Off to Eastern Washington on Friday

SJSU v Eastern Washington - Friday, November 12 , 5:35 p.m.

Eastern Washington is a member of the Big Sky Conference and located in Cheney, Washington (and no, the former vice president didn't invade and take over the town so obviously no WMD was located). The community was originally called the rather ominous sounding Section Thirteen, then the bucolic Willow Springs, followed by Depot Springs upon the railroad arriving. Billings was its fourth name until Cheney was settled on to honor a director of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Returning to hoops, the Eagles were selected to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference in both the media and coaches recent polls.

EW, which finished 9-21 overall and 5-11 in the Big Sky Conference, has no seniors on its 2010-11 roster. But three returning starting guards provide a solid foundation, including last year's Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year Glen Dean.

Besides Dean, returning starters include fellow sophomores Jeffrey Forbes and Kevin Winford, who averaged 11.0 and 6.9 points, respectively, a year ago. Forbes was also one of the top newcomers in the league, averaging 13.2 points in 16 Big Sky Conference games as he started 27 of 30 games in the 2009-10 season.

The fourth returning letter winner is 6-foot-8 Laron Griffin, who averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds last season. Other inside players include junior college transfers Cliff Ederaine (6-foot-7) and Rashano McRae (6-foot-7), as well as true freshmen Jaylen Henry (6-foot-7) and Carter Warnock (6-foot-9).

Coach Kirk Earlywine has also brought in highly-touted and very athletic Tremayne Johnson. He was recruited by San Francisco and Arizona, but originally signed a letter of intent with the Eagles in spring 2009 and then re-signed in November 2009.

Plus, 6-foot-0 junior college transfer Cliff Colimon is expected to help out at the point.

"We can certainly build around those three returning guards, as well as Laron Griffin and Tremayne Johnson," Earlywine added. "For the first time we have a core of players that are going to be in the program for a number of years that we can build with. But we have to add pieces to it."


EWU most recently fell in exhibition play to Montana State-Billings, now coached by former Idaho mentor George Pfeifer. Here's the game writeup by Steve Bergum of the Spokane Spokesman Review:

"Not surprisingly, the nearly unfathomable run of injuries that continues to plague the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team made the Eagles’ 66-60 exhibition loss to Montana State-Billings at Reese Court Monday night downright painful to watch. For everyone.

With sophomore Glen Dean, last year’s starting point guard, sidelined indefinitely with a stress fracture in his foot, and first-year junior college transfer Cliff Colimon unable to play because of an ankle sprain he sustained in practice Sunday, EWU found itself without a point guard against the NCAA Division II Yellowjackets.

As a result, coach Kirk Earlywine juggled things in an attempt to find some offensive consistency.

None was uncovered. Eastern shot a miserable 25 percent (15 of 60) from the floor and missed 13 of 40 free throw attempts in dropping its second, and final, exhibition game prior to Friday night’s regular-season and home opener against San Jose State.

“Offensively tonight, it was very obvious that we were playing without a point guard,” Earlywine said, after watching his team get only four assists. “And that was painful.”

Eastern’s three front-line starters were a combined 7 of 30.

“And how many of those were from point-blank?” Earlywine asked. “A lot of those shots were at the front of rim, but I thought they hurried a little bit and pressed a little bit.”

The Eagles made only two of their first 16 basket tries and trailed 30-23 at halftime. But they put together a nice 14-3 run comng out of intermission and took a 37-33 lead before suffering through a field-goal drought that lasted nearly 7½ minutes."


Here is the game writeup of the earlier loss to Seattle Pacific (a team that beat Nevada in Reno):

Playing without two returning starting guards, Eastern Washington University opened its 2010-11 season with an 87-82 exhibition loss to Seattle Pacific Tuesday (Nov. 2) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.

Junior college transfer Tremayne Johnson led the Eagles with 22 points as EWU rallied from a 17-point deficit early in the second half. Eastern pulled to within three on several occasions late in the game.

