Another Close loss

A couple more follow ups on last night's loss at St. Francis.

• I really was very impressed with St. Francis. Much more so than during their visit to the Mount last week. Caddell is a solid player, but they really work hard at both the offensive and defensive ends. They play a style that is more old-school than new age basketball, but they aren't afraid to shoot it and they shoot it pretty well. From a lot of different slots. I would not be surprised at all if they are the NEC's representative in the NCAA tournament.
• The Mount struggled to shoot the ball again last night. You had to figure that after Saturday there would be some sort of dropoff. It happened. However, I thought the deficit had more to do with the Terriers than with the Mount. Obviously, I did not like the whole-sale substitution early. Maybe it was an energy thing, that sometimes you don't see on a small computer screen. But either way it didn't work.
• Even though the Mount was behind the whole game, I always felt they were in control of the game as it was being played. I was never certain they controlled the outcome because of the deficit, but controlled the play. St. Francis seemed to be hanging on. Almost like a fighter running around the ring after winning the early, but then throwing a big punch or flurry of punches to ward off the opposition.
• Shawn Atupem had a very good second half after a sluggish first half. He is athletic, but sometimes his athleticism puts him at weird angles shooting the ball. He looks soft or tentative as a result. And he misses his shots. But when he goes straight up with that athleticism he can be a force inside. He was that in the second half.
• I liked the gameplan (adjustments) in the second half much more. The posts cross screened in the zone to get some openings, they lobbed behind the back line, they attacked it better - and they seemed to take away things defensively a bit better. But maybe the fact that SFNY didn't make everything helped them on defense.
• Unlike the commenter I thought the Mount executed very well down the stretch last night. There weren't a lot of empty trips and they got a realitively good look from Beidler when everyone knew you'd be shooting the three.
• New York just made too many plays at the end. And they were pretty well defended. The three that gave them the lead and the foulline jumper that extended the lead back to three from Caddell were well defended plays. I'd expect that they don't make either of those shots more than 2 out of 10 times.
• The Mount ranks 342 out of 347 in Luck according to Ken Pomeroy
• I'm not trying to sugar coat anything. This team will not meet my expectations. I think I still had some hope before last night. I no longer do. I won't give up. I'll still be at the games cheering and watching when I can. The best we can hope for is they make a run, get into the playoffs and win some road games and get to the play-in. Even if that happens, it won't have been what I expected for this team. Still I like this group of players - and I'll root hard for them if they keep playing hard on the floor. I know the coaching staff will continue to put in long hours and try to win basketball games. It's been frustrating for me and you as a fan, but I'm sure even moreso for those who have poured hours into it.