SB Nation - Alade Aminu

Workouts, Workouts, Workouts Press Clippings

Zach B — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:07:24 -0000

The NBA Draft workouts have seemingly slowed to an absolute crawl. I can't imagine how Josh, Jeremy and the rest of the guys feel; I'm tired of it and I haven't even been working out! Today is a pretty busy day for the draft prospects. Here is the look at today's Gonzaga news...

Hoops Addict " Exclusive Interview With Austin Daye

Yesterday Austin worked out with the Toronto Raptors and while any news about the workout is hard to come across we were able to find this video interview. Much like me, he seems to be getting tired of the workout process and the interviews. He talks about his father's influence once again, having a good support base around him, and what he thinks he can bring to the Toronto Raptors. He also discusses whether or not he reads the mock drafts and all that stuff put out by us silly bloggers. Toronto is one of the teams that really likes Austin and has the need for a wing like him. They've got the eighth selection but they could easily trade back into the middle of the first to grab him.

Guards Lawson, McKee to work out for Wizards -- baltimoresun.com

It's a busy day for the rest of the Gonzaga draft hopefuls as the other three will be working out along the Eastern seaboard hoping to impress the scouts. In Washington, Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt will workout together for the Wizards. The Wiz have the fifth and 32nd pick in the upcoming NBA Draft so unless their are a ton of injuries in the next few weeks, I wouldn't expect either of these Zags to land in Washington. Participating with Josh and Jeremy are Ty Lawson, Coppin State's Tywain McKee, USC's Taj Gibson, and Patrick Beverly of Arkansas fame.

ZAGSBLOG " Levance to Work out for Knicks

Their aren't many draft prospects hotter right now than Gonzaga's Micah Downs. Every report that we have come across regarding the former Gonzaga wing has been sensational. Previously thought to be undrafted, Micah has caused some stirs on draft boards and could squeeze his way into the second round. He looks to impress Mike D'Antoni today as he takes part in the New York Knicks workout. Working out along with Micah is a bunch of potential second round to undrafted prospects. Headlining the field is Pitt's Levance Fields, Texas' Connor Atchley, Georgia Tech's Alade Aminu (who is a likely second rounder), and Talladega's Jeral Davis.

Four Bulldogs Selected In Major League Baseball Draft - GONZAGA OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Three links of draft workouts is about all I can handle for one day anymore. Gonzaga had a busy day yesterday in the Major League Baseball drat as four Zags were selected. Heading the class was junior catcher Tyson Van Winkle, who was selected 10th by Diamondbacks. He was followed soon after by senior pitcher Steven Ames in 17th by the Los Angeles Dodgers, then Matt Fields in 22nd by the Toronto Blue Jays and lastly senior slugger Ryan Wiegand in 25th by the Tampa Bay Rays. Hopefully all four get signed on and get a chance at making it all the way to the bigs

Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting - Whispers: USC program crumbling

Nick Johnson, one of the top combo guards in the Class of 2011, has picked up offers from Arizona, Georgia, Oregon State and Washington to go along with his previous offer from Arizona State.

We had a fan post a couple days ago asking about the status of Nick Johnson, a shooting guard from Arizona and I think I'm ready to call Gonzaga's courtship of him over. While Johnson is a tremendous prospect and will be one of the top players in the 2011 class, Mark Few and the staff have plenty of kids to pick and choose from in their own backyard. Brett Kingma and Gary Bell are both fantastic guard options from the Western side of the state and Portland's Kyle Wiltjer would be a fantastic get at power forward. Like EDZ said in the fanpost, don't expect Nick to get out of Arizona and the farthest North I expect him to get would be UCLA.

ACC Tournament: Clemson vs. Georgia Tech Recap

MRickman84 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:57:56 -0000

Georgia Tech and Head Coach Paul Hewitt, who had won only three games in all of 2009, knew that the ACC Tournament is a welcome fresh start. Using that logic and the magic that Georgia teams have seemed to have in the Georgia Dome the last two years, the Yellow Jackets were able to blitz the Clemson Tigers by a final score of 86-81.

