Rothkopf Refuses Resignation, Reason

Hopefully you readers in PL blog land are interested in this stuff, because there have been a good number of links lately..

Rothkopf won't resign over scholarship flap  @ 3:07 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Rappolt Rails Rothkopf's Retro Reasoning

More alumni anger at LC's stupid scholaship situation.

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  Copyright Infringement is Your Best Entertainment Value

Here's a free copy of the entire Patriot League media guide, courtesy of yours truly. You can get it on the PL site, but its a really annoying interface, so I put this together. Enjoy.  @ 11:08 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Opulent Oechsle Wants Rothkopf Removed

mcall.com - Key Lafayette donor wants Rothkopf out now

More on this later this morning...  @ 7:49 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  2005 Schedules with 2004 RPI of Opponents

This is pretty cool. Ken Pomeroy is the man.

2005 basketball schedule for American
2005 basketball schedule for Navy
2005 basketball schedule for Lafayette
2005 basketball schedule for Lehigh
2005 basketball schedule for Holy Cross
2005 basketball schedule for Colgate
2005 basketball schedule for Army
2005 basketball schedule for Bucknell




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  Lafayette: The Last Amateur Board of Trustees

It appears LC has been recruiting guys who can't meet their
academic standards as compared to other students.

Andthis guy is not pleased.

Honestly, LC should take a hard look at going to D3 if they don't go for scholarships. They're going to continue to deteriorate academically and athletically, to the point where the service academies are going to give them a run for 6th place in a couple years.

LaSalle must be looking a little better to Fran OHanlon right about now...  @ 9:51 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Willard Goes Down South

Snap prediction: This kid will not go to the NBA.

*****
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Spartans' Cunningham decides on Holy Cross
Standout forward sees potential road to NBA

By Jason Smith

October 20, 2004

Bucking a recent trend of White Station basketball players flocking to Ivy League schools, senior forward Colin Cunningham committed to Patriot League member Holy Cross Tuesday over Princeton and Cornell.

Cunningham, a 6-7, 195-pound wing guard who developed into a consistent scoring threat last season during the Spartans' run to a third consecutive Class AAA boys state basketball title, said he chose Holy Cross over Ivy League schools Princeton and Cornell because of head coach Ralph Willard's commitment to building the Crusaders into a basketball power.

Willard, the former Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh coach, is 89-61 with three NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons at Holy Cross.

"Basketball-wise they can develop me into the player I want to be," Cunningham said. "I still have that dream of going pro, and Ralph Willard has great connections in the NBA and all over the world."

First-year White Station head coach William Warren called Cunningham a fierce competitor who brings a variety of skills to the table.

"(The Crusaders) are getting a really good-shooting wingman who, for his size, is a really good passer and good ballhandler," Warren said. "He's always working on his game, wanting to improve it. When he first got here, we didn't know he was going to get this good."

Last season White Station sent big man Jonathan Ball to Dartmouth and center Taylor Schall to Yale. Former Spartan Leon Pattman, a 2003 graduate, is also at Dartmouth.
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  Andre Williams: PL beat writer extraordinaire

Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
October 15, 2004 Friday FIFTH EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS, Pg. C3

Hawks don't mind being No. 2 in preseason ;
Defending tourney champs are picked to finish behind Bucknell.

By Andre D. Williams Of The Morning Call

Defending Patriot League tournament champion Lehigh isn't worried about preseason predictions.

They've been wrong the last two seasons.

So Lehigh coach Billy Taylor doesn't consider it a snub that the Mountain Hawks have been picked by the league's coaches and sports information directors to finish second in the regular-season race, behind Bucknell.

"The thing is we were picked seventh two years ago and fifth last year, so the polls really don't mean very much to me or to our guys, either, " Taylor said Thursday at the league's media day at Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown.

"Certainly, being picked fifth last year and winning the regular-season title and the tournament shows that you have to go out and play the game," added Taylor, who has won the last two Patriot League's coach of the year awards.

Lehigh may be as good, if not better than last season's 20-11 team, which won the regular season and tournament titles. The Hawks have a transfer guard in Joe Knight, a 6-1 junior from High Point University, who may be as exciting as last season's Patriot League player of the year, Austen Rowland.

