Ball State hires football coach?

The rumor floating around this morning is the Ball State has hired Pete Lembo as the new football coach. Lembo has been head coach at Elon University for the past 5 years. The question is...why would he go to Ball State when he has a much better team where he was? According to the Massey ratings Elon would beat Ball State 34-28. Yes, I know Elon is a 1-AA program, but BSU is a low-level 1-A program. Other that prestige and money, why would Lembo go to Muncie?

In other news, the Brownsburg basketball teams play some tough games this weekend:

Girls - Saturday at Noblesville - The home team has won the last 5 games in this series. The two teams play different styles as BBurg likes the games in the 50's while Noblesville can play in the 30's. Sagarin give the Dogs a 17-point edge. While I do think that Brownsburg will win, I think 17 points is way too many points to take.

Boys - Friday at home against Avon - Brownsburg has won 5 of the last 6 games in this series, but were soundly defeated in last year's game by a score of 57-34. It may be more of the same tonight. Avon is led by Notre Dame signee Austin Burgett. Burgett is averaging 18 points and 7 rebounds per game. In Avon's 5 games this year, he has hit 13 3-point baskets and shot 56% from behind the arc. This game may be uglier than the 13-point margin that Sagarin predicts....

Boys - Saturday at Ben Davis - Just like Friday's matchup, the Dogs have had recent success against Ben Davis, winning 3 of the past 4 games....but last year they lost 54-41. Also, just like Friday's game, it may be a repeat of last year's defeat. Ben Davis is led by Harry Wills, who leads the team in scoring (17ppg) and assists and is 2nd on the team in rebounds. David Quarles also adds 17ppg for the Giants.


BBurg leaders

Girls:
Scoring - Stephanie Mavunga - 18.8
Assists - Morgan Miller - 4.1
Steals - Ryne Carr - 2.1
Blocks - Mavunga - 4.6
Rebounds - Mavunga - 9.9

Boys:
Scoring - Mycha Whetstone - 12.2
Assists - Chase Dutra - 3.5
Steals - Jordan Reagan - 1.7
Blocks - Darayl Jordan - 1.3
Rebounds - Jaraan Lands - 7.2

Small phrases describe this weekend's games

Boys BB - Zionsville 45, Brownsburg 40 - "ugly" - The BBurg/Zionsville games are usually defensive struggles that stay in the 50's point-wise, but this game was a combination of good defense, poor offense, and terrible rebounding by the Dogs. BBurg was 14-54 from the field (26%) and shot better from 3-point land (29%) than 2-pointers (22%). In 56 possessions, the Dogs only managed 40 points, a rate of 71 points per 100 possessions.....not very good. However, it wasn't the worst outing of the weekend....

Boys BB - Pike 85, Brownsburg 43 - "blowout" - After three quarters, the score was 69-32. The Dogs shot 28% from the field, hurt by the 2-for-20 from beyond the the arc. In 71 possessions, the Dogs got 43 points, a rate of 61 points per 100 possessions.

Girls BB - Brownsburg 53, Harrison 20 - "Mavunga" - The only stat line you need to know: Stephanie Mavunga 23 points, Harrison's entire team 20.

Redskins - Tampa Bay 17, Washington 16 - "Kicker" - Redskins kicker Graham Gano missed two field goals of less than 40 yards early in the game that got the Redskins off on the wrong "foot". Those points could have changed the game early, instead of having to rely on a late touchdown and a botched snap on an extra point to lost the game. This season, NFL kickers have a 91% accuracy rate on field goals of less than 40 yards. Gano is 12-for-16 from that distance, a 75% rate. Even kicking at the NFL average gives the Redskins two more field goals in a season where the team has lost 4 games by 4 points or less.