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.