Quick Hitters – January 27, 2012

Quick hitters as we get ready for the weekend:

• Boston University was not rebounding well in the early portion of their seven-game winning streak. But in the last two games, the Terriers have dominated the glass, and keeping that up will only help. Granted, it came against two of the worst teams in the conference, but one of them (UMBC) is normally a decent team on the glass. Part of that has come from an emphasis on rebounding of late, but not just at the defensive end. … Continue Reading

Will Syracuse’s hot start cool off this winter?

Syracuse is officially on the clock.

As of Jan. 9, the Orange look an awful lot like the best team in the country. But considering that it’s still early January, that’s not terribly surprising. The question is whether Syracuse will still look like the best team in college hoops in another two months as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Since the Orange won the championship in 2003, Syracuse has made a habit of starting hot, building a record at least nine games better than .500 each season. In half of those seasons, the Orange have had a record as gaudy as at least 15 games better than .500.

But each season, the team has fallen apart for one reason or another. In some cases, it’s a lack of leadership to handle adversity when the team inevitably drops a tough Big East game or two. In other cases, the downfall has been rifts in team chemistry, sometimes leading to suspensions or poor play. And injuries have factored into a few of the collapses.

In sum, Syracuse has not finished a season better than three games above .500 after the Orange’s struggles creep into the picture. Why would this team be any different?

To start, this team has fantastic depth. Ten players average at least 12 minutes per game. Seven players contribute at least seven ppg, but no one scores more than 14.1 ppg, and that’s senior swingman Kris Joseph. In addition, the Orange have superior height than nearly any other team in Division I, with nine players who stand 6’4” or taller.

Coach Jim Boeheim has helped this team navigate through the tumultuous Bernie Fine affair without any semblance of a disturbance on the court. Compared to the off court drama, Boeheim must be happy dealing with any complaints about playing time that come from his talented players — if there have been any at all. Only two players are averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but as far as we can tell, everyone has embraced his role on the team. And that is leading to win after win.

At some point, the Orange will likely drop a game or two in Big East play. Road games against Cincinnati, St. John’s, Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut are potential land mines. But unlike in recent years, this team seems built to overcome the struggles of one night. Boeheim has the Orange playing their best basketball in eight years, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. If Syracuse can maintain its 1.202 points per possession on offense and 0.883 points per possession on defense, both those numbers will be the best marks for offensive and defensive efficiency for the years that Pomeroy has data available (since 2003).

In a season filled with talented teams, Syracuse has earned its No. 1 ranking, and the Orange should remain near the top from wire to wire. And for Syracuse fans, a strong finish to bookend a strong start would be a refreshing change of pace.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman is in the thick of serious allegations after several people at the Bears’ game at South Carolina State said the coach punched Morgan State senior Larry Bastfield during the game, according to ESPN.com news services. The school has indefinitely suspended Bozeman while looking into the accusations. Bozeman and Bastfield say the news is much ado about nothing — with that nothing being an accidental bump during the game, as Bastfield described it.

Xavier coach Chris Mack made his point, then paid the price. Mack missed the past couple of days after tearing a tendon in his left knee while dunking to re-energize the struggling Musketeers, who are 2-5 in the past few weeks, writes USA Today’s Marlen Garcia.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek has accepted the departure of leading scorer Keala King, who left a few days after Sendek suspended him for unacceptable conduct, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. King’s departure is a massive loss for a pretty bad Sun Devils team. King averaged 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 3.3 apg.

St. John’s scored a talented point guard when former Texas A&M sophomore Jamal Branch decided to transfer to the Red Storm, writes the New York Daily News’ Roger Rubin. Branch averaged 4.2 ppg and 2.5 apg for the Aggies, and he chose St. John’s over several other suitors.

Michael Jordan’s son Jeff has decided to leave Central Florida, according to an Associated Press report. His brother, Marcus, remains with the Golden Knights, as Jeff cited personal reasons for his decision.

Coaches vs. Cancer: A final look

NEW YORK – A brief note on the four teams in the recently completed Coaches vs. Cancer classic. The scores:

Semifinals:

Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 60

Arizona 81, St. John’s 72

Consolation:   Texas A&M 58, St. John’s 57

Championship:  Mississippi State 67, Arizona 57

… Continue Reading

Big East has some close calls but remained unscathed — until today

Editor’s note: West Virginia just lost to Kent State 70-60 in a game played this morning as part of ESPN’s 25-hour marathon of college hoops. Figures.

Now that we are a week into the 2010-11 college basketball season, the Big East started the day as one of four conferences that could say every one of their teams made it through the opening weekend without suffering a loss; the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West are the others.

Although you would expect most of the Big East to make easy work of their early season cupcake opponents, the parity of college basketball that has become prevalent in recent years showed itself once again with some big-time programs needing some solid play to hold off so-called mid-majors. … Continue Reading

Quick Hitters – November 11, 2011

Some quick hitters as we reach the night college basketball opens for all teams:

• St. John’s showed that they are a scrappy bunch and will try to win games by speeding teams up and winning the hustle battle.  In each of their first two games, they turned the game around by speeding up the opponent and turning loose balls and second chances into baskets.  They are a very young group, but they’re athletic and acquitted themselves very well in starting out 2-0 this week.

… Continue Reading

St. John’s Red Storm 2011-12 Preview

St. John’s Red Storm

Last Year:

21-12 overall, 12-6 Big East (T-3rd)

Coach:

Steve Lavin (2nd season, 21-12)

Projected starting five:

G: Nurideen Lindsey, So.
G: D’Angelo Harrison, Fr.
F: Sir’Dominic Pointer, Fr.
F: Moe Harkless, Fr.
C: God’s Gift Achiuwa, Jr.

