jump ball! the lions’ new season tips off

part the first  –  dedicated to the one i love

when the columbia five left levien last march 25 on the short end of a 72 – 69 college insider.com post season tournament battle with the ever despised yales,  despondent fans could look ahead to a bright follow up to a 21 win year. the entire squad would return and improvement on their 8 – 6 regular season league record seemed a good bet.  alas, the team starting its campaign in stony brook this friday will be without leading scorer, and darling of the allgame faithful, alex rosenberg.  a broken foot and a tough (internet scribes use the adjective “archaic”) ivy league rule about continuous enrollment and athletic eligibility have forced the short hills native to withdraw from college for the year.  paulie b was at draddy gymnasium, up in riverdale, on november 26, 2011 when alex played in his first win as a lion, helping to topple manhattan 59 – 41.  he went on to average 7.2 ppg and 4.2 rebounds that frosh season.  he improved those numbers as a second year tallying 9.5 points per battle while grabbing 4.3 boards.  last year, of course, was the big jump when his scoring average went up to 16 ppg.  though his rebounding dropped off a bit to 3.7 each game.   in ivy play he was even more productive, netting 19.5 in league games.   to this writer’s eyes, his growth as a scorer was helped by throttling back his dribble.  alex is, perhaps, over enamored of his handle and, as a first year and even as a soph, played as though he thought he could put the ball on the floor and eventually slip any defender.  as a junior rosenberg made shorter, more direct attacks on the rim.  the increase in his flat out ferocity provided more numerous trips to the foul line and evenings like his 17 – 17 performance from the charity stripe up at dartmouth.  all lion fans, not only allgame subscribers, will miss the big kid this season while looking forward to his return to college and the hardcourt in autumn 2015.

part the second – taking care of business

a. r.’s teammates and coaches have no more time to worry over his absence.  this friday the team travels to the rocky hills of long island’s north fork to battle coach steve pikiell’s stony brook seawolves.  the lions will be the opponents in the inaugural dust up at the new four thousand seat, thrillingly named, island federal credit union arena.  pikiell has re-animated a moribund, small time program and now presents a squad that has won 66% of its battles over the last five years, including four twenty win seasons.  the new arena symbolizes his still greater ambitions for the school’s place in metro area hoops.  the seawolves came to levien last january where they fell to columbia 68 – 63 in a back and forth thriller that saw 8 lead changes and 7  ties before the lions prevailed.  rosenberg was tough, dropping 24 on the visitors while grabbing 8 boards.  maodo lo was even tougher, tallying 29 while snatching 6 rebounds.  similar efforts will likely be required on the road in order to offset the expected contributions from the seawolves’ dynamic 6′ 8″ center, jameel warney, who is the reigning america east conference player of the year.  he scored twenty in the loss at levien, but was held to just four rebounds, half his usual haul.  lion centers cory osetkowski and conor voss. along with sophomore front court jack of all trades luke petrasek will have to work diligently to keep the plainfield, nj native in check.  this challenging opener will be followed by three november home games (v. wagner, fairleigh dickinson and american) as well as a quick trip out to bethlehem, pa. to take on the lehigh mountain hawks.  wagner and lehigh are new to the schedule and allgame plans on scouting both teams for our subscribers.  fdu and american were conquered last year and we’ll look for similar results from our perch in levien this thanksgiving season.  december will be packed with gaudy yuletide treats as the lions hit the court seven times including a trip to lexington, kentucky to battle coach calipari’s latest assemblage of nba hopefuls.  the wildcat game will be broadcast on espn 2 on the tenth.  must see tv, folks.  patriot league members loyola (md), bucknell and colgate’s red raiders will all visit levien before the new year.  last january’s 76 – 70 double overtime win up in hamilton, ny over the boys of colgate,  was one of the signature road victories of the year outdone perhaps only by the 53 – 52 squeaker over princeton at jadwin.  we look forward to an entertaining rematch at home.  those upcoming battles at levien will be festooned around a trip to the maritime metropolis of bridgeport to humble the defending national champeen uconn huskies.  let’s gratefully bow our heads for a month that features the light blue battling last year’s two ncaa finalists.  those two contests will be critical in the formation of the squad’s self regard as well as contribute significantly to how the outside world views our heroes.

