Wednesday, September 28, 2005
INCOMPLETE ANSWERS
Back at the start of last season, I put out some questions, which are reasonable to answer at this point as we start the hot stove for the 05-06 campaign.
Is Linas Lekavicius ready to be a full time PG for the AU Eagles? Can Andre Ingram challenge Rob Feaster's all time PL best 28 ppg?
Lekavicius showed flashes, but was inconsistent much of the time. It's obvious to him and everyone else that he's not a true point. AU might be better served moving Ingram to the 3 in PL play and playing Lekavicius at the two. Ingram wasn't even close, scoring 15 a game.
If Jim Crews doesn't win 10 games this year, is he gone?
Apparently not. Crews continued to struggle at Army, and the 10 win mark was miles away from where the USMA finished.
Will Bucknell live up to the hype, or was Kevin Bettencourt's relatively disappointing season last year a sign of things to come? They had potential last year, but will it manifest itself? They didn't look good against Princeton.
I think we know the answer to this one.
Will Colgate win more than 6 games in league play? Who the hell is going to score points on that team? Will the Chonesesess ever return? Were they kicked out for doing that stupid Darius Miles/Quentin Richardson forehead banging thing?
Colgate ended up at the .500 mark in league play and had a remarkably balanced scoring attack from Alvin Reed (12.8 pts), Andrew Zidar (12.5), Jon Simon (12.3) and Kyle Roemer (10 pts). They probably overperformed, given they only had two guys who could rebound. The Chones' will be back this season, and will provide them with the interior depth they needed last year so badly.
Will Senior Nate Lufkin develop into the player that HC fans thought he would be when he was voted Rookie of the Year three years ago?
No, but it didn't matter, as HC only lost one league game in the regular season. The real story was the emergence of Kevin Hamilton and Keith Simmons as a scoring tandem.
Can Lafayette compete in a league with scholarships? Will the scholarship issue be a distraction for the team?
It doesn't look like they can compete. They have a big freshman class coming in, but until the scholarship issue gets settled, they will be comfortably in 6th or 7th place.
Who is Joe Knight, and will he lead the Lehigh MountainEagleEngineers to another title? Is he Austen Rowland part II?
Knight turned out to be the biggest overhype on a team that was overhyped. He scored a lot, but he also missed a lot, which Austen Rowland didn't do to the same extent. His FG% numbers were way down from when he was in the Big South conference, from 43% from the field in 2003 to 36% last year. He beat Colgate by himself in the PL tourney, but that was the outlier of a season of inconsistency. Knight is an excellent passer, and might be better served to move the ball to Olivero and Mbgreoff (who has still not lived up to his potential).
On that note, is this Billy Taylor's last year at Lehigh if they go back to the Dance?
Looks like no.
Can a guy from the Merchant Marine Academy turn the Navy program around? Or at least beat Army?
New Navy coach Billy Lange did well, winning 5 league games with a squad that had no real stars or standouts. Seven players finished averaging 8-11 points a game, and only one player was on the floor more than 30 minutes a game. I think everyone would agree that he was the right choice for the job, despite going 1-1 against Army.
Am I really going to make the trip up to Hamilton again? I can't be serious, can I?
Thanks to a sudden onset of sanity, I did not make it to Hamilton.
More later about the questions for this year. @ 10:19 AM 2 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Back at the start of last season, I put out some questions, which are reasonable to answer at this point as we start the hot stove for the 05-06 campaign.
Is Linas Lekavicius ready to be a full time PG for the AU Eagles? Can Andre Ingram challenge Rob Feaster's all time PL best 28 ppg?
Lekavicius showed flashes, but was inconsistent much of the time. It's obvious to him and everyone else that he's not a true point. AU might be better served moving Ingram to the 3 in PL play and playing Lekavicius at the two. Ingram wasn't even close, scoring 15 a game.
If Jim Crews doesn't win 10 games this year, is he gone?
Apparently not. Crews continued to struggle at Army, and the 10 win mark was miles away from where the USMA finished.
Will Bucknell live up to the hype, or was Kevin Bettencourt's relatively disappointing season last year a sign of things to come? They had potential last year, but will it manifest itself? They didn't look good against Princeton.
I think we know the answer to this one.
Will Colgate win more than 6 games in league play? Who the hell is going to score points on that team? Will the Chonesesess ever return? Were they kicked out for doing that stupid Darius Miles/Quentin Richardson forehead banging thing?
Colgate ended up at the .500 mark in league play and had a remarkably balanced scoring attack from Alvin Reed (12.8 pts), Andrew Zidar (12.5), Jon Simon (12.3) and Kyle Roemer (10 pts). They probably overperformed, given they only had two guys who could rebound. The Chones' will be back this season, and will provide them with the interior depth they needed last year so badly.
Will Senior Nate Lufkin develop into the player that HC fans thought he would be when he was voted Rookie of the Year three years ago?
No, but it didn't matter, as HC only lost one league game in the regular season. The real story was the emergence of Kevin Hamilton and Keith Simmons as a scoring tandem.
