Ray Mernagh

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: MERNAGH’S THOUGHTS ON DAY I

by RAY MERNAGH

USF 58 DePaul 49

A lot is being made about South Florida winning without scoring from outside a few feet and I’ll concede it’s one of the more stranger things I’ve seen in a long time.

But it also points to the control that Stan Heath has over this squad. The Bulls finished 0-8 from three but only took two of those in the second half.

Why? Because they didn’t have to make three’s or a lot of jump shots to beat DePaul. Heat told them that and they executed their game plan of getting to the rim.

Today against Georgetown they’ll have to hit some J’s, but because they realized they didn’t need to yesterday they got to today.

It’s all about advancing folks.

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SNY TOP 10 ALL-TIME BEASTS OF THE BIG EAST; BRANDEN FRAZIER PICKS HOFSTRA

Last night SNY had a special where they took a look at the Top 10 All-Time players of the Big East. It was an entertaining hour program with in-studio commentary by the coverage crew at SNY, including former Big East Player of the Year and Pitt Panther Charles Smith, former Big East head coach Tim Welsh, Lenn Robbins of the NY Post and SNY college basketball expert Brandon Tierney and hosted by Gary Apple.

Nine of their top 10 were also included in the top 10 of NBE’s All-Time Top 50 Big East players of all-time that we released in the fall of 2008.

Here is SNY’s Top 10 with the NBE ranking in parenthesis:

10) Kerry Kittles (9)
9) Richard Hamilton (7)
8] Walter Berry (5)
7) Alonzo Mourning (14)
6) Allen Iverson (3)
5) Pearl Washington (6)
4) Ray Allen (8)
3) Derrick Coleman (4)
2) Chris Mullin (2)
1) Patrick Ewing (1)

The show included some passionate debate, especially in regards to players who played just a year or two in college compared to their four-year counterparts and the weight a national championship carried in their consideration.

Brandon Tierney agreed that Alonzo Mourning was placed too high in the SNY rankings. Another Hoya, Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd was the only from the NBE top 10 not to make the SNY top 10.

Always good debate when looking at all-time lists…
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Branden Frazier, the 6′3″ shooting guard from Bishop Laughlin (2010) and New Heights just committed to Hofstra. Frazier can get buckets in a hurry from deep and also possesses a step-back J and penetration game that should make him a very good player at the next level. Frazier chose Hofstra over a who’s who of mid major powers according to Kimani Young, the New Heights AD.

“Branden picked Hofstra over Kent State, Southern Illinois and La Salle,” said Young over the phone just this morning.

Big East programs such as St. John’s, Rutgers and a few others also evaluated Frazier at times last summer. Frazier was very impressive in last year’s Primetime Shootout (2009) and here is an NBE evaluation by Brian Crownover from the event:

This lanky guard exploded onto the scene for the Lions. Branden had a stellar afternoon as he used a smooth stroke to bury 6 three pointers en route to a 36 point performance. Branden hit from deep both off the dribble, as well as the catch and shoot variety. He ran the floor well too and converted on several lay-ups. Branden threw a nice pass and blocked a shot. His ball handling looked okay, but he didn’t attack much in this contest. Not surprisingly, he was named Player of the Game for his team in the victory. Branden will definitely be a player worth keeping an eye on this summer.

NBE POST-SEASON ALL-BIG EAST TEAMS & AWARDS

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The regular season is complete and the Big East Tournament tips off Tuesday so be sure to visit our 2010 Big East Tournament & Tickets page for the full tournament schedule and the links needed for Big East basketball fans to purchase tickets to any or all of the 2010 Big East Tournament sessions.

Throughout the day the majority of NBE writers and contributors contemplated, debated and discussed our post-season awards for the Big East conference. Its been another great season with 16 teams battling it out for 18 games each through the 71 days of Big East action from December 26th through this past Saturday. After much deliberation…here are the NBE Big East 2009-2010 season awards:

NBE Big East Player of the Year: Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

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MERNAGH: MR. GIBBS ALL ABOUT BUSINESS – PC FEELS DAGGER

Basketball isn’t always fair.

Providence came into the Peterson Events Center having lost eight straight games. Mid-January is the last time Keno Davis’ group tasted victory. Last night, behind the athleticism and power of Jamine ‘Greedy’ Peterson (24 points and 18 rebounds) the Friars smelled it. Smelled it enough that they were licking their lips in anticipation — this win was going to be extra special going down the hatch. Only one thing remained to get it.

Up 71-70, Providence needed a stop (and that’s been a problem for the Friars all year).

They needed to prevent Pittsburgh from going the length of the court in 3.5 seconds.

