Sophomore defender Jameson Detweiler clears the ball out of the Drexel zone during the Sept 24 matchup against Princeton University. Against William & Mary University Oct. 4, Detweiler was the only Dragon able to get on the board in a 3-1 loss. (Ajon Brodie – The Triangle)

Well, that wasn’t good.

The Drexel University men’s soccer team started their Colonial Athletic Conference play and it couldn’t have gone much worse for them.

Coming off two big wins and seemingly riding high going into conference play, the team felt ready to fight their way through the conference games, looking to keep the ball rolling en route to their third consecutive CAA Championship.

That was apparently not in the cards.

The Dragons faced off against a mediocre The College of William & Mary team Oct. 4, and quickly had their momentum crushed.

Within 15 minutes of kickoff, William & Mary was already on the board, courtesy of a Michael Teiman goal off of a corner kick.

In terms of troublesome results, corner kick goals are less of a worry than most. Head coach Doug Hess highlighted this when he reflected on the result of the game.

“I’m not very worried about our defense; we gave up a goal on a corner kick, which is always tough but not a definite sign of bad defense.”

What happened for the rest of the game, however, could be a sign of bad things for the team.

Things only got worse for the Dragons from there on defensively, as a defensive lapse near the end of the first half allowed William & Mary to get on the board once again, extending their lead to two as the game went into halftime.

Coach Hess, however, remained optimistic in the locker room, fully confident his team could pull back into it.

“I felt very confident at halftime that we could fight our way back into the game. I don’t think we were actually broken down very much against William & Mary and our defensive miscues were fully preventable.”

The Dragons increased their fight in the second half, but they weren’t able to fight back into it. Though they pressured more and had more chances, William & Mary once again scored on a defensive miscue for the Dragons and extended the lead to a virtually insurmountable 3-0.

The Dragons would score near the end of the game on a Jameson Detweiler header, but it was too little too late for the team, as they fell in the game, 3-1.

After the game, senior midfielder John Grosh commented on the state of the locker room as a whole and the team’s plans for improvement.

“We’re doing alright. We’re disappointed to lose but looking forward to the next game, which will be a good opportunity to get back on track. We’ve been working harder in practice on making that final pass and finishing for goals and hope to show off our improvement against Northeastern [University].”

Coach Hess also summarized his feelings heading into the Northeastern game, emphasizing the importance of bouncing back.

“Soccer comes down to a few moments; it’s a funny game. We didn’t get those moments against William & Mary. When you drop points, the biggest thing is to just have a response in the next game. You don’t want to tie bad results together and you want to try to flip your luck right away and get back on track. We feel fine, we have to have a short term memory and try to learn lessons in the losses and there’s always a game on the horizon.”

While the Dragons would turn things around defensively, they would once again be disappointed in their next game.

The Dragons did an excellent job against Northeastern on the defensive end. They gave up a lot of shots, but low-percentage shots, as they only required three saves in the entire game on 16 total shots.

On the other hand, the offensive end of the field was a mess.

In the entire game, the Dragons only took six shots and four corner kicks. At no point in the game did they really look dangerous, and in overtime they took zero shots.

In the first half, the Dragons evenly played the Huskies, as the teams exchanged chances back and forth, though neither team looked particularly dangerous.

The same trend followed for the second half, but Northeastern seemed to be gaining momentum as the half went on. Northeastern dominated possession and took twice as many shots as the Dragons, though they were unable to score by the end of regulation.

The Northeastern momentum continued in the overtime period and culminated with a 97th-minute goal.

Northeastern’s Harry Swartz passed the ball to Ackim Mpofu in the box, where he drilled the ball into the lower left corner, giving his team the victory.

With that close loss the Dragons ended a tough week on the road with two straight losses in conference play, but it isn’t all bad for the Dragons.

It actually does seem like the defensive downfall in the William & Mary game was an anomaly. The Dragons once again played a great game on the defensive end against Northeastern and appear to have their defense in order for the remainder of conference play.

Hopefully the team will be able to ride their defense for long enough to get their offense consistently in order before the CAA tournament in early November.

They’ll look to get things back together at home Oct. 11 against the College of Charleston.

Men’s soccer celebrates an early goal against Seton Hall University. (Ajon Brodie – The Triangle)

“It was huge. It was absolutely huge.”

A visibly excited Doug Hess, head coach of the Drexel University men’s soccer team, was succinct in his response to a question about the importance of getting his offense on track before conference play began.

And it was huge. Compared to the beginning of the season, the last two games have been a veritable explosion on offense for the Dragons.

In just two games, the Dragons managed to score five times, a mark higher than the amount of goals, four, that they had scored through the first seven games of the season.

Against Fairleigh Dickinson University Sept. 27, the Dragons finally had a game break their way and showed the potential of a team coming off of two consecutive Colonial Athletic Association Championships.

The game seemed different from their early-season competitions from the kickoff. There was notably more energy and more pressure up top that would ultimately make the difference in this game and possibly the trajectory of the season as a whole.

Just 10 minutes into the contest, the Dragons were already on the board.

Aaron Thompson dribbled up the left side of the field and found a running John Grosh wide open in the box with a perfectly placed through-ball. Grosh passed up a decent look of his own in favor of a pass to the other side of the box, where freshman Tristan Thompson drilled the ball into the back of the net.

With a one-goal lead, the Dragons looked confident and poised.

They controlled the ball, and though they gave up a few decent chances to FDU, sophomore goalie Tyler Afflerbach and his defense refused to relent to the FDU attack.

