Rebounds for Returning Players: In a league rarely known for big-time rebounding centers, the top Patriot League returnees are all relatively small forwards. Bucknell's Donald Brown leads in rebounds per 40 minutes of play, followed by three other relatively small forwards: Jordan Nichols (American), Bryan White (Lehigh), and Corban Bates (Army). Most of the top fifteen played a fair number of minutes - all except Gilmore and Mgreboff - but it's not until # 16, Keith Simmons, that we see a player who was on the court almost all of the time. As I mentioned in the last post, the players who see expanded minutes this year may or may not be able to rebound at the same pace. Here is every returning player who averaged over four rebounds per 40 minutes (shows minutes played followed by rebounds per 40, again adjusted each team's pace of play) :

1 Brown, Donald....... Buck / 326 / 10.4
2 Nichols, Jordan..... Amer / 239 / 9.4
3 White, Bryan........ Lehigh / 323 / 8.8
4 Bates, Corban....... Army / 356 / 8.6
5 Billbe, Brayden..... Amer / 319 / 8.2
6 Daniels, Marc....... Colg / 288 / 8.2
7 Joneliunas, Paulius. Amer / 302 / 8.1
8 Gilmore, Brian...... Amer / 148 / 8.1
9 Lekavicius, Linas... Amer / 287 / 8.0
10 Mastropaolo, Darren. Buck / 246 / 7.8
11 Mgebroff, Jason..... Lehigh / 140 / 7.5
12 Checovich, Todd..... Colg / 244 / 7.5
13 Chones, Kendall..... Colg / 309 / 7.4
14 Betley, Matt........ Laf / 291 / 7.3
15 Schmidt, Everest.... Laf / 252 / 7.2
16 Simmons, Keith...... HC / 448 / 6.9
17 Vander Baan, Alex HC / 398 / 6.9
18 Chones, Kyle........ Colg / 305 / 6.8
19 McNaughton, Chris... Buck / 364 / 6.6
20 Clifford, Tim....... HC / 336 / 6.5
21 Sewell, Jimmy....... Army / 123 / 6.5
22 Neptune, Kyle....... Lehigh / 392 / 6.4
23 Dixon, Lawrence..... HC / 141 / 6.2
24 Thomas, Torey....... HC / 510 / 6.2
25 Cunningham, Colin... HC / 162 / 6.1
26 Lay, Travis......... Amer / 118 / 5.6
27 Ingram, Andre....... Amer / 468 / 5.4
28 Detmer, Ted......... Laf / 234 / 5.4
29 Doherty, prev yr HC / 296 / 5.2
30 Sprink, Greg........ Navy / 463 / 5.1
31 Badmus, Abe......... Buck / 403 / 5.0
32 Gourlay, John....... Lehigh / 98 / 5.0
33 Johnson, Corey...... Navy / 472 / 5.0
34 Teague, Adam........ Navy / 179 / 4.9
35 Bell, Matt.......... Army / 427 / 4.8
36 Roemer, Kyle........ Colg / 310 / 4.6
37 Kina, Kaleo......... Navy / 342 / 4.5
38 Sinning, Cory....... Army / 378 / 4.4
39 Griffin, John....... Buck / 213 / 4.3
40 Brown, Jarell....... Army / 370 / 4.2
41 Cummins, Paul....... Laf / 239 / 4.2

One thing that is amazing is the balance in the Holy Cross rebounding. There are six returning players on the list and all six averaged between 6.1 and 6.9 rebounds per 40 minutes. (And Pat Doherty wasn't far behind when he played the previous year.) Kevin Hamilton was just ahead of the returning six with 7.2 caroms per 40, while Kevin Hyland surprisingly had the weakest rebounding stats of the HC players (see below). One potential Navy weakness for 2006-07 can be seen in the stats - not one player among the top 29 rebounders.

Here's a few with decent rebounding totals but limited minutes:

1 Biles, Ben.......... Navy / 52 / 9.9
2 Colbert, Clif....... Navy / 76 / 7.0
3 Linthicum, Josh..... Buck / 28 / 6.4
4 Anderson, Philip.... Lehigh / 20 / 6.0

And finally, here is what each team has lost on the rebounding side:

1 Baldwin, Carlton.... Navy / 155 / 10.0
2 Anderson, James..... Lehigh / 214 / 9.1
3 Fischman, Mike...... Lehigh / 330 / 8.8
4 Lee, Charles.... Buck / 461 / 8.2
5 Foss, Jon........... Colg / 173 / 8.0
6 Hamilton, Kevin..... HC / 512 / 7.2
7 Green, Leonard...... Navy / 213 / 6.9
8 Capusan, Andrei..... Laf / 360 / 6.8
9 Engstrom, Erik...... Army / 256 / 6.5
10 Reed, Casey......... Navy / 175 / 5.4
11 Knight, Joe......... Lehigh / 400 / 4.4
12 Hyland, Kevin....... HC / 230 / 4.3
13 Knight, Simon....... Colg / 87 / 4.3
14 Fannin, Matt........ Navy / 301 / 4.2

Two things jump out at me looking at these stats. One is that here's another indication of how good the departed Carlton Baldwin was, when he was healthy enough to get on the floor. And secondly, that Lehigh may miss the unheralded duo of Anderson and Fischman more than some might think when it comes to controlling the boards. White is a good rebounder, but centers Mgreboff and Gourlay thus far have not rebounded like Anderson and Fischman.