Category: patriot league

Loose Change 2/15/08

On By MikeIn football, lacrosse, navy football, navy lacrosse, patriot leagueLeave a comment

Odds & ends you may have missed over the past week:

  • Ron Snyder wrote a great piece on Jordan DiNola.
  • Speaking of the lacrosse team’s defense, Inside Lacrosse says that Navy has the 4th best defense in the land. Why? Because they’re always good! Expert analysis! It won’t be enough, though, according to Lacrosse Magazine; they think that Army beats Navy this year.
  • Ron Snyder was busy this week, as he also previews the first Navy women’s lax team. Those of you excited to see them in action will have to wait an extra week, as the season opener against St. Francis was postponed. The team will begin their season at home next weekend against Longwood.
  • More women’s lax: the Patriot League released its preseason poll, and surprisingly our upstart Navy team isn’t picked to finish last. That dubious distinction belongs to Lafayette. How bad do you have to be to get picked behind a team that’s in its first year of existence? Try 1-15, which was the Leopards’ record last year. Don’t be surprised if the season plays out as the SIDs and coaches predicted, too. Cindy Timchal brings instant credibility to the Navy women’s lax program, and she can find a way to coach the team out of the cellar.
  • Logan West is a lacrosse recruit.
  • Some of you may not have known this, but a professional soccer team made its home at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last year. Crystal Palace USA, a developmental squad for Crystal Palace FC of The Championship (England’s second division for you soccer noobs), played in Annapolis. You’d never have known it with their lack of marketing. Well, now the team has decided to actually market themselves a little, but they’re moving to UMBC.
  • Press Box has an article on the state of youth football in Maryland. It probably isn’t anything you’re interested in, but it does mention Ben Gabbard.
  • Mike Wahle, formerly of the class of ’99, was cut by the Carolina Panthers in a salary cap move. It didn’t take him much time to find a new home in Seattle.
  • Bill Wagner wrote about the Touchdown Club of Annapolis awards banquet, where Reggie Campbell received the Tony Rubino Memorial Silver Helmet Award.
  • More lacrosse: An interview with Lafayette head coach Terry Mangan.
  • The Sun has a good writeup on the new faceoff rules in college lax this year, including quotes from Richie Meade. And check out the video highlights of the VMI game.
  • And finally, there’s the proposed rule changes in college football. My opinions on these changes more or less echo those of EDSBS. In case you were wondering, here’s the current definition of a chop block:

Chop Block

ARTICLE 3. A chop block is:

a. An obviously delayed block at the thigh or below against an opponent
(except the runner) who is in contact with a teammate of the blocker, is
in the act of disengaging from the first blocker or has just disengaged
from the first blocker but is still confronting him. When in question, the
contact is at the thigh or below (A.R. 2-3-3-I-V).
b. A high-low, low-high or low-low combination block by two nonadjacent
linemen with or without a delay between contacts occurring in the
neutral zone.
c. A high-low, low-high or low-low combination block by any two
offensive players with or without a delay between contacts when the
initial contact clearly occurs beyond the neutral zone (i.e., all involved
players are beyond the neutral zone) (A.R. 2-3-3-III and IV).

Loose Change 2/1/08

On By MikeIn air farce, army, lacrosse, navy basketball, navy football, navy lacrosse, navy sports, patriot league, recruiting, videoLeave a comment

Odds & ends you may have missed over the past week:

American Postgame

On By MikeIn basketball, navy basketball, patriot leagueLeave a comment
Navy 77, American University 66   (Team Stats)
Team FG FG% 3FG 3FG% FT FT% REB DR OR AS TO BK ST PF
AMER 24-63 38.1 8-24 33.3 10-15 66.7 47 26 21 12 17 2 4 23
NAVY 22-57 38.6 9-26 34.6 24-27 88.9 31 21 10 10 8 5 9 19
Boxscore |  StatSheet.com

Navy bounced back after a very disappointing loss to Army, beating American at Bender Arena for the first time since the Eagles joined the Patriot League, 77-66.

It was an ugly game, with both teams shooting less than 40% from the floor. Navy was horribly, horribly outrebounded in the game; combine that with a 9-26 night from beyond the arc, and you have a game that not too long ago would have resulted in a Navy blowout loss. Not last night, though. Navy finally had an answer for a cold shooting night: team defense, taking care of the ball, and getting Greg Sprink to the free throw line. Sprink scored 36 points, including 17-18 from the line. Chris Harris pitched in 15. The two of them also combined for 6 steals. Navy had only 8 turnovers compared to American’s 17, helping to offset the extra posessions that AU got from their dominance on the glass.

