Nov. 9, 2009
| Navy Basketball History |
First Year of Basketball:1908
All-Time Record:1,272-877 (.592)
Patriot League Tournament Titles (Last): 3 (1998)
NCAA Tournament Appearances (Last): 11 (1998)
Patriot League Regular-Season Titles (Last): 5 (2000) |
| Head Coach Billy Lange |
Head Coach: Billy Lange
Alma Mater: Rowan, 1994
Record at Navy: 69-77 / 6th year
Career Record:108-96 / 8th year |
| Assistant Coaches |
| Joe Burke, Eugene Burroughs, Jason Crafton, Ron Ginyard, Aaron Goodman |
| Team Information |
2008-09 Record / Conference: 19-11 / 8-6 (3rd)
Starters Returning / Lost: 3 / 2
Letterwinners Returning / Lost: 5 / 4
Newcomers: 3
|
| What's Returning by Percentage |
Scoring: 50.1 (1067 / 2129)
Rebounding: 55.8 (622 / 1114)
Field Goals Made: 48.3 (346 / 717)
Three-Pointers Made: 46.3 (100 / 216)
Free Throws Made: 56.4 (270 / 479)
Assists: 54.0 (204 / 378)
Steals: 51.3 (102 / 199)
Blocked Shots: 74.7 (56 / 75)
Minutes: 57.3 (3525 / 6150) |
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Navy Preseason Prognostications
• The 2009-10 Navy men's basketball team has been all over the place in terms of preseason prognostications by the league coaches and SIDs, as well as the various preseason magazines available on newsstands.
• The Mids rank anywhere from third to seventh in the polls.
• Here are some of the following snippets:
• Rivals.com -- The run-and-gun Midshipmen should be the best of the three service academies this season. When it comes to entertainment value, there's no contest in the Patriot League. Navy and its fast-paced offense is a treat to watch.
• Athlon's -- Luckily for the Mids, Chris Harris returns to lead an offense that averaged a league-best 71.0 points per game last season. Center Mark Veazey showed marked improvement on the offensive end, shooting 54 percent from the field.
• Lindy's -- The Midshipmen wear opponents down with defense, but so much rests on Romeo Garcia's overcoming hamstring injuries that limited him to just nine games last year. His defense prowess and versatility makes teammates better. Chris Harris is the league's top returning scorer, but coach Billy Lange, whose teams have been guard oriented, looks for production from his froncourt in 6-11 junior center Mark Veazey.
• In addition, Chris Harris was named a preseason first-team selection byboth Lindy's and Athlon.
Home Sweet Home
• The Mids went 11-4 against non-conference foes and 7-0 against non-conference foes at home, its first undefeated record against non-conference foes in Alumni Hall history. The 11-4 record included wins over NCAA Tournament participant Radford, and conference tournament finalists, Mount St. Mary's and Texas-San Antonio.
• Navy enters this year as having won nine straight home games against non-conference foes.
• Navy recorded a 12-3 mark at home last year, the most home wins since 1999-00 (16-2) and fourth most in Alumni Hall history.
• In addition, Navy led the Patriot League in attendance (league games only) by averaging 2,949 fans per game. The Mids have sold out Alumni Hall (5,710) in back-to-back seasons against Army.
• Navy owns a 158-90 (.637) record all-time in Alumni Hall, winning its 150th game in the facility against Radford.
Chucking Up The Treys
• In Billy Lange's five previous years as the head coach of the Navy basketball program, Navy has rewritten the three-point record books.
• Since the start of the 2004-05 season, Navy is 1,130-of-3,301 (.342) from beyond the arc. During the five years, Navy has averaged a whopping 226 three-pointers per year.
• In the last three years, Navy has recorded the top three single-season three-pointers made and attempted totals, including school records of 288 made and 820 attempted in 2007-08.
• In addition, on the single-game charts, Navy has made 13 or more three-pointers in a game 16 times under Lange. Prior to his arrival, Navy made 13 or more three-pointers in a contest just five times. In games under Lange that Navy has made 13 or more three-pointers, Navy is just 9-7.
