tonight the columbia lions return to the hardwood up in providence, rhode island. over the last three seasons, the light blue has won seventeen while losing eighty five games. hard to imagine, but that .200 winning percentage is two times better than their performance in the ivy league where they have won four and lost thirty eight times (an almost invisible winning percentage of .095). let the dead bury their dead. allgame has been guilty of griping over this three season span of ineptitude. not that we have bricked a single free throw or thrown away a single pass, mind you. our failures, nostra culpa maxima, have been intentional. that is, we have focused on the tawdry and, ultimately, unimportant issue of wins and losses rather than on our stated mission to convey the pleasures and pains of life in the stands rather than tally mere w’s and l’s. we aim to convey the great pleasure of watching fine athletes demonstrate their strength, speed and skills against similarly capable heroes. the glory is in the battle. we sideliners, we never wuzzers, betray our incapacity for the fight and our ignorance of that battle’s value when we reduce it to pleasure in a victory with which we had nothing to do or disgust at a loss we had no chance to forestall.
from here on out, at least for the 2023 – 24 columbia mens’ basketball season, we will report the pleasures and sorrows of the action. the gossip,we swear, we leave to others.
fifty weeks ago, the friars beat columbia 78 -64. 80% of that providence squad’s starting five have moved on and coach kim fisher will be trying to incorporate four first years into his 13 man rotation. columbia will have a more seasoned team on the floor next monday and should be able to stay in the game. those returning lions are led by junior shooting guard geronimo rubio de la rosa. the 6′ 2″ third year led columbia in scoring and rebounding last season, tallying 13.6 ppg while grabbing 5 1/2 boards nightly. gero also snatched 1 1/2 steals per contest and generally plays alert defense. coach engles will be counting on him to improve all his stats as the lions strive for mediocrity. the most athletic columbian in the front court is senior forward josh odunowo who has the legs to play longer than his 6′ 6″ size. he has to stay healthy for the light blue to improve on their overall rebounding numbers – the least gloomy aspect of their performance last season. josh should be abetted by 6′ 10″ center zine bedri. the lithe sophomore was pushed around underneath the rim last year, so we hope he has spent some hours in the weight room during the off season. if zine needed to bulk up, junior center jake tavroff, a beefy 6′ 9″ product of oceanside, new york, needed to refine his footwork. jake was only occasionally effective down low during the 22 – 23 campaign owing to his lumbering pivots. if he can better emulate the agile mark cisco, who centered the lions during the last two years of joe jones’s coaching tenure and the first of kyle smith’s regime back in the early 2010’s, columbia might escape the ivy cellar. the lions have lacked an authentic presence at center since the transfer of patrick tape after the 2018 -19 season. we pray the tandem of beddri and tavroff provides a semblance of reliable center play for the next four months. though the college game emphasizes the three point shot, the ivy league generally rewards the squad with the toughest paint presence. that is why james jones’s yale squad is the consensus pick for the ancient eight title this season and why mitch henderson’s princeton tigers prevailed last year.
speculation and historical reminiscence will soon be useless. let the games begin.
in the meantime,
d’ up and peace out –
paulie b