Metro Atlantic Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 30, 2021 by David Griggs

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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Iona
  2. Saint Peter’s
  3. Marist
  4. Monmouth
  5. Rider
  6. Fairfield
  7. Manhattan
  8. Siena
  9. Quinnipiac
  10. Niagara
  11. Canisius

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-It was a crazy year last year with Iona playing just nine regular season games under first year coach Rick Pitino, but they won the conference tournament and the auto bid before losing to Alabama.  They did lose two starting guards, but they have some key transfers coming in and should once again have strong guard play and play intense pressure defense.

-Saint Peter’s has all five starters back and that experience could lead to a successful season and another big step forward for the program.  This is another team that can play really tough defense and that should help with their success this year.

-Marist is another team with a lot of experience coming back.  Four starters return for a team that was playing fairly well down the stretch, and if they can carry that momentum into this year they should once again be able to finish in the top-three or top-four of the league.

-Coach King Rice has done a fantastic job at Monmouth, but he’s tasked with replacing what was probably their best player in Deion Hammond.  Fortunately three starters are back and they did get some key transfers so chances are they’ll still finish in the top half of the league.

-Rider really struggled last year and won just six games, which is way below what we are used to seeing out of them.  They do add a few key transfers to the roster and that should help them improve this year.

-If you’re looking for a dark horse then you may want to consider Fairfield.  They have all five starters back, and while they certainly had an unspectacular season a year ago they actually weren’t all that bad down the stretch.  They actually advanced all the way to the MAAC Championship game before losing to Iona, so they should at least have some confidence with all the starters back.

-Manhattan had a rough year last year, but four starters are back along with some key transfers, so we should see some improvement this season.

-Siena finished in a tie for first place a year ago, but they also lost most of their key players and are in reset mode right now.  The long term health of this program is pretty solid, but this may be a long year for the Saints as they try to rebuild.

-Quinnipiac, Niagara, and Canisius are all teams that return quite a bit of experience, but they’re also all coming off the kinds of seasons where you wonder if the experience they’re returning is going to help them.

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In Memoriam: HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel interviews Dan Lynch Jr. about his father Daniel

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Jon Teitel

Daniel Lynch did it all at St. Francis as both a player/coach. As a player he led his team in scoring for 4 years in a row and was captain of the 1937 team. A decade after graduating he became head coach at his alma mater and over the next 20 years he made 3 trips to the NIT and won the 1951 National Catholic Invitational Tournament. He remains the winningest basketball coach in school history and also coached the varsity baseball team for several years. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Daniel’s son Dan Jr. about his father’s success in several different roles. Today marks the 40th anniversary of Daniel’s passing on October 30, 1981 so we take this time to honor his life/legacy.

Your father was captain of the basketball team at St. Francis (NY): what made him such a good leader? We came from the same area of Brooklyn as Red Auerbach! Very few people went to college back then but he ended up getting a couple of master degrees and serving in WWII. He was the 1st in our family to do a bunch of things: he was very self-driven.

He led the team in scoring during each of his 4 years: what was his secret for being a great scorer? He was a tremendous shooter with a 2-hand set-shot but only scored about 8 PPG because it was a low-scoring era.

A decade after graduating he became head coach at his alma mater: why did he take the job? He actually coached a high school team while he was still in college himself, then later coached at St. Francis Prep for several years.

What are your memories of the 1954 NIT (NIT MVP Togo Palazzi scored 25 PTS in a win by eventual champion Holy Cross)? I remember that Holy Cross was 1 of the premier teams in the country back then.

In the 1956 NIT Al Innis had a school-record 37 REB in a win over Lafayette: was it just a situation where Al grabbed every single rebound because he was “in the zone”? I think that remains the record for the most rebounds by anyone in NIT history. That team remained close to my father long after they graduated.

In the 1963 NIT Mike McCoy scored 29 PTS including the game-winning layup in a 1-PT win by Miami: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? I was at that game: McCoy came in averaging about 8-9 PPG but had a huge game and was making shots from 25 feet away. It was 1 of the only times that Rick Barry was ever held to single-digits.

He later worked as athletic director/professor of physical education: how did he like being an administrator/faculty member as opposed to being a coach? I am sure that he liked coaching the most but he also liked the camaraderie he formed with the other coaches while meeting with them as AD. He only taught toward the end of his career but really got into it and enjoyed it a lot. He was a pioneer in women’s sports after the advent of Title IX and was an early advocate of the 3-PT line: they even played 1 game against Siena after painting a 3-PT line on the court!

