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| Day Four: Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament |
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| by: Kyle Nelson |
| March 16, 2008 |
Temple defeats St. Joe's to take the upper hand in the heated Philly Big 5 rivalry, with Most Outstanding Player honors going to Dionte Christmas. Head coach Fran Dunphy has completed the revival of the Temple program after taking the reigns from John Chaney two years ago.
Temple vs. Saint Joseph’s
Despite Saint Joseph’s halftime lead, Fran Dunphy’s Temple squad never felt that the game was in doubt and stormed back to victory, largely due to Dionte Christmas. Christmas, Temple’s 6’5 junior shooting guard, earned the tournament’s most outstanding player award largely because of his 22 point (8/14 FG, 5/8 3FG, 1/1 FT), 4 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal performance.
Christmas scored in a variety of different ways, incredibly efficiently, and proved that he can find his offense even against long athletic defenders, something he was unable to do last night against An’juan Wilderness and UNC-Charlotte. Tonight, Christmas showed off his perimeter stroke, which looked incredible. He gets very good elevation on his jump shot, and has a quick release, which combined with his long arms creates a very difficult shot to block. Christmas was able to get his shot off anywhere on the court, most of the time well beyond the college three point line. Though his shot selection is not the best, his ability to get his shot off, relatively consistently, from anywhere on the floor was on display tonight. After missing his first three perimeter jumpers, he hit his next five and opened up the paint for Temple’s big men to operate. Christmas is extremely streaky, going 8/22 from behind the arc throughout the tournament, but once he gets into a shooting rhythm, it is difficult to stop him. Just ask Tasheed Carr and Garrett Williamson, a couple of the Atlantic 10’s best defenders. They played outstanding defense on Christmas and he still managed to score 22 points on 62% shooting.
One good thing about Christmas’s offense repertoire is his adaptability. Early in the first half, when his perimeter shot was not falling, he drove to the basket, where he can use his solid first step and strength to finish around the rim. Improving his handle should allow him to become a better slasher because he is noticeably slower off of the dribble. As he has also proven in the past, he is capable of drawing fouls around the rim, and though he could definitely become a better free throw shooter, he finds ways to put points on the board, even if his perimeter shot is not falling. He also shows a developing mid-range game, pulling up off of the dribble. He needs to improve his ball handling ability if he wants to be a good mid-range scorer, but the instincts are there.
He again showed a solid defensive effort, using his long arms, strength, and good lateral quickness. One problem, however, is that he uses his hands too much, which in this tournament has landed him in foul trouble in all three games. Christmas may not be an athletic specimen, but he should be able to hold his own at the next level on defense and should not be a liability.
Elsewhere, it is important to acknowledge his court awareness. While teammate Mark Tyndale gets most statistical credit, Christmas is a good passer who realizes how to move the ball within Temple’s offense. Christmas understands that this is not yet his team, and despite his 20 points per game scoring average, he is still very much a role player in Temple’s system. In addition, Christmas has learned Dunphy’s system extremely well and can make an impact on the floor even if he is not scoring. He has the opportunity and the potential to have an incredible senior season and should very much be in the 2009 NBA Draft conversation.
Much has already been said about Pat Calathes, but tonight’s performance was simply awful. He scored 14 points, most in the first half, on 5/13 shooting from the field and 2/10 shooting from the perimeter. Most of his shots were hitting the front of the rim, a clear sign that his legs were simply not there. He also looked a step slower on both sides of the ball, and distracted on the defensive end. This fatigue is understandable considering the fact the Hawks played four games in four days and Calathes is averaging 34.3 minutes per game. This being said, this performance was a bad culmination to an otherwise stellar tournament in which he earned All-Tournament Team honors. Hopefully Calathes will get to showcase his abilities in a post-season appearance, but if not, he has had an impressive season.
