Change of scene

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Paul

With our beloved Lions short handed, exhausted and in the nausea inducing death spiral of a season killing five game winless streak, Mrs. Smith and I took solace in a pair of ducats for Saturday’s hottest sporting event in the north Bronx .  Thus we found ourselves headed to the foothills attaching NYC to the rest of America for the CHSAA Class AA basketball league final between the Mount St Michael’s Mountaineers and the Ravens of  St. Raymond’s. The trip did not take us totally off  reservation as one of the anticipated stars of the match has been sought by Columbia and another one of the featured dazzlers will be playing against the Lions in next year’s edition of the ancient eight.  In any case, the contest promised scholastic basketball as good as it gets.

Last spring the Mount’s Coach Tom Fraher had bemoaned his squad’s promotion to AA ball after several year’s of dominance in the less haughty Class A circuit.  Nonetheless, his kids had run to a 20-6 record and battled to the title match against Coach Oliver Antigua’s perennially tough crew.  The key to Coach Fraher’s success, as last year (when the Mountaineers went all the way to the state A finals), was his 3 headed backcourt of Anthony Maestre, Andrew Utate and Dartmouth-bound team leader Malik Gill who at 5′ 9″ has yet to see an interior defense that can stop him getting to the rim or a perimeter capable of shutting off his jumper.  The trio’s routines bear a fair resemblance to Columbia’s drive and kick offense though performed at higher revs and with better shooting percentages.  These backcourters would have to counter Saint Raymond’s slickly powerful down low duo of 6′ 7″ Daniel Dingle and the muscular, 6’5″  Nkeruwem  Okoro.  These big boys are fed by the Ravens’ dynamic guard Shane Rector (recruited by our Lions among many others) whose end to end play can justly be considered the equal of  Mr. Gill’s.

Though these inside/outside tendencies may have distinguished the two squads as much as their unifoms’ colors, both teams scrapped and screened, drove and dished, boxed out and banged the boards.  Above all they defended, defended, and defended some more for 32 minutes of thrilling basketball.  Baseline to baseline and tip off to final buzzer, much to the increasingly vociferous delight of the fortunate crowd packing the Mount’s championship banner festooned gymnasium, the kids battled.  And all praise to the refs who let ’em play.  We know the stripers did their calling proud because all three of them caught heckfire from both coaches.

In the end, the Mountaineers’ active 3-2 zone could not close off the Ravens’ deft, ball handling bigs.  Daniel Dingle especially made one tough bucket after another, despite the zone collapsing around him, down the stretch.  At the other end of the floor, Coach Antigua’s gambit of playing Mr. Nkoro on the Mount’s spark plug Gill proved decisive.  The 6′ 5″ Raven hitched up his shorts, dug into his defensive stance and dared the 5′ 9″ Gill to beat him off the dribble.  The Dartmouth frosh to be did not refuse the challenge but was constrained enough by the big man’s exertions that Gill was left heaving a desperation 3 as time ran out on a 58-60 loss for the home team.

Post-game we collared Coach Fraher briefly.  Sorry for your loss, but what a great game!  How was his squad taking it?  “Oh kids are resilient.  They’re already talking and joking,” he said, smiling not quite sadly and looking over our heads for familiar faces.

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Credit where due

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Paul

Don’t know how many, if any, of you saw this past Sunday’s Times Sports Section article on the great old days of the Ivy League. Peter May’s essay revisits the supposed  Golden Age – circa 1964 – 1975 with a quick nod to the Quaker team of 1979. “It was a legitimate league back then,” according to Dick Harter who coached the 1970-71 Penn powerhouse that Harter deems the “greatest team in Ivy League history.” I can’t beef over much with Harter’s estimation of his favorite crew, but do take exception to the general emphasis and overall tone of the essay which takes the cultural moment of Linsanity to compare the regular upward mobility of solid, individual Ivy grads to the NBA back in the day with Lin’s lone, if over hyped, current stint in the bigs.  Geoff Petrie, Jim McMillian and, of course, Bill Bradley all get remembered as players from a much stronger era in the Ivies.  I’ll just say, “I respectfully disagree.”  The utter flabbergastification of the sports media and its underinformed audience at Lin’s emergence seems to depend greatly upon his Harvard pedigree.  Perhaps this is a function of our cultural oversensitivity but his ethnicity is mentioned no more often than his alma mater.  That last statement should be fact checked but anyone with the time and software should do a word count search on Jeremy Lin, Harvard, and Chinese/Taiwanese.  We’d all learn something interesting.

