Thursday, January 14, 2016

Hofstra Away - Pregame

The Dragons return to the hardwood tonight in Hempstead, New York.  Let me rephrase that.

The rising tide of Dragon basketball returns to the hardwood tonight in Hempstead, New York!

The thing about tides is that as often as they come in, they go out.  And while on any given Thursday in the CAA anything can happen, this... may be a good Thursday to be otherwise occupied.  The Dragons played Hofstra twice last year and lost the games by an average of 26 points, and those games were only that close because Drexel had 21 points a game from Damion Lee.  It was during that series that we learned that it is very hard for a team built like Bruiser Flint's current squad to beat a team built like Hofstra.

With the Drexel defense showing average at best this year, and a true lockdown defender no where in sight, Hofstra's offense makes for a fearsome foe.  Seniors Juan'ya Green, Ameen Tanksley, and Denton Koon all can shoot from deep or penetrate and get to the line.  The leagues best sharp shooter, junior Brian Bernardi gets open since everyone on the floor for HU demands a defender.  Sophomore big man Rokas Gustys is hitting 61% of his shots and is second in field goal percentage in conference play.  The four guard that Hofstra often plays also means that the a Drexel forward is going to have to extend out and guard the three point line, something that they have seemed totally unable to do thus far this season.  And with the Dutchman offense rested, in their home gym, this game shapes up to be a house of horrors for the Drexel defense.

So then the pressure is on the Drexel offense to keep pace.  There is optimism in the ranks, and it's deserved, as the team has played well on offense in their last two contest, pushing the ball into the paint and not just getting to the line, but executing from it.  While that is a real and believable gain, it's hard to fight the history here.  In only one of his fifteen years as Drexel Head Coach did a Bruiser Flint team finish in the top third of the country in effective field goal percentage.  That was over a decade ago, in the 03-04 season.  Only three times in his fifteen years did his teams even crack the top half of Division I.

So while the Hofstra defense is a sieve, a submarine with a screen door and barn in which the cow has already left all rolled into one, it's still a challenge to believe that the Dragon offense will be able to do what they need to do in this game.  It'll be the stoppable force against the moveable object, all while the Hofstra offense, currently leading the CAA and 33rd in the country, gets to run the other way.  It's a problem.

The Dragons are getting better.  And it's important that no matter the outcome of this game, they stay disciplined and keep building on that.  So if you do happen to be watching the game, watch the defense, see if the bigs can get a hand up at the three point line, or if the guards can stay in front of their men without putting their hands on them.  Look at Terrell Allen and Sammy Mojica and see if they follow defensive fundamentals when their man is away from the ball.  On offense, look to see the ball get into the paint, where Rodney Williams and Kaz Abif should be able to get to the basket nearly at will, at least until HU throws the zone.  Check out the shot selection, and if the team can avoid the "Heroball" that plagued them in the early season.  Ultimately growth in those areas, with consistency and discipline, is how this team comes together and gets stronger.  Comparatively, the final score of this game matters much less.


Prediction:  Hofstra 84, Drexel 63
Vegas Line:  Hofstra -10.5


Alan Boston's Take:

My objection with big sports is that it makes a college a team owner, rather than a place to learn. No, I do not believe there is room for both. It defeats the spirit of the process. I am an old school romantic, perhaps anachronistic, however, when schools pay millions of dollars for coaches and $100,000 for professors, something is very very wrong. I am not putting this into words very well, but I do believe you know where I come from. I understand the need for schools to generate money. I do not believe acting like corporate America is the way to go.

Onto more important matters.

Drexel finally got off the schneid in conference play with their wire to wire win over shorthanded College of Charleston. There have been moments of excellence from Drexel this year. Unfortunately, ephemeral is not longstanding. and to win on the road vs one of the top teams in the league, Drexel will need 40 minutes of excellence. In 2016, with this coach, that will not happen. I mention the year, as I do believe at one time, in a different era, Bruiser's teams played 40 minutes of solid hoops, more often than not.

Hofstra is not the most consistent lot either. Like Mihalich teams of the past, Hofstra is excellent offensively but shaky defensively. They absolutely can be beat, even at home, but Drexel - on top of their lack of consistency - is quite simply just not good enough.


Hofstra 84 Drexel 71
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Good Luck This Evening

After a tough, but fair read yesterday and going into a tough matchup tomorrow up on Long Island, we enjoy a relative off-day on the blog today.  So as we await the Powerball drawing to find out which Drexel supporter will have a building named after them, we look back to Saturday night when some CAA fans joined me in some fun, acknowledging that nowhere in this conference (or formerly in this conference) is perfect.  Enjoy the read.

