Last night in Hempstead, St Bonaventure, down four points, 72-68 with 5:15 left, outscored Hofstra 13-3 the rest of the way to win the game 81-75. The Bonnies' win broke a three game winning streak for the Pride, while the Bonnies won their fifth game in the row. It also avenged a home loss last season to the Pride up in Oleana, New York.
We're going to do a new segment here breaking down games on the College Hardwood. It's called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly".
The Good - For St. Bonaventure, the dynamic duo of Jaylen Adams (31 points) and Matt Mobley (23 points) combined for fifty four points, twenty rebounds and shot seven of thirteen from beyond the arc. This is a nightly occurrence for the two players, who both average over twenty points per game. The Bonnies also out-rebounded the Pride 32-22.
For Hofstra, it was the return of Rokas Gustys' offensive game. Gustys just missed a double double with twenty points and nine rebounds on nine of fourteen shooting from the field. It was the most field goal attempts he had all season and only the third time this season where he had ten or more field goal attempts. For someone who shot sixty six percent from the field last season and fifty one percent this season, that's just simply not enough field goal attempts for the big man.
Other than Gustys, freshman Eli Pemberton continues to impress, scoring fifteen points, his eighth double figure scoring game of the season. Deron Powers had six assists and only two turnovers. Also, Hofstra did a good job in the second half on defense, holding St Bonaventure to thirty three points and forcing sixteen turnovers the whole game. However, see "The Ugly".
The Bad - For St Bonaventure, sixteen turnovers, compared to Hofstra only having eight, eliminated any advantage they had on the boards. Consequently the Pride had seven more field goal attempts. The Bonnies also had significant foul trouble last night with three players having four fouls, including their two starting front court players, Denzel Gregg and Josh Ayeni, Fortunately, David Andoh gave St. Bonaventure good minutes off the bench, plus eleven points and five rebounds, along with the two starting guards Mobley and Adams combining for twenty boards.
For Hofstra, where to begin. First, any time your assist-to-turnover ratio is 2-1 on the night, seventeen assists to eight turnovers, you should win the game. Alas, the Pride went scoreless over the last five minutes and fifteen seconds of the game to negate that.
And it was easy to see why. Shot selection. After Ty Greer's tip in made it 72-68 Hofstra with 5:15 left, the Pride were one of ten from the field to end the game. Their next three shots were three point attempts, with Bernardi hitting one of them. After that, it was either Deron Powers throwing up bad layup attempts (3 of 13 from the field) or the Pride taking three point attempts or outside jumpers.
After Rokas Gustys scored on a tip in with 6:44 left in the game, he touched the ball on offense only once the rest of the game, getting fouled on a put back attempt with less than a minute left in the game. He missed both free throws, more on that later, but that's not the point.
This was eerily similar to the 2016 CAA Championship Game between Hofstra and UNCW. In that game, with 12:30 left, Gustys made a layup to put Hofstra up 56-48. It was his eighth field goal in only ten attempts at the time. It was also his last field goal attempt of the second half and he didn't even get fouled and go to the foul line those last twelve and half minutes! To me, that was the main reason why Hofstra lost in overtime to UNCW (Gustys would hit his only field goal attempt in overtime to finish with eighteen points in the championship game).
To be perfectly blunt, if you cannot get the ball to your leading scorer, a fifty percent plus field goal shooter, in the last six plus minutes of a close game, you deserve to lose.
The Ugly - For the seventh time in ten games, Hofstra gave up eighty or more points. It looked like it was going to be another ninety points plus allowed, as St. Bonaventure had forty eight at the half. Amazingly in these seven games, they are 3-4. But given their record, that also means they are undefeated, 3-0, when they give up less than eighty points. Simply put, you cannot win consistently night in and night out when seventy percent of the time you are giving up eighty plus points per game.
As aforementioned, I've been saying how Hofstra must get the ball in the hands of Gustys more. Consequently, he needs to shoot MUCH better from the free throw line. He has been simply awful, shooting eighteen percent from the charity stripe this season compared to forty three percent last season. Gustys needs to get to at least shooting fifty percent from the line, otherwise he won't get the ball more down the stretch.
St Bonaventure will give #CAAHoops folks a chance to compare the two teams from the 2016 CAA championship game, as they next host UNCW on Saturday. As for Hofstra, they get Kentucky in the Barclays Center on Sunday.
Showing posts with label Atlantic 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlantic 10. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Friday, February 20, 2015
Daly Dose of Hoops Guest Blogs With a Fordham Scouting Report
Jaden Daly, the most prolific New York City Metro college basketball writer/blogger/play by play announcer around, is graciously again guest blogging on The College Hardwood. With Fordham traveling to North Carolina to take on a streaking Davidson team tomorrow evening, Jaden gives an inside look at a now surging Rams team that has won three out of its last four games.
Jaden has covered in person SEVEN Fordham games this season. No one, and I mean NO ONE, knows Fordham better than Jaden Daly. Enjoy!
***
Hello again, everyone, Jaden Daly from A Daly Dose Of Hoops here, giving you my traditional yearly look at the Fordham Rams, who come to Belk Arena this Saturday to take on Davidson for the first time in Atlantic 10 play. Covering the Rams on a regular basis as I do, it is my hope to give you a better idea of what the Wildcats can expect from their latest new opponent.
Game Reviews, Nuggets and Quotes
UMass Lowell vs. Fordham
Siena vs. Fordham
St. John's vs. Fordham
Manhattan vs. Fordham
Howard vs. Fordham
VCU vs. Fordham
UMass vs. Fordham
Starting Guards
Even though he has a better frontcourt than in years past, Tom Pecora will still employ his traditional three-guard set, a system he admits he is, at times, stubborn to change because of how well it has worked for him, both at Fordham and at Hofstra before that. Junior Mandell Thomas will be the first of the three guards in Fordham's offense. A combo guard from Rochester, New York; whose father, Chad, played at Rhode Island and was recruited unsuccessfully by Pecora, Thomas just recently moved to the point guard position after an ineffective showing by freshmen Antwoine Anderson and Nemanja Zarkovic inspired Pecora to try a different hand as the Rams' floor general. Thomas has been the best athlete on the team since arriving at Rose Hill, and he has used his explosiveness to his advantage since the middle of his freshman season, when he was inserted into the starting lineup. Now, Thomas is still adjusting to being more unselfish, and more of a facilitator. This is not to say he is completely sacrificing his scoring, but he is focusing more on his ancillary numbers in the rebound and assist departments as of late, then worrying about points as they come.
One thing Pecora has always been to a fault, and Gary himself will attest to this from years of watching Hofstra, is loyal to his seniors. That alone is the biggest reason why Bryan Smith continues to get the playing time he still receives, despite being an enigma on the floor more often than not. Much like the proverbial box of chocolates that was so vividly described in "Forrest Gump," you truly never know what you're going to get from Bryan. One night, he'll give you 15 points and knock down several clutch three-pointers, the next, he'll struggle through a 1-for-8 outing hampered by foul trouble. Pecora often laments Smith's inconsistency, yet for four years, has believed in the kid, hoping he would find a way through.
Fordham's third guard is one who should play as more of a forward, yet settles way too often for shots he should not be taking. That, for those who don't know, is Eric Paschall. A 6-6 swingman who came to the Rams after winning Mr. Basketball honors in the state of New York, Paschall is a player who is at his best when he attacks the basket and drives inside against bigger competition. However, he decides on way too many mid-range and outside shots, something a player of his physique should be much less reliant on. In spite of his questionable shot selection, his raw talent alone has enabled him to be Fordham's leading scorer, and the frontrunner for Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors.
Starting Forwards
If you paid attention to the A-10 last year, you probably know who Ryan Rhoomes is. If not, he's a 6-8 junior that has such a distinct nose for the ball to the point where he can, and more often than not, does, end up with anywhere between ten and fifteen boards per game. Rhoomes has become one of the more underrated big men in the A-10, and that is a credit to his relentless work over the summer in becoming more of an interior presence, something Fordham has admittedly struggled with finding and maintaining throughout Pecora's tenure.
The Rams' biggest surprise, though, is Rhoomes' frontcourt partner, Christian Sengfelder. A 6-8 German power forward, Sengfelder is unique in his ability to space the floor while coming up with rebounds and a deceptively strong outside shot. In his last five games prior to Fordham's most recent win against George Mason Wednesday night, Sengfelder had been averaging a double-double, and has a 16-rebound performance on his ledger against a UMass team led by a walking double-double in his own right, Cady Lalanne. When watching Sengfelder, pay attention to what he does away from the ball before it gets to his hands. While Eric Paschall commands most of the attention, it is his German teammate who is the more polished player, and something Fordham fans have been very satisfied with since his debut in November.
