PATRIOT LEAGUE PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE: REALLY BORINGSo everyone's preseason lineups for all league honors are going to be pretty much the same, with 6-7 guys in the running, all reasonable picks:
McNaughton, BU, Jr. - Preseason POY
Bettencourt, BU, Sr.
Ingram, AU, Jr.
Lee, BU, Sr.
Simmons, HC, Jr.
Hamilton, HC, Sr.
But who cares about all that. Preseason picks for this stuff are relatively meaningless once the first games get played. Instead, I would like to present the first annual PATRIOTLEAGUEHOOPS.COM PRESEASON BREAKOUT LIST. Yes, that is an extraordinarily long name.
The idea here is that you already know what the guys listed above are capable of. But the guys you've never heard of or paid attention to can often be just as important as the guys who qualify as "big names" in the league above. These guys are chosen from hours of scouting, videotape, and countless work with the PATRIOTLEAGUEHOOPS.COM supercomputer. Keep an eye on them as the season progresses, and when they come to your hometown.
PATRIOTLEAGUEHOOPS.COM PRESEASON BREAKOUT LIST 2005-2006
Grant Carter, Sophomore, Army: Carter quietly put together a good freshman season on a lousy Army team that no one was paying attention to. Last season he acted as little more than a perimeter threat, taking 78 of his 82 shots from behind the arc during league play, setting what has to be some kind of record. He also dropped 21 against Navy in Annapolis. He shot 40% during PL play, not bad considering almost all of those were 3-pointers and the rest of the team shot a collective 37%. If he comes together, he could be a poor man's Kevin Bettencourt.
Linas Lekavicius, Junior, American: As older readers may know, I was way up on Lekavicius after his Freshman year. Unfortunately, I underestimated what a change of positions was going to do to his game, which was as good last year as it was during his Freshman campaign. Now it looks like he'll move back to the 2 spot where he has always played, instead of pretending to be a point guard. His game winning drive with time running out on the clock during the PL tourament against Navy may be something to build on. If he can become a scoring threat, he'll free up pressure against Ingram and freshmen Mercer and Carr.
Matt Fannin, Senior, Navy: Fannin was the PL rebounding champ last year, which I initially thought was a fluke, since Navy misses a lot and plays a high-tempo game, which leads to more opportunities for rebounds. It's like Vinny Castilla hitting 40 home runs while playing for the Rockies: an impressive number, but unimpressive circumstances. Luckily, the PATRIOTLEAGUEHOOPS.COM supercomputer proved my initial bias wrong. By looking at how many minutes each player was on the floor and how many opportunities they had for rebounds (the formula is:Rebounds/Team Possession/Minutes), Fannin still beat every PL regular. That is, not only did he outrebound the league in pure quanitity, he also had more rebounds per opportunity than did any other regular PL player (more on who came in first shortly). As a Senior, Fannin could tap into those league biases and sneak on to the PL first team at season's end.
Tim Clifford, Sophomore, HC: Clifford led the league in the aforementioned rebounds-per-opportunity category. He had an impressive appearance last year against American in the
Marc Splaver Center. His offensive skills are questionable, but his defense and rebounding abilities are ready for prime time. He won't score a lot, but won't need to (at least this year) as HC's offensive attack should mostly center around the guard positions.
Kyle Roemer, Sophomore, CU: He's as pure a shooter as there is in the league, but no one has noticed since he plays in Hamilton. Hopefully he can avoid the fate of Jose Olivero (the guy who he's most comparable to) and not go into a sophomore slump. It might help if he shaved that
weird goatee looking thing on his chin.
Honorable Mention: Alvin Reed, CU; Matt Bell, Army (you should already know about him); Cory Sinning, Army; Greg Sprink, Navy; John Griffin, BU; Alex Woodhouse, CU; Brayden Billbe, AU