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Username Post: Northeastern        (Topic#22074)
HARVARDDADGRAD 
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Loc: New Jersey
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11-09-18 05:10 PM - Post#264993    

Harvard favored by 3.
Northeastern is a very good team, #6 in midmajor rankings and top 100 overall - essentially the same as Harvard. But this assumes Harvard is healthy.
Assuming Seth and Bryce are still on the mend, if I were a betting man I've got to assume that betting against Harvard would be tempting.

 
mrjames 
Professor
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Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Northeastern
11-09-18 05:18 PM - Post#264995    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Harvard's defense was awful against MIT. Some individual lapses, some team/rotational lapses. Lewis definitely papered over mistakes when he was in there. Not terribly optimistic about this evening, and that's even considering that NU isn't as formidable as it looked in the preseason.

The hope is that Tommy plays personnel in a way that tries to win the game, not even for the purpose of winning, just for the purpose of being able to start evaluating what this team looks like. If he plays Henry Welsh and Robert Baker as many minutes as Chris Lewis, I'm turning the game off again.

 
Chip Bayers 
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Chip Bayers
Loc: New York
Reg: 11-21-04
11-09-18 10:37 PM - Post#265066    
    In response to mrjames

Well, Lewis certainly got the minutes and Welsh and Baker didn’t. But doesn’t look like they had any scouting report on Jordan Roland. Or was he just en fuego?


 
whitakk 
Masters Student
Posts: 523

Age: 32
Reg: 11-11-14
11-10-18 12:01 AM - Post#265076    
    In response to Chip Bayers

Bassey was great. Rotations were a bit off, just like what happened a lot early on last year. But not much you can do when a good team goes 13-23 from three, including some tough shots.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
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Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
11-10-18 12:20 AM - Post#265080    
    In response to Chip Bayers

Roland is a transfer from GW who had shot 3-11 in Northeastern ‘s opener, 1-7 from three (7pts). Tonight he was unconscious. 7 for 11 on 3’s, 9-13 overall, and 10-11 ft’s. Bassey did a great job shutting down Northeastern’s leading scorer.

Going to be another rough OOC until Harvard is healthy

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
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Loc: New Jersey
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11-10-18 01:32 AM - Post#265095    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Observations:

Yale is blowing out Cal despite limited minutes from 4 starters due to foul trouble. Oni on bench and Bruner still working into shape.

Harvard tv announcer states before game that Towns is set Toto return soon.

Yale is good - very good. Harvard needs Towns and Aiken.



 
Quakers03 
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Posts: 12480

Reg: 12-07-04
11-10-18 01:59 AM - Post#265098    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Thanks for the heads up. This is some performance.

 
bradley 
PhD Student
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Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
11-10-18 09:15 AM - Post#265104    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Yale's win was impressive but Cal is not a very good basketball team. Yale was a 1 1/2 pt favorite on the road which says it all.

Yale appears to be a very balanced team with a nice mesh of size, shooting skills and athletism plus a very good head coach. With Bruner back and Atkinson off the bench, they can probably compete against good teams but time will tell. Oni is obviously a special player plus they have three experienced guards and an experience PF.

At this point, the biggest plus is that they do not have injuries like Harvard, Penn and Princeton.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
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Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
11-10-18 09:33 AM - Post#265105    
    In response to bradley

Assuming Bruner is healthy, I’m very bulllish on Yale.

Shanghai is a neutral court. Also, Ivy teams have had less time to practice than likely all OOC opponents.

You could be right though, Cal could be weak. Upcoming games against Memphis and Vermont will hopefully show more.

 
mrjames 
Professor
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Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
11-10-18 09:37 AM - Post#265106    
    In response to Chip Bayers

Was a joy to watch that game last night. Incredible shot making - frankly from both sides. Roland didn't have many wide open looks but seemed to make everything.

I actually thought Harvard played really well on both ends. When an opponent shoots 20-for-22 from the line and 13-for-23 from three... just tip your hat and move on.

We're starting to see the benefits of the talent rush league-wide, though. Lots of teams playing really well despite missing key players for the short and long term. The promise of 2016 is starting to come together!

 
hoopsfan 
Masters Student
Posts: 642

Reg: 12-26-04
11-10-18 11:43 AM - Post#265117    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Roland had the second best shooting 3 point percentage (.417) in the A-10 his sophomore year before leaving as part of the mass exodus from GW. So he's known as a shooter although he struggled in his first game against BU after a year off. It's understandable that he didn't stand out in Harvard's scout of Northeastern.

I thought it was a high level game for so early in the year with both teams adjusting to the loss of two starters to injury. Lots of depth and talent regardless.