The Hawks also have sophomore guard Jose Olivero, a member of the all-freshman team last season, and potential all-league returnees in 6-5 sophomore Kyle Neptune and 6-10 sophomore center Jason Mgebroff.

Bucknell received 10 first-place votes. Lehigh and American garnered three first-place votes each. Holy Cross was tabbed fourth, followed by Colgate, Lafayette, Navy and Army.

Bucknell, coming off a 14-15 season, has three preseason all-league selections in 6-2 sophomore guard Kevin Bettencourt, 6-4 junior swingman Charles Lee and 6-11 sophomore center Chris McNaughton, the most versatile post player returning in the league.

Lehigh and American were each 10-4 in league play last season. Bucknell was 9-5, but the Bison might have overtaken Lehigh and American had they not lost their final two league road games at Holy Cross and Colgate.

"We can score. We can rebound. We can pass. We can defend. We are deep enough, but we are still pretty young," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. "If we can get off to a good start and have confidence build, it could be lights out."

Lehigh and Bucknell split their games last season, each winning at home. The margin of victory in each game was less than five points.

Lehigh routed the Bison 60-45 in the semifinals of the league tournament.

Lafayette's expectations: With four starters -- Justin DeBerry, Winston Davis, Mike Farrell and Rob Dill -- having graduated, Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon may endure one of his most challenging seasons.

"I was surprised that we were picked sixth," O'Hanlon said. "With losing everybody that we lost, I thought they'd pick us eighth, but I think once you get past five or so, they don't give much thought to that as they vote."

The Leopards will visit Louisville on Dec. 4 and defending national runner-up Georgia Tech on Dec. 28.

"What you want to do is get better by the playoffs," O'Hanlon said. "Right now, we don't know anything about our team. We don't know who is going to be our go-to guy. We don't know what's going to happen when it comes down to the last two minutes of the game, but hopefully it plays out by the time the postseason comes around.

"It's going to take time to come together and jell, and it's probably going to take the whole season."

andre.williams@mcall.com
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  From the Philly Inquirer:

Cherry Hill East senior Brian Young, one of the best pure shooters in South Jersey, has made an oral commitment to play basketball at Lafayette University. The 6-foot-6 Young averaged 15.2 points per game for the 18-9 Cougars, who advanced to the South Jersey Group 4 semifinal. Young shot 79 for 204 (38.7 percent) from three-point range.
Lafayette, a member of the Patriot League, doesn't give athletic basketball scholarships, but East coach John Valore said that Young received a 'very good financial package.'
Valore feels that Young will be a good fit for coach Fran O'Hanlon, whose team frequently employs the three-point shot in its offense.
Young was recruited as a small forward, but he could also play the shooting guard position.
Valore said Penn, Columbia and St. Anselm College, a Division II school in New Hampshire, were among the schools showing interest in Young."  @ 11:17 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Another Midnight Madness Article

Lehigh, Lafayette use contrasting starts to basketball season  @ 4:07 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  League's second worst fans (CU wins #1) get pumped about Midnight Madness

Lehigh had a half full stadium for its championship game last year. Also: Trey Wingo??  @ 4:04 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  So you've already seen it, but

Here's the release about the preseason picks from the ADs and coaches.

The picks were:
1. Bucknell
2. Lehigh
3. American
4. Holy Cross
5. Colgate
6. Lafayette
7. Navy
8. Army

And the all league team is...

Andre Ingram, So., G, American (POY)
Kevin Bettencourt, Jr., G, Bucknell
Charles Lee, Jr., G/F, Bucknell
Chris McNaughton, So., C, Bucknell
Kevin Hamilton, Jr., G, Holy Cross

Just for giggles, here's what the preseason poll looked like at the beginning of last year:

1. Holy Cross
2. Lafayette
3. Colgate
4. American
5. Lehigh
6. Bucknell
7. Navy
8. Army

Hey, at least they were right about Navy and Army!

