Josh "Transfer-man" Fontaine

[PointGuard]

Summer Recruiting Results

We got two commitments in autumn. Both were SF’s, one a 2-star recruit who is attending a JC and the other a 1-star high school senior. I expect that the JC recruit will provide us with some good depth immediately but that the high school recruit will take a season or two to develop to the point where he will provide us with much. We were unable to land a big man although we have some on our list who are interested in us. We’ll play it cool and conserve some recruiting funds and then try to fill the remaining scholarship in March or April.

[PointGuard]

Chicago State Cougars Roster with Starters

Confusion and uncertainty. That’s where we are on trying to set a starting lineup. At some positions we simply can’t decide between two guys. And some of our possible starters could play 2 or 3 positions and it’s difficult to decide which they should fill. So, we’re going to experiment in the early games this season with different starters, most likely play 9 or 10 of our players nearly equal minutes in those early games, and play some of them at different positions. I think we’ll then have a better handle on just who does best and at which positions they should spend the most of their time.

[PointGuard]

November Game Results:

Chicago State—91, Delaware State—73 (We started Cameron Brown (FR) at PG, Livan Forney (JR) at SG, Rory Nelson (SR) at SF, Donnell Tate (SR) at PF, and Izaak Hargrove (SO) at C. Our play in the first half was inconsistent and we trailed 38-36 at the end of the half. But we burned the nets with our shots and scored 55 points in the 2nd half. Our overall defense? Mixed results…good pressure with 11 steals and 9 blocks and forcing 18 turnovers, but we gave up too many open shots and let them hit 49% of their FG’s and 42% of their 3’s. 9 players got 15-24 minutes each and another was on the floor for 10 minutes. Five players in double figures: Livan Forney-17, Vince Madsen-17, Donnell Tate-15, Miguel Soto-13, Michael McMahon-10. Top rebounder: Landon Berlin with 7; top in assists: Cameron Brown with 7.) [1-0]

Chicago State—95, Wagner—89 (Starting 5: Miguel Soto (SO) at PG, Livan Forney (JR) at SG, Donnell Tate (SF) at SF, Vince Madsen (JR) at PF, and Michael McMahon (FR) at C. Refs couldn’t stop calling fouls and both our PG’s got 2 fouls in first 4-1/2 minutes. They shot well early but we were better and our lead grew to 11 midway through the half. But then their shooting sizzled and they grabbed a 46-45 halftime lead. Wagner continued hitting their shots early in the 2nd half but we streaked ahead of them when we got hot in the middle of the half. They roared back late but we were able to hold them off. All 5 starters scored in double figures: Dontell Tate-17, Vince Madsen-15, Michael McMahon-13, Miguel Soto-13, and Livan Forney-11. Top rebounder was Tate with 6 and most assists went to Soto with 5.) [2-0]

Chicago State—87, Central Arkansas—78 (First half had 13 lead changes and 5 ties, but the Cougars took control in the last 3 minutes to get ahead 50-42 by halftime. Chicago State held onto a double digit lead in the 2nd half until the final 3 minutes but Central Arkansas got no closer than 8 points. C Izaak Hargrove led the scoring with 15 points and he also had 8 rebounds. Others scoring in double figures were: SG Livan Forney with 14, C Michael McMahon with 13 and PG Cameron Brown with 11. Hargrove's 8 rebounds were high for the team while Brown had 3 assists and no one had more.) [3-0]

Chicago State—93, Ball State—65 (Hot shooting made it possible for the Cougars to quickly build an imposing lead and by the end of the half they were on top 53-26. The onslaught continued in the 2nd half. Chicago State outshot Ball State 51% to 41% and hit 11 of 24 from 3 point distance. The Cougars also had a 20-9 turnover advantage. PF Vince Madsen led the scoring with 19 points. PG Miguel Soto scored 16 points, C Michael McMahon hit for 14, and SG Livan Forney finished with 13 points. Forney was tops in rebounding with 6 and Tate’s 6 assists were the high. We’re averaging 91.5 ppg thus far. SF Rory Nelson sprained his ankle and won’t be back to 100% for a couple weeks.) [4-0)

