Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. As those of you who read the paper may have noticed -- or the online community that also reads about the Blues -- on Thursday, I had to put on my hockey hat -- it's a nice little toque -- and travel up to Newark to cover the Blues vs. the Devils, and that was an all-day thing. So I was in a hockey frame of mind and didn't get the basketball stuff done. But now the Blues have gone home, I'm still in Philadelphia, waiting tomorrow's key game with La Salle. Seldom are games with La Salle key, but this one would be another nice one for the Bills, as well as giving them 20 wins.
What won the St. Joseph's game was pretty obvious: Good defense and Cody Ellis' 3-point shooting. Ellis had 20 points in 20 minutes, and that's the fifth time this season a SLU player has had at least a point a minute in a game. It was the third time Ellis had done it this season. He had 16 in 16 minutes against Portland and was 15 for 15 against Alabama State. The champion in this category is Rob Loe, who had 15 points in 14 minutes against Alabama State. Brian Conklin had 19 points in 19 minutes against St. Bonaventure. As long as Kwamain Mitchell is playing 30+ minutes a night, it will be tough for him to enter this category.
That SLU has won four straight in Hagan Arena is pretty impressive. I think it's one of the tougher places to play in the league, a charming and crowded little arena with a lot of charm and fans right on top of the action. They re-did it since the last time I was here. I didn't make the trip two years ago, which was SLU's first time in the new building. They moved stuff around since I was last there. I walked into what used to be the press room, only to find Rick Majerus sitting there. It's now the visiting coaches locker room. Oops. (The visiting locker room used to be on the other side of the court, up a flight of stairs, making it a bit inconvenient. The locker rooms are now right off the court. Of course, that was better than at La Salle, where the locker rooms are three flights down.)
SLU's recent run, with six wins in seven games, is giving them great success in computer rankings. They're 10th in Ken Pomeroy's power ratings, and I think even the most gungho SLU fan has to think that's a bit much. But the fact that 16 of SLU's 19 wins have been by double figures plays into that. Programs that account for margin of victory will love SLU. It's losses have been by 7, 4, 7, 5 and 13.
SLU's points per possession was 1.2, its defensive PPP was 1.0.
Free throw shooting could have been an issue but wasn't. The Bills shot 70 percent, just 66.7 percent in the second half.
SLU shot just 42.4 percent on non-3's, its second-lowest mark of the season, ahead of just the UMass game. Much of that was because SLU would drive to the basket and find a lot of tall St. Joe's players waiting for them. It was a perfect game for Ellis and the shooters to get hot.
SLU was outrebounded by 11. A friend asked me (and others) earlier this season about the correlation between rebounding and winning. I'm sure the numbers exist, but in general, I don't know that the correlation is that strong. In its five losses, SLU outrebounded the opponent twice. It got outrebounded by 14 and beat Washington, by 11 and beat St. Joe's. There are a lot of contributing factors.
St. Joe's shot just 39.2 percent, the second straight opponent SLU had held under 40 percent. SLU forced 17 turnovers, and every opponent this season has had at least 10. (SLU has had nine games of single-digit turnovers.) SLU got just 10 points off those turnovers, which is on the low side. Once again, SLU had a play where it made a steal and came down and took a bad shot on the break and gave the ball back. This goes for all teams: Guys make a steal and the adrenaline must get pumping, because they'll try taking a shot they have no business taking.
Kwamain Mitchell has nine assists in his past two games. He also has eight turnovers, matching his most in a two-game span this season. He was +6 in 35 minutes.
Kyle Cassity played 13 minutes off the bench, and was 0 for 2 on 3's but had four points otherwise. He was +5.
There were two different games Wednesday; one with Dwayne Evans on the court, one without him. At one point in the second half, the game was tied. With Evans on the court, SLU had outscored SJU by 14. Without him, they'd been outscored by 14 points. The reason he was out was foul trouble. He got two early fouls in the first half, and two early fouls in the second. He played just 17 minutes. "Questionable calls there," Evans said. "That happens. Some days you have a game like Cody's, some days you get four fouls in questionable situations. It happens." Had Evans not gotten in foul trouble, he could have had 15 or more rebounds. He's averaging 2.2 turnovers in the past five games. He was +17.
