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Chip Bayers
Professor
Posts 6997
Chip Bayers
03-11-18 08:50 PM - Post#252153    

From @THCSports:

  • Quote:
MBB UPDATE. Harvard Basketball will play Marquette in the first round of the NIT. Two former Dukies in Amaker and Wojciechowski



NIT even in its new format always shameless about working the story lines to attract viewers.

Big R&B Truth
Masters Student
Posts 427
Big R&B Truth
03-11-18 09:01 PM - Post#252162    

Would anybody ever watch the NIT unless they put together interesting story lines.
Penn State vs Temple is a nice idea.
Go Green
PhD Student
Posts 1124
03-12-18 09:02 AM - Post#252274    

  • Chip Bayers Said:


NIT even in its new format always shameless about working the story lines to attract viewers.



I don't think Georgetown v. Princeton in 1999 was an accident either.

weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-12-18 09:48 AM - Post#252297    

Any word on Towns' injury? I hope it's not serious; if you guys are going to do any major damage in the NIT, you're going to need that kid. He is one tough cover.
digamma
Masters Student
Posts 466
03-12-18 10:02 AM - Post#252307    

I can't imagine him playing Wednesday night.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-12-18 12:02 PM - Post#252363    

That's too bad. You guys may have to lean on Bassey a bit more. I was surprised at his offensive skill set. I hadn't seen enough of him to realize he was much more than a defensive stopper-type.
palestra38
Professor
Posts 32685
03-12-18 12:07 PM - Post#252367    

Really? He's the best all around player in the League. Guy has an NBA jump shot and can shoot over anyone. It would be a real shame if he has an injury that would carry over to next year.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-12-18 12:12 PM - Post#252371    

  • palestra38 Said:
Really? He's the best all around player in the League. Guy has an NBA jump shot and can shoot over anyone. It would be a real shame if he has an injury that would carry over to next year.



Are you talking about Towns or Bassey? My comment was that it looked as if Bassey's role would have to expand a bit in Towns' absence.
palestra38
Professor
Posts 32685
03-12-18 12:15 PM - Post#252372    

Oh, if you look at the pronoun progression, it looked as if you were talking about Towns.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-12-18 12:25 PM - Post#252375    

  • palestra38 Said:
Oh, if you look at the pronoun progression, it looked as if you were talking about Towns.



I didn't really get that. First comment, "That's too bad" referred to Towns. The next sentence referred specifically to Bassey and his skill set, and a possible expansion of his role.

palestra38
Professor
Posts 32685
03-12-18 12:26 PM - Post#252377    

If you read the prior message to which you were responding, "he" was Towns. But I understand your point and was mistaken.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-12-18 01:51 PM - Post#252426    

  • palestra38 Said:
If you read the prior message to which you were responding, "he" was Towns. But I understand your point and was mistaken.



No blood, no foul. It's just that I do take pride in my ability to write clearly.

T.P.F.K.A.D.W.
PhD Student
Posts 1169
03-12-18 09:33 PM - Post#252609    

Speaking of Towns, any word on his injury?
penn nation
Professor
Posts 21086
03-12-18 09:34 PM - Post#252610    

Good luck to Harvard. We know you will represent the IL well.
digamma
Masters Student
Posts 466
03-14-18 08:11 PM - Post#253111    

Just no flow offensively without Seth.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-14-18 08:27 PM - Post#253118    

How much do you think the rule changes (wider foul lane, deeper three point line, four 10 minute quarters) are affecting the team?

I'm watching, and it looks as if Lewis in particular has never been able to get comfortable on the low block. He's about a foot farther out than he probably wants to be.

But yes, the entire team looks out of sorts.
HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts 2685
03-14-18 08:41 PM - Post#253120    

Lewis is rushing things and starting further from the basket. As for the rest of the squad, playing without Towns and Aiken plus rule changes will do that.
TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
03-14-18 08:57 PM - Post#253126    

A healthy Towns would've won this game.

penn nation
Professor
Posts 21086
03-14-18 09:04 PM - Post#253129    

Aint over yet. Harvard really putting on the screws defensively.

