This wasn’t the greatest of seasons for the service academy basketball teams. Air Force won only two games against conference opponents. Army and Navy finished with losing records, and both were bounced in the first round of the Patriot League tournament. Despite the team struggles, there were plenty of outstanding performers at all three schools. So I wondered: Who were the best players out the three schools? Then I wondered: Has anybody ever put together an all-service academy team? Well, yes. Scout.com does it regularly for football. But not for basketball, as far as I can see (and I really…
Browsing: Zach Spiker
Both Army and Navy saw their season end tonight in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League tournament. Army, the No. 8 seed, fell at No. 1 Lehigh while Navy, the No. 5 seed, lost to No. 4 American for the third time this season. For awhile, Army looked to be on track to pull off a stunner. The Black Knights led Lehigh at halftime and early into the second half before the Mountain Hawks, led by Patriot League Player of the Year C.J. McCollum, stormed back to win 64-45. McCollum, a freshman, finished with a game-high 19 points. Senior Cleveland…
The Patriot League postseason tournament starts Wednesday for Army and Navy … and could very likely end Wednesday for Army and Navy. Neither team is playing great ball right now, and on paper, neither team has a very favorable matchup. Let’s start with Army. How bad have things been for the Black Knights? Well, their best month of the season came in 2009. Army has dropped eight of their last 10 games to finish dead last in the Patriot. In the process, they blew a chance to secure the program’s first winning season in 25 years. Navy is on a…
The Army men’s basketball team has two basketball games left. Win one of them, and they’ve wrapped up the program’s first winning season since 1984-85. By crushing Navy on Saturday to improve to 14-12 overall (4-8) Patriot, the Black Knights stopped a disastrous three-game losing skid that put their shot at winning record in peril. The Black Knights now must win one game to ensure a 15-13 finish in the regular season, which means they could lose their conference tournament quarterfinal game and still end up with a winning record (16-15). If Army loses both regular season games, they must…
… in basketball. Yeah, this game doesn’t hold the revered status in sports culture that the annual football scrap does. But a rivalry is a rivalry, and you can bet this game means a bit more to each team than, say, playing Colgate. And some fans are talking, even if most still seem focused on football. I’d love to give an insightful preview to this game, however I have yet to actually see either of these teams play. So it’d be a bit disingenuous to break this one down too much. But I can give you the facts. So, so…
Class of the league: The Black Knights go into Patriot League play Saturday with the best record in the conference. West Point’s 10-4 start is a pleasant surprise considering coach Zach Spiker was hired only 10 days before practice started when Jim Crews was unexpectedly fired. The early turmoil has not distracted the team, and they’ve reeled off nine non-conference wins against Division I competition, a program record. Getting noticed: The start has earned Army and first-year head coach Spiker attention in the national sports media, with the New York Times profiling the team earlier this year. The Black Knights…
