2009-2010 Preview: How to get some respect around here?

Queue music: Aretha Franklin’s Respect (pop up audio)

It’s just 8 days until the St. John’s Red Storm season begins.

It’s been tough to watch the men’s basketball team play at home or on the road. The Johnnies have not provided that winning basketball that the fans want to see. I love the squad and they’re my bit of Queens away from home, but I think that one day my wife may cancel our cable just so she doesn’t hear me groan at yet another turnover. It’s a tough watch; a labor of love.

To their credit, the players have stayed clear of scandal and represent the school well, a focus for the administration after the previous coach’s tenure.  But this is the Big East, and the students and alums want to see winning, scoring, and tough defense. Those W’s?  They bring in fans, recruits, publicity, and respect. And wins make following this team that much more satisfying.

The administration seemingly is on board with this concept of winning. According to the New York Post’s Lenn Robbins:

The parameters of [Coach Norm Roberts’] contract, which initially weighted heavily his player’s academic and conduct performances, now also demand greater success on the court.

Is that bit of news a reason to believe that there is some kind of win threshold? Is Coach Roberts on the hot seat? We’ll find out, perhaps, at the end of the season… if things go awry.

 

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Then again, while the conference’s coaches pick St. John’s to finish 11th, and others inexplicably have St. John’s at 15th, others see what I see – a lot of returning minutes and consistency of roles in a league that’s in flux. Returning minutes tend to mean improvement in most cases (though drastic improvement is not a given).

But how much improvement? The difference between St. John’s and their opponents in conference was about 12 points per 100 possessions. Put more plainly, the Red Storm scored nearly 8 points less than their opponents in any given conference contest. Adjusting for 6 wins, that’s a number of blowouts. (If you want to read more about last year, here is the 2008-2009 review post to help you brush up).

How can the team get better and close the gap between them and their conference opponents?

• Offensive Turnovers. They need to stop. Whether they are turnovers on ill-advised drives, the shaky ballhandling by guards or the lack of awareness/ hand strength in the post, the turnovers have to be cut down, especially the unforced turnovers and offensive fouls. This is probably the best chance for the Red Storm to move up in the Big East hierarchy.
• Defensive Turnovers. The team is not big (except for Dele Coker). The defense has been on a downward trend, especially in conference, allowing opponents to shoot a higher effective field goal percentage each year since 2006. If the team can’t stop opponents from scoring, they can at least reduce the other team’s opportunities to score. Coach Roberts speaks about increased defensive intensity; hopefully this will end up with a harassing, ball-snatching perimeter defense.*
• Scoring Droughts. Keeping the ball means keeping a chance to score; but not enough of the players on the floor have been efficient at scoring. With the addition of a scoring JUCO (Dwight Hardy) and an athletic JUCO (Justin Brownlee), plus a creative freshman guard (Omari Lawrence), and hopeful improvements from the returning guards, this could be a thing of the past. That is dependent, of course, on holding on to the ball long enough to squeeze a quality shot off.
• Reliable Post Play. Down the stretch, DJ Kennedy and Paris Horne carried the team in victories and defeats. But Justin Burrell had some nice moments against Georgetown, and Sean Evans was a horse against Richmond. If they can be constant threats, and if Dele Coker can stay on the floor to provide a defense-first big who rebounds (and supplements the turnovers with some blocked shots), the team will be much less predictable on both ends.

*Yes, ball-snatching is a reference to that Malik Boothe photo in the Boston College game.

Pico also writes for Johnny Jungle and the Church of Bracketology.

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St. John’s notes: Five for Friday

1- Villanova By The Numbers has a nice numbers-oriented 2009-2010 preview on St. John’s. You should check it out.

2- Mid-Major Madness is doing a countdown of all the teams in Division I. yes, all 344. The Red Storm shows in this list at 131. The write-up:

131. St. John’s: It seems like all too long ago when St. John’s was contending for Big East titles. St. John’s went 16-18 in 2008-09 and has had just one winning season in five years under Norm Roberts, who might be in trouble if things don’t turn around soon. A quick glance at the Red Storm’s roster, with G/F Anthony Mason Jr., suggests that good things may be in store. St. John’s returns all five starters from last year’s squad – and that doesn’t include Mason, who learned in August that the NCAA had granted him an extra year of eligibility following an anterior cruciate ligament tear three games into last season.

