Top NYC Players: 5-1

This is the final part of this week’s series about the Top 25 players in the New York metro area. Check out 21-25, 16-20, 11-15, 6-10.

5. Mike Moore, Hofstra — The Pride might have struggled in Year 1 A.C.J. (after Charles Jenkins), but Moore did everything he could to try and keep the team afloat. He increased his usage by almost 5% (a large leap) and still maintained strong efficiency while handling the basketball. That led to 19.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and a nod to the All-CAA Second Team. Moore scored 30 points three times this season, against Binghamton, Siena and UNC-Wilmington — all Hofstra wins. He also scored 24 points in Hofstra’s upset of Iona. Considering how much the Pride’s offense struggled overall, with three regular contributors with an offensive rating under 90, it was up to Moore and Nathaniel Lester to keep the offense afloat. They did the best possible job they could in a difficult situation. I’m sure Moore knows exactly how being the lead guy feels now.

4. Mike Glover, Iona — It took Glover a little while to get to Iona, but once in New Rochelle he made the most of his time there. The senior from the Bronx scored 18.3 points and grabbed 9 rebounds per game on the way to MAAC First Team honors. While he does owe some of the credit to the man that is at No. 1 on this list, Glover also took some of the pressure off the Iona guards as well. The only consistent interior presence for Iona this season, it was Glover’s job to do as much as possible to keep opponents off the boards and occupied defensively, which opened up looks for the Gaels’ talented shooters. Just watch tape of the second half of the BYU game and you’ll see how Glover really helped make Iona’s offense go. Overall though that final NCAA game is one Glover would probably rather forget. He had some of spectacular games, including 31 points and against Marist and 34 against Saint Joseph’s. He also played well against the MAAC’s best, with double-doubles in both games against Loyola (MD). Glover will play professional basketball somewhere next season, but he’ll remember his time at Iona.

3. Julian Boyd, LIU Brooklyn — The unanimous NEC Player of the Year Boyd was the big presence in the middle for the best team in the conference in 2011-12. He’s the reason that Blackbirds swept Wagner, including 19 points and 15 boards the second time they met. That was one of 14 double-doubles on the season for Body. The most impressive one was a 21-point, 20-board performance against Fairleigh Dickinson. Boyd though also scored 29 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against St. Peter’s and put up 18 points and 12 boards in a key victory at Vermont early in the season. Boyd’s averages of 17.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game are incredible and deceptive, because he averaged just 27.1 minutes per game thanks to the Blackbirds’ front court depth. Boyd shot 56% from the floor, including 42% from three, and 74% from the line. He was a terror to deal with and no NEC player wanted to be matched up against him on the low block. The craziest thing is that he’s just a redshirt junior and will be back to make some more noise and try to get LIU an NCAA win in 2012-13.

2. Jordan Theodore, Seton Hall — There’s no way to measure heart through statistics, but Theodore certainly had a ton of it. The Pirates’ 6’0″ point guard averaged 16 points and 6.7 assists per game as he tried to will SHU into the postseason. It was an impressive tour de force that ended with him being named to the All-Big East Second Team at the conclusion of the season. Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn’t quite figure out a way to win enough games to pull out an NCAA bid and, even though Theodore scored 17 points on just 11 shots against Louisville, the dreams of making the tournament died at Madison Square Garden. Theodore had seven double-doubles this season, including 26 points and 11 assists in a 21-point win over DePaul in January. In the end he wasn’t able to save his team from losing to Rutgers and the Blue Demons during the final weeks of the season, which probably sealed their NCAA Tournament fate.

1. Scott Machado, Iona — After spending an offseason really dedicating himself to preparing to run the Iona offense during his senior season Machado had a year to remember in New Rochelle. He was the best player on the court almost every night out and often flirted with a triple double. He averaged 13.6 point, 9.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game this season. He shot 50% from the field, including 40% from three, and 81% from the free throw line. All of those marks are career highs. As a senior Machado also lowered his turnovers to 3.3 per game. Now the 6’1″ point guard from Queens is looking at the possibility of being picked in the NBA Draft in June. Machado had a triple-double against Marist on February 12 with 10 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds in an 83-74 home win. He had 11 other double-doubles throughout the year, including a rare 10-rebound, 10-assist performance against William & Mary. Machado also proved he could score, dropping 33 points in a double-overtime win over Saint Joseph’s and 25 points in Iona’s MAAC tournament game against Fairfield. When the Gaels were selected as an at-large for the NCAA tournament Machado performed there as well, scoring 15 points and handing 10 assists as the Gaels fell 78-72. There doesn’t seem to be much more that he could’ve accomplished this season. As the driving force of Tim Cluess’ offense and Iona’s return to the postseason, Machado is my pick for the top player in New York City this season.

