Enter to win an iPad

Click this link: http://patch.com/E-c2ch then click RSVP and enter your e-mail address, and you're entered to win an iPad from BelAirPatch.com. It's that easy. The more entries from you, the better for me. I promise it's not spam and you won't be put on any kind of mailing list – unless you win. Good luck. (By the way, deadline is New Year's Eve at 7 p.m.

BREAKING: Cajou Rejoins Mount

Jean Cajou has rejoined the Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team, according to an individual who was at the ARCC today.


Cajou left the Mount before the fall semester began for a leave of absence due to personal reasons.


I've seen one game on TV this year, parts of two on the computer, and the Loyola game in person. Although coach Robert Burke is doing well transitioning the program to a new coaching staff, I can only think that Cajou's leadership in the backcourt will help the young team.


I'm not sure how soon Cajou will see playing time, but the Mount travels to Albany for a 7 p.m. game tomorrow. (I would guess they were practicing at the ARCC today, as the individual tells me, instead of in Albany, because it is the last day of finals.) I doubt he plays today or Monday against American at home, but you never know.


As well as Lamar Trice is playing, I wouldn't mind seeing him and Cajou starting at 1 and 2 by the time the Mount plays its third conference game Jan. 6. It is possible, though, that Trice is more comfortable coming off the bench. Regardless, I'd like to see how we do with freshmen Josh Castellanos and Julian Norfleet coming off the bench instead and leaving redshirt freshman David Golladay at the 3.


Shawn Atupem should also remain in the starting lineup, but I'd like to see Raven Barber starting fulltime soon if he's completely healthy. Norfleet has a good stroke, but with only a 30 percent clip from 3, and Castellanos 2–for–17 from deep, maybe they will be more settled after watching the game unfold for a few minutes.


As someone who has been to a team's every practice while other's who simply saw home games thought they new better than coach Milan Brown, I'm certainly not criticizing Burke. It's just that the starting lineup I'd like to see is 1 Trice 2 Cajou 3 Golladay 4 Atupem 5 Barber. If Danny Thompson, however, keeps playing as well as he is, you could start him at the 5 and have a very good defensive post playing with three very good defensive guards, and you wouldn't lose much as far as athleticism.


Whatever Burke decides, though, I support. You can't question the man who eats, sleeps and breathes the program, especially in his first year.


---


That Loyola game, the first one I got to see since leaving the Mount, was an interesting experience for the fact that I was covering the game. I didn't envision my first time watching my alma mater since leaving the school would be as a reporter.


I essentially volunteered because my company, Patch.com, launched a site in North Baltimore – an area that covers Loyola – on Monday. So I got to interview Burke, which was strange, especially after such a bad loss. But I also got to speak with my old nemesis, Jimmy Patsos. Turns out he's not half as evil as Mount students always made him out to be. He's just a passionate coach who turns into a regular guy once the horn sounds.


Here's the men's story I did.
And the women's.


And of course, check out BelAirPatch.com.

Qatar gets cup instead of USA, other less important choices

I'm not going to get too deep into something I don't completely understand in regard to the behind-the-scenes details, but I will give a small rant on Qatar being selected to host the 2022 World Cup instead of the USA (and any other less important countries).


One of America's biggest selling points was an environmentally-conscious venue. As someone who is admittedly liberal on the subject of "greenness," I thought this would be a great feature of our role as hosts. Not to mention how cool it would be to have a World Cup on US soil in my lifetime. (I don't remember Chicago.)


Instead of the resource-friendly USA venue, we're going to a country where the temperature will very likely soar into triple digits most, if not all, of the days of the World Cup. What's worse, Qatar said they will air condition all 12 (I think it's 12, correct me if I'm wrong) of the stadiums. So in that regard, I don't think there could be a starker contrast. Save energy vs. pour a bunch of money into wasting a bunch of energy.


Should we blame Morgan Freeman? (Half-kidding.) Please click here (sorry about the ad, don't see it on YouTube yet) and look around the :30 mark.


Either way, I'll leave you with this Qatar highlight via @AroundTheHorn:

RMU's Abraham suspected of drinking and driving

Robert Morris star and last season's Northeast Conference Rookie of the year is suspected of drinking and driving. He was recently suspended from a matchup with Pittsburgh because of a "violation of team rules," and now the Beaver County Times is reporting that, "Abraham, who struck both a moving car and a parked car, has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content above 0.159 percent, underage drinking and careless driving, according to the Moon police report. The report did not list his blood-alcohol level."


