stealers wheel

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Paul

for the second straight weekend, the columbia lion basketball squad lost a tough friday night game before demolishing an overmatched competitor that had just made the exhausting bus trip from ithaca to morningside heights.  this week’s failure was against the princeton tigers; the victory was over penn’s quakers.  that pair of battles ended the lions’ luxurious three week home stand, and they now set off on a two week tour of the new england provinces. before allgame goes dark for a couple of weeks, we offer a glimpse of their recently completed labors and an assessment of coach smith’s boys four weeks into the ivy campaign.

the vagaries of the ivy schedule leave the tigers and the quakers with one game in hand on the rest of the league through the entire ancient eight season.  so it was a 2 -1 princeton squad that took on our 2 -2 lions.  the biggest columbian – center cory osetkowski – was on the bench at tip off.  as opposed to the brown game, though, the californian was in uniform.  whether still sidelined by a thigh contusion suffered against yale or whether coach smith  thought sophomore luke petrasek matched up better versus the tiger bigs, the lions were missing an important player.  nevertheless, columbia jumped off to an early lead behind eight points from first year kyle castlin who flashed the inside toughness and three point range that we believe will produce ivy scoring titles as his career progresses.  for now though, the georgia bred frosh remains a puzzle and sometimes disappears from the lion attack.  he would score but another two points during the contest on a night his team needed more from him.  castlin’s disappearing act was not the only problem the lions faced on offense.  the usually solid isaac cohen turned the ball over twice while only dishing two assists, less than half his usual portion.  jeff coby also gave the sphere away two times while messrs mccomber, osetkowski, lo as well as castlin also contributed give aways.  this carelessness with the ball was matched by less than sharp passing when the lions managed to keep possession.

their offensive woes were overshadowed, however, by sluggish defense.  osetkowski’s absence noticeably softened the lions’ interior.  although the gocolumbialions.com website reports the tigers’ success stemmed from their three point accuracy (9-15 on the night).  this seems less than exact, as the lions tossed in an equal number of treys and each team tallied 13 from the free throw line.  allgame saw the difference as coming down low and the long distance barrage as consequent to the pressure exerted by princeton’s dribble drives.  the tigers game long commitment to driving the ball kept the lions a half step back on the perimeter and created more open looks than they might have gotten with osetkowski, who managed but three minutes of play on the blocks in each half.  a quick review of a series of tiger scores in the first half illustrates the situation.  a hans brase three pointer was followed by a clay wilson layup berfore a pete miller layup preceded a wilson trey.  the layup and three pointer that followed those four scores perfectly document princeton’s inside out efficiency.  though down only two at the break, the lions fell steadily further behind as the second half wore on.  luke petrasek’s three pointer at the 8:11 mark drew the light blue within ten (56 – 46), but they’d get no closer as the tigers’ ben hazel dominated the score card over the next three minutes beating columbia for three layups as well as drilling a trey and draining a free throw.  paulie b cannot speak for the better than 1,800 in attendance, but the 74 – 62 loss did not feel that close.

friday’s disappointment evaporated in the giddiness of saturday’s romp.  osetkowski was again on the bench at tip off, but came in just a bit under three minutes into the contest, when penn’s burly center, darien nelson-henry, was flexing his muscles.  the lions led 3 -2 at that moment.  over the subsequent eight minutes, the lions would race off to a 21 – 8 advantage.  osetkowski took a seat until the 6:31 mark in the half with columbia holding a 29 -14 lead.  his return paid off immediately and the lions effectively buried the quakers beneath a period ending 17 – 5 run.  columbia led 46 – 19 at intermission.  “warm up the bus,” as the well-dressed columbia band chanted.  though we thought cory the difference maker in the game (11 points, 9 boards and 3 assists),  he was hardly working alone.  three other lions scored in double figures, three other lions recorded blocked shots and everyone shot well (57% from beyond the arc, 57% on two point field goals, 88% from the charity stripe).  but, by our lights, with osetkowski dominating the glass and clogging the lane, everyone’s job got easier.

the upcoming saint valentine’s weekend will find the 3 -3 lions visiting cambridge and hanover – the longest bus trips of the season.  last year tommy amaker’s cantabs laid the worst pasting of the league campaign on the boys at lavietes pavillion, decimating them 80 -47.  the extent of that whipping surprised us as the lions had played the league champs so tenaciously at levien.  only a debatable charging foul against alex rosenberg secured the crimson’s 88 – 84 double overtime win on columbia’s court.  we expect the lions to acquit themselves more admirably during this visit to greater boston, but a win will be tough to grab.  siyani chambers will bring quickness at the point sure to challenge the lion guards while wes saunders, reigning ivy league player of the year, presents match up problems both on the perimeter and inside where steve moundou-missi will also test the  light blue .  let us not forget, though, that harvard fell to a visiting dartmouth crew for the first time in forever as this season’s league schedule got under way.  paying the crimson back for last season’s two losses would be sweet, but seems a tough task.  though no sure thing, whipping paul cormier’s improving big green seems more probable.  we have followed junior point guard malik gill since his days leading mount saint michael’s high school in the bronx to a couple of parochial school titles.  his greatest contributions come on defense where his quick feet will make life tough for maodo lo.  additionally, he is swiping the sphere three times a night.  lion ball handlers will have to be alert.  on offense, junior guard alex mitola leads dartmouth’s attack scoring 12.9 every night.  historically, he has been even better against columbia, averaging 15.25 ppg during his career.  his front court classmate, conor boehm, has been even tougher against the lions, scoring at a 16 ppg clip.  gabas maldunas, big green’s big presence on the backboards, missed all of last season and the light blue will have to limit his rebounds.  we trust coach smith’s crew will be rested enough to handle them both in what promises to be a very cold, very snowy, new hampshire.

those graduates of the college of musical knowledge in allgame’s audience recognize this post’s title as a way of saying that the 3 – 3 lions are stuck in the middle of the ivy pack.  whether coach smith’s crew is under performing (the home losses to cornell and princeton really rankle) or over performing given the absence of doc rosenberg and grant mullins, i leave to more sinewy controversialists.  i’ll only say that given the shape of the schedule (the next two weeks on the road and then a visit from the cantabs before a season ending swing south) going 4 – 4 down the stretch to finish at .500 will be difficult.  a strong showing in the northeast quarter of the league’s territory is the necessary commencement.