Bench
The Fordham bench looks a little different this season, most notably with the presence of Jon Severe. The sophomore guard, who was the star of the show as a freshman last season alongside Branden Frazier; who has since turned pro, has taken on a new role as somewhat of a high-energy reserve upon returning from a month-long leave of absence. Severe had a string of five consecutive double-figure scoring games before the Rams took on Richmond last week, so his scoring is starting to come together as well. The aforementioned freshman point guard duo of Antwoine Anderson and Nemanja Zarkovic offer a stable hand at the point guard position, but not much else in the way of scoring. In fact, since Mandell Thomas was moved to the starting point guard spot, Zarkovic has seen his minutes drastically decrease. Forwards Manny Suarez and Dekeba Battee-Aston are slowly learning the ropes in their freshman seasons, but neither one is active on the floor for a long period of time, simply used as a fresh body if either Rhoomes or Sengfelder is plagued by foul trouble.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Fordham is a much stronger team up front than in years past, which is a quality Pecora has lacked since his early years at Hofstra, and that even included the three years he got from Chris Gaston when coming to Fordham. The presence of Rhoomes and Sengfelder, and Eric Paschall when the Rams play a smaller lineup, gives Fordham the flexibility to impose their will on teams on both ends of the floor, one of the biggest reasons why the Rams have rebounded to win three of their last four following an 0-9 start to the A-10 schedule.
From a weakness standpoint, one thing the Rams struggle with aside from shot selection is turnovers. When facing a team that likes to press, as was the case against St. John's, Manhattan and VCU, Fordham tends to look like a deer in headlights, and commits way too many careless miscues than they should. If the Rams can handle the ball well, they play at their best.
Coaching
I've been admittedly critical of Pecora in recent years as he attempts to rebuild a program that has been in a two-decade-long morass since joining the Atlantic 10. Still hopeful of reversing the Rams' fortunes, Pecora appears to have bitten off more than he can chew sometimes, but in recent games, it seems as though Fordham is, slowly; but surely, turning a corner. Granted, Saint Louis and George Mason were not picked to finish near the top of the league this year, but the Rams' victory over reigning A-10 champion Saint Joseph's, projected at the beginning of the year to be a team in the postseason conversation, may have been the most impressive example of Pecora's eternal hope that it can get turned around in the Bronx once and for all.
Intangibles
Fordham's guards have a refuse-to-lose mentality when they realize they are in a winnable matchup. Mandell Thomas and Bryan Smith have had an experience edge in recent games, which should give them confidence against a Davidson team that some may say has overachieved in their first season removed from the Southern Conference under longtime mentor Bob McKillop, for whom Tom Pecora worked as an assistant coach on the Long Island high school circuit in the 1980s.
Overall
While their recent surge has begun to dispel the notion that the Rams are in over their heads in a strong A-10, Fordham remains a work in progress. Playing on the road might be an even bigger weakness for this team, as for some reason, the Rams have had a hard time away from Rose Hill Gym. In fact, Wednesday's win over George Mason was just the second road win in A-10 play during Pecora's near-five-year tenure, the only other one coming at St. Bonaventure in 2013. Fordham has never seen a team like the Wildcats, which is both a blessing and a curse. If this game was played a month ago, Davidson would win handily. Now, I don't know if I can still say that, as Fordham's ever-growing confidence and group of veterans who are starting to tap into their potential will make this a close game that will ultimately come down to the final two or three possessions.
Jaden has covered in person SEVEN Fordham games this season. No one, and I mean NO ONE, knows Fordham better than Jaden Daly. Enjoy!
***
Hello again, everyone, Jaden Daly from A Daly Dose Of Hoops here, giving you my traditional yearly look at the Fordham Rams, who come to Belk Arena this Saturday to take on Davidson for the first time in Atlantic 10 play. Covering the Rams on a regular basis as I do, it is my hope to give you a better idea of what the Wildcats can expect from their latest new opponent.
Game Reviews, Nuggets and Quotes
UMass Lowell vs. Fordham
Siena vs. Fordham
St. John's vs. Fordham
Manhattan vs. Fordham
Howard vs. Fordham
VCU vs. Fordham
UMass vs. Fordham
Starting Guards
Even though he has a better frontcourt than in years past, Tom Pecora will still employ his traditional three-guard set, a system he admits he is, at times, stubborn to change because of how well it has worked for him, both at Fordham and at Hofstra before that. Junior Mandell Thomas will be the first of the three guards in Fordham's offense. A combo guard from Rochester, New York; whose father, Chad, played at Rhode Island and was recruited unsuccessfully by Pecora, Thomas just recently moved to the point guard position after an ineffective showing by freshmen Antwoine Anderson and Nemanja Zarkovic inspired Pecora to try a different hand as the Rams' floor general. Thomas has been the best athlete on the team since arriving at Rose Hill, and he has used his explosiveness to his advantage since the middle of his freshman season, when he was inserted into the starting lineup. Now, Thomas is still adjusting to being more unselfish, and more of a facilitator. This is not to say he is completely sacrificing his scoring, but he is focusing more on his ancillary numbers in the rebound and assist departments as of late, then worrying about points as they come.
One thing Pecora has always been to a fault, and Gary himself will attest to this from years of watching Hofstra, is loyal to his seniors. That alone is the biggest reason why Bryan Smith continues to get the playing time he still receives, despite being an enigma on the floor more often than not. Much like the proverbial box of chocolates that was so vividly described in "Forrest Gump," you truly never know what you're going to get from Bryan. One night, he'll give you 15 points and knock down several clutch three-pointers, the next, he'll struggle through a 1-for-8 outing hampered by foul trouble. Pecora often laments Smith's inconsistency, yet for four years, has believed in the kid, hoping he would find a way through.
Fordham's third guard is one who should play as more of a forward, yet settles way too often for shots he should not be taking. That, for those who don't know, is Eric Paschall. A 6-6 swingman who came to the Rams after winning Mr. Basketball honors in the state of New York, Paschall is a player who is at his best when he attacks the basket and drives inside against bigger competition. However, he decides on way too many mid-range and outside shots, something a player of his physique should be much less reliant on. In spite of his questionable shot selection, his raw talent alone has enabled him to be Fordham's leading scorer, and the frontrunner for Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors.
Starting Forwards
If you paid attention to the A-10 last year, you probably know who Ryan Rhoomes is. If not, he's a 6-8 junior that has such a distinct nose for the ball to the point where he can, and more often than not, does, end up with anywhere between ten and fifteen boards per game. Rhoomes has become one of the more underrated big men in the A-10, and that is a credit to his relentless work over the summer in becoming more of an interior presence, something Fordham has admittedly struggled with finding and maintaining throughout Pecora's tenure.
The Rams' biggest surprise, though, is Rhoomes' frontcourt partner, Christian Sengfelder. A 6-8 German power forward, Sengfelder is unique in his ability to space the floor while coming up with rebounds and a deceptively strong outside shot. In his last five games prior to Fordham's most recent win against George Mason Wednesday night, Sengfelder had been averaging a double-double, and has a 16-rebound performance on his ledger against a UMass team led by a walking double-double in his own right, Cady Lalanne. When watching Sengfelder, pay attention to what he does away from the ball before it gets to his hands. While Eric Paschall commands most of the attention, it is his German teammate who is the more polished player, and something Fordham fans have been very satisfied with since his debut in November.
Bench
The Fordham bench looks a little different this season, most notably with the presence of Jon Severe. The sophomore guard, who was the star of the show as a freshman last season alongside Branden Frazier; who has since turned pro, has taken on a new role as somewhat of a high-energy reserve upon returning from a month-long leave of absence. Severe had a string of five consecutive double-figure scoring games before the Rams took on Richmond last week, so his scoring is starting to come together as well. The aforementioned freshman point guard duo of Antwoine Anderson and Nemanja Zarkovic offer a stable hand at the point guard position, but not much else in the way of scoring. In fact, since Mandell Thomas was moved to the starting point guard spot, Zarkovic has seen his minutes drastically decrease. Forwards Manny Suarez and Dekeba Battee-Aston are slowly learning the ropes in their freshman seasons, but neither one is active on the floor for a long period of time, simply used as a fresh body if either Rhoomes or Sengfelder is plagued by foul trouble.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Fordham is a much stronger team up front than in years past, which is a quality Pecora has lacked since his early years at Hofstra, and that even included the three years he got from Chris Gaston when coming to Fordham. The presence of Rhoomes and Sengfelder, and Eric Paschall when the Rams play a smaller lineup, gives Fordham the flexibility to impose their will on teams on both ends of the floor, one of the biggest reasons why the Rams have rebounded to win three of their last four following an 0-9 start to the A-10 schedule.