(Thanks to Richard for sharing the link.)


A couple thoughts:


1. Definitely nice to see Robert Morris lose its best player in a manner where no one was physically injured.


2. As Mount fans, let's not be too critical. We saw one of our starters, Joey Butler, get caught making a huge mistake that altered his life. Joey's a great guy and still a close friend, and has moved well beyond his mistake to become successful.


So yeah, Karon screwed up, what's bad for Robert Morris is good for us, but let's not go overboard kicking the kid while he's down. I'll be very interested to see how the administration handles this compared to the Mount.


I can tell you for a fact that you can get a DUI at the Mount and not only keep some or all of your scholarship, but not even be forced to sit out an entire season. I have seen multiple occasions where Mount student-athletes got DUIs and served suspensions that did not even amount to half of the season. (No one from within the school will call me out on this because it's true.)


Here's hoping Abraham is given a second chance at Robert Morris or some other school. A kid with his talent should be put on a strict probation and be allowed to play again after serving a just punishment.

Mar-teeny: Kansas State coach calls out Mount

Whether the comment was a shot at Mount St. Mary's, its coach, or just a shot in the dark, it's hard to say. But Kansas State head coach Frank Martin's remark featured on "The Pitch" that, "It's not like we're Mount St. Mary's. We've played these kinds of games before," should ruffle a few feathers.

The quote was used to essentially say that the Wildcats will not be scared of Duke like he suggests our Mountaineers would be. I hate to break it to the polarizing general from Manhattan, Kansas, but the Mount would be plenty comfortable – though still overmatched – in a game with Duke. Under Milan Brown, the Mount played the toughest non-conference schedule in the NEC every single year, and Robert Burke has accepted a beefy slate this year as well.

I don't think this Duke team is so high and mighty that it could not be compared to a matchup with: Cincinnati, Penn St., Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Oregon, Siena, Old Dominion, George Mason, Winthrop (when there were awesome), Georgetown or, best of all, the Tyler Hansbrough/Ty Lawson (as juniors) North Carolina team. Hell, there's more pressure when we play Robert Morris than there would be against Duke.

So no, this isn't a diss on Martin. And it's certainly not to say that the Mount is as good on paper as Kansas State, but I sure as hell would like to go play them next year. Or better yet, around the third weekend in March.

If I get an update, and you better believe I'm digging, I'll post it. Go 'Cats.

Mount baseball lands monster catcher

I attended a mock signing for three baseball players at a high school in my Patch, and one of them, Andrew Clow, is headed to the Mount. See his video interview and gaudy stats here.


His team (C. Milton Wright) went undefeated and won the state title last year with Clow behind the plate for every game.


Another coach in the county told me he thought Clow had a chance to play for an ACC school. Great signing by the Mount.

Burke's First 'Dayt'

I have some observations from today's 67-52 loss to Dayton based purely on the box score. In other words, I'm not giving any game analysis – that would be impossible – just pointing out a few statistics of note.


Brown, Krajina didn't play


Pierre Brown and Kristijan Krajina both have a fractured foot. They should be out for a few weeks. The interesting part will be whether Brown plays when he comes back. If the team is struggling, or if coach Robert Burke just believes Pierre would be more useful with a full and more healthy final season, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a red shirt. That's pure speculation.


Barber only took three shots


If Raven Barber didn't have more than two fouls, and if he had played less than 23 minutes, this wouldn't stand out so much. There could be a dozen reasons for this, but it's still pretty curious.


Norfleet led the team in scoring in his college debut/Norfleet took 13 3s


I would be me encouraged by Julian Norfleet leading the team in scoring if he didn't take 16 shots to do it. The kid was either A. a gunner B. highly-trusted by Burke or C. wide open and missed a lot of shots. On the other hand, it's definitely encouraging that he wasn't afraid to put the rock up in his first college game against a very good team. With Pierre out, we will need a guard to step up as our primary perimeter scorer (in my opinion) so maybe Norfleet is the guy.


12 team fouls, only one player with three


I mean, it's about time. In my five years, every time we played a major program (I consider Dayton major) we would be lucky if we only had 12 fouls called on us in a half, let alone an entire game. For the record, Lamar Trice had the three fouls.