 

peace out, d up

paulie b

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the new normal

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Paul

back when allgame was first developing his unhealthy preoccupation with lion hoops, the unquestionable marquee matchups of the ivy season were against the “killer p’s.”  the princeton and pennsylvania games were much the most anticipated and challenging games of any ivy campaign.  in the years following the lions lone league championship back in ’68, the tigers and quakers dominated league play as the van breda koff/carrill princeton squads traded off visits to the ncaa tourney with the daly/dougherty penn crews.  nothing more exhilirating than an upset of one of these elite units, nothing more disheartening than a closely fought loss.  but the balance of power has shifted in the league over the last three or four years, and those feelings about penn and princeton have been replaced by paulie b’s lust for the blood of james jones’s elis or mike martin’s brown teams.  since coach smith has taken the helm, the battles with the south new england ivy squads have been tensely riveting, unrelentingly hard fought and filled with the high emotion of great competition.  this past weekend provided the latest chapters of both those ongoing sagas and the fortunate fans witnessing the brawls were rewarded with deeply involving games.

friday night brought the impeccably clad, immaculately groomed professor jones to levien.  he holds a 6 -1 record versus coach smith over the last three league seasons and the elegance of his appearance cannot disguise his commitment to a relentlessly physical approach to the game.  his charges work ceaselessly and efficiently on defense, rarely giving players comfortable room for maneuver while avoiding the kind of soft fouls that currently mar the game, particularly on the perimeter.  his instruction has been taken to heart no more deeply than by his current brightest star, messr justin sears, the 6′ 8″ center from the basketball mecca that is  plainfield, nj.  the lean and leggy junior is surely the best all round player in the ivies and by allgame’s lights the best big man period the lions have faced in a year during which they have battled the likes of willie cauley stein, dakari johnson and marcus lee of kentucky as well as stony brook’s  jamaal warney (also plainfield bred) and uconn’s amida brimah.  the slim front courter is supremely adept at establishing position in the midst of a baseline crowd and beating everyone to a must have rebound or slipping in a lay up through a seemingly non-existent gap.  you would think his lean physique would subject him to exhaustion confronting the bigger boys (such as the lions’ own cory osetkowski) of the league, but sears is whip cord tough and coach jones is extremely disciplined about getting him minutes for recovery on the bench in the course of most contests.  this routine was certainly on display friday night during a brawl that featured columbia racing out to an 11 – 2 margin in the opening five and a half minutes before the bulldogs began a relentless march back.  the yales had pulled to within two (28 – 26) when jack montague nailed a trey with 3:41 remaining in the period and by halftime had forged a 35 – 32 advantage.  the second stanza featured a series of pushes by the lions to even the match, and though they would get to within a single point twice, they could not catch the dogs.  it was altogether fitting and proper that sears ended the lions’ hopes with a block of maodo lo’s last second trey to seal the 63 – 59 win for the visitors.  sears posted 28 points while grabbing 8 boards (5 of them offensive) on the night.  the absurd margin (27 – 6) the elis enjoyed in free throws, reflected sears dominance down on the blocks where every columbian and his brother took whacks at him and the light blue’s preference for scoring from beyond the arc, from whence they shot an admirable, but insufficient, 10 – 18.

the good news from that less than happy ending was that the lions were once again their usual fierce selves on defense.  if sears was sui generis, and more than doubled his ordinary offensive output, the rest of the bulldogs were well controlled by the blue.  javier duren, who ripped columbia for 33 points late last march in a cit tournament quarterfinal contest, was held to 15 and was the only other eli in double double figures.  just as importantly, maodo lo, the columbia floor leader, who had turned in three straight sub-par games, returned to his usual form and scored twenty points.  his re-emergence was most welcome and the entire columbia offense moved a bit more efficiently than it had since the turn of the year.

whatever lessons were learned friday had to be quickly applied because this is the ivy league and back to backs the ordinary routine.  saturday offered this season’s visit to levien by coach mike martin’s boys from providence.  the young, fiercely competitive martin has imbued his teams with his personality and brown fights all game long.  two years ago they twice rallied from better than ten points down to catch the lions at the buzzers, the second time on a flawless sideline out play with less than three seconds remaining at levien that freed tucker halpern for a trey from the  top right side side of the key.  down two points with less than two ticks left in last year’s battle at levien, martin’s kids ran a very similar set but, fortunately, the dangerous sean mcgonagill was forced a step beyond his deep range as the lions successfully defended home court.  during the 2014 – 15 campaign, martin has struggled to find adequate replacement for the graduated mcgonagill.  besides that, the bruins would play at levien without their current scoring leader, leland king.  shorthanded or not, the bruins took court ready to work.  behind three point shooting from tavon blackmon and steve spieth and the staunch rebounding of rafael maia, brown rallied from an early deficit to forge a 26 – 19 lead with seven and a half minutes remaining in the first period.  from there the lions raced back, riding three pointers from maodo lo, steve frankoski and chris mccomber to fashion a four point advantage at the break.  just as important as mccomber’s six points was his solid defensive work against maia.  in keeping the beefy forward off the boards and denying him position on the baseline, mccomber defused one of martin’s crew’s essential weapons.  the providencers are always loath to leave a fight early though, and five minutes into the second stanza tied the game at 50 all on a j r hobbie trey off one of those inbound sets that torment the lions.  the game see-sawed from there but at the 6:44 mark, after  steve spieth drained a pair of free throws that brought brown within one at 64 – 63, the lions proceeded to leave the visitors in the dust, burying them beneath a 22 -2 run led by luke petrasek, a resurgent maodo lo (who turned in his second solid performance of the weekend) and first year kyle castlin who headed up the columbia stats line with 21 points and 9 rebounds.  the confident frosh from geogia has the most complete offensive repertoire on the squad already and should provide plenty of thrills as the league season continues.  the lions’ 86 – 65 margin was their biggest since bashing bucknell early in december, but should not deceive allgame afficionados about easy pickings to come in providence.  in 2012, columbia buried the bruins at levien only to be manhandled in the rhode island rematch.  columbia, though, seems clearly the deeper team, right now.  even with osetkowski sidelined by a bruised thigh, the lions outrebounded the visitors and though all five brown starters registered low double figure scoring stats, martin’s bench could only contribute 6 compared to the 22 provided by smith’s subs.  that should be a winnable game on the 20th of this month.

the weekend left columbia at 2 – 2 in league play, trailing the undefeated elis and the one loss, defending champeen harvards.  they also trail the tigers who stand at 2 – 1.   they need to stay close and dropping both princeton and penn  will be important.  those two former incomparables visit levien this weekend and allgame cannot wait for their demolition.

peace out and d up,

paulie b

 

Posted in Columbia Basketball, Ivy League Basketball | 1 Comment

scary – can a struggling lion squad succeed in the ivies?

