Fact or Fiction; Maryland Eastern Shore Edition
We are back for another edition of fact or fiction, this time an edition for the Maryland Eastern Shore game on Saturday. Ian and Vinny will answer some questions with a fact or fiction answer below. If you have a question feel free to submit it in the comments section. Check back Friday night for the game preview for Saturday, and then again Sunday morning for the game recap.
Fact or Fiction: Andrew Nicholson will win his fourth straight Rookie of the Week Award…
Ian: Fact. Andrew will have another strong effort this weekend, but will have to settle for a Co-Rookie of the Week because the A10 probably wants to shake it up a bit. Nicholson should be able to put up near double-double type numbers vs. this MES team, and that is usually enough to get yourself into the top few freshman performers of the week. No freshman in Bona history has ever won three Rookie of the Week Awards in one season, Andrew will try to surpass that feat in just one months time; incredible.
Vinny: Fact. I don’t care what else anybody does in the A-10 this week. Nicholson will put up strong enough numbers against a poor MES team to at least earn co-honors in a league with few impact freshman. Four and counting for the fine young man from Canada.
Fact or Fiction: A post player aside from Nicholson will score in double figures Saturday…
Ian: Fiction. I can see Nicholson, Hall, Matthews and even Blackburn scoring in double figures this weekend, but the frontcourt is still a mystery and you really never know what you are going to get on most nights. Carter has given you almost nothing this year, and to be honest, the same could be said for Thomas as well as Cook. The frontcourt was supposed to be a strength of this team heading in the year but right now that unit is being bailed out by a freshman phenom. I hope one of those three proves me wrong on this one but I’ll take a wait and see approach here.
Vinny:Fact. But just barely, depending on who gets more minutes … D’Lancy Carter or Grease Thomas. MES is short up front. It’s starting frontcourt of Keishawn Mayes and Neal Pitt goes 6-7 and 6-6 respectively. My money is on Carter, who will be able to clean up on the offensive boards for easy buckets.
Fact or Fiction: The Bonnies will win this game by 12 or more points…
Ian: Fact. Hopefully, this will be a game where players like Benson and Davenport can see some minutes in the second half and we can give Hall a breather. The Bonnies have just the one blowout win this year against Marist, and MES should be number 2. I’m not saying they are going to run MES out of the gym and beat them by 25, but if this is a game decided by less then ten points we have a problem. The Bonnies have played a more or less soft schedule so far, so let’s see them beat up on a team that they should.
Vinny: Fact. This seeems to be a no-brainer, but I am not sure of anything after the Canisius and Prinecton games. If there is game the rest of the way the Bonnies are going to win big, this is it. Each of Hawks five losses — they are 1-5 — have come by at least 11 points. They’ve lost to college hoops power Stony Brook by 16 points and fellow national championship contenders Kennesaw State and Navy by 15 each. Ouch. Is MES coached by Anthony Solomon? I do know this much, the Hawks can’t wait for the savior with the mustache, Hillary ‘Pops’ Haley, to become eligible.
Fact or Fiction:Chris Matthews will break out of his shooting slump this weekend…
Ian: Fact. This has got to happen sooner or later and why not against a bad team in MES at home, coming off an 0-10 shooting effort last weekend vs. Princeton? Matthews is shooting just 33% from three point land this year, after nailing down ten treys in his first two games he has hit just eight in the last five games. Matthew’s only way of scoring is by shooting the three ball, plain and simple. He has taken just two free throws this year, and 67% of his shots are threes. Matthews should not be confused for a dynamic scorer, he is a shooter and only a shooter. That being said, he is the best pure shooter we have, so he needs to get rolling here. Let’s all hope that Saturday night he shoots the lights out in the RC.
Vinny:Fiction. The only thing the Hawks do well is play defense. They’re allowing just 60.3 points per game and are holding opponents to 39.2 percent from the field. Plus you don’t break out of an enormous swoon like Matthews is in overnight. He’ll hit a few 3s against the Hawks and be back on the way up.
Fact or Fiction: The Bonnies will string together a four game wining streak this season…
Ian: Fact. This will be the only chance the Bonnies will have for a four game winning streak this season, so they have to make the most of it. With the win over Princeton, they can defeat MES, St. Francis PA, and at Eastern Michigan to earn the four straight wins. After that however, there is no four game stretch where I can fathom the Bonnies winning four in a row. When was the last time the Brown and White reeled off four straight wins you ask? 2002-03 when the Bonnies defeated Fordham, La Salle, Duquesne and Cleveland State. So obviously, not since JVBK has the team won four in a row.
Vinny:Fact. The time is now. Technically, the Bonnies could win nine in a row. They will be favored or a slim underdog in the next eight before St. Joe’s comes to town on Jan. 14. But for now, after MES, the Bonnies host St. Francis, Pa. and visit Eastern Michigan, which is 1-6. That’s four straight, which apparently has happened since I was a student and Joe Shepherd — yes, Joe Shepherd — was keying a win over Cleveland State. Stop the insanity.