Atupem's line


Fourteen points on 5-for-11 from the floor and nine rebounds (Shawn Atupem only has one career double-double to my knowledge.) He was also 4-for-5 from the line; if he can make 80 percent of his free throws this year, he'll score at least 14 points a night. The best stat of all, though, is that Atupem only had one foul in 33 minutes. Early, I know, but it's encouraging.


Point guard play


Trice: Five assists, three turnovers to go with eight points and two steals
Josh Castellanos (freshman): Four assists, no turnovers to go with four points, all from a perfect night at the line.
I heard Trice improved a lot in the offseason (as he did the year before) and this line reflects that.


I could say a lot more about the stats, especially by comparing and contrasting to Dayton (we were out-rebounded 54–31,) but overall the numbers are encouraging. Great point guard play, great game from Shawn and a respectable showing at a tough venue in the first game under a new coach. It doesn't look like Dayton cleared the end of its bench until the very end, either, so it's not like we would racked up a bunch of stats against their walk-ons (as it appears.)


---


-Someone found this site by searching for "mount st marys, md coach brown fired." So just to clarify, he wasn't fired.


-Holy Cross also had its season opener today. The Crusaders lost to College of Charleston, (who just lost to Maryland practically at the buzzer) 93–84. They trailed 48–30 in the first half, so a nice comeback, and definitely not the low-scoring game we're used to seeing from coach Milan Brown's teams.


---


NEC Scores


Fairfield 62 Sacred Heart 45
Kent State 90 Bryant 49
Robert Morris 55 St. Peter's 30 (Think they were going to forget how to play defense without Mike Rice there? Nah. Also, why the hell wouldn't the coaches vote them No. 1? They won the last two NEC titles. Thanks for adding fuel to the fire, everyone.)
Central Conn. St. 64 Hartford 62
Quinnipiac 75 Yale 64 (3:25 remaining in game as I type this)

Mount Signs Fredericksburg Forward Danaher

According to this story from fredericksburg.com, the Mount has signed 6-foot-10 (not 6-foot-6 as an earlier typo indicated) Taylor Danaher from Fredericksburg, Va. He will play his senior season at Fredericksburg Christian School after averaging 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in his junior season in the Central Virginia Homeschool Athletic Association.

He chose the Mount over Longwood.

Thanks to Richard for sharing this link.

Kevin Robinson Jr. is a father (It's not as scary as it sounds)

Congrats to former Mount assistant Kevin Robinson Jr. and his wife, Trish, on the birth of their daughter last night. Here is KRob's status announcing her arrival.

"Welcome to this world Kathleen Nicole Robinson- 8.45 lbs. Mommy and baby are doing great. 21.75 inches, 13.6 in head."

I vividly remember the night I found out KRob was going to be a father. I was in Ott's with some of the players after a game when I texted KRob to come out for some food. He responded saying he couldn't make it but he also couldn't tell me why.

Slightly alarmed by his sketchy justification for not coming, I began to respond asking if everything was OK. Before I could sent the text, he wrote back telling me he had to "spend some time with his pregnant wife." The grizzly-bearded son of a gun couldn't hold it in for more than two minutes after originally saying he couldn't tell me why he wasn't coming out.

Although I haven't seen him in months since the old staff made its move to Worcester, I have talked to KRob on the phone and I know he was extremely excited to become a father. Hopefully he is as cool of a dad as Kevin Robinson Sr.

Congrats again to KRob, who is like a big brother to me. Looks like coach Dan Engelstad is the last one on staff to become a father! (Just kidding, coach. For now.)

John Daly's fake Twitter?

Someone explain this to me. Someone named "Chris Bath," who I do not know, just showed up on my Twitter feed.

Previous posts under this account appeared as "PGA_JohnDaly." So what the hell happened to John Daly's account? I have a hard time believing it was always fake, but what's up with this Christ Bath BS? Someone solve this madness!

(I just looked back at older Tweets and it's not the first time this has happened. WTH?)

This is why I can't bring the radio team back, buddy

The comment box isn't long enough to respond to the last poster, and he/she asks a valid question, though ignorantly.

Here is what the latest anonymous coward said:

"There are those who only know how to complain and bitch about things. Then someone comes along and actually sees a problem and attempts to get a movement going to solve it.

