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Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 2414335, member: 837"] Really good post -- was getting ready to do one of my long-winded, rambling wrapups, but you tackled most of what I saw here. I'll add a couple things because, well, why not. -- Arguably the biggest takeaway was Battle looking at least pretty close to 100% (as you point out). Obviously he's our best player by a mile and maybe our best player on both the offensive AND defensive end. So a healthy battle is important. -- There was a lot of mention of Colgate hitting contested threes but they actually missed at least five good looks in the first half and another two or three in the second. Even if they knock down a few of those this game could have been much trickier. That said, I agree -- they didn't look bad to me. Executed well on both ends and thought they actually gave us fits with their defense -- played the mid-range and drive and then dared us to shoot threes. Pretty good strategy. As you pointed out, this is a team that played well vs. BC and while BC still likely isn't particularly good, if they are good enough to beat duke, then they're not atrocious. So, that counts for something. -- Sort of piggy-backing on that point, we just aren't great offensively. People get riled up about how terrible Frank is (more on that later) but the bottom line is what are you asking a player to do? Right now, even playing a team against whom we have a HUGE edge in talent, we still got just 10 points total from players not named Brissett/Howard/Battle. When no one even threatens double-figures against a not-great team, it tells you that at least right now, we have a very limited offense. That's not the end of the world but it's going to make for very few blowouts. -- Disappointing followup to UConn for Moyer. Not the end of the world but he just really, really struggles on the offensive end. I'm not asking for unrealistic things from him, but to make basically no contributions and log just 8 mins. vs. Colgate is pretty miserable. -- Washington is going to get his opportunity for extended minutes. I'm with everyone else -- he's looked solid out there and you would have loved to see him get a chance to get 12-15 mins against a team like colgate. But ultimately, it will happen. Right now JB is focused on winning games and bringing these guys along. I'm fine with that. -- Finally Howard -- I'm not going to belabor the point, but half of htis board wanted him to leave at the end of last season. I'd say close to 75% were not optimistic that he could play a solid role in a three-guard rotation with Battle and Thorpe. So to have the board melting down after a game where he goes for 18 on 50% shooting with six assists and six rebounds (yes, I understand, five turnovers) is difficult to take. The kid is being asked to fill a much bigger role than he would be ideally suited to fill. If we had the type of team where we could look to him for 20-25 mins of solid play (like the triche/Jardine/Rautins crew in '10), that would really be a good thing for us. But we can't and we need to be able to live with mistakes. The Uconn game was absolutely brutal but he really wasn't awful at all tonight and the fact that he's not an all-american or all-acc or even simply a really good PG, should not be such a colossal surprise and disappointment. Right now he's an asset and as long as that remains the case, we are pretty lucky to have him. -- Love that Dolezaj can have a big impact without scoring or even getting many touches. -- Lastly, Thorpe's decision remains utterly confusing. This was another game where he gets at least 10 mins, but probably more like 20. Oh well. [/QUOTE]

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