Ali Kanaan : first all around center?

[daniab]

Ali Kanaan,23 years,proved during Jones Cup and the Asian Championship his talent.
Defensively,he is great and tough,he uses his body very well defending taller and bigger guys.He has good timing to block and steal the ball.Also he has good rebounding ability!

Offensively,he can shoot from the midrange really well as he couldnt do much on offense in the presence of Vroman,Freije,El khatib and the others.That doesnt mean he is perfect on offense,but that means he can improve.He still needs to develop his finish under the basket and play with more confidence!

The guy is very motivated,not selfish and not arrogant.He simply wants to play for the team and wants to show his best.

The thread is dedicated to discuss the latest news and updates abt Ali kanaan in his last season with Umass Lowell at the NCAA D2 and to discuss the mentioned above.

P.S: By "first" i didnt mean he is better than Seikaly but afterall Ali kanaan will be able to play in the league and for the NT many years unlike Seikaly back to years ago!

[rtk04]

A great player...he proved that he deserves to wear the national team's jersey, although he hadnt played that much...

[Mohammed_Malas]

I totally agree with you Dani...I was ipressed with Ali's abilities in hir 1st show up with the Lebanese National Team...He can improve more and more in future....A guy with his size is needed badly these days

[akitto]

ali kanaan is better than daniel fairs on pos 5 ... he has a strong budy and better on defense ... daniel we didn't see him playing(dragan raca was the coach)

[leb-basket]

bright future for this player i wish he can play with sagesse this year (if they have a team) he will help them alot

[kerdito]

bright future for this player i wish he can play with sagesse this year (if they have a team) he will help them alot

nop he can't he will continue his year back @ uni maybe next year who knows... Anyway Ali is superb great addition for the NT

[leb-basket]

nop he can't he will continue his year back @ uni maybe next year who knows... Anyway Ali is superb great addition for the NT

oo ya i forgot that thanks for reminding me

[karim]

ali kanaan is much better than freijeh defensively but freijeh is better offensively even though ali kanaan is a very good underrated offensive player who can shoot the ball and dunk it easily with his strong body and good jumping ability ...the starting 5 should,ve been

5-kanaan
4-vroman
3-freijeh
2-beshara/abdelnour/mazen
1-fahd

this would,ve been a very good lineup for the team

[khaledlebanon]

ali kanaan is much better than freijeh defensively but freijeh is better offensively even though ali kanaan is a very good underrated offensive player who can shoot the ball and dunk it easily with his strong body and good jumping ability ...the starting 5 should,ve been

5-kanaan
4-vroman
3-freijeh
2-beshara/abdelnour/mazen
1-fahd

this would,ve been a very good lineup for the team

hahaha... were is fadi... the best player in history of Lebanon, the player who was the always the rescuer for our NT... u judged him in the only tournament that he played bad in and prefered brian bshara on him???? i don't have anthing on brian but if fadi won't play on NT .. same will go for brian .. cuz the only reason will be their age .....i think roy smaha and ali kanan can play on position 5 ... unless we bring a taller center from aboard .... Vroman must play on position 4... freiji on 3 ... fadi/ahmad ibrahim ( 2 years from now ) on position 2... Ali mahmoud/ Rony fahed... i hope omar krayem turns to be a good player with moutahed he still 22 years .....

[kerdito]

hahaha... were is fadi... the best player in history of Lebanon, the player who was the always the rescuer for our NT... u judged him in the only tournament that he played bad in and prefered brian bshara on him???? i don't have anthing on brian but if fadi won't play on NT .. same will go for brian .. cuz the only reason will be their age .....i think roy smaha and ali kanan can play on position 5 ... unless we bring a taller center from aboard .... Vroman must play on position 4... freiji on 3 ... fadi/ahmad ibrahim ( 2 years from now ) on position 2... Ali mahmoud/ Rony fahed... i hope omar krayem turns to be a good player with moutahed he still 22 years .....

