Midnight Madness Preview

We already caught you up on the new Hoyas over the summer in our KennerLeague recaps, but with Midnight Madness around the corner, we figured it was time for an updated basketball cheat sheet.

Everybody Loves Austin

Publication after publication has picked senior guard Austin Freeman as the favorite for Big East Player of the Year and Coach John Thompson III isn’t tempering those expectations:

“Austin Freeman should be the Preseason Player of the Year in the Big East,” Thompson told MSG.com. “And I think, he’ll be the Player of the Year at the end of the season.”

Freeman, who is also on the preseason Wooden Award watch list, is joined by senior guard Chris Wright on Sports Illustrated‘s Naismith Award preseason watch list and Rival‘s preseason top 50 list.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Moses Abraham has, unfortunately, decided to go by the last name Ayegba, rendering useless half of the clever Biblical references we’ve been saving for the upcoming season. We’re not bitter, we promise.

There Will Be A Class of 2015!

Over the summer, Georgetown fans were getting frantic as Big East rivals snatched up recruits and the number of top high school players dwindled. But in mid-September, Jabril Trawick committed to Georgetown, getting the metaphorical ball rolling. Trawick is a 6’4″ shooting guard from Philly with great toughness. And he’s got hops.

A few weeks later, Mikael Hopkins, a 6’8″ four-star recruit who was ranked the #3 center in his class, took the plunge. Hopkins is only the second Hoya in 40 years to hail from local basketball powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, the other being Austin Freeman. Why? A long-standing grudge between John Thompson Jr. and Morgan Wootten, DeMatha’s legendary former coach.

Stars Aligned?

Georgetown hasn’t successfully recruited a five-star prospect since Detroit-bound Greg Monroe, but two will be in attendanceon Friday night for Midnight Madness. Let’s hope that Kyle Anderson and Daniel Ochefu, ranked 18th and 11th in the countryrespectively, enjoy Wale.

Ochefu is a known quantity as a top-flight big man, but Anderson could end up being a gem. If the Princeton offense could dream, it would obsess over “Slow Motion,” a 6’7″ point guard with superb passing ability. We’ll write that again: a 6’7″ point guard.

Cross posted at: The Voice

Loud Noises!!

Georgetown's hopes for the recruiting Class of 2011 took a hit today in the most devastating fashion- longer sought after Top-10 recruit Rakeem Christmas committed to play at Syracuse. The uproars of despair from the Georgetown faithful at Casual Hoya was instantaneous. The comments are interspersed with jabs from intruding Syracuse fans and the result is essentially a verbal brawl- taking swings at 'Cuse, Rakeem, JT3 and former assistant Mike Cox.

I'm not too worked up over it.

Here's why:

The luxury of being a senior is that after three years of disappointment, faced with one final chance for glory in as an enrolled collegiate fan, the only focus is on this season. Does Rakeem Christmas help us win a championship next season? No. Therefore, I will not lose sleep over it tonight.

There are legitimate concerns about losing this recruit- being deprived of the column title "Christmas Comes Early!" not being the least of those concerns. Assistant Coach David Cox left this year and he was the lead on our #1 target recruit- JT3, whether through his own actions or in the management of his staff, dropped the ball on this one. But after spending hours this summer fidgeting in McDonough trying to find a comfortable position, you will have a hard time subscribing me to the "Woe is Georgetown! JT3 is a horrible recruiter!" petition. The 2010 Class of Markel, Bowen, Lubick and Moses all have impressed- they all can contribute this year, so not all seems to be rotten in the recruiting sphere.

Succeed breeds success and winning is a great recruiting tool. The successes of this years Hoyas will have a far more lasting impact on our program than a single recruiting decision. Austin and Chris are poised to lead us to the strong season, and if they do, the recruiting will fall into place.

Contributing to the panic is how few ESPN Top 100 remain available.... Oh wait, either "None" University is going to have a killer team next year or over half of the elite recruits are still available. This is still in the early signing period, folks. I fully expect that a few responsible, patient individuals (sounds like the type of kids who would well in our system, eh) will choose the blue and gray cap with the large "G" and a bulldog on it.

Also, if Rakeen woke up tomorrow morning, changed his mind and wanted to come to the Hilltop, would you accept him? No thanks, Rakeem. In your choice alone, you've exposed a fatal flaw in your character that we will move on just fine without, thank you.

