Hellooooooooo AUHoops fans! Welcome to the wonderful realm of being 3-0. First time this has been the case in the Jeff Jones era, and the first time this has happened to AU since 1989-90 when I was just learning how to eat my Cheerios without spilling all the milk out of the bowl. As predicted, we got the win against the U-MESS Chickenhawks last night, but boy it was a lot closer than me or Josh thought it would be. U-MESS was within 2 with 75 seconds to go last night; that was particularly surprising since before the game I thought they wouldn't have been within 20 with that much time left. Definitely some GOOD, BAD, and UGLY to take out of the game last night, but the overriding thought I have is, a win is a win, and now we'll take our 3-0 record on the road against what will be a very tough match-up against the FAU Hooters.
THE GOOD
VLAD THE IMPALER - No getting around it, folks, Vlad the Impaler was the crown jewel of last night's game. He scored 31 of our 65 points and, along with Nick Hendra who I'll get to in a minute, put this team on his back to get the victory. At half, Vlad had 13 of 23 points and was 3-4 from long range (the rest of the team? 0-8). In the second half, Vlad really turned it on. After getting into some foul trouble and riding the bench with Lumpkins for a long stretch in the middle of the second half, he came back in with the score tied at 45. He then proceeded to rattle off 13 straight AU points including three long range buckets from Garrison Carr range. The third was a contested shot in the corner where he shot around the defender who was in his face while off-balanced and on one leg. Unreal. He finished 9-5, 6-7, and 7-9 from the line with 5 boards, 3 assists, and 2 turnovers. A classic impaling last night.
Nick Hendra - Hell of a game last night for Hendra, and the intangibles were more important than the score sheet. When UMES made their run in the second half to tie it up at 45, Hendra got real fired up and let the rest of the team know about it. He lead by example last night, fighting for loose balls, picking off passes, and at one point hurdling the courtside fans to try to save a ball. All of this isn't to say that Hendra did nothing tangible last night. At halftime he was our second leading scorer with 6, he finished with 9 pts, 5 boards, 6 assists (to only 2 turnovers), and 2 steals. Now that the pressure is off of him to be a primary scorer for the team, Hendra seems to be flourishing in his new role and is facilitating the offense in a tremendous way, including the awesome alley-oop to Troy Brewer late in the second half.
Stephen Lumpkins - Lump was stumped in the first half, going just 1-5 but grabbing four boards. We were having trouble getting it inside to him, and he was having some trouble finishing. Lump was also very predictable down low in the first half (catching the ball with back to defender, spin move left, finish with left hand). Luckily for us, the team came out ready to feed the hungry big man in the second half. He scored the first 10 AU points in the second half and showed all kinds of move in the post. After that the Chickenhawks locked him up for the rest of the game, but he finished with 12 points, 6 boards, and 3 steals. Also did play in foul trouble for most of the second half.
AU's ball handling/distribution - For the second straight game we had a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, last night it was 18 to 9. At half it was 7 to 2, so while we distributed the ball well in the 2nd half, we also gave it away a fair amount. Kudos to Danny Munoz who had 5 assists to 0 turnovers in 23 minutes of action last night.
Tony Wroblicky - Great game from the freshman big man last night who has quickly become a crowd favorite in Bender. 6 pts and 6 boards on 3-6 shooting, and he was able to step in for Lumpkins who had foul issues throughout the game. Nice moves inside, and it didn't look like the ankle sprain JJ talked about post-St. Francis was bothering him at all.
AU's first half defense - Lest I forget this two games in a row, AU's defense in the first half was awesome. Gave up on 18 points and held U-MESS to 31% shooting. Unfortunately, the defense in the second half was much more porous, which brings me to...
THE BAD
AU's second half defense - After playing great D in the first half, the Eagles let the U-MESS backcourt have too much slack in the second. Lots of drives inside by Kevin White and Tim Burns led to 20 points in the paint allowed in the second half versus just 6 in the first. U-MESS shot just under 50% in the second half as well.
Offensive production from the PG position - Danny and Steve combined to go 0-2 with 0 points last night. They did a great job limiting turnovers, and they combined for 6 assists, but they looked overmatched last night against the U-MESS backcourt.
Troy Brewer - It pains me to do this, but I've got to. Troy has a tremendous amount of athletic ability, but has definitely not his groove yet. For a guy who has the reputation as a 3 pt. sniper he's now 2-13 on the season and was 0-4 last night. He's 10-29 overall (2-10 last night) from the field this season. Troy is also very quick, but on two fast breaks last night he lost the handle and turned the ball over. I think Troy is going to be a tremendous asset to us, and he already is on defense. He's long and quick and a real pain for opposing players, but his shooting % has to improve.
