Outta the Basement: Purdue @ Michigan

It’s been a while since the last College Hoops blog. The Insanity Report Staff and Easycovers Crew have been hard at work with their work in the basement, and it starts with yesterday afternoon’s Big Ten opener for Purdue and Michigan. So here goes:

(11) PURDUE 80 @ MICHIGAN 57

MICHIGAN

Solid nucleus for the future, but right now, their focus is on the abilities of Sophomore PG Darius Morris who has had a great non-conference start to the season, but yesterday looked like he has started to believe his own news clippings. He penetrates too much and forces bad shots and bad highlight passes for TO’s. He suffers from the same dribblitis that Illinois’ Demetri McCamey suffered last year. He’ll dribble east-west too much allowing the defense time to recover and shut down any passing/driving lanes.

They have OK shooting from Junior PG, Stu Douglass and Freshman Forward, Evan Smotrycz, but that’s it from Smotrycz; He’s a horrible one-on-one defender on the wing and will fall asleep leaving his man open. When his check is E’Twaun Moore, it doesn’t bode well for the Wolverines. At 6-9 the dopy Smotrycz offers zero defensive rebounding presence as well. It’s no surprise that Smo-trash fouled out yesterday. Stu Douglass is smooth and is Michigan’s most leveling presence which is key for such a young team, and hopefully Morris.

Redshirt Freshman, Jordan Morgan at 6-8 is a hustling post, but he must gain some l.b.’s to be able to consistently compete in the Big Ten. One of the main returning players in terms of minutes played last year in Junior Forward, Zach Novak, gets tonnes of minutes this year again, but he is as useless as the kid on Two and a Half Men! Novak offers no offensive upside at all and he basically fills the 5th spot on the floor so Michigan doesn’t go Hickory Huskers like when Merle fouls out. (“My team’s on the floor!)

Again, Michigan has some prospects in their freshmen class, but every one of their starters show major defensive deficiencies. Such as in Freshman Guard, Tim Hardaway Jr, who shows signs that he can get on an offensive streak, but shows UNC-like basketball IQ on defense. Michigan will have great streaky moments this year and may steal a game or two, but their inexperience will show when they’re trying to get over the hump and take over a game from one of their mini-streaks.


(11) PURDUE

Tough on Purdue to replace the versatility and basketball IQ of Robbie Hummel, once they lost him for the season with his ACL injury in the preseason. Even with him the biggest weakness for Purdue was their depth. Now that the Big 3 is no more with the loss of Hummel, it’s up to the Big Two in Senior Center, JuJuan Johnson and Senior Guard, E’Twaun Moore. The Big Two delivered yesterday with 21 and 22 point performances respectively.

Starting the game vs. Michigan, they were successful keying off double teams on Johnson and Moore as well as mismatches off of switches to get open looks for Johnson and Moore. Inclusion of other starters like DJ Byrd and Ryne Smith were non existent as Byrd was exposed on defense as well; Smith woke up late in the 1st half, and all of 2nd half to hit some open treys off dribble penetrations for a career high 17 points..

JuJuan Johnson is a huge one-on-one threat in the post coming off of those switches for mismatches and cutting towards the ball, receiving those passes in stride. He is pretty much unstoppable once he receives a pass with both feet in the paint. But he gets John Starks-like hot-and-cold streaks on his touches outside of the paint.

Moore will get his looks on open treys and he’ll be able to create drives to the hoop, IF Purdue keeps their motion offense based around the heavy screening and mismatches attained from those screens. Purdue just doesn’t have the depth to rely on other players creating their own shots or taking the opposing defense’s attention away from Moore and Johnson. They’ll need a shooter to take pressure off the Big Two like they got out of Ryne Smith tonight.

Purdue’s half court defense is solid, especially with the big body of Johnson in the middle. He’s quick enough to drop down help side on baseline drives, and has the length to alter shots. But DJ Byrd is as slow on switching and recovering off of defensive rotations as Dave Adolph is at getting Martin Short jokes. He gave up way too many open 3’s today from Evan Smotrycz. It was the battle of the 2 worst defenders on the court today.

