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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
We know where Terry Conrad went. Conrad, a longtime Bucknell assistant under Charlie Woollum and Pat Flannery, left Bucknell in 2000 to become head coach at Division III Lycoming, where he took the Warriors to the Freedom Conference playoffs three straight years and to the DIII dance in 2002.
From there Conrad moved to his alma mater, Division II Bloomsburg. Yesterday, after three straight 6-21 season, it was going to look in a different direction, unceremoniously dumping Conrad with a terse, three paragraph press release.
On the surface, it might look like the right move. Three years with 6-21 records certainly look like no improvement. But realistically, Conrad deserved more than three years to get Bloom back on track.
Conrad was hired in May of 2003, after his coach, Charlie Chronister, had resigned at the start of the previous season. In the interim, one of Chronister's assistants filled the job for the 2002-2003 season, a 6-20 campaign.
That assistant was a candidate for the job when Conrad was hired, and the school forced Conrad to keep the guy on as an assistant.
It is not like such a situation can't be made to work. Conrad himself went through a similar scenario when he was a candidate for Woollum's job before Flannery was hired, then stayed on as an assistant after being passed over for the head job.
Nonetheless, Conrad's May hiring put him behind the eight-ball recruiting wise. There simply are not a lot of prospects who will sign with a school that has no head coach, and even fewer quality players who are still available in May, when Conrad was hired.
In other words, the cupboard was almost bare when Conrad took the job and the situation was not helped any when 6-8 center Seth Scott tranferred out at the end of his first year. , Conrad's roster included only one senior. The rest were sophomores and freshmen. This year's roster also had no seniors. Not much size, either. Just three players 6-6 or taller suited up for the Huskies.
It is entirely possible there were other circumstances that played into Conrad's firing. The paper that covers Bloom has a ridiculous Web site that requires a paid subscription for more than headlines, so we don't know if they elaborated on reasons other than the Huskies' record.
But if wins and losses were the sole reason behind the decision, then Conrad got hosed. Two recruiting classes are not enough to turn around a losing program, and given the circumstances of Conrad's hiring at Bloom, that is really all the chance he got.
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From there Conrad moved to his alma mater, Division II Bloomsburg. Yesterday, after three straight 6-21 season, it was going to look in a different direction, unceremoniously dumping Conrad with a terse, three paragraph press release.
On the surface, it might look like the right move. Three years with 6-21 records certainly look like no improvement. But realistically, Conrad deserved more than three years to get Bloom back on track.
Conrad was hired in May of 2003, after his coach, Charlie Chronister, had resigned at the start of the previous season. In the interim, one of Chronister's assistants filled the job for the 2002-2003 season, a 6-20 campaign.
That assistant was a candidate for the job when Conrad was hired, and the school forced Conrad to keep the guy on as an assistant.
It is not like such a situation can't be made to work. Conrad himself went through a similar scenario when he was a candidate for Woollum's job before Flannery was hired, then stayed on as an assistant after being passed over for the head job.
Nonetheless, Conrad's May hiring put him behind the eight-ball recruiting wise. There simply are not a lot of prospects who will sign with a school that has no head coach, and even fewer quality players who are still available in May, when Conrad was hired.
In other words, the cupboard was almost bare when Conrad took the job and the situation was not helped any when 6-8 center Seth Scott tranferred out at the end of his first year. , Conrad's roster included only one senior. The rest were sophomores and freshmen. This year's roster also had no seniors. Not much size, either. Just three players 6-6 or taller suited up for the Huskies.
It is entirely possible there were other circumstances that played into Conrad's firing. The paper that covers Bloom has a ridiculous Web site that requires a paid subscription for more than headlines, so we don't know if they elaborated on reasons other than the Huskies' record.
But if wins and losses were the sole reason behind the decision, then Conrad got hosed. Two recruiting classes are not enough to turn around a losing program, and given the circumstances of Conrad's hiring at Bloom, that is really all the chance he got.
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What exactly is Bracketology? According to the online encyclopedia , "Bracketology is a slang term for predicting the field of the NCAA Basketball Tournament."
Our definition: a bunch of hoops geeks with slide rules who spend most of basketball season devoted to mental masturbation, only to make obvious predictions the second week of March, which they then claim shows their omnipotent powers of prognostication.
Let's face it: Early season predictions of March brackets are a meaningless waste of time. And by the time Selection Sunday arrives, there really are few mysteries. With automatic bids and the now very public RPI numbers, is it really any wonder that most of the folks on the Web who claim to have psychic Bracketology powers boast that they get most of the final field of 64 correct.
We understand the fans getting excited about this stuff, especially nowadays in the Patriot League. It once was assumed that the league's champion was an automatic No. 16, or maybe a 15 if some good mid majors in one-bid leagues get bumped off in their conference tournaments,
In the first 15 seasons of Patriot League basketball, the league's entry in the Big dance has been seeded 16th six times, 15th three times. Two other seasons they have been relegated to the play-in game.
In two of the last three seasons, though, the Patriot League champ has gone in as a No. 14 seed, the best the league has seen since Holy Cross landed a 13 seed in 1993.
Bucknell was a 14 last season, and its success then, and since, has bracketologists everywhere expecting the Bison to land what would be the highest seeding ever by a league team. Many are even suggesting BU should get a single digit seed.
Folks who visited this site regularly last season might recall regular posts on what the bracketologists were thinking. This season we made a decision to ignore that stuff since, frankly, it seems like a lot of BS.
So why are we posting a bracketology roundup today? Easy answer: We have had something new to post every day since the beginning of November, could not find any real news on the league today, and we didn't want the streak to end.
Silly? sure. So is bracketology, so it seems only fitting to put together a quick wrapup of the rampant dance card speculation, which has become a cottage industry on the Web.
has the Bison as an eight seed, along with Wichita State, Arkansas, Alabama. By their figuring, that would put the Bison in home unis for a first round matchup with a No. 9. Their current projected nines include Arizona, George Mason, Missouri State, Kentucky.
Greg Doyel at has Bucknell projected as a No. 9 seed, along with Missouri State, Kentucky and UAB. That would mean, according to Doyel, a first round matchup with one of these No. 8 seeds: Arkansas, Creighton, Alabama, California.
The folks at are predicting a first round meeting between two Patriot League football members, No. 6 Georgetown and No. 11 Bucknell. The bad news about their prediction, should it come true, is an expectation that Bucknell would get sent to Detroit for the first two rounds.
The guy generally credited with starting this craze is ESPN analyst . Lunardi's day job is at Saint Joseph's, where among other duties he does the color commentary on the Hawks' radio broadcasts.
Like the others, Lunardi . If we are not mistaken, last week he had Bucknell as a single digit seed with a little red arrow that indicated the Bison were trending up. This week, after winning their final two regular season games, Bucknell has dropped to an 11 seed, with a blue down arrow next to its name. Sounds like science to us.
By the way, Lunardi also predicts a Bucknell-Georgetown first round matchup, but instead of Detroit, he has the Bison headed to Jacksonville, Fla.
Some dude calling himself "Coop" (we are being presumptuous calling Coop a dude, but we have not encountered any women wasting their time on this stuff) claims he is Lunardi's "nemesis." Dunno about that, but his says Bucknell will get a 10 seed, with a first round matchup against No. 7 Washington in Dayton, Ohio.
, part of the Draft Express Web site, also has Bucknell seeded No. 10 and playing in Dayton, though they claim the Bison will meet Alabama.
Of course all these predictions will change by Selection Sunday, when the will share their thoughts.
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Our definition: a bunch of hoops geeks with slide rules who spend most of basketball season devoted to mental masturbation, only to make obvious predictions the second week of March, which they then claim shows their omnipotent powers of prognostication.
Let's face it: Early season predictions of March brackets are a meaningless waste of time. And by the time Selection Sunday arrives, there really are few mysteries. With automatic bids and the now very public RPI numbers, is it really any wonder that most of the folks on the Web who claim to have psychic Bracketology powers boast that they get most of the final field of 64 correct.
We understand the fans getting excited about this stuff, especially nowadays in the Patriot League. It once was assumed that the league's champion was an automatic No. 16, or maybe a 15 if some good mid majors in one-bid leagues get bumped off in their conference tournaments,
In the first 15 seasons of Patriot League basketball, the league's entry in the Big dance has been seeded 16th six times, 15th three times. Two other seasons they have been relegated to the play-in game.
In two of the last three seasons, though, the Patriot League champ has gone in as a No. 14 seed, the best the league has seen since Holy Cross landed a 13 seed in 1993.
Bucknell was a 14 last season, and its success then, and since, has bracketologists everywhere expecting the Bison to land what would be the highest seeding ever by a league team. Many are even suggesting BU should get a single digit seed.
Folks who visited this site regularly last season might recall regular posts on what the bracketologists were thinking. This season we made a decision to ignore that stuff since, frankly, it seems like a lot of BS.
So why are we posting a bracketology roundup today? Easy answer: We have had something new to post every day since the beginning of November, could not find any real news on the league today, and we didn't want the streak to end.
Silly? sure. So is bracketology, so it seems only fitting to put together a quick wrapup of the rampant dance card speculation, which has become a cottage industry on the Web.
has the Bison as an eight seed, along with Wichita State, Arkansas, Alabama. By their figuring, that would put the Bison in home unis for a first round matchup with a No. 9. Their current projected nines include Arizona, George Mason, Missouri State, Kentucky.
Greg Doyel at has Bucknell projected as a No. 9 seed, along with Missouri State, Kentucky and UAB. That would mean, according to Doyel, a first round matchup with one of these No. 8 seeds: Arkansas, Creighton, Alabama, California.
The folks at are predicting a first round meeting between two Patriot League football members, No. 6 Georgetown and No. 11 Bucknell. The bad news about their prediction, should it come true, is an expectation that Bucknell would get sent to Detroit for the first two rounds.
The guy generally credited with starting this craze is ESPN analyst . Lunardi's day job is at Saint Joseph's, where among other duties he does the color commentary on the Hawks' radio broadcasts.
Like the others, Lunardi . If we are not mistaken, last week he had Bucknell as a single digit seed with a little red arrow that indicated the Bison were trending up. This week, after winning their final two regular season games, Bucknell has dropped to an 11 seed, with a blue down arrow next to its name. Sounds like science to us.
By the way, Lunardi also predicts a Bucknell-Georgetown first round matchup, but instead of Detroit, he has the Bison headed to Jacksonville, Fla.
Some dude calling himself "Coop" (we are being presumptuous calling Coop a dude, but we have not encountered any women wasting their time on this stuff) claims he is Lunardi's "nemesis." Dunno about that, but his says Bucknell will get a 10 seed, with a first round matchup against No. 7 Washington in Dayton, Ohio.
, part of the Draft Express Web site, also has Bucknell seeded No. 10 and playing in Dayton, though they claim the Bison will meet Alabama.
Of course all these predictions will change by Selection Sunday, when the will share their thoughts.
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Monday, February 27, 2006
As usual, the first poll out is the , which has Bucknell back in the No. 2 spot after wins over Lehigh and Army and stumbles by Northern Iowa, George Mason and Western Kentucky.
George Mason dropped to No. 3 with a loss to Hofstra. Northern Iowa, last week's No. 3, fell all the way to No. 10 after losing two in a row following their BracketBusters double overtime win over Bucknell. Western Kentucky, which lost to Middle Tennessee last week, drops from No. 4 to No. 6.
No room at the inn for Mid Majors in the . George Mason dropped out of both polls. The only new team in either is 19-8 Wisconsin, which moved into the coaches top 25 on the strength of a 1-1 week that started with a double-digits loss to 13-13 Northwestern, which sits in 10th place in the 11-team Big Ten.
Bucknell is the defacto No. 27 in that poll, second behind Nevada in the others receiving votes category. In the AP Poll, Nevada holds on to the No. 25 spot it shared with George Mason last week. Bucknell also second in others receiving, behind Marquette. No. 25 in the AP poll goes to 19-9 Michigan State, which is ranked even higher (No. 23) in the coaches poll despite losing four of its last five games.
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George Mason dropped to No. 3 with a loss to Hofstra. Northern Iowa, last week's No. 3, fell all the way to No. 10 after losing two in a row following their BracketBusters double overtime win over Bucknell. Western Kentucky, which lost to Middle Tennessee last week, drops from No. 4 to No. 6.
No room at the inn for Mid Majors in the . George Mason dropped out of both polls. The only new team in either is 19-8 Wisconsin, which moved into the coaches top 25 on the strength of a 1-1 week that started with a double-digits loss to 13-13 Northwestern, which sits in 10th place in the 11-team Big Ten.
Bucknell is the defacto No. 27 in that poll, second behind Nevada in the others receiving votes category. In the AP Poll, Nevada holds on to the No. 25 spot it shared with George Mason last week. Bucknell also second in others receiving, behind Marquette. No. 25 in the AP poll goes to 19-9 Michigan State, which is ranked even higher (No. 23) in the coaches poll despite losing four of its last five games.
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Here are a few clicks to keep you busy until the polls come out this afternoon:
Your favorite team not playing well headed into the tournament? Take a break from basketball long enough to read from Tom Housenick of the Daily Item, who stepped away from the court himself to pen a fine look at how life has changed for Bucknell assistant coach Bryan Goodman and his wife, Amy, following the birth last month of the couple's first four children -- quadruplets. It's a wonderful reminder that hoops is just a game.
Another Bucknell beat writer, Eric Thomas of the Shamokin News-Item, stuck to hoops for on Bucknell's mindset heading into the Patriot League Tournament. The News-Item's Web site is a spotty proposition sometimes. Updates are late in the day and unpredictable at best. But Eric, who had a blog of his own before he started the full-time gig with the News-Item, has taken to posting his stuff there, in part to make it possible for us to find it for linking. Thanks E.
From the , a look at Delbarton H.S. junior Justin Garris, little brother of American's Gary Garris.
Over at CollegeInsider.com, Morehead St. coach Kyle Macy's weekly column answers a lot of fans questions about Mid Major programs, with the help of other coaches, including Ralph Willard, who helps address Kevin from Richmond's concerns about Lehigh being neglected by the Mid Major Top 25 voters. When you read it, keep in mind it was written before WIllard's Holy Cross team beat Lehigh Sunday.
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(Originally posted Sunday at 3:20 p.m., Updated at 7:57 a.m.)
The last sentence in Jen Toland's in the Worcester Telegram-Gazette might be the most important note about the Crusaders' win at the Hart Center Sunday:
The two teams finish with identical 11-3 records in the league, but HC gets the No. 2 seed for the tournament based on its higher RPI. Lehigh will travel back to Worcester to meet Colgate Friday, with a possible semifinal rematch with Holy Cross Sunday. The Crusaders open the tournament by hosting Navy.
First half defense was the key for HC. The Crusaders held Lehigh to 25 percent shooting from the field and just 16 first-half points.
Holy Cross led 33-16 at the intermission and built the lead to 21 with 12:04 to play, then held off Lehigh's attempts at a comeback. The Mountain Hawks held HC without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch in the second half and managed to pull within 7 with 4 minutes to go.
Torey Thomas stemmed the tide with a three that sparked a 9-1 Crusaders run to put the game on ice.
HC won despite an off night by Kevin Hamilton, who was 1 for 14 from the field in his final regular season game at Hart. Hamilton did manage to get to the foul line 15 times, making 10, to finish with 12 points.
Interestingly, Lehigh's Jose Olivero also struggled. Olivero and Hamilton entered the game tied for the league scoring lead. After Olivero went 4 for 15, making only 1 of 7 three-point tries to also finish with 12 points, the two ended the regular season tied at 17.5 points per game.
Torey Thomas helped pick up the offensive slack for Holy Cross, finishing with a game-high 15 points. Keith Simmons added 11, Tim Clifford 13 for the Crusaders, who turned it over only 6 times all afternoon.
Lehigh, on the other hand, had 17 turnovers. The net result: more Holy Cross possessions, which the Crusaders made the most of. HC only shot 35.2 percent from the field, but the 'Saders took 7 more shots than Lehigh and made three more. HC went 19 for 54 from the field, Lehigh 16 for 47 (34 percent).
A big difference came at the arc. While Lehigh struggled, making only 2 three-pointers (on 14 attempts), Holy Cross made 8 of 21 three-point tries.
Joe Knight, who was 0 for 3 from three-point range, finished with 11 points for Lehigh. Kyle Neptune added 14 for the Mountain Hawks, who enter the postseason on a two-game losing streak.
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The last sentence in Jen Toland's in the Worcester Telegram-Gazette might be the most important note about the Crusaders' win at the Hart Center Sunday:
The Mountain Hawks have not beaten Holy Cross at the Hart Center since 1998.They could get another chance in the league semis, but as that one sentence points out, it won't be easy for Lehigh to make it to the league final after Sunday's loss, which dropped the Mountain Hawks to the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
The two teams finish with identical 11-3 records in the league, but HC gets the No. 2 seed for the tournament based on its higher RPI. Lehigh will travel back to Worcester to meet Colgate Friday, with a possible semifinal rematch with Holy Cross Sunday. The Crusaders open the tournament by hosting Navy.
First half defense was the key for HC. The Crusaders held Lehigh to 25 percent shooting from the field and just 16 first-half points.
Holy Cross led 33-16 at the intermission and built the lead to 21 with 12:04 to play, then held off Lehigh's attempts at a comeback. The Mountain Hawks held HC without a field goal for a seven-minute stretch in the second half and managed to pull within 7 with 4 minutes to go.
Torey Thomas stemmed the tide with a three that sparked a 9-1 Crusaders run to put the game on ice.
HC won despite an off night by Kevin Hamilton, who was 1 for 14 from the field in his final regular season game at Hart. Hamilton did manage to get to the foul line 15 times, making 10, to finish with 12 points.
Interestingly, Lehigh's Jose Olivero also struggled. Olivero and Hamilton entered the game tied for the league scoring lead. After Olivero went 4 for 15, making only 1 of 7 three-point tries to also finish with 12 points, the two ended the regular season tied at 17.5 points per game.
Torey Thomas helped pick up the offensive slack for Holy Cross, finishing with a game-high 15 points. Keith Simmons added 11, Tim Clifford 13 for the Crusaders, who turned it over only 6 times all afternoon.
Lehigh, on the other hand, had 17 turnovers. The net result: more Holy Cross possessions, which the Crusaders made the most of. HC only shot 35.2 percent from the field, but the 'Saders took 7 more shots than Lehigh and made three more. HC went 19 for 54 from the field, Lehigh 16 for 47 (34 percent).
A big difference came at the arc. While Lehigh struggled, making only 2 three-pointers (on 14 attempts), Holy Cross made 8 of 21 three-point tries.
Joe Knight, who was 0 for 3 from three-point range, finished with 11 points for Lehigh. Kyle Neptune added 14 for the Mountain Hawks, who enter the postseason on a two-game losing streak.
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Sunday, February 26, 2006
Congratulations to former Bucknell assistant coach Carl Danzig, who has his University of Scranton Royals headed to the NCAA Division III Tournament after a in Saturday's MAC Freedom Conference championship game.
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The reports today NCAA hoops official Rick Hartzell is one of three finalists for the University of New Mexico's athletic director job.
Why do we mention the Lobos job hunt? Hartzell is the former Bucknell AD and currently holds that same post at his alma mater, Northern Iowa.
Given his track record at BU and UNI, both schools have enjoyed successes on and off the field under Hartzell's guidance, you'd have to figure on Hartzell being a very strong candidate.
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Why do we mention the Lobos job hunt? Hartzell is the former Bucknell AD and currently holds that same post at his alma mater, Northern Iowa.
Given his track record at BU and UNI, both schools have enjoyed successes on and off the field under Hartzell's guidance, you'd have to figure on Hartzell being a very strong candidate.
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Lehigh at Holy Cross, 1 p.m.: The schedule makers got this one right, saving the only meaningful game of the final weekend of the regular season for the final day. Too bad the TV package is not on a network people can actually get so that more people would be exposed to Patriot League basketball outside of Bucknell.
These two teams have not had the non-conference success the Bison have, but in league play they have come one, proving to be better than their non-league records and the lower RPIs that came with it.
It is a pretty simple equation heading into this game. The winner sleeps in its own beds, eats home cooking and plays the first two rounds on its home floor in front of its own crowd. The loser packs its bags for a weekend of buses, motels and restaurant food, a neutral court game against the most dangerous team in the bottom of the bracket, the sleeping dog that has been Colgate most of the season. Win that first round matchup and the reward is a possible rematch of this game, played on the winner of this game's floor.
The edge in Worcester goes to Holy Cross if Keith Simmons can play the minutes Ralph Willard needs from him. Earlier in the season in Bethlehem, Simmons came out of the game suffering from cramps. It was not a coincidence that Holy Cross, which held the lead most of that game, succumbing to the late game heroics of Jose Olivero.
By the way, in a post Friday, we speculated that Lehigh might not have been in this must-win situation had it played a better schedule. If Holy Cross wins, the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed goes to the RPI, which favors HC. The Crusaders come into the game with an RPI of 126, Lehigh 150 (according to ). We speculated that had Lehigh subbed a Division I opponent for one of its two Division III foes, its RPI might be high enough to still claim the tiebreaker if they lost to Holy Cross.
Since we hardly are RPI experts, we turned to Pomeroy for his analysis. Here is what he had to say about Lehigh's situation:
They couldn't have scheduled patsies. Honestly, and I'm just guessing, I'd say they could have scheduled (and lost) road games against teams in the top 70 or so and moved ahead. They probably could have won home games against teams in the top 120 and made it. It is a fairlyIn other words, replacing Eastern or Muhlenberg with another Stony Brook, Sacred Heart or Ivy League team, would not have done the trick.
complicated question. The sad reality is that it's better to play non-D1s than teams in the bottom 100 if the goal is to pad the RPI.
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(Originally posted 2:22 a.m., links added at 8:47 a.m.)
Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, your team just became the first team in Patriot League history to go undefeated in conference play. What is next?
“We gave a couple days off last year and I thought we really had legs coming into the tournament. We were all over the place. We will do that again this year,” said Flannery following his team’s 70-47 decision over Army in a Sojka Pavilion rumble Saturday night.
After the off days, the Bison will spend a day or two working on some of their own weaknesses, then they will put in the game plan for Friday’s Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal rematch with this same Army team.
What? No trip to Disney World? Hardly. There was barely even a celebration Saturday night after the Bison extended their 18th straight against Patriot League opponents, completing their unprecedented 14-0 run through the conference this season..
Maybe later. Right now it is all about winning the league tournament and sewing up an automatic bid for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Despite their 23-4 record and lofty RPI, there is no thought of any at large bids.
The prognosticators might be making pretty persuasive arguments that the selection committee ought to invite the Bison back to the dance, even if they lose in the league tournament. Bucknell prefers an indisputable argument.
“Our goal is to win the Patriot League Tournament. We’re going to focus on that,” said Kevin Bettencourt, one of four Bucknell seniors honored before the game.
The Bison know that plenty of deserving teams have been left home before. They prefer leaving nothing to chance.
“That is the mindset you have to go in. There are a lot of teams that they sit there and interview with long faces on when they don’t go. You take care of business and you go. If you don’t, then it is your own fault,” said Flannery.
That was why Bucknell’s starters were still in the game with the Bison up 20 and less than three minutes to play. Flannery began preparing for the first round tournament matchup shortly after the Bison blew the game open by scoring 9 unanswered points in the first 1:06 of the second half.
“I looked at it as a chance for us, knowing that we were going to play these guys again. We tried to play a lot of man. We tried to get their looks, their patterns and their quickness. Now the kids will know each other. Then we tried to get Rob (Thomas) and Jason (Vegotsky) and these guys a chance, some of the younger kids, John Griffin, to recognize . . . .It gave those younger guys a chance to get a feel for Army and that will help us a lot,” Flannery said.
The Bison worked on their press, and Flannery looked at different combinations on the floor, even taking a glimpse at one point at a grouping with sophomores Darren Mastropaolo, Rob Thomas and John Griffin, along with freshman Vegotsky and junior point guard Abe Badmus, a rotation seemingly pretty evenly lacking in experience and height.
As much as it helped Bucknell get ready for Friday’s first round game, it probably added to Army’s challenge. Jim Crews has gone to an even younger rotation of late, if that is actually possible with a roster that has just one senior. Crews said Bucknell’s versatility was a problem for his inexperienced tea.
“They switch some. They play a little zone, they play man. They go big with the big kid, then all of a sudden, Lee is playing a four. I don’t know what Brown is besides good. He’s not big, he’s not small. He’s good. They look different all the time and that presents problems,” Crews said.
It’s that way at both ends of the floor. Each time you think you’ve plugged a defensive leak, a different Bison steps up and soaks you. In the first half it was Lee, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points during the run at the end of the first half that put the Bison in control. During the last 7:58 of the first half, Lee was scored almost every way possible – a layup, a jumper, a three-pointer. 4 for 5 at the foul line.
During that same stretch, Army’s only points came when Marshall Jackson converted an old-fashioned, and-one three-point play with 1:10 to go in the half.
The end result was a 25-18 Bucknell lead at the intermission.
Any confidence infusion Army might have gotten by Jackson’s play was gone before most of the crowd of 4,174 was settled into its seats for the second half. It started with a pair of free throws from Chris McNaughton, who saw the ball on Bucknell’s first possession after going scoreless the first half. McNaughton made the first, but missed the second. Mastropaolo got the rebound and the ball went to Bettencourt, who buried a three to make it an 11-point Bucknell lead.
On Bucknell’s next possession, Mastropaolo was fouled making a layup. Mastropaolo missed the second shot, the ball ended up in Bettencourt’s hands and the senior buried the three. All of a sudden the 25-18 halftime score had exploded to 34-18.
“That just kicked our rear ends. If I am not mistaken, they got three offensive rebounds and scored 10 points in the first minute-18. It went from 7 to 17 in a minute-18. That was huge,” said Crews.
By the time it was over, three other Bison joined Lee in double figures. Bettencourt had 13, Griffin 12 (including 6 for 6 at the foul line) and McNaughton 11.
Matt Bell scored 16 to lead Army. Fourteen of those came in the second half when the game had already been determined. Marshall Jackson added 10, all in the first half. But Jarell Brown, the league’s third-leading scorer, who posted 25 on Bucknell in West Point earlier this season, spent most of his night being hounded by Charles Lee, who played a key role in Brown being held to a single field goal on seven shots.
Lee was quick to share credit for stopping Brown,
“It was a great team job. A couple times he was getting to the lane and guys were stepping up trying to take charges, making all his shots difficult,” Lee said.
Overall Bucknell held Army to a 15 for 41 showing from the field (36.6 percent). It was the 17th time this season Bucknell, which is ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense, held an opponent below 40 percent from the field. It was also the eighth Bucknell opponent to be held under 50 points.
The Bison did have some scares. Nearly every regular starter was hurt at least once. Sixth-man Donald Brown was hurt twice. The worst of the bunch was the first half ankle injury suffered by point guard Abe Badmus. Badmus limped off the floor and was taken to the training room for treatment. But he returned to the game, finishing with a solid 3 assists, one turnover, one steal line in 18 minutes.
“Abe certainly worried us. He’s a pretty tough kid. When he came up like that and couldn’t shake that off, we were a little worried about him,” Flannery said.
The other injuries Flannery laughed off.
“It’s a varsity limp. That is what it is called. You’re home, it is senior day, everybody has to get hurt. Everybody wants to come out. Everybody wants to get an ice pack. I mean, McNaughton was hurt. Abe was hurt. I think I saw (seldom used fan favorite) Holland (Mack) getting a drink and he was hurt,” Flannery said.
The Bison’s regular season title is their second outright in the 16 years of Patriot League hoops. Bucknell also shared the regular season championship in 1995. The other outright championship came in 1993, when Charlie Woollum’s Bison went 13-1 in the regular season. That team was one of five who had enjoyed single loss seasons, along with the 1991 Fordham team (11-1), Lafayette’s 11-1 2000 team and the two Holy Cross 13-1 teams (2003, 2005).
All of those teams were outstanding. None of them went unbeaten in conference play.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Crews said.
“It’s obviously something we are proud of. I have followed the Patriot League since my brother played, so I know no team has ever done that before,” said Bettencourt.
These same two teams will meet again Friday night at 8 in the second game of a first round doubleheader in Sojka. No. 4 seed American will meet five-seed Lafayette in the first game. That one tips at 5:30 p.m.
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Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, your team just became the first team in Patriot League history to go undefeated in conference play. What is next?
“We gave a couple days off last year and I thought we really had legs coming into the tournament. We were all over the place. We will do that again this year,” said Flannery following his team’s 70-47 decision over Army in a Sojka Pavilion rumble Saturday night.
After the off days, the Bison will spend a day or two working on some of their own weaknesses, then they will put in the game plan for Friday’s Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal rematch with this same Army team.
What? No trip to Disney World? Hardly. There was barely even a celebration Saturday night after the Bison extended their 18th straight against Patriot League opponents, completing their unprecedented 14-0 run through the conference this season..
Maybe later. Right now it is all about winning the league tournament and sewing up an automatic bid for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Despite their 23-4 record and lofty RPI, there is no thought of any at large bids.
The prognosticators might be making pretty persuasive arguments that the selection committee ought to invite the Bison back to the dance, even if they lose in the league tournament. Bucknell prefers an indisputable argument.
“Our goal is to win the Patriot League Tournament. We’re going to focus on that,” said Kevin Bettencourt, one of four Bucknell seniors honored before the game.
The Bison know that plenty of deserving teams have been left home before. They prefer leaving nothing to chance.
“That is the mindset you have to go in. There are a lot of teams that they sit there and interview with long faces on when they don’t go. You take care of business and you go. If you don’t, then it is your own fault,” said Flannery.
That was why Bucknell’s starters were still in the game with the Bison up 20 and less than three minutes to play. Flannery began preparing for the first round tournament matchup shortly after the Bison blew the game open by scoring 9 unanswered points in the first 1:06 of the second half.
“I looked at it as a chance for us, knowing that we were going to play these guys again. We tried to play a lot of man. We tried to get their looks, their patterns and their quickness. Now the kids will know each other. Then we tried to get Rob (Thomas) and Jason (Vegotsky) and these guys a chance, some of the younger kids, John Griffin, to recognize . . . .It gave those younger guys a chance to get a feel for Army and that will help us a lot,” Flannery said.
The Bison worked on their press, and Flannery looked at different combinations on the floor, even taking a glimpse at one point at a grouping with sophomores Darren Mastropaolo, Rob Thomas and John Griffin, along with freshman Vegotsky and junior point guard Abe Badmus, a rotation seemingly pretty evenly lacking in experience and height.
As much as it helped Bucknell get ready for Friday’s first round game, it probably added to Army’s challenge. Jim Crews has gone to an even younger rotation of late, if that is actually possible with a roster that has just one senior. Crews said Bucknell’s versatility was a problem for his inexperienced tea.
“They switch some. They play a little zone, they play man. They go big with the big kid, then all of a sudden, Lee is playing a four. I don’t know what Brown is besides good. He’s not big, he’s not small. He’s good. They look different all the time and that presents problems,” Crews said.
It’s that way at both ends of the floor. Each time you think you’ve plugged a defensive leak, a different Bison steps up and soaks you. In the first half it was Lee, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points during the run at the end of the first half that put the Bison in control. During the last 7:58 of the first half, Lee was scored almost every way possible – a layup, a jumper, a three-pointer. 4 for 5 at the foul line.
During that same stretch, Army’s only points came when Marshall Jackson converted an old-fashioned, and-one three-point play with 1:10 to go in the half.
The end result was a 25-18 Bucknell lead at the intermission.
Any confidence infusion Army might have gotten by Jackson’s play was gone before most of the crowd of 4,174 was settled into its seats for the second half. It started with a pair of free throws from Chris McNaughton, who saw the ball on Bucknell’s first possession after going scoreless the first half. McNaughton made the first, but missed the second. Mastropaolo got the rebound and the ball went to Bettencourt, who buried a three to make it an 11-point Bucknell lead.
On Bucknell’s next possession, Mastropaolo was fouled making a layup. Mastropaolo missed the second shot, the ball ended up in Bettencourt’s hands and the senior buried the three. All of a sudden the 25-18 halftime score had exploded to 34-18.
“That just kicked our rear ends. If I am not mistaken, they got three offensive rebounds and scored 10 points in the first minute-18. It went from 7 to 17 in a minute-18. That was huge,” said Crews.
By the time it was over, three other Bison joined Lee in double figures. Bettencourt had 13, Griffin 12 (including 6 for 6 at the foul line) and McNaughton 11.
Matt Bell scored 16 to lead Army. Fourteen of those came in the second half when the game had already been determined. Marshall Jackson added 10, all in the first half. But Jarell Brown, the league’s third-leading scorer, who posted 25 on Bucknell in West Point earlier this season, spent most of his night being hounded by Charles Lee, who played a key role in Brown being held to a single field goal on seven shots.
Lee was quick to share credit for stopping Brown,
“It was a great team job. A couple times he was getting to the lane and guys were stepping up trying to take charges, making all his shots difficult,” Lee said.
Overall Bucknell held Army to a 15 for 41 showing from the field (36.6 percent). It was the 17th time this season Bucknell, which is ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense, held an opponent below 40 percent from the field. It was also the eighth Bucknell opponent to be held under 50 points.
The Bison did have some scares. Nearly every regular starter was hurt at least once. Sixth-man Donald Brown was hurt twice. The worst of the bunch was the first half ankle injury suffered by point guard Abe Badmus. Badmus limped off the floor and was taken to the training room for treatment. But he returned to the game, finishing with a solid 3 assists, one turnover, one steal line in 18 minutes.
“Abe certainly worried us. He’s a pretty tough kid. When he came up like that and couldn’t shake that off, we were a little worried about him,” Flannery said.
The other injuries Flannery laughed off.
“It’s a varsity limp. That is what it is called. You’re home, it is senior day, everybody has to get hurt. Everybody wants to come out. Everybody wants to get an ice pack. I mean, McNaughton was hurt. Abe was hurt. I think I saw (seldom used fan favorite) Holland (Mack) getting a drink and he was hurt,” Flannery said.
The Bison’s regular season title is their second outright in the 16 years of Patriot League hoops. Bucknell also shared the regular season championship in 1995. The other outright championship came in 1993, when Charlie Woollum’s Bison went 13-1 in the regular season. That team was one of five who had enjoyed single loss seasons, along with the 1991 Fordham team (11-1), Lafayette’s 11-1 2000 team and the two Holy Cross 13-1 teams (2003, 2005).
All of those teams were outstanding. None of them went unbeaten in conference play.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Crews said.
“It’s obviously something we are proud of. I have followed the Patriot League since my brother played, so I know no team has ever done that before,” said Bettencourt.
These same two teams will meet again Friday night at 8 in the second game of a first round doubleheader in Sojka. No. 4 seed American will meet five-seed Lafayette in the first game. That one tips at 5:30 p.m.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 3:14 p.m., links added at 8:39 a.m.)
American sweeps its season series with Lafayette, winning in Easton, 77-67, in a preview of Friday's No. 4 vs. No. 5 game.
Andre Ingram with the kind of game American has been waiting all season for him to have, 7 treys en route to 26 points. His first three-pointer, at the 19:22 mark of the first half, made it 3-0 AU and the Eagles never trailed. American led by six at the half and opened the second half with an 8-1 run. Lafayette never got closer than 6 the rest of the way.
Arvydas Eitutavicius (10) and Brayden Billbe (13) also in double figures for American, which shot 51 percent from the field.
Lafayette shot 21 of 64 (32.8 percent) from the field, 8 for 33 from three-point range. Bilal Abdullah had five of the Leopards' treys, finishing with 21 points. Andrei Capusan added 17.
No. 4 seed American gets to wear the home white uniforms when these two meet in the first round in Lewisburg.
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American sweeps its season series with Lafayette, winning in Easton, 77-67, in a preview of Friday's No. 4 vs. No. 5 game.
Andre Ingram with the kind of game American has been waiting all season for him to have, 7 treys en route to 26 points. His first three-pointer, at the 19:22 mark of the first half, made it 3-0 AU and the Eagles never trailed. American led by six at the half and opened the second half with an 8-1 run. Lafayette never got closer than 6 the rest of the way.
Arvydas Eitutavicius (10) and Brayden Billbe (13) also in double figures for American, which shot 51 percent from the field.
Lafayette shot 21 of 64 (32.8 percent) from the field, 8 for 33 from three-point range. Bilal Abdullah had five of the Leopards' treys, finishing with 21 points. Andrei Capusan added 17.
No. 4 seed American gets to wear the home white uniforms when these two meet in the first round in Lewisburg.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 6:22 p.m., links added at 8:37 a.m.)
