Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Coach Graham Sims: A Pennsylvania Story (FBCB)

MoonlightGraham · 05-03-2023, 04:38 PM

February 28, 2018

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2017 Patriot League Standings

 TEAM              CW  CL   Pct   W   L   Pct  RPI  Prestige
-------------------------------------------------------------
 #15 Lafayette     13   1  .929  27   3  .900   19        56
 American          10   4  .714  17  11  .607  107        43
 Army              10   4  .714  18  11  .621   73        21
 Colgate            7   7  .500  12  17  .414  185        31
 Bucknell           6   8  .429  11  18  .379  253        34
 Navy               4  10  .286  12  17  .414  319        28
 Holy Cross         3  11  .214   9  19  .321  305        47
 Lehigh             3  11  .214   6  23  .207  274        28

It hasn't been a strong year for the Patriot League as a whole. That makes it hard for me to figure out exactly how good this year's team really is.

Patriot League Tournament, First Round
(1) #15 Lafayette 65, (8) Lehigh 41
We beat the Mountain Hawks by 20 and again by 15 this season, and our tournament matchup is similarly one-sided. Our defense is as good as it's been all year: Lehigh shoots 32% from the field, and 4-20 from behind the three-point line. Five of those misses happen because Samuel Davis blocks the shot.

Meanwhile, they simply can't guard Daniel Warnock. The Patriot League's leading scorer throws down a 29-point effort. Only two players--Warnock and Lehigh's Timothy Pinto--score in double figures.

Bucknell, American, and Army also advance. We'll face the #5 seed Bison in the next round.
Record: 28-3.

March 4, 2018
Patriot League Tournament Semi-Final
(1) #15 Lafayette 71, (5) Bucknell 43
Bucknell gave us two tough games in the regular season, but today's story plays out differently. Once again, we don't let our opponent get anything going offensively. Our own offense is smoother and more efficient, too.

This time, Tim Hutchinson is the scoring hero, with 23 points. Daniel Warnock adds 14, and Justin Judkins returns from his injury with 8 off the bench.

The Bison play good interior defense, holding Todd DeHaven and Samuel Davis to 7 points between them. DeHaven finds a way to contribute with 13 rebounds...and then he breaks his finger. Unless we make a long tournament run, he's out for the remainder of the season.

Army beats American, 71-63, so they'll play us for the tournament title.
Record: 29-3.

March 9, 2018
Patriot League Tournament Championship
(8) Army 67, (1) #14 Lafayette 62
The only team to beat us in conference play do it in the tournament final, too. We toss away an eight-point halftime advantage with 20 minutes of the sloppiest basketball I've ever seen a Lafayette team play.

We don't score until the 14:17 mark of the second half, and by then we're behind. In 13 minutes after the break, we score 5 points. We commit 22 turnovers; Tim Hutchinson and Jack Senn account for 5 each.

Daniel Warnock scores 20 points, Hutchinson 15. Johnathan Blouin grabs 10 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup.

I wonder how our loss will affect our NCAA tournament seeding?
Record: 29-4.

March 11, 2018
The NCAA tournament committee keeps us at home, giving us the #5 seed in the East Region. South Alabama (22-11) will be our first round opponent.

Army is named the #12 seed in the South; they'll face Stanford.

American makes the CBI field at #12, and they'll play #5 seed Northern Iowa first.

March 15, 2018
NCAA East Region, First Round
(5) #15 Lafayette 61, (12) South Alabama 60
The Jaguars made the tournament field by upsetting Troy in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. They're led by Thomas Hall, a smooth senior guard with nearly 2000 career points to his credit.

Hall scores 7 of his team's first 18 points as the Jags open up a lead that extends to 9 points by halftime. Is another upset in the cards?

Full credit to the Leopards for coming back with a vengeance. Samuel Davis does a very good job on SA's other big scorer, center Moses Alonzo, holding him to 2 points.

The score is deadlocked at 59 with 1:32 to play, and the Jags have the ball. Digging deep, our defense forces James Sanchez to launch a poor-percentage three as the shot clock dwindles down. He misses, but Alonzo grabs a clutch rebound to give his team another possession.

Graham Sims leaps to his feet as Richard Leak appears to swipe a Sanchez pass...only to have an official whistle Leak for a foul. They're shooting the double bonus, so Thomas Aaron has two free throws. Aaron makes the first and misses the second. Daniel Warnock skies to grab the rebound with 29 seconds remaining.

