mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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11-10-19 02:51 PM - Post#290514
The injuries keep piling up. No Juzang today, although he's just supposed to be day-to-day. Haven't seen the starting lineup announced yet, so not sure if we'll get an Aiken debut or not.
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mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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11-10-19 03:03 PM - Post#290516
In response to mobrien
No Aiken. Kirkwood is starting in place of Juzang.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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11-10-19 03:11 PM - Post#290517
In response to mobrien
And very liberal substituting almost immediately
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84grad
Junior
Posts: 277
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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11-10-19 03:55 PM - Post#290520
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
This a very average team on its best day without Towns and Aiken. No reason for optimism until they return. Would have been nice to have the team ready for Orlando, but that looks unrealistic at this point.
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rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3062
Reg: 10-20-14
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11-10-19 04:24 PM - Post#290522
In response to mobrien
Looking at the lineup intros, there were 6 players in suits (Aiken, Catchings, Freedman, Juzang, Towns & Welsh) and another in a leg brace & crutches (Farley).
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mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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11-10-19 04:59 PM - Post#290526
In response to rbg
The first half was ugly, but we did what we should in that second half. The defense forced a lot of turnovers and completely took Maine out of their sets. And we finally figured out that we had a big athleticism advantage and started taking the ball to the rim. The Baker dunk really ignited things, and then Ledlum started getting involved.
Now if we could just stop sleepwalking in the first halves of games...
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Naismith
Sophomore
Posts: 150
Loc: RI
Reg: 11-11-18
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11-10-19 05:42 PM - Post#290532
In response to mobrien
Have never seen a college basketball roster like Maine's in 50 years of watching games. Soccer anyone?
https://goblackbears.com/roster.aspx?roster=174&am...
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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Maine
11-11-19 01:12 PM - Post#290593
In response to Naismith
Sentiment among fans at the Maine game was one of a disappointed malaise. Acknowledgement that this squad has a chance to be special, but clearly isn't at all yet. Certainly, absences of Bryce and Seth as well as Henry, Kale and now Christian are significant.
The slow starts at Northeastern and vs Maine are frustrating. I'm hearing concerns about the slow start in those two games. There is no way we should be even with Maine for 25 minutes or trailing NE 32-15.
Harvard's depth is certainly remarkable though. Even with all the injuries the Crimson wore down both Northeastern and Maine, outscoring NE 43-28 and Maine 30-7 in the final 16 minutes of each game. Of course, that depth is compounded given the fact that 2 and 3 starters missed those games.
Hard to know what this team will or can be, or who to expect on the floor.
Hopefully we can see Bryce and Christian as we play Siena, Buffalo and Holy Cross in the coming 11 days. Each of these are winnable games regardless.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 11-11-19 01:13 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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H78
PhD Student
Posts: 1458
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 01-06-11
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11-11-19 09:09 PM - Post#290641
In response to Naismith
Ha!
At least one of their assistant coaches appears to be a translator...
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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11-12-19 06:07 PM - Post#290720
In response to H78
SB Nationdropped Harvard from #8 to #13 in MidMajor Rankings. Reasoning:
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Harvard still hasn't fielded a complete product yet, but that loss to Northestern was discouraging. At some people [point?], we have to stop thinking about what Harvard can be and focus on what it actually is.
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Northeastern jumped in at #19, based upon the nation's leading scorer Jordan Roland and his 40.5ppg!
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digamma
Masters Student
Posts: 468
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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11-13-19 09:21 AM - Post#290761
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
On the plus side, Chris Ledlum is the most ready to play non-point guard freshman I can remember. Have been trying to think of the right comparison--maybe a slightly more polished Kyle Casey?
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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11-13-19 11:34 AM - Post#290792
In response to digamma
Sort of.
He’s thrived against MIT (13pts/11rbs) and Maine (9/6). Not against Northeastern (2/2).
Ledlum is an aggressive slasher and rebounder. Not sure if he’s much of a shooter. I’m impressed, but at 6’5†or so concerned. Ledlum has a great motor and basketball intelligence. Reminds me of Jonah Travis and Weisner Perez, although hopefully with a higher ceiling .
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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11-13-19 01:33 PM - Post#290800
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
He can shoot it. Shot almost 40% at NMH on a significant number of attempts. He prefers to play inside the arc, though.
I don’t know that we’ve seen a comp for him at Harvard during the Amaker era. Much like Noah, the closest is probably Wes, though Saunders was a higher-level defender and had a better combination of play-making skills and low TO rates. At the same time Noah (and likely Ledlum) will wield the three as a threat, not just as a passable option when defenders sag, as Saunders would. Can’t really think of a better comp from Harvard’s recent past, though I don’t think it’s a particularly great one.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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11-13-19 01:50 PM - Post#290803
In response to mrjames
Ledlum is certainly off to a stronger freshman start than Wes .
Given all the weapons on this team, I don’t expect Amaker wants him to shoot anywhere outside of 5 feet from the basket.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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11-13-19 05:41 PM - Post#290852
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Good news is that Ledlum should get the time to prove himself that Wes didn't as a freshman, if the injuries continue to mount. And with more time, I suspect we'll start to see him shoot more from distance, as defenses will start to sag if he's just in full head-down-to-the-hole mode all the time.
He was the second highest scorer per game on the Adidas circuit in 2018. Shot 53% from 3 and only two players attempted more and shot a higher percentage. To put that in perspective, Noah was 120th in scoring in 2017 and shot 32% from 3.
I think you'll start to see Ledlum shoot the ball more moving forward. Small samples will be dominated by randomness, but I suspect the shots will look pretty good (as opposed to Wes, who had a really slow, somewhat awkward release).
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