Freshman PG Rounds Out Recruiting Class

While we are still digesting the news of Jeff Holton's transfer, Coach Jones has surely been working tirelessly to snag a suitable replacement before the late signing period ends on May 19th. AU Athletics announced today that the search is over, and "suitable" is a bit of an understatement. Freshman point guard Wayne Simon II (another Simon?!) will be donning an Eagles jersey in 2010-2011, and let me be the first to say I'm glad he chose the Red, White, and Blue.

While it may seem like the last thing we need is another point guard, as between Danny and Blake there's plenty of competition and a year of experience under their belts, having a successor in that position to relieve them and push them even harder is not a bad thing. Remember when Derrick Mercer would play 40 minutes every game? The only thing worse than an exhausted Mercer on the court was no Mercer on the court. Having more depth on the bench during the two tournament runs we so fondly remember would have been huge, and is something we're gearing up to have this season. Of course, in order to relieve Danny and Blake, Wayne has to be good. So there's the question - is he good? Admittedly, I'm just a blogger, and I've never seen him play. A bit of research tells me, though, that he's going to make an impact. He might not be a 4-year starter, but he's not going to be warming the bench for 4 seasons either.

First things first, I'm pleasantly surprised we got him. Wayne comes out of St. Joseph's high school in Westchester, Illinois, under Gene Pingatore, one of the most legendary coaches in Illinois High School Boy's Basketball (if such a thing can be said to be legendary). Other players to come from St. Joseph's include Isiah Thomas (of Detroit Pistons fame), and current Big 10 players Evan Turner and Demetri McLamey. The Big East features Wayne's former teammates as well, including sophomore Nate Rogers, whose DePaul team we obliterated (I reserve the right to exaggerate) this past season on their home court. Wayne was being recruited by a lengthy list of schools, including North Dakota, Niagara, Lehigh, Western Kentucky, George Mason, Northeastern, Eastern Illinois, James Madison, Tulsa, and Tulane. Not a bad list at all. On top of that, Siena threw him a scholarship just three weeks ago. Something is conspicuously missing on that list however - American. We might not have been on the table for him because until Holton decided to transfer, there were just no scholarships available. So the fact that as soon as one opened up, we got him over, say, a recent mid-major power like Siena, says very good things about our program.

Wayne's rankings are fairly decent, with ESPN giving him an 81, and Hoopscoop a 592. ESPN wrote last July, "Wayne is a quick, athletic guard that uses his speed to challenge opponents. He has long arms for a 6'0 point guard, which allow him to get deflections on defense and guard bigger opponents. Simon has good ball handling skills and is tight with his dribble moves. He changes speeds and direction exceptionally well and attacked the basket fearlessly. Wayne makes very good decisions with the basketball. He has shooting range to three point line and is consistent with his form; he will get even better the more he works on his shot."

Wayne sounds like a player with a serious pair of cajones. With any luck, he'll jump right out on the court without hesitation, which was the shortcoming of last year's freshman guards near the beginning of the season. Looking at his stat line, he averaged 15 ppg his senior season, so he's probably more of a shooting guard than a true point. His relatively small frame (we have him listed at 5'10", for the record, not 6'0"), the fact that he's not a traditional PG but is listed as one, and that his rankings are probably based on one or two games from his junior season lead me to believe that, depending on factors such as his assist to turnover ratio (he averaged 4 apg his senior season, not too bad, but not great), he really deserves maybe an 85 or 86 on ESPN. But, of course, that matters little until we see how he adjusts to the college game.

Wayne averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game his senior season. He was named Illinois All-State 2nd team, played in the 2010 Chicago High School Classic, and traveled with the Illinois Wolves. The Chicago Tribune reported he was the best player in a one point loss to Chicago power Whitney Young, which has guards who committed to Purdue and Oregon State. His coach says of him, "I think the big thing is he's become our go-to guy. All year, he's the guy we could go to when we need a bucket and defensively he's been one of our stoppers. He's been a very reliable player in the two years we've had him. He's an outstanding young man." Chicagohoops.com calls him "one of the top 2010 basketball prospects in the State of Illinois."

Ultimately, I think Wayne definitely shores up the point guard position, which was without a doubt one of our weaker points this past season. While he might not be an immediate impact player next season, he might fill in a key role when Nick Hendra graduates. While he's not a true replacement for the big center that Holton was, we also have 6'9" Tony Wroblicky coming on board as well, so I'm not too worried - we have enough good big men for now. If Wayne is able to put on a little weight and improve his shot, he might be even better than I predict. What shot am I talking about? See below:



2010-2011 is going to be a good year. Hello March, you were missed last season.

