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Post by efg72 on Jan 26, 2019 22:33:38 GMT -5
Coaches decision, but totally insane Benzan gets more than 8-10 minutes. Today he ate away at ABs time which is hard to comprehend for a team that struggles to score Assuming we have to play with the roster we have, Benzan’s playing time isn’t a top 50 problem on this team. If there were more upperclassmen guards or any guards for that matter who could contribute, maybe his minutes could be reduced. There aren’t. By any objective measure, the guys you suggested play over him - LeSaan, Hargis, Copeland - shouldn’t be playing over Benzan. To suggest that they should be is wishful thinking and would make the product on the floor worse. I’m assuming that’s why Carmody plays him more minutes than the others you suggest. My point is AB should have received additional minutes that went to another player
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Post by hchoops on Jan 26, 2019 22:44:46 GMT -5
19 assists on 24 FG
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 26, 2019 22:46:51 GMT -5
Great to hear the independent reports that we had a big crowd---hopefully everyone understood that I was being facetious. It seems that we could report attendance of 30 people and someone would chip in that the mendacious people in the athletics department exaggerated the crowd size.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Jan 26, 2019 22:58:24 GMT -5
Love that the Hart was packed today.
Wish we had an engaged/competent head coach that could capitalize on a hungry (but starved) fan base.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Jan 26, 2019 23:29:01 GMT -5
I wish this benefited our win / loss record. Unfortunately, It doesn’t.
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Post by HCFC45 on Jan 26, 2019 23:31:24 GMT -5
Love that the Hart was packed today. Wish we had an engaged/competent head coach that could capitalize on a hungry (but starved) fan base. Your AXE must be getting pretty thin by now... better invest in a new one before your FINGERS start feeling the PAIN! !
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Post by hchoops on Jan 26, 2019 23:33:36 GMT -5
I wish this benefited our win / loss record. Unfortunately, It doesn’t. While there is not a direct correlation between this stat and winning, when the ball is moving and we are making shots, obviously our offense is most often playing well enough to win. This stat of course tells us nothing about our defense or defensive rebounding, two clear weaknesses
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 27, 2019 5:55:29 GMT -5
The announcer comment I found most interesting was this "When they play like this, Holy Cross is a team that looks like they can beat anyone in the Patriot League, then they have cold spells where they simply cannot score." Of course, he also complimented Coach Carmody and spoke about his ability as a first rate coach, so some may need to take that with a grain of salt.
The last two years, the dry spells where shots simply do not go in (even though they are the shots they worked to get) are baffling.
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 27, 2019 5:57:04 GMT -5
I wish this benefited our win / loss record. Unfortunately, It doesn’t. ...but the win it helped to produce most certainly did.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 27, 2019 6:39:58 GMT -5
I got your joke. Earlier in the game I asked 8485 how many he thought were there and he said 2,500. I noticed that as the game progressed, many of those empty spaces filled in. Quite a number sitting in the nosebleed section. 2,821 officially but I really believe there were more than that - at least 3,000 if I had to bet. Lots of students, lots of alums.
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 27, 2019 6:49:25 GMT -5
Just my opinion but I joked with 8485 that Carmody and the team must have been reading Crossports and the complaint about the lazy passes (and my personal complaint that Grandy seemed to have been passing up some open shots) because the passing was a lot more crisp with nice velocity and Grandy, well, if you watched the game or saw the stats, came out on fire as he has in the past. Had to be a real toss-up as to who the game MVP would be between Grandy and the actual MVP, Butler. Thankfully as Grandy cooled off in the second half, Austin got hotter. Tom, the presenter, might be better able to explain how the judges decided AB vs. JG for MVP. A thrilling game that we almost gave away again at the end. The first half appeared to be a conscious effort by Carmody to extend the bench and to "save" some energy of the usual starters for the second half. I predicted at halftime that the second half would be ironman time again for the 5-6 "usual suspects" who would be fresher. If that was the strategy, it worked. Happy for the win but it shouldn't have been that close. I'll take it.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jan 27, 2019 8:08:25 GMT -5
To right the ship, you have to win a game, so I'll take it. Definitely need to work on that press break. We hit just enough free throws, and CG, AB and JG hit big shots down the stretch. Have to hope MF gets back to 100% quickly; he clearly wasn't at his best. But, nice to see Blake get in there. Coming in right before the under 8 TO, then staying in for another minute or so, gave JF a nice breather.
AB was doing some Conor Niego damage there in the second half, flashing to the foul line in the middle of the zone. CN loves that spot!
Great to see the large crowd, but to be honest, the homecoming crowds aren't as loud as they could be (and I understand why). Still, had to be nice for the guys to see the seats filled with bodies instead of empty.
IF CN can get back to be productive down the stretch, and IF Ziggy's knees will continue to allow him to give similar minutes as he did yesterday....just maybe it can get interesting come late February.
