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Post by timholycross on Nov 30, 2023 7:55:38 GMT -5
Other than Batch, who seems lost this year, what returnees should we have thought would make a big step up? The hope had to be the newcomers and without any ready-now height we show up as a perimeter team without standout shooters, no one with an offensive go-to move, not much physicality, very slow, and play ragged defensively. Much too soon to seriously question the coaching other than wondering about some of the recruiting. This team doesn't look much better than our former products right now. Play as much of Louth and Ryan as you can and figure out where Wills, Nugent,Singleton and Williams are best suited and hope Batch reemerges. As bad as the PL is I'd now be surprised if we can compete with the 2-3- or maybe 4 teams this season. I don't know why people want Ryan playing; I want him in the weight and conditioning room.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 30, 2023 8:01:42 GMT -5
Sadly I think we are going to see a different roster next year. This portal stuff is getting crazy imho. Let's see, you bring in 4 backcourt guys (yes, one's a pwo) and one swing man to go with the 3 you already had. A few of those aren't going to get minutes no matter what and you are bringing a couple more in to replace the 2 seniors. Some will leave, afraid that's the way it is. Some might wait their turn and get better while doing that.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 30, 2023 8:23:54 GMT -5
Other than Batch, who seems lost this year, what returnees should we have thought would make a big step up? The hope had to be the newcomers and without any ready-now height we show up as a perimeter team without standout shooters, no one with an offensive go-to move, not much physicality, very slow, and play ragged defensively. Much too soon to seriously question the coaching other than wondering about some of the recruiting. This team doesn't look much better than our former products right now. Play as much of Louth and Ryan as you can and figure out where Wills, Nugent,Singleton and Williams are best suited and hope Batch reemerges. As bad as the PL is I'd now be surprised if we can compete with the 2-3- or maybe 4 teams this season. To your first point, I would have hoped Bo wouldn’t have regressed.
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Post by crusader1970 on Nov 30, 2023 8:26:54 GMT -5
Our two best outside shooters are Batch and Nugent. They were 1-13 overall and 0-10 from three.
(Some might say Octave is in that group but I consider him more of a scorer than a pure shooter.)
There are not many teams in Div I that we could have beaten last night with that stat.
To say we are "offensively challenged" is a huge understatement.
So how can we hope to win games on any consistent basis? It has to come from the defensive end.
That's a problem in a MTM because our two best shooters are slow afoot and below average to poor MTM defenders.
I've said it before and I still believe it. This team needs to play some zone for at least some segments of the game to hide these defensive inadequacies.
Some have said that a zone gives up too many open threes. If you watched the game last night, our MTM gave up a boatload of open threes. At least in a zone we could possibly cut down on our guys being constantly beaten off the dribble for layups.
If you say that Paulsen is a "MTM coach" and he wants to build MTM skills, fine. I get it. But don't expect to win more than 8 or so games.
