Category: Uncategorized

The More Things Change…

Game #8-610: Green Bay Phoenix at Loyola (Ill.) Ramblers

February 23, 2012 8:00 pm
Joseph Gentile Center
BBState Stats/Recap

It all was so familiar, but it was all so different at the same time. There’s still a McDonald’s under the El, but there’s now tiered seating and chair backs. There’s also some exciting basketball.

I left Chicago to move to New York City and head back closer to home last September. One of the things I knew I was going to miss was my apartment (and the rent!) and Loyola Ramblers and (gasp!) Northwestern Wildcats basketball. Every so often I get to come back to Windy City for work, and this time it just happened to coincide with a few home games.

I got off the El about an hour before game time, so I headed to my typical pregame meal at McDonald’s. When I used to cover the Ramblers for Chicago College Basketball, I ate McDonald’s after games on a regular basis. Now I can’t do that anymore, but I didn’t want to pass up some McNuggets and apple pies. (Speaking of which, what’s up with these McBites Exactly what was the point there)

Having had a nutritious dinner, it was time for the entire reason I was there on a random Thursday night: to see the new Gentile Center. Right as I was leaving Chicago, the Ramblers were opening a new home gym. The first thing I found out was that ticket prices have gone up — and they only take cash. I had exactly $9 in my wallet. (I mean who doesn’t take a credit card these days) As I dealt with the fact that I was going to have to go back out into the wintry mix to find an ATM, a kind lady walked up to me and asked if I needed a ticket.

Well I sure did! I’d like to say thank you to that Good Samaritan. It was an incredibly kind gesture. I tried to give her something for it and she turned it down. Now that’s the Jesuit tradition expressing itself in a virtuous way.

Unfortunately not too many other people bought tickets for the Horizon League showdown between Porter Moser’s 20-loss club hosting a mid-tier conference team in Green Bay. The crowd on “Ladies Night” was a bit sparse. You could basically pick your seat in the general admission section. So I found a seat in Section 208.

What a beautiful place the new Gentile Center is. I still don’t think there’s a bad seat in the arena and it all of a sudden feels like the Loyola (IL) program has been catapulted into the 21st century. The student section is clearly marked. There’s a Fan Shop, a built-in concession stand, and everything you’d expect from a modern college basketball arena. Considering what the Gentile Center looked like before renovations began, it’s a remarkable change. Oh and yes, the 100 level has chair backs. The 200 level, though, has bleacher seats embedded in concrete. To be honest, I really like them too.

Another new thing is Loyola personnel. Moser replaced Jim Whitesell on the bench. Three freshmen started the game. The only one I’d ever heard of was Joe Crisman, and he was worth the hype. He’s not too athletic, but he’s got a great looking jump shot and the ability to create. He’s certainly a keeper. Two other first-year players, London Dokubo and Christian Thomas also started for the Ramblers. In another twist from my years in Chicago, Jordan Hicks is healthy. Oh what might have been for him

I settled into my seat and (while checking NEC scores on my phone) watched a classic back-and-forth Horizon battle unfold. Green Bay made a little spurt right before halftime to take a five-point lead into the break, 31-26, and that looked like it might be enough to get the Phoenix the victory.

But give Moser’s boys credit. The Ramblers never quit. Loyola took the lead on multiple occasions in the second half but couldn’t extend it beyond much more than a point.

One of the reasons Loyola stayed in it was the play of junior Ben Averkamp. I still remember interviewing him on Midnight Madness of his freshman season. I thought right then that he’d be a force in the Horizon League. Against Green Bay, he took over the game in the second half. His aggressive play helped to keep Loyola in it. And then down two with just seconds to play his tip-in of Denzel Brito’s runner tied the game at 70 and sent it to overtime.

In the extra session things stayed tight, but two big threes by Brennan Cougill and Kam Cerroni sealed the game for Green Bay and dropped Loyola to 7-21 and just 1-16 in conference. Averkamp finished with a game-high 26 points.

I feel like the next time I come back things are going to have changed even more. (And not just because the green construction fence will be down and a new building in its place.) Loyola has a great facility now and a new direction under Moser. I was impressed by both the development of players like sophomore Jonathon Gac and the play of freshmen like Crisman. Moser isn’t playing with a full deck right now and he should be able to sell his vision for the Ramblers to future players and build a program that can compete in the Horizon League.

For that’s really what Loyola fans are yearning for. Change that brings them wins.

