All is certainly not lost, but the guys need to regroup quickly. The Providence-Michigan-Miami stretch is approaching and we need to win two of those to right the ship.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Paradise lost
I and many others had aspirations of BC being a sleeper this season. I am questioning that now after another dismal showing in the Paradise Jam. We were without Sanders, but that is no excuse for losing in such a fashion. BC controlled in the first half and then got blown away in the second. The defense did not perform well and the offense doesn't seem to know who or where to go with the ball. That shouldn't be happening with a veteran team.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
24 comments:
Listened to the 2nd half and listened to the whole St. Joes game.
Thoughts from today's:
1) When Rakim is out, Trap needs to take more than 7 shots.
2) Ravanel was instant offense in the first half, non existent in the 2nd.
3) When there is an opponent that is 14-17 from the field and is a guard you are in for a lonnngg day.
The D has been a problem for several games now (didn't listen to the SDST game) we have a little break but are going to need to regroup before heading to PC -a place that isn't easy to play.
10 assists vs 13 turn overs. not a recipe for wins.
Sanders isn't going to help what's wrong with this team. He's probably the worst perimeter defender on the team. They've got a week to decide what type of season they want to have. They're capable of losing all 3 games next week (@Prov, @Mich, v Miami).
If they don't commit defensively now, they're in for a LONG year.
And for the UNI kid that went 14-17...the most impressive part of that was that only 3 of his shots were contested...he didn't exactly dazzle with ridiculous shots.
Great, now I owe a UNI grad lunch. They have a pretty good team this year. Everyone is back from a team that made it to the field of 65 last year.
I have said it before and I will say it again. BC will never achieve greatness under Al Skinner. He's the basketball equivalent of TOB. A few years back, I was fairly excited about BC basketball, thinking they could build off the Craig Smith-Jared Dudley years, but they just can't seem to get to the next level.
Al Skinner is a good coach and BC will always be good with him at the helm just as BC was always good under TOB. But, good is the enemy of great.
since coming to the ACC we have the third best winning percentage, behind only duke and unc. i'd rather have a team that competes every year than have a rollercoaster.
contrary to TOB, al's teams win a big game every so often
On the bright side, "Happy Miracle in Miami Day!"
Without a doubt, the greatest moment in BC sports history. I'll never forget that day as long as I live.
i don't know, but i can't imagine criticizing skinner for results. criticize him for recruiting? okay. perception might be different if someone had guarded villanova's inbounds play in '06, maybe? how can you criticize skinner for turning dudley into an all-american? i mean, jared freakin' dudley?
tactically? yeah, plenty to criticize there. but for the guys he gets, the results are there.
that doesn't mean we couldn't win a nat'l champ in bball. b/c we could, if skinner targeted different guys. but for whatever reason, he has his own "chip on the shoulder" philosophy. maybe he was slighted as a kid. picked last in a pickup game or turned down for the prom. maybe no one invited him to the sadie hawkins dance.
let's get the team together b4 passing judgment. the beauty of playing in a tough bball conference, as opposed to the ACC in football, is that at the end of the season we get the benefit of the doubt. which means, to me, this is practice for the conference slate. and unc isn't winning it all this year. of course, neither is harvard.
no. iowa isn't a bad team. all 5 guys back from an mvc champ and tourney berth.
let's see skinner coach sans rice before we commit to an underachieving bunch, yes?
agreed with CT on a couple of points... yes it's too early to judge.
Also, what if that team had beaten a very good NOVA team to get to elite 8.... a decent match-up vs. a loaded Florida team, who knows.
Just think about how hard it is to get to the elite 8/final 4. Out of over 300 teams, mostly all do not find themselves there regularly. We WILL have a run at some point... I can't wait.
As long as we are in the top 4-6 in the ACC every year with a chance to make a run, it's tough to ask for too much more. That's more than most programs can say.
I have said it before and I will say it again. BC will never achieve greatness under Al Skinner. He's the basketball equivalent of TOB.
This the guy who's "not a doomer" talking, right. Are you going to start congratulating yourself after our basketball losses was well?
We're down Rice and Sanders from last year's squad, it takes a little time to gel. Other than "maybe" Trapani, no one who played yesterday was expected to make the big shot or carry the load last year.
Give them time. Admittedly, I expected much more from this tournament.