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Post by trimster on Jan 27, 2019 8:51:51 GMT -5
I like your enthusiasm NAD and hope you are correct. I don't see many wins the rest of the way unless we really do better in two very fundamental areas of the game: rebounding the basketball and getting to the charity stripe. Maybe the latter isn't as important as it used to be given the reliance on 3 point shooting but I still think it's very important. Besides the opportunity to score points, it's also an indication of getting the opponent into foul trouble. I am sure it's a stat somewhere and my guess is we are near the bottom of getting opponents to foul out of a game. Our rebounding is terrible, it's almost of worst of all D-1 teams in the country according to the stats. Many coaches say, you don't rebound, you don't win.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 27, 2019 10:04:04 GMT -5
Any more input on BV's play? It looks like he is not afraid to shoot--took three shots (were they all turnarounds near the foul line?) and made one. Seemed to have a pretty quick release but a low launching point. Sometimes freshmen "look lost" when they get their few minutes--didn't seem like that to me.
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Post by Tom on Jan 27, 2019 10:54:35 GMT -5
- The lower sections were darn close to full. Including pretty full in the student sections behind the hoops. Not so many in the bleachers above the top concourse. A decent amount of people standing on the top concourse behind the hoops
- Matt Faw's ankle was being worked on during the game
- HC started both halves with big runs. Especially in the first half. That first half lead was literally gone by half time. I have expressed lots of concern about a 6-man rotation and was glad to see Verbeek get a little run, but Navy had a big run of their own when when there were multiple guys outside the big 6 in
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jan 27, 2019 11:20:41 GMT -5
Any more input on BV's play? It looks like he is not afraid to shoot--took three shots (were they all turnarounds near the foul line?) and made one. Seemed to have a pretty quick release but a low launching point. Sometimes freshmen "look lost" when they get their few minutes--didn't seem like that to me. Aside from the obvious question of strength, he looks like he needs to get adjusted to the speed of play. I remember there was one play where he came within an inch or two from deflecting a cross court pass while in the middle of the 1-3-1. Maybe next year (or even later this year, if he keeps getting some PT) he deflects it.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 27, 2019 11:40:21 GMT -5
Is it realistic to think Niego will play again this season? And, on several levels, is it in his best interests to do so (including, perhaps, having him as a senior a year after the other 5 graduate, given that the 2022 class is not looking like a banner group by any means)? He definitely gets the year if he's not healthy and with that type of injury, who's to dispute "not ready to play for another 6 weeks" versus "not ready to play for another 3 weeks"?
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jan 27, 2019 11:51:13 GMT -5
Of course, if it did come down to him redshirting, he could always go with the current trend and spend the 5th year elsewhere. But, I have heard he will be back. No boot yesterday, at least.
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 27, 2019 11:57:19 GMT -5
That is good to hear. He can (when healthy) help this year and the experience can make him better next year. (IMO It is far too early to judge any of the current frosh without a crystal ball.)
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Post by bigfan on Jan 27, 2019 12:30:26 GMT -5
The concession stand needs to be replaced. The people that ran the concession in previous years did a better job.
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Post by possum on Jan 27, 2019 12:54:31 GMT -5
Verbeek is definitely not afraid to shoot and having watched him in warm ups this year he has a nice stroke. On the flip side he is just so thin and when I say thin he's thin all over legs, arms and has small shoulders. Don't know it will be easy for him to put on weight. At this point obviously doesn't have strength to play down low. On one possession he was engaged with one of the Navy bigs and all of a sudden he was sent to the deck sliding across the court. He seems willing and doesn't appear afraid, hopefully will continue to get some time. Butler definitely deserved MVP award as Grandison did not play well at all in 2nd half. Butler has played consistently well the last 5-6 games.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 27, 2019 13:03:18 GMT -5
Connor Niego has played in 10 games--did we reach a conclusion on whether that precludes him from requesting a redshirt?
My guess: coach wants to make sure he is fully healed before he returns and may be targeting end of regular season & the PL tournament
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Post by sader81 on Jan 27, 2019 14:49:13 GMT -5
Connor Niego has played in 10 games--did we reach a conclusion on whether that precludes him from requesting a redshirt? My guess: coach wants to make sure he is fully healed before he returns and may be targeting end of regular season & the PL tournament There has never been any confirmation, but I recall some inside information claimed he had a broken toe. I’ve had a couple of them; the docs usually can’t do much for it, and it usually takes about six weeks to heal up. If that was the case, he should be back soon.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Jan 27, 2019 16:00:12 GMT -5
From Jen T's gamer: “We clearly have to do something about two things,” Carmody said, “our press offense and our foul shooting. We were fortunate.”
No mention of defense or rebounding.
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Post by hchoops on Jan 27, 2019 16:08:17 GMT -5
CBC’s pre game with Lutz focused on our defensive shortcomings.
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