2008 Philly Classic -- Possible Matchups

The initial scoop by Jeff Goodman, discussed my earlier post, "The 2008 Philly Classic", identified the Philly Hoops Classic field for the 2008 tournament. Goodman announced the field of eight teams would include Hartford, Niagara, NJIT, Monmouth, Penn State, Rhode Island, Towson and Villanova. I speculated that the two 4 team brackets (I call them "Bracket A" and "Bracket B" for now) would be...

Bracket A:		Bracket B:
Hartford		Niagara
Monmouth		Penn State
NJIT		Rhode Island
Towson		Villanova

Some detective work by a Villanova message board poster, a preseason news story at the Providence Journal, and finally an official announcement from PSU, provides enough information for me to tease out a bit more about the tournament and the first two rounds. If the posters over at the Niagara message board and the Rhode Island message board are correct (note the Niagara poster wrote his/her entry about two months before Goodman wrote his piece...), then we can deduce that the brackets will be...

Bracket A:		Bracket B:
Hartford		Penn State
Monmouth		Rhode Island
Niagara		Towson
NJIT		Villanova

We know from last season's Philly Classic that two teams from one bracket (Seton Hall & Virginia) played their round 1 and round 2 games at home, while two teams from the other bracket (Howard & Loyola College) played their round 1 and round 2 games on the road. The other four teams (Drexel, Navy, Penn & Robert Morris) played one game at home and the other on the road. Teams from one bracket played only teams from the other bracket in those first 2 rounds.

Penn State announced that it will host two games (NJIT and then Hartford) and Rhody has leaked that it will play a home game followed by a road game. A Rhody message board poster identified the home opponent as Hartford and the road opponent as Monmouth. Further, the Niagara poster identified Towson (in Niagara) and Villanova (at the Pav) as the Purple Eagles' two opponents -- that means that the Wildcats will get the first two rounds at home and Towson will have a road followed by a home game. If the posters correctly identified the sequence, then Villanova should play their first round game against Monmouth in the Pav, sometime (early?) in the week of 11/16-11/22. The second game (versus Niagara) would have to be played sometime in the window of 11/20 through 11/25. The Palestra rounds (3 & 4, as pointed out by Deal in his comment to my first post...) will be played on Friday 11/28 and Saturday 11/29. With the caveat that the data provided is correct, the preliminary round matchups look like this:

Round #1			Round #2
Home		Visitor	Home		Visitor
Niagara	vs	Towson	Monmouth	vs	Rhode Island
Penn State	vs	NJIT	Penn State	vs	Hartford
Rhode Island	vs	Hartford	Towson	vs	NJIT
Villanova	vs	Monmouth	Villanova	vs	Niagara

Having a confirmed schedule from Penn State, combined with a pretty good idea from Rhody means all that is needed is a third participant's official schedule to confirm the matchups for rounds 1 & 2.

Wayns vs Walker: A Preview?

Ron Bailey posted a feature over at the NBE Basketball Report about these two teammates from the U18 team that played in Argentina last week. After going at it daily in preparation for the U18 Americas Championship Bailey had them provide a scouting report on the other. The Big East has become known lately for the quality of the guard play. "Walker vs. Wayns: Future Big East Treat" suggests future battles between these two (although Walker begins his Big East run at Connecticut in the 2008-09 season, Wayns does not arrive on the Main Line until the 2009-20 season) will be among the very best fans have seen over the past decade.

Big East Freshmen: Ten Six to Watch

Disclaimers, Exclusions & Disclosures...
Before I get to this year's potential break out players, I feel I ought to follow up on the list I put together going into last season. I identified this group of ten as players who, though overlooked for the Big East All Rookie Team (2007), could have a big impact on their teams in the 2007-08 season. Two of those players, Lazar Hayward and Earl Clark did indeed receive more recognition than their freshmen years. Hayward, a 6-6, 225lbs sophomore from Marquette was named to the Second Team All Big East, while speculation on whether he would declare for the NBA draft, followed Clark all season. Dwain Williams (PC), Larry Wright (St. John's) and Vernon Macklin (Georgetown) all saw their minutes grow as did their roles in their respective offenses. Each "progressed" from a role player-type player to a regular-type player. Solomon Bozeman (USF), Larry Wright and Lazar Hayward improved their shooting efficiency, while most maintained or saw their eFG%s decline slightly. Only Sololmon Bozeman saw a significant cut in minutes, though Jerry Smith (Louisville), David Cubillian (Marquette) and Larry Davis (Seton Hall) saw their roles (mostly role player-level involvement in their offenses) tread water or decline slightly. Qa'rraan Calhoun (St. John's) left school over the summer of 2007 while five others Solomon Bozeman (South Florida), Larry Davis (Seton Hall), Vernon Macklin (Georgetown), Dwain Williams (Providence) and Larry Wright (St. John's) transferred during the off season.

