Giant Bazemore (Recap of Delaware - ODU CAA Quarterfinal)

In November 2010, I wrote an article for my web site on Old Dominion called "The Ground and Pound of College Basketball".  In that article, I talked about how Coach Blaine Taylor has a "philosophy of inside play, suffocating defense and depth that grinds opponents down".  The Monarchs are a team that usually has a nine-ten man rotation that wears opponents down over the span of forty minutes.  The games are generally low scoring, as Old Dominion has been one of the better scoring defensive teams in the CAA the past several seasons.

So when fourth seeded ODU took on fifth seeded Delaware in the second game of the afternoon quarterfinal session, most people expected a repeat of the first quarterfinal game between UNCW and Drexel, won by the Dragons 59-47.  Everyone that covers CAA basketball (otherwise known as #CAAHoops on Twitter) figured on a low scoring, physical affair.  What we all got was completely different.

In one of the funnier moments of the tournament, the Delaware pep band was playing Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" when the Blue Hens came out onto the court.  After a few seconds, the band changed to the Delaware fight song.  But the Immigrant Song sounded more ominous, so they should have stuck with it.

Unfortunately, there was no one in the Delaware student section to see it, outside of the Delaware cheerleaders, dance team and mascot.  It was incredibly disappointing to see, considering the Blue Hens had went 12-6 in conference during the season.  Since the entire starting five is back next season and as Defiantly Dutch notes "the band does killer versions of Foo Fighters' songs", one can hope that there will be a lot better student section attendance at next year's CAA Tournament.

The Old Dominion student section fans made up for the Delaware Student section fans.  First, they started a huge ODU chant three minutes before tip off.  But the creme de la creme was a giant Kent Bazemore cardboard cutout that spanned half the student section.  "Giant Bazemore" feature Kent with his two long arms and in each hand, he was palming a basketball.  It was really cool to see in person.

The first twelve minutes would be very entertaining. The Monarchs quickly went out to a 5-0 lead. But just as quickly, their starting forward Chris Cooper picked up two fouls as well. The Blue Hens responded with an 8-2 spurt to take an 8-7 lead.  Nick Wright hit a three point play to put the Monarchs back up 10-8.  Delaware's  Jamelle Hagins tied the score at ten. But ODU regained the lead 12-10 on a Donte Hill layup. The Monarchs would hold the lead, up 29-24 with just eight minutes left in the half.

Amazingly, the last eight minutes of the half would be even more exciting than the first twelve minutes.  The Blue Hens scored the next six points, including a three by Kyle Anderson, to take a 30-29 lead.  But after Chris Cooper hit one of two free throws, "Regular Size Bazemore" nailed a three pointer to put the Monarchs back up 33-30.

This would become a common theme as Delaware would tie, take the lead, only to see ODU tie and take the lead.  There were seven ties and ten lead changes in the first half.  The Monarchs would finally score eight of the last ten poinfs of the half as "Regular Size Bazemore" buried a three pointer from long beyond NBA range, then hit an old fashioned three pointer to put ODU up 47-42 at the half.

It was the most exciting first half of the tournament.  Three Monarchs were already in double figures in scoring at the half. Bazemore scored fifteen first half points.  Devon Saddler led Delaware with eleven points.  ODU was six of ten from beyond the arc while Delaware was four of eleven.  The other stats were pretty similar.   The question was, could both teams keep up this frenetic pace for another twenty minutes.

It turned out one of the two teams could.  The Monarchs picked up right where they left off as they hit five of their first six shots. Bazemore buried another three pointer in the 13-4 run that put ODU up 60-46 with fourteen minutes left in the game. All that Delaware could do during that time was for the Blue Hen mascot to put a box on his head.  They didn't have anything to compare with "Giant Bazemore" or "Regular Size Bazemore" for that matter.  The best they could do was the pep band playing the "Sanford and Son" theme song, which was quite good.

