MBB: Landmark Conference

[NEPAFAN]

Yet another head scratcher for the Royals against USMMA. Royals lead by about 5 with under ten minutes left, Arnold gets T'd up and the rest is history.

Up and down , and down once again, they still are fighting for the playoffs...



Would love to get some opinions on how the players/coaches are liking the back to back weekend schedule....

[saratoga]

Nothing really complicated...the Royals simply left another one slip away. Senior day, Tom Bicknell's family in from Austraila, a must win game at HOME trying to secure the faint chance of a home playoff game & the same kids that hurt them at Kings Point killed them again today. All season long the lack of perimeter defense has haunted the Royals...today was just another chapter. The real kicker is that the night before Moravian clocked this team by 30 something...and held them WITHOUT a 3 pointer in the first half. As has happened generally all season against decent, good, pretty good & very good teams...the Royals were lit up like a Christmas tree. Instead of fighting for an outside chance of hosting a playoff game...the Royals are now simply hoping to be the 4th. team in. And with the final 3 games on the road, their margin for error is right around zero. I certainly hope the Royals are recruiting bigs, bigs & more bigs for next year as
I see absolutly no post presence after Tom graduates this year. No inside game...good luck!

[NEPAFAN]

Agree on the post presence. Here is hoping they bring in a banger and a bruiser...

[cold_case]

What does bringing in a low post presence, a banger, a brusier, have to do with the perimeter defense being so pathetic?

[saratoga]

CC: I'm not sure if you are posing that question to me or not...but, I'll answer it anyway. They are two very different issues...the lack of perimeter defense has everything to do with this current edition of the Royals while the need for a "post" presence is predicated on the imminent graduation of Tom Bicknell. Since the Royals rotation does not include another true post player, once Tom leaves this year...good luck finding the rebounds & points in the paint should another..."bruser/banger" that can actually have an inpact not be found. My hunch is that's what NEPAFAN was inferring. The Royals interrior defense is solid, it's the slow switches, the poor rotation & soft man to man that has killed the Royals all year. Look, when you are making the same mistakes in your LAST conference HOME game (USMMA) as you did in your FIRST conference HOME game (Moravian) then that about sums up where any team will be...middle of the pack or lower. The really good teams keep improving & develop at least a basic consistency...the Royals have certainly shown flashes & the potential is there...it just seems the effort goes south just when you think they've figured it out.

[cold_case]

In a nutshell, toga,
The lack of Canio is a reason for the porous defense; NEPAFAN has no clue; they may bring in a big kid who is experienced and talented; don't forget Luke Hawk, who is a beast on the glass and Bogovitch, who is out for the season. This kid is tough.

[NEPAFAN]

Even though, I am "clueless". Here are my thoughts:

There is no disputing that the Royal defense is off this year. The stats don't lie. Is this due to Canio? Did he leave the Royal coaching staff with nothing, can't Danzig teach the kids just the same? Does his defensive philosphy only work when it comes from his mouth? Or is there something else going on here?


Next year will be intersting, you've got a ton of talent in Fitzpatrick, Ashworth, and Luke Hawk. The big question will be what the frontcourt looks like.

[saratoga]

CC: You mention Luke Hawk & Ivan Bogovitch...from what I've heard, pretty good kids with projected talent that will certainly challenge for playing time next season. However, neither of these kids play or have played with their back to the basket. Again, no projected post presence from anyone on the current roster. This current crop of returning Royals simply doesn't take their defense seriously enough to push the opposing offense around, box out bigger kids or simply play defense with a purpose & a passion. Until it finally clicks that defense wins games, these Royals will struggle. It's really too bad because with their offensive potential...a consistantly good defense (not a great one ) would have easily picked up at least 4-5 additional wins this season. Call me clueless as well...but, the men in purple need someone in the paint that can play so next years opposition can't just force the Royals further & further from the basket & make them live & die from jump shots. Tom Bicknell has given the Royals the opportunity to play inside/out with kids like FitzPatrick, Ashworth, Arnold & Kirk...who fills that void next year on this roster?











it's really too bad

[Matt Letourneau]

Interesting game at DuFour tonight.  Scranton won 65-50, but it was a tale of two halves.  Scranton led 40-21 at halftime behind some flat out unbelieveable shooting--they made TEN 3 pointers in the first half, including 7 in a row.  A few of them were open looks, but some of them were just flat out great shooting.  There really wasn't much Catholic could do.