He remains the winningest coach in school history: what made him such a good coach, and do you think anyone will ever break his record? They had a lot of homegrown guys and played a tough schedule. I remember reading articles that always described them as “tough kids from Brooklyn” who did not even have a real gym to practice in. I do not think that his record will be broken unless there is a coach who stays there for a long time: it is a lot harder to get high-quality players right now.

You also attended St. Francis: how big of an influence was he on your own college decision? There was never any doubt: I went to almost every single home game even while I was still in the womb. From Day 1 I knew that I would go there, although I was more of a baseball player than a basketball player.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? Every single person who met him, from the ticket-takers to the opposing head coaches, considered him a very down-to-earth person who treated everyone the same. He drummed into me the idea that if you have to tell someone who you are, then you are not. He never held a grudge once the game was over: he was a great leader and a great friend. We were at a bar once when an interview with my dad was being shown on TV. The bartender looked at the TV, then looked at my dad sitting at the bar, and was just stunned!

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OVC Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 29, 2021 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE For All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Belmont
  2. Morehead State
  3. Murray State
  4. SEMO
  5. Tennessee State
  6. Austin Peay
  7. SIUE
  8. Tennessee Tech
  9. Eastern Illinois
  10. UT Martin

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE TEAM:

-Johni Broome – F – Morehead State
-Tevin Brown – G – Murray State
-Jr. Clay – G – Tennessee Tech
-Chris Harris – G – SEMO
-Carlos Marshall Jr. – G – Tennessee State
-Grayson Murray – G – Belmont
-Nick Muszynski – C – Belmont
-Skyelar Potter – G – Morehead State
-Luke Smith – G – Belmont
-KJ Williams – F – Murray State

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State have left the conference to join the Atlantic Sun, and Austin Peay will be joining them next year.  That makes the OVC a single division, ten-team league.

-Belmont is perhaps in the running of the most under-rewarded team in college basketball over the past couple of seasons.  In the 2019-2020 season they finished in first place and won the OVC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament!!  The problem was the NCAA Tournament was cancelled…but they had all their players returning the next season and tried to put together a strong OOC schedule  The problem was that a lot of those games ended up not getting played.  They were still the first place team in the conference though and lost just four games all year!   Unfortunately one of those was the OVC Championship game against a Morehead State team they had beaten and finished ahead of during the regular season.  And that was it.  No NCAA Tournament.  No NIT.  No respect.  Belmont, again, has all five starters back.  They are one of the better UTR teams out there, and may have an outside shot at playing their way inside the bubble.  Nick Muszynski is probably the best big man in the league and they have some great shooters on the perimeter as well.

-Morehead State posted a 17-3 record in league play and won the OVC Tournament.  While they did lose some key pieces and have just two starters back, they add a couple of pretty solid transfers and have some guys back that contributed off the bench as well.

-Murray State had a less stellar season than what we normally see out of the Racers, but with four starters, including KJ Williams, they will once again be close to the top of the standings this year.

After that there is pretty big drop off.

-SEMO has all five starters back and that experience seems to have people thinking they can finish in the top half of the league, but they won just 11 games a year ago.  They did look a lot better down the stretch winning four of their last five before losing in the conference tournament so maybe they can take some of that momentum into this season.

-Tennessee State won just four games last year and is in complete reset mode with no returning starters.  They do have some guys back that were injured last year and some key players who transferred in, so we should see some improvement from them this year.

-Austin Peay has just one starter back, and it’s not Terry Taylor, who was the best player in the league a year ago.  They are in complete reset mode and could be in for a long season.

-SIUE lost eight of their last nine games to end the season last year, so while three starters are back it’s hard to say that the expectations are all that high.

-Tennessee Tech has a good coach in John Pelphrey (at least I think so) and a good player in Jr. Clay.  They don’t seem to have much else, though.  I thought Pelphrey was a fantastic hire who would really be able to get this program going, but they’re coming off a year where they were just 5-22 and have shown very few signs of improvement.

-Eastern Illinois has a new coach in Marty Simmons and he has his work cut out for him.  Just one starter is back from a year ago and there are a lot of question marks surrounding this team.

-UT Martin is coming off a year where they dealt with severe off the court issues.  Coach Anthony Stewart died just before the season started and the team was understandably effected by that all season long.  They’ve got a new young coach in Ryan Ridder and have had a bit of a roster overhaul as well as they try and get things back on the right track.

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Ivy League Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 29, 2021 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE For All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Yale
  2. Harvard
  3. Princeton
  4. Penn
  5. Brown
  6. Dartmouth
  7. Cornell
  8. Columbia

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-It’s never easy to forecast how a season is going to go.  That’s why so many preseason predictions, even the ones that come from experts, end up being flat-out wrong.  It’s also the reason that we don’t really make predictions anymore, but rather just try and offer a few notes on each team.  With that being said, doing that for a conference where none of the teams played a season ago won’t be easy.

