Season preview: HoopsHD interviews VCU SR SF Issac Vann

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

We continue our season preview coverage with VCU SR SF Issac Vann. The Rams finished last season as 1 of the hottest teams in the country: after losing at Rhode Island in late-January they reeled off 12 straight wins to earn a regular season title before a 5-PT loss to the other Rams in the A-10 tourney and then a loss to UCF in the NCAA tourney. Almost every single player on last year’s roster is back as they try to extend the school’s winning streak to 21 seasons in a row (dating back to 2000). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Issac about making the NCAA tourney and celebrating his birthday.

You began your college career at Maine, where you averaged a team-high 16.4 PPG and were named to the America East All-Rookie team in 2016: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? They basically gave me the green light and I had the confidence of the coach. I put in the work and the result showed even though we did not have the kind of season that we wanted.

Why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose VCU? I just wanted to play at a higher level. Coach Rasheen Davis was at VCU and had recruited me back when I was in high school so the connection was already there.

You play for Coach Mike Rhoades: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is very family-oriented and brings a lot of energy every day. I learned that you have to go out there every day and go to work no matter how your body feels.

Last November you had 30 PTS/11 REB/5 AST in a 1-PT loss to St. John’s: where does that rank among the best all-around games of your career? I would say top-3.

You finished the season with the 3rd-most PTS and 2nd-most STL on the team: how do you balance your offense with your defense? I just try to be a 2-way player. I am up to the challenge of guarding the best player on the opposing team and can also score.

In the 2019 NCAA tourney you scored 9 PTS in a loss to UCF: what did you learn from that game that will help you this year? You have to lock in on the small details. It is hard to prepare for a team that you have not faced before so I will focus on the little things in the scouting report this year.

Your non-conference schedule includes games against LSU/Purdue and 1 of Florida State/Tennessee: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? If I had to pick 1 I would probably say Purdue. They lost a lot of talent but have a great coaching staff so I do not think there will not be much of a drop-off.

You are 1 of 5 seniors on the roster: how crucial will all of that experience be to your team’s success? Very crucial. We have been through pretty much everything and are probably 1 of the oldest teams in the country. You see a lot of 1-and-done players on some teams but our experience will be pretty good.

You turned 24 last month: what did you do for the big day? Not much: we had practice.

What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We would like to win an A-10 championship and make it back to the NCAA tourney. I want to be named conference POY and do whatever I can to help my team win.

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Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Murray State SO SG Tevin Brown

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

We continue our season preview coverage with Murray State SO SG Tevin Brown. The Racers had a season for the ages last year: 28 wins, a conference tourney title, and a 19-PT win over Marquette in the NCAA tourney before losing to Florida State. Ja Morant was certainly the star of the show but there is still plenty of talent remaining in Murray even after he was taken 2nd overall in the NBA draft by Memphis last June. 1 returning player who will be relied on heavily is Tevin, who returned from an injury to become 1 of the best 3-PT shooters in the conference. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Tevin about making the NCAA tourney and celebrating his birthday.

You grew up in Alabama: what made you choose Murray State? They were with me from the start and never stopped talking to me throughout my high school career.

You play for Coach Matt McMahon: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him? His consistency that he brings every single day: he really knows the game.

You missed all of the 2018 season with a broken foot but started all 33 games last year: how difficult was it to get back onto the court? It was not very difficult: I just had to get into the gym and start working.

Last December you had 19 PTS/10 REB in a 5-PT loss at Auburn: how close did you come to pulling off the upset? We were pretty close at the end. We started off slow but then picked it up.

You finished the season ranked #2 in the conference in both 3PM/3P%: what is the secret to making shots from behind the arc? Practice and getting the reps up.

In the 2019 NCAA tourney you scored 5 PTS in a loss to Florida State: what did you learn from that game that will help you this year? The physicality of other teams and the elite condition that I have to be in when facing them.

Your non-conference schedule includes a road game at Tennessee: do you prepare for an SEC team the same way that you prepare for an OVC team? It is the same preparation as if it were any other game.

Your teammate Ja Morant was drafted 2nd overall last summer after being named 2019 conference POY/conference tourney MVP: how will your team try to replace 1 of the best players in school history? We do not try to replace him: we will just build on last year with the team that we have.

You turned 21 last month: what did you do for the big day? I had a 4-hour practice!

What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I want to do the best that I can and help my team win as many games as possible.

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Under the Radar: Preseason Preview Show

Posted on October 30, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

Chad, David, and Stalica run through all 22 UTR Conferences.  Last year we saw three UTR teams that landed inside the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, and five that made it as far as the Round of 32.  We discuss which teams we think can make a splash on the national scene, most notably a New Mexico State team that returns four starters from a 29 win team that came very close to upsetting Auburn, Liberty who returns four starters from a team that made the Round of 32, East Tennessee State and Furman out of the SoCon, and Harvard who looks really strong out of the Ivy League.  All that, and more…

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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Big South Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 29, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL

  1. Radford
  2. Gardner Webb
  3. Winthrop
  4. Hampton
  5. Charleston Southern
  6. Longwood
  7. Campbell
  8. High Point
  9. UNC Asheville
  10. Presbyterian
  11. USC Upstate

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-BIG SOUTH 1ST TEAM

Carlik Jones – Radford, JR G
Jermaine Marrow – Hampton, SR G
Jose Perez – Gardner Webb, SO G/F
Phlandrous Fleming – Charleston Southern, JR G
DeVon Baker – UNC Asheville, SO G

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-BIG SOUTH 2ND TEAM

Josh Ferguson – Winthrop, SR F
Shabooty Phillips – Longwood, SR G
Travis Fields – Radford, SR G
Nate Johnson – Gardner Webb, JR G
Cory Hightower – Presbyterian, SO F

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID.  Radford won 22 games last year, finished in a tie for first-place, and advanced to the conference championship game.  With three starters back and a very talented backcourt, they are one of the favorites to win the league again this year.