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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

A Response to President Fry

The below is written by Dr. Nathan Hemerly, Drexel Class of 2006, who has continued to follow and support Drexel Athletics while living in Iwakuni, Japan.
I was directed by a fellow Drexel alum to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal written by Drexel President John Fry. It's a fascinating article because it gives us some good insight into his views on athletics. He spends most of the article beating up on other schools that are blowing millions of dollars on college football while painting a rosy picture of Drexel because it doesn't do the same.

You won't find a bigger college football fan than I am - I've been lucky enough to see games all over the SEC, a conference whose teams probably spends more money on football than anybody - but even I recognize how wasteful it is. It's become a have vs. have not business like everything else in the American economy and unfortunately there are many more programs struggling to survive. Bowl games are an outright scam where schools shell out thousands of dollars to play a meaningless game in mostly empty stadiums. I agree with Dr. Fry that Drexel is doing the right thing by avoiding the business. They'll never beat Alabama or Ohio State in football anywhere outside of video games.

The problem with Dr. Fry's apparent self-righteousness about avoiding football is he's currently sitting on a basketball program that's a disaster. As decisive as he makes himself sound in this column, he could not appear any more indecisive in how he's managed Drexel's only Division I
sport of financial concern.

Let's not kid ourselves that being nationally ranked in anything other than football or basketball gives our administration permission to brag about their business practices to other schools. Most of us aren't going to dress ourselves in Drexel gear from head to toe and run down Market Street screaming after a big squash win. I don't mean to diminish their accomplishment, although I inevitably am and unfortunately offending these athletes is almost unavoidable, but their success must be put into perspective of what it means on a larger scale. I hope the young men and women from sports not named men's basketball use the lessons they learned playing sports to represent Drexel positively in whatever career they choose.

But as we experienced in 2006, beating Villanova and Syracuse at basketball will fill the DAC and bring back Drexel alums who have wandered astray. Beating them at pretty much any other sport will undoubtedly be a milestone event for those participating, but will cause only a fleeting sense of pride
for the rest of the university community. So in the only sport that can have the greatest positive (or negative) impact on the perception of Drexel University, we fail. Our last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1996 when most of the DAC Pack alumni were still in grade school.

The only postseason tournament run the men's basketball program has had of significance was the 2012 NIT which ended in an epic collapse that saw the team blow a 20 point lead.  Many other seasons have ended in first round CAA Tournament losses to lower seeds that the team should've handled easily. The struggles of this season have been well documented so I won't get into it too much. They're 2-12, but worst of all, they're still guided by the same head coach who has made the same excuses after failed seasons for a decade and a half.  His postgame interviews put the blame squarely on his student athletes because they "didn't make a shot".  Bruiser Flint couldn't get away with his performance record at any university that's making an effort to have a successful program.  We've been beyond patient as supporters.  Firing a coach after 2-3 years of mediocrity is another example of the dark side of college athletics, but what we've had to watch in the DAC for years has given even the most enthusiastic Drexel supporters no good reason to continue following the program.

Which brings us back to Dr. Fry. He seemed careful to focus on football rather than basketball as he only very briefly mentioned the sport that's sadly become so embarrassing to Drexel. It couldn't have been by accident. A more interesting column would be his philosophy on the major Division-I sport he does have. It wouldn't make his overall business model look too great so he's smart for this omission.

We're only left to speculate, and given his attitude towards football along with the mediocrity turned failure he's allowed over the last few years under Bruiser Flint, my guess is he would pull the plug on basketball in a heart beat. It would be really unfortunate if he's keeping basketball around just to collect enough TV money to keep the squash team running. I'd call that hypocrisy and wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

It's been even more frustrating to watch the Drexel program fade because we've have a front row seat to VCU basketball's rise to prominence.  Even La Salle has been treated to a Cinderella run within the last 5 years.  We've chosen to let ourselves become stale which should sacrifice our right to tell any other university how to go about their business.

I guess my response to Dr. Fry is it's time to either fish or cut bait. Either you're willing to spend enough funds to at least get us an NCAA Tournament appearance every decade or let's scrap basketball all together.  We could drop down to our level of competition with teams that have already beaten us like University of the Sciences.

