City of Basketball Love

Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8)
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Late last July, the members of Team City of Gods had every right to feel good about themselves. After all, they had just won the Northeast Regional after defeating the Syracuse alums of Boeheim’s Army--arguably the most popular team in The Basketball Tournament--and were headed to New York for the semifinals.

As a team with terrific skill, size, athleticism and depth, they were, at that point, the favorite to capture the title and then-$1 million prize at Fordham’s historic Rose Hill Gym.

Their dream, however, came to crashing halt against an Overseas Elite squad led by Myck Kabongo and D.J. Kennedy. City of Gods played poorly, particularly on the defensive end, giving up nine 3-pointers on thirteen attempts and trailed by as much as 18 points.

Forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who helped lead George Washington to a Top 10 ranking in the mid-2000’s, felt that his team may have thought that they already had the championship won, and were looking ahead to the prize a little too early.

“Last year, after we beat Boeheim’s Army, I think we relaxed a little bit, even though it was the final four,” he said. “We didn’t give Overseas Elite as much respect as we should have. They just came out and punched us in the mouth. With all due respect to them, they came and took it.”

DerMarr Johnson, a seven-year NBA veteran, echoed his teammate’s sentiments on the mindset going into that semifinal game.

“I cashed the check after we beat the Syracuse team,” he said.

Their approach has been a little different this year. They have been preparing and scouting much more intensely compared to last year. Many of the players stuck around to get a look at who their opponent would in the Super 16, watching F.O.E.’s point guard duo of Maalik Wayns and Tyshawn Taylor use dribble-penetration to break down Team Maryland’s defense at will.

Several of the players--Mensah-Bonsu, Johnson, James ‘Flight’ White and David Hawkins--have been using their recently acquired scouting experience from last month’s NBA Players Association Top 100 camp and applying it to their games at TBT. City of Gods coach Joe Connelly, a former assistant with the Wizards, singled out White after their second round win over the Talladega Knights, praising him for the scouting report he wrote the previous night.

“James White wrote a six-page thesis on the scouting report on the team we were about to play,” Connelly said. “ It was [not only] good information, but it showed how conscientious he is about preparing, how meticulous he is. Paying attention, force this guy right, make him go left, he’s a shooter. Those type of things I think helped us out a lot.”

With all the talent that the DMV-based team has had over the past two years, it’s hard to completely blame them for being over-confident about their abilities last year. Five players on the roster played in the NBA, with two--Johnson and ex-Georgetown big man Michael Sweetney--being lottery picks by the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks, respectively.

The City of Gods’ advantage as a team may lie in their frontcourt, since very few opponents in TBT match the ability and depth that they have in that area. Mensah-Bonsu and James Gist are skilled post-men and athletic shot-blockers, while Sweetney is a big body who showed he still has game on both ends if his minutes are managed well.

The two former Cincinnati Bearcats--Johnson and White--add a unique dimension to their team. Johnson, a matchup nightmare at 6-foot-9, can shoot the lights out or post-up his defender, while White brings his out-of-this-world athleticism and leaping ability.

Though they were without Sweetney and White due to injury, Connelly used his frontcourt to his advantage on Sunday in their win over the Knights.

“We went with a bigger lineup,” Connelly said. “We played James Gist and Pops Mensah-Bonsu at the 4 and 5 [respectively]. We slid [Johnson] to the three and it paid some dividends. We got some mismatches. It really got Pops going in the post and it took the pressure off of James Gist doing all the big man work.”

On Thursday afternoon, they will be back at Philly U and will likely have reinforcements in Sweetney, White, and guards Xavier Silas and David Hawkins. The former Temple star Hawkins, who finished fourth in the country in scoring per game in 2003-04 and is the Owls third all time leading scorer, will bring his scoring touch and strong defense if his injured leg heals in time.

Connelly is hoping to have his full roster next weekend against an F.O.E team that had two impressive wins over the weekend. He also gave credit to those who were able to play for surviving and advancing despite playing heavy minutes for two straight days.

“We’re going to use some magical powers and get everybody healthy. We’ll have Xavier Silas here who’s been excellent out in Vegas with the Timberwolves. Hopefully James White, Mike Sweetney and Dave Hawkins will be healthy. These seven guys [who played] really held it down for us, without missing a beat and if we can add a piece or two along the way, it can really give us an advantage down this home stretch.”

“We keep referring to the point guard. If James doesn’t have his scouting report, we don’t know that this guy can fill it up for three."