Game 15: St. Bonaventure University, January 6th, 7 PM, American Sports Network

[Steve33]

Several years.

As i sat there last night watching the 2006 highlights on the corner screens (because we dont have a scoreboard screen) i thought, how long until this team gets back to the NCAA tourney? I personally think its going to be a very long time. let alone playing .500 ball in the A10.

 

[JimP]

Our guards show promise, but they aren't helping me forget Isiah Jackson. I think Grayer is putting too much pressure on himself. On a trip to the line last night he looked tight and nervous to me. Think he missed them both.

 

[KAOriginal]

We might win 1 A-10 game. It's just that bad looking.

But, this year was a question mark in my book, could have been okay could be as bad as it looks.

DP didnt got handed a sh*t sandwich, with extra corn chunks and its going to take some work.

 

[TwoFootTackle]

Very poor effort last night, especially on the defensive end. The Bonnies got to the rim at will. Paulsen has said that he wasn't sure how many wins we would have this year but that we would be proud of the effort, I didn't see that last night. I originally predicted 12 wins but that now looks unrealistic. 8 total wins and 2 - 16 in conference is a real possibility.

The effort was fine, but the execution was not. We need to get used to that this season.

 

[TwoFootTackle]

The crowd was small and quiet, which was to be expected given that it was a weeknight before classes were back in session with a fanbase still recovering from the last four years. It was so quiet that even the Bona fans seemed to lose enthusiasm. Well, they got pretty excited when one of their starters hit a reverse dunk against one of our walk-ons when they were up by 15.

I was pleased by some of the flashes I saw from several players. Got to remember to be patient with this team of freshmen. Marko clearly makes a difference. I don't know how vocal he is in the huddle, but he definitely leads by example.

 

[Vurbel]

he is #21 Andre Ahiagbede, a 6-1 freshman from Centreville, Va.

Under no circumstances should anybody ever be given #21. Ever.

 

[TwoFootTackle]

Even in a rebuilding year, we took a step back tonight. Nothing good to take away from tonight.

Saw alot of hustle til the end. But putting in the entire bench with 2:30 left in the game was a bit odd, No?

I think Paulsen has a good sense of the flow of the game and whether the players have it in them to make a run. He was correct to throw in the towel at that point.

 

[GSII]

Woke up this morning, turned on Sportscenter, and there we were. Getting a reverse dunk sandwhich as St Bona made the SC TOP 10 plays. Turned off the TV and now am hiding under the bed. Someone come get me when the season is over.

 

[TwoFootTackle]

Woke up this morning, turned on Sportscenter, and there we were. Getting a reverse dunk sandwhich as St Bona made the SC TOP 10 plays. Turned off the TV and now am hiding under the bed. Someone come get me when the season is over.

Don't sweat it. He blew by Dixon and dunked as Royal was late running to help. Tate, Rudy, and Murrell were playing zone...or something.

 

[mkaufman1]

Several years.

I expect the corner to turn in year 3 (as it does with most coaches who are talented IMO). Essentially 2 recruitment classes, plus 1 year of the 2 classes playing together.

Last night was pretty awful and I suspect there are going to be more nights like that going forward until the corner turns. I've never seen a team miss layup after layup and barely hit rim on 3 pointers even when wide open. When they looked competent, you can tell the coaching is there with the ball movement on offense and when the defense makes several stops in a row.

The team has a lot of work to do before they can even sniff .500 in conference. That said its clear a culture change is in process between the running to each other after a defensive play, to the bench for a timeout, or even Marko and Otis going over to the band after the game and waving to fans.

Royal looks completely lost out there, whether its letting a guy blow by him on defense, not helping in time, or blocking his own dunk attempt.

Its going to be a long process.

 

[gmujim92]

Very poor effort last night, especially on the defensive end. The Bonnies got to the rim at will. Paulsen has said that he wasn't sure how many wins we would have this year but that we would be proud of the effort, I didn't see that last night. I originally predicted 12 wins but that now looks unrealistic. 8 total wins and 2 - 16 in conference is a real possibility.

That same St. Bonaventure team put up 97 points against Davidson.

In other words, those guys are pretty damn good -- especially Posley and Adams, who are probably the best guard tandem in the league.

Let's not confuse results with effort.

 

[gmutom]

In other words, those guys are pretty damn good -- especially Posley and Adams, who are probably the best guard tandem in the league.