Tasheed Carr is an elite athlete and one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball, but he has a long way to go before becoming a prospect at the point guard position. He is best when attacking the basket off of the dribble and either finishing or kicking the ball out and shows the best point guard instincts in these situations. He is extremely effective in transition as well. In half court sets, however, he has a long way to go before becoming a true point guard. He still shows the tendency to over dribble and on occasion, he picks up his dribble before he knows what he wants to do with the ball. He needs to work on tightening his handle, even though he is very quick with the ball as it is and he must find consistency in his shooting motion. This being said, Phil Martelli has had a lot of success in developing guards and considering the fact that 2 years ago at this time Carr was a Big 12 shooting guard, he still has a lot of potential to break out next season. Carr’s leadership has been essential in order for the Hawks to make it this far and hopefully he will get a chance to showcase his improvements in front of a national audience during the post-season.
Ultimately, despite a long list of prospects, two Atlantic 10 players have legitimate NBA shots: Pat Calathes and Dionte Christmas. Players such as Tasheed Carr, Parfait Bitee, and Derrick Brown have potential, and guys like Ricky Harris and Garrett Williamson are long shots but could turn into prospects eventually. Most of the prospects at the Atlantic 10 Tournament seem like they will find success overseas, but if one thing was clear during this tournament, it was that the Atlantic 10 is on its way up and is likely the best mid-major conference in the country this season. With Temple and Xavier locks to make the tournament, it would be nice to see teams like Saint Joseph’s or Dayton make the field of 65 just to reward the conference’s stellar season. |
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| Day Three: Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament Blog |
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| by: Kyle Nelson |
| March 15, 2008 |
Saint Joseph’s vs. Xavier
In a rematch of a game I attended eight days ago, Xavier and Saint Joseph’s met in the tournament semi-final in a game that resembled their last meeting in every possible way, including a Saint Joseph’s upset.
Pat Calathes started off the game slowly, missing his first three shots, but then could not miss. His first couple shots drew front iron and it looked as if he was simply tired and not getting enough help from his legs. Increasing his lower body strength could definitely help him in this department considering the fact that he will likely make a lot of money based on his ability to shoot the basketball.
From that moment on, however, he could not miss. You would think that Xavier, of all teams, would not give him open looks on the perimeter, but just as he has done throughout the entire tournament: if left open, he never misses. Calathes also showed his versatility on offense by pulling up for a series of mid-range jumpshots and attacking the basket. There is little that he cannot do offensively against this type of competition, and while it looked as though C.J. Anderson had locked him down in the beginning, Calathes adapted well and showed that he can score against long and athletic defenders.
While his lateral quickness is much improved this season, and looks even better during the tournament, he is still not quick enough to play efficient defense against wing players and likely will not be quick enough to avoid getting beaten off the dribble by more athletic perimeter players at the next level. He does put in a good amount of effort on the defensive end, though, which sometimes makes up for his lack of physical ability.
Calathes’s passing ability remains one of the most underrated aspects of his game, as his court vision and basketball IQ are unrivaled at this level. He throws bullet passes into traffic, and if his teammates were better finishers, his assist totals would certainly be higher.
Tasheed Carr again showed that he has a lot of potential and just as much work to do before becoming a legitimate prospect at the point. He is clearly the vocal leader in the Saint Joseph’s offense, but because they often play a three-guard lineup his role is somewhat undefined in terms of whether or not he is a pure point guard.
His distributing ability looked very good in the first half as he controlled the offense, most importantly feeding Ahmad Nivins in the post. He is quick with the ball in his hands and had been doing a good job of driving the lane and dishing out to a perimeter shooter. Today, however, he did not attack the basket and he was less effective as a point guard. While he looked very good in stretches, he still has a tendency to pick up his dribble too soon and over-dribble, a testament to his transition to the point guard position. Also, he must work on his dribbling because he is very fast with the ball in his hands as it is; with a better handle, he develop into one of the faster point guards in the NCAA.
Still, Carr is at his best on his defensive end. Today, he guarded three positions, taking turns on Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell for most of the game. Their combined 6/16 shooting with 0/3 from beyond the arc is because of Carr’s defense. He has very good lateral quickness and is capable of fighting through screens and traffic because of his superior strength. He excels as an on-ball defender because of his height, massive wingspan, and quickness and likely can stay in front of any perimeter player in college basketball. This wingspan also allows him to rebound the basketball, despite oftentimes not being anywhere near the basket. Alongside fellow guard Garrett Williamson, Carr’s perimeter defense is going to give perimeter-oriented tournament teams nightmares.
