Monday, March 06, 2006
Stories About Scoring Guards
Need a good story or two? Need a reason to watch mid-major basketball?
Tonight's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final, featuring St. Peter's and Iona tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN2, has several.
(It also bears noting that four Jesuit schools - Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount in the WCC and St. Peter's tonight, as well as Holy Cross on Friday - will be playing in the finals of their conference tournaments this week...and Marquette could face Georgetown on Thursday in the quarters of the BIG EAST Championship. That tidbit brought to you by St. Ignatius Loyola.)
Keydren "Kee-Kee" Clark just recently became the seventh player in NCAA history to score 3,000 points and passed Bradley's Hersey Hawkins for sixth on the all-time list with his 3,033 points.
And for all the talk about how great J.J. Redick is, Kee-Kee's 433 trifectas ranks him five ahead of J.J. for the all-time NCAA Division I lead. Funny, I didn't hear Dick Vitale mention that in the UNC-Duke infomercial on the ESPN family of networks on Saturday night. But I digress.
Kee-Kee's been the national scoring champ the three previous seasons, averaging 24.9 points as a frosh, 26.7 as a sophomore, and 25.8 last season. So far this year, he's scoring at a 26.3 clip - good for third nationally.
In reality, he's been the best player in the MAAC for the three previous seasons, but there always seemed to be an upperclassman on a team in the upper crust that earned the big trophy the first week of March. Luis Flores of Manhattan and Niagara's Juan Mendez were no slouches, but Kee-Kee was always (in my extremely skewed opinion) a tick better.
In other news, Kee-Kee graduated from college early, tried out for and was inexplicably passed over for the USA World University Games team, and even mulled over declaring early for the NBA draft, just to get out there and show his wares against the best in the country.
All of this is a nice preface to the final chapter in the story of a tremendous student-athlete (there's that word again...nice to use it and actually have it mean something) that will be written tonight. But nothing on the court can compare to what Kee-Kee Clark has had to deal with since June, when he discovered his best friend, teammate and roommate George Jefferson dead just a day or two before he was set to travel with the NIT All-Stars to London. (an earlier TLBR post, scroll down to the "pinky.")
Kee-Kee has dedicated his season to his fallen friend, wearing a t-shirt under his jersey with the words "Until We Meet Again," while all the SPC Peacocks have George's #23 on their jerseys.
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On the other side of the court, Iona College has a nice standout guard of its own in Steve Burtt.
Coming into this season, Burtt had had a nice career. Despite averaging 9.2 points per game in 29 contests - fourth best among all MAAC newcomers - while setting a new Iona freshman three-pointers record (38), the 6-0 guard from Harlem did not receive a spot on the league's All-Rookie team. Those honors went to fellow teammates Ricky Soliver and Marvin McCullough.
Never lacking confidence, Burtt improved his scoring the next season to 13.5 points per game - an increase of over four points per game - while connecting on 49 three-pointers. His efforts earned him Third Team All-MAAC honors and honorable mention All-Metropolitan accolades.
As a junior, Burtt began to shine. His 19.3 scoring average - again, another increase, this time by almost six points per game - ranked him third in the conference, behind the national leader Clark and eventual conference player of the year Mendez. His 80 trifectas that season set a new single-season Iona mark, en route to also making him the Gaels' all-time best long-distance shooter, with 124 treys. His career-high 38 points against Marist on Feb. 21, 2005 gave him 1,247 points.
The number itself shouldn't stand out, but when you add it to the 2,534 points his father Steve scored during his Iona career, the two Steve Burtt's became the top scoring father-son duo in NCAA Division I history. That's right, his dad is Iona's all-time leading scorer. He also wore #15. Like Kent Dorfman, Steve Burtt the younger (not "Jr." though, he has a different middle name) is a legacy.
Fast forward to this year. Burtt has tallied 729 points in Iona's 29 contests, including 17 games of 25 points or more. He has connected on another 90 trifectas, giving him 257 for his career. The scoring total and average stand to be the best single-season marks in Iona basketball history. His 25.1 points per game ranks sixth in the country in scoring. His 1,983 total points ranks him second on Iona's all-time scoring list behind, yep, his pops.
In his nine-game career against St. Peter's, Burtt has averaged 22.4 points per game - his highest scoring average against any MAAC team. This season, Burtt put up 37 and 20 against SPC in two regular-season meeting.
So tonight, on the Deuce, it's mano-y-mano between the two senior guards from Harlem, both trying to cement their outstanding careers as student-athletes (gosh, it's nice to say that...especially since both guys graduated early and are pursuing their master's degrees).
Kee-Kee Clark and his 26.3 points per game and 3,033 career points going up against Stevie Burtt's 25.1 points per game and his knock-knock-knocking on 2000's door total of 1,983.
That's 5,016 points and 690 threes - combined.
Pretty nice stories, huh? But it gets better.
They were high school teammates. Yeah, same backcourt.
-----
To the next step. (and for the Gaels, may it be the next step-after-step, up a ladder, with a pair of scissors ready to cut down those nets)
One.
For more official information on the MAAC Tournament, log onto www.maacsports.com.
For the best MAAC Tourney coverage around, check out Sean Brennan from the New York Daily News.
