Long Island Blackbirds: A John Citizen Program

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]John Citizen 2014 Preseason Report[/SIZE]

Our squad is again improved another season on. Whitehead steps straight into the starting PG position, pushing walkon Martin to back him up from the bench. Tucman, Holt and Panagou remain starting after there NEC team appearances last year and Taitto has just beaten out Platts to start at PF, making it 3 starting international recruits. It will again all come down to Tucman, who has again been nominated for the Norton Award. His supporting cast however is stronger again than previously, which suggests improvement, how much will depend on how well they can support him.

Goals
Win NEC Tournament
Win 15+ Games

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]Post Season Report[/SIZE]
Record: 26-5 (17-1)
NEC: Champions
NCAA: Eliminated in 2nd Round

Goals
Win NEC Tournament - Succeeded
Win 15+ Games - Succeeded

John Citizen Yearly Analysis
NEC Champions for the first time in John Citizens time at LIU and likewise their first NCAA tournament appearance. Another year where improvement was evident. After initially starting Taitto the move was made to put Holt at PF and bring Davis in as a starter at SF. LIU managed to defeat Memphis in the NCAA first round before folding to LSU by 2 points in OT. Tucman was again the star of the season and will be again next year as he returns as a Senior. He collected his 2nd All American 1st Team honour this season.

Awards
John Citizen - NEC Coach of the Year
Jaruj Tucman - NEC Player of the Year, NEC Defensive Player of the Year, NEC 1st Team, All American 1st Team
Gerard Holt - NEC 1st Team
Mario Whitehead - NEC 2nd Team



Notable Graduates
Gerard Holt - PF - 58GP - 2 year starter

Recruited out of JC, rated #36 Holt provided solid support to Tucman especially in the NIT final run in his first season. NEC 1st and 2nd team honours over his two years, Holt produced what was expected when he was recruited.

Leaving Early for NBA Draft
-

LIU Blackbird of the Year
As presented by John Citizen
2014 - Patrick Freeman - JR - PG - 11.1ppg 2.4apg 2.4rpg 0.5spg 0.0bpg
2015 - Jaruj Tucman - FR - SG - 26.0ppg 1.8apg 4.2rpg 1.6spg 0.6bpg
2016 - Jaruj Tucman - SO - SG - 28.0ppg 2.1apg 4.6rpg 1.8spg 0.5bpg
2017 - Jaruj Tucman - JR - SG - 24.6ppg 2.2apg 5.2rpg 2.3spg 0.4bpg

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]Recruitment[/SIZE]

John Citizen Analysis
LIU this year bring in two recruits, both SFs, one from JC and the other from Blackbird All American Tucman's homeland, Croatia. Not a particularly strong class we will be hoping that Boksic can develop long term and may look to red shirt him. Johnson will likely provide instant bench coverage and could be a potential start during his tenure. Neither are of the quality we try to recruit defensively but are good athletes and rebounders.

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]John Citizen 2014 Preseason Report[/SIZE]

With Tucman coming into his final season at LIU he will be looking to finish just as strong as the previous 3 years have been. Overall the team is as strong as ever. Whitehead, Davis, Taitto and Panagou make up a solid starting 5. With JC recruit Johnson, Platts and Akins coming off the bench this is the deepest lineup to date. Boksic has been redshirted. Expectations are that NEC tournament and a decent NCAA run.

Goals
Win NEC Tournament
Win 15+ Games

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]Post Season Report[/SIZE]
Record: 30-2 (18-0)
NEC: Champions
NCAA: Eliminated in 2nd Round

Goals
Win NEC Tournament - Succeeded
Win 15+ Games - Succeeded

John Citizen Yearly Analysis
A largely disappointing finish to an otherwise spectacular season. 4 starters were named in the NEC 1st team as LIU dominated the conference, going through undefeated and winning the tournament without worry.Texas however in the second round of the NCAA tournament was too strong. Tucman will now depart leaving a new team dynamic.

