The Tribe beat Richmond 61-53 on New Years eve, making Richmond basketball(women included) 0-2 against W&M on the year and the CAA 3-0 vs. the Spiders.

Another good shooting game for Kisielius. He was 4-6 from the field, scored 11, and has only missed 3 shots in his last 2 games. He also got 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 8 boards. Way to go Laimis!

Adam Payton was the high scorer, scoring 13 and getting 4 boards. He was 4-7 from the floor, and 4-6 from the stripe. AP just keeps on producing.

Nathan Mann was 1-8 from the field, and only scored 3, but also got 8 rebounds. Yes, Nathan Mann got 8 boards. He also had 4 assists compared to 1 TO. Even with the bad shooting, he had a solid game.

David Schneider. 9 points. 0 assists. 4 TO’s. David has seemed to be a different player lately, and apparently he isn’t allowed to shoot inside the 3 point line. 3-7 from the floor and from 3. I don’t know if this is just me, but he seems to not want to run the fast break and is usually the last one down the court. I remember one play when he and Mann were on a fast break, he passed it from midcourt to Nathan around the 3 point line, and went back seemingly to play D. He could be such a great player if he puts it all together.

Peter Stein and Alex Smith continue to produce. Smith scored 12 with 4 boards and Pete scored 4 with 8 boards. It is great to finally get some production out of the big men.

We dominated them on the boards, 40-26. We beat them in every shooting category, but the 14-25 from the foul line in troubling. This is the second straight game we haven’t been able to drain them from the stripe. Also for the second straight game, we got a huge lead and couldn’t put them away. Most of the game we were up double digits, but inside 5 minutes they can’t miss from 3 and we can’t make anything. Hopefully that is something this team will gain with confidence.

Also, it looked like the Tribe played a 1-3-1 zone, and it was very successful. We held the Spiders to one point in the last 15 minutes. Yes, one point in 15 minutes. Great coaching move by Shaver.

@ Mason on Wednesday night. I’ll write a preview and a Non-Conf recap tomorrow.

Go Tribe!

The Richmond Spiders travel to Williamsburg on Saturday for W&M’s final OOC game and the last, and deciding, game between the CAA and A-10. The 2 teams are heading in opposite directions, Richmond on a 4-game losing streak and the Tribe on a 3-game winner. This is a huge game for the Tribe, one of our biggest OOC games of the year.

The Pomeroy report for this game: Richmond is 217 in the Pomeroy ranking, and 4-7 on the year. They have one good win, beating South Florida, and solid losses against ODU, VCU, Wake, and Marist. Right now Pomeroy gives us a 74% chance of winning the game. They are much worse in RPI(but so are we) at 268.

Richmond is an extremely young team, and very soon could be a monster. They have regularly started 7 players on the year, and they are 5 freshman, 1 senior, and a sophomore. Watch out for this team in a year or 2, but lack of experience may due them in the immediate future.

The Spiders leading scorer is freshman foward Dan Geriot, a foward from Springfield PA. Geriot is averaging 13.6 ppg on the year, and shooting 46% from the field. The 3.7 boards for a big man are a little low, but this freshman should end up being a star.

Senior wingman Peter Thomas has gotten the most PT this year, and that is probably due to his experience. Thomas averages over 10 points a game, and over 3 boards. Thomas is one of the best shooters on the team, shooting almost 58% from the floor.

David Gonzalvez is also a wingman, but is also another youngster. The frosh averages 8.5 ppg and leads the team with 4.1 boards per. He plays over 28 minutes a game, and has a solid assist-turnover ratio.

6-6 Freshman guard Ryan Butler has started in 10 games this year and looks to be the teams sharp-shooter. Butler is averaging 7.7 ppg and 2.7 boards, but that isn’t what jumps out at me. 53% from the floor, 51% from 3(team-high), and 73% from the foul line(team-high). Let’s put this guy on lock-down.

Brian Morris is also a 6-6 freshman guard, and is the final player I’ll preview. Morris seems to be a very well rounded player, averaging 6.4 ppg, 27 assists to 21 turnovers, and 3.2 boards per. He has started in 8 games and played in all 11, and has played 28 minutes per this season. Shooting isn’t his thing, though, as he is only 33% from the field.

Richmond, as a team, is only shooting 66% from the foul line. While that could use some help, they are shooting 47% from the field and 39% from 3. They have 148 assists to 172 turnovers, and have been outrebounded on the year. Crashing the boards and forcing turnovers will be huge for the Tribe, as will consistent scoring from David Schneider and Laimis Kisielius. If Kisielius and Schneider are in double-figures, I really like our chances.