Read the rest of the analysis, those are good quick looks at every single NCAA Division I men’s basketball team.

3- From MSG’s GameOn! blog, an article about how St. John’s is more prepared to move on without Anthony Mason Jr. than they were in the past:

While Mason remains an integral piece to the Red Storm, he isn’t the sole piece anymore. Juniors Paris Horne and D.J. Kennedy took their games to another level last year with Mason out of the lineup, becoming two of the more improved players in the Big East. So far in practice, they’ve been terrific for St. John’s.

“No one is taking their minutes,” Roberts said of the junior duo. “The way they’re playing, they’re by far our two best players every day.”

4- Meanwhile, upcoming opponent St. Bonaventure has an up and coming talent at center in Andrew Nicholson; he even gets a well-written profile in Slam magazine.

5- And Larry Wright is listed as one of the top 12 mid-major transfers in National Hoops Report. Good luck at Oakland University in Michigan.

Post-script: At Storm Fest last night, St. John’s hosted local forward Devon Collier and French forward (who is doing school stateside at Florida Air Academy) Will Yeguete (also spelled online as Yeguette, and his full first name is Wilfried) for official visits.

Also, a new St. John’s blog has started called Red Storm Review. I’ll be checking it out.

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Notes From Big East Media Day 2009

The preseason rankings:

1. Villanova
2. West Virginia
3. Connecticut
4. Louisville
5. Georgetown
6. Syracuse
7. Cincinnati
8. Notre Dame
9. Pittsburgh
10. Seton Hall
11. St. John’s
12. Marquette
13. Providence
14. South Florida
15. Rutgers
16. DePaul

FIRST TEAM

Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, G, Sr.; Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, G, Sr.; Greg Monroe, Georgetown, C, So.; Lazar Hayward, Marquette, F, Sr.; Da’Sean Butler, W. Virginia, F, Sr.

SECOND TEAM

Jerome Dyson, UConn, G, Sr.; Kemba Walker, UConn, G, So.; Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, G, Jr.; Dominique Jones, S. Florida, G, Jr.; Samardo Samuels, Louisville, F, So.; Devin Ebanks, W. Virginia, F, So.

(tie in voting created 6 positions)

HONORABLE MENTION

Stanley Robinson, UConn., F, Sr.; Arinze Onuaku, Syracuse, C, Sr.

Nationally, most of the articles seemed to focus on a changing of the guard theme, where Louisville and Connecticut were looking up at Villanova and West Virginia, a pair of squads that haven’t always been at the top of the league (though Jay Wright’s built a top-level team for the past 4 years now). You can read articles from the Big East’s official site, from Newsday, and more. Some relevant copy for the Red Storm below; Malik Boothe, DJ Kennedy, and Paris Horne attended the media sessions with Coach Norm Roberts.

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Asbury Park Press: New Jersey teams want to outperform poll

"We’ve seen patience at Seton Hall, Rutgers and St. John’s. People need to realize how tough this job is."

— Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun on stability among the league’s coaches.

Louisville Courier-Journal: Big east shapes up as battle royal

“Now I think the top teams like us, Syracuse, Pittsburgh come to the middle,” said UofL coach Rick Pitino, whose Cardinals were picked fourth. “And the bottom teams like St. John’s, Cincinnati and South Florida are going to come to the middle, and we’re all going to meet somewhere in the middle and compete.”

[And from Cincinnati's Mick Cronin:]

Cronin said the rise of the meek will skew the lines of the elite. He said he doubts there will be much difference between the fifth-place and 10th-place teams.

ESPN/ Andy Katz: Red Storm not too concerned about latest injury (to Anthony Mason Jr.)

"We have more depth, more guys who are versatile and tough and who can score on this year’s team," junior guard Malik Boothe said. "That’s why this year’s team can make a push to get to the Big Dance this year."

