Mid Major Hoops

Mason Continues to Roll

What do the Drexel Dragons and the New York Knicks have in common? 

Answer - Both teams lost by 45 points last night.

Yup, the Dragons lost at George Mason 85-38 as the Patriots continued their solid play in the CAA season opener for both teams.  Drexel tied the game at 3-3 and then it was all George Mason as the Patriots pulled out to a 40-15 halftime lead.  George Mason scored the next eight points to start the second half and the rout continued on.

The most telling stat of the night for Drexel was the one.

F. Elegar, C

17

0-1

0-0

0

2

1

0

0

Yes, the Dragons leading scorer coming into the game, Frank Elegar, had one field goal attempt the entire game.  That's how tough the Patriots defense was.  They held Drexel to 30 percent from the field, including 2 of 12 from the three point arc.  What was more impressive about the Mason defense was that the Patriots had only 14 fouls and the Dragons only had 11 free throw attempts.

The Patriots were led by a balanced attack. Dre Smith came off the bench and scored 16 points.  Folarin Campbell added 11 and Will Thomas and Chris Fleming each had 10 points.  Eleven Mason players played at least 10 minutes and ten of them at least had 5 points or more.  The Patriots shot 50 percent from the field and outrebounded Drexel 40-24.

Drexel fell to 5-2 and 0-1 in CAA, while Mason improved to 6-1 and 1-0 in the CAA.

Weekly Update - Salukis Can't Hold the Mayo, Mason pads the Resume, Davidson tops App St and More..

Southern Illinois met USC in the championship game of the Anaheim Classic.  Unfortunately for the Salukis it was the wrong time to play their worse game of the year as the Trojans hammered them 70-45.  The Salukis started off with a five point lead then O.J. Mayo and Tai Gibson who did not start the game came off the bench and the Trojans went on a 27-10 run to go up by 12 at the half and never looked back.  The Salukis struggled from the field only shooting 32 percent including 5 of 20 from the three point line.  What hurt Southern Illinois more was that USC shot 59 percent from the field, which is very uncommon against the Salukis.  Davon Jefferson led the Trojans with 20 points while Mayo had 13 coming off the bench.  Mayo was named most valuable player of the tournament.

George Mason padded their non conference NCAA tournament resume on Sunday with a one point win, 69-68 over a young talented South Carolina team.  Will Thomas led the Patriots with 22 points and 11 rebounds but it was freshman Cam Long who came off the bench with 13 points and 5 assists that really impressed me.  He is 6 foot 4, can shoot the three (2 of 3 from the 3 point arc) and can drive the basket.  Even more importantly, he showed the court presence of a junior or senior.  A great addition by George Mason. Louis Birdsong also had a nice game with 13 points off the bench.  Mason had a great tournament with wins over #20 Kansas State and South Carolina, and a tough loss to #19 Villanova.  What’s more impressive is that they did this without one of their starters, Darryl Monroe who is recovering from toe surgery.

The two best Southern conference teams from the 2006-07 season met in an early conference game on Tuesday night with Davidson going on the road and defeating Appalachian State 71-60.  Stephen Curry scored 38 points for the Wildcats.  The Mountaineers Donte Minter was held to 9 points in the loss.

#5 Georgetown got revenge for a loss to Old Dominion at home last season by downing the Monarchs 66-48 in Norfolk last night.  It was the third consecutive top 10 team ODU had played (ODU lost to North Carolina and Louisville in the Vegas Invitational) and the third top ten team it lost to.  Despite an impressive 24 points and 12 rebounds by the Monarchs Gerald Lee (who did it no less against the Hoyas Roy Hibbert, a possible lottery pick), the Monarchs only shot 31 percent from the field which included an abysmal 3 of 15 from the 3 point arc.  Lee was the only Monarch in double figures.

Mason and ODU Hold Their Own; Salukis Look Solid

Mid Major Notes

One of the great things about Thanksgiving weekend is not only can you gorge yourself on food, you can gorge yourself on college basketball.  And with the growth of mid major college basketball with the rise of the Missouri Valley and CAA conferences, you now get to see the mid majors in a national spotlight.  Over the past several days, Southern Illinois, George Mason and Old Dominion have played in national games on ESPN2 and ESPNU and have acquitted themselves quite nicely.