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Paul

two weekends ago, the lions traveled to ithaca and edged an improved cornell squad, 48 – 45. the savor of that valuable league road win was tempered by the unpalatable stats line posted by columbia’s offensive leader, maodo lo.  the junior guard from berlin was not only shut out by the big red but also picked up four fouls and threw the ball away five times in a mere 17 minutes of play.  those numbers made the blue’s win nearly miraculous and should have prepared the packed house at levien gymnasium for the difficulties their heroes would face saturday last against those same cornellians.  ready or not, the lions fell 57 – 47 as the big red held lo to 11 points this go round. we trust coach smith is spending so many sleepless hours as allgame trying to scheme a way to handle a league leading yale crew and always combative brown squad this super bowl weekend.

it is a tough problem to solve, as messr lo has been much the most reliable scorer in light blue this season.  cornell locked him down with frequent double teams when he crossed mid-court last saturday and the lions struggled to take advantage of the 4 – 3 situations this created for them.   isaac cohen did contribute several long, though less than swift, drives to the hoop for a season high 13 points, but the floridian is far more comfortable passing and rebounding than scoring the ball.  we hope that the staff can devise additional solutions to the doubles lo will undoubtedly face going forward.  answering questions from spectator reporters concerned about a nearly seven minute scoring drought opening the second half of the cornell loss, coach smith voiced confidence in the offensive capabilities of first year kyle castlin as a scoring option. the georgian has shown flashes of talent taking the ball to the rim – a couple of such attacks against the kentucky gargantuans remain vivid – but he has yet to show a consistent jump shot to keep defenders honest.  we’re unconvinced the frosh is ready to lead yet.  steve frankoski’s three point shot has been largely under wraps this season, but coach smith continues to speak positively about the senior’s quality.  we happily recall how “frankie” lit up yale at levien last season for 17 and a repeat performance is devoutly to be wished.

in any case, columbia’s bigs will face the greatest challenges this coming weekend . the bulldogs’ operation revolves around third year center justin sears.  the junior from plainfield, nj is the best big man in the ivies, tallying 13 ppg while grabbing 7 plus boards nightly.  cory osetkowski, columbia’s senior center, is going to have to make sears work on defense while working him over when the eli goes looks to score.  we trust that cory will be assisted in this effort by sophomore luke petrasek, who has yet to have a complete game this season.  the lions need the second year to step up versus sears.  two other second year forwards, jeff coby and chris mccomber will also have to pitch in on the boards and in the scoring column.  this quartet of columbia base liners will have little time to rest, regardless of their performance friday because saturday evening brings the brown squad to levien. the bruins feature leland king, rafael maia and cedric kuakumensah up front and that trio puts tremendous pressure on the backboard.  messr cohen will have to contribute his usual solid rebounding effort to help defend the lion home court against the boys from providence.

the previous paragraph doesn’t even mention yale’s guard javier duren who lacerated the lions for 33  in last spring’s cit tournament match up nor brown sophomore steven spieth (brother of pga golfer jordan spieth – talk about the inequities of the gene pool) who has replaced the terrific, but thankfully graduated,  sean mcgonagill as coach mike martin’s back court leader.  coach smith cannot discount them in his preparations if the lions hope to emerge from the weekend at or, heart be still, above .500 in league play three weeks into the ivy campaign.

as levien’s clock ran down to the sad conclusion against the big red, and the catcalls of the always repulsive cornell fans rattled his ear drums, allgame was asked for some insight into columbia’s sluggish performance.  we have no particular wisdom other than that league battles are always close run things.  last season’s 8 – 6 ivy record was achieved by a team that outscored ancient eight opponents by a total of 13 points or less than a free throw per game.  that slim margin was forged with both alex rosenberg and grant mullins in the lineup.  without them, every one is going to have to pitch in for the lions to succeed in conference.  gird your loins, columbia hoops fans. whatever coach smith figures out, whoever steps up to score, from here on out nothing comes easy.

peace out and d up,

paulie b

Posted in Columbia Basketball, Ivy League Basketball, men's college basketball | 1 Comment

a dizzying december delivers lions to the new year

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Paul
Arena2

the view from paulie’s perch in bridgeport

 

columbia ended a challenging december on a down note, losing to the st. francis terriers in brooklyn on tuesday the thirtieth, 74 -68.  the result bookended a month opening defeat at the hands of the visiting marylanders from loyola, the only lion home loss to date and a bitter pill to swallow after the blue  rallied furiously from nine points down with a minute fifty to play to tie the contest with just under thirty seconds left.  heartbreakingly, eric laster, who had been 0 for the evening, collected a loose ball and drained a seventeen foot jumper as time ran out for the 64 – 62 decision.  our heroes bounced back from that disappointment with their most complete game of the season and buried bucknell 61 – 39 at levien on december 6.  off that victory, the lions entered the toughest stretch of their non-league season visiting lexington, kentucky and bridgeport, connecticut to play last year’s ncaa finalists, the kentucky wildcats and the uconn huskies.  we have already crowed about columbia’s disciplined performance at rupp arena where they gave coach calipari’s immense, number one ranked crew, all they could handle before falling  and provided the rest of the div one hoops universe a blue print for the possible undoing of the presumptive national champeens.  after downing the feisty hofstra pride at levien on the 20th, the boys headed up interstate 95 to the nifty webster bank arena in bridgeport to confront the reigning ncaa champs of uconn.  falling behind the ryan boatright led huskies early, 9 – 0, the lions raced back to forge a six point lead late in the first half.  from that giddy high point, however, kevin ollie’s charges battled their way back and, from about the middle of the second stanza on, a drained and sluggish lion match up zone essentially watched as rodney purvis buried treys and amida brimah flashed along the base line to slam home a couple of alley oops.  the only stand out performance for the lions came from maodo lo who cashed 24 points and battled the nba bound boatright to a draw.  luke petrasek tallied ten and made some slick first half passes for assists but still seemed short of full game condition.  a good play here and there from various lions, but no other first rate jobs.  coach smith aptly summarized, “it was a good game for about 32 minutes.”    after that, the lions stumbled to the buzzer in an 80 – 65 loss, their biggest margin of defeat this season .  paulie b, hoarse from his frantic exhortations and a stubborn cold, took solace from the big time ambience, the courteous reception of the home team followers who put up with his game long bellowing and the company of visiting allgamers from the very heart of razorback nation.  the pics accompanying this post document the enjoyable event.

a cheerful allgame crew enjoys the lions' early rally against uconn

a cheerful allgame crew enjoys the lions’ early rally against uconn

the lions got back on track at levien on the last sunday of 2014 with a victory over the colgate red raiders.  almost exactly a year earlier, columbia bounced back from a tough holiday festival loss in brooklyn to st. john’s and grabbed perhaps its most important win of that very successful season when the boys in blue rallied from seven points down with just over two minutes to play in hamilton, new york to tie the colgate crew.  they went on to dispatch their hosts in double overtime behind alex rosenberg’s 23 points and noah springwater’s lock down defensive work against red raider scoring leader austin tillotson.  that first road win of the campaign launched the lions on a six game winning streak to commence the happiest winter on morningside heights in forty years.  this season’s game almost offered a perverse mirror of that gem when the kids from colgate charged back frantically over the last ninety seconds to cut a 12 point deficit to but 3 before sanity was restored and the lions posted their 69 – 64 win.

