Sonny,Bean,Buck and Ayo's Hoops thread

**19th Hole** · 12-30-11, 11:58 PM

Memphis Grizzlies -6 3x

Dallas Mavericks -8½ 3x

Utah Jazz +3 3x

bulls 1st half -.5 3x

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Sonny's back and killin' it!!

**CheckYaPulse** · 12-31-11, 12:21 AM

Lesnar got rocked lol

**joco** · 12-31-11, 12:27 AM

Yea he did. He has terrible standup game. Not surprised he retired after he got embarassed just now

**CantTouchAyo** · 12-31-11, 12:28 AM

St. Joes @ Harvard: 12/31
This game is Harvard’s biggest test left on the remainder of their schedule, at the same time for St. Joes, aside from their Holy War battle, this is their biggest game of the season so far. For St. Joes this has been a year of meshing the talent they have had while proving they are a contender in a highly competitive A-10 conference. Their continued confidence from their run in late march in the A-10 tournament last year, in the midst of a frustrating season, has provided them with an ego big enough to compete. Coming into this game St. Joes has won five straight and are 7-1 in their last 8 with big wins over Nova, Creighton, Penn St, and Drexel in that span. With a win on Saturday the hawks will most likely find themself in the top 25 for the first time in years. This season the loss at American has embedded skepticism in my mind of their ability to play on the road. However, I have come to terms with my irrational thinking: I seem to overlook the fact that St. Joes opened its season at Western Kentucky where one year before they got beat by 30 @Hagan Arena and returned the favor this season with a strong win. I seem to overlook their next 3 games after a road win at Western Kentucky where they traveled to Charleston, SC. In Charleston, the hawks pulled off wins vs. Georgia Tech and Tulsa, and a loss vs. Seton Hall stemming from turnovers and Langston Galloway getting into foul trouble early. Directly following the trip to Charleston, the hawks traveled to Iona to face Momo Jones, Scott Machado (one of the best backcourts in the country), and dominant forward Michael Glover. Again the hawks proved they could battle on the road on the end of a five game roady losing in OT to the Gaels. That five road game span was bigger to St. Joes than many might think, it provided the realization that they could actually compete (especially on the road) after a very disappointing season. Also, the five road games allowed this young squad who returned four starters to mesh as a group as well as build on how they left off last season. Looking back I can’t question the hawk’s ability to perform on the road based on one bad game vs. American where they put up only 60 points while averaging 80 pts./game this season. The loss at American also proved the vital roles of Langston Galloway and Tay Jones as they shot 7-27 for a combined 17pts. This was a major let down for the hawks but they moved passed it with five straight wins at home. And here they are now, moving into Saturday with a chance to drop yet another top 25 team. Player for player no doubt in my mind is St. Joes is better but Harvard defines the meaning of a team and they show it through they’re play. One of the best passing teams in the country, they cut and screen as good as anybody. They have good guard play and experience in their front court with Casey and Wright. The hawks will most likely play a match up zone on Saturday but will most likely mix it up throughout the game. Due to Harvard’s screening and cutting ability I see Martelli staying away from playing a lot of man against them. With CJ Aiken inside, Harvard is forced to work around him because any weak lay ups or short jumpers within his range are getting blocked. Many teams underestimate Aiken’s blocking ability until they are down 10 going into the 2nd half and their only points in the paint came when he was not on the floor. As a defender, he is THAT GOOD. He has spent the season ranked #1 in the country in blocks but has dropped to second, with 4.3/game only behind Anthony Davis of Kentucky. As I said before, Harvard has an experienced frontcourt with Wright and Casey both averaging 11pts 8 boards and 11pts 6 boards respectively. However, this threat down low will have problems due to the defense from Aiken and Roberts. Furthermore, Galloway and Jones will need to defend well against the quick guards of Harvard because of their strong ability to knock down open shots. Harvard’s coming off a 50% shooting performance from 3 (10-20) vs. BC so I am assuming they won’t shoot the ball as well on Saturday. For St. Joes, small forward Dee Quarles will be out with an ankle injury, although a starter he is by far the least effective player in the starting line up. Will be interesting to which way Martelli goes with this whether he goes big (Jones, Galloway, Kanacevic, Roberts, & Aiken) or goes smaller with Wilson, Jones, Galloway, Kanacevic, and Aiken. I personally like Martelli bringing in Chris Wilson to start at the point, moving Jones to the 2, Galloway to the 3. With this look, Jones will have much more scoring opportunities which is very important to this hawk team that has tendencies of offensive droughts but have recently been fixing this problem. Jones’ role is vital to this Joes squad, if he gets hot he has the ability to go for 30. Averaging 18 a game, Jones has had some monster performances (29 vs. Creighton, 25 vs. Iona, 38 vs. Seton Hall). The quickness of Jones will be able to get by this aggressive defense opening up looks for himself as well as create open shots for the rest of the team. I don’t worry about this smaller line up due to Galloway’s ability to rebound which will compensate for the smaller squad. Furthermore, Martelli can bring in the high flying, extremely athletic Ron Roberts as well as Papa Ndao off the bench to keep a consistent rotation of size on the floor. Harvard will most likely play an aggressive, man defense which will allow St. Joes to find open looks through back door cuts when they overplay. Kanacevic has been very effective on finding his teammates on back door cuts down low and when he catches at the elbow. Kanacevic is an offensive threat but his passing ability for a big guy is the highlight of his game. He plays physical which allows him to be an effective rebounder while taking on a vocal leader role. To sum up his play you can look @ his play last game vs. Morgan State where he had 12 Assists, 8 rebounds, and 7 blocks.. As well as Aiken has played on the defense end he has continued to build an offensive game. His game is very diverse, as on the defensive end he plays down but on the offensive side he plays on the perimeter and short corner. His jump shot has improved and he has proved he can take a defender off the dribble and pull up. He is now averaging about 12 points a game but has been in double digits 8 out of the last 10 games. Aiken putting up consistent double digits has relieved some of pressure of Jones and Galloway to be the foundation on the offense end. Galloway is never one to stray away from big games; he put up 20 in the Holy War vs. Nova leading the hawks to an impressive victory. He has scored 10+ points in 9 out of their last 10 games. (30 vs. BU, 20 vs. Nova, 23 vs. Tulsa, 17 vs. Iona & PSU, 18 vs. Coppin St, 12 vs. Creighton, etc.) His role on the offense end is crucial and I expect good things from him on Saturday, and I hope he can defend the same way. These St. Joes players are ready, they know how big this game is and I see them going into this game and proving that they can compete with anybody. This team is in need of some respect and they’re hungry for it. Obviously the respect is not there yet as you can look how Vegas views them. St. Joes being number three in the country ATS at 8-1, shows the continued process of proving they’re better than one may think. If Galloway, Wilson, and Jones step up on defense to maintain the guard play of Harvard and Aiken, Roberts, Kanacevic, & Ndao contain the experienced frontcourt down low for Harvard they’ll put themselves in a good spot to take this game. A big performance from Jones and Galloway will be needed, with the help from Aiken and the other role players. Hopefully, the hawks can create turnovers and get out and run the floor like they have all season. One thing I know, Harvard is not ready for the athleticism of the big men for St. Joes on the fast break. This game should be a shootout and one of the biggest battles on Saturday. I think St. Joes is in a good spot here, mark me down for the hawks.
St. Joes +6.5 5x
St. Joes ml +225 1x

