New Year Has Nice Start For Robinson, Brown
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Craig Robinson has started 2008 with a bang. The year is just four days old, and in the three days following the beginning, he’s seen his team win two games and his brother-in-law win in the Iowa caucuses on the day in between. If things are only supposed to get better, how good will this year be for him?
While the presidential election and the college basketball season are marathons and not sprints, one thing does look clear: the 2008 calendar year could be very good for Robinson’s team. With Friday’s 68-55 win, Brown is now 8-5 and is assured of a winning non-conference record. They have a chance to tie the school record for non-conference wins in their final game, although it will be difficult since it’s at Baylor.
What’s more, the Bears have reached their highest ever RPI rating at 94. That should get one more boost, even a slight one if they lose at Baylor, before it starts going down once Ivy League play begins. But just getting to that point and their 8-5 mark is news for a team that had struggled ever since a year after they reached the NIT.
Robinson noted that he has heard about each win moving the team closer to the record for non-conference wins, and putting this team in the company of fewer and fewer Brown teams with their success.
“You don’t want to keep breaking records of futility, but that’s something to be proud of with these guys,” said the second-year head coach. “I’m happy for them, because they’ve put in the work.”
Earlier in their careers at Brown, upperclassmen like seniors Damon Huffman (29 points in Friday’s win), Mark McAndrew and Mark MacDonald were part of teams that struggled. As freshmen, the Bears went 12-16 (Huffman was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year), and they fell to 10-17 two years ago before going 11-18 last year. There’s every reason to think that the Bears will easily top the 12-win mark this season, meaning they can close their careers out on a good note.
Each time out, the Bears look like an Ivy League contender. The offense looks better all the time and is the big reason for this team’s success, but Robinson has pointed out where the Bears are matching the opponent in a physical sense as well. The offense has run crisply without a true point guard, as both McAndrew and Huffman are shooting guards. Instead, junior Chris Skrelja, who had eight assists on Friday, has been the closest thing to one, and the key to this offense has been the big man getting touches and other players moving.
“This is a great offense, but no one ever gets eight assists,” Robinson said of Skrelja’s effort against American, which included 11 rebounds. “He has just really embraced this whole idea of running the team.”
Nothing has changed in the Ivy League in recent weeks in terms of what we can project from the teams. The Bears and Cornell are the only teams in the league with winning records, with Columbia and Yale still having a chance to reach at least .500 before Ivy League play begins. Traditional powers Penn and Princeton don’t look like champions this year as both appear to be rebuilding. Penn can’t be written off entirely because the Quakers have talent, but they’re young and missing Darren Smith, who got hurt in the season opener against Drexel.
It all means that the Bears are as good a candidate to emerge from the league as anyone. They haven’t put up wins against a soft non-conference schedule and they’re getting better each time out. If they reach the NCAA Tournament, it would certainly be a nice accomplishment just two years into Robinson’s tenure. It would also be quite fitting given the way 2008 has started for the Bears’ leader.
