BIG FIVE SKINNY

By Matt Mattare

St. Joe’s 77
Lehigh 64

Thinking too much about the enigma that is the Philadelphia Eagles or the fact that the Sixers are paying Andre Iguodala $80 million to average 13.0ppg is enough to give anyone an ulcer, so I figured I’d head down to Stabler Arena to relax and get my first live peek at the St. Joe’s Hawks. Every few years they pop up as a dangerous team in March so I was curious to see if I could pencil them in as a potential bracket buster down the road. The answer in a word: no.

After a week in Maui the Hawks looked a little flat against Lehigh, a middle of the road team in one of the weakest conferences in D-I (the Patriot League). The artist formerly known as the Engineers put up a spirited fight—pulling within four points with less than ten minutes to go—but they were outmatched and couldn’t keep up late in the contest. They certainly didn’t help their cause by deciding the best defense would be commit touch fouls when the Hawks went up for borderline uncontested put-backs, but I digress.

The Hawks had problems getting points on the board—which has been a theme the entire season so far (in fact only three players are averaging more than 5.2 ppg going into the game). Guard Darrin Govens has some range but went 0-for-6 from behind the arc after hitting his first two shots to start the game. For the most part they relied on put-backs and hitting the boards to wear down Lehigh and that’s something you can’t do against a conference power like Xavier.

The thing I was most interested in getting a look at was Ahmad Nivens’ game—he’s a preseason all-conference selection who many claim is the best big man in the A-10. He posted pretty impressive numbers (20pts and 17rebs) but he did it very quietly. If I were to give a scouting report I’d say the positives are that he’s got a beautiful shot for a big man, a very solid mid-range game, nice touch around the basket, and gets his share of boards (he’s averaging over 10 rebounds per game). There are plenty of negatives though: he is not very assertive at all, never demands the ball, and disappeared for stretches. Tonight he was far and away the best player on the court and should’ve thrown up 40 points.

If I were to compare him to a player it’d be former Maryland forward Terence Morris; Morris had loads of talent and plenty of hype after two great years to start his college career, but if you ever watched him in person you were never impressed because he was just so passive. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West would have killed to have him anchoring their front line when they made their Elite Eight run, but he’s just not the type of player who will demand the ball and throw a team on his back to take them to a new level.

When St. Joe’s has been dangerous in the past it’s been on great guard play—whether it’s been Jameer and Delonte, Rashid Bey, Marvin O’Connor, or Pat Calathes. They’re lacking in that department this season which means expectations should be tempered—it also means that Villanova should have a pretty easy path to a Big Five crown.