is the advantage of having seniors. We know that Allan and randy are going to make big plays offensively . . . We just know that Allan and randy can make big plays when we need them."

In particular, on the one Ray hit with 15:56 to go, after Bucknell cut the Nova lead to 44-41:

"That three was huge. He misses that and it is a one-posession game. You get in game like that here, anything can happen."

On the crowd:

"I was sitting in (the locker room) listening to that and I remembered when I played here, that is what the place was like in Davis Gym. We used to sit in the locker room thinking 'we know we are going to win.' I was sitting here thinking 'I know they are thinking they are going to win.' It was really strange, being in that position."

On Bucknell's Chris McNaughton:

"He is outstanding. There is a good example. He is a Big East caliber player."

On Bucknell as Cinderella:

"They blew that, man. They blew it. They are not Cinderellas anymore. Theree was no problem. Our guys know how good they are. They watched that Kansas game. I talked to them aboiut it to."

"They see two teams in our league beaten on the road, they knew."

"When Abe Badmus got in a little bit of foul trouble, that had a little bit of an effect."

On Bucknell trouble getting teams to come to Lewisburg:

"You see why? We have to play them again. They have to come to our place next year. Think about it. Think about the guys -- Lee and Bettencourt are the only seniors. The kid they have, Castleberry from Baltimore, is an outstanding player. I have to deal with them next year, then we will think about (extending the series)."

"Pat Flannery played on my heartstrings, getting me to do this ... he gave me the 'it would be so nice, everybody would like to see you come back.' He didn't mention before you come back we are going to knock off about five ranked teams. He didn't throw that out."

"This is the second best place in the nation to play college ball. At one time I thought it was the first."

"You can't hear anything in here. The end of the first half, we were trying to call a play. We had no idea what we were in. This place has a great effect on the game."

BUCKNELL QUOTES:

Pat Flannery:

"They are a tough team when they get up on you. They defend the three-point line very well . . . Once they get up on you, you are really fighting uphill."

"We fought and got back into it. We had our opportunities. I don't know if we didn't have enough gas. We played a lot of minutes against a real quality opponent. It looked like we just couldn't finish."

"Ten minutes to go, we thought we had the game. Some shots didn't fall."

On Abe Badmus:

"He is a special kid with special talents. He is so fast and so quick. They really played the passing lanes very well, which is something he has not seen all the time. But when you put him one on one out front there, he is tough to keep in front. He kept us in there with his penetration and his effort."

"They were playing so hard on Kevin (Bettencourt), face guarding him on the wing. And they were playing Chris straight up in there, then coming to double team. It was opening up the floor so we just cut him loose a little more."

"When he got his third, and then his fourth foul, we thought if we could keep it there and maybe get it to the five minute mark, I could still have him for his fifth foul. But when we had to sit him, we lost a lot of our foot speed."

On Nova:

"They are dynamite. They are special, the way they play. That is really unique."

"They are really special, the way they play and the way they shoot. They made some tough shots."

"We've been the ones that have been booed all the time. We kept saying, Villanova hasn't been booed all year. We thought maybe if we could get them in a tough one. But when they get up, they are even better. When they got up in the first half, everybody was making jumpers and going."

On starting Donald Brown instead of Darren Mastropaolo:

"You try to go big on them, and they are small, you are trading threes for twos. SO you really can't, especially not in our group."

"I thought in that stretch, when we got back there, I thought we were in good shape, then they came out of a timeout and hit a three. It had gotten down to four and it pushed it back up to seven. Then we came down and missed two in a row where we had four-footers where we were getting penetration and now all of a sudden, it goes to 10."

"That is as short a bench as we have used all year. It is as short a bench as I have gone. We were just afraid. When we got down, we couldn't tempo it, so we had to keep our guns in there. Even guns who were not playing well, I had a tough time getting them out to settle them down and get them back in because there was nothing we could do defending them if we didn't keep our top guys in there. It was a lot more than we are used to. We usually get to spell them a little bit."

Abe Badmus on Nova:

"I have played against quick people all my life. That was nothing new. But these guys were just, damn, it was just a lot more quick people on the same team . . . They were very talented I was really impressed by the overall skill that they had."