Xavier, on the other hand, floundered, and sophomore forward Derrick Brown’s performance epitomized the effort. He only took four shots in the game, two of which were put-back attempts and one was from beyond the arc. His only other shot came around the basket off of a nice post move where he utilized his size and athleticism to his advantage. His lack of offensive production is very confusing and even more disconcerting considering how unwilling he is to play in the post and how unprepared he is to play on the perimeter.
On defense, he is too slow to guard perimeter players and picked up a majority of his 4 fouls by reaching or playing with his hands instead of moving his feet. As said in past evaluations, he is only effective as a post defender at this point.
This being said, he did little else and while he showed his solid passing ability, the best adjective to describe his game would be “passive.” I talked with some members of the press familiar with Xavier, and they all said the same thing: Brown is as good as he wants to be. He has a significant amount of work to do and if anything, his performance throughout this tournament has thrust him back into obscurity because frankly, he is not doing anything special. Working on his conditioning, ball-handling, shooting, and general effort is going to take a lot of time, but he must improve in these areas if he wants to be able to be a legitimate perimeter player at this level; he is not there yet.
Temple vs. Charlotte
For as well as Dionte Christmas played yesterday, he played just as poorly today. His perimeter shot was not falling, and while his form looked good, including good elevation and a quick release, his shot selection was extremely questionable. He was guarded by long and athletic perimeter defenders and did not respond well. While he eventually started attacking the basket, his handle is too suspect at this stage for him to be an effective slasher at the next level. His defensive effort on Leemire Goldwire was good and he showcased his solid lateral quickness on the perimeter, but his season low of 6 points on 2/9 shooting and 1/7 shooting from the perimeter really exposed his limitations and raised plenty of questions about his potential at the next level.
A good performance tomorrow is essential for Christmas if he wants to stay somewhat relevant in the draft discussion for next season. He is going to square off against two of the best perimeter defenders in the league tomorrow in a potential explosive match-up against Saint Joseph’s. Temple versus Saint Joseph’s, the deepest rivalry in Philadelphia, has the potential to be a shootout between Calathes and Christmas, and is just the kind of duel that the scouts in attendance are looking forward to evaluating. |
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| Day Two: Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament Blog |
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| by: Kyle Nelson |
| March 14, 2008 |
The second day of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament featured some tense match-ups and showcased the rest of the conference’s star players. Xavier, Massachusetts, Temple and Richmond, played for the first time after enjoying their day off via tournament byes, but by the end of the day, the semifinal field was set at Xavier vs. Saint Joseph’s and Temple vs. Charlotte.
Xavier vs. Dayton
Though a Xavier victory was almost never in doubt, the focus of this game was on Brian Roberts’ performance. The results were somewhat disappointing again. Roberts played a majority of the game as Dayton’s point guard and showcased a familiar skill set. While he looked more comfortable with the ball in his hands setting up the Dayton offense, he still displayed hesitance in his decision-making and a tendency to pick up his dribble too soon. He did a better job in terms of dictating tempo and asserting his leadership on both ends of the floor. Taking this performance into account, Roberts showed that he is very much a combo guard and does not look like a future point guard that some expect him to become.
In terms of generating his own offense, Roberts was more aggressive today, but it did not amount to much for Dayton’s upset bid. He showcased his perimeter jumpshot more today, complete with high release point, beautiful form, and a quick release. If left open, Roberts rarely misses, but today Stanley Burrell’s suffocating defense forced him into some tough shots and he finished shooting a horrid 1/7 from beyond the arc. His shot selection was certainly suspect, and his inability to create offense for himself against a quicker and more athletic defender is certainly concerning regarding any future at the next level.
