America East Notebook – December 11, 2009

Here’s another round of sites, sounds, and observations from around the America East Conference:

• Whoa there Boston University fans: calm down, take it easy (Not you Hot Dog – there should be more fans with your passion on Comm. Ave). After the Terriers 63-53 victory over Bucknell on Sunday at the Agganis Arena, Terrier Nation was once again proclaiming BU the conference favorite.I’m sorry, did I miss something? Am I supposed to be impressed by the Terriers barely squeaking out a win over an exhausted Bucknell squad that was playing its third game in five days, and two nights before had lost to Binghamton – the same Binghamton squad that gutted its roster and coaching staff before the season’s tip-off after a host of legal troubles?

  Terrier fans are quick to point out that the Terriers field the most talented trio in the league in Corey Lowe, John Holland, and Jake O’Brien – but talent alone has never won the America East. Perhaps even more concerning has been the Terriers’ lack of direction and effort on defense and on the glass, none of which was rectified against the Bison as the Terriers allowed Bucknell open looks all night. The Terriers’ 32-16 halftime lead vanished minutes into the second half, and had the Bison been playing with any legs under them, they very well could have walked away with the game. Further concerning was the absence of Lowe for the entire game (1-5 from behind the arc, five turnovers), and Holland’s disappearance in the second half. Equally concerning is the Terriers’ lack of depth in the post, and lack of sheer effort on the glass, as BU managed a mere seven offensive rebounds.

• While we’re on the subject of rebounding, it drives me absolutely insane when I watch teams give little effort on the glass. It takes absolutely no talent to make an attempt at a rebound – all it takes is effort to fight for positioning. Yet all too often this season I have watched one America East team after another stand around on the court and simply watch as a shot goes up on the defensive end, and subsequently watch as their opponent grabs an offensive rebound and gets an uncontested put-back. And I can’t count the number of times on offense when America East squads have headed back down court after a shot is released only to watch it rim out, giving the other team an easy defensive board. I’ve almost ripped my hair out watching undersized, rebounding-challenged squads like Hartford, Boston University, and Vermont stand around on the perimeter and literally concede rebounds to their opponent. Crashing the glass as a team is even more important for America East teams because most are undersized and guard-oriented, and can not rely on their front-court alone to rebound.Which is one of the reasons why I like Stony Brook so much: no matter what lineup is on the floor, all five Seawolves crash the glass on every single shot, and fight like hell for every rebound.

• Back to Boston University for a minute. I don’t want Terriers fans to think I have an ax to grind – quite the contrary, I was a BU fan long before I was a writer, and I would love for the Terriers to make it to the big dance. The problem is that they simply haven’t shown much on the court, and fans are blind to the product in front of them because of the “Talent” of the Terriers’ trio of Holland, Lowe, and O’Brien. In the America East conference, talent alone does not guarantee a win, in fact sometimes it can be quite the opposite: Hartford from 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 had a heck of a lot of talent, and Northeastern with Jose Juan Barea, Javorie Wilson, Marcus Barnes, et al., from 2003-2005 had even more, yet neither came close to the NCAA tournament because they never played up to their potential (or as anything more than five chuckers). And, frankly, neither Lowe nor Holland has done much to make their teammates around them better when they are not scoring, and both have a history of disappearing when the Terriers need them the most in the conference tournament. Furthermore, BU needs to start attacking the basket, and that starts with Holland and Lowe, each of whom could score 25 points a game if they had the mindset to get to the bucket instead of jacking up 26-footers. Right now Boston University relies way too much on outside shooting, and I have yet to see a team win the America East tournament on the strength of three-point shooting alone. The strategy of bombing away from downtown inevitably fails, because in the do-or-die AE tourney, teams inevitably have an off shooting night. O’Brien has looked very solid in the early going as the Terriers only low-post scorer and defender, but he can’t do it alone, and he isn’t getting much help.This is a team with as much as, if not more, talent than anyone else in the conference, but they need to start matching that talent with direction and effort on the court.

• What I have liked from BU so far has been the demeanor and attitude of freshman B.J. Bailey, who made the play of the game against Bucknell with a critical follow, rebound, and put-back bucket on a missed three. Bailey has played with tremendous poise, crashes the glass hard, and is the one Terrier guard who takes the ball right at the hoop.

• When UMBC forward Darryl Proctor graduated last season, I found myself looking for a new favorite player in the conference. I’ve quickly found one in Stony Brook forward Tommy Brenton, who has a knack for sticking his nose – and chin – in front of opponent’s elbows, and has taken the reins from Proctor as the leagues toughest player (he’s also easily the craziest: no lie, the kid might be certifiable).
  