-Yale is the preseason favorite and they appear to have a strong perimeter led by SR G Azar Swain.  They have been the class of the league in recent years and appear to be close to the top again.

-I was really excited about Harvard’s team last year, and was kind of disappointed when the Ivy opted not to play.  A lot of guys that would have been on the team last year graduated and moved on and it’s kind of hard to know what to make of them.  They’ve got a lot of new players so I guess we will see once the season starts.

– Princeton returns a lot of players who were in contributing roles two seasons ago, and that experience should help them out this year.

-Penn has what appears to be a strong backcourt and could have a decent frontcourt as well with some players being back from injury.

-Tamenang Choh is back for Brown and that should give them some experience this year.  It’s hard to say how much help he is going to get.

-Brendan Barry transferred from Dartmouth to Temple last year…and has now transferred back.  He should be able to give them a boost as well but they may still be in for a long season.

-Neither Cornell or Columbia had good years the last time we had an Ivy League season, and chances are this year will be a struggle for them as well.

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Season preview: HoopsHD interviews ASU SR SF Kimani Lawrence

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE For All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

We are keeping our fingers crossed in the hope that we can return to a “normal” version of college basketball this fall: fans in the stands, announcers without masks, etc. Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen but we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. We continue our coverage with ASU SR SF Kimani Lawrence. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Kimani about being a veteran leader and his expectations for this season.

You were born/raised in Rhode Island: what made you choose ASU? I wanted to go to a school that needed me and at the time Coach Bobby Hurley did not have all of his guys here yet. I felt it would be the best place for me to get onto the court right away.

What makes Hurley such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He has taught me the importance of competing regardless of the game situation. He is really good at connecting with his players, especially since he was a big-time college player himself, so we have a lot of respect for him.

In December of 2018 you scored 7 PTS in a 4-PT win over an undefeated Kansas team: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is definitely 1 of my favorite ASU moments: it is up there.

1 of your biggest heroes is Kobe Bryant: what was your reaction when you learned that he died last year? It was really sad, especially with his daughter Gianna and several other people also dying in the helicopter crash.

Last February you had 21 PTS/20 REB in an 8-PT win over Washington: where does that rank among the best all-around games of your career? That was definitely my best game as a Sun Devil.

Your FG%/FT% both went way up from 2020 to 2021: how were you able to improve so much in just 1 year? Just simplifying the game, moving more without the ball, and being more aggressive. It helped my confidence and took my game to another level.

After 3 straight 20-win seasons you went 11-14 last year: what will it take to turn things around this season? 1 of our biggest problems last season was not being on the court enough with each other due to COVID/injuries. The big thing this year is to just learn each other’s game and create a bond off the court so that we can gel on the court.

There are 10 newcomers on the roster this year: how much pressure is there on you to be a veteran leader? Coach Hurley trusted me to help get the new players to buy in. Being a veteran I know what is expected of the players. The newcomers are all high-character guys who want to win so there was not much pressure once I got to know them: there is a mutual level of respect and we all get along.

Your non-conference schedule includes games against San Diego State/Baylor/Creighton and either VCU or Syracuse: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? There is not 1 specific game that stands out, but the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas is a big-time opportunity to show that we can compete with Baylor and other high-level teams.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? My biggest goal is just winning, since that will help us all get to where we want to be individually. This is my last year: next year I hope to play professionally and winning this year will give me the best opportunity to do so. If you look at a championship team like Villanova from a few years ago you can see how many of their players went pro.

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Happy Anniversary!: HoopsHD interviews Hall of Famer George Gervin

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE For All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

Ask a non-basketball fan about “The Iceman” and they might respond that it was a terrible sci-fi film from the 1980s about a prehistoric man who gets resuscitated. Ask a basketball fan and they will tell you that the real Iceman was George Gervin, who earlier this month was named 1 of the 75 greatest players in NBA history. His sensational scoring ability revealed itself during his sophomore year at Eastern Michigan when he scored 29.5 PPG in 1972. After joining the San Antonio Spurs he won the 1978 scoring title by scoring 63 points in the final game of the regular season (including a then-NBA record 33 points in the 2nd quarter) while sitting out the entire 4th quarter. He won 3 more scoring titles during a 4-year span from 1979-1982, finishing his career with the most scoring titles of any guard in NBA history prior to some guy named Michael Jordan. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with George about his famous “finger roll” and being a great scorer. Today marks the 25th anniversary of George being named 1 of the 50 greatest players in NBA history on October 29, 1996, so we take this time to celebrate his legacy.

