Sacred Heart vs. Quinnipiac - Game Preview!

It’s time for my first ever game preview.  Now is as good a time as any, since I need to cease spending my free time reading about the Mets medical staff’s mismanagement of injuries or how Mark Wahlberg could have prevented 9/11.  Instead, how about I preview tomorrow night’s Northeast Conference battle at the Pitt, Quinnipiac (9-8, 2-4 NEC) versus Sacred Heart (8-11, 2-4 NEC)?  Let’s proceed!

The Last Meeting:

Tom Moore and his Quinnipiac Bobcats had their five game winning streak over Sacred Heart (SHU) snapped, after the Pioneers surprisingly disposed of the Bobcats last month in Hamden, 68-55.  SHU held Quinnipiac to a season low 31% shooting from the field, which helped offset Quinnipiac’s dominance on the boards (what else is new) and Justin Swidowski being in foul trouble.  The biggest difference in the game was Quinnipiac’s atrocious free-throw shooting – the Bobcats missed 11 of 20 free throws and were outscored 20-9 by SHU at the charity stripe.

Why Do We Care About the Game:

Because every NEC conference game matters!  Both squads have struggled of late and now find themselves in the bottom half of the NEC standings at 2-4.  The loser of this game will essentially be five games back to the soon-to-be 7-0 LIU Blackbirds (assuming they defeat Mount St. Mary’s at home), therefore keeping pace with the upper echelon of the NEC is paramount.  For SHU, this game is the first game of a critical four game homestand that concludes with CCSU, Wagner, and Mount St. Mary’s.  For Quinnipiac, they can finally put the unfortunate campus fight incident behind them, and start building toward joining the NEC elite with a respectable road win.

What Does Sacred Heart Need to Do to Win:

1) Defend, defend, defend!  Offensively, Sacred Heart is third in the conference in points scored and tied for first in assists.  The problem?  They are allowing 1.04 points per possession defensively, which places them in the bottom third of the NEC. 

2) Do their best to contain Ike Azotam, Ousmane Drame, and the rest of Quinnipiac's front-court on the offensive glass, which means Swidowski must stay out of foul trouble.  When Quinnipiac has 10 offensive rebounds or less in a game, they are 1-4.  That lone win came against Robert Morris, when they shot an uncharacteristic 59% from the floor.  Their average shooting percentage for the year is 45%, so I don’t think you can count on a shooting performance like that again.

What Does Quinnipiac Need to Do to Win:

1) Have a decent shooting performance from all points on the court.  Specifically, Quinnipiac must get to the line and convert those free throws.  Seems simple enough but when the Bobcats shoot 65% or less from the line, they are 2-7 on the season.  With Quinnipiac dominating the glass as often as they do, they will find themselves at the line quite a bit.  They must take advantage of those freebies.   

2) Cut off the SHU’s secondary players.  Shane Gibson, who leads the NEC in scoring, will get his points.  The key to limiting the Pioneer’s offense is to focus on the second, third, and fourth scoring options behind Gibson and to defend the three-point shot.  Freshman Steve Glowiak has drained 6 three-pointers in the past two games, so Quinnipiac must not allow players like Glowiak to get into any kind of rhythm.

What to Watch For:

The Pioneers have been banged up of late with the statuses of Evan Kelley (ankle) and Justin Swidowski (shoulder) unknown prior to the game.  Will they be ready to play?  If not, the Pioneer’s depth will be severely limited and Nick Greenbacker or Femi Akinpetide, both of whom have been quite unproductive according to BBState.com efficiency ratings, will be forced to play big minutes.

Final Prediction:

I believe this is a coin-flip game, but I’ll naturally go with the home team.  The Pioneers will get a home boost from the crowd (I sure hope there’s more than 1,000 fans there) leading to a spirited defense effort that hinders the outside shooting of Quinnipiac.  In the end, the Pioneers seal off a tight game down the stretch with their superior free throw shooting.  Sacred Heart 66, Quinnipiac 64

As a Mets Fan, It's Time to Embrace the Unthinkable

This is an unprecedented moment for the Pioneer Pride blog – for the first time ever I’m bringing you 2 entries in 2 days!  If Yankees radio announcer John Sterling was in my living room now, he would most certainly bellow (while experiencing a near orgasm), “Ooooooohhhhh Ryan has just posted two blog entries in two days!!  He went back-to-back, BELLY-TO-BELLY!!!!”

This entry was somewhat difficult to write, because as a Mets fan I never want to give up hope before a season, no matter how dire the circumstances.  But for the first time in my life as a Mets fan, I’m ready to fully embrace the “R” word that no New York sports fan EVER wants to utter – rebuilding.  To be clear, I’m not talking about a half ass “we traded two elite pitching prospects for a good, but not great pitcher in Ubaldo Jimenez because we fooled ourselves into thinking we had a shot at the AL Central division title” kind of rebuilding.  I’m talking about an all-out “let’s beef up the farm system that Omar Minaya raped and clean house if we have to” type of rebuilding.