Colgate completes a sweep of the series with Navy and now stands a win over Air Force for the Commander In Chief's Trophy. They have yet to beat anybody but the military schools since the new year. They will get, perhaps, the best chance for an upset in the first round, playing the Holy Cross-Lehigh loser on a neutral floor.
Navy will play the winner of that game on its floor in the first round.
From the :
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Colgate completes a sweep of the series with Navy and now stands a win over Air Force for the Commander In Chief's Trophy. They have yet to beat anybody but the military schools since the new year. They will get, perhaps, the best chance for an upset in the first round, playing the Holy Cross-Lehigh loser on a neutral floor.
Navy will play the winner of that game on its floor in the first round.
From the :
Jon Simon, Alvin Reed and Kendall Chones each topped 20 points, and Colgate rallied to beat Navy 80-72 on Saturday.
Simon led the way with a career-high 25 points, making 6 of 10 from the field and 9 of 12 free-throw attempts. Reed scored 22 points, and Chones had 21 for the Raiders (10-18, 4-10 Patriot League), who secured a sixth-place finish in the league.
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Saturday, February 25, 2006
Twenty-five minutes to game time, Bucknell comes out to start final pregame rituals to a roar from the crowd in Sojka, about half full at the moment.
Senior night note: Bucknell's lineup will look like this to start: Tarik Viaer McClymont at the five; Holland Mack the 4; Charles Lee, Kevin Bettencourt and Abe Badmus in their usual 3,2,1 alignment.
The Sewell watch is on. The big redhead from Florida has been in and out of the doghouse more than Snoopy. Watch the Army box scores, Sewell is as likely to get a start as a DNP.
The 6-11 junior has played in 21 games, averaging 10.5 minutes. Sewell has started 7 times. Four times he has not left the bench, including Wednesday at Lafayette. His last start came when these two met at West Point three weeks ago. Sewell played 15 minutes in that one, and 16 off the bench against Navy the next game. Since then he has seen single digits three straight games, seven against both Holy Cross and Lehigh and four against American.
Ten minutes till tip ...
With Chris McNaughton and Darren Mastropaolo both bumped from the starting lineup in deference to seniors, there were rumors in the media room of a press pool on how long it would be until one, or both, were at the scorers table. The idea never took off though. Too many people wanted to bet on somebody reporting immediately after the tip.
Here's a stat line to ponder: Army's Erik Engstrom -- 20 games, 12 starts, he has taken 10 shots (mad half of 'em) 45 rebounds, 56 fouls.
If this one gets out of hand, we may well stop blogging and join the crew over in the .
Bison band out in force and sounds as though they have been practicing (so as not to embarrass themselves on national TV, perhaps?). Got to give them their props when they deserve them.
Bucknell cheerleaders say they have had to try to step up their game to keep pace with the team, too. "We've incorporated more stunts," says one of the Rah Rahs in a courtside conversation. She says they also can't understand why they have to sit in front of the student section, since all the students stand anyhow. They have noticed that cheerleaders elsewhere don't have to sit, she says.
Introducing the Bison seniors. Tarik is shooting 60 percent this season, the announcer mentions. Who'd a thunk it?
Nice touch, the parent escorting each senior is wearing an orange replica jersey with their player's number. A Holland Mack replica jersey; another who'd a thunk it moment.
Charles Lee's intro could have been shorter. Just say, "Dude's in the top 10 in everything."
Bettencourt gets the last into. Seeing him by his mother and father, he is lucky to be tall enough to play Division I ball. It is not genetic.
There will be a three-minute warm-up period before the tip.
Pregame introductions, Bucknell students at the one end turn their back on Army, then lock arms and sway like the Bison huddle awaiting the first introduction. These kids are catching on.
We have said it before, we'll say it again: Sojka has turned into the absolute best college basketball atmosphere in the Patriot League. The place is almost full, including the student sections. On a Saturday night against Army.
For Bucknell old-timers, it is like the Patrick King-Mike Bright era in Davis on steroids.
Army 6, Bucknell 4 (15:32 first)
Bad news for Bucknell. Point guard Abe Badmus came off the floor hobbling around the 18:50 mark. They were looking at his right ankle. He is not on the Bison bench, apparently having gone to the training room for treatment.
First subs for Bucknell (aside from griffin for the injured Badmus), not McNaughton and Mastropaolo, but Rob Thomas and Donald Brown. Thomas at the two, with Bettencourt shifting to the point. Brown for Mack.
McNaughton for Tarik at the next stop.
Bettencourt with all of Bucknell's points, a pair of jumpers just inside the arc on each.
Bucknell 14, Army 11 (10:00 first)
Badmus returns to the BU bench around the 14:29 mark. Ankle is heavily taped. He walked with no noticeable limp.
John Griffin gives Bucknell its first lead at 10-9 with back-to-back threes.
Bucknell on an 8-2 run. Bison shooting 6-13, 46.2 percent.
Army 4-11, 36.4 percent.
Bucknell 17, Army 15 (7:27 first)
Badmus at the scorers table to return at the 8 minute mark.
He will be in following this timeout.
Army briefly went back on top, 15-14, but Charles Lee answered with a three. He was just fouled on a breakaway and will be at the line for two after this timeout.
Jimmy Sewell in his warm-ups has the very last seat at the far end of Army's bench.
Bucknell 22, Army 15 (3:54)
Charles Lee on a one-man 8-0 run for Bucknell. Army has not scored in about 4 minutes.
Bison come out and show some press. They have done this from time to time in several games, though not usually in full bore go for the steal mode.
Pat Flannery talked about pressing more in the preseason. You have to wonder, are the Bison working on this with a purpose other than just to show opponents some wrinkles in the film?
Corban Bates air balls a hook shot, hears it throughout the next possession, then tries to bull through McNaughton in frustration and is called for the charge, His third, Army's 7th team foul.
Bucknell 25, Army 18 (HALFTIME)
Bucknell trapping press causes first turnover at around 3:50, a wild pass trying to beat it that goes out of bounds. Brown is out on top as the chaser in this press.
Army's Doug Williams gets a bail out call with the shot clock running out, but bricks both shots at the 2:43 mark. Now over five minutes without an Army point.
Marshall Jackson breaks the scoreless stretch with a layup at the 1:11 mark. Is fouled and completes the three-point play.
Lee answers with a fadeaway J. He is on an 11-2 run of his own.
Jackson with 10 for Army. No other Cadets with more than 2.
Army shooting 7-20 (35 percent). Bucknell 9-25 (36 percent)
Bucknell with 10 second chance points and 6 points off 10 Army turnovers. Army has 4 off 6 BU giveaways.
HALFTIME: Good news from the halftime entertainment. None of the trampoline dunkers broke a leg this time. Apparently, according to one of the reporters who was at the game, two years ago one of them did.
Bucknell 34, Army 18 (18:42 second)
No real surprise, Bucknell went to McNaughton on its first possession. the big guy was fouled, and made one of two, his first point of the night.
Bucknell got the offensive rebound when he missed the second, resulting in a Bettencourt three.
They repeated the trick again when Mastropaolo was fouled making a layup and missed the free throw. Bettencourt now with 10 points.
It is now a 9-0 run in the first 1:18 of the second half. Army already with three team fouls.
Bucknell 38, Army 22 (15:56 second)
McNaughton's first bucket at the 17:06 mark. Next BU possession he draws Bates fourth personal and knocks down both free throws. McNaughton now with 5 after a scoreless first half.
Bucknell 52, Army 31 (8:58 to go)
15:30 mark, Donald Brown goes down hard. It looks bad, as he writhes in pain, but he later hops off and walks off on his own. That's two injury scares now for the Bison -- the last thing you want to see in a meaningless (other than for BU's unbeaten conference mark) game heading into the postseason.
Bates gets his fifth personal at the 13:32 mark and is serenaded with "Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Hey, hey Goodbye."
Lee knocks down both free throws to push the lead over 20, then takes a seat, Thomas giving him a break.
Bucknell with Mastropaolo, Thomas, Badmus, Griffin and Vegotsky on the floor. Now that is going small.
12:08, McNaughton and Brown back in.
somebody else will need to score for Army. Matt Bell, who has all 8 second half points for Army, also sits down at the 12:08 mark.
The answer is John Moonshower. His jumper at the 11:27 mark is Army's first non-Bell points of the half.
If you said John Who?, you are not alone. Moonshower is a 6-5 freshman who has seen time in 11 games this season. He has seen more time the past five games, scoring 9 against Lehigh and 8 against Lafayette.
Bucknell 61, Army 45 (3:04 to play)
With 4:48 to go, another injury scare for Bucknell. It's Brown again. This time he is on the floor holding his head. He walks off, but Flannery is letting the officials have it from the far sideline. My guess is it has to do with the amount of rough play they are letting go under the Bucknell basket.
With 3:21 to go, the "Warm up the tank" chants start.
Bucknell with three in double figures now: Lee-16, Bettencourt-13, McNaughton 11.
For Army: Bell has 14. Jackson still stuck on 10.
Bucknell 70, Army 47 (FINAL)
Still another injury score for Bucknell. With 2:24 to play, Charles Lee lets out a yelp and grabs the small of his back, just above his right hip. Flannery's ire with the officials results in a T.
Looks like we will not be seeing Jimmy Sewell.
Latest chants: "Navy's better", followed by "Undefeated."
Biggest cheers of the night come with 49.5 to go when Holland Mack scores on a hard-work put back of his own miss. He has two chances for a career high, but misses a free throw, then bricks a three after BU gets the offensive rebound.
Four Bison finish in double figures: Lee with 18, Bettencourt 13, Griffin with 12 thanks to a 6 for 6 night at the foul line and McNaughton with 11.
The crowd on its feet as the clock ticks off. Griffin, after the buzzer, drains a top of the arc three for practice.
Chris Niesz, the lone senior on last year's team, out on the floor to greet his old teammates as they leave the floor.
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Senior night note: Bucknell's lineup will look like this to start: Tarik Viaer McClymont at the five; Holland Mack the 4; Charles Lee, Kevin Bettencourt and Abe Badmus in their usual 3,2,1 alignment.
The Sewell watch is on. The big redhead from Florida has been in and out of the doghouse more than Snoopy. Watch the Army box scores, Sewell is as likely to get a start as a DNP.
The 6-11 junior has played in 21 games, averaging 10.5 minutes. Sewell has started 7 times. Four times he has not left the bench, including Wednesday at Lafayette. His last start came when these two met at West Point three weeks ago. Sewell played 15 minutes in that one, and 16 off the bench against Navy the next game. Since then he has seen single digits three straight games, seven against both Holy Cross and Lehigh and four against American.
Ten minutes till tip ...
With Chris McNaughton and Darren Mastropaolo both bumped from the starting lineup in deference to seniors, there were rumors in the media room of a press pool on how long it would be until one, or both, were at the scorers table. The idea never took off though. Too many people wanted to bet on somebody reporting immediately after the tip.
Here's a stat line to ponder: Army's Erik Engstrom -- 20 games, 12 starts, he has taken 10 shots (mad half of 'em) 45 rebounds, 56 fouls.
If this one gets out of hand, we may well stop blogging and join the crew over in the .
Bison band out in force and sounds as though they have been practicing (so as not to embarrass themselves on national TV, perhaps?). Got to give them their props when they deserve them.
Bucknell cheerleaders say they have had to try to step up their game to keep pace with the team, too. "We've incorporated more stunts," says one of the Rah Rahs in a courtside conversation. She says they also can't understand why they have to sit in front of the student section, since all the students stand anyhow. They have noticed that cheerleaders elsewhere don't have to sit, she says.
Introducing the Bison seniors. Tarik is shooting 60 percent this season, the announcer mentions. Who'd a thunk it?
Nice touch, the parent escorting each senior is wearing an orange replica jersey with their player's number. A Holland Mack replica jersey; another who'd a thunk it moment.
Charles Lee's intro could have been shorter. Just say, "Dude's in the top 10 in everything."
Bettencourt gets the last into. Seeing him by his mother and father, he is lucky to be tall enough to play Division I ball. It is not genetic.
There will be a three-minute warm-up period before the tip.
Pregame introductions, Bucknell students at the one end turn their back on Army, then lock arms and sway like the Bison huddle awaiting the first introduction. These kids are catching on.
We have said it before, we'll say it again: Sojka has turned into the absolute best college basketball atmosphere in the Patriot League. The place is almost full, including the student sections. On a Saturday night against Army.
For Bucknell old-timers, it is like the Patrick King-Mike Bright era in Davis on steroids.
Army 6, Bucknell 4 (15:32 first)
Bad news for Bucknell. Point guard Abe Badmus came off the floor hobbling around the 18:50 mark. They were looking at his right ankle. He is not on the Bison bench, apparently having gone to the training room for treatment.
First subs for Bucknell (aside from griffin for the injured Badmus), not McNaughton and Mastropaolo, but Rob Thomas and Donald Brown. Thomas at the two, with Bettencourt shifting to the point. Brown for Mack.
McNaughton for Tarik at the next stop.
Bettencourt with all of Bucknell's points, a pair of jumpers just inside the arc on each.
Bucknell 14, Army 11 (10:00 first)
Badmus returns to the BU bench around the 14:29 mark. Ankle is heavily taped. He walked with no noticeable limp.
John Griffin gives Bucknell its first lead at 10-9 with back-to-back threes.
Bucknell on an 8-2 run. Bison shooting 6-13, 46.2 percent.
Army 4-11, 36.4 percent.
Bucknell 17, Army 15 (7:27 first)
Badmus at the scorers table to return at the 8 minute mark.
He will be in following this timeout.
Army briefly went back on top, 15-14, but Charles Lee answered with a three. He was just fouled on a breakaway and will be at the line for two after this timeout.
Jimmy Sewell in his warm-ups has the very last seat at the far end of Army's bench.
Bucknell 22, Army 15 (3:54)
Charles Lee on a one-man 8-0 run for Bucknell. Army has not scored in about 4 minutes.
Bison come out and show some press. They have done this from time to time in several games, though not usually in full bore go for the steal mode.
Pat Flannery talked about pressing more in the preseason. You have to wonder, are the Bison working on this with a purpose other than just to show opponents some wrinkles in the film?
Corban Bates air balls a hook shot, hears it throughout the next possession, then tries to bull through McNaughton in frustration and is called for the charge, His third, Army's 7th team foul.
Bucknell 25, Army 18 (HALFTIME)
Bucknell trapping press causes first turnover at around 3:50, a wild pass trying to beat it that goes out of bounds. Brown is out on top as the chaser in this press.
Army's Doug Williams gets a bail out call with the shot clock running out, but bricks both shots at the 2:43 mark. Now over five minutes without an Army point.
Marshall Jackson breaks the scoreless stretch with a layup at the 1:11 mark. Is fouled and completes the three-point play.
Lee answers with a fadeaway J. He is on an 11-2 run of his own.
Jackson with 10 for Army. No other Cadets with more than 2.
Army shooting 7-20 (35 percent). Bucknell 9-25 (36 percent)
Bucknell with 10 second chance points and 6 points off 10 Army turnovers. Army has 4 off 6 BU giveaways.
HALFTIME: Good news from the halftime entertainment. None of the trampoline dunkers broke a leg this time. Apparently, according to one of the reporters who was at the game, two years ago one of them did.
Bucknell 34, Army 18 (18:42 second)
No real surprise, Bucknell went to McNaughton on its first possession. the big guy was fouled, and made one of two, his first point of the night.
Bucknell got the offensive rebound when he missed the second, resulting in a Bettencourt three.
They repeated the trick again when Mastropaolo was fouled making a layup and missed the free throw. Bettencourt now with 10 points.
It is now a 9-0 run in the first 1:18 of the second half. Army already with three team fouls.
Bucknell 38, Army 22 (15:56 second)
McNaughton's first bucket at the 17:06 mark. Next BU possession he draws Bates fourth personal and knocks down both free throws. McNaughton now with 5 after a scoreless first half.
Bucknell 52, Army 31 (8:58 to go)
15:30 mark, Donald Brown goes down hard. It looks bad, as he writhes in pain, but he later hops off and walks off on his own. That's two injury scares now for the Bison -- the last thing you want to see in a meaningless (other than for BU's unbeaten conference mark) game heading into the postseason.
Bates gets his fifth personal at the 13:32 mark and is serenaded with "Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Hey, hey Goodbye."
Lee knocks down both free throws to push the lead over 20, then takes a seat, Thomas giving him a break.
Bucknell with Mastropaolo, Thomas, Badmus, Griffin and Vegotsky on the floor. Now that is going small.
12:08, McNaughton and Brown back in.
somebody else will need to score for Army. Matt Bell, who has all 8 second half points for Army, also sits down at the 12:08 mark.
The answer is John Moonshower. His jumper at the 11:27 mark is Army's first non-Bell points of the half.
If you said John Who?, you are not alone. Moonshower is a 6-5 freshman who has seen time in 11 games this season. He has seen more time the past five games, scoring 9 against Lehigh and 8 against Lafayette.
Bucknell 61, Army 45 (3:04 to play)
With 4:48 to go, another injury scare for Bucknell. It's Brown again. This time he is on the floor holding his head. He walks off, but Flannery is letting the officials have it from the far sideline. My guess is it has to do with the amount of rough play they are letting go under the Bucknell basket.
With 3:21 to go, the "Warm up the tank" chants start.
Bucknell with three in double figures now: Lee-16, Bettencourt-13, McNaughton 11.
For Army: Bell has 14. Jackson still stuck on 10.
Bucknell 70, Army 47 (FINAL)
Still another injury score for Bucknell. With 2:24 to play, Charles Lee lets out a yelp and grabs the small of his back, just above his right hip. Flannery's ire with the officials results in a T.
Looks like we will not be seeing Jimmy Sewell.
Latest chants: "Navy's better", followed by "Undefeated."
Biggest cheers of the night come with 49.5 to go when Holland Mack scores on a hard-work put back of his own miss. He has two chances for a career high, but misses a free throw, then bricks a three after BU gets the offensive rebound.
Four Bison finish in double figures: Lee with 18, Bettencourt 13, Griffin with 12 thanks to a 6 for 6 night at the foul line and McNaughton with 11.
The crowd on its feet as the clock ticks off. Griffin, after the buzzer, drains a top of the arc three for practice.
Chris Niesz, the lone senior on last year's team, out on the floor to greet his old teammates as they leave the floor.
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American at Lafayette, 1 p.m.: A preview of next week's quarterfinal game, with the winner here getting the No. 4 seed and the right to wear home whites when these two meet again Friday in Lewisburg. Officially, a Lafayette win would force the tiebreaker to the RPI. According to Ken Pomeroy's calculations, the two teams are 238 (AU) and 239 in those rankings. While that might vary slightly from the official RPI used by the NCAA, Pomeroy's numbers are never off by much. Suffice to say, the winner will have the higher RPI after this one is played.
The league resumes of these two are nearly identical. Both have been swept by the big three, swept Colgate and Army and split with Navy, both winning at home. About the only difference has been that American has stayed within single digits of the big three at home and owns the homecourt win ovber Lafayette from their previous meeting.
American shot 56 percent in that one, while holding Lafayette to a 40-percent night. The Leopards are a much better at home, especially on offense. In six home league games, the Leopards are averaging 67.7 points per game. In seven conference road games, they are scoring 60.4 per game.
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Colgate at Navy, 3 p.m.: The winner gets the No. 6 seed and a neutral court matchup with the loser of Sunday's Holy Cross-Lehigh game. The loser gets the winner of that game on the winner's floor.
Colgate won by three in Hamilton when these two met last week. That was Colgate's only win over a team not named Army since the new year. That win ended a four-game losing streak for the Raiders, who promptly started a new slide when they lost at home to Holy Cross Wednesday.
It's almost hard to remember that Colgate, which is 1-11 this season on opponents' floors, started the season 4-3. Since then, the Raiders have won only four more games against Division I opponents, only one against a non-service academy school.
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Army at Bucknell, 7 p.m. Bucknell looks to become the first team in league history to go through the conference season unbeaten in another preview of a first round matchup. Tarik Viaer-McClymont and Holland Mack will get their first, and only, career starts in the senior night matchup in Sojka.
Bucknell had to rally to beat Army when the two met in West Point. That was in no small part because the Black Knights shot 51.2 percent from the field. Army is the only Patriot League team to shoot over 50 percent against Bucknell all season (and one of only four teams to do it all year against BU). Between that and the chance to finish unbeaten in the conference, Bucknell should have no trouble getting up for a game that otherwise has ho-hum written all over it.
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Friday, February 24, 2006
We get all kinds of e-mail here at Hoop Time.
Some of it is kind, like this message from Dave of Manassas, Va.:
Take this message, which came from someone who felt the need to hide behind a vulgar pseudonym who filled out the feedback form like this: City: You are State: dumb Zip: moron.
Not sure why that person felt the need to hide its identity. The actual message of the e-mail, which pointed out an error in one of our posts, read like this:
Spelling aside, though, that message, like the handful of more courteous one making the same point, was correct. In previewing the Lehigh at Bucknell game, we did confuse the issue. What it should have said was Lehigh needed to win both, and get help from Army, to claim the No. 1 seed. A win in either game, at Bucknell or at HC, would indeed give the Mountain Hawks the No. 2 seed.
They might also have pointed out that the Lehigh-Holy Cross game is Sunday, not Saturday.
Bottom line remains, Lehigh is in a must-win situation. Although the loss to Bucknell actually boosted Lehigh's RPI significantly, the Mountain Hawks remain at 147, 17 spots behind Holy Cross. Maybe one of the math whizs out there who knows how to tweak these formulas could let us know the specifics, but we are guessing that if Lehigh had played at least one Division 1 game instead. Remember, the road is your friend in the RPI.
David from Chantilly Va. writes:
Actually though David, if you think this season is an anomaly, or that Lehigh v. Bucknell was really "one of the most poorly called games in history", then you have a very limited history of Patriot League basketball. This has never been a well officiated league.
Nobody would argue the Lehigh-Bucknell game was whistled flawlessly. But "one of the most poorly called games in history"? There were some bad calls, some glaringly bad, but it was nowhere near the worst we have ever seen. The worst cases are when the officiating is so inconsistent and uneven that it effects the outcome of the game..
That was not the case in the Lehigh-Bucknell game. In that game, what happened is what seems to happen all the time. In the first half, the officials let the two teams play, in the second half they tightened up. If anything, that benefited Lehigh by keeping Bucknell off the foul line in the first half.
But despite our complaints about Rich Giallella, who seems to violate the most sacred commandment of officiating (Thou shalt not be noticed) every time we see him, the game was pretty evenly whistled.
Lehigh fans will forever complain about Badmus fouling Neptune, arguing, incorrectly that there should have been a flagrant foul call (while never mentioning the no= call on the Neptune reach-in at midcourt that precipitated the play). Bucknell fans were equally outraged when Olivero grabbed Badmus at midcourt, negating what would have been a Charles Lee breakaway (yes it was intentional, but no, it never gets called and thus should not have been called there).
There is an argument that the previous schedule setup, with Friday and Sunday league games, allowed the league to get a better pool of officials because it was not competing with other conferences (aside, primarily from the Ivy League) for their services. But both coaches and observers around the league lamented that many nights those higher level officials seemed to be there just to pick up a quick paycheck.
Certainly there is little evidence that the officiating was any better last season than this season.
Bottom line, between the Patriot League's lower per game paycheck, the inconveniences of travel to many of its campuses and the paucity of legitimate TV games (the refs have egos, too, just like the players), this is not a conference that will get the top officials for most of its games.
Think the officiating is bad in the men's games, watch the women's games sometime. There, the pool of officials seems to be even younger and less experienced.
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Some of it is kind, like this message from Dave of Manassas, Va.:
I love your blog. keep up the good work.Others are less complimentary.
Take this message, which came from someone who felt the need to hide behind a vulgar pseudonym who filled out the feedback form like this: City: You are State: dumb Zip: moron.
Not sure why that person felt the need to hide its identity. The actual message of the e-mail, which pointed out an error in one of our posts, read like this:
"They need to win here, and again Saturday at Holy Cross, just to hold on to the No. 2 seed. They lose any ties because of 157 RPI."Have to admit, it does take a little of the sting out of being called a moron when they spell an easy word wrong in the message.
Completely wrong. They only need to win 1. Do you pay attention to anything YOU write or just point out when other people, like Andre Williams, are wrong? Instead of criticizing others maybe you ought to check your own fatcs moron.
Spelling aside, though, that message, like the handful of more courteous one making the same point, was correct. In previewing the Lehigh at Bucknell game, we did confuse the issue. What it should have said was Lehigh needed to win both, and get help from Army, to claim the No. 1 seed. A win in either game, at Bucknell or at HC, would indeed give the Mountain Hawks the No. 2 seed.
They might also have pointed out that the Lehigh-Holy Cross game is Sunday, not Saturday.
Bottom line remains, Lehigh is in a must-win situation. Although the loss to Bucknell actually boosted Lehigh's RPI significantly, the Mountain Hawks remain at 147, 17 spots behind Holy Cross. Maybe one of the math whizs out there who knows how to tweak these formulas could let us know the specifics, but we are guessing that if Lehigh had played at least one Division 1 game instead. Remember, the road is your friend in the RPI.
David from Chantilly Va. writes:
Something needs to be said on your blog about the poor league officiating this season. Yeah, I am a Lehigh alum, but I have seen American and Bucknell games called just as poorly. It is terrible. If you watched the Lehigh v. Bucknell game on Wednesday and did not think that it was one of the most poorly called games in history, then you are blind. It was a complete travesty for the league, the game, and the two schools. You have to say something about this...it is such crap.Since when have we hesitated to comment on the officials?
Actually though David, if you think this season is an anomaly, or that Lehigh v. Bucknell was really "one of the most poorly called games in history", then you have a very limited history of Patriot League basketball. This has never been a well officiated league.
Nobody would argue the Lehigh-Bucknell game was whistled flawlessly. But "one of the most poorly called games in history"? There were some bad calls, some glaringly bad, but it was nowhere near the worst we have ever seen. The worst cases are when the officiating is so inconsistent and uneven that it effects the outcome of the game..
That was not the case in the Lehigh-Bucknell game. In that game, what happened is what seems to happen all the time. In the first half, the officials let the two teams play, in the second half they tightened up. If anything, that benefited Lehigh by keeping Bucknell off the foul line in the first half.
But despite our complaints about Rich Giallella, who seems to violate the most sacred commandment of officiating (Thou shalt not be noticed) every time we see him, the game was pretty evenly whistled.
Lehigh fans will forever complain about Badmus fouling Neptune, arguing, incorrectly that there should have been a flagrant foul call (while never mentioning the no= call on the Neptune reach-in at midcourt that precipitated the play). Bucknell fans were equally outraged when Olivero grabbed Badmus at midcourt, negating what would have been a Charles Lee breakaway (yes it was intentional, but no, it never gets called and thus should not have been called there).
There is an argument that the previous schedule setup, with Friday and Sunday league games, allowed the league to get a better pool of officials because it was not competing with other conferences (aside, primarily from the Ivy League) for their services. But both coaches and observers around the league lamented that many nights those higher level officials seemed to be there just to pick up a quick paycheck.
Certainly there is little evidence that the officiating was any better last season than this season.
Bottom line, between the Patriot League's lower per game paycheck, the inconveniences of travel to many of its campuses and the paucity of legitimate TV games (the refs have egos, too, just like the players), this is not a conference that will get the top officials for most of its games.
Think the officiating is bad in the men's games, watch the women's games sometime. There, the pool of officials seems to be even younger and less experienced.
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The Lafayette student publication The Laf that college president Dan Weiss has indicated to a faculty group that he intends to recommend athletic scholaships to the school's trustees.
Writes the Laf:
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Writes the Laf:
One professor who wished to remain anonymous said the discussion confirmed the president's support of athletic scholarships. "Based on what [Weiss] was saying, that's going to be his recommendation [to the Board of Trustees]," she said.The story says the faculty, which have opposed scholarships in the past, were skeptical following the meeting with Weiss.
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You night remember Jerry Brewer of the Louisville Courier-Journal as the AP voter who regularly goes public with his weekly poll ballot and an explanation of his votes.
In Friday's Courier-Journal, to the relationship between Louisville coach Rick Pitino and Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.
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In Friday's Courier-Journal, to the relationship between Louisville coach Rick Pitino and Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.
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The dance card is set for the Lewisburg pod after American shut down Navy's high-scoring offense to clinch a spot for itself, and Lafayette, in the four-five game in the Patriot League Tournament.
The winner of Saturday's first round preview in Easton between American and Lafayette will determine which team gets to wear the home whites.
Navy, meanwhile, will host Colgate Saturday to determine which will be the six seed and which will be the seventh. The winner of that game will face the No. 3 seed on a neutral floor. The loser gets the No. 2 seed on the No. 2 seed's home court. Either way, the Mids are headed to either Lehigh or Holy Cross. That destination will be determined Sunday in the conference's final regular season game.
In this game, it was American's defense that made the difference. The Midshipmen came in the highest scoring team in the league, averaging better than 69 points per game. But American held Navy to its second-lowest scoring total of the season.
The Mids shot 18 for 50 from the field (36 percent) and made just 3 of 11 three-point tries. The Eagles did a particularly good job on Navy's Greg Sprink, the league's No. 3 scorer. Sprink's 10 points were five below his average, and most of those came at the foul line. From the field, Sprink was 1 for 6, his only bucket a three-pointer with 4:47 left to play that cut American's lead at the time from 24 points to 21. Sprink had gone off for 7 treys and 27 points when Navy beat AU the first time the two met.
American had 14 steals, including 4 by Derrick Mercer, and forced 20 Navy turnovers, which the Eagles converted into 27 points.
Arvydas Eitutavicius led American with 15 points. Andre Ingram added 12.
Carlton Baldwin and Sprink each had 10 for the Mids.
Navy captain, senior Matt Fannin, reinjured his knee and played only 16 minutes. Mids coach Billy Lange indicated Fannin might have been able to return had the game still been competitive.
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The winner of Saturday's first round preview in Easton between American and Lafayette will determine which team gets to wear the home whites.
Navy, meanwhile, will host Colgate Saturday to determine which will be the six seed and which will be the seventh. The winner of that game will face the No. 3 seed on a neutral floor. The loser gets the No. 2 seed on the No. 2 seed's home court. Either way, the Mids are headed to either Lehigh or Holy Cross. That destination will be determined Sunday in the conference's final regular season game.
In this game, it was American's defense that made the difference. The Midshipmen came in the highest scoring team in the league, averaging better than 69 points per game. But American held Navy to its second-lowest scoring total of the season.
The Mids shot 18 for 50 from the field (36 percent) and made just 3 of 11 three-point tries. The Eagles did a particularly good job on Navy's Greg Sprink, the league's No. 3 scorer. Sprink's 10 points were five below his average, and most of those came at the foul line. From the field, Sprink was 1 for 6, his only bucket a three-pointer with 4:47 left to play that cut American's lead at the time from 24 points to 21. Sprink had gone off for 7 treys and 27 points when Navy beat AU the first time the two met.
American had 14 steals, including 4 by Derrick Mercer, and forced 20 Navy turnovers, which the Eagles converted into 27 points.
Arvydas Eitutavicius led American with 15 points. Andre Ingram added 12.
Carlton Baldwin and Sprink each had 10 for the Mids.
Navy captain, senior Matt Fannin, reinjured his knee and played only 16 minutes. Mids coach Billy Lange indicated Fannin might have been able to return had the game still been competitive.
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
In his over at CoachRalph.com, Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard recaps the Navy and American games ("American's students do a great job of supporting their team and have a special affection for Holy Cross."), answers some frequently asked questions about recruiting, playing time and argues persuasively against the whole idea of a postseason league tournament at the Patriot League level:
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Conference tournaments were started by the big conferences to initially generate income and later as a way to get more teams from their conference into the NCAA Tourney. In our league they don't generate income, and as a one bid conference all they serve to do is possibly eliminate a team that has proven to be the best over the course of the regular season from representing our league in the NCAA Tournament. And they occur over spring break, when students are out. They also lower the RPI of the regular season champion if they do win.Given the current set-up, which generates no tournament atmosphere or buzz, Ralph might be right, though our preference would be a return to a single site tournament, not an end to the tournament.
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Navy at American, 7 p.m.: An American win would lock the Eagles into the four-five game against Lafayette in the first round of the league tournament. A Navy win keeps the Mids chances of grabbing one of the 4-5 spots alive.
Navy overcame a 6-point halftime deficit to beat the Eagles when the two met in Annapolis earlier this season. It was Navy's first win over American since AU joined the Patriot League.
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(Originally posted Wednesday at 10:50 p.m., Links added 6:49 a.m.)
If you watch some of that poker that seems to be on round the clock on one cable channel or another these days, then you know the simple secret. Two of a kind never wins when the other guy has a hand full of good cards.
That was the lesson of Bucknell's Patriot League regular season title clinching 81-70 win over Lehigh Wednesday night in front of a packed house if 4,136 in sold out Sojka Arena.
Jose Olivero and Joe Knight were a heckuva pair for Lehigh. Not aces maybe, but definitely face cards. Olivero poured in 21 points, hitting 7 of 16 from the field, including 4 three-pointers. Knight added 15, the majority coming on three key treys, each one seemingly keeping Lehigh's hopes alive when they seemed about to fade.
With Kyle Neptune chipping in with 12 points, Lehigh managed to become the first Patriot League team in 32 games to score 70 points against Bucknell. Lehigh became just the fourth team all season to score 70 against the Bison, and its 24-of-52 (46.2 percent) shooting effort made the Mountain Hawks the fifth team all season to shoot better than 45 percent against Bucknell's vaunted defense, which ranks in the top five nationally.
Normally, the way Lehigh plays defense, that would be enough for a win. Not against a balanced Bucknell team that seemed to switch weapons every time Lehigh figured out where the last attack had come from.
Bucknell's 81 points were the second most allowed by Lehigh all season, just three shy of the 84 No. 2 Villanova put up on the Mountain Hawks back in November, when Joe Knight was not in the Lehigh rotation. Bucknell's 47.1 percent shooting (24-51) was the third-best shooting night a Lehigh opponent has enjoyed, just behind Princeton's 51.2 percent (go figure) night and 'Nova's 49.2 percent effort, both in November.
Making Bucknell's offensive showing even more impressive was where the points came from. The Bison had four guys in double figures, led by junior point guard Abe Badmus, who scored a career-high 17 points on a variety of twisting drives and jumpers. Badmus also had 4 steals.
"He is a competitor. Defensively he is real tough. He likes to get up there and really takes you out of what you want to do. Offensively he was really aggressive, attacking off of the dribble and he knocked down some jumpers. He kind of mixed it up and made a lot of big shots for them," said Knight, who spent much of the night chasing Badmus.
Charles Lee added 16, 13 of those coming in the second half.
"(Lee) demands a full 40 minute effort. We lost him a couple of times. He drove the ball a couple of times a couple of times and finished. He got his points in a variety of ways and it definitely hurt us," Taylor said.
Kevin Bettencourt added 13 and Chris McNaughton 10. But the difference between Lehigh and Bucknell was not one extra Bison in double figures. It was the balance the Bison showed. Out of 10 guys to see action for the Bison, 9 scored. Not in mop-up time, either, Nine of the 10 were on the board by the time Bucknell took a 36-26 halftime lead.
"They are a very good basketball team. We wanted to try to limit some of their top players and sometimes you get burned by a couple of the other guys. We didn't do a very good job executing our overall game plan because everybody for Bucknell hurt us," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor.
Two plays pretty well demonstrate the difference. The first came with 15:42 to play in the first half when Bucknell, with the shot clock running down, went not to McNaughton, Lee, Bettencourt or even Badmus, but to Mastropaolo, who buried a jump hook from the right side as the shot clock expired.
A little later in the half, Lehigh had a similar situation, inbounding the ball with four seconds on the shot clock. Olivero, who was out of the game, subbed back in a hurry. To nobody's surprise, including Bettencourt who was a stripe on Olivero's shorts as he made a cut across the lane and had a mitt in Olivero's face as he heaved up a fadeaway jumper that was off the mark.
"We had some different guys score big baskets. They were challenging Abe to shoot the basketball and he can shoot the basketball. You're not going to back off him like that. Donald Brown, who they backed off of, ended up with 5 assists and no turnovers. Charles Lee had four assists and no turnovers. When you get that kind of passing, that is going to open up Kevin and Abe and Chris," Flannery said.
The Bison also benefited by attacking the basket throughout, leading to a tremendous edge at the foul line. Bucknell hit 26 of 35 from the stripe, 23 of 31 in the second half. Lehigh only shot 16 free throws, making 14.
