Ray Mernagh

NBE PODCAST – THE EXPERIENCE, EPISODE 1.4 (MARQUETTE COACH BUZZ WILLIAMS)

Marquette is off to a 9-0 start, which included a win at Wisconsin in their annual rivalry battle and a thrilling 79-77 victory over Washington in Madison Square Garden. Currently ranked #11 in the country, the Golden Eagles are preparing to return to action this weekend against Northern Colorado at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

Seniors Darius Johnson-Odom (18.8 PPG) and Jae Crowder (17.4 PPG and 6.7 RPG) lead the way for the MU squad with sophomore Vander Blue and freshman Todd Mayo are also putting up double digits, or very close to it, in points each game. As a whole Marquette currently has 11 players playing at least 11 minutes a game and 10 of them average over 3.3 points a game. Head coach Buzz Williams has a deep and talented team at his disposal and will challenge for the BIG EAST title and be among the top teams nationally this season.

NBE is excited to welcome coach Buzz Williams to the NBE Experience podcast series and Williams talks with Ray Mernagh about Marquette’s 9-0 start, injuries to key players and some coaching advice he received from Jon Gruden. All that and more on this week’s podcast which can be found below…

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MERNAGH: CINCINNATI-XAVIER BRAWL

First of all, if Mick Cronin coached as well as he handles press conferences he’d be the next Mike Krzyzewski.

It was just last winter that Cronin waxed poetically following a game in Pittsburgh about the privilege of wearing a college uniform (Cronin Press Conference Steals the Show) — he was speaking about his big man Yancy Gates, who didn’t make the trip for various reasons (mostly for playing like a dog which has always been the knock on the talented big, although I’ve always felt Cronin’s offense tends to ignore him too much). Walking out of the presser another writer grabbed me and said “that guy really gets it,” after Cronin cast doubt on whether Gates would even be on his team for the rest of the season, how he hadn’t earned the right to play for an institution of higher learning with his behavior in the early season.

I just smiled at the other writer and said “we’ll see if he plays at DePaul,” which was UC’s next game. Gates played, and was seen laughing on the bench during the contest. So yeah, Cronin’s huge on lessons.

By now we all know that Xavier and Cincinnati ended in an ugly brawl that saw Gates drop Kenny Frease — who, if memory serves me correctly, once head-butted Gates in an earlier version of this game — then saw one of Gates’ teammates stomp on Frease’s head. All before Frease was seen crawling out of the pile on his hands and knees scurrying for cover (understandable).

Then Frease had his busted eye attended to at half-court, stood up and screamed “are you not entertained?” to the Musketeer faithful…okay, that’s a lie, but he did stand up and scream something that seemed to indicate he was somehow emotionally satisfied with the accomplishment of having his eye blown up on national TV.
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MERNAGH: ASSEMBLY HALL ERUPTS AGAIN…FINALLY

By Ray Mernagh

Rising up from behind the three-point-line yesterday, Christian Watford’s form was picture perfect. Fighting for position underneath the rim, enjoying the best view of anyone inside Assembly Hall, was Watford’s teammate and Indiana freshman star Cody Zeller. The day Zeller committed to play for his in-state school, a rough healing process began as Indiana Basketball tried to resurrect its proud tradition, one that had been besmirched by the Kelvin Sampson fiasco.

When Watford’s shot found its mark, vanquishing #1 Kentucky 73-72, 17,472 folks inside IU’s historic venue exploded in climatic euphoria. Somewhere, Dan Dakich watched with a tear in his eye and a smile on his face. The same goes for Kent Benson, Isaiah Thomas, Quinn Buckner and hundreds of other former Hoosiers. Indiana, at least for one Saturday in December, was back — in their hearts — where it belonged, on top of the basketball world.

Its been awhile.
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MERNAGH: MARQUETTE WIN AT WISCONSIN WAS HUGE & OTHER NCAA BASKETBALL NOTES

Marquette was undefeated coming into their game at Wisconsin yesterday.

But like a lot of undefeated teams from Big Six leagues, that mark of perfection was perceived as little more than beating up on inferior competition…and for the most part that perception was accurate. The ex-Warriors pounded Winthrop by 22 and Ole Miss by 30 in the Virgin Island tourney they won, but a lot of folks were waiting to see how they’d fare when they traveled to Madison before stamping a seal approval on Buzz Williams’ bunch.