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BUZZ WILLIAMS’ FRIEND/COACHING SCUTTLEBUTT/COREY EDWARDS UPDATE

by RAY MERNAGH

Marquette’s Biggest Fan

Last night after Marquette blasted Louisville, I noticed some of the players pointing out a man to Buzz Williams.

Williams and the players made a dramatic left turn towards the scorers table and greeted the man, who was even more excited than they were (and if you saw them last night that’s pretty damn excited). I had to get the story and asked Williams about it this morning when we were texting back and forth.

I figured he might have been the father of a player or a long-lost buddy. Turns out it was a man that Williams has had an ongoing friendship/dialogue with for some time. The man pops up all the time to visit Williams and the two talk about every day stuff while at the same time building some trust with each other. “It’s the craziest deal,” wrote Williams, “he knows when we play out of town and he’s waiting when our bus gets back to the office so he can say hello to me. He was so fired up last night, I wasn’t even sure he would show up because I knew he would be nervous in public. Our kids are the ones that saw him come out of the stands to see me.”

Williams said that Jimmy Butler was especially surprised. “Coach,” said Butler, “look, he came!” And if you saw the joy on the faces of the players at the moment they saw the man, it tells you a lot about Marquette, their kids, the program they’re building, and Williams. The players know the man’s homeless. They also know that he, like them, has built up some trust by following through on certain “suggestions” Williams makes to help himself and his situation. The education they’re getting at Marquette, even while immersed in basketball and away from the traditional “classroom” is truly in the Jesuit tradition. Williams and his players are definitely helping each other grow in mind, heart and spirit.

In the world of big-time college basketball that’s unbelievably huge…and so, so rare.

Coaching Scuttlebutt

While there are reports saying interim coach Jared Grasso thinks he’ll be back next season in a full time role at Fordham, and it could happen, it’s not what Fordham wants to happen…

To see the latest on the Fordham job search, including their #1 target, as well as some other major college assistant coaches that could be getting looks, you can sign up for NBE Premium access and SUBSCRIBE (HERE) to read on below…which also includes a Corey Edwards recruiting update as the Christ the King 2011 point guard is up to three Big East offers…

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EVERYDAY MESSAGE RESONATES FOR MARQUETTE

Latest evidence is in Golden Eagles overtime win over Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon

by RAY MERNAGH

A simple message can have amazing results. Especially when that message never changes or wavers –circumstances be damned.

“The message is always the same to our guys,” said Buzz Williams, in response to my query of whether he changes his approach depending on situations, in this particular case I was asking about overtimes.

“Whether it’s at halftime, the day before a game or the first day of individual workouts, it’s the same,” said Williams.

On February 18th, Marquette lost 58-51 to Pitt in Milwaukee. The loss ended a five-game winning streak by the Golden Eagles. It made them 7-6 in the Big East and facing a three-game road trip to Cincinnati (a desperate team hoping to stay alive), St. John’s (a team starting to win some games) and Seton Hall (see Cincinnati).

Back to that message.

“This is not for everyone, we need everyone but we don’t need anyone,” said Williams. “We are going to be everyday tough, not just game tough, not fake tough, not rivalry tough, we are going to be everyday tough.”

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SYRACUSE IS REGULAR SEASON BEAST; NOTRE DAME MAKING STATEMENT

By RAY MERNAGH

The Orange can be beasts in the NCAA tournament, too

Their rotation has everything a potential champion needs.

Size and the ability to score in the post — check.

Speed — check.

Ability to share the ball — check.

Ability to shoot the ball and score on the perimeter — check.

Ability to shut down opponent defensively — 2/3 of a check (I’m clever).

Ability to drive the ball — check.

All of these are big things for a team that wants to cut down the nets the first Monday in April, but none of them are the reason, at this moment after watching them dismantle Villanova last night, that I feel so positively about Syracuse. The thing, make that player, that’s making me heart the Orange so strongly right now is Kris Joseph.

No team in the country has a guy like him coming off the bench.

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NATIONAL RECRUITING SCUTTLEBUTT: RAY MCCALLUM, TREY ZEIGLER, BRANDON KNIGHT, CJ LESLIE EDITION

The latest buzz and murmurs concerning four of the top uncommitted 2010 recruits available

by RAY MERNAGH

Both are 2010 Michigan kids that should-be-5-star recruits.

They’ll both arrive on campus as college-game-ready as anyone in the 2010 mix except for Brandon Knight –oh, we’ll get to him too — and that shouldn’t be a surprise because they’re both Coach-Kids.

