Jerry Recco must have used this face to get Coach Mangurian to really spill the beans
If any of you missed Head Coach Pete Mangurian's brief interview with Jerry Recco during halftime of last night's Men's Basketball win over Yale, here are the highlights:
1) Major praise for strength coach Ryan Cidzik
Mangurian said what a lot of us had suspected about Columbia's weight lifting program in the past: it was "way behind."
Under Cidzik, Mangurian says there's been an upgrade and that's great news.
2) Nottingham and Hilinski "named" and touted
I say "named" in quotation marks because Mangurian did not, and could not, mention Brett Nottingham and Kelly Hilinski by name but he did say he was excited about the transfer QB and the new QB "we signed."
I bring this point up for selfish reasons, I admit. But when my butt was hanging out on the line for about a week after I broke the Nottingham story, it was no fun. LOTS of people told me publicly and privately that I was a liar, crazy or both. So every time the story is confirmed I feel a little better.
Of course, I'll feel better than that when Nottingham starts winning us some games.
3) More Time was Spent on Recruiting this Year
Remember that last year, Mangurian and the new staff had to spend more time just getting to know the veteran players. This year, the coach says he went to each of the incoming freshmen's homes and really got to know them.
Hopefully, that will result in fewer dropouts. It still stings that three of our highest-rated freshmen last year, Austin Stock, Darin Napier, and Alec Davison, are no longer with the team.
9 comments:
Three freshmen are where and why?
Jake,
don't let the negative types get to you. You are doing a great job.
I think the three frosh are all still in school, but they all quit the team. Davison HAD to because of multiple concussions, but I don't know why Stock and Napier bolted. But I don't want to get too hung up on retention. It's all about wins, baby.
Thanks Doc!
The second part of the interview was played at halftime of the Brown game.
Still bummed by the failure of MBB to win close games. Either we win big or lose by a bucket.
Re: BB loss on Saturday:
I am afraid that there is no secret as to why we lost a game in which we were in command with a thirteen point lead with 16 minutes to go in the second half.
We scored only 17 points and gave up 33 points from there until the game ended. Ask the coach!!
It's no mystery why we lost to Brown. Columbia has excellent guards, but so does Brown and their guys got hot in the second half. Brown's big men were also much better overall basketball players than our big men. Our centers were slower and less athletic than the Brown centers. In Ivy League Basketball, it's really all about recruiting and not at all about coaching. If Columbia can recruit two or three very talented big men for next season, Columbia will compete for the Ivy League Championship. If Columbia doesn't recruit the very good big men it needs, it will finish towards the bottom of the League. The recruiting of these few basketball players will tell us whether or not the Columbia Athletic Department is capable of supporting a winning team in a major sports program.
Sounds like good front court players are as hard to find as good DLs.
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