Thursday 18 November 2010

Thursday Notes

After sweeping Saint Mary's Huskies this past weekend in Sydney, Cape Breton Coach Jim Charters was quoted as saying that the Huskies were the "best 0-4 team in Canada".  That may very well be the case, but SMU Coach Ross Quackenbush is likely lamenting his overall team defence, which has yielded an average of 97 ppg thus far in AUS league play, allowing teams to shoot 44%.  The Huskies have also hurt themselves by shooting just 64% from the free throw, the lowest percentage in the AUS as a team.  6'1" Joey King Handles Haywood has played every minute of every game thus far for SMU averaging a league-high 28 points, while shooting 54% and getting to the foul line over 7 times per game thus far.  Haywood has a 13 assists/16 turnovers ratio unfortunately and has taken almost 30% of the shots for SMU.  Still, as is usually the case, expect Quackenbush to use the rest of the first half and the Shoveller Tournament over the Holidays to get his team ready for the stretch run, when SMU usually peaks into the AUS tournament.  The Huskies next game is an all-Halifax affair at home on Tuesday night against Dalhousie at the Tower... We haven't taken a detailed look at the top freshman in the AUS as of yet but Cape Breton's rookie guard Julian Smith has been solid in the Capers first four games, averaging 10 ppg in about 16 mpg while making 7 of his 13 three-point attempts.  Smith's numbers could be even better save for his struggles at the free throw line, where he shoots only 54%...  While the MUN Sea-hawks are 0-4, they led Cape Breton at halftime two weekends ago and were in the game until very late this past Sunday at UNB until 6'1" Antwan Parks hit a big 3 late in the game to keep the Sea-hawks winless.  MUN welcomed back arguably their top player in 6'2" Mike Helsby this past weekend after he missed the home opener weekend against Cape Breton (and much of the pre-season if memory serves).  Helsby had 10 points in 17 minutes on Saturday and then got a long run (29 minutes) vs. UNB on Sunday.  Expect MUN to be a tougher group when Helsby gets himself fit for 30+ minutes.  MUN is idle until the weekend after this, hosting Saint Mary's for a pair of four point games in St. John's... Speaking of UNB, the V-Reds are much improved, primarily due to a maturing backcourt led by 5'10" Andy Wright, who is a prototypical high IQ point guard who, when right, gets others involved and makes great decisions.  6'2" sophomore Dan Quirion from Moncton entered the AUS with a reputation as a long-range perimeter shooter and he continues to grow into one of the finer young shooters in the conference, thus far leading the Reds in scoring at 16.5 ppg.  The aforementioned Parks, an import from Queen's, NY, had been injured for the entire pre-season but has returned, coming off the bench and he was in the middle of the Reds win on Sunday in a big way, making the go-ahead-to-stay 3 and then making a key defensive play on the very next possession.  Another big key to the Reds is 6'8" Lonzel Lowe, a big body low post player who is strong and has a very nice stroke from the elbow.  Lowe has worked hard and is a presence inside but continues to be plagued by foul trouble in the early going, limiting the Brampton, ON native's minutes played to just 22 per game.  UNB travels to UPEI for a pair of games in Charlottetown this weekend... The injury bug has plagued Guelph Gryphons all season and did so again this past weekend as forward Kevin Cameron suffered a broken nose in Friday’s game against RMC.  According to Rob Massey's article in the Guelph Mercury, Cameron, the transfer from Windsor, is hoping to be able to get back in the lineup, possibly as early as next weekend when the Gryphs play at Ryerson Friday night and Toronto Saturday night.  The Gryphs already had forwards Sharieff Wiredu and Matthew Howlett, centre John Brutto and guard Drew Morris out with various injuries... As reported here earlier this week, the winless Bishop's Gaiters are getting two or three players back from injury and rugby and the new-look Gaiters need to address some gaping areas of concern to get on the winning track, beginning with rebounding.  The Gaiters have done a solid job of defending in spurts as witnessed in much of the first half of their game this past Saturday night at McGill (teams shoot only 42% from the field against Bishop's) however the Gaiters have allowed over 17 offensive rebounds per game in their two Q league matches and has been outrebounded by 10 boards per game.  Bishop's also has left numerous points at the free throw line as the Gaiters shoot just 46% as a group from the stripe; overall from the floor the Gaiters shoot only 33% as a team.  Bishop's hosts McGill on Friday and then travels to Ste. Foy to face Laval on Saturday in their next two games...  Concordia Stingers are already riding their exciting NCAA D1 transfer 6'2" Kyle Desmarais, who averaged 24 ppg in the Stingers 1-1 start last weekend while playing 36 minutes per game.  Concordia's star four man Evens Laroche was limited to only 26 mpg and 7.5 ppg with foul trouble in both games, giving 6'6" freshman Zack Brisebois more time in the rotation and the rookie responded with 4.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while himself battling fouls.  Brisebois also went only 1 for 6 from the line, an area in which he must improve if he wants more run... Although UQAM has a solid, high-potential pair of bigs in 6'4" Alex Bernard and 6'7" Vincent Lanctot-Fortier, who between them averaged 23 points and 16 rebounds over the Citadins 1-1 start, the stats show that coach Olga Hrycak's crew has a style very similar to previous UQAM teams.  To wit, the Citadins have grabbed 39 offensive rebounds in the 2 games and forced 52 opponents turnovers (26 per game).  Meanwhile, UQAM shoots only 26% from downtown and 51% from the foul line, figures that need to go up if the balance Citadins, who have 7 players scoring 7.5 ppg or more, are going to repeat as Quebec league champions... Brandon's O'Brien Wallace is making an early case for consideration as Canada's top sixth man, coming off the bench in each the Bobcats six games thus far to average 18.5 ppg while shooting 52% from downtown in just 24 minutes per game.  Hopefully more to come...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lonzel is so underated its a joke, I remember when he played with 5-0 he was tough.