Well, consider them stamped. Wisconsin was 157-11 in the Kohl Center over the last ten years before yesterdays contest. Marquette, playing without suspended point guard Junior Cadougan, made sure that record changed to 157-12 after their 61-54 win.
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MERNAGHS WEEKLY WATCH: TOP 3 PLUS SOME OTHER NOTES

1. Kentucky

The reason I had Kentucky #1 going into the season was on full display last night against St. John’s.

Yes the Wildcats have the most talent.

Yes, they have great athleticism and skill on offense.

But did you catch what they were able to do defensively?

Our Good Lord, Yahweh, Sweet Jesus, whoever Atheists worship (Bill Maher?) and Allah couldn’t have scored on Kentucky last night.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Anthony Davis bring an impact on D and the rest of the Wildcats all follow suit to avoid having to hang their heads in shame (or hear Cal call them bad names). The amount of late clock situations that they forced the Johnnies into was ridiculous, and yes I know the undermanned group from Jamaica was trying to control their pace some, but there’s a big difference between that and not being able to get a shot off on multiple possessions.
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MERNAGH: PITT PREVAILS IN SLOPPY CITY GAME

15,880 fans showed up to the Consol Energy Center.

That number was a City Game attendance record.

And they left, unless they were die-hard Pitt fans, unfulfilled.

There weren’t a million turnovers in this game — the number was actually 35, 23 from Pitt — but it sure seemed like it.

Duquesne needed Pitt to turn it over a lot.

Pitt complied, but the Dukes couldn’t, for whatever reason, get over the hump.

T.J. McConnell, who finished with 15 points on 6-9 shooting for the Dukes, pointed to a late game back-breaking play as the moment the Dukes were finally broken.

“We were down four, they missed a free throw and then got the rebound and kicked it back out for a three,” said McConnell, “that pretty much killed us.”

For Pitt, this was the first time in three games that they had the services of center Dante Taylor and small forward Lamar Patterson. That fact seemed to take away from the flow and ball movement that Pitt enjoyed in its previous outing because the rotation that had produced was again in flux.

Taylor made the most of his return against the much smaller Dukes and had what amounted to a perfect stat-line — 6-6 from the field and 3-3 from the line for 15 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman John Johnson was huge for Pitt going 3-3 from distance for 9 points in his 14 minutes. Ashton Gibbs added 18 while Patterson finished with 10. Pitt destroyed Duquesne on the boards 39-15.

“It’s what we do,” said Jamie Dixon when asked about the rebounding advantage.

What promised to be a tight, exciting finish with about 9:00 left on the clock sagged to the final buzzer as turnover after turnover blinded the record crowd into a a stupor similar to that of a punch-drunk boxer in his final career bout.

It’s a win for Pitt and a missed opportunity for a game Duquesne squad.

But about as sloppy as a basketball game could be.

Mernagh: Nuggets From Weekend So Far

UCF and Marshall certainly made a good impression on the Big East leadership with their victories over UConn and Cincinnati.

Marcus Jordan was excellent, especially making plays down the stretch (while UConn’s D was already looking towards the next round apparently) to get UCF their biggest win in quite some time and probably ever. Marshall’s win over the Bearcats was one I expected as the Thundering Herd are for real this season and Cincinnati proved once again with their loss to Presbyterian, at least at this point, that they’re still very much pretenders. Another result that I thought might go the Mid-Major way was Ohio vs Louisville but, whether by kind whistle or not (and that’s exactly what one of my guys told me the Ville got down the stretch) Pitino’s crew managed to get the all-important Dub).

One interesting rumor that I’ve heard more than once is that Xavier is quietly trying to enter the Big East through the back door for basketball. If that were to happen it would be fascinating to see how the Mid-Major Plus dominoes would fall were X to leave the A-10 for a league with St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette etc. Would Butler then try to make a move to the A-10? One things for sure if X were to move — Cincinnati would not be happy at all! not sure how solid the rumor is but it’s definitely out there in the coaching/basketball community.

Players that have impressed thus far this week as I’ve caught random glimpses through the turkey/brisket induced-haze:

Evan Roquemore from Santa Clara is a 6’3 point that I raved about from seeing him in Milwaukee a few years back at the NY2LA event. He went for 27 5 and 4 against New Mexico in a win and then for 27 10 and 4 in a loss to Oklahoma. His Broncos take on Villanova next tomorrow at 6:30. Watch for this kid who pinned a much bigger guy hard while I was watching the New Mexico game but somehow didn’t get credited for the block. He’s the real deal obviously and he’s added some flamboyance to his usually understated style with a Mohawk. If he keeps going for 27 and 10 he can continue to pull that look off. The sophomore guard is averaging 17 6 and 4 for they year while shooting 53% from deep and 48% from the floor.

