December 1, 2014

Our inbox contains more good news: two new commitments!

Our patience and persistence with Johnathan Blouin pays off, as he chooses us over our Ivy League neighbor Pennsylvania. JB is raw offensively, but we see some possible upside there, and he's already a decent rebounder and defensive player. He's not a big unit like most of our post players are, but I think he'll develop into a tough low-post presence.

Otis Hall wastes no time accepting our offer. His scouted ratings don't suggest he's anything extra-special, but his stats are those of a baller who can dominate a game in a variety of ways. I'm already thinking of moving him to SF, given his skill set and those of the other players on our team.

Our last remaining recruit, Samuel Davis, has taken every school but Lafayette off his list...but he still won't accept our offer. Should I be worried about this? I think I'm going to prepare a Plan B.

December 2, 2014
St. John's 81, Lafayette 68

Again, we prove for 20-plus minutes that we can hang in there with a Power Five conference team, before their superior depth wears us down. We're tied, 39-39, going into intermission against a 3-1 St John's team. I shorten our bench, and perhaps our guys are gassed in the final minutes, when the Red Storm pulls away.

Two high-scoring freshmen guards go head-to-head, and it's their David Sullivan who wins the battle over our Joe Lien, 31-19. I think Sullivan's total is the most an opponent has ever scored against us. It took him 27 shots to do it, so there's that.

A healthy James Sanders returns to the lineup with 15 points. Venceslás Castillo scores 14, and Hubert Song adds 10. Hubert also dishes out 7 assists. Alvaro Kinard struggles again, finishing with 2 points and 3 rebounds.
Record: 5-2.


December 4, 2014
Lafayette 76, South Carolina State 66
A day's rest at home and we're back on the road again, traveling south to meet the 3-1 Bulldogs. This time we're the bigger team, and we wear down our scrappy hosts after going into intermission down by five.

Joe Lien takes six threes, makes five of them, and leads all scorers with 22. For the season, he's 32-62 from behind the arc; that's 51.6%. James Sanders double-doubles with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Venceslás Castillo comes in with another 14 points, and Hubert Song completes the double figures club with 12.
Record: 6-2.


December 9, 2014
Lafayette 72, Howard 63
Fans who like watching us shoot free throws are in for a treat today. We attempt 40 of them and make 24, and that's the difference in a game that's otherwise not much fun to watch.

Today it's Hubert Song who takes the scoring honors, with 20 points to Joe Lien's 18. James Sanders (13 points) and Venceslás Castillo (13 rebounds) contribute a tag-team double-double. Their point guard, Ian Moyer, has one of his own: 11 points, 10 assists.

I had already decided to shift the starting lineup for next game, benching Alvaro Kinard in favor of Dana Broughton. Dana gets hurt, however, so he'll be unavailable for about a week and a half. Now I'll move the Good King to the three and bring Clark Nolan in at the four. Perhaps AK will find his mojo coming off the bench.
Record: 7-2.


December 12, 2014
Lafayette 64, Rider 58
This is our first real defensive battle of the season, where neither team jacks up 60 shots and we score 120 points or so between us. It's good to discover that this year's team can win that kind of game, too.

Venceslás Castillo steps into a starring role with a rugged 14 points and 13 rebounds, playing a nifty inside-out game. Joe Lien scores his usual 19 points, adding five assists this time, and Hubert Song contributes 14 and four helpers of his own.

This year, our AD wants us to make the NCAA Tournament. I'd rather not have to depend on the outcome of the league tourney to earn a ticket to the Big Dance. Our RPI stands at 51 now, and with the Patriot League's increasing prestige, perhaps we could earn an at-large bid if we need it.
Record: 8-2.


December 14, 2014
Lafayette 73, Massachusetts 58
The Minutemen aren't a national power, but they're a higher-prestige opponent from the Atlantic 10. A convincing victory, one in which we pull away in the second half, is a notable achievement.

A look at the box score reveals some interesting things. Venceslás Castillo shoots an ugly 1-11 from the floor, but compensates for his poor shooting by grabbing 11 rebounds. Perhaps Alvaro Kinard is best cast as a sixth man; he submits a 12-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist performance in that role. And Willard Davis, a senior who has found playing time tough to come by, scores 10 points in 8 minutes.

The real story, however, is Joe Lien. He scores 30 points, tying Robert Castleman's record for the Graham Sims era. Joe adds 10 rebounds, a career high, and three assists.

I hadn't been paying much attention to the Mid Major Top 25. Apparently we spent a week in the polls back in November and dropped out. We're back again, coming in at #18.
Record: 9-2.


December 21, 2014
Lafayette 76, Pennsylvania 66
Joe Lien's shots won't fall at quite the same rate tonight, but his teammates pick up the slack and the result is a tidy victory over the Quakers.

Joe still manages 16 points, and the Big Colonel matches his total. Venceslás Castillo (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Hubert Song (14) give us four men in double digits, and Clark Nolan has 10 rebounds.

The Mid Major poll is released today, and we're ranked #11. This is our highest spot so far. Creighton, Houston, and Temple hold the top three spots.
Record: 10-2.


December 23, 2014
Lafayette 76, Princeton 63
Princeton has played well this season, they're 7-2 as they come into the Kirby Center today. We bring our A game defensively--the Tigers make only 35% of their shots, and they won't stop launching bricks from three-point territory (1-for-23).

For the fourth time this season and the second time this week, we finish the game with exactly 76 points. The guards contribute 34 of them: 23 for Joe Lien, 11 for Hubert Song.

But the big story is the Big Colonel. James Sanders abuses their center, 7'1" Nazaire Debuine, who fouls out after only 10 minutes. James finishes with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Both are season highs.
Record: 11-2.


December 28, 2014
After a Christmas week that, for once, doesn't have us playing two games, we learn we've moved up to #9 in the Mid Major Top 25.

January 1, 2015

Happy New Year to Leopard Nation! Among our reasons to celebrate is the commitment of Samuel Davis to play for us next season.

Samuel is the third big man to join our recruiting class--the fourth, if you count Otis Hall, whom I'm already envisioning as a wing--but I envision him earning playing time with his defense and shot blocking.

Apparently James Rossiter is unhappy. James, you're a walk-on guard, with guys like Joe Lien, Hubert Song, Willard Davis, Armando Brown, and Justin Judkins ahead of you. Complaining about your playing time is not a good look.


January 3, 2015
Lafayette 82, Iona 78
The Gaels are a good basketball team. Their conference season has already begun, and they're 3-0 in the MAAC. They have Levi Villalpando, the reigning MAAC Player of the Year, and a good center, Darnell Derr.

Both Villalpando and Derr foul out, but Derr does a lot of damage first: 11 points, 18 rebounds. The man he's guarding, James Sanders, scores 16. And we get our usual 40-plus from Hubert Song (18) and Joe Lien (23). Alvaro Kinard is performing well as our sixth man, and gives us eight points, four rebounds, and three assists.

Interestingly, Lien is not a very good free throw shooter. He goes 6-13 from the line today, which is not that much worse than his season percentage (.585). If he were an 80% shooter from the line (which wouldn't be outrageous, considering he's almost 46% from three), he'd add another point and a half to his 21.1 scoring average.
Record: 12-2.


January 4, 2015
We come in at #6 in this weeks Mid Major Top 25.


January 7, 2015
Lafayette 73, Fordham 70
We complete our non-conference schedule with another road win against an Atlantic 10 opponent, albeit one of the conference's small fry.

Rams senior Lionel Robinette nearly equals his career high with 23 points, but Joe Lien matches him (despite shooting 2-8 from long range). Hubert Song and James Sanders add 15 more apiece.

The Big Colonel also blocks a shot. This used to be big news, but our big man has improved this aspect of his game significantly. James has six blocks this year; he's never rejected more than nine in a full season.
Record: 13-2.

Here's how the Patriot League looks as we enter conference play:

This is, without doubt, our best pre-season yet. Last year, we were 11-3, but our RPI was 95. I'd naturally like to make our AD happy with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but it's also comforting to see that our out-of-conference performance might help us earn an at-large invitation.

Holy Cross also had a very good November and December, while American is missing Victor Reed and Patrick Robinson.

January 10, 2015
Lafayette 75, American 67
The Eagles might not be the team they were during the Reed/Robinson era, but beating them in their gym still feels wonderful. They're the only team against whom Graham Sims has a losing record; before today, we've only beaten American once.

American holds Joe Lien to only 10 points, but the freshman finds other ways to contribute: 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and a blocked shot. All five Leopards starters score in double figures: 11 for Dana Broughton, and 13 each for Hubert Song, Venceslás Castillo, and James Sanders. The Good King grabs 13 rebounds, too. We hold the Eagles to 36% shooting, and even less from three-point range.

Good teams win basketball games in more than one way. They can win even if their star isn't dominant. This game demonstrates those truths.
Record: 14-2 (1-0).


January 11, 2015
This season, it appears teams move around the Mid Major poll more often. We go up two more spots, to #4; ahead of us are Utah State, Ohio, and Creighton.

We also receive our first votes in the Top 25 poll: eight of them. And we look even better according to RPI, where we're #10.


January 14, 2015
Lafayette 72, Holy Cross 48
Graduation hit Holy Cross hard, too. They lost all three of the big men who won post-season honors: Robert Mallett, Demetrius Woods, and Lenny Catlin. We hold this edition of the Crusaders to only 17 points after halftime and pull away.

Again, our opponent deserves credit for controlling Joe Lien; holding him to 16 points qualifies as such. But James Sanders is more than the Holy Cross bigs can handle, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Hubert Song scores 14, and Venceslás Castillo adds 13.
Record: 15-2 (2-0).


January 17, 2015
Navy 72, Lafayette 71
We lose to the Midshipmen at home in heartbreaking fashion.

With 38 seconds left, we have the ball, trailing 72-71. There are several scenarios I'd consider a "good shot" in this situation. Getting the ball to James Sanders on the low block is one of them. Big Colonel, who has 20 points on the night, misses...but Venceslás Castillo battles hard and grabs the rebound. As he goes back up, he's fouled by Lon Schneider.

The clock reads all zeroes as The Good King steps to the line.

He's a 72 percent free throw shooter. He misses both shots.

I'm not going to bash Castillo. He's been a warrior for us, especially this year.

Sanders has 11 rebounds to go with his game-high scoring total. Joe Lien and Hubert Song add 13 apiece, and Dana Broughton finishes with 11.

Navy pulls ahead of us in the conference standings, at 3-1.
Record: 15-3 (2-1).


January 18, 2015
We fall to #6 in the Mid Major Top 25 rankings.


January 21, 2015
Lafayette 81, Army 42
We take our frustration out on the other service academy in our conference, nearly doubling up on Army in West Point. Joe Lien recovers from his brief scoring slump, leading us with 20 points. Hubert Song and James Sanders help out with 12 apiece, and Dana Broughton adds 10 more. Song has 6 assists, and Venceslás Castillo 10 rebounds.

Army's high-scoring guard, Jack Jessie, finishes with 16 points, but their next high scorer scores 6, and two of their starters don't score at all.

Bucknell moves to the top of the league table, with a 4-1 mark. Navy and Colgate are tied with us for second at 3-1.
Record: 16-3 (3-1).


January 24, 2015
Lafayette 77, Colgate 72
The Red Raiders' strong start has been driven by the play of two high-scoring perimeter players, Shawn Domingo and Irvin Schumacher. Domingo scores 14, right at his average, but we hold Schumacher to only 5. Irvin fouls out trying to guard Joe Lien, whose 16 points are the most among five Leopards in double figures.

