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An unimpressive win in what should have been a fairly easy game. Princeton hadn't played in something like 10 days and came out rusty. A little more "passion" in the early going would have put this away before halftime. Still, with this program every win is a big deal, I guess.
I haven't seen them play since maybe the Temple game. I was a little surprised at some things. Some observations:
Koltun is getting some playing time. (The stats show him with 14 minutes. Seemed like more.) He is not a force. He will never be a force. Still, he no longer seems to be "lost" out there, and is not an obvious liability anymore.
Willen got some time, but generally seems to have disappeared. Anything going on there?
Benbow played a lot more than I expected (25 minutes). Actually, he started. Did not give a bad account of himself. It would be nice if he were a bigger scoring threat.
Why are Koltun and Mintz always an either/or? It seems to me that both down low might be an advantage at times.
Will we see anything of Pelham this year?
Mower had some quality minutes early and then never came back. Why not?
Who loses minutes when Visockas returns?
It is a relief to see that Brown is not forced to carry this team.
I still have hopes that this is not a Patriot League last place team.
What genius scheduled a 1:00 Friday tipoff vs. Mount St. Mary's? Anyone going?
Lafalum
Actually I saw it slightly more positively. Benbow is getting better with each game....especially on the defensive side. We are getting more balanced scoriing wise including from the paint. The PL is not that good this year so I think a middle of the pack finish is not imposible, This is still a team of underclassmen who are improving.
Steve
Re: Lafayette 54, Princeton 53
I don't think we can presume going in that any game is going to be easy for us this year; we don't have that kind of talent edge over any of our opponents, and we're going to have to work for every win that we get. I definitely didn't expect this to be an easy game. Although Princeton isn't a good team this year, our games against Princeton have almost always been tough defensive battles for at least the past 6 years or so. We have played each other for long enough and scouted each other that each team seems to know what the other team is trying to do on offense, and is able to stop it, primarily with man-to-man defense. Princeton only got one back-door against us early in the first half and one semi-back-door in the second half. We really struggled on offense in the first half. It seemed like Princeton almost always was able to keep the ball out of the hands of any of our players who were in a position where they were a threat to score. On many of our first-half possessions, the ball often was in the hands of Mintz or Koltun at the top of the key, unable to find good looks for our shooters. Our best offense in the first half was when Princeton committed their seventh foul, and we were able to hit some foul shots in the bonus situation. We were fortunate that Princeton didn't shoot better in the first half. They missed at least 3-4 wide-open looks from 3-point range, including at least two from their leading scorer, Davis.
The offense was somewhat better in the second half, although we still struggled much of the time. Kari and Gruner each hit a big, long-distance three-pointer just before the shot clock was about to expire. We did a better job than usual of driving the ball to the hoop. Andrew was able to score on a couple of drives and get to the free-throw line on others. Gruner and even Mintz also scored or drew shooting fouls on drives. We got some better looks on threes, including one where Gruner hit a three from the corner on an inbounds play when we caught a Princeton defender napping. Gruner played a nice all-around game, especially in the second half. Fortunately, we played pretty tough defense throughout the game, so Princeton never really was able to get on track offensively either.
Koltun provides size and hustles, but his range of offensive moves is quite limited, and his lack of quickness can hurt him when playing defense.
Willen didn't do much offensively, but he did score opportunistically on a drive to the basket in the second half, when Princeton eased up momentarily on defense and left the lane open. He had a couple of near-misses on other shots.
I liked Benbow's baseline move on his one basket in the second half. Hopefully, he'll be able to use his quickness to score more in the future.
I don't think that playing Koltun and Mintz together at this point is a great idea, unless an opponent's big men are fairly immobile. Both Koltun and Mintz appear to have trouble guarding quicker post players, and playing both together would be too much of a defensive liability at this point.
Like carney, I didn't understand why Mower didn't play more (at all?) in the second half after he hit his only two shots in his brief appearance in the first half.
I liked the fact that Brown still found ways to score tonight, even when his outside shot was off.
seenalot
Nicest part about this is we are not talking about a close loss. Winning close games against historically problematic programs (for us anyway) is something to build on. I did not give this team too much hope coming into season, but they have improved along the way and its still Dec (well for a few more hours anyway).
I think Visokas minutes will come from everyone, but mostly Wheeler and Mower - and I wish it werent the later.
Kiltedpard
What you saw were 2 teams hell bent on not giving up open 3s and back door cuts. Fran knows how to defend the "Princeton" offense, I think we have won 4 out of the last 6. AB doesn't look paniced like he has to carry the load and the others don't seem so fervent on getting him the ball all the time. Koltun does what we need him to do. I was impressed with his strength and improved movement. He looks like he know where to go and reacts to it. He may be a little slow reacting and getting there, but, it was encouraging. We actually looked like we wanted to show some inside game on offense. Koltun, Mintz, Willen, and Benbow all posted up, got the ball and went to the hole. I also thought Darion looked better all around. Willen looked gassed in the latter part of the 2nd half. And the Petkovich kid can down right stroke it! If he has an open 3 he's deadly. Let's remember we have a bunch of freshman, sophmores and some juniors who have little or no D1 game experience. Some more success and confidence and we'll be fine. I agree that we will have to scratch and claw for everything we get, but hey, that's part of the fun of it.
Kiltedpard
Re: Lafayette 54, Princeton 53
What genius scheduled a 1:00 Friday tipoff vs. Mount St. Mary's? Anyone going?[/quote]
I'm off, I'll be there.
Go Pards!
Lafalum
If I can shake this flu I will be there
The Maroon
A win is a win is a win...And obviously in a 30 game season one game doesn't mean much at all.
