skip navigation

First Weekend Knee-Jerk Reactions

11/13/2017, 7:00am EST
By Josh Verlin

An injury to Lamarr Kimble (above) was the most notable part of the opening weekend of the 2017-18 season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
--

The first weekend of the 2017-18 hoops season has come and gone.

Five of the six city teams have played their first games of the season; Temple’s got until Thursday before it gets underway.

One game, is of course, far too small a sample to extract too much meaning about just how the 2017-18 season is going to turn out. But that’s not going to stop me from having some initial thoughts about anything we might have learned once the shots really started to count.

Here’s a few of those:

1. Not exactly an inspiring start
Let’s be clear -- one game is one game. But there wasn’t a single team in the city whose first outing was anything above expectations. None of the five teams did anything embarrassing, to be sure -- but there wasn’t much exciting going on, either.

Villanova won its first game easily enough, leading Columbia by double-digits the entire second half in a 75-60 decision. But Villanova’s biggest question mark heading into the season was its ability to shoot the 3, and a 7-for-32 (21.9 percent) mark against its Ivy opponent wasn’t exactly reassuring. La Salle also won, beating Saint Peter’s 61-40 -- the defensive effort is certainly notable, though the Peacocks are replacing four starters from a year ago, and were picked 8th in the 11-team MAAC, a one-bid league. The Explorers’ biggest area of uncertainty also remained unassuaged -- La Salle got 33 points from B.J. Johnson and Pookie Powell but no more than seven from anybody else, and developing scoring depth is crucial if John Giannini wants to see his team continue winning this season.

Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Drexel all lost their openers. Drexel had the best opportunity, leading a Bowling Green squad starting three freshmen and a sophomore on the road in the second half, but the Dragons turned it over seven times through a 19-0 Falcons run that turned the tide with under 15 minutes remaining. St. Joe’s gave up two points shy of 100 to Toledo, allowing the Rockets to make more than 50 percent both over and from 3-point range, but that wasn’t the worst part about it -- we’ll get to that in a second. And Penn, which loves the 3, went 9-of-39 (23.1 percent) from deep and a concerning 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) from the foul line in a 80-72 loss to Fairfield.

2. Saint Joseph’s latest injury a real concern
It certainly appeared that the Hawks had avoided major issues on the Shavar Newkirk and Charlie Brown injury front. Newkirk, a senior guard, got the start in the Hawks’ season opener just about 10 months removed from ACL surgery; Brown, a sophomore wing, broke his left (non-shooting) wrist in the preseason but looks likely to be cleared later this month, and should hop right back into the rotation.

Then it was announced on Sunday that junior guard Lamarr Kimble had re-injured the same bone he fractured at the end of last season, one that cost him the final seven games of his sophomore year. Last year, the Neumann-Goretti product averaged 15.5 ppg, 4.5 apg and 4.0 rpg, and he looked to be in the best shape of his playing career heading into this season. With Newkirk still working his way back from a major injury, now St. Joe’s will have to rely heavily on sophomore Nick Robinson, a 6-6 guard who can play point but isn’t nearly the on-ball scoring threat Kimble presents, as a secondary option alongside Newkirk, whose effectiveness and availability is still not guaranteed.

Ultimately, if Kimble misses two months and returns for the majority of the Atlantic 10 slate, then St. Joe’s still has a chance to make a lot of noise in the league. But there’s no denying his missing an extended period of time could hurt the Hawks’ potential at-large hopes, and makes their margin for error that much smaller.


Kurk Lee (above) and Drexel struggled from the 3-point arc in a loss to Bowling Green. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

3. Drexel’s lack of shooters a problem
It’s true that Zach Spiker does have more backcourt weapons on the roster, with the additions of transfers Troy Harper and Tramaine Isabell offsetting the late, unexpected departure of Kari Jonsson. They played their opener shorthanded, with redshirt senior wing Miles Overton dealing with a calf strain and Isabell suspended for a failure to meet team expectations. That meant alongside point guard Kurk Lee Jr., Drexel’s only wing options were senior guard Sammy Mojica, redshirt junior guard Troy Harper and sophomore small forward Sam Green, all of whom started. Their only three bench options were 6-9 freshmen Jarvis Doles and Tadas Kararinas, plus 6-9 senior Tyshawn Myles.

Spiker’s offense is much more of the run-and-gun variety than Bruiser Flint’s, and while they’re okay in the ‘run’ category, it’s the ‘gun’ portion that’s causing issues. The Dragons were just 4-of-20 from 3-point range on Friday night; three more makes would have been a tie, four more a win over Bowling Green. Sammy Mojica, who shot 37 percent from 3-point range as a freshman but trended down to 31.2 percent last year, was 2-for-5; he was the only member of the team to make more than one triple. Kararinas (1-2) and Doles (1-3) had the other two.

Lee was a 40 percent 3-point shooter as a freshman, but missed all five of his triples. Harper, a 31.8 percent 3-point shooter in two years at Campbell, was 0-4; Green, who hit 9-for-20 in limited minutes as a freshman, missed his only triple. Without shots falling, the Dragons resorted to wild drives; Harper was 1-11 overall, Lee 3-14. With Jonsson, who hit 43 percent of his triples as a freshman, the Dragons don’t have a proven spot-up threat, and it’s an offense that could realistically use three or four of them.

4. Okay, some good stuff
Now that I’ve gotten the negatives out of the way, let’s get to a few positives:

Saint Joseph’s freshman bigs, Anthony Longpré and Taylor Funk, got their Hawks careers started nicely. Funk, a 6-8 stretch-forward, scored 16 points off the bench in the loss to Toledo, making 4-of-8 from 3-point range and 6-of-13 overall, with six rebounds as well. Longpré, a 6-9 center, got the start but was limited by fouls to 18 minutes, finishing with six points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Even though Saint Peter’s offense might not be Villanova’s, there’s certainly something to be said for La Salle holding the Peacocks to just 40 points. The Explorers did a terrific job of not fouling, outside of their big men; Tony Washington and Miles Brookins had seven of their team’s 11 fouls on the day, and SPU only shot five free-throws as a result, along with just 30.6 percent from the floor (15-of-49). It’s been a few years since Giannini has had a team that really bought in on the defensive end; let’s see if this is the beginning of a trend.

Omari Spellman certainly looks like the real deal. The 6-9, 245-pound redshirt freshman had a double-double in his first official Division I game, with 11 points and 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end, accomplishing all that in 23 minutes. His well-rounded game didn’t totally show, as he was 0-2 from 3-point range and only had one assist and one block, but it was his first live game in a few months shy of two years. The former five-star recruit should get better and better as the year goes on.


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Josh Verlin  Events  Division I  Drexel  La Salle  Penn  Saint Joseph's  Temple  Villanova  Big 5  CoBL 5