Besides Joe, that quintet includes Dana Broughton (14), James Sanders and Hubert Song (13 each), and Alvaro Kinard (11). Dana and Alvaro are both playing very well in their new roles.
Record: 17-3 (4-1).


January 25, 2015
We remain a fixture in the Mid Major rankings, moving back up a spot to #5. We also receive 15 votes in the Top 25 poll.


January 28, 2015
Lafayette 67, Bucknell 58
The Bison have Moses Washington, a senior point guard whom I consider one of the three best players in the Patriot League this season. Washington and Joe Lien, another of my three best players of the year, basically cancel each other out in this game; Moses finishes with 8 points nad Joe with 6.

However, we have the stronger supporting cast. Today, it's Hubert Song who takes the starring role, with 21 points and five rebounds. Venceslás Castillo (8 points, 8 rebounds) and James Sanders (7 points, 9 rebounds) do some dirty work beneath the baskets.

Our victory puts us back in sole possession of first place, with Bucknell, Holy Cross, and Colgate all one game behind us.
Record: 18-3 (5-1).


January 31, 2015
Lafayette 67, Lehigh 55
Lehigh has struggled this season, entering this game tied with Army for last place in the conference with a 1-5 record. But this is a rivalry game, and the Mountain Hawks bring their A game to the Kirby Center tonight.

The game is close until about eight minutes remain in the second half, when we go on a 9-1 run and pull away a bit. Hubert Song is our leading scorer again, with 17 points; James Sanders and Joe Lien follow, with 14 and 12 respectively.

Clark Nolan lands badly, rolls his ankle, and has to leave the game. The post-game report isn't good: he's sprained it badly and won't be able to play for two weeks. Rhett King will probably get most of Clark's minutes.

We're not usually a great free-throw shooting team; our .675 percentage ranks sixth in the eight-team Patriot League. Tonight, we sink 16-18 (.889). One of these nights we're going to need to shoot like that to win. I hope we do.
Record: 19-3 (6-1).

February 1, 2015
Once again, we're ranked #5 in the Mid Major Top 25. We're also fourth in the "others receiving votes" category in the Top 25.

The Bubble Watch debuts today, too. This is nice to see...

February 7, 2015
Lafayette 67, American 52
Again, we win without our guards scoring a gazillion points. While I'd like to see Joe Lien (12 points tonight) and Hubert Song (11 points) drop 40 between them, we're potentially a more dangerous team when we develop other ways to beat someone.

Tonight's formula combines stout defensive play with balanced scoring. James Sanders (11) and Alvaro Kinard (10) have to be guarded, and three other players had at least seven points. We complete a season sweep of American, which is a first for us.
Record: 20-3 (7-1).


February 8, 2015
We hold our #5 position in the Mid Major poll, but now we're only one spot away from our first appearance in the Top 25.


February 11, 2015
Navy 79, Lafayette 76
What is it about Navy that makes them impossible for us to beat this year? This time, at home, we take a narrow lead into the intermission, which we squander when we let the Midshipmen go on a 7-0 run to open the second half. We lead, 65-61, with just over two minutes to play, but we can't hold the lead. Stephen Collins hits a shot from the baseline to put Navy ahead with 28 seconds remaining.

It's Collins' only basket of the game.

Had we won, James Sanders (21 points, 12 rebounds) would have been a worthy PoG choice. Joe Lien finishes with 19; Hubert Song 12, with 5 assists. Venceslás Castillo snares 10 rebounds.

I really hope we don't play Navy in the conference tourney. Right now, they'd be the #2 seed, so we wouldn't see them until the championship game.
Record: 20-4 (7-2).


February 14, 2015
Lafayette 87, Holy Cross 71
Dana Broughton has been a credit to our program since Graham Sims arrived three years ago. He finally has a chance to start this year, and he rewards us with a career-best performance against a tough opponent.

Dana connects on all four of his three-point tries and scores 21 points. He adds five assists and six rebounds. James Sanders (18 points), Hubert Song (16), and Joe Lien (15) join him in double figures.
Record: 21-4 (8-2).


February 15, 2015
Despite our loss to Navy, we move up to #4 in the Mid Major poll. We also manage to keep our place as the "best of the rest" in the Top 25 poll.


February 18, 2015
Lafayette 80, Colgate 78
Anyone who pays to watch this game gets their money's worth. It's tied at 38 after 20 minutes, and the lead changes hands six times during the second half.

Clark Nolan's two free throws give us an 80-78 lead with 13 seconds left in regulation time. Colgate's Guy Aubin tries a game-winning three, but it rims out.

The Big Colonel comes up big tonight: 19 points (6-10 from the floor, 7-9 from the line) and 11 rebounds. Dana Broughton plays well again, scoring 16, and Hubert Song pitches in 14 more. Joe Lien struggles; he takes only five shots, makes two, and ends the game with 5 points.

Irvin Schumacher torches us for 29 points. Perhaps we're lucky that Shawn Domingo misses the game with a knee injury.
Record: 22-4 (9-2).


February 21, 2015
Lafayette 78, Army 58
James Sanders is determined to show everyone in the Patriot League that he is worth of All-Conference recognition. The junior center leads all scorers with 20 points tonight, adding 12 rebounds and THREE blocked shots. In his past four games, Big Colonel has contributed 21, 18, 19, and 20 points, and he's now averaging 14.2 per game.

Sixth man Alvaro Kinard provides a jolt of instant offense: 16 points in 24 minutes, with a perfect 4-4 from long range. Joe Lien scores 15, and Hubert Song 12 with 8 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Navy loses to Holy Cross. If we lose at Bucknell and Lehigh, and the Midshipmen beat Colgate and Army, they'll steal the conference championship from us.

If that's what happens, they'll deserve to steal it.
Record: 23-4 (10-2).


February 22, 2015
Back up to #4 in the Mid Major poll we go. Utah State (22-3), Temple 20-5), and Creighton (22-6) are ahead of us.


February 25, 2015
Lafayette 70, Bucknell 61
We let the Bison keep it close longer than we should have. Our lead is as big as 15 at one point, and it's a six-point game before Dana Broughton hits a three with less than a minute left.

Dana is playing the best basketball of his Lafayette career in the final weeks of his senior season. Today he's a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line, and he finishes with 19 points. It's Venceslás Castillo's turn to be a star, too: he scores 11 points, and his 13 rebounds tie James Sanders for high honors. Hubert Song (12 points) and Joe Lien (11) complete a quartet of Leopards in double figures.

Colgate beats Navy today, so that means we clinch another Patriot League regular season championship and the #1 seed in the conference tournament.
Record: 24-4 (11-2).


February 28, 2015
Lafayette 97, Lehigh 58
Despite the fact they've already sewn up the conference title, Graham Sims' team refuses to mail it in today. Instead, we set a new team record with 97 points against our local rival.

Our balanced and productive offense is led by Venceslás Castillo, with 18 points. Hubert Song finishes with 16. Joe Lien and Rhett King each contribute 13 points, King scores his in 14 minutes.

I sometimes forget how good a rebounding team we are. At least one Leopard usually finishes the game with double figures in this category. It's often James Sanders, who pulls in 11 tonight.

We end our regular season with a 25-4 record, almost identical to last year's 25-5 performance. And, once again we're 12-2 in the Patriot League.

March 1, 2015
For the first time, we're ranked in the Top 25 poll!

We're also ranked #4 in the Mid Major poll.


March 4, 2015
Patriot League Tournament
#24 Lafayette (1) 87, Army (8) 70
Our offense returns to its early-season form today. We hit over half our shots, including 11 of our 27 threes; Dana Broughton, Joe Lien, and Hubert Song combine for nine of those triples.

Lien is the high scorer with 24. It's good to see him back in the groove. Song has 16, Broughton adds 15 with 8 rebounds, and Venceslás Castillo nets 10 before fouling out. Army does a good job defending James Sanders, allowing him only eight shots and 9 points, along with 7 boards.

Army star Jack Jessie gets into foul trouble trying to defend our high-scoring guards, and finishes with 9 points.

Bucknell knocks our bogey team, Navy, out of the tournament, beating them 64-60. Holy Cross beats Lehigh, and Colgate routs American. Bucknell, the 5 seed, is the only underdog to survive the first round.
Record: 26-4.


March 8, 2015
Patriot League Tournament
Bucknell (5) 60, #24 Lafayette (1) 55
Bucknell always brings their A game to the Patriot League tournament. For the second consecutive year, they upset us in the semifinal, and once again, they simply play a very good game of basketball.

Full credit to them for battling back from a 38-26 deficit with 13:07 to play. A furious 13-1 run by the Bison over the next eight minutes gives them the lead, and they close it out from there.

As the score might indicate, it's a fierce defensive battle. We limit Moses Washington to 9 points. They hold Joe Lien to 13. Hubert Song asserts himself with 18 points, but their top six players all score between 7 and 10, and that balanced scoring is enough to tip the balance their way. James Sanders leads all rebounders with 14.

Now we'll wait for the tournament selection committee to see if they invite us to the Big Dance. We're still listed as a Lock in the Bubble Watch.
Record: 26-5.


March 13, 2015
Bucknell defeats Holy Cross, 73-66, to win their second straight Patriot League tournament championship.


March 15, 2015
We receive the Patriot League's first at-large bid, and it's a flattering one. We're chosen as the #8 seed in the East Region. Our opponent will be #9 seed Alabama-Birmingham, and we'll play them on March 19.

The Blazers (24-9, 11-5) finished third in Conference USA during the regular season. They upset #1 seed Southern Mississippi, 50-49, in a thrilling tournament championship game.

Their 6'10" center Edgar Gagliano, a Blue/Blue player with a great name, is a powerful inside presence. Redshirt junior Michael Trainor (Green/Green) emerged as a scoring threat on the wing. They'll miss electrifying sixth man Brian Kirsch and his 10.7 PPG; he's out with an injury.

Albert Koerner (16.8 PPG) knows where the basket is, but the man he guards often scores as many as he does. Perimeter defense is the Blazers' Achilles heel, and we happen to have pretty good perimeter scorers.

Bucknell earned the #15 seed in the Midwest. Their opponent is #11 ranked USC, whose 28-6 record earned them a 2 seed.

The CBI committee awarded Holy Cross the #7 seed, and they'll play #10 Valparaiso.


March 19, 2015
NCAA East Region
(8) Lafayette 68, (9) Alabama-Birmingham 50
I thought we might be able to win this game, but we don't win it for the reasons I chose.

Hubert Song and Joe Lien don't feast on UAB's poor defenders. In fact, they hold Hubert to only three points, which I believe is a career low for him. Joe scores 14, but he takes 15 shots.

Instead, it's the Big Colonel and Dana Broughton whom the Blazers can't handle. Edgar Gagliano limits James Sanders' touches, but James does good things when he gets the ball and scores 14 on 6-10 shooting. Dana is a senior, and he decides he'd like to keep playing college basketball. His 14 points, including 4-6 from downtown, help us extend his career at least one more game.

We hold our opponents to 32.1% shooting and turn the ball over only seven times. That's a pretty solid recipe for a win.

Bucknell suffers the fate of most 15 seeds. The final: USC 56, Bucknell 35. Moses Washington, one of my favorite opposing players, scores 14 points in his final collegiate game.

Holy Cross advances in the CBI with a 68-67 victory over Valpo.
Record: 27-5.


March 21, 2015
NCAA East Region
(1) #2 Pittsburgh 89, (8) Lafayette 52
Nobody's bracket is busted by this outcome, as the powerful Panthers rout us with ease.

