Report card 2016: Paris Maragkos

THE NUMBERS

Minutes
MPG: 14.9
% Minutes: 37.0

Offense
Points: 7.1 ppg
O-rating: 90.0
E-FG: 52.5%
Two-point shooting: 49.7%
3-point shooting: 52.9%
FT shooting: 69.8%
Turnover rate: 24.4%

Defense
Rebounding: 2.3 rpg
Defensive reb %: 14.7%

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STRENGTHS
Midway through American’s season-opener at Rhode Island, fellow podcaster Sam, who was on press row in Kingston, RI, texted me with a prediction: Paris Maragkos, AU’s transfer from GW, would lead the Eagles in scoring for the season. I’m not writing this to throw Sam under the bus, as he was far from the only observer, myself included, who thought Paris would be a double-digit scorer and all-around threat for the Eagles. If only his first couple games in an Eagles uniform were a sign of things to come.

Against Rhode Island when most of the team looked shell-shocked, the freshmen unable to break a furious press, Maragkos played with poise and control, finishing with 16 points. He added 12 in the next game vs. Hampton. From the season’s outset, Maragkos showed an eagerness to be the guy to get AU’s offense going early in the game. He displayed an above-average ability to create space in the paint and get good enough position to receive an entry pass and then make a move toward the basket in a matter of seconds.

While Maragkos’ play and minutes in December trended toward increasingly unpredictable, he could still be considered one of the go-to guys for the Eagles heading into the Patriot League season. In the league opener at Loyola, the Eagles rode Maragkos to the tune of 17 points. Little did we know that night in Baltimore that he’d post just four more double-digit games in the remaining 19, but the end of this Mike Brennan quote after the Eagles’ loss on Dec. 30 perhaps portends this:

“He’s been working on being able to score down there. We’re trying to get the ball down to him. I don’t know if people will leave him alone like they did today, but it’s something that he’s worked on. He’s got to get some rebounds though.”

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ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Simply put, Maragkos was a decent scorer but not great — shooting 49% on twos is downright bad for a big man. As the season wore on, he did show an ability to hit the top-of-the-key 3 — an important skill for the 5 man in AU’s system — going 9-17 on the season.

What sent his playing time spiraling (Maragkos averaged just 12.4mpg in conference play including eight games in single digits) was a combination of three things (in order of what he struggled most with):

Rebounding
Passing
Defense

People might point to the defense first, but Maragkos actually showed signs of being able to decently defend especially in the post. He did an admirable job against Tim Kempton, including outplaying him and rendering the Lehigh big useless and in foul trouble in the teams’ first meeting. He wasn’t terrible against Nana Foulland either. Maragkos is slow laterally, and this cost him plenty in the foul column where he rarely got the benefit of the doubt on block-charge calls (especially compared to the quicker Marko Vasic).

Maragkos’ 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes would have ranked him second in the Patriot League behind only BU’s Nick Havener if Maragkos qualified (he didn’t play 40% of available minutes).

But as Brennan alluded to, rebounding was a bigger issue. The 6-9 Maragkos simply failed at the thing the undersized Eagles really needed, grabbing just 1.8 a game in conference play (tied for sixth on the team). Here’s Maragkos compared with other bigs in the league:

Defensive rebounding %
Tim Kempton, 27.4
Kevin Ferguson, 22.2
Nana Foulland, 19.4
Will Kelly, 17.1
Franz Rassman, 16.7
Paris Maragkos, 14.7

That list doesn’t include all the wings and guards that outrebounded Maragkos, too, including several on his team. It was easy to see that one of the biggest issues that plagued AU during its horrendous 10-game losing streak and 2-16 start was rebounding, and when things started to turn around, Vasic and Andrija Matic were seeing more court time and grabbing more boards.

Finally, as the season wore on, it became clearer that passing into Maragkos was throwing the ball into a dark hole. Sometimes he’d finish the running jump hooks that were his offensive staple all year, but what rarely occurred was a well-executed pass. When Maragkos was on the floor, he took 32.7% of the Eagles’ shots. That would rank him 26th … in the nation! That’s really poor for a player whose 2-point shooting percentage would have ranked him 29th in the Patriot League among eligible players.

It’s made worse by the fact that what happened to the offense when he received entry passes is the antithesis of what Mike Brennan is trying to do in the Princeton offense. The ball stopped moving, the team losing its flow. Maragkos’ assist to turnover rate (19.5 to 24.4) is also not flattering.

