La Salle

Aaric Murray, Top 30 Prospect, Signs With La Salle

Press Release — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:29:11 -0500

Philadelphia, PA- La Salle University men's basketball coach Dr. John Giannini has received a National Letter of Intent from 6''10 center Aaric Murray.

Murray is in his senior season at The Glen Mills School where he averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds a season ago.

Murray is ranked among the nation's Top 40 basketball recruits by all of the recognized scouting services and is considered the 19^th top prospect in America by HoopScoop.

Murray is the latest commitment received by Coach Giannini who is in his fifth season as La Salle's head coach, "We are thrilled to have Aaric join our program and the La Salle community. Aaric is widely known as a talented basketball player. More importantly, he is an extremely nice, and mature young person who values education and contributing to a team effort," said Giannini.

"Aaric is the centerpiece of a talented nucleus of young players that La Salle fans can be excited about for upcoming years. He has a wonderful mother in Latoya Murray, a caring coach in Craig Mellinger, and many supporters who have given him a strong foundation to build upon," added the coach.

The scouting web site Rivals.com noted, "La Salle may have the steal of the entire class in center Aaric Murray. The top-40 prospect turned down a number of high-major offers and should prove to be a difference-maker for the Atlantic 10 school." Rivals has Murray ranked 35^th overall and as the sixth at the center position.

A third site, Scout.com ranks him 38^th overall the also sixth at center.

State of '08: Pennsylvania

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:08:07 -0400

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

PENNSYLVANIA

PITTSBURGH - The Panthers have made 7-straight NCAA Tournaments, thanks to the foundation built by Ben Howland. In that 7-year stretch are 4 Sweet Sixteens, including 2 each by Howland and Jamie Dixon. This year's team projects to be Top 20 once again.

VILLANOVA - Jay Wright's squad is looking to make its 5th Tournament in a row. Even though the team did sneak into the field last year, the previous three teams were legit Top 25 squads, including the 2006 team that earned a #1 seed.

SAINT JOSEPH'S - In the past eight years, St. Joe's has reached the postseason seven times (4 NCAAs and 3 NITs), a stretch in which Phil Martelli has been named the A10's top coach three times. This year the team should be solid once again, but Philly rivals Villanova and Temple are expected to be better.

TEMPLE - The Owls returned to the Big Dance for the first time since 2001, as the program is still trying to gain an identity following John Chaney's epic career. With the exception of 2007, Temple has been in the Top 102 RPI every year since the 80's.

PENN - The Quakers have obviously been one of the best teams (along with Princeton) in the Ivy League since the early 70's. While Princeton has collapsed, Penn is still hanging in there following the departure of Fran Dunphy. Last year's young team did struggle following 3-straight Tourney trips, but a 19-20 win season should be expected in 2009.

6. BUCKNELL - Long-time coach Pat Flannery stepped down after last season's disappointing 12-19 finish. But Flannery took the program to heights that no one could have expected. In '05 & '06, the Bison not only made the Big Dance, but knocked off Kansas & Arkansas. '07 wasn't bad either with a Top 80 RPI finish.

7. DREXEL - Drexel is coming off one if its worst seasons in years, and the worst in Bruiser Flint's 12-year career. Before last year's 12-20 debacle, the Dragons had made 4 NIT's in the previous 5 years.

8. PENN STATE - Last year's 7-11 Big Ten record was the best in Ed DeChellis' 5-year tenure. I guess that's progress of some sort, but the Penn State has accomplished virtually nothing since 2001's freak Sweet Sixteen run.

9. LEHIGH - When Billy Taylor took over in 2002, Lehigh had been in a prolonged slump. But he did a nice job getting the Mountain Hawks to the Tourney in '04 and to the Pat League title game in '06. 2nd year coach Brett Reed is trying to continue that success after an up and down first year.

10. ROBERT MORRIS - Last year was the culmination of steady growth achieved during Mark Schmidt's tenure. But it was 1st year coach Mike Rice who got to reap Schmidt's rewards, leading the team to an all-time high 27 wins and making the NIT after winning the NEC regular-season title.

11. DUQUESNE - Not one of Duquesne's last six coaches finished with a +.500 record. Last year's 17-13 record was the Dukes best since 93-94 when they reached the NIT. 17-13 is quite an accomplishment for Ron Everhart considering he took over a team that was 3-24 in '06.

12. LA SALLE - La Salle's utter lack of success is surprising because the school does have decent name recognition. The program has showed potential since John Giannini took over in 2004, but the postseason will still have to wait. La Salle has finished over .500 just once in the last 15 seasons (2006).

13. LAFAYETTE - In '99 & '00, the Leopards won back to back Patriot League titles. There hasn't been much to cheer about in the last 8 seasons though. 2004 was the last time Lafayette even finished above .500 in league play.

