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Soft Pretzel Logic

Drexel

The Schuylkill 16 2010-11: Week 5

POSTED: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 7:59 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Another reminder to post your nominations for city players of the decade here.

I suppose Drexel can only get so much good luck in one week. I expected the Dragons to make a big jump in the Schuylkill 16 this week, but they were already in third place last week. Drexel closed the gap on Temple (which in turn closed the gap on Villanova), but the top four teams remain in the same order as they were seven days ago.

1. Villanova, 25 points (9 first-place votes)

- "I really am going to look like a jerk for voting the 'Cats No. 1 again after that abomination of a game at Tom Gola, but they didn't lose!" (Brian Ewart)

- "Maalik Wayns is very good at basketball." (Nick Catrambone)

I believe the official phrasing is "[Insert name] is a very good basketball player." You can set your watch in Fran Dunphy's press conferences by when he says that.

2. Temple, 35 points (6 first-place votes)

- "Temple gets my No. 1 vote as they beat Georgetown and blew away Akron. Villanova is taking their easy wins and should have lost to La Salle." (Dan Loney)

- "Want to de-emphasize the whole "mid-major" stigma? Don't rush the court just because you beat a ranked Big East team. Act like you've been here before, Temple fans. Take some pride in your team, like you expected them to win. I must have missed the pregame festivities when you all smothered yourselves in weaksauce." (Daniel Simpson Day)

3. Drexel, 49 points (2 first-place votes)

- "Perhaps Brusier Flint has some dirt on Pitino and extorted the victory over the Cardinals." (Zach Klitzman)

- "Drexel's win over Louisville allows me to do something I've always dreamed of... Give them a first-place vote in the Schuylkill 16!" (Marshall Fleming)

4. La Salle, 77 points

- "La Salle SHOULD have won their game against Nova. Perhaps the basketball gods were punishing them for not being able to sell out Tom Gola Arena for the game." (Marshall Fleming)

5. Penn State, 109 points

- "The Penn State name won't hide the fact that their seven wins are all against teams with an RPI higher than 100." (Dan Loney)

6. Princeton, 114 points

7. Rutgers, 126 points

- "If the Big Ten comes calling, would Rutgers be a "Legend" or a "Leader" I suppose their basketball mediocrity is pretty legendary, and they lead the Schuylkill 16 in intra-poll losing-percentage (100%!)." (Brian Ewart)

- "I was at the Rutgers/Auburn game last Saturday. I would say its a good win for Rutgers, except for the fact that Auburn would be ranked 17th in the Schuylkill 16." (Mario Machi)

8. Rider, 138 points

9. Delaware, 147 points

- " 'All Day' Alphonso Dawson saved the day for the Blue Hens in the Route 1 Rivalry. And Bob Carpenter Arena has great funnel cakes!"

Like the curly fries at Arby's, I'll just have to take your word for it.

- "The Cornell Basketball Blog claimed that the Big Red's win over Delaware was the Ivy League's second most impressive victory. Seeing how Delaware barely is in the top half of the Schuylkill 16, I'd call that a BRF: Big Red Fib." (Zach Klitzman)

10. Penn, 163 points

- "As an alum of Penn, I'm glad Jerome Allen doesn't believe in moral victories. As someone who loves gambling, I'm glad Penn got an "immoral" victory by covering the Nova spread." (Zach Klitzman)

- "How embarrassing was it at the Palestra for a Big 5 game, Nova at Penn. Bring back the streamers and old Nova guys that truly remember how to cheer. Thumbs down to the Nova students ... no band, no streamers, no noise, lame cheerleading, no passion. You need a training class on fandom from the masters, THEM 101. Here's rule one, show up to a game, early, tuned in and ready to outcheer everyone! Find someone that has some imagination and make nasty, politically correct of course, rollouts that pack a punch." (Ralph Manopello)

11. Bucknell, 193 points

12. Lehigh, 197 points

13. Saint Joseph's, 203 points

- "I won't rip into the Hawks that much for this 5 game losing streak. I give Martelli a lot of credit for scheduling this tough. That being said... they still stink." (Nick Catrambone)

14. Lafayette, 236 points

15. Monmouth, 244 points

- "The Monmouth Hawks had a real scheduling coup this season when they arranged back-to-back home games against Big East opponents. It's a shame they didn't schedule that for a year where they stood a chance of taking advantage of it." (Brian Ewart)

