Not having a winning record displeases me, but like my mom keeps telling me when I talk to her on Gmail chat, this is a school nobody expected to do anything, so being close to .500 and having a 1-1 record in conference play as 2012 officially begins, without the end of the world, is doing really well.
Hello, again .500. We go to Wagner and whomp them 75-54.
Douglas Alberts has the best game of the year, scoring a mind-boggling 33 points.
Roger Redman is quietly effective with 7 points and 8 rebounds. He's better than Malcolm gives him credit for.
We host the Northeast conference titans, Monmouth, next. It's the largest crowd we've had yet in my short time here, but the fans leave early as the Hawks blow us out, 104-72.
Weldon Phillips eats us for 25 points and although we get good showings from
Duncan Kumar with 10 points and 9 minutes, and
Richie Evans, who posts 12 bench points and 3 blocks, we stunk it up overall. Evans, by the way, is our team's best shotblocker. 1.2 rejections a game in 14.5 minutes.
Things go much better the next home game, as we rout Quinnipac 99-70. All of our starters were on form today, led by
Roger Redman's boomtastic 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Andrew Hinshaw scores a career high 18 points and
Dennis Seymour produces 8 points and 12 assists.
Lawrence Fogg leads the second team with 14 points in as many minutes.
Our see-saw play continues with a 76-67 loss at Robert Morris.
Dennis Seymour was on fire with 28 points and 8 assists, but he didn't get much help. Too bad. I really would have liked that win over the Colonials.
I'm beyond embarrassed when we lose 83-80 at home to St. Francis (NY).
Kerry Penn grabs 10 points and 10 boards,
Douglas Alberts scores 18 and
Duncan Kumar powers the bench with 13 points, but it's a frustrating defeat.
We atone for it with a 77-56 home smash of Central Connecticut State.
Douglas Alberts puts on a 28 point shooting clinic and
Duncan Kumar chips in with 12 points off the bench.
Our last trip to the City ended in major disappointment and this one does too, an infuriating 73-66 loss to an inferior Long Island team. I need a Long Island after our bricklaying,
Kerry Penn's 17 points and 9 rebounds notwithstanding.
I have the laugh over Clarissa, my IT friend at Central Connecticut State, as we sweep the season series with the Blue Devils, winning 79-62 on
Douglas Alberts's 19 points and 7 rebounds and
Duncan Kumar's 11 bench points.
That victory in the final game of the month isn't without cost, though.
Andrew Hinshaw, the redshirt freshman who is our starting SG, strains his back and he's estimated out a week. He'll miss two games and
Lawrence Fogg will start in his place.
SF John Hammock, the guy I didn't give us any chance of getting, signed with Butler, but that's the only recruiting decision of the month.
John Burdick tells me
SF Harland Martin and
SF Warren Waters are unhappy about their lack of PT. Neither one has played in a game this season. Watch me not care.
SF Blair Isley is suddenly in love with the idea of playing for us as we're the only school to offer him, although a bunch of other teams have jumped up to show interest. We invite him to campus and because we don't have enough money to send both Cortez and I, it's with some apprehension that I agree to make my first trip alone. I'm only willing to do because Charlotte's a major city with a decent transportation system.
PF Willy Colon is horrid. We've got a couple 7 foot centers to check out, but currently have no money for Malcolm, since we're putting all our efforts into Isley. Not that these bigs have schools interested in their 1 star selves anyway.
Code:
2011 Northeast Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
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Mount St. Mary's 7 3 .700 11 9 .550 151 28
Monmouth 7 3 .700 15 5 .750 196 27
Robert Morris 6 4 .600 11 8 .579 252 39
St. Francis-NY 5 5 .500 8 12 .400 276 20
St. Francis-PA 5 5 .500 6 15 .286 239 11
Long Island 5 5 .500 6 15 .286 288 19
Fairleigh Dickinson 5 5 .500 10 11 .476 165 23
Bryant University 5 5 .500 10 11 .476 230 2
Wagner 4 6 .400 10 12 .455 262 30
Sacred Heart 4 6 .400 9 12 .429 261 22
Central Connecticut State 4 6 .400 7 15 .318 302 33
Quinnipiac 3 7 .300 6 15 .286 271 28
Monmouth's comparative struggles surprise me, as do Long Island and St. Francis (PA) playing .500 ball in the conference. In any case, we're looking really good right now to avoid that cellar dwellar spot, so I've gotten myself another year here. Probably not enough to move out of this small town, though.