With FDU flustered by their inability to score, the Dragons took it back to them at the end of the half.

A rebound off of a corner kick landed directly in front of senior Felipe Fagundes, who wound up and fired from outside of the box.

In soccer, sometimes things just break your way. It’s a fact of the game and a reality that players and coaches accept. In this case, things just broke the way of the Dragons offense.

Fagundes’ shot deflected off of a defender and to the ground, where it continued rolling directly into the path of a wide-open Jameson Detweiler, who easily finished from about six yards out.

From then on, the game was all Drexel. They held Fairleigh Dickinson to two shots in the second half and managed to notch another goal in the 70th minute to seal it for the Dragons.

Riding high off the big win, the Dragons hosted Seton Hall University at Vidas Field, hoping to get to .500 right before the start of conference play.

And they would accomplish that goal, but more than that, they would finally put it all together.

Less than 20 minutes into the game, the Dragons were on the board once again. Their offensive pressure overwhelmed Seton Hall, as they took over the box in the 16th minute and Michele Pataia gathered in a deflected shot and drilled it into the back of the net to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead.

And it wouldn’t take very long for the Dragons to add to their tally.

In the 29th minute, Grosh found a sliding Matthew DiDomenico wide open in the box, who easily finished to put the Dragons up by two.

Throughout the remainder of the game, the Dragons handled their opponent. The other team barely held possession and basically never threatened to bring the game closer. By the end of the game, the Dragons had almost doubled the shot count of Seton Hall and had required less saves in the game.

The Dragons absolutely dominated Seton Hall. There was no doubt to that fact, as they commanded respect from their future opponents in a true statement game.

Within the first 30 minutes of the game, it was evident that the Dragons would win it. They were impenetrable on defense and controlled possession unlike any other game this season so far. Before half time, they had gained a 2-0 lead and held on to it easily until the final buzzer sounded.

After the game, Pataia addressed how important this week was for the team as a whole.

“It was important for us to get a win and start our conference play on a positive note with a good mentality. These last two games were important for us because we got two wins, and we got the rhythm going.”

This week was possibly the most important of the season for the Dragons. It made the difference between a downtrodden team limping into conference play unsure of how to win games and score goals and a veteran team coming off of two consecutive CAA tournament championships hungry for more success.

Coach Hess summed up how the team feels going forward.

“We’ve found ways to win. We’ve been fortunate, it’s not like we haven’t given opportunities. By being able to sustain the game, it’s allowing our attacking players to find their form,” he said. “The beauty of this is that was our fifth clean sheet. If you can sustain games defensively, you’ll find moments. We find moments.”

Senior John Grosh dribbles around a Princeton University defender. Grosh has been a mainstay on the team, making starts for the Dragons in each of his four years with the team (Photo Courtesy – Ken Chaney)

Four is the magic number for the men’s soccer team this week.

Typically in sports, a magic number denotes success and implies that a team is very close to clinching a post-season berth.

That’s not quite what this number is about. In the context of the Drexel University men’s soccer team, the number four denotes the amount of goals they’ve scored through the first seven games of this season.

Head coach Doug Hess is stressing it to his team — particularly the seniors — trying to motivate them to move past this roadblock in the way of their success.

When asked about the offensive struggles the team is having, senior midfielder John Grosh, a mainstay in the Drexel attack, said there wasn’t a simple answer to the struggles the team is having.

“It’s definitely been a struggle, we don’t have any particular person stepping up and scoring goals right now. It just needs to come from the whole team.”

And that’s what it’s going to take: a team effort to put the cogs together and create a cohesive scoring unit. Grosh believes that getting these young and new guys — in particular Joaquin del Rosario, who has been away from the team because of academic ineligibility issues — involved is pivotal to turning things around.

“We have some new guys who we’re trying to work into the team. Tristan [Thompson] is a freshman, Nico [Delgado] just walked onto the team last year, Joaquin [del Rosario] hasn’t been with us and when he played early in the season he scored and had an assist so he’s huge. We really miss him.”

Speaking of del Rosario, it’s important to note that this ailing Dragons attack has been without him for weeks now and that he was the seventh highest goal scorer on the NCAA tournament competitive team from the 2013 campaign.

His problems off the field have forced him to play only 253 minutes on the field this season, which obviously hurts a team scrounging for goals like this Dragons team.

If the team is able to get his eligibility situation figured out, then the improvement will likely be drastic. The team has only scored four goals this season, two of them coming from del Rosario, either through an assist or a goal of his own.

Over the weekend, the Dragons managed to break their three-game goalless streak, but we unable to get a victory during their trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to play in the TLC Plumbing and Utility Invitational.

The first game of the weekend had them matched up with a very good University of New Mexico team and they fared well against the Lobos.

Most notably they managed to finally get on the scoreboard.

A beautiful through ball from Michele Pataia found a sliding Guido Pena in the box for his first goal of the season in the 75th minute of the match, a goal that would equalize the score at 1-1.

Earlier in the game, New Mexico had netted one of their own off a header by Nick Miele in the 35th minute, but Pena’s late goal tied things up and they would remain that way.

The game, like most of the Dragons’ games this season, headed to overtime in a tense defensive contest.

Neither team was able to net a goal, and the game ended as a 1-1 tie and the Dragons moved on to play California State University, Bakersfield in their final game of the weekend.

This time, the Dragons got on the board first with a Colin McGlynn goal in the 48th minute, putting them up 1-0.

The fun would soon end for the Dragons, as a specular goal less than 20 minutes later courtesy of Bakersfield’s Jamie Carey-Morell would bring the game to a draw. Startling absolutely no one, the game would go to overtime.

