Diamond Head Classic Recap

Over the Christmas break, the college basketball schedule was carried by the 8 team field out in Hawaii. Arizona highlighted the field and ended up taking home the trophy, but not before the battled San Diego State in a heated championship match. The Miami Hurricanes also were in the field.

Jamaal Franklin - I zeroed in on Franklin on defense during the tournament and came away impressed. He brings great intensity to that end of the floor and takes on the challenge of locking down the oppositions best player. Franklin is a tough competitor with good anticipation skills. He is always thinking out there on defense and attempting to read what the offense is doing in order to get an edge. Since he was on the opposition's best player most of the time, he had to run through a lot of screens and he looked for the best routes to take around them. He can get caught up in screens as he isn't the biggest guy, but he does have good strength for his frame. He looks like a cornerback on defense the way he stays on his toes and he actually hoped to go to the University of Florida as a wide receiver. It is obvious he has a football background. One concern is he has probably already done plenty of weight training throughout his career  and still lacks a impressive frame. There may not be much room for him to grow physically.

Offensively, Franklin has an old man's game and uses ball fakes and hesitations to his advantage. He plays with the referees in mind, always trying to draw a foul. He can also take his man into the post, where he is solid as long as he remembers to keep his pivot foot in place. He's a streaky shooter with improving form, but is having a bad year from behind the arc. He forces up a lot of bad outside shots. Franklin also is able to get all the way to the rim with explosive dunks thanks to his quick first step and shiftiness. His ability to get to the basket comes at a cost though - Franklin will turn it over a lot as well. The turnovers comes from his high, long dribbles and his lack of control going to the rim. He seems to get called for at least one charge a game.

Franklin was a problem child growing up and has learned to channel that energy on the basketball court. He still shows maturity issues at times - he picked up a DUI and flipped off fans last year. After a freshman season stuck behind Kawhi Leonard, he actually considered leaving SDSU for the draft. Instead, he learned for Leonard's work ethic and has transformed himself into a tireless worker.

Solomon Hill - Hill took away MVP honors for the event, showing an impressive all around game. He really stepped up in Arizona's lone close game against San Diego State and scored 21 big points. Him and Franklin battled much of the game.

Solomon Hill's improvement has been impressive over his stay at Arizona. His ball handling is now an apparent strength and at times he looks like a point forward on the court. With Arizona's freshman bigs coming in, he's become a pure perimeter player. He can weave his way through defenders, but he is slow at changing directions and is best when he just puts his head down and gets to the rim. His versatility in the post and on the perimeter make him a matchup nightmare in college. His jumper is also solid but he doesn't rely on it.

For Arizona's freshman, none of them look ready for the NBA Draft. But I'd say they came to the right place in order to prep for it. Arizona's staff has helped guys like Hill, Derrick Williams, and Kevin Parrom make big jumps. These guys just haven't gotten better at what they do - they all added skills they didn't have before. Ashley, Jarrett, and Tarczewski all have NBA potential and should be able to maximize their draft stock as a Wildcat.

For Miami, they were disappointing simply because Reggie Johnson was unable to play and Durand Scott suffered an ankle injury early on against Arizona. It slowed him down noticeably in the final two games and caused him to shoot a poor percentage. Scott and Miami were in line for a potential statement week in Hawaii, but instead came away with more doubters and more excuses.

Legit excuses, but excuses nonetheless. Their short bench has proven to be a major factor already with their injuries. First against Florida Gulf Coast without Scott and now in Hawaii. They have looked great when everyone has been healthy, but when one guy goes down, they are prone to losing to anyone. There is no doubt in my mind this is a NCAA tournament team that could make a Sweet 16 run, but they need to get there first. The pressure is on them as ACC play starts.

Shabazz Muhammad vs Jamaal Franklin

In a battle against dynamic shooting guards, the elder Jamaal Franklin came out on top of the highly touted Shabazz Muhammad. Experience prevailed over youth in the game as well, as UCLA fell to San Diego State 78-69. UCLA hung with SDSU through the first half, but the Aztecs got hot from deep to bury UCLA in the second half. Franklin finished with 28 points and Shabazz had 16.

This was my second look at Franklin this year. The first time was on a boat against Syracuse's 2-3 zone which wasn't an ideal situation to scout him. Franklin struggled badly to get anything going in that game and had a lot of bad turnovers. Last night, Franklin had a much easier time against UCLA's version of the 2-3 zone, as one would expect.

Early on Franklin acted as a facilitator and did a nice job getting his teammates involved with some quality finds. His teammates didn't help him out much by converting (Franklin finished with only 3 assists), but his 1/2 A/TO ratio doesn't illustrate how he played. In fact, this was one of the best games I've seen Franklin play. He was under control for the most part and played with a lot of fire.

He got hot at the end of the 1st half from 3 and ended up looking for his own shot more in the second half. He chucked quite a few 3s in the final 20 minutes, but nothing out of his role. SDSU needs him to be an aggressive scorer. Franklin cooled off quickly from 3 though, and finished 3-10 from deep on the night.

The rest of Franklin's game consisted of him taking advantage of defenders closing out on him for the 3 and him driving past them. Franklin doesn't have the surest handles in traffic and turns it over a fair amount. He's a guy who could benefit from learning to slow his game down, but probably won't ever get there. He definitely has the capabilities to make spectacular plays throughout the game.

Franklin could be a good player at the next level if he isn't asked to do too much. He is a great athlete, can shoot the ball, create his shot a bit, and finish in transition. He also has good court vision but can be careless passing the ball.

He's a guy who could give a coach headaches, but from all reports, Coach Fisher loves coaching him and raves about his work ethic. His competitiveness and intensity was certainly on display last night and he took on the challenge of defending Shabazz Muhammad. Franklin is a guy who carries a chip on his shoulder and you could tell he wanted to prove that he is the better player.