The Salukis have been dominating their opponents in the Anaheim Classic as they have rolled over Chattanooga 63-41 in the first round, then dominated the second half in an impressive 63-49 win over Mississippi State as Randall Falker scored 17 of his 23 points in the latter frame.  Joshua Bone hit five of six three point field goal attempts to add 15 points for Southern Illinois.  The Salukis also shot 17 of 18 from the free throw line and limited the Bulldogs to only nine free throw attempts.  Falker had 21 points in the win over Chattanooga as he went 11 of 14 from the free throw line.  The Moccasins were held to 29 percent shooting in the game.   Next for the Salukis is OJ Mayo and the USC Trojans in the championship game on Sunday.  Talk about a contrast in styles!

All George Mason has done during the Old Spice Classic in Orlando was knock off #20 Kansas State 87-77 and give #19 Villanova fits before losing to the Wildcats 84-76.  In the first game, all five Patriots starters were in double figures as Jon Vaughan, Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas combined for 57 of the starters’ 78 points.  The Patriots shot 47 percent from three (8 of 17) and shot 27 of 38 from the free throw line while holding Kansas State to 2 of 16 from three.  In the second game, Mason went out to a 30-22 lead before Villanova countered with a 16-4 run of their own to lead by four, 38-34 at halftime.  The game remained close at 58-54 Villanova with 9:45 left in the game when Villanova went on a crucial 10-0 run.  During this time, George Mason missed the front end of three one and one free throw attempts which would have kept them in the game.  The Patriots would cut the lead as close as five points with 1:16 left, but they could not get any closer.  Folarin Campbell led the Patriots with 25 points. 

The key to the game was Villanova going 12 of 27 from the three point arc.  After the game, Villanova coach Jay Wright noted about how well his team played saying “It's really a credit to these guys. I told them they're going to see at the end of the season this was a good win, when they see how good George Mason is at the end of the year."  George Mason will play South Carolina in the third place game on Sunday.

Old Dominion had the honor of playing #1 North Carolina in the Las Vegas Invitational.  ODU was trying to make it the second upset of the night after BYU knocked off #6 Louisville in the first game.  And the Monarchs came out and tried their best to do so.  Led by guard Brandon Johnson’s strong first half, ODU was ahead until North Carolina scored the final five points to go ahead 43-39 at halftime. The Tar Heels then went on a 12-3 run and ODU could never get the game back under single digits.  ODU shot an impressive 55.6 percent from the field, but North Carolina an even more impressive 70 percent from the field. “We should have done a better job defensively," Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor said. "I'm sure Roy's [happy] looking at [70] percent from the field. We had a hand in some of their faces on the shots."  ODU now gets to face Louisville in the consolation game.

Another mid major team went under the radar last night yet won an impressive game as #23 Butler held off Virginia Tech in 84-78 in overtime in a matchup of two 2007 NCAA tournament teams in a semifinal game in the great Alaskan Shootout.  Pete Campbell had 26 points and AJ Graves added 17 for the Bulldogs.  Despite Virginia Tech shooting 52 percent from the field, the Bulldogs shot 14 of 33 from the three point arc and shot 14 of 18 from the line.  Butler will face Texas Tech in the championship game as the Red Raiders knocked off a mid major #14 Gonzaga 73-63 in the other semifinal game.  Gonzaga was down by as many as 17 points in the second half and was only able to get within 6 points the rest of the way.  Alan Voskuil led the Red Raiders with 28 points.  Gonzaga will play Virginia Tech in the third place game.

In other mid major notes, in the CAA, Drexel played one of their usual low scoring ugly games, winning 56-40 over Robert Morris.  The Dragons held Robert Morris to 29 percent from the field as not one Colonial scored in double figures.  Gerald Colds came off the bench to lead the Dragons with 14 points as the Dragons shot 50 percent from three (7 of 14 with Colds going 3 of 4 from three). UNCW shot 64 percent from the field enroute to an 80-65 win over Longwood in the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Victor Kuljanin led four Seahawks in double figures with 19 points.  UNCW next plays Coppin State in the tournament.

CAA Preview Part II

Well, since the last time I wrote this, my second son decided he should be born two weeks early and was born Saturday night, November 17th at 11:13 pm.  I first found out that my wife was in labor when she called me as I was heading home after the Hofstra overtime win over Manhattan.  So I guess you could say I saw two things in labor Saturday night; my wife and Hofstra. :-)   Sorry, couldn't resist.

Its actually a very nice segue way into my second half of my CAA preview which features Hofstra, my pick for finishing sixth in the conference.  Hofstra’s analysis is more in depth than the others due to my extensive knowledge of the team.