Roberts said Mason likely will be out for six weeks (if not longer) and doesn’t expect him to play against Duke in Durham, N.C., on Dec. 5 or against Georgia in the SEC-Big East Invitational at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9.

"I don’t think it’s a big deal," Kennedy said. "He tweaked his hamstring. It’s a setback for him since he was still recovering from his ankle. But it’s not as big a deal as people are making it seem."

My comments:

• Having Calhoun or Pitino talk about how tough the job is… absolutely nothing. The New York teams have to get back into the thick of things and compete. I believe Seton Hall will competer this year. Everyone else? Not so sure.
• The comments about Mason’s injury are curious. So he might be out more than 6 weeks… with a hamstring re-injury? And DJ doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but that sounds like a serious problem to me.

Mason Injured: 4-6 weeks

On the eve of the second annual StormFest, where the Red Storm basketball teams are introduced to the fanfare with recruits taking it all in from the sidelines… Anthony Mason Jr. is out with an injury – really, a re-injury:

…head coach Norm Roberts announced on Tuesday that the swingman will miss the next four to six weeks while recovering from a hamstring injury re-aggravated during team practice over the weekend….

The Red Storm medical staff brought Mason Jr. along slowly since initially injuring the hamstring in early September, prior to St. John’s 4-0 trip to Canada over Labor Day Weekend. Mason Jr. participated in low-impact weight training, conditioning exercises and physical therapy while recuperating until cleared by St. John’s medical staff. After re-aggravating the hamstring over the weekend, orthopedist Answorth Allen, M.D., team doctor to the Red Storm and the New York Knicks of the NBA, re-examined Mason Jr. and recommended four to six more weeks of rehabilitation and strengthening exercises.

That is not good.

Some may say that this could be addition by subtraction; Mason has been a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer in his career. But having him play with teammates who can pick up the scoring slack might have meant that he could pick his spots, take better shots, focus on defense, and not have to take over the game.

The major publications, on the other hand, will stick an early fork in St. John’s, thinking that their leader is out. But Paris Horne played the role of main scorer last year; DJ Kennedy put up points at times as well. Dwight Hardy’s reputation is as a scorer, and the team already counted on the JUCO baller to come back home and become “Dwight Buckets”. This team is not bereft of talent.

This makes the Siena game a little tougher to win – and for this team to be taken seriously nationally, they need to win that contest. During the Boston College game (ahem, debacle), Mase did a solid job of using his legth wisely on defense, bothering shots from shorter players. It was that aspect of his game that made me think the Red Storm could beat Siena at the Philly Hoop Group Classic on November 27th… now I wouldn’t go out on that limb. And truth be told, Mase could come back before then. But a re-injured hamstring, recurring leg problems…?

Just saying, don’t hold your breath for Mase’s return.

Recent St. John’s Links

A few recent St. John’s men’s basketball links, as the players start practice, get ready for Storm Fest on October 22nd, and prepare for an important season, trying to get the Red Storm back on the map:

College Hoops Net has a Big East High-Low Preview. The preview is to create a range where a specific team might finish – a best-case and worst-case scenario, if you will. They have St. John’s finishing between 10th and 14th in the Big East. I could see an 8th place finish if some of the other squads fall on their face. College Hoops Net also did a preview of St. John’s, listing them as the 74th best team in the country.

Vol Nation has an interview with Peter Robert Casey. He touches upon the lack of success New York City coaches (specifically Norm Roberts and Bobby Gonzalez) have had in securing top talent, especially after that talent leaves for a suburban/ nearby prep school. New York can be a bit of a tough bubble to play in, but will those coaches recruit better with more on-court success? (Casey also thinks JayVaughn Pinkston will go to Villanova).

Writing for Bleacher Report and the Examiner websites, Tim Sullivan posts about how Anthony Mason Jr’s return gives the Red Storm a chance to improve, and 5 reasons St. John’s will reach the NCAA Tournament. The five reasons are Mason’s return; a weaker Big East; development of the backcourt; depth and experience; and favorable conference schedule. I think the demise of the league is greatly exaggerated, considering the number of top-level recruits who have simply sat on benches or are just coming into the league.

