MU men's hoop news
1. Rickie Crews won't be making trip to Texas.
2. Simpson injured again.
3. MU recruits sign
4. Hawk preparations for Houston game
Let's take it from the top.
1. Dave Calloway told me today at practice that Rickie ""The Rookie" Crews will not be making the Texas trip this weekend.
Dave quotes on Rickie: "He needs to show more attention to academics and how we do things off the court as well . Once I see a concerted effort in that than I will adjust his status. He is still part of the team (Crews was practicing Wednesday).
""There is no official suspension or anything like that but he's been told I need to see a change in a more productive ook and a greater concentration in areas other than basketball.''
Calloway said, even though he is allowed by the NCAA, he has no plans to remove the redshirts from frosh center/fowards Dutch Gaitley and or Adam Dobriansky. ""In my belief it wouldn't be fair to them,'' Calloway told me.
He said there are no plans at present to launch 6-9 redshirt frosh c/f Shawn Barlow into the current senior four-man front court rotation with which he is satisfied. Calloway said with the four seniors there's "just not a whole lot of minutes (for Barlow).''
2. Yaniv Simpson, the 21-year old frosh shooting guard, did not practice Wednesday after practicing Tuesday. Trainer Adam Smith said Simpson, who has suffered from shin and some illness problems that have drastically curtailed his practice time this season and prevented him from making last week's trip to the Cox Classsic, will see a team doctor Thursday.
Smith said more will be known after that and that Simpson is still scheduled to make the Texas trip.
3. Calloway said high school recruits, 6-8 forward Nick Del Tufo from Mendham and PG James Hett from Staten Island, have signed their National Letters of Intent. Calloway said Del Tufo, Crews, Dobriansky, Gaitely , Barlow ,should all have their opportunities to be in the mix next year (if not this year at some point for Barlow and Crews). Calloway said Hett ""did a tremendous job of keeping quick guards" in front when Calloway saw him play. And on offense "He was the glue to his team, knew how to play, and did everything we look for in a guard. I think we're gloing to be very, very solid in the back court with these guys (Monmouth has now) and James coming in.''
4. MU was working on its 3-point defense Wednesday in gearing for Houston which shot 18-for-38 from 3 last weekend in its 102-99 OT win at Rhode Island. MU leaves Thursday for Texas.
Also...Blake Hamilton, hoping to land a pro job, continues to practice with MU to stay in shape. He told me he is not ready to give up on playing pro basketball. Blake played overseas last year.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
2. Simpson injured again.
3. MU recruits sign
4. Hawk preparations for Houston game
Let's take it from the top.
1. Dave Calloway told me today at practice that Rickie ""The Rookie" Crews will not be making the Texas trip this weekend.
Dave quotes on Rickie: "He needs to show more attention to academics and how we do things off the court as well . Once I see a concerted effort in that than I will adjust his status. He is still part of the team (Crews was practicing Wednesday).
""There is no official suspension or anything like that but he's been told I need to see a change in a more productive ook and a greater concentration in areas other than basketball.''
Calloway said, even though he is allowed by the NCAA, he has no plans to remove the redshirts from frosh center/fowards Dutch Gaitley and or Adam Dobriansky. ""In my belief it wouldn't be fair to them,'' Calloway told me.
He said there are no plans at present to launch 6-9 redshirt frosh c/f Shawn Barlow into the current senior four-man front court rotation with which he is satisfied. Calloway said with the four seniors there's "just not a whole lot of minutes (for Barlow).''
2. Yaniv Simpson, the 21-year old frosh shooting guard, did not practice Wednesday after practicing Tuesday. Trainer Adam Smith said Simpson, who has suffered from shin and some illness problems that have drastically curtailed his practice time this season and prevented him from making last week's trip to the Cox Classsic, will see a team doctor Thursday.
Smith said more will be known after that and that Simpson is still scheduled to make the Texas trip.
3. Calloway said high school recruits, 6-8 forward Nick Del Tufo from Mendham and PG James Hett from Staten Island, have signed their National Letters of Intent. Calloway said Del Tufo, Crews, Dobriansky, Gaitely , Barlow ,should all have their opportunities to be in the mix next year (if not this year at some point for Barlow and Crews). Calloway said Hett ""did a tremendous job of keeping quick guards" in front when Calloway saw him play. And on offense "He was the glue to his team, knew how to play, and did everything we look for in a guard. I think we're gloing to be very, very solid in the back court with these guys (Monmouth has now) and James coming in.''