Pro Deo Et Patria,
Josh

Jeff Holton to Transfer; Also, AU Hoops Bracket Standings

At long last, here are the standings from the AU Hoops bracket challenge. Blogspot doesn't do so well with this kind of things, but you should be able to get the gist. Thanks to all of you for participating! Check below for more news.

Rank Team Name Score Correct Champion
1 Lisa Arakaki 103 34 Duke (165)
2 Robert Ruszczyk 78 33 Kansas (137)
3 Bill DeBaun 77 39 Kansas (143)
4 Joshua Kaplan 75 40 Kansas (143)
5 Josh Rothman 66 35 Kansas (102)
6 T Schad 63 38 63 Kentucky (134)
7 roy Lopata 63 34 Kansas (143)
8 Dan Cusimano 60 36 Kansas (148)
9 Ethan Meick 59 35 Baylor (137)
10 Steven Haber 59 36 Kansas (156)
11 Jordan Wells 57 34 Kansas (147)
12 Joe Viddy 56 33 Syracuse (136)
13 Brian Katz 56 33 Kansas (140)
14 larry Lumpkins 56 36 Kansas (149)
15 peter brusoe 54 34 Syracuse (125)
16 Eric Goldstein 54 36 Syracuse (127)
17 Carl Seip 51 34 Kansas (151)

According to Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman, AU freshman forward Jeff Holton will transfer at the end of the season. Holton appeared in four games for the Eagles this season for a grand total of four minutes. He did get a point this season, from the free throw line, and also notched an assist and a rebound to go with two turnovers.

Shame to see Holton leave, as he had a lot of potential it seemed. He had an excellent high school career. I'll be interested to see where he goes. This marks the second year in a row that a freshman forward has transferred. Last year, Mike Technow transferred to the University of South Carolina-Aiken where he played in 27 games, starting 7, and averaged 4.6 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.

All the best, Jeff.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Speculation Tuesday Wants to Know If We've Turned the Corner

If you're at all like me, you run a blog about AU basketball but are routinely outwitted by the very clever anonymous commenters who post there and keep you supplied with nice tidbits of news about said AU basketball team. Alternatively, you could be like me and still be basking in the glow of the win against Colgate this past Sunday.

The question is, is this the game where it finally sticks? After we beat DePaul on the road we came back to Bender and dropped a game against 0-10 UMBC. After we beat Brown we came back and played what was a very disappointing game against Columbia. Can we finally string together a two game winning streak this season? I think so, for a couple of reasons:

We Played the Penn State Nittany Lions, Some GOOD, BAD, and UGLY Things Occurred. Supply Your Own Pith

Goooooooood evening AU fans! Well, no surprises here my friends, the Penn State Nittany Lions (by the way, what in the name of all that makes Jeff Jones angry is a Nittany Lion?) handed our AU Eagles their 10th loss of the season. Well, I shouldn't say no surprises. I was a little surprised that we were only down by 6 at the half. Let me tell you what I wasn't surprised by. I wasn't in the least surprised by the 15-1 run that PSU started the second half with. I was going to save this for Thursday's Open Letter to Jeff Jones, but I feel it can't wait, so let me give you a little sneak peak.

"Dear Jeff Jones,

I'm not sure exactly what you do or say to our Eagles at halftime that makes them come out EVERY SINGLE GAME sluggish and awful at the beginning of the second half, but for the love of all that makes you angry and profane, please stop doing it. Make them sit on the bench for halftime or something. Anything to keep them focused on the game, which is apparently the antithesis of whatever is going on in the locker room at halftime.

Love and kisses,
Barechested Bender Bill"

Oh, and JJ? Here's your dose of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY for the Penn State game.

When you lose by 27 to your city's powerhouse team but it's not quite as bad as you thought it would be, there's GOOD, BAD, and UGLY

Gooooooood evening AU hoops fans! Well, our fateful road swing has begun, and it has begun just as we expected, with a loss, 73-46 to Georgetown at the Verizon Center. To read the recap, go here, and to find the box score, go here. Honestly, the game wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. For the firat 8 mminutes or so we hung with the Hoyas pretty closely. We even had a lead! Don't believe me? Here's proof, in two forms!

First, from contributor Vidulicious (5-4):




And then from our own Josh (7-6):


If only the game had ended after the first seven minutes, we would've had the upset of the year! Alas, we had to play the remaining 33 minutes. It was filled with the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY. Stick with us and see what those elements were!

Let's Learn a Little Bit More About the Newest Eagles

Sorry it's been so long between entries, friends and fans. It's been a long week what with the real world and the weekend and all that good stuff.

I've got to be honest, my beloved (and often befuddled) Miami Dolphins are on Monday Night Football for the first time since 2006, so I'd like to watch them wreck Peyton Manning's evening. In the interest of letting me do that, we're going to do this entry quick and dirty like a Holy Cross education. Ohhhh. Yep.

