From the home office . . .
in the little town of Bethlehem.
Here's some news and notes from this week's official Patriot League release, with our commentary, as usual, in italics.
MISS A KEY SHOT, PICK UP AN HONOR: For the second time this season, the poohbahs at the Patriot League office have shown their complete and utter lack of knowledge of anything other than scoring numbers in selecting American's Andre Ingram as Player of the Week.
Here's what the official release had to say about the choice:
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: ANDRE INGRAM
American -- So., G
Ingram picks up his second Player of the Week award in the last three weeks, despite American’s 93-89 overtime loss at Lafayette in the Eagles’ only action of the week. The sophomore guard from Richmond, Va., picked up NABC Second Team All-District 4 honors last week, and is leading the Patriot League in scoring at 16.3 points per game. He bolstered that average with a 37-point effort against the Leopards that included 14-of-23 field goal shooting, 6-of-14 3-point shooting and 3-of-5 free throw shooting. The Preseason Player of the Year and reigning Rookie of the Year in the PL added two rebounds, one assist and four steals. His six 3’s tied a season-high and four steals tied a career-high. He has now gone over 30 points three times in his career, and has led AU in scoring 27 times.
Here's what they failed to mention: With 18 seconds left in overtime, his team trailing by two, Ingram stepped to the free throw line and missed two shots that could have tied it. This was not unlike the time two weeks earlier when he stepped to the line at the end of regulation with a chance to beat Holy Cross and missed a free throw, then was awarded Player of the Week honors as a consolation prize.
We know this will bring a bunch of "You hate AU, you hate Ingram" messages from the blue shirts, but we think the honor should have gone to Lafayette's Jamaal Hilliard, who had 23 points on 6-for-7 from the field and 11-of-11 from the free throw line, including the two free throws that sealed the win for Lafayette after Ingram's misses.
Ingram is a fine player, but clutch performances in wins ought to outweigh big numbers in losses.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: COREY JOHNSON
Navy -- Fr., G
Johnson’s second Rookie of the Week award of the season means that in 14 weeks of Patriot League men’s basketball in 2004-05, an amazing 26 of the 28 weekly awards handed out have gone to guards, including all 14 rookie awards. Johnson gets the nod after scoring 13 points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out three assists in Navy’s 76-75 upset of defending League champion Lehigh, which represented the first road PL win in the first year of head coach Billy Lange’s tenure. Johnson played 31 minutes and connected on back-to-back 3-pointers with three minutes to go to give Navy a commanding 10-point lead that the Mids were able to hold on to. The freshman guard from Anderson, Ind., is now ninth on Navy’s alltime freshmen scoring list with 247 points, three behind Rob Romaine for eighth place.
A big performance in a big win, 'nuf said.
Other tidbits from the weekly release:
The Patriot League’s national television package on College Sports TV resumes this week with the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m., at Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.
Wouldn't you love to be able to compare the ratings to see how many more people watch on local cable that "national (lmao) television."
The 93 points (scored by Lafayette) were the most ever given up by one of head
coach Jeff Jones’ AU teams.
Of those 93, 55 were scored by the three Lafayette guards -- starters Jamaal Hilliard (23) and Marcus Harley (22) and freshman reserve Bilal Abdullah (10). That means either A) POTW Ingram only played one end of the floor or B) Jones didn't have enough faith in his defensive prowess to put him on somebody who was more of an offensive threat than the Betley cousins, who average 6 points per game combined.
BU has now won nine straight against Army, and reached the 18-win mark for the first time since 1996-97.
Other streaks against Army: AU has won seven in a row and has not lost to the Cadets since joining the league. Holy Cross has also won seven in a row with a likelihood of making it nine straight before the season ends. Lehigh's streak against Army is also now at seven. Lafayette has won six straight against Army. Colgate (now at 2 straight wins) and Navy (1 in a row) are the only teams to lose to Army in league play in Jim Crews' almost three seasons as coach of the Cadets.
Here's some news and notes from this week's official Patriot League release, with our commentary, as usual, in italics.
MISS A KEY SHOT, PICK UP AN HONOR: For the second time this season, the poohbahs at the Patriot League office have shown their complete and utter lack of knowledge of anything other than scoring numbers in selecting American's Andre Ingram as Player of the Week.
Here's what the official release had to say about the choice:
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: ANDRE INGRAM
American -- So., G
Ingram picks up his second Player of the Week award in the last three weeks, despite American’s 93-89 overtime loss at Lafayette in the Eagles’ only action of the week. The sophomore guard from Richmond, Va., picked up NABC Second Team All-District 4 honors last week, and is leading the Patriot League in scoring at 16.3 points per game. He bolstered that average with a 37-point effort against the Leopards that included 14-of-23 field goal shooting, 6-of-14 3-point shooting and 3-of-5 free throw shooting. The Preseason Player of the Year and reigning Rookie of the Year in the PL added two rebounds, one assist and four steals. His six 3’s tied a season-high and four steals tied a career-high. He has now gone over 30 points three times in his career, and has led AU in scoring 27 times.
Here's what they failed to mention: With 18 seconds left in overtime, his team trailing by two, Ingram stepped to the free throw line and missed two shots that could have tied it. This was not unlike the time two weeks earlier when he stepped to the line at the end of regulation with a chance to beat Holy Cross and missed a free throw, then was awarded Player of the Week honors as a consolation prize.
We know this will bring a bunch of "You hate AU, you hate Ingram" messages from the blue shirts, but we think the honor should have gone to Lafayette's Jamaal Hilliard, who had 23 points on 6-for-7 from the field and 11-of-11 from the free throw line, including the two free throws that sealed the win for Lafayette after Ingram's misses.
Ingram is a fine player, but clutch performances in wins ought to outweigh big numbers in losses.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: COREY JOHNSON
Navy -- Fr., G
Johnson’s second Rookie of the Week award of the season means that in 14 weeks of Patriot League men’s basketball in 2004-05, an amazing 26 of the 28 weekly awards handed out have gone to guards, including all 14 rookie awards. Johnson gets the nod after scoring 13 points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out three assists in Navy’s 76-75 upset of defending League champion Lehigh, which represented the first road PL win in the first year of head coach Billy Lange’s tenure. Johnson played 31 minutes and connected on back-to-back 3-pointers with three minutes to go to give Navy a commanding 10-point lead that the Mids were able to hold on to. The freshman guard from Anderson, Ind., is now ninth on Navy’s alltime freshmen scoring list with 247 points, three behind Rob Romaine for eighth place.
A big performance in a big win, 'nuf said.
Other tidbits from the weekly release:
Wouldn't you love to be able to compare the ratings to see how many more people watch on local cable that "national (lmao) television."
coach Jeff Jones’ AU teams.
Of those 93, 55 were scored by the three Lafayette guards -- starters Jamaal Hilliard (23) and Marcus Harley (22) and freshman reserve Bilal Abdullah (10). That means either A) POTW Ingram only played one end of the floor or B) Jones didn't have enough faith in his defensive prowess to put him on somebody who was more of an offensive threat than the Betley cousins, who average 6 points per game combined.
Other streaks against Army: AU has won seven in a row and has not lost to the Cadets since joining the league. Holy Cross has also won seven in a row with a likelihood of making it nine straight before the season ends. Lehigh's streak against Army is also now at seven. Lafayette has won six straight against Army. Colgate (now at 2 straight wins) and Navy (1 in a row) are the only teams to lose to Army in league play in Jim Crews' almost three seasons as coach of the Cadets.