If Maragkos is going to see the floor consistently in 2016-17, rebounding and passing need to be priorities.

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GRADE: D+

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QUOTABLE
“Paris has continued to work hard and improve. Tonight he got the opportunity to show what he does every day. It’s good for him to give us something.”

— Mike Brennan, Feb. 3, after Maragkos’ best all-around game of the season vs. Bucknell (11 pts, 3 reb, 2 steals, 2 assists)

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QUICK TAKE
It was disappointing to see the early potential Maragkos showed dissipate into him hardly being a rotation player during AU’s best stretch of basketball, but no one on the roster had such clear weaknesses that opponents exposed. With that said, the opportunity is there for Maragkos to have a strong senior season and so is the potential (take that Bucknell game, for instance). While Matic seemingly has the inside track at the starting center position, it’s far from decided.

*Note: If recent transfer Matt Cimino is eligible in 2016-17 (still pending), Maragkos will have a much steeper hill to climb for consistent playing time.

If Maragkos can become  a much better finisher around the rim, learn how to pass out of the Princeton sets, and make rebounding his mission this summer, he could be a solid 15-20 mpg role player who even avarages double-digit points as a senior.

2.6.16 — The streak is over, but good vibes remain

The fellas convene for a Saturday night session covering multiple topics including: the end of AU’s five-game winning streak; the ingredients of the Eagles’ success; the Patriot League 2nd-place logjam; a listeners’ mailbag; and more.

Listen above or below or subscribe on iTunes.

Quotes: Mike Brennan and players talk win over Bucknell

Head coach Mike Brennan and senior Marko Vasic and junior Paris Maragkos spoke to the media after American’s 69-55 win over Bucknell, the Eagles’ fifth consecutive victory.

MIKE BRENNAN

On Paris’ big game (11 points, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 steals)
“Paris has continued to work hard and improve. Tonight he got the opportunity to show what he does every day. It’s good for him to give us something.”

How much of Paris’ progression is being able to stay out of foul trouble, especially in game like tonight?
“Yeah, that’s a big part of it especially (when) he’s gotta guard Foulland, who’s a big physical heavy athletic guy. They’re trying to throw it to him over and over, and he’s good. So it’s a lot of work — so it requires a lot of work to stay out of foul trouble.”

What’d you do differently at all to try to contain Foulland and also stop Hass for a second game (3-11, 10 points)?
“Obviously we tried to take away 3-pointers from Hass taking them and make Foulland work for the ball. He’s obviously gonna get it and score so he still had 11 and 13 tonight. Our guys are just collectively doing it — it’s all five guys just working together to take those two things away.”

How tough was it playing on such short rest?
“This week was tough because we had the Holy Cross game (and) it was like one day of prep and one day of prep, so it was harder for Holy Cross because that was the first time we played them. It was the second time with Bucknell so we kind of knew, a little bit, we’re familiar with them. But to be honest, our preparation — we’re concentrated on ourselves, making sure that each guy’s getting better and the team’s getting better.”

How do you view this win? See it more from self-improvement standpoint or as being able to compete with best of the league, having beat the top team?
“It’s just one game. We caught them on a night (when) they’re 0-15 from 3 — that doesn’t happen very often [Note: first time in 375 games]. So they, obviously we need them to play poorly. I think we had something to do with it with our defense, but we also need them to miss shots and not have a great game. They’re obviously the top team in the league. It’s just one game and we’ve just got to continue to improve and worry about Lehigh on Saturday.”

Going against Bucknell’s pressuring guards, how impressed are you with James and Delante’s poise and just four combined turnovers?
“They’ve played a lot of minutes and they’ve had a lot of experience. We knew they were gonna be good and we liked them; we just had to go through some growing pains, they’re freshmen. Them having all that experience is allowing them to be able to compete now, to be able to compete and be able to help us win games.”

What’s the biggest area of improvement for James?
“It’s not just one — just playing, just college basketball’s hard and it’s a lot for a freshman. He’s playing 30 something minutes, the guy’s playing a lot of minutes as a freshman handling the ball, guarding guys, it’s a lot of work. The whole group has worked every day. They’ve never wavered regardless of what our record was — give them credit for sticking together, everybody, the whole team”

On American’s improved rebounding and outrebounding Bucknell
“Obviously as you go through the year each game a deficiency shows up. Obviously against Army that’s what they do well, and that showed up in a big way. So it’s something that we knew we had to attack. So again our guys, we practiced, we work on it, they do it, they work hard at it, they get better at it, and so we did against Navy, another team that rebounds very well, and this team it’s the same way. They’re older, strong guys so it’s a lot of work for our guys to keep them off the boards.”

