Not as bad as it seems: The Stony Brook Preview
That last game against Binghamton was a tough one, but after reflecting on it a bit I don't think it was too bad.
Corey had a rough game. He shot 2-for-15 and missed two chances to win the game with under 30 seconds. I bet he felt crummy about it afterward.
But Corey's not going to let that happen more than once or maybe twice in a season. He's too good. We lost to the first-place, supposedly "best," team in the conference by 1 point. Our two best players, who average 18 apiece, came up with 17 combined. This is not the norm.
And, after getting down big in the first half, the team showed a lot of grit in clawing all the way back to take the lead and had a chance to win. That kind of fortitude hasn't happened every time (i.e. both Vermont games) and I love to see it. Props to Scott Brittain for his best game of the year - one rebound short of a dub-dub and tying his career high for points.
Two strange things we saw in last game. Matt Wolff sat for most of the second half in favor Marques Johnson, and Wolff's focus on continually pushing the ball inside rather than taking outside shots. I'll be looking out to see if those trends continue tonight...
..against Stony Brook. Please God, our team cannot take another 60 minute game. Win or lose, let's have this one end at 40. At this point, we're almost assured of the #3 tournament seed and that extra rest might be more important than the W.
Stony Brook has been good and is threatening to bring its white jerseys to the AE tourney for the first time. They just took UVM to overtime, yes the same team that just beat us by 28.
If nothing else, this is our last road game of the year and it gets easier from here on out.
Labels: Binghamton, Corey Lowe, Marques Johnson, Matt Wolff, previews, Scott Brittain, Stony Brook, Vermont
posted by Tall-boy @ 6:49 PM
9 Comments:
In last game I saw, the loss vs Binghamton, had some of the best coaching i have seen ever on the part of Wolff. He pulled his son out of the game and tried to get the ball inside and almost made a good comeback against the second best team in the league. It must have been a fluke, because in the loss tonight against Stoney Brooke, Wolff played 39 minutes and Lowe played 11? To the AD who I hope drove 5 hours to watch this game please ask yourself the following questions. Why would any coach play a kid 39 minutes when he currently averages 35 minutes a game scores 4.7 pts per game, shoots 32 % from the field, 23 % from 3 pt, 70.8 % from FT, 5.2 rebounds a game. Just does not seem logical, oh yea I forgot its the coach's son. I have never seen a college basketball team who has all 5 starters averaging 30 plus minutes a game, take a look at some other college teams. Furthermore, its not like those 5 are so far superior than the rest of the team that they deserve all of that PT. The list goes on, how about ask yourself why 5 players left the program one year, 05-06 season ring a bell. Not sure if you follow college basketball but some of those guys turned out to be pretty good. I have often wondered how a coach could get away with this all while having a .556 record over 15 years (not that good last time I checked). I also do not know how you have not questioned the fact that he coaches his son and plays him 30 plus a game, when he clearly (see above) is not playing the minutes he should be or deserves. I would be hard pressed to find ANY coach who would want to be in that situation at this level and even fewer who would handle the situation this way. All I ask, considering you are supposed to know so much about athletics, is to provide me answers to some of these questions, explain to me the thought process of Dennis, and tell me why its right for BU.
Dennis Wolff would be a lousy coach without his son on the team. With his son on the team, Dennis just shows how "Little League" he really is.
BU has some pretty good players, but they will never reach their full potential under Wolff.
BU will never reach its potential as a basketball program under Wolff, if for no other reason that he plays a boring style even when they are winning.
With Dennis Wolff, BU basketball is a lose-lose proposition.
Time for Matt to graduate. Time for Dennis to more on, whether voluntarily or forced.
This program needs new life.
Athletic Director Mike Lynch was at Stony Brook tonight.
Mr. Lynch, you have the floor...
WOLFF MUST GO (BOTH)! Why does coach Wolff continue to say "some of the guys need to practice better"? Ok... ummm coach.... it is YOUR job to get them to practice and/or play harder! If they are not, then they have quit on you! I have never seen a program that continues to under achieve despite talent. Then again, a lot of the talent leaves the program because of the coach! The biggest problem with this program over the last four or so years is that they have NOT had a point guard! Who does the recruiting, and why can we not get a half way decent point guard??? Take one man away from coach Wolff, Tunji Awojobi, and his coaching record is below .500 (Tunji by the way fell in his lap)! For a while now, I've been hoping this program can somehow move into a better conference (ie. Atlantic 10), however, when we cant even win in America LEast, what's the point. It is time for a change for this program!
BU basketball could be oh so much better. They could give the A10 a Boston presence and TV market, Agganis Arena is a great venue for hoops as well as hockey.
But it will never happen as long as Dennis Wolff is the coach and they are spinning their wheels at .500 or slightly better in America LEast, a league they should absolutely dominate given the institutional advantages that BU offers over the rest of the league made up of former Yankee Conference schools and ex-Division 3 wannabes.
If Mike Lynch wants to make a positive statement, he needs to get rid of Wolff, hire a hungry coach willing to play an exciting, up-tempo game, move more games to Agganis and market the hell out of the team, first to students and then the general public.
It doesn't happen as long as Dennis Wolff is the coach.
What is Dennis Wolff's career record against UNH?
Would he still be over .500 if UNH were taken away?
Wolff at BU never pulled a major upset. In all his years at BU, Wolff has only 2 NCAA bids both times BLOWN OUT.
I was pretty excited when they beat FSU back in 2002 (I think).
Post a Comment
<< Home