Tag: Ed Ogundeko

The Fantasy Continues: Week 2

We’re back with another edition of the fantasy basketball report. As a reminder, Lin and Tonic (Joe) led after one week, 5-3. Despite my strategy to draft big men early, I ended up with a commanding lead in assists and a slight advantage in steals and a major deficit in rebounds and blocks after Week 1, so I made the decision to drop the injured Hayden Rooke-Ley ’15 in favor of Ed Ogundeko ’17, who played really well in the first week of conference play. I then decided to move Ogundeko into my starting lineup over Zuri Pavlin ’17, who only had one conference game this weekend. In the back court I moved Jaquann Starks ’16 into the lineup for Joseph Lin ’15. I never should have doubted Lin, who had 43 points, 18 assists and six steals on the weekend. Whoops…

Adam shook up his lineup a bit, too, but didn’t make any roster changes, so our lineups going into the weekend looked like this:

Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
POS. Player Player
Guard G. Safford J. Starks
Guard D. Wohl L. Hausman
Guard J. McCarthy L. Westman
Forward J. Swords C. Hudnut
Forward D. Sinnickson E. Ogundeko
Forward A. Santos H. Merryman
Forward Mar. Delpeche D. George
Bench J. Brown Z. Pavlin
Bench S. Ajayi H. Sabety
Bench R. Epps J. Lin

First we’ll show you the scoresheet for Week 2 alone. Notice that scoring was way, way down from Week 1. Also, just looking at who we decided not to start, and I’ve already mentioned my mistake to bench Lin, but Adam really could have benefited from Jake Brown’s ’17 19 assists. Of course the tradeoff would have been only getting seven points and six boards. On the other side, having Hunter Sabety ’17 in the lineup would have been pretty helpful. After missing the conference opener against Middlebury last weekend, Sabety came back strong against Amherst and Trinity, scoring 28 on 14-21 shooting (66.7 percent) with eight rebounds and four blocks.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC (Adam) Lin and Tonic (Joe)
Points 139 146
Assists 25 25
Rebounds 67 99
Steals 16 4
Blocks 14 9
FT% 74.4% (32/43) 72.8% (59/81)
FG% 40.9% (56/137) 48.8% (63/129)
3PT Made 15 6

Just by glancing at the table above, it’s clear that I was able to maintain my leads in points and assists and the percentage categories, while also closing the gap in rebounds, so I should be pretty happy.

HausmanShooting
Lucas Hausman ’16 has increased his scoring by 7.7 points per game this season, and poured in 49 points for Joe’s Lin and Tonic squad this past weekend. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics and CIPhotography.com)

 

Unfortunately steals, blocks and 3PT made are quickly slipping out of reach. Take a look now at the composite standings.

Category Lord of the ‘CAC Lin and Tonic Leader
Points 352 399 Joe
Assists 47 76 Joe
Rebounds 171 168 Adam
Steals 29 22 Adam
Blocks 33 15 Adam
FT% 70.5% (79/112) 77.1% (138/179) Joe
FG% 49.1% (132/269) 50.5% (147/291) Joe
3PT Made 33 12 Adam

Overall score: Tied 4-4

Trinity Ready for the Limelight

The Bantams have started off the season strong producing a 10-2 record to begin the year. While other teams like Bates and Middlebury have gotten most of the press, Trinity is currently riding an eight-game winning streak heading into league play beginning on Friday. This is the best start in Coach Cosgrove’s five years at the helm and it is about time this team starts getting some love.

Offensively, the Bantams are making strides. Last year Trinity’s biggest problem was putting the ball in the hoop as they only averaged 61.4 points per game but are up to 72.6 so far in 2014-15. Guard Jaquann Starks ’16 and forward Shay Ajayi ’16, classmates both averaging double-digit points, lead the Bants. Those two have done a phenomenal job getting to the charity stripe, and as a team Trinity is tops in the NESCAC in free throw attempts and makes per game. But it’s not just this experienced duo that is doing the work. Coach Cosgrove has gotten contributions from multiple players. This has been the biggest difference in Trinity’s success this year. The defense remains near the top of the league, but this year the offense has picked up the slack and has given Trinity reason to believe that it can contend for a NESCAC title.

Starks has elevated his game and become one of the NESCAC's top point men. (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics)
Starks has elevated his game and become one of the NESCAC’s top point men. (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics)

Let us not forget, though, that this team builds its identity around defense and rebounding. If you are playing against the Bantams you are going to have a difficult time finding a clean shot. The Bantams lead the league in the rebound margin at 10.8 per game. The large front line highlighted by George Papadeas ’15, Ed Ogundeko ’17, Alex Conaway ’15 and Ajayi has swarmed the backboards. Rebounding and defense is just effort and intensity, and that mentality has been instilled in the Bantams this season as it has in years past. They also lead the NESCAC in forced turnovers with 16 per game. This ability to get steals leads to easy buckets in transition on the other end. NESCAC play will be a tough test for the Bants, who are just 2-2 against teams that currently have a winning record, but if they continue to swarm opponents on defense, they will put themselves in a good position to win.

Two players that have elevated their games this season are ones that were not highlighted heavily this year in the preview. Guard Steve Spirou ’15 and forward Alex Conaway have been major x-factors for the Bantams. These two stood out in the Bantams’ impressive win over Springfield College on December 3. Both these players are leaders for Coach Cosgrove and how they have helped the Bantams most has been through the gritty nature of their play. Conway and Spirou will not fill up the stat sheets in terms of points, but their intensity both on the defensive and offensive ends have given their team so much needed life to get out to their most successful start in a while.

Trinity opens conference play with Williams this Friday, but for me the biggest game on the Bantams’ schedule will be a January 16 meeting with Bates at home. Bates appears to be for real, and both of these squads have strong front lines, so it will be a collision of two immovable forces. If Trinity can come out on top they will prove to spectators around the league that the Bantams are here to stay.