Hofstra – Despite making the NIT, the 2006-07 season was a disappointment to the Hofstra faithful, as a berth to the NCAA tournament was envisioned for the Pride coming off their 2005-06 season.  The trio of Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio and Carlos Rivera lived up to expectations, combining to be the highest scoring guard trio in the nation.  Unfortunately, the Pride did not have any frontcourt players to complement their great backcourt.  As a result, losses such as the George Mason upset of the Pride in the second round of the CAA tournament were not uncommon as the Pride were outrebounded and outscored by opponents with better frontcourt players. 

The 2007-08 season is a season of transition for the Pride, as Hofstra lost Stokes and Rivera due to graduation.  Thankfully the cupboard is not completely bare as the first team all CAA Agudio returns for his senior season.  Outside of Stokes, Rivera and Chris Gadley (who transferred to Canisius), the rest of the team, including two other starters from last year returns.  The problem is finding a second scoring option.  Hofstra must find points from Junior point guard Greg “Playstation” Johnson, heralded freshmen Charles Jenkins, Nathaniel Lester and Greg Washington, along with forwards Arminus Urbutis, Mike Davis Sabb, Zygis Sestokas and JUCO transfers Darren Townes and Dane Johnson. 

What I have seen so far – I have watched both of Hofstra’s first two games at Holy Cross and at home to Manhattan.   There are consistent themes to both games.  1) Agudio will see a lot of double and triple teaming, but will still get his 20 plus points (28 vs. Holy Cross, 30 vs. Manhattan).  2) The scoring options seem limited but there does appear to be a potential major second scoring option.  Against Holy Cross, the next leading scorer for Hofstra, Charles Jenkins had 5 in the loss against the Crusaders.  But he showed a propensity to drive to the basket strong but missed several layups.  Against Manhattan, those shots fell, as Jenkins had 19 in the overtime win over the Jaspers.  However Jenkins got most of those points early and Hofstra went away from him in the second half.  He did get the ball in overtime and added a few points in that period.  The rest of the lineup has not scored much.  3) Despite adding several seemingly talented big men, Hofstra has been lacking on the rebounding end as both Holy Cross and Manhattan rebounded the Pride, often giving those team multiple chances on the offensive end.   

Prognostication – Its early, but this season could be a struggle as Agudio will often face double teams as the Pride look to find other scoring options.  Jenkins looks to be a solid second scoring option but unless the Pride can find an inside game, they may finish slightly over .500 in conference at best.  Arminus Urbutis looks to be able score points but will Pecora’s offense give him the ball enough.

Key Player – Greg Johnson.  Johnson must give them solid point guard play, an ability to get the ball not only to Agudio and Jenkins, but the big men as well, and he must be able to hit an open shot.  Johnson will get plenty of looks as teams look to double team Agudio, so he must keep them honest.  So far in his two games, he has been inconsistent and down the stretch of the second half and overtime periods of the Manhattan game, Johnson found himself on the bench for his lackluster play.

Tomorrow will be the third and final part of the CAA preview as I look at the five other teams in the Colonial.

Note - UNCW got hammered tonight at Indiana, losing 95-71.  The Seahawks are giving up a ton of points in their games.  In three games, they have given up 91, 89 and now 95 respectively.   The Hoosiers shot 60 percent from the field against UNCW.  If this continues, Wilmington will have a difficult time winning games in the CAA where the defensive play is much stronger than in their non conference schedule.

CAA Preview Part I

It’s great to have college basketball back and its great to be back discussing it.  Sorry for the long break.  Its been a summer of trying to relocate down south (unsuccessfully) and other changes going on.  In a few days, my second son will be born and that will make things even more interesting. 

So to get things started, lets do a quick preview of the Colonial Athletic Association.  The conference continues its rise in mid major college basketball by having two teams make the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.  Of course we all know it should have been three in 2005-06 (Hofstra should have been in) and could very well have been three in 2006-07 (Drexel received serious consideration).   Also for the second year in a row, the conference had four teams win 20 or more games (VCU, Hofstra, ODU and Drexel) and placed two teams again in the NIT (Hofstra and Drexel).

So now the CAA is looking for a three peat and there are two teams George Mason and VCU that might get that done.  After that, significant losses in the starting lineups of ODU, Hofstra and Drexel may result in a decline in the overall strength of the conference.

I have never liked preseason previews because despite whatever talent teams bring in, you don’t get a sense of what teams are like until at least a game or two is played by each team.  Thus, after a couple of games, I think I am getting an early sense of what’s going on.   Here is my preview based on order of finish.