Seattle Pacific made 62 percent of their shots from the floor, including 16-of-24 in the first half when it took a 40-30 halftime lead. The lead ballooned to 17 when the Falcons scored the first seven points of the second half.

"It we would have came out and played really, really hard defensively in the first half and run out of gas, I could have lived with that," said Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine, who played eight players in the game. "I knew fatigue was going to be a factor. But they shot 62 percent -- 66 percent in the first half. I don't know if up to this point I've impressed upon the new players how hard you have to play and how much of a focus you have to have every day in practice. That's why you play these games."

"We have to play better and we have to defend better," he added.

Eastern played without sophomore guards Glen Dean and Jeffrey Forbes, who are both out with injuries. Dean is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his foot after averaging 12.2 points and 4.4 assists a year ago. Forbes sat out with a knee strain and averaged 11.0 points in his debut season.

Johnson made 7-of-11 shots from the field and 8-of-9 free throws, and also had three assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals in his Eagle debut. Another newcomer, guard Cliff Colimon contributed 19 points, four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.

Both newcomers played 37 minutes, and another newcomer, Cliff Ederaine, played 26 minutes and had nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds.


Dean and Coliman are apparently still unable to play, at least according to EWU -- "Earlywine isn’t counting on either player being available for the opener against the Spartans..."


Here's the EWU roster (by position and alphabetized)

Glen Dean G 5-10 170 So. Seattle, Wash. / Laurinburg Institute Prep
Cliff Colimon G 6-0 170 Jr. Brooklyn, N.Y. / Eastern Utah JC
Sean Fischer G 6-0 170 Fr. Spokane, Wash. / Gonzaga Prep '09
Willie Hankins G 6-3 190 Fr. Van Nuys, Calif. / The College Preparatory School '10
Jeffrey Forbes G 5-10 170 So. Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS '09
Kevin Winford G 5-11 170 So. Anchorage, Alaska / Bartlett HS '08

Geoffrey Allen G/F 6-5 170 Fr. Los Angeles, Calif. / Pacific Hills HS '10

Rocky Brown F 6-6 200 Fr. HS Fresno, Calif. / Central HS '10
Cliff Ederaine F 6-7 205 Jr. JC Moreno Valley, Calif. / College of the Sequoias
Laron Griffin F 6-8 220 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. / L.A. Southwest College
Jaylen Henry F 6-7 230 Fr. Las Vegas, Nev. / Cheyenne HS '10
Morgan Hyslop F 6-7 200 Jr. Spokane, Wash. / Columbus Basin CC
Tremayne Johnson F 6-7 200 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. / L.A. Southwest College
Rashano McRae F 6-7 230 Jr. Bronx, N.Y. / Highland JC, Kan.
Carter Warnock F 6-9 220 Fr. Chandler, Ariz. / Seton Catholic HS '10

Diary entry #2 from Khufu Najee

(Khufu Najee is a 6-foot-3 wing and a freshman at Diablo Valley College. he is verbally committed to San Jose State)

It has been a long week, real productive though. Had a slight ankle sprain on Thursday which kept me out of practice for the rest of the day, but we had a three-day weekend so I had time for it to heal before practice this week.

Spent a lot of time in the trainer's office these past three days, got a lot of stim treatment and icing on my ankle which helped, so practicing on Monday will be no problem. That slight injury really got to me, even though I was only out a day, it's just too close to the season to take a day off.

Less than two weeks until our first game. Louis Lowe going to be my roommate during our season opener because we are going to be gone for about five days. I hope you all know who Lowe is, but if you don't believe me you will after this season, that kid can hoop.

On a more personal note, I sign my LOI [letter-of-intent] on Wednesday. That's exciting but that signing is just so that we can seal the deal and I can really go all in this year. But Saturday, the 13th, is the big signing and all my family and friends are going to be there -- you only get one of these.

I feel blessed. I'm living inside the moment and life is all too much fun right now.

Khufu Najee

A Derek Brown update

Freshman backcourter Derek Brown will redshirt this season due to the abundance of upperclassmen guards this season.

