I was working on a post about where are we now going into the Southern Miss game. That post will probably become the game preview since that game would seem to be a good referendum on where this team is now, and if they can lift themselves off the mat and rise to a challenge, like they did against Bama at MSG. While researching that piece I wanted to look at Frantz Massenat's assist distribution, using a hypothesis that it is Frantz that is causing Drexel to play 3 on 5 basketball, and not the coaching staff. I believed this to be true based on quotes coming out of the Saint Francis game where both the staff and Rodney Williams were quoted postgame as saying that the strategy was to feed the post, and yet Massenat had just 1 assist in the game, while shooting the ball 11 times. Upon scouring the play by play sheets, I came up 1 assist short from Massenat and 1 assisted shot short from Ruffin, I have noted this in the tables. If anyone wants to figure out which one I missed, do feel free to correct me.
Here is the list of shots made by players that were assisted by Frantz Massenat (Massenat has 55 assists on the season):
Fouch: 20
Allen: 16
Lee: 9
Ruffin: 4
Williams: 3
Abif: 2
Unknown: 1
Here are the list of who assisted Dartaye Ruffin's made baskets (Ruffin has made 13 assisted baskets thus far):
Allen: 5
Massenat: 4
Fouch: 2
Abif: 1
Unkown: 1
The entire frontcourt has 9 assists from Massenat this season, 10 if the one I'm missing went there. For perspective, the frontcourt has assisted on 18 baskets this year. The frontcourt has double the number of assists than their point guard has thrown to them.
In order to reflect on my hypothesis, this where Massenat's assists go by percentage:
Guards: 82%
Forwards: 18%
This is the percentage of the teams total field goals shot by each position this year:
Guards: 81%
Forwards: 19%
I won't go as far as saying that the reason Drexel is playing 3 on 5 basketball is solely because that's how Frantz Massenat chooses to play, regardless of coaches instructions. I will say that he is assisting them less than once per game. I will also say that I'd be interested to see how a lineup of Canady/Fouch/Massenat/Abif/Ruffin might play together. Which will lead nicely into the where are we now post that I've been working on which will be published by lunchtime tomorrow.
Oh by the way, Dartaye Ruffin's 65.1% shooting is good for 24th in the country, per BBState.com (28th in the country in effective fg% per Kenpom.com)
Happy New Year everyone, and here's hoping for a clean slate for DU hoops!
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
Buffalo - Learning From Our Mistakes
So many places to go with this post, and just 1 hour until my vacation starts. So today you get the bullet point review, which is ironic because I'd rather watch Jamie Harris' and Kevin Phillip robbery videos then the game tape from yesterday.
*They shot 7% from 3. Fouch was 0-8 from deep. I thought by and large they were good shots, especially the last few from Fouch that went in and out. While it would be exciting to see these guys pass the ball ever (great CAAZone Post by DrachenFire at that link) to the big men, shooters gotta shoot when they have looks. The money says they find their stroke eventually, and since this team isn't going anywhere against good competition without their shooters, you have to give them the chance to find themselves.
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. It was great to see them throw a zone and see how slow Buffalo was to adjust. But they did adjust, and the Drexel staff saw it, I was right there as Coach Connors was yelliing at his team that Buffalo had shooters at every spot on the perimeter. In a "First to 50" game, you can't watch the other team put shooters at every spot in the perimeter and stay with zone. The zone is a panic move from this staff, and while I like it, both times that they have thrown it this year they have stayed in it well beyond its usefulness and gotten burned for it. In the two possession that DU played Z after Connors yelled about the shooters DU gave up a 3 and an offensive board. In a game this tight, that decides the game right there.
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. After doing a great job in the first half getting McCrea into foul trouble (even noted on the blog twitter feed) they let him come out and never went at him in the second half (see again the great CAAZone Post by DrachenFire at that link). Buffalo has one guy on the floor that the Drexel defense can not stop, he's got 3 fouls, and the answer to that is Tavon Allen midrange jumpers?
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. The continued overreaction to foul trouble doesn't help the team. For all of the managing of fouls that they did, not a single player from either team fouled out. Sure you run a risk playing a guy with fouls, but Bobby Hurley managed McCrea aggressively and challenged Drexel to knock him out of the game. The Dragons hid their starters on the bench. If Bruiser Flint was coaching Buffalo, McCrea only plays 20 minutes and the Bulls lose by 5. Instead he coaches Drexel and Ruffin and Williams combine for 35 minutes. Goran filled in nicely and bailed the coaches out a bit, but aggressiveness wins here, Bill Belichick leaves his guys on the floor there, Andy Reid doesn't. Both of them are good coaches but who has the rings?
*Tavon Allen - almost half of the teams turnovers by himself. I honestly believe his basketball IQ has improved, but the collection of turnovers and midrange jumpers should have him running laps right next to the coaching staff.
*The interior defense was poor, without question. McCrea is a talented player and everyone in the building knew that stopping him would be an issue. But with the new foul rules and the guys being in foul trouble (and no doubt seeing and hearing how terrified their coaches were of the foul situation) they were still never told to front him, never doubled him, never made an adjustment, they just got beat time after time. The second half of this game was pretty much a practice drill for Javon McCrea. How much of that is on the bigs, and how much of that is on the coaches, I'll leave to the reader to decide.