Please allow me to explain myself.  I’m just…I’m just tired of finishing behind the Phillies, every single freaking year.  It’s worn me down.  For the past three seasons, the Mets have been marinating in this mediocre stew that has inevitably led to final win totals of 70, 79, and 77 wins, respectively.  It’s been the same ‘ol story every year – the Mets will overachieve until the All-Star break and therefore suck us into unrealistically believing they have a shot making the playoffs.  Then by late July, the team starts to predictability fade, only to finish well out of contention for the wildcard.

I’m sick of this cruel false sense of hope, every single year, which is why I’m embracing the “R" word.

So what kind of rebuilding scale am I talking about?  Let’s put it this way – I will support GM Sandy Alderson if he trades any starter for a good return of prospects.  Keith Law, the former Toronto Blue Jays assistant GM who now writes for ESPN Insider, doesn’t have one single Met ranked in his top 50 players age 25 and under.  With the exception of some high risk, high ceiling pitching prospects like Zach Wheeler, Matt Harvey, and Jeurys Familia, it’s a weak farm system, especially for position players. 

So if Alderson has an opportunity to flip Daniel Murphy for a couple of decent prospects, I support that.  What about Jon Niese or Pelfrey for a positional prospect or two?  Sure, why not.  Maybe the Player Formerly Known as Jason Bay will experience a resurgence with the new Citi Field dimensions, and subsequently get unloaded to dump that ridiculous contract.  Go for it, Sandy.  Hell at this point, I would support the Mets if they acquired a very good haul of prospects by trading …. (gulp) …. David Wright.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I would support the Mets if they trade … (sorry, this is difficult to even type) … David Wright for the right package of prospects, even though Wright is a fan favorite and on the short list of my man-crushes (although Eli is a close second).  I’ve reached that level as a suffering Met fan.

Besides, I’m thinking long term.  If they suck the next couple of seasons, I’m fine with that.  As long as Sandy is building a contender.  In a couple of years, when my wife (a Yankee fan) and I start a family, I need a Mets team that can match the sustained success of the Yankees.  If the Mets are still stuck in this mediocre stew, come 2016, then it will be an easy decision for our children.  A 90-95 win Yankee team that makes the playoffs most years? Or a mediocre, strapped for cash Mets squad that can barely win half their games?  That’s a pretty easy decision for a child.  And I need a fighting chance to brainwash my child into loving the Amazins some day.

Let the rebuilding begin.  Lets.  Go.  METS!

Pioneer Pride Quick Hits I

It is time for the first installment of the Pioneer Pride’s Quick Picks!  Let’s begin…

• I’m excited to announce my inclusion into Big Apple Buckets Power Poll!  John Templon, the creator of nycbuckets.com, does a terrific job covering college basketball programs in the New York City area.  Every month on his website, he releases a Power Poll, which ranks all the teams in the tri-state area.  The NEC teams included in this poll are St. Francis (NY), Monmouth, Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner, Long Island University and, of course, Sacred Heart.  I’ve been recently added as a voter of the poll, along with 13 other beat reporters and bloggers of different teams.  Time to study up before I cast my vote this Sunday night!

• It’s been a light week in college basketball – thanks to finals week – therefore I’ve caught up on some reading material.  In the past 2 weeks, there have been 3 features on individual Pioneer players.  William Paxton, of the Connecticut Post, wrote an excellent piece on SHU forward Femi Akinpetide, detailing his charitable work off the court.  Chris Elsberry, also of the Connecticut Post, featured junior forward Justin Swidowski, by illustrating the toxic losing atmosphere Swidowski was subjected at his prior school, Holy Family.  Reading this article is a must, because if you stick with it until the end, you’ll be rewarded with a Dave Bike fat joke!  And finally, a small piece on Phil Gaetano was penned yesterday by Record Journal writer John Petit.  It was evident in the article that Bike is expecting big things from his freshman guard.  Look for Gaetano's playing time to increase during the conference season if Evan Kelley continues to provide erratic minutes at the point.

• Tim Tebow is clearly God's quarterback.  But who is God's team in college basketball?  We are about to find out!  On Monday night, SHU will travel to South Bend to take on their second and final Big East opponent of the year, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Notre Dame (7-4, RPI 228) has struggled out of the gate, thanks to senior Tim Abromaitis shredding his knee ligament, thus requiring season-ending surgery.  Without Abromatitis, Notre Dame has failed to defeat anyone in the RPI top 175 and now finds themselves only a couple RPI points ahead of SHU (6-6, RPI: 231).  So does SHU have a chance to end Notre Dame’s 26 game non-conference home winning streak?  Quite simply, no.