Bucknell only trailed once, falling behind 5-4 on a three-pointer by Mitch Gilfillan-- his only bucket of the night. Badmus answered with the first of his two treys and the Bison never again trailed. It was 36-26 at the half, after McNaughton scored on a put back at the buzzer.
The Bison pushed the lead to double digits three times early in the second half. Each time, Lehigh managed to cut the lead back to single digits, closing to within 4 on an Olivero trey with 7:28 to go. By the time Olivero hit a layup with 1:23 to play , which coincidentally was Lehigh's next field goal, Bucknell had pushed the lead to 15.
The win puts Bucknell a win over last place Army away from becoming the first ever Patriot League team to run the table in conference play. tickets for Saturday's otherwise meaningless Senior Day matchup, set to tip at 7 p.m., are already hard to come by.
Lehigh, meanwhile, needs to regroup to go on the road Saturday to Worcester, where a win over Holy Cross would still give the Mountain Hawks the No. 2 seed for the tournament and a homecourt edge in the first two rounds. A Holy Cross win reverses that scenario.
Gameblog
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If you watch some of that poker that seems to be on round the clock on one cable channel or another these days, then you know the simple secret. Two of a kind never wins when the other guy has a hand full of good cards.
That was the lesson of Bucknell's Patriot League regular season title clinching 81-70 win over Lehigh Wednesday night in front of a packed house if 4,136 in sold out Sojka Arena.
Jose Olivero and Joe Knight were a heckuva pair for Lehigh. Not aces maybe, but definitely face cards. Olivero poured in 21 points, hitting 7 of 16 from the field, including 4 three-pointers. Knight added 15, the majority coming on three key treys, each one seemingly keeping Lehigh's hopes alive when they seemed about to fade.
With Kyle Neptune chipping in with 12 points, Lehigh managed to become the first Patriot League team in 32 games to score 70 points against Bucknell. Lehigh became just the fourth team all season to score 70 against the Bison, and its 24-of-52 (46.2 percent) shooting effort made the Mountain Hawks the fifth team all season to shoot better than 45 percent against Bucknell's vaunted defense, which ranks in the top five nationally.
Normally, the way Lehigh plays defense, that would be enough for a win. Not against a balanced Bucknell team that seemed to switch weapons every time Lehigh figured out where the last attack had come from.
Bucknell's 81 points were the second most allowed by Lehigh all season, just three shy of the 84 No. 2 Villanova put up on the Mountain Hawks back in November, when Joe Knight was not in the Lehigh rotation. Bucknell's 47.1 percent shooting (24-51) was the third-best shooting night a Lehigh opponent has enjoyed, just behind Princeton's 51.2 percent (go figure) night and 'Nova's 49.2 percent effort, both in November.
Making Bucknell's offensive showing even more impressive was where the points came from. The Bison had four guys in double figures, led by junior point guard Abe Badmus, who scored a career-high 17 points on a variety of twisting drives and jumpers. Badmus also had 4 steals.
"He is a competitor. Defensively he is real tough. He likes to get up there and really takes you out of what you want to do. Offensively he was really aggressive, attacking off of the dribble and he knocked down some jumpers. He kind of mixed it up and made a lot of big shots for them," said Knight, who spent much of the night chasing Badmus.
Charles Lee added 16, 13 of those coming in the second half.
"(Lee) demands a full 40 minute effort. We lost him a couple of times. He drove the ball a couple of times a couple of times and finished. He got his points in a variety of ways and it definitely hurt us," Taylor said.
Kevin Bettencourt added 13 and Chris McNaughton 10. But the difference between Lehigh and Bucknell was not one extra Bison in double figures. It was the balance the Bison showed. Out of 10 guys to see action for the Bison, 9 scored. Not in mop-up time, either, Nine of the 10 were on the board by the time Bucknell took a 36-26 halftime lead.
"They are a very good basketball team. We wanted to try to limit some of their top players and sometimes you get burned by a couple of the other guys. We didn't do a very good job executing our overall game plan because everybody for Bucknell hurt us," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor.
Two plays pretty well demonstrate the difference. The first came with 15:42 to play in the first half when Bucknell, with the shot clock running down, went not to McNaughton, Lee, Bettencourt or even Badmus, but to Mastropaolo, who buried a jump hook from the right side as the shot clock expired.
A little later in the half, Lehigh had a similar situation, inbounding the ball with four seconds on the shot clock. Olivero, who was out of the game, subbed back in a hurry. To nobody's surprise, including Bettencourt who was a stripe on Olivero's shorts as he made a cut across the lane and had a mitt in Olivero's face as he heaved up a fadeaway jumper that was off the mark.
"We had some different guys score big baskets. They were challenging Abe to shoot the basketball and he can shoot the basketball. You're not going to back off him like that. Donald Brown, who they backed off of, ended up with 5 assists and no turnovers. Charles Lee had four assists and no turnovers. When you get that kind of passing, that is going to open up Kevin and Abe and Chris," Flannery said.
The Bison also benefited by attacking the basket throughout, leading to a tremendous edge at the foul line. Bucknell hit 26 of 35 from the stripe, 23 of 31 in the second half. Lehigh only shot 16 free throws, making 14.
Bucknell only trailed once, falling behind 5-4 on a three-pointer by Mitch Gilfillan-- his only bucket of the night. Badmus answered with the first of his two treys and the Bison never again trailed. It was 36-26 at the half, after McNaughton scored on a put back at the buzzer.
The Bison pushed the lead to double digits three times early in the second half. Each time, Lehigh managed to cut the lead back to single digits, closing to within 4 on an Olivero trey with 7:28 to go. By the time Olivero hit a layup with 1:23 to play , which coincidentally was Lehigh's next field goal, Bucknell had pushed the lead to 15.
The win puts Bucknell a win over last place Army away from becoming the first ever Patriot League team to run the table in conference play. tickets for Saturday's otherwise meaningless Senior Day matchup, set to tip at 7 p.m., are already hard to come by.
Lehigh, meanwhile, needs to regroup to go on the road Saturday to Worcester, where a win over Holy Cross would still give the Mountain Hawks the No. 2 seed for the tournament and a homecourt edge in the first two rounds. A Holy Cross win reverses that scenario.
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(Originally posted 1:10 a.m., link added at 6:47 a.m.)
From the :
The No. 4 and No. 5 teams get to meet in the first round of the tournament, avoiding a first round matchup against Holy Cross or Lehigh. Only Army vs. Bucknell is locked in at this point.
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From the :
Andrei Capusan scored 21 points and Lafayette used a late 14-4 run to beat Army 73-64 Wednesday night.The winner of Saturday's American at Lafayette game will be the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The loser gets the No. 5 spot if Navy loses one of its two remaining, tonight at American and Saturday at home against Colgate. Should the tiebreaker between Navy and either AU or Lafayette come down to RPI, Navy would lose out.
Andrew Brown scored 15 points and Everest Schmidt finished with 11 for the Leopards (11-15, 5-8 Patriot League), who beat Army for the eight straight time.
Sophomore guard Jarell Brown led Army (5-20, 1-12) with 19 points. Matt Bell added 13 points and six rebounds.
The No. 4 and No. 5 teams get to meet in the first round of the tournament, avoiding a first round matchup against Holy Cross or Lehigh. Only Army vs. Bucknell is locked in at this point.
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From the :
Colgate is now locked into either a six or seven seed.
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Keith Simmons scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Holy Cross to a 62-56 win over Colgate on Wednesday night.Holy Cross hosts Lehigh Saturday. The winner gets the No. 2 seed in the league tournament and a chance to host the first two rounds.
Kevin Hamilton added 17 points and Torey Thomas contributed 10 for the Crusaders (17-11, 10-3 Patriot League).
Colgate is now locked into either a six or seven seed.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The signs on the doors at Sojka Pavilion say "Sold Out."
They might be able to squeeze a few extra bodies into the section reserved for Bucknell's pep band. After allegedly going 25 deep for the Northern Iowa Tv show, it has dwindled back to less than 15 for this key Patriot League showdown.
Lehigh brought a bus. They are crammed into a small section behind the Lehigh bench. No sign of the usual L*E*H*I*G*H paint guys.
Rich Giallella in the house again tonight. Who assigns these guys? How can Bucknell have the same guy in three out of four league games? Surprised they didn't fly him into Worcester.
14:27 til game time
The band has swelled to about 16 people now, with 5 minutes until the tip.
The student sections are filling, but still a lot of empty seats.
Among the signs:
Cheney shoots better than Lehigh
You can't rob this bank
Joe Knight: My BAC > your GPA
(it could be true, these students are fired up)
National anthem by a girl in a McNaughton jersey.
Bucky Bison has a uniform now, too. It's an old white No. 50, split between the numbers in the back to get it over this costume. A front slit might have been a better choice because the big Bison chin covers the top of the front.
Still, a big step up from that Fred Rogers vest.
Bucknell 9, Lehigh 5 (15:25 first half)
First possession, Bucknell goes to McNaughton, who beats a double team and is fouled by Mike Fischman. McNaughton makes both.
First guy off the Lehigh bench is James Anderson. Knight follows at the same stoppage.
Brown for Mastropaolo at 17:18.
Giallella makes himself part of the show around the 16:30 mark, checking a TV replay on an Abe Badmus three. The guy who first signaled three was right on the play, both in proximity and correctness of his call.
With 15:37 to go, shot clock running down, Bucknell goes to Darren Mastropaolo down low. His jump hook gives him 4 points and Bucknell a 9-5 lead at the first timeout.
Bucknell 16, Lehigh 10 (11:56 first)
Both teams shooting well early. At the 13 minutes mark, BU was 5-7, LU 4-7. Lehigh, though, with 4 turnovers, Bucknell just 1.
Olivero with 5 of Lehigh's 10. Five different Bison have scored already, none of them named Charles Lee. Donald Brown and Mastropaolo with 4 each.
Bucknell 21, Lehigh 12 (7:41 first)
Difference between the two teams. Bucknell with a host of "go to" guys. Even Mastropaolo got the rock in a shot clock expiring situation.
Lehigh, on the other hand, has an inbound play with 4 seconds to go on the shot clock and Billy Taylor hustles Olivero back on to the floor. His forced jumper over Bettencourt was no good.
Fans all over the officials as the team fouls reach 7 for Bucknell, 2 for Lehigh at the 8:07 mark. Seconds later Badmus gets his second, making it 8-2.
Lehigh from the field: 5-15 (33.3 percent) 2-5 from three-point range. 8 turnovers
Bucknell 8-15 from the field, 3-5 on threes, 6 TO, 3 blocked shots
Bucknell 26, Lehigh 18 (3:47 first half)
Knight makes a pair of free throws at the 7:41 mark. His first points.
Lehigh is now 7-22 (31.8 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 29, Lehigh 22 (1:30 first half)
Vegotsky three gives Bucknell its first double digit lead at 29-18. Lehigh scores four straight to get back to 7, the last two on a Joe Knight jumper at 1:30, his first field goal of the game.
Word on press row, Colgate is up 10 on Holy Cross.
Bucknell 36, Lehigh 26 (Halftime)
McNaughton tips in his own miss at the buzzer to make it a 10-point Bison lead at the intermission.
The 6-11 German scored Bucknell's last 4 points, he has 8 on 3-5 shooting.
Charles Lee now 1 for 6, but when he finally made one, he made it count ... a trey from the right corner.
Donald Brown and Abe Badmus each with 5 for the Bison. 10 guys have played for Bucknell, 9 have scored. Bison shooting 45.2 percent (14-31) from the field. They are 5-9 from the arc.
Lehigh is led by Knight, who scored four of his 6 at the foul line. Jose Olivero with 5. Knight is 1-4 from the field, Olivero 2-6.
CORRECTION: HOLY CROSS UP 32-22 AT THE HALF (Elsewhere, Colgate 32-22 at the half.) Army and Lafayette tied at 35 all, also at the break.
Lehigh finishes the half 10 for 25 (40 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 42, Lehigh 35 (15:35 to play)
16:20 to go, Badmus comes up with a steal near midcourt, is grabbed by Olivero and refs do not call intentional foul, costing Lee a breakaway.
Knight with a three in the left corner, one of the few open looks he has had all night, cuts the Bucknell lead to 7 at the first media timeout of the half.
A Bucknell student just hit a halfcourt shot to win something during the timeout. He did not call the bank, but it counts anyhow.
Bucknell 49, Lehigh 40 (11:52 to go)
Knight with back to back threes gets it to 42-38. Donald Brown answers with a layin. Badmus a three and it is back to 47-38.
Confusion still along press row about the HC-Colgate score. The online scoreboards all show HC up, but BU SID said a call to Colgate press row had it the other way around.
Bucknell 55, Lehigh 45 (9:30 to play)
Bucknell in the 1 and 1 with 11:20 to go after Bryan White's third personal, LU's 7th team foul. Lee hits both ends and Bucknell shows a serious trapping press for the first time.
Number to watch: 70. That is the most points Lehigh has allowed all season (against D3 Muhlenberg). Bucknell is 7-0 when it scores 70.
Checking Colgate , HC up 6, under 3 to play.
Bucknell 57, Lehigh 52
Knight keeping Lehigh in this one, He now has 15 points, including three treys.
Olivero with 10.
Badmus with 14 for Bucknell. McNaughton has 10.
Bucknell 66, Lehigh 55 (4:46 to go)
Badmus now with a career-high 16. His previous best was 15 at Lehigh earlier this season.
Lehigh closed to 59-55 on an Olivero trey, their 7th of the game. Since then BU on a 7-0 spurt.
Bucknell 68, Lehigh 57 (3:36 to play)
McNaughton's fourth personal comes on a horrible call as an out of control Olivero jumps into three Bison defenders in the paint at the 4:27 mark. It was also BU's seventh team foul.
Olivero made both free throws, breaking up Bucknell's modest run, which now stands at 9-2.
Lee heating up, he now has 11, including Bucknell's last 4.
Mastropaolo with 8 points, one shy of his career high.
Bucknell 77, Lehigh 65 (1:03 left)
What absolute BS. At the 2:12 mark, Neptune going in for a layup is fouled by Badmus. He stays down a little,though the trainer rolls him right over, so obviously no serious injury. But he is too hurt to shoot the free throws, whines Taylor, who subs Matt Szalachowski, an 87.5 percent free throw shooter, for Neptune, a 65.7 percent shooter. Neptune miraculously is recovered an at the scorers table by the time Szalachowski misses the second shot.
Olivero hits a trey with 1:03 left, Lehigh's first field goal since his last one, at the 7:27 mark.
Lehigh calls a quick time out, then fouls.
Bucknell 19-23 so far second half at the line.
BUCKNELL 81, LEHIGH 70(final)
Charles lee dribbles out the clock and tosses the ball deep into the crowd as Bucknell clinches the regular season title and home court for the tournament.
Lehigh will need a win at HC Saturday to grab the No. 2 seed. HC beat Colgate 62-56 in Hamilton.
Neptune's foul on Lee with 14.3 to go and BU up 10 brings a chorus of boos from BU fans who were patient with Taylor's fouling well after they should have ceased such shenanigans.
Four in double figures for Bucknell, led by Badmus' career-high 17. Lee with 16, 13 in the second half. Bettencourt with 13, McNaughton 10.
Bucknell finishes 24-51, 47.1 percent from the field.
Lehigh with three in doubles. Olivero with 21, Knight 15, Neptune 12.
Mountain Hawks go 24-52 (46.2 percent) from the field and become first Patriot League team to score 70 against Bucknell in 32 games.
Turnovers a key stat: Bucknell 10, Lehigh 18.
Bucknell 26-35 at the line. Lehigh 14-16.
Full story to follow.
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They might be able to squeeze a few extra bodies into the section reserved for Bucknell's pep band. After allegedly going 25 deep for the Northern Iowa Tv show, it has dwindled back to less than 15 for this key Patriot League showdown.
Lehigh brought a bus. They are crammed into a small section behind the Lehigh bench. No sign of the usual L*E*H*I*G*H paint guys.
Rich Giallella in the house again tonight. Who assigns these guys? How can Bucknell have the same guy in three out of four league games? Surprised they didn't fly him into Worcester.
14:27 til game time
The band has swelled to about 16 people now, with 5 minutes until the tip.
The student sections are filling, but still a lot of empty seats.
Among the signs:
(it could be true, these students are fired up)
National anthem by a girl in a McNaughton jersey.
Bucky Bison has a uniform now, too. It's an old white No. 50, split between the numbers in the back to get it over this costume. A front slit might have been a better choice because the big Bison chin covers the top of the front.
Still, a big step up from that Fred Rogers vest.
Bucknell 9, Lehigh 5 (15:25 first half)
First possession, Bucknell goes to McNaughton, who beats a double team and is fouled by Mike Fischman. McNaughton makes both.
First guy off the Lehigh bench is James Anderson. Knight follows at the same stoppage.
Brown for Mastropaolo at 17:18.
Giallella makes himself part of the show around the 16:30 mark, checking a TV replay on an Abe Badmus three. The guy who first signaled three was right on the play, both in proximity and correctness of his call.
With 15:37 to go, shot clock running down, Bucknell goes to Darren Mastropaolo down low. His jump hook gives him 4 points and Bucknell a 9-5 lead at the first timeout.
Bucknell 16, Lehigh 10 (11:56 first)
Both teams shooting well early. At the 13 minutes mark, BU was 5-7, LU 4-7. Lehigh, though, with 4 turnovers, Bucknell just 1.
Olivero with 5 of Lehigh's 10. Five different Bison have scored already, none of them named Charles Lee. Donald Brown and Mastropaolo with 4 each.
Bucknell 21, Lehigh 12 (7:41 first)
Difference between the two teams. Bucknell with a host of "go to" guys. Even Mastropaolo got the rock in a shot clock expiring situation.
Lehigh, on the other hand, has an inbound play with 4 seconds to go on the shot clock and Billy Taylor hustles Olivero back on to the floor. His forced jumper over Bettencourt was no good.
Fans all over the officials as the team fouls reach 7 for Bucknell, 2 for Lehigh at the 8:07 mark. Seconds later Badmus gets his second, making it 8-2.
Lehigh from the field: 5-15 (33.3 percent) 2-5 from three-point range. 8 turnovers
Bucknell 8-15 from the field, 3-5 on threes, 6 TO, 3 blocked shots
Bucknell 26, Lehigh 18 (3:47 first half)
Knight makes a pair of free throws at the 7:41 mark. His first points.
Lehigh is now 7-22 (31.8 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 29, Lehigh 22 (1:30 first half)
Vegotsky three gives Bucknell its first double digit lead at 29-18. Lehigh scores four straight to get back to 7, the last two on a Joe Knight jumper at 1:30, his first field goal of the game.
Word on press row, Colgate is up 10 on Holy Cross.
Bucknell 36, Lehigh 26 (Halftime)
McNaughton tips in his own miss at the buzzer to make it a 10-point Bison lead at the intermission.
The 6-11 German scored Bucknell's last 4 points, he has 8 on 3-5 shooting.
Charles Lee now 1 for 6, but when he finally made one, he made it count ... a trey from the right corner.
Donald Brown and Abe Badmus each with 5 for the Bison. 10 guys have played for Bucknell, 9 have scored. Bison shooting 45.2 percent (14-31) from the field. They are 5-9 from the arc.
Lehigh is led by Knight, who scored four of his 6 at the foul line. Jose Olivero with 5. Knight is 1-4 from the field, Olivero 2-6.
CORRECTION: HOLY CROSS UP 32-22 AT THE HALF (Elsewhere, Colgate 32-22 at the half.) Army and Lafayette tied at 35 all, also at the break.
Lehigh finishes the half 10 for 25 (40 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 42, Lehigh 35 (15:35 to play)
16:20 to go, Badmus comes up with a steal near midcourt, is grabbed by Olivero and refs do not call intentional foul, costing Lee a breakaway.
Knight with a three in the left corner, one of the few open looks he has had all night, cuts the Bucknell lead to 7 at the first media timeout of the half.
A Bucknell student just hit a halfcourt shot to win something during the timeout. He did not call the bank, but it counts anyhow.
Bucknell 49, Lehigh 40 (11:52 to go)
Knight with back to back threes gets it to 42-38. Donald Brown answers with a layin. Badmus a three and it is back to 47-38.
Confusion still along press row about the HC-Colgate score. The online scoreboards all show HC up, but BU SID said a call to Colgate press row had it the other way around.
Bucknell 55, Lehigh 45 (9:30 to play)
Bucknell in the 1 and 1 with 11:20 to go after Bryan White's third personal, LU's 7th team foul. Lee hits both ends and Bucknell shows a serious trapping press for the first time.
Number to watch: 70. That is the most points Lehigh has allowed all season (against D3 Muhlenberg). Bucknell is 7-0 when it scores 70.
Checking Colgate , HC up 6, under 3 to play.
Bucknell 57, Lehigh 52
Knight keeping Lehigh in this one, He now has 15 points, including three treys.
Olivero with 10.
Badmus with 14 for Bucknell. McNaughton has 10.
Bucknell 66, Lehigh 55 (4:46 to go)
Badmus now with a career-high 16. His previous best was 15 at Lehigh earlier this season.
Lehigh closed to 59-55 on an Olivero trey, their 7th of the game. Since then BU on a 7-0 spurt.
Bucknell 68, Lehigh 57 (3:36 to play)
McNaughton's fourth personal comes on a horrible call as an out of control Olivero jumps into three Bison defenders in the paint at the 4:27 mark. It was also BU's seventh team foul.
Olivero made both free throws, breaking up Bucknell's modest run, which now stands at 9-2.
Lee heating up, he now has 11, including Bucknell's last 4.
Mastropaolo with 8 points, one shy of his career high.
Bucknell 77, Lehigh 65 (1:03 left)
What absolute BS. At the 2:12 mark, Neptune going in for a layup is fouled by Badmus. He stays down a little,though the trainer rolls him right over, so obviously no serious injury. But he is too hurt to shoot the free throws, whines Taylor, who subs Matt Szalachowski, an 87.5 percent free throw shooter, for Neptune, a 65.7 percent shooter. Neptune miraculously is recovered an at the scorers table by the time Szalachowski misses the second shot.
Olivero hits a trey with 1:03 left, Lehigh's first field goal since his last one, at the 7:27 mark.
Lehigh calls a quick time out, then fouls.
Bucknell 19-23 so far second half at the line.
BUCKNELL 81, LEHIGH 70(final)
Charles lee dribbles out the clock and tosses the ball deep into the crowd as Bucknell clinches the regular season title and home court for the tournament.
Lehigh will need a win at HC Saturday to grab the No. 2 seed. HC beat Colgate 62-56 in Hamilton.
Neptune's foul on Lee with 14.3 to go and BU up 10 brings a chorus of boos from BU fans who were patient with Taylor's fouling well after they should have ceased such shenanigans.
Four in double figures for Bucknell, led by Badmus' career-high 17. Lee with 16, 13 in the second half. Bettencourt with 13, McNaughton 10.
Bucknell finishes 24-51, 47.1 percent from the field.
Lehigh with three in doubles. Olivero with 21, Knight 15, Neptune 12.
Mountain Hawks go 24-52 (46.2 percent) from the field and become first Patriot League team to score 70 against Bucknell in 32 games.
Turnovers a key stat: Bucknell 10, Lehigh 18.
Bucknell 26-35 at the line. Lehigh 14-16.
Full story to follow.
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According to Dick Jerardi, the outstanding basketball writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, argues that the Patriot League's scholarships have hurt the caliber of play in the Ivy League and discusses the Lafayette situation in his
As Jerardi's example of Bucknell freshman Jason Vegotsky, who was also recruited by Penn, illustrates, scholarships are helping the Patriot League teams win some recruiting battles.
Of course, the results on the court have not exactly shown that the Patriot League is gaining any huge edge on the Ivies so far.
As long as the Patriot League teams are using the scholarships to lure kids that otherwise would have gone Ivy, the league is not going to improve significantly. They need to start picking up the kids who are looking at places like Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Tulane-- lower level majors with similar academic profiles-- before the Patriot League will gain some separation from the Ivies.
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As Jerardi's example of Bucknell freshman Jason Vegotsky, who was also recruited by Penn, illustrates, scholarships are helping the Patriot League teams win some recruiting battles.
Of course, the results on the court have not exactly shown that the Patriot League is gaining any huge edge on the Ivies so far.
As long as the Patriot League teams are using the scholarships to lure kids that otherwise would have gone Ivy, the league is not going to improve significantly. They need to start picking up the kids who are looking at places like Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Tulane-- lower level majors with similar academic profiles-- before the Patriot League will gain some separation from the Ivies.
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Lehigh at Bucknell, 7 p.m. -- (Live Gameblog tonight) It has been five seasons since anybody swept the season series between Bucknell and Lehigh. Before that, it was a routine thing. From the 1986-87 season, when both teams still played in the old East Coast Conference, until the 1998-99 season, when Bucknell beat Lehigh twice in the regular season and again in the Patriot League semifinals, somebody swept the series every year.
Having already won in Stabler, with tonight's game, and any other game this season, likely to be played in Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion. it would not be a surprise to see the Bison break out those old brooms.
Lehigh likes to look back to last season, when the two split a pair, each holding serve at home in two games decided by a total of five points (Bucknell won by 2 in Sojka, Lehigh by 3 in Stabler). The Mountain Hawks look at the final score of the game at Stabler earlier this season, a 59-54 Bucknell win, and see it as a close game that portends another tight battle.
They might be right. Certainly the Mountain Hawks 11-1 mark in the league shows they are much better than they looked in the nonconference portion of the schedule, when even two Division 3 opponents were not enough to boost Lehigh to a .500 record.
The return of Joe Knight has a lot to do with Lehigh's turnaround since that 7-8 start. So has the overall weakness of the league. Only one of those wins, a one-point escape in Stabler, has come against a team with a .500 record. Knight, who shook off the rust in a hurry, is averaging 14.2 points per game. With Knight and Jose Olivero (17.6 ppg) Lehigh has the most explosive offensive pair of guards in the league. In the earlier loss to Bucknell, the pair double-handedly kept the Hawks in the game, combining for 40 of Lehigh's 54 points.
But 21 of those points came on seven combined three-pointers, many of those from well beyond the arc, usually with a hand in their face. Olivero, who is a 43.8 percent shooter from the arc, had 4 of those treys. Two of those came in the final minute, making the final score closer than the game.
There is no doubt Lehigh is capable of shooting the three. Kyle Neptune, who averages 11.1 ppg, and Mitch Gilfillan are also 35 percent shooters from the arc. But if Lehigh expects to upset Bucknell, it will need more in the middle. In the first meeting, the four guys who manned the four and five spots for the Mountain Hawks combined for 3 points and 12 rebounds (8 coming from James Anderson).
Lacking any attack in the paint, the Hawks were reduced to a jump shooting team with predictable results at the foul line. Lehigh only got to the stripe 8 times all night. Bucknell, which attacked the basket much more effectively, shot 25 free throws. Had they shot them better (they went 15 of 25), the final score would have been more reflective of the tenor of the game.
Another factor that helped keep that first game close was a struggling Charles Lee. Lee went 2 for 9 from the field in that game, 3 for 7 at the free throw line. The only worse shooting night Lee had all season came against Villanova. Part of that was Lehigh's defense. Overshadowed by Bucknell -- the Bison are ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage D -- Lehigh is no slouch on defense. The Hawks hold foes to 38.1 percent from the field, good for eighth in the national rankings. But part of it also was the slump Lee was in at the time. The Lehigh game capped a stretch of three games in a row in which Lee, who averages 12.4 ppg, failed to reach double figures. That was also the fifth of five straight games, and six in seven, where Lee shot worse than 50 percent from the field.
Since then Lee has scored in double figures in seven games in a row, including double-doubles in his last two games. Lee is averaging 16 points per game in that span.
All the pressure is on Lehigh. Sure Bucknell is looking at becoming the first Patriot League team ever to go unbeaten in conference play. But the Bison pretty much have the homecourt advantage for the whole tournament wrapped up, since a win Saturday over Army would clinch it even if they lost to Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks, on the other hand, know their weak out of conference schedule, and corresponding showing in those games, leaves them with no margin for error. They need to win here, and again Saturday at Holy Cross, just to hold on to the No. 2 seed. They lose any ties because of 157 RPI.
Why is home court important? Just look at the difference between Bucknell at home and on the road: The Bison are 9-1 at home this season, the only loss to No. 2 Villanova. At home, Bucknell scores and average of 7 points per game more and holds opponents to 10 ppg less -- that is a 17 point difference per game. As you'd expect, the Bison shoot the ball better (by 6 percentage points) in Sojka. Bucknell opponents shoot worse (by 7 percent).
Toss in what is sure to be an angry Bucknell mood after the tough loss at Northern Iowa, and this has the potential to be a very tough night for Lehigh.
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Army at Lafayette. 7 p.m.: With its last two games at home, Lafayette has the inside track on one of the 4-5 spots in the tournament seeding. Especially since one of those games is against cellar-dweller Army, which has won two conference games, both against Navy, in the last two seasons.
Lafayette is 6-5 at home this season. But three of those losses came against Bucknell, Holy Cross and Lehigh. The Leopards already beat Army by 21 at West Point.
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Holy Cross at Colgate, 7 p.m.: A must win for the Crusaders, who can't afford to be scoreboard watching when they meet the Raiders in Hamilton. Colgate finally beat somebody not named Army, edging Navy by three Saturday at Cotterell. The Raiders have been a puzzle all season long, consistently underperforming. How anyone can get less out of what seemed in the preseason to be the second-best roster in the league will be a mystery current undergrads in Hamilton will be talking about over beers at reunions for years to come.
Because of that perceived talent, the Raiders are respected beyond their 3-9 conference record. Lose to them here and there's a good chance HC needs to play them again, on a neutral floor in the first round of the tournament. Win here, and the Crusaders still might end up getting Colgate in the first round. But the difference between playing a down-and-out team that you have spanked twice already, quite possibly on your home floor, and playing a suddenly hot and confident team on a neutral floor is huge.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
In today's Times Herald-Record, that Army hoops is so bad this season (again) that it is not only being overshadowed by the Marist men, but by the Marist women, too (The Lady Red Foxes or the Red Foxy Ladies, as they might be referred to in AU recruiting brochures).
The Army women are getting more attention than the men's team, too. Writes McMillan:
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The Army women are getting more attention than the men's team, too. Writes McMillan:
It turns out the best Hudson Valley hopes for March Madness reside with the women. On Friday, Marist clinched the top seed in the upcoming MAAC tournament and has a free pass into the semifinal round. Army can clinch its first Patriot League regular-season title with a victory tonight at Lafayette and be assured of three home games.That little outtake alone is almost as much as the Times Herald-Record has written about the Army men since the star game loss to Navy.
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Bucknell recruit Zach Evans was named male Prep Athlete of the Week by the , which wrote:
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The Bucknell-bound forward was instrumental in the Eagles' boys' basketball team winning two games in the Southern Section Div. III-A playoffs. Evans had 23 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots - two in the final seconds of regulation - as Chaminade (20-7) defeated Bishop Montgomery of Torrance 67-65 in overtime Friday. Evans scored 17 points with 13 rebounds and four blocks in Wednesday's 73-60 victory over Santa Ynez.
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Monday, February 20, 2006
Word out of Lewisburg, the Lehigh-Bucknell game will be available on television to most of Northeastern and North Central Pa.
From the :
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From the :
One of the most highly anticipated Patriot League men's basketball games of the season will now be televised throughout much of Central Pennsylvania, as 'Pennsylvania's WB' - WSWB TV-38 Scranton-Wilkes-Barre - will be airing Wednesday's Bucknell-Lehigh showdown live at 7 p.m.Also from Bucknell, word has been named to the second team of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 3 team.
The game will also air on WFMZ-TV in the Lehigh Valley and on Fox College Sports (FCS) Atlantic. Steve Degler and Nathan Jameson will call the action from Sojka Pavilion.
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Bucknell dropped out of today, as the BracketBusters seemed to confuse voters who seemed to split their token mid-major votes between George Mason, Northern Iowa and Nevada. Mason takes the No. 25 spot in the coaches poll, UNI and Nevada tied for No. 25 with the AP voters.
Mason was the top "others receiving" vote getter in the AP vote. Bucknell was fourth in that category in both polls.
The BracketBusters did manage to accomplish one thing for certain. They solidified Gonzaga's hold on the No. 1 spot in the . The Zags back to claiming all 31 first place votes after Bucknell, which had siphoned off one of those first place ballots in recent weeks, drops from No. 2 to No. 5 after the loss at Northern Iowa.
George Mason moves to No. 2 with its win over Wichita State. Northern Iowa up a spot to No. 3 with the win over Bucknell.
HUH? WHAT? -- In a posted on the Morning Call Web site after we had updated this morning, Andre Williams writes:
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Mason was the top "others receiving" vote getter in the AP vote. Bucknell was fourth in that category in both polls.
The BracketBusters did manage to accomplish one thing for certain. They solidified Gonzaga's hold on the No. 1 spot in the . The Zags back to claiming all 31 first place votes after Bucknell, which had siphoned off one of those first place ballots in recent weeks, drops from No. 2 to No. 5 after the loss at Northern Iowa.
George Mason moves to No. 2 with its win over Wichita State. Northern Iowa up a spot to No. 3 with the win over Bucknell.
HUH? WHAT? -- In a posted on the Morning Call Web site after we had updated this morning, Andre Williams writes:
Lehigh (18-9, 11-1) will try to extend its winning streak to seven in a Patriot League visit to No. 24 Bucknell (21-4, 12-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.What is missing is that Lehigh would also need Bucknell to lose at home against Army. Otherwise, the tiebreaker would go to RPI and that is not even close.
Lehigh will move into a first-place tie if it wins, and would then need to win at Holy Cross on Saturday to secure the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament.
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(Originally posted Sunday at 3:47 p.m., updated at 8:57 a.m.)
Lehigh opened the game with an 8-0 run and romped from there. By the time the game was 12 minutes old, the Mountain Hawks already has a 33-10 lead, 12 of those points coming from Jose Olivero, who finished with 16.
Joe Knight, with his parents in Stabler for the first time on Senior Day, led all scorers with 21 points.
Lehigh shot 30-53 (56.6 percent) from the field, including 12-22 (54.5 percent) from the three-point arc to set up Wednesday's showdown in Lewisburg.
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Lehigh opened the game with an 8-0 run and romped from there. By the time the game was 12 minutes old, the Mountain Hawks already has a 33-10 lead, 12 of those points coming from Jose Olivero, who finished with 16.
Joe Knight, with his parents in Stabler for the first time on Senior Day, led all scorers with 21 points.
Lehigh shot 30-53 (56.6 percent) from the field, including 12-22 (54.5 percent) from the three-point arc to set up Wednesday's showdown in Lewisburg.
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Sunday, February 19, 2006
One of the perks of working for the WWLIS apparently is travel expenses to go to remote villages on the tundra to watch obscure mid-majors with names known mostly just to hardcore hoops junkies.
Nice work if you can get it.
Here's on the Bucknell-UNI game. Go ahead and click it. This one is free.
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Nice work if you can get it.
Here's on the Bucknell-UNI game. Go ahead and click it. This one is free.
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Yoni Cohen, the guy who runs , gets to cash checks signed by Rupert Murdoch for playing pundit over at , where he breaks down the BracketBusters and argues Bucknell should remain in the Top 25.
Yoni also blogged the Bucknell-Northern Iowa game over at his own site. Here's the .
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Yoni also blogged the Bucknell-Northern Iowa game over at his own site. Here's the .
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Lafayette at Lehigh, 1:05 p.m.: If Lafayette wants to avoid playing its archrival on its home court in the first round of the league tournament, beating that rival on that floor today would be a big help.
That might not seem likely, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. Lafayette played the Mountain Hawks tough for 30 minutes when the two met in Easton. Andrei Capusan is a tough matchup inside for Lehigh. That can open some things up for the Leopards; driveway shooter guards, who are capable of going wild from the arc if they get their feet set.
It would not be the first time Lafayette spoiled Lehigh's postseason plans. Last season the Leopards upset the Hawks on the final weekend, sending Lehigh north to Worcester instead of the short bus ride to Bucknell. (Remember, HC was the top seed entering the tournament and had swept Lehigh. The Hawks had beaten Bucknell once and lost a close on in the other. Lewisburg was, by far, their preferred destination.)
It goes without saying that this is could easily be a trap game for Lehigh, which closes the season on the road at Bucknell and Holy Cross. A win at Bucknell Wednesday would give the Hawks a chance to claim a share of the regular season title if they win again at HC.
If we understand the new NIT rules correctly, that would guarantee Lehigh of no worse than an NIT bid. Given all the team went through with the Joe Knight situation and the shaky non-conference showing that came with that, any postseason opportunity would offer some redemption.
