SWC75
Bored Historian
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Saturday, January 4th in the Dome vs. NOTRE DAME at 4PM TV: ESPN2/ESPNU RADIO: TK 99/105
Now the ACC schedule begins in earnest and we will really find out how good we are – or aren’t. But the Irish may not be the team to test it. They had a disastrous conference season last year: 3-15 on the way to a 14-19 record. The problem was youth: they had four freshmen and a sophomore playing much of the time last year. They used so many young players they didn’t recruit anyone else this year – it’s going to be the same team. Coach Mike Brey: We’re trying to get older ASAP.” More experienced, coach, not ‘older’.
But their best player is already “old”. Senior John Mooney (6-9 245), a typical bruising Irish big man, Mooney averaged 14.1p/11.2r. “They took on ACC front lines pretty much single-handedly every night”. He’ll be joined this year by 6-11 223 Juwan Durham, who was injured early last year. He is “a shot-blocking presence rarely seen at Notre Dame. The Irish would like to see him play with more toughness and competiveness. 6-10 225 Nate Laszewski is a shooter but an inconsistent one. (Most of them are.) TJ Gibbs (6-3 185), led the steam in scoring with 13.4ppg although his three point shooting dropped from 40% to 32%, probably because of the extra attention the defense was able to give him as the primary scorer. Prentiss Hubb, (6-3 175) scored 8.1 and averaged 4 assists but only shot 26% from the arc. 6-6 218 Rex Pflugger shot 39% from outside and scored 8.1 but went down with a knee injury in December. It’s unusual to see a Notre Dame team that wasn’t full of outside gunners.
Mike Brey’s a quality coach and he’ll bring this program back. This team will be better than last year’s. But they have a ways to go.
Tuesday, January 7th in the Dome vs. VIRGINIA TECH at 9PM TV: ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
Virginia Tech might not be a litmus test, either. Buzz Williams had this program going strong but bugged out for Texas A&M and left very little behind. (I’ll miss the little Curley Howard clone but I’ll get over it.) He’ll be replaced by Mike Young, who won 30 games at Wofford last year – in his 30th year at the school. But he’ll basically be starting from scratch. Four starters and the top five scorers are gone. And it’s hard to put together a recruiting class during a coaching change.
Last year the Hokies were 26-9 (12-6). The only returning starter is 6-1 195 guard Wabissa Bede who was persuaded not to transfer. He “is a fine distributor and doesn’t turn it over too often”. He averaged 3.8p/2.3a. 6-3 230 Isaiah Williams “is a solid outside shooter who can get to the basket”. He shot 41% from three last eyar and Young loves the three pointer. Freshman Jalen Cone (5-11 175), is a combo guard with “explosiveness and the ability to score”. Another frosh, Nahlem Alleyne (6-3 180), “is a good defender with a tight handle and is crafty going to the hoop”. Both of them should be high school seniors but “reclassified” because they had a chance to play immediately here. PJ Horne (6-5 230), can rebound and finish close to the basket”. Branden Johnson, (6-8 205), a grad transfer from Alabama State, (where he averaged 4.3p/3.7r), “is athletic and physical”. 6-10 209+ John Ojako is also “athletic and can protect the rim”. (I don’t think you want someone on your basketball team that is “non-athletic”.) 6-7 230 freshman Landers Nolley has star potential”.
It’s all about potential in Blacksburg this season. It may be better than the reality.
Saturday, January 11th at VIRGINIA at 4PM TV: ESPN/ESPN2 RADIO: TK 99/105
See the November 6th game. I’ll just add that Virginia will almost certainly be a better team on January 11th than they were on November 6th. I hope we are, too.
Wednesday, January 15th in the Dome vs. BOSTON COLLEGE at 6:30PM TV: ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
The Eagles are another team struggling to build something in an unforgiving conference. After getting their first winning record in seven years two years ago they back-tracked to 14-17, 5-13 in the conference. And that team’s best player, Ky Bowman, is gone.