Important departures:

Dwight Hardy 18.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg
Justin Brownlee 12.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.9 apg
DJ Kennedy 10.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.0 apg

Inside the numbers:

4 percent scoring returning
2 percent rebounding returning

Additions:

G: D’Angelo Harrison, 6’3”, 186 – Rivals #40
F: Moe Harkless, 6’6”, 180 – Rivals #41
F: Sir’Dominic Pointer, 6’5” 200 – Rivals #44

Schedule:

Toughest nonconference game(s): 11/17 vs. (16) Arizona, 12/1 at (2) Kentucky
Toughest in-conference stretch: 12/31 – 1/11 at (4) Connecticut, vs. (8) Louisville, at (22) Cincinnati, at (21) Marquette

Prediction:

14th in BE; 15+ wins; NIT Bubble

What to expect:

Steve Lavin came into Queens and turned a lot of heads with an impressive first year at St. John’s. The Red Storm were a little slow out of the gate, but after dismantling Duke at Madison Square Garden, the Johnnies took off, winning nine of their next 11 games.

This year doesn’t promise to be as exciting for St. John’s as they practically lose their entire team to graduation. Lavin did unbelievably in recruiting, bringing in ESPNU’s third-ranked class, but with no senior leadership, it looks to be a rebuilding year for St. John’s.

Another blow came when Lavin was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but the coach has had surgery and hopes to be back for the start of the season. Regardless, not much can be expected from a team starting three freshman and two Juco transfers.

Next: Syracuse Orange

Back to Big East preview

Red Storm Prey on Freshman Mistakes

With seven freshmen and nine newcomers on the roster, St. John’s will probably suffer through a fair share of mistakes made by inexperienced players this season. But on opening night, the Red Storm thrived off the miscues of an opponent’s young point guard.

St. John’s overcame a rough first half in which the Red Storm fell behind William & Mary by seven points. After the break, St. John’s amped up the pressure, and the Tribe’s freshman point guard, Marcus Thornton, couldn’t handle it. Thornton finished with seven of William & Mary’s 21 turnovers.

Sophomore Juco transfer Nurideen Lindsey was a frequent tormentor of Thornton. One of the Red Storm’s much-heralded newcomers, Lindsey did a little bit of everything, … Continue Reading

Welcome back, hoops!

The 2011 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic kicks off the games that count in the standings tonight.

We have three games on tap tonight, two of which you can find on ESPNU if you’d like a change of pace from the Eagles and Bears on Monday Night Football. Here’s who’s in action tonight.

• William & Mary at St. John’s, 7 pm ET
• Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State, 8 pm ET
• Valparaiso at Arizona, 9 pm ET

The finals of the tournament will feature those three major conference teams plus Texas A&M in New York’s Madison Square Garden Nov. 17-18. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see at least one of those teams drop a game in the early rounds before reaching the Big Apple. In fact, the Big Apple’s own St. John’s could be in danger tonight, as the Red Storm start 2011-12 with nearly a complete roster makeover while the Tribe return almost all of last season’s team.

We’ve got an upset watch on opening night!

Back in Action, With Championship-Level Appreciation

Editor’s Note: We’ve trimmed down the Full Court Sprints because Hoopville’s new design has made some elements redundant. In particular, our new design highlights some of Hoopville’s great coverage in the middle column. In addition, we’ve got recent tweets from Phil Kasiecki and Michael Protos in the right column. There’s no games on tap anytime soon — sadly — so the upcoming games and recent results are irrelevant until November. We do have plenty of news to round up and some quick commentary on recent trends and news.

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

If it’s April, three of the top stories in basketball relate to which coaches are changing jobs, which players are going pro, and which players are transferring. Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman has a list for the latter category. In case you’ve missed some of the player movement of the past few weeks, Goodman lists all the players who have announced that they will play elsewhere.

At ESPN.com, you can track all the coaching movement in Division I in a chart that lists schools, former coach and new coach. As of today, 13 teams are still in the hunt for a new coach.

And if you want to find out whether your team’s best underclassmen will be playing in the NBA or NCAA next season, check out CBS Sports.com’s set of charts.

The most recent team to fill its open coaching position is UNLV, according to the Associated Press. BYU associate coach Dave Rice is moving on from the Mormons’ home base of Utah to Sin City. Rice’s now former boss, BYU coach Dave Rose, said Rice is an excellent teacher and has a history of success, which he’ll be taking to the desert and a Rebels team that has emerged as a perennial Mountain West contender.

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin will begin treatment for prostate cancer after announcing that he was diagnosed with the disease in fall 2010, according to SI.com’s “Fan Nation” blog.

BYU is extending coach Dave Rose’s contract, a rare reward for excellence at the university, according to Fan Nation. Just don’t ask about the financial details.

We already have some drama heading into next season’s North Carolina State vs. Maryland rivalry in the ACC. Granted, in recent years, there’s not much of a rivalry to speak of between those teams. However, Wolfpack Athletic Director Debbie Yow, former boss of Maryland coach Gary Williams, accused Williams of trying to sabotage her search for a new coach. She eventually hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried to replace Sidney Lowe, drawing the ire of State fans who wanted Shaka Smart or another hot name. There’s plenty of bad blood between Yow and Williams, according to the “Lost Lettermen” blog.

UCLA finally knows where the Bruins will be playing home games next season while Pauley Pavilion gets a facelift. Eamonn Brennan, of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog, reports that the Los Angeles Sports Arena will host 14 Bruins home games, with the team playing four others at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Fresh off his third national championship, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun said he will take some to decide whether he wants to retire, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. But don’t think that means he’s taking any time off from the recruiting trail.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

I watched every second of Connecticut’s championship game victory against Butler. And that might officially make me a basketball geek — as if there were any doubt about that.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Huskies’ 53-41 win wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever watched. But there’s been far too much talk about how terrible the game was, and some commentators have even hinted that the NCAA Tournament has a flawed format in which the best team doesn’t win the title.

To that, I say: horse manure.

The NCAA Tournament has one of the most difficult post-season formats of any sport at any level because a champion must win six — at least — games in a row against opponents that play a variety of styles. A championship run is a testament of a coach’s ability to strategize a game plan and adjust it during the heat of the action. It’s a testament of great players performing at a consistently high level for three weeks.

Even the most talented teams in the country will likely face at least one opponent that plays a style that makes the favorite somewhat uncomfortable. For underdogs, the ability to get a team outside its comfort zone, force mistakes and capitalize on opportunities forms the recipe for an upset. VCU took that recipe and repeated it from the First Four to the Final Four.

