What do they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression?
Twenty-four games into his first season as head coach, Duane Simpkins has American (13-11, 7-4 Patriot League) in position to post just its second winning conference record since 2014. And it’s been an interesting transition for Simpkins, who was previously an assistant with UNC Greensboro (three years) and George Mason (eight seasons).
“I wish there were more hours in a day,” Simpkins said. “I knew of the responsibilities, but you don’t know it until you’re in it. Very similar to being a parent: you can read books about it or see people do it, but until you do it yourself you just don’t know. Just managing the staff, the players, academically, the recruiting.”
Simpkins was a three-year starting guard at Maryland before eventually finding his way to the college sidelines a decade ago. That means he not only has Hall of Famer Gary Williams as a mentor, but he’s also been able to lean on former bosses at George Mason Dave Paulsen and Kim English as he sets out with his first top job.
What’s the best advice he’s been given?
“Just be myself. Regardless of the situations, successes, highs, lows, it doesn’t matter. Just be true to who you are,” Simpkins said. “Just making I just stay true to who I am and doing it the way I want to do it.”
These Eagles lead the Patriot League in shooting and rank second in scoring, and senior forward Matt Rogers is a big part of that.
“I wanted him to shoot three to four three’s a game,” Simpkins said. “That’s different than what he’s been used to, but it’s worked out for him and he hasn’t shot or made this many threes at this point in the season at any point in time during his four-year career.”
Rogers is in the top five of the Patriot League in scoring and rebounding.
Another reason for the strong start lies on the perimeter in junior Elijah Stephens, who has been the offensive (second in the Patriot League in assists) and defensive catalyst (sixth most steals in the conference), while running the show in a way his new coach envisioned when taking over.
“I think he had the ability to cause havoc with the defense, especially in the open court with his quickness,” Simpkins said.” He was turning the ball over almost 24% of the time when he did have the ball, which is way too high for a point guard. If his responsibilities were going to go up with us, my question was going to be if he was going to be able to keep those turnovers down — and he has.”
Stephens was sidelined with an ankle injury Wednesday against Loyola, and his presence was missed on a night when AU shot 35% and 2-25 from three-point range.
“What Elijah provides from an offensive standpoint is he gets a step on his man and he’s headed towards the paint. It makes the defense collapse and break down and now we kick out for threes,” Simpkins said after the loss. “He helps set the table for us. We missed that.”
After Wednesday’s loss, the Eagles are in a tie with Bucknell for third place (they own the tiebreaker thanks to a sweep of the Bison) and will play four of their next six games on the road. But at least in this stretch they won’t face first place Colgate and second place Lafayette back-to-back.
Starting Five
Up Top: UConn stays No. 1 on my ballot and in this week’s rankings, followed by Purdue. I have No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Kansas in opposite places on my ballot. There will likely be changes on the horizon as the Tar Heels and Jayhawks both lost earlier this week.
Largest variances: I have No. 24 San Diego State 18th and unranked Virginia No. 17. Difficult omissions: Alabama, Creighton, BYU and New Mexico. Small school shout-outs: Indiana State, Appalachian State and Saint Mary’s.
Going Inside: Maryland (13-10, 5-7 Big Ten) has dropped two straight and four of six after Tuesday’s 56-53 stumble at home to Rutgers. Unfortunately, the conference’s best defensive team was once again betrayed by an offense that started slow (3-13 shooting and 0-6 from three-point range over the first 12 minutes of the night) and struggled late (4-17 shooting and 0-5 from three over the final 12 minutes of regulation).
“We really struggled coming out starting the game, we didn’t have a lot of energy with our starting group that’s been really, really good for us,” Coach Kevin Willard said. “They were good defensively but offensively we were just … we don’t have the same sense of urgency on offense that we did on defense.”
The good news was Julian Reese bounced back from an 0-2 shooting/four foul effort at Michigan State with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The bad news was Jahmir Young, three days removed from scoring 31 points against the Spartans, was held to 3-17 shooting by the Scarlet Knights. And on a night when Reese and Young aren’t both on, it’s tough generating production from the other guys on the floor.
“It’s frustrating,” Willard said. “It’s frustrating, because you know we’ve got the sixth best (ranked by KenPom) defense in the country, but after tonight, who knows where we’re ranked offensively. It’s frustrating to be honest.”
Saturday, the offense might get the chicken soup it needs, facing an Ohio State squad that ranks 12th in the Big Ten in steals and at defending the three.
Perimeter Play: VCU (15-8, 7-3 Atlantic 10) bounced back from blowing a 20-point lead to St. Bonaventure by handing Richmond its first A-10 loss of the season Saturday, and then didn’t look past sub-.500 Fordham in Tuesday’s 75-60 victory.
Rams forward Max Shulga followed up his 15 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Spiders by posting a 13-10-7 line against the Rams (yes, three of the four Division I Rams are in the A-10).
Seven wins in eight games puts these Rams in contention for a double-bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals, and they’ll be in the spotlight over the final month of the regular season as Coach Ryan Odom’s team will play in three of the last five Friday night spotlight games. That stretch begins with a bang as VCU hosts No. 18 Dayton on Friday.
Who’s Open: Our Commonwealth couple of Virginia (18-5, 9-3 ACC) and Virginia Tech (13-9, 5-6) hit the road Saturday for a doubleheader on the CW Network (One Tree Hill jokes aside) starting at 5:30 p.m. The Hokies are fighting to stay out of the bottom six in the conference (10th through 15th play in the dreaded first round of the ACC Tournament) and trying to stop a two-game losing streak while visiting a Notre Dame that might be 2-10 in league play but a Fighting Irish team that beat Virginia by 22 in South Bend.
The second-place Cavaliers have their eye on the vaunted double bye next month in D.C. and visit fellow striver Florida State, whose 7-4 ACC mark includes a pair of losses to conference-leading North Carolina but also one to last place Louisville.
Last Shot: Saturday at noon, Georgetown (8-14, 1-10 Big East) hosts No. 1 and defending NCAA champ UConn. Before you write off the Hoyas, remember they did lead the Huskies in the second half of their game in D.C. last year. But before you write them on, recall they rank last in the conference in shooting and are 10th in scoring, points allowed and field goal defense (they’re ninth in rebounding margin).
The Huskies are firing on all cylinders, leading the Big East in scoring defense as well as shooting, three-point efficiency and rebounding margin. In their Jan. 14 meeting, the Hoyas scored the first basket of the day before trailing the rest of the way. Jayden Epps had 16 points that afternoon, but the former Big East leading scorer has been dealing with illness as of late. It will get late rather early Saturday if Epps and Supreme Cook (18 points and 13 rebounds in the January game with the Huskies, but just two points in 20 minutes last weekend against No. 9 Marquette) don’t find their respective grooves.
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