SportsNet New York (SNY) has a wide-ranging interview with St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts. The most interesting thing, outside of the talk of versatility – and wishing the team was a little bit taller like Skee Lo – is as follows:

What about Mason now that he’s back?

Anthony Mason, Jr. has a great impact. He gives us a lot of versatility. He has the ability to score and to rebound. He adds a lot to our team. The thing with Mason is he’s going to have to find a way to re-connect with the team and get involved. He’s been out for a whole year. It’s like any other situation where an individual goes away to the army or to school and he leaves his younger brothers. While he’s gone his younger brothers grow up. And while he [Mason] was gone, his younger brothers have gotten better. So now we need to try to fit Mason into that. Once we do that our team will grow even more.

Two years ago, I had an opinion of the head coach as a stubborn coach who just has “his guys”; but he benched the hard-working but less talented Tomas Jasiulionis to put Evans and Burrell on the court together. By the end of Eugene Lawrence’s last season, he was below 30 minutes per game. With depth, Coach Roberts might just surprise everyone and not use Mase as a go-to player.

Mason’s offensive ratings and turnover numbers are not where they need to be for the number/ percentage of the team’s shots he takes. And his propensity to shoot off-balance jumpers inside the arc… well, it’s a nice skill, but a low-percentage emergency skill unless he can hit upwards of 50%. And it’s important to note that he shot a bit less in his three games last year.

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If you have not looked at them yet, check out the Big East Roundtable discussion on this blog. And check out the St. John’s Red Storm player reviews from earlier this summer.

I will also be occasionally writing and cross-posting to the Church of Bracketology website and to the Johnny Jungle website during the season… check them out.

Basketball season is around the corner!

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2008-2009 St. John’s Player Reviews

A look at each of the St. John’s Red Storm ballers who played during the conference season, with high points, aspects of their game they need to work on, and more. I used tempo-free stats to form my thoughts, with a mix of traditional stats for the explanations. The players’ order was sorted by the average minutes per game each athlete had during Big East play.

The Short Version of the Red Storm Players’ Years

Rob Thomas, even without the hops (which don’t seem to be on the verge of coming back) and while only banging inside, was a bit of a bull, effective under the basket.

The team had three centers. None of them saw the floor very often, and averaged under 10 minutes per game each. I’m not sure if that’s a player development problem or a recruiting problem, but the team could have used some capable bangers inside.

Dele Coker has signs of being a capable shot-blocker and rebounder… if his fouling doesn’t keep him off the floor.

The recruiting class last year was of little help. TyShwan Edmondson seemed overwhelmed. Quincy Roberts shows flashes of ability. Phil Wait barely got to play. Quincy needs work, strength, better ball control, and shooting accuracy – all of which sounds like a lot, but might just be the transition to the Big East. When he improves, I suspect that Quincy will be nice slashing to the basket.

Speaking of Quincy, he should not be a backup point guard. Then again, Malik Boothe’s point guard game lacked ball-control, shooting, and defense. That might have been because of the injury, but his stint in the Canadian preseason games is cause for worry… still too many mistakes.

Sean Evans is a small forward in a college power forward’s body. If he can improve his free throw shooting, he will find himself with more double-figure scoring efforts. Meanwhile, Justin Burrell is a power forward, but he looks too mechanical, or like he’s thinking too much. And he needs to hit that midrange shot as well.

DJ Kennedy and Paris Horne were a two-man gang keeping St. John’s in games. Horne is a more natural scorer, but Kennedy is like a glue guy, a throwback player – he doesn’t do all the sexy athletic things but he hits his free throws, draws fouls, and plays craftily. Both got much better, even if Kennedy’s ability to score inside the arc deserted him at times last year in his determination to make plays for the struggling squad.

