Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Finally the team plays like it should in home Finale

UVA is in free fall, but they are a decent team and could/should have given us a game. Instead the guys controlled from the start and never let Virginia back in. If only we had played like this throughout the season (I think this will be a recurring theme of the next few weeks). Here are my thoughts. Leave yours below.

Likes
-- Trapani's efficiency. Joe put on a good show tonight. His defense was solid and he turned his rebounds into points.
-- Ravenel's athleticism. Tonight he showed why his upside is so enticing. Evan moves well for a big man and has good hands.
-- Moving the ball against a strong D. UVA has struggled but still remain a good defensive team. Yet BC didn't look lost. Instead we moved the ball well and ran the flex as we should.


Dislikes

-- Roche's stat line.
Perhaps the pressure got to him a little, but you would hope that Roche would close his career well. Instead he was off.
-- Jackson not shooting more. I know he is developing as a true point. I know the offense ran pretty well. Yet, we need Jackson to shoot more than three times.

16 comments:

ObserverCollege said...

I saw in Mr. Blaudschun's article that BC plays NC State in Raleigh, flies home for a DAY, and then turns around and flies back to Greensboro for the tournament.

What kind of "basketball program" flies back to Boston for a DAY just so the kids can attend class?

Uh, how is that supposed to show the commitment to improvement that the NIT wants to see? Where is the focus on winning? I understand all this publicity about "academics", but, you know, nobody gives you 2nd-round NIT money because your kids attended Intro to Public Speaking and Sociology 101.

Do you seriously think John Calipari would fly back to Lexington, and then head back to Greensboro one day later? Would Kelvin Sampson do that? Would Tim Floyd waste O.J. Mayo's time that way? How about Bob Huggins?

Uh, that would be a "no" times four. Yet somehow Boston College thinks this makes sense. Rather than put them up in the O.Henry hotel, the classiest joint in Greensboro, they are forced to sleep in a plane one night and in a DORM the next. And you wonder why Massachusetts high school recruits laugh at Boston College? Coaches at places like Lynn English aren't putting their JOBS on the line so they can see their kids flying back and forth from North Carolina simply to attend class. But, you know, that's OK, Boston College. You go off and focus on your "academics". Just understand how the kids suffer as a result.

Harry Collins said...

How do I get back the minute I just burned reading that? Who cares about the travel schedule?

BC showed up last night, and UVA shot the ball horribly. I'm not going to read any more into it than that. Except I agree with Bill, Evanel is really, really starting to intrigue me, he could be the silver lining in this lost season.

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

Observer strikes again.

Let's play well against NC State, win a game in the ACC and present ourselves well in the NIT. Hopefully all the guys will workout this spring and summer with a chip on their shoulder, ready to prove that the second half of the season is the true indication of their ability.

Skinner deserves some credit for keeping this ship together. The way things were going, this looked like a completely lost season, but the guys have kept together, continue to hustle and improve. Skinner deserves some credit for that. Of course, you could blame him and the staff for the start of this year and for keeping Evan and Dallas under wraps for too long, but from the way these guys looked at times this year, I figured the team would tank the second half, leaving us with little hope for next year. I'm feeling a lot better now.

As Herm would say, We can build on this!!

Erik said...

The Lynn English part made me laugh.

William said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Claver2010 said...

I guess people spoke to Al's product through their attendance. There is no way in hell there were 3,968 (a little less than 50%) people that BC reported. Behind the baskets extended up there were maybe 20 people on either side and a poster on EO who posted from the game said there were maybe 50 people in either sides of upper deck.

I know BC claims to count fannies in the seats but no way was that almost 4,000.

Harry Collins said...

Yeah those attendance figures are definitely off, I counted 3,888 the first time at the 1st TV timeout, and 3,914 about midway through the second half. Even assuming some people were at the concessions stands or in the bathrooms, there is no way there were 3,968. No way.

Pearl Washington said...

Yeah Florida doesn't sell out the O-Dome with 35,000 undergrads, 2 national championships, run n gun style, 3 pointers everywhere, McDonald's All Americans. So I guess that speaks to Billy D's product, recruiting, etc. Gimme me a break.

People will laugh but the difference between last years record in the ACC (9-7) and this one (7-9 hopefully) is last year Rak made 2 last second shots vs VT and GT or they were 7-9 in the conference.

This year they will end up 7-9 but Reggie turned the ball over in the last minutes up 1 vs VTech and 3 times in the last minute vs FSU at home.

Margin is slim. Are they as good as last year. No. But Al sure didn't ask Southern to regress, Biko to regress and Rak to be hurt/uninterested.

This year has been sloppy to the max but it is what is. I hate the BC message boards does anyone if Heslip will be ready next year?

CMondo1 said...

Can anyone else confirm that BC is locked in to the 8/9 for the first round in Greensboro?

That means either UVA or UNC in the first round and probably Duke in the second??

There's no way this team wins four in four days. But, i'd take a win over Duke and a semifinal loss, and go to to the NIT without complaint.

neenan said...

Unmasked:

ObserverCollege = Harry Collins

WI_Eagle said...

There are a lot of posts about attendance on this blog, so for what its worth, below are attendance figures since joining the ACC....first column is conference (8 home games/year) and second column is total (16-19 home games/year). Second last row is average of the 5 seasons and last row is % of the 8,606 capacity.

05-06 8,539 7,213
06-07 8,361 6,916
07-08 6,888 5,778
08-09 7,641 5,548
09-10 6,679 5,317
Avg. 7,622 6,154
% capacity 88.6% 71.5%

John said...

Down goes Frazier - Down goes Frazier!

The trend is DOWN - 2,000 fans for home conference games in 2009/2010.

Does that include the 2,000 fans who showed up last night?

Pearl Washington said...

Nice math. Yeah down 2000 fans. 7641-6888= 753 fans.

Plus there has been a little bit of an economic issue at the end of 2008/all of 2009/2010. Plus 2 of the 3 teams were out of the NCAA mix by the end of January.

The place has never sold out.

Boom goes the dynamite

Harry Collins said...

There was an Irish looking guy, late 20s, who used to sit in the 2nd row of the PP section at Conte during the Big East years. I have not seen him since the move to the ACC. I'm sure there are others, but he is definitely a casualty of the conference change.

Nebby A said...

Heslip is going to be an animal...haven't had a pure shooter like him at the heights since TB or Dana Barros.

John said...

Hey Joey - 8,539 minus 6,679 = 1,860. That is a significant downward trend whether you want to recognize it or not. I rounded it up to 2,000 because the 6,679 is probably inflated. How many fans were there Wednesday night? Was that pathetic figure added into the average?

The 8,539 is from 05/06; the 6,679 is from 09/10 - You need to compare apples and apples.

Nice try, Joey - keep denying which way this program is going.