Last day of the regular season. Unfortunately, neither the Tombs nor Clydes made the playoffs, so the summer season is over for Copeland, Peak, White and Campbell. But I think everyone else made the playoffs. 4 games on sunday, starting at 2pm.
Not as many comments on today’s games - two friends were in town for the games today, so I was talking to them rather than furiously scribbling notes to myself!
ISAAC COPELAND: 22 pts, 8-17 2 pt, 1-4 3 pt, 3-3 FT, 8 reb (5 off), 1 asst, 1 bl, 2 TO
-Took a lot of good jump shots, but did not hit too many.
-He was talking well on defense - calling out picks, etc.
-Failed to finish through contact around the basket a few times. These are shots he will score on as he gets stronger
-Had a number of strong follow up dunks on the offensive boards. He has really good timing attacking the offensive boards, and soars in for easy dunks off a few misses in every game.
-Played more assertively again today, taking his most shots of the summer. He may start a bit slow this season, but my guess is that he comes on very strong fairly quickly as the season progresses
LJ PEAK: 21 pts, 9-18 2 pt, 1-2 3pt, 0-4 FT, 5 reb (2 off), 4 asst, 1 st, 5 TO
-Marcus Thornton beat him badly off the dribble - but he is a tough guy to stay in front of
-Was getting to the rim but not finishing as often as usual in the first half.
-In the second half the defense was trapping him hard off picks, denying him penetration opportunities
-Foul shot was off today - not bad shots, they just would not go down. Hit a couple of nice jumpers late in the game.
-Peak and Campbell did not have much help from teammates today. Both played solid games, but Peak especially had to force things to try to create offense, and was not able to make as many plays as he has in most games this summer.
-The opponent ("Oohs and Has") is one of the more talented Kenner teams: Thornton, Richaud Pack and Robert Carter (new transfers to maryland - both these guys, unfortunately, can play), PeShon Howard (former Maryland/USC point guard - flashy player, put on a bit of a show today), some other solid local guys. Way too deep in talent for this version of the Tombs.
BRADLEY HAYES: 17 pts, 7-14 2 pt, 3-4 FT, 15 reb (4 off), 1 asst, 1 bl
-Note the zero turnovers - this is really good to see. Hayes looks like a pretty solid defensive player and rebounder. If he can play low turnover basketball on offense, and finish around the basket occasionally - I think he could get a surprising amount of time this year, especially if Josh does not return.
-His rebounding has been the best thing about the summer. I think he also had 16 boards on friday night. He moves pretty well - solid out of area rebounder, which we have not gotten much from our big men in recent years.
-Still pretty mechanical/methodical in the low post, but he has a decent sense of how to set up his right hand jump hook when he is not doubled. Had a nice pass to a cutting bowen in the lane out of a double team today - if he can do this consistently, he may be able to develop a little bit of useful post offense.
-Ran the court well - but struggles to catch and finish on the run. Probably not a good idea to throw a pass to hayes while he is running full speed through the lane.
-Pretty solid on help D. Comes from off the ball to contest shots, cuts off driving player pretty well defending the pick and roll, comes out to the corner to contest OK (runs hard, usually does not foul, gets a hand up to at least try to distract shooter)
AARON BOWEN: 26 pts, 10-16 2 pt, 6-9 FT, 9 reb (3 off), 1 asst, 1 bl, 1 TO
-Very nice game for bowen, was really in attack mode
-As usual, had some nice dunks: a lob dunk finish, a reverse on a fast break.
-Attacked the basket well off the dribble for much of the game, although he did have some turnovers on these moves
-Passed up wide open 3s to go with the shot fake and drive a couple of times. Seems like he is understanding that attacking the basket is almost always his best move when he has some space to work with.
-All over the place with his foul shots - looked great on some, but missed 4 in a row (including one way "wide left") at one point.
PAUL WHITE: 26 pts, 8-13 2 pt, 3-5 3 pt, 1-2 FT, 8 reb (2 off), 3 asst, 1 st
-His breakout game of the summer. His jump shot was finally falling, and this seemed to boost his entire game.