Keith Clanton from UCF. The 6’8″ Junior local kid (Orlando product) went for 20 in the Knights win over UConn while hitting 4-5 from the three-point line, hit all his free throws and collected 6 rebounds in 38 minutes. For the year Clanton is averaging 19 and 9 while hitting 59% from the floor and 49% from deep. He’s definitely been putting in work and doing it much more efficiently than any of his more-famous mates. Credit Jordan as I did in the opening graph but recognize Clanton’s game as well.

Just saw that Northeastern drilled St. John’s earlier today 78-64 as the Red Storm were again without coach Steve Lavin who’s recuperating and resting following recent surgery to remove cancer. Best wishes to Lav on his continued recovery and also to Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis who tore his ACL and is out for the year. Here’s hoping he can get a 6th year and ball out in 2012-13.

Khem Birch got his first start for Pitt and responded with 15 10 and 3 blocks. JJ Moore also contributed with 12 and 6 in 31 minutes with efficient play. Will be good to see tomorrow night how both handle some regular season success. IMHO Pitt needs both guys on the floor for good minutes to be the best they can be this year.

I’m in Dayton tonight as I’m visiting relatives for Thanksgiving and that will allow me a good look at A-10 squad Charlotte and Horizon opponent Wright State. I watched WSU practice yesterday and they’re a young group that has some really enticing pieces for the future. It will be interesting to see how they respond off the last few days which have been difficult for them. The Raiders played very well against Florida in a loss but then, as is common with young teams, forgot to show up a few nights later against North Florida and took a bad loss.

Charlotte is an athletic and long group from just watching some warm ups here so hopefully it will be another good game (I haven’t seen a bad one yet this season).

NBE PODCAST – THE EXPERIENCE, EPISODE 1.3 (ROB SENDEROFF)

Rob Senderoff might have a long way to go to catch Coach K on the all-time NCAA basketball coaching win list, trailing by 902 wins at this time. However, the first-year Kent State coach is 1-0 in his career and that win was a 70-60 victory at West Virginia on Tuesday morning. Carlton Guyton led four players for the Golden Flashes in double-figures with 17 points as Kent State rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to earn the win on the road.

Fresh off the win, Senderoff took time out from game preparation of Saturday’s contest with Alcorn State to join Ray Mernagh and Lauren Kirschman for our Episode #3 of The Experience Podcast series.

Coach Senderoff talks about the opening win, his respect for coach Bob Huggins, his career path that took many twists and turns before he landed the head coaching position at Kent State this past spring when Geno Ford left for Bradley. He also spends time talking about this year’s club, recruiting territory and recruiting philosophies for his program. Enjoy…

MERNAGH: CASPER WARE LEADS HIS TEAM…AND THEY FOLLOW

By Ray Mernagh

Casper Ware, Long Beach State’s stud point guard said it very clearly so that everyone would understand.

“We knew we were going to win,” Ware told me after scoring a career high 28 points in LBSU’s 86-76 victory at Pitt, “we expected it.” The 49′ers certainly played like it.

Loose balls — got ‘em.

Offensive rebounds –got 4 or 5 on one possession in the second half.

Big shots — cue Ware, a 5’9″ dynamo that on separate occasions met Pitt frontcourt players Nasir Robinson and Talib Zanna’s bodies in front of the rim, absorbed the contact, and then finished through that contact like it was a walk in the park. Ware also dropped bomb-like three pointers, with defenders draped on him, throughout the game on his way to that career high. But please don’t misunderstand that last phrase (career high).

Don’t dare get it twisted.
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MERNAGH: PITT VS. LONG BEACH PREVIEW/PRIMER

Pitt’s defense has been a work in progress thus far and even that is being kind.

Rider got whatever they wanted against the Panthers last Sunday and I’m sure that performance was critiqued and clipped to death by Jamie Dixon and his staff the last few days. The emphasis on the missteps is not without good reason as the Nate Dogg’s of the college basketball world enter the Pete with the clear intent to regulate, while at the same time taking a big step towards a possible tasty at-large type consideration OOC win.

