# R.P.I. Merrimack @ # R.P.I. Virginia Tech:
Virginia Tech men’s basketball stays New River Valley put in a chilling-out as Eye type 24o6o vs. a .5oo outta-conference-cupcake.
The Hokies gotta eat. And this one should prove to be some fast-food here. As Merrimack is 2 up and 2 down or .5oo yet 1st-place in the Northeast Conference Warriors. Merrimack has not been merry-maids of late… with a one 13-point D-1 L (Rutgers) and an even lowlier D-1 L by 23-points (Army). Or in other words, these po’ guys have basically been D-I food. Or a dunk-brunch du jour. Nevertheless, you wanna know who is gonna win, and by how much; right? So, read on to finds… out!
Merrimack Head Coach: Joe Gallo: Age=41, 90–54 (.625)
overall, and @Merrimack @. Has a rep’ for
$195,000.oo (just got a 4-year extension!)
Joe Gallo: no not the NY.Yanks one, and thankfully not the “Crazy Joe”, was an Italian-American mobster of the Colombo crime family of New York City one either. This one was (born February 8, 198o) is an American college basketball head coach and former player for the Merrimack Warriors men’s basketball team. He was previously an assistant coach for Dartmouth and Robert Morris before he was hired as head coach at Merrimack in 2o16.
Baller Gallo, a native of Milltown, New Jersey, played high school basketball at Princeton Day School before playing college basketball at Merrimack College as a ‘tweener or utility-G of sorts.
Gallo began his coaching career in 2oo5 as an assistant at Merrimack a year after he was a player for the Warriors. In 2o1o, Gallo was hired as an assistant under head coach Paul Cormier at Dartmouth. He was hired as an assistant under Andrew Toole at Robert Morris 2o12. In 2o16, Gallo was hired as head coach at his alma mater, Merrimack, replacing Bert Hammel. After leading Merrimack to a Northeast Conference regular-season title in 2o2o, its first season in Division I, Gallo was named conference coach of the year.
Big Whistler Gallo has taken 2-titles thus far… Northeast-10 Tournament (2o19) and the N.E.C. regular season (2o2o). And has 2-awards to show for it: NEC Coach of the Year (2o2o)
HoopDirt.com Division I Coach of the Year (2o2o) to boot.
Gallo the alumnus graduated from Merrimack in 2oo4 after a successful playing career, earning a business degree with a concentration in management. He is currently working towards his master’s in organizational leadership. Never read one before… a head coach who is still in MU.edu school? St.Catherine bless!
Poppa Gallo currently resides in Salem, N.H. with his wife Megan and their sons,
Joseph Andrew Gallo Jr. and Trey Richard Gallo
Merrimack at a glance:
- …hell if I know?
- nobody else seems to know, either?!?
- All-Time Joe Dixon… was a boston keltic via Merrimack… did that help (any)???
Returning Starters=
Merrimack Strengths:
- O is not one of ’em, mmmm-K? So, Eye won’t be Purely Chicken possin’ and front’ here… this is not one of those curious non-conference early season squads.
- Jordan Minor is the one major-sized frontcourt guy here. A 6′8″, 24o lb., well-muscled Juniorific year Four. S.W.A.T. guy who was 5th best in send-backs last year in conference play. This year Mr. Minor leads Merrimack in scoring: 11.3 ppg. Now marry that to a reasonable 4.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, a pickpocketing 2.0 spg, and a team-leading 3.0 bpg and you surely have a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in the Northeastern Conference for 2021-2022. 45% overall is reasonable. Tho’ Jordan lacks range on his 0% for 3’s J. This after 14% from range last year. So, this kid is prolly a fringe overseas candidate if he could just find some shooting… as his D won’t be going cold.
- 6′5″, 235 lb., Jr. year, S/F/S-G ‘tweener combo Ziggy Reid has a very cool WWII first-name. He also vends a pretty cool wingtip bleached out twist-top ‘fro, and at least he stands out for it to boot. As this is your glue or your utility guy here and the best Merrimack has on the glass to boot. With: 8.8 ppg, a team-leading 5.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, team-pacing 1.5 spg, and a serviceable 0.8 bpg. Although the 25% from the floor and 24% from range are kinda chippy as the rings orange paint goes, Ziggy does try. Which is most strange when you see he finished 7th best in Free-Throwing in league play just last year? And strange yet when you see he has cut nearly 10% over his collegiate career from behind the arc?