predictably for december 2014, that win was followed by the  road loss to the st. francis.  the lions trailed throughout and closed late before falling 72 – 64.  the outcome was determined at the foul line where the hosts were awarded 26 free throws to a mere 14 for the lions.  though disappointed at such hardwood chicanery as well as by the lions’ failure to grab their second road win of the season, we were pleased by first year kyle castlin’s 16 points and 4 rebounds – mirrored by lo’s 17 points and 4 boards.  it was another solid effort by the georgia bred frosh, who has crafted his 9.3 ppg average via alternating big and small games: 0 against stony brook, followed be 18 versus wagner before 0 against lehigh and then 19 against fdu, for instance.  we were even more heartened by the return, albeit brief, of grant mullins to the rotation.  the junior from ontario logged three stat-less minutes in his first time on the hardwood since  last february.  we devoutly wish for his continued recovery from the concussion suffered in a great win at princeton eleven months ago.  his  gritty on ball defense and accurate perimeter shooting have been missed.  mullins’s presence, along with that of a more fully recovered sophomore luke petrasek should diversify the columbia attack enough to allow the lions to fight for the league championship.  the “moral victories” of hard fought losses to elite programs such as kentucky and uconn will pale beside actual wins over harvard and yale.

tonight the lions return to levien for a highly unusual second contest in a single season with a non-league foe.  back in november, columbia was the opponent for the stony brook sea wolves’ inaugural game in their new island federal credit union arena.  our heroes were unquestionably jobbed by the refs, but would have won had they boxed out effectively on a missed free throw that instead wound up in the hands of rayshaun mcgrew who cashed the game winner in a 57 – 56 squeaker.  we trust the lions will pay back the long islanders this evening, but they must work tirelessly on the boards to neutralize the efforts of the sea wolves leader, 6′ 8″ forward jameel warney who scores 15 plus while grabbing 12 rebounds per game, of which almost 5 are offensive boards.  second chance points have undone columbia in four of their five defeats.  a team effort in this regard defeated stony brook at levien last season and we expect a similar outcome this go round.  that will leave only the january 10 match with division iii central pennsylvania to complete the non-league portion of this campaign.  the saturday after that inconsequential, we hope, victory the light blue travels to the finger lakes to open the league schedule against an improved cornell squad.   now every game counts.

peace out and d up,

paulie b

 

allgame is indebted to its site administrator, joan o’connell agresta, for our very existence and we have to thank her again for a contribution to the quality of our readers’ experience.  by clicking on the blue highlighted copy in the completed games portion of the lions’ schedule, you will be carried to the box score for that particular contest.  though allgame is not statistically sophisticated, nor even particularly stats obsessed, we do think the audience is entitled to double check some of our numbers based assertions.  this new feature will provide an easy way to do that.  all praise to our joan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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we’re number two! columbia rattles kentucky

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Paul

the columbia lions journeyed to lexington, kentucky and showed the nation how the immense and immensely deep kentucky wildcats might be beaten. the box score tells the familiar story of visitors undone by home team favoring officials (with kentucky enjoying a 17 – 4  edge in freethrows), but allgame has no beef with a crew that let the lions play aggressive defense.  indeed, though on the short end of a 56 – 46 stick, columbia was statistically the better defensive squad. not a bad showing considering the hosts boasted their domination of most of the important div 1 defensive stats this season.  particularly in the first half, the lions did a terrific job of giving strong side help whenever the wildcats threw the ball into the post. on the perimeter, they chased and contested shots all evening, vividly demonstrating how much better kentucky has to get from the outside if they are to make a 40 -0 run to the championship in march 2015 and realize their hype as one of the all time great college squads.

maodo lo was the best all round player on the floor, scoring 16 points while snatching 7 rebounds and making off with three steals in his 37 minutes of tireless play.  all honor to cory osetkowski as well who battled manfully throughout against willie cauley-stein and dakari johnson.  first year kyle castlin showed himself un-awed by the big time surroundings and made a couple of much needed, timely buckets. in general, the crew spread the floor efficiently, passed well and seldom gave up the ball to the lengthy wildcat defenders. exhausted by the pressure they had exerted on kentucky all night and the pressure they had endured, the boys finally appeared gassed during the last ten minutes of play.  they couldn’t quite get off the shots they needed during the game’s last quarter.   and indeed, late in the game, the lions continued to box out on the glass but couldn’t get off the floor for the ball.  they had battled the wildcats to a draw on the boards in the first half grabbing 15 rebounds to 17 for kentucky.  in the second half they could manage but 13 to the hosts 24.  that was fatal.   harsh realities aside, the first four minutes of the game remain a wonderful dream as the lions raced off to an 11 – 0 lead.  one minute in,  an undaunted kyle castlin took the ball to the hoop against the wildcat bigs, getting and cashing two free throws to open the run.  twenty five seconds later, isaac cohen dunked off a steal by and pass from maodo lo. two and a half minutes after that, chris mccomber drilled the lions’ first three pointer of the evening.  fifteen seconds later messr lo had his second steal and flashed the rim for a 9 -0 edge.  this gorgeous stretch of play concluded with a castlin layup for the lion’s biggest lead.  from here, kentucky relentlessly closed in and it was down to a two point lead at the half, 25 -23.  the game was eventually knotted  at 34  six minutes into the second stanza on a cauley-stein free throw.  derek willis’s two free throws put kentucky up for good, 36 -34 with thirteen minutes remaining in the contest.  the hosts would stretch their advantage to 15 at 56 – 41 with a minute and a half to go.  the lions weren’t beaten, though, just out of time,  as they continued the fight with luke petrasek throwing  down his first dunk of the season and kendall jackson draining a late three to reluctantly conclude the evening’s entertainment.

our title is only partly in jest. front runners can dismiss kentucky’s performance as a function of looking ahead to their rugged stretch of challenges from north carolina, ucla and louisville.  they were missing two regular participants in their usual rotations – devin booker and tyler ulis, but  columbia was short handed, too and the presence of grant mullins might have gotten them close enough to really scare the bejeezus out of the wildcats.  all this is mere speculation.  the game was played and the lions showed their quality.  three quarters of the season remain along with the opportunity to prove that last night was no fluke.

peace out and d up,

paulie b

 

 

Posted in Columbia Basketball, men's college basketball | 3 Comments

lions lookin’ for a miracle as bluegrass battle beckons

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Paul

columbia prepared for its fight with the deepest team in college basketball this coming wednesday by playing its best game to date.   they buried the bucknell bisons at levien this  saturday evening past, 62 – 39.  it was their first win over the visitors in three seasons.  the squad played an impeccable first six minutes and built a 14 – 2 lead which shrank to  24 -18 at half time.  chris mccomber, who has  been barely visible offensively since the season opener at stony brook, drained two treys coming out of the break and the rout was on. columbia won mainly via its reliably stifling defense.  the visitors shot but 28 % from the field and a miserable 13 % from beyond the three point stripe.  the lions dominated their defensive back board and bucknell rarely saw a second chance shot.  maodo lo once again led the scoring parade with 20, but the game was controlled by the lion front court and the game’s star was undoubtedly cory osetkowski who scored 12 while grabbing a dozen rebounds and dishing out 6 assists.  additionally, he essentially pitched a shut out against the six bison bigs who could produce but 13 points and grab only nine rebounds amongst themselves.  cory was helped by the seldom seen minnesota mountain, conor voss, who scored a bucket while effectively clogging the lane and boxing out nicely on the boards during his three minute guest appearance.   the ever present isaac cohen took advantage of the two headed center play to snatch 8 rebounds.   he was joined hitting the boards by frosh kyle castlin who gathered up five.  all these lions will have to be similarly effective on the boards in lexington, if the lions hope to compete with the current number one ranked wildcats.  coach calipari plays 11 fellows at least 15 minutes, and no one more than 23.  he sends them at opponents in long armed phalanxes, five players at a time.  and they are relentless rebounding the ball.  before taking a closer look at this terrific challenge and rehearsing our hopes and fears, let’s quickly revisit the lion games now in the books for 2014- 15.

