Kenner League August 8 RECAP

A late arriving crowd at the Kenner League today.

Maybe I'm partially to blame--I was guilty yesterday of the cardinal sin of Kenner League (okay, the other cardinal sin--I didn't eat a hot dog). I trusted a schedule that I didn't have in my hand and that didn't come from...ummmm...the Kenner League snack bar.

So sorry to anyone who showed up at 2:10 for the Clyde's-DCX game. What happened was I had copied down version 2.0 of the KL schedule--the paper copy from the snack bar on the first weekend--but I don't have an actual copy. When I was writing last night's recap, I'd forgotten the name of the team DCX played, so I pulled up what I assumed was the "updated" KL schedule on GUHoyas.com.

And it IS the updated schedule--in the sense that the games occur in the proper order on the appointed days. Only trouble--the times for the Saturday games are off by an hour. So when my buddy hoyasincebirth asked me this morning whether the first game was at 1:10 or 2:10...well, shoot.

I drove down "early" to double-check, and spent the 2nd half of Beyond Belief-Bearcats trudging up to the Leavey Center to make a Vittles pit stop. Walked back down through the new McDonough School of Business building via its Leavey Esplanade. Gorgeous facility--highly recommend checking it out next time you're on campus if you've yet to do so.

However, after a few visits last May...it took me until today to find a clear flaw in the building. Since there is SO much skylight in that giant atrium area in the center of the building, even with the A/C cranking it gets ridiculously hot in there on an August afternoon...like sitting in your locked car in a parking lot for a minute or so.

Also, with construction still ongoing on the roads and walkways around the MSF, the "lower" entrance to the building is still out there on an island in that campus hub that is the road to Yates.

Back to the Road to...whatever the Kenner League calls its playoff season.

DCX 58 CLYDES 49

Chris Wright sat out today's game, possibly still nursing the tweaked ankle he suffered during last night's DCX victory. No braces, no ice, just a regular old sock for Chris on the left ankle

As for Greg Monroe, he's probably back in Bayou country by now. So this game was strictly about the men in purple...

...and you'd be hard pressed to find much to be excited about. Only a brief scoring flurry by both teams prevented this from being one of the lowest scoring KL halves I've seen. As it was, DCX led 33-24 off a strong first half performance from Mo Cheek--dude's a straight up player; I realize it's hard to make a lot of conclusions from KL, but you can certainly tell whether someone's gonna be a player, and he is.

The biggest play of the game though saw Creek get posterized. Jason Clark went through on a fast break, elevated to the right of the basket and threw down a powerful one-handed jam on Creek's head for an plus-one opportunity.

This was an exciting play, but an important one as well: the jam brought Clyde's to within 46-45 with 4:25 to play, with Clark going to the line.

He couldn't cash in.

And Creek got the last laugh. He floated in a jumper on the next possession, then a three moments later after Henry Sims failed in two chances at a defensive rebound in traffic. Over the three minutes after Clark's missed FT, DCX went on a 11-2 run, and pulled away comfortably for a nine point win.

Jason Clark: 12 points, 3-5 2pt, 0-4 3pt, 5-7 FT, 2RB, 3A, 4TO

The energy is still there, although Clark probably needs to be more careful with the ball. I know, summer league and all, but don't want to be developing any bad habits by dribbling behind the back in traffic or going 1-on-3. When he's under control and running the fast break, he makes very good decisions to distribute the ball. What's more, the unforced errors far away from the basket are all but gone by now.

Couple nice hustle plays--a great offensive rebound where he followed a shot from the perimeter, and a charge drawn on a fast break when he stood in and got clobbered.

It all depends on whether he plays in control or tries to do too much.

Henry Sims: 2 points, 0-5 2pt, 0-1 3pt, 2-2 FT, 5RB, 2A, 1TO, 1STL

Hoo boy.

In the interest of full information, two facts: (1) yes, he played most of the game; (2) he didn't attempt a shot in the second half.

Wasn't pretty. He had a few decent post moves early in the first half that if not for an unkind rim would have been easy, even attractive buckets. But it wasn't to be in the second half at all.

Worse still, he was consistently outmuscled and outrebounded on both ends. DCX pushed Henry out of position many times, and even on rebounds that fell right to him, he'd sometimes let them bounce and one of his own guards would swoop in there to grab the rock. Against Calvin Brown this is one thing, but Henry was getting outboarded by Fake Durant today.

DCX played a 2-3 zone the entire game, and that left its stamp--in both the low score AND how the interior players like Henry competed.

For Henry, this meant a lot of time moving towards the free throw line gap. Now, by consequence this meant few post opportunities, not many shots (DCX collapses fast), and seldom being in good rebounding position.

It ALSO means, however, that we saw one aspect of the game where Henry DOES excel: he's a great passer against a zone. He has the length to be a good target inside of a zone gap, and the vision to see over defenders and make the right pass. He probably lost about 3-4 assists b/c teammates couldn't finish under the basket.

Not a surprise at all that for me his most memorable game was against Syracuse at home. He'll do well against zone teams I reckon. He'll do well in a lot of "certain situations". And not in others.

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We Are One defeated Premium Athletics in the second game. Hollis Thompson sat out in street clothes on the bench. So all that was left for us Hoya fans was Rodney's daily screaming timeout (1:12 into the game) and wondering whether ex-GW players Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Rob Diggs would impail themselves in the backboard attempting one of a series of high-flying maneuvers.

[AHEAD: Garbage time: the extended mix.]