On Jesse playing through the late injury (40 minutes for fourth time in five games)
“Yeah, of course he doesn’t want to leave the game ever, I don’t want him to leave the game ever. But he’s used to playing 40 minutes, he’s done it the last two years, he’s done it all year this year. It’s not been easy, it’s not been an easy 40 minutes, so he’s sort of gotten used to it.”

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MARKO & PARIS

When you were sitting at 0-6, did you ever think you’d be here 5-6 having beat the best team in the league?
Paris: “Honestly we knew that we were gonna improve. The freshmen came along and we really need them. I think the chemistry’s way better on the team, and we were expecting that this time was gonna come.”

Marko: “We weren’t really concerned about our current record. Our coach wants us — obviously it’s always better to win the game than lose — but our coaches just want us to get better every day, to be at our best, just like last year, to be at our best when it’s most important towards the Patriot League championship and tournament and I think we’re heading in the right direction. We really weren’t expecting, OK, after our sixth loss, it’s not like that’s when things started clicking. We just kind of stick to it, we were doing the things we’re supposed to do and we’re getting more mature as a team each day, and I think that things are starting to fall in place. But there’s still a lot of other games to play. We’ve got to stay focused. We’ve got to get ready for Lehigh.”

How did the foul trouble affect you?
Marko: “It personally didn’t affect me. I was kind of mad at myself for a couple plays that I was late where I was supposed to be and I just wanted to make sure that the next play I’m gonna be there in time and just try to make the right play instead of commiting a foul. So I don’t think it affected me.”

Paris, how much did you have to adjust in the second half especially with the way the refs were calling it?
Paris; “As Marko said, you should not look at what happened in the past, you should always look at the next play. I honestly had to play better defense. I had to drop the post differently, the refs were calling some fouls — actually were calling too many fouls to be honest — but I had to adjust my defense.”

How did you prepare yourself for that moment not having played in crunch time recently?
Paris: “As coach says, everybody has to be ready when he gets the opportunity. I will always be ready when my coach needs me, (which is) the same for everybody on the team. You just have to be ready, that’s all.”

How hard has this stretch of three games in five days been?
Paris: “It’s been hard, it’s been really hard. You just — it’s what we love so that’s what we do, that’s why we are here, and academics of course. But yeah you just have to stick with it, to be honest.”

How much tougher was the short rest playing against a team that plays at Bucknell’s pace?
Marko: “I think coach did a great job preparing us for the game as well as resting some of our guys, did a great job of doing both, and obviously we’ve already played them once, we know what kind of pace they’re running … we knew what to improve on from the last game and I thought we did a great job running back on defense, which was the most important thing this game, and finding our matchups, making sure that we were in front of our man, so I thought we did a great job there.”

Delante and James only two turnovers apiece. How far have they come in terms of playing poised?
Marko: “It’s just crazy how much they’ve improved since the beginning of the year. They’re more comfortable right now in this offense, they know how to read different things differently, whoever’s got them (up high), whoever’s sagging off of them, so I think they’ve improved tremendously since the beginning of the year and I think it’s showing in the number of turnovers they’re making every game.”

On Paris shooting 3s and is he comfortable doing so? (4-6 on season)
Paris: “We’re trying to hide this for later, but yes, I feel like whenever we need a 3, I could be the guy who could take it. We obviously have better shooters. I’m the center so, you know, it’s good to have it in your game, but I’m not going to force it.”

Does coach encourage you to shoot it?
Paris: “Oh yes, yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.”

Marko, what was going through your head on that last-minute dunk? Making a statement?
Marko: “No, I just saw that the shot clock was less than the game clock so I just wanted to make a play. I saw that I was wide open there, no one was in front of me. I didn’t have to kick it out, so I had the momentum. So I just kind of made what I thought was the right play at the moment. That wasn’t no statement or anything.”

1.31.16 — Three-game road winning streak

The fellas celebrate the two-year anniversary of the podcast by happily dissecting the Eagles’ surprising three-game road winning streak and the team’s prospects in the second half of Patriot League play.