By now you’ve probably figured I’m writing about point guard Ray McCallum and wing Trey Zeigler.

McCallum, a 6-foot-1 point guard playing for powerful Detroit Country Day School, is excellent. He’s a better athlete than folks perceive (maybe the reason for the 4-star rank?) and he’s the kind of guard that I could see playing for three of four years and helping his team contend for multiple Final Four berths. McCallum, like Zeigler, has taken his time making a college decision, at least in part, in deference to his father Ray Sr, who coaches at Detroit-Mercy. Lil Ray, as he’s known, is expected to make a decision in the next few months.

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LUKELESS IN SOUTHE BEND/THE BUTLER DOES IT IN QUEENS

by RAY MERNAGH

Two huge wins for Big East rivals Notre Dame and Marquette.

The Irish, without Luke Harangody, looked as good as I’ve seen an ND team look in the last two years in their dominating 68-53 win over Pittsburgh. Notre Dame’s ball movement on offense was a thing to behold and they shot the shinola out of it from deep (10-18) while controlling the boards too. Even though Pitt never stopped playing they could never get close after ND jumped out in the second half to a big lead. Tim Abromaitis (17), Ben Hansbrough (15), Tory Jackson (14 and 7 assists) and Tyrone Nash (13) led a balanced Irish attack offensively. Notre Dame is now 18-10 overall and 7-8 in the Big East. Freshman big Jack Cooley helped contribute with 4 rebounds and some really good defense inside during his 13 minutes.

No ND player took over ten shots.
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Over in Jamaica Queens, I tuned in for the last 4 minutes of OT featuring Marquette and St. John’s. Marquette gained possession of the ball with 25 seconds left and Buzz Williams called a timeout to talk about who he wanted to take the last shot.

Jimmy Butler went to the rim and was stripped of the ball. Butler had the wherewithal to chase down he ball in the corner, get possession, turn and drill a jumper at the buzzer for a 63-61 Marquette win. Butler finished with 18 and 8 and his shot pushed Marquette’s overall mark to 18-9 with a 9-6 record in the league. Huge win for the ex-Warriors.

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It might a few more weeks away, but our 2010 Big East Tournament & Tickets page has the links needed for Big East basketball fans to purchase tickets to any or all of the 2010 Big East Tournament sessions. The Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden is an event Big east fans must experience when they have the opportunity and here is your chance to get your tickets early before they become harder, and more expensive, to find. Stub Hub and the Big East conference have teamed up to provide fans with quality tickets and you can get tickets to ANY Big East conference or non-league game by following this link: StubHub.com – The Safe Way to Buy & Sell Tickets Online
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WHERE I COME FROM: TORY JACKSON EDITION

by RAY MERNAGH

Tory Jackson is Notre Dame’s leader. The point guard out of Michigan has played harder than any other Irish player from the first day he stepped on campus. He often finds his teammates at the perfect time, when they’re in the perfect position for them to score. His game against Syracuse earlier this season is still the best passing game by any player I’ve seen this season. Jackson picked the Orange zone apart and dealt so many exquisite dimes it had me thinking he should have just retired after the loss — because I’m not sure he, or anyone else, can ever top that display for pure passing wizardry. He was that good on the afternoon of January 18th, finishing with 15 assists (he could have had 5 or 6 more if teammates converted) and only 3 turnovers.

Similar to some previous seasons, things have taken a turn south for the Irish as they head into the final stretch. February has not been kind and consequently, it’s desperation-time again. The Irish stand at 17-10 overall and 6-8 in the Big East, having lost three straight tight games and “star” Luke Harangody to a knee injury. Included in the stretch is a three-point loss at Seton Hall (90-87), a one-point loss to St. John’s (69-68) and a double overtime heart breaker at Louisville 91-89. Tonight they host a red-hot Pitt team that has set sights on a Big East championship. If Notre Dame somehow defends it’s home court and gets a win tonight, chances are that Jackson will have a big part in it. The 5-11 guard is the heart and soul of Notre Dame basketball. The pride Jackson takes in being a student-athlete at Notre Dame is refreshing, as if he’s found Nirvana in, of all places, South Bend, Indiana.

The truth is Notre Dame is heaven to Jackson, especially when compared to the community he was raised in — Saginaw, Michigan.

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MERNAGH’S TALES FROM THE TAPE: UCONN’S ROBINSON RESPONDS

by RAY MERNAGH

It started, like so many things do with this Connecticut team as of late, with a tongue-lashing from Jim Calhoun.