GREEN BAY 73, at LOYOLA (ILL.) 70
02/23/2012

GREEN BAY 14-14 (9-8)– J. Allen 9-20 1-1 22; K. Sykes 5-16 3-5 13; A. Brown 8-13 2-3 18; B. Cougill 7-11 2-2 19; K. Cerroni 3-7 0-0 9; S. Baker 3-4 1-2 10; T. Johnson 2-6 0-0 4; J. Humphrey 0-1 0-0 0; A. Armstead 0-2 0-0 0; G. Mays 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 8-12 73.

LOYOLA (ILL.) 7-21 (1-16)– J. Crisman 4-12 1-2 12; B. Averkamp 9-18 8-10 26; D. Brito 3-10 3-3 10; J. Hicks 5-11 0-0 10; C. Thomas 1-1 1-1 3; J. Gac 4-7 0-0 8; C. Kadima 0-1 1-2 1; L. Dokubo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 14-18 70.

Three-point goals: GB 9-14 (B. Cougill 3-4; T. Johnson 0-1; S. Baker 3-3; K. Cerroni 3-5; K. Sykes 0-1), LOYO 4-14 (J. Hicks 0-3; B. Averkamp 0-2; D. Brito 1-2; C. Kadima 0-1; J. Crisman 3-6); Rebounds: GB 37 (A. Brown 12), LOYO 27 (B. Averkamp 10); Assists: GB 17 (K. Sykes 8), LOYO 16 (J. Crisman 6); Total Fouls — GB 15, LOYO 12; Fouled Out: GB-None; LOYO-None.

Game #8-610: Green Bay Phoenix at Loyola (Ill.) Ramblers

February 23, 2012 8:00 pm
Joseph Gentile Center
BBState Stats/Recap

It all was so familiar, but it was all so different at the same time. There’s still a McDonald’s under the El, but there’s now tiered seating and chair backs. There’s also some exciting basketball.

I left Chicago to move to New York City and head back closer to home last September. One of the things I knew I was going to miss was my apartment (and the rent!) and Loyola Ramblers and (gasp!) Northwestern Wildcats basketball. Every so often I get to come back to Windy City for work, and this time it just happened to coincide with a few home games.

I got off the El about an hour before game time, so I headed to my typical pregame meal at McDonald’s. When I used to cover the Ramblers for Chicago College Basketball, I ate McDonald’s after games on a regular basis. Now I can’t do that anymore, but I didn’t want to pass up some McNuggets and apple pies. (Speaking of which, what’s up with these McBites Exactly what was the point there)

Having had a nutritious dinner, it was time for the entire reason I was there on a random Thursday night: to see the new Gentile Center. Right as I was leaving Chicago, the Ramblers were opening a new home gym. The first thing I found out was that ticket prices have gone up — and they only take cash. I had exactly $9 in my wallet. (I mean who doesn’t take a credit card these days) As I dealt with the fact that I was going to have to go back out into the wintry mix to find an ATM, a kind lady walked up to me and asked if I needed a ticket.

Well I sure did! I’d like to say thank you to that Good Samaritan. It was an incredibly kind gesture. I tried to give her something for it and she turned it down. Now that’s the Jesuit tradition expressing itself in a virtuous way.

Unfortunately not too many other people bought tickets for the Horizon League showdown between Porter Moser’s 20-loss club hosting a mid-tier conference team in Green Bay. The crowd on “Ladies Night” was a bit sparse. You could basically pick your seat in the general admission section. So I found a seat in Section 208.

What a beautiful place the new Gentile Center is. I still don’t think there’s a bad seat in the arena and it all of a sudden feels like the Loyola (IL) program has been catapulted into the 21st century. The student section is clearly marked. There’s a Fan Shop, a built-in concession stand, and everything you’d expect from a modern college basketball arena. Considering what the Gentile Center looked like before renovations began, it’s a remarkable change. Oh and yes, the 100 level has chair backs. The 200 level, though, has bleacher seats embedded in concrete. To be honest, I really like them too.