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 12:30 AM

The Clippers need a conventional scorer. They can run, but, in the halfcourt the struggle.

**EmpireMaker** · 12-31-11, 12:34 AM

Harvard is favored by 6

**Ab34** · 12-31-11, 12:35 AM

Michael Redd would have been good

**YOUNGBUCK** · 12-31-11, 12:41 AM

This is one of the best regular season games ive watched in forever

**YOUNGBUCK** · 12-31-11, 12:44 AM

Refs love rose

**Ab34** · 12-31-11, 12:46 AM

that call was soooooo late

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 12:47 AM

Yeah he gets all the fouls. Clippers can't beat the Bulls and the refs.

On to the next one....

**EmpireMaker** · 12-31-11, 12:47 AM

he missed the shot clean and they call a foul and send Rose to the line

Refs do love him

**Ch Br** · 12-31-11, 12:48 AM

Originally posted by ksnooksk

The Clippers need a conventional scorer. They can run, but, in the halfcourt the struggle.

what do you call Billups and or Cook, they can both step around a screen or pull up at any range.

Paul is a pure point guard, he can as well

**EmpireMaker** · 12-31-11, 12:49 AM

Griffin is a beast

**YOUNGBUCK** · 12-31-11, 12:50 AM

Caron butler can also score

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 12:50 AM

Plus I think the Bulls are shooting around 75%. Atleast it seems.

**YOUNGBUCK** · 12-31-11, 12:52 AM

Blake is a fukking animal

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 12:58 AM

Have the Bulls missed a shot this quarter?

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 01:02 AM

Clippers was a sucker bet tonight. Everyone bought into them being at home and the Bulls playing a b2b.

Big time trap.

**Ab34** · 12-31-11, 01:02 AM

bulls were due for a good shooting performance

**ksnooksk** · 12-31-11, 01:03 AM

Clippers aren't that good and are extremely overvalued.

**Ab34** · 12-31-11, 01:03 AM

Big day tomorrow what you like so far Buck

**sonnybaby** · 12-31-11, 01:03 AM