MBB: Centennial Conference

[fritzdis]

Amazing stat of the night:
Dickinson shoots 3 for 16 FROM THE FREE THROW LINE.  AND WINS!  Going 8 for 15 from 3 point land certainly helped them overcome one of the worst nights from the free throw line you'll probably ever see.

Less than amazing stat of the night:
F&M shoots 21 of 64 (32.8%) from the field, their lowest field goal percentage since 1/14/02 (30.2% at Lebanon Valley) and their lowest home field goal percentage since an identical 21 for 64 night against Muhlenberg on 2/21/01.  They also only hit 3 of 20 (15%) three point attempts, their worst three point percentage since 2/1/03 (2 for 15, 12.5% at Washington College), and their worst home three point percentage since a 1 for 9 (11.1%) performace against Gettysburg on 1/13/01.

F&M got outhustled most of the first half.  It was, despite a higher shooting percentage (37%) than the second half (29.7%), one of the more pathetic halves of basketball F&M has played in quite a while.  On their 17 missed shots, they managed only 3 offensive rebounds, while Dickinson got 7 offensive rebounds on the same number of missed shots (including free throw misses).  Speaking of free throw misses, Dickinson's 1 for 9 performance from the line in the first half was the only thing that kept F&M close.  F&M's offense was completely out of sync, while the defense did very little to disrupt Dickinson's offense.

F&M showed more intensity in the second half, particularly in the rebounding department (13 offensive rebounds on 29 missed shots), but they couldn't buy a shot.  The deficit and Dickinson's quick defense may have had the shooters rattled, but it just seemed like nothing would go down.  Brandon Smith and Adam Leonard combined to go 0 for 13 from the field (0 for 7 from deep) in the second half.  That they were able, in the face of their horrendous shooting, to eventually close the gap and make the game competitive is about the only encouraging thing to come from the loss.

[sunny]

Amazing stat of the night:
Dickinson shoots 3 for 16 FROM THE FREE THROW LINE.  AND WINS!  Going 8 for 15 from 3 point land certainly helped them overcome one of the worst nights from the free throw line you'll probably ever see.

As amazing as that stat is - and it may have been the stat of that game - I don't think it's the stat of the night in the conference ...

[Pat Coleman]

No, probably not. Although I'll put that stat on the front page, there's another one already there that trumps it, in my mind.

[Amish Allstar]

Cant believe F&M lost again to Haverford 74-70 in OT.  Anyone see the game to know what the heck happened

[r.w. mcnickels]

Wasn't there, but the box score has 26 turnovers for the Dips.  Not going to beat many teams at any level playing like that.  I'm not sure if the problem is inexperience, or if F&M just doesn't have the talent to win this year.  It's a legitimate question at this point.

[Warren Thompson]

No Schadenfreude from this LVC fan (most of the time, I'm too old for such) ... but what on earth is going on with the Dips?

[FordFan]

To the F & M fans who are wondering what the HECK happened tonight against Haverford.  Haverford won the game because they are better than F & M.  They have a young team, but a very experienced backcourt led by point guard John Elefterakis.  They are only getting better, especially with the freshmen beginning to contribute and playing significant minutes. (Ben McDowell, Dave Nowacki and Greg Rosnick)  After getting down early,  17 points, Haverford went on a monster run, and really showed a lot of toughness.  F & M is overrated this year and so is  Brandon Smith.  He is out of shape and is certainly not an all-american, especially with the defense that he plays.  Outerbridge is solid, but Elefterakis is clearly the better player, and took advantage of him in the second half.  With the game on the line, Outerbridge had the ball taken from him by Elefterakis.  The conference is definitely up for grabs this year, but don't count Haverford out.  They have one of the toughest point guards in the country and an inexperienced, but highly capable, cast of talented players.  This should be an interesting year, but I think that Haverford deserves some credit after this win against an obviously down, but still very solid and good F & M team.       

[fritzdis]

Listen, I'm the first to say (as you can see by reading my previous posts) that F&M has problems this year, but to say Haverford is better than F&M because Haverford won an OVERTIME game AT HOME is premature.  Haverford got demolished at Gettysburg, where F&M managed to pull out a win.  Two of Haverford's three wins so far are at home (and the third is a neutral site win), and this is a team that was 8-1 at home in conference play last year but 4-5 on the road.

You want to talk about youth?  F&M starts 2 sophomores, their first big man off the bench is a sophomore transfer, and 2 of the 3 guards they regularly bring off the bench are sophomores.  That leaves a lot of room for improvement through experience.

As for Brandon Smith, I believe that he is trying too hard to carry this team.  He tries to play all-out every minute of every game, and when he can't harness his energy, it leads to poor decisions from trying too hard to make something happen.  The problem for him is finding a way to limit that recklessness without taking away the relentless effort that makes him such a good player.  My hope is that the more he trusts in his teammates, the better his decision making will get.