The Jaguars defense quickly locates Tim Hutchinson and Warnock, our highest-volume shooters. They don't pay enough attention to Samuel Davis, who has been known to make teams pay for this neglect with three-point daggers. We don't need a three right now, so Davis slides to the left wing, takes a pass from Leak, shoots...and misses. Warnock again hits the boards like a man possessed and snags the rebound.

Raleigh McGinty is a junior forward who has struggled to find playing time in a crowded frontcourt rotation that includes classmates Davis, Otis Hall, and Johnathan Blouin. Raleigh has developed more slowly than his fellow juniors; he's still a Red player, and he's played a total of 288 minutes in his collegiate career.

Tonight, McGinty has played 14 minutes, largely because Blouin has fouled out. He's certainly the last man South Alabama is looking for as we set up for our last shot. But Raleigh McGinty averaged 27 points a game as a high school senior. He's very comfortable being The Man in a situation like this one. McGinty confidently calls for the ball as he pops out to the free throw line, and Warnock spots him. A Jags defender moves to close down on him, but he's too late. Raleigh's jumper hits nothing but net. 61-60 Lafayette.

Seven seconds are enough for the Jaguars to run a play. Thomas Hall has earned the right to take the shot that could extend his college basketball career. We know that, too, but Hall is talented enough to get into good shooting positions even when he's guarded well. His 18-foot jumper looks like it's going in...but it hits the rim and bounces into the hands of Raleigh McGinty.

Tim Hutchinson leads all scorers with 17; Hall has 16 for the Jags. Jack Senn pours in 15 points in as many minutes. McGinty scores only 4, but two of them were the biggest ones of our season; he also finishes with 8 rebounds.

For the first time, a Graham Sims-coached team has won 30 games in a season.

Meanwhile, Stanford whomps Army and ends their season, and Northern Iowa beats American in the CBI.
Record: 30-4.

March 17, 2018
NCAA East Region, Second Round
(5) #15 Lafayette 90, (13) San Diego State 74
It's hard not to think we've gotten lucky when SDSU upsets Kansas in the first round. Still, the Aztecs are a very good team with a very good coach, William Rawlins. SF Silas Willey was the #5 recruit in the nation and a Freshman All-American, and he's even better as a sophomore. Junior big man Chris Marler is also a Blue/Blue player.

Marler scores 17, but our junior big man, Samuel Davis, plays just about as well: 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks. Daniel Warnock (20 points) and Tim Hutchinson (24 points) impose their will upon the game while Willey does not (6 points). An energized Raleigh McGinty provides 10 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.

Now, we're off to the Sweet Sixteen...and a date with top-seeded Vanderbilt.
Record: 31-4.

March 23, 2018
East Regional Semi-Final...the Sweet Sixteen
(1) #6 Vanderbilt 67, (5) #15 Lafayette 65
In our previous trips to the NCAA tournament, I've always felt like we were simply lucky to be there. "Look at plucky little Lafayette, courageously punching above their weight and giving the big program a decent game!"

This year, it feels different. Our national ranking suggest that we SHOULD be in the Sweet Sixteen. Vanderbilt is undoubtedly a very good team; they barely lost to the #1 and #2 teams in the country (Illinois and Mississippi State) and blew out three Top 20 opponents. But we're a very good team too, and we belong here.

Todd DeHaven gets the long tournament run he needed to return to (almost) full health, and he replaces Johnathan Blouin in the starting lineup. The rest of the starting five is familiar: Samuel Davis, Daniel Warnock, Tim Hutchinson, and Richard Leak.

We play as well as we can during the first half, and our 38-27 lead is well-deserved.

After the intermission, Vandy's superior depth begins to assert itself. When players like Jose Cookson and Elwood Sheffield get in foul trouble, they can bring Green/Blue and Green/Green players off their bench. We can't do that when Todd DeHaven and Daniel Warnock have to come out of the game. Still, when one of the Commodores' reserves, a freshman wing named Denver Harden who was the #20 player in his recruiting class, sinks a three-pointer with 1:13 remaining, they take the lead for the first time since the score was 4-2.

This is perhaps the last dance for Joshua Moll, Vanderbilt's venerable head coach. He's 72 now. His team will face Villanova, the #2 seed, in the Elite Eight. It's a shame one of them will have to lose.