14. SAINT FRANCIS - The past three seasons have been simply brutal. The Red Flash have won 15 total games against D1 teams and finished below 300th in the RPI each year. Most preseason publications project another last-place NEC finish in 08-09.

Last: Oregon - Next: South Carolina

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

Karon Burton to Attend La Salle

Press Release — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:12:20 -0400

Philadelphia, PA- Men’s basketball coach Dr. John Giannini has announced that Karon Burton, a 5’9 point guard from Chester High School, will attend La Salle University.

Burton, who will enroll during the fall semester, will concentrate on academics during the upcoming season with plans to be eligible to play in the 2009-’10 season.

“Karon was a great player, winner and leader throughout his Chester High career,” commented Giannini. “He has excellent playmaking and scoring abilities and his quickness gives our team a valuable asset.”

Burton averaged 18.1 points and 7.9 assists while leading the Clippers to a 33-1 record and a Pennsylvania Class AAAA State Championship.

The Explorers open the 2008-09 season on Saturday November 15^th when they host Morgan State at Tom Gola Arena. They will play Philadelphia University in an exhibition game one week earlier – on November 7^th at Gola Arena.

2008-09 La Salle Basketball Preview: #121

Joel Welser — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:14:52 -0400

La Salle Explorers

Overall Rank: #121

Conference Rank: #10 Atlantic 10

2007-08: 15-17, 8-8, 7^th

2007-08 postseason: none

Is this the year La Salle becomes a factor in the race for the Atlantic 10 championship? If so, the team will have to be much more consistent than they were last season. Besides a nice five, four if you do not want to count New Jersey Institute of Technology, game winning streak in February, the 2007-2008 season was marred with mediocrity. If point guard Ruben Guillandeaux is consistent, the rest of the team will follow. Guillandeaux is good scorer and shooter and improved late in the season, but his decision making needs to improve now that he is an upperclassman.

Who’s Out:

The good news is the team was very young and should be more consistent with another year of experience, but the bad news is Darnell Harris is gone. Harris hit nearly 48 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc and knocked down almost four per contest. He ended his collegiate career as the conference’s all-time leader in made threes. Nobody is going to come close to replacing Harris’ long range shooting skills this year or any time soon. Forward Sherman Diaz is the other departure. His numbers were never overly impressive coming off the bench, but Diaz was a decent shot blocker.

Who’s In:

Depth up front was one of the needs of this recruiting class and it was pretty much the only one addressed. The biggest name is Vernon Goodridge, a transfer from Mississippi State. A 6-9 forward, Goodridge averaged less than ten minutes per game with the Bulldogs two years ago, but he is a solid rebounder and shotblocker and should make a much bigger impact with more playing time. David Baroum and Devon White, as well as walk-on transfer Steve Weingarten, will give the team plenty of depth in the paint.

Who to Watch:

A majority of the scoring left behind by Harris will fall to Rodney Green, Yves Mekongo Mbala and Kimmani Barrett on the wings. Green is the star of the future and the future is now for the junior. He will not hit too many outside shots, but the 6-5 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania product does a great job getting to the basket. With the 6-7 Mekongo Mbala by his side and 6-5 Guillandeaux running the point, the Explorers have size in the backcourt that few teams in the Atlantic 10 can match. Even Barrett is 6-6. However, most of the players on the perimeter are not shooters. Everybody can hit the long ball, but Green, Mekongo Mbala and Barrett are slashers first and shooters second. If somebody does not start taking more outside shots, the opposing defense will have an easier time collapsing in the lane and stopping the La Salle offense.

Final Projection:

What propelled the Explorers to a .500 conference record last year was the rebounding. Jerrell Williams led the way averaging 6.4 boards per contest. His production slipped as the season went on, but Williams is also a solid scorer who should tally plenty of double-doubles before his collegiate career is through. Add Paul Johnson to the mix, who started 32 games last year but likely lose his starting gig to Goodridge, and the team has plenty of depth, experience and rebounders in the frontcourt. Besides the youth and inexperience excuse, last year’s mediocrity can almost exclusively be blamed on poor defense. Another year will fix some of those problems, as would utilizing the team’s length by running more zone, but there is a long way to go between giving up 76.2 points per game and competing for a conference championship.

Projected Post-season Tournament: none

Projected Starting Five:

Ruben Guillandeaux, Junior, Guard, 7.7 points per game

Rodney Green, Junior, Guard, 13.4 points per game

Yves Mekongo Mbala, Junior, Forward, 8.3 points per game

Jerrell Williams, Sophomore, Forward, 9.1 points per game

Vernon Goodridge, Junior, Forward, DNP last season

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2008-09 Preview & Awards | Coach Interviews | Discuss the Preview

Vernon Goodridge Transfers to La Salle

Shawn Siegel — Sat, 19 May 2007 03:00:00 -0400