Kenner League July 8 2012 RECAP

[FLHoya]

There's a buddy movie script just waiting to be written about Coaches Symonds and Turner. Only pressing question: what
hilariously ill-fitting profession do you choose for the lead characters? I'm thinking astronauts who recruit a rag-tag crew of former Maryland and GW players for a mission to Mars. I'd pay the price of a Kenner League hot dog to watch Byron Mouton and Pops Mensah-Bonsu floating around in zero G's.

In space...no one can hear you scream.

The Commodores: "High on Sunshine"


Emery Heights Elite 82 Hoop Magic 72

In Kenner...no one can read the schedule. We start as per normal about 10 minutes after the hour due to one team's difficulty rustling up a full roster in a timely manner. Emery Heights began with a crew of six with Aaron Bowen the odd man out at tipoff (though he entered a moment or two later).

Emery is a returning-player house team for the University of Maryland, and their roster features Terps Nick Faust and center Alex Len, who showed the interplay expected of two teammates--if Len consistently passes well from the high post, that's a dangerous weapon in the ACC. One reason it's valuable to play returning centers with their perimeter teammates is the understanding they pick up in Kenner League. We saw the same last summer with Henry Sims and Markel Starks.

Faust's early scoring run paced Emery to an early 21-14 lead. So far this weekend, the team that takes the first significant lead doesn't relinquish it easily, and indeed Emery controlled the remainder of the proceedings. After leading by close to 20 points, Emery repelled a small Hoop Magic surge and, 6 consecutive intentional fouls later (in Kenner League...the fans can't hear you call off the dogs), Emery had a 10 point victory.

Moses Ayegba: 6 points, 2-7 FG, 7RB, 3A, 1STL, 1TO, 2F

20 minutes or so before the game, Moses and Aaron worked out alone on opposite sides of the court. Moses was practicing post moves with a (non-GU) coach. It wasn't surprising then that Hoop Magic ran multiple offensive sets in the opening minutes designed to move Moses into a variety of post positions. He'd slide from high perimeter screens to the elbow,

move across the lane, and present entry opportunities from different angles. Yesterday, Moses almost exclusively used a running right-handed hook shot in the post. In the first half, he mixed that up, using both hands and different moves.

The effort was there if the results weren't. He continue to be hit or miss inside. A relevant point: he didn't score on several attempts when guarded by Alex Len, and had his shot blocked at least twice. Len is a bit of a unique skill set for Kenner, but it's still a realistic comparison to the level of interior player Georgetown will face during conference season. Moses wasn't quick enough and didn't have the polish on his post moves to overcome Len's size advantage (7'1'' helps).

He's moving alright, though he ices his knee after games and plays in a sleeve. Can still fill up the other columns in the stat sheet with his activity.

Aaron Bowen: 13 points, 2-5 2FG, 1-2 3FG, 6-7 FT, 7RB, 4AST, 1TO, 2F, 1BLK

The fast paced portions of Kenner League games give Bowen a chance to show his athleticism. He's best in an open court
environment: I'd say the majority of his points and assists came on a fast break. The alley oop dunk is basically his trademark.

The trouble is, he plays on a slower paced team in the winter. Aaron was less effective this afternoon in half-court situations. When trying to create his own offense, particularly on drives to the basket, he often finds himself in tough spots or traffic, leading to turnovers or forced shots. His outside shooting is also too hit and miss for him to be a consistent presence on the offensive end when things aren't sped up.

He had a few games last summer where he was able to create off the dribble and consistently hit a mid-range shot. That's an area that would really benefit his game: he's got good speed and can get by a defender on a first move. Just when the help defense comes...

[FLHoya]

Curren$y: "Flight Briefing"


Tombs 82 Can't Be Stop 72

Can't Be Stop is the second of at least two Kenner League names that are probably grammatically incorrect. If Can't Be Stop is a team name, I'm allowed to call my franchise I Love Lamp.

In the latest evidence that Hoyatalk consensus is just as good as a coin flip, today's Tombs game marked the debut of Hoya incoming freshmen D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (whose name is absolute murder to type on a phone) and Brandon Bolden. The third member of the recruiting class, Bradley Hayes, watched from the bench wearing something in between a normal shoe and a full leg cast, and that's as specific as I'm getting because Hoyatalk MEDICAL consensus is just as good as a Ouija board.

In addition to the three freshmen and Otto Porter (at the LBJ Skills Camp this weekend), Tombs features current Hoya walk-on John Caprio and likely future Hoya walk-on David Allen from the state of Texas (his story and the associated Guess Who? game is in another thread on the front page). Filling out the roster are Max Kenyi (once subject of a Hoyatalk "Guess Where?" game...Seton Hall, according to the announcer) and Jamal Wise.

Can't Be Stop features, among others, Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw and the current Secretary of Education.

