Best of the Rest part III

This week in "Best of the Rest" Curtis gets the recognition for his 20 point effort in the loss to Hilbert.  These consolation prizes do not taste as sweet as they did when we were winning.  But if I remember correctly, there has not been a week without a Barronballer on the list*.  I'll take that.

*I did not post it, but last week I think Duke was on the list.

.000

Another road game, another loss.  Any game Duke and Kay score a combined six points will be a hard one to win.  On a positive note, Sgt. Slaughter did make his return from his shoulder injury to drop 15.

The loss drops the FUS to 0-2 in conference play and last place in the AMCC.

Box Score.

FUS writeup.

PPD

Due to inclement traveling weather, today's home game, our first conference home game, Connor's last home game has been postponed.  

Two Home Games in 1 Weekend? Hell Yeah.

So my name is. . . oh forget it.  I'm working on the BaronBasketBallBlog, just trying to get you the lowdown on the Men's Baron Basketball Team.  As always, if you have any questions, comments, complaints, or even a request for a date, just leave me a comment below.  I'll try to respond as quickly as I can, especially if it's a date request.  And now for the blog.

So I guess the big question today is if we can follow up that big game on Friday night with another big win, against a U of Pitt Bradford team that is one of the teams to beat in the AMCC.  Even though they are 3-4 this season, that record is a little deceiving. Currently they are 2-0 in the AMCC.  The Panther's last win came last Wednesday in overtime against a Medaille team that was 4-0 at the time.  In another victory they topped the 100 pt mark.  Plus they’ve got a lot of poise for being a primarily younger class-man team.  The Panther's have got some players to watch out for, oh do they ever.  Lead by the freshman Moore brothers, Junior Mike Ridge, and Sophomore Dan Heisey, they plan on being a team that is built for competition for the next few years.  

Keys to Sunday’s Game:

All right Baron’s, there’s a few things we need to key in on if to get this W. 

First thing, The Panthers really do not rely on the 3.  So that means when they are scoring, they are driving to the net.  We need a strong defensive presence!  This means our big guys, lead by the man known for his Tenacious D Curtis Allen, will need a big game tomorrow to keep them out of the key.  If Pitt gets in there, they will be deadly.  (Mike Ridge already has a game this season where he scored 32 points, none of them were threes, and only 4 were gimmee buckets from the free-throw line.  And if we neutralize him, we still would have to worry about the Moore brothers [think the twin Lidel towers of last season minus their good looks]).  

Second thing, the Panthers are not that tall of a team, meaning they will be fighting for rebounds anyway they can get them.  We need to box them out hard every play, and not be afraid to get a little physical for this game.  Last game when the middle of the 1st half was getting pretty tight, Hiram got some key offensive rebounds that kept them in the game.  We need to eliminate that by playing tough defense.  This team will be comparable to our Barons in size, so we gotta fight them.  I want our entire team to suddenly be overcome with whatever Danny “headband” O. is tripping on, because every time he’s out there, he out-hustles every player on the court.  In these areas, we have a real chance at dominating them, which could swing the game our way.  

After those things are done, here are the Barons that need big individual games to get the win.

Duke will need a big game since they can’t match his size (their tallest starter is 6'3'') as he drives to the rim.  He's like a Mack truck, there is no way to stop him.  If you try stopping him, you end up on the floor wondering how got there.  He's the Chuck Norris of Baron Basketball.  The be all, and end all.  The alpha and omega. . . ok, i'll stop now.  you get the picture.  He's the Duke.

Another key Baron: Connor Flanagan.  Why?  Because he’s just that sweet of a player at rebounding, creating lanes, or just taking that fade away jump shot for a nice mid-range basket.  And so this is when I would like to start a movement to push Connor's Austria experience to Fall 2009.  You see, what good ever has come from Europe?  ABBA?  David Beckham?  Really, Europe just sucks, it’s not even worth visiting.  The Kartause has worse food than the caf, everything is twice as expensive as it would be here, and the beer sucks.  OK, that last one is a terrible lie for which I am crying on the inside for having typed it, but the truth of the matter is, we love you Connor.  If you leave us, we won’t anymore.  OK that one is a terrible lie too.  Fine, then what about this, Connor?  Make these last few games your best ones of the season, and I’ll stop crying myself to sleep at night when I think of your departure.  Deal.  (But seriously, if you see him around tell him it's not too late to push it back a semester.)

