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Brown Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Harvard Penn Princeton Yale



Username Post: Penn        (Topic#22659)
mobrien 
Senior
Posts: 389

Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
02-16-19 07:11 PM - Post#276750    

Particularly big game tonight. A win would put is excellent shape to make Ivy Madness, and conversely leave Penn without much margin for error the rest of the season. Kenpom has this as a Quad II opportunity for us as well.

Anyone else going to be at the game? (The wife is out of town, so I'm making a weekend of it).

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
02-16-19 08:39 PM - Post#276813    
    In response to mobrien

Harvard up 28-26 at the half as Bassey hits 4 treys.

Harvard women beat Penn in 2OT

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
02-16-19 10:18 PM - Post#276916    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Aiken again with game tying 3 with five seconds left.

Gutsy win, surviving 19 TO’s and trailing virtually the entire game.

Big weekend sweep at the P’s! Great closings on both nights. Tough to have to watch from Florida.

 
Naismith 
Sophomore
Posts: 148

Loc: RI
Reg: 11-11-18
02-16-19 11:24 PM - Post#276934    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Bryce Aiken is a human highlight machine. Extra impressive coming off a year on the sidelines.

 
mobrien 
Senior
Posts: 389

Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
02-16-19 11:43 PM - Post#276941    
    In response to Naismith

Well, I certaknly picked the right weekend to follow the team.

It's a cliche, but Bryce really just has a will to win. As good as our defense was tonight, our offense was just as bad. We were back to turning it over like crazy — this time the culprit was a bunch of miscommunications rather than bad decisions — and, until the last few minutes, Lewis still couldn't buy a basket inside. But Bassey's three point shooting kept us close enough for Bryce to pull off his now regularly scheduled magic. I had no doubt that game tying shot was going in, because when you let him set his feet like that, he's simply automatic in big moments.

One thing from both games this weekend: we need to get that ball in Bryce's hands when the other team has an obvious fouling situation. We were lucky that the two front ends Bassey missed in OT didn't cost us.

I'd still like to see a little more imagination on our post entries. If it's not there, reverse the ball and run Lewis off a flex screen to get him the ball there. Something. The other thing: almost nobody on this team ever pass fakes. Would make a big difference just getting the defense to take a false step here and there, opening up driving and passing lanes. (I don't think there's a better sign that you're starting to get old than lamenting the lack of ball fakes).

Anyways, this was a big weekend, ahead of another one next week. Yale on the road is a Quad I opportunity. And Brown might still be a Quad II one. Not to mention that Penn is now in trouble just to make Ivy Madness. They still have a decent shot at it, but no more margin of error for them.

 
digamma 
Masters Student
Posts: 466

Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
02-17-19 10:33 AM - Post#276967    
    In response to mobrien

What a win.

Unsung hero: Chris Lewis. Penn went into the bonus with about 9 minutes left. (At that time Penn had been called for zero fouls in the second half.) Lewis frustrated Brodeur the rest of the game without fouling.

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
Penn
02-17-19 01:15 PM - Post#276987    
    In response to digamma

Regarding Amaker's in game coaching, anyone notice that Kirkwood played 15 second half minutes while Juzang played only 6? Both played the full OT. Juzang has been banged up but did play 32 minutes against Princeton.

Pre-season there were a few of us who expected that Kirkwood might play himself into the starting lineup by Tournament time. Certainly, in the continuing absence of Seth Towns, Amaker is choosing to use Kirkwood in the closing minutes. Although not comparable to Seth at this point, Kirkwood as a guard is virtually the same size as Seth providing some versatility.

Also in relation to in game coaching, I noticed that Danilo played 10 minutes in the second half against Penn but did not play at all in the second half against Princeton. Djuricic guarded Penn's Wang, who did not score in the second half.

Speaking of holding players scoreless, Penn's Bryce Washington did not score the entire game (0-7 shooting). The ROY candidate was clearly outplayed - at least on this night - by Kirkwood who scored 14 points. Kirkwood has become a key defender for the Crimson as well, picking up an opponent's best non-big offensive weapon when Bassey is not on the court. Kirkwood should be ROW (or co-ROW).