"The Stark Plug" Heard Round The World!

In my blog post about Kenner League 7/25, both at The Voice and on this blog, I tentatively bestowed a nickname on Markel Starks, the speedy freshman point guard who will be coming off the bench: "The Stark Plug."

As I discovered through the Casual Hoya, ESPN was listening. A Hoya ESPN Insider report mentioned how Starks has already been given the nickname "The Stark Plug" from the Hoya faithful.

To the best of my knowledge, I am "the Hoya faithful!" The nickname is simple (word play), makes sense (Markel is pure speed and will be relied on for instant offense) and catchy enough to be recycled into multiple cheesy sports column titles (coming at you this fall, The Voice). I can picture Dickie V. screaming it to the point of nausea already...

Pickin' up Chris Paul

According to the nebulous source that is twitter, Chris Wright and Austin Freeman will be welcoming Chris Paul to the Georgetown campus tonight for a game of pick up. As I was a huge Chris Paul supporter in my pre-Hoya days (I faithfully, though horribly errenously, picked his Wake Forest team to win it all on my bracket two years in a row) so I am thinking about lacing up the basketball shoes and showing off the mid-range game. I assume the two-on-two teams would break down CP3 and I vs. Austin and CW4, so hopefully CP would get me some nice looks around the free throw line.

Kenner League 8/1: Markel v. Vee

The lone game I attended Sunday was the match-up between Vee Sanford and Julian Vaughn and the Tombs (4 frosh, AF and Hollis). It is the maximum number of Hoya's that you can see on a Kenner League court, and the crowd responded in turn with the best showing of the summer.

Markel Starks and Vee Sanford did not disappointed- each player seemed eager to prove himself the better, and it had the feel of the old one-up Nike commercials. Markel had some great flashes, was the first to connect on a three over Vee, and on a fast break left a member of Clyde's quick literally on the ground at the free throw line after disorienting him with a juke. Overall though, Vee manage to exploit some loose ends in Markel's game that haven't been pressed in Kenner. Markel had a tough time staying in front of Vee and though Vee struggled to finish, it forced the Tombs to play help defense and the disruption led to a lot of easy buckets. Markel has shown a propensity to make hard cuts, but he didn't guard them as well- multiple times after Vee passed off the ball to the wing, he was able to get a step on Markel going towards the hoops. Vee's superior length also gave Starks some problems, he was able to stop Starks' progress and forced him into a few careless errors when he tried to dribble through trouble when he clearly should've given it up. Vee also hit near back to back threes in a stretch that put Clyde's in the drivers seat (though his J is still far from a guarantee) and later hit one of his patented floaters.

The game was decided inside- Julian Vaughn was unstoppable. Nate Lubick was stranded inside because Moses Abraham was given the day off after spraining his ankle (we have learned all to well about the dangers of coming back too soon from a hurt ankle as a freshman, see CW 2007-8). Nate doesn't have the strength to contend with Julian, but he did a fair job, was active throughout and had a lot of nice closer range hoops. Sometimes he has the crazy notion that he's a ball handler and shockingly, he's fairly effective. He picked up a lose ball around the opposing free throw line, didn't look over for Markel or Austin and just charged around down the court, dribbled around two defenders and got a good look at a lay-up but couldn't put it in.

Play of the Game: Aaron Bowen posterizing Julian Vaughn. Bowen got the ball in the short corner on the tail end of a fast break and Vaughn was coming down the lane to greet him at the basket and got there just in time to have Bowen thrown down over his outstretched arms. When Bowen first took off I thought there was no chance he'd make it to the rim cleanly but he got up really quickly and he managed to keep his body from catching Vaughn.

It ended up being a strange position at the end of a close game, as I couldn't help rooting for the Tombs (as a Tombs apologist I will note that they played a rigorous game on Saturday as well) and half-hoping that Julian would miss a FT to give them one last shot to tie- but then also being relieved that Julian could hit a FT in a tight game. All in all, Austin, Vaughn stood out, while the other pieces around them looked solid, especially offensively.

Onward to the final weekend of Kenner- this last weekend has been shockingly laced through with defensive effort and hopefully that will continue for the 4 day March Madness of Summer Leagues: the Kenner League Playoffs.

