Tuesday, May 17, 2005
LAFAYETTE: UGH
Before I start, I'd be remiss not to mention Coach Willard, who was diagnosed with cancer recently. Your PL blogger looks forward to having him as an associate in the cancer survivor club. Ralph, if a wussy like me can do it, so can you. Best of luck.
On to business: what is going on in Easton, PA?
You've got a bunch of alumni really, really, mad at the school, some goofy-ass underground newspaper getting scoops on the mainstream media, Jamaal Douglas apparently headed for Eastern Kentucky, and six newcomers for the 2005-06 season. Shades of the Bronx Zoo abound. That is, LC players and staff may be stuck spending their time dealing with off-court issues instead of studying tape or working on their 12 footer.
Douglass leaving puts LC a bad situation, but not one that, on the surface, they can't dig themselves out of. Douglas took 16% of the team's shots last year, and accounted for 18% of their offense. If you're a LC fan, you'd like to think that one of the 6 freshmen might be able to fill some of that void. But Sean Knitter is gone for the rec leagues, leaving a bigger hole to fill.
Moreover, we ought to remember that this is a team that went 5-9 WITH Douglass and Knitter.
Check out who is left, and what their minutes and approximate value were last year.
Note: Douglas is left in for reference. Also, the average AV in the league is around 8.
As starters, Matt Betley and Bilal Abdullah will improve as sophmores, and Marcus Harley and Jamaal Hillard will at least provide some experience as juniors. But their Senior class is shallow, having averaged about 25 minutes among the three of them last year.
So whether LC can compete again is pretty much up to their incoming freshmen. That's a bad thing. It's rare that a team gets ONE impact freshman, much less two in one class. Lafayette is also playing a game they can't win in trying to out-recruit other PL schools. As great a school as it is, it's not so great that it would keep a potential 3.7 GPA kid from attending one of the other, more generous, schools in the league. Given the option between LC for $120,000 or another PL school for free, the choice to go to LC becomes pretty tough.
In short: unless the freshman class, which has size on its side, can make an impact similar to the recruiting classes Pat Flannery rebuilt Bucknell with, LC is going to be in some trouble for a while, maybe forever. @ 2:07 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Before I start, I'd be remiss not to mention Coach Willard, who was diagnosed with cancer recently. Your PL blogger looks forward to having him as an associate in the cancer survivor club. Ralph, if a wussy like me can do it, so can you. Best of luck.
On to business: what is going on in Easton, PA?
You've got a bunch of alumni really, really, mad at the school, some goofy-ass underground newspaper getting scoops on the mainstream media, Jamaal Douglas apparently headed for Eastern Kentucky, and six newcomers for the 2005-06 season. Shades of the Bronx Zoo abound. That is, LC players and staff may be stuck spending their time dealing with off-court issues instead of studying tape or working on their 12 footer.
Douglass leaving puts LC a bad situation, but not one that, on the surface, they can't dig themselves out of. Douglas took 16% of the team's shots last year, and accounted for 18% of their offense. If you're a LC fan, you'd like to think that one of the 6 freshmen might be able to fill some of that void. But Sean Knitter is gone for the rec leagues, leaving a bigger hole to fill.
Moreover, we ought to remember that this is a team that went 5-9 WITH Douglass and Knitter.
Check out who is left, and what their minutes and approximate value were last year.
Note: Douglas is left in for reference. Also, the average AV in the league is around 8.
As starters, Matt Betley and Bilal Abdullah will improve as sophmores, and Marcus Harley and Jamaal Hillard will at least provide some experience as juniors. But their Senior class is shallow, having averaged about 25 minutes among the three of them last year.
So whether LC can compete again is pretty much up to their incoming freshmen. That's a bad thing. It's rare that a team gets ONE impact freshman, much less two in one class. Lafayette is also playing a game they can't win in trying to out-recruit other PL schools. As great a school as it is, it's not so great that it would keep a potential 3.7 GPA kid from attending one of the other, more generous, schools in the league. Given the option between LC for $120,000 or another PL school for free, the choice to go to LC becomes pretty tough.
In short: unless the freshman class, which has size on its side, can make an impact similar to the recruiting classes Pat Flannery rebuilt Bucknell with, LC is going to be in some trouble for a while, maybe forever. @ 2:07 PM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
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Just a quick post to let you know what's in the offing-- I have a couple of posts that need some editing, fact checking, and removal of some profanties before I post them.
The first is about Lafayette and what the hell is going on there. That should be up within a week or so. The second, which is liable to be posted anytime between now and October, goes over what everyone in the league is losing and gaining going into 2005-2006.
In the meantime, check here for breaking news on transfers and all that jazz. You can also come talk baseball with me in Section 312, row 8 at RFK, where I have been spending most of my time these days. @ 9:39 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Just a quick post to let you know what's in the offing-- I have a couple of posts that need some editing, fact checking, and removal of some profanties before I post them.
The first is about Lafayette and what the hell is going on there. That should be up within a week or so. The second, which is liable to be posted anytime between now and October, goes over what everyone in the league is losing and gaining going into 2005-2006.
In the meantime, check here for breaking news on transfers and all that jazz. You can also come talk baseball with me in Section 312, row 8 at RFK, where I have been spending most of my time these days. @ 9:39 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
