Brown Nosing
11.30.05
Today’s post is more of the butt-kissing variety.
For instance, there’s The Guy Who Gets It, Mike DeCourcy, and his remarks on how in some cases, offense can be ahead of defense at this time of year. Definitely not your typical analysis of early season action, but yet evidence of the usual claim that offense improves as the season wears on is sketchy at best. With that in mind, it’s disturbing that through last night’s action, average efficiency in Division I games was 96.0 (pts per 100 possessions). Last season, it was 98.9. And no, it’s not all Southern Miss’s fault. (Last night they continued a historic streak of offensive futility by posting 35 points in a loss at Arkansas.)
The premier of the Mid-Majority Report is available for your iPod or whatever piece of machinery you use to play an MP3. Wasn’t I surprised to hear Yoni and Kyle hamming it up. Bloggers have voices? I had always guessed that Yoni sounded something like Eddie Murphy and Kyle like, well, the kid from South Park. Boy was I wrong - they are professional sounding commentators. Yoni hits the nail with his bewilderment at WVU dropping from this week’s top 25. Just another reason why polls are stupid. There’s much more topical stuff as well as additional time spent with Chris Dortch of Blue Ribbon Yearbook fame, who stands tall when Kyle goes all Mike Wallace on him about my beloved Longwood being left out of this year’s edition. Check it out.
Line o’ the Night
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Cedric Simmons 36 5-8 0-0 3-5 3-13 5 2 1 4 6 13
Result: Loss. Iowa 45, N.C. State 42.
This is starting to get difficult. There were a few worthy candidates out there. Marco Killingsworth (34 pts on 15-20 FGs, 10 boards) had a monster game against Duke, but his seven turnovers make it seem less monstrous. Leon Powe debuted for Cal in style (27 and 10). Derrick Byars (20 pts on 7-8 FGs, 7 assists, 5 boards, no turnovers) stuffed the stat sheet in Vandy’s win over Oregon. Eyewitness accounts from Hawkeye Hoops Ryan indicate Simmons got screwed out of a few more blocks by the scorer. Simmons was the defensive force in a defensive slugfest, somehow managed to get five assists when his teammates had only 12 made field goals, and was the only player in the game that made more shots than he missed.
Crewsin’ for a Bruisin’
11.29.05
The biggest upset of last night? Army was beating UConn heading into the final media time out of the first half. The Huskies went on a game-ending run on both sides of halftime, and won an ugly 68-54 decision. UConn has been somewhat sluggish on offense without point-guard Marcus Williams this season.
Opponent Pts Tempo Off. Eff. Pepperdine 75 72.7 103.1 Arkansas 77 76.4 100.7 Arizona 79 69.5 113.6 Gonzaga 65 62.9 103.4 Army 68 64.5 105.4
(Tempo is calculated game possessions, and offensive efficiency is points per 100 possessions.)
There are going to be a few opportunities to measure just how important certain key players taking extended absences, like Marcus Williams, are to their teams this season. UConn has five more games before Williams comes back. Rudy Gay and Josh Boone are having surprising troubles scoring on their own and the Maui version of Denham Brown didn’t show up against Army. And if you’re Josh Boone and you can’t score at will against an Army starting line-up that runs 6’-11”/6’-4”/6’-2”/6’-0”/5’-11”, I think it’s going to become pretty clear who’s the MVP of this team starting January 3rd when Marcus Williams returns.
Line o’ the Night
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Justin Gray 37 11-20 2-5 13-13 0-3 2 1 1 3 0 37
Result: Win. Wake Forest 91, Wisconsin 88
Just plug in Harvey Hale at the point and presto! - the Justin Gray problem is solved. Gray thrived in this track meet that had 81 possessions. A great performance especially considering Eric Williams was limited to 23 minutes by foul trouble.
Playing Catch-Up
Before I drop some lines on you, what is up with Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss team? For the second time in three games they failed to make the 35-point mark. Last night, they fell at home to Samford 52-33.
