Alex Murphy & U-20 Finnish National Team

[awhom111]

Here is the boxscore for the game:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/enDivB/...7.teamID_.html

Alex went 6 for 8 from inside the arc as his 15 points led all scorers. Joonas Caven had 14 points and Villematti Kopio had 13 points. In the win, Mate Meszaros had 14 points and 8 rebounds, Bence Bodor, who came off the bench for the last-place team in Hungary's top division, had 11 points, and Laszlo Polyak, who also plays in the top division had 10 points.

With Finland's game in the earliest timeslot, the team had to wait for Switzerland and the Czech Republic to finish their game to determine whether Finland would continue among the top teams or drop down to face some bottom-feeders trying to fight back for 9th place. The game was close for the entire first half with Switzerland holding a small lead in the 3rd quarter, a result that would be bad news for Finland. The Czech Republic did just enough in the final quarter to seal a 65-58 win that suited both them and Finland. As a result, those two teams were moving on to fight for positioning in the top 8. Great Britain had already sealed a spot to play in their group in the second stage and Croatia joined them after beating Denmark in the last timeslot of the day. Alex and Finland will play those 2 teams on Wednesday and Thursday. Finland's loss to the Czechs and Croatia's defeat to the British are both counted towards the standings in this phase with the top 2 teams advancing to the semi-finals and earning spots in the A division next year. The bottom 2 teams will join the bottom 2 from the opposite group to battle for places 5 through 8. Finland's loss to the Czech Republic does give them a bit of an uphill climb and 2 wins might be needed.

[awhom111]

Alex and Finland got a nice result after using a 4th quarter comeback to edge past Great Britain 67-64. Alex led the team with 14 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes. Joonas Caven had 13 points and 6 rebounds and Aleksi Akpaso had 12 points. In the loss, rising Maine Junior Alasdair Fraser had 21 points and 9 rebounds and phenom Devon Van Oostrum, who nearly made the Olympic team and is the tournament's leading scorer, had 20 points and 9 rebounds. Here is the boxscore:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/cid_...7.teamID_.html

The group situation will become a little more clear after the Czech Republic plays Croatia.

[awhom111]

The Czechs ended up blasting Croatia 92-67 in a game that was not even that close (they led 56-17 at the half). This leaves them with 2 wins at the top of the group, Croatia with 2 losses at the bottom, and Finland and Great Britain with 1 win and 1 loss in the middle. Comparatively speaking, the other group is easy to figure out as the winners of Belgium-Israel and Poland-Bulgaria will advance and earn spots in next year's A championships and the losers will be left fighting it out for 5th place. Two scenarios are simple for the last game. If the Czech Republic beats Great Britain and Finland beats Croatia, Finland and the Czech Republic advance. If Great Britain beats the Czech Republic and Croatia beats Finland, Great Britain and the Czech Republic move on. If Great Britain and Finland win, it creates a 3 way tie at 2-1 with 2 teams moving on, but losses by both will let the Czechs advance and create a 3 way tie at 1-2 with 1 team advancing. Tomorrow, Great Britain and the Czech Republic face off in the early game, so Finland will know what it needs to do to advance before they play Croatia in the second time slot, which is about 9:00am Eastern. Croatia could also be eliminated by the time the game is played, so they might not have much to play for.

[awhom111]

Alex and Finland arrived at their game with Croatia knowing that a win would be enough as the Czech Republic beat Great Britain 91-75 earlier. Unfortunately, that result also meant that Croatia was back in business if they could win by a high enough margin and they came out firing to give themselves a big first quarter lead that they would not give up, winning 94-69 in the end. Alex struggled with his shot and ended up with 8 points and 7 rebounds in 28 minutes. Aleksi Akpaso had 16 points, Joonas Caven had 14 points and 8 rebounds, Alex Vaenerberg had 11 points, and Villematti Kopio had 10 points. Most of the Croatians in double figures have good experience in their top division as Stipe Krstanovic had 20 points and 7 rebounds, Henrik Sirko had 17 points and 7 rebounds, Roko Rogic had 14 points and 9 assists, Domagoj Vukovic had 14 points, and Bruno Markolin had 12 points. Here is the boxscore:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/enDivB/...7.teamID_.html

Those results in addition to the ones in the other group mean that the four teams in the semifinals and moving up to Division A next season are the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Israel. Unfortunately for Alex, if he plans on joining with the Finland U20s again next season, they will be in Division B again, this time with even weaker competition as the top division is expanding next year. It would have been a great experience to play a large number of games against top-quality opposition.