After yesterday’s performance, Roberts needed to improve in a major way, but responded by shooting 6/13 from the field, 1/7 from the perimeter, and 0/2 from the line alongside of a 3 assist and 3 turnover effort. With Dayton not being guaranteed anymore post-season games, it will be up to Roberts to impress scouts and personnel at Portsmouth if he wishes to have a shot at competing in the NBA. This was not a good weekend for Brian Roberts.
Xavier’s Derrick Brown, though only a sophomore, was equally disappointing. Brown entered the season with high expectations following a successful freshman campaign and has been only average thus far. Despite displaying solid athleticism, his quickness and speed in the open court are both lacking and he is surprisingly slow running the floor. Based on his physical profile, however, his muted impact is somewhat confusing.
Offensively, Brown is yet another combo forward. In fact, if someone saw Brown play for the first time today, they likely thought he was a perimeter player. After all, he spent most of his time on the perimeter and only received the ball once while posting up his man. Considering his strength and athleticism, his aversion to post play diminishes his effectiveness. Dayton did not have a single player that could have stuck with him in the post.
His face-up game is the same, consisting of Brown driving to the basket and either losing the ball because of his shaky handle or finishing utilizing his solid body control and athleticism. He took a pair of spot-up perimeter shots today and showed the same slow and deliberate release as he has all season. His form does not look bad necessarily, but he is going to have a tough time taking perimeter shots at the next level if he does work extensively on fluidity in his shooting motion.
His 9 rebounds, 3 of which were on the offensive boards, show his potential to be a great rebounder at this level. His problem is still that he rarely boxes out his man and prefers to rely on his athleticism and strength in order to rebound the basketball. He is particularly active on the offensive boards, but despite his calm demeanor, he is an aggressive player who is constantly in the mix on loose balls and the offensive glass. Defensively, he has trouble staying in front of perimeter players due to poor lateral quickness and has most effective this season as a post defender, which further complicates his desire to play on the perimeter.
Brown is only a sophomore and certainly has a long way to go before he becomes a legitimate prospect for the next level. Working on his handle and his jumpshot are certainly steps in the right direction, but he must improve his understanding of the game and his role within Xavier’s game plan, physical limitations and all.
Two other performances were of note, mainly the defensive efforts of Xavier guard Stanley Burrell and swingman C.J. Anderson. Burrell utilizes his strength, length, excellent lateral quickness, and quick hands on a daily basis to be an absolute menace with his man-to-man defense. He forced Brian Roberts into most of his 7 forced perimeter jumpshots and did a great job harassing Dayton’s guards. Offensively, he is nothing special, primarily shooting threes with poor form and slashing to the hoop with his right hand, but his defensive prowess is worth a mention. Likewise, Manhattan transfer, swingman C.J. Anderson has proven himself to be quite the stopper himself. After locking down Saint Joseph’s star Pat Calathes last week (in a match-up that will repeat itself tomorrow), he spent today guarding five positions, using his strength, quickness, and long arms to interrupt every dimension of Dayton’s offense. On offense, his awareness plummets and his basketball IQ looks suspect, but defensively he is one of the nation’s best perimeter stoppers.
Saint Joseph’s vs. Richmond
Saint Joseph’s passed what Coach Phil Martelli called “a mental test” today as they forced the slow and steady Richmond Spiders into a transition in what turned out to be an easy victory. The game featured a stellar first half by star Pat Calathes and another interesting performance by emerging point guard Tasheed Carr.
In a first half in which he had 7 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and just one turnover, Calathes showed his versatility on the offensive end, as well as some areas in which he definitely can improve.
While he possesses a very good mid-range game, his creation abilities would be much better if his handle was tighter. He has a high dribble and on occasion, he loses control of the ball while he is dribbling towards the basket. Improving his speed with the ball in his hands will likely come from a higher comfort level dribbling the basketball. Another problem was his shot selection, which until today had been very good. He finished shooting 4/11 from the field and 2/7 from beyond the arc, which was a testament to his increased amount of forced shots.
