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Username Post: Nice, exciting, ugly win        (Topic#617)
Bruno 
PhD Student
Posts: 1414

Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
02-06-05 02:49 PM - Post#3474    

In the first half, this one was almost impossible to watch from the Brown fan perspective. In the second, it was the same thing - but from the Lion fan perspective. At least it was exciting.

Brown's offensive first half was just that. I've never seen a worse half of offensive basketball. The offense just wasn't moving, shots weren't falling, and there was no meaningful penetration. The CU defense on the other hand, was really nice - particularly on Forte. Jason got a few open looks in the half, but only a few. Brown scored only 16 first half points. I can't remember when that's happened in the Miller era. It was horrific to watch, and they were down 11, 27-16 at the break.

The second half was a completely different story, and the offense regained much of its flow. There were more open jumpers, but also, just more shots falling. Plus, when combined with CU's offense sputtering at times, Brown made up the gap.

Down the stretch this game was great. Forte scored almost all of his 15 points in that last 12 minutes, and his movement created some other opportunities. Brown did a nice job getting the ball down low to PJ for pretty good looks inside, and PJ (4-5) converted some enormous momentum shots. And finally, Luke, who (like last week at Penn) looked pretty exhausted, hit two big shots in the last two minutes - a nice breakaway dunk and a monster deep three to give Brown a 3 point lead with under a minute to go.

But that three preceded two offensive rebounds by CU, and a Montgomery-to-Lozalco pass that resulted in a triple to tie it at 52 with something like 30 seconds left. Which set the stage for a vintage Forte moment.

After a time out, Forte just yo-yo dribbled the ball beyond the half court line, working the clock down the 10 or so. As he's doing this, you see him kind if grinning at Boswell, who was guarding him, as if he knew what was coming. He drove left to the three point line, wickedly crossed Boswell over, and beautifully arced a now-open 19 footer into the net - no rim, just floor. It was as pretty a move and moment as I've seen Jason have in his college career.

A kid in front of me - I think a recent ex-alum - reminded me we won't have an all-out star like Forte to make moves like that next season. He was right - it was definitely a star at his best, reminiscent of Earl Hunt's (who attended the game) bucket with a few seconds left a few years ago, that gave Brown a narrow win here. Two stars, two great moments.

Columbia was pretty terrible offensively, I thought, with only Kravic being real effective. But they played a great defensive game - particularly that first half - that held Brown to 33% shooting. They killed Brown on the boards, with a gritty and worked-up Preston leading the way. Twice down the strech did Preston grab some unbelieveable offensive rebounds where he was 1 on 2, and both times led to scored for Columbia. I just love Preston's motor and demeanor on the court - he's maybe my favorite Ivy player. He didn't have a great game offensively, but he's definitely this team's leader, and I just love watching him play.

Mack Montgomery is one quick little player, and he got to the hoop regularly on drives. He is a player, and will be a great one for this team.

Despite the great finish and performance down the stretch, Forte had an off night with 4-16 shooting. Huffman, however, hit HUGE buckets - including three threes - in a terrific 4-5 for 11 point, 3 rebound, 2 assist, 2 steal performance. Without his big buckets in the second half, Brown wouldn't have been in the position they were, and he actually may be the MVP of the game. Ruscoe only took 7 shots, but did a pretty nice job defensively on Preston.

Finally, a pretty calm coach Miller played a lot of freshmen minutes in this one, and at one point, had a lineup of only freshmen and one soph. Brown didn't get panicked down the stretch, and Miller kept them poised and cool in front of a pretty big Columbia crowd.

In all, we'll take the win, and a nice job by Brown to get it.
LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh)


 
brownbruin 
Freshman
Posts: 50

Loc: Connecticut
Reg: 11-22-04
Re: Nice, exciting, ugly win
02-06-05 03:35 PM - Post#3475    
    In response to Bruno

Bruno, any sense of what's up with Luke? Just a slump, or is it possible he has a bug? The radio call on Forte's winning basket was incredible. Russ Tyler said it was as pretty a move as you'll see, and your description reaffirms that. Nice to see such a young team hang so tough after a disheartening loss the night before and after falling behind 11 against Columbia.

 
Bruno 
PhD Student
Posts: 1414

Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Nice, exciting, ugly win
02-06-05 03:41 PM - Post#3476    
    In response to brownbruin

Yeah, good point. It was a very good comeback - I mean, they were down 11 at the half. And Miller came out of that half pretty cool-looking - no real rants on the sideline, very calm and collected. Nice coaching to come back from it, I thought.

This is still a young team, and so every experience like this is a good one. Their defense in the second half in key spots helped that, but their rebounding almost let it get away.

As for Luke, I don't know what's going on. He looked the same to me last night as he did last week at Penn. Just tired. I doubt it's a week long bug. It's of course possible that he's just tired on the end of a back to back, and it's also possible there's something else - game-wise or personal - going on. Best not to speculate, and just hope that he's able to have more energy next weekend.

Even with all this, he did hit two huge shots down the strech. But we need that kid taking more than 15 shots in a weekend.
LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh)


 
Dr. V 
PhD Student
Posts: 1536

Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Nice, exciting, ugly win
02-06-05 04:57 PM - Post#3477    
    In response to Bruno

I was at the game, am a CU fan, but can't disagree with anything you wrote. That's why I enjoy reading your posts. I presume your reference to Montgomery being a nice "little" player was colloquial: he's 6'5". Also agree re Preston. Even if, God forbid, CU were to lose every game it played, I'd still pay to come and see him play.

 
Bruno 
PhD Student
Posts: 1414

Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Nice, exciting, ugly win
02-06-05 06:27 PM - Post#3478    
    In response to Dr. V

Yes, by "little" I mean freshman. I will say that I'm surprised to learn he's 6'5 though. But I really liked the way he kept turning the corner on his defender to get to the hoop.
LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh)


 
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