SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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(working without a box score)
Firstly this will be little noted or long remembered expect by those who watched it but this was one of our better wins ever. Carleton is the Wooden-Era UCLA of Canadian college ball. They've won 9 of 11 national titles and three in a row, the last one by 50 points. They eat touring US teams for lunch, having beaten three of them already this year, all by double figures, the last Wisconsin who is usually pretty good. Last year they lost to Louisville by a point and the Cardinals went on to win our national title. Rick Pitino said they could certainly have competed in the Big East. They had an all-senior line-up and have been playing all summer as Canada allows them to do. They beat Wisconsin the night we beat McGill but their last previous game was 10 games before. We were playing four new guys and had only two seniors, one of whom was hurt. It was our third game in three nights for a team far from mid-season conditioning or form, a team that had never played together as a unit. We absolutely stunk up the joint in the first half, fell behind by 15 points midway through the second half but still came from behind to win 69-65 in overtime. We were the team playing with more energy and confidence at the end. The game exposed several weaknesses. Some of them might be fixed before the season or at least the ACC season begins. Some may not. But at least we know what they are. This game was why JB went to Canada, not those first two comedies.
CENTERS
DaJuan Coleman continues to try to put on dribbling exhibitions in the paint. He never just goes straight up with the ball. He's still probably our best rebounding center but gets out-hustled to balls too often. Christmas, after looking pretty good the first two games was ineffectual tonight. Keita, the one with no upside, continues to be our most effective player, playing great defense, blocking shots and hustling to the ball at all times. But he has no offensive game at all. Even put-backs are an adventure. Still, it was our size and athleticism inside that was the biggest factor in the game. Carleton is a very good team but they couldn't match that.
FORWARDS
CJ gave it a shot but his leg was bothering him. He didn't have the normal movement or hops. During our comeback he scored a spectacular-lay-up through sheer determination and fell hard, re-injuring it and came out of the game. I hope we don't see him again until November, even if there is a another gamer tomorrow night against another good team. That game means nothing compare to CJ's health. Jerami Grant was held in check for much of the game but dominated late in the second half and overtime. He's learned how to drive on guys and get fouled. Sometimes he cans till make the basket. But he can get to the line and he's draining the free throws. That's what Carmelo and Hak could always do. Even if the shots weren't falling, they could get to the line and score while fouling defenders out. He fouled out one of their big men and had to be guarded by a 6-2 guy. He kept scoring over him and carried the team on his back down the stretch to victory. BJ Johnson hit a couple of shots but neither he nor Michael Gbinije were big factors in this one.
GUARDS
I think we're all in love with Tyler Ennis by now. He plays like a senior. In the first two games he showed he could keep things on an even keel, not forcing things and distributing the ball to everybody. In this game we got to see what he would do when things were going badly and someone needed to take over. He didn't shrink from the challenge. Instead he drove trough the defense over and over again. He actually didn't make many field goals, (I saw a graphic that said 4 for 17) but like Grant got to the line, (7 for 7). He never made a silly pass or got tangled up in the defense, trying to do too much. But he's the one that got our comeback going. People in the chatroom were wondering if he might already be better than Michael Carter Williams, who could make big plays but also some awful ones. Regardless of of the answer you'd give to that, you've got to love that the question is being asked.
Trevor Cooney hit some shots but you still wonder where he is right now. There was one sequence before the half when Trevor had a wide-open three and missed and their star, Phil Scrubb, drained a long one at the other end for a 6 point swing. Late in the game, Cooney tried to pass to Grant, who was being guarded by a guy 6 inches shorter, with a bounce pass, thus completely negating the advantage. The result was a turnover. The guy's been with the program for three years now. Maybe he's just not a smart player.
Ron Patterson saw little action, which was probably fortunate after his 1 for 12 performance against Bishop's.
Firstly this will be little noted or long remembered expect by those who watched it but this was one of our better wins ever. Carleton is the Wooden-Era UCLA of Canadian college ball. They've won 9 of 11 national titles and three in a row, the last one by 50 points. They eat touring US teams for lunch, having beaten three of them already this year, all by double figures, the last Wisconsin who is usually pretty good. Last year they lost to Louisville by a point and the Cardinals went on to win our national title. Rick Pitino said they could certainly have competed in the Big East. They had an all-senior line-up and have been playing all summer as Canada allows them to do. They beat Wisconsin the night we beat McGill but their last previous game was 10 games before. We were playing four new guys and had only two seniors, one of whom was hurt. It was our third game in three nights for a team far from mid-season conditioning or form, a team that had never played together as a unit. We absolutely stunk up the joint in the first half, fell behind by 15 points midway through the second half but still came from behind to win 69-65 in overtime. We were the team playing with more energy and confidence at the end. The game exposed several weaknesses. Some of them might be fixed before the season or at least the ACC season begins. Some may not. But at least we know what they are. This game was why JB went to Canada, not those first two comedies.
CENTERS
DaJuan Coleman continues to try to put on dribbling exhibitions in the paint. He never just goes straight up with the ball. He's still probably our best rebounding center but gets out-hustled to balls too often. Christmas, after looking pretty good the first two games was ineffectual tonight. Keita, the one with no upside, continues to be our most effective player, playing great defense, blocking shots and hustling to the ball at all times. But he has no offensive game at all. Even put-backs are an adventure. Still, it was our size and athleticism inside that was the biggest factor in the game. Carleton is a very good team but they couldn't match that.
FORWARDS
CJ gave it a shot but his leg was bothering him. He didn't have the normal movement or hops. During our comeback he scored a spectacular-lay-up through sheer determination and fell hard, re-injuring it and came out of the game. I hope we don't see him again until November, even if there is a another gamer tomorrow night against another good team. That game means nothing compare to CJ's health. Jerami Grant was held in check for much of the game but dominated late in the second half and overtime. He's learned how to drive on guys and get fouled. Sometimes he cans till make the basket. But he can get to the line and he's draining the free throws. That's what Carmelo and Hak could always do. Even if the shots weren't falling, they could get to the line and score while fouling defenders out. He fouled out one of their big men and had to be guarded by a 6-2 guy. He kept scoring over him and carried the team on his back down the stretch to victory. BJ Johnson hit a couple of shots but neither he nor Michael Gbinije were big factors in this one.
GUARDS
I think we're all in love with Tyler Ennis by now. He plays like a senior. In the first two games he showed he could keep things on an even keel, not forcing things and distributing the ball to everybody. In this game we got to see what he would do when things were going badly and someone needed to take over. He didn't shrink from the challenge. Instead he drove trough the defense over and over again. He actually didn't make many field goals, (I saw a graphic that said 4 for 17) but like Grant got to the line, (7 for 7). He never made a silly pass or got tangled up in the defense, trying to do too much. But he's the one that got our comeback going. People in the chatroom were wondering if he might already be better than Michael Carter Williams, who could make big plays but also some awful ones. Regardless of of the answer you'd give to that, you've got to love that the question is being asked.
Trevor Cooney hit some shots but you still wonder where he is right now. There was one sequence before the half when Trevor had a wide-open three and missed and their star, Phil Scrubb, drained a long one at the other end for a 6 point swing. Late in the game, Cooney tried to pass to Grant, who was being guarded by a guy 6 inches shorter, with a bounce pass, thus completely negating the advantage. The result was a turnover. The guy's been with the program for three years now. Maybe he's just not a smart player.
Ron Patterson saw little action, which was probably fortunate after his 1 for 12 performance against Bishop's.