A Brylle Kamen update

Spartan newcomer Brylle Kamen, 6-foot-7 235, must sit out the first 8-9 games of this season per the NCAA, due to his earlier basketball participation in France.

Anthony Dixon at West Valley College

Anthony Dixon, a 6-foot-5 freshman at San Jose State last season, is now listed on the roster of the West Valley College basketball team. The artsy photo is from the West Valley athletics site.

It's San Jose State 109-92

History tells us they were from different eras -- that being the Spartans and the Missionaries -- although the latter can be found in most, if not all, centuries.

But it was no match for the pairing this afternoon as San Jose State quickly put Whitman into a position of trailing, continued it all game long and ended up with a 109-92 victory.

Strong outside-shooting in the second half brought the point difference close but the outcome never remained in doubt.

Freshman Keith "ShamWow" Shamburger baptized the Missionaries with the opening seven points of the game. Hence, Spartan Hoops will unofficially nickname him Trey since he netted a passel of three-pointers. The southern California native finished with 30 points, after also leading the point total for San Jose State in the earlier scrimmage against Sacramento State..

Besides Shamburger's three times 10, Adrian Oliver finished with 24, Justin Graham 18, Wil Carter 16 and Calvin Douglas 14.

It was this starting five that opened the season for SJSU: Matt Ballard in the middle, Carter in the corner with Oliver, Graham and Shamburger handling the wing/backcourt spots.

At the half, the Spartans led 61-36. San Jose State shot 20-32 overall, 6-10 from long distance and 15-17 at the foul line. More importantly, the SJSU held Whitman to 35% overall shooting. But overall, based on the second 20 minutes especially, the Missionaries finished at 42% shooting, including a strong 18-35 on trey attempts.

A note: it was not a good week for Whitman-ites and we will unequivocally quash the rumor that Meg Whitman has offered to donate $140 million to the Walla Walla-based school if she is named president there.

Catching up with Matt Misko

here is Matt and his wife Jennifer in Maui last January

Matt Misko patrolled the middle for San Jose State basketball in the 2004-2006 seasons. Now, he is looking out for business opportunities. Showing his Spartan pride, Matt attended the recent intra-squad scrimmage. We did a Q-and-A with him:

SH - What are you up to now work-wise and away from work?

MM - I am a Commercial Banker within Comerica Bank's Equity Funds Group in Menlo Park. I started in April 2010 after serving a couple years as a Credit Analyst primarily in the San Jose Middle Market Group. My business responsibilities include sourcing and managing relationships with Equity Fund and Venture Capital firms, with a focus in loans. I’ve worked with Comerica Bank since January 2007 after graduating in the Fall of 2006. Away from work, my wife (Jennifer) and I like to spend time with friends and family, and will often take day trips around the Bay Area to sightsee. No big hobbies now, Jennifer is finishing up her Masters in Clinical Psychology at San Jose State and supporting her has been a big priority for me. I am looking forward to her graduating in May 2011. I do try to work in any time I can for pickup basketball games.


SH - What did you major in while at San Jose State and why did you choose it?

MM - Business Management. This was a broad degree that I thought would give me flexibility to pursue my choice of careers after school. Honestly, I never put much thought into my post-basketball ambitions while growing up in the Central Valley (Lindsay). I was around many accomplished people, but their careers revolved around agriculture, a field that is virtually non-existent in the Bay Area but something I eventually want to be involved in.


SH - Any goals you have set for the future?

MM - Goals have only been set for the short term since getting married prior to my senior year at SJSU. The last of the series is Jennifer graduating from the Clinical Psychology Masters Program which will occur this coming May! I’ll have to reassess after that.


SH - What is your best SJSU basketball memory or memories?

MM - Playing in my first game, I asked the Assistant Coach, Dennis Cutts, to relieve me after the first couple minutes of the game and he replied “Ahh, you’ll be alright.” Sure enough I caught my second wind and played well.


SH - Which, if any, former teammates do you stay in touch with?

MM - No regular contact with any, but do have most as a Facebook friend.


SH - While at SJSU, who was the most talented opponent you matched up with?