The administration declined to fire Coach Jim Christian and instead promised to upgrade their facilities to compete in the ACC. (Imagine that!) And Christian will be getting two injured players, Nik Popovic and Wynston Tabbs, back and welcomes Derryck Thornton who started out as a top Duke recruit, transferred 3,000 miles to USC and now he’s taken the 3,000 mile journey back to the East Coast as a grad transfer to BC. Popovic (6-11 253) averaged 14.5p/7.7r. ”He’s a strong inside scorer and board man who can block shots”. Tabbs (6-2 193), averaged 13.9p/3.9r/2.7a. “it would be little surprise if he becomes Boston College’s leading scorer, filling the role the stat-stuffing Bowman did last season”. Thornton (6-3 195), averaged 7.7p/4.3a for the Trojans last year. Christian: “He’s won at a very high level and he’s hungry”.
Christian also has the Hamilton brothers, Jared (6-4 203, 6.0p/2.1r, a senior) and Jarius (6-8 234, 5.6p/4.0r). Jared’s “strong defense made a big impact toward the end of last season” while Jairus “proved last year that he can hit some shots and rebound but he must take better care of the ball”. Stefon Mitchell (6-8 220, 4.6p/7.9r/2.3a) “was the Eagles best defender”. Chrisitan said that this is the best depth he’s had in his tenure at BC.
Saturday, January 18th at VIRGINIA TECH at Noon TV: RSN RADIO: TK 99/105
See January 7th. I doubt either team will have changed much in 11 days.
Wednesday, January 22nd at. NOTRE DAME at 7PM TV: ESPN2/ESPNU RADIO: TK 99/105
See January 4th. I doubt they will have changed much in 18 days, either.
Saturday, January 25th in the Dome vs. PITTSBURGH at Noon TV: ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
The once fearsome Panthers are still another school that fell on hard times and is trying to make a comeback against long odds in the nation’s best conference. Two years ago they “ran the table” in reverse, going 0-18 in conference. Last year they improved all the way to 3-15 and 14-19 overall.
Their strength is definitely in their backcourt where Jeff Capel came up with a couple of gems in 6-3 200 Xavier Johnson and 6-3 190 Trey McGowan. Johnson averaged 15.5p/3.9r/4.5a, McGowan 11.6p/3.2r/1.7a. Johnson “could finish off the dribble, hit the long shot, set up his teammates and defend” but “he needs to sharpen his shooting eye and his decision-making skills and he must cut back on his turnovers”. McGowens “the highest rated Pittsburgh recruit in six years, is a downhill speedster who loves to attack the basket”. But “he struggled with his shot and coughed it up too much”. Johnson had nine 20+ point games while McGowen “averaged 26.3 points in in Pitt’s four ACC victories, (they had a tournament win), including 33 points vs. Louisville and 30 vs. Florida State. Capel: “Xavier was maybe a little more consistent than Trey but no one was more important than Trey. Any time he played well in conference play, we won.“ ‘Trey’ is a good name for a guard.
6-6 210 Anise Toney, (7.5p/5.6r) “struggled with his shot but led the team in rebounding and has a solid skill set”. Capel brought in JC transfer Ryan Murphy, (6-2 185) who previously played for Charlotte. Who “struggled with his shot but is good at driving and kicking the ball out to shooters”. I recall that we had success last year vs. the Panthers with our zone precisely because they “struggled with their shot”. 6-10 235 Terrell Brown “may not score a lot of points but he established himself as an excellent defender, showing he could hit the boards, (5.7P/4.5r). Freshman Karim Coulibaly (6-8 215) “is a quick player with good skills around the basket”. Eric Hamilton is a grad transfer from UNC Greensboro, (6-9 250), who “won’t be transformational” (shucks…) but “brings needed physicality”. He was previously at Wichita State and has played in the NCAA tourney with them and the NIT with Greensboro so he “should be a boon to a program looking to re-establish a winning culture”. Just don’t do it against us.
