Post by diehardfriar on Jan 19, 2014 23:52:19 GMT -5
What a signature win!!
The team is definitely finding it's identity and call me crazy but I honestly think one of the main reasons why is because of the short rotation (not that we couldn't still very much use another good guard)
we have 5 very good players plus an improving guard who can get hot from deep when he's on
Cotton is excelling at the PG spot and you have to ask yourself would our offense have been that efficient last night with Dunn running the show? I honestly don't think it would have....Kris can't shoot so the ball screens would be ineffective....now obviously Cotton would still be on the floor but would he be able to run the offense as good if he was just shooting/scoring all year? No.....his ball reversal is one thing that has really jumped out at me lately and that is largely in part to all this hands on experience. Not saying we are better without Dunn as obviously our defense would be much better and you could bet your last dollar that Cotton would be shooting a higher%......but overall I think offensively we are much better with Bryce at the point......just to bad Fortune wasn't a ringer......imagine if he was hitting 2 a game at 38-40%?
If Ted and Lee can step in and do what they did last night when any of the top 6 are in foul trouble I like our chances of finishing in the top 3-4 of this league
Bancroft played great last night. He continues to get better defensively. Last night he forced the best player in the country into a travel charge on the low block despite giving up about 4 inches.(a former walk-on D-ing up an all-american? won't see that much).......I also like how he seems to be developing a confident little sweet spot on that baseline.....FWIW he has a nice looking stroke
Lee was also solid in his few minutes, big offensive board soon as he checked in plus he moved the ball around very well which was key helping our offense not go dry with Harris & Batts on bench
I think Batts is going to have a HUGE finish to the season....seems him and Cotton are really getting comfortable on the high ball screens and with both of them being able to knock down that perimeter shot it is tough to defend........either player only needs a little space to hit from that top of the key area.....plus Batts has the ability to put the ball down and get to the rim when the defender bites at the fake.....Jay Wright said something earlier in the year regarding Pinkston that anytime at this level when teams have a big who can score inside/out and hit his FT's it makes teams so much harder to guard.
Cotton will obviously be missed terribly next year but right now I don't see anyone on next years roster who will be able to run that ball screen as nearly as effective as Batts(LaDontae is too small and doesn't pass good enough IMO)....maybe Harris will bulk up a little more and become a better passer but right now I don't see him as a triple threat guy from there like Batts is.....maybe Bentil? tough job for a frosh but not an impossible one
Carson-D who's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite Friars looked like he got his mojo back the last couple after he hit a little rut. If I'm correct he received the ball on the low block twice and converted both attempts with a couple real nice moves. He also wasn't credited with a tip-in that he clearly converted(it was mistakenly given to Fortune)I really think he could go from a pretty good center to a very good one with the right coaching & motivation. Loved those out of bounds plays that were ran for him at SJU.....gotta try to keep him involved offensively even if it's at minimal level this season.
Henton has been slowly but surely getting better and better since last year IMO and right now he's shooting the ball with a ton of confidence.
DEFENSE!! watching the game last night I couldn't help to think of how far we've come defensively since Cooley has been here.....night & day
Offensively it is very obvious that we are a very well coached team.....the shot selection these last couple games has been so disciplined it's insane!! and really fun to watch....again night & day from when before Cooley arrived as it was swing the ball around the perimeter until the clock is about to expire and just chuck it up baby!!........u can count the bad shots by this team on one hand the last two games....I mean besides Cotton who forces a couple tough one's per game with the clock going down you just don't see it.........and when your that good and play 40 minutes a game it basically comes with the territory.