16. Delaware State, 256 points

Write-ins

Cabrini, no rank given

- "Those Cabrini Caviliers, led by freshman Fran Rafferty, out of Upper Merion High School. Heck, I'm pretty sure that Cabrini beats THID U." (Ralph Manopello)

Villanova football, no rank given

- "I hear that Matt Szczur can dunk, Chris Whitney would be a hard-nosed, 250lb point guard, and Norman White passed up a basketball scholarship at Monmouth. These guys might just have a chance." (Brian Ewart)

Comment of the week from Marshall Fleming

I love that we have ingrained the fact that 'Delaware Sucks' into Tannenwald's brain whenever he hears the Big Blue song. (I can't remember the actual name of it because it's just the Delaware Sucks song to us). Despite the fact that Delaware sucks though, I have to list them in the top half this week because they keep winning. I'm sure Nova will change that though.

Well, first of all, I hold no such opinion about Delaware. I did, however, note the performance of the Michigan band's "Let's Go Blue!" song in this tweet I posted at Tom Gola Arena on Sunday. The Delaware chant in question is done to the same tune in the measures after the music stops.

When the La Salle band played the song on Sunday, I momentarily thought I heard the Delaware chant from the La Salle cheerleaders. I was mistaken, but the greater point is that the chant is not just performed by Drexel fans.

I've heard it on a number of occasions at Villanova fans as well - even at basketball games. Which goes to show that Drexel and 'Nova can get along with each other after all.

11 comments

Drexel upsets No. 20 Louisville

POSTED: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 11:31 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Filed Under: Drexel

View gallery

Yes, really. The Dragons dealt Rick Pitino's team its first ever loss in the palatial KFC Yum! Center, 52-46.

Here's the game story, and here's the box score. Note that the teams shot a combined 24-for-50 from the free throw line, exactly 12-for-25 each.

And here's a sampling of fan reactions from Twitter:

6 comments

Crunchy Numbers: Exam break edition

POSTED: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 3:28 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Remember to post your nominations for players of the decade here.

Team	Record	Conf.	Big 5	Pomeroy	RPI	Sagarin	BB State	SOS
Drexel	6-1	0-0	2-0	82 (87)	51 (64)	45 (48)	92 (97)	213 (238)
La Salle	6-4	0-0	0-1	113 (129)	69 (62)	92 (117)	157 (165)	65 (111)
Penn	4-4	0-0	0-1	201 (205)	187 (178)	198 (210)	274 (275)	161 (235)
St. Joseph's	3-7	0-0	0-1	173 (175)	112 (120)	169 (171)	183 (171)	34 (64)
Temple	7-2	0-0	0-0	27 (38)	22 (50)	23 (34)	18 (31)	20 (51)
Villanova	8-1	0-0	3-0	23 (15)	27 (54)	24 (40)	36 (38)	154 (147)

Picking the players of the decade

POSTED: Monday, December 13, 2010, 1:34 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

As the year comes to an end, I thought it would be cool to put together all-decade teams for each of the city schools.

I have some ideas about who I think should be honored, but I want to hear from you first. Post your nominations in the comments. At the end of the week, I'll put them all together and the first set of all-city teams will be published next Monday.

20 comments

The Schuylkill 16 2010-11: Week 4

POSTED: Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 3:17 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Here's how our reader panel ranks the region's teams heading into tonight's big games, Minnesota at St. Joe's and Penn at Villanova.

1. Villanova, 17 points (14 first-place votes)

- "This is almost too easy. The Cats get top billing just for the sheer enjoyment of toying with the Hawklets at the Pavilion. Honestly, did anyone believe THID U had a chance against Nova Nation at the Pavilion. The rest of the Big 5 goes down in December! The Cats beat the Hawklets with 6 players. It's so good to be the King of the Holy War!" (Ralph Manoppello)

2. Temple, 33 points

3. Drexel, 54 points (1 first-place vote)

- "The way Drexel gets motivated for games against the Big 5 schools, you'd think that the actually had a chance of being included in the round robin someday." (Brian Ewart)

- "Bruiser's team gets too little respect in this poll. Just ask him, he'll tell you the same thing. Perhaps years of his complaining has finally warped my mind enough to put him in the top four. Either that, or his team is actually pretty good." (Jeff Shafer)

There were more comments filed about Drexel this week than about any other team. That says something.