Behind a career-high 32 points from Lewis Clinch, and a maskless Maurice Miller, who provided eight assists, the Yellow Jackets used solid defense and effectively broke the Clemson press to give the 12 seed in the ACC tournament their third win against the five seed in the last four seasons. TO, fresh off his contract signing with the Buffalo Bills, was in attendance and was just munching on some popcorn during the game.

Georgia Tech did an incredible job down low, with 42 points in the paint and 22 second chance points, but set the tone with 33 fast break points--showing just how much of a double-edged sword Clemson's press has been all year. When it works, it works well, but when teams break it consistently, the defense has no time to get set and guys can get free for uncontested look, something that Gani Lawa used time and again on his way to 20 points for the game.

I've said it all year, but it bears repeating: Georgia Tech is not a bad basketball team. Lawal, Clinch, Zach Peacock, Iman Shumpert, Miller and Alade Aminu are all good ACC players. I joked with Dan Collins after the game and he said that this year's Tech team just might be the best two win ACC team ever.

The game came down to the wire, as Clemson caught fire from deep near the end, paced by Terrence Oglesby who was just launching it near the end of the game. He finished with 11 points, as did K.C. Rivers, Demontez Stitt and Raymond Sykes. Trevor Booker finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Clemson, who backed into the tournament after losing four of their last five conference games, continued their woes, and has seen their NCAA seeding plummet in the last two weeks. It will be interesting to see what their seed ends up being and whether or not they can bounce back come next week.

For Georgia Tech, their next foe is Florida State, who they match up well against, and hey, in the ACC Tournament, anything can happen, especially in the Georgia Dome.

I'll be back to talk about tonight's games, but leave your impressions about the first half of Thursday's action below.

Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech Matchups

RPhilpott — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:34:21 -0000

Breakdowns to follow:

Backcourt: Jeff Teague/LD Williams vs Maurice Miller/Iman Shumpert/Lewis Clinch: Wake wins a tough category to judge considering Georgia Tech has been using a three guard lineup. Combined GT's 3 guards average 29 points combined, while LD and Teague also combine for exactly 29 ppg. Typically the Yellow Jacket guards struggle with turnovers. Miller with 2.9, Shumpert at 3.8, and Clinch at 2.4. Wake is a team that likes to get steals and run off of them. Both Teague and Williams shoot 50% or higher from the floor. On the other hand Georgia Tech's guards rundown is: Shumpert-40.1%; Clinch-31.6%; Miller-26.4%. Overall, Wake Forest sends out a better combination of guards while Georgia Tech sends out more.

Frontcourt: James Johnson/Al-Farouq Aminu/Chas McFarland vs Gani Lawal/Zachery Peacock: Georgia Tech definitely has a very solid starting front line. Lawal torched Wake Forest for 25/10 last meeting, and averages 15 points and 10 rebounds on the year. Peacock comes in at 10 points and five rebounds per game. Lawal is coming off a tough game against NC State with seven points, three rebounds, and four fouls.

Johnson is also coming off a game where he was stuck in foul trouble. After starting hot, James picked up a few fouls and ended up being stuck on the bench for the majority of the game. Aminu put up 17/5 last game and is averaging 13/8 on the year. Chas had a solid second half and could be putting his season back together after his averages have slipped to 8.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. On the whole, Wake has a better frontline, but Lawal is a player that Wake will have to do a better job of defending this game.

3 PT Shooting: The first push we have given out in our pre-game matchups. Both teams are not good at three-point shooting and don't particularly use it very much. GT is 12^th in the conference in 3 pt percentage and 7^th for 3 pt percentage defense. Wake is 9^th in the conference for 3 pt % but 1^st in 3 pt percent defense. In their three most recent ACC road games Georgia Tech has shot 4/18, 2/15, and 3/14 from deep. Basically, both teams are inept three-point shooters so we couldn't give either team the category.

