Saturday, January 23, 2010

Bad bounce in Blacksburg

That was a tough loss because BC was the better team for much of the game. A few bad whistles and a few bad decisions down the stretch decided the game. I don't think this team has turned everything around, but I think today was another indicator that they can compete. They need to finish strong and try to get to .500 in the league. Here are my thoughts on the game.


Likes

-- Dallas Elmore's Defense.
Once he got in the game, he really shut down VT's best player in Delaney. He also was a positive force on offense. I think he has now earned regular minutes.
-- The ball going through Reggie Jackson.
Yes, there were a few bad possessions that ended in shot clock violations and yes he lost the dribble late, but Jackson played well and seems to be getting more comfortable with the game on his shoulders.
-- Corey Raji hitting open looks.
If the other team is going to give Raji those midrange jumpers, he needs to nail them and he did.


Dislikes

-- Another slow start.
This team had to dig out of a hole again. They need to play better defense right from the start.
-- Sanders still not getting it.
He had three turnovers (and could have been credited with two others). He forced shots. He still is not a positive force. He needs to play with his back to the basket and dominate smaller players. Instead he wants to drive. I hope he turns it around soon.
-- Offense against the 2-3 zone. The guys didn't move the ball well or penetrate earlier enough into the possessions.


Fortunately the next three games are at home. I don't know which version of the team will show up, but things are looking up.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Can we fire Skinner yet? I've seen mannequins inspire young athletes more aptly than that hack.

Pearl Washington said...

Dude

Reggie 5 turnovers. Caused 2 24 sec violations with overdribbling. Caused rushed shots on 2 others by overdribbling. That is 9 lost opportunities

That is terrible. He can score and that is it.

Biko had 5 turnovers. Between the 2 "point guards" 14 times we didn't shoot and we only lost by 1.

@timstwrt said...

Inspire young athletes? What does that mean? Someone's been watching too much Hoosiers.

The careers of Troy Bell, Craig Smith, Jared Dudley, Tyrese Rice, etc. would seem to indicate that the guy's got some sort of idea about how to turn potential into talent.

@timstwrt said...

Also, I know no one wants to complain about the refs, but the inbounds play with 21 seconds left was absurd. The Tech defender on Trapani crossed the baseline, which should have been a technical, and Biko was "tied up" by a guy standing with both feet out of bounds. The officials in this league are consistently atrocious.

Harry Collins said...

Chalk this L up to Backup Paris, 5 more turnovers yesterday to make it a whopping 19 in the past 5 ACC games. The guy just completely sucks. SUCKS. He should be getting 10-12 minutes a game in a reserve role, not 25-30 as a starter. You really don't have to go much farther than that to figure out what's gone south this year for BC. He is, by far, the biggest problem with BC right now. Backup replaces Rice, and Backup blows. Some of those turnovers yesterday were hideous, too, like the caught in the air flub at the top of the key that led to a dunk the other way. Awful. And the inbounds play at the end of the game? Not his fault he was triple-teamed, but just about every high school point guards in the country would have been smart enough to call a timeout (with 4 timeouts in his back pocket). I mean, c'mon, that's pathetic. Newsflash to Backup: PGs are supposed to be the brains on the floor.

Couple of silver linings here. Jackson had turnovers and managed the shot clock poorly, but he showed he absolutely needs to see 2-1 floortime over Backup. It's no coincidence that BC went on all their runs when Jackson was at the point and Backup on the pine. Also, Elmore is showing more and more that he deserves some of lazy oaf Sanders' minutes. Sanders still just does not play hard, especially on defense, and his boneheaded dribbling into double teams kill the team. Sit him down. More Jackson and Elmore, with less Backup and Sanders = competetitive BC hoops. End of story.

Andrew said...

TBS- great point.

Here are some highlights on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiy-7Mkap1s

Jump to about 2:40

Allen may have gotten the jump ball before stepping out of bounds but you can't tell for sure since there's no whistle. He very clearly stepped over the line on the inbounds play though and its a pretty shocking no call. Good catch.

eagleboston said...

Who cares about our lousy basketball team? Herzy returned to practice! It's a Bean-March Miracle!

matthew2 said...

I dont understand the point of all the "who cares about the basketball team" crap.

Obviously the people posting do. Your comment just gets in the way. Just like mine is doing right now.

Lenny Sienko said...

The more serious question on the in bounds play which resulted in the turnover is "Why Didn't Coach Skinner Call a Time Out and Diagram an Inbounds Play?"

This is the epitome of bad game coaching. We had four (4) to's left. All he had to do was call one and set up a play in which the player receiving the pass does not get trapped. Maybe even throw it over the top for once or bring someone else back to the ball.

