The answer is of course - "No", but we are certainly taking on some water. Army Basketball again find themselves in an us against the world status. After a very solid pre-conference season and the most expereinced team in the league, there was reason for optimism. As Coach Spiker as been sharing with us since day 1 , " We need to win the day and play our best ball come tourney time". Thus, the season is alive. It is always alive in College Basketball as conference titles over a weekend can change a season of frustration into glory.

Obstacles - CONFIDENCE - has to be there every night starting with Saturday's game against Colgate at home. The Red Radiers are not a good team. A good foe given the current choices.

SHOOTING - both from the field and foul line. Will not win any games at 32% from the field and continue as the league low from the line.

COACHING - Are there any wrinkles that can move the team forward. Are we playing too deep a line-up. Can the staff make a difference in the second half of the season.

ABILITY - Ultimately, in the end, either you are better or they are better. Maybe the talent is not enough to get over the hump. That would not be a first and should not be looked on negatively. I believe this team will find a way to forge a winning record this season. They simply may not have the horses to win 3 games in a row in March when it counts.

Barry Soetoro Indonesian Citizen? Reply

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Boy the Media is being AWFUL quiet about this......

Obama - Smoking gun finally found?
Tue Apr 28, 2009

AP- WASHINGTON D.C. - In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama’s qualifications for the presidency, the group “Americans for Freedom of Information” has released copies of President Obama’s college transcripts from Occidental College. Released today, the transcript indicates that Obama under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate at the school. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California. The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama’s detractors have been seeking.

The news has created a firestorm at the White House as the release casts increasing doubt about Obama’s legitimacy and qualification to serve as president. When reached for comment in London, where he has been in meetings with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama smiled but refused comment on the issue. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs scoffed at the report stating that this was obviously another attempt by a right-wing conservative group to discredit the president and undermine the administration’s efforts to move the country in a new direction.

Britain's Daily Mail has also carried the story in a front-page article titled, “Obama Eligibility Questioned”, leading some to speculate that the story may overshadow economic issues on Obama’s first official visit to the U.K.

In a related matter, under growing pressure from several groups, Justice Antonin Scalia announced that the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear arguments concerning Obama’s legal eligibility to serve as President in a case brought by Leo Donofrio of New Jersey. This lawsuit claims Obama's dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. Donofrio’s case is just one of 18 suits brought by citizens demanding proof of Obama’s citizenship or qualification to serve as president.

Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation has released the results of their investigation of Obama’s campaign spending. This study estimates that Obama has spent upwards of $950,000 in campaign funds in the past year with eleven law firms in 12 states for legal resources to block disclosure of any of his personal records. Mr. Kreep indicated that the investigation is still ongoing but that the final report will be provided to the U.S.
attorney general, Eric Holder. Mr. Holder has refused to comment on the matter.

Black Knights beat up the team that has pretty much dominated them since joining the Patriot League. American's squad this year should probably finish last inthe league , so the victory is by no means an upset. The 20 point margin 68-48, almos does not indicate the flow of the game - Army could have won by more than 30 tonight as they backed down into a zone defense after running up a 29 point lead midway in the second half. Should provide momentum against Navy on Saturday - Be sure to watch on CBS College Sports if you can get. If both teams play their game - Army should be favored. Navy loves the 3 ball and are quite tough when hitting their shots. Year to date, their defense has been questionable driven by general weakness in their inside play on both ends of the court. Now - 2-2 in league play , seemingly 2 games behind the hot Lafayette Leopards.

http://channelsurfing.net

http://channelsurfing.net/watch-holy-cross.html

Where can we find a basketball schedule from USMAPS?

Tonight's 8:30 tipoff in Dallas against SMU is a big game for the b-ballers. On paper, Army should win this game. SMU has some athletes but tends to play somewhat undisciplined play. They tend to rush shots and handle the ball a bit sloppily at times. This should play well into Army's defensive mindset. Athletically, SMU does have an advantage - they a bit taller and quicker than the Black Knights. Home court will not be an advantage fro SMU. Getting out quickly and playing the game at Artmy's tempo and not allowing an early run by the home team should allow the Black Knights to deliver win #10. I could see if SMU gets some early, quick baskets and gain confidence, a double digit loss could ensue. To earn the win, Army has to continue their improvement in rebounding the ball. If within 5 of SMU at the end of the night, that will be a direct sign of the final result. If we lose the boards by 10 or more, it could be a long night. Also, we are due to lose a game due to our consistently poor free throw shooting. I believe 67% + will be needed tonight to bring home the victory. We'll revisit with a summary later tonight.

Keep'em rolling guys !

Spiker talks candidly about the next two games and the upcoming match with Princeton.

Interview with Army HC Zach Spiker

Hope to see updates as the season moves on. How does UNH look?

Down goes Princeton ! Down goes Harvard !! Tough, gritty, not pretty basketball rules the day again. Army forced 30 Harvard turnovers tonight and found a way to win despite falling behind by 6 with 6 minuters to go. Style is vitually unaltered from last year's play with defense being key to everything, they are however proving to be a more effective rebounding team, which IMO has been THE key to the 3-1. Friday a chance to take the early lead in the Ivy League race when Yale comes to town !

In the 2nd quarter Army lead LIU 41-31

Army is actually playing well - they are owning the boards in this one, but VMI has 6 three pointers and they are 12 for 12 from the line. However, Army has committed 23 turnovers.

All in all, they are in the game, and are spreading the ball around.

