Re: We made it easy........ -- Bucknell Bison Sports

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Subject: Re: We made it easy........

Author:
bison137

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Date Posted: 14:06:31 01/03/06 Tue
In reply to: Dan 's message, "We made it easy........" on 08:09:50 01/03/06 Tue

>>>Bison faced pressure they have never seen before, both on the press and against half court D. while you can say the team did not react well, the truth is they have never faced a team that has Duke's combination of athleticism, plays good team and individual defense and played with great intensity. furthermore, there is no way to simulate that to practice in advance.<<<

Agree 100%. Every time the Bison put the ball to the floor in traffic or even held it low, it was attacked by several fast, athletic Duke players. They even lost it a number of times as they went up for inside shots because Duke gave such quick, weak-side help. There is NO comparison between the defensive pressure of Duke and the pressure from any other team on the Bison schedule. Even Villanova did not put nearly that much pressure on the ball. No team on the remaining schedule except HC will give them even half that much pressure.

One thing that was exposed was the Bison press-break. If Mastropaolo receives most of the in-bounds passes and is unwilling/unable to dribble upcourt even if unguarded, it makes it very difficult to break the press - it is essentially 3 vs 4 for Lee, Badmus, and Bettencourt. On one occasion he had the ball near half-court with no-one near him and would not dribble into frontcourt. Instead he threw a very dangerous pass into traffic.

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[> [> Subject: Re: We made it easy........

Author:
Dan
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Date Posted: 16:49:42 01/03/06 Tue

Not to sound awful but how pathetic did Mastropaolo look? I yelled and wanted to cry. The kid would not move with the ball when no one was in front of him, behind him, anywhere near him. He'd simply wait for someone to come to him and they usually played for Duke!!!!

My beef is that the adjustment to this took way too long. Christ, Duke had like 16 steals! That's an incredible number.

[> [> [> Subject: Re: We made it easy........

Author:
KenZ
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Date Posted: 08:12:01 01/04/06 Wed

my last thoughts on this topic. Darren was uncomfortable beccause he was forced into a role that he does not fill. this was the result of Duke developing a game plan to exploit this and executing it very well.

make no mistake, Bucknell is a distinctly better team when Darren is on the floor. he has the strength to play defense against big time players. he does the non-boxscore things like taking charges and fighting for loose balls. in short, he is a team player, understands his role and fills it, but does not try to do things that he is not as skilled at as his teammates. Duke forced him to do those things and his mindset kept him from reacting positively. few teams will be able to consistently force Bucknell into that situation.

while i have no desire to see him handling the ball more, i do think long term benefit could be derived if he more aggressively looked for his shot. it is generally his second option after looking for a teammate who is a better scorer. i would like to see him get just a touch more offensively minded in league play.