One thing Calathes did much better today was pass the basketball. He likely would have more than his recorded 6 assists had his teammates been able to finish. He has an incredibly high basketball IQ and good court vision, but it is his passing ability that is most impressive as he did not throw a pass that missed its target on the perimeter or in the post.
Calathes is likely the best prospect in this tournament, and his combination of offensive savvy and basketball IQ was certainly on display today. He struggled in his last match-up against C.J. Anderson and Xavier, but tomorrow will be a look at whether or not he is capable of adapting against a long and athletic perimeter defender that he will likely see a lot at the next level.
Emerging point guard Tasheed Carr delivered another interesting performance. He is an athletic player, as mentioned in the last post, with long arms, strength, and good size for the point guard position. Today, it took him a couple possessions to get himself into a rhythm, but he controlled the tempo much better today to such an extent that when he was not on the court, Saint Joseph’s offense began to resemble Richmond’s.
Most of his offense this game came by slashing to the basket and finishing at the rim, but he showed his developing mid-range game when he took a good pull-up jumpshot from the top of the key. His calling card, however, is still his defense and he did not disappoint, intimidating Richmond’s guards along with fellow backcourt mate Garrett Williamson into 10 first half turnovers. Next season will ultimately reveal whether or not Tasheed Carr is a legitimate prospect at the point guard position, but his strides this year have been very promising.
LaSalle vs. Temple
The story of this game was Temple’s 6’5 shooting guard Dionte Christmas, who in the first half showed one of the most complete offensive arsenals in the entire tournament.
Christmas shot a blistering 7/10 from the field and got to the line 6 times in the first half and finished the game with a final line of: 29 points (8/15 FG, 2/7 3FG, 11/14 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists (2 turnovers), and two steals in 38 minutes of play.
He displayed a beautiful textbook jump shot from around the basket out to the NBA three-point line, and a very soft touch around the basket. He created offense for himself off of the dribble, and though he must improve his handle if he wants to maximize his mid-range potential, he already has a tremendous offensive repertoire even while his dribbling can be somewhat erratic. When his shots stopped falling in the second half, he attacked the basket, finishing the game with 14 free-throw attempts to his credit and proving that he is more than merely a one-dimensional shooter. His shot selection is certainly suspect at this point and likely a product of his team’s over reliance on his offensive output because his overall basketball IQ seems good.
On the defensive end, Christmas answered some questions. He has good lateral quickness, which combined with his length, allow him to be a good perimeter defender. He did a good job staying in front of the shorter and quicker Darnell Harris and showed the versatility to guard all of LaSalle’s perimeter players at some point during the game. He is an athlete on this level, but it is unclear at this point whether or not he projects as better than average at the next level. Besides Calathes, Christmas is likely the best prospect at this tournament and showed today that his potential at the next level might be beyond the role of a shooting specialist.
Marcus Tyndale, another mid-major swingman with good statistics, had a much worse showing. Despite being listed as 6’5, he looked shorter than Christmas and while he does display good athleticism, his quickness in the open court is lacking. His jumpshot comes from his chin and his does not maximize motion, leaving his shot to be pushed with his arms and lacking range. He is a deliberate dribbler too, not fast enough with the ball in his hands to be a significant threat slashing against bigger and quicker defenders.
One area that Tyndale does excel in is rebounding. He uses his athleticism and strength to get jump high and grab rebounds or box out larger players in order to secure position. He may not be the biggest player on the court, but he is extremely tough and understands how to best use his body to rebound the ball. Likewise, on defense, he is hurt by his lack of lateral quickness, but does a good job of rotating and protecting the rim, really understanding where he should be positioned in the Temple defense.
While he does show good court vision and awareness, his passing ability is simply not as advanced and a lot of well-intentioned passes do not hit their intended target with speed. Tyndale would be best served at this stage to recognize his limitations and play more within them, as he is a good player at this level who simply tries to do too much. If he could clean up his jumpshot and work on his ball-handling, there is no reason to assume that Tyndale could not be a good player overseas in the future.