  There may not be a more fun to watch player in the conference than Brenton: no one plays (or dunks) harder, or with more energy and fire. And no one is better from a fundamental standpoint, as he is the epiphany of a player who can win a game without scoring a point: Brenton is a warrior on the glass, and after setting school records as a true freshman last season, has surpassed Marqus Blakely as the league’s best rebounder because of his sheer tenacity fighting for positioning around the hoop (it also does hurt that he can flat out jump out of the gym). Brenton  currently ranks first in offensive rebounds, first in total rebounds, and trails Blakely by 0.1 on the defensive glass. Brenton has also established himself as the best defender in the league not named Blakely. On defense, Brenton is usually charged with covering the opponent’s best scorer – no matter whether he’s a guard or forward, perimeter player or low-post scorer. On offense, once Stony Brook get’s into its half-court set, more often than not Brenton will run the team as a “point-forward,” and ranks first in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.Brenton has been a human highlight reel in the early going. His two-handed tomahawk slam over URI leapers Delroy James and Lamonte Ulmer silenced the Ryan Center crowd, and could only be described as downright disrespectful. And his steal and one-handed tomahawk slam to complete a furious come from behind win against Columbia was huge.

  But for all of his monster slams and floor-burn plays, Brenton may be most fun for his mental approach. Next time you attend a Stony Brook game, pay attention to the way Brenton sets up opponents minutes ahead to commit offensive fouls, and watch the way he recovers from a late rotation by getting a hand directly in the face of a shooter, instead of flying for an impossible block and committing a late foul.But to make the NCAA tournament, Stony Brook is going to need Brenton to add a new dimension to his game and start scoring more. Brenton has all the tools to do it: he’s as athletic as anyone, is strong as an ox around the hoop, and shot well over 40 percent from behind the arc last year – but he needs to develop a scorer’s mentality and start looking for his shot more.

• Stony Brook needs more scoring from Brenton because of the loss of 6’10″, 298-pound senior center Desmond Adedeji, who tore his ACL against St. John’s and is out for the season. Adedeji’s injury is particularly heart-breaking, as it will likely mean an early end to his career (he used up his redshirt season when he transferred from Dayton per NCAA rules), and it takes on an even more cruel twist when considering that Adedeji worked himself back into shape over the summer, losing almost 50 pounds he had gained after knee surgery last year, and was looking like he would make a major impact in his final year of college.”Were all just heart-broken for Des’. He worked so hard to get back into shape, and he was really looking like he was going to be an All-Conference type player,” said Seawolves head coach Steve Pikiell.

• Speaking of All-Conference players, it’s far to early to make predictions on who will walk away with All-Conference honors, but through almost a third of the season, my All-Conference First Team as of right now would be:
  • Marqus Blakely, F – Vermont: 17.0 ppg (2^nd), 9.0 rpg (2^nd), 3.0 spg (1^st), 2.4 bpg (1^st).
  • Tommy Brenton, F – Stony Brook: 9.4 rpg (1^st), 2.9:1 assist to turnover ratio (1^st), 2.3 spg (2^nd), .643 fg pct (2^nd), 3.2 apg (8^th).
  • John Holland, G/F – Boston University: 19 ppg (1^st), 2.0 spg (3^rd), 6.3 rpg (5^th).
  • Tim Ambrose, G – Albany: 15.8 ppg (4th), .3.6 apg (7^th), 1:1 assist to turnover ratio 441 fg pct (10^th).
  • Will Harris, F – Albany: 16.4 ppg (3^rd), .500 3pt-fg pct (1^st), .533 fg pct (5^th).

• You have to tip your cap to the effort of the Binghamton Bearcats, who earned their first win over a Division I team against Bucknell on Friday. The Bearcats’ troubles during the offseason were highly publicized, as stars D.J. Rivera, Tiki Mayben, Malik Alvin, and three other players were removed from the team, and head coach Kevin Broadus was “reassigned” shortly thereafter (assistant coach Julius Allen has also subsequently be “reassigned”). It’s well-known that Mayben was arrested and charged with selling cocaine, and word of many other improprieties by the departed players and coaching staff abound. The Bearcats began the season with only seven eligible scholarship players and no true point guard (or player who averaged above 4.4 points per game last season). Yet the Bearcats have fought as hard as any team in the league, and hung in most games. Their scrap and grit are admirable, and they would be a great story – if only Mark Macon were not on the sidelines. Binghamton has already given Macon, the interim head coach, a raise, and fans have been quick to blind themselves to his connection with the previous coaching staff, but come on: Macon was a key player in the train wreck that was the Bearcats basketball during the off-season (anyone who thinks that Broadus’ right-hand man wasn’t involved has their head in the sand). As much as I want Binghamton to completely move on and distance themselves from what happened during the previous regime, that won’t happen as long as anyone from the previous coaching staff is at the helm.

• The Play That Wasn’t: Against Harvard, UNH guard Tyrone “Skyrone” Conley had a dunk waived off that would have put to shame Marqus Blakely and John Holland’s Sports Center Top Play dunks of years past. Conley (generously listed at 6’3″) caught a pass on the right baseline, took one dribble and elevated, almost completely clearing 6’6″ Dee Giger as he threw down a monster one-handed tomahawk jam. Giger slid underneath Conley well after he had taken flight, and was standing directly underneath the basket when Conely made contact, both of which should have resulted in a non-call or blocking foul and not a charge. But, as is often par for the America East course, a charging call was made, costing Conley not only the dunk of the year, but one of the best dunks I’ve ever seen. Calls like this would be easily avoided if the NCAA instituted a circle in the zone where charges can not be drawn beneath the hoop like the NBA employs, but that would be too easy wouldn’t it?

