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Feeling ’22s, Part III

Kyle Rossi
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Feeling ’22s, Part III

Third in a series looking at Horizon League women’s basketball’s committed players for 2022 (Part I, Part II)

Macie Taylor (Wright State)

Height: 5-8, Position: CG, High School: Troy HS (OH), Commit Date: October 20, 2021

Considering the obstacles in front of her, including a fairly late hiring date and the competitiveness of the state, Kari Hoffman and her staff did fantastic work in grabbing four of Ohio’s top 40 prospects for 2022, according to Prep Girls Hoops. That group is headlined by Taylor who checks in at tenth, first among combo guards. She decidedly puts the “combo” in the position too, check out PGH’s writeup on her:

“Very creative player, has the ability to score in a variety of ways. She has a deadly perimeter shot beyond the arc, and can put the ball on the floor and make things happen. Very good pull-up midrange shot, can rip past her opponent and score in the paint with either hand. Hard worker, leaves it on the floor.”

Other reports have given even more range to her offensive skillset, citing her court vision, passing, and handles, along with an unselfish attitude.

Here’s a sampling of AAU highlights for your consideration as well:

The Raiders are in sort of an interesting spot right now. While they had a lot of turnover this past offseason, it wasn’t quite a Detroit Mercy-level wipedown. WSU retained most of their depth, and likely just needs a couple of dynamic, x-factor types towards the top of the lineup to climb back into contention quickly. Taylor certainly seems like someone who can fit the bill and be a certified weapon in Dayton starting next season.

Lauren Scott (Wright State)

Height: 5-7, Position: CG, High School: Worthington Kilbourne HS (OH), Commit Date: September 18, 2021

Scott was the first of two fall commits for the Raiders, preceding Taylor by a month and jumping on board just ten days after Hoffman offered her.

While she is another combo guard option, Scott nevertheless offers a slightly different look from Taylor, as she’s seen as a bit more of the defensive floor leader type, but with offensive upside on top of that.

Per Prep Girls Hoops, “Scott is a confident floor leader, with excellent handles, super quick off the dribble moves to the bucket. You want the ball in Lauren’s hands! She rises to any challenge, makes the big shots. And on the defensive end, she’s aggressive and quick.”

Here’s some more:

She will be joining the Raiders once she finishes a legendary career at Worthington Kilbourne High School, where she’s already cracked the 1,000 point barrier heading into her senior year and averaged 23.5 per game as a junior. And, if she has any say over which sports Wright State will add to get up to the Division I minimum by next year, field hockey might make the cut – she’s also her school’s all-time leader in field hockey goals. And that’s not all she leads.

“Lauren is a great leader,” Wolves field hockey coach Alexandra Street said. “She’s a great vocal leader and she’s a great leader by example. She’s always one of the hardest workers at practice and she’s very aware of what’s around her. She gives her teammates credit for her success and she’s a great team player.”

Isabella Cassoni (Wright State)

Height: 5-5, Position: PG, High School: Waynesville HS (OH), Commit Date: May 28, 2021

Remember how a lot of the justification of Hoffman’s (somewhat) off-the-map hiring was her extensive knowledge of the local region? Well, here’s a case where it paid off directly, as Cassoni is one of Hoffman’s former Cedarville commits who then made the switch after Hoffman moved on to WSU.

It didn’t take terribly long for her to decide either, her May 28th commitment date was literally eight days after Hoffman was announced as WSU’s new coach, so there’s obviously a pretty significant connection between the coach and the player, something that can often push the latter beyond the types of assessments that had her nearly headed to Division II.

So what kind of player is she? Time for some video.

Something tells me that Cassoni is the type of player who thrives on being underestimated. She outworks people and makes things happen on the defensive end, she’s more than capable of earning her own buckets back the other way. And just when you think you have her figured out, she’ll start lasering dimes out of nowhere.

But enough from me, let’s close this out by hearing from an expert.

Clearly Cedarville’s loss is Wright State’s gain.

Makiya Miller (Wright State)

Height: 5-8, Position: PG, High School: Reynoldsburg HS (OH), Commit Date: June 14, 2021

Miller, a Columbus-area product like Scott, has upside as a defensive and three-point specialist. Need proof of the latter?