Player	Coll	%Min	ORtg	%Poss	%Shot	eFG%	PPWS	FTRate
Gilbert Brown	Pitt	54.7	115.8	15.4	15.4	51.9	1.12	37.0
Corey Stokes	Nova	45.9	101.8	17.6	21.9	46.5	1.01	20.8
Chris Wright	GTown	20.2	100.1	22.1	19.9	56.4	1.12	32.9
D.J. Kennedy	John's	66.0	98.4	18.3	16.5	48.9	1.07	48.0
Rashad Bishop	Nati	58.0	97.3	15.1	14.7	45.7	0.99	32.2
Antonio Pena	Nova	48.4	95.4	21.5	18.8	47.5	1.05	52.5

Note that all possession-based stats come from the Scouting Report Pages for each team, located on Ken Pomeroy's website. Clicking on a player's team will link you to the corresponding Scouting Report.

Ten Six to Watch
Going over the numbers for this off season's rising sophomores, made me appreciate the depth of the class from last summer. The class this time around, below the All Big East Rookie Team and these six, seems thinner than last summer.
When Pittsburgh's Mike Cook went down with a season-ending ACL tear freshman Gilbert Brown joined a rotation with seniors Keith Benjamin and Ron Ramon to fill out the Panther attack on the wing. If Brown did not live up to the preseason press offered by Mike DeCourcy, he did post some pretty good numbers. Ramon and Benjamin are gone; even if Mike Cook's appeal for a 6^th year of eligibility is upheld, Brown will see even more minutes than last season.
The Villanova team will be much the same next season as it was last season. Only the now-transferred Malcolm Grant's minutes are available to divvy up. The perfect opportunity for a do-over that much heralded (when he entered last fall) swingman Corey Stokes ought to seize to his advantage. Stokes started strong in the Wildcat's exhibition games, but lost momentum as the regular season got under way. He came on strong at the end, gaining the starting job in Villanova's last four games. I make no apologies for my Villanova bias, but including the second Wildcat (forward Antonio Pena) in a rather small list is less favoritism and more a candidate who fits the profile as a capable player with an opportunity to contribute. When Casiem Drummond went to the bench with a foot fracture Pena stepped in on (very) short notice to pick up Drum's minutes. He did well, surging in the first few games, but "settling" as the Big East season kicked in and wore on. Pena seemed to tire at the end (freshman fatigue?), but maintained a presence in the offense (21.5% Poss%, 18.8% Shot%) and was a force on the boards. By way of comparison, rising senior Dante Cunningham posted his first double-double as a Wildcat nine games into his junior season (versus Hartford). Pena register his first double-double ten games later (2^nd Pittsburgh game). For Pena, becoming more efficient offensively involves not simply hitting a higher percentage of shots, it also means (more importantly?) cutting down on turnovers.
I am reluctant to name any St. John's player to this list...writing anything positive seems to condemn the player to transfer at the the next available opportunity. DJ Kennedy did have a very good freshman campaign, and though he was not named to the All BE Rookie Team should, despite new challenges from redshirt sophomore Rob Thomas, be even more effective next season. St. John's has developed a reputation for tough defense under head coach Norm Robert, and Kennedy's Stl% (2.8) is pretty good for a #2/#3, no doubt a stat that caught Coach Robert's attention. Kennedy rebounds well (compare his numbers to Pena's -- below), which ought to be a plus when deciding whether to give him more time next season.
Rashad Bishop worked himself into the starting lineup by the fourth game of last season, and despite an up and down season, managed to work himself back into the starting line up by the end of the season. Bishop averaged 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in about 23 minutes of play. Bishop's main competition for the #3 will continue to be fellow wings (and fellow sophomores...) Darnell Wilks and Alvin Mitchell, either of whom may well be the breakout (though Mitchell seems more likely than Wilks...) player next season.
Normally I would look for more minutes than Georgetown's Chris Wright has played before including an individual on the "...To Watch" List. Wright, a well regarded point guard going into last season, had a "donut" season (play in the beginning and end, injury in the middle). Despite some good scoring numbers Wright's ORtg is just over 100, most likely due to his turnovers. Jon Wallace has graduated and Jeremiah Rivers transferred. With no entering point guards this season, Wright will most likely team with Jesse Sapp; their only relief will come from fellow sophomore Omar Wattad, redshirt freshman Nikita Mescheriakov and incoming 2 time All-Met (Washington DC) guard Jason Clark.