Chicago State—88, South Carolina State—72 (The Cougars led most of the 1st half, but each time they’d appear to get some cushion the Bulldogs would come back. But at the half, Chicago State led 43-39. The Cougars scored the first 7 points of the 2nd half and held a double-digit lead the rest of the way. C Izaak Hargrove scored 16 and pulled down 8 boards. C Michael McMahon had 12 points and 9 rebounds. SF Landon Berlin also scored 12. SG Livan Forney had 11 and PF Vince Madsen added 10.) [5-0]

[PointGuard]

[b]Lineup Assessment after a month of play:[/b]

The team has really been on fire offensively and we’ve got good production from a lot of our guys, so it’s not easy determine which players should be starting. Leading scorers have been: Madsen, 13.4 ppg; Forney, 13.2 ppg; McMahon, 12.4 ppg; Soto, 11.6 ppg; Hargrove, 10.8 ppg; Tate, 9.0 ppg; Brown 6.2 ppg. Top rebounders have been: Hargrove, 5.8 rpg; Tate, 5.4 rpg; McMahon, 4.0 rpg; Forney, 3.8 rpg; Madsen, 3.8 rpg. Tops in assists: Forney, 4.0 apg; Soto, 4.0 apg; Brown, 3.6 apg; Tate, 3.0 apg.

The one guy who is a definite to be starting is Livan Forney at SG. The guy scores, rebounds, hands out assists, and plays well defensively. John Price does a good job coming in off the bench, and Mario Soto’s offense makes him a good replacement for Forney as well.

At PG, Mario Soto has been great offensively, hitting a freakishly high percentage of his shots from all over the court. But Cameron Brown has also done well, particularly at directing the team and dishing out assists. For now we’ll stick with Soto as the starter at PG, but he could also be a fantastic 6th man, coming in at either PG or SG to jump start our offense. Brown is a freshman and may well be the starting PG before the season ends. Jevon Gage hasn’t played that much, but has been impressive when we’ve got him into games, particularly with respect to assists and steals.

Donnell Tate has the experience and talent to hold on as our starter at SF. His offense has tapered off a bit the past few games, but he’s a great rebounder and he shoots well from outside the arc. Rory Nelson and Landon Berlin are both good subs at SF and either could start as well if needed.

Vince Madsen has nailed down the PF spot due his being both a good scorer and rebounder. Tate and Berlin are good at filling in at PF when Madsen needs a breather.

The C position is still being highly contested between Michael McMahon and Izaak Hargrove. McMahon has a slight edge offensively, but Hargrove is a better rebounder. For now the edge goes to Hargrove, but we really can’t go wrong with starting either one of them.

It’s still early, but defensively out best lineup has been Brown at PG, Forney at SG, Nelson at SF, either Madsen or Tate at PF, and Hargrove at C.

[PointGuard]

December Game Results:

Chicago State—78, Chattanooga—65 (We never trailed in this game. We led by as much as 21 points midway through the 2nd half. Our two centers dominated inside and we held a 36-20 advantage on points in the paint. C Izaak Hargrove scored 17 and C Michael McMahon added 16 points. SG Livan Forney hit for 12 points.) [6-0]

INJURY: SG Livan Forney broke his hand and will miss the next two months of games. Big loss. We’ll switch Mario Soto from starting at PG to SG and start Cameron Brown at PG.

Chicago State—90, Robert Morris—81 (We led almost all the way but the Colonels flirted with the lead early in the 2nd half. We then moved out to a 10 point lead and held Robert Morris off. We mainly won this game by out-rebounding Robert Morris 43-34 and scoring 19 more points at the foul line. SF Donnell Tate topped our scoring with 18 points and also had 9 boards. C Izaak Hargrove scored 17 plus had 11 rebounds. C Michael McMahon scored 16 points while playing just 12 minutes. PG Cameron Brown scored 11 and SG Mario Soto added 10.) [7-0]

Chicago State—89, Brown—75 (14 lead changes and 6 ties throughout the first half and the first 2 minutes of the 2nd hall. But then behind the interior play of Izaak Hargrove and Michael McMahon, the Cougars drew away from the Bears. Even though Brown outshot Chicago State, the Cougars control of the boards and making just 11 turnovers compared to 22 by the Bears gave the Cougars many more opportunities. C Michael McMahon poured in 29 points while C Izaak Hargove had 21 points and 8 rebounds and SG John Price added 11 points.) [8-0]

