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Clavine said...

Poor starts to games. While I would disagree that we came out with no energy, I do believe we came out very tight. All game long we took care of the ball and rebounded well. However, we couldn't make shots...evidence we were tight. In other games this season, our poor starts were indeed lack of energy, among other things.

Really bad wing play. Heslip just isn't very good. He missed so many open looks last night that could have kept us in the game in the first half. He benefited last season because he was surrounded by a versatile cast of talent and got plenty of good looks. He shot freely last year because we didn't heavily rely on him, most of the time. This year, he was off all season and missed many open, good looks from the arc. Perhaps he was feeling our need for him to convert, or perhaps we just saw the real Heslip that was let go so easily by BC. Franklin/Walton/Bello...more really bad wing play. Hard to be consistent and beat good teams with poor wing play.

Austin is so soft. At 7'1, he couldn't assert himself against a guy 5 inches shorter. He has limited post game...not a good compliment to a team that struggles with their wing play. He would be a really good college player if he stayed another year, just like Miller...but he won't.

CJ disappears. He was so decisive against KU, and not just on those three 3s. Last night, he was hesitant, which he was prone to be all season. I think he deferred to Austin too often (or our team did) as a post threat. I hope he stays his last season as I think he'll be MUCH better without Austin alongside.

Pierre is just sensational. Last night he did what he did quite often this season...try to get others involved early in games. IMO, this is part of the reason we struggled early in games...we don't have much offensive talent around him. When Pierre asserted himself, we looked better and others got things through the natural course of action. Pierre should have been assertive from the opening tip in all our games. There are plenty of teams over years that excelled with one guy carrying them. We needed Pierre to carry us...from the opening tip.

Drew. I can only assume that Drew instructed Pierre to defer to teammates early in games...that was poor judgement. Drew also, stubbornly, seemed to insist on this team trying to run his stuff from the opening tip. That was a problem because this particular team was far better playing a fast tempo in a semi-chaotic game. Shame on Drew for not embracing this after the CU game and then seeing us play so well the next day in a fast game against SJU. Drew's resistance to this lost us the CofC and NW games, which in turn cost us an NCAA bid.

In fairness to Drew, because Miller left, this team was not a collection of pieces that fit well together...at all...it's hard to play good basketball without even decent wing play. However, it's a coaches job to be creative and figure out a way to make things work as well as they can, given the circumstances. He didn't do that. As a result, we're headed for the NIT with a team that could have and should have been an NCAA tournament team, even if it was never talented enough to be a second weekend tournament team. Too bad.

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Clavine said...

Poor starts to games. While I would disagree that we came out with no energy, I do believe we came out very tight. All game long we took care of the ball and rebounded well. However, we couldn't make shots...evidence we were tight. In other games this season, our poor starts were indeed lack of energy, among other things.

Really bad wing play. Heslip just isn't very good. He missed so many open looks last night that could have kept us in the game in the first half. He benefited last season because he was surrounded by a versatile cast of talent and got plenty of good looks. He shot freely last year because we didn't heavily rely on him, most of the time. This year, he was off all season and missed many open, good looks from the arc. Perhaps he was feeling our need for him to convert, or perhaps we just saw the real Heslip that was let go so easily by BC. Franklin/Walton/Bello...more really bad wing play. Hard to be consistent and beat good teams with poor wing play.

Austin is so soft. At 7'1, he couldn't assert himself against a guy 5 inches shorter. He has limited post game...not a good compliment to a team that struggles with their wing play. He would be a really good college player if he stayed another year, just like Miller...but he won't.

CJ disappears. He was so decisive against KU, and not just on those three 3s. Last night, he was hesitant, which he was prone to be all season. I think he deferred to Austin too often (or our team did) as a post threat. I hope he stays his last season as I think he'll be MUCH better without Austin alongside.

Pierre is just sensational. Last night he did what he did quite often this season...try to get others involved early in games. IMO, this is part of the reason we struggled early in games...we don't have much offensive talent around him. When Pierre asserted himself, we looked better and others got things through the natural course of action. Pierre should have been assertive from the opening tip in all our games. There are plenty of teams over years that excelled with one guy carrying them. We needed Pierre to carry us...from the opening tip.

Drew. I can only assume that Drew instructed Pierre to defer to teammates early in games...that was poor judgement. Drew also, stubbornly, seemed to insist on this team trying to run his stuff from the opening tip. That was a problem because this particular team was far better playing a fast tempo in a semi-chaotic game. Shame on Drew for not embracing this after the CU game and then seeing us play so well the next day in a fast game against SJU. Drew's resistance to this lost us the CofC and NW games, which in turn cost us an NCAA bid.

In fairness to Drew, because Miller left, this team was not a collection of pieces that fit well together...at all...it's hard to play good basketball without even decent wing play. However, it's a coaches job to be creative and figure out a way to make things work as well as they can, given the circumstances. He didn't do that. As a result, we're headed for the NIT with a team that could have and should have been an NCAA tournament team, even if it was never talented enough to be a second weekend tournament team. Too bad.