Chris McNaughton:

"We were down 19 early in the game. We fought back and gave it all we had. We pulled within three, and you know you are back in the game, then they hit that tough three and that just drops you right back. It is just hard. They got up early on us and we tried to get back in the game. We just never got over the hill. It is tough against a team like that, to play from behind all the time."

Kevin Bettencourt:

"They hit some tough, tough shots. Randy Foye, he's great. In the paint he is tough to stop."

Special guest in the postgame show --- Charlie Woolum, the former Bucknell coach and the winmningest coach in BU history. Woollum won 318 games in 19 seasons here, going to the NCAA TOurnament twice.

"There's a lot of banner that we put up there," said Charlie in his James River drawl.

Woollum's brother, former Christopher Newport (D3) coach CJ Woolum, worked the game for ESPN 360.

Charlie is retired now, after closing out his coaching career at his alma mater, William and Mary. He works games on TV, mostly Colonial Athletic Association games for Comcast. That league is loaded, he says.

Woollum was impressed by his old point gurd Pat Flannery's team. "They are for real. They are very good," Woollum says.

Needless to say he was also impressed by the team coached by Jay Wright, another old Bucknell point guard.

Woollum said he expects another of his old point guards to soon get his own team. Billy Courtney, who was a first-team All-Patriot League pick in 1990-91 and 1991-92 is in his first year as an assistant at Providence after nine seasons as an assistant at George Mason.

The Daily Item: Wildcats' guards prove too much for Bison in loss

Philly Daily News: Wildcats tame feisty Bison

The Patriot-News: NO. 4 VILLANOVA 79, BUCKNELL 60

New York Times: Battle of Pennsylvania Goes to the Wildcats

Philadelphia Inuirer: Villanova puts down ambitious Bucknell

Bucks County Courier Times: Villanova: Wildcats bounce Bison, from Jason Vegotsky's hometown paper

Also from the Courier Times: Wright proud of Bucknell's changes

Delaware County Daily Times: Ray, Foye make sure ’Nova stays focused

The Associated Press: No. 4 Villanova 79, Bucknell 60

# posted by Hoop Time : 7:37 AM  

(What follows was edited for a spellcheck, Wed. morning, otherwise, it is as it was posted live throughout the game)

It's Tuesday night in Lewisburg and nobody will call this a sleepy little hamlet tonight. Sojk Pavilion is rocking with orange clad students. The end zone bleachers look like a Clemson game.

They are already loud. They are wired. They are a species, frankly, never seen before in the Patriot League. Think Zoo Crew at its prime, times 10. They are chanting "air ball, air ball" for missed warmups.

Ole, ole, ole, ole, oooolleeeee, ooohlee.

an internet exclusive ... Bucknell sophomore Andrew Morrison is in street clothes. An ankle injury in practice. Out a few weeks he says. Should not be a factor tonight, he has not been seeing many minutes.

We will update as often as possible. Check back.

Keep checking back.

Pre game intros -- Donald Brown to start at the four. Bucknell goes small. A better matchup for the four guard Nova lineup.

How bad do these kids want to let loose? They sang the national anthem.

Easily the most electric crowd in Bucknell memory. Way past the ESPN league finals against Holy Cross back in the Woollum era.

Did we mention today was the last day of fall classes?

Kyle is here for the big boyz. It is an "atmosphere piece."

He says to tell the Holy Cross fans hello.

15:58 first media TO

Nova 10, BU 6 McNaughton on the line for the and one after being fouled making a nice baseline move

At one point, Nova seemed ready to rev away. But up 10-4, the Cats could not expand the lead on several trips.

Bucknell seems steadied. Now if some open jumpers start to fall.

Jason Fraser 2 quick personals. Sheridan has one. Villanova, not a deep team, has five team fouls with 14:40 to play.

13:40 Nova owns the glass ... 6-1 advantage. Getting multiple shot possessions. Foye makes it 16-7 on Nova's third 3-point try of the possession ... give them enough c hanc es they will make one ... or four (for 6) so far

Nova is not missing. The Wildcats are 10-15 (6-8 on threes) at the 10:54 mark

Bucknell may have found an offenbsive spark in Abe Badmus, who just beat Lowry off the dribble for his second straight basket, ending Nova's 16-0 run and making it 22-11.

