BisonRoadWarrior
Professor
Posts: 5203
Loc: Where the Bison Roam
Reg: 08-16-06
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01-04-20 01:32 PM - Post#295934
Bucknell's preview:
https://bucknellbison.com/news/2020/1/3/mens-ba ske...
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BisonRoadWarrior
Professor
Posts: 5203
Loc: Where the Bison Roam
Reg: 08-16-06
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01-04-20 01:47 PM - Post#295935
In response to BisonRoadWarrior
"Bucknell has used five different starting lineups this season, and a sixth is on the way on Sunday as senior Bruce Moore is likely to see his streak of 47 straight games played come to an end due to an injury sustained late in the first half of the Army game. "
Probable starters listed as Sotos, Funk, Toomer, Meeks and Newman.
Looking back at the Army game, "The five players who played the majority of the second-half minutes -- Sotos, Avi Toomer, Andrew Funk, Meeks and Newman -- outscored Army 41-20 during their time on the floor together while scoring a strong 1.4 points per possession."
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Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-04-20 02:07 PM - Post#295936
In response to BisonRoadWarrior
Looking back at the Army game, "The five players who played the majority of the second-half minutes -- Sotos, Avi Toomer, Andrew Funk, Meeks and Newman -- outscored Army 41-20 during their time on the floor together while scoring a strong 1.4 points per possession."
Which is why ND needs to sub very sparingly if the Bison are to do well during the PL season. With Moore out, any substitution significantly lowers the quality of the team on the floor. ND seems to be slowly figuring that out. In the last two Bison wins, three of the starters - Sotos, Funk, and Toomer played all 20 minutes of the second half. The only subs used were big men (Spear, Timmerman).
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Old Bison
Masters Student
Posts: 619
Age: 65
Reg: 07-09-17
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01-04-20 04:24 PM - Post#295942
In response to Bison137
“In the second half†is the key distinction here. First half’s continue to be scripted and it almost cost us the Army win (+1 to -7 with 5 pt deficit at half left little margin for error). Very limited use of Rice/Timmerman in conjunction with no PT for Ellis at LC will show whether we have abandoned the 9 man first half rotation. Not clear to me why we have abandoned Spear in favor of Timmerman. That can’t be mandated by the comparative performances in OOC that we’ve watched. Spear did not provide any O vs Army but was well positioned defensively defensively throughout the 2nd half. Gets the ball of the rim defensively quicker than anybody else.
This is a game Bucknell should win although no Bruce leaves us with even less defensive flexibility. Sleep at home and short trip are positives (unless we go down today)
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BisonRoadWarrior
Professor
Posts: 5203
Loc: Where the Bison Roam
Reg: 08-16-06
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01-04-20 04:32 PM - Post#295944
In response to Old Bison
Sleep at home and short trip are positives (unless we go down today)
Per the media guide, it’s a day trip.
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MrPhillie
Postdoc
Posts: 2757
Loc: NE PA
Reg: 07-14-08
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01-04-20 05:22 PM - Post#295950
In response to BisonRoadWarrior
I agree that starters will have to consistently log 35-37 minutes for us to win. Even with Bruce healthy, this team goes only 7 deep, in my opinion. No idea why Timmerman is getting time over Spear...I just don’t get that at all. We are very thin at the guard position. Rice can spell a minute or two but his severe lack of scoring ability hurts. Ellis has been a disappointment, I was hopeful for more from him. I just don’t see how Davis can do anything but lean heavily on his top 5-6 guys.
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Old Bison
Masters Student
Posts: 619
Age: 65
Reg: 07-09-17
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01-04-20 08:02 PM - Post#295964
In response to MrPhillie
AGREED...And we are not going to be able to keep out of foul trouble with Bruce, Avi and Newman playing that level of minutes. The whole season is going to require one delicate tactical and surgical response after another. ND has shown no interest in such an MO. Therefore the execution of such an approach has to logical follow from agreeing that such an approach may be required. I do know one thing (and it requires only topical basketball knowledge)...having Timmerman, Ellis and Rice on the floor and Ellis and VdH on the floor at the same time (as we did against Army in H1) is malpractice. The OOC was the test lab for that and the results from the clinical trial are in. If we can’t get away with it against the 8-9th rated team in the PL at Sojka, then it means we can’t get away with it at all. ND is going to have to break another long held philosophy (which Paulsen never did) of playing 100% MTM. Not going to be able to do that going 6-7 deep. Need to play Spear over AT and start using Rhoades (offense be damned) in the PL. Some hard choices need to be made.
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Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-04-20 08:55 PM - Post#295984
In response to Old Bison
ND is going to have to break another long held philosophy (which Paulsen never did) of playing 100% MTM. Not going to be able to do that going 6-7 deep. Need to play Spear over AT and start using Rhoades (offense be damned) in the PL. Some hard choices need to be made.
