#265 R.P.I. Morgan State @ #25o  R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

The 2 NC2A bids in the last four years and yet now 1-5 Morgan State Bears come a calling to campus after a grizzly life-n-death Commonwealth Cup struggle vs. you know hoo on Friday night.

All things O&M sure as hell feel a lot better on this now sleepy looking Holiday weekend; and things should only get better vs. a downright sorry looking Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (M.e.a.c.) squad that is one single shot vs. Liberty away from being a perfect o-6!

This is not a good basketball team, that was supposed to be pretty dang good, from a decent mid-major caliber basketball program on the come.  Morgan State was tabbed third, yes 3rd in the M.e.a.c. pre-season. while only placing one player (Blake Bozeman, yes son of head coach Todd Bozeman) on the third-string all-M.e.a.c. all-conference team! Go fig’ on that?

As this one still looks like cupcake central, vs. a 1 up 5 down M.e.a.c. basketball team; unless we upload the ‘rong damn Ap’ (again).

Morgan State at a glance:

• 15-16 last year, 3rd in M.e.a.c.
• DEAD last or 346th in offensive FG percentage (34%)!
• 340th in points per game (56.4 ppg)
• 340th in 3-point percentage (23.8%)
• 325th in defensive rebounding
• 3o8th in FT-percentage (61.7%)

Morgan State Backcourt: (returning starters=1 of 3)
Rasean Simpson: Rasean is a 6’5” 190 lb. Shooting-guard who does not make many shots in his third season of play. 3.5 ppg on 21% from the floor and 16% from beyond the arc says so. This to go with a team worst 37% from the FT-line and a reputation for foul-trouble. This from a kid who is from a big time Cali’ high school basketball factory who has subsequently not done much of anything at the D-1 level.

Blake Bozeman: Yes, Blake is the coaches son and as most of us who have played sports can attest, that’s typically not an enviable position discipline wise as “over-compensation” is generally the phrase of the day. Blake however might be the one Bear who could actually help Virginia Tech. As he is a useful and fundamentally sound looking 6’2” 170 lead-Guard in his final year. Blake leads Morgan State in scoring with 12.8 ppg and he does grabs 3.2 rebounds as well. Right now however Blake has the look and feel of a lesser guy trying to do too much –albeit that may be born of credible Roster necessity in Blake’s defense. As Blake is only netting 36% from the floor and 27% from beyond the 3-point arc. Blake is an honor roll student and he has made a couple of game-winning shots in his day.

Donte Pretlow: Donte is a point-G who goes 6′ and 185 lbs. in his junior campaign. Donte has a rep’ for defense and is the best on the ball backcourt defender in the Bears 3-Guard set with 2.3 steals per game. Donte scores a little with 7.2 ppg and he also leads Morgan State in assists with 3.5 apg. However, he only shoots 22% overall and a pitiful 9% from distance. He has also been pretty turnover prone at just under 4 turnovers per game, thereby giving him a negative assist to turnover ratio. Or just what you don’t want from your starting Pt.Guard.

Mo.State Frontcourt: (starters back=1 of 2)
Zech Smith:  Zech is a towering 6’12” 27o lb. true-Center transfer from Cal State Bakersfield by way of Howard College before that, now in his 5th year of graduate studies. Zech spends his summers, “working at a brewery” as opposed to working on his game, which can only be described as stiff looking or maybe even downright clunky or robotic. Zech nets you 5.2 ppg on 77% shooting, although he does lead Mo.State in rebounds (6) and in blocks at 1.2. This kid has two moves, put-back and dunk as nearly all of his shots come within 5-7′ of the hoop. Zech is a legit big body and he is tough to move down low, though his skill-set is way south of his height, as he never quite developed a go-to move.

Cedric Blossom: Ced’ is the only returning frontcourt starter for the Bears at 6’6” 226 lb. Small-Forward now playing more of the Four spot or Power-Forward. Ced’ is one of two guys who was penciled in to do work this year for the Bears per-season wise. Right now Ced’ is doing “ok” with 9.7 ppg and 5.7 rpg on 42% shooting overall. With 0% shooting from downtown as the next 3-ball this guy attempts will be his first. Which hints at his range more than a little bit. Ced’ has experience as much as anything else, and the book on him says he does all of the little thing well. I suppose that counts for something.  As every team needs a Ced’.

Bears Bench: (depth=2 + Jordan Omogbehin raised to the Zeus power)

• Torin Childs-Harris: 6’4” 180 lb. combo-G in his second season after a year of prep-school. Torin is fourth in scoring for the Bears at 5.5. ppg, in spite of his abominable 17% from the field this year! Torin also gets 3.5 rpg and is second in assists and steals alike. He is a well-built honor roll student who is basically a utility guy off the Morgan State pine.
• Kyle Thomas: 6’7” 200 lb. Swing in his sophomore season after a reputation of being a “volume scorer” in prep school. Right now Kyle scores 4.7 ppg and runs down 3.5 rebounds in relief.
•  Jordan Omogbehin: (see: above) G-senior (graduate senior) may or may not play, as Jordan Omogbehin never meet a doghouse he did not like. That said, I affirm and avow that this guy is V.Painter of the VT football gone true-Center. As this is the most muscular Five I’ve ever seen at any level! 7’3” 315 lbs. of totally shredded muscle! Get there early just to gawk at #42 as he warms up; and if this quarrelsome Nigerian kid -who could still be a Pro just on testing metrics alone- ever gets his head on straight? Look the BLEEP out! 1 ppg and 1/2 a board on 68% right now. Which isn’t far removed from where he was at South Florida a couple of years back. Although in person? This guy is obscene! And he is a member of the same Nigerian Tribe as Akeem Olajuwon (the Yoruba); and he was a coach J’s offered.

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:
Last years three leading scores and their combined 47 ppg to go with 20 aggregate boards have all moved on, and it shows as things are rather bearish right now at Morgan State.

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Try as I might, I just can not find much of anything good to say about this season’s Bears men’s hoops club. Beyond Turnover Margin which is 44th best and after that these Bears descend to 193rd or worse in everything else.

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Clearly this is a basketball game that Virginia Tech really should freakin’ win. Beyond the 14′ plus worth of bad low-post match-ups with the two legit Sampson sized giants that coach Bozeman can deploy. Coach Buzz really only needs to stop one guy here -the coaches son- and that should tame these rather offensively impoverished bears smart enough.

As this Morgan State Bears squad has been mired between mid-40’s and mid-50’s in every game less one. That’s good enough for me, as it will very likely take not more than double-nickles (or 55 ppg) to smoke these Bears out.

(87% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=72, Morgan State=49

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**