Has Bucknell weathered the storm?

Nova frosh Chris Charles has his 7-foot frame draped on McNaughton's back ... gets Nova's 7th team foul at 9:26.

McNaughton misses bonus of one-and-one but connects on a second chance after a Villanova lane violation -- V 26, B 13

8:25 McNaughton rebounds his own miss and puts it back V 26, B 15 The crowd is back.

7:45 McNaughton on the line again, fouled after grabbing the rebound when Badmus missed a layup on a 3-2 break, McNaughton suddenly a force on the offensive glass. Now has 4 rebounds 9 points and will shoot 2 here

Kyle says it was "the old rope-a-dope."

McNaughton makes the second. Bucknell on a 9-0 run.

7:24 Bucknell's 7th team foul

5:33 Nova's 10th team foul. Bettencourt on the line, makes one of two ... Nova up 32-19

Just over 5 minutes to go, Nova spread the floor four-cornerslike

4:29 Nova shooting 54.2 percent from the floor ... BU 33.3 percent

3:53 Nardi hits Nova's 6th trey of the half to make it 37-19.

If you still are wondering, yes, Nova is that good.

Charles fouls Mastropaolo ... the announcer mistakenly tries to credit the foul to Fraser, who was already on the bench with 3 personals, sending Wright's assistants scurrying to the scorers table to make sure it is right in the books.

Darren makes the first, misses the second, but Lee tips away the rebound. They get the ball to Bettencourt but he misses what could have been an adrenalin rush three.

Lee slams on the break to get Bucknell deficit to 10. Crowd is back now,

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a ballgame. Badmus coast to coast for a reverse layup and Bucknell has the game in single digits at the half, 39-31.

Nova's shooting percentage has fallen to 46.7 at the break. BU is up to 41.4. Nova has a 22-11 edge in rebounds-- 12 second chance points.

Bucknell taking good care of the ball, only three turnovers.

Most of the difference on the scoreboard is in one line on the box score -- 3-pointers made. Nova has 6, Bucknell 0.

At the half, Lafayette 39, St. Francis (NY) 36 --- score courtesy MikdMajority.com

There is a bug in Kyle's scoreboard -- games with ranked teams don't update until they are finals.

"Not that I normally mind," he says.

Bettencourt off a screen up top hits the three and goes to the line ... good ... 17:56 it's Nova 44, BU 37 and Nova just turned the ball over on an offensive foul.

Imagine this ... with 16:13 to go in the half, Jay Wright cannot wait for the TV timeout after back to back McNaughton buckets make it a 3-point game --- 44-41

It is very clear. Win or lose. Bucknell is very much for real.

15:56: At the TV timeout, BU up to 45.7 from the field for the game. Nova at 47.1

By the way, McNaughton now has 22 points, 5 rebounds

around 12:44, McNaughton dunks ... 52-45 Bucknell still hanging around

12:05 3 guys, including Ray and Foye have three personals for Nova ... could foul trouble be Nova's Achilles heel?

Helter skelter ... Bettencourt signals to settle down

Shot clock at 7 on the inbounds ... Badmus checks in .. he goes baseline, called for a charge ... his fourth with 10:49 ... what was that about Achilles heels?

10:22 Nardi his fourth
10:13 McNaughton 3-point play -- 54-48

seconds later ... another Ray three. Seems like there is always another ray three when Bucknell tries to pull closer Ray now 3-5 from the arc

9:42 Brown fouls out

Foye adds two free throws and the lead is back to 10 just that quick. Nova can score points in a hurry ... in fact, as we write this, another Ray three, a Lowry steal and layup and it is a 16-point game ... it was 9 and Bucknell closing a minute ago ... that is how fast Nova can make things happen on offense.

Nova now shooting 51.2 percent for the game, BU down at 43.2 percent

N 66, BU 50 can Bucknell make another run?