Player	Coll	OR%	DR%	TORate	%Block	%Stls
Gilbert Brown	Pitt	5.4	10.4	15.8	1.3	1.8
Corey Stokes	Nova	3.1	12.4	15.7	0.6	1.3
Chris Wright	GTown	2.5	13.2	26.1	0.4	3.2
D.J. Kennedy	John's	8.1	17.8	23.0	1.4	2.8
Rashad Bishop	Nati	5.3	11.6	21.1	1.8	1.7
Antonio Pena	Nova	8.5	17.3	24.8	2.1	1.6

And Then There is...
John Flowers of West Virginia logged about 30% of the minutes at the #3 and posted an ORtg of 93.3 as a 2^nd/3^rd option on offense. Flowers played behind Da’Sean Butler. With Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones coming in next season Flowers (and Butler...) will have some very competitive practices.
Preston Knowles of Louisville logged some impressive numbers playing about 20% of the minutes on the wing. Knowles played behind Jerry Smith (among others) while logging an eFG% of 57.6, yeildng an ORtg of 115.3. Like Smith, Knowles plugs into the offense as a sniper -- shooting enough from the outside to keep defenses honest, but not taking touches (Poss% 13.6) and scoring opportunities (Shot% 16.6) from the team's offensive headliners. Smith and Knowles will no doubt split time with transfer Reggie Delk and incoming Jared Swopshire. Coach Pitino tends to spread the playing time around, allowing each player a shot to stake his claim to the position.
Mike Davis was the first big off the bench to relieve the often injured John Garcia, a junior next year. Garcia was healthy all last season, the first full season he has been able to log at the Hall. Davis managed to post some very good numbers on the boards, especially on the offensive boards (OR% 10.4). Bob Gonzalez teams are back court-oriented, but as the 4/4 option he posted a very decent 108.7 ORtg on an eFG% of 47.1. Augustine Okosun transferred in the off season. That leaves incoming Melvyn Oliver (340lbs) from Mississippi Elite Christian as Davis' competition for Garcia's backup. If Garcia hits another run of bad health, Davis will most likely get the first crack at the starting line up.

Big East Freshmen: The 2008 All-Rookie Team

Why would I want to revisit last season's rookies so far removed from last season...well a few of these ten (minus Donta Greene -- departed for the NBA) will be team leaders next season. But even those returning to "well stocked" teams will be expected to show progress over their freshman production. I put together 2 tables, the first looks at possession-based offensive numbers (Poss%, Shot%, ORtg, eFG% and FTRate), along with PPWS, a stat thats gives us an idea of how effective a player is once he gets his shot off. Besides, these were, in the opinion of the press and conference coaches, the eleven best freshmen in the conference, and I was curiuous to see if the numbers supported those opinions.

Player	Coll	%Min	ORtg	%Poss	%Shot	eFG%	PPWS	FTRate
Greene	Cuse	89.2	105.4	23.2	28.2	50.5	1.07	25.5
Flynn	Cuse	88.5	112.9	21.7	22.7	52.6	1.13	34.1
Jones	USF	87.1	111.3	24.0	25.9	53.0	1.15	42.1
Burrell	SJU	78.5	84.4	22.5	23.0	42.9	0.95	33.3
Koshwal	DPU	78.0	101.2	20.3	18.2	50.0	1.05	43.1
Hazell	Hall	67.0	111.7	20.4	24.6	51.1	1.09	28.1
Blair	Pitt	64.6	109.2	24.4	22.2	53.7	1.12	47.6
Freeman	GTown	63.5	115.0	18.4	20.2	60.3	1.25	21.9
Tucker	DPU	56.8	107.4	28.1	31.7	51.1	1.07	28.0
Chandler	RU	54.7	87.6	31.3	31.6	46.6	0.96	34.1
Fisher	Nova	53.1	94.1	25.5	27.5	42.3	0.93	26.9

Statistics were drawn from Ken Pomeroy's web site, the last update (usually the April 7 version) of each team's "Scouting Report" Page. Click on the College beside any player to scroll to his college's Scouting Report.