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Post by jkh67 on Nov 30, 2023 8:50:48 GMT -5
Other than Batch, who seems lost this year, what returnees should we have thought would make a big step up? The hope had to be the newcomers and without any ready-now height we show up as a perimeter team without standout shooters, no one with an offensive go-to move, not much physicality, very slow, and play ragged defensively. Much too soon to seriously question the coaching other than wondering about some of the recruiting. This team doesn't look much better than our former products right now. Play as much of Louth and Ryan as you can and figure out where Wills, Nugent,Singleton and Williams are best suited and hope Batch reemerges. As bad as the PL is I'd now be surprised if we can compete with the 2-3- or maybe 4 teams this season. I was an ardent supporter of HC basketball from my Auditorium days in the '60 through my classmate Ralph Willard's regime several decades later. But, after being regularly hit up side the head for a decade or more now, I've basically lost interest...although I occasionally check in on Crossports, as this note shows. As for "wondering about some of the recruiting", perhaps the problem is that HC basketball's reputation has sunk so low and that the PL is seen as so stinkeroo for b'ball that it is well nigh impossible to recruit the impact players we so desperately need, regardless of who the head coach is. Taking off the purple shades for a minute, would you want to come to Worcester these days if you were an impact player? Although it would only take a few quality players to change this dynamic, I fear it's going to be a long time...a very long time...before we see substantial improvement...Colgate's recent success to the contrary notwithstanding. I'm ever hopeful, but just trying to be realistic. There's just no minimizing the damage four bad head coach decisions has done to a once proud program.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Nov 30, 2023 8:53:31 GMT -5
Other than Batch, who seems lost this year, what returnees should we have thought would make a big step up? The hope had to be the newcomers and without any ready-now height we show up as a perimeter team without standout shooters, no one with an offensive go-to move, not much physicality, very slow, and play ragged defensively. Much too soon to seriously question the coaching other than wondering about some of the recruiting. This team doesn't look much better than our former products right now. Play as much of Louth and Ryan as you can and figure out where Wills, Nugent,Singleton and Williams are best suited and hope Batch reemerges. As bad as the PL is I'd now be surprised if we can compete with the 2-3- or maybe 4 teams this season. I was an ardent supporter of HC basketball from my Auditorium days in the '60 through my classmate Ralph Willard's regime several decades later. But, after being regularly hit up side the head for a decade or more now, I've basically lost interest...although I occasionally check in on Crossports, as this note shows. As for "wondering about some of the recruiting", perhaps the problem is that HC basketball's reputation has sunk so low and that the PL is seen as so stinkeroo for b'ball that it is well nigh impossible to recruit the impact players we so desperately need, regardless of who the head coach is. Taking off the purple shades for a minute, would you want to come to Worcester these days if you were an impact player? Although it would only take a few quality players to change this dynamic, I fear it's going to be a long time...a very long time...before we see substantial improvement...Colgate's recent success to the contrary notwithstanding. I'm ever hopeful, but just trying to be realistic. There's just no minimizing the damage four bad head coach decisions has done to a once proud program. I'm sure you're not the only one. Last night I was more preoccupied with watching the Villanova St. Joe's game than our game with Maine. Contrast that to football where I wouldn't miss a snap.
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Post by hchoops on Nov 30, 2023 8:56:05 GMT -5
crusader1970 Another major weakness of zones is defensive rebounding. We are not a strong defensive rebounding team, but we have not been terrible thus far due to our wings corralling them and our so called bigs doing a decent job of boxing out. With a zone there are no defined box outs and short teams such as ours have almost always struggled with defensive rebounding while playing zone.
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Post by efg72 on Nov 30, 2023 8:59:33 GMT -5
Sadly I think we are going to see a different roster next year. This portal stuff is getting crazy imho. Let's see, you bring in 4 backcourt guys (yes, one's a pwo) and one swing man to go with the 3 you already had. A few of those aren't going to get minutes no matter what and you are bringing a couple more in to replace the 2 seniors. Some will leave, afraid that's the way it is. Some might wait their turn and get better while doing that. I think it was late in the process, our roster was low on bodies, you needed someone to play the point, and usually there are few available bigs in April and May turnover in the world of the portal is to be expected but with some luck stabilizes in the next couple of years. Some level of leadership from the older players needs to happen soon
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Post by sader1970 on Nov 30, 2023 9:10:52 GMT -5
NAD and I had that very discussion - how on earth was Colgate able to turn their program around? Their facilities are not as good as the Luth/Hart. Worcester has it all over Hamilton, NY (yes, I've been there multiple times and lived about 60 miles away). Academics? USN&WR and other rankings there isn't much difference if you even want to put stock in those. Tradition? How many national or PL championships HC vs. Colgate. So, they must have a secret ingredient. The coach? Gotta think so. If that's the case, let's give DP a little time. He did well at Bucknell, another PL school.