Fadi the best player in history of Lebanon?mmm what happened to Rony Seikaly?

[khaledlebanon]

Fadi the best player in history of Lebanon?mmm what happened to Rony Seikaly?

yeah, but what did rony seikaly do to the NT....
in 2001,2005 and 2007 Lebanon was in the final becuz fadi was playing .. he was always the top scorer.. vogel, rony... were important players but fadi was the player who did all the difference... he was the leader in Wc in 2002 and 2006 when won 2 matches against france and venzuela he was always the top scorer.. what did rony seikaly do.... fadi is the best player in the history of NT and in history of lebanese league...

[RAWAD]

Guys!! ARE U COMPARING FADI TO RONY SEIKALY!!!! IS THERE ANY PLAYER IN ASIA WHO CAN BE COMPARED TO RONY SEIKALY EXCPET YAO mING????

BY THE WAY THERE IS A THREAD FOR RONY!! HOw DID U END UP HERE??

[daniab]

Junior guard Max Kerman (Watertown, MA) tallied a team-best 14 points and grabbed three rebounds as the River Hawks took on the University of Connecticut Huskies in an exhibition game in Storrs, CT on Sunday. The River Hawks efforts were not enough, as they fell to the Division I powerhouse 88-50.

It was UConn senior guard Jerome Dyson's (Potomac, MD) 12-point run over a three-minute span in the first that killed UMass Lowell's momentum, bringing the close 18-17 game to 30-17 in UConn's favor. Dyson finished the game with 32 points and a game-best four steals.

The teams were evenly matched for the first 12 minutes of play and the River Hawks even had 10-9 advantage six minutes into the game. The Huskies were up by 42 at one point, before the River Hawks minimized the deficit to 38.

"I was very please how our team came out and played the first 12 minutes of the game," head coach Greg Herenda said. "We stuck to our gameplan and really executed on both ends of the floor."

Sophomore Kyle Caiola (Parma, OH) notched 12 points on the afternoon, including 10 in the second half. He also dished a team-best three assists and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Freshman Scotty Tavares-Taylor (Boston, MA) saw significant playing time and went 4-for-9 from the floor, tallying nine points on the afternoon. Senior forward Ali Kanaan (Montreal, Que.) had a team-best four rebounds and swatted the ball for four blocks, as well.

Kerman was a perfect 2-for-2 from behind the arc and 6-for-7 from the floor en route to his 14-point performance. He had three rebounds on the day and added an assist.

UConn's Kemba Walker (Bronx, NY) tallied 15 points on the afternoon while former Tilton teammate of Tavares-Taylor and cousin of River Hawk forward Kingsley Onyechi (Lowell, MA), freshman Alex Oriakhi (Lowell, MA) had a game-best 14 rebounds on the day.

"UConn was obviously awesome in transiton and there perimeter defense was smothering," said Herenda. "They are very long and extremely quick. There's a reason they are ranked 12th in America."

The River Hawks shot 75 percent from the charity stripe, going 11-for-14 in the game, while the Huskies shot 60 percent, going 21-for-35 on the afternoon.

"This experience is going to help us going into our regular season. The entire day, from our incredible turnout at our 6th Man reception, to the atmosphere in Gampel was awesome," Herenda said. "I am very proud of how my team reacted to it all."

UMass Lowell opens its regular season at home on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 3:00 p.m. in Costello Gym. The squad was selected No. 3 in the Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll and will begin conference play the following Wednesday at Saint Michael's College at 7:30 p.m.

http://www.goriverhawks.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/110809aaa.html

[daniab]

Ali kanaan's last 3 games:

vs Merrimack : 6pts,11rebs,1 ass,1 blk , 17 mins
vs Bentley : 12 pts,4rebs,1 blk, 2 TOs, 32 mins
vs Saint Anselm : 10pts,4rebs, 2 blks,2 steals, 21 mins

[bblover]

ali stats in his last game are 16 pts 8 rebs 5blks 4 steals in 25 mins gd job alloush