November 9 Emerald Coast Classic Notebook

NOTE: MEDIA covering the Emerald Coast Classic please make sure to apply for credentials at this link:

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Upcoming Schedule For Participating Teams

(All times listed are central)

Friday, Nov. 10
Millsaps at Jackson State, 12:15 p.m
Stony Brook at Maryland, 6 p.m., Big 10 Network 2
Niagara at St. Bonaventure, 7 p.m., A-10 Network
Valley Forge at Maryland Eastern Shore, 7 p.m.
Midway at Tennessee Tech, 6:30 p.m.
Louisiana Monroe at TCU, 7 p.m.
Omaha at Montana State, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11
Northern New Mexico at New Mexico, 8 p.m., Mountain West Network

Sunday, Nov. 12
Omaha at Oklahoma, 2 p.m., Fox Sports Oklahoma
Maryland Eastern Shore at Maryland, 5 p.m. Big 10 Network 2

Monday, Nov. 13
Tennessee Tech at TCU, 7 p.m., Fox Sports Southwest Plus

Tuesday, Nov. 14
Mercer at Jackson State, 6 p.m.
Omaha at New Mexico, 8 p.m., Mountain West Network

Wednesday, Nov. 15
Maryland Eastern Shore at St. Bonaventure, 6 p.m.
Butler at Maryland, 6:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1
South Dakota at TCU, 8 p.m., Fox Sports Southwest

Thursday, Nov. 16
Boyce at Tennessee Tech, 5 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 17
Omaha at Louisville, 5 p.m., ACC Network Extra
New Mexico at New Mexico State, 8 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 18
Maryland Eastern Shore at Georgetown, 11 a.m
Jackson State at St. Bonaventure, 3 p.m.
Kennesaw State at Tennessee Tech, 5 p.m.
Bucknell at Maryland, 6:30 p.m. Big 10 Network

Monday, Nov. 20
Jackson State at Maryland, 6 p.m.
Omaha at TCU, 8 p.m. Fox Sports Southwest Plus

PLAYERS GARNER NATIONAL RESPECT: Several players competing in the fourth annual Emerald Coast Classic have been named to several preseason Award Watch list.

St. Bonaventure senior point guard Jaylen Adams is one of 32 NCAA Division I players who were named to the preseason watch list for the 2017-18 Oscar Robertson Award for the National Player the Year as selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Adams and Maryland sophomore forward Justin Jackson also are among 50 players named to the Naismith Trophy Watch list, recognizing the nation’s top collegiate player. The field will be trimmed to 30 players in mid-February, semifinalists in early March, and four finalists during the NCAA tournament. The award will then be presented at the Naismith Awards banquet during the Final Four.

TCU senior Vladimir Brodziansky was one of 20 players named to the watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Named after Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its fourth year recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

Jackson was one of 20 players named to the 2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year watch list. Named after Hall of Famer and 16-year professional basketball player Julius Erving, the annual honor in its fourth year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

The Oscar Robertson Award was named in honor of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. It is the nation’s oldest player of the year award and the only one named after a former player.

This is just the latest preseason accolade for Adams. He was selected to the Atlantic 10’s preseason All-Conference first team and was named the preseason Atlantic 10 Player of the Year by both NBC Sports and Blue Ribbon Yearbook. Adams also is on the preseason watch list for the Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard.

Adams made the First Team All-Atlantic 10 each of the past two seasons. Last year, he also was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 4 First Team and the USBWA All-District II team. Over his three seasons, Adams has scored 1,377 points, which ranks 21st in program history. He has led the Bonnies to back-to-back 20-win seasons the past two years.

Brodziansky, a second-team all-conference selection at the end of last season, averaged 14.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game for TCU which went 24-15 and won the NIT. The Prievidza, Slovakia native totaled 82 blocked shots, the second most in school history for a single season. Other postseason awards for Brodziansky last season were the Big 12 All-Defensive Team, All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors by the Associated Press, NABC All-District 8 and the NIT All-Tournament Team.

The Abdul-Jabbar award is the second preseason recognition for Brodziansky, who was named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played for legendary coach and Hall of Famer John Wooden at UCLA from 1966-1969. He is a three-time NCAA Champion who earned numerous accolades including three-time Final Four Most Outstanding Player, three-time National College Player of the Year and three-time Consensus First-Team All-American (1967-1969).