W&M-68
UR-62

The score lies. I’ll hit on a few key points.

Kisielius

GREAT game by Laimis. He dropped 18 and only missed 1 shot from the field. He needs to rebound a little bit more, but getting this out of Kisielius every night would be ideal. He really creates match-up problems with his shooting abilities.

Schneider

Only 6 points tonight for David, and the shooting was really off. 1-5 from the field and 3-6 from the stripe are just not Schneider-like. I really don’t think he is shooting enough(even though his stats were bad tonight), but usually when he puts it up it goes in. Would be nice if he would shoot more like Laimis does. He still had 3 assists and 3 boards, but 3 TO’s and 4 (cheap) fouls. He didn’t play as much as usual, just 29 minutes, and had a strange cut next to his eye(can be seen in image below).

Smith

We have found our big man. Smith scored 8 points tonight and had 3 boards, and really dominated the post. The 2 blocks were also nice. Also, Peter Stein dropped 7, but seemed a little bit tenative tonight. He had several chances to score that he passed off.

Supporting guards

Payton and Mann got 12 each, and Carrabine hit 2 trey’s. The 30 points from those 3 were huge, and really put Hampton in a hole when they tried to come back. They really made some clutch shots.

Kaplan Krazies

Watch 11pm news on ch. 10 in WMBG

Officiating

The worst I have seen in a while. Schneider got called on 2 clean blocks, and no whistles were blown when he was tackled at mid-court. Kisielius had a Mann jump at him around the opposite base-line, but apparently it was a clean steal. Absolutely terrible, and I hope they weren’t CAA officials.

6-4

Images

After injuries to Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson, 2 of their back-up QB’s, the Cleveland Browns signed Lang Campbell to back-up Ken Dorsey next Sunday against Houston.

The Browns placed quarterback Derek Anderson (shoulder) and defensive lineman J’vonne Parker (ankle) on injured-reserve Tuesday and signed QB Lang Campbell to the active roster.

Anderson and Parker each were injured during Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay.

Campbell spent training camp with the Browns in 2005 and ‘06 but has not spent a week on the team’s active roster until now. He is expected to serve as the backup to starter Ken Dorsey Sunday .

Browns website

Hopefully this game is a blowout - either way - so Lang can get some PT. Houston is slightly better, but the last game of the season tends to be a crap-shoot. Even if he doesn’t get any significant play time, I hope Crennel will give him a series or 2.

Go Lang! Go Tribe!

This may be short, pretty busy during the holiday season!

Hampton is currently 3-8, their biggest win by 1 against New Orleans. They are 267 in the RPI(Mainly due to strong losses) and 263 in the Pomeroy rating. W&M has a 87% chance to win according to Ken Pomeroy.

The leading scorer is Matthew Pilgrim, a freshman foward out of Cincinnati. He has only played 2 games so far this year, but in limited minutes has averaged 15.5 per and 5 boards. Alex Smith may be key to stopping him, and a big man showing up Thursday will be huge.

Another key contributor is Junior guard Rashad West, who just dropped 28 on St. Bonnies. He is out of Raleigh, NC, and averages 13.9 points per game. The biggest issue for him looks to be his assist-turnover ratio, at 28-37. He can really shoot, and it over 41% from 3.

#3 on Hampton’s list of top players is Michael Freeman, a 6-8 freshman foward from VA. He is one of the teams top scorers, at 13.8 points per, and is the top rebounder at 5.5 a game. It is really going to be key for the Tribe to play well against HU’s young big men.

The 4th of Hampton’s “big four” is DeMario Mattox, a 6-3 sophomore guard from Franklin County. He averages 10.4 ppg, and seems to shoot fairly well. He also has more turnovers than assists, but handles the ball better than West.

All in all, I think there will be 2 keys to this game.

#1-They run a system called the “frantic 40″, a run-all-game, play no defense type of system. This could give us really good chance to get used to the press and fast style of game for when VCU and Anthony Grant’s “94 feet both ways” club comes to town next month.

#2-It will give us a good chance to see where we stand against a bunch of common opponents. Hampton has already lost to VCU(by 23 points), GMU(by 9), UMBC(by 7), and Holy Cross(by 15).

The outcome of this game really shouldn’t be in question, but it will be interesting anyway.

Go Tribe!