Navy’s rebounding has cost them in the past, and will cost them again in the future. But taking care of the ball and finding a way to score when the 3-pointers aren’t falling makes this a much better basketball team.

Navy 77, American University 66   (Navy Player Stats)
Team
MIN
PTS
FG
FG%
3FG
3%
FT
FT%
R
DR
OR
AS
TO
B
S
PF
 
C. Harris (G) 38 15 5-11 45.5 3-9 33.3 2-2 100 3 2 1 3 2 0 2 3
G. Sprink (G) 36 36 8-18 44.4 3-7 42.9 17-18 94.4 3 3 0 2 2 0 4 4
A. Teague 26 5 1-6 16.7 1-6 16.7 2-4 50 5 5 0 0 0 0 1 2
R. Garcia (G) 25 7 2-4 50 1-1 100 2-2 100 4 2 2 1 1 2 1 0
K. Kina (G) 25 7 3-8 37.5 0-2 0 1-1 100 5 5 0 4 1 1 0 3
M. Veazey (C) 22 4 2-4 50 0-0 0 0-0 0 4 2 2 0 0 2 0 3
T. Topercer 12 3 1-2 50 1-1 100 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
B. Richards 6 0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
C. Colbert 4 0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
B. Brigham 4 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
D. Young 2 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM:   200 77 22-57 38.6 9-26 34.6 24-27 88.9 31 21 10 10 8 5 9 19

Army Postgame

On By MikeIn army-navy, basketball, navy basketball, patriot league3 Comments
Army 69, Navy 67   (Team Stats)
Team FG FG% 3FG 3FG% FT FT% REB DR OR AS TO BK ST PF
NAVY 21-61 34.4 11-33 33.3 14-22 63.6 39 21 18 15 18 5 9 16
ARMY 26-57 45.6 5-13 38.5 12-15 80.0 38 25 13 15 20 7 9 20
Boxscore |  StatSheet.com

Army’s defensive plan was simple: stop Greg Sprink at all costs. Whenever Navy’s best player touched the ball, he was met with a double-team. Navy probably would have done a lot better if they employed a similar strategy with Jarell Brown. Brown, Army’s only real scoring threat, scored 35 points, including the game-winning basket, to lead Army to a 69-67 win over the Mids at Alumni Hall. The loss dropped Navy to 2-3 in the Patriot League and kept them from pulling within a game of conference leader Lafayette, who lost to Lehigh on Saturday night. The Leopards are now tied with Bucknell for the top spot in the league.

Army started the game with an 11-0 run as Navy came out and looked lost. Once the Mids settled down, though, they started to play some good basketball. If there is anything positive to take from this game, it’s that other players stepped up when Army went after Sprink. In the first half, Adam Teague’s 3-pointers and steals helped the Mids to dig out of their early deficit and actually take a lead into the half. In the second half, Mark Veazey came out on fire, scoring points underneath the basket, blocking shots, and making some tough rebounds. Chris Harris added 20 points and 5 assists, although he was only 5-18 from the field. And despite Army’s efforts, Sprink actually had a decent game statistically, scoring 20 himself while pulling down 6 rebounds. While Army’s defense couldn’t stop Greg Sprink from scoring, they did force him into 7 turnovers. Greg tried to fight through double-teams to force fouls and get to the free throw line, but too often he came in out of control and gave up the ball. Army’s defense, though, wasn’t the cause of his biggest gaffe of the night. Sprink took a pass after a steal at half-court and missed what appeared to be some kind of hot-dogging, rim-rocking, wide-open dunk attempt. Navy actually got the offensive rebound, but the Black Knights got a steal and wound up with a 3-point play on the other end. The resulting 5-point swing may have been the difference in the game.

I can sympathize with Greg Sprink. I can imagine what he was thinking. This was Navy’s biggest rival in an important Patriot League game, but you’d never have known that by listening to the crowd– especially the Brigade. They were dead. But if Greg could pull off that dunk, maybe he could have shot some excitement into the Mids. Maybe he could have brought the crowd into the game. And a play like that can be demoralizing for the other team; maybe it would have broken Army’s back. At the very least, maybe whipping the crowd into a frenzy would have forced Jim Crews to call a timeout or something. Unfortunately, none of those “maybes” were more important than the actual 2 points.