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1.18.16 Notebook — Breaking down the Eagles’ struggles, best chance for win No. 1

The American University Eagles fell 65-45 to Army Sunday, their 10th consecutive loss and sixth straight to open Patriot League play. The Eagles are 346th out of 351 teams in KenPom’s statistical rankings. Only five other teams have worse records. The Eagles are one of just nine D-1 teams with two or fewer victories.

In summation, there is more than enough evidence now — both from simply watching every game and numbers — to conclude that this team is very bad and likely won’t drastically improve in its final 12 games.

Instead of a one-hour podcast this week to dissect the team’s ills, here is a shorter blog that might be easier to stomach and at least take up less of your time.

First off, which upcoming game offers the Eagles the best chance, according to KenPom, to pick up that first elusive Patriot League victory?

American’s upcoming opponents 
At Lafayette Wed. (KenPom: 15%)
vs. Holy Cross Sunday (37%)
at Navy (5%)
at Colgate (7%)
Bucknell (17%)
at Lehigh (9%)
at Boston U (9%)
Army (15%)
Lafayette (37%)

Lafayette is the second-worst team in the league, and Holy Cross has lost three in a row.

Why AU can beat Lafayette (on the road)
Sure it’s a road game and sure Lafayette still has that Nick Lindner guy, but the Leopards don’t have much after that. In particular, they’re awful on defense — giving up 1.06 points per possession vs. Patriot League opponents, 8th in the league. Additionally, Lafayette is the worst team in the league at turning opponents over  with a turnover rate of just 15.9, which could aid the league’s worst in that category (even in the Patriot League, AU’s 21.2% rate is dead last). Finally, the only thing Lafayette has done relatively well in league play is shoot the 3 (36%); that’s also the one area of the floor the Eagles have defended OK (33.4%).

Why AU can beat Holy Cross (at home)
First off, it’s Phil Bender Day and it’s Mike Brennan Bobblehead Day. If you don’t get up for that then stick a fork in these Eagles! In all seriousness, the Crusaders are in all-out struggle mode after starting league play 2-1. In three consecutive defeats, they have lost by an average of 20 points — sound familiar? — and are now dead last in the league defensively, giving up 1.09 points per possession, and allowing opponents an E-FG% of 55.5 and 43% from 3.

Also, Holy Cross is at least close to the Eagles in the lack of experience category with average experience of 1.66, according to KenPom, compared to AU’s 1.49. Freshman Karl Charles has been one of the Crusaders’ go-to guys for most of the season, but the youngster seems to have hit a wall during the losing streak — scoring just two and nine points the last two times out.

I’m not saying AU will win either of these — predicting an Eagles victory at this point isn’t a smart exercise — and if they drop them both, expect AU to be looking at 0-14 in the league when it faces Lafayette in a rematch at Bender Feb. 17.

Now let’s jump into a few reasons why American sits in this predicament, winless in the league and losing their PL games by an average of 15 points a game.

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Second half shooting woes
American has actually been in most of their Patriot League games at halftime, and was even tied 22-22 with Army Sunday. The Eagles’ deficits after 20 minutes in its five other games:

Loyola 33, AU 28 (-5)
Colgate 23, AU 20 (-3)
Bucknell 35, AU 31 (-4)
Lehigh 35, AU 26 (-9)
Boston U 32, AU 27 (-5)

Total first half scoring difference: 26, 4.3ppg

So while being ahead at the break would be nice, the Eagles have absolutely been in every game. But for whatever reason, they’ve forgotten how to shoot in the second halves of games; their deficits have increased; and then when the Eagles get sped up facing double-digit holes, the shooting percentage gets worse.

American’s second-half FG totals its last four games:

Bucknell: 8-32, 1-7 from 3
Lehigh: 9-30, 3-13 from 3
BU: 7-28, 3-17 from 3
Army: 7-21, 1-4 from 3

When you are facing a deficit, getting outrebounded, and turning the ball over, this is a recipe for getting blown out of games. And that’s exactly what’s happening.

I’ll get into senior Jesse Reed’s struggles in a minute, but first here are the shooting splits in league play for AU’s second- and third-leading scorers Paris Maragkos (9.5 ppg) and Delante Jones (8.9 ppg).

First halves
Maragkos: 15-30 FGs
Jones: 12-22

Second halves
Maragkos: 11-24
Jones: 7-26

The numbers aren’t glaring, but they give a glimpse of the Eagles’ offensive slippage in second halves and how they’re not getting the ball to two of their most productive offensive players in positions to score.

