preliminary notes on a work in progress

columbia’s lions, let off the leash by coach smith for the season opener against maryland-eastern shore,  posted an easy victory to start their 2013 -2014 campaign.  up only five at the half, the blue settled into their 2 -3 zone shortly after the break and raced off to a 28 point  lead before taking the foot off the gas and defeating the over matched hawks of the chesapeake by 73-54.  cory osetkowski, the 6’11” junior center from california was the featured lion performer of the evening,  finishing with 14 and grabbing 10 rebounds.    some 1,275 fans enjoyed cory’s efficiently relaxed performance as well as the debuts of forward luke petrasek and  guard kendall jackson, two first years who have already impressed the staff and look poised to play significant minutes over the coming weeks.  conor voss, columbia’s 7’1″ freshman from minnesota, entered the game with under a minute to go and provided the evening’s denouement when he  crashed a bunyanesque dunk off the rim, delighting teammates and fans alike.

an improvement in the quality of opponent boosted attendance by two as a crowd of 1,277 turned out on tuesday the 12th to watch the first metro area tangle of the season when the manhattan jaspers came to  levien.  the irt number one must have been crowded because coach steve masiello’s crew was accompanied by a raucously enthusiastic bunch of fans who filled section b of the gymnasium.  good things are expected from the green this year and they had launched what is expected to be auspicious voyage by downing la salle, 99 – 90,  in double overtime in philly the previous saturday.  their scoring leader is george beamon, a sharp shooting whippet of a small forward from roslyn, long island who had missed the last two contests versus the lions.  columbia won both of those games.  the many loud, and frequently hilarious, jasper rooters in the stands looked for a reversal of those verdicts in this season’s brawl.

the lions, on the other hand, looked to continue their recent mastery of the maac bronxites.  things were hopeful in this regard early on as columbia got off to an 8 -0 lead before the jaspers tallied their first points.  from there on, the visitors seemed to get the best of the play and eventually tied the contest at 20 -20 on a three point shot from shane richards.  this 6′ 5″ forward from nyc is a damned near sure thing from the arc if given half a moment to catch and shoot.  indeed, he went 6 -8 from downtown and was aided and abetted from deep by the aforementioned beamon who cashed all three of his threes.  that is a scintillating 9 -11 from the arc, for those of you who evaluating the jasper’s expertise from deep.   masiello’s green clad ballers needed all of those treys because they managed to brick 17 of the 40 free throws they were awarded.  the lions managed to  look this gift horse in the mouth by missing 12 of their own 35 freebies.  those 75 foul shots vividly illustrate the consequences of the ncaa’s new defensive regs. whistles blow at the brush of a hand or nudge of the knee.  and good luck getting a blocking call on early season forays to the bucket.  we witnessed three “charges” where the defenders’ readiness could easily be questioned.

despite the ragged rhythm engendered by the foul line parades, tuesday’s battle offered a scintillating back and forth that had each teams’ supporters, and sometimes both, bellowing with delight or indignation.  big cory again snatched 10 rebounds, but he would not wear any laurel this evening for he missed the two most necessary boards.  with 4 seconds remaining in the game, and the lions leading 70 – 67, the jaspers’ manny alvarado was sent to the charity stripe to shoot three, having been touched going up on the arc by maodo lo.  alvarado was miserable at the line all night and maintained his unproductive form on the first toss.  that miss meant the lions, it seemed, were destined for victory.  but alvarado managed to roll in his second attempt to bring his team within two points and then intentionally missed the third free throw.   it looked to your correspondent that  both osetkowski and luke petrasek turned to box out for the rebound, but manhattan’s emmy andujar managed to split the lion bigs and grab the board.  his put back was no good but,  incredibly, the lions were again beaten to the rebound, this time by the quickly alert beamon, who tossed a prayer up to the very top of the backboard from whence it dropped impeccably through the strings as the buzzer sounded, but not before a whistle had blown and beamon had been awarded the game’s final free throw with the score now 70 -70.  after careful video review by the officials, in consultation with both coaches, a scant three tenths of a second were put back on the clock.   beamon then stepped to the line and calmly buried the thirteenth of his fourteen free throws.  a timeout gave the lions the ball across the midcourt line and isaac cohen tossed a well aimed  pass toward the rim where luke petrasek managed to grab the ball but could not get it home and columbia was at .500 for the young season, falling 70 -71.

