Askew's last home game...

[panchess]

..there isn't any way he's coming back, assuming the Patroons do next season.

I heard the Armory drew 3,000 for roller derby a couple weeks ago, so at least there is some money coming in the door.

[Patroons1]

Wow, Patroons lose their last 9 home games and win only 11 at home all season. This is NOT the Patroons that anyone remembers.

They'll be back but you are right on, Askew will not. RGV puts the icing on the cake and takes 7 points tonight in the final home game before an "ok" weeknight crowd. This team has gone down hill since just before christmas and the snowball rolling down hill really picked up speed in last 10 games.

Tonight the Patroons had 6 dressed with 3 on bench in streets, including Burton. what was that about?

Askew continued to sleepwalk through 4 quarters along with his team. Glad to see the home book close on this season....let's just forget it happened and get ready for next year. Maybe we can drop the $16 ticket price, along with the coach.

Derrick Rowland proved he deserves the job vacated by Askew, turned around RGV (they were 0-12 when he took over)and went 4-0 against the team that let him go!

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Wow, Patroons lose their last 9 home games and win only 11 at home all season. This is NOT the Patroons that anyone remembers.

They'll be back but you are right on, Askew will not. RGV puts the icing on the cake and takes 7 points tonight in the final home game before an "ok" weeknight crowd. This team has gone down hill since just before christmas and the snowball rolling down hill really picked up speed in last 10 games.

Tonight the Patroons had 6 dressed with 3 on bench in streets, including Burton. what was that about?

Askew continued to sleepwalk through 4 quarters along with his team. Glad to see the home book close on this season....let's just forget it happened and get ready for next year. Maybe we can drop the $16 ticket price, along with the coach.

Derrick Rowland proved he deserves the job vacated by Askew, turned around RGV (they were 0-12 when he took over)and went 4-0 against the team that let him go!

Another red flag! Eleven home wins ALL season?!? This organization obviously lacked the funds to secure good talent (and to secure good uniforms by the start of the season). This organization also lacks a sense of urgency (I've noticed that for over a year now). Are you SURE this team is going to be back in the CBA next season? Just wondering because they slept-walked through the end of last season all the way through this season.

High ticket prices may or may not be another red flag, but I'm all for making a buck. The hardcore fans will pay the price, so why discount tickets any further? The casual fans may not show-up regardless of the price.

The bottom line is that the CBA is an expensive league with little return on an investment (including no NBA call-ups). The CBA is a franchise killer...I've said that before. Heck, the CBA was a franchise killer back in the days when there were NBA call-ups and the league was more organized.

[panchess]

..though they will end up with a better record than two years ago, as an expansion team.

I think they will be back for another season, albeit with a new coach and GM. If I had to guess (and it is strictly a guess), Jim Coyne will be back as GM, and perhaps Coach O'Herron (who had a good run both with the USBL Patroons and Butte this season before the paychecks stopped) will return. If next season is like this one, though, the Pats could be history.

It won't be Askew. Among other things, the players (except Nat Burton) clearly quit on him this season.

[cat1bb1]

..though they will end up with a better record than two years ago, as an expansion team.

I think they will be back for another season, albeit with a new coach and GM. If I had to guess (and it is strictly a guess), Jim Coyne will be back as GM, and perhaps Coach O'Herron (who had a good run both with the USBL Patroons and Butte this season before the paychecks stopped) will return. If next season is like this one, though, the Pats could be history.

It won't be Askew. Among other things, the players (except Nat Burton) clearly quit on him this season.


on the Patroons unlike Askew who often quit on his own team. (panchess, only a Burton fan?) Timberlake played injured since Christmas but was never recognised because Askew always was up and down with who he would have in his dog house. The Patroons should have looked for a new coach months ago when fans and players alike were complaining. The only ones to blame about this season was management, who held onto a coach who they knew was sinking, until it was too late, then he took a decent team in with him!

[Chuck the Writer]

Honestly, in my opinion, the Patroons had a lot of things just go completely wrong this season.