Even with that 5-point swing, it was still a tie game inside of a minute to play. Army had the ball, and everyone in the building– well, those who were paying attention to the game, anyway– knew who was going to get the ball. Why, then, did Billy Lange put Greg Sprink, with his four fouls, on Jarell Brown? Greg couldn’t contest Brown’s shot because if he fouled out, Navy would be without their best player in a potential game-winning or tying situation. And as Brown drove down the right side, nobody slid off of their man to help out. Brown’s game-winning shot was a way-too-easy layup.

Navy has had significant second-half leads in each of its three Patriot League losses. With Billy Lange’s 3-point-happy offense, Navy can race out ahead of anyone. Unfortunately, it also means that anyone can come back to beat Navy as soon as the shots stop falling. Playing up-tempo and shooting 3s might not be the best way to handle situations where you want to limit the other team’s posessions. I’m on board with the basics of Lange’s offense. I wasn’t at the beginning of the year, but Chris Harris has stepped up as a scoring threat to take pressure off of Greg Sprink. Now Lange has to draw something up to help his team hold on to the leads they build.

Players
MIN
PTS
Shooting
Rebounds
AS
ST
BK
TO
PF
FG
FG%
FT
FT%
3PT
3PT%
O
D
T
K. Kina (G) 22 1 0-6 0 1-2 50 0-4 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 6 4
C. Harris (G) 40 20 5-18 27.8 5-6 83.3 5-14 35.7 2 2 4 5 2 0 2 1
G. Sprink (G) 38 20 6-18 33.3 6-7 85.7 2-8 25 2 4 6 3 2 0 7 4
R. Garcia (G) 25 3 1-3 33.3 0-0 0 1-2 50 0 6 6 0 0 0 2 1
M. Veazey (C) 21 9 4-7 57.1 1-3 33.3 0-0 0 4 3 7 2 0 3 1 2
A. Teague 28 13 5-7 71.4 0-0 0 3-5 60 2 4 6 1 4 2 0 2
B. Richards 19 1 0-2 0 1-2 50 0-0 0 5 1 6 2 0 0 0 1
C. Colbert 7 0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1

Loose Change 1/25/08

On By MikeIn air farce, army, football, lacrosse, navy football, navy lacrosse, navy sports, patriot league, Paul Johnson6 Comments

Odds & ends you may have missed over the past week:

THE QUESTIONS! THEY BURN!

On By MikeIn lacrosse, navy lacrosse, patriot league3 Comments

Lacrosse already? That’s right. Don’t look now, but Navy’s first scrimmage is this weekend against UMBC. Time to start getting ready. Inside Lacrosse has presented their 10 Burning Questions for ’08, and there’s plenty of Navy talk in there. Make sure you read up.

Not content to rely on Inside Lacrosse, a team of our favorite lacrosse experts came together for their own discussion of the upcoming season. Joining me in this roundtable is Pete Medhurst, the Voice of Navy Lacrosse (and a blogger himself); Joe Miller, Pete’s co-host on the Navy Football tailgate show and radio play-by-play voice for Johns Hopkins lacrosse; and Christian Swezey, writer of all things lacrosse for The Washington Post.

The Birddog: To me, this looks like a really interesting season coming up. Hopkins is bringing back that midfield, Duke players are getting an extra year, and I think this might be the year that someone other than Navy finally wins the Patriot League. What do you think? What questions do you have about this season?

Miller: It should be interesting, especially with most of the top guys returning for Duke. I’m already looking forward to the trip down to Durham for the Hopkins-Duke game on April 5th. My questions for the upcoming season would be, can Gvozden step right in and replace Jesse at Hopkins? For Virginia, how will the much talked about freshman class perform? Plus they have to replace their GK Turner, but they do return their entire attack unit.  For Duke, I don’t know if there is much to wonder about. You know that they are extremely talented, but I thought last year their biggest question mark was their depth. It should improve this year. I understand they have had some injury concerns in fall ball but they should for the most part be ready to go.  Really the question marks don’t start for Duke until May. Can they handle the pressure of making it to another championship game after losing two straight?  For Navy, besides Mirabito and Daratsos who is going to score?But I would still put them as my Patriot League favorite. For Maryland, I’ve heard a lot of good things about their freshmen and they are going to need it. Young, Reed, and Catalino will have a lot of pressure on them to produce; will they?  It seems like the general consensus from everyone leading up to the season is that Hopkins, Virginia, and Duke are the top three teams, and a bunch of other teams will battle it out for that 4th spot. But it hardly ever seems to play out that way.

