Loyola game

[jajk]

The game was largely over after Greyhounds second run . They made four or five threes against that passive zone we started with , and this was a team that , I believe was 3-23 from behind the arc in their last two games . Oh , well . But I am less discouraged by this one than the Jasper game where it was difficult to cite anything encouraging .

In this one , our guys battled under the boards right to the final buzzer . Darius played with more energy and intensity in the second half . Elias got to play some minutes during which we played them even . And Yvon had very good game in losing effort . He is the one player that we can't afford to have sitting .

As to who will be our second point behind Blaise , I will put in a big vote for Yvon whether you call him the point guard or foward in the half court set . Some of the best fluidity we had in half court sets recently has been when Blaise or Desi has been on the bench and the
play started with Yvon from out high . He has improved his handle and his decision-making significantly over the this and last season . And when he goes to the hoop he is enough of a threat to finish and has sufficient height to open up the half court - particularly as opposed to some of our sets that seem so slow and so predictable . But we will see if he can and should be doing much more of this only by affording him the chance to do it for significant minutes each game . Maybe I am being too optimistic here but I really think it is our best shot at moving to a higher level this season .

Desi definitely needs a little more rest . I think some of his poor play at the end of last two games stems from being gassed . But he can be so quick going to the hoop on drives at times . I expect him to get better and better at this over his career .

Our guys played hard for forty . Fans can - should never be upset when the guys do that .

[oldtimer1]

Good job jajk. The lack of posts from our small fan base are perhaps an indication of our recent disappointments.

Looking for something positive in the past few games is like looking for a needle in a hay stack. However, I'll try to posit one. In the 2nd half of the Loyola game we started to go inside to Darius much more. Even given the fact that Darius is undersized at Center, he does know how to pump fake and draw fouls...now if he can only make his foul shots. Did last year. As posted previously, we need to go inside if only to free up Desi and others on the perimeter.

[loyal]

We shot 3-20, or something like that, to start the game and were down about 15.

I put up the white flag and headed out.

Lord Almighty, do we need shooters.....

Also on precipice of calling the Jackson recruitment a flop. Frankly, I cannot believe a player recruited by multiple Big East schools is so ineffective. Heck, PJ had 9/10 boards against us last year in less than 20 minutes. In a total, stone hands, can't make a layup funk.

IMO, Hounds have the best chance to win 3 games in 3 days, due to their skilled size. Cormier is also very good. Iona, Stags and Griffs look like serious contenders. The rest? Ehhh....

[loyal]

See DC shot 3/10 from the line.

Need so much more from Darius and Patrick.

Nice box score from Yvon. He and Blaise are this years pleasant surprises.

[cindycrawford]

A 15-0 run after we cut an early deficit to two 17-15. was the whole difference in the game. Darius picked up his second foul less than five minutes into the game and sat out the rest of the half. It was at this time that Loyola did their damage inside.
Conley came back in the second half with renewed energy to add eleven but it could have been more had he not gone 3-10 from the line.
Chris Burke had an excellent day on the boards grabbing 9 in just 24 minutes.
Yvon was also superb with a career high 16,mostly on an assortment of drives and one thunderous dunk reminiscent of his slam vs Purdue .
Desi was blanketed by a much bigger Olsen who hurt us yet again on both ends...he can't graduate soon enough to please me.
Jackson continues to struggle holding on to the ball and has trouble finishing.
We also need much,much more out of Prescott...he's just not getting it done.
Peacocks had a number of local alums and a few road warriors who could not be disappointed in the effort even if they were at the score. Let's pick it up and take two next weekend.

[peacockblue]

Starting to sound like the same old story...undersized inside and not enough shooters on the perimeter...not a good mix unless you're the opposing defense.

[eport]

Hate to lose, but as others have noted, there were some positives we can take away with this game. The performance wasn't there, but the effort was certainly present.
We had many good looks and just couldn't put in the hole.
Great effort on the boards....we actually out rebounded them. Can't remember the last time we had as many offensive boards as defensive boards....19 offensive and 19 defensive....pretty impressive. If we could just shoot a lick we could possibly beat some decent teams.

[peacockblue]

If we could just shoot a lick we could possibly beat some decent teams.

The only way we'll shoot better is if we recruit better shooters or hope for the occasional "on" night. Washington was a great addition and IMO his value was seen early on, especially with the play of Ffrench who actually had someone to pass the ball to. Being undersized is one thing, since the hardest players for MAAC-level teams to land are bigs that have strong offensive skills. The problem for SP is that you can't win games with only one perimeter threat on the floor and that's what this team has become again. Unless Prescott steps up big time, this problem will persist.

Unfortunately it's starting to look more and more like teams are adjusting to us and we don't have the talent to adjust back. At home against Niagara and games against Siena, Rider, and Marist will give us a better indication of if that is the case. Going into the year, I would have taken 2-2 after playing Iona, Manhattan, and Loyola twice, so 1-3 is not that much of a disappointment except for Manhattan down two starters at home.

[oldtimer1]

We have several outstanding defensive players and athletes... better off turnovers than in half court. Yuvon, Blaise, Burke, Desi are all much better in the open court and name a center that Darius can't beat downcourt. Again, would like to see more 1/2 court, 3/4 court pressure. Plays into our strengths.