Charlotte vs. Massachusetts
While the Atlantic-10 Conference Player of the Year Gary Forbes and his speedy sidekick, Most Improved Player Ricky Harris, were supposed to steal the show, little Leemire Goldwire, exhibited his long range heroics again securing an upset bid and semifinal appearance for the upstart Charlotte 49ers.
Forbes had an interesting performance tonight, and one that largely played against the picture many scouts had painted of him throughout the season. He started the game slowly, not moving very well in UMass’s offense, but gradually became a factor as he stepped up and led his team on both sides of the ball. He has a very awkward shooting form in which he shoots with an exaggerated motion upwards with his chest sucked in and his arms above his head. He does not get much elevation on his shot, but it goes in more often than not. He also showed a mid-range game, but as with most prospects in the Atlantic-10, Forbes must develop a better handle and feel for the ball before he becomes an effective mid-range shooter.
Towards the end of the game, Forbes relied on an average first step to get into the lane and convert around the rim, where he showed a soft touch.
While he has often been labeled a bit of a ball-hog with his play this season, he only attempted 13 shots tonight and sported a 4 to 1 assist-turnover ratio, which statistically represent how he was looking to incorporate his teammates into the offense. Tonight, however, it backfired, and he needed to take the game over more at the end of the game. Because of his average lateral quickness and athleticism, Forbes does not seem like a great NBA prospect, but his combination of size, versatility, and scoring ability should translate into a contract overseas.
6’2 shooting guard Ricky Harris is one of the fastest and most athletic guards in the college game, but did very little tonight as he showed that despite his improved numbers, he still is not much of a factor in a grinding halfcourt game. His shooting motion has a hitch and he leans slightly to the right when shooting, which definitely hurts his shot’s consistency. He is a competent slasher, but his ball-handling ability can best be described as wild and he is rarely in complete control with the ball in his hands. Equally confusing is his defensive inconsistency considering the fact that few players possess lateral quickness of his caliber and lighting quick hands. He is a name to watch in the future because of his quickness and athleticism, but as of now, is not much else.
The story of this game, however, was Leemire Goldwire, who continues to defy gravity and conventional wisdom to make contested crunch-time three-point shots from well beyond NBA range. He is a streaky 5’11 shooting guard with miserable shot selection, but his back-to-back late game heroics deserve a mention even if he has zero NBA potential. Charlotte has somehow managed to stay relevant despite their relative lack of talent, and Goldwire is one of the main reasons why.
The semifinal round of the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament features its two brightest prospects (Pat Calathes and Dionte Christmas) in tough match-ups so tomorrow’s games look to be as insightful as they are exciting. |
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| Day One: Atlantic-10 Tournament Blog |
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| by: Kyle Nelson |
| March 13, 2008 |
Dayton vs. Saint Louis: Brian Roberts’s Disappearing Act
With no Chris Wright in the lineup, the story of this game was Brian Roberts. Or was it? In front of scouts from the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and other NBA teams, the senior forward had an extremely disappointing and confusing performance, but still managed to remind scouts why he was once considered to be a fringe prospect.
Roberts is averaging 13 shots on the year, shooting a good 47% from the field. Today, however, he was held to only four, three of which were forced three point shots. His form continues to look good and he showed an ability to shoot both off of screens as well as off of the dribble, but the degree of difficulty of these shots were very high. His other shot was a quick pull-up jump shot from the top of the key, which showcased his quick release, stellar form, and fluid offensive movement.
The St. Louis defense was designed to stop him, but instead of stepping up to the occasion, Roberts withdrew into a shell of ineffectiveness and passivity. Though he eventually became more aggressive with about three minutes into the game, something was clearly wrong.
Roberts is still not a true point guard, which is evident in his inability to properly dictate and game tempo. Because he was not shooting as much, however, he was able to showcase his ability to effectively run an offense as well as his tendency not to over dribble.
When the game reached overtime, Roberts found himself on the bench for key stretches while his teammates stepped up to the plate. That being said, Roberts is lucky that he will have the opportunity tomorrow against Xavier to improve upon his less than stellar performance. Unfortunately, Stanley Burrell and company are far more notorious for their defensive prowess than Saint Louis.