And it's a shame our dance couldn't last for one more song.
Record: 31-5.

05-03-2023, 04:38 PM	#181
MoonlightGraham High School Varsity Join Date: Sep 2022	February 28, 2018 HTML Code: 2017 Patriot League Standings TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige ------------------------------------------------------------- #15 Lafayette 13 1 .929 27 3 .900 19 56 American 10 4 .714 17 11 .607 107 43 Army 10 4 .714 18 11 .621 73 21 Colgate 7 7 .500 12 17 .414 185 31 Bucknell 6 8 .429 11 18 .379 253 34 Navy 4 10 .286 12 17 .414 319 28 Holy Cross 3 11 .214 9 19 .321 305 47 Lehigh 3 11 .214 6 23 .207 274 28 It hasn't been a strong year for the Patriot League as a whole. That makes it hard for me to figure out exactly how good this year's team really is. Patriot League Tournament, First Round (1) #15 Lafayette 65, (8) Lehigh 41 We beat the Mountain Hawks by 20 and again by 15 this season, and our tournament matchup is similarly one-sided. Our defense is as good as it's been all year: Lehigh shoots 32% from the field, and 4-20 from behind the three-point line. Five of those misses happen because Samuel Davis blocks the shot. Meanwhile, they simply can't guard Daniel Warnock. The Patriot League's leading scorer throws down a 29-point effort. Only two players--Warnock and Lehigh's Timothy Pinto--score in double figures. Bucknell, American, and Army also advance. We'll face the #5 seed Bison in the next round. Record: 28-3. March 4, 2018 Patriot League Tournament Semi-Final (1) #15 Lafayette 71, (5) Bucknell 43 Bucknell gave us two tough games in the regular season, but today's story plays out differently. Once again, we don't let our opponent get anything going offensively. Our own offense is smoother and more efficient, too. This time, Tim Hutchinson is the scoring hero, with 23 points. Daniel Warnock adds 14, and Justin Judkins returns from his injury with 8 off the bench. The Bison play good interior defense, holding Todd DeHaven and Samuel Davis to 7 points between them. DeHaven finds a way to contribute with 13 rebounds...and then he breaks his finger. Unless we make a long tournament run, he's out for the remainder of the season. Army beats American, 71-63, so they'll play us for the tournament title. Record: 29-3. March 9, 2018 Patriot League Tournament Championship (8) Army 67, (1) #14 Lafayette 62 The only team to beat us in conference play do it in the tournament final, too. We toss away an eight-point halftime advantage with 20 minutes of the sloppiest basketball I've ever seen a Lafayette team play. We don't score until the 14:17 mark of the second half, and by then we're behind. In 13 minutes after the break, we score 5 points. We commit 22 turnovers; Tim Hutchinson and Jack Senn account for 5 each. Daniel Warnock scores 20 points, Hutchinson 15. Johnathan Blouin grabs 10 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup. I wonder how our loss will affect our NCAA tournament seeding? Record: 29-4. March 11, 2018 The NCAA tournament committee keeps us at home, giving us the #5 seed in the East Region. South Alabama (22-11) will be our first round opponent. Army is named the #12 seed in the South; they'll face Stanford. American makes the CBI field at #12, and they'll play #5 seed Northern Iowa first. March 15, 2018 NCAA East Region, First Round (5) #15 Lafayette 61, (12) South Alabama 60 The Jaguars made the tournament field by upsetting Troy in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. They're led by Thomas Hall, a smooth senior guard with nearly 2000 career points to his credit. Hall scores 7 of his team's first 18 points as the Jags open up a lead that extends to 9 points by halftime. Is another upset in the cards? Full credit to the Leopards for coming back with a vengeance. Samuel Davis does a very good job on SA's other big scorer, center Moses Alonzo, holding him to 2 points. The score is deadlocked at 59 with 1:32 to play, and the Jags have the ball. Digging deep, our defense forces James Sanchez to launch a poor-percentage three as the shot clock dwindles down. He misses, but Alonzo grabs a clutch rebound to give his team another possession. Graham Sims leaps to his feet as Richard Leak appears to swipe a Sanchez pass...only to have an official whistle Leak for a foul. They're shooting the double bonus, so Thomas Aaron has two free throws. Aaron makes the first and misses the second. Daniel Warnock skies to grab the rebound with 29 seconds remaining. The Jaguars defense quickly locates Tim Hutchinson and Warnock, our highest-volume shooters. They don't pay enough attention