Really though, she offers something of a hybrid package, with a lot of the best traits also found in Miller and Cassoni. Consider this scouting report:

https://twitter.com/Makiya_Miller24/status/1445757201142796302?s=20

It seems clear to me that Hoffman is trying to quickly shape the program in her image with a series of well-rounded guards who are floor generals with high-end motors and skill to spare. It’s a lofty goal, essentially “be good at everything despite being somewhat undersized,” but knowing Cedarville’s recent history, it seems like one the Raiders will be capable of hitting sooner than later.

At Reynoldsburg (coincidentally, also nicknamed the Raiders), Miller has helped her team to three consecutive district titles while carrying a 4.19 grade point average. They’re a stacked squad that also includes high-major commits Mya Perry (Ohio State) and Imarianah Russell (West Virginia) among Miller and others, so they’ll certainly be looking for banners a bit bigger than districts this season.

Finally, here’s Prep Girls Hoops’ raving report:

“What a strong guard! Incredibly unselfish player who will do whatever it takes to win! She is a floor leader who really takes control of the tempo. Light feet, which greatly benefit her on the defensive end, generating turnovers and transition baskets. Don’t leave her open for any outside shots- because she has a quick release and will nail them!”

Four highly-rated guards who, as a group, bring just about everything you need in a backcourt. Wright State just might be building something.

Louella Allana (Robert Morris)

Height: 5-4, Position: PG, High School: Winston-Salem Christian School (NC), Commit Date: October 24, 2021

Robert Morris, in their short time in the Horizon League, is already known as the program that will find players from anywhere and everywhere. Charlie Buscaglia’s 2022 class is no different as it includes a pair of Canadians, British Columbia’s Paris Kirk and Louella Allana, a point guard from Quebec.

Allana, who was also offered by San Jose State, among others, has quite a fascinating background. While she grew up in Laval, though her parents emigrated from the Philippines. Later, as basketball became a priority, she came to the US for school, eventually matriculating at Winston-Salem Christian School – though she has competed for the Canadian Jr. National Team as well.

Reese’s Prep Network did an extremely in-depth feature on Allana, and I encourage you to head there for more detail than I can offer in a 250-word blurb, but the upshot on Allana as a player is that she’s a textbook pass-first point guard. She has a high IQ, is a vocal leader, and also has a nice enough shot to keep defenses honest. At 5-4, size is something of a struggle, and she does need to get stronger according to Reese’s, but all in all, the Colonials may have a prospect that can direct the floor for them right away and free up some of their talented young wings.

Paris Kirk (Robert Morris)

Height: 6-2, Position: F, High School: Putnam Science Academy (CT), Commit Date: October 7, 2021

Kirk is the bigger and more western half of RMU’s new Canadian tandem. Seriously, check this video out and tell me you couldn’t see some nice little inside-outside work between her and Allana in the near future.

Like Allana, Kirk also came across the border for basketball opportunities, winding up at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut (incidentally, Allana was also at PSA briefly before the school canceled its 2020-21 season, leading to her transfer down south). If Kirk is a bit homesick, well, she feels like she found an environment similar to Kelowna in western Pennsylvania.

“It’s right by Pittsburgh and West Virginia, so it’s got the balance of nature and city,” the 4.0 student said after committing. “I really like being in the outdoors, and on campus, you see the green hills everywhere and there is a lake nearby.”

“It just really hit all the boxes. It felt like it was the right place, so why wait? I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t interested in them by waiting and seeing what other options I could also have. It’s the right place for me.”

Fair enough. Her coach at PSA, Devin Hill, certainly feels like she’s ready for the next level.

“She gives us some different things that we haven’t had in the past as far as her versatility goes,” he said. “But the thing about her…when people talk about Division I players, they talk about the talent, which is understandable. But when they have to run or do some type of small punishment, Paris will never complain, and she’s usually first or second.”

Evansville dominates IUPUI as the Jags move to 0-2

Nick Lorensen
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Evansville dominates IUPUI as the Jags move to 0-2

IUPUI and Evansville played a college basketball game on Thursday evening. It might of not been all that pleasing to watch, but it was a basketball game.

Evansville won the game by a score of 60-40, moving IUPUI to 0-2 on the season.

Although they didn’t score a field goal for five and a half minutes, it didn’t matter. The Jaguars kept it close in the first half, never trailing by double digits.

IUPUI trailed at the break by a score of 24-19. They did that without shooting a free throw and only having on three-point attempt in the first half.

The Jaguars would finish the evening with only 14 points from behind the arc and at the charity stripe.

