Sunday, January 06, 2019

This Week in Wrenball: Primer

Basketball was invented in Springfield, MA in 1891 by a Canadian physical education teacher named James Naismith. The game is played by teams of five, who endeavor to throw or otherwise place a round ball into a hoop that's 10 feet off the ground.

The College of William & Mary started playing basketball in the 1905-06 season. Famously, the Tribe is one of only four schools to have been a part of the NCAA's Division I since its inception to have never qualified for the season-ending tournament, colloquially known as March Madness. Since 64 teams qualify each year for this tournament, it's a statistical anomaly that W&M hasn't been able to make the event, especially since the team has reached the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament final (the winner of which receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament) four times in the previous ten years.

Here at Gheorghe: The Blog, we've been writing about the Tribe (who we also call the Wrens, from time to time, in an homage to our friend Mike Litos, who coined the name after W&M's quixotic mascot hunt earlier this decade) for a decade or so. Our This Week in Wrenball is likely the most frequently recurring of all of our recurring bits, with the possible exception of Fashion is Dumb/Stupid. Yeah, we've probably done more Fashion is Dumb.



I offer all of this by way of background for Dave, who professed to be confused by our Wrenball posts. They're niche as hell, I'll grant. But they follow a familiar formula. W&M plays reasonably well, mixing in the occasional stinker, which confounds me as I try to figure out what to make of them. Then they do something late in the season that gives me/us hope that this just might be the year they shrug the monkey from their shoulders and make the NCAA Tournament, fulfilling the most earnest hopes of dozens. And finally, they fail to win the CAA Tournament, perhaps in crushing fashion, but usually not. The cycle repeats itself the following year.

Dave doesn't know from the Wrens? GTFOH.
This season, they had a predictably mediocre start, going 4-8 during a grueling out of conference schedule while trying to break in a new point guard and several freshman contributors. At one point, coach Tony Shaver started three freshman in a game. A year removed from being the best shooting team in America, they're only making 33% of their three-point shots and 64.1% of their free throws.

And yet, after a comprehensive 84-66 drubbing of Drexel in Philadelphia this afternoon, the Wrens/Tribe are now 7-9 on the season, their 3-1 CAA record good for second place behind the white-hot Hofstra Pride. They won today's game without junior wing Justin Pierce, who averages 15.5 points and a team-leading 9.2 rebounds per game while leading the team in assists. Leading scorer Nathan Knight dropped 24 on the Dragons, grabbing 12 rebounds for good measure. W&M outrebounded Drexel, 46-30, and held their opponent to 35.1% shooting.

Pay attention, Dave. This where the pattern repeats. I'll spell it out slowly. I. Have. No. Idea. What. To. Make. Of. This. Team.

We'll know a lot more in a week. Hofstra comes to Williamsburg on a ten-game winning streak, boasting the nation's leading mid-major scorer in Justin Wright-Foreman. Two days later, perennial CAA power Northeastern comes to town.

Ask me then, and I'll tell you how little I know.

50 comments:

Dave said...

Thanks! That helps a lot-- you know I'm a big picture guy, I get lost when there's too many details. So good shooting to bad shooting, lots of freshmen, this is when it gets interesting, and William and Mary has been playing basketball for a long time (something they never went over during the freshman orientation).

T.J. said...

danimal, proud of you for quitting Facebook. wish I had a different job and could do the same

TR said...

Puppy diarrhea...still overrated.

TR said...

And on the topic of FB, the NY Times has done some amazing reporting on them in the last few months. Worth searching out their stuff. Zuck and Sandberg are malicious sociopaths who did a lot of bad things that they feebly tried to cover up.

Danimal said...

Thanks Teej. Just did it. Have been wanting to, for a litany of reasons, for months or more. It was time. I quit the Twitter too, but you know I can't quit you GTB, nor shall I ever.

Mark said...

Wayne Rooney went all Joe kickass last night it seems.

Mark said...

I’m rarely on FB and should probably just quit all together. I like Twitter as a news source. It’s particularly good for sports news if you follow the right writers and beat guys.

zman said...

Strange calls along the goalline in Chargers/Ravens.

Mark said...

Exciting football the NFL has given us today.

mayhugh said...

I understand Chicago has played goal line d at an elite level this year, but LET THEM SCORE> The difference between needing a field goal with 1:30 and 3 timeouts is a lot different than needing a field goal with :56 and 1 timeout. Tarik Cohen might bail them out...

zman said...

I’m not good at explaining icing the kicker to a seven year old but the Bears illustrated it perfectly for me.

Mark said...

The jinx worked. The end it Eagles-Bears was fun.

Danimal said...

+1 short term job oriented courses after graduation

Anonymous said...

