Motor City Roundball Update

SCORES
Cincinnati Withrow 88
Detroit Renassiance 62

Saginaw 88
Det King 78

UD Jesuit 51
Chicago Orr 49

East Grand Rapids 72
Taylor Kennedy 50


Went over to DCD yesterday to see Cincinnati Withrow and Aaron Thomas play. They beat Renaissance easy - they were leading by 30 when I left with three minutes to go and they played their starters about 2 1/2 quarters. I was impressed with this team. They ended up 3-0 in the tournament and beat Detroit Renaissance by 26, East Grand Rapids by 10 and Detroit Pershing by 9 and this team is not even a top 5 school in the City of Cincinnati. Renaissance looked bad, they turned it over, couldn't shoot, got eaten up on the boards. They are a young team (only 2 seniors) and their top player, Hundley, didn't even play. Don't know why but it would not have helped. Aaron Thomas (#49 ranking in country - committed to Florida State) is tough, did not play the first quarter and had 12 in the second quarter (3 dunks) and finished with 21. He is a 6'4" guard probably slated to be a 2 guard in college. I do not see him as a point guard as I was not overly impressed with his ball handling skills and he appears to be right hand dominant. He did have a real nice spin move he put on a couple of times but I see him more as a pass and shoot guard. Has a nice step back jumper, can elevate (who can't these days) and gets to the hole strong. Did not move a lot without the ball but couldn't tell if that was because the game was out of reach or not. Nice player deserving of the ranking. Scored 31, 23 & 21 in the three games.

After the game I met my sports jockey (wife) for a quick dinner at Andiamo's then headed over to Rochester to see the Detroit City - Rochester game. Was looking at Tyler Perry, who is a Junior but committed already to Western Michigan. I have seen him play quite a bit over the last 2 years as my son played on the Rochester team. Supposedly Taylor blew up over the summer in AAU. The game was ugly - Rochester won in overtime 53-50 over a bad, bad Detroit City team. Perry has put on a little more weight, has gotten more solid but still did not see marked improvement in his game that lets me believe he will play at Western. Here is what I do like about this kid, he is constantly running and moving and active around the basket. He has improved with looking up the floor on his dribble (had a tendency to put his head down and not see the floor) I like the way he attacks the basket and is always around the boards. He still has trouble finishing though and gets his driving layups blocked more than he should. That will not be a strength for him at the next level where they are quicker and taller, he will get eaten up on those drive shots. He is still a dribble and shoot player, still have not seen him catch and shoot. Definitely has improved but don't see a lot of playing time at Western at this point.

Want to see UD Jesuit play especially after they beat Chicago Orr.


Will be at the following games tomorrow night. Not a better bargain for $10.00
Saginaw vs. Cass Tech 5:40
DCD vs Chicago Orr 7:20
Lew Wallace vs Detroit Southeastern 9:00



COLLEGE
If you read my blog yesterday I stated that Wisconsin and Michigan would give their ranked opponents (Minnesota & Purdue) all they could handle. I was right on only one - Wisconsin beat Minnesota. I watched the Michigan game (thank God for Tivo) when I got home last night and they got off to a terrible start but cut the lead to 4 by half before getting blown out. Moore and JuJuan Johnson were two tough for these guys. Michigan is still a perimeter shooting team and lack of size and strength down low and on the boards killed them in this game.

Syracuse won a game against Providence (81-74) that was tighter than it should have been at the Carrier Dome. There is a good chance I will be at the Carrier Dome on New years day for the Cuse - Notre Dame game.

St. John's - Is there anyone out there with me on the fact that Steve Lavin is as slippery and greasy as his hair and obviously has an unlimited travel budget. How does a team that has been 28-60 in the Big East Conference the last 5 years and a combined overall record of 72-82 and not qualified for the NCAA in over 10 years, become the #3 rated recruiting class in the country? St. John's use to get their talent from around New York city and the surrounding states. Now Lavin has landed 6 of the top 100 rated players for the class of 2011 and they come from California, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas, New York(via CT) and Ohio (via NH). This recruiting class rates only behind Kentucky and Duke. So I ask you once again, how does that happen? I've been to St. John's - it is in Jamaica, Queens with nothing attractive (unless you consider Shea Stadium attractive) around it. New York is all about the money and I think it is no different with what is happening at St. John's.

This next comment is on football so I apologize in advance to basketball readers. What the heck is the NCAA doing with the Ohio State Football players? Am I the only one that sees hypocrisy with this organization. First the NCAA comes out and states that there was no damage detrimental to the game - funny - selling gifts from a school or NCAA while in school is against NCAA violations - seems to me that breaking rules - regardless of what they are - can't be good for the game - so therefore detrimental. Then on top of that they give them a 5 game suspension to be handed out next season. If they weren't that detrimental to the game why the 5 game suspension. More importantly, how do you justify them playing now and starting the suspension next year? I was brought up that when I broke rules I got punished when it happened or was caught. Boy it sure would have been great when I was a kid and got caught for stealing something out of Mr. Millers garage if I didn't have to deal with it for a year. How do you justify delaying the suspension - you can't - the reason why - they don't want to talk openly about the amount of money they would lose in the bowl game if these players did not play. This crap drives me crazy. The NCAA is all about enforcing integrity of the rules and the game yet they are right there willing to bend them at their discretion.