Kenner League 7/31- The Resurgence of Aaron Bowen

After putting on a show two weekends ago, Aaron Bowen has been hesitant to put up jump shots and has had little success when he pulled the trigger. He's run the floor exceptionally well and was making a big impact on transition offense, but his game wasn't as well rounded... until the second half of Saturday's game. In one of the most competitive games at Kenner this summer, the Hoop Magic Warriors used a deep bench and a lot of intensity (Byron Mouton did his best TO, to the extent of fist pumping after made free throws) to put the Tombs down one at half. HMW extended the lead to start the first half; the Tombs kept themselves in the game through gritty- outside shots from Freeman, Hollis and Markel weren't falling as they usually do. It wasn't until a run late in the second half when Aaron Bowen hit two 3's assisted by Markel and another basket that the Tombs took a late lead. With 12 seconds to go HMW hit a 3 to tie the game 67-67. With about 5 second left, Bowman put up another end over end shot, this time a twelve footer and splashed in a final swish. A missed buzzer beater was let with loud applause- this game more than any other at Kenner had a regular season feel. The Hoyas, excuse me, Tombs, were prone to being ground down by a talented and deep team but fought their way out of a hole- most especially thanks to Bowen, who finished with 12 points.

Austin Freeman showed why he will be a special player this year- his shot was clearly off this afternoon and in response he ratcheted up his defense and used his size to bully people around the hoop and threaded the needle on a lot of passes that had some muster behind them.

Play that would've had commentators going on for at least 10 minutes were KL games broadcast: Austin dribbled the ball to the wing at Markel Starks who made a sharp backdoor cut and had an easy layup. It was executed so naturally- Starks has a great feel for the game, especially for freshman.

One scary moment: Moses Abraham and Starks came down on each other under the basket and only Starks got up. Moses was able to put weight on it right away, but not much at first, was able to limp back to the bench. He came back in for a minute later, so hopefully it was a rolled ankle that won't be an issue.

Moses is the ideal red shirt if we had depth, he has a long way to go with his hands (stone), but his determination to go after the ball will be welcome on our thin front line. At least a few times every scrimmage it seems he gets deadlocked in a battle for a rebound with a teammate. Also, he swished a few more free throws today- that never fails to amaze people in the audience.

The resurgence of Aaron Bowen has me questioning if there is a health issue with his right shoulder that is in a sleeve. The ball looks so good out of his hand, the multiple air-balls last week seemed such an anomaly.

One thing I noticed about Hollis Thompson that makes me question if he's fully ready to take his offensive game to the next level beyond a spot shooter is that he has a tendency when he's dribbling to put his head down and not see the court as well as he could. He will certainly be an impact player this year and the stronger his ball handling, the further he can tap into his full potential.

I stepped out for the Clyde's matchup, but came back in time to another close finish 70-68. Tomorrow is the day to take note of- Clyde's Versus Tombs. I cannot wait to see Lubick and Moses on Vaughn and, even more direct of a rivalry as for two players who will be dueling for minutes, Markel vs. Vee.

In the final game it was DC Legends versus.... well four guys were doing a shoot-out on the other hoop, one of whom was wearing a polo. I came mainly hoping that Henry would face real competition so I started planning on heading for the door early. A few guys ran into the locker room for unis and they came out with a team... and then five minutes later DC Legends was down 13-3, Premiere Athletics had 6 guys in their bench, Henry was stripped a few times inside and Chris Wright had a jump shot blocked away from behind. I was stunned. Chris, realizing that his teammates were for the most part unable to come within striking distance of the rim on an open three, starting taking it to the glass.

Another scary moment- Chris went up strong with two and he was fouled by the ball and he ended up falling to the floor on his back. He bounced right up, but he was clearly shaken. Fortunately, he seemed fine by the end the game.

Henry Sims had a poor game, was thwarted down low repeatedly and aside from a few nice defensive plays, did not make good use of his size. Though I cannot certianly vouch for anything during the last 10 minutes of the game as my brain and body were vibrating to the continual chant of two well meaning youngsters seated directly behind me screaming OFFENSE OFFENSE OFFENSE or DEFENCE DEFENCE, DEFENCE depending on which situation described DC Legends situation.

