Monday, November 12, 2012

Thoughts on the basketball's win over FIU

Sorry for the delay in posting about the basketball team's season opening win over FIU. I didn't get around to watching it until today. (Eds note: ESPN3 is going to be a godsend for basketball fans. Every game will be on there.) Overall I was pleased with the start. It wasn't perfect and there are areas for improvement, but overall it was a good win. More:

Likes
-- Anderson controlling the game. He was good in transition. He was good in the post. He grabbed critical rebounds and played solid defense. He won't keep up that pace every game but it looks like Anderson is ready to make a productivity leap.
-- The freshmen guards. Hanlan and Rahon combined for 68 minutes and didn't look confused or pressured. With Daniels gone, they need to get used to those kids of minutes.
-- Production from Odio and Van Nest. I hoped for solid minutes from Van Nest (who is rocking some great basketball goggles) but didn't forsee Odio playing as much as he did in the first half. We need depth, so this is good.

Dislikes
-- Jackson's cold night. I am writing it off to rust. Let's hope he hasn't lost his touch over the summer.
-- 3-point disparity. It is what kept this game as close as it was. Much of it can be attributed to Jackson's cold night but his teammates didn't really pick up the slack either.
-- Heckmann's defense. This did remind me of last year. He's got to be more focused and physical this year.

10 comments:

Capital Eagle said...

I agree with Atl Eagle on his comments. I was there and was pleased with the overall performance. There did seem to be confusion at times with defensive schemes. Also, we had some trouble in the 2nd half with the full court press. Dennis Clifford played a solid game and was active around the basket. I know this will be a tough year but Coach D has a good group of players who seem to be interchangeable in most positions.
Not ready to say where we'll end up but it should be a fun year.

EL MIZ said...

i agree that i loved what i saw from the freshman guards. O is an athlete and really has a good body for a guard, and Rahon looks like a throwback, do-it-all point guard who knows where to be and where his teammates need to be as well. Rahon led the team in minutes with 37 and even though he was 0-4 from the field, he managed to shoot 8 free throws.

i wonder if we will see Heckmann move into the starting lineup just to get some more size on the perimeter. i agree though -- his decline from the first half of last season to now is strange. hopefully he gets it together.

Anderson is a beast and i anticipate we'll rely on him a lot this year and in the years to come.

Go Eagles!

Claver2010 said...

Good writeup ATL

Anderson is extremely impressive.
Thought Clifford showed better conditioning, was able to beat people up and down the floor

1 game in and it's obvious we're going to miss Daniels. He is excellent at breaking the press. We now have no depth in the back court, or at all.

We scored 80 someodd points and couldn't hit any 3s which will fall.

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

I'm with Claver, sucks we couldn't figure out a way to get Daniels minutes and keep him happy.

I think ATL once wrote that Donahue is very honest with his players, sometimes brutally so, to a fault. Shame he couldn't convince him that an injury or hardwork could get him in the rotation more.

A little worried re Clifford's knee and only 18 minutes.

Overall though, Anderson looked good. If Rahon stays healthy (hate to have a true frosh with knee history play 37 minutes a night) he looks like our PG for the future.

Imagine playing in Spain and working out with team for the summer made a huge difference re his preparedness vs. the guys last year.

Loved Hanlan stepping up for Anderson after the hard foul, he's supposed to be very intense and a real leader, I have a feeling he takes a leadership role quickly.

Also shows these guys gaining confidence in themselves, won't be as easily pushed around.

NEDofSavinHill said...

TOB probably left BC because he didn't trust Gdf. He viewed him as devious, treacherous and insecure. The claim that Spaz was undermining TOB is credible based on the dislike Gdf had for TOB.I was told that TOB on several occasions asked for pay raises for his assistants only to be ignored by the AD. If Spaz were in combination with Gdf to alienate TOB from his staff and to encourage his departure then that reflects badly on him and exposes him as less than honest. Was it an orchestrated plan? We'll never know. In two weeks the entire argument will be moot. 2. What do York, Coach K at Duke, Kelly at ND and Sumlin at A and M have in common? They may be the best coaches in their respective sports and all attended catholic high schools.

mod10aeagle said...

The entire hoop squad was in the stands in their practice warm-ups (I assume) for the hockey game v. ND on Friday night. That was pretty cool. Nice to see another BC program that's making positive moves to improve its game.

Bando '87 said...

ESPN3 will indeed be great for someone like me who will want to watch every minute of every game, but I had issues with the video quality. Most of the game was poor video quality for me (laptop plugged into high speed cable internet) but I was teased with a couple of minutes each half of excellent quality so hopefully I will see more of that in future games.

Pleased with Frosh guards and Anderson, Clifford and Odio. Would be amazing if Van Nest can contribute 10-12 quality minutes a game!

Claver2010 said...

Mod10A, that was the football team at the hockey game.

mod10aeagle said...

Claver: then they were both there, because I stood in line with Anderson and several others for several minutes, all in those grey sweats. None of them had an ounce of fat on 'em. Definitely not footballers.

Ry said...

Btw, Jordan Daniels and Gabe Moton were sitting in front of me at the game on Sunday. I wasn't surprised to see Daniels but it was weird to see Moton. Neither reacted much at all at any point during the game.