Anonymous
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02-11-05 01:05 AM - Post#3884
Or is it Dartmouth? I guess we will find out on Friday--my guess is that it's Dartmouth but you never know.
Also, I think you are wrong, YaleEli, about Yale's ideal strategy. Screw Upshaw--having him on the bench for 40 minutes wouldn't hurt us--what we need is production from DOMINIC MARTIN. I don't know what it is, but when you're the most (or second-most, maybe) talented center in the Ivy League, you need to score. Less than 10 points in league games won't cut it. I don't know if it's his fault, either; we can't seem to get him the ball down low and it could well be because of Jones.
The brightest spot so far this season has been Edwin Draughan, who lit it up last weekend. If we have any prayer of finishing in the top half of the league, Draughan needs to keep scoring.
If Jones was smart, he'd keep Gamboa on the bench! Along with having the worst shooting percentage of the starters (besides Hughes, who plays because he rebounds and dunks like an animal), Gamboa is averaging less than 3 assists per game in more than 30 minutes of playing time. Flato would be a hell of a lot better, at least on offense (possibly improving the Martin situation), and should be the starter.
I don't think we can recover from this early meltdown. Say what you will, but a win over Columbia is nothing special. Let's see Yale beat Princeton or Penn or even Brown--Yale hasn't beaten the Bears at home in a long, long time. What a disappointment it will be, too, when we lose Draughan next year and there's no one to replace him. This might well be the start of a long middle-to-bottom-of-the-pack stretch for Jones and Yale. I have hope for Flato, Hughes, and the Holmes twins, but seeing as how none of Jones' players improve from year to year, I have my doubts.
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SFlaQuaker
Postdoc
Posts: 2427
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-11-05 02:38 AM - Post#3885
In response to
Just one little point...I've seen 3 teams play thus fat, and Martin was far below both Wallace and Danley in terms of talent. From what I've heard and seen in the past, Harvard and Dartmouth might add a few guys ahead of him as well.
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SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6415
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-11-05 01:44 PM - Post#3886
In response to
Early season meltdown? What were you expecting, starting the season with the 2 toughest road trips you'll have all season? The only way this team is the worst in the league is if everybody decides to just pack it in. In addition to Dartmouth, I think you'll finish ahead of Cornell, and probably Harvard, too. All you need is a sweep this weekend, and you'll be right in the middle of the pack already.
As for Martin, I agree with SFLaQuaker, he could be as low as 5th among league centers (and Eric Taylor might have something to say about even that), but I also agree with you that he needs to be out there and involved on offense for Yale to succeed.
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Anonymous
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-11-05 05:18 PM - Post#3887
In response to SomeGuy
I guess my post is predicated on the fact that Yale needed to do better over the last 2 weekends than they actually did. Beating Penn and Princeton on the road is hard, but any team that considers itself a favorite for the league title (and they do) needs to come a little closer (how many total points did they score that weekend? 84?). And beating Columbia, while crucial, should be expected instead of thrilling, as a previous poster basically put it.
I actually do expect that Yale will finish closer to the middle than to the bottom (5th or 6th) in the league standings, but that will be a major disappointment given the expectations of the fans and the team. Maybe, instead of judging the previous two years as disappointments, we should start dismissing their great 01-02 season as an accident and accepting mediocre finishes as normal.
As for the Martin debate, I'm not sure. All I know is that he was pretty damn good in the run of games vs. BC, Charlotte, Santa Clara, and Fairfield during which Yale looked pretty competitive.
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SFlaQuaker
Postdoc
Posts: 2427
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-11-05 06:44 PM - Post#3888
In response to
I really didn't follow those games closely, but maybe the team as a whole was playing better? I think the guy has some skill, but I just don't think the offense can run through him constantly. Your points need to come primarily from your guards, and Martin can chip in here and there.
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Anonymous
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-12-05 02:02 AM - Post#3889
In response to
It is just conceivable that the worst team in the Ivy is the team sitting in last place. . . some place called P--------n.
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YaleEli
goober
Posts: 62
Loc: Greenwich, CT
Reg: 12-07-04
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-12-05 04:51 AM - Post#3890
In response to
I guarantee that, by the end of the Ivy season, we will not be sitting in last place. Other than Penn's team, the Ivy "race" is quickly becoming a "race to the bottom" (with each team having at least two losses to date).
While Yale has certainly entered the last three (3) years with high expectations, we have not duplicated the unbelievable "effort" that the Princeton Tigers are currently putting forth for their new coach.
If you ever needed an example of the definition for "mailing it in", you would have to look no further than the underachieving group located in Princeton, NJ. I am hoping they can at least play spoiler when they take on Penn again at home. At least that game can restore some pride in their locker room.
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Anonymous
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Re: Are we the worst team in the Ivy League?
02-20-05 03:54 AM - Post#3891
In response to YaleEli
No.
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