I hoped for big years from Blair, Spears and Roche. I expected little of John Oates. When he started the season nursing injuries and whining about playing time, I didn't lose any sleep. Did any BC fan think, "we'd be much better now if Oates was getting more time"? Yet he worked his way back into the starting five. Once he started hitting a few big shots and had me fooled. I thought it was all coming together for the big guy after all this time. That glimpse of hope made his final (seemingly disinterested) few weeks that much more painful.
To Oates' credit he did a few things right. His defense was much better. Never the quickest guy, he finally started moving his feet in the low post which actually kept him in decent positions. His help defense improved and he actually became a factor in blocked shots. Oates did become a more realistic threat from long range and shot .424 from downtown.
Rebounding remained a problem. How can a guy his size, in this offense, play more than 600 minutes and only grab 18 offensive rebounds?? That's close to what Roche did. Hell, Southern played in half as many games and still had more offensive boards than Oates. I also fault Oates for getting senioritis. Like Blair, Oates played with little passion or focus in the final few weeks.
Despite his limitations and disappointments, I thank him for his contributions to BC and wish him the best of luck.
Season Grade: C
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8 comments:
With the recent wave of transfers, I'm wondering whether the basketball team is at risk of losing scholarships in the near future. I remember a year or two ago the NCAA established some academic accountability ratings that finally have some teeth--programs that don't meet certain academic standards will see scholarships stripped away. I know that there is an exception for transfering (ie. if the player remains on track to graduate at the school he transfers to, then he does not count against the numbers of the school he transfered from), but does anyone know what it is?
In the past two years, McClain was kicked out of school, and Williams kicked off the team (then left early). Now Spears and Kabba are transfering. Steve Hailey trasnfered right before Rice arrived, and I'm sure there are plenty of others who I am missing (and, going back a few years, Bryant and Sydney were both booted from school, etc, etc.).
Transfers don't hurt (generally). If a guy wants to play somewhere else, he needs to come into his new school on track to graduate. So we are ok there. The guys leaving early/getting kicked out is a bigger deal. However, as long as they were on path to graduate they shouldn't hurt us too much. Basketball has some of our lowest APR ratings, but we are still in decent shape overall.
I think Skinner might be working his way into the problem zone. This wave of transfers, dismissals and disappointments is becoming a matter of concern.
There might be an opportunity in Raleigh soon and he can join his buddy Tom.
As I recall Dudley, Smith and Marshall found BC, not the other way around.
As a matter of fact, I think Rice found BC as much as BC found him - he originally wanted to go to Wake Forest I seem to recall.
So I'd say his next one or two classes are crucial to the coach himself, his future and BC.
Jack, we felt the brunt of these misses this year. I think things will be better next year. However, I don't think you give Al and Co enough credit for what they've done. Smith didn't just show up at BC. We found him early -- got him to prep for current assistant Mo Cassara -- and then to BC. We found Marshall too. Dudley was also going to prep school until Dan Coleman left. Ed Coen had him on campus the next week. Rice turned Wake down for us.
Oats was so bad he made me want to stab my eyes out everytime he was on the court. I have had season tickets for Basketball now for a couple of years and I have had to be restrained from leaving the arena more than a couple times because of him. HE SUCKS the most frustrateing person I have ever watched play BC Basketball!!! I would take Brain Ross or even Kirsten Zoellner over him.
Fair enough, Bill. You're much closer to the situation than I am and I'll go with your feelings.
BC has lost 14 players over the last 6 years:
Ryan Sidney (2000)—Cheyney University, then played in Europe
Andrew Bryant (2000)—Oklahoma Baptist University
G Oaf (2001)—Albany
Johnnie Jackson (2002)—Ohio
Devon Greene (formerly Evertsen) (2003)—Fordham
Steve Hailey (2003)—Iona
Tavio Hobson (2003)—Sacred Heart
Sean Williams (2004)—puffing
Akida McClain (2004)—puffing
Gordon Watt (2004)—Purdue
Evan Neisler (2005)—Drexel
Marquez Haynes (2005)—TBD
Spears
Kaba
The years are the years they came to BC. This is becoming a huge problem for Al and it's about time others are showing some concern. This is becoming a huge joke.
On the Johnny Oates topic, I thought I had seen the worst collegiate player ever when Al continued to trot out Nate Doornekamp onto the court. I never thought I'd see the day when a player could be worse than him into Oates came into existence. What do these players have in common? They're big, white oafes with no speed, no ability to play offense or defense, and have the penchant of chucking up 3s all game. Why Al likes these players is beyond me.
I came to know about John Oates from this blog who is a great person. This is really a different topic than that of writing paper service. Thorough this blog we can come to know about how he got injured during playing football. So the blog is important for the players and game lovers also.
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