Scouting La Salle

I spent last night watching La Salle put a 78-59 beatdown on Division I weanling New Jersey Institute of Technology. So for those of you who haven't seen the Explorers play this year or for those who are making the trip up to the Tom Gola High School Gym for the first time, here's a brief rundown of what to expect from Penn's next opponent.

The team:
La Salle operated its substitutions using hockey-style, or Steve Donahue-style line changes. Line 1 consisted of Rodney Green, Darnell Harris, Ruben Guillendeaux, Yves Mekongo-Mbala and Mike St. John. The checking line, meanwhile, includes Sherman Diaz, Paul Johnson, Sean Neal, Kimani Barrett and Brian Grimes. The lines held true for the entire first half, with a little bit of mixing in the second. For the season, the A team has played 67 percent of the minutes and has 68 percent of the points.

Tomorrow's game could be a fun one. La Salle plays at a ferocious pace, led by aggressive and talented guards Harris and Green. Mike St. John, at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, can run the floor with the best of them. He can also handle the ball on the break and leads the team in assists. But don't expect the Explorers to get away with the kind of risks they took against NJIT in their game against Penn.

The Explorers struggled against the man-to-man defense. The points they did get usually came in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock and before they became entrenched in their motion set. La Salle plays so much man-to-man defense that you wonder whether anybody scores in practice.

On the other hand, the Explorers demonstrated quick ball movement and good shot selection against NJIT's zone. Something for Penn to look out for.

La Salle is a young team getting great contributions from freshmen Green and Guillendeaux. Doc Giannini's program shouldn't be at the bottom of the Big 5 for long.

The atmosphere:
Even as somebody who's seen games at Harvard and Dartmouth, I can say that this had the feel of a high school game. If the expression about the Palestra is that 1,000 sound like 10,000, last night's 1,500 at Gola sounded like 150. Sitting halfway up the bleachers on the other side of the court, I could hear the coaches loud and clear.

The Big 5's most inexpensive concessions add to that minor league feeling, as do the X-Plorettes, the poor man's Temple Diamond Gems dance team.

Maybe there just wasn't much to get excited about. Tomorrow night could be different.