The first half was close throughout and not as fast-paced as most Kenner League games during the weekend. One notable "Only in Kenner" moment was Brandon Bolden hitting a long two-point field goal over Arne Duncan late in the first half. CBS took a 36-33 lead into the break.

The young legs on Tombs gradually pulled them ahead. DSR made a run of four consecutive three-pointers across both halves, and when David Allen converted a three-point play Tombs led 59-50 halfway to home in the second stanza. CBS didn't have the burst they needed to raise tempo and despite a valiant effort never closed beyond the final margin.

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera: 26 points, 5-8 2FG, 4-5 3FG, 4-4 FT, 3RB, 4AST, 0TO, 2STL

I couldn't find any Hoya newcomer in my quick research that had a more impressive stat line in their Kenner League debut.

DSR's 26 points matched the high total for any of last year's freshman class during their first Kenner League (Jabril scored 26 once and Mikael had 25-8-4 block game). He certainly excited the crowd and made an impression on the people whose comments I could see on Twitter.

In DSR's first game(*) I saw a number of sylistic similarities to how Austin Freeman--who fittingly was in the building--played in Kenner while he was still at Georgetown. He uses a similar hesitation dribble at the top of the key and his non-power move involves a change of speed. If he didn't get to the rim when he attacks the basket, he favored a short fall away jumper from 5-7 feet that I think he made every time. On the outside, he possesses a smooth, composed shot that again reminds me a lot of Freeman's. He makes similar use of a perimeter screen--he'll dribble around it and if the
defender goes under, he can pull up; he can also receive a pass and get his release off behind a screen without much trouble for someone who isn't especially tall. He scored on a three in transition as well.

(*I should mention that Smith-Rivera is the only Hoya freshman who I saw play before today, and that's only when Oak Hill was on ESPNU.)

He scored in a variety of ways, as a matter of fact, and that's why I'd agree with the masses that he's an exciting player to watch for the rest of the summer. Plenty of players put up 26 in Kenner, but this kind of balanced, efficient game is more rare.

Another small thing I liked: he got Brandon Bolden involved a couple times when the big guy wasn't really scoring.

Nothing spectacular--a pretty common alley oop and a pick and roll play--but a nice thing to do.

Now...let me throw in a few caveats:

--DSR was the primary (almost exclusive) ball handler for Tombs when on the court. That alone gives you more scoring options.

--Speaking of which, without Otto Porter the Tombs fielded two walk-on Hoyas, another freshman, and two Kenner League vets who aren't intended to be featured scorers. DSR was always probably going to shoulder more of the scoring burden than, say, any Tombs player last year would have.

--The quality of opponent wasn't particularly high. Can't Be Stop, I'm guessing, won't content for any Kenner titles, and they don't feature much in the way of high-D1 caliber talent. Their starting center was a bench player during the Esherick-Thompson III bridge era (I love AKD though), and their sixth man is a cabinet secretary in the Obama administration.

This is all to say: He played a very good first game. He clearly possesses some exciting talents. But it's not likely he'll duplicate this performance--nor be expected to--most games out this summer.

That three-point stroke tho...

Brandon Bolden: 10 points, 5-10 FG, 5RB, 4TO, 1BLK, 3F

One theme I wrote about in yesterday's games is that how one should judge the performance of Hoya guards (Starks and Trawick specifically) based on how they're being used by their respective Kenner League teams.

With regard to centers: today a key theme is considering who they're matched up against when judging their performance.

In Game #1, Moses Ayegba struggled--and in fact may have been scoreless--when matched against one of the few high D1 true centers in the Kenner League. Brandon Bolden found himself on the opposite end of the spectrum, often matched against Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw, who saw frontcourt time during some of the leaner recent Hoya seasons.

AKD actually had a pretty good game, including scoring a number of times when guarded by Bolden. Kind of a classic matchup of veteran savvy and youthful exubernace...old guy usually wins.

Bolden is a good athlete for someone of his height, although he's quite thin. On initial viewing, he takes an athletic approach to the game: he tries to block every shot remotely in his area, he sprints around the floor and he's "active" if you want to call it that.

The catch is: his fundamentals have to catch up with the athleticism. For all the blocks he attempted, I only caught one time when he actually got ball. On several occasions he fell for shot fakes and found himself out of position. His defense overall today wasn't quite where you'd want it to be for Big East competition.

Offensively, he scored on the athletic plays: an alley oop from DSR, a follow-up jam. Outside of the open court, it was hit or miss. More strength training will likely improve his ability to fight for post position--gonna be tougher competition than Amadou in his future. Jump shooting was again hit or miss, though he did hit a very deep two over Arne Duncan...and that's about the strangest sentence I'll write today. Want to see if he's got any post moves to show.