Plus I want to see more from the bench.  It hasn't been contributing enough.  First of all, when the heck will James McDonald be healthy?  He’s a big dude who could get in someone’s grill, and we’re gonna need that soon.  Plus I want to see Danny the Headband drive to the net a few times.  He’s got sweet ball-handling skills, now I just want to see his shooting skills.  I know one of my fellow baronbloggers has a man-crush on Danny the Headband, and I could grow to love Danny too if he knocked down a few more baskets a game.

Basically it comes down to this, if the whole team brings the same effort we had in that game against Hiram, we will definitely have a chance tomorrow night against this Pitt-Bradford team.  Stick to the fundamentals, and let’s just make this a good clean fight.  With that being said, let’s get a big crowd at the game, and, as always. . .  

Go Barons!

No Prisoners in The House

Fearless Prediction: 86-80

Final Score: 88-80

On the day of Hall of Fame Game our Barons manage to pull out the win and climb back up to .500.

2-0 in the Fieldhouse.

Update

I am a little disappointed about the admission tickets.  Connor is obviously deserving of having his picture on the ticket, but I was kind of hoping for a collector's item deal.  Maybe an incentive of going to each home game and collecting the whole team.

Update II

Box Score.

Hiram Who?

Lordy Lordy it's an old fashion beat down. What a win Baronballers. All of us in Baron Land could not be more impressed. I'm literally speechless about the win tonight, I don't know what to type... lets just get to some of the Good the Bad and the Ugly, but do it a bit different. Instead of GBU we'll go with the Good the Better and the Best. Stats at the bottom of the post...

THE GOOD
1. The Fans- Not gonna lie, I didn't expect that many students to show up, being reading day and all. But I was wrong, and what we got was a treat. Way to cheer on the team and give them some energy. I still have a criticism though:
- I understand Christian Charity, but its ok to try and intimidate the other teams players a bit. Give 'em an "AIRBALLL AIRBALLLL" when their best three point shooter misses the rim on a wide open three. We won't be sent into eternal darkness for it. Lets make them remember playing infront of the Finnegan Faithful (Finnegan Faithful is a coprighted phrase of Greg Hurst. Used with permission)

2. Matt Lidel sighting (part deux)- yes, again we saw everyone's favortie baronballer from last year cheering on the team. Matt is looking for a return to Franny U next semester, and is hoping to be able to play on the team. Got to admit, getting him would be great. We are loosing our Scotty Pippen with Connor heading to Austria, so having Matt back would help fill that role of scorer/banger. I suggest everyone offer a Rosary a day for Matt's return...no? please? maybe? I'm being heretical? I should stop? Ok...just be hopeful.

THE BETTER
1. Curtis Allen (clap clap clap-clap-clap)- Denacious D my friend, Denacious D. All over the court. Dropped a few threes. Completly clutch from the line. Just played one of the best all around games I've seen him play in my time as a Finnegan Faithful (Finnegan Faithful is a coprighted phrase of Greg Hurst. Used with permission).

2. Donny- He had these guys ready to impress in front the '58 team. They were motivated, focused, and except for a few minutes at the end of the second half, totally and completly dominating. Way to stick to the game plan, and keep the team focused.

3. The '58 Championship Banner- Great to see these guys back in Stubie. I feel an article for the Troub next semester coming together. I just can't wait until I become the first Sports Writer in the Baron Hall of Fame for my excellent team coverage...no? please? maybe? I'm being egotistical? I'll just stop.

4. Duke- Same old same old from the Catholic Kobe Bryant. And only one charge tonight.

THE BEST
1. Ak-47-
$(#)%% ($%# $%(%$!!!!!!!!!!
What a game from the man down low! Kay is really growing into a baller this year. I'm incredibly impressed. Other than fouling out, he held his own in the middle. It was amazing to watch him just go at it with Pfouts (#40) and the other post players, not giving up ground at all. He is the physical presence we needed down low.

