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MBB: Game 2 - Western Carolina - Friday 7:30 ACCN+/ESPN+

Pilchard

Pilchard

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Our 1-0 Deacs start off a big weekend for WF sports with a Friday night tilt versus the Western Carolina Catamounts. Here is the rundown on WCU:

HC Justin Gray: Our own Justin Gray leads the Cats into Winston replacing another coach with a strong WF connection, Mark Prosser (who moved on to lead Winthrop, replacing Pat Kelsey, yet another WF connection). For those too young remember Justin Gray, he is an all-time WF favorite as a player and leader. Gray played for WF between 2002-6, received All-ACC recognition over three different seasons. Gray is 2nd on the WF all time 3 point scorer list with 319, behind only Randolph Childress, and is 8th on the WF all-time scoring list with 1946 points as a Deac.
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LOL at Dino's typical clueless expression... yes, Dino, your team gets three points for that shot... also love that Chris Mack is next to Dino in that shot...

2021-22 Catamounts: When WCU hired Justin Gray last Spring, he inherited a mess. The Cats had just finished an 11-16 (4-13) and 9th in the 10 team SoCon. Already with his "best" players in the transfer portal, Prosser left for Winthrop aware that WCU was heading for an ugly 2021-22 season, which would've put Prosser's job in jeopardy. The current Catamount roster returns none of their top 5 scorers from last year, and only one player that started a game last year. The cupboard was beyond bare. With the promise of a lot of PT available, Gray and his staff worked the transfer portal to build a team. In fact, of the 8 players that logged time in WCU's opening game on Tuesday, all are juniors and seniors, and seven transferred into WCU this Spring or Summer. Gray undertook team building and developing cohesion on the fly. Despite the adversity, in their first game, WCU jumped on #139 Bowling Green early (led 14-3) and then battled back after BG seemed to have the game under control late. WCU's Cam Bacote (an Indiana State transfer and teammate of Jake LaRavia) hit a layup at the buzzer to force OT, and then the Cats pulled away in OT to beat a solid Bowling Green team 79-71. WF (#100) is the highest rated team on WCU's schedule, and even with the upset on Tuesday, KP projects a rough season for the Cats -- 10-21 (4-14) last in the SoCon.

WCU Roster:

On Tuesday, Gray started:

PG 6-3 Sr. Cam Bacote: Bacote is from Bethel HS (same as Tony Rutland) in VA. Started at MD-Eastern Shore; transferred to Indiana State; played two years, but never started a game; scored in double figures twice in 59 games while playing next to LaRavia; 12 pts, 5 assists; 3 TOs on Tuesday
SG 6-6 Sr. Nick Robinson: started at St. Joe's, transferred to Valpo before landing at WCU; he's a scorer and had 15 against Purdue last year; led WCU with 15 points and 13 boards on Tuesday; shot 3 for 6 from three
G/F 6-6 Jr. Tyler Harris: the lone holdover from last year; started 18 games last year; shoots 3s, but often misses -- 26% career from 3; 11 points, but fouled out on Tuesday
BF 6-5 Jr. Marlowe Gilmore: JUCO transfer; averaged 10 ppg and 5.5 rpg at that level; 7 points (3 for 3 from the field) 6 boards on Tuesday
C 6-10 Jr. Joe Petrakis: K State transfer; played a total of 29 minutes for K State last year; 14 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks on Tuesday; not afraid to shoot from deep: shot 8 threes on Tuesday (made 2)

The bench:

G/F 6-5 Jr. Vonterius Woolbright: JUCO transfer; fills the stat sheet: played 31 minutes against BG; 8 assists, 7 points (1-7 from the field), 5 boards, 5 TOs, 4 steals
G 6-3 Jr. Madison Monroe: started at Oakland U, went JUCO and then ended up at WCU: 7 points and 4 boards against BG
G/F Jr. 6-5 Marvin Price: JUCO to Ohio U to WCU; only played in 5 games for Ohio; 6 points, 2 boards and 2 assists on Tuesday


The outcome:


KP projects a 79-62 WF win. While the Cats showed grit pulling out an OT win over BG on Tuesday, some warts were exposed. WCU committed 18 TOs and shot 56% from the line. WCU did hang on the boards with a +6 advantage. The Cats benefitted from some awful Bowling Green shooting as the Falcons went 5 for 34 (14%) from 3. BG's leading returning scorer Daeqwon Plowden missed all 8 of his three point shots... Yuck. Gray scrambled to assemble a roster made up of essentially misfit toys, and his team reflected Gray's toughness on Tuesday when it defeated a mid-tier MAC team. That said, WF should name the score on Friday. WCU appears to lack a true PG, and the Deacs forced WM into 21 TOs yesterday. Would expect more the same on Friday night. Will ride the Deacs again as Forbes wasn't happy with the 2nd half last night (WF outscored 23-11 to close the game after leading 66-36 with 9 minutes left). WF in a rout.
 
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Man that picture brings back some good memories while also feelings of sadness.
 
I hope the athletic department has a nice welcome back montage planned for his return. When is the last time a basketball alum came back to the Joel to coach against the Deacs?
 
PhDeac said:
I hope the athletic department has a nice welcome back montage planned for his return. When is the last time a basketball alum came back to the Joel to coach against the Deacs?
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Josh Howard in an exhibition game right?
 
