SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Wed Dec 29, 2021 5:37 pm

Coach Fred Aura

As we had surmised, Mike Braxton has decided to transfer away from us. I truly believe he will be a good player for some team, as he would have been for us. But while we’ll miss his talent, we won’t miss his attitude. His departure meant we’d take a look at the other players who are transferring to try to find someone who will fit in well with our team and be a productive player.

Mike Braxton transferred to Virginia Tech. So we’ll go up against him after he sits out a year of ineligibility. Virginia Tech also took another transfer player who has the reputation of having ever a worse attitude than Mike…best luck to the Hokies trying to meld the team with those two playing off each other. Basketball Team Equation: LoT – LoBA = TRBL…Lots of Talent minus Lots of Bad Attitude equals TRouBLe.

Our efforts to get one of the top transfer players fizzled, so we wound up taking a bit of a flyer on a player who was transferring from a relatively low-prestige program. SF James Pratt accepted our scholarship offer. Pratt is 6’6” and comes from Burlington, NC. He wasn’t highly regarded when recruited out of high school (he was ranked #1232 as a recruit) but apparently was quite underrated. As a freshman at North Carolina-Greensboro he started all their games, averaging 29.2 mpg, 15.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.2 spg, and 1.0 bpg. What I particularly like is that he hit 46% of his FGA’s, 45% of his 3PA’s, and 87% of his FTA’s. He was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and was named to the SOCON All-Conference 1st Team. Besides being a good shooter, he’s a solid rebounder and is very strong defensively. Even though the competition level will be greater here than he experienced for NC-Greensboro, I expect him to contend for a starting role (or be a very effective 6th man) when he becomes eligible to play for us a year from now.

While it’s not possible to know if he can maintain the offensive punch he had for NC-Greensboro, if he can start or come off the bench and provide us with some aggressive fire power from the “3” position, it will be very welcome. SF has continually been the least productive and most inconsistent position on our team. I’d love to have a guy who can regularly connect from the corner to keep our opponent’s defense honest and not playing soft on our SF so they can tighten the defense on the rest of our team.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Thu Dec 30, 2021 4:27 pm

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting)

Both Coach Aura and I are really pleased to have brought James Pratt in as a transfer player. As a very low ranked recruit, he is the kind of kid we just don’t really look closely enough at during the normal recruiting process…in fact we are most likely to just pass over him completely. I’m excited to see if he can produce for us like he did for NC-Greensboro. Although we don’t get a player for 4 years when a guy transfers to us, a bonus is that we can have more knowledge not only about his playing skills, but also of his attitude and personality, his work ethic, and his scholarship. Pratt checked out well on all those fronts.

Since we signed Pratt as a transfer player to fill the spot on our roster that was vacated by Mike Braxton leaving us, we’ll have 2 scholarships to fill via recruiting this year. We purchased the basic National Report and Atlantic East Region scouting reports. And we will be attending the Indy Elite Camp and the Big Apple Showcase. That leaves us with $47,700 in our recruiting budget.

The two scholarship players on our roster who will be graduating after this season are C Courtland Reese and PF Winston Minahan. So we’ll focus on recruiting two bigs. But we’ll also look at PG’s since we think Bobby Grannum will be good enough that he MAY possibly declare early for the pro draft so additional depth at PG would be good.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:04 pm

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

Boston College’s Coach Fred Aura has a big challenge this recruiting season. He HAS to lasso a recruit who can FILL the very BIG SHOES of Courtland Reese who graduates after the conclusion of this coming season. That means a player who can score inside, rebound, and defend…and do it EXCEEDINGLY WELL and that means DOMINATE and do it from the get-go.

Reese has been a horse inside for 3 seasons thus far and will be yet again this season. If Aura is unsuccessful in getting the right recruit, the recent success of the program will be in dire jeopardy. Not an easy task since top-flight recruits tend to migrate to very established strong programs (of which BC is not), but one that is paramount if Boston College wants to continue to try to be a major player in Division I basketball. Eagles fans will be watching closely, Aura.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Sun Jan 02, 2022 2:42 am

Coach Fred Aura

We watched the pro draft with great interest wondering when Leonard Meliet would be selected. We didn’t have to watch too long. Leonard was the 11th player selected and the 2nd PG that was selected. Surprisingly PG Shahar Benson was selected 3rd in the draft. As a freshman, Benson started all games for Pittsburgh last season. But Leonard was much more productive than Benson. I called and spoke with Leonard after the draft was complete, and he was ecstatic to be selected and with the point at which he was selected. There were a total of 10 ACC players selected in the draft.