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Player-by-Player Recaps

Phil Wait
Tomas Jasiulionis
Dele Coker
TyShwan Edmondson
Rob Thomas
Quincy Roberts
Sean Evans
Justin Burrell
Malik Boothe
DJ Kennedy
Paris Horne

Big East Bloggers Roundtable Compilation: A Recap

This was a 6-part miniseries of Big East bloggers that you should check out. It’s not coming out on DVD. But some of the brightest bloggers covering the 16-team Big East got together to talk a little about the upcoming season. The participants:

• A Raging Bull (South Florida)
• Black and Green Irish Blog (Notre Dame)
• Chicago College Basketball (DePaul)
• Eye of a Panther (Pittsburgh)
• Hoya Prospectus (Georgetown)
• I Bleed Blue and White (Villanova)
• Orange 44 (Syracuse)
• The East Coast Bias (St. John’s)
• U Conn Blog
• Villanova by the Numbers

Part 1: In which bloggers covering U Conn, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, South Florida, St. John’s, Syracuse, and Villanova talk about what’s changed for their basketball teams – who’s coming in, who they will be without.

Part 2: The Cash for Clunkers post – where the bloggers picked which teams would be on top, which would be on the bottom, and which Big East basketball team is hardest to predict.

Part 3: Though Luke Harangody seems to be the only name the national writers know well, we discussed Kemba Walker, Greg Monroe, and Lazar Hayward as other ballers who will become national names this year while putting up numbers in the Big East.

Part 4: This portion of the roundtable featured discussion about breakout players for many teams; Devin Ebanks and Kemba Walker popped up once again.

Part 5: Where the bloggers talk about their adoption of Twitter, the upsides and drawbacks.

Part 6: Ends the roundtable, with the bloggers discussing how they have spent the offseason before becoming basketball-consumed freelance writers with little regard for home, family, or country.

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0809 Paris Horne

stats taken from Statsheet, kenpom.com, and my own calculations

#23 – Paris Horne

2008-2009 Class: Sophomore

Position: Guard

Height: 6′3″

Weight: 185

Age/ DOB: 22/ August 6, 1987

Home: Middletown, DE

2008-2009 Highs

High Points	27	(Rutgers)
High Assists	6	(Marquette)
High Rebounds	7	(Marquette)
High TO	5	(Miami, G’Town (I))
High FG Att	19	(Notre Dame (II))
High 3pt Att	10	(Rich, ND (II), Marq, VT)
High FT Att	9	(Cincinnati (I))
High Steals	4	(South Florida)

Paris Horne’s profile is the last in our series on the Red Storm’s players. That said, he was the Red Storm’s most important offensive player down the stretch, serving as the team’s leading scorer, main shot taker, and designated 3-point gunner. His defense was solid; he did what he needed to do to improve; and with some support, Paris Horne could be the key to the Red Storm getting into a postseason tournament such as the NIT or NCAAs.

If they don’t run him into the ground first.

In 2008-09 Paris logged 38.3 minutes per game in Big East play. In the 31 games after Anthony Mason Jr. went down with an injury (after the game against Boston College), Paris played 35 or more minutes 22 times. He played 40 minutes on 5 occasions (and 45 against Georgetown on March 3rd). The three games where Horne did not play more than 25 minutes were  also 3 of the 4 games he fouled out of – the game against Duke, especially, found Paris unable to touch the Blue Devils without exciting the whistles.

Suffice to say: Paris played a lot of basketball. Was this a factor in how he tailed off at the end? Or did he tail off because there were no other threats who could get their own shot in the Red Storm offense?

Despite how the year ended, Horne was a greatly improved player from the previous year’s Big East campaign, when he backed up Larry Wright and DJ Kennedy and functioned as a defensive player and 3-point shooter. Not just in minutes played – Horne’s turnover percentage went down to 14% of his possessions (and was higher during non-conference season). His assist percentage went up. His three-point shooting percentage declined from 45% percent in the 2008 Big East conference season to 33%, but his 2-point field goal percentage was 52.9%, adding up to an effective field goal percentage of 51.8%.

