Army – Game 16 (PL's 3rd)

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Army – Game 16 (PL's 3rd)

This topic contains 14 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by  toddcudd 11 years, 1 month ago.

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  • #12948

    LU65
    Participant

    Game Notes
    http://www.goarmysports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/010714aaa.html

    KenPom
    For what it’s worth, Mr. Pomeroy nailed another one, calling the Boston U. game 67-66. Right on but with the teams reversed.

    How he sees this one………..
    Army (6-7, 2-0) 237th
    @
    LU (8-7, 1-1) 184th

    LU wins 75-67 (76% chance)

    It appears the Black Knights will start a young squad (315th ranked in experience – similar to us) consisting of a third year man, Mo Williams, and 4 sophomores. However, among the five expected to start, four come into the program with one year of USMAP (military prep school) experience. Like Army teams of the past, we can expect to see an active substitution pattern – always a test of our game prep. In fact, their bench is on the court 41% of the time (21st most active in the nation). Among those out for the opening tip, Kyle Wilson, a 6’4” second year combo player, deserves perhaps the closest attention. He leads the team in scoring @ 18.7ppg (21.0 in just PL games) and is deadly form beyond the arc @ .406 (.714 in just the PL) and from the free throw line @ .891 (1.000 in just the PL). He was the PL’s leading scorer among its first year players last year. Under the boards, TK will be matched, inch for inch, by 6’10” center, Kevin Ferguson, the team’s leading rebounder (5.7pg) and second in scoring (9.4pg). Wilson and Ferguson are two guys you don’t want to put on the line either, going a combined 16 for 17 in early season play.

    Around the league
    Tonight
    Navy @ Boston U.

    Wednesday
    Bucknell @ Lafayette
    Colgate @ Holy Cross
    Loyola @ American

    Perfect/Imperfect
    Navy may prove to be no match for Boston U with the latter going to 3-0.

    AU (see “Spotlight Team” below) should go 3-0.
    Army gunning to be 3-0, as well.

    LC is tasked with protecting its home courts or slip to a 0-3 start.

    The loser of the CU/HC game will be 0-3.

    Spotlight Team: American
    AU (2-0) finally gets a home game after downing Bucknell by 10 and HC by 15 on the road. They should have little trouble with Loyola (one D-1 win – that in OT over Navy – since Nov. 20th) at Bender and head up to Hamilton this weekend @ 3-0. Get by Colgate and come into Stabler next Wednesday at 4-0. Crazy! A team without Lumpkins and Munoz and the Coaches’ pick to finish 9th . Go figure! What’s more, when they win, they win big having already downed St. Francis by (PA) by 32, Howard by 23, and Maryland Eastern Shores by 13. Here’s what new head coach, Mike Brennan, had to say about his team on Media Day.

    http://www.patriotleague.org/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110113aab.html

    #12949

    toddcudd
    Participant

    Thanks for posting these previews, 65. I know I look forward to them!

    #12955
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    I think the guy to watch closely tonight is Goldsborough. He has a huge opportunity with CB out for the rest of the year. He has had some stretches this year where I said to myself that he is making major strides, and other stretches where I’m not sure if I ever see it all coming together. Hopefully he realizes that he has a “golden” (get it?!) opportunity to stake claim to a major role, and he seizes it. Let’s get more blocks, rebounds, and putbacks and less illegal screens, drops, and giant whifs going for blocks.

    #12965
    ngineer
    ngineer
    Participant

    Until this team WANTS to rebound, it will be a long season. Standing around looking for someone else to go get it while the opponent soars in and TAKES it. Rebounding does not require skill. It requires toughness, positioning, and wanting to get the ball. I see timidity out there right now. Maybe with more experience that will dissipate, but until then…

    #12967
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Hell of a game. Statwise a dead even performance. Not bad. Frustrating that we cannot get the same intensity at the start of a game as we have at the end.

    #12969
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    Stats wise (believe it or not) we out rebounded them 35-29. I didn’t believe it either ’til I read it in box score. They got the key offensive rebounds in a crucial series late 2nd half. What also didn’t help was 14 turnovers, to their 9. They were successful turning this into a football game as we came a bit unglued to their pressure during two big Army runs. It lead to Army getting 9 more shots then us. That was the ball game.

    Stablerbum hit it on the nose above about Goldsborough. JG made a difference tonight. We need him to get more minutes, maybe starting minutes in my opinion. 4 for 4 going strong to the basket and 7 boards in 15 minutes tonight.

    Another winnable game. Hopefully we’re learning. The talent does seem to be there.

    #12971
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    Tough one overall. I thought Mackey was pretty sloppy with the ball throughout including putting Kempton in some tough spots by passing him into trouble. JC was invisible which was disappointing. SW needs to finish better. AP had some really nice moments and some pretty ugly ones.

