MBB falls to Elon, 75-72

[Chris Datres 423]

Defense was the worst I've seen it all season.  On the ball, they were allowing too many leverage drives that forced help to come over and left shooters wide open.  Another old problem cropped up and that was guys not recognizing shooters.  You know Santa Ana is hot, DON'T LEAVE HIM!!!  But then, we had this problem in the first half but Elon was bricking everything.  I think they were 1 for their first 12 or 13 from the 3-point line.  They could have been blowing us out if those were falling early.  Then on the last defensive possession with the game in the balance, Starr is mismatched on a bigger guy who just backed him down and as soon as the help came, boom, wide open layup -- zero rotation.  Just a disgusting effort at that end of the floor, especially in the 2nd half.

Offensively, I'm getting sick of the dumb turnovers.  What's a dumb turnover?  When you try to make a play that has no shot of being there when you first concocted it in your brain to make it.  Examples would be Morsell (or maybe it was Starr) trying to hit Zane under the basket when Zane wasn't going to be doing anything with it.  Or the sequence when we could have had two fast break layups in the first half but Tunstall lost the ball before he could pass it and then Morman, I believe just chucked it ahead without really looking.  Morman and Keith seem to like to just bull their way into the lane without any sort of purpose...just see what happens when they get there.  On the final sequence with :16 left, why isn't Morsell on the floor?  And better question, how does Zane not even touch the ball?  The way he was going in the 2nd half, it should have been him driving to the basket with a potential kick to Morsell or McNeill for a corner 3.  

The lack of a competent big man is pretty glaring now as we hit conference play.  Alex Thomas might as well not even be out there.  He's had 2 1/2 seasons in the program and I think he's actually gotten worse.  He still doesn't seem to grasp the basic concepts of defending the post or hedging on a screen without making contact.  And he's zero threat on the offensive end so everyone can put more pressure on our guards.  

If you had told me on December 18 that we'd go 0-4 on the road trip, I'd have thought you were crazy.  At minimum, I thought they would easily get 1, maybe even 2 of these road wins.  Now, it looks like they left their basketball IQs in Belfast and I don't know if there's a JD type to pull the rest of the team aside before Friday night and talk some sense into them.

[mat1992 2,233]

Chris, the only thing I'd disagree with you is on Thomas. He's our best post defender by far and it's not even close. And he's 6-9, 265. He has to play against the bigs of this conference. Gorham and Tunstall can't match up with a lot of htem.  Now tonight he picked up so many fouls, he had no chance to defend. And Dawkins is an ok scorer in the post. But you shouldn't double him. He's not Brantley or Nathan Knight. Not even close. So with the way they were shooting from the perimeter in the second half, having Thomas didn't mean much. Unless you wanted to play zone, which probably wouldn't have worked.

As for BB IQ or play, just look at the Manhattan game that we stole on a last-second shot by Morsell. Against a team whose leading scorer was left home because he forgot his passport. Then Morgan State with Zane hitting a late long 3 just to tie it.  Or coming back to beat a pesky UMBC team by 13. You would think that the long rest would have helped us. I guess not. The IQ has to come from Starr ,Keith, Morsell and Morman. All seniors.

Lack of a big man is a problem. Lack of a true low post scorer is an issue. Lack of having a guy that can get to the basket and get fouled. Martin is the closest to that player and he hasn't gotten the star calls yet. 

[Tgr4life 167]

It all starts at the top. I read the questions as to why Z did not touch the ball and Starr took the last two shots. This comes from the coach. It comes from the bench. Practice should have set up the play for this exact situation. We now have played 5 good teams and lost to them all. Beating Manhattan and getting a trophy was not a significant day. 

While we lead the CAA in wins over the past few years, I continue to look for a significant win. Beating W & M at the buzzer last year was nice and beating Temple a couple of years ago was nice, but I can't remember, though there may be one I don't remember, a win that we can hang our hat on as a program builder. You talk about lack of a big man to score. You talk about basketball IQ. This is all the responsibility of the coaches. While this staff has changed the mentality from 1-31 to an above average CAA team, that was a while ago. Now is the time for significant wins. 

 

[mat1992 2,233]

1 hour ago, Tgr4life said:

It all starts at the top. I read the questions as to why Z did not touch the ball and Starr took the last two shots. This comes from the coach. It comes from the bench. Practice should have set up the play for this exact situation. We now have played 5 good teams and lost to them all. Beating Manhattan and getting a trophy was not a significant day. 

While we lead the CAA in wins over the past few years, I continue to look for a significant win. Beating W & M at the buzzer last year was nice and beating Temple a couple of years ago was nice, but I can't remember, though there may be one I don't remember, a win that we can hang our hat on as a program builder. You talk about lack of a big man to score. You talk about basketball IQ. This is all the responsibility of the coaches. While this staff has changed the mentality from 1-31 to an above average CAA team, that was a while ago. Now is the time for significant wins. 

 

I don't disagree about significant wins. We're kind of stuck in mud right now. Winning 20 games and finishing in the top half of the CAA is not enough. The recruiting class with Tunstall and Thomas was not great. The one two seasons ago with Starr, Martin and Gorham has turned out pretty good. There's not one player in the rotation right now in this past recruiting class though I believe Ingram is going to be pretty special. Drayton can stroke it and who knows with Prophete. They also added Sanders but he can't help this team right now sitting out. He would be the missing piece to this team right now.

The only thing I would say about the last play (not the 3 point shot to tie) down one, is that it probably begins with the point guard. He has the option to find Zane and maybe he wasn't open. Not sure what happened with Morsell (I thought he was in), but yes, they need a better play there. I don't mind Starr having the ball in his hands. He's supposed to make the right decision. Look what happened when Zane had the ball in his hands against ODU. He threw up a horrific three. Against Morgan State, I believe Morman or Starr (can't remember) found Zane at the 3 point line and he nailed the game-tying shot. Against Manhattan, we went to Morsell at the baseline and he made a nice shot after several misses before that.

We also don't get to the foul line anymore. Just 4-7 FT and that counts Zane going 1 of 3 on that one 3-pointer he was fouled on. He should have had one FT after Sean Hull (Baltimore's own) totally blew a call because the defender just flopped as Z took it to the rim and finished.

 

[griggey20 178]

While I agree that I'd rather have ZM taking the shot the last two possessions its not like BS didn't have WIDE open looks.  If a Mike, Zane or Brian are open late in the game I want them to have the confidence to make those shots late.  While it didn't work in our favor tonight having multiple options late gives us more opportunities to make those shots down the stretch.

[sr16 158]

The lack of this teams ability to finish is super demoralizing .. I told myself if we lose the elon game I wouldnt watch for a couple. But eager to see the COC game.. 

[tualum 108]

New season, same ole song..