No blaming the officials. They are calling it pretty even. BU has 21 fouls, has shot 17 (made only 9), Nova 19 fouls, 13-19 at the line

We are under five minutes, Nova up 13

Foye spins, hits ... he has 27 , Nova up 72-56

Amid all the noise, one sound conspicuously absent for Bucknell .. Public address guy Greg Maresca has yet to launch into a "Lee for three" call ... Lee 0-3 from three-point range, 1-10 in the game ... just 3 points and 4 rebounds for Bucknell's senior leader

As the clock winds down under three minutes, it looks as though the early hole Nova put Bucknell in was the difference. Once Bucknell steadied itself, they played pretty even the rest of the way. But trading baskets and even play is not enough when you start out down 19 points like BU was with about 11:45 to go in the first half.

Kyle points out, Nova has one FG by someone over 6-5.

McNaughton checks out with 45.9 to go having scored 29 points, a career high ... previous mark 23 against Wisconsin in the second round last season

18.3 Bucknell empties the bench

Final: No. 4 Villanova 79, Bucknell 60

Bucknell fans stay and give team standing ovation as they leave the floor.

"Death by midgets," Kyle says.

St. Joe's leads Kansas with 30 seconds to go.

Been there, done that.

Lafayette up 2 late.

Headed to the press conference.

Post game stuff to follow later and in the morning

Big shot in the making Kyle Whelliston, the self-proclaimed shameless sellout, took time away from his new gig with what he refers to as the "WWLIS*" to slum with those of us who do not get checks with a Bristol postmark at the Bucknell-Yale game and filed this report on his trip to Lewisburg

A few days later he donned his tin foil hat to come up with a conspiracy theory about why the Holy Cross-Fordhman game went to two overtimes.

Nice guy that he is, Kyle even posted this stuff on Mid-Majority.com, so you don't have to pay to read them.
* For those who do not speak Bristolese, WWLIS means World Wide Leader in Sports.

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo! | Mid-Majority

Villanova at BUCKNELL, 7 p.m. -- The question to ponder heading into tonight's Villanova - Bucknell game is really pretty simple: How long can Villanova continue to shoot the way it has through its first four games?

If the Wildcats have another game where they shoot the ball the way they did in the first four games, and they will beat almost anybody, almost any place. Just ask Oklahoma, who got run out of the Ski Lodge on national TV Saturday. Anybody who watched that game knows how scary good Villanova is when it is clicking on offense. The 85-74 win was by a narrower margin than Nova's 89-51win over Bucknell last season, but stylistically, there were a lot of similarities.

This is not the same Villanova team. Curtis Sumpter's knee injury has changed the dynamics. Without the 6-7 Sumpter in the lineup, Bucknell grad Jay Wright (take your pick of the obligatory Flannery and Wright have ties stories offered up by the Patriot-News and the Philly Inquirer) has gone a lot with a four-guard lineup featuring Allan Ray, Randy Foy, Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowery. Foye is 6-4, the others under 6-2. Will Sheridan (6-8) is the only starter over 6-5.

The lack of size might hurt the Wildcats down the road in Big East play, or even tonight in Lewisburg. But it didn't seem to last season when that lineup took North Carolina to the wire in the NCAA Tournament and it certainly didn't in wins over Stony Brook, Lehigh and Rider, or Saturday against then No. 5 Oklahoma. Through the first four games, Villanova has outrebounded its opponents by an average of nearly 6 per game. The lack of size doesn't seem to hurt the 'Cats defensively either. Opponents are only scoring 53 ppg against Villanova, despite the Cats generally up and down pace. The opponents are shooting only 38 percent against Nova and are averaging 17 turnovers.

Foye is a dimension that will be new, to some extent, for the Bison. A senior who shared MVP honors at the World University Games with Duke's Sheldon Williams last summer, Foye played only six minutes against Bucknell last season, leaving as a precaution after taking nasty spill en route to the rim. Foye posted 32 against Oklahoma with a remarkable 14-for-21 performance.

Equally comfortable popping the J from the top of the arc or beating people off the dribble, Foye had three treys against the Sooners, giving him 14 on the season. And here is the scary part: Foye, who shoots 46.7 percent from three-point range, is only second on the Wildcats team in both three-pointers made and three-point shooting percentage. Mike Nardi, a 6-2 junior, is shooting 48.1 percent from the arc and Allan Ray, with 15 treys, has hit one more than Foye.

