Legends wrapup: Indiana takes the title and a box score analysis

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – It’s time for a closer look at the Progressive Legends Classic final night at the Barclays Center.

CONSOLATION:

UCLA 60, Georgia 56

… Continue Reading

Stepping back to look beyond basketball

This past weekend has reminded us that there are bigger things than basketball. Most teams are off for final exams for some/all of this week, and a major brawl on Saturday also brought out that sentiment. While we’ll have more on the brawl later, right now there’s something else to think about in keeping with the theme.

I’m sure others have said it, but I remember ESPN’s Buster Olney once remarking that when you’re in the media, you become a fan of the game instead of a particular team. It’s very true, and part of that is being a fan of the people involved in the game. This is a people business in every respect, and those who succeed the most in this industry, no matter what capacity they are in, know how to deal with people.

To that end, I give you Ken Dempsey, the associate head coach at New Hampshire. Tuesday is an important day for him.

Dempsey recently shared on the National Coaches’ Diary Series on College Chalktalk that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. On Tuesday, he goes for surgery to address it, and will take an undetermined leave of absence from the basketball team. He is not the first and won’t be the last college coach to have to deal with this dreaded disease, but fortunately the outlook is good and there’s some personal significance.

We all have people who have helped us get where we are. Dempsey has helped many people in that respect in 25 years of coaching at several Division I schools, but it isn’t just players who have benefited from knowing him. I have no better friend in basketball than Ken Dempsey.

When I was an undergraduate at Northeastern, Dempsey joined the basketball staff when Dave Leitao took over as the head coach my freshman year. Dempsey was the first coach I met, and after a badly failed attempt to walk on to the team, he didn’t forget me. I would see him around the gym (back then, Cabot Gym was not only where the team practiced, but also the student recreational facility), especially if I was playing basketball before the team came to practice. He sensed that I liked the game, and encouraged me to join them as a manager. I would stop by the office and have conversations with him and Darryl Hilliard, also an assistant there at the time, and the relationship grew from there.

The next year, I became a manager. My experience in doing that was tremendous for a lot of reasons, from being so close to the game that I love to traveling to places I had never been to understanding what goes into a team’s season. There is not enough space to share how much that helped me to get where I am today, and that’s before I mention some of the things external to my role as a manager. Dempsey gave me access to recruiting reports so I could see what they looked like and start having a feel for the next college stars, and introduced me to Bob Gibbons when he visited Northeastern one time. This was back when there weren’t nearly as many people covering recruiting as there are now, as the Internet was still in its infancy in terms of its effects on athletic media.

That was only the beginning. When Dempsey left Northeastern just before I graduated, we made sure to stay in touch, and have done that. After some time away from the northeast, he’s been back for several years now. Interestingly, I covered what proved to be his last game as an assistant coach at UMKC before coming to New Hampshire – a tough loss in the then-Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League) Tournament in Tulsa.

Dempsey is optimistic that his leave from the team will be on the order of weeks. He is well-connected and has been in contact with some people who have dealt with this to learn from their experiences, and has had great support from everyone in Durham. And as he goes in for surgery on Tuesday to start the battle against prostate cancer, I know I am one of many people who is praying for a positive result at the end of all of this.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• About that brawl: Cincinnati and Xavier each suspended four players for their roles in the well-chronicled brawl at the end of Saturday’s meeting between the two teams. Cincinnati suspended Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbodj and Octavius Ellis for six games each and Ge’Lawn Guyn for one game, while Xavier suspended Dez Wells and Landen Amos for four games each, Mark Lyons for two and Tu Holloway for one.
• Indiana scored a dramatic win over Kentucky with a buzzer-beater on Saturday. It’s the biggest win for the Hoosiers under Tom Crean.
• Murray State knocked off Memphis on Sunday night, which improves the Racers to 10-0. But what has unfortunately received a little more buzz from that game than how good the Racers look is Memphis’ public address announcer announcing John Calipari as the Tigers’ head coach, which was greeted with a round of boos.
• It’s a light week of game action, and Monday night was no exception as the most notable game was probably Oregon’s 79-70 win over Portland State.