The key for Purdue is to hide their lack of depth by working the shot clock to develop the mismatches and open lanes/looks for Johnson and Moore. Both are great free throw shooters as well, so this half-court spread should get both of the Big 2 to the line for easy points (i.e. Johnson was 10-10 from the charity stripe last night). They need those throws to limit the beatings they’ll be taking from gauntlet that is the Big Ten schedule. On D, they just have to keep doing what they’re doing and bench DJ Byrd!!!

Don’t let the score fool you, Michigan was in this game for the first 40 minutes with their peskyness, but Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter showed many looks on offense to free up The Big Two. Painter and Purdue should ruffle some feathers in the Big Ten this year, but for Dean Smith’s sake, stay healthy!!!!

Sunday Night Hoops: Texas @ USC

(20) TEXAS 56 @ USC 73

Not a bad game to watch after a whole day of getting rocked ATS in NFL action. I caught the 2nd half of the game, and overall, Texas made USC look good. USC did indeed surprise in how good their 2 main forwards, in SR. Alex Stepheson and JR. Nikola Vucevic are. USC held the lead for the whole game. They were up by 9 at half and went on a big run to start the 2nd half. At one point in the run, USC was up by 20 points. If you check out the ESPN recap, it says that USC came up big defensively, but Texas played with no heart on offence as they played softly hovering around the 3-point line unwilling to pass into the blocks or drive to the hole. USC took care of the ball with a surprising coming out party from FR. PG Maurice Jones (pictured above). Texas brought the game to within 10 points but it was too late. As soon as Texas had their little spurt, they turned the switch back to "coast".

USC

Their 2 big men in Alex Stepheson and Nicola Vucevic are two wide enough forwards who are versatile enough to grab rough boards and grab the athletic boards with their jumping ability. Both can take care of the ball on the blocks and face the hoop well. Stepheson can run the court well and Vucevic will shoot the 3. How well he can shoot the trey consistently remains to be seen. Vucevic had a career high 24 points to go with 9 boards.

Both forwards will have no problem outletting D-boards or getting the ball in the lane or on the blocks as, point guard Maurice Jones is lightning fast and hard to catch!! He'll deliver the ball 90% to the bigs. He is so fast with the ball, that he could rival Ty Lawson back in the UNC days. Texas tried their patented full court pressure for most of the 2nd half, and it was impossible to catch Mo-Jones. He'd avoid the pressure and set up the half-court O, while eating clock. He turned on the jets at the right time making easy dribble penetrations for easy lay-ups. Scouting reports say that when Fordham transfer, Jio Fontan becomes eligible in a week or two, he will turn heads in the Pac-10 at the point, but that is if he Mo-Jones will forego that starting job. Mo-Jones takes care of the ball and is a constant threat with his dimes and dribble penetrations. He'll keep defenders honest.

USC have been up and down all year, but as of late, the trio of Stepheson, Vucevic and Mo-Jones have led USC to some W's. If Head Coach Kevin O'Neil can avoid the drama he has found himself in his previous NCAA and NBA coaching jobs, USC will surprise many teams.

TEXAS

Texas looks like they revolve around Soph. Wingman, Jordan Hamilton. He is pretty good one-on-one from the top of the key, but as talented as he is, he goes a bit Harrison Barnes and forces many drives. He averages 21 ppg and was pretty cold today with a 12 point effort at 4-13 from the field. Most of those shots were indeed forced.

The problem with Texas is that they have no point guard whatsoever. They started turnover machine in Sr. Dogus Balbay, but he only played 6 minutes tonight. Toronto-born McDonald All-American PG Cory Joseph started along side Bogus Balbay tonight and he carried the ball up court on every possession and only managed 2 assists on 0 turnovers. He played an extremely safe game by dribbling the ball up and making a wing entry.....and nothing else. He was not a threat at all in penetrating the rock or in shooting the ball, let alone finding anywhere to spot up from a Jordan Hamilton forced drive. (Not like Hamilton would dish the ball anyways).

Texas has been a classic team in playing up and down to their competition since the Kevin Durant Elite Eight season. This is evident as they played up to Illinois by beating them in OT earlier in November and playing down to USC tonight. From seeing them play tonight, they will not play up to many more elite teams, as their question marks at guard should not allow it. This may bring along the same chemistry issues that plagued Texas last year.

GUS CALLS UNC/KENTUCKY!!!! UNC NOT AS CRAPPY AS WE ALL THINK!