That's got to be a weird feeling for Justin Gray to coach in the Joel as the opponent in just his 2nd game as a head coach.
 
Yeah. That's right. I forgot we played them in an exhibition.
 
One JG stat that I failed to mention: no WF player (yes, not Tim Duncan or Randolph Childress or Chris Paul or Josh Howard or even John Collins) has ever scored more points in a game at LJVM than Justin Gray. 35 points against in a ACC/Big 10 challenge game against Wisconsin in 2005 is the WF record.
 
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No idea on the spread, but I'll be on the Deacs if it is anything less than 20.

I hope it doesn't give Gray the sads that the LJVM will be nearly empty. Maybe attendance will be better on a Friday night?

I also love that picture of Dino.

Here's to getting our KP below 100 and never looking back!
 
I have a feeling with people in town for the football game we will hopefully be able to have double the crowd from yesterday's game. 7:30 tip on a Friday is also perfect for families and working people while 7:00 on a Wednesday isn't great. Wish the AD had marketed this game with the football game. If they had a package with tickets for both, for example, or gave free basketball tickets with 4 pack football tickets.
 
JGRAY, my favorite all time deac. I was in middle school when he was playing, probably the heyday of my deac basketball fandom. I loved the guy and wanted to play exactly like him. He and CP3 being roomates was the coolest thing in the world to my young self. Hope he has lots of success.
 
deacfan123 said:
JGRAY, my favorite all time deac. I was in middle school when he was playing, probably the heyday of my deac basketball fandom. I loved the guy and wanted to play exactly like him. He and CP3 being roomates was the coolest thing in the world to my young self. Hope he has lots of success.
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Love 2000s college basketball memories. Just isn't the same anymore. Growing up a Georgetown fan it was Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert for me. I remember how cool I thought it was that Otto Porter never played AAU because his dad wanted him to focus on academics, but in his second year he tore up the Big East and scored 33 points to close down the Carrier Dome in the last Big East matchup there.
 
NJDeac’22 said:
I have a feeling with people in town for the football game we will hopefully be able to have double the crowd from yesterday's game. 7:30 tip on a Friday is also perfect for families and working people while 7:00 on a Wednesday isn't great. Wish the AD had marketed this game with the football game. If they had a package with tickets for both, for example, or gave free basketball tickets with 4 pack football tickets.
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That's a great idea. It may not be too late to give people a free ticket by showing their ticket for Saturday.

They mentioned on the broadcast that the A&T game next Saturday got moved from 2:00 to 4:00 and they'll be showing the Clemson game in the Joel. Given how long our games are, that may not be enough time.
 
PhDeac said:
That's a great idea. It may not be too late to give people a free ticket by showing their ticket for Saturday.

They mentioned on the broadcast that the A&T game next Saturday got moved from 2:00 to 4:00 and they'll be showing the Clemson game in the Joel. Given how long our games are, that may not be enough time.
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College football desperately needs shorter games. My recommendation: Out of bounds only stops the clock in the last 5 of each half. Doesn't change the game fundamentally but could make it 10-15 minutes shorter at least. Either that or add a fourth timeout, but make non head injuries count as a timeout. That stops all the annoying fake injuries to stop momentum. So many more students would stay at games if it didn't take literally all day. The fact that you can watch an entire college game when the ball is in play in probably less than 15 minutes (it's famously 12 for NFL since less plays are run) but it takes 4 hours of real time to watch is absurd.

I will be watching that game at Putters hopefully and then going across to the Joel, unless Christmas comes early and the parents cover a trip to Death Valley.
 
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NJDeac’22 said:
College football desperately needs shorter games. My recommendation: Out of bounds only stops the clock in the last 5 of each half. Doesn't change the game fundamentally but could make it 10-15 minutes shorter. Either that or add a fourth timeout, but make non head injuries count as a timeout. That stops all the annoying fake injuries to stop momentum.
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As it is, out of bounds doesn't stop the clock in college game except for the last two minutes of each half. If there is more than two minutes when the player with the ball goes out of bounds, the clock is stopped just until the ball is spotted between the hashmarks. You could do away with that aspect of the rule, but that is the same as the NFL. With the emphasis on passing the thing that stops the clock in college football is the incomplete pass. College should adopt the same rule as the out of bounds play. An incomplete pass doesn't stop the clock until the next snap unless there is less than two minutes left in the half, otherwise the clock should start after an incomplete pass when the ball is spotted.
 
Pilchard said:
As it is, out of bounds doesn't stop the clock in college game except for the last two minutes of each half. If there is more than two minutes when the player with the ball goes out of bounds, the clock is stopped just until the ball is spotted between the hashmarks. You could do away with that aspect of the rule, but that is the same as the NFL. With the emphasis on passing the thing that stops the clock in college football is the incomplete pass. College should adopt the same rule as the out of bounds play. An incomplete pass doesn't stop the clock until the next snap unless there is less than two minutes left in the half, otherwise the clock should start after an incomplete pass when the ball is spotted.
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Thanks for the clarification. Actually noticed that once on Saturday but thought the player may have been ruled down inbounds incorrectly.
 
Hey Pilchard, thanks for doing these! It's like Christmas morning, opening a present, every time one of these show up on the board.
 
A friend was in Cullowhee for the game the other night as her son is on BGSU's staff. The Catamount faithful were chanting "We Want Wake!" at the end.
 
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