Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-08-19 02:15 PM - Post#271775
In response to bison63
Compare the two game averages. Nate was consistent, with 22 and 27 pts (24.5) and 12 and 9 rebounds (10.5). Mahoney was less so, with 15 and 26 pts (20.5) and 3 and 14 rebounds (8.5). Also Nate shot 60% for 3's in the two games.
Advantage Nate, except for one nagging fact. Mahoney had his huge game while being defended by Nate.
Yes, his defense wasn't great - but the problems on defense were often a team effort. The Bison, like many teams, were overplaying any dribbler on the wing to allow penetration down the baseline. Then a help defender would block his progress, which required another defender to rotate quickly to cover the man just left by the help defender, which then required more rotation etc. In many cases, it was Sestina stopping the penetration down the baseline, which meant someone else had to take Mahoney. Even after the dribbler gave up the ball, it wasn't always easy for everyone to get their original man again - which meant that Mahoney was sometimes able to take a pass for an easy layup or else had an easy path for an offensive rebound. Also two or three quick passes were finding shooters for open threes. In short, the Bucknell defensive rotations were not very good collectively. They might be better off trying to prevent baseline penetration before it starts.
I think Nate was deserving of the award, but Mahoney would have been as well. Navy's Hassan Abdullah had a case as well.
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