[Peacock]

After many games the criticism waffles between too small front court, foul shooting and poor shooting. Noone mentions one real issue and that is the lack of hands for the front court. In the first Loyola game we lost because we were too small and were dominated on the boards. This one we out rebounded them. Anyone who believed Loyola was not a good 3 point shooting team obviously has not watch the same shooters over the last 3 years. We lost because Loyola had the better talent. Most of our front court have very poor hands resulting in fumbles or lack of finesses on putting the ball up down low. Only Tucker seems to have decent ability and he gets critized for defense. If you played ten games against Loyola the probability of winning one would be pretty low. They are the better team. We can get wrapped up in players being too tired or having an off night, but this is still a team not too different from last year. Everybody knows Prescott can shoot the 3, but seems reluctant or there are no plays set up for him. God forbid if he misses, he get5s benched. Many questions result from all of these and one must side with Peacockblue, we have not recruited players of the requisite talent to be competitive every night. If there is another reason, I'll let the more astute put it out.

[oldtimer1]

Peacock, don't know anyone who would disagree with much of your post. As far as talent is concerned, you are correct, we do not have the talent on this team to be the force that the Bacon, Wesley , Nick, Belin team did. Not that we don't recruit SOME talent, Desi being one example, hopefully Desport (he does have talent), and possibly several of next years recruits. So I basically agree with your analysis. Think every Peacock fan already knows that. Nothing new.

Interestingly,, more than a few of our "talented" players have been transfers (Desi, Belin, Blaise etc) from other schools. Even goes back to Harry and Elnardo among others. Rarely have we gotten a top flight player (read impact player) as an incoming Frosh. Even after our NCAA season we recruited nothing. Now you can either blame that on the Staff or the Institutional situation. I'll let you run with that ball.

[loyal]

You guys are spot on. Ferguson and Jackson (gulp!), our last two years prime front line recruits, have flopped. Add Darius injury/regression/so-so play and there you have it.

Unless things change, we'll be competitive, more or less, but can lose to anyone during one of our brick laying sessions. It's also very unlikely we'd string together 2 or 3 hot shooting nights in a row up in MA. .500 is probably a realistic (or slightly optomistic ) goal.

Success this year will only be attained if Darius transforms (a la' Belin) into a all-MAAC player during the second half of his senior year. Jackson will also have to improve to at least a functional PF level.

Short of that, it's daydream about next years recruits and be thankful Blaise and Yvon have kept this season mildly entertaining.

[njchampion]

Peacock I too must agree with most of your post and would just like to elaborate on one point.Your absolutely correct when you say that Prescott can shoot the 3 and at some point last year he lead the team in scoring.If you watch him the shot seems to still be there however as you pointed out he just will not let it go. This is something I have spoke on numerous times. I have not at this level seen kids who come in with talent be deterred from using it for concern of being benched for making 1 or 2 mistakes or missing a shot. Look at Blaise for instance he is now in a posistion where he has to be on the court and he plays at a higher level because he can focus on the game and not the sideline. At some point these kids seem to just go thru the motion which in turn I feel your not getting 100%. O well who knows this could all turn around and the team could get back on track Lets hope so. ( Where is Ferguson)

[loyal]

Overflow conditions in JD's Doghouse this season and/or Coach is "looking forward" and giving Chazz (definitely) and Desport (maybe) valuable experience at the expense of Prescott and Ferguson.
Given we are going nowhere, really, this season, I can understand the "looking forward" point of view.
I would say if Ferguson is healthy, giving him a few of Jackson's minutes does not appear to offer much downside.
These discussions keep us going, but are akin to re-arranging the deck chairs on a grounded ship, as material improvement is unlikely in almost every scenario. Bottom line.....we can't score consistently enough to be a real threat, based on results so far this year.
Yvon and Blaise have exceeded expectations and have played pretty darn well. Both are seniors. "New Blood" (Wyche and Dominique) step to the forefront next season.

[oldtimer1]

Guys we're jumping to too many conclusions, assuming they are valid and go from there...silly! Take Prescott as an example. Is conventional wisdom now that his below average performances are do to the fear of being pulled if he messed up??? Maybe, he's just not that good


Convenient explanation with absolutely no basis in fact. Remember Prescott was highly touted coming out on an excellent high school career in Conn. but played his way to the bench at St. Joe's. Are we forgetting that? Got a lot of playing time last year. IMO I'd play Chazz over Chris for many reasons. Believe Chris is getting enough playing time.

Regarding Blaise....perhaps the explanation is that Brandon played well all last year not that Blaise played scared.

Remember Lampley? IMO a selfish player (I talked with other players) who was often a turnover machine. JD stayed with him a long, long time. Some here thought that he should play more. JD eventually went with Nick and he was right!

JD like all coaches has his negatives but picking the right players to play is not one of his shortcomings. Picked Nick over Lampley, made Prescott, our 2nd leading scorer last year a bench player this year, started Desi, took Yvon, our 6th man last year and made him a starter at the #3....something other coaches would be reluctant to do, and gave Blaise the ball. IMO makes him a pretty good judge of talent. No Coach is perfect at that. I know by experience but JD is pretty good at who deserves the court time.

Finally loyal, with respect, you say both Blaise and Yvon have exceeded expectations...not mine nor apparantly the staff's Yes they are having pretty good years to date but maybe it the fans who are misjudgeing talent ( since they don't see the players EVERYDAY and on film).

Don't know the situation with Ferguson and it puzzles me also. That's all I will say but with JD's overall track record of selecting playing time I can't argue with him....Leon over Lampley, giving Tucker plenty of floor time, giving Chazz an opportunity to develop, going a lot with Brandon last year, making Blaise the point after a disappointing year last year, playing Yvon at the #3 and keeping Chris Burke at #4. Sure Chris is undersized but guess who our leading rebounder ( and shot blocker) per average minutes played...Chris Burke.

Sure, I'd rotate the players slightly differently but I'm not the Coach. Remember, JD and Staff see these guys almost everyday in practice. They knew that Blaise, for example, was a very good player because they saw him on a much more regular basis than many of us fans. If JD has any faults it's not talent evaluation.

Just some thoughts from a different perspective than I read above. All in fun on a light day.