Another new thing is Loyola personnel. Moser replaced Jim Whitesell on the bench. Three freshmen started the game. The only one I’d ever heard of was Joe Crisman, and he was worth the hype. He’s not too athletic, but he’s got a great looking jump shot and the ability to create. He’s certainly a keeper. Two other first-year players, London Dokubo and Christian Thomas also started for the Ramblers. In another twist from my years in Chicago, Jordan Hicks is healthy. Oh what might have been for him

I settled into my seat and (while checking NEC scores on my phone) watched a classic back-and-forth Horizon battle unfold. Green Bay made a little spurt right before halftime to take a five-point lead into the break, 31-26, and that looked like it might be enough to get the Phoenix the victory.

But give Moser’s boys credit. The Ramblers never quit. Loyola took the lead on multiple occasions in the second half but couldn’t extend it beyond much more than a point.

One of the reasons Loyola stayed in it was the play of junior Ben Averkamp. I still remember interviewing him on Midnight Madness of his freshman season. I thought right then that he’d be a force in the Horizon League. Against Green Bay, he took over the game in the second half. His aggressive play helped to keep Loyola in it. And then down two with just seconds to play his tip-in of Denzel Brito’s runner tied the game at 70 and sent it to overtime.

In the extra session things stayed tight, but two big threes by Brennan Cougill and Kam Cerroni sealed the game for Green Bay and dropped Loyola to 7-21 and just 1-16 in conference. Averkamp finished with a game-high 26 points.

I feel like the next time I come back things are going to have changed even more. (And not just because the green construction fence will be down and a new building in its place.) Loyola has a great facility now and a new direction under Moser. I was impressed by both the development of players like sophomore Jonathon Gac and the play of freshmen like Crisman. Moser isn’t playing with a full deck right now and he should be able to sell his vision for the Ramblers to future players and build a program that can compete in the Horizon League.

For that’s really what Loyola fans are yearning for. Change that brings them wins.

GREEN BAY 73, at LOYOLA (ILL.) 70
02/23/2012

GREEN BAY 14-14 (9-8)– J. Allen 9-20 1-1 22; K. Sykes 5-16 3-5 13; A. Brown 8-13 2-3 18; B. Cougill 7-11 2-2 19; K. Cerroni 3-7 0-0 9; S. Baker 3-4 1-2 10; T. Johnson 2-6 0-0 4; J. Humphrey 0-1 0-0 0; A. Armstead 0-2 0-0 0; G. Mays 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 8-12 73.

LOYOLA (ILL.) 7-21 (1-16)– J. Crisman 4-12 1-2 12; B. Averkamp 9-18 8-10 26; D. Brito 3-10 3-3 10; J. Hicks 5-11 0-0 10; C. Thomas 1-1 1-1 3; J. Gac 4-7 0-0 8; C. Kadima 0-1 1-2 1; L. Dokubo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 14-18 70.

Three-point goals: GB 9-14 (B. Cougill 3-4; T. Johnson 0-1; S. Baker 3-3; K. Cerroni 3-5; K. Sykes 0-1), LOYO 4-14 (J. Hicks 0-3; B. Averkamp 0-2; D. Brito 1-2; C. Kadima 0-1; J. Crisman 3-6); Rebounds: GB 37 (A. Brown 12), LOYO 27 (B. Averkamp 10); Assists: GB 17 (K. Sykes 8), LOYO 16 (J. Crisman 6); Total Fouls — GB 15, LOYO 12; Fouled Out: GB-None; LOYO-None.

Big East Projection: The big Orange crush

Big East play opens on Tuesday with Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh and Providence vs. St. John’s. Therefore there’s no better time to start running random simulations in order to figure out what teams have a legitimate shot at winning the conference title and which teams are going to have to watch their backs in order to avoid a winless season.

Continue reading “Big East Projection: The big Orange crush” →

Who does more? Looking at assists

Everyone thinks they know the best way to rack up a bunch of assists: Play fast, surround yourself with a bunch of talented scorers and let the dimes pile up like Scrooge McDuck’s vault. The best playmakers though don’t just benfit from the talent around them. They also raise their teammates up. Who is doing that this season?

Let’s take a look at the top eight players in assists per game from BCS conferences and try and figure it out. The list: Kendall Marshall, North Carolina; Jordan Theodore, Seton Hall; Tim Frazier, Penn State; Vincent Council, Providence; Peyton Siva, Louisville; Myck Kabongo, Texas; Shabazz Napier, Connecticut and Junior Cadougan, Marquette.

Looking at the individual tendencies of the Top 8 BCS assist men

Marshall leads the group at 10.2 assists per game, but he’s getting a bunch of help from his teammates. Of the eight players in the survey Marshall has the highest percentage of his assists that result from jumpers at 31.4%. Combining that with the 23.5% that have resulted in threes thus far this season means he’s needed a teammate to knock down a shot 54.9% of the time.