Mike Bersch - Bersch is doing a fine job passing, and he looks better on defense, but the guy is a 3 pt specialist and so far he's 1-9 on the season. He drains them like crazy in practice apparently, but in a game situation it's been very different this year. 0-3 last night, until he starts shooting better he's going to see his minutes be even more limited.
THE UGLY
Non-Vlad 3-point shooting - Vlad: 6-7, rest of the team: 1-12. Terrible. That's really, really bad. We're going to the 3 too early in possession, and our sets, thankfully, are giving us open shots, but we are just missing the shots like crazy. We should be feeding the ball inside more to Lump to give him a shot at the opportunities we're squandering from the outside.
All of the easy missed shots - This isn't a statistic that we keep track of, I guess, but it just seemed like we had a lot of trouble finishing lay-ins and point blank shots last night. If we had made these shots, the game would've been a blowout, but we kept missing freebie easy buckets. It wasn't anyone in particular either, it was a team-wide problem last night. As a senior AU official said to me last night, sometimes the shots go in, and sometimes they don't. Let's hope we don't have too many nights where they don't going forward.
How close this game was - This is part of the problem above, but U-MESS is a team that just gave up 100 points to Columbia. We should not have had as big a problem with the Chickenhawks as we did. We let them back into the game and gave that team a lot of hope. A team with hope is dangerous. YOU HAVE TO CRUSH IT LIKE A TOTALITARIAN REGIME WOULD.
Anyway, that's that. Big game coming up against FAU's Hooters. What were everyone else's thoughts about the game last night?
Great analysis as usual Bill. I couldn't agree with you more about this game's good, bad and ugly! But hey, like you said, a wins a win and I'll take 3-0 any day! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteAdded the 3 pt woes to the UGLY section. Don't know how I forgot about that, but boy was that ugly last night.
ReplyDelete3-0 is a good thing, but last night's game leaves a lot to be desired.
ReplyDeleteThe main positive was Tony W. He is smooth and I hope that he starts to get more minutes. I love Lump and he has earned his time with hard fought experience, but Tony should split more minutes with him based on what I saw last night and against SF. In any case, it must be noted that Tony W. was a great recruit, so kudos to JJ.
As for the bad, it is sad to have to emphasize it, but when Brewer is cold, he is ice cold. His defense justifies his minutes on the court, but his shooting has not diversified the scoring effort and his ball handling does not allow him to penetrate--which once again leaves us with Vlad as virtually being a one man show. This is not the progress that is expected from last year, so scoring must be distributed or problems will inevitably arise.
On another note, Bucknell is playing strong and their bigman presence will cause us many problems.
Finally, FAU will be a big test for us because we cannot play as sloppy as we did against SF and UMES and expect to win. So, a win will be encouraging, but to do that we must have someone other than Vlad taking on the scoring burden. (Hendra you did a great job last night).
It seems like we play down to our opponents in these situations. The whole team should come out with the same intensity that Hendra, Simon, and Luptak show.
ReplyDeleteTrue, a win is a win, and also true that last night was just not an inspiring effort. Of course, for all we know, that could be the best 40 minutes of basketball UMES will play all season.
ReplyDeleteOnce Troy gets into a groove, he will be dangerous - other than possibly Vlad, who hates dunking because of his knees, I cannot think of another player who would have been able to make that alley-oop (OK, maybe Lumpkins on a good night). That T was definitely undeserved, though, and it's the first T I can remember us getting since Brian Gilmore "taunted" a Holy Cross player in the PL final 2 years ago. Also, for clarification, those points did end up counting.
Also, why isn't the reffing on the ugly list? God it was terrible. I thought JJ was going to devour one of those refs alive.
I also believe it was Wayne Simon who had the sprained ankle, not Tony, but I could be wrong. Seriously, if he's able to get a little bigger (just as Lump did after his freshman campaign), he is going to be a force in the Patriot League.
Finally, I am beginning to wonder where Charles will fit in the rotation come December. Before the season, I would have said he would easily take Nick Hendra's spot, but Nick has been absolutely indispensable this season so far. If Troy never finds an offensive rhythm - well, there you go. But I really want to see both transfers on the floor at once, so, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Like a couple of people of said, a win is win.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a reminder to all of us that this isn't the 2008-2009 team. This is a team that is still learning how to win. Remember, we were .500 in PL play last year and probably never decisive favorites. The team is still developing that killer instinct of putting their foot on inferior competition's throat and never letting up.