MM - Paul Millsap from Louisiana Tech. He was the top rebounder in the nation and had a knack for getting his hands on the ball. I remember having him boxed out behind the backboard in one game and he still came out with the rebound. He’s going on his 4th year with the Utah Jazz.


SH - What advice would you offer if you were talking with high school players in the midst of trying to get a college scholarship?

MM - If you have the talent, then don’t quit. It’s an accomplishment that you will always have to reflect on and there are several avenues to achieve it if you are willing to put in the work. I got in with a successful Junior College stop and coming in as a walk-on won’t necessarily preclude you from earning a scholarship either. Whatever the route, be prepared and determined to work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life. Also, don’t lose focus on the end goal, which should be a solid education and include strong classroom performance in preparation for a life after basketball.


SH - How is your brother David doing?

MM - He’s doing well. He is a police officer in Southern California and just got married in July. Our new ‘weird twin story’ is that our wives have the same names, Jennifer Lynne Misko. He’s helping out as an assistant coach for a varsity men’s basketball team at a local high school as well.

Thank you Matt, we appreciate you taking the time to update us.

Whiteman, Saturday p.m. at Walt McPherson Court

Whitman College, out of Washington, is a member of the D-III Northwest Conference and the opponent of San Jose State University on Saturday afternoon -- 3 p.m. -- at Walt McPherson Court. Located in Walla Walla (known as the town so nice they named it twice), the team is called the Missionaries but we think they missed the boat by not going with the Sweet Onions.

Anyway, Eric Bridgeland coaches the squad and he knows the Bay Area well having been the head man with the UCSC men's basketball program in Santa Cruz for a couple of years. Most recently, he led Puget Sound to great success and also worked as an assistant at Pepperdine.

Bridgeland's teams play uptempo (remember the Puget Sound game at Walt McPherson Court a few years back? It was a barrage of three-pointers).

In an earlier article, Bridgeland said, "We're built for speed. The best players we can get admitted to Whitman are combo guards and tweeners, and the program is built around them. We want to get up and down the floor and utilize their versatility. Speed, versatility and pressure are the three concepts we hang our hats on."

He added, "Guard penetration is the future of basketball, and it happens to be exciting...We have a lot more length and a lot more quickness, depth and shooting. Offensively, we just need to share the ball. We're penetration-based, and we'll both shoot the 3 and get to the rim. We also have three or four guys who can post up. We have a lot versatility, but we'll look to get good shots early and run at every opportunity...We'll always look to pick up full and pressure, more so at times than others. We want to dictate the game."

From the Whitman athletics site comes these player descriptions:

* 6-foot-2 junior guard Brandon Shaw, who earned All-NWC Honorable Mention recognition last season while averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game also led the NWC in steals, averaging 2.38 per game.

* 6-foot-0 senior guard Justin Artis is back after averaging 12.6 points and contributing to a ball-hawking defense that led the NWC in steals a year ago.

* freshmen Josh Duckworth, a 6-foot-2 guard, and Seth Brent, a 6-foot-7 forward, are part of a recruiting class that will strengthen the core of returning players...The newcomers also include first-year sophomore Ryan Gilkey, 6-foot-7 forward.

There are a trio of players with Bay Area connections so some family and friends will be there Saturday rooting for the Missionaries:

* Drew Raher - a grad of Terra Linda High in Marin County
* Ignas Pavilonis - out of a Woodside area high school and Canada College
* Drew Raher - a St. Ignatius Prep (San Francisco) grad

Here's the Whitman roster, broken down by position and alphabetized:

* Justin Artis G 6-0 185 Sr.Tacoma WA
* Jordan Dickson G 6-1 Fr. Spokane WA
* Josh Duckworth G 6-2 Fr. Los Angeles CA
* Brandon Shaw G 6-2 170 Jr. Dallas TX

* Juan Pablo Alvarez G/F 6-4 195 Jr. Quito, Ecuador
* Peter Clark W 6-4 190 So. Flagstaff AZ