John Caprio: 11 points, 5-7 FG, 1-2 FT, 5RB, 1TO, 1BLK

My guess is that Caprio's production will fall a little bit once Otto Porter returns. They may even go to Max Kenyi and/or Jamal Wise in the starting lineup to pair with Otto, DSR, and Brandon. Still, that's not bad for a walk-on, and I gotta say even though he's nobody's idea of quick with his first step Caprio gets to the rim off the dribble a fair amount in these Kenner games.

After the game, as Ron Bailey from HoyaReport did a photo op for the Tombs freshmen + Amadou with Arne Duncan, Coach Turner appeared to photobomb it.

[FLHoya]

Survivor: "Burning Heart"


Clyde's 89 DCX 81

Kenner League pronounciations are just the best. Austin Freeman was cracking up at the five or so versions of John ca-PRIO. Sead Dizdarevic's first name was pronounced like Naveen Andrews' character on "Lost". Don't think anything today though beat: "Arne Duncan...from Harvard."

Speaking of which, I finally hit something on my Twitter account of impending doom. When the older looking man in the gold jersey walked in through the door across the gym and passed by Coach Thompson Jr., I posted that either my dad, Arne Duncan, or the ghost of Kenner League's past has just walked through. Lucky guess...maybe double lucky if it turns out JTII is the ghost.

This game followed the most common pattern of the weekend: one team builds a small but manageable first half lead, extends it to nearly 20 by mid-second half, and weathers a brief but non-threatening run to win by around 10.

What distinguished this one were the individual scoring runs. Three different current Hoyas finished with 20+ points, and they each did much of the work in bursts. Greg Whittington started things off with a quick run of 13 points in the opening quarter on 4-4 from the field and some free throws. At the end of the first half, Markel Starks poured in 15 points without missing from the field or the line. Finally, in the latter stages of the second half, Jabril Trawick shouldered most of DCX's scoring load, and bumped his modest 7 point first half to a 26 point final total.

Even without Jonathan Wallace and Austin Freeman taking over proceedings, Clyde's just seemed to have more horses, Trawick and Whittington's outbursts notwithstanding.

Jabril Trawick: 26 points, 9-14 2FG, 0-2 3FG, 8-12 FT, 7RB, 5AST, 5TO, 6F, 2STL

One thing I take away from the stat line having watched the game is that Jabril had to do a ton of work this afternoon.

Carrying the team isn't the right phrase, but DCX struggled all over the court for a good stretch of the second half. As the game wore down, Jabril increasingly took matters into his own hands. He was very aggressive attacking the rim, which netted him 10 FT attempts in the second half. These were mostly him driving hard into traffic trying to make something happen--not bail out fouls, per se, but maybe more out of desperation than design--none of his teammates had anything going.

It did produce an interesting back and forth between Jabril and Markel Starks. Jabril's competitive nature is well known, but Markel isn't one to back down either. For a good stretch of the second half they were guarding each other, and both had figured out how to beat the other's defense. Trawick is the stronger of the two, so he could post Starks up or go by him with power. Starks is quicker, so he could take Jabril off the dribble at the perimeter. Nothing big to it...just two competitive teammates trying to win, who recognized an advantage they could take.

Due to his team being down most of the game, and probably overmatched, Trawick went away from a more traditional
facilitator point guard role, which he'd done a bit yesterday. It was more about attacking from his guard position, and that still leads to mixed results with Jabril. He got to the line, which is what characterized his good games last summer. Still, he's got to keep the turnovers down and tidy up some of the contested layups--can't make everything happen on strength alone. Sometimes you have to channel your inner Markel Starks.

Greg Whittington: 22 points, 4-6 2FG, 3-3 3FG, 5-6FT, 1RB, 2BLK, 1TO

On DCX's first possession, Greg Whittington curled to the top of the key, took a pass, and drained a three pointer. A few moments later, he took a pass in the same spot, froze his defender with the shot fake, and with a dribble or two glided through the lane for an easy finish at the rim. That's the kind of ability that makes Greg a potentially lethal offensive player if he develops on a good course. Makes one remember that his defensive prowess last season was apparently the surprise...his offensive game supposedly had that "do everything" quality to it.

The first step is nice. Greg's a long player, and so he can get by his man off that inital move from the perimeter. From there, the length only helps him finish in traffic. He's done this in two straight games, and I'd love to see it become a trend.

The mystifying thing: how in the world did he go so long without scoring? He had 13 points in about 10 minutes, but he took forever to get on the scoreboard in the second half, and barely had any touches. Spent some time on the bench, to be sure, but it was time when Clyde's pulled away. Strange one.

Even still, this was Greg's highest point total in a Kenner League game.

Markel Starks: 33 points, 6-10 2FG, 5-9 3FG, 6-7 FT, 1RB, 2AST, 1TO, 2STL, 6F

Yesterday, Starks played a supporting role to Austin Freeman and Isaiah Swann. Today, he took center stage.