Saint Joseph’s vs. Fordham
In just a short period of time, Pat Calathes was able to again cement his status as a legitimate NBA draft prospect, while Ahmad Nivins showed how far he is from ever attaining this level.
Calathes showed his tremendous offensive versatility through a combination of pull-up jumpers, drives to the basket and perimeter shots, to the tune of 23 points on 9/12 shooting from the field and 2/4 shooting from beyond the arc. His jumpshot from just about anywhere on the floor is a thing of beauty, as it combines his soft touch with an almost unstoppable release point due to his height. Offensively, the only thing that held Calathes back was his handle, which can be a bit high at times. He tries hard defensively, but his lateral quickness leaves much to be desired, and today, he showed that his potential at the next level might be somewhat limited by his inability to stay in front of some of Fordham’s perimeter players.
Center Ahmad Nivins was once considered to be a fringe prospect, but after seeing him multiple times, it is safe to say that he is even farther away from such a title than before. He has bad hands, which combined with his underwhelming awareness on both sides of the floor, which does not bode well for his future at the next level. While he occasionally shows promising quickness in the post or the ability to hit a spot up jumpshot, his lack of skill and awareness really damage any of his potential. Strangest of all is the fact that his strong suit consistently in each viewed performance has been his length and post-scoring, yet in person, he rarely commits to playing defense at all times when on the floor. Most of his foul troubles come from biting prematurely on shot fakes and reaching after his man has blown by him.
Two other Saint Joseph’s players of interest are transfer-junior Tasheed Carr. Carr, a 6’4”, long-armed athlete, is in the midst of a mixed debut season at the point guard position. His size, athleticism, and defensive ability, however, make his modest strides somewhat more acceptable. He is still learning the position and at some points is out of control, passes ill-advisedly into the lane, or picks up his dribble too soon; his 7 assists and 4 first-half turnovers represent his growing pains. This being said, he is an aggressive slasher, who showed today the ability to create jump shots for himself and a much improved form once is ready to shoot. He shot 6/6 from the field in the first half His bread and butter, however, is his defensive ability where he is a stopper at this level. Utilizing his long arms and good lateral quickness, he is able to stay in front of his man and, just as he did to Drew Lavender last week against Xavier, he neutralized Fordham’s guards into ineffectiveness.
Also of note was the performance of Fordham stalwart Bryant Dunston. Culminating a good collegiate campain, Dunston’s 17 points, 5 rebound performance showed a lot of what he can bring to an overseas professional team. He moves very well for his bulky frame and uses his athleticism in order to establish space for himself to operate in the paint. He has the offensive arsenal of hooks, fakes, and turnaround jumpers in order to play with his back to the basket, and even showed the ability to take a spot up perimeter jumper. Dunston has to continue to work on coalescing his diverse offensive output, but he is a hard worker who could be a good addition to a team in need of toughness and post play.
Duquesne vs. LaSalle
Amidst a hail of heckles from a bawdy LaSalle crowd, Shawn James played his first full game since injuring himself against Charlotte on March 2nd. While he was not at full speed, he was still just as fearsome of a defensive presence as he has proved to be in the past. At one point, a LaSalle player actually picked up his dribble in the paint because he was so frightened of getting his shot swatted. What differentiates James from other prolific collegiate shot blockers is not his wingspan and timing, but his patience; perimeter players will get by him and he wait until they have the false sense of security to release the ball before he swats it away. On one possession alone, James racked up 3 of his 4 blocks. This being said, because of James’s lack of lateral quickness, which was on display today against LaSalle’s mobile big men, he probably does not have much potential to be a face-up power forward at the next level as initially thought. His offensive ability is still an enigma, likely because Duquesne’s guards seem to have a phobia of passing the ball inside, but based on today’s performance, as well as tape, it does not seem as though he has been able to break from his mechanical offensive movement. He has made tremendous improvements over the past couple years, which still leaves considerable potential on the table; however, the window is getting smaller every day for the 24 year old junior, now rising senior.