As a kid you played basketball at a cousin’s house with a young neighbor named Ralph Simpson (who later was your teammate on the West squad in the 1975 ABA All-Star Game): who was the better player growing up, and what was it like to finally become his teammate a couple of decades later? Ralph was the better player back then: we all admired him when we were growing up. He does not get enough credit for his game in college. We played a lot during the summer and I am truly a fan.

Virginia Squires scout Johnny Kerr allegedly saw you score 52 PTS for the Pontiac Chaparrals in the Eastern Basketball Association and then signed you to a contract for $40,000/year, but another rumor is that you made 22-25 3-PT shots at a tryout for Virginia and they immediately signed you without ever having seen you play an actual game: which is the real story? Johnny saw me playing for a semi-pro team and I scored about 38 PPG: he happened to be at a game where I scored 52 and they flew me in for a tryout. I made a ton of threes and they signed me on the spot.

In the winter of 1974 Virginia owner Earl Foreman sold you to San Antonio and then changed his mind, followed by Spurs owner Angelo Drossos filing a lawsuit and a judge granting a permanent injunction allowing you to play for Spurs: what was it like to watch your career being decided in a court of law? You never want to end up in the court system. It was tough for me to go through that as a 20-year old but it showed me how the basketball business worked.

Your trademark move was the finger roll, which you could do from as far away as the FT line: how did you 1st develop the move, and what made it so effective? Wilt Chamberlain/Dr. J/Connie Hawkins each had their own version of the move: I studied how they did it and then created my own type to make it famous.

In Game 7 of the 1976 ABA Semifinals you scored a game-high 31 PTS in a 7-PT loss to eventual champion New York: how difficult was it for you to switch from forward to guard after teammate James Silas got hurt? It was pretty easy for me because I was only 185 pounds at the time: it helped change my entire career when I became a 2-guard. I fought it at 1st but it became real easy for me.

Take me through the final day of the 1978 NBA season:
You needed to score 59 PTS to edge out David Thompson for the scoring title after Thompson had scored 73 PTS only hours earlier: did you think you still had a chance to overtake him? I did not really think about it at the time but Coach Doug Moe found out and told me what I had to do.

You started off your own game at New Orleans by missing 6 six straight shots/calling timeout/asking your teammates to give up the chase, but they ignored your request and you ended up scoring a career-high 63 PTS in only 33 minutes while sitting out the entire 4th quarter in a loss to win the scoring title: how on earth did you score a then-NBA-record 33 PTS in the 2nd quarter, and what did it mean to you to win the scoring title? It was my 1st scoring title: the beauty of having a good relationship with my team is that they set picks for me and gave me the ball. They kept edging me on and I ended up with 53 PTS in the 1st half. I technically scored 59…but made sure to score a few more in case they miscalculated!

You led the NBA in scoring each year from 1978-1980 (including a high of 33.1 PPG in 1980) and again in 1982, and your career 25.1 PPG remains #10 all-time: what is your secret for being a great scorer? I was fundamentally sound and knew how to score. I could drive to the basket or shoot off the dribble and I made a lot of in-between shots so scoring was easy for me: it all came from preparation.

Take me through the 1979 playoffs:
You had 33 PTS/12 REB and made 2 FT with 11 seconds left to clinch a 3-PT win over Philly in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals: how big a deal was it to finally win a 7-game playoff series victory after the Spurs had lost each of their 9 previous 7-game series? Philly had Dr. J. at the time and I had a lot of respect for him so it was a big win for our franchise.

You scored 42 PTS in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals but Bob Dandridge made a 16-footer over 3 defenders with 8 seconds left in a 2-PT win by Washington to win the series after coming back from 3-1 deficit: did you agree with Coach Doug Moe that the refs were to blame after calling 7 fouls against your team in the final 4 minutes? We could have become the 1st ABA franchise to get to the NBA Finals. I do not blame the refs…but the lights went out in the building for 12 minutes which totally ruined our momentum, and once they came back on the Bullets got their own momentum.

In the 1984 NBA All-Star game you scored 13 PTS in a 9-PT OT loss: how on earth did your West team lose despite fielding a Hall of Fame starting lineup of you/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Magic Johnson/Alex English/Adrian Dantley? I still do not believe that we lost while having such an amazing team: I guess you have to give the East a lot of credit. I thought we had that 1 in the bag but it just goes to show that anything can happen in the All-Star Game.

In 1996 you were inducted into the Hall of Fame and named 1 of the NBA’s 50 Greatest of all-time: where do these honors rank among the highlights of your career? I want to be remembered as 1 of the greats who had a tremendous impact on the game of basketball. I loved the game and played it the way that it was supposed to be played.

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