1) George Mason

A year after their magical run, a young Patriots team struggled to find their way during the season and went 9-9 in the CAA, finishing sixth.  Then the CAA tournament started and Mason nearly pulled, well, another Mason knocking off #3 seed and eventual NIT bound Hofstra in the second round, stunned #2 eventual NCAA bound Old Dominion in the semifinal round, then nearly beat #1 seed VCU in the finals.    The entire starting squad is back led by senior forward Will Thomas and guard Folarin Campbell.  Senior Dre Smith picked up his scoring during the second half of the year and along with solid point guard Jordan Carter and power forward Darryl Monroe, the Patriots have the balance to win the league. The questions will be their inconsistent shooting and their bench depth.  Former CAA first team rookie of the year Jon Vaughan and Louis Birdsong lead the bench.  The key addition may be highly recruited Vlad Moldoveanu, a 6-10 freshman who can shoot the three.

Prognostication - This team was within 2 minutes of winning the CAA tournament before Eric Maynor started a heroic comeback for VCU.   This year, the Patriots should be better with Vaughan having a full year healed from his ACL injury and the development of Smith as a scorer.  The bench with Birdsong and Moldoveanu should be better.  Mason will play very solid defense.  The key will be scoring.  At times last season, they struggled to get shots off.   If they keep the games in the low sixties, they will be fine.

What I have Seen or Read So Far - Well, Mason has won their first two games over Vermont and Cleveland State, holding their opponents to both under 55 points.  However, as mentioned, the Patriots have struggled scoring, shooting only 34 and 38 percent respectively in those games.  Will Thomas is playing very well and Moldoveanu is getting a lot of playing time and contributing.  The question now is how will they play against better opponents.  The game at Dayton today will be a good test of that.

Key Player - Jon Vaughan.  Vaughan in his freshman year showed flashes of brilliance and looked to be a significant player for the Patriots.  He sat out the entire next season due to injury.  Last year he struggled to find his game.  This year due to injury to Darryl Monroe, Vaughan is starting and scoring, with a game high 18 points vs. Cleveland State.  If Vaughan plays to his potential, the Patriots will not struggle as much to score points.

2) VCU

One of the darlings of the NCAA tournament, first year coach Anthony Grant’s Rams pressed their way to the CAA championship and a stunning (but not surprising to this writer who predicted it see - http://garymoore.typepad.com/caa_mens_basketball/2007/03/ncaa_tournament_2.html
win over Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament before barely losing to Pitt in the second round.   VCU lost two of their guards from that team, Jesse Pellot Rosa and B.A. Walker but star point guard Eric Maynor returns along with starting forwards Michael Anderson and Wil Fameni to again make the Rams dangerous.  Replacing Pellot Rosa and Walker will be guards Jamal Shuler and TJ Gwynn, who saw significant playing time last year, so the drop off won’t be much.  VCU expects significant contributions from freshman guard Joey Rodriguez and freshman forward Lance Kearse.

Prognostication -  There are two questions with the Rams.  One will be how much depth the Rams have off the bench to continue their up and down the court press style.  Shuler and Gwynn were excellent off the bench for the Rams last year but now are starters.  Second, the Rams lost their second and third leading scorers, so the Rams will need Anderson and Shuler a deadly outside shooter to balance the scoring load for Eric Maynor. 

What I have Seen or Read So Far - VCU is 2-1 so far against some solid competition which includes a first round Puerto Rico Shootout win over Houston by one point and a tough 6 point loss in the semi final round of the shootout to Miami. In the win over Houston, Shuler and Anderson handled the scoring load combining for 38 points while Maynor was held to 6 points on 1 of 12 shooting.  However the next night, Shuler and Anderson combined for only 12 points
and Maynor scored 27 in the loss to Miami.  It will be interesting to see what pans out for the Rams.

Key Player - Jamal Shuler.  Shuler can be a deadly three point shooter and will need to be to give Maynor the scoring help he needs.  So far he has been inconsistent, shooting well against Houston and poorly against Miami.

3) Old Dominion

Another team seemingly in transition is the Monarchs.  The Monarchs lost three starters from last season, including their three leading scorers, Valdas Vasylius, Arnaud Dahi, and Drew Williamson.   The cupboard is not bare though with starting guards Brandon Johnson and Brian Henderson returning along with forwards Gerald Lee and Jonathan Adams thrusted into starting roles.  Abdi Lidonde is also now starting as well and will need to provide consistent outside shooting for a team that often runs hot and cold from the three point arc.  As per usual, coach Blaine Taylor will run out nine to ten players every game to wear his opponents down.  The question is that this year with having to replace three starters with his bench strength, will the new players he has recruited bring the same value off the bench he has in the past.  Highly touted seven foot three Sam Harris has never lived up to the billing.  Now is his time to.