The Rams got past USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas with a pressure defense that preyed on inconsistent backcourt play. On offense, VCU rode hot three-point shooting to cover up for a size disadvantage in the post. If the Rams met the Jayhawks in an NBA-style seven-game series, there’s no way I could see VCU winning the series. I’d pick VCU to win one, maybe two games in seven against Kansas. But the more talented team — as NBA analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley frequently pointed out during their stint as NCAA Tournament analysts — would likely advance, barring injuries or a major internal meltdown.

And that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament wonderful. To be champion, you must come to play every game for three weeks. Anything short of your best effort could send you home. And even your effort might not be enough if you’re running the wrong game plan.

So don’t tell me Butler’s 18 percent shooting in the championship ruined the tournament or somehow devalues Connecticut’s achievement. In the game I watched, I saw an outstanding defensive effort in which the Huskies limited the Bulldogs to a tiny number of clean looks at the hoop. However, Butler also failed to make in-game adjustments. The team took 51.6 percent of its shots from three-point range, making only 9-of-33 attempts. After Chase Stigall hit a three to open the second half and give Butler a six-point lead, the team didn’t make another shot from the field for seven minutes and only one shot in 13 minutes. During that stretch, the Bulldogs missed 11 three-pointers.

Brad Stevens realized his teams was overmatched in the post, but the Bulldogs just weren’t getting it done from the perimeter. The team’s stubborn insistence on jacking up bombs — and bricks — led to the dismal shooting percentage and put Connecticut on track to the championship.

More simply put, the Huskies executed their game plan more efficiently and effectively than Butler could, and the Bulldogs couldn’t adjust to do anything about that. In a championship game performance, that’s all you can ask from the winning team, regardless of the score.

St. John’s Loses Game, Kennedy for NCAA Tournament

NEW YORK – Losing the game was bad enough. St. John’s, however, lost more than just a basketball game on Thursday. They lost a key player for the NCAA Tournament.

Early in the first half, Red Storm forward D.J. Kennedy went down. He had to be helped off the court, which isn’t a good sign. The injury was believed to be a season-ending knee injury at the time, and reports later in the day said the injury is a torn ACL in his right knee, which means he will miss the NCAA Tournament.

… Continue Reading

Officiating Controversy Hits Big East Tournament

NEW YORK – People may talk about this for a while, if the initial reaction is any indication. It may have been a second round game in a conference tournament, but it was a visible one and it was nationally televised, meaning replays are certainly available. St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin, whose team came out on top struggled to find the words, calling it a “kind of a chaotic, you know, flurry of sequences.”

That was certainly one way of putting it.

… Continue Reading

St. John’s Playing Like an Experienced Team

St. John’s is a senior-laden team. Rick Pitino even picked them first in the Big East before the season. While both establish that the Red Storm should be good this season, their 3-0 start in Big East play, with the first two games coming on the road, surely surprises many people not inside the St. John’s locker room.

Winning at West Virginia to begin the slate certainly opened some people’s eyes. On Saturday, they pulled one out where the game was in doubt late and the home team had good momentum. They looked like the veteran team late in the game against a young Providence team. Then on Monday, they came home and knocked off Georgetown to really get some buzz around the program. … Continue Reading

St. John’s Rolls Over UCONN

NEW YORK – There wasn’t a great deal on the X and O side to discuss. St. John’s, from tap to buzzer, simply wanted it more. The Red Storm snapped a nine-game losing streak to UCONN, defeating the Huskies 73-51 in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. “It was a hard physical game,” St. John’s coach Norm Roberts said. “Our guys made plays all day.”
The Red Storm led 35-22 at the break and outside of a brief run or two, were never severely threatened. Sean Evans had a huge game inside with a 19-point, 10-rebound effort to pace St. John’s. The Red Storm placed three in double figures and one, junior forward Justin Brownlee, stepped up to supply 13 points off the bench.
Kemba Walker paced UCONN with 12 points, but was a largely ineffective 4 of 17 from the field. Stanley Robinson added 10 points but was basically a non-factor. The Huskies shot 38 percent from the floor and were guilty of 20 turnovers.
“St. John’s came out with a purpose,” UCONN coach Jim Calhoun said. “They were hungrier.” The Red Storm, not known for prowess beyond the arc, were 7 of 13 from three point range.
From the X and O standpoint a key factor was St. John’s excellent defense on ball screens. “We wanted to stop the penetration of Walker and (Jerome) Dyson,” Roberts said.  They did that to virtual perfection.

The win puts the Red Storm at 17-14. They will face Marquette at 2:30 on Wednesday. UCONN fell to 17-15.

Calhoun said an NIT bid is something he and his staff will discuss. “No disrespect to the NIT,” Calhoun said. “We won it in 1988 and it jump-started our program. Right now we as a staff will sit down and discuss which direction we want to go.”

The eight games of four points or less – all losses – plus the campaign highlighted by inconsistency, has weighed heavily on the entire UCONN program. “For now,” Calhoun said, “there will be no practice the next few days.”
Awards were given following the afternoon doubleheader. Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati earned Rookie of the Year. Syracuse made a big splash with Wes Johnson getting Player of the Year and Jim Boeheim Coach of the Year. Hamady Ndiaye of Rutgers earned Defensive Player of the Year.

The Notebook

TEANECK, N.J. – Earlier this week in a Big East matchup, Syracuse employed a 2-3 zone the entire game. No surprise as Jim Boeheim has been utilizing that signature defense with outstanding success since the days gas was under a dollar a gallon. No, this was actually the Syracuse women’s team who used in in a thorough 79-38 dismantling of Seton Hall at the Pirates’ Walsh Gym.

It seems coach Quentin Hillman, in his fourth year at the Big East school, was observing men’s practice his first year at Syracuse. “I looked up saw that (national championship) banner and thought about (Boeheim’s) years of winning and felt this was the way to go,” Hillman said. “I decided the 2-3 would be our main defense.” Hillman found early on that he has a friend and confidant in Boeheim. “Coach Boeheim has been great helping me with it. He has watched our practices, made suggestions and we both discuss it regularly.”