Four Wildcats average in double figures. Predictably its those four guards. Foye is averaging 20.8 points, Ray 21, Nardi 13 ppg and sophomore Kyle Lowery 12.8 ppg. Combined they have scored 81 percent of Villanova's 333 points.

Sounds ominous for the Bison, but that is not necessarily the scenario that will unfold in Sojka tonight. For starters, what are the odds that Villanova is going to continue to hit nearly 12 three-pointers per game, especially on the road in a visiting team's building for the first time this season.

As good as Bucknell's guards are, they are no match, as a group, for Villanova's. At least not in terms of quickness and athleticism. Pat Flannery's likes to use Bucknell's matchup zone against teams with bigger or better athletes. If Villanova shoots well enough from the perimeter to force the Bison to play man to man, it could make for a long night.

Likewise, on offense, Bucknell needs to get open looks outside and it needs to knock those open shots down if it wants to upset the Wildcats. After his quick start in last year's game on the Main Line, Nova is well aware of how tough it is to stop Chris McNaughton if you play him straight up in man. That means Nova's guards are going to have to double down. When they do, Bucknell has to be able to make them pay.

That is easier said than done, especially against a group as quick as Villanova's backcourt quartet. They recover as well as anyone. Still, if some combination of Bettencourt, Lee, Griffin and Badmus can stroke a few long jumpers early, it will go a long way towards allowing Bucknell to stay in the game.

Staying in the game, by the way, should be near the top of the Bison's list of objectives. If they can hang with Villanova, they can beat Villanova. Bucknell has developed an end game savvy that is rare. Bucknell's 5-0 record includes four wins by 5 points or less, all on the road. Given the caliber of opposition they have faced in those games, that is extraordinary.

Simply put, Bucknell knows how to win close games. The Bison have a great deal of confidence in those situations.

Villanova has a knack for coming out and hitting a barrage of threes before the opponents have even taken off their warmups, putting teams all but away from the start. They are very capable of a shock and awe kind of start.

Bucknell will need to avoid that kind of a start, or at least to weather it and not lose composure.

Perhaps the most important part of that for BU will be remembering to play its game. Villanova would like nothing more than to turn it into a track meet. Bucknell would be happy with a halfcourt game filled with long possessions. The more time Bucknell can force Nova's guards to work through screens on defense, the less legs they will have at the other end.

Nova does not get a lot of production from its bench. How deep Wright will go in a tight game is yet to be seen. Strange as it sounds to say this about a Patriot League team facing a team ranked in the top 5 in the country, Bucknell could conceivably wear down the Wildcats if they can make this a tight, walk it up kind of game.

Can Bucknell pull this off? After what this team has done on the road last season and this, it would be foolish to rule anything out, especially on their home floor. Only a fool, though, would try to turn their mortgage payment into a week in the islands by taking the underdogs.

And have no doubt, despite being all the rage in national media circles these days, the Bison, in this one, are decided underdogs.
Bucknell notes | Villanova notes | Daily Item preview |USA Today matchup |Bucknell Radio

St. Francis (N.Y.) at LAFAYETTE 7 p.m.: A pair of undersized teams on two-game losing streaks meet in Easton. Swingman Christian Brown scores 14.4 points per game, thanks to 45.8 percent shooting from three-point land. Three other Terriers are hitting at least 40 percent from the arc.
Lafayette notes | S.F. (NY) notes | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

(Originally posted 12:23 a.m., updated 7:41 a.m.)

NAVY 82, Howard 73: The Midshipmen (1-4) overcame 30 turnovers to pick up their first win of the season, beating winless Howard (0-4) in the first of three games yesterday in the BB&T Classic at D.C.'s MCI Center.

The Mids started the second half with a 16-0 run after trailing 38-29 at the break and led the rest of the way.

Freshman guard Clif Colbert started again in place of the injured Corey Johnson. He might be hard to get out of the lineup after leading the Mids in scoring for the second game in a row. Colbert went 5-for-12 from the field, 5-6 at the line to finish with 16 points. He also had three steals.

While Colbert has been on fire, another freshman guard started for Navy and struggled. Kaleo Kina was responsible for over a third (11) of Navy's turnovers.