That’s a good job by a player to diversify his shot attempts. He can get his outside shot attempts but will also drive to the basket and take an aggressive run at the hoop in a fast-break situation. That’s how an unheralded player ends up putting up 16 points per game in the Big East conference.

There are flaws, of course. Horne’s 3-point accuracy came and went, with a 1-8 performance against Providence, a 1-10 against Notre Dame in March, a 2-10 outing against Richmond in the CBI, and an 0-7 afternoon against Louisville. Horne is not much of a rebounder. His free throw percentage was 81.5% out of conference, but dropped to 61.7% in Big East play, not including the Big East Tournament, where he went 9 for 9 from the line.

Impact on the 2009-2010 Season

One of the strongest aspects of Paris Horne’s game is his end to end speed, moreso than his quickness. Horne’s shot requires him to get some elevation, cock back a little, and shoot; he doesn’t have the quickest release (though it is very good and consistent). Playing fewer minutes – and with other offensive threats from the outside like Dwight Hardy and Anthony Mason Jr. – might open things up for Horne. Horne’s game may change with fewer minutes and more shot attempts from his teammates. I would expect him to start, but Horne might find himself benched for Mason, Kennedy, or perhaps even Hardy or Justin Brownlee.

Here are some things Paris may want to work on:

Three-point accuracy. Paris has the skill set to at least be an excellent contributor; and possibly a star. If his three-point shooting moves up a few percentage points to 37-40%, he will find himself being scouted to play overseas, or perhaps even in the NBA. Being a deadlier three-point shooter also opens up the offense down low and for his teammates on the weak side when he has the ball.

Quickness/ moves in the lane. Paris drives to the basket often enough that he should get more foul shots; he needs to do a better job drawing contact, snaking around defenders, and looking like he just took a hit when he’s putting up shots.

Defensive turnovers. With speed like Horne’s and defensive quickness like he has, I would expect to see a few more turnovers from his man. The lack of turnovers may mean he’s dedicated to being a shutdown guard. But his speed can turn a loose ball into 2 points “and 1″; he should create more chaos for the man he’s defending.

Here, a YouTube video of Paris Horne getting his shots.

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NOlympics – Chicago loses out on bid for 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro

I rejoice at not having the Olympics in the City of Big Shoulders, the Windy City. This is a great moment, in a sense; the moment where a great mistake has been diverted so we can concentrate on the real issues affecting the people of the city of Chicago. A crushing loss, as some say? A loss for President Barack Obama? Not really.

It’s a sad moment for people with “skin in the game” or “stakes in the pig” (to coin my own term) – the developers, hoteliers, US athletes, construction workers. Those are people who would have been at the center of the projects, tearing down old housing, building new venues, sprucing up lands, designing and creating transportation projects, and fixing a physical, electrical, and environmental infrastructure that could use some updating.

The Some politicians would have burnished their reputations with the Olympics; others would do the public-private employment shuffle and make some bank from both sides of the deals, a practice that is most certainly not a province of any one party (see: defense and security contractors like Rudy Giuliani and Dick Cheney, or anyone in Daley’s machine).

The Olympics – and any large project – fosters a climate of handshake deals outside of the public eye, and cost overruns that become apparent halfway through the project. You’re going to go for the contractor who gives the most logical presentation with the lowest price and the best expertise at that price level. But those are hopeful estimates. They almost always are.

Win or lose, of course, the internet comment trolls come out in force to blame Obama. There are companies that do hire people to simply “make money from their couches” and post with different IDs on the web – it’s spamming comments.

But this is not a loss for Obama. He did his best, like any other president would do. No politician comes out against the Olympics; and he put his time where his mouth was. Kudos to President Obama for going to Copenhagen. The decision to knock Chicago out of the contention early speaks more to a dislike of the United States and a turmoil within the country.

Which speaks to why that turmoil is to the nation’s benefit, and Chicago’s benefit.

I confess; I don’t know what they’re doing to prepare for London’s games in 3 years. But we know that Athens ran hard against deadlines to create venues. We know China was trying to change their atmosphere (to remove rainy/ cloudy days) and likely displacing people.