Tuesday, January 28th at CLEMSON at 7PM TV: RSN RADIO: TK 99/105
The Tigers followed up a Sweet 16 season with a disappointing but deceiving 20-14, 9-9 record. They lost six games by 1 or 2 points. They lost star player Shelton Mitchell and two more anticipated starters, forward Jonathan Baehre and guard Clyde Trapp suffered torn ACLs and “and probably won’t be back until January at the earliest”. Baehre (6-10 214), a transfer from UNC Ashville was thought to be “a nice compliment to returning junior Aamir Simms in the low post”. Simms, (6-8 248, 8.1p/4.6r) “can score inside and out” and “has the potential to be a sturdy performer”. Trapp, (6-4 196 6.0p/3.4r/1.6a), “was far from a proven player but his loss still delivers a big blow. He was the starting point guard in two NIT games…and it felt like a preview of the future with Trapp running the show.” He’ll be replaced by 4 star recruit Al-Amir Dawes (6-2 175), who has “lead guard skills and a strong pick and roll profile”. (What does he look like from the front?)
They, too have a grad transfer, Curran Scoot from Tulsa (6-4 208), a “solid three point shooter who averaged 10.2ppg in AAC play”, (8.9 overall). He was 39% from three. In fact they have two of them: 6-6 225 Tevin Mack came in from Alabama, where he averaged 9.0ppg last year. He scored 14.8ppg for Texas in 2017 before being suspended and then released. , Guards Nick Honor, (Fordham) and Khavon Moore (Texas Tech) transferred in and are appealing to the NCAA to be allowed to play right away. Honor is 5-10 205 and averaged 15.3p/3.0a last year. Moore is 6-8 217 but listed as a guard. He played only two minutes for the national runner-up red Raiders last year.
January is a month that could be kind to us if we are playing well. Our toughest stretch comes at the end of the regular season, which is good for a young, sorry- inexperienced, team like ours. They won’t be inexperienced anymore when the going gets tough.
Now the ACC schedule begins in earnest and we will really find out how good we are – or aren’t. But the Irish may not be the team to test it. They had a disastrous conference season last year: 3-15 on the way to a 14-19 record. The problem was youth: they had four freshmen and a sophomore playing much of the time last year. They used so many young players they didn’t recruit anyone else this year – it’s going to be the same team. Coach Mike Brey: We’re trying to get older ASAP.” More experienced, coach, not ‘older’.
But their best player is already “old”. Senior John Mooney (6-9 245), a typical bruising Irish big man, Mooney averaged 14.1p/11.2r. “They took on ACC front lines pretty much single-handedly every night”. He’ll be joined this year by 6-11 223 Juwan Durham, who was injured early last year. He is “a shot-blocking presence rarely seen at Notre Dame. The Irish would like to see him play with more toughness and competiveness. 6-10 225 Nate Laszewski is a shooter but an inconsistent one. (Most of them are.) TJ Gibbs (6-3 185), led the steam in scoring with 13.4ppg although his three point shooting dropped from 40% to 32%, probably because of the extra attention the defense was able to give him as the primary scorer. Prentiss Hubb, (6-3 175) scored 8.1 and averaged 4 assists but only shot 26% from the arc. 6-6 218 Rex Pflugger shot 39% from outside and scored 8.1 but went down with a knee injury in December. It’s unusual to see a Notre Dame team that wasn’t full of outside gunners.
Mike Brey’s a quality coach and he’ll bring this program back. This team will be better than last year’s. But they have a ways to go.
Tuesday, January 7th in the Dome vs. VIRGINIA TECH at 9PM TV: ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
Virginia Tech might not be a litmus test, either. Buzz Williams had this program going strong but bugged out for Texas A&M and left very little behind. (I’ll miss the little Curley Howard clone but I’ll get over it.) He’ll be replaced by Mike Young, who won 30 games at Wofford last year – in his 30th year at the school. But he’ll basically be starting from scratch. Four starters and the top five scorers are gone. And it’s hard to put together a recruiting class during a coaching change.