It was the lowest point total in a non-conference home game in (at least) the last 10 seasons. In fairness, Samford plays the Princeton style and the game had only 49 possessions. But even with that in mind, it’s still a dismal offensive showing. Not to pile on any further, but even Toccoa Falls posted 37 points against Division I opposition last night.
Now the week that was…
Last Tuesday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Adam Morrison 52 14-28 4-8 11-12 2-7 4 2 2 2 0 43
Result: Win. Gonzaga 109, Michigan St. 106 (3OT)
Gonzaga has gotten off to a great start and done so with some indication they will make a mild transformation on playing better defense. One thing to watch with Gonzaga is their free throw percentage. They could make a serious run at the single-season record set in 1984 by Harvard (82.2%).
Yeah, I see the irony in this statement given yesterday’s post about sample size. Fine, they almost surely won’t break the record. But Morrison, Derek Raivio, and JP Batisita are all excellent from the line and will be taking the vast majority of their team’s free throws this season because their other two teammates on the floor - usually Jeremy Pargo and Sean Mallon (and eventually Erroll Knight to a lesser extent) - hardly get involved in the offense.
Through four games, the Zags are 86.1% from the line as a team. Last season, Gonzaga was 76.6% if you pull out Ronny Turiaf’s numbers. I think free throws are often over-emphasized, and almost always scrutinized in the negative. You rarely hear about a team winning a game with their free throw shooting. But for a team like Gonzaga that gets to the line often, their free throw shooting will be a major reason they have offensive success - just as it was against the Spartans in Maui when they were successful on 27 of 28 attempts.
Wednesday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Shawne Williams 32 10-13 5-7 1-2 2-7 4 2 0 4 0 26
Result: Win. Memphis 88, UCLA 80
Memphis was dangerous enough just based on who they returned from last season, but Williams is clearly an impact freshman. Calipari may be lucky to have him back for a second season.
Thursday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Mohammed Berte 30 5-10 0-1 1-1 8-16 1 2 0 2 3 11
Result: Loss. Southeast Missouri St. 75, South Dakota St. 68
A Thanksgiving tradition - college basketball in Brookings, SD.
Friday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Ricky Soliver 37 10-14 3-4 7-8 0-4 8 4 10 4 0 30
Result: Win. Iona 81, Portland St. 75
One of the busier stat lines of the season. It’s hard to believe Iowa State overlooked Iona the next night after this performance.
Saturday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Shawn James 30 10-14 2-3 0-0 3-9 1 5 0 1 6 22
Result: Loss. California 83, Northeastern 76.
This was one of those games that I had circled a month ago. You had blockmaster Shawn James and one of the nation’s best inside scorers in Leon Powe opposing each other on the same floor. Of course, Powe got sidelined by the stress reaction in his foot, so this tilt lost some intrigue. But James delivered an impressive line in his first time getting significant minutes against a power-conference team.
Sunday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Squeaky Johnson 24 1-4 0-2 1-2 1-1 6 0 12 1 0 3
Result: Win. UAB 79, South Carolina St. 48
Squeaky posted 12 steals in just 24 minutes, the third-best steal game since the stat became official in 1985-86. Mookie Blaylock posted 13 steals twice during his career. [Hat tip to reader Caleb from Birmingham]
Monday
FG 3pt FT Reb
Min M-A M-A M-A O-T A F S TO BLK Pts
Wesley Morgan 33 5-9 0-0 0-0 10-21 0 3 0 3 2 10
Result: Loss. Southeastern Louisiana 57, Mississippi St. 46
Turns out they’re still playing defense at Southeastern even with former coach Billy Kennedy moving on to better things. MSU shot 25.5% from the field, but Morgan kept it from being a Southern Miss-type night for the Bulldogs. By the way, if you want a vintage Joey Dorsey line, check out his night against Lamar.