From a weakness standpoint, one thing the Rams struggle with aside from shot selection is turnovers. When facing a team that likes to press, as was the case against St. John's, Manhattan and VCU, Fordham tends to look like a deer in headlights, and commits way too many careless miscues than they should. If the Rams can handle the ball well, they play at their best.
Coaching
I've been admittedly critical of Pecora in recent years as he attempts to rebuild a program that has been in a two-decade-long morass since joining the Atlantic 10. Still hopeful of reversing the Rams' fortunes, Pecora appears to have bitten off more than he can chew sometimes, but in recent games, it seems as though Fordham is, slowly; but surely, turning a corner. Granted, Saint Louis and George Mason were not picked to finish near the top of the league this year, but the Rams' victory over reigning A-10 champion Saint Joseph's, projected at the beginning of the year to be a team in the postseason conversation, may have been the most impressive example of Pecora's eternal hope that it can get turned around in the Bronx once and for all.
Intangibles
Fordham's guards have a refuse-to-lose mentality when they realize they are in a winnable matchup. Mandell Thomas and Bryan Smith have had an experience edge in recent games, which should give them confidence against a Davidson team that some may say has overachieved in their first season removed from the Southern Conference under longtime mentor Bob McKillop, for whom Tom Pecora worked as an assistant coach on the Long Island high school circuit in the 1980s.
Overall
While their recent surge has begun to dispel the notion that the Rams are in over their heads in a strong A-10, Fordham remains a work in progress. Playing on the road might be an even bigger weakness for this team, as for some reason, the Rams have had a hard time away from Rose Hill Gym. In fact, Wednesday's win over George Mason was just the second road win in A-10 play during Pecora's near-five-year tenure, the only other one coming at St. Bonaventure in 2013. Fordham has never seen a team like the Wildcats, which is both a blessing and a curse. If this game was played a month ago, Davidson would win handily. Now, I don't know if I can still say that, as Fordham's ever-growing confidence and group of veterans who are starting to tap into their potential will make this a close game that will ultimately come down to the final two or three possessions.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Davidson Rolls Over Duquesne
Since I moved down to Columbia, South Carolina, I have seen the Davidson Wildcats play several times in Belk Arena. A few times, I was able to get there early, have dinner in downtown, Davidson, an experience I highly recommend, then go to the game.
Last evening, I had no such luxury of time. Yesterday had been a baseball bonanza of a day. First I had Little League Coach Pitch Baseball evaluations. Over one hundred kids, including my younger son, Jonny, came out to evaluate at Trenholm Park, which happened to be on the same day of a volleyball tournament in the rec center of Trenholm Park. Thus an overwhelmed parking lot. Then a group of coaches, consisting of nine teams went into a room at the rec center building and drafted those one hundred players. That took four hours of my day.
Nope, Matthew and I had tickets to see one of my favorite teams to watch live, the Wildcats. Wasn't missing that. But the result was that we got to the University a few minutes after the game started. We walked through the beautiful campus of Davidson College and made to our seats at Belk Arena ten minutes in the first half with Davidson leading Duquesne 24-13.
Those three NCAA Elite Eight appearances are still just a sample of the long history of success of the program. When you look up in the rafters of the arena, you can't help but notice all the banners; all the Southern Conference championships, the NIT appearances and the twelve NCAA appearances. Seven of those twelve appearances are a result largely of one man and it's not Steph Curry. It's Bob McKillop, the man who recruited Curry to Davidson.
McKillop's teams pride themselves on movement, both with the ball and without the ball. You will screens, picks, back door cuts, nice post passes and most importantly, good shooters. Davidson's offense is truly fun to watch and McKillop is the mastermind behind it.
When we got to our seats, freshman Peyton Aldridge drilled a three to put the Wildcats up 27-15. With the three pointer, Aldridge already had ten points in ten minutes of action. The Dukes would respond scoring five of the next six points to cut the lead to eight, 28-20. Jordan Watkins put Davidson up by ten 30-20.
Then things got really wild. Six of the next seven baskets scored were three pointers; three by Davidson and three by Duquesne. Tyler Kalinoski assisted on two of the Wildcats' three pointers, and hit the other three pointer. L.G. Gill capped the three point barrage for the Dukes, banking in a three pointer to cut the Davidson lead to eight once again, 39-31. Everyone thought it was a one time fluke, but Gill would later bank another three pointer at the end of the first half. Whether it was a fluke or not, that's for Gill to know and us likely to never find out.
Duquesne did their best to hang in there, shooting 48 percent from the field in the first half, including shooting fifty percent from three (five of ten), Yet they were down fourteen points at the half.
Starting the second half, considering probability, you would figure that the Wildcats would slow down scoring wise in the second half . And at least for the first minute and a half, the Wildcats did exactly that, as they went scoreless. The problem was that the Dukes couldn't take advantage and missed on all four of their field goal attempts and turned the ball over once during those first ninety seconds.
Gill buried another three pointer and TySean Powell added a three point play to cut the deficit to fifteen, 67-52 with fourteen minutes left in the game. But that's as close as the Dukes got the rest of the way as Duquesne simply could not keep up with the Davidson offense. The Dukes went ice cold from beyond the arc in the second half, shooting one of twelve from three in the last twenty minutes of the game.
The barrage on the Dukes was relentless as the Wildcats extended the lead to eventually twenty six, 95-69 with two minutes left. That's when McKillop cleared his bench and that would be the final score.
What was scary about this is that the Wildcats second best player, Jack Gibbs is still indefinitely out with a slight meniscus tear in his knee. What might even be more scary is that Kalinoski is the only senior that plays significant minutes for Davidson.
As we headed out, I took a picture of the Wildcat statute, which is directly across from the Belk Arena entrance. At a night, it's an ominous sight. And if Davidson keeps playing like they did last night, the Wildcats will be an ominous sight for A-10 opponents for seasons to come.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
For Dayton and The Mid Majority, It's Memphis in the Meantime
You say you're gonna get your act together
Gonna take it out on the road
But if I don't get outta here pretty soon
My head's going to explode
Sure I like country music
I like mandolins
But right now I need a telecaster
Through a vibro-lux turned up to ten
Lets go to Memphis in the meantime baby
Memphis in the meantime girl
"Memphis in the Meantime" by John Hiatt
For the past ten college basketball seasons, the Mid Majority has been the definitive mid major college basketball site. The brainchild of Kyle Whelliston, the Mid Majority has chronicled the mid major college basketball teams that take up the majority of the 351 Division I College Basketball teams. Over these past ten seasons, we have learned so much about the fabric of these mid major schools, the small towns that often comprise these schools and even the famous arenas that have a haunting quality to it.
Due to the constant grind of the road, Kyle took a permanent break from writing. Season Eight of the Mid Majority was the 800 Games Project, where a group of writers would get together and the goal was to write 800 story recaps of mid major team games. I was one of those writers and we made it, writing 809 different game recaps and over 900 stories total. It also gave me a chance to bond with my older son, Matthew, who went to thirty three of the fifty eight mid major games I covered (yes, one recap didn't make it in. It was still fifty eight).
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Season Nine was a contest involving teams of writers and if we hadn't learned from Season Eight, Season Nine taught us that Ray Curren is one hell of a writer, along with being an ironman covering games. Season Ten has featured mostly Curren's terrific articles, along with the solid work of Kraig Williams and Matt Konrad.
As we entered the 2014 NCAA Tournament, for the first time since Indiana State was a #1 seed in 1979, there was a true hope that a mid major team would finally break through that glass ceiling and win a National Championship. This time, the mid major team was not an underdog, but a proverbial favorite. Wichita State, a Final Four team from last season, went through the non conference season, the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and the Missouri Valley Tournament undefeated. The Shockers stood at 34-0 entering the NCAA Tournament and earned a #1 seed in the Midwest.
But this season, the NCAA Selection Committee, led by Ron Wellman, a man so notorious in the college basketball world that Wake Forest fans created a now well known site to voice their displeasure about their basketball team, decided to stack the deck on Wichita State's bracket. In fact, I wrote about Wellman's incredibly bad decision to fire Dino Gaudio long before the BuzzOut website appeared.