As to the issue of defensive rebounds, it also hurts when you get one and then lose it by not paying attention and getting it pickpocketed from you or just an unnecessary tie up if you have some court awareness. Sheesh.
crusader1970 pretty much nailed many of our issues. I will continue to support the team but increasingly hard to do. They need our support now more than ever.
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Post by crusader1970 on Nov 30, 2023 9:16:39 GMT -5
crusader1970 Another major weakness of zones is defensive rebounding. We are not a strong defensive rebounding team, but we have not been terrible thus far due to our wings corralling them and our so called bigs doing a decent job of boxing out. With a zone there are no defined box outs and short teams such as ours have almost always struggled with defensive rebounding while playing zone. Agree. Box outs in a zone are more problematic.
So what do you recommend defensively? Go strictly with a MTM defense that seems incapable of stopping anyone?
Again....I am not advocating 100% zone. I'm simply saying that switching defenses periodically during a game might make HC just a little less predictable and a bit harder to prepare for.
As a coach I had in a different sport once advised, "When you're clearly not winning, it's time to try something different."
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Post by Tom on Nov 30, 2023 9:25:03 GMT -5
The silver lining last night was Coulibaly who had one of his better games
Adjustments happen. There was one guy on Maine who had 20 of Maine's first 30 points late in the first half. He finished with 25. While HC (mostly Montgomery) managed to take that away, it opened up options for everyone else
Is Mr Perry too old to run free throw clinics for these guys? Another horrible night at the line. Octave missed 3 in a row late, but, in his case, I have to wonder if it's a function of literally playing the whole game.
Speaking of playing the whole game, excluding massive blow outs or foul trouble, we seem to have settled into a 7.5 man rotation. Singleton gets a cameo. Interesting to me that Ryan seems to have fallen out of the primary rotation. Even if he was a cameo guy
Turnovers last night weren't as much about passes getting picked off as Maine just taking the ball away from us. Getting a hand in on the dribble or yanking it out of HC hands
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Post by efg72 on Nov 30, 2023 9:35:45 GMT -5
NAD and I had that very discussion - how on earth was Colgate able to turn their program around? Their facilities are not as good as the Luth/Hart. Worcester has it all over Hamilton, NY (yes, I've been there multiple times and lived about 60 miles away). Academics? USN&WR and other rankings there isn't much difference if you even want to put stock in those. Tradition? How many national or PL championships HC vs. Colgate. So, they must have a secret ingredient. The coach? Gotta think so. If that's the case, let's give DP a little time. He did well at Bucknell, another PL school. As to the issue of defensive rebounds, it also hurts when you get one and then lose it by not paying attention and getting it pickpocketed from you or just an unnecessary tie up if you have some court awareness. Sheesh. crusader1970 pretty much nailed many of our issues. I will continue to support the team but increasingly hard to do. They need our support now more than ever. I think Colgate succeeds because they recruit players that are complementary, understand how to play basketball, and do so as a team. He continues to recruit that type of player. I think for years we recruited the best athlete available.
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Post by DiMarz on Nov 30, 2023 9:52:54 GMT -5
A big struggle last night. Nobody shot the ball well. They appeared to be thinking through the offense, rather than just running it with good reads. It’s a building process, Coach told us to expect it, he was correct. On the plus side, Louth showed he can bea solid player in the post. I thought in the second half both Bo Anne Joe showed how they can be a factor, with hard drives, neither finished well however. Bo playing the 1, he looks uncomfortable. Except for the first 6 minutes or so, it was a pretty even game. HC worked on a lot of situations towards the end . Pressing a few times and getting a steal. Bo defended #1 in the second half, he had 20in the first half. I don’t think he scored until very late in the 2nd half. Louth played well for an extended length of time, maybe the longest stretch in his career. He looked pretty’s based at the end of the first half.. The officiating was pretty weak and inconsistent all night. I thought Paulson wanted to get T’d up near the end, but the senior ref talked him down. Missed calls all over the court, even the replay official was shaking his head at a few of them… I still think this group will be ok in the league, and their shooting will come around…time will tell, have faith in this entire group!