Swezey: What strikes me about this year is how many top teams are going to be better than they were last year. Johns Hopkins won the national title last year and there’s no question they have a chance to be a lot better this year. I agree with Joe that Gvodzen in goal is a concern; my best guess is he will be much more consistent than Jesse Schwartzman, but will he play as well in the big games? Schwartzman was such a good goalie in the playoffs; I believe he lost only one playoff game in his three years as a starter.

Duke won’t be better this year initially; it had too many injuries to top players in the fall. But the Blue Devils will be fantastic by April and May. Coach John Danowski’s philosophy has always been to be good in March, great in April and at your best in May. So he won’t rush people back for early-season games.

Virginia will be so much better than last year, especially at midfield. And Georgetown has everyone back.

I don’t know what to make of Navy, and I doubt I’m alone. They have talent; the guys we have been hearing about behind the scenes for a couple years (Higgins, the youngest Lennon, etc.) have to show up on offense. I can’t see any player scoring more than 20-25 goals this year. What Navy needs is eight guys to score one or two goals each in every game.

The rest of the Patriot League is really good, no question. What makes it so interesting is that Bucknell and Colgate are heavy on offense and Army and Navy are heavy on defense. It should make for some amazing matchups. The Army-Navy game this year might finish 4-3.

The Birddog: It’s funny about Schwartzman… At the beginning of the year, Hop fans can’t wait for him to graduate. By the end of the year, they don’t know what they’ll do without him!

With Navy I think it’s a question of how many 7-6 type games they can win.

Miller: The Schwartzman storyline was prevalent all of last season; he struggled at times and Gvozden replaced him and played well in his brief appearance. But give credit to Coach Pietramala for sticking by Schwartzman, because he was absolutely fantastic in the 4th Quarter of the National Championship game.  Gvozden was known as a pressure goalie in High School, a guy that would play his best at the most important time. Only time will tell how it does at the biggest stage.

I agree with Christian as far as some of the bigger teams maybe having improved during the off season. Don’t forget that Hopkins gets back Matt Dreenan; before he got hurt last season, he was everyone’s pick to have a break out season for the Jays.  Dreenan returns with Michael Evans, who BTW you could make a case he should’ve been the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, he was that good down the stretch.

Navy seems destined to play a ton of close games this year; my question is how much will it hurt to lose John Tillman?

Medhurst: We know the commodities that are JHU, Duke, and Virginia.

The stock that everbody is waiting for to skyrocket is Georgetown. Yes, they return everyone. Yes, this group is mega-hyped. Can they produce the results on the field?Sometimes you need a go-to guy. JHU has it. Duke has it. Who will emerge for Georgetown as THE guy, when the going gets tough against the big boys, that will get them a goal?

Navy has toughened its out of conference schedule with the Cornell test. The question for Navy is, will they score enough goals? Defensively they are fine.

The Patriot League schedule has Navy playing Bucknell and Colgate within a four-day period. In the past Navy has had the depth to withstand this. By then, they will have played enough games to know if they have the same depth. They have the league’s best coach and leader, and until they get beaten, my money is in their camp. Bucknell and Colgate have shown some improvement in the regular season of late. Now they must prove they can take the next step in the post-season. The Bison have tons of returning fragile talent; fragile in that they have had more injuries than anyone in the country the last couple of seasons. If they stay healthy, they will be a major factor.

The Birddog: Navy has their own injury issues, too, now that Nechanicky is lost for the year again.

I’m sure everyone expected an adjustment period after Dingman left, but this is a whole different deal without Tillman. With Richie running the offense, how conservative will he be? How conservative will he have to be? Georgetown isn’t the only team looking for a go-to guy… Mirabito was the team’s leading scorer last year, but that was because of how he dished the ball as much as his goal-scoring.

Stan Ross is as good of a defensive coach as we’re going to find. Plenty of returning talent on defense, too.