* Seth Brent F 6-7 Fr. Bend OR
* Ryan Gilkey F 6-7 220 So. Woodinville WA
* Ryan Guisness F 6-6 Fr. Kirkland WA
* David Michaels F 6-7 215 Jr. Las Vegas NV
* Ignas Pavilonis F 6-5 So. Lithuania
* Drew Raher F 6-3 195 So. San Francisco CA
* LuQuam Thompson G 5-11 160 So. Tacoma WA


Here is the listed San Jose State roster, again broken down by position and alphabetized:

* Derek Brown G 6-2 185 Fr. Los Angeles, Calif. (Chino Hills HS)
* Calvin Douglas G 6-3 215 Jr. Antioch, Calif. (City College of San Francisco)
* Justin Graham G 6-4 195 Sr. Ripon, Calif. (Ripon HS)
* Chris Jones G 6-4 205 So. Hayward, Calif. (Newark Memorial HS)
* Aalim Moor G 6-3 194 So. Oakland, Calif. (St. Mary's HS)
* Adrian Oliver G 6-4 210 Sr. Modesto, Calif. (U. of Washington)
* Keith Shamburger G 5-11 170 Fr. Lakewood, Calif. (Serra HS)

* Matt Ballard F 6-9 220 Jr. Foothill Ranch, Calif. (Irvine Valley College, UC Irvine)
* Wil Carter F 6-8 215 Jr. Pocatello, Idaho (Salt Lake Community College)
* Jerry Casey F 6-8 195 So. San Luis Obispo, Calif. (Mission College Prep)
* Billy Dick F 6-6 235 Jr. San Jose, Calif. (San Jose City College) (Silver Creek HS)
* Brylle Kamen F 6-7 235 So. Paris, France (Western Nebraska College)
* Garrett Ton F 6-8 222 Jr. Torrance, Calif. (West Torrance HS)

* Joe Henson C 6-8 245 So. Pasadena, Calif. (Pasadena HS)

More press for AO

Here's the folks at Rush The Court lauding Adrian Oliver as a 2010-2011 Impact Player:

Adrian Oliver - Sr, G – San Jose State. If you happen to be standing next to Adrian Oiver right now, do us a favor and point in the direction of any basketball goal, no matter how far away from one you are. Adrian Oliver is in range. As in green-light shooting range. Of that goal. He’s the second leading scorer (22.5 PPG) returning to college this season (Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic got him by 0.2 PPG) and fourth overall from last year. And here’s what impresses us more than that: even with such long-range accuracy (40.8% from three point range in 2009-10), the guy still shot a pretty darn admirable 43.7% from the field last year. Pair that with lights-out accuracy from the free throw line (88.7% last year, ranking him 32nd nationally), and you can see why opponents have trouble defending him. You can’t leave him open from deep, and you can’t get physical with him and send him to the line. To say that the Spartans rely on Oliver is an understatement; his usage rate (the number of possessions a player utilizes while on the floor ­ that’s right, we’re going tempo-free on you!) registered at a whopping 59.8%, landing him 10th nationally. Even when shooting a standstill jumper, Oliver has a natural backwards drift and a big leg kick on his shot, which makes his fade-away even more deadly. That’s his favorite move, by far ­ whether it’s off a drive, a crossover, coming off a screen, or standing still with a man in front of him, Oliver loves to bait his defender with that one last forward jab step, and the next thing you know he’s falling away from you with all kinds of room to get that shot away. It’s gorgeous. You will not likely see a prettier fade-away in the game this season. And if you’re in the WAC, see it you shall, because not only can Oliver create his own shot just fine, but consider this: of the top six scorers from last season’s SJSU squad, only one besides Oliver is returning. That means more touches (and a climbing usage rate, of course). That means more chances to see that fade-away. That means that, barring something unfortunate and/or unforseen, the WAC Player of the Year race is over.

and

From the folks at the Searching for Billy Edelin site:

Adrian Oliver (Senior; San Jose State)- Washington University is famous for producing NBA ready guards (think Nate Robinson/Brandon Roy). Try preaching that to Adrian Oliver. The 6’4’’ shooting guard left Washington six games into his sophomore campaign, transferred to San Jose State, and never looked back. Oliver is coming off a stellar junior year in which he finished fourth in the nation in scoring (22.5PPG) shooting 40% from three. His range is endless, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a sweeter fadeaway jumper in the collegiate ranks.
Here are a few minutes of AO highlights.

