Wednesday, November 25, 2015

This Week in Wrenball: Nutcracker

Midway through William & Mary's road contest against Dayton, the Tribe had a nine-point lead on the favored Flyers, and visions of hoops-flavored sugarplums danced through my head. W&M was 20 minutes from a second major conference scalp (we're counting the Atlantic 10 as a major hoops conference because it suits our purposes) in four games after a 17-point whipping of the ACC's North Carolina State in the season-opener.

And I was 20 minutes from debuting the #wmtribe4top25 hashtag.

Then Dayton went on a 37-19 run to start the second half, and early-season delusions drifted away. Funny thing happened next, though. Four different Tribesmen scored as part of an 11-0 run that gave W&M a 60-58 lead with 2:18 to play.

Dayton scored seven of the next eight points and closed out the Tribe, 69-66, but the result matters less at this point in the season than the lesson - this Tribe team's a tough out.

Omar blockin'
It's too early to make much of statistics, but it's noteworthy that seven Tribe players are averaging more than five points per game (led by Omar Prewitt's 16.3) and five of them are grabbing 4.3 or more rebounds (Terry Tarpey's 7.3 are pacing the team). Sean Sheldon's been the most efficient offensive player on the roster, while David Cohn's averaging four assists a game even though he's only averaging 23 minutes. CAA Tournament hero Daniel Dixon dropped in a career-high 24 against Dayton, and freshman Hunter Seacat (!) has yet to miss a shot in his college career.

W&M hosts Hampton tonight before traveling to play at Howard over the Thanksgiving break. DC Gheorghies, represent. They return to Williamsburg to take on former CAA rival Old Dominion, and then play Virginia in Charlottesville a week from Saturday. At the risk of reading too much into a few good outings, something would be really amiss if this team finishes the out of conference schedule worse than 8-3. And if they beat ODU, they really should be 9-2 when they enter CAA play.

Through four games, we've learned that this W&M team is experienced, poised, tough, and able to compete with better teams. That's a recipe that'll make some tasty sugarplums.

21 comments:

  1. You know you just put the mush on the Tribe, right?

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  2. On way to Denver w/ family for T-giving w/e getaway. Hit me up w/ your weed gummy bear orders!

    Skiing for the family is crazy expensive. The kids are equal parts cranky, ungrateful and misbehaving. Dad's ready for a screwdriver.

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  3. would that i wielded kind of power, z

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  4. I'll take two bags of gummy bears, TR.

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  5. WTF?

    http://deadspin.com/australian-basketball-fan-pours-beer-on-marcus-thornton-1744617306

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  6. marcus did get an efficient 18 in that game. in addition to the 12 ounces.

    i hate gummy bears. but i'll take a sleeve of brownies.

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  7. at the insistence of my 11 year-old, we listened to 'the test' for our entire trip from virginia to pittsburgh today. i cannot believe that dave didn't get the theme of the second 'stacey's songs' podcast.

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  8. Just regaled zson's friend's mom with a story about zwoman. When I finished zwoman said "Um, that's a story about your first wife."

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  9. Oof, Z.

    Dallas is favored by 2????

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  10. nice rob-- fans for life!

    it was rather embarrassing that i didn't get the theme . . .

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  11. Dallas is getting 1 in my pool based on Tuesday's spreads in the NY Post.

    Oof indeed.

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  12. dave, if it makes you feel any better, i got it after dave matthews band

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  13. Les Miles is doing his (presumably) last call in show as the LSU Head Coach tonight. Apparently multiple callers have broken down while on the phone with him. Weird, sad scene. LSU has done Les wrong with how this whole thing has been handled.

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  14. hunter seacat (!) missed a shot tonight.

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  15. If the Mizzou football coach was making $4 MM per year, then Les is well over $5 MM, despite buffoonish, and can get hired again in an instant. Dude just lost three in a row. Not a lot of pity here.

    Maybe I'm just in a bad mood b/c I turned down an oppty for Rocky Mountain oysters tonight. I settled for a buffalo/elk/quail plate. Quail is effin' delicious.

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  16. Those of you who are really enjoying this Warriors team like me will enjoy this article. It quantifies a lot of what makes this team so special this year:

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-golden-state-warriors-are-breaking-the-nba/

    I watched a bit of the Warriors-Lakers last night. It was a joke. LA looked happy just to be on the court next to the Warriors. They are a dumpster fire.

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  17. I don't feel bad for Les getting fired. Although I think LSU will come to regret this (look at the 30 years of LSU Football history before Saban came to Baton Rouge...not pretty) move that's LSU's prerogative. What I think is bush is the way they've strung this all out and let Les twist in the wind for over a week. No need to do that.

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