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 30, 2023 10:00:46 GMT -5
For those in attendance, what was done differently and / or highlighted for Sustainability Night?
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 30, 2023 10:02:49 GMT -5
The officiating was pretty weak and inconsistent all night. I thought Paulson wanted to get T’d up near the end, but the senior ref talked him down. Missed calls all over the court, even the replay official was shaking his head at a few of them… I couldn't believe they didn't get the shot clock violation call at the very beginning of the game right. After conferring, they decided to go with the original call (shot clock violation on HC). Meanwhile, the ref positioned on the baseline had an absolutely perfect view of the shot that clearly hit the rim. Would have love to have gotten an explanation on that one.
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Post by bigfan on Nov 30, 2023 10:07:49 GMT -5
Colgate has been able to recruit due to the success they have had for a couple of years. We can't recruit due to the amount of wins we have been having. If we can win eight league games that may be the best we can do. Let's face it PL basketball is bad, the top players will not come, we are in a position of having not too many wins every year. Last night very few students attended the game.
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Post by Tom on Nov 30, 2023 10:16:38 GMT -5
More brain droppings. . .
There was a period when HC went big. Coulibaly, Kenney, Nugent, Octave, and Montgomery. First time I observed that
I didn't see the replay of the shot clock violation. The only thing that makes any sense is that HC didn't get the initial shot off on time. I thought HC did, but can't say with 100 percent certainty it was. If the shot left the shooter's hand before the violation, it was a blown call. It absolutely hit the rim.
Some female students got honored during a first half time out for something to do with recycling. They stood and waved at half court while holding trash bags. I could not understand about 90 percent of what the PA announcer was saying so I have no ability to give more detail about the sustainability that got them honored. To whomever joked earlier about turning off the heat for sustainability, the only evidence I saw of that was some very cold 3 point shooting by a couple of Crusaders
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Post by rgs318 on Nov 30, 2023 10:17:28 GMT -5
The officiating was pretty weak and inconsistent all night. I thought Paulson wanted to get T’d up near the end, but the senior ref talked him down. Missed calls all over the court, even the replay official was shaking his head at a few of them… I couldn't believe they didn't get the shot clock violation call at the very beginning of the game right. After conferring, they decided to go with the original call (shot clock violation on HC). Meanwhile, the ref positioned on the baseline had an absolutely perfect view of the shot that clearly hit the rim. Would have love to have gotten an explanation on that one. I agree. A bad call can be made (especially if a ref is not in a position to get a clear view). However, when all the officials get together and could have seen on the replay that the call was clearly wrong, it is almost unbelievable that they would then say "OK. lets go with that original (bad) call." It set the tone for some questionable calls later...but it was not the officials who lost this one for HC.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 30, 2023 10:34:38 GMT -5
I couldn't believe they didn't get the shot clock violation call at the very beginning of the game right. After conferring, they decided to go with the original call (shot clock violation on HC). Meanwhile, the ref positioned on the baseline had an absolutely perfect view of the shot that clearly hit the rim. Would have love to have gotten an explanation on that one. I agree. A bad call can be made (especially if a ref is not in a position to get a clear view). However, when all the officials get together and see on the replay that the call was clearly wrong, it is almost unbelievable that they would then say "OK. lets go with that original (bad) call." It set the tone for some questionable calls later...but it was not the officials who lost this one for HC. Also, what was peculiar about that situation was they didn't go to the monitor; yet at the end of the game when it was 1000% sure that the call would have no bearing on the outcome*, they took time to review an OOB call. * I hate to think that the NCAA is kowtowing to Las Vegas and all the crazy bets one can make on a game. Wonder what the O/U was; certainly Maine easily covered the spread.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 30, 2023 10:39:35 GMT -5