Let's play a fun game that I usually lose. Here's my preseason picks, I probably can't be any more wrong than the league officials, at least:

1. Bucknell - good young talent, but they were streaky last year. If they can show some maturity, they will be the onees to beat.
2. AU - Andre Ingram is going to get all the attention on defense, freeing up Lekavicius. The season is on his shoulders, not Ingram's.
3. Lehigh - They have Olivero to score points for them, but who's going to get him the ball? Whether or not Joe Knight is any good will determine where they end up. Development of Mbegroff as a 5 is the other key.
4. Colgate - Hell, why not? The Chones have shown flashes that I haven't seen from any of the teams below, and they are one of the more athletic teams. Everything from here is pretty much a crap shoot.
5. Holy Cross - Welcome to a conference with scholarships fellas. Try to keep up.
6. Lafayette - LC begins their slow march towards the bottom.
7. Army - Only above the USNA because my parents are IU class of 76 so I have a soft spot for Coach Crews.
8. Navy - New head coach Billy Lange is a good recruiter, it seems, but none of his recruits are there yet.

Andre Ingram is a questionable POY, in my opinion. Kevin Bettencourt, who has a year of experience on Ingram, is a real close second, and may end up with this thing by the time the season is over. Here's what I think the postseason all league roster is going to look like:

L Lekavicius, PG, AU (POY) - this is out there, I know.
Ingram, AU, SG
McNaughton, PF, Bucknell
Olivero, Lehigh, SG (IMO the only real mistake in this years preseason all league roster is that he isn't on it)
Bettencourt, SG, Bucknell
Matt B, fake journalist/muckraker, AU

When the postseason all league roster comes out and I'm not on it, please send letters to the league office.  @ 4:00 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Kermit Washington: Why is this guy not giving commencement speeches?

The Washington Post
October 9, 2004 Saturday
Finding Purpose and Delivering Relief;
Ex-NBA Star Enlists AU In Africa Medical Project

Amy Argetsinger, Washington Post Staff Writer

Kermit Washington had gone back to American University on many occasions over the years -- the night they retired his basketball jersey, the times he needed a gym to run his clinics for aspiring players. During the highs and lows of an NBA career overshadowed by bitter controversy, his alma mater was one of the few places, he said, where he was always welcomed, always made to feel at home.

He wasn't just any AU alumnus, of course. As a longtime forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and other teams, Washington was the most celebrated athlete to emerge from a private college better known for producing diplomats and policy wonks.

But when he returned to the Northwest Washington campus last year, it was on a mission far more personal and one that had nothing to do with sports. In the office of the dean of the School of International Service, Washington described the free clinic he had started in a bleak Nairobi slum -- the focus of much of his energies since leaving pro basketball 15 years earlier.

Now he wanted American to send students to Kenya to help.

The dean said yes, and in January, AU will launch a study-abroad program that will enable students to intern with Washington's Project Contact Africa while taking classes for credit at Nairobi universities. At least half a dozen have signed on for spring semester, and Washington hopes to draw more in coming years from American and other colleges.

"We're going to help 100,000 people this year," said the 1973 AU graduate, now 53. "They are going to see that people being oppressed by disease and hunger can be helped."

If it weren't for his 6-foot-8-inch height, a passerby might not peg Kermit Washington as a former pro athlete. The new Arlington resident -- he relocated from Vancouver to be closer to the District, his home town -- arrived at American's campus on a recent morning in a plain blue button-down shirt and gray dress pants, a vaguely self-effacing hunch in his walk.

He politely steered the conversation away from himself, returning again and again to his African mission.

"If a pharmacy gave us 100,000 pills for intestinal worms, we could give those out in a month. If we had enough ringworm medicine and scabies medicine, we could help a million kids," he said, describing in detail the fast-acting properties of anti-parasitical drugs. "Two days later, every single bug is gone!"

It's hard to believe this was once the most vilified man in sports.

On Dec. 9, 1977, when the Coolidge High School graduate was playing for the Lakers, Washington became embroiled in a mid-game scuffle with a member of the Houston Rockets. When another Rockets player, Rudy Tomjanovich, ran toward him to break up the fight, Washington reacted instinctively to the blur he saw as a threat and let loose a punch -- freakish in the intensity of its impact -- that nearly proved fatal, doctors said.

Tomjanovich, now coach of the Lakers, underwent emergency surgery to repair broken bones in his face and skull. He and Washington have long since reconciled. But the punch cast a shadow over the rest of Washington's career and branded him a brute.