The women employ the zone in the same manner as then men. The guards and wings contest three-pointers and other perimeter shots. Seton Hall’s fine junior guard Ebonie Williams struggled through a two-point night on one for eight shooting. Williams was frustrated trying to get a decent look anywhere on the perimeter. Inside players like 6-2 Nicole Micheal and 6-4 Kayla Alexander clog the lane and use their length to break up passes in the paint.

The victory at the Hall left Syracuse at 13-1, the lone loss an OT setback at the hands of Georgetown. Life in the Big East conference for the women, as the men, is a succession of challenges and tough teams. Syracuse, with that patented 2-3, is certainly one of them.

Other Notes

• A little confidence goes a long way. Last week Fairleigh Dickinson rallied from 22 down with 12 minutes to play to earn an 88-85 victory over Sacred Heart. A few nights later Bryant got out to a 10-1 lead over the Knights. FDU interim coach Greg Vetrone called time out and saw a team unsure of what lie ahead. The Knights regrouped en route to a 66-50 victory over the Bulldogs.
  Three nights later FDU defeated Central Connecticut State 83-74 , behind Sean Baptiste’s 26 points, to run their conference record to 3-1. FDU ended 2009 with a 1-12 record. The Knights took advantage of a three-game conference swing at home and are very much in the thick of the NEC race.

  “We have a new coach, a new system and new point guard,” Vetrone said. “Some of the teams we played early we were not ready to face. I said it would take time but (the momentum) is definitely coming.”

  Mike Scott scored 16 against Bryant. The junior point guard has been on fire for FDU. In the Sacred Heart and Bryant games, Scott had a combined 18 assists and zero (no misprint) turnovers in 70 minutes.

• Bryant, in their second year of Division I, is in the Northeast Conference but not eligible for post season play. Tim O’Shea’s group has had a murderous schedule. Included were Boston College, Providence, St.John’s, Indiana and an improved Army club. There were two Ivies as well which happened to be Harvard and Cornell. Following the FDU game Bryant was 0-15. To make matters worse, leading scorer (14.5 PPG) Cecil Gresham, a senior swingman, was lost for the year with an injury in late December.
• There is an interesting doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Cincinnati visits St. John’s and Fordham meets Dayton at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”  Cincinnati faces another team in dire need of a conference win. The Bearcats faced Seton Hall at the Prudential Center and the Pirates took an 83-76 decision. Seton Hall earned their first win after losses in conference to West Virginia (overtime), Syracuse and at UConn.

  St. John’s is also 0-3 and in a must-win situation after having lost a tough one at Georgetown, a home collapse down the stretch to Providence and another road game to Louisville. Highly-touted freshman Lance Stephenson will make his MSG debut in a Bearcat uniform.

  Dayton survived a tough OT victory over Duquesne on Saturday and faces Fordham under interim coach Jared Grasso. The Flyers are the Atlantic 10 Conference favorites in the view of many experts. A pair of forwards, junior Chris Wright and senior Marcus Johnson, have been key players for Brian Gregory’s club.

• Seton Hall sharpshooter Jeremy Hazell had 33 points against Cincinnati, his fifth 30-point scoring game this season.
• The difference, from a tempo-free approach for St. John’s thus far:

              W-L	   OFF EFF	DEF EFF
  Overall	   10-5	     100	  93
  Big East    0-3	      90	  106

  The efficiency is the points per possession multiplied by 100. Offensively, the Red Storm overall average 1.00 points per possession on offense. The defense, at .93 is sound. In the Big East those numbers are reversed. The Storm is struggling overall on offense and a bit generous on defense.

  A reason for the defensive slip, beside better talent in the Big east, is the turnover rate. Overall the Storm are forcing opponents into a 20 percent TO rate – that is, one-fifth of the opposition possessions are turnovers. In the Big East that rate on the defensive end is 16 percent. In conference, St. John’s has found it more difficult to force opponents to turn the ball over.

Friars, Red Storm Reverse Growth Stages For a Night

QUEENS, N.Y. – Sunday night, two teams that at first glance seem to be in different development stages matched up.  You had a team in St. John’s that is loaded with upperclassmen who have been through some growing pains, some tough losses as well as a big win or two.  They’re also largely mature physically and appear to have largely grown up by now.  And you had a team in Providence that is young, inexperienced and immature physically, a team that occasionally might look like a better team than they are and then just as easily not look as good.

Interestingly, before the game, one writer, when asked how the young Friars are, said they are a little like St. John’s a couple of years ago.  At that time, the Red Storm were loaded with freshmen and very much looked the part of a young team.

But on this night, the teams looked like their development stages were reversed.  The Friars took home a 74-59 road win because of exactly that, especially late in the game.

For a while, that wasn’t the case.  The Red Storm looked like the more mature team physically, getting baskets inside from their post players and holding a substantial advantage with points in the paint.  Justin Brownlee made a rare start and had 14 points on 7-13 shooting, getting several of those baskets in the paint.  Turnovers hurt the Red Storm, as they had 15 of their season-high 23 in the first half, keeping them from breaking the game open.

The Friars stayed within striking distance in the second half after a late 8-0 run in the first half made it a close game heading into the locker room.  The Red Storm got the lead up to eight, but the Friars quickly made it a two-point game, setting the stage for what decided the game.  It followed a Dwight Hardy fast break layup with 7:53 left that gave the Red Storm a 54-50 lead.

All night long, they had struggled from the field.  They shot just over 30 percent in the first half.  They couldn’t convert Red Storm turnovers into points the way they want to, cashing in the 15 first-half turnovers into just 12 points.  But they never let the Red Storm open the lead up, which is where St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts felt they lost the game.

The next 14 points were scored by the Friars, and before you knew it, the Friars had a double-digit lead.  The young team was the more poised team, hanging in there through some struggles.  The veteran team that had won some close games and held off teams then started playing like the young team might in many cases, as they tried to do too much.  It was as if St. John’s, once they fell behind by double digits, went looking for a ten-point play.  The result: 2-13 shooting in the final eight minutes as they were outscored 24-5.

