Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Young team returns in 2018-2019 with tons of promise. Can they get back to the NCAA Tournament?
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jimk72
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by jimk72 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:30 pm

Actually happy I missed this kind of loss......to them. The Bison, who have now become our arch rivals.

If we don't fix this rebounding situation there won't be much point to the rest of the season. The only silver lining is we have 12 games left to get it done.


Mhawk37
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Mhawk37 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:34 pm

Been following this forum for a long time and finally have to speak up. This game was not a result of rebounding or bad D. This team has a problem with its guard play. The offense is dribble heavy and relies on three guards (KL, LT and JC) that are primarily and solely focused on getting themselves going (especially LT and KL... lately it’s as if both are competing with each other to see who can make 1st team all PL rather than caring about the score). This is great when they are on but eventually and always leads to a stretch of the game with incredibly poor shots and stalled offense. Watch any good team play and they don’t have 3 guards that spend the possession pounding the ball. This was an extremely rare game where we had more than 20 assists and honestly most of the assists were late in shot clocks and occurred only after the primary ball handler HAD to pass it. We need to buy into the concept of an extra pass. Doc never punishes bad shots from his guards and thus in tight moments it becomes one on 5 with each guard thinking he’s going to be the hero. The team needs to practice good habits, just because a shot went in doesn’t make it a good shot. Our guards need to learn this and fast. This also explains the poor tournament results as of late. Good tournament teams play for each other and move the ball, when games get tight they get the “best shot” for their best shooters. This team isn’t balanced, it plays “my turn” basketball rather than getting the best guys open and consistent shots. It will be the end of them. The only success Doc has had in the tournament is when he had a lottery pick on his team. Rebounding will not be what does this team in in the PL (it will do us in if by some miracle we make the tournament) it will be a one on 5 driving blind layup by one of our guards trying to be the savior (probably in an early PL tournament upset to American).
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Travis23 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:47 pm

Really good game. Frustrating at times. A few bad turnovers. A few brain farts. And a few non calls but refs. I love the fight at the end but to let the kid go coast to coast and lose like that hurts really bad. Rebounding is an issue. My issue as well and it dates back even last two years with some of these Guys. Jacking up three point shots when not a need to. I don’t care if it’s open or not. Sometimes we need an extra pass or two. Sometimes we need to chew clock. I don’t know maybe it’s me. And I’m sure fans who watch know the 1-2 guys I’m talking about. I just don’t get it. Worried today hurts our hopes of number one seed. Going to be tough to beat Bucky down there. I don’t see bucknell losing to anyone else but possibly us. We let one slip away. Not good
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van
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by van » Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:20 pm

have to disagree with Mhawk on rebounding, it was a big problem today giving Buffs too many extra shots, I do agree that certain guards do dribble too much at times (not KL however)
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Mhawk37 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:31 pm

I was too blunt in saying rebounding isn’t an issue (it will be and has been against good opponents with legit frontlines). I just think it won’t be what ultimately does this team in. There aren’t a ton of big teams in this league and this team has more than enough talent to beat teams by being efficient and overcoming their size deficit. It often does for stretches of games and then the decision making, in my opinion, gets very selfish (see the 16 point collapse against American, the blown ten point lead against HC late and even the MSM game as examples). We play well and the right way for small stretches and the second we get any sort of lead guys start thinking about their stats.
Probably too harsh on KL as well. He played well today. Oh well, on to the next one...
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Bison_137 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:40 pm

Travis23 wrote: Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:47 pm Worried today hurts our hopes of number one seed. Going to be tough to beat Bucky down there. I don’t see bucknell losing to anyone else but possibly us. We let one slip away. Not good

With the balance in the league this year, I will be stunned if both Bucknell and Lehigh don't each lose a few more games. I think 14-4 would be good enough to win the league outright.
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Lehigh65 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 5:18 pm

Welcome to the Board, MHawk37. While we may disagree on a point or two, it's great to have your perspective on our team's play.