Calhoun wasn’t happy with senior Stanley Robinson’s play defensively that resulted in a put back off his own miss by Devin Ebanks of West Virginia during the second half of last night’s Big East conference contest. The decision to call the timeout was made the second Ebanks floated the ball in to cut the UConn lead to 53-52 with 8:48 left in the game. My first thought was Robinson was being chastised for not boxing out or grabbing the board, but looking at the tape this morning I saw his real sin. He half-stepped it defensively against Kevin Jones and that allowed Jones to catch the ball on the right wing freely — resulting in an easy pass to Ebanks on the block. He then added on to his initial miscue by not attacking the first miss in the air but kind of flying by it off balance and out of the play, giving Ebanks a clear path to catch and score the initial miss.

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MERNAGH’S WEEKEND THOUGHTS ON THE BIG EAST

by RAY MERNAGH

Storylines really developing as we enter the final four games of the Big East regular season. I’ll feature three from the weekend past and look at one leading up to tonight.

Can Pitt Win Regular Season Big East Title?

Yes, if they win out/ go 3-1 in their final four games and Syracuse/Villanova stumble some. Pittsburgh — 10-4 — goes to Notre Dame Wednesday, then to St. John’s, before finishing up at home with Providence and Rutgers. The ‘Cuse (12-2) goes to Providence, has Villanova and St. John’s at home and finishes on the road at Louisville. Nova (11-3) hosts South Florida, goes to Syracuse and Cincinnati then finishes at home against West Virginia. WVU — also 10-4 — goes to Connecticut tonight, has Cincinnati and then Georgetown at home before finishing up on the road at Villanova.

Pittsburgh can lose any of those games because it happens in this league, but the last two showings by the Panthers have made even the most vocal critics of Pitt’s supposed lack of talent stand up and take notice that, once again, Pitt is a damn good basketball TEAM. Really, if you were to design a program for continued success in the last ten years, wouldn’t Pitt be the model that all struggling programs would try and follow? Three weeks ago Pitt was struggling defensively and Jamie Dixon was trying to get across to his guys the value of getting stops. Now?

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FOR REYNOLDS: FOUR DRIBBLES AND A SHOT MADE HIM OAKLAND’S MOST HATED

by RAY MERNAGH

Scottie Reynolds, in the ever-changing parlance of young hoop players, is ballin’ out this season. If you took a vote for Big East player of the year at this point, in mid-February, it says here that Reynolds should be the choice.

You want his resume? Okay.

January 2 at Marquette: Reynolds scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half including a huge basket in the lane while getting fouled with 18 seconds left. Reynolds tells his team in a second half timeout, “we need to establish ourselves, create our identity!” Marquette moves to 1-0 in he Big east with a 74-72 win.

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PITT TRAVELS BACK IN TIME

by RAY MERNAGH

At times perception can be wrong.

Like hearing, every time I turned on the TV for the two seasons prior to this one, that Pittsburgh was still a great defensive, grind it out team. It simply wasn’t true. The Pitt teams of Blair, Young and Fields were not great defensive teams. They got stops at times, but mostly they out-scored other teams because of Young and Fields’ offensive talent — yes Pitt fans, I just described your 07-08 and 08-09 teams as talented — and Blair’s ability to pound the offensive glass better than any player in the world.

It got them to the precipice of a final four, where, they couldn’t get the one stop they needed more than any other and fell to Villanova in the Regional Championship game. The 2007-08 team was up and down until their miraculous play in the Big East tournament –the stretch when Sam Young became a consistently great player and showed that he was capable of carrying a team offensively. Then last year’s #1 seed flirted with an early exit before playing their best game of the tournament against Villanova.

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MERNAGH’S KEYS TO TONIGHT’S BIG EAST CLASHES

by RAY MERNAGH

Two games tonight back-to-back with Syracuse heading to the District to face Georgetown at 7pm followed by Pittsburgh rolling into Marquette. Here’s my thoughts on what some keys will be in both games…

Syracuse @ Georgetown: For Syracuse the key will be playing inside out. If the Orange get the ball inside to Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku and in the mid-post are to Wes Johnson (the trio combined for 29 points and 20 rebounds in the Orange’s thrashing of the Hoyas last month) and rebound the ball well on the defensive end the game always becomes much easier for them. When this happens Andy Rautins gets open looks and has people running at him so he can go off the bounce and make plays with his excellent court vision. Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph also benefit from this because they get a lot of points in transition. It also puts tons of pressure on Georgetown’s thin bench and their star post Greg Monroe who struggled mightily last time with only 8 points and 4 boards. Julian Vaughn, the other Hoys big, was almost non-existent with 3 and 3. So if Syracuse plays inside out and gets their transition game rolling it could mean a long night for the Hoyas.