The Middletown Times-Record just posted online(recordonline.com)that Jim Crews is no longer the Army basketball coach. What is going on?

Just wanted to drop in and offer my appreciation for your team's effort, skill, and classy behavior this weekend.

Ya'll had us on the ropes and that's hard to do coming out of the back end of the bracket.

Lastly, thanks for your service.

Good to see the USMA has a site now! AKO used to be the only place I could find out what was going on up there.

Hope you do very well Sir, and I'll try to spread the word to people that I know that haven't been able to follow the team like they wanted to.

Let's go to Texas and take out a Longhorn. We're going to upset somebody one of these years, why not this year!

Go Army!
This post was edited on 5/27 9:57 AM by Army Dawg 86

Personally, I think Bucknell may have its hands full with Lafayette. Lafayette has been a bi polar team this year and it really depends on which one shows up, the ones that can hit the ball or the ones that look at pitches. Bucknell has the definite edge in pitching, but Lafayette can muster enough sticks to cause Bucknell fits...we'll see.

Army is just on a flat out tear at the dish now. Clint Moore has hiked it up and just told the world, I'm gonna beat ya. When you follow up Moore with McKague and Henshaw, opposing pitchers have to pitch to them. The one time opposing pitchers tried pitching around McKague this year, when he was hitting 5th, Koenigsfeld hitting sixth, made them pay, and pay and pay.

Fouch is back to form, Koenigsfeld is steady Eddy on the mound, and Porter is back to form after a week of shoulder stiffness that's gone away. Back that up with Henshaw and Anderegg in the bullpen, and the edge is Army...by a wide margin.

HC's third baseman, Perry is a solid player, great hitter, I just don't see enough around him to make them a series winner.

Hopefully, the guys will spend Mothers Day Sunday at brunch with their Moms because they wrapped up the semifinal series on Saturday.

GO ARMY!

...came away extremely proud of our basketball team, as well as the pep band, cheerleaders, and crew. The guys played their rear ends off for 40 minutes...the hardest/best that I've ever seen us play. When we were up five with about two minutes left, I really thought we had em right where we wanted em. Coach had us well prepared today. We'll unfortunately have to put this one in the "shoulda" column, but I'm still proud of our boys. The future for Army Basketball looks bright.

The pep band and cheerleaders also did an outstanding job...they had me and most of the Army fans there yelling/cheering. I can't help but think that our cadets in the stands (and fans following their lead) really helped our guys, especially defensively. And our cheerleaders where 100 times better than their cheerleaders...no contest. Army put on a heck of a show of intensity, pride, and class on the court and in the stands. The atmosphere was electric (for a small arena), and all of our kids made me proud today.

We'll get over the hump next year...you heard it here first!

Go Army!!

Best,
MAJ Mike Helton

Word is, Henshaw is back when it comes to pitching. After being absent from the hill for a year, the ball was exploding out of his hand yesterday vs. Iona. His motion was described as effortless, and he claimed to not be trying to put anything on the ball. With the addition of Joey to the staff, it wouldn't be unexpected to see him in a relief role this weekend, with 3-4 innings coming his way. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if he closed, although the coaches may want to get him more innings than that in hopes of getting him back in the rotation, possibly as early as next week vs. Lehigh.

Last year, after we took the first two from Navy and got up in the third game, the whole Navy team looked dejected, resigned to their fate. I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes in the order of pitching rotation this weekend in an effort to get up on Navy again and see if we can elicit a similar beat down.

With JT and JP both heating up with their sticks, I'd be looking for some solid run production from the bottom of our order too.

McKague came back yesterday and lit it up, and very quietly, Moore has started pummeling the ball...and in situations where it's needed.

All in all, I think Navy should be scared...very scared.

GO ARMY!

Joey Henshaw went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and four runs batted in as we smoked yesterday's home opener, 16-3.

with a 3 run home run in the bottom of the ninth was awesome on Friday. I do not know much about Saturday's games with Ohio State but apperently we didn't hit much in game one was we scored 1 run on 2 hits and lost 3 - 1. We lost the second game 8 - 4. It looks like we are pretty competitive against good teams from the Big 10 (eleven). Hopefully we'll continue to play well as we move towards conference play.

Go Army!

Anyone wanting to listen to the Army/UCF baseball game on Tuesday March 17th at 6:30 can follow the link listed below.

http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/multimedia/ucf-mbasebl-stretch-sched.html

Beat Sacred Heart 12-11 after almost blowing a 12-4 lead late. Beat Northern Iowa 3-0 in the second game.

Go Army!

TJ

In a few words - Intense, Sloppy, and Totally Typical...... The better team won as Army's pressure defense and ability to drill enough 3 point shots was the difference. As suggested on multiple posts - better days are ahead - the heart and soul of the team will return with heightened expectations for the 2009-2010 season.

American has had our number , If all the good looks that were missed in our first 2 meetings this year start falling and we can do a significnatly better job on the boards than we are custom to, this can be a real and winnable game. Too many "ifs" however. Should Army win, they would have even reason to believe they can represent the conference in the NCAA tournement which would only help the program - lots of press and a true Cinderella story. Unfortunately, they are all but guaranteed to participate in the infamous play-in game.

It should be a good early season test for the Black Knights when they take on George Mason this weekend. The Patriots return two players that hit over 20 home runs last season, yikes! Army can win if their pitchers keep the ball down, as George Mason's pitching staff isn't the best around. I'd expect to see Army win some games if they can put up a touchdown or more. If the bats come out cold, it could be a LONG weekend in Fairfax.