NCAA Men: The Stock Report (3 Mar)
Every Thursday, ZOOM will provide The Stock Report for the previous week in college basketball, where we analyse three players whose stock has gone up over the week and three whose has gone down. Of course, the only players who can be featured in The Stock Report are Aussies!
Stock Rising
Anthony Drmic
This weeks games:
Feb 28th @ San Diego State (W, 66-63)- 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists,
Mar 3rd vs. Nevada (W, 76-57)- 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists
After a relatively slow start to the week with a pedestrian performance in a win on the road against San Diego State, Anthony Drmic was on fire against Nevada.
Against the Aztecs, Drmic was passive, taking just six shots on the evening and hitting two of them. The aggressiveness we have seen from the senior all season long just wasn’t there but he did manage to drain two clutch free throws in the dying seconds to secure the win for the suddenly streaking Broncos.
https://twitter.com/BroncoSportsMBB/status/705241026957438976
In the victory over the Wolf Pack, Drmic went off, hitting 10-18 from the field, including two triples, on his way to his first double-double of the season. On his senior night, Drmic, who had relatives from Australia in attendance, explained how he enjoyed the victory, via ESPN.
"It was fun - we put on a good show," Drmic said. "I scored, rebounded and played as hard as I could. I'm glad we got the win."
Drmic has one game remaining in the regular season, as Boise State heads to San Jose State to face the Spartans before Mountain West Conference tournament play begins.
Emmett Naar
This weeks games:
Feb 26th vs. Santa Clara (W, 75-70)- 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Feb 28th @ San Francisco (W, 84-72)- 19 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds,
Mar 2nd vs. Grand Canyon (W, 73-64)- 12 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
Capping of another undefeated week for Saint Mary’s, Emmett Naar was sensational in the final three games of the regular season for the WCC leading Gaels.
It all started at home against Santa Clara, where Naar recorded just his fourth 20-point game of the season, tallying 24 against the Broncos. Naar was extremely efficient in the win, shooting 10-17 from the field, while dishing out eight assists and pulling down six rebounds to complement his scoring output.
Naar’s hot shooting carried into San Francisco, as the Gaels defeated fellow Aussie Matthew McCarthy and the Dons but this time, it was from the charity stripe where the sophomore did his damage. Playing with an aggressive mindset all night by attacking the basket, Naar hit 10-10 from the foul line, which shouldn’t come as a surprise; Naar is shooting a terrific 87.1% from the line on the season.
https://twitter.com/BasketballAus/status/704824063760334848
Against the Antelopes, Naar only scored 12 points and had just six field goal attempts- hitting half of them- but his 40-minute effort allowed Saint Mary’s to hold off Grand Canyon after a hot start. He capped off a wonderful season to date by being named to the All-WCC First Team.
The Gaels enter WCC tournament play as the number one seed and have already knocked off Gonzaga, the number two seed, twice this season. With one of the nations most proficient offences, St Mary’s are one of the sleepers to cause some drama not only in the WCC tournament but in the NCAA tourney as well.
Matt Donlan
This weeks games:
26th Feb vs. Wright State (L, 87-81)- 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
28th Feb vs. Northern Kentucky (W, 94-75)- 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
For the second straight week, Matt Donlan sees his stock going up, as the Victorian has had a very strong end to the season.
In the Penguins penultimate regular season affair, Donlan had his best scoring output in about a month, pouring in 18 points in a slight loss to third-placed Wright State. Donlan scored those 18 on just 12 shots, as his proficiency from the field allowed Youngstown State to stay with one of the top outfits in the Horizon League. The 58.3% shooting percentage was Donlan’s best of the season in a game where he attempts 10 or more field goals.
https://twitter.com/YSUMensHoops/status/703982451627057153
Donlan was almost perfect against Northern Kentucky, going 5-7 from the field, 3-3 from beyond the three-point line and 2-2 from the charity stripe. The Penguins didn’t need much from Donlan, as they took easy care of the Norse, which set up a first-round Horizon league playoff match-up with Detroit.
Stock Falling
Deng Adel
This weeks games:
28th Feb @ Miami (L, 73-65)- 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 1 assist
2nd Mar vs. Georgia Tech (W, 56-53)- 1 rebound
With Louisville ineligible to play in the playoffs thanks to a self-imposed ban, coach Rick Pitino promised to give Deng Adel more of an opportunity late in the season, as the Aussie is a key clog in the future of the Cardinals program.
Unfortunately, Adel struggled to take advantage of the opportunity handed to him this week. After a pair of double-digit scoring outings prior, Adel wasn’t able to get on track against Miami or Georgia Tech, as the Cardinals wrap up what has turned into a tumultuous campaign.
Adel was just okay in 21 minutes against the Canes, making an impact in multiple areas of the game, with his pair of blocks and steals rounding out the stat sheet. This performance wasn’t a bad game for the Victorian although his stinker against Georgia Tech may stand out more than this outing.
Missing all three of his field goal attempts and pulling down just one rebound in 15 minutes, Adel failed to make an impact in the extended chance Pitino handed to him. Louisville has just one game remaining against Virginia, so Adel has one final opportunity to leave a lasting impression in his freshman year.
Jack McVeigh
This weeks games:
26th Feb @ Penn State (L, 56-55)- 2 rebounds
2nd Mar vs. Purdue (L, 81-62)- 4 minutes
Jack McVeigh’s consistently frustrating inconsistent play continued this week, as the Queenslander failed to put together a string of strong performances to close out the season.
Last week, McVeigh had games of 17 and 16 points respectively and it looked like he was finally turning the corner and had gained some much needed confidence at the back-end of the season.
Those efforts are almost forgotten now though, as McVeigh had one of his worst weeks of the season, missing all three of his field goal attempts against Penn State and then playing a season-low four minutes against Purdue.
https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/704871136245522432
No explanation was given for McVeigh’s four minute outing against the Boilermakers and he also played just 12 minutes in the Penn State loss. These low minute totals are head scratching, as McVeigh was coming off his best two games of the season.
The Cornhuskers have just one game remaining in the regular season before the Big Ten Conference playoffs begin but with the way his season has gone, who knows how much of an impact McVeigh will have.
Peter Hooley
This weeks games:
28th Feb vs. Hartford (W, 75-59)- 5 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
3rd Mar vs. Hartford (L, 68-59)- 11 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Peter Hooley has been tremendous all season long, yet when his team needed him most, he failed to live up to the task.
Forget the final regular season game against the Hawks. Albany had no incentive to win that ball game, as they had already locked up the second seed in the American East conference and were focusing on winning their fourth America East title.
In the quarterfinals against those same Hawks though, Hooley had his worse game of the season, hitting just 3-10 shots, as the Great Danes were shocked, going down to George Blagojevic, Taylor Dyson and Hartford.
Sure, Hooley was just one of two (Ray Sanders) Albany players to score double-digits in the loss. However his poor shooting percentage and failure to make an impact on the game makes it tough to say Hooley played well at all.
Hooley had a sensational four year stint with the Great Danes and it is a shame his final game won’t be remembered as a great one.
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