This was probably the most aggressive I've seen Starks in Kenner League in terms of looking for his shot. Markel is known for his pull up move, both on the perimeter and attacking off the dribble. Today, he was far more assertive going to the rack and finishing--including in traffic, but that was only when he didn't blow by the defense entirely. He did well on the perimeter handling high screens, even splitting them on a few occasions.

It was an interesting dynamic with Trawick...again, both guys had sort of figured the other one out. Markel struggled when Trawick wanted to go down low, and he was forced to foul Jabril several times when Trawick was intent on going to the rim.

Clyde's really is a shot-makers team, befitting their mish-mash of GU players, GU veterans, and assorted Kenner League odds and ends. I suspect going forward we'll see a lot of volume-shooting and scoring games from Starks--truth be told, he was a reliable 15-and-up scorer for DCX last summer anyway.

THIS WEEK: The Tombs returns on Friday night, and another full slate on the weekend.

[deacon]

Thanks for the recap. Looking forward to seeing the Tombs on Friday.

[Ranch Dressing]

Great stuff. Thank you.

[gujake]

Thanks as always for the time that you put into these, FLHoya.

[HometownHoya]

Awesome FL, thanks!

How did DSR's FT stroke look? I'm guessing as clean as the rest of his shooting since he went 4-4...hopefully our overall FT shooting will improve over last year. Everyone else shot it well too.

Although its day 1 for him, sounds like Bolden doesn't have the strength to even consider PT this year, except garbage time. Good to hear though that he has the athleticism, I trust JTIII and the staff to teach him fundamentals.

Thanks again!

[TC]

Jul 8, 2012 20:19:24 GMT -5 FLHoya said:

--DSR was the primary (almost exclusive) ball handler for Tombs when on the court. That alone gives you more scoring options.

--Speaking of which, without Otto Porter the Tombs fielded two walk-on Hoyas, another freshman, and two Kenner League vets who aren't intended to be featured scorers. DSR was always probably going to shoulder more of the scoring burden than, say, any Tombs player last year would have.

--The quality of opponent wasn't particularly high. Can't Be Stop, I'm guessing, won't content for any Kenner titles, and they don't feature much in the way of high-D1 caliber talent. Their starting center was a bench player during the Esherick-Thompson III bridge era (I love AKD though), and their sixth man is a cabinet secretary in the Obama administration.

Not sure how the first two points are really caveats. You're making the argument that he's basically the best player on a lousy team, and yet he put up a stat line that was ridiculously efficient - the number of points isn't nearly as impressive as the efficiency and the lack of turnovers given that he was the primary ballhandler.

The second point about level of competition is well taken, but I'd throw out the point people have been making today - he was the top scorer on the top high school team in the nation. I don't think Kenner (and especially the level of defense played in Kenner) is that steep a jump for him. My guess is that he can throw up 26 point games this summer with the best of them.

[mapei]

Bolden looks like a project to me. He had his moments, but the good and bad were balanced, I thought.

[superan]

Great summary!

[hoyasedge]

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

[kchoya]

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

No.

[hoyas big supporter]

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

relative to our backcourt and wings? Yes.

[TC]

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

Lubick, Hopkins, Ayegba, Hayes, and maybe Adams for maybe 1.5 - 2 slots (assuming there are times when Porter plays PF). How is this something to be "terrified" about?

[kchoya]

Jul 9, 2012 8:31:40 GMT -5 TC said:

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

Lubick, Hopkins, Ayegba, Hayes, and maybe Adams for maybe 1.5 - 2 slots (assuming there are times when Porter plays PF). How is this something to be "terrified" about?

Agreed. I'm more terrified about our lack of a Night Court. What ever happened to Harry Anderson?

[swhoya]

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

Only two things scare me and one of them is nuclear war.

[PhillyHoya]

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/secretary-of-education-arne-duncan-plays-in-georgetowns-kenner-league/2012/07/09/gJQArgU6XW_blog.html

DC Sports Bog on Arne Duncan's appearance.

[EasyEd]

Where's Lubick?

[kchoya]

Jul 9, 2012 9:14:13 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

Where's Lubick?

He's at the Billy Curley Skills Academy.

[hoyasedge]

Jul 9, 2012 8:31:40 GMT -5 TC said:

Jul 8, 2012 22:45:02 GMT -5 hoyasedge said:

Is anyone else terrified by our lack of front court?

Lubick, Hopkins, Ayegba, Hayes, and maybe Adams for maybe 1.5 - 2 slots (assuming there are times when Porter plays PF). How is this something to be "terrified" about?

The only person on that list that I trust to get a bucket is Hop, and he's a bit undersized for center. I loved Vaughn, but he was small and struggled against Big East competition, and I think it's going to happen again.