Chicago State—89, Youngstown State—83 (Chicago State opened a 12 point lead in the first half and looked like they might run away with this game, but the Penguins slowly cut into the lead in the 2nd half to the point where the lead was waffling back and forth. But the Cougars edged ahead in the final 7 minutes but never to the point where the outcome couldn’t have been reversed. C Michael McMahon scored 19 and grabbed 7 boards, PG Cameron Brown dropped in 17 points, C Izaak Hargrove had 15 points and 7 rebounds, and SG Mario Soto scored 11 points.) [9-0]

Chicago State—87, Tennessee-Martin—71 (C Izaak Hargrove was hoping to have a big game against his previous team. He scored just 8 points but he and Michael McMahon held C Terrence Watkins who had been averaging 17 ppg to just 7 points. There were 9 lead changes early in the first half, but then the Cougars took charge. C Michael McMahon again was the top scorer for Chicago State with 17 points. SG Mario Soto hit for 15 points, PF Vince Madsen scored 11, and SF Donnell Tate added 11. SG Mike Wallace scored 29 points for Tennessee-Martin.) [10-0]
Award: C Michael McMahon was named the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week.

Chicago State—85, Columbia—60 (Good combination of offense and defense, but Columbia isn’t a strong team. We led from start to finish and our entire bench got a lot of playing time. C Michael McMahon hit 10 of 12 FG’s to score 20 points and had 7 rebounds. SF Donnell Tate scored 10 points in 15 minutes on the court. Rory Nelson and Landon Berlin split the rest of the time at SF and combined for 17 points.) [11-0]

Fordham—83, Chicago State—75 (Due to his recent strong play, Michael McMahon was back starting at C for this game. He played well, scoring 15 and grabbing 6 boards. C Izaak Hargrove had 10 points and 7 rebounds. PF Vince Madsen led our scoring with 20 points and also pulled down 7 boards. SG Mario Soto had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. But our defense was porous and Fordham hit 14 of 29 from beyond the arc. The Rams had 5 players in double figures led by PG Ahmad Vanlier’s 24 points. While we dominated the boards 39-29, we uncharacteristically had 24 turnovers which ultimately spelled our defeat.) [11-1]

Chicago State—105, Merrimack—81 (The game was a toss-up for the first 3 minutes and then it was all ours. By the end of the half we were up 58-34. C Michael McMahon scored 20, SG Mario Soto tossed in 17, PG Cameron Brown had 15 points and 7 assists, and PF Vince Madsen scored 12. All our players saw action and 11 of 12 of them scored.) [12-1]

[PointGuard]

Stats at end of Pre-Conference play:

We’re averaging 88.9 ppg (best in all of Division I) while our opponents are averaging 74.4 ppg. We’re averaging 21.5 apg (2nd best in the country), 35.2 rpg (41st best), 5.8 bpg (40th best), 7.5 spg, and hitting 50.5% of our FG’s (11th best), 34.7% of our 3’s, and 77.7% of our FT’s (21st best). Our NET Ranking is 46th best in Division I, and along with our W-L record, is best in the Western Athletic Conference. Three other WAC teams are above .500 thus far: Sam Houston State is 9-4, Texas Rio-Grande is 8-6, and Dixie State is 7-6.

Our top scorers: C Michael McMahon-17.1 ppg, SG Livan Forney (13.7 ppg but still sidelined due to a major injury), C Izaak Hargrove-11.4 ppg, PF Vince Madsen-10.8 ppg, SG Mario Soto-10.6 ppg, SF Donnell Tate-9.5 ppg, and PG Cameron Brown-7.6 ppg.

Tops in rebounding: C Izaak Hargrove-6.1 rpg, SF Donnell Tate-5.4 rpg, PF Vince Madsen-4.7 rpg, C Michael McMahon-4.5 rpg, SG Livan Forney-3.3 rpg, and SF Rory Nelson-3.2 rpg.

Leaders in assists: PG Cameron Brown-4.7 apg, SG Livan Forney-3.7 apg, SG Mario Soto-3.5 apg, and SF Donnell Tate-3.0 apg.

Thus far in the season within the Western Athletic Conference, Michael McMahon is the 3rd highest scorer, Izaak Hargrove is the 11th highest rebounder, and Cameron Brown is the 6th highest in assists.

[PointGuard]

RADIO INTERVIEW OF COACH JOSH FONTAINE:

FFF: Heya sports fans. This is Fearless Felix Freehan coming to you from 670 AM The Score, Chicago’s most-listened to sports radio station. The Chicago State Cougars just finished pre-conference play and head into games that count in the Western Athletic Conference this coming week. Head Coach Josh Fontaine is on with me tonight.