So there you go. A BIG thanks to the panel for their time and effort. The UMBC scrimmage is Saturday afternoon in Annapolis. The Mids will scrimmage Virginia the following week before opening the season at home against VMI on 2/9.

Holy Cross Postgame

On By MikeIn navy basketball, patriot league2 Comments
Navy 85, Holy Cross 74   (Team Stats)
Team FG FG% 3FG 3FG% FT FT% REB DR OR AS TO BK ST PF
HC 24-53 45.3 3-15 20.0 23-31 74.2 38 22 16 20 16 2 4 21
NAVY 26-60 43.3 13-29 44.8 20-23 87.0 24 13 11 19 8 3 11 23
Boxscore  |   StatSheet.com

Navy has played a few close games this season, only to see their opponent go on a late run to put the game out of reach. Last night, it was Navy that went on an 10-0 run and gave themselves a cushion that they never relinquished, beating Holy Cross for the first time in their last 18 tries, 85-74. Chris Harris had 29 points, Greg Sprink had 28, and Kaleo Kina dished out 7 assists to lead the Mids. Romeo Garcia chipped in 5 steals in a solid defensive effort. Navy was hopelessly outrebounded, but made up for it by shooting nearly 45% from 3-point range, compared only 20% for the Crusaders. Just as important for the Mids was going 20-23 at the free throw line and maximizing posessions, committing only 8 turnovers. Mark Veazey made a ridiculously athletic dunk on an offensive rebound that was unfortunately waved off due to goaltending basket interference, but it was still fun to look at.

Patriot League Standings:

#
Team
Conference
Overall
W
L
Pct
W
L
Pct
1 Lafayette 4 0 1 13 6 0.684
2 American University 3 1 0.75 11 8 0.579
2 Bucknell 3 1 0.75 8 10 0.444
4 Lehigh 2 2 0.5 9 9 0.5
4 Navy 2 2 0.5 9 10 0.474
6 Colgate 1 3 0.25 9 9 0.5
6 Army 1 3 0.25 8 10 0.444
8 Holy Cross 0 4 0 9 8 0.529

Lafayette is sitting at 4-0 after a convincing win over Bucknell last night. Holy Cross has lost back-to-back games to Army and Navy… What is this, 1999? All of a sudden, the Army game this weekend looks like a contest for far more than just bragging rights for Navy.

Basketball Is Underway

On By MikeIn basketball, navy basketball, patriot league1 Comment

You may not have noticed, but basketball season has started. Tucked in behind all the hoopla surrounding football season are the first reports from practice, and notes from Patriot League media day. Make sure you’re checking Pete Medhurst’s blog, and as usual you can rely on Hoop Time to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening around the conference. Ron Snyder takes his first look at the Navy basketball team here.

I desperately want to share Pete’s optimism about this year’s team, but I just can’t. The preseason poll of league coaches and SIDs picked Navy to finish 7th, ahead of only Lafayette. Right now, I’m inclined to agree. Navy has as many (or more) questions surrounding it as any other team in the Patriot League.

Filling In The Gaps: A lot of the high hopes that people have for this year’s Navy team are probably left over from the end of last season. Navy never exactly looked good once it entered the Patriot League half of the schedule, but they did have a short stretch towards the end when they won 3 out of 4. Calvin White was the only senior on the team, so out of the 1854 points that Navy scored last season, the players who scored 1852 of them were all coming back. With the graduation losses that other schools in the conference were facing, Navy looked like it was ready to not only make a run at finishing in the top half of the league this year, but perhaps be a dark horse candidate to win it all.

Then came the exodus. Corey Johnson left the team to play football. Trey Stanton transferred to Rice. Bobby Fenske made his way to Westmont College after a layover in Colorado. Johnson and Stanton started all year, while Fenske started 10 of the last 12 games. When the dust settled, what was going to be a veteran squad had turned into a rebuilding project.

It’s debatable how much the loss of Johnson and Fenske really hurts. Johnson was a Patriot League All-Rookie team selection at point guard in 2005, but never really seemed to progress since then. He was injured for half of the following season, and despite starting all 30 games last year his numbers didn’t match his freshman campaign. In terms of sheer statistical production, Derek Young can probably do as much. Johnson’s defensive contributions might be harder to replace. Fenske was considered a prize recruit after initially committing to Air Force, only to be turned away due to non-existent asthma. A 6-8 forward who can shoot, Fenske could have developed into a nice player. As far as this year goes, though, shooting forwards aren’t exactly in short supply. There really isn’t that much difference between Fenske and Adam Teague, T.J. Topercer, and Scott Brooks. Well, except that Teague is more experienced, Topercer is more willing to bang around underneath the basket, and Brooks is far more athletic. Navy would be better off with Johnson and Fenske on the team, but they probably aren’t irreplaceable. Nevertheless, that assumption has yet to be proven.