Good win for the Tribe coming off exam break. We really dominated the first half, ending it at 42-25 and shooting over 66% from the field. Let them back into the game in the early second half, but pulled away late for a solid W.

Laimis Kisielius was the offensive standout, scoring 19 points and getting 3 boards. David Schneider had anothing good game, scoring 11 with 2 assists. He was also sporting a new hair-cut. Adam Payton also played a solid game, scoring 7 points and dishing out 4 assists.

Probably the best performance of the night, though, came out of Alex Smith. Alex was a beast down low, scoring 9 and getting a team-high 5 rebounds. It would be huge for this team if he can do that consistently. Oh yeah, he was sick and throwing up all day prior to the game.

Adam Trumbower also had a good game, scoring  points in only 9 minutes. He is becoming a good rest for David and has played much better than anybody expected.

Corey Cofield still MIA….

Probably the biggest number of the night is shooting 95.5 percent from the line(21 of 22). This was an issue earlier in the season, but tonight is was put to rest.

Hampton on the 28th at Kaplan, and I’ll put up a preview shortly after Xmas.

GO TRIBE!!!!!!!

The Tribe will try to get their 5th win of the season Friday night when the UMBC Retrievers come to the Hall. UMBC, or University of Maryland-Baltimore County, is 4-7 on the year, and is concluding a 4-game road swing.

UMBC has 4 wins, high-lighted by #228 RPI La Salle on the road. Their worst loss of the season came in the season-opener, dropping a game @ St. Peter’s, who is #298 in the Pomeroy RPI. The Retrievers are 161 in the RPI, mainly due to losses at tough teams(GW, Marquette, Michigan), and are 195 in the Pomeroy ratings. At the moment W&M has a 61% chance of winning the game.

The Retrievers are truly a team, as their top 5 scorers are all within 5 points of eachother. Junior guard Brian Hodges is the leading scorer, with 13.9 ppg, even though he has only started 3 games. Sophomore, 5-8 guard Jay Greene is the second leading scorer, at 11, and also has 58 assists to 29 TO’s. Pugh is another guard, averaging 10.1 ppg and 5.4 boards. Their 4th guard, and 4th leading scorer, Tomas Young averages 9.7 per and 4.8 boards.

Their big men are led by Mike Housman, who averages 6.8 boards per and over 9 points. Their only other big man seeing legit time, Uwem Eshietedoho(god bless me), brings much needed size. He is a project, having not played basketball until the age of 13, but has much potential.

While UMBC beat us last year at their house, I think Schneider and co. can get it done this year. Both teams are guard-dominated, but I think ours are a little bit better, and playing at home will help.

W&M-62
UMBC-57

GO TRIBE!

8/30-UD

The Tribe and Blue Hens got the honor of kicking off Football in the CAA, and this Thursday night game could set the tone for both teams. In ‘06, both had disappointing seasons, and it will be interesting to see which steps up in ‘06. Also, this could fore-shadow the future for the Tribe at QB and OL.

9/8-@VMI

VMI was terrible last year, and this should be the Tribe’s only cupcake OOC. Not only is it an easy win OOC, but it gives the Tribe fans a chance to travel and see a team with an interesting football experience(cadets). I’ll probably make the Tribe to see a probably Tribe win.

9/15-Liberty

This should be the most competitive OOC game. Liberty went 6-5 last year, a year removed from being the armpit of the FCS. The Tribe came home with a win in Lynchburg last year, with a one-point win preserved by a million of LU missed field goals. While 2 will be tough, the Tribe opens the season with 3 winnable games.

9/22-@VT

VT will be a national contender next year, especially if RB Brandon Ore returns, and this no doubt will be tough to watch. If we stay within 3 TD’s I’ll feel lucky. I will probably makes the trip, though, since it is only a few hours away and is an amazing experience to watch a game. The playing of “Enter Sandman” and the whole stadium jumping up and down followed by the Hokies entering the stadium is one of my favorite things to watch in all sports.

9/29-Towson

This should also be an interesting matchup. Towson hasn’t beaten the Tribe in forever, and I’m sure they’ll be up for the game after our upset last season. Towson’s QB will be tough to stop, but the Tribe has played the Tigers very well lately.

10/6-@Villanova

Villanova is another of the several teams to knock off the Tribe last season. They really started to play well at the end of last season, knocking off JMU. The big question is if they will play like they have in the past, or use the momentum from last season to become a top CAA team.