The 213 — screw the 49ers nickname, go with the roots-respecting moniker that oozes swag — brings a lack of depth but an incredibly productive guard tandem into one of the hardest arenas in college basketball to get a win. History has shown though that this model, a mid-major team with some recent success along with Sam Cassel-type confidence, can indeed get the job done on this court early in a season against a highly ranked but untested group of Panthers.

Do I see it happening?

No.

I’m of the opinion that there’s not enough depth on the LBC sideline and if Pitt is patient and attacks the offensive glass the way a young Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr once attacked the mic, they’ll eventually wear their West Coast opponents down until they drop like skirts did whenever Nate Dogg started crooning (RIP).

If the crew from Long Beach somehow accomplish what they’re dead set on doing — getting a resume-boosting dub — I expect it to be because Casper Ware and Larry Anderson both go bananas (and by bananas I mean like 30 each).

We’ll see what happens, but I fully expect a Pitt guy with some length and strength — JJ Moore, Talib Zanna, Khem Birch or Dante Taylor — to compliment the guys that have been reliable so far in the young season and be the difference in a Pitt win, along with the message that the Panthers have no doubt had pounded into their heads the past few days in practice.

ESPN, well, ESPNU, is in the house.

The lights are bright and the MVP of the Drew League has something to prove on a national stage.

Time for the next episode….throw the rock up ref.

NBE PODCAST – THE EXPERIENCE, EPISODE 1.2

Virginia Commonwealth University and their head coach, Shaka Smart, took the college basketball world by storm last March reaching the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four. Many second-guessed the NCAA Tournament Selection Committees’ decision to include VCU into the newly expanded Field of 68, but 11th-seeded Rams dispatched “BCS Conference” schools Southern California, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas, the Southwest Region’s No. 1 seed to make the Final Four.

The post-season run catapulted the 34-year old Smart, in his second season at VCU, into one of he hottest coaching commodities in the nation last spring. Even with big-time money and jobs offering additional prestige from the very same BCS Conferences the Rams were able to upset in their tournament run, For Smart, Staying at VCU Was An Easy Decision.

The Rams opened the season over the weekend with a 63-57 victory over St. Francis (PA) and have a tough non-conference schedule ahead. The former assistant at Dayton, Akron, Clemson and most recently Florida before landing his first head coaching job with VCU, took time out from his busy schedule to talk with NBE’s Ray Mernagh and Lauren Kirschman this weekend and coach Shaka Smart is the guest on The Experience Podcast Episode 1.2 below…

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NBE PODCAST – THE EXPERIENCE, EPISODE 1.1

Fresh off an impressive season opening win at Mississippi State, Akron head coach Keith Dambrot joined NBE’s Ray Mernagh and Lauren Kirschman for our inaugural podcast. Beginning his 8th year as the Zips head coach, Dambrot has compiled a 162-75 record, winning at least 19 games each year and 23 or more the last six seasons in Akron.

This season Akron is expected to once again challenge for the MAC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament field of 68. Ray Mernagh put the Zips right up amongst the league favorites in the NBE MAC Preview.

Coach Dambrot was extremely generous with his time, discussing topics such as scheduling, rivalry with Kent State, recruiting philosophy as well as this year’s squad and the big win on the Mississippi State floor to kick off the season and much, much more with NBE. Be sure to check out the podcast…

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Mernagh’s M-M Minute: 2 for 32 in MAC vs Summit Battle

South Dakota State beat Western Michigan earlier today 82-76 in a game that saw WMU’s 6’10″ sophomore center Matt Stainbrook go for 32 points. The Jackrabbits had no answer for “Big Stain” a lefty with a variety of post moves (although they all usually end up going over his right shoulder) and a soft touch who torched SDSU on 14-16 shooting from the floor and 4-5 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, the victorious Jackrabbits got 32 points of their own from the splendid junior point guard Nate Wolters (who lit up the Broncos last year in Kalamazoo for 28 in a losing effort).

Both Stainbrook, a lightly recruited big man out of Ohio who’s at WMU because a former assistant talked head coach Steve Hawkins into watching him late in the recruiting period, and Wolters are players for college fans to keep an eye on as the season progresses and their teams compete for conference titles.

We didn’t get much of a chance to write about Akron’s beatdown of Mississippi State the other night. The Zips, led by Quincy Diggs on offense and Zeke Marshall on defense, controlled the SEC group for the full 40 minutes before winning by ten. Akron coach Keith Dambrot was kind enough to join us following the win for our new podcast called “The Experience” which will be available online tomorrow (keep your eye out for it).