Trey Stanton is a different story. A 6-3 guard trapped in a 6-10 body, Stanton’s skillset is unusual for players of his size. He was never really comfortable as a post player last year, and this year he wouldn’t have had to be. With the addition of what Billy Lange calls “traditional centers” in Mark Veazey and Jeremy Wilson, Stanton would have been free to create matchup problems on the perimeter all year while the two plebes took care of the grunt work inside. Stanton would also have been the one player in the conference who could match up defensively (at least on paper) with Holy Cross center Tim Clifford, who stands at 6-11 but isn’t afraid to take the outside shot. Stanton was a Patriot League All-Rookie selection last year and had tremendous potential. With him, Billy Lange could have put 4 players on the court at 6-9 or taller this year without sacrificing perimeter shooting too much. Without him, Navy loses an opportunity to be one of the more unique physical matchups in the Patriot League.

Misleading: Something else that feeds optimism about the outlook for this year is the fact that Navy led the Patriot League in 3-pointers made last season. Don’t be fooled. The teams that finished 1-2 in 3-pointers made last year, Navy and Lafayette, were the two teams at the bottom of the conference. If you want stats that reflect the league standings, look at defense and rebounding margin.

Plebe Pressure: Have you ever seen so much pressure put on two plebes going into a season? Navy had serious problems last year with rebounding (on both ends of the court), scoring underneath the basket, and defense. Apparently the answer to all of these problems is supposed to be Mark Veazey and Jeremy Wilson. That’s a lot to ask of a couple of freshmen. While nobody would ever claim that the Patriot League is a big man’s conference, it’s tough to rely on freshman post players in any league. Veazey and Wilson are tall, but they haven’t exactly filled out. Wilson is 6-9, 233, and Veazey is a beanpole at 6-10, 215. Are they strong enough to hold their ground? And yes, I am aware of Ben Biles, but up to this point he hasn’t shown much ability to do anything other than be tall. Any production out of him this year would be a bonus.

The hope here is that the addition of Veazey and Wilson will allow Navy to match up better defensively with other teams. If Navy can abandon the matchup zone that they’ve played for the last couple of years and go back to being a man-to-man team, then they should be in better position to grab rebounds. If that’s the extent of what Billy Lange wants to do with them, then the two freshmen just might be able to handle that. But if that’s the case…

Sprink Pressure: …then somebody– anybody— has to step up as a consistent scoring threat alongside Greg Sprink. The “Vegas” offense looked great in the non-conference schedule until coaches figured out that all it took to stop it was to guard Greg Sprink. As the season progressed, Sprink was forcing shots because nobody else on the team could score. Someone needs to get the pressure (and the defense) off of Greg so he can be more selective with his shots. So who can do it? We don’t want to ask too much of the big freshmen. Kaleo Kina has shown the ability to create his own shots at times, but he dribbles the ball off of his own foot just as often. If he learns to play under control, he’s probably the best bet. If T.J. Topercer can bring a Matt Fannin-style inside game to match his outside shooting ability, then he’d be a legitimate scoring threat. Or maybe a streaky shooter like Chris Harris can find some consistency. That’s a lot of “ifs” and “maybes,” though, and we haven’t seen more than brief flashes of scoring out of anyone other than Sprink.

Crunch Time: Is Billy Lange coaching for his job this year? Chet has had a fairly short leash with other coaches that weren’t competitive in the Patriot League. Despite the wins in the non-conference portion of the schedule, Navy hasn’t been a factor in the conference for quite some time. I like Billy Lange, and I have no doubt that the team is better now than it was when Lange took over. But considering that the team was possibly the worst in Division I at the end of the DeVoe era, that isn’t saying much. With the way that DeVoe mailed it in at the end, anyone with Lange’s energy was bound to improve the team at least a little bit. Has the team reached a plateau, or can they take the next step and finish in the top half of the conference? This is Lange’s 4th year, the time when coaches are usually expected to produce results. Navy has won 7 Patriot League games in the last two seasons combined. If they are unable to at least match that number this year alone, then I think Chet will make a move.