fortunately, the squad that debuts in stony brook, and that will battle two of this hardwood nation’s most storied programs, is filled with ballers fully capable of filling the rosenberg sized breech that exists in the rotation.  the lions are strongest at guard where they are led by starters, and classmates, maodo lo and grant mullins.  both are capable of netting twenty on any given night, but maodo has emerged as the more explosive scorer, combining a nice step back three point shot with his quick attacks to the rim.  grant, on the other hand, though a capable scorer is more valuable as  the squad’s lock down on ball defender.  a concussion suffered in the victory at princeton shut him down for the rest of the year and his absence undoubtedly cost the lions the return match against princeton and the yale post season tussle.  his season long health is crucial to the light blue’s prospects.  steve frankoski and meiko lyles come off the bench in the back court and they, too, can fill it up.  frankoski can be an exhilirating streak shooter when he gets it going as he did in the regular season home victory over yale while the icy meiko drilled a three pointer that sealed princeton’s fate in early february.  isaac cohen is the least efficient scorer in this group, but perhaps the team’s most versatile talent.  he led the squad in rebounds and assists last year, can defend the opposition’s  two or three slot, and, if memory serves, hit a must have trey as the clock wound down in that terrific victory over the tigers.  the front court must prove itself ready for crunch time if this season’s edition of the lions are to continue improving.  rosenberg’s classmate cory osetkowski is the biggest starting  center in the ivies.  at 6’11’ and 270 pounds he should dominate most of the defenders he faces but he lacks the quickness of, say, yale’s  justin sears or steve moundou-misi at harvard, or the terrific resident of the  baselines in providence, messr cedric kuakumensah.   if he continues the growth he demonstrated down the league stretch and into post season last year, however, we’ll be very pleased with cory, indeed.  he has shown he can score twenty in a game, even occasionally flashing his three point cred,  but now needs to be more decisive on offense.   down on the blocks, as he receives the ball he must know that he is going to the rim or passing off.  no dilly dallying with the dribble.  he is backed up by the bunyanesque sophomore conor voss whose size should come in handy not only in setting impenetrable screens on offense but also clogging the lane on defense.  we hope coach smith will take full advantage of the ten fouls he has to give at center.  we want the big boys to be nasty.  “enter at your own peril” should be their motto and behavior with any foe who presumptuously threatens the lions’ lane.  in a pinch, coach smith can man the five slot with voss’s classmate, the silky smooth luke petrasek.   his deft passing touch and ability to step out for the jumper make him  a very good number four and he has been logging practice minutes at center as well this pre-season.  aiding and abetting these lions will be sophomores jeff coby, who saw solid playing time as last year progressed as well as chris mccomber, a sweet shooting canadian.   chris saw the fewest minutes on the squad last year, having been slowed down by an autumn bout of mononucleosis but is now fit and ready to contribute.  those second years will share some time with georgia frosh kyle castlin   listed at guard, his penchant for hurling his 6′ 4″, 180 lb frame at the backboard means he’ll probably play some valuable minutes at small forward as well as in the backcourt.

the imminent battle on long island the evening of the 14th should be a tough test and a fine starting point for evaluating this squad.   if they are to challenge for the ivy title, they must win on the road, and i don’t mean just at ithaca and hanover.  philadelphia, princeton, new haven, providence and cambridge must all yield their share of victories  if the lions are to move up in class and claim the league title that has eluded columbia since 1968.  we trust stony brook will be loudly inhospitable and a nice dry run for what awaits in league play. we make the way by going, and this friday the lions start their journey.   follow it here.

peace out and d up,

paulie b