Likes
-- Starting Rubin. He went 4-9 from 3. I know he was a last minute recruit. I know there are real questions if he can defend in the ACC, but Donahue wants and needs shooters. If Rubin and be productive offensively I have no problem with him getting minutes over our more experienced guys.
-- Only five turnovers. That is encouraging and will certainly help our efficiency numbers.
-- Using the full and 3/4 press. I didn't get to see it but based on the tweets is seemed effective. I also like the idea of establishing tempo with the press.
Dislikes
-- Poor shooting from Trapani and Jackson. We won despite neither shooting well. I hope they both start finding their shots within the offense. According to Donahue there should still be plenty of opportunities for them to drive and cut towards the basket.
-- Allowing Holy Cross to cut into the lead late. We controlled in the end, but they made it interesting at times in the second half. We need a killer instinct.
Although we own the series Holy Cross always serves as a scary trap game. I am glad Donahue managed it and already seems to be adjusting his lineup. Maybe we will make things interesting in Orlando.
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9 comments:
Since Danny Rubin looks like a young Ralph Macchio, can we get a "Daniel-san" chant going every time he hits a three pointer?
People will be happy to know that Donahue makes good use of his TOs. In the second when HC went on a mini-run, he called a momentum stopping TO and we scored 5 quick points to cool them off.
Also, it's like musical chairs out there...he's constantly subbing. So while I think starting Rubin makes sense, it doesn't mean as much to start when you are getting rotated out 2-3 minutes in.
On Reggie...he looked more apt to dish than shoot today and I think it was by design, but who knows. As far as Trapani goes, he looks like garbage...forcing shots that aren't there. I hope this improves.
Donahue also gave significant non-garbage time minutes to a walk on, I think his name is Cahill. He hustles, but when he was out there our offensive game was stunted at best.
There were a bunch of very loud HC fans there...they probably outnumbered our students. I know this is their big game, but it was embarrassing.
Majorly embarassing, I will admit, it might have been a good night for students to skip a game after Friday hockey vs Maine, Saturday football vs UVA, and Sunday hockey vs Maine.
That said, for the fans that did show up, it was painful to be there and not see more BC students, or BC alumni there to support with you. BC fans couldn't get any cheers going because of the HC crew. (We've seen it before: UConn, Prov, Maryland)
On a personal level, it was really bad for me because my seats were right in the middle of the 300 loud young annoying Holy Cross students. I did eventually move, but for a while it was bad.
What was also bad about that, was all the HC kids were packing into lower area of Section NN, but BC administration must have known they had sold them seats in the high rows, so the security guy (who wasn't paid nearly enough last night) moved the entire HC section from (estimated) rows 15-28 up to rows 29-36, just so there could be a painfully noticeable completely empty section below them. It was part funny because it happened to HC, but more just embarassing because it got them louder, gave them reasons to knock BC and its empty arena. It was such a show. Anytime someone would sit down in that empty area, their tickets would be checked. No other section in the arena was having tickets checked, except for NN because they wanted to make sure HC students were in the last row. The ACC Southern Hospitality doesn't apply for Jesuit rivalry, I guess.
Luckily, those kids are lame and don't have any cheers other than "Let's Go Saders" and "Defense -- Defense".
I feel bad for our players who had to listen to that garbage on their home court.
Anyway, you can't get mad at the BC kids that did show up, they didn't have a chance to make an atmosphere. I just wish there were less people sitting home playing XBox or watching Wheel of Fortune.
Bowl Projections
You are queasy about BC going back to SF to play in the the Kraft Bowl? Well, Phil Steele predicts we are going to Detroit to play in the Little Ceaser Bowl against the MAc champ. (He's got ND going to SF)
Now that's a lowly bowl.
Basketball related:
Dunn didn't play much but he made some key inside shots. He was effective when in there.
Elmore hardly saw the floor. Looking at the box score, he played the same number of minutes as John Cahill (who even saw 1st half action).
We shot a lot of 3s. We'd hit them in bunches, then we'd miss in bunches and I'd be screaming to stop shooting 3s, then they'd make me eat my worlds by hitting a bunch in a row. It's cliché, but we really are dedicated to living and dying by the 3.
Holy Cross made BC work, and it was good to see our fight back and put a team away. The effort was there.
The rest of the ACC is losing to the Yales of the world too, so we might be okay.
Yes there were a lot of Holy Cross fans there. I don't really know what is the point of complaining about it. This is nothing new. We could copy and paste the same Holy Cross comments about there fans being loud here every time we play them.
If the team starts producing, more fans will come. Obviously this has never and will never be Cameron Indoor, but it will improve as the product improves. Especially the students.
Back to the game, definite improvement on defense and on the offensive flow. I am still concerned about all the three point shooting given our lack of good shooters. The offense also is meant to promote back door cuts and the high post, and we have not used that nearly as much. Southern, as much as he annoys me, had a few nice moments using the high post for some interior passing. Let's hope that grows in the offense
It was amazing to see a BC head coach making use of timeouts, diagramming plays on clipboards, and making frequent substitutions (in addition to constant loud whistling at the players which probably gets annoying for them!)... In any case, a lot more energy and passion on defense, but man, our shooting was pathetic. Reggie missed ALL THREE of his reverse layups, and Trapani's shots looked awful. Rubin got open and looked good out there shooting the ball, though.
Great article on Kuechly in the Globe today.
http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/football/articles/2010/11/23/kuechlys_eye_popping_numbers_tough_to_bring_down/?page=1
It appears Spaziani saves his praise for defensive players, only. it's the D-coordinator in him i guess. Also, it really is fun to "watch No. 40."
Spaz is wise to get out of Luke's way and let him do what he does best. Coaches have a tendency to over-think or over-coach everything. With a talented player like Luke, a coach can do more harm than good.
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