I hope JJ has them running ladders today and tomorrow as a reminder that no game is a gimme, no matter who we're playing. We actually have to go out and WIN.
Definitely disagree about having the team run ladders after a win and, in general, suggesting the team do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself. For my part, I'd happily run ladders with the team until I passed out and died.
ReplyDeleteI second Kaplan's comment on the refs. The officiating was very biased. I also thought JJ's head was going to explode, but his anger was completely justified. Also, it was Simon who sprained his ankle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as for Hinkle, I wonder the same thing. Aside from seeing him at the open practice, I have little more to judge his court play. I thought that he and Troy would certainly be on the court at the same time, but now I am not so sure. Hendra really is playing smart ball and he worked extremely hard in the off season--he is stronger than ever. So, unless Charles is a shooting machine (which is much needed) then he will most likely split his minutes with Hendra.
The FAU game will tell us a lot. It we hang well with them, then last night's performance can be equated to an off night and / or growing experience. Let's hope this is the case.
Bill, the logic of not running after a win says that the effort the team put forth was acceptable. Example: Is Bob Huggins is gonna say its acceptable if we play WVU as tight as UMES played us tonight? If we act like we can just turn it on and do not have to come out with intensity every game we will drop games this year we do not expect to.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I love watching these guys play, but I also want them to get to enjoy a PL championship in Bender on a Friday afternoon in March. Efforts like last night aren't gonna get that done.
Of course, I'm sure JJ spends loads of time reading the blog for coaching advice.
While I have no idea if anyone was running ladders today, what I do know that is JJ could not have possibly been happy with that win. An angry JJ is a force of nature. If this team can withstand that, they can withstand FAU. Or at least, that's my theory, and I hope it holds.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I definitely heard JJ at one point yell "CAN WE DO ANYTHING BUT JACK UP THE THREES!?", or something very close to that. I think it definitely frustrates him too when in 3 games we're 19-61 from three against teams that have no real inside game (Mislav Jukic aside). If we want to beat FAU, we need to feed Lumpkins, and only take the three when we have to. Oh, and stop clanging wide open looks off the basket, but that's less of a strategy thing and more of a practice thing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, athletics wrote in their pre-game article that the last time we were 3-0 was 1982, then in their post-game article said it was 1989. Which one is it!?
ReplyDeleteBig news though from today's Eagle:
“He put forth effort,” said Jones of Wroblicky. “He gave us a big lift. By virtue of his performance tonight, he’ll be out starting center on Saturday.”
So will Tony actually start against FAU, or is this just a fake out from Coach? If so, is it more to reward Wroblicky, or to punish Lumpkins for what can only be described as a tepid first half?
Starting Wroblicky is the right move. He made a good impact in minutes he got last night. Lump was not on against SF and last night he did not drive to the basket in the first half before he was in foul trouble. Lump is a great player and want to see him do great, so maybe starting Tony will fire him up because I do not see visible improvement from Lump since last season. And, Tony is going to be needed against PL teams with solid bigmen like Bucknell. Also, if Tony does not start well, I'm sure Lump will be put in quickly.
ReplyDeleteSo, props to JJ for shaking up the starting lineup after such a weak start last night. This may be what the team needs to know that any position is up for grabs based on performance and not on favorites or any other measure. In the end, hopefully this will just make the Eagles more competitive.
FAU will be a big test to show where we stand so far. They have three wins and four returning starters. Point Guard Ray Taylor is very quick along with Shooting Guard Gregory Gantt. So, the Eagles' guards will have their work cut out for them on defense.
ReplyDeleteThe guards dominate scoring for FAU, but their bigger guys, with the exception of senior Brett Royster, have put up few points. They also have a 6'8" 245 lbs power forward, Kore White, who transfered from Marshall and seems to be getting some minutes this year, but does not score much. So, maybe JJ sees Tony as a chance to score with this soft touch. The key will be to get him the ball down low, which is not going to be an easy task against such dominant guards from FAU.
Isn't it great to be nitpicking a 3-0 start instead of 0-7?
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, we're shooting too many threes. I know some folks have said Brewer is a "three-point specialist," but he's never been that and AU didn't expect him to do that. He needs to take a step in every time he catches the ball before he shoots. I bet his percentage between 10 and 18 feet is much better. He's probably catching and shooting because he's not a great driver, but I'd still rather have him attacking the basket than shooting shots he can't make reguarly.