    On the plus side, JG was awesome tonight. That is by far the best I have seen him play. He was assertive and aggressive on both ends of the court. I think he was our best player tonight when he was on the court. I really hope JG can keep up that level of aggressiveness and focus moving forward. Simelton as well was excellent with 5 assists and 0 turnovers.

    On that note, the stats guys were handing out assists like candy tonight. Army had 27 assists on 31 field goals (is that a record?) and LU had 18 on 26 field goals.

    Totally agree on the toughness and desire as noted above. I do think that this has improved from the first 6 or 8 games, but this is now two straight winnable games in which a lack of focus/desire/toughness to wrap up possessions in the 2nd half were crucial.

    #12973

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    I don’t even want to look at stats but just trust my eyes on this one and when your in a tie game in final 7/8 minutes and you have empty possessions and give up multiple possessions on your own end the odds of winning decrease significantly. Frustrating loss last night, I missed first half but second half and really just final 7/8 minutes we probably gave up sox offensive rebounds and had a ton of possession that ended with turnovers and Zero shots. JC had a bad turnover dribbling to much in the paint area, SW got stripped bringing the ball up court in a one on one scenario, JC got clumsy near sideline an flipped to ap for a bailout but ap they said anyway stepped on a line and my favorite that someone mentioned above was the mm PNR to a on the move TK – that crap hasn’t worked all year – can we stop trying to force ball to TK while he is slicing through the paint on the way to the hoop. Good news so far is on any day we have talent to beat any PL school but we also have inexperience to lose to anyone….not a surprise I suppose with a young team, hopefully these are lessons quickly learned.

    #12974
    van
    van
    Participant

    Yes, inexperience really showed last night. Talent is there, they just need to learn how to win. Coaches are key here, can they bring these guys around?

    JG had his best showing, hope that continues.

    #12975

    gohawks63
    Participant

    I felt that BR should have gone with Goldie for the last six minutes instead of JC. His intensity and rebounding was far superior to JC. As a bonus, he made some positive offensive plays as well.

    Also, CS is clearly an offensive stud – in spite of his boyish demeanor. LOL. He is an assassin. We waited far too long in this game to get him some touches and shots. Another couple of poor in-game adjustments by BR. Sorry, have to tell it like it is ..

    #12977

    lehigh90
    Participant

    I guess it might be time to adjust expectations, considering we have lost our first 2 home PL games. Instead of hoping for a high PL tourney seed and some home games, I think you now have to hope this team grows through the end of the season, can gel, start to peak, and make a deep tourney run on the road.

    I can’t really point to any particular player or stat (rebounding a problem but we have won boards in some losses), but it is apparent that this team is going to play a lot of tight games. In tight games, you need a go to guy at the end of games to get you critical buckets. Obviously, also need to get critical rebounds on opponent misses. Not sure who either guy is right now. TK is going to be hard pressed getting good looks late if doubled in the post and is not a banger. MM is going to be hard pressed to get them if he cannot penetrate late in games if teams sag off him. His jumper is not good enough to rely on. But, we need somebody to emerge late in games. You would like to see JC slide into that role, as he should be able to slash, shoot and rebound. Not there yet. Somebody needs to want the ball in those spots. I would feel most comfortable with MM and CS getting the late looks.

    Also, JG is now critical to this team. He needs to get close to 30 minutes a night. I, too, would be happy seeing him slide into the starting role for SW or AP. Those 2 aren’t doing enough to both be starting.

    #12978

    LU65
    Participant

    Allow me to add another observation. It’s a five letter word: Focus.

    Our inexperience showed last night, but for the most part Army’s inexperience didn’t. As mentioned in my first posting far above, the teams’ experience levels were near equal – starters and subs. Army players remained disciplined (what you might expect from members of the cadet corp who also know how to play b’ball), our guys didn’t. Sitting two rows removed from the bench, it was quite obvious that Reed and Company was not pleased with what can be best described as random lacks of focus. It didn’t happen often but when it did happen, it lead to 2-4 minute / 4-7 runs by our opportunistic opponent and the events so well document above by Hoops00 and others.

    From the looks of it, Army will be a team to be reckoned with this year and perhaps in the years to come. From a basketball purist point of view you had to love the way they moved the ball and took quality shots. Their hit rates (.484 FG% and .375% 3FG%) surprised me. I would have thought them to be far greater. What wasn’t a surprise, however, was their ungodly knack of putting the ball into their shooter hand. Witness: Assists/FG Made or 27/31 or .871%. Truly Impressive. Fun to watch had it not been for my loyalty to Lehigh.

