cc66
Postdoc
Posts: 2204
Reg: 10-09-09
|
01-31-18 06:09 PM - Post#245277
In response to Columbia 37P6
KenPom has us beating Harvard by 1 and defeating Dartmouth by 8. The first projection is based on a lagging indicator--Harvard is playing well recently, and I don't believe we can beat them. But we should take Dartmouth at home; if we don't, the subsequent season will unfold in the fashion of a truly ghastly horror movie.
|
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts: 2972
Reg: 03-02-08
|
01-31-18 08:11 PM - Post#245290
In response to cc66
Harvard seems like it is less than the sum of its parts.
|
mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
|
01-31-18 09:05 PM - Post#245305
In response to Chet Forte
Hard to say... Harvard hasn't been at full strength for any significant stretch of time all season. It has to have Aiken, Towns, Bassey and Lewis healthy down the stretch if it wants to compete for an Ivy title. If Harvard has a healthy Aiken and run a somewhat decent offense, the ways to beat the Crimson are to get to the free throw line (especially knocking out Lewis who is an insane interior defender) and to shoot over the D effectively.
Columbia can definitely do the latter, but it'll need to convince Harvard it can get to the rim effectively to buy space for its shooters. The defense starts to unravel with Lewis out of the game (so does the inside-out offense), so I'd go after him first.
|
SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6412
Reg: 11-22-04
|
02-01-18 07:34 AM - Post#245341
In response to cc66
The third possibility for Stefanini is that it was neither Cornell’s defense nor things clicking in. It could simply be that players with high usage rates and lowish ORATs can have high scoring games on nights when they shoot well.
|
Columbia 37P6
Postdoc
Posts: 2178
Reg: 02-14-06
|
02-01-18 11:39 AM - Post#245365
In response to SomeGuy
What happened in Cornell #2 is that Stefanini not only shot very well, but did some very smart things on both offense and defense, such as following up his shots, etc, etc. Stefanini and Hanson are both High Basketball IQ types who remind me of Issac Cohen, but frankly are much better shooters than he ever was. My feeling is that the Lions would benefit from using a line-up composed of Smith, Meisner, Tape or Faulds, Stefanini and Hanson. Believe me I like Adlesh and Hickman, but it seems apparent to me after watching all 17 Columbia games this season, that it is time to play Stefanini and Hanson in their place.
|
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts: 2972
Reg: 03-02-08
|
 02-01-18 01:00 PM - Post#245378
In response to Columbia 37P6
Agreed, except that I think Castlin should play ahead of Hickman, who has really regressed this year. Adlesh is better suited to come off the bench and when he is hot drain some quick three pointers.
|
cc66
Postdoc
Posts: 2204
Reg: 10-09-09
|
02-01-18 04:13 PM - Post#245409
In response to SomeGuy
Perhaps. But that means you have to imbue it with entirely independent causality. One could just as easily argue that when Stefanini goes off against Cornell, the high scoring of a high usage player is quite likely a non-random event.
|
SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6412
Reg: 11-22-04
|
02-01-18 05:19 PM - Post#245418
In response to Columbia 37P6
Agreed on basketball IQ on Stefanini, but my limited impression is that his defensive style is effective at producing steals, but not as effective actually covering his man. So it kind of looks flashy, but I don’t think he’s actually playing good defense (yet).
More importantly, I find it highly confusing that any Columbia fan would want to drop Adlesh from the starting lineup. Statistically he is fairly easily your best perimeter player (yes, that includes Smith), and to my eye he is your 2nd best perimeter player (after Smith) on offense, and probably 2nd to Hickman as a perimeter defender.
|
Columbia 37P6
Postdoc
Posts: 2178
Reg: 02-14-06
|
02-01-18 05:21 PM - Post#245419
In response to cc66
In my humble opinion, Smith, Meisner, Tape/Faulds, Hanson and Stefanini is the optimum line-up, but I certainly agree with Chet Forte that a line-up of Smith, Meisner, Tape/Faulds, CASTLIN and either Hanson or Stefanini would be substantially better than the line-up we have been using the last two months. That said, I do hope, of course, that whatever players the Lions use tomorrow and Saturday night, we win both games in which case I promise not to talk any more about line-up changes.
|
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts: 2972
Reg: 03-02-08
|
02-01-18 06:29 PM - Post#245433
In response to Columbia 37P6
I like Adlesh a lot. I just think that he might be more effective coming off the bench. He should still get 20-25 minutes. This also needs to depend on matchups. Against teams with big guards Adlesh and Smith are a suboptimal combination.
|