In any case, the Ivy League that Lin played in, and that kids are playing in today, is absolutely better than the one that featured Mr. Harter’s charges or Mr. Bradley’s accomplices or Mr. McMillian’s immensely talented Lion team.  The difference is in the depth and athleticism not to mention diversity of the current Ivy crews. Between 1963 and 2007, only 3 times was the league rep during March Madness not one of the killer P’s.  For four and a half decades Pete Carrill or Chuck Daley or Fran Dunphy or Butch Van Breda Koff would predictably get the critical mass of talent needed to hoist yet another banner in Jadwin or the Palestra.  The rare exception (can I get an amen for Columbia ’67-’68?) merely emphasized the two team nature of the League.  But back in 2008-09 and then again the next season, Cornell put together consecutive titles behind a Randy Witmann led but 8 man deep squad that so great a skeptic as Jim Boeheim characterized as “good.”  This from a man on record as saying an Ivy League team will never win a Division I title is almost high praise.  Indeed Mr. Lin’s senior year squad fell to this same Big Red crew.  The season after Lin’s graduation, Tommy Amaker must have been sure the Cantabs time had finally arrived but a very gutty Tiger crew featuring a murderer dressed as a guard named Doug Davis forestalled their victory dance again.  This year, though, the Crimson do seem inevitable and they will have emerged from a league season that features not two but six battle tested, defensively rugged Ivy opponents.  The teams playing in the Ivies today are longer and quicker (not to mention blacker) than the squads that played during Mr. May’s putative golden era.  Though they may have fallen from the top 25 of late, the Linless Harvards should get a decent enough seed in the upcoming tourney that an Ivy League school will play past day one.  And that is much more important than one “nerdy,” Taiwanese American hoopster in the NBA.

Peace out, paulie b

 

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If you read All Game you would have known . . .

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Paul

.  . . that the excitement gripping greater New York, as well as much of the sports world,  over the performances of recent Knick acquisition Jeremy Lin had been anticipated by the lintensely Ivy-centric  linner circle of Paulie B.   Back on Friday January 29, 2010 our crew visited Levien to check out the buzz surrounding  the Crimson’s senior leader,  a Taiwanese (the media seems ever more scrupulous about this adjective ) American kid from the Silicon Valley who studied computer science and the back door cut.  There was already chatter about NBA possibilities for the guy, so my peeps and I, along with at least 2500 other bball lovers,  linvestigated.  Jeremy was not his free wheeling Knick to be self that night.  Listed at 6′ 5″ , he clearly wasn’t  that tall.   Essentially playing point forward, he made one of the two treys he launched, but his jump shot mechanics were quirky and he seemed much more comfortable driving the lane than playing outside.  Very nice first step for the Ivies but was he quick enough and did he have the hops to make a living doing that at the next level?  Even assuming he made the leap, I doubt any of us expected anything like the explosion of the past 10 days.  As the always perspicacious hoop analyst Daniel from Park Slope commented – “Kinda unbelievable.”   In  any case, back in late January of 2010, having scored 14  points, dished 2 assists, grabbed 2 boards and accumulated 3 personal fouls in a mere 24 minutes,  he returned to the bench to watch his mates rout that version of the Lions 74-45.  Lindigestion enough.