FFF: Congratulations Coach on your team’s 12-1 record.

JF: Thanks, our guys have done a tremendous job and they deserve all the credit. They’ve been driving stakes into the hearts of our opponents.

FFF: Did you expect the team to be doing this well?

JF: I thought we had a good team, but no, I wouldn’t have predicted we would have done as well as we have.

FFF: You have a lot of new players to the team this year. How difficult was it putting the team together this season?

JF: To be honest, it’s still a work in progress. I put a lot of faith in my assistants and they take on some big responsibilities. At the end of fall practice, I sat down with all my assistants to determine who would start and where. We never did come to a solid consensus. There were a lot of different opinions and questions about who would start and at what positions they would play. The only definite was that Livan Forney would start at SG. And the only other definite starter was Donnell Tate, but some felt he should be at PF and others at SF. We tried some different combinations in our first few games but fortunately we found out that our guys were better than we had expected.

FFF: Interesting Coach, but Livan Forney got hurt early in the season.

JF: That’s right. Livan played extremely well for us the past 2 seasons and this year he was even better. He was hitting 51% of this FG’s and an amazing 54% of his 3’s. But in game 6 he broke his hand and that means we’ll be without him playing for us for about 2 months. I really feel sorry for Livan and look forward to getting him back playing for us late this season. But Livan’s running plays in practice and once his hand is fully mended I’m sure he’ll be back to give our team a big shot in the arm late this season.

FFF: Did you panic when your star player was sidelined?

JF: I didn’t exactly panic, but I have to admit I was worried. But we had Mario Soto, who transferred to us this past summer who we expected to play primarily at PG but also put some time in at SG. So we just moved him over to starting at SG and made freshman Cameron Brown our starting PG. That’s worked out pretty well. Mario is a top-notch scorer, and Cameron’s done a good job of running the team, even though he’s rather inexperienced.

FFF: Your team is also doing well with its interior offense and rebounding. How’d you work out who would handle setting that up?

JF: Like I said, we really weren’t able to be sure who would play and where inside. But even though he came to us as a PF, Donnell Tate played mostly at SF last season. And he’s done a really solid job for us there again this season. He’s a consistently good scorer and is our 2nd best rebounder. Vince Madsen is another transfer player we picked up this past summer and Vince has been extremely productive at PF for us. We have shifted back and forth between starting Izaak Hargrove and Michael McMahon at C. But really we can’t go wrong with whichever one of those we start. They end up playing about the same amount of minutes no matter who starts. Michael is a great scorer in the paint and has become the guy who regularly garners scoring honors for us game to game. And Izaak scores well and is an extremely strong rebounder.

FFF: Has it worried you starting two freshmen?

JF: No because both Michael and Cameron have greatly exceeded our expectations. They came to us with little fanfare, but have been quick learners and very strong players for us. They’re playing as if they are highly experienced and are continually improving their games.

FFF: With Forney on the shelf, have you had to shorten your bench?

JF: Not really, our bench is one of our strengths and gives us a chance to keep fresh legs on the court. We have 3 reserves, Rory Nelson, John Price, and Landon Berlin who are getting pretty significant minutes on the court every game and lately we’re increasing the playing time for Jevon Gage. All 4 of these guys play hard, play smart, and play to win.


FFF: How do you think you’re going to do in conference play?

JF: I make no predictions. I’m confident we’ll go out and play our hardest and smartest each and every game and I hope that results in a lot more wins than losses. We can’t afford any more serious injuries though.

FFF: Good luck the rest of the season, Coach. We’re counting on you winning the WAC and getting back to the Big Dance. And speaking of dances, this segment of our show has been brought to you by the FBC Television Network whose newest show, “Dancing with the Old Sports Stars” will begin airing this week. Here’s Jimmy Jurgens to tell you about some of the local sports stars who will be twinkling their toes on the show this season.

[Vann_the_Red]

I'm enjoying this one! I think your all-transfers has more promise than my no-transfers. :-)

VtR

[Wayne23]

The new transfer rules make this a completely different game.

[PointGuard]

I really did this association to check out how really being aggressive with going after transfer players would pan out. And, it appears that its far too easy to land good transfers, particularly at lower prestige programs.