Bonnies at #7 Dayton (Wed. Jan 22, 7:00, CBS Sports)

Man, it took a lot of energy to psyche myself up for any trash talk against Dayton. I'm already just ready for Rhody. I hope the players aren't like that though, because it could be like those 114-63 games against St. Joe's post-scandal. I'm hoping, like mentioned above, that Lofton can neutralize Crutcher, who was underrated before getting hype after the big shot against SLU. I've also been very impressed with Ibi Watson. I don't know if that'll be Dom's assignment or English/Ale, but he could be a secondary player that torches us.

Winston, Boca Bobby and Carpenter are gonna learn a lot getting matched up with Obi today, at least. I just hope we don't give up too many alley-oops on that damn play they run where Obi or someone else cuts to the basket along the baseline.

Line has climbed up to 17.5, I may actually take us if it gets over 18.
 
go small hope for best. kyle needs to play out of mind and dom needs to hit threes. any team on any night can win in a10..... we have a shot.
 
Let's all just start saying our Hail Mary's... I wouldn't touch us until we hit 20.
 
I usually understand why Schmidt keeps a guy glued to the bench. I can’t figure out why Matt Johnson is in the doghouse. Solid guard. Gave the Bonnies good minutes @ GW.
 
We knew that would be a rough experience. Tough to compete against a team when they hit 65% of their shots and 10/25 from deep.

I really hope UD goes on a run in the tournament and doesn't get screwed with either seeding or a bad matchup. This team has too much talent to squander.

Watching English prove that he is a solid A10 player against the best team in the A10 was a bright spot tonight. He is going to be vital to our offensive potency. I'm also happy to see Rob get some minutes in which he did pretty well.
 
We can’t get too fired up with that one. Lots of positives as mentioned above. There’s something different about English. He’s the type of kid who may be both your nicest and toughest player... sorta rare these days.

Carpenter- needs to ignore people around him and stay. He will get better.
Did Alpha drive baseline?? Inquiring minds...
 
We're 6-32 (18.8%) from 3 these last 2 games. Our premier outside shooter is 1-9 and was 0-3 tonight, none of which drew iron! While I don't think shooting is my biggest concern with this team, it definitely becomes my biggest concern in the moment when we're staring at 10 point deficits.

It's difficult to come away with positives after these last two, but I guess getting a crew of sophomores and freshmen into the line of fire without your best teammate is a good learning experience. It doesn't get much tougher than those two spots. We can build a capable offense around English, Lofton and our jump shooter if our jump shooter starts consistently making jump shots.

**edited: 18% these last two games...not five
 
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Maybe it’s just the sour grapes of the last 2 games, but I’m more than just a little concerned about our lack of An explosive, offense on his shoulders scorer. Kyle is the floor general, English is the guts glue guy, but the third explosive, always dangerous always firing option that we’ve had in recent years just hasn’t emerged. That third person for the floor general and the glue guy to lean on and take the offense to the next level with.

Maybe it could become AJ or Winston but they’ve got a ways to go. Frankly, I expected Winston to have taken a bigger stride by this point with his ability to create within the framework of the offense than he has.

Knowing this is just an open forum for conversation and feedback, unlike that other shall not be named board, I’d love to hear if anyone else is starting to get that itching fear that there’s a piece missing and it’s a big TBD if we have it on our roster, or if we still need to acquire it ?

I’d love even more to be told I’m crazy and wrong and just letting these 2 straight ass kickings get the best of me.
 
We've learned that English can play with the big boys. We already knew that Kyle can too and with Osun playing we don't allow 25 for 29 on 2-pointers or anywhere close to that. Like 3 Pt, I too was wondering where that other offensive boost will be. AJ and Winston have the talent, but we're probably still a year away. Will AdAway fill that role next year? I hope so. We can still make some noise in 2020, but it looks like we're a year away from prime time.

Note to Bill Russell: I know there's only one capital A in AdAway, but the automatic spell check on this site apparently sees things differently.
 
Dom has been that scorer more often than not. It is concerning on where he has been the last few games but I think he is that guy. Next year Winston and AJ should also emerge. Its pretty clear we are 1 year away but with Shoon out there we are a much better team defensively, which makes up for the streaky offense. I still think we can make some noise this year but I dont have illusions of winning the A10 at this point.
 
PYBonnie05 said:
Carpenter- needs to ignore people around him and stay. He will get better.
Click to expand...

I think Carpenter has showed some range, if he sticks around I would love to see a Lofton, Welch/Vasquez, Winston/Bobby, Carpenter, OO lineup. Imagine trying to pass against that group when they are playing a matchup zone and living in passing lanes.

My memory is not great so can anyone help me out with an example of a Schmidt player that took a starting spot away from an established starter? The only examples might be Mosley and Kloof, or Ogo and Eleby back in the beginning. For the most part it has been a wait your turn then take over when the guy ahead of you graduates. If Carpenter is to stay and play solid minutes he is going to need to do that to either OO or Bobby/Winston.
 
I think we underestimate OO's gravity on offense. He doesn't put up huge point totals and does most of his work on put-backs and lobs.

The impact of OO on a defense and on our wings:
1. With OO in the lineup, the weak side defender still needs to cheat a step closer to the paint regardless if OO is posting up or screening in a pick and roll
2. This gives Welch and Co on the wing another half step of space. Teams with more length like VCU and Dayton that half step is already gone because they have a bunch of 6'7 dudes.
3. You take OO out of the equation and the weakside guy can almost play in deny positioning and can deflect any ball reversals. When the Bonnies try to swing the ball against that type of defense, either they are forced farther away from the basket or the pass is high/low and you cant simply catch and shoot.

I think the defense not having to respect the Bonaventure bigs explains a lot of the 3 point slump the last two games.

Edit: by not respect the bigs I mean play them in straight man coverage and not bring help.
 
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Now for my crazy post. I wrote above about are there any examples of players taking starting spots or significant roles away from an established guy, in respect to Carpenter. But what if Welch is the one in danger of losing his spot. Could we see Welch taking a back seat to English and Vasquez?

On a thread a couple weeks ago someone compared Vasquez to Posley, and I disagreed but thought he was more of a Mobley clone. I have thought alot about that while watching the last couple of games. English is much more of the Posley comp while I still believe Vasquez could be Mobley Jr. English has the bowling ball downhill drive thing that Posley was great at doing, he just needs to improve the old man around the rim game to get to the Posley level.

But if both English and Vasquez take a jump and are say 80% of Posley and Mobley next year how do you not get them 30+ minutes a night. That only leaves 20 minutes a game for Welch (assuming he doesn't make a jump which might be the crazy assumption). Or you play Welch at the 4 which is already super competitive with Winston/Bobby.

I mean its a great problem to have and I'm not giving up on what this group can do this year but after two big losses, its great to be able to look ahead and see so much potential.
 
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