to Samuel Davis, who has been known to make teams pay for this neglect with three-point daggers. We don't need a three right now, so Davis slides to the left wing, takes a pass from Leak, shoots...and misses. Warnock again hits the boards like a man possessed and snags the rebound. Raleigh McGinty is a junior forward who has struggled to find playing time in a crowded frontcourt rotation that includes classmates Davis, Otis Hall, and Johnathan Blouin. Raleigh has developed more slowly than his fellow juniors; he's still a Red player, and he's played a total of 288 minutes in his collegiate career. Tonight, McGinty has played 14 minutes, largely because Blouin has fouled out. He's certainly the last man South Alabama is looking for as we set up for our last shot. But Raleigh McGinty averaged 27 points a game as a high school senior. He's very comfortable being The Man in a situation like this one. McGinty confidently calls for the ball as he pops out to the free throw line, and Warnock spots him. A Jags defender moves to close down on him, but he's too late. Raleigh's jumper hits nothing but net. 61-60 Lafayette. Seven seconds are enough for the Jaguars to run a play. Thomas Hall has earned the right to take the shot that could extend his college basketball career. We know that, too, but Hall is talented enough to get into good shooting positions even when he's guarded well. His 18-foot jumper looks like it's going in...but it hits the rim and bounces into the hands of Raleigh McGinty. Tim Hutchinson leads all scorers with 17; Hall has 16 for the Jags. Jack Senn pours in 15 points in as many minutes. McGinty scores only 4, but two of them were the biggest ones of our season; he also finishes with 8 rebounds. For the first time, a Graham Sims-coached team has won 30 games in a season. Meanwhile, Stanford whomps Army and ends their season, and Northern Iowa beats American in the CBI. Record: 30-4. March 17, 2018 NCAA East Region, Second Round (5) #15 Lafayette 90, (13) San Diego State 74 It's hard not to think we've gotten lucky when SDSU upsets Kansas in the first round. Still, the Aztecs are a very good team with a very good coach, William Rawlins. SF Silas Willey was the #5 recruit in the nation and a Freshman All-American, and he's even better as a sophomore. Junior big man Chris Marler is also a Blue/Blue player. Marler scores 17, but our junior big man, Samuel Davis, plays just about as well: 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks. Daniel Warnock (20 points) and Tim Hutchinson (24 points) impose their will upon the game while Willey does not (6 points). An energized Raleigh McGinty provides 10 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Now, we're off to the Sweet Sixteen...and a date with top-seeded Vanderbilt. Record: 31-4. March 23, 2018 East Regional Semi-Final...the Sweet Sixteen (1) #6 Vanderbilt 67, (5) #15 Lafayette 65 In our previous trips to the NCAA tournament, I've always felt like we were simply lucky to be there. "Look at plucky little Lafayette, courageously punching above their weight and giving the big program a decent game!" This year, it feels different. Our national ranking suggest that we SHOULD be in the Sweet Sixteen. Vanderbilt is undoubtedly a very good team; they barely lost to the #1 and #2 teams in the country (Illinois and Mississippi State) and blew out three Top 20 opponents. But we're a very good team too, and we belong here. Todd DeHaven gets the long tournament run he needed to return to (almost) full health, and he replaces Johnathan Blouin in the starting lineup. The rest of the starting five is familiar: Samuel Davis, Daniel Warnock, Tim Hutchinson, and Richard Leak. We play as well as we can during the first half, and our 38-27 lead is well-deserved. After the intermission, Vandy's superior depth begins to assert itself. When players like Jose Cookson and Elwood Sheffield get in foul trouble, they can bring Green/Blue and Green/Green players off their bench. We can't do that when Todd DeHaven and Daniel Warnock have to come out of the game. Still, when one of the Commodores' reserves, a freshman wing named Denver Harden who was the #20 player in his recruiting class, sinks a three-pointer with 1:13 remaining, they take the lead for the first time since the score was 4-2. This is perhaps the last dance for Joshua Moll, Vanderbilt's venerable head coach. He's 72 now. His team will face Villanova, the #2 seed, in the Elite Eight. It's a shame one of them will have to lose. And it's a shame our dance couldn't last for one more song. Record: 31-5.