MBB: USA South Conference

[narch]

Jan. 16

thanks...i wasn't sure when sweeps week on nbc began

[CNU85]

VWC beats CNU 88-79. Close game throughout. No matter what people may say, VWC is adjusting to the loss of Adair and Sumpter.

CNU played better than I would have expected for their first game. Only 3 returning players, 2 starters, and 9 new guys!! Tough games this weekend with York (NY) and Curry.

CNU's new offense is fun to watch. Very enjoyable. It fits the style of the players better. CNU doesn't depend on just Barton bringing the ball down the court. It eases the pressure a little. A few mistakes were made, especially by Freshmen. But, they were mistakes of misjudging the speed of the game. A game or two more and they'll be ok. Here comes  a post or two about each player as I saw it tonight - and who the heck am I anyway? - so my opinions don't really matter...here goes....

[CNU85]

Returning players:

Theo Baker - He was off tonight. Not to be totally unexpected for a first game. I know he can play better, so I'm  not worried. I think he opened with a three, then went someting like one of eight. If he goes 4-8....oh well...we can "if" this game into oblivion.

Davon Barton - I've been critical of Davon in the past. I must admit, this new offense fits his style perfectly. It seems like last year he was trying to play this way in a different offensive scheme and it looked awkward at times. Expect good things from Davon this year.

Brandon Duke - I don't think he played tonight.

[CNU85]

New Guys:

Starters:

Marko Hamlin - Big man inside. Very aggressive. Plays bigger than 210 lbs. Got a nice block. Goes to the ball well.

John Russell - I'll have to check the stats. I don't recall seeing him too much after the start.

Thomas Whinnett - He seems very versatile. He can play bigger than 6'6" and 220 when inside. He can also play "smaller" often bringing the ball up the court. He even had a few between the legs dribble. Not bad for a "big" guy. Some of his shots were off. He hustles. He talks a lot on defense - letting others know what's going on. He seems like a smart player.

[CNU85]

New Guys

Non starters:

Kenny Reid - good rebounder. Not afraid to get in the middle of things. Only 6'3" 200 lbs but plays much much bigger than that. He also hustles to the ball well. Good player. Former football player at NCW.

David Mustian - Another Freshman. Plays hard. Got some good minutes. Needs to adjust to the speed just a little. HE's another guy I see getting a lot of playing time. Also another smart player.

Craig McCargo - little guy at 5'7". He can shoot! He can handle the ball. Good at finding the open guy. He will also see minutes this year.

Conley Taylor - local boy. Hustles with every step. Extremely smart player. Very aware of the court. He made some mistakes tonight. I attribute all of them to this being his first college game and he isn't used to the speed of the game. I think he will adjust to the speed by the next game. He's that good. He's not afraid of getting into the paint or putting up a shot against bigger guys. He can jump! HE had a lot of minutes tonight for a first game. I can't wait to see the stats.

Paul Going - Didn't play as much. I can see him being a good role player. He can give some rest to the guys with more minutes in this new running offense and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would hurt the team when he's on the court. I'd like to see him play more to make any further analysis. I'm looking forward to watching him play.

Rocky Patterson - I don't think he played.

[CNU85]

That's it. I think this is going to be fun watching this team mature together. No seniors and only 3 juniors. Let's see about the next few games to see if my comments hold any validity.

And it was nice chatting with Bruce Hornsby during halftime!

[CNU85]

Final post of the night. Just looked at box score.

4 players in double figures. Barton and 3 new guys. Team shot 52% and 42% from three pt range. Blasingame will be missed inside - but CNU blocked 8 shots today...more than what they averaged per game the past 2 years when they lead the nation in blocked shots.

ok...on to the Duke game.

[narch]

monarchs get a win vs. lynchburg tonight...they spotted the hornets 13 to start the game and outscored lc 67-50 from there on - mcdade had a big night with 26 and 6, shuford with 14 and 7 and frosh leumichael smith had 11 - lehmann was 0fer with only 1 assist and 2 to's...not his best night - looks like the monarchs are still trying to sort out back court playing time and rotations judging by the 3 boxes this season - lane started and played just 8 minutes and sigman started and played 13 while winstead and thomas played 16 each off the bench - it's not the most impressive win...but it's a win

[kickerdad]

New Guys

Non starters:

Kenny Reid - good rebounder. Not afraid to get in the middle of things. Only 6'3" 200 lbs but plays much much bigger than that. He also hustles to the ball well. Good player. Former football player at NCW.

David Mustian - Another Freshman. Plays hard. Got some good minutes. Needs to adjust to the speed just a little. HE's another guy I see getting a lot of playing time. Also another smart player.

Craig McCargo - little guy at 5'7". He can shoot! He can handle the ball. Good at finding the open guy. He will also see minutes this year.

Conley Taylor - local boy. Hustles with every step. Extremely smart player. Very aware of the court. He made some mistakes tonight. I attribute all of them to this being his first college game and he isn't used to the speed of the game. I think he will adjust to the speed by the next game. He's that good. He's not afraid of getting into the paint or putting up a shot against bigger guys. He can jump! HE had a lot of minutes tonight for a first game. I can't wait to see the stats.

Paul Going - Didn't play as much. I can see him being a good role player. He can give some rest to the guys with more minutes in this new running offense and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would hurt the team when he's on the court. I'd like to see him play more to make any further analysis. I'm looking forward to watching him play.

Rocky Patterson - I don't think he played.

Does anyone know if this guy Reid (Kenny) played high school ball at Lakeland High School in Suffolk, Va. My son played football with a Kenny Reid that had hands like a vacuum and I thought he went to school somewhere in NC but wasn't sure.