*Frantz Massenat came back and had 5 assists and had his teamates miss bunnies or he could have had 1-2 more. He still wasn't looking for his bigs though. I actually liked what he did when he drove the ball though, doing a much better job of going hard at the rim which resulted in him getting to the line 8 times. That offset at pretty brutal 2-9 day from inside the arc a bit (I haven't gotten a chance to rewatch this contest and chart it yet, but per the DrexelDragons.com play by play 5 of those misses were 2 point jump shots, so maybe I'm giving his driving too much credit). At the very least there was improvement after his disaster of a game against Saint Francis.
*I actually thought this was going to be a nice opportunity for Rodney Williams, and I loved what he showed when he caught the ball at the elbow and took it to the hoop, even if he didn't finish. But with 4 fouls in 8 minutes, he continues to be a freshman. In fairness, he is a freshman.
*Not sure what to say about Freddie Wilson at this point. Some really braindead plays... although Bru blaming him after he went for the steal on McCrea drove me batty. Drexel had a combo guard on a big man who may well be the MAC player of the year and Bruiser thought the the problem was that Wilson went for the steal? That was the problem with that picture Bru? Really? On ESPN now I believe they call that "C'mon man". Having said all of that, 11 minutes for Wilson whose only purpose out there is to score and he took all of 1 shot... And the shot would have been closer if he was aiming for the South Gym baskets.
Eight bulletpoints and that's without me even trying hard. The team was also outrebounded without McCrea playing for 30 minutes. Just a lot of bad. Fix any of these mistakes, any of them, not all of them, any of them and they win this game, even playing as poorly as they did. Part of that was Buffalo not being that good on this day, part of that is credit to the perimeter d, and part of that is Drexel's raw talent.
Maybe this is the wakeup call that the team needed, but after four straight games of this, that's tough to be optimistic about. I hate reading about "playing to the level of Drexel's opponents". They haven't played to the level of their opponents, if they had they would have had a close game at SJU. They've played to the level of stunk. End of story. We've seen what this team can do, we know the talent is there, but until they decide to show it or the coaches can motivate them and get them back, they're gonna keep stinking up the joint. With Southern Miss coming up, I can't think of a better put up or shut up opportunity. The talent is there, it's time for the IQ, heart and coaching to be there as well.
*They shot 7% from 3. Fouch was 0-8 from deep. I thought by and large they were good shots, especially the last few from Fouch that went in and out. While it would be exciting to see these guys pass the ball ever (great CAAZone Post by DrachenFire at that link) to the big men, shooters gotta shoot when they have looks. The money says they find their stroke eventually, and since this team isn't going anywhere against good competition without their shooters, you have to give them the chance to find themselves.
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. It was great to see them throw a zone and see how slow Buffalo was to adjust. But they did adjust, and the Drexel staff saw it, I was right there as Coach Connors was yelliing at his team that Buffalo had shooters at every spot on the perimeter. In a "First to 50" game, you can't watch the other team put shooters at every spot in the perimeter and stay with zone. The zone is a panic move from this staff, and while I like it, both times that they have thrown it this year they have stayed in it well beyond its usefulness and gotten burned for it. In the two possession that DU played Z after Connors yelled about the shooters DU gave up a 3 and an offensive board. In a game this tight, that decides the game right there.
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. After doing a great job in the first half getting McCrea into foul trouble (even noted on the blog twitter feed) they let him come out and never went at him in the second half (see again the great CAAZone Post by DrachenFire at that link). Buffalo has one guy on the floor that the Drexel defense can not stop, he's got 3 fouls, and the answer to that is Tavon Allen midrange jumpers?
*The coaching left, being generous, something to be desired. The continued overreaction to foul trouble doesn't help the team. For all of the managing of fouls that they did, not a single player from either team fouled out. Sure you run a risk playing a guy with fouls, but Bobby Hurley managed McCrea aggressively and challenged Drexel to knock him out of the game. The Dragons hid their starters on the bench. If Bruiser Flint was coaching Buffalo, McCrea only plays 20 minutes and the Bulls lose by 5. Instead he coaches Drexel and Ruffin and Williams combine for 35 minutes. Goran filled in nicely and bailed the coaches out a bit, but aggressiveness wins here, Bill Belichick leaves his guys on the floor there, Andy Reid doesn't. Both of them are good coaches but who has the rings?
*Tavon Allen - almost half of the teams turnovers by himself. I honestly believe his basketball IQ has improved, but the collection of turnovers and midrange jumpers should have him running laps right next to the coaching staff.
*The interior defense was poor, without question. McCrea is a talented player and everyone in the building knew that stopping him would be an issue. But with the new foul rules and the guys being in foul trouble (and no doubt seeing and hearing how terrified their coaches were of the foul situation) they were still never told to front him, never doubled him, never made an adjustment, they just got beat time after time. The second half of this game was pretty much a practice drill for Javon McCrea. How much of that is on the bigs, and how much of that is on the coaches, I'll leave to the reader to decide.
*Frantz Massenat came back and had 5 assists and had his teamates miss bunnies or he could have had 1-2 more. He still wasn't looking for his bigs though. I actually liked what he did when he drove the ball though, doing a much better job of going hard at the rim which resulted in him getting to the line 8 times. That offset at pretty brutal 2-9 day from inside the arc a bit (I haven't gotten a chance to rewatch this contest and chart it yet, but per the DrexelDragons.com play by play 5 of those misses were 2 point jump shots, so maybe I'm giving his driving too much credit). At the very least there was improvement after his disaster of a game against Saint Francis.