(That is, if NAAA can afford to. With Paul Johnson’s (well deserved) salary, the money to lure a proven head coach might not be there. That’s life when football pays the bills, and it might be Lange’s saving grace if Navy struggles again this season.) 

And Finally: The most productive all-around player returning to the Patriot League this year is Greg Sprink. The most exciting player might be Army’s Jarell Brown. So who gets named Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year? Neither. That distinction goes to Holy Cross center Tim Clifford.

In case you were wondering, Sprink was ranked higher than Clifford last year in scoring, rebounding, and assists. In conference games, Clifford had more rebounds than Sprink, although Sprink still averaged more per game on the defensive glass. Sprink led the conference with 17.9 ppg in Patriot League play last year, and is the league’s highest-ranked returning 3-point shooter.

The Patriot League strikes again.

Loose Change

On By MikeIn air farce, army-navy, bowls, conference talk, football, going pro, lacrosse, naval academy, navy basketball, navy football, navy lacrosse, patriot league, Paul Johnson, recruiting, usnaLeave a comment

Lots of chatter popping up in the last couple of days:

  • In the “ignorance is bliss” category, we have PJ’s Monday presser. Talk about a list of things you wish you didn’t know… Kaipo’s in a neck brace, none of the punters are consistent, the secondary’s all hurt, and Greg Thrasher is in PJ’s doghouse. Yeesh. I guess there’s a silver lining in that Rashawn King is recovering well from his shoulder injury, but anyone who didn’t like PJ’s media day optimism can feel better knowing that it’s back to business as usual.
  • Navy will once again be an NCAA lacrosse tournament quarterfinal host this year. The ability to host events like these were a big reason why Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium made the switch to FieldTurf, so it’s nice to see that move pay off. It’ll be nicer if it’s a Navy home game this year.
  • The unending football conference affiliation talk resumed as Chet talked to Ron Snyder about the difficulties of finding bowl games as an independent. Conference membership means a lot more than bowl game access, though. I still don’t think that this will happen anytime soon, if at all.
  • Navy’s been sold out of Army-Navy tickets for a while. Now Army is too. If you want tickets, looks like you’ll be headed to Stubhub or eBay.
  • Scout.com’s Temple site previews Navy (subscription required). For those without a subscription, it’s very complimentary, saying that Navy “might be the second-toughest team on the schedule.” In case you’re wondering, Temple plays Penn State this year.
  • Some Air Force Academy grad wants to play pro baseball. I don’t really care that much as long as this doesn’t become a habit; the Air Force will do what it thinks is best for itself. But will people PLEASE stop comparing every scrub that wants to turn pro to David Robinson? By the time Robinson played his first game in San Antonio, he had already been an Olympic medalist, a Naismith Award winner, a Wooden Award winner, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and led Navy to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. That is a far, far cry from being one of thousands of players struggling to find a place in minor league baseball. Robinson is one of the best players in the history of his sport. Karl Bolt is not. It makes a difference when the Navy or Air Force is considering an athlete’s fate.
  • Bill Wagner offers a look at college recruiting, including Billy Lange’s approach.
  • ESPN.com talks Patriot League basketball as part of their “Shoot Around” series.

Bad Timing

On By MikeIn basketball, patriot leagueLeave a comment

That’s what Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett has to say about head basketball coach Billy Taylor’s decision to accept the head coaching position at Ball State. Coaching searches are never easy when you start less than a month before classes begin. It’s a tough blow to a team that’s returning four starters next year.

The Ball State saga, you might recall, involved the resignation of Ronny Thompson after it was discovered that he attended voluntary offseason workouts (an NCAA violation) and lied about it afterwards. Then it got uglier, with Thompson’s lawyer claiming that he left not because of the NCAA investigation, but because of a “racially hostile work environment.” Thompson’s concerns apparently didn’t phase Taylor. I bet Joe Sterrett wishes that they did.

As Hoop Time points out, it was always assumed that Taylor would take off sooner or later, although I doubt anyone guessed it would happen in the middle of August. Now the search for someone else’s bad timing begins.

UPDATE: The search ends as Lehigh stays in-house, promoting Brett Reed.