 
SRP 
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Reg: 02-04-06
11-10-18 03:28 PM - Post#265133    
    In response to hoopsfan

Yale more than beat the spread last night, and they did it with heavy foul trouble and lots of silly turnovers. Shooting was good but not some out-of-this world performance. Their D may have been better-looking than reality because Cal looked like they are still figuring out roles and lacked a go-to creative scorer.

 
rbg 
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Posts: 3044

Reg: 10-20-14
11-12-18 09:36 AM - Post#265275    
    In response to SRP

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/11/10/mb b-...

- The season remains young, with a challenging series of road games looming in the non-conference portion of the schedule. As the Crimson look to establish its identity without juniors Aiken and Seth Towns, the team will have to continue to correct the little mistakes.

Through two games, Harvard has struggled to control these errors, from offensive rebounding and turnovers against MIT, to foul trouble and perimeter defense against the Huskies. Amaker and the Crimson will hope to improve in these areas, and solidify the foundation of what Harvard hopes will be an Ivy Championship-winning season. -

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018/11/11/1808515...

- Northeastern’s game plan to spread the floor and wait for open shots was the deciding factor down the stretch, leading to the Huskies’ third win in the last four meetings with the Crimson.

Harvard may have been without key players Seth Towns and Bryce Aiken, but head coach Tommy Amaker wasn’t making any excuses following the loss.

“We should’ve played better to give ourselves a chance to win, and we just did not do that,” he said, adding that some of the newcomers will need time to adjust in elevated roles and learn to “get out of their own way” on the defensive end. -

- Amaker knows that all too well how critical this game was, not just because of what’s to come but for some city bragging rights.

Defensive intensity is always top of mind for Harvard, however after Friday, it’s clearly priority number one. The ‘Lets Go Huskies!’ chant ringing through Lavietes Pavilion as the buzzer sounded won’t be forgotten by this Harvard team anytime soon. Mid-major hoops runs deep in Boston. If that’s not enough motivation heading onto the road, I don’t know what is. -

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
Northeastern
11-12-18 11:15 AM - Post#265287    
    In response to rbg

Without Bryce and Seth, some observations and results are obviously skewed and hopefully temporary. Last year, I found myself anxious when Chris Lewis was on the bench, essentially hoping that there wouldn't be too much damage on the scoreboard until his return. This year is no different.

MIT: Chris plays 15 minutes (foul trouble)
with Chris: Harvard 27 - MIT 18
without: 48-51

Northeastern: Chris plays 30 minutes
with Chris: Harvard 57 - NE 54
without: 14-27

Totals:
with Chris: +12
without Chris: -14

Other relevant stats:
- Chris has 5 of the team's 9 blocked shots
- Chris is shooting 80% (16-20), the rest of the squad 44%
- Chris has made 16 FGs (45 mins), the rest of the squad only 19 FG's (355 mins).

In the absence of Seth Towns, Danilo Djuricic has often played alongside Chris at PF. Otherwise, the second tandem has consisted mostly of Henry Welsh and Robert Baker. Hopefully, once Seth returns, Danilo will be able to help the second unit.

When it comes to recruiting, I have been disappointed at the lack of another top big man. Despite the need for another skilled big, the only freshmen seeing time thus far are guards Kirkwood and Freedman. Next year's incoming class is likewise weighted with guards. I'm not knocking the bigs on the bench such as Mason Forbes, Kale Catchings and Weisner Perez, but it seems that they are entrenched behind Welsh and Baker.

Hopefully, when Seth returns, the size and athleticism of Danilo and Kirkwood can team up with Henry/Robert to ameliorate this problem - although I expect I'll still be anxious.

On another point, noticing that the freshmen guards have been taking minutes from Corey Johnson thus far.


Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 11-12-18 11:21 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
mrjames 
Professor
Posts: 6062

Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Northeastern
11-15-18 09:51 PM - Post#265781    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

That loss doesn’t look bad at all now. NU just destroyed Alabama, even with Roland coming back down to earth.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
11-15-18 09:58 PM - Post#265785    
    In response to mrjames

Roland 0-3 on three's after 7-10 vs Crimson. Guess he's on course to make his next 7 in a row vs Virginia Tech tomorrow.

Northeastern was top 80 KenPom and #6 MidMajor to start the season.

 
Old Bear 
Postdoc
Posts: 3988

Reg: 11-23-04
11-15-18 10:05 PM - Post#265786    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Brown fared pretty well with Northeastern in a scrimmage, not that that's necessarily predictive.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
11-15-18 10:39 PM - Post#265789    
    In response to Old Bear

Hope that bodes well for a regular season battle for tournament spots. Brown is dangerous.

 
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