In the second half, it was all Purple Aces. They won it by a score of 37-21, as the Jags shot 25.9% in the second half.

Evansville picked up the victory as IUPUI was unable to score more than 50 points for the second consecutive game to begin the season.

Not a single Jaguar scored double digits.

This all comes after a tough loss against local rival and Big East opponent, Butler on Tuesday by a score of 56-47.

The Jags offense struggled once again, as they missed 13 straight threes at a time, but its defense was what was able to make it so close. IUPUI kept Butler to 34% shooting from the field.

IUPUI had a chance to make it a two-possession game with just over a minute left, but BJ Maxwell missed a contested layup, allowing the Bulldogs to survive the upset and pull out the victory.

Maxwell had a strong debut for the Jags, as he led the way with 14 points.

They’ll look to turn the tides as they play in a tournament at UTSA next week, opening against Denver on Monday at 6:00pm ET.

Detroit Mercy outgunned by the Cowboys

Karic Jones
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Detroit Mercy outgunned by the Cowboys

That was the wrong way to start off the season for Detroit Mercy. Abysmal is the word I can best describe it. My girlfriend, who has never watched Detroit Titan Basketball, asked me at half time, “Why do you watch every game? They clearly suck.” Someone commented on the Detroit Titan Message board the other day, “Sometimes it feels like you have to be a masochist to be a Titan Fan.”

That sums up this opening outing for the Titans. They shot a ton of threes that did not go in. They had no match for anyone who wanted to go inside for Wyoming. For what feels like the 100th time in the Mike Davis era, they came out flat, shot poorly and lost a winnable game where despite being at a size disadvantage, Noah Waterman missing most of the game and Prince Oduro rebounding poorly for someone of his size playing in the post, they were only out-rebounded 37-32.

The negatives for the Titans were abundant. First, Antoine Davis’ shooting line from behind the arc (1-7) simply won’t do if the Titans are going to compete for a spot in the big dance. The second thing is Waterman missed most of the contest with what I would assume is concussion protocol after taking a hard hit to the head and upper neck. Normally a player at most misses a few games no big deal.

For Waterman, however, this could be a bigger deal as he already had a concussion this fall at the start of camp/end of individual workouts. The Titans were relying on Noah to be the second scoring option next to Antoine Davis could be a problem if he misses an extend period of time.

DJ Harvey was a non-factor in 26 minutes of play outside of his four rebounds. If he’s going to be of any help to the Titans he needs to be more effective shooting. Oduro was hyped up as this “chiseled Greek god” and someone who would be a sold post presence, but he sat a majority of the first half after getting two quick fouls. Five points, two rebounds and four fouls are not numbers Detroit Mercy can accept from there most skilled post player.

And due to injury and eligibility, Willy Isiani was forced to play in the post defensively longer than he is comfortable with. Isiani being thrust into action due to injuries gave him the green light to jack threes. Yes, he normally connects on his long shots. But after the first one did not fall, they should have given him the red light, because his poor three point shooting led to four empty possessions three off forced turnovers.

The Coiwboys had 44 points in the paint and 15 second chance points. I get the Titans were missing personnel, but if you allow teams to beat you like that you won’t win games.

Other notes

Buay Koka, Mohamed Sylla and Jordan Philips did not make the trip. Phillips is waiting on NCAA clearance I was told the team was hopeful this would be resolved any day now. I don’t know why Koka and Sylla did not travel.

Next up is Toledo Saturday at 7pm. Game is on ESPN+, I will be there live be sure to follow me @karic_jones and the HoriZone Roundtable on twitter (@HorizoneRT) for in game updates on the Titans.

Colonials struggle; just not their Knight

Scott Meier
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It’s hard to win a basketball game when you can’t seem to find the bottom of the net.

Wednesday evening, the Robert Morris opened its 2021-22 campaign with a road tilt in Orlando against Central Florida. This is pretty much a brand new roster for RMU, and I was curious to see how a few things would shake out for them.

How would the Colonials handle a road atmosphere, with a new roster, on opening night? Would they communicate well? Would they fight to the bitter end or fold up their tents? What kind of game will this be?

The confidence was there from the jump, the colonials didn’t see overwhelmed and fought their tails off for 40 minutes. This was the type of game where just looking at the stat sheet does not truly tell the whole story. This to me, was a throw the stat sheet away and watch the tape type of game.