Pitt's roster contains SIX Blue/Blue players and a Green/Blue guy. Forward Thurman Pond was the #1 recruit in the Class of 2012. Point guard Robert Hann was a top 10 recruit and a high school All-American the year before. Shooting guard Gaylord Eggleston wasn't as highly regarded as either of those players, and he's now the best pro prospect of them all. The Panthers are clearly at least one cut above.

Their coach, Blaine Boyd, is perhaps the best of an outstanding group of young head basketball coaches. He's 34, a year younger than Graham Sims, and he has 112 wins to his credit already.

Boyd's boys follow their instructions to a T. Eggleston torches us for 34 points. Hann (12 points, 14 assists) and Pond (14 points, 15 rebounds) record dominant double-doubles. Joshua Saari, a Blue/Blue player who comes off their bench, pours in 12 in 18 minutes.

No Leopard scores more than Joe Lien's 11 points. James Sanders has 9, with 8 rebounds.

It doesn't feel like it now, but our program took another significant step forward this season.
Record: 27-6.

April 3, 2015
#1 seed Washington and #6 seed Wisconsin advance to the NCAA championship game. The Huskies beat Georgetown, 68-63, while the Badgers upset Mississippi State, 70-53.


April 6, 2015
The Wisconsin Badgers complete their dream run through the NCAA tournament with a 60-52 victory over Washington. Wisconsin center Louie Lewis receives the News that he's the finals' MVP, on the basis of his 11 points and 13 rebounds.

A last look at the Patriot League's performance this year:
2014 Patriot League Standings

Holy Cross joins us in the 20-win club. They were eliminated from the CBI by Appalachian State.

The Patriot League awards are announced today, and there's some wonderful news for a player who has been waiting patiently for his abilities to be recognized.

To nobody's surprise, Joe Lien becomes the second straight Lafayette player to be named Freshman of the Year (succeeding Alvaro Kinard). I thought Joe might have a shot at a place on the national All-Freshman Team, but there were several other outstanding first-year guards. Joe secures a spot on the All-League Second Team, behind a very deserving Moses Washington.

Hubert Song, a Second Team selection last year, took his game to a higher level this season. Consequently, he moves up to the Patriot League First Team.

At the beginning of the season, I said that Dana Broughton "would feature prominently as a sub on the perimeter." In December, I elevated Dana to a spot in the starting five...and now the senior is a Second Team All-Patriot League honoree!

Graham Sims takes home his second straight Patriot League Coach of the Year award.

I save the best news for last. James Sanders missed out on postseason honors last season; narrowly, I'm sure. This year, the big, big man from Connecticut improved throughout the season. He's richly rewarded with a place on the All-Conference First Team...and he's named Patriot League Player of the Year.

I figured Big Colonel and Navy's rebounding god, Stephen Collins, would be in contention for both prizes. Sanders and Collins are both juniors, three-star recruits in the Class of 2011 who have battled in the paint for three seasons now. James scored his 1000th point in our win over UAB in the NCAA tournament, and Stephen will grab his 1000th rebound early in his senior season.

April 7, 2015

Here are our 2014/15 season statistics:



And here's how some of our players ranked in the Patriot League:

• Hubert Song: 6th in PPG; 5th in APG; 2nd in MPG; 5th in A/T ratio; 5th in PPS
• James Sanders: 9th in PPG; 2nd in RPG; 4th in BPG; 7th in FG%; 9th in FT%; 3rd in PPS
• Joe Lien: 3rd in PPG: 9th in APG; 7th in 3P%
• Venceslás Castillo: 6th in RPG; 10th in FT%
• Dana Broughton: 10th in 3P%

We dominated the plus/minus categories. All five of our starters, plus Clark Nolan, were among the Patriot League's top ten. Song was first (8.12/game), Lien second (7.52), Sanders third (7.36), Castillo fourth (7.15), Broughton sixth (5.93), and Nolan eighth (5.39).

The Senior Tributes will be next.

2014/15 Senior Tribute

LOUIS HEWETT

A scrappy, somewhat undersized center from Fort Washington, PA, Louis Hewett appeared in 27 games during his four years in our program. In 61 minutes of action, he scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Louis was basically the same player as a senior that he was when he arrived on campus. More talented bigs joined our program over the years, and that limited Louis's opportunities to shine. However, he'll finish his degree, and he aspires to a career as a teacher and coach.

Thanks for the memories, Louis.

Are you wondering how I decided Louis Hewett would become a coach? Starting with last season, when a senior graduates from the Lafayette program, I roll a d20. Right now, a roll of 16-20 means a graduate will choose coaching as a profession.

If I roll 16 or 17, he spends two years as a graduate assistant before I edit the league file to add him to my game as a possible Division I assistant coach.

If I roll 18, 19, or 20, he becomes a high school teacher and basketball coach. Each spring, I'll roll again for him. If the roll is 14 or higher, he decides to change gears and try college coaching, and I add him to the game as a possible assistant.

Sometimes I'll do the same thing for an opposing player I find interesting.

Louis is the first former Leopard to roll a coaching career. I rolled 19 for him, so he'll start at the high school level. I'll let you know if he becomes part of my NCAA universe.

Moses Washington, Bucknell '15, will also enter the coaching profession, with a roll of 17 that has him starting out as a grad assistant.

I might adjust the d20 rolls if it feels like too many former players are entering the profession.

2014/15 Senior Tribute

DONNIE POPE

Donnie Pope appeared in every game of his freshman season. He saw less action in subsequent years, but he remained a useful depth player who could be trusted with important minutes when we needed him.


Donnie was a tough defender and a tenacious rebounder, and he handled the ball fairly well for a big man. He finished his career with more assists than turnovers.

Thanks for the memories, Donnie.

2014/15 Senior Tribute

WILLARD DAVIS

Willard Davis was an athletic wing from western Pennsylvania. He competed for playing time with an increasingly talented group of shooting guards and small forwards, but managed to see action in 95 games over three seasons.


Willard agreed to take a redshirt year, which I hoped would cause him to develop into a sleeper star. Things didn't work out quite that way for him, and I wish they had. He was always a hard worker and a very solid student, and several of his dunks--including a tomahawk slam against UMass--will delight YouTube viewers for years.

Thanks for the memories, Willard.

2014/15 Senior Tribute

CLARK NOLAN

Clark Nolan grew up and went to high school in Whitehall, not quite 20 miles down US 22 from the Lafayette campus. His uncle played football for the Leopards, and Clark dreamed of following in his footsteps. His 6'9", 260-pound frame might have served him well as an offensive tackle, but his true talents lay on the basketball court.


Clark was a leading frontcourt reserve as a freshman, and the Patriot League named him to its All-Freshman team. He spent the next two seasons as a starter, shifting to power forward and joining James Sanders and Venceslás Castillo in the Big Three frontcourt trio. He more than held his own, doing the tough work under both boards and emerging as one of the conference's best rebounders.

As a senior, Clark returned to an all-purpose role. He started at both center and power forward, and was the first big man off the bench. He was a favorite at the Kirby Center; his personal cheering section included his fraternity brothers and some of his friends from Whitehall who remained in the area. His proudest single moment took place in February, when he calmly knocked in two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to seal an 80-78 win against Colgate.

Thanks for the memories, Clark.

2014/15 Senior Tribute

DANA BROUGHTON

Good things come to those who wait...especially if they also work hard.

The Lafayette career of Dana Broughton exemplifies this adage.


Like his classmate, Clark Nolan, Dana chose to play his college ball close to home. In nine minutes per game, he was productive enough to earn a spot on the All-Freshman Team in 2010/11.

Then, his career seemed to take the same turn as those of several of the players who found their court time taken by players Graham Sims recruited. He barely played as a sophomore, but he never lost his shooting touch...especially from long range.

Dana shot himself back into Coach Sims' rotation as a junior. Then, midway through his senior season, I decided to see how he would fare as a starter. Would switching him with Alvaro Kinard invigorate both players?

The answer turned out to be "yes." Dana started 21 games, including all our conference games. His average of 1.50 points per shot was the best on the team (0.01 better than Kinard's mark). He gave us a third long-range threat that stretched opposing defenses, creating room for James Sanders to work his magic in the post. Big Colonel became the Player of the Year.

And Dana Broughton became a Second Team All-Conference selection.

Thanks for the memories, Dana.

April 11, 2015

All three of Graham Sims' assistants inform us that they'd like raises for the 2015/16 season.

Steven Manion and Thomas Liang believe they're worth $40,000/year, and Donn McClinton wants $50,000. Each coach may quit during the assistant hiring phase if we don't meet these salary requests.

All three coaches have improved since the story began.


Furthermore, they all improved significantly in their specialties: Steven's the recruiter, DMac's the scout, and Thomas is the coaching assistant.

We have the budget to either give our current staff the raises they'd like, or shop for even better coaches. I'll give this a bit of thought. Part of me wants to demonstrate loyalty to Coach Sims' assistants.

Two questions, OOC:

1. Do assistant coaches help out in areas other than their specialties? In other words, will McClinton's and Liang's improved Recruiting scores help us land better players, even though Manion is the recruiter?
2. Will Graham's ratings ever improve? He still has the scores he had when I created him, while his assistants are getting better.

We also learn we're in line for a facilities upgrade. I've been looking forward to that.

May 1, 2015

The recruiting gurus aren't terribly impressed with our incoming freshman class.


American hauled in four three-star players, led by Noah Burgett, the #178 player in the national rankings. He arrives as an Orange/Green player.

Joey Sweeney of Holy Cross is even more highly regarded (#122), but he's a Red/Green guy.

Army might have landed the best recruit in the class. Eldridge Hawkinson debuts at Yellow/Blue, the same level as Joe Lien.

Orange/Green player Steven Hurlburt is Navy's best recruit.

All five of our players, regardless of their recruiting stars, arrive as Red players. Johnathan Blouin (***), Richard Leak (*), and Otis Hall (*) have Green potential. Samuel Davis (**) and Raleigh McGinty (*) have Yellow.

I don't care what the experts say. I like these guys.

May 1, 2015

We are officially the most prestigious program in the Patriot League now. Our score is 43; Holy Cross and American are next at 41. Bucknell follows, at 33.

The Head Coach rounds begin now. The first two offers Graham receives--from Kent State and Western Michigan--aren't tempting. The third one is.

In a college basketball universe that begins in 2010, Virginia is not a powerhouse. In fact, the Hoos have the lowest prestige in the ACC. Their coach, Fabian McNew, has just retired, after leading the team to a 17-15 record. This is par for McNew's course; his teams won 18, 17, and 15 games in the previous three seasons, and they've never played in a postseason tournament.

The challenge of turning Virginia into a national championship contender would be a lot of fun...but that's another story I might want to tell someday. I reject all three offers and move on.

Illinois State, Virginia Commonwealth, and the Alabama-Birmingham team we beat in last year's NCAA tournament all make offers which I don't want to accept. Then comes an opportunity that is an acceptable one for our Pennsylvania-based coach.

Kentucky coach Columbus Hudson retired at the end of the season. The Wildcats hire 38-year-old Brooks Runyan, who's led Temple to a 57-13 record over the last two seasons and just took them to the Sweet Sixteen.

Temple's Prestige is 82. Villanova (92) and Pitt (91) are higher, but I doubt any other Pennsylvania program comes close. The Owls' budget is close to $600,000, while ours is about $350,000. Their recruiting class ranks in the middle of the Atlantic 10.