Myself and Lauren Kirschman will be doing the podcast throughout the season and hope to bring you interesting discussions that you won’t get anywhere else.

The second podcast has been scheduled for tomorrow morning with a coach who has a Final Four on his record. I’ll also be checking out Wisconsin Green Bay vs Duquesne tomorrow afternoon before driving up the block to catch Pitt vs Rider in the evening (Robert Morris drilled Rider by 26 last night). Green Bay features a really talented sophomore big in 7’1″ Alec Brown, while the Dukes have a sophomore star of their own in TJ McConnell.

Watched Wright State and Ohio State Friday night in a game that the Buckeyes won handily. Not sure if Ohio State is a top-3 team as of yet. They have three really good players and a lot of inexperienced parts, but those three players (Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and William Buford) are special, just not sure this team is as good as Thad Matta’s previous team that featured David Lighty and had Dallas Lauderdale backing up Sullinger. Time will tell.

Wright State will be up and down all year but they have a really strong first year core of Reggie Arceneaux, Tavares Sledge and Kendall Griffin. Arceneaux is a 5’8″ jet who battled Craft and Shannon Scott all night long. Sledge is a 6’9″ athlete with a body who’s capable of defending and rebounding at a high level already (I think he had 8 in 16 minutes vs OSU) while Griffin will be a steady 2/3 for the Raiders for the next four years. Sophomore big man AJ Pacher has vastly improved his game as well. Wright State has Cole Darling and Matt Vest out with injuries right now and needs their two first-year junior guards (Julius Mays and John Balwigaire) to play well if they want to compete and win games. One thing that’s different about Wright State’s team from last years squad is that Arceneaux is the only Raider who can break his man down off the dribble consistently, while last year’s team had two real creative guys off the bounce in Vaughn Duggins and N’Gai Evans.

Mernagh: Friday Night Lights Pitt vs Albany

Pitt Pounded Albany 89-56 behind the “dynamic duo” of Travon Woodall (25points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds) and Ashton Gibbs (21 points and 7 assists) as their starting backcourt accounted for 46 points and 17 assists with only 4 turnovers. The one player that impressed me from Albany was Junior College transfer Gerardo Suero who finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds while displaying a fearlessness and fight that few of his teammates shared, at least last night.

Woodall looked like the consummate veteran guard, not being rattled at all, and going up with confidence and poise each time he got an open look. Gibbs has worked on his handle and displayed that, he distributed the ball well and of course made shots. Lamar Patterson shot the ball well (2-3 from deep). I thought the one area Pitt failed to take advantage of offensively was feeding the post. They had both Khem Birch and Talib Zanna each open on a much smaller man 3 times each or so, Albany switched everything, and it would’ve been cool to see what those guys could do if the post pass had been delivered.

Coach Will Brown has several players dealing with injuries right now and was caught off guard by Woodall’s shooting — the Brooklyn native was 5-7 from deep and 9-13 overall.

“Halfway through that game I thought that Gibbs was wearing #1 the way Woodall shot the ball,” said Brown, “you come and play a team like Pitt and you give up 47 points in a half and it’s game over because you’re not going to match them points-wise. We thought coming into this game if we could do a decent job on Gibbs we’d be okay because I thought Pitt would need some time to find that second scorer and maybe they still do but we thought that second score might be Patterson but tonight it was Woodall so hats off to Woodall and really to Pitt for shooting the ball really well I think we got them going early with some defensive breakdowns, they got confident and made shots and some big plays.” Brown was asked about any positives he can take from the game and after mentioning he thought the defense got better in the second half the 39-year-old coach went on to explain some of the difficulties the Danes have been dealing with.

“It’s tough to evaluate my team right now because you know Devlin (Luke) is such a big part of what we do and he was out for four months after back surgery and he’s only been practicing for three weeks you know he has 2 and 2 in 26 minutes and last year in league play he averaged 10 and 8 and Puk (John) was in a boot for four months and then two days ago he had an infection in his shin and we didn’t think he was going to play tonight and we limited him to 13 minutes and he couldn’t run so it’s tough for me to evaluate our group as a whole because those two guys are so key to what we do and what we need to do to be successful.” Brown was shocked at the way his team began the game.

“We got rattled early which surprised me because I thought our perimeter guys would be fine but I think Pitt just did a good job,” said Brown. It’s the opener, they don’t lose in this building and they got going early and they played well, I’m not going to knock my guys because we ran into a good team, a physical team, and if they shoot that well quite honestly we don’t have a right being in the game with them.”