RMU ended the first half shooting 10 of 36 from the field, while the Knights shot a solid 53%. The Colonials got some really great looks, just could not get the shots to go; that is going to happen. I thought Robert Morris had really good ball movement, created some great looks, just some nights, its not your night. The Colonials went to the locker room down 17 at the break, but boy, it sure felt closer.

One bright spot for the Colonials to hang their hat on was holding Brandon Mahan, the fifth year guard, scoreless well into the second half. They had gotten a solid double digit lead down to single digits, just seemed to run out of steam down the stretch. Andy Toole preaches energy; you have to have it and show it to play for him. This thing could have REALLY gotten away from the Colonials, their energy and fight had to annoy UCF; they weren’t going away.

Once trailing by 19 in the second half, the Colonials rallied to a 69-59 final, truly battling until the bitter end. RMU will regroup and move their focus to 10th-ranked Kentucky as they prepare for their Friday night matchup in Lexington. This will be an even bigger test for Toole’s Colonials, but if they can bring the same energy, the same fight to Rupp Arena on Friday night, who knows what can happen.

I can’t wait for Big Blue Nation to meet these Colonials; they are in for one heck of a battle.

This one counted. 5 Takeaways for OU at WVU

Matt Dudek
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This one counted. 5 Takeaways for OU at WVU

On Tuesday November 11, Oakland kicked off their 2021-22 Men’s Basketball season with a 53-60 loss at West Virginia. Here are 5 takeaways from the game:

The Oakland defense is really good– The people that love to bet on Oakland Basketball love to take the Over. Unfortunately for them, OU played great defense against their Big12 opponent. That coupled with a poor offensive outing for OU left the game well under the line. But the defense for Oakland is the bigger takeaway. If they can hold a team like WVU to 0.88 Points per Possession and only 38 points coming against the actual defense, that’s pretty impressive. If this is who Oakland is this year, it will be tough for opposing teams to find points.

Oakland rebounding is going to be okay- Besides the defensive effort against a bigger team, the thing that Golden Grizzly fans and Greg Kampe have to be excited about is the way the team rebounded in their opener. There was a lot of talk and question about would they have the size to compete at all this year, and what would happen when they faced bigger opponents. A 48-33 advantage on the glass cannot be ignored. If they can continue to rebound that way all season it will be forgotten that it was a question mark heading into the season.

Never let it get away– In the past, Oakland would play games like this one, especially early season, and you could feel the game get away. Neal Ruhl on the call would often refer to “The horses are out of the barn” and you would know that it was just going to get uglier and uglier until a 20-30 point defeat was in the books. However, that didn’t happen in this game, and that is a great sign for OU. They continued to battle the entire game keeping it within 10 almost the entire second half. Even down to the wire, they were not out of the game and continued to battle. The fight in this team will end in victories eventually.

Jalen Moore can’t be that bad for OU to win – “You’ll never have a game this bad again.” is what Greg Kampe told his leader and point guard. The guard who lead the nation in assists last year turned in his worst game as a Golden Grizzly with 4 points, 4 assists and 13 turnovers. In a game that was expected to be physical, the diminutive point guard always seemed to have two Mountaineers draped over him unless he was on the ground after being hit. It was clear that Bob Huggins’ team had a game plan to limit Jalen Moore and they succeeded in it. However, it was a great change for Moore to finally play in front of a division 1 crowd and have great film to learn from. He knows he will have a target on his back from teams and will need to learn to make adjustments especially when they play him that physically and the refs are not going to give him the call.

The WVU fans are harder on Blake Lampman than I am, and that’s saying something- I have been known to criticize Blake Lampman in the past. I’m sure some of it is being spoiled by previous Oakland sharpshooters like Erik Kangas and Travis Bader, but OU faithful are used to having a shooter that makes big 3’s when they matter most. However, no amount of my criticism came even close to the WVU student section being on Lampman all night including a straight up “F*** you Lampman!” chant at one point. Kampe has said if he can provide some energy off the bench and shoot 40% from 3, that will be what he needs from him. Last night, Lampman was 2-5 from downtown (40% for the math majors out there) and 2 boards in 20 minutes. He served his role well, but if Blake never has to return to West Virginia it may still be too soon for him. What an odd target for them to get after. I thought that was my job?

Oakland will look to build on the goods and fix some of the bads Friday at Oklahoma State. That game will tip at 8pm Eastern and can be found on ESPN+ or on the radio locally on 1270AM.