Those guys were pretty much unstoppable and will give teams fits all year. I'm not sure how much it would have helped, but it would have been nice to see us throw more zone defense at them to at least slow down their dribble penetration. I really felt bad for Otis and Marquis, because they were completely overmatched trying to cover Posely and Adams man-to-man. I know Paulsen's not a huge zone guy (probably to a fault), but we really had no shot staying with them one on one.

 

[Five Two]

That reverse "dunk" that made SC Top 10 was nice, but did he actually dunk it? I've not seen a replay and it didn't seem like the basket moved at all. Still, great move to the basket which leads me too....

As Tom pointed out, a zone would be nice once in a while. I wonder if DP thinks a zone will make the guys soft and as part of his culture change, won't play it because it will send the wrong message for the future. On the other hand, we all see that our guards can't cover and SBU had at least 13 layups that I counted last night. IMO, its fair to question DP on why we stay in man when we clearly can't cover anyone.

Thompson's stat line is so deceiving. Was there ever a more quiet double-double? Its like we can't even give him the ball near the basket for fear of 1) he'll miss or 2) he'll get fouled and not make any FTs.

Poor Julian Royal. Soon after the reverse dunk against us, he comes down and, with a running start, can't leap high enough to dunk the ball and SBU gets the rebound.

 

[mkaufman1]

A zone would be nice, but remember that the one possession Mason played a zone against vcu (who has decent guard play), they immediately got it inside for a layup, so I suspect he probably didn't think it would do much.

 

[Petey Buckets]

A few notes/thoughts from this game:

- Our guards really struggled to defend dribble penetration. As others have noted, some sort of zone would have helped with this. SB's bread and butter is constant ball screens, and we don't match up well against that at all.

- Otis has the gift of Court Vision. He threaded a siiiiiiiick pass to someone (I forget who) on a breakaway in the first half. All he should have seen was three defenders in front of him, but he read his man cutting and lead him to the basket. That was my favorite play of the game.

- For most of the game, we played well offensively despite Abram and Grayer being non-factors. If neither of those guys are scoring our offense usually grinds to a halt, so it's encouraging that we had long stretches where we were trading baskets.

- Shevon's weakness/indecisiveness with the ball really hurts our zone offense. You beat a zone from the inside out, and our guards seem rightfully hesitant to get it in to Shevon. We ended up skipping the ball around the perimeter and taking threes on a few possessions against the zone, which is exactly what the defense wants you to do.

Overall, I see a team that's still learning and coming together, and I'm encouraged by it. I wouldn't be surprised if we win only 2 games in conference, nor would I be surprised if we get our shit together and win 6.

 

[GMU_DCU]

Saw some leadership from Moore last night. After Grayer clanked another wild 3 point shot Moore pointed to his head as to say "it's in your head" then gave him a shooting motion as to say "keep shooting".

 

[Bricker]

- Otis has the gift of Court Vision. He threaded a siiiiiiiick pass to someone (I forget who) on a breakaway in the first half. All he should have seen was three defenders in front of him, but he read his man cutting and lead him to the basket. That was my favorite play of the game.

This is another area where our ham-handed big men are hurting guard play. Otis had several "what could have been" moments where he threaded some sweet passes inside during the vcu game. Bounced right off the hands or juggled and stolen.

 

[JimP]

I would think the "no zone" philosophy works far better in the Patriot League where you won't play anyone with as talented a backcourt as St. Bonaventure. Paulsen may have to modify his thinking a bit.

 

[gmujim92]

If you can't guard man-to-man, which has the most basic principles of any defensive system, chances are slim that you'll be effective trying to play zone.

It's why Syracuse is one of the few teams that plays zone as its base defense.

Before last night, preventing dribble penetration has been one of our strengths. We've been good at forcing teams to shoot over the top.

Sometimes the other guys are just better than you are.

 

[liem.le.3388]

If you can't guard man-to-man, which has the most basic principles of any defensive system, chances are slim that you'll be effective trying to play zone.

It's why Syracuse is one of the few teams that plays zone as its base defense.

Before last night, preventing dribble penetration has been one of our strengths. We've been good at forcing teams to shoot over the top.

Sometimes the other guys are just better than you are.

I agree Posley and Adams were just flat out better than any of our guards. I still believe we could have had a chance if we made our free throws and managed to take the lead any time during the game. Not getting over the hump took the wind out of our sails and pow 20 pt game. Paulsen is correct when he says this team is very fragile.