Friday, March 02, 2012

This Week in Wrenball: CAAction!

By the time you read this, I'll be steaming down the road on the way to Richmond for the first round of the 2012 CAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It's no secret that the 2011-12 Wrens were a significant disappointment. Injuries to four major contributors, all of whom are 6'6" or bigger men, were crippling. Kyle Gaillard missed the whole season, JohnMark Ludwick has only played a handful of games, Tim Rusthoven missed the first month, and preseason All-CAA first-teamer Quinn McDowell never found his legs after an offseason injury. Couple that with difficulty integrating Marcus Thornton's energy and athleticism into the W&M system and Brandon Britt's resulting ineffectiveness, and it's not hard to see how this team failed to live up to its promise.

That said, the CAA's coaches recognize the Tribe's talent and capability. In his tournament preview, FOG:TB Michael Litos polled the league's head men on a number of topics. In response to the question, "Who, of the bottom five teams, can win Friday and give their Saturday opponent a tough game–if not winning it?", W&M received more than twice as many nods as any other team. I can see it - the Wrens have never lost to first-round opponent Northeastern in the Commonwealth of Virginia. If they get past today's game (6:00, streamed on caasports.com), they take on #2 seed VCU, a formidable opponent for sure, but one that W&M should've beaten in Richmond and played close in Williamsburg.

With Ludwick back in the rotation, the Tribe becomes really difficult to defend, the 6'8" senior pulling opponents' bigs out to the perimeter with his long-range skills, opening up penetration lanes for Britt and Thornton to drive to the tin or kick to McDowell and Matt Rum. W&M drilled Northeastern by 25 in the teams' most recent meeting, and the Tribe is 2-3 in their last five, including a two-point home loss to top-seeded Drexel. It's a preposterous longshot, but there's a chance that W&M finds its footing at the right time. They're clearly the toughest 6-25 team in the nation.


And if that pipe dream doesn't pan out, we've still got a hell of a weekend in front of us.

23 comments:

Danimal said...

Dave's nemesis on msnbc talkin teachers and unions from a high school in n.j....

TR said...

Christie's got to be a 48" inch waist, right?

His PR folks need to remind him to never take off his blazer in public. That torsof of his is muy grande.

Danimal said...

it's large to very large. i hope i'm wrong but i don't think he's going to see a chance to be pres unless he loses 75+

zman said...

His turds weigh 75+.

T.J. said...

Taft 2.0

Danimal said...

you guys are mean.

Clarence said...

Breaking news... The Redskins have decided to place their franchise tag on their equipment manager.

TR said...

Big party tomorrow night. So excited about it that I am running the table with train beers to get my liver acclimated. I will iron my great shirt tonight to make sure I look extra tight in DC.

I even managed to sneak in 8 hours of sleep last night, a once-every-three-months phenomenon on a school night. It has been a long work week and I'm ready get Retardo Montalban tomorrow.

Carry on.

Geoff said...

I think Governor Christie is wearing at least a 50 inch waist... and about a 28 inch inseam. He's sneaky short.

I also am pumped for tomorrow...and I'm already trying to figure out how I'll handle my massive hangover Sunday when my kids wake up at 5:30am.

rob said...

your roving correspondent is in richmond, ready to answer your questions. what do you want to know about the caa tourney? or about my breakfast?

T.J. said...

Did you sit in a high chair?

rob said...

not yet, though i'm efforting it. will soon jump up on a barstool next to igor and fogtb billy karn.

rob said...

dave became the eldest of our number today. dude is ancient. but congrats on making it this far.

zman said...

Dave has the z.

Dennis said...

Did you keep a straight face when you typed, "They (The Wrens) are clearly the toughest 6-25 team in the nation."?

zman said...

I totally predicted this:

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/44797/the-frank-ocean-don-henley-beef-heats-up

when I wrote this:

http://gheorghe77.blogspot.com/2011/04/you-should-listen-to-this-free-frank.html

Dennis said...

Sign #69 that I'm getting old: 2 players on my hoops team were ejected from our league game last night....neither of which was me.

Frown.

Geoff said...

You've lost your edge...you were just happy to be out of the house.

Squeaky said...

All hail, Bender, new Head of DC School Board.

http://goo.gl/SGXRO

Dave said...

i must be getting old-- it took me a good ten seconds to process "dave has the z." perhaps we will show gheorghe how well we toss around "the imaginary ball." he will make a hell of a speed bump.

also, someone please remind me to get a picture posting up against him, as i was the center on the nicks and i want to see how i match up.

rob and igor, perhaps we can challenge him to some garbage can/knee basketball.

zman said...

Gregggg Williams, keepin' it classy:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7638603/new-orleans-saints-defense-had-bounty-program-nfl-says

T.J. said...

Get it done, Tribe hoopsters

TR said...

Strong job, Griffins.