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MERNAGH: JONES WANTS TO LEAVE USF A WINNER

by RAY MERNAGH

Dominique Jones’ story is an underdog story — but an atypical one.

Yes, he was under-recruited at the Big East level as Pitt was the only other school in the conference to offer a scholarship. The rest of Jones’ list was made up of schools like Colorado, Penn State, GW, Liberty and Western Carolina. So South Florida fans should be thanking their lucky stars that Robert McCullum, the coach of the Bulls at the time, put in enough work to keep Jones in-state. And that Stan Heath was able to convince him to stay with his commitment once he replaced McCullum in the spring before ‘Nique’s first year on campus.

Jones was rated as a 3-star recruit, at best, by most scouting services. “It motivated me every day,” Jones told me last week by phone. “As soon as I woke up in the morning the first thing on my mind was to work hard that day because nobody was going to give me anything.” It’s also true that Jones’ environment coming up in Lake Wales, Florida, provided a case study on the consequences of making the wrong choices in life.

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MERNAGH’S AROUND THE BIG EAST (2/15/2010)

by RAY MERNAGH

What a weekend huh?

I’ll start with the positive vibes.

Big Winners

Pitt — Got their 19th win with a heart-stopping come from behind classic over #4 West Virginia in not one, not two, but three overtimes. Jamie Dixon’s team continues to exceed all expectations except their own. Pitt is now 6-0 against team ranked in the top-5 nationally at Peterson Events Center and looks to have locked up their ninth straight NCAA Tournament bid — their RPI this morning is up to #14. The Panthers are doing it in typical Pitt style as well, with contributions from overlooked players such as Nas Robinson (a 6′4″ power forward) who snatched multiple offensive rebounds when Huggins had his team go into a 1-3-1 when they couldn’t stop the penetration of Travon Woodall and Brad Wanamaker. Gary McGhee also had a gigantic block and secured numerous defensive rebounds late, including the final one of the game (that he smartly gave up to Ashton Gibbs). When Gibbs hits shots, he was 6-13 from deep Friday night, Pitt can play with anyone. Look for rugged first-year post player JJ Richardson’s minutes to continue to increase as he’s been the answer lately inside off the bench. Next big test for the Panthers is Thursday nights road tilt against our next big winner.

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WOODALL GETS TO THE POINT IN BACKYARD CLASSIC

by RAY MERNAGH

I went to the Peterson Events Center last night hoping to get a chance to talk one on one with Pittsburgh guard Travon Woodall. The reason, other than that Tra is always fun to talk to, was because of a package I received in the mail earlier in the day.

The Street Stops Here is a movie about the basketball program at Jersey City’s St. Anthony High School and it documents Woodall’s senior season. It’s told through the eyes of a cast of characters including coach Bob Hurley, the now-deceased Sister Alan — “she was a saint right here on earth,” says Woodall — and players Mike Rosario, Jio Fontan, and Woodall. St. Anthony’s is a refuge for inner city kids where the tuition is $4,000 dollars a year but the cost of educating each student is double that.

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MERNAGH’S BELLY OF THE BE-AST: LAZAR HAYWARD EDITION

by RAY MERNAGH

At the beginning of his book — Hoop Roots: Basketball, Race, And Love — John Edgar Wideman writes the following: “We went to the playground court to find our missing fathers. We didn’t find them but we found a game and the game served us as a daddy of sorts. We formed families of men and boys, male clans ruled and disciplined by the game’s demands, it’s hard, distant, implacable gaze, it’s rare, maybe loving embrace of us: the game taught us to respect it and respect ourselves and other players.”

Wideman’s book is a love story of sorts, written as everything in his life is changing, including, at 59 years of age, his ability to play ball the way he has to in order to function. The game is his bloodline. It’s been there when it seemed like nothing else was. Basketball and the ideals within it, raised him in a way that allowed him to absorb the bumps and undercuts of everyday life and keep moving. And even in his late-50’s the game had a hold on him — not watching it, but playing it — to the point that he had to write a book in order to even begin to have some peace with finally letting it go.

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GOT JACK? ANOTHER WEST COAST POWER JOINS ARIZONA, OTHERS IN PURSUIT OF KADEEM JACK

by RAY MERNAGH

Kadeem Jack has watched with a calm indifference (almost amusement) as he’s gone from a “potential/long/athletic” big with some upside to one of the must-have recruits for a number of high-majors. The kid from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago takes it all in stride, so it was probably no surprise to the big fella deal when another big-time program showed up in NYC to inquire about him in the past week.

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