#311 R.P.I. Appalachian State @ #14 R.P.I. Virginia Tech 

Appy State has played two basketball games thus far this season and is -45 points to the bad for their o-2 opening troubles!

That’s forty-five points in the hole, after playing the powerhouses otherwise known as OhioU and Furman.
Y,
i,
k,
e,
s,
Yikes!

Ahhhhh, that’s not good, and neither is this version of the Mountaineers.  Even if they did upset Lees–McRae in exhibition; whatever that means?!?

Don’t believe me? Check this…

” Due to low APR scores, the Mountaineers are banned from postseason play, including the Sun Belt Tournament.”

That’s Academic Progress Rate for the acronym-0-phile in you at home or nothing whatsoever to play for over at needs to class it up,” D is for diploma” … Appy.State.

Appalachian Backcourt: (returning starters=both did return, now 1)
Chris Burgess and Dustin Clarke (now) make up the starting backcourt with Tab no longer on tap.

Chris is a 5’7” 176 lb. Florida native who is a post-up just waiting to happen. That said, Chris is up to third in scoring at 10 ppg, and a stunnnnnnning third in rebounding at 3.5 boards per contest! The book on Chris says he has some range and I’d say 50% from 3-point land backs that up; and that he was a pure scorer with over 3,000 high school points. So on a per inch basis, size counts and this mighty mite is one you can count on indeed.

Dustin Clarke is a 6’3” 180 lb. ‘tweener who transferred in from Hartford and sat out a year per NC2A rules. Now in his junior year, Dustin is a FT rook at 93% from the charity stripe for his career, and a serviceable 33% from the 3-point-line. Dustin has a rep’ as a floor burn looking for a place to happen. A hustling glue-player who is prolly better suited to entering the game from the pine as opposed to from the opening tip.

Appy State Frontcourt: (starters back=2 of 3, now 1 of 3)
Jacob Lawson was at least named to a few pre-season all-Sun Belt awards teams. He of 0.0 ppg (points per game) and 2 boards per contest … to give you some context on just how mucked up this Appy State mens hoops program be.

In lieu of one of the worst ever pre-season picks, I offer you Ap.State’s leading scorer and rebounder alike, one #15, 6’7” 225 lb. Tommy Spagnolo. 13 ppg and nearly 10 rpg (rebounds per game) does not suck. Neither does 55% from the floor and a makeable 33% from range. That’s pretty solid efforting from the nearby S/F (small-forward) Radford transfer who averaged .7 ppg his rookie year. OTHER than the fact that Lawson was just suspended indefinitely  “for conduct detrimental tot he team”! YIKES again!

DITTO former starting G (12.7 ppg last year) Tab Hamilton who was curiously enough suspended about 24 hours earlier for “unspecified rules violations”! WOW!

Also starting upfront are Mike Kobani and Frank Eaves. How Eaves averages a now team leading 13 ppg on 25% shooting from the floor and an even worse 22% shooting from beyond the arc is a bit obscure? Why a 6’2” Guard is listed as the starting S/F in the box-score is even more obscure than that. That said, Eaves does enjoy a reputation for penetration as he basically lives at the FT-line; in addition to being a pretty good on the ball defender. Even if he is a S/F trapped inside a shooting-G inside a driving Point. With championship genetics as his dad won it all in hoops at Louisville back in the early 1990’s, before going to the Utah Jazz.

Kobani is 7.5 ppg scorer who is about as underwhelming as he could be on the glass with 1 board per game. That’s not enough from your 6’8” 26o lb. thumper upfront! Not quite what you want from the 11th best North Carolinan outta high school and the 70th best P/F in the nation according to Scout. Mike does cherry-pick bunnies and put-backs right at the rim, hence his 66.7% shooting average; however he literally has o’s straight across his stat line everywhere else .

Mountaineer Bench: (depth=4, now 2)
Back-up 6’9” 215 lbs. power-forward Michael Obacha is out 1-2 weeks with a moderate shoulder sprain, and substitute shooting-Guard 6’3” 186 lb. Roanoke Va. native Dylan Hodson is out indefinitely with a pretty ugly looking hip injury. YIKES some more!

And as of this writing, with the 2 suspension, and the 2 injures; I’m just not super sure who the Mountaineer bench consists of? Former Davidson assistant now gone head coach Jim Fox may not be either. However, the box score hints that four guys will prolly get some time, and at least two of them will now have to start…

• Rantavious Gilbert: 6’9” 235 lb. big who rebounds, plays defense, and not much else. Has yet to score this year.
• Griffin Kinney: 6’8” 220 lb. rookie, academic team and stud lacrosse player; maybe in the ‘rong collegiate sport sans an Olympic schoolie offer outta pure necessity. Does pull down nearly 3 boards in relief.
• Jake Babic: 6’5” 180 lb. 2-guard freshman from Ontario, with a rep’ for all-round athletic ability and all-around utility play.
• Landon Goesling: 6’2” 165 lb. Texas point-G who prolly needed a r-shirt year to fill-out. Was actually a scoring 1 from the pivot in high school.

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:
Experience may not be a problem over in Boone North Carolina, however talent clearly is, as is hooping culture. As pride is about all that these ‘neers have to play for with such a parasitic post-season ban. Albeit it one of their on symbiosis.

***

3o5th in offensive FG percentage at 36% and 310th in scoring at 56 ppg is just not enough. Not when nearly 30 ppg, and your best two rebounders suddenly vanish from your roster/line-up.

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That’s not good and neither is this Appy.State basketball team, diminished or not. As I just do not seen a considered way to manufacture an upset pick here. And here I thought Liberty might be the worst team we see all year. With 4 key guys out on a pretty scrubby looking lot, coach Buzz can name his point total, go deep into the bench, experiment, whatever’. Won’t matter one iota, here.

(96% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=77, Appalachian State =49

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**