Well, Wellman and friends made the Midwest the toughest bracket in the tournament, as it featured three of the Final Four teams from last season; Wichita State, Michigan, last year's national runner-up and Louisville, the defending National Champion and who was currently the #5 team in the nation as a four seed, which boggled the minds of many, including Rick Pitino. The cherry on top was making Kentucky, the preseason #1 team and a Top 25 team for most of the season, an eight seed. Several basketball media pundits nicknamed the Midwest Region "The Group of Death", which is known in World Cup seeding terms as the toughest bracket.
After crushing Cal Poly in the second round, the Shockers met the Wildcats in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. And in what many thought was a Final Four quality game, the Wildcats barely defeated the Shockers 78-76 in a truly terrific contest. Both teams hit shot fifty four percent or higher and each team hit twenty seven field goals (it came down to a couple of more free throws on Kentucky's part). The outcome was heartbreaking to those mid major fans who had hoped Wichita State would be "THE Mid Major Team".
But in an unusual case of irony, one mid major school is still left in the tournament. That mid major school is part of the core, the very fabric of the Mid-Majority.
Dayton.
Dayton has hosted the Play In Game(s), or PIG as called by Mid Majority, since 2001 when the NCAA decided to keep the thirty four at large berths for the Men's Tournament after the Mountain West was formed (unlike the Women's Tournament, where they cut it down to thirty three). Dayton now hosts the First Four, the first four games of the NCAA Tournament, since it is now sixty eight teams.
I wrote about Dayton in "The Road to Wright State", in which I talked about how the economy has hurt this proud city. When I visited the absolutely awesome United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, I met a volunteer staff member there named Jeffery. He talked about companies have moved out of the area and that GM had recently shut a truck plant down. Jeffery was worried that Dayton would become "unpopulated".
Based on having watched the Flyers over the past seasons, as well as the musings of my friend and Dayton grad, Julia Prior, the Flyers have been known to break hearts the last few seasons. Under former head coach Brian Gregory (now at Georgia Tech) and current coach Archie Miller, the Flyers would start out strong in the beginning of the season, then seemingly self destruct on its own, especially in the closing minutes of crucial games.
The past few seasons showed that. The 2012-13 team started the season 10-4, but would go 7-10 the rest of the way. The 2011-12 team started 14-5 overall, including 4-1 in the A-10. The 2011-12 Flyers had won the Old Spice Classic and even knocked off nationally ranked Alabama. But those Flyers would lose four straight games, finish only 9-7 in conference and then lose a heart-breaker 70-69 to arch-rival Xavier in the A-10 tournament. In that game, the Flyers were up ten at the half, only to lose on a jumper with 21 seconds left.
The Flyers started this season 12-3, including wins over nationally ranked #11 Gonzaga, California, Georgia Tech and Iona, They also lost a tough one to Baylor in the Old Spice Classic by a point, but finished third in the Tournament when they beat the Bears. You could see the team is talented with Jordan Siebert, Devin Oliver, Dyshawn Pierre and Bill Raferty's favorite, Scootchie Smith. I saw several of their games on TV early in the season, including the entire Old Spice Tournament. They went ten deep, pressed like anything and collectively, they can bury lots of three pointers.
But given their team's past history, Dayton fans must have been waiting for the other shoe to drop come A-10 conference season.
It did.
The Flyers started the A-10 conference season 1-5, with their lone win over lowly Fordham. It looked like once again, a talented Flyers team would come up short of their goals.
But not this time.
The Flyers would win nine of their final ten Atlantic 10 Conference games, including wins over George Washington, St Joseph's, UMass and St. Louis. They would win their first round game over Fordham. With twenty three wins overall and their solid non conference schedule wins, all they needed was to get to the A-10 Semifinals at the Barclays' Center and they were likely in the NCAA Tournament.
But Dayton would lose a heartbreaker to the eventual A-10 Tourney Champions, St Joseph's 70-67.
Come Selection Sunday, Flyers' fans were likely nervous, wondering if they would be the sixth A-10 team in the tournament. St Joe's had the automatic bid. St Louis, VCU and UMass were locks, given they were all nationally ranked for part of the season. George Washington, given their record and standing, was also a likely team in the Tournament (and they did make it as a #9 seed).
Dayton did make it, getting an eleven seed and a first round game against intrastate rival Ohio State, a team that has been "avoiding" the Flyers for a long time. Don't ever say the Selection Committee doesn't have a twisted sense of humor or irony.
Still many pundits and coaches didn't think Dayton deserved to make it. Coach K stated "I’ll get in trouble probably for saying it. Like the Atlantic 10, they’re a really good conference. I hear people saying there are six teams in there. Come on. I mean, they’re good, but put them in our conference and go through the meat grinder that our conference has to go through."
Meat grinder would become a popular sarcastic Twitter reference for Duke's quick tournament exit at the hands of Mercer and the ACC's performance in the tournament overall.
I don't do brackets on my own anymore. But I have a dear friend who asks me to do her bracket the past couple of years and I can't say no. So in her bracket this season, I picked Dayton to go to the Sweet 16.
Yes, I picked them to beat Ohio State and then their likely next opponent Syracuse.
I just thought the Flyers were more than talented and quick enough to beat both teams. Plus I thought Dayton could shoot over Syracuse's zone.
Sure enough, the Flyers beat the Buckeyes 60-59 in the first round on a last second layup by Vee Sanford (cue some Sanford and Son music). Then despite a low scoring first half, Dayton held Syracuse without a three pointer for the entire contest. Despite the vaunted, Orange Zone, the Flyers would go seven from sixteen from beyond the arc and defeat Syracuse 55-53. Dayton had just beat one of Coach K's meat grinder ACC teams.
For the first time since 1984, the Flyers were in the Sweet 16. They were the last Mid Major team in the field. And all of the Mid Majority's fans, like Julia Prior, so proud of their accomplishment, put their hopes on them.
The Flyers now faced the Cardinal of Stanford, another double digit seed, at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The fact that the Flyers, the team that represents the very core of the Mid Majority and the PIG, was not lost on a certain someone.
Kyle has gone to Memphis and wrote a Mid Majority article about Dayton.
The Flyers received their nickname from the plane the Wright Brothers successfully built and flew in 1905. Much like this team, the Wright Brothers didn't give up, the Flyer was third iteration of their prototype plane.
And sure enough, on Thursday night, many pundits thought Stanford's size, which had allowed the Cardinal to upset both New Mexico and Kansas, would be too much for the Flyers. But the Flyers' didn't give up. It turned out to be Dayton's pressure, speed and depth that was too much for Stanford as the Flyers impressively handled the Cardinal 82-72.
My guess is back in 1905, people observing the Wright Brothers probably gave them a one percent chance of getting a plane to fly.
We all know what happened.
Maybe it's poetic that the team that could possibly break the Mid Major National Championship glass ceiling is named the Flyers, a team that can fly through that glass ceiling. It would be a fitting end to ten seasons of the Mid Majority. The season ending without a loss, but a victory.
But the task, as noted, is a daunting one. The Flyers must beat the Gators, then win two more games against equally as tough competition that Florida will provide later today. But then again, very few thought that Dayton would beat Ohio State, Syracuse or even Stanford. The Flyers have broke a lot of brackets.
The Wright Brothers broke a glass ceiling over hundred years ago. Maybe it's time another Flyer breaks another one.
Go Dayton Flyers!
Saturday, December 28, 2013
A Night of Havoc in Brooklyn (Recap of Boston College vs. VCU)
After having watched St John's defeat Seton Hall at Carnesecca Arena in the first Big East Women's Basketball Conference game for both teams, my friend Tony Terentieff (aka Tieff), my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew and I headed off to Mineola train station to take a train ride to Atlantic Terminal to see the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival Tripleheader at the Barclays Center.
We got there at halftime of the Tulane-Kansas State game, the second game of the holiday hoops trifecta. After grabbing dinner at the Brooklyn Burger concessions stand, we headed to our seats in Section 20, Row 17. Shortly after we got there, once again we ran into my good friend, Jaden Daly, who just got there himself after covering the St John's-Seton Hall game as well. Jaden was kind enough to let me charge my iPhone after I stupidly left my car charger in my car back in Levittown at my in-laws' house.
