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Friday, February 02, 2007
We'll find out a lot about the Bucknell Bison tonight in Annapolis.
A lot of people wrote off the preseason favorites in the Patriot League when they stumbled to an 2-5 start. The media stopped treating them as darlings. Many of their own classmates stopped coming out to home games. At times it seemed the only people who still thought they had a chance of making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament were their own players and coaches.
After that start, things began to look up for Bucknell. A win over George Mason in the BB&T Classic seemed to right the listing BU ship. Since then, Bucknell has gone 11-3. Toss out the loss to Central Arkansas, and the Bison have played pretty good basketball. The other two losses were both on the road -- at Texas Tech and at league-leading Holy Cross.
It is probably no coincidence that the winning started when coach Pat Flannery switched his starting lineup, benching junior Darren Mastropaolo to allow Donald Brown to move to his natural position at the four.
The move allowed Brown, the team's sixth man the past two seasons, to blossom. The 6-6 senior from Long Island leads the league in rebounding and field goal percentage and leads the team in scoring.
Bucknell sports information director Jon Terry like to mimic those UPS commercials in his game notes, headlining a section on Brown's contributions "What can Brown do for you."
Now Terry is going to have to add a new category: "What can you do without Brown." Brown suffered a broken bone in his right (shooting) hand in Tuesday's win over Colgate and is out of the rotation indefinitely.
Brown's absence ups the intrigue for tonight's Bucknell at Navy game (matchup) (9 p.m., ESPNU - Sirius 155). Navy's 1-6 conference record makes it seem like a mismatch on paper, but Brown's absence could cause some mismatchs on the floor.
The three-point happy Midshipmen play the game very differently than most teams. Billy Lange's play-the-cards-dealt-ya style has no legitimate post presence. The most recent version of Navy's starting lineup has added 6-8 freshman Bobby Fenske to the mix. But the added height has not changed the Midshipmen's style of play.
Like fellow freshman starter 6-10 Trey Stanton, Fenske is a skinny perimeter guy, not a low post banger. Almost half his shots thus far have come from the three-point arc, as have more than half of Stanton's.
It's like that up and down the Navy lineup. Leading scorer Greg Sprink (16.5 ppg) takes 12 shots a game; at least 6 of them from the arc. All together, 48.5 percent of Navy's shots this season have come from three-point range.
That is why Brown's absence could prove critical. When the two teams met earlier this season in Lewisburg, it was Brown who helped take Sprink out of the game in the second half.
Bucknell is fortunate to have an experienced guy like Mastropaolo to plug into the starting five. Mastropaolo is a tenacious defender who has shown flashes of being able to score in the paint. Against a team like Navy, without strong post defenders, it is not unreasonable to expect Mastropaolo to be able to pick up much of the offensive slack for Brown.
But Mastropaolo is more a stay at home post defender, lacking Brown's speed and quickness. That could cause Bucknell problems defending on the perimeter. Navy's three-point shooting percentage is the lowest in the league, but that doesn't mean they can't knock them down if nobody is there to put a hand in their face.
Don't expect Pat Flannery to try to simply overpower Navy with inside offense. The duo of Mastropaolo and center Chris McNaughton out to be able to dominate in the paint, at least if the Bison guards hit enough jumpers to keep Navy from being able to double and triple down all night. But Flannery always looks at defensive matchups first. He is not about to sacrifice at the defensive end, running the risk of swapping two-point baskets for Navy treys.
Patrick Behan should be the first guy off the bench up front. The 6-8 freshman has appeared in 19 of Bucknell's 21 games and ought to match up better against Navy's big guys than he does against stronger, in-the-paint types.
Freshman Stephen Tyree has seen increased minutes in recent games and could play a key role here. Flannery has repeatedly said Tyree has the potential to be the best defensive player he has had at Bucknell. While Tyree is not at that level yet, his length and quickness could be a key to slowing Navy on the arc.
Sophomore Josh Linthicum is another guy who might have an opportunity. The 6-11 Linthicum was expected to get more minutes this season, but between Brown moving back to the four and his own struggles at the defensive end early in the season, those minutes have not materialized. If he is able to take advantage of the opportunity Brown's absence presents, it will be a big plus for the Bison both the remainder of this season and next season, when McNaughton and Brown will both have graduated.
Another guy who could get a shot at redemption is 6-3 junior Rob Thomas, whose minutes diminished when Justin Castleberry emerged as Flannery's first guard off the bench. Offense has never been Thomas' problem. If he can harness some of his quickness and athleticism at the other end, he could find himself back in the rotation.
The bottom line is pretty simple: Brown's injury can be either a problem or an opportunity. If somebody steps up to take advantage of the opportunity it presents, it won't be a problem. If not, Bucknell could start to slide towards the middle of the Patriot League pack.
Despite Navy's record, this was not going to be an easy game even with a healthy Brown. Annapolis has never been kind to the Bison. A win tonight would make Bucknell the first team in the league to win 150 conference games. But it would be just their fifth in 18 games in Alumni Hall. Even the NCAA Tournament Bison two seasons ago lost in Annapolis. Prior to winning their last season, Bucknell was 1-13 there under Flannery.
NOTE: Harrisburg area fans can catch the game at Damons off the Progress Ave. exit of I-81 in Susquehanna Twp.
