≈ Saturday, December 17, 2005
After finals matinees
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Cornell at BUCKNELL 1 p.m.: The loss to Villanova has festered for over a week. That ought to be plenty of motivation when the Bison try to shake off 11 days of final exam rust. When Bucknell beat Cornell last season, it was the first time in 11 years the Bison had won their first game back after finals. Admission will be free as part of Bucknell's Community Day. Last year that promotion brought close to a full house to Sojka for the Bison's league opener against Holy Cross. It will be interesting to see if the locals make up for the absence of the students again. Keep in mind, last year the freebie offer came on the heels of the Bison's wins over Saint Joseph's and Pittsburgh and was after the holidays. This year there's still plenty of buzz about BU, but the game is in prime shopping season.
Like Bucknell, Cornell is coming off of a break of close to two weeks for finals. The enigmatic Big Red snapped a three-game losing streak with a come-from-behind home win over Lehigh their last time out. Among its losses is a close, 67-62 setback at Syracuse that was followed by a 12-point loss at Penn State. Cornell is 2-1 against Patriot teams, with a home win over a Kendall Chones-less Colgate and a very bad road loss at Lafayette in a game where the Big Red scored only 43 points. NOTE: This is a 1 p.m. start. The Patriot League's site has the wrong time listed.
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New York Maritime at ARMY 1 p.m.: The Division 3 Privateers sail up the Hudson to pick up a check and an L, allowing Army fans what should be one of their still rare opportunities to celebrate after a game (see caveat in the Colgate preview).
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Hobart at COLGATE 1:30 p.m.: Another wrong start time on the league site -- this one does start at 1:30. Hobart is the basic D-3 fodder to get back in game form after finals for Colgate. Should be a bought win, though Navy showed the danger of not coming to play against a D-3 when they lost to Gettysburg last season. Hobart is a 2-4 team from a school so politically correct they call freshmen "first years." Want to know more about the Statesmen? Here's their , knock yourself out.
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Friday, December 16, 2005
Knight's status clarified
Lehigh might have to forfeit games, but guard's admission meets league guidelines
Lehigh could be forced to forfeit games form last season because of questions about the eligibility of Mountain Hawks point guard Joe Knight.
“It is something we will be reviewing as a league whether or not any games have to be forfeited,” league executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich told Hoop Time in an exclusive interview.
Knight, who transferred to Lehigh last year, is currently sitting out a 16-game suspension imposed by the NCAA after problems were discovered with the way the school had applied credits he earned at tow previous stops toward the NCAA’s progress toward degree requirements.
Knight transferred to Lehigh after spending two years at High Point and an additional year at a community college near his parents’ home in Texas, where he concentrated on academics and did not play basketball.
While the NCAA’s eligibility review might trigger forfeits from last season, Femovich said Knight’s admission at Lehigh was not in violation of the league’s “principles of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class.”
“Our position on this is the member institution makes the decision if an individual is academically qualified to transfer. Lehigh is not going to admit any student they do not feel is qualified to meet their academic standards,” Femovich said.
The league does have a process that allows other schools to challenge the admission of any student-athletes they feel violate those principles. No school made such a challenge when Knight was admitted, Femovich said.
Knight’s academic background has been the subject of considerable speculation by bloggers (us included) and the posters on various message boards that serve Patriot League fans. Much of that speculation has centered on reports Knight left High Point because of academic problems.
Femovich said that was not the case. Lehigh’s Dean of Athletics, Joe Sterrett, confirmed Femovich’s report.
“(Knight) was in good standing at High Point, though he did have a GPA that was less than ideal,” Sterrett said. Sterrett said Knight’s GPA at High Point was around a 2.0.
According to Sterrett, Knight’s decision to leave High Point was for other reasons, primarily a change in the High Point coaching staff. When he decided to transfer, Knight contacted Lehigh assistant Brett Reed, who had originally recruited Knight when he was an assistant at High Point.
At that point, Sterrett said, Lehigh’s admissions department told Knight he lacked the background and credentials to be admitted and suggested he go elsewhere for a year and take courses that would be acceptable at Lehigh.
That led to Knight’s decision to enroll at Tarrant Community College in Arlington, Tx., where he was a Dean’s List student with a GPA well above 3.0 while earning an associates degree while working and paying his own way.
“He was told he had to have a year with a 3.0 or better in courses commensurate with the content of Lehigh courses. They said this is what you have to do and he did it,” Sterrett said.
Since being admitted to Lehigh, Sterrett said Knight has improved his GPA each semester. Knight began the fall semester with a 2.4 or 2.5, Sterrett said. Progress reports from Knight’s professors indicate he is on track to have a better than 3.0 in the fall semester, which will likely raise his overall Lehigh GPA to around a 2.7, Sterrett said.
“Since he has been here he has done increasingly good work. He has been an outstanding citizen and a very capable, consistent, dependable student,” Sterrett said.
To Sterrett, Knight’s situation is typical of a student who lacked both maturity and strong guidance when he was younger.
“He has matured into a terrific young man,” Sterrett said.
Sterrett admitted Knight’s path to Lehigh is not the typical one. But Knight is not the only Lehigh student admitted as a transfer who struggled at another school, then went to a community college to bring up their grades before transferring to Lehigh, he said.
“There are not many, but there are others. Sometimes local kids will go away to school, struggle, come home and take some time to improve their grades, then come here,” Sterrett said.
J. Bruce Gardiner, Lehigh’s director of admissions, confirmed that. “It happens all the time,” Gardiner said.
A check with admissions representatives at some other league schools confirmed that similar scenarios are not out of the norm.
Questions have also been raised about how students who attend a community college for a year fit under the league’s no redshirting policy.
“We have a policy that does not permit redshirting for athletic purposes,” said Femovich, noting the emphasis was on athletic purposes.
In Knight’s case, being allowed to play during a fifth year of school falls under a standard exemption.
“Many times course work from other institutions is not accepted so student athlete might get behind a semester or two. There sis a standard waiver for transfer students if they need to be on campus a fifth year to complete their degree,” Femovich said.
Similar questions have been raised about Colgate sophomores Kyle and Kendall Chones, who spent last year at a community college concentrating on academics after struggling with their grades in their freshman year at Colgate.
Femovich said the Chones brothers’ situation was not unlike other students at league schools, who might be asked to leave campus for academic reasons with a stipulation that they could be readmitted if they demonstrate a readiness to return.
When the situation involves a student-athlete, the league’s policy committee, made up of representatives from each league school, reviews it. That committee deals with non-standard eligibility issues. The league’s Council of Presidents, Femovich said, must also endorse the committee’s decision.
In all cases, academics are the guiding principle.