Anyone know who guarded Bryce? Would have expected it would be Woods. If so, Bryce is torching some very good defenders after beating Myles Stephens for 33 points the night before. Expect Bryce to be co-Ivy POW again this week.

Finally, it seems to me that Chris Lewis is just not at full speed. Wonder if his OOC back issues are hampering him. He also changed his diet this year, I believe becoming vegetarian or vegan. Brodeur had his way for most of the game before running out of gas in the final minutes and OT. In the final minutes Brodeur missed a left handed layup, had a bunny rejected by Baker, and grabbed a rebound in great position to go back over a smaller Bassey but instead started to dribble away from the basket. Brodeur was invisible in the OT. Chris Lewis also scored all of his 8 points in the second half. Back to back games with heavy usage may have caught up with Brodeur following a terrific 36 point effort in 38 minutes of playing time vs Dartmouth the night before.

Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 02-17-19 01:18 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
84grad 
Junior
Posts: 277

Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
02-17-19 04:01 PM - Post#276995    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Good observations from Florida, HDG. Bassey had Washington to start both halves, but Kirkwood had him for large chunks (Juzang had him on some possessions — May have picked him up in ransition situations). Washington got away from Kirkwood a couple of times and missed his shots, but Kirkwood did a good job overall. He was playing off of him a bit, but did a nice job closing on him. His length and strength make him an excellent defensive force. Played with great confidence on his first PP road trip. Prone to commiting fouls on offensive end while using his left arm, but he’s had a lot of very questionable calls go against him. Wouldn’t trade him for any other freshman in the league. He is going to be a big force in his Harvard career. Heck, he already is.

Amaker very clearly seemed upset with Juzang. Had a couple of lapses on either end of the court and Amaker promptly sat him. Did not appear that he had any injury. Amaker sent him back in with 1 minute left. I suspect it has something to do with his frustration with the continuing low team assist totals. 4 last night (none from Juzang). While Aiken has not been producing assists, his focus on scoring has been required. I continue to believe that the biggest problem on offense has been Baker. I know he had some key games with 3 point shooting, but I really don’t think we can count on that. His defensive/rebounding contributions have been invaluable, but the offense is stagnant with him on the court when he’s the second big man on the court. Our best lineup, IMHO, is Aiken, Juzang, Kirkwood, Bassey and 1 big (obvious preference for Lewis). Lewis should have had a much better game last night given the lack of a double team on many possessions. He’ll need to be better prepared for the Yale double team next Saturday.

Bassey was really out of sorts for about 5 minutes of the second half. A number of teammates spent time with him trying to settle him down. Couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. 5 TOs, many of them really bad in the second half.

Still puzzled by Djuricic’s slump. He can be such a high energy guy and can also produce some points. Need him to step in the last 6 games.

Just glad Penn kept some fouls in their pocket at the end of regulation. Really thought they could have burned a lot of the clock.

Harvard’s defense gives them a shot against anyone, but the offense has been painful. Hope we go small, while taking advantage of the size of Bassey and Kirkwood, each of whom also chased down key rebounds on the last possession of regulation. Great hustle players. Bassey did it last weekend as well, saving a ball from going out of bounds, and Kirkwood ran down Baker’s errant pass with .5 seconds left in 3rd overtime against Columbia.

44-32 rebound edge was critical. Made up for a rare night when Penn was productive at the line.

All in all, a great night at the Cathedral. Sorry we’re not going back in March, lovely as New Haven can be.



 
CrimsonBlood 
Freshman
Posts: 46

Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
02-17-19 04:35 PM - Post#277000    
    In response to 84grad

What a weekend for the Crimson!

The turnovers are still frustrating. One thing that jumps out at me is the lack of inside/outside ball movement with the bigs.

Two guys in particular: Welsh and Lewis.

Welsh just is not very comfortable with the ball. When he puts it on the floor, it's a turnover waiting to happen. Personally, I think Baker should play a lot more instead of Welsh.

And Lewis... he kind of seems to freeze when he gets the ball in the post. He either holds it and tries to back into his hook shot or... well that's about it. We don't seem to have a very fluid inside to outside... back inside, etc.

