Hawks vs. Lions

When the Nittany Lions take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at the Bryce Jordan Center this afternoon they will be trying to extend their four-game winning streak. They will also be trying to bounce back after an ugly win vs. Colgate that saw the Lions shoot just 38% from the field. I usually say that a win is a win, but with Big Ten season looming ahead, I would really like to see the Lions put on a decent offensive showing today.

The Hawks won't be a pushover, although their loss to Central Connecticut State earlier in the season might make it seem that way. Since then, they've won three straight against Stony Brook, Harvard, and Monmouth. Remember Stony Brook is a team that defeated the Lions last year, and Harvard ousted Michigan THIS year. The only common opponent between Lehigh and PSU is St. Francis (PA), whom the Hawks defeated 71-66 on November 17th. The Lions beat St. Francis 74-64 on November 12th.

Lehigh is led by point guard Marquis Hall, who averages 13.5 points and 5.1 assists per game. The good news is he only shoots 33% from the field so far. The bad news is that fellow starters Zahir Carrington and Dave Buchberger both shoot around 57%. Another Mountain Hawk to look out for is Bryan White, who leads the team with 8.7 rebounds per game.

This game could be exciting. I expect the Lions to prevail by a margin of between 7 and 12. If you don't get the Big Ten Network (neither do I), here's a link to CSTV.com; click on the Gametracker link to follow the game.

Big Ten Power

With the Big Ten season tipping off on January 2nd, here's a rough standing of how all 11 teams look right now:

Contenders
1) Michigan State
2) Indiana
3) Wisconsin

Upper Middle
4)Illinois
5) Ohio State

Lower Middle
6) Minnesota
7) Purdue

Bottom
8) Penn State
9) Michigan

Rock Bottom
10) Northwestern
11) Iowa

That's how I see it right now. The top 5 teams should make the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota is number 6 just because they don't have as many embarrassing losses as Purdue, but I see both of them as fringe teams. PSU and Michigan will really need to improve if they want to think about the tourney. Realistically, they should be hoping for an NIT bid. Northwestern and Iowa will be the doormats of the conference.

Stronger than Cavities

When you do a Google image search for "Penn State" you get this:


When you do a Google image search for "Colgate", you get this:

Really not that surprising.

Although I was sitting at home in Jersey, the Nittany Lions improved their home record to 7-0 with a convincing win over the Colgate Raiders on Sunday afternoon. All you Rec Hall fans better hope the Lions start dropping a few at the BJC, because the way things are going there are fewer and fewer reasons to move PSU home games across campus.

The game went mostly as expected. Penn State won handily 66-48, although the Raiders were within as few as 5 points early in the 2nd half. The Lions' defense prevailed in the end, though, as they forced Colgate into 19 turnovers and 35% shooting.

The Nits' offense wasn't too hot with only 38% shooting. However, less turnovers and more free throw attempts (12/18 is pretty darn good for this squad) than Colgate led to the wide margin of victory.

Claxton and Cornley each had ho-hum games, both scoring in double figures. Brandon Hassell surprised with 5 offensive rebounds in only 16 minutes. However, Hassell also committed an astonishing 4 personal fouls while scoring just 4 points in those same 16 minutes.

David Jackson and Jeff Brooks were both brights spots off the bench for PSU. DJ had 7 points and 5 rebounds in only 16 minutes while going 3/4 from the free throw line. It doesn't sound like much, but if DJ had played the same amount of minutes as Cornley and Claxton with the same rate of production, he would have led the team in scoring, rebounding, and free throw percentage. The man needs more playing time.

Meanwhile Jeff Brooks also made a case for more PT, rolling off 10 points on 4/4 shooting in only 12 minutes! The amazing thing is that he hit both of his 3-point attempts, which he never seems to make. Now obviously Brooks would have led everyone in everything had he averaged that performance over more minutes, but the reason I made the case for Jackson was that his stats were less extraordinary for him. In other words, I think it's a lot more realistic to expect DJ to average the numbers he did over the course of an entire game than to expect Brooks to do the same.

