#35o R.P.I. Saint Francis (Pa.) @ #63 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:
Virginia Tech men’s basketball is off to a swift start… and this just in… my sources hint that rain is still rumored to be… “wet”.
The Hokies are a triskaidekaphobic or thirteen just (13) votes removed from being Top-25 nationally ranked if you are keeping score at home. Hopefully, this 3-nil Hokie crew is just 80-minutes removed from going 5-zip to begin 2021-2o22. Tho’ there Eye go again… putting the cart out in front of the horse. As next up we catch a hard/strange to ‘cap 1 up and 1 down or .5oo or even St.Francis of Pennsylvania or Keystone state fame. As I found out in this preview, this buncha Red Flashes can do a few things well, and a couple of them they are nearly great at doing. Is that enough however and who will win this one is what you wanna know, right? So, read on… to find, out!
Saint Francis Head Coach: Rob Krimmel: Age=44, 125–149 (.456) overall and @St.Francis alike. Has a rep’ for scoring/offense and G-play.
$167,000.oo
Rob Krimmel (born September 27, 1977) has been the men’s basketball head coach at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania since 2o12.
Alumni-Baller Krimmel ran ball from 1996 to 2ooo for Saint Francis. As a One or Point-Guard and same as Quarterbacks in football, Pt.Guards tend to make the best coaches in hoops.
A tremendous three-point threat and a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection as a four-year Red Flash player, Krimmel was a three-year starter and two-time team co-captain. He led the N.E.C. in three-point field goal percentage (43.5%) as a senior in 1999-2ooo and is fifth on the school’s all-time list with a 39.8 percent three-point shooting accuracy.
In addition to his on-court accomplishments, Krimmel received numerous awards as a student leader. He was the first-ever recipient of the Dr. Philip Benham Scholar-Athlete Award, which is given to Saint Francis student-athletes who exhibit outstanding academic and athletic excellence. He attended the NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., received a prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship, and was the N.E.C. Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2ooo. He also received the University’s Mr. Frankie Award, which is presented annually to the outstanding male student in the senior class.
Krimmel is the 21st head coach in Saint Francis University men’s basketball program history, succeeding Don Friday who retired after 4 seasons at the helm.
The lowercase Coach-k has made the playoffs in four of his nine years at the St.Francis big-whistle helm. And kinda/sorta was flirting with a look-n-feel of having turned the proverbial corner after a strong four-year run preceded last season’s letdown of sorts. As Krimmel is the second-winningest coach in program history (already) with 125 total wins. Which says a lot about the program’s lack of (successful) history.
Daddy Krimmel and his wife, Aileen, reside in Duncansville with their two sons, Alex and Thomas. Aileen also graduated from Saint Francis with a Bachelor of Science
in Health Science and a Masters in Physical Therapy.
She works as a Physical Therapist at Drayer Physical Therapy Institute in Altoona.
Hence a alter triple-double tallied here.
St.Francis at a glance:
- 7th on the Offensive Glass!!!
- 15th on the Defensive backboard!!!
- Or, 18th greatest in Rebounding Margin (+16 rpg)!!!
- 39th in FG% D allowed!!
- 53rd most Turnover forced.
- 1o8th in Swipes.
- 31oth in 3-point shooting!
- (NO hurts listed. “thanks” @Coach God!)
Returning Starters=5
Saint Francis (Pa.) Strengths:
- VERY experienced Top-handful of ballers. Starters are pretty dang legit.
- In point of fact, 16 of the Top-16 from last season returns. This is a Playar’s Coach in a portaling era.
- 6′9″, elongated true pasty-gangstar at a mere 213 r-Senior season lbs., cue: Mark Flagg. Flagg flags down a pretty impressive 14 ppg and change and a mind-blowing 14 rpg! wow! 2 bpg tells you his springs are real as does his virtual 58% from the floor. As Flagg is setting the tempo for your Breakout Player of the Year award, even as a last-year baller. On film… Flagg clearly gets the game, sets himself up; and actually, has these things called: ‘moves’ on the Wing and in the Post alike. Savvy, smart, serrated baller who reminds us a bit of our very own Zach LeDay. Albeit with more vertical and less pure heft/thick. The book reads: ‘deft-touch at the Wing’; the screwball part is… he has not made a college 3-pointer in well, three years! That and lowercase 50’s as an FT-percentage lifer just does not quite add up here? As this one and Conover below are fringe overseas Pro’s with another year to fill in their NC2A, blanks.
- One #2, one Ramiir Dixon-Conover, is a 6′3″, 18o lb., r-Senior year starting One. Ramiir is a multi-year 3rd-string All-N.E.C. honoree with plenty of right-tail Experience Curve fits. Leading scorer at virtually 16 per game does not suck. Neither does a 2nd best 7.0 rpg! Or his team lead at 5.0 dimes dropped or his team pacing 2.0 pockets picked (spg). Can you say all-around Team M.V.P.? The only knock I could find is his shooting range is not that rangy, per mid-20’s percent as a careerist from downtown. Tho’ mid-40’s percentage from the floor overall. So, clearly, he knows his size matters limitations. Dixon-Con’ is a Southeastern C.C. transfer Pt.Guard who plays something of a lead-G look… and he does have some ice-H20 in his veins with late-game heroics in his bio’. Does have a history of facial fractures to boot (St.Helen bless on dat). Reminds mo’ than a little bit of David Rivers of N.Dame fame then by way of the latent Showtime Lakers on film. A good player here folks, that does not lack confidence or presence on film either. Eye kinda like this One’s game… he is getting A LOT outta him. And so did Lindy’s Best Player Maker in the NorthEastern Conference shout-out and their 2nd-string all-league tab as well.