The players are ordered by playing time (percentage of available minutes they actually played). While playing times may have varied greatly, note that possessions and shots (ie role within their respective team's offense...) showed a good deal less variaton. Virtually everyone of them was a first (Chandler, Tucker), second or third option on offense. Austin Freeman's possessions may seem light compared to the others, but consider that Georgetown had a very balanced offense last season -- Freeman's Poss% and Shot% numbers were almost identical to senior Jon Wallace's numbers. Compared to the 2007 All Big East Rookie Team, the 2008 edition seemed a bit less efficient offensively as well. Of the three whose ORtgs were <100, Rutgers' Corey Chandler and St. John's Justin Burrell seemed conspicuously out of place -- I cannot recall finding a player on an All conference team with an ORtg < 90. Consider the circumstances of each however. St. John's, like Rutgers a "scoring challenged" team in 2007, lost a good deal of it's scoring punch in the off season with graduations and transfers. Going into the season with a class of 7 freshmen to fill out the roster around a couple of upper classmen, the Johnnies found themselves starting the season without their best returning scorer, Anthony Mason Jr. Li'l Mase ended up missing a total of eight games over the course of the season, and Burrell, the most heralded of the incoming class, shouldered a good deal of the scoring burden, quite possibly more than he may have taken on had Mason been healthy in November. Burrell, who finished the season as the Johnnies high scorer, drew a good deal of attention from opposing defenses throughout the season. Corey Chandler of Rutgers faced a similar situation going into the season. Though no significant contributor on the Scarlet Knight's roster was injured, there was actually no "significant contributor" on the roster in the first place. Rutgers, lacking a go-to guy since Quincy Douby entered the NBA draft early in the 2007 off season, had limped through Coach Fred Hill Jr's inaugural season with a team offense (ORtg) ranked at #291 out of 336 in 2006-07. Forward JR Inman took more shots and scored more points, but Chandler, despite missing 3 games near the mid-point of the Big East regular season, drew a good deal of attention from the defenses. He was very capable of having a big night, as many Wildcat fans know all too well.

I grouped the rebounding and some of the defensive stat together for the table below. Anyone having trouble understanind why Mac Koshwal was on the Rookie Team need look no farther than his OR% and DR% for an answer...

Player	Coll	OR%	DR%	%Blk	%Stl
Donte Greene	Cuse	5.5	15.7	4.8	2.0
Jonny Flynn	Cuse	2.0	6.0	0.5	2.3
Dominique Jones	USF	4.5	10.0	0.8	2.6
Justin Burrell	SJU	6.6	15.8	2.4	0.8
Mac Koshwal	DPU	12.0	18.0	2.2	2.3
Jeremy Hazell	Hall	3.1	6.2	0.6	2.9
DeJuan Blair	Pitt	16.6	23.2	4.6	3.9
Austin Freeman	GTown	4.9	8.7	0.3	2.1
Dar Tucker	DPU	8.7	14.1	0.9	2.4
Corey Chandler	RU	6.2	9.5	1.9	3.9
Corey Fisher	Nova	1.6	8.0	0.0	2.8

Co-ROY Dominique Jones may have put up some gaudy numbers for the Bull's offense, but a look at the rebounding numbers for DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh more than explains why he shared the ROY honors with Jones. DeJuan's OR% and DR% are Top 100 (#6 and #59 respectively), surprising when I realized he was also Top 500 offensively (ORtg). I confess when I first reviewed Blair's dimensions I doubted he would be tall enough and mobile enough to compete in the Big East. He proved to be both. No wonder Cassiem Diggs transferred out after a single season.

The Good Surprises...
DeJuan Blair & Dominique Jones (am I starting to sound like a broken record?). Blair may have had a local reputation coming into Pittsburgh, but he was under appreciated by media and fans nationally. His coming out party at Madison Square Garden, complements of Duke, was marred only by the season-long loss of Mike Cook. Blair went on to share ROY honors with South Florida's Dominique Jones. Something of a practice phenom, Jones got the starting nod over better known redshirt freshman Dante Curry and veteran Solomon Bozeman (both of whom subsequently transferred...) and scored 13 points in his first outing. Near the end of the Bull's out of confernce schedule Jones had a 3 game scoring jag of 30, 30 and 25 against Central Florida, Richmond and Alabama-Birmingham, respectively. That got everyone's attention. Jones went on to score 20 or more points, including a career high 31 against Seton Hall, during his inaugural Big East season. Accomplihsments may pale when measured against Blair and Jones, but Seton Hall's Jeremy Hazell was, for me at least, another pleasant surprise. I had expected Nutter and Laing, along with Harvey, to provide the offensive punch for the Pirates this past season. While the Seton Hall back court seemed crowded (and talented), Hazell proved there is always room on Coach Gonzalez's roster for a scorer.

The Bad Surprises...
While virtually no one tabbed McDonald's All American and Villanova freshman Corey Stokes as the preseason ROY (ok, maybe I did...), not making the All big East Rookie Team was a letdown. Despite some strong exhibition outings, as the season started, the freshman struggled to find his spot in the offense. Stokes adjusted, he learned to play Villanova Defense and began to come on at the season's end. Georgetown's Chris Wright, a very heavily recruited point out of DC, was injured just before the beginning of the Big East regular season and despite a series of post season appearances, ultimately appeared in less than ½ of the Hoyas games, logging < 300 minutes total. Despite some promising numbers (56.4 eFG%, 1.12 PPWS), Wright had virtually no impact on the team and the games he appeared in.