Peace out, paulie b

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terrible loss

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Paul

As Mrs. Smith and I walked away from Levien with the rest of a still reeling crowd, she asked for my thoughts on the calamity. ” How come,” she wondered?  “Stay positive in your post,” she urged.  Hard to figure that one out given the high dive of emotion the Lions had just put 2,500 of us through.  I muttered searching for a rationale for the loss, especially since the boys defended hard and shot well.  The Blue was  outperformed at the foul line, but given the rest of their play, that shouldn’t have mattered.  Then I saw the game’s outcome clearly. Despite the Lions’ second straight night of good three point shooting – led by Meiko Lyles and Chris Crockett in this regard, their tremendous interior defense (especially in the first half), and their continued strong work on the boards, the contest reeked of the same endgame sloppiness that characterized the loss to Princeton.  True, Saturday night’s failure against the Elis featured a nauseating fall from the giddy heights of a  21 point lead whereas the Princeton snafu had been characterized by the Lions ( more typical) rally from half a dozen down to last minute equality before losing. The box scores of both games, however, share an identical statistic.  Yale victimized the boys for the very same 10 steals the Tigers had managed.  When considered alongside the 21 turnovers that defaced the score card, Columbia had clearly self-destructed. The single play that epitomized the Lions during those last five minutes against Yale was a late turnover off an inbound pass that ended with AlexRosenberg throwing the ball away along the uptown sideline.  That mistake illustrated the Blue’s ongoing sloppiness with the ball near the end of tight games.  And though I single out young Alex in this instance, his elders are hardly without sin.  Indeed, team leaders Brian Barbour and Mark Cisco  contributed 4 t.o.’s each to top this particular offensive category.  This is a team that must learn truly to value the ball.

Learning that lesson before the weekend might well make the difference in the Lions second and final match ups with the Stripers at Jadwin and the Cheese Steakers at the hallowed Palestra.  The Lions owe both those crews after tough home losses on the  opening weekend of league play.  A sweep on the southern swing through the Ivies is always tough – just ask the Tiger whipped and shell shocked Harvard squad – but would be a delicious cherry on the season’s sundae.

Peace out and D up,

paulie b

 

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Super Bowl Eve

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Paul

The WKCR radio crew annoyed me Super Bowl eve.   Hardly a word of encouragement for the Lions as they awaited Tommy Amaker’s magisterial, 23rd ranked Crimson.  Truth be told, the rightful target of my annoyance was I.   I wore no war paint.  I talked no trash.  No smack did I spit.  I expected failure.  The near loss to hapless Dartmouth led me to despair the coming events.  Shame on me!  And, more appropriately – Damn those Refs.  The tin cup rattling, cross eyed jerks who officiated the game awarded the Cantabs 32 free throws to but 8 for our Blue!  Four times the number of attempts!  Long story short, the Lions get  half the opportunities given the Crimson and they win.  Just half!  Despite the Cambridge bred crew miscalling the game, the Lions demonstrated their characteristic late game guts and closed to within one bucket with two and a half minutes left before falling 57-52.  Can’t wait for March 3 visit of Tommy’s Boys to what promises to be a packed Levien.  Better bring it, John Harvard.

Peace out and D up,

paulie b

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Northern Adventures

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Paul

Our Lions traveled to  Ithaca the last Saturday of January and caught  their third loss of the Ivy season, falling to the Big Red 65-60.  Having been underwhelmed by the WKCR broadcast of the league opener against the Quakers, I decided to listen to the contest via the www.gocolumbialions.com audio feed and much enjoyed Dalen Cuffe (who captained the Columbia five captain a few years back) and Jerry Recco who provided clear, coherent play by play as well as helpful (and, happily, lion biased) color.  Check ’em out.  The Lions managed to trail most of  the contest and fell behind by 14 some five minutes into second half.  Riding  Brian Barbour’s shooting and Mark Cisco’s continued excellence on the boards, they fought all the way back and tied the score at 53 with eight minutes remaining and again at 56 with about 5 minutes on clock.  Both times John Daniels cashed the tying buckets. Cornell, however, managed to steady behind Chris Wroblewski’s 19 points and 7 boards.  Reversing last week’s denouement at Levien,  Big Red sank an adequate number of foul shots to seal the deal and move to .500 for the early season.  No question the refs gave our boys a good screwing on a number of calls,  but  frankly, you never want the zebras to own your destiny.  Steve Egee started and got a long run while Messrs. Staab and Osetkowski again saw limited time as Coach Smith chose to go small to match up with the untowering  Big Red.  Van Green contributed 16 energetic bench minutes grabbing  4 boards while snatching 4 steals.  Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the squad, Van could not make a basket, tallying only a single point from the foul line where he went 1-4.  Indeed, the  Blue overall only shot .182 from beyond the arc, their second worst performance from three point land this season.  The epitome of that ineptitude came in the last 30 seconds of the contest as the Lions missed 3 straight makeable treys, anyone of which would have tied the score.   That sorry performance finally overcame the Lions’ 6 point and 9 shot advantage from the charity stripe.  A couple more made jumpers and the Lions would sit at .500 rather than the Ithacans.  Instead,  the boys headed home 1-3 with a steep trail ahead.

