The Downside: BC

[SWC75]

- No matter how many in a row you win, losing still sucks.


- And this was the most ill-timed regular season loss I can remember. We lost at home to a 6-19 team and now go on a three game road trip that included two of the top teams in the country and a third team that is surely better than the one that just beat us. This could turn into a free-fall very easily.


- All that stuff about how it doesn’t matter if we aren’t playing well because we always find a way to win, we are a team of destiny, etc. is a bunch of crap. The more close games we have, the more likely we are to lose some. The better we play, the fewer close games we will have. We were letting teams stay with us and tonight we paid for it.


- Our willingness to play the game at the other team’s pace also was bound to come home to roost. Really good teams make the other team play their game. For some reason JB is willing to let the other team dictate the pass of the game. It’s a lot to concede, especially to an underdog.


- Tonight the late-game magic just wasn’t there. A big part of it was free-throw shooting. It was strange we don’t have any bad free throw shooters. And if a decent free throw shooter makes the first, he is nearly a sure bet to make the second. Both Grant and Christmas twice made the first and missed the second. Any of those second shots could have won it in regulation. It was that kind of night.


- Our shooting slump continued. We were 2 for 12 from the arc for the second straight game. Even worse, we were 18 for 50, (36%). That’s horrible.


- Another concern is our rebounding. Boston College was 301st in the country inn rebound margin. They out-hustled us to the ball all night. For much of the game, they were 10 rebounds ahead of us. We closed the gap to 37-40 by the games end but that includes several sequences down the stretch where we tried to tip missed shots in but there seemed to be a lid on the basket. We had 4 offensive rebounds in the first half, 9 in the second half but scored the same number of points in each half, 25. With the athletes we have up front there is no way we should have lost the battle of the boards in this game but we did.


- You have to wonder how good this team really is. Yes, I know that 25-1 is still a heck of record. But we have only one reliable outside shooter and the opposition can take him out of the game just by making sure a defender chases him around wherever he goes. Our best all-around player often tried to do to much by himself and is in a terrible shooting slump. We have two pretty good inside guys but teams are collapsing on them. We have a point guard who doesn’t look to score unless the game is in its final minutes. And we have no scoring at all off the bench. Aside from Tyler Ennis, our bally-hooed recruiting class hasn’t done much. The search for that eighth man to give us the depth we need has come up empty. We’re not a bad team certainly but JB has said we are more like a 20-5 team that went 25-0 and he is right.


- Firs time this year I‘ve made a point of avoiding Sports Center. It’s been a fun run but now things have gotten serious.

 

[domestu]

Your game posts are always appreciated in both good times and bad times.

63. That is how many points per game we are averaging in conference play this season. Take away the Duke game and SU is averaging 60 ppg in the ACC. This team does so many things well but we are fairly mediocre when it comes to scoring points. We are 12th in conference play in field goal percentage and 3-point field goals made and 11th in points per game. We are also last in the ACC in bench points.

I wish that there were players sitting on the bench who could come into the game and give us some instant offense like Southerland, Waiters, Joseph, Scoop and so many others have done in recent years, but I don't see anyone who can do that for us on this team. There have been many seasons when I believed one of our subs should see more playing time but I just don't see anyone outside of our main seven players who are going to contribute what we need to win games this year.

It is what it is and 25-1 is pretty damn good if you ask me. I appreciate all of the things this team excels at and just hope we can continue to overcome our offensive weaknesses.

Go Cuse! Beat Duke!

 

[Melancer46]

Agree with everything here, except for the one about the pace, and I have a legitimate question about that. What do you think our pace is? I think that this year, we're a slow it down/grind it out kind of team. I don't think we played to their pace tonight. I feel like painfully slow has been our pace the vast majority of the season. That's how Ennis operates.

 

[thebigeast44]

Your game posts are always appreciated in both good times and bad times.

63. That is how many points per game we are averaging in conference play this season. Take away the Duke game and SU is averaging 60 ppg in the ACC. This team does so many things well but we are fairly mediocre when it comes to scoring points. We are 12th in conference play in field goal percentage and 3-point field goals made and 11th in points per game. We are also last in the ACC in bench points.