Then later in the summer we got the news that sophomore SG Corey Graham had been nominated for the Norton Award as he was as a freshman. Corey had a good year last season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, and 2.7 apg and was named the ACC Freshman of the Year and was selected for the ACC All-Conference 2nd Team. He developed well throughout the season and should be an even more complete player this season. He hit 43% of his FGA’s last year, but just 27% of his 3’s but I think that he will improve on his long-range shooting this year. I suspect he could well be one of the best scorers in the ACC this coming season.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:32 pm

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting)

We did a good job of creating at least limited interest in a large number of recruits. Getting them to let us know we were in their top 10 was a real challenge, though. There was a 5-star C from Massachusetts who we really wanted and did everything we could (short of anything illegal, of course) to entice. But he signed quickly with UCONN. A PF from Greece showed a very high level of interest and we spent far too much money on visiting him and his parents in Greece. His interest level remained high, but he didn’t commit. We got nervous about whether he would qualify academically, so we dropped our scholarship offer to him.

But before the end of September we had verbal commitments from not one, but two PF’s:

1. PF Ben Schau, 6-6 HS Senior from Lusby, MD. 2.9 GPA. Averaged 16.6 ppg, 1.6 apg, 12.9 rpg, 1.8 bpg, and 2.4 spg as a junior last season. Outstanding rebounder. Very good scorer, particularly from inside. Strong defensively, who gets a lot of steals. Good passing skills. Ranked #28 in the nation. Was in the top 25 at the Indy Elite Camp and in the top 5 at the Big Apple Showcase.

2. PF Mike Williams, 6-6 HS Senior from Nappanee, IN. 3.1 GPA. Averaged 20.7 ppg, 1.9 apg, 9.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg, and 2.4 spg as a junior last season. Excellent rebounder and defender. Outstanding scorer with excellent inside shooting skills. Good passer. Hard worker. Ranked #30 in the nation. Had a decent showing at the Indy Elite Camp.

Landing two talented big men is just what we needed to provide the depth we’ll need next season. Not 5-star recruits, but both are damned near being that. Seemingly almost carbon copies of each other, but I'm sure they'll have their own set of proficiencies. Hopefully both will have good enough SAT scores to meet our minimum standards…because we ran though almost all our recruiting budget.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Jan 02, 2022 7:33 pm

Two top 30s. Awesome!
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:18 am

1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery (practice)

Fall practice went smoothly. The guys worked hard and got along well together. I’m impressed by the talent on this team. We recruited 3 highly rated freshmen last year. PG Bobby Grannum was extremely strong from the outset of practices. C Tim Cotton was reasonably strong when practice began and improved as we progressed. SF Maynard Gardner started out looking out of place, but as the practices progressed, Maynard got stronger and stronger. The biggest problem for us is that we have a lot of players who want a lot of playing time and there’s only 40 minutes in a game so keeping everyone happy will be tough

As for me, while I enjoyed the challenge of being head coach at Detroit Mercy, I’m truly enjoying that I’m being able to focus on player development here as 1st Assistant. That’s my forte and what gets me going every day. Helping the players improve and play well together is just so rewarding. And Coach Aura wants me providing advice on strategy as well as working with players on the bench to adjust what they’re doing on the court. On a personal note, I’m a history buff, so being here gives me a chance to check out a lot of historical sites in Boston and throughout New England.

Starters are set for 4 positions with just SF up in the air.

Bobby Grannum will start at PG. He’s a 6-4 freshman who is VERY talented. Great playmaker, defender, and scorer. Rashon Thorn will be the primary backup at PG with Ramond Keep also getting a little playing time at the point.

Corey Graham will start at SG again. He’s a 6-1 sophomore. Solid all-around player and excellent scorer who averaged 14.7 ppg last season. Adrian Moss and Glen Robinson will both get minutes at SG.

Danny Toliver will be our starting PF. He’s a 6-8 junior. Very strong rebounder who also can score from inside and outside. He averaged 7.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg last season. Winston Minahan will be the primary backup at PF, but can also play SF and C. Darius Hein will also get minutes at PF.

Courtland Reese will be our starting C for the 4th straight year. He’s a 6-9 senior. Excellent rebound and very good scorer. He averaged 15.1 ppg and 8.0 rpg last season. The primary backup at C will be freshman Tim Cotton.

At SF, we will initially start Darius Hein, a 6-7 sophomore. Last season he played both PF and SF and averaged 2.3 ppg and 1.4 rpg. He hit a high percentage of his shots last year. But we’ll rotate the starting role at SF with Glen Robinson. He’s a 6-7 junior who sat out last season after transferring. He’s very talented defensively and shoots well from the perimeter. He’s been a SG in the past and will also get minutes at that position for us. Keith Kolder, a 6-7 junior, and Maynard Gardner, a 6-7 freshman will also get time at SF and either could eventually take over the starting role. Andy Dawson will get a little playing time at SF also. Let’s see who eventually is most effective and becomes our regular starter.