One last note: it drives me nuts that this article was in a business magazine. Higher education is not a business. It shouldn't be wasteful and should be wise with how it spends money, but mixing business with education is dangerous. It ignores things like the value of having an actual professor teach you a course instead of a computer. And it ignores the value of setting a campus on fire with enthusiasm during an NCAA Tournament run or the life experiences and friendships that are made by supporting your school all over the country.  Some of those friendships have unfortunately faded because we don't have a basketball program we're proud of to talk about.  A once vibrant online message board where fans from as far away as Asia and Europe gathered to talk Dragons basketball just recently
went offline after months of little to no traffic.  I've driven hundreds of miles to see us play Kentucky and I'll get up at 3 AM to see a game from over here in Japan while proudly wearing my Drexel gear in a foreign country.

Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but I haven't set any alarms for squash matches.
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Monday, January 11, 2016

College of Charleston - Postgame

Final Score:  Drexel 61, College of Charleston 54
Drexel player of the game: Rodney Williams
Key to the game: Free Throws
Next Game:  Thursday Jan 14, @ Hofstra

The first win of the conference season for the Dragons wasn't just their first win of the conference season.  It was, on January 9th, the first time during the 15-16 season that this team has earned a win.  It was widely circulated that the win against Penn was a fight to see which team was less terrible that day, and the Dragons win against La Salle came against one of the poorest efforts this decade by the La Salle program.  While College of Charleston certainly didn't light the world on fire, they didn't hand the Dragons this game either.  With a well earned win, and the offense looking effective in back to back games, it appears that we have confirmed signs of improvement, which has to feel good for coaches, players and fans alike.

The story of the week for the Dragons was the suddenly conscious offense.  After not going over a point per possession in a game since Thanksgiving, they did it in both games this week.  This was directly correlated to the shot selection.  The ball finally made many an appearance in the paint.  In the Charleston game, 24 of 33 points scored from the field (73%) were scored in the paint, and that is indicative of what we have seen since the new year.  In out of conference play, 50% of their points in the run of play were scored in the paint.  In the young CAA season, that number is 59%.  And while that won't cure all of the ills of this team, it's a very good place to start a rebuild.

On the Charleston side, the story was lack of adjustments.  Despite getting pounded in the paint, they never looked to a zone.  When the Dragons came out and hedged hard on the perimeter, they never moved the ball fast enough to catch the defense out of position from it.   Rodney Williams didn't just score 19 points, he did it by abusing his defenders, multiple times simply walking around them for a dunk.  Never did the doubleteam come.  Add to the lack of adjustments the loss of Canyon Berry with a separated shoulder, and the Charleston freshman frontcourt having to face the veteran Dragon bigmen (although we saw flashes - Jarell Brantley is going to be a real good player in this league), and you get a game that not even 47% 3 point shooting could bring C of C back from.

While there is clear improvement in both the Drexel game-planning and the frontcourt execution, the Dragons still have a ways to go.  Sammy Mojica has shown considerable improvement, taking the ball to the hoop much more often then settling for pullup jumpers of late, but Terrell Allen seems to be hitting a freshman wall, more has been less from Tavon Allen, and Rashann London has not shown himself to be a consistent offensive threat.  Find a team that can handle the Dragon frontcourt, or simply get Kaz Abif and Rodney Williams in foul trouble, and there still will be issues.  Still, this game was a step in the right direction, and the team should walk away feeling good that the work and effort that they have put in all season is starting to pay dividends.



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Saturday, January 9, 2016

College of Charleston - Pregame

The surprisingly 2-1 College of Charleston Cougars come to Philly to attempt to continue their hot start.  All three of the Cougars opponents in the early conference season were projected to finish in the top half of the CAA, so that record is no fluke.  The Ken Pomeroy ratings system seems to like this team more each passing day, after starting the season ranked 264, the team is all the way up to 108th, putting them 4th in the CAA according to those rankings.

In their last game and presumably the game at the DAC as well C of C had to go without their junior star Canyon Berry due to a separated shoulder injury.  Without him, they are playing almost an entire squad of underclassman, but that didn't stop them from getting an impressive win against CAA frontrunner Hofstra on Thursday.  And with this momentum they roll into a DAC that was last seen with tumbleweed rolling through the seats and past the concession stand.  And yet, it is a surprisingly bad time for them to be walking through that door.

While the Cougars are coming off of a big win and needing to travel to Philadelphia, the Dragons are coming off of yet another loss and will have the chance to rest and prepare on the offday between.  And at 0-3, and looking at a likely home loss to Hofstra next week, the Cougars walk, perhaps unsuspectingly, into a desperate Dragons lair.