Turned to the gocolumbialions.com crew of Cuffe and Recco again as February’s schedule opened to follow the Blue’s battle against Dartmouth’s Big Green up in Hanover.  Paul Cormier’s  boys are youngish and have struggled so far posting only a 4- 16 mark.  They have also dropped 16 straight league games over the last year, more than enough for an entire winless Ivy season.  Despite this record of futility and  the Lions’ hunger for a second ivy win, the home squad refused to go quietly into the new hampshire night.  In front of only 900 or so fans, the Hanoverians tallied a free throw to take a 1-0 lead but then trailed our visiting heros for most of the rest of the game.  Though falling behind by six twice and indicating that they might be ready to call it an early night, the boys from New  Hampshire rallied to take a late 2 point lead.  With a tied score and about half a minute left on the clock, Mark Cisco gathered a failed free throw attempt and Coach Smith had an opportunity to  outline the Lions’ last possession.  Predictably, and thankfully, Brian Barbour was given responsibility for the bouncing ball.  With about 7  ticks left in the contest, Number 10 drove and dished to master of the front court Mr. Cisco who laid the ball in for the winning deuce.

Marky C’s last bucket brought his game leading total to 18.  Brian B fell short of his league leading 21 ppg average  in cashing only 13.  Fortunately, Van Green had his second straight effective game and this time contributed 10 points in 20 minutes while draining all three of his shots from the field (including a pair of treys) as well as both his free throws.  VG brings terrific athleticism to the floor for the Blue and has plenty of bounce.    Once again Cory Osetkowski saw less run than he had gotten through December and early January.  We have high hopes for the big first year and expect Coach Smith has drawn up a comprehensive development program for the talented Californian.  Blaise Staab played only briefly but cashed a couple of thrilling layups during his six minute stint. 

Now, as the nation awaits the plebeian pleasures of the Super Bowl, we can turn our finer attentions  to the Lion Five’s Saturday night tangle with Tommy Amaker’s highly accomplished Crimson squad.  The 23rd ranked Cantabs are unblemished so far in Ivy play.  Let’s hope Coach Smith and his crew give them with something to think about in what should be one of the toughest games of Columbia’s season.

Peace out and D up,

Paulie B

 

 

 

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house full of snow shoes

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Paul

Levien was packed on Saturday night with the winter toughened, red mukluk clad alumni of Cornell’s chilly, central New York campus.  So undaunted was their attendance by the city’s first snow storm of 2012 that the game was effectively sold out with the noisy crowd officially listed at  2,654.   Not only was I denied my usual center court perch by this visiting mob, I was shunted deep into the  northwest corner of the gymnasium, literally past the end line and with easy access to the West Side Highway.  A  failed negotiation at the box office left me with seats unchanged and trudging back to my distant outpost to get acquainted with its novel sight lines.  Actually, the view of play was not half bad though I regretted being denied sight of the stats on the north end scoreboard.

