Tuesday, November 14, 2006
BC Outhustled, Outplayed
Thanks to one of my friends, I scored late tickets to the BC/Vermont game last night. We got there as the second half was starting, and all I can say is ugh. I've not seen uninspired play like I saw out of that Boston College basketball team since my high school playing days for the St. Joseph's Regional High School Crusaders in Lowell. A team that went 0 for my first three seasons.
Watching Vermont play was a thing of beauty on the other hand. Solid defense, the Catamounts actually kept their hands out and up on D in the 2-1-2 zone defense and low and behold, it created significant turnover opportunities. I guess there is a place in Basketball for fundamentals. Vermont seemed to run well designed plays based on player movement throughout the night. It didn't seem as BC ran even one designed play, there was no conistency to their attack.
The worst part of the evening for a BC fan however was that there was no hustle by the BC team after say the 10th minute of play in the second half. Down by 12-16 points for much of the time in the final 10 minutes, there was no sense of urgency on the part of the BC point guard. He lacksidasically brought the ball up to half court and took an eternity looking for an open man.
The other part of BC's game that is unexcusable is their lack of success at the free throw line, gentlemen it's called a free throw for a reason, they are free points. At a Division 1 college level you should really be a little better at shooting free throws. There is no excuse for having a 50% free throw percentage, that's just awful.
My guess is there will be lots of suicide drills today at practice. Lots.
Watching Vermont play was a thing of beauty on the other hand. Solid defense, the Catamounts actually kept their hands out and up on D in the 2-1-2 zone defense and low and behold, it created significant turnover opportunities. I guess there is a place in Basketball for fundamentals. Vermont seemed to run well designed plays based on player movement throughout the night. It didn't seem as BC ran even one designed play, there was no conistency to their attack.
The worst part of the evening for a BC fan however was that there was no hustle by the BC team after say the 10th minute of play in the second half. Down by 12-16 points for much of the time in the final 10 minutes, there was no sense of urgency on the part of the BC point guard. He lacksidasically brought the ball up to half court and took an eternity looking for an open man.
The other part of BC's game that is unexcusable is their lack of success at the free throw line, gentlemen it's called a free throw for a reason, they are free points. At a Division 1 college level you should really be a little better at shooting free throws. There is no excuse for having a 50% free throw percentage, that's just awful.
My guess is there will be lots of suicide drills today at practice. Lots.
