The Official Beat the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in Olean Thread

[MobileMunchies]

"Fans" calling for a coach's head after an off night, honestly and I think everyone would agree, you're following the wrong team.. need to follow a different particular team with good affordable season tickets, instead, please hang your fan hat at the door and exit immediately. Really no one needs you here.

 

[RamDanFan]

Is it? We've quite literally had Osu jump onto the back trying to rebound without a call, but Vince and Ace are in foul trouble because of touch fouls.

Hey, we agree on something! Honestly, it felt like we were playing at St. Joes back when Treveon played for us. Sketchy night.

 

[RamDanFan]

Lol. Have you seen these calls?

I’ve seen many questionable officiated A 10 league games over the years compared to hardly any that way amongst ACC teams.

 

[RamDanFan]

I’m just bummed at the mental and physical toughness. Really thought we had some dogs. Used to be St. Louis, now it’s St. Bon. Just bully us and we whimper

Look at our entire roster. Outside, Stockard and Vince, all of our 3s, 4s and 5s are string beans.

 

[Newboy]

Look at our entire roster. Outside, Stockard and Vince, all of our 3s, 4s and 5s are string beans.

DeLoach is not a string bean.

 

[RamDanFan]

All that BS about how many minutes their starters played 4 nights ago was so much crap. These kids can play those minutes. Why was that even a thing?

That is because they dictated the pace. Heck, they even feigned an injury to stop the game and get pace back in order when they felt things slipping. NFL teams do it all the time so they can make substitutions. Genius.

 

[rammad90]

Ace was defended and had to defend an All Conference Wooden watchlist Senior guard. That guard did to Ace what veteran players do to players who have all of about a season worth of games under their belts.

Ace will learn from this, as will the others and the team will be the better for it. Championships are not won in January.

 

[rammad90]

Ward's biggest struggle this season has been his offense....BUT, in-conference he now has an offensive rating of 123.6, which is VERY good and a true shooting percentage of 56.4%, which isn't bad at all and is trending toward his 60%+ of the last two seasons. Add to that he has the best defensive box +/- on our team AND...a history of good statistical performance....and I think you gotta ride with him. But I do think there is one key change to make with him...

If you ask me the change I would make in the lineup is going back to basically last year where you start Ward at the FOUR...not the five. You then move Vince back to the three, where he played most of his minutes last season (according to kenpom). Ace starts at the point obviously, then you go with Nunn or Tsohonis at the two (I start Tsohonis because of his 3-point shooting and you can bring Nunn off the bench for Tso, but then can leave him in and slide him to the point when Ace takes a breather and Tso comes back in).

I LOOOOOOVE DeLoach's potential AND his current game. I think he's our most well-rounded big man by a mile because he is playing the hardest I've ever seen him play, he has a better blocks percentage than Hason right now and has the best true shooting percentage of our bigs because he's got Hason's length and athleticism but is clearly more comfortable in the post than Hason, quite similar to Levi.

Jalen DeLoach in-conference rankings
Offensive rebound % = 15th
Defensive rebound % = 3rd
Blocks % = 6th
2-point % = 4th

That is essentially everything you want from a big man. He, in my opinion, is clearly becoming our best overall big, but I also think we've got a bunch of other good ones. If it's a tied game end-of-game situation though in March in DC, I want Jalen at the 5, no question.

But yeah, getting back to my original point and in response to the tweet, I'd start DeLoach or Stockard alongside Ward, move Vince back to the three and probably go with Ace and Tso as my starting backcourt because Tsohonis is shooting a BLAZING hot 57% from three in-conference.

Last year's starting lineup in the A-10 tournament (this year's version)
Ace (Ace)
Bones (Tso)
Vince (Vince)
Ward (Ward)
Stockard (Stockard/DeLoach)

Tsohonis has a higher assist rate and three-point percentage than Bones had last year. He's not the overall scorer Bones was, IMO, but I think you just keep it simple and roll with what pretty much the same game plan that was so successful last season.

Metrics dont win games. With all Ward's good metrics the bottom line is he isnt helping out much. He isnt hitting the board ( he has weak hands and loses rebound after rebound because of it), he isnt defending well (All the big guys he's played have punished him in the paint), and yes his Offense to quote Charles Barkley is plain "Turrible".

Good news is Deloach is getting better and playing hard, and Levi is a good post player.

Most importantly, Ward is a talented guy he just has to hope the talent kicks into gear.