It wouldn’t last very long however, as a 94th minute Bakersfield goal ended the game soon after the overtime period began.

“Overtime, and college soccer in general, rides on a knife’s edge,” Coach Hess said, addressing the amount of overtime games his team has been in. “It really comes down to one play, yours or theirs.”

On Sept. 21 against Bakersfield, it was theirs. They made the play when it mattered, and they got the result that counts.

Returning from the long journey to New Mexico, the team seemed optimistic about the future and the likelihood of a turnaround before conference play.

Those hopes took a hit at the hands of Princeton University Sept. 24 at Vidas Field.

The game started out well for the Dragons, as they seemed able to move the ball on offense and kept up the defensive intensity they’ve had all season.

Again, the Dragons’ ultimate problem came down to their inability to actually get the ball into the net when it mattered.

The game progressed for over a half with things continuing in a back-and-forth battle, with Princeton and Drexel exchanging offensive chances, but neither able to get on the board.

The fatal mistake for the Dragons came in the 53rd minute, when an ill-advised tackle in the box gave Princeton a penalty kick and Thomas Sanner drilled it to give the Tigers a one-goal advantage, which against this Dragons team is as good as a 10-goal lead.

The Dragons were unable to score for the remainder of the contest, and the time ticked away without much of a scoring chance for the home team.

The loss brought the Dragons down to a 2-4-2 record on the season, but the good news is that conference play hasn’t begun yet and the Dragons still have time to turn things around.

They’ll look to do just that against Fairleigh Dickinson University on Sept. 27 in New Jersey.

(Josh Einbinder-Schatz – The Triangle)

The Drexel University Dragons’ game Sept. 13 played out much like the rest of the young men’s soccer season has: evenly played and fought hard until the end.
The Dragons faced off against the Saint Joseph’s University Hawks in the fifth game of their season, looking to make the leap past a .500 record. This season, the team has played three games with one goal, winning two of them, including a dramatic overtime victory over Temple University to start their season.
It appears as if the team has a flair for the dramatic and this trend continued against a strong St. Joe’s side.

They played defensively throughout the first half, tallying only one shot while allowing six St. Joe’s attempts, but holding off the Hawks’ offense, keeping the game tied at 0 after 45 minutes.

St. Joe’s domination ended abruptly at half. As the Dragons got their attack to work more offensively, it cost them. The added offensive force caused them to leak a little on the defensive end, giving the Hawks 11 shots in the second half.

Interestingly enough, of the 17 shots by St. Joe’s in regulation, only four hit their target — all which were stopped by Drexel’s goalie, sophomore Tyler Afflerbach. So far this year, Afflerbach has been very good, despite the team’s middling record.

In three of the five games so far, Afflerbach has held the opposing team to zero goals and has been fairly dominant at the net for the Dragons. They haven’t been very consistent or strong on the defensive end, but his excellent play has kept them in games that they possibly could have lost with weaker performances from their goaltender.

Throughout the second half of the game, the teams exchanged shots and chances, but neither side could break the plane and get that elusive goal, forcing the game into overtime.

During overtime, both teams looked weary and were unable to make any real moves toward goal, and after two periods of overtime, the score remained 0-0. The game ended as a bitterly fought tie.

While the result might have been a bit disappointing, it was important for Drexel to end their two-game losing skid with at least a semipositive result heading into the TLC Plumbing and Utility Invitational beginning Sept. 19, where they can get themselves back on track in games that don’t matter much in the grand scheme of the season.

The road could be quite rocky to win the Colonial Athletic Association title, as the field is packed with impressive teams that seem difficult to usurp. Currently, Drexel is ranked fifth of the nine teams, a game behind James Madison University and way behind the conference-leading University of Delaware, who are currently undefeated at 6-0-0.

With a 2-2-1 record, the Dragons will have an uphill battle to catch Delaware, but it should be doable if they can strengthen their defense and manage to score some more goals.

They look poised to do so, though, as the offensive unit, led by senior midfielders Michele Pataia and John Grosh, has put up a decent showing so far, getting plenty of chances. The biggest problem on the offensive side of the ball seems to be finishing, where they seem unable to capitalize consistently when they have the chances.

A lot of finishing comes down to luck, and that can turn either way for the Dragons. With a couple of better finishes, this team could have defeated Loyola University Maryland and St. Joe’s, which would have put them among the top CAA teams.

On the other side of the ball, the sheer amount of opportunities this veteran defensive unit allows is concerning. Opponents average 11.4 shots per game against the Dragons, which is obviously not conducive to winning many games and being competitive in a strong conference like the CAA.
With that said, it isn’t all bad.

The team is still 2-2-1 on the year and there are over 10 games remaining. With the strong senior leadership on the team, anything can happen. This is a team one year removed from an NCAA tournament berth where they toppled the University of Delaware in the first round of the CAA Tournament. Many of the players from that run remain on the team and are used to and expect success on the field.

Another promising note for the rest of the season: the Dragons don’t get penalized. They’re a controlled, mature team that’s focused on winning over everything, and as a result, they’ve only gotten two cards in their first five games while their opponents have accrued eight.

Even though they’re middling in the conference, the Dragons can really only go up from here and will have plenty of games to bridge the gap between them and their in-conference competition.

The Dragons play in New Mexico next at the TLC Plumbling Utility Invitational Sept. 19.