If not for some missed FTs in the past few minutes, this could be a 1 possession game.
TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
03-14-18 09:04 PM - Post#253130    

Wow, Marquette losing composure. Not done yet.

weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-14-18 09:04 PM - Post#253131    

Bassey is doing everything he can to get his team back into this one.

Two missed FTs hurt, though.

Agreed about the way the outcome would have changed had Towns been healthy.
palestra38
Professor
Posts 32685
03-14-18 09:04 PM - Post#253132    

What has been happening in the last minutes makes one wonder why Harvard never tried pressing Penn.
TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
03-14-18 09:06 PM - Post#253134    

Foreman and Woods are both good at not getting trapped.

penn nation
Professor
Posts 21086
03-14-18 09:06 PM - Post#253135    

Maybe because Penn pushed the pace on them in Game #2 with great success.
penn nation
Professor
Posts 21086
03-14-18 09:07 PM - Post#253136    

Betley is not good at not getting trapped.
weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts 2125
03-14-18 09:07 PM - Post#253137    

That is indeed a good question. I was wondering about that one as well. The only real pressure they applied down the stretch Sunday was that double team of Betley that resulted in that (questionable) foul call.
TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
03-14-18 09:09 PM - Post#253138    

They kind of tried a few times but Penn read it except for when they played Betley in the corner.

Last few seconds have been a comedy of errors.

HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts 2685
03-14-18 09:26 PM - Post#253143    

Once Aiken got hurt Harvard stopped pressing - unless if it had to in final minutes. Without Aiken, McCarthy and Farley, Harvard had a shortage of guards this year. Juzang (4th string PG), Johnson and Bassey collectively only had one sub - the freshman Haskett. This starting 3 would play 35-40 minutes on back to back nights and so Harvard couldn't afford to press, or be too aggressive and pick up fouls.

With Aiken, McCarthy and Farley back, plus top 135+ ranked freshmen guards Spencer Freedman and Noah Kirkwood, Harvard will be much more aggressive next year. These are all additions as no one in the rotation is graduating. In fact, Corey Johnson was the only Junior.

Assuming good health, Harvard should be significantly better each of the next two years.


HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts 2685
03-14-18 09:33 PM - Post#253145    

By the way, I'm still amazed at how versatile this Harvard team is. Chris Lewis had what could be his worst game of the year, no Towns or Aiken, and they lose by the made free throw differential. If Harvard makes its free throws at the rate they'd been making them this month, Harvard wins or at least we're still playing. Remarkable.

Nice job guys! Gotta be over the top excited about the next two years.
digamma
Masters Student
Posts 466
03-14-18 09:51 PM - Post#253147    

Hard not to like, ahem love, this team. Just so much fight in them. Can't wait to watch next season.

Maybe we'll even get to avoid the early season revolving door of starters, though I'm sure Tommy will want to see what Bacow can do to replace Faust.
penn nation
Professor
Posts 21086
03-14-18 10:01 PM - Post#253148    

Well, you stole Faust away from us but at least you couldn't nab Rosen.


SomeGuy
Professor
Posts 6391
03-15-18 07:22 AM - Post#253169    

In Betley’s Defense, in those situations what we are trying to do is take the foul they are intending to give and get our best shooter to the line. Against both Harvard and Yale, we were running guys to the corner in that situation.
mrjames
Professor
Posts 6062
03-15-18 07:53 AM - Post#253171    

It's the most talent Tommy will have ever had at Harvard and a team that can play so many different ways. He could have another Murphy's law year like this one, so that doesn't guarantee much. If Aiken never gets healthy, Towns has something that will creep into next season or any number of other unforeseen losses, who knows.