• Thought of the week: Escape From Alcatraz – Binghamton Bearcats Basketball.

Seton Hall Romps over NJIT for Fifth Win

NEWARK, N.J. – At halftime Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez gave his team an option, “Give a good second half effort and prepare normally for Hartford (the next opponent) or face two brutal days of practice.” The Pirates opted for the former en route to a 93-53 victory over NJIT at the Prudential Center on Monday.

The first half saw a 43-27 advantage for the Pirates. The game had been close for a good part of the half and a late run allowed the Hall to take the double-digit lead into the locker room. The second half saw the Hall take charge from the start. Their quickness, size (especially), depth and overall talent were too much for the Highlanders, who have two wins on the young season.

“I’ve been involved in 40-point losses where you just wanted to leave and go home,” NJIT mentor Jim Engles said. “Tonight I can say I was proud of our effort. We prepared well and played well for a while.”

NJIT did not have a defensive answer for the likes of forward Herb Pope (game-high 22 points and 11 boards) and Jeremy Hazell on the perimeter (21 points). To add to the Highlanders’ problems was Jamel Jackson, who came off the bench for the Hall to sink 5 treys (15 points). “(Jackson’s) shooting is a good sign for conference teams like Syracuse and Louisville who zone you,” Gonzalez said.

Eugene Harvey added 10 points but was benched for a stretch after three early turnovers. “He’s a senior and is the type that can get down on himself,” Gonzalez said of Harvey, who logged 18 minutes. “One of the challenges of coaching is working in talented young kids with talented seniors.”

The Hall, 5-0 with a nice win at Cornell included, has shown there is ample talent. With Keon Lawrence and Memphis transfer Jeff Robinson (soon to be eligible) still waiting in the wings.

Isaiah Wilkerson led NJIT with 14 points while Chris Flores added 10.

Notes

• NJIT plays a few home games at the Rock and is slated for a few this season. On this night the Highlanders wore the visiting red.
• Engles felt the experience taught the young players what is necessary to compete and get better. “We want to be at the point come (Great West) conference play where we learn our game plan, go out, execute and compete.” Engles also noted he was not really down about the loss. “Hey,” he said,” we are not a Big East club. If I was in the Big East then I would be really upset.”
• NJ Senator Richard Codey , an avid basketball fan and youth coach, was in attendance as he is at almost all Hall games. Codey added his insight, noting “free throw shooting (15 of 23) has to improve or we will pay in a close game.”

Already a Good Team, Cornell Keeps Improving

PHILADELPHIA – They have won back-to-back Ivy League titles and return everyone of consequence from the team that won last year.  The core of the team is a group of seniors that has won the last two together, growing up from being freshmen a few years ago that played like a young bunch.  This year, they don’t appear to have missed a beat, opening with a win at Alabama and winning at UMass along the way.

It sounds like Cornell should be well on their way to another Ivy League title, especially since just about every other team enters the season with question marks in terms of being contenders.  So how do they win again, you ask?

“I say to them, for us to win the Ivy League, we have to be the most improved team in our league, if not the country,” said head coach Steve Donahue.

That sounds like coach-speak, to be sure, but don’t discount it as that.  Sure, other Ivy League teams that might contend have their questions: Penn’s current group is more experienced but hasn’t won yet, Harvard is very young although off to a good start and Princeton looks to be a year away, to name a few.  But everyone is gunning for Cornell, as the Big Red are sure to get everyone’s best shot.  Players also don’t get better simply by showing up, no matter the level of play.  And Donahue has as much respect for the Ivy League as anyone, having previously been an assistant at Penn.

The Big Red are 5-2 after winning all three of their games at the Legends Classic sub-regional hosted by Drexel.  They knocked off the host team on Sunday in a well-played game in which they trailed for just 17 seconds and were tied twice.  It was also a classic strength vs. strength matchup, with the Dragons known for their tough and physical defense and the Big Red for their offense.  The Big Red were a little better defensively than the Dragons offensively, but the big difference was how Cornell played like a veteran team.

“I thought this was a great challenge for a team that is trying to start another run at a championship in terms of trying to identify who you are, how you play,” said Donahue.  “All three games were a test in certain ways, but to play the third one against a team this tough, in their own building, it speaks volumes.”

While Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale get a lot of the attention, and big man Jeff Foote gets his fair share as well as a rare seven-footer in the Ivy League, the Big Red reinforced that they are more than just those three.  In fact, while Wittman was the MVP of the sub-regional, Dale had just five points on 2-9 shooting on Sunday, though he had four assists and no turnovers.  But the Big Red got key contributions off the bench from Mark Coury (eight points, four rebounds) and Geoff Reeves (two big three-pointers).  And Jon Jacques, a little-used reserve, hit two free throws in the final minute to seal the game as they made it a two-possession game.

“I can’t say enough about Jon Jacques,” Donahue said.  “I know people are surprised by that, but to me he’s what we’re all about.  No one cares about how it gets done, and that kid – he’s our captain, three years of not playing, you don’t know how difficult those two foul shots are for a kid like that.”