Box score

Washington Post

Washington Times

George Mason 75, AMERICAN 35: You cannot spell "An Ugly game" without AU. When a team trails by 25 (37-12) at the half,ugly might not be a harsh enough adjective. The Eagles shot 23 percent and scored but 35 points while losing by 40 in the second game of the BB&T Classic tripleheader at D.C.'s MCI Center.

Andre Ingram 1-of-8, 3 points -- it was that kind of night for AU. The Eagles shot only 18.5 percent in the first half, scoring a dozen points.

Box score

Washington Post

Quinnipiac 67, COLGATE 59 : Cold shooting doomed the 'Gate. They were 7-27 (26 percent) from 3-point range, 38 percent overall. They couldn't even make free throws, going just 4-12 at the line.

Box score

New Haven Register

Sacred Heart 76, ARMY 62: Army shot better than Sacred Heart from the field, hitting more than 52 percent of its shots. But Sacred Heart went to the free throw line 26 times more than the Black Knights. The Pioneers went 29-36 at the line. Army was just 5-10. Sacred Heart shot 27 of those free throws in the second half, after holding a slim 25-24 lead at the break.

Sacred Heart also outrebounded Army 34-22, including 12 offensive boards that led to 13 second chance points.

As an aside, Jimmy Sewell appears to be back in coach Jim Crews' doghouse. The 6-11 junior, vertically challenged Army's tallest player, was all but a DNP, getting one minute of action. Sewell has started the first six games for Army. Sewell was a starter early last eason, too, then did not start in 9 of Army's last 10 games.

Box score

AP story

# posted by Hoop Time : 7:41 AM  

Bucknell up to No. 3 in the College Insider.com Mid-Major poll. The Bison moved up from last week's No. 5 ranking, ahead of previous No. 3 Northern Iowa (now 4) and No. 4 Creighton (now 5). The Bison, with 685 points, trail No. 2 Old Dominion by just two points. Gonzaga remains atop the poll, garnering all 31 first place votes for 775 points.

The Bison finished just out of the AP Top 25 this week, coming in on top of the others receiving votes list at an unofficial No. 26.

In the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, Bucknell is second on the others list, unofficially ranked at No. 27, just behind Syracuse, who dropped out of the top 25 but remained ahead of the Bison, who beat the Orangemen in Syracuse.

All I want for Christmas this year is world peace and some cool new Giant Killer U. gear from the Hoop Time store. Please bring Daddy a GKU hat and a t-shirt for Uncle Frank. And for me, how about that neat GKU kids sweatshirt? They even have those cool oval shaped stickers for the back of the SUV.

I know the orange and blue color scheme means they aren't for everyone Santa. But maybe you could bring those other folks some big wins and then the Hoop Time guy will make them available in their favorite colors, too.

Hurry Santa, because if you order now, it will arrive in time for the Elves to put it under the tree Christmas Eve. And that would be perfect timing Santa, since everybody wants one to wear when they watch the game on January 2.

From the mailbag:

Boston Frenzy
Reply-To : Boston Frenzy
Sent : Sunday, December 4, 2005 7:13 PM
To : hoop_time@hotmail.com
Subject : Neil Fingleton

We've identified this mail as junk. Please tell us if we were right or wrong by clicking Junk or Not Junk

Neil is back with us and we are trying to land 2 home games of the Frenzy at his old high school in Worcester.
Dan Savage
--bostonfrenzy

Dear Dan,

Thanks for the heads-up. Getting an e-mail from a professional basketball team, even one in a league that seems custom-made for wise-aleck, smart-ass web pundits to take pot shots at, certainly gives us the aura of legitimacy that other bloggers are sure to envy.

It would be great for the Frenzy to bring Neil back to Worcester since the folks there have not had a chance to see him play since high school. Can I have the T-shirt concession?

How about in return for helping publicize it, you dub one of the games Hoop Time Night? Have you considered the DCU Center? Not the building, but the parking lot. Some flat asphalt, a fine spring day and a couple portable hoops would give the game a real playground feel. Not that it doesn't have that feel already. No need for bleachers, let 'em bring their folding chairs like a kid's soccer game.

Maybe even a combined promotion, like ice scraper night?