So it look like it would be a blowout, but the second half played out much differently.  Catholic ended up outscoring Scranton 29-25, and played much much better defense, forcing 10 turnovers.  Frankly, if they hadn't been so God Awful at the free throw line (6-14), this might have been a real game.   It didn't help that the Cardinals were 2-16 (!)om the three point line, either.   

Obviously, a 15 point loss is not a good thing...but lets face it, Scranton's in a much different place in terms of upperclassmen.   At least Catholic took the punch, survived the barrage and played 40 minutes of basketball and made the Royals work for it.   They did a very effective job on the full court trap and Scranton got frustrated and never got much of anything going inside.  The bus ride home wasn't as pleasant as it could have been.

Weren't too many offensive bright spots for the Cardinals, other than Banzhof...who I think is hands down the Landmark Rookie of the Year (I'll spell out my case later, but consider this: of the top 10 leading scorers in the league, he's the only one who will even be playing next year, the rest are seniors). 

As for Scranton--frankly, I don't get why they are so 3 point happy.  Now I haven't seem them this year, so those that follow them can feel free to correct me, but...Sure, they'll have halves like today's when they make everything and therefore will blow people out, but what happens when they're cold.  When they're on like tonight, you wonder how they can lose to anybody, but once Catholic really took away the three and Scranton tried to go inside, I understood why they have some bad losses.  Seems to me they have the personnel to dominate more inside, but even tonight they got outrebounded.  Catholic freshman C Chris McGrew handled the Scranton bigs pretty well off the bench, though he did pick up 4 fouls (2 of them weren't related to interior defense though).

Be nice for Catholic to end the season on a high note, but it will be tough with Moravian coming in tomorrow.

[saratoga]

Matt: The reality is Scranton simply tries to take advantage of where the opportunities present themselves. Of course there are going to be nights where they can't buy a basket & on those days they will flat out look bad...but, if they at least attempt to play defense...they may still pull one out. On the other hand, if they collectivly are missing, fail to include the post in the offense & forget to play defense...they'll get some of the ugliest losses ever devised...& trust me, they have far too many of them already. The unfortunate thing for the Royals is at this late point in the season I'm not even sure they know who they are...are they the team that can blast an otherwise very good team on the road by 20 or do they go through the motions & lose to an otherwise weak team by 15? Bottom line...they are much better than they've played...yet, they are far too unpredictable to have any sort of faith in what they'll do from one game to the next. All things considered...a 15 point win on the road...even against a bunch of freshmen...thank you very much...next! By the way...is it true that even with a 20+ point lead...Scranton somehow was at a 9-2 disadvantage in fouls by the 14 minute mark in the 2nd. half? Life on the road can be, shall we say, interesting.

[ronk]

Matt,
   Generally agree with your assessment of game tonight, although I would call the Cards' perimeter defense evan softer in the 1st half than you did.
   AS for Scranton's inside game, they've had just enough success from the outside that they don't look for Bicknell inside. He works hard enough to get open, but they don't give him enough touches. They're lucky he doesn't complain about it  Your supposed to get it inside first for outside jumpers, anyhow.
   2nd half CU pressured ball well, had some steals, offensive rebounds, loose balls but shooting betrayed them.   Came over at game end to meet you, but scoreboard operator said you had left by then.
  Royals may need to win out to make playoffs since they lose tie-breaker with MMA.