Stats that stood out to me today

Total Rebounds / Offensive Boards / Second Chance Points

LU 29/4/ 7
BU 41/7/15


LU's Crazy Good Shooting

2's 17 for 37 = .459
3's 14 for 23 = .609
Overall 31 for 60 = .533
If shooting 3's is a formula for winning, as it is beginning to appear, I'm all for it.


Assist/Made FGs

20 on 31 = .645 (not bad) with KL and LT dishing out 12 of the 20 while scoring a combined 41. Selfish play? I don't see it.



Nic Lynch

Looked "out of sorts" (just one man's opinion) in his six minutes of play going 0 for 0 from the field.



Last Minute Thoughts

6 down and 12 to go before PL Tourney.

LU @ Bucky on Feb.11th with a chance to pull even.

Visitors go 4 and 1 this afternoon with only AWP winning at home
Bucky over LU by 2
CU over BU by 21
LOM over HC by 2
LC over AU by 5
AWP over N by 11
Mhawk37
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by Mhawk37 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 6:04 pm

Thanks. Let's see how it all plays out. Hope for the best for this squad, I just think numbers can be deceiving and don't take into account the style in which they came about. Losing by 8 on 2nd chance points to me isn't or at shouldn't be deadly when we have the offensive advantages that we do. We have the 3 best shooters in the league, including two of the best in the country. I'm not surprised the assist numbers end up looking solid as there were good stretches of the game. My problem is that the good stretches get negated by unbelievably frustrating stretches (most of which are 100% avoidable). There's no consistency. If there was,we would be averaging 20 assists a game, not getting it on a good night in a high scoring game. When you have 3 great shooters like we do, it should be rare for us to have an unassisted possession. We shouldn't be playing so much 1 on 1 as we rarely have physical mismatches. I won't be calling certain guys out by name any longer (stupid on my part), i just see the ball sticking for much too long on one side of the court or frequently getting over dribbled. Our guys do show a willingness to move the ball but often only after a one on one combo move is probed and then at that point the defense has often rotated and adjusted. With the offensive talent that this team has at the 1-4 positions, it should be one of the best A/TO ratio teams in the country . We're 89th in the country, which admittedly isn't terrible, I just think it could be SO much better (HC is 5th and doesn't have close to the caliber of shooters that we do). This team has the talent to win the PL and scare the hell out of a big boy in the NCAA tournament. It is a historically great shooting team in the PL. It unfortunately to me is missing an opportunity at a really special and fun season because of bad habits. More season left though and it's always a crap shoot in this league. I predict February will be good for us as it always is, I'm just concerned about this team's habits and the probability that the bad habits will show their ugly head in March (which hasn't been good to us in almost 7 years). The teams with the best habits win in March. That's why Bucknell has taken 4 of the last 8.
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by StablerBum » Sat Jan 19, 2019 6:15 pm

Mhawk37 wrote: Sat Jan 19, 2019 6:04 pm Losing by 8 on 2nd chance points to me isn't or at shouldn't be deadly when we have the offensive advantages that we do.
I feel almost exactly the opposite on this point. For me, it is a travesty to score 83 points on 52% shooting overall and 61% from 3 and lose. With numbers like that offensively, it's almost criminal to not win the game because you refuse to play fundamental basketball and box out. Bucknell missed 34 field goals and 5 free throws, and grabbed 12 offensive boards. That's almost a third (31%) of available rebounds (not sure if any of the missed FTs were 1 and 1's) that they grabbed on the offensive end. This isn't a power conference team with 7 foot athletes that is grabbing 31% of offensive boards- this is a league foe with similar size/athleticism.

If you refuse to do the little things and still can't win when hsooting 61% from 3, what else is there? Try to shoot 70% from 3? That's not a gameplan, it's a prayer.
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Re: Game 17/6 - Bucknell

Post by jimk72 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 6:29 pm

Yipes! What is going on in Boston??????
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