Kenner League 2008 (schedule link first page)

[DanMcQ]

Link to UPDATED (7/10/08) Complete Schedule

From the HoyaSaxa.com Basketball front page:

Of interest to Georgetown fans will be the lineup of "The Tombs". ...the Tombs will include sophomore Chris Wright, redshirt freshman Nikita Mescheriakov, and freshmen Henry Sims, Jason Clark, and Greg Monroe. All ten players on scholarship for the Hoyas will be on teams this month.

Copied post by The Ambassador in a prior thread:

Jul 4, 2008 16:50:32 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

Here's a short Day 1 Viewing Guide, or, at least, this is what I'll focus on in the form of a top 10 list:

1. Are the rumors about Nikita's improvement true? Where does he fit in with others in the frontcourt? How is he on the ball? What does his defense look like?

2. Are the guys who are rumored to be loafers - Monroe and Vaughan - hungry? Are they showing leadership on their teams?

3. Is Austin Freeman fat?

4. Has anyone made a surprise "leap" during the offseason?

5. Is Sims as advertised? By the way, there's a great highlight reel on him at miaasports.com. If you scroll down the right hand side, you should see it. A lot of video is posted on this site, but it is worth watching this one. Sims will compete for a starting job, but it will be a matter of whether we go big or go small. Let's hope he bulks up a bit so his contributions can be maximized.

6. Who would you rather have on an unofficial, the Head Coach of Electrolite or Malik Story?

7. What's the rapport among the frosh like?

8. Do any guys seem to be gelling well?

9. Are we making our free throws?

10. Do any of the guys in our rumored rotation seem to be role players? Are there "energy" guys like Pat? Is there a stopper like Jeremiah? Is there a form shooter like Darrel Owens?

[Hoya LNU]

>> 3. Is Austin Freeman fat?

Nope. Played the whole first half, ran the court strong, started the second and still in. Couple of nice strong drives to the basket along with a couple of ill-advised passes.

Vaughn looks good, even made a free throw in the first half. No Dajuan.

[prhoya]

What! Reports already?! Don't tease.

[rambis]

Have to agree with LNU. Austin looks in great shape. He looks as strong as ever without any evidence of extra pounds. He's scoring whenever he gets the ball, from the perimeter or at the basket. After a few ill-advised first half passes, he has settled down and leads the break finding the open man. Of note, former Cincinnati and NBA player Dermarr Johnson is playing with Clydes.

[FewFAC]

Can someone, when they get a chance, post which teams the other scholarship players are on for those of us following from the opposite coast? Thanks.

[SirSaxa]

Jul 5, 2008 13:56:12 GMT -5 Hoya LNU said:

>> 3. Is Austin Freeman fat?

Nope. Played the whole first half, ran the court strong, started the second and still in. Couple of nice strong drives to the basket along with a couple of ill-advised passes.

Guess he must have listened to the board reports and lost that extra 15-20 Lbs in the last 2-3 days so he could look good at Kenner.

[SirSaxa]

More info on Vaughan, please.
Size? Aggressiveness? Working inside and hitting the boards?

[Hoya LNU]

>>More info on Vaughan, please.Size? Aggressiveness? Working inside and hitting the boards?

Not sure what he's listed at, but looked at least 3" taller than Austin. Good hands, agressive underneath, couple of good series where he asserted himself, called for the ball, and pushed into the paint. Looked like conditioning will bulk him out some. Demonstrated nice hands catching passes and rebounding. One knee was wrapped, appeared to walk a little tenderly, but nothing noticable when running. Decent free throw stroke, made at least one of two. Several moments of good rapport between him and Austin. He's a huge addition to this year's team.
Early in game PE Jr came in post workout w/ knees iced.

[The Stig]

To my (very untrained) eye Vaughan looks solid. The consensus was that he's certainly an upgrade over Macklin.

Size: Deceptively big. When the players first took the court FLHoya and I had trouble figuring out which one was Vaughan. He's got very broad shoulders, a strong build, and moves about very naturally, so at first glance he doesn't look like a big man. But the size is there.

Aggressiveness: He did spend a lot of time around the perimeter, but when he went inside he played tough. He fought hard for rebounds on both ends of the floor, and showed a couple nice moves on offense down low. He had one nice block on the glass, and altered a few more shots with his presence. He could certainly be more aggressive, but I wouldn't call him soft.

Other observations: He ran the floor very well. He moves much better than you'd expect from a big man. I can only remember one outside shot from him - he missed it, but his form looked nice. Bricked his first free throw, but swished the second. Looked to be sucking wind more than some of the other guys. Overall a solid performance - I'm certainly very glad that he's a Hoya.

Austin looked very good - very aggressive without being stupid about it. The weight issues are 100% unfounded - he played most of the game and looked fresh at the end. His shots weren't falling at the beginning, and he wasn't able to finish on some of his drives, but I saw a lot to be happy about.

I'm sure others will follow with more knowledgeable observations.

[SirSaxa]

Stig and Hoya LNU,

thanks for the notes on Vaughan. OK, it's really early, but good to hear your observations.
If he needs to be in better shape, it is great that he'll be hanging around the team, PE Jr., etc. Those guys KNOW how to work!

[CAHoya07]

Jul 5, 2008 14:38:01 GMT -5 FewFAC said:

Can someone, when they get a chance, post which teams the other scholarship players are on for those of us following from the opposite coast? Thanks.

Second this. It would be great to get a roster list posted, also so that those in town can plan attendance accordingly. If anyone could help that'd be great.