Last year the Hokies were 26-9 (12-6). The only returning starter is 6-1 195 guard Wabissa Bede who was persuaded not to transfer. He “is a fine distributor and doesn’t turn it over too often”. He averaged 3.8p/2.3a. 6-3 230 Isaiah Williams “is a solid outside shooter who can get to the basket”. He shot 41% from three last eyar and Young loves the three pointer. Freshman Jalen Cone (5-11 175), is a combo guard with “explosiveness and the ability to score”. Another frosh, Nahlem Alleyne (6-3 180), “is a good defender with a tight handle and is crafty going to the hoop”. Both of them should be high school seniors but “reclassified” because they had a chance to play immediately here. PJ Horne (6-5 230), can rebound and finish close to the basket”. Branden Johnson, (6-8 205), a grad transfer from Alabama State, (where he averaged 4.3p/3.7r), “is athletic and physical”. 6-10 209+ John Ojako is also “athletic and can protect the rim”. (I don’t think you want someone on your basketball team that is “non-athletic”.) 6-7 230 freshman Landers Nolley has star potential”.
It’s all about potential in Blacksburg this season. It may be better than the reality.
Saturday, January 11th at VIRGINIA at 4PM TV: ESPN/ESPN2 RADIO: TK 99/105
See the November 6th game. I’ll just add that Virginia will almost certainly be a better team on January 11th than they were on November 6th. I hope we are, too.
Wednesday, January 15th in the Dome vs. BOSTON COLLEGE at 6:30PM TV: ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
The Eagles are another team struggling to build something in an unforgiving conference. After getting their first winning record in seven years two years ago they back-tracked to 14-17, 5-13 in the conference. And that team’s best player, Ky Bowman, is gone.
The administration declined to fire Coach Jim Christian and instead promised to upgrade their facilities to compete in the ACC. (Imagine that!) And Christian will be getting two injured players, Nik Popovic and Wynston Tabbs, back and welcomes Derryck Thornton who started out as a top Duke recruit, transferred 3,000 miles to USC and now he’s taken the 3,000 mile journey back to the East Coast as a grad transfer to BC. Popovic (6-11 253) averaged 14.5p/7.7r. ”He’s a strong inside scorer and board man who can block shots”. Tabbs (6-2 193), averaged 13.9p/3.9r/2.7a. “it would be little surprise if he becomes Boston College’s leading scorer, filling the role the stat-stuffing Bowman did last season”. Thornton (6-3 195), averaged 7.7p/4.3a for the Trojans last year. Christian: “He’s won at a very high level and he’s hungry”.
Christian also has the Hamilton brothers, Jared (6-4 203, 6.0p/2.1r, a senior) and Jarius (6-8 234, 5.6p/4.0r). Jared’s “strong defense made a big impact toward the end of last season” while Jairus “proved last year that he can hit some shots and rebound but he must take better care of the ball”. Stefon Mitchell (6-8 220, 4.6p/7.9r/2.3a) “was the Eagles best defender”. Chrisitan said that this is the best depth he’s had in his tenure at BC.
Saturday, January 18th at VIRGINIA TECH at Noon TV: RSN RADIO: TK 99/105
See January 7th. I doubt either team will have changed much in 11 days.
Wednesday, January 22nd at. NOTRE DAME at 7PM TV: ESPN2/ESPNU RADIO: TK 99/105
See January 4th. I doubt they will have changed much in 18 days, either.
Saturday, January 25th in the Dome vs. PITTSBURGH at Noon TV: ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ACC NETWORK RADIO: TK 99/105
The once fearsome Panthers are still another school that fell on hard times and is trying to make a comeback against long odds in the nation’s best conference. Two years ago they “ran the table” in reverse, going 0-18 in conference. Last year they improved all the way to 3-15 and 14-19 overall.