Much to their credit, the Blue Hens didn't give up.  They shot forty seven percent from the field in the second half.  Saddler scored another twelve points on five of seven shooting.  But he also committed five second half turnovers.  That helped to lead to ten points off turnovers for the Monarchs.

Despite their pep band trying to rally the team to the theme song of the "Underdog" TV show, the problem for Delaware was that as well as they shot the ball, ODU was even shooting the ball better in the second half. The Monarchs shot forty eight percent in the second half.  Cooper had twelve second half points while "Regular Size Bazemore" had nine points.   Old Dominion would go onto win the game 88-74.

The eighty eight points was their highest output since they scored nine eight points vs. Longwood in November of 2009. "Regular Size Bazemore" nearly had a double double with twenty four points and nine rebounds.  He also added four assists.  Bazemore was one of five Monarchs in double figures in scoring.

After the game, ODU coach Blaine Taylor was asked if he was concerned that his team could play at that pace.  He responded that he "actually wanted to play faster", which stunned the media in the conference room.  Most of us were used to seeing the "Ground and Pound" Monarchs.

Perhaps it was "Giant Bazemore" that inspired Taylor to have his team play that way.  It certainly worked for "Regular Size Bazemore".  He certainly played like a giant in this game.

Effort and Heart Are Not Enough for Towson (Recap of Towson vs. Delaware CAA First Round Game)

In the second game of the afternoon session of the CAA Tournament,  Delaware took on Towson.  The game seemed like a foregone conclusion as the Tigers had one win all season.  But they had played the Blue Hens close in both of their games.

When Defiantly Dutch and I came back from the UNCW - James Madison post game conference, Delaware was only up 7-5.  Six minutes later it was 18-9.  Four minutes later it was 30-13. As expected, the Blue Hens were pulling away from the Tigers.

In the scariest moment of the day, during the first half, there was a battle for a rebound and a Towson player fell with all his weight on Delaware's Hakim McCullar, who was slammed to the floor with a loud sickening noise.  The Richmond Coliseum crowd went completely silent for several minutes as McCullar lied motionless for a few minutes. Then he sat up for a few minutes, then the Delaware staff helped him walk off the court.  He ended up having concussion like symptoms, but thankfully was okay otherwise.

Towson was able to cut the deficit to eleven at the half.  That's because they played with a lot of effort.  They just couldnt put the ball in the basket in the first half as they shot seven of thirty three from the field.

No one exemplified the above statement than Tigers senior forward Robert Nwankwo.  For forty minutes, he got offensive rebound after offensive rebound.  But either he missed the followup shot or he was fouled. Nwankwo was eight of twenty two from the field on the day. However, he was eleven of fifteen from the line.

Towson continued to chip away in the second half as they started finally hitting their shots.  With about seven and a half minutes remaining, the unthinkable occurred.  The Tigers' Deon Jones hit a jumper and Towson had come all the way back to tie the score at fifty three.  Delaware's Devon Saddler responded by burying a three pointer.  The Tigers had a chance to tie a few minutes later. But Nwanko missed a jumper and that was their last opportunity to tie the game.

Delaware was too strong from the foul line as they hit twenty seven of thirty eight free throw attempts.  In the end, Delaware had a 72-65 win.  Saddler led all scorers with 28 points and was four of nine from beyond the arc.  Jarvis Threatt, who reminds me so much of Loren Stokes, who used to play for Hofstra, added fifteen points, nine of which came from the line.  Josh Brinkley added fourteen points.

The Tigers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Blue Hens 51-33.  Towson had twenty four offensive rebounds, twelve came from Nwankwo.   Nwankwo's final stat line was twenty seven points and twenty rebounds.   It was the first twenty twenty stat line in the history of the CAA Tournament and the twenty rebounds tied the CAA Tournament record which is also held by Larry Sanders in the 2009 CAA Championship game.