    Gohawks63 brings up one of – it not my most – favorite players: CS. He continues to impress and does it in such a business-like manner. In a private chat with one of the 4 players lost from last year’s team, I can tell you that CS was referred to as one of the two best pure shooters on the team. It’s no secret who the other one was. Anyway, I’m sure he’s making his coach/Dad Dennis proud back home in Iowa.

    When it comes to knocking down the shot, take a look at the 16-game stat totals below for both the backcourt and forecourt.

    Player / Overall FG% / 2FG% / 3FG%
    CS / .465 / .512 / .383
    AP / .413 / .405 / .376
    MM / .406 / .440 / .339
    MS / .390 / .469 / .111
    SC / .313 / .000 / .385

    JG / .818 / .818 / NA
    TK / .516 / .516 / NA
    SW / .449 / .467 / .250
    JC / .414 / .459 / .364

    #12980
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    On a bit more positive note,weren’t BU and Army picked as 2 of the top squads in PL? Still 2 games we could’ve won

    #12981

    Naim
    Participant

    You don’t need to be a basketball-guru to figure out why GK’s #’s dropped down drastically when CJ got injured. In now days, TK (more talented than GK, IMO) is taking the toll of playing in offence of “4 players”. It becomes so simple for the other coach to clamp TK with double team (even triple) with so small risk. I’m not sure if coaches can say any more, “We don’t have options”.
    SC is one of those guys who have never gotten a chance to show his full potential at LU. As a freshman, he was surrounded with a few real stars, and it was so difficult to break into rotation in those days. Besides it, he was pronounced as a poor defender. That’s fine, he was young, and surrounded with some excellent defenders, including CJ, BJ, JA, JH and so on. It was so easy to fall behind.
    I already mentioned what happened last year. He played the whole season limping, practically impossible to reach his full potential. So people created certain opinion about his game not knowing the facts.
    He hasn’t started this season on time, to overcome tough injury, but he is clear now. Is it time to give him some chance? I would say yes…but why. Simple, he is not any more a poor defender, compared to the defense LU is presenting these days, some of them, even starters. I think he had some decent minutes even last night after less than 3 weeks of practice and a long break. He already proved that he can easily hurt on the other side of the court. He can kick a…s as good as anyone else on this team. So he badly missed the first shot last night, but he wasn’t confused to knock the other one shortly.
    For so many times, he was taken out after first mistake he made, or as soon as he dropped the ball to the floor. Can anything else keel your confidence quicker than that? That is exactly what he was going through most of the time he spent at LU. Can anybody tell me why he was taken out last night? Does it help him to build confidence? Has he done anything bad, or was he replaced with some real star player, who can make a big difference on the court? Why he didn’t get in again until they realized that they can probably save OT with some 3’s? This is exactly what ‘s been done to SC since day one, and it happened so many times, even in the second game in Greensboro. I don’t think that’s fair, either. Give him some chance before you’re in trouble.
    If they like to continue their offence with “4 people” that’s fine, but there is a very bad feedback to it.
    In general, I wouldn’t say a few recent games were lost in last minutes. I would rather say they were lost much earlier, but MM with some magic, made the final scores to look like they were so close.
    In some minutes of this game, the size mismatch in back court was very serious issue, and I’m not surprised that WK (#21) scored so many points, the way he was guarded. It was very noticeable on his highlights presented last night, whoever paid attention to it.
    Do I need to say that I’m big fan of SC…so I just wanted to say something to support him, and to make you guys to understand some facts related to SC.
    BTW, LU65….I like your stats, SC is still on the top with 3pt shot (.385), not bad for a few practice and short game time.
    I am going back to “read-only mode” again
    Thx

    #12982

    toddcudd
    Participant

    A bunch of really good points in this thread. I think focus is probably the big one, though. We see what focus can do, when the game is coming down to the wire. However, earlier in the game we’re seeing sloppy ball-handling and passing. I know it’s not possible to maintain peak intensity for 40 – but I’m certain that we can cut back on the lapses.
    I too would really like to see JG get more minutes; I’ve probably been pretty transparent about liking what I see there. But unfortunately, with CB gone, I don’t think we have the option of starting him. We need to have him available to spell TK, or pick up big minutes if TK gets in foul trouble. Unless we’re willing to go REALLY small when foul trouble hits.
    I’d also like to see SC get some more time. We need more production from a wing. I like SW’s potential a lot, but as others have pointed out he seems to have no confidence in his shot. And he’s been surprisingly timid on some of his moves to the hoop; lots of double-clutches; appears to be overly concerned about getting blocked. He needs to go STRONG.

    Finally – I have another dumb question that I’m sure somebody can help me with. When a player is AI, can he practice with the team? Or totally shut down?

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