Although the Temple job is the kind Graham will want somewhere down the line, something tells me this isn't the right time for it. If Lafayette's fortunes take a turn for the worse, and Coach Sims' reputation goes with it, I might regret my decision. For now, however, I'm passing. Perhaps the opportunity might come my way again.

I decide to give all three assistants the raises they're seeking. I like the coaching team we've assembled here.

July 1, 2015

Let's meet the 2015/16 Lafayette Leopards!


This is our fifth year at Lafayette, so for the first time, all the players on the roster are guys we brought into the program.

Five of the six players who led the Leopards to their first NCAA tournament berth of the Graham Sims era will return this season.

Among them is senior center James Sanders, the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year. Big Colonel played especially well in February and March, which bodes well for his continued development.

Joining Sanders in the frontcourt will be senior Venceslás Castillo and junior Alvaro Kinard. The Good King is not a major scoring threat, but his defense and rebounding are essential to the Leopards' success. Kinard will have another opportunity to prove he can succeed as a starter, after playing better as a sixth man last season.

Senior Rhett King will be first in line off the bench. He's a powerful inside player who could possibly feature with Sanders and Castillo in a super-sized lineup.

The Patriot League's most effective backcourt pair return to action for one more year, too. Senior Hubert Song and sophomore Joe Lien are both true lead guards, able to create shots for their teammates and score themselves. Song is slightly more oriented toward playmaking, while Lien is more apt to look for shots.

Backing them up will be Armando Brown, a junior who specializes in defense, and sophomore Justin Judkins, a skilled ballhandler who is developing some scoring ability.

Five first year players join Coach Sims' program this year. Big men Samuel Davis and Raleigh McGinty and guard Richard Leak might be the best prepared for the challenges of college basketball right now. Johnathan Blouin and Otis Hall, two more bigs, might have the most potential. Our roster is deep enough that none of the freshmen will be expected to contribute right away. Perhaps a redshirt year is in store for some of them.

And, here's a look at our protagonist's bio:

August 1, 2015

In a year when we welcome five new players to campus, we're recruiting four more to replace our scholarship seniors: James Sanders, Venceslás Castillo, Hubert Song, and Rhett King. Song is a guard, and the other three are post players.

This year, we're starting four upperclassmen and one sophomore: guard Joe Lien. Our top recruiting target will be a lead guard, and since our 2015 class was so big-heavy, we can settle for two post players and a wing this year.

The first recruit that catches my eye is Daniel Warnock, a long, athletic wing from Spotswood, NJ.

Daniel is just inside the top 200 high school players in the nation. His high rankings, nationally and regionally, reflect his ability to put the ball in the basket in a variety of ways. Although he is quick, he struggles to defend perimeter players, but he'll use his size and mass effectively in the post.

We're in the pole position to land him right now, ahead of several more prestigious programs in his home state. I don't hesitate to offer Daniel a scholarship, and we'll go all-out to keep us first on his list--bringing him to campus and sending Coaches Sims and Manion to visit him.

Darwin Alessi, from the delightfully named town of Shickshinny, PA, is the kind of player I affectionately call a Blue Collar Man. He does the tough work--defending and rebounding--that his teammates and coaches often value more than the fans do. The Blue Collar Man's crowd-pleasing moments are rare; if shot blocking is also part of his repertoire, he might reject a shot with enough style to earn some love.

I like having a Blue Collar Man on my roster. Clark Nolan was that kind of player. Rhett King has some of those skills, and so does freshman Samuel Davis. Darwin looks like he's well on his way to earning his BCM union card, and he also has a nifty little jumper.

Darwin has at least five programs ahead of us right now, but he's expressing Very High interest in playing for us. We'll visit him this month, and see if he's impressed enough to move us onto his list.

Jack Senn looks like he has the potential to fill the role of backcourt boss. His handle isn't quite good enough for a true point guard, but we're developing one of those already: first year Richard Leak.

Despite his athleticism, Jack is mainly a catch-and-shoot guy who needs his teammates to create shots for him. With a stroke like his, though, we can work around that.

Three-star players who have us first on their list are a new thing for us. I offer Jack a scholarship and max out our recruiting actions for him.

I decide to go ahead and offer Darwin Alessi a scholarship. Perhaps having an offer from us in his hand will convince him we're a good fit.

There are two or three other players I like well enough to send Coaches Sims and Manion to visit. If any of them become more important targets, you'll meet them, too.

September 1, 2015

It's been a good month for recruiting. Darwin Alessi was, indeed, waiting for an offer, and when he receives one, he immediately declares us his number one choice. Darwin also gets an offer from Drexel; their prestige is higher than ours (54-43), but Graham Sims and Steven Manion are much better recruiters than Drexel's staff. And, because Darwin didn't have us in his top five, we couldn't invite him to campus last month. We'll play that card this month, as well as sending our coaches to visit him.

Daniel Warnock receives at least four offers besides ours in August: Pennsylvania, Fordham, Monmouth, and Delaware. Penn, a similarly prominent program, could tempt him. Hopefully our recruiting team will receive positive news when they visit him this month.

Pacifism is a central tenet of the Quaker faith, but the Penn Quakers recruit relentlessly. We're competing with them for Jack Senn's commitment, too. Monmouth, Iona, and NJIT have also offered the sharpshooting guard. Like Daniel, Jack considers us his first choice. Let's lock this one down, too. Both coaches will pay him a visit this week.

What shall we do with our fourth offer? It should probably go to a big man. Two of the post players we like best are Jeffrey Gray and Dan Langdon.


Jeffrey has the ability to get to the rim and create his own shot. He's a good rebounder, but his defensive abilities are nothing special. A two-star recruit, Jeffrey lists us first despite having offers in hand from two other schools.


Dan has the potential to be an elite defender, and it looks like his offensive game has some upside. He's a very high three-star recruit (#102 in the nation). Dan would be a reach for us, since he holds offers from four schools with slightly higher prestige. Fairfield and Hofstra's head coaches are nearly irresistible recruiters.

So, here's the plan. I'll offer the scholarship to Langdon first. If he doesn't show significant signs of interest in our program by October 1, we'll back off. At the same time, I'll continue to recruit Gray, and hope he'll be willing to wait for us.

October 1, 2015

It's down to Lafayette and Drexel for Darwin Alessi. He's removed every other school from consideration. Darwin still prefers us. All we can do is send Coach Sims and Coach Manion to his home; I'm sure Leroy Curry and his assistant are doing the same thing.

Coach Curry is a very good X-and-O coach, but he's not much of a recruiter. Let's hope Coach Sims can work some of his recruiting magic.

The situation is much the same with Daniel Warnock. He narrows his choices to Lafayette and Pennsylvania, in that order. Penn's new head coach, Dale Lavalley, is a good recruiter (68, to Graham's 72). Their recruiting assistant, Dirk Clarke, is exactly as good at his job as our Steven Manion is. There's probably a random number generator which will determine which school Warnock picks. Let's hope Daniel values the stability Coach Sims is building in Easton.

Meanwhile, Jack Senn appears to have told every other program to stop recruiting him. He doesn't commit yet, but I don't recall us losing a player once we're in sole possession of the recruiting field. Time to close the deal, Coach.

The story behind our last scholarship becomes more interesting. I'm not surprised that Jeffrey Gray decides to move St. Francis, from whom he's received an offer, ahead of us. He still hasn't accepted the offer, and we're his other finalist...

Meanwhile, Dan Langdon announces his final two choices: Fairfield and Lafayette. That's a good sign. Dan says his interest in Lafayette is Average. That's not a good sign. Fairfield coach Jack Jones is a god-tier recruiter (97). That's not a good sign, either. We haven't invited Dan to campus yet, so we still have that move to make. We saw how much difference bringing Darwin Alessi to campus made in his recruitment.

Dan is supposedly one of the 25 best centers in the country. That makes it difficult to eliminate ourselves from the contest.

Worst-case scenario: Langdon signs with Fairfield, and Gray, tired of waiting, signs with St. Francis. What would we do then?

Perhaps we pursue Robert Wiley, a 7-footer from Long Island, to whom no school has yet offered a scholarship.

Robert scores a lot of points, but not simply because he's constantly shooting the ball. He's making 63 percent of his shots. Robert likes some big programs, but none of them seem to like him the same way. Holy Cross is on his list, too. I'd hate to have to play against him at least twice a year.

Then, there's a local boy named James Standard.

James isn't much of a scorer, but he rebounds as if his life depends on it. He's the kind of player who might be willing to wait for the offer he wants most.

It's a game. Let's play hard. Let's do Max Effort with every player whose name appears in this post.

Carpe diem.

November 1, 2015

The first two pieces of our recruiting class puzzle fall into place this month.

Daniel Warnock is the first player to announce his commitment to Lafayette basketball. Daniel ranks #196 among recruits in this class, and #30 among players at his position. He's the second most highly regarded player we've ever landed, after Joe Lien.

Right on the heels of Daniel's commitment, we receive good news from Jack Senn. Seton Hall appears to have made a late push to sign him, but Jack remained true to the program who liked him from the beginning.

Then comes the bad news. Drexel turns Darwin Alessi's head, and he signs with the Dragons. I didn't see that coming, and it makes things a lot more complicated for us.

So does the discovery that Jeffrey Gray signs with St. Francis. While I did see this coming, losing Alessi makes losing Gray more significant.

Then I notice that Robert Wiley isn't on my Call List anymore. That's because Robert has signed with Holy Cross! This is NOT working out the way I'd planned...

*deep breath*

Dan Langdon is, however, still on my list. He is still weighing his offers from Fairfield and Lafayette. He's upgraded his interest level to High. Coaches Sims and Manion will have to out-recruit Jack Jones, and not many coaches can pull that off. Cross your fingers.

I also decide to offer a scholarship to James Standard. We're James's first offer, and Graham and Steven can walk to his house to make the offer in person. That's exactly what they do.

Even when you lose the recruiting mini-game in FBCB, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

None of our players are willing to redshirt. That's a shame, because there won't be enough playing time to go around.

November 8, 2015

How did this year's training camp go? Let's find out, shall we?


Three of our seniors--James Sanders, Hubert Song, and Venceslás Castillo--fulfill the potential with which they arrived on campus. Hubert is a Blue/Blue player, while James and Venceslás are Green/Green. Their classmate, Rhett King, is Yellow/Green now.

Junior Alvaro Kinard is also developing as we hoped he would; he's now a Green/Green guy. And Joe Lien, with Blue potential, is now playing at the Green level. Five starters in the Green zone seems good for a Patriot League team.

Our first year players make significant gains in fitness. Richard Leak, Samuel Davis, and Otis Hall particularly stand out.

Now, it's time to begin the season...

November 17, 2015
Lafayette 72, St. Francis (NY) 43
We don't play very well in our season opener, but neither does St. Francis. We shoot under 40 percent from the floor, with Hubert Song and Joe Lien combining to lay bricks at a 11-for-34 pace. They're both better shooters than that.

Hubert (17 points) and Joe (16) are our leading scorers, but our best player is James Sanders. Big Colonel begins his senior season with a double-double; 16 points, 12 boards.

Alphonse Johnson, a center I recruited last year, plays 15 minutes and makes the only shot he attempts.

Bad news: An injured Venceslás Castillo leaves the game after only six minutes, and he doesn't return. His Strained Back will keep him out for a little over a week. One King (Rhett) will replace another King (Good) in our starting lineup.
Record: 1-0.


November 21, 2015
St. Francis (PA) 70, Lafayette 59
We split our series with teams representing universities named for the patron saint of animals, losing ugly to the Pennsylvania version.