Agree on the above. One thing that is very puzzling is that ND in the first half of his first year played a fair amount of match-up zone, something he said he liked when he first arrived. Then midway through the year he completely abandoned it, perhaps when Nate Jones got hurt, and only used it at the end of the year vs West Virginia. And he has never used it since. It is a good defense to use at times, and history has shown that many PL teams use zones to good effect vs certain other teams.
The Bison defense this year has generally been awful - currently ranking about 280th in the nation. I think you have to go back to at least the 1993-94 season to find a worse performance at the defensive end. One issue, as you have noted before, is the automatic switches that make it easy for the opponent to end up with Toomer or Sotos defending their big man near the basket. Colgate in the championship game last year strategically used this Bison trait and ended up with Kimbal or Sotos guarding Ivanauskas and Rayman on multiple occasions. Langel ran plays to create those switches.
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Paulie777
PhD Student
Posts: 1767
Reg: 11-11-07
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01-05-20 01:45 PM - Post#296080
In response to Bison137
I missed the Army game and with the holidays over its time for some basketball. Bucknell is slowly gaining momentum and will at the very least make a bid for the win. Too much talk of a deflated team, Sotos is going to step up, Newman and Meeks will give a good show. Of course, Lafayette is not going to roll over and will come to play on their home court, but I believe Bucknell is up to the challenge. Its a pick em game and I like Bucknell's chances.
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bison63
Postdoc
Posts: 3857
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 02:25 PM - Post#296083
In response to MrPhillie
Anybody remember the last time Pomeroy gave us a 27% chance of beating LC? Has to be back in the Zoo Crew days.
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BisonRoadWarrior
Professor
Posts: 5203
Loc: Where the Bison Roam
Reg: 08-16-06
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01-05-20 03:09 PM - Post#296087
In response to bison63
How’s your video quality, everybody? Mine is repeatedly faltering. Audio breaks over and over and video is choppy.
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bison63
Postdoc
Posts: 3857
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 03:53 PM - Post#296090
In response to BisonRoadWarrior
Vid good lost audio for a bit.
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nh2032
Sophomore
Posts: 185
Reg: 02-28-06
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01-05-20 04:08 PM - Post#296092
In response to BisonRoadWarrior
Similar video issues. Knocked my video quality down to 720p and it seemed to get a little better.
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bisonmania
Masters Student
Posts: 920
Reg: 10-26-07
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01-05-20 04:53 PM - Post#296098
In response to nh2032
Nice close out win!
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bisonmania
Masters Student
Posts: 920
Reg: 10-26-07
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01-05-20 04:55 PM - Post#296099
In response to bisonmania
I did not see a double digit win coming today.
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bison63
Postdoc
Posts: 3857
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 05:06 PM - Post#296101
In response to bisonmania
What a difference one half to the other. At the end of thr first I was ready to toss in the towel on the season. At the end of the game, I'm thinking we can win this league. Both povs are overreactions, but I do think there is hope. Good win.
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MrPhillie
Postdoc
Posts: 2757
Loc: NE PA
Reg: 07-14-08
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01-05-20 05:40 PM - Post#296104
In response to bison63
Quite a comeback from 13 down. Avi staying on floor a big factor, and team hitting more shots, but good team win. Glad to see Spear contribute. I wasn’t there but defense had to be better in second half as well, I’m guessing.
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Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 05:50 PM - Post#296106
In response to MrPhillie
Defense was somewhat better, but a big part of the win was LC missing their threes in the second half while the Bison hit everything for long stretches. For the game, LC - who is the PL’s best from three - hit 28% (7-25), while the Bison were over 50%. Another huge factor was BU with only 7 turnovers vs LC’s 15. Part of it was LC’s soft defense, but part was the Bison avoiding careless passes.
Spear had one of his top games of the year, including two threes, and Xander Rice probably had his best game. Actually hit two shots and played solid defense.
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Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 06:16 PM - Post#296111
In response to Bison137
Except for this game, all home teams won today. Home teams are 8-1 for the season in PL play. It will become 8-2 when Colgate plays at Army tomorrow night.
The Bison currently are in first place all by themselves.
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bison63
Postdoc
Posts: 3857
Reg: 01-23-06
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01-05-20 09:38 PM - Post#296120
In response to Bison137
Defense was somewhat better, but a big part of the win was LC missing their threes in the second half while the Bison hit everything for long stretches. For the game, LC - who is the PL’s best from three - hit 28% (7-25), while the Bison were over 50%. Another huge factor was BU with only 7 turnovers vs LC’s 15. Part of it was LC’s soft defense, but part was the Bison avoiding careless passes.
Spear had one of his top games of the year, including two threes, and Xander Rice probably had his best game. Actually hit two shots and played solid defense.
Still do not understand why Spear seemed to be in the doghouse, but glad to see his performance today. He has a knack for the dramatic play that can turn the tide. Re: Rice, I thought that today for the first time he looked like he was confidently running the point, as opposed to looking like he hope he didn't make a mistake. His growth cannot hurt.Just watching him bring the ball upcourt, his whole demeanor looked different.
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