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Senior midfielder Ken Tribbett looks to make a play during Drexel’s 1-1 draw against Hofstra University Oct. 30 at Vidas Field. Before the match, eight graduating student-athletes were recognized on Senior Night for the Dragons. Tribbett finished the season with four goals and two assists.

The Drexel men’s soccer team might be in the most prosperous era in its history.

The Dragons have now accrued back-to-back regular season Colonial Athletic Association Championships. They finished last year’s regular season as the top seed in in the CAA tournament, and they lived up to their seeding with a 1-0 championship victory over The College of William & Mary.

Their run in the NCAA tournament was quick and painful however, as their hopes were dashed by Old Dominion University in a landslide 5-1 defeat.

Despite the big loss to end the season, the season was a resounding success, one in which they reached heights never reached by the team before.

And that’s where the problem lies. Many of the players responsible for that success have been lost to graduation and transfers, with five players graduating and nine total players leaving the team.

The five graduating seniors were a huge part of the run the team made last year. In fact, out of the 11 members of the team with double-digit shots last year, five were seniors. That’s a simply devastating loss to a team that scored 1.29 goals per game last year.

These are the types of holes that have to be plugged by incoming freshmen, and the Dragons have gathered a strong enough incoming class to overcome the obstacles they seem to be facing.

The team has eight freshmen poised to fill the gaps left by departing players.
Swedish midfielder Erik Alexandersson seems particularly important to the upcoming season. Standing 6 feet tall, Alexandersson has a history of success including leading his high school team, Katrinelundsgymnasiet, to a regional championship in 2011. Rumor has it that the school also won the “most difficult name to spell” award that same season. He also earned a place on the Swedish national team for his region from 2010-2012, so besides his obvious skill on the field, Alexandersson should be ready to step into a high-pressure situation and succeed.

Head coach Doug Hess added another offensive weapon in Tristan Thompson, who besides occasionally playing power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, hails from Lakewood, California, and is 5 feet 4 inches. Thompson led his academy team in scoring last season and won an offensive player of the year award with his high school team in 2012.

Sander Yu is a midfielder from Wayne, Pennsylvania, who played at The Haverford School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He was a bit of a journeyman in his high school years, playing for three different high schools and succeeding at all three. He garnered All-Inter-Academic League, All-Delaware County, and All-Main Line awards while playing at Haverford and was captain of the D.C. United Academy team.

In addition to these standouts, Hess has added an arsenal of incredibly talented young midfielders from all over the country to give the team some depth in a position where it lacked depth last year.

Joseph Rodriguez stands poised to take a role in the midfield, where he played for his high school, Montclair High School, and for the U.S. Under-15 Boys’ National Team.

Bayley Winkel also seems poised to not only take over a major share of the workload on the field, but could possibly be a candidate for a leadership role in the coming years. At Henry Street High School, he won the male athlete of the year award all four seasons and was team captain for three of those seasons. With that kind of experience leading players, Winkel could make a huge impact on and off the field for a young team.

The last of the offensive additions for Hess is Dakota Peterson, a 5-foot-9-inch freshman from East High School in Denver. He helped lead East to a state championship in his sophomore season and has since played for a variety of teams, including three years with the Colorado Rapids Soccer Academy. He seems to be a very good player for this team to shift between positions, possibly even making him a forward if the need arises.

Few additions, however, were made on the defensive side of the field.

The sole defenseman added by Hess and his staff is Noah Blodget, a 5-foot-9-inch Philadelphia product who played high school soccer at Lower Merion High School, leading them to a district championship and state quarterfinal berth in his time there. He also played and was captain for FC Delco and the Lower Merion club team.

The team added freshman goalkeeper Jacob Jordan, another Philadelphia product who played for the Continental FC Delco Academy team and will be backing up returning sophomore Tyler Afflerbach, who started 18 games last year and was named to the All-CAA Second Team and the CAA All-Rookie Team.

More than anything, this year looks to be one full of growth: growth for young players on the team, growth for a coaching staff facing the loss of five starters and growth of national recognition for a team that has been slept on in the past few years.

Come out and catch the Dragons playing at Vidas Field Sept. 2 against Villanova University, and look out for the young guys to make a big impact.

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This past season, the Drexel men’s lacrosse team went further than it had ever gone before. The Dragons clinched their first NCAA tournament berth with a Colonial Athletic Association Championship and would go even further, winning their first NCAA tournament game ever over the University of Pennsylvania Quakers.

This summer, the team once again pushed the boundaries of how far it could go, but this time the distance was measured in miles, not accomplishments.

During a week spanning late June and early July, the Dragons took on the Japanese national team and other assorted challengers in Tokyo during the Friendship Games, an international clinic embracing international friendship through the sport of lacrosse.

The Dragons departed June 27 for Tokyo, with the meeting with the Japanese national team scheduled for June 29. But Brian Voelker, head coach of the Dragons, made it known that the trip was much more about the experience for the players than it was about actual playing experience.

“We didn’t really go over there to get better as a lacrosse team,” Voelker said upon returning from the trip. “[It was] more an opportunity to give the kids a great experience. We didn’t even practice or workout before the games; we just took them and let them play. It was much more about the cultural experience for us.”

Exemplifying this cultural experience was the fact that Voelker and a few players got to meet with Japan’s Princess Takamado before the game as part of a large-scale opening ceremony at Edogawa Stadium.

While playing lacrosse wasn’t the focus, the team played well in its matchups. The main matchup of the weekend was the game against the Japanese men’s national team, a team that intends to compete at the World Games this year and could be competitive.

