(02-21-2020 08:12 AM)Tribe4SF Wrote:  

(02-21-2020 07:04 AM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  They played dynamite defense last night against the highest scoring team in the CAA.

Towson is 7th in the CAA in scoring.

Well they're 1st in the CAA in Maryland.

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Towson has the most athletic set of big men in the league (not the best, but the most athletic). They guarded Nate in a way others can’t. Successfully kept him from initial touches in the paint. If we face them in the tournament, we’ll need to find other ways to get him touches down low ... and similar to yesterday, just hope that some of our guards can hit some midrange / long jumpers.


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I feel as if last night was a transitional win.

Time will tell, but Massey had our win probability at 33%.

Given our recent history vs Pat Skerry coached teams and the fact that in my opinion Towson is our worst matchup team in the CAA on the road, this ugly win looks pretty to me.

Finish the season strong, take DC by storm and on to glory.
Go Tribe!


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(02-21-2020 08:45 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  Well that is close to 1st.

My life's credo

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(02-21-2020 09:18 AM)zablenoise Wrote:  

(02-21-2020 08:12 AM)Tribe4SF Wrote:  

(02-21-2020 07:04 AM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  They played dynamite defense last night against the highest scoring team in the CAA.

Towson is 7th in the CAA in scoring.

Well they're 1st in the CAA in Maryland.

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I'd like to nominate this post for comment of the year.

We are so much better with Barnes as the floor leader. I think the chemistry is better.

(02-21-2020 09:19 AM)ColonelEbirt Wrote:  Towson has the most athletic set of big men in the league (not the best, but the most athletic). They guarded Nate in a way others can’t. Successfully kept him from initial touches in the paint. If we face them in the tournament, we’ll need to find other ways to get him touches down low ... and similar to yesterday, just hope that some of our guards can hit some midrange / long jumpers.


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I think that your point is an excellent one and I believe that it points out how much we learned from our first game against Towson and how well prepared we were last night. In the game at Kaplan, Towson sent a message to the rest of the CAA, providing a recipe on how to beat W&M. Use your athletes to deny Nate any easy shots, disrupt the motion on the perimeter, and force guys who do not want to take shots to take as many as they wanted. We looked completely lost on offense that night and it really started our skid. It also did not help that Towson shot the ball incredibly well that night and we had no answer for their freshman point guard who had the game of his life.

Fast forward to last night. Nothing really changed with Towson's approach, as they still made it very difficult for Nate to get comfortable in the offense. We even had to once again go a long time with Nate on the bench with two fouls in the first half and still managed to extend the lead. The difference in our approach between the two games, however, was dramatic. First of all, we played super physical defense against that bunch for 40 minutes last night and it showed up in the box score, making it appear that Towson's offensive exploits in Kaplan were an aberration. Towson, on offense, looked way more like the Towson that I am familiar with last night, where a missed shot is more like a pass. Second, and way more importantly, our team is learning that while it is important to try to consistenty run our offense through Nate and Andy, it is important to do it in a way that does not make it so easy for the other team to take away our plan A, and in a way that gives us other options when plan A is not working. We have not been the same since Bryce took over primary ball handling duties three games ago and inserted big time aggressiveness into this offense. He brings the ball up the court with some energy and takes the ball to the rack with a mission. Other players on the court are now looking to take a good shot when it is available as opposed to having to take a bail out shot when all efforts to get the ball to Nate have failed. we missed a lot of shots last night BUT they were good open shots taken in the flow of the offense.

One last thing that allows me to feel pretty excited for at least this morning. Last week we won two exciting high intensity games that played out like a tournament game. Last night we won a game that looked like a rock fight played on an outside blacktop with rims without nets. That tells me a lot about the progress of this team.

GO TRIBE.

(02-21-2020 10:59 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  We are so much better with Barnes as the floor leader. I think the chemistry is better.

Amen to that !!!!

When Thornton is healthy, it'll be interesting to see what the rotation is. Barnes needs to lead the way and get the minutes ... Rainers isn't giving us a ton, so maybe Thornton getting his minutes wouldn't be bad, but we are in a rhythm now and have to be really careful with the chemistry.

The question will be whether Scott takes Hamilton’s minutes.


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(02-21-2020 01:14 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  The question will be whether Scott takes Hamilton’s minutes.


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The problem is that Scott definitely can't guard the 3 (or 2 or 1 for that matter...) - I almost think you have to run a zone if we have Barnes, Loewe, and Scott on the court (have we run a zone at any point this year?) As bad as Hamilton is, he is all we have for defending athletic swing men.

For big rotations: 32/32/16 for Knight, VV, and Blair
For guard rotations: 30/30 for Barnes and Loewe, 25 for Hamilton, 15 for Ayesa, and 10/10 for Scott/Hermanovskis

With the way Ayesa shot the ball yesterday, I'm not sure I give Scott many minutes when he returns unless he plays like he did at the beginning of the year. We need guards that don't turn the ball over, and Scott seems to like to make stupid passes that result in free points for opposing teams

Turnovers per minute of playing time: (starters or part-time starters)

T. Scott - 1 TO every 10.5 minutes of court time
B. Barnes - 1 TO every 11.5 minutes
N. Knight - 1 TO every 12 minutes
A. Van Vliet - 1 TO every 13.5 minutes
T. Hamilton - 1 TO every 18.5 minutes (but, probably, also 3 foolish fouls during those same 18.5 minutes...)
L. Loewe - 1 TO every 27 minutes (less than 2 a game! Nice!)

5 of the 6 players have played 500+ minutes. Scott has played 476.
We average 15.5 turnovers per game. As I noted, we are 12-2 when we hold the number to 12 or under (8 last night).


Both guys are too high to be having the ball in their hands that often, but it could be worse).
Towson definitely had seen something on tape about Bryce (I am guessing that it is that he tries to dribble out of trouble, instead of passing out of trouble), because they set a trap every time he broke to his right against his man. Luckily, he handled it, but it was very close on several occasions. It will be interesting to see if JMU tries to trap him, as well, on Saturday.

I thought the most complete player on the court was Luke Loewe. So much of what he provides does not show up in the stats. He showed tremendous grit during the entire game, also plays so smart.

The other observation that was a positive to see was how well and consistently we broke their press after every possession on their end. Luke and Bryce were in sync on this the entire game.

I don't know why Skerry doesn't get more technicals for being on the court.