*I actually thought this was going to be a nice opportunity for Rodney Williams, and I loved what he showed when he caught the ball at the elbow and took it to the hoop, even if he didn't finish. But with 4 fouls in 8 minutes, he continues to be a freshman. In fairness, he is a freshman.
*Not sure what to say about Freddie Wilson at this point. Some really braindead plays... although Bru blaming him after he went for the steal on McCrea drove me batty. Drexel had a combo guard on a big man who may well be the MAC player of the year and Bruiser thought the the problem was that Wilson went for the steal? That was the problem with that picture Bru? Really? On ESPN now I believe they call that "C'mon man". Having said all of that, 11 minutes for Wilson whose only purpose out there is to score and he took all of 1 shot... And the shot would have been closer if he was aiming for the South Gym baskets.
Eight bulletpoints and that's without me even trying hard. The team was also outrebounded without McCrea playing for 30 minutes. Just a lot of bad. Fix any of these mistakes, any of them, not all of them, any of them and they win this game, even playing as poorly as they did. Part of that was Buffalo not being that good on this day, part of that is credit to the perimeter d, and part of that is Drexel's raw talent.
Maybe this is the wakeup call that the team needed, but after four straight games of this, that's tough to be optimistic about. I hate reading about "playing to the level of Drexel's opponents". They haven't played to the level of their opponents, if they had they would have had a close game at SJU. They've played to the level of stunk. End of story. We've seen what this team can do, we know the talent is there, but until they decide to show it or the coaches can motivate them and get them back, they're gonna keep stinking up the joint. With Southern Miss coming up, I can't think of a better put up or shut up opportunity. The talent is there, it's time for the IQ, heart and coaching to be there as well.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Buffalo Pregame - It's The State University of New York and You're From Philly
The University at Buffalo holds a surprisingly special place in my soul. A long, long time ago when Bruiser Flint enjoyed the universal support of his fanbase, the Dragons played an NIT game in Buffalo. This was Bashir Mason's freshman season, and he had uprooted senior combo guard and Dan Crain classmate Jeremiah King of his point guard role for the season. Mason had gotten hurt in Richmond and was unavailable for the NIT game so King got his job back and played all 45 minutes in an overtime loss which ended the collegiate careers of the prolific senior group of Phil Goss, Jeremiah King and Sean Brooks. That group left it all on the floor that night combining for 48 points on just 32 shots led by King's 25.
I left that game the proudest I ever have after a DU loss, and yes that includes the Arizona game this year. Me and the guys who had made the day trip to the 7pm game that went to OT then went out, got wings, and hopped in the car for the drive back to Philly. I woke up twice with the car in the shoulder of the road on that trip back, the first when there were strobe's coming in thru the back window (the second time that happened on that trip; it also happened with the Davidson game this year, watch your speed ladies and gents) and the second when the driver was running laps around the car on the side of the NY Thruway in an effort to wake himself up. It was the most collegey college of college experience of my life. If you're reading this while in school now, my only advice to you is to follow the team on the road. If you look at the links page here on the blog, I can promise you that the vast majority of the people who write at those links and weren't travelling on the team bus when they were in school were still traveling to the games on their own. It's a great way to enjoy your time, get some memories and fall in love with this game and your school.
The last part of the Buffalo trip that pops in my head whenever I think of The University Formerly Known As SUNY Buffalo was discovering this while I was out there. Buffalo turned down their first ever Football Bowl invite in 1958 which was a story that I hadn't previously heard. It's a fantastic story about why sports matter and what rallying around the team can do and is worth a read if you have some down time.
And with that, enough love for the University at Buffalo. The Bulls roll into the DAC on Sunday with a 4-4 record against D1 teams. This will sound familiar but outside of one questionable loss to Niagara they've shown alright this year, including a nice win against St. Bonnie's earlier this month. Bobby Hurley's squad is led by three seniors each with a specific skillset. The ball is in the hands of pass first point guard Jarod Oldham who should be all but invited to shoot by the Drexel guards. Playing a two guard Devon Saddler is Josh Freelove, he'll drive, he'll shoot jumpers, he'll turn it over but he sure ain't gonna pass, and given how well he's shooting this year, he shouldn't. He'll be the guy to circle and step out on at the perimeter and to help out on when he drives. The forwards need to stay aware of which side of the floor he is on and given the obscene charge rules this year they need to know to be in position about 15 minutes before he starts his drive.
The best guy on the team isn't Freelove though, just as Saddler has never been the best guy at Delaware (see: Hagins, Jamelle and Carter, Jawan). The third Buffalo senior is Javon McCrea a big man that has never shot less than 50% for the season. He took less than 10 shots in only 5 games last year and while it's wishful thinking I'd love to see him fronted by Rodney Williams at times in this contest. Since that won't happen there will be a ton of pressure on Dartaye Ruffin both to defend him and then turn around and box him out. McCrea has also been a top 65 offensive rebounder for all 4 years of his career, he's a load and a shotblocker as well. The best defense here might be a good offense and going at him, but only if the Dragon guards stop playing like 6th grade girls when they go at the paint (I fully believe that girls can play basketball and do so very well, I just don't think 11 year old girls should be playing D1 basketball). If the guards go at him and then pull up, fade away or float at the last second, it's just going to result in poor shooting and blocked shots. If they go for the contact, they'll be in business. And if they go for the contact, it will be damned near the first time they have all season.