You say the Mount "radio debacle". Why instead did you not:

a. Try to determine how much it would cost to broadcast the away games.

b. Find a way to use your efforts to raise the money to help the Mount?

Over and over in your rants, there rarely is anything remotely positive or forward looking. You need to make yourself a person who lives by the lessons of his Catholic education. Stop ---, Start +++."

You know what Catholics aren't supposed to do? Judge. You either don't know me, or are too cowardly to say these things with a name on your post, or come to me directly.

Let's look at the subjects of my recent posts before this light-hearted one you complain about:

-An update on a recruit we pursued but lost with nothing negative said about the Mount.

-Praise for a new feature on the athletics site

-Praise for the same site's YouTube page

-A neutral schedule update

-A neutral poll about new coaches

-A neutral schedule update

-A positive announcement of a new recruit

-A positive analysis of President Powell's quotes

-A VERY positive analysis of the new lacrosse coach

Do you see a pattern?

So, how much would it cost to have a radio team?

I leave, everything falls apart

I probably listened to a maximum of two Mount basketball radio broadcasts in my lifetime. I attended almost every game – home or away – in the last five seasons. And before that, the only thing I knew about Mount St. Mary's was that I picked against them in my 1995 and 1999 NCAA Tournament bracket. I never needed to listen to the Mountaineers on the radio.


Now I'm graduated, have a real job, and am still passionate about the program for which I gladly gave thousands of hours of time. I want to follow the team, and not just by looking at a box score. I need live results. To say last month's news that the Mount would be dropping its radio broadcasts is a huge dagger is an understatement.


I understand the reason – all the money we used for radio broadcasts now goes to Lindsey Munday (which is a good thing) – but the timing could not be more unfortunate.


I apologize for the domino effect I have caused by leaving the Mount. Upon my announcement, the coaches decided to take a job at Holy Cross. A significant pay increase may or may not have influenced their decision. As a result of that, our original three incoming freshman recruits decided not to come to the Mount. And now the radio debacle.


I would have much rather the school cut the radio program before I even got there. Not only would I have been oblivious that it ever existed, but there would have been a lot more room on the bus, and one less pizza for me to order. (Though Stof was a good guy to have on trips, and Roy always entertained.)


My hope is to attend some home games when I can, and when I can't, I'll watch them on my computer. But now the road matchups will be waiting games that I can only hope are broadcasted in some form by the Mount's opponents. I just hope that most of the games I do miss turn out to be wins.

JC's Malcolm McMillan chooses CCSU

The Mount lost out on combo guard Malcolm McMillan to Northeast Conference foe Central Connecticut State this weekend, according to Matt Bracken of the Baltimore Sun. McMillan was heavily recruited by the Milan regime as well as Robert Burke and company, who offered McMillan relatively early. I'll get to see plenty of his senior season at John Carroll with Bel Air Patch.


There is one positive about the signing:


'“[The team is] always together and they’re like a family. They made me feel right at home,” McMillan said. “I had a great time with the guys. My host was Shemik Thompson. He did a great job showing me around. They work hard, and their main focus is defense and rebounding.”'


Now Thompson can teach McMillan to turn the ball over eight times a game and we won't have to worry about him when they play the Mount.


Updated note: Thompson only turned the ball over eight times once last year, which makes me an a***ole.


As posted by me in comments:


4 TOs:
1/7/10 vs. Monmouth
2/4/10 @ Bryant
2/11/10 vs. RMU
2/13/10 vs. St. Francis (Pa.)
5 TOs:
1/24/10 @ QU
6 TOs:
12/12/09 vs. Albany
1/30/10 vs. FDU
2/18/10 @ MSM
8 TOs:
3/4/10 @ RMU


That's nine games with four or more TOs, but only five with five or more.

New MountAthletics.com Feature/Bel Air Patch

As you may have noticed, my time is limited since my site has launched. If you live in or have interest in Harford County, namely Bel Air, hit up BelAirPatch.com. A14-year-old music and athletic star who was fatally hit by a car last Friday has dominated coverage lately. It's a sad, but inspiring story.
---
One thing thing I have to bring attention to while I'm here, though, are the new segments on MountAthletics.com. I've watched most of both "Up Against Atupem" episodes and plan on catching up with Leah Westbrooks, too. A genius segment that is entertaining and informative from the Mount's athletic department. Check them out and sorry for the short and intermittent posts.