4. MU was working on its 3-point defense Wednesday in gearing for Houston which shot 18-for-38 from 3 last weekend in its 102-99 OT win at Rhode Island. MU leaves Thursday for Texas.
Also...Blake Hamilton, hoping to land a pro job, continues to practice with MU to stay in shape. He told me he is not ready to give up on playing pro basketball. Blake played overseas last year.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 11:23 PM
12 Comments:
Sounds like MU will be long on height next year, but VERY short on experience up front.
Let's hope a few of these guys develop into what's hoped of them.
One thing for sure, the NEC coaches poll at the start of the season won't have MU on top.
Hett sounds kinda like another Azzarelli. Great news!
I really hope Crews is not the next Tyson Johnson. Let's cheer for and hope this young man get's his act together and shows enough to get back to the team and into the rotation by the home opener.
Re: Crews. I personally like him. And he does have talent, that's a given. Was sort of hoping Marques and or one of the seniors would take him under his wing.
Re: Hett. Dave has compared him to Azzarelli on several occasions.
Re: Coaches poll. You got that right! Which is probably good nws for MU.
I am a MU grad and also went to the same high school as Hett (albeit many years prior)on Staten Island. I've seen him play live and he is very similar to Azzarelli. He's a true leader. Not very flashy, but solid in all areas. Doesn't turn the ball over much. He's pass oriented, but can turn on the scoring if needed. I remember one game he played in the Staten Island HS Playoffs where he went off for 30+ points to lead his team to the win. A typical night for him is 12-15 points, 7-10 assists, 1-2 turnovers, and very solid defense. I'm very happy that he's coming to Monmouth and look forward to seeing him play.
By the way, Tony, I just found this blog last week and I absolutely love it. It's tough to find info on Monmouth sports, especially in the NYC area (except when I read about us pounding Wagner). I have this bookmarked and read this every day. Keep up the great work.
Mike,
Thanks, and geat scouting report on Hett.
Please spread the word among other MU grads you are in contact with about the blog.
We appreciate yours and everyone's participation.
For many years I wondered how many folks really, seriously, were keeping up with MU athletics.
I get the feeling MU does have a substantial following.
Tony...I guess my comments you wouldnt post a few days back on Crews were credible...anyways...on Alston or the seniors taking Crews under their wings so to speak, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink."
The kid has a world of potential, but potential is just part of the formula...Tyson Johnson had potential, as did Jamil Moore...you cant force kids to change....you can make suggestions and you can try to lead them along, but ultimately it is up to them....Wow, I sound like a zen-master...
This could be a tough road swing for the Hawks before they come home to blast the Clark-less Peahens of St. Peters College of beautiful Jersey City....Houston, although without Hakeem the Dream and Clyde the Glide who both have high ankle sprains and will miss the Hawks game, is a high scoring team; a complete contrast to the typical methodical ball-control of MU...Texas A&M Corpus Christi is good as well, with a ton of talent, their coach was at the JUCO power San Jacinto in Texas, which means 2 givens:
1. He has players on his team that have been indicted at one point or another in their lives
2. The NCAA rules violation booklet is absent from the coache's office.....
Let's go Hawks!
What does the master of Graham-matics think on these matters?
The fact Crews is practicing and that Dave mentioned him in plans for this year and next year is a good sign. I suppose we'll know more on his status at some point next week. If he doesn't pan out ...the immediate result is, it would affect this year's depth, already thin.
Just a guess here..but Dave may hold him out of action until at least after the Xmas break so he can focus on his first semester exams. In the end, the league is the most important part of the schedule.
Simpson...trying to find out if anything is new today. Not his fault, but beginning to wonder if he'll be a factor this year...but it's still early. They could use him.
On the recruits. It's possible to follow the progress of both this year in various papers. Maybe MU Mystery Coach can run up to Mendham at some point this season (it's closer than Va!) and take a look at Del Tufo.
And or Mike from Staten Island can up date us again at some point on Hett.
Cmon Tony you are going to have to feed our hawk hoops appetite..we need a new post on the upcoming roadtrip! Grahamatics!
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