PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The 2011-12 season hasn’t exactly gone the way Brown drew it up thus far. The Bears come up on their last game before a break for final exams with a 4-7 mark, but more than that, not playing well. They were annihilated at cross-town rival Providence on Monday, then lost to New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Brown has been hit hard in the personnel department since school began. Rafael Maia, who figured to change the frontcourt lineup by giving the Bears a better big man, was declared ineligible for the season by the NCAA. Joe Sharkey, who figured to give them some backcourt depth, injured his hip and will redshirt, with surgery coming near the end of this month. Tucker Halpern, who was ready to blossom further now that he would be able to play his natural small forward position more, caught a bad case of mono and is going to redshirt as well, as he’s not improving much. And Dockery Walker, another who figured to contribute up front, is on the shelf.
“We’ve had ten guys who have missed a week or more since we started practice,” head coach Jesse Agel noted.
Maia’s loss was at first the biggest hit. With him, Brown would have been able to play Andrew McCarthy and Walker at the power forward spot and Halpern at the small forward spot. Basically, everyone could play their natural position, unlike last season. But now the Bears are back to having to go small.
Halpern’s loss really hurts the offense. He was set to break out this season as he would be able to play the small forward spot consistently, save for times where Agel might want to go small and play him at power forward. Not only does his absence rob them of a proven scorer, but he can handle and pass, which would have helped everyone else.
It was early October when Halpern was diagnosed with mono. It has hit him like a blitzing linebacker, as he has been with the team at times but has struggled to do a lot of simple everyday things due to a lack of energy. He’s lost a good deal of weight and is nowhere near ready to even practice, and not surprisingly he’s not in the best of spirits right now as he was looking forward to this season.
Brown isn’t lacking talent, but what’s left isn’t good enough without the players they’re missing. Sean McGonagill was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season and is a good building block, but winning games with him as your best player is difficult. The same is true of Toledo transfer Stephen Albrecht. Junior Matt Sullivan is the veteran of the backcourt, but appears to have a reduced role and has not been shooting well.
More importantly, the Bears haven’t shown much offensively. They don’t have much in the way of post options save for McCarthy, who has played well of late but has never been the kind of player you run plays specifically for. While their guards aren’t entirely lacking in ability to drive, they have difficulty creating their own shot. Providence successfully kept them from getting much inside for a lot of the first half on Monday night. The Bears at times are reduced to a jump shooting team, and that’s a recipe for being feast or famine.
The Bears aren’t throwing in the towel for this season at all, but there’s no question next year looks brighter for this team. They have just one senior on the roster, and Maia will be eligible, so they will have many of the players they expected this season together. What won’t help is that they will not have a year of playing together that this season figured to provide. Still, with everyone back, the Bears would look like a more formidable team. Right now, this season hasn’t gone the way they planned by a long shot, and they’re still trying to get to a good place with the players they currently have.