So it's on the Drexel bigs. They won't be physically dominant like they were against Saint Francis, but I believe at this point in the year it's clear that there's a track record here. Give them the ball and good things happen. Give them the ball in this game and maybe they can draw some calls on McCrea. At the very least if he guards the shooter he should have a harder time grabbing the defensive boards and Drexel's off forward can compete with 6'8" Will Regan for the offensive board, a much more even contest.
After the last few games, the thing to look for in this one is just being physical. No more and 1's. No more diving away from contact on offense. The bigs have done their thing with this and it's high time to see it from the guards. If they can show that, and Fouch can continue to find his shot at the DAC then they will be in good shape for much more than just this game, but the new year to come.
I have Drexel winning the turnover battle decisively yet again, keeping level or better on the boards and continuing their slow warmup from the perimeter. It's time to show a reason to believe prior to the Southern Miss trip.
Prediction: Drexel 75 - Buffalo 60
Vegas line: Drexel -8
I left that game the proudest I ever have after a DU loss, and yes that includes the Arizona game this year. Me and the guys who had made the day trip to the 7pm game that went to OT then went out, got wings, and hopped in the car for the drive back to Philly. I woke up twice with the car in the shoulder of the road on that trip back, the first when there were strobe's coming in thru the back window (the second time that happened on that trip; it also happened with the Davidson game this year, watch your speed ladies and gents) and the second when the driver was running laps around the car on the side of the NY Thruway in an effort to wake himself up. It was the most collegey college of college experience of my life. If you're reading this while in school now, my only advice to you is to follow the team on the road. If you look at the links page here on the blog, I can promise you that the vast majority of the people who write at those links and weren't travelling on the team bus when they were in school were still traveling to the games on their own. It's a great way to enjoy your time, get some memories and fall in love with this game and your school.
The last part of the Buffalo trip that pops in my head whenever I think of The University Formerly Known As SUNY Buffalo was discovering this while I was out there. Buffalo turned down their first ever Football Bowl invite in 1958 which was a story that I hadn't previously heard. It's a fantastic story about why sports matter and what rallying around the team can do and is worth a read if you have some down time.
And with that, enough love for the University at Buffalo. The Bulls roll into the DAC on Sunday with a 4-4 record against D1 teams. This will sound familiar but outside of one questionable loss to Niagara they've shown alright this year, including a nice win against St. Bonnie's earlier this month. Bobby Hurley's squad is led by three seniors each with a specific skillset. The ball is in the hands of pass first point guard Jarod Oldham who should be all but invited to shoot by the Drexel guards. Playing a two guard Devon Saddler is Josh Freelove, he'll drive, he'll shoot jumpers, he'll turn it over but he sure ain't gonna pass, and given how well he's shooting this year, he shouldn't. He'll be the guy to circle and step out on at the perimeter and to help out on when he drives. The forwards need to stay aware of which side of the floor he is on and given the obscene charge rules this year they need to know to be in position about 15 minutes before he starts his drive.
The best guy on the team isn't Freelove though, just as Saddler has never been the best guy at Delaware (see: Hagins, Jamelle and Carter, Jawan). The third Buffalo senior is Javon McCrea a big man that has never shot less than 50% for the season. He took less than 10 shots in only 5 games last year and while it's wishful thinking I'd love to see him fronted by Rodney Williams at times in this contest. Since that won't happen there will be a ton of pressure on Dartaye Ruffin both to defend him and then turn around and box him out. McCrea has also been a top 65 offensive rebounder for all 4 years of his career, he's a load and a shotblocker as well. The best defense here might be a good offense and going at him, but only if the Dragon guards stop playing like 6th grade girls when they go at the paint (I fully believe that girls can play basketball and do so very well, I just don't think 11 year old girls should be playing D1 basketball). If the guards go at him and then pull up, fade away or float at the last second, it's just going to result in poor shooting and blocked shots. If they go for the contact, they'll be in business. And if they go for the contact, it will be damned near the first time they have all season.
So it's on the Drexel bigs. They won't be physically dominant like they were against Saint Francis, but I believe at this point in the year it's clear that there's a track record here. Give them the ball and good things happen. Give them the ball in this game and maybe they can draw some calls on McCrea. At the very least if he guards the shooter he should have a harder time grabbing the defensive boards and Drexel's off forward can compete with 6'8" Will Regan for the offensive board, a much more even contest.
After the last few games, the thing to look for in this one is just being physical. No more and 1's. No more diving away from contact on offense. The bigs have done their thing with this and it's high time to see it from the guards. If they can show that, and Fouch can continue to find his shot at the DAC then they will be in good shape for much more than just this game, but the new year to come.
I have Drexel winning the turnover battle decisively yet again, keeping level or better on the boards and continuing their slow warmup from the perimeter. It's time to show a reason to believe prior to the Southern Miss trip.
