College Basketball, Bajaden:

[bajaden]

I had a college basketball thread last year, so why not do it again. The season is starting in earnest, with many miny tournaments to kick off the season. For those interested in College B Ball, and possible future draft picks of the Kings, I'll try and keep you informed of prominate games and I'll do my best to review some of the games.

Today at 11 am on espn, Bayor is playing. They have a freshman thats worth the watch in Perry Jones. He's a 6'11" SF thats very athletic and that has guard skills. More Later....

 

[Boogie-havoc]

Is there a definite number 1 pick for 2011? like Wall was?

Assuming there's no lockout that is.

Would love to hear info on Collage B and players, I don't get much time to watch it but would still like to be infomred, so thanks for making the thread

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Is there a definite number 1 pick for 2011? like Wall was?

Assuming there's no lockout that is.

Would love to hear info on Collage B and players, I don't get much time to watch it but would still like to be infomred, so thanks for making the thread

I would say Harrison Barnes (6'8 SF North Carolina) is the early favorite to go number one. Im not sure who his main competition will be either. I really Like Enes Kanter, but it looks like he will be stuck playing Internation Basketball again this season.

PS. I'll deffinelty be checking up on what you write here Bajaden. As someone who doesnt pay much attention to NCAA basketball until about the midway point, I enjoy reading your analysis on players before I get a chance to check them out.

 

[bajaden]

Is there a definite number 1 pick for 2011? like Wall was?

Assuming there's no lockout that is.

Would love to hear info on Collage B and players, I don't get much time to watch it but would still like to be infomred, so thanks for making the thread

Well as Massy says, Harrison Barnes is at the top of the list of most mock draft boards at the moment. However its way too early to predict who will be the eventual winner. It looks like a good freshman class, and many of them will probably be one and done's. At the moment I'd say there are around 5 players that could end up being number one. As mentioned, Harrison Barnes, and then some others that I really like going in are Perry Jones of Baylor. Jared Sullinger of Ohio St. Terrence Jones of Kentucky. Enes Kanter who was suspossed to play for Kentucky, and it still could happen if the NCAA would quit screwing around with him. Another kid to keep your eye on is C.J. Leslie of North Carolina St. Futher down in the draft I like Brandon Knight of Kentucky and Kyrie Irving of Duke. Both are pt guards. Lets give it a couple of months and see where the water levels out at.

 

[bajaden]

Baylor vrs LaSalle:

Close game up until the final 2 or 3 minutes of the game when Baylor managed to pull away with a 10 pt lead and held on. Baylor really missed LaceDarius Dunn, who is out for three games because of aggravated assault charges. Don't ask because I don't know. With Tweety Carter, their PG from last year graduating, and Dunn, their primary scorrer and now the main ballhandler out for this game and the next, their backcourt was a bloody mess.

Their new starting PG is sophmore A.J. Walton. And while he had 5 assists, he also added 7 turnovers. The team as a whole had 22 turnovers, and almost all of them came from the backcourt. But despite that they managed to pull out a win against a pretty good LaSalle team. The freshman Perry Jones had a pretty good game. Baylor has him playing the center position on defense in their 2/3 zone along with Quincy Acy and Anthony Jones. Perry Jones ended up with 12 pts and 11 rebounds to go along with 4 blocked shots, 1 steal and just 1 turnover. Although he's playing center, as he's the tallest player on the team. It doesn't take long to realize that his position in the NBA will probably be SF. He's a good and careful passer. He has a beautiful turn around jumpshot from the top of the key. I saw little in the way of a post game, other than dunking the ball, and he didn't take any shots that I can remember from the beyond the arc.

Doesn't mean he can't shoot from out there. Its hard for him to even get a 3pt shot because of having to set up down in the post on offense. He appears to be a very good athlete that runs the floor like a deer and is capable of playing above the rim. Although he obviously has a lot to learn, he's seems to have a good feel for the game and good basketball IQ for a freshman. So far, so good.

Quincy Acy, a Junior, is one of those deceptive players. He stands only 6'7" and plays PF for Baylor. He has very long arms and always seems to be around the basketball. He ended up with 25 pt's and also had 11 rebounds and 2 blocks to go with 1 steal and 1 turnover. He is without a doubt the energizer bunny on the team and also seems to be the glue guy. He was very effective coming off the bench last year. This year he's a starter, and so far seems to be validating that decision.