the light blue currently stands 5 – 2 and with five more points or two more rebounds would be 7 – 0.  they fell by one in the season opener at the stony brook sea wolves’  new federal credit union arena when they made but 4 of 13 free throws.  here, too, they failed to box out rayshaun mcgrew whose rebound and put back with seven seconds left gave the sea wolves a 57 – 56 win.  chris mccomber had a nice debut as a starter tallying 13 points but the squad clearly missed grant mullins, sidelined with the consequences of a concussion suffered a full nine months previous, and sophomore luke petrasek,  out because of a virus.  they were missing the following tuesday as well  when the  wagner sea hawks came to levien for the home opener.  sea hawk coach bashir mason won’t be 31 until february and, consequently, is the nation’s youngest div 1 men’s basketball coach.  his youth has not prevented him from winning 38 games over his first two season at the helm, but this campaign he has a green squad.  smaller than columbia at every position on the floor, the visitors trailed all night in a game that featured lion first year kyle castlin’s 18 point outburst and a wire to wire 70 -56 columbia win.  on the penultimate sunday in november we traveled to bethelehem, pa. and had the pleasure of watching the lions take on the lehigh mountain hawks at the hosts’ nifty, if rather empty, stabler arena.  just two and half years ago, the boys of lehigh were rocking ncaa tourney brackets by dusting the imperial duke blue devils.  those heady times are behind them now.  they currently stand 3 – 4 but the crew columbia faced was as yet winless.   the lions came out hot and played well for the first twelve minutes, crafting a 27 – 11 advantage.  that was the biggest edge they would enjoy all afternoon and the mountain hawks had cut the lead almost in half, to 32 – 23,  at the break.  lehigh’s star, 6′ 10″ arizonan, tim kempton began to assert himself in the second period, scoring 9 of his 15 points while grabbing 7 of his 10 rebounds.  that effort brought the home team within six points a few times in the second stanza.  the last time at the 3:08 mark.  sanity was restored, though, and six straight free throws from messrs osetkowski, coby and springwater closed out the 54 – 44 lion victory.  sophomore forward jeff coby did far more than drain those free throws, however, and his sterling performance off the bench led the squad.  the floridian tallied 16 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.  his effort on the glass was augmented by isaac cohen’s 10 boards.  again, coach smith’s boys were very tough defensively and shut out the mountain hawks from beyond the three point stripe where the hosts were  blanked, 0 – 13.

that nice outing to the lehigh valley was followed by the dreariest game so far this season when coach greg herenda’s fairleigh dickinson squad visited levien for what devolved into a series of walks from one foul line to the other.  the officiating crew’s relentless orthodoxy when it came to the rule book drained all rhythm from the battle and rendered the 54  – 47 win very dull sport indeed.  on november’s last saturday afternoon, the defending patriot league champions from american visited levien.  the eagles feature a princeton style offense which when considered against columbia’s own tendency to run their sets deep into the time clock every time down the floor, promised a low scoring contest.  the visitors jumped out to a five point lead, but the lions eventually ran them down and left the court enjoying a 24 -21 advantage.  out of the break american again started fast behind the play of john schoof and pee wee gardner, grabbing a 30 – 28 edge with fifteen and a half minutes remaining in the game.  behind maodo lo’s 20 points and 9 rebounds, however, columbia reassumed command and posted its fourth win of the campaign, 52 – 43.  the low scoring, vigorously defensive game was a pleasure to watch and in stark contrast to tuesday’s foul line parade.  the pace was delightfully brisk and a mere 20 free throws were awarded the two squads.

we could not attend the battle with loyola (md) and thus missed a furious rally by the lions in the last 110 seconds of the game.  down nine points, the lions put together a three point shot from steve frankoski, a driving layup and free throw from maodo lo and another trey from isaac cohen to tie the contest with twenty eight seconds remaining.  the lions failed to grab an absolutely necessary rebound, however, and with two seconds on the game clock, eric laster made his only basket of the evening, drilling a 17 footer to drop the lions 64 – 62.  that summary of a frantic last two minutes must suffice as we will not critique a game we did not see.

the warm up against bucknell successfully concluded, the lions now pack their portmanteaux for the kentucky trip.  kentucky loosened up for the contest by beating a big, highly ranked,  texas squad 63 -51 on friday and then demolishing in state rival eastern kentucky 82 – 49 on sunday.  the wildcats are the nation’s biggest college hoops squad, but it is their unrivaled depth and team wide commitment to defense that makes them a worthy number at this point in the season.  they have yet to look brilliant on the offensive end of the court, but boast the number one scoring defense in division 1, limiting their opponents to 45 points per game.  our lions are similarly tough and stand fourth in this statistical category holding their antagonists to 50 points per contest.

balanced sole of the first sneaker to top of the last head, the wildcats are virtually twenty five feet longer than the lions.  that will make everything very tough.   then again, coach smith was an assistant at saint mary’s when that school had the biggest line up in div 1 hoops.  he should have some ideas about how to defend and attack size.  his most difficult task will be to maximize the time cory osetkowski is not only on the court, but playing without foul trouble.  i expect willie cauley-stein and dakari johnson will go hard at the big californian, so  conor voss will have to be ready to contribute at the five spot.  we’re tempted to go with the 2 – 3 zone the lions have occasionally played but fear that it might make them more vulnerable to kentucky’s attacks on the offensive glass.  every guy in light blue will have to be aware of his man and boxing out when a wildcat shot goes up.  calipari’s kids make their living on the offensive boards.  at the other end of the floor, the lion perimeter shooters will have to be quick and accurate if they’re to stay with their hosts. we hope the lions are channeling the ‘nova squad that dropped the hoyas back in the day by virtue of a perfect game.  or to reach for a more recent historical precedent, let them summon the triumphant spirit of the njit crew that humbled number 17 michigan this past saturday.   though we expect the lions to fall in a defensive struggle, 57 – 42, on any given night . . . .you could look it up.

peace out and d up

paulie b

 

 

 

 