Can Lafayette compete in a league with scholarships? Will the scholarship issue be a distraction for the team?
It doesn't look like they can compete. They have a big freshman class coming in, but until the scholarship issue gets settled, they will be comfortably in 6th or 7th place.
Who is Joe Knight, and will he lead the Lehigh MountainEagleEngineers to another title? Is he Austen Rowland part II?
Knight turned out to be the biggest overhype on a team that was overhyped. He scored a lot, but he also missed a lot, which Austen Rowland didn't do to the same extent. His FG% numbers were way down from when he was in the Big South conference, from 43% from the field in 2003 to 36% last year. He beat Colgate by himself in the PL tourney, but that was the outlier of a season of inconsistency. Knight is an excellent passer, and might be better served to move the ball to Olivero and Mbgreoff (who has still not lived up to his potential).
On that note, is this Billy Taylor's last year at Lehigh if they go back to the Dance?
Looks like no.
Can a guy from the Merchant Marine Academy turn the Navy program around? Or at least beat Army?
New Navy coach Billy Lange did well, winning 5 league games with a squad that had no real stars or standouts. Seven players finished averaging 8-11 points a game, and only one player was on the floor more than 30 minutes a game. I think everyone would agree that he was the right choice for the job, despite going 1-1 against Army.
Am I really going to make the trip up to Hamilton again? I can't be serious, can I?
Thanks to a sudden onset of sanity, I did not make it to Hamilton.
More later about the questions for this year. @ 10:19 AM 2 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
CARLTON BALDWIN: THE NICK JOHNSON OF THE PL
Carlton Baldwin of Navy is hurt AGAIN. This isn't as big a deal as last year, as Navy survived fine without Baldwin as he was hurt and suspended for a long period of time, missing 18 games. @ 10:14 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Carlton Baldwin of Navy is hurt AGAIN. This isn't as big a deal as last year, as Navy survived fine without Baldwin as he was hurt and suspended for a long period of time, missing 18 games. @ 10:14 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Thursday, September 22, 2005
HOLLAND SOUNDS LESS DIRTY THAN AMSTERDAM
Raimondas Petrauskas is headed to Amsterdam. Sounds more fun than any other place to play ball. @ 10:27 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
Raimondas Petrauskas is headed to Amsterdam. Sounds more fun than any other place to play ball. @ 10:27 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
ONCE AGAIN, PEOPLE IN CHARGE ARE MORONS
This isn't related to basketball, but it's worth blogging about anyway. Ben Ladner, AU's President, ought to be fired. There's no misunderstandings, white lies, or honest mistakes here. Ladner snuck through half a million dollars of charges to the university for such neccessities as:
- An engagement party for his kid
- $40k worth of booze
- a $22,000 ticket to Nigeria
- a waterfall for his backyard
- birthday dinners including "pan-seared foie gras, BeauSoleil oyster, sabayon and caviar, and white truffle risotto"
Does this remind you of anyone?
In the meantime, tuition at the school has gone up around 6% a year for as long as I can remember. It's true, Ben Ladner had the balls to charge students more to attend AU so that he could have a waterfall in his backyard and caviar for his birthday party. This is after the school bought the guy a million dollar house off campus because he didn't want to live in the President's House already on campus.
I don't know about you, but in my experiences, you can't get away with that in the real world. I can't buy file folders without approval of at least two people in my company, much less foie gras, whatever that is (I go by the rule that if it sounds foriegn, it's probably expensive).
Ladner did a lot of good things for the school, but you just can't overlook this. The Board of Trustees needs to fire him, and quick. There are plenty of other qualified people who would be tempted by a $600,000 salary.
Ladner's lack of humility and good judgement alone require a change. @ 8:58 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
This isn't related to basketball, but it's worth blogging about anyway. Ben Ladner, AU's President, ought to be fired. There's no misunderstandings, white lies, or honest mistakes here. Ladner snuck through half a million dollars of charges to the university for such neccessities as:
- An engagement party for his kid
- $40k worth of booze
- a $22,000 ticket to Nigeria
- a waterfall for his backyard
- birthday dinners including "pan-seared foie gras, BeauSoleil oyster, sabayon and caviar, and white truffle risotto"
Does this remind you of anyone?
In the meantime, tuition at the school has gone up around 6% a year for as long as I can remember. It's true, Ben Ladner had the balls to charge students more to attend AU so that he could have a waterfall in his backyard and caviar for his birthday party. This is after the school bought the guy a million dollar house off campus because he didn't want to live in the President's House already on campus.
I don't know about you, but in my experiences, you can't get away with that in the real world. I can't buy file folders without approval of at least two people in my company, much less foie gras, whatever that is (I go by the rule that if it sounds foriegn, it's probably expensive).
Ladner did a lot of good things for the school, but you just can't overlook this. The Board of Trustees needs to fire him, and quick. There are plenty of other qualified people who would be tempted by a $600,000 salary.
Ladner's lack of humility and good judgement alone require a change. @ 8:58 AM 0 HC Alums are angry about this post | Bitch about it on the PL hoops messageboard