“Do they have an academic reason to take time off. Do they have an academic reason to be on campus for that ninth semester or fifth year,” Femovich said.
Femovich said that means any student granted the fifth season of eligibility must also be enrolled in an academic program that requires the extra year of study. That can include graduate work, Femovich said.
It is unclear how that might apply to the Chones brothers. According to Colgate’s preseason basketball prospectus, neither has declared a major yet. Colgate does not offer graduate level courses.
Femovich said it is possible the Chones brothers might have to come back before the policy committee for review prior to their being declared eligible for a fifth year.
Lehigh could be forced to forfeit games form last season because of questions about the eligibility of Mountain Hawks point guard Joe Knight.
“It is something we will be reviewing as a league whether or not any games have to be forfeited,” league executive director Carolyn Schlie Femovich told Hoop Time in an exclusive interview.
Knight, who transferred to Lehigh last year, is currently sitting out a 16-game suspension imposed by the NCAA after problems were discovered with the way the school had applied credits he earned at tow previous stops toward the NCAA’s progress toward degree requirements.
Knight transferred to Lehigh after spending two years at High Point and an additional year at a community college near his parents’ home in Texas, where he concentrated on academics and did not play basketball.
While the NCAA’s eligibility review might trigger forfeits from last season, Femovich said Knight’s admission at Lehigh was not in violation of the league’s “principles of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class.”
“Our position on this is the member institution makes the decision if an individual is academically qualified to transfer. Lehigh is not going to admit any student they do not feel is qualified to meet their academic standards,” Femovich said.
The league does have a process that allows other schools to challenge the admission of any student-athletes they feel violate those principles. No school made such a challenge when Knight was admitted, Femovich said.
Knight’s academic background has been the subject of considerable speculation by bloggers (us included) and the posters on various message boards that serve Patriot League fans. Much of that speculation has centered on reports Knight left High Point because of academic problems.
Femovich said that was not the case. Lehigh’s Dean of Athletics, Joe Sterrett, confirmed Femovich’s report.
“(Knight) was in good standing at High Point, though he did have a GPA that was less than ideal,” Sterrett said. Sterrett said Knight’s GPA at High Point was around a 2.0.
According to Sterrett, Knight’s decision to leave High Point was for other reasons, primarily a change in the High Point coaching staff. When he decided to transfer, Knight contacted Lehigh assistant Brett Reed, who had originally recruited Knight when he was an assistant at High Point.
At that point, Sterrett said, Lehigh’s admissions department told Knight he lacked the background and credentials to be admitted and suggested he go elsewhere for a year and take courses that would be acceptable at Lehigh.
That led to Knight’s decision to enroll at Tarrant Community College in Arlington, Tx., where he was a Dean’s List student with a GPA well above 3.0 while earning an associates degree while working and paying his own way.
“He was told he had to have a year with a 3.0 or better in courses commensurate with the content of Lehigh courses. They said this is what you have to do and he did it,” Sterrett said.
Since being admitted to Lehigh, Sterrett said Knight has improved his GPA each semester. Knight began the fall semester with a 2.4 or 2.5, Sterrett said. Progress reports from Knight’s professors indicate he is on track to have a better than 3.0 in the fall semester, which will likely raise his overall Lehigh GPA to around a 2.7, Sterrett said.
“Since he has been here he has done increasingly good work. He has been an outstanding citizen and a very capable, consistent, dependable student,” Sterrett said.
To Sterrett, Knight’s situation is typical of a student who lacked both maturity and strong guidance when he was younger.
“He has matured into a terrific young man,” Sterrett said.
Sterrett admitted Knight’s path to Lehigh is not the typical one. But Knight is not the only Lehigh student admitted as a transfer who struggled at another school, then went to a community college to bring up their grades before transferring to Lehigh, he said.
“There are not many, but there are others. Sometimes local kids will go away to school, struggle, come home and take some time to improve their grades, then come here,” Sterrett said.
J. Bruce Gardiner, Lehigh’s director of admissions, confirmed that. “It happens all the time,” Gardiner said.
A check with admissions representatives at some other league schools confirmed that similar scenarios are not out of the norm.
Questions have also been raised about how students who attend a community college for a year fit under the league’s no redshirting policy.
“We have a policy that does not permit redshirting for athletic purposes,” said Femovich, noting the emphasis was on athletic purposes.
In Knight’s case, being allowed to play during a fifth year of school falls under a standard exemption.
“Many times course work from other institutions is not accepted so student athlete might get behind a semester or two. There sis a standard waiver for transfer students if they need to be on campus a fifth year to complete their degree,” Femovich said.
Similar questions have been raised about Colgate sophomores Kyle and Kendall Chones, who spent last year at a community college concentrating on academics after struggling with their grades in their freshman year at Colgate.
Femovich said the Chones brothers’ situation was not unlike other students at league schools, who might be asked to leave campus for academic reasons with a stipulation that they could be readmitted if they demonstrate a readiness to return.
When the situation involves a student-athlete, the league’s policy committee, made up of representatives from each league school, reviews it. That committee deals with non-standard eligibility issues. The league’s Council of Presidents, Femovich said, must also endorse the committee’s decision.
In all cases, academics are the guiding principle.
“Do they have an academic reason to take time off. Do they have an academic reason to be on campus for that ninth semester or fifth year,” Femovich said.
Femovich said that means any student granted the fifth season of eligibility must also be enrolled in an academic program that requires the extra year of study. That can include graduate work, Femovich said.
It is unclear how that might apply to the Chones brothers. According to Colgate’s preseason basketball prospectus, neither has declared a major yet. Colgate does not offer graduate level courses.
Femovich said it is possible the Chones brothers might have to come back before the policy committee for review prior to their being declared eligible for a fifth year.
The latest from Coach Ralph
In his latest post on , Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard says slowly, but surely, his Crusaders are coming around.
Willard calls the Brown game a "good win", adding:
Willard calls the Brown game a "good win", adding:
It was a good feeling, exhaling after the game, giving the guys the next two days off to prepare and heal, and approaching exam week with still a lot of unanswered basketball questions, but with positive anticipation of getting to the semester vacation seeing at least some progress.
Upon further review
In a as part of its year in review series, Deadspin.com includes:
March 18: Stunning most of college basketball -- as well as parts of Turkey -- Bucknell stuns Kansas in the NCAA tournament. The loss is so shocking that even Bill Self's toupee stands on end.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
5 questions with Paulius
It's another Hoop Time exclusive, the first interview (that we know of) with American's , the 6-11 Lithuanian transfer from South Carolina who becomes eligible for AU's bext game (Dec. 23 at Maryland).