Jesse Reed’s offensive struggles
By now it’s clear that Jesse Reed is not a No. 1 player on a team. That’s not a knock against the senior, who is leading the Eagles in scoring at 11.5 ppg, but simply a truth. Reed thrived as a No. 3 or No. 4 guy the past two seasons playing on the wings of a spaced offense, hitting spot-up 3s and slicing and dicing his way to the basket.

Reed was expected to come in and be a leader on this team as its best player and one of just two seniors with Marko Vasic. That simply hasn’t happened. It’s not his style or demeanor. And while Vasic is more of a natural leader, he doesn’t do enough on the floor and hasn’t simply played enough to effectively assume that role on a squad with four freshmen in the rotation.

To his credit, nobody has played harder than Reed and no one has taken more hits and bruises throughout the season (in the opening minutes against Boston U, he took an elbow to the head that seemed to affect him the rest of the game), but my biggest knock against Jesse is that he hasn’t looked for his offense in most games until it is too late. Here are the numbers:

Last 5 games:
Colgate: 36 min, 3-7 FGs, 8 pts (2 pts first 30 min)
Bucknell: 39 min, 5-12, 13 pts
Lehigh: 38 min, 4-12, 13 pts (4 pts in garbage time)
BU: 39 min, 1-5, 4 pts (4 pts in garbage time)
Army: 38 min, 4-8, 11 pts (7 pts in garbage time)

Too often, Reed is deferring during the first 30-plus minutes of games. Most blistering, he doesn’t force the issue when American is going through the early second-half droughts that have been its demise. Those are the situations in which Reed needs to pull the trigger on 23-foot 3s from the wing (he’s shooting a solid 36.8 percent from 3), or come off a down screen and curl into the lane for a pull-up or to create contact.

Unless American gets the ball to Maragkos early in the shot clock — his 56.5 e-FG% is a team-best — Reed has to be the late shot-clock guy or the guy who demands the ball when things are breaking down, and that hasn’t happened nearly enough.

Thus American’s brutal scoreless stretches as opponents take over games.

Where’s Charlie?
Something’s clearly ailing Charlie Jones, and his minutes are dwindling — quickly. There’s no doubting that Jones is American’s best pound-for-pound defender as evidenced by Brennan subbing him in for the first time vs. Army Sunday in the final seconds before halftime solely to guard Kyle Wilson. Jones has the best steal and block rates on the team and the third-best defensive rebounding percentage.

Yet Jones’ offense hasn’t been there all year. Really, he hasn’t looked for it. His stroke is still there, as we saw when he swished a turnaround 3 right before the halftime buzzer vs. Boston U, but he’s not looking to shoot when he receives the ball on the perimeter and it’s clear, too, that with the season not en route to a Patriot League championship, coach Mike Brennan favors getting as much experience for the freshmen Delante Jones, James Washington, Lonnie Rivera and Andrija Matic as possible as opposed to playing Charlie Jones or Vasic, whose minutes have fluctuated greatly but not slipped as much as Jones’.

1.10.16 — Talking rotations, freshmen vs. experience

Sam’s busy getting heat for his new Chicago digs, but Dave and Jake are here to dive deep into what’s plaguing the Patriot League’s lone winless team and are also joined by a pair of Eagles legends on Alumni Day at Bender Arena.

0:00-42:42 — Dave and Jake talk Eagles rotation, struggles.
42:42-52:25 — Dave interview with Garrison Carr, Jake interview with Patrick Doctor
52:25 — Patriot League talk, closing thoughts

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1.4.16 — AU’s struggles and Doug Birdsong

Sam and Jake dissect the struggling 2-11 Eagles and any possible cures, and the fellas are joined by Bucknell play-by-play maestro Doug Birdsong to break down the upcoming battle vs. the Bison.

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12.24.15 — On the road in the Bayou State

In the car driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans after watching LSU dethrone AU, Dave and Jake summarize the 2-9 nonconference slate and what to expect in Patriot League play.

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12.8.15 — Pee Wee Gardner breaks it down

Eight games into the season, the fellas (sans Crespo) take a deep dive into dissecting the State of the Eagles and are joined by Point Guard God — & current volunteer coach — Pee Wee Gardner for an insider’s take on the 2-6 start and what to expect going forward.

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11.8.15 — Massive 2015-16 season preview

The season is 5 days away, and the fellas break down every aspect of the Eagles; predict every game; make Patriot League prognostications; and much more.

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