No Surprise (thankfully)...
Mac Koshwal and Dar Tucker, both out of DePaul, were as good as advertised. Unfortunately aside from senior Draelon Burns, the balance of Demons team was worse than advertised. As disappointing (maddenly inconsistent) as the 2007-08 Demons were Burns, Koshwal and Tucker were not. And that kept a season that was extremely disappointing and frustrating from becoming far, far, far worse. Though Syracuse's Jonny Flynn did not, as predicted by the preseason prognosticators, take share the ROY award with teammate Donte Greene, he was every bit as good as most thought he would be. And he will be back in 2008-09.

The 2008 Philly Classic

While scanning a message board last week I ran across a thread that linked to a story posted on Jeff Goodman's Good 'n Plenty Blog. The Villanova-related nugget was located near the bottom of post (why don't some of the Gang of 500 do their Big East Roundup stories in reverse alphabetical order once in awhile?), "Big East Offseason Roundup". Goodman located the field (and dates) for the 2008 Philly Classic, the exempt tournament that Villanova was rumored to have committed to play in for the 2008-09 season. Although Goodman posted last Thursday, I held off on this because the field had been the subject of an Aprils Fools joke on the Penn State athletic department website. The prankster formatted an official-looking announcement that identified (along with Penn State and Villanova...) Duke as one of the eight participating teams. The "announcement" was pulled later that day, but rumors of a Villanova-Duke game persisted for weeks afterward. I have not been able to independently confirm the field that Goodman announced, so the actual field may have other changes before the season opens in November. Goodman list, sorted by RPI, turns out to be:

		Record			Ranking
Team	Conf.	W	L	Pct.	RPI	KenPom
Villanova	BE	22	13	0.629	51	43
Rhode Island	A10	21	12	0.636	107	82
Niagara	MAAC	19	10	0.655	116	153
Penn State	B10	15	16	0.484	157	108
Hartford	AE	18	16	0.529	177	245
Towson	CAA	13	18	0.419	235	229
Monmouth	NEC	7	24	0.226	295	301
NJIT	Indy	0	29	0.000	341	341

Like last season, this year's tournament field has a decidedly local flavor, as all teams are located in the Northeast and New England. While the Palestra no doubt offers the tournament a certain historical cachet, lack of a television contract and a venue with large seating capacity have probably worked to hold down the tournament budget, which in turn has probably worked to limit the pool of potential participants. According to discussions during last year's tournament, the hosting responsibilities will rotated among members of the Big 5.

The original exempt tournaments of the 1980s and 1990s, brought 8 teams to a host facility and played 4 games over a 4 - 5 day period. The Philly Classic follows the format favored by later exempt tournaments like the Legends Classic (and the CBE, etc.). The eight team field will play two rounds at host school locations before coming into Philadelphia to play the last 2 rounds, to be played at the Palestra, over the 4 day Thanksgiving Weekend. Unlike the Legends format results from the preliminary rounds will not affect the seeding of the later rounds. In the inaugural Philly Classic, the organizers seeded the higher ranked (by RPI?) teams, along with Big 5 host Penn, together in the "Independence Bracket", while the other four teams were seeded in the "Liberty Bracket". Liberty Bracket teams played Independence Bracket teams in the preliminary games. Six of the eight preliminary round games were hosted by Independence Bracket teams. If the organizers decide to use the same format for this year's Classic, expect Villanova, Rhode Island, Penn State and Niagara to be bracketed together for the Friday and Sunday games, while Hartford, Monmouth, Towson and NJIT will be bracketed together for their last two rounds.

I think the 2 preliminary round teams that would do the least violence to Villanova's SOS would be Hartford and Towson. Too bad the 'Cats played Hartford last season, a rematch with Leibovitz might be interesting (and given Leibovitz's tenure as an Assistant Coach at Temple) a great idea for local appeal in getting fans out to games in the other bracket...). Monmouth might be a good choice. The (Monmouth) Hawks were 7-24 last season with, like Villanova, a "senior-less" team. They are bound to improve this season. NJIT should be avoided, the Highlanders will be (at best...) only modestly better than last season. Even with improvement however, they will still have an RPI in the 300s.

A point of interest for Villanova fans is that two of the teams in the field, Penn State and Niagara, have former Wildcats on their rosters. Depending on the seeding and results of the first game in Philadelphia, Villanova may well face Andy Ott's (Penn State) and Bilal Benn's (Niagara) new teams. Andy Ott will not dress for any fall games, as he does not become eligible until the end of the fall semester. Nevertheless I am sure Ott and his former teammates will enjoy catching up on old times.