Awards
John Citizen - NEC Coach of the Year
Jaruj Tucman - NEC Player of the Year, , NEC 1st Team, All American 2nd Team
Mario Whitehead - NEC 1st Team, NEC Defensive Player of the Year
Eusebios Panagou - NEC 1st Team
Jared Davis - NEC 1st Team



Notable Graduates
Jaruj Tucman - SG - 115GP - 79 PotG - 4 year starter

The Croatian Superstar was phenomanal from day one at LIU. He led LIU to their first two NEC titles since 2012 and first in John Citizens reign, as well as to the NIT final. He came in ready to go and did not stop scoring and dominating games. Over his 115 game Blackbird career he averaged 34.5 minutes, 25.2 points, 4.0 3 pointers,2.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds 1.9 steals and .5 blocks. His personal trophy cabinet is stacked including 2 1st Team All American honours, a 2nd Team All American, 4 NEC Player of the Year awards, 3 NEC Defensive Player of the Year, NEC Freshman of the Year and 4 NEC 1st Team. Of the 95 winning games he played in 79 times he was named player of the game, an 83% rate. He holds all LIU scoring and steal records including a high of 50 points in one game and a total of 8 games where he scored over 40. He is the greatest LIU Blackbird to date and it is unlikely his performances will be match any time soon.

Mario Whitehead - PG - 60GP - 6 PotG - 2 year starter

Delivered as expected after being ranked #36 coming in from JC. NEC 2nd team in first season then NEC 1st team along with NEC Defensive Player of the Year, a title he took of Tucman, proves he was exceptional in both seasons. 6 times was named player of the game.

BJ Platts - PF - 118GP - 0 PotG - 0 year starter

Ranked #89 when recruited came in raw and developed into a solid bench big man.

Leaving Early for NBA Draft
-

LIU Blackbird of the Year
As presented by John Citizen
2014 - Patrick Freeman - JR - PG - 11.1ppg 2.4apg 2.4rpg 0.5spg 0.0bpg
2015 - Jaruj Tucman - FR - SG - 26.0ppg 1.8apg 4.2rpg 1.6spg 0.6bpg
2016 - Jaruj Tucman - SO - SG - 28.0ppg 2.1apg 4.6rpg 1.8spg 0.5bpg
2017 - Jaruj Tucman - JR - SG - 24.6ppg 2.2apg 5.2rpg 2.3spg 0.4bpg
2018 - Jaruj Tucman - SR - SG - 21.9ppg 3.2apg 4.1rpg 1.8spg 0.7bpg

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]Recruitment[/SIZE]

John Citizen Analysis
With LIU legend Tucman graduating this was always going to be an important class of recruits. Fortunately we managed to land one of the best players in the country in PF Logan, an absolute beast that will be our new best player for a season before no doubt joining the NBA. A coup on par if not greater than Tucman. Dickerman is a big defensive center who can score down low, rebound and block. Tyler comes in a a prospective PG who can defend, handle the ball and score from outside. Sands is another international recruit who can hopefully develop into a solid rotation guy.

Unsuccessful Recruits
A few disappointing tales this class with both Nathaniel and Waley, players we wanted badly, not qualifying for our SAT requirements. Englishman Lewis however did qualify and we expected him to join LIU until Cincinnati pounced at a late stage of the year. This meant we did not fill our final scholarship position.

[zike_42]

Great dynasty so far, keep it up! It will be a huge hole to fill now your Croatian legend has left. I'm guessing Logan is a one and done?

[citizen]

Cheers Zike! Have been playing the game flat out, loving it, planning on continuing for some time yet, hopefully long enough to turn Long Island into a force and then John Citizen might head to the NBA, who knows! The team will miss Tucman a lot, we were lucky to get him let alone get 4years. Definitely expecting Logan to have the single season only, his potential is huge, 10s inside, scoring, passing,both rebs, block, unfortunately for us he is a little bit off that just now. I do plan on running a PB3 save to with each class imported to update our old players NBA progress ever couple of seasons.