For the second year in a row, the Tigers played a very close #5-#12 game, but again came up short.  But as Coach Monte Ross said about Towson, "You wouldn't know their record by the way they play."  Nwanko, a senior, talked about how the young players needed to have listened to Coach Ross sooner in the season about the effort necessary to win.  If you were at the press conference, one could see that he really cared about his team's play and the development of the younger players.
 
You wished Nwankwo could play another season so that he could be a part of the development of Towson. However, he will have to watch them from afar next season, even if it seems like his heart will always be with them.

Barbecue and VCU in Newark (Recap of VCU vs. Delaware)

Over the years, I have been fortunate to go to many college basketball venues.  Some, like the Webster Arena in Bridgeport, aren't conducive to college basketball games, especially when there are only two thousand people in the stands.  Others, like the Acierno Arena at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware truly stand out.  And it's not just for the basketball experience that makes the Bob so enjoyable, it's also the culinary experience that makes me come back there year after year.

Yesterday, I picked up my partner in crime Tieff and made the all too familiar drive down the New Jersey Turnpike/I-95 to Newark, Delaware.  When we got to the Bob Carpenter Center at 2:00 P.M.,  I noticed that there were very few cars in the parking lot.  Turns out what I thought was a 2:00 P.M. game was a 4:00 PM game being televised on the CAA Network.  So we headed to a nearby McDonald's and then came back to the Bob at 3:00 PM.

A few years ago, when I went to my first Hofstra-Delaware game at the Bob, I learned the ways of the barbecue station.  When you walk into the Bob and head up the main set of stairs to the Acierno Arena, to your right is the Man vs. Food experience of CAA basketball.  Here lies a concessions area with a barbecue carving station.  For a reasonable price, you can have your choice of one large sandwich roll or two smaller sandwich rolls filled with either barbecue pork, roast turkey or roast beef, along with two delicious sides.

Normally, I have the barbecue pork on the large sandwich roll.   But my server convinced me to do the two smaller sandwich rolls, so this way I can have two different tasty choices.  I chose the barbecue pork with the additional sweet sauce and the barbecue beef, with the gravy.  They cut the beef and the turkey right there for you.  Then comes the two sides.  Nothing better than baked macaroni and cheese and german potato salad.  Ah, heaven.

Another nice thing about this concessions area is that there are large roundtables for you to sit and eat your barbecue cuisine.  Often you are sitting with other fans at the same table.  I remember a couple of years ago, Tieff and I sat with a family.  Their daughter was driving on I-95 to meet them there.  We had noticed a lot of highway patrols that day and told the mother about that.  She gave her daughter a call and advised her not to speed.  Hey, anything we can do for fellow basketball fans.

I never refer to the place the Fighting Blue Hens call as home the Acierno Arena.  It's always been the Bob to me and to many others.  It was the home of many America East Tournaments when Delaware was part of that conference.  Now it's just another one of the twelve regular season venues in the CAA.  The Fighting Blue Hens were home to the Rams of VCU in yesterday's contest.  Many VCU fans made the trip up from Richmond.  In fact in my row, it was mostly made up of  Rams' fans.  Have Final Four Appearance, will travel.

The Blue Hens and the Rams have both got out to 3-2 records in the CAA.  So the game was for a share of fourth place in the Colonial, which is important.  The top four teams in the conference get first round byes in the CAA Tournament.  And since the tournament has expanded to twelve teams in the 2005-06 season, no team that has not had a first round bye has won the CAA Tournament.

The game started out with VCU showing terrific ball movement on offense, but they didn't have much to show for it as they struggled for the field.  In the first half, VCU shot an abysmal one of nine from beyond the arc and shot twenty eight percent from the field.  Big Time Bradford Burgess was having a rough first half shooting one of seven from the field.  But he hit seven of eight free throws and still had ten points in the first twenty minutes.