In the game, rising sophomore forward Cole Shafer led the Dragons to an 11-7 victory over Japan, scoring four goals and garnering MVP honors in the process.
The Japanese team kept the game close all afternoon, staying within three goals until the tail end of the final quarter. The game was halted midway through the third quarter due to inclement weather, but the cloudy skies did little to deter either offense.

Following the victory, Voelker and Shafer spoke to the media, which Voelker described as informal speeches. In their speeches, both Voelker and Shafer made sure to thank Japan for their efforts in welcoming the team and hosting them.

This was the main event of the weekend, but the team also played in a few scrimmages against local universities in Tokyo.

Against the University of Tokyo, the Dragons prevailed 12-3. They followed that up by defeating Waseda University in a back-and-forth contest that ended with a final score of 6-4. The following game, against Meiji University, the Dragons started to show their fatigue but nonetheless pulled out a victory, 5-1.

In the finals competition of the day, the Dragons downed Hosei University, 5-3, finishing the weekend undefeated. Voelker was impressed by the team’s performance, especially considering they had little preparation before it.

“The scrimmages were solid, everyone played, and they all played up to expectations. We beat their national team, which we were expecting to do, and they all played hard and gave a good show for the crowd there,” Voelker said. “Most importantly, we put some players into new roles that they weren’t used to, and they were impressive.”

The competition was somewhat stiff, but really the weekend exposed a great disparity between the skill of the Japanese side and that of the Dragons. But Voelker wasn’t focused on vaunting his team’s success; instead, the head coach talked about how important events like these are for the well being of lacrosse as a global sport.

“I think that there’s a huge push to make lacrosse an Olympic sport, and we need more countries to be more serious about it in order to accomplish that,” Voelker explained. “Japan has only had a program for around 30 years and they’re improving, but the rest of the world has a long way to go before they can be competitive. Canada and the United States are the only winners of the World Games, and other teams have been working hard to compete. I played on the U.S. team twice, and it’s an incredible honor to play for your country. Making it an Olympic sport would be incredible, and this is a huge step.”

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Kansas Jayhawks center Joel Embiid (21) warms up before the game against the Baylor Bears at the Ferrell Center. The Jayhawks defeated the Bears 69-52. (Jerome Miron – USA Today Sports)

As NBA Commissioner Adam Silver approached the podium to announce the beginning of the 2014 NBA Draft, the fates of a number of franchises were up in the air.

Would the Philadelphia 76ers trade up to the top spot to get Kansas University freshman Andrew Wiggins? Would the Cleveland Cavaliers still take injured center Joel Embiid with the first pick? Would the Milwaukee Bucks give up their first-round pick for a head coach with little coaching experience to lead their young team?

Most importantly, what did Sixers general manager portantly, what did with liHinkie have up his sleeve?

Armed with an arsenal of second round picks along with two first-rounders, the No. 3 and No. 10 picks, Hinkie seemed poised to make a splash on draft night.
Days prior to the draft, reports had emerged amongst credible NBA insiders that the Sixers were going to try to package their picks, specifically picks three, 10, and 32, for the No. 1 pick from the Cavaliers in an attempt to get Wiggins, long pegged as the team lofavorite prospect in the draft.

As it turns out, the rest of the NBA, as well as several government agencies, could learn a little bit from Sam Hinkie and the Sixers’ front office about keeping secrets.

The Sixers stayed put at the No. 3 spot and, as it turns out, they got their guy.
Center Joel Embiid, the consensus first overall pick before a stress fracture in the navicular bone of his foot threatened to torpedo his draft stock, has been heralded by NBA scouts as a possible Hall of Fame-level talent if his health holds up throughout his career.

He’s already got a commanding post-centric offensive game, even breaking out the Dream Shake — a move made famous by Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon — on occasion. He’s athletic, quick and, most importantly, moves fluidly in the paint and when going from end to end.

To put it simply, Embiid will be an absolute force in the league if he can get healthy. He will be the type of player that front offices dream of building their teams around, assuming he can stay healthy for a large stretch of his career.

Embiid’s injury is pretty uncommon, meaning there isn’t much precedent or history for the recovery or possibility of re-injury. Yao Ming dealt with this exact same injury and it contributed to the end of his career when he played for the Houston Rockets.

And who was the vice president of basketball operations for the Rockets during their saga with the Ming injury? Sam Hinkie.

It’s telling that Hinkie watched a player’s career end in part due to the exact same injury as Embiid’s, and he still took the risk on the young man from Cameroon. It seems Hinkie is confident that the Sixers can handle this injury with more care than the Rockets handled the injury to Yao Ming and believes that Embiid’m upside was too great to pass up.

At No. 10, even the great Yahoo! Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, known for his ability to discover the draft picks of teams before anyone else, was stumped by the Sixers’ front office.

According to Jake Pavorsky of Sixers SB Nation blog Liberty Ballers, Wojnarowski was unable to get any idea of who the Sixers would pick, turning around to ask other reporters what they thought would happen with the 10th pick. Rumors said the Sixers would take Dario Saric, a Croatian forward who was projected to be a possible top-seven pick before he signed a three-year deal to play for Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball League, meaning he cannot join an NBA team on the court until the 2016 season at the earliest.

Similar to last year’s blockbuster trade of Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans, Hinkie stunned the basketball world with the No. 10 pick. Adam Silver approached the podium with a smirk on his face and announced that the Sixers had selected Elfrid Payton, a point guard from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Wait, what?