Even though Wittman made a couple of clutch shots, he was usurped in that category by sophomore Chris Wroblewski, who had just seven points but five in final minutes.  Both shots put the Big Red ahead, the second one giving them back the lead for good.

“The kid has such poise, and I think people forget again that he’s one of our better players and you forget about him,” said Donahue.  “The thing I love about him is that nothing changes with his demeanor.  Miss or make, it’s not going to change how he goes about his business.”

Cornell won this game without starting forward Alex Tyler, who is likely out until their first game in the MSG Holiday Festival on December 20 at Madison Square Garden, and Max Groebe, a key reserve.  Even so, they won with depth, getting the aforementioned key performances.  Donahue is looking for players on the bench to make them better in addition to his starters continuing their improvement.  He thinks players like freshman Errick Peck as well as Coury and Groebe can all make them better.

The Big Red have certainly not played perfect basketball, and aren’t about to rest on their laurels.  Donahue thinks they’re far from their ceiling even though they are clear Ivy League favorites with over a month to go before Ivy League play starts.

“We can get a whole lot better,” said Donahue.  “We’re winning, in my mind, despite not playing really well.  In general, I think we have a long ways to go.  We can improve immensely.  I think it’s great that we can still win games as we’re improving, but this is a long season.”

Old Spice Classic Announces Field for 2010

According to a MAAC release, the eight-team 2010 Old Spice Classic field has been announced, and five of its participants are teams that were part of the 2009 NCAA Tournament: Boston College, California, Temple, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Notre Dame, a 2009 NIT participant, Georgia and Manhattan round out the field.

The competition will have 12 games through three days (four games each day), Nov. 25, 26 and 28. Each team will play a game per day and advance in a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated through two games will play in the championship match on Sunday Nov. 28.

Drexel Just Needs Some Patience to Score

PHILADELPHIA – Bruiser Flint is known as a defensive coach, and his Drexel teams always have a clear identity as a tough defensive team.  Offensively, the Dragons have put up some numbers that aren’t pretty during his tenure, but they haven’t lacked talent.  And although this season’s team has had a tough time offensively, they have shown at times that they’re very capable of scoring.  There’s a simple thing that makes all the difference, and it showed up in the second half against Cornell on Sunday.

“In the second half, we just made them guard us,” Flint said after the Dragons’ loss to the Big Red.  “When we came out, we ran offense.  Honestly, that’s what we knew we could do from the beginning, but we just didn’t carry it out at the beginning of the game.”

Last year’s Dragons were tenth in the Colonial in scoring and last in field goal percentage by a wide margin, shooting 37.2 percent from the field.  Entering Sunday’s game, they were shooting 36.3 percent from the field and just 22.7 percent from long range.

Flint said before the season that last year’s team simply had trouble making shots, including open ones.  He felt they ran good offense, and considering they didn’t turn the ball over a large number of times, it’s clear he’s not trying to offer up a euphemism.  And a look at the field goal percentages shows that even the post players, who typically got shots closer to the basket than the guards, struggled to make shots, as only Leon Spencer shot better than 50 percent from the field.

In light of that, anyone who had not seen the Dragons prior to the second half against Cornell might have come away with a vastly different impression of their offense.  After turning the ball over 12 times in the first half, which matched their total for the entire game against Vermont on Friday, the Dragons had just six turnovers and shot 68 percent from the field in the second half.  The guards looked like they could score all day.

“We decided to be patient and let our offense work itself through,” said forward Samme Givens.  “In the first half, we rushed a lot of shots.  Once we settled down, we started getting into the flow of our game and making them play our game.”

Indeed, the Dragons took a lot of shots early in the possession in the first half.  When they weren’t doing that, their starting guard trio of Gerald Colds, Jamie Harris and Derrick Thomas were turning the ball over – seven times against one assist.  In the second half, they combined for 29 points on 11-16 shooting.

It’s for that reason that Flint told his team they didn’t have to look far to see what can happen with an experienced team.

“I give them credit, this was a great game, because you see, when your team is experienced, what happens,” Flint said of Cornell.  “There was no panic in those guys, they made big plays when they needed to, they stayed within themselves.  Whereas, I start the game and all my guys are running, going crazy, trying to go to the basket, trying to do things they can’t do.”

As usual, the Dragons’ defense will keep them in games.  A very good Cornell offense shot just 40.4 percent from the field against them on Sunday, and opponents are turning the ball over nearly 15 times per game.  None of the Dragons’ four losses thus far have been blowouts – Flint at one point commented, “we haven’t had a clunker all season” – so they’re not far away from winning more games.  If they show a little more patience on offense and the results follow, their defense will probably be enough to win a lot of games the rest of the way.

Young Rockets Have Growing Pains

PHILADELPHIA – With his team down by 28 with a little over 14 minutes left in the game, Gene Cross called a timeout to talk to his young Toledo team.  He didn’t spend time drawing up a play – in fact, the clipboard at one point left the huddle.  Instead, it was a teaching moment, a moment to challenge his team and about something larger than trying to win the game.

