Thursday, November 15, 2012

Thoughts on BC basketball's loss to Baylor

This is as encouraging a 10-point loss as you will see at this stage in the basketball season. Last year this team had plenty of games where they looked good for a half and let the game get away from them in the second half. This game was different. Sure, Baylor pulled away, but it wasn't because of a total team collapse. Our best players didn't get weak-kneed or caught up in the moment. If not for a few mistakes and then scrambling as time ran out, BC could have won this game. Here are my likes and dislikes. As always, leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Likes
-- Ryan Anderson's post presence. Baylor is long, tall and athletic, but that didn't stop Anderson from having a great game and converting with a variety of moves close to the basket. Anderson would be good in any system but today I dreamed about him thriving in Al Skinner's tight flex. 
-- Solid minutes from Odio and Van Nest. Odio held his own and played good D inside. Van Nest provided some much needed scoring and also has good hands.
-- Hanlan and Rahon playing well against a ranked team. They weren't perfect. Hanlan forced some drives to the basket and Rahon was ice-cold but they handled the pressure and showed they can be responsible for the most of the ball handling.

-- Patrick Heckmann killing all the second half momentum. Last year during our Thanksgiving Holiday tournament, Heckmann was the star. He scored from all over the court and made pretty good decisions. I don't know where things went so wrong. He was terrible today with four TOs and two fouls in 16 minutes. But the worst thing about the turnovers is how careless they are. He is a major liability until he starts figuring things out again.
-- 3-point shooting. Jackson was cold again and so was Rahon. In our offense and with these types of players, we need to convert a higher-percentage.
-- Perimeter defense. We gave them way too many easy looks from outside and paid the price for it.

7 comments:

EL MIZ said...

given the shooting issues, i'd really like to see Rubin get some more PT. i know he's a liability on defense but he's probably the team's best shooter (especially with Jackson ice-cold). can't he see the court for at least 5 minutes per half?

also, i'd like to see Heckmann put back in the starting lineup. i agree that his decreased production is really head-scratching given that he looked like the most mature freshman to start last season -- maybe his focus would be better if he wasn't coming off the bench.

Dayton, Auburn, Bryant, Penn St., Harvard, St. Francis, and New Hampshire are the next 7 games. 5-2 is a realistic goal for that stretch, especially with Anderson playing like such a stud right now, and i think winning all 7 is do-able, even with such a young team. Baylor is a really good team (Austin and Jackson will both be first round picks in June) and it was a 1-point game with 8 minutes to play.

ATL i agree with you that we didn't totally collapse, and this is still a young team so its hard to fault them for it, but there were a handful of games last year where we were tied or up with 8 minutes to go and we lost. the Don has to work on executing down the stretch, figure out how to play more guys so we have some juice to finish the game, and make sure we don't let games get away from us. if this trend continues this year its going to be worrying.

Knucklehead said...

Jackson seems like he has the range but is having difficulty translating it from practice to the game, similar to tyler roache.

Rahon and Hanlan seem solid defensively.

Scoring seems like the issue. Jackson and Rahon need to score because Van Ness is not going to put up 13 points a game this season.

Heckman needs to be used in the old Jermaine Watson role, off the bench for energy but only if he plays D and proves he can be responsible w the ball. Otherwise - bench him Rolandan Finch style.

Clifford did not have much production either. We need 10 and 7 from every game.

NEDofSavinHill said...

BC b-ball is definitely improved. Anderson, Hanlon and Clifford provide a solid nucleus. A winning season may be in the cards. Would a lineup of your top three point shooters be effective in stretches. Use Van Ness, Anderson, Hanlon ,Rubin and Jackson and play like the old WVU teams with Pitsnogle et al? 2. A huge crowd is expected at the VT game Saturday to see the best coach in 15 years at BC last hurrah.

Unknown said...

Although we lost by 10, it was encouraging, especially with having the lead at half. Let's beat them Flyers today!

mod10aeagle said...

Heckmann was a total mess on both ends of the court. Unfortunately, I think I missed the vast majority of whatever positive minutes he played last year, because my dominant impression of him is consistent with yesterday's performance. If he really wants more minutes, he needs to earn them by dominating in practice. In the meantime, I can't see any justification for giving him more PT.

Clifford and Anderson both used the off-season well. Clifford played much stronger, much harder to knock off the ball than last year.

Rubin could be an off-the-bench 3 machine a la Heslip, if only someone could teach him how to get himself open.

Bando '87 said...

Heckmann was definitely a liability. There is a reason why he isn't starting. A three guard offense wouldn't be preferable to a lineup with a true SF, especially since Heckmann can bring the ball up the court and help the guards break the press. The fact that Jackson is starting tells you Coach isn't thrilled with Heckmann as a starter. Might also tell us Coach believes Heckmann would have helped himself a lot more on the BC conditioning program with Clifford and others, rather than playing games in Europe last summer. I'd park him on the bench and limit his minutes until he proves he's ready. I'd also start either Van Nest or Odio over Jackson.

What a wonderful surprise to be "nit-picking" on how to improve the BC Hoops team this year, rather than being happy our guards got the ball up the court. Go Eagles!

EL MIZ said...

Bando, good point on the "breaking the press" from last year, LOL. I did not know about Heckmann going to EUR instead of staying home, that is definitely strange.

here is his game log from last year, note his ability to get to the line. he was still turning it over a lot, but at least he was scoring:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/56628/year/2012/patrick-heckmann

since then, he's been an abject disaster.

hopefully we see some different lineups today and can get a W over Dayton.