Anthony Jones, the other frontcourt starter added 14 points and 7 boards to go along with 2 blocks.

For LaSalle the main guy is their 6'10" sophmore center, Aaric Murry. He's not a flashy player, and doesn't look the 245 pounds he's listed at. But he played like he weighed that much. He's always around the basket and has good touch around the basket. A lot of his points came from offensive rebounds and put backs. He also has quick hands, managing to come up with 5 steals. I don't think he can play center in the NBA. At least not as a regular position, but he's a perfect fit at PF. Considering the size up front that Baylor had, I thought he did a very good job of holding his own. He ended up with 17 points and 9 boards to go with 1 blocked shot.

The only other major contributer for LaSalle was 6'8" PF/SF Jerrell Williams, who managed 14 points. Baylor was the better team from the start. But without Dunn on the floor they kept LaSalle in the game by constantly giving the ball back to LaSalle via turnover. In the end, it was Baylor's size that prevailed. I think once Dunn returns, Baylor should be able to make a splash in the NCAA tourney. Of course they have to get there first. But if Perry Jones continues to improve, I don't think that will be a problem.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Well as Massy says, Harrison Barnes is at the top of the list of most mock draft boards at the moment. However its way too early to predict who will be the eventual winner.

Well, I'm not so sure it's too early to predict right now. John Wall, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, and Greg Oden might argue differently, is all. The last four drafts, all had a consensus #1 pick by mid-summer, and even though there were attempts to hype up other players - sometimes great players (Durant, Beasley, Rubio, Turner) - it always went back to the original consensus guy. My read is that Barnes is the consensus guy, and while it's definitely too early to tell who will be the best guy from this class, I think it would be pretty decent money to bet on Barnes as the #1 pick. Based on past results, right now I would take Barnes against the field at even money.

 

[hrdboild]

Harrison Barnes is the consensus number 1, but I've seen more than one high school scout say Perry Jones has the most upside because his skill level and athleticism are both off the charts. It'll be one of those two I think unless there's a big surprise from the returning college players. There's a lot of talent in this freshman class, but those top two are the two who have the talent and ideal size for their position which is usually what it takes to go first overall. Enes Kanter being ruled ineligible is bad news for everyone. Is he going to be able to play anywhere this season?

 

[bajaden]

Well, I'm not so sure it's too early to predict right now. John Wall, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, and Greg Oden might argue differently, is all. The last four drafts, all had a consensus #1 pick by mid-summer, and even though there were attempts to hype up other players - sometimes great players (Durant, Beasley, Rubio, Turner) - it always went back to the original consensus guy. My read is that Barnes is the consensus guy, and while it's definitely too early to tell who will be the best guy from this class, I think it would be pretty decent money to bet on Barnes as the #1 pick. Based on past results, right now I would take Barnes against the field at even money.

I didn't say Barnes wouldn't be, but I'm not about to commit to anyone without even seeing them play. All I have to go on is a couple of highschool all star games so far, and he was impressive. But Terrence Jones was extremely impressive as well. I guess I could say that it really doesn't matter to me, but with the way the Kings are playing, maybe it should...

 

[Boogie-havoc]

You guys can shed a little light on Barnes ability and style of play maybe? would really like that.

 

[bajaden]

You guys can shed a little light on Barnes ability and style of play maybe? would really like that.

Harrison Barnes is a freshman SF that plays for North Carolina. As I have not seen him play, other than a couple of highschool all star games, I can't really give you any first hand infomation other than he was considered the consensus number one player coming out of highschool. He's listed at 6'8" and 215 pounds. He's a small profile of him from NBA draft.com. By the way North Carolina is playing on ESPN on thursday night if you want to catch him first hand..

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/harrison-barnes

 

[Boogie-havoc]

I'll try catch that one, thanks m8

 

[kingsboi]

No love for Brandon Knight?

 

[bajaden]

No love for Brandon Knight?

Give me time mi amigo. So far I've only seen Knight play in one game and he played very well. I have to watch a player play at least 3 or 4 times before I start drawing conclusions. Terrence Jones was absolutely fantastic in that game. But it was just one game against inferior competition. But yes, I like Knight and I think he's going to be a very good player. Seasons just starting..

 

[kennadog]

I always enjoy your "scouting" reports, bajaden. You are one of the people on here who keeps me from being totally ignorant about college basketball (and NBA, too.)

