58.BU @ 54 fgcu...

[thefish7]

I thought the second half by BU was pretty good. But for a stretch where I think they missed four shots without an offensive rebound in a row, they were playing some good ball against FGCU. Norris and Egolf had nice games-- especially happy to see Egolf out there. McCain did have a bad game, but I don't think he should be banished to end of bench, as he's still trying to figure it out out there. Richmond could be a challenge, or maybe this team will start to get it and go on a run in both halves.

[thefish7]

Not to be negative, but our opponent is one of the worst teams in America. Nonetheless, the effort was better, as were the results. Let's use it as a confidence builder moving forward.

I would tend to agree, but that guy I thought was initally called Karl Marx does have some serious game.

[BradleyBrave]

I thought the second half by BU was pretty good. But for a stretch where I think they missed four shots without an offensive rebound in a row, they were playing some good ball against FGCU. Norris and Egolf had nice games-- especially happy to see Egolf out there. McCain did have a bad game, but I don't think he should be banished to end of bench, as he's still trying to figure it out out there. Richmond could be a challenge, or maybe this team will start to get it and go on a run in both halves.

McCain just isn't ready to play yet at this level. He's only a freshman, so that's not necessarily a surprise. He is flat-out scared offensively, and it shows in his play. He just isn't ready. If we ever get to full strength in the backcourt, I would expect him to be a deep reserve. He has potential as a decent pure PG, but his time is not now.

[Big Mike]

CR...4 pts....2 rbs
DD...7pts
DN...9pts....3rbs..........all pts 3's
EM...3pts a 3
SS...3rbs
DC...1pt....1rb...1blk..1to in 6 mins
WE...8pts...5rbs...2blks
TW...13pts..12rbs
SM...13pts...2rbs...3stls...3asst in 35mins
TB....1rb...2asst
AT got into the game


5-21 on 3 for 24%
13-22 on FTs 59%

[thefish7]

McCain just isn't ready to play yet at this level. He's only a freshman, so that's not necessarily a surprise. He is flat-out scared offensively, and it shows in his play. He just isn't ready. If we ever get to full strength in the backcourt, I would expect him to be a deep reserve. He has potential as a decent pure PG, but his time is not now.

I agree, but I also thought there were a few times against Florida where he made some decent plays. We should never *EVER* see him on the floor with Manistrigonometry... But who would be your top candidate to play point when SM is taking a breather? I'd like it to be DD, but he hasn't played point much yet for us.

[Big Mike]

EM just needs to slow down and see the court...even if he slows down he will b e hard to guard IMO!

[TheAsianSensation]

A win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win.

I'm going to keep telling this to myself.

[BradleyBrave]

I agree, but I also thought there were a few times against Florida where he made some decent plays. We should never *EVER* see him on the floor with Manistrigonometry... But who would be your top candidate to play point when SM is taking a breather? I'd like it to be DD, but he hasn't played point much yet for us.

Great question. I think DD and DN can share the PG duties when SM is out. Yes, they're probably both more true combo guards, but so was Will Franklin and JJ Tauai. We don't have to be motoring 100 mph all the time either. I think DD and DN could do just fine spelling SM at the point.

[thefish7]

I think DD can do it, too. He'd be my choice,really. I'm skeptical about DN, because he's also looked the freshman to me when handling the ball.

[Big Mike]

DN id really more of a 2 IMO...he can shot but is not as quick with the ball yet!

[Big Mike]

Braves now up to 136 with the CU loss....

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

[ser_solace]

Everybody pretty much said what needs to be said. I'm happy Egolf had such a great game and that Coach Les shook some things up. Egolf played with a lot of intensity and made some great plays for us.

I wonder if Coach Les will continue to work Anthony Thompson in a bit. I was very surprised he saw some PT towards the end of the first half.

Heh. I remember at one point Darian Norris gave this really funny look and smile when the BU crowd erupted after a big shot. He was like, "whoa, I didn't know this many BU fans were going to be here for us."

[houstontxbrave]

Yes a win is a win but ...

Again we shoot terrible from 3, 5 - 21 that is just not acceptable especially with all the wide open shots we took and missed... Norris and Dunston come to mind on that.

Bad free throw shooting... 13-22 again not acceptable.

Did a better job in the 2nd half of taking care of the ball but much to careless in the first half.

I thought we played much better defense in one on one sets.

But as was said this is a poor team and we barely escaped.

This team is missing something.. intensity, drive, passion, a go to player... something, I cant put a finger on it but it is just a team that exists nothing right now sticks out and says this can be special in any way. Maybe Egolf will give us some sort of spark.

[ER3]

A win. You have to take it...not a pretty win...but better than a pretty loss.
This team still looks unbelievably challenged on offense.

From this game, the good...
- Egolf looked leaps and bounds better than in his previous opportunities...that was great to see some progress from him. Hopefully he can continue to progress once we start playing legitimate D-I teams...
- Norris looks to be a guy that will develop into a scorer for us. We need more minutes from him, simply because he looks like he might be able to help this very poor shooting team. He should move ahead of McCain in the rotation for the time being.
- Wilson battles and battles...I really appreciate the effort he brings night in and night out.
- Maniscalco played a better game. We need him on the floor...pure and simple...and credit to Les for doing a good job of mixing in more zone and keeping Sammy out of situations where he would get isolated in the man-to-man...

The bad...
- McCain just isn't ready to play significant minutes right now...He has no offensive game at this point and forced some terrible, terrible passes tonight. He looked over matched tonight.
- Roberts is undisciplined....and really doesn't appear to understand what his role needs to be on this team. He just looks like the prototypical JUCO player trying to force his way into the boxscore in his first chance at the D-I level. It reminds me of the struggles that Boogie had when he first came to BU...Chris needs to ditch the perimeter game and help this team defensively and inside on the boards...I really think his minutes should be scaled back.
- Singh just is so limited in what he can do. I appreciate his work...I appreciate the team spirit he brings to the squad...but he just is not an effective player on the court. Misses bunnies, sets moving screens, can't get up for rebounds...He is what he is...he can give us a few minutes here or there, but if he is starting and playing significant minutes for us, we are in bad shape for this year and in even worse shape for next year and beyond...
- Collins...meh. Big body, I'm sure he's a nice kid...but he simply doesn't appear to have a passion for this game. The teases of upside that he has aren't worth waiting through the lifeless, passive stretches that he brings...He can have a role on this team if he wants it...but he isn't going to put it all together and produce on a consistent basis...it simply isn't going to happen.

This FGCU team was horrible...we struggled, but we won...I liked what I saw from Egolf and Norris...Move them up in the rotation and find a way to phase out some of McCain and Roberts's minutes and i think you might see a better performance from BU tomorrow...we'll see.

[Da Coach]

From the Naples, FL paper-
FGCU falls in closing minutes to Bradley

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/25/mens-basketball-fgcu-falls-closing-minutes-bradley/