NBE Basketball Report

WOODALL BACK IN THE SADDLE FOR PITT

Junior point guard finishes with 27 points & 9 assists against Providence as Pitt ends 8-game losing streak Tuesday By Anthony Jaskulski November 30th of the Panthers basketball season seemed like no big deal. As per status quo, Pitt knocked off Duquesne, and it just seemed like guard Travon Woodall sprained a muscle or something to a lesser degree. Present day, that injury turned out to be a major component to what was the longest losing streak for a Pitt basketball team since the 1994-95 season, dropping an unheard of eight straight games, including an 0-7 start to their BIG EAST schedule. Wednesday... [Read more.]

LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON: 49ERS ESTABLISH THEMSELVES AS BIG WEST’S BEST

By Raphielle Johnson For the second straight season, many college basketball fans on the west coast were looking forward to the first meeting of the season between Big West heavyweights Long Beach State and UCSB, widely regarded as the two best teams in the conference. But while the venue changed (the first meeting last year was in Long Beach) the result remained the same, as the 49ers dominated to the tune of a 71-48 whipping at the Thunderdome. Casper Ware, who was named Big West Player of the Week for the third time this season, scored 14 points and dished out five assists but his most important... [Read more.]

OBSERVATIONS FROM GEORGETOWN/RUTGERS

By Matt Whitfield A paid attendence of 12,852 saw No. 10 Georgetown rally late to edge upset-minded Rutgers Saturday at the Verizon Center. An Eli Carter three-pointer gave the Scarlet Knights a 50-45 with 2:35 to play in the second half. The Hoyas would finish the game on a 7-0 run with freshman Otto Porter scoring the last six of those points, including two free throws with 8 seconds left to lift Georgetown to victory. Here are my observations from the game… Rutgers distributes the ball fairly well. Players from Rutgers often continuously move the rock on the offensive side setting up... [Read more.]

PITT LEFT SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

By Ray Mernagh Took a break last night from the media section and took in the Pitt vs. Louisville game — with my wife — from some spectacular seats at just about mid-court about 5 rows behind the Oakland Zoo (shout out to my man for the hookup). It’s been a strange month and a half for Pitt basketball as the Panthers were 0-6 in Big East action heading into last night’s Game Day festivities. Heading into the Pete, and all day long for that matter, I kept going back to one thought: This would be the night that Pitt gets the 1,000 pound gorilla off their backs and actually... [Read more.]

HOOPHALL CLASSIC 2012: WEEKEND’S TOP PERFORMERS

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst Now that the 2012 Hoophall Classic has come to a close and I’ve had a few days to process all the basketball I saw it’s time to compile player rankings from the weekend’s performances. Below you will see players ranked by class based solely on their performance from the Hoophall Classic. These rankings are not an opinion on players overall game or potential but rather on the way they performed in Springfield. 2012 Player Rankings: 1) Shabazz Muhammad (Bishop Gorman) – Muhammad only strengthened his place as the top overall player in the... [Read more.]

A-10 Action: Duquesne 80 UMASS 69

T.J. McConnell has played in 51 career games at Duquesne and maybe it’s the consistency of those 51 games that makes it seem as if the sophomore guard has played in 100 and is a senior. McConnell scored 15 points, dished out 6 assists, collected 4 rebounds and upped his career larceny total to 148 with 4 steals in the Dukes 80-69 win over UMASS. That stat line is pretty much standard for McConnell in the fifteen or so times I’ve watched him play over the last year and a half. McConnell only scores in the teens generally because he isn’t selfish enough. Once he realizes that it’s... [Read more.]

ANTHONY BENNETT DISCUSSES FINAL FIVE

There is still plenty of high-end talent still on the board in the college basketball recruiting Class of 2012. One such prospect is Findlay Prep’s Anthony Bennett, a 6-foot-8 power forward and native of Brampton, Ontario. Bennett, whop runs on the summer AAU circuit with CIA Bounce, is an imposing force on the basketball court. He violently attacks the rim with strong finishes and his athletic ability is impressive for a player his size and strength. He has also shown the ability to hit from three-point range and his potential almost seems limitless at the power forward position at the... [Read more.]

LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON

Can Ducks build on historic weekend? By Raphielle Johnson With Pac-12 teams being so bad on the road in conference play heading into last weekend, few would have expected Dana Altman’s Oregon Ducks to leave the Grand Canyon State with a pair of wins. But the Ducks have been the exception to the “rule” thus far, as they’re 3-1 in conference road games following their second road sweep of the Arizona schools in 34 years (2006-07 the first). At 13-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play the Ducks are just a game out of first place heading into their three-game home stand, and these... [Read more.]

HOOPHALL CLASSIC 2012: MONDAY RECAP

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst The 2012 Hoophall Classic came to a close on Monday highlighted by four national games all broadcast live on national television. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky front man John Calipari were front and center all day each flagged by two assistants. They were joined by a host of other coaches all trying to make an impression on the many uncommitted talents in action. While Shabazz Muhammad, Jabari Parker, Tony Parker, and others were the focus of these coaches, a senior guard who has already made his college decision stole the show and... [Read more.]

HOOPHALL CLASSIC 2012: SUNDAY RECAP

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst While the action at the Hoophall Classic was terrific on Saturday, the overall atmosphere jumped to a new level on Sunday. College coaches who had been busy coaching their own teams in action Saturday were out in full force. John Calipari (Kentucky), Jim Calhoun (Connecticut), Steve Lavin (St John’s), Mark Gottfried (NC State), Ed Cooley (Providence) and Mick Cronin (Cincinnati) all made appearances along with assistants from Florida, Texas, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Oregon, Utah and DePaul. These coaches... [Read more.]

WBB: RUTGERS/LOUISVILLE IN BATTLE OF HEAVYWEIGHTS

By Richard Kent It was like a heavyweight fight. It even went beyond 15 rounds. No. 8 Rutgers,15-2 beat no. 16 Louisville, 14-4 at the Rutgers Athletic Center, 71-68 in overtime in one of the top Big East games of the year. Rutgers entered the game on a high and Louisville had played poorly in a loss at St. John’s and a narrow win over South Florida. The Scarlet Knights dominated at the beginning, but the Cards flew by and took a 13 point lead. Rutgers then turned up the defensive pressure and tied the game at 48. The teams traded baskets and April Sykes missed a shot at the buzzer for Rutgers... [Read more.]

HOOPHALL CLASSIC 2012: SATURDAY RECAP

After two days filled with local contests and a sampling of girl’s games, the Hoophall Classic took to the national stage on the boys side Saturday. Traditional powers like Oak Hill Academy, Gonzaga College Prep, St. Patrick’s and DeMatha Catholic headlined the action at Blake Arena in Springfield. Many players improved their stock on Saturday but none more than an undersized big man from Gonzaga College Prep. Top Performer: Kris Jenkins (Gonzaga 2013) – Jenkins had a breakout performance on national TV a week ago at the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, West Virginia and backed it... [Read more.]

SHELDON JETER ADDS WISCONSIN OFFER

Class of 2012 prospect from Pennsylvania looking closely at a trio of schools Sheldon Jeter is a 6-foot-6+, 215-lb G/F who is playing his senior season for Beaver Falls High School and Coach Doug Biega. The Tigers have rebounded from a season-opening loss to win their last nine games, largerly thanks to the play of Jeter. “The season has been going good, we’re 9-1,” Jeter told NBE earlier today. “The highlight so far is destroying Quaker Valley on their home court.” Quaker Valley is the arch-rival of Beaver Falls, so the 32-point victory was especially sweet. The... [Read more.]

LEFT COAST LAYUPS WITH RAPHIELLE JOHNSON

UNLV “starts” league play with an addition By Raphielle Johnson The Mountain West finally gets its conference slate going on Saturday, with the league schedule down to 14 games thanks to conference realignment. Boise State will be making their first run through the conference, and they won’t be around very long either with their pending move to the WAC (football joins the Big East). But the first shot “fired” won’t even have an impact on the court until the end of the fall semester next year, as former Pitt Panther Khem Birch announced that he’s transferring to UNLV.... [Read more.]