Brian Conklin missed some easy shots and was neutralized to some extent by SJU, but he still had 13 points, seven at the line. He was -2 in 31 minutes.
Rob Loe joined his teammate from the Southern Hemisphere in getting hot, making two of three 3's for eight points. He was +15 in22 minutes.
Just one rebound for Jordair Jett, though he had two steals. He was -2 in 24 minutes.
Mike McCall fouled out for the second time this season, and he missed both of his 3-point tries. He did have three assists and no turnovers and was +10 in 29 minutes.
Ellis was 6 of 9 on 3's, had four rebounds and got praise from Majerus for his defense, so you know he's feeling good. Interestingly, he was only +2 for the game in 20 minutes, mostly because he was onthe court in the first half when SJU came back from being down 12-0. He was -10 in the first half, +12 in the second half, whch was the best number on the team. Of course, when you knock down six 3's, you'd have to be a defensive stiff not to come out ahead. "He played really good D, which is underrated about him," Evans said. "He has good defensive skills now."
Cory Remekun drew praise for his defense in his nine minutes, which included some time in the second half, something Remekun doesn't always get a lot of. His line was all zeroes except for a missed shot, a foul and a blocked shot. He was +9.
In what can be construed as a sign of coaches doing a good job making in-game atlerations, SLU opponents have shot worse in the second half than in the first in five of the past six games. And the one where they didn't was Dayton going from 24.1 to 25.0, with numbers so low it's hard to get worked up about.
LIFE ON THE ROAD
Obviously, I go to Philadelphia a lot. At least once a year, plus I fly into there on the way to the conference tournament in Atlantic City. After a trip there a few yeas ago, I wrote about visiting Edgar Allen Poe's House, which got me a nice note from a woman at the Philadelphia tourism bureau, who offered to show me around the next time I was there.
Of course, I have no idea where that e-mail is, so I was on my own when I got in Wednesday with plenty of time to kill before an 8:30 p.m. local time tipoff. By the time I got into my hotel and had lunch and checked my e-mail, I was getting into the city about 3:30 p.m.
But first ...
As I've written before, I like to rent from Hertz as a matter of consistency and simplicity. But I also like that, as a Gold Club member, I can get off the shuttle bus, get in the car, and go. This has two advantages: one, if I'm running late, it speeds up the process, and two, I don't have to interact with people. It's not that I'm anti-social - though some might argue that - but I don't have to deal with people trying to either get me into a bigger car or get me to buy insurance.
Since this is a longer trip, I ended up renting not from Hertz but from hometown Enterprise, which was more than $100 cheaper. I arrived at the Enterprise counter and the guy taking care of me told me that there were two to three inches of snow expected, so for safety reasons, I might want something bigger than the economy car I'd reserved so I wouldn't be slipping over the highway. No thanks, I told him. I'll take my chances. I asked him what time the snow would be getting in. He said it would be a bit later, but it would be four to six inches. I chose to stop asking questions before the snow got any worse. Next up was whether or not I wanted insurance. I again said no, but he noted that with all the snow coming in, it would be pretty expensive if they had to pull me out of a ditch. I opted again to take my chances.
The thing is, I'd checked the weather forecast before leaving home, and there was about an inch of snow expected, with little or no accumulation on the highways. And in this case, the forecasters were right. Though this storm seemed to send residents into apoplexy because it was going to hit right around rush hour, I survived. (At least, so far.)
With traffic Armageddon expected, I decided to head into the city well ahead of gametime so I'd have a shorter drive when this killer storm hit. I drove downtown to Independence Hall. While I've already been to Independence Hall, there are places around there I haven't been, so I figured I could see those places. There's a portrait gallery of founding fathers in the Second Bank of the United States building, across the street from Independence Hall, where I was the only person there and outnumbered by Park Service employees 5 to 1, sending a strong signal against any mischief. Said the one park ranger I talked to, "You've got the place to yourself." By the time my viewing was done, the only thing left open in the area was the Liberty Bell, where it was no line, no waiting and I checked out, again, an enduring symbol of American liberty. Also visible nearby is Benjamin Franklin's grave, over at the Christ Church Burial Ground. Franklin had the presence of mind to be buried right up at the edge of the cemetery, meaning you can fully view his grave and it's large, plain stone marker without leaving the sidewalk. Mr. Franklin, I salute you.
