Because we don't have much history with Steve Donahue, I am still not sure what to make of this game. The terrible first half was reminiscent of some of Skinner's stinkers (and I am a huge Skinner fan). The signs of life in the second half were encouraging but also due to Miami choking a bit. But even in the second half there were questions about BC's defense, BC's rotation and BC wasting too much time on their own possessions. Those keys are not Skinner issues. They are not subjective emotional issues. They are Donahue concerns. The only silver lining is that our bubble has not completely burst yet. If we run the table and pick up a win in the ACC Tourney, we might still sneak in. That is the ugly truth of a 68 team tournament. Here are some other thoughts gathered from Twitter, the gamecast, the ACC's feed and listening to Meter and Huck online.
Likes
-- Trapani's production. At times Joe seems like the only one who cares. He played hard and filled up the stat sheet. I don't know how bad it would have been without him.
-- The second half charge. This wouldn't have been necessary if not for the terrible first half, but when you are looking for any signs of life, a little rally helps.
Dislikes
-- Tempo. There has been some debate about this, but I still think BC should up the tempo and attempts right now. I know we don't have a lot of quality depth, but I feel some of the offensive stagnation could be cured by a little more chucking. And if it means we are more vulnerable in transition, I am okay with that.
-- Cahill's minutes. He's a great story and is playing beyond expectations, but I think some of his time should be going to other guys who might play better defense.
I remain somewhat optimistic. If we can just get hot, we might back into the ugliest tournament field in recent memory.
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12 comments:
I'm kind of wondering why Rubin is still starting. Just start Raji at this point.
Also, if we are going to double team Miami's big (Reggie johnson) every time he touches the ball, then why have Southern in at all if he was struggling offensively and couldn't guard Johnson one-on-one? Just put Joe on Reggie Johnson and double with someone else.
Finally, it got a little frustrating at times when Donahue started subbing offense for defense beginning at about the 8 minute mark. He kept on subbing in Moton and Elmore for Raji and Cahill on defense. The problem was that this killed is on offense when we got a stop on D.
Miami did make some big shots, and it felt like everything they threw up there in the first half went in even with good D by us. Some big games against the Virginia schools coming up...
I agree with DMurph on pretty much everything he said.
Rubin got minutes at the start of the season because he could knock down the three. He can't buy a bucket right now, so why give him any minutes? Cahill has proven he can knock down an open three and Cahill probably plays better defense than Rubin. Rubin needs another year or two to develop.
In the first half, we had Joe on Reggie Johnson with Raji doubling. What did Johnson do in the first half? Absolutely nothing. I know we were thrashed in the first half, but that had more to do with our atrocious offense (or lack thereof) against the 2-3 zone. Why would we stop that defensive approach to guarding Johnson?
Right now, Reggie, Raji, Biko, Joe, and Cahill should be the lineup that sees the most minutes. Donahue makes too many subs. It's hard for guys to get into a rhythm when they're being constantly subbed in and out. And there's no justification to take those guys out because they're tired. That's a small lineup, they should be in good shape. You get a TV timeout every 4 minutes. And Donahue always ends the game with 2 timeouts left. Use those in the 2nd half to give your best lineup a couple extra breaks. And you can rest all you want in three weeks if you don't make the tourney.
I'm still optimistic, but we have to win 4 more games to have a shot I think.
With all due respect to Joe (and sometimes Corey), who generally brings 100% effort each and every game, I am going to be really glad to see this senior class leave. Guys like Jonathan Beerbohm, Uka Agbai, and Jared Dudley probably get as nauseated as I do watching this class consistently decide to not show up to play. This has happened more times than I care to remember since the beginning of the '07-'08 season.