MountAthletics.com to launch YouTube page today

The MountAthletics.com staff is expected to announce the launch of its official YouTube channel today. Videos have been available for days featuring an interview with new women's lacrosse head coach Lindsey Munday, as well as player profiles with all the men's and women's soccer teams. One of the most recent interviews is with women's soccer head coach Tom Gosselin after last night's draw with George Mason. With updates like this being put up immediately after games, this site will be the place to go for up-to-the-minute videos. Eventually each student-athlete will have their own intro page. I would have loved to have had my own intro video last year! Why couldn't they unveil this one year sooner??


Regardless of my selfish desires, this is another great idea and addition to the MountAthletics.com resources. Also be sure to check out and "Like" its Facebook page.


Update 12:09 p.m.:


Here is the link to the full release, which is pasted below.

Schedule update - Northwestern road trip right before Christmas

Because I am not perfect, I have yet another schedule update. Word from the academic side of the Mount is that Mount 2000 (you don't want to know) is the weekend of the (incredibly stupid) rivalry weekend with Wagner. Therefore those games have been flipped. (I probably had it wrong with which to begin, but that is the reason we can't be at home that Saturday.)

Additionally, a source close to the team tells me that the Mount will travel to Northwestern two days before Christmas. Traditionally the Wildcats are one of the weaker teams in the Big Ten, but with a holiday fast approaching, an expected lack of students at the game, and the Mount's recent ability to play BCS conference teams tough on the road, I like this addition. Of all the games on our schedule against power teams (Cincinnati, Penn St., Virginia Tech, Dayton) I think this is our best chance to pull an upset.


Note: 2:30 p.m. The addition of the Northwestern game is not tied to the hiring of Lindsey Munday, as the game was on the schedule before she was hired.


Update: 3:40 p.m. As the poster noted, I had the first LIU/SFNY series backward. Guessing the order of some of these conference games was a little tricky after basing it off of Sacred Heart's schedule, so my apologies.

Hopefully this is the final schedule. Updated games in bold.

Nov. 13 @ Dayton*
Nov. 15 @ Cincinnati*
Nov. 20 Savanannah State*
Nov. 22 @ Niagara
Nov. 27 Florida A&M*
Nov. 29 Navy
Dec. 2 @ Sacred Heart
Dec. 4 @ Quinnipiac
Dec. 7 @ Penn St.
Dec. 11 @ Loyola (Md.)
Dec. 18 @ Albany
Dec. 20 American
Dec. 23 @ Northwestern
Dec. 29 @ Vermont
Jan. 2 @ Virginia Tech
Jan. 6 St. Francis (Pa.)
Jan. 8 Robert Morris
Jan. 13 @ Long Island
Jan. 15 @ St. Francis (N.Y.)
Jan. 20 Sacred Heart
Jan. 22 Quinnipiac
Jan. 27 @ Central Connecticut State
Jan. 29 @ Bryant
Feb. 3 Monmouth
Feb. 5 Fairleigh Dickinson
Feb. 9 Wagner
Feb. 12 @ Wagner
Feb. 17 Long Island
Feb. 19 St. Francis (N.Y.)
Feb. 24 @ St. Francis (Pa.)
Feb. 26 @ Robert Morris
*Global Sports Main Event Tournament

Poll Open Thread: Coach under most pressure?

This post is to be used as an open thread for the most recent poll in the upper-right portion of the page. There are three choices, and they should be assessed in a vacuum. In other words, don't hold the fact that basketball is the top sport at the school against Burke, but analyze the other elements that directly affect the pressure on his tenure in specific. Same for Munday and Nagro.

Again, which of the Mount's three new coaches is under the most pressure to perform in their first seasons?

Robert Burke - Men's Basketball. Highest-paid coach in school history, strong resume as an assistant as a member of the staff at offensive juggernaut Siena, Big East power Georgetown, and most recently, respected Patriot League contender American. Burke is replacing the man, Milan Brown, who, by all accounts, was the most liked as well as the most successful at the Mount in the last five years. No sport won multiple NEC (or MAAC) titles in the last half-decade, but Brown was fortunate enough to win one. He is the only sport to notch an NCAA victory in that same window, albeit in a play-in game. As big-shoes-to-fill goes, Burke takes the cake.