4. La Salle, 78 points

5. Princeton, 83 points

6. Penn State, 91 points

- "Penn State scored 39 points against a middle of the road ACC team in the Maryland Terps." (Geoff Lane)

I'm not so sure Maryland is "middle of the road" anymore, but that was a pretty bad display by the Nittany Lions.

7. Rider, 123 points

8. Delaware, 125 points

- "Good thing the Blue Hens are finally figuring things out. A loss to Delaware State this weekend could look really bad. Losses to MEAC teams at home don't bode well for head coaches." (Nick Catrambone)

9. Rutgers, 135 points

- "I found a way to make the Rutgers/Auburn game this weekend matter: loser trades conferences in football with Boise State next year." (Nick Catrambone)

10. Penn, 154 points

- "Gotta hope Bernardini has some more games in him like the Army game. Penn's a legit Ivy League contender when he's effective." (Nick Catrambone)

11. Lehigh, 169 points

12. Bucknell, 175 points

13. Saint Joseph's, 179 points

- "It's only a matter of time now, that the SJU alumni gets fed up of the excuses ... we're too young, too inexperienced, too tired, too skinny, had too many donuts, it was too windy, we played too many games back to back. Phil managed to recruit every D-I prospect under 150 pounds. C.J. Aikens is a powder puff in the paint. Then, just to add insult to injury, the Hawklets nearly get blown out by Princeton, more smart dudes." (Ralph Manoppello)

- "The best thing that happened to St. Joe's this week was having the Villanova student section reveal the 'Hawk Will Never Die' sign by mistake." (Kevin Gibbons)

14. Lafayette, 198 points

15. Delaware State, 207 points

- "I'm not sure which is more surprising: Delaware over ODU or Delaware State winning by 19 at Maine." (Jon Solomon)

16. Monmouth, 219 points

Comment of the week by Marshall Fleming

Saint Joe's is in such a tailspin, the fans on their message board were even talking about replacing Phil Martelli with Bruiser Flint.

Crunchy Numbers: Temple creeping up on 'Nova

POSTED: Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 9:07 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

A few quiet days before a very busy stretch gets going with Villanova at Penn Wednesday night. Then I'll be at Georgetown-Temple on Thursday, Army-Navy on Saturday and Villanova-La Salle on Sunday.

So stay tuned.

Team	Record	Conf.	Big 5	Pomeroy	RPI	Sagarin	BB State	SOS
Drexel	5-1	1-0	2-0	87 (95)	64 (48)	48 (70)	97 (147)	238 (263)
La Salle	5-3	0-0	0-0	129 (138)	62 (75)	117 (111)	165 (167)	111 (170)
Penn	4-3	0-0	0-0	205 (217)	178 (189)	210 (229)	275 (273)	235 (107)
St. Joseph's	3-5	0-0	0-1	175 (160)	120 (108)	171 (150)	171 (142)	64 (134)
Temple	5-2	0-0	0-0	38 (39)	50 (132)	34 (55)	31 (34)	51 (65)
Villanova	6-1	0-0	1-0	15 (9)	54 (68)	40 (19)	38 (41)	147 (153)

1 comment

Martelli: 'It's the right thing to do'

POSTED: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 10:58 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Filed Under: Drexel | Saint Joseph's

For me, the main storyline in last night's Saint Joseph's-Drexel game wasn't about any of the players. It was about Drexel getting a Big 5 team to come to the DAC.

Yes, it happened two years ago with Penn, but it's not something we see very often. Dragons coach Bruiser Flint's plight when it comes to scheduling home games of any kind is well-known to all of us.

It so happened that the coach across the floor from Flint was another guy who's quite happy to talk when there's a microphone in front of him: Phil Martelli.

So I will let the two of them do the talking in this post. You can listen to their lengthy postgame remarks in the audio player below. There's also an exclusive interview I did with Joe Lunardi before the game.