[CNU85]

New Guys

Non starters:

Kenny Reid - good rebounder. Not afraid to get in the middle of things. Only 6'3" 200 lbs but plays much much bigger than that. He also hustles to the ball well. Good player. Former football player at NCW.

David Mustian - Another Freshman. Plays hard. Got some good minutes. Needs to adjust to the speed just a little. HE's another guy I see getting a lot of playing time. Also another smart player.

Craig McCargo - little guy at 5'7". He can shoot! He can handle the ball. Good at finding the open guy. He will also see minutes this year.

Conley Taylor - local boy. Hustles with every step. Extremely smart player. Very aware of the court. He made some mistakes tonight. I attribute all of them to this being his first college game and he isn't used to the speed of the game. I think he will adjust to the speed by the next game. He's that good. He's not afraid of getting into the paint or putting up a shot against bigger guys. He can jump! HE had a lot of minutes tonight for a first game. I can't wait to see the stats.

Paul Going - Didn't play as much. I can see him being a good role player. He can give some rest to the guys with more minutes in this new running offense and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would hurt the team when he's on the court. I'd like to see him play more to make any further analysis. I'm looking forward to watching him play.

Rocky Patterson - I don't think he played.

Does anyone know if this guy Reid (Kenny) played high school ball at Lakeland High School in Suffolk, Va. My son played football with a Kenny Reid that had hands like a vacuum and I thought he went to school somewhere in NC but wasn't sure.

That's the guy

[kickerdad]

New Guys

Non starters:

Kenny Reid - good rebounder. Not afraid to get in the middle of things. Only 6'3" 200 lbs but plays much much bigger than that. He also hustles to the ball well. Good player. Former football player at NCW.

David Mustian - Another Freshman. Plays hard. Got some good minutes. Needs to adjust to the speed just a little. HE's another guy I see getting a lot of playing time. Also another smart player.

Craig McCargo - little guy at 5'7". He can shoot! He can handle the ball. Good at finding the open guy. He will also see minutes this year.

Conley Taylor - local boy. Hustles with every step. Extremely smart player. Very aware of the court. He made some mistakes tonight. I attribute all of them to this being his first college game and he isn't used to the speed of the game. I think he will adjust to the speed by the next game. He's that good. He's not afraid of getting into the paint or putting up a shot against bigger guys. He can jump! HE had a lot of minutes tonight for a first game. I can't wait to see the stats.

Paul Going - Didn't play as much. I can see him being a good role player. He can give some rest to the guys with more minutes in this new running offense and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would hurt the team when he's on the court. I'd like to see him play more to make any further analysis. I'm looking forward to watching him play.

Rocky Patterson - I don't think he played.

Does anyone know if this guy Reid (Kenny) played high school ball at Lakeland High School in Suffolk, Va. My son played football with a Kenny Reid that had hands like a vacuum and I thought he went to school somewhere in NC but wasn't sure.

That's the guy

CNU is lucky to have him. He is a great kid. I wish him the best. If I remember correctly he had a bad knee. Hopefully he has gotten that corrected.

[SU97]

WOW. 

SU knocks off Houston Baptist by 3 points - GREAT game against a much bigger opponent!  No stats available online, but it seems like OnyieO had a big game.  Got some solid minutes from some frosh too.  Curious to see the stats.

Go Hornets!

[SU97]

Great game last night in Winchester.  Hornets continue to play hard and are getting EVERYTHING out of JLawrence and OnyieO.  JLawrence put up another solid game:  17 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks and 2 steals all while playing against a guy who's shoulders came up to JLawrence's forehead...  the guy was huge.  But OnyieO stole the show with 21 points, 6 rebounds (5 on the offensive boards), a block and even had 3 assists.  He was by far the best player on the floor. 

SU is getting great work out of Kline down low.  The freshman pulled down 10 rebounds and even banged home a 3-pointer!?!?    It was really good to see a bunch of the guys off the bench supporting the cause:  10 hornets scored on the night - including 35 points from the bench. 

It's cool that the d3hoops guys gave SU a little love by posting the game result on the homepage - but I found the Houston Baptist release to be interesting:  http://hbuhuskies.athleticsite.com/article.asp?articleID=167

I typically don't bust on other schools, except for greensboro, but after reading the Houston Baptist website game recap this morning I had to laugh. How embarrassing for a D1 program to lose to a D3 school that was 1-11 in conference last year.  Nice bit of whining in the Houston spin:  "The difference came at the line, where Shenandoah managed to get to the line 32 times compared to just 18 for HBU. The Hornets hit for 75 percent, outscoring HBU by 10 at the charity stripe."

Okay - so if you take away the four (4) techinical foul shots (and, might I add, the 2 technicals - seemed rather not very baptist-like to me ) and the six (6) SU free throws in the final 35 seconds when they were fouling to stop the clock...  to me that's 10 FT's that really don't come through the play of a normal game, so the 32-18 FT difference they whine about seems a bit lame to me.  Maybe they should look at the 22 turnovers and then figure out why they lost.

[narch]

the monarchs win 74-67 vs. nna today - not sure what to think of that result - nna played vwc tight, losing 74-70 and beat rutgers-newark then got hammered by d2 francis marion...who knows how good the builders are?

shuford had a monster game with 15 pts/15 reb and 7 assists (5 to's, though) on 6-7 shooting from the field (only 3-8 from the stripe) - mcbryde and lehmann both chipped in with 15, and mcdade had 12 - turnovers have been an issue early for the monarchs, and were again today as mu had 30 of 'em - gotta fix that problem

box score

game story

su now has 2 wins vs. d1 opponents...anyone else think they might be dangerous this season?

[Ralph Turner]

Let's not overrate Houston Baptist.  They were a good NAIA-1 program last year which lost in the first round of the NAIA-1 Tourney last spring.

2006-07 HBU stats