- Mykel Derring… is the only one here who caught my maybe-VeeTee helper eye. As he can flat-out shoot the rock and tends to net the same. As Mykel (alternate Slavonic for: The Archangel Misha or Michael) … Mykel’s range is the gym. If he is in it? He’s open. 56% when dialing long-distance is sharpshooting just like dat. And honestly, that’s about what/all Mykel is. This Proctor Academy transfer 2-Guard is a pure spot-up stand-up erect 3-point-shooter. He does not have as much dribble-drive game (45% overall) and does not appear to love contact or getting bodied-up. Tho’ he can shoot! Did Eye mention the shooting, yets? 5th ranked overall in The Northeast Conference last season also says so. And his 6′2″, 180 lb. third-year frame seems smaller than that to me. (And also shows why he’s mo’ comfortable on the edge/perimeter to boot). Derring does field a H.S. Jr. year Beantown State title ring for Mass. itself overall. So, there is that too.
Merrimack Weaknesses:
- O. As in this teams scoring is nearly offensive indeed.
- Roster? Not quite as tiny as I had small-school thought, tho’ still not much here.
Warriors Bench: (depth=6’ish, very backcourt heavy)
As in… there are sorta 6-sub’s here and 5 of ’em are G’s.
Devin Jensen is a 6′5″, 22o lb. back-up Off-G by way of someplace named: Manasquan? Not sure if that is a college or a U? I am sure he is your lead backcourt guy on minutes played. Not real sure why he plays after that? As 3.8 ppg with 3.o and 0.8 apg on 11% from three-point-land does not land you a lotta court-time mo’ often than not. That said, Devin does have his .edu finished as a grad’ student. He was a starter who has gone 6th-man this campaign; (this makes him unselfish). It has also made his nearly ≅8-n-change ppg slumped this season, at least thus far.
Justin Connolly is literally the only frontcourt pine-squad member here. Justin goes: 6′7″, 21o lbs. as a final season 3/4 combo’ guy upfront. He does find his way to 2.8 rpg off the bench tho’ 1.4 ppg really ain’t much. Have to think he plays just to give Merrimack some match-up size down-low in the post.
Loading ...Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:
Number of Warriors who could War-n-☮️ @Tech=zero.
the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…
…someone needs some caffeine jumper cables and needs to get his azz cookin’ on finishing the Miami football preview, STAT!
That attempt at drowsy satire aside…
…VeeTee really should be able to sleepwalk here.
Icky Crane Sleepy Hollow hoops inside and possibly likewise Cassell to boot.
…as this one is mo’ parts O.O.C. (out-of-conference) snooooze-button and less parts alarming.
At least to me…
***
Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a fortnight ask back, or December itself.
The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… in shooting percentage margin, in 3-point percentage margin and in rebounding margin.
The most recent 5-game metrics say that… this ain’t game six yet… in shooting percentage margin, in 3-point percentage margin, and in rebounding margin.
Armchair Pt.Guard’s:
VeeTee is @home and is also up +1 in R&R.
VeeTee is up nearly +9% at the charity stripe for the year.
VeeTee is a 1.oo host; whereas Merrimack is o’fer (.ooo) as a guest.
The Call...
No. Net Ranking Merrimack @ no.4o Net Ranking Virginia Tech:
So, and in the realm of: “never seen this one before…” we see…
- *Reclassifying to DI (active in ’23-24) Per: NCAA website
- I thought they were D-1, now; already?
Hmmmmm… not real sure here… tho’ I am sure that I doubt that to be a good thing; whatever it ultimately 2o24, means?
–oOo–
In the meantime, however…
…Merrimack is off the offensive track.
As it literally won’t take much beyond fiddy or maybe double-nickels (55) to win this Smokey & the Bandit kinda downshifting lane-changing game.
The Hokiebird should burn-rubber; or take his feets off the pedals and coast (@Home) here.
As Merrimack menz hoops is all downhill from here.
(99% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=???, Merrimack=???
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