• David Wright apparently has it all.  A very good baseball player entering his prime, check.  Good looks and a boyish innocence, check.  A multi-million dollar contract, check.  But is he a dominant player in fantasy football??  David is currently part of a MLB players 12 team fantasy football league hosted by CBS Sports, and from the looks of it, he has one hell of a team.  Now if only David can hit the goddamn ball out of Citi Field every once in a while…

(Side note:  Ben Sheets evidently sucks at staying healthy and fantasy football)

Terrible Contracts to Cheer Up Met Fans

It's not easy being a Mets fan.  In fact, it's downright depressing, especially now that Jose Reyes has left Queens for sunnier pastures in Miami.  With Reyes gone, Johan pitching with diminished velocity, and The Player Formerly Known As Jason Bay starting in LF, there ain't no mistaking it - it's full blown rebuilding time for GM Sandy Aldersen, which means….drum roll please….at least another 2-3 years of mediocrity.  Yay!!  At this point, I'd rather take a dump in a New Jersey turnpike restroom than watch a July baseball game at Citi Field.

So in an attempt to cheer myself up (besides taking anti-depressants and viewing Twitter photos of Wayne Gretzky's daughter), I compiled a list of the most outrageous contracts on the books for the Yankees and National League East teams, courtesy of baseballreference.com.  With the Mets destined for 72-75 wins next year, I will now focus my pleasure in seeing rivals paying substantial sums of money to underachieving and/or oft-injured bums.  I do realize teams like the Yankees and Phillies can simply buy their way out of these albatross contracts, yet I still get the warm and fuzzies when the Steinbrenners are forced to pay $20 million to a player like Kei Igawa.

(By the way, breaking news I guarantee you didn't hear at the Winter Meetings in Dallas - Kei Igawa is now a free agent!)

So without further ado, my list:

1) Alex Rodriguez - 6 years / $143 million left

ARod earns the number 1 spot just because he has a centaur of himself hanging above his bed.  I still don't understand why the Yankees handed a then 32 year old ARod a 10 year/$275 million extension - exactly who else were they bidding against?  With another 6 years and $143 million remaining (and potentially another $30 million more in home run bonuses), that degenerative hip may push ARod to full time DH duty within 3 years.  And you Yankee fans thought Jorge Posada was an overpaid DH, just wait until 2017!

2) Ryan Howard - 5 years / $125 million left

I literally cheered upon hearing the news that Phillies GM Ruben Amaro handed Howard a $125 million extension.  Reason #1 - because Ike Davis will probably have the same WAR (Wins Above Replacement) as Howard over the next 5 years, at a fraction of the cost.  And reason #2 - Howard's on-base % and slugging % have steadily declined over the past 3 seasons, while averaging 172 strikeouts per season in the same time span.  A blown Achilles tendon aside, I think it's safe to say the 31 year old Howard won't improve on that baseline from here on out.  If it wasn't for hitter friendly Citizen's Bank park to call home, Howard would be nothing more than a $25 million Mark Reynolds in 3 years.

3) Jason Werth - 6 years / $112 million left

Just another case of a 5-star guy (think Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Carlos Beltran) getting overpaid because of his "tools".  This deal always felt like a sick reaction to letting a lazy Adam Dunn walk (ok, maybe waddle) to Chicago.  Otherwise, I can't explain why Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, who's done a nice job rebuilding the Nationals, would offer this obscene contact.  Truth be told, I would take a chance on Werth in the middle rounds of a fantasy draft next season, since I do believe last year was an outlier.  But there's no way this contract will be favorable when Werth plays out the final 3 years from age 36-38.

4) AJ Burnett - 2 years / $33 million left

As I'm writing this, it's been reported that the Yankees are attempting to trade Burnett.  Good luck with that.  You know it's a bad sign when terrified Yankee fans were absolutely thrilled with AJ's pitching line against the Tigers in last season's ALCS:

5.2 innings, 1 earned run, 4 hits, 4 walks, 3 Ks, 1 wild pitch

It's a respectable line - don't get me wrong - but when 8 baserunners allowed in less than 6 innings is more than acceptable for a guy making $16.5 million per year, then maybe it's time to stop paying pitchers based on just stuff and potential.

5) Jose Reyes - 6 years / $106 million left

I hate the man's guts, but Fred Wilpon was correct on one prediction - Jose Reyes did not get Carl Crawford money.  This doesn't hide the fact, however, that Jose's contract is incredibly risky once he enters his 30s.  Right now at age 28, Jose has to stretch 5 TIMES PER DAY and he still injures his hamstrings occasionally.  How exactly will his body hold up if he continues to play this reckless style on the basepaths 3-4 years from now?  But even if he's only averaging 120 games per season by 2015, at least the Miami Marlins will have the coveted rights to the "Jose Jose Jose" song and the mid-inning staple "Speaking Spanish with Professor Reyes."  You can't put a price on that.

6) Rafael Soriano - 2 years / $25 million left

Only the Yankees would have a 7th inning specialist making $12.5 million dollars per year.  Based on his WAR the past 3 seasons, he's not even an elite reliever, but cheer up Yankee fans, at least Soriano is a slightly better contract than Big Fat Bobby Jenks 2 year, $12 million deal with the Red Sox.

So are there any albotross contracts of Mets rivals I missed?  Please let me know!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to look over the medical records of Frank "2 DL stints per year" Francisco and get myself pumped up for Andres Torres, and his career 0.318 on-base %, leading off for the Amazins.  Please shoot me now…