U18 Tournament of the Americas -- Some Possession-Based Thoughts

The last few statistics from the U18 tournament. I wanted to take a look at the members of the Team USA squad to see how each did. In truth I was most curious about the Villanova recruits and other squad members headed to Big East schools in the years to come. I have borrowed Ken Pomeroy's format for presenting individual player stats (available on any D1 Scouting Report Page, Villanova's for example, so for those unfamiliar with the format, scroll to page listed to get a sense of the stats and layout. Players are listed last name first (that's how I found them on the FIBA Basketball site box score(s), from most often played (by percentage of available playing time) to least often played...

Player	Min%	Poss%	Shot%	ORtg	eFG%	PPWS
Walker Kemba	71.5	22.2	22.3	115.2	52.8	1.10
Releford Travis	53.6	11.5	12.0	144.4	51.6	1.03
Kelly Ryan	50.6	25.7	25.6	76.3	36.2	0.81
Lee Malcolm	50.6	22.0	22.0	117.9	53.4	1.12
Wear Travis	43.9	18.9	19.0	122.0	50.0	1.05
Green JayMychal	42.4	21.0	21.0	138.4	72.4	1.48
Wayns Maalik	40.3	20.4	20.4	100.7	44.8	0.96
McDonald Leslie	36.8	13.6	13.8	100.0	32.0	0.75
Cheek Dominic	31.7	19.6	19.4	97.3	42.6	0.87
Plumlee Mason	31.2	20.3	20.1	99.6	40.0	0.99
Humphrey Matt	28.6	25.9	25.4	86.1	37.5	0.78
Wear David	18.9	18.3	17.7	130.4	64.3	1.27

I have highlighted the Big East recruits (and targets) in yellow. Kemba Walker earned his MVP trophy (as the data suggests). The staff (Davidson's Bob McKillop, Georgetown's JT3 and VCU's Greg Anthony) thought enough of him to play him nearly 3/4 of the available time, using him nearly 36 minutes per game in the 2 medal round games. Walker's numbers were not the most efficient on the squad, but given the amount of attention he drew, they were very good. Villanova's own Maalik Wayns had a pretty good tournament too. Wayns, the youngest member of the squad, performed well for his first time abroad. Wayns pulled 40% of the time at the #1, functioned as a second/third option on offense. While I would have liked to see better scoring numbers (eFG% and PPWS), he will learn from the experience. Dom Cheek out of St. Anthony's in Jersey City saw less floor time than I thought he would. Rumors of a ding persisted through the medal rounds, but Cheek did see 18 minutes in the loss to Argentina. The rebounding and free throw rate stats:

Player	OR%	DR%	FTRate	ARate	TORate
Walker Kemba	3.0	10.6	27.8	37.7	24.1
Releford Travis	2.4	6.3	18.8	30.9	11.6
Kelly Ryan	11.8	19.2	27.7	7.3	22.0
Lee Malcolm	5.9	9.2	25.0	17.2	17.2
Wear Travis	13.6	12.5	65.6	11.5	11.5
Green JayMychal	19.2	22.9	58.6	5.4	13.4
Wayns Maalik	4.2	9.4	17.2	37.7	34.8
McDonald Leslie	2.3	5.7	24.0	14.3	19.1
Cheek Dominic	6.7	9.3	22.2	11.6	11.6
Plumlee Mason	12.3	28.4	55.0	22.7	26.5
Humphrey Matt	13.4	14.8	25.0	9.7	9.7
Wear David	11.3	17.9	14.3	20.8	20.8

Looking at Ryan Kelly's offensive numbers I was not sure why he drew so many minutes (in fairness a number of players struggled offensively). Then I saw his rebounding numbers. Definitely good enough to keep him in the game. I was just a little surprised that he had the ball so much given his eFG% was so low (36.2). The entire field (except host Argentina) had difficulty hitting the 3 point shot consistently -- as the table below shows...

Team	3FG %	2FG %	AFG %
Argentina (A)	39.4	50.2	46.9
Canada (A)	31.8	46.8	42.8
Puerto Rico (B)	29.5	41.0	37.0
Mexico (A)	28.4	40.5	34.9
Venezuela (B)	27.5	50.9	43.9
USA (B)	25.5	50.9	44.7
Bahamas (B)	25.0	34.9	31.9
Uruguay (A)	25.0	38.7	35.3

Team USA adjusted accordingly by pushing the ball inside to try to score more consistently from the lane. Given the number of D1 players (most teams appear to have had at least one present or future D1 player) the general ineffectiveness at 20-6 may foretell next season. The assist rates posted by both Walker and Wayns was very encouraging for both. But Team USA did not stay with it through the medal round games. The assist percentage (number of made field goals that were assisted...) dropped from the high 40's through high 50's down to the high 30's. JayMychal Green is another player who, according to the numbers, really stood out.

