SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Box scores can be deceiving. They just provide totals. It’s not just what you do but when you do it. Against Georgetown the rebounding was 36-34 in favor of Syracuse and 13-12 on the offensive boards but the Hoyas had a series of possessions at a key point in the second half when they got offensive rebounds and converted and took a lead they never relinquished. Against Marquette the turnovers were 12-12 but we have a couple of bad ones in the stretch near the end of the game where Marquette turned a deficit into a win for them. In this game, we just couldn’t make shots when the game was hanging in the balance and in the final minute, when it was decided. If we can’t make the plays when it counts, there are going to be more games like this.
- Michael Carter-Williams had nice numbers: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and only one turnover. But in the final minute of play he had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Luke Hancock hit a three pointer to give Louisville a 48-51 lead with 51 seconds left. MCS came dribbling down court and jacked up an off-balance 30 footer, obviously trying to “answer” Hancock. We need to make sure we got a good shot and score on that possession, even if it was only a two-pointer. The one thing we had to avoid was to come up empty. We wound up having to foul to get the ball back and Louisville made their free throws. Then, down 6 with 12 seconds left, we absolutely needed a quick three. So MCW drives to the basket, fumbles the ball, has it bounce off a couple of guys and out to CJ Fair who actually gets the three. That should have been the play to begin with. There are a lot of things that can be said about a point guard. “What was he thinking?” should not be one of them.
- MCW is a sophomore point guard starting this year for the first time at the college level. Brandon Triche is a senior who is a four year starter. He and CJ Fair should be the pillars of this team. CJ is but Brandon is just a pile of rocks. A big game at the end of your senior year and you shoot 2 for 11 with 7 turnovers? Brandon is the key to this team. People think that James Southerland’s shooting opens things up for the offense. But why cover a guy who is jacking up 30 footers? Sure, he’ll make a couple of them and the crowd will go crazy. But he’ll also miss some and make them groan. Nobody is going to stretch their defense to cover a guy like that. But when Brandon makes 2-3 twenty footers and 2-3 fifteen footers, they have to start following him around. That not only opens things up for CJ and MCW, a9nd even the centers to some extent), but it sets up Brandon’s own drives. When he shoots like he does today, (and he’s 10 for 34 in the three straight losses), we can be beaten with 58 points.
- The centers continued to be totally ineffectual on offense. Christmas and Keita got off two shots in 37 minutes of play and made one of them. Neither got to the line. 2 points. Also 6 rebounds. Christmas twice bobbled away golden scoring opportunities. Keita got a rebound and could have easily dunked but brought the ball down, let the defense collapse on him and missed. Coleman was in for a nano-second and managed to miss one shot, (a strong move to the basket, though) and commit two fouls. The fact that not one of these guys could emerge as any kind of offensive force is the major frustration of the season.
- In the three losses, Jerami Grant, who looked like a burgeoning star when Southerland was out, has played a total of 26 minutes and done little in that time. Southerland has played 98 minutes. James got a couple of good rebounds early but was otherwise useless until he hit a couple of threes in the second half, one to give us out last lead at 38-36. But his skills are no so much greater than Grant’s that James should be getting 80% of the playing time. And Jerami’s skills are the sort that can be there from possession to possession. He can rebound, block shots, score inside and make medium range jump shots. Jerami seems to be the type of player who thrives when given playing time but loses interest when he isn’t. (Yeah, there are a lot of those types.) Benching him in hope that James will go off at some point doesn’t seem like the best strategy. James should be expected to provide “instant offense”. When he doesn’t, let’s give Jerami another shot.
- The gap in free throws taken wasn’t as bad as in the Marquette game but it was still significant, (12 for us 24 for them in a 5 point game). I did think we committed more fouls than Marquette but I don’t’ think we committed more fouls than Louisville. A couple of fouls came in that last minute but there were a lot of occasions when our players got knocked around in the paint with no call. In the three losses we’ve out-scored the opposition 149-134 but lost because we were out-scored form the line 21-55.
