Bonnies vs. Richmond (Sat. 02/22 @ 6:30 pm)

The match-up between Golden and Osun was a thing of beauty. Our big guy didn't have a big rebounding or shot blocking night, but the compensating factor is that he didn't get into foul trouble. He's almost a sure two points when he gets the ball down low and the Bonnies won the battle for points in the paint as a result of his presence.
My TV heard some of my very creative obscenities when Bobby attempted his first two field goals, but I was glad he kept shooting by the time the game ended. If the opposition chooses to leave him open, he's supposed to take the shot.
 
Another classic February big home win under Schmidt. It reminded me a lot of our win over a good Cavanaugh/Garino GW team in 2016, and to a lesser extent the Posley buzzer beater over ranked VCU the year prior. Both of those felt like important measuring sticks for young teams and this one was no different in that respect. A lot of optimism came out of these highly hyped games.

The Davidson game last week was probably this healthy group's first test to see if they could hang with quality conference opponents and they dropped the ball. Being able to bounce back from that and win in rather convincing fashion against a bubble team shows some consistency and toughness that I think we're all looking for. Our sophomores turned into juniors last night.

While I don't know if it's realistic to think we should run the table these last four games, it's fun to think about the possibility of finishing second or third with 95% of our minutes eligible to return next season and possibly a fun postseason experience this March.
 
As to the bracketology result of the Bonnies' Richmond win, I see that Jerry Palm still has the Spiders as one of the Last 4 in. On the other hand, after Rhody's loss to the North Carolina team whose name I dare not mention, Rhode Island is one of Palm's First 4 Out. Shelby's Bracketwag (by the bracketology writer for USA Today) also has the Spiders as one of the last four in and has Rhody still in as a 10-seed.
 
I'm glad Bobby was able to provide some quality minutes off the bench, but for the time being, I still don't want to see him taking any shots. It gives me heartburn every time I see him post up and prepare to rocket a line drive in the general direction of the rim.

That said, I still believe he gives us quality minutes at the four. He gets lots of offensive rebounds and for the most part seems to make good decisions on defense.
 
I'm glad Bobby was able to provide some quality minutes off the bench, but for the time being, I still don't want to see him taking any shots. It gives me heartburn every time I see him post up and prepare to rocket a line drive in the general direction of the rim.

That said, I still believe he gives us quality minutes at the four. He gets lots of offensive rebounds and for the most part seems to make good decisions on defense.
I get it, but I’m confident he can shoot at an okay clip if he limits his attempts to those wide open pick-and-pop looks. To pass those up would almost be a hindrance to the flow of our sets. If he’s out there, he almost has to take those to keep defenses somewhat honest. Just make 35% of them.
 
Did our defense play better or did Richmond clang a bunch of 3s? Yes on both accounts.

Richmond took a ton of 3s and clanged most of them. However we forced them into lower quality 3s for most of the game than they are used to. The open 3s Richmond got in this game were 2 or 3 steps behind the line. Richmond's offense gets 3s after a kickout from a Golden post touch, Francis' first 3 came off a quick post entry and kick. Doubling Golden made him rush some passes and make poor decisions. He finished with 5 assists and only 2 turnovers but it didn't seem like he was distributing at his normal pace. Out of the double the other 3 guys scrambled to cover the open shooters.

I think we doubled more from the side the entry pass came from than Golden is used to. Doubling from the passer means the other 3 defenders need to be ready to move around the perimeter and the doubler has to get back out to the weakside offensive player as soon as the ball gets passed back out. The Bonnies scrambled to recover much better than they have most the year.

Richmond should have tried to drive on the Bonnies when they were scrambling because there wasn't someone to help cut off the driving lane. I thought Francis had much more success when attacking the basket.

Other thoughts:
Bobby needs to shoot off the pass and if he has to take a dribble to the left to side step a defender he shouldn't shoot. He needs to attack the basket or swing the ball. When he moves to the right he is ok but the dribble to the left is where he struggles. Or that could be a small sample size observation. I'd like to see him attack anytime he has to take that dribble but moving the right seems easier for him.

The pass OO made to Welch in the corner was two guys that have developed chemistry and really know where the other one should be. OO had just made a really nice post move a possession or two earlier so Welch's guy was helping further off and was completely ball watching. Welch noticed put his hand up and OO saw him and lead him perfectly to his spot. OO also hit Welch right in his hands where he could catch and shoot in one motion.