DUKE FLIRTATION WITH AMILE JEFFERSON TURNS TO FULL COURTSHIP

by Alex Schwartz WEST CHESTER, PA – Amile Jefferson, a 6-foot-8 power forward out of Friends Central (PA), is one of the nation’s elite basketball players in the class of 2012. In addition, he is one of the few top flight players still uncommitted. Although Jefferson’s recruitment seemed fairly clear recently in terms of final options and perceived frontrunners, one school is making a late play for the senior: Duke University. NBE was on hand Tuesday night at Westtown School (PA) on Tuesday for the showdown between Jefferson and Villanova-bound center Daniel Ochefu. Also... [Read more.]

BIG EAST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: THE CONTENDERS

By Richard Kent The Big East is top heavy this year with 3 teams who can make Final Four runs and two teams who are legitimate National Championship contenders (records as of Monday): NOTRE DAME (15-1)- The Fighting Irish have to be considered the top team in Conference right now after a 74-67 overtime victory over UConn at home. It marked the second consecutive win for them over the Huskies as the Muffet McGraw led team knocked UConn out of the Final Four last year. They are led by one of the three top players in Conference in junior Skylar Diggins. Notre Dame leads the Conference in scoring average... [Read more.]

CRC CLASSIC: ANYA, LYLES SHINE IN DEMATHA WIN OVER NEUMANN-GORETTI

By Ray Mernagh DeMatha Catholic was led by the inside muscle of Beejay Anya and the outside shooting touch of Jairus Lyles in a 62-47 win over Philadelphia’s Neumann-Goretti. The Class of 2013 duo each scored 17 points in the win with Syracuse-commit Jerami Grant adding 14. As a team, Dematha was 26-43 from the field, setting a CRC CLassic record by making 60.5% of their shots from the floor. Neumann-Goretti sophomore Ja’Quan Newton scored 16 in the loss to lead the Saints. Following the game NBE got the chance to catch up with a few of the big guns for DeMatha to talk recruiting... [Read more.]

CRC CLASSIC GAME RECAP – GAME OF THE DAY (MATER DEI – GILL ST. BERNARD’S)

By Ray Mernagh Gill St. Bernard’s 76, Mater Dei 73 OT There were supposed to be a lot of stars on the floor in this one. Mater Dei was ranked #8 in the country coming into the game by whomever thinks they’re qualified to rank high school teams nationally (not really sure how it’s possible with the volume of teams etc but whatever) while Gill St. Bernard’s was kind of licking their wounds from a 2-2 trip to the City of Palms (which was so excellently covered by my guy Brian Bosworth). Well, the biggest star in this game was a big man by the name of Dominic Hoffman who will... [Read more.]

CRC CLASSIC GAME RECAP: ST. JOSEPH’S PREP – WHEELING PARK

By Ray Mernagh Wheeling Park battled and played hard throughout but didn’t have the skill of the St. Joseph’s group. St. Joseph’s had three players really stand out and a fourth who came up big in limited attempts. Miles Overton 2013 guard 6’5 Overton has a sturdy body for a Junior at 190 pounds and looks like he could add 10-15 pounds of muscle without any problem to an already basketball strong frame. Had three 3-pointers, two of which were big-time shots where he raised up off one hard dribble and was pure. He gets real good lift on his jumper and his form is correct.... [Read more.]

CRC CLASSIC GAME RECAP: ST. RAY’S – PAUL VI

By Ray Mernagh St. Raymond 68 Paul VI 61 Daniel Dingle (Temple) Brought it early and often and it was needed with his teammate Kkereuwem Okoro suffering with an intestinal ailment. Dingle finished at the rim and stretched the defense out in spots (he was 1-2 from deep). Dingle played with a high motor that allowed him to grab 4 offensive rebounds and go to the line 13 times (he made 8). In 25 minutes the future A-10 product finished with a workmen-like 21 points and 15 rebounds. Dingle handles the ball well for his size of 6’7″ and had several and 1 opportunities throughout the game... [Read more.]

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