Let us know --
HT

Patriot League scoreboards
ESPN | CBS Sportsline | PennLive.com | Yahoo! | Mid-Majority

NAVY vs. Howard, 4 p.m.: Somebody gets a win when the Mids (0-4) meet the Bison (0-3) in the first game of the BB&T Classic tripleheader at the MCI Center. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic.
Navy notes (pdf) | Howard Web site | USA Today matchup | Gametracker | Navy radio

AMERICAN vs. George Mason, 6 p.m.:Old Colonial Athletic Association rivals meet in game two of the BB&T Classic. Also on Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic.
AU notes | OU notes | USA Today matchup | Gametracker | AU radio

ARMY at Sacred Heart 7 p.m.:The 1-5 Pioneers come in off a loss to Boston College, part of a four-game skid that includes losses to Harvard, Yale and Columbia. It will be interesting to see how Army handles being the favorite for the first time in a long time against a Division I foe..
Army notes (pdf) | Sacred Heart Web site | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

COLGATE at Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.: Raiders look to make it three wins in a row when they visit the Bobcats, who are 3-2 after defeating Cornell 55-45 in their last outing. Quinnipiac also has wins over New Hampshire and Concordia. The two losses came against Troy (OT) Fairleigh Dickinson.
Colgate notes (pdf) | Quinnipiac notes | USA Today matchup | Live Stats | 'Gate radio

(Originally posted 12:07 a.m., updated at 8:29 a.m.)

Holy Cross 71, Fordham 63 (2OT) -- From the AP story:

Holy Cross (3-4) trailed Fordham 55-50 with 15 seconds left in regulation before Colin Cunningham hit a 3-pointer and then, after a Rams turnover, scored on a layup with three seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Remember Ralph Willard's post about Kevin Hamilton playing sparingly? He apparently meant it. Hamilton actually sat for eight minutes. Of course with two OT's that means he still played 42 minutes, 2 more than a full regulation game.

Torey Thomas was an ironman for the Crusaders, playing the entire 50 minutes. Thomas made the most of the extra time, too, finishing with a career-high 23 points, 5 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds. According to the HC Web site:

Thomas was then fouled driving the lane, and hit a pair of free throws to send the game to a second overtime tied at 60-60.

The second overtime session was all Thomas, as he made a three-pointer, a layup and a pair of free throws to give Holy Cross a 67-60 lead with 56 seconds remaining. Thomas added one more free throw in the closing seconds, . . .

All in all, a big win for Holy Cross, who needed something good to happen after four straight losses and a rash of health problems.

Box score

Telegram & Gazette

Cornell 57, Lehigh 53 -- Lehigh could not hold a 16-point, second-half lead. After holding Cornell to 38 percent shooting in the first half, Lehigh let the Big Red hit 52 percent from the field after the break.

Box score

AP story

Ithaca Journal

# posted by Hoop Time : 8:29 AM  

Fordham at HOLY CROSS 2 p.m.: Is Boxman just a half-full kind of guy or rowing down a river in Egypt? Too soon to tell.

Look for clues in the 80th meeting between these two rivals who were both founding members of the Patriot League. Fordham bailed out for the supposedly greener pastures of the Atlantic Ten, but the grass on the other side of the fence is not always what it is cranked up to be.

The Crusaders have won the past five meetings, including a 53-39 win in the Bronx last season. Of course by now we know this is a very different Holy Cross team. Fordham's roster is full of familiar names from last year's matchup. The difference being that now, the five freshmen that played a lot of minutes for Fordham last season have a year of experience under their belts. The 1-5 Rams don't have many wins to show for that experience, but given the Crusaders struggles of late, it would be tough to call Fordham the underdog, even with the game being played in Worcester.

For a more complete scouting report on the Rams, we turn to Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard:

Fordham comes to the Hart Sunday at 1pm. They are another young team that has lost some close games, has good talent, and is trying to find itself. They have the best ATHLETIC big man we will face in Dunston, excellent guard play with Anderson and Stout, another good athletic rebounder in Binns at the four and a true point in K. Anderson. They are coming off a 1pt. loss to a good, undefeated Iona team, and Coach W's teams always defend very well. They will also extend the defense full court and have excellent overall team quickness. Trying to contain Dunston in the post while also defending the three (they were 10-22 vs. Iona) will mean we will have to have our young guys execute our game plan, something they have been struggling with. We will once again be without Pat D.(he is out indefinitely) and KHam did not practice so I'm not sure of his status though I do know that if he does play it will be limited minutes in short durations.

