First of all, thanks to everyone who joined us in the liveblog last night. It was a very lively discussion and great to "see" so many of you in there to talk about the pretty crazy game that we were able to listen to. Here's the recap, and here's the box score. I have some thoughts from this game, so please join me as I tip-toe through the tulips below.
- You've probably noticed I don't do the GOOD, BAD, and UGLY anymore, but in this case, I think it's warranted to give Vlad a BAD for last night. In your biggest games, you need your biggest players to step up. In two games against Bucknell this year, Vlad shot 5-20 and 1-4 from the 3 point line. He's averaging 8 points a game (12 points below his average). He is averaging 6.5 rebounds in these games, but it's not enough. You need Vlad to step up. Haywood points out that it looks like Vlad was sick last night, or at least something was off. If that's the case, sorry to put the BAD on you, Vlad. We'll hope to see you bounce back against Colgate.
- Troy has really stepped it up the past few games. In his past 3, he's averaging 14 points on 48% from the field. He was the only one who kept the Eagles afloat in the dismal first 10 minutes of yesterday's first half. The one gripe I had about him last night was that he doesn't ever pull up for jumpers in the lane. He has some trouble finishing at the hoop, so why not shake off the defender with a sudden stop and pull-up? Keep up the good work, Troy.
- Every once in a while Danny Munoz has one of these tremendous outputs that you wish, hope, and pray would be what we'd see on a consistent basis. Munoz exploded for 11 points and 4 assists last night. The 11 points came on 3-4 from long range (a season high) and his point total tied a season high too. Great performance, Danny really stepped up when a lot of the other roleplayers didn't.
- Mike Muscala is a force. That is all.
- Lump had a decent, but not great, game last night against the best big man in the Patriot League. 11 points (1 pt below average) and 5 rebounds (almost a season low), weren't a tremendous output. There were times when Lump got the better of Muscala, with a little up and under trickery that completely faked out the big buffalo. We needed Lump to have the game of his life last night, and we didn't get it, but we certainly can't lay this loss at his feet given the other subpar performances we got.
- What an unbelievable comeback by the Eagles for this game to even be a bitter loss. Down 14 points early, this looked like it was going to be a repeat of the Bender Blowout earlier this season. But the Eagles bite and clawed their way back to get a lead late in the second half. Clutch three point shooting really helped; without those buckets from Munoz and Charles (help comes from unexpected places!) we'd be tearing our eyeballs out at a double-digit loss today. Down the stretch we just couldn't hit a clutch basket. We missed a few chances to re-take the lead. Muscala came up huge at the end for Bucknell and we didn't have anyone step up in the last few minutes. We came together enough to get it close, but just couldn't get over the hump.
I fully, FULLY expect us to bounce back (again) against Colgate this Saturday. One game at a time from here on out, it's completely improbable that we will get the #1 seed now, but we can work on keeping the #2 seed firmly in our grasp.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
The start looked like the Bucknell/AU game at Bender all over again but the Eagles managed to right the ship in the second half and considering how poorly Vlad was playing (or, perhaps, how well he was being defended, or something else -- see below) we had a very decent opportunity to win. And on the road, against a high quality opponent, I think, that is all we can ask.
ReplyDeleteThe finish -- what was that, three charges in a row, with Vlad barely touching the ball -- was brutal; but we all keep wanting to see the Eagles play hard and that is what they were doing.
One question though, did Vlad have a cold? . . .was he slightly injured?? The camera angle during his surprising two in a row missed foul shots in the second half, showed an off-line trajectory of either a very tired or, perhaps, ill player . . .
Anyway, the League remains competitive enough for us to not lose hope for the tourney -- we showed one very important thing -- we can win at Bucknell.
Did anyone hear the JJ Radio Show taping today at 11am? If so, what comments did he make about the game? Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteAlso, any other comments made by JJ about last night's performance would be greatly appreciated.