Prognostication - This team may struggle from the outset due to the fact that they have to find consistent scoring options.  The team will look to Gerald Lee to lead the way.  If Sam Harris doesn’t play significant minutes and contribute, the team may be weak inside defensively. Also, the team will only go as far as their bench takes them.  That’s been the ODU staple.

What I have Seen or Read So Far - ODU has played only one game, a convincing 31 point win over Toledo where nine Monarch players played 14 minutes or more, so it looks like Taylor has a bench again.  Sam Harris contributed 9 rebounds in only 17 minutes, a plus and it seems Jonathan Adams will come off the bench and not start, which may be good for ODU.  ODU shot 47 percent from the field, also another good sign.

Key Player - Gerald Lee has a great amount of potential coming off a strong second half of this past season.  Now is the time for him to take the next step up and become an elite player for the Monarchs.

4) UNC Wilmington - I know this seems to be a stretch considering the Seahawks went 4-14 in conference and only won 7 games overall last year, but hear me out.  With three returning starters for last season, plus 2005-06 CAA tournament most valuable player TJ Carter returning from an injury that kept him out of all last season, the Seahawks, sans George Mason, have the most veteran and balanced starting lineup returning.   UNCW has Vladmir Kuljanin, Todd Hendley and Daniel Fountain, all who averaged double digit in scoring, returning from last year’s starting five.  The key will be who will play point guard.  Right now it looks like Chad Tomko is the starting point guard.  All Tomko will need to do is to distribute the ball to the other four players.
Coming off the bench will be returning small forward Montez Downey, freshman impact player Dominique Lacy and JUCO point guard Marlo Davis.

Prognostication - Don’t be surprised if this team finishes even higher than fourth.  There is a significant amount of talent on this team scoring wise and now bench wise.   Vladimir Kuljanin is a load at 6-10 265 pounds and with Hendley, Carter and Fountain, teams will not be able to double team the big fellow down low.  The question will be defense, which at times was lacking last year.

What I have Seen or Read So Far - UNCW needed overtime to beat College of Charleston 98-91 but there were several good signs for the Seahawks.  The Cougars had no answer for Kuljanin who had 25 points and 18 rebounds.  Henley added 18 and 12 rebounds as the Seahawks outrebounded the Cougars 51-40.  More impressive was Daniel Fountain’s 27 points, going 6 of 9 from three.  Finally Dominique Lacy had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes of play, so there is a scoring option off the bench.

Key Player - TJ Carter.  As Jon Vaughan has shown, losing a year to significant injury results in a player struggling to return to form.  TJ Carter is recovering from significant hernia surgery so his play may be rusty at the beginning of the year.  However, unlike Vaughan last year, Carter is starting, so he will see significantly more minutes than Vaughan did, so his return to 2005-06 form may be quicker.  Carter will give the Seahawks a significant additional weapon that will make the Seahawks difficult to defend.

5) Drexel - This is the second team that lost a significant amount of its scoring and leadership due to graduation.  Bashir Mason, Dominick Mejia and Chaz Crawford all graduated.  Thankfully for the Dragons, Frank Elegar returns and he will be needed.  Elegar led the Dragons in scoring and was second to Crawford in rebounding.  The only other returning starter is Scott Rodgers at guard.  Rodgers averaged eight points per game but struggled in shooting and ball handling.  The Dragons are counting on sophomore Tramayne Hawthorne to pickup the scoring load.  Hawthorne who averaged 7 points off the bench will now be thrust into the scoring guard role vacated by Mejia.  The key for Drexel is to find a reliable starting point guard from either freshman Jamie Harris or freshman Gerald Colds.  Harris is currently the starter, while Colds seems to be the scoring option off the bench.  To replace Crawford, the Dragons will rely on senior Randy Oveneke.  If Oveneke is not up to the task, coach Bruiser Flint can rely on either Kenny Tribbett or BC transfer Evan Neisler to pick up the slack in the frontcourt.

Prognostication - Defense, discipline and Elegar are givens with Drexel.  The question will be the guard play and second and third scoring options.  If the Dragons can get a second and third scoring option from Hawthorne, Rodgers and Colds, then teams won’t be able to rely on double teaming Elegar.

What I have Seen or Read So Far - In its 3 wins, Drexel has found its second and third scoring options in Hawthorne and Colds off the bench.  This includes an overtime win over a good Penn team.  If this continues, Drexel will be a force to reckon with in the CAA.