1. Lack of a big man to replace Amal McCaskill. It didn't help that Will Bowers nearly snapped his foot off during a game in Minot - Bowers was the second-best "big man" behind the league's best "big man," Amal McCaskill. Gordon Malone could have been that solid replacement for McCaskill, but the team cut him after only a few games. Then they had Chad Bell, which they kept for only two games and cut him, before they were reduced to John Lawrence and Terry Sellers, neither of whom were anywhere near McCaskill's skill level.

2. Rotating lineup. Yes, I know that in the CBA you often have maybe a few guys from the start of the season on the roster at the end of the season, but the Patroons' roster could have been written in grease pencil. That murders any consistency your team can have.

3. Injuries. Almost everyone was playing with an injury of one sort or another. Dajan Smith had a foot injury, Chad Timberlake had a pulled groin, for a while the team looked like a MASH unit.

4. Too many pre-season cupcakes. Albany's best wins were against Atlanta, Butte, Great Falls, a suspension-depleted East Kentucky, and a replacement Oklahoma squad. They were swept by Yakama, they were swept by Minot, they lost key games against Pittsburgh and EKY, and in the end, were punked by a Rio Grande Valley squad with three former Patroons on the roster (Gordon Klaiber, Kwan Johnson and Greg Morton) and a Patroon legend (Derrick Rowland) coaching.

5. Coach Askew. Was Vince Askew the worst coach in the CBA? No - Steve Tucker, Rick Turner, James Williams, Kenny Anderson and Odell Bradley should turn in their coaching cards, they were hands down worse than Vince. But there's an old book called "The Peter Principle" in which the theory is posed that an individual tends to rise to a level where they are ill-prepared for the job at hand - i.e., a good high school teacher might make a crummy principal. Was Vince Askew a solid NBA player? Hells yeah. Was he a solid CBA player? Hells yeah. But as can be seen from this season, he needs more experience, perhaps in another league. Am I saying he will never be a quality coach? Nope. Maybe someday he will. But he needs to learn a lot more before he can compete against Chris Daleo, Paul Woolpert or Carlos Knox.

Now all that being said, the team did have some quality moments, especially from veterans like Amal McCaskill, Nat Burton and Jason Williams. DayShawn Wright finally found a team he can work with, and Lucious Jordan will always have his 3-pointers flying in from Lark Street so long as he wants. Ian Young coming over from the D-League was solid as well. But this team had more guards on the roster than at Buckingham Palace. Guards are great, guards are good, and Lord I wish TJ Thompson would come back. But you need forwards and centers, and the Patroons just didn't have either of those in any sort of depth this season.

That's just my opinion, as a person who's followed the Patroons for years. I'm not speaking as an employee or representative of the team.

[panchess]

.. I agree with a lot of that. Clearly the Patroons collapsed after McCaskill left the team, and the replacements were not up to snuff...

I didn't mean to question the effort of Lucious Jordan, who has put up with a lot in his two years with the Patroons. Clearly Chad Timberlake and Jason "J-Bird" Williams had their moments too. Nat Burton definitely was the best Patroon this year, though, which is why I singled him out..

It is a lot sadder this year to have the season be done, if only because last year, two weeks later the USBL started. Now it's eight months until the next home game.

[Patroons1]

Chuck, you are right on and not a 'red flag' in the entire analysis. A red flag imo would have gone something like "Patroons leave CBA after 06-07 season to join the USBL downfall for spring 2007, don't return to CBA in 2007-08 and then join the IBL 'COMING SOON" to a theatre near you" ...now that's what I call a red flag..Sound familar Gary Indiana? :infun: Good luck, see you next season.

[Patroons1]

Chuck, you are right on and not a 'red flag' in the entire analysis. A red flag imo would have gone something like "Patroons leave CBA after 06-07 season to join the USBL downfall for spring 2007, don't return to CBA in 2007-08 and then join the IBL 'COMING SOON" to a theatre near you" ...now that's what I call a red flag..Sound familar Gary Indiana? :infun: Good luck, see you next season.