2008 Woodie Awards
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Sports
Sideline Scholars...Life after Ingram: The future of AU men's basketball
By Michael Hoffman on 3/1/07
Although it hasn't been pretty for most of the year, right now you have to give our men's basketball team all the credit in the world.
Sure they have beaten four of the lower seeds in the league, but anytime a team can win four in a row, especially to end the year, the feat is impressive, and it appears the Eagles are getting hot exactly when they needed to. Barring a shocking event, they should be able to handle Colgate tonight, as I don't think Andre Ingram (a.k.a. A.I.) would ever let his career end with a loss at home.
With that said, the play of Andre Ingram has actually made me even more upset at AU.
Why? Is Ingram taking too many jump shots instead of driving in the lane? Does he lack confidence at the end of games? The answer to both those two questions is a resounding 'no.' Rather, my anger at AU stems from the fact that we have recruited so few "Andre Ingram"-like players, when this area is already ripe with talent.
For those who don't know, Ingram was one of the players of the year in Virginia when he came to AU, and if you look at the record of the guys in the NBA, such as Delonte West, Steve Francis (OK, he used to be good), Juan Dixon and Carmelo Anthony (Baltimore), it is obvious that the D.C. area is ripe with talent.
Now I'm not crazy enough to say we'd get these guys, but this area has so much talent that there will always be guys like Ingram who slip under the radar.
Next year, it's time for AU to use its "home field advantage" to find the next Andre Ingram.
American is uniquely positioned as the only Patriot league team to be situated inside a major metropolitan area, and with all that this team has done to go overseas to find forwards who at times are more comfortable shooting three's than playing down low, you can't seriously tell me that this team would be any less good by taking a larger look at the pool of talent from area public and private schools.
In this case, some of the best talent comes from places that are just under your nose and the play of Ingram is proof of this.
Sure they have beaten four of the lower seeds in the league, but anytime a team can win four in a row, especially to end the year, the feat is impressive, and it appears the Eagles are getting hot exactly when they needed to. Barring a shocking event, they should be able to handle Colgate tonight, as I don't think Andre Ingram (a.k.a. A.I.) would ever let his career end with a loss at home.
With that said, the play of Andre Ingram has actually made me even more upset at AU.
Why? Is Ingram taking too many jump shots instead of driving in the lane? Does he lack confidence at the end of games? The answer to both those two questions is a resounding 'no.' Rather, my anger at AU stems from the fact that we have recruited so few "Andre Ingram"-like players, when this area is already ripe with talent.
For those who don't know, Ingram was one of the players of the year in Virginia when he came to AU, and if you look at the record of the guys in the NBA, such as Delonte West, Steve Francis (OK, he used to be good), Juan Dixon and Carmelo Anthony (Baltimore), it is obvious that the D.C. area is ripe with talent.
Now I'm not crazy enough to say we'd get these guys, but this area has so much talent that there will always be guys like Ingram who slip under the radar.
Next year, it's time for AU to use its "home field advantage" to find the next Andre Ingram.
American is uniquely positioned as the only Patriot league team to be situated inside a major metropolitan area, and with all that this team has done to go overseas to find forwards who at times are more comfortable shooting three's than playing down low, you can't seriously tell me that this team would be any less good by taking a larger look at the pool of talent from area public and private schools.
In this case, some of the best talent comes from places that are just under your nose and the play of Ingram is proof of this.
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