The 3 Point Line, Luke Winn and the Big East, Pt 3

In his June 16, 2008 article, "How the new three-point line will affect the game", Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated made (successfully in my opinion...) one of the few serious attempts to use quantitative analysis to predict the effect of moving the 3 point line back one foot. Looking exclusively at the 2008 NCAA field, Winn suggested a number of particular teams would be helped or harmed by the change. Restating his points:

1. Mid-majors Will be Hit the Hardest -- they tend to rely more on the 3 point shot as a equalizer against the (BCS?) high-majors who have larger, more athletic front court players. In a 1 - 2 possession game this can be crucial.
2. The Two Main National Title Contenders are Insulated -- next year's early favorites, North Carolina and Connecticut have offenses that don't rely much on points from the 3 point line.
3. There's Now More Space For Low-Percentage Two-Point Attempts -- and Defenses That Force the Most of These Will Thrive -- this one applies directly to both the regular and post season.
4. Marginal Shooters Won't Command Much Respect -- Winn referred to teams, but this could just as well apply to individual shooters.

I decided to crunch some Big East conference games data from last season to see, using Winn's points as a guide, who might be harmed or helped by the change. Winn's first three points were addressed in earlier posts, Part 1 and Part 2. I want to look at his last point now...

Marginal Shooters Won't Command Much Respect
Winn refers to both individuals and teams. If an individual (or his team for that matter...) can't hit consistently from 19-9, why would anyone think they can hit consistently from 20-9? Winn suggests that for wings with poor 3FGM%, this season's green light may be go to yellow (or red) with the greater distance. And teams that rely on hitting shots from the outside, as the counter to double teams and help on penetration may suffer with the added distance. Winn was not impressed with Pitt's numbers at all, citing the Panthers specifically he wrote...

...But the most interesting case study [from among the 2008 NCAA Tournament teams...] will be at Pittsburgh, which was seventh-worst on that list. Last season, defenses were kept honest by the shooting of junior Sam Young (38.3 percent, 44 threes) and seniors Ronald Ramon (37.2 percent, 67 threes) and Keith Benjamin (37.0 percent, 51 threes). The Panthers' overall percentage was dragged down by the abysmal aim of point guard Levance Fields (27.7 percent, 28 threes) and Gilbert Brown (24.4 percent, 19 threes) -- both of whom will likely be in the starting lineup now that Ramon and Benjamin are gone.

If defenses sag down against Fields' penetration, and use help to double super-sophomore DeJuan Blair in the post, can Pitt make them pay? The Panthers are finding their way into plenty of preseason top 10s, but they won't be a contender without being able to pose some semblance of a threat from beyond 20-9....
-- Luke Winn, Sports Illustrated, 6/16/08

Who else in the Big East is vulnerable? Sorting teams by 3 point Pct. made (lowest to highest) produces this list...

	3FG	FGM Pct.				3 FG Att.
Team	Rk	3FG	2FG	All		3FG	Rk
South Florida	16	29.3	47.8	42.2		30.3	13
Syracuse	15	30.3	51.5	45.9		26.7	15
Villanova	14	30.9	46.7	40.9		36.4	3
Cincinnati	13	32.4	45.4	41.0		33.9	8
St. John's	12	33.0	41.9	39.3		29.5	14
Georgetown	11	33.6	52.4	44.8		40.5	1
Connecticut	10	33.6	48.5	44.8		24.9	16
Rutgers	9	34.3	41.9	39.4		32.5	11
Pittsburgh	8	35.0	50.3	45.7		30.4	12
Seton Hall	7	35.3	44.4	41.2		35.8	5
Louisville	6	35.5	54.2	47.4		36.4	2
De Paul	5	35.5	46.0	42.3		34.8	6
Marquette	4	35.8	46.3	42.8		34.3	7
Providence	3	36.9	48.7	44.4		36.0	4
West Virginia	2	37.9	46.8	43.8		33.3	9
Notre Dame	1	40.5	47.4	45.1		33.3	10