“It was more about us coming out and trying to show some maturity,” said the second-year head coach.  “That’s kind of an oxymoron when it comes to this group, because we’re so young, but show some toughness.  I’m trying to help our guys develop some mental toughness in order to get out there and perform and play through mistakes and play through when things don’t go your way.”

Indeed, to say the Rockets are young would be putting it mildly.  There isn’t a senior on the roster, which features eight true freshman and a redshirt freshman in leading scorer Stephen Albrecht, to go with four sophomores.  Forwards Justin Anyijong and Mouhamed Lo are the only juniors.  For good measure, Albrecht has quite the baby face and doesn’t even look like he’s old enough to be in college.

Cross is running into something that is common in the second year of a coach’s tenure.  He inherited a team with four seniors last year, but no juniors.  Oftentimes, players who will transfer upon a coaching change tend to be those with more than one year of eligibility left since it’s often not worth it to sit out and play just one year at a new school.  Although that didn’t happen at Toledo, Cross nonetheless has a roster with a lot of youth in his second year, and even his older players aren’t loaded with experience as only three entered the season having played more than 700 minutes in their career.

The Rockets certainly have some pieces.  Anyijong has good length and remains a “potential” player, although his college career is getting to the point where he is what he is.  Sophomore Larry Bastfield, a co-captain along with Anyijong, gives plenty of effort and had a promising freshman year last season.  Albrecht has quickly made an impact, as has true freshman Jake Barnett, and both have shown that they can knock down the long range shot.  Lo is now coming off the bench, while freshman Jordan Dressler and sophomore Ian Salter have shown that they can be contributors.

The Rockets came out of the Legends Classic sub-regional that Drexel hosted with three more losses, dropping to 0-6 on the season.  That’s one of the tough parts of this, as losing is never easy and especially for a young team.

“A lot of things they are experiencing right now, they’ve never experienced before,” Cross said. “That’s part of the growth process.  Unfortunately, it comes with wins and losses.  We lost this round of games, but hopefully we can begin to develop a winning mentality as they grow and get older.”

Besides providing teaching moments for some of what winning at the college level takes, Cross also talked about how playing three games in three days, as they had to this weekend, is a grind.  He told his team that this is what they can expect in March when the conference tournament comes, when a team has to win at least three games in three days and some need four wins in four days.

“If you want to be able to perform at a high level, you have to display a level of toughness that we didn’t display this weekend,” he added.

Additionally, he didn’t have to look far this weekend for some inspiration.  It wasn’t all that long ago that Cornell, who also played in the sub-regional, was far from a given to win a lot of Ivy League games.  No one would have imagined back-to-back Ivy League titles, including a perfect 14-0 mark two years ago, at that time.  But as the Big Red grew up from being a young team, the wins started coming and the NCAA Tournament bids followed.  Now there are plenty who feel that the Big Red could win a game in the NCAA Tournament.

A Chicago native who has spent much of his coaching career in the Midwest, Cross likes the school and the area.  Last year, the Rockets led the MAC in attendance despite a 7-25 mark overall that included going 6-7 at home, so he knows what kind of interest and support there is among the fan base.  He has recruited well in that region in his career, and many on his current team are from there.

Cross has been in a rebuilding effort before, as he joined Dave Leitao’s staff at DePaul and helped them rebound from two straight losing seasons to reach the postseason three straight years.  So there’s no doubt that he knows what it takes to get a program going again, and that part of it is some patience in addition to players needing to adjust to a whole different ballgame physically and mentally.

Against that backdrop, it’s not surprising that he knows what can happen when a team like this sees losses add up.

“When you lose, you want to try to gain something from it.  If you continue to lose, at some point as young men you start to question the method,” Cross said.  “As long as we keep trying to reinforce that this is the formula, and we stay the course with what our formula is, then we’ll begin to see some success.  We will, we just have to continue to grow and go back to the drawing board and keep getting older and more mature.”

There will probably be more teaching moments this season, although perhaps not quite like the one on Sunday or under the same conditions.  That’s the nature of a young team, but the Rockets have some talent, so with some growth the wins won’t be far behind in due time.

It’s Finally Starting to Come Together for St. John’s

PHILADELPHIA – With all the public speculation about Norm Roberts’ job the last couple of years, it’s only fitting that things are starting to come together for his team.  The feeling was that this would be the time – and certainly, the speculation has been that it’s make-or-break – for St. John’s to break through.

The Red Storm came to Philadelphia in the Philly Hoop Group Classic and took home two big wins.  A big second half rally gave them a win over a good Siena team on Friday night, then on Saturday they held off Temple 55-48 in a game that wasn’t far from being a true road game.  With those wins, they are 5-0 for the first time in Roberts’ tenure, but there’s more than just the record that signals this as a potential turning point.

The core of this team is a group of juniors that came in over two years ago.  It appeared that Roberts was finally gaining traction in recruiting New York kids, as Malik Boothe and Justin Burrell headlined the group.  They certainly haven’t been alone, as D.J. Kennedy, Sean Evans and Paris Horne also start now.  As a group, they had a rough go of it at first, going 11-19 as freshmen before making the CBI Tournament last year and finishing with a 16-18 mark.  They took their lumps and had promising signs along the way, and now they look ready to turn the corner.