It ended the dreams he once had of becoming a senator or congressman. And it closed doors to him in the coaching profession as well. His venture into the restaurant business in Vancouver, Wash., with another former Trail Blazer ended a few years ago, a costly failure.

Today, he earns a living by running pre-draft camps to train National Basketball Association hopefuls. But much of his time and attention goes to Project Contact, the medical relief organization he formed in 1995 after an eye-opening trip to Africa.

Washington had spent years doing charitable work in his adopted home of Portland. With the support of Nike, he delivered athletic shoes to youngsters who made the honor roll. Over time, though, he grew disenchanted: Students would complain about the color of the free basketball shoes or pester him for a different style. He winced when remembering one delivery he made to a poor neighborhood; some of the recipients, after snagging one pair of sneakers, immediately got back in line to collect more.

"The greed and deceitfulness," he said, sighing. "I was so hurt. . . . I thought, let me help people who will appreciate it."

In 1994, after reading accounts of the genocide in Rwanda, he called a Portland-based medical humanitarian team that was traveling to the refugee camps. He offered to donate money. Instead, they invited him along.

Washington was staggered by the conditions of the camp he visited in Goma, Zaire. "Three thousand people -- no food, no water, no bathroom, no nothing," he said.

He befriended a little boy named Moses who had been saved from a mass grave. He sat by the bedside of a girl with pneumonia who asked for his lip balm. When he returned the next day, she had died. Their faces, and many others, lingered with him when he returned to the United States.

"They look at you with eyes of hopelessness, and I can't blame them," he said. "If I lived there, I'd be thinking, 'How can I get out?' "

Washington decided to recast the 6th Man Foundation he had created to address local issues in Oregon to give it a more global focus. In 1995, Project Contact began taking doctors and nurses to Nairobi's Kibera neighborhood -- one of the largest slums in the world and a destination for refugees from across eastern Africa -- to operate regular clinics.

He initially funded the effort out of his own pocket, including selling off his Porsche. Then he drew donations from the NBA Players Association and corporations such as Nike. Mostly, though, his organization is powered by the labor of volunteers who pay for their own travel, he said.

Which is part of the reason Washington approached American University to enlist students for help. This summer, Project Contact completed construction of a building that now houses a permanent clinic in Kibera. He envisions the study-abroad students teaching classes and mentoring young Kenyans in the clinic's extra rooms.

"The community is going to love them to death there," he said, face glowing with optimism as he imagined a ripple effect of volunteerism overseas.

"A dollar a day can save a life," he said. "I say, don't give money; come with us and buy some medicine when we get there. . . . What if a thousand people say, 'I want to do what Kermit is doing'?"

The American University program is capitalizing on a resurgence of interest in Africa on college campuses across the country, school officials said, as well as the growing number of students interested in international development and humanitarian work. "Young people today are concerned with the state of the world," said Louis Goodman, dean of American's School of International Service. "They want to find peaceable solutions to global problems."

Only in recent years have a number of schools begun to offer study-abroad programs that engage students in development work. AU officials said the school's ties to Washington enabled them to start within months a program that might ordinary have taken years to arrange.

It's tempting to wonder if Washington threw himself into a life of good works to redeem his image after the night of the catastrophic punch.

Not at all, he said. He had spent his life before that working hard to do the right thing -- making good grades, trying to please everyone -- only to find it meant nothing after one shattering event.

"You get to the point where you can't worry about what people think," he said flatly. "You don't go to Africa because you want to impress people -- it's dangerous."

If he had his choice, he said, he'd keep his image out of the Project Contact endeavor, disappear from the public spotlight and work in Kibera year-round. But the organization needs funding and volunteers -- things that come through public exposure, which is something his celebrity can command.

"When you're in Africa, you realize death is all around us," Washington said. "I hope when I'm on my deathbed, I can say it wasn't a wasted life."   @ 2:31 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Carolyn Femovich has a kinda funny middle name

Here's a story from the UPenn student newspaper about the PL's slow introduction of scholarships and whether they've been a success.

Here's something to ponder: will the PL eventually supercede the Ivys athletically? You'd have to say they already have in football. And I'd argue that the PL was better last year than the Ivys.