Prediction: Drexel 75 - Buffalo 60
Vegas line: Drexel -8
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
St. Francis - The Happy Recap - 58 Possessions
Final: Drexel 59, Saint Francis 49 at the DAC
Player of the Game: The Forwards
Key to the game: Showing Up
Next Game: Who cares, just make it soon (Sun Dec 29 vs Buffalo @ the DAC)
When asked what I thought about this game right after it ended, only one word came to my mind: Boring. In 13 years or rockfight CAA basketball, I've never used that word to discuss a DU hoops game. In the second half of this game, a game in which they never had a less than 95% chance of winning according to Pomeroy's numbers, but also to my own thoughts, I started getting just as bored as many Drexel team members appeared to be. Going into Christmas and looking forward to getting home is an honest and relevant excuse for looking past an opponent that is one of the 50 worst teams in college basketball, but since this is the third straight game of playing fairly mediocre to poor basketball there should probably be some alarm bells going off in the locker room, regardless of whose bags may have been packed for the holidays.
There are two urgent problems that Coach Flint and his staff have the holidays to devise a plan to solve (no comments on that, please):
Scoring. If you're not going to pass the ball to the big men (more on that later), then all three of the guards better be able to fill the basket. It's becoming increasingly clear that only two Drexel guards can do that with regularity. That means there's one scorer whenever Fouch or Frantz head to the bench and it's extremely hard to be successful like that. Tavon Allen has shown some signs of maturing the last few games, but even with slight improvement we still see him go 2/9 and not get to the line against a team that he would be the tallest member of. Add to that him having just 4 rebounds in 34 minutes and it's clear that he's still not using what God gave him. Freddie Wilson is clearly still adjusting a bit and can't be relied on at this point, and so if Drexel wants to have a third scorer that they can rely on, maybe it's time to use the bigs. And now we come to the second problem:
"My coaches keep telling me to throw it to them [the bigs], so we threw it to them today, saw what we got" ~B Flint
First everyone just take a breath and get beyond the fact that Bru's assistants needed to tell him this. Pardon me while I pick the exploded pieces of my brain off the floor.
OK, everyone good again? After hearing the wisdom of his coaches and looking at tape on Saint Francis, Coach Flint elected to feed the bigs this game. Our friends at Philahoops noted this quote from Rodney Williams:
Edit: I'm not going to edit the article as the principle stays the same, but I've realized that when doing the math above my brain was a bit fried. Since the bigs scored the two putbacks out of their misses, they still scored only 10 buckets, not 12. However, they essentially only had 13 possessions, so it's 10/13, not 12/15 from the floor. The end result is a 77% shooting percentage. I don't think that difference is particularly material as both percentages could be loosely defined as "excellent" hence the lack of edit.
Player of the Game: The Forwards
Key to the game: Showing Up
Next Game: Who cares, just make it soon (Sun Dec 29 vs Buffalo @ the DAC)
When asked what I thought about this game right after it ended, only one word came to my mind: Boring. In 13 years or rockfight CAA basketball, I've never used that word to discuss a DU hoops game. In the second half of this game, a game in which they never had a less than 95% chance of winning according to Pomeroy's numbers, but also to my own thoughts, I started getting just as bored as many Drexel team members appeared to be. Going into Christmas and looking forward to getting home is an honest and relevant excuse for looking past an opponent that is one of the 50 worst teams in college basketball, but since this is the third straight game of playing fairly mediocre to poor basketball there should probably be some alarm bells going off in the locker room, regardless of whose bags may have been packed for the holidays.
There are two urgent problems that Coach Flint and his staff have the holidays to devise a plan to solve (no comments on that, please):
Scoring. If you're not going to pass the ball to the big men (more on that later), then all three of the guards better be able to fill the basket. It's becoming increasingly clear that only two Drexel guards can do that with regularity. That means there's one scorer whenever Fouch or Frantz head to the bench and it's extremely hard to be successful like that. Tavon Allen has shown some signs of maturing the last few games, but even with slight improvement we still see him go 2/9 and not get to the line against a team that he would be the tallest member of. Add to that him having just 4 rebounds in 34 minutes and it's clear that he's still not using what God gave him. Freddie Wilson is clearly still adjusting a bit and can't be relied on at this point, and so if Drexel wants to have a third scorer that they can rely on, maybe it's time to use the bigs. And now we come to the second problem:
"My coaches keep telling me to throw it to them [the bigs], so we threw it to them today, saw what we got" ~B Flint
First everyone just take a breath and get beyond the fact that Bru's assistants needed to tell him this. Pardon me while I pick the exploded pieces of my brain off the floor.
OK, everyone good again? After hearing the wisdom of his coaches and looking at tape on Saint Francis, Coach Flint elected to feed the bigs this game. Our friends at Philahoops noted this quote from Rodney Williams:
"“We saw that St. Francis’ size wasn’t as big as what we had, so Coach devised a plan that forced us to duck hard around the basket,”
All is right in the world. SFU was clearly a team ripe for getting beaten in the paint, Bru had come around to the idea of feeding the paint and our guards would finally get a chance to get some confidence in their bigs in the paint. Here's how that worked out for the BWAR team of bigmen.
10/15 fg's, 23 points, a 92% defensive rebound percentage and only one (1) turnover. They did not miss a field goal until 16+ minutes into the game. On their 5 field goal misses, they got offensive rebounds and scored on 2 of them. Only 3 of the 15 times that the bigs shot from the field did they not get points, the other 80% of the time they scored. 80 percent! 80 percent! BWAR was 1 turnover and a few freethrows away from a perfect game. It was complete domination.
