I am on the road and don't have ESPN U, so I had to follow online. You didn't need to watch the broadcast to feel the excitement, frustration and eventual relief of the game. The win is important as it is our last chance at a quality out of conference win. Here are my thoughts. (As always, feel free to leave yours in the comments.)
Likes
-- Better shooting from Sanders.
-- Solid foul shooting, including making shots in the final minute.
-- The big first half lead. It showed this team can be explosive when it needs to be.
-- The rebounding differential. Even with a smaller lineup, we controlled the glass.
Dislikes
-- Trapani's struggles shooting.
-- Letting them back into the game. South Carolina narrowed the deficit to 3. This team needs a killer instinct.
-- Unsettled rotation. We need to figure something out before ACC play.
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8 comments:
I thought Elmore made some really smart plays in the final ten minutes. Even the announcers were complementing his smarts and defense.
i was at the game...here is my take:
we looked awesome in the first half. best 20 minutes we have played all season (at home at least). we found high percentage shots and hit the long distance shots we took. we guarded well and didn't allow them to penetrate....forced them into contested shots. we were ON.
second half was a different story, and all too familiar. had trouble breaking the press (trapani is a complete liability when it comes to this). we just freeze in the face of the press. even when we break it, we wind up getting completely thrown off of our offense and don't recover. our 21 point halftime lead was 10 by the first TV timeout. we were lucky that they never came close enough to tie or go ahead. if they had tied or gone ahead, i think we would have folded. we have no fortitude at times.
jackson was awesome in the first half.
sanders was our best player over the course of the game. he drove to the hoop at the right times and knew when to find his perimeter shot.
good contribution from elmore...he played substantial minutes and was not a liability. he made good passes, played good d, and took good shots. it is great to see him finding a place on this team. roche looked solid in his return. southern played well off the bench, even if he didn't see action until the second half. he put up solid numbers in limited minutes and grabbed some timely rebounds.
it was glaring that skinner failed to call a timeout early in their second half run. we held them off in spite of this.
all in all...a good win over an SEC team. we have an SEC win, a Big Ten win, a Big East win, and an A-10 win heading into conference play. i know that we have had our issues with lesser teams, but i really feel as though this team is ready to go for ACC play.
sanders is still rounding into shape, and i think once we hit the conference schedule he will be even more effective. the 'and 1' he had when SC was getting close was big. Liked Elmore's contributions a lot. He seems very solid on D and looks to take charges which I like. Nice tip in bucket too. Like the smaller lineups also. We can switch a lot on D cause most guys can guard multiple positions, and it gives us 5 guys who are threats to do something when they get the ball. Even with Southern's #'s...ugh. Any time he touches the ball I want to close my eyes til it's over.
Unbelievable that Al didn't call a timeout during that run (actually very believable since we know he never does). But, being there, it is kind of interesting what happens during timeouts. SC brought chairs on the court, everyone is tightly packed around the coach. Half the BC players aren't even in the huddle, they are wandering around, seemingly not really paying attention even if Al is giving good direction. I remember watching Sean Williams do this when he was here, he may have never heard a word Skinner said during timeouts, but now it seems like a lot of the guys aren't really paying attention, or are paying token attention. I can't knock his NCAA appearances, track record of turning unheralded guys into stars, etc...but watching the game management on a daily basis is almost too much to take!
One thing I would like to see a little is some more on court leadership. You watch the great teams, and when there are whistles, before free throws, they huddle up on court and all get on the same page. BC could have used Biko or Rakim doing this when SC was cutting the lead from 20+ to 10. Just to calm everyone down and get back on track. Also, guys like Dudley and Hinnant, Bell, some of the previous leaders I think would have been a little more vocal with some defensive lapses in terms of effort, allowing SC to get some open layups during their comeback.
Sorry for the long post and ramble, so many thoughts after being at that game I couldnt get them all down straight....but, a good win regardless and let's hope there are no more letdowns (and we figure out a more effective press break) before the ACC.
I'd like to add a dislike:
Getting fouled on a made shot for an "And 1", celebrating like its a big play, then missing the free throw to negate any bonus from the play - making it no different than a miss with two FTs, or a simple made FG.
It felt like this happened 8 times, though I wasn't keeping track.
As a fan, I'm going to try to forget the first ten minutes of the 2nd half ever happened, and just enjoy that we played a single great half. Hopefully we can play with that efficiency more often this season.
Also, I like the new starting five. There are going to be games where it gets taken advantage of, but agree it gives us our best chance to win. The funny thing is, hasn't every team in the history of basketball that "goes small" ends up running and shooting lots of 3s? BC might be the first team EVER to install a small lineup, try to run a slowed down half court game, be incapable of handling a press with 3-4 guards and a ball-handling center, and also out rebound opponents to boot! Like George Constanza doing the opposite of what he'd normally do.
Erik, very funny description of our version of small ball.
I aim to please
Eagle: glad to see you turn more attention to hoops. My major beef is that you think we need a "set rotation." Why?
Every game is different, and Skinner sat Southern for 29 minutes, before letting him close the last 11. What was bad about this? Roche also came in with Southern and didn't leave the floor, while Trapani and Raji sat in crunch time. As long as the players are mentally and physically ready to contribute, there's no need to pretend we know what we're getting out of each player.
I agree with G.A.
Teams with elite players can have set rotations. This BC squad does not. We have a bunch of decent players with fairly unique skill sets. Each game its a matter of finding the right combination and/or the hot hand. It's not like the old days when we could just throw Smith, Dudley, Hinnant and Marshall out there and we would be better 95% of the teams we play.
Don't get me wrong- I really like Sanders, Raji, Jackson and Trapani but these guys all disappear from games for far too long to warrant a consistent rotation.
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