Boston U. – Game 10

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Boston U. – Game 10

This topic contains 15 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by  lfnadmin 10 years ago.

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  • #18045

    LU65
    Participant

    Game Notes
    LU’s
    http://www.lehighsports.com/custompages/Game%20Notes/Men's%20Basketball/2014-15/21%20-%20Boston%20University%20Notes%201.31.15.pdf

    KenPom
    Boston U. (8-12, 4-5) ranked 251st
    @
    Lehigh (10-10, 4-5) ranked 203rd
    Lehigh wins 73-67 (74% chance)

    The second go-round in PL play (games 10-18) beings tomorrow for all members of the Patriot League with matchups against teams not faced in Game 1 / Round 1. Odd, but maybe it was like that last year, I just don’t recall. Anyway, we play Boston U. when one would have thought it would be Colgate – our Game 1 opponent back on December 31st. Instead, all teams will play their initial or Game 1 opponent in Game 18 to close out the year on February 28. So be it! We find ourselves in a 6-way tie for fourth place as we begin Round 2 with the good fortune, I suppose, of not seeing the league’s top two teams – Colgate and Bucknell until games #17 and #18.

    At 4-5, we presently find ourselves in a 6-way tie for 4th place with Army, a team we already beat, just two games ahead at 5-4. If the league continues its close play, it’ll be important to focus on head-to-head records as we near the end of play as that will be the first tie-breaker to determine seeding among teams possessing the same W/L records. Besides Army, the other teams we beat in Round One were: HC, Navy, and LC. A series sweep of each would go a long way in assuring we do not play on March 3rd but instead draw a bye and begin play two days later on Thursday, March 5th.

    Boston’s only wins since destroying us 75-56 back on January 3rd have come against Navy and AU. They are, in fact, riding a two-game losing streak, albeit to league-leading Bucknell and a rejuvenated Army team. In each setback the trio of guards (Papale, Mosely, and Hankerson) who buried us the first time we met (48 points, primarily on 12 for 17 shooting from “3”) went for a combined 4 for 26 from deep. I can’t help but think we’ll turn the tables on BU this time ‘round with our vastly improved 3-point “D” (holding our last three opponents to 19 for 64 (.297) and the energy I expect to see coming off our disappointing loss to Bucknell.

    #18046

    toddcudd
    Participant

    As usual, I’m with 65 100%. And we should maul (the actual) BU, no question. CRITICAL home-stand coming up. I want and expect a dominant win.
    P.s. get the ball to JG, dammit!

    #18047
    Bison137
    Bison137
    Participant

    Quote: The second go-round in PL play (games 10-18) beings tomorrow for all members of the Patriot League with matchups against teams not faced in Game 1 / Round 1. Odd, but maybe it was like that last year, I just don’t recall. Anyway, we play Boston U. when one would have thought it would be Colgate – our Game 1 opponent back on December 31st. Instead, all teams will play their initial or Game 1 opponent in Game 18 to close out the year on February 28. So be it!

    Yes, it was also like that last year – and there is a reason. When the league had 8 teams, there was always a break between halves, which meant that whatever teams you played on Wednesdays in the first half you would also automatically play on Wednesdays the second half. Same with Saturdays. For Lehigh and Lafayette, who are the two most central teams in the league, it is not a big deal. But for schools on the periphery such as Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, and Boston U, it is a big deal. The PL has always tried to schedule so that the really long bus rides would be on Saturdays. For example, Bucknell’s 6-hour bus ride (longer with a stop) to Worcester has always been for a Saturday game – and vice versa for Holy Cross – so that teams aren’t getting home at 4 or 5 AM on a Thursday, facing class a few hours later.

    However, with the ten game schedule, league games now start on Wednesday and teams now play two games a week every week with no off-Wednesday in the middle. With an odd number of league opponents, if the second half of the schedule was exactly the same as the first half, then every Saturday first-half game would be a Wednesday second-half game and vice-versa. Also, since the first half has five Wednesday games and four Saturday games – as opposed to the second half which has five Saturdays and four Wednesdays – there has to be one swing game that is on a Wednesday the first go-round and then a Saturday the second go-round. The league found the simplest thing was to simply schedule that swing game as the first game of the PL season (a Wednesday) and then as the 18th and final game (a Saturday). That leaves all of the other matchups on the same night of the week in the first half and the second half – which is the fairest thing to do.

    The swing game matchups are all ones where travel is not a huge issue: Bucknell-American, Colgate-Lehigh, Boston U-Holy Cross, Lafayette-Army, and Loyola-Navy.