And for the best MAAC Tourney blogging, go no further than Scott's Shots.
Tonight's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final, featuring St. Peter's and Iona tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN2, has several.
(It also bears noting that four Jesuit schools - Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount in the WCC and St. Peter's tonight, as well as Holy Cross on Friday - will be playing in the finals of their conference tournaments this week...and Marquette could face Georgetown on Thursday in the quarters of the BIG EAST Championship. That tidbit brought to you by St. Ignatius Loyola.)
Keydren "Kee-Kee" Clark just recently became the seventh player in NCAA history to score 3,000 points and passed Bradley's Hersey Hawkins for sixth on the all-time list with his 3,033 points.
And for all the talk about how great J.J. Redick is, Kee-Kee's 433 trifectas ranks him five ahead of J.J. for the all-time NCAA Division I lead. Funny, I didn't hear Dick Vitale mention that in the UNC-Duke infomercial on the ESPN family of networks on Saturday night. But I digress.
Kee-Kee's been the national scoring champ the three previous seasons, averaging 24.9 points as a frosh, 26.7 as a sophomore, and 25.8 last season. So far this year, he's scoring at a 26.3 clip - good for third nationally.
In reality, he's been the best player in the MAAC for the three previous seasons, but there always seemed to be an upperclassman on a team in the upper crust that earned the big trophy the first week of March. Luis Flores of Manhattan and Niagara's Juan Mendez were no slouches, but Kee-Kee was always (in my extremely skewed opinion) a tick better.
In other news, Kee-Kee graduated from college early, tried out for and was inexplicably passed over for the USA World University Games team, and even mulled over declaring early for the NBA draft, just to get out there and show his wares against the best in the country.
All of this is a nice preface to the final chapter in the story of a tremendous student-athlete (there's that word again...nice to use it and actually have it mean something) that will be written tonight. But nothing on the court can compare to what Kee-Kee Clark has had to deal with since June, when he discovered his best friend, teammate and roommate George Jefferson dead just a day or two before he was set to travel with the NIT All-Stars to London. (an earlier TLBR post, scroll down to the "pinky.")
Kee-Kee has dedicated his season to his fallen friend, wearing a t-shirt under his jersey with the words "Until We Meet Again," while all the SPC Peacocks have George's #23 on their jerseys.
-----
On the other side of the court, Iona College has a nice standout guard of its own in Steve Burtt.
Coming into this season, Burtt had had a nice career. Despite averaging 9.2 points per game in 29 contests - fourth best among all MAAC newcomers - while setting a new Iona freshman three-pointers record (38), the 6-0 guard from Harlem did not receive a spot on the league's All-Rookie team. Those honors went to fellow teammates Ricky Soliver and Marvin McCullough.
Never lacking confidence, Burtt improved his scoring the next season to 13.5 points per game - an increase of over four points per game - while connecting on 49 three-pointers. His efforts earned him Third Team All-MAAC honors and honorable mention All-Metropolitan accolades.
As a junior, Burtt began to shine. His 19.3 scoring average - again, another increase, this time by almost six points per game - ranked him third in the conference, behind the national leader Clark and eventual conference player of the year Mendez. His 80 trifectas that season set a new single-season Iona mark, en route to also making him the Gaels' all-time best long-distance shooter, with 124 treys. His career-high 38 points against Marist on Feb. 21, 2005 gave him 1,247 points.
The number itself shouldn't stand out, but when you add it to the 2,534 points his father Steve scored during his Iona career, the two Steve Burtt's became the top scoring father-son duo in NCAA Division I history. That's right, his dad is Iona's all-time leading scorer. He also wore #15. Like Kent Dorfman, Steve Burtt the younger (not "Jr." though, he has a different middle name) is a legacy.
Fast forward to this year. Burtt has tallied 729 points in Iona's 29 contests, including 17 games of 25 points or more. He has connected on another 90 trifectas, giving him 257 for his career. The scoring total and average stand to be the best single-season marks in Iona basketball history. His 25.1 points per game ranks sixth in the country in scoring. His 1,983 total points ranks him second on Iona's all-time scoring list behind, yep, his pops.
In his nine-game career against St. Peter's, Burtt has averaged 22.4 points per game - his highest scoring average against any MAAC team. This season, Burtt put up 37 and 20 against SPC in two regular-season meeting.
So tonight, on the Deuce, it's mano-y-mano between the two senior guards from Harlem, both trying to cement their outstanding careers as student-athletes (gosh, it's nice to say that...especially since both guys graduated early and are pursuing their master's degrees).
Kee-Kee Clark and his 26.3 points per game and 3,033 career points going up against Stevie Burtt's 25.1 points per game and his knock-knock-knocking on 2000's door total of 1,983.
That's 5,016 points and 690 threes - combined.
Pretty nice stories, huh? But it gets better.
They were high school teammates. Yeah, same backcourt.
-----
To the next step. (and for the Gaels, may it be the next step-after-step, up a ladder, with a pair of scissors ready to cut down those nets)
One.
For more official information on the MAAC Tournament, log onto www.maacsports.com.
For the best MAAC Tourney coverage around, check out Sean Brennan from the New York Daily News.
And for the best MAAC Tourney blogging, go no further than Scott's Shots.