Lines of the Game

Daryl McCoy, Drexel

Name	Min	FG	FT	3pt	OR	DR	TR	A	S	TO	Blk	PF	Eff	Pts
D. McCoy	36	7-8	1-2	0-0	5	13	18	0	1	2	1	2	27	15

Carl Jones, Saint Joseph's

Name	Min	FG	FT	3pt	OR	DR	TR	A	S	TO	Blk	PF	Eff	Pts
C. Jones	33	8-17	3-6	1-2	1	1	2	0	2	2	0	2	10	20

3 comments

Game 8: Saint Joseph's at Drexel

POSTED: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 3:58 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

Filed Under: Drexel | Saint Joseph's

Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Venue: Daskalakis Athletic Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: Comcast Network

In case you are wondering why my math is screwed up, Game 7 was a Twitter-only special: UNC-Asheville at Georgetown this past Saturday. You can follow my Twitter updates here.

As for tonight's chat, if you're on a mobile device you can join in by clicking here.

2 comments

The Schuylkill 16 2010-11: Week 3

POSTED: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 3:48 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

With St. Joe's at Drexel tonight and the Holy War coming up Friday, there is plenty of smack talk to go around in this week's poll. So let's get right to it.

1. Villanova, 25 points (18 first-place votes)
- "Villanova is still waiting to run their first half-court set of the season." (Andrew Melloh)
- "Trap game coming for Villanova. Trap. Trap trap trap. I'm not biased, I swear." (Brian O'Neill)

The latter author is a Saint Joseph's alumnus.

2. Temple: 57 points (1 first-place vote)
- "Temple's falling faster than Michael Vick's MVP stock." (Zach Klitzman)

The author is a Denver Broncos fan, which would disqualify this comment were the Broncos not 3-8 and in last place in the AFC West by two games.

- "My goal was to keep Villanova at #2 because I can't stand that I can't log onto Soft Pretzel Logic without a pop-up ad of Jay Wright asking me to buy Villanova tickets. However, Temple made that impossible." (Todd Falkenberg)

The author should know that the ads keep me employed, so I deal with them just fine.

3. Penn State, 91 points
- "I was at the Villanova/Tennessee game. It was ugly, but it really wasn't THAT BAD. Besides, Temple picked up two losses already to unranked teams, so what are you going to do? Make the Penn State Flying Talor Battles No. 1? There's no need." (Brian Ewart)

4. La Salle, 108 points (1 first-place vote)
"Ruben Guillandeaux must have known what a loss to a basement S-16 team would have done to their poll standings. It took him 59.5 minutes to it figure out, but better late than never." (Nick Catrambone)

5. Drexel, 115 points

t-6. Saint Joseph's, 161 points (1 first-place vote)
- "St. Joe's gets my #1 for two reasons: 1. There is nothing better for the Schuylkill 16 than winning the Philly Hoops Classic (or there shouldn't be); 2. I hope my #1 vote gives them a boost of confidence heading into the Villanova game on Friday." (Brian O'Neill)
- "How much longer is the THID U alumni going to put up with Coach Phil and his losing ways. Yeah, yeah, they beat Rutgers, did I miss the Scarlet Knights in the Top 25 rankings?? Their girls team aren't even good anymore! I can hear the soft chant starting ... Phil must go, Phil must go ... pass me a donut! " (Ralph Manoppello)

The latter author is a Villanova alumnus.

t-6. Rider, 161 points
- "Rider looked good before a terrible one-man Hofstra team took them to the woodshed. Big drop for them this week from me." (Dan Crain)

8. Princeton, 163 points
- "Who needs the Big Ten/ACC Challenge? The best showdown around is the Ivy League-Patriot League series, with the Ivy leading 6-1. Too bad the competition is basketball and not SAT-taking." (Jeff Shafer)

9. Rutgers, 187 points
- "Somehow Rutgers has lost to two mid-level S-16 teams, yet beat Miami. Then again, November wasn't a great month for the Hurricanes against mediocre Big East competition." (Zach Klitzman)

10. Delaware, 215 points
- "Backhanded props to Delaware. Maybe if they used Elena Delle-Donna on the mens team, they'd win a few more games." (Ralph Manoppello)

11. Lehigh, 227 points

12. Penn, 231 points
- "I thought the dudes at Penn were smart enough not to schedule Pitt and Nova within two weeks. So much for Ivy League education." (Ralph Manoppello)