But before the Hawks can think about Bucknell, or Holy Cross, or any postseason opportunities, they have to win this one. If they remember that, they should. If they don't come in focused on Lafayette, they could be in trouble. After all, Lehigh always seems just a cold Jose Olivero shooting night away from being beaten.
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Saturday, February 18, 2006
(Originally posted 5:53 p.m., updated at 11:27 p.m.)
For want of an inbounds pass.
*sigh*
Pat Flannery told :
The ball bounced over the far end line untouched, giving UNI the ball in its own end with no time off the clock.
Northern Iowa's Eric Crawford tied it to send the game to a second overtime. Eric Coleman scored 6 in the second extra session.
UNI seemed to wear Bucknell out at the end. Coleman, who had not done much damage in regulation, scored 9 of his 15 points in the two overtimes. Either he got quicker, or Bucknell's defenders slowed a half-a-step. On the road in double-OT, with the wind taken out your sails not once, but twice when you looked to have the game won, sounds like the latter.
The Bison could have won in regulation had they gotten the rebound of Ben Jacobsen's miss with 8 seconds left. But Coleman beat Bucknell to the carom and put it back to tie it at 51-51.
Not everyone is convinced this loss is a bad thing for Bucknell in the long run. It's hard to see a double-OT loss on the road against a team like UNI hurting their chances of getting an at-large bid if they don't win the Patriot League tournament.
And there are some who think it might actually enhance Bucknell's chances of winning the league.
Bill Gibbons, the Holy Cross womens coach, waited until the end of the Bucknell-UNI game before getting to Bender Arena for his team's game in the nightcap of a mens-womens twinbill.
"If they had won, I think Lehigh would have had a good chance of catching them Wednesday. Now I think they will come back and beat Lehigh pretty good and be on a roll heading into the tournament," Gibbons said.
(Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
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For want of an inbounds pass.
*sigh*
Pat Flannery told :
"It was just the kind of thing where we didn't read it well. That was a miscommunication, and they happen in the game."For those who have been hanging with Bin Laden the past coupla hours, we're talking about the play at the end of the first overtime that cost Bucknell the game. With 2.8 seconds to go, holding a 2-point lead, Bucknell failed to get the ball inbounds. As Flannery pointed out, there was a mixup. Out around midcourt, Chris McNaughton made a run towards inbounds passer Donald Brown right about the same time Brown launched a bomb, expecting McNaughton to break the other way.
The ball bounced over the far end line untouched, giving UNI the ball in its own end with no time off the clock.
Northern Iowa's Eric Crawford tied it to send the game to a second overtime. Eric Coleman scored 6 in the second extra session.
UNI seemed to wear Bucknell out at the end. Coleman, who had not done much damage in regulation, scored 9 of his 15 points in the two overtimes. Either he got quicker, or Bucknell's defenders slowed a half-a-step. On the road in double-OT, with the wind taken out your sails not once, but twice when you looked to have the game won, sounds like the latter.
The Bison could have won in regulation had they gotten the rebound of Ben Jacobsen's miss with 8 seconds left. But Coleman beat Bucknell to the carom and put it back to tie it at 51-51.
Not everyone is convinced this loss is a bad thing for Bucknell in the long run. It's hard to see a double-OT loss on the road against a team like UNI hurting their chances of getting an at-large bid if they don't win the Patriot League tournament.
And there are some who think it might actually enhance Bucknell's chances of winning the league.
Bill Gibbons, the Holy Cross womens coach, waited until the end of the Bucknell-UNI game before getting to Bender Arena for his team's game in the nightcap of a mens-womens twinbill.
"If they had won, I think Lehigh would have had a good chance of catching them Wednesday. Now I think they will come back and beat Lehigh pretty good and be on a roll heading into the tournament," Gibbons said.
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Navy squandered a six point halftime lead and a chance to position themselves to grab one of those 4-5 slots for the league tournament. A Middies win would have pulled them within a game of American for fourth, with a good chance of being tied with Lafayette for fifth should the Leopards lose Sunday at Lehigh.
It was tied with 2:07 to play, following a Matt Fannin layup that made it 55-55. But Kendall Chones was fouled by Fannin while he was making a dunk, and coverted the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play, putting Colgate ahead to stay.
Chones finished with 13 points to lead Colgate. The Jons -- Foss (11 points) and Simon (12)-- also reahed double figures.
Greg Sprink 9-15, three treys, 25 points to lead Navy.
These two are tied for seventh at 3-9. Colgate hosts Holy Cross Wednesday. Navy is at American Thursday. Then the two meet again Saturday in Annapolis in their last regular season game.
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It was tied with 2:07 to play, following a Matt Fannin layup that made it 55-55. But Kendall Chones was fouled by Fannin while he was making a dunk, and coverted the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play, putting Colgate ahead to stay.
Chones finished with 13 points to lead Colgate. The Jons -- Foss (11 points) and Simon (12)-- also reahed double figures.
Greg Sprink 9-15, three treys, 25 points to lead Navy.
These two are tied for seventh at 3-9. Colgate hosts Holy Cross Wednesday. Navy is at American Thursday. Then the two meet again Saturday in Annapolis in their last regular season game.
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By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Special to The Telegram & Gazette
WASHINGTON -- It is one of the most boring chores a basketball player has to tend to. Standing on a line 15-feet away from the basket, shooting free throw after free throw is not the fun part of a players workout. It is not the part of practice that anybody looks forward to. But it can be one of the most important skills a player develops. All it takes is one glance at the box score from Holy Cross' 69-62 Patriot League win Saturday at American to understand why.
In a game where the Crusaders suffered through one of their worst shooting halves of the season, free throws were the difference between winning to keep hopes alive for a home court edge in the first two rounds of the upcoming league tournament and packing their bags for another long bus ride to Pennsylvania.
The win was the fourth in a row against American for Holy Cross (16-11, 9-3 Patriot League), which has no margin of error as the regular season winds down. To get one of the top two seeds in the league tournament, and the homecourt edge that comes with one of those seeds, the Crusaders need to win out and get some help. Ironically HC put itself in that position in no small part by missing 9 of 20 free throws in a 5-point loss to Bucknell last week.
That loss assured Bucknell of one of those two host slots and put HC two-games behind Lehigh in the loss column in the race for the other. That is not where you want to be headed down the stretch. But with Lehigh having to go on the road Wednesday to league-leading Bucknell before coming to Worcester for the regular season finale, those are not as dire straits as they might seem.
That scenario is still intact, thanks to all those hours practicing free throws. In a 7-point win, it is easy to point to the line in the box score that made the difference. The Crusaders went to the foul line six more times than American (35-29) and they made eight more shots (28-20) when they got there.
"We'll take a free throw contest with anybody in the league," said Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, who finished with 22 points and a game-high 8 rebounds, despite being so banged up that he didn't even practice Friday.
Playing with a foot so heavily taped that it resembled a cast and a pad protecting a bone contusion in his back, Hamilton refused to settle for no contact jumpers from the perimeter. Hamilton was 3 for 4 from the three point arc. But where he really did his damage was in the lane. He didn't finish often, he was only 1 for 7 inside the arc. But he got to the foul line 12 times and knocked down 11 of those 12 free throws.
The line was similar for Hamilton's fellow all-league pick, Keith Simmons. Simmons shot it a little better from the field, making 6 of 9, including all three treys he put up. he was also 8 for 9 at the foul line, finishing with one more point than Hamilton (23) and one less rebound (7).
The pair's success at the foul line was not exactly a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 10 in the league in free throw shooting.
"If there is anybody that is going to step up to the line and knock down free throws, it's us. Free throws are our strong point," Simmons said.
That was especially true in the second half. Holy Cross came out strong, hitting 11 of 22 from the field, including 5 of 8 from the three-point arc, en route to a 12-point, 34-22, lead at the half. In the second half, though, the shots stopped falling. Holy Cross only made six field goals after the intermission, shooting an icy 27.3 percent (6 of 22).
Four of those second half field goals came in the first 10 minutes of the half, while the Crusaders were extending their lead to 18. But after a three by Simmons that made it 51-33 with 10:37 to go, Holy Cross managed only two more buckets the rest of the game-- a Torey Thomas layup at the 8:18 mark and an Alex Vander Baan layup with 4:26 to play. The Crusaders would not hit another field goal, but with Simmons and Hamilton hitting 6 of 7 from the charity stripe, American was never able to get closer than four points.
Credit the Holy Cross defense. While the offense was struggling, the defense stepped up. Andre Ingram has a pair of treys in the last 1:24, but those we the only American field goals in the final 4:44. Ingram's second three-pointer cut the Holy Cross lead to 61-57 with 1:24 on the clock. But the Crusaders hit 8 of 10 from the line in the final minute, holding on for the win.
"We are a good free throw shooting team, we really are," said Willard.
Ingram led American with 16 points, but he needed 15 shots (5 of 15) and six trips to the foul line to get his points. Ingram was not the only AU shooter to struggle. Arvydas Eitutavicius (4 for 7, 12 points) was the only Eagle to make more shots than he missed. As a team, American was 19 of 48 (39.6 percent) from the field. It was the eighth time in 12 league games that the Crusaders held an opponent under 40 percent from the field.
Holy Cross will be scoreboard watching when they visit Colgate Wednesday in their final regular season road game, Assuming Lehigh gets past visiting Lafayette this afternoon, a Crusaders win Wednesday, coupled with a Bucknell win over Lehigh, would set the stage for a second-place showdown next Sunday when Lehigh visits the Hart Center in the league's last regular season game.
Should that scenario play out, a win would leave Holy Cross and Lehigh with identical 11-3 records. The Crusaders would get the homecourt edge in the tournament by virtue of their higher RPI ranking.
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Special to The Telegram & Gazette
WASHINGTON -- It is one of the most boring chores a basketball player has to tend to. Standing on a line 15-feet away from the basket, shooting free throw after free throw is not the fun part of a players workout. It is not the part of practice that anybody looks forward to. But it can be one of the most important skills a player develops. All it takes is one glance at the box score from Holy Cross' 69-62 Patriot League win Saturday at American to understand why.
In a game where the Crusaders suffered through one of their worst shooting halves of the season, free throws were the difference between winning to keep hopes alive for a home court edge in the first two rounds of the upcoming league tournament and packing their bags for another long bus ride to Pennsylvania.
The win was the fourth in a row against American for Holy Cross (16-11, 9-3 Patriot League), which has no margin of error as the regular season winds down. To get one of the top two seeds in the league tournament, and the homecourt edge that comes with one of those seeds, the Crusaders need to win out and get some help. Ironically HC put itself in that position in no small part by missing 9 of 20 free throws in a 5-point loss to Bucknell last week.
That loss assured Bucknell of one of those two host slots and put HC two-games behind Lehigh in the loss column in the race for the other. That is not where you want to be headed down the stretch. But with Lehigh having to go on the road Wednesday to league-leading Bucknell before coming to Worcester for the regular season finale, those are not as dire straits as they might seem.
That scenario is still intact, thanks to all those hours practicing free throws. In a 7-point win, it is easy to point to the line in the box score that made the difference. The Crusaders went to the foul line six more times than American (35-29) and they made eight more shots (28-20) when they got there.
"We'll take a free throw contest with anybody in the league," said Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, who finished with 22 points and a game-high 8 rebounds, despite being so banged up that he didn't even practice Friday.
Playing with a foot so heavily taped that it resembled a cast and a pad protecting a bone contusion in his back, Hamilton refused to settle for no contact jumpers from the perimeter. Hamilton was 3 for 4 from the three point arc. But where he really did his damage was in the lane. He didn't finish often, he was only 1 for 7 inside the arc. But he got to the foul line 12 times and knocked down 11 of those 12 free throws.
The line was similar for Hamilton's fellow all-league pick, Keith Simmons. Simmons shot it a little better from the field, making 6 of 9, including all three treys he put up. he was also 8 for 9 at the foul line, finishing with one more point than Hamilton (23) and one less rebound (7).
The pair's success at the foul line was not exactly a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 10 in the league in free throw shooting.
"If there is anybody that is going to step up to the line and knock down free throws, it's us. Free throws are our strong point," Simmons said.
That was especially true in the second half. Holy Cross came out strong, hitting 11 of 22 from the field, including 5 of 8 from the three-point arc, en route to a 12-point, 34-22, lead at the half. In the second half, though, the shots stopped falling. Holy Cross only made six field goals after the intermission, shooting an icy 27.3 percent (6 of 22).
Four of those second half field goals came in the first 10 minutes of the half, while the Crusaders were extending their lead to 18. But after a three by Simmons that made it 51-33 with 10:37 to go, Holy Cross managed only two more buckets the rest of the game-- a Torey Thomas layup at the 8:18 mark and an Alex Vander Baan layup with 4:26 to play. The Crusaders would not hit another field goal, but with Simmons and Hamilton hitting 6 of 7 from the charity stripe, American was never able to get closer than four points.
Credit the Holy Cross defense. While the offense was struggling, the defense stepped up. Andre Ingram has a pair of treys in the last 1:24, but those we the only American field goals in the final 4:44. Ingram's second three-pointer cut the Holy Cross lead to 61-57 with 1:24 on the clock. But the Crusaders hit 8 of 10 from the line in the final minute, holding on for the win.
"We are a good free throw shooting team, we really are," said Willard.
Ingram led American with 16 points, but he needed 15 shots (5 of 15) and six trips to the foul line to get his points. Ingram was not the only AU shooter to struggle. Arvydas Eitutavicius (4 for 7, 12 points) was the only Eagle to make more shots than he missed. As a team, American was 19 of 48 (39.6 percent) from the field. It was the eighth time in 12 league games that the Crusaders held an opponent under 40 percent from the field.
Holy Cross will be scoreboard watching when they visit Colgate Wednesday in their final regular season road game, Assuming Lehigh gets past visiting Lafayette this afternoon, a Crusaders win Wednesday, coupled with a Bucknell win over Lehigh, would set the stage for a second-place showdown next Sunday when Lehigh visits the Hart Center in the league's last regular season game.
Should that scenario play out, a win would leave Holy Cross and Lehigh with identical 11-3 records. The Crusaders would get the homecourt edge in the tournament by virtue of their higher RPI ranking.
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Bucknell at Northern Iowa, noon (ESPN2, 110): We previewed this one yesterday. What more is there to say? A Bucknell win would go a long way towards making the Bison a likely at-large bid should they falter in the Patriot League Tournament. A close loss won't hurt much, but a blowout would almost make it certain that the Bison's only way into the dance is as the champion.
Northern Iowa is banged up and in a little slump right now, having lost two straight and three of its last five. Bucknell need only look at its own recent past to know that very good teams can go through that stuff and still be a very good team. It happened to them last season. It's a big challenge for Bucknell. Would be even against a lesser foe. Flying 900 miles, shooting around in a strange dome for 20 minutes, then getting up the next day to play an opponent the caliber of UNI would seem to put BU at a disadvantage. If they play defense the way they have most of the season, they might overcome that.
Chris McNaughton could be the key. Both teams seem pretty even in the backcourt, but McNaughton, at 6-11, should give the Bison an edge in the post.
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Navy at Colgate, 1:30 p.m.: In a scheduling quirk, these two meet twice in their final three games. Navy still has a chance to move into the four-five game in the first round, a coveted spot among the teams not named Bucknell, Holy Cross or Lehigh, since that is the only way to avoid playing one of those three in the first round. Why is that important? Because those three are the teams with winning records, the rest are all below .500. Matter of fact, BU, HC and LU combined have 30 wins in conference play. The other five teams have all of 15 conference wins between them.
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Holy Cross at American, 2 p.m.: American is another team looking to lock up one of those 4-5 spots. A win here would clinch that by giving the Eagles a two-game lead in the loss column over fifth place Lafayette with two games left. For that to happen, they will need to find a way to stop Tim Clifford, who poured in 27 the last time the two met.
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Friday, February 17, 2006
Hoop Time editor Chris Courogen will talk Bucknell-Northern Iowa and the BracketBusters with the guys in this afternoon at 4:40 on The Zone Sports Radio 640 in Springfield, Mass..
The Press Box is a Western Mass. sports talk show hosted by UMass radio guy extraordinaire Bob Behler.
For those fo you outside the Western Mass. area, sorry. The station's Web site does not stream its broadcasts.
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The Press Box is a Western Mass. sports talk show hosted by UMass radio guy extraordinaire Bob Behler.
For those fo you outside the Western Mass. area, sorry. The station's Web site does not stream its broadcasts.
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Forgive Pat Flannery if he does not sound thrilled about Bucknell’s BracketBusters game Saturday.
Flannery realizes this is tremendous exposure for his program and a great experience for his team. A tough matchup against a team the caliber of Northern Iowa is the type of challenge his ballclub has thrived on the past two seasons. Flannery likes the idea of having a quality team like UNI coming into Sojka for a payback will boot next season’s schedule. Make no mistake, the guy understands the benefits of this whole BracketBusters thing.
Then why is he not smiling?
Well, for starters, the game could not have come at a worse time on the Bison’s schedule. Riding a 12-game unbeaten streak in conference play, with the next league game one that could determine the regular season championship, the last thing a coach wants right now is a hiccup.
As important as this game might be for Bucknell – for exposure, for possible NCAA seeding, for national rankings – it could mean nothing if the Bison don’t win the Patriot League title. Despite all the hype, there is no guarantee that Bucknell will be inside the bubble when it bursts if they don’t win the Patriot League.
When Flannery agreed to participate in the BracketBusters, he didn’t imagine his team being nationally ranked and flying two-thirds of the way across the country to play in the middle of the conference schedule.
“I thought we’d be getting on a bus and going to play someplace like Manhattan or Iona,” Flannery says.
In other words, a step up and out of the league, but without a break in the rhythm and routine of the conference schedule.
The Bison are chartering to Northern Iowa to minimize the disruption to their class schedule and to allow them to get back to Lewisburg Saturday night following the game.
Even by charter, it’s a long trip, the better part of the day spent on buses and planes. Not that the Bison need hurry to get to Cedar Falls. To accommodate the game, UNI moved a track meet that was scheduled for Saturday up a day. That means Bucknell can’t get on the court at the UNI Dome for a shootaround until 9 p.m. local time. By then the Bison’s body clocks will be reading 10 p.m., a late hour for a practice after a tiring day of travel.
Flannery does not expect to get much done other than to get a feel for the game ball UNI uses and the background in the dome.
“We will shoot around for about 20 minutes, then try to get there early Saturday morning to shoot some more,” Flannery says
Flannery is not too worried about his team shooting in the cavernous dome. The Bison won earlier in the season in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, where most of the team also played twice last season. They have played in a number of other big arenas, too.
“It will be 10-foot baskets and a 94-foot court,” said Flannery, sounding a little like Gene Hackman.
Flannery is not worried about the dome, his focus is on preparing for its tenants.
Northern Iowa (21-6, 11-5 Missouri Valley Conference) has lost two in a row and three of its last five. But the losses have all been in the mucho-tough MVC. Even though the Panthers are a little banged up and tired, they are a very good team.
UNI has spent all season in the Mid-Major Top 25, where they were No. 5 last week. Before their recent slide, it was the Panthers who were ranked in the Top 25.
Flannery says Northern Iowa reminds him of his own team. That is not just because both teams played tough in losing to Wisconsin in Oklahoma City last March.
“They play good defense and they have kids who can really shoot the ball,” Flannery says.
“It’s a similar matchup. We’ll have to see how the quickness is when we get on the floor.”
Flannery says at times UNI goes with a four-guard lineup, spreading the floor to open things up inside for 6-8 Grant Stout, who averages 12.6 points per game. Stout also helps open the floor with his perimeter shooting. His range extends to the arc.
“He can shoot from the perimeter or drive to the basket,” Flannery says.
Senior guard Ben Jacobsen (6-3) leads the Panthers with 14.2 points per game. Flannery says he is “a real legitimate scorer.”
“They spread you out and have good, quick post kids who can hurt you,” Flannery says.
From watching tape of the Panthers, Flannery can’t really say they remind him of anybody Bucknell has played so far. “Ask me after the game,” he says.
NORTHERN IOWA LINKS:
(Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
(message board)
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Flannery realizes this is tremendous exposure for his program and a great experience for his team. A tough matchup against a team the caliber of Northern Iowa is the type of challenge his ballclub has thrived on the past two seasons. Flannery likes the idea of having a quality team like UNI coming into Sojka for a payback will boot next season’s schedule. Make no mistake, the guy understands the benefits of this whole BracketBusters thing.
Then why is he not smiling?
Well, for starters, the game could not have come at a worse time on the Bison’s schedule. Riding a 12-game unbeaten streak in conference play, with the next league game one that could determine the regular season championship, the last thing a coach wants right now is a hiccup.
As important as this game might be for Bucknell – for exposure, for possible NCAA seeding, for national rankings – it could mean nothing if the Bison don’t win the Patriot League title. Despite all the hype, there is no guarantee that Bucknell will be inside the bubble when it bursts if they don’t win the Patriot League.
When Flannery agreed to participate in the BracketBusters, he didn’t imagine his team being nationally ranked and flying two-thirds of the way across the country to play in the middle of the conference schedule.
“I thought we’d be getting on a bus and going to play someplace like Manhattan or Iona,” Flannery says.
In other words, a step up and out of the league, but without a break in the rhythm and routine of the conference schedule.
The Bison are chartering to Northern Iowa to minimize the disruption to their class schedule and to allow them to get back to Lewisburg Saturday night following the game.
Even by charter, it’s a long trip, the better part of the day spent on buses and planes. Not that the Bison need hurry to get to Cedar Falls. To accommodate the game, UNI moved a track meet that was scheduled for Saturday up a day. That means Bucknell can’t get on the court at the UNI Dome for a shootaround until 9 p.m. local time. By then the Bison’s body clocks will be reading 10 p.m., a late hour for a practice after a tiring day of travel.
Flannery does not expect to get much done other than to get a feel for the game ball UNI uses and the background in the dome.
“We will shoot around for about 20 minutes, then try to get there early Saturday morning to shoot some more,” Flannery says
Flannery is not too worried about his team shooting in the cavernous dome. The Bison won earlier in the season in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, where most of the team also played twice last season. They have played in a number of other big arenas, too.
“It will be 10-foot baskets and a 94-foot court,” said Flannery, sounding a little like Gene Hackman.
Flannery is not worried about the dome, his focus is on preparing for its tenants.
Northern Iowa (21-6, 11-5 Missouri Valley Conference) has lost two in a row and three of its last five. But the losses have all been in the mucho-tough MVC. Even though the Panthers are a little banged up and tired, they are a very good team.
UNI has spent all season in the Mid-Major Top 25, where they were No. 5 last week. Before their recent slide, it was the Panthers who were ranked in the Top 25.
Flannery says Northern Iowa reminds him of his own team. That is not just because both teams played tough in losing to Wisconsin in Oklahoma City last March.
“They play good defense and they have kids who can really shoot the ball,” Flannery says.
“It’s a similar matchup. We’ll have to see how the quickness is when we get on the floor.”
Flannery says at times UNI goes with a four-guard lineup, spreading the floor to open things up inside for 6-8 Grant Stout, who averages 12.6 points per game. Stout also helps open the floor with his perimeter shooting. His range extends to the arc.
“He can shoot from the perimeter or drive to the basket,” Flannery says.
Senior guard Ben Jacobsen (6-3) leads the Panthers with 14.2 points per game. Flannery says he is “a real legitimate scorer.”
“They spread you out and have good, quick post kids who can hurt you,” Flannery says.
From watching tape of the Panthers, Flannery can’t really say they remind him of anybody Bucknell has played so far. “Ask me after the game,” he says.
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Do a search on the Bucknell Athletics Web site for Rick Hartzell and it turns up no matches.
That does not mean Hartzell shouldn’t be accorded a prominent place in the history of Bucknell sports. For 11 years, from 1988 to 1997, Hartzell served as Bucknell’s athletics director. During that period, Hartzell guided the Bison into the Patriot League, renovated the , Davis Gym and the and raised the funds and got the ball rolling on the Langone Athletics and Recreation Center, which includes Sojka Pavilion.
The Bison also enjoyed tremendous competitive success on Hartzell’s watch. In the nine years under Hartzell that Bucknell was a member of the Patriot League, the school won six President’s Cups, symbolic of overall athletic superiority in the league. The long list of championship teams during the Hartzell era includes the school’s only Patriot League football title in 1996.
Off the field, Bucknell was annually ranked among the top 10 in the nation in the NCAA graduation rate surveys, a tradition that continues in Lewisburg (as does winning the Presidents Cup on a fairly regular basis).
Since then, Hartzell has duplicated many of those successes at his new gig at Northern Iowa, his alma mater. Here’s a cut from on the school’s Web site:
Obviously Hartzell is part of the storyline as Bucknell visits the UNI Dome Saturday for the BracketBusters matchup with Hartzell’s Panthers (although it has been overlooked by many in favor of the now-tired pep band story).
What you will hear, or read, about the link between the two schools will almost certainly include a – Northern Iowa’s and Bucknell’s Pat Flannery, who, coincidentally are both alums of the places they work.
True, both coaches got their jobs when Hartzell was the A.D. at the school. But it is tough to give Hartzell the credit for Flannery’s hiring.
Bucknell is not like some of those big conference places where a coach leaves and the A.D. hires his hand-picked replacement a day or two later. As one former athletics department staff member put it, “Bucknell is very famous for large, unwieldy committees. The committee was what picked Pat.”
When Charlie Woollum left Lewisburg in 1994, after a highly successful 19-year run at Bucknell, Flannery was not Hartzell’s choice for the job. Hartzell’s choice for the job would have been current Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik..
Hartzell even went public with his support of Bzdelik in an interview with The Danville News, saying it would take an awfully strong horse to beat Bzdelik in the race to replace Woollum.
Bzdelik, then an assistant with the NBA’s then Washington Bullets (now the Wizards), and Hartzell had been acquainted since Hartzell’s days as an assistant A.D. at Northwestern, where Bzdelik was an assistant basketball coach. When Hartzell got the head job at Maryland-Baltimore County, it was Bzdelik whom he hired to coach his basketball team.
Bzdelik, by the way, was not Hartzell’s first choice. That would have been then-Duke assistant Tommy Amaker, the current Michigan coach. Hartzell, who moonlights as a one of the top refs in Division I, was working the Atlantic Coast Conference in those days, which is how he knew Amaker.
Although it was never clear how serious the pursuit of Amaker ever got (Hartzell also floated the idea of interviewing Cheryl Miller), it did go as far as to enlist the help of a former Duke women’s player who was interning at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.
Amaker’s wife was a doctor at the Duke medical center. The former Duke player, who was also a volunteer assistant with the Danville High School program, gathered together a recruiting packet touting Geisinger to be used in an effort to make central Pa. more attractive to Amaker’s wife.
Five guys came to town to interview with the committee. Bzdelik was one of them. So was Flannery. Woollum assistant Terry Conrad, who stayed on as an assistant with Flannery and now is head coach at D-II Bloomsburg, was another. The then-coach at D-III Kenyon also interview with the committee. The fifth candidate defies the memory of everyone interviewed for this story.
Bzdelik bombed in those interviews.
“He was not prepared. He could only name one other coach in the league,” a member of the committee recalled.
“(Bzdelik) was Hartzell’s guy. But I don’t think he was ever the committee’s guy,” a former B.U. athletics staffer said.
The committee's top two were the guy from Kenyon and Flannery, whose passion for his alma mater ultimately might have been his trump card, though his Lebanon Valley team winning the D-III national title just weeks earlier certainly did not make a bad impression.
“Pat was very well organized, very well prepared. He had a passion for the place. He knew what it took to be successful at Bucknell on and off the court, he had done it,” a committee member said.
Flannery knew he was not Hartzell’s first choice.
“I got the distinct feeling (Bzdelik) was. That was why I pulled out of it originally,” said Flannery, who withdrew from consideration, then later agreed to put his name back in the hat.
In hindsight, it has worked out for everyone in the end. Hartzell and Flannery are both likely to have teams in the NCAA Tournament again this season. Bzdelik eventually landed a $1.5 million deal to be a head coach in the NBA before landing at the Air Force Academy.
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That does not mean Hartzell shouldn’t be accorded a prominent place in the history of Bucknell sports. For 11 years, from 1988 to 1997, Hartzell served as Bucknell’s athletics director. During that period, Hartzell guided the Bison into the Patriot League, renovated the , Davis Gym and the and raised the funds and got the ball rolling on the Langone Athletics and Recreation Center, which includes Sojka Pavilion.
The Bison also enjoyed tremendous competitive success on Hartzell’s watch. In the nine years under Hartzell that Bucknell was a member of the Patriot League, the school won six President’s Cups, symbolic of overall athletic superiority in the league. The long list of championship teams during the Hartzell era includes the school’s only Patriot League football title in 1996.
Off the field, Bucknell was annually ranked among the top 10 in the nation in the NCAA graduation rate surveys, a tradition that continues in Lewisburg (as does winning the Presidents Cup on a fairly regular basis).
Since then, Hartzell has duplicated many of those successes at his new gig at Northern Iowa, his alma mater. Here’s a cut from on the school’s Web site:
The football team has claimed two conference titles the past four seasons, and the men's basketball team won its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference championship in 2004, with back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances - including the school's first-ever bid as an at-large team in 2005. UNI volleyball has won six of the past seven conference championships, and made three appearances in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 during that span. Panther wrestling crowned its first Division I national champion in 2000, and has placed as high as 11th in the national tournament. Track and field and cross country have claimed numerous conference titles, including the last six indoor men's crowns, and baseball made its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2001, winning the rugged MVC crown. In fact, no less than 10 sports have seen teams or individuals in postseason action since Hartzell came back to the Cedar Valley.Like he did at Bucknell, Hartzell has overseen a lot of infrastructure improvements. Next season the basketball team moves into a spanking new 7,000-seat arena.
In addition, the Panthers have finished in the upper half of the Missouri Valley Conference's all-sports standings each year under Hartzell's direction, including a best-ever finish of second in the 2000-01 campaign. Prior to his arrival, UNI had finished in the upper half of the league all-sports standings just once. UNI has also consistently finished in the top 90 in the annual Director's Cup standings since Hartzell's arrival, a ranking that measures a school's success in various sports in NCAA championships during that athletic year. In 2003-04, UNI finished 80th nationally, tops among schools in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Obviously Hartzell is part of the storyline as Bucknell visits the UNI Dome Saturday for the BracketBusters matchup with Hartzell’s Panthers (although it has been overlooked by many in favor of the now-tired pep band story).
What you will hear, or read, about the link between the two schools will almost certainly include a – Northern Iowa’s and Bucknell’s Pat Flannery, who, coincidentally are both alums of the places they work.
True, both coaches got their jobs when Hartzell was the A.D. at the school. But it is tough to give Hartzell the credit for Flannery’s hiring.
Bucknell is not like some of those big conference places where a coach leaves and the A.D. hires his hand-picked replacement a day or two later. As one former athletics department staff member put it, “Bucknell is very famous for large, unwieldy committees. The committee was what picked Pat.”
When Charlie Woollum left Lewisburg in 1994, after a highly successful 19-year run at Bucknell, Flannery was not Hartzell’s choice for the job. Hartzell’s choice for the job would have been current Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik..
Hartzell even went public with his support of Bzdelik in an interview with The Danville News, saying it would take an awfully strong horse to beat Bzdelik in the race to replace Woollum.
Bzdelik, then an assistant with the NBA’s then Washington Bullets (now the Wizards), and Hartzell had been acquainted since Hartzell’s days as an assistant A.D. at Northwestern, where Bzdelik was an assistant basketball coach. When Hartzell got the head job at Maryland-Baltimore County, it was Bzdelik whom he hired to coach his basketball team.
Bzdelik, by the way, was not Hartzell’s first choice. That would have been then-Duke assistant Tommy Amaker, the current Michigan coach. Hartzell, who moonlights as a one of the top refs in Division I, was working the Atlantic Coast Conference in those days, which is how he knew Amaker.
Although it was never clear how serious the pursuit of Amaker ever got (Hartzell also floated the idea of interviewing Cheryl Miller), it did go as far as to enlist the help of a former Duke women’s player who was interning at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.
Amaker’s wife was a doctor at the Duke medical center. The former Duke player, who was also a volunteer assistant with the Danville High School program, gathered together a recruiting packet touting Geisinger to be used in an effort to make central Pa. more attractive to Amaker’s wife.
Five guys came to town to interview with the committee. Bzdelik was one of them. So was Flannery. Woollum assistant Terry Conrad, who stayed on as an assistant with Flannery and now is head coach at D-II Bloomsburg, was another. The then-coach at D-III Kenyon also interview with the committee. The fifth candidate defies the memory of everyone interviewed for this story.
Bzdelik bombed in those interviews.
“He was not prepared. He could only name one other coach in the league,” a member of the committee recalled.
“(Bzdelik) was Hartzell’s guy. But I don’t think he was ever the committee’s guy,” a former B.U. athletics staffer said.
The committee's top two were the guy from Kenyon and Flannery, whose passion for his alma mater ultimately might have been his trump card, though his Lebanon Valley team winning the D-III national title just weeks earlier certainly did not make a bad impression.
“Pat was very well organized, very well prepared. He had a passion for the place. He knew what it took to be successful at Bucknell on and off the court, he had done it,” a committee member said.
Flannery knew he was not Hartzell’s first choice.
“I got the distinct feeling (Bzdelik) was. That was why I pulled out of it originally,” said Flannery, who withdrew from consideration, then later agreed to put his name back in the hat.
In hindsight, it has worked out for everyone in the end. Hartzell and Flannery are both likely to have teams in the NCAA Tournament again this season. Bzdelik eventually landed a $1.5 million deal to be a head coach in the NBA before landing at the Air Force Academy.
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Thursday, February 16, 2006
They are in full court pressure mode about the BracketBusters over at WWLIS.com.
Start out by making some predictions in their . While you are having fun clicking the little buttons to make your poll choices, cast a vote for which games you are looking forward most to watching, which team is most likely to win a game in the Big Dance, which team has the most to gain from the BB and predict an All BracketBusters team. You can participate in with one click on the mouse.
Not sure who to choose in all those polls? Bone up on the BracketBusters by reading Kyle's .
Also, if you missed Thursday afternoon's chat with Bucknell's Charles Lee and other BB participants, you can of the whole session.
SO-CALLED EXPERTS: We like a lot of the stuff found on the WWLIS site, but occasionally you have to wonder if they actually have a clue.
Today's example comes from Andy Glockner's column on ESPN.com.
Glockner writes that Bucknell should be in the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team should the Bison stumble in the Patriot League tournament.
Nothing wrong with that.
But read his reasoning:
Glockner probably was referring to the Bison's win Saturday at Holy Cross. A significant hurdle, sure. But with Lehigh, which is actually ahead of Holy Cross in the league standings, coming to Sojka Pavilion next week for a showdown, it is hard to figure how Holy Cross could be considered the "last significant hurdle."
Lehigh's 10-1 mark is one of the best through 11 games in league history. The Mountain Hawks only conference loss was by 5 points against Bucknell. The last three games between these two have all gone down to the wire. If that is not a significant league hurdle, we're not sure what is.
SOME SURPRISE: Here's a formula that is almost certain to make a kind gesture seem calculated and contrived. Decide to repay a favor with a nice surprise. Then issue a ahead of time with a headline saying you have prepared a surprise.
By the way, the release says the Bucknell pep band is taking 26 musicians. They might want to wear name tags since we are pretty certain this will be the first time this season they have all played at the same game.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: Here's some of what we are working on for Friday:
One of the storylines you will hear heading into Saturday's BracketBusters is bound to be about Rick Hartzell, the former Bucknell Athletics Director who now has that job at Northern Iowa. Hartzell is the guy who hired both team's coaches. As Paul Harvey would say, we'll have the rest of the story.
Also, we'll take a look at Northern Iowa, including a quick scouting report from Bucknell coach Pat Flannery
And, of course, we will have links to all the news about the Bucknell-UNI game and the rest of the Patriot League.
We'll post stuff throughout the day, so be sure to check back often.
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Start out by making some predictions in their . While you are having fun clicking the little buttons to make your poll choices, cast a vote for which games you are looking forward most to watching, which team is most likely to win a game in the Big Dance, which team has the most to gain from the BB and predict an All BracketBusters team. You can participate in with one click on the mouse.
Not sure who to choose in all those polls? Bone up on the BracketBusters by reading Kyle's .
Also, if you missed Thursday afternoon's chat with Bucknell's Charles Lee and other BB participants, you can of the whole session.
SO-CALLED EXPERTS: We like a lot of the stuff found on the WWLIS site, but occasionally you have to wonder if they actually have a clue.