Columbia having narrowly fallen, in no small part because of abysmal 3 point shooting, to both Penn and Princeton on the opening weekend of league play almost desperately needed a victory over Cornell to renovate their hopes for Ivy success this year.   Though undersized and only 6-11 on the year,  the not so Big Red would clearly present a challenge to the home Blue.  They had, after all,  upended the Princeton crew that undid our Lions last Saturday.  Additionally, and perhaps more impressively, they had battled a then 25th ranked  Illinois to the bitter end of a close 64-60 loss out in the cornfields of Champaign-Urbana.  They had subsequently played and loss to the Big Ten’s Penn State and Maryland of the ACC.  Columbia had not played a single team of similar stature since the  season opener up in Storrs against UConn.  A loss would put the Lion five at a miserable 0-3, firmly anchored to the bottom of the Ivy standings.

The Blue wasted little time  asserting control of their home court.  Jumping to a 6-0 lead they dominated the visitors who could neither buy a bucket nor grab a rebound.  Though Cornell battled back from this preliminary ineptitude, the Lions held on to their early edge and led at the break 27-22.  Intermission featured a pep talk to the student section from recently hired head  football coach Pete Mangurian who assured the gathered pride that a new era had begun in Lion gridiron fortunes.  Thus encouraged, we turned our attention back to the court, where Cornell challenged Columbia with a couple of runs  in the second stanza even closing to within one at 37-36 with over 12 minutes left.  Our heroes, however, were never headed and, in fact, extended their advantage to ten before Cornell’s last desperate charge.  The Ithacans closed to 56-54 before finally being forced to submit 61-56.  Columbia spent the last minutes of the game trudging to the free throw line as Cornell  fouled at every opportunity in their comeback attempt.  Although it seemed only the Lions lived at the charity stripe, in fact the zebras were so evenhanded that  the Big Red tallied 14 of 19 from the foul line on the night while the boys in Blue barely outdid them at 15 of 19.

Free throw efficiency aside, the Lions again struggled offensively shooting only .396 from the field and cashing but 4 treys.  Fortunately, 3 Columbians did particularly well.  Meiko Lyles, so important in the last four non-league contests tallied 15 to go along with 4 boards.  Brian Barbour followed his two 25 point outbursts last weekend with 14 against Cornell and also grabbed 6 boards.  The indubitable star of the evening, however was big number 55.  Mark Cisco recorded his second straight double double (and third of the season) scoring 18 while grabbing a Levien Gymnasium single game record 20 rebounds.  Deservedly Mr. C  garnered Ivy League Player of the Week honors.

Once again, however, the Blue succeeded primarily because of outstanding defense and effective rebounding.  Coach Smith was particularly pleased with the first half effort in this regard.  John Daniels grabbed his customary 6 rebounds and again played the kind of quick, switching defense that makes getting inside against Columbia very difficult this year. Again and again, the Big Red was boxed out to the edges of the paint and forced to settle for difficult, contested jumpers. Cornell Frosh forward Shonn Miller was held to just two points, seven below his average, and right there you have the difference in the game.  Coach Smith once again demonstrated his penchant for shaking up the rotation with some interesting decisions.  Bench player of the game for the Blue had to be guard Dean Kowalski who mimicked Steve Egee’s work from last weekend and brought defensive energy as well as helpful ball handling to the match.  His 11 minutes of play were so efficient that Mr. Egee remained benchbound and jack of all trades Blaise Staab saw a mere three minutes of play.  Also missing his usual run, first year center Cory Osetkowski hugged pine all evening.

Two issues worrying your faithful correspondent,before we look ahead.   One a personnel issue and the second a point about sloppy execution.  Frosh forward Alex Rosenberg cashed 9 points and nabbed a couple of boards.  Young AR’s contributions, however, were offset by some errant passes and frequent overdribbling.  The first year’s performances to date have been puzzling and Coach Smith has often been pressed about how exactly to greet the youngster coming off the court – pat on the back or kick in the rear.   The Lions need his defensive length and aggressive drives to the basket but Rosenberg still needs to understand the right moments and methods for his actions.  As a keen admirer of his talent and potential we look forward to the first year’s maturing judgment as the league season wears on.  Secondly, the Big Red made their late second half charge off constant double teams on the Lions’  inbound plays.  This pressure resulted in many of Cornell’s 10 steals, exactly the number taken by Princeton last week via exactly the same traps.  Because of the happy outcome of the night’s entertainment, Coach Smith did not seem overly concerned with this problem, but in a tightly competitive Ivy League every point and possession are precious.  The Lions’ turnover rate has to come down for future success.

