That's our story and we're sticking to it
Half empty or half full?
That seems to be the question about Lafayette's 1-6 record, or at least the subject of debate between our friend Matt over at the Patriot League Hoops Blog and us real experts (LMAO) here at Hoop Time.
Matt's take on the Leopards:"they're just lousy".
He might be right.
The 'Pards only win thus far is over a Duquesne team that is 2-7. And that came back in the season opener.
Since then Lafayette has lost six straight headed into tonight's home encounter with Cal. St. Northridge. Even a win tonight over the 1-5 Matadors would hardly be a sign of impending greatness.
But for a team that has suffered three of its six losses by a combined total of 9 points, including a 2-point loss to Princeton and a pair of near misses last week against Cornell and Marist, a win could do wonders for its mental state headed into final exams.
Nobody is about to make the argument that Lafayette is likely to turn into a Patriot League contender in the second half, regardless of what happens tonight.
Our contention is not that Lafayette will challenge for the league title, but rather that the Leopards could well have a say over who does actually claim the top spot. The key word in all of what we have written about Lafayette is "spoiler" (pay attention to def. No. 4 at that link).
We won't rehash the reasons we think Lafayette will prove more competitive in Patriot League play than its early record might lead you to believe.
Instead, a little league history to support the theory. Take a quick glance at Lafayette's roster. With two seniors and just one junior, it reminds us a lot of last season's Bucknell team that lost its first 5 and was 3-9 heading into conference play, with two of those wins coming over D-3 teams.
Lafayette has used five starting combinations thus far. Pat Flannery used six in the first 12 games last year. Then Flannery inserted Abe Badmus at the point and Bucknell went on to win 11 of its final 17 games, including a streak during the conference regular season when it won 10 of 11, establishing the reputation that made the Bison this year's preseason conference favorites. Included in that stretch was a win over American that arguably cost the Eagles the regular season title and a win over Lehigh that nearly did the same to the Mountain Hawks.
That start slow, come on strong in conference play formula is familiar to Bucknell fans. In 2001-02, the Bison lost 8 of their first 10, then went 8-6 in league play. In 1998-99, a 4-9 start that included a pair of wins over D-3 teams yielded to a 9-3 Patriot League mark. In Pat Flannery's first season as coach of the Bison, they got off to a 1-9 start (the lone win was a non-conference victory over Lafayette in a tournament consolation game), then went 11-3 and shared the regular season title with an Adonal Foyle-Tucker Neale Colgate team.
We didn't do exhaustive research into other teams, but we also recall a Don DeVoe Navy team that lost 7 of its first 8 in 1992-93, including a loss to D-3 Gettysburg, then bounced back to go 5-9 in league play.
You might notice a similarity between that Navy team, those Bucknell teams, and the current Lafayette club. All three had outstanding coaches. If someone other than Fran O'Hanlon were coaching Lafayette, I doubt we'd be as optimistic about their chances of becoming spoilers in conference play.
As we said the other day:
That seems to be the question about Lafayette's 1-6 record, or at least the subject of debate between our friend Matt over at the Patriot League Hoops Blog and us real experts (LMAO) here at Hoop Time.
Matt's take on the Leopards:"they're just lousy".
He might be right.
The 'Pards only win thus far is over a Duquesne team that is 2-7. And that came back in the season opener.
Since then Lafayette has lost six straight headed into tonight's home encounter with Cal. St. Northridge. Even a win tonight over the 1-5 Matadors would hardly be a sign of impending greatness.
But for a team that has suffered three of its six losses by a combined total of 9 points, including a 2-point loss to Princeton and a pair of near misses last week against Cornell and Marist, a win could do wonders for its mental state headed into final exams.
Nobody is about to make the argument that Lafayette is likely to turn into a Patriot League contender in the second half, regardless of what happens tonight.
Our contention is not that Lafayette will challenge for the league title, but rather that the Leopards could well have a say over who does actually claim the top spot. The key word in all of what we have written about Lafayette is "spoiler" (pay attention to def. No. 4 at that link).
We won't rehash the reasons we think Lafayette will prove more competitive in Patriot League play than its early record might lead you to believe.
Instead, a little league history to support the theory. Take a quick glance at Lafayette's roster. With two seniors and just one junior, it reminds us a lot of last season's Bucknell team that lost its first 5 and was 3-9 heading into conference play, with two of those wins coming over D-3 teams.
Lafayette has used five starting combinations thus far. Pat Flannery used six in the first 12 games last year. Then Flannery inserted Abe Badmus at the point and Bucknell went on to win 11 of its final 17 games, including a streak during the conference regular season when it won 10 of 11, establishing the reputation that made the Bison this year's preseason conference favorites. Included in that stretch was a win over American that arguably cost the Eagles the regular season title and a win over Lehigh that nearly did the same to the Mountain Hawks.
That start slow, come on strong in conference play formula is familiar to Bucknell fans. In 2001-02, the Bison lost 8 of their first 10, then went 8-6 in league play. In 1998-99, a 4-9 start that included a pair of wins over D-3 teams yielded to a 9-3 Patriot League mark. In Pat Flannery's first season as coach of the Bison, they got off to a 1-9 start (the lone win was a non-conference victory over Lafayette in a tournament consolation game), then went 11-3 and shared the regular season title with an Adonal Foyle-Tucker Neale Colgate team.
We didn't do exhaustive research into other teams, but we also recall a Don DeVoe Navy team that lost 7 of its first 8 in 1992-93, including a loss to D-3 Gettysburg, then bounced back to go 5-9 in league play.
You might notice a similarity between that Navy team, those Bucknell teams, and the current Lafayette club. All three had outstanding coaches. If someone other than Fran O'Hanlon were coaching Lafayette, I doubt we'd be as optimistic about their chances of becoming spoilers in conference play.
As we said the other day:
"Bottom line, we continue to believe that Lafayette will be a factor in Patriot League play. Despite their 1-6 record, they seem to be getting a little better each time out. Add in the Fran O'Hanlon factor, and one of the toughest homecourts in the league, and we smell trouble for the teams that expect to contend for the regular season title."