Thursday Night Kenner 7/29

The Clyde's/DCX match-up came down to one call on the low block and the Charlie Rangel look-alike referee made the right call (I suppose that's how you can tell the look-alike from the real thing). Up one, Clyde's gave DCX the last shot after a turnover when Vee tried to force it to Vaughn and then missed a 3 pointer, DCX had a fast break and took it to the rim but right at the defender and got the charge call with 3 seconds left. Clyde's 60 DCX 59

Clyde's had no bench and Julian was gulping air by the end of the game, including just standing at the opponents FT line for a whole offensive possession with 3 minutes left to go, but he still was effective using small bursts of energy. He spent a lot of the game posting up and I was most impressed with his hands- he managed to catch multiple tough incoming passes.

Vee struggled, he was able to get into the lane with ease, but it only went downhill from there. Whether block or missed shot, he just wasn't able to put the ball in the hoop.

It was the first full game of Benimon's that I've seen and I was pleasantly surprised. His defense on Vaughn was very good, he was very active fronting him and created a few turnovers when people tried to go over the top. He was active around the hoops and managed to put back a few offensive rebounds. Otherwise, his offense game overall is still exceptional timorous. I kept count for the last ¾ of the game and, I am quite serious, he was averaging less than one dribble per touch on offense. The only time he looked to do anything was pass was at the end of the first half when his man slipped on a sweat spot on the floor and fell to the ground (he drained it, his no arc shots/free throws are surprisingly effective). Unfortunately the final minutes he caught the ball on on the arc, dribbled to the block and then back to the corner using seven dribbles and dashes his incredible ratio. One would think in Kenner league of all places, he would try to open up his offensive game at least a few times- just even the hint that he was looking to do something other than pass would be a huge advantage. All in all, I realized Benimon is going to maintain his minutes at least when the matchup dictates. For strong swing men like Kris Joseph, Benimon is likely the only one who can D them up and I'm sure he will get the opportunity to do so.

The Tombs were played tough by the scrappy Bowie State Bulldogs but pulled away in the end, 73-55. Freeman was back and seemed almost fatherly (this was enhanced by his wristband that a spot on it that reflected light exactly like a wristwatch does). He took over for a few bursts, but otherwise, spent a lot of time dishing and encouraging the Frosh. One play in particular on a two on one break, Austin during the regular season 10 time out of 10 with a smaller guard between him and the hoop will use his body and power to the rim. Last night he dished behind his back and Aaron Bowen swooped in for the flush.

Bowen played a completely different role than he has the last few weeks- not attempting a jumpshot once, but running hard and making a different in transition with his very good speed and leaping ability.

Nate Lubick has quick hands, which cuts both ways. It acts as a neutralizer when face guarding quicker opponents because he is effective at batting the ball away, but it will definitely cost him some cheap fouls. Bulldogs played small (sometimes really small, there was a maybe 5 8 guy out there on Hollis in the post for one possession, luckily he was pulled quickly) so Nate and Moses just subbed on and off for most of the game. Nate was pretty gassed during his long stretches- I think conditioning alone prevent Nate and Vaughn from shoring up the post positions (Henry's got to be able to be a steady contributor and I am suspecting he might be opening day starter over Hollis).

Speaking of Hollis, he looked solid, was able to play both inside and out against a smaller team and looked average, though not confidence instilling, when he took the ball up the floor a few times. He has a great ability to finish layups near the hoop once he gets his momentum going into the lane.

And the man of the hour, Markel Starks, has impressed the last two weekends, but I thought Thursday night was the best I've seen him. There cannot be a long list of guys in college hoops that can stay in front of him. He played a flawless first half, completely under control, drawing fouls at the hoops, kicking to open shooters, hit shots, playing tough defense- he elevated the play of everyone on the team. The highlight for me was a defensive one where he spoiled a 3 on 1 break. I am not sure how his feet kept up with this movement, but he lunged forward and looked like he was fully committed to the man with the ball, jump back and then recovered to his left to knock the ball out of bounds in a single, continuous movement. Such great quickness and composure. The second half contained a few miscues, but overall the steadiness continued and hit a couple threes on the run that blew the game open. I'm am chugging down the Markel kool-aid- this kid is going to be a player for us this year.