-hit pull up jumpers and 3s, looked a lot more like his senior year of high school shooting performances
-Has a really nice floater in the lane over Hayes
-White will also take some time to get used to the speed/athleticism of the college game. But as he does, he’ll figure out how to use his high skill level and basketball IQ to be a high impact "glue" type player who does a lot of little things that add up to winning basketball
TRE CAMPBELL: 15 pts, 5-13 2 pt, 1-8 3 pt, 2-2 FT, 6 reb (3 off), 2 asst, 2 st, 2 TO
-Tough game for Tre today. He was usually covered by a small, quick, strong defender (not sure of his name, plays at Northern Colorado). Tre could not beat him off the dribble, so he settled for a lot of pull-up jumpers - and he hit only a couple of them. Almost not drives to the hoop all day
-Most of his 15 points came late in the game in garbage time. Did not accomplish much offensively when the game was competitive.
REGGIE CAMERON: 10 pts, 2-4 2pt, 2-6 3 pt, 2 reb, 2 asst, 1 bl, 1 TO
-Better game for Reggie today, but still a lot of struggling. He also sat for long stretches, as he has in most games over the last few weeks
-Had a nice 1 dribble pull-up 3 in transition in the first half, but still needs to shoot better than he has this summer to have much value in the regular season
DAVID ALLEN: 3 pts, 0-1 2 pt, 1-5 3 pt, 5 reb (2 off), 8 assts, 3 TO
-He does know how to play point guard. Always looking for open shooters on the wing and when he penetrates
-Struggled with his outside shot a bit today
JABRIL TRAWICK: 23 pts, 4-5 2pt, 3-4 3pt, 7 reb (3 off), 10 assts
-Wonderful game for jabril. Scored 23 points on 9 shots - very impressive
-Has been rebounding really well the last few games
-Knocked down his three 3’s in pretty quick succession - a step back, then two one dribble pull-ups
-Passed really well, in both the half court and in transition. He may well end up playing the PG minutes that DSR does not play, with Tre not getting too much time as he learns and gets stronger physically
-Again very solid from the foul line. His only two misses came after he was hit in the eye on the foul
MIKAEL HOPKINS: 19 pts, 8-11 2pt, 0-1 3pt, 3-3 FT, 10 reb (3 off), 3 asst, 2 bl, 2 st, 4 TO
-If hopkins could play like this every game, we would be really good! He was finishing everything at the rim, running the court hard, passing well. But optimism needs to be tempered by the fact that Lincoln Park has nobody over about 6’5, so not much challenge around the basket for Mikael today
-Had a great lob dunk finish in transition, in traffic. Super athletic play
-Did have a rough second half stretch - a bad miss inside followed by 3 turnovers all within a span of a couple of minutes of playing time.
OTHER NOTES:
-Greg Whittington again wandered through - just weird that he keeps showing up
-Another Lincoln Park story: their lead player (Dele Ojo) was absent. So long time streetballer Randy Gill (he won a big MTV street ball competition years ago, something like a $100,000 prize. His nickname on the show was "White Chocolate" - Gill is also heavily tattooed) took the lead. Gill is about 36, and plays a very flashy game. Ever pass has a no-look flourish or is behind the back. Talks constantly, in a generally good natured way. He was turned up to 11 today. And he was hot - drilling jumpers and floaters, hitting open guys with his unnecessarily flashy passes, dogging his man on defense by facing guarding him tightly all over the court. And talking a ton of trash, especially to Josh Hart, who he was matched up with all day
Give Hart credit - he took it in a good spirited way, laughed, and then just scored another basket (Hart had a great game - I think we will be complaining about the fact that he did not end up a hoya a lot over the next few years)
The best Gill highlights:
-Late in the game, down by double digits: after a Lincoln Park hoop, Gill made a quick cut to steal an inbounds pass and convert the layup. He then yelled out "I’m everywhere!"
-A few minutes later, he hit a basket over Hart - and make the "shooting gun" move with both hands at Hart while going back downcourt (this one drew a T).
-Finally, with like 5 seconds left, down double digits - he hit a floater in the lane, called a useless timeout, and yelled out "I never quit"
Again, all this was in good fun, and by the last few minutes he had even Jabril cracking up. Very entertaining performance by Gill. These two teams face off again on sunday, so we’ll see if Gill’s act wears thin. He can come across as obnoxious, but I have a lot of love for these guys who have been bouncing around playing semi-pro/amateur hoops all over the country/world for their entire adult lives. It is not a very practical way to live, but they love the game. Plus a guy like Gill clearly considers himself a performer as well as a player, and wants to show the crowd a good time along the way.