I am with the extended family so I didn't get to see this game. My thougts are what I can derive from our boxscore. If you saw the game and have something to add, please leave your two cents in the comments section. BC teams have always struggled with the first game after exams, so I'll take the win.
Good things
-- Rice with the game on the line. He was ice cold all night, yet made the final basket. Always a good sign for the tight games ahead.
-- Winning despite an off nice from Rice. This ties to point 1. Our best player on a young, limited team scored five points and went 1-11 and we still won. The other guys stepped up.
-- Sanders' big night. Sanders has often looked like a freshman -- moving too fast, too aggressive, unsure of where to be. I don't know how he looked tonight, but his numbers speak to a growing maturity. If he learns control, he'll be a dangerous player.
Concerns
-- Rebounding. When Rice is cold and Roche's shots aren't falling early, we need to hit the boards for easy baskets. There is no excuse for shooting .404 against Northeastern.
-- Roche's step back. He looked good before the break and then comes out cold against a lesser team. I was hoping for more consistency.
-- Flat after exams. I mentioned this in the lead paragraph. Why do Al's teams always come off the exam break playing in a fog? It has cost us games in the past and nearly cost us this one. Perhaps, when we rely so much on timing in our sets, that the break ruins the rhythm.
The schedule is manageable until Kansas. Let's hope they stay focused.
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4 comments:
First half was brutal, but it is nice to see that the young team can finish strong.
The team did finish strong, but the game as a whole was similar to our game against NU last year. The former coaches on NU's staff seem to have a strong grasp of beating our flex offense, and it may be good foresight for our future. Unless we distribute the ball well, the other teams will anticipate the tight passing lanes and get easy baskets.
As for the positives, the team clearly gelled well in the last half(but against NU, we shouldn't have to "gel" to win) . As far as individual performances, I would say Sanders looked the most impressive, showing some great McHale-like interior moves and was our only interior force.
The whole team looked slow after the long break... but Blair looked particularly sluggish. NU has some good size, which forced Al to have both Blair and Oates on the floor for extended periods... not a good recipe for success.
Unlike past games, where Blair seemed to be in the right spot and affecting shots, he seemed completely out of position until the last ~5 minutes of the game. Hopefully he was just rusty and it took awhile to get in the flow.
Oh well, at least we won. Crowd was surprisingly decent, and there was good excitement in the arena at the end.
Wow - Northeastern followed by Sacred Heart and Longwood - I can see why Coach Skinner dropped Holy Cross for the likes of this OOC schedule - BC's really going to find out a lot about themselves during this brutal stretch...
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