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HOOP SKILLS AROUND THE BIG EAST (12/29/2009)

by RAY MERNAGH

DePaul struggles more than any team I’ve seen in a long time to get good shots in their offense. Everything is either a contested three-pointer or a crazy shot off the drive that registers a 9 or a 10 on the degree of difficulty scale. Looking over at their bench and seeing David Booth, Tracy Webster and Tom Kleinschmidt made me think if those guys were all in their primes right now and playing DePaul would be pretty darn good. But they aren’t and DePaul is terrible. Jerry Wainwright is a funny, funny man. He has a future in TV or stand up comedy if he wants it. Having said that, his hiring as the head coach at DePaul has been an unmitigated disaster from Jump Street. It just hasn’t worked out for a number of reasons. More importantly there’s no sign that it ever will. Time to cut ties and start over again. I had to leave a minute or two into the second half because I had an allergic reaction and thought my throat was closing. As I got to my car and stuck my Epi-Pen into my thigh I immediately felt a release and my throat relaxed. It felt good that I wouldn’t have to drive down the hill to the hospital. Maybe it was a reaction to DePaul‘s offense?…………Ashton Gibbs continues to be Pitt’s best offensive player. Pittsburgh goes to Syracuse on Saturday for their first real test of the Big East season. My buddy Joe said last night that “every Big East win Pitt gets is like a block of gold” and I couldn’t agree more. If Pitt can get to 9 or 10 league wins it will be in good shape for a NCAA bid. If this Pitt team can get to the NCAA’s they should immediately start building a statue of Jamie Dixon and the players outside the Pete because what they will have accomplished will be worthy of a monument…………Da’Sean Butler is the smartest and best player on West Virginia‘s team while Devin Ebanks is the most capable of otherworldly plays due to his talent/athleticism. Kevin Jones is sort of a combination/hybrid of each. “Butler’s does everything his coach wants him to without any problem,” an NBA scout recently told me, “he’s a great basketball player. Ebanks is a physical freak, the stuff he’s doing like that little step-back fade off the dribble you mentioned is stuff most kids aren’t capable of at this level.”……………Cincinnati is a fascinating team to watch right, can’t wait for their game against UConn tomorrow night. Here’s what’s running through Mick Cronin’s dome right now in my humble opinion: I have a Ferrari in Lance (Stephenson), a Lincoln Town Car in Deonta (Vaughn) and a Mack Truck in Yancy (Gates). Obviously, in the long run, the Ferrari is the best option but…when’s the right time to turn it loose? My guess is that it’s already started to happen — judging by the end-game situation at Xavier. Stephenson has made the right play a majority of the time, shared the ball and tried to fit in as just another piece…but he’s not just another piece and everyone — including Cronin — knows that. Stephenson is an NBA player skill wise and Vaughn is a D-League or European guy. Cronin has to give Lance the steering wheel eventually but he knows once he does it’s real difficult to take it back. But it’s their best chance to win. And as long as Stephenson continues to share the ball it shouldn’t be a problem. One of the keys will be how they create a role for Vaughn without him being the on-the-ball-guy at crunch time that he’s grown accustomed to being. It will actually help Vaughn’s game if he’s ready to exploit situations in the proper way. If he receives the ball on the wing off a kick and a defender is running at him will he shot-fake, attack the rim and make a play either by finishing or finding a teammate for an easy layup?…………….Two teams have chances to get huge wins (read NCAA resume-building) tonight. Marquette will have the toughest time for two reasons — One, they have to go to WVU and two, they beat the shinola out of the Mountaineers last year in Milwaukee (75-53) and Huggins has no doubt been harping on that. Seton Hall welcomes Wesley Johnson and the Orange of Syracuse to the Brick City (Newark) where 10,000 plus will be waiting. Another opportunity for the Hall to get off the schneid…………….A couple of interesting notes before I go regarding upcoming games and starting with the three league games tomorrow night — UConn has yet to lose to Cincinnati in Big East play, ditto Louisville to South Florida and Notre Dame to Providence………….I almost forgot how terrible Georgetown‘s season was last year until looking at their Thursday night match-up with St. John’s and realizing the Hoyas lost both contests to Norm Roberts’ crew in the 2008-09 campaign.

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