Also, someone asked about Hinkle. Pretty sure he's strictly going to be a 4/5 who'll spell Vlad when/if he gets in foul trouble, or play alongside Lump. It would surprise me if JJ played Hinkle and Wroblicky together, given their relative lack of experience with one another, the team and the conference. But Charles is going to help us in conference play; we need a physical big man in our rotation.
So glad I'm home so I can finally respond to this: 'Bill, the logic of not running after a win says that the effort the team put forth was acceptable.'
ReplyDeleteYou don't PUNISH your kids for WINNING. It's really cute that I write the Good, Bad, and Ugly and criticize our players for not doing things successfully that I couldn't do on my best day, but I am NOT about to start wishing PUNISHMENT on people who are still students. They have lives outside of basketball even if we conveniently think they don't. We ask them to win, and they did last night. Regardless of whether JJ is happy or pissed about last night's performance, I think it is in VERY POOR FORM for our commenters to wish suicides, ladders, or any other type of physical anguish on our players. I don't get too adamant about things often on this site, but I will get adamant about this.
Now that I'm doing ranting, I can address some other things:
ReplyDelete1. I didn't think the refs were terrible last night. They called soft fouls, but they called them pretty consistently. I'm usually the first to rip the refs; I'm reluctant to do so over last night.
2. Starting Wroblicky is a ballsy move. That's a smack in the mouth to Lumpkins. I'm not sure how much of it is his fault that he's not starting. Yes, he finished poorly last night, but he also often didn't get the ball. So that's a failing on our backcourt to get the ball in to him. Tony has played well enough to start, but Lump hasn't played poorly enough to be benched.
3. Hard to say about Hinkle. I was on the Brewer-as-savior train, now I am decidedly off of said train. I'll reserve judgment on Hinkle until I see him in a game situation. After all, if I based everything on things I see/hear about practice, Bersch would be better than Garrison. Hinkle's rep is as a defensive guy, not a shooter. We'll see if that holds up.
4. FAU is going to be a hell of a game. I don't know whether to hope we get smacked in the mouth or not. Josh and Zach are correct, we need to get smacked in the mouth a little and realize we just can't scrape by and pull out a win. However, getting smacked in the mouth might result in a loss, which I don't wish for either.
5. Whatever, just make Mike Jarvis mad.
Coach Jones will start whoever he perceives works hardest in practice and in games. If Lump does not start then that is the message JJ is sending to Lump and the other players...work hard, get better, and beat out someone to deserve minutes and a starting role.
ReplyDeleteOur lack of quickness and lack of scoring from the backcourt are good reasons to worry. Plus, we are just learning about what Troy brings to this team. Against MES he was often defended with a much smaller opponent- and he did not feel comfortable backing him in, or penetrating. he seemed more comfortable roaming the perimeter. I hope his offensive skills improve with confidence and meshing with his teammates.
This is a link to a scouting report on Brewer when he was still in High School. It does mention his 3-point ability as his "niche". See, http://maryland.scout.com/a.z?s=174&p=8&c=1&nid=1822690 This same link also lists "ballhandling" as an area for improvement.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, when he went to Georgia, he 3-point ability was touted: http://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=1257179
We did want Troy to be our scoring savior (and to dominate the court with pure athletic superiority). When he's on from 3, he can be deadly. However, watching the exhibition game, the open practice, the SF game, and last night--it is clear that his ballhandling has not allowed him to penetrate and to finish on fast breaks. The fact is that unless he is hot with 3 pointers, we should be realistic and not expect him to do things (like consistently drive into the lane), which he apparently has never done well. We should be fortunate to have what he offers, and that is good defense, a threat from 3 when he is on, and needed quickness without the ball. In all, let's really hope that he settles in at the 3-point arc, and let's hope that someone else can also come alive as a consistent scorer to help out Vlad.
Maybe this can be Tony--yes he is young, but his touch is sweet. Let's see how he does against FAU.
I don't quarrel with the scouting report, but I know that they weren't and aren't expecting him to be a three point shooter here. He's a one (maybe two) dribble guy that is going to be effective on the weak side as a finisher, but isn't going to make a living as a perimeter shooter. That's what Bersch is here to do. And until he starts making them, I don't think he's going to see a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteOf the 19 threes we've made in the last three games (we're 19-61 total I believe), 9 have been from Vlad. That is just under half. It's great that Vlad is such a machine in so many places, but once we start playing better teams, we're absolutely going to have to rely on more than just him from beyond the arc, hands down.
ReplyDelete