And they, along with their coach, believe they deserve to be lauded for it.

“I think these guys deserve buzz,” said Roberts.  “They’ve tried so hard, they want to represent the school, their team, their families the right way.  It would be great for them to get that buzz.  But we also know you’ve got to earn the buzz.  You have to earn it, you have to continue it, be consistent, and we’ve just got to work toward that.”

In all but one season of Roberts’ tenure, the Red Storm has knocked off a ranked team.  That means they’ve certainly been capable and is a reflection of the hard work that Roberts has preached all along, although the talent and experience hasn’t been there.  With wins hard to come by at times, it’s been difficult to keep up the confidence of the team.  As they start winning games, the confidence has to be soaring, because they are seeing a bottom-line reward for the hard work.

“We took our lumps, we never complained about it, we never made excuses about it,” said Boothe.  “We just continued to play, and I think this year is a year that we can go out there and get a little bit of buzz.”

Added Burrell, who seemed to come back to life a bit in Saturday’s win: “We work extremely hard.  It’s been unfortunate that our freshman and sophomore years, we weren’t able to put things together, but we definitely deserve the buzz.  We’re improving.”

The players added that they would not have won Saturday’s game last year.  There, Temple made a run in the second half on a few occasions, but the Red Storm never relinquished the lead.  In fact, after the Red Storm went up by 10 at one point, the Owls never got within one possession as the Red Storm had answers every time they were on the verge.

“We’ve grown up so much,” said Burrell.  “Last year, we would have thrown that game away.  Just in the closing minutes right there, we turn the ball over and they come down and get a dunk.  We kept our composure, we came back down and we take care of the ball on offense.  Last year we definitely wouldn’t have done that.”

Kennedy has been the team’s leader, as the team’s top scorer had a big second half in the win over Siena and made several big shots in the second half against Temple.  He’s always been capable of being more than a scorer, and he’s largely done just that before starting this season very well.  Roberts was happy that he started going to the basket once his jumper wasn’t falling, and the results showed.  Boothe noted that Kennedy’s nickname is “Big Play”.

The players knew this team would get better, although they didn’t want to admit that they would take their lumps.  Those times weren’t easy, but they appreciate that good times appear to be on the way.  Roberts is keeping them grounded, knowing that they haven’t arrived yet, but the way they are playing suggests they are well on their way.  This weekend showed it, and it had the outcome they hoped for when the team agreed to play in the event.

“I wanted this weekend because I think it’s a great springboard, hopefully, for the rest of our season,” Roberts said.  “I knew they would be very difficult games because they were on the road, and I knew playing here would be like playing Temple at home, and it’s part of the maturation process.”

They are doing this without Anthony Mason, Jr., who is still several weeks away from returning, as well as Rob Thomas, another scorer who will only make them deeper.  If they can integrate them into this team without issue, they will only be more dangerous, and that turning point will be ever closer.

Delaware Keeps Uphill Battle Going

PHILADELPHIA – Delaware entered this season looking like a team facing an uphill battle.  The Blue Hens had questions up front, but looked like they would have a perimeter unit capable of making this team more than just a tough out in the Colonial Athletic Association.  But that was before Brian Johnson tore his ACL late in the summer, after which a lot changed.  Yet they’re still plugging away, and nearly had a breakthrough on Saturday night in an overtime loss to Virginia Tech.

The Blue Hens don’t have another true point guard like Johnson, who had started since arriving on campus three years ago.  They have asked Jawan Carter, who at one time was a point guard in high school but had become more like a scorer, to run the team, and that’s had an impact they are trying to manage.  Besides having to change his mindset to not just look for his offense, the change makes it more difficult for him to be a scorer in part because he has to shoulder a good deal.  In Saturday night’s loss, he handled it quite well, scoring 23 points and handing out eight assists.

“It’s an awful lot to ask of him,” said head coach Monte Ross.  “To whom much is given, much is required.  He really got in the lane and fed the big guys, fed D.J. (Boney) and also had the pressure of getting his own.  It was a tremendous job.”

Carter got to the line 16 times, making 12 attempts, and had just three turnovers.  In a game where offense was hard to come by for both teams, he played a rather efficient game overall, and it’s a big step.

The backcourt issues are the most acute for the Blue Hens, and that was especially the case on Saturday as Alphonso Dawson dressed but did not play for disciplinary reasons.  That left Carter and Boney as the starting guards, with Edwin Santiago and Malcolm Hawkins off the bench.  Santiago has not developed in his two-plus seasons, while Hawkins is a freshman and played just three minutes as he has some work to do.  The Blue Hens could have used Dawson in a game like this.

“We consider it an extreme privilege to put on the Delaware uniform every single night,” Ross said after the game.  “Once you start taking that privilege for granted, sometimes you have to be made to step back, reflect, and get that hunger back.  We just need to re-energize him for that hunger, for that specialness that it is to put on the Delaware uniform.”