- A game of inches: I don’t think we got a roll the whole game, except for one twisting lay-up by CJ that set up a three point play, (but he couldn’t convert the free throw). And I’ve never seen so many rebounds that bounced off our out-stretched fingertips. That’s basketball.
- Michael Carter-Williams had nice numbers: 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and only one turnover. But in the final minute of play he had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Luke Hancock hit a three pointer to give Louisville a 48-51 lead with 51 seconds left. MCS came dribbling down court and jacked up an off-balance 30 footer, obviously trying to “answer” Hancock. We need to make sure we got a good shot and score on that possession, even if it was only a two-pointer. The one thing we had to avoid was to come up empty. We wound up having to foul to get the ball back and Louisville made their free throws. Then, down 6 with 12 seconds left, we absolutely needed a quick three. So MCW drives to the basket, fumbles the ball, has it bounce off a couple of guys and out to CJ Fair who actually gets the three. That should have been the play to begin with. There are a lot of things that can be said about a point guard. “What was he thinking?” should not be one of them.
- MCW is a sophomore point guard starting this year for the first time at the college level. Brandon Triche is a senior who is a four year starter. He and CJ Fair should be the pillars of this team. CJ is but Brandon is just a pile of rocks. A big game at the end of your senior year and you shoot 2 for 11 with 7 turnovers? Brandon is the key to this team. People think that James Southerland’s shooting opens things up for the offense. But why cover a guy who is jacking up 30 footers? Sure, he’ll make a couple of them and the crowd will go crazy. But he’ll also miss some and make them groan. Nobody is going to stretch their defense to cover a guy like that. But when Brandon makes 2-3 twenty footers and 2-3 fifteen footers, they have to start following him around. That not only opens things up for CJ and MCW, a9nd even the centers to some extent), but it sets up Brandon’s own drives. When he shoots like he does today, (and he’s 10 for 34 in the three straight losses), we can be beaten with 58 points.
- The centers continued to be totally ineffectual on offense. Christmas and Keita got off two shots in 37 minutes of play and made one of them. Neither got to the line. 2 points. Also 6 rebounds. Christmas twice bobbled away golden scoring opportunities. Keita got a rebound and could have easily dunked but brought the ball down, let the defense collapse on him and missed. Coleman was in for a nano-second and managed to miss one shot, (a strong move to the basket, though) and commit two fouls. The fact that not one of these guys could emerge as any kind of offensive force is the major frustration of the season.
- In the three losses, Jerami Grant, who looked like a burgeoning star when Southerland was out, has played a total of 26 minutes and done little in that time. Southerland has played 98 minutes. James got a couple of good rebounds early but was otherwise useless until he hit a couple of threes in the second half, one to give us out last lead at 38-36. But his skills are no so much greater than Grant’s that James should be getting 80% of the playing time. And Jerami’s skills are the sort that can be there from possession to possession. He can rebound, block shots, score inside and make medium range jump shots. Jerami seems to be the type of player who thrives when given playing time but loses interest when he isn’t. (Yeah, there are a lot of those types.) Benching him in hope that James will go off at some point doesn’t seem like the best strategy. James should be expected to provide “instant offense”. When he doesn’t, let’s give Jerami another shot.
- The gap in free throws taken wasn’t as bad as in the Marquette game but it was still significant, (12 for us 24 for them in a 5 point game). I did think we committed more fouls than Marquette but I don’t’ think we committed more fouls than Louisville. A couple of fouls came in that last minute but there were a lot of occasions when our players got knocked around in the paint with no call. In the three losses we’ve out-scored the opposition 149-134 but lost because we were out-scored form the line 21-55.
- A game of inches: I don’t think we got a roll the whole game, except for one twisting lay-up by CJ that set up a three point play, (but he couldn’t convert the free throw). And I’ve never seen so many rebounds that bounced off our out-stretched fingertips. That’s basketball.
