Post by elp525 on Jun 29, 2011 4:46:51 GMT -5
Wednesday June 29, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
GREENTREE, Pa. - Kevin Noreen leaned up against the net barrier between the basketball court and the soccer field inside the Greentree SportsPlex Monday night spouting wisdom to make him look and sound more like the veteran basketball sage than he really is.
That's no offense to the sophomore forward for West Virginia's basketball team, but rather a weird reminder of the reality he possesses in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club's summer league.
Noreen is on a team in the Summer Pro-Am League with seven WVU newcomers - five freshmen and two transfers.
Despite playing 39 minutes in seven games before taking a medical redshirt as a freshman last season, he is the old-timer by default. The newcomers arrived Saturday. Their first game in the summer league was Monday.
In the brief time together on campus and in random pickup games during recruiting visits, the 6-foot-10 Noreen already had a look at something exciting.
"A lot of talent," he said.
Minutes later, Noreen and the rest of the SteelCityTickets.com team was looking at a 13-0 deficit. Noreen started with point guard and Dayton transfer Juwan Staten, 6-1 freshman point guard Gary Browne, 6-6 freshman Aaron Brown and 6-8 freshman Tommie McCune
"It looked like we were going to get a nice little whooping," said McCune, a forward from Saginaw, Mich.
It looked that way because it kept heading that way. The PBC team that normally features WVU guard Truck Bryant and freshman walk-on Aric Dickerson, but did not on Monday, took a 32-8 lead.
"That was all about not knowing what to expect," said 6-7 forward Keaton Miles, a freshman from Dallas. "Everyone had a lot of nerves and was trying to feel one another out. It was an eye-opener for us."
Then the 6-3 Staten took the lead with a group that featured Aaron Brown in the backcourt and McCune, Miles and 6-10 freshman center Jay Forsythe in the frontcourt.
That group scored 12 straight points in a 14-2 run to close the half.
"We started picking them up full-court and playing together and getting the ball out to get layups," Brown said. "We were holding the ball a lot and we needed to get some runouts.
"It was a reality check for us. Once we started getting outrebounded and started getting our behinds kicked, we had to turn it up."
Participation in the league is voluntary and Bryant and Dickerson, as well as forward Deniz Kilicli, who is on the SPK Law roster, but did not play Monday, should be around for the rest of the competition.
Kilicli is on the same team as walk-on freshman Paul Herbert Williamson, from Logan. Aaric Murray, a 6-10 transfer from LaSalle, is on the newcomer team, but was at the Amar'e Stoudemire Skills Academy in Chicago over the weekend.
Senior Kevin Jones isn't on a roster. Freshman guard Jabarie Hinds and junior college transfer Dominique Rutledge aren't, either, because they're not expected to enroll in summer school at WVU until July.
Teams are filled with players either on area college teams - like Pitt, Duquesne and Robert Morris - or who are from the Pittsburgh area and play for other schools - like Youngstown State, Akron, Nebraska and even Marshall.
WVU's team of newcomers had its hands full with Duquesne point guard T.J. McConnell, but also a 6-7 post player from Edinboro named Jakim Donaldson.
The WVU team got close, though, and McCune shot and missed a 3-pointer down 56-50 with 2:00 to go. It was 56-52 with 25 seconds left, but a missed shot and a score the other way led to a 58-54 final score.
"I think it opens our eyes to a lot of things," Miles said. "The game is much faster and the defense is tough. You only have like three seconds to make a move or you need to pass it.
"But it's fun to compete and to be able to go against guys who are better than you or who are supposed to be better than you and are more mature than you. I was kind of in awe at first going against them."
The games in the seven-team league are 7 p.m., 8, p.m. and 9 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday. There are no games July 4. The playoffs are July 18-20 and WVU's players plan to be there at the end.
"I want to win the whole thing," McCune said. "That's always my goal. I want to win everything. I want us to end up on top."
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
GREENTREE, Pa. - Kevin Noreen leaned up against the net barrier between the basketball court and the soccer field inside the Greentree SportsPlex Monday night spouting wisdom to make him look and sound more like the veteran basketball sage than he really is.
That's no offense to the sophomore forward for West Virginia's basketball team, but rather a weird reminder of the reality he possesses in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club's summer league.
Noreen is on a team in the Summer Pro-Am League with seven WVU newcomers - five freshmen and two transfers.
Despite playing 39 minutes in seven games before taking a medical redshirt as a freshman last season, he is the old-timer by default. The newcomers arrived Saturday. Their first game in the summer league was Monday.
In the brief time together on campus and in random pickup games during recruiting visits, the 6-foot-10 Noreen already had a look at something exciting.
"A lot of talent," he said.
Minutes later, Noreen and the rest of the SteelCityTickets.com team was looking at a 13-0 deficit. Noreen started with point guard and Dayton transfer Juwan Staten, 6-1 freshman point guard Gary Browne, 6-6 freshman Aaron Brown and 6-8 freshman Tommie McCune
"It looked like we were going to get a nice little whooping," said McCune, a forward from Saginaw, Mich.
It looked that way because it kept heading that way. The PBC team that normally features WVU guard Truck Bryant and freshman walk-on Aric Dickerson, but did not on Monday, took a 32-8 lead.
"That was all about not knowing what to expect," said 6-7 forward Keaton Miles, a freshman from Dallas. "Everyone had a lot of nerves and was trying to feel one another out. It was an eye-opener for us."
Then the 6-3 Staten took the lead with a group that featured Aaron Brown in the backcourt and McCune, Miles and 6-10 freshman center Jay Forsythe in the frontcourt.
That group scored 12 straight points in a 14-2 run to close the half.
"We started picking them up full-court and playing together and getting the ball out to get layups," Brown said. "We were holding the ball a lot and we needed to get some runouts.
"It was a reality check for us. Once we started getting outrebounded and started getting our behinds kicked, we had to turn it up."
Participation in the league is voluntary and Bryant and Dickerson, as well as forward Deniz Kilicli, who is on the SPK Law roster, but did not play Monday, should be around for the rest of the competition.
Kilicli is on the same team as walk-on freshman Paul Herbert Williamson, from Logan. Aaric Murray, a 6-10 transfer from LaSalle, is on the newcomer team, but was at the Amar'e Stoudemire Skills Academy in Chicago over the weekend.
Senior Kevin Jones isn't on a roster. Freshman guard Jabarie Hinds and junior college transfer Dominique Rutledge aren't, either, because they're not expected to enroll in summer school at WVU until July.
Teams are filled with players either on area college teams - like Pitt, Duquesne and Robert Morris - or who are from the Pittsburgh area and play for other schools - like Youngstown State, Akron, Nebraska and even Marshall.
WVU's team of newcomers had its hands full with Duquesne point guard T.J. McConnell, but also a 6-7 post player from Edinboro named Jakim Donaldson.
The WVU team got close, though, and McCune shot and missed a 3-pointer down 56-50 with 2:00 to go. It was 56-52 with 25 seconds left, but a missed shot and a score the other way led to a 58-54 final score.
"I think it opens our eyes to a lot of things," Miles said. "The game is much faster and the defense is tough. You only have like three seconds to make a move or you need to pass it.
"But it's fun to compete and to be able to go against guys who are better than you or who are supposed to be better than you and are more mature than you. I was kind of in awe at first going against them."
The games in the seven-team league are 7 p.m., 8, p.m. and 9 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday. There are no games July 4. The playoffs are July 18-20 and WVU's players plan to be there at the end.
"I want to win the whole thing," McCune said. "That's always my goal. I want to win everything. I want us to end up on top."
