The Downside- Holy Cross

[SWC75]

- Indiana (Pa), LeMoyne, Colgate, and Holy Cross all have two things in common- all lost decisively to us and none of them are Monmouth, who will be a totally different deal.

- Talent will out on offense but defense is a team sport and JB clearly isn’t pleased with what he sees so far, despite the good numbers.

- 39-27 is a solid rebounding edge but we’ve had teams scorch us on the boards, (Wisconsin last year was 25-51). We never seem to do that to anyone.

- I’ve dropped any notion of Pascal Chukwu being the second coming of Fab Melo, at least this year. And DaJuan Coleman looks pretty much like he did last year. The idea of a big senior year seems unlikely. I think JB actually prefers to have Lydon or Thompson at center. At least we’ve got four guys who can play that positon this year. Obokoh would have been 5th string.

 

[two3zone]

- Indiana (Pa), LeMoyne, Colgate, and Holy Cross all have two things in common- all lost decisively to us and none of them are Monmouth, who will be a totally different deal.

- Talent will out on offense but defense is a team sport and JB clearly isn’t pleased with what he sees so far, despite the good numbers.

- 39-27 is a solid rebounding edge but we’ve had teams scorch us on the boards, (Wisconsin last year was 25-51). We never seem to do that to anyone.

- I’ve dropped any notion of Pascal Chukwu being the second coming of Fab Melo, at least this year. And DaJuan Coleman looks pretty much like he did last year. The idea of a big senior year seems unlikely. I think JB actually prefers to have Lydon or Thompson at center. At least we’ve got four guys who can play that positon this year. Obokoh would have been 5th string.

He mentioned this in the presser, I think we have the players to make that a reality when ACC time comes around. I know it's just a couple of games against lower level opponents, but as it stands right now I wouldn't be shocked seeing Lydon play 25 minutes at the 5 by the end of the year.

 

[AlaskaSU]

We lost the tipoff. Maybe we should have Chewy jump and then do a quick hook.

 

[SoBristol]

I am not sure we would see a huge rebounding margin, when we hit a high percentage of outside shots, and score a lot on the inside as well. Tends to cut down on the rebounding opportunities.

I agree that Lydon may play 25 minutes at the center of the zone in the toughest ACC games. It gives us 5 players with offensive skills, and allows White and Battle to operate at their more natural wing positions. With Thompson developing game to game, we have another way of playing with more size (Lydon & Thompson) than we had last season.

But I wouldn't carve that outcome in stone. JB is trying to give Chukwu a lot of opportunity to get better; and he kept Coleman on the court for a longer stretch at the start of the second half. It is up to those two to make their place in the rotation. Chukwu might well get better -- he blocked or altered or simply deterred several shots in this game; he can be a valuable asset.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The three point defense has looked as bad as ever two games in a row. Can't have that against the Dukes and UVA's of the world late in the year. All the guards besides Battle need improvement there.

 

[SWC75]

We lost the tipoff. Maybe we should have Chewy jump and then do a quick hook.

We couldn't win the toss in football and we can't get the tip-offs in basketball.

 

[HoustonCuse]

We couldn't win the toss in football and we can't get the tip-offs in basketball.

I don't know if the data is even available but is there a correlation between winning the tip and winning the game?

 

[orangefan13]

press needs a lot of work. Jim said last presser if it keeps failing you won't see it anymore.

 

[jordoo]

He mentioned this in the presser, I think we have the players to make that a reality when ACC time comes around. I know it's just a couple of games against lower level opponents, but as it stands right now I wouldn't be shocked seeing Lydon play 25 minutes at the 5 by the end of the year.

I'd like to keep it around 15min but the reality is 80% of D1 teams aren't going to have a front line or true power type post players to take advantage of Lydon in the middle, not to mention he's better defensively than Coleman and Chukwu is still learning in there. If you are coaching and you've got two of Battle, Gillon, White, Howard on the bench its got to be awful tempting to pull your center, slide Lydon to the 5 and put one of them in the game. There are a few teams in the ACC that will be able to take advantage of the smaller lineup but can those teams handle our offense? That is the trade off. Gonzoga killed us in the paint last year and that team managed to score more than them in the end. This years team is going to give teams fits trying to defend them.