“We started rushing things,” said junior forward D.J. Kennedy.  “With four minutes left, it was still a close game, and we started rushing things.  It’s thrown back on us, the leaders of this team.  We’ve got to be able to come through down the stretch.  Today we didn’t do that.”

“We just felt like we needed to come back so fast,” said junior guard Paris Horne.  “I felt like it kind of hurt us.”

Not only did the Friars struggle from the field, but they didn’t produce a lot of turnovers out of the press until the final minutes.  Instead, many of the Red Storm’s turnovers came in the halfcourt, which is where Malik Boothe’s absence due to a groin injury certainly didn’t help.  Roberts wouldn’t chalk the turnovers up solely to Boothe’s absence, and rightly so.  The Friars simply didn’t capitalize enough.

How the Friars responded to their offensive struggles and the Red Storm to theirs made all the difference.  But it was still a surprise as to who pulled through.

“With having so many new faces and young people on our team, we’ve been focused as a team on effort all season,” said Providence head coach Keno Davis.  “I think that’s what won us the game tonight, we had tremendous effort and work ethic on the defensive end, even when St. John’s seemed to have our number as far as getting the ball in the post and getting easy opportunities.  I thought our guys worked extremely hard tonight.”

Indeed, the Friars fought through when St. John’s didn’t.  They may not do this often this season, but on this night they played like the veteran team that’s had the growing pains already instead of the young team that still has some of that ahead.

Aeropostale Holiday Festival Wrap-Up

NEW YORK CITY – A day after handily defeating Marist in the semifinal, St.John’s met their match. Virginia Tech defeated the Red Storm 81-67 before slightly over 2000 at Madison Square Garden . The win gave Virginia Tech a second straight Aeropostale Holiday Festival title. Tech defeated St.John’s is last year’s championship.

St.John’s, playing minus the injured Justin Burrell and Anthony Mason (out for the season) fell behind 9-3 and by the first few minutes, appeared headed for a long afternoon. The Storm responded and got right back into it largely on the strength of their three point shooting. Paris Horne led the way with 11 for the Storm and shot 3 of 6 beyond the arc.

The second half saw Tech build on its 39-35 halftime lead.. Sean Evans of St.John’s was limited to three minutes the first half due to foul trouble. The 6-8 sophomore had a strong second half , finishing with 13 points 8 rebounds. The Storm however shot an icy 0 of 8 beyond the arc the second half. Credit that to the Tech zone that trapped the wings and extended deeper the final twenty minutes. “We mainly went 1-3-1 to keep our guys out of foul trouble,” Tech coach Seth Greenburg said. “In my eighteen years of coaching I don’t remember ever playing as much zone.”

Offensively the Hokies also exhibited good crisp ball movement, finding the likes of A.D. Vassallo who scored a game high 24 points. Malcom Delaney added 22 points, handed out 8 assists and earned the Lou Carnesecca Most Valuable Player award. “In the second half, Greenburg said, “we made better decisions on offense. We screened and read the defense.”

“We competed,” St.John’s coach Norm Roberts said. “But we hit a five or six minute stretch where we didn’t execute and gave up too many offensive rebounds. Against an ACC team a stretch like that can change the game. But give them credit. They (Tech) wore us down.”

St.John’s earned the championship by defeating 65-44 Marist in the semifinals. The Red Storm was dominant inside with Evans scoring nineteen points while D.J. Kennedy added 14 boards. Virginia Tech, behind Delaney’s 25 points, was too much for Columbia as they earned a 64-52 decision in the other semi.

In the consolation, Marist and Columbia battled in a closely contested matchup.. Marist enjoyed a two point lead at the half and opened it to a ten point cushion midway through the second half. The Lions responded largely on the play of K.J. Matsui. The senior guard came off the bench to drain three big treys and take a charge on the other end. “He (Matsui) made a big play that lifted us with taking that charge,” Columbia coach Joe Jones said. “But let’s say he is a senior and that is not a play he made in the past,” Jones added with a humorous touch. Down the stretch, Columbia made the plays and free throws to secure the 63-58 victory. Matsui finished with 11 points while Norwua Agho led the Lions with 13 points. Ryan Schneider paced Marist with a game high 16 points.

• St.John’s is a better club than last season. The injury hex hasn’t been kind to Norm Roberts and co. Anthony Mason JR. is gone for the year. Justin Burrell missed the festival with an injury and point guard Malik Boothe played with a finger injury. Through the misfortune, Roberts makes no excuse. “Injuries are part of the game,” he said. “Someone is out another player takes his place and gets an opportunity to show what he can do.”
• Festival is usually following Christmas but went to a pre-December 25 format for the first time. Double headers were on Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. Finals attendance was barely over 2,000. Some blame the pre-Christmas date and/or less than ideal weather for the sparse showing. Fact of the matter is until St.John’s gets more competitive the crowds will be hard to come by. Plain and simple.
• Jones noted that Marist outplayed Columbia the first half yet his team stayed together and hung in. “This is a close team,” Jones said. “They cheer for one another and have great relationships. Down the stretch, especially the last eight minutes we got the rebounds and picked up the loose balls.”
• For Marist the effort is there but all too often the Red Foxes run out of gas especially in the final half.. “We ran into a wall around the nine minute (remaining) mark and couldn’t score,” Marist coach Chucky Martin said. “We have three guys going over 35 minutes and fatigue is a factor.” One of the trio is freshman guard R.J. Hall who recently won the starting job. Hall, who prepped at Bloomfield Tech in New Jersey, turned in a fine 13 point 6 assist outing in 37 minutes. “R.J. was unbelievable,” Martin said. “He played almost the entire game and played really well.”
• Following the semifinal victory over Columbia, Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenburg had an approximately one hour meeting at the hotel with his team. “We talked about effort,” Greenburg said. “I was embarrassed because I didn’t feel we competed with a good enough effort (against Columbia) today (in the St.John’s game) we definitely did.”
• Greenburg operates in ACC country today but New York is always special. He grew up on Long Island and played for Fairleigh Dickinson under the late al LoBalbo. “My dad played for Clair Bee,” Greenburg said. “I remember in the Sixties sitting upstairs in the old Garden and watching the Joe Lapchick coached St.John’s teams play. When you come to play here you should play in a way you are respecting the game.”