Posted in Columbia Basketball, men's college basketball | 2 Comments

jump ball! the lions’ new season tips off

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Paul

part the first  –  dedicated to the one i love

when the columbia five left levien last march 25 on the short end of a 72 – 69 college insider.com post season tournament battle with the ever despised yales,  despondent fans could look ahead to a bright follow up to a 21 win year. the entire squad would return and improvement on their 8 – 6 regular season league record seemed a good bet.  alas, the team starting its campaign in stony brook this friday will be without leading scorer, and darling of the allgame faithful, alex rosenberg.  a broken foot and a tough (internet scribes use the adjective “archaic”) ivy league rule about continuous enrollment and athletic eligibility have forced the short hills native to withdraw from college for the year.  paulie b was at draddy gymnasium, up in riverdale, on november 26, 2011 when alex played in his first win as a lion, helping to topple manhattan 59 – 41.  he went on to average 7.2 ppg and 4.2 rebounds that frosh season.  he improved those numbers as a second year tallying 9.5 points per battle while grabbing 4.3 boards.  last year, of course, was the big jump when his scoring average went up to 16 ppg.  though his rebounding dropped off a bit to 3.7 each game.   in ivy play he was even more productive, netting 19.5 in league games.   to this writer’s eyes, his growth as a scorer was helped by throttling back his dribble.  alex is, perhaps, over enamored of his handle and, as a first year and even as a soph, played as though he thought he could put the ball on the floor and eventually slip any defender.  as a junior rosenberg made shorter, more direct attacks on the rim.  the increase in his flat out ferocity provided more numerous trips to the foul line and evenings like his 17 – 17 performance from the charity stripe up at dartmouth.  all lion fans, not only allgame subscribers, will miss the big kid this season while looking forward to his return to college and the hardcourt in autumn 2015.

part the second – taking care of business

a. r.’s teammates and coaches have no more time to worry over his absence.  this friday the team travels to the rocky hills of long island’s north fork to battle coach steve pikiell’s stony brook seawolves.  the lions will be the opponents in the inaugural dust up at the new four thousand seat, thrillingly named, island federal credit union arena.  pikiell has re-animated a moribund, small time program and now presents a squad that has won 66% of its battles over the last five years, including four twenty win seasons.  the new arena symbolizes his still greater ambitions for the school’s place in metro area hoops.  the seawolves came to levien last january where they fell to columbia 68 – 63 in a back and forth thriller that saw 8 lead changes and 7  ties before the lions prevailed.  rosenberg was tough, dropping 24 on the visitors while grabbing 8 boards.  maodo lo was even tougher, tallying 29 while snatching 6 rebounds.  similar efforts will likely be required on the road in order to offset the expected contributions from the seawolves’ dynamic 6′ 8″ center, jameel warney, who is the reigning america east conference player of the year.  he scored twenty in the loss at levien, but was held to just four rebounds, half his usual haul.  lion centers cory osetkowski and conor voss. along with sophomore front court jack of all trades luke petrasek will have to work diligently to keep the plainfield, nj native in check.  this challenging opener will be followed by three november home games (v. wagner, fairleigh dickinson and american) as well as a quick trip out to bethlehem, pa. to take on the lehigh mountain hawks.  wagner and lehigh are new to the schedule and allgame plans on scouting both teams for our subscribers.  fdu and american were conquered last year and we’ll look for similar results from our perch in levien this thanksgiving season.  december will be packed with gaudy yuletide treats as the lions hit the court seven times including a trip to lexington, kentucky to battle coach calipari’s latest assemblage of nba hopefuls.  the wildcat game will be broadcast on espn 2 on the tenth.  must see tv, folks.  patriot league members loyola (md), bucknell and colgate’s red raiders will all visit levien before the new year.  last january’s 76 – 70 double overtime win up in hamilton, ny over the boys of colgate,  was one of the signature road victories of the year outdone perhaps only by the 53 – 52 squeaker over princeton at jadwin.  we look forward to an entertaining rematch at home.  those upcoming battles at levien will be festooned around a trip to the maritime metropolis of bridgeport to humble the defending national champeen uconn huskies.  let’s gratefully bow our heads for a month that features the light blue battling last year’s two ncaa finalists.  those two contests will be critical in the formation of the squad’s self regard as well as contribute significantly to how the outside world views our heroes.

fortunately, the squad that debuts in stony brook, and that will battle two of this hardwood nation’s most storied programs, is filled with ballers fully capable of filling the rosenberg sized breech that exists in the rotation.  the lions are strongest at guard where they are led by starters, and classmates, maodo lo and grant mullins.  both are capable of netting twenty on any given night, but maodo has emerged as the more explosive scorer, combining a nice step back three point shot with his quick attacks to the rim.  grant, on the other hand, though a capable scorer is more valuable as  the squad’s lock down on ball defender.  a concussion suffered in the victory at princeton shut him down for the rest of the year and his absence undoubtedly cost the lions the return match against princeton and the yale post season tussle.  his season long health is crucial to the light blue’s prospects.  steve frankoski and meiko lyles come off the bench in the back court and they, too, can fill it up.  frankoski can be an exhilirating streak shooter when he gets it going as he did in the regular season home victory over yale while the icy meiko drilled a three pointer that sealed princeton’s fate in early february.  isaac cohen is the least efficient scorer in this group, but perhaps the team’s most versatile talent.  he led the squad in rebounds and assists last year, can defend the opposition’s  two or three slot, and, if memory serves, hit a must have trey as the clock wound down in that terrific victory over the tigers.  the front court must prove itself ready for crunch time if this season’s edition of the lions are to continue improving.  rosenberg’s classmate cory osetkowski is the biggest starting  center in the ivies.  at 6’11’ and 270 pounds he should dominate most of the defenders he faces but he lacks the quickness of, say, yale’s  justin sears or steve moundou-misi at harvard, or the terrific resident of the  baselines in providence, messr cedric kuakumensah.   if he continues the growth he demonstrated down the league stretch and into post season last year, however, we’ll be very pleased with cory, indeed.  he has shown he can score twenty in a game, even occasionally flashing his three point cred,  but now needs to be more decisive on offense.   down on the blocks, as he receives the ball he must know that he is going to the rim or passing off.  no dilly dallying with the dribble.  he is backed up by the bunyanesque sophomore conor voss whose size should come in handy not only in setting impenetrable screens on offense but also clogging the lane on defense.  we hope coach smith will take full advantage of the ten fouls he has to give at center.  we want the big boys to be nasty.  “enter at your own peril” should be their motto and behavior with any foe who presumptuously threatens the lions’ lane.  in a pinch, coach smith can man the five slot with voss’s classmate, the silky smooth luke petrasek.   his deft passing touch and ability to step out for the jumper make him  a very good number four and he has been logging practice minutes at center as well this pre-season.  aiding and abetting these lions will be sophomores jeff coby, who saw solid playing time as last year progressed as well as chris mccomber, a sweet shooting canadian.   chris saw the fewest minutes on the squad last year, having been slowed down by an autumn bout of mononucleosis but is now fit and ready to contribute.  those second years will share some time with georgia frosh kyle castlin   listed at guard, his penchant for hurling his 6′ 4″, 180 lb frame at the backboard means he’ll probably play some valuable minutes at small forward as well as in the backcourt.

the imminent battle on long island the evening of the 14th should be a tough test and a fine starting point for evaluating this squad.   if they are to challenge for the ivy title, they must win on the road, and i don’t mean just at ithaca and hanover.  philadelphia, princeton, new haven, providence and cambridge must all yield their share of victories  if the lions are to move up in class and claim the league title that has eluded columbia since 1968.  we trust stony brook will be loudly inhospitable and a nice dry run for what awaits in league play. we make the way by going, and this friday the lions start their journey.   follow it here.