But Delaware struggled even worse.  First, their offense doesn't seem to have many set plays. It really is based on Devon Saddler, the combo guard for the Blue Hens, creating plays off the dribble, whether it's a pass to Kyle Anderson, the Blue Hens long distance shooting guard or inside to Jamelle Hagins, or Saddler taking a shot himself.  They didn't know how to attack VCU's zone defense and not once did a Blue Hen big man go into the middle of the zone and try to hit a jumper.  Saddler had a run first half, shooting one of nine from the field.

The Blue Hens didn't score a point for nearly the first nine minutes.  But thanks to the Rams' shooting woes, they were only down 8-0.  Then just like that Saddler and Anderson hit three pointers and it was a game at 8-6 with ten and a half minutes left.

Then came the play of the game.  VCU's Juvante Reddic, a six foot nine sophomore forward, got the ball at the top of the key.  Reddic then in a blur, flew by his man and hit a layup and was fouled.  Our whole row was stunned in amazement.  Tieff and I had never seen someone that size drive the lane so fast.  It was incredible. Reddic hit the free throw to put VCU up 14-10.

The game was relatively close for the next several minutes.   Then around four and half minutes left in the half, VCU went on a 9-2 spurt led by Burgess, Reddic and a technical foul called on Delaware Head Coach Monte Ross.  The Rams were up 30-19.   Delaware scored four straight points to cut the deficit to 30-23 at the half.

At halftime, we made our way to the ice cream stand located behind our section.  It was hard ice cream and they had some terrific choices. I decided to have the "Twist and Scotch"; butterscotch ice cream with chocolate covered pretzels.  You could actually smell the ice cream and it was absolutely delicious.

The start of the second half saw Josh Brinkley go to work for the Blue Hens.  Twice Brinkley scored baskets on offensive rebounds and both times he was fouled.  He made both free throws and hit one of two free throws on an earler foul as he scored Delaware's first seven points.  Saddler followed with a layup and Delaware had cut VCU's lead to four, 36-32 with 15:50 left in the game.

The media timeout came at the perfect time for the Rams, as it allowed them to regroup. VCU then went on a 12-2 spurt over the next four minutes.  Treveon Graham and Briante Weber, two of the Rams' freshmen buried three pointers to give VCU a 48-34 lead.  

Saddler scored four of Delaware's next six points and cut the lead to eight, 48-40 with a little less than ten minutes left.  But it was as close as the Blue Hens would get the rest of the way.  Saddler's shooting woes continued as he was two of ten from the field in the second half and only scored ten points on the day.

Meanwhile, Burgess came alive late in the second half with two three pointers for the Rams.  When Reddic hit an emphatic dunk with two minutes left to put VCU up 65-50, all that was left was for Shaka Smart was to clear his bench. Late in the game, seldom used but highly recruited Rico McCarter tried to go for a slam with his team up twelve with twelve seconds left.  Hagins let it be known that was against basketball code by trying to block the shot but making sure he fouled McCarter hard.  McCarter got a statistic in the game, making one of two free throws to make the final score VCU 68 Delaware 55.

Despite being four of fourteen from the field, Burgess had eighteen points to lead VCU.  Reddic added eleven points, nine rebounds and one everlasting memory for me.  Four other Rams' players scored eight or nine points in the game.  For Delaware, Brinkley (thirteen points, 11 rebounds) nd Hagins (ten points and fourteen rebounds) each had double doubles and Saddler had his aforementioned ten points.

As Tieff and I made our way back to New York, it was another successful road trip.  Terrific barbecue, delicious ice cream and good college basketball.   Hoops and food.   You can't beat it.

CAA Notes Heading into First Day of Conference Play

Today marks the first day of CAA conference action in the 2011-12 season.  There are five conference games on tap - James Madison vs. Hofstra, George Mason vs. Towson, William and Mary vs. Georgia State, Drexel vs, Delaware, and Northeastern vs. Old Dominion.  On December 17, UNCW will play at VCU to even up the conference schedule.  Mike Litos has a good preview of all the games.