The Sixers have depth at the point guard position; in fact, the position is fairly crowded. Tony Wroten and Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams hold that spot down for the team, and they certainly didn’t need a point guard this early in the draft. As it turns out, Hinkie had no desire to keep Payton, and was in the process of constructing one of the best trades the Sixers could ask for.
Two picks later, the Orlando Magic picked Dario Saric as part of a trade that was huge for the Sixers. They got the player they wanted at 10, Saric, from the Magic in exchange for Elfrid Payton, but also managed to garner three assets: a 2015 second-round pick, and the 2017 first-round pick they had traded to the Magic in the infamous Andrew Bynum trade.

In short, the Sixers undid the only remnant from the Bynum trade, gathered another second-round pick and still got their guy in exchange for moving back two spots in the draft. That’s about as good of a trade as you’ll find in the NBA, giving up virtually nothing and getting back tons of value. Maybe Hinkie is a wizard.

On top of that, Saric will not only be a great piece when he comes to the Sixers in a few years, but he’s also endlessly entertaining. He began his press conference with “Hello, I’m Dario Saric, and before everything, my English is not so very bad.”

It’s love.

Comparatively, the rest of the draft was fairly uneventful.

With the No. 32 pick, the Sixers picked up K.J. McDaniels, out of Clemson University. McDaniels can come into the team and fill a need at small forward and shows potential both on the defensive end and at the three-point line. Although he only shot around 30 percent on 3-pointers on the year, he shoots 84 percent from the free-throw line, which shows that he has potential as a shooter given some time to develop in that area.

With their next pick they picked up Syracuse University forward Jerami Grant, who could be a suitable replacement for Thaddeus Young when he leaves the team via a trade or free agency after next season. They then traded the No. 47 pick to the Pelicans for Pierre Jackson, an offensively focused point guard who led the NBA Developmental League in points last year. The Sixers then used the No. 52 pick to get Vasilije Micic, a sizable point guard from Serbia, who is a quality guard.

The Sixers traded the No. 54 pick to the Spurs for picks 58 and 60 before trading the No. 60 pick to the Brooklyn Nets for cash considerations and using No. 58 to pick up Jordan McRae, a shooting guard out of The University of Tennessee. He shot 42 percent last year and he seems to be the shooting-focused pick the Sixers need, as they simply have no one else who can shoot.

The major takeaway from the draft: Sam Hinkie and the Sixers ownership refuse to give up on their plan. They picked the best player available in both of their top draft spots, although in both cases the player won’t sport a Sixers jersey next season. The team filled some needs, but for the most part, the front office was all about best player available. Picking up assets for the future and poising this team to be dominant in three to five years.

Given a little bit of luck, this team will be competitive as early as the 2016 season and will be back to winning games, but next season will likely be another loss-filled one. The rebuild is in full swing, and it’s more fun than any fan could have imagined.

The post Hinkie, Sixers play waiting game in drafting Embiid appeared first on The Triangle.

On Sunday, June 22, the United States, for the first time in recent memory, looked truly dominant in a World Cup match. They controlled the ball, defended well, and seemed poised to defeat Portugal en route to clinching their second consecutive berth into the elimination stage of the World Cup.

With under a minute remaining and a one-goal advantage, US midfielder Michael Bradley possessed the ball with the opportunity to kick it down the field and virtually seal the victory.
Bradley didn’t do that.

He attempted to dribble through a double team, turning the ball over in the process. With that turnover, Portugal charged down field and gave the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, who besides possessing the body of a Greek god also happens to be talented at soccer. With a beautiful cross and an American defensive lapse, Silvestre Varela headed the ball towards goal, past US goalie Tim Howard for the last-second equalizer.

With that goal, the US matchup with Germany became far more interesting. Rather than being an assumed advancement for the team, there were high stakes heading into the matchup against the No. 2-ranked team in the world, according to the FIFA World Rankings.

With a win or draw, the US would advance. With a loss and an assortment of possible results from the Ghana/Portugal game taking place at the same time as the US one, the US would advance. Overall, the US came into the day with a 76-percent chance of advancing.

They capitalized on that chance and held on for a 1-0 loss to Germany Thursday afternoon, which was enough to propel the red, white, and blue to the knockout round with a Portugal victory over Ghana.

But they came out against Germany looking as though they had already clinched the group. They were sluggish and seemed unable to stop the German attack.

As the game progressed, the US seemed to settle in and finally started to regain the form they had in the Portugal match, managing to hold off the German side for the entire first half.

United States supporters were glued to their television screens, switching back and forth between the Ghana/Portugal game and the US one, eagerly awaiting the results of the other match.

Around the thirtieth minute of the United States game, the announcers noted a rise in cheering among the American side of the crowd in Arena Pernambuco. Portugal had just scored, putting them up 1-0, which was favorable for the American side, as they had a larger goal differential over Portugal than Ghana. At halftime, things looked great for the Americans, and if results held, they would advance to play in the elimination stage.

Soon into the second half, the US hopes became a little bit bleaker. Following a phenomenal save by Tim Howard, the ball bounced out towards the top of the box. Thomas Muller, the leading goal scorer for the Germans this World Cup, blasted a shot past Howard and into the netting of the US goal.

With a 1-0 deficit, the American side was fighting for survival as Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan scored to equalize the match with Portugal in the fifty seventh minute of that game.

For the remainder of the US game, the fans and players alike were on pins and needles, just counting down the minutes until the results were finalized. An excruciating half an hour followed until finally, mercifully, the results were finalized. A late Cristiano Ronaldo goal off a goaltending error by Ghana gave Portugal a 2-1 victory, while the US held off Germany for the remainder of the game to lose by only one goal.

