Although this is the cupcake portion of the schedule, it is nice to be in the middle of a basketball win streak. With their win over Dartmouth, the team has now won five in a row. The team started slow, but pulled away for a convincing statement game. Here are my thoughts on the past two games and what we need to do once ACC play begins.
Likes
-- Finally making their 3s. We know Jackson can get hot. Now it looks like Heckmann and Rahon can also make multiple 3s. If we are ever going to be a quality team, they will all have to make a lot of 3-pointers.
-- Good movement on offense. The team finally seems to have some actual motion in our motion offense. I don't know if Donahue is trusting them more or if they understand the offense better or if it is because of Rahon and Hanlon, but the team moved and passed with a purpose. This led to more quality shots.
-- More solid minutes from Odio. He is not an ACC quality big man, but he's all we got with Van Nest and Clifford at less than 100%. But it is good to have an energy guy and his defense is improving.
Dislikes
-- Ryan Anderson's passive play. Like the 3-point conversions, if we are going to win any ACC games, Ryan Anderson is going to have to dominate. His play wasn't poor during this stretch and his stats are good, but he needs to be better.
-- Huge defensive lapses. We had them against Dartmouth and Holy Cross. That can't keep happening. A defensive lapse against Dartmouth may lead to six or eight points. Against Duke, you can be down 20 in the blink of an eye.
-- No size. As much as I like what Odio is doing, he is not enough. If Clifford never gets better we will be lucky to win two ACC games.
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4 comments:
Why is Caudill just summarily dismissed? He got a big body and he is pretty mobile, I haven't seen him play much because he doesn't get many minutes, but he doesn't seem like he is/could be that bad.
I knew we would see this team progress this year from the Bryant/Harvard days, just too young not to, especially starting two freshman guards. Hopefully it keeps up.
I was at the game yesterday. As I posted last week I am confused by Anderson's inability to consistently finish down low. Despite what appeared to be a significant height and weight advantage over all of the players who guarded him he rarely got the ball on the block. When he did he often stepped back and took short jumpers. Perhaps this is not the game he wants to play (am I yearning for a Craig Smith type player who we consistently rely on in the paint?) but we need some production down low especially with Clifford's slow recovery. Even if our shooter's are hot the athletic ACC teams to come will not give us the space we had yesterday. When this happens we need presence in the paint. I guess we'll see.
You said two wins the rest of the way. I'm afraid I have to agree. Other than Anderson we have no bigs and didn't recruit any. Just can't see this team getting better over the next 2 years. Six wins at most in ACC play over the next 2 years and it will get even harder with Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville joining the ACC. We are in serious trouble. Here's a question - who will have the most wins, the football team in the Fall or the basketball team in the ACC this year?
I would love to see the basketball team do well but they just don't have the depth or size to be competitive. With one 6'5 recruit coming in - unless he's the second coming of Charles Barkley, how is that going to change? By the way, what happens if something happens to Anderson? Lastly, what is the story on Clifford - can he get healthy or is he going to play at 50-60% for the year? If he's going to be limited - shut him down and get him healthy for next year. Either way we're going to finish with at most 10 or 11 wins this year so why not make sure he's healthy for next year
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