Their strength is definitely in their backcourt where Jeff Capel came up with a couple of gems in 6-3 200 Xavier Johnson and 6-3 190 Trey McGowan. Johnson averaged 15.5p/3.9r/4.5a, McGowan 11.6p/3.2r/1.7a. Johnson “could finish off the dribble, hit the long shot, set up his teammates and defend” but “he needs to sharpen his shooting eye and his decision-making skills and he must cut back on his turnovers”. McGowens “the highest rated Pittsburgh recruit in six years, is a downhill speedster who loves to attack the basket”. But “he struggled with his shot and coughed it up too much”. Johnson had nine 20+ point games while McGowen “averaged 26.3 points in in Pitt’s four ACC victories, (they had a tournament win), including 33 points vs. Louisville and 30 vs. Florida State. Capel: “Xavier was maybe a little more consistent than Trey but no one was more important than Trey. Any time he played well in conference play, we won.“ ‘Trey’ is a good name for a guard.
6-6 210 Anise Toney, (7.5p/5.6r) “struggled with his shot but led the team in rebounding and has a solid skill set”. Capel brought in JC transfer Ryan Murphy, (6-2 185) who previously played for Charlotte. Who “struggled with his shot but is good at driving and kicking the ball out to shooters”. I recall that we had success last year vs. the Panthers with our zone precisely because they “struggled with their shot”. 6-10 235 Terrell Brown “may not score a lot of points but he established himself as an excellent defender, showing he could hit the boards, (5.7P/4.5r). Freshman Karim Coulibaly (6-8 215) “is a quick player with good skills around the basket”. Eric Hamilton is a grad transfer from UNC Greensboro, (6-9 250), who “won’t be transformational” (shucks…) but “brings needed physicality”. He was previously at Wichita State and has played in the NCAA tourney with them and the NIT with Greensboro so he “should be a boon to a program looking to re-establish a winning culture”. Just don’t do it against us.
Tuesday, January 28th at CLEMSON at 7PM TV: RSN RADIO: TK 99/105
The Tigers followed up a Sweet 16 season with a disappointing but deceiving 20-14, 9-9 record. They lost six games by 1 or 2 points. They lost star player Shelton Mitchell and two more anticipated starters, forward Jonathan Baehre and guard Clyde Trapp suffered torn ACLs and “and probably won’t be back until January at the earliest”. Baehre (6-10 214), a transfer from UNC Ashville was thought to be “a nice compliment to returning junior Aamir Simms in the low post”. Simms, (6-8 248, 8.1p/4.6r) “can score inside and out” and “has the potential to be a sturdy performer”. Trapp, (6-4 196 6.0p/3.4r/1.6a), “was far from a proven player but his loss still delivers a big blow. He was the starting point guard in two NIT games…and it felt like a preview of the future with Trapp running the show.” He’ll be replaced by 4 star recruit Al-Amir Dawes (6-2 175), who has “lead guard skills and a strong pick and roll profile”. (What does he look like from the front?)
They, too have a grad transfer, Curran Scoot from Tulsa (6-4 208), a “solid three point shooter who averaged 10.2ppg in AAC play”, (8.9 overall). He was 39% from three. In fact they have two of them: 6-6 225 Tevin Mack came in from Alabama, where he averaged 9.0ppg last year. He scored 14.8ppg for Texas in 2017 before being suspended and then released. , Guards Nick Honor, (Fordham) and Khavon Moore (Texas Tech) transferred in and are appealing to the NCAA to be allowed to play right away. Honor is 5-10 205 and averaged 15.3p/3.0a last year. Moore is 6-8 217 but listed as a guard. He played only two minutes for the national runner-up red Raiders last year.
January is a month that could be kind to us if we are playing well. Our toughest stretch comes at the end of the regular season, which is good for a young, sorry- inexperienced, team like ours. They won’t be inexperienced anymore when the going gets tough.
