The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Game #10: Oregon State Beavers (1-8, 0-0) at Colorado Buffaloes (5-4, 0-0)

This is a game we really need to win since the Beavers have the worst record in the conference and we’re playing them at our home. Two of Oregon State’s losses were against Top 25 teams including a 75-60 loss at #1 Indiana though, so they played a much tougher schedule that did we.

The Beavers hit threes on their first two possessions and went ahead 8-0 before we finally scored. We came back and got close but couldn’t take the lead until R.J. Reis threw down a dunk to put us on top 18-17 with 11-1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. We then went on an 15-0 run that put us up 35-20 with 5 minutes left in the half. We let them cut into our lead in the late going, and the half ended with us holding a 42-34 advantage. Oregon State hit 50% of their shots but we were on fire and knocked down 67% since we scored most of our points inside. We also held an 11-5 turnover advantage. SF George Seamon scored 11 for us. The Beavers’ SF Ike Archie had 10 points.

We controlled the action in the 2nd half and opened as much as a 17 point lead. We forced the Beavers to make 26 turnovers while we made just 10. We did a terrible job on the boards pulling down just 16 rebounds while Oregon State grabbed 31. We hit 60% of our FG attempts. The result was a 76-66 home court victory.

SF George Seamon had his 6th consecutive prolific game and finished with 23 points. He’s now our top scorer, averaging 13.2 ppg. Vee Kurtbek scored 16 while PF Jacob Anderson came off the bench to drop in 12 points. Those 3 players combined to knock down 23 of their 29 shots. PG Chris Smith and SG Stacey Walker had 14 assists between them. We came away with 16 steals against the Beavers.


Game #11: #18 California Golden Bears (9-1, 0-1) at Colorado Buffaloes (6-4, 1-0)

California ran off 9 straight victories to begin the season, including wins over North Carolina, Oklahoma State and #10 Syracuse. They then came up short when playing at #11 Oregon. They’re led by SG Mario Burleston (16.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and 4.0 apg). SF Jesse Herbert is averaging 15.1 ppg and 3.3 spg while PF Otis McSwain averages 11.0 ppg. So it’s going to be tough defending them. We’re huge underdogs and all of their starters, other than their PG, are rated as being strong to our starters.

With reserve guard J.B. Parker nursing a sore calf so that his minutes will be severely restricted, our limited bench will be further shortened for this game making it even more difficult for us to compete with the talented Golden Bears.

We shoot well early and hold a small lead for the first 11 minutes of the game when turnovers prove our undoing (we make 12 in the first half). Even though we hit 46% of our shots compared to just 38% by the Golden Bears, we trail by a score of 29-23 at the end of the half. SF George Seamon leads our scoring with 5 points.

After dropping behind by 14 points we make a comeback midway through the 2nd half to draw within 6 points with 10 minutes to play. But then our offense fizzles and we soon trail by 17 points. We close the game by narrowing the final margin of our loss to 60-49.
SF George Seamon scores 9 to lead our anemic scoring. PG Chris Smith scores 6, dishes out 5 assists, grabs 8 rebounds, and has a steal and 5 blocks. For California SF Jesse Herbert knocks down 18 points.

[PointGuard]

Buffs battle Trojans for rebound

Game #12: Colorado Buffaloes (6-5, 1-1) at USC Trojans (7-4, 1-1)

USC tore us apart and after just 6-1/2 minutes of play led by 20 (24-4). We then scored 7 unanswered points but then the Trojans unloaded another deluge of points against us. The long half ended with us trailing 44-26. We were outshot 55% to 33%. PG Chris Smith led our scoring with 8 points.

We were behind by over 20 points for almost the entire 2nd half and dropped this game by a 75-51 score. The Trojans simply out-played us in all aspects of the game.

SF George Seamon scored 15 and pulled down 6 boards. PG Chris Smith finished with 12 points. SG Ryan Kincade scored 18 points, dished out 7 assists and hauled down 5 rebounds for USC while their C Courtney Sanders tossed in 14 points and had 15 rebounds.

We’re really unable to compete with teams with as much talent as USC possesses, particularly on the road.

[PointGuard]

Game #13: Arizona State Sun Devils (7-6, 0-3) at Colorado Buffaloes 6-6, 1-2)

We trail the entire first half due to poor shooting. The halftime score is Arizona State-36, Colorado-26. PG Chris Smith is our only bright spot with his 10 points, but he had no support.

