"I am really, really disappointed"

This weekend was probably more notable for the lousy performances put in by Army and Navy than for the upset wins by Colgate and Bucknell. Which is too bad, because both CU and BU put up some quality performances against good teams. But the service academies were just awful. Halfway through Saturday's games, Army had 10 points at the half, and Navy had 13. That's a combined 23.

TWENTY THREE. Church league teams could score 15 in a half. If you put me, two monkeys, a blind man, and a midget on the court, we could drop at least 15 in a half. I mean, the monkeys can probably jump pretty well, and I bet we could run a play where the midget does a decent backdoor cut.

The Washington Post article about the Navy game sums the year for both academies pretty well:

"Yesterday marked the fourth time in eight Patriot League games involving Navy that a record was established. Lehigh tied a record by making all 16 of its free throws in an 80-61 win on Jan. 10. The next game, American senior guard Andres Rodriguez had a league- and school-record 19 assists in an 80-58 win.

And Bucknell shot a school- and league-record 71.7 percent (33 of 46) in an 87-46 victory on Jan. 17."

Yikes.

I drove up to Lewisburg for the AU/Bucknell game this Saturday, a nice drive and a nicer facility. Having been to five of the eight Patriot League courts, Bucknell is the nicest I have been to. Almost too nice. I'm not sure what a place like the Sojka Pavillion is doing in Lewisburg. It's got to seat around 4000, so I'm sure they never sell out for basketball. The place was 2/3 empty for the AU game, with student attendance minimal at best (the BU football team was loud and annoying, and right on the floor--they committed the cardinal sin in annoying fandom for me by starting the wave). I don't know why you would build such a big facility for such a small school. Regardless, this place is ridiculously nice. It wouldn't be a bad place to hold the PL tournament.

As far as the game goes, AU was flat in the first half. Bucknell couldn't miss either, and Bettencourt simply outplayed Jason Thomas, who was essentially replaced by Lekavicius (whose name I may never spell right) and Caterina.

A quick aside here -- Jason Thomas has had a disappointing season thus far, as far as I'm concerned. I thought he would develop as much more of a shooter and team leader, but as a Junior he is still not getting through screens and is still doing dumb shit like trying to throw a dunk down to impress his friends (and missing) instead of just laying the ball up against Lafayette, or arguing with the captain of the team on the court.

AU's press simply destroyed BU in the second half. I'm curious as to where it was during the first half. Lekavicius was great on both ends of the court, as was fellow AU frosh Andre Ingram. Lekavicius' performance was certainly the highlight of the game for this AU fan-- his 9 steals set a new AU record for one game. He needs to hold off on shooting at times, but as this kid matures I think he's going to be the best player AU has.

Bettencourt and the rest of BU's youth movement handled AU's comeback well however, icing a win by hitting their free throws late in the game. AU hit all but 1 free throw, a nice change from a team that couldnt hit a free throw to save its life against LC at home last week.

There's a weird schedule this week for PL games a couple of Tuesday and Wednesday games, along with AU at Lehigh on friday, and another good game with HC at Lafayette Saturday. Colgate will also try to avenge their embarassing loss to Army. I'll have a preview before then.  @ 10:39 PM