We caught up with Paulius after the AU-Towson game for five quick questions:
HT: This is your second semester of sitting on the sidelines. How difficult has that been?
We caught up with Paulius after the AU-Towson game for five quick questions:
HT: This is your second semester of sitting on the sidelines. How difficult has that been?
PJ: It’s really difficult. When I saw the MCI Center game, it was even more difficult. I just wanted to go help my teammates rebound and play defense—any way I can.HT: What do you see from the sidelines that you will be able to fix or make better when you become eligible?
PJ: I hope I can bring some rebounding, double digit rebounds, play good post defense, scoring down low, whatever it takes.HT: Last year we saw you shooting around a little after the Holy Cross-AU women’s game. You were shooting a lot of threes. Is that a big part of your game?
PJ: Usually I don’t set for jump shots. I like to take it down low in the post, jump hook, stuff like that. You know, big guys’ moves. I can shoot a jumper, too. But not a three-pointer, though.HT: Looking around the league, at some of the big men. You got to watch them last season, what did you see?
PJ: McNaughton, he is a really good player. I don’t really remember the other guys, but I can see there is a battle in the paint. That is what I am looking for.HT: The first half tonight, everything was from the outside. Did you wish you could get in there to give AU more of a low post presence?
PJ: Oh yeah, I can’t wait to get back. I just want to help the team. It is hard to sit on the bench and see them struggling. I just want to help them anyway I can.
One for the recruitniks
A little holiday season treat for the recruitniks out there.
From a headlined "Are you ready for the Class of 2008? We are!":
From a headlined "Are you ready for the Class of 2008? We are!":
Tyrone Nash, an improving 6-7 forward from Lawrence Woodmere High School in N.Y., continues to pick up recruiting interest from division one schools. Nash, who may decide to go to prep school next season to improve his overall game, is coached by Jeff Weiss, who has a very good reputation in New York as a head coach and teacher.
Bucknell evaluated Nash this past week. Yes, the Bucknell that has upset several top ranked college teams over the past few years. In fact, it was Bucknell that upended Syracuse this season.
Purdue is also expected to come into New York and take a serious look at Nash. It's likely the visit will take place over the next couple of weeks. Dartmouth has already watched Nash play and even schools like St. John's are keeping a careful eye on Nash's progress this season.
Nash, according to reporter Brian Towey, has not made a total commitment yet to a year on the prep level. So colleges will have to keep in touch with Nash in case he decides to change his mind and make a commitment this season. Nash is an excellent student so he is already academically eligible.
Where have you gone? (BU transfer edition)
Former Bucknell player Ben Slater has surfaced at Division II Goldey-Beacom. Here's a note from :
Slater left the Bison prior to the 2003-2004 season. He shows up in Goldey-Beacom's stats from last season as having played two games. It also mentions in his profile that Slater working on his MBA.
A reasonable guess would be that Slater must have been injured last season and gained a medical redshirt to play this year, although is thin on details. They don't even have current year stats posted, though they do have boxscores from the games thus far, from which we calculated Slater is averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds per game.
The Goldey-Beacom College men's basketball team is having success early in the Division II basketball season.Slater played three years at Bucknell, averaging 3.2 points while playing over 15 minutes per game in 71 games, including 4 starts.
The Lightning men, under third-year coach Chuck Hammond, were 3-2 after five games. Senior forward Ben Slater, a 6-6 transfer from Division I Bucknell, had 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 74-65 overtime loss to Philadelphia University on Dec. 6.
Slater left the Bison prior to the 2003-2004 season. He shows up in Goldey-Beacom's stats from last season as having played two games. It also mentions in his profile that Slater working on his MBA.
A reasonable guess would be that Slater must have been injured last season and gained a medical redshirt to play this year, although is thin on details. They don't even have current year stats posted, though they do have boxscores from the games thus far, from which we calculated Slater is averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds per game.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Crunching numbers
What did DePaul's win last night at Wake Forest mean for Bucknell? According to the blogospehere's to 6.
The next highest RPI in the league is American at 122. Holy Cross (140) is the only other team in the top 200. Lehigh currently has the league's lowest ranking at 271. Army, which spent last season in the 300s, is currently holding down the 246 spot.
Overall, the ranks 17th among the 31 conferences.
The next highest RPI in the league is American at 122. Holy Cross (140) is the only other team in the top 200. Lehigh currently has the league's lowest ranking at 271. Army, which spent last season in the 300s, is currently holding down the 246 spot.
Overall, the ranks 17th among the 31 conferences.
Meanwhile, in Worcester
Jen Toland of the Worcester Telegram&Gazette checks in this morning with a upcoming trip to Puerto Rico.
Toland says:HC coach Ralph Willard calls this week of practice "Basketball 101." It's back to the fundamentals, and "reinforcing things over and over," Hamilton said.We realize HC fans have been spoiled in recent seasons. But really, what has happened to the Crusaders this season is not unfamiliar to others around the league. Teams having winning records in non-conference play have been the exception, not the norm, in the league.
But given Hamilton's health woes, which are well-documented in Toland's story, and the reliance on freshmen to carry a significant load, HC's 4-4 record is actually pretty decent.
Without a healthy Pat Doherty, depth will be an issue for the Crusaders. But in league play, it will be less a factor. Other than Bucknell, and maybe Navy (which runs waves of people at you), who else in the Patriot goes any deeper?
Toland says:HC coach Ralph Willard calls this week of practice "Basketball 101." It's back to the fundamentals, and "reinforcing things over and over," Hamilton said.We realize HC fans have been spoiled in recent seasons. But really, what has happened to the Crusaders this season is not unfamiliar to others around the league. Teams having winning records in non-conference play have been the exception, not the norm, in the league.
But given Hamilton's health woes, which are well-documented in Toland's story, and the reliance on freshmen to carry a significant load, HC's 4-4 record is actually pretty decent.
Without a healthy Pat Doherty, depth will be an issue for the Crusaders. But in league play, it will be less a factor. Other than Bucknell, and maybe Navy (which runs waves of people at you), who else in the Patriot goes any deeper?
From the mailbag:
From: (DELETED)@lehigh.eduOut of courtesy, we tried replying to the e-mail first, before publicly posting it and our response. That message came back undeliverable.
To: HoopTime@HoopTimeOnline.com
Subject: Academics
How quickly you forget the academic status of Bucknell's own Charles Lee while you take a shot at Lehigh and Joe Knight. Lee had to sit out pretty much an entire season, Joe Knight will be back soon. I guess you prefer forgot you own team's shortcomings when it comes to academics.
Hopefully the person who sent it will see this:
We have already addressed this whole "your own team" stuff, no need to rehash that.