Games to watch on Tuesday

• Wisconsin at Milwaukee, 8 pm EST
• Belmont at Middle Tennessee, 8 pm EST

Indiana Hoosiers 2011-12 Preview

Indiana Hoosiers (12-20, 3-15)

After a disappointing year, Coach Tom Crean (28-66) needs to put a winning season together for the Hoosier faithful.

Projected starting five:

Jr. G Jordan Hulls
Sr. G Verdell Jones III
Jr. F Christian Watford
Sr. F Tom Pritchard
Fr. C Cody Zeller

Important departures:

None of note.

Additions:

Fr. SF Remy Abell (Rivals.com three-star player)
Fr. SF Austin Etherington (Rivals.com three-star player)
Fr. C Cody Zeller (Rivals.com five-star player)

Outlook:

Indiana is coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons. The Hoosiers return four starters from last year, but that may not mean much based on last year’s record. A huge addition is freshman and top recruit Cody Zeller. If Crean hopes to stay the riotous Indiana crowd, he will need to get this team up to snuff quickly and establish Zeller as one of the dominant inside players in the NCAA.

Schedule highlights:

Indiana takes on preseason No. 2 Kentucky in early December on ESPN. A win could substantially inflate the Hoosiers’ sails. Following a 10-win season in 2009 and a 12-win season in 2010, it is hard to imagine that Indiana will be able to do much better with the majority of their difficult conference games coming near the end of their schedule. Without a tournament invitation this year, IU would likely be looking for a new head coach.

Prediction: Eighth

Next: Iowa Hawkeyes
Back to Big Ten preview

Hoosiers Get a Learning Experience on the Road

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – This game was bound to be a learning experience, in more ways than one. Although the end result wasn’t what they hoped for, as Indiana dropped an 88-76 decision to Boston College, the Hoosiers certainly walked out of Conte Forum Wednesday night with something to learn from, something Tom Crean emphasized several times.

“We’ll learn from this,” the Indiana mentor said. “When do we learn? I don’t know. We may learn by the next game, it may take three weeks.” … Continue Reading

Giving Thanks to Hoops!

Big Ten Notebook: The Big Ten is Down? Not So Fast . . .

Who says the Big Ten is down? Through the first few weeks, the conference has one loss as a whole, and that loss was to Duke.

I admit, the competition isn’t of the highest level, and most of the games have been on Big Ten courts, but there aren’t the Division II losses or stunner upsets that have shown up this time of the season in years past. Does this mean the Big Ten will be represented heavily in the polls or send seven teams to the dance? Obviously not. But it may mean that the conference as a whole is rebounding from a couple of saggy years. The conference basement definitely won’t be as ugly this year, and early wins by the middle-tier teams are optimistic.

Some early season observations:

