Posted: Friday, January 23, 2009, 12:46 PM | 9 comments |
 

Defense, Nivins and St. Joe's
options
 

When the winning score is 99-98, it is hard to talk about defense. But I thought the job St. Joe’s Garrett Williamson did on Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson Wednesday night at the Palestra was terrific.

Jackson was in the Atlantic 10’s top five in scoring, assists, steals and field goal percentage. In fact, he entered the game shooting 58.3 percent, one of the nation’s best shooting percentages for a guard.

Jackson did not score for the game’s first 24 minutes. He finished with just 10 points on 3-for-13 shooting. Williamson himself can’t shoot at all. But he fills up the stat sheet anyway. Against the Dukes, he had five rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. And, after Tasheed Carr’s last-second shot was blocked, he grabbed the ball out of midair, put it up on the rim and gave Idris Hilliard a chance for his game winning follow at the buzzer.

The game itself was crazy. You can watch a lot of games without seeing a 27-point swing in a half. The Dukes led by 11 and then trailed by 16 at the half. It was 53-37 in the first half, 51-35 in the second and 11-10 in overtime.

Hawks coach Phil Martelli pronounced his star Ahmad Nivins the city Player of the Year after the game. Fans of Temple (Dionte Christmas) and Villanova (Dante Cunningham) probably were not pleased to hear the race was over.

Those who dislike Martelli wonder why he makes pronouncements like that. Others are glad he is not Andy Reid. If he has an opinion, he lets you know. I fall into the latter category. I like coaches and players who have an opinion and don’t mind sharing it with us and thus with you.

If I were voting today for Big 5 Player of the Year today, I would vote for Nivins. But the vote is based on the whole season. So, I shall wait.

If this were an MVP vote, I would go with Cunningham. He does everything right for the best team in town. If this were a vote for the best scorer and a player who can change games in an instant, I would vote for Christmas. But it is a vote for most outstanding. And that has definitely been Nivins who is putting up numbers that should get him some serious national notice.

Consider Nivins is fourth nationally in field goal accuracy (67.6 percent) and seventh in rebounds (11.3 boards). He also averages 20.5 points and had a career-best 34 against the Dukes. He also is averaging an almost-impossible 1.98 points per shot, making him the most efficient player in the country.

By the way, tomorrow night’s Palestra game between St. Joe’s and Penn is close to a sellout. There are some tickets left, but it will be the biggest crowd at the Palestra this season.

Posted by Dick Jerardi @ 12:46 PM  Permalink | 9 comments
9
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:12 PM, 01/23/2009
    i just graduated from st. joes last year and covered the basketball team for the school paper while i was there. its nice to see nivins playing up to his vast potential. there were too many games last year when he vanished for long stretches.
    — bl303784
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:25 PM, 01/23/2009
    Cunningham has to compete against Thabeet (CT), Blair (Pitt), Harangody (ND), Samuels (LVille), etc. Nivins plays against ??? Case closed. Cunningham and it's not even close.
    — tomdudes
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:07 PM, 01/23/2009
    Tomdudes, your post might begin to resemble a well thought out and legitimate point if Nivins didn't outplay Cunningham head to head this year. Case closed
    — Alex Josowitz
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:00 AM, 01/24/2009
    Mr. Martelli is entitled to his opinion of course. The record will show however that Villanova BEAT St. Joe's in head-to-head competition this year. Perhaps St. Joe's would enjoy success if they began to think of the game as a TEAM game, as Villanova over-emphasizes with their program. Therefore, who is "player of the year" is irrelevant on Selection Sunday if his team doesn't win games against quality opponents.
    — *Callie*
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:24 PM, 01/24/2009
    Callie, when you say "TEAM" game, do you mean like two games ago, when St. Joe's had 21 assists on 23 baskets? Villanova should have lost that game. St. Joe's outplayed them but coughed it up. You're entitled to your opinion, of course.
    — Paul Miki
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:57 AM, 01/25/2009
    Paul Miki... the team that should have lost that game did lose the game. They were down and living on a prayer to end that game. Cunningham is definitely the Big 5 POY. Nivins was irrelevant against our big stiffs in the Drexel-SJU game. If you're going to highlight the positives, you have to show the negatives too. Nivins has many more of those than Cunningham.
    — DrexelDragonFan
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:29 PM, 01/25/2009
    Its close, but Cunningham is the more complete player. Nivins is a slightly better rebounder, but Cunningham has a better offensive game. They are both strong in the post, but Nivins doesn't have the consistent face up game that Cunningham has...he is consistent from about 18 feet and in. And Cunningham is a much better defender. Nivins couldn't guard me. Cunningham can guard both in the post and on the perimeter. And as others have said, the quality of competition isn't close. Look at each's numbers against Texas...a team with a quality front line...Cunningham much better.
    — mvp15
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:45 AM, 01/26/2009
    DD Fan, he had 16 and 8 against Drexel - hardly irrelevant. He wasn't the reason they lost to Drexel, by any means. mvp, a SLIGHTLY better rebounder? Nivins 11.6, Cunningham 7.2. That's not slight. Nivins has had 1 game where he had fewer than 8 rebounds. He's a MUCH better rebounder. Also, you want to look at common opponents and bring up Texas. Look at all the other common opponents (Rhode Island, Penn, Towson) and Nivins numbers are better. Also, Nivins leads the nation with 1.95 PPS (points per shot) making him the most efficient shooter in the country. Cunningham is at 1.34. Also Nivins FG% is 67% and Cunningham's is 53%. Nivins is a better rebounder and scorer. And he has nearly twice as many blocks per game, so the defensive claim doesn't work either.
    — Paul Miki


9 comments
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