Jamie Dixon obviously felt better about his team’s effort than Brown did. He stressed the importance of patience and how he thought Woodall had exercised that particular trait throughout the game and has been practicing very well, while also addressing JJ Moore’s suspension, Malcolm Gilbert’s injury and details about Durand Johnson and others.

Dixon: “Good game for us I think that’s a team Albany that we expect to be at the top of their league (this will be the opening quote at every OOC game presser). We came out offensively very good for the first game there’s no question about that. There’s some things obviously we can improve on I think defensively we did some good things early but I think we gave up too many layups in transition, loose balls and they shot 43% which is something we want to keep lower than that but we’ll learn from it, made some adjustments and saw our young guys learn as the game went on so a lot of good things. Very happy obviously Travon played very well, Ashton played very well, I’d talked to Travon about his rebounding and he had six rebounds so that was most encouraging he’s practiced really well, he’s practiced the last two days really well and he was real patient tonight, 13 shots all good looks all good shots. Ashton and Lamar and Travon all played really well together. I’m trying to get our young guys to understand patience and how with the way we pass the ball and the way we move it that we’ll get great shots. I think we see the other guys the freshmen taking more guarded shots than the other guys were taking and just being less patient and not quite being where we need to be but that’s to be expected we’re talking about a fourth year guy a fourth year guy and a third year guy in those three perimeter players.

On JJ Moore: “JJ Moore obviously was out, we appealed it we appealed it to pretty much the tip off on the thing with the summer league and we thought we had a good case with the NCAA I wouldn’t even call it a summer league game it was more like a 18-to-60 year olds playing, no uniforms, no score book and I think the team he played against was the Over the Hill team or the Over the Hill Gang or something and a couple of you guys may have been playing in the game (I was and I dropped 50 on JJ and told him about it the whole time but like coach said there was no book so that can’t be verified…that last parts not true, I mean I definitely went for 50 but I’m not a smack talker back to the quote) that’s what it was so no criminal offense or anything just something we thought we’d look at and we understand the NCAA finding and it’s one game and we’ll move on.”

On Malcolm Gilbert: “Malcolm fractured his finger yesterday in practice he could’ve probably gone but my thought was if we can get another day out of it and just see how it is and just figure it out.”

On Durand Johnson: “Still figuring out what we’re going to do with Durand Johnson. Durand’s going to be a very good player for us we’re just trying to see what we’re going to do here as we go forward. I have a lot of confidence in him and talked to him about it and we’ll see but he’s going to be a very good player for us and I think that’s it.”

On signings: “I guess we signed a couple of guys and Greg got that word to you as well so we’re excited about those guys.”

More on Moore: “He was working a camp he was there they had a pickup game afterwards he was told it’s a pickup game, no book, no uniforms, played it’s what it is think he’ll be okay it’s not a felony.”

On John Johnson’s minutes and why the disparity between the last exhibition and this game in those minutes (other then the fact that Jamie Dixon’s the coach and he’ll decide to play who he wants when he wants): “We were up a bunch in this game and we weren’t up a bunch in that one. We were down a bunch in the other game. Pretty simple it was good that he got to play with the more experienced guys the veteran guys and obviously he hit a shot, got a breakaway thing but the second half he didn’t get in a rhythm didn’t let the game come to him as much as we want him to. He’s got to get better defensively as all our young guys do as you might expect but we’ll get better at it.

On if John Johnson was ever a candidate for a red shirt: “At this point now he would need an injury at this point but i anticipate him getting better and better and that what I talk to him about and we’ll see but at this point I think he’s going to be a very good player for us but you never know what happens, I told that to Durand just a second ago talking to him.”

More on the signings: “Steve Adams, good player I know he’s not ranked that high (um, okay) but I think he’s going to be very good. Very talented kid he’s excited about being at Pittsburgh you know it’s going to be a very interesting story coming from where he’s come from but he’s very talented, good size and we don’t go by rankings but we think he’s going to be a very good player so that’s where he’s at and then James (Robinson) is just a solid and true winner and great point guard and great kid, two very good kids, two very good students both go to very good high schools and we’re excited about both of them so very fortunate to get both of them as a part of our program.”

More later on other action from Friday.

Mernagh’s Big East Experience Part Two: Three That Can Win (First Up Pitt)?

By Ray Mernagh

In the first installment of our Big East Preview I gave you the two teams, based on what’s known from last year’s results and the talent coming in, that should win the league’s regular season championship.