Today's example comes from Andy Glockner's column on ESPN.com.
Glockner writes that Bucknell should be in the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team should the Bison stumble in the Patriot League tournament.
Nothing wrong with that.
But read his reasoning:
Bucknell [20-3 (12-0), RPI: 40, SOS: 187] Congrats to the ranked Bison for getting past last significant PL hurdle. Win at Northern Iowa in BracketBusters would be nice insurance in case something screwy happens in the league tournament, but it's hard to imagine the Bison would get shafted at this point. "Marquee" win at Syracuse is losing some glitz.We added the italics for emphasis.
Glockner probably was referring to the Bison's win Saturday at Holy Cross. A significant hurdle, sure. But with Lehigh, which is actually ahead of Holy Cross in the league standings, coming to Sojka Pavilion next week for a showdown, it is hard to figure how Holy Cross could be considered the "last significant hurdle."
Lehigh's 10-1 mark is one of the best through 11 games in league history. The Mountain Hawks only conference loss was by 5 points against Bucknell. The last three games between these two have all gone down to the wire. If that is not a significant league hurdle, we're not sure what is.
SOME SURPRISE: Here's a formula that is almost certain to make a kind gesture seem calculated and contrived. Decide to repay a favor with a nice surprise. Then issue a ahead of time with a headline saying you have prepared a surprise.
By the way, the release says the Bucknell pep band is taking 26 musicians. They might want to wear name tags since we are pretty certain this will be the first time this season they have all played at the same game.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: Here's some of what we are working on for Friday:
We'll post stuff throughout the day, so be sure to check back often.
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(Originally posted Wed. night at 9:21 p.m., updated with links at 7:17 a.m.)
Looking for a soundtrack for Bucknell's 69-49 win Wednesday evening over Lafayette, just cue the Bachman Turner Overdrive.
It was a Taking Care of Business kind of game for the No. 24 ranked Bison, who came into Lafayette's Kirby Sports Center with a bullseye on their backs and left with their 12th straight win after a workmanlike effort that was all steady and little spectacular, save for a handful of dunks by Charles Lee and Donald Brown.
The game had all the makings of a trap game, with the Bison riding their long win streak and a first-time ever national ranking, coming into a game against an opponent that has been little more than a speed bump throughout most of the current Bucknell roster's careers.
Pat Flannnery acknowledged as much after the game. "This was one we really had to focus on because we travel this weekend," said Flannery, conspicuously avoiding mentioning the BracketBusters by name.
Bucknell did all the things it has done most of the season. They shot the ball well, hitting 26 of 45 (57.8 percent) from the field, put four guys in double figures, and played their usual tough defense, holding Lafayette to 30 percent for the game (15 of 50). The only thing that kept Lafayette from becoming the seventh team the Bison have held under 30 percent this season was an Andrew Brown three-pointer at the buzzer when he was the only starter for either team still on the floor.
It was the seventh time this season that Bucknell held an opponent under 50 points, the second time they did that against Lafayette. It was the 17th time the Bison, ranked third in the nation in defense, held an opponent below 40 percent from the field.
"Every shot I took was contested," said Lafayette's Andrei Capusan, who came into the game ranked second in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 57.3 percent. Capusan finished with 12 points, but they did not come easy. He shot 4-for-13 from the field and only had a pair of field goals after hitting two quick buckets in teh first 3:17 of the game.
Bilal Abdullah also reached double figures, scoring 10 points. Abdullah was 3 for 5 from the arc. The rest of Lafayette's shooters were a combined 5 for 21 from three-point range.
"Against a good team, you think that you are open and they close out pretty fast so your shots are a little rushed. You have to give them credit, they are not ranked third in the country for nothing," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said.
Offensively, the Bison did the things they needed to do to win on their seventh straight on the road. They got good balance, with four players in double figures, moved the ball well (15 assists) and, for a change, avoided the kind of slow start that has been worrisome in recent weeks away from Sojka Pavilion.
It did take Bucknell about four minutes to figure out Lafayette's zone, but once it was solved, they put on a clinic, especially in the final 9:30 of the first half, when they broke open a 17-17 tie with an 18-3 run, holding Lafayette to a single field goal in that stretch.
"We have seen so much man to man. We just haven't seen (zone) that much. It got us standing around a little bit," Flannery said. "We were a lot better after the four minute mark than we have been."
Bucknell also dominated on the boards, out rebounding Lafayette 44-23.
Charles Lee led the attack, grabbing 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. Lee had 14 points. Kevin Bettencourt also had 14 for the Bison, going 5 for 7 from the field, 4 for 6 from the arc. Chris McNaughton, who was limited to 23 minutes by foul trouble, added 12 points and helped his ranking as the league's top field goal shooter with a 5 for 7 night. Donald Brown had identical numbers off the bench
The only blemish on the victory was Bucknell's 23 turnovers, its most all season.
"I hate 23 turnovers. You can't play that way," said Flannery.
Hard to say which Flannery hated more, the turnovers, or the team's ranking written in soap on a window of the bus when it picked them up in Lewisburg.
"The coaching staff got a broom and wiped it off. That 's the last thing we were going to come down to Lafayette in. It's great that the fans are like that, but I am glad the kids are rooted," Flannery said.
"It's great to be ranked and stuff. We obviously feel pretty good about it and we should. But it doesn't change anything about the way we play on teh court," McNaughton said.
The Bison will step out of the Patriot League Saturday when they head to Northern Iowa for an ESPN BracketBusters matchup on national television. Lafayette will face another tough challenge when they travel down I-78 to meet their archrivals from Lehigh, who entered the night one game behind Bucknell in the loss column.
BISON CHIPS: BU's Donald Brown got hit with a technical in the first half . . . What did Brown do to draw ref Rich Giallella's ire? Apparently Giallella was offended that Brown would not retrieve the ball after he was whistled for a personal foul . . . Brown insisted after the game he never even opened his mouth and teammates backed that account . . . Bucknell's 21-3 start equals the school's best ever 24-game record, set in the 1983-84 season . . . Bucknell's 12-0 mark in league play is the best start in league history . . . the win was the Bison's 16th straight against league foes, dating to last season . . . The win was Bucknell's 11th on the road this season, tying a school record . . . The 12-game win streak is Bucknell's longest since 1919.
Game blog
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Looking for a soundtrack for Bucknell's 69-49 win Wednesday evening over Lafayette, just cue the Bachman Turner Overdrive.
It was a Taking Care of Business kind of game for the No. 24 ranked Bison, who came into Lafayette's Kirby Sports Center with a bullseye on their backs and left with their 12th straight win after a workmanlike effort that was all steady and little spectacular, save for a handful of dunks by Charles Lee and Donald Brown.
The game had all the makings of a trap game, with the Bison riding their long win streak and a first-time ever national ranking, coming into a game against an opponent that has been little more than a speed bump throughout most of the current Bucknell roster's careers.
Pat Flannnery acknowledged as much after the game. "This was one we really had to focus on because we travel this weekend," said Flannery, conspicuously avoiding mentioning the BracketBusters by name.
Bucknell did all the things it has done most of the season. They shot the ball well, hitting 26 of 45 (57.8 percent) from the field, put four guys in double figures, and played their usual tough defense, holding Lafayette to 30 percent for the game (15 of 50). The only thing that kept Lafayette from becoming the seventh team the Bison have held under 30 percent this season was an Andrew Brown three-pointer at the buzzer when he was the only starter for either team still on the floor.
It was the seventh time this season that Bucknell held an opponent under 50 points, the second time they did that against Lafayette. It was the 17th time the Bison, ranked third in the nation in defense, held an opponent below 40 percent from the field.
"Every shot I took was contested," said Lafayette's Andrei Capusan, who came into the game ranked second in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 57.3 percent. Capusan finished with 12 points, but they did not come easy. He shot 4-for-13 from the field and only had a pair of field goals after hitting two quick buckets in teh first 3:17 of the game.
Bilal Abdullah also reached double figures, scoring 10 points. Abdullah was 3 for 5 from the arc. The rest of Lafayette's shooters were a combined 5 for 21 from three-point range.
"Against a good team, you think that you are open and they close out pretty fast so your shots are a little rushed. You have to give them credit, they are not ranked third in the country for nothing," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said.
Offensively, the Bison did the things they needed to do to win on their seventh straight on the road. They got good balance, with four players in double figures, moved the ball well (15 assists) and, for a change, avoided the kind of slow start that has been worrisome in recent weeks away from Sojka Pavilion.
It did take Bucknell about four minutes to figure out Lafayette's zone, but once it was solved, they put on a clinic, especially in the final 9:30 of the first half, when they broke open a 17-17 tie with an 18-3 run, holding Lafayette to a single field goal in that stretch.
"We have seen so much man to man. We just haven't seen (zone) that much. It got us standing around a little bit," Flannery said. "We were a lot better after the four minute mark than we have been."
Bucknell also dominated on the boards, out rebounding Lafayette 44-23.
Charles Lee led the attack, grabbing 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. Lee had 14 points. Kevin Bettencourt also had 14 for the Bison, going 5 for 7 from the field, 4 for 6 from the arc. Chris McNaughton, who was limited to 23 minutes by foul trouble, added 12 points and helped his ranking as the league's top field goal shooter with a 5 for 7 night. Donald Brown had identical numbers off the bench
The only blemish on the victory was Bucknell's 23 turnovers, its most all season.
"I hate 23 turnovers. You can't play that way," said Flannery.
Hard to say which Flannery hated more, the turnovers, or the team's ranking written in soap on a window of the bus when it picked them up in Lewisburg.
"The coaching staff got a broom and wiped it off. That 's the last thing we were going to come down to Lafayette in. It's great that the fans are like that, but I am glad the kids are rooted," Flannery said.
"It's great to be ranked and stuff. We obviously feel pretty good about it and we should. But it doesn't change anything about the way we play on teh court," McNaughton said.
The Bison will step out of the Patriot League Saturday when they head to Northern Iowa for an ESPN BracketBusters matchup on national television. Lafayette will face another tough challenge when they travel down I-78 to meet their archrivals from Lehigh, who entered the night one game behind Bucknell in the loss column.
BISON CHIPS: BU's Donald Brown got hit with a technical in the first half . . . What did Brown do to draw ref Rich Giallella's ire? Apparently Giallella was offended that Brown would not retrieve the ball after he was whistled for a personal foul . . . Brown insisted after the game he never even opened his mouth and teammates backed that account . . . Bucknell's 21-3 start equals the school's best ever 24-game record, set in the 1983-84 season . . . Bucknell's 12-0 mark in league play is the best start in league history . . . the win was the Bison's 16th straight against league foes, dating to last season . . . The win was Bucknell's 11th on the road this season, tying a school record . . . The 12-game win streak is Bucknell's longest since 1919.
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(Originally posted Wed. night at 11:52 p.m., updated at 7:45 a.m.)
Lehigh 67, Colgate 58 -- After trailing a good portion of the first half, Lehigh took a 27-26 lead at the break, then opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Colgate never got closer the 5 back the rest of the way.
Jose Olivero led three Mountain Hawks in double figures with 15 points. Mitch Gilfillan and Kyle Neptune each added 12 as Lehigh won its 10th league game, a scool record.
Kyle Roemer (14 points) and Jon Simon (20) each had four three-pointers for the Raiders.
As seems to be the norm for Colgate, the difference came at the free throw line. Lehigh went 17 of 21 at the stripe. Colgate shot only 9 free throws all night, making six.
Holy Cross 72, Navy 62 -- Holy Cross scored the first 5 points of the game and never looked back, leading by as many as 20 en route to the win. Kevin Hamilton led the Crusaders with a 17-point, 11 rebound double-double.
Keith Simmons added 16 and Torey Thomas had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Alex Vander Baan also reached double figures with 10 points for HC.
Freshman Bryce Brigham led Navy with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including a perfect 3 for 3 from the three-point arc. Kaleo Kina added 12 points for Navy. Corey Johnson added 11 and Greg Sprink finished with 10, despite hitting just 2 of 12 from the field. Sprink was 0 for 6 from the arc.
The Crusaders won despite 25 turnovers. HC's 38-23 edge on the glass helped make up for the turnovers.
After the game, HC coach Ralph Willard made it clear to Jen Toland of the (subscription needed) that he was not happy with the sloppy play:
The win was HC's 14th straight against Navy.
American 68, Army 55 --American opened the game with an 11-1 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Army managed to cut the deficit to 1 with about 5 minutes to go in the first half, but never got closer.
By the half AU's lead was 8 and the Eagles built it to as many as 26 points in the second half.
Derrick Mercer's career-high 19 points led AU to the win, which gave the Eagles sole possession of fourth place in the league. Brayden Billbe (12) and Paulius Joneliunas (11) also in double figures for AU.
Matt Bell led Army with points. Kenny Brewer added 11.
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Lehigh 67, Colgate 58 -- After trailing a good portion of the first half, Lehigh took a 27-26 lead at the break, then opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Colgate never got closer the 5 back the rest of the way.
Jose Olivero led three Mountain Hawks in double figures with 15 points. Mitch Gilfillan and Kyle Neptune each added 12 as Lehigh won its 10th league game, a scool record.
Kyle Roemer (14 points) and Jon Simon (20) each had four three-pointers for the Raiders.
As seems to be the norm for Colgate, the difference came at the free throw line. Lehigh went 17 of 21 at the stripe. Colgate shot only 9 free throws all night, making six.
Holy Cross 72, Navy 62 -- Holy Cross scored the first 5 points of the game and never looked back, leading by as many as 20 en route to the win. Kevin Hamilton led the Crusaders with a 17-point, 11 rebound double-double.
Keith Simmons added 16 and Torey Thomas had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Alex Vander Baan also reached double figures with 10 points for HC.
Freshman Bryce Brigham led Navy with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including a perfect 3 for 3 from the three-point arc. Kaleo Kina added 12 points for Navy. Corey Johnson added 11 and Greg Sprink finished with 10, despite hitting just 2 of 12 from the field. Sprink was 0 for 6 from the arc.
The Crusaders won despite 25 turnovers. HC's 38-23 edge on the glass helped make up for the turnovers.
After the game, HC coach Ralph Willard made it clear to Jen Toland of the (subscription needed) that he was not happy with the sloppy play:
“We threw the ball all over the place like it was a hand grenade. Twenty-five turnovers is ridiculous. It’s not like they were pressuring us. Most of the turnovers were just unforced, bad plays on our part.”Willard was particularly incensed by the way the 'Saders played in the second half, after building a 15-point lead at the break.
“I’ve been in this profession long enough to know this was a hangover game,” Willard said, “but at this point in the season you can’t afford a hangover game. You’ve got to get better. We have to go into the tournament playing our best basketball and tonight was not a step in that direction.”The problem is, between all the injuries and the lack of depth, Willard's guys have played a lot of minutes. The Crusader to come up hurting is Kevin Hamilton, who has battled nagging injuries all season, played with a pad on his back after suffering a bone contusion in the loss to Bucknell. He also has an injured toe.
The win was HC's 14th straight against Navy.
American 68, Army 55 --American opened the game with an 11-1 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Army managed to cut the deficit to 1 with about 5 minutes to go in the first half, but never got closer.
By the half AU's lead was 8 and the Eagles built it to as many as 26 points in the second half.
Derrick Mercer's career-high 19 points led AU to the win, which gave the Eagles sole possession of fourth place in the league. Brayden Billbe (12) and Paulius Joneliunas (11) also in double figures for AU.
Matt Bell led Army with points. Kenny Brewer added 11.
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From the , this report on Holy Cross recruit Eric Meister's final regular season home game:
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"Meisterville" was set up outside the State College North building for much of the afternoon, and moved inside the gym for the evening, and most of the students wore white "Meisterville" T-shirts while chanting his name.For the rest of the story,
The Little Lion senior did not disappoint the near-capacity crowd in his final home basketball game.Meister scored 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots as State College (18-6, 5-1) dropped rival Altoona 59-48 to clinch the program's fifth straight Mountain Athletic Conference Section 1 crown.
"This is the best possible way we could have gone out," said Meister, who is heading to Holy Cross in the fall with 1,365 career points thus far. "I couldn't imagine anything better than this. It just feels great."
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In our preview of the Navy-Holy Cross game, we wrote "Holy Cross will gain the No. 2 seed if it wins out."
That prompted a deluge of e-mail reminding us that Holy Cross would still be No. 3 if Lehigh wins out, including at Bucknell next week.
We appreciate the keen observations of those who rushed to tell us we were wrong.
However, we are not wrong yet, and won't be if Bucknell and Holy Cross both beat the Mountain Hawks.
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That prompted a deluge of e-mail reminding us that Holy Cross would still be No. 3 if Lehigh wins out, including at Bucknell next week.
We appreciate the keen observations of those who rushed to tell us we were wrong.
However, we are not wrong yet, and won't be if Bucknell and Holy Cross both beat the Mountain Hawks.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
We're live in Easton, where Lafayette is set to host the Patriot League's first-ever ranked team in front of looks like it might be a sparse crowd, despite all the hype about advance ticket sales.
With about 6 minutes till tip off, Kirby is nowhere close to full. Could be a late arriving crowd, though, thanks to CSTV's ridiculous 6 p.m. start time.
Anybody coming from further than abouyt a half-hour away almost had to hook out of work early if they planned to make the early tip.
Let's hope that the leverage of having a media darling like Bucknell can translate into more favorable start times next year, not only for the CSTV games, but also from the WWLIS when it schedules the tournament finale. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather go watch somebody else on the tube during Friday afternoon happy hour and see the league final played at a reasonable time.
LCLC'sBy the way, this is the first time in three attempts that we have been able to connect to the wireless network in Kirby. Lafayette's Scott Morse, the Director of Athletic Communications and Promotions, pointed that out and suggested maybe that means a change of luck for the Leopards, who lost the other two games we have been here for.
We hereby disavow any responsibility for the outcome, so spare us the nasty e-mail either way.
Two pro scouts on hand tonight. One from the Charlotte Bobcats, the other representing the Knicks. We will try to get their impressions later in the evening.
Bucknell 7, Lafayette 7 (15:49 first)
Andrei Capusan scores the first bucket of the game and the dozen or so remnants of teh once-proud zoo crew start the "overrated" chant. It ends seconds later when McNaughton lays in a bucket to tie it at 2-2.
How much respect does Charles Lee get? On a breakaway after a steal, Lafayette's Andrew Brown sense Lee catching up and pulls the ball out instead of going strong to the hole.
Capusan with 4 of Lafayette's points. Bucknell's spread between Lee, McNaughton and Bettencourt (1-2, both threes)
Bucknell 15, Lafayette 9 (11:43 first)
Ted Detmer and Bilal Abdullah, both questionable, are playing for Lafayette.
Lee's second basket a layup off a steal and a nifty jump-stop move that had the less informed in the crowd howling for a travel call. Lee's 10-foot baseline jumper on the next possession makes it 11-7, Bucknell.
Rich Giallelle, Hoop Time's favorite ref, just hit Donald Brown with a personal and a T. Will withhold comment till we get a chance to find out from someone closer to the play if Brown dropped a magic word.
Foul trouble for Brown will mess with Flannery's defensive rotation. He had Brown matched on Capusanb.
After the fouls, Bucknell goes small, with Viaer-McClymont, Lee, Griffin, Vegotsky and Badmus.
Bucknell now shooting 77.8 percent from the field (7-9). Lee with 8 already.
Lafayette has gone over 5 minutes without a field goal. Leopards shooting 42.9 (and falling) from the field.
Bucknell 21, Lafayette 17 (6:42 first)
Turnovers hurting Bucknell early. Bison with 8 in the first 11 minutes.
McNaughton is playing with a pad on his left elbow. That is the same elbow he was icing after the American game last week.
Trouble for Lafayette. Everest Schmidt has three personals. That is not good for a team that is short on height to start.
Bucknell's cheerleaders are here, but in a move right out of a high school game, they are seated in the first two rows of the bleachers behind the Bucknell bench. Some parts of the program have not caught up to the Top 25 level.
Lafayette shooting now at 5-14, 35.7 percent. Leopards with 8 turnovers.
Bucknell 10 turnovers, negating its 9-14 (64.3 percent) shooting and the Bison's 10-5 advantage on the boards.
Bucknell 29, Lafayette 20 (3:12 first)
Rob Thomas, with his new shaved head look, getting significant first half minutes for Bucknell.
Bucknell turnovers up to 12 now. Lee hs 10 points on 5-6 shooting. Bettencourt 3-4 with two treys, 8 points.
Lafayette now shooting 33.3 percent (6-18). Capusan now 2-7, his only pioints since the first three minutes coming at the line.
McNaughton sitting with two personals for Bucknell.
By the way, the crowd still not close to full, though much better than it looked early.
Bucknell 33, Lafayette 20 (1:08 first)
After the game was tied at 17-17 with 6:42 to go in the half, Bucknell went on a 16-3 run.
Bucknell 35, Lafayette 20 (halftime)
Bison close the half with an 18-3 run.
Lafayette finishes the first half shooting 6-19 (31.6 percent) from the field. Believe it or not, that is a big improvement over the last time the two met, when the Leopards shot 26.1 percent in the first half, 20 percent in the second. Leopards also with 14 turnovers.
The Leopards are holding a $500 shootout at the half. Three shots -- foul line ($25), 3-pointer ($100) Halfcourt ($500) ... the shooter was 1-3 (made the free throw) which gives him a better shooting percentage than the Leopards in uniform.
A sloppy first half for Bucknell on offense. You can bet Pat Flannery is letting them have it right now about their 14 turnovers. Biuson are shooting 63.6 percent from the field, though (14-22) including 4-8 from the arc -- three of those by Bettencourt (11 points). Lee is 6-7, 13 points with 5 boards.
Bucknell with an 18-9 edge on the boards. The Bison have not allowed a single Lafayette offensive rebound.
Bucknell 44, Lafayette 31 (15:16 to play)
McNaughton heating up. Now has 6 of Bucknell's last 9. Badmus with the other 3, including a nice layup off a lob pass.
Bucknell with three more turnovers already in the second half.
Bucknell 50, Lafayette 32 (11:51 to play)
LC's Andrew Brown picks up his fourth personal with 13:57 to play.
BU's Donald Brown with 6 quick points, four on a pair of putbacks, one of his own miss, the other a slam following a Mastropaolo miss.
The Lafayette idiot fan who runs the Leopard flag onto the floor almost every timeout needs to lean the proper protocol. He does not belong on the court when Bucknell's cheerleaders are out. Of course since Patriot League cheerleaders rarely travel, he probably can be excused for not knowing any better.
Bucknell 58, Lafayette 40 (7:39 left)
Both NBA scouts sneaked out around the 11 minute mark. The knicks guy said he came because Bucknell is playing pretty good and he thought he would take a look since the game was nearby.
Asked the guy from the Bobcats as he was leaving if he saw anybody he liked. He shrugged and said, "Nah."
McNaughton with two nice buckets, one on a post-up jump hook, the other on a step away J, right after they left.
He also picked up his fourth personal at the 8:06 mark.
Mastropaolo picks up his fifth at the 7:39 mark.
Bucknell 58, Lafayette 40 (5:52 to play)
This one is starting to get ugly -- not from a blowout point of view, but in a sloppy, choppy, no flow way. Much of that because of the whistles -- Bucknell with 9 team fouls, Lafayette with 8.
If Lafayette shot better at the stripe, it might be a game. The 'Pards are now 10-19, including a bunch of front end misses on 1-and-1s.
Bucknell 63, Lafayette 42 (3:31 to play)
McNaughton reenters ith 5:03 to go.
Bucknell in the double bouns at the 4:01 mark. Lee at the line hits one of two, his first point of the second half.
Bettencourt 3 puts the lead to 21, biggest of the game.
On the plus side for Lafayette, the 'Pards just two tunrovers so far in the second half. Doesn't help much, though, since they are shooting 13-46 (28.3 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 69, Lafayette 49(Final)
A. Brown's three at the buzzer cuts the final margin to 20.
Four Bison in double figures -- Lee (14), Bettencourt (14) Brown and McNaughton (12 each). When Bison emptied bench with 1:03 to play, they were shooting 59.1 percent from the floor (26-44).
Capusan and Abdullah with 12 each for Lafayette.
End of the game chant by what is left of the Zoo Crew "Let's play football."
Announced attendance 3,184 ... Lafayette's second biggest crowd of the season (3,192 vs. Lehigh)
Full game story to follow
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With about 6 minutes till tip off, Kirby is nowhere close to full. Could be a late arriving crowd, though, thanks to CSTV's ridiculous 6 p.m. start time.
Anybody coming from further than abouyt a half-hour away almost had to hook out of work early if they planned to make the early tip.
Let's hope that the leverage of having a media darling like Bucknell can translate into more favorable start times next year, not only for the CSTV games, but also from the WWLIS when it schedules the tournament finale. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather go watch somebody else on the tube during Friday afternoon happy hour and see the league final played at a reasonable time.
LCLC'sBy the way, this is the first time in three attempts that we have been able to connect to the wireless network in Kirby. Lafayette's Scott Morse, the Director of Athletic Communications and Promotions, pointed that out and suggested maybe that means a change of luck for the Leopards, who lost the other two games we have been here for.
We hereby disavow any responsibility for the outcome, so spare us the nasty e-mail either way.
Two pro scouts on hand tonight. One from the Charlotte Bobcats, the other representing the Knicks. We will try to get their impressions later in the evening.
Bucknell 7, Lafayette 7 (15:49 first)
Andrei Capusan scores the first bucket of the game and the dozen or so remnants of teh once-proud zoo crew start the "overrated" chant. It ends seconds later when McNaughton lays in a bucket to tie it at 2-2.
How much respect does Charles Lee get? On a breakaway after a steal, Lafayette's Andrew Brown sense Lee catching up and pulls the ball out instead of going strong to the hole.
Capusan with 4 of Lafayette's points. Bucknell's spread between Lee, McNaughton and Bettencourt (1-2, both threes)
Bucknell 15, Lafayette 9 (11:43 first)
Ted Detmer and Bilal Abdullah, both questionable, are playing for Lafayette.
Lee's second basket a layup off a steal and a nifty jump-stop move that had the less informed in the crowd howling for a travel call. Lee's 10-foot baseline jumper on the next possession makes it 11-7, Bucknell.
Rich Giallelle, Hoop Time's favorite ref, just hit Donald Brown with a personal and a T. Will withhold comment till we get a chance to find out from someone closer to the play if Brown dropped a magic word.
Foul trouble for Brown will mess with Flannery's defensive rotation. He had Brown matched on Capusanb.
After the fouls, Bucknell goes small, with Viaer-McClymont, Lee, Griffin, Vegotsky and Badmus.
Bucknell now shooting 77.8 percent from the field (7-9). Lee with 8 already.
Lafayette has gone over 5 minutes without a field goal. Leopards shooting 42.9 (and falling) from the field.
Bucknell 21, Lafayette 17 (6:42 first)
Turnovers hurting Bucknell early. Bison with 8 in the first 11 minutes.
McNaughton is playing with a pad on his left elbow. That is the same elbow he was icing after the American game last week.
Trouble for Lafayette. Everest Schmidt has three personals. That is not good for a team that is short on height to start.
Bucknell's cheerleaders are here, but in a move right out of a high school game, they are seated in the first two rows of the bleachers behind the Bucknell bench. Some parts of the program have not caught up to the Top 25 level.
Lafayette shooting now at 5-14, 35.7 percent. Leopards with 8 turnovers.
Bucknell 10 turnovers, negating its 9-14 (64.3 percent) shooting and the Bison's 10-5 advantage on the boards.
Bucknell 29, Lafayette 20 (3:12 first)
Rob Thomas, with his new shaved head look, getting significant first half minutes for Bucknell.
Bucknell turnovers up to 12 now. Lee hs 10 points on 5-6 shooting. Bettencourt 3-4 with two treys, 8 points.
Lafayette now shooting 33.3 percent (6-18). Capusan now 2-7, his only pioints since the first three minutes coming at the line.
McNaughton sitting with two personals for Bucknell.
By the way, the crowd still not close to full, though much better than it looked early.
Bucknell 33, Lafayette 20 (1:08 first)
After the game was tied at 17-17 with 6:42 to go in the half, Bucknell went on a 16-3 run.
Bucknell 35, Lafayette 20 (halftime)
Bison close the half with an 18-3 run.
Lafayette finishes the first half shooting 6-19 (31.6 percent) from the field. Believe it or not, that is a big improvement over the last time the two met, when the Leopards shot 26.1 percent in the first half, 20 percent in the second. Leopards also with 14 turnovers.
The Leopards are holding a $500 shootout at the half. Three shots -- foul line ($25), 3-pointer ($100) Halfcourt ($500) ... the shooter was 1-3 (made the free throw) which gives him a better shooting percentage than the Leopards in uniform.
A sloppy first half for Bucknell on offense. You can bet Pat Flannery is letting them have it right now about their 14 turnovers. Biuson are shooting 63.6 percent from the field, though (14-22) including 4-8 from the arc -- three of those by Bettencourt (11 points). Lee is 6-7, 13 points with 5 boards.
Bucknell with an 18-9 edge on the boards. The Bison have not allowed a single Lafayette offensive rebound.
Bucknell 44, Lafayette 31 (15:16 to play)
McNaughton heating up. Now has 6 of Bucknell's last 9. Badmus with the other 3, including a nice layup off a lob pass.
Bucknell with three more turnovers already in the second half.
Bucknell 50, Lafayette 32 (11:51 to play)
LC's Andrew Brown picks up his fourth personal with 13:57 to play.
BU's Donald Brown with 6 quick points, four on a pair of putbacks, one of his own miss, the other a slam following a Mastropaolo miss.
The Lafayette idiot fan who runs the Leopard flag onto the floor almost every timeout needs to lean the proper protocol. He does not belong on the court when Bucknell's cheerleaders are out. Of course since Patriot League cheerleaders rarely travel, he probably can be excused for not knowing any better.
Bucknell 58, Lafayette 40 (7:39 left)
Both NBA scouts sneaked out around the 11 minute mark. The knicks guy said he came because Bucknell is playing pretty good and he thought he would take a look since the game was nearby.
Asked the guy from the Bobcats as he was leaving if he saw anybody he liked. He shrugged and said, "Nah."
McNaughton with two nice buckets, one on a post-up jump hook, the other on a step away J, right after they left.
He also picked up his fourth personal at the 8:06 mark.
Mastropaolo picks up his fifth at the 7:39 mark.
Bucknell 58, Lafayette 40 (5:52 to play)
This one is starting to get ugly -- not from a blowout point of view, but in a sloppy, choppy, no flow way. Much of that because of the whistles -- Bucknell with 9 team fouls, Lafayette with 8.
If Lafayette shot better at the stripe, it might be a game. The 'Pards are now 10-19, including a bunch of front end misses on 1-and-1s.
Bucknell 63, Lafayette 42 (3:31 to play)
McNaughton reenters ith 5:03 to go.
Bucknell in the double bouns at the 4:01 mark. Lee at the line hits one of two, his first point of the second half.
Bettencourt 3 puts the lead to 21, biggest of the game.
On the plus side for Lafayette, the 'Pards just two tunrovers so far in the second half. Doesn't help much, though, since they are shooting 13-46 (28.3 percent) from the field.
Bucknell 69, Lafayette 49(Final)
A. Brown's three at the buzzer cuts the final margin to 20.
Four Bison in double figures -- Lee (14), Bettencourt (14) Brown and McNaughton (12 each). When Bison emptied bench with 1:03 to play, they were shooting 59.1 percent from the floor (26-44).
Capusan and Abdullah with 12 each for Lafayette.
End of the game chant by what is left of the Zoo Crew "Let's play football."
Announced attendance 3,184 ... Lafayette's second biggest crowd of the season (3,192 vs. Lehigh)
Full game story to follow
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Get ranked in the Top 25 and folks come out of the woodwork to pay attention.
All of a suddent the of your games. Ditto for folks like the , who even go so far as to offer their prediction for the outcome of the game.
Meanwhile, ESPN.com has with players whose teams will be in the BracketBusters. Leading off the lineup of 10 players will be Bucknell's Charles Lee, who will be on at noon. Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson also on the schedule at 2:30 p.m.
You can submit your questions in advance .
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All of a suddent the of your games. Ditto for folks like the , who even go so far as to offer their prediction for the outcome of the game.
Meanwhile, ESPN.com has with players whose teams will be in the BracketBusters. Leading off the lineup of 10 players will be Bucknell's Charles Lee, who will be on at noon. Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson also on the schedule at 2:30 p.m.
You can submit your questions in advance .
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Everybody is jockeying for postseason position heading into the final two weeks of conference play. Tonight's schedule probably won't do much to sort things out. The big three-- Bucknell, Lehigh and Holy Cross -- are each prohibitive favorites in their matchups tonight. The only game likely to make a difference is American at Army, which could give the Eagles a leg up in the race for fourth for now.
Patriot League scoreboards
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Bucknell at Lafayette, 6 p.m.: A trap game? Certainly this one has all the makings. A nationally ranked team, riding high, coming off a huge road win, with a national TV date against highly regarded foe just ahead, on the road against a team it has handled with ease in recent meetings, including a 30-point win a month ago in Lewisburg.
On paper, Lafayette is no match for the No. 24 Bison, who have won 11 in a row. But the Leopards are a much better team at home than on the road. In Kirby, Lafayette is 6-4, 2-2 in league games. Those two league losses at home were both by double-figure margins. But in each of those games, against Lehigh and Holy Cross, the Leopards were right in the game until the final 10 minutes.
Bucknell, on the other hand, has won six straight on the road. But the Bison had to rally from double-digit deficits in the last three of those road contests. That is a habit that will eventually bite you if you don't break it.
For Lafayette, at least two of three things must happen for them to have a chance. They have to hold their own on the boards, shoot the lights out and take care of the ball. The last time they played Bucknell, the Leopards actually held a 39-38 edge on the boards. But they turned the ball over 27 times and shot just 22.9 percent. Predictably the final score was 62-32 in Bucknell's favor.
This one should be closer, but trap game or not, it is hard to imagine the Leopards pulling the upset. Especially since Lafayette will be without Jamaal Hilliard (broken finger). Two other Leopards are questionable. Ted Detmer is nursing a bad ankle and Bilal Abdullah a bad wrist.
Reports from Easton indicate tickets are selling at a brisk pace for the Bison's visit. What is not known is how much of the pumped up advance sale is due to Bucknell fans planning to make the trip to Easton. The Bison have traveled well all season and their new Top 25 ranking is bound to bring even more alums on board the bandwagon.
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Navy at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.: Holy Cross has won the last 13 meetings between the two, including six straight in Worcester. And they have won convincingly, by an average of more than 16 points per game. Included in that is an 81-67 final in Annapolis two weeks ago in a game that was actually over at the half.
The Crusaders' loss Saturday to Bucknell leaves them no margin for error if they hope to grab one of the homecourt spots in the first two rounds of the league tournament. Holy Cross will gain the No. 2 seed if it wins out.
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American at Army, 7 p.m.: When these two last met, Army took the Eagles into overtime. Coming on the heels of a tight loss at Lehigh, and followed by a win at Navy, it looked as though the Cadets were on the verge of turning a corner. Since the win over Navy, though, Army has dropped six in a row, all, except for an OT loss to Navy in the rematch, by double figures.
Don't count on any homecourt advantage to make the difference for the Cadets. They have not beaten a Division I opponent in Christl Arena since beating Navy there in January 2005. That was Army's only D-I home win last season. In Jim Crews' three-plus seasons as Army's coach, the Cadets have picked up 5 home wins against D-I foes.
On the other hand, AU has not exactly been road warriors. The Eagles' win Saturday at Colgate is its only league win outside of Bender. Overall, AU is 2-11 on the road.
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Colgate at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.: It has taken a while for the preseason expectations for Colgate to wear off. But after waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the Raiders to live up to the potential that seems to be on its roster, it has become apparent that the 'Gate probably really is as bad as its 2-8 conference record would indicate. The Raiders have not beaten anybody but Army since last year and aside from two wins over the Cadets, have only one other Division I win in their last 16 games.
Lehigh has only one loss -- to Bucknell -- in 9 games since Joe Knight returned to the lineup The Mountain Hawks have won four straight since that loss to the Bison. The Hawks only won by 8 at Colgate in January. But Colgate is horrible on the road; 1-10 overall, the lone win coming at Army. Lehigh is pretty good at home, 9-3 overall, 4-1 in league games.
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Bucknell at Lafayette, 6 p.m.: A trap game? Certainly this one has all the makings. A nationally ranked team, riding high, coming off a huge road win, with a national TV date against highly regarded foe just ahead, on the road against a team it has handled with ease in recent meetings, including a 30-point win a month ago in Lewisburg.