As for Charles Lee's academic stats as a freshman and Joe Knight's ongoing saga, there is simply no comparison. Apples and oranges, as they say.
In Lee's freshman season, Pat Flannery held him out of action the final 19 games so he could concentrate on academics. It is important to note that Lee was eligible by both Bucknell and NCAA standards.
Flannery has a long history of handling freshmen in that manner. Realizing the difficulties some kids have adjusting to the academic challenges of a school like Bucknell, he oft opts to make a short-term sacrifice of having a kid on the court for the long-term gain of keeping a kid on track academically.
Lee is certainly not the only student at a Patriot League school to have found the adjustment from high school challenging. But at no time has anyone suggested that
Lee did not fit the academic profile at Bucknell. Nobody has ever accused Bucknell of letting a kid in who did not have the academic credentials necessary to get admitted if he did not play a sport.
Certainly Lee did not leave a "safety school," spend a year at a community college and then show up at Bucknell.
Remember, as it says on the :
The Patriot League, which was founded on the principles of admitting athletes who are academically representative of their class.Maybe Knight really is representative of the typical Lehigh student. Maybe there are non-athletes at Lehigh who followed that same path.
Looking at Lehigh's own Web site, though, we doubt it. According to the school's site, :
Lehigh prefers at least one full year of college experience and a cumulative grade point average of 3.25.Lehigh has said during his year at a community college in Texas, Knight got over a 3.0. So let's do some speculative math here. We will assume that Knight averaged 15 credits (5 courses) per semester at High Point. Aan in the holiday spirit, let's be generous. Let's assume he had a 2.5 GPA there. And let's say, for the sake of argument, that Knight kicked things up a couple notches in those community college classes. Let's say he took 18 credits each semester (6 courses) with a 3.5 GPA. That comes out to an overall GPA of 2.875. Not horrible by any stretch, but nowhere close to the 3.25 the school says is preferred.
The school's site :
All students must be in good standing with their previous college to be eligible for admission to Lehigh.I suppose it is open to interpretation how that applies to someone who leaves a less-demanding four-year school due to grades, then spends a year taking community college courses.
Less vague is the language in Lehigh's :
The academic performance at the college level is the primary focus when giving consideration to admission.Look, as we have said before, we are all for people getting second chances. We are not saying Knight is not bright enough to handle the coursework at Lehigh. All we are asking is is Knight's academic credentials would have gotten him into Lehigh if he was not an extremely talented basketball player seems ludicrous.
Candidates who have been dropped for poor scholarship, or who are not in good standing, or who have been released for disciplinary reasons are not eligible for admission.
Keep in mind, athletic scholarships are still a new concept in the Patriot League. Across the Lehigh Valley at Lafayette, they don't even offer them yet. A big part of the reason Lafayette does not have scholarships and that schools like Bucknell and Colgate were slow to go the scholarship route is because critics were worried this was what was going to happen.
The whole concept of the Patriot League is supposed to be that you can do things right and still be competitive in athletics. When you throw out that concept, there is little to separate the Patriot from the MAACs, NECs and America Easts. Aside from some of those oldtimers in Worcester who constantly whine about Holy Cross' decision to join the league, we don't know anybody who would want that.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Where have you gone? (Anchors aweigh edition)
To a lot of folks, the fact that Bruce Grooms is the is big news.
Here at Hoop Time, we don't look at things as black and white. To us, what really makes Grooms' appointment newsworthy is the fact that Grooms was a three-year letter winner and
Here at Hoop Time, we don't look at things as black and white. To us, what really makes Grooms' appointment newsworthy is the fact that Grooms was a three-year letter winner and
Mid-major mania keeps spreading
Brian Bennett of the Louisville Courier-Journal makes a couple mentions of Bucknell is his . Among his observations:
Nevada's Nick Fazekas, Pacific's Christian Maraker and Bucknell's Chris McNaughton are heads and shoulders better than anyone on Kentucky's front line.
Get out the brooms
(Originally posted 12:43 a.m., Updated 8:23 a.m.)
That's right, it's a sweep. And about time, too.
Our crackerjack research department did a quick check, and best we can tell, the last time more than no Patriot League team lost on a night when at least two were in non-conference action was over two years ago.
At least that is how far back you have to go to find league teams batting 1.000 against Division I foes.
If you count games with Division 3 opponents, then you only need go back as far as Dec. 22 of last year, when Bucknell beat Niagara and Lafayette downed Moravian.
Lehigh and Lafayette also swept a pair from two D3s on Dec. 17, 2003 (Lafayette over Lycoming, Lehigh over Delaware Valley).
But to find the last night when the league went 2-0 against real opponents, you'd need to go back to Dec. 8, 2003, the night Lehigh won 60-57 at Columbia and America won 57-53 at Howard.
Must be something to do with Howard, because the Bison were on the short end against AU again last night. Coupled with Lehigh's win over visiting Monmouth, it sends the league into finals on a high note.
American 72, Howard 60 -- Those crazy AU kids up to their second half shenanigans again. Through eight games so far, AU has scored more points in the second half five times. They were also even once, scoring 41 each half in the opener at Washington. In those eight games, AU is averaging better than 8 points more in the second half of games than the first.
This time it was a 9-0 run at the start of the second half that gave the Eagles the lead after they went to the break down 2.
In the win against Towson Saturday, American's strong second half came from the offense. The Eagles shot 50 percent after the intermission in that one, even better from the arc.
Against Howard it was the defense that was different in the second half. After letting Howard shoot 51.9 percent the first 20 minutes, AU locked down on defense and held the Bison to 18.5 percent (5-27) in the second.
That was not all that was different. One game after erupting for 6 treys and 25 points against Towson, AU freshman Garrison Carr was held to 4 points on a 1-for-7 effort from the floor. He was 0-4 from 3-point range.
The battle of the vertically challenged went to American frosh Derrick Mercer, though certainly not be knockout. The 5-9 (or so they say) Mercer was 1-1 and made a free throw to finish with 3 points while turning it over 5 times and dishing 4 assists. Not a lot, but better than Howard's 5-6 senior Louis Ford, who wore an 0-7 collar with 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 steals.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post it was the first time in his college career that Ford has gone scoreless.
Andre Ingram looks like he has broken out of the little slump he was in, building on his strong second half against Towson with a 7-14, 21 point showing. Brayden Billbe in double figures again with 14.
It's win number three in a row for the Eagles, all at home. They started the season with six games away from Bender, all losses.
Another nugget from the :
Lehigh 71, Monmouth 57 -- Jose Olivero with a 10-assist, 14-point double-double to lead Lehigh. It is the first time this season the Mountain Hawks have won two straight.