Not too long after, John Templon of Big Apple Buckets joined us and we had a reunion of local New York basketball bloggers. It was a good talk about local metro NYC area basketball, specifically NEC, MAAC and Ivy League basketball as John and Jaden traded their scheduled game coverage for the next few weeks. I just sat and admired as they talked about the games they were planning to cover, as I miss being able to cover several New York games in a week. We also talked about how ridiculously good Stony Brook's Jameel Warney is and whether the Ivy can be a two bid conference this season (Harvard and Princeton).
After Jaden and John said their goodbyes to go cover the remaining twenty minutes of the Tulane game as well as the BC-VCU game, Matthew, Tieff and I watched the second half of the Green Wave-Wildcats game. Tulane was playing in its second Winter Hoops Festival in a row, having routed Hofstra last year. This year, the Green Wave had scored a whopping ten points in the first half. Tulane scored the first five points of the second half to cut the lead to thirteen, 28-15, as they finally figured out that they should drive the lane against the Wildcats.
Alas, Kansas State was toying with Tulane, as the Wildcats outscored the Green Wave 44-26 the rest of the second half to win convincingly 72-41. Shane Southwell, a local kid from Harlem that former K-State coach Frank Martin recruited to Manhattan, Kansas, returned to Brooklyn to lead the Wildcats with 19 points. Southwell hit five of nine shots from beyond the arc as Kansas State shot twelve of twenty seven from three point land. The Wildcats also had nineteen assists and thirteen steals.
The lone hightlight for the Green Wave fans in our section was that after much chanting, seldom used, senior guard Max Keenan entered the game late for Tulane. Most likely, his fans were family and they were excited after Keenan fired an open look three in the last minute of the game. Much to his fans' dismay, Keenan's shot was slightly off the mark. Kansas State junior guard Shane Meyer, also seldom used, hit a pretty up and under layup and one, much to the delight of the Wildcats' bench. Meyer hit the free throw to make the final score margin thirty one points. It was the most points Meyer had scored in a game in his three year career at Kansas State.
During the break between games, Tieff, Matthew and I went to get dessert. There is a Junior's Cheesecake/Blue Marble Custard concession stand at Barclay's. Tieff wanted the custard, but not having Junior's cheesecake in ages, I had the Devil's Food Cheesecake. I think I won out on the dessert match-up.
I didn't see the St John's- Columbia game, but having seen Tulane-Kansas State, it looked like VCU brought the only pep band. But if you're going to have only one pep band play at the Winter Hoops Festival, you might as well have THE PEP BAND to play at the tripleheader. Known as "The Peppas", the VCU pep band is simply the best college basketball pep band in the country (with George Mason's pep band a close second). On the evening, the Peppas started with Toto's "Africa", did an amazing version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and of course, "You Don't Want to Go To War", along with a lot of other great versions of songs.
The Rams entered the game 10-3 on the season, which certainly is a solid record. But VCU had entered the season nationally ranked and a lot is expected of the Rams this season. Much of it is due to their talent and experience, as well as the fact that the Rams have been very successful the past three NCAA Tournaments under Shaka Smart. Also, the expectations are based on their unique, aggressive press defense, known as "Havoc". Entering the game, VCU was first in the country in steals, averaging over twelve steals per game. The Rams also entered the game averaging +7.8 in turnover margin. The problem for VCU has been taking advantage of that turnover margins, as they are eleventh in the A-10 in shooting percentage at 42.4 percent.
On the other hand, Boston College had entered the game struggling at 4-8. Steve Donahue, who led Cornell to three straight Ivy League Championships and a Sweet 16 in 2010, is in his fourth season as head coach of the Eagles. In his first season, Donahue led BC to a second round NIT appearance, but it has been downhill since with a 9-22 record in 2011-12 and 16-17 last season.
Early on in the game, both teams struggled to score points. Due to "Havoc", Boston College kept turning the ball over. However, VCU could not take advantage due to poor shooting and poor shot selection. At one point, Mike Litos noted that the Rams has forced ten turnovers but only scored five points on those turnovers. This was due to VCU taking too many three pointers. The Rams were three of fifteen in the first half from beyond the arc.
The Eagles jumped out to an 8-3 lead early. After a quick VCU timeout, the Rams responded with a 7-0 spurt to take a 10-8 lead. BC tied it up at ten on another Ryan Anderson dunk, his third of the game, all of those came about when the Eagles were able to break the press. After eight and a half minutes, the game was tied at ten. The bright side was that both teams had already matched Tulane's output for the entire first half of their game.
The rest of the first half would be mini spurts. VCU would go on a 6-0 mini spurt to take a 16-10 lead. BC responded with a 7-0 run to take a 17-16 advantage. But the Rams would score the last six points to enter the half up 22-17.
At halftime, I met up with my friend and VCU's most famous fan, Chris "Pav" Crowley. As I noted to DefiantlyDutch in a tweet, Pav can be seen everywhere with his Ram horns. Pav got his nickname due to his terrific opera voice and his Pavarotti looks. It was good catching up with him and we got this picture together. Pav hilariously noted later in a tweet that the backdrop of our picture was the best photobomb ever.
Coach Smart must have said something to his team at halftime, because the Rams went inside in the second half. In the first half, Rams forwards Treveon Graham and Juvante Reddic, the two leading scorers for VCU, combined for only four points. In the first few minutes of the second half, Graham had two layups and Reddic added another during a 11-4 spurt to put the Rams up 33-21.
After the BC got within nine points, 35-26, VCU went on a 14-1 run over the span of three minutes. Reddic's layup and put the Rams up twenty points. Then Melvin Johnson forced the Eagles's sixth turnover of the second half and his layup capped the run to put VCU up 49-27 with 10:45 left in the game.
It was clear before the start of the game that the majority of fans that were left in the building were wearing the gold and black of VCU. And with the huge run by the Rams, their fans turned the Barclays Center into the Richmond Coliseum during VCU's days in the CAA Tournament. And things got worse for the few BC fans left in attendance when Graham buried a three pointer to put the Rams up twenty six, 65-39 with four and a half minutes left in the game. It was clearly evident to me that VCU had the superior talent, athleticism and aggressiveness over an ACC team. It was only two seasons ago that the Rams were still in the CAA.
All that was left was both teams clearing their benches and an 11-4 Eagles' game ending spurt to make the game ending margin closer than it was for a good part of the second half. The Peppas played a set to close out the festivities and a VCU 69-50 win.
Reddic (14 points) and Graham (13 points) combined for 23 second half points. Rob Brandenburg added 13 points and Melvin Johnson had 12 points for the Rams. VCU had 11 steals, forced 23 BC turnovers, and held the Eagles to 38 percent shooting, including 3 of 18 from beyond the arc.
Oliver Hanlan led BC and all scorers with 17 points. Anderson added 13 points for the Eagles. BC is now headed into ACC play with a 4-9 record. VCU starts their A-10 season with an 11-3 record.
As Matthew, Tieff and I headed out of the Barclays Center, we were glad in the fact that for the second year in a row, we got to see multiple college basketball games on a cold late December day. Nothing warms you up during the holiday season like seeing college basketball and reuniting with good friends.
And considering we saw VCU, there's also nothing like a little Havoc during the holiday season.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Conference Realignment - Careful For What You Wish For
The 2013-14 season promises to be a very interesting season as far as teams in new conference homes. Due in most part to the power of football TV money, many schools switched conferences. In fact, due to a dislike in the power of football TV money, the Big East broke off from the football schools to become basically a basketball conference. This left the other schools, UConn, Louisville (in its last season before joining the ACC), Temple and Cincinnati to fend for themselves in the new AAC.
But conference realignment didn't spare the smaller conferences either. The Atlantic Ten lost three schools; Xavier and Butler to the newly formed Big East and Charlotte to Conference USA. As a result, the A-10 plucked two mid major program gems, Davidson and George Mason from their respective conferences (George Mason joined the A-10 immediately. Davidson will join in the 2014-15 season). The CAA reeling from the loss of Mason, as well as Old Dominion (Conference USA) and Georgia State (Sun Belt), took the Southern Conference's other well known basketball program, College of Charleston.
But wait, there's more! The Patriot gained two schools. First Boston University left the confines of the America East to join what it believes is a better fit in academics. Second, Loyola, Maryland interestingly left the stronger MAAC conference for the land of the Last Amateurs. However, the MAAC retained Loyola's former coach, Jimmy Patsos, as he took the Siena job. The MAAC in turn went out and plucked two NEC schools, Monmouth and Quinnipiac. America East restocked with UMass Lowell jumping up into the Division I foray.