On paper, Lafayette is no match for the No. 24 Bison, who have won 11 in a row. But the Leopards are a much better team at home than on the road. In Kirby, Lafayette is 6-4, 2-2 in league games. Those two league losses at home were both by double-figure margins. But in each of those games, against Lehigh and Holy Cross, the Leopards were right in the game until the final 10 minutes.
Bucknell, on the other hand, has won six straight on the road. But the Bison had to rally from double-digit deficits in the last three of those road contests. That is a habit that will eventually bite you if you don't break it.
For Lafayette, at least two of three things must happen for them to have a chance. They have to hold their own on the boards, shoot the lights out and take care of the ball. The last time they played Bucknell, the Leopards actually held a 39-38 edge on the boards. But they turned the ball over 27 times and shot just 22.9 percent. Predictably the final score was 62-32 in Bucknell's favor.
This one should be closer, but trap game or not, it is hard to imagine the Leopards pulling the upset. Especially since Lafayette will be without Jamaal Hilliard (broken finger). Two other Leopards are questionable. Ted Detmer is nursing a bad ankle and Bilal Abdullah a bad wrist.
Reports from Easton indicate tickets are selling at a brisk pace for the Bison's visit. What is not known is how much of the pumped up advance sale is due to Bucknell fans planning to make the trip to Easton. The Bison have traveled well all season and their new Top 25 ranking is bound to bring even more alums on board the bandwagon.
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Navy at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.: Holy Cross has won the last 13 meetings between the two, including six straight in Worcester. And they have won convincingly, by an average of more than 16 points per game. Included in that is an 81-67 final in Annapolis two weeks ago in a game that was actually over at the half.
The Crusaders' loss Saturday to Bucknell leaves them no margin for error if they hope to grab one of the homecourt spots in the first two rounds of the league tournament. Holy Cross will gain the No. 2 seed if it wins out.
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American at Army, 7 p.m.: When these two last met, Army took the Eagles into overtime. Coming on the heels of a tight loss at Lehigh, and followed by a win at Navy, it looked as though the Cadets were on the verge of turning a corner. Since the win over Navy, though, Army has dropped six in a row, all, except for an OT loss to Navy in the rematch, by double figures.
Don't count on any homecourt advantage to make the difference for the Cadets. They have not beaten a Division I opponent in Christl Arena since beating Navy there in January 2005. That was Army's only D-I home win last season. In Jim Crews' three-plus seasons as Army's coach, the Cadets have picked up 5 home wins against D-I foes.
On the other hand, AU has not exactly been road warriors. The Eagles' win Saturday at Colgate is its only league win outside of Bender. Overall, AU is 2-11 on the road.
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Colgate at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.: It has taken a while for the preseason expectations for Colgate to wear off. But after waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the Raiders to live up to the potential that seems to be on its roster, it has become apparent that the 'Gate probably really is as bad as its 2-8 conference record would indicate. The Raiders have not beaten anybody but Army since last year and aside from two wins over the Cadets, have only one other Division I win in their last 16 games.
Lehigh has only one loss -- to Bucknell -- in 9 games since Joe Knight returned to the lineup The Mountain Hawks have won four straight since that loss to the Bison. The Hawks only won by 8 at Colgate in January. But Colgate is horrible on the road; 1-10 overall, the lone win coming at Army. Lehigh is pretty good at home, 9-3 overall, 4-1 in league games.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Folks at the Air Force Academy are none too happy with Navy and Mids coach Billy Lange. According to a Dan Wolken story in today's , Lange and the Midshipmen have reneged on a commitment to play in a four-team military schools tournament at Air Force next season. Virginia Military Academy and The Citadel would be the other two teams in the tournament.
Lange tells the Gazette it is due to scheduling conflicts, but Air Force doesn't seem to be buying that story. Apparently there was some sort of a dustup between Lange and some Air Force players when the two teams met in November.
Wolken also hints that Navy might just want to avoid Air Force next season, when it will be returning four starters plus center Nick Welch, who has missed the entire season due to knee surgery. Lange denies that he is trying to duck a good team.
LET THE HYPE BEGIN: Corky Blake in today's Express-Times. Says Corky:
But hey, it is national television, right? Don't get us started. The only good news is that at least this time the Patriot League game is not starting at a weird time to accomodate women's college ice hockey. No, this time, the Patriot League and the nation's No. 24 team are playing at supper time so CSTV can show 5-15 East Carolina at 8-12 Rice in prime time.
Tom Housenick of The Daily Item also today.
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Lange tells the Gazette it is due to scheduling conflicts, but Air Force doesn't seem to be buying that story. Apparently there was some sort of a dustup between Lange and some Air Force players when the two teams met in November.
Wolken also hints that Navy might just want to avoid Air Force next season, when it will be returning four starters plus center Nick Welch, who has missed the entire season due to knee surgery. Lange denies that he is trying to duck a good team.
LET THE HYPE BEGIN: Corky Blake in today's Express-Times. Says Corky:
That roar you heard Monday afternoon on College Hill came from the Lafayette College athletics ticket office. Inside the small room, chief ticket peddler Scott Stewart was doing cartwheels.Of course that early start time might mute the excitement a little. It is pretty tough for 9-to-5 folks to get home from work and back out the door in time to get to a game that is scheduled to compete with the local news on TV.
On Monday, Bucknell University became the first Patriot League men's basketball team to crack the Top 25. The 24th-ranked Bison's first game since reaching their lofty status will be Wednesday in Easton against the Leopards. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
But hey, it is national television, right? Don't get us started. The only good news is that at least this time the Patriot League game is not starting at a weird time to accomodate women's college ice hockey. No, this time, the Patriot League and the nation's No. 24 team are playing at supper time so CSTV can show 5-15 East Carolina at 8-12 Rice in prime time.
Tom Housenick of The Daily Item also today.
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Monday, February 13, 2006
AP voter Jerry Brewer, of the Louisville Courier-Journal, why he placed Bucknell at No. 23 on his AP poll ballot this week. Among his comments:
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Bucknell is as worthy as others. It has a solid RPI (39). It played a top 50 non-conference schedule. It's 2-2 versus teams in the RPI top 50. You may not respect the Patriot League, but the Bison are 11-0 in league play and dominating.
So I decided to reward Bucknell for being consistent. And I think come NCAA Tournament time, you'll see how competitive the Bison can be.
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Bucknell enters the Top 25 for the first time in school history, earning the No. 24 spot in .
Pat Flannery told the :
Meanwhile, no change in the top two sports in the . It's still Gonzaga at No. 1 with 30 of the 31 first place votes, followed by No. 2 Bucknell, which received the other No. 1 vote. George Mason moves up to No. 3, jumping from last week's No. 6 spot, past Northern Iowa (dropped from 3 to 4), Wichita State (down from 4 to 5) and Creighton, which dropped from No. 5 last week to 8. Lehigh 24th among others receiving votes with 4, down from 6 votes last week.
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Pat Flannery told the :
“This is so neat for the school and everything like that. I won’t play it down because it’s wonderful for people to have that kind of respect for our program. At the same time, we have the kind of kids who can take it in stride to be ranked among that company.”This is the first time in Patriot League history that a conference team has earned a spot in either poll.
Meanwhile, no change in the top two sports in the . It's still Gonzaga at No. 1 with 30 of the 31 first place votes, followed by No. 2 Bucknell, which received the other No. 1 vote. George Mason moves up to No. 3, jumping from last week's No. 6 spot, past Northern Iowa (dropped from 3 to 4), Wichita State (down from 4 to 5) and Creighton, which dropped from No. 5 last week to 8. Lehigh 24th among others receiving votes with 4, down from 6 votes last week.
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There are days when we wish we'd pursued a career in stand-up comedy. Usually those days coincide with the days when we read stuff like the , AU's student paper, accusing the AU men's hoops program of being sexist after recruiting fliers were discovered that tout American as a great place to meet chicks.
According to the story:
We will resist the urge to have fun at Brusoe's expense, instead just sharing this quote from the story:
If we were not playing this one straight, we'd probably write something that would conjure up images of Paulius Joneliunas and Lina Lekavicius as Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin in plaid slacks and shirts unbuttoned to the navel, two wild and crazy guys from Lithuania, cruising for American foxes.
But this is the sort of thing that folks in academia love to get righteously indignant about, and we sure don't want AU's feminist community to start boycotting the site, or to picket us when we show up at Bender on Saturday to cover the Holy Cross-American doubleheader.
Let them save those protests for when we publish a Girls of the Patriot League calendar.
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According to the story:
Organizations around campus were outraged last week after discovering a recruiting flier from the AU men's basketball team that referred to Washington, D.C., as "the number one place to find babes," and reminded prospective recruits that "AU has twice as many female students as male students."Apparently the whistleblower was not some feminist group, but a dude by the name of Peter Brusoe, chairman of the Graduate Leadership Council, who complained that the university was using women to recruit players.
We will resist the urge to have fun at Brusoe's expense, instead just sharing this quote from the story:
"I was offended as a male that someone would try to recruit people for AU in such a sexist manner," Brusoe said. "Women's issues are all of our issues. We think it is important that we be proactive and be a voice for everyone."Brusoe's response was to pull his organization's funding from an event called "Phil Bender", which we are guessing is some promotion aimed at getting a crowd bigger than the reported 1,550 that showed up for the win over Colgate. Brusoe instead donated those funds to the AU Women's Initiative.
If we were not playing this one straight, we'd probably write something that would conjure up images of Paulius Joneliunas and Lina Lekavicius as Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin in plaid slacks and shirts unbuttoned to the navel, two wild and crazy guys from Lithuania, cruising for American foxes.
But this is the sort of thing that folks in academia love to get righteously indignant about, and we sure don't want AU's feminist community to start boycotting the site, or to picket us when we show up at Bender on Saturday to cover the Holy Cross-American doubleheader.
Let them save those protests for when we publish a Girls of the Patriot League calendar.
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Sunday, February 12, 2006
American led for all but 1:01 of the game, sweeping the season series from the visiting Raiders and moving into a tie with Lafayette for the No. 4 seed spot in the conference standings.
Andre Ingram led AU with 19 points. Derrick Mercer added 14. Paulius Joneliunas with a game-high 8 rebounds. Joneliunas also had 8 points. AU outrebounded Colgate 38-27.
Alvin Reed, coming off the bench these days, had 14 to lead the 'Gate, which has not beaten anybody not named Army in its past 11 games. The Raiders are 2-9 in that stretch, and have lost four straight since beating Army for the second time.
Kendall Chones, also no longer starting, had 12, as did Kyle Roemer. Jon Simon added 11.
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Andre Ingram led AU with 19 points. Derrick Mercer added 14. Paulius Joneliunas with a game-high 8 rebounds. Joneliunas also had 8 points. AU outrebounded Colgate 38-27.
Alvin Reed, coming off the bench these days, had 14 to lead the 'Gate, which has not beaten anybody not named Army in its past 11 games. The Raiders are 2-9 in that stretch, and have lost four straight since beating Army for the second time.
Kendall Chones, also no longer starting, had 12, as did Kyle Roemer. Jon Simon added 11.
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Colgate at American, 2:30 p.m.: Two teams with a total of five conference wins between them meet in what is a surprisingly big game. If you are not Bucknell, Lehigh or Holy Cross, your chances of winning a first round game in the tournament pretty much seem to depend on being able to finish fourth or fifth in the standings. Those two will meet in the first round. Everybody else will meet one of the top three, two of them will do so on one of the powers' home floors.
With Lafayette's loss Saturday to Navy, three teams -- Lafayette, American and Navy -- are within one-game of each other in the battle for those two spots. Colgate, which has yet to beat anybody not named Army in conference play, still has a shot, a game and a half back of fourth-place Lafayette. With a home-and-home against Navy counting for two of the Raiders four games that will remain after today, they still have a shot at one of those spots if they win at AU. A loss, with games at Lehigh and at home against Holy Cross, also left, and Colgate can pencil in a first round game at the second seed.
American, with a win, would be even with Lafayette, with a favorable remaining schedule -- Navy and Holy Cross at home, road games at Army and Lafayette. A loss would leave AU tied with Navy and Colgate in the standings, all three at 3-7, a game behind Lafayette (4-6).
Lafayette still has a home date with Bucknell and a visit to Lehigh, before finishing the regular season with Army and AU, both in Easton. Navy has three of four on the road down the stretch, at Holy Cross, Colgate and American, before hosting Colgate in its final regular season game.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 7:29 p.m., links added 9:05 a.m.)
Down 15, with 16 minutes to go, Bucknell rallied behind smothering second half defense to reach 11-0 in the league, equaling the 1990-91 Fordham team's best start in league history.
The Bison clinched a home court edge in the first two rounds of the league tournament, winning its 11th game in a row.
Bucknell held HC to seven second half field goals (7-22, 31.8 percent) while battling back after falling behind 40-25 after allowing HC to score 7 unanswered points to open the second half.
Holy Cross scored first, 12 seconds into the game, and led all but 33 seconds of the game until Kevin Bettencourt hit a three-pointer with 2:02 to play to put the Bison on top 53-51.
Charles Lee was the star for the Bison. From the sound of things, Lee was the best player on the floor Saturday afternoon, leading all scorers with 24 points, including 14 in the final 16 minutes. Lee also had 4 of his 7 rebounds and 2 of his game-high 4 steals in that same stretch. Lee also hit the 1,000 career points mark, becoming the 32nd BU player to reach that milestone.
Lee was awarded Martin J. O'Malley Award as the Most Valuable Player of Holy Cross' Winter Homecoming game. He becomes the second Bison and just the fourth visiting player to win that honor in its 19-year history. Bison point guard Bill Courtney won it in 1991.
No other Bison reached double figures. Donald Brown came up a board and a bucket shy of a double-double with 9 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.
Foul trouble hurt the Crusaders. So did foul shooting. Kevin Hamilton was on the bench with four personals when Bucknell got things going in the second half. Tim Clifford also spent a good chunk of the second half with four fouls. And while Bucknell was hitting 16 of 21 free throws, Holy Cross hit only 11 of 20 at the line. Those math majors reading this already noticed that 5-point differential was the same as the final margin.
Keith Simmons led HC with 13 points. Hamilton added 12 and Clifford finished with 10. The Crusaders hit only 3 three-pointers (on 14 attempts, 21.4 percent). Four of those misses (0 for 4) came from Torey Thomas, who dished off 7 assists, but shot a horrible 1 for 11 from the field.
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Down 15, with 16 minutes to go, Bucknell rallied behind smothering second half defense to reach 11-0 in the league, equaling the 1990-91 Fordham team's best start in league history.
The Bison clinched a home court edge in the first two rounds of the league tournament, winning its 11th game in a row.
Bucknell held HC to seven second half field goals (7-22, 31.8 percent) while battling back after falling behind 40-25 after allowing HC to score 7 unanswered points to open the second half.
Holy Cross scored first, 12 seconds into the game, and led all but 33 seconds of the game until Kevin Bettencourt hit a three-pointer with 2:02 to play to put the Bison on top 53-51.
Charles Lee was the star for the Bison. From the sound of things, Lee was the best player on the floor Saturday afternoon, leading all scorers with 24 points, including 14 in the final 16 minutes. Lee also had 4 of his 7 rebounds and 2 of his game-high 4 steals in that same stretch. Lee also hit the 1,000 career points mark, becoming the 32nd BU player to reach that milestone.
Lee was awarded Martin J. O'Malley Award as the Most Valuable Player of Holy Cross' Winter Homecoming game. He becomes the second Bison and just the fourth visiting player to win that honor in its 19-year history. Bison point guard Bill Courtney won it in 1991.
No other Bison reached double figures. Donald Brown came up a board and a bucket shy of a double-double with 9 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.
Foul trouble hurt the Crusaders. So did foul shooting. Kevin Hamilton was on the bench with four personals when Bucknell got things going in the second half. Tim Clifford also spent a good chunk of the second half with four fouls. And while Bucknell was hitting 16 of 21 free throws, Holy Cross hit only 11 of 20 at the line. Those math majors reading this already noticed that 5-point differential was the same as the final margin.
Keith Simmons led HC with 13 points. Hamilton added 12 and Clifford finished with 10. The Crusaders hit only 3 three-pointers (on 14 attempts, 21.4 percent). Four of those misses (0 for 4) came from Torey Thomas, who dished off 7 assists, but shot a horrible 1 for 11 from the field.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 7:46 p.m., links added at 9:03 a.m.)
The Midshipmen wrapped a 17-0 run around the intermission, scoring the last 9 points of the first half to take a 38-29 lead, then posting 8 unanswered to start the second half.
Lafayette cut it to 8 on back-to-back treys by Paul Cummins midway through the second half, but the Mids responed by putting the game away with a 21-4 spurt.
The backcourt duo of Kaleo Kina and Corey Johnson with 19 each to lead Navy. Kina also had 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Greg Sprink (15) and Matt Fannin (12) also in doubles for Navy.
Andrei Capusan's 11 led Lafayette (10-13, 4-6). Freshman guard Andrew Brown added 10.
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The Midshipmen wrapped a 17-0 run around the intermission, scoring the last 9 points of the first half to take a 38-29 lead, then posting 8 unanswered to start the second half.
Lafayette cut it to 8 on back-to-back treys by Paul Cummins midway through the second half, but the Mids responed by putting the game away with a 21-4 spurt.
The backcourt duo of Kaleo Kina and Corey Johnson with 19 each to lead Navy. Kina also had 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Greg Sprink (15) and Matt Fannin (12) also in doubles for Navy.
Andrei Capusan's 11 led Lafayette (10-13, 4-6). Freshman guard Andrew Brown added 10.
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Saturday, February 11, 2006
Bucknell radio guy Doug Birdsong reported in the postgame after the Bison win over Holy Cross that Patriot League Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich said in a radio interview next year's tournament will have first round games at the 4 highest seeds, with the remaining ames at the home of the higher seed.
The women will go to a one-site tournament.
Nothing official on the league Web site yet, but we will try to get details when they become available.
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The women will go to a one-site tournament.
Nothing official on the league Web site yet, but we will try to get details when they become available.
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It was over early. Army made but 4 field goals (4 of 20, 20 percent) in the first half, trailing 33-13 at the break.
Joe Knight with 16 points, including 4 treys for Lehigh. Knight's 30 minutes were tops played for Lehigh. Nobody else in double figures, but 7 guys scored between 5 and 9, giving the Mountain Hawks good balance.
Jarrell Brown with 14 to lead Army. Matt Bell 1 for 12, 2 points.
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Joe Knight with 16 points, including 4 treys for Lehigh. Knight's 30 minutes were tops played for Lehigh. Nobody else in double figures, but 7 guys scored between 5 and 9, giving the Mountain Hawks good balance.
Jarrell Brown with 14 to lead Army. Matt Bell 1 for 12, 2 points.
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I talked myself out of the 6-hour drive to Worcester, with a return trip likely to be through lots of snow. I thought about riding a BU fan bus, but they leave immediately after the game, so I would miss the press conference and have no way to post the gamer anyhow until I got back.
The appeal of seeing my dauighters' last rec games of a season I have pretty much missed was also a factor.
Actually, despite all the hype, especially in the HC end, Bucknell media are pretty much shunning the trip. Even before the , the general attitude among the beat writers covering the Bison was that it is not a big enough game to be worth a 6-hour drive each way. Last I heard, only one of the papers that cover the Bison were thinking about making the trek. And that guy was said to be wavering due to weather concerns.
would be going, 'cept his paper had a team in the state high school team wrestling championships, so his boss went there, the guy who does prep hoops took the desk, leaving E to cover a key HS game. Life at a small paper.
Even if BU loses, they can win the top seed by beating Lafayette on the road and taking the last two at home over Lehigh and Army.
Even more realistic is that HC will beat Lehigh in Worcester when they play again. Then even if Lehigh would also beat BU, they'd still get the top seed since all three would have two losses, with splits head to head. The tiebreaker would be RPI.
Any how, here's this morning's read (and listen) around, along with our usual preview capsules:
LISTEN UP: Boxman has a link on his to an from Boxman's Show With No Name on WCHC-FM.
Also over at Boxman's blog, a that gives one guys view of the matchups in this afternoon's Bucknell-Holy Cross game. This is a link, not an endorsement. Lots of folks don't agree with his view. Feel free to join in the discussion over on the -- they have a going there.
TOM'S TAKE: Bucknell beat guy Tom Housenick of The Daily Item also in this morning's paper.
TALK ABOUT IT: By the way, folks will be chatting during the Bucknell-HC game in the . Just click on that link, log in and select the Patriot League room (when you enter, you will be in the Ivy Room. Folks who follow other league teams can join the chat and talk Patriot League hoops. Those listening to or tracking the other two games, who would like to keep everyone updated, are particularly encouraged to visit. We'll join the conversation as soon as we get back from the kid's big game.
Patriot League scoreboards
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Bucknell at Holy Cross, 3:30 p.m.: It's a must-win for Holy Cross. A loss would all but end the Crusaders hopes of securing a home court edge in the first two rounds of the league tournament. For Bucknell, it's not as life-and death, but it is still a big game. Bucknell would clinch at least second place and the chance to host the first two rounds in Sjoka Pavilion with a win. A win would also make BU 11-0 in the conference, equalling Fordham's record for the best start in league play. The Rams went 11-0 before finishing 11-1 in 1990-91, the first season of Patriot League hoops.
Bucknell's 10-game win streak is not the only streak on the line. The Bison have won 14 straight in conference play, dating back to last season. Holy Cross has won 15 straight regular season league home games, including 4 this season. Of course the modifer "regular season" is needed becuse Bucknell won at the Hart Center in last year's league final.
Over the last six seasons, HC is 34-4 in the Hart Center. Two of those losses, though, came at the hands of Bucknell, which is 8-8 all-time against HC in Worcester. The Bison have won five of seven overall against Holy Cross over the last three seasons.
There is no end to the analyzing that can be done of the matchups between these two, but if forced to boil it down to three keys, they would probably be:
1. Bucknell's defense vs. Holy Cross' offense. If the Bison hold Holy Cross under 60, it might be tough for the Crusaders to win. HC is 2-6 in games in which it scores less than 60 this season. Bucknell is 16-0 in games where the opponent scored 60 or less.
2. Chris McNaughton vs. Tim Clifford. The two best offensive big men in the league. Establishing McNaughton in the post has been a key for the Bison in its last two wins over HC. The lack of a corresponding post presence for HC was a key shortcoming when Bucknell won 56-42 in Sjoka earlier this season. Clifford has emerged since then, but the lack of quality big men in the rest of the league means he has yet to prove he can produce against legitimate opposition in the post. Watch Clifford's foul situation. He tends to get into foul trouble, and guarding McNaughton could amplify that problem. McNaughton, on the other hand, will get plenty of help on defense from Darren Mastropaolo and Tarik Viaer-McClymont, who gives away a few inches to Clifford, but matches up well in strength.
3. Bucknell's bench vs. the HC bench. Ralph Willard has been using an eight-man rotation; Pat Flannery generally goes nine deep. But the difference is bigger than those numbers. When Bucknell goes to the bench, it brings in Donald Brown, John Griffin, sharpshooting freshman Jason Vegotzky and Viaer-McClymont. Willard's bench is senior big man Kevin Hyland and a pair of freshmen-- Lawrence Dixon and Colin Cunningham. Look for Bucknell to try to wear the Crusaders down in the second half. This might be the place to mention how important it is for Holy Cross that Keith Simmons avoid cramping up in the second half and be available to play most of the game.
One thing to watch for: In the preseason, Flannery talked about Bucknell pressing and trapping more. In recent games the Bison have shown some of that from time to time. Will Flannery press more here in an effort to wear HC down, especially Torey Thomas, who is the only point guard Willard has available.
On the other side of that coin, Holy Cross has had some success in the past by pressing Bucknell, and the Bison have shown some signs of having trouble handling full court pressure. Will Willard try to press the Bison, or will he stay in halfcourt defensive looks to avoid wearing out his guards, who already log a lot of minutes.
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Lafayette at Navy, 3 p.m.: Alone in fourth place, Lafayette could solidify that spot with a win at Navy. That won't come easy. The Leopards are pretty solid at home, but they have struggled on the road, going 4-8 outside of Kirby. They are 2-3 on teh road in league play, coming off a win at Colgate.
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Lehigh at Army, 1 p.m.: Army's notes mention the fact that Lehigh will be screboard watching late in the afternoon, hoping Holy Cross can knock off Bucknell and help the Hawks even the league race. First they need to beat the Cadets, who have been an enigma all season. Army took Lehigh to the wire in Bethlehem earlier this season, losing by just three. They also played Bucknell tough in West Point, before falling to the Bison. But the Black Knights of the Hudson have yet to defend their home court in league play. Matter of fact, they have not beaten a Division I opponent in Christl all season.
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The appeal of seeing my dauighters' last rec games of a season I have pretty much missed was also a factor.
Actually, despite all the hype, especially in the HC end, Bucknell media are pretty much shunning the trip. Even before the , the general attitude among the beat writers covering the Bison was that it is not a big enough game to be worth a 6-hour drive each way. Last I heard, only one of the papers that cover the Bison were thinking about making the trek. And that guy was said to be wavering due to weather concerns.
would be going, 'cept his paper had a team in the state high school team wrestling championships, so his boss went there, the guy who does prep hoops took the desk, leaving E to cover a key HS game. Life at a small paper.
Even if BU loses, they can win the top seed by beating Lafayette on the road and taking the last two at home over Lehigh and Army.
Even more realistic is that HC will beat Lehigh in Worcester when they play again. Then even if Lehigh would also beat BU, they'd still get the top seed since all three would have two losses, with splits head to head. The tiebreaker would be RPI.
Any how, here's this morning's read (and listen) around, along with our usual preview capsules:
LISTEN UP: Boxman has a link on his to an from Boxman's Show With No Name on WCHC-FM.
Also over at Boxman's blog, a that gives one guys view of the matchups in this afternoon's Bucknell-Holy Cross game. This is a link, not an endorsement. Lots of folks don't agree with his view. Feel free to join in the discussion over on the -- they have a going there.
TOM'S TAKE: Bucknell beat guy Tom Housenick of The Daily Item also in this morning's paper.
TALK ABOUT IT: By the way, folks will be chatting during the Bucknell-HC game in the . Just click on that link, log in and select the Patriot League room (when you enter, you will be in the Ivy Room. Folks who follow other league teams can join the chat and talk Patriot League hoops. Those listening to or tracking the other two games, who would like to keep everyone updated, are particularly encouraged to visit. We'll join the conversation as soon as we get back from the kid's big game.
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Bucknell at Holy Cross, 3:30 p.m.: It's a must-win for Holy Cross. A loss would all but end the Crusaders hopes of securing a home court edge in the first two rounds of the league tournament. For Bucknell, it's not as life-and death, but it is still a big game. Bucknell would clinch at least second place and the chance to host the first two rounds in Sjoka Pavilion with a win. A win would also make BU 11-0 in the conference, equalling Fordham's record for the best start in league play. The Rams went 11-0 before finishing 11-1 in 1990-91, the first season of Patriot League hoops.
Bucknell's 10-game win streak is not the only streak on the line. The Bison have won 14 straight in conference play, dating back to last season. Holy Cross has won 15 straight regular season league home games, including 4 this season. Of course the modifer "regular season" is needed becuse Bucknell won at the Hart Center in last year's league final.
Over the last six seasons, HC is 34-4 in the Hart Center. Two of those losses, though, came at the hands of Bucknell, which is 8-8 all-time against HC in Worcester. The Bison have won five of seven overall against Holy Cross over the last three seasons.
There is no end to the analyzing that can be done of the matchups between these two, but if forced to boil it down to three keys, they would probably be:
1. Bucknell's defense vs. Holy Cross' offense. If the Bison hold Holy Cross under 60, it might be tough for the Crusaders to win. HC is 2-6 in games in which it scores less than 60 this season. Bucknell is 16-0 in games where the opponent scored 60 or less.
2. Chris McNaughton vs. Tim Clifford. The two best offensive big men in the league. Establishing McNaughton in the post has been a key for the Bison in its last two wins over HC. The lack of a corresponding post presence for HC was a key shortcoming when Bucknell won 56-42 in Sjoka earlier this season. Clifford has emerged since then, but the lack of quality big men in the rest of the league means he has yet to prove he can produce against legitimate opposition in the post. Watch Clifford's foul situation. He tends to get into foul trouble, and guarding McNaughton could amplify that problem. McNaughton, on the other hand, will get plenty of help on defense from Darren Mastropaolo and Tarik Viaer-McClymont, who gives away a few inches to Clifford, but matches up well in strength.
3. Bucknell's bench vs. the HC bench. Ralph Willard has been using an eight-man rotation; Pat Flannery generally goes nine deep. But the difference is bigger than those numbers. When Bucknell goes to the bench, it brings in Donald Brown, John Griffin, sharpshooting freshman Jason Vegotzky and Viaer-McClymont. Willard's bench is senior big man Kevin Hyland and a pair of freshmen-- Lawrence Dixon and Colin Cunningham. Look for Bucknell to try to wear the Crusaders down in the second half. This might be the place to mention how important it is for Holy Cross that Keith Simmons avoid cramping up in the second half and be available to play most of the game.
One thing to watch for: In the preseason, Flannery talked about Bucknell pressing and trapping more. In recent games the Bison have shown some of that from time to time. Will Flannery press more here in an effort to wear HC down, especially Torey Thomas, who is the only point guard Willard has available.
On the other side of that coin, Holy Cross has had some success in the past by pressing Bucknell, and the Bison have shown some signs of having trouble handling full court pressure. Will Willard try to press the Bison, or will he stay in halfcourt defensive looks to avoid wearing out his guards, who already log a lot of minutes.
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Lafayette at Navy, 3 p.m.: Alone in fourth place, Lafayette could solidify that spot with a win at Navy. That won't come easy. The Leopards are pretty solid at home, but they have struggled on the road, going 4-8 outside of Kirby. They are 2-3 on teh road in league play, coming off a win at Colgate.
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Lehigh at Army, 1 p.m.: Army's notes mention the fact that Lehigh will be screboard watching late in the afternoon, hoping Holy Cross can knock off Bucknell and help the Hawks even the league race. First they need to beat the Cadets, who have been an enigma all season. Army took Lehigh to the wire in Bethlehem earlier this season, losing by just three. They also played Bucknell tough in West Point, before falling to the Bison. But the Black Knights of the Hudson have yet to defend their home court in league play. Matter of fact, they have not beaten a Division I opponent in Christl all season.
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Friday, February 10, 2006
It will be a sold out crowd in Holy Cross' Hart Center Saturday when Bucknell comes to town. That does not mean it will be entirely a sea of purple.
The Bison faithful have traveled well all season, showing up in significant numbers everywhere the Orange and Blue have played.
Bucknell is bringing two fan buses and sources at the Lewisburg school say many students are passing on the buses in favor of making the drive themselves. Reports indicate many started buying their tickets long ago in anticipation of this being a big game.
Also on hand will be over 100 fans of Bucknell senior Kevin Bettencourt, who grew up a little over an hour away in Peabody, Mass.
Kevin's father, Ed Bettencourt, said he started buying blocks of tickets a few months ago in anticipation of demand from friends and family anxious to see Kevin in his last trip "home."
"There will be a lot of Bettencourts there," laughed Ed in a phone interview Friday afternoon. "It's the last trip home. Hopefully it will be a successful one."
Ed started buying tickets in blocks of about 30. Eventually, as the total he bought grew, it raised a red flag with the Holy Cross box office.
Sources at Bucknell said Holy Cross cut Bettencourt off. Ed said it wasn't quite like that.
"I wouldn't say they cut me off, but I did find it funny they made a call to Bucknell complaining," Ed Bettencourt said. "Once they heard the last name, they knew."
That Bettencourt last name is familiar to the folks in Worcester. Kevin's older brother, Ted, was a four-year letter winner at Holy Cross and a captain on the Crusaders 1995-96 team that finished 17-12, losing to Adonal Foyle and Colgate in the league final.
Dad said blood is thicker than school ties; Ted will be rooting for Kevin and Bucknell in this one.
"After the season is over, he can change back. But right now, it is all Bucknell," Ed Betterncourt said.
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The Bison faithful have traveled well all season, showing up in significant numbers everywhere the Orange and Blue have played.
Bucknell is bringing two fan buses and sources at the Lewisburg school say many students are passing on the buses in favor of making the drive themselves. Reports indicate many started buying their tickets long ago in anticipation of this being a big game.
Also on hand will be over 100 fans of Bucknell senior Kevin Bettencourt, who grew up a little over an hour away in Peabody, Mass.
Kevin's father, Ed Bettencourt, said he started buying blocks of tickets a few months ago in anticipation of demand from friends and family anxious to see Kevin in his last trip "home."
"There will be a lot of Bettencourts there," laughed Ed in a phone interview Friday afternoon. "It's the last trip home. Hopefully it will be a successful one."
Ed started buying tickets in blocks of about 30. Eventually, as the total he bought grew, it raised a red flag with the Holy Cross box office.
Sources at Bucknell said Holy Cross cut Bettencourt off. Ed said it wasn't quite like that.
"I wouldn't say they cut me off, but I did find it funny they made a call to Bucknell complaining," Ed Bettencourt said. "Once they heard the last name, they knew."
That Bettencourt last name is familiar to the folks in Worcester. Kevin's older brother, Ted, was a four-year letter winner at Holy Cross and a captain on the Crusaders 1995-96 team that finished 17-12, losing to Adonal Foyle and Colgate in the league final.
Dad said blood is thicker than school ties; Ted will be rooting for Kevin and Bucknell in this one.
"After the season is over, he can change back. But right now, it is all Bucknell," Ed Betterncourt said.
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Been a while since Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard had posted an update on his great CoachRalph site. Finally a today, looking back at the past several Holy Cross games and offering this take on Saturday's meeting with BucknellRalph Willard: Holy Cross Basketball - Team Report:
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We are playing a very talented, mentally tough, well-coached team Saturday, who have had an outstanding year. We will have to execute much better than we have in the last two games to have a chance to beat them. In light of that I am going to change my pre-game talk to my half time talk. Obviously the pre-game talk the past two games belongs in the dumpster. Should be another fun atmosphere. I am trying to get our guys to look at it that way.As we seem to say every time Ralph makes a new post, this is a must click.
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JOSE, JOSE -- Ever wonder where Lehigh's Jose Olivero gets his toughness from? In today's Morning Call. the Mountain Hawks' high-scoring guard, and reveals that secret:
LOW NUMBERS -- Not many Lehigh students actually get to see Olivero display his talents. If you have been to a game at Stabler in recent seasons, you won't be surprised by this about poor student attendance at Lehigh sporting events. One thing they left out: They mention an organization called the Pink Ladies that brought out 255 female students for the Lehigh-Holy Cross women's game. What would have added some perspective to the story is that by the time the men's nightcap started, less than a dozen of those pink T-shirts could still be seen in the Stabler stands.
BUS CRASH FOLLOW -- Ed Laubach doesn't write enough. The Express-Times sports editor was one of the guys who covered the league when it first started playing hoops back in the day, and still ranks as one of the top guys ever to have covered the Patriot League beat. These days, his management duties keep him away from the gyms for the most part, but now and then he checks in with a story, like on last Saturday's fatal crash that involved the Holy Cross team bus.
ET'S NOTEBOOK -- Eric Thomas, who covers Bucknell for the Shamokin News-Item, uses his personal blog to supplement the coverage he does for the paper. That's where he from the Bucknell-American game, including a defense of our previous claim that Darren Mastropaolo is the second best big man in the league, behind his teammate Chris McNaughton. We wrote that before Holy Cross' Tim Clifford got his game on track, but we're not sure that makes any difference. As E points out, Mastropaolo does all the things that don't show up in box scores, and does them very well.
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Olivero is a mirror image of his father, Jose Raul Olivero, a retired U.S. Army Green Beret and former Colonel of Special Forces in Afghanistan.His father, by the way, lettered in soccer and lacrosse at Army.
LOW NUMBERS -- Not many Lehigh students actually get to see Olivero display his talents. If you have been to a game at Stabler in recent seasons, you won't be surprised by this about poor student attendance at Lehigh sporting events. One thing they left out: They mention an organization called the Pink Ladies that brought out 255 female students for the Lehigh-Holy Cross women's game. What would have added some perspective to the story is that by the time the men's nightcap started, less than a dozen of those pink T-shirts could still be seen in the Stabler stands.
BUS CRASH FOLLOW -- Ed Laubach doesn't write enough. The Express-Times sports editor was one of the guys who covered the league when it first started playing hoops back in the day, and still ranks as one of the top guys ever to have covered the Patriot League beat. These days, his management duties keep him away from the gyms for the most part, but now and then he checks in with a story, like on last Saturday's fatal crash that involved the Holy Cross team bus.