The result gave the Americans their second straight berth into the knockout stage, although the result of the game was less than favorable.

While they lost the game, they played a very good match against incredible opposition on the biggest stage possible and kept their composure. This year has been a “coming of age” of sorts for the team, as they seem to have finally cemented themselves as a real player on the international stage.

With Thursday’s results, the Americans have emerged from the “group of death”, an outcome that seemed unlikely when the groups were announced months ago. They managed to topple perpetual US-killer Ghana, draw a Ronaldo-led Portugal side, and contend with a dominant German team.

They finished the group stages with 4 points and are going to face Belgium [OR WINNER OF GROUP H, WAIT UNTIL BELGIUM ENDS] in the round of 16.

In the 2010 World Cup, the US also advanced to the knockout stage, only to fall to Ghana due to a crushing extra time goal by Asamoah Gyan. This year, the US hope to end the run of the [Belgian side, led by Marouane Fellaini,] and advance to the quarterfinals as they last did in 2002.

With the higher ranked team winning every game from now on, the United States path to the final is through Belgium, Argentina, and Netherlands. That is a horribly difficult road, but the United States seem confident and ready to take on whatever challenges await them.
United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann summed up the team’s feelings about their performance and their excitement for the things to come.

“Everyone said we had no chance, but we took the chance and we move on and now we really want to prove a point,” Klinsmann told reporters. “It’s a huge, huge step and now we can’t wait for the round of 16.”

The post No harm, no foul: USA advances appeared first on The Triangle.

In the 2007 NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Ohio State University center Greg Oden at No. 1 overall.

Oden spent months leading up to draft night competing with Texas University’s Kevin Durant for a place on the Portland squad that touted a talented young roster with Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge as headliners to a show that seemed destined to take the league by storm.

Oden won that competition. On draft night, he was picked first overall by the Blazers and it appeared that he had a long and impressive career ahead of him.

Kansas University’s Joel Embiid gets a monster block on New Mexico University’s Kendall Williams in the first halfof an 80-63 victory over NMU. Plays like these drove scouts wild about his unique mixture of athleticism and size, and most mock drafts have Embiid going number one overall to the Cleveland Caveliers. (Rich Sugg – MCT Campus)

Bad luck, however, had other plans for the big man’s career.

Before his first season in the NBA, Oden decided to have season-ending micro-fracture surgery on his knee, ending his rookie campaign before it could even begin.

The following year, Oden showed flashes of brilliance and it seemed that despite the lost year, he would finally step into his place as the league’s next dominant center.

Again, fate would have its say. A collision with Corey Maggette caused Oden to miss more than a month, and his play after his return was uninspiring to say the least, as he missed making any of the all-rookie teams.

In the 2009-2010 season, Oden once again raised his supporters’hopes as he played at an elite level, dazzling fans with his potential. But injury once again entered the foray. In just the 21st game of the season, Oden leapt to block an Aaron Brooks floater and landed awkwardly, fracturing his left patella.

Since then, Oden has become the poster child for injury-plagued careers ruining the potential of greatness. More than that, Oden has impacted every draft since his 2009 injury.

Because of Oden’s unfortunate career, general managers are now more cautious with injured prospects than ever before. We saw it just last year, as potential first overall pick Nerlens Noel fell five spots to No. 6 because of an anterior cruciate ligament tear during his only college season.

And that’s what’s facing Kansas University’s Joel Embiid this year.

While other prospects are inundated with questions about their play, their character (hello, Marcus Smart) or the size of their hands, Embiid has only one real question facing him: Can he stay healthy?

And that’s what every GM, commentator, scout, fan and even mascot is asking of the young man.

Does he deserve this scrutiny as a result of his injury? Almost certainly not. Embiid has rehabbed for months and has put on multiple extensive workouts for scouts, including one that inspired Yahoo Sports’Adrian Wojnarowski to tweet that it is “impossible to imagine passing on [Embiid] at No. 1.”

Embiid has everything scouts look for in an NBA prospect. He’s huge, standing seven feet tall without shoes and sporting a seven-foot, five-inch wingspan. He moves with more fluidity than any seven-footer ever should, and he’s virtually unstoppable when he has the ball. Among seven-footers, his ability to move throughout the lane and handle the ball is incredibly rare. With Kansas, his ability to move and score as well as his size drew comparisons to San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan.

He averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in his time with Kansas while playing just over 23 minutes per game.

Embiid has an incredible ability to score while facing up on defenders, shooting from the post, and he has an above average hook shot to finish over defenders.

On defense, Embiid has the size and ability to develop into a game-changing defensive player, plugging up the painted area and blocking shots, which he did very well at Kansas, averaging 2.6 blocks per game.

More than anything else, Embiid is interesting because he’s only been playing basketball since 2011. To NBA GMs that means one thing, a word more important than any other when preparing for a draft: potential.

Embiid dominated college competition in only his third year of playing basketball, which is truly unbelievable considering how naturally the game comes to him.

The only flaw in his draft stock is history. Embiid has a history of injury, as did Oden. He dominated in college and has the skills to be the best center in the league, as did Oden.

The difference? Before Oden, there wasn’t a recent precedent of an injured center missing out on his potential because of injury. So really, what’s hurting Embiid is Oden. The wounds created by Oden’s missed potential are still open and they’re hurting more than just the Blazers and Oden, they’re hurting every prospect with injury history, none more so than Embiid.

With all that in mind, Embiid should be the first pick. He simply has too much potential to be missed, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have too much need for a franchise center to play off of Kyrie Irving. If he falls to the Philadelphia 76ers at the third pick, the entire city of Philadelphia should throw a parade in celebration, because at the third pick Embiid could be the biggest steal in recent memory.