No one epitomizes the lack of hunger and desire more than Backup Paris and Josh Southern. They each literally WALK, with absolutely zero facial expression, from the bench to the court during pregame introductions. Biko had to be ordered by Donahue to lose 20 pounds in the offseason. What the hell was he doing his first three years here? This isn't the local CYO league. Biko still thinks that playing good defense is waving his hand in the face of the ball handler and then reaching out his arm to try to strip the ball as the guy drives right by him. GET LOW TO THE GROUND AND MOVE YOUR FEET YOU LAZY SACK OF SHIT!!!!! The funny thing is that Biko is about as athletic as Sean Williams when compared to Southern. I have never seen a more worthless 6'10" man in Division I college basketball than Josh Southern. Nate Doornekamp and John Oates could run circles around him. Josh consistently gets out rebounded by guys 5 inches shorter than him, on a good day cleanly catches 50% of the passes thrown to him, and can barely draw iron when catching a pass four feet from the hoop and going up in traffic (which happened tonight). He is 6'10" and plays like he's 6'2". I've never seen someone so girly in my life...it's as if he's afraid of contact. I'm literally not joking when I say that I think his vertical is about 7 inches. I've never been so glad to have someone leaving the program. As long as one of the two big guys coming in next year can catch a pass, isn't afraid to touch or be touched by the opposing player, and can jump more than 7 inches to grab a rebound, we'll have an instant upgrade at center.
And while their lack of athleticism and skill is painfully apparent, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as their lack of passion and desire. Think Craig Smith would have moped around the court the way Southern does or that Troy Bell would have slowly walked from the bench during pregame introductions like his mom had just asked him to go do the dishes? You guys are getting a free ride (total subsidy of over $200k) to attend an academically elite, Jesuit institution and play basketball in the top conference in the country, in front of thousands of fans, 30+ times per year....ACT LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN!!!!!
Tough to see this team putting together any type of hot streak at this point. And, unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the only way we get into the tourney now is a five game win streak, including a run to the ACC semi's. That just seems impossible after last night
Still a good year in relation to expectations, though. This team was pre-season 10th and learning a new system so to be in bubble talk as we near March is pretty impressive.
damn those two Ivy losses.
With all due respect, Jonathan Beerbohm had a freshmen, soph, and junior career on par with my BC basketball career (note: I didn't play BC basketball). He sorta came into his own his senior year -- to his credit, with hard work. But Beerbohm didn't show much of anything early on.
The rest of the post is entertaining.
I agree with all about Rubin. There is no production, and obviously Don sees that by limiting his total minutes, but he doesn't need to start. Maybe comign off the bench would help. I'd be in favor of either Raji OR Cahill starting.
Totally agree with you on Southern, WI_Eagle. Josh Southern makes David Hinton look like Moses Malone.
That's a nice David Hinton reference!
There's no point in putting Rubin on the court if you're not going to run sets designed to get him open 3s. If he can't score against a 2-3 zone, he simply can't score in D-1. Seriously, with his shot he should blow up a zone defense. The fact that he only got off one shot last night really begs the question. Why is he there? He's very likely the purest shooter on the squad but I never see any effort to get him open looks (which he can't do by himself). It's a mystery.
agreed with mod10aeagle.
it's not a matter of rubin not being able to buy a bucket as one poster said, it's that he can't even buy a look at the hoop. cahill is getting more consistent looks from three than rubin is at this point. i know they are both walk-ons, but there is a huge difference in the two.
Rubin needs to spend the off season at the Ray Allen sprint, scrape and shoot camp.
I have to respectfully disagree with two comments. I really don't see how anyone can complain about the job Donahue is doing. Look at what he is working with (walk-ons, freshmen, instilling a completely new sysytem, etc.). Based on our record and pre-season expectations, he has done an amazing job. I can't wait to see what he does with a full roster of his own players. One more thing, when you see him coach in person, the guy works like a dog from start to finish. He never sits down or stops coaching. I also disagree on the tempo issue. I agree that at the end of last nights game we did take too much time on our possessions, but in general I don't think you can argue that we should play up tempo. Just look at the difference in the 2 UNC games.
I can't accept arguments premised even in part on us outperforming preseason expectations. Don is doing nothing in that category that Skinner didn't do every year. As I said before, we have the talent to win these games and we came out flat. I put that on the players and Don.
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