SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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The Upside
- When I got up this morning, I didn’t think we had much of a team. The injury to Mounir Hima and the inadequacy of Peter Carey and William Patterson meant that our 6-8 222 power forward Maliq Brown had to play center for long stretches of games. The meltdown of Benny Williams means that Justin Taylor, our 6-6 218 small forward, (some people see him as a shooting guard), has to play power forward. Meanwhile, JJ Starling, who was supposed to be Robin to Judah Mintz’s Batman, wasn’t fulfilling that role. I just couldn’t see how that could sustainable through an ACC schedule. We’d be too small and too dependent on Mintz to carry the team. That’s exactly how we looked in the first half, as well as sloppy with the ball and confused on defense.
The second half we revved up the defense, (we wound up with 12 steals, several of which resulted in fast break dunks) and, as often happens, that energized the team and got the offense going. Hima came in late in the first half and made a couple of plays and then came back to do the same in the second half. Starling started scoring and he didn’t have to go the basket to do it: he was 3 for 3 from the arc and also hit a 2 point jumper. Quadir Copeland thrived in the open court, making steals, driving to the basket and throwing down spectacular dunks. Maliq Brown, who had grabbed 12 rebounds against Cornell but somehow never scored, looked to score and was 4 for 5 from the field. It was have if the team checked one box after another. If we can sustain that level of play, this could be a fun season.
- Mintz is still Batman and our 35-34 halftime lead was entirely due to him. In the second half he let his teammates take over and the headline was that he could do that. He still wound up with 25 points 3 rebounds 3 assists 5 steals and a block. That’s what All-Americans do.
- Starling had 21 points, 5 rebounds and a steal, (no assists?). That’s what we had in mind.
- Copeland had 14 points on 6 for 7 shooting with 4 rebs, an assist, a block and a steal. More importantly, he did everything with ‘energy’, one of Coach Autry’s favorite words. “As long as you play with energy, the balls going to find you and the ball’s going to find the net”. Coach said “He can guard 1-4 and gives us a 3 and sometimes a fourth ball handler out there. He gives us versatility. He can play with anybody”.
- Maliq Brown rebounded a missed free throw at 16:32 of the second half, got an offensive rebound at 16:13, put in a lay-up at 16:08, took a feed from a Judah Mintz steal and dunked at 15:44 and hit a jumper (!) in the paint at 14:37, as we went from a 4 to a 7 point lead. He had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a block and assist.
- Mounir Hima came in with 1:50 left in the first half and the game tied at 31. He’d played 3 minutes this season with no other numbers. He grabbed a rebound at 1:21 and another at 0:43 and laid the ball in at 0:40. He came in at 11:09 of the second half and assisted (!) on a Copeland dunk at 8:53, blocked at shot at 7:41, made a lay-up at 5:34. He committed a foul at 3:54 and was pulled form the game. The fact that he played 7mintes and 13 second in that stretch while the team went from 54-47 to 69-58 was the biggest stat of all. We have a back-up center!
7-3 with 21+ to go…
LET’S GO ORANGE!
Net Points
This year I’m going to make things a bit easier on myself and just list the net points in each game after the Upside. Once a month I’ll do a deeper dive into the numbers rather than doing a “Net Points, etc.” post after every game. ‘Net’ points is the positives (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) minus the negatives, (missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed).
Judah Mintz 20NP in 33 minutes
JJ Starling 16NP in 38 minutes
Quadir Copeland 13NP in 25 minutes
Maliq Brown 10NP in 27 minutes.
Mounir Hima 12NP in 9 minutes
Naheem McLeod 1NP in 4 minutes
Chris Bell 1NP in 21 minutes
Justin Taylor 1NP in 29 minutes
Benny Williams 0NP in 11 minutes
Kyle Cuffe -1NP in 15 minutes
Recruited players who did not play: Peter Carey, William Patterson, Chance Westry
- When I got up this morning, I didn’t think we had much of a team. The injury to Mounir Hima and the inadequacy of Peter Carey and William Patterson meant that our 6-8 222 power forward Maliq Brown had to play center for long stretches of games. The meltdown of Benny Williams means that Justin Taylor, our 6-6 218 small forward, (some people see him as a shooting guard), has to play power forward. Meanwhile, JJ Starling, who was supposed to be Robin to Judah Mintz’s Batman, wasn’t fulfilling that role. I just couldn’t see how that could sustainable through an ACC schedule. We’d be too small and too dependent on Mintz to carry the team. That’s exactly how we looked in the first half, as well as sloppy with the ball and confused on defense.
The second half we revved up the defense, (we wound up with 12 steals, several of which resulted in fast break dunks) and, as often happens, that energized the team and got the offense going. Hima came in late in the first half and made a couple of plays and then came back to do the same in the second half. Starling started scoring and he didn’t have to go the basket to do it: he was 3 for 3 from the arc and also hit a 2 point jumper. Quadir Copeland thrived in the open court, making steals, driving to the basket and throwing down spectacular dunks. Maliq Brown, who had grabbed 12 rebounds against Cornell but somehow never scored, looked to score and was 4 for 5 from the field. It was have if the team checked one box after another. If we can sustain that level of play, this could be a fun season.
- Mintz is still Batman and our 35-34 halftime lead was entirely due to him. In the second half he let his teammates take over and the headline was that he could do that. He still wound up with 25 points 3 rebounds 3 assists 5 steals and a block. That’s what All-Americans do.
- Starling had 21 points, 5 rebounds and a steal, (no assists?). That’s what we had in mind.
- Copeland had 14 points on 6 for 7 shooting with 4 rebs, an assist, a block and a steal. More importantly, he did everything with ‘energy’, one of Coach Autry’s favorite words. “As long as you play with energy, the balls going to find you and the ball’s going to find the net”. Coach said “He can guard 1-4 and gives us a 3 and sometimes a fourth ball handler out there. He gives us versatility. He can play with anybody”.
- Maliq Brown rebounded a missed free throw at 16:32 of the second half, got an offensive rebound at 16:13, put in a lay-up at 16:08, took a feed from a Judah Mintz steal and dunked at 15:44 and hit a jumper (!) in the paint at 14:37, as we went from a 4 to a 7 point lead. He had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a block and assist.
- Mounir Hima came in with 1:50 left in the first half and the game tied at 31. He’d played 3 minutes this season with no other numbers. He grabbed a rebound at 1:21 and another at 0:43 and laid the ball in at 0:40. He came in at 11:09 of the second half and assisted (!) on a Copeland dunk at 8:53, blocked at shot at 7:41, made a lay-up at 5:34. He committed a foul at 3:54 and was pulled form the game. The fact that he played 7mintes and 13 second in that stretch while the team went from 54-47 to 69-58 was the biggest stat of all. We have a back-up center!
7-3 with 21+ to go…
LET’S GO ORANGE!
Net Points
This year I’m going to make things a bit easier on myself and just list the net points in each game after the Upside. Once a month I’ll do a deeper dive into the numbers rather than doing a “Net Points, etc.” post after every game. ‘Net’ points is the positives (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) minus the negatives, (missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed).
Judah Mintz 20NP in 33 minutes
JJ Starling 16NP in 38 minutes
Quadir Copeland 13NP in 25 minutes
Maliq Brown 10NP in 27 minutes.
Mounir Hima 12NP in 9 minutes
Naheem McLeod 1NP in 4 minutes
Chris Bell 1NP in 21 minutes
Justin Taylor 1NP in 29 minutes
Benny Williams 0NP in 11 minutes
Kyle Cuffe -1NP in 15 minutes
Recruited players who did not play: Peter Carey, William Patterson, Chance Westry