Why then was my joy less than full? It's because on a day where the bigs dominated, where Chris Fouch was hitting his shots, where Tavon Allen had 6 of the easiest assists of his life (a career high) and where even James Flint was telling his team to feed the bigs, Frantz Massenat had one assist. Had someone from the crowd come down, had the ball inbounded to them, dribbled the ball uncontested to the frontcourt and thrown three lobs into the paint, they probably would have had more assists than Drexel's All-CAA Point Guard. I didn't know it was possible for a point guard to have only 1 assist when the rest of his team shoots almost 50% (18 of 37) from the field. This is back to back awful game for Frantz and while everybody gets 1, he's passed that now and there's no real excuse for him having a dog of a game against Saint Francis.
I think Drexel has found it's third scorer, and I think thou name is BWAR (still taking ideas for better nicknames for this frontcourt. Feel free to add Goran, please post in the comments section). Maybe Bru has even figured it out, but I won't let him off the hook here either. If you're telling people to get the ball inside, and your pg has taken 11 field goals and your entire front court only 15, when one is hitting 36% and the other 80%? Do something about it coach, don't just watch your pg continue to take jump shots.
It was a win in a spot where Drexel needed a get the job done win. No one is complaining about the outcome. But now that it's break, there are still things worth thinking about. The great news is, this team has so much talent that these things are easily fixable if the coaching staff can steer the ship in the right direction. Against Buffalo they'll have a chance to prove that they are doing just that.
Have a Merry Christmas everyone, travel safe and I wish you and your families and all Drexel fans the best. I'll be back here with a look back on the first 11 games by the end of the week, and what we've learned, and then have a preview up for the Buffalo game by Saturday night, so feel free to check back. Best wishes and see you at the DAC.
Edit: I'm not going to edit the article as the principle stays the same, but I've realized that when doing the math above my brain was a bit fried. Since the bigs scored the two putbacks out of their misses, they still scored only 10 buckets, not 12. However, they essentially only had 13 possessions, so it's 10/13, not 12/15 from the floor. The end result is a 77% shooting percentage. I don't think that difference is particularly material as both percentages could be loosely defined as "excellent" hence the lack of edit.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
SFU Pregame - It doesn't exist!
No time for the pregame post this weekend, apologies all around. Obviously it's important to show a bounceback game here, it doesn't need to be over the top, just a chance to get home, get their feet under them hit some 3's and dominate the boards. Look for SFU offensive boards as trouble signs, and for Chris Fouch to get loose and feel comfortable. Letting Freddie Wilson get some time in the flow would be a bonus as well.
Prediction: Drexel 74- Saint Francis 49
No Vegas line
Prediction: Drexel 74- Saint Francis 49
No Vegas line
Friday, December 20, 2013
Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa
Sorry for the late post today - sometimes real life wins over hoops, but we try and keep that to a minimum.
Never been a "Happy Holidays" guy, as someone who grew up celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah I realize the distinct differences between people and holidays at this time of year, so with Hanukkah behind us, I want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy Kwanzaa.
The decision to start this blog was as spur the moment as anything I've done in the last couple of years. I was doing so selfishly, to see if I could still root as passionately for Drexel as I had as a student and prior to my year away from the program. After trips to LA, Charlotte and New York this season I can tell you that I can not be as passionate as I was. It doesn't look like I'll be thrown out of a game anytime soon, nor that I'll be rushing the court after a game against poor old Sam Houston State. Wounds take a while to heal, and both on and off the court there have been plenty over the years, which in a way is whats making this year of good basketball so much fun, and why I can so easily let the Hawks game drop.
The great news for me though is that where logic has taken the place of passion it lets me see the game a bit differently. And in writing and researching for my blog posts, even when I crank something out real quick like I did after I got home from Hawk Hill, it makes me do the work. Gone are the days of blaming Bru for everything, and here we enter into the days of blaming Bru for just many things (hey, the dude still is letting pride and rigidness get in the way of his own success). Tavon's shot selection isn't on Bru, it's on Tavon. Playing Tavon when he takes 21 shots and half of them are terrible, well that's on Bru. And thru breaking down the boxes, and seeing every minute of every game that I can live, I try to bring something here. So really, this blog brings me to do the extra work to try to find the nugget.
I think 99% of the blogs on the internet are started and never finished. I'm not sure how far the average one gets but I'd imagine the answer is "not very". When I started this one, I was really in a spot, because the first people to read it were sportswriters that I very much respect and when those guys said that I need to keep doing this the pressure was on. But then you all followed. In the first week or two I was excited for the day with 50 hits, I know this is a niche market, I'm not covering all of the city teams or CAA teams, I don't have a newspaper behind me and I didn't think the Athletics Dept was going to tell you to come check this out. I was more than happy that 50 people were reading.
When the ball tipped at Saint Joe's it was roughly a month in to writing this thing, and the site had 200 hits on that day at tip off, and 3,000 in the month prior. I have no intention to sell ads or make this into anything beyond just one guys thoughts on electronic paper, but I wanted to make sure to get this post up and thank you. I don't know 200 Drexel Basketball fans at this point so welcome to all of you who have found this page thru the zone or a friend of a friend of a friend, and thank you for reading and continuing to push my writing.
