K.J. Jackson – The Young Veteran

The Life of a Freelance Basketball Scout – Game 12 – Hartford vs UMBC

The Life of a Freelance Basketball Scout – Game 12

February 6 – Hartford vs UMBC

This was my first game in a while. I have been watching games on t.v., but just have been super busy. I went to New York for a Third Eye Blind concert, and for my wife’s work event. I also went on a week-long family cruise to the Bahamas. So, I have been all over the place in the last couple of weeks. I returned from the cruise on super bowl Sunday….. That game sucked. Being a Ravens fan, or maybe a football fan in general I am tired of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots. I digress……

After another boring and typical day at work, that consisted of many podcast’s being listened to, I left to pick-up my kids from the in-laws. What podcast’s did I listen to? Thanks for asking. I had many episodes to catch up on since I was gone for a week in the Bahamas. I listened to “The Pat McAfee Show”, “Heartland Radio 2.0” and my personal favorite “Pardon My Take”. Once I got the kids I came home, cleaned up some dog piss and throw-up on the couch; then preceded to eat a quick left over Little Caesar’s pizza for dinner with the kids and wife. I bought seven pizza’s for the super bowl, so I have a weeks worth of left overs. After dinner and watching some of “Kid’s Baking Championship” with the family I put the kids in the van and headed to off to church to drop them off at Awanas. My wife was doing a free financial seminar at the church and needed to get there early, so Mr. Mom in the minivan had to take the little ones before I departed for the game. I arrived at the game around 6:30 with plenty of time to settle in. As you can see I have a very glamorous Dad life.

The last time Hartford and UMBC played Hartford won at home in overtime. I watched some of it on t.v. Hartford has six seniors and all of them contribute. This was a big game for me to watch since my scouting service I provide for professional teams is for collegiate senior prospects. Hartford does not have a ton of depth, but their starting five has plenty of firepower. They are led by Irish big man John Carroll. Carroll struggled on the night. He seemed a bit off. He struggled to get things going and missed several close range shots. He was only 3-12 from the field and finished with 8 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four turnovers and four fouls. Their other big man George Blagojevic from Australia showed some versatility. He has good mobility and a decent handle for his size. This handle caused him to force some dribbles however. He finished with 13 points, six rebounds, two blocks and six turnovers. Jason Dunne the shooting guard displayed exactly what his position should entail, shooting. He made four three-pointers on the night. Several of his misses were forced up towards the end of the shot clock or were just forced in general. He has ideal size to play shooting guard at the next level. He will be able to run off screens and has a very quick release. Dunne also has solid vision and plays good defense. Travis Weatherington plays shooting guard and a little small forward. He is an interesting player. He is built like a fullback. He’s 6’2 215 pounds. Honestly probably closer to 225. His arms are like tree trunks. Weatherington is strictly just a spot up shooter on offense. He plays decent defense and is a solid rebounder as well.

The player that dominated this game was 5’10 point guard J.R. Lynch. Lynch penetrated at will for Hartford. He knew when to play fast or slow the pace. He is going to be a player overlooked for the next level just due to his size and playing at a smaller school. Lynch had 28 points, six rebounds and four assists. He also went 15-16 from the foul line. The fact that he got to the line that many times is super impressive. He drew fouls at will when penetrating the paint, and is an open court threat as well. Lynch played all 40 minutes of the game. The dude doesn’t get tired.

Lynch led the Hawks to a 70-61 win on the road. This was huge for them. It brought them to 12-12 on the year and 5-4 in conference play. UMBC fell to 14-10 overall and 6-3 in conference. This also snapped UMBC’s five game win streak. I understand Hartford lacks in depth, but I still feel that they should have a better record than this. Multiple guys on their team could play at higher levels.

UMBC was led by K.J. Jackson who had 16 points, four rebounds and four turnovers before fouling out. Arkel Lamar also chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds.

SIDE NOTE: UMBC is drawing many more fans than they use to. They have a new arena and they also beat number one seed Virginia in the NCAA tournament last season if you didn’t know…… The thing I was most impressed with was the full-fledged attacking of the refs last night. The verbal abuse from fans was something that never would have happened a few years ago. “Hey ref watch the replay so you can see how much you suck”. There were many more zingers, nothing inappropriate like you may hear at some other colleges. Its amazing how much people care about teams when they start winning isn’t it? By the way the refs were pretty bad too.

Famous Prince Street Pizza in Soho, Manhattan

My son Junior and my daughter Winter on the cruise ship

Bush Crack the Bahamian beer

The Life of a Freelance Basketball Scout – Game 4

American vs UMBC

Sam Iorio game winner against UMBC

The Life of a Freelance Basketball Scout – Game 4

November 24 – American @ UMBC

The next day after my trip to College park to see Marshall vs Maryland, I made the short trip to see American University vs UMBC. UMBC was coming off a successful trip to the Bahamas, where they went 2-1. They had wins over High Point and Air Force. There loss was against South Dakota. UMBC was 4-2 on the season. American was 2-1 on the season, with wins over George Mason and New Hampshire. Their only loss was to Northwestern.

This game was a back and forth affair. UMBC led most of the way but faltered to execute on defense down the stretch. Sa’eed Nelson, the quick and craft point guard for American consistently shredded the defense. He got to the rim at will and also found his teammates regularly. He found teammate Sam Iorio for the eventual game winning 3, with under 2 seconds left.