This is fundamental stuff here. Why didn't the player call time out? Is there some clause in Skinner's contract that says he gets paid at the end of the year for each time out he has left?

I'm sorry; but after thirteen (13) years of the same mistakes, I just can't take it any more.

I think we should have a coaching change. I want to see a coach involved in the game, aware of what is going on, and COACHING from the sidelines. This is not the pros, where no one listens to the coach and everybody freelances.

Thank you to Coach Skinner for the wonderful years. Enjoy your retirement. Please feel free to come back for pick up games at any time.

Ry said...

there was an inbounds play. look at the replay. it was an actual play that is different from the "get trapped in the corner" nonsense we usually see. the pass should have gone to jackson who was open at the FT line, not to paris. the outcome of the play was a result of trapani making a bad pass and not due to a bad play call, a much as that might set back the anti-skinner agenda.

neenan said...

Eagleboston -- My apologies. I acted like a moonbat. Really, I guess, what I am mad at is that my hope for social fairness has died, in of all places, the vote-to be of the goof ball occupying Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

matthew2 said...

You must really get a kick out of yourself. I, myself, feel like a celebrity.

neenan said...

Are we still mad at ourselves?

CT said...

here's a vote for laying off the "social fairness" propaganda. i kinda like to think places like this are distractions from all of that. suit yourself.

the team has a pulse. that's good. a pulse that will get conte a postseason game in the national invitation tournament, barring an acc tourney miracle.

effort...that's all. from here on out.

neenan said...

i guess if you have already raked in your piece of the pie, then you can just count your blessings and not worry about fairness to others -- let them eat cake.

Lenny Sienko said...

No Anti-Skinner agenda here; but, after 13 years of the same mistakes, over and over again, I give up. This game broke the camel's back.

There had to be a time out at that point, if only to settle them down and to remind of what had to be done.

If you are saying Trapani shouldn't have passed the ball in as he did, you are correct. My question is why was that decision left to the player?

The coach, in the huddle during the time out, says to the player in bounding the ball: "Your first option is "A", if he's covered or if they are trapping, get it to "B" on the foul line. If you can't do that, call a time out. We have three left.".

"If you receive the ball and are trapped, call time out!"

In such situations, everybody needs to be reminded of their roles and their options. To do so is the essence of coaching during the game.

No coach can perform for the players; but he can tell them what to do and have them prepared to do it.

@timstwrt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Opinionater said...

Bad bounces? Bad calls? Those are just lame excuses to try and avoid the obvious...that BC has mediocre-to-poor talent, mediocre-to-poor coaching, and are playing in a league with opponent coaches, ready, willing, and able to expose BC's weaknesses.

The VaTech game...can I have a buck for everytime the announcer had to state the obvious, "...that was terrible transitional defense"! I would take issue in that statement, because it makes the erroneous assumption that at one time we did have the ability and interest to make the effort to get back on defense.

Time outs you say? I am beyond frustrated and have continually expressed my amazement (no longer) that Coach Skinner absolutely refuses to call ANY timely TO's to try and reverse the changing negative momentum of a game! Watching other major program successful coaches, immediately utilizing TO's as momentum changers, and teaching moments, just exacerbates this frustration.
Absolutely, and unequivocally, a TO was MANDATORY by Trapani or the bench, as soon as 3+ seconds of the inbound count had passed with Trapani still clutching the ball and moving along the baseline without having yet made the inbound pass. It is not rocket science! We had 4 freakin' TO's left! And, yes, there has been a slight improvement--he didn't inbound in either of the baseline corners, instead he chose to give it to him right at the baseline (an extra defender) and 3 other opponents just waiting to trap.

What was Skinner/Trapani waiting for? And did you notice, during the final 5 second inbound "play" fiasco---that Trapani brought his man right into Jackson's path, when I assumed (perhaps I shouldn't have) that it was a "clearout" call for Jackson? Another poor decision by Trapani?

Bring on Clemson!

mod10aeagle said...

I just watched the youtube clip of that inbounds "play" five times. It was no play. In fact, it was classic Skinner. He sent three players running towards the baseline, with Jackson and Paris actually running to the same spot, thus guaranteeing an immediate and easy trap. At no time was any BC player open at the freethrow line. I wish college hoop had a Bill James-like stat geek who could tell us how many games BC has lost due to the lack of any sort of inbounds play. The tragedy is that this was BC's best defensive effort and probably the best Flex execution I've seen in a long time. They had every right to win the game, if only they knew how to inbound the ball. Seriously, did anyone believe that BC was not going to turn the ball over on that play before it even started?

Rachel Campbell said...

Dear Hairy Harry,

Nice to know you have coined a name for Biko...as backup.

almost as clever as the one i coined for you.

As they say...let the players play and the coaches coach.