His teammate, 6’7 athletic freshman forward Damian Saunders had an underwhelming end (2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks in 13 minutes) to his impressive freshman season (6.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.6 apg/1.1 TOpg, 1.6 spg, 1.3 bpg), but continues to show the potential to turn into a Dominic McGuire type combination forward in the future. He did a good job doing the little things today considering the fact that it did not look like he had a single play run in his general direction. He spent most of his time on the perimeter rather than in the post, but must work on his ball handling ability and shooting stroke if he has any hope of converting into a full-time perimeter player in the future.
Otherwise, the game had few surprises as the guard-bloated Dukes fell in the final seconds to a hot shooting Darnell Harris and the LaSalle explorers.
Rhode Island vs. Charlotte:
This was the most controversial game thus far in the tournament as referees awarded Charlotte guard Michael Gerrity two foul shots with the score tied and 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation. More upsetting, however, was the play of Rhode Island’s star senior duo Parfait Bitee and Will Daniels.
Bitee has good size for a professional point guard at 6’2 and has, as shown when he almost jumped over An’juan Wilderness for a dunk, elite athleticism. The problem, however, is that his decision-making is extremely suspect. As shown in his final stat line of 6 assists and 5 turnovers, he has a lot of work to do before being considered as a potential point guard at the next level. Early on, it was merely over dribbling that was creating a problem for him: 3 of his turnovers came within the first couple minutes because of this. Later, however, he got in trouble by picking up his dribble too soon and even threw the ball out of bounds on one possession, a few feet away from the intended mark. He forced shots sometimes as well, once passing up the opportunity to defer to a teammate to take a shot of his own, which he air balled. It is to be determined whether or not these lapses are because of a low basketball IQ or merely selfishness, and unfortunately, Bitee will not have another chance to showcase his abilities in front of NBA scouts until post-season tournaments, camps, and workouts.
This being said, for stretches he looked very good, particularly in transition where he used his solid ball skills and speed to dictate tempo and helped his teammates get easy baskets in return. He looked a little like Jacques Vaughn did during his final seasons at Kansas. While his point guard ability is definitely suspect at this stage, one thing that he does better than just about every guard in the country is play defense. Using his long arms, excellent lateral quickness, and defensive instincts, Bitee looks like he could be a stopper at any level of college basketball. There were times when he stole the ball from Goldwire without even touching him (he had more steals than the one mentioned in the box score). His play later this spring will show how effective he is against higher level guards, but he showed, both in this game as well as in tape against high-major opponents such as Syracuse, that he is a stellar defensive player, even if he has a lot of convincing to do on the offensive end.
Will Daniels attempted to prove that he was capable of being a perimeter player, but ultimately proved how much the tweener label really fits. Beginning the game almost solely on the perimeter, Daniels showcased his hitched perimeter jumpshot and as seen in the 1/4 he shot from beyond the arc, it did not go well. He was able to draw fouls on his dribble drives, but also showed his average first step in the process. While attempting to play defense on Charlotte’s inside-outside big men, he got himself into foul trouble, ultimately fouling out in 25 minutes after scoring 15 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and committing 4 turnovers. His body language was also very poor throughout the game and he seemed to get more frustrated as his offensive performance continued to stagnate; at one point, he did not even attempt to rebound his teammate’s miss on a free throw attempt. Daniels did little to address the tweener label associated with his name; if anything, he showed how much work he has to do before considered a legitimate draft prospect. Losing some baby fat might be the first step as well as working on becoming quicker and more agile. For Daniels, however, this performance was very damaging to his already waning draft stock.
Leemire Goldwire, Charlotte’s 5’11 shooting guard, ultimately put the nails in Rhode Island’s coffin as he drilled three straight acrobatic NBA-range three pointers before Michael Gerrity sealed the game with two free throws.
It was a busy first day in Atlantic City, NJ. Up tomorrow: Xavier vs. Dayton, Saint Joseph’s vs. Richmond, Temple vs. LaSalle, and Charlotte vs. Massachusetts. |
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