Beyond how badly this team needs a win, there's also an undeniable truth about these Dragons:  They've been playing better.  Against William and Mary they scored over a point per possession for the first time since November.  The defense has limited the opposition to reasonable free throw rates (shots attempted) in three of the last six games.  The frontcourt has made the largest strides, with significantly increased rebounding numbers when compared to the first leg of the season.  In the prior two contest, Kaz Abif and Rodney Williams have combined to shoot 18 of 26 on their way to 46 points scored.

There are a lot of similarities between this Charleston squad and the Flint teams of yesteryear.  While the Cougars may not have a premier offensive player, they do have a number of pieces.  Jarrell Brantley will give Rodney Williams a good battle in the paint, Brantley will certainly get votes for the CAA All Newcomer team.  Marquise Pointer and Cameron Johnson are both skilled ballhandlers and sharpshooters, so the Cougars can attack in multiple ways.  But more importantly, they all play tough, hard nosed defense, and when the offense doesn't have enough pieces, or the inexperience shines through, it's that backbone of defense and rebounding that keeps the team in games.  Sound like anyone we used to know?

Charleston had one of their best shooting games of the year against Hofstra (although by the end of the year, a lot of teams may be able to say that) and with short rest it's hard to see them doing that again.  And with the Dragons playing desperate, this looks like a classic, intense CAA rockfight in the making.  Be sure to get down to the DAC at 4pm for one of the more intense games we'll have a chance to see on the homecourt this year.

Prediction:  Drexel 65, College of Charleston 59
Vegas Line:  Charleston -2.5


Alan Boston's Take:

 College of Charleston began conference play by winning impressively at James Madison. They then went to angry league fave William and Mary who were coming off a loss and lost. Then, at home with Canyon Barry (Yes, Rick's son and yes, he shoots free throws underhand and yes he makes almost all of them) their leading scorer and leader of a very young team out with shoulder injury, no problem, they shoot 60% in the 2nd half and beat one of the other league favorites, Hofstra, easily.  They come to Philly with a 2 and 1 record with a coach who only figures to make them better and better, the longer he is here. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we find Drexel, with a coach who apparently will make them worse and worse the longer he is there. I was surprised with how easily they lost last to William and Mary which leaves them 0 and 3 in conference. It is rather obvious that College of Charleston figures to win this game. However, at 0-3, I hope Drexel plays with desperation. The Cougars are coming off of a home run effort, and they could be a bit flat. One more shot for the home team.


Drexel 69  C of C 64
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Friday, January 8, 2016

William and Mary - Postgame

Final Score:  William and Mary 72, Drexel 63
Drexel player of the game: BaBiNey
Key to the game: Points off turnover
Next Game:  Saturday Jan 9, Home vs College of Charleston


Bruiser Flint has been coaching at Drexel for 15 years, but Thursday night January 7th he may have done something brand new.  Because on that night, in front of a crowd that would have sold out most neighborhood outdoor basketball courts, Bruiser Flint's Drexel Dragons shot 54% from the field and were blown out of the gym.  The Dragons shot the ball well, shooting 50% over the first 30 minutes of the game before a torrid final quarter made the game look respectable, but even shooting that well they were no match for Tony Shaver's William and Mary Tribe.

What most Drexel fans will remember from this contest was the 21-0 run that William and Mary went on when they implemented a vanilla 2-3 zone in the first half (actually only 20 of those points were scored while they were playing a zone, but who is counting?)  What fans won't notice is that Bruiser, while admittedly not calling a timeout, was screaming, imploring and begging his team to penetrate to break down the zone.  Coming out of the half, they did just that and left Tony Shaver constantly checking in and out of the zone trying to catch the Dragons off guard.  Sammy Mojica was particularly effective driving from the wing and passing up the jump shot to get into the paint.

Mojica was actually 4/4 from inside the arc against the Tribe, and that was indicative of an entire team effort.  Rare were the two point jump shots until the final few minutes of the game when the outcome wasn't in doubt.  Instead a real effort was made to get the ball to the paint, either via penetration or feeding a big man on the block.  The combination players of the game went 11/15 from the floor, with 13 rebounds in a game where rebounds weren't plentiful.  The team as a whole shot an unheard of 73% from two point range in this game which is a stunning achievement from a coaching staff that never looked like they were going to fall out of love with jump shots.

While the Drexel offense struggled from the perimeter, the positive impact of getting to the paint led to Drexel's third best offensive performance of the season, with 1.02 points per possession.  People may point to the offensive rebounding numbers, but when most of the missed shots are from three, which are shots that don't tend to lend themselves to offensive boards, that's just what is going to happen.  If the missed shots were from close range, you can count on the fact that there would have been many more rebounds for the Dragons.