If you compare Lewis to someone like Keith Wright from several years ago, it is night and day. Wright had many more post moves and was much more adept at passing back out to the wing and re-establishing position in the post.



 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
Penn
02-17-19 04:46 PM - Post#277003    
    In response to CrimsonBlood

Crimsonblood, you are on point to note the lack of a backup big. Other than the game at St. Mary's Welsh hasn't shown much offense this year. Playing with Baker as the only big on the court is a problem in that players like Brodeur, Knight, Aririzugoh, Tape, etc. are way too strong for him and will back him down, rather easily. Also, Robert has no post game.

Crimson may be better off with ball movement and less inside out unless Chris Lewis gets it going.

As for next year, yes, a few of us are very very excited. In addition to the starting lineup you set out, Kirkwood and Juzang will be making their cases to start as well.

I do, however, note that the same lack of big man depth will remain our achilles heel. Somewhat surprised that the current recruiting class didn't include the heir apparent to Chris Lewis.







Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 02-17-19 04:46 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
mobrien 
Senior
Posts: 389

Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
02-17-19 04:49 PM - Post#277004    
    In response to CrimsonBlood

Turnovers were always going to determine how far this team goes. Consider this: we're *third* in the country defensive rebounding rate, and 27th in three-point shooting. Those two things together — limiting second shots, and effectively getting half an extra possession by making from three — should make us a very dangerous team come March ... if we weren't turning it over more than pretty much anyone. It doesn't matter how well you shoot if you aren't getting shots up.

Our ball movement isn't great, guys aren't strong or decisive with the ball, too many possessions end with Bryce having to bail us out with 8 seconds left and him getting the ball for a high ball screen. Now, Bryce is spectacular and can make this work well enough for us to win a lot of times, but it doesn't give us as much margin for error as we should. We need more assists, more easy baskets. Everything is too hard for us right now.

This far into the season, I'm not sure the solution to that is. Maybe a few small wrinkles to try to generate easy plays. Some of it might just be a confidence thing, so that could make a difference.

 
mrjames 
Professor
Posts: 6062

Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
02-17-19 05:17 PM - Post#277008    
    In response to mobrien

What's pretty remarkable is that Harvard is *8-3* in games where it turns the ball over more than the national average (19%) and less than 28%. Overall, it's 11-4 when turning it over less than *28%* of the time.

It's only then that it's 1-4, but frankly, it nearly survived all but one of those games as well (UNC was a blowout, but UVM, Cornell and URI were all winnable even with TO rates in the 30+% range).

For most teams, 20+% is the point of serious degradation, but for Harvard, it's seems like anything under, say, 25% is pretty easily survivable. Imagine if the Crimson could consistently stay under 20%?

 
PennFan10 
Postdoc
Posts: 3578

Reg: 02-15-15
02-17-19 06:28 PM - Post#277011    
    In response to mrjames

There was no special defensive effort against Bryce Washington. He missed 7 wide open 3’s. I wouldn’t expect that on a Friday night up in Cambridge. I also don’t expect Chris Lewis to miss about 7 bunnies either. I actually wish he had made the one in the final sequence that resulted in Aiken’s 3 to tie it. Then we would have led with the ball and about 14 sec left. Unlucky bounces.

 
mobrien 
Senior
Posts: 389

Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
02-17-19 06:29 PM - Post#277012    
    In response to mrjames

I'm not sure what explains why our TO rate has been higher this year than last, even in the games where Aiken has returned. We're averaging a 22.5% TO rate since he came back, which is slightly better than it was without him, but isn't as good as you would hope. Just an 18-20% TO rate would be big for us.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that, kind of out of necessity, the other guys picked up some bad habits playing without Towns and Aiken. Without that one guy who can create shots on his own, you end up needing to take more chances with your passes ... except that they've continued to do so even now that Aiken is back. Of course, he's had some of his own issues (particularly against Cornell) of trying to dribble through double or even triple teams off of high screens.

We've at least done better with our post entry passes the last few games. There have been times where we were good to turn it over 5-6 times a game just on that. It's just that we're inventing new ways to turn it over instead.

If we can just be merely bad at turnovers instead of catastrophically so, this can be a dangerous team.

 
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