Anna Nagro - Softball. She's only 24 years old (turning 25 in September). There's not much more to say there. Coming from D'Youville College in New York, Nagro has not been involved with an NCAA Division I program since her playing days at St. Bonaventure. While she may be a great coach, and we should all hope that she is, she replaces men's golf coach Kevin Farrell as the youngest at the school, is probably the youngest coach of any sport in the conference, and I bet she's one of the 25 youngest head coaches in any Division I sport in the country. Oh, and some of the softball players from last years team (returning and graduated players alike) ran the last coach, Larry Alvis, out in a revolt of sorts. This after they didn't sniff the playoffs (they've only made it once in the last five years.) Meet your team, Anna!

Lindsey Munday - Women's Lacrosse. See yesterday's post for my overblown rant on the main idea here - she comes to us from Northwestern. Not only was she the top assistant at arguably the greatest NCAA program in any sport of the last decade (she wasn't a coach for the entire decade) but she also played there. Twice she was a Tewaarton (think Heisman for lacrosse) semifinalist as a player. After Sonia LaMonica snagged the Towson job, which Munday also vied for, the Mount snagged Munday. Even with the third coach in as many seasons taking over the program, we may be better off with Munday than we ever could have been with LaMonica. I'm also hearing that she is well-compensated with an intricate, multi-year contract to boot. None of that, though, equals the pressure placed on her by President Thomas H. Powell, who laid this quotation down in the press release: "I am confident this dynamic coach will take us to the next level and bring home a national championship." If Munday does that, I'll be the first to buy her dinner and a drink at Ott's. Look at the bright side: At least Powell didn't say how soon he expects that national title. (Again, I like the ambition in the quotation, it's just a real pressure-cooker.)

Without further ado, please, comment to your heart's content.

BelAir.Patch.com launching

For anyone who is from or cares about Bel Air, Md., I have good news. The BelAir.Patch.com site for which I'm the editor will be launching next week between Sept. 7 - 10. When the final date is set I'll let you know.  If you have no association with Bel Air, or don't care what I do for a living, then I'm sorry you wasted your time reading this post.


For a semi-preview, check out one of our other 115+ sites at Patch.com.


Also check out my extreme fried food experience at the state fair on the Timonium.Patch.com site.


You can follow Bel Air Patch on Twitter @BelAirPatch and Like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BelAirPatch.

Schedule update - Savannah State game moved to Emmitsburg

Savannah State has confirmed what a poster asked recently - the Nov. 20 game will now be played in Emmitsburg. This is a nice break so that we don't play our first four, and eight of the first 10, on the road. Here is the updated schedule:


Nov. 13 @ Dayton*
Nov. 15 @ Cincinnati*
Nov. 20 Savanannah State*
Nov. 22 @ Niagara
Nov. 27 Florida A&M*
Nov. 29 Navy
Dec. 2 @ Sacred Heart
Dec. 4 @ Quinnipiac
Dec. 7 @ Penn St.
Dec. 11 @ Loyola (Md.)
Dec. 18 @ Albany
Dec. 20 American
Dec. 29 @ Vermont
Jan. 2 @ Virginia Tech
Jan. 6 St. Francis (Pa.)
Jan. 8 Robert Morris
Jan. 13 @ St. Francis (N.Y.)
Jan. 15 @ Long Island
Jan. 20 Sacred Heart
Jan. 22 Quinnipiac
Jan. 27 @ Central Connecticut State
Jan. 29 @ Bryant
Feb. 3 Monmouth
Feb. 5 Fairleigh Dickinson
Feb. 9 @ Wagner
Feb. 12 Wagner
Feb. 17 Long Island
Feb. 19 St. Francis (N.Y.)
Feb. 24 @ St. Francis (Pa.)
Feb. 26 @ Robert Morris
*Unnamed tournament


Unrelated sidenote: If you go to Jameer Nelson's Twitter page, you'll see that there is a Mount logo under the people he follows, thanks to Mount assistant coach Mike Farelly, who played with Nelson at St. Jospeh's.

Cleveland's official arrival confirms James not playing for Mount

I do not have any confirmed specifics for the reasoning, but Jeff James will not be coming to the Mount to join the men's basketball team this year. I suspected as much with the arrival of Evan Cleveland, (which was reported her first on Aug. 22) but could not say so for sure.