Rewatching the Flagrant call, Bobby got Gustavson with an elbow but the refs easily could have whistled that play dead earlier and called the Gilyard reach when he had two hands on Bobby. It was an obvious intentional foul situation and the ref crew was slow on making calls in that situation all night.

In the moment I was surprised that Gilyard didn't matchup with Lofton more. But on two possessions when Gilyard got Lofton in transition Lofton went right to the block and ended up creating a open 3 for English on the first possession and didn't get the ball the second time but had good position.

On to Duquesne.
 
The match-up between Golden and Osun was a thing of beauty. Our big guy didn't have a big rebounding or shot blocking night, but the compensating factor is that he didn't get into foul trouble. He's almost a sure two points when he gets the ball down low and the Bonnies won the battle for points in the paint as a result of his presence.
My TV heard some of my very creative obscenities when Bobby attempted his first two field goals, but I was glad he kept shooting by the time the game ended. If the opposition chooses to leave him open, he's supposed to take the shot.

Was this Osun's best game yet? Our big guy didn't have a big rebounding/shotblocking night, but he showed some serious growth in the passing and footwork categories. His footwork in particular was Nicholson-esque: totally in control, patient and always thinking 1-2 steps ahead of the defender. As stated by Jive, his ability to distribute the ball to the outside has take some serious leaps, and that should hopefully make us a matchup nightmare moving forward and give Dom/AJ/English/Bobby? the room to hit some more 3's. Osun's 4 assists were huge, and his execution on the offensive and defensive end appeared goddamn flawless to me.

Regarding Winston I don't know if this was a burn the tape type of game - I was pleased to see that it seems his stubborness when he drives is subsiding. Usually when he drives he gets tunnel vision and seems to have a compulsion to get to the hoop no matter how many defenders are in front of him. This game I think he drove twice - once for a bucket and the other he distributed the ball to Dom down low for that nasty dunk. While not a fantastic game, he's trending in the right direction.
 
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I was impressed with the patience shown not just by Shoon, but the entire team. There were some nice look offs and head/pump fakes that put defenders out of position and led to good shots. I like seeing Winston drive but he does sometimes have trouble finishing, he could take a look at the Welch playbook for driving. I think Dom finishes drives more often because he has better court vision and his drives are higher percentage. All of them can still improve on staying in control and finding a man to dump off to, WInston and English in particular. AJ is a big body but he doesn't drive as often, not sure he has the handle to create that for himself.
 
I was impressed with the patience shown not just by Shoon, but the entire team. There were some nice look offs and head/pump fakes that put defenders out of position and led to good shots. I like seeing Winston drive but he does sometimes have trouble finishing, he could take a look at the Welch playbook for driving. I think Dom finishes drives more often because he has better court vision and his drives are higher percentage. All of them can still improve on staying in control and finding a man to dump off to, WInston and English in particular. AJ is a big body but he doesn't drive as often, not sure he has the handle to create that for himself.
That's exactly it with Winston. He doesn't so much have trouble finishing as he does starting and maintaining. A good part of the time he's already out of control by the time he gets near the rim. And he's certainly not looking for anyone to dump off to. He'll get it though.
 
Tunnel vision is 100 percent Winston's problem while driving. He tends to make the decision to go to the hoop at random and I don't think I've ever seen him kick it out if his lane fills up. Fortunately he's talented enough that he can still score a ton of buckets. It also helps that he's built like a fullback and a lot of defenders seem hesitant to take that charge.
 
Other than not getting the pronunciation of Olean right, I thought the NBC broadcasting crew did a commendable job. Their commentary showed they had thoroughly researched the teams and players. In addition, I think it's a big boost to the Bonnies' credibility to have a respected analyst like Tim McCormick make such positive comments about Kyle, Osun, and others. He put Kyle on his all-A10 team and gave plenty of information to support that. As to Osun, he stated that he was "coming on really fast" and suggested he was the most valuable player of the game. This takes nothing away from Dom's high level of performance. McCormick's expertise is with big men, and his opinions in that area go a long way.
I won't be surprised if the Bonnies start getting a lot more attention from the basketball pundits.
 
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