What was often lost in the debate over disappointing early season results under prior regimes (sky is falling v. it's early/meaningless) is that there are certain things great teams - and teams that want to be great - do every single time they hit the floor. True at every level; St. Anthony's and Duke are who they are because they have talent and are well-coached, but they build habits such that watching them play you wouldn't know if it's July or October or March. That type of discipline and care factor is how winning becomes a habit.
What was refreshing about last night was for the first time in a long time (including last year), that approach was evident. There was plenty of rust, especially early, against an inferior team. But there was energy, attention to detail, ball pressure, closing out hard on shooters, huddling quickly and consistently at the foul line, diving for loose balls, and when a guy went flying into the bench the whole team sprinted over to pick him up.
Lineups and rotations are flexible but we didn't waste 40 minutes throwing lineups against the wall in revolving door fashion to see what might work. After the summer and fall and a month of practice you have an idea what it's going to look like and with less than two weeks until game 1 you use every opportunity to develop it. We did that last night too, seemingly based on merit and who gives us the best chance to win and not seniority or anything else. Beautiful.
We may not gel until February, but that isn't going to be set as the public expectation as that can have a trickle down effect on the team. To the contra if you demand the effort I saw last night it eventually becomes contagious and so does winning. We are supposed to beat Baruch by 50 and it was great to see this team do what they are supposed to do so that we aren't having the same old justification debate today. Good for them.
As usual, excellent post! The ingredients noted in conjunction with budding talent should result in an enjoyable, productive season setting the course for very good things next season. We'll have some bumps in the road, but clearly the process should bear fruit. Imagine having a solid, sustainable program v year to year frenzy. I'll especially enjoy this year no matter where we finish in BE & post season play, knowing the foundation may be where it should be.
Thanks, Paultz, and agree with you regarding outlook for this season. Building towards next year obviously the key, but seeing this foundation am more convinced than ever we may only be one year away not just from short term but repetitive/sustainable success, which only makes this year’s squad more enjoyable as you note.
Fighting urge to take too much away from a scrimmage v. D3 comp, couple of things that jump out:
1. Lovett/Ponds/Ahmed are high-level Big East talent as advertised. Add Mussini and Ellison in roles as opposed to go-to tandem and we are ready to roll 1-3 in most games this season.
2. Related, biggest positive of night was RF IMO. Competition aside, he’s long, he’s athletic, he’s skilled, and has a great feel for the game. Needs to get stronger as is obvious and has been stated, and may find himself in some uncomfortable defensive matchups underneath. But he’s further along than I thought, including moving feet defensively on perimeter, fighting through ball screens, and using length to make up for space created. Greater tests to come with some of the 3s he will likely have to guard in our conference, but encouraging first real look. He may be the best NBA prospect on the roster.
3. Biggest eyebrow raiser were our bigs. Sima looked bigger but much the same, liked Owens energy especially on the backboards, and am hoping for Yawke was mostly an issue of gameflow not coming his way. But am hoping to see more early in the season here, especially Sima/Owens, as while I love the ability to have a look with Yawke at the 5, I don’t want that to be a default. At a minimum, these guys should be walking around campus looking for passes – with Lovett and Ponds they clearly need to be ready at all times!