13. Bucknell, 243 points

14. Monmouth, 287 points
- "I'm trying to look for something positive to say here. I thought being 46th in the nation in rebounds was actually pretty amazing. But when you're you're 336th in shooting percentage, you kind of have an unfair advantage with all those opportunities." (Nick Catrambone)

15. Lafayette, 291 points
- "This game against Susquehana University on Wednesday could be a good one." (Nick Catrambone)

16. Delaware State, 294 points
- "Too bad beating Philadelphia Biblical and Washington Adventist still makes Delaware State last in the Schuylkill 16." (Stephen Goldsmith)
- "In a race for last, Delaware State gets the nod with a win over division III Philadelphia Biblical." (Geoff Lane)

Write-ins

8. Drexel's women's basketball team
- "After unofficially winning the Big 5, I'm writing in Drexel women's basketball over the bottom half of the S-16." (Marshall Fleming)

12. Delaware's women's basketball team

- "I should also include Delaware women's basketball as better than the bottom half of the field... but when Elena Delle Donne sat out most of the game against La Salle, they barely held on to win. So I'm putting Drexel women's basketball in the 8-spot, and Delle Donne by herself as the 12-spot." (Marshall Fleming)

This week's Rant of the Week comes from Ralph Manoppello:

Oh my gosh, it is Holy Week, that time of year where the Catholics lay down their crosses and prepare the Hawklets for the slaughter. Even today, Coach Phil is having his team meetings at IHOP, deciding where to hold the post-game dinner after Jay and the boys yet again send the Hawk home .... Dead. THID U doesn't have the speed game to keep up with Nova Nation.

Even though the Pavilion cannot replace the Palestra, SJU should enjoy the first five minutes of the game, cause that is as close as they will be on the scoreboard. Nova Nation rolls the Big 5 in December. The Hawk is Dead for yet another season!

2 comments

Crunchy Numbers: Surveying the City Six

POSTED: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 5:00 PM

Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com

I had a bit of extra time to put together this week's stats roundup. So in addition to the usual table, I decided to put together some of the team statistics that stand out so far this season.

I can't promise that I'm going to do this every week, but I'll try to do it a few times this season.

For each of the City Six teams, I've put together a report that highlights their good and bad traits so far. Statistics considered "good" are those in which a team ranks above 100, and statistics considered "bad" are those in which a team ranks 300 or below.

Statistics in which a team is raned in the top 10 nationally are italicized.

All numbers come from Ken Pomeroy's team pages. You can get at them via the main Pomeroy ratings page here.

Drexel

Offensive efficiency: 117th (102.9 points per 100 possessions)
Defensive efficiency: 88th (95.1 points per 100 possesions)

Good

Effective field goal percentage, offense: 50th (53.3%)
Offensive rebounding percentage, offense: 3rd (45.2%)
Three-point shooting percentage, offense: 30th (40.7%)

Two-point shooting percentage, offense: 88th (50.9%)
Steal percentage, offense: 60th (7.7%)
Two-point baskets as percentage of total points, offense: 39th (58.9%)

Effective field goal percentage, defense: 62nd (43.8%)
Offensive rebounding percentage, defense: 40th (27.1%)
Three-point shooting percentage, defense: 24th (26.4%)

Free throw percentage, defense: 98th (64.9%)
Assists to field goals made ratio, defense: 29th (43.0%)
Two-point baskets as percentage of total points, defense: 78th (55.6%)

Bad

Free throw percentage, offense: 317th (59.4%)
Three-point attempts as a percentage of field goal attempts, offense: 325th (23.8%)
Turnover percentage, defense: 320th (16.9%)

Team	Record	Conf.	Big 5	Pomeroy	RPI	Sagarin	BB State	SOS
Drexel	3-1	0-0	1-0	95 (126)	48 (10)	70 (77)	147 (158)	263 (233)
La Salle	5-2	0-0	0-0	138 (151)	75 (137)	111 (130)	167 (176)	170 (232)
Penn	2-3	0-0	0-0	217 (229)	189 (112)	229 (240)	273 (284)	108 (204)
St. Joseph's	3-2	0-0	0-0	160 (168)	108 (168)	150 (207)	142 (214)	134 (129)
Temple	3-2	0-0	0-0	39 (33)	132 (128)	55 (34)	34 (32)	65 (237)
Villanova	5-1	0-0	0-0	9 (7)	68 (109)	19 (27)	41 (64)	153 (261)