I watched the Princeton game on TV and attended the Boston U and Bryant games , and there is plenty of bad and definitely some good.
Let’s start with the competition. Princeton is a good team that used the same game plan that they beat a taller more athletic 2 seed and 7 seed in Arizona and Missouri and used the same blueprint on us. Crash the offensive glass , close out on our 3 point shooters , hit their 3’s whenever we went under screens , and out muscled guard play . Now the IVY League at least at the top has had and has again this year good teams as evidenced by Penn taking down Villanova last night. But despite all of that if we make just a handful , like 5 of our 17 missed layups and a few more foul shots we win.
The next game is hardly worth talking about as Boston U might be one of the worst teams in the country. Gavin broke out which was great but have to take it with a grain of salt. Our guards not playing well again was very disconcerting.
The Bryant game was interesting as they had a bunch of 6’3 to 6’7 guys who could all dribble , pass , shoot , drive , rebound and had some quickness. However, for the first time in the second half we saw something out of our guards , Derek and J Mike , and our upperclassmen Hyatt and Cliff step up their game. Again 12 turnovers about 9 of them early , 10 missed foul shots , again early but clutch down the stretch , left a lot on the table. Gavin struggled and rushed a number of shots. The guards did penetrate and got fouled which is a great thing but God Dammit you have this big Center to throw an alley oop to and it is a disappearing thing. Rebounding was better , defense was better at times , Hyatt’s weak side block phenomenal , Cliff actually jumping to corral every rebound late was great . Still something is missing.
It appears we are going to be successful if our guards , who are all capable , improve their entire game , passing , bounce passing , alley oops , dribbling tight to the body so they don’t get stripped , using the damn backboard on drives , using head fakes and their pivot feet , to let defenders fly by , shooting mid range , threes , pull ups , floaters , and rebounding. We have 3 very small guards so defensively they will be exploited as the year goes on. So it is crucially important that their offense and assisting and floor game offset the defensive shortcomings . Now they should be able to strip bigger guards , which I am hopeful to see down the road on the Big 10 season.
Gavin , Hyatt , Cliff and Wolf should be solid almost all games with definite potential to elevate their games , especially Cliff and Gavin . Cliff’s 12 and 6 should get to 18 and 10 , the first part partially a function of bad guard play and the second part totally up to Cliff. There should not be a game from here on out that he doesn’t get a double double and frankly a 20/10 game should pop up more than 1-2 times a year.
Gavin will get more comfortable and he moved without the ball much better against Bryant than Princeton , but a lot of his shots were off balance . He should continue to drive because he is a real good foul shooter.
No Mag yet. Unknown if he can be what he was preinjury , a crucial part of the team’s success.
My gut tells me our guards get better and better , more assertive , and this team gets better every game as the season goes on.
Let’s start with the competition. Princeton is a good team that used the same game plan that they beat a taller more athletic 2 seed and 7 seed in Arizona and Missouri and used the same blueprint on us. Crash the offensive glass , close out on our 3 point shooters , hit their 3’s whenever we went under screens , and out muscled guard play . Now the IVY League at least at the top has had and has again this year good teams as evidenced by Penn taking down Villanova last night. But despite all of that if we make just a handful , like 5 of our 17 missed layups and a few more foul shots we win.
The next game is hardly worth talking about as Boston U might be one of the worst teams in the country. Gavin broke out which was great but have to take it with a grain of salt. Our guards not playing well again was very disconcerting.
The Bryant game was interesting as they had a bunch of 6’3 to 6’7 guys who could all dribble , pass , shoot , drive , rebound and had some quickness. However, for the first time in the second half we saw something out of our guards , Derek and J Mike , and our upperclassmen Hyatt and Cliff step up their game. Again 12 turnovers about 9 of them early , 10 missed foul shots , again early but clutch down the stretch , left a lot on the table. Gavin struggled and rushed a number of shots. The guards did penetrate and got fouled which is a great thing but God Dammit you have this big Center to throw an alley oop to and it is a disappearing thing. Rebounding was better , defense was better at times , Hyatt’s weak side block phenomenal , Cliff actually jumping to corral every rebound late was great . Still something is missing.
It appears we are going to be successful if our guards , who are all capable , improve their entire game , passing , bounce passing , alley oops , dribbling tight to the body so they don’t get stripped , using the damn backboard on drives , using head fakes and their pivot feet , to let defenders fly by , shooting mid range , threes , pull ups , floaters , and rebounding. We have 3 very small guards so defensively they will be exploited as the year goes on. So it is crucially important that their offense and assisting and floor game offset the defensive shortcomings . Now they should be able to strip bigger guards , which I am hopeful to see down the road on the Big 10 season.
Gavin , Hyatt , Cliff and Wolf should be solid almost all games with definite potential to elevate their games , especially Cliff and Gavin . Cliff’s 12 and 6 should get to 18 and 10 , the first part partially a function of bad guard play and the second part totally up to Cliff. There should not be a game from here on out that he doesn’t get a double double and frankly a 20/10 game should pop up more than 1-2 times a year.
Gavin will get more comfortable and he moved without the ball much better against Bryant than Princeton , but a lot of his shots were off balance . He should continue to drive because he is a real good foul shooter.
No Mag yet. Unknown if he can be what he was preinjury , a crucial part of the team’s success.
My gut tells me our guards get better and better , more assertive , and this team gets better every game as the season goes on.
