Likes
-- The Stars. Big nights from Trapani and Jackson. Both were efficient on offense and also worked hard on D.
-- The first and second half comebacks. The team was down early in the first half and took the lead. They were down big in the second half and cut the lead to 5. We obviously didn't win, but I appreciate they that they kept fighting.
Dislikes
-- Interior D. I don't know why it takes so long for teams to work inside. Once they do, we have no answer. Trapani can't do it all. Southern isn't a very good defender and Dunn is barely seeing the court. If other teams bigs keep killing us, I think we should just go with a 2-3 zone fulltime. It won't change the results inside, but it might help us with the other scorers.
-- Paris going cold. We cannot win when he only makes one basket.
-- Shot selection. I have no problem with the 3s. I do have a problem with the guys becoming tentative. We have started passing up decent looks from 3 to get one more pass in. I think Donahue needs to tweak things so that we can keep shooting with abandon.
Posts
16 comments:
Well, I didn't expect that to be the first response post to the Clemson game.
BCMike - Obviously the first post is a parable about the game. Duh
I have no idea where to go with the above posts...so instead I'll share a few thoughts on the game.
(1) I fear that this team peaked in December with our win over Maryland and has been very uneven and inconsistent during that time. Its trajectory, of course, matches that of its star player --- who also seems to have peaked in December and who has shown only flashes (and inefficient flashes, at that) since then.
(2) Other teams are exploiting mismatches much better than we are. Clemson could not guard Jackson when he drove to the lane, particularly off an on-the-ball pick. Their help defense was slow, and he had the speed to beat it most of the time --- and the body control to avoid the charge when he didn't. Our most productive possessions on offense came with him driving to the basket. Yet we went possessions without looking for him. That's inexcusable. Meanwhile: Clemson identified the Grant mismatch inside, and rode that to a 22-5 (or something like that) run to start the second half. That meant that BC needed to play perfect ball from thereon in to win the game; they obviously did not.
(3) Donahue certainly uses his timeouts better than Skinner did, but he still is not effective in making adjustments to stop runs. Duke, UNC, Florida State, and Clemson (and Wisconsin, for that matter) all went on EXTENDED runs to start the second half...that could not be stopped even with, like last night, the usage of two time outs. Unfortunately, Trapani is stuck playing the 4 and often the 5 because Ravenel transfered and Josh is Josh. Can Dunn possibly be worse? Trap had no chance when Grant got the ball; and during Clemson's extended run, they ran the offense through him.
(4) Gotta give the team credit for battling back in the second; they were staring down a 30-point L and got right back in it.
Greg Mills is like Observer College on LSD.
It's tough to win on the road in the ACC. We know that. Just gotta keep fighting on the road, and we HAVE to hold serve in Conte.
Last night had me sentimental about how amazing Craig Smith was. I truly believed he could not be stopped and if we went through him every possession we could have been undefeated. He was Bill Brasky in sneakers.
The most concerning thing was that BC was unable to stop the ball in transition and even in halfcourt sets. There were way too many times when a Clemson guard would go unimpeded to the hoop for an easy layup in transition and off the drive. Someone needs to teach these guys to move their feet, pick up the ball handler in transition, and make that ball handler dish the ball off.
Any criticism of Donahue at this point is premature. And any suggestion of this team underachieving is beyond absurd.
Donahue inherited a roster that was decimated by transfers/lost recruits of a team that already finished below .500 the year before! Underachieving at 15-9 (5-5)?? Are you kidding me?!
Of course this team is going to be inconsistent given the number of glaring holes in the roster but to compare them to the last few years of the Skinner era at this point is unfair.
Andrew, if criticism of Donahue is premature, then so is praise. You can't say that he is responsible the improvement in our record, by way of our early season success, and then absolve him of the second-half swoon. He either has to be given praise and blame for both or for neither.
Notable: even after our big early season wins, kenpom was projecting a 7 game losing streak for us right in the heart of the ACC Schedule, which has not happened. In thinking about how this team has performed, it is important that we not ignore the fact that this was going to a brutal stretch of games for us no matter what.
Ry- In my post I didn't say Donahue is deserving of any significant praise (in fact, I didn't even mention praise at all.)
I also don't think its fair to label this run a "second-half swoon." What teams have we lost to since ACC play that we should have beaten? Maybe Miami but that's it. My assessment of the Donahue era thus far is that the team somewhat overachieved early in the season, and has done just about the same in ACC play. I think that's a pretty fair assessment considering we were 6-10 in ACC play last year and are already 5-5 with a significantly weakened roster this season.
He doesn't have the horses. Period. Al just did not bring in enough players to make a great ACC run (2 years ago, he did not bring in one single recruit. Not 1!). I like what I am seeing from Donahue and I firmly believe this team will be in the top of the 2nd tier ACC soon (doubt they can pass UNC and Duke). Don't get your expectations too high. BC has never played in the Final Four and I believe we have only been to the Elite 8 once. I'll be happy just getting to the tourney 3 out of 4 years and making a solid run at the Final Four once or twice per decade.
Agree that we just don't have the horses, especially inside. It's too bad because I think that at the 1 through 4 we are in the upper half of the conference. Josh Southern has been the biggest disappointment for BC basketball that I can remember in a long, long time. You realize he was regarded as our top recruit for that year and got serious looks (offers?) from Michigan State, Ohio State and Kentucky. He's turned out to be a total bust. I've never seen someone so slow, uncoordinated and unathletic in my life. Seems like a nice kid and I wish him well, but come on! His line from last night's game....12 mins, 2 pts on 1 of 4 shooting, ZERO rebounds, 3 fouls and a turnover. I'll give it to him that he is a decent passer out of the high post (but even Doornekamp was better at that). Luckily we've got two centers coming in next year and I doubt they can be as bad as Southern.
I didn't see any of the game, but based on the box score alone it seems that this would've been a different game if Paris had only had a bad night, say 3 of 9, instead of the God-awful night he had (1 of 9). Assuming Clemson got some points from the line late as BC fouled deliberately, those five or possibly six points could've made all the difference.
Oh crap, somebody just compared someone unfavorably to Doornekamp...
I think last night was actually a step forward for the team. Biko was off, and the 3point shooting was also.
However, Reggie was assertive, trapani great again, and the team fought and took care of the ball for most part. Clemson is a really good defensive team and was home. No shame in the loss. The run was frustrating, but our style of play is vulnerable to that if the 3 isn't falling
the Maryland game Saturday is must win. 5-6 going to chapel hill would be a very bad thing
Would someone please check the color of the smoke over Alumni Stadium and tell us if we have a new Offensive Coordinator for the football team?
What's up with the delay?
Bill, are you sticking to your Ryan Day report?
Lenny,
Smoke over Alumni......line of the month!
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