In case you missed it the two I pegged were Syracuse and UConn.

Today I look at three teams that can win it, and truth be told, injuries have made me consider making this a foursome or switching out one team for another.

First in line is Pittsburgh (Pitt Tickets).

The Panthers won this thing last year and they return a National Player of the Year candidate in Ashton Gibbs. My two viewings of the Panthers thus far, especially the last one vs a D3 foe, have made me more of a believer than I was beforehand (and they were going to be my third pick regardless). Pitt has a program built on winning Big East games, it’s what the staff expects and that expectation is drilled into kids the second they move into their first-year dorm in Oakland. That’s all well and good but this years squad features some pieces, some sure to be backup pieces, that would tend to make me feel giddy were I an Oakland Zoo resident. This year the rookies possess, along with one vet without a lot of playing experience, talent that gives the Panthers a squad that potentially can roll as deep and thick as ONYX used to back in the day while scaring opposing coaches as much as Sticky Fingas scared the parents of daughters who loved his crew.
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2011-2012 BIG EAST PREVIEW – PART I – TWO THAT SHOULD WIN IT

By Ray Mernagh

I have a job separate from this one that, while not as fulfilling, happens to pay my mortgage every month.

At that job there’s a lady from West Virginia, Maggie who, aside from being a wonderful person and a dear friend, is a huge fan of Big East basketball. At least five times a day, like clockwork, Maggie will say “I love the Big East Ray, why do they have to do this?” over the cubicle wall that makes eye contact between us impossible unless we’re both standing.

“It’s dead Maggie,” I’ll say. “It ain’t right, but it’s dead.” And then I’ll hear the reservation sink in through her sigh that travels over the wall…until she says it again a few hours later. I feel like a cold hearted bastard telling a little kid there’s no Santa Claus. But as we all know, Big East basketball is, within the next few years, dead as we know it.

It’s a funny thing too, because Maggie isn’t talking about Big East football — although she and her husband Terry never miss a WVU football game. Nope, she’s talking about hoops, Huggs, and all the magical sh!t that goes with that combination when you place it within the Big East — New York City, Madison Square Garden at Big East Tournament time and the sea of Mountaineer fans that love the fact that they’re a part of such a fantastic league.
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2012 6’8″ Deep Threat Kellen McCormick Pops for Western Michigan

Kellen McCormick is a 6’8″ bomber out of Pontiac Notre Dame (Pontiac, MI).

McCormick has a high basketball IQ and has a rare ability for a kid with his length to really stretch a defense as he’s ready to catch and shoot from just about anywhere on the court 25-feet and in.

McCormick played his AAU ball with ACB/Bank Hoops, which was coached by his father, ex-UM star, NBA journeyman and current basketball broadcaster Tim McCormick.

He’s the fourth commit for Steve Hawkins and the Broncos in the 2012 class and brings big-time range as well as the potential to develop into a rare inside-out threat at the mid-major level. He has a nice frame on him and it should for a decent enough amount of muscle to be added once he gets working with Tim Hermann (the strength coach at WMU). He will be a handful on the pick and pop right out of the gate and also possesses a nice touch from the short corner and in the mid-range. He passes well and moves well while he needs to develop defensively and on the glass.

Look for the Broncos to add at least one more piece for 2012 (possibly two).

The other members of the 2012 class are Jared Klein (Otsego, MI), who was an AAU teamate of McCormick’s, Taylor Perry (Rochester, MI) and Connor Tava (6-6 Warren De La Salle, MI).

Graham Couch had the scoop on MLIVE.COM and here’s a video of McCormick Demonstrating his offensive skill.

WELCOME TO THE EXPERIENCE: 2011-2012 MAC CONFERENCE PREVIEW

By RAY MERNAGH

Will this season signal the Return of the MAC?

MAC basketball is a subject that will always stay, at minimum, in my peripheral — like James Worthy stayed in Magic’s during the Showtime Era in LA (By the way, that NBA Video game commercial is really ticking me off. The three biggest gripes I have with it: 1) Drake shouldn’t be in it, if they wanted to publicize a myth that so many young fans believe up to this point, either about the Heat or about Lebron, they should’ve gone with this scene from an entirely forgettable movie last year; 2) The aforementioned Showtime Lakers were a fading memory when Detroit blitzed them, although that didn’t stop me from completely and utterly enjoying it ; and 3) Bird dunked quite a few times in his career).