ET'S NOTEBOOK -- Eric Thomas, who covers Bucknell for the Shamokin News-Item, uses his personal blog to supplement the coverage he does for the paper. That's where he from the Bucknell-American game, including a defense of our previous claim that Darren Mastropaolo is the second best big man in the league, behind his teammate Chris McNaughton. We wrote that before Holy Cross' Tim Clifford got his game on track, but we're not sure that makes any difference. As E points out, Mastropaolo does all the things that don't show up in box scores, and does them very well.
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Thursday, February 09, 2006
(Originally posted Wed. at 10:11 p.m., Links added at 7:33 a.m.)
For about half of the first half of Bucknell's 74-57 win Wednesday night over American, the Eagles were right in the game.
Matter of fact, when Garrison Carr drained a three with 11:10 to go in the opening stanza, the Eagles held a 17-16 lead over the first place Bison.
Then Chris McNaughton got it going. After missing his first two shots of the game, McNaughton hit four of the next five he took, scoring 8 quick points to key the 14-1 run the Bison used to take control and Bucknell never looked back. McNaughton went on to lead all scorers with 16 points, going 8 for 12 from the field.
The 16 points were McNaughton's most since he scored the same number against Colgate five games ago.
As American coach Jeff Jones pointed out: "McNaughton was outstanding. His numbers could have been a lot better if they had tried to just pound the ball inside on us."
Instead, the Bison took advantage of the holes McNaughton's presence in the post created to put together a well-balanced offensive attack that saw three more players join McNaughton in double figures and a fifth, Donald Brown, finished with 9. Charles Lee had 15, Kevin Bettencourt 11 and freshman Jason Vegotsky finished with 10 on a perfect shooting night, going 3 for 3 from the field, 2 for 2 from the arc and 2 for 2 at the foul line.
Vegotsky and McNaughton were not the only Bison to shoot the ball well. Bucknell finished the game 26 of 45 (57.8 percent) from the field, hitting 51.7 percent in the first half, then topping that effort with a scorching 68.8 percent show in the second.
It all started with McNaughton.
"As Chris got established, that put us over the top. We got a lot of good looks," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
"He really just opens the floor," added Lee.
"They softened us up by throwing it in there," Jones said.
For McNaughton, the mostly single coverage he got from American was a refreshing change from the constant doubles and triples most teams in the league have been running at him.
"They really didn't double me. They got me the ball where I could do something with it. I had some great looks," McNaughton said.
Bucknell did not rely just on offense. The Bison D was solid, especially while the game was still in doubt, and they owned the glass. American shot just 39.1 percent in the first half, and despite shooting over 50 percent after the break to finish the game at 19 of 42 (45.2 percent) from the field, the Eagles managed only 57 points. It was the 10th time in a row and the 16th time this season that the opposition has failed to reach 60 against the Bison. Bucknell outrebounded AU by a 28-16 margin, grabbing more of its own misses (12 offensive boards) than American did (8 defensive rebounds).
The Bison also got a good game from point guard Abe Badmus, who scored 6 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists and made a pair of steals.
"They are just a very well-balanced team. They don't have a whole lot of weaknesses," Jones said.
Bucknell's lead was 40-26 at the intermission. The lead stretched to 23 points in the second half before American was able to close the game with a 10-4 spurt in the final 5:04.
Derrick Mercer finished with 13 for American. Mercer, who had 2 assists and 3 turnovers, was lucky to not be thrown out of the game after a WWE-style body slam of Badmus after the Bison point guard out-jumped everybody in the paint for an offensive rebound with 5:38 to play.
The win was Bucknell's 10th straight this season, It is the second time in league history a team has started conference play 10-0 (Fordham went 11-0 to start the first season of league play in the 1991). It was also Bucknell's 22nd straight at home and 14th straight overall against league opponents.
It also sets up Saturday's showdown against Holy Cross, the last team to beat the Bison in league play, at the Hart Center, the last place the Bison lost against a conference foe.
Game blog
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For about half of the first half of Bucknell's 74-57 win Wednesday night over American, the Eagles were right in the game.
Matter of fact, when Garrison Carr drained a three with 11:10 to go in the opening stanza, the Eagles held a 17-16 lead over the first place Bison.
Then Chris McNaughton got it going. After missing his first two shots of the game, McNaughton hit four of the next five he took, scoring 8 quick points to key the 14-1 run the Bison used to take control and Bucknell never looked back. McNaughton went on to lead all scorers with 16 points, going 8 for 12 from the field.
The 16 points were McNaughton's most since he scored the same number against Colgate five games ago.
As American coach Jeff Jones pointed out: "McNaughton was outstanding. His numbers could have been a lot better if they had tried to just pound the ball inside on us."
Instead, the Bison took advantage of the holes McNaughton's presence in the post created to put together a well-balanced offensive attack that saw three more players join McNaughton in double figures and a fifth, Donald Brown, finished with 9. Charles Lee had 15, Kevin Bettencourt 11 and freshman Jason Vegotsky finished with 10 on a perfect shooting night, going 3 for 3 from the field, 2 for 2 from the arc and 2 for 2 at the foul line.
Vegotsky and McNaughton were not the only Bison to shoot the ball well. Bucknell finished the game 26 of 45 (57.8 percent) from the field, hitting 51.7 percent in the first half, then topping that effort with a scorching 68.8 percent show in the second.
It all started with McNaughton.
"As Chris got established, that put us over the top. We got a lot of good looks," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
"He really just opens the floor," added Lee.
"They softened us up by throwing it in there," Jones said.
For McNaughton, the mostly single coverage he got from American was a refreshing change from the constant doubles and triples most teams in the league have been running at him.
"They really didn't double me. They got me the ball where I could do something with it. I had some great looks," McNaughton said.
Bucknell did not rely just on offense. The Bison D was solid, especially while the game was still in doubt, and they owned the glass. American shot just 39.1 percent in the first half, and despite shooting over 50 percent after the break to finish the game at 19 of 42 (45.2 percent) from the field, the Eagles managed only 57 points. It was the 10th time in a row and the 16th time this season that the opposition has failed to reach 60 against the Bison. Bucknell outrebounded AU by a 28-16 margin, grabbing more of its own misses (12 offensive boards) than American did (8 defensive rebounds).
The Bison also got a good game from point guard Abe Badmus, who scored 6 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists and made a pair of steals.
"They are just a very well-balanced team. They don't have a whole lot of weaknesses," Jones said.
Bucknell's lead was 40-26 at the intermission. The lead stretched to 23 points in the second half before American was able to close the game with a 10-4 spurt in the final 5:04.
Derrick Mercer finished with 13 for American. Mercer, who had 2 assists and 3 turnovers, was lucky to not be thrown out of the game after a WWE-style body slam of Badmus after the Bison point guard out-jumped everybody in the paint for an offensive rebound with 5:38 to play.
The win was Bucknell's 10th straight this season, It is the second time in league history a team has started conference play 10-0 (Fordham went 11-0 to start the first season of league play in the 1991). It was also Bucknell's 22nd straight at home and 14th straight overall against league opponents.
It also sets up Saturday's showdown against Holy Cross, the last team to beat the Bison in league play, at the Hart Center, the last place the Bison lost against a conference foe.
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(Originally posted Wed. at 10:13 p.m., links added at 7:19 a.m.)
Holy Cross 88, Army 38 -- The widest HC margin of victory in the Hart Center ever.
The Crusaders used a pair of 8-0 runs to build a lead in the first half, then closed the half on a 16-0 note, taking a 42-14 lead at the break.
Four of five starters were in double figures for Holy Cross, led by Torey Thomas, who had 21 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and a pair of steals. Kevin Hamilton (15) Keith Simmons (12) and Tim Clifford (13) also in double figures for Holy Cross, which shot 32 of 59 (54.2 percent) from the field and hit 11 treys, four by Thomas.
At the other end of the floor, it was vintage Crusaders defense. Army finished with only 11 field goals, five in the first, six in the second half. For the game, Army shot 21.6 percent (11 of 51).
Lafayette 63, Colgate 55 -- Trailing 34-28 at the break, Lafayette opened the second half with a 9-0 run. The Raiders countered with a 9-0 spurt of their own. But Lafayette scored the next 13 points and went on to beat Colgate on its own floor.
Lafayette did not shoot well, hitting 21 of 53 (39.6 percent). But they were 19 of 23 from the free throw line while Colgate only shot 10 free throws (6-10) and went 8 for 31 (25.8 percent) in the second half.
Andrei Capusan led the Leopards with 18 points. Everest Schmidt (12) and Pat Betley (11) also reached double figures.
Mark Daniels posted a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. But he only played 27 minutes due to foul trouble. Daniels had 4 personals. Jon Simon added 10 points for the Raiders.
(wrap also includes Lehigh game)
Lehigh 74, Navy 49 -- Lehigh shot 74 percent in the second half to bury the Mids, who trailed just 31-26 at the break.
The Mountain Hawks opened the second half on an 18-4 note and went on to hit 15 of its first 19 shots in the half. Navy was 1 for 11 to start the second half, finishing the half 8 for 34 (23.5 percent).
Jose Olivero led Lehigh with 18 points. Joe Knight added 14 and Kyle Neptune 13.
Matt Fannin was the only Mid in doublke figures. Fannin scored all of his 12 points in the first half.
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Holy Cross 88, Army 38 -- The widest HC margin of victory in the Hart Center ever.
The Crusaders used a pair of 8-0 runs to build a lead in the first half, then closed the half on a 16-0 note, taking a 42-14 lead at the break.
Four of five starters were in double figures for Holy Cross, led by Torey Thomas, who had 21 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and a pair of steals. Kevin Hamilton (15) Keith Simmons (12) and Tim Clifford (13) also in double figures for Holy Cross, which shot 32 of 59 (54.2 percent) from the field and hit 11 treys, four by Thomas.
At the other end of the floor, it was vintage Crusaders defense. Army finished with only 11 field goals, five in the first, six in the second half. For the game, Army shot 21.6 percent (11 of 51).
Lafayette 63, Colgate 55 -- Trailing 34-28 at the break, Lafayette opened the second half with a 9-0 run. The Raiders countered with a 9-0 spurt of their own. But Lafayette scored the next 13 points and went on to beat Colgate on its own floor.
Lafayette did not shoot well, hitting 21 of 53 (39.6 percent). But they were 19 of 23 from the free throw line while Colgate only shot 10 free throws (6-10) and went 8 for 31 (25.8 percent) in the second half.
Andrei Capusan led the Leopards with 18 points. Everest Schmidt (12) and Pat Betley (11) also reached double figures.
Mark Daniels posted a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. But he only played 27 minutes due to foul trouble. Daniels had 4 personals. Jon Simon added 10 points for the Raiders.
Lehigh 74, Navy 49 -- Lehigh shot 74 percent in the second half to bury the Mids, who trailed just 31-26 at the break.
The Mountain Hawks opened the second half on an 18-4 note and went on to hit 15 of its first 19 shots in the half. Navy was 1 for 11 to start the second half, finishing the half 8 for 34 (23.5 percent).
Jose Olivero led Lehigh with 18 points. Joe Knight added 14 and Kyle Neptune 13.
Matt Fannin was the only Mid in doublke figures. Fannin scored all of his 12 points in the first half.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2006
American 8, Bucknell 6 (15:54 first) Mastropaolo asserting himself early, a bucket and a block in the first minute. Lee with a trey and 1-2 at the line for Bucknell.
American is getting to the hole early, its first 8 points all in the paint, including an Andre Ingram dunk off a steal.
Bucknell 2-5 from the field, AU 4-8.
By the way, Bucknell's pep band consists of about a dozen tonight. The student sections at either end are only about three-quarters full, plenty of seats on both sides, but still a decent crowd. It would probably easily overflow old Davis.
Bucknell 30, AU 18 (4:48 first)
It's mostly about offense right now. Both teams shooting 7-14 from the field. Bucknell 3-4 from 3-point range, including one off the bench by Jason Vegotsky that was answered by AU frosh Garrison Carr.
Bucknell 22, AU 17 (7:58 first)
We once again have the displeasure of watching Mr. Rich Giallella at work. There might be worse officials working the league, but they are not as noticeably bad as this guy has been every time we have seen him this season.
McNaughton more assertive tonight. Has five shots so far and has hit the last two. Bucknell on a little 6-0 run at the moment.
Bucknell 22, AU 17 (7:58 first)
Last post we said McNaughton getting going. Right after that he hit two more buckets, giving him six straight points and 8 of Bucknell's dozen on a 12-2 run. Run reached 14-2 before Derrick Mercer hit a three for AU to end the draught.
Vegotsky answered with a trey for BU.
We take back what we said about Giallella. The rest of this crew is just as bad. Not sure who the other two guys are. Don't recognize them.
Want to get the crowd loud during a timeout? Bring in a little girl who can do handsprings by the dozen, dress he in a little white cheerleader outfit trimmed in orange and blue and have her do tumbling runs while your less athletic regular cheerleaders build a formation behind her.
Bucknell 40, AU 26 (Halftime)
Another way to get the crowd going: A Donald Brown dunk on the follow after Charles Lee mis-times his jump on a breakaway and misses the dunk the crowd had anticipated. Ahs to Oohs in the time it takes Giallella to comb his hair.
At the break, Bucknell shooting 15-29 (51.7 percent) 5-8 on three-pointers
McNaughton 5-8, 10 points and 5 rebounds for Bucknell
Vegotsky 8 points on 3-3 shooting, 2-2 on treys
Bucknell winning the boards 19-10
For AU, after a strong start, they are now at 9-23 from the field (39.1 percent)
Mercer and Carr each with 5 points. Ingram's only points on the breakaway. He's 1-2 and sat a long spell with three personals.
In fairness to Giallella, we should mention the names of the other two guys working the game -- John Regan and Jeff Janosik.
Google Janosik and you will find mostly Division 3 box scores prior to this season. Too many John Regans deemed more important by Google for us to find any boxes with his name in the short time we have to search during the intermission.
Bucknell 47, AU 34 (15:49 second)
Mercer with two quick fouls in the second half. The first when he tackles Badmus in frustration after Badmus picked him clean out near midcourt.
Ingram hit AU's first two shots of the half, one a three. He now has 7, which must be close to a career high vs. Bucknell for the AU senior.
McNaughton with 4 early in the half, he now has 14 and has not missed in a while.
Team fouls at the first media timeout: AU 5, BU 1.
Billbe and Ingram with three each for AU. Brown with 3 personals for BU.
Bucknell 54, AU 37
Bison on a 9-3 spurt, 7 of the points from Charles Lee, who now has 13, including two treys.
Giallella just called a double dribble on Vegotsky with Eitutavicius draped across his back.
At the timeout, one of the two Js on the crew comes over and says he heard me talking about him. Probably before the start of the second half when I discussed the Google searches. Told him I was writing about him too. Wonder if he will Google himself tomorrow.
Bucknell 63, AU 47 (7:48 second)
Bright spot for AU, three-point shooting. Eagles are 7-11 from the arc, including 3-3 by Mercer, who has 11 points.
McNaughton (16), Lee (13) and Vegotsky (10) in double figures for the Bison.
Bucknell 70, AU 47 (5:38 left)
BU student chants -- Airball, Airball everytime Linas Lekvicius touches the ball (he has had two); Gary Coleman, Gary Coleman when Mercer has the rock.
Mercer just took Badmus down WWE style after Badmus outleaped everybody under the rack for an offensive board.
Would have been an illegal slam in real wrestling. He is hit with a personal and a T, should have been ejected. It was flagrant. AP scribe Jeff Fishbein says it would even cost two minutes in Hockey, but really, probably would be a game misconduct.
Bettencourt his one of two on the T, Badmus one of two. The Coleman chant has been replaced by a chorus of boos when Mercer has the ball.
Bucknell 74, AU 53 (2:13 left)
Bettencourt now also in double figures with 11. Brown has 9.
Bucknell 74, AU 57 (FINAL)
Another way to excite the crowd, put Holland Mack in the game (1:18 left)
The final minute is left to the far ends of both benches.
Bucknell finishes 26-45 (57,8 percent) from the field 8-13 from the arc.
McNaughton 16, Lee 15, Bettencourt 11, Vegotsky 3-3 from the field, 2-2 from 3-pt., 2-2 FT 10 points. Brown 4-5, 9 points. Badmus 5 assists, 6 rebounds.
AU -- 19-42 (45.2 percent) from the field 8-15 3s
Mercer 4-4, 3-3 on treys, 2-2 FT -- 13 points
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American is getting to the hole early, its first 8 points all in the paint, including an Andre Ingram dunk off a steal.
Bucknell 2-5 from the field, AU 4-8.
By the way, Bucknell's pep band consists of about a dozen tonight. The student sections at either end are only about three-quarters full, plenty of seats on both sides, but still a decent crowd. It would probably easily overflow old Davis.
Bucknell 30, AU 18 (4:48 first)
It's mostly about offense right now. Both teams shooting 7-14 from the field. Bucknell 3-4 from 3-point range, including one off the bench by Jason Vegotsky that was answered by AU frosh Garrison Carr.
Bucknell 22, AU 17 (7:58 first)
We once again have the displeasure of watching Mr. Rich Giallella at work. There might be worse officials working the league, but they are not as noticeably bad as this guy has been every time we have seen him this season.
McNaughton more assertive tonight. Has five shots so far and has hit the last two. Bucknell on a little 6-0 run at the moment.
Bucknell 22, AU 17 (7:58 first)
Last post we said McNaughton getting going. Right after that he hit two more buckets, giving him six straight points and 8 of Bucknell's dozen on a 12-2 run. Run reached 14-2 before Derrick Mercer hit a three for AU to end the draught.
Vegotsky answered with a trey for BU.
We take back what we said about Giallella. The rest of this crew is just as bad. Not sure who the other two guys are. Don't recognize them.
Want to get the crowd loud during a timeout? Bring in a little girl who can do handsprings by the dozen, dress he in a little white cheerleader outfit trimmed in orange and blue and have her do tumbling runs while your less athletic regular cheerleaders build a formation behind her.
Bucknell 40, AU 26 (Halftime)
Another way to get the crowd going: A Donald Brown dunk on the follow after Charles Lee mis-times his jump on a breakaway and misses the dunk the crowd had anticipated. Ahs to Oohs in the time it takes Giallella to comb his hair.
At the break, Bucknell shooting 15-29 (51.7 percent) 5-8 on three-pointers
McNaughton 5-8, 10 points and 5 rebounds for Bucknell
Vegotsky 8 points on 3-3 shooting, 2-2 on treys
Bucknell winning the boards 19-10
For AU, after a strong start, they are now at 9-23 from the field (39.1 percent)
Mercer and Carr each with 5 points. Ingram's only points on the breakaway. He's 1-2 and sat a long spell with three personals.
In fairness to Giallella, we should mention the names of the other two guys working the game -- John Regan and Jeff Janosik.
Google Janosik and you will find mostly Division 3 box scores prior to this season. Too many John Regans deemed more important by Google for us to find any boxes with his name in the short time we have to search during the intermission.
Bucknell 47, AU 34 (15:49 second)
Mercer with two quick fouls in the second half. The first when he tackles Badmus in frustration after Badmus picked him clean out near midcourt.
Ingram hit AU's first two shots of the half, one a three. He now has 7, which must be close to a career high vs. Bucknell for the AU senior.
McNaughton with 4 early in the half, he now has 14 and has not missed in a while.
Team fouls at the first media timeout: AU 5, BU 1.
Billbe and Ingram with three each for AU. Brown with 3 personals for BU.
Bucknell 54, AU 37
Bison on a 9-3 spurt, 7 of the points from Charles Lee, who now has 13, including two treys.
Giallella just called a double dribble on Vegotsky with Eitutavicius draped across his back.
At the timeout, one of the two Js on the crew comes over and says he heard me talking about him. Probably before the start of the second half when I discussed the Google searches. Told him I was writing about him too. Wonder if he will Google himself tomorrow.
Bucknell 63, AU 47 (7:48 second)
Bright spot for AU, three-point shooting. Eagles are 7-11 from the arc, including 3-3 by Mercer, who has 11 points.
McNaughton (16), Lee (13) and Vegotsky (10) in double figures for the Bison.
Bucknell 70, AU 47 (5:38 left)
BU student chants -- Airball, Airball everytime Linas Lekvicius touches the ball (he has had two); Gary Coleman, Gary Coleman when Mercer has the rock.
Mercer just took Badmus down WWE style after Badmus outleaped everybody under the rack for an offensive board.
Would have been an illegal slam in real wrestling. He is hit with a personal and a T, should have been ejected. It was flagrant. AP scribe Jeff Fishbein says it would even cost two minutes in Hockey, but really, probably would be a game misconduct.
Bettencourt his one of two on the T, Badmus one of two. The Coleman chant has been replaced by a chorus of boos when Mercer has the ball.
Bucknell 74, AU 53 (2:13 left)
Bettencourt now also in double figures with 11. Brown has 9.
Bucknell 74, AU 57 (FINAL)
Another way to excite the crowd, put Holland Mack in the game (1:18 left)
The final minute is left to the far ends of both benches.
Bucknell finishes 26-45 (57,8 percent) from the field 8-13 from the arc.
McNaughton 16, Lee 15, Bettencourt 11, Vegotsky 3-3 from the field, 2-2 from 3-pt., 2-2 FT 10 points. Brown 4-5, 9 points. Badmus 5 assists, 6 rebounds.
AU -- 19-42 (45.2 percent) from the field 8-15 3s
Mercer 4-4, 3-3 on treys, 2-2 FT -- 13 points
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Army at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.: The big game for Holy Cross this week is Saturday, when Bucknell comes to town. If the Crusaders are looking ahead to that sold-out showdown, it could cost them, though. And it would be easy to look past Army, which has lost four in a row and 13 of its last 14 against Division I foes. Adding to that temptation, the Crusaders beat Army by 38 points when they met earlier this season at West Point.
Army has played better since then. Last week the Cadets led Bucknell in the second half. They also came within 3 points at Lehigh and took American to overtime in Bender.
Holy Cross has won 10 straight against Army and all time, they are 26-2 against the Cadets in the Hart Center. The Crusaders have won 14 straight regular season Patriot League home games, and as long as they don't make the mistake of taking Army too lightly, that streak should be at 15 when Bucknell comes to town.
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American at Bucknell, 7 p.m.:NOTE THE TIME, WE HAD IT INCORRECT EARLIER TODAY. It's the lone home game in a three-week stretch for Bucknell, which was on the road for a pair last week and has three more road games ahead, starting Saturday at Holy Cross and finishing next Saturday in the BracketBuster at Northern Iowa. Another team with streaks on the line, the Bison have won nine in a row, 13 straight against league opponents and 21 straight league games in Sojka Pavilion.
This one was close when the two met at Bender a few weeks ago, but Bucknell's defense, ranked fourth in the nation, has not allowed a league opponent to score more than 47 points in Sojka.
The Bison have owned AU's Andre Ingram since he came into the league. Ingram's was 2-10 from the field the last time these tow met, making him 17-78 (21.8 percent) for his career against the Bison. If that trend continues, it will be tough for American to outscore Bucknell, especially in Sojka, where the atmosphere should be charged by a student crowd hungry to see their team at home for a change. Can't be there? We will be live blogging this one.
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Lehigh at Navy, 7:30 p.m.: Navy has no offense, Lehigh has tremendous defense and enough firepower in Jose Olivero and Joe Knight to get by.
A caveat: when these tow met in Bethlehem, Navy played the Mountain Hawks tough, with a no-call that turned into a Billy Lange technical playing a key role in the Lehigh win. Navy was without Matt Fannin in that one. Fannin is hardly 100 percent now, playing with a brace holding his injured knee in place. But even a hobbled Fannin could pose some trouble for the legion of stiff that make up Lehigh's post players.
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Lafayette at Colgate, 7 p.m.: Lafayette has only three league wins this season, but one of them came against the Raiders, 85-74, in Easton. The Leopards' performance in the first half against Holy Cross Saturday might be something Fran O'Hanlon can build on as his young squad heads to Hamilton with a chance to take sole possession of fourth place in the league. A Leopards win and an American loss at Bucknell would accomplish that.
That won't be easy. Colgate's only wins in its past 9 games have come over Army. The Raiders are 1-3 at home in conference play, again the win coming over Army. But two of the losses came against Lehigh and Bucknell and Lafayette is 3-8 on the road and by all accounts has been a very different team outside of the Kirby Sports Center.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The most grueling part of Holy Cross' schedule wrapped up at Lafayette Saturday.
The Crusaders went 2-1 on the trip, an eight-day oddyssey featuring three games and over 1,100 miles of travel. It's not easy being the most remote outpost in the league. While the Pa. and D.C-area teams are all within an easy drive of each other, no place in the league is close to Worcester.
Ralph Willard described the Crusaders' jourrneys after the Lafayette game:
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The Crusaders went 2-1 on the trip, an eight-day oddyssey featuring three games and over 1,100 miles of travel. It's not easy being the most remote outpost in the league. While the Pa. and D.C-area teams are all within an easy drive of each other, no place in the league is close to Worcester.
Ralph Willard described the Crusaders' jourrneys after the Lafayette game:
"We're tired right now. I'm tired. This has been a tough trip, this last week-- three games in eight days, planes trains and automobiles."Willard rues the day the league did away with the Friday-Sunday travel partners:
"We pulled in from Lehigh at 3 o'clock in the morning on Saturday night. Then we had to leave Tuesday to go to Navy. We got back Thursday at 11:30 in the morning. We had to get up at 5 o'clock to catch the flight to make most of our classes. How do you think these guys are going to class on that Thursday. I couldn't even stay awake, and I didn't play in the basketball game. You can imagine what these guys are doing going to class on that Thursday. To me it is a total travesty."
"The Big East, the MAC, everybody does Saturday-Mondays, they do two games in three days. Why we have gone back to this is beyond me. I think it is hypocrisy, is what I think it is personally. These kids should not be put through this.The Crusaders are home for three games, then:
"I felt that way when I first got into the league and I feel that way now. To the life of me, I don't know why we changed back from the travel partners. Ity certainly was better for the student athlete. Forget about basketball coaches, it was better for the student-athlete.
"From a coaching standpoint, this is better for me in terms of preparation, probably. But it is not fair to the kids. It really isn't."
"...the week after next, we are going away to Colgate, which is a bear of a trip for us, with the snow usually, I mean when does it not snow in Hamilton. Then we've got to fly down to American on Friday. I am really dissapointed we have gone away from the travel partners."
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But we found this bit about gutsy Navy captain Matt Fannin in the from Sunday's Army-Navy Star game:
Fannin, who is playing with a torn ACL in his left knee and left the game in the first half when his knee gave out on him, struggled all game with his shot, as he was unable to elevate with his injured leg. He had made just one of his previous nine attempts before knocking down the tough jumper off glass to give the Mids the lead for good.
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Monday, February 06, 2006
Despite losses last week by a number of teams ranked ahead of Bucknell in the two major polls, the Bison remain unranked in the latest released this afternoon.
The Bison did move closer to the Top 25, though. In the AP poll, Bucknell's 81 points makes them third among the "others receiving votes." Unoffically that is like being ranked No. 28. The Bison are fifth in the "others receiving" category in the Coaches' Poll, with 29 points.
Bucknell's Bracket Buster foe, Northern Iowa, dropped out of the coaches' top 25 after losing last week to Creighton. The Panthers are third among others receiving with 36 points. UNI stayed in 25th spot in the AP Top 25.
No change at the top of the latest , where Bucknell continues to get one first place vote and remains at No. 2 behind Gonzaga, which got the other 30 first place votes. Northern Iowa, despite a loss to Creighton last week, stays No. 3. (Creighton moves up a notch from 6 to 5 this week.)
One change does occur in the bottom of the poll, with Lehigh now listed among others receiving votes. The Mountain Hawks with 6 votes, placing them unofficially at No. 48 in the rankings.
Meanwhile, if you need some meatier reading to fix your hoops jones, try this about how Bucknell' success has changed things around Sojka Pavilion.
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The Bison did move closer to the Top 25, though. In the AP poll, Bucknell's 81 points makes them third among the "others receiving votes." Unoffically that is like being ranked No. 28. The Bison are fifth in the "others receiving" category in the Coaches' Poll, with 29 points.
Bucknell's Bracket Buster foe, Northern Iowa, dropped out of the coaches' top 25 after losing last week to Creighton. The Panthers are third among others receiving with 36 points. UNI stayed in 25th spot in the AP Top 25.
No change at the top of the latest , where Bucknell continues to get one first place vote and remains at No. 2 behind Gonzaga, which got the other 30 first place votes. Northern Iowa, despite a loss to Creighton last week, stays No. 3. (Creighton moves up a notch from 6 to 5 this week.)
One change does occur in the bottom of the poll, with Lehigh now listed among others receiving votes. The Mountain Hawks with 6 votes, placing them unofficially at No. 48 in the rankings.
Meanwhile, if you need some meatier reading to fix your hoops jones, try this about how Bucknell' success has changed things around Sojka Pavilion.
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(Originally posted Sunday at 11:37 p.m., links added at 7:53 a.m.)
Using the word "hero" in a report on a game between two teams full of guys who are training to make a living in the hero business almost seems trite.
But how else would Navy fans describe Greg Sprink, who hit a three to send the game into overtime, or Midshipmen captain Matt Fannin hitting the game-winner, playing on a knee that belongs in an orthopedic surgeon's office, not on a basketball court.
It was a tight game throughout, as might be expected by a pair of teams that seem evenly matched, playing for a kind of pride that few college athletes can understand. There were 14 ties and 18 lead changes. Neither team led by more than 7 points.
Sprink's tying trey came with 1:32 to go in regulation. He added another three, and a pair of free throws, to account for 5 of Navy's 10 points in OT. Sprink finished with 23 points. Fannin added 10.
Matt Bell led Army with 18 points, but he missed a free throw that could have put Army up by 4 prior to Sprink's tying bucket and did not score in the extra session. Jarell Brown added 15 points, but like Bell, did not score in OT. Corban Bates scored all 6 of the Cadets points in OT, finishing with a double-double, 11 points and 14 rebounds.
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Using the word "hero" in a report on a game between two teams full of guys who are training to make a living in the hero business almost seems trite.
But how else would Navy fans describe Greg Sprink, who hit a three to send the game into overtime, or Midshipmen captain Matt Fannin hitting the game-winner, playing on a knee that belongs in an orthopedic surgeon's office, not on a basketball court.
It was a tight game throughout, as might be expected by a pair of teams that seem evenly matched, playing for a kind of pride that few college athletes can understand. There were 14 ties and 18 lead changes. Neither team led by more than 7 points.
Sprink's tying trey came with 1:32 to go in regulation. He added another three, and a pair of free throws, to account for 5 of Navy's 10 points in OT. Sprink finished with 23 points. Fannin added 10.
Matt Bell led Army with 18 points, but he missed a free throw that could have put Army up by 4 prior to Sprink's tying bucket and did not score in the extra session. Jarell Brown added 15 points, but like Bell, did not score in OT. Corban Bates scored all 6 of the Cadets points in OT, finishing with a double-double, 11 points and 14 rebounds.
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An anonymous e-mailer sent along this in the Lehigh student paper giving an apologists view of the Joe Knight story.
The e-mailer must have thought this paragraph was important since it was included in the message:
Actually, a lot of folks had a different interpretation, for good reason. Lehigh's interpretation of the phase "hours earned or accepted for degree credit toward any of the institutions degree program" is fundamentally flawed.
Those who drink Brown Koo-Aid want to believe that means "hour earned" can be read independent of the "toward any of the institution's degree program."
At the risk of boring those who already know the background of NCAA Bylaw 14.4.3.4.1, let us explain this one more time. The idea is to make sure students are on a reasonable track to get their degree. It's the rule that keeps athletes from taking four years of assorted 100 level gut courses, getting good enough grades to have an eligible GPA while never getting close to earning a degree.
The Brown and White writes:
There are other things in the story that are not quite accurate. For example:
And then there is this:
Frankly, we are tired of this whole story. We are tired of it. There's a good race going on for the Patriot League championship. We'd prefer to discuss Knight's role in that race than the games he did not play. We remain convinced that it is fundamentally unfair that the only one punished was Knight, who relied on the guidance of people paid to know better.
What we are most tired of is the seemingly absolute refusal of anyone other than Knight to admit mistakes were made. It's not the fact that Knight appeared in games he should not have played that bothers us most. What bothers us most is the way Lehigh has handled the whole mess, from the initial cover-up to the ongoing denials.
We wonder what kind of role models Lehigh's educators are when they are unwilling to admit and take responsibility for their mistake.
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The e-mailer must have thought this paragraph was important since it was included in the message:
When consulted, the registrar at Lafayette College came up with the same interpretation Lehigh's registrar had. The only group having a different interpretation was the governing body of the NCAA.Our suggestion: next time consult someone in the athletic department at another school. That way you might find someone familiar with the intent of the NCAA rule that govens this situation.
Actually, a lot of folks had a different interpretation, for good reason. Lehigh's interpretation of the phase "hours earned or accepted for degree credit toward any of the institutions degree program" is fundamentally flawed.
Those who drink Brown Koo-Aid want to believe that means "hour earned" can be read independent of the "toward any of the institution's degree program."
At the risk of boring those who already know the background of NCAA Bylaw 14.4.3.4.1, let us explain this one more time. The idea is to make sure students are on a reasonable track to get their degree. It's the rule that keeps athletes from taking four years of assorted 100 level gut courses, getting good enough grades to have an eligible GPA while never getting close to earning a degree.
The Brown and White writes:
(Lehigh athletic director Joe) Sterrett said he does not believe an error was made, just a miscommunication.What the phrase means is the credits, whether earned there or accepted from elsewhere, must count towards a degree program if you want to count them for eligibility.
"I don't think it's an honest mistake, just a different interpretation," Sterrett said.
There are other things in the story that are not quite accurate. For example:
Sterrett has already contacted most of the athletic directors from the schools Lehigh played in non-league games and beat last year. Two of the athletic directors have replied and neither accepted his offer of a forfeit in lieu of the Knight complications because they are under the impression that Lehigh, its coaching staff, athletic department and Joe Knight did nothing illegal or immoral under the NCAA guidelines.Who are those ADs? Did you talk to them? Did they tell you that was the reason they did not accept the forfeit? And don't you think it is worth a mention that at least one non-conference opponent, Ivy League member , has accepted the forfeit.
And then there is this:
Knight has never been in academic difficulty in terms of GPA or lack of credit hours at any of the schools he has attended.Depends how you define "academic difficulty." Sterrett previously described Knight's GPA at High Point as being around 2.0. Knight himself is quoted in the story saying:
"If I did it right at the beginning in the classroom, I wouldn't be in this situation now."It was also nice of the Brown and White to let us know:
. . . Knight said he wanted to challenge himself more academically. His search for a more rigorous academic experience took him to Lehigh . . .Up until now, we'd been under the impression Knight's interest in Lehigh was more basketball than books. We probably got that impression because, in an interview with Sterrett, the Lehigh A.D. mentioned Knight's connection with Lehigh assistant Bret Reed, who originally recruited Knight when he was an assistant at High Point, as the catalyst of Knight's interest.
Frankly, we are tired of this whole story. We are tired of it. There's a good race going on for the Patriot League championship. We'd prefer to discuss Knight's role in that race than the games he did not play. We remain convinced that it is fundamentally unfair that the only one punished was Knight, who relied on the guidance of people paid to know better.
What we are most tired of is the seemingly absolute refusal of anyone other than Knight to admit mistakes were made. It's not the fact that Knight appeared in games he should not have played that bothers us most. What bothers us most is the way Lehigh has handled the whole mess, from the initial cover-up to the ongoing denials.
We wonder what kind of role models Lehigh's educators are when they are unwilling to admit and take responsibility for their mistake.
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Sunday, February 05, 2006
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Navy at Army, 1 p.m.: For these two struggling teams, the season can be made with a win today. Oh sure, if Army loses, it can take consolation in having beat the Midshipmen in Annapolis earlier this season. But that game was sort of a warmup. This one is for the "Star", which loosely translated means this is the one that really counts. Players at the two academies can add a star to their varsity letter for a win over their archrivals, when the two meet more than once in a season in a sport, then one game is designated the star game.
That is why this is the meeting between Army and Navy that will be nationally televised on CBS (that and the fact that the two schools made televising an Army-Navy basketball game a part of the package for the rights to the annual football classic).