Embiid aside, the “Big Four”of draft prospects is rounded out by Australian shooting guard Dante Exum.

Exum is basically the same player as the Sixers’Michael Carter-Williams. He is a lanky, athletic player with high potential and an elite ability to get out on the fast break, and a jump shot that needs improvement. That being said, he has higher potential than Carter-Williams as he is younger at just 18 years old, while Carter-Williams is 22, and Exum is notably more athletic.

Out of the top four prospects, Exum is the least known. He’s played overseas for his entire career, so while the average fan wouldn’t have seen him play, GMs have been paying attention to Exum for years. He has a high ceiling, but is generally viewed as less impressive than Embiid, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins, and he’e projected to be taken by the Orlando Magic at No. 4.

The only way the Sixers will pick up Exum looks to be a trade involving Michael Carter-Williams. If Carter-Williams is traded for assets, there will be room for Exum on the team, but it’s highly unlikely the Sixers will leave the top three picks.

Twenty days. Mark your calendars. If it’s already marked, mark it again. We have entered Draft Month.

The post Joel Embiid headlines 2014 draft class appeared first on The Triangle.

Ray Allen rises up and hits a corner three to tie game six of the 2013 NBA Finals. The shot led the Heat to a victory over the Spurs and their second straight championship.

With 5.2 seconds left on the clock in the sixth game of the 2013 NBA Finals, living rooms throughout America hung on Mike Breen’s iconic call: “BANG.” The ESPN commentator is famous for his three-point call, one word indicating a successful shot.

Down by three, in an elimination game on the biggest stage in basketball, backpedaling toward the three-point line with only time for a cursory glance to make sure he was positioned correctly, the Miami Heat’s Ray Allen received a tip pass from Chris Bosh.

Like he had millions of times before, Allen left the ground to take his shot. Three-pointers are “his shot” more so than any other player in history. The world held its collective breath.

With San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker breathing down his neck, Allen rose up and Miami fans went silent, watching the trajectory of the ball, praying that the basketball gods would be merciful to them one last time.

Allen’s shot splashed without so much as grazing the rim. As if there were ever any doubt.

In one of the greatest games in NBA history, the Heat toppled the Spurs in overtime and followed that victory with a Game 7 masterpiece to put the Spurs away and win their second straight title.

That shot helps set up the stakes for this year’s edition of the NBA Finals. Past the fact that one team will emerge as a championship team, viewed in the eyes of history as the best team on Earth for at least a single year, there’s a sense of history here.

Last year, the Heat effectively stole a championship from the Spurs, and they’ll never forget that.

Last year, LeBron James and the Heat cemented their place in history as a truly elite team, and LeBron muscled his way into discussions about the greatest basketball player of all time.

This year, the Spurs are better. Kawhi Leonard is more experienced. Manu Ginobili is no longer injured and isn’t leaking turnovers on offense. Tim Duncan, a slight offensive regression aside, looks as good as ever.

The opposite can be said for the Heat.

The team is older. The supporting cast is weaker than ever before— Shane Battier, usually a rock for the team, looks more like he should be commentating on the sidelines rather than playing on the floor. Mike Miller hit numerous big shots for the team during last year’s Finals, including one while missing his left shoe, but he now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

That being said, the Heat have LeBron. It should be a law that you cannot bet against LeBron James in any sports competition, particularly not in basketball. Every year, LeBron gets better. He’s unstoppable offensively and is a complete wall on defense. No player on Earth can contain him.

In the 2013 Finals, the Spurs employed a tactic that managed to “contain”LeBron for five games of the series. They decided that rather than pressuring him when he got the ball, they would play off him, giving him open jump shots. LeBron has always been more comfortable penetrating the lane and creating from there than taking face-up jumpers, so he was reluctant to take advantage of the openings this defensive strategy allotted him.

Game 6 changed everything.

He was hitting his shots, which also allowed him to drive through the lane and create for teammates, and he became unstoppable in Game 7, finishing with 37 points and 12 rebounds.

This year LeBron has taken his jump shot to new levels, often opting to pull up from 16 feet, even when a defender lies within arm’s reach. His combination of height and deadly accuracy make defending him virtually impossible.

So now Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and his elderly outfit are forced back to the drawing board to try to contain LeBron. They’ll figure something out, but it’s unlikely that one of the greatest players of all time, in his prime, can be contained for more than a single game of a seven-game series.

What’s at stake in the series?

A win for the Spurs would be the fifth championship of the Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich tandem, their first coming 15 years ago, which is an incredible feat in the modern sports era filled with nearly constant cast turnover.

If Miami pulls it off, it would be the third championship of LeBron James and the Heat in as many years, and with that a place in the all-time upper echelon of NBA teams. In LeBron’s case, a win would position him right next to Michael Jordan with a legitimate case for being called the greatest basketball player of all time.

It should be noted this article was written prior to Game 1, so you will have to trust that these are genuine predictions.

I think the Spurs will win the first game. They’re at home and they simply have too much emotion driving them following last year’s series. Unless LeBron puts on a show — as he is wont to do in important playoff games— I think the Spurs win 97-89.

The series, however, is a different story. As I said above, it should be punishable by law to bet against LeBron James, and I refuse to do so. I think the Heat win in seven games, with LeBron capturing his third championship and third NBA Finals MVP Award.

The post Spurs and Heat face-off in rematch of 2013 NBA Finals appeared first on The Triangle.