In any case, the victorious outcome leaves us sanguine for the moment and preparing for future challenges.  This Saturday, the boys  load up the dog sled for a trip to the Finger Lakes and the completion of their traditional home and away set with Cornell.  A fourth consecutive victory over the Big Red would come in handy before the Lions’ first swing into New England as February begins.  Dartmouth looks vulnerable but Tommy Amaker’s Crimson crew awaits the evening before Super Bowl Sunday.  That will be as tough a game as the Blue face all year.

Go Blue!  Roar Lions!

paulie b

 

 

 

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2 games, 6 points, one lost weekend

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Paul

Sorry if this is a bit slow getting to you all, especially since I was so (over)excited about the Ivy season tip off in my last post.  I’ve been grumpy about the Lions’ losses to the Quakers on Friday and the Tigers on Saturday.  Spent or rather wasted a number of drafts feeling sorry for myself and regretting various opportunities missed by the Light Blue Five in the two contests.  The Ivy season is short and the opportunity for victories precious.  Close losses to other good squads are always tough to swallow.

Importantly, the weekend’s games revealed the Lions’ offensive Achilles’ heel.  Facing tough defensive pressure both nights, admittedly, they shot a horrible  3-19 from beyond the three point line versus Penn and a merely lousy 3-11 against Princeton.  That rounds out exactly to an abysmal .200 shooting percentage outside the arc.  And it is not just the misses that are burned into memory.  It’s the extraordinary hideousness of some of them that can’t be shaken.  On Friday, about mid-way through the first half, improving frosh center Cory Osetkowski launched a stinker so ripe that Coach Smith promptly sat him down for the rest of the game to consider his sin from the bench.  Saturday’s beaut came from senior steve egee (who brought a ton of defensive and rebounding energy to both games).  Steve chucked a second half trey from in front of the Princeton bench that missed so atrociously it might better have been considered an errant pass rather than a missed shot.  Without Brian Barbour’s relatively efficient performances from long range (2-4 v Penn and 1-3 v Princeton), the 3 point stats would have been Stygian.  What ought not to missed here, however, is what only slight improvement in this territory might yield.  One more made three pointer against Penn and Columbia starts the season 1-0.  Two more against Princeton and, well you see what I mean.  Let’s hope that Meiko Lyles, Alex Rosenberg and Noah Springwater rise to the occasion.

Having beaten this dead horse of poor shooting enough, let’s not forget credit where due.  The Blue continues to play consistently rugged defense.  The best statistical indicators of this were the mere 10 and 11 points tallied by Princeton’s scoring leaders Doug Davis and Ian Hummer.  Besides the team effort there, mention must be made of Brian Barbour’s two 25 point performances – his career highs.  Mark Cisco scored 12 points both nights and added 10 rebounds against the Stripers to notch a double double.  John Daniels continued his yeoman’s work down low, snagging 8 boards v Princeton.  I must, however, encourage Mr. Daniels to start looking a bit  for additional scoring opportunities.  He clearly seems uncomfortable 15 feet out , but has to start putting up the shorter shots he prefers more often if only to occupy opposing defenses a bit.   Steve Egee made the most of his time both nights and emerged the team leader in rebounds for the weekend snagging a total of 13 and thereby outdoing his front court mates Cisco (11) and Daniels (12).  Senior swingman Blaise Staab also boarded admirably on Saturday, grabbing 7 rebounds in the Princeton match while simultaneously playing ferocious, physical defense against Striper star Ian Hummer.  It was primarily Blaise who limited the  Tiger forward to a mere 11 points, most of those in the last 10 minutes of the game.  Mr. Staab made sure he used all five of his personal fouls before leaving the floor and drew a nice round of applause from the 1,700 plus assembled to witness the evening’s entertainment.