The sickness Vlad had last night is called Brian Cohen disease. That is three straight poor games for Vlad against Cohen. There is a reason Cohen will likely become a three-time PL defensive POY before he is through at Bucknell. (Ayers is very good defensively as well.)
ReplyDeleteAll due respect to Cohen, who is a terrific defensive player, but let's not make it like he shut down Vlad by himself. Bucknell doubled hard on every post catch Vlad made, and they doubled off our point guard every time. Danny made them pay a few times with the threes and that's a good sign going forward, but Bucknell did the same thing Navy did, and the same thing Lehigh did--they got the ball out of Vlad's hands and made somebody else beat them. It's a good strategy. But that's why Vlad's totals against Bucknell are so much lower. He wasn't sick, and Cohen isn't Michael Cooper.
ReplyDeleteAgainst any other team in the PL, Luptak is our most effective PG, but he he has no game against Bucknell. His play affords them a great luxury. Sure, at the beginning of a possession they throw someone on him, but after a bit of off the ball movement, they don't go back to him. It is VERY comfortable for Bucknell playing 5 on 4.
ReplyDeleteTo his credit JJ recognized this and Luptak only got 16 minutes. But his playing time needs to be even lower. Zero assists and giving Bucknell all the time in the world to cover everyone else is not a way to win. At this point JJ's lack of confidence in another PG to step up is hurting us against Bucknell. Almost every possession for AU was a struggle. Meanwhile, Bucknell drove to the basket very well against AU. It seemed like every one of their guys under 6'7" could turn the corner against us.
On the bright side, there was a hilarious call by the Bucknell announcers last night. Click on the following link and scroll to 3:38......
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bucknellbison.com/allaccess/?media=227934
Yes, Bucknell often helps out on Vlad - but so does every other AU opponent, and Vlad has still managed to average 20 ppg versus the rest. In the three AU-BU games where Cohen has been the primary defender, Vlad has scored a total of 18 points and has shot 6-27 from the field.
ReplyDeleteThis is to take nothing away from Vlad, who is a great player. No-one is going to stop him the whole game by himself.
Yes, and every other PL team doesn't have a 6-11 shotblocker playing under the basket like Muscala. Normally Vlad just dumps the ball down to Lump off a double and Lump finishes at the rim, but that option isn't as viable against Bucknell. Muscala's presence also takes away the driving lanes that would normally be available to our guards when Vlad is doubled, leaving us only with the option of having Luptak, Danny and the rest taking perimeter jumpers. (And, of course, Lump cannot draw Muscala out of the paint with any kind of perimeter threat.) The point is Bucknell's team stops Vlad, not Cohen, as the Bison's scoring average allowed against the entire PL attests.
ReplyDeleteJones' handling of the point guard position this year could prove to be our downfall. It should be obvious to all that Hendra is not a point guard. He tries to force the action as evidenced by his numerous charges. He is a good two or three and that is where he should focus his attention.He should not be distracted with having to run the team. Point guard by committee does not work. Jones needs to decide who his point guard is and let him play 32 minutes a game. At times he shuffles the point in and out so quickly they can't even raise a sweat. Of all the positions on the court the point needs to get into the flow of the game and not be concerned about being taken out of the game because of a missed shot, turnover or defensive lapse.
ReplyDeleteIt is time to decide who American's point guard is.
Anonymous re: PG. I agree with you, but we missed the boat on this for this season a long time ago. It was time to decide who our PG was during non-conference. We didn't, mostly because none of them was prohibitively better than another. PG will be in flux until the end of this season. Then we'll have a battle again next year between Blake, Danny, and Wayne.
ReplyDeleteI would say PG is our worry going forward. It hasn't been a *weakness* for us this year, but it sure hasn't been a strength in terms of having someone dynamic at that spot. However, a much bigger worry is our big players not stepping up. We can win without phenomenal PG play, we can't win with lackluster performances from Vlad and Lump.
Interestingly in the four AU-BU games over the past two years, Muscala has sat a total of 38 minutes. During that time period, Vlad scored a total of two points - both from the FT line. This even includes the first game last year when Cohen didn't guard him until the latter stages of the game.
