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.
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