With the men's basketball roster updated at MountAthletics.com, sans James, it is official. This means that none of the recruits signed by Milan Brown remained with the program after Brown left for Holy Cross. Donte Morales is headed to UNC-Wilmington, Justin Burrell is headed to prep school, then Holy Cross, and James is headed God knows where.


This is actually kind of cool because now Burke will have to wait one less year to say that he has all of his own players. Excluding redshirt freshman David Golladay, everyone in the class of 2014 on will have been recruited by Burke for as long as he remains with the team.


Cleveland joins Julian Norfleet and Josh Castellanos as the other two members of Burke's inaugural recruiting class.

Powell predicts national championship for women's lacrosse? Fine with me

I should have read the the entire press release (below in full) before I wrote the last post, because I would have seen what President Thomas H. Powell said about the women's lacrosse program's future under Lindsey Munday:


"We're excited to welcome Coach Lindsey Munday to the Mount," said President Dr. Thomas Powell.  "She brings a national presence along with great talent and experience and exemplifies the formation of character we try and instill in our athletes. I am confident this dynamic coach will take us to the next level and bring home a national championship."


My first reaction to this was, "A national championship at the Mount? Powell is one crazy son of a gun, and has no idea what he's talking about."


Then I thought, you know what? I have been complaining all this time about us setting our standards too low and hiring people for cheap. I don't know what we hired Lindsey Munday for, but damn, it has to be worth it.


So I have zero criticism for Powell's quote. Props to the president for dreaming big. Who cares if our only team national championship came in the 60's in basketball's "College Division"?

It's a Munday Monday! Mount's best hire - ever??

(New YouTube link of Munday courtesy of Mount Athletics at bottom.)

I don't know anything about Lindsey Munday. I'll be the first to admit I've never even heard of her. But the announcement of her hiring as the next women's lacrosse coach is arguably the best hire by prior credentials in Mount St. Mary's history, which is incredible considering Munday has never been a head coach.

Munday was the first assistant at Northwestern, which has been the NCAA dynasty of the last decade. Their dominance can be compared to that of the UCLA men's basketball team under John Wooden.

The Mount just hired the top assistant from the unquestionably most dominant team of the last decade, not just in women's lacrosse, but any NCAA sport (if you can think of a better one, please share.) This would have been like getting the top assistant from Duke or North Carolina's basketball team to replace Milan Brown - if Duke or North Carolina had advanced to SIX CONSECUTIVE FINAL FOURS!

This post is a little all-over-the-place/over the top, because A. I don't have a lot of time to write and B. I can't believe we hired Lindsey Munday, whoever she is.

She may only be here for two years, especially if the Mount women win an NEC title soon (I know, long way to get there), but to have her at all is a privilege we should not take for granted. I don't take back what I have said in the past about the Mount's head coach hiring practices, but I will say that I was WAY WRONG in this case. Have you ever seen so many ALL CAPS words in my posts? NEVER. She's young sure, but she was the FIRST ASSISTANT AT NORTHWESTERN. And we hired her just 24 days after Sonia LaMonica rightfully ditched us for Towson.  (You really can't blame her.) This is the best shocking news since Chappy Meninger (probably spelled his name wrong, don't care) left the Mount earlier than expected due to retirement.

I feel bad for anyone whose first visit to my blog involves this post, because I'm not usually this psychotic, but wow, a big welcome to the woman of whom I've never heard, but is surely going to be an asset for our women's lacrosse program. I can't wait to see what kind of recruiting classes she brings in.

This is a feather in Lynne Robinson's cap for sure. I'm talking NBC peacock feather. I have nothing else to say. I'm sorry, but I also have no time to proofread this. Plus I'm way too shocked to edit anything.


http://www.youtube.com/user/mountathletics?feature=mhum

Evan Cleveland to join men's team, via anonymous poster

An anonymous poster wrote this earlier tonight on the Bri Gauthier story:

"Any idea as to who Evan Cleveland (6'6", Fort Wayne, Indiana) is? Looks like he is enrolled at the Mount. Walk on?"

I had no clue who the kid was until A. I saw the post and B. I did a little research. Here's what I can gather:


-He's a 6-foot-6 self-proclaimed point forward, though third parties describe him as more of a wing. (Wouldn't every 6-foot-6 player like to be considered a point forward?)