Members of the All Tournament team were :
KJ Matsui, Columbia
Ryan Schneider, Marist
DJ Kennedy , St.John’s
Sean Evans, St.John’s
A.D. Vassallo, Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech is 8-4. St.John’s falls to 9-2 , the other loss to another ACC team, Boston College in the Pre-Season NIT. ACC ‘tour’ for the Storm continues as they host Miami on Saturday at noon at the Garden.

On the Baseline: All except Va. Tech brought cheerleaders. Marist band is outstanding, one of the best around. The Garden is not only special to mid-major players, Marist brought, count them, 23 cheerleaders and Columbia brought a full dance and cheer squad.

St. John’s falls in Holiday Festival – and on Hard Times

Hello readers!  I’m grateful to the team at Hoopville for the opportunity to contribute to this great website!  I hope you all enjoy my entries from the metropolitan area!

It was crushing news to Norm Roberts and his staff last month when informed that their best player, Anthony Mason Jr. would miss the entire season with a foot injury.  It only got worse when Justin Burrell sustained a facial fracture after being hit by teammate Sean Evans in practice last Thursday.  So with its top two players sidelined, along with freshman Malike Boothe playing with a sprained left thumb, it was no suprise that it would be a struggle vs former Big East memeber-now ACC foe Virginia Tech.

St. John’s (9-2), off to its best start in 18 years, lost for ony the second time this season.  Virginia Tech (8-4), picked up their game after a lackluster win the prior day against Columbia to beat the Johnnies 81-67 in front of a one-quarter filled Madison Square Garden in the Championship Game of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival Tournament.  In the consolation game earlier in the day, Columbia defeated the Red Foxes of Marist College 63-58.

As the defending Holiday Festival Champions from last season, the Hokies were led by 6’6 Virgina Tech senior A.J. Vassallo who scored 24 points on 8 for 21 shooting, including 4 of 8 from downtown.  Malcom Delaney scored 22 points and was named the Lou Carnesecca tournament MVP.

Paris Horne led St. John’s with 14 points, D.J. Kennedy added 13 and Rob Thomas contributed with 12 points and 9 rebounds..

However, with Big East conference play around the corner and the sweet part of the schedule complete, Norm Roberts has to be concerned with DNP list as Big East Conference battles quickly approach.  Even if Roberts has a positive outlook…….”There’s nothing we can do about the injuries,” said Roberts in his post game press conference Sunday at MSG.  “Nothing we can do about Mason being out, nothing we can do about Burell being out, nothing we can do about Malik’s thumb being hurt.  It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” he also added, “All it’s going to do is make our other guys better, give us more depth.”

The always optimistic and hardworking Roberts clearly does not need these storyline injuries in such a crucial season for him and his program.  As he enters year 5 of a massive rebuilding job in the newly renovated Carneseca Arena, yesterday’s contest may seem like nothing compared to the Big East wars of January and February.

St. John’s returns to action this Saturday against Miami at Madison Square Garden where the Red Storm hope to have Justin Burrell in uniform.  A decision by team doctors will made later in the week.

Big East Notebook – Friars’ Geoff McDermott is Still a Quarterback

During his high school days, Geoff McDermott was known as rifle-toting Geoff McDermott.

Then a quick-strike 6-foot-6 quarterback, McDermott helped lead perennial power New Rochelle to back-to-back state championships.

He was a dual-threat who fired bullet passes to a talented receiving corps that was supplemented by standout running back Ray Rice, who resurrected an ailing program at Rutgers. McDermott, the 2005 Westchester Mr. Basketball winner, was actively pursued to play QB and tight end and basketball at a number of Division I schools – West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Rutgers, and Syracuse, to name a few.

After committing to Providence, where there’s no football team, he kissed all gridiron dreams goodbye.

Today, McDermott is still whipping passes. He’s still under the center of attention, making critical decisions and dictating the tempo of the game. Only his primary receivers are no longer sporting shoulder pads and helmets with “NR” emblazed on them. And Rice, who was actually a key cog in New Rochelle’s vaunted 2005 hoop team – one that put together a 26-2 mark that included a berth in the National Prep Top 20 rankings – now plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

This season, McDermott’s go-to-guys have been Marshon Brooks, who’s suddenly blossomed (averaging 14 points and shooting a sublime 56 percent from the floor) after averaging under ten minutes per game last year, Weyinmi Efejuku, Jonathon Kale, and Jeff Xavier, the latter a Pawtucket native who started his career at Manhattan but bounced following the departure of Bobby Gonzalez.

As the point forward, McDermott shoulders the burden of playmaker. The offensive show at the Dunkin’ Donuts center is orchestrated and run by “G Mac,” who’s averaging 7.7 points, 7.7 boards, and is second on the team in assists (25) and steals (15). McDermott, however, has registered a team-high 23 turnovers despite the fact that he doesn’t dominate the ball like an archetype New York point guard. At his coaches’ urging, G Mac has been more active on the glass.

“(Assistant) coach (Pat) Skerry is always yelling at me to get rebounds,” said McDermott. “First, he told me I could be the leading rebounder in the country. Now he’s toned it down to the Big East. But if I do that, I’ll probably be leading the country, anyways.”

Considering the Big East is dripping with talent this year, McDermott is probably right. He met his coaches’ wishes during back-to-back victories over Sacred Heart and Maine, where he pulled down 13 and 14 boards, respectively.

McDermott, who underwent some sort of self-revelation last year, dished more and shot less. A deft passer who’s ballooned to 6-foot-7 and a chiseled 240 pounds, G Mac emerged into one of the Big East’s leading assist men last year, doling out 4.9 per game. He averaged 5.1 during the 2006-07 campaign.

As a pure scorer in high school, is this dish-before-swish mentality out of his old nature?

“Not at all,” said McDermott. “It comes with the territory.”

Now an elder statesman, Mr. Versatility knows he must also be Mr. Clutch this season. Against blood-rival Rhode Island Dec. 6, McDermott proved he’s ready for the challenge.

