vs CCSU (Sat 12/2) @ 1:00

I was behind the HC bench. The guys played hard from beginning to end. The coaches are coaching. I wish Louth had another year or two. He plays hard and shows flashes. He turned his ankle (early in the second half I think) and never returned. Octave's injury looks like an ankle too. Nugget plays a lot because he is fundamentally sound--moves his feet on defense, gets some rebounds, has a nice shot. The other freshmen played a decent amount also; none look out of place. HC is not a great passing team, but I think they're better than they were earlier in the season. They made a nice run in the second half, but miscues killed us. We're not a great rebounding team; we're small. We need a big next year; you can't win without one. Without a rim protector other teams dump the ball in low, or drive the lane. We could really use a point guard who could drive and dish. There's nothing wrong with Batch except that he's getting no open shots. I feel that one message DP had at halftime was--shoot the damn ball. Having an endless weave outside the 3 point arc doesn't get you much. 

Looks like Crossports was pretty well represented.

Shoot, shoot the damn ball.

I attended with a classmate and our wives.  We didn’t pay extra for the chair back seats so I didn’t see the crossporters.  


Our team needs a lot of work.  DP coaches every second of the game.  I am a big Bo fan and thought he would be a real force this year.  I am sure he is frustrated.  I just don’t have an explanation for Will.  Maybe hchoops can tell me how a guy can forget how to shoot.   

Ended up being a 16-0 run, no points for 7 minutes.

And they were 7 horrible minutes, not just a bunch of reasonable looks w/no one hitting any shots (the rest of the game was like that!), a series of bad shots, followed by a series of turnovers.

Batchelder is doing better than my eyeball test. He's got 14/11 assist/turnover ratio which is better than I thought. He's hit all 4 of his FTs but that's an issue, he doesn't get to the line. His 3 point % is 34%, not as good as he's been capable of. 

Bo also surprises me with a 31/29 assist/turnover ratio as I was sure it was reverse of that.

If Octave could do better with his turnovers (12/22 ast/to ratio), he'd be an even bigger star as he hits 51% of his shots and 40% of his 3s. He leads the team in rebounding with 6.4 per game. He hits 69% from the line. 

Here's the guy that needs more floor time, our premiere actor on the team, AJ Wills. He's hitting 50% of his shots and an even better 57% of his 3s. He's hit all of his FTs (6/6) and his assist/turnover rate is 2/2. 

Ryan is a good FT shooter at 78% (7 of 9) but otherwise offensively challenged hitting a paltry 29% (2 of 7).

Nugent looks like he has a nice stroke but looks aren't everything.  He hits 37% of his 3s and seems less hesitant to take them than Batch. He's got a 0/6 ast/to ratio but second best rebounder at 4.9 per game

Our overall second best player (maybe best?) has to be Caleb Kenney hitting 57% of his shots and 9 blocks and 4 steals. Just don't want him shooting FTs (54%). Considering his inside work, he's got a very respectable ast/to ratio (11/12)


Of course, none of this relates to defense so there may be many reasons why some of them play more than their offensive stats would warrant. Batch leads with 6 steals and Bo has 5 and multiple others have 4.   

Thanks for this take.  I noticed today he was trying to dribble to an open shot without a lot of success.  

Chuck Hare at the game. Hopefully the promise of early PT spurs him on to have a great year.

Another thing that isn't mentioned often: Dorsey's skill set hasn't really been replaced yet, both his on the ball defense, and his ability to distribute at the other end. He was pretty good at finding open guys in transition (as in Batch).

What I loved was this wasn’t a block on some 6’ tall guard, it was against a guy that was probably taller than him and he came from nowhere and shocked everyone including the guy who thought he had a flush going.

Caleb definitely one of the bright spots so far this season and if he could just watch his fouls . . . . (Some of which have been very questionable).

One easy fix for Batch is to get out front on possession changes. Get the shot up before the D gets there. But that is a function of the team. I believe they have to play faster than they are now.