 

[Valley drop step]

All that BS about how many minutes their starters played 4 nights ago was so much crap. These kids can play those minutes. Why was that even a thing?

Teams that are not that great are going to expend a lot more energy dealing with VCUs pressure. Better teams don’t. They don’t panic or waste motion.

 

[RamDanFan]

DeLoach is not a string bean.

Same height and weight as Ward. 6’9” and 215. But that’s not the point. It is what it is. We are a young team and the guys are still filling out their frames. We just need one to turn in to something similar to Graham. Was expecting it to be Watkins. Not saying we can’t win, but we need somebody to step up down low. A lot of people on here joke about Santos-Silva, but he or Hamdy would look really good on this team right about now. We need a dawg down low.

 

[Ramlove81]

Ace was defended and had to defend an All Conference Wooden watchlist Senior guard. That guard did to Ace what veteran players do to players who have all of about a season worth of games under their belts.

Ace will learn from this, as will the others and the team will be the better for it. Championships are not won in January.

And again, 20 something% three point shooter, Lofton shot the lights out against us. I know the guy is good, but he seems to be better against us then he is against most everyone else.

 

[Valley drop step]

DeLoach is not a string bean.

Same height and weight as Ward. 6’9” and 215. But that’s not the point. It is what it is. We are a young team and the guys are still filling out their frames. We just need one to turn in to something similar to Graham. Was expecting it to be Watkins. Not saying we can’t win, but we need somebody to step up down low. A lot of people on here joke about Santos-Silva, but he or Hamdy would look really good on this team right about now. We need a dawg down low.

Ali and Foreman were the same height and within 5 lbs If each, but you don’t think of them that way. Even if the tale of the tape of Ward Deloach is a match, Deloach is far stronger and more physical. Ward can do up and gets balls on offense and defense nobody else can get. That helps sometimes and he will look impressive doing it. But that’s all he can do. Deloach is more physical, superior on offense and the glass, and actually has more blocks per 40 minutes. If MR continues to favor Ward, it’s starts looking foolish and hard headed. Need Deloach more than 10 minutes.

Stockard is big and heavy, but he doesn’t a lot of fight in him. MBJ may be lighter, but he’s built pretty well, and he’s scrappy. Tillman was skinny, but he was quick to the ball, good instincts, and scrappy. MBJ is similar in those respects, but probably built more powerfully.

If Rhoades wants to have some inside scoring, get to the foul line, and complete on the glass, Deloach and Brown Jones need more time.

 

[L72boy]

I think Ward misses his buddy Tre Clark.

 

[theyaintwantit]

I think Ward misses his buddy Tre Clark.

Did he tell you that?

 

[GuardTheArc]

Same height and weight as Ward. 6’9” and 215. But that’s not the point. It is what it is. We are a young team and the guys are still filling out their frames. We just need one to turn in to something similar to Graham. Was expecting it to be Watkins. Not saying we can’t win, but we need somebody to step up down low. A lot of people on here joke about Santos-Silva, but he or Hamdy would look really good on this team right about now. We need a dawg down low.

VCU this season is, by and large, a skinny, long, tall, athletic, versatile, energetic, bouncy, marginally-skilled, medium IQ, finesse group. We are not a “young” team by any means.

By minutes (roughly):
Seniors = 40%
Juniors = 20%
Sophs = 15%
Frosh = 25%

Upperclassmen = 60% (totally normal class/minutes distro). Not young.

Mike and staff have recruited long, tall, bouncy athletes (Kern, Deloach, Banks, Curry, Williams, Nichols, Watkins, Ward, etc) but not necessarily highly skilled/talented basketball players.

BA Walker, Brad Burgess, Samir Doughty, Ace Baldwin, Jesse Pellot-Rosa — all started as frosh on NCAA teams and contributed significantly. None were considered great “athletes” or particularly “long.” They were, however, relatively skilled (passing, shooting, dribbling, decision-making, etc).

This year:
We don’t have a long range sniper (Daniels, Shuler, Melvin, Bones).
We don’t have a “go-to-guy” on offense (Treveon, Melvin, Maynor, Bones).
We don’t have an offensive identity (shooting, relentless on the boards, etc).
We don’t have a monster rebounder/enforcer (Mo).
We don’t have a defensive stopper (Weber).
We don’t have an alpha dog (Hyland, Treveon, Maynor).

Thank God for our team defense (and overall energy level) - keeping us in games and (generally) competitive. It’s literally all we have going for us this year.

We really miss Tre Clark, Bones, and Jamir Watkins.