City of Brotherly Love: Run LaSalle, Run

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[color="Navy"]2012/2013 Non Conference Review[/color]

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[font="Comic Sans MS"]Last season if we didn’t win the Atlantic 10 Tournament we wouldn’t have made the NCAA tournament as an at large team. Strength of Schedule and our RPI weren’t great to say the least. In making the schedule I made the effort to schedule ranked opponents and opponents from major conferences. Games at number 7 Georgetown, number 19 Stanford and against SEC opponents Tennessee and Mississippi highlighted the schedule.



Against the SEC schools we split, winning 73-53 at home against Tennessee. On the road Ole Miss ran us out their gym winning 77-48. Stanford would be our first major challenge of the season, heading out to the West Coast would be our longest road trip of the season. Led by Shawn Marley’s 29 points on 7 threes we hung around with Stanford before falling 70-80 in the end. Georgetown was the last game of the non-conference schedule and the Hoyas were too much, they led by as many as 34 points before running out 87-58 victors.



Overall will finished our non-conference schedule 9-3, we beat the teams that we were supposed to defeat. Splitting the 4 games against BCS Conference opponents was good, granted I would have loved to have beat one of the ranked teams but I like how we are playing heading into Atlantic 10 play. The biggest surprise is how well the team is rebounding despite a lack of height in the starting lineup.
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[SIZE="5"][color="Navy"]2012/2013 Atlantic 10 Review[/color][/SIZE]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Overall we finished 9-7 in the Atlantic 10, a one game improvement from last season. The highlight of league play was a three game winning streak we put together in late January. The low points were the 71-92 loss we had at Rhode Island a team who only won 11 games overall. The second low point was a 72-70 to St. Louis on Senior night. We had a 70-69 lead only to see them win on a last second three. Losing on Senior night stung, especially because the loss cost us a share of the Atlantic 10 Title.




February 9, 2013 would mark the game of the year in the Atlantic 10. We made the short trip to face the 25th ranked Temple Owls. The added fact that ESPN 2 was broadcasting the game gave us some rare national exposure. Both teams getting up and down the court playing exciting basketball was a great showcase for the city. At halftime we were up 38-36, in the second half the track meet continued. The game was a tight affair throughout, our biggest lead was 8 while their biggest lead was 5. The game featured 18 ties and 25 lead changes. Trailing 77-74 with 9 seconds Shawn Marley hits a three from the corner to tie the score at 77. Temple rushed down the court and T.J Duren’s runner bounced off the rim sending the game into overtime. Like Hagler-Hearns the teams traded blow for blow in overtime, in the last minute the lead changed 4 times. Trailing 97-94 we had one last chance to tie the score, Temple did an excellent job in defending Marley who was the main option, so Aaron Edwards got the shot and his desperation shot bounced off the front of the rim giving Temple a 97-94 win.




Overall we finished 18-10, one game improvement over last season. The biggest improvement was the team’s RPI was a respectable 35. We want to win the Atlantic 10 Title but if we don’t we will have a shot to get an at large bid.
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[SIZE="5"][color="Navy"]2012/2013 Atlantic 10 Tournament[/color][/SIZE]

[font="Comic Sans MS"](5) La Salle Explorers vs. (12) Xavier Musketeers

A rematch of last season’s Atlantic 10 semifinal, though Xavier this season wasn’t that good we knew they could not be underestimated. Depth has always been a priority and the strength in numbers played in our favor. Clifton Rowland, Aaron Bruce, Michael White, and Brett Rogers helped build a 35-22 lead, Xavier closed the gap to 42-33 at halftime. Xavier would not fade away in the second half, but anytime they got close to breaking through we would respond with a quick spurt to give ourselves breathing room. Xavier’s inability to hit the three, 2 for 16 as a team proved fatal for them as we won a gritty contest, 72-67.



La Salle Player of The Game: Shawn Marley 16 points.


(5) La Salle Explorers vs. (4) Dayton Flyers

After Shawn Marley’s sixth miss in a row to start the game I had a feeling tonight wasn’t going to be our night. Aaron Edwards 13 first half points gave us a glimmer of hope though we faced a 27-38 deficit at halftime. Dayton’s 15-0 run to start the second half ended any hopes we had of repeating as league tournament champions. Marley shot 2 for 15, Tom Williams shot 2 for 10 and as a team we shot 36% from the field and 22% from three in a 69-91 loss. We would await Selection Sunday to see if we would make the tournament or not. I feel we are a tournament team but a 22 point loss in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament is not a good impression to leave with the committee.



La Salle Player of The Game: Aaron Edwards 20 points 6 rebounds.
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[SIZE="5"]Selection Sunday 2013[/SIZE]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]4000 people made up of students, alumni, fans, friends, and family packed the Tom Gola Arena for Selection Sunday. The past two or three days have been tense to say the least, our fate was not in our hands which had a lot of people worried. Experts such as Joe Lunardi has had us in and out based off games going on in other conference tournaments. At last check Lunardi has us as one of the last four teams. At this point I just want to be in, seeding and location would not be an issue.