To prepare Chicago, Mayor Daley would have needed to remove a number of poor communities from the south side, relocating them outside of the county, or far west within the city. There would have been cost overruns, as previously stated, cutbacks on services for current residents, the creation of structures at a high cost (in a time of fluctuating value) that will NOT be used after the Olympic event. It’s the kind of production that loves a blowhard that promises big things and scrambles to deliver. It’s the kind of production that would be better served by a more lax news media, easily-manipulated fiscal policy, and disenfranchised/ easy to move residents.

Pity the Cariocas (Rio residents) in the favelas. Many of them – I am betting near Copacabana and Ipanema – will find themselves relocated to new homes, violently dispatched, or simply bulldozed. Rio will want to crack down on crime and the visual blight. And the costs of building in Rio will require the destruction of inhabited areas. It could be a great coming out party for the Cidade Maravilhosa (marvelous city), but will likely come at a social cost.

In Chicago, the news and other media would be licking their lips at the sound of “overrun” or “delays”; I would rather pass that hassle on to another city. Chicago is already fantastic, a great draw for US tourists and worldwide. Chicago is already a hub for business, the arts, and more. We don’t need a coming out party.

Big East Roundtable: How We’ve Spent the Offseason + Tired Storylines

Last we will take a look at what the intrepid crew of writers and basketball pundits have been doing as regular members of society, not spending their days with box scores or rehashing that scoring run. What have people been doing with their free time? What stories are they sick of hearing, like Pitino and Big East Expansion?

This roundtable’s participants are below, with links to the pages on their sites with their full answers:

A Raging Bull (South Florida) – ARB
Black and Green Irish Blog (Notre Dame) – B&G
Chicago College Basketball (DePaul) – CCB
Eye of a Panther (Pittsburgh) – EoP
Hoya Prospectus (Georgetown) – HP
I Bleed Blue and White (Villanova) – IBBW
Orange 44 (Syracuse) – O44
The East Coast Bias (St. John’s) – TECB
U Conn Blog – UCB
Villanova by the Numbers – VBTN

I’ll be posting the answers – one question at a time – on this site. There are 7 questions in total, and they should all be up in a few days. It’s a big league, after all, and large group of participants. Enjoy, spread on the message boards and forums, and comment freely (but with civility).Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 were published earlier, go take a look!

Q. What have you been doing with your time without basketball games?

ARB: I train players in shooting. (4) NBA (6) College and (11) High School players. Most good shooters need help like good actors need a coach. I designed a new ball that helps shooters with release and follow-through.

VBTN: Trolling the international tournaments and following the Big East players this summer. I did some research on the history of the Big 5 (Philadelphia’s City Series) and discovered the series records over at the official web site were incorrect. Though I did get a reply to my email, the error has not been corrected. I also did a little (not nearly enough) traveling, spending a week in one of the nation’s truly special natural treasures — the Great Smokies.

IBBW: Looking forward to football and avoiding watching the Mets. College and the pros. Villanova is an FCS program but we’re a Top-5 team this year, so it’s very exciting. And I’m going to have to give a shout out to the New York Football Giants. We’re winning it all again this year.

B&G: Fall at ND is football season.  Needless to say, it’s a bit difficult to think about a winter sport with such nice weather in South Bend and a team on the gridiron that isn’t completely disappointing.

CCB: Without basketball I’ve been watching a lot of baseball and analyzing last season’s college basketball. Also, I’ve been simulating college basketball games using Classic College Basketball - http://www.theccbgame.com/ – when I need a fix.

TECB: Actual work people pay me for; a couple of trips; following the Mets’ descent into irrelevance; trying to get into soccer (successfully).

O44: I am a huge lacrosse fan, and obviously Syracuse has a great and storied team.  After basketball season is lacrosse and the NCAA Tournament, in which Syracuse won in the best final game possibly in lacrosse history.  I wrapped up my final year of law school and took the bar exam as well, which took up all of my time from June to August.  And now football is rolling again.

HP: Being a good husband and father, a real asset at work and a productive member of society. That will all end soon.