(11) KENTUCKY 73 @ NORTH CAROLINA 75

CBS starts their College Hoops season off right with the Man, The Myth and the Heart Attack Legend, Gus Johnson!!! Early in the 1st half, UNC’s on the break…….Larry Drew stops and pops a trey. Gus says, ”Drew….RISE AND FIRE!!!!!” ….Adolph says, “Gus….CHILLS AND GOOSEBUMPS!!!”

This was a great game. One of various tempos. It started as an open court affair, not only exposing UNC’s chronic turnover epidemic, but exposing Kentucky’s erratic shot selection as they ended the 1st half on a pretty big shooting slump. The game changed in the 2nd half as Kentucky slowed the game down, forcing the half-court game and using the whole shot clock. This played into Carolina’s strength in their lanky big men who blocked shots and grabbed the boards off of Kentucky’s low field goal percentage.

The game ended with Carolina chipping away to hold off Kentucky hitting their free throws to keep their small lead. Due to the Law of Gus, there was a pretty exciting finish as Kentucky missed a half-court buzzer beater that would have led Gus Johnson to go crazy, and streak down Tobacco Road!!!

NORTH CAROLINA

Insanity Report North Correspondent, Marc Paulsen texted me saying that UNC’s defense may have changed. He sheepishly stated that Roy may have read the last blog calling him out. That’d be huge if Roy did read it, but even if he did, how can he UN-COACH the UNC turnovers? UNC’s guards turn the ball so many times that it seems like it’s ingrained into their DNA. Roy’s a coach not a geneticist!!!! Plus, he’s a coach, NOOOT A POOOOL-MAN!!!!!!

The bottom line with UNC is they are young and their guards are weak, and when those guards are running on all cylinders they still cannot command a game from distributing the ball to hitting open jumpers. They are rarely en fuego, and rather than distribute the ball, they turn the ball over with softer entry passes into the post than Homer Simpson’s ring entry vs. Drederick Tatum!

Carolina’s strength is most definitely in their forwards, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and soon-to-be Harrison Barnes. As stated, they are a bit weak deep in the blocks, but they are a threat once they hit their jumpers from the short corner and elbow. They’re reach, especially Henson’s will alter many shots in the trenches.

Tyler Zeller had his coming out game this afternoon. He had a career high 27 points off of 11-12 free throw shooting. His coming out party was due to his determination late in the game and will to win. Zeller started the game a bit soft in the blocks allowing defenders to deny entry passes, but he kept the Kentucky bigs honest with those needed 10-15 foot jumpers. When he lined up to hit his FT’s late in the 2nd half, those shots were already made before he shot the ball. You could see it in his eyes!

Henson is a work horse that sparks UNC. He’s a hard hard worker, but he’s not strong enough to command position in the blocks. He throws up bigger bricks from the free throw line than a Holmes on Holmes underpinned foundation!!!! His free throw shooting is so bad that over/under prop bets are posted betting “Henson FT Airballs” at over/under 2.5! He had a 1-on-1 fast break breakaway opportunity where the shear length of his go-go gadget arms should have drilled the ball into the hoop; But he awkwardly and softly went for reverse lay-up. HENSON IS RAW!!!!!! He continues to develop, but until he can strengthen those Olive Oil arms, he will continue to show flashes of brilliance rather than a more consistent solid 40 minutes of hoops.

Harrison Barnes (like UNC, in general) has been way over-hyped and over-rated by almost all media and pollsters . He is a definite talent and will be a threat. But in watching 2 games so far, Harrison Barnes tries to do too much all by himself. His drives/shots he takes are 1 on 3 drives or his shots are over of double/triple teams. He had an amazing put-back dunk in the first half that is a sign of things to come, but right now, Harrison Barnes’ game is playing into the press clippings headlined by an ill-advised pre-season All-American selection. Harrison, calm down and listen to Roy! Don’t believe your own press clippings, you’re not there yet!

Talking to Paulsen this afternoon, made me realize that UNC has been waaaay over-hyped in the past 2 years. They are in the midst of there 2nd rebuilding year post-Tyler Hansborough. They are still developing, and Top 10 ranking are unrealistic at this point.

