The Dawgs Ramblings

BBall Thoughts

BC basketball has improved by leaps and bounds since an embarrassing home loss to Vermont. Any time you lose a player like Craig Smith who was the centerpiece of the offense for years it will take time for players to adjust to their new roles and find chemistry with each other. It looks like they might be making that transition.

We all knew Dudley was a marked man and that he would be counted on to provide the stability that this young group would need. (I would never say Sean Marshall can be counted upon to provide stability). But two positives that have become evident in the last few games are the emergence of Sean Williams and Tyrese Rice. Williams’ role to this point has been to rescue teammates with his shot blocking prowess when penetrators got into the lane. Now, his game is starting to expand. He has not only shown some basic interior moves but has been assertive in asking for the ball and looking for his shot instead of panicking and throwing up some off-balance floater. The improvement we have seen from last year has been huge and it begs the question, ‘What is his upside for the remainder of the year? If he continues to improve BC will become a multi-faceted team where Dudley may not see as many double teams. I do not see why he will not continue to emerge on the offensive end as he logs more playing time and feels more comfortable as an option..

Tyrese knows that there are no other options to replace him. Simply put he is the only member of the team that can handle the ball. Sure Dudley is adept at handling pressure and bringing it up but he is by no means a distributor in the open floor that can get into the lane by blowing by defenders. That’s what Rice can do and thus far he has handled it well. That sense of Tyrese rushing his decisions and making questionable passes has yet to be seen this year and for the most part he has been able to setup his teammates to run their half court sets. I have been impressed by his maturity as to when to launch the three pointer versus continuing to run the half court set to obtain a higher percentage shot. Last year he may have felt he needed to make the big play to stay on the court, now he just needs to run the team intelligently.

-Dudley is great at maneuvering in the low post. He feels the defenders on him and knows how to maneuver to get a good look. He also knows when the double team is effective on him and where he can look to get the ball to another teammate for a shot or a secondary pass.

-No idea what to expect to Akida when he returns. He has shown some ability to score and rebound but nothing consistent. If he returns as a solid contributor BC’s frontline has to now be one of the best in the nation.

-Haynes might not be suited for our offense. He seems like a player that always needs to be on the go to maximize his skills. His athleticism is great to see when he makes a good basketball play.

Why does Sean Marshall always seem to double clutch on his foul line jumper? It is never smooth to look at.


BC needs to work on its flex offense amongst particular members of the team in the high post. Sean Williams and Shamari Spears throwing bounce passes to each other against aggressive defenders is downright scary. They both need to seal their men with their legs and backside to avoid defenders shooting the gap.

Oh, and this Red Sox and Matsuzaka thing is insane.

posted by oceanjay @ 10:12 AM