This blog has been a joy, and the push keeps coming because I want to do well by all of you. Drexel fans are a fantastic group and there's not one Drexel fan that I've ever met that I don't appreciate. It's a small but dedicated group, and this blog has helped me come back into that fold, your reading has made it better, so thank you. If you're reading this and I don't know you, I'm at the games, second row behind the scorers table right at half court and I'd genuinely like to meet you, so please stop by and say hello. More than anything else I'm a believer in never being good enough, so I'm thrilled at the uptick in emails, tweets and zone post. Whether helping with the mailbag, or just letting me know ways to make this thing better, I encourage you to continue that and help this thing evolve in a way that will serve all DU fans best.
The St. Francis preview has gotten pushed back a bit, but still should be out by Saturday night at the latest.
Thanks,
dc
Never been a "Happy Holidays" guy, as someone who grew up celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah I realize the distinct differences between people and holidays at this time of year, so with Hanukkah behind us, I want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy Kwanzaa.
The decision to start this blog was as spur the moment as anything I've done in the last couple of years. I was doing so selfishly, to see if I could still root as passionately for Drexel as I had as a student and prior to my year away from the program. After trips to LA, Charlotte and New York this season I can tell you that I can not be as passionate as I was. It doesn't look like I'll be thrown out of a game anytime soon, nor that I'll be rushing the court after a game against poor old Sam Houston State. Wounds take a while to heal, and both on and off the court there have been plenty over the years, which in a way is whats making this year of good basketball so much fun, and why I can so easily let the Hawks game drop.
The great news for me though is that where logic has taken the place of passion it lets me see the game a bit differently. And in writing and researching for my blog posts, even when I crank something out real quick like I did after I got home from Hawk Hill, it makes me do the work. Gone are the days of blaming Bru for everything, and here we enter into the days of blaming Bru for just many things (hey, the dude still is letting pride and rigidness get in the way of his own success). Tavon's shot selection isn't on Bru, it's on Tavon. Playing Tavon when he takes 21 shots and half of them are terrible, well that's on Bru. And thru breaking down the boxes, and seeing every minute of every game that I can live, I try to bring something here. So really, this blog brings me to do the extra work to try to find the nugget.
I think 99% of the blogs on the internet are started and never finished. I'm not sure how far the average one gets but I'd imagine the answer is "not very". When I started this one, I was really in a spot, because the first people to read it were sportswriters that I very much respect and when those guys said that I need to keep doing this the pressure was on. But then you all followed. In the first week or two I was excited for the day with 50 hits, I know this is a niche market, I'm not covering all of the city teams or CAA teams, I don't have a newspaper behind me and I didn't think the Athletics Dept was going to tell you to come check this out. I was more than happy that 50 people were reading.
When the ball tipped at Saint Joe's it was roughly a month in to writing this thing, and the site had 200 hits on that day at tip off, and 3,000 in the month prior. I have no intention to sell ads or make this into anything beyond just one guys thoughts on electronic paper, but I wanted to make sure to get this post up and thank you. I don't know 200 Drexel Basketball fans at this point so welcome to all of you who have found this page thru the zone or a friend of a friend of a friend, and thank you for reading and continuing to push my writing.
This blog has been a joy, and the push keeps coming because I want to do well by all of you. Drexel fans are a fantastic group and there's not one Drexel fan that I've ever met that I don't appreciate. It's a small but dedicated group, and this blog has helped me come back into that fold, your reading has made it better, so thank you. If you're reading this and I don't know you, I'm at the games, second row behind the scorers table right at half court and I'd genuinely like to meet you, so please stop by and say hello. More than anything else I'm a believer in never being good enough, so I'm thrilled at the uptick in emails, tweets and zone post. Whether helping with the mailbag, or just letting me know ways to make this thing better, I encourage you to continue that and help this thing evolve in a way that will serve all DU fans best.
The St. Francis preview has gotten pushed back a bit, but still should be out by Saturday night at the latest.
Thanks,
dc
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
St. Joe's - Learning From Our Mistakes
Final: St. Joe's 75, Drexel 55 at Hagan Arena
Player of the Game: Tavon Allen
Key to the game: Showing Up
Next Game: Who cares, just make it soon (Sun Dec 22 vs St. Francis @ the DAC)
I'll admit to being calmer now than I once was. I'm older, I'm dating someone in the mental health field (insert your joke here), I've seen what real disaster is through my time with the Red Cross, I troubleshoot for a living, you can pick your reason, but I've got a cooler head these days then I once did as a younger Dragon fan. So before you wig out about an embarrassing 20 point loss to the only city team that will play us, please note the below:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
They no showed today, they didn't get to the loose balls, they were embarrassed on the boards for the first half of the game and in everything else in the second half. Had the Hawks had a good day from the line this game could have been a 30 point loss. They didn't show up, and their own coach, a grown man, quit on them with six to play, talking to the scorers table before slouching on the bench for the remainder, and none of that was good. Tavon Allen was the player of the game for Drexel, and deservedly so, but even most of his shots that fell tended to be preceded by the fans around me going "noooooooooooo" due to some atrocious shot selection. When Drexel led, they were playing like crap, and when they trailed, they were playing even more like crap.