EoP: Big baseball fan, so that’s kept me busy.  Been following Pitt through training camp and will be gearing up for the NFL and college football.  Throw in running a fantasy football league and waiting for the NBA to start and there’s plenty on my plate.

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Q. The summer is slow; so when Pitino’s “mistake” is made public, or when Calipari’s former team is penalized, or when someone posits a way for the Big East Conference to pick up new football members, the story tends to stick around a little longer than it would during the season. What college basketball story are you tired of this offseason?

HP: I’ve been remarkably SportsCenter-free, and generally television-free, this summer, so I don’t have any problems with off-season news. I read about it, then move on. It’s liberating to go the day without checking out what’s on the Worldwide Leader.

IBBW: All of them, although I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Pitino’s out-of-the-blue press conference where he talked about anything and everything but himself. But it is the world we live in. Everyone has an opinion and a forum to voice it. I’m just ready to get back to some good ‘ol fashioned hoops.

O44: I’m tired of the whole Big East expansion talk.  16 teams is huge, and quite enough.  The league is awesome, and as much as I would wish we could dump Rutgers and The Hall for better teams, I would rather keep the teams that have been loyal to the conference than look for new, flashy teams.  The league was the toughest last season, so why take on even harder teams now?  For the record Calipari should be punished, and the Pitino thing is a joy that keeps on giving.

TECB: The yearly “who will the Big East conference add to balance out football” article. It’s a stupid concept, really; the Big East couldn’t take the Big East name and make a football conference because they would have to lose classic Big East teams like St. John’s, Providence, and Georgetown.  If anything, the football teams would leave and form the Mediocre Eastern Tackle Football and Epic Fail League.

ARB: Pitino and Calipari are in the fraternity, so they will be fine. It’s those outside the fraternity who pushed this nonsense (negative press) from the beginning. If you don’t know who the fraternity is, I’ll let you know during basketball season. They all stick together.

VBTN: Pitino’s indiscretion and speculation over the next Big East football school are not basketball stories, yet they appropriate resources that could/ought to go to legitimate “basketball” stories. I am, for example, very curious to learn about “touring teams”, unaffiliated with specific schools (but sometimes with specific causes), that are staffed with DI players and appear to tour abroad during the summer. Corey Chandler for example, late of Rutgers, joined one of those teams and toured Europe in late July/early August. When he returned to Rutgers he was dismissed from the program. I am not suggesting a “cause/effect” relationship between those two events, but the timing was curious. How do these teams (there are a number of them) differ from the USA Basketball-sponsored international teams (U16, U19, World University Games, Pan American teams, etc)? Are the players sponsored, or do they pay their own way? How does the selection process operate (are the training/tryout schedules)? Who arranges their opponents/competition? Who are the coaches? How are they selected?

While the talking heads have opined endlessly on whether Memphis’ punishments was fair or not fair, no one has tracked down Rose to find out what exactly happened that weekend in Detroit. No one has tracked down the sources to establish a real timeline to account for his activities. The circumstances were peculiar, and potentially illegal. We seem to have 500 commentators and 0 reporters these days.

EoP: Other than the Calipari and Pitino stories, I don’t know what else out there has been that hyped.  Maybe the Erin Andrews thing.  It’s terrible what happened to her, but I’m not sure I need to hear about it on Oprah of all places.  Also in another round-about type of way, maybe the Greg Paulus/Syracuse football thing.  I’ll be curious to see how he handles it if they start losing.  He seems like an ultra-competitive kid.

B&G:Pitino.  He sure seems like a scumbag now, but I really don’t need to know the details of his bad decisions.  The woman involved is certainly no victim either, but Pitino has further to fall.  I’m ready for this to go away.

CCB: The Big East expansion rumors just get more and more ridiculous. The conference isn’t going to go above 16 teams and kicking someone out seems like it would end up being quite the process. Sure every once in a while Joe Paterno wants a sweeter deal in the Big Ten, but the Nittany Lions aren’t going anywhere. We need to let the conferences settle and stay where they are.