Losing close games to the two squads that have won the bulk of the league’s titles since the mid-seventies made me want to spit.  Fortunately, and unlike Princeton or Pennsylvania graduates, i am possessed of the intellectual balance and moral vision  that comes only from immersion in the core curriculum.  In retrospect, the Light Blue was edged twice, but hardly whipped.  Having shaken off my post weekend dismay and looked at the realities of the (v tight) games, i await the return to Ivy action this Saturday reinvigorated.  Cornell visits Levien on the 21st and I expect Coach Smith will have his Lions poised for a bounce back.  The squad faces a steep but not insurmountable climb.  As for Penn and Princeton – we’ll see you boys down the road.

 

Peace out and D up, paulie b

 

 

 


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Ivy High Points

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Paul
i will refrain from talking any smack in this post and try to give some credit where it is due to the lions’ conference opponents.  don’t be misled by the civility.  throw downs start next weekend. 

though fordham’s win over harvard has taken some of the top 25 bloom off the crimson rose, tommy amaker’s crew remains the team to beat in the ancient 8.  the entire league, however, will take heart from encouraging non-conference performances by a few squads, and harvard will hardly have a cake walk past its 7 conference foes.  yale has ridden the broad, nba bound shoulders of greg mangano to a 10 and 4 start.  though the elis fell to wake forest and florida late in december, there is hardly any shame in losing to such big time programs.  the inside out combination of mangano and blank will challenge the similar strengths of an admittedly deeper harvard crew.  princeton’s tigers have braved a seemingly endless road schedule beginning back on december 7 that included a thrilling 3 ot victory over a very well considered florida state team that had been upended by harvard back on november 25.  after a quick stop at jadwin on january 8 to take on the college of nj, the stripers’ travels continue into the ivy sked and won’t end until february 4 after playing 11 of 12 games away.  they should take heart though from their comfortable 7 of 9 game home stay to wrap the year.  further comfort should come from the dependable ian hummer and the incredibly clutch doug davis who sank a last second j that torpedoed the crimson’s ncaa tourney hopes last year and similarly did in the seminoles this year with 3 treys in the third overtime of an epic duel in late december.  penn enters the ivy schedule under .500 having lost mightily to duke and pitt. but close games versus villanova and ucla indicate there’s still fight in jerome allen’s squad and the backcourt duo of rosen and bernardini should confound a fair number of conference foes.  and lest we forget, the big red fought a then number 25 illini squad to the last minute of a frustrating 64-60 loss amid the prairie’s brown december cornstalks.  the ithaca boys also lost battles to big ten penn state and the acc terrapins by 7 and 8 points respectively.  the ivies are not an easy out this year, i’m just saying.of course, our preeminent concern remains the light blue’s continuing success.  offensively challenged, let’s be honest,  columbia’s non-conference streak of 11 wins in their last 12 contests has depended first upon outstanding team defense.  indeed, mid-december, the lions found themselves in the top 20 nationally in two categories – scoring defense (56.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (37.1%).  the hard work of guarding the opponent, combined with a team effort on the backboards, is paying off in the win column.  let’s also remember that the length coach smith added in his freshman class as well as the increasingly productive minutes from rangy meiko lyles have been important parts of this team defensive efficiency.  lyles has also stepped up his offensive output averaging better than 17 ppg over the last 4 contests.  if meiko can maintain anything like this pace during the ivy battles, the team is likely to fare very well indeed.  brian barbour will be able to refocus on his floor leadership and involve even more efficiently the rapidly improving freshmen alex rosenberg and noah springwater.  frosh big man cory osetkowski has stepped his game up as of late and against colgate played 25 minutes, scoring 8 while grabbing a couple of boards as well as blocking a shot and nabbing a steal. messr osetkowski is proving a capable young back up to mark cisco and john daniels who have labored relentlessly on the boards.   coach smith seems to be doing a fine job incorporating his newbies into the flow of the game without unnecessarily accelerating their learning curve.long story short, we continue to maintain our high pre-season hopes for this squad. they have weathered the early blow of losing offensive star noruwa agho and have proven resilient while mounting a few second half comebacks to post a non-conference record of 11-5, heady stuff indeed for the blue crew’s followers.  let’s get ready for the all important ivy schedule.  for the first time since ’06 columbia does not open its conference games versus cornell.  the quakers come to town on friday 1/13 followed by the battle with the tigers on saturday. i have highlighted this week on my calendar as one of the year’s most important.  a sweep of the perennial league leaders should set the lions’ up for an excellent ivy finish.  a week later big red is at levien.  time to go to work.d ’em up, paulie b