Very early impressions of Hoffman’s Wright State Raiders squad

Blake Schumaker
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Very early impressions of Hoffman’s Wright State Raiders squad

A new school year starts a new year of Raider basketball, and this year ushers in a change that Raider fans haven’t seen in a while: a brand new coach. As coach Kari Hoffman goes into her first game underneath the Wright State banner, I’m going to give my way too early impressions on the squad that went out tonight to face a strong Bradley team.

To preface the two squads, let’s give a little bit of background to the changes they underwent during the off-season. For Bradley, the former fifth-seeded Missouri Valley champion, they had five of their members leave from their previous squad while others decided to use their COVID extension. All in all, Bradley took in eight new members to build up for their newest run at the Missouri Valley. Notably, Bradley still has their star from the tournament in Gabbi Haack.

Wright State lost its head coach, Katrina Merriweather, over the offseason to Memphis. They also lost their top three scorers to the transfer portal: Angel Baker found herself at Ole Miss, while Tyler Frierson and Emani Jefferson followed Merriweather to her new home. Hoffman, whose hiring came in late May, had to shore up those losses with the transfer portal, adding Makira Webster and Edecia Beck.

As champions of their respective mid major conferences, this matchup was the perfect way to test the waters to see where these squads stand.

Bradley started setting the pace in points, going up 5-0 early. The Raiders immediately battled back that deficit, taking it to 11-10 off a Destyne Jackson three pointer. The Raiders were keeping pace with the Braves through the 1st quarter, ending only 6 points apart, and the 2nd quarter until a 14-2 run to cap off the half buried the Raiders 45-30.

The rest of the game was comfortably in the Brave’s hands as Wright State could only get as close to ten to make the score 59-49. After that, an 11-0 run by the Braves in the 3rd quarter put the game away for good. Bradley took their first win of the season at home with a score of 84-65.

Bradley’s squad, led by freshman acquisition Caroline Waite, shot a suffocating 48% from behind the arc in the contest and 51% overall. Wright State’s leading scorer, sophomore Channing Chappell, led the team with 18 points and 5 three pointers. Chappell’s 55% shooting from behind the arc was exemplary, but couldn’t salvage the teams shooting percentage of 25% from the line.

With the game recap tied up, let’s get on to my super early impressions of the squad:

This squad is capable of controlling the paint. During the match, it was a fight for any of the Braves to get themselves into the paint to make chip shots at the rim. Jada Roberson made anyone who was pushing the paint miserable and was usually able to keep Bradley’s offense from making more than a handful of layups.

The Raiders stealing ability is still real. I personally thought the Angel Baker’s departure would cause this squad to lose their sleight of hand abilities, but with 11 steals on the night I could be very wrong. The Raiders are still looking for opportunities to catch teams lacking on passing and took advantage when they could.

Three pointers could be an issue. Chappell showcased her ability to nail three pointers today, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Chappell previously went 7-7 in a match last year that saw her with a career high 22 points. But Chappell is one person: the rest of the team went 3-21 behind the line. What I repeatedly saw during the game was wide open looks going off the rim. Against Bradley, who just couldn’t miss, that was a death knell.

As I mentioned above, these are just my very early impressions based on one game. Against a very good MVC opponent, Wright State needed all of its power to compete and they played admirably all game.

Wright State will travel to Toledo next on November 13th before kicking off league play early with away games at Milwaukee and Green Bay the following week. The first chance Raider fans will get to see the women in action at home is just before Thanksgiving against Xavier.

Leo, Cleveland State Use Superb Second Half to Rout ETSU in Season Opener

Kyle Rossi
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Leo, Cleveland State Use Superb Second Half to Rout ETSU in Season Opener
Destiny Leo, Nadia Dumas, and Chris Kielsmeier postgame

Cleveland State used a thoroughly-dominant second half performance – paced by Destiny Leo’s 24 points – to turn a three-point intermission lead into an 81-54 rout of East Tennessee State on Tuesday night at the Wolstein Center.

Things couldn’t have started any better for the Vikings, with Leo burying three-pointers on three of CSU’s first five possessions to serve as an opening act for a career high in points, while giving her team an early 9-2 lead.

“I’m pretty sure that all of those threes were in transition, and we’ve been preaching to get the ball out in transition and get some good shots, so I think that’s what we did at the beginning of the game,” Leo explained.

“We wanted to get her involved, and sometimes that works out, and sometimes it doesn’t,” head coach Chris Kielsmeier explained. “It did tonight.”