Lehigh shot 50 percent from the field, but defense was the key. Monmouth shot just 38 percent from the field, the sixth time in seven games, Lehigh held an opponent to 38 percent or less.
Bryan White was 9-13 for a team-high 18 points for Lehigh. Kyle Neptune added 16.
The reports it was an ugly affair, with the two teams combining for 45 turnovers, 25 of those by Monmouth. Apparently the Lehigh Valley papers couldn't be bothered to cover this one, so you will have to be content with that visiting team story.
That's right, it's a sweep. And about time, too.
Our crackerjack research department did a quick check, and best we can tell, the last time more than no Patriot League team lost on a night when at least two were in non-conference action was over two years ago.
At least that is how far back you have to go to find league teams batting 1.000 against Division I foes.
If you count games with Division 3 opponents, then you only need go back as far as Dec. 22 of last year, when Bucknell beat Niagara and Lafayette downed Moravian.
Lehigh and Lafayette also swept a pair from two D3s on Dec. 17, 2003 (Lafayette over Lycoming, Lehigh over Delaware Valley).
But to find the last night when the league went 2-0 against real opponents, you'd need to go back to Dec. 8, 2003, the night Lehigh won 60-57 at Columbia and America won 57-53 at Howard.
Must be something to do with Howard, because the Bison were on the short end against AU again last night. Coupled with Lehigh's win over visiting Monmouth, it sends the league into finals on a high note.
American 72, Howard 60 -- Those crazy AU kids up to their second half shenanigans again. Through eight games so far, AU has scored more points in the second half five times. They were also even once, scoring 41 each half in the opener at Washington. In those eight games, AU is averaging better than 8 points more in the second half of games than the first.
This time it was a 9-0 run at the start of the second half that gave the Eagles the lead after they went to the break down 2.
In the win against Towson Saturday, American's strong second half came from the offense. The Eagles shot 50 percent after the intermission in that one, even better from the arc.
Against Howard it was the defense that was different in the second half. After letting Howard shoot 51.9 percent the first 20 minutes, AU locked down on defense and held the Bison to 18.5 percent (5-27) in the second.
That was not all that was different. One game after erupting for 6 treys and 25 points against Towson, AU freshman Garrison Carr was held to 4 points on a 1-for-7 effort from the floor. He was 0-4 from 3-point range.
The battle of the vertically challenged went to American frosh Derrick Mercer, though certainly not be knockout. The 5-9 (or so they say) Mercer was 1-1 and made a free throw to finish with 3 points while turning it over 5 times and dishing 4 assists. Not a lot, but better than Howard's 5-6 senior Louis Ford, who wore an 0-7 collar with 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 steals.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post it was the first time in his college career that Ford has gone scoreless.
Andre Ingram looks like he has broken out of the little slump he was in, building on his strong second half against Towson with a 7-14, 21 point showing. Brayden Billbe in double figures again with 14.
It's win number three in a row for the Eagles, all at home. They started the season with six games away from Bender, all losses.
Another nugget from the :
The reasons for American's turnaround are many, and a more forgiving schedule is certainly one of them. The Eagles, who don't use any seniors in their regular rotation, began the year with one of the nastiest opening stretches in the nation. Only 20 Division I teams were undefeated before last night, and American had lost to three of them. Their first six games -- all losses away from Bender Arena -- came against opponents that are a combined 32-5.The Eagles return to action Dec. 23 at Maryland.
Lehigh 71, Monmouth 57 -- Jose Olivero with a 10-assist, 14-point double-double to lead Lehigh. It is the first time this season the Mountain Hawks have won two straight.
Lehigh shot 50 percent from the field, but defense was the key. Monmouth shot just 38 percent from the field, the sixth time in seven games, Lehigh held an opponent to 38 percent or less.
Bryan White was 9-13 for a team-high 18 points for Lehigh. Kyle Neptune added 16.
The reports it was an ugly affair, with the two teams combining for 45 turnovers, 25 of those by Monmouth. Apparently the Lehigh Valley papers couldn't be bothered to cover this one, so you will have to be content with that visiting team story.
News break
The president of the sophomore class at Lehigh apparently has a unique method for getting ready for finals.
According to this , Greg Hogan, a 19-year-old student from northeast Ohio, handed a note to a teller at a Wachovia Bank branch around 3 p.m. Friday, saying he had a gun and wanted money, authorities said.
One of his fraternity brothers "described Hogan as 'very energetic,' the sort of student who would cheer on the college football team wearing body paint."
No, it is not a basketball story. But somehow we just figured you would want to know.
According to this , Greg Hogan, a 19-year-old student from northeast Ohio, handed a note to a teller at a Wachovia Bank branch around 3 p.m. Friday, saying he had a gun and wanted money, authorities said.
One of his fraternity brothers "described Hogan as 'very energetic,' the sort of student who would cheer on the college football team wearing body paint."
No, it is not a basketball story. But somehow we just figured you would want to know.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Bison slip in polls
We have never put much faith in the polls. Yeah, sure, we post them here each Monday. But that is for informational purposes only. It is certainly not an endorsement.
We know how these things work. In the AP poll, a bunch of writers vote. In the coaches poll, the sports information directors do the voting (or at least a good portion of it). Even if the coaches actually fill out their own ballots, they suffer from the same handicap the writers do. Nobody who votes in these things actually sees most of the teams they vote on.
The AP poll is weighted heavily with writers from large papers that cover the major players from the BCS conferences. The panel for the coaches poll, surprisingly, is heavily weighted with guys from mid-major schools.
It does not matter. None of these voters actually get to see many games outside of the ones the teams they coach or cover play. If they do, it is on television, which usually means teams from the major conferences.
It creates a bias that is all but impossible for a mid-major to overcome.
Don't believe it? How else do you explain Bucknell falling in both polls this week after losing a tough game to No. 3 (in both polls) Villanova. Evidently, beating Bucknell impressed the voters. Six other unbeaten teams are still ranked lower than 'Nova, which climbed a spot in both polls.
Yet Bucknell fell six spots in the and four spots in the .
The Bison are now eighth among others receiving votes in the coaches poll, fifth in the AP.
Somebody has to explain to us how Indiana (5-2), whose only "quality" win came over an overrated Kentucky team, can lose to Indiana State and stay in the top 25? And don't say because they beat Kentucky. Kentucky (6-3) has beaten one team that could be considered even a little impressive-- West Virginia. The rest of the wins came over the likes of South Dakota State, Lipscomb, Liberty, High Point and Georgia State. Yet Kentucky is ranked in both polls.
So is Iowa (7-3), despite losses last week to Northern Iowa and Iowa State. Iowa's wins other than Kentucky? Valparaiso, Fairfield, Texas-San Antonio, Maryland-Eastern Shore, North Carolina State and Colgate.