The senior calmly sank two free throws with 17.9 seconds remaining. It was the final say during the tight, down-to-the-wire in-state feud in which neither team led by over seven points.

McDermott was once again at his best during a 85-71 win over Jackson State Wednesday night. He scored 13 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, and handed out five assists, including Brian McKenzie’s game-tying jumper with a swift pass. He helped Providence recover from a sloppy first half.

Football player no more, McDermott is still a quarterback at heart.

Notes

• St. John’s sophomore guard Paris Horne explored some uncharted territory this past week. Horne’s game visited a new zip code when he was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll (Dec. 15). Horne, one of the Johnnies’ many young guns who Norm Roberts sees panning out and revitalizing the program – Roberts recently stated that by recruiting eight freshman last year, he created the path that St. John’s is currently on – averaged 14.5 points, handed out 3.5 dimes, and shot a sizzling 64.7 percent from the field as the Johnnies ripped off consecutive victories. They are off to their best start, 8-1, since the 1994-95 campaign.
• Bobby Gonzalez shocked the NCAA world with Seton Hall’s early season upset of USC. Now, as the Big East slate inches closer the former Manhattan coach believes the Pirates will make some waves in what’s expected to be one of the premier conferences in the NCAA. The Big East, let’s not forget, is dripping with talented and guard play will be a major determinant of fate for several teams. The man behind the Pirates’ offensive assault this season? Jeremy Hazell. The Harlem World product averaged 19.5 points and six boards during SHU’s back-to-back wins the week of Dec. 15 and is already drawing Terry Dehere comparisons. Come tournament time, he could be a problem.

NIT Season Tip-Off Notes From Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – We’ll have more a little later on Boston College, who advanced to New York with an 82-70 win over St. John’s in the nightcap on Tuesday in the NIT Season Tip-Off. They will take on Purdue in one semifinal, while UAB and Oklahoma won later in the evening and will meet in the other. But first, some notes on the other three teams that played at The Heights the past couple of nights.

Head Coach, or Head Manager?

With both his athletic director and MAAC commissioner Richard Ensor looking on, it seemed like Loyola (Md.) head coach Jimmy Patsos basically took himself out of the game against Cornell after he got hit with a technical foul near the halfway point of the first half. At halftime, he was never in his team’s huddle before they headed to the court, and he sat next at the end of the bench for most of the second half, rarely getting into the huddle in the timeouts. He sat closer to the managers than to his staff, and at one point he went into the stands during the game to talk to his athletic director.

After the game, Patsos, who has built the program from being a 1-27 laughingstock into a winner in the MAAC, said it wasn’t quite what it appeared.

“I was told that if I said one more word, that I was going to get thrown out of the arena,” said the fifth-year head coach, who added that he was not given a warning before the technical foul. “I do what I’m told. I said, okay, I won’t say one more word. I can’t afford to be thrown out and embarrass the school.

“I just thought, maybe I deserved a warning.”

The trip was a homecoming for Patsos, who grew up south of Boston in Scituate. He took his team to see Newbury Street, the Boston Public Library and the first subway system while they were in the area, which considering the crammed game schedule they have had to face is an accomplishment. The Greyhounds played two games in three days before this trip, which means by Tuesday they had played three games in as many days and four in five days due to circumstances that weren’t entirely in their control.

After winning 19 games last season, a school record in Division I, the Greyhounds have a tall task ahead in trying for a fourth consecutive winning season. They have three seniors but play a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and they looked the part of a young team in their two games at Conte Forum. They’re not lacking athleticism, but it’s clear their identity is far from being determined right now.

“We’re 1-3, but we’re young, we’re playing hard,” said Patsos. “I don’t have a go-to guy. It’s okay, I knew we were going to be young. We have some players coming in, we’re going to get older.”

The Geryhounds will travel to Charlotte next week for two more consolation games against James Madison and Davidson (which hosts).

It’s Not About Winning Now

Cornell has to go without two of their perimeter starters due to injury, so they certainly take a hit from a talent and experience standpoint. Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale is currently out with a mild hamstring injury, while senior Adam Gore is out at least for the non-conference schedule after tearing his ACL late in the summer.

Head coach Steve Donohue said Dale could have played, but they’re holding him out so he can get fully healthy. While they would like to win some games in non-league play, that isn’t what matters to the defending Ivy League champs. Donohue thinks Dale may be two weeks away from being in a place where it would be optimal to play.

“I think if this was an Ivy League weekend, he would have never sat out,” said Donohue. “With that being said, he may be two weeks away from risking it. There’s no reason to risk it right now, and we have so many games right now, we need 3-4 straight days in practice where he can go 20 minutes, the next day 30 minutes, the next day 40 minutes, and so on.”

The injuries leave junior sharpshooter Ryan Wittman as the only starter on the perimeter currently playing, and he almost carried the Big Red on Monday night before quietly leading them to their 82-72 win over Loyola (Md.) on Tuesday. Wittman scored 25 points, including 16 in the first half as he kept the Big Red in the game and got them the lead at times. He wasn’t quite as sharp in Tuesday, but still had 24 points.

“He does have to do a little more, and he’s taken harder shots this year,” Donohue said of Wittman. “He’s such a high percentage shooter, it’s almost to the point where I want him to take harder shots. He has to for us to be really good. He needs 15-20 looks a game, he needs to get to the foul line.”

The injuries give players like Jason Battle, Geoff Reeves and freshman Chris Wroblewski a chance to play more and have a bigger role right now, and there were some bright spots among them. Reeves has started all three games thus far and is averaging 35 minutes per game, and while he had six turnovers in the two games, he scored 20 points and looks to be developing into a better player. Wroblewski played well in the two games, handing out 10 assists with just four turnovers in 53 minutes.

That will help since the Big Red has a brutal stretch coming up. After next week’s two consolation games, they have road games at Indiana, Syracuse and Minnesota, a home date with Atlantic 10 contender La Salle, then head to Saint Joseph’s.

Big man Jeff Foote has put on some good weight since last season and had two night games in the stat sheet. He went for a combined 39 points and 15 rebounds, and he could have had more points if not for a few times he didn’t finish strong and missed shots he probably could have made. While the Big Red appear to have some good depth on the perimeter, that may not be the case up front as Brian Kreefer was the only reserve post player to see any action.