A big struggle last night. Nobody shot the ball well. They appeared to be thinking through the offense, rather than just running it with good reads. It’s a building process, Coach told us to expect it, he was correct. On the plus side, Louth showed he can bea solid player in the post. I thought in the second half both Bo Anne Joe showed how they can be a factor, with hard drives, neither finished well however. Bo playing the 1, he looks uncomfortable. Except for the first 6 minutes or so, it was a pretty even game. HC worked on a lot of situations towards the end . Pressing a few times and getting a steal. Bo defended #1 in the second half, he had 20in the first half. I don’t think he scored until very late in the 2nd half. Louth played well for an extended length of time, maybe the longest stretch in his career. He looked pretty’s based at the end of the first half.. The officiating was pretty weak and inconsistent all night. I thought Paulson wanted to get T’d up near the end, but the senior ref talked him down. Missed calls all over the court, even the replay official was shaking his head at a few of them… I still think this group will be ok in the league, and their shooting will come around…time will tell, have faith in this entire group! Tyne(s?) scored 7 points before Bo got into the game, and those 7 came in the first 4 minutes. He had 4 foul shots in the last 2 minutes of the game which had very little to do with who was guarding him. So, 15 points the rest of the game. Not sure Bo was on him for all 15, but the parts of the game I focused on those two, Bo was doing very well.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 30, 2023 10:44:07 GMT -5
I agree. A bad call can be made (especially if a ref is not in a position to get a clear view). However, when all the officials get together and see on the replay that the call was clearly wrong, it is almost unbelievable that they would then say "OK. lets go with that original (bad) call." It set the tone for some questionable calls later...but it was not the officials who lost this one for HC. Also, what was peculiar about that situation was they didn't go to the monitor; yet at the end of the game when it was 1000% sure that the call would have no bearing on the outcome*, they took time to review an OOB call. * I hate to think that the NCAA is kowtowing to Las Vegas and all the crazy bets one can make on a game. Wonder what the O/U was; certainly Maine easily covered the spread.You might be onto something. Looking at the ESPN box score, total was 131.5. Game ended at 129.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 30, 2023 10:53:28 GMT -5
Let's see, you bring in 4 backcourt guys (yes, one's a pwo) and one swing man to go with the 3 you already had. A few of those aren't going to get minutes no matter what and you are bringing a couple more in to replace the 2 seniors. Some will leave, afraid that's the way it is. Some might wait their turn and get better while doing that. I think it was late in the process, our roster was low on bodies, you needed someone to play the point, and usually there are few available bigs in April and May turnover in the world of the portal is to be expected but with some luck stabilizes in the next couple of years. Some level of leadership from the older players needs to happen soon It wouldn't necessarily disappoint me if by the time conference play rolled around if we saw more of the newcomers and less of the people who've been there a while. Right now, however, probably better that DP is more patient with this team than a lot of us.
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Post by rgs318 on Nov 30, 2023 11:03:22 GMT -5
"PATIENCE" As a family friend used to say "Be patient and you will always be rewarded." His logic was that "patience is a virtue and virtue is its own reward." Thus the reward is there immediately. Yes, he was an optimist, possibly because he did not have to sit through the last decade of HC basketball.
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Post by sader1970 on Nov 30, 2023 11:32:17 GMT -5
Re: the shot clock violation, it was total blown call and no excuse. I was watching the shot clock and it got released as the 2 seconds was transitioning to 1 second. The mistake was egregious.
That said, later in the game, it appeared to me that we did have a shot clock violation but the shot and basket counted and I mentally said, "that's a make-up call."
The refs were terrible but, as we all know, they weren't the reason that we lost.
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Post by WCHC Sports on Nov 30, 2023 11:33:04 GMT -5
Losing at home isn't "sustainable" for a basketball program. "Look at what they did to my boy!..." Nobody is showing up because we're not winning in front of our fans. To be fair, the team hasn't discriminated over the last 15 years-- they're not really winning anywhere.
We sold our basketball souls for our football program. We just stay getting trounced.
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