Who is St. Francis (Pa.)?
Posted December 19th, 2006 by mrasor
Men's basketball
Remember how big-name wrestlers would warm up for a pay-per-view title match by taking down a mid-carder on WCW Saturday Night?
Well, "Ravishing" Rick Rude (Akron) will battle "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton (St. Francis - Pa.) at 7 tonight at Rhodes Arena.
As long as the Zips can negate the Red Flash's height advantage by winning the rebounding battle, Akron should blow out St. Francis, the preseason choice to be the worst team in the Northeast Conference.
St. Francis is 4-5 with few worthy wins to its resume. The Red Flash's best game probably was a 60-56 loss at home against Bucknell.
However, its second-leading scorer, J.R. Enright, is 6-foot-10. Enright is a solid defender down low, too. Coach Bobby Jones also plays 6-9 forward Bass Dieng about 20 minutes a game. The team's best player is Devin Sweetney, a 6-6 freshman who leads the team in scoring (14.3) and rebounding (7).
St. Francis is a great foul shooting team and generally keeps the scoring low. It leads the Northeast Conference in both categories. This is also one of the youngest Division I teams with only two upperclassmen getting a lot of playing time. That might be the reason the Red Flash has won only one of its four road games.
The Red Flash has some size and a versatile wing player. So in some ways, this is Illinois-Chicago Lite.
Rick Rude wins the match as long as he can avoid Bobby Eaton's Alabama Jammer. Akron will do the same as long as the team does not get dominated inside.
December 19th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Tonight's game should give us a good chance to gauge the impact of moving the Akron students off of the floor and back upstairs to the bleacher sections. I, for one, have never been a big believer in the idea that putting a bunch of loud, enthusiastic, boisterous, die-hard Zip fans on the floor behind the baskets could add much to the college basketball game-day experience or actually have an impact on the outcome of the game. Put the students back up in the rafters where they belong and let those who can afford to pay for the lower blue seats sleep in peace! Head to the JAR tonight and Friday against #25 Nevada to hear all of the snoring for yourself! Go Zips!
December 19th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Best post ever … but! This is another team with size, which will be scary all season.