Cornell will play two more consolation games at St. John’s next week against Loyola (Ill.) and Eastern Michigan.

St. John’s Has Some Positives

As young as Loyola (Md.) is, St. John’s isn’t exactly a team full of seniors, either. The Red Storm start four sophomores alongside senior Anthony Mason, Jr., and eight sophomores and two freshmen are among the players who play appreciable or significant minutes.

Mason had a big game (24 points) in Monday’s win, especially in the early going, but other than a few plays on Tuesday night he was relatively ineffective with 12 points on 3-13 shooting (he did have six assists). Head coach Norm Roberts said he missed about a week of practice leading up to their season opener with a problem in his foot, and thought it might have bothered him Tuesday night with the team’s second game in less than 24 hours.

“I think his foot is bothering him, and I thought you could tell that by the way he was running, but he wanted to stay out there and tough it out,” said Roberts. “He’s going to be fine, but I think that limited him a little bit.”

The transition game led the Red Storm to Monday’s win, and they got it going for a time against Boston College on Tuesday night. With the athletes they have, it looks like that will be a real key for them this season, but another factor leading to it will also be one: rebounding. The Red Storm got a solid double-double from Justin Burrell (11 points, 11 rebounds) in Monday’s win, but he had just two boards in Tuesday’s loss and the frontcourt starters had just 12 total as the Eagles had a 42-28 edge on the glass.

“When you rebound it, you can get out and you can go, and we didn’t rebound it very well,” said Roberts. “And not only our big guys, our guards didn’t rebound it.”

Two more sophomores, D.J. Kennedy and Malik Boothe, were barometers of the team’s success. Both had an excellent game on Monday but struggled on Tuesday, with Boothe saddled with foul trouble that hurt him defending Tyrese Rice later in the game.

Overall, Roberts likes what he sees from his young guys. There’s clearly some potential in this group, with the toughness of Boothe and Burrell, the versatility of Kennedy and inside bodies like Sean Evans and Dele Coker.

“I think they’re progressing well. I think they’re all getting better,” said Roberts. “They’re really, really good kids and they want to do everything we ask them to do, and they want to get better. That’s a big, big key. As long as we keep doing this and gaining some confidence, we can get better and better as a team.”

St. John’s will host one of the consolation round pods next week and will take on Eastern Michigan and Loyola (Ill.).

Eagles Will Ride Improvement to New York

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The improvement is coming along for Boston College. There are still plenty more to come if they want to take steps forward in the ACC standings at the end of the season, but the first three games show some progress. And while head coach Al Skinner says it’s “clearly about the process” right now, the results that are coming in have to be satisfying as well.

With Tuesday’s 82-70 win over St. John’s, the Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off and will play two games at Madison Square Garden next week. They are 3-0, and although all three wins have come at home, a win is a win and they got the first one without star guard Tyrese Rice.

Rice is perhaps the brightest spot, not surprisingly, but it hasn’t been because he’s put up big numbers to carry the team. Although there is often talk about star players sacrificing their game for the benefit of the team, that often looks at just numbers, and scoring in particular. Sure, Rice put up 44 points in the two games, but he also had 15 assists with four turnovers.

It goes beyond that, though. He doesn’t appear to be trying to score quite like he has in the past, and also looks to be playing at a different pace. As the only senior and one of just two upperclassmen on a young team, he’s the unquestioned leader and looks to be trying to get everyone else settled and helping to get them to understand what’s going on – trying to be a true coach on the floor. And at times, that’s certainly been needed as some teammates have looked lost or unsure at times. He’s tried to give them direction, even at the cost of slowing the game down – including his game.

This was clearly visible in their exhibition game, in which Rice didn’t look like himself, but it’s also been visible during the two games he’s played in.

“He’s definitely the leader of the team,” said forward Joe Trapani. “He definitely knows the ins and outs of the offense and defense. He’s the most vocal on the team.”

For his part, Trapani clearly seems to have found a good niche as an aggressive forward often facing the basket in this offense. The Vermont transfer had 39 points in the two games and grabbed four rebounds in each, and added five blocked shots as well. Against St. John’s, he had 19 on 7-10 shooting. All the while, he has blended in, and though he’s made plays that can make one take notice, he hasn’t necessarily stood out unless you look at the box score and see that he filled a stat sheet.

Perhaps the most important development for the Eagles is the production inside, primarily on the glass. The Eagles had a 42-28 edge on the glass against St. John’s after being even at halftime, and they had a 21-8 edge in second-chance points. A lot of that came from simply wanting the ball more; rebounding is an effort stat, but on Tuesday the Eagles took that idea to heart, especially sophomores Rakim Sanders (10 rebounds) and Corey Raji (7). With Raji, it wasn’t so much the number of rebounds as it was the way he got them.

Although he’s versatile and has several ways he can score, Raji is emerging as a garbage man inside. He has nine offensive rebounds in the three games, tying him with Sanders for tops on the team, and he often gets them by finding the ball. The Eagles had 17 offensive rebounds against St. John’s, and it kept the Red Storm from running and gave them chances for stickbacks, which they certainly got a few of.

“Those are the things that you need if you’re going to have a chance to be a good ballclub,” said head coach Al Skinner. “Guys on the bench were pumped up about it. Corey does it on a regular basis; that’s who he is. But when you start getting other guys to do it, then that becomes contagious and that makes you a better club.”

How this will ultimately translate in the ACC isn’t known, and won’t be for a while. The front line is still a question and won’t bowl anyone over with size, and this is still a young team. But the improvement the Eagles have shown from the first to the third game is a good sign for them, and the results have to be encouraging as well. A win in New York will only help the confidence, but the two tests they will get are what they need. The games will give them a chance to find out more about themselves, and it will give their leader a chance at redemption.

“I’ve only played there once,” said Rice, recalling the Eagles’ loss to Michigan State in the Jimmy V Classic in 2005. “That was my freshman year, and I had a bad experience there, so I want to definitely get back there and take care of some business.”