Free Throws: Last game, Georgia Tech dominated Wake Forest at the free throw line, getting there 30 times and hitting on 23 of their chances. This is an anomaly for Georgia Tech as they average shooting 62.9 percent as a team from the free-throw line. Lawal who was 11-14 is usually a 55 percent free-throw shooter. Wake gets to the free-throw line more often than Georgia Tech in general and shoots more than eight percent better when they get there. For this reason, Wake takes down the category.

Rebounding: Another easy category to decide for the two teams. Wake comes in at 132^nd in offensive rebounding percentage and 86^th in defensive rebounding percentage in the country according to KenPom. The Yellow Jackets are better in both categories at 64^th in offensive rebounding percentage and 62^nd in defensive rebounding percentage. The Demon Deacons did better against Florida State in their last game but on the whole Georgia Tech has been a better rebounding team.

Defense: Wake Forest is coming off a great defensive game against Florida State, holding the Seminoles to 63 points on 38 percent shooting from the floor and a mere 18.2 percent from three. On the year, Wake is still 8^th in the KenPom rankings for defensive efficiency. Georgia Tech is a very solid 34^th in the same category. But unlike Wake, Georgia Tech is coming off an 86 point barrage from NC State on Georgia Tech's home court. Right now, Wake is a better defensive team, but don't count Georgia Tech out because they gave Wake trouble last game.

Depth: Ish Smith is coming off a good game for Wake Forest and seems to be improving. In addition, Tony Woods and David Weaver provide some good size off the bench. The problem for Woods is, if he doesn't get the ball and dunk it immediately, he usually gets called for a travel or a charge. Georgia Tech takes this category primarily because of their ability to bring Alade Aminu who is averaging nearly 12/8.5 on the year after starting much of the year. Storrs is a legit shooting threat off the bench as well shooting 38% from three on the year.

Coach: When it comes down to it, Paul Hewitt can recruit his butt off but isn't all that great of an in-game coach. Wake is playing at home where, just like the players, Dino looks a lot more comfortable. Dino made good adjustments at the half against Florida State which gave Wake a good victory over a ranked opponent.

Intangibles: There are a few main reasons Wake Forest gets this category. 1) Wake is coming off a big win while Georgia Tech is coming off a slew of losses. 2) Wake is at home where they have played much better this season. 3) This is a redemption game for Wake who lost on a last second shot by Georgia Tech last game. Georgia Tech will have a little bit of confidence knowing that they have already beaten them, but the majority of the intangibles swing to the Deacons.

Overall: Georgia Tech has already taken down Wake Forest this year which should be cause for concern for Deacon fans. But Georgia Tech is still 10-14 (1-10). This is a team that Wake Forest should handle at home with the motivation to atone for a loss that had to leave a sour taste in their mouth. Wake is the better team from top to bottom and as long as Dino can motivate them (which shouldn't be a problem), Wake Forest should be able to win this game without any real problem. But all Georgia Tech fans have to say is "That's why they play the games."

Morning--Well, Evening Link Dump 2/2

MRickman84 — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:23:38 -0000

A late start and a busy rest of the day left me a little delayed in getting the links up for today. Aside from the big news of the Xavier-WFU series, today has been a bit quiet, but there are still some news and notes that aren't Super Bowl related.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution article after the loss about the Aminu brothers. A must-read. Also, Aminu was named ACC Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season.

Winston-Salem Journal article on the Wyndham tournament, nice Haas and Webb mention (Webb finished 65th this weekend after having some trouble on Saturday and Sunday)

Dino inspired a high school team in Crawfordsville, Indiana to a victory with their last second play from the Duke game.

If you've got $40 lying around you could pick up Dino's rebounding video. I'm sure there's some good stuff in there, but I'm thinking the team should study any parts about boxing out on defense. Too many offensive rebounds the last few games.

Dan Collins with a good breakdown of the loss.

The Charlotte Observer has a nice piece on the ACC's NBA draft talent.

Wake now a #2 seed in Lunardi's latest Bracketology.

The tennis team lost a hard battle against Ole Miss on Sunday.

News and Observer with a little write-up on Signing Day.

Would Bob Knight actually come back to coach Georgia?