Our entire pre-conference schedule is tough so the team needs to gel quickly and be able to make good use of assistant coach Jeremy Anderson’s scouting reports.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Tue Jan 04, 2022 4:55 pm

Nov. 15, 2029: Colorado Buffaloes (0-0) vs Boston College Eagles (0-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery


Colorado had a 21-13 record last season and went to the NCAA Tournament. I think we have more overall talent than the Buffaloes, but anything can happen in the first game of the season. Since they haven’t played this year, Coach Anderson could only review game films from last season to develop his scouting report. They’re likely to take their time working the ball around, so we’d like to try to force turnovers. They’ll primarily be playing juniors and seniors so those players should be very familiar with their sets. All 5 of their starters and 11 of the 15 players on their rosters are upper classmen. Their main defense is a 1-3-1 zone. I’m hoping we’re able to pound the interior and score well in the paint. Glen Robinson has been our player most proficient employing our 1-3-1 zone attack offense, so as our 6th man for this game, we intend to play him at both SG and SF to give him as many minutes as we can.

We got 3 steals in the first 3 minutes and turned each of those into baskets. We got sloppy and began turning over the ball midway through the half letting the Buffaloes tie us with 6 minutes to go and go ahead with 3 minutes left. We fell behind by 7 and trailed 32-27 at the break. We had a tough time with their zone defense, hitting just 38% of our shots. PG Bobby Grannum had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

We rode the back of Bobby Grannum early in the 2nd half and finally got back a 45-44 lead with 12:44 to play. But C Courtland Reese picked up his 4th foul on Colorado’s next possession. The lead fluctuated for the next 4 minutes, but we then seemed to reach down deep to edge ahead. With 6 minutes to play we were up by 7 points. Then our shooting went cold and with 3-1/2 minute Colorado had cut our lead to a single point. We held on and led 64-63 but turned the ball over with 35 seconds to go. A foul allowed the Buffaloes to tie the game. We missed a shot with 10 seconds but Danny Toliver muscled an offensive rebound and we called a time out. Our pick and roll worked to free up Corey Graham for a 10 foot jumper that fell through the hoop with 2 seconds remaining. Colorado called a time out and then beat our press to get the ball quickly up to midcourt where they lofted up a shot at the buzzer. It was off target and we dodged a home court loss and instead edged the Buffaloes 66-64.

Our shooting improved in the 2nd half as did our control of the boards. But we need to control the ball better in our upcoming games. While we realize this was the team’s first game of the season, neither Coach Aura nor I are happy with 17 turnovers.

PG Bobby Grannum had a great first game as a collegiate, scoring 15 and dishing out 10 assists while also recording 5 rebounds and 5 steals. SF/SG Glen Robinson scored 12, SG Corey Graham and SF Danny Toliver both scored 10, and C Courtland Reese had 8 points and 9 rebounds.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby PointGuard » Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:40 am

Nov. 18, 2029: Butler Bulldogs (1-0) vs Boston College Eagles (1-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

RyReys Blog, Ryan Reynolds


After being a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament, Butler’s had a 3 season drought. But I am wanting to see how this season’s Boston College team compares with the teams they’ve put on the court the past three seasons. Also I’ve enjoyed watching Courtland Reese during his career so want to see him in his final year at BC. Glenn Robinson is starting tonight at SF for the Eagles. I think he was a smart transfer pickup by Coach Aura. Then there’s Bobby Grannum who, even as a freshman, looks ready to step into the shoes left by Leonard Meliet’s early departure.

BC’s getting off to a good start offensively, but as in their first game, they aren’t protecting the ball well, but they have a 10-6 lead at the first media timeout. Butler is killing the Eagles with 3’s. 5 of 9 in the first 10 minutes of the game to give the Bulldogs a 21-16 lead. After dropping behind by 7, BC digs down to creep within a single point and ends the half trailing 33-30. Butler just played a little better than the Eagles. Coach Aura needs to give the entire team a kick in the butt.

While not yet firing on all cylinders, BC slowly claws their way to a 48-47 lead with 13-1/2 minutes to go. The Eagles defense tightens and the team maintains a 3-5 point lead for the next 8 minutes and then goes up by a 65-56 score with 4-1/2 minutes remaining. Coming out of the final media time out with BC up by 8, it looks like Coach Aura is going with Maynard Gardner at SF and not Robinson, Hein or Kolder. Gardner’s scored 8 points coming off the bench, so I guess Aura’s going with the hot hand. Both teams scoring almost at will. BC with 2 pointers and Butler with 3’s. 1:20 to go and the Eagles are on top 73-65. The Bulldogs foul Grannum on the inbounds pass. Grannum calmly sinks both shots. Another foul with Danny Toliver dropping in both shots. Now BC’s up by 12 with 56 seconds on the clock. Boston College finishes with an 80-68 victory in a game that was much closer than the final score.

Butler drilled in 13 of 28 three-pointers in the game, but the Eagles offense came alive in the 2nd half and the team made just 2 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. But BC is having a tough time putting their opponents away, even at home. So it makes it difficult to predict how the Eagles will do this season. I see where the scribes say they expect Boston College to finish 3rd in the ACC behind North Carolina and Duke and just ahead of Syracuse and Notre Dame.

PG Bobby Grannum was again BC’s high point man. He tossed in 19 points. C Courtland Reese was right behind with 16 points and SG Corey Graham scored 12.
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Re: SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

Postby Wayne23 » Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:37 am

13-28 on threes. Impressive!
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