Sorry for the rant, back to the MAC. The league has a storied history and was at the top of any best lists for years when it came to leagues that don’t reside in the big-money neighborhoods of college athletics. That’s changed over the last several years, with the MAC falling from a consistent #10-11-12-type spot to as low as the 20′s…having said that, the talent in the league this season seems pretty good. Kent State is the only sure-fire favorite, any other site that prognosticates otherwise should be laughed at and clicked off of immediately. Anybody arguing that someone other than the Golden Flashes are the on paper favorite needs their head examined.

Still, there’s at least 5 or 6 teams capable and possessing enough talent to, with the right breaks, actually win this league. The key to both in-conference success and attention gathering wins out of conference at the MAC level — IMHO — is to have strong returning players. And the league is full of vets coming back for their second, third and fourth years, as well as some transfers that could add to puzzles already seemingly primed for an upswing (keep your eyes on Chris Evans at Kent State and Walter Offutt at Ohio).

Part of the MAC’s trouble has been the divisional alignment of the league. It’s been a mistake since they did it and has hampered — really done away with– what was once a great regular season conference race and replaced it with one dominant division the East, and one lesser light in the West. Winning the West has been good for getting coaches contract extensions. Finishing third or lower in the West has been good for getting coaches fired.

The MAC has changed the conference tournament seeding system so that it will no longer automatically reward one division winner with the #2 seed (which is smart). The West is still not as strong as the East but it does have two teams, Ball State and Western Michigan, that have been proclaimed, based on last year’s results and returning players, ready to challenge for the league’s top spot. Both have talent, toughness and some decent size returning. They will no doubt battle for the West.

Toledo should be helped by an infusion of guys that are eligible to suit up following transfer years. Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois offer the hope that comes with new coaching hires (Rob Murphy and Mark Montgomery). The West division has also been riddled, in retrospect, with poor coaching hires in years past. Some just didn’t work out on the court in wins and losses (Eastern Michigan) while others were complete abominations that had people scratching their heads from day one (Ball State, NIU and Toledo). The current coaches at those three spots have a chance to right their collective ships.

Time will tell.

So let’s take a look at the East Division first followed by the West. The entire East is full of capable teams should Kent falter. The league breaks down into one clear favorite and a bunch of teams that are just a tier below that favorite.

And that’s how we’re going to preview it.

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MERNAGH: FOR SMART, STAYING AT VCU EASY DECISION

Shaka Smart remembers the way he was drawn to his college coach Bill Brown. The charisma Brown exuded as he tried to convince Smart to come to Kenyon College. Back in 2008, I did a piece on Brown for the Pittsburgh Sports Report, and the first person I called was Smart (in fact, I believe it was Shaka who gave me the idea for the piece). As a high school point guard in Madison, Wisconsin, Smart was trying to decide between the likes of Yale, Harvard and Cornell (he was an academic admit to all three) but Brown succeeded in convincing him to come play D-3 basketball for him.”I’ve never seen anyone in the years I’ve known him,” says Smart, “as effective at communicating and connecting with all different kinds of people, he’s just special.”

Smart became part of a program that, in his first year on campus, made a run in the D-3 NCAA tournament. Everything was glorious for Smart and his teammates. They’d had success, and like all athletic groups that have success, they couldn’t wait to build on it. When their heads weren’t buried in a book they were able to hold them high walking the grounds of the campus in Gambier, Ohio. Then reality hit them like a jolt of lightening shortly after their return from the tournament.

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MERNAGH: THIS BIG EAST MEANT A LOT…SO DON’T SAY IT DIDN’T

by Ray Mernagh

I’m not sure what to make of this feeling that’s come over me after allowing all this conference realignment mess to sink in. After all, my initial reaction (Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes) was so mature, so enlightened, that it made me feel what’s best described as false pride about how adult my response was. Then a funny thing happened on my journey to accepting this with a rational level of, dare I say, Bilas-like comportment — I got stuck.

I couldn’t write a damn thing about the upcoming season, completely paralyzed regarding any news coming out of the entire world of college basketball. In fact I think I conned myself into thinking it was just my extraordinary amount of work on other sports the last few weeks (freelance variety) that had kept me from my usual barrage of words this time of year.

But that was just me kidding myself.

Denial.

Then Thursday night, while watching college football of all things, it hit me.

This hurts.

I mean, it’s ridiculous to blow up this conference.

Nobody really knows what the end game will be here but one thing is obvious — the Big East that we’ve known for the last several years is soon to be no longer.
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