• Apologies to Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas, but Penn State has the fastest backcourt in the conference. Sophomore Talor Battle looks like a potential all-league pick, averaging over 20 points per game. He’s shooting close to 60 percent from the field, has made 13 threes, and has committed just four turnovers. Stanley Pringle has similar numbers and may be faster end-to-end. They have been able to outrun their opponents thus far, and if that translates to the Big Ten season, the Nittany Lions could flirt with a winning conference season.
• Michigan beat UCLA not with a Beilein barrage, but with its pesky 1-3-1 zone defense. The Bruins were perplexed all night, and the Wolverines made enough plays on offense to win. Manny Harris is my favorite player in the league – in four contests, he’s gotten to the free throw line 39 times and made 34. His aggressiveness will give teammates wide open looks from deep, and Harris is averaging 4.5 assists as well. Beilein has been bringing DeShawn Sims, the Wolverines’ best interior player, off the bench. He can provide an instant spark with his intensity and inside-outside game. They are a team to watch.
• It hasn’t been the prettiest start in Bloomington, but Tom Crean has opened with a pair of wins at Indiana. They were clearly juiced for an opening night win over Northwestern State, but really struggled with IUPUI a few nights later. The inconsistency was to be expected, but if the Hoosiers don’t take better control of the ball (37 turnovers vs. 34 assists in the two games), the winning won’t last long. They face Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Gonzaga in their next four contests.
• Purdue has a stronger grip on the ball. They’ve dished out 73 dimes in their three wins as opposed to 39 turnovers. The box scores tell a story of complete balance: no one is playing more than 26 minutes per contest, but nine are getting in for 13 minutes or more. Six players are averaging 8 or more points per game. What does that equal? Three wins by an average winning margin of over 28 points.
• I have serious hot and cold concerns with Michigan State. They opened by crushing Idaho by 38, but were not impressive in a win against IPFW. The Spartans should dominate the acronym teams. They say a win is a win, but for a team projected to win the conference and challenge for a Final Four berth, a close win against IPFW almost seems like a loss.
• It’s hard to judge after one game, but freshmen sensations B.J. Mullens and William Buford didn’t start on opening night for Ohio State. Buford still managed 13 points and Mullens seven, so I’m not concerned. If Thad Matta has enough confidence in Dallas Lauderdale and Jon Diebler, who started in place of the freshmen, Ohio State might be better than we think.
• Mullens and Buford aren’t the only contributing freshmen. Iowa is being carried by them, and Anthony Tucker is leading the way. The outside specialist is 16-37 from long distance in four wins and averages a team-leading 16 points per game. Freshman backcourt mate Matt Gatens is averaging double figures as well and playing over 30 minutes a contest. Freshman big man Aaron Fuller is also starting and contributing for Todd Lickliter. Disclaimer: I do not expect these numbers to continue throughout the conference slate.
• Also unblemished to this point: Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern.

Early Honor Roll

Best Win:

• Michigan 55, UCLA 52. The Wolverines, as previously mentioned, held UCLA to 42 percent shooting and created 17 turnovers. That sounds more like a UCLA line than a Michigan one.
• First Runner-Up: Illinois 69, Vanderbilt 63. The conference’s best road win.
• Second Runner-Up: Northwestern 81, Central Arkansas 39. Why mention this sleeper? Did you think Northwestern could beat anyone by 42? Me neither, and Central Arkansas even has a win over UNC-Greensboro.

Biggest Scare:

• Wisconsin 60, Iona 58 (OT). Since there’s been only one loss, a close win is the scariest it gets. I imagine the Badgers will play better next time.
• First Runner-Up: Indiana 60, IUPUI 57. Acronym teams can hang with this year’s Hoosier squad, apparently.
• Second Runner-Up: Minnesota 72, Colorado State 71. Would the Gophers have won if CSU’s best player, Marcus Walker, wasn’t hit by a car the day before?

Player of the Week:

• Manny Harris, Michigan. 24 ppg, 6 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 34-39 FTs
• First Runner-Up: Talor Battle, Penn State. 20.5 ppg, 4.3 apg, 2 spg, 13-24 3s
• Second Runner-Up: Raymar Morgan, Michigan State.

Line of the Week:

• Craig Moore, Northwestern, 11/22 @ Brown.
  • 11-15 FG, 9-13 on 3s, 31 points. Broke his own school record with those nine treys.
• First Runner-Up: Manny Harris, Michigan, 11/12 vs. Northeastern
  • 6-9 FG, 1-2 3s, 13-14 FTs, 26 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. As efficient a game as one can play.
• Second Runner-Up: Colton Iverson, Minnestoa, 11/15 vs. Bowling Green.
  • 6 points, 8 rebounds, 9 blocks. His blocks were more than half of the Gophers’ school record 17.
• Third Runner-Up: Jermain Davis, Illinois, 11/17 vs. Texas-San Antonio.
  • 0-4 FG, 0-1 3s, 10-10 FT, 10 points. Encouraging that a guard gets to the line ten times and makes them all, even when the shots aren’t falling.