The first thing I noticed was that Pittsburgh did a better job of hitting 3s in Big East conference games than they did overall. At 35.0% the Panthers would not have made Luke Winn's 10 Worst List. While I agree with Winn's premise (poor 3FGM% teams will struggle...), I wonder if Pittsburgh is really the poster child for inconsistent 3 point shooting teams who can expect their post players to be double teamed with impunity. True, they lose Keith Benjamin and Ron Ramon, but they return the extremely versatile Sam Young. Gilbert Brown did struggle -- as a freshman. As a sophomore he will get better, or expect to yeild time to some combination of incoming guards Travon Woodall, another point guard (Fields moves back over to the #2 where he played very effectively when Carl Krauser manned the point), Ashton Gibbs, a 6-2 combo guard out of Seton Hall Prep and Jermaine Dixon, a transfer from Tallahassee Community College. And Mike Cook, an East Carolina transfer who was injured in the eleventh game last season, has filed an appeal for a fifth year of eligibility. If his appeal is granted the Panther will have a wing who, though only an occasional 3 point shooter, managed to hit 42.1% of them in Big East play in 2006-07. The Hoyas of Georgetown seem, based on Big East data, to be a much better fit. The Hoyas ranked #1 for taking 3s, but only #11 for hitting them (see yellow highlight). The differential is a killer, especially when you realize they lose their principle inside threat, Roy Hibbert, along with 2 year veteran Vernon Macklin, while simultaneously losing their best outside shooter, Jon Wallace (40.0% in conference games -- good by anyone's estimate). The graduations of Tyler Crawford, Pat Ewing, Roy Hibbert and Jon Wallace, combined with the transfer of Jeremiah Rivers, took 40.5% of the Hoya's 3s, hitting (a higher than average) 36.7% of them.

South Florida at the top? No surprise there, as I touched on the Bulls' offensive and defensive difficulties earlier. Virtually all of the low percentage wings (Solomon Bozeman, Orane Chin, Aaron Holmes, Amu Saaka...) exited en masse at the end of the season, leaving only marginally more proficient rising senior wing Jesus Verdejo (33.3%) and co-ROY Dominique Jones (33.3%) to pick up even more offensive responsibility as incoming freshmen Dwan McMillan, Eladio Espinosa and Gaby Belardo learn Coach Stan Heath's system. Things might be more difficult without big Kentrell Gransberry providing a low post target when defenses collapse around the penetrator. But Gus Gilcrest, a center who started his migration at Virginia Tech (then stopped for a year at Maryland) has an appeal pending before the NCAA over his mandated one year wait period. If he does not play next season there is Teeng Akol, another well regarded low post recruit coming into Tampa. Syracuse is something of a "chicken or egg" team. Given the Orange are ranked #15 in both percentage of 3s taken and percentage of 3s hit, one wonders if they tried but stopped, or resorted to attempting 3s only in exigent circumstances. Of their Iron Man Seven rotation, only pg Jonny Flynn (32.5%) and Donte Greene (28.8%) attempted more than 15 3s. Andy Rautins and Eric Devendorf will be back next season. Neither is shy about hoisting 3s in appropriate circumstances. So the question is who will sit while one (or both) play?

Georgetown is not the only team facing "Winn's Dilemna", as Villanova too relies on the 3 offensively (ranked #3), while not converting them efficiently (ranked #14). With the graduations of Curt Sumpter and wing guard Mike Nardi, forwards Dante Cunningham & Antonio Pena, along with reconditioned center Casiem Drummond, were able to expand their roles within the offense, thus actually reducing (slightly) the ratio of 3s to 2s. But the 'Cats were still high relative to the rest of the conference. And the reduction in frequency also came with a reduction in accuracy. Of the five most frequent 3 point shooters (3FGAs >40), only Malcolm Grant hit at a decent rate (38.1% -- Grant who since transferred to Miami of Florida however, could not hit anything inside the 3 point line, going a dismal 25.9% on 2FGAs...). The others, Scottie Reynolds, Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher and Dwayne Anderson shot hit between 32% & 33% of their attempts in conference games. Stokes, who the staff stayed with throughout the season, managed to begin hitting for more accuracy about halfway through February, and continued to produce more consistently than he had through the first part of the season. Reynolds also showed more consistency (and accuracy) at the end of the season. Scottie went on a 5 game run, beginning with the Providence game that improved his season-long PPWS by about 3% through the end of the season. The good news for the Nova Nation is that Fisher and Stokes were freshmen, going into next season they will have a better idea of what is expected in a high-major program. For Reynolds and Stokes the good news is they were "trending up" for accuracy and consistency at the end of the season. Hopefully they will carry that into next season.

Notre Dame seems to be a polar opposite. Taking a middling (ranked #10) 33.3% of their field goal attempts as 3s (great to have a low post threat like Harangody isn't it?), yet hitting a conference high 40.?% suggests the Irish will be able to stretch defenses in a not very pleasant way...for the defense anyway. Those teams that find they have to resort to a double team (or more) to shut down, or at least slow, Luke Harangody (Zach Hillesland, Ryan Ayers, Luke Zeller and any other forward/centers on the Irish roster...) will no doubt face an arial bombardment as McAlarney, Jackson, Jon Peoples and Ryan Ayers (yes! that Ryan Ayers) cut loose from the outside.