On defense, PSU held Colgate's Kyle Roemer to just 2 points on 1/9 shooting with 5 turnovers. Alex Woodhouse was Colgate's best performer with 8 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. Speaking of bench, Colgate showed a surprisingly deep team with 11 players playing at least 10 minutes. Amongst the starters, point guard Daniel Waddy did a decent job, leading everyone in assists with 5.

Happy Valley Hoops has a sweet plus/minus analysis of the Colgate game. Keep an eye on this web site, because the author Uncle Lar loves to go in depth with statistics.

And if that's too deep for you, here's a traditional box score of the game, courtesy of the worldwide leader in sports. Be sure to click on the "Recap" link to get VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS of the game.

Penn State's next game is at home on New Year's Eve vs. Lehigh, another Patriot League team. The Lions will then look for their first road victory of the year when they face Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois on January 2nd.

Toothpaste

The Nittany Lions take on Colgate on Sunday after every good basketball game is being played on Sunday. That's convenient.

The game is being played in the middle of an NFL Sunday, but most football-crazed PSU students are on break anyway. Hopefully the Lions won't be distracted by a nearly empty student section as they play their first Patriot League opponent of the season.

The Colgate Raiders are led by junior Kyle Roemer, a guard/forward who is averaging 18.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Roemer hits threes at a 41.3% clip, so Claxton should be sure to guard him tight, even on the perimeter. By the way, can we just call all the G/F's small forwards? Isn't that what they all are, anyway?

Kendall Chones is another threat for Colgate. Unlike Roemer, there is no confusion about his position. Chones is a forward with a great 55.7% field goal percentage. Perhaps he should be played more often, because he averages just 9.4 points per game in about 22 minutes per game.

Colgate's assist leader is guard Daniel Waddy, although he only averages 2.7 per game. It doesn't look like he's a great shooter (only 39% field goals), but he knows how to draw fouls. In a win vs. Cornell, Waddy went 12/15 from the free throw line. Fortunately, that was far and away his best game in that regard. Waddy doesn't have any other games with 10 or more free throw attempts.

The only common opponent that Colgate and Penn State share so far is the Canisius Griffins. Colgate managed a 61-47 win over Canisius back on November 13th, while the Lions spanked them 93-40 on November 16th. By the way, the Griffins are 1-10 on the year, with the lone win coming against Coastal Carolina.

Is Geary Claxton the best player in the Big Ten? Happy Valley Hoops wondered the same thing, but they actually did something about it.

Here's the link. I hope you love stats as much as I do.

Maybe the Knicks should play Princeton

Believe it or not, the picture on the left was taken at HALFTIME of the Princeton vs. Penn State basketball game on Wednesday night. Princeton's 1st half field goal percentage? It's no fun if you don't at least guess first...

OK.

You ready?

25%! On 5/20 shooting!

The Tigers finished the night an amazing 31% from the floor, including 4/25 from 3-point range. The surprisingly white Lincoln Gunn and his long, golden hair nailed 3 of those 3-pointers en route to 13 points and 7 rebounds. The only other bright spot for Princeton was center Zach Finley's hook shot. He finished 7/12 for 14 points.

By the way, the final score was 61-38, Penn State.

The Lions played tight man-to-man defense all game long, which was a strong contrast to Princeton's zone. PSU's offensive gameplan involved getting the ball to Geary Claxton, who could either drive through or shoot over Princeton's defense. Even when Claxton wasn't passed the ball, his 6 offensive rebounds were able to turn miscues into points on multiple occasions. Geary ended up with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. No one else really made a big impact, although Jeff Brooks' 6 points, 2 blocks, and 3 steals in only 14 minutes is noteworthy.

Although Penn State won big, the game did a good job highlighting a couple problems for the Lions' offense. First of all, Talor Battle couldn't carry over his good 3-point shooting from the Seton Hall victory. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts, and the team followed suit with a 3/17 mark from downtown.