2. Hoosier- I think I've found a nickname for little Sam Titus. Not only is he from Indiana, but he just plays like a kid from the Hoosiers movie. Smart little point guard with an excellent basketball IQ. Just like every great guard from the Hoosier State. Only going to get better.

Random Tangent: This nickname got me thinking: is Duke Franciscan's version of Jimmy Chitwood? Think about it. Great player who didn't play at first. Tall and lanky permiter player who can take it to the rim. Took some prodding, finally joined, and led the team in scoring. Freaky. Maybe we actually can do something special this year. Measure the distance from the rim to the floor. It's 10 feet tall in every gym...

3. Energy from the bench- Gotta say I love the way this team supports eachother. Each teammate really cares about the other. And the players on the bench really bring some intensity and encourgement to those on the floor. We've said it before, but we have to say it again: Major props to the way Danny Headband leads this initative. I think he pulls a Hendrix and saturates that headband with that 5 hour energy stuff. Just always focused on the game.

4. We played defense. Well. And we boxed out.

5. Three Pointer falling: But we didn't rely on them. We ran the offense instead of jacking up 45 threes. And it showed.

4. Our spot on prediction: major props to my commrade in arms Crazy Pills for his fearless prediction.

Thats it for the GBU, here's some Fast Facts to end the night. Sorry for the lack of info, but we don't have full box scores yet, or the numbers for Hiram.

Fast Facts:
- Duke led the team with 19 points
-Kay and Connor with 17
-Allen 15 (7-8 from the charity stripe. clutch)
-Hoosier had 16, dropping 4 of 5 from behind the arc
-Hiram shot only 37% from the floor tonight

We brought our: A++ game
Record: 3-3
Next Game: Sunday 6PM AT HOME vs University Pitt-Bradford. Its a Conference Game, so we hope to see all our Superfans back out there. Forget studying for finals...no? Please?

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Breaking Down The Terriors...

6'3", 6'4", 6'6", 6'3", and 6'4"

That's the height of the starting line-up for Hiram. Let's hope they are padding the stats in the Media Guide, otherwise we are in "big" trouble. Hiram comes in with a 3-1 record, coming off an 8-18 campaign last year in the NCAC. They lost two All-NCAC selections from last years squad, but with the additions of three stellar newcomers, this team is off and running and looking hot. This team is athletic, can shoot the three, or bang the post.

Players to watch for:
Roberts (#24)- This freshmen is a god amongst men. He is a fast, strong, scoring machine. Roberts is averaging 25 points a game. That's a freshmen. God help us with this one.

Pfouts (#40)- He is one of only two upper-classmen on this team, and he was third in scoring last year. Was off to a rough start until he exploded for 25 last game. Look for him to be a team leader.

Milton (#20)- Three point specialits sixth man. Think Kyle Korver but whiter. Plays starters minutes off the bench.

How to beat them:
1. Limit Roberts: hard to do, but had only 18 points in their one loss. We've got to shut him down.

2. Take Advantage of the Takeaways: this team turns the ball over alot, so we need to push the floor when we get the turnovers.

3. Limit the assists: They win when they have lots of assists, when they control the passing lanes. We need to clog them up to keep them from getting easy baskets.

We'll stick with our prediction for a win tonight, but look for this team to impress.


Bring our: A+ Game
Chances of winning: 45%
Prediction: 86-80 Barons

See ya'll out there! Link to the Terriers website

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!!!

Back to .500?

The Hiram College Terriers come to Steubs tomorrow to play the Barons' first Friday night home-game at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  The Terriers are in the middle of a four game road-trip and will have to travel about an hour and 45 minutes to Finnegan Fieldhouse.  It is hard to win four away games in a row let alone three, so naturally I am predicting a win for our Barons.  Hiram is averaging 84.7 ppg while Franciscan is putting up only 68.4, but Finnegan is a really tough place to play in.  I mean we had an attendance of 215 at the home-opener.  The Barons don't take prisoners in the Ville's House.  