I wish that there were players sitting on the bench who could come into the game and give us some instant offense like Southerland, Waiters, Joseph, Scoop and so many others have done in recent years, but I don't see anyone who can do that for us on this team. There have been many seasons when I believed one of our subs should see more playing time but I just don't see anyone outside of our main seven players who are going to contribute what we need to win games this year.

It is what it is and 25-1 is pretty damn good if you ask me. I appreciate all of the things this team excels at and just hope we can continue to overcome our offensive weaknesses.

Go Cuse! Beat Duke!

Good post Dome! Last year, we had some serious issues with scoring points. Fortunately, our defense led us to the final 4. Hopefully, this year our de will be as good and our offense will improve down the stretch. Let's Go Orange!

 

[OttoMets]

I'll throw one more Downside out there. (And, yes, I'm aware that ticket sales, not turnstile count, is the industry standard for attendance.)

SU is just making up numbers for attendance at this point. It's as bad as it is during football season. That 26-whatever number doesn't reflect actual attendance; we know that. But it also didn't reflect tickets sold or distributed, and that's disappointing (and not the first time they've done that this season).

With our season ticket sales and our strong weekend schedule, we could have won the attendance crown on the merits this season; there's no reason for SU to resort to this. Really shameful and unnecessary.

 

[tbonezone]

biggest downside is that last night we were exposed . not the unconquerable team of destiny some might have thought but probably just lucky.
i'm reminded a bit of peachy carnehans' tale in kipling's " the man who would be king"
Their schemes were dashed when Dravot decided to marry a Kafir girl. Terrified at marrying a god, the girl bit Dravot when he tried to kiss her. Seeing him bleed, the priests cried that he was "Neither God nor Devil but a man!"
i fear the natives may now see us as weak and vulnerable rather than as superior kings and come looking for blood.

 

[shermstheman]

biggest downside is that last night we were exposed . not the unconquerable team of destiny some might have thought but probably just lucky.
i'm reminded a bit of peachy carnehans' tale in kipling's " the man who would be king"
Their schemes were dashed when Dravot decided to marry a Kafir girl. Terrified at marrying a god, the girl bit Dravot when he tried to kiss her. Seeing him bleed, the priests cried that he was "Neither God nor Devil but a man!"
i fear the natives may now see us as weak and vulnerable rather than as superior kings and come looking for blood.

That is deep, my brain just went "boingggg" (but I like the quote).

 

[SWC75]

biggest downside is that last night we were exposed . not the unconquerable team of destiny some might have thought but probably just lucky.
i'm reminded a bit of peachy carnehans' tale in kipling's " the man who would be king"
Their schemes were dashed when Dravot decided to marry a Kafir girl. Terrified at marrying a god, the girl bit Dravot when he tried to kiss her. Seeing him bleed, the priests cried that he was "Neither God nor Devil but a man!"
i fear the natives may now see us as weak and vulnerable rather than as superior kings and come looking for blood.

I once heard a description of fame: "It's like being an explorer in the jungle who happens on a tribe of cannibals. The good news is that you resemble one of their Gods. The bad news is: "What does a God do, anyway?"

 

[LennX6]

Agree with everything here, except for the one about the pace, and I have a legitimate question about that. What do you think our pace is? I think that this year, we're a slow it down/grind it out kind of team. I don't think we played to their pace tonight. I feel like painfully slow has been our pace the vast majority of the season. That's how Ennis operates.

I keep saying, our games are full of offensive rebounds . A good portion of those offensive rebounds, especially for our opponents, result in 2-3 more new 35's per possession. That extends now to get 2 (or 3) pts, it could be one team having the ball close to 2 minutes. 20 minutes in a half melt away when you have 2-3 of those like we've been seeing.
The clock seemed like it went from 5 min left in the game to 1 min and a half in notime flat with the way BC was retaining possession.

 

[SWC75]

I keep saying, our games are full of offensive rebounds . A good portion of those offensive rebounds, especially for our opponents, result in 2-3 more new 35's per possession. That extends now to get 2 (or 3) pts, it could be one team having the ball close to 2 minutes. 20 minutes in a half melt away when you have 2-3 of those like we've been seeing.
The clock seemed like it went from 5 min left in the game to 1 min and a half in notime flat with the way BC was retaining possession.

And it seems to me that playing defense takes more energy than playing offense. When you have to do it for a couple minutes at a time, that can wear you down.