Now Finland will face Poland, which includes Gonzaga-bound and brief Duke target Przemyslaw Karnowski, as they try to fight for the consolation prize of 5th place. They play in the early slot on Saturday with one final game early Sunday.

[awhom111]

Alex found his long-range shot today, but his team fell 83-70 to Poland and will be trying for 7th place tomorrow. He ended up leading the team with 30 points and 7 rebounds in 36 minutes and Aleksi Akpaso added 13 points. In the win, Liberty rising sophomore Tomasz Gielo had 17 points and brief Duke target and Gonzaga-bound freshman Przemyslaw Karnowski had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Here is the boxscore:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/enDivB/...7.teamID_.html

Finland will now face Belgium, who lost a 101-100 overtime thriller to Great Britain.

[subzero02]

30 points and 7 rebounds is nice... 2 of 6 free throws and "0" assists is not

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

^^^^ Earlier in the thread there was at least one complaint he was scoring but not rebounding. Now he is scoring and rebounding but we continue to pick away at other parts of his game. To be fair, cumulative 11/28 for 39% FT is pretty bad. But I'm not sure he is being asked to be a ball distributor. So not sure why it is concerning if we had 30 pt 7 reb 0 asst -- they seem to be relying on him to score even when other teams over-play him on defense. I'm sure it serves him well. When he has more consistent strong talent around him, it's going to open some things up for him.

FYI, his cumulative tourney stats...

http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/enDivB/...rID_99232.html

[Bob Green]

^^^^ Earlier in the thread there was at least one complaint he was scoring but not rebounding. Now he is scoring and rebounding but we continue to pick away at other parts of his game.

You make a valid point. I believe the takeaway from this summer is the invaluable experience Alex Murphy is gaining playing organized basketball against legitimate competition. He is playing in games where winning is important unlike summer pick-up or the Summer League games at NCCU. His individual performance in the various categories plays a distant second to the experience and confidence Alex is gaining and nitpicking his statistics is unproductive.

[fgb]

also there is no way of tracking "missed" assists. he could have made the perfect pass a half dozen times, only to have the recipient miss the shot.

[awhom111]

Alex and Finland finished up their tournament after losing 84-70 to Belgium to settle for 8th place. Alex did everything he could again with 29 points and 8 rebounds. Osku Heinonen had 13 points and 6 rebounds and Joonas Caven had 12 points. Belgian second tier player Obasohan Ojomoh had 15 points and 6 rebounds while a bunch of players who get minimal playing time in the top division also chipped in as Arne Steinbach had 22 points and 6 rebounds, Elias Lasisi had 16 points, Khalid Boukichou had 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Loic Schwartz had 10 points and 16 rebounds. Here is the boxscore:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/cid_...7.teamID_.html

Here are Alex's stats for the entire tournament:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/cid_...rID_99232.html
These will be put in context once all of the games are finished later today.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Here are Alex's stats for the entire tournament:
http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/en/cid_...rID_99232.html
These will be put in context once all of the games are finished later today.

Glad to see Alex putting up some nice stats. However - and I'm sure this is beyond the realm of nitpicking over a lack of assists from a 6'8 forward - 11 for 32 from the free throw line is a bit worrisome. Those numbers are Plumlee-esque!

Love that he's getting some good competitive play in over the summer. Hope he's everything we are expecting come November.

[subzero02]

^^^^ Earlier in the thread there was at least one complaint he was scoring but not rebounding. Now he is scoring and rebounding but we continue to pick away at other parts of his game. To be fair, cumulative 11/28 for 39% FT is pretty bad. But I'm not sure he is being asked to be a ball distributor. So not sure why it is concerning if we had 30 pt 7 reb 0 asst -- they seem to be relying on him to score even when other teams over-play him on defense. I'm sure it serves him well. When he has more consistent strong talent around him, it's going to open some things up for him.

FYI, his cumulative tourney stats...

http://u20men.fibaeurope.com/enDivB/...rID_99232.html

4 of 14 from the free throw line and a 1:4 assist to turnover ratio over his final four games. Those are legitimate trends/areas of concern, with free throws being the more problematic of the two.

[Kedsy]

4 of 14 from the free throw line and a 1:4 assist to turnover ratio over his final four games. Those are legitimate trends/areas of concern, with free throws being the more problematic of the two.

Sorry, it's hard for me to imagine any game statistics accumulated in July could be considered a "legitimate trend" and/or "area of concern" for a college basketball player.

[subzero02]

Don't apologize, I just think you're wrong... Those free throw numbers are atrocious and any basketball player on any level should be concerned by them. Hopefully it's a trend that ends this summer.

[dcar1985]

Sorry, it's hard for me to imagine any game statistics accumulated in July could be considered a "legitimate trend" and/or "area of concern" for a college basketball player.

He could shoot those numbers in his driveway at home and it would be an issue...

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Don't apologize, I just think you're wrong... Those free throw numbers are atrocious and any basketball player on any level should be concerned by them. Hopefully it's a trend that ends this summer.

His FT% is pretty bad. Certainly worth trying to understand... is he uncomfortable in some way? is the ball different? is he tired from having to carry the offensive load? Could be many things. Is it possible he is just an awful FT shooter? I guess, but it doesn't seem to have ever come up. It's just 7 games. And I think his first 7 competitive games (timed, refereed, etc.) in quite a while. By accounts, he's a good shooter. So, it just seems like a stretch to read very much into what he has done (either positive or negative) over the course of these 7 games. For example, he averaged 17.4 ppg over the 7 games including 30 and 29 in his last two games. But I doubt anyone here is expecting that from him in the fall. So it's probably similarly over-stated to say that his FT% "trend" should be terribly worrisome and requires fixing. Also, picking off 4 games and saying he has an assist problem is nothing more than an exercise in statistical manipulation. Look at all 7 games and his A-T ratio is 1:1.2. We could pick any combination of stats to try to tell a story. Again, I just think "not much to see here" given all the factors. Super cool that he is gaining this experience and hopefully regaining his comfort in real game situations. Can't wait to see him playing in the fall with teammates with whom he is likely much more comfortable and in a system he has now spent a full year getting to know.

[COYS]

Also, picking off 4 games and saying he has an assist problem is nothing more than an exercise in statistical manipulation. Look at all 7 games and his A-T ratio is 1:1.2. We could pick any combination of stats to try to tell a story. Again, I just think "not much to see here" given all the factors. Super cool that he is gaining this experience and hopefully regaining his comfort in real game situations. Can't wait to see him playing in the fall with teammates with whom he is likely much more comfortable and in a system he has now spent a full year getting to know.

These are all good points. I would also add that assists tend to be one of the most subjective stats in basketball. An A-T radio of 1:1.2 over a small set of games could be significantly altered if two or three passes where Alex's teammate maybe hesitated a bit, shot-faked, or something similar caused the scorekeeper to determine it wasn't an assist when perhaps another scorekeeper would have awarded an assist. FWIW, he averaged 4.0 assists per game in high school, which is obviously a different level of competition but also is a pretty large amount considering that he is a forward and there tend to be fewer possessions in high school. I DO think the FT shooting is something to keep an eye on, but it is also insignificant at this point.

[davekay1971]

Ahhh, people fretting about weaknesses of a player we've never seen play in a Duke uniform based on stats from games they can't watch. Almost feels like basketball season is right around the corner! My Monday just got a little brighter...

[fgb]

anybody have his high school stats? be interesting to see what his ft% was then.

[Bluedog]

Ahhh, people fretting about weaknesses of a player we've never seen play in a Duke uniform based on stats from games they can't watch. Almost feels like basketball season is right around the corner! My Monday just got a little brighter...

Hey, Alex wore a Duke uniform in televised games in China and Dubai. And I personally think he looked really good in those games. But, I agree with the main premise of your post. I've been scouring the web trying to find Alex's FT% in high school, but have not been able to find it...All I got is that he was the leading scorer at 21 ppg in the ISL division. St. Mark's actually had 3 of the top 8 scorers.