HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2701
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-24-24 12:36 PM - Post#363882
In response to 84grad
Thanks 84, I am very concerned about tonight, so it's good to hear there's hope beyond this weekend.
The injuries are just ridiculous - Nelson, Pitcher, Batties, Pigge and whatever happened to Silverstein and Hemmings. Starting the ivy slate without Ajogbor and waiting for both Mack and Ajogbor to round into form was painful as well. We're 4-3 with a semblance of our roster, even though that squad is still missing key players.
So, we get into position to survive and make the tournament and now Batties and Pigge go down before a stretch of 5 games in 12 days, including two back to backs. The survivors played Princeton even for but the last 4 minutes of the first half. Not surprising with talent, but no depth.
When assessing player absences, I look at where the minutes go. In beating Columbia last weekend, Ace-Nestaski, Wojcik and Nesbit played 9 minutes, last night they played 44 minutes. Tyler Simon, who had his best collegiate game ever last night, played 30 minutes as opposed to 11. That's two full positions going to guys normally far down the depth chart - at least numbers 7 and below. Worse if Simon and others were available.
So, Penn will press the full game tonight and double Mack, Okpara and Ajogbor tonight, the tail end of a back to back. Lesmond and Simon have to hit 3's, and we have to make Penn pay for their full court defense. On the other hand, Penn will again try and run through Spinoso. If Ajogbor can't successfully defend without help - or if Ajogbor gets in foul trouble - Penn's strong 3 point shooting (14-31 last night) will mean points that we just don't have the horses to keep up with.
Having said this, we can (and have) stayed close to better teams like Princeton, Yale and Cornell while diminished. So I'll be rooting.
By the way, I know every team suffers injuries, and Penn fans seem to fall back on the lack of Dingle and Martz. No one has the injuries and loss of players Harvard does. Ledlum, Dingle and Martz all started in the same class. It appears Dingle and Martz took off the COVID year, while Ledlum graduated on time. Similar to expectations of Dingle and Martz playing, we could have had Ledlum this year, or Dingle and Martz should have graduated this last year. Slachert's absence was devastating to Penn as well, but so is the missed time/diminished return of Mack, Ajogbor, Silverstein, Hemmings, Pitcher and now Batties and Pigge. Again, this is not close to being comparable to anything any other squad has had to endure when you discount the 5th year seniors. On the other hand, keeping the playing field level, what fun it would have been if Harvard had Ledlum, Nelson and Silverstein, while Penn had Dingle and Martz. This would be a five team race at a competitive level probably not seen here before.
So, I don't see how Harvard prevails tonight, but I'll be rooting. Regardless, if Pigge and Batties aren't back for the game at Brown next Friday, I'll be equally concerned.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 02-24-24 12:45 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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