Cal St. Fullerton Scouting Report

[TBird41]

Just thought I'd give a quick scouting report on our opponent for Tuesday night (based solely on stats).

They average 75 points a game, while shooting 45% from the floor and 35% from behind the arc. They make almost 8 three pointers a game (while taking 22) and out rebound their opponents by 4 boards a game.

Their opponents average 71 points a game, while shooting better than CSF from both the floor and behind the arc, shooting 46% overall and 35% from three point land.

They go about 8 players deep, with Ralphy Holmes(6'4 Sr. guard) and Bobby Brown (6'1 Soph. guard) averaging 16 points a game and Yaphett King (6'4 Sr. forward) and Jamaal Brown (6'7 Jr. forward) scoring 14 and 12 points a game respectively. Holmes and Hardy Aspirilla (6'5 Sr. forward) lead the team in rebounding w/ 8 boards a game each.

And to put it bluntly, CSF is short. Their tallest player is the 6'9 Derek Quinet, who only averages 14 minutes a game (and 2pts and 2 boards). Aside from him, Brown is the only other player on the team taller than 6'5. So if you're expecting to see a lot of Roy on Tuesday night, you'll probably be disappointed. That being said, Green and Bowman are going to look as tall as Roy in comparison to the guys CSF is throwing out there.

Finally, their record is full of victories over teams that start with UC and they haven't beaten anyone of note besides Oregon St. and Utah St. at home (not that those are particularly noteworthy victories). They've lost to some pretty mediocre/bad teams as well, like Samford, UC Irvine and an Idaho team that finished 8-22. They split with one opponent we have in common, Long Beach St., with the home team winning both times CSF and LBSU played.

As you can see from the stats, this is not a team Georgetown should EVER lose to, let alone lose to in McDonough. I'm not predicting a blowout, I'm just saying that if the game on Tuesday isn't a laugher, then JT3 and the team will have some explaining to do.

[NJHoya95]

I'm with you but let's not get carried away. This is a team that beat a Pac-10 team and then a strong WCC opponent in USF. I think USF beat Gonzaga and almost beat Stanford this year. Why is it that Stanford makes the NCAAs? My wife who knows just enough about college hoops to make her dangerous in her office pools asked last night, "Has Stanford ever won a first round game?" It is disgraceful that the Pac-10 and Big 10 get in as many teams to the dance when Providence probably would have been the 2nd best team in the Big 10 or 3rd or 4th in the Pac-10.

If the Vermont or Bucknell games taught us anything, CSF will come ready to prove to us that they are for real.

I think that CSF will learn just as BU did, you may have 3 guys 6'5" with skills but our guys are just as talented and they are 6'9"

[vagrant]

Don't sell the Titans short. I live 10-15 mins away from Fullerton and have followed their success this season. They may be short but they are an excellent rebounding team. The short forward Yaphet K is a boxing out machine. They run and gun without much accuracy, but their offensive rebounding gives them 2 or 3 chances per possession. What they are is short in manpower with their star guard Ralphy now injured. Without him they go to a 3 man bench. If the Hoyas play D and hit their average, no problem. But, any letdown in the rebounding/defense, and Fullerton can put up points quickly and turn a close game into a blow out.

[CAHoya07]

NJHoya95 said:

My wife who knows just enough about college hoops to make her dangerous in her office pools asked last night, "Has Stanford ever won a first round game?"

Stanford has actually been to the tournament about 12 years in a row, and has won their first round game about 10 years in a row. Look it up. Yes, Stanford usually chokes, but let's get the story straight. They deserved to be there, with wins over Arizona and Washington, and an 11-7 record in the Pac-10. They got killed by Mississppi State, but if they had their leading scorer Grunfeld in, who's out for the year with an injury, things may have been different.

[TBird41]

vagrant said:

Don't sell the Titans short. I live 10-15 mins away from Fullerton and have followed their success this season. They may be short but they are an excellent rebounding team. The short forward Yaphet K is a boxing out machine. They run and gun without much accuracy, but their offensive rebounding gives them 2 or 3 chances per possession. What they are is short in manpower with their star guard Ralphy now injured. Without him they go to a 3 man bench. If the Hoyas play D and hit their average, no problem. But, any letdown in the rebounding/defense, and Fullerton can put up points quickly and turn a close game into a blow out.

All I was saying is that if the Hoyas come to play, they should beat this team handily like what happened to BU (a team with a much more impressive resume than CSF). I'm not saying that CSF is Howard quality, just that they haven't shown they can beat any quality opponents (OSU, Utah St. and USF are decent teams, but there's just nothing on their schedule that is that impressive) . And if you factor in the injuries to Holmes and John Clemmons (a kid who was averaging double digit minutes) this is a game the Hoyas should win handily, especially in a sold out McDonough. Doesn't mean it will happen, just that it should.

[DanMcQ]

Note that Ralphy Holmes is likely out with a meniscus cartilage tear in his knee suffered in their win last night (see link in discussion thread above).

[GUHoya07]

Ouch, that's gonna hurt them big time. From what I was reading he looked like their go-to guy, or least one of their top 2 guys.

[aggypryd]

Teams that rebound well definitely worry me with this Hoya squad...

Don't forget, our Hoyas back in '87 had Ronnie Highsmith, who was 6'9"(?) and everyone else (that got meaningful minutes) was under 6'7"...

but I believe that squad out-rebounded their opponents by about 12 a game...

[bmartin]

Bobby Brown played at Westchester with Bowman and Cook.
2001 Westchester roster:
www.cityofpalmsclassic.com/Year/2001/Boys/Boys%20Teams/Westchester.htm

Daily Breeze mention of Brown, Bowman, Cook, Reed in NIT:
www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/1379692.html

[GUHoya07]

That was a scary high school roster!!!

[lichoya68]

Ralphy holmes sounds like a real player... and if hes out hopefully we do well... but take nothing for granted .. weve played teams before with stars hurt... and they stepped it up... but go hoyas play hard from the beggining ... heck how ofter do you get to play on national tv at your practice court ..gohoyas.. go fans ... get there early ..ps we sold out yet

[hoyarooter]

CSF will certainly be hurt by the loss of Holmes, but anyone who takes this game lightly is nuts. CSF may have some bad losses on their resume, but look what they have done lately - wins on the road over Oregon State and USF. Even Washington lost at Oregon State, and last time I looked, they were a #1 seed. That was an extremely impressive win, and winning handily at USF wasn't bad, either. I think we will win, but it could well be a dogfight.

[vagrant]

Ralphy Holmes is officially out.

From today's Orange County register: "The senior [Holmes] will not make the trip to Georgetown for the Titans' NIT second-round game Tueday because of a knee injury, school spokesman Mel Franks said."

and

"Fullerton received more bad news when it was announced by Georgetown that tuesday's game will be played at the school's on-campus McDonough Arena...." [same source]