 

[bajaden]

I always enjoy your "scouting" reports, bajaden. You are one of the people on here who keeps me from being totally ignorant about college basketball (and NBA, too.)

Thank you for your endorsement. By the way, are we going to see you at the Clipper game this year. I know I've probably asked you this already, but you know, its that age thing...

 

[bajaden]

For those college basketball fans that are interested. Tonight at 5:30 PST on ESPNU, sorry you'll have to figure out what channel that is depending on your service, North Carolina and highly touted Harrison Barnes will play Minnesota and a player not many have heard about in Rodney Williams. Minnesota is playing Williams at SF, but I think he can play some SG down the road. Anyway, I liked him last year and I'm anxious to see if he's improved any this year.

Immediately following the N.C. game. Kentucky with 6'3", point guard Brandon Knight and a player that I'm excited about, 6'8" SF, Terrence Jones will take on Portland. Both are freshman and both are probable one and dones. I was hoping to see Enes Kanter this year with Kentucky, but the good old NCAA stepped in once again and screwed Kentucky and the fans by making him ineligible for the year. This probably means he'll never suit up for a college game since he'll be eligible for the next draft, and most likely will enter and be a top 10 pick, if not a top 5 pick.

Enjoy!!

 

[bajaden]

Kentucky Vrs Portland:

Not much of a game really. More of a showcase for Kentucky, which disappointed me because last year Portland had a very good team and I just expected more from them. It appeared from the outset that Portland just wasn't ready for the defense and the athleticism of Kentucky, as Kentucky jumped out to, if memory serves, a 15 to 0 lead in the game. The final score was 79 to 48, and it wasn't that close. Portlands best scorer PG/SG, 6'1" Jared Stohl who led all of college in 3 pt percentage last year, was rendered almost helpless by Knight or Darius Miller.

Miller, a 6'7", 223 lb, SG/SF, had to be the star of the game. He played smothering defense, and was, if not spectacular at times, was at minumum, extremely solid. He ended up with 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting, to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocked shots.

Terrence Jones, a 6'8", 219 lb SF, had just an OK game. It was hard to follow his first game where he had 24 points and 12 boards, and considering he's from Portland and was playing in front of his hometown friends for the first time, one would expect him to try to do too much. He ended up with 12 points on 5 of 14 shooting to go along with 5 boards and 2 blocked shots. What he lacked on the offensive side he more than made up on the defensive side. I think he has a chance to be a legit lock down defender in the future. He's a terrific athlete.

Brandon Knight, a 6'3", 185 lb PG, did everything he was suspossed to do except get assists. I was very impressed with his defense, and so was Portland's Jared Stohl. He appears to be taller than his listed 6'3" height, which is a rarity. He ended up with 21 points on 7 of 13 shooting and had a couple of steals. He seems to have a complete offensive arsenal. He scored from beyond the arc. From mid-range, and by taking it to the basket. I've seen him play twice now and so far he's been consistent.

Kentucky on whole, looked like a typical Calapari team. They push the ball constantly and they play tenacious defense. As a result, Calapari's teams are fun to watch. I also like how Calapari handles young players. During the game there was a point where Jones was just trying to do everything himself. Calapari yanked him out and sat him down next to him. After talking to him for a minute, he sent him right back into the game. Jones game improved after that. NCAA sanctions aside, I think Calapari is a very good coach as well as being a good recruiter.

Kentucky lacks only a big man this year. Thanks to the NCAA ruling Enes Kanter ineligible to play. Somewhere Daniel Orton has to be kicking himself. Had he stayed, he would be the starting center on a team thats going somewhere.

 

[hrdboild]

What do you think about Jordan Hamilton of Texas? He was one of the freshmen I was most excited about last year and I ended up being a little disappointed. It looks like he's starting to reclaim his top prospect status this season.

 

[bajaden]

What do you think about Jordan Hamilton of Texas? He was one of the freshmen I was most excited about last year and I ended up being a little disappointed. It looks like he's starting to reclaim his top prospect status this season.

He has a lot of talent, and someone you have to keep on the radar. It looks like he's made some adjustments to his game, and to his mental approach to the game as well. I sort of felt that last year was an apparition to some extent. I had Texas penciled in as one of the top contenders for the NCAA tourney. They got off to a terrific start and then suddenly just self destructed, despite having a wagon load of talent. So to some extent I think Hamiliton was a victim of that. I also think it was fair to say that he was never the focus of the teams offense. This year is a different team with a different focus. So far so good.