 

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top to bottom and back again as the lions roar into 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Paul
rickie a. and i traveled stag to an old stomping ground friday night. i don’t remember shaved parmesan on the caesar salad at v & t’s.  for that matter, i don’t remember soap in the restroom at v & t’s.  this by way of saying things can get better.  having run off 7 straight wins from thanksgiving weekend through december 10, the lions fell to a barrage of 3 pointers up in poughkeepsie courtesy of the marist red foxes.  the 79-59 pasting was the worst loss of the season for the blue and featured a hapless combined 7 for 26 shooting from guards brian barbour and meiko lyles.  the first half at levien on new year’s weekend seemed to promise the same sort of unhappy outcome as the lafayette leopards rained treys on our boys off deft passes and cleverly set perimeter screens.  on the other end of the floor, columbia struggled to free up mark cisco from the stalwart work of j.d. pelham and levi giese who refused to give our number 55 an inch to maneuver comfortably.  the half’s frustration found its acme in coach smith’s technical foul (do not be misled by its absence from the box score) following a lengthy conversation with an official about one of the game’s finer points.  indeed, coach s was so convinced of the validity of his argument that he literally ran down the striper to reiterate a nuance of his logic and immediately grabbed the t.  at the time, it seemed coach might be letting the leopards get under his skin.  but he continued to shuttle players in and out looking for a defensive combination quick enough to contend with lafayette’s motion for a full 35 seconds if need be.  at one point the lions went very small, featuring 4 guards and forward john daniels.  despite the coach’s legerdemain and ref baiting, the blue trailed by 11 at half.  a second consecutive loss loomed and the columbia faithful uttered defeatist calumny during the break. pity those who doubt this squad’s resilience!  the boys emerged from the locker room with a renewed  commitment to defense and the sure knowledge that the leopards could not possibly continue their unnaturally efficient jump shooting.  so it proved as the lions worked relentlessly to stymie lafayette’ s perimeter game and started to cut off the leopards’ smart drives to the basket.  simultaneously, brian  and meiko shook off their offensive blues and lit up the adversary for 21 and 17 points respectively.  mr. barbour added 7 assists and 5 rebounds to garner star of the game honors from this spectator.  the veteran backcourters were abetted by freshmen alex rosenberg and noah springwater who cashed 9 and 8 points a piece while pressuring the leopard interior defense with vigorous drives to the bucket.  nor can we overlook the fine performance of blaise staab whose high energy contributions off the bench added 7 points and 4 rebounds to the team effort in a mere 14 minutes.  included in his brief but important turn was the play of the game when john daniels stretched full length to save an errant pass with his left hand and tap it back to blaise who tight roped along the downtown sideline before flashing upcourt to cash a nifty lay in that confirmed the lions’ commitment to leaving the old year victorious.the second stanza proved an utter reversal of the first.  having cut the deficit to just 4 points less than five minutes into the half, the lions blew by the leopards, dominating the backboards (led by mr. daniels 8 bounds) and thereby limiting the visitors to one ineffective shot per possession, the lions rode their 29 freethrows (and 19 makes) to a 77-67 win.  the closing half again demonstrated the lions’ defensive stubbornness (before the marist game they had been in the top 20 nationally in points allowed per game at 56.4) and the victory capped the lion’s finest december (6-1) since 1969-70 when the squad opened 10-0.  january now beckons with 3 last non-conference games to open the new year and then the high drama of the ivy league season.  we’ll be in touch after the first weekend of ancient 8 action as your faithful correspondent will be in the stands for the always important battle with princeton.

 

happy new year to all,

paulie b

 

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