Chris Jordan, last season's Freshman of the Year in the Northeast Conference, shows us how good he is as a sophomore: 32 points, 10 rebounds. Jordan outscores our guards, Joe Lien (15 points) and Hubert Song (9 points), by a wide margin.

Another double-double for James Sanders (15p, 11r) and Titanic rebounding from Rhett King (16 boards) don't make things that much better.
Record: 1-1.


November 23, 2015
Lafayette 82, Monmouth 80
Two days after losing a home game to a team with prestige in the teens, we barely hold off another, defeating the Hawks by a too-slim margin.

Joe Lien hasn't found his shooting stroke yet. He scores 16 points on 16 shots. Hubert Song has a much better game; he makes 4 out of 5 threes and finishes with 17 points.

Once again, the Big Colonel puts the team on his broad shoulders. James Sanders scores 24 points to lead all scorers, holding the talented Zachariah Metcalf to 10. James won't have a double-double in every game this season, because he finishes with "only" 5 rebounds. Rhett King, however, grabs another 11.

The past two games remind me how important Venceslás Castillo is to our success. Get well soon, King.
Record: 2-1.


November 26, 2015
Lafayette 66, Fairfield 47
We hope Dan Langdon looks at this result and thinks, "I want to play for Lafayette, because they're better than Fairfield."

We don't want Dan to think, "I should choose Fairfield, because their sophomore center, Larry Jamerson, just got rolled by James Sanders and only scored four points; I can beat him out easily."

James didn't play as well as he can--8 points, 8 rebounds--but with 13-rebound assistance from Rhett King, he kept the Fairfield bigs under tight control.

Hubert Song (16 points) and Joe Lien (12) lead us in scoring. Otis Hall contributes 8 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
Record: 3-1.

December 1, 2015
A few days after defeating Fairfield on the court, we lose to them in the recruiting arena. Dan Langdon chooses the Stags, and announces his commitment today.

We get good news from James Standard, however. The 6'10" local product signs with us, becoming the third member of our class. James has Yellow potential, and looks like he could grow into a Blue Collar Man.

I don't see anyone I'm desperate enough to offer on my Call List, so it's time to see if there's anyone out there who is (1) better than a one-star player, (2) not committed to anyone yet, and (3) somewhat interested in playing basketball at Lafayette.

I'm delighted to find one: Taylor LaRose.

I'm going to trust the experts here and offer Taylor a scholarship before we evaluate him. I can see he gets a lot of rebounds, and although he doesn't shoot often, he makes a lot of the shots he does take.

Nobody has offered Taylor a scholarship yet, which surprises me. He might not be what schools like Illinois, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt want, but all those programs have prestige scores in the 90s. He's almost certainly good enough for us, and then some.

Plus, Taylor attends one of the high schools I added into my game. :) It would be fun to have him on my team.

December 1, 2015
Lafayette 76, Manhattan 69
We play better in a road test at Manhattan, getting the better of the Jaspers in a gritty second half.

James Sanders returns to double-double status with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Joe Lien looks more like he did last year, netting 17 and making half his eight three-point attempts. Venceslás Castillo celebrates his return to the lineup with 10 points, 7 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

But the star of the game is Rhett King. Seeing action at all three frontcourt positions in 25 minutes, the senior contributes 20 points and 7 rebounds. He also tries seven threes...and hits four of them.

I'm beginning to think Alvaro Kinard simply plays better when he comes off the bench. He's averaging only 6.8 PPG on 37% shooting. When we play Hofstra in two days, I'm going to roll out the heavyweights: Sanders, Castillo, and King.
Record: 4-1.


December 3, 2015
Hofstra 85, Lafayette 71
Hofstra is a good basketball team. They've improved steadily under coach Michael Pettway, a sublime recruiter who has raised the level of the Pride roster significantly.

Tonight, they force us to commit 21 turnovers, which is not like us at all. Hubert Song's woes continue; he scores only 8 points and only manages to take five shots. Alvaro Kinard (0 points, 3 rebounds) doesn't contribute much as our sixth man, either. Joe Lien scores 13, but turns the ball over six times.

On the other hand, Venceslás Castillo scores 19, James Sanders adds 16, and Rhett King gives us 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Record: 4-2.


December 7, 2015
Lafayette 92, Pennsylvania 44
The Leopards roar out of the traces tonight, amassing a 60-21 advantage in the first half and strolling the rest of the way to victory in Philadelphia.

Hubert Song plays like Hubert Song, leading us with 16 points and 5 assists. Joe Lien scores 14 points in only 17 minutes before fouling out. James Sanders adds 13 and 8 rebounds. And Good King Venceslás throws down with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Our starting frontcourt is 20 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 834 pounds. Dividing their dimensions evenly would create three men who are a bit over 6'9" and weigh 278 pounds apiece. That's just fun. Sanders, King, and Castillo need a catchy group nickname.
Record: 5-2.


December 10, 2015
Lafayette 78, Delaware 71
This far-from-aesthetically-pleasing win doesn't send our fans home from the Kirby Center with a renewed appreciation for the game of basketball. That is, unless you enjoy watching players shoot free throws. Delaware shoots 38 of them (making 23), and we attempt 27 (making 17). So it's not even a fine example of the art of the foul shot.

On the bright side, Joe Lien and Hubert Song play well in the same game, scoring 17 and 16 points respectively. Venceslás Castillo (14) and James Sanders (10) join them to give us four players in double figures.

Armando Brown plays well, too: three assists and zero turnovers in 25 minutes.
Record: 6-2.


December 17, 2015
Lafayette 88, Ohio 70
Behind a career-high 33 points from Joe Lien, the Leopards romp to a big road win.

Twenty-one of Joe's points come from three-point shots; he drains 7 of 16 from behind the arc. James Sanders (16), Robert Song (13), and Venceslás Castillo (11) provide scoring support, and Rhett King snares another 14 rebounds.

Tonight, however, belongs to our sophomore sharpshooter from the Delaware Water Gap.
Record: 7-2.


December 19, 2015
Baylor 71, Lafayette 69
This away game, designed to help our RPI, nearly ends up in an upset. We go toe-to-toe with the Bears for 40 minutes, and Alvaro Kinard's three-ball with 22 seconds left gives us a chance to steal the result. We can't work any late magic, however, and Baylor holds on to a victory they might have thought would come easily.

Joe Lien leads the Leopards with 20 points, to which he adds 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Venceslás Castillo misses a double-double by one rebound (15p, 9r). James Sanders misses one by one point (9p, 13r).

We might very well have won the game if we could have stopped fouling our opponents. Both Lien and Hubert Song fouled out, and the Bears made 31 free throws.
Record: 7-3.


December 29, 2015
Missouri 80, Lafayette 77
After a nice holiday break, we travel to Mizzou and give a very good Big 12 team all they can handle, coming back from eight points down at halftime to have a shot at tying the score on our last possession. Hubert Song, who already had 24 points, sees his three-point attempt rim out.

Joe Lien finishes with 16 points, James Sanders with 11.

The worst news, however, comes from our medical staff. Venceslás Castillo sprains his wrist, and he'll be shelved for about 9 days. The Good King should be back in action for our Patriot League opener on January 9.
Record: 7-4.

January 1, 2016
It could be a happier New Year for Lafayette basketball. Before we have a chance to discover how good Taylor LaRose is, he accepts an offer from St. John's.

I'll take one last chance at a relative unknown: C Todd DeHaven, from William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He's a three-star player with no offers and at least an Average interest in playing for Lafayette; the last remaining big man in the United States for whom this is true. Perhaps against my better judgement, we offer Todd a scholarship and begin to recruit him.


January 1, 2016
Lafayette 80, Dartmouth 68
We get lucky here, but not with respect to the outcome. That was predictable, as we play one of our better all-around games of the year. Joe Lien (24 points, 3-7 from three) and Hubert Song (20 points, 4-10 from three, 7 points, 5 assists) play well; they need to, because Dartmouth's senior guard Donny Soukup is the real deal. He's scored almost 1500 points in his career, and he adds 24 to his total tonight.

We need that good luck because I forget to move Venceslás Castillo down on our depth chart. I'm sure the Good King wonders why Coach Sims has him starting a non-conference game in January when he's at 81% efficiency. He mans up anyway, scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in 31 minutes.

James Sanders finishes with 13 points, and Rhett King with 11 rebounds. But Big Colonel sprains his knee, and he'll be limited for a week.

I quickly adjust our depth chart. I won't be fooled again.
Record: 8-4.


January 6, 2016
Lafayette 57, South Carolina State 51
Without James Sanders and Venceslás Castillo, our frontcourt is rendered almost powerless, and we barely beat a Bulldogs team that enters the game with a 3-9 record.

Starters Samuel Davis, Rhett King, and Alvaro Kinard make one of nine shots between them. They combine to score eight points and commit nine fouls. Kinard, who is considered a very good shooter, plays 34 minutes and doesn't take a single shot.

Good thing Joe Lien (20 points) and Hubert Song (19 points, 9 rebounds) bring their A games. Raleigh McGinty makes his presence felt in seven minutes on the floor, scoring two points and grabbing four rebounds.

How do you solve a problem like Alvaro?. He's a Green/Green player, one who should be very good at this level. This year, he's averaging 5.0 points per game, playing nearly 21 minutes. It doesn't seem to matter whether he starts or comes off the bench; he never manages to get into the flow of the game.

The victory is the 100th of Graham Sims' career. His record stands at 100-44.
Record: 9-4.

Our not-so-wonderful OOC schedule is now complete.

Four teams have already played their first Patriot League games. It's weird to see American and Bucknell with such lousy records, isn't it?


January 9, 2016
Lafayette 72, American 61
Once upon a time, I would have never considered sitting James Sanders and Venceslás Castillo against American when both players were at 90% efficiency. I take that gamble tonight, and it pays off.

Once again, our backcourt pair show us that they're back. Joe Lien has established himself in the role of Star Scorer once again (24 points). Hubert Song plays the part of Complete Guard in his trademark style (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists). Rhett King hauls in another 9 rebounds; he's averaging 10.0 per game, and would lead the Patriot League if Navy's Stephen Collins hadn't turned into the God of Rebounding. Collins is leading the nation in that category at 13.0 RPG.

Samuel Davis plays 29 effective, efficient minutes at center, finishing with 10 points (4-5 shooting), 6 rebounds, and FOUR blocked shots.
Record: 10-4 (1-0).


January 13, 2016
Lafayette 83, Army 73
Jack Jessie defeats Joe Lien in tonight's shoot-out between high-scoring guards, 27-25. However, Joe's teammates provide him with better support, and we win the competition that really counts.

Our winning formula is a familiar one. Take a lot of points from from Joe Lien and add a double-double from James Sanders (18 points, 12 rebounds), an authoritative game from Hubert Song (16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals), and a solid performance from Venceslás Castillo (12 points, 6 rebounds).

Rhett King endured a horrific game (2 points, 7 turnovers), but his teammates had his back.
Record: 11-4 (2-0).


January 16, 2016
Lafayette 68, Navy 59
Powered by a double double-double, courtesy of James Sanders (10 pts, 14 reb) and Venceslás Castillo (11 pts, 10 reb), we pull away from the Midshipmen during the second half.

Hubert Song leads us with 15 points, but the most impressive scorer is Raleigh McGinty. The freshman big man scores 8 points, hitting two triples, in THREE minutes of action.

Stephen Collins, still leading the NCAA in rebounding, hauls in "only" 10 for the Middies.
Record: 12-4 (3-0).


