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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Horizon 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

HORIZON LEAGUE MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Cleveland State
  2. Wright State
  3. Northern Kentucky
  4. Milwaukee
  5. Detroit Mercy
  6. Oakland
  7. Youngstown State
  8. UIC
  9. PFW
  10. Robert Morris
  11. Green Bay
  12. IUPUI

 

MEDIA DAY ALL CONFERENCE 1ST TEAM:

-Torrey Patton – Cleveland State
-Antoine Davis – Detroit Mercy (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Patrick Baldwin Jr. – Milwaukee
-Jalen Moore – Oakland
-Grant Basile – Wright State

MEDIA DAY ALL  CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM:

-DeAndre Gholston – Milwaukee
-Trevon Faulkner – Northern Kentucky
-Marques Warrick – Northern Kentucky
-Jarred Godfrey – PFW
-Tanner Holden – Wright State

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-I’ll start with this.  The conference has opted for a full double round robin despite having 12 teams: that’s 22 league games!  That limits the number of OOC opportunities and I’m not sure how good that is for the teams at the top of the league.

-Cleveland State was last year’s first place team and conference tournament winner.  All five starters are back, so they are clearly the frontrunners this year.  The question is are they good enough to play their way inside the bubble?  Dennis Gates has done a fantastic job as coach, the team has balanced scoring and a lot of threats, and has the depth they need to really make some noise this year.

-Wright State is another team to keep an eye on.  Four starters are back from a team that tied for first last year, and Coach Scott Nagy once again appears to have a team that can contend for the top of the league and play their way into a position to where they can make a postseason tournament such as the CIT if they come up short of the auto-bid.  They have good outside shooting, balanced scoring, and a lot of weapons all around.

-Northern Kentucky has been a force in the league since the time they joined it, and they have the makings of another good team this year.  Four returning starters give them some pretty good experience, and considering how well they played down the stretch a year ago they should be one of the horses in the race for the top of the league.

-Milwaukee signed Patrick Baldwin Jr., who was one of the top recruits in the nation.  That’s why they are being voted as high as 4th after a season where they posted a losing conference record and didn’t have many other pieces coming back.  That’s a lot of weight to put on the shoulders of a true freshman, but he certainly has given this program a big jolt of energy.  Coach Pat Baldwin Sr. did a fantastic job of recruiting his son!!

-Detroit Mercy had a very respectable season last year where they finished 4th in the league.  While they lost some key players, Antoine Davis is back, who is perhaps the best player in the entire conference.  I don’t know how much he’ll have in the way of help, but it goes without saying that this team will be relying heavily on him.

-Oakland finished in the middle of the pack a year ago, has three starters back from that team, and given the way things are looking I expect them to kind of finish in the middle of the league again this year.  They do have a fantastic player in PG Jalen Moore.  He’ll need some help if they want to finish far up the standings, though.

-Youngstown State has posted back to back winning seasons for the first time in…well…I don’t know exactly how long, but it is not something they do very often!  The bad news is they lost some key players.  The good news is they’ve added some transfers that should be able to help them out.  I don’t know why, but the Penguins are a team that we always seem to have a soft spot for and hopefully they can continue to grow their program.

-UIC returns three starters and looks to have added some key transfers.  I’m not ready to pick them at the top of the league but they do have reason to be optimistic.

-PFW has four starters back, but seeing as how they only won 8 games a year ago and finished at the bottom of the league, it’s hard to say just how improved they are going to be.

-Robert Morris had some pretty good years in the NEC, but last year was not one of them, and it’s not looking all that promising for this season either.  They have added some transfers to try and get some help right away, but after winning just four games a year ago it’s hard to project them to finish that high from the bottom.

-Green Bay and IUPUI could also be in for long seasons.

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West Coast Conference Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 28, 2021 by David Griggs

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

WEST COAST MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Gonzaga
  2. BYU
  3. Saint Mary’s
  4. LMU
  5. San Francisco
  6. Santa Clara
  7. Pepperdine
  8. Pacific
  9. San Diego
  10. Portland

 

WEST COAST MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE TEAM:

-Alex Barcello – SR,G -BYU
-Jamaree Bouyea – SR,G – San Francisco
-Logan Johnson – SR, G – Saint Mary’s
-Caleb Lohner – SO, F – BYU
-Andrew Nembhard – SR, G – Gonzaga
-Eli Scott – SR, G/F – LMU
-Khalil Shabazz – SR, G – San Francisco
-Drew Timme – JR, F – Gonzaga
-Josip Vrankic – SR, F – Santa Clara
-Jalen Williams – JR, G – Santa Clara

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-Gonzaga has had five straight 30+ win seasons.  I’m not sure if that has ever been done before in the history of college basketball.  To be fair, the UCLA teams in the 1960s/1970s played fewer games and most likely would have done it, but that is a hell of a run.  They’ve also been the national runner-up twice during that run.  So, the fact that they are beginning this season ranked #1 shouldn’t be a surprise.  They could hold on to that ranking for quite a while.  They are once again a solid Final Four/national title contender.  They did lose some key players but appeared to have just reloaded on talent.  It is very likely that they will once again just run away from the rest of the conference.

-BYU will be moving on to the Big 12 after this season.  As for this season, they are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance from a year ago and despite losing three starters I like their chances to get back there this year.  Two of their top three scorers are back and they appear to have some guys who are ready to step in to bigger roles.

-We are used to seeing Saint Mary’s near the top of the standings and inside the NCAA Tournament bubble, but they had a bit of a down year last year and are looking to bounce back.  All five starters are back so the experience should help them out.  They also have some key players back that they lost to injury last season so expect to see quite a bit of improvement out of the Gaels.

-After four straight 20+ win seasons, San Francisco took a step back last season winning just 11 games overall and finishing just 4-9 in WCC play.  They do have some experience back but they’ll need to show substantial improvement if they want to get back in the top half of the standings and contend for a postseason bid.  Now having said that, it wouldn’t shock me at all if they were able to make huge improvements.  Truth be told I’m a little surprised that they’re not getting more preseason love.  They appear to have a very strong backcourt and a good enough frontcourt to where they can make quite a bit of noise this year.

-LMU is another team with all five starters back.  They had a nice season last year where they finished third and were looking pretty good at the end of the season.  This is a program that appears to be heading in the right direction and could take another big step forward this year.

-I seem to pick Santa Clara as a dark horse every year, and while I think they do have potential they haven’t ever come through the way that I thought they would.  They have three double-digit scoring starters back and some key transfers, as well as some guys who can step into bigger roles.  They have all the ingredients of being a dark horse again this year!!  I guess I haven’t learned my lesson because I’m going to once again pick them as a dark horse.

-Pepperdine was a very respectable 7-6 in the league last year and with three starters back they shouldn’t be completely dismissed or overlooked.  They also add some key transfers which should help them out.

-Pacific is coming off a 9-9 season, but they did win three of their last four heading into the conference tournament and with three starters back they may be able to continue that momentum into this season.  They have a fairly solid backcourt and will look to get some help from some transfer players.

-Portland and San Diego are bringing up the rear.  Portland didn’t win a single game last year and with all five starters gone get the chance to kind of reboot.  San Diego returns three starters from a team that won just two conference games a year ago, one of which was against…Portland.

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