From there, the Vikings managed to keep the Bucs at arm’s length through most of the first half, though a disastrous second quarter where a Leo three represented Cleveland State’s only scoring through the first 5:49 allowed ETSU back into the game. A pair of Amaya Adams free throws with 2:58 remaining briefly gave the Bucs their only lead of the game, though Nadia Dumas quickly answered and CSU ultimately led by three at the break.

“We’re a little disappointed with how that second quarter went,” Kielsmeier said. “The game sometimes can go against you so easily in just a small way. It wasn’t like we were making big mistakes, but they really got on us transition-wise.”

“We made some mistakes on reads in our offensive transition that got fixed in the second [half], but I don’t think we were necessarily playing that bad. We were just making plays that just weren’t enough to get the stop or to finish the play on the offensive end.”

Then, as if flipping a switch, things came together in that way coaches dream out of the locker room. Leo was fouled shooting a three on the Vikings’ second possession of the third quarter and made each free throw, sparking a 12-4 run that made the score 44-33 and included a triple from Brittni Moore and a smooth jumper from Isabelle Gradwell.

From there, ETSU was never again closer than eight. The visiting squad, in Simon Harris’ first game behind the bench and led by Damiah Griffin’s 13 points, did just enough to keep things interesting through most of the third quarter. However, a Moore three followed by her steal and an eventual Gradwell basket unofficially ended the affair as a competitive contest with 7:00 to play.

“That second half was one of the best halves of basketball that I’ve seen in quite some time,” Kielsmeier said. “Our transition really fired, and our defense was extending out into people and passing lanes in order to get our transition game going.”

“We just controlled the game.”

“That’s how we practice,” Dumas said. “We practice getting 50-50 balls, if we see the ball on the floor, we’re going after it. So we just transfer what we do in practice into the games.”

Behind Leo, the Vikings received a balanced effort led by a combination of veterans and newcomers. Super senior Dumas came on late to chip in her typically-gritty ten points and five rebounds and classmate Gradwell had 11 points and eight rebounds (while helping CSU to a +30 rating while she was on the floor). Meanwhile UT Martin transfer Moore added 13 points and four steals and former Radford Highlander Amele Ngwafang drew frequent trips to the free throw line on the way to eight points and five rebounds.

“[The newcomers] are buying right into it,” Dumas said of the program’s culture. “I think everyone wants to know what it takes to be in a championship program. Everyone wants to win, everyone wants the championship. So knowing what we did last year, they just followed right along.”

“Whether you’re playing 40 minutes or playing two minutes, you’re always going to stay positive. That’s just what we do in our program.”

Up next, Cleveland State will play two more non-conference games this weekend, first hosting St. Bonaventure on Saturday, followed by Division II’s Quincy on Sunday. Leo and her teammates said they were ready to get back to work.

“We’ve got two games this weekend, it was nice to get this first win under our belt, but we’ve got some preparing to do for this weekend,” she said.

The 2020 Jimmy Lemke Fan Battle Royale, Part 1

admin
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This is the first part of the 2020 Jimmy Lemke Fan Battle Royale. Fans from every school not named Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky and Youngstown State weighed in on a variety of topics related to last season and prospects for the year ahead.

The list of participants:

Cleveland State:  Tim Bundy (@duds14)

Detroit Mercy: Shawn O’Neil (@UD_Shawn)

Green Bay: Kevin Pytleski (@KevinPyt)

IUPUI: Erin Dunn (@Mystic_Flute1)

Oakland: Landon Melling (@landoncmelling)

Purdue Fort Wayne: Travis Olinske (@TravisOlinske)

UIC: Olyer Anderson (@Flamesmania)

Wright State: Mathis Amidon (@bonesamidon)

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/horizonert/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/horizonert/support

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High 5 (Takeaways) from LSSU vs Oakland

Matt Dudek
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High 5 (Takeaways) from LSSU vs Oakland

A Friday night in early November with the regular season looming was the perfect time for Oakland to bring in Lake Superior State University out of the GLIAC, a Division 2 NCAA conference. It was the final tune up for the Golden Grizzlies, and it was against a team that simply did not have the same level of talent or athleticism. The difference in the makeup of the teams was apparent with Oakland building a lead as big as 32 in the second half. The game saw 5 Golden Grizzlies score in double figures and a 16 rebound advantage for the home team. They also made their living at the foul line on the evening shooting 29 free throws to LSSU’s 4. In a game that was nowhere near as close as the 91-81 final may look, here are 5 key takeaways:

