Surveying the Atlantic 10, Metro Atlantic Athletic and Patriot League for lessons learned over the past week.
Isaiah Armwood likes playing for George Washington
Last we saw Isaiah Armwood he was roaming the hardwood of the Big East in a Villanova Wildcats uniform. The Baltimore, Maryland native averaged two shots in 17 minutes of playing time. He scored two and a half per game while grabbing almost four rebounds. Flash forward after sitting out a season per NCAA transfer requirements, and Armwood is a new man. The 6-9 forward scores 13 a game on 10 shots while grabbing 8.6 boards for the George Washington Colonials. He blocks three a game while handing out more than one assist. Armwood scored 23 with nine rebounds as GW topped Manhattan, 67-55 in the BB&T Classic, Sunday. He hit eight of 12 while connecting on all seven of his free throw attempts. Beyond that, his two assists thwarted the Jaspers looking to double him in the post. Great interior passes.
‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky
Double-doubles and Mike Muscala are as common as 007 and trysts. That doesn’t diminish the significance of such. Muscala dropped 29 and corralled a career-high 19 as the Bucknell Bison rallied for a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Columbia, Saturday. The Bison trailed by as much as 17 before notching the 65-57 win to improve to 7-1. Muscala registered his sixth double-double of the season and 30th of his career. But on this day, Muscala put himself in some rarified air becoming only the second Patriot League player to reach the 1,500 points, 800 rebound plateau. Muscala joins company with Colgate great, Adonal Foyle. In three years at Colgate, Foyle scored 1,776 points and grabbed 1,103 rebounds. He went on to play 12 seasons in the N.B.A. . Keep in mind the Patriot League did not come into existence until the 1990-91 campaign, so David Robinson’s time with the Midshipmen does not register in the PL record books.
Speaking of rarified air
UB’s Javon McCrea scored his 1,000th career point Saturday night. It took the Newark, New York native 74 games to accomplish that feat.
Xavier has found efficiency on offense
Losing all five of their starters, many pegged this to be a down year for the Xavier Musketeers. At least for now the young Musketeers are showing no problem making the adjustment. Xavier ranks among the top in the country for offensive rating which tracks a team’s number of points per 100 possessions. Thanks to our friends at Sports Reference the Musketeers ORating of 116.9 puts them at sixteenth in the nation. Last year’s Sweet Sixteen team finished with a rating of 103.8 good for 126th. The 2012-13 version of X-Men are scoring 73.3 points per game on 62.6 possessions per 40 minutes. A year ago, the Musketeers scored 70.6 on 68.1 possessions. Of course, all this figures to level out as they enter A-10 play, but Musketeers haven’t dodged anyone with their schedule so far getting wins over Butler, Purdue and Drexel. The Muskies host Vanderbilt, Thursday night.
Canisius braces for a challenging stretch
In nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti (funny how I can’t type those words without envisioning Michael Corleone)and so goes the baptism by fire for Jim Baron and his Canisius Golden Griffins. Baron guided the Griffs to a record of 4-1 in his first month at the helm on Main Street Buffalo. That was nice. Now the Griffs head into MAAC conference play on the road at Fairfield and Marist. Success is possible. But before the end of the month, Canisius will play at Syracuse (December 15), Temple (19th) and UNLV (22nd). Oh boy.
Kendall Knorr can fill it up
Navy’s freshman, Kendall Knorr made the most of his 19 minutes last Wednesday going six-for-six from the field including three-of-three behind the arc.
Three minutes of goodness from Knorr and the Mids
It’s not all hoops
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