In the first half, SJU was 1 of 7 from the line and turned the ball over 10 times in 31 possessions. Drexel only led by 4 at the half. There were warning signs everywhere, like what you see before you get to the 10 car pileup on I-76. This wasn't a one half issue, it was a full game one. Plenty of blame can be passed around, but isn't it easier to just all share in the blame together and then come back stronger? We can do that because:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
I walked out of the arena and someone asked me what I was going to write about. "Everybody gets one" was the answer, and I'm sticking to it. These guys played well for 9 games, made us proud, made Drexel hoops relevant again after the debacle of last year. Different contributors all around made it a success night in and night out. I'm not forgetting all of that now and I urge you not to either. These guys breathed life into this program and the only reason people might be overreacting to this loss is because of how much higher expectations were at this point of the season than they were at the end of last season.
The squad has earned a pass in my book, and I hope they have in yours. Everyone gets one. This was theirs. If they don't roll through the next two home games and treat Southern Miss like the business trip that it is then get back to me. But if we reach the 2014 conference schedule and this is just a bump in the road as I expect it to be, don't act surprised. Don't act surprised because even after tonight, we know:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
This wasn't losing to Penn or Rider or Norfolk State or Tennessee State or Towson or... well you get the point. Saint Joe's is a decent squad. They aren't special, or even really great, but they aren't a dreg. The amazing thing about tonight's game is that Drexel fulfilled their defensive key points. Galloway and Roberts combined for all of 19 points. As expected, the SJU bench contributed zero. Drexel challenged the supporting cast to step up, and they did. Some credit has to go to those guys. I didn't think Halil and Bembry could shoot 19 for 24 combined from dunk in an open gym. They answered the bell, and Bruiser never really had his guys go and exploit Kanacevic's foul trouble, something that this DU squad almost never does as a rule. If Drexel plays this game 10 times, I still feel good about taking the majority of the matches.
Unfortunately, we only get to play them once. And so when you get to work or school or the coffee shop tomorrow and you talk to that guy or gal that you've been talking up DU hoops to this season, you may have some explaining to do. Worse yet, some crow to eat or some trash talk to receive. Just remember that everybody gets one, Saint Joe's just had theirs against Nova and this was ours, and don't forget to remind them at the end:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
Player of the Game: Tavon Allen
Key to the game: Showing Up
Next Game: Who cares, just make it soon (Sun Dec 22 vs St. Francis @ the DAC)
I'll admit to being calmer now than I once was. I'm older, I'm dating someone in the mental health field (insert your joke here), I've seen what real disaster is through my time with the Red Cross, I troubleshoot for a living, you can pick your reason, but I've got a cooler head these days then I once did as a younger Dragon fan. So before you wig out about an embarrassing 20 point loss to the only city team that will play us, please note the below:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
They no showed today, they didn't get to the loose balls, they were embarrassed on the boards for the first half of the game and in everything else in the second half. Had the Hawks had a good day from the line this game could have been a 30 point loss. They didn't show up, and their own coach, a grown man, quit on them with six to play, talking to the scorers table before slouching on the bench for the remainder, and none of that was good. Tavon Allen was the player of the game for Drexel, and deservedly so, but even most of his shots that fell tended to be preceded by the fans around me going "noooooooooooo" due to some atrocious shot selection. When Drexel led, they were playing like crap, and when they trailed, they were playing even more like crap.
In the first half, SJU was 1 of 7 from the line and turned the ball over 10 times in 31 possessions. Drexel only led by 4 at the half. There were warning signs everywhere, like what you see before you get to the 10 car pileup on I-76. This wasn't a one half issue, it was a full game one. Plenty of blame can be passed around, but isn't it easier to just all share in the blame together and then come back stronger? We can do that because:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
I walked out of the arena and someone asked me what I was going to write about. "Everybody gets one" was the answer, and I'm sticking to it. These guys played well for 9 games, made us proud, made Drexel hoops relevant again after the debacle of last year. Different contributors all around made it a success night in and night out. I'm not forgetting all of that now and I urge you not to either. These guys breathed life into this program and the only reason people might be overreacting to this loss is because of how much higher expectations were at this point of the season than they were at the end of last season.
The squad has earned a pass in my book, and I hope they have in yours. Everyone gets one. This was theirs. If they don't roll through the next two home games and treat Southern Miss like the business trip that it is then get back to me. But if we reach the 2014 conference schedule and this is just a bump in the road as I expect it to be, don't act surprised. Don't act surprised because even after tonight, we know:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
This wasn't losing to Penn or Rider or Norfolk State or Tennessee State or Towson or... well you get the point. Saint Joe's is a decent squad. They aren't special, or even really great, but they aren't a dreg. The amazing thing about tonight's game is that Drexel fulfilled their defensive key points. Galloway and Roberts combined for all of 19 points. As expected, the SJU bench contributed zero. Drexel challenged the supporting cast to step up, and they did. Some credit has to go to those guys. I didn't think Halil and Bembry could shoot 19 for 24 combined from dunk in an open gym. They answered the bell, and Bruiser never really had his guys go and exploit Kanacevic's foul trouble, something that this DU squad almost never does as a rule. If Drexel plays this game 10 times, I still feel good about taking the majority of the matches.
Unfortunately, we only get to play them once. And so when you get to work or school or the coffee shop tomorrow and you talk to that guy or gal that you've been talking up DU hoops to this season, you may have some explaining to do. Worse yet, some crow to eat or some trash talk to receive. Just remember that everybody gets one, Saint Joe's just had theirs against Nova and this was ours, and don't forget to remind them at the end:
The Drexel Dragons are a very good basketball team.
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