Nelson is a problem at the college level. If he can hit the three consistently, he will have a shot in the NBA G-League and for sure a legit chance to be a solid pro overseas. The junior point guard had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Iorio does a little bit of everything for the Eagles. He is the leading rebounder on the team and provides a 3 point threat, as well as playing solid defense. He had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Stacy Beckton Jr. had a solid game also. He chipped in 14 points and 4 three-pointers.

For UMBC it was a disappointing finish. They had the game in hand, but let American score 46 points in the second half. Max Curran had a nice game. The slender built junior, had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and a highlight dunk over Marvin Bragg. Sometimes the skinny tall guys can extend and yam over the broader shoulder fellas.

This dunk is a different one. This is actually the game tying one late in the second half.

Senior Joe Sherburne did his normal thing contributing a steady presence on offense and defense. He could still be more aggressive at times though. He had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. Arkel Lamar also was not as aggressive as he may need to be. Junior point guard K.J. Jackson filled the stat sheet with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals. Problem is he shot only 1-10 from the field. Brandon Horvath the other slender man on the team(see what I did there?), who also yams on people from time to time, had 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Overall the issue was UMBC could not stop the penetration from Nelson. He carved them up and American passed the ball very well in the second half. They could be more of a factor in the Patriot league than people originally thought.

Food for thought – UMBC had breakfast food in the media room. I chose to pass. I ate a muffin and had some water….. Very basic I know…… But I did get carryout Indian food for dinner from Tandoori Kabob in Pasadena. Spicy ginger chicken with garlic naan. Well worth the price.

The Life of a Freelance Basketball Scout

Game 2 of the Season

November 12 – Manhattan @ UMBC

Once again it was raining on my trip to a game. Annapolis and now in Catonsville or Baltimore County. UMBC is only 20 minutes from my house so it’s not bad, even while driving an old ’94 Ford F-150.

UMBC has really stepped its game up this past year and no I’m not talking about being the only #16 seed to ever defeat a #1 in NCAA tournament history. I am talking about their facility, the UMBC Event Center. It opened last year when they were crushed by Vermont late in the season. They of course got their revenge with a Jairus Lyles buzzer beater in Vermont to send the Retrievers to the NCAA tourney. More specifically though I am referring to the pregame spread. It was a taco/fajita/salad bar. It was solid, catered food. Now this doesn’t seem like much to some people in the media, but as far as I know there other gym did not have a spread….. Now I could be wrong, but my only experience out of the three years I have attended games there was meandering my way to a small crowded media room the size of the break room at a small paper company (yes, picture the break room from Scranton’s finest Dunder Mifflin). When I arrived there was an empty container of cookies. All of UMBC’s media staff had already consumed them, and yes famous UMBC Twitter guy was one of them…….

So needless to say they have come a long way! The media staff does a great job there for sure. In the old gym as well as the new. Shoutout to Mr. Steve Levy.

As for the game it was a one sided affair. UMBC handled Manhattan for majority of the game, with a final of 75-52. UMBC was shooting lights out from three. They were 13-29. Its very difficult to beat any team that makes 13 three’s. Coach Steve Masiello and the Jaspers didn’t have a chance to match the firepower of Coach Ryan Odom and the Retrievers. These are two really solid head coaches too. I wonder how long Odom will stick around. His coaching style and teams style of play will be very intriguing for many high major universities.

For UMBC the star player of the game was, K.J. Jackson. Jackson, a JUCO transfer from Texas, struggled to run the offense early and played tentative. The 6’2 180 lb. point guard started playing with more decisiveness and conviction and quickly turned the game around. He finished with 20 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. Jackson is a tough player to stop when driving from the perimeter and he see’s the floor pretty well. He made 4-7 from three and was not taking shots out of the offense. Jackson is going to be one of the guards to watch in the America East Conference.

The other two veterans for UMBC that played well as expected were Arkel Lamar and Joe Sherburne. Lamar, a 6’5 235lb. junior guard/forward, may be the most important player on the squad. Lamar is a knockdown three-point shooter and has the ability to pull up or drive to the rack. Lamar has expanded his overall game. He see’s the floor better than years past and he also seems to be taking more of a leadership role on the floor. Lamar finished with 15 points. Joe Sherburne, a 6’6 220lb. senior shooting guard, provided his steady play. He played well in the high post and at the foul line. Sherburne’s calming presence is what holds this team together. The sharpshooter finished with 13 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds.

For Manhattan it was not pretty on offense. They lacked continuity and a purpose most of the time. Freshman Elijah Buchanan lead the way with 10 points. Senior guard Thomas Capuano chipped in 9 points and senior guard/forward Samson Usilo had 7 points and 7 rebounds. This team is going to struggle to score. They seemed to be lacking a playmaking point guard and they are a very young team. Masiello will have some work to do.

Fan of the game goes to the random UMBC fan that was yelling at all of Manhattan’s players by name and telling them they suck and they all need shape-ups. Very entertaining sir.

UMBC had a decent crowd there. I guess the interest garnered from the NCAA tourney upset over #1 seeded Virginia is starting to generate some more profit.