Hey gheorghies, I need a favor. Can anyone recommend the best Oracle training courses in Delhi? Asking for a friend.

TR said...

Would be funny if Spacey showed up in court in full fetish gear and owned up to all the allegations. At least to me.

Danimal said...

Kind of an oxymoron there no Whit? Everyone knows the best training courses are in Bengaluru!

zman said...

I'm familiar with the Oracle of Delphi.

zman said...

College Delhi?

Danimal said...

Where you Surat?

zman said...

I read The Fifth Risk per Dave's recommendation and it is indeed a good breezy read but the end is like the finale of The Sopranos, the book is going on and on about tornadoes and then it just stops.

Dave said...

but the story continues. i'm hoping for an epa sequel.

TR said...

Lewis definitely could’ve tied a better bow-tie on the end of the book, like “look at all this important shit Trump and his doofus underlings are letting go to hell.”

zman said...

One of the libertarian professors at my law school had a bumper sticker that said "THERE'S NO GOVERNMENT LIKE NO GOVERNMENT." I never agreed with that sentiment and it looks like we'll soon find out who has the wiser worldview.

Whitney said...

On that note:

ORF Rock
Tonight
7pm

Search WODU on YouTube

TR said...

I don’t know if it’s Bama fatigue, Clemson fatigue, or apathy/hatred towards the playoff system, but I have few fucks to give about tonight’s game. I love NCAAF for the first three months.

Danimal said...

A Texas native neighbor just returned from visiting family, kindly bringing me a bottle of brown. TX blended whiskey. https://www.frdistilling.com/tx-blended-whiskey
It is apparently only available there. Next time you are there, you must get a bottle.

rob said...

going to minnesota tomorrow. not exactly texas. will try to drink something interesting. won't have much chance to post, so get after it, gheorghies,

rob said...

and to tr's point, i'm an alabama fan and i really don't care very much about this game. i likely won't make it past 10:00, 'cause sleep is more important than the result of this game to me.

rootsminer said...

I have a buddy whose a dolphins fan, and he refers to bama's coach as 'dick satan'. Pretending that's his name makes watching his joyless sideline demeanor more enjoyable for me.

TR said...

Dick Satan has enormous pleats on his dad slacks. Too bad he doesn’t have a functioning defense. Or an offense that’s ready for Clemson’s disguised coverages. This may get ugly.

Danimal said...

I feel as if that stop there is the difference between Clemson winning and losing.

TR said...

Does anybody over the age of 12 like Imagine Dragons?

Mark said...

I care about this game but I get how people don’t. Clearly the two best teams with absurd amounts of collective talent. That said, if Bama can’t get some stops I’ll happily go to bed early.

TR said...

Lil Wayne’s ensemble is, um, something.

Marls said...

Is Bama throwing the game?

Mark said...

Ass whooping.

rootsminer said...

Major ass whooping for Dick Satan indeed.

In other news, I opened yesterday's mail this morning and there was an envelope from a local law firm. I figured it was some collections bullshit from a check I sent the tunnel authority in Norfolk that they can't seem to find. I was wrong. Some older friends and longtime jug band fans both passed away last year, and they left us their house and land. I'm grateful, but absolutely stupefied. Surely they had someone in their life more deserving of this than I am.

zman said...

That's amazing. A good omen for an uplifting 2019.

rob said...

holy hell, rootsy. there's a lesson there in how being a good person for the sake of being a good person can come back to you in manifold ways.

and i think we know where we're building the g:tb compound.

Whitney said...

Wow. That is fantastic, my man.

Rootstock 2019

rootsminer said...

Rootstock would be one way to introduce ourselves to the neighbors. It's also adjacent to a beer distributor- who's good at b&e?


It's a lovely place, but I doubt we would live there for awhile, if ever. So I'll either be a landlord or liquidate that sucker.

Marls said...

That’s fantastic Rootsy. It could not have happened to a nicer guy. It’s a reminder of how little things can have big effects in people’s lives without you even knowing it.

zman said...

Is Rootstock anything like Gutfest?

TR said...

Slats Steel would be a good porn name for a guy. I’ll leave it open for one of you young bucks to take.

On the female side, Alexa Siri would be a good stripper/porn name.

Sorry. Just felt like sharing that.

rob said...

just saw congressman peter king at dca. that was not a highlight.

Danimal said...

Peter King ain't a bad one either, porn name that is.

That is phenomenal news Rootsy. I vote YES on the compound idea. Happy to assist in any way possible.

rootsminer said...

I hate to disappoint, but I don't think a full time compound is in the cards, though a retreat prior to our long term, cash flush tenants moving in could be arranged.

Whitney said...

Y E S

OBFT counterpart

zman said...

Can we break bottles?

TR said...

This Trump speech is gonna test my sober January effort in a big way.