A little after 6:05 Eastern Time, Greg Gumbel started unveiling the brackets for the East Region . . . . . . .
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“The 5th seed in the East Region, coming out of the Big 10 the Michigan State Spartans. With a record of 18-12 the Spartans finished tied for 3rd place in their conference. Their opponents will be out of the Atlantic 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The La Salle Explorers.”

[font="Comic Sans MS"]After Gumbel said La Salle an electric roar went throughout the arena, players were high fiving each other while the coaches could finally breathe easy. We were off to Columbus, Ohio to play Michigan State.[/font]

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[SIZE="5"][color="Navy"]2012/2013 NCAA Tournament



East Region



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(5) Michigan State Spartans vs. (12) La Salle Explorers

Georgetown was the most physical team we have played this season, I say “was” because after watching Michigan State tapes I knew MSU would overtake Georgetown in that regard. Offensively they set the hardest screens I’ve seen, in saying all of their screens are clean but you have to be tough to fight through them. They play basketball with a football like mentality. What they lack in flair and talent they make up for it with execution and grit. Defensively the guard the opposing them as soon as they get off the bus, no gimmick defense from them just aggressive man to man. We average 73 points per game, they allowed 60 points a game so something will have to give.

During the first media timeout Shawn Marley was frustrated ability his inability to get open, Michigan State’s pressure on the guards was making life difficult on offense. Losing 23-10 I had to make an adjustment. My move to adjust was to use a bigger lineup because we have big men on the bench who were better equipped to match the physical play. While the bigger lineup slowed the pace and took us from our normal game plan it proved to be an effective move. We fought back taking the lead a few times, Michigan State closed the first half strong to bring a 36-29 lead into the half.

To the credit of the players we hung around, we would cut the deficit to 6,5,4, and even 3 points with 5 minutes remaining. Staying in the game largely was due to the bench who combined to score 32 points. We just could never get over the hump as the shots we needed to fall just weren’t falling. In the end a 60-70 loss ended the season for La Salle. A look at the shooting of the starters paints the picture on why we lost.


Shawn Marley 6 for 20 Shooting
Vincent Jenkins 1 for 5 Shooting
Aaron Edwards 1 for 10 Shooting
Tom Williams 0 for 3 Shooting
Travis Arden 0 for 5 Shooting


La Salle Player of The Game: Aaron Bruce 11 points

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[SIZE="5"][color="Navy"]2012/2013 NCAA Tournament[/color][/SIZE]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Final Four



Michigan (1) 60 vs. Kentucky (2) 50



Kansas (1) 56 vs. Oregon (1) 76



National Title Game


Michigan (1) 68 vs. Oregon (1) 73






2012/2013 La Salle Season Recap







Overall Record: 19-12


Atlantic 10 Record: 9-7


RPI: 38




Aaron Edwards – Atlantic 10 2nd Team


Recruiting – Five scholarships we were going to be active, the most pressing need was to get some forwards.



• Lou Smith is a 6’5 point guard who is the 55th ranked player in the country. The Junior College player is a Philadelphia native who will bring size to the backcourt and is a great passer. He definitely will challenge Vincent Jenkins for starting point guard next year.


• David Smallwood was a late get for us, he signed late in the period, the 6-5 JuCo player from Ballston Spa, New York. Scoring is hit strength and his signing gives us another rangy wing player who can play 2 or 3 positions.



• Ruben Carter is a 6’8 small forward from Sinclairville, New York. Ruben is ranked 81st in the country. Basketball wise he is a good athlete who finds way to score, 18.0 Points per game his Senior year.



• Clyde Nelson is a 6’11 power forward from South Paris, Maine. He is the 86th ranked player in the country. Clyde is an exciting prospect, good inside the paint and grabbed 10 rebounds per game his Senior year. Vision for a big man really excites the coaching staff, he averaged 4.2 assists per game.


• Tega Lee is the 207th ranked player in the country, the 6-7 power forward is a native of New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Defensively he needs work but we like his ability on offense, envision him as a face up shooter due to his ability to hit the outside shot.
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[color="navy"]La Salle 2012 /2013 Season Stats[/color]

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[font="Comic Sans MS"] PPG
1. Shawn Marley 16.3
2. Aaron Edwards 12.0
3. Vincent Jenkins 8.5
4. Tom Williams 8.1



RPG
1. Travis Arden 6.1
2. Tom Williams 4.8
3. Aaron Edwards 4.3



APG
1. Vincent Jenkins 3.7
2. Aaron Edwards 3.0



SPG
1. Aaron Edwards 1.3

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[SIZE="5"][color="Navy"]2013/2014 La Salle Explorers Roster[/color][/SIZE]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Starting Lineup
*Denotes Returning Starter


*Vincent Jenkins 6-3 Senior PG 3.5/4
David Smallwood 6-5 Junior SG 4/4.5
*Aaron Edwards 6-5 Senior SG 4/4.5
Michael White 6-6 Senior PF 3/4
Brett Rogers 6-9 Senior C 3/3.5


