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.
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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.
6 comments:
Thanks for the vital information; everyone has been waiting to hear if Jean would be back.
BUT: You forgot to consider the fact that Krajina will be there too.
I didn't forget, but he was in street clothes as recently as Loyola. I can't wait to see Kristijan back on the floor, but he'll have more of a physical climb back than Jean. Assuming Jean has kept in shape, and knowing his work ethic he has, the biggest adjustment for him will be adapting to Burke's system. Kristijan is probably fairly familiar with the system, but he hasn't been able to do much physically.
BG - Nice analysis, thank you. I personally have seen every minute of all but 2 games. It is hard to be a first year coach (ask Milan). Coach Burke indeed has shown some really good energy toward the Mount program and it will pay dividends, I doubt not.
Nice to see Barber have the good game at Albany. Too bad Jean and Kris not yet available. Big question for me is the absence of Shawn for the past few games, I charge it simply to the entire team learning who they are and the new sets.
Trice got his numbers at Albany in the meaningless last 2 minutes, so no one did anything worthwhile other than Barber there.
So much more to discuss but Christmas cookie decorating calls.
Merry Christmas to you and all who happen to read your blog!
So, um, BG, Cajou should have at least been on the bench shouldn't he? No sign of him whatsoever at the game tonight. Did see Krajina dressed in uniform though.
Well it doesn't look like he's going to play for a little bit, so why dress him? If we don't see him January I'll be concerned.
To tell you the truth though BG, with almost half the season gone, if I was Jean, I may not want to play and risk injury. Instead it would be best for me to finish school and go make some moolah with Kelly in Iceland. There would be no way that I would go to Portugal though and play around Jeremy, that is, if I was Jean, considering..... hahahahaha.
On another note How Bout That Holland Boy?? Lighting them up in Portugal isn't he!!
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