Off The Boards By Jack Scheuer – January 6, 2016 Edition

Steve Vasturia, the former St.Joe’s Prep star now at Notre Dame, has partnered up with Demitrius Jackson to form one of the most solid backcourts in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Vasturia is averaging 12.2 points per game while shooting 50% from the field. He’s also making threes at a  38.5% clip.  His defense has never been questioned, and the junior from Medford is usually assigned to guard the opponent’s top scorer.  Vasturia’s development  has come about despite not getting much direction from his high school coach…..Just kidding, Speedy Morris is the best.

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Horace Spencer, from William Tennent High School, who began to attract recruiters when he was a 6-6 eighth grader, has now started four games in a row for Auburn after seeing limited action.  As of yesterday,the 6-9 freshman had averaged 4 points per game and five rebounds with 18 blocked shots.  Unfortunately, he is coached by Bruce Pearl, the former Tennessee head man who has already been inducted into the Used Car Salesmen Hall of Fame.

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Struggling La Salle meets a much improved Fordham team tonight in New York.  The Rams (9-3) are coached by Jeff Neubauer, a former Explorer player, and 1993 grad who is coming off a successful 10-year stint at Eastern Kentucky. In order to have his players gain confidence he packed his early schedule with winnable games and the strategy seems to have worked.  Fordham, 10-21 last year, hasn’t had a 10-win season since 2008.

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Trivia Time: Who holds the Villanova record for most blocked shots in one game (10).  Answer at the end of the column.

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This and That: Those Harrison twins from Kentucky probably should have stayed in school another year.  Aaron has appeared in only six games game with Charlotte, while Andrew is with the Iowa Energy in the NBA Development league…Temple’s Will Cummings is also in the D league with Houston’s Rio Grande Valley team….It must be tough for the Drexel folks to see Damion Lee having such a big year with Louisville….The Sixers Ish Smith is playing so well I wonder if the Analytics regret bringing him back…. After Carolina’s Brice Johnson put up his 39 point and 23 rebound effort against Florida State, I’m guessing many of those who pick All America teams made a quick change……Former Big 5 players are playing all over the world: Scottie Reynolds and Dalton Pepper are in Italy;  Scootie Randall is in Japan,  Reggie Redding in Turkey, Corey Fisher in Venezuela and Aaric Murray, who played at La Salle, West Virginia and Texas Southern, has landed in Greece….Upcoming games: Villanova is home with Seton Hall tonight, then visits Butler on Sunday; Drexel hosts William and Mary tomorrow and Charleston on Saturday; Also Saturday, Temple is home against East Carolina, Penn has Princeton, and La Salle welcomes Dayton.  Saint Joe’s is home with Rhode Island on Sunday.

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Answer to Trivia Time: On January 10,1986, Harold Pressley had 10 blocked shots against Providence.

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