A 6-7 forward from Toronto, Ontario, Jackson averaged 10.5 points and ateam-high six rebounds per game for the Terps in 2016-17. He ranked seventh on Maryland’s freshman single-season rebounding list (199) and was second on the team in blocks (29).

Maryland went 24-9 in Jackson’s first season in College Park and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season. Additionally, Jackson was named to the Barclays All-Tournament team after averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in wins over Richmond and Kansas State. He was tabbed Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Jan. 23 and recorded the first back-to-back double-doubles for a freshman at Maryland since 2010 with 28 points and 10 rebounds at Minnesota and 22 points and 12 rebounds at Ohio State.

MORE HONORS FOR JACKSON, ADAMS: Maryland’s Justin Jackson is ranked No. 20, while St. Bonaventure guard Jaylen Aqams is ranked No. 49 in ESPN’s ranking of the top 50 players in college basketball.

To determine the rankings ESPN formed a panel of writers, reporters, analysts and Insiders to rank the top 50. To compile CBBRank, ESPN collaborated with Microsoft Research and The Wharton School, and polled a variety of ESPN experts who voted in thousands of head-to-head matchups.

MARYLAND, TCU UNDER RADAR: Kyle Boone from CBSSports.com lists Maryland and TCU among six unranked teams who will crack the polls by March Madness.

ADAMS, MOBLEY AIM TO FINISH IN FLOURISH: Sportswriter J.P. Butler from the Olean Times Herald writes how the duo of Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley welcome the high expectations for the upcoming season.

Adams was selected as the Preseason Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in just about every publication. He was predicted by Sports Illustrated to be the second-leading scorer in the nation. Some have him pegged as a top five lead guard in the country, and he’s since begun to appear in the occasional 2018 NBA mock draft.

Mobley, too, has been a focus of the nearly unprecedented preseason attention coming the Bonnies’ way.

He, too, was named a preseason first team all-conference selection. He makes up one-half of the highest-scoring tandem in the nation.

The duo knows that all of this — the hope, the high expectations, the No. 2 ranking in the preseason Atlantic 10 poll — falls squarely onto its collective shoulders. But pressure? There’s no pressure when they’re doing what they love.

“It’s no pressure, it’s just hoops,” said Adams, who led in the A-10 in assists last year (6.5) and finished second in scoring (20.6 points) and steals (2.1). “Regardless of what people say, I still gotta prepare every day, we still gotta go out and practice and we still got to get better every day.”

WEIR INDEBTED TO MENZIES: First-year New Mexico coach Paul Weir was given a lot of leeway to develop professionally under then-Aggies head coach Marvin Menzies.

Not only did a 2007 dinner interview land Paul Weir, then a 27-year-old aspiring coach, a job on the staff of newly hired New Mexico State men’s basketball coach Marvin Menzies, but the two teamed up (nine seasons with Menzies as head coach before Weir took over for one) overseeing a prolific decade of Aggies basketball that including averaging 23 wins per year and six NCAA Tournament appearances.

“When he first got the New Mexico State job,” Weir, now the University of New Mexico head coach, recalls, “Marvin was extremely excited and energetic, just like he is now. Reggie (Theus) had just been there. (Former NMSU President) Mike Martin was there. They were pouring a lot of money into athletics. … It was a good time there. It was a lot of fun.”

Since that initial dinner meeting/interview, Menzies, now head coach at UNLV, has been instrumental in Weir’s development, both in what Weir learned directly and in the freedom Menzies gave him to grow.

TRANSFER OBI STRENGTHENS MARYLAND: Maryland is counting on Duke transfer Sean Obi to be one of its main front court contributors if he remains healthy.

“Sean is, like, a huge guy and really helping us a lot,” forward Ivan Bender said. “When he got here he was like 280 [pounds] … he actually lost some weight. But he’s still, like, huge. He knows how to use his body on defense and offense.”

Since transferring to Maryland, Obi has formed a close bond with Basketball Performance Director Kyle Tarp. Instead of placing pressure on Obi’s knees by having him run, Tarp has assigned Obi stationary bikes, testing how quickly his heart rate rises and drops by showing his vitals on a screen on the wall.

