LATEST HEADLINES

Friday, December 28, 2007
On the roadThe games begin, again
Editor's note: Updated at 4:57 p.m. to correct the schedule -- Thanks, Bill, for the heads up!
Two teams in action today as teams get back in action following the holiday. American, coming off its big win at Maryland, will try for another shocker when it travels across town to take on No. 5 Georgetown. Bucknell travels across the country to face North Dakota State in the first round of Cal's Golden Bear Classic, while Lehigh is at home against Monmouth in a battle of the Hawks.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE: One of two Division I schools other than Bucknell to go by the nickname "Bison," N.D. State has never faced With a pair of 1,000-point scorers in the lineup and a third guy set to join the 1,000-point club sometime in January, North Dakota State likes to push tempo and score the basketball. The Bison, who are still in the transitional stage of their move to Division I, come in at 6-5, averaging 83 points per game.

Thousand-point scorers Ben Woodside (5-11 jr. guard) and Brett Winkelman (6-6 jr. forward) lead the offense. The pair are the highest scoring two-player combo in all of Division I. Woodside, the CBS Sports pick as the preseason Summit League player of the year and the league's official player of the month in Nov., is averaging 23 points per game. Winkelman, who earned Summit player of the week honors after a 26-point, 11-rebound double-double against Colorado State in N.D. State's last game (Dec. 15). Woodside has three 30-point games to his credit this season, Winkelman has two.

Junior Guard Mike Nelson (6-4) is currently 58 points shy of 1,000. Nelson (14.7 ppg) is the best three-point shooter of the bunch, hitting treys at a 46.6 percent rate. Woodside and Winkelman each are shooting the rock better than 40 percent from the arc.

N.D. State shoots the ball well (46.5 percent from the field, 38.7 percent on threes), but also allows opponents to do the same. Foes have connected on 48.3 percent from the field against N.D. State, 37.2 percent on three-pointers.
BONUS LINKS:
  • N.D. State stats
  • Livestats
  • N.D. State game notes
  • Tourneys lack glitz, but keep action (SF Chronicle)
  • Bison meet Bison (The Forum)
  • Winter (fast) break (East Bay Express)

    SCOUTING MONMOUTH: It's Hawks at Mountain Hawks, with the Hawks of Monmouth the decided underdog. Monmouth (2-9) comes in riding a six-game losing streak, its last win coming well over a month ago, when it beat Charlotte in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. Coupled with a win over Wichita State in the same tournament, things looked promising then for Monmouth. The back-to-back wins gave them a 2-3 record, with the losses coming at Colgate, at Seton Hall in overtime and against Notre Dame in the first round of the Paradise Jam.

    Since then, though, the wheels have come off. The Hawks are shooting 37.5 percent as a team, 30.3 percent from three point range, while opponents are hitting at a 45.5 percent clip (36.1 percent from the arc). Monmouth is being outrebounded by almost 10 boards per game and averages nearly 16 turnovers.

    Sophomore guard Jhamar Youngblood (6-1) is the only Monmouth player averaging in double figures (14.7 ppg).
    BONUS LINKS:
  • Monmouth stats
  • Monmouth game notes

    Labels: , ,

    • Published at 7:29 AM by Hoop Time.
    Help Hoop Time