Anonymous
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02-23-06 08:24 PM - Post#16170
In response to mcapodee
Quote:
The Lafayette teams with Brian Ehlers and Stefan Coscic (sp?) would probably give the Bison a run for their money.
The Lafayette teams of the Ehlers-Ciosici era were very good for their time. I enjoyed watching them play on many occasions. However, objectively speaking, they were not nearly as good as this year's Bison team, or last year's BU or HC team. There are a number of reasons:
1. LC played in a non-scholarship league, where the level of competition was lower than it is now.
2. LC's RPI in 1999-2000 (the year they had their best record)was #119. Bucknell is currently #34, and both BU and HC last year were in the 60's.
3. LC's out-of-conference (OOC) RPI that year was a very low 183. (Playing a PL schedule actually HELPED their RPI significantly!) BU this year is #25, and BU and HC last year were in the top 50 in the nation in this category.
4. LC's OOC strength of schedule that year was #296, almost at the bottom of the entire NCAA. Bucknell this year is #37 in OOC strength of schedule, and BU and HC both had tough schedules last year as well.
5. LC's best win that year was against the #93 team in the nation, in overtime. Compare that to BU winning at Syracuse, at DePaul, and vs St Joes this year. Or, last year, beating Pitt, St Joes, and Kansas. Or Holy Cross last year beating Notre Dame and a very good Northeastern team.
6. In the NCAA tournament, LC played the #5 seed Temple, and lost by a 73-47 score. Compare that to Bucknell's performance last year vs Kansas or several of HC's earlier close games.
7. Although LC had a worse record in 1998-99, it was actually slightly better in the RPI. Still, however, they were #100, still had a bad strength of schedule, had a weaker OOC RPI, and their best win was against the #91 team. That year, they played a 22-6 Miami team and lost by 21 points in the NCAA.
None of this is intended to disparage the Lafayette teams of this era, who played great and were really well-coached. It is simply to point out that a team can only be so good without scholarships. For example, look at non-scholarship LC this year who, despite great coaching, has lost to BU by 50 points in their two games and to HC by 45 points. O'Hanlon and many alums are pleading for scholarships because they know a team can only get to a certain level without them.
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