To best understand the significance of the rivalry between Army and Navy, pick up John Feinstein's account of the Army-Navy football game, "A Civil War." Or if you don't feel like reading a football book (it really is more than just a football book), browse some of the little shops in downtown Annapolis and notice the amount of Navy merchandise that includes the slogan "Beat Army." They even make Gold and Blue Navy beanie bears, the one with "Go Navy" embroidered on the foot, the other tagged with "Beat Army." Or go to a game at Alumni Hall and notice how many Navy cheers include that line, even when they are playing against somebody else.
This game has added significance this year, too. The two teams are in a virtual tie for last place, each with just a single league win. This is probably both team's best chance to pick up a second win to escape the cellar and the dreaded first round matchup on the top seed's homecourt.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 7:15 p.m., updated at 8:57 a.m.)
Two teenagers were killed Saturday in a collision with the bis carrying the Holy Cross men's team back to Worcester following the Crusaders win at Lafayette.
Police said the car carrying the two teen-aged males was headed west on Route 22 when it cross the median and struck the eastbound bus head on.
Lopatcong Twp. police Sgt. Jason Garcia "the wreck was 'about one of the worst' he's seen."
The driver of the bus was transported to a local hospital. None of the people in the Holy Cross travel party were injured.
Reports of the accident first filtered back to Kirby Sports Center around halftime of the HC-Lafayette women's game, when word came that the bus that carried the women's team from Worcester had been sent to the scene to pick up the men's team. A local bus was chartered to take the women back to Worcester.
Bill Gibbons, the HC women's coach, said there had been at least one fatality, but that the team was safe, though "shaken up."
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Two teenagers were killed Saturday in a collision with the bis carrying the Holy Cross men's team back to Worcester following the Crusaders win at Lafayette.
Police said the car carrying the two teen-aged males was headed west on Route 22 when it cross the median and struck the eastbound bus head on.
Lopatcong Twp. police Sgt. Jason Garcia "the wreck was 'about one of the worst' he's seen."
The driver of the bus was transported to a local hospital. None of the people in the Holy Cross travel party were injured.
Reports of the accident first filtered back to Kirby Sports Center around halftime of the HC-Lafayette women's game, when word came that the bus that carried the women's team from Worcester had been sent to the scene to pick up the men's team. A local bus was chartered to take the women back to Worcester.
Bill Gibbons, the HC women's coach, said there had been at least one fatality, but that the team was safe, though "shaken up."
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(Originally posted Sat. at 7:08 p.m., links added at 9:10 a.m.)
EASTON, Pa. -- Things were not looking good for the Holy Cross men early in the second half of their 77-61 win Saturday at Lafayette. Missed shots and turnovers were piling up quicker than credit card interest charges. Trailing the homestanding Leopards by 5 points, with their starting center was sitting on the bench with 4 fouls and more than 15 minutes left on the clock, the ingredients for an upset were in the kettle, just waiting to be stirred.
How bad did thing seem at that point? When asked after the game what went through his mind when 6-10 Tim Clifford picked up his third and fourth fouls in quick succession shortly after the halftime intermission, Willard replied, "Prayers, lots of prayers."
It's doubtful that God actually determined the outcome of basketball games. After all, we all know He works in mysterious ways, and there was no mystery about what turned the game around for the Crusaders (13-10 overall, 6-2 Patriot League). With the chips down and the game on the line, Holy Cross relied on what has been a bedrock of the program since Willard returned to his alma mater seven seasons ago.
"Our basketball team is built on defense," said Willard.
So was this win. When Clifford sat down, Lafayette (9-12, 3-5) held a 40-35 lead. It took the Leopards over two minutes to get another field goal. That bucket, an Andrew Brown layup, was the only interruption in the 15-2 run Holy Cross used to take control of the game.
The defensive intensity was there from the start of the second half. Even though the Crusaders only points in the first six minutes of the half came on a pair of Clifford layups, Lafayette's lead never got bigger than the five points it had been at the break.
"It took us a while to get going, but we were able to hold them. They never were able to get separation," Willard said.
Once the Crusaders scoring got on track, the defense seemed get even tougher. The Crusaders held Lafayette to five field goals the entire second half. Three of those came in the first seven minutes.
"Obviously we did a better job defensively in the second half. . . . They had five field goals in the second half, which is great from our standpoint," Willard said.
Defense was a big part of the run that turned the game around. Lafayette had only 11 turnovers in the game, but three of them came during that stretch, leading to 7 quick points for Holy Cross.
Once the Crusaders offense got on track, they were on a roll. Of the 77 points HC put up, 40 came in the final 14 minutes. Most of those came from the hands of Kevin Hamilton and Keith Simmons, who led four Crusaders in double figures with 22 points each. Hamilton had 14 of his in that stretch, Simmons 11. Point guard Torey Thomas (11) and Clifford (10) also scored in double figures for HC.
After shooting 11 for 30 (36.7 percent) in the first half, Holy Cross hit 13 of 22 (59.1 percent) in the second. They also did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, giving away only six turnovers after having 14 in the first 20 minutes.
Another key for Holy Cross was rebounding. No doubt the halftime deficit would have been greater had the Crusaders not grabbed as many of their own missed shots as Lafayette did. Holy Cross' 11 offensive boards helped make up for most of the possessions lost by the turnovers. At the same time, second chances were rare for Lafayette, which managed only three offensive rebounds in the half. The Crusaders domination of the glass continued in the second half, with HC piling up a season-high 50 rebounds. Lafayette's 24 boards tied an opposition low set Wednesday night by Navy.
Hamilton, whose 13 rebounds gave him his first double-double of the season, led the HC effort on the boards. Hamilton, Thomas (8 rebounds) and Simmons (7) gave the Crusaders backcourt more boards than the entire Lafayette team.
Andrei Capusan was the lone bright spot for the Leopards. The slender, 6-8 senior from Romania used a variety of short jumpers and crafty post moves to score 22 points, fouling out Clifford and HC backup center Kevin Hyland in the process. Capusan also led Lafayette with seven rebounds.
The win capped a tough three-game road swing that saw the Crusaders wrap two long bus rides to the Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley around a flight to Navy in a span of eight days. Holy Cross now returns to the Hart Center for three straight home games, with visits by Army (Wed.) and Navy (Feb. 15) wrapped around a highly anticipated matchup Saturday with league-leading Bucknell.
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EASTON, Pa. -- Things were not looking good for the Holy Cross men early in the second half of their 77-61 win Saturday at Lafayette. Missed shots and turnovers were piling up quicker than credit card interest charges. Trailing the homestanding Leopards by 5 points, with their starting center was sitting on the bench with 4 fouls and more than 15 minutes left on the clock, the ingredients for an upset were in the kettle, just waiting to be stirred.
How bad did thing seem at that point? When asked after the game what went through his mind when 6-10 Tim Clifford picked up his third and fourth fouls in quick succession shortly after the halftime intermission, Willard replied, "Prayers, lots of prayers."
It's doubtful that God actually determined the outcome of basketball games. After all, we all know He works in mysterious ways, and there was no mystery about what turned the game around for the Crusaders (13-10 overall, 6-2 Patriot League). With the chips down and the game on the line, Holy Cross relied on what has been a bedrock of the program since Willard returned to his alma mater seven seasons ago.
"Our basketball team is built on defense," said Willard.
So was this win. When Clifford sat down, Lafayette (9-12, 3-5) held a 40-35 lead. It took the Leopards over two minutes to get another field goal. That bucket, an Andrew Brown layup, was the only interruption in the 15-2 run Holy Cross used to take control of the game.
The defensive intensity was there from the start of the second half. Even though the Crusaders only points in the first six minutes of the half came on a pair of Clifford layups, Lafayette's lead never got bigger than the five points it had been at the break.
"It took us a while to get going, but we were able to hold them. They never were able to get separation," Willard said.
Once the Crusaders scoring got on track, the defense seemed get even tougher. The Crusaders held Lafayette to five field goals the entire second half. Three of those came in the first seven minutes.
"Obviously we did a better job defensively in the second half. . . . They had five field goals in the second half, which is great from our standpoint," Willard said.
Defense was a big part of the run that turned the game around. Lafayette had only 11 turnovers in the game, but three of them came during that stretch, leading to 7 quick points for Holy Cross.
Once the Crusaders offense got on track, they were on a roll. Of the 77 points HC put up, 40 came in the final 14 minutes. Most of those came from the hands of Kevin Hamilton and Keith Simmons, who led four Crusaders in double figures with 22 points each. Hamilton had 14 of his in that stretch, Simmons 11. Point guard Torey Thomas (11) and Clifford (10) also scored in double figures for HC.
After shooting 11 for 30 (36.7 percent) in the first half, Holy Cross hit 13 of 22 (59.1 percent) in the second. They also did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, giving away only six turnovers after having 14 in the first 20 minutes.
Another key for Holy Cross was rebounding. No doubt the halftime deficit would have been greater had the Crusaders not grabbed as many of their own missed shots as Lafayette did. Holy Cross' 11 offensive boards helped make up for most of the possessions lost by the turnovers. At the same time, second chances were rare for Lafayette, which managed only three offensive rebounds in the half. The Crusaders domination of the glass continued in the second half, with HC piling up a season-high 50 rebounds. Lafayette's 24 boards tied an opposition low set Wednesday night by Navy.
Hamilton, whose 13 rebounds gave him his first double-double of the season, led the HC effort on the boards. Hamilton, Thomas (8 rebounds) and Simmons (7) gave the Crusaders backcourt more boards than the entire Lafayette team.
Andrei Capusan was the lone bright spot for the Leopards. The slender, 6-8 senior from Romania used a variety of short jumpers and crafty post moves to score 22 points, fouling out Clifford and HC backup center Kevin Hyland in the process. Capusan also led Lafayette with seven rebounds.
The win capped a tough three-game road swing that saw the Crusaders wrap two long bus rides to the Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley around a flight to Navy in a span of eight days. Holy Cross now returns to the Hart Center for three straight home games, with visits by Army (Wed.) and Navy (Feb. 15) wrapped around a highly anticipated matchup Saturday with league-leading Bucknell.
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(Originally posted Sat. at 9:28 p.m., links added at 9:12 a.m.)
Another tale of two halves for the Bison, who again started slow and finished fast in winning their ninth straight.
Colgate jumped to an early 16-5 lead and held Bucknell to 8 field goals (8-25, 32 percent) in the first half, taking a 28-20 lead at the break. Bucknell missed its first seven shots and 15 of its first 17. Bucknell also struggled at the foul line, going 3 for 9 in the first half.
The second half, though, was a different story, with Bucknell hitting 14 of 21 (66.7 percent) from the field and 16-19 at the free throw line to pull away.
The Bison also tightened up on defense after the intermission. After allowing Colgate to hit 10 of 22 (45.5 percent) including 5 of 8 from the three-point arc, Bucknell limited the Raiders to 7 second half field goals on 21 tries (33.3 percent), including 3 of 13 from three-point range. Colgate also turned the ball over 23 times.
Colgate actually led by as many as 12 early in the second half, taking a 32-20 lead following a pair of Kyle Roemer free throws on a technical on Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. Then the Bison went on a 16-2 run to tie it and went on to the win.
Roemer led all scorers with 19 points. Todd Checovich added 10 off the Colgate bench.
Bucknell had four guys in double figures, led by Kevin Bettencourt's 17. Charles Lee (13), Abe Badmus (10) and Chris McNaughton (12) were also in doubles for the Bison, who have now won 13 in a row against Patriot League foes, dating to last season.
It was Flannery's 100th Patriot League win.
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Another tale of two halves for the Bison, who again started slow and finished fast in winning their ninth straight.
Colgate jumped to an early 16-5 lead and held Bucknell to 8 field goals (8-25, 32 percent) in the first half, taking a 28-20 lead at the break. Bucknell missed its first seven shots and 15 of its first 17. Bucknell also struggled at the foul line, going 3 for 9 in the first half.
The second half, though, was a different story, with Bucknell hitting 14 of 21 (66.7 percent) from the field and 16-19 at the free throw line to pull away.
The Bison also tightened up on defense after the intermission. After allowing Colgate to hit 10 of 22 (45.5 percent) including 5 of 8 from the three-point arc, Bucknell limited the Raiders to 7 second half field goals on 21 tries (33.3 percent), including 3 of 13 from three-point range. Colgate also turned the ball over 23 times.
Colgate actually led by as many as 12 early in the second half, taking a 32-20 lead following a pair of Kyle Roemer free throws on a technical on Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. Then the Bison went on a 16-2 run to tie it and went on to the win.
Roemer led all scorers with 19 points. Todd Checovich added 10 off the Colgate bench.
Bucknell had four guys in double figures, led by Kevin Bettencourt's 17. Charles Lee (13), Abe Badmus (10) and Chris McNaughton (12) were also in doubles for the Bison, who have now won 13 in a row against Patriot League foes, dating to last season.
It was Flannery's 100th Patriot League win.
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(Originally posted Sat., 9:50 p.m., updated at 9:09 a.m.)
Lehigh used a 7-0 run to break a 44-44 tie midway through the second half and held off American, despite a 21-point career night from Paulius Joneliunas.
Jose Olivero had 21 for the Mountain Hawks. Joe Knight added 18. Together, the two Lehigh guards shot 19 free throws, making 16. The whole American team only shot 16 free throws (12-16).
The free throw line was the difference. American shot better (21-50, 42 percent to Lehigh's 17-48, 35.4 percent), had more points in the paint (24-16), more points off turnovers (15-13) and more second chance points (12-4). But Lehigh had the edge at the stripe, making 23 of 28.
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Lehigh used a 7-0 run to break a 44-44 tie midway through the second half and held off American, despite a 21-point career night from Paulius Joneliunas.
Jose Olivero had 21 for the Mountain Hawks. Joe Knight added 18. Together, the two Lehigh guards shot 19 free throws, making 16. The whole American team only shot 16 free throws (12-16).
The free throw line was the difference. American shot better (21-50, 42 percent to Lehigh's 17-48, 35.4 percent), had more points in the paint (24-16), more points off turnovers (15-13) and more second chance points (12-4). But Lehigh had the edge at the stripe, making 23 of 28.
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Saturday, February 04, 2006
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Holy Cross at Lafayette, 1 p.m.: Holy Cross beat the Leopards by 20 points when they met Jan. 7 in Worcester and will be the heavy favorites in this one. Lafayette really has no answer for Tim Clifford, whose emergence in the post has made the Crusaders better than they were the first time these two met. The 'Pards really don't have an answer for Kevin Hamilton or Torey Thomas, either. Ditto for Keith Simmons if he is healthy.
But Lafayette is a very different team at home than it is on the road. The 9-11 Leopards are 6-3 in Kirby. Lafayette does have an advantage in numbers. Fran O'Hanlon will run nine guys at HC, a lot of whom can shoot the three. If a couple of those guys get hot, an upset is not out of the question. NOTE: When we were in Eatson for the lehigh game, we had trouble getting connected to the wireless net in Kirby. If we can solve that this time, we will live blog this one.
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Bucknell at Colgate 1:30 p.m.: When these two met in Lewisburg two weeks ago, Colgate managed to hang around into the second half. Then Bucknell went on a 15-0 run fueled by some pressure defense. The Bison unleashed some full court and half court traps and Colgate had no answer. The Raiders also had no answer for Chris McNaughton, especially after Marc Daniels got into foul trouble trying to guard the big German.
Colgate has not won a game against a team not named Army since the start of 2006. The Raiders are 3-10 in their last 13 against Division I opponents, the non-Army win in that stretch coming against a Mississippi Valley State team that has not won a game outside of its own conference (SWAC) all season.
But Colgate always seems to play Bucknell tough, especially in Hamilton. Bucknell has had trouble putting two halves together the last few times out, though its defense has been strong enough to keep it in those games until the offense gets on track. But Army shot better than 50 percent Wednesday night against the Bison. If Bucknell lets Colgate get anywhere close to that, it could be a long afternoon. Especially given the Raiders plethora of capable perimeter shooters.
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American at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.: This was an 11-point Lehigh win when the two met in D.C. a few weeks back. Since then, American has seemed to make strides. The Eagles have won three of their last five.
But that improvement has mostly manifested itself on AU's home court. Away from Bender the Eagles are 2-10, including a loss at Navy in its last road game.
Lehigh has won 7 of its last 8 against Division I opposition, the only loss coming against league-leading Bucknell. Still, watching the Mountain Hawks last three games, you get the sense they are never more than an off night (Knight?) by one of their two guards from being upset. The only game Lehigh showed any sort of inside presence offensively was at Lafayette, which lacks a true post type on its roster.
The Mountain Hawks will be favored here, but if they have a letdown coming off back-to-back games against Bucknell and Holy Cross, in this game or any of their next five before closing the regular season at Bucknell and at Holy Cross, they can be beaten. Lehigh is not a team with a built-in margin for error.
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Like a lot of former West Point athletes, the answer to that question for Chris Spatola is: Baghdad.
Spatola was an all-rookie pick in the 1998-99 season and went on to be Army's captain, capping his collegiate playing career by being selected second team All-Patriot League in his junior and senior seasons.
These days Spatola, who is married to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's daughter, he is a captain in the Army, in charge of a unit tasked with protecting two historical buildings in Iraq.
John Feinstein caught up with Spatola, and in today's Washington Post.
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Spatola was an all-rookie pick in the 1998-99 season and went on to be Army's captain, capping his collegiate playing career by being selected second team All-Patriot League in his junior and senior seasons.
These days Spatola, who is married to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's daughter, he is a captain in the Army, in charge of a unit tasked with protecting two historical buildings in Iraq.
John Feinstein caught up with Spatola, and in today's Washington Post.
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Friday, February 03, 2006
Tom Housenick's in the Daily Item focuses today on Bucknell's offense and looks ahead to Saturday's game at Colgate.
If a tree fell in Hamilton -- Speaking of Colgate, since Adonal Foyle took his game to the NBA, the Raiders have struggled to get any kind of media coverage. There is no Hamilton daily paper, and the one in Norwich, which is about the closest daily to Hamilton, publishes every day but really is a weakly.
About the only time the Raiders seem to get any attention in Central New York is when they play an opponent the papers have some interest in. A perfect example of this: previewing Bucknell's visit to Hamilton.
What a drag -- The best description of the Bracket Buster concept we have heard so far comes from in the Fresno Bee:
Yesterday's Knight -- In Thursday's Express-Times, the Joe Knight situation and said no decision on any Lehigh forfeits is expected from the Patriot League's Patriot League's Committee on Athletic Administration, which is meeting in West Point.
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If a tree fell in Hamilton -- Speaking of Colgate, since Adonal Foyle took his game to the NBA, the Raiders have struggled to get any kind of media coverage. There is no Hamilton daily paper, and the one in Norwich, which is about the closest daily to Hamilton, publishes every day but really is a weakly.
About the only time the Raiders seem to get any attention in Central New York is when they play an opponent the papers have some interest in. A perfect example of this: previewing Bucknell's visit to Hamilton.
What a drag -- The best description of the Bracket Buster concept we have heard so far comes from in the Fresno Bee:
BracketBusters teams, as ESPN has dubbed them, supposedly are underrated, underappreciated, small-school, small-conference teams, walking the tightrope between the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.We are not men -- O.K., it is hard to imagine it making a difference this year, but can't hurt to have a former Patriot League coach on the NIT selection committee. That's why the to the gang of six that sets the field for the consolation dance in the future sounds like good news for the league. A lot of deserving teams have been snubbed in the past. Last year's Holy Cross team is the only PL squad ever invited. Having a guy who knows and respects the league on that committee should be a plus in the future.
RuPaul teams. Sometimes you need an extra look to decide.
Yesterday's Knight -- In Thursday's Express-Times, the Joe Knight situation and said no decision on any Lehigh forfeits is expected from the Patriot League's Patriot League's Committee on Athletic Administration, which is meeting in West Point.
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Thursday, February 02, 2006
(Updated at 8:25 a.m.)
Bucknell 67, Army 54 -- In retrospect, this should have been looked at like a classic trap game, on the road in West Point against a team that has been a league doormat as long as any of the players on the floor have been around.
The Cadets close losses at Lehigh and American, along with last year's first meeting between Bucknell and Army, where the Bison came out flat in the first half, then put the Cadets away after the intermission, should have served notice that this might not be as easy as it looked, even if certain members of the media were billing it as the league's best against the league's worst (by the way, after seeing Navy for the second time last night, we are no longer convinced Army is the worst team in the league).
The Bison were not the only ones who might have figured it would not be much of a game. None of the papers that cover Bucknell bothered to make the trip (CORRECTION: We received an e-mail from Jon Terry, Bucknell's SID, letting us know that Tom Housenick of the Daily Item was at the game, but for some reason his story did not make the paper's Web site). Even the Times Herald-Record, which is Army's local paper, didn't bother to send anyone to .
The Bison came out flat, making only 3-of-their-first-13 from the floor, falling behind by as many as 10 points in the first half. The Bison shot 10-26 (38.5 percent) in the first half while Army was hitting at a 58.8 percent pace (10-17).
It was Charles Lee who got the Bison on track. With Bucknell down 19-9, Lee fueled a 15-5 Bison run, coming up with 7 points, 3 steals and three assists during that spurt.
Bucknell managed to battle back to take a 30-26 lead at the half, but it seemed to be one of those case of letting an underdog hang around long enough to gain some confidence. The Bison built an 8 point lead early in the second half, but Army came back to tie it at 43-43 with 11:45 to play. Bucknell responded with a 12-2 run and took control down the stretch to improve to 17-3 overall, 8-0 in the league.
Lee finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. The 6 steals ties his career best. Abe Badmus and Chris McNaughton each added 10 points for Bucknell.
Army's Jarell Brown led all scorers with 25 points.
The Bison shot 11-18 (61.1 percent) in the second half, finishing the game at 47.4 percent from the field. Army cooled off a little, going 12-26 (46.2 percent) from the field in the second half. But the Cadets still became the first league team to shoot over 40 percent against Bucknell, finishing the game 22-43 (51.2 percent) from the field to become just the fourth team to shoot better than 40 percent against the Bison all season. Bucknell is now 1-3 in games where the opponent shot better than 50 percent.
The key for the Bison was the foul line. Bucknell was 20-25 from the stripe. Army shot only 7 free throws, hitting 4.
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Bucknell 67, Army 54 -- In retrospect, this should have been looked at like a classic trap game, on the road in West Point against a team that has been a league doormat as long as any of the players on the floor have been around.
The Cadets close losses at Lehigh and American, along with last year's first meeting between Bucknell and Army, where the Bison came out flat in the first half, then put the Cadets away after the intermission, should have served notice that this might not be as easy as it looked, even if certain members of the media were billing it as the league's best against the league's worst (by the way, after seeing Navy for the second time last night, we are no longer convinced Army is the worst team in the league).
The Bison were not the only ones who might have figured it would not be much of a game. None of the papers that cover Bucknell bothered to make the trip (CORRECTION: We received an e-mail from Jon Terry, Bucknell's SID, letting us know that Tom Housenick of the Daily Item was at the game, but for some reason his story did not make the paper's Web site). Even the Times Herald-Record, which is Army's local paper, didn't bother to send anyone to .
The Bison came out flat, making only 3-of-their-first-13 from the floor, falling behind by as many as 10 points in the first half. The Bison shot 10-26 (38.5 percent) in the first half while Army was hitting at a 58.8 percent pace (10-17).
It was Charles Lee who got the Bison on track. With Bucknell down 19-9, Lee fueled a 15-5 Bison run, coming up with 7 points, 3 steals and three assists during that spurt.
Bucknell managed to battle back to take a 30-26 lead at the half, but it seemed to be one of those case of letting an underdog hang around long enough to gain some confidence. The Bison built an 8 point lead early in the second half, but Army came back to tie it at 43-43 with 11:45 to play. Bucknell responded with a 12-2 run and took control down the stretch to improve to 17-3 overall, 8-0 in the league.
Lee finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. The 6 steals ties his career best. Abe Badmus and Chris McNaughton each added 10 points for Bucknell.
Army's Jarell Brown led all scorers with 25 points.
The Bison shot 11-18 (61.1 percent) in the second half, finishing the game at 47.4 percent from the field. Army cooled off a little, going 12-26 (46.2 percent) from the field in the second half. But the Cadets still became the first league team to shoot over 40 percent against Bucknell, finishing the game 22-43 (51.2 percent) from the field to become just the fourth team to shoot better than 40 percent against the Bison all season. Bucknell is now 1-3 in games where the opponent shot better than 50 percent.
The key for the Bison was the foul line. Bucknell was 20-25 from the stripe. Army shot only 7 free throws, hitting 4.
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(Originally posted Wed. at 10:39 p.m., notes and links added at 7:39 a.m.)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- It didn't take Holy Cross long to put last week's loss at Lehigh in its rear view mirror.
Coming off that tough, last-second setback Saturday, the Crusaders came out fast against Navy, jumping to a quick 13-2 lead, and never looked back, cruising to an 81-67 win in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score might look.
"This was a real good bounce back game from that difficult loss we had on the road at Lehigh," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard, whose team improved to 12-10 overall, 5-2 in the Patriot League.
It was sloppy at times to be sure. The Crusaders turned the ball over 22 times. But it was a dominating performance nonetheless. Especially in the first half, when Navy (8-12, 1-6) managed only five field goals while scoring 15 points, their worst half of the season.
"We just wanted to minimize the amount of open looks they got, especially from three-point range," said Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, who finished with 26 points to lead all scorers.
"We came off a disappointing effort on defense against Lehigh. Coach really got into us the last couple of days," Hamilton said.
Obviously whatever Willard did in practice had its desired effect. With 6-10 Tim Clifford clogging the middle and Holy Cross' ballhawking guards pressuring on the perimeter, the Midshipmen were 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from the floor in the first half, with more than twice as many turnovers (13) as buckets.
"The kids responded really well. They had great focus in the first half," Willard said.
By halftime the Crusaders lead had stretched to 35-15. The mrgin never dropped below 18 the rest of the way until Navy closed the game with a 10-2 run in the final minute against the far end of the Holy Cross bench.
Aside from the turnovers, Holy Cross played well in every facet of the game. They shot the ball well, hitting 28 of 51 (54.9 percent) and had tremendous offensive balance. The Crusaders scored 28 points in the paint and 21 from the arc, where they hit 7 of 14 three-pointers. They had 20 assists on their 20 field goals and all five starters scored in double figures. HC dominated the boards, out rebounding Navy 38-24.
About the closet thing to a complaint Willard could muster after the game was a mention of how his ballclub took its foot off the gas a little after building the lead to 27 with 11:45 to play.
"That is one of the things we tend to do. We relax with the lead," Willard said.
Of course with the kind of minutes the HC starters have been playing, that is understandable. Torey Thomas actually did get to sit down in the final minute, after coming within two rebounds of a triple double (13 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds). Hamilton and freshman four-man Alex Vander Baan (10 points) each played 38 minutes and Keith Simmons showed no signs of cramping up in this one, playing 34 minutes, finishing with 14 points. Clifford, who had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, was the only starter to play less than 30 minutes, mainly because he got into a little foul trouble in the second half.
"This team, especially a guy like Kevin (Hamilton), picks his spots because he realizes he has to do a lot on the other end of the floor.When we get a big lead, he tends to pick his spots defensively. He tends to relax a little bit, but he is still very good. The other guys do to," Willard said.
Even picking his spots, Hamilton still managed to finish with 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots to go along with his 27 points.
Greg Sprink and Kaleo Kina shared the Navy scoring lead with 19 points each. Sprink scored 15 of his in the second half. Kina had 16 after the break, including 8 in the final minute. Navy captain Matt Fannin, who suffered a knee injury (torn ACL) that would have ended most players' seasons back in early January, played with a bulky brace to hold his left knee in place, added 10 for the Mids.
Holy Cross will wrap up a three-game road swing Saturday at Lafayette, then returns home for three straight games at the Hart Center, including a crucial matchup with league-leading Bucknell on Feb. 11.
NOTES: The win was Holy Cross' 13th in a row over Navy, including 6 straight in Annapolis . . . The Crusaders average margin of victory in those 13 wins is over 15 points per game . . . Clifford reached double figures for the fourth time in HC's 5 games since he took a collar at Bucknell . . . in the Crusaders first three conference games he averaged 2.3 ppg, in the past five conference games Clifford has averaged 14.2 ppg ...Hamilton's 26 points were his third-highest total of the season . . . Hamilton had 38 against Tennessee-Chattanooga in December in Pureto Rico and 27 against Mississippi State on that same trip . . .It was also the most points against Navy by a Patriot League opponent this season . . . Hamilton's 18 shots from the field were also the most against Navy by a league foe . . . Hamilton's 7 turnovers also tied the team's season high . . . it was the second game in a row that an HC player had 7 turnovers (Thomas had 7 turnovers at Lehigh) . . . Thomas' 10 assists equalled his, and the team's, season high . . . the 10 assists were the most by a Patriot League players against Navy this season . . . Kina's 19 points move him into 14th on Navy's all-time freshman scoring list with 212 . . . with his next point, Kina will tie none other than David Robinson for 13th on that list . . . Sprink's 19 moved him past the 500 career points mark . . . the Navy sophomore now has 508 career points . . . Fannin is now 4 points away from 700 for his career . . . Navy's 24 rebounds were a season low for the Mids . . . Navy's 20-point halftime deficit was its largest of the season.
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- It didn't take Holy Cross long to put last week's loss at Lehigh in its rear view mirror.
Coming off that tough, last-second setback Saturday, the Crusaders came out fast against Navy, jumping to a quick 13-2 lead, and never looked back, cruising to an 81-67 win in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score might look.
"This was a real good bounce back game from that difficult loss we had on the road at Lehigh," said Crusaders coach Ralph Willard, whose team improved to 12-10 overall, 5-2 in the Patriot League.
It was sloppy at times to be sure. The Crusaders turned the ball over 22 times. But it was a dominating performance nonetheless. Especially in the first half, when Navy (8-12, 1-6) managed only five field goals while scoring 15 points, their worst half of the season.
"We just wanted to minimize the amount of open looks they got, especially from three-point range," said Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, who finished with 26 points to lead all scorers.
"We came off a disappointing effort on defense against Lehigh. Coach really got into us the last couple of days," Hamilton said.
Obviously whatever Willard did in practice had its desired effect. With 6-10 Tim Clifford clogging the middle and Holy Cross' ballhawking guards pressuring on the perimeter, the Midshipmen were 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from the floor in the first half, with more than twice as many turnovers (13) as buckets.
"The kids responded really well. They had great focus in the first half," Willard said.
By halftime the Crusaders lead had stretched to 35-15. The mrgin never dropped below 18 the rest of the way until Navy closed the game with a 10-2 run in the final minute against the far end of the Holy Cross bench.
Aside from the turnovers, Holy Cross played well in every facet of the game. They shot the ball well, hitting 28 of 51 (54.9 percent) and had tremendous offensive balance. The Crusaders scored 28 points in the paint and 21 from the arc, where they hit 7 of 14 three-pointers. They had 20 assists on their 20 field goals and all five starters scored in double figures. HC dominated the boards, out rebounding Navy 38-24.
About the closet thing to a complaint Willard could muster after the game was a mention of how his ballclub took its foot off the gas a little after building the lead to 27 with 11:45 to play.
"That is one of the things we tend to do. We relax with the lead," Willard said.
Of course with the kind of minutes the HC starters have been playing, that is understandable. Torey Thomas actually did get to sit down in the final minute, after coming within two rebounds of a triple double (13 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds). Hamilton and freshman four-man Alex Vander Baan (10 points) each played 38 minutes and Keith Simmons showed no signs of cramping up in this one, playing 34 minutes, finishing with 14 points. Clifford, who had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, was the only starter to play less than 30 minutes, mainly because he got into a little foul trouble in the second half.
"This team, especially a guy like Kevin (Hamilton), picks his spots because he realizes he has to do a lot on the other end of the floor.When we get a big lead, he tends to pick his spots defensively. He tends to relax a little bit, but he is still very good. The other guys do to," Willard said.
Even picking his spots, Hamilton still managed to finish with 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots to go along with his 27 points.
Greg Sprink and Kaleo Kina shared the Navy scoring lead with 19 points each. Sprink scored 15 of his in the second half. Kina had 16 after the break, including 8 in the final minute. Navy captain Matt Fannin, who suffered a knee injury (torn ACL) that would have ended most players' seasons back in early January, played with a bulky brace to hold his left knee in place, added 10 for the Mids.
Holy Cross will wrap up a three-game road swing Saturday at Lafayette, then returns home for three straight games at the Hart Center, including a crucial matchup with league-leading Bucknell on Feb. 11.
NOTES: The win was Holy Cross' 13th in a row over Navy, including 6 straight in Annapolis . . . The Crusaders average margin of victory in those 13 wins is over 15 points per game . . . Clifford reached double figures for the fourth time in HC's 5 games since he took a collar at Bucknell . . . in the Crusaders first three conference games he averaged 2.3 ppg, in the past five conference games Clifford has averaged 14.2 ppg ...Hamilton's 26 points were his third-highest total of the season . . . Hamilton had 38 against Tennessee-Chattanooga in December in Pureto Rico and 27 against Mississippi State on that same trip . . .It was also the most points against Navy by a Patriot League opponent this season . . . Hamilton's 18 shots from the field were also the most against Navy by a league foe . . . Hamilton's 7 turnovers also tied the team's season high . . . it was the second game in a row that an HC player had 7 turnovers (Thomas had 7 turnovers at Lehigh) . . . Thomas' 10 assists equalled his, and the team's, season high . . . the 10 assists were the most by a Patriot League players against Navy this season . . . Kina's 19 points move him into 14th on Navy's all-time freshman scoring list with 212 . . . with his next point, Kina will tie none other than David Robinson for 13th on that list . . . Sprink's 19 moved him past the 500 career points mark . . . the Navy sophomore now has 508 career points . . . Fannin is now 4 points away from 700 for his career . . . Navy's 24 rebounds were a season low for the Mids . . . Navy's 20-point halftime deficit was its largest of the season.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
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Bucknell at Army 7 p.m.: Worlds collide. It is the league's best defense against its most impotent offense, the league's best team against its worst. Need we say more?
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Holy Cross at Navy, 7:30 p.m.:If Tim Clifford continues his recent strong play in the post and Keith Simmons manages to avoid cramping, this ought to be easier for the Crusaders than their , when they escaped with a 68-66 win. No wireless availability in Alumni Hall, so we will not be able to do the live gameblog thing, but we will have a full report from Annapolis after the game.
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ET phoned last night. We're talking about Eric Thomas, not the Spielberg creation, and he was calling Hoop, not home.
The Bucknell beat writer for the Shamokin News Item used to do State College basketball games on the radio. One of his friends in Happy Valley had just called him to tell him about Eric Meister's monster night. Knowing Meister is headed to Holy Cross, E wanted to give us a heads up to look for the in the Centre Daily Times.
According to the CDT:
PATRIOT ENVY: In today's Daily Pennsylvanian, the Penn student paper, Zach Levine pens a , which allows no flexibility for things like the Bracket Buster.
Writes Levine:
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The Bucknell beat writer for the Shamokin News Item used to do State College basketball games on the radio. One of his friends in Happy Valley had just called him to tell him about Eric Meister's monster night. Knowing Meister is headed to Holy Cross, E wanted to give us a heads up to look for the in the Centre Daily Times.
According to the CDT:
The Little Lions' 6-foot-8 senior center poured in 24 points and had 17 rebounds to go with four blocked shots in State College's convincing 63-48 victory over Hollidaysburg, a win that gave State College sole possession of first place in Section 1 of the Mountain Athletic Conference.Meister did it, by the way, despite having had a migraine earlier in the day that was bad enough to force him to leave school early
."He may as well go home blind. He's a heck of a basketball player," said Hollidaysburg coach Mick Pentoney of Meister. "Between him and (former State College player) Willie Morse, nobody will be happier to see him graduate than me. They've been a nightmare for me for the last six years."Morse, by the way, is in his sit-out year at Colgate after transferring there from St. Bonaventure.
PATRIOT ENVY: In today's Daily Pennsylvanian, the Penn student paper, Zach Levine pens a , which allows no flexibility for things like the Bracket Buster.
Writes Levine:
Until this year, the Patriot League -- the conference most similar to the Ivy League in both academics and sports -- did not participate in the weekend because of a Friday/Sunday travel partner schedule similar to what the Ivies have.Of course that is not a perfect formula, which is why this evening we will be in Annapolis, the league's southernmost outpost, watching Navy host Holy Cross, the league's northernmost school.
But this season, the league returned to a Wednesday/Saturday schedule, which allowed the freedom for Bucknell to reschedule its conference commitment for that weekend.
A system like that is not without its consequences, especially in leagues so focused on academics. To combat this, the Patriot League has worked hard to schedule games between geographically close teams for Wednesday nights.
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