We fall behind by 16 in the 2nd half and the deficit remains in double digits until there are 6-1/2 minutes remaining when we get within 9. Then with 4 minutes to go Stacey Walker drops in 2 free throws to get us within 5 points at 58-53. We fail to hit another shot until just before the final buzzer and lose by a score of 66-56. Our primary downfalls are 19 turnovers and hitting just 11 of 25 free throws.

PG Chris Smith popped in 18 points and PF Vee Kurtbek and SF George Seamon both scored 12 with Kurtbek grabbing 7 rebounds and Seamon taking down 6 boards. The Sun Devils were led by C Craig Jones with 20 points.




Game #14: Utah Utes (9-5, 2-2) at Colorado Buffaloes (6-7, 1-3)

The Utes came into tonight’s game packed with talent and very heavily favored to beat us. Their two losses in conference play have been to #3 ranked Arizona and #19 ranked California.

We immediately fell behind and after 7-1/2 minutes of play we were already down by 10. Utah continued their onslaught and we trailed 41-20 with 3-1/2 minutes remaining in the half. We were able to trim their lead a little but still were far behind (46-30) at the end of the half. The Utes simply destroyed our defense as they hit 67% of their FG attempts. PG Chris Smith scored 7 for us while PG Billy Rychart poured in 16 for Utah.

We got no closer in the 2nd half and got our butts kicked by a 77-56 final score. The loss left us mired in a 3-way tie for 9th place with only winless Washington State possessing a worse conference record.

PG Chris Smith scored 13 and had 6 assists and SG Stacey Walker added 10 points. Utah’s PG Billy Rychart finished with 25 points.

Our guys are doing the best they can. Even though I know we’re not talented and have no depth, these losses at home hurt. But they’re emblematic of just how much we need to improve to be competitive in the Pac-12…next season.

[PointGuard]

Interview of Coach KD Durst (KD) by Ray Richardson (RR) on KDEN radio:

RR: Hey Coach, your season is half over and while your team didn’t do badly during pre-conference play, they are having a tough time against Pac-12 competition. I know you were used to winning at Youngstown State. What’s it like being on the tail end of the score this season?

KD: Everyone likes to win and I’m not exception to that. But at Youngstown State it took us a couple years before we began winning consistently. I knew coming in here that there would be a huge rebuilding effort. Making things even more difficult was that we only had 7 scholarship players and 3 walk-ons this season and now one of those scholarship players has been dropped from our roster due to grades. But looking ahead to next season I’m very optimistic. We did extremely well with recruiting 3 strong high school seniors and also have brought in 5 valuable transfer players. I believe all 8 of those players could very well contend for starting roles next season. In addition, we have 6 of this year’s team coming back next season and with the experience they’re gaining this year, they all should be stronger players next season.

RR: Can you tell us about each of this season’s players?

KD: I’d be happy to. All of them are fine young men and go all-out to do the best they can.
Let’s start with our guards:
Chris Smith was a starter last year as a freshman and while he had a good year as a freshman, he’s doing even better as a sophomore. “Smitty” isn’t afraid to put the ball up and hits a good percentage of his shots, but he’s also been dishing out a lot more assists and has become a much stronger defender this season. He likes to shoot from mid-range and out beyond the arc. I’d like to see him driving more and drawing more fouls since he is knocking down 82% of his free throws.
Stacey “Ranger” Walker, played a year at Loyola Marymount and 2 years for Colorado, but never started until this season. As his senior season progresses, he’s getting more into the flow and while he’s primarily a SG, he’s done well also filling in at the point this season. He’s been dishing out his share of assists this year. He’s hitting a high percentage of his shots, but needs to gain more confidence and be more aggressive at putting the ball up. He’s almost exclusively a mid-range shooter. He doesn’t drive too much and only rarely will put up a shot from beyond the arc. Thus far he’s not been willing to work on those aspects of his game. He has quick hands so gets a good amount of steals.
J.B. Parker is a senior walk-on who hardly ever played in his 2 other years with the team. He’s done better at the 2 rather than at the point so far. He’s an aggressive shooter and is knocking down a high percentage of his shots, including those from 3-point distance. For some reason, his free throw shooting is not as strong. He’s not a strong defender or rebounder and like my other guards, he doesn’t like to drive much. But he’s one of the harder workers on our team and is well liked by everyone.
One our ineligible transfer players is Matt Conley who played for Oklahoma in his freshman year. Although he didn’t get much playing time for the Sooners, I think he’s going to get a lot of playing time for us next season primarily at PG. He’s got a very nice outside shot and his talents are strong across the board.
Another transfer player who has to sit out this season is Steve Jackson who the guys call “General” and “Stonefall”. He was a starter at SG in every game last season as a freshman for Prairie View, where he averaged 16.4 ppg. Although he wasn’t a highly ranked recruit, he played above expectations and was the SWAC Freshman of the Year. He’s another player who has solid skills in most all areas other than inside shooting.
A third transfer is Camah Griffin. He came to us from Loyola Marymount where he was a starter at SG his entire freshman season. He averaged 13.3 ppg and was the WCC Freshman of the Year. While he primarily was a mid-range and outside shooter, I’ve been encouraging him to drive more and he’s been working on it.