January 20, 2016
Lafayette 82, Bucknell 55
Without their talisman, Moses Washington, Bucknell is floundering badly this season; they enter the game with a 3-13 record. We do a lot of things right against the Bison today: we make half our shots (30-60); we make OVER half our three-point shots (11-21); we win the rebounding battle (35-31) and our assist-turnover ratio looks good (17a, 7t).

Five Leopards score in double digits. All the starters except Hubert Song do so, led by James Sanders with 19. The fifth is Alvaro Kinard, who knocks down all three of his triples and finishes with 12 points in 18 minutes.
Record: 13-4 (4-0).


January 23, 2016
Lafayette 74, Holy Cross 65
Things don't look good at halftime, as the Crusaders open up a 37-29 lead at the Kirby Center. But with 14:01 remaining, Hubert Song drills a three to tie the score at 45. Holy Cross takes its final lead of the game, 59-58, at the four-minute mark, but we pour it on from that point forward and secure the victory.

James Sanders continues to throw down, scoring 21 points and securing 13 rebounds. Joe Lien is right behind him with 19, and Song nets 16. Rhett King, our leading rebounder, has 11 more tonight.

Colgate is matching us, win for win, in Patriot League play. American is playing much better in the conference; they're a game back at 4-1.
Record: 14-4 (5-0).


January 27, 2016
Lafayette 74, Lehigh 55
Once again, a dominant second half is the key to a victory over a conference rival. With 5:27 to play, we're behind by 11. We cut the Mountain Hawks' lead to one by the break, and open the second half with a blistering 14-2 run that puts the game on ice.

The Class of 2016 asserts itself here. James Sanders hazes Lehigh's freshman center, Stephen Zepeda, outscoring him 21-0. Hubert Song matches his classmate's points total, adding five rebounds and five assists. A third senior, Venceslás Castillo, drops in 19 with 11 rebounds.
Record: 15-4 (6-0).


January 30, 2016
Lafayette 81, Colgate 73
In what might turn out to be the toughest challenge we face in conference play, we travel to upstate New York to face the Red Raiders in a battle of teams who had yet to lose a league game. This time we play our best ball in the first half, when we build a 11-point lead we never relinquish.

Tonight, the Good King is the biggest star. Venceslás Castillo scores 21 points, claims 10 rebounds, and limits high-scoring Shaun Domingo to only eight field goal attempts and 11 points. The Best Supporting Actor Award goes to James Sanders, for his 21 points, and Joe Lien helps out with 17 points and 5 assists.

We've run the table during the first round of Patriot League play. Let's see how long we can keep this run of form going.
Record: 16-4 (7-0).

February 1, 2016
Our staff had time to check out Todd DeHaven over the course of the month. We like him a lot. I doubt he would ever be a primary scoring option for us, but teams would have to legitimately guard him. He's also shown a willingness to compete for rebounds, and his defensive instincts are sound.

Todd expresses some interest in playing for Bucknell, but they haven't offered him a scholarship yet. I suppose I can understand why he isn't leaping to accept the first offer he gets; we'll keep recruiting him and, hopefully, we'll have good news in March.

The first edition of the Bubble Watch is released today. We're listed as a Lock, and so is Colgate. This is a first for the Patriot League, and it's undoubtedly a result of our improved conference prestige.


February 1, 2016
Lafayette 79, Columbia 48
We take a pleasant trip to New York City to face the Lions. It's a homecoming game for NYC natives Armando Brown, Alvaro Kinard, and especially Hubert Song.

Once again, an opponent simply can't handle the size and power of James Sanders. When they can't stop him, they foul him, and Big Colonel is a good free throw shooter, especially for a center. Tonight, he makes 8 of 12 field goals and 9 of 11 free throws, good for 25 points.

Song gives his family and friends from home a good show, knocking down four treys, scoring 16 points, and grabbing 8 rebounds. Joe Lien adds 13 points, Rhett King has 13 rebounds (9 offensive), and Samuel Davis plays well off the bench (10 points, 4 rebounds).
Record: 17-4.


February 3, 2016
Lafayette 66, American 65
While this American team isn't as fearsome as their predecessors, they're still dangerous on their best nights...especially at home. We let the Eagles take a 40-31 lead to the locker room at halftime. We start playing Leopard defense in the second half, and that's just enough to eke out the win.

The Eagles, led by talented soph Bryant Passmore, defend our backcourt well. Hubert Song and Joe Lien score only 12 points between them, and a frustrated Lien fouls out.

Fortunately, Coach Sims has other weapons at his disposal. Venceslás Castillo scores a career high 22 points, and James Sanders adds 18 (10-11 from the line). And, on a night when every possession matters, we turn the ball over only six times.
Record: 18-4 (8-0).


February 6, 2016
Lafayette 91, St. Peter's 50
Our out-of-conference interlude closes with a dominant win over the Peacocks, across the river in Jersey City. It's our twelfth consecutive win; we haven't lost since December 29, when Missouri beat us.

Four of our starters score in comfortable double figures (Venceslás Castillo 19, Joe Lien 17, Hubert Song 16, James Sanders 14) and the fourth barely misses a double-double (Rhett King, 9 points, 9 rebounds).
Record: 19-4 (8-0).


February 7, 2016
I've decided to mention the Mid Major poll when the Leopards are ranked in the top ten. The latest poll has us leaping eight spots to #4. Utah State, Xavier, and Rhode Island hold the top three places.

Colgate is ranked #12; this is probably the first time two Patriot League teams appear in the poll. I suppose it's possible that American and Holy Cross were simultaneously ranked three or four years ago.


February 10, 2016
Lafayette 80, Army 61
We maintain our unbeaten record in the Patriot League, defeating Army at home. We shoot very poorly from long range (4-23), but we have James Sanders, and they don't.

Big Colonel is putting together a solid case for his second consecutive Player of the Year award. Tonight he scores 30 points, a new career high, making 11 of 16 shots and 8 of 11 free throws.

Venceslás Castillo and Joe Lien score 12 apiece, and Rhett King takes only two shots, but corrals 11 rebounds.

Army guard Jack Jessie scores 16 points in his final visit to the Kirby Center. Sometime next week, he should score the 2000th point of his collegiate career.

We have to keep winning, because Colgate does, too. They're 9-1 in the league, and that one loss is to us.
Record: 20-4 (9-0).


February 13, 2016
Lafayette 90, Navy 69
I'm enjoying coaching a team that has multiple weapons in its arsenal. If one or two of them aren't firing, another one probably will be.

Tonight, James Sanders encounters foul trouble trying to keep Navy's Stephen Collins off the boards. It seems that every time the Big Colonel bumps the Navy center, a striped shirt blows their whistle. Sanders only plays six minutes, but he manages to score six points. Collins, left with one fewer big body to battle, pulls in 15 rebounds. Rhett King holds his own against the nation's best boardsman, getting 12 of his own.

But the Midshipmen forget to guard Joe Lien. The sophomore throws down his first big game in a while, scoring 27 points, with five rebounds and three assists. Our only other double figure scorer is Venceslás Castillo, with exactly 10, but we do see signs of life from Alvaro Kinard (9 points in 19 minutes).

Holy Cross helps us by routing Colgate, 72-45.
Record: 21-4 (10-0).


February 14, 2016
We receive a Valentine from the creators of the Mid Major rankings, who put us at #4 again this week. We get 29 votes in the "big poll," too.

Utah State (22-2), the best of the Mid Majors, are #3 in the polls, behind Georgetown and Kansas.


February 17, 2016
Lafayette 72, Holy Cross 65
The Crusaders don't manage to pull off another upset, but they defend their home court tenaciously, battling us back and forth until the final minute of the game.

It's business as usual from Joe Lien (14 points, 9 rebounds), Hubert Song (17 points) and Venceslás Castillo (10 rebounds). And James Sanders gets the best of a tough veteran center, the Crusaders' Reuben Harwell, scoring 21 points and adding 9 rebounds.

Once again, we fire up a lot of bricks from behind the arc. I'm going to dial back our three point usage, which I had set at 9.
Record: 22-4 (11-0).


February 20, 2016
Lafayette 88, Bucknell 65
It's 16 straight wins for Graham Sims and the Lafayette Leopards, and an especially memorable night for Joe Lien.

Joe refuses to let the Bison defend him. He explodes for 37 points, going 13-23 from the field, and 6-13 from long range. Late in the second half, a long three gives him 1,002 points...as a sophomore. Point guard Hubert Song hands out a career-best 8 assists.

Fouling James Sanders doesn't work any better for Bucknell than it did for other Patriot League teams. James makes 11 of his 14 free throws and finishes with 17 points, just above his season average of 16 per game. And Rhett King, the Patriot League's best rebounder not named Stephen Collins, adds 10 more to his season total. But, even more impressively, Rhett blocks SIX shots.

We earn at least a share of the conference championship with our win.
Record: 23-4 (12-0).


February 21, 2016
We're once again #4 in the Mid Major poll, and we move up to #25 in the Media Top 25 rankings.


February 24, 2016
#24 Lafayette 88, Lehigh 54
The Mountain Hawks have struggled this year, and they come to the Kirby Center hoping to avoid their 20th loss of the season. Lehigh keeps it fairly close for a while, but we outscore them 47-22 in the second half to break the game open.

James Sanders plays another excellent game, scoring 22 points, getting 12 rebounds, blocking a shot, and getting a steal. Hubert Song (13 points), Venceslás Castillo (10), Joe Lien (10) and Armando Brown (10) reach double digits, too.

The best story, however, comes to us courtesy of Rhett King. After 125 games in Lafayette colors, Rhett has apparently decided that it is time for him to devote himself to the task of blocking as many shots as possible. Today, he rejects four Lehigh shots, giving him 10 blocks in two games. Over those two games, he attempts only 12 shots himself.

Our victory clinches the Patriot League championship. Our athletic director set "Win the conference championship" as our goal, so unless that means winning the tournament, we've achieved our objective.
Record: 24-4 (13-0).


February 27, 2016
Senior Day
#25 Lafayette 74, Colgate 71
Before a large, emotional crowd at the Kirby Center, we complete our sweep of the Patriot League season with a narrow victory over the conference runners-up. Seniors Venceslás Castillo, Rhett King, James Sanders, and Hubert Song embrace their families before the game and walk off the court as winners and champions after it.

It's not an easy victory. Irvin Schumacher drops in a three to send his Red Raiders into the locker room with a 36-32 halftime lead. But after the intermission, two three-point plays: a long jumper by Venceslás Castillo and an old school and-one by James Sanders ties the score at 38. Joe Lien dishes the ball to Sanders for a layup to give us the lead with 17:16 remaining, a lead we don't relinquish.

How do the seniors play in their final regular season home game? Rhett King scores 7 points and grabs 8 rebounds. He blocks "only" 2 shots. Hubert Song finishes with 12 points and 4 boards. Venceslàs Castillo barely misses a double-double: 14 points, 9 rebounds. And James Sanders, limited to 19 minutes by foul trouble, still manages to produce 14 points and 6 rebounds.

Joe Lien is our high scorer with 17 points, but today belongs to the men of the Class of 2016.
Record: 25-4 (14-0).

March 1, 2016

Good recruiting news comes our way on the eve of the Patriot League tournament. Todd DeHaven will be playing for us next season!

I didn't want to take the trouble to post his profile until he was ours. (OK, I didn't want to jinx us, either.)