What conference play holds for the Colonial teams is still to be determined.  But so far, it's been a crazy non conference season for the Colonial teams.  Here are a few highlights.

• Florida Atlantic is 3-0 vs. the CAA. Yes, Georgia State, George Mason and Hofstra are all victims of Mike Jarvis' Owls.  Unfortunately, FAU is 0-5 in the rest of their non conference schedule.
• George Mason has the best overall record in the Colonial with a 5-2 record.  But the Patriots could easily be 3-4.  They needed overtime to win at home vs. Rhode Island, whose only win on the season so far came at the expense of Hofstra, and had to rally at home to defeat Bucknell. 
• One of the Patriots' losses came in overtime at the hands of Florida International.  Yes, the same Golden Panthers' team that lost by TWENTY SIX at Georgia State.
• Speaking of Georgia State, after losing three games in a row, they have won five straight by an average of twenty one points.  The Panthers are 3-0 at home, with their average margin of victory being twenty two points.  Guess where William and Mary plays today?
• Speaking of William and Mary, has there been a bigger disappointment so far than the Tribe? William and Mary is 1-7, with their average margin of loss being nearly seventeen points a game. Their lone win was a one point squeaker at Liberty, a team that lost at Georgia State by twenty two points. Ruh Roh.
• Despite eventually losing to the Wildcats, Old Dominion (4-3) dominated inside again Kentucky.  Then the Monarchs followed that up by getting outrebounded 45-36 at home by the Catamounts in a loss to Vermont.  The Monarchs have already lost two games at home this season. They only lost two games at home the entire 2010-11 season.  
• Hofstra followed up their loss to Rhode Island by giving Cleveland State their first loss on the season up at URI.  If not for two second half shooting droughts against Florida Atlantic and Boston University, the Pride could be 5-2 instead of 3-4.
• Northeastern dominated St John's at Carnesecca Arena, beating the Red Storm by fourteen.  The Huskies followed that up by losing by seventeen points at LaSalle, who also beat James Madison by nine points.
• Speaking of Big East teams, two of South Florida's three losses are against ODU and VCU, while the Bulls have won five of their other six non conference games.  Forget the Big East vs. SEC challenge.  Give us the Big East vs. CAA challenge.
• VCU used to be a member of the Sun Belt conference.  I am sure Western Kentucky is glad that VCU is no longer in that conference.  The Hilltoppers have lost two games to the Rams this season, including a twenty three point drubbing on WKU's home court. 
• Delaware is 0-3 on the road and 2-0 at home.  Drexel comes calling today.  Devon Saddler has hoisted 103 of the Blue Hens 288 FG attempts on the season.  Yes, that's more than twenty field goal attempts per game. The next closest, Jamelle Hagins with forty three FG attempts.
• Drexel, the preseason favorite to win the CAA, is a disappointing 2-3.  It simply comes down to FG percentage for the Dragons.  In their three losses, Drexel has shot 38 percent, 26 percent and 31 percent respectively.  The Dragons are 311th in the country in FG percentage at 38 percent.
• The scary thing is the Dragons don't get to the line either.  In five games, the Dragons have attempted sixty four free throws.  That's not even thirteen a game.  Huh?
• In comparison, Hofstra has attempted two hundred and four free throws in seven games. That's twenty nine free throw attempts a game. 
• James Madison is first in the CAA in scoring offense at 77.6 points per game.  They are next to last in the CAA in scoring defense at 74.8 points per game.  At least they are exciting to watch.
• Towson is last in the CAA in scoring defense at 79.2 points per game.  Unfortunately, they are also last in the CAA in scoring offense, averaging 50 points per game.  Yup, they lose by an average of twenty nine points per game.  And they get to host Mason today.  Enjoy.
• UNCW is last in the CAA in rebounding margin and dead last in defensive rebounding percentage. If you can't keep teams off the glass, you have hard time winning.  Thus, the Seahawks are 0-5.