How many minutes Hamilton can contribute could be the deciding factor in this matchup of two teams searching to get on track.
HC notes | Fordham notes | USA Today matchup | HC radio

LEHIGH at Cornell 1 p.m.: Cornell (2-5) has lost three straight since beating Colgate back on Nov. 22.

From the Cornell game notes:

Cornell has shot just .323 from the floor and has averaged 44.0 points in losses to Lafayette and Quinnipiac. Cornell's two leading scorers, Adam Gore (13.0 ppg.) and Lenny Collins (12.7 ppg.) have especially struggled in those contests, combining to average just 13.0 points on 22 percent shooting (8-of-37).

While Cornell has struggled offensively, its impressive defensive numbers continue to keep the Big Red in games. Cornell is limiting foes to 61.1 points on 41 percent shooting, including 26 percent from 3-point range. Those numbers are down from 72.3 points and 48 percent shooting a season ago after seven contests.

Lehigh has had the same offensive problems, while also putting up impressive defensive numbers itself en route to its 3-4 start for fourth-year coach Billy Taylor. The Mountain Hawks have averaged just 55.9 points (Jose Olivero at 14.9 ppg. leads the team), but has kept its seven opponents to 40 percent shooting and 63.0 points.

Lehigh has yet to win on the road and hasn't beaten someone on their own floor since a Feb. 11 win at Army. To find a road win over someone with a pulse, go back almost another month to a Jan. 15 win in Annapolis.Lehigh notes | Cornell notes | USA Today matchup | Livestats

(Originally posted Saturday afternoon, Updated at 7:33 a.m.)

Bucknell 57, DePaul 52 -- As Chris McNaughton told Lew Freedman of the Chicago Tribune:"I don't think we're talking about upsets anymore. People know how to spell Bucknell."

Bucknell survives 17 turnovers to win its fifth straight. Kevin Bettencourt leads the Bison with 16 as Bucknell shoots 51 percent from the floor. Chris McNaughton with 12 points, Charles Lee with 10.

BU holds DePaul to 38 percent from the floor. Sammy Mejia the only Blue Demon in double figures with 20.

Box score

AP story

Chicago Sun-Times

We Are DePaul.com

BlueDemonsNation.com

Colgate 62, Princeton 39 -- Raiders hold Princeton to an Army-like 11 points in the first half (or should we say an Army '04-'05 like).

Kyle Chones with an 11-point, 15-board double-double for the Raiders. His 15 rebounds were just 7 less than Princeton's entire team grabbed. Alvin Reed added 16 points for the 'Gate, which shot 51.3 percent for the game while holding Princeton to 26.3 percent in the first half, 32.6 percent for the game.

Box score

AP story

Colgate sports info recap

Trenton Times

Marist 92, Lafayette 84 -- Lafayette led 45-44 at the half, but could not hold off the Red Foxes, who used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to take control.

Five in double figures for Marist, led by Will Whittington's 25, including 6 treys. Lafayette's Pat Betley also had 25. Betley one-upped Whittington with 7 three-pointers in the loss.

Lafayette, with an undersized, guard dominated rotation, wants to get up and down this year. But Stephen Miller's story in the Morning Call points out a sort of paradox for the Leopards. They actually seem to play better when the pace is more in control, as witnessed in their wins over Cornell and Princeton.

Box score

Lafayette sports info recap

AP story

Ohio 81, American 50 -- OU hit 12 three-pointers to clobber AU. Andre Ingram and Brayden Billbe with 10 each in the loss. Sonny Troutman (18 points) led four in double figures for the Bobcats.

How anxious must Jeff Jones be to get 6-11 South Carolina transfer Paulius Joneliunas on the floor? AU was outrebounded 42-28 by Ohio. Through five games they are being outrebounded by an average of 5 boards per game.

Box score

AP story

# posted by Hoop Time : 7:33 AM