SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 34,525
- Like
- 67,279
- Cool Stuff: We won the Maui Classic for the third time and are 9-0 there all time. We were also 21- in the 1995 Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. Our only loss in the Islands was to the Marcus Camby Massachusetts team that was #1 in the country at the time. And we went to the national title game that year.
- We also have a shot at going undefeated once again over the pre-conference schedule- the hardest pre-conference schedule we’ve ever played. From the 2007 East Tennessee State game, (the game where Eric Devendorf got hurt) through this win over Baylor, we are 69-2 vs. regular season non-conference competitions, with the only losses being to Cleveland State on the 70 footer and to Temple last year when Khalif Wyatt went off on us. “Yeah, but they’re all against cupcakes!” Like Florida, (twice), Kansas, Virginia, Memphis, (twice), California, (twice), North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia Tech, NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Stanford Arkansas, Minnesota and Baylor. You don’t want to play Syracuse in November or December.
- We had a big four in this tournament, as we hope to have for the course of this season. In the three games in Maui, CJ Fair had 54 points, 19 rebounds and 3 assists with 8 turnovers. Jerami Grant had 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and one turnover. Trevor Cooney had 49 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Tyler Ennis, who really should have been named MVP but wasn’t even on the all-tournament team, had 51 points, 8 rebounds, 18 assists and only 2 turnovers. If all those guys are producing at once, we will be very tough to beat.
- A huge factor was the turnovers, or the lack of them. In three games, we had 25 turnovers to 52 for our opposition. That more than negated a 79-95 rebounding deficit. Ennis, our senior point guard, (who is still a freshman), had a 9-0 assist to turnover ratio in the championship game.
- Despite the friendly rims, we didn’t exactly bomb away from outside in this tournament, going 16 for 39 from the arc, a strong 41% but only 5 treys per game. Most of that was Trevor Cooney who was 11 for 24, (46%). And Cooney can do other things, too, with 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 5 steals. He can also work that backdoor play like he was a Princeton kid. His growing pains are over.
- Jerami Grant seems ready to leap out of the gym and into the NBA. At least we aren’t the Syracuse Chiefs, who had Bryce Harper for one dreary month. We get to watch Jerami all season. Let’s enjoy it because it will probably be his last at this level. He’s not only got hops but all kinds of twisting moves in the paint. And he can hit jump shots but I’m more comfortable with him from two point range than three for now.
- CJ Fair broke out of his slump with a huge game in the final, scoring 24 points on 10 for 17 shooting. And each basketball mattered. They all seem to come at key points as we held off the explosive Baylor Bears, who had been behind the entire game vs. Dayton, (a game that looked just like ours most of the way). We- meaning CJ- never let them get back in it. He wound up hoisting both the tournament championship trophy and the MVP. I think it helps when the other members of the “Big Four” are all playing well because the defense can no longer focus on defending CJ and he can do what he does best- float around getting free and score over or around single defenders.
- These were the type of games we’ll get in the conference and in the post season and we are winning them.
7-0 with 24+ to go
Let’s Go Orange!
- We also have a shot at going undefeated once again over the pre-conference schedule- the hardest pre-conference schedule we’ve ever played. From the 2007 East Tennessee State game, (the game where Eric Devendorf got hurt) through this win over Baylor, we are 69-2 vs. regular season non-conference competitions, with the only losses being to Cleveland State on the 70 footer and to Temple last year when Khalif Wyatt went off on us. “Yeah, but they’re all against cupcakes!” Like Florida, (twice), Kansas, Virginia, Memphis, (twice), California, (twice), North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia Tech, NC State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Stanford Arkansas, Minnesota and Baylor. You don’t want to play Syracuse in November or December.
- We had a big four in this tournament, as we hope to have for the course of this season. In the three games in Maui, CJ Fair had 54 points, 19 rebounds and 3 assists with 8 turnovers. Jerami Grant had 50 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and one turnover. Trevor Cooney had 49 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Tyler Ennis, who really should have been named MVP but wasn’t even on the all-tournament team, had 51 points, 8 rebounds, 18 assists and only 2 turnovers. If all those guys are producing at once, we will be very tough to beat.
- A huge factor was the turnovers, or the lack of them. In three games, we had 25 turnovers to 52 for our opposition. That more than negated a 79-95 rebounding deficit. Ennis, our senior point guard, (who is still a freshman), had a 9-0 assist to turnover ratio in the championship game.
- Despite the friendly rims, we didn’t exactly bomb away from outside in this tournament, going 16 for 39 from the arc, a strong 41% but only 5 treys per game. Most of that was Trevor Cooney who was 11 for 24, (46%). And Cooney can do other things, too, with 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 5 steals. He can also work that backdoor play like he was a Princeton kid. His growing pains are over.
- Jerami Grant seems ready to leap out of the gym and into the NBA. At least we aren’t the Syracuse Chiefs, who had Bryce Harper for one dreary month. We get to watch Jerami all season. Let’s enjoy it because it will probably be his last at this level. He’s not only got hops but all kinds of twisting moves in the paint. And he can hit jump shots but I’m more comfortable with him from two point range than three for now.
- CJ Fair broke out of his slump with a huge game in the final, scoring 24 points on 10 for 17 shooting. And each basketball mattered. They all seem to come at key points as we held off the explosive Baylor Bears, who had been behind the entire game vs. Dayton, (a game that looked just like ours most of the way). We- meaning CJ- never let them get back in it. He wound up hoisting both the tournament championship trophy and the MVP. I think it helps when the other members of the “Big Four” are all playing well because the defense can no longer focus on defending CJ and he can do what he does best- float around getting free and score over or around single defenders.
- These were the type of games we’ll get in the conference and in the post season and we are winning them.
7-0 with 24+ to go
Let’s Go Orange!