ReplyDeleteAlright, we get it. Cohen is a sublime defender, but maybe, just maybe, he gets some help from the rest of his four teammates with Vlad. Christ Almighty, the comments make it sound like Cohen and Vlad are out there one on one in some kind of samurai duel. The bottom line for AU is, no matter who's stopping him, Vlad is being stopped, and we're losing. Period.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Muscala is an imposing presence, he cannot go through people. I don't see how he would block Vlad's (or any one else's) shot if a player like Lumpkins put himself between Muscala and an AU player who pulls up in the middle of the lane.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we don't have that play in our repertoire.
B^3 perhaps you have a reading comprehension problem. I said above: "Yes, Bucknell often helps out on Vlad - but so does every other AU opponent . . . This is to take nothing away from Vlad, who is a great player. No-one is going to stop him the whole game by himself."
ReplyDelete"
For AU Alum looking for post game comments.Bucknell has video interview with Coach Paulsen and as a bonus you can see that playbyplay character.The SunGazette.com from Williamsport,Pa.! has a game summary with quotes from Coach Jones.There is of course the Coach Jones Radio Show; but there is precious little basketball anymore and unless you can figure out when it airs on Fed. News Radio 1500am Saturday afternoons (and risk missing a home game)you may be out of luck there.Because,if you go to AU mens' basketball web site,click on multi-media and JJones radio show you'll see that the show hasn't been posted for over two months!!! What a waste of tuition and donation dollars.Why is Athletics Communication so ineffective?
ReplyDeleteEasy there, Bison. The two of you were arguing needlessly over a minor point. I was trying to point that regardless of who's covering Vlad (because, btw, Cohen doesn't do that every minute of the game) the end result for us is the same: you limited his effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteCute move knocking my reading comprehension though. I do appreciate a little Friday ad hominem.
One man's "minor point" is another man's discussion point, B^3. I wasn't aware the comments should be limited only to the things you or others find interesting. You were despairing about Vlad's ineffectiveness against Bucknell; I was just trying to explain why, in my view, that was happening. I don't mind the back and forth with Bison any more than I did with LB last year or others who disagree with me and have opinions of their own. If we play against Bucknell again this year we all agree that Vlad has to be more effective. The question--which I was trying to answer--is how do we make that happen? If we don't know why Vlad is getting shut down we won't have any idea of how to get him better looks. (Not that I'm trying to be JJ here. Just offering an opinion.)
ReplyDeleteWhile we're on the topic of things I find interesting, how do you all feel about how Charles has worked into the system thus far?
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line all season has been weak point guard play. Munoz and Luptak are back up point guards on every other PL team. They defensively cannot keep up with the quick opponents, and are below average offensive players at best. 11 points from our point guard position and we stay in the Bucknell game until the end- with Nick shooting 1-9, and Vlad not scoring. The problem is that there is no one else better right now on the bench. if there was i think JJ would play him. If Wayne can comprehend the offensive sets and play solid defense then next year the position will be his to lose.
ReplyDeleteA good result of the BU loss is that i think our kids now know that the Bison is beatable on their court- if we get to play them again. We know our kids can play better than on Wednesday. This PL season is screwy, and i would not be surprised if a lower seed beats BU in the second round, or the same fate is AU's. There is not the usual wide divide between seed 1 and seed 8
Against Buckell, I think getting Vlad more opportunities involves:
ReplyDelete1) giving Luptak's minutes to Munoz or Hendra or ? so that defenders will not just lay off their man.
2) Screen Muscala from making a play on Vlad so he can drive to the middle of the lane.
Judging from JJ's comments on Hinkle, I don't think he's had as much impact as he thought. I'd love to see Brewer or Hinkle receive the ball down low from a curl under the basket... but we don't seem to try. I also think that Hinkle and Brewer don't have much impact rebounding the ball as I would have hoped.