…this dood could help us! - Myles Thompson is a 6′6″, 23o lb., true-Senior campaign Wing or S/F who surely looks the sinew part. Strong/mature looking kid, who drops you a fourth-best 14 ppg. Marksman from range at nearly 43% from deep. 4 rpg are quite reasonable as well.
- Maxwell Land is something of a pleasant surprise, at a nifty and growing as I type third-best 14.4 ppg and 38% long. Not a kid who my preview mags said much -if anything- about. So, this is a prime-mover early on who merits a March ask back for it. Max’ is a 6′4″, 187 lb., sophomoric off-G who will dunk on you and moves very well to the rack. Max’ won a lotta Ohio regional Player of the Year awards for his work, and he got some football (Wr1) looks to boot. Said to be a pretty fair-t0-middling defender when he wants it to. As this kid being for second-season real could go a long Red Flash way here. (BIG-azz twist-top ‘fro too… you knows I dig it da most!)
Saint Francis (Pa.) Weaknesses:
- …to be who they are, where they are… this is about what they are.
- As for the first time ever, NObody departed last year. And likewise, NObody was added this off-season! Never seen that one before?
- …and surprisingly enough, this little man has fair-to-middling size on its roster. (As sub’s Cohen and Coleman nearly go 14′ and go for 14 ppg and 8 rpg between ’em).
- Again, this one took me aback… only neg’ I could find is marksman S/G Bryce Laskey … who is a 3-point sniper from range. Or at least he was? As I could not find him anywhere on Google? Godspeed @Bryce wherever you are.
Red Flash Bench: (depth=2’ish)
Josh Cohen 6′1o″, 220 lb., r-Soph., P/F or stretch-F of sorts and is your one real frontcourt sub’ in the St.Francis rotation. Josh is netting yah 7.5 ppg and getting yah 6.0 rpg on 68% in relief. Efficient bugger down low, who was a High School 6′ guard as a freshman, Cohen grew to 6′10″ over the last three scholastic years! Can you say… clothing budget inflationary economy? Tho’ you can see the backcourt skill-set on tape, and there may be some remaining frontcourt headroom to grow into here. As Josh enjoyed something of an outburst scorer rep’ up on The Jersey Shore.
5′12″, 19o lb., Soph., Zahree Harrison is a backup One or Pt.Guard2. Who plays for his D and to Qb2 the O in relief. As his 28% from the floor is pretty orange-(rim)-paint chippy indeed. Tho’ his Philly H.S. squad did finish #1 in-state; and he did merit some .edu scholarship offer love as well, so there is that… maybe mo’ basketball will come?
Loading ...Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:
Number of Red Flashes who could hot-flash @Tech=1 maybe even 2.5 or so.
the takeaway:
The takeaway here is...
…kinda hard to not get (way too early) seasonally taken away with Coach Mike Young and Co. right now, is it not?
’cause do recall… our one pre-season foible raised to the possible bugbear power was: “this team can defend as well as they choose to defend.”
They were/are missing 2 really keen lockdown perimeter stoppers from last year too.
And we were indeed concerned that they might just lay it out to play it out as: “our best defense is a great offense.”
Which they could very well operably have… tho’ defense and rebounding are the 2 things that should never, go; cold!
***
Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for an in-conference ask back… as methinks we’ve never played: Franciscan University. Nor have we spanked them by 46.
The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… V.P.I. is up +6% in shooting percentage margin (nearly all on O, as St.Francis, is right there on overall floor D); the Gobblers however are up an insane +4o% in 3-point percentage margin (killing it on both O & D alike), and yet St.Francis is up a very useful looking +13 caroms in rebounding margin year-to-date. (Dang!)
The most recent 5-game metrics say that… Eye should try in shooting percentage margin, in 3-point percentage margin, and in rebounding margin all after game #6.
Armchair Pt.Guard’s:
Speed, kills?
The upbeat St. Francis (Pa.) offense has averaged 79.1 possessions per game, the 17th-most in Division I. Whereas Virginia Tech has not been as uptempo as the Red Flash and is averaging only 66.4 possessions per game (ranked 268th, nationally).
St.Francis is up +4 in R&R.
VeeTee is up +4% at the charity stripe for the year.
VeeTee is a 1.oo host; whereas S.F.U. is .ooo as a guest.
The Call...
No. 269 Net Ranking Saint Francis (Pa.) @ no.44 Net Ranking Virginia Tech:
Mark Flagg, Ramiir Dixon-Conover (who can transfer to VeeTee right now; this one is a keeper men), and Myles Thompson have combined to account for 49 percent of the team’s total scoring thus far this campaign.
Whatever upsetting chances/odds Saint Francis does have… end/begin there.
As they need to land their A-game punch early, often, and late.
–oOo–
And frankly, those chances might just need a little Hokie Help.
That, and they prolly likewise need a starting career night and maybe a bench one too?
Even though all of my preseason wraps peg Saint Francis as NorthEastern Top-4 and most of ’em say they have at least an outside look at the League Title this campaign. Which is indeed more than I suspected here… this one seems a few bricks shy of Saint Francis load.
1–2–3–4–5
As Saint Francis has to win the tempo battle in spite of being the little guy and the {sic: bench} thinner guy at that. That means staying outta personal-foul trouble out on the A.c.c. road.
This does not seem likely to us.
The only Q is… does a blow-out seem likely to, you?
(89% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=84, Saint Francis (Pa.)=56
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