Surprisingly, that isn’t the highest mark of the eight point guards. Drive-and-kick guards like Kabongo, Cadougan and Frazier have very high percentages of their assists result in threes. Since 56.3% of Frazier’s assists have ended up being to shooters behind the arc, he’s actually helped out in some way on almost 60% of the Nittany Lions’ points this season. Thus PSU is incredibly reliant on their junior point guard, which is probably why he’s played fewer than 34 minutes in just two games.

Frazier has another quality that makes him stand out as well; no point guard on this list spreads the ball around to different teammates as much as he does. Thus far this season Cammeron Woodyard has gotten 21.3% of Frazier’s assists. That pales in comparison to the percentage Jae Crowder has gotten from Cadougan (44.9%) or Bryce Cotton (43.8%) has received from Council.

Another player that does a good job spreading the ball around is Texas’ Kabongo and he’s a freshman. While J’Covan Brown gets 31.1% of the Canadian’s assists, six other players have also received at least eight percent.

Then there’s the fascinating case of Napier. The Connecticut point guard is 18th in the nation in assists at 6.2 per game. The best part is a whopping 32.1% of those have gone for dunks. Consider that no other player has had more than 16.7% of their assists go for dunks (Marshall, mostly thanks to John Henson) and it’s even more stunning. That’s the benefit of playing with Andre Drummond, Alex Oriakhi and Jeremy Lamb.

Siva though tops Napier’s close basket percentage. This is a product of the Louisville system and the finishers he plays with. If it’s not a three or something near the rim Rick Pitino doesn’t want it. And really, who on the Cardinals is going to be dunking on a regular basis? That means Siva has the highest layup percentage amongst his peers at 43.5%. Interestingly enough he doesn’t have the lowest jumper percentage.  That belongs to Theodore at a miniscule 6.1%. The Seton Hall point guard is putting his teammates in great positions to make plays with the basketball.

Because Marshall is relying so much on jump shots from his teammates, it’ll be interesting to see if he can sustain a double-digit assist total throughout the season. At some point the shooters are bound to go cold. Then the UNC point guard will have to rely on the pace at which the Tar Heels play and the elite finishing talent he has around him, like Henson, Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes, to get easy assists. He’s got enough talent to sustain it.

What about the players like Frazier, Theodore and Council that don’t have the elite talent around them? Well, Theodore (37.9% to Herb Pope) and Council (Cotton) have done a good job of identifying the elite scoring talent around them and getting the ball to those guys. Frazier doesn’t have that luxury and whether or not he can sustain the ridiculous do-everything pace he’s on going into Big Ten play remains to be seen. Still, he’s certainly a special talent that is doing more with less.

This post is going to be cross posted on College Hoops Journal.

Strength of schedule matters for these teams too

Earlier this week, well Monday, I got all negative about Tulane and strength of schedule. Yeah, sure the Green Wave haven’t played anyone, but some schools have. This time I want to be a little more positive. Here are four mid-majors who are actually better than their record shows because of the gauntlet they’ve run through in non-conference play.

Continue reading “Strength of schedule matters for these teams too” →

St. John’s dominates C.W. Post in 110-80 victory

A box score! This is how you dominate lesser competition. The Red Storm put up an offensive efficiency of 1.36 points per possession thanks to shooting 75.8% (44-58) on two-point attempts. Phil Greene put up a “perfect” 100% effective field goal percentage too. (8-10 overall, but 4-6 from three.) Also, for putting a bunch of new faces together in live game action for the first time a 12.3% turnover rate is great. Not so great? Allowing C.W. Post to score almost a point per possession (0.99) and only going to the free throw line 10 times against a team that was overmatched physically. But everyone needs something to work on. Right? (More from: Rumble in the Garden, Sweet Sweet Lavin.)

History of youth on Red Storm’s side

St. John’s is going to be young this season, historically young. At Red Storm Tip-Off on Friday night the men’s basketball team eschewed the typical scrimmage because there were just eight bodies available. While St. John’s will add a few more players with walk-ons (tryouts were this morning) so that it can actually practice, it’s going to be a young team, so young that it’s really hard to predict what will happen. But let’s give it a shot.

Continue reading “History of youth on Red Storm’s side” →