• Lastly, on the individual lists, Lange-coached players have made seven or more three-pointers six of the 12 times in school history. On the single-season list, six of the top eight performances have come under Lange.
Success at the Stripe
• In addition to being long-distance snipers, Navy has also seen a large improvement at the free throw stripe under Lange.
• Navy has recorded four of the top eight single-season free throw percentage totals in school history under Lange. Over the last four years, Navy is 1,762-of-2,398 (.735) from the charity stripe.
• Four of the top eight individual single-season free throw percentage totals have come during Lange's tenure.
Navy Seniors Look to Carry Torch • Navy seniors
Chris Harris,
T.J. Topercer and
Scott Brooks have been instrumental in Navy's resurgence over the last three years and look to continue the upward trend in 2009-10.
• Over the last three years, the Mids are 49-41, including a 19-11 record last year, equaling the program's highest win total since the 1999-00 team posted a 23-6 record.
• In addition, over the last two years, Navy's senior class has led the Mids to the second-best Patriot League and overall record during that time frame, behind two-time defending league champ American.
Navy To Play Challenging Schedule
• Navy will play yet another competitive schedule in 2009-10, facing off against four teams that appeared in postseason play a year ago.
• The Mids will jump right into the fire for their season opener, traveling to Radford to face a squad that won the Big South Conference title a year ago and is the favorite to do so again. The Highlanders were 21-12 a year ago.
• Two days later, the Mids will face the nation's best independent in Longwood. The Lancers were 17-14 last year and fell to the Mids, 81-80.
• Navy's home opener comes against the defending regular-season MAC Champion in Buffalo. The Bulls were 21-12 last year and return four starters.
• Long Island U., Navy's fourth opponent, went 16-14 last year and figures to have its best team in years as 12 letterwinners return in the Big Apple.
• Towson reached the CAA Tournament semifinals last year.
• Mount St. Mary's lost in the NEC Tournament finals last year and went 19-14 in 2008-09. The Mount figures to be right in the hunt again this year.
• Quinnipiac is one of four teams in the NEC that figures to win the crown. Some magazines and websites have picked the Bobcats first.
• Penn struggled last year, but welcomes back four starters from last year's team. Penn will be among the Ivy League favorites.
• Navy will take on George Washington in the BB&T Classic, a pre-cursor to a Maryland-Villanova showdown at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
• Md.-Eastern Shore should be better, bolstered by a pair of experienced big men and a slew of newcomers.
• Wofford was 16-14 last year and has all five starters returning. With Stephon Curry gone from Davidson, Wofford may be the frontrunner in the Southern Conference.
• Seton Hall is rising in the Big East, returning four starters, including Jeremy Hazell (22.7 ppg). • Coppin State has long been among the elite in the MEAC.
• Elon welcomes new coach Matt Matheny, who brings a winning attitude with him from Davidson.
• Howard welcomes back an athletic group of returnees, as well as some talented newcomers.
Harris to Serve as Team Captain
• Senior guard Chris Harris has been named the team captain for the 2009-10 season, after being a second-team all-Patriot League honoree in each of the last two years.
• The Mechanicsville, Va., native has scored 1,003 points and dished 202 assists, becoming the first Navy player in school history to score 1,000 points and dish out 200 assists by the end of his junior year.
• Harris is the leading returning scorer in the league after averaging 15.4 ppg a year ago. Last year, he ranked fourth among the league's returnees.
• Harris ranks 19th on the school's career scoring list with 1,003 points. He surpassed the 1,000-point barrier in last year's Patriot League Tournament contest against Colgate. Harris ranks 69th on the career Patriot League scoring list. Harris and Lehigh's Marquis Hall, are the only players with 1,000 career points.
• Harris also ranks third on the Navy career three-pointers made list with 200, including 176 over the last two seasons. His 200 three-pointers are the 16th most in the country for an active player. Among the players on the list, only UMass' Ricky Harris (191), Cincinnati's Deonta Vaughn (178) and Boston U.'s Corey Lowe (177) have more treys in the last two seasons.
# GO NAVY #