[swish]

Fordfan-

Fritzdis did a nice job responding to your post. He neglected to talk about your comments about Elefterakis and Outerbridge. Right now there is only one point guard in the CC better than Outerbridge and that is McGarvey. One play doesn't make a whole season (at least not this time of year). Elefterakis scored "0" points in the first half. Outerbridge completely shut him down. Finally after throwing up ten three's, three of them went in. That's 30% which is not only horrible but is what Elefterakis is shooting for the season. Outerbridge scored more points (17 vs.14), shot 50% from behind the arc and stole the ball from Elefterakis two or three times. There's a long way to go in this season so I wouldn't get too excited about the Fords just yet. And by the way, I guarantee F&M will be ahead of Haverford in the standings at the end of the season - when it counts.

[FordFan]

Do you really believe that Outerbridge is a better point guard than Elefterakis?  Are you making that judgement based solely on statistics?  Elefterakis will soon be second all-time in the Centennial Conference in assists.  Not to mention that Elefterakis' role at Haverford is far different than Outerbridge's role at F & M.  It's not hard to shoot 40% when you get wide open threes.  If you watched Elefterakis on a consistent basis, I think you'd find that defenses do not sag off of him, or leave him open ever, and so he is often forced to create his own shot. 
You made a good point that Outerbridge had a good first half and that Elefterakis had a good second half.  To be honest, I like a point guard who has better second halves, can step it up when it counts, and can lead his team to victory, rather than a point guard who has a good first half, but then gets shut down in the second half.  I don't want to turn this into a negative debate when in fact we have two good point guards.  I was just trying to say that Elefterakis outplayed Outerbridge when it counted and that led to a win for the Fords.  It is still very early to determine how the standings will turn out, but don't count Haverford out.

[swish]

When you say teams never sag on Elefterakis that is what you call good defense..That is how Outerbridge shut him down in the first half. Outerbridge on the other hand played a very consistent game scoring 8 points in the first and 7 points in the second half. And as far as you liking a player who comes through when it counts- go back to last March to the CC semi-final game between Haverford and F&M..There are no more do or die games than that. You win and you keep playing-you lose and you go home. Outerbridge held Elefterakis to 7 points for the whole game and get this "0" points in the second half. When it really counted. F&M 73 - Haverford.71. I didn't want to get into this but you were the one who said Elefterakis is "clearly" better than Outerbridge. They are both very good players but  I would bet if given the choice between the two most coaches in the league would pick Outerbridge without giving it a second thought.

[FordFan]

If all of the coaches would pick Outerbridge, how come Elefterakis was picked by the COACHES second team all centennial conference last year?

[swish]

There was no way F&M was going to get more than three players on the all-CC teams. That only happens when a team is so dominant that they only lose a few games during the season. As it turned out the three players that made it for F&M were all outstanding players with two being seniors and one being a junior. Outerbridge was only a sophmore. I don't think Elefterakis made the all-CC team as a sophmore, did he?

[fritzdis]

Regardless of whether or not it's hard to shoot 40% when you're taking wide open 3s, Outerbridge is currently 22 for 45, which is 48.9%, and that ain't easy.

[diplomaniac1]

R. W., Swish, Frtizdis, & Warren -

I did make it to see the Haverford game on Saturday - only my second game of the season. Some general comments: I think the talent is there for the Dips. However, they are still fairly inexperienced and are still learning to play as a unit. Another concern is that they don't yet maintain their intensity for a full forty minutes - they still haven't played a complete game yet. They have a tendancy to let up we they get large leads. Also youthful teams are more likely to lose road games.

The offense at time appears to be stagnant - too many players without the ball standing still! You have to want the ball and go get it. While I like Logan's shot, I am also not sure that Outerbridge will ever be a floor general like Janetta, Markey, etc. At key times, no one seems to want to take a shot. I agree with the earlier observations about turnovers - 20+/game is not true Diplomat basketball.

Particular attention needs to be given to playing tight defense throughout the entire contest. If the team does this, other good things will follow. In other words, defense should be first and foremost.

The team's overall three-point shooting (other than Logan) is really inconsistent. This leads to an over-reliance on the inside game. Very few points have been made off of the drive or on 12' to 15' pull-up jumpers. Although lack of consistent rebounding limits it, the team doesn't seem to run very much. I think they have the depth and speed to do so. There is also a very heavy reliance on Brandon Smith and when opponents shut him down, the enitre offense suffers. More attention must be given to foul-shooting.

Specifically, Outerbridge must take much better care of the ball. Tescke needs to shoot more and be more prepared to deal with the physical game - spend some time in the weight room. I really expected big things from Adam Leonard this year and I am somewhat disappointed so far. Perhaps, his leg injury is affecting him more than we know. I also see several fingers on the right hand are taped together. That will certainly hamper shooting! Brandon Smith needs to not press as much and let the game come to him more. As a transfer, Yost needs to continue to learn the system - particularly on the defensive end. Kudos to McCaffey for his hustle and defensive effort.

Needs: Fewer Turnovers, Better Foul-Shooting, More Movement Without the Ball, Rebounding, Forty Minutes of CONCENTRATION and INTENSITY, Less Reliance on Smith, More Offensive Contributions from the Bench.

Any Thoughts? Regards to all.

Eric