But if all return full strength, Harvard will only start two of the guys that started last night and likely only four of the guys who played last night will be in the Top 8 of the rotation. That's crazy for a team that didn't play any seniors last night.
SomeGuy
Professor
Posts 6391
03-15-18 08:55 AM - Post#253175    

It will be interesting to see how the mix comes together. I assume your view is that Lewis and Bassey are the returning starters? Who would be the 2 who stick in the top 8? Johnson and Djuricic? I really like Juzang and think his play was a big part of the story of Harvard’s strong play in conference. Doesn’t mean he has to play next year, but I think he should somehow.

On the earlier comment about lack of ball movement without Towns, I actually like the movement better. Bassey creates for shooters (though he turned it over way too much last night). With Towns, it sometimes feels like everybody stands around because Seth can shoot it over guys when he isn’t open. The game becomes purely how to isolate Towns and Lewis.

Which brings me to Amaker as a coach. It isn’t necessarily rocket science how you get a big guy posted up, but Harvard does a very nice job of moving the ball to get Lewis chances where he is hard to double. It’s not necessarily in game adjustments, but it is coaching. And last night, he certainly made adjustments in the 4th quarter (sounds weird) that seemed to work.

His reputation as a poor game coach may partially be that he was a comparatively weak game coach at the highest level. I don’t think he is a poor game coach at our level. I also think, as we’ve seen with Donahue becoming a defensive coach, that coaches change over time. So that old narrative may have been true at the time, but may not be what Amaker is today.

We can talk about recruiting advantages or whatever, but when I look at Harvard I see decades of lousy basketball right up until Amaker walked in the door. I don’t see how we can say anything other than that Harvard (and the league generally) is lucky to have him, and he has done a tremendous job turning around the program. I think the level of coaching in our league right now is very high.
mobrien
Senior
Posts 390
03-15-18 12:43 PM - Post#253195    

Did we ever find out what exactly Aiken's injury was? I know it was a knee, but was it just a sprain, or something else? In other words, is there any chance he's going to need surgery?
bradley
PhD Student
Posts 1842
03-15-18 01:10 PM - Post#253196    

Harvard will indeed be the clear favorite to win the IL regular season next year. Amaker did an amazing job this year considering all of the obstacles.

Rather than relying on winning IvyMadness, I am sure that Amaker will be focused on having a strong non-conference schedule with the obvious goal to have an excellent record to minimize the risk associated with our beloved IvyMadness Tournament if it remains a one bid league. He is probably going to hope that the IL, as a whole, does much better than this year in non-conference play.

Will it all happen? You never know but the Crimson should be very strong next year but perhaps not quite as good as some Harvard fans envision -- time will tell.
HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts 2685
03-15-18 02:49 PM - Post#253224    

You do have a point. Still missing a strong and athletic power forward. No Mondou-Misi or Casey with that unique combination of athleticism and size. Someone who can play with Chris Lewis.

Am I missing someone? Towns and Djuricic were forced into that position this year. I don't see that we have an incoming freshman in that mold.
SRP
Postdoc
Posts 4894
03-15-18 07:24 PM - Post#253317    

Harvard should be excellent next year. This year a lot of guys had to stretch themselves into new roles and the team got used to bringing a strong defensive effort almost every possession.

I still am not enamored of a healthy Aiken as the primary PG, but if the highly touted freshman can step into that role, Aiken can be a small but deadly shooting guard. Don't know how the presence of those two guys would affect Harvard's D, however.
mobrien
Senior
Posts 390
03-15-18 08:07 PM - Post#253321    

I guess the odds that Aiken is going to need surgery are pretty good considering that he had it today. Did everyone else see this?

https://twitter.com/TOMMYMAC_2015/status/ 974254498...

Any word on how serious it was?


HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts 2685
03-15-18 08:25 PM - Post#253323    

If you recall, Bryce was cleared to play after the initial injury and some rest. I believe a commentator suggested later that the knee wasn't responding. From what I've heard, I'd expect Bryce back at full strength next year.

Anyone know about Seth's knee issue?

Be nice to have Tommy McCarthy as well. A great kid and a leader.



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