Overall, this season’s freshmen in all of the NCAA are indeed talented, but most have a lot to develop. There is no one-and-done’ers in the nation except for Duke’s Kyrie Irving and maybe, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger (from what I’ve seen in box scores and recaps, but yet to see a game). This bodes well for fans of the Madness as we will have deep rosters for the next 2-3 years and Gus Johnson better take his blood pressure meds!!!

iNSanITy rEPort Post on Michigan State/Duke

My apolgies for the late post here from Wednesday. But some intel on the game and some intel on Duke and Michigan State.

(6) MICHIGAN STATE 79 @ (1) DUKE 84

Game Recap:

A close game on Wednesday judging by the score. But Duke held the lead for the whole 2nd half as they capitalized off MSU turnovers and had a wicked half-court defense that would make Hickory Husker Coach, Norman Dale celebrate with Assistant Coach, Shooter over a jug of Indiana moonshine!!!

Duke had amazing on-the-ball defense by stopping many MSU dribble penetrations with lightning quick first steps. On the rare occasion that an MSU player got by a Duke defender, the help-side was in perfect position to quickly cut off the lane. Plus, Duke’s positioning on the help-side and in the passing lanes called for many easy steals as Duke used their lanky reach to grab soft entry passes.

The Spartans 3 main players in JR. F. Draymond Green, SR. PG Kalin Lucas and SR. SG Durrell Summers got off to a super slow start in the 1st half, while Duke’s freshman PG, Kyrie Irving had a coming our party with 31 points, 18 in the 1st half. Duke had a pretty big run early in the 2nd half that woke up Michigan State guards Kalin Lucas and JR. G Korie Lucious. Those 2 eventually broke Duke ankles on dribble penetrations once Izzo set up a more spread out offense. But Duke, played typical smart hoops by eating up shot clocks, getting timely hoops from SR. Wing, Kyle Singler and hitting late free throws to weather the Michigan State comeback.

MICHIGAN STATE

This was a weird game for the Spartans. They have most likely the deepest team in the nation right now, but not the deepest bench just yet. That is, it seems like they haven’t found the right combination of bench minutes. They have low post presence, but their mojo is in the penetrating quickness of guards, Kalin Lucas and Korie Lucious. Draymond Green may be their best player and biggest threat as a 6-6 low post presence who can drain 3’s. He’s quite strong, but his combination of skills may get tangled in what the Spartans game plan must be on any given night. If anybody can untangle the Green web, it’s Tom to the Izzo!!!

Michigan State has all the tools for Tom Izzo’s lucky 7th Final 4 run. The aforementioned guard play and forward WMD, Draymond Green will hit all cylinders soon enough and should dominate another deep Big Ten Conference this year.

DUKE

Duke’s defense will set up all offensive opportunities this year. The defense that Duke demonstrated tonight shows that they will go through very few slumps throughout the season. Duke’s defense sets up easy open court hoops to make the difference and break the backs of many opponents.

There has been much fanfare about Freshman PG Kyrie Irving. Watching him on Wednesday solidified every scouting report out there. Kyrie is a game changer. The comparison’s to past Duke PG, Jason Williams (pre-Jay Williams that is) is quite warranted, but it seems like Coach Sha-chef-ramsey-ski is still trying to find Kyrie’s actual role on the team. Will he be unleashed as an open court scorer and disher? or will he control the game defensively and run the disciplined Duke playbook? Coach K, will most likely find a way to unleash both speeds out of Kyrie which will hide his weaknesses, which as of now, are few.

Right now THE BEST quality of Irving is that he takes all of the pressure off of SR. Wing, Kyle Singler. Singler has been a hot and cold performer his whole career at Duke. Now Duke doesn’t have to rely of the coin flip of whether they’ll get 25 points or 12 points out of Singler. Irving’s best quality is that he is a more consistent focal point for Duke than Singler had to be in his first 3 years at Duke. Now Singler can afford slumps like he had early on Wednesday vs. MSU, followed by the short streak of treys he had mid way through the 2nd half.

Duke’s main strength is in their consistency that Irving adds to the understated consistency that SR. G Nolan Smith adds. Nolan Smith plays the game with the blank assassin’s stare. He’s silky smooth and he finds a way to slither his way into the free throw circle for dribble jumpers. Plus add the big presence of under-rated Soph. F. Mason Plumlee.

Duke has it all right now. They are bar none the best team in the country right now. RIGHT NOW! It’s a long season, but Duke looks like they have the tools to remain consistent. DAMN!!!!

UNC Fan out!!!!