Look at the standings: There were three Ivy league teams with winning records last year, Princeton (20-8), Penn (17-10) and Brown (14-13). Princeton was 7-7 outside of the league, Penn was 7-6, and Brown was 4-9.

The Patriot League has similar numbers: Lehigh, AU, and Lafayette were the only three teams with winning records. Lehigh was 10-7 OOC, AU was 8-9, and Lafayette was 9-5.

The conference RPI for the Patriot League was slightly higher than the Ivy League's.

Without Navy or Army, which have unique circumstances to deal with, the Patriot League is by far the superior league. Dartmouth, Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell, to but it nicely, sucked last year. Any team but the academies beat them easily. The PL was 13-6 against the Ivy league last year.

The real question, if the league as a whole is better, is when do teams like Lehigh, Holy Cross, or AU get to the level that Princeton is at where they routinely WIN games in the tournament and get the respect of a seed higher than 16? I'm convinced that no PL team will win an NCAA game with a 16/17 seed. The league as a whole is going to have to improve to the respect level that the Ivys have and get a 12 seed or so before there's a reasonable chance.

But don't hold your breath.


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  HC Recruiting Down South

Registration required on the site, but this is all the relevant part:

commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN: Prep Sports: "While Prince works toward finalizing his decision, his White Station teammate, Colin Cunningham, could add to the Spartans' growing Ivy League connections.
In the last couple years, White Station has sent Leon Pattman and Jonathan Ball to Dartmouth and Taylor Schall to Yale.
In keeping with that tradition, Cunningham, a 6-7, 195-pound wing guard, is closely considering Princeton, Cornell and Columbia.
But it's the Patriot League's Holy Cross, and coach Ralph Willard, about whom Cunningham speaks most enthusiastically.
The Crusaders are being tipped by many to make this year's NCAA Tournament under the guidance of the former Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh coach, and Cunningham, who visited last week, has taken notice.
'It's something else. I was kind of skeptical because I had just (visited) Cornell, but it was a whole 'nother level,' said Cunningham of Holy Cross. 'Academically they're all great. With Holy Cross, what impressed me is how hard they work. It's a basketball school.' "  @ 4:00 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard

  Lafayette Losers Luckless

Here's an article from the Express-Times on the head-in-ass policy of Lafayette's board of trustees to continue without any scholarships for sports.

Here's a good question: in 2006, who will be in last place in the Patriot League?

If you answered anything other than Lafayette, you're delusional.

I'm not sure anyone out there (that actually reads this site) would argue that LC is going the right direction here, so maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but man, is this ever dumb. The other schools in the league are doing a good job balancing scholarships with academics (with Lehigh being the questionable exception). So why can't LC?

What a joke. Go D3 already.
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  Navy gets a point guard

Here's an article on a 2005 committment to Navy. More news on committments is on the message board.

The Miami Herald
September 23, 2004 Thursday

Cypress Bay's Avant makes oral commitment to Navy;

BY FABIAN LYON
flyon@herald.com

The Navy men's basketball team is looking for a point guard who knows how to win, and Cypress Bay senior Cecil Avant should fit the bill.

Lightning boys' basketball coach Jason Looky announced Wednesday that Avant -- one of Florida's top returning point guards, has made an oral commitment to play for the Midshipmen.

Avant, whose verbal commitment is non-binding until he signs a letter-of-intent, chose Navy over Appalachian State, Wofford, Florida Gulfcoast and Florida Southern.

''This is huge for our program because Cecil would be the first Lightning player to sign a Division I college basketball scholarship,'' Looky said. ''He is going to one the best academic institutions and will take with him a lot of the energy and leadership skills he has shown with us. We're real proud of him.''

In Avant, the Midshipmen would get a true floor leader that plays bigger than 5-7. Last season, Avant averaged 11 points, 6.8 assists, 5.7 steals to earn honorable mention on the Herald's All-Broward team.

Success has followed Avant throughout his prep career.

After starting his career at Westminster Academy, he transferred to Cypress Bay, where he has helped the Lightning improve from a 7-12 record in its inaugural season to 20-7.

Avant and Eni Cuka -- an All-Broward shooting guard -- enter the 2004-05 season as one of Broward's top backcourts. Cuka, who is mulling offers from a number of colleges, is scheduled to visit Niagara today.  @ 3:18 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard