November 2010 - A Month In Review Part One

(Memphis Guards OJ Mayo & Mike Conley Jr. celebrate win over the Lakers - 11.30.2010)

The Transfers -The news of two Buckeye transfers were officially announced in late October/early November. International basketball great Scoonie Penn joined Italian Lega Due (Italy's 2nd division) club Prima Veroli in Late October. Veroli is Penn's fifth different team in the country of Italy, and approximately his 12th different professional club.

Penn made his 2010/2011 season debut on November 14th (scoring 15 points with 5 rebounds) Veroli lost four of their first six contests before Scoonie's arrival, but they have since battled their way into a group of middle of the pack teams in the Lega Due (current record of 5-7)



Latin America - Sixth year pro Tony Stockman began the 2010/2011 season in Argentina. He briefly played for clubs Penarol & Libertad before making the late fall move to Assis Basket of Sao Paulo, Brazil in early November. Stockman (pictured left - Brazil Nov. 2010) was no stranger to the Brazilian NBB. He is well known for his stint with Vivo/Franca (based in the same city) in the 2009/2010 season.

The second stage of the season starts on January 7. Assis Basket is definitely hoping for better results after a disappointing first stretch(7 games) which did not include a victory. Tony Stockman scored 21 points in the December 12 game vs BRB Brasilia.



Ivan Harris is another former Buckeye to try his hand against competition in Argentina this year. He got his legs moving in a pro game again with club Gimnasia in mid November.

Harris played in about 3 games in Argentina as the temporary replacement for an injured player. Once the stint was over, Ivan then joined the top club in Uruguay, Bigua (became official on Nov. 24). But that run would be a short one as well because the team was evidently not happy with the fit, and parted ways with Ivan shortly before December (the linked article makes it sound like Ivan was very poor of the course of several games. But he only played 2 games with Bigua, scored 9 & 7 points each, they must think they're the Lakers or something lol). We look forward to hearing about Ivan's next signing, hopefully it is not in Argentina or Uruguay lol .

Player of the Month - Point Guard Mike Conley Jr. continued his torrid pace with another fantastic month of basketball. Conley (pictured left vs the Heat: 11.20.2010) opened November with five straight games of scoring 14 points or more. The lefty out of Indianapolis, Indiana averaged 15 points & 6 assists in the month, and totaled 31 steals in 15 games.

If folks were not aware of Mike's superb play in October, they definitely knew what was up by the end of November 2010.

Honorable Mention - Othello Hunter (averaged 18 points in just 3 November games)

(Video - Mike Conley Jr. at PHX on November 5, 2010. This is just a sample of one Mike's great November games)



Victory of the Month - 11.30.2010 - Memphis 98 L.A Lakers 96

The Player of the November ties into the victory of November because Mike Conley Jr. would close out his great month of play with an awesome performance vs the Los Angeles Lakers on the 30th. The former Buckeye led Memphis with 28 points in a thrilling win over the defending world champions.

Mike Conley Jr. is without a doubt the top former Buckeye in the professional ranks right now. He is playing the most minutes & doing the most work against the strongest competition. Last year you could have argued that Mike was the top Buckeye by default due to the absences of Redd & Oden..but if both were healthy Conley would still be #1 right now.



Part Two coming up!