On a sidenote, watching a play by play on the internet is so frustrating because you repatedly see "Corey Raji missed layup"
We're down Rice and Sanders from last year's squad, it takes a little time to gel. Other than "maybe" Trapani, no one who played yesterday was expected to make the big shot or carry the load last year.
Give them time. Admittedly, I expected much more from this tournament.
On a sidenote, watching a play by play on the internet is so frustrating because you repatedly see "Corey Raji missed layup"
Actually, I'd agree with you about Skinner EB. I have been making that comparison for the past few years now. Skinner will always have a good team that overachieves and proves the pundits wrong much like the football team. However, Skinner will never take BC to the next level. He is just too conservative and tactically deficient in games to make BC a great team. He is a great recruiter and talent developer, but not a very good coach. If you want BC to be competitve every year, finish in the middle of the pack in the ACC and lose in the first two rounds of the tourney, Skinner is your man. If you want BC to get over the hump and actually make it into the second weekend of the tourney, Al is not your man.
"And for the UNI kid that went 14-17...the most impressive part of that was that only 3 of his shots were contested...he didn't exactly dazzle with ridiculous shots."
I'm tired of the "wave to them as they go by" defense. If they don't step up the D, they're nowhere for sure.
Let's go BC - have some pride and contest the opponents shots for goodness sake.
Our defense has been bad and getting worse four seasons now; it'd be remarkable if it changed between now and Saturday.
Even with Sean Williams anchoring the middle, our D efficiency numbers were horrible.
According to KenPom, we are 211th in defensive efficiency this year.
In 2008-09 we were 139th
In 2007-08 we were 113rd
In 2006-07 we were 93rd
In 2005-06 we were 84.
Only in 2004-05 was the team decent defensively, at 46th.
That trend is not an impressive one, especially given that a team with a defensive efficiency ranking below 50th rarely makes it to the second weekend of the NCAAs. Here we are with a ranking of 211, which is last in the ACC BY A COUNTRY MILE.
Skinner is a good, but not great, BC bball coach. You can't question what he's accomplished here---go into Conte, and look at the NCAA tournament appearances banner. But man does our D need to improve.
How much lower than 211 can a team go? What is the bottom number in the ranking?
Kenpom now says BC is #251 defensively. UNC (oddly) is #131, and everyone else in the ACC is 64 or below.
uggg...its going to be a long, long season.
The best approach is to have absolutely no expectations this year. We are last in the ACC due to our performances to date, and we suck.
As long as we look Al Skinner cool doing it, I guess being a suck (defensive) team isn't so bad.
Boyd, how is saying Skinner is a good but not great coach make me a "gloom and doomer?" I'm merely stating a fact. There is nothing wrong with good (except that it truly is the enemy of great) and I was merely pointing out the inconsistencies of BC Nation where they ran TOB out of town for being good but not great but accept Skinner for being good but not great. I don't see the difference other than Skinner is much more likable. But in terms of results, both are not at the elite level and most likely never will achieve greatness.
Is somebody being a ______ again?
lots of assumptions in there, eagleboston. we'll "most likely" never be great? let me get a glimpse at that crystal ball of yours. and was tob run out of town or did he go running long before we knew which direction he was headed? i don't know, maybe others do.
i just don't like drawing conclusions based on four games. if we're still having the same issues in late january, okay. in football, you're kinda stuck with what you've got and you know who you are pretty quickly. in bball, things are more dynamic and subject to change.
skinner, criticisms aside for the moment, has earned a little leeway with me. there are only so many "great" bball programs. we've impressed the acc with our play and that means something here in the nascent stages of our membership.
or maybe my expectations are too high for this team in the next two yrs. we shall see.
i don't remember TOB ever winning a coach of the year award in all his time at the Heights
I have still not heard an adequate answer to the question of no recruits for the current year. How does a Division 1a BB team explain that it did not sign a single recruit for this season?
if you think it doesn't matter, look at our performances with Sanders injured. I'm not saying that Coach Skinner would even play a frosh; but wouldn't it be nice to have someone on the bench to call on?
Lenny, there is room for 13 scholarship players. Right now 10 are on scholarship, with only one senior. We've already signed 3 players for 2010, meaning there's only one more scholly available.
Skinner's strategy was to try only for a top flight recruit for 2009, since otherwise they'd sit for two years and probably transfer. They went hard after Erik Murphy, who chose Florida. The 2010 class is better and deeper, so they waited. There was nothing strange about this at all, besides the anomoly of six juniors due to the Trapani transfer.
Post a Comment