Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Hamming the Hokies

This hospital doesn't have ESPN U, so I was left with Ted and Bill on the Internet feed for the first half. I watched the second half at home on the U. Regardless of the format, the results were very good. I won't get fooled again on this season's team, but I think they may finally play up to their potential. Here are my thoughts. Feel free to share your own in the comments.


Likes

-- Jackson distributing.
He looked like a point guard tonight. He got the offense started earlier and was willing to pass to the wings.
-- Hitting the boards hard. The rebounding limited VT's chance to make any sort of comeback. We should have been (and can still be) a very good rebounding team.
-- Extending the lead in the second half.
Instead of letting them back in, we made good decisions and took advantage of easy transition baskets.


Dislikes

-- Way too many turnovers.
There was still plenty of sloppy play. If VT hadn't missed so many shots, this game could have gotten away from us.
-- Raji's rebounding. He had a solid game but he didn't seem to get near many rebounds or lose balls.

14 comments:

Erik said...

Didn't see the game, but "Reggie Sanders" dropped 15, according to the globe. I didn't know he still had collegiate eligibility.

WI_Eagle said...

If it wasn't for two games that the team gave away (@VTech and home vs. FSU), both of which they had a lead or tie, with the ball, in the final minute, we would be 7-6 in conference with two very winnable games left (home vs. UVA and @NC State) and at least being talked about on the bubble. Very frustrating.

morrina said...

The Globe is a joke -- but we knew that already.

Dislikes: 1) Still can't inbound the ball, on the press or under our own basket. Madenning! 2) Rakim had 6 t.o. i think, and more than a few times the ball just inexplicable slipped out of his hands for no reason at all. Bizarre.

Not sure if this is a like or dislike, but we did not take time off the clock at the end of the game when we had a big lead. It can be viewed negatively as poor clock management or positively as continuing to be aggressive. With under 5 minutes, we are lucky that VT missed a lot of shots because we were taking bad shots with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.

Harry Collins said...

Gonna have to register my toldjaso (probably will have to get in line with many others). Backup Paris' minutes have been the story with this team all season, with Sanders' lazy effort the undercard. Paris is the classic backup pointguard - he stands around, he holds the ball, the clock winds down, and the team forces shots as a result. The ball does not move when he is running the show because he does not attack the basket, he does not penetrate. They go on stretches of 6-8 game minutes without a field goal. That "don't screw up while we spell the starter" is fine for a backup, but you CANNOT have that 20-25 minutes a game, which is the floor time he was seeing earlier this year. I wish this eiphany came earlier to Skinner (it came to me against Dartmouth), as BC would probably have 3-4 more wins at least in my view.

neenan said...

Harry --

Much as I'd like to agree with you, I don't (big surprise). Yes, you get the conclusion right (less Biko is better), but your reasoning misses the mark (again). Biko is a slasher and does have a surprisingly good post game. It is the flex that holds him back. I guess we are back to the keep-him-or-let-him-go debate about Skinner. Another time for that debate.

Opinionater said...

Positives: rebounding, rebounding and rebounding! An outstanding effort on the boards (helped by VaTech missing, missing, missing).

Negatives: Jackson dribbling, dribbling, dribbling--to the point in the second half, of near exhaustion. And he demonstrated a frustrating lack of "court sense" by backing himself deep into the corners (during the full court press) and at the half court touch line inviting the jump-traps.

Inbound play execution (baseline inbounds especially---2 stolen)--and press break (a relapse into our old bad habits).

Definitely progress by the Eagles...let's keep it up.

P.S. A disgraceful lack of student fan support---empty seats galore...must all have been in the library?

Harry Collins said...

Wrong again CT, stick to dreaming about the "not-gonna-get-it" date with the prom queen, and leave the deep thinking to me. The only time Backup ever drives to the goal is when he is in the open court on fast break (and that is pretty infrequent). He does not penetrate in set offence (flex or otherwise) at all. Watch him. He is a terrible starting point guard, which kills you in the ACC, NC State and UNV are suffering the same affliction.

Adam M. said...

Opinionator: Even less people are going to games now probably because of how poorly the team has performed this year. Not to mention, the whole student ticket process is a fiasco (i.e. season tickets did not sell out this year because they're even more expensive than they were last year, yet they tell students that they aren't selling individual game tickets, yet the sections aren't full). Also, this team isn't very likable or doesn't really have anyone to get people excited for basketball. You know that the pep band was asked to stop playing the Alma Mater after basketball games because the team doesn't stick around for it? Both hockey and football wait until the Alma Mater is finished before they head to the locker rooms. If you show appreciation to your fans, they'll appreciate you back.
All that said, I still go to every basketball game, because I'm a diehard...but BC doesn't have enough diehard fans, so when a team is playing on a weekday and isn't performing and/or playing a high caliber opponent, people aren't going to blow off a paper or studying for a mid-term to attend a somewhat meaningless game. The student section was just as empty for the hockey game the night before. Probably didn't help that they were playing perennial bottom feeder Merrimack.

rumple said...

harry -- would CT be dreaming about the not-gonna-get-her prom queen before or after he popped zits in the mirror.

(opinionater -- shield thy self from such talk)

matthew2 said...

and now you're all bringing zero to the table as far as sports discussion. Cyber bullies, look out!

Harry Collins said...

I think CT could do both at the same time, he strikes me as a pretty good multi-tasker for a 16 year old. He just has trouble seeing with all that puss leaking into his eyes.

rumple said...

matthew2 --

Wah!

Wah! Wah! OMG! OMG!!

Is faux alertness about "cyberbullying" something you learned this week in junior high school?

Now run a long and go tell the teacher - you wuss!

rumple said...

matthew -- i see erik used the words "brain fart" on a sports blog...isn't that so, so gross! yukky!!

CT said...

Somebody else is using the screenname again, HC. Fret not, my furry, bespectacled friend. That's not me.

You and Gorgias should get a room.