The Missouri Valley lost one of their most highly regarded schools in Creighton as the Bluejays joined their fellow catholic brethren in the Big East. To fill the void, the Valley took Loyola Chicago away from the Horizon. Conference USA not only plucked ODU, but took Florida Atlantic and Florida International away from the Sun Belt. The WAC only has two member schools remaining from last season, New Mexico State and Idaho.
There are even more schools that either switched conferences or became Division I schools (check out the WAC when you get a chance) that's it just too many to count. So let's highlight three schools, all with recent mid major success, that moved to a new conference;
Butler - In two seasons, the Bulldogs moved from the Horizon to the Atlantic Ten to the Big East. Comparatively speaking, that's like an A ball player moving up and being successful in the majors in two seasons. Yes, there are players that made that move like Bryce Harper, but they are few and far between.
To Butler's credit, their first season in the A-10 was a very successful one. The Bulldogs went 11-5 in conference, 27-9 overall and won their second round NCAA Tournament game before losing to Marquette. Now they will get to see the Golden Eagles twice a season in the Big East, albeit without former coach Brad Stevens, who decided to make the biggest move of all and jump to the NBA as coach of the Boston Celtics.
The Bulldogs lost leading scorers Rotnei Clarke and Andrew Smith to graduation. Then Butler lost their leading returning scorer from last season, Roosevelt Jones, for the season with torn ligaments. That leaves Khyle Marshall, Kameron Woods and Kellen Dunham to fill the scoring void. It's asking a lot to make up for the loss of thirty eight points, fourteen rebounds and nearly eight assists per game.
Butler's non conference schedule seems light this season, with a home game vs. Vanderbilt and a neutral site game vs. Purdue as the two big games on their schedule. The Bulldogs are predicted to finish middle of the pack in the Big East. That might be generous given the loss of Jones.
Creighton - At least the Bulldogs took a mid step in their jump from the Horizon to the Big East in two seasons. Their fellow Big East brethren Bluejays are taking a one season, herculean leap from the Missouri Valley to the land of catholic basketball. And Creighton was a really nice catch for the Big East, with their long standing, successful basketball program and a home game attendance that's regularly 18,000 plus. The Bulldogs won twenty eight games last season and knocked off Cincinnati in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Duke.
But unlike Butler, Creighton is returning its leading scorer, All American Doug McDermott, plus the return of third leading scorer Grant Gibbs and his nearly six assists per game. Throw in returning players Ethan Wragge and Austin Chatman, the fourth and fifth leading scorers from last season's team and it's no wonder that the Bluejays are picked to finish first in the Big East. However, in a deep Big East, the Bluejays won't have cupcakes like Missouri State (11-22) to play twice a year. Well okay, there is DePaul.
Creighton will find out early how good they are based on their non conference schedule. The Bluejays play at St Joseph's, have a neutral site game vs. Arizona State, host Nebraska in their annual interstate feud and play host to Cal a little more than a week before the start of Big East conference season.
George Mason - The loss of Xavier, Temple and Charlotte forced the A-10 to restock with the Patriots and next season the Wildcats of Davidson. Mason was a logical choice being basically a basketball only school that has made the NCAA Tournament three times since 2006, including their Final Four run in 2006.
Since their last NCAA tournament appearance in 2011, the Patriots have won forty six games overall with two twenty plus win seasons (24-9 in 2011-12, 22-16 in 2012-13). But Mason struggled in the CAA barely finishing above .500 in conference, finishing fourth at 10-8 and losing to Northeastern in the CAA semifinal 69-67 after being up 28-4 fifteen minutes into the first half. The Patriots finished the season playing in the CBI, Defiantly Dutch's favorite postseason tournament, losing in the CBI championship series to Santa Clara.
The Patriots return nine of their top ten players in minutes, including their top five leading scorers; Sherrod Wright, Jonathan Arledge, Byron Allen, Erik Copes and Johnny Williams. So scoring will not be an issue for Mason. Unfortunately, Copes has been suspended for the first six games of the season, so their depth will be tested early on in their schedule.
Mason has been picked as low as tenth in at least one preseason poll, which seems low to me considering the experience they are returning this season. Non conference road games at Iona, a neutral site game vs. Oklahoma and a home game vs. Iowa State should give the Patriots a chance to show they are better than their preseason standing in the A-10. Plus an early season conference game with #14 VCU should shed some light on where the Patriots rank in the Atlantic 10. But there won't be any UNC Wilmingtons to feast on in the A-10. Mason will have to bring every it night in conference.
But conference realignment didn't spare the smaller conferences either. The Atlantic Ten lost three schools; Xavier and Butler to the newly formed Big East and Charlotte to Conference USA. As a result, the A-10 plucked two mid major program gems, Davidson and George Mason from their respective conferences (George Mason joined the A-10 immediately. Davidson will join in the 2014-15 season). The CAA reeling from the loss of Mason, as well as Old Dominion (Conference USA) and Georgia State (Sun Belt), took the Southern Conference's other well known basketball program, College of Charleston.
But wait, there's more! The Patriot gained two schools. First Boston University left the confines of the America East to join what it believes is a better fit in academics. Second, Loyola, Maryland interestingly left the stronger MAAC conference for the land of the Last Amateurs. However, the MAAC retained Loyola's former coach, Jimmy Patsos, as he took the Siena job. The MAAC in turn went out and plucked two NEC schools, Monmouth and Quinnipiac. America East restocked with UMass Lowell jumping up into the Division I foray.
The Missouri Valley lost one of their most highly regarded schools in Creighton as the Bluejays joined their fellow catholic brethren in the Big East. To fill the void, the Valley took Loyola Chicago away from the Horizon. Conference USA not only plucked ODU, but took Florida Atlantic and Florida International away from the Sun Belt. The WAC only has two member schools remaining from last season, New Mexico State and Idaho.
There are even more schools that either switched conferences or became Division I schools (check out the WAC when you get a chance) that's it just too many to count. So let's highlight three schools, all with recent mid major success, that moved to a new conference;
Butler - In two seasons, the Bulldogs moved from the Horizon to the Atlantic Ten to the Big East. Comparatively speaking, that's like an A ball player moving up and being successful in the majors in two seasons. Yes, there are players that made that move like Bryce Harper, but they are few and far between.
To Butler's credit, their first season in the A-10 was a very successful one. The Bulldogs went 11-5 in conference, 27-9 overall and won their second round NCAA Tournament game before losing to Marquette. Now they will get to see the Golden Eagles twice a season in the Big East, albeit without former coach Brad Stevens, who decided to make the biggest move of all and jump to the NBA as coach of the Boston Celtics.
The Bulldogs lost leading scorers Rotnei Clarke and Andrew Smith to graduation. Then Butler lost their leading returning scorer from last season, Roosevelt Jones, for the season with torn ligaments. That leaves Khyle Marshall, Kameron Woods and Kellen Dunham to fill the scoring void. It's asking a lot to make up for the loss of thirty eight points, fourteen rebounds and nearly eight assists per game.
Butler's non conference schedule seems light this season, with a home game vs. Vanderbilt and a neutral site game vs. Purdue as the two big games on their schedule. The Bulldogs are predicted to finish middle of the pack in the Big East. That might be generous given the loss of Jones.
Creighton - At least the Bulldogs took a mid step in their jump from the Horizon to the Big East in two seasons. Their fellow Big East brethren Bluejays are taking a one season, herculean leap from the Missouri Valley to the land of catholic basketball. And Creighton was a really nice catch for the Big East, with their long standing, successful basketball program and a home game attendance that's regularly 18,000 plus. The Bulldogs won twenty eight games last season and knocked off Cincinnati in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Duke.
But unlike Butler, Creighton is returning its leading scorer, All American Doug McDermott, plus the return of third leading scorer Grant Gibbs and his nearly six assists per game. Throw in returning players Ethan Wragge and Austin Chatman, the fourth and fifth leading scorers from last season's team and it's no wonder that the Bluejays are picked to finish first in the Big East. However, in a deep Big East, the Bluejays won't have cupcakes like Missouri State (11-22) to play twice a year. Well okay, there is DePaul.
Creighton will find out early how good they are based on their non conference schedule. The Bluejays play at St Joseph's, have a neutral site game vs. Arizona State, host Nebraska in their annual interstate feud and play host to Cal a little more than a week before the start of Big East conference season.
George Mason - The loss of Xavier, Temple and Charlotte forced the A-10 to restock with the Patriots and next season the Wildcats of Davidson. Mason was a logical choice being basically a basketball only school that has made the NCAA Tournament three times since 2006, including their Final Four run in 2006.