I thought one of best things about last nights game was that even after PC built that huge lead they knew what to do......do you keep attacking there or work the clock? good coached teams do both and that's what we did by winding the clock down but also staying aggressive and taking what the defense gave us........again under Keno(if we were ever up by 20)this team had no idea how to play with a lead
hats off to Cooley.....this is two years in a row now he's about to pull a rabbit out a hat.......team is playing a very focused, poised, unselfish, disciplined brand of basketball right now
Do they have enough bodies to keep it up? Can Bancroft, Carson, and Fortune keep their confidence high and continue to get better? Those are the main questions for me as I'm not worried about the Fearsome 4.....because all 4 of those guys are big time players
The team is definitely finding it's identity and call me crazy but I honestly think one of the main reasons why is because of the short rotation (not that we couldn't still very much use another good guard)
we have 5 very good players plus an improving guard who can get hot from deep when he's on
Cotton is excelling at the PG spot and you have to ask yourself would our offense have been that efficient last night with Dunn running the show? I honestly don't think it would have....Kris can't shoot so the ball screens would be ineffective....now obviously Cotton would still be on the floor but would he be able to run the offense as good if he was just shooting/scoring all year? No.....his ball reversal is one thing that has really jumped out at me lately and that is largely in part to all this hands on experience. Not saying we are better without Dunn as obviously our defense would be much better and you could bet your last dollar that Cotton would be shooting a higher%......but overall I think offensively we are much better with Bryce at the point......just to bad Fortune wasn't a ringer......imagine if he was hitting 2 a game at 38-40%?
If Ted and Lee can step in and do what they did last night when any of the top 6 are in foul trouble I like our chances of finishing in the top 3-4 of this league
Bancroft played great last night. He continues to get better defensively. Last night he forced the best player in the country into a travel charge on the low block despite giving up about 4 inches.(a former walk-on D-ing up an all-american? won't see that much).......I also like how he seems to be developing a confident little sweet spot on that baseline.....FWIW he has a nice looking stroke
Lee was also solid in his few minutes, big offensive board soon as he checked in plus he moved the ball around very well which was key helping our offense not go dry with Harris & Batts on bench
I think Batts is going to have a HUGE finish to the season....seems him and Cotton are really getting comfortable on the high ball screens and with both of them being able to knock down that perimeter shot it is tough to defend........either player only needs a little space to hit from that top of the key area.....plus Batts has the ability to put the ball down and get to the rim when the defender bites at the fake.....Jay Wright said something earlier in the year regarding Pinkston that anytime at this level when teams have a big who can score inside/out and hit his FT's it makes teams so much harder to guard.
Cotton will obviously be missed terribly next year but right now I don't see anyone on next years roster who will be able to run that ball screen as nearly as effective as Batts(LaDontae is too small and doesn't pass good enough IMO)....maybe Harris will bulk up a little more and become a better passer but right now I don't see him as a triple threat guy from there like Batts is.....maybe Bentil? tough job for a frosh but not an impossible one
Carson-D who's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite Friars looked like he got his mojo back the last couple after he hit a little rut. If I'm correct he received the ball on the low block twice and converted both attempts with a couple real nice moves. He also wasn't credited with a tip-in that he clearly converted(it was mistakenly given to Fortune)I really think he could go from a pretty good center to a very good one with the right coaching & motivation. Loved those out of bounds plays that were ran for him at SJU.....gotta try to keep him involved offensively even if it's at minimal level this season.
Henton has been slowly but surely getting better and better since last year IMO and right now he's shooting the ball with a ton of confidence.
DEFENSE!! watching the game last night I couldn't help to think of how far we've come defensively since Cooley has been here.....night & day
Offensively it is very obvious that we are a very well coached team.....the shot selection these last couple games has been so disciplined it's insane!! and really fun to watch....again night & day from when before Cooley arrived as it was swing the ball around the perimeter until the clock is about to expire and just chuck it up baby!!........u can count the bad shots by this team on one hand the last two games....I mean besides Cotton who forces a couple tough one's per game with the clock going down you just don't see it.........and when your that good and play 40 minutes a game it basically comes with the territory.
I thought one of best things about last nights game was that even after PC built that huge lead they knew what to do......do you keep attacking there or work the clock? good coached teams do both and that's what we did by winding the clock down but also staying aggressive and taking what the defense gave us........again under Keno(if we were ever up by 20)this team had no idea how to play with a lead
hats off to Cooley.....this is two years in a row now he's about to pull a rabbit out a hat.......team is playing a very focused, poised, unselfish, disciplined brand of basketball right now
Do they have enough bodies to keep it up? Can Bancroft, Carson, and Fortune keep their confidence high and continue to get better? Those are the main questions for me as I'm not worried about the Fearsome 4.....because all 4 of those guys are big time players