[Matt Letourneau]

Yeah, but frankly it was because of their own stubborness.  They kept getting called for fouls on inbound plays.  The refs were telling them not to hold jerseys and release the guy they were defending when the ball was inbounded, and time after time, they weren't doing it (or at least the zebras didn't think they were).  Finally, the refs just shrugged as if to say "we warned you" and just started blowing the whistle.  After a couple of those, they got the message and went hands up.  Simple.  I'm sure they felt like they were being targeted, but you have to adjust to what the officials are going to call, and they obviously were calling that.  

As frequently happens, the fouls evened out during the stretch--I think it went from 9-2 to 9-6 pretty quickly.  At the end of the day, Scranton was +2 in free throws, and fouls were dead even at 19.  Not much to complain about for a road game, particularly when you consider that Scranton spent the first half basically shooting up bombs (you aren't going to get to the line doing that, nor do you need to when you are hitting them).

Besides, that's nothing--at home against Juanita a few weeks ago, with 3:00 left in the 2nd half, Juanita had been called for a grand total of TWO fouls.  That's right, 2 fouls in 17:00.  On the road.  Catholic was down something like 8 or 9-2.  I was furious--Catholic's not a jump shooting team, they were going inside consistently.   And that was a close game that ended up being decided in OT.

Life at HOME can be interesting too.

Well, good luck to the Royals down the stretch.  Hope we give you some better games next year--I think we've got the talent to do that, just need some more seasoning.

[Matt Letourneau]

Matt,
   Generally agree with your assessment of game tonight, although I would call the Cards' perimeter defense evan softer in the 1st half than you did.
   

Ahhh...yeah...no argument here.  Ugh.  Though in fairness, the way Arnold was shooting, I don't know if it would have mattered.

Catholic is lacking in having a guy like that this year.  Its strange...Nick Oliverio shot 38% from 3 last year and was deftinitely going to be the clutch guy from downtown.  This year he's at 29%.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ah Matt... you and your thoughts on officiating. Priceless?!

Just curious, my friend, since when does "going inside" automatically mean fouls will be called. If a team isn't fouling, they aren't fouling!

Tonight at the SRC, I was wishing the refs would put the whistles away. There were a LOT of calls in the Moravian-Goucher game. Both halves went to double-bounce free-throw shooting, first time I have seen that I think all season! Now, that being said, they could have made plenty more calls. It was a very aggressive game with Goucher playing tough, full-court basketball to get back in the game in the first half and nearly pull off the upset in the 2nd. So... I can't complain about the calls. Three guys for both teams fouled out of the game and there could have been more.

NOW, that all being said, there were some HORRIBLE calls, both ways! It just didn't help that the head ref, who is a new guy who I actually like and I think calls a great game, was pair with an average fellow and an older one who honestly needs to retire. I know all three, just can't remember their names.

I look forward to seeing Scranton on Sunday... and then Matt, another classic on Saturday!

[Matt Letourneau]

Yeah but they WERE fouling in that game.  Quinn was getting killed inside.  And look--you and I both know that its physically impossible to play 17 minutes of defense while committing 2 fouls, especially if your opponent is constantly trying to score inside. 

In tonight's game, the officiating was unremarkable.  Which probably means good.  If I was a Scranton fan, during that particular stretch I would have probably been irritated, but as I said, at the end of the day things ended up pretty much even.

Btw...how does "I cant complain about the calls" equate with "there were some HORRIBLE calls," in the next sentence, my friend??? (I know, didn't change the outcome...just had to give it back a little bit).

Unrelated note:  I left out the best part of the Catholic game.  Former American Idol finalist (and CUA student) Antonella Barba sang the National Anthem.  She did a really nice job.  Now of course Pat Coleman's National Anthems are certainly the most notable in CUA history, but I must say, Antonella is better looking.

(I was surprised she even came back to school.  Must have wanted to visit those monuments.)