My NBA Preview

What would a Detroit basketball site be without an NBA preview?

College exhibitions don’t start in earnest until next week, and high school hoops is still over a month away, so for the next week, it’s high school football playoffs and a good dose of the Affiliation.

Faces in the crowd

Livonia Clarenceville’s Jamie Stewart was reportedly at Calihan for UDM’s version of Midnight Madness.

The 6-foot-4 forward is apparently considering the Titans after decommitting from Eastern Michigan.

Tip-off TV marathon

This has been well-chronicled: ESPN and its family of networks have arranged for a 24-hour college basketball marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

I don’t know about sitting in front of the TV for 24 straight hours, but if I absolutely had to watch five games that Tuesday, I’d pin myself to the couch for:

UMass at Memphis, midnight
The Minutemen employ Derek Kellogg, a former John Calipari assistant. Look for similar dribble drive-motion offenses as Tyreke Evans makes his heralded debut for the new-look Tigers.

NIT Purdue regional final, 7 p.m.
Barring upsets, this should feature Purdue vs. Georgia. Purdue should be worthy of a second look after Detroit, as the Boilermakers feature preseason POY Robbie Hummel and were recently tabbed to win the Big Ten by the media over Michigan State.

Kentucky at North Carolina, 9 p.m.
North Carolina returns everyone and is tabbed as the consensus No. 1. Kentucky will have several new pieces to compliment Patrick Patterson, the most hyped being point forwards DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller.

NIT Arizona regional final, 11:30 p.m.
Arizona and UAB are favorites in this region, which would provide a stellar early-season matchup with plenty of storylines. Chase Budinger and Robert (back in school) Vaden are the stars here.

Pick one: Richmond at Syracuse (6 p.m. – Bay City product Eric Devendorf returns for his senior year) or Florida Gulf Coast at Kansas (9 p.m. – defending national champs, totally different team)

Terry Duerod

I was told by friends to Google Mr. Duerod after the alumni game.

I found a pretty cool story and interview from a Boston perspective. Thanks, Celtic Nation.

Keep in perspective his 1,690 points, before the 3-point line, which still ranks 6th in Titan history.

Basketball at U-D High

Through the years, the Cubs have underachieved. It’s as simple as that. U-D, this decade, has had the best collection of talent in the Catholic League yet generally fails to get it done in the league and state playoffs.

Well, U-D has the services of two of the state’s best freshmen in Cam Fowler and Chris Jenkins, and along with Michigan commit Jordan Morgan and a strong senior supporting cast, and a very strong new coaching staff, it’s shaping up ON PAPER like the Cubs should be able to do SOMETHING, at least, finally. 

WOTS is that Fowler’s recruitment has begun in earnest … he was among U-D’s leading scorers in summer games. He already has a decent level of hype surrounding him so I’ll leave it at that.

UDM Midnight Madness – belated (long)

I’ll say that this type of event, in the future, has the potential to generate some real excitement before the season. Despite a general apathy from the city towards Detroit’s lone D-I team, attendance for UDM’s tip-off event numbered about as many people as a typical game. The alumni game was a hit – for us new generation-types, I could only imagine how good Terry Duerod was in his day – and the open scrimmage gave supporters an early look at the immediate Titan future.

The two drawbacks were 1) lack of students (although I heard there were 200 spread throughout the crowd, what else could be going on a Wednesday night?) and 2) lack of media attention. I think everyone realizes that on-court success (WINS) will go a long way towards fixing those problems.

Like most others, I think that the Ray McCallum era will yield success. As for this year’s team, I think the ceiling is high. It’s a matter of how quickly these newcomers gel together, and as much as I hate to single out one player, Eli Holman’s eligibility will be a factor. Obviosuly there is more size, toughness, depth and athleticism on the roster. Pure basketball skill … I think there’s more of that too, at each position.

The team might take its lumps through a demanding non-conference slate with only three home games, but that’s for the better. It would be a wonder if this group of players didn’t improve individually and as a unit as the year goes on, couldn’t make a run into the upper half of the Horizon League and, to borrow a Perry Watson-ism, be playing their best basketball come conference tournament time.  

For the record (I’m pretty sure I posted it on my old site): I was plenty impressed with Donovan Foster against Finney last year. Foster and Woody Payne will make basketball purists very happy with their play at the point this year. I think everyone saw glimpses of Foster’s skill set at the open scrimmage – pass first, heady, smooth – the anti-Travis Walton. I’m hoping UDM keeps the pipeline to Chicago OPEN in years to come.

Just my thoughts … please comment if you have anything to add or take it to TitanMike’s board.

Just for fun: Preseason Top 10s

Teams:

State:
1. Country Day
2. Saginaw
3. Clarkston
4. Saginaw Arthur Hill
5. Pershing
6. Romulus
7. Cody
8. DeLaSalle
9. Rockford
10. Flint Powers

City:

1. Pershing
2. Cody
3. Southeastern
4. Henry Ford
5. Finney
6. Renaissance
7. King
8. U of D Jesuit
9. Northwestern
10. Southwestern

Country Day on the road

Kurt Keener has this year, in my opinion, the state’s best team regardless of class. He certainly has the state’s best collection of basketball talent under one roof, and if the Yellowjackets play together, the “best team” label won’t be a much of a question.

Keener is taking his Yellowjackets as far as the MHSAA will allow this season as independent Country Day will venture out of state three times for four games:

Dec. 20: Windy City Showdown vs. Chicago DeLaSalle at Loyola Chicago
Jan. 17: at Glen Oak (Canton, Ohio)
Jan. 18: Pizza Hut Classic @ North Canton Hoover
Feb. 21: at Bloomington South, Ind.

We’ll also see DCD at these traditional Michigan tournaments:

Dec. 12: Walt Keener Classic
Dec. 27: Meijer Holiday Hoops @ MSU vs. Grand Ledge
Dec. 30: Motor City Roundball Classic vs. Kalamazoo Central

And while we won’t get a chance to see Country Day vs. Saginaw, the rest of DCD’s schedule reads like a who’s who of Michigan’s better programs: Ann Arbor Pioneer, Southfield Lathrup, Davison, AA Gabriel Richard, Belleville, Flint Powers, Taylor Kennedy, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Detroit Community, Saginaw Arthur Hill, Romulus, Flint Northern and Berkley.

Link

Not hoops, but …

For you football junkies, if you’re a fan of the next big thing from Detroit, remember the name William Gholston.

I saw Cass Tech-Southeastern yesterday and was mildly impressed with the Jungaleers to say the least.

The cousin of current New York Jet Vernon Gholston, Will is a physical specimen; think Nick Perry on steroids. Bigger, stronger, faster, a 6-7, 245 (!) man amongst boys, Gholston is only a junior.  He’s hearing from all the major programs as a rush DE or outside linebacker, although he’s also developing his offensive skills and it would be mildly intriguing to see what he could do on that side of the ball.

I promise (somewhat) to stick to hoops from now on.

Titan Tip-Off

Got some season ticket info in the mail earlier this week and I wanted to relay some info.

UDM has scheduled a “Midnight Madness” type event for Wednesday, Oct. 22, albeit the event is not at midnight.

Both the men’s and women’s squads will participate and the real highlights start at 6:45 with an alumni game.

(Courtesy of DetroitTitanHoops poster Titan M, some participants include current Wayne State U. assistant E.J. Haralson, Jermaine Jackson, John Long and perhaps Rashard Phillips.)

There will be a dunk contest and some player intros too. Good way to whet the basketball appetite as UDM’s first regular season home game is exactly one month away from this date (the Titans do scrimmage Tiffin at Calihan on Nov. 8).