Looking at our forwards, we have:
George “Merchant” Seamon is our starting SF. He was not used extensively during his first three seasons, but has been getting stronger and stronger this season. He’s now competing with Chris Smith as the team’s top scorer. He’s adept at working at inside, outside and midrange. He’s also one or strongest players defensively. Even though he’s at the 3 most of the time, I’ve also been able to have him fill in at the 2 when needed.
We were really lucky to latch onto Primoz Pohek from Slovenia right after I arrived here at the end of last season. He was highly ranked as a PF. At the beginning of this season, we played him at the 4 but then he showed an ability to proficiently back up Seamon at SF. He was really doing well there and hitting a high percentage of his shots. He was doing so well coming off the bench that the guys were calling him “Primetime”. Unfortunately, he ran into some scholastic problems at the end of the term and is now on academic probation. He’s a good leaper and I think he will be a very strong rebounder for us in upcoming seasons so we’ll see if he works out better at PF or SF.
Charles Maor is a transfer from the University of Washington. In his freshman year last season for the Huskies he got a lot of playing time coming in off the bench and scored and rebounded well at SF. He’s a strong defender with good shot blocking and stealing skills. I expect he will step in to take over for Seamon as our starter at SF next season when he regains his eligibility.
Vefa “Vee” Kurtbek is a sophomore from Turkey. He got very little playing time here last season, but has been our starting PF in every game this season. He’s been doing a solid job. He’s hitting a high percentage of his shots so I’d like to see him put the ball up more often. I think he’s got a lot of upside potential in his upcoming two seasons for us.
Jacob Anderson started a few games as a freshman here last season. He’s been coming in off the bench at the PF position for us this year. He’s scoring a little better this season and had one really strong game for us. He still has some maturing to do as he develops his skills.
Mat “Biggame” Hunter played for Oakland as a freshman. He got very little playing time there and transferred to us and regained his eligibility this season. He was coming in off the bench at PF but now that Primoz Pohek is unavailable to sub at SF, Hunter has done that the past few games. He had one really strong game at SF for us, but has yet been able to show consistency. Offensively he works the entire court, and will further development could be a nice asset for us.
Our final transfer player this year is Ryan Erickson who is from Canada. He was a starter in most games for Colgate as a freshman and sophomore but ran into grade problems midway through his sophomore year. He got his grades back up so far since coming here. It’s important he keep them up since I think he could be a key interior asset for us when he regains his eligibility next season. He was a good scorer and rebounder for Colgate who hit a very high percentage of his shots. He has some excellent skills, but needs encouragement to work hard.

At center we have two walk-ons:
Ryan Blackshear is 7’1” and can fill up the lane with his 295 pounds. He’s a senior but this is the first year he’s been on our team. He began the year as the backup center but then took over as the starter after some decent scoring games early in the season. Even though he’s a big guy, his rebounding skills are weak since he has yet to develop the ability to get into position and use his bulk to maintain it. He does draw a lot of fouls though, but only hits 50% of his free throws.
6’10” R.J. Reis splits time with Blackshear. As a freshman here, he played very little. I’d like to see him shoot more but is a better rebounder than Blackshear. He’s a hard worker, though, so could develop into a good role player for us the next couple years.

RR: So what’s your prognosis for the team the rest of this season?