Since their last NCAA tournament appearance in 2011, the Patriots have won forty six games overall with two twenty plus win seasons (24-9 in 2011-12, 22-16 in 2012-13). But Mason struggled in the CAA barely finishing above .500 in conference, finishing fourth at 10-8 and losing to Northeastern in the CAA semifinal 69-67 after being up 28-4 fifteen minutes into the first half. The Patriots finished the season playing in the CBI, Defiantly Dutch's favorite postseason tournament, losing in the CBI championship series to Santa Clara.
The Patriots return nine of their top ten players in minutes, including their top five leading scorers; Sherrod Wright, Jonathan Arledge, Byron Allen, Erik Copes and Johnny Williams. So scoring will not be an issue for Mason. Unfortunately, Copes has been suspended for the first six games of the season, so their depth will be tested early on in their schedule.
Mason has been picked as low as tenth in at least one preseason poll, which seems low to me considering the experience they are returning this season. Non conference road games at Iona, a neutral site game vs. Oklahoma and a home game vs. Iowa State should give the Patriots a chance to show they are better than their preseason standing in the A-10. Plus an early season conference game with #14 VCU should shed some light on where the Patriots rank in the Atlantic 10. But there won't be any UNC Wilmingtons to feast on in the A-10. Mason will have to bring every it night in conference.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A Night of Havoc (Recap of VCU v. Charlotte)
Some days don't go as you plan. I had made plans for quite some time for yesterday. Hofstra was playing at UNC Wilmington. I had media credentials waiting for me, plus I was going to see my friend Brian Mull, the terrific beat writer for the Wilmington Star as well as my friend Hofstra Head Coach Mo Cassara, who I haven't seen in a long time since I moved down to Columbia, South Carolina.Wilmington, North Carolina is a three hour and fifteen minutes drive from Columbia, South Carolina. As I started driving on I-20 at 7:30 AM, my "Check Engine" light came on. Never a good thing. But perhaps it was something minor, perhaps a sign that it was time for an oil change (which I was due for). So I found the closest Jiffy Lube, which wasn't that close to the interstate.
The service manager at Jiffy Lube told me that the light indicated a temperature sensor issue, either a coolant issue or perhaps the water pump and that the light would stay on until I took it to a repair shop to have an engine diagnostic done. Turns out also my transmission fluid was badly needed to flushed out on my 126,000 mile 2001 Honda Accord. So I agreed to a quick oil change and the transmission fluid flush.So I got back on the road around 8:45 AM. I still could make it to Wilmington on time. But it was still about three hours away. With my family still in New York until the house closes (which is soon), I couldn't risk having my car breakdown on the highway. Thus, I sadly turned back and drove to Midlands, Honda in Columbia. I got in touch with Brian and Coach Cassara to let them know I couldn't make it.
The Honda service manager quickly took the notes on the car and noted that there was also a recent recall for the passenger airbag. I had got that recall letter and knew it had to be fixed too. As I sat in the amazing waiting room with the HD 3D TV showing "The Dark Knight" while drinking hot chocolate, I briefly lamented the fact that I would not see Brian, Coach Cassara and what turned out to be Hofstra's first road win of the season, which was a terrific effort by the Pride. However, I had known in the back of my head that Charlotte was hosting VCU at Halton Arena last night. I had brought my IPad to write my story for the Hofstra-UNC Wilmington game and Midlands Honda had free WiFI. Were tickets still available? As I went on the Charlotte 49ers ticket site, the answer was YES! Thus I got one ticket.
It turns out it was just a sensor issue. I got my car back shortly before noon and I drove home. There I watched the Hofstra-UNC Wilmington game online, where the Pride rallied from a ten point first half deficit to defeat the Seahawks 65-56. Then after quickly sweeping up the house floors and taking a nap, I made the now familiar drive up to the campus of Charlotte.I got my ticket from will call and entered the Student Center, where Halton Arena is located. After my ticket was scanned in, an usher asked if I wanted a program. I said "Yes, thank you." In return, I got this gorgeous program. It looked like a yearbook/media guide to me. It's the nicest free program I have ever received at a college basketball game. Nice work Charlotte Athletic Department.
As I made my way to my seats, it was pretty evident that Ram Nation had made the trip in full force. There was a good number of fans in the gold and black colors of VCU. But they were minus Chris "Pav" Crowley, the ultimate VCU fan who I have become friends with over the past couple of years thanks to Twitter and the CAA community that the Rams were once part of until joining the A-10 this season. I have maintained ties to those knowledgable, fun VCU folks on Twitter. Pav couldn't make it last night. It was also Chris' birthday this week, so Happy Birthday Pav!Entering the game, Charlotte had defended it's home court perfectly on the season, eleven straight wins. That included wins over good conference teams such as LaSalle, a game that I saw in person, Xavier and U-Mass. Still one female fan sitting next to me asked her boyfriend "Is this the largest crowd of the season. Seems like it". Turns out it was the second largest crowd of the season, 8,794 in attendance. The previous home game vs. UMass had 9,100 in attendance.
This was going to be a battle between one of the top fifty teams in the country in effective field goal percentage defense, Charlotte, and the number one team in the country in defensive turnover percentage and steal percentage, VCU. I had seen Charlotte's guard length give LaSalle fits. But the 49ers were now without two of their best players. DeMario Mayfield, their best three point shooter, has been suspended from the team and J.T. Thompson is out for the season with a torn ACL.The Charlotte pep band and student section were ready for Ram Nation. The band started with a very good version of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" and were solid all night. The student section did their part during the VCU team introduction by drowning out Ram nation with a loud chant of "FORTY - NINERS".
Charlotte scored the first basket on a Willie Clayton offensive rebound and putback. But VCU responded with an 8-0 spurt, which included forcing two 49er turnovers. Rob Brandenburg's jumper put the Rams up 8-2 barely with 16:55 left in the first half. Barely three minutes into the game, Charlotte senior forward Chris Braswell was already incurring the wrath of the fans in my section, 217 Row K. Braswell had missed three jumpers and committed a turnover. When they saw Braswell camped out by the three point line, which he is warranted to do sometimes, one fan yelled "Braswell, don't shoot a three pointer, because you always miss them!" The fan knew what he was talking about as Braswell attempts nearly two three point attempts per game and is shooting 22.5 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
VCU extended their lead to ten, 18-8 on a Treveon Graham three pointer. Nine minutes into the game, the Rams had forced five turnovers and hit on more than half their shots. A Juvonte Reddic jumper with about eight and a half minutes left in the half kept VCU's lead at ten, 22-12.
But Charlotte ramped up their intensity on both sides of the ball and went on a 10-0 run over the next four plus minutes. The 49ers gave the Rams a little bit of their own medicine, forcing two turnovers in the span, which led to four Charlotte points. Terrance Williams' jumper tied the game at 22 with a little more than four minutes left in the half. The 49ers' fans were the loudest I had heard them in the three Charlotte games I had attended on the season. Shaka Smart was forced to call timeout as Halton Arena was rocking.But off the timeout, Smart got the ball in the hands of Brandenburg who calmly buried a three pointer to put VCU up three, 25-22. The next play that ensued was the craziest play on the night. Chris Braswell had an open two on one break for an easy layup. But as he awkwardly dribbled toward the basket, he fumbled the ball, much to the displeasure of the fans by me. But fortunately for Braswell, Clayton was there and put in the layup to cut the Rams lead to one, 25-24.
VCU though would end the half outscoring Charlotte 9-4. With 00.1 seconds left in the half, Theus leaned into Charlotte's Pierria Henry on a jumper. The jumper was good and the foul was called on Henry. Theus would make the free throw and the Rams would go into halftime up 34-28.After an entertaining halftime show by a local acrobatic fitness group (Astro Fitness I believe), the 49ers had an inauspicious start to the second half. They committed turnovers on each of their first two possessions. However Charlotte maintained their striking distance to VCU, still only down six, 41-35 with fifteen and a half minutes in the game.
But the turnovers kept coming for the 49ers. Their fourth and fifth turnovers on consecutive possessions led to Rams' baskets. After Henry committed a turnover, Reddic's layup put VCU up ten, 45-35 with fourteen minutes left in the game. A Brandenburg layup and two Reddic free throws extended the Rams lead to twelve, 49-37. The 49ers chipped away at the lead with a 5-0 mini spurt over two plus minutes. A layup by Hentry made it 49-42 with 8:54 left. But Charlotte could have made the score much closer in that time frame had they not missed four free throws; two by Clayton, one by Darion Clark and one by Braswell, who was ingratiating himself with the fans more and more as the game progressed.