The frontcourt has plenty of questions as well, and that was clear in this game.  Ross said the difference was the Hokies’ strength, and they had 22 offensive rebounds that they turned into 23 second-chance points.  Delaware starts a frontcourt with two freshmen and Rhode Island transfer Hakim McCullar, and the two reserves are a freshman and sophomore.  McCullar had foul trouble on Saturday but has been their best player there, and Jamelle Hagins and Josh Brinkley, two of the freshmen, may have emerged as the next best players Ross can hang his hat on.  But they are freshmen, so there will be growing pains that come with it.

Ross has never been one for moral victories, a point he reiterated after Saturday’s game.  Even so, he’s keeping a sense of perspective, knowing his team isn’t going to be an NCAA Tournament at-large team and there’s a larger goal in non-conference play besides wins and losses.

“There are really some signs here, and I keep harping on it, that we’re not going to use the excuse that we’re a young group, but I think I saw some signs from our young frontcourt,” Ross reflected.  “If they keep bringing the work ethic that they’ve been bringing to practice, we have a chance to be okay as we go along.”

Although the game was a loss, another bright spot came on the defensive end, long a concern.  With the offense being fundamentally different without Johnson, defensive improvement is a must, and before Saturday’s game the Blue Hens weren’t stopping anyone.  Opponents came into the game shooting 49.3 percent from the field and averaging 85.5 points per game.  Virginia Tech shot 35.4 percent from the field en route to scoring 74 points with five extra minutes.

“We missed some free throws, but we played the scouting report well and we talked, and that’s a big part of defense,” said Carter.  “We were missing that for a couple of games.”

Delaware is now 1-4, with a matchup at in-state rival Delaware State and then their CAA opener looming.  The latter is a tough test as they travel to face preseason favorite Old Dominion.  Ross is hoping the intangibles he saw Saturday night continue in these games and the remaining ones going forward.

“One thing I don’t have to worry about with my guys is them fighting,” said Ross.  “We may not be good enough on a particular night, like tonight, but we’re going to fight tooth and nail every single time.  As long as we do that, we’ll be fine.”

The uphill battle continues, and the Blue Hens continue to plug away.

Siena Bounces Back Behind Point Guard, Balanced Attack

PHILADELPHIA – Senior-laden Siena is certainly not a one-man show.  Evidence of that came on Saturday for those who weren’t already aware.  But there’s no question that the man running the show is a major key to this team, and that can be seen in the contrast of Friday and Saturday night for the Saints.

In Friday night’s loss, point guard Ronald Moore had a career-high seven turnovers.  That wasn’t exactly the script for a young man playing not far from his hometown, and while the Saints didn’t lose the game because of that – six came in the first half, and the Saints allowed the Red Storm to shoot 63 percent from the field in the second half – they certainly didn’t help.  But on Saturday, Moore bounced back, scoring 19 points and handing out 11 assists as the Saints blew out Brown 99-79.

Moore was 9-12 from the field, leading the way as Alex Franklin had 21 on 7-10 shooting and Clarence Jackson had 23 on 8-12 shooting, including 5-8 from long range.

“He was a little over-aggressive last night, he made a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers,” head coach Fran McCaffery said of Moore.  “There was a lot of contact on backdoor cuts and the ball was getting fumbled out of bounds.  Tonight, we encouraged him to do what he always does, but try to get him to shoot that pull-up.”

McCaffery said he’s been trying to get Moore to take that pull-up jumper more.  It’s a deadly weapon considering his quickness and ability to find others, because teams won’t initially play him for the jumper.  They will play him more for getting to the basket and dishing off to teammates like Franklin, Jackson, Ryan Rossiter or Edwin Ubiles, among others, mindful that Moore was among the nation’s leaders in assists last season.  Before Saturday, he had already moved into second place all-time in assists at the school.

A good three-point shooter, Moore had been struggling heading into the game against Brown.  Even after hitting his only attempt from long range, he’s still shooting below 19 percent from behind the arc on the season.  That’s all the more reason McCaffery wanted him to try something different offensively.

“He’s been shooting too many threes,” McCaffery said.  “He’s a pretty good three-point shooter, particularly out of the corner, he’s excellent, but his pull-up game is as good as anybody in the country.  He can get to that elbow, he can get to that free throw line area, against pretty much anybody.”

Moore’s teammates are right with him.  Said Franklin: “That’s his game.  He can hit that shot nine out of ten times, we tell him to shoot that all the time.”

With those abilities, Moore obviously has a balancing act to play, and he’s well aware of it.  Depending on how teams defend the Saints, the results can vary by game.  But given his track record, it’s not hard to figure that his teammates trust him completely.

“I’m so focused on finding other guys,” Moore said.  “I’ve got a lot of good players surrounding me, so as the year has been going along I’ve been trying to juggle both, knocking down the little 15-foot jump shot and being able to find guys.  Tonight, it really worked out for me.”

The big efforts from Moore, Franklin and Jackson also helped offset another tough game for Ubiles, who was 2-9 from the field and has been hampered by tendinitis in his knee.  Ubiles said he first noticed it after the game against Northeastern, in which he played an excellent game with 26 points.  He hasn’t been the same since.

