Many BC fans hated Skinner's flex. I loved it. When Donahue arrived people welcomed the move to Motion but still had concerns that his reliance on the 3 would be exposed in the ACC. It still might be exposed but as yesterday's win over Maryland showed when that when you have a relentless, efficient and slightly unconventional offense, you can beat anyone on your schedule. We got up early with the 3. We bought minutes with our bench with the 3. We muted Maryland runs with the 3. And in the end we closed the game out with a big 3. It was fun to watch and I think will start to get fans excited. But outside of excitement, I love the pressure it put on Maryland. There is nothing more frustrating in sports to a player then when you think you are better than your opponent but they keep hanging around.
We made 13 3-point baskets yesterday. Maryland followed those thirteen makes with six pointless possessions. They made one foul shot. Four two point baskets and only answered a 3 with their own three twice.
It wasn't all perfect though. The press gave us a bit of trouble. After a hot start Rubin cooled off a bit and didn't do much defensively. We struggled with their bigs. And Josh Southern -- who has looked so good passing out of the post -- forced some bad shots.
The statistical gurus are loving it all though. Check out Kenpom's tweets during the game.
Now our style is not perfect or particularly balanced (see Yale) but our tough early schedule has proven that we can and will hang with anyone. It also showed that we are going to be fun to watch.
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11 comments:
Rubin has a pure shot when open, but can't create space by himself, as the second half showed once Maryland realized that he wasn't the towel boy and they'd actually have to cover him.
Southern isn't going to beat many bigs one-on-one, and anytime he puts the ball on the floor there's a 75% chance he's going to turn it over.
I thought Trapani looked awful the entire game, and was relieved when he made the big three and the steal at the end. He needs something to get his mojo back.
My favorite moment in the first half was seeing Donahue turn around to the bench to teach rather than scream at the players on the court who'd just made a bad defensive mistake. Love that.
Any conference road win is a good one. Looking at the early returns on some other ACC teams, I think middle of the pack is feasible. Raji is like a poor man's Battier--nothing flashy, but the guy everyone wants on their team.
Remember Jeremy Lin? Forgot to post the NY Times article...http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/sports/basketball/15nba.html...on him from September. We all griped that an Asian kid from Harvard was the best player on the floor when they beat us. Cool story of him making the Warriors.
27 days left for Rettig, et al to master Gary Tranquill's complex offense.
Went down to DC for the game from NY. It was great to see our team's energy throughout. Donahue seems to have the team believing and trusting the system.
Dislikes:
Still struggle against the press. If we don't solve this soon, we could get exposed all year.
Southern looks overmatched on both ends. Williams from UM was unstoppable and Josh could be the guy that lost the most in the coaching change. I prefer when we go small and at least spread the floor with five guys who fit the system and can handle the ball.
Southern is terrible. Every time he touches the ball in the high post, something bad happens.
I agree with edmonds09 but that implies starting Raji and I believe that will have serious repercussions on rebounding and interior defense.
Southern was getting to me last night. My wife who went to Maryland and isn't really a sports fan asked me who Southern was because I was yelling at the TV. She watched for a minute and said something like along the lines of "that guy isn't very good."
Southern has been pretty effective this season thus far. Yesterday was a poor game for him, but he has put up some solid numbers, including some good interior passing. I think we all know what you expect from Southern at this point, so its probably proper to adjust expectations that he can be effective in limited minutes.
mod10aeagle, you make it sound like we lost. I mean the expectations for this team were not high at all this season. They are not perfect, not elite, but they are playing hard and adapting pretty well to a new system. Rubin is a walk on, so I think what he has done so far is WELL beyond expectations.
I will agree with you on Trap. He has had some struggles this year finding his spot in the offense. Does not seem like he has found a comfort zone between playing down low and behind the arc. He also had some careless turnovers.
Maryland was suppose to be competitive for the top half of the ACC. I am not saying they still will, but I think its fair to say this team has had an excellent start to the season (minus Yale). While there will be bumps in the road, I am really excited about how the team is progressing
I don't get the *dislike comments here. There's really very little to complain about with BC basketball right now. The team is actually better than advertised, unlike the football team.
Southern has been more than serviceable and simply ran up against a beast in Williams. The guy reminded me of Craig Smith with his ability to finish and quickness catch to shoot.
Biko has been a revelation thus far and Reggie's great. If Raji's head issues are behind him then I'm very excited about this team.
For those who follow Bracketology, BC is in the 'field' as an 8-seed. While it's only December, any national positive pub for the team is fantastic considering the Yale game.
Also, with the 68-team field the bubble will be larger than ever. ATL, I like the idea of a S. Carolina win representing a power-conference sweep and think the talking heads will as well.
Botty -- Looking back at my post, I was a lot more negative than I meant to be or was actually feeling. I was very happy with the win, but emphasized the negatives, anyway. Point taken.
In other bball news, Shamari Spears got kicked off the Charlotte squad...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5919313
I agree with cwm2005...this team rightfully should be doing very little in or outside of the league. While Skinner's success is undeniable, the flex was often maddening and so was the personality of the team - too many turnovers, seemingly unergetic. I'd rather watch a more exciting upbeat game any day. Altough Jackson is carrying the load, Donahue seems to be getting more from less and has guys excited about playing.
To quote JC: "Southern is terrible. Every time he touches the ball in the high post, something bad happens."
Have you been paying attention lately JC? In his last 5 games:
FG/FGA 24/32 .750
FT/FTA 16/20 .800
REB/GM 6.2
A(TOT) 12
PPG 12.8
all this while playing 22.8 minutes per game. Josh, albeit slow and unable to defend on the perimeter, has played very well and his passing and team play has been a major part of the clubs improvement.
Time to re-evaluate JC?
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