Fearless Prediction: Barons 86-80.

Welcome Troub Readers

To all you excellent people who have popped over here cause of Greg's article, we welcome you with open arms. Welcome to the baron blog! Please remember that anything we have ever said is not personal but professional, and to those who read and think we are "uncharitable"... o well.

Kidding aside I look forward to bringing some actual talent to the troub sports section next semester (kidding Greg). I think he's done a great job this past year, and left me alot to expand on. From the limited time I've spent with the Troub staff there seems to be some new and semi-exciting things that will be happening next semester, including maybe/hopefully moving onto the internet, allowing me to start an actual blog on an actual website. Not that anyone would read that one either.

Well thats all for now, enjoy perusing our site. My personally favorite is "Royalty Wanted", one of if not my first post on the blog. Gotta say we were right about getting Duke...And yes, there will be a Duke day coming soon.
Peace,
The Baronbloggers
including the newly crowned sports editor Jake Krempel (can't hide behind my computer anymore eh? thanks Greg)

O yeah- we don't think Greg hates us anymore... he accepted our bribe money didn't he?

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!

Welcome to the AMCC

Well, Penn State Altoona's Nittany Lions are much better than our Barons.  Bad prediction.  The Lions ran away with the game.  From Altoona, it sounds as if the game was never that close.  Maybe Altoona won because of the live broadcast on public access television that reached Blair and Cambria counties, or maybe it was because the Altoona's bench outscored the ours 46-5.  No box score, but the leading scorers

Flanagan 16 points 6 rebounds

"Jason Ducoulombier" 13 points 7 rebounds

managed to produce about 67% of the offense tonight.  The loss now has our Barons in seventh place.

Welcome to the AMCC part II- more info rolling in.

Well that was ugly. More info has come in about our "game" with Altoona.
Fast Facts:
-Final score: 86-43. That's not a typo and neither is this...
-Half Time Score: 40-15. 15 points in a half? That is down right fugly.
-Conner had 18 points not 16, our mistake.
-Only 6 Barons scored! Six! Compare that to the 46 bench points that Altoona scored.

I guess you could sort of expect this in our first ever conference game. While we predicted a win, our gut feeling has always been it will be a "growing" season. And nothing makes you grow like scoring half as many points as the competition. This was just an old fashion blow-out. Their leading scorer only had 11, meaning the whole team and probably the towel boy saw some playing time.

Well a loss is a loss, albeit a killer loss, and we might as well just put this behind us get ready for Friday's home game. Hope to see you all out there. Maybe even a few of Greg's superfans will show up. Please? Lets get a crowd this game.

Sorry this post is all over the place and short on humor, but Labor Econ can do that to your brain. See ya Friday Baronballers!

THE BARONS ARE BACK!!!!!

Best of the Rest Part II

Andrew Kay is the newest Baron to be recognized for his excellence by the execs at the AMCC.

Tomorrow marks the first conference game that our Franciscan University Barons will play.  They square-off at Penn State Altoona at 8:00 tomorrow night.  The Altoona Nittany Lions have a 2-3 record and lead the series 2-1.  Altoona's victories have come against  1-4 Juniata College and 1-2 New Jersey City University.  Here is the detailed write-up of the game from Altoona.  I think we can win this game, this is the Barons first conference game and Donovan should have them geeked for the big game.  They need to start strong like they have been and then keep it going through half-time.  Ima mark this one up as a win but I think it comes down to Donovan and how he handles half-time and the second half.

Currently, the Barons have the fourth best offense in the conference with 74.8 ppg while the Altoona Lions have the seventh with 67.4 ppg.  Plus, the Barons have four players in the top 30 scorers in the conference

3. Duke 18.0

10. Flanagan 13.8

12. Allen 13.5

24. AK 10.8 

where as the Lions only got three, with their top scorer, Colin Geiger, tied at three with my boy Duke.  In the rebounding category we got 3 players in the top 10 and 4 in the top 20 with AK in the number two spot.

2. AK 8.2

4. Flanagan 7.2

10. Duke 6.2

20. Sam Titus 4.8

Stats.