Bench


Lou Smith 6-5 Junior PG 3/3.5
Aaron Bruce 6-4 SeniorSG 2.5/3
Mike Tart 6-8 Senior C 2/3
Tega Lee 6-7 Freshman PF 1/3
Ruben Carter 6-0 Freshman RS SG 1/3.5
Terry Tillman 6-6 Junior PF 2/3.5
Ted Green 6-8 Sophomore RS C 1/1
Quincy Rand 6-2 Sophomore RS SG 2.5/2.5



Redshirt


Brian Stone 6-8 Freshman SF 1/2
Clyde Nielsen 6-11 Freshman PF 1/1
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[color="Navy"]2013/2014 Non Conference Review[/color]

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[font="Comic Sans MS"]Though we have only two returning starters we have a lot of experience in the starting lineup, four Seniors and one Junior. I like the experience and the talent, because of that I felt the need to test the team with some tough road games. A three game road trip at (16) Texas, at Creighton, and at (21) Notre Dame would prepare us for March.



At Texas sloppiness meant we never had a chance, 18 turnovers including 5 on the first 5 possessions put us in an early hole. We played much better in the 2nd half but the damage was done in the first half as we lost our first road game of the season 60-78. At Creighton the roles were reversed as we forced turnovers, the length we had in the backcourt gave the Creighton guards fits. In the 79-65 David Smallwood exploded for 33 points. At Notre Dame Smallwood had another strong game with 27 points, however turnovers were an issue especially for Vincent Jenkins who had 9 of his own. Trailing by 4 at halftime Notre Dame turned the pressure up a notch running out 88-67 winners.



After the Notre Dame game we ran off 5 wins in a row, we took that momentum down to Baton Rouge to face LSU. The first half was a very competitive game as the lead changed between both teams on numerous occasions. A 38-37 halftime lead became a distant memory as LSU outscored us 56-28 in the second half. The defense fall apart and LSU went to work. An 11 point win against Toledo made our record 8-3 heading into Atlantic 10 play.

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[color="Navy"]2013/2014 Atlantic 10 Review[/color]

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[font="Comic Sans MS"]One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten . . . . . was the number of wins in a row we started Atlantic 10 play with. I knew we would be good but this performance even exceeded my expectations. The team was clicking on all cylinders and the national media was starting to take notice as we entered the top 25 polls towards the end of January.



Other teams and fans of the Atlantic 10 began to take notice, we suddenly because every other teams “marquee” game. Arenas were selling out when La Salle came to town, student sections brought their “A” material when we visited their gym. A 65-86 loss at Xavier stopped the streak but it did not stop our momentum. Four wins in the last five regular season games sent us into the Atlantic 10 as the undisputed favorite to win the league tournament in Brooklyn.



With a 22-5 overall record and a 14-2 league record the next objective is three wins in Brooklyn.
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[color="Navy"]2014 Atlantic 10 Tournament[/color]

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[font="Comic Sans MS"](1) La Salle Explorers vs. (9) Fordham Rams

During my time at La Salle we have gone from the hunter to the hunted. Before the game I told the players we have a target on our backs and as a result we would get each team’s best shot. From the tip-off we gave Fordham zero hope they could defeat us. The level of defense we played was the best I have seen in my time at La Salle. Fordham would have thought we had 8 guys on the court as the defensive suffocated them. We cruised to a 73-42 win, and the numbers showed a dominate performance. Fordham shot 30% from the field, 2 for 16 from the three point line, we forced 19 turnovers, held them to 13 points in the second half and we outrebounded them by 12. On offense four players were in double figures led by 18 from Vincent Jenkins.



La Salle Player of The Game: Vincent Jenkins 18 points.


(1) La Salle Explorers vs. (5) Duquesne Dukes



Duquesne came into the game with a 13-16 record, with all due respect I felt the biggest challenge would be to get the players to ignore Duquesne’s record. At the first media timeout trailing 10-2 I told the team to stop playing against their season record and play against the players on the court. The kids got the message as we went on one of our runs hitting Duquesne with a 14-1 spurt. Usually teams have faded when we hit them with a run but not Duquesne. In their mind they were playing with house money and countered with a 9-0 run. The neutrals at the Barclay’s Center became Duquesne fans which was making the place an electric atmosphere. Trailing 34-28 at halftime I did something which I rarely do, I went off on the players in the locker room. I felt their effort was lacking and they weren’t matching the effort of Duquesne. The big edge Duquesne had was on the boards, second chance points mounted up as they built a 52-40 with less than 8 minutes left. To make matters worse Vincent Jackson had fouled out with 10 minutes remaining, though his replacement Lou Smith picked up the slack and then some. A layup from Smith caught the deficit to 7 with a 1:30 left, we setup our 1-2-1-1 press trying to force a turnover. Duquesne broke the press as Wade Jackson emphatically slammed home the nail in the coffin. A 66-53 loss what not what we expected, now we would have to wait to see where we would be seeded for the NCAA Tournament.

La Salle Player of The Game: Lou Smith 18 points.
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