Second, free throws continue to be absolute torture for spectators. 4/12?! That's awful even in the White Building late night league. Something has to be done, because we won't be able to win any Big Ten games (ok, maybe Iowa) with a performance like that.

The Mitchell Report

So what should we do about all those delinquent steroid-abusers?

Let Josh (above) deal with them. The boy is a monster.

Seriously, I think he's a good 40% of Penn State's home court advantage. The other 60% is mostly Andy Hagen, but we'll get to him some other time. 4-0 and counting at the BJC.

Lions vs. Tigers

Since I’ve been too busy studying (read: playing Fire Emblem) to post in a while, here’s a recap of what happened to the PSU basketball team since the Disney World disaster…

A close 66-61 victory over Virginia Tech in the Big Ten v. ACC challenge helped raise morale, although VaTech’s incredible inability to shoot the ball was a big reason for PSU’s victory. The Hokies were just 2/13 from long-range, where opponents normally slay the Lions.

A few days later, the Lions and a busload of crazed Nittany fans travelled to Philly to take on St. Joseph’s on Pennsyvlania’s home court. Being at the Palestra (that’s the arena’s name) was such a cool experience for me, because it was a historical site that I was completely unaware of until I walked in. Think Wringley Field or Fenway Park, except for college basketball. The trip was definitely worth the spanking that the Hawks handed to us. The game was actually tied at 28 heading into the half, but PSU’s defense broke down midway through the 2nd half. The Hawks capitalized on a variety of 3-point and fast-break attempts, but our student section’s spirit was never broken. We cheered our way all the way out of the Palestra, pissing off the St. Josephs fans who expected a more somber demeanor.

A week later, Penn State returned home to take on tourney hopeful Seton Hall. After falling behind by playing man-to-man defense in the 1st half, the Lions switched to zone in the 2nd. Amazingly enough, Seton Hall’s 3-point percentage shrunk dramatically when playing against the 2-3 zone. The missed shots allowed Penn State’s fast break to lead the comeback effort, just like last year’s game against Ohio State. This time, however, Penn State would emerge victorious, with much thanks to Talor Battle’s 2nd half explosion. After dunking on a fast break with less than 7 minutes left for his first points of the game, Battle cranked a 3-pointer that helped push the game into overtime. There’s Battle’s heroics continued with another pair of 3s and a driving layup. It was enough to propel the Lions to victory, although their poor free throw shooting kept the game exciting until the clock hit 0:00.

And so here we are on December 12th, with Penn State ready to take on the Princeton Tigers in just a couple of hours. Princeton is led by sophomore center Zach Finley from the inside and sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn from the outside. Both average double figures in points scored and shoot 47% from the field. The big difference is that Gunn is 16/36 (44%) from long-range, while Finely hasn't attempted a 3 all season.

Princeton's captain is senior forward Noah Savage. He seems to be a decent scorer from long- and short-range with shooting percentages of 38% inside and 39% outside the arc. He averages 9.9 points per game. Nobody on Princeton has a rebounding average above 5.5, but it's hard to tell anything from that, because Princeton's possessions are said to use up nearly the entire shot clock. Low scoring and rebound averages could be the result of less possessions per game than the average team.

The Tigers' last game was a horrendous 53-32 loss to something called Evansville. Princeton had more turnovers (15) than field goals (13), while shooting 33% from the floor. I'd expect a slightly better performance out of them tonight, but PSU should win by at least ten.

By the way, here's a great post from the Penn State Hoops boards analyzing State's strengths and weaknesses so far. Enjoy!

Is it worth it?

Just like the last two seasons, the New York Giants are in great position to reach the NFL playoffs. And just like the last two seasons, the Giants will probably get there.

The only problem is that any chance of Big Blue going deep into the playoffs is slowly diminishing week by week.

Just because the Giants won road games against playoff "contenders" like the Lions and Bears doesn't mean this isn't a repeat of last season's 2nd half collapse. Eli Manning's 2007 quarterback rating of 74.2 is slightly below last season's average of 77, and his last two performances haven't been encouraging.