[bmartin]

Tombs 36-31 at half
Wright 10
Clark 6
Monroe 6
Sims 9
Nikita 2 w/4 fouls

M-A
Omar 3
No Sapp
Will Thomas in double figures
Tony Skin with 7 I think

[RDF]

Don't know for certain--but Dajuan could be attending LeBron Camp as a Counselor/working out. A few college players usually do this and they are more often then not guys who attended a Nike Skills Camp. So that could explain his absence.

This Austin Freeman weight thing is out of hand. It all started when we simply saw what players measured in at the Nike Skill Camps--(height and weight). For instance--in Barker's update on Vaughn--he listed Greg Monroe at 225 lbs--well he weighed 254 at the Amare Stoudemire Camp 2 weeks ago. It's more important how the weight is distributed and once III said it was a non-issue that sold me.

Appreciate the updates already and very interested in hearing about the Tombs!

[rambis]

Some notes from the Tombs game:

Monroe looks big and can definitely grow into his frame. He runs the floor well. He's got a great array of post moves and looks very comfortable on the low block. He's big enough that he can muscle his way to the basket. He can face up from the perimeter and take his man off the dribble He found Clark cutting to the basket on a give-and-go from the post.

On the down side, he took a three that didn't look natural or comfortable.

He's also got good positional sense on help defense, stepping in position to close down the lane.

Sims really impresses. He strokes the three (old line), turnaround jumper from 15 feet, cuts to the basket from the high post to score, and blocks shots jumping vertically (ie not into the shooter and he doesn't leave his feet on pump fakes). Had a good pass from the high post resulting in a bucket for Monroe in the low post. You get the feeling we may see a lot more of this.

Defensively, sims will block shots as a help defender, but he has difficulty playing post defense. he lacks the bulk to hold position down low. It was hard to tell how good Monroe was defensively in the post as he was seldom challenged

Clark is very slight, but pretty quick. He led the break and finished on one early possession and sank a three on the next. He can beat his man off the dribble and played a bit of point (as I understand he did on his AAU team).

Nikita is not having a good day. Plenty of fouls, not making jumpers, stripped of the ball once. Hustle play toward the end of the game, but not much to go on from this game.

Omar sank a three but get too many more looks. He did put on 25 pounds since last year his brother tells me.

[vcjack]

Jul 5, 2008 16:12:12 GMT -5 bmartin said:

Tombs 36-31 at half
Wright 10
Clark 6
Monroe 6
Sims 9
Nikita 2 w/4 fouls

M-A
Omar 3
No Sapp
Will Thomas in double figures
Tony Skin with 7 I think

4 fouls in a half? I guess Nikita is focusing on his D...

[mrsixer123]

if a "fat" freshman can do what austin did last season, he should be a 1st team all american this year.....................

[Locker]

Jul 5, 2008 16:51:46 GMT -5 rambis said:

He strokes the three (old line)

Please tell me McDonough has the new men's line installed by now (though I'm sure the old one remains for the women).

Oh, and thanks for the good update.

[mapei]

The men's line is installed, but in light gray, barely visible.

I actually thought Austin *did* look a little heavy (and so did my SO), but he played great. I sat next to his mom, and one of the people she was with said DaJuan was at the LeBron camp. Not sure where Jessie was for the late game.

I agree about Vaughn - he looks solid on the court, and he's got a great demeanor as well - he was hanging around with a friend as I was in line to get a drink - a little quiet, well-spoken. I thought his rebounding and defense were superb.

The Tombs impressed. I hope JT doesn't slow these quick guys down too much - they can really run the floor. They definitely had lapses, and Rob Digges schooled our guys a few times, but when they were playing well Monroe was every bit as advertised and Sims was more polished, less raw than I was expecting, really capable. Together they made a pretty formidable post D.

Jason Clark is lightning-fast, impressive. Nikita looked good to me, but his shot just wasn't falling for the most part, and some of his fouls were just slight touches, I thought. A little luck and he would have looked great. For the other team, Omar looked a little off. Chris looked like the best player on the floor, on both sides of the ball.

Great crowd, filled the bleachers. Saw PE2, as someone else reported, and Tyler.

[The Stig]

The new line is there (very faint gray), but they looked to be calling the game with the old line.

I saw a lot to be happy about today. The freshmen were all impressive. Monroe was strong, showed some nice moves, and made some very nice passes. The dirt on him coming in was that he wasn't assertive enough, but that didn't look like a problem to me.

As others have said, Sims was a pleasant surprise. He hit the three with a smooth enough stroke to make you know it wasn't an accident. He was also able to grab quite a few rebounds, and made some good passes too. His handle still needs some work, but overall I was very happy with what I saw.

Clark started out on fire - he scored the first 5 points of the game. After that he was quieter, but he's very quick and not at all tentative. I didn't see that lockdown D he's known for, but I wasn't really looking. He could use some meat on his bones.

Wright was everywhere today. A lot of his stuff wasn't falling, but it wasn't for lack of effort. He'll be a big part of our offense this year. Nikita was disappointing - I didn't see anything to indicate that he'll become a major contributor. I have to say the same for Omar, since he was mostly invisible.

Overall I feel better about the team now than I did this morning, and a lot better than I felt a week ago. Vaughan's waiver is huge, and the freshmen look to be as advertised or better than advertised, keeping in mind the fact that we've still got a long time before the season starts. Obviously there's still some stuff that needs fixing and a lot of things that need to be polished, but there's a lot to like in this bunch of guys.

[bmartin]

Tyler played with the AU guys in the last game.