10/13-@Maine

Maine quietly put together a very nice season last year, getting very close to making the playoffs. Suprisingly(not) they beat W&M at Zable in a nail-biter, and I think they gave them a lot of confidence. Seeing as this is in the second half of the season, I’m sure the game being at Orono will be a huge factor.

10/27-UMass(homecoming)

Possibly the best game on the home-slate will be the possible national champ, the UMass Minutemen. We played our worst game of the year against them, ending 55-6, but the loss of their star RB(Baylark) will really hurt. They still will have their QB, though, Liam Coen.

11/03-@Hofstra

Hofstra is also one of the 8 teams that beat us last season. They brought a solid passing attack and swiss-cheese D to Williamsburg last year, and barely snuck out with a W. The Tribe will need to win these kind of games to have a good season.

11/10-JMU

While UMass may be the biggest game on the home schedule, this is the game I always circle. The Dukes were very good last season, and put us away by 2 TD’s, but you have to wonder how they will deal with several defense losses, their QB being a senior(Rascati), and the plain bad play of their secondary. This is definitely the one I look foward to most, and I’ve already got a streamer-related plot cooking….

11/17-@UR

UR has put together 2 good seasons, but they lose their starting RB(I think), and have never had much consistency as a program. This is one of the oldest rivalries in all of CFB, and one of those games that the stats don’t matter. Also an easy game for Tribe fans to travel to, only about an hour away.

So we’ve got 10 of the same opponents as last year, and I think we win much more than last seasons 3. I’m thinking we at least get 5, and could go as high as 8. A bunch of these teams have question marks everywhere, and that could bode well for this young Tribe team.

Terrible first half, but we picked it up in the second period and cruised to a double digit win.

Mann-Scored 13, with 3 assists and 9 BOARDS! Shooting could have been better, but I’ll take it! Good to see Mann break through.

Schneider-Scored 10, 2 steals, and led the team with 5 assists,. Solid game, but he needs to shoot MUCH more. 5 shots from our best play just won’t cut it.

Stein-10 points, 4 boards. He needs some more rebounds, but the scoring is a good sign - something we haven’t really seen from big men this year. He also had 2 good blocks, and 2 steals.

Kisielius-In my opinion, a disappointing game by Laimis. The blocks(2), steals(1), and assists(3) are nice, but only 5 points from one of our best players and 2 boards from a big man in for the majority of the game is not good. Hopefully he falls out of the 2-game slump.

Payton-Also in double-digits, with 10. His shooting was okay at best, but he had some nice rebounding and 4 steals. Another good game from AP.

Off the bench

Good-Trumbower, with 2 points, 2 assists, and 3 steals.
Hess, 3 points in 10 minutes. Good to see the Frosh step up.
Smith, only scored 3 but was a force down low in his few minutes.
Carrabine, 5 points in less than 10 minutes. Becoming a good role player.

Bad-Cofield, played only 4 minutes and did less than nothing. I think he had a turnover, but the stat sheet says I’m lying. What has happened to him?

Nice win, and 2 weeks off for the team. Go Tribe!

Usually I do a preview, with info on W&M teams for opposing fans, but I don’t think UNF has many(any?) fans.

UNF is 1-7, their only win coming against Concordia. They are ranked #324 by Ken Pomery, who doesn’t predict them to win another game. They are 296 in the Pomery RPI, and Ken says we have a 96% chance of winning.

UNF averaged 48 points per game, and shoots 37%. On average, they get 9 assists per and 18 turnovers. They average less than 450 fans per home game.

UNF has 8 players who have scored this year, led by Rashad Williams. Williams is a 6-7 JuCo transfer foward who averages 13.4 ppg. He is one of the team leaders in rebounding, with 4.9 per game. He shoots 47% from the field, but his 13 assists to 27 turnovers are troublesome.

UNF’s second leading scorer, Germaine Sparkes, averages 7 ppg. He also has 4.6 boards per game, but also needs to cut the TO’s.

Chris Timberlake logs the most minutes for the Osprey’s, and scores 6.4 per. He is a sub-6 foot PG, and shoots only 30% from the field.

Gallo Cham is a starting foward for the Osprey’s and leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per. He also scores 3 a game on average.

Other contributors are Arnold Henry(3.8 ppg), Ian Gibson(3.9), James Grimball(5.9), and Aaron Caruthers(6.1). All 4 play around 20 minutes a game.

As you can see, North Florida is terrible. Tribe rolls in this one against a weak opponent.

W&M-80
No Flo-55

GO TRIBE!