Maryland has two losses and only one quality win, Boston College. Boston College in turn also has two losses and a win over Oklahoma State is the only thing close to a quality W for the Eagles. Yet both the Terps and BC are ranked.
Yet Bucknell, with wins over Syracuse and DePaul -- on the road, and one loss against the No. 3 team in the nation, not only is not ranked, but actually lost votes this week.
Bucknell's loss to Villanova did not hurt them in the . Bucknell held on to third in those rankings, actually gaining 14 more points (though previous No. 4 Northern Iowa did leapfrog BU after beating Iowa).
It apparently did not hurt them with Dick "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News, either. Weiss lists Bucknell as his No. 23 team in a .
We know how these things work. In the AP poll, a bunch of writers vote. In the coaches poll, the sports information directors do the voting (or at least a good portion of it). Even if the coaches actually fill out their own ballots, they suffer from the same handicap the writers do. Nobody who votes in these things actually sees most of the teams they vote on.
The AP poll is weighted heavily with writers from large papers that cover the major players from the BCS conferences. The panel for the coaches poll, surprisingly, is heavily weighted with guys from mid-major schools.
It does not matter. None of these voters actually get to see many games outside of the ones the teams they coach or cover play. If they do, it is on television, which usually means teams from the major conferences.
It creates a bias that is all but impossible for a mid-major to overcome.
Don't believe it? How else do you explain Bucknell falling in both polls this week after losing a tough game to No. 3 (in both polls) Villanova. Evidently, beating Bucknell impressed the voters. Six other unbeaten teams are still ranked lower than 'Nova, which climbed a spot in both polls.
Yet Bucknell fell six spots in the and four spots in the .
The Bison are now eighth among others receiving votes in the coaches poll, fifth in the AP.
Somebody has to explain to us how Indiana (5-2), whose only "quality" win came over an overrated Kentucky team, can lose to Indiana State and stay in the top 25? And don't say because they beat Kentucky. Kentucky (6-3) has beaten one team that could be considered even a little impressive-- West Virginia. The rest of the wins came over the likes of South Dakota State, Lipscomb, Liberty, High Point and Georgia State. Yet Kentucky is ranked in both polls.
So is Iowa (7-3), despite losses last week to Northern Iowa and Iowa State. Iowa's wins other than Kentucky? Valparaiso, Fairfield, Texas-San Antonio, Maryland-Eastern Shore, North Carolina State and Colgate.
Maryland has two losses and only one quality win, Boston College. Boston College in turn also has two losses and a win over Oklahoma State is the only thing close to a quality W for the Eagles. Yet both the Terps and BC are ranked.
Yet Bucknell, with wins over Syracuse and DePaul -- on the road, and one loss against the No. 3 team in the nation, not only is not ranked, but actually lost votes this week.
Bucknell's loss to Villanova did not hurt them in the . Bucknell held on to third in those rankings, actually gaining 14 more points (though previous No. 4 Northern Iowa did leapfrog BU after beating Iowa).
It apparently did not hurt them with Dick "Hoops" Weiss of the New York Daily News, either. Weiss lists Bucknell as his No. 23 team in a .
Long, short of tonight's matchups
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Monmouth at LEHIGH 7 p.m.: Hawks vs. Hawks when 1-6 Monmouth comes to town. Mascots are not all these two have in common. Both are also without the services of their starting point guard. Senior Tyler Azzarelli, who started 90 straight games for Monmouth, went down with a stress fracture in his foot after two games. Lehigh's Joe Knight remains ineligible until Jan. 11 due to an NCAA ruling about his transfer credits.
Monmouth has played a decent and four of the six losses were by single-digit margins. Only in a loss to Seton Hall of the Big East has Monmouth not been competitive.
The Hawks, who prefer a Princeton=style of halfcourt offense, have been undermanned. In addition to missing Azzarelli, four other players were suspended for a violation of team rules and have been rotating, two sitting out each game so as to not leave the team completely shorthanded. Nothing on the Monmouth site indicates how long that will continue or who might miss tonight's game.
If 7-2 work-in-progress junior John Bunch is available (he is one of the four serving the suspensions), there is a good chance we could see a matchup of two 7-footers when Lehigh's 7-0 freshman John Gourlay is on the floor. | |
Howard at AMERICAN 7:30 p.m.: Ater starting the season 0-6, all on the road, American can extend its win streak to three in a row, all at home, with a win over the Bison of the MEAC. Howard knows a little about losing streaks, too. The Bison's win Saturday over Maryland-Eastern Shore came in their first home game of the season and snapped a 21-game losing streak that dated back to early January.
Junior guard Daryl Hudson (6-4) leads Howard in scoring (13.2 ppg) and rebounding. Also averaging in double figures is Darek Mitchell, a 6-0 guard who averages 10.6 ppg.
One matchup that should be fun to watch will be American's freshman point guard Derrick Mercer and Howard's senior Louis Ford. Ford will be a handful for the freshman. He averages 9.8 points, 6.2 assists and nearly 3 steals per game. But the matchup we want a report on is not how Ford and Mercer compare statistically. What we want to know is if Mercer, who is listed at 5-8, is actually two inches taller than Ford, who is listed at 5-6.
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Sunday, December 11, 2005
Hoop Time notebook (On the road again edition)
News, notes and reflections from the drive home following American's four-point win over Towson Saturday:
When you see American point guard Derrick Mercer for the first time, your first reaction is, “Who gave Gary Coleman a uniform?”
They list the freshman from Jersey City as 5-9 in the AU game program. You do understand that those program measurements are bullshit, right?
To say Mercer is small is to say A.U. basketball is overshadowed and overlooked in the D.C. area. You can try to pretend it is not so, but it is pretty obvious to everyone but the blind guy.
Garrison Carr is small, too, though even he looks big standing next to Mercer. If you saw him in street clothes, you’d never guess Carr was a college basketball player. Not even in Division 3. The kid just doesn’t look old enough to even be in college.
Forget his on court heroics. Four years from now AU fans will be able to look back at Carr and say “I remember the first time he shaved.”
Watch Carr shoot the ball, though, and he looks a little older. Carr has a veteran’s poise around the arc, never rushing his shots, never passing up an open look or hesitating to fire when it is there.
Carr was dialed in against Towson, knocking down four three-pointers in quick succession to bring AU back from 10 down in the first half to a 31-30 lead. It was all catch-and-shoot stuff. No beating guys off the dribble. But Towson still could not manage to get a hand in his face most of the night.
