The Lehigh win was actually on the road. Seems the "slow out of the gate" this season had something to do with rotational experimentation. The boys look pretty good. The League is overall a bit down from the last several years which is a reason why Boston Univ. came into the league on day 1 as the favorite. The key to the men's team is how well they shoot the ball. The offense in place does provide for many decent looks. The shot selection over the past several weeks has been quite impressive. Even more impressive is how they found a way to win last night. They DID NOT shoot well in the second half. The other achilles heel of our team has been turnover count and ratio. We are holding onto the ball better than I have seen in recent memory. Appears the pre-season #3 team in the league is legit.
This is the first year in a generation + where Army basketball came into a season with expectations. I am glad that Coach Spiker is at the helm. He is not flinching and has created a reputable program. When he left his Asst. Coach and Head Recruiting position at Cornell, that program was humming. They are now back to a bottom 20 program nationally and by quite a bit , the doormat of the Ivy League.
Navy's program remains down and looks very similar to our team 4-6 years ago. Young and reliant on the 3. Any given night they can throw a scare into anyone one they play but on nights like Tuesday when they could not hit the barn wall, they score 32 points. I expect a stressful game that has a lot riding on it on Saturday. Beating our rival and going 4-0 in league play would be superb. Do not expect it to be easy.
The women's team simply is talented and expects to win. Navy however is favored to win the Patriot League this year driven by their very expereinced roster. Army-Navy women's basketball means something in the Patirot League - Match-up of the best teams in the league. Should be 2 great games on Saturday.