the lions barely had time to hold an ice pack to their bloodied lips before they had to depart for a coaches against cancer classic contest in lansing against the presumptive number one team in the nation, michigan state.  the spartans had upended the previous number one, kentucky, as columbia was falling to manhattan and seemed to be a tremendous favorite versus our ivy heroes.  a knowledgeable, as well as beloved, acquaintance of mine made the lions 38 point dogs.  i bravely put the number at “less than 20.”  the lions quickly fell behind on friday evening by 9 – 0 and a rout seemed to be in store.  but columbia steadied and, though messr osetkowski was getting schooled by msu’s senior center, adreian payne,  the lions (especially isaac cohen who grabbed a career high 9 rebounds) battled effectively on the boards and defended resolutely on the perimeter.  patient on offense, the lions fought back from the early deficit, caught the spartans and led at the half.  indeed, they held onto the lead for most of the second half, but were finally tied at 51 with a little over six minutes to play.  alas, the boys would score but one more bucket on alex rosenberg’s  layup with some four and half minutes to play.  most upsetting as victory slipped away from them, i think, were two consecutive possessions that resulted in shot clock violations.  the internet cooed the story that the boys were duped by the screaming fans filling the “izzone,” as msu coach izzo’s home arena is known, who chanted an incorrect clock countdown.   “thought columbia athletes were supposed to be smart,” catches the tone of wit pervading that version of the narrative.  i reject the conclusion and insinuation, for the double faux pas occured in front of their own bench.   columbia, i think, had woken up to the immensity of their undertaking and became over cautious working for the perfect shot rather than putting up a merely good, but absolutely necessary, one.  allgame will take solace in asserting that the difference in the game came at the foul line where the no doubt corrupt officials awarded the spartans 19 more free throws than the lions.  that sore headed remark aside, the boys defended like heckfire and blanked the home team from the three point line, something that had not happened in lansing in five years.  though payne abused the front court for 26  points, luke appling who had skippered the defeat of kentucky was held in check by maodo lo and his fellow guards.   i doubt appling will match up with another defender all season who can lock him up on the arc as maodo did and still keep up with him when he tries to take it to the rim.  appling had but 3 points on the night and turned the ball over twice.  excuses, explanations and attaboys aside, columbia played well but not terrifically in falling to an elite michigan state team 62 -53 and now stand 1 – 2.

thursday night they tangle with north texas in portland in the first of three additional coaches versus cancer classic contests.  friday they draw host portland and saturday finish their visit against the vandals of idaho.  consider this trifecta an early season tuneup of lungs and legs for the always demanding friday/saturday demands of ivy league play.  one of the curiosities of the lions’ play so far been the hot and cold performances of their starting back court.  neither maodo lo nor grant mullins was particularly strong on opening night.  versus manhattan, mullins scored a career high 23 points while lo only tallied 8.   in lansing, mullins went scoreless while lo was effective. part of the problem, i think, is that neither player is truly a point guard, though they both have some of the necessary skill set.  lo might be a little quicker and more likely to take the ball to the rim.  mullins seems a slightly steadier ball handler and more dependable three point shooter, though lo filled that role on friday against the spartans.  importantly, neither is a terrific passer.  i think the tandem might be more productive if they alternate at the two spot and kendall jackson is handed the reins at point.  the 5’8″ bay area bred first year elicits reminiscences of alton byrd from this spectator.  byrd, of course, was the nonpareil point guard on coach tom penders’s mid-seventies lion squad.  alton keyed  an up tempo, at times thrilling, attack through the brilliance of his passing and ball handling.  osetkowski, petrasek, rosenberg and zach en’wezoh will all benefit from some more precise feeds and that will help better balance the attack between back and front courts.   the portland visit might be an opportunity to kick the tires on the early stages of  this experiment.

peace out, d up,

paulie b