KD: Even though we may not win that many games, you can rely on these guys to keep playing their hardest. They’re a very cohesive group of players. As I mentioned, since we have so few eligible players, they’re all getting a lot of playing time which will help them develop their skills for upcoming seasons here.

RR: Finally Coach, are you surprised your old team, Youngstown State, has a 7-8 (3-3) record this season?

KD: Ray, I really haven’t had the time to keep up on what’s going on there. I’m sad that they are struggling and hope that they come on strong the rest of this season. They have a great nucleus so could end up surprising some people.

[PointGuard]

Game #15: Colorado Buffaloes (6-8, 1-4) at #2 ranked Arizona Wildcats (14-2, 5-0)

The Wildcats were riding a 12 game win streak coming into the game.

Arizona scored the first 10 points in the game. At the midpoint of the half we trailed 21-2. Before we scored again, we trailed by an embarrassing 34-2 score. This is the worst start I've ever seen in a men's college basketball game. We finally woke up and began to score, but still were far behind at 42-16 at the end of the half. We were outshot 53% to 21%. Our leading scorer was PG Chris Smith with 5 points. PG Kelvin Smith dropped in 14 points for Arizona.

We played pretty well in the 2nd half and with 6 minutes to play we had reduced the Wildcats’ lead to 58-45. But that was as close as we could get. We lost 72-52. Bad, but not so bad when you consider the WIldcats had us down 34-2 early.

PG Chris Smith scored 14 points, C Ryan Blackshear added 10, and SF George Seamon scored 7 and grabbed 10 rebounds. For Arizona PG Kelvin Smith hit for 24 points and dished out 6 assists while his backcourt-mate SG Darrell Walker scored 18 and had 9 assists.

[Wayne23]

Considering all of the nicknames you might have given George Seamon I'm relieved you settled on "Merchant."

[PointGuard]

Considering all of the nicknames you might have given George Seamon I'm relieved you settled on "Merchant."

Hmmm...I (and my players) have NO idea what possibly could have EVER concerned you.

[Wayne23]

"Shipwreck." I was thinking "Shipwreck" Seamon... Or sumpin lahk dat.

[PointGuard]

Game #16: #9 Oregon Ducks (13-3, 5-1) at Colorado Buffaloes (6-9, 1-5)

Oregon has a great inside-outside game with SG John Barnes scoring 15.8 ppg and their two centers, Larry Graves and John Jones, averaging 17.4 ppg and 13.5 ppg, respectively.

We hit just 33% of our shots in the first half due to a tenacious defense employed by the Ducks. Oregon hit 49% of their shots. We trailed 43-29 at the half. PG Chris Smith hit for 7 points. The Ducks were led by PF Matt Reeves who scored 10 points.

Less than 3 minutes into the 2nd half, we trailed by 24. While we trimmed Oregon’s lead a little, we still were drubbed 88-69. A major difference in the game was Oregon’s 36-21 rebounding advantage.

PG Chris Smith dropped in 19 points and SF George Seamon contributed 13 points. Oregon had 5 players scoring in double figures led by SG John Barnes’ 17 points.

J.B. Parker sprained his finger and is likely to miss at least the next 2 games.

[PointGuard]

Game #17: Colorado Buffaloes (6-10, 1-6) at #9 Oregon Ducks (14-3,6-1)

In rather unusual scheduling we have play back-to-back games against Oregon, now having to play them on their court after losing to them by 19 on our home court. Crap! Oregon now is atop the standings in the Pac-12 since Arizona has lost the last 2 games they’ve played. I’d like to think that its because we wore Arizona down so badly when we played them (and lost to them by 20), but doubt that is the case. With J.B. Parker injured, we have no bench players who typically play either PG or SG, so our starters, Chris Smith and Stacey Walker, will be fatigued.

Little to say about the first half other than Oregon took it to us the entire half. At the break we were on the short end of a 44-21 score. The Ducks’ defense held our shooting to 31% and forced us to make 12 turnovers. SG Stacey Walker scored 7 for us, but SG John Barnes poured in 20 for Oregon.

The Ducks simply held us off in the 2nd half and beat us easily 83-60. PG Chris Smith led our scoring with 11 points and SF George Seamon added 10 points and 7 rebounds. C Larry Graves scored 29 and had 10 rebounds for Oregon while SG John Barnes had 25 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds.

The loss dropped us into sole possession of 11th place with only the Washington State Cougars (0-8) lower in the standings.