One thing I've noticed is that student interest in the team is picking up ever so slightly. I'll take small increments at this point. Amazing what a few wins will do for school spirit.
Long road trip to open December. All the way out to Southern Utah to face the 0-3 Thunderbirds. I'd hate to give this team its first win. We don't, winning 82-73 on
Douglas Alberts's 21 points,
Roger Redman's return to offensive force with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, and
Lawrence Fogg's 10 bench points.
A week later, we trek just down the road to face off against Providence, a game nobody gives us a chance to win. I'm not surprised by the 80-51 blowout. The Friars have a really good looking team this year. At least
Douglas Alberts scores 17. Man, I am not looking forward to next year without his point production. He's the heart and soul of this team.
Flagstaff, AZ, our next stop, against the 2-5 Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona. We lose 70-59 and drop to .500 on the year. Our early season form was all smoke and mirrors, it seems.
Douglas Alberts was again the only guy to produce, scoring 20. NAU beat us with balance.
We're in Mississippi two days later and Mississippi Valley State is 4-1. Hello, under .500, the Delta Devils beating us 67-57. Solid game by
Kerry Penn with 12 points and 8 rebounds, but MVSU
shut down Douglas Alberts, holding him to an 0 for 8 night. Damn their constant double-teaming of our star.
Finally home on the 21st... and we play 7-3 Marquette. I'm wondering what the hell induced me to schedule so many Big East teams, but I'm even more stunned when
we nearly knock off the Golden Eagles, losing 79-78. Now that's a moral victory, especially with
another 0 for 8 night from Douglas Alberts. Nice way for
Roger Redman to step up with 15 points and 12 rebounds, even if it wasn't enough to complete the upset.
So tired of all this lengthy traveling, but at least Albany is a comparatively short trip. Sweeter still is the 59-49 win, snapping our four game losing streak.
Roger Redman doubles again with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Douglas Alberts is 3 for 14, hideous, but still manages 14 points and 9 rebounds.
We have our Northeast conference opener at Mount St. Mary's. A chance to be .500 again and start Northeast play with a win all in one shot against the 4-6 Mount. The Mount mounts us all right as we piss away
Douglas Alberts's 25 points and
Duncan Kumar's 10 bench points, losing 72-64.
I punch a locker after the game in frustration.
Northeast home opener against 2-10 St. Francis (PA), one of the teams picked along with us to finish last in the conference. Far closer than I'd like, but we emerge 88-80 winners thanks to balanced scoring led by
Douglas Alberts's 21 points.
PF Ervin Venzant returns from suspension. I care not.
C Graham Seng goes to Yale. Fuck the Ivy League. Those elitist pricks have stolen two guys from us now. (I still love you, Princeton!)
SG Loyd Gage gets the dream ticket from Duke. What the hell the Blue Devils want with a 2 star player is beyond me.
Nobody left in the 2 star or higher realm who has some interest in us. So we roll the dice on
SF Blair Isley of the 2.56 GPA and 960 SAT (over/under rule fits), ignoring his low interest and our North Carolina failure from before. Full court press and the only reason we're gambling is because nobody, and I mean nobody, is talking to him.
We also send a scholarship and Malcolm to
SF John Hammock. No way in hell he signs with us, but for a 3 star player, it's worth a try. Besides, I'm not mentally ready to lower myself to 1 star recruits.
Unless of course, he's an All-State player and a native PF, nevermind his 6'6, 242 lbs. undersized state. We don't give
Willy Colon a scholarship, but start calling and Malcolm goes to check him out. By the way, Free Willy has a 3.02 GPA. Comparatively smart kid. Might just get himself a free ride.
Remember what I said about Monmouth being the class of the Northeast this season?
Code:
2011 Northeast Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monmouth 2 0 1.000 10 2 .833 209 27
Central Connecticut State 2 0 1.000 5 9 .357 188 33
Mount St. Mary's 1 1 .500 5 7 .417 230 28
Quinnipiac 1 1 .500 4 9 .308 299 28
Bryant University 1 1 .500 6 7 .462 270 2
St. Francis-NY 1 1 .500 4 8 .333 339 20
St. Francis-PA 1 1 .500 2 11 .154 264 11
Wagner 1 1 .500 7 7 .500 227 30
Fairleigh Dickinson 1 1 .500 6 7 .462 116 23
Sacred Heart 1 1 .500 6 7 .462 229 22
Robert Morris 0 2 .000 5 6 .455 158 39
Long Island 0 2 .000 1 12 .077 297 19
...Yeah. If the Hawks don't win the regular season crown, insanity will break out. That said, I like our chances for not finishing last in the conference. Long Island may be my best friend in that regard.
Our player stats:
Code:
Player Pos GP GS Min Pts Orb Reb Ast Stl Blk To Fls +/-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Douglas Alberts SF 13 13 29.4 16.8 1.6 5.8 1.9 0.3 0.3 2.2 2.5 -1.4
Kerry Penn PF 13 13 29.6 9.1 4.3 7.6 1.4 0.4 0.2 1.7 3.0 1.4
Roger Redman C 13 13 32.5 8.8 1.9 8.5 1.0 0.3 0.1 1.2 2.6 -3.1
Andrew Hinshaw SG 13 13 33.8 8.7 1.5 2.2 1.8 0.5 0.0 1.6 2.6 2.2
Dennis Seymour PG 13 13 27.0 8.2 0.5 2.4 4.0 1.1 0.0 1.5 3.2 -0.6
Lawrence Fogg PG 13 0 15.3 5.8 0.9 2.2 1.3 0.5 0.1 0.8 1.0 -0.2
Duncan Kumar SF 13 0 9.5 5.6 0.4 1.9 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.7 1.2 0.9
Richie Evans PF 13 0 14.0 3.8 0.2 2.5 0.3 0.2 1.1 0.9 1.3 1.1
Charles Valencia SF 6 0 3.3 1.3 0.0 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.5 -0.2
Mark Groves C 12 0 3.8 1.3 0.6 1.3 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.7
Jeffery McCarron PG 12 0 3.5 0.7 0.1 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.5 -1.8
Chuck Kling C 3 0 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.0 -2.0
Ervin Vanzant PF 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Warren Waters SF 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Harland Martin SF 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
We live and die by
Douglas Alberts, but you knew that already.