Army West Point Athletics
Wednesday, Feb. 3 - At The Halfway Point
February 03, 2010 | General
Brian Gunning on the keyboard today with the wallet a $1 lighter due to the office fine for a late blog entry. It's been a strange week for me without a mid-week men's basketball game, but it was a welcome break from the cycle of games and game preparation.
With the Patriot League schedule at the halfway point, I thought I'd take a minute to disect the first seven league contests. Army is 2-5, but far from out of the running. The league is very balanced this season. A look at the standings shows two 5-2 teams (Lafayette & Lehigh), three 4-3 teams (Navy, Bucknell and American) and three 2-5 squads (Army, Holy Cross, Colgate). Here's a glimpse at how wide open the leauge is ... Colgate beat Army who beat American who beat Holy Cross who beat Navy who beat Bucknell who beat Lehigh who beat Lafayette.
The other major thing that the Black Knights have going for them is the schedule. Because of a quirk in the league schedule that has the Army-Navy men's and women's games played as a doubleheader instead of the usual opposite schedule (if the men are Bucknell, the women are home against Bucknell), the Army men have played five of their first seven league games on the road. The Black Knights have basically held serve, losing at home to Lehigh but beating Holy Cross on the road. The second time through the league, that will flip with five home games on the schedule. If Army can maintain their success at home this season (8-1), the second half of the schedule should see Army rise up the standings.
Here are a few observations from the first trip through the league ...
The Black Knights must find a reliable third scorer. Cleveland Richard and Julian Simmons have been carrying the load for most of the season. To illustrate the point, Army is 5-3 this season when at least three players score in double figures. When only one player scores at least 10 points, the Black Knights are 0-4. Josh Miller is the most likely candidate to pick up some of the scoring slack. Miller scored a season-high 22 points in the win at Holy Cross and Army is 6-3 when the senior point guard gets into double figures.
Army must also find some bench production. The starters have accounted for 80 percent of the teams' scoring in recent weeks and the reserves have not scored 20 points in a game since the Bryant game on Nov. 30. The Black Knights haven't had an individual score more than 10 off the bench since Jeremy Hence dropped 11 on New Hampshire. Army is 4-1 when a reserve reaches double figures.
The defense needs to remain the team's calling card. Without generating a huge amount of offense, the Black Knights need to reaffirm their reputation as one of the toughest defensive teams in the league. The numbers don't lie here either. Army is 11-1 when not allowing 60 points. The only loss came in an epically bad shooting night at Bucknell last Saturday (32 percent for the game and an 0-for-12 drought in the second half). On the other hand, the squad is just 1-8 when letting teams score at least 60 points. That's been tough to do in the league this season. All eight teams are scoring in the 60s (Army is eighth at 61.5) and six teams are posting at least 66 points per game.
Stop fouling. Twenty-six percent of opponents' points have come at the free throw line. In its nine losses, Army has been outscored by 102 points at the line. The total margin of defeat in those games is 82 points. Army is 251st out of 324 teams in the nation in fouls per game, getting whistled 19.8 times per contest.
The Black Knights need to value the ball. Again, all you need to know is in the team's win-loss record. The team is 8-2 when it turns it over less than 15 times and 4-7 when committing more than 15 miscues. With the limited scoring each possession becomes magnified, and the Black Knights can't afford to lose many opportunities.
Army needs to stay in its current zone at the free throw line. After a rocky start, the Black Knights have connected on 72.1 percent of their foul shots in the last 10 games. The key is getting to the line. Army has shot a Patriot League-low 16.4 free throws per game. The Black Knights' 22 foul shots at Bucknell (17-22) were the most since shooting 25 against New Hampshire on Dec. 22. It was only the 12th time Army lost in its last 35 games when shooting at least 15 free throws (23-12) and only seventh time Army lost in its last 23 games when making at least 13 foul shots (16-7).
Don't give in. This hasn't been a problem, and I can pretty well guarantee it won't be a problem. Coach Spiker's mantra all season has been working toward playing the best basketball in March. Just because you hit a rough spot in January doesn't mean that still can't happen. This group has been through rough spots before and has been able to work its way out of them. Army stood at 4-8 in league play last season, but kept battling and won two road games to get a home quarterfinal game in the tournament and advanced for the third year in a row. It's all about getting hot at the right time.
That does it for me today. While the first couple of days this week have been a nice breather. I can't wait to get things cranked up again on Sunday. Don't forget, for those of you who can't make it to Christl Arena, the game will be televised live on CBC College Sports Network. One more stat for you - Army has won its last three games that have been broadcast as part of the Patriot League TV package. Bob Socci and John Feinstein will be in the house on Sunday, hopefully to witness another Army win. Also, the first 1,000 paid admissions through the gates at Christl on Sunday will receive a free Mike Krzyzewski bobblehead doll.
Go ARMY!