In two disappointing developments, an exhibit on Bruce Springsteen at the National Constitution Center across the street from Franklin's grave and the U.S. Curling Championships don't begin until after I leave, depriving me of some good times.
Lacking anything else to do, I decided to head over to St. Joseph's early. Which may or may not have been a good move, considering it was about 5 p.m. and rush hour was in full swing.
Loyal readers of this section may come to the conclusion that I'm an inept traveler, but really, I'm not. Honest. Still ...
Anyway, by the time my GPS picks up a signal after leaving the underground parking garage, the right turn I've been told to make has become a left, something I'm ill-equipped to do to get to I-676. The circuitous route to get back to where I was has me taking an elaborate route through Philadelphia's one-way downtown streets, and finally I'm told that in a half mile, I'm going to make a left to get on 676. The only problem with this, as I get into the left lane on a one-way street, is that before I make my left, the three left lanes on the street I'm on all are left turn only lanes one block before where I'm supposed to turn. So there I am, sitting at a light, about to be forced to make a left, wondering if in a light snowstorm at dusk I can cut over three lanes of downtown Philadelphia traffic in about 100 yards.
The answer, not surprisingly, is no, and I make the left one block ahead of schedule, figuring I've got more circles to drive in. This might have been a minor headache except for one problem: These left-turn lanes take me directly, and I mean directly, onto the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Which means my next stop is New Jersey.
Needless to say, I'm not in a good mood about this, not the least of which because I'm going to have to pay a toll to get back to where I was. I get off at the first exit in Camden, make a bunch of lefts and get back on the bridge, where I dig out a $5 bill to pay the toll. The guy at the toll booth asks me what year my Volkswagen Beetle is. I tell him I don't know because it's a rental, but it's only got 2,500 miles on it, so it can't be too old. He nods approvingly. And with that, I'm on my way, creeping through rush hour traffic to St. Joseph's.
Media parking at St .Joe's is behind the ROTC building across the street from Hagan Arena. I know where it is. I've parked there a bunch of times. Only this time, there's a portable metal gate in front of it and yellow caution tape sealing off the rest of it. As I sit there contemplating my next move, a car pulls up in back of me and blocks the driveway I came in while the owner runs into a nearby restaurant to pick up some take out food. I attempt to make a U-turn and go out an adjacent driveway, but that driveway is blocked by another car. I am now trapped on the sidewalk with nowhere to go.
After about 10 minutes, one of the cars moves and I'm freed. Taking the law into my own hands, I return to the ROTC lot, get out, remove the caution tape, move the gate, and drive into the lot.
From there, the night was a snap and on Thursday morning, I was up bright and early to drive to Trenton, N.J., to catch a train to Newark for the Blues game. It's a 45-minute drive to Trenton, a little over an hour on the train, and I was in plenty of time for the morning skate. The game went without a hitch, except for overtime and a shootout, which, alas, caused me to miss a train back to Trenton by about 30 seconds. (It was in the station with the doors closed when I got there.) Ah, the joys of sitting in the Newark train station at 11 p.m., waiting 25 minutes for the next train. Which turned out to be a local, meaning it took forever to get back to Trenton. But from there, it went smoothly, notwithstanding the fact that, if I came upon 10 traffic lights in downtown Trenton at 12:30 a.m., every one I hit was red. And then, when I finally merged onto New Jersey Highway 1, the merge lane was, to my surprise, about a foot long. I make a blind turn and, all of a sudden, was on the highway. Had a car been driving at a normal speed along the highway at that moment, it would have had no choice but to hit me at 60 miles per hour. Fortunately, no one else was around, so I'm here to type this.