Just as Carr doesn’t play young, Mercer hardly plays small. Mercer has two gears, fast and turbo. He doesn’t spend as lot of time in fast. With a solid handle and a fearless demeanor, Mercer finds seems between the trees and darts through them with abandon.
“He is too small to get himself stuck down that low,” you think when he gets double teamed down on the low block by a pair of guys that would make three of him.
Then Mercer makes a little wrap around shuttle pass to Brayden Billbe for an easy layup.
Time and time again Mercer drove the lane and passed off. He finished with six assists. At least two or three of his four turnovers came when AU teammates were unable to get the handle on his creative dishes.
Rumor has it Mercer can finish, too. Saw little evidence of it against Towson, though. Mostly what you saw was Mercer penetrating, finding himself surrounded by big guys, then finding a way to dish to someone with the size to finish down low.
Between Mercer and Carr, the future looks bright for American’s backcourt.
It also looks awfully small. Only time will tell if the Eagles can get away with playing that small for long periods of time. With 6-11 Paulius Joneliunas unavailable until after finals, the Eagles are already extremely size challenged.
How small is AU? Consider this: When Linas Lekavicius comes off the bench to give Mercer a break, AU actually is going with a bigger lineup by subbing in a guy who is not even 6-feet tall.
At one point in the second half, AU actually had 6-3 Andre Ingram playing the four for a short stretch when Jeff Jones went small (of course by definition, right now every time Billbe takes a rest, Jones has to “go small”).
Right now, Carr plays the two, coming in to replace 6-2 sophomore Arydas Eitutavicius. But you have to wonder how much Jones will be able to get away with playing Carr and Mercer together. Not just this year, but over the next four.
Neither guy is expecting a growth spurt. As good as both guy seems to be, as much potential as they appear to have, it is hard to imagine being able to win at the Division 1 level when you run out a 5-9, 5-11 backcourt every night.
At least one of the two is going to have to become much better at scoring off penetration, too. Won't take long for film to ciruclate and coaches to notice that the way to stop Carr and Mercer is to put someone taller, which for most teams means anybody on their roster, on the little guys to take away their jumper.
Even then, it seems unlikely the two American freshmen will evolve into aany kind of Hamilton-Simmons or Bettencourt-Lee sort of duo.
Other observations from an afternoon visit to the nation’s capital:
Even in a small building like Bender, the announced crowd of 1,313 looked sparse. We didn’t count the fans on hand, but we could have. And we doubt we’d have had to use near as many fingers as the guys who came up with that announced figure.
The Screaming Eagles are badly in need of reinforcements. Their ranks appear to have fallen to Lehigh-like levels. And who are those dudes anyhow? They look like they were all in the pep club in high school. If not for those blue T-shirts, you’d take one look at the whole lot and figure the chess team must have gotten lost on the way to a match. There is a reason why they are here and almost no other American students are – the others can get dates.
Even if they could play extras in the next Revenge of the Nerds remake, those blue-shirted Screaming Eagles do deserve credit for their spirit. With a small crowd made up of mostly family members and girlfriends of players, a dozen fans working together can be certainly be heard. If you could give the Blue Shirts a Christmas present, it would be the same we’d give the guys who paint L-E-H-I-G-H on their shirtless chests night after night in drafty Stabler Arena. Just one night in their college career, we’d give them a chance to be a part of a college basketball crowd like the one in Sojka for the BU-Villanova game. Every basketball fan deserves a chance to see their team in that kind of atmosphere.
On hand for the game, a visiting high school team from South Africa. From what they displayed while taking part in one of the timeout on-court fans contests, we’d guess Jones is not recruiting any of them.
Jones’ recruiting seems to be taking more of a domestic turn. All five of this year’s freshmen are from the U.S.
According to Matt B. of the , AU’s apparent emphasis on foreign recruits was the work of former assistant coach Ryan (son of Dave) Odom. Odom is now an assistant at Virginia Tech, where the sophomore class includes kids from Mali, Puerto Rico and The Netherlands.
By the way, for those who might question Matt's dedication to his beloved A.U. Eagles, you should know that not only was he one of the few folks not related to a player to show up Saturday, but he also stayed after the men's game for the whole AU women vs. Penn affair.
When you see American point guard Derrick Mercer for the first time, your first reaction is, “Who gave Gary Coleman a uniform?”
They list the freshman from Jersey City as 5-9 in the AU game program. You do understand that those program measurements are bullshit, right?
To say Mercer is small is to say A.U. basketball is overshadowed and overlooked in the D.C. area. You can try to pretend it is not so, but it is pretty obvious to everyone but the blind guy.
Garrison Carr is small, too, though even he looks big standing next to Mercer. If you saw him in street clothes, you’d never guess Carr was a college basketball player. Not even in Division 3. The kid just doesn’t look old enough to even be in college.
Forget his on court heroics. Four years from now AU fans will be able to look back at Carr and say “I remember the first time he shaved.”
Watch Carr shoot the ball, though, and he looks a little older. Carr has a veteran’s poise around the arc, never rushing his shots, never passing up an open look or hesitating to fire when it is there.
Carr was dialed in against Towson, knocking down four three-pointers in quick succession to bring AU back from 10 down in the first half to a 31-30 lead. It was all catch-and-shoot stuff. No beating guys off the dribble. But Towson still could not manage to get a hand in his face most of the night.
Just as Carr doesn’t play young, Mercer hardly plays small. Mercer has two gears, fast and turbo. He doesn’t spend as lot of time in fast. With a solid handle and a fearless demeanor, Mercer finds seems between the trees and darts through them with abandon.
“He is too small to get himself stuck down that low,” you think when he gets double teamed down on the low block by a pair of guys that would make three of him.
Then Mercer makes a little wrap around shuttle pass to Brayden Billbe for an easy layup.
Time and time again Mercer drove the lane and passed off. He finished with six assists. At least two or three of his four turnovers came when AU teammates were unable to get the handle on his creative dishes.
Rumor has it Mercer can finish, too. Saw little evidence of it against Towson, though. Mostly what you saw was Mercer penetrating, finding himself surrounded by big guys, then finding a way to dish to someone with the size to finish down low.
Between Mercer and Carr, the future looks bright for American’s backcourt.
It also looks awfully small. Only time will tell if the Eagles can get away with playing that small for long periods of time. With 6-11 Paulius Joneliunas unavailable until after finals, the Eagles are already extremely size challenged.
How small is AU? Consider this: When Linas Lekavicius comes off the bench to give Mercer a break, AU actually is going with a bigger lineup by subbing in a guy who is not even 6-feet tall.
At one point in the second half, AU actually had 6-3 Andre Ingram playing the four for a short stretch when Jeff Jones went small (of course by definition, right now every time Billbe takes a rest, Jones has to “go small”).
