Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Baby steps? BC puts Maryland away

There was a moment...a moment of doubt that crept into all of our minds. You know the one I am talking about. In the final two minutes when Maryland hit a three and we followed it with a turnover. Were we about to watch BC blow another close game at home? But this time we hung on and closed out Maryland 69-58. It is our fourth ACC win (matching last season's total) and hopefully a sign of this team's growing confidence and composure. Here are my other thoughts (and as always you are encouraged to leave your own thoughts in the comments section):

Likes
-- Hanlan taking over. With most of the team having an off night, Hanlan did a little bit of everything. Down the stretch he also dominated our possessions with a lot of dribbling...and of course he made some clutch shots and free throws. He's cruising towards ACC Freshman of the Year awards.
-- Odio!!! Calling him a good energy guy or a change of pace is underselling his stellar play the past few weeks. He's a very, very good help defender. He's a good finisher and a good rebounder. Throw in some heady plays and we've got a rising star on our hands. Who would have guessed that it would be Eddie Odio who made the "leap" this year?
-- Strategy on Len. Anderson did most of the heavy lifting in guarding their big man, but our overall gameplan was solid. We doubled and also made it difficult for him to even get good positioning on his post ups.
-- Mad bombing. We've been in a bad habit of abandoning the 3 when it is not falling early. Despite missing a ton of 3s in the first half, we kept taking them. That sort of mindset is critical for a team built like us. Plus even on off nights, a 3 is a better offensive efficiency shot than a long two.


Dislikes
-- Anderson's offense. I applaud him for taking on Len, but he still needs to deliver on both ends. Even if he is not taking shots, he needs to be more careful with the ball and grab more rebounds.
-- The transition D.  We put ourselves in a huge first half hole by allowing their marksman (Aronhalt) to get off clean looks from long range. Those are the type of careless lapses that have cost us games and make me question if the guys are learning.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

In my impatient manner I was blasting TD for BC's consistently poor performance. My dissatisfaction with the whole BC athletic program - guess being a typical frustrated fan. But Tom is obviously building a strong ACC team. He is an outstanding teacher, has done a solid job recruiting considering our facilities and lack of "basketball" enthusiasm.
Don't know what the future will bring but BC is no longer an ACC doormat.

Erik said...

Dr Tom Davis? He deserved no credit nor blame. Tom Donahue.... A neighbor? Coworker?

Unknown said...

Whoops! I shall write Steve ten times in my BC coaches notebook. Did remind me of the Davis years, tho. Thanks for catching my "fluff".

NEDofSavinHill said...

Team is significantly better than last year. Odio, Heckman, Hanlon and Rahon, four players that contributed almost nothing last year, are having a major impact this year. BC would have 2 or 3 more wins if they shot free throws the way they have lately. Next year a playoff team?

NEDofSavinHill said...

Team is significantly better than last year. Odio, Heckman, Hanlon and Rahon, four players that contributed almost nothing last year, are having a major impact this year. BC would have 2 or 3 more wins if they shot free throws the way they have lately. Next year a playoff team?

dmyankees said...

most complete game of the year. GREAT game plan, awesome toughness and resiliency from players to come back from 1st half hole. held maryland to 18% shooting in 2nd half before the final two minutes. EIGHTEEN PERCENT! really exciting to see the team begin to gel!

Tom said...

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/super-page/this-superfan-had-the-bc-student-section-on-lockdown-last-night-vs-maryland/

yikes..

SLeBC02 said...

The student section is pathetic but that picture is of the other end of the court. There were 100-150 or so students behind the other baseline.

No excuse, the student support is embarrasing but for the few that do show up and care, that is not a representative picture.

Danny Boy said...

This is Eddie Odio's world. He's just letting us live in it.

mod10aeagle said...

Keep playing like they did last night and finish with Ws, and the students (and other fans) will come back.

And, by the way, the posters on that barstool sports site are complete morons. Yikes.

EL MIZ said...

the defense and BC's ability to hang with bigger teams is really a testament to the player's willingness to fight and Donahue getting them prepared. we actually outrebounded Maryland by 7 despite giving up a few inches on most matchups. maybe we dont need another Big after all?

FakeShalomTfree said...

Of all his skills, how could you not mention Odio's shotblocking ability?

He's like the second coming of Dikembe Motumbo