 

[bajaden]

For those interested. Today on ESPN 2 at 2 Pm Kentucky plays Oklahoma. Probably the first real test for Kentucky. Oklahoma isn't ranked at the moment but they have a pretty good team. Immediately following that game is the Duke/Marquette game. This should also be a good game. Obviously Duke has more fire power, but Marquette is a good team that should test them a little.

 

[bajaden]

Texas vrs Pittsburg:

Sorry to be late with this one, but there's just not enough time in the day. This was a good game right up to the end. Both teams were evenly matched, and the lead went back and forth the entire game. In the end Pittsburg prevailed 68 to 66.

With Texas starting two freshmen in Tristan Thompson, a 6'9" PF/C, and Corey Joesph, a 6'3" PG, (I'll eat my computer if he's actually that tall) it was the youth against the experienced. Thompson is one of the new class of highly rated highschool players this year. He's a good athlete, and based on just this one game, doesn't appear to have much of a post game other than dunks and putbacks. He does have a nice little turn around jumper from the middle of the key, of which he took 3 and made 3. He ended up with 11 pt's on 4 of 8 shooting.

Thompson is a physcial player with a well muscled NBA body. Defensively he was a presence. He defended the basket well with 3 blocked shots. he also added 6 boards to his stats. I like what I see so far from Thompson. He's rough around the edges, but there's talent there.

Joseph didn't fare so well. Other than bringing the ball up the floor quickly, and he is quick, he did little else. He was 1 for 4 from the floor for 2 pt's and had just 2 assists. He showed me little in the way of creative passing, nor was I impressed that much with his ballhandling, which was OK, but nothing to write home about. Not drawing any conclusions just yet. Its just one game.

The leading scorer, and without a doubt the best player on the floor for Texas was the highly touted player from last year, sophmore Jordan Hamiliton. Hamiliton is a 6'6" SG/SF. He plays mostly SF for Texas, since the team is somewhat vertically challenged. Hamiliton seems to have picked up where Damion James left off, as the do everything and be everything player on the court. At least for this one game. Hamiliton ended up with 28 pt's on 8 of 18 shooting, while hitting 5 or 8 from beyond the arc. He also added 8 boards to his stat line. He plays hard and is active on both ends of the floor. My only reservation is his lateral movement. He seemed to have trouble staying in front of his man a few times. Don't read too much into it. He played hard the entire game, and the minutes may have caught up with him. Well See..

For Pittsburg Ashton Gibbs was the man. Gibbs is a 6'2" junior PG/SG. He had 24 pt's on 8 of 14 shooting and was 3 for 7 from beyond the arc. He shot the ball well and was active defensively. Not sure exactly what his position is. His teammate Brad Wanamaker, a 6'4" senior showed more creativity and had 5 assists. He also added 9 pt's and 6 boards. Gilbert Brown, a 6'6" SG/SF added 8 pt's and 4 boards. All in all Pittsburg had a more well rounded attack with two players off the bench in Nasir Robinson, a 6'5" junior SG adding 9 pt's and Travon Woodall, a 5'11" PG adding 7 Pts.

I should also mention that J'Covan Brown from Texas was huge off the bench with 14 pt's on 4 of 9 shooting. Brown is a 6'4" SG and is a sophmore.

Of the two teams I think Texas has the best chance to impove the most as the season progresses. Pittsburg is made up of juniors and seniors for the most part, and to be honest. At the college level its experience that wins you games. But Texas, while young,
has very good talent. If those young players can grow quickly they can be a force come tournament time.

 

[Vlade4GM]

Damn, I forgot about the Kentucky game.

 

[bajaden]

Damn, I forgot about the Kentucky game.

Sometimes when you miss it the first time around they repeat on ESPNU at a later time. It was a great game for Jones. More later!

 

[King-Da-Yah]

What do you guys think of Cory Fisher from Villanova?

 

[bajaden]

What do you guys think of Cory Fisher from Villanova?

I haven't seen him play this year yet. I'll give my opinion after I get to see him a couple of times.