Gardner Webb, who was last year’s conference tournament winner, is another team to watch for with three starters back.  They have a really strong player in Jose Perez, and should get a lot of help from their bench.  It wouldn’t shock me if they returned to the Big Dance this year.

Charleston Southern has four starters back from a team that looked pretty good in the latter part of last season.  The problem is the one guy that isn’t back was easily their top player.  Still, the Buccaneers should be able to have some success in the league this year and I think they’ll finish much closer to the top than they do the bottom.

Pat Kelsey is entering his 8th year at Winthrop, which is kind of hard to believe.  They do lose quite a bit from last year’s team, including what was perhaps their top player, but they have some newcomers that look pretty good, and some of the guys from last year should be able to step into bigger roles.

Hampton enters their second year in the Big South.  They had quite a bit of roster turnover, but also look to have a strong backcourt and should be able to make some noise in the league this year.

Head coach Griff Aldrich is in just his second year at Longwood, and the fact that he managed a winning season last year after the team had failed to win more than 10 for the past four years is a noticeable improvement.  I’m not ready to say that Longwood can contend for first place, but with three starters back I do think they can continue to improve.  This is a program that has never experienced success since making the move up to D-1, and it’s fun to see that they are getting better.

There isn’t much buzz around this High Point team, but Tubby Smith is entering his second year and while they did lose some of their top players, they got enough coming back and coming in to make me think they can be better than expected.

It can be frustrating when you’re trying to build a program.  Presby won 20 games last year, and had one of the better players in the conference in Adam Flagler, and really appeared to be heading in the right direction.  The problem was their head coach left for another job, and Flagler transferred to Baylor.  Three starters are back, and they should at least be decent again this year, but had they retained everyone I would have liked their chances to finish near the top of the league.

Campbell tied for first place last year, and had one of the most exciting players in the country in Chris Clemons.  The problem is that Clemons is gone along with two other starters.  The Camels look to be in rebuilding mode this year.

UNC Asheville has four starters back!  They will have experience!  The problem is that the number of games they won last year is equal to the number of starters they have returning.  It will likely be a long year for the Bulldogs again this year.

USC Upstate isn’t looking a whole lot better than UNCA this year.

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Hoops HD Report: AAC, A-10, MWC, and WCC Conference Previews

Posted on October 28, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

We’ve got four preview shows in one post!!  From top to bottom, these four leagues aren’t as good as the Power Five and Big East Conferences in the sense that they typically don’t have more than half the teams in position to make the NCAA tournament.  But, they do routinely send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament, have teams ranked in the Top 25, and have teams contending for and earning protected seeds.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC – CLICK HERE for Media Day Recap and Response

ATLANTIC 10 – CLICK HERE for Media Day Recap and Response

MOUNTAIN WEST – CLICK HERE for Media Day Recap and Response

WEST COAST – CLICK HERE for Media Day Recap and Response

And for all you radio lovers, below are audio only versions of each show…

American:

Atlantic Ten:

Mountain West:

West Coast:

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Big West Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 28, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL

  1. UC Irvine
  2. UC Santa Barbara
  3. Cal State Northridge
  4. Hawai’i
  5. Cal State Fullerton
  6. Long Beach State
  7. UC Riverside
  8. UC Davis
  9. Cal Poly

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-BIG WEST TEAM

Lamine Diane – Cal State Northridge, SO F
Terrell Gomez – Cal State Northridge, JR G
Max Heidegger – UC Santa Barbara, SR G
Evan Leonard – UC Irvine, SR G
Dikymbe Martin – UC Riverside, SR G

 

NOTES FROM DAVID.  UC Irvine had a spectacular season last year where they won 31 games and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.  Just two starters are back, but they’ve got several guys who have seen quality minutes in the past that can step up, along some freshmen who should be able to help them out.  I don’t think they’ll be as good as they were a year ago, but they should once again be one of the best, if not THE best, in the Big West.

Look out for UC Santa Barbara.  They could be better than you think.  They had one really bad week in February last year where they lost three games, and two of those inexplicably came against crappy teams.  Other than that, they were really good.  Four starters are back, and they could be in store for a huge year this year.

Cal State Northridge has four starters back, and two of those guys earned preseason all conference honors.  Mark Gottfried enters year two of his era, and I think you’re going to see some major improvements.  I agree with the media that they could finish in the top three, and could be very hard to beat.

Cal State Fullerton returns three starters from a team that tied for second, but two of their top scorers and all around players are gone so we could see them take a step back this season.

Hawai’i has three starters back, and a fair amount of depth.  It is seemingly always hard to win at Hawai’i no matter how good they are.  Having said that, the Warriors oftentimes have just as much difficulty winning away from home.

I thought the voters were a little rough on UC Davis, but only a little.  They won just nine D-1 games a year ago, but three starters are back and they did have a pretty good stretch close to the end of the year to indicate that they were at least going in the right direction.  I do like Jim Les as a coach, and with the addition of some quality JUCO guys this should be a better team this year.

It’s hard to believe that Dan Monson is about to begin his 13th season at Long Beach State.  It’s also somewhat surprising that while he’s had a couple of really good teams, they haven’t been able to remain consistently good.  With just two starters back from last year’s team, and nine new players this year, it’s hard to say with any certainty how good The Beach will be this season.

UC Riverside returns four starters, but they win just seven games against D-1 teams last year, so chances are they’ll once again be closer to the bottom than they are to the top.

I expect Cal Poly to repeat as this year’s last place team.

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