So how then, with that strong offensive performance, did the Dragons get blown out?  Well the Tribe wasn't so bad either.  Terry Tarpey had a game, putting up 21 points, 6 rebounds and an incredible 6 steals.  His quick hands led William and Mary to 21 points off of Dragon turnovers.  And while the defense by the Dragons was at time embarrassing, getting beaten multiple times in transition for no good reason and some silly fouls, on the balance the half court wasn't that miserable.  Only 26 of the Tribe's 72 points came in the paint, and aside from the Penn game William and Mary spent less time at the foul line than any Drexel opponent this year.  What they did do was execute.  They hit some tough shots (including an incredible mid range fading floater at the end of the first half) and when they got to the line, they made it count, to the tune of 89%.  Sometimes, you need to tip your cap, and while Drexel has a lot of cleaning up to continue with, this was one of those nights.


One last note, for one of the friends of the blog.  At one point in the second half, Bruiser was assertively giving some notes to Sammy Mojica, Someone made a joke that Bru may have been telling the young man that the team hadn't passed the ball around the perimeter enough on that particular possession, that 5 or a dozen more pointless passes were necessary.  Well, a certain someone didn't think that was a joke.


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Thursday, January 7, 2016

William and Mary - Pregame

On Thursday, Drexel will be hosting a problem at the DAC, and that problem's name is William and Mary. William and Mary has the conferences highest shooting percentage, Drexel has the lowest.  William and Mary is undefeated when holding the opposition under 1 point per possession, Drexel hasn't had a game above a point per possession since before Thanksgiving.  William and Mary has nine wins, an optimist thinks that Drexel might get to 9 wins this season, maybe.

In the past, road games could be a challenge for a William and Mary team that relied on outshooting their opponents to win games,  While the Tribe still relies on shooting to win, this year they're doing it inside.  Taking 45% of their shots at the rim is how they have been able to withstand the loss of star player Marcus Thornton.  No longer are they relying on the less predictable outside shots, no longer will they be as vulnerable in road games like they were when they went to the wire at Drexel two years ago.  Instead they will use more backdoor cuts than ever, more quick passing and more pick and rolls.  It's become about the technique now just as much as it was about sharpshooting then.  And against guards like Terrell Allen and Sammy Mojica, who have been very poor off the ball defenders in their short DU careers, it spells trouble.

While Drexel's physical man to man defense has showed some signs of life of late, the fouling continues to be a concern.  In a game like this one where the guards are likely to be beat regularly, expect to see the forwards rack up fouls early when they jump out to try to help.  Expect the Tribe's top free throw shooters, junior leader Omar Prewitt and sophomore point guard David Cohn to get the ball early and often and challenge the interior defense.  With penetration and a focus on off the ball defending, the Dragons should counter with extended bouts of Rashann London at the point and Tavon Allen going for as long as he can stand to be on the floor.  Fans will also be watching Ahmad Fields closely as extended minutes on his behalf would both show health and give an idea of what to expect from him on the defensive end.  Inside, it will be about alertness and how well Kaz Abif and Rodney Williams can pickup the Tribes plays and get to the spot in time.  This has actually been a strength of Tyshawn Myles over his time at DU as he has shown an ability to not get beat by the same play twice that may find an important role in this game.

Knowing that they will be outshot, the Dragons absolutely must crash the glass and be smart with the basketball.  They'll only be able to stay in this game if they take more shots than the Tribe.  Last year when DU hosted this game they were blown out in embarrassing fashion, 73-47.  This year, it's tough to see them making it all that much better.

Prediction:  William and Mary 76, Drexel 61
Vegas Line:  William and Mary -5


Alan Boston's Take:

Don't really know what to say: Bruiser has apparently lost his way. Once known for great defense and mostly good shots, this years team has evolved into not that. Sad, because they have rebounded well and hit some threes, but you can not continue to take bad shots in conference and expect to win. William and Mary is not known for defense, so if Drexel runs their stuff, open looks could be had, however going the other way could be trouble. There is no prettier offense in the country than what the wizard of William & Mary Tony Shaver runs. People know what is coming and can not stop it. A crippled Drexel team somehow beat William & Mary on senior night last year. At 0-2 in the conference and at home, you know Drexel will be all in, however, if they continue the bad habits of games past, no amount of focus, energy or talent edge will help them here. This should play at as your classic home dog. Lets hope Bruiser corrects a couple of things. It is a big hope. Against my better judgement:

Drexel 78 William and Mary 76
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