Sure, it was nice to see Eli recover during the 4th quarter in Chicago and lead the Giants to victory, but is there any evidence that this team can compete with Dallas or Green Bay. An 0-3 record vs. those teams doesn't help the argument.

Also, the Giants are sneaking by teams they ought to be stomping on if they are to consider themselves a serious contender. The defense is the only thing keeping this team in games while Eli struggles to move the offense.

The analysts at Footballoutsiders.com agree. The Giants are ranked 15th in the NFL in total DVOA (Defense-adjusted value over average). Ahead of them are Washington, Philly, and Minnesota.

All signs point to another disappointing first round exit for my beloved G-men. And even if they make it past Tampa Bay or Seattle, it would take a small miracle to defeat Dallas or Green Bay. The Giants' record makes it look like they have a chance at the NFC title game, but their actual performance shows otherwise.

Can things turn around? Sure. A win this week in Philadelphia would help convince me, but it would be a surprise.

So is it worth rooting for the Giants the rest of the year? Sure, why not. They can't be more painful to watch than the Nittany Lions. Having a quarterback that gets better in the fourth quarter makes a big difference.

I was excited

I was excited about Penn State's upcoming basketball season. Returning starters, two speedy new guards, and unprecedented depth at forward were all reasons to look forward to this season. However, consecutive losses to South Carolina and Rider have left me considerably less optimistic than before. Right now it doesn't seem like this team will do any better than in years past, but there's still a lot of games ahead of us.

In the game against Carolina, PSU looked versatile, as redshirt freshmen David Jackson (7 points) and Andrew Jones (8) led the Lions in scoring in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, Jamelle Cornley made his surprisingly quick return and quickly scored 8 points with 9 rebounds in just 14 minutes. Claxton and Battle each scored in double figures.

The two themes of the game were:
1) USC point guard Devan Downey scoring from everywhere (30 points)
2) Penn State missing 3-point shots over and over and over (4/25, no typo)

The persistent Talor Battle was a big reason for Penn State's shooting woes. Despite being ice-cold from long-range, Battle was not afraid to just keep chucking it up there. He finished 1/10 from downtown, and a reasonable 4/7 from midtown. Even Morrisssey and Walker were a combined 1/7 from 3-point land.

Penn State actually played man-to-man defense in this one, and perhaps that's why one player game up so big. I doubt a zone could've stopped Downey, though. He scored from both outside and inside, finishing with sparkling numbers from both 3-point range (4/7) and the free throw line (10/11). Shooting guard Zam Fredrick and forward Mike Holmes were the supporting cast for Downey. Holmes was very efficient from the post, adding 13 points on 5/8 shooting and 9 rebounds. Fredrick did a little bit of everything with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

I was still feeling okay after this game. The Lions got scoring from many different players, Talor Battle's aggressive play was encouraging. If only he had made a couple more of those 3s!

Then we played Rider today...

The whole game was a complete nightmare. Penn State game out of the gate hot and took a 13-point lead that lasted about 5 minutes. Cornley came into the game again and Mike Walker finally got hot from downtown to give us a few minutes of bliss before it all went bad again.

In the 2nd half, Penn State went cold from downtown again, but mostly they just couldn't play defense. Jason and Ryan Thompson as well as the Mansell brothers all shot around 50%. When Ed switched to zone it got even uglier. PSU really looked LOST playing zone coverage, and Rider's snipers shot over it with ease.

Penn State looked like the old Penn State again. Geary Claxton tried to do to much and ended up scoring 23 points, but on 9/24 shooting. For some reason Battle didn't play in the 2nd half. Andrew Jones and DJ were almost non-factors. Cornley was the only bright spot for the Lions. He's actually looked like a better shooter than Claxton and doesn't seem to force things as much. He ended with 17 points on 8/12 shooting.

And that was that. And we don't have to watch Penn State play football OR basketball tomorrow!

Here's something to dwell on, though: UCF just took Kansas State to overtime before finally falling. PSU plays UCF on Sunday. Absolute must win. Finishing 8th place in that tournament could be the worst thing to ever happen. We'll see...