Daily Item preview
Bonus link: Tom Housenick's college hoops column (Daily Item)
A lot of people wrote off the preseason favorites in the Patriot League when they stumbled to an 2-5 start. The media stopped treating them as darlings. Many of their own classmates stopped coming out to home games. At times it seemed the only people who still thought they had a chance of making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament were their own players and coaches.
After that start, things began to look up for Bucknell. A win over George Mason in the BB&T Classic seemed to right the listing BU ship. Since then, Bucknell has gone 11-3. Toss out the loss to Central Arkansas, and the Bison have played pretty good basketball. The other two losses were both on the road -- at Texas Tech and at league-leading Holy Cross.
It is probably no coincidence that the winning started when coach Pat Flannery switched his starting lineup, benching junior Darren Mastropaolo to allow Donald Brown to move to his natural position at the four.
The move allowed Brown, the team's sixth man the past two seasons, to blossom. The 6-6 senior from Long Island leads the league in rebounding and field goal percentage and leads the team in scoring.
Bucknell sports information director Jon Terry like to mimic those UPS commercials in his game notes, headlining a section on Brown's contributions "What can Brown do for you."
Now Terry is going to have to add a new category: "What can you do without Brown." Brown suffered a broken bone in his right (shooting) hand in Tuesday's win over Colgate and is out of the rotation indefinitely.
Brown's absence ups the intrigue for tonight's Bucknell at Navy game (matchup) (9 p.m., ESPNU - Sirius 155). Navy's 1-6 conference record makes it seem like a mismatch on paper, but Brown's absence could cause some mismatchs on the floor.
The three-point happy Midshipmen play the game very differently than most teams. Billy Lange's play-the-cards-dealt-ya style has no legitimate post presence. The most recent version of Navy's starting lineup has added 6-8 freshman Bobby Fenske to the mix. But the added height has not changed the Midshipmen's style of play.
Like fellow freshman starter 6-10 Trey Stanton, Fenske is a skinny perimeter guy, not a low post banger. Almost half his shots thus far have come from the three-point arc, as have more than half of Stanton's.
It's like that up and down the Navy lineup. Leading scorer Greg Sprink (16.5 ppg) takes 12 shots a game; at least 6 of them from the arc. All together, 48.5 percent of Navy's shots this season have come from three-point range.
That is why Brown's absence could prove critical. When the two teams met earlier this season in Lewisburg, it was Brown who helped take Sprink out of the game in the second half.
Bucknell is fortunate to have an experienced guy like Mastropaolo to plug into the starting five. Mastropaolo is a tenacious defender who has shown flashes of being able to score in the paint. Against a team like Navy, without strong post defenders, it is not unreasonable to expect Mastropaolo to be able to pick up much of the offensive slack for Brown.
But Mastropaolo is more a stay at home post defender, lacking Brown's speed and quickness. That could cause Bucknell problems defending on the perimeter. Navy's three-point shooting percentage is the lowest in the league, but that doesn't mean they can't knock them down if nobody is there to put a hand in their face.
Don't expect Pat Flannery to try to simply overpower Navy with inside offense. The duo of Mastropaolo and center Chris McNaughton out to be able to dominate in the paint, at least if the Bison guards hit enough jumpers to keep Navy from being able to double and triple down all night. But Flannery always looks at defensive matchups first. He is not about to sacrifice at the defensive end, running the risk of swapping two-point baskets for Navy treys.
Patrick Behan should be the first guy off the bench up front. The 6-8 freshman has appeared in 19 of Bucknell's 21 games and ought to match up better against Navy's big guys than he does against stronger, in-the-paint types.
Freshman Stephen Tyree has seen increased minutes in recent games and could play a key role here. Flannery has repeatedly said Tyree has the potential to be the best defensive player he has had at Bucknell. While Tyree is not at that level yet, his length and quickness could be a key to slowing Navy on the arc.
Sophomore Josh Linthicum is another guy who might have an opportunity. The 6-11 Linthicum was expected to get more minutes this season, but between Brown moving back to the four and his own struggles at the defensive end early in the season, those minutes have not materialized. If he is able to take advantage of the opportunity Brown's absence presents, it will be a big plus for the Bison both the remainder of this season and next season, when McNaughton and Brown will both have graduated.
Another guy who could get a shot at redemption is 6-3 junior Rob Thomas, whose minutes diminished when Justin Castleberry emerged as Flannery's first guard off the bench. Offense has never been Thomas' problem. If he can harness some of his quickness and athleticism at the other end, he could find himself back in the rotation.
The bottom line is pretty simple: Brown's injury can be either a problem or an opportunity. If somebody steps up to take advantage of the opportunity it presents, it won't be a problem. If not, Bucknell could start to slide towards the middle of the Patriot League pack.
Despite Navy's record, this was not going to be an easy game even with a healthy Brown. Annapolis has never been kind to the Bison. A win tonight would make Bucknell the first team in the league to win 150 conference games. But it would be just their fifth in 18 games in Alumni Hall. Even the NCAA Tournament Bison two seasons ago lost in Annapolis. Prior to winning their last season, Bucknell was 1-13 there under Flannery.
NOTE: Harrisburg area fans can catch the game at Damons off the Progress Ave. exit of I-81 in Susquehanna Twp.
Daily Item preview
Bonus link: Tom Housenick's college hoops column (Daily Item)
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