Now that I take an even closer look at Todd's ratings, I believe I was a little too pessimistic about his offensive potential. James Sanders has the same potential INS rating as Todd does, and Big Colonel's JMP potential is D. James averages 16 points per game now.

DeHaven might not turn out to be a four-year starter for us like James has been, but I think he's a fine signing for us.

Welcome to the program, Todd.

March 2, 2016
Patriot League Tournament
(1) #23 Lafayette (1) 65, (8) Army 57
We get very lucky here, playing badly and still managing to win. How badly? We shoot 32% for the day, miss 22 of our 28 three-point tries, and turn the ball over 18 times.

Joe Lien and Hubert Song score 17 and 16 points, respectively, but they're terribly inefficient; they need 31 shots to do so. Venceslás Castillo is even worse, going 2-10 from the floor. And James Sanders doesn't play like James Sanders (9 points, 8 rebounds). Army's Sterling Davies outplays him: 14 points, 12 boards.

And there's bad news from the medical staff. Rhett King dislocates his shoulder, effectively ending his Lafayette career. Rhett pulled down 10 rebounds in his final collegiate game.

Jack Jessie scores 21 points for Army in his final collegiate game. His career total of 2105 points is the highest in this universe's short history.

Two seed Colgate holds serve, but Navy and Bucknell score upsets and join us in the next round. I'm always wary of Bucknell during March.
Record: 26-4.


March 6, 2016
Patriot League Tournament
(5) Navy 89, (1) #23 Lafayette 81
For the second straight season, we lose the semifinal of our conference tournament. Navy deserves all the credit; they simply outplay us for 40 minutes.

Edward Jones, a conference All-Freshman selection last year, rips us for 27 points. Seniors William Davis (18 points) and Stephen Collins (11 points, his typical 15 rebounds) play like stars.

Three of our starters foul out, and the others end the game with four fouls. Joe Lien leads us with 17 points, but he shoots a ghastly 5-21 for the night.

The Midshipmen will face Colgate in the final.
Record: 26-5.


March 11, 2016
Colgate wins the Patriot League tournament with a 87-68 victory over Navy. The Red Raiders thereby earn our automatic bid, but their 25-7 record should be good enough to earn them an invitation anyway.


March 13, 2016
We're awarded the #6 seed in the South Region. Our opponent will be East Tennessee State, regular season champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Like us, the 24-7 Buccaneers lost in the semifinal of their conference tourney.

Colgate is headed to the West, where they're the #10 seed. Their first-round opponent will be 7-seed Purdue.

Holy Cross got the #4 seed in the CIT.


March 17, 2016
NCAA South Region
(6) #25 Lafayette 76, (11) East Tennessee State 71
It seems like ugly wins might be the best outcome we can expect without the steadying presence of big Rhett King. That's what we get today, as we nearly let the game slip away in the last five minutes.

Joe Lien's 21 points leads all scorers. James Sanders and Hubert Song each score 10 points, and Big Colonel pulls in 13 rebounds.

Purdue eliminates Colgate with a 78-57 victory. Holy Cross beats Campbell to advance in the CIT.
Record: 27-5.


March 19, 2016
NCAA South Region
(3) #6 Mississippi State 71, (6) #25 Lafayette 59
Our victory earns us a date with Mississippi State, one of the nation's best teams. They're deep and talented, and the final score doesn't reflect how competitive the game was for most of the second half.

The Bulldogs led, 41-20 at the break, but we go on a 16-2 run to cut their lead to four points with 14:23 to play. Six of those points are scored by Hubert Song, four of them on breakaway layups after stealing the ball. We're still only five points down at the 6:54 mark. We make them earn their victory.

Joe Lien finishes as the game's high scorer with 22 points, making five of his eight three-point attempts. And all three of our seniors make meaningful contributions in the last game of their collegiate careers.

Hubert Song makes 6 of his 8 shot attempts, scores 15 points, and adds 3 steals. James Sanders gets into foul trouble and plays only 20 minutes, but he claims 11 rebounds and scores 7 points. Venceslás Castillo finishes with 7 points and 6 boards.
Record: 27-6.

March 29, 2016
Holy Cross nearly becomes the first Patriot League team to win a post-season tournament. They lose the CIT championship game to St. Mary's, 68-58.


April 2, 2016
This year's Final Four are Texas, Mississippi State, USC, and Boston College. Both national semifinals are blowouts; Mississippi State, making its second consecutive trip to the Final Four, beats Texas by 20, and USC hammers Boston College by 26.


April 4, 2016
The Mississippi State team that knocked us out of the tournament loses to USC in the championship game, 63-55. All-American point guard Tony Cash is the game's MVP.

Here are the final Patriot League standings, updated to reflect tournament play:

This year, three teams from our conference reach the 20-win threshold. The other five teams have losing records.

We're ranked in the final poll for the first time.

It's time for the Patriot League awards, too.

All season long, I've been hoping that James Sanders would win his second Player of the Year award. I knew the competition would be tough; Navy's Stephen Collins is the nation's leading rebounder. It was conceivable that Big Colonel might not even be a first team All-Patriot pick, even after playing better as a senior than he did the year before. I'm delighted to see our big man recognized a second time.

I'm also delighted to see Venceslás Castillo join James on the first team! The Good King also saved his best performances for his final year in Easton.

The other members of our starting five earned places on the second team. Again, it's particularly rewarding to see Rhett King's contributions recognized in such a meaningful way. And seeing Hubert Song and Joe Lien paired together in the backcourt seems appropriate, too.

I feel sorry for Army's Jack Jessie. He averaged 19.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a senior, and wasn't chosen to either All-Conference team.

In fact, Jack has never made an All-Patriot League team. He started 121 games for the Black Knights, and he averaged at least 15 points per game during each of his four years. Perhaps he's paying the price for playing for such lousy teams; Army went 11-19 his freshman season, and that's the best record one of his teams ever achieved.

So few Patriot League freshmen played meaningful minutes that Otis Hall, who was on the floor 180 minutes over his 30 appearances, gained one of the spots on an incomplete All-Freshman Team. Perhaps that's a good omen. Remember how Dana Broughton turned out?

Well, this has been progressing rather well since I last caught up! Great write ups =)

Thanks, TheseBoots. I've had a lot of fun with this dynasty. My first recruiting class brought in four players who were talented and likeable. I'll miss them next season, in more ways than one.

I struggle sometimes to find the sweet spot when it comes to writing about a dynasty. I like to write, but I also like to play games. If writing takes too long, then I'm frustrated by the fact I don't have time to play. If the gameplay bogs down, I don't feel like I'm making progress, and I stop the project altogether. So far, I'm liking the balance in this project. I've played through five seasons, so there's a bit of history being created.

Thanks for stopping by again!

April 5, 2016



I wish I'd started sharing the "season info" page earlier. These statistics reflect the identity I've tried to create at Lafayette: a team that plays tough defense, controls the boards, and wins the turnover battle. It's cool to see that, at the same time, we've been able to bring in players who can put points on the scoreboard.





Here's how the Leopards rank among Patriot League players in some important statistical categories:

• PPG: Joe Lien 2nd, James Sanders 5th, Hubert Song 7th
• RPG: Rhett King 2nd, James Sanders 5th, Venceslás Castillo 9th
• APG: Hubert Song 7th, Joe Lien 8th
• SPG: Hubert Song 3rd
• BPG: Samuel Davis 2nd, Rhett King 4th
• FG%: James Sanders 9th
• FT%: James Sanders 5th
• 3P%: Hubert Song 7th, Joe Lien 8th
• PPS: James Sanders 3rd, Hubert Song 5th
• +/-: Hubert Song 1st, Venceslás Castillo 2nd, James Sanders 3rd, Joe Lien 4th
• DBL DBL: James Sanders 8 (2nd), Venceslás Castillo 4 (6th)

Next: our most meaningful Senior Tributes yet. :)

2015/16 Senior Tribute

RHETT KING

When his Lafayette career began, Rhett King was often considered the "forgotten man" in his recruiting class. Rhett was the last player to sign, and his reputation coming out of high school was less glittering than those of his classmates.

Now, we look at Rhett in a very different light.


Rhett was a big, strong man when he arrived on campus, and he became even more formidable over the course of his career. His single-digit jersey number made him look even more imposing.

Cast as a valuable frontcourt reserve from the beginning, Rhett's ability to play the five, the four, and occasionally the three kept him in the rotation. At the beginning of his senior season, it looked like the big boy from upstate New York would play the same role once again. But early in the winter, we decided to shift him into the starting five, and the results were very, very positive.

Rhett's skill at rebounding, shot blocking, and playing tough defense were especially essential to our success this season. I've been trying to recruit his eventual replacement for a couple years, and it's not easy to do.

Perhaps Rhett will one day coach the young man who fills that role. He's going to begin a career as a teacher and coach.

Rhett King is, and will remain, our original Blue Collar Man.

Thanks for the memories, Rhett.

2015/16 Senior Tribute

VENCESLÁS CASTILLO

If Venceslás Castillo's parents hadn't given him such an interesting first name, I would have nicknamed him the Man of La Mancha. That's the region of Spain from which he hails. When we recruited him, I predicted this two-star recruit would become "an outstanding shooter and a tough defensive player." We got an All-Conference player who lived up to his billing.


The arrival of other talented offensive players meant we didn't end up relying on the Good King as a primary scoring option, although he did score over 1000 points in his career. He gained nearly 30 pounds of muscle as a collegian, which enabled us to use him as a stretch four or, more often, as a powerful not-so-small forward. Venceslás was comfortable starting the game or coming off the bench, a role he played very effectively as a sophomore.

Perhaps it's a case of selection bias, but it seems to me that very few players contributed to wins in more timely ways than the Good King. If we needed scoring, he dropped 15. If we needed rebounding, he pulled in a dozen. If we needed shut-down defense, he held his man to seven shots and five points. His selection to the All-Patriot League first team was a well-deserved capstone to a first-rate career.

No wonder Castillo was such a fan (and forum) favorite.

Thanks for the memories, Venceslás.

2015/16 Senior Tribute

HUBERT SONG

On the day we signed him, I wrote about Hubert Song: "His potential ability is Blue, and if he approaches that level of accomplishment, he'll be a star." I'm very glad I turned out to be right.


It's only fitting that a player with the surname "Song" attended LaGuardia, since the school's full name is "Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts." Among Hubert's fellow alumni are Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Marlon Wayans. Hubert is, in fact, a talented actor and singer who performed regularly with the Chorduroys, one of Lafayette's a capella groups.

Hubert took the lead on the basketball court, too. He started every game of his four-season career; his teams compiled a record of 106-26. After featuring as a shooting guard as a freshman, Hubert moved to the point and became an even more effective player, one who could facilitate the offense and create shots for himself, too. Playing at over 220 pounds as an upperclassman, Hubert had the size and power to guard big men on switches, and he was a very good rebounder for a guard.

Hubert was a model of consistency over the course of his career, which saw him earn All-Conference honors for three seasons. This Song was, most definitely, a hit.

Thanks for the memories, Hubert.

2015/16 Senior Tribute

JAMES SANDERS

Lafayette College enrolls approximately 2500 students, and it would be almost impossible to find one who doesn't know (and like) James Sanders. The biggest of big men on campus, James has excelled in the classroom, in campus life, and most memorably, on the basketball court.


Like his classmate Hubert Song, James was a starter from his first day of practice as a freshman. Many young big men take a while to learn to make good use of their size and strength. The Big Colonel grew into a starring role gradually. James developed into a dangerous inside scorer who made opponents pay dearly for concentrating their efforts too exclusively on the Leopards' high-scoring guards. His ability to draw fouls forced opposing bigs to play less aggressively, and when they fouled him, James made them pay.