 

peace out and d up,

paulie b

 

 

 

Posted in Columbia Basketball, Ivy League Basketball, men's college basketball | 1 Comment

the nightmare of history

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Paul

in a year filled with humiliating routs, the stunned columbia football fan finds himself still groping for an appropriate characterization of the horror he witnesses.  this past weekend’s visit to lovely long branch, new jersey provided perhaps the greatest challenge to our imagination of disaster so far, as the lions fell with a 61 – 28 thud to the monmouth hawks.  we’ll go with this – the hawks flattened the lions like isil overrunning the iraqi army in anbar province.  the light blue was down six touchdowns before rallying against denizens from so deep on the hawk bench that monmouth’s coaches had to send in their charges with “hey you, uh . . . 86, get in there, kid.”  the “gocolumbialions” website praised substitute light blue qb trevor mcdonagh for tossing four touchdown passes against that phantom defense.   quick quiz, who was the last lion crouching behind a center to throw for that many scores?  bonus points for knowing the date and the opponent.  so soon you give up ?  why, sean brackett, of course, back on november 10,  2012 against cornell.  that was also the last game won by our shell shocked gridders.  the lion losing streak now stands at 15.

just one rainy saturday ago, your correspondent was searching for a silver lining to the 38 – 6 failure against princeton, thinking that perhaps the lions’ dizzying downward spin had finally been arrested.  had coach pete mangurian  pulled manfully enough on the control stick to edge  the nose of his crippled sopwith camel up and  out of gravity’s murderous grip?  the game had been tight for a half and the lions even crafted their first lead of this terrible  season, maintaining a 6 – 3 edge for much of the second quarter.  the tigers, however,  pushed across a td as time expired on the half and the columbia defense – so staunch for thirty minutes – declined to take the field for the third period.  reality reasserted itself and the tigers trampled the wien stadium turf, and any lions upright upon it, flat, putting  four unanswered touchdowns on the board.  paulie b was left shaking his head, savoring the few solid tackles, the couple of recovered fumbles and the two nifty shovel passes for first downs that comprised his pleasure during that damp yom kippur afternoon.

the monmouth massacre owed much to brett nottingham’s woeful play.  the stanford transfer, injured and sidelined for the season in his very first appearance as a lion in 2013,  had diligently rehabbed, been named a team captain, and started the first four games of the year.  nottingham has been courageously staunch, but far from brilliant.  he is not surrounded by terrific receivers and has compounded this problem by frequently missing them when they do manage to break free.  when he threw interceptions on three consecutive series versus the hawks, coach mangurian had seen enough and gave messr mcdonagh, who appeared in many of last season’s ten losses,  the responsibilty of bringing the lions back from love – 40.

the four touchdowns mcdonagh tossed were offset by an additional three  monmouth tallies, so not all that much was gained by the substitution and, unless nottingham was injured before being lifted, we expect him back at the helm this coming saturday when the lions battle the quakers in philadelphia.  penn has been as woeful as columbia this season, falling to fordham last saturday by 60 -22.  besides that debacle and a couple of other ass whippings they have endured, the quakers are 0 -2 in ivy play and, consequently, actually below the lions in league standings.  i wonder what intern in vegas gets to handicap this one?

though we decry the vulgar monetization of amateur athletics, allgame wonders if there might be an opportunity here?  a year ago, the light blue played the philadelphians tough before falling 21 -7 at home.  might they actually steal one on the road and end mangurian’s miserable streak?  penn coach al bagnoli, arguably the best ivy coach ever and inarguably the winningest, brings his blue and maroon clad crew back to the banks of the schuykill after the aforementioned humiliation in the bronx.  will he have them hungry for a measure of redemption and ready to  claim a lion pelt?  based on the quakers home field advantage and the lions 49 – 7 loss to fordham, i figure penn to be a 6 point favorite.  whatever the line, we look for nottingham to rebound from being yanked to have his best game to date and for the lions to shake some fumbles loose.  allgame, always loath to encourage foolish speculation, says take the points and watch for the lions to win ugly.

it will be an outcome devoutly wished.  the quakers have tamed columbia seventeen straight times.   the last time columbia did conquer the pennsylvanians, though,  it was at franklin field.  fondly i remember standing beside my sons in the stadium’s highest reaches, all of us bellowing joy as an exhausted, triumphant, marcellus wiley savored a 20 – 19 overtime victory and  raised his helmet toward our cries.  that 1996 lion squad went a memorable 8 -2.  that is impossible this season, but a victory in philly?  we live in hope.

 

peace out, d up,

paulie b

 

Posted in Columbia Football, Ivy League Football, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

regarding the current misery and degradation of columbia football fans

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Paul

fordham beat columbia for the fifth straight season on saturday, but the last two of that handful of whippings  have been real doozies .  the defeat this time, by 49 -7 was, in fact, slightly more entire than last year’s 52 -7 homicide.  by every statistical measure, other than points given up, the lions were worse than in the 2013 game.  only the fact that the boys in blue suffered no terrible injuries made the loss at all bearable.

head coach pete mangurian has been interviewed in the most recent edition of columbia college today and has voiced his sense that the complete reconstruction of the program is moving forward and that the current team enthusiastically embraces his system and appreciates the holistic approach to their improvement.  a few words from the horse’s mouth seem appropriate. “i can sit here and spend every hour i have with the players talking about ‘who do you block, who do you tackle,’ all those kinds of things.  that doesn’t help them be successful here . . . . if you can communicate, be unselfish, be disciplined, be accountable . . . all those things are going to make you a good football player, too.”  the results of this enlightened approach – 12 consecutive defeats.  may we suggest that coach spend more time talking about blocking and tackling.

allgame is not cracking wise here, and it should be pointed out that we, along with the faithful hundreds who, five times an autumn, make the climb to our preferred perches in the underpopulated expanses of one of this country’s loveliest college football venues, hardly believe that winning is the only thing.  a brief, bitter reminder of what we have endured is not out of place here.