“All I remember was, when I was stretching and trying to stretch my hip, and I turned my knee and I felt my knee crack,” Ubiles recalled.  “It didn’t bother me during the game, so I just kept playing through it, and then after the game, that was it.  My knee just started feeling weak after that.  I don’t remember hurting it in the game, because that whole game I was playing great, and then after it just hit me.”

In the win over Northeastern, Ubiles played better than his 26-point stat line would suggest, as he played like a consummate senior leader.  The trouble with the injury he has is that it’s often one that will only get better with rest, and he’s not going to have much of that until late March.

The Saints may have a tough time being an NCAA Tournament at-large candidate.  Their best win is over Northeastern, a team not likely to be an at-large candidate, and save for Georgia Tech and Missouri Valley favorite Northern Iowa, they’re out of chances for wins that will likely impress the NCAA Tournament committee.  Both games are on the road, which will help, but the Saints look like they will have to come out of the MAAC as champions.

While the MAAC looks good this year, the Saints are the clear favorites.  They have a senior core that has won a lot of games together, including in the NCAA Tournament, and McCaffery is trying to develop some depth as well, which will only help.  That senior core has plenty of balance as well, especially the point guard who makes this team go.  How he plays can often set the tone, as evidenced near his hometown this weekend.

Blue Devils Are a Contender Once Again

NEW YORK – In recent years, Duke teams have been good, but not quite at the level many expect Duke to be.  The name is so big in college basketball, casual fans expect that the Blue Devils will be a national championship contender every year.  But of late, their neighbors down the road in Chapel Hill have taken some of that instead with two national titles in the Roy Williams era.  This time around, however, we can probably start to look at them as a team capable of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if what they showed in New York is any indication.

With their 68-59 win over Connecticut on Friday, the Blue Devils took home the NIT Season Tip-Off for the third straight time they have participated in it.  They also improved to 22-2 all-time in the event.  But more importantly, they showed that they have a lot of parts that can come together to make this team tough to beat in March.  That has been essentially their motto all along.

“For us this year, we just said going into the year, let’s win,” said senior guard Jon Scheyer, who had a game-high 19 points.  “Whatever people want to say about us, they can say about us, but let’s win.  This was our first chance against a high-level opponent to really show that we’re a really good team.”

The Blue Devils appear at first glance to be built around Kyle Singler.  The junior forward is the team’s most recognizable player, but on Friday he had an off game with six points on just 2-12 shooting and eight rebounds.  It ended a streak of 20 consecutive games where he scored in double figures.  But he had plenty of help, especially among his frontcourt mates.  The Blue Devils had a 56-43 edge on the glass, which went a long way towards winning despite shooting just 28.4 percent from the field.

“Kyle has drawn so much attention thus far this season,” said Scheyer.  “He’s our guy, no question about it.  The fact that he didn’t score the ball as much and we won is a big thing for us.”

Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek each had 11 rebounds before fouling out.  Zoubek, who’s battled injuries for much of his career, isn’t going to put up eye-popping numbers, but he’s come off the bench to average 8.5 rebounds per game thus far and has never been more effective.  Miles Plumlee, who had seven boards before fouling out, is right behind him in that category.  Singler hauls down seven boards per game, and the production the Blue Devils are getting means they can bring young guys like Ryan Kelly along at any pace they want to.

“Everybody has been talking about our perimeter, but our bigs are very good,” said Nolan Smith, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer.  “When they show up, they can compete with any bigs.  Today they rebounded the ball tremendously, played great defense, and we count on them.”

The talent on the perimeter isn’t in dispute.  Smith has finally started to play up to his billing, averaging over 18 points per game.  Scheyer has a great basketball I.Q. and is showing it this year with his terrific assist/turnover ratio as he has 32 assists and just four turnovers thus far in addition to scoring almost 17 per game.  With freshman Andre Dawkins coming off the bench, the Blue Devils aren’t missing a beat despite the unexpected transfer of Elliot Williams to Memphis after he was a key to last season’s late success.

“Jon is a terrific player,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski of Scheyer, who added five assists Friday.  “He’s a terrific basketball player.  He has a great feel for the game.”

Dawkins, who Krzyzewski calls “as good a shooter as we have,” was supposed to be a senior in high school right now.  He was already committed to Duke, but graduated early and arrived on campus in the fall.  It hasn’t taken him long to make an impact, as he’s their best marksman from long range having hit 50 percent of his shots from behind the arc and averaging just under 11 points per game.

“Andre gives us another scorer.  He’s confident and knows how to make plays,” said Smith.  “He’s a good defender, and his confidence as a freshman for us is huge.  I think when he comes in, he knows that we’re behind him and what he does on the court, and he’s going to get better all year.”

The Blue Devils undoubtedly feel a lot of confidence after winning on Friday.  They beat a team with a lot of athleticism, doing so by out-rebounding them and largely shutting down their running game, aided in part by their 25 offensive rebounds.  The big men were difference-makers inside, doing what they needed to do.  It all means they just might be back to looking like a team that could make a deep run come March once again.

“Our offense is getting better, but to win a championship you play defense like that,” said Smith.  “If we continue to do that all year long, we’ll definitely be in the running for a national championship.”