A Q-and-A with Coach Nessman

SpartanHoops recently did a Q-and-A with Coach George Nessman -- here you go. We'll have the Whitman game preview to you soon.

It all begins on Saturday.

SH - What do you see as the biggest challenge this approaching season?

GN - Our biggest challenge is finding consistent success. For the most part ,that means winning away from home for our program as we have had a winning record at home for a number of seasons now, with an especially strong record last year in the San Jose. We have overcome many obstacles and challenges in developing the program - one hurdle that remains is qualifying for the post season. For a team to have an excellent season, it must find a way to play at least or near .500 on the road while maintaining a significant home court advantage. Our confidence is very high that we will jump this bar this season.


SH - Does the 2010-2011 Spartan squad have the frontcourt size to handle WAC play?

GN - Of course we have enough size in the front court to compete in the WAC.


SH - The dunk and the long distance shot get all the SportsCenter play and what prior positive actions that took place in making those things happen is usually ignored. What do you track offensively that you stress to the players but is generally oblivious to most fans?

GN - Coaches see things that fans miss even though as some fans would have it we can't see the hand in front of our faces! We spend literally thousands of hours in the gym and watching film, observing basketball so our sight is honed. What we look for in developing offense are interactive plays - proper ball movement, screen actions, quality spacing, cuts away from the ball, competing for effective space near the rim are just a few on our radar. Basketball is the most interactive of all sports - it is the ultimate team game in which the players must be in cohesion or the team cannot function at either end of the court - this is probably even more pronounced on offense.

Players must understand their own strengths and play to them. They must be aware of teammates strengths and play to them. That is the essence of filling a role on a basketball team. Two phrases we use to encourage confidence on offense are; do what you do and do what we do.

In person or on tv, the focus is on the ball so the player with the ball draws the primary attention. However, there are four more players out there who need to be moving in concert for offense to work. We have to discipline ourselves as coaches to be ever mindful of what is happening away from the ball because we recognize it's value. Players have to be aware of their position on the floor at all times - sometimes simply to stay out of the way of teammates.


SH - Fans always hear about steals and blocked shots as defensive bellwethers but one aspect of stopping teams from scoring that gets short-shrifted is deflections. Is that as aspect you emphasize and track? If so, why

GN - Our production on defense will in large measure define our season. Steals and blocks are noted by many as signs of defensive prowess, but are not necessarily significant indicators of quality team defense. We make note of deflections - they certainly have a place in good defensive effort regardless of the primary defensive scheme or strategy involved. However, the single most reliable indicator of good team defense is defensive field goal percentage. That derives from putting solid pressure on the ball, challenging shots and not allowing your opponents too many shots near the rim.


SH - Based on observations from the intra-scrimmage, the team seems more intent on reducing open looks outside and unimpeded shots in the paint. Is that your sense?

GN - The narrative from last season was we simply didn't play well enough defensively to stay in the WAC race down the stretch. The stats seem to back that up as on many offensive metrics we were amongst the leaders in the WAC (and the nation for a few) and on many defensive ones we were near the bottom of the WAC. We can't ignore these numbers, and we haven't. The key though in all things is not identifying problems - its identifying solutions.

Our lack of effective depth due to a variety of factors hurt our team. Our defensive effectiveness sagged as the calendar turned to February. Defense requires considerable more energy, stamina and intensity than offense so lack of depth is a key factor. The feel of playing on offense is different than the feel while playing defense when done properly.

We also failed to instill a consistent physical, protect the rim mentality that is so vital to defense. We have broken this down for our guys, and they certainly have embraced a more physical approach. To expect to be more physical in games we need to practice in that manner on a day to day basis.