Micah Parrish is better than anyone realizes – After missing the first exhibition game against Eastern Michigan with a foot injury, Micah Parrish returned to the OU lineup to make sure he was ready for game action. He had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals in 28 minutes as the catalyst to the Oakland zone defense. LSSU struggled to move the ball within the zone and Parrish was a large part of that with his quickness and length. Parrish learned a lot last year as a freshman and has become an important part of Oakland’s success on both ends of the floor. He will likely have a size mismatch on the floor most of the time on offense as teams matchup with the rest of the roster. Look for him to work the matchups and be an alternative for Moore to get the ball to after Jamal Cain.

The Moore to Cain connection is going to be trouble for opposing teams – There has been plenty of discussion already about the excitement of Jalen Moore and Jamal Cain on the same team. When you have the NCAA top assist guy now able to find a high flying wing at the basket, it has potential for some exciting plays and a lot of offense. With 15 seconds left in the first half, Greg Kampe saw an opportunity to try one of the many plays he has drawn up for the duo. He brought them both back off the bench as Oakland got the ball back and called a timeout. Moore had the ball at the top of the key with the clock running down. OU fans were familiar with this. Moore would wait until the clock was around 5 seconds then try and break down the defense and get to the basket. But as Moore started his run to the lane, he stopped. He threw the ball near the rim where Cain was already waiting in mid air for a monster alley-oop. This will not be the last time those two connect on that and similar plays. Kampe loves to run the alley oop, but it has been awhile since he had the right combination of players. These two are definitely the right combination.

OU Bench is not ready for a bigger role – As is usually the case in an exhibition game against a lower tier opponent, it was a chance for Oakland to empty the bench and let some players see the floor that wouldn’t usually be out there. This included letting Will Shepard get almost 12 minutes despite as Kampe described him “running with a chicken with his head cut off” and the first appearance in the black and gold for Darius Sherman (who had some highlight reel dunks in the pregame lines) and Mason Gibson. Sherman and Gibson will be redshirted this year, but it was still nice to see them get a few minutes before they spend the rest of the season on the bench. However, the bench as a whole nearly lost the 30 point lead the starters handed them with only 10 minutes left in the game. With Blake Lampman and Osei Price trying to hold them together, they were simply not ready to hang on as a unit. While that’s not unexpected out of a group that is still new to the collegiate game, it wasn’t a great sight either. Hopefully they got great film to learn from and learn a lot during the season, but it further solidified the theory that Kampe would need to play a short rotation this season. Depth is not a strength for Oakland, but that’s not a surprise with a roster that has 7 players who have never played NCAA minutes.

Townsend is bringing back the 1980’s old school low post game – Trey Townsend came to Oakland as a slashing wing. Instead, he’s finding a niche as an undersized big in the post. After being pressed into the role last year, it’s clear he has taken it to heart that he’s going to be in the block and has worked on his low post game. He has an old school style about him that makes the oldest Oakland fans start to wonder if they’re actually watching his dad and Oakland basketball alum Skip in the block instead of Trey. With a bunch of up and under moves paired up with scoops around the rim, he looks like a 1980s big, and it is working for him. Trey smiled when asked about it after the game and credited not only his dad but also having worked with Oakland big Chris Conway as well as Oakland Associate Head Coach Jeff Smith in the offseason on his game around the rim.

OU backup PG battle is not finished – The only thing still unknown for Oakland going into the start of the season is who will be taking the 5-7 minutes per game left as the backup point guard to Jalen Moore. The battle is between Emmanuel Newsome who has been with the team for 3 years and true freshman Brody Parker, a local from nearby Troy. After the game Kampe said neither player did themselves any favors in the game. Newsome would seem to have the advantage having been in the system for awhile now, but Parker is getting every chance to take those minutes and not be asked to take a redshirt season. The biggest stat to takeaway from this game was Newsome was a +7 while Parker a -17. Newsome also got the first chance off the bench earlier in the game while the starters were still in but Moore needed a breather. At the end of the day, Kampe has said that will come down to what he sees in practice ahead of the season opener at West Virginia on Tuesday.

2021 Student Media Forum

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Bob and Matt welcome student media members from around the Horizon League to talk about their respective teams, as well as the conference in general in the runup to the 2021-22 season. Guest include:

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