Assist Tracker: Dec. 30

Roderick Pearson Jr. (G, Oral Roberts) — Pearson had 12 assists as the Golden Eagles continued to roll through the Summit League with a 79-67 win over South Dakota. Dominique Morrison scored 27 points for ORU and Pearson assisted on six of Morrison’s 10 baskets. Five of Pearson’s assists were on jump shots.

Jordan Theodore (G, Seton Hall) — Theodore gave out a nice even distribution of assists in Seton Hall’s 67-48 win over West Virginia on Friday. He had 18 points and eight assists for the Pirates in the win. Four of Theodore’s eight assists went to Fuquan Edwin, who led the team with 19 points. There were three layups, three threes, a jump shot and a dunk in Theodore’s eight pack.

Brian Barbour (G, Columbia) — Three of Barbour’s seven assists in Columbia’s 77-67 win over Lafayette went to Meiko Lyles. There were three threes, three layups and one jumper in the seven. Blaise Staab got two assists from Barbour and scored seven points for the Lions.

Phil (Flip) Pressey (G, Missouri) — When you have a scorer like Marcus Denmon on your team you can get a lot of assists by feeding him. That’s what Pressey did last night in a tough 75-68 win at Old Dominion. Four of Pressey’s seven assists went to Denmon, who scored 19 points in the win. In fact, all but one of Denmon’s makes from the field came on passes from Pressey. The seven assists went for four threes and three layups.

Emmy Andujar (F, Manhattan) — Well, Andujar did have seven assists in the Jaspers’ blowout victory over Binghamton, but unfortunately there’s no play-by-play on ESPN.

Assist Tracker: Dec. 23

Going into the Christmas break a couple guys blew up with double-digit assist efforts, including one forward. Here’s a look at the Assist Tracker for Dec. 23.

Zack Rosen (G, Penn) — Rosen had 12 assists and 13 points as Penn defeated Marist 84-71 on Friday. The majority of Rosen’s assists went to either to Rob Belcore (4) or Tyler Bernardini (5). Just one of his assists was on a jumper and the majority (7) of his assists went for threes. All five of Rosen’s assists to Bernardini were for threes as he shot 8-11 from beyond the arc and scored 30 points. Thus, even though Rosen only scored 13 points, well below his season average of 20.2, he contributed to 44 of Penn’s 84 points.

Oscar Bellfield (G, UNLV) — With 11 points and 11 assists Bellfield helped the Runnin’ Rebels stomp Cal 85-68. There were four threes, three dunks, three layups and a jumper. All three of Brice Massamba’s baskets came off assists from Bellfield. Anthony Marshall led the team with 22 points, but only two of those baskets came from Bellfield assists.

Brian Voelkel (F, Vermont) — Voelkel is probably the best passing big man in college basketball. It’s a pity he’s hidden in Vermont. The Catamounts defeated Towson 65-49 on Friday and Voelkel had 11 assists, eight rebounds and four points. A lot of Voelkel’s assists got for threes to the talented shooters that surround him. Against the Tigers five went for threes and five went for layups.

Matthew Dellavedova (G, Saint Mary’s) — Delladova had eight assists on Friday night as Saint Mary’s defeated Missouri State 77-61. He also had 17 points in 39 minutes for the Gaels. Five of his eight assists went for layups.

Jordan Theodore (G, Seton Hall) — The Pirates took a chance and went to Longwood on Friday for an 87-61 win. Theodore scored 26 points, including the 1,000th of his career, in the win. He also had six assists. Four of those assists went to teammate Fuquan Edwin who scored 20 points. Theodore’s assists were evenly split between threes and layups.

Kenneth Ortiz (G, Wagner) — Playing against Pittsburgh it’s no surprise that none of Ortiz’s assists went for a close range bucket. His seven assists came from four jumpers and three threes. Latif Rivers hit three of those baskets. One of the most critical assists came on a fast break at the end of the game when Ortiz passed out to Rivers on the wing for an easy basket.

Assist Tracker: Dec. 21

Saah Nimley (G, Charleston Southern) — The 5’8″ freshman from Atlanta, GA had an excellent game on Wednesday against Stetson. He dished out 12 assists in an 83-79 victory. Just one of those were a jumper too. Nimley also had 23 points. Before the game against Stetson scoring had been more of his role, so it’ll be interesting to see if he appears on this list again.

