Saturday, January 17, 2015

Looking better while losing

The Duke loss disappointed. The Pitt loss was frustrating. This loss felt encouraging. Despite UVA pulling away in the second half, I thought the team played well for long stretches. There were also glimmers of the team gelling and maturing. Virginia is a great team. They're well coached and consistent. Winning was a long shot, yet there were times when it seemed possible. Let's hope we are turning a corner. Other thoughts:

-- BC played solid D for most of the game. We are not Virginia but it is getting better. I also liked the Christian used different looks. Some 2-3 zone. A lot of man with switching. Even a 2-2-1 press. The only real problem comes when Clifford gets sucked away from the basket. We got beat on a few pick and rolls and a few backdoors.
-- The Perpiglia minutes have to end. This has been a theme on the BC message boards for a while. I've avowed it as to not pick on the kid. However, it is killing us. The team was -4 when he was on the court and it added fuel to Virginia's run. BC never got it close after Hanlan returned. There has got to be a better rotation that still gives Hanlan time to rest.
-- Heckmann played well. I kill him when he looks terrible, so I need to credit him when things go well. He cooled off, but for one stretch, he was red hot. Even his D was better.

BC missed too many close shots to win, but it was a good effort. We will pull off a win against one of the top ACC teams soon.

2 comments:

mod34b said...

Let's give all the guys a trophy for trying. So nice :-)

Hoib said...

Boy Brown has just disappeared since league play has started. Xtian would be smart to pay attention to Bennent's every move. He inherited a team almost as bad as ours 5 years ago and now has won 35 out of 37. Even more impressive when you consider UVA is not exactly a basketball factory.