    • This reply was modified 10 years ago by Bison137 Bison137.
    #18049

    toddcudd
    Participant

    See you in the airplane hangar, 137!!!!

    p.s. to include bucky in the teams “on the periphery” made me laugh out loud. probably damn near center-of-mass…

    p.p.s. it’s a very good move to scramble the order, 1st vs. 2nd half, strictly for fun factor. If two good teams meet early in first half, it’s a travesty to meet early in 2nd. while the inverse is true, it’s not nearly as impactful.

    • This reply was modified 10 years ago by  toddcudd.
    #18066

    LU15
    Participant

    Great win! Id like to see us win without heartburn though, but a win is a win! Also, for anyone who was at Stabler, I was the blindfolded foul shooter!

    #18070

    LU65
    Participant

    And the league tightens up further with Loyola beating Army this afternoon up at The Point. The Greyhounds go to 5 & 5 and Army drops to 5 & 5. They join us at 5 & 5. More games tonight @ 7pm.

    #18072
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Agita is the standard this year:).Got home in time for last 45 secs. Just so I could max out my nerves quickly.

    #18077
    Bison137
    Bison137
    Participant

    Quote: “p.s. to include bucky in the teams “on the periphery” made me laugh out loud. probably damn near center-of-mass…”

    – – – –

    Center of mass of PL is in Northern NJ. Bucknell is furthest west school and normally has the league’s two longest bus rides.

    #18078

    TMH
    Participant

    Doc has had his team playing really good defense at least in the first half. I wonder if it becomes physically draining though which keeps us from finishing games strong. I think TK was at 25 and 9 for the last 10-12 minutes of the game. Was it a change in defense or fatigue?

    #18079
    van
    van
    Participant

    baffled by stats, did not see the game but we shot 55 percent from the field (29-of-53) and 57 percent from three-point range (8-of-14) and only won by 3?

    #18080
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    I too was in disbelief when I saw the stats and the final on the web at work. Then got home and played it back. Lucky I didn’t see this one live or I would have gone out of my mind. BU had nothing to lose and played and shot loose as a goose and we just plain tightened up. Their desperation three to tie at the end hit rim.

    Doc was on the local cable post game and was not happy with matador defense the last eight minutes. KR was also interviewed & wasn’t happy with it either. “But we got the win and that’s what matters….” KR with another awesome game despite a few bad decisions, including scoring our final points, nine straight clutch free throws.

    #18082

    toddcudd
    Participant

    I was pretty shocked at home much trouble BU’s press gave us. We had major trouble with press/trap vs. ‘nova, but seemed to handle it better as the season progressed. In the BU game, it looked like we had no answer. And when we did occasionally break it effectively, we didn’t get anything out of it – regular offensive set. Seems to me that when you break a VERY aggressive press, you should get some easy buckets out of it.
    Also, this was the 2nd straight game where an undersized forward looked unstoppable. Fanning went to the hoop at will. Different style, but similar result. We need to have an answer for that too.

    #18083
    van
    van
    Participant

    inability to stop fanning was the key, he scored easily and quickly, both bad when closing out with a lead, matador D very accurate, was that JC guarding him?

    #18084

    toddcudd
    Participant

    I don’t think it was JC for most of that stretch – but I don’t remember who it was. I think JC was put on him very late, and had a bit more success; would have to go back and check.

    #18090

    toddcudd
    Participant

    Watched the last 10 mins again. Amazingly, most of the crash was really in the final 3-4 minutes. Came away with a few things:
    First, while the press-handling was generally pretty ugly, it was the in-bounds situations vs. the press that were a DISASTER. Every single one was nerve-wracking, felt like 50-50 shot at best. We need some wrinkles. Seems that if the initial motion, first 5 seconds or so, didn’t work out we were done. Even our own Chris Weber moment was a result of a badly handled inbound; stuck in the corner.
    Next, re: Fanning. Two different major problems there. Earlier in that stretch we just did a bad job of staying with him in their regular set. Got repeatedly lost on screens. Maybe fatigue was a factor there. The later part of the melt-down was more surprising to me. For all of my complaints about offensive rebounds over the years – it was transition D. And it wasn’t only Fanning either. They immediately got into the paint; we were unable to stop the driver at all. Those looked more like team D breakdowns than individual failures, to me. I did not catch onto that in my first viewing; adrenaline often clouds my view in those situations.
    I was genuinely surprised. I really thought team D and transition D were strengths, but we got gouged in those final 4 minutes.

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