Has BU Addressed Its Shortcomings for 2014-15 Season?

[AZ BU Fan]

Won't really know for sure until all the guys are enrolled and practicing at BU, but, what else is there to do in May if you are BU MBB crazy?

Which deficiencies BU has had over the past couple seasons do you think BU has addressed with the new 2014-15 Team members?

[ihatetea]

I voted for all but true point guard, not because I don't think Sutherland will fill that, but because he is the only guy I trust at point guard for next season. I don't have any faith in Bell as a pg or in Jones stepping in to that role when he hasn't really done that much.

[tornado]

as with almost every season I am optimistic and hoping we have a much better year but ....

of the three areas we needed the most we are still not deep in any of them...
but I think we will be better in all three areas.

#1 - point guard play - I love the guy we landed (Tramique) and hope he turns out to be a great PG but we still are not deep and will need to develop some backup option there

#2 size in the low post & rebounding - hopefully Shaw & Jermaine fix this issue somewhat but we need a Tyshon-like banger and none of the guys we have added coming in have much DI experience

#3 outside shooting - I hope the numbers they put up in juco translate to nice shooting accuracy next season - time will tell.

[AZ BU Fan]

Perhaps BU could hire some one from Tom Izzo's staff to teach our guys how to rebound.
Heck, bring in Charles Barkley for a clinic , one of the best rebounders for his height

[Da Coach]

Perhaps BU could hire some one from Tom Izzo's staff to teach our guys how to rebound.
Heck, bring in Charles Barkley for a clinic , one of the best rebounders for his height

I thought our rebounding was better last year, and with added height, hopefully it will get better. As many fans have stated, I think our weak areas were in point guard play- setting up and creating scoring opportunities, and in individual shooting. It's difficult to get good shots when defenders know you aren't going to take many outside shots, and the passing isn't there. We'll see how much these issues improve with the new players.

[ihatetea]

I thought our rebounding was better last year, and with added height, hopefully it will get better. As many fans have stated, I think our weak areas were in point guard play- setting up and creating scoring opportunities, and in individual shooting. It's difficult to get good shots when defenders know you aren't going to take many outside shots, and the passing isn't there. We'll see how much these issues improve with the new players.

I agree our rebounding seemed like a strong point last year. I'm not sure where you find this but our rebound percentage had to have been a high point. ESPN has us ranked 256th overall last year in rebounds per game, however that doesn't account for pace of play, and we played at very slowed down pace.

We will continue to be a good rebounding team as long as we have a converted power forward with a 7' plus wingspan in Barnes at the three and it won't be hurt if we play the very bouncy Cunningham at the three either. Most teams rebound at a higher rate when they have three guys that long on the floor at all times.

That being said, if playing three guards will juice our anemic offense next year, I am all for that.

[AZ BU Fan]

BU Rebounding Team Avg Per Game vs Opposition
2013-14 BU 33.2 Opp 33.3
2012-13 BU 32.9 Opp 34.7
2011-12 BU 32.9 Opp 37.2
2010-11 BU 32.8 Opp 35.1

[tornado]

BU Rebounding Team Avg Per Game vs Opposition
2013-14 BU 33.2 Opp 33.3
2012-13 BU 32.9 Opp 34.7
2011-12 BU 32.9 Opp 37.2
2010-11 BU 32.8 Opp 35.1

obviously we didn't so much get better - we just played weaker rebounding teams

[ihatetea]

Overall rebound pct. up 2% http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/bradl...ct&type=#chart
Offensive rebound pct. up 4% http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/bradl...ct&type=#chart
Defensive rebound pct. down .4% http://statsheet.com/mcb/teams/bradl...ct&type=#chart

You could say that our opponents were worse. Or you could say that we were much better at hitting the offensive glass thanks to a longer, more athletic three being on the floor most of the time. Not saying this is entirely the reason, just seams logical in the difference in players.

Jake Eastman http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/pla...rebounds_total
Austin Barnes http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/pla...rebounds_total

And before anyone can claim I am bashing against a JL player that GF inherited, this is merely an explanation as to why we had a more even rebounding differential this year versus last year. Eastman and Barnes were/are clearly different types of players and they both contributed in their own ways. I tried to post links to that point that illustrate what I am trying to say.

[ihatetea]

I need to report a mistake I made. I misread the charts I posted. The rebound rate increase I listed was our improvements from the 2011-2012 season to the 2012-2013 season.

We actually increased our overall rebound pct. by only 1%, our offensive rate went up 2% and our defensive rate went up 1% this last season, so not as big of an increase, but a continued improvement.

So it could more accurately be said that Tyshon Pickett was key to our improvement, since he was a key front court starter in both of our last two seasons when we have steadily gotten better rebound numbers. Barnes merely added on to that rebounding upgrade. That will be one of the areas that Morgan and Shaw will have to immediately fill with graduation of Pickett.

Another stat of note from that site, our assist pct., the percentage of made baskets that were assisted on, was ranked 335th out of 346 D1 teams. If that isn't an indictment on our offensive "system" then I don't know what is.

[tornado]

Tyshon was strong on the boards everywhere he's been - reminiscent of Zach Andrews, Donald Reese, Luke Jackson, and Bayo -
He was a very good rebounder...

If the juco guys we go after are getting 5 or 6 rpg at the juco level then fans are crazy to think they're going to do much better at the D-I level.
We saw the same "overhyping" and wild fan expectations with scoring last year - we land a bunch of guys who only average 8 ppg at juco then are shocked when they can't score at the D-I level.