Before I start on the main point of this entry, which is to take a look at our incoming freshmen, I want to send a shout-out of support to the team. I've been seeing (via Twitter and Facebook, yes I use social media, you might even say I am "hip" to it) that the team's practices have been featuring ladders. For those of you who don't do much in the way of physical activity except for double-clicking your mouses to come to this blog, ladders are hellacious. Just thinking about when I used to run them for cross-country makes me nauseous. Not sure what flavor of ladder the team is running, but you can be assured they aren't the least bit fun.

With that said, I have two things to say to the team: THANK YOU and KEEP GOING. I know it's easy for me to say the second thing since I'm not the one out there busting my ass on the court. I get that. But you guys had better believe that the fans appreciate the work you do to get in shape for the season. We'll repay all that effort with Blue Crew frenzy come game time. It will all be worth it in the end when you're running all over your winded opponents in the last five minutes of games.

In any event, let's talk a little bit about the class of 2013. We'll start with the forwards.

Get to know...Jeff Holton
6'7" (though he's also been listed variously at 6'6" and 6'8"), 240lb, Germantown Academy, Ft. Washington, PA

Jeff Holton is going to have to step up this season and have the kind of season that Lumpkins had last season. Why? Because as documented in the last entry, our depth at the 4 and 5 spots is just not there this year, and if Lumpkins or Vlad the Impaler get into foul trouble, Holton is going to have to step in and play some quality, or at least not bad, minutes. Named the best senior basketball player in his high school league, Holton has also been highly praised by ESPN's Scouts, Inc. who called him a "very skilled pick and pop four man that can put on the floor and get to the rim or stretch the defense by knocking down the open three. He runs the floor and has an excellent basketball IQ. Holton is a constant threat on the offensive end of the floor." ESPN does note that, "One area that Holton must improve in is rebounding. If he can add the offensive glass to his game and help start the break on the defensive end it takes his game to another level. Overall tremendous skill and scoring ability." You can find that review here if you have an ESPN Insider account (free!). The inexplicable thing here is that although Scouts gives him a grade of 83, which amounts to "a solid contributor and two- or three-year starter at a mid-major program," wasn't enough to get him any stars from Rivals. Let's hope Rivals was wrong on him (but right on Jolivette and Munoz).

Get to know...Mike Bersch
6'6", 205lb, Rancocas Valley Regional High School, Mt. Holly, NJ

If nothing else, the talented Mr. Bersch fills what I personally feel is a critical role on the team: representing for the Garden State. Sure he's a completely different kind of player than the last guy to hold that position down (Derrick Mercer), but let's hope he's bringing the same level of talent. Bersch helped Rancocas Valley win Jersey's Group 4 championship (the most competitive of NJ's six groups) in his junior year, but they were unable to repeat his senior year because of a broken hand. Bersch seems to be right in the thick of things because he also suffered a shoulder injury and concussion in his senior year. Like a true gamer though, Bersch, who was supposed to miss 4-6 weeks from these injuries, came back in under three weeks and in his first game back scored 25 points. He went 2-3 from long range and 5-7 from the line. Like Holton, he's going to have to play solid minutes behind Vlad and Lumpkins. ESPN praises his passing ability and says that he can "make a living as a pick-and-pop guy or as a shooter that spots up and delivers 3-point daggers in transition." They do criticize his ball-handling a bit, which means he might not be able to penetrate into the paint too often. Hopefully the coaches will work with him on his handle, which will go quite nicely with what sounds like an absolutely lethal long-range jumper.

Get to know...Daniel Fisher
6'7", 220lb, Melbourne Grammar, Melbourne, Australia

I have to begin this part of this entry with an apology, I haven't been able to get much on our newest eagle from the southern hemisphere. This is the only article that I have been able to find about him, but I'm hoping that I will get some more information soon from our friends at AU athletics. Daniel, takes this as a lame I.O.U., I look forward to writing plenty about you in the blog over this upcoming season.

Well friends and fans, I wanted to give you details on all seven freshmen tonight, but we're already most of the way through the second quarter, and there's a lot to write about on the guards. So I'll have to offer you a raincheck for the night, and you can be sure to wait with bated breath for an article that will be packed with arbitrary Rivals star ratings and what is sure to be a very competitive battle for the team's 1 spot. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed getting to know these forwards. Learn these names, because they'll be taking the place (on the court, not necessarily in our hearts) of Frane, Brian, Jordan, and Frank (when he was playing the 3). Anyway, cross your fingers that Joseph Addai continues to have a poor game, that'll make me much happier when I come back to tell you about the guards.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!