Obi has also returned to basketball shape by keeping up in practice with guard Anthony Cowan, whom coach Mark Turgeon has lauded as one of the quickest players in the conference.

STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION: TCU basketball opened its Schollmaier Arena doors a week early Friday to host a showcase that doubled as another stepping stone in the elevation Horned Frog basketball.

In Jamie Dixon’s second season as coach, he put his team on display a week before the first game against Louisiana Monroe with with a free scrimmage, three-point shootout, a dunk contest, and the chance for a student to sink a half-court shot and win $1,000 all with the comfort of free pizza for students. Jamie Dixon bobbleheads were passed out, and the first 1,000 students received a Frog Army t-shirt. This program is starting to walk the walk of a basketball school.

“It’s a start, we’re headed in the right direction, and there’s a lot of excitement about the program and the team this year,” TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said.

It’s another step in the right direction for a program that hasn’t reached the Big Dance in two decades. Yet, Schollmaier Arena was abuzz the entire from the scrimmage all the though the half-court shooting contest at the end of the night.

PRESEASON POLLS: St. Bonaventure was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 Conference’s preseason poll, while senior guards Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley were both named to the Atlantic 10’s Preseason All-Conference first team.

Rhode Island was chosen to win the A-10 with 27 first place votes and 390 points. The Bonnies received one first place vote and earned 345 points. Saint Joseph’s was picked third, VCU fourth and Dayton fifth. Both the order of finish and preseason all-conference teams were chosen by vote of the conference’s head coaches and a panel of media members.

The preseason No. 2 rank is the highest for St. Bonaventure in any season when the A-10 was not split into two divisions.

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TCU’s was picked to finish third in the Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll.The Horned Frogs, who had never been picked higher than eighth in the conference (2015, tied with KSU), received 64 points. West Virginia received 71 points to be picked just ahead of TCU, in second place. Kansas received all nine possible first-place votes and was the preseason favorite to win its 14th consecutive Big 12 regular season championship. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team.

TCU was picked ahead of Texas, which was selected fourth with 49 points and Baylor, which was picked fifth with 47 points. Oklahoma was the sixth selection Oklahoma (43) followed by Texas Tech (36), Kansas State (27), Iowa State (22) and Oklahoma State (10). Last season, TCU was picked 10th.

The Horned Frogs return their top six scorers, including all five starters, from last season’s team which went 24-15 and won the NIT. Senior forward Vladimir Brodziansky was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and senior guard Kenrich Williams was named Preseason All-Big 12 honorable mention.

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New Mexico was picked to finish ninth in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll according to a vote by conference media. Defending regular-season and tournament champion Nevada, coming off a 28-7 overall record, received 19 of a possible 24 first-place votes and 257 points to earn the top spot in the poll. San Diego State was picked second followed Boise State in third.

Fresno State collected 188 points to garner the fourth spot in the poll followed by Colorado State fifth, UNLV sixth, Wyoming seventh, Utah State eighth, New Mexico ninth, San José State 10th and Air Force 11th.

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Tennessee Tech was selected to place fifth in the 12-team Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll conducted by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

For the third straight season Belmont, which has won four of the past five regular season championships. Murray State was selected to place second followed by Murray State and Eastern Kentucky.

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Omaha was picked sixth in the Summit League preseason poll, conducted by the league’s head coaches, communications personnel and media.

South Dakota State was the favorite to win the Summit League, garnering 13 first-place votes. South Dakota was second and received 12 first-place votes. North Dakota State was tabbed for third followed Fort Wayne, fourth; followed benver, fifth. Omaha , sixh, while Oral Roberts (104) and Western Illinois (60) rounded it out in seventh and eighth, respectively.

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In the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll, conducted by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors Oct. 11, Jackson State was picked to finish third.

Texas Southern was picked to defend its league title, while Southern was selected to finish in second place, followed by Jackson State, Alcorn State and Prairie View A&M slotted for fifth. Alabama State, Grambling State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Mississippi Valley State and Alabama A&M rounded out the poll.

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Meanwhile, Maryland Eastern Shore was selected to place sixth in the 13-team preseason Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference preseason poll as voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors. Morgan State, receiving 13 first-place votes, was predicted to win the league followed by Norfolk State with defending MEAC regular season champ North Carolina Central picked to finish third.

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