Right now, Carr plays the two, coming in to replace 6-2 sophomore Arydas Eitutavicius. But you have to wonder how much Jones will be able to get away with playing Carr and Mercer together. Not just this year, but over the next four.
Neither guy is expecting a growth spurt. As good as both guy seems to be, as much potential as they appear to have, it is hard to imagine being able to win at the Division 1 level when you run out a 5-9, 5-11 backcourt every night.
At least one of the two is going to have to become much better at scoring off penetration, too. Won't take long for film to ciruclate and coaches to notice that the way to stop Carr and Mercer is to put someone taller, which for most teams means anybody on their roster, on the little guys to take away their jumper.
Even then, it seems unlikely the two American freshmen will evolve into aany kind of Hamilton-Simmons or Bettencourt-Lee sort of duo.
Other observations from an afternoon visit to the nation’s capital:
Jones’ recruiting seems to be taking more of a domestic turn. All five of this year’s freshmen are from the U.S.
According to Matt B. of the , AU’s apparent emphasis on foreign recruits was the work of former assistant coach Ryan (son of Dave) Odom. Odom is now an assistant at Virginia Tech, where the sophomore class includes kids from Mali, Puerto Rico and The Netherlands.
By the way, for those who might question Matt's dedication to his beloved A.U. Eagles, you should know that not only was he one of the few folks not related to a player to show up Saturday, but he also stayed after the men's game for the whole AU women vs. Penn affair.
Around the league
(Originally posted: Saturday, 9:25 p.m., updated 9:06 a.m.)
In what is beginning to look a lot like a rock, paper, scissors kind of competition, the Patriot League pulls out to a two-game lead in the season series against Ivy League teams with a split of two Patriot-Ivy matchups. Ten more matchups between the two leagues remain.
Meanwhile, you aill have to forgive the Express-Times and the Morning Call for their lack of coverage of the Lehigh and Lafayette games. Both papers ran only AP summaries this morning. Both papers' staffs were likely prettyy consumed with the Pa. high school state football championships, which featured Lehigh Valley teams in the AA and AAAA games Saturday.
Meanwhile, under the big top in Syracuse:
Syracuse 58, Colgate 35 -- No second strike for Patriot League lightning in the Carrier Dome, though for a little while anyhow they did have to post storm warnings in Salt City.
From the :
It did not help matters any that Colgate's most effective inside player, Kendall Chones, reinjured his ankle in the first half. Chones toughed out 20 minutes, but had only one shot.
Columbia 71, Lafayette 67 -- Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon must be going nuts trying to figure out a way to get his teams to start the game the way they finish it.
At Columbia Saturday, the Leopards spotted Columbia an 18-point lead, then battled back to cut it to 4 before finally succumbing. In three of their last four games, the 'Pards have spotted the opposition an edge with slow starts.
Lafayette shot 27.3 (6-22) from the field in the first half, including 0-9 from 3-point range. Even though they held Columbia to 11-33 (33.3 percent) shooting in the half, the Leopards still trailed 28-20 at the break.
The Leopards' offense was far more effective after the intermission. The problem was, so was Columbia's. The Leopards hit 15-29 (51.7 percent) in the second half, including 6 3-pointers. Columbia went 13-24 (54.2 percent).
Looking for a single line in the box score to blame the loss on? It probably comes under rebounding. Columbia held a 24-rebound advantage (46-22) overall, and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. While the box score posted on Lafayette's Web site doesn't break it down, you can be fairly certain that with 22 offensive boards, Columbia would almost certainly have scored enough second-chance points to make the difference in a 4-point game.
Lehigh 67, Harvard 56 -- Lehigh held Harvard to 35.7 percent shooting and outrebounded the Crimson 42-30 to hand the visitors from Mass. their third loss in a row. Kyle Neptune was 9-16 from the field, including 3 treys, to lead Lehigh with 24 points.
©2005 Hoop Time. All rights reserved.
In what is beginning to look a lot like a rock, paper, scissors kind of competition, the Patriot League pulls out to a two-game lead in the season series against Ivy League teams with a split of two Patriot-Ivy matchups. Ten more matchups between the two leagues remain.
Meanwhile, you aill have to forgive the Express-Times and the Morning Call for their lack of coverage of the Lehigh and Lafayette games. Both papers ran only AP summaries this morning. Both papers' staffs were likely prettyy consumed with the Pa. high school state football championships, which featured Lehigh Valley teams in the AA and AAAA games Saturday.
Meanwhile, under the big top in Syracuse:
Syracuse 58, Colgate 35 -- No second strike for Patriot League lightning in the Carrier Dome, though for a little while anyhow they did have to post storm warnings in Salt City.
From the :
Syracuse led only 22-18 at halftime and the Raiders seemed poised to make a game of it when Alvin Reed hit a fallaway jumper in the first minute of the second period.Reed was the only Colgate player in double figures, finishing with 11. The 35 points by the Raiders were the fewest ever scored by an opponent at the Dome.
The Orange, playing their first game in a week, responded with a 27-2 run, holding the Raiders without a basket for nearly nine minutes to take command. Colgate shot 29.8 percent for the game and committed 23 turnovers.
It did not help matters any that Colgate's most effective inside player, Kendall Chones, reinjured his ankle in the first half. Chones toughed out 20 minutes, but had only one shot.
Columbia 71, Lafayette 67 -- Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon must be going nuts trying to figure out a way to get his teams to start the game the way they finish it.
At Columbia Saturday, the Leopards spotted Columbia an 18-point lead, then battled back to cut it to 4 before finally succumbing. In three of their last four games, the 'Pards have spotted the opposition an edge with slow starts.
Lafayette shot 27.3 (6-22) from the field in the first half, including 0-9 from 3-point range. Even though they held Columbia to 11-33 (33.3 percent) shooting in the half, the Leopards still trailed 28-20 at the break.
The Leopards' offense was far more effective after the intermission. The problem was, so was Columbia's. The Leopards hit 15-29 (51.7 percent) in the second half, including 6 3-pointers. Columbia went 13-24 (54.2 percent).
Looking for a single line in the box score to blame the loss on? It probably comes under rebounding. Columbia held a 24-rebound advantage (46-22) overall, and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. While the box score posted on Lafayette's Web site doesn't break it down, you can be fairly certain that with 22 offensive boards, Columbia would almost certainly have scored enough second-chance points to make the difference in a 4-point game.
Lehigh 67, Harvard 56 -- Lehigh held Harvard to 35.7 percent shooting and outrebounded the Crimson 42-30 to hand the visitors from Mass. their third loss in a row. Kyle Neptune was 9-16 from the field, including 3 treys, to lead Lehigh with 24 points.