Brad Tinsley (G, Vanderbilt) — Tinsley had 10 assists as the Commodores beat Lafayette 89-58. Lance Goulbourne benefitted the most from his passes, with five baskets off Tinsley assists. John Jenkins also had four. Seven of Tinsley’s assists went for threes as Vanderbilt shot 15-30 from beyond the arc in the win.

Scott Machado (G, Iona) — Machado had a rare double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the Gaels’ 83-65 win over William & Mary. He missed a triple-double by two points. Three of his five turnovers came before he even recorded an assist, but once he got his first with 9:09 remaining in the first half it was off to the races. Machado’s first six assists were threes and the total was well distributed amongst all the players on the team. Interestingly enough, backcourt teammate Momo Jones had three baskets from Machado, the most of any Iona player.

Kendall Marshall (G, North Carolina) — Marshall thoroughly outplayed Myck Kabongo in North Carolina’s 82-63 victory over Texas. Marshall had nine assists in 36 minutes – the most of any Tar Heel. Consistent with what we’ve seen before three of his assists came on jump shots. There were also two dunks (by Tyler Zeller and P.J. Hairston). On Wednesday night it was Reggie Bullock who benefitted most from Marshall’s passes converting three of them into baskets.

Jordan Theodore (G, Seton Hall) — Eight assists and just two turnovers from Theodore helped Seton Hall go to Dayton and get a key victory, 69-64, over the Flyers. While Herb Pope was on the receiving end of Theodore’s first three assists, foul trouble limited him to 29 minutes. Thus Theodore passed to other people, including Patrick Auda. Both of Auda’s threes came off assists from Theodore.

Isaiah Canaan (G, Murray State) — The guy for Murray State, Canaan struggled a little bit shooting just 1-4 from the field, but he went 8-9 from the free throw for 10 points and also dished out seven assists in Murray State’s 78-54 win over Tennessee-Martin. All three of Canaan’s assists to Ed Daniel were for dunks.

Tim Frazier (G, Penn State) — The fascinating life of Frazier continued in Penn State’s 74-67 slip past Cornell. Five of Frazier’s six assists went for threes. The only one that wasn’t was a layup by Jermaine Marshall. Frazier also led the Nittany Lions with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Halil Kanacevic (F, Saint Joseph’s) and Royce White (F, Iowa State) — Both of these forwards had eight assists in their teams’ victories. So I thought it would be appropriate to look at them together. Here’s a breakdown of assists by type and then by the position of the player they passed to:

Kanacevic:

1 jumper
2 threes
5 dunks

1 swing
1 guard
6 forwards (5 to C.J. Aiken)

White:

1 jumper
1 dunk
2 layups
4 threes

2 forward
5 guard (3 to Scott Christopherson)
1 center

You can’t really have two more different games passing the ball than these two guys did. I think it really displays the differences in their games and how the offenses of their two teams are structured.

Three Bob Cousy Nominees and Notes

Three local guys have been nominated for the Bob Cousy Award. Brian Barbour of Columbia, Bryan Dougher of Stony Brook and Scott Machado of Iona are all on the list. Of course Barbour and Dougher only play point guard because their teams require it in a pinch. Both are really playmakers in the truest sense. Even though the Cousy guys get to pick 60 names to start they always seem to miss someone. This year the four big whiffs seem to Phil Pressey of Missouri, Jordan Theodore of Seton Hall, Vincent Council of Providence and Nate Wolters of South Dakota State. (At least they remembered Jordan Taylor this season!)

Also in the news is the fact that St. Francis (NY) plays its first home game of the season in Brooklyn against Albany tonight. The Terriers played nine true road games (and are 3-6) before returning home. Even though he wasn’t playing at home Ben Mockford hit seven threes against Howard to earn NEC Player of the Week honors.

Hofstra’s Mike Moore was named the CAA Co-Player of the Week along with Drexel’s Samme Givens. Iona’s Mike Glover was named the MAAC Player of the Week.

Finally, if you love point guards you should check out my Assist Tracker. It’s going to be updated nightly with stats and insights into the guys with the most assist each night. (Even one big guy each evening.) Because I don’t want to clutter up the home page with those updates you’ll have to go to Assists page to find it though, so make sure to bookmark it.

Saturday Round Up

Be sure to check out my recap of the Princeton-Wagner game below, but there were four other games involving area teams yesterday, including three against Big East teams. St. Francis (NY) came oh so close to scoring the first major upset of the season, but fell 75-71 in overtime to Seton Hall last night. Read more about that game and the other three contests after the jump.

Continue reading “Saturday Round Up” →