For one night, he was.

Shabazz struggled for most of the game, despite finishing with 16 points. Jamaal Franklin has a problem with always driving left and its a similarity Shabazz shares as well. Shabazz has had to work very hard for his points this year. He's been forced to run the court in transition and try to muscle shots up in the post instead of creating his offense from the halfcourt on the perimeter.

Part of this is because he is rushing things. Another part is him trying to be too perfect. A bigger part may be that Shabazz just isn't that skilled. The only thing Shabazz has proven to do very well at this point is bully smaller guards.

When you have the athletic ability that Shabazz has, you can slow the game down and force players to play at your pace. You don't need to make hasty decisions as soon as the ball to catch the defense out of position. Shabazz needs to take his time more, measure the defense up in triple threat position, and plan how to attack. He should be able to drive by defenders in isolation sets. If he can't, then it is time to re-evaluate his pro potential.

We aren't at that point yet.

Shabazz looked very average through most of the game, but in the final couple of minutes he finally started to attack from the perimeter. He hit a jumper coming off a screen. He got all the way to the basket. He broke a defender down for a nice floater. That floater is something that he showed off multiple times in the game. He has good touch on it and gets it off quickly - almost flicking it at the basket.

Defensively, Shabazz is still struggling. He looks off balance in his defense stance and was beaten lateral on a few occasions.

Player to Monitor

There was a freshman point forward in this game who has potential to be a first rounder and his name isn't Kyle Anderson. While Anderson has looked like a 4 year player this whole season - looking even slower than advertised and not making enough plays to make up for it - Winston Shepard has looked like a solid prospect.

Shepard can cover multiple positions well (unlike Anderson who can't cover any) and really played great defense last night. He also got the offense into some sets and looked like a potential leader down the road. I like how he can get into the lane and maintain control. He can dribble it in the mid-range area where his height allows him to see over bigs to make easy passes to teammates or take a short jumper himself. Shepard needs his production to come along and he should be in school for at least another year or two, but in my opinion, he's a better prospect than Anderson.

CJ, Cuse Sail Past San Diego State

Carter-Williams has the floater down, rushes his moves, can get outta control. posted up. can get the floater whenever with his height advantage and quick first step

Fair playing SF - 3 jumpers, good body control, hands contact well

Franklin sloppy. really had a problem handling the ball and making good decisions under pressure. handling in traffic. he built hype over the summer with his play in summer leagues but we are seeing how he plays when actual defense is being played. this isnt playground but, this is shipyard ball. some good passes. weird situation as PF vs 2-3. overpenetrates

triche looking quicker, changing speeds, using body

A game on a naval ship finally came to completion yesterday, with Syracuse upending San Diego State 62-49. It never really was close, but San Diego State was at a disadvantage. They had to shoot into the sun in the first half and managed to only score 19 points without connecting on a three. Between the two teams they combined to shoot 2-22 from behind the arc. Syracuse was able to abandon the three ball, only taking four the entire game, but SDSU - facing the 2/3 zone didn't have the same luxury. The chucked 18 threes as its really the only hope to beat the Orange. By the time the second half rolled around, San Diego State was in panick mode and they were unable to put together a run. They lost by 13, but were done by more much of the second half.

One would say their loss may have been unFAIR, but I'd credit CJ FAIR for providing a scoring threat for the Orange from the get-go. Fair has made the transition to full time small forward this year and showed off an improved jumper - hitting 3 long jumpers, including Cuse's only 3 - in the first half. He finished with 17 points on 7-15 shooting. His ball handling skills are iffy although Fair possesses solid creativeness and body control in the lane. You can still tell he operated from inside the arc much of his career. His jumper is also slow. The biggest problem for Fair's draft stock is his ability to cover the perimeter. Many Cuse wings struggle with a transition to the NBA because of defense, and it will be even harder for Fair since he's already a tweener and lacks good lateral quickness. He's talented and has great physical attributes, but he has an uphill battle to climb with his draft stock.

The matchup to watch was at the guard positions between Michael Carter-Williams and Jamaal Franklin. They didn't battle head to head unfortunately, but they mirror each other in the way they play. Franklin came out of the gate rusty and committed three early turnovers. Things never got much better for him and he finished with 7 giveaways on the night. Franklin is a guy who plays power forward for San Diego State but is a shooting guard at the next level. Up against the 2-3, he was expected to be the facilitator in the middle. This didn't happen though, partly due to him and also because of their lack of shooting threats outside. Franklin was bothered all night by tight defense and couldn't control the ball in a crowd. He built hype over the summer with his highlights and domination in summer leagues - games that suit his style well. However when actual defense is being played, Franklin has questionable handle and even more questionable decision making. This was a tough situation for him.

Carter-Williams also has a tendency to play out of control. This was his first game receiving starter minutes after he rode the bench last year. He was asked to lead the offense much of the game, despite playing with senior Brandon Triche and he was able to make some plays. Carter-Williams has a very quick and long first step that enables him to get into the lane at will. He also has nice touch on his floater which he can get off against any point guard that tries to guard him. That shot will always be there for him. He also can take advantage of his size in the post which he tried to do once yesterday, but to no avail. He played this game out of control and tried to hurry his ball handling moves. He finished with 17 points before fouling out while also turning it over as much as he assisted teammates (4) and getting 5 steals. He will be near the top of the charts in steals this season.

The last guy who stood out was Brandon Triche who finally looks healthy heading into his senior year. Triche was much quicker than usual, finished with both hands, and used his strength to his advantage. He was aggressive getting to the rim. If his in-between game improves, he could end up getting draft in the second round. Lots of good point guards this year.