The young Black Knight ballers are meeting my modest 2011-12 expectations to date. Winners of 3 of their last 4, they have raised their record to 7-8. Very young team with lots of minutes by plebes is evident but upperclass leadership is being displayed by Firstie Julian Simmons who recently eclipsed the 1000 point barrier for his USMA career and especially Cow Ella Ellis who has , IMO, a real shot at making the conference first team at season's end. He is carving out a very nice career at Army and is clearly the player Army can least afford to lose.
Team's 19 point victory at home against a poor Longwood Team (Navy, with only 3 wins, beat them by 8 at Longwood to open the season) was the result of one of those too rare good shooting nights. Army will earn another surprise win or two by having a hot night beyond the arc. Fouls and turnovers remain major issues. Free throw shooting which started out very strong has tapered off significantly in recent games. It must reverse itself immediately if Army expects to compete in league play.
It must be noted that the Black Knights have earned their 7 wins against the now easiest schedule in D1 basketball, yep 345/345. It also includes an inexcusable loss at home to NJIT. The team is averging barely 500 fans /game and will remain close to that for all remaining weeknight games.
Army has N-E-V-E-R attained a .500 season or better in the Patriot League with over 20 years of opportunity in the rear view mirror. I am not optimistic that the trend will change this season. The aforementioned issues of ball control, sporatic shooting from game-game, fouls resulting in large negative total free throw attempts/game compared to opposition and general youth all stack against the Black Knights. Frankly, a 5-9 conference record would be deemed successful and be an improvement over last year 3-11 season.
Program is not going backwards but not quite ready to breakout either. I do like the current scheduling philosophy that allows Army to post some wins on the schedule early that earns the program some confidence and something to talk about when coaches go on the recruiting trail ( we can win..... see !). The year Army can go into league play with a universal opinion by Patriot League coaches voting Army as the 3rd or forth best school preseason ( Almost exclusively 7th and 8th sincejoining) and earn an 8-6 record in the league would constitute a dream season. Keeping more of each recruiting class and developing a deep core of Jr.-Sr. leadership is essential to attaining that dream. We were there 3 years ago but we have been restocking from a softer base since our competitive 6-8 league seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09 years.
This post was edited on 1/6 3:08 PM by KnightNight
Team's 19 point victory at home against a poor Longwood Team (Navy, with only 3 wins, beat them by 8 at Longwood to open the season) was the result of one of those too rare good shooting nights. Army will earn another surprise win or two by having a hot night beyond the arc. Fouls and turnovers remain major issues. Free throw shooting which started out very strong has tapered off significantly in recent games. It must reverse itself immediately if Army expects to compete in league play.
It must be noted that the Black Knights have earned their 7 wins against the now easiest schedule in D1 basketball, yep 345/345. It also includes an inexcusable loss at home to NJIT. The team is averging barely 500 fans /game and will remain close to that for all remaining weeknight games.
Army has N-E-V-E-R attained a .500 season or better in the Patriot League with over 20 years of opportunity in the rear view mirror. I am not optimistic that the trend will change this season. The aforementioned issues of ball control, sporatic shooting from game-game, fouls resulting in large negative total free throw attempts/game compared to opposition and general youth all stack against the Black Knights. Frankly, a 5-9 conference record would be deemed successful and be an improvement over last year 3-11 season.
Program is not going backwards but not quite ready to breakout either. I do like the current scheduling philosophy that allows Army to post some wins on the schedule early that earns the program some confidence and something to talk about when coaches go on the recruiting trail ( we can win..... see !). The year Army can go into league play with a universal opinion by Patriot League coaches voting Army as the 3rd or forth best school preseason ( Almost exclusively 7th and 8th sincejoining) and earn an 8-6 record in the league would constitute a dream season. Keeping more of each recruiting class and developing a deep core of Jr.-Sr. leadership is essential to attaining that dream. We were there 3 years ago but we have been restocking from a softer base since our competitive 6-8 league seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09 years.
This post was edited on 1/6 3:08 PM by KnightNight