[citizen]

John Citizen 2014 Preseason Report

With only one of last years starters reappearing this year it is clear the Blackbirds will have to find a new avenue to score and play consistently if they are to be successful this year. Akins has won the starting PG spot over a raw Gilbert, likewise Johnson over Boksic. Davis has moved down from SF to SG and Dickerman was won out the battle to start ahead of SR Panagou, who has held the starting spot the previous 3 seasons, the two will however split minutes. This year the Blackbirds will favour inside scoring more so to accommodate to recruit Derek Logan, a huge man with huge potential. We expect this years side to be too strong for any NEC competitors, meaning our season will be judged solely on post season performance. It must also be noted SF Gilbert was cut in the preseason in order to free up a scholarship position.

Goals
Win NEC Tournament
Win 15+ Games

[citizen]

[SIZE="5"]Post Season Report[/SIZE]
Record: 24-6 (17-1)
NEC: Eliminated in 2nd Round
NCAA: Eliminated in 1st Round

Goals
Win NEC Tournament - Failed
Win 15+ Games - Succeeded

John Citizen Yearly Analysis
An excellent season with an excellent record came tumbling down instantly as LIU exited the NEC tournament in a shock 2nd round loss. The disappointment continued days later as an instant NCAA tournament loss meant another poor finish to a season. An extremely disappointing ended with 3 starters and the the 6th man (former starter) all graduating and star freshman, as expected, leaving for the NBA.

Awards
John Citizen - NEC Coach of the Year
Derek Logan - NEC Player of the Year, NEC Freshman of the Year, NEC 1st Team
Jared Davis - NEC 1st Team
Brandon Johnson - NEC 2nd Team
Greg Akins - NEC 2nd Team


Notable Graduates
Eusebios Panagou - C - 117GP - 1 PotG - 3 year starter

Greek recruit Panagou started as a FR, SO and JR before being used off the bench in his SR year due to coach Citizens preference to JR Dickenman. He was NEC Freshman of the Year in 2016 where he took out NEC 2nd team honors, he would then take out NEC 1st team honors as a junior. Recruited as #69 rank, a player that did not reach his potential at LIU.

Jared Davis - SG/SF - 89GP - 13 PotG - 3 year starter

After transferring from Mississippi St. Davis spent 3 years as a starter at both SG and SF. Recognised with NEC 1st team honors in his final two years, Davis led the Blackbirds in scoring in his SR year. A definite transfer success story.

Greg Akins - PG/SG - 96GP - 4 PotG - 1 year starter

Akins finally got a chance to start as there was simply no one better available to play PG. He held his own and had a fantastic season as a SR earning NEC 2nd team honors. A player that had a lot more potential than was achieved at LIU.

Brandon Johnson - SF - 59GP - 3 PotG - 1 year starter

JC recruit who started in SR year and earned NEC 2nd team honors.

Leaving Early for NBA Draft
Derek Logan - PF - FR - 29GP - 9 PotG - 1 year starter

Still raw with truckloads of potential Derek Logan will enter the NBA as a early draft selection and a player with huge career ahead in the NBA. As a freshman he was the best player in the NEC however could not carry them in either tournament.

LIU Blackbird of the Year
As presented by John Citizen
2014 - Patrick Freeman - JR - PG - 11.1ppg 2.4apg 2.4rpg 0.5spg 0.0bpg
2015 - Jaruj Tucman - FR - SG - 26.0ppg 1.8apg 4.2rpg 1.6spg 0.6bpg
2016 - Jaruj Tucman - SO - SG - 28.0ppg 2.1apg 4.6rpg 1.8spg 0.5bpg
2017 - Jaruj Tucman - JR - SG - 24.6ppg 2.2apg 5.2rpg 2.3spg 0.4bpg
2018 - Jaruj Tucman - SR - SG - 21.9ppg 3.2apg 4.1rpg 1.8spg 0.7bpg
2019 - Derek Logan - FR - PF - 13.0ppg 1.4apg 7.7rpg 1.7spg 0.5bpg