-He is the most annoying interviewee I've ever watched in my life. Seriously, if I were the reporter in this video (embedded below) I would've knocked the kid out. It's nothing personal, but STAND STILL, Evan. Jeez.


-Apparently he committed to play at the Mount less than a week ago - Aug. 17.


-He threw up in workouts Friday. It's odd that he was on campus that early, but maybe it is something new Burke is doing with the freshmen because I don't know of any upperclassmen that will arrive before tomorrow.


-He's not on the roster yet, but neither are any other incoming freshmen.


Welcome to the Mount, Evan. I'm looking forward to your contributions.


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In conference news, the Monmouth Hawks open their season Nov. 16 at 6 a.m. hosting Stony Brook, while Robert Morris plays at 8 a.m. at Kent State. The Mount was offered the lone NEC slot in last year's 24 hours of basketball circus on ESPN, but turned it down because of the ridiculous tipoff time. As a manager, I appreciated that very much. Not sure how useful I would have been at 4:30 a.m. warmups.

Gauthier to join women's staff

Brianna Gauthier, a four-year starter who graduated in 2009, will return to the women's basketball program this season to be an assistant coach.


The departure of first assistant Jada Pierce to Army allowed Denise King and Lisa Steele to move into the first and second assistant positions, respectively. Gauthier will move into the third spot, which is a graduate assistant stipend position, after spending a year as a full-time assistant to former Mount assistant Mark Zacher at Norwich (Vt.) College.


In her playing career Gauthier set a school record for 3-pointers by a freshman with 33. The guard from St. Mary's High School in Annapolis was also named to the Northeast Conference All-Rookie team. She is the schools all-time leader in career games played with 116 (109 starts), ranks second in 3-pointers made (116) and attempted (490) and ninth in assists with 335. Her 1,128 points put her 18th on the all-time list, and also make her one of just eight players in program history with 1,000 points and 300 assists.

Mount not in top 610 colleges?

I gave the Forbes list of top colleges a run through this morning and am disappointed to report that I could not find the Mount anywhere. Maybe I scrolled too fast, which I hope is the case, but if not, our school is not held in very high regards.

Among the Maryland institutions that did make the list: UM-College Park, UMBC, Loyola, Hood, Towson and Goucher. I mean we couldn't get ahead of Hood? Jeez.

Gettysburg ranks respectably high on the list, but not as high as top 100 selection St. Mary's (Md.), alma mater of Kevin Robinson Jr. and Dan Engelstad.

Northeast Conference schools I noticed making the cut? Quinnipiac, St. Francis (N.Y.) (?????????) and Fairleigh Dickinson (???????????????????????????).

The worst part of all, though? We're not even the top Mount St. Mary's in the nation, according to the list. That would be Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles at 266.

The top 10 are as follows:

1. Williams College (Mass.)

2. Princeton University (N.J.)

3. Amherst College (Mass.)

4. Army (N.Y.)

5. MIT (Mass.)

6. Stanford University (Calif.)

7. Swarthmore College (Pa.)

8. Harvard University (Mass.)

9. Claremont McKenna College (Calif.)

10. Yale University (Conn.)

In summary, Massachusetts is a really good place to go to school, and apparently, though I strongly disagree, the Mount is not.


Criteria: Our list of more than 600 undergraduate institutions is based on the quality of the education they provide, the experiences of the students and how much they achieve

St. Benedict's ESPNRISE story

This is a story I did for ESPNRISE before getting hired with Patch.com. St. Benedict's (N.J.) is one of the most, if not the most, accomplished schools in high school soccer history and they lost their coach of 25 years to the MLS this year.


Here is the link: 


http://rise.espn.go.com/boys-soccer/articles/2010/08/08-St-Benedicts.aspx


And a tease:


Perfection is the only standard by which the boys’ soccer program at St. Benedict’s (Newark, N.J.) measures its success.

“Anything less than that is just a misstep,” former coach Rick Jacobs said.

Jacobs spent more than two decades annually setting the bar higher than most programs could ever hope. But when offered an administrative position with Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, he accepted. Now Jim Wandling, a former player under Jacobs, looks to carry the torch – or burden, depending on your perspective.


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Two more stories I did should be posted on Seton Hall Prep, the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, should be up in the near future.