After Henry's layup cut the lead to seven, sensing a momentum shift, Smart again called timeout. And again off the timeout, it was Brandenburg who made the 49ers pay for their missed chances. He buried a three pointer and followed with a layup to extend the Rams lead back to twelve, 54-42 with seven a half minutes left. Charlotte again responded with four straight points to cut the lead to eight again, 54-46. But for the third time in the game, Smart called timeout. And for the third time again, Brandenburg responded burying a three to put the Rams up eleven, 57-46 with six minutes left. A little bit later, Troy Daniels finally got into the act, hitting his first three pointer on the night to put the Rams up twelve, 62-48 with four and a half minutes left in the game.
It was at this time that the 49ers' fans had seen enough. They started leaving in droves. And even when Terrance Williams' ridiculously banked in a three pointer to make the score 66-57 with one minute left, the mass exodus from Halton Arena was well under way. The 49ers put in a meaningless last second basket to make the final VCU 68 Charlotte 61. Thus ended the 49ers undefeated streak at Halton this season.
With Graham in foul trouble for most of the game, Brandenburg and Reddic stepped up for the Rams. Brandenberg had twenty one points on seven of twelve shooting including three 3-pointers. Reddic added fourteen points on six of nine shooting and added three blocks and two steals. Graham still had twelve points for the Rams who shot nearly fifty two percent from the field against one of the better field goal defensive teams in the nation. VCU also scored twenty three points off seventeen Charlotte turnovers.Charlotte had a good shooting night against VCU, shooting over fifty one percent themselves. But what killed the 49ers was a) The turnovers, b) Shooting one of seven from beyond the arc (Williams' lucky three was the only three pointer for Charlotte on the night), while VCU shot seven of eighteen from beyond the arc and c) an abysmal twelve of twenty two from the line. Willliams had thirteen points and Clayton added twelve. With Mayfield now gone for the rest of the season, Charlotte's other two leading scorers on the season, Braswell and Henry, combined for only sixteen points on five of nineteen shooting (the rest of Charlotte shot nineteen of twenty eight from the field.
With the win, VCU remains tied for first in the tight Atlantic-10 with Butler and Saint Louis at 7-2. With the loss, Charlotte dropped all the way to a seventh place with Temple and George Washington , two teams that have beaten them, at 5-4. The bright side for the 49ers is that UMass, LaSalle and Xavier are all tied for fourth at 6-3. Charlotte has already beaten all three of those teams. Only two games separate the first place team from the ninth place team in the Atlantic-10. The Atlantic-10 is the perfect microcosm to the wild 2012-13 college basketball season. Perhaps it's not just a night of havoc, but a season of havoc.
That's VCU's type of season.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Fordham Scouting Report by A Daly Dose of Hoops
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Hi everyone, this is Jaden Daly from A Daly Dose Of Hoops here, providing a closer look at the Fordham Rams as they prepare to invade Halton Arena for their first Atlantic 10 road game of the season against Alan Major and Charlotte. I cover the Rams on a regular basis, having already seen them six times this season, and would like to share some of what Charlotte can expect to see.
Game Reviews, Nuggets and Quotes
Starting Guards
Tom Pecora routinely plays a three-guard set, and junior Branden Frazier is the centerpiece of the Ram backcourt. Frazier, a Brooklyn native who was Pecora's first recruit at Fordham; and would have gone to play for him at Hofstra if Pecora were still there, has improved considerably in this, his third campaign in a Fordham uniform, coming into this contest as the Rams' leading scorer. Frazier, whose tendency to take ill-advised shots was once off the charts, has improved his shot selection dramatically, and has become more of a facilitator too as evidenced by his two double-doubles against Siena (20 points, 10 assists) and Duquesne. (16 points, 13 assists)
Bryan Smith is usually the second option out of the backcourt, and is honestly like a box of chocolates: You never truly know what you're going to get from the sophomore. One night, Bryan can knock down several threes from the corner like he did against Monmouth, (18 points) while he can be an enigma on others, like he was against Manhattan, fouling out and only managing one point on a free throw.
Finally, Mandell Thomas is the third member of the starting backcourt. A freshman who has just recently found his way into the opening five, Thomas is arguably the best pure athlete on the squad, finding ways to drive inside while also displaying a relentless defensive game. Thomas also has a flair for the dramatic block late in regulation, as he has rejected potential game-tying shots in the final minute on three separate occasions to offset his lack of offensive productivity.
Starting Forwards
The Fordham front line begins and almost always ends with Chris Gaston. A senior from New Jersey, Gaston is a first team all-Atlantic 10 selection this season, and is recovering from a torn meniscus that sidelined him for a month earlier in the season. When healthy, he is a walking double-double that can burn teams with his patented mid-range jumper, which sometimes looks like he is literally pushing the ball into the basket. Since returning from the injury in December, Gaston has lost half a step rebounding the ball, but is still far and away the Rams' best threat on the glass, which complements his natural scoring talent.
Ryan Canty usually gets the start alongside Gaston, and if there were an award for Most Improved Player in the A-10, it would go to the sophomore from Massachusetts. Canty was forced into the lineup while Gaston was injured, and has stuck in the starting five with several breakout performances such as his 18 points against Manhattan and double-doubles against St. John's, Princeton and Mississippi. With an average of seven boards per game, he is the second-leading rebounder on the team behind Gaston.
Bench
The Fordham reserves are a double-edged sword for Tom Pecora, primarily because of their youth. As high as the potential for these players is, each of the four major players in Fordham's contingent of substitutes is a freshman, all of whom are working on multiple facets of their game.
Travion Leonard is a 6-9 power forward who could be an all A-10 big man in the next two years, and has responded much better than most would have expected after losing 65 pounds in the offseason just to get himself into average playing shape. Ryan Rhoomes, another forward whose journey to Rose Hill mirrored the long and winding road that Mike Glover took to Iona, is a 6-8 forward with a natural knack for rebounding the ball in his limited playing time.
As far as Fordham's reserve guards, Jermaine Myers was getting the start at the point guard position and playing over 30 minutes per game until Mandell Thomas' emergence and Myers' lackluster offensive numbers forced the switch in Tom Pecora's lineup. Myers also needs to improve his defense, as he has been battling Branden Frazier for the dubious distinction of leading the team in turnovers.
Jeff Short has recovered from two knee surgeries to see significant minutes as a redshirt freshman, but his major flaw is more often than not trying to do too much to carry the Rams, especially if Frazier is on the bench. Every now and then, he'll hit the occasional three, but his offensive capabilities have by and large yet to materialize.
Strengths and Weaknesses
First and foremost, Fordham's greatest strength is its rebounding ability. The Rams have two gifted rebounders in Chris Gaston and Ryan Canty, with solid help from Travion Leonard and Ryan Rhoomes in that department as well, but that's about it. As far as weaknesses, we'll start out with the fact that Fordham has been unable to consistently play defense, especially in transition. Fordham commits more turnovers than it forces, and when matched up against faster competition, as they were against UMass with Chaz Williams at point guard against Branden Frazier, it does not usually end well. Fordham also struggles at the free throw line, shooting 67 percent from the charity stripe while their physical nature allows opponents to get to the line more frequently, creating for a higher percentage. Fordham is also much more vulnerable away from Rose Hill Gym, as they have yet to win any of their eight games on the road, a recurring theme for this program even before Pecora took over in 2010.
Coaching
Tom Pecora is really trying to make something out of one of the closest situations to nothing. With all due respect, Fordham is arguably the most difficult situation in the nation to inherit, and it appears that the former Hofstra coach may be biting off a little more than he can chew in his third season with the Rams. A positive, however, is that he was able to reunite with former assistant coach Tom Parrotta after he was fired by Canisius last season. Parrotta, who worked with the big men as a Pecora assistant at Hofstra, is doing the same at Fordham; developing Ryan Canty, Ryan Rhoomes and Travion Leonard, with each showing their own flashes of brilliance.
Intangibles
Based on last year's matchup where Charlotte stole a heartbreaking win at Rose Hill against Fordham last season, the Rams have a winnable game on their hands for their Atlantic 10 road opener. A key will be to win the matchup of the Chrises, as Chris Gaston faces a player cut from a similar mold in Charlotte's Chris Braswell.
Overall
As good as Fordham has looked in their wins this season, they are still a major work in progress, and the relative youth on this team has come back to hurt them as they develop the experience that will serve them better over the next two seasons. The Rams stand a chance in this one, but they will need a near-perfect game based on their road history in order to come away from North Carolina victorious.
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