twelve straight losses would reduce most fans to whimpering schoolkids.  the lion rooter mans up and asks, ‘please sir, may i have another?”  those of you familiar with the reagan administration will recollect that the lions dropped 44  in a row , a record for gridiron futility at the time, during those dark years.   in retrospect, that wasn’t so hard to take as what we currently endure.  those four plus seasons of perfect failure at least had suggestions of competitive equality.  a blown tackle here, a dropped pass in the end zone there, a totally unnecessary holding penalty over here and one might specifically explain the general, unending indignity of our plight.  the lions of that era always found a way to lose.  but at least they left their supporters with the feeling that they were competing.  not well perhaps, but still . . . .

these days, though, and we hope you hear our bitterness, the lions seem utterly overmatched. and we aren’t writing here merely of the 33 points per game by which they lost last season.  i should pause, though,  and let that number sink in.  every week last year, the lions lost by six and one half touchdowns.  of course, the loss on last saturday was by seven td’s.  it was not the spread that drove us muttering from baker field, however.  the deal breaker was the lions’ last play of the third quarter when with a minute twenty, more or less, left in the period, the boys faced a fourth and one at their own 42 yard line and called time out.  trailing 28 – 0, and running out of time, the lions’ coaching staff seemed to have little choice but to go for it and we shrieked our approval when the offensive unit returned to the field.  our joyful anticipation at the snap, though, turned to utter disgust at the ensuing pusillanimity.   rather than try forcing a breach in the fordham defensive front for a quarterback sneak or throw a quick hitter across the middle for a few yards or, heart be still, run a play action fake and go for the long td, mangurian settled for the stale tactic of trying to draw fordham offside.  having failed at that, the lions pitifully took a five yard delay of game penalty and tamely kicked the ball away.  the faux play reinforced allgame’s quibbles with mangurian’s general approach to play calling but we’ll just say here that the vote of no confidence in the squad seemed to break the kids’ spirit.   a general rout was on as fordham pushed another three touchdowns into the lions’ faces in that final, heart broken, period.

on the 27th, the team travels to the state capital for a meaningless game against the great danes of suny albany.  a victory there, bereft of historical resonance, will be empty and a loss humiliating.  that is the state of the program as the 2014 season gets under way making coach mangurian’s statement that his first years are “the strongest class we’ve had,”  all the more lamentable.  these newbies and their elders return to the banks of the spuyten duyvil to tangle with the always to be hated princeton tigers.  these same tigers, we might add,  dropped 50 on the blue last year.  allgame will be in the stands on the first saturday of october, and it will be another opportunity to judge this work in progress.  until then, we can only stand on our soap box and bellow, “let the boys play, coach.”

peace out and d up,
paulie b

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

flat ivy finish but the lions keep running

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Paul

columbia’s basketball team entered the last two weeks of the ivy schedule with slim but real hopes for the ivy title or at least a solid second place finish.  that all evaporated as tommy amaker’s harvard squad dealt them an utter ass whipping, 80 – 47.   so thorough was the beating that it nearly erased our fond memory of the lions brutal double ot loss to the visiting cantabs back on valentine’s day.  that narrow defeat, in a contest that featured an indomnitable alex rosenberg scoring a career high 34 points, filled allgame’s scribe with a false sense of the two teams’ equality.  coach smith still has a few parts to add to the machine he is constructing on morningside before he can assume coach amaker’s position as primus inter pares in the ivies.

the lions returned from greater boston to whip a second rate penn squad that offered little but fran dougherty in terms of offense.  a tony hicks trey from near the game announcer’s chair brought the quakers to within ten as the first half ended, but they had little hope of recovery and never threatened in the second stanza before bowing quietly, 74 – 55.

some hope remained for a second place finish, if enough chips fell where they needed, and sole possession of third was a strong possibility before the stripers from south jersey arrived in levien and dropped our heroes.  most of the damage was done by princeton’s back court of clayton hall and perennial lion tormentor t.  j. bray who back doored and rained triples on the blue to the tune of 41 combined points.  without grant mullins, the lions simply did not have the defensive quickness up top to handle the tigers. the 64 – 54 loss represented a sweet payback for the tigers’ one point loss at jadwin back in early february.

ordinarily that would have been that for the 2013-2014 columbia men’s basketball season, but their 19 -12 record was deemed worthy of inclusion in the college insider.com tournament (hereafter, simply, the cit), a not so venerable post season dust up between mid major also rans.  not quite the big dance, but the lions first post season appearance since ’69 – ’70.  so it was that this past tuesday they flew out to the still snow covered fields of indiana to tangle with the crusaders of valparaiso.  cory osetkowski tallied 21 points in his biggest outburst to date and put the boys in position to benefit from maodo lo’s buzzer beating deuce for the 58 – 56 win.  they returned to morningside for, so far as i know, the first post-season contest ever at levien against the eastern michigan eagles who flew in from bucolic ypsilanti.  the green clad visitors featured an active, syracuse style zone, probably the stingiest the lions have faced all season.

the lions were not stymied, however, during the early minutes of the contest.  osetkowski opened the scoring with an easy layup off a nifty pass from rosenberg.  columbia’s third tally came on a similar rosenberg assist to isaac cohen.  this interior passing attack was balanced by a couple of treys from maodo lo and the lions soon stretched out to a nine point lead.  we happy lions fans, however, were soon disabused of our sense that this would be a cruise control win.  the eagles extended a bit more on the edges of the zone and started shutting off the passing lanes that were exploited early.  just as importantly, the sharp shooting lo soon was whistled up for two quick personals that consigned him to the bench.  the visitors were  soon turning the lions over and behind their quick guard, raven lee, penetrating columbia’s defense.  they rapidly climbed back into the battle.  the first half ended in a 28 – 28 draw when lee drained two free throws leaving the raucous home crowd worriedly discussing the unpleasant possibilities for the second half.  and indeed, the visitors made things sticky for a while as lee and forward glenn bryant refused to miss a shot.  the eagles managed to craft a 51 – 45 lead before our heroes utterly took over the boards and began to hit crucial treys.  steve frankoski, alex rosenberg and maodo lo, again, all contributed to the long distance bombardment.  most crucially, cory osetkowski began to make some shots from the elbow and the hot shooting visitors finally started to miss a few during columbia’s 24 – 5 run.  a jubilant crowd, unquestionably the noisiest of the season at levien, roared the lions home to a comfortable 69 -56 win.

that triumph has sent them on to a third round cit game at home, this one against the all too familiar bulldogs of yale.  it will be the third tangle between these two squads, the previous contests having been split.  columbia handily won the last dust up on a sunday afternoon in february at levien.  both teams lacked a crucial player then.  the lions were minus the still absent grant mullins while coach james jones had to make do without his best back court performer, javier duren.  duren in back in the line up and columbia will have to slow him down as well as limiting his back court mate armani cotton while also containing the elis all league center, justin sears.  the rubber match in this rivalry will leave the victor with heady hopes for next season’s conclusion being played in the ncaa tourney.  allgame can’t wait for wednesday’s tip off of what we expect will be the year’s most intense battle.  we’ll rap the 2013-2014 season with a post about the game and some reflections on the year’s highlights and many pleasures.

peace out and d up,

paulie b

 

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