Sanders took big strides as a junior. He became the most indispensable ingredient in the Leopards' increasing success, and became the first Lafayette player to be named Patriot League Player of the Year. And, as a senior, he became an even better player--he set new career highs in scoring and rebounding--and was named the conference's best player once again.

On Draft Night, the Sanders family celebrated when James' name was called as the 14th pick in Round Two. He'll play in the Summer League, before attempting to win a roster spot. I wouldn't bet against him if I were you.

A student of history, James chose his jersey number to honor baseball legend and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson, whom James' grandfather watched from the stands at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. Robinson's number has been retired across Major League Baseball. Perhaps Lafayette will hang the Big Colonel's #42 jersey from the Kirby Center rafters one day.

Thanks for the memories, James.

May 1, 2016

The increased prestige of the Patriot League has helped all eight programs recruit more highly regarded players. When Graham Sims arrived at Lafayette, at least one Patriot League team's class was ranked in the 300s...and usually two or three fared that badly. This year, only Navy has a truly terrible incoming class, and six teams landed in the top half of the rankings.


And look whose class is rated the best in the conference!

The experts think this is the best group of newcomers Coach Sims has ever recruited. And, according to the player rankings, they're right. Todd DeHaven (#155) and Daniel Warnock (#196) are both among the top 200 players in the nation, and Jack Senn (#215) aren't far behind.

DeHaven arrives on campus as an Orange/Green player. Senn is Red/Green, and Warnock is Red/Yellow. Our fourth recruit, James Standard, is Red/Orange.

Now that we have them on campus, I can see that we did a decent job scouting them. DeHaven is a more polished player than he appeared to be in high school. Senn isn't quite as good a passer and ballhandler as we thought, at least right now, and his long-range shooting turns out to be more of a work in progress. Warnock, on the other hand, is a better shooter and a much more promising defender. We did the worst job evaluating Standard. His inside game is much less promising than we thought, and he might be more prone to turnovers.

May 1, 2016

Graham Sims' ratings have improved this year. After five seasons as a Level 7 coach, he's been upgraded to Level 8.

I have 20 points to distribute across Graham's four attributes. The easy thing to do would be to increase all categories five points, but I think I'll take a different approach this time.

As you'll soon see, Graham's assistants got upgrades, too. I'm not going to break up the coaching team I've assembled here; it ain't broke, so I'm not gonna fix it. Coaching assistant Thomas Liang has now become even more of a defense whisperer than Graham is, but his knowledge of offense is extremely limited. For that reason, I think I'll boost Graham's Coaching Offense score a bit more, perhaps at the expense of Coaching Defense.


All three assistant coaches want raises that reflect their growing abilities. Coach Liang wants a $10,000 raise, to $50,000/year. Steven Manion and Donn McClinton each want $20,000 more per season, which would bring Manion up to $60,000 and McClinton to $70,000.



They've all improved their key skill quite a bit. I'll give them those raises when it's time.

May 1, 2016

The first Head Coach round sees nine job offers land in the mailbox of the talented young Lafayette coach. Among them are offers from Michigan, Indiana, and Wake Forest.

The only one I could have Graham accept is the Penn State job. Their coach, Charles Beesley, retired after posting five consecutive losing seasons. Penn State's basketball budget is considerably higher than Lafayette's, but the three assistant coaches suck in about $350,000 of it...and they're not worth it. The Nittany Lions are also the more prestigious program, and they play in the Big Ten.

Right now, however, I like the direction of Lafayette's program much better. Perhaps Graham will one day take on the challenge of building a weak program in a power conference, but I sense this is not the time.

The next round brings a more enticing offer. Saint Joseph's is looking for a new head man, because Indiana hired Douglass McGlynn away from them when they couldn't get Graham Sims.

The Hawks went 26-8 last season, and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament. They return one of the nation's top freshmen from last season, guard Neville Black, and their strong recruiting class is headlined by four-star playmaker Carl McGough. With a budget of over $500,000 and no assistant coaches on the payroll, I could bring Graham's staff with him and replicate the Lafayette culture at Saint Joseph's.

The lure of coaching in the Big Five is so, so strong. This time I literally toss a coin. If it's heads, Graham stays at Lafayette. If it's tails, he takes the Saint Joseph's offer.

I flip tails. Leopard Nation leaps for joy. :)

The coaching carousel spins in funny ways in the next two rounds, too. St. Joseph's, determined to poach their coach from the Patriot League, lures Emile Richards from Holy Cross. The Crusaders promptly offer Graham their job. Yeah, no.

Holy Cross continues to antagonize its conference rivals by trying to steal their head basketball coaches. Their next target is Colgate's Brian Smith, the reigning conference Coach of the Year. Brian moves up to Worcester, so Colgate looks Graham's way. No, thank you.

In the Assistant Coach Round, I secure the services of Graham's three assistants at the salaries they request. We still have $18,852 left in our monthly recruiting budget.

You lied to the coin!

Great catch! I did flip tails, but my rampaging ADD caught up with me as I was writing my post. I typed out the process I was going to follow first. Then my mind went off on a delightful tangent.

Hmmm...a leopard has an impressive tail, and that Saint Joe's hawk head logo is pretty sweet. I think I'll make Lafayette tails and Saint Joe's heads instead.

Of course, I didn't take the time to go back and change what I'd written. I simply barreled ahead, as per usual, and flipped the coin. It landed on tails, and Graham stays at Lafayette.

July 1, 2016

Here are your 2016/17 Lafayette College Leopards!


After two or three years of remarkable stability, things are going to look a lot different this season.

We have to replace the 3,468 minutes logged by last year's seniors. The four members of Graham Sims' first recruiting class scored almost 60 percent of the team's points and grabbed about 68 percent of its rebounds. So, even though we're coming off a 27-6 season, punctuated by a 14-0 romp through the Patriot League, there will be a lot of questions that need to be answered.

Fortunately, the returning starter is a good one. Junior guard Joe Lien was the team's leading scorer last year, with a 17.4 average that placed second in the conference. How will Joe respond to being the one player that opponents will key on, without potent offensive players like James Sanders or Hubert Song beside him?

The other projected starter whose name will be familiar is Alvaro Kinard. In each of the past three seasons, the lanky wing has begun the year as a starter, and each time he's played himself onto the bench. His talent is unquestioned. Will he become the player we've always thought he could be in his senior year?

Sophomore Samuel Davis, who demonstrated ability as a rebounder and a rim protector last year, will begin the year as our starting center. Will he play like a young James Sanders, with perhaps a little less offense and a little more intimidation? Or will we be roughed up in the post for the first time since Graham arrived in town?

Promising freshman Todd DeHaven will be running with the first unit at our first practice. Todd has the potential to be a capable, well-rounded big man, one who can score, rebound, and play defense. Will he be ready to do those things in his first year of college ball?

Senior Armando Brown averaged 18 minutes per game as our leading backcourt reserve last season. He played well, limiting turnovers and shooting efficiently. Armando should be ready to run the point for us this year, but he'll be challenged by talented sophomore Richard Leak and emerging junior Justin Judkins. Richard and Justin are also good ballhandlers; Richard is a good defensive player, and Justin a more promising scorer. Who will inherit the position that Hubert Song had on lock for four seasons?

In short, Joe Lien is the only sure thing about this year's Lafayette team. Raleigh McGinty, Johnathan Blouin, and Otis Hall could end up outplaying the presumed starters and take their spots in the frontcourt. Freshmen Daniel Warnock and Jack Senn could demonstrate their readiness for prime time.

We've never been ranked in the pre-season polls, but there we are at #24 this year. Is that ranking based on the body of work our seniors submitted, or a prediction of where this year's team could end up?

We're about to find out.

August 1, 2016

There are two scholarship players in our senior class: guard Armando Brown and wing Alvaro Kinard. Among the 13 scholarship players on our roster are five true bigs, plus Otis Hall, a 7-footer whom we envision as a "small" forward. All these big dudes are freshmen or sophomores. We almost certainly won't recruit a big this year, unless there's a true game-changer who can't imagine playing anywhere but Lafayette.

Among the players who exhibit Very High interest in playing for us from the beginning is a point guard from Bordentown, NJ named Jamie Kelso.


Jamie doesn't look to score very often, but look at that assist/turnover ratio! He simply doesn't turn the ball over. He also shows potential as an on-ball defender, too.

There are other schools on his radar, so I'm going to act quickly. We offer Jamie a scholarship, bring him to campus, and send Coaches Sims and Manion to his home.

In an ideal world, we'd pair Kelso with a scoring guard. How about Tim Hutchinson?


Hutchinson is a very efficient scorer who profiles as a slasher, doing most of his damage on drives and mid-range jumpers. He has the length to guard bigger wings, and he's fairly attentive to that part of his game.

I offer Tim a scholarship and use all our recruiting actions this month, in an effort to turn his High interest into a commitment.

September 1, 2016

Neither of the players to whom we've offered a scholarship commit this month, but we've made significant progress in that direction with both of them.

Jamie Kelso says we're his #1 choice now. We're the only team who has offered him; there are two other Patriot League teams--Lehigh and Holy Cross--on his top five list. Hopefully one more month of attentive recruiting will do the trick.

We make even more ground with Tim Hutchinson. Tim now holds five scholarship offers, but he puts us first on his list of top schools. Coach Sims and Coach Manion will make the trip to upstate New York, and they'll hopefully return with a commitment.

There's plenty of room in our budget for us to visit more players this month. Among them are a handful of four-star talents who expressed more than Very Low interest in playing for us. If any of these players become relevant, I'll introduce them to you.

October 1, 2016

We move one step closer to signing Jamie Kelso and Tim Hutchinson. Both players remove all the other schools they were considering from their lists, but neither are quite ready to give us their verbal commitments.

One of the players we begin to recruit more actively has shown enough interest that it might be fun to take a look at him. David Sale, a wing from Cortland, New York, is the first four-star recruit to express Average interest in playing for us.


David holds an offer from Temple, and he'd almost certainly choose their program over ours. I still think it's significant that a player as good as he is appears to give us serious consideration, even though we haven't made him a scholarship offer.

Dumb question. What is the color progression when looking at players. Is it red, orange, yellow, green, blue?

Yes. There's also Purple which is God tier and one I've never seen in the college game. Only very rarely in the pro one.

November 1, 2016

The month begins with very good news about recruiting. Jamie Kelso and Tim Hutchinson both commit to play for us next year.

Jamie is a solid three-star recruit who should develop into a creative playmaker who takes care of the ball and makes his teammates better. He's a Red/Yellow prospect, so he might be a bit raw when he arrives on campus. We should, however, be able to be patient with him, because we have other similar players (Richard Leak, Jack Senn, Justin Judkins) in the program already.

Tim, whom the experts believe is the better player (Red/Green), is a tall, lean wing whose nominal position might turn out to be SF, rather than SG. Joe Lien will be a senior when Tim joins us next year, so we shouldn't need him to be a BMOC right away.

We also learn that Todd DeHaven is willing to take a redshirt this year. My initial thought was "no way." He's probably good enough to start for us right now. The longer I think about it, however, the more intriguing the idea becomes. There are six players in our freshman and sophomore classes who are 6'9" or taller. If Todd moves to our Class of 2020, we'll spread that concentration of big men out a bit. Todd would then be part of a class that includes perimeter players Kelso and Hutchinson. I decide to let DeHaven spend a year training and developing before he hits the court.