 

[King-Da-Yah]

I have suddenly become a strong follower of NCAA now Baja, and I have you to thank for that. I hope someday I have a man cave down in Mexico! I can follow in your footsteps. I am def going to check out the Kings future draft pick Harrison Barnes tomorrow night once I am good and stuffed. (like someone trying to shoot over Dalembert)

 

[=LarryLegend=]

Kemba Walker is sick. Harrison Barnes is sick....Kyle Irving, Terrance Jones and Brandon Knight, Josh Selby are sick.. if the lockout doesnt affect these players and Kings can finally get a top 2 pick....wow.

 

[bajaden]

Kemba Walker is sick. Harrison Barnes is sick....Kyle Irving, Terrance Jones and Brandon Knight, Josh Selby are sick.. if the lockout doesnt affect these players and Kings can finally get a top 2 pick....wow.

What, is there some kind of flu going around? When did they all get sick. Jones and Knight looked fine tonight in the game. Well now that I think of it, Knight didn't have one of his better games.

 

[bajaden]

UCONN vrs Kentucky:

I guess they should be called UCONN the giant killers. They came into this miny tournament unranked and knocked off one ranked team after another. And the main reason was named Kemba Walker, a 6'1" PG, who someone has apparently waved a magic wand over and turned him into the next coming of, well, I'm not sure who to compare him to. maybe AI, since no one else springs to mind. UCONN simply outplayed Kentucky and took advantage of Kentuckys youth. Kentucky is a very talented team, but its also a very young team, and its prone to making a lot of mistakes. Yesterday UCONN made them pay for those mistakes.
Walker once again was lights out, and I'm sure he's getting a lot of attention from NBA scouts right now. He scored 29 pts on 10 of 17 shooting and was 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. He added 6 assists with only 2 turnovers, and 2 steals. He also played great defense on Brandon Knight, who had a miserable game. Walker is a scoring PG, but make no mistake, he does have PG skills. He handles the ball very well and is quite capable of making the good pass. He's very quick, and is very good coming off screens. However he's also quite capable of creating his own shot.

Alex Oriakhi, a 6'9", 240 PF, also had a nice game for UCONN. He scored 18 pts on 7 of 10 shooting to go along with 11 boards and 3 blocked shots. Niels Giffey added 14 pts for UCONN.

Terrence Jones, a 6'9", 230 lb, SF/PF, was the lone bright spot for Kentucky. Although UCONN was able to hold him off the boards this game, something no one else has been able to do, he managed to pump in 24 pts on 6 of 11 shooting. So far in his young career he's been able to draw fouls at a very high rate per game. He was 8 for 9 from the charity stripe, which was nice to see, since his freethrow shooting had been very erratic up to now. He only had 4 boards, but he added 2 blocked shots and 2 steals. All in all a very nice game in a losing effort. The only help he had came from Darius Miller, a 6'7" 223 Lb, SG/SF. Miller contributed 15 pts on 6 of 14 shooting. He also added 4 boards.

This was a game Brandon Knight, a 6'3" PG, would just as soon forget. Let me start by saying that Knight is a very good shooter, who up till now has been very capable of creating his own shot and is also good at coming off screens. He had 6 pts on 3 of 15 shooting and was 0 of 8 from behind the arc. Some of this was the great defense played by UCONN and some of it was his just having a very bad night. He appeared to be rushing his shot to me. hard to tell for sure because he has a very quick release to begin with. One bright spot was the 5 assists. Unfortunately he also had 5 turnovers.

Final score was 84 to 67 in favor of UCONN. Who should be ranked soon. This was eventually going to happen to Kentucky whose only inside presence is Jones, and he really has no post game to speak of. In fact its hard to explain Jones game. The closest thing I can think of is Blake Griffin in his freshman year. Griffin had no outside shot at the time and really didn't have much of a post game. But he was so quick and athletic, that he just out quicked everyone. Amare Stoudemire also springs to mind as someone that just overwhelmed opponents with his athletcism and quickness. I'm certainly not saying that Jones will become either of those two, but he's someone to keep your eye on.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Kemba Walker has shocked me this year. Absoultely shocked me.

This is his third season at UCONN ( The team I follow the most considering its the best